The Human Brain

The Grendel Intervention

Talni felt the warning aura that was routinely used to inform Grendels of impending contact with a Nereid of the Sedronic Domain. Talni stood up, stretched and shut down the equipment thon had been using to monitor the activities of the Gohrlay clones.

Talni wondered which of the Nereids would be making contact at this late time. Talni's decision about which of the clones to send to Earth was immanent, and thon needed no last minute meddling from the Nereids. Riaw had been particularly critical of Talni's last Summary Report, complaining about over-reliance on telepathic ability as a selection criterion for Alpha Gohrlay.

Talni sat down, closed thons eyes and allowed thons consciousness to be captured by the Hierion Domain. And it was Riaw who was there, impatiently waiting. Before Talni had completely settled thons consciousness into the host mind of thons replicoid, Riaw launched into business. "Please tell me you have removed this telepathy nonsense from the selection criteria for Alpha Gohrlay."

Talni was tempted to break contact with the Hierion Domain and get back to work. The Grendels suspected that the Nerieds had long ago lost the ability to follow Grendels into the universe of hadronic matter. However, Riaw was an important member of one of the major Neried factions, so there was no profit to be had by running away from Riaw. A snarky comment instantly came into Talni's thoughts, but thon edited out that confrontational impulse and substituted in a signal to thons replicoid that allowed Inlat to reply with a platitude. "Welcome to Springdale, Riaw."

Talni's replicoid, Inlat, resided in a virtual reality version of the Springdale School for Interventionists. The real Springdale was back in the Hadron Domain, but replicoids and Nereids could never be confused about which Springdale was being discussed. Both replicoids and Nereids could only reside in the virtual reality Springdale of the Hierion Domain.

Talni watched with amusement while Riaw lamely acknowledged the rudeness of thons abrupt beginning of their conversation. "Yes, yes. Thank you for your welcome. It is a pleasure to see you again, Inlat."

Talni had long ago given up the hope that Riaw might utter the name "Talni". It was a constant annoyance for Talni to deal with Nereids like Riaw who refused to acknowledge the legality of Grendel Interventionism. Putting aside most of thons feelings of frustration and spite, Talni took control of Inlat's vocal apparatus and said, "Yes, it has been a long time since your last visit. I was starting to imagine that you had lost interest in my project."

Riaw chuckled at Talni's little joke. A brittle impatience colored the voice of Riaw. "No, the vast potential harm you could cause keeps my attention."

Talni could not resist a sarcastic jibe, "And, of course, I must remember that you share my deep fascination with the science of positronics."

Riaw had not the slightest interest in positronics or any other primitive human science. "Positronics? Don't be absurd. Soon that distraction will be cleared away. The bumpha have been repeatedly playing that worthless gambit for the past 100,000,000 years, all wasted effort with nothing to show for it."

Talni could not deny that truth. Positronics was a dead end technology that only came into existence at places like Observer Base when a tool-using species was denied access to electronic computers. Still, there were intriguing quantum computational issues that arose in positronic computing devices, so positronics remained one of Talni's personal interests.

Telepathy was another one of Talni's personal interests. Talni had been allowed to create a large collection of Gohrlay clones because they displayed a remarkable level of telepathic contact with each other. The physical basis of their telepathy was due to the telastids that all humans carried inside the cells of their bodies. Telastids had long ago been designed by the bumpha as a way to foster the development of telepathy in humanoids. As subcellular organelles, telastids were a sly interventionist trick because they usually went unnoticed, being mistaken for the morphologically similar mitochondria. Of course, mitochondria were another creation of the bumpha, specifically designed as effective camouflage for telastids.

With an effort, Talni pushed thons thoughts about positronics and telepathy to the side and flung one more barb at Riaw, "Well, I suppose you like dropping in occasionally just to chat."

Riaw grinned and said sarcastically, "Yes, we Nereids worked for a million years to gain access to the Sedronic Domain, but now we can't avoid being envious of you Grendels and your grimy adventures in the Hadron Domain."

