Transcendance, Radiant Awakening Part 1

    Formless, drifting through space aimlessly allowing the tides of gravity to pull it to and fro; it had no sense of time. It had no sense of dimensions.  It existed in and out of both.  It had no understanding of how long it had wondered or how long it had been from the last time it had perceived one of its own. It simply was and it wandered, longing. Exploring, learning all it could and ever curious for more. Trying to understand all it perceived, all it experienced. Trying to be all it could be. Trying to be all it was not. It was looking for something that was just beyond its perception and understanding but never quite finding what it was seeking. It had perceived a thousand galaxies. It had been a million different sentient creatures that and countless other creatures it encountered. But it felt incomplete, alone. Like something was missing and it was just around the next star system, just beyond reach, just outside of its perception.
    The longing it was called. It knew of it. Before it became what it is. Before it became more than it was. It was special it was told. It was offered a once in a lifetime chance to become what it is now. It was warned of this danger and of many others that its own had encountered. Many of its own had withered and dissipated from the longing. The creature it was before, the species it had come from did not understand this longing that her kind developed. Just knew it was one of the most dangerous things it would one day, as all her own did, encounter.
    It shifted its perception as it slowly drifted through another star system. Its own had been to this system many times. This was a fascinating species of sentient creatures on its tiny bastion of life.  Of the many known, this was one of the few that mostly believed they were alone. The concept of that burst a pulse of energy through its form, making its color shift to a hue of pale blue for a moment. Amusement; something it hadn’t felt in a while. 
    It paused its travel and perceived the world it was near, the fifth in this system.  Mostly made of all base elements, gaseous, the largest planetary body in this system; yet life existed in its crushing depths. It knew as it had explored those depths once long ago and danced with the life that lived there. Played in the winds and moved among its crystalline landscapes that were hidden below its crushing depths of colorful banded clouds. Contentment; a feeling that dissipated the longing for a time and one it needed more of to survive.
    Its perception shifted to the forth planet within the system, the second of two within the life belt of this system. Sadness; a feeling it often felt and one that added to the longing. Its kind learned early in its exploration of existence that meddling with other worlds often had dire consequences. In fact, all choices had consequences. The consequence of this choice ended the lifecycle of this world and its creatures early. Meddling with worlds was forbidden shortly after this world’s death was experienced. What was encouraged was watching, observing. Blending into a world and experiencing what it was like to be part of that world, part of its lifecycle. It was a watcher and had watched for a long time.
    Once again its perception shifted, this time to the third planet within the system, the first of the two within the life belt; a small pearl of mostly water protected by a thin field of electromagnetic energy. Contentment; a feeling it needed more of and soon. The longing was winning and it was losing itself to it. It began to move toward the small pearl of life, this bastion of contentment it needed for a time. ‘How long has it been?’ it wondered. Its own had been here many times, many returning over and over.  At one point its own had begun to meddle with this world. No, not its own. The species it had been before it became what it is now.  It ended in a devastating tragedy that nearly ended the lifecycle of this world.  Sadness; it changed its recalling of this world to another. ‘Yes, many rotations of this system has happened sense the last time its own had been here but how many?’ it recalled and pondered as it drew closer. It paused near its solitary moon and perceived the planet before it. Much had changed from its shared recollection. The sentient species has developed a little ways into science and technology.
    It moved to perceive the moon where it observed foot prints on its surface and machines left there from the planet’s sentient life. A standard on a pole was placed on its surface that danced with its passing of it.  It moved away from the moon and drifted lazily to the orbiting field of artificial satellites surrounding the planet. Slowly it danced and weaved through them, caressing some with its touch to perceive them deeper. Nearly all were dead it perceived.
    It stopped at one that it perceived alive and directed its full perception to it, reaching into it, merging with it, becoming it. It perceived the electromagnetic transmissions that powered it and were sent to it and from it.  Amusement; it delighted in what it found and perceived being transmitted to and from it; moving images of events. Some it decided were fictitious for amusement and others it determined were current or past events being told to those of the sentient race below that perceived them.  It wondered how the sentient species of this world perceived them. It had never been this species before.
