A bodyless human mind steers a spaceship into the void. |
Dreaming again, Walking along a beach somewhere in the South. Now, unencumbered by the body that never worked anyway, My dreams seem more real than the reality I once knew When my body was once alive. They buried me…it… The lifeless legs and arms, The head that bobbed and drooled, the incontinent bowel, All of it, in some cemetery on Earth And even said some words over it. Sometimes I dream That I can see the ship that I command And feel her cold structures as she speeds through space. I look out the windows that are not there See the stars passing by The servers that Are hardwired into my brain, Now tell me a course adjustment is in order And I alert my two bodiless companions that it is time. Do they dream as well? How many years Have passed…since the ship left, Sailing for the stars, at near the speed of light, never to return. Two hundred? More? Not important. It has no relevance. I sense now That my two companions are awake As they input electromagnetic data, From their unique brains into the guidance systems And I execute. Systems tell me That thrusters have adjusted the course. In my mind’s eye…the only eye I now possess I see the ship making it’s slight turn toward our objective Toward the end. They told me That I would live long, but not forever, And that my function would become irrelevant Once we entered the system That we steered for More are following And in the centuries that are after now, Humans with bodies will come to these outreaches And remember me, the first human mind to conquer And record. For I can record. Somewhere, I don't remember when My observations are being taken down And transmitted back to earth For the others that follow. The next few ships That come will be piloted by Beings like me…and my companions. And they, armed with our data and information Will add to it. |