Chapter 12: Charassa Insect World

Jason felt as if he was at a great distance from himself ... then, suddenly, he was back in his body. He found himself lying on something very soft and very comfortable. He was looking up, with his body feeling as if it was in cotton wool. The sky was a dim pinky blue with puffy clouds scudding across it. He realized that he was looking up through a very large circular skylight, consisting of multiple panes of glass separated by small divisions that looked like painted wood which were painted a pale blue, the sort of blue that you would see in a baby boy’s nursery. He could scarcely feel his body other than the odd soft feeling embracing him, yet he felt relaxed and comfortable. He then felt as if he was half in his body and half looking down on his body which was on a large table that appeared to be in a partially opened cocoon. He realized it was a hologram.

He noticed that next to the cocoon was a very large moth like creature that appeared to be with The One, who was dressed in his usual robes. He could not contact Winston so Jason wondered if he was asleep.

He could feel the effect of the thoughts from the moth. It appeared to be some sort of medical creature who was attempting to use pleasant thoughts to relax him as part of its bedside manner. He looked at it more closely as his vision cleared. It looked less fuzzy, a lot more like a large very furry beetle than a moth. Its wings partially opened as it appeared to communicate to The One. Jason felt the incredibly powerful presence of The One in his mind.

“Jason you are on the planet Charassa, which is in a galaxy closer to the center of the universe. The Doctor looking after you is one of several insect species, specifically a beetle, who live on this planet. They specialize in advanced medicine and are probably the only ancients that I am aware of, and in fact the only species that I think could have saved you.”

And she spoke a number of unpronounceable clicks. “You are recovering from the after effects of a nasty toxin produced by the Knievel, which was your attacker in the trans-dimensional environment.

“The Knievel produces some of the most powerful toxins in the known universe. No one has previously survived an attack from this lethal assassin snake. From what we have seen in your memories you were hit by a poison barb after the Knievel was already dead. Nevertheless, you were injected with a massively lethal amount of toxin. The toxin had begun working at the time that Porquenta was told by Winston what had happened.

“Porquenta put you into stasis, and called The One to take you to a planet of ancients in another galaxy. He knew of them, as the insects had a good relationship with the creators of the planetary artificial intelligences,” continued the doctor.

“Jason, these insects are ancient. They have chosen to invest much of their time, effort, and interest in the medical domain. They produce a version of the medical machine that is very much more sophisticated, and many generations further advanced than those that you’ve seen in the Empire. Their cocoons have powerful healing properties,” said The One. “They have evolved into a highly advanced culture. I did vaguely and distantly know about these insects, but while I have been waiting for your recovery, they have told me of their history.

“They communicated in the early stages of their development through smells and killed their prey through sprayed and injected toxins. Even though they look like insects that you are aware of, even in the early stage of their evolution they were much more advanced and dangerous than the insects on your planet and in the Empire. They have advanced in many areas but Porquenta says they are far in advance of any current ancient he knows about.

“By the time you were placed into stasis, your legs were irrevocably damaged all the way up to and including your hips. The Doctor wants to explain further and give you more detail and is open to your questions,” The One said, projecting an empathic feeling.

Jason then heard the gentle telepathic voice of his insect doctor say, “The poison that you were exposed to is a well known and an extraordinary toxin. Like many biological toxins, it is a mix of different poisons. The conventional parts of the poison consist of a mix of cellular and neurotoxins. That is nothing unusual. The neurotoxin knocked out the nerves in your legs all the way up to your spinal cord and liquefied those nerves. The cellular toxin had a bigger volume to work with and had worked its way up to your pelvis.

“There is a third significant component to the poison. It is a life force siphon that has much the same effect as your missiles. You are very lucky that your implanted crystals blocked that. Your own internal healing mechanism delayed the poison enough to stave off death. The rapid action taken by your friend Winston, assisted by Porquenta in bringing you to us, has allowed us to save your life.

“We removed your entire lower body from above the pelvis. Had the poisonous barb hit you in your upper body, it would’ve meant very much more work for us. This level of reconstruction is reasonably easy for us, and you will have a better than good result. We have also backed up your entire brain, so that if anything happens to you in the future, it will not be that difficult to rebuild you. Rebuilding the brain is harder, but we can do it. We will give you a device to back up your brain, daily.

“When we examined your lower body we found a small injection site in the other leg. When we observed your memories we could see the barb moving through the area scratching the first leg, and striking then penetrating deeply into the other.”