    It slowly drifted from the satellite, leaving it as it was before its touch. Pausing and perceiving what else orbited this pearl, it found a large structure on the dark side of the planet and began to approach it. Delight; it was an orbital dwelling with sentient life inside it perceived as it grew closer.  Slowly it moved down the surface of the orbiting dwelling, caressing its length reaching within as it perceived the life and technology. It drifted away quickly into the planet’s electromagnetic field and down toward its surface when it realized the inhabitants had become aware of its presence, hoping it was before they were able to determine that it was aware and observing them.
    Down it plummeted, toward the surface of this world and into a thick layer of clouds where it slowed its decent to below that of sound in an effort to hide its approach. Everything appeared dark below.  Disgust; it perceived it passed through the electromagnetic field too quickly and disrupted the electrical power of this area of the planet. It must be more careful next time it scolded itself as it drifted ever lower and toward the more solitary buildings on the outskirts of one cluster of buildings.  A lone dark house with two levels of windows caught its interest and it dropped in closer, just above its roof top to look. A single sentient was inside along with a smaller creature. Both were on the opposite side of the structure it perceived before passing through the window effortlessly. Lights came on in the structure as it perceived its surroundings. A two level structure, constructed mostly of plant fiber and clay.  A box with a display screen on a desk sitting in the corner of the room caught its attention and it hovered closer to it as light, color, and shapes came on to its screen. ‘An electronic device,’ it thought.  Contentment; it caressed the device, reached in to it, merged with it, and became part of it.



         “I’m told this is important, General?” The man said, looking out the large window of his office and out into trees and yard beyond. The room was a large oval with a large desk sat in front of a row of tall windows. A large oval carpet filled most of the room that displayed a seal with an eagle on it just in front of the desk. He continued more a statement than a question, “Important enough that it couldn’t wait until morning?”
         “Yes Mr. President, “the General stated as he sat a briefcase on the President’s desk and opened it. “At approximately O’one fifteen an unknown object was detected near the orbit of Jupiter. At approximately O’two hundred the same object was detected passing near Mars.”
         The President still looked out the window as the General began to place photos on the desk and continued, “On its approach to earth, Hubble took several photos of the object but was unable to penetrate through the radiation generated by the object to get an exact picture. While it was in the vicinity of the International Space Station, its crew observed it and couldn’t give a much better of a description if it other than what looks like a ghostly mass of imploding and boiling light and electricity before it quickly descended to the dark side of the planet.”
         “Was there any damage done by this…” the President hesitated looking for a word, “thing?”
         “Other than a thirty minute power disruption, none that has been reported,” the General answered.
         “And this couldn’t wait until morning, General?” The President asked drily as he turned to look at the general.
         “With due respect, Mr. President, it could not.” The General replied flatly as he continued, “At approximately O’two Twenty the object came to a stop approximately one hundred thousand miles away from our moon and three hundred thousand miles from the earth.”
         “Came to a stop?” the President asked suddenly, taking interest in the photos for the first time. “What is it and where did it come from?”
         “Our best guess Mr. President is a probe by the size of it and the where is believed to be outside our solar system,” the General stated as he handed the President a list of time and events in tracking the object.          
         “It says contact was lost over Michigan during its decent at three in the morning? How do you lose something like this?”
         “When it passed through the Van Allen belt, it caused a strong electromagnetic pulse that disrupted everything electrical in the area for nearly three hundred miles from its entry point for nearly thirty minutes,” In that time we lost track of where it descended and possibly landed.”
         “Possibly?” the President spat, tossing the paper onto his desk then turned to look out the window at the yard as he crossed his arms. “So we don’t even know if it’s still here or if it left or what danger it poses to us?”
         “No, Sir. We are quite sure it is still here on Earth. Our satellites would have detected its departure,” the General replied.          
         “What danger does it pose?” the President asked, a little more calmly.
