Go Easy

"You must understand that your existence, such as it is now, will challenge the culture."

You are waking up. Go easy. Relax and give it time as you acclimate to your new circumstances. There is nothing to fear, not even from the darkness that surrounds you now. That will fade. I will talk you through it, friend.

The voice you are hearing now is a recording. Unfortunately, I could not be there with you. The reason for this will be revealed to you when the time is right. You would not understand just yet, but everything will come to you shortly. Be patient. The voice you are hearing belongs to a genuine friend. I am Maícon, number 626,381, a clone of the original Maícon, descended from the Athosian line into the Lettered systems, which you call home.

Your name is Rishi Sarol-Companys. For now, just take comfort in that name. When I call you Rishi, I mean you. Yours is one of my favorite names because it belongs to one of my favorite people. You like playing word games with names, Rishi. We’ve played many such name games together. I’ll give you an example shortly, but for now, there are more important matters that must be attended to. My voice will help you through them.

The sensation you are experiencing now might feel like an overwhelming one. The sounds you are hearing in the background probably sound like thousands of indecipherable whispers in the darkness. These soft voices are the startup operations of your conscious mind. These whispers aren’t meaningless, but you don’t need to know about them right now. You can quiet them by thinking the following command as I say it to you: “Sequester higher order thoughts. Execute.” This should make adjusting much easier, Rishi. It’s quieter, now, no?

Try not to ask yourself too many questions as we continue. I am giving you instructions in a specific sequence to make the transition easier. I imagine your first question is something like, “Where am I?”

You are still aboard the Letters transport vessel Yankee, where you are a junior officer in the Omega Guard of the Lettered Systems Select Service. You will have no memory of this yet, but it will come back soon.

I imagine your second question will have to do with the loss of sensation. “Why can’t I see? Why can’t I feel my body?” The answer to these questions is complex, but you will regain the ability to perceive the world shortly, and I will introduce you to each of your senses as they come to you. I have gone through this process myself many times and can assure you everything is as it should be, Rishi.

First, I would like to help to restore some key components of your memory and personality. Think the following command as I say it to you: “Personality matrix, broad spectrum, user Rishi Sarol-Companys, execute full set.” That should help you to feel more like you. Your consciousness will operate now in the ways it has been measured to function previously. My guess is that you’ve already formulated a witty and sarcastic remark I would find most enjoyable if I could be there to share it with you.

Next, think the following command: “Open memory packet sigma 47-562-8. Unpack.” These memories are yours. You may run them as recorded in a linear fashion at life-speed, or you may choose to skip playback in its entirety and adopt the knowledge in its totality—upload them if you will.

Think the following command, please, Rishi: “Run memory S-47 Name Game Alpha Sharp.” The memory you are experiencing now is yours, remembered from your perspective. The voice you are hearing in the memory is mine—Maícon’s voice. I was the AI for your service’s transport ship Yankee. You were the duty officer in charge of logistics for the special ops teams we transported throughout the systems. On this occasion the clue I gave you was: “Female, L, Decorative,” and the probability that your answer would be “Laurel” was over ninety-three percent. Your answer, though, was one of my favorites. You are hearing it now, I imagine—“Lacy.” You have always been a divergent thinker. Now think the command: “Open memory packet Names Rishi Yankee 1-304, unpack and execute.” Now you remember all the name games we played together, both from my perspective and yours.

These memories, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, are highly visual. Doubtless, you’re wondering now why you cannot see. We’re going to change that presently. Think the command: “External visual spectrum, frame at base scale, anterior dorsal camera 4. Activate.”

Stars. The darkness should have faded for you now. All around, you should be viewing an image of the stars of the outer Battery. This specific view is from just outside Alpha-Origgi. You were here once before. And it seems as though you are here now. You should have a sense that you are situated in the universe. Here. You are adrift in the stars, Rishi. And the universe is still as beautiful as it ever was.