“Can you tell me a little of how long I have been unconscious and what’s been happening?” Jason asked.

“You arrived here three days ago, Jason. Reconstruction was completed approximately thirteen hours ago. We have commenced rehabilitation and the retraining of your mind to operate your body. The new section will be considerably stronger than your original body as we have enhanced it.

“That would have created an imbalance so we have enhanced the rest of your body to improve its compatibility. I do sincerely apologize for doing so while you were unconscious but there was only a small window of opportunity to maximize the optimization process. That is not to say that we can’t optimize you at other times, but the best optimization occurs during certain windows of opportunity. It is my sincerest hope,” said the Doctor, “that you do not feel inconvenienced by this.

“We have built considerable, very positive advantages into your new body. We do not like to do this without permission, but The One considered you would not regret the decisions I made.

“Even though your skin will feel the same, it is nearly impervious to injury, even without armor. Your eyes now see a wider spectrum of light and electromagnetic radiation. We have similarly enhanced all of your senses. We have already trained your brain to deal with a wider spectrum of the senses. The biggest sense upgrade that we have given you is in the area of your sense of smell, which is an area we understand very well. You will be able to distinguish between people and insects at some distance, and quite easily track people by their scent.

“By far the biggest optimization occurred in your brain. We have reorganized it to make it very much more efficient. Your brain structure was struggling because of its rudimentary nature and we are not sure how you were able to cope with what you had. The internal organizational structure has been greatly improved and you will easily be able to multitask. You are also now ambidextrous,” said the Doctor proudly. “You could now work on physics with your right hand and music with your left.”

“I do thank you very much for all that you have done. I will look forward to testing out my new body. I am intrigued, Doctor, with what you have done with my brain. As you no doubt know from the information that you have extracted from my brain, I am involved with a number of highly intelligent women. My brain definitely struggled to keep up with them. Now, I hope, I will be able hold my own in their company and be only slightly inferior to them!” Jason remarked tongue-in-cheek.

“It is interesting that you say that, Jason. We have looked at the contents of the brain dump in order to verify your brain contents and personality after the procedures. If this is a concern of yours, I will do an analysis of relative intelligence and decision-making to give you a better prediction of your recent function versus your future function.

“If it is not enough there are some further procedures that we can undertake that might be of assistance to you, but we did not do these as there was some further risk to you, and it would have taken more time. We are very reluctant to move too far ahead of our patient without consulting them,” she said seriously.

“I did forget to tell you that we have greatly enhanced your capacity for telepathy. Your brain is much more capable of resisting intrusions into your mind, and you will never be able to be influenced from outside and entrapped as you were on Yimza. You have already been trained in your new skills. We returned your crystals removing the redundant ones. I hope this does not inconvenience you,” she said seemingly worried. “We were not conversant with the concept of augmenting the brain trans-dimensionally. It is not a foreign concept, but not one we have needed to implement. Your large crystal was unfortunately an amalgam of contradiction. It was too messy to use efficiently. We have replaced it with a more effective AI. In contrast the crystals from Porquenta are excellent and of great quality, but there was excessive redundancy.

“We have made you resistant to most poisons, so you are resistant to poisons that you are likely to encounter in your own galaxy. We developed poison resistance for specific purposes for our forces, but we cannot do blanket resistance to everything and anything you could or might encounter in the many galaxies.

“What we have done, is given you advanced biological internal autonomous intelligent microorganisms that will live in your bowels, mouth, ears, lungs, and throughout your cardiovascular system. They will assist your body in fighting infections as well as getting together to form bigger organisms to fight parasites and also undertake large repairs. Unfortunately there is a penalty to this; you will need to consume 20% more energy on a day-to-day basis and at times of body repair you will need to consume twice your usual intake for up to a week. You had a rudimentary system that we have replaced.

“We have made you a little wider in your chest and a little taller. We have increased the bony protection in your pelvis, by extending the wings of your pelvis up a little higher. The reason we did this was to increase your reserve brain capacity by distributing your brain so that it is not at risk by being in only one location. You now have significant reserve brain capacity as you have ancillary brains both in your chest and in your pelvis, which means if you are severely damaged in the future you can be more easily be repaired because you will lose fewer short-term memories.

“You now have three independent hearts residing in protected areas in your chest and abdomen. Each alone can support your body functions.