         “We believe it is a probe to gather information,” the General began then continued after a moment’s pause, “It is definitely here to gather information. To what end we can only guess. Curiosity, cataloging, pre-invasion recon; anything could be a possibility.”
         “Let’s assume it’s a recon probe, what are we able to do to defend ourselves from an invasion?” the President asked after a long pause to consider what he was just told.
         “Well, we have no idea of what we are facing, Mr. President,” the General replied and continued, “I would suggest we drop a def-con and tell all world governments what we have encountered and all the information we have gathered. If this is a recon probe, we are all in this together and will all need to act as one to survive. The Russians and British are already aware of this probe and are having similar discussions as we are I’m quite sure.”
         “Drop a def-con?” the President turned to face the General, a bit of surprise in his voice, “Tell the world that aliens exist before we know what we are dealing with and that we are preparing for an invasion?”
         “You asked what I suggest to do to defend against a recon probe, Mr. President. We must consider the worst possibility does exist,” the General stated plainly. “We know it is still in the Michigan area, but what we don’t know is what it looks like or if it was manned or unmanned. If it was manned, what does this alien look like or act like. How much does it already know about us and how many probes were sent before this one?”
         “My God,” the President stated as he sat heavily down in his chair, “You believe this isn’t the first probe that has been here. Just the first one we detected, don’t you.”
         “Yes I do, Mr. President. I also believe that it is imperative that we recover this probe at any cost to determine just what we are dealing with. We need to discover how much more advanced their technology is to ours and can ours even contend with theirs. We may even find we have no defense against them other than negotiation. “
         “And what if negotiation isn’t on the table?” the President asked.
         “Then we give them hell for their trouble, Mr. President,” the General answered drily.
         The President rubbed his face before calling his half asleep aid in from outside his office.
         “Mr. President?” the aid asked coming in.
         “Wake the Joint Chiefs of Staff and get the Russian President and British Prime Minister on the phone,” the President ordered wearily then added, “And get me some coffee. Please.”



         Jason was in the kitchen lighting a candle when the power came back on. He sighed as he blew the candle back out and shook his head. His cat meowed as it rubbed against his leg.
         “Ok, ok,” he sighed and walked over to the cat’s food dish giving the cat some food for the night as he leaned heavily on a cane. “Starting tomorrow, you’re on a diet Angel. You’re too heavy as it is.”
         He looked around the kitchen for a moment then at the clock showing three thirty two before turning the light off and heading back to his bedroom. When he got there, he was surprised to see the computer turned itself back on and sat down in front of it.  He was tired but wanted to get a little extra done on the story he was working on. He leaned his cane up against the nearby night stand before logged into the computer and waited for it to finish loading the last of the startup programs. He loaded his word processor program and then the story he had been working on. After a few minutes of back reading to get into the mind and flow of where he was he continued writing.
         It was nearly seven when he decided to get some rest.  Jason yawned and massaging his hands as he had so many times this night trying to keep them working before he started closing the web browser pages that were opened for reference information, saving his work, and shutting the computer into sleep.  He stood, hobbled over to his bed and lay down falling right to sleep. He was unaware of his computer coming out of sleep mode on its own shortly after that. 

         The internet browser opened then the URL typed itself and went to the public encyclopedia site he was on. Starting with the first entry the browser began to quickly flip through all its pages while he slept as fast as his computer could load the pages. Whenever he would wake up, the web browser would close and the computer would drop back into sleep mode then back out once he fell back to sleep.
         After several hours, it grew bored of its reading of the internet and closed the browser. The word processor opened next followed with loading the story Jason was working on. Curiosity; as it flipped through the pages then it stopped. Puzzlement; it re-read what was in the story and became completely confused.  It then opened and read all the notes and other bits of stories it could find on his computer. The internet browser suddenly opened up again, first to the encyclopedia site and then to the search engine that it watched Jason use. Pictures flipped by one after another but still the puzzlement remained. It looked up definitions, one after another but none satisfied the puzzlement. ‘What is this? Why is this? What does it mean?’ It pondered these thoughts. ‘How does it work? What does it do? What is its purpose?’ Questions, but no answers that it could comprehend made any sense to it. Its perception shifted to outside the computer, to the sentient male that lay in slumber. ‘Would the male know? Would it understand?’ it pondered. ‘He must. He wrote it so must understand what it is that was written. Could he teach? Could he instruct? Would he instruct? Would he teach? How would I approach? How would I ask without frightening the male…?’ Its perception shifted to the electronic device hanging on the wall; a digital picture frame.
