Chapter 17: Evaluating David and Ashlyn

“Good morning, professors; I am pleased to meet you. I am Ashlyn Murphy, and this is David Cohen. We are here to continue the investigation you initiated with my brother Brendan.”

“Yes, he is a capable young man who developed several excellent hypotheses. He then, I suspect, went too far. He may be quite mad. On the other hand, he may be frighteningly sane and turn everything we know on its tail. That is the nature of the young. Prove one thing and then assume something wildly improbable. Continue, but try to remain within the bounds of my limited ability to leap too far. You must prove everything you assert to be true.”

“Prof. Fryson Drayib demanded Brendan and David prove Neruk, so I volunteered to join them.”

“So, did you prove Neruk?”

“Councilor Anayees Yarinkalosa Parnok is deciding if our experience is valid. We do not know the criteria of proof.”

“I know the excellent Councilor well. She demanded that I drop everything and fly to this ship to conduct a study. She insisted I bring along a mathematician and a physicist. I only knew of one suitable candidate, so here he is: Prof. Khyrmin Kelrona, a mathematician and physicist. She assured us it was essential and would be worthwhile. So little is worthwhile nowadays. I am old, and I’ve seen most worthwhile things and advanced science a little. There is little new and valuable in this universe that I have not encountered. Yesterday Ashlyn surprised me; he proved an unexpected hypothesis. He may have then spoiled things for himself as he went off on a tangent. He is young, and he impressed me, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I also respect a young person who will devote many years to mastering the levels of consciousness. Where were we Brendan?”

“We were preparing to tell you how we received Neruk and the subsequent chain of hypotheses we made along the way.”

“Excellent, young lady, you are an excellent complement to your much older brother Ashlyn. I hope you devote yourself to learning how to achieve the different levels of consciousness. It is useful to have a model, is it not?”

“Brendan is my twin brother. We are close. Both David and I can change consciousness, like Brendan. After we provide you with the hypotheses, we will demonstrate communication using a unique language that can be used in several levels of consciousness. We developed several theories about how this language can improve our AIs when they use those dimensions.”

“Well done, Ashlyn, you have caught my attention. I will permit you to go ahead.”

“We accepted the Neruk, one of the original cysts, saved for half a million years by Councilor Parnok. I established rudimentary telepathic contact with the Neruk in pupa form in my gall bladder. I hypothesized it was sentient. I further developed a theory we had not communicated with the Neruk as we did not have a common language. I discovered I could send feelings to the Neruk, and it sent feelings back. I sent images, and the Neruk sent clear maps of the inside of my body as established by its advanced sonar. I know the Paradigm has encountered other civilizations with whom they could not speak. I asked my AI to teach the Neruk Narral as I learned it.”