"Yes, and it's also very cold. However, I can arrange the proper attire so you will be warm and comfortable. Just say the word and Gilgamesh will respond appropriately."
"Gilgamesh?" I said. "You said that before. Who's Gilgamesh?"
"You understand there are great numbers of what you call Godships. The one we're now inhabiting is Gilgamesh...one of many."
"How did you know its name," I asked.
"Oh, I gave it that name. It's a good one, don't you think? It's the name of a semi-mythical King who lived, on Earth, some three thousand years ago, in Uruk, Babylonia. Of course, these vessels are much older than that. Now, will you go for a walk on this planet?"
"Oh yes, David. That would be wonderful," Susan said. "Our Godship is very nice, but it would be exciting to walk on a strange new planet," Susan was gushing. It was great to see her so happy.
Within an hour we were clad in skin tight suits and a curious helmet that looked rather like an oversized plastic jar. David led us to a room with walls covered in dials and knobs and flashing lights. I wondered who would be operating the knobs and turning the dials. I've noticed that before; panels with lights and knobs that turn and buttons to press. But without life forms, who would use them?
We three stood before a gray wall, David, Susan and I. David waited, almost impatient. He started to hum. The wall dissolved and we saw a long tunnel that ended in a door.
"Go in," David said. "This wall will close behind you and that door at the far end will open. Have a good time and don't be long. The ship leaves in about an hour."
Susan and I entered the tunnel and it became dark as the wall closed behind us. Small lights suddenly appeared at the far end and, as we approached, the door slid open. Unlike doors within the ship, this door didn't dissolve, it just slid open. Then we found ourselves standing at the top of a long ramp. Susan looked at me and made the first step and the ramp began to move, slipping down onto a misty planet. I was afraid that Susan would be timid about stepping onto the escalator, but she reached out and put her hand on my shoulder.
"Isn't this exciting?" she said.
I was surprised to find that her voice was like an echo within my helmet. Before I had a chance to answer, we were dumped unceremoniously onto the frozen surface. I staggered forward and fell to my knees.
"I had hoped for a smoother landing," I said, pushing myself upright.
"How often do you think Gilgamesh carries humans down this ramp?" Susan said. "I'm surprised the Godship has such a contraption as this."
We looked about and saw that we were on a barren plain: flat, smooth and featureless.
"Looks boring," I said. "Do you want to go any farther? Shall be go back in?"
"Look, over there." Susan pointed to a small bulge in the glassy surface. "Let's investigate."
Although I could hardly get excited about small bumps, I could see that Susan was curious–so we slid across the surface and ended up on our butts, staring at the bump. It did seem rather different than its surroundings. It was more like transparent glass. We gazed into the icy interior.
"Oh God," Susan gasped. "Do you see what's in there?"
I crawled to the edge of the bump and stared directly down. It was clearly a face, staring back at us.
"What is it?" Susan asked. "It looks sort of like a...like a..."
"A chimpanzee," I said. "A chimp with a face mask, a kind of head gear."
Susan was shocked. "I don't like this place," she said. "Let's go back."
I didn't need any further encouragement. I pushed myself to my feet and started back to the Godship. Susan was there first. The ramp began to move as soon as we arrived and we eagerly climbed aboard.
When we were settled into our room, David walked through the wall.
"David," Susan said. "There was something beneath the ice. It looked like a..."
"Chimpanzee," David said. "Yes. An early attempt at space travel with apes rather than humans, ending in a spacecraft that couldn't escape the gravitational attraction of this planet. The craft fell to the ground, vanished beneath a melting surface and its passengers attempted to escape. One such passenger was a very clever chimp called 'odyssey'."
"Was that an attempt by space scientists on Earth?" I asked. "It sure looked like an Earthly chimp."
"Yes. It was the first of many explorations with chimps."
"But we are many light years from Earth," I said. "I'm surprised they managed to get this far."
"Aah, you're thinking of planet Earth as we left it. It has changed. You wouldn't recognize it now. Technology so advanced that space travel via space warp is old hat."