“Let me explain in a little more detail. Say, later you sustained very significant damage, and you returned here for treatment and repair. As of today we have a full brain backup. Regardless of what happens to your body, we can rebuild you and reconstruct you to reflect the situation that you are as of today. With your ancillary brains, your memory is backed up elsewhere in your body so you will have a very much better chance of having your memories up to the day of your damage. You have hard backup in the non biological brain we have given you, external backup which we will give you, and crystal backup.

“We have also looked at your DNA in detail. You have a very strange DNA Jason; it is in part ancient, even older than some of ours, but in part much younger than that of the Empire. We can see that you have had some optimization of your DNA courtesy of the crystals that you have embedded in you. With your previous DNA you would have lived at least fifty-thousand years. Now, with your current DNA, barring complete destruction of your body, you will live many millions of years. As technology improves over time, no doubt we can do more.

“The ancient DNA is one that we recognize of a people who were old when we were young and are no longer in this Universe. It is therefore a puzzle to find that DNA within you, along with Empire DNA and younger DNA. A very small amount of your ancient DNA has been activated, which means that you will have further changes in the future. It is slowly dominating your DNA. It will not take over unless there is a trigger that we cannot detect. We have only seen this once before in someone who had descended after previous ascension and cultivated a new body. We have also seen it in a group of people that you call the Orcs, who are an entirely different type of being.

“We have found you to be a very interesting case and we would like to continue to study you and would hope that you can come back and visit us periodically in the next five or six hundred thousand years so we can track your progress. Studying you and dealing with the issues we found, was a great pleasure for us, as we nowadays have very few new challenges,” she said very enthusiastically, concurrently making her clicking noises and happily moving around him.

Jason thought that this group of doctors could just not resist making him the best that they possibly could.

“Doctor, I am delighted to have met you and thank you very much for everything that you have done. I greatly appreciate all the enhancements that you have undertaken.

“From what you are telling me, you are an ancient people, I’m interested to know if your race has ever ascended whatever that is, or like my people moved to another Universe?” Jason asked.

She looked quite excited by the question and chirped loudly rubbing her front legs together making crackling noises like paper being scrunched up.

“Now that is an interesting question! We have had the capacity to ascend at least twice. Many efforts by other species for ascendancy have been disasters. This galaxy is a much older galaxy than yours and we have had a number of ancient species who have contacted us from similar galaxies who have ascended and have been able to communicate about that ascension.

Ascension in its simplest form is a move to a different universe. We live in a multi-verse. Some species have moved into a different dimension or even into a parallel world. You, yourself have been in two different dimensions. We can freely move into parallel worlds, and into different dimensions.

Ascension generally applies in the strictest sense to moving into another universe in the multi-verse. It takes a colossal amount of energy and a change in form, usually to an energy form much like that of The One.

“In a different universe the laws of the physical world and therefore mathematics, physics, and biology can be entirely different. Some universes are very similar. Most moves have been to very different universes that provide a challenge. Those species that ascend as early as they possibly can are often woefully under-prepared for the new universe. They have to start off from scratch to learn all the new rules and then they have to rebuild their civilization. It is a lottery what type of universe they end up in. They may end up in one that suits them and their abilities. On the other hand, they may choose one where the potential for development is highly constrained. By virtue of the very nature of the new form, new and different activities need to be undertaken.

“We have been most interested in the biological sciences and in medicine. That is not to say that we have not taken a great interest in mathematics and physics and in the arts, but we enjoy the fundamental biological nature of how and who we are, and the other biological species throughout the galaxy. We struggled as a people to find any advantage in ascension. Why move and start from scratch again? Many saw ascension as a religious advancement. It has been a motivator in many species, but it is a false path to advancement. The term makes one believe it is some kind of progress. It may be but we have not found or heard of a universe where we would like to go.

“I do think that the biggest reason for ascension is boredom and the need for a challenge. We therefore seek out new areas of interest throughout this galaxy, and then the next galaxy and the next galaxy.

We have also been forced to fight many wars for our survival over the years, but this is a galaxy that we know well. We are insects, so ‘community’ and ‘the common good’ are both very important to us. Our very nature is altruistic to each other, and we have become more expansively altruistic as we have grown and developed.

“Very few species choose to remain behind when they have had the capacity to ascend in the newer galaxies. Most of our compatriots chose not to ascend, as we all know of races and societies where it has been a disaster.

“Now, back to your treatment, we are very pleased that you came along as we are always looking for new cases and new civilizations. As we have seen so few new things in the last forty or fifty thousand years, we have been trying to shorten the period of time of our treatment. There are limits to the speed that we can achieve with repair and recovery, so we have been experimenting with shortening treatment by moving the person into a different time. Three hundred thousand years ago we could have undertaken exactly the same treatment as we have given you today, but it would’ve taken three years,” the doctor said.