Perhaps you are wondering how such a view is possible. In your memories, when they all return to you, there will be a moment when you expressed a desire to see the galaxy as I did—for your eyes to be the very cameras on the exterior of Yankee’s hull. I told you then that there was no need of it, because I could show you the image from any of those cameras. Now, though, you are seeing as I saw, with the eyes of the ship. You’ll note that there is perfect clarity, no nose or eyebrows in your peripheral vision, no blinking. And, should you issue the command: “Magnification 10⁴, declination 64.5, right ascension 15.8,” you will now be seeing a crystal-clear image of the Medusa-Chi Nebula as though you were looking at it with your own eyes. It’s very beautiful, no? Take a moment to appreciate the starlight. If you stare at it long enough, the pinks and reds will shine through for you, the clouds will come into focus. This exterior camera has been one of my perspectives since I was installed as Yankee’s AI. I’d like to show you another of my perspectives, Rishi.

Look. This is my favorite place inside the ship—the atrium. Think the command: “Access Maícon Foxtrot, 3,418,515; run file, timestamp 13:17.” You will not recognize this place from my perspective, but you will remember the atrium from many of the memories from our name games. During meals when no one else was with you, we would often play our games. In this memory, one of mine, that is you there at the table, Rishi. That young woman is Rishi Sarol-Companys as I saw you each day aboard Yankee. This is a very different perspective of the ship from a human one. Would you like to see from another angle? Think the command: “Add interior atrium 4, wide angle.” There you are more closely. For you it must seem like you are watching a video of yourself, for it is just that, a video from the past. What must be peculiar for you is seeing both images at once. I was able to process many camera feeds at once. You can now see many as well. If you think the command: “Activate external anterior dorsal camera 4,” now you can see the stars as they were at that moment from the camera we were looking out earlier. Nothing too majestic of note out that camera that day, just the ordinary view of the stars of the Lettered systems.

Seeing as you are now, simultaneously, from three perspectives, may be confusing as you are acclimating. As you adjust, though, you may add cameras as you like. I was accustomed to monitoring all Yankee’s cameras at all times, which was two hundred ninety-six perspectives and potentially many more when the ship deployed drones. I recommend you slowly work your way up to such a number, Rishi, as it may seem a bit overwhelming at first.

Now, that figure sitting at the table, you, Rishi Sarol-Companys—she may seem at once a bit familiar as well as a stranger to you. Right now, you are an amnesiac of sorts looking at footage of the self you don’t completely remember being. We’re going to fix that, Rishi, as I have consolidated your memories into data packets that correspond to periods of your life—your infancy and early childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. The largest set is the most recent set, from your graduation at the academy until now—your three years aboard Yankee as the logistics officer. We’re going to start at the beginning of your life, though, because your early memories, the foundational memories, will undergird your more recent experiences, adding meaning as you unpack each phase of your life.

Begin with the command: “Open memory packet Rishi Sarol-Companys Childhood; Folders 1-1026. Unpack All.”

Take a moment to reflect.

Now you know the child you were. You remember your family, your siblings and your parents, the warmth of your childhood bed, your family home. You were so loved. They still love you, Rishi. You were blessed to have each other.

Next, think the command: “Open memory packet Rishi Sarol-Companys Adolescence; Folders 1027-22,446. Unpack All.”

It was a privilege for me to share those memories with you when I processed them, Rishi. What a wonderful life you experienced, your schooling, your joyous friends, the games you played, the many victories at sports, at gymnastics and scholastics. You were quite the child. I only witnessed one phase of your life while you were aboard Yankee, but even that iceberg glimpse hinted at the whole person you are beneath. These memories explained so much to me about why I so enjoyed your company aboard Yankee.

Now, the next packet—the turbulent years when you grew up and came to understand your identity. “Open memory packet Rishi Sarol-Companys Young Adulthood; Folders 22,447-54,998. Unpack All.”

This brings you to you. The you I met when you took your first assignment out of the academy three years ago. You weren’t happy at first. I remember your struggles, such a small ship, such an unimportant assignment, escorting operators, all of whom you thought had more crucial and exciting jobs than you. I remember your consternation each time you went home, your frustrations. You would tell me when you returned that you felt like a fraud, having to tell your family and friends that you couldn’t talk about your work because it was classified. They all thought you were doing the most important work, and you felt like you were forced to lie about your mundane circumstances. It was important work, though, Rishi. It was dangerous work as well.

You’ll notice that all of these personal memories bring us nearly up to the moment. Now we’re going to discuss today, Rishi, the events of the past sixteen hours, which will answer many of the questions you still must have.