"But we've only been gone a few weeks," Susan said.
"Seven weeks according to our clocks," Davis said. "But several centuries back on planet Earth."
"My dog, Sandy. What has become of him?" Susan was clearly upset.
"Oh, I don't think you'll find anyone or anything you recognize," David said in a whisper. "Yet, you may be pleasantly surprised at what's become of planet Earth. It has advanced far beyond what you may imagine. Technology, of course, but also social facility, the ability to cherish human differences, the appreciation of cultures, the nourishing of music and art as well as science. That is what I've been led to believe, a 'New Earth' as anticipated in the book of Revelation. It is a world that you would be proud to live in...if that were possible."
"Possible? What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"You may visit the Earth surface, but you must return to Gilgamesh–for our Godship has need of you." David was serious. He frowned and was obviously a little disturbed to bring up the subject.
"And if I don't want to return?" I asked.
"You will return. When you go to the surface, you will be accompanied by a guide. I can say no more than that. In fact, I know no more than that. Although I think I'm aware of Gilgamesh's plans, I can never be absolutely sure. In the meantime, we are leaving this planet since we have collected all that we need, for now."
I pretended to accept my fate, but I would escape, nevertheless–with Susan. In fact, David seemed uncertain about our stay on Earth. Perhaps he hadn't understood Godship's whole plan. Perhaps we would be able to stay.
I saw no evidence of our having collected anything from the ammonia planet, but I hadn't seen such evidence back home, either. Perhaps they removed what they needed a molecule at a time. I imagined a cloud of molecular dust flowing from the planet's surface to the Godship. They seemed to do things a molecule at a time. They created androids in that manner, the body being formed slowly on a table, the various appendages appearing like magic. They even placed perfume on Susan's cheek that way. I haven't seen it, but maybe they created furniture and foods that way: a molecule at a time.
One thing I did notice: the ship seemed to collapse, getting smaller, the walls converging. I guess the appropriate size for space travel was economy size. I must remember to ask David how they did that. In any case, the entities that guided our Godship seemed able to control matter at the atomic level, decreasing distances between atoms, collapsing solid objects, turning substantial things into mist. I vaguely remember reading about the interatomic forces that held matter together–or apart. Our hosts were clearly manipulating those forces. Perhaps, one day, I would better understand how that was accomplished.
We ate every meal with David and Tiesha. The native girl was delightful and seemed to relish every moment. She was always smiling. Her hair was always different, sometimes piled high, sometimes falling about her shoulders. I've never seen David more at peace with the world… well, at peace with the ship.
"David," I said, "how does the ship manage to change its size. I mean, it seems to get larger when we stop somewhere and smaller when we leave."
"Ah, isn't that fascinating?" David said, grinning. "Remember, solid objects are mostly empty space, at the atomic level. Our hosts have the ability to manipulate things at that level and squeeze the molecules together. Metal walls become denser–and smaller, of course.
It's like squeezing a ball of gas. Or, if they wish it, a metal wall can become as insubstantial as air. When you walk through a wall, you're just pushing aside an invisible mist of metal atoms. Sometimes, if it's convenient, walls just detach themselves and move then evanesce. It's quite remarkable and also a bit disconcerting to see rooms come apart."
"Okay," I said, "where are all the replicas? I have one and you and Susan and who knows how many others there are."
"Oh, they're around somewhere or perhaps they’ve been assimilated."
"Assimilated?"
"If our hosts deem them unnecessary, their components get absorbed. We need every bit of material we can get our hands on."
"We? You say 'we'? You sound like you're one of our hosts."
David giggled. "Yes, I have become one with our host." I thought he was joking, but he continued: "I have been in constant contact with Gilgamesh–the entity that controls this ship. He asks my advice, for reasons I don't quite understand. He already knows everything, it seems. Maybe it's to get a human perspective, or at least the perspective of a biological structure. In any case, Gilgamesh tells me everything he intends to do–I think. For example, our next stop should please you. I won't say what or when or where, but you'll be pleasantly surprised."
