(Today we conclude our look at the ongoing saga)

“Nixxy-Smonnix”

Of all the wonderful Gorth creations the Traveller might be the best. Technically biological life created through artificial means, Travellers are the Gorth’s emissary to other worlds. Spaceborn and essentially immortal, Travellers best resemble a two dimensional silver veil about two meters square, but they too often contract into tiny orbs as do the probes. Travellers cannot directly “speak” to anyone save for probes, whom they also must speak through when time comes to make Contact. Infinitely wise and capable of opening several consciousnesses at once, Travellers are likely to become the most advanced lifeform in the galaxy, if they aren’t already. (Travellers are considered female because “it” is an impolite pronoun and “he” is being used.)

But even the brightest can be hoodwinked.

It was fitting that Mimi and the Traveller were both thirty light years (give-take) from Earth yet in different directions. It symbolically underscored both their personal views, which left Earth, figuratively and literally in the middle. Still, as it goes with people, both were a little more wrong than they would admit, but none of that was writ in stone.

The Traveller knew something was “off” about the probe who sent her both an unannounced message and a tractor beam that attached her to one human mind the instant the communication arrived. The Mighty Probe only needed a millisecond to attach the beam. If Traveller knew it was coming she could have avoided it. But once locked, Traveller knew that she was going to go to Earth no matter how she felt about it.

Travellers have varying personalities and names of their own choosing. Her name was Callie; not really but it will have to do. Callie had tremendous humour and was not quick to lose her patience. Therefore she was bemused and amused by the transmission: WE HAVE DISCOVERED A WORLD AND REQUIRE YOUR PRESENCE. NOW, PIG FARMER! This was signed, YOUR MASTER, THE MIGHTY PROBE.

Three contacts back, the residents of the world, which lay five centuries in her past had a word for a condition that rarely yet sometimes developed in their own AI’s, a treatable dementia they named “nixxy-smonnix.” Callie had never encountered “space happiness” in a probe before, but in the universe anything could happen.

But that notion went back burner after she had traced the probe’s recent history (all things Gorth are at a Traveller’s disposal, a constant history, whose arrival is a lot like a sacred mystery). There was nothing in the probe’s past to suggest trouble (oh, he occasionally expressed the typical resentment for Travellers, but they all did that). Interestingly, however, this probe had briefly gone offline recently, about sixty light years away. It was as though it had exited the universe one place and returned at another much farther away than it should have been. Moreover, Callie saw that the region it had vanished in was mainly inhabited by the Krell. You needn’t the brain power of a billion minds to see the two plus two of the situation. The equation was made even simpler after Traveller examined the data that the probe thoughtfully included in his transmission. It told a tale of a burgeoning, lively, artistic world that was still too shabby around the edges for Contact. And yes, they had split the atom first, which was not as much a concern to Callie as it was to most other Travellers.

But none of this was as important as the introduction of the consciousness of one Holliday James More in her mind. Callie “experienced” Holly moment by moment, starting with the night of Bokay,  but being multi-conscious, she could also have her own thoughts. She saw what he saw, felt his various pains and even allowed herself to dabble in his drunkenness, which, in one form or another, existed everywhere. Callie knew his past as incorrectly as he recalled it, but, unlike Holly, she had the ability to access the memory banks in his brain for accurate pictures. But individuals are not built by accuracy. She regretted that she could not communicate with him. She understood that he had a vague awareness of her and had accepted it.

The measurement of time means little to the everlasting, but it is understood because it means everything to short-lived creatures like Holly More. It would take thirty-two of his years for her to reach him, and, of course, The Mighty Probe, whom she was dying to speak too (but the little bastard had disconnected his link to her after he’d sprung the booby trap). Considering the strong element of self destruction in his personality, she figured there stood a good chance that this young man would be dead well before her arrival. But the beam, Callie knew, was of the sort that consulted “time bubbles”–those subatomic conscious cells left over from the Big Bang. Not even she knew how they worked, but many items regarding the future, mainly the existence of certain living beings, could be gleaned from such. Another sacred mystery. Apparently, or at least as Callie assumed, this Holly person would still be around when she got there.

In the meantime, all she could do was enjoy the ride.

End Chapter Four: End Part One.