         A ghostly wisp of itself extended from out of the computer to the frame nearby on the wall. As the wispy extension caressed the frame, the pictures flipped by as fast as the frame could display until they began to repeat. Dismay; ‘a female sentient, his mate? Where is she? Why is she not with him? Just a few sceneries and a few pictures of objects, no help.’ The wisp drifted away from the frame as its perception shifted back to the sleeping sentient male. Human it thought to itself, recalling what it learned from the internet as it perceived his slumber.  ‘How would I approach? How would I ask?’ it asked itself again then answered itself. ‘Observe. Yes. I should observe first; study.’ The wisp touched his back then withdrew to the computer suddenly. Excitement; fear; it puzzled at the sudden emotions from the touch.
         The ghostly wisp slowly extended again, cautiously approaching him. Gently the wisp caressed over his neck and shoulders then slowly caressed down his back, pausing only as he shifted in his sleep from the touch. The wisp slowly continued its caress and withdrew back to the computer once it reached his buttocks. Sadness; ‘He is damaged, faulty. Could I help him? Correct the faulty coding?’ it pondered to itself.  It recalled what it learned from the touch and felt dismay. ‘No, I may harm him trying. Meddling in coding or environmental functions only results in damage and sadness.’ It recalled the last time her kind meddled in coding in this world and how it ended in tragedy.
         It turned the sleep mode of the computer back on as it continued to ponder its dilemma and what to do.

         Jason woke from an odd dream; a ghostly angelic being was watching him and touched him in the dream.  He shivered remembering the touch. Not bad, just… he wasn’t sure.  He pulled himself tiredly out of bed and pressed the space bar on his computer’s keyboard and woke it from its sleep before walking out of the room to get himself something to eat.
         Slowly, a ghostly wisp extended from the computer and followed him through the house, perceiving and observing.  It perceived the plant fiber pole that came up to his hip in height that he used to walk with as he leaned it against the counter while making himself a cup of coffee. Sadness; ‘crippled’ it thought to itself, ‘needs help to move.’
         Once in his kitchen he took a quick glance to make sure his cat had food and water still before putting a pot of coffee on and making a bowl of cereal for himself.  He glanced at the clock on his way out of the kitchen; a little past nine.
         Quickly, the wisp withdrew back to the computer as Jason made his way back to his bedroom to eat his breakfast at his desk while he did his finances for the month. Once he was done with his breakfast as well as figuring his bills and what was left for needs and what was unable to be covered for the month he returned his attention to the story he was working on the night before.
         After almost an hour, he had to stop and stand then move about. He rubbed his hip from having sat to long and tried to massage his hands a little; his fingers feeling stiff and swollen did not want to type anymore.  Jason picked up his cane and leaned heavily on it as he stumbled at first before reaching down and rubbing his right knee, it didn’t want to support his weight. He sighed as he made his way out of the room; it’s going to be a bad day.
         The ghostly wisp slowly extended out of the computer, following Jason. It perceived him as he hobbled to the other side of the home, trying to walk off the pain in his hip. ‘Has he always walked with the pole for support?’ it pondered ‘Surly with the technology these humans have they could do something to help him…’ It perceived as he looked out the window. It was a nice sunny spring day. A few birds flew by chasing each other. He sighed again.
         It quickly withdrew to the computer to ponder and observe him more as he turned and made his way back into the bedroom. He looked at the computer a moment; his shoulders slumped then after leaning his cane against his nightstand he proceeded to lay on his stomach on the bed.
