What is Truly Important Pt2 (Science fiction)

More little aliens for Night Star

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What is Truly Important Pt2 (Science fiction)

The Medical Officer looked around her at the little aliens admiring each other and spreading the new knowledge of braiding hair. It seemed to her that every little alien was here to learn and experience something new, such was the excitement, and more of them were arriving with every moment that passed.

The medical Officer was proud of herself and yet she also felt a little uncomfortable at the idea of a civilisation coming to a standstill because she disregarded the first commandment of her training; "Do not interfere".

"Yeah, easier said then done."

She also wondered if she has gotten the little aliens into trouble with their superiors . . . .

" They are enjoying themselves, is that wrong?" It was the larger alien that silently 'spoke'.

The medical officer wondered.

"There are no 'superiors'. We are alone. Everyone has a purpose, everyone has a role. The 'little ones' are interfaces, that is what they were designed and built to do and be."

"When our Creators were with us, the little ones were the intelligent bridge between the subconscious machines and other sentient beings. Though there are also other embedded sentient beings who can fulfil that role. Perhaps you could call them proxies as well as interfaces, both words describe the roles they were designed for and built to do.

The medical officer was getting used to having an uncomfortably open mind. Looking at the little aliens surrounding her, she realised that giving them names of their own would prove difficult. They all looked the same!

"We are different." One of the little aliens was looking her way. "We all taste different, like you do, can't you tell?"

The medical officer was a little horrified at the peculiar wording, she was a little more horrified at just how open her thoughts and feelings were to the little aliens around her.

"Aliens" the medical officer thought about the word 'aliens' and the little alien who just spoke to her frowned. Was it the concept surrounding the word that the aliens understood?

Again the little alien frowned.

Okay, for now I'll call you guys interfaces, it's what you do. Okay?

The little interface simply smiled briefly.

"Your teaching me to talk aren't you?"

The little interface's expression didn't change.

"I thought so".

A familiar sensation began to make the medical officer uncomfortable. She was wondering what to do when the little interface took her by the hand and escorted her to an odd looking tunnel. She had seen it before and wondered what it was. The seething carpet of tiny worms that lined the tunnel had reminded the medical officer of the cilia coating the intestine. The Medical Officer watched with horror as the little interface simply sat down between her ankles. The look on her face explained everything.

The idea of peeing like that was too much, never the less, she had to go, and soon. Intestinal worms might be the ultimate cleaning and recycling solution, but she really didn't want to . . .

On their way back to the library, the medical officer was thinking, "If that was a toilet . . . , where is the kitchen? What do they eat?"

Another detour, this time a corridor with a few little interfaces curled up within folds in the walls. She looked closer, they were suckling on on the wall. "Okay . . . ." The Medical Officer suddenly lost what little appetite she had left.

Back at the library, most of the interfaces had dispersed, only a few remained. Looking at them the medical officer wondered how they would look in a ponytail. "They are not children!" the medical officer reminded herself. A presence made itself felt, it was the larger alien "library interface".

"Navigator is the role I fulfil, and my purpose. One who navigates knowledge."

"Then may I call you 'Navigator'?"

"Yes"

The Medical Officer thought of the Science Officer waiting back on the ship. He would have questions for her when she got back. She did like the young man, even though she doubted he had feelings for her. In spite of that, she did want to bring something back for him.

"Would you like to see?" it was Navigator who 'spoke'.

"Please"

It was the view of a ship she saw, just sitting there with stars behind. One white star was brighter and very large compared to the others. "Was that the Sun?" the Medical Officer thought. The view she was watching zoomed in and she saw that the star was contained within the ship. "A little star . . . . ?" she thought for a moment. And then she saw that there was something odd about that star, it looked like a star but it had an undulating white ribbon surrounding it on the horizontal, and atmospheres. Deep inside was a small round ball that looked like her sun.

The Medical Officer was confused, this thing reminded her of a sea creature she had once seen in an ocean aquarium, especially the ribbon, she remembered the sea creature moved using the ribbon. But there was also a sun in there, the Medical Officer was confused.

"You see as we see. I want you to understand as we do." It was Navigator "speaking" again.

"What you see is a star grown, as we are grown, for a purpose. Without the star we would not move. Our ship would not do as we desire.

The Medical Officer had not seen the ribbon before in the pictures of stars, she did know about atmospheres, the Science Officer had told her all about the stars on the first night of their voyage.

"All things are living beings, including stars." it was Navigator 'speaking' again. Our star knows how to move in motion and time. Our library has the movements of the cosmos in her memory. Navigators desire to move, the star obeys."

The Medical Officer's view changed to see the stars moving in the heavens as expanding spirals leaving trails behind them. "Fireworks" she thought.

"What you see are worlds becoming in motion and time."

But not fireworks really, the Medical Officer thought, the trails are staying. As her mind tried to comprehend what she was seeing, her feelings were saying what she was seeing was a single living thing and not simply individual stars. Her feelings said this was a living thing growing outwards from a beginning she could not see.

The medical Officer sat down. How will she explain THAT to the Science Officer . . . , she felt amusement around her and looked up at Navigator.

"Stars and planets move along lines of motion. It is the lines of time and motion that this ship uses to move and they needed an artificial star to grasp the lines and simply slide."

"Time? motion? lines? . . . . stars that grasp the lines and move? The Medical Officer had had enough. She was beginning to feel hungry again. She wanted a proper meal, but she also wanted to stay and learn more.

To the Medical Officer, the interfaces looked very human . . . . , what nourishes them should nourish her. If she was going to live here for any length of time she will have to learn to do what everyone else did.

Link to part one:


www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: Whatsthisthen

S/f

a reply to: Quantum12

In title? Got it thanks.

Ia reply to: Whatsthisthen

S/F star and flag! Great one.

a reply to: Quantum12

Ahh, cheers