Talni was quickly becoming bored with this latest sparing match with Riaw. "I understand your envy. It is fun watching clever and adventuresome creatures like the Gohrlay Clones try to come to terms with their place in the universe."

Riaw could not resist reminding Talni of the conservative position that her faction espoused, "Humans are an evolutionary dead-end. They should have long ago been driven to extinction by the Prelands."

Talni asked, "Why do you despise the humans? True, they are simple-minded and often confused, but they can be educated, informed, improved-"

Riaw rudely interrupted, "I don't have any interest in debating the worth of humans. That includes their telepathic ability, which is minuscule and meaningless compared to what mature species can do with technology-assisted telepathy. Really, don't bore me with your silly infatuation. There is nothing 'natural' about human telepathy. It is just a distraction imposed upon us all by the bumpha."

Talni, as an advocate for humans, could not keep thonself from giving the standard counter argument to Riaw's anti-human philosophical position. "Every tool-using species, even as lowly as the humans, should have its chance to exist. Humans should not be condemned and swept from Earth. There is something unique and special about the human brain."

Riaw laughed derisively. "Special in its contorted circuitry and gross inefficiencies. Even the bumpha can't figure out why humans have such a high degree of telepathic ability."

Talni shrugged, "I'm sure that the bumpha do not share all of their secrets with you. They must have a good reason for building telastids into the brains of every tool-using species."

Riaw asked, "Reason? No, that is not the basis for their actions. The bumpha are mystics and they have an irrational faith that somehow a miracle will occur and some bumbling creature like these humans will suddenly have conscious control of their pitiful telepathic ability. You know as well as I do that the laws of physics make it impossible for any complex quantum computations to take place within a biological brain."

The conversation had now swung close to a topic that Talni did not care to discuss. Thon suspected that there was a link between telepathy and positronics. It might well be impossible for complex quantum computations to be performed by a biological brain, but that limitation might not apply to a positronic brain operating at the temperature of liquid hydrogen. Talni gave thanks for the fact that Grendels could be completely freed of the nanites that normally allowed for technology-assisted telepathy. Riaw and the Nereids had no way of monitoring the inner thoughts of those Grendels who cut themselves off from the telepathic exchange of thoughts that most Sedronites took for granted.

Talni returned the conversation to the topic that Riaw wanted to discuss. "I intend to select our Alpha Gohrlay from among the half dozen or so highest scorers on my tests of telepathic ability. In my experience, those humans who have good telepathic connections are more socially adept and happier."

Riaw nodded indulgently, "Of course, I have no objection to selecting a cheerful and socially skilled Alpha. However, I must remind you that you are flirting with danger. If the pek realize what you are trying to accomplish, the repercussions for all Sedronites will be vast."

Talni allowed an attitude of boredom to flood out with her words and also be projected by body language. "You are reminding me of nothing that I do not know and constantly take into consideration. What you refuse to accept is that the pek have also become fascinated by humans. They are not as prickly and suspicious as you imagine. In fact, the pek themselves seem eager to move ahead with a human brain scan."

Riaw suggested, "They just want to get to the end game."

With some mental effort, Talni forced the body of thons replicoid to stand. "I must get back to my work. I thank you for your interest and concern, but I will report any further contacts from either you personally or any other member of your faction as disruptive interference with my project." With that warning to Riaw, Talni allowed thons consciousness to return to the universe of hadrons and humans.

Inlat felt the sudden departure of Talni from the Hierion Domain and thons mind. "Riaw, please accept my apologies for Talni's rudeness. Talni is under much stress due to the approaching end of thons project."

Riaw was bristling. "There will be repercussions for your unacceptable behavior, Inlat. You have obviously not exercised adequate control over your hadronic appendage." With that ominous statement, Riaw disappeared from the Hierion Domain.

------UNDER CONSTRUCTION-----

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The First Reality is copyright John Schmidt, but the text of the story is  licensed for sharing under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license.