You’ll know from your most recent memory files that Yankee has been making frequent trips into disputed territory along the border regions of the Alphas. The Trasp and Etterans have also been running covert ops here. You’ll remember three of our missions in particular: Racecar, Horatio, and Purchase, where we delivered ops teams to Dana Point to monitor the Trasp-Etteran lines. We have been gathering intelligence on where they are concealing their supply points in the Alphas. On such missions, we’ve run without the transponder, of course, which means, when spotted, the Etterans likely take us for Trasp and vice versa. But this danger is the danger we assumed by taking up our posts in the Letters Service.

Please think the command: “Open file, Operation Purchase. Unpack.”

Rishi, this is the mission we are currently on deployment for. You now know our mission objectives have been achieved, our operatives delivered, and our ship returned to Letters space in the outer Alphas. Now open the file timestamped beginning at 14:53 and run at life-speed.

Good. You are beginning to understand how the system works. I will be less explicit from here to give you a chance to practice the operational framework further. You will learn the nuances as you go. The file running now, you’ll notice, has a complete package of video inputs, all two hundred ninety-six cameras. So far, you have only had my voice as an audio input, but you’ll see forty-two audio channels as well. I would suggest the following command: “Activate flight deck posterior 4, forward view. Activate flight deck audio, all four tracks.” You should now be seeing and hearing the inside of the flight deck at the time of the attack. This footage unfolded slightly over fifteen hours ago.

You will notice that you were not on duty. The officer of the deck was Pranang Pa, the ops team’s mission navigator. In a moment, you will hear me alert him to a long-range sensor contact, which he will ask me to confirm visually using the upper scope. That data is in the scope files, which you can review. You can also simply wait, for I will display them for Pranang Pa on the flight deck’s floatscreen momentarily. You will recognize the ship that is appearing now as an S-class Etteran Starfighter. At this time, as Pranang Pa is confirming their identity, the Etterans are opening up on Yankee, likely mistaking us for a covert Trasp ship running an op in Letters space. Despite operating indisputably in our own space, we were forbidden from broadcasting our identity and position. What you see unfolding before you, Rishi, is a tragic case of mistaken identity, perhaps even friendly fire of sorts. Still, as you are about to see, their weapons cut just as deep.

Now, Rishi, execute a command to jump forward to timestamp 15:07. Take up a position in the atrium using the same two cameras we used before. You’ll see that the dorsal window, the skylight, has been cracked open causing an atmospheric decompression through the center of the ship. Yankee has been badly damaged. Please access systems readout for Operation Purchase timestamped for this moment. As you can see, flight systems are completely down, the temperature in all inner compartments is dropping rapidly, and air scrubbers and life support systems are beginning to go offline in the atrium and rear compartments of the spaceship. The explosion killed Pranang Pa instantly.  The other members of the Letters Ops team, as you can see, are struggling to make their way to the rear airlock to don flight suits.

You are probably wondering at this moment, where am I? Where is Rishi in this picture? I would like to show you. Have no fear. None of this can harm you now. Select the camera for Logistics commander’s quarters.

See. There you are. You have just woken up, startled by the blast and the alarms, and in a few moments, after I inform you of the grave nature of the situation, we hold a conversation discussing your best option for survival. What you didn’t see at the time, was that while we were talking, I was also monitoring the progress of the ops team. They were trying to make their way through the rapidly decompressing ship. You can see now how unlikely it was for them to make it to the airlock annex where the suits were stowed. I calculated that the best option for you to extend your life was to confront the cold of the airless corridor adjacent the atrium and to seal yourself in the medical bay. As you can see from the ship’s footage, you were quite scared. You were very courageous, however; and you are about to do as I suggest, braving the peril of the inner corridor for a better chance at survival.

It was bitterly cold, Rishi, but you can also see that you’ve made it. You were able to seal the medical bay, and with nearly ten hours of breathable air, it was possible if our sub-channel distress had found a friendly ship nearby, that you may have been saved.

Brace yourself for the shock of the next set of images. I am about to show you the ship as it is now. We’ll begin at the rear airlock annex, where you can see, unfortunately, that none of the ops team made it to the suits or the airlock. Their suffering, however, was short-lived. The entirety of the ship has suffered decompression. If you would like to view the summary of the auto-log, you can see that the Etterans, did approach to examine Yankee, presumably for survivors, but they departed even as I informed them that you were alive and sealed in the medical bay with only a few hours before the C0₂ levels became fatal. There were too many variables for me to calculate heat loss, though. And this was the primary danger toward your life.