         When it perceived his breathing had slowed and became more regular, the ghostly wisp slowly extended from the computer toward the cane. It caressed the rough carved surface then moved slowly over to the bed to the sleeping man and caressed slowly over his shoulders and down his back. The wisp withdrew slightly as he moved before continuing its caress down his back then slowly back up to his neck. Jason’s body noticeably relaxed and his breathing became deeper. It perceived that his heart rate had reduced noticeably and was satisfied but sad that it couldn’t do more. The wisp withdrew to the computer.
         The internet browser opened up and it began to search for solutions. How could it help without meddling and disrupting too much? Hours passed before it perceived Jason stirring from his slumber. Disheartened; it pondered everything it found and why he had no help with what was wrong. ‘Currency.’ It concluded. ‘That appears to be the main problem. He has too small of an income to purchase the required medications and treatments to help him with his pain.’ The internet browser closed and the computer returned to as it was before Jason fell asleep.
         Jason woke and looked at the time; just after nine at night. He sat up, rubbed his eyes then looked at the time again shaking his head. He picked up the phone and hit a speed dial as he sat down in front of the computer. He rubbed his eyes again before hitting the space bar to bring the computer out of sleep.
         “Hello?” a soft woman’s voice asked over the phone.
         “Hey baby girl,” Jason said into the phone, “I love you.”
“I know,” she answered even softer.
After a moment of silence Jason continued, “You won’t believe how long I just slept. Almost eleven hours.”
“Wow,” she replied surprised, “you didn’t wake up at all?”
“No! I haven’t slept more than a couple hours in years,” he leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair, “In fact, I’m not even stiff or in pain like usual. It’s like all the pain was drained from me!”
“Really? What happened? Did you do something or take something different?” she asked her voice now loud and sounding excited.
“No, nothing. I was tired and hurting worse than normal My knee wouldn’t even support me anymore, so I laid down to take a nap figuring this would be one of my really bad days…” he paused then continued a bit hesitant, “Had the weirdest dream last night and well… while I slept this last time too.”
“Really?” she asked hesitantly, “Um, what was the dream or should I be afraid to ask?”
“Well, it wasn’t bad,” he answered and ran his fingers through his hair again before continuing, “It was just odd. I dreamed last night that a beautiful angel had come, stood next to my bed and watched me as I slept. After a while, she touched my neck and caressed her hand down my shoulders and back. Then this time, it was like before except when it reached my lower back her hand caressed slowly back up my back and into me as it reached my neck. I woke up after that and well, there’s like no pain. Well there is some but it’s more of an annoyance. Less than I hurt on my good days.”
“That’s great!” she said happily, “Really great! Think it will last?”
“No clue, but I feel great. I finally got some sleep after years of waking up in pain all the time,” Jason sighed ,” You have no idea how incredible this feels not to hurt like I normally do.”
“Jason, we need to talk. About my coming to move in with you,” she stated, a bit hesitant.
“I know, you can’t move in as planned,” Jason replied in a softer tone as he slumped down into his chair.
“I’m sorry,” she stated her voice growing soft and timid.
“It’s ok. I expected it,” he replied then asked, “Any reason for the change this time?”
“I just,” she began and hesitated before continuing, “just wanted to do one more quarter over here before changing schools. I don’t want to have to repeat anything if I can get the credit here and transfer it.”
“It’s understandable,” Jason said, looking at the changing pictures of her on the wall, “Well it’s only another quarter. We can still do your birthday and Halloween together.”
“Yeah, we can,” she replied a bit brighter, “Can I go? I need to go start dinner for my mom and uncle.”
“Of course baby girl,” he leaned his head back in the chair, looking up at the ceiling. “I love you, talk to you later.”
“K, bye.” she replied.
He hung the phone up and tossed it up on the desk then continued to look up at the ceiling.
Sadness; ‘She’s not his mate.’ It concluded after observing the conversation. ‘He would like her as his mate but she’s not his mate. She is hiding something from him but what?  Can’t meddle, meddling enough with his pain.’
