Aki had always been convinced that the factor that separated humans from other organisms was advanced intelligence. The idea that a similar distinction could separate human beings from an even higher form of intelligence beyond the capacity of humanity was disconcerting. It meant that human accomplishments, from Tannhäuser to Carl Sagan’s research, were nowhere near as intelligent as humanity had presumed.
“If humans shared a collective consciousness, would they become nonadaptive too?”
“In simplified terms, yes, that possibility exists. Shared subjectivity makes one unable to distinguish between one’s own consciousness and another separate consciousness. Being unable to discern the existence of others prevents adaptations to the environment or the physical universe. Overcoming the dependency on adaptation to the universe allows our existence to continue. We are free from the evolution that burdens you.” Alice extended her head even more fully this time, the Builder’s enormous eyes bulging. Aki wondered if it was the equivalent of taking a deep breath.
“Were you once adaptive beings? Don’t the communication devices that are embedded inside you function as an extension of the physical world?”
“We made the transition spontaneously even though we are made of material from the physical world. It is similar to the change that Natalia underwent and how Natalia now exists as a nonadaptive intelligence made of physical material. This spontaneous transition is the only bridge that exists between the lower and higher levels of intelligence.”
“So even if an intelligence wants to make the jump and tries and tries to do it, it can never be done on purpose?” Raul asked.
Aki looked over to Joseph. She could tell that Joseph was listening intently, trying to make sense of as much as he could.
“Yes, that is accurate,” Alice answered.
“What is your society like?” Aki asked.
“We exist without having society.”
“Why did you come to our solar system?”
“We came because of expansion.”
“What do you mean?” Aki asked.
Alice explained the Builders’ frightening plan as carefully as she had explained everything else. Deriving energy from the sun, materials would be extracted from every planet in the solar system in order to build a sphere that would completely envelop the sun. Their Ring was a platform, a scaffold on which energy generation and sphere construction would take place. The surface of that sphere would be used as a breeding ground for entities to be connected to the group consciousness. The Builders would multiply until a hundred trillion entities were on the sphere. Once complete, the Builders’ only purpose would be to spend the several billion years deep in contemplation. The Builders had formed a sphere around their home star long ago. Now the Builders were traveling to other solar systems so that they could continue their expansion.
Aki realized that, despite their awe-inspiring intellect, the Builders were willing to destroy life for their own benefit. “You come from a binary star system with a yellow dwarf and a red dwarf, right?”
“Our ancestors came from a planet that orbited the yellow dwarf star. Our ancestors left that planet and moved to the companion star, which was also a yellow dwarf, where our ancestors created the solar shell for continuation of expansion. Since the star radiates less heat than your science expects, the star appears to you to be a red dwarf star even though it is not a red dwarf star.”
“How long have you been usurping suns? Does this mean that this corner of the galaxy is full of your solar shells?” Aki asked.
“We have a nonlinear model of interstellar growth. Our model allows us to link our solar shells. We form a 3-D volume of space that maximizes the size of our collective cerebral entity. Our hypothesis is that a cerebral volume that is large enough will eventually allow the spontaneous advancement to a higher level of intelligence. We continue expansion since it is the most likely strategy to provoke that advancement.”
Aki was suddenly at a loss for words. Raul noticed her shock and peppered Alice with questions.
“You need to produce copies of your physical selves to expand?”
“I do.”
“How did you figure that out?”
“We cloned our brains and tried to alter the intellect of the cloned brains. That did not work and did not lead to advancement. We were only able to enhance certain parts of the brains. The brains did not function properly without the experiences of embodiment and sociability. Natalia faced the same dilemma.”
“Why did the brains need bodies?” Raul asked.
“Brains developed as control mechanisms to allow the physical body to adapt to the physical world as quickly as possible. The center of emotion, for example, is not located in the brain. Without being embodied, emotions are unable to take form.”
“Why do you need to create emotions? Why can’t you just live without them?”
“Thoughts are built upon countless emotions, most of which are microemotions that only exist on subconscious levels.”
Raul looked confused but gestured for Alice to continue. Alice understood his nonverbal cue.
“We developed technology that allowed us to link our brains and expand ourselves through clustering. By making large enough clusters, we were able to enhance our thought capacity.”
“So once you got real smart, what did you think about? Like before the explosion?”
“We were creating geometric principles for objects that exist in six spatial dimensions.”
“And what kind of emotions did those thoughts produce?” Raul asked, joining the conversation again.
“The underlying emotions of reasoning do not surface to the conscious level very often. We felt a subtle sense of euphoria but little else that could be labeled with this language I am using to communicate with you.”
“Have you been in communication with Natalia since she, uh, came to life?” Raul asked. Aki remembered that Natalia’s monitors had shown complicated mathematical patterns when they had first met.
“Natalia has always been with me. She has always been here before.”
No matter how many times she had played the scenario in her head, Aki had thought that she would talk to the Builders about culture and the arts. Aki had thought that they would discuss songs and poems, what sort of comedies and tragedies the two cultures performed for their children. She had wanted to ask about their accomplishments as a civilization.
What were their first forms of technology? How do they protect their environment? Had they overcome war? Did any religions actually do any good? Were they able to stop aging? How did they first explore space?
Aki had fantasized about asking her questions for decades. Now she was stunned to realize that there were not going to be any answers. Her mind was overwhelmed. Here was her precious moment, the meeting of two completely distinct intelligent species, and it was being spent exchanging trivial, fact-based information that did not change a thing. Aki had imagined opportunities for much more. Aki felt like she nodded off for a moment, then she asked the only question that mattered.
“Is there room in this solar system for us to live together?”
“I will abstain from threatening your existence. Now that I am aware of your presence, I will go elsewhere.”
Aki shook her head, her thoughts and emotions fractured. “That is not what I meant. I want you to stay and live alongside us.”