"Gilgamesh?" I said. "Who is Gilgamesh?"
"That question, again? Gordon, you have a rather short term memory. As I've noted before, he is our immortal, our would-be God, our host, our protector, our environment. He cradles us, clasped to his bosom. He reads our thoughts and responds. He has been granted the totality of all knowledge."
David seemed in a trance. I stared at him in dismay. I was beginning to believe he was less man and more machine. With just the mind of a human, he couldn't possibly know all the things he knows. He had been integrated into the fabric of the Godship, I was almost sure of it. What the Godship knew, he knew. Maybe he was this Gilgamesh. I didn't know if that was good or bad–for Susan and me.
Soon after leaving the Tau Ceti planet, the one David called Cythia, we traveled for some time when there was a shudder. The ship was shaking. That's never happened. Susan came rushing into our bedroom.
"What was that?" she cried.
"I don't know. Can you ask our hosts?" I said.
"I did, but I get no response. Maybe David will know. It's scary."
We walked to the wall expecting it to dissolve, but it didn't. That was the only way we moved from room to room and now the wall seemed quite substantial. I couldn't believe we were stuck in the bedroom. I went to the bed to sit, but the bed slowly rose, then vanished. I watched as all the furniture rose in the air, then disappeared. Soon, our room was empty. Susan seemed to be in a trance. I half expected her to vanish.
"Susan? Are you there? Speak to me."
"There's a problem," Susan said, shivering. "Our hosts need to disappear all the furniture. They need...wait, they can't afford the energy expenditure to maintain the furnishings. There's some problem with spatial anomalies or...I can't quite make out what they are saying–that's the cause of the shaking we felt."
"You're talking to our hosts?" It was hard to accept that Susan had become so accomplished at mental communication.
"Yes...hold on...I'm talking to David now."
I waited. Susan sat on the floor, holding her head in her hands. I dare not disturb her. I'd like to know what's happening with this shaking business.
"David doesn't know either," Susan said in a whisper. Then silence. No one spoke. I could hardly breath.
"Hello Miss Blend. I am Hydra."
I looked up and saw the android standing half in and half out of a wall. It's as though she had tried to walk through the wall and it had solidified, trapping her.
"Do not be fearful," she said. "All problems will be resolved in a satisfactory manner. Do not be fearful. Do not be fearful." Then she struggled to free herself from the wall. Her eyes were flashing red and black. After a minute or two she just went limp.
"Hydra?" Susan said. "Are you okay? Can we help?"
The android was clearly defunct, hanging out of the wall, from the waist up. Her bottom half must be beyond the wall.
"I guess she was shut down to conserve energy," Susan said. "Can you guess what's happening?"
"No. I haven't the faintest idea. Perhaps we’ve run into some strange dimensional rift, a space-time rupture, maybe a black hole, maybe run into some stellar debris. I guess there are all sorts of possibilities. But these Godships have been wandering about for millennia, so this can't be the first time they've run into this problem–whatever it is. Can you talk to anybody? David, our hosts, any thing?"
Susan squinted. "No, all communication has stopped. Can you feel it getting cold?"
"Yes, I'd like to think up a warm sweater, but I guess they aren't listening."
"I think the human environment is being removed to conserve energy," Susan said, then added: "I wish we could curl up in our bed, under a ton of blankets."
Another violent shaking, then our ship became calm, quiet. Hydra fell out of the wall and quickly rose to her feet.
"All is well, Miss Blend," she said. "All is well."
"I assume that we're clear of whatever it was that caused the shaking, right?" I asked.
"Yes, all is well," Hydra said. Then she turned and passed through the wall.
I looked about and saw David coming through the opposite wall. Having things pass through walls was a bit nerve wracking.
"David, what happened?" I asked.
