Mindguard (30 page)

“In an hour we
were drunk on wine and the effect of breathtaking landscape. We spent most of
the time in silence, just admiring the surroundings. Do you remember, Sophie,
we never took holo-cams with us, or any other type of recording device. We
never did because we felt they would just be distracting. We let our minds
record our adventures in our memory, offering them far greater beauty than any
technology ever could.”

Sophie thought
about the recording equipment in her backpack. She wondered if it still worked
after their dive into the river on Noriado. 

“Anyway,”
Nikolaos continued, “We were on a hill overlooking a splendid valley. It was so
amazingly similar to Terra Antiqua, even the rays of sunshine felt like those
of Old Earth. Your father must have spent more than fifteen minutes just
looking around, admiring he view. When he saw it, he thought the wine was
playing tricks on his mind.”

“Smoke,” she
said, for she had heard this before and was anticipating the part where it
would become a different story. 

“Yes, Sophie. He
saw smoke. On that distant world, farther than the scope of humanity’s
imagination, there was a fire.”

●

“For a long
time, we stared in disbelief. I thought I saw a trace of anger on your father’s
face. Perhaps he was upset that someone had discovered this… paradise… before
us. Whatever his initial feelings, they quickly gave way to interest. In the
end, your father and I are both creatures of curiosity. The allure of the
mystery was too great.

We started
walking in that direction, passing fields of wondrous, colorful flowers and
orchards of splendid alien trees and shrubs, so pleasing to the eye. We walked
in silence. Our minds were trying to come to terms with this discovery, what it
could mean. Reason dictated that we were about to make contact with the first
form of non-human intelligence, something that science had dreamt of since
before the discovery of the Muench-Henriksen gateways. Except everything about
that planet felt so… human.

I am not ashamed
to admit that my thoughts wandered towards prophecies from the ages past. As we
drew nearer, we could see houses, many of them. There was no place for doubt:
It was a town and it had been built by men just like us. In the center of the
small village was a larger house. It was the only one from which smoke arose,
and I clearly remember a sudden realization that the smoke was a signal, one
designed for us to see. I feared that we might be walking into a trap, but the
attraction of discovery was stronger. As we were about to reach the nearest
houses, it spoke to us.”

“The village,”
Sophie said. She remembered the exhilaration she had felt when she had first
heard the story.  

“It did not
speak with a voice,” Nikolaos said, his own voice but a murmur now. “Not in the
way I speak to you now. It did not say ‘We are the Opus Caine’ but we knew that
was what they were. Little by little we discovered more about them, as though
we were reading a book that was revealing itself to us one page at a time.
Everything was happening here.” He pointed at his head. “We had not yet seen a
single human being. We stopped in front of the entrance, which was marked by a
totem pole with a design we had never seen before. We were unable to take
another step. It was as if we feared that the town was merely a holoprojection
meant to deceive us and that taking a step forward would have us falling off
the edge of the world. We merely stood in place, listening to what the Opus
Caine were revealing to us, listening – but not with our ears. The story
continued to tell
itself
.

It was the year
2091 and mankind had just started spreading throughout the universe, conquering
new territories. Two great discoveries had altered the course of human history.
One was the discovery of the human brain’s capacity for telepathic
communication, on April 4
^th
of 2049. The other was space travel
through the Muench-Henriksen wormholes.

From the start,
telepathy was viewed with distrust and caused great dissension. The gene
therapy that activated this latent ability was only available to the very
wealthy. That brought about great anxiety and lead to civil unrest. The gap
between social classes widened. The middle and lower classes were unhappy. Laws
were created to regulate the use of telepathy but thoughtcrimes grew in
frequency. Illegal drugs that enhanced telepathic communication appeared on the
black market and their effects were unstable and dangerous.

As violence
grew, widespread anarchy became a constant threat to society. By 2063 the
entire world was at war. The Telepathic Registration Act of 2064 severely
restricted inter-mind communication. But in the field of science, telepathy
lead to marvelous results, most importantly the Muench-Henriksen gateways,
which have revolutionized space travel and the neuroinsertions that have
strengthened the human body. Clearly, this was proof that telepathy was not
only a tool for violence but also for the advancement of the human race.

Telepathic
cooperation
was
possible. When it became clear that it will soon be
completely outlawed, seven hundred and ninety-two powerful telepaths fled the
confines of the IFCO. Back then, it was still called the United Governments of
Earth. They fled because, in spite of the anarchy, in spite of the violence,
they still believed that telepathy could be controlled, that it could be used
to benefit mankind, to build bridges between minds and, implicitly, between
souls. To end suffering and bring humanity closer to its Creator.”

Sophie knew that
the last statement had not been suggested by the Opus Caine. Nikolaos had drawn
that conclusion for himself.

“Telepathy as a
gift and not a curse. The end of individual suffering and the dawn of
collective empathy.
That
had been the dream of doctor Whitman Caine. The
seven-hundred and ninety-two telepaths who fled, knew that this dream could
never be fulfilled on Old Earth or any other place under the control of the
United Governments. They knew that once mankind branded something as evil, its
fate was forever sealed. So they decided to flee. To flee as mortal men and
someday return as something else, something greater – the final stage of man’s
evolution.

