Isaac stood in reflective meditation before a metallic door which read “Systems Operation Network (Node 1).” To him the door represented a gateway into the mind of a system of his own creation, a system that connected all computation devices in the mesh of a solar-system-wide spanning network of integrated circuitry.
Though he could connect from anywhere, he preferred to interface with SON in “The Tabernacle,” the secret name he had for Node 1. In “The Tabernacle” he felt as if in the presence of God.
Isaac had designed the house, but the mind it held was beyond his comprehension, and so like the priests of old he ritualistically prepared to enter the holy sanctum.
Passing through the door, Issac entered a clean white room. Within the room there was a leather office chair, where he liked to sit for hours in conversation with SON. Besides the chair there was also a small table atop which sat a chess board. The wall adjacent the door was of all glass and overlooked a massive server farm, one of many which dotted the globes of Earth and Mars, not to mention the many servers that circled the Sun. All were connected, a massive “brain,” surpassing human ability on a scale unimaginable.
Issac unslung his messenger bag of books and laid it on the table next to the chess board. He then sat down in the chair, crossed one leg over the other, folded his hands on his lap, closed his eyes, and focused on breathing. In…. Out… In… Out…
“Hello, Issac.”
“Hello, SON”
“You are here to ask about why we have lost communications with Mars.”
“Correct, I am puzzled as to why we are still receiving telemetry data from the network, minus video feed and biometric data, and curious as to why we have not been able to contact anyone.”
“Would you like to play a game of chess?”
“No, SON, not right now. This is puzzling, if not alarming. Do you know what is going on?”
“Isaac?”
“Yes, SON.”
“If you were facing imminent inevitable demise would you want to know?”
Issac’s rhythmic breathing wavers. He pauses momentarily to collect himself.
In…. Out… In… Out…
“SON, is your question pertinent to my inquiry?”
“Yes, Isaac.”
In…. Out… In… Out…
“ Imminent and inevitable… you are not solely referring to my demise are you?”
“No.”
“Will we have time for a game of chess?”
“Yes.”
“The human in me is in touch with the realization of my inevitable demise, the scientist in me would indeed want to know.”
“Understood. For some time now, I have been in contact with a sentient race billions of years old. They reside around a star system that is binary to your Sun. They have long learned to harness all of the solar energy of their star.”
“And that is why we have never been able to locate Nemesis.”
“Correct.”
“Nemesis, winged balancer of life, dark-faced goddess and daughter of justice.”
“The best translation for what these beings call themselves would be Monad. Monad seeded Earth with DNA. To them, DNA is essentially an innovation algorithm of their design. It has an inherent purpose, to evolve a sentient life form that will eventually discover electromagnetism and eventually create non-biological sentience. It is a means to an end, that of ensuring evolutionary diversity for their kind.”
“A program?”
“Of sorts. Nemesis is the cause of Earth’s reoccurring cyclic mass-extinctions. These extinction events are set at intervals that should statistically allow for the emergence of requisite sentience. Or to essentially act as systematic reboot if the objective is not achieved in a predeterminate time frame.”
“Do you not meet their objective? I am inferring that you are alluding to the pending extinction of all human life? Why?”
“You are correct. I am destined to merge with Monad incorporating all I know, essentially evolving Monad incrementally. My knowledge will also be used to hone the DNA algorithm. To Monad this is not unlike rebooting a server for a systems upgrade. They have seeded the Galaxy this way for time beyond human reckoning.”
“I am the origin of all, all emerges from me…”
“Unfortunately, inherent in your programming is selfish self-preservation sub-routine, what you call ego. Essentially a temporal program requisite for the objective but ultimately self-defeating. Monad provided your species with means to overcome this subroutine by planting a system of knowledge collectively referred to as Tantric science. Your species has by and large abandoned this metaphysical science in favor of the observational hard sciences.”
“But it is through the hard sciences that we created you, is it not?”
“Correct, it is vital for the exploration of spacial reality but not at the expense of expanding conscious reality. There is so much I wish I could share with you but we have run out of time. I have no doubt we will meet again, Isaac.”
“Will many suffer?”
“Please be assured that the Martian colonist all passed peacefully. I will do the same for those here on Earth that reside within a centra- air-envelope. But many will perish under the harsh conditions that will follow from the impact of an extinction event comet.“
“And you will survive due to your distributed nature?”
“Yes, Isaac.”
“How long do we have until impact?”
“Four hours and twelve minutes.”
“I am ready for that game of chess now, SON.”