"There seemed to be a threat. I can't quite make out the exact nature of the threat," David said. "We've apparently moved into subspace and are now clear–for the time being. I don't think it was serious. I believe it was a primordial black hole or perhaps several. I do believe these cross-space traverses are not uncommon–with Gilgamesh. I'm also led to believe that Gilgamesh collects certain sub-atomic materials during these crossings...mini black holes and gravitons. However, Gilgamesh occasionally has difficulties with distortions between branes, a tearing of the cosmic fiber so to speak."
Where did David get all this information? He was a font of knowledge.
"You're wondering how I knew about these tiny black holes. It's because I was taught. It was a lesson on the creation of the universe, the Big Bang. These are often called primordial black holes. Our vessel has apparently run into many micro holes–there are lots of them among the galaxies, maybe billions. I guess they're hard to detect and hard to avoid. I must admit I didn't understand all of that lesson, but I was given to believe that the super gravity associated with these black holes is the reason for our ship's ability to manipulate gravity. They allow the ship to generate gravitational waves, manipulate matter at the molecular level and..."
"You mean we're carrying around black holes?" I asked.
"Yes, I believe so. These particular mini black holes apparently live on the boundary between our three dimensional space and the other micro-spaces that make up the universe. Since our ship can negotiate these other space dimensions, pass between companion spaces..."
"Then they can capture and employ the black holes–so they can hover over a planet, like they did back home," I said. I looked at David for confirmation. He nodded. I was beginning to wish I could absorb these same lessons from our hosts, but I couldn't. Maybe, given enough time.
"Gordie, did you notice anything peculiar when the ship was shaking?" Susan said. She was smiling so I knew she was composed again and had something in mind.
"Something peculiar? Yes, I did," I said. "Everything on this ship is peculiar."
"Did you not notice that the furniture in our bedroom first rose in the air before they disappeared," Susan said. "That was the antigravity effect of collecting a quantum mechanical black hole filled with gravitons. And Hydra's eyes? Did you see them flashing? That was Hawking radiation reflected from the black hole through Hydra, a Gilgamesh creation."
Damn it! Was I the only person who didn't have a bloody clue what was going on. First Da
vid and now my wife. They knew everything and I was an imbecile. My Susan used to be scientifically naïve, a novice, mentally deficient in all things scientific. And now she was a fountain of knowledge.
"Okay wise guys," I snarled, looking from Susan to David, "if you're so smart, tell me when we get back home."
"Oh Gordie," Susan said, gushing with excitement. She never gushed, but she was gushing now. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes looked as wide as dinner plates. "We're here, on this ship and it's wonderful. We needn't work to survive. We can learn things, exciting new things, and travel and eat what we like and..."
"Damn it, Susan," I said, exasperated. "I don't want to live on a ship that wanders aimlessly about the galaxy."
David stood beside Susan, his arm about her waist. They were both smiling. They were both annoying. Damn them both!
Part 4.4
The ship is huge. I never could determine how huge. Maybe dozens of acres. It was almost impossible to imagine the layout. I just walked to a wall, thought I'd like to get to our living room, then the wall would dissolve and I'd walk through. It didn't seem to matter which wall I'd approach. I'd think 'living room' and beyond the wall was the living room. Well, sometimes, if I thought some place inappropriate, the wall wouldn't dissolve so I'd have to be careful not to anticipate an opening and walk into a solid wall. I did that once and my nose still hurts. I figured there were some places I wasn't supposed to go, like the place which housed the natives and the other alien species that had been collected from various places in the galaxy. The worst thing about this walking-through-walls ritual was the complete lack of privacy. David could pass through the wall to our bedroom with ease. Knocking before entering seemed a foreign concept. That was annoying.
Our dinner with David and Tiesha was a curried chicken dish with a very spicy sauce, served over a brown rice. That, and a cucumber salad and a white wine of some unfamiliar variety. I don't know who ordered it, but it sure wasn't me. I don't particularly like curried things. After dinner I said we would retire to our rooms, but Susan wanted to stay with David and his girlfriend. That never happened before. After dinner the two of us would usually leave, read a while in our living room from the extensive library that had been created for our use, then crawl into bed.