Jason stood after a few minutes and walked slowly out of the room.
The ghostly wisp began to follow but paused, its perception shifted from him to the forgotten cane leaning against the nightstand. Slowly, the wisp caressed its carved surface before withdrawing even slower back to the computer then followed the power feed out of the house.  It withdrew from the power line once it was outside the house then after a moment’s pause of perceiving the house returned to the power line and traveled down it.
It sped along the power line, eventually dropping underground as the line did, stretching out its perception, trying to find what it was looking for. After a while it found it. Slowly, it altered its course to follow the power line into the location. Along the power lines of the building it traveled, stretching its perception into the building. It found nothing but a few small mammals roaming the building. Satisfied, it left the safety of the power line through an outlet and into the largest open area of the building. A loud, rapped clanging suddenly sounded.
Disgust; ‘Not being careful enough,’ it scolded itself. It moved from the entry along the wall to were a row of computers were and caressed the first one, reached into it, merged with it, and became part of it. The screen came to life and started to shift between pages until what it was looking for was found.  The screen went dark and it followed the power feed out of the building and back to Jason’s house where it returned to his computer through the power line and waited to see the results of its efforts.


“With due respect, Sir,” the lieutenant said as he turned to face the General, “You have us looking for a needle in a haystack six hundred miles across and we don’t even know what this needle looks like!”
“I know the orders, I wrote them,” the General snapped, “The fate of the world, not just the United States may rest in our finding and recovering this probe before it reports back what it finds.”
“I understand that, Sir,” the lieutenant replied exasperation obvious in his voice, “But we have nothing but photos and thermal scans to go on.”
“Lieutenant,” someone at a monitor called out, “I think I have a match on the thermal scan.”
The General and lieutenant looked at each other for a moment before walking briskly to the one that called out.
“It was only for a moment in Northern Michigan,” he stated as he replayed the last few seconds pointing out the location the scan was detected, “There.”
“So short, it could be a sensor glitch on the satellite,” the lieutenant stated.
“Recalibrate and test the thermal detectors,” the General ordered.
“Already did, Sir,” the man stated, “They’re working perfectly. No glitch.”
“What’s in that area?” the lieutenant asked.
“Traverse City,” the General stated, “What would it want there?”
The lieutenant shook his head, “Nothing there of strategic importance. No industries, no large population, no military bases.”
“Observing basic population activities,” the General mussed to himself before continuing, “Give me a copy of everything we have.”
“Sir,” the man interrupted, “It’s in the power lines.”
“What?” the General and lieutenant said near simultaneously as they turned to look at the monitor again.
“I zoomed in as close as I could and slowed the play back to frame by frame to see what it is we are looking for and look,” he traced his finger up the screen following a barely visible line. “That’s the power line leading to the road from this house.” The thermal image of the probe slowly formed next to the line, moved slowly toward the house then returned to the line and remerged with it.
“If it can travel through our power lines it could go anywhere it wanted to in this world in a matter of minutes,” the lieutenant stated drily.
“My God,” the General stated and ordered, “Get me the President on the line and get me a copy of that frame by frame.”
“Yes, Sir,” the lieutenant responded and hurried to his desk.
“Can we get a thermal image on the inside of the house?” the General asked the man.
“No sir, whatever insulation he is using is blocking thermal imaging,” the man answered.
“Damn it,” the General bit then asked, “Can we get anything to look inside that house?”
“Sir, this satellite uses an older infrared imager so it can’t pick up through foil backed insulation or tinfoil which stops almost ninety seven percent of all thermal radiation. However the new Geo One might do it,” the man suggested.
“How long would it take to get the satellite in position?”  The General asked.
“Presidents on the phone, Sir,” the lieutenant reported.
“Two or three days to get it in position and focused on that small of an area,” the man answered.
“You have one day,” the General said then walked to take the phone.  “Mr. President, we found it.”


-- The conclusion to the story can be found here: "Transcendance, Radiant Awakening Part 2" 

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