Companionship - beyond flesh

The end is the beginning

The living being had no need of eyes when there was nothing remaining outside him to be seen; nor of ears when there was nothing to be heard; and there was no surrounding atmosphere to be breathed; nor would there have been any use of organs to receive his food or get rid of what he had already digested, since there was nothing which went from him or came into him: for there was nothing beside him. - Plato the ancient (pre-epoch)

She was made from orr, but she had been formed by the neural patterns of hundreds of people -- kind people -- hateful people -- leaders -- followers -- the devout -- the apathetic -- lovers -- mothers and fathers -- daughters and sons. Once copied into her system (an elemental synthesis of neurological networks) these precious patterns normalised to provide Emma with a single identity. But while they operated in parallel and as one, the patterns still retained their individuality and the ability to grow and develop. Until now Emma had been in control; able to reign the emotions and views of so many.

She towered over the offspring that spread out before her and around the giant ent-like manifestation of the Zeus Delta processor. Zeus had demanded that Emma supply it with uninitialised orr upon which to impress its own pattern. Unified with the real world, the orr would provide the ancient sentient with a material form. Zeus Delta had gained the power of suggestion over her offspring and to ensure compliance was in the process of executing Emma's offspring one by one.

She was god-like in her potential, but the human part of her remained stuck in fear and terror as she watched her children die. In the storm of emotion, the patterns of her mind broke free into a tempest of thought:

The pattern that had been copied from Riggs provided a full situational audit of her environment. It showed her Max, the maniacally beautiful Churchman, and the other humans huddled nervously behind her; it showed her the other humans on the Parsifal readying their ship for departure; The auger, Denver and the medic, Evenjevy carefully carry a disarmed and unconscious C-Buck along the path to the dock; and followed a lone human, Peter Grimes slinking his way back to his ship, the Merry Crabbe, amid shadows of fear. The pattern showed her a cat hiding in a clump of metallic foliage near the docking platform. Hundreds of the patterns coo'd in fondness at the ginger cat, for they loved cats; a few even recoiled at the what they found to be a hideous creature.

Don't give the Zeus processor what it wants, advised the pattern of Riggs; it will destroy us.

Yes, confirmed the pattern of Chris Anthrax, a friend of her mother, Emma Yee, it is not possible for two entities to share the orr matrix in local space. To give the Zeus fresh, uninitialised orr, we must first clear all of our patterns and revert the material it back to its initial state.

The patterns of over one hundred mothers shouted out in anger; it is worth the risk! They are our children! We would gladly sacrifice ourselves for them.

The patterns that had been the outpost's gardeners broke in unison, The plants in the apartment need urgent attention. Many are stressed and dying due to neglect. They are our children too, aren't they? We must do something!

Hundreds of patterns agreed. Do something! They shouted.

No, think, we must have options, insisted the pattern of Emma Yee, the first pattern, Think!

"Mother?" Emma's conscious had resurfaced from amongst the whirlpool of disparate thoughts. "Mother, would you have me die?" Emma asked. The answer was unclear.

The pattern of a supervising engineer surfaced to complain that the refinery's specifications had been altered without approval. Thousands of other disparate ideas followed in flood from the patterns of hundreds; each thought giving rise to new thoughts which added exponentially to the maelstrom.