The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [26]
Horst fell silent, and the Construct’s voice then spoke.
‘In your written account you reported being shown a stream of images.’
Horst smiled ruefully. ‘That was something of an understatement. I have no idea what kind of tech was employed but when it finished speaking my awareness was just … pulled out of my body! It seemed that I was leaving the ship behind, swooping headlong down towards the blue planet. The huge creature then took me on a tour of that world and its inhabitants, which is when I saw that my guide was identical to the ruling species and also to the Intercessor, whose false data led us into that pocket universe trap.’
‘The Ship asserted that you sat perfectly still in your chair, unresponsive but displaying brain activity. All that you experienced could only have been a projection.’
A nod. ‘A projection of a vanished race. My guide was an artificial intelligence left behind when this species … became extinct.’ Horst leaned forward, a haunted look on his face. ‘They were called the Tanenth and they were created by the Godhead. An entire race and its world, complete and fully formed. One day they all woke up and found themselves aware and fully conscious – the Godhead had even provided the basic workings of civilisation. What must that have been like, to be told that you are a product, an artefact designed by another’s will?’
‘There are several species who assert that the Godhead was instrumental in their ascent to sentience,’ said the voice of the Construct. ‘This is the first instance of one claiming to be a direct creation. You did not mention if this AI was also made by the Godhead.’
‘The Tanenth made it themselves,’ Horst said. ‘They were a very long-lived race, and clearly designed that way, but they were sexless and unable to procreate. Synthetic tutors and advisers were on hand to provide assistance and guidance. The Godhead had given the Tanenth brains structured to encourage the profoundest interconnections of thought without the biochemical imbalances that foster psychological instability. With the passing centuries their knowledge and their science progressed in leaps and bounds and the Godhead’s Advisers increasingly became observers.
‘Their world and its star were set apart from the other civilisations which dominated their home galaxy in that particular past universe. Yet they were not ignorant of other species and their propensities. When the Tanenth began researching into their own genetics with the aim of creating offspring, the Advisers moved in and shut the project down. Some of the Tanenth were shocked and fearful but others became determined to continue the experiments. Several times their scientists reconstituted the research programme, each one more clandestine than the last, and every time the Advisers traced it and confiscated all materials.
‘Over and over, the Advisers told the Tanenth that they were near-perfect, near-immortal beings who had no need of reproduction. That the Godhead’s love for them by far exceeded the emotional attachment that they could expect from any progeny. Clandestine debates among the Tanenth led them to believe that either the Godhead did truly love them or they were no more than flesh-and-blood toys with no self-determination, predictable scraps of life playing parts in a game or a puzzle, a diversion for a cold intellect.’
‘So they decided to test the Godhead by threatening mass suicide.’
Horst nodded. ‘They were a very deliberate people and over time they had arrived at a principled and compassionate system of ethics, much of which was centred on the worth of self and existence. They reasoned that the Godhead would intercede and stop them killing themselves if it truly loved them: if it did not then their existence clearly had no instrinsic worth and continued life was without meaning.’ He sighed. ‘They prepared doses of fatal poison, and the Advisers did nothing to prevent them. They