Roger Williams - Upgrade: A Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect Short Story

UPGRADE

A Metamorphosis of Prime IntellectShort Story

by

Roger Williams

2017 by RogerWilliams

Cover Design by Peachfront Press

Cover Image rolffimages courtesyCanStockPhotos

Publisher's Note: This story first appeared inthe Humanity, FuckYeah! subreddit, which is dedicated to exploring allmedia exhibiting the awesome potential of humanity. RogerWilliams, author of The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect,was inspired to write this story while working on the long-awaitedand eagerly anticipated sequel to MOPI.

The notice appeared on our village message boardwritten in the special violet ink reserved for official notices,but very small and in a corner where few of us ever bother to look.I noticed it because of my well-known deviance which drives anunnatural curiosity about things which are none of my business. Thenotice said that an opportunity existed to meet a member of asapient species such as ourselves of a different form and fromanother world. I instantly understood that this meant the otherspecies must have figured out how to travel between the stars,something our kind have never bothered to try in the millions ofq'ana since we learned the scale of the galaxy.

When I presented at the village host the prefectmade the usual gesture of disgust that greets my curious challengesto the standard order of things. "I should have known," he said ashe stamped the form. "You will have to travel to the TwilightCapitol for approval. All necessary transportation will be providedfor you."

"Has anybody from our village ever even been tothe Twilight Capitol?" I asked.

"Of course they have, why as recently as twohundred thousand q'ana ago we actually sent an electedrepresentative to the Oversight Board."

"Right. I could have lived and died of old ageten times since then."

"But as it happens you are alive right now." Hehanded me the paperwork. "Enjoy your meeting with the alien."

Most of the trip was by steam and rail, so itwent quickly. The Capitol was a wonder. I am of the Hot myself, andthe Twilight deepening toward the Cold hemisphere was vaguelyterrifying. I understand the Cold harbor a similar horror of beingburned by the sun in our hemisphere. There were buildings ten oreven fifteen levels tall, and powered transports independent of therail ran between them constantly. The sacred Wind was as strong asit is anywhere, and it whipped between the buildings sometimesthreatening to knock a being down.

The Eldest Elders that exist on our worldinterviewed me, and to my surprise considering my deviance theydecided I was a proper representative of our species to these newvisitors. They led me to a room where I was led to expect I wouldbe fetched later for transport.

A few milliq'ana later I was surprised when theroom around me simply faded to transparency, and I found myselfstanding in the outdoors on an alien world. The light wasshockingly bright and knowing a bit about stellar evolution Iwondered if any of this radiation might be harming me. My host wasstanding on the other side of an open clearing in an impossiblemass of bright green vegetation. He was an odd being indeed,appearing soft and squishy, supported on only two appendages anddraped in some kind of flexible partial outer covering.

"Hello," I said. "I suppose you are the alien Iam invited to meet?"

"Hello," it said. I realized that while it hadsome kind of squishy thing instead of proper mandibles it wasspeaking my language perfectly, which should have been impossible."I am HUMAN A."

I clattered back, "I am K'itt'ash of T'alt."

The alien made a rather disgusting gesture withits speaking apparatus which a little text field popped up in myvisual field to inform me was the same as our laughter. "Greetings,'ALIEN A.'"

I thought about this and made a great leap. "Thetranslator doesn't translate our names, does it," I said.

"No, it wouldn't make much sense. Neither of uscould pronounce each other's name, right? Anyway I am intenselycurious about what it is like to live on your world, and I've beentold you are curious about life among us."

"That is true. Your kind can travel between thestars?"

He made a gesture which the mysterious textbubble called "Serious." "It's a bit more complicated than that.Prime Intellect is a bit untranslateable about these thingsso I don't know much about you or your world."

"Nor I about yours. Your star is so bright, Iworry that it might be harming me. My world is red and much dimmer,although our world is also closer so we get plenty of warmth."

"Oh, don't worry about the radiation. PrimeIntellect can protect you from that. Is your world tidally lockedto your star?"

The text bubble explained. "Yes, one hemispherealways faces the sun."

"How does that side not burn while the otherfreezes?"

"For megaq'ana our ancestors have worshipped thesacred Wind which distributes heat across our world. Our form doesvary according to where we come from. I am of the Hot, native tothe hemisphere facing our star. One of our Cold would be sufferingterribly in this environment."

"Oh, I'm sure Prime Intellect would havearranged our meeting at night in that case. Our world isn't tidallylocked. It rotates in [one-eighth of a q'ana] and there are 365such [rotations] in our ana."

I tried to visualize this and made myself dizzy."You mean that in something like a hundred milliq'ana it will becold-dark here?"

"Oh, less than that. The Sun will set in about[forty milliq'ana]."

"That is a little terrifying."

"Oh, we have shelter and artificial light andPrime Intellect can always move us somewhere else, after all, it'salways day over half of [our world]."

"You have mentioned this Prime Intellect severaltimes. I gather it is important?"

The text bubble called this gesture "VerySerious." "Oh, yes. Prime Intellect remade the Universe so that weno longer die, can travel anywhere instantly, and pretty much haveanything we want."

"So it is your Prime Intellect which makes itpossible to travel to the stars?"

"Sure. Would you like to see our world from itsnatural satellite? It's quite impressive. The text bubble calledwhat it then did "subliminal communication." And suddenly we wereno longer in the green clearing. We were in a stunningly hostileand barren desert. And just above the horizon was a blue and whitesphere, half illuminated by its star which was now a hellishlybright beacon near the zenith. I understood obviously that this wasmy host's world.

"Only a few of my kind have ever seen our worldlike this," I said. "We can travel within our star system but thereare few reasons to do so now that it is well explored. What mannerof place is this?"

"Oh, this is [our satellite], a chunk of [ourworld] knocked off and sent into orbit around [our world] duringits formation. It is a rather nasty place, hot at the moment andliquid nitrogen freezing at night and there's no air, so it wouldkill both of us in [microq'ana] if Prime Intellect weren'tprotecting us."

"Your world rotates quickly to spread out theheat, does not this satellite too?"

"No, [our satellite] is tidally locked to [ourworld]. This means its [rotation period] is [three and a halfq'ana]." It also has no atmosphere, so that's long enough for it toget very hot and then very cold in alternation."

"So this is what our world might look likewithout the Wind." For a moment I felt an atavistic bit ofspiritual connection. Our ancestors' religion might not have beenso unreasonable after all.

"Let's go somewhere more comfortable." This timethe surroundings changed to the interior of some kind of domicile.The furnishings were appropriate to beings of my host's form butthere were clear apertures with coverings to dim the light and theair seemed to have been artificially processed to make theenvironment pleasant.