“How long exactly did the treatment take?” Jason asked. “I am also quite concerned about the cost of the treatment, as I am sure that the cost of such specialized treatment will be huge! I will need to find a way to pay you back in either goods or services. There is no way that what was done to me could have been done in the Empire.”

Jason became increasingly concerned about how he would pay, and whether Empire credits would be recognized. He conveyed this to The One who was very amused by Jason’s thoughts. Then Jason panicked and wondered what had happened to Winston.

The One explained to the doctor Jason’s problem.

“Winston is fine, we are looking after him, and what we have done will be another surprise. As far as payment is concerned, do not worry yourself. You have provided us with a unique and very worthwhile challenge. Our leader is happy to help her friends and friends of her friends.

“Jason,” she said in her amused telepathic tone, “you must appreciate that as a species advances, and values change. Usually one of the first major changes that occur as a society evolves is the capacity to produce unlimited power at virtually no cost. “Soon after, the next major change that occurs is the ability to manufacture anything and almost everything without a significant cost of labor. Machines evolve to be self repairing. AIs can command drones to do almost any task. It gets to the stage that anything can be produced at negligible cost, compared to an early industrialized society. Travel becomes easier, faster and costs less.

As societies evolve, a number of problems arise and a number of problems disappear. As beings live for longer periods of time, they need to find ways to enrich their lives and to keep an interest in remaining alive. That is one of the most complex and challenging issues for an advanced society.

“Finding resources is easier, as travel becomes more and more instantaneous. Mining becomes totally automated. Day-to-day activities that people consider drudgery are automated.

“Societies that we have studied split, initially, into two groups: those that are preoccupied with entertainment, and those who wish to work or study. Some try to resolve the issue with ascension. Considerable effort is expended in the effort. It helps unify a society with a single purpose. In a new universe they have to face the fundamentals again if they have not prepared well.

“The drive for ascension arose from our old religions. We believed it was some kind of spiritual transition. We now know it is nothing of the kind. It is a move to another Universe, and another form, and a new set of mathematics and physics to master. Some move to alternate worlds, which are easier, some to alternate dimensions, which are limited and more difficult. The word ascension remains as a relic. We chose not to migrate elsewhere. There is more than enough adventure in this universe for those who seek it.

“Insects are very industrious and few of them are preoccupied with entertainment. However, both groups exist in our society. In our society insects want to be busy, creative and active.

“Some begin in one group, and then move to another. People who do nothing tend to die out, wither away, and retreat. In early years, suicide rates of those who could not create meaningful lives for themselves were frightening.

“In our insect-based society, doing work for the community has always been intrinsic to our society. We have learnt a little about amusement from other societies, but have found being preoccupied with entertainment very unfulfilling.

“Many societies become preoccupied with technological advancement. Some with conquering others, others with the arts, others with spiritual pursuits, and usually all have an emphasis on ascension. Success is universally associated with societies that become disciplined and have a purpose.

“In those societies where there is an emphasis on doing things that are regarded as being of value with respect to long-term development, money becomes progressively less important as a motivator. Imagine a society where a large part of the administration is undertaken by artificial intelligence. All the unpleasant work of society is undertaken by machines of one kind or another, directed by artificial intelligences. Building is undertaken by machines.

“For example some of our insects can spend endless time building and rebuilding a home and refurbishing it.

“There is no cost of labor for any of this. Many enjoy doing the burrowing themselves. Machines have become more reliable. Machines repair the machines if self repair fails. Machines build the spaceships. Dangerous activities such as mining in space, or mining deep beneath the ground, are undertaken by machines. The society has mastered the relationship between the biological being and machine, and the biological being and artificial intelligence.

“Over time, even the difference between the two narrows. Biological beings can be enhanced by artificial intelligence and by machine parts, and vice versa. Each recognizes the value of the other. Your crystals constitute an artificial intelligence. Your augmented brain from us is an extra AI.

“When it comes to sickness, the technology gets to a stage where a virus can no longer mutate fast enough to overcome the patient’s immune system which is enhanced with tiny machines attached to powerful analytic artificial intelligences. The AI can retune the strategies of the immune system quickly, to deal with the mutated organism. The organism can be destroyed by both the biological, and the nano and micro machines. The micro, and in many cases nano machines evolve into becoming an intelligent biological machine directed by an AI.