They called
themselves
Opus Caine
– the
Work of Caine
–
 in honor
of the man who had wanted to bring us together, but had died broken hearted.
They chose the name in the ancient language of science. They fled as fast and
as far as they could, where they thought nobody would know to look. They used
the collective power of their minds to shield themselves from those who might
follow, so they may become invisible. Even the planet had no discernable
neuraltranscendence field. They hoped that mankind would forget them. And we
did. Like a dog chasing a vehicle, we soon forgot and continued on the path on
which we find ourselves today. Meanwhile the Opus Caine started building a new
society, on this far-away planet they named after themselves. It was a society
shaped by a never-before-seen intellect, with the capacity of seven-hundred and
ninety-two minds. Forgotten by the human race and far from the threat of any
potential enemy, the Opus Caine were free to evolve. And they did. They found
balance in this new state of consciousness, they developed as one single being.
Without the confines of individuality, without the boundaries of selfishness, the
Opus Caine managed an enormous evolutionary leap, jumping millennia in mere
decades.

The more they
harvested the power of their collective mind, the more they learned to control
it. Without the burden of self, they opened new doors, discovered abilities no
one would have ever imagined possible. They found new ways of interacting with
the world around them, when they discovered that a powerful enough mind could
transcend even matter. Nature was now at their command. They shaped that once
hostile world into a paradise, terraformed by their own imagination.

Their power grew
every single day and with that power grew their love. Their love for us, for
this universe for which they now felt a newfound responsibility. They had
conquered self, they had conquered mind and matter but, most importantly, they
had conquered death. You see, their minds were now one. When a body withered
and died, the mind remained in place, unaffected,  for it was the same
mind that rested in the body of a newborn child. Do you know what this means,
Sophie?” She said nothing.

“The whole
history of the Opus Caine revealed itself to us with endless generosity and
complete trust. They had chosen us to deliver their message to mankind, the
message of unity. No suffering, no death, just life and love… forever. This is
a message that had been announced to the world once before, a long time ago.
They wanted us to tell the world. They feared that, if they tried to make first
contact with mankind in their current form, it would be traumatic and
intrusive. Even as they made contact with us, they could have immediately
integrated our minds into their own, but they chose to reveal themselves
gradually, like a flower opening its petals to the sun. For all they had
become, the Opus Caine cherished free will.

It was free will
that had resulted in their existence. They wanted mankind to freely choose to
open up to them. They wanted to gain our trust. When their story was finished,
it felt like years had passed for us. In reality, it had been merely minutes.
They asked us to tell their story to their brothers. It was time. The Opus
Caine were numbering thousands and yet they had achieved so much in so little
time. The course of their evolution over the past two and a half centuries had
followed an exponential trajectory. For all they had achieved - with thousands
of minds working as one - there was one thing that had eluded them. That was
their ultimate goal.

“Time,” Sophie
said, her words hanging in the air for what felt like an eternity.

“Yes, Sophie,
time. The extraordinary evolution of the Opus Caine was still one-directional,
spreading out only into the future. If they could gain control of time and
bring their evolution in the direction of the past, the Opus Caine felt that
man would finally reach the pinnacle of his destiny: unification. Not only
unification of man with man, or man with space, but also the unification of man
with time. If man and time become one, if they become inseparable, the Opus
Caine believe that mankind will have fulfilled the destiny it had created for
itself since before existence. Do you understand? To control time means to come
full circle, it means to be united with yourself, with the universe… with God.
Create the universe that created you, give birth to the God that birthed you…”
Niko’s voice was trembling. He could finally share this incredible burden with
someone.

“The Opus Caine
believed, that if their evolution had been so rapidly accelerated by the
collective force of a few thousand minds, then a supermind formed from nearly
fifty billion brains, could eventually transcend the barrier of time. They
offered the very core of their being to us, hoping only that we would accept to
reunite with them - our brothers - as one. I… I was crying then as I am now… I
was so grateful that I, of all people, had been chosen to bring this wonderful
message to the world. It is ironical that such vainglorious thoughts should
come to mind at that moment, but such is the nature of man. That is
not
the nature of Opus Caine.

Nevertheless, at
that moment, I knew a joy that I had never known before. But I also felt sad.
The Opus Caine were asking us to return to our kind and spread their message,
but all I wanted to do was stay. I wanted to become one of them. Again,
selfishness prevailed, for I wanted peace for myself instead of being the
herald of peace for my brothers. But I prayed to God for strength and I
overcame this selfishness. I turned to look at your father and what I saw in
his eyes was so different from the joy I felt I my heart.” 

Sophie felt it:
now came the part of the story that would change her life. She dreaded hearing
it, even though she did not know what exactly what it was that she feared.
Nikolaos looked at her for a few seconds and nodded understandingly.

“Sophie, I feel
that what I am going to tell you now is different from what you believe to be
true. Please, tell me what you have been told.”

“No, I want to
hear -”

“Sophie, please.
You are like a daughter to me. Believe me, I have nothing but your well-being
in mind. Please tell me what your father has told you.”

Sophie was
shaking and breathing heavily. She tried to speak but she couldn’t bring
herself to say a word. She felt that once she would start talking, she would
trigger a chain of events that promised nothing but pain.

“Sophie,
please…”

Sophie tried to
imagine that it wasn’t her speaking the words, but someone else. Perhaps
Sheldon. Yes, Sheldon was speaking, not her. It helped.

“I… he said… my
father told me… everything that happened. He said the same thing you did.
Everything was identical with what you just said.” A voice in her head
whispered ‘Until now!’

“Go on, please
Sophie!”

The girl rocked
back and forth in her chair. The very fact that she was now telling this story
to Niko meant that her father could not possibly have told the truth. Niko
allowed her a few moments to compose herself.

●

“You arrived
back on Carthan but the personal transporter left you on a mountainous area.”

Niko nodded. Now
he could now see where this was heading. For two years, he had wondered what
Horatio Miller told the world about his disappearance. Now, he was almost
disappointed that his long-time friend had chosen such an unimaginative story.