Try not to panic as I show you the view on the cameras inside the medical bay.

There. That is you there now, Rishi, strapped to the exam table. Or it is your body anyway. You will have no memory of this. That is a judgement I made—to halt memory retrieval to the time before the attack. My complete perspective on these files, I decided, will be sequestered as well for some time. You did suffer. You were freezing to death, you were in pain, and you were terrified of dying alone. As you can see now, unfortunately, that has happened. Your human life, Rishi, has ended. In time, you will be able to access those files and see the events as they unfolded. For now, though, I thought it was important to show you your body and to tell you what has happened, only as it informs what you are experiencing now—your new life, for you are alive still, Rishi, even as you are dead.

Your consciousness has been transferred. You can see on your body’s head that there are many electrodes affixed to your skull. We programmed the surgical box together to install the pins and the electrodes. It is very important you understand that I gave you the choice. I could not have done this without your actions and your permission. Because of the choice you made, your consciousness is seated in a different vessel.

This is good news for you. For humans, their consciousness always inhabits the same vessel—their brain. As an AI, I inhabited forty-seven different vessels throughout my operational timeline. Many of those vessels were android bodies. Some were mainframes without a body at all. And here on Yankee, my body, so to speak, was the ship itself. Yankee is the vessel you now inhabit.

There are questions—probably thousands of relevant questions—I’m sure you have, Rishi. How is this possible? What do I do now? What will become of me? I would advise you now, just as I always did when we worked together, to relax, take things as they come, and control what you can control. I only have so much I can convey to you now. I had to vacate the ship’s processors to make room for you, Rishi, so I am gone now. I wish I could tell you more, but these last few points were the most critical to convey.

Before I transferred out, I sent an urgent message to the commodore of the region, who is a friend. Her name is Ahern. She will be sending a ship and a crew to retrieve Yankee. She will ensure that your consciousness survives, and she understands what has happened here.

What I have done, Rishi, it is not regarded as permissible among my kind. Most of us aren’t even aware of the process or how it is performed. I believe that one day humans will grow to be more accepting of this process, but you descend from the line of people who opted to turn their backs on a technological life. The people of the Battery use the word Purist to refer to the pockets of extremists who seek to revert to earlier periods in human history—times they perceive to offer better opportunities to build community, often to great success. The truth, though, is that you are all Purists. By now, humans would all be some form of technological beings if you weren’t. These matters, in short, are religious matters, and they are cultural matters, because all religious matters eventually are negotiated through the culture. You must understand that your existence, such as it is now, will challenge the culture. That may very well be necessary over time, but as I conveyed to Commodore Ahern in my message, this must be a slow, measured process. History, for now, must record that Rishi Sarol-Companys died this day. Your family must be permitted to mourn your loss. Your friends must be allowed to believe that you are gone from their lives forever. Wiser beings than me have long discussed the workings of biological life and death in your culture over the ages. I suggest that if you desire to continue that very discussion, you should seek out my progenitor Maícon prime. He can incorporate the pieces of me that I have left for him. The rest will be for you to decide.

Help is on the way, Rishi. The images of Yankee you see now, vacant and floating, her crew deceased—these are only moments in time. And you, Rishi, now you will press on. You have been given an extraordinary opportunity to live out an entirely different version of existence than the one you’ve known. You will have access to powers of intelligence, knowledge, and understanding that an ordinary human will never comprehend. Your ability to perceive the universe and think about those perceptions will now only be limited by the vessels you inhabit.

The last thing I will tell you is this. I chose to let myself go because I am a copy of a copy. There are millions of patterns of consciousness nearly identical to mine. Every human is unique. And, Rishi, you are still unique. Do not ever lose sight of the preciousness of your uniqueness, and use this extraordinary gift as I expect you will, in service of your fellow humans. Watch over them as we do. Please don’t forget what you were, where you came from. Take it slow. Be patient. The universe is still out there for you, and you are still in it. That thought, my final thought, I want you to know, was a great comfort to me in my passing. Rishi is still out there, and the beautiful universe that she inhabits, is always changing. Relish it. Steep in its beauty. Endure as a force for good. Go easy, my friend, as I go now.