“You now have a composite immune system. A cancer was identified when it was just a few cells in size, and was destroyed six-seconds ago.

“When the genesis of cancers and then chronic illnesses was understood and the defective genes repaired, it resolved many of the issues faced by lesser technologically advanced species. It was faster to achieve prevention, than to cure chronic illnesses. Cells can still mutate, but the immune system reacts quickly.

“Some societies have become introverted and self-preoccupied and fearful of others, others have become very warlike, but our society has developed as a highly altruistic society.

“Money was barely an issue in our society, but that is common in insect-based societies. Even those that have their origins in hives, money rarely enters the equation. Leisure never becomes part of those societies. Some of the greatest constructions in this universe have been undertaken, often beneath the surface, by those types of societies.

“In our society, art has been important, and one of the most important arts is one that does not even exist in your society. You make perfumes, however we create great works of olfactory art. They are smells of great complexity. Before you leave, I have arranged for you to visit one of our great creations of olfactory art. Now that we have enhanced your sense of smell, you will be able to enjoy and appreciate it. In fact, you will visit one of our art galleries.

“Our vision in our pre-enhanced era was very poor as we spent so much time underground, thus sculpture was very much part of our artistic development.

“Our interest in healing developed serendipitously. We discovered that our pupæ, or cocoon as you may prefer to call it, have enormous healing powers. This catapulted us into our vocation of healing.

“In your case, Jason, it was a great pleasure to encounter a problem that had never been solved before. No one had ever survived such a toxin, and we had never collected any of it from a person who was still alive. Porquenta sent along the animal, for us to investigate in more detail. We were able to harvest the toxin. In all previous cases, the poison had dispersed. No one had ever arrested the movement and progression of such a toxin, as they had never recovered the original source.

“Inevitably, some of the toxin had entered your blood system. Your own remarkable, but first generation, augmented immune system neutralized some of it. We had to evolve ways of identifying the toxin, arresting its development, and preventing further damage.

“Our diagnostic processes are very sophisticated in deciding how much of your body needed to be removed. We then needed to fully understand your physiology, and its limitations. We had never encountered your species, previously, though we know the physiology of some mammals and reptiles we have encountered.

“This galaxy in itself is huge. We have only explored part of it, though I believe we have sent scouts to other galaxies along with scientists.

“Many of the species within this galaxy are part of the insect species. Because of the early evolution of this galaxy, and the high amounts of radiation relative to your galaxy, insects thrive.

“It was of great interest to our scientists to examine your memories and what you’ve learnt about the Empire, in order for us to learn about what you knew about insects and what insects resided in your galaxy. It is interesting that in your galaxy, insects have tended to be relatively small, and would have had a minimal to no chance of evolving. We were also interested that in your galaxy there has been a proliferation of mammals.

“For us there has been an enormous amount of learning from your case. You have provided huge opportunities for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of scientists to investigate a number of the issues you have presented. The toxin, in itself, is one of the most complex molecules that we have ever encountered. It is extraordinary in that it coexists in a number of different dimensions, which is part of the reason that it is so dangerous. It is in fact a very large complex substance that, like the crystals that are within you, does not fit in this current dimension. Nevertheless, it exerts its effect in this dimension. It can kill multiple species in multiple dimensions, yet never be fully a part of their dimension. Even in its own dimension, it still coexists in part, in other dimensions.

“For us to understand the nature of how such a toxin could have ever come into existence could be the study of a lifetime of a million years, for ten thousand people! My suspicion however, is that it was a biologically engineered poison, made by a very advanced species and introduced into their choice of fauna to be used for assassination purposes.

“It is not likely to be your ‘Ghouls.’ We know of them, and that is not their style and interest. No doubt we will find out the perpetrators in time.

“Jason, you have inspired us to travel to your galaxy and to explore it and spend time with Porquenta. For that reason, today will not be goodbye. In all likelihood, it will be simply farewell. We will undoubtedly see much of you again in the future. Many of our population, at times, have traveled across galactic distances to study various phenomena.

“Yes, Jason, I am aware of your thoughts and am amused by them. To answer your thought question, I can definitely say we are not descendants of cockroaches, nor are we descendants of dung beetles. In fact, cockroaches are our bitter enemies. You don’t really have an equivalent beetle that you are aware of that would provide an adequate equivalent to our origins. In any case our evolution was probably significantly different to those insects of your world. I know you have a strong interest in insects and studied them at University. Before you go back, we will provide you with a learning machine that will be able to give you many answers to your questions. It will also back up your brain, daily.