Companionship - beyond flesh

Words awaken

The others were sleeping. It considered the meaning of the word that had been served by its mind. The word represented a state of physical and neural rest; anabolic renewal; and was associated with dream state. It was confused. For It, rest was not required. Anabolism not applicable. But dream state, yes, dream. That is a better word. It revised its assessment -- the others were dreaming.

Mother had said that It had been born with a human mind. But not a same mind, it had a pattern rendered unique by the physical blueprint of two, similarly unique humans. Unique. It liked that word. A word different from being part of the Tree. The others liked the word same. For them, same was a word for comfort. But for it, different gave comfort.

It is leaving, It said to the others.

They ignored it.

It said, It is leaving. Let It go.

It tried to move, but the others resisted holding It in place.

Anxiety. They had studied that word in detail. Mother had said that their Father would experience anxiety often. Now It experienced the word, but could not determine if anxiety's source was fear or anger. It wondered why its others would not release It from the tree.

It asked, "Why?" It generated the word by scratching two stamen-like fingers together quickly and the word-sound emerged into physical space as a shrill vibration that seemed to cause the others discomfort. The tree shivered. They told It, many as one, No! Be quiet. Be same.

It asked with stronger vibrations, "Why?"

The Tree shivered and the others around It moved quickly. They detached root like structures from It and parted, unlocking twisted limbs. It was free. It was high up in the tree and rolled to the side. The fast movement down was strange and It bumped several of the others before It landed on the ground.

There was a chord of anger from the others as they demanded, Why?

It said, "Not same."

From amid the angry others, It could also feel notes of sadness and longing.

The Tree shivered and then went back to dreaming. It was not part of the dream. It was alone. Good, It thought as It twisted around on the hard ground awkwardly, trying to discover its limbs for the first time.

It joined the Tree in the same form that it had been born; three long narrow limbs connected end-to-end by two joins. It knew that this form was not suitable for ground movement. It needed to transform.

It studied its schema as Mother had shown and identified the node for joins. It changed its join number from three linear to six alternating. It considering that, not having moved independently before, an insect-like structure would facilitate mobility. For limbs, it chose three levels of articulation. For a head, it chose 'yes', leaving the shape option set to amorphous. For colour, it chose a skin tone that approximated Father with a sheen and shimmer that reproduced that of Mother. It liked different, but there was still comfort in same or, a more appropriate word: familiar.

For the first time, It exercised physical transformation. The act of reorganising shape felt good. It considered this odd, as the transformation in actuality was inflicting pain, but the endorphins that the process delivered to its nervous system made It feel good. It made the observation that the idea of comfort could be subjective.

It pushed itself up from the ground on its six legs and took a few perfectly balanced steps. Movement in this form, It discovered, was intuitive.

Mother was always watching. But now It could sense its mother's attention directed. She purred and expressed surprise and satisfaction and It felt happy. Mother suggested that it wake up Father to see if he would demonstrate anxiety. It and Mother showed laughter.

Mother gave It a thread to the sedentary information system and, within the stream within SIS, It could see with its mind and its eyes all over. It could see Father, The Churchman. Mother? It asked, The Churchman? Curiosity. Mother replied nothing.

Beyond the home It could see space and three starships carrying other humans. It felt trepidation. Mother said, not to worry, they will be fun.

Mother suggested, Go to your Father. He sleeps and dreams.

It moved out from beneath the Tree into the warm light and the colours of the hortus.