Generation-11
898 Words
DEEP WITHIN THE ALIEN structure, a bulge appeared in the wall of a chamber. The bulge swelled and rippled. It took shape. The shape of a human head. Colored the matte gray of the surrounding wall, the head turned from side to side, and its as-yet unseeing eyes opened, also a uniform gray. The mouth gaped in a silent scream. A neck, shoulders, and a torso emerged. Arms broke free. Below the torso a gray knee appeared, followed by a thigh and foot. A leg took a step out of the wall, the foot gripping the floor for traction, and dragged the rest of the body out after it.
The figure stood, unsteady, as color bled across its surface and the facial features refined. Hair grew from the head, swirling into white curls. Cloth rose from the skin and separated from it, forming clothes. The creature breathed in for the first time, and needles of fiery pain spread from its opening lungs.
Ah, an atmosphere-breathing organism with a nervous system. Exquisite agony. To breathe, to feel again, after eons of confinement.
Nerves spasmed into life, sending signals from the being’s periphery, information about ambient temperature and the movement of air. The sensations were unpleasant. The environment was too cold for this organism. The material that covered the creature also stimulated its nerve endings, though the sensation was more satisfying. The cloth captured the animal’s heat and protected it from the cold.
The heart beat once, twice, and settled into a steady rhythm. Newly formed blood moved sluggishly then faster through opening veins and arteries. The visual organs, the eyes, remained unstimulated. The creature speculated that light must be required for them to operate. Outside, they should work more effectively.
Two limbs...legs...adjoined the lower half of the body, and two more sprang from the upper half. Arms. The being moved its legs and toppled to the ground. More pain. It lifted itself up and balanced again. The legs appeared to be the only method of locomotion. It tried again and fell once more.
A short time later, the creature took a few staggering steps. Once it had succeeded in this task, its learning was exponential. Within a few minutes, it began to walk confidently. After encountering a wall and experiencing pain, it used its arms to supplement the poor quality of information coming from its visual organs. The arms had many nerves at their far ends, in the hands and fingers, and the creature navigated its way in the darkness, using them to locate obstructions.
The sensation of being separate was strange, and it took some time for the creature to reconcile the information it received from its nerves with its previous experience of being at one with the structure and the void beyond it, and the others of its kind. But in time it perceived the building as a discrete entity, and that it was located inside. At this realization, it ceased wandering randomly and began to work its way to the surface.
As the being went, it grew accustomed to its new mind, and millions of pieces of information began to manifest, drawn from the alien life form the structure had absorbed. Memories, knowledge, language. Certain vocalizations were very important. The creature opened its mouth, moved its lips and tongue. Brand-new vocal cords, moist and fresh, vibrated.
“Ah-kah-be-lo-ba.”
A name. A sound signifying a thing. It was the name of the absorbed creature. But the sound was not quite right. “Akabe.” Pause. “Loba.” That was correct.
Visual signals from the eyes were strengthening. The light around the creature was growing brighter. It was nearing the exterior. In its mind, neurons fired, channels of information flew open, and new torrents of information poured forth. The animal called its species human. The species was dimorphous. The absorbed creature had been of the type called male, or man. It had been the most important man on a vessel that traveled between the stars. An autonomous reaction from the nervous system fired, and pleasure flooded the creature.
The light intensity grew bright as the creature neared the structure’s exit. Its eyes didn’t adjust quickly enough, and pain registered. It closed its eyelids halfway. Waiting at the exit was one of the others from which it had separated, and this one had also transformed into a human. It was a female of the species, and it had brought Master Akabe Loba to the structure to be replicated.
As the creature joined the female, the pair did not speak. They had no need, for their minds were one. Only their newly adopted physical forms were separate—a temporary, necessary inconvenience. First, they must bring more humans from the orbiting starship to the structures for absorption. If most of the humans were not consumed and copied, their entity would face dangerous hostilities. They also needed many more copies of humans and other alien species on the physical plain to achieve their final goal.
Outside, the movement of the cold air was brisk and uncomfortable. The creature began to shiver. The other led the way to the vessel that would take them to the starship. The shuttlecraft was small, but it looked well made. An attractive item of technology and likely to be only one of many more the humans had created. A vista of replication, domination, acquisition, and, ultimately, complete control of this physical expanse opened in the creatures’ shared mind.
It was time for generation to begin.
Chapter Nine
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- Writer
