Chapter 21

He stood on the same beach facing the Fractal Being. The fractals equations were speeding across the surface of the being with blinding speed. He stared down at his own body for the first time and saw the same fractal equations expanding and contacting across his ‘body’. He finally understood that “translated” meant that in this location he was no longer a biological entity. He was an entity of pure energy. There was no hand in front of Porter’s face but the thought of a hand transformed into a readable form.

Just had Porter had released the primitive animals of the garden back to their instincts and routines, he examined the fearful insight that compared to the being he faced, he, too, was a primitive being. The thought was not comforting.

The whisper called out from every direction. “You have passed the final test of this small experiment of your species.”

“Thank you,” Porter said and thought he needed to respond with a compliment. “Your garden is beautiful.”

He was greeted with silence. Surrounded by all things alien to him, including his own body, his pyrrhic victory was all the more raw. Gilly had been right, even though in his heart of hearts he wanted to deny it. Everything that he had just accomplished would be discarded and replaced with a decapitating swing of a blade. ‘How primitive we biological entities are,’ he lamented.

Porter appreciated that Gilly would say something much more diplomatic and productive than he was able to formulate in his head. However he had learned of late in his own interior battles that going straight to the matter at hand was the most effective way for him.

He spoke into the silence. “I am glad to have passed but it is all for naught. I’m afraid that we are only biological entities and, despite my success in solving your puzzle, we are limited.”

“Fascinating!” exclaimed the whisper. “What brings you to such a conclusion?”

Porter explained Gilly’s insight that despite the potential of the Blue to replace human technology, the population had rejected even the best examples of it and slid backwards towards barbarity. By systemic rejection across the population and through a number of generations, the society placed barriers and mechanisms in place to limit or redirect knowledge of the Blue.

“An unfortunate circumstance, but one that was predictable,” the whisper said. “The experiment called for the random distribution of energy in and among individual biological entities on the planet. Randomness carries the calculated risk of unrealized potential.”

Porter was not clear what the point of randomness meant. Was the entity implying that the “have not’s” intentionally squashed the ambitions of the “have’s”? Such an explanation would go a long way in explaining the behaviors of the Council of Elders at Sky House. They did squelch Alin, who was brilliant, and send Gilly with her considerable talents off to Timisoara. Maybe randomness did contribute to the downward spiral of the settlement,

A question emerged from his rumination. “If randomness predicted unrealized potential, then does that mean the downward trend can be reversed?”

“The experiment is concluded. The need for random distribution is no longer necessary and may be removed,” the whisper said.

Porter’s hopes were soaring. “Will you remove it?”

“No,” the whisper answered and Porter’s dreamed plummeted. “You now have sufficient knowledge base of the physics you call Blue residing within your body. You may remove, supplement, or designate the distribution of that knowledge among your fellow entities.”

“Thank you,” Porter said simply, dazed at the gift of minor godhood.

“Do not thank me,” the whisper said. “One experiment has concluded; the next one begins. Good luck to your species, young one.”

The beach fuzzed out and the hiss filled Porter’s ears again. He opened his eyes and stared out at the Garden wondering what the next experiment was and would his species survive it. They had barely survived the first one.

Porter delved into his brain and rooted through some of the data that had been poured into him. A quick perusal demonstrated that a vast amount of material was available but not easily sorted or categorized. Moreover, a chunk of the material required questions that he did not even know how to ask. He felt like a first level school kid being handed a twelfth level math book and being told to learn it at home.

A bead of sweat trickled down his face.

With the knowledge he was accessing at the moment, he could strike down Alin’s murderers. He could smite Gilly’s tormentors and his own for that matter. He could seize the throne in Timisoara and make all, rich and powerful or poor and helpless, bow down at his feet. The temptation was delicious and seductive to contemplate, but the reality turned his stomach sour. He would last a week, maybe. If someone did not assassinate him, he would kill himself from geometric expansion of his insecurities and doubts. Did he really want the anxiety of a million knives aiming for his back?

Porter stepped over the wall and plucked purple berries from a bush that had been an unknown to him only moments ago. He munched slowly, letting the slightly bitter juice trickle slowly down the back of his throat. A benign lizard crept out of the shade and climbed his arm to perch on his shoulder, hoping the new vantage point would bring him closer to more insects, particularly the fat body, juicy ones.