Chapter 16: Whispers

The Architect suddenly woke, because he was sensing the echoes of strange voices in the primitive hive-mind of Kurg.

At first, the echoes were impossibly faint and he almost slept through them, but then the conversation ended with a shout, “I don’t understand!”

It was strange, because he didn’t initially recognize the shout as words, instead sounding like the screech of an animal, but a short instant later, the meaning of the words flowed to him through Kurg. The words had been spoken in another language, one distinct from that taught to Irkith by the Life Giver.

He strained to hear more, but all was silent.

He returned to sleeping, but was soon woken by another whisper-quiet conversation that ended with another shout, “Stop! You’re hurting me!”

He had the distinct impression the words had been spoken to Kurg, even though they occurred entirely inside the hive-mind of the city.

The Architect patiently waited, expecting more words at any time, determined to puzzle out their meaning and origin, for nothing like this had ever happened before.

He wasn’t so surprised when another shout broke through, “Oh, shut up!”

Hrm. The translation was clear, but the meaning confusing. The city was, indeed, shut up upon itself, based on the orders of the Forbidden One, under the authority of Irkith, but he sensed this meant something else.

“Okay, fine! I get it, you want something, but I have no idea what you want!” The next shout arrived, soon followed by, “So, Kurg, you want to be whole? You want all of your scattered bits put together?”

Fascinating! Someone had somehow come into contact with the hive-mind of the city and they were directly communicating with it, mind to mind!

As he was considering that, the next words came, “Why me?” As if in response to their own question, they answered in a monotone voice that mimicked the only words the city had ever spoken, “I am Kurg.”

The Architect was confused for a time, but Irkith supplied, “Pay closer attention to the distant piece of the city they were just talking with. Examine it closely. You’ll find it very interesting.”

As instructed, the Architect studied the mental pathways of the city until he’d isolated the segment the conversations had come from, by searching for the direct memory of the exchange. When he found it, he was astonished, because the segment was newly constructed! Even more strange was the fact that it was growing beyond the parameters of the original design, because it had been placed in a receptacle that was more compatible with life energy than the usual metal alloy of Kurg. Though it was still fairly stupid, it was slowly growing more intelligent! Someone had somehow copied the life-imbuing process that made the city and in so doing had opened a pathway for external communication!

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The Architect began reaching out, hoping to touch the mind of the individual that had been talking with the city. It wasn’t easy, since the city wasn’t designed to be used that way.

As he was working, another conversation began, this time filled with anger!

“I am Lyra Jacobs and you are hurting my child!” The voice screamed in rage at the city!

What was a Lyra Jacobs? What child were they talking about? Why was the voice so different from the earlier shouts? Was it the same individual or just a change in the tone of voice?

“I don’t care who or what you are! You will let go of Nicole’s mind or I will kill you from the inside out!”

Nicole? Was the Nicole the child? There was a strange sense of distant conflict and the Architect stopped in his tracks as he realized segments of the city were dying! Some form of mental battle had been fought, but it soon became clear that neither side could win. With a quick examination of the results, he knew the dead segments would regenerate, for like each small piece of the city, the whole of the city was also self-healing. That confirmed what he’d always suspected, but hadn’t been willing to test.

“Shut up!”

Again, that strange demand. How could the city become even more shut?

“I can’t win this war, but neither can you. However, I could just keep killing all of you, until there’s only the one in my hand left. Do you really want that?”

In the moment, the Architect feared the city would antagonize this powerful individual until they inflicted needless harm that would take many stellar revolutions to heal. He urged the city to calm down and avoid attacking. It obeyed, since it was entirely uncertain what to do.

“Let Nicole go and I’ll let you all live.”

Again, what was a Nicole? What was meant by letting go? What was preventing this Nicole from ‘going’ and what, exactly, did that mean?

The city and the Architect were both confused by what was expected. He wanted to directly converse with this powerful mind, but he’d only halfway negotiated a connection though the mental paths of the city for high-speed, bi-directional speech and it was clear the individual at the other end had no idea how to read the senses of the city. Since his work just wasn’t ready, he redoubled his efforts to extend his reach, in hopes of speaking with them, but was disappointed by the powerful mind exiting the hive-mind of the city.

The Architect enlisted the aid of Irkith in his labors, but just as they finished, the new segment of the city vanished from the hive-mind, quite suddenly and without explanation! It briefly flickered back into existence several times, but it wasn’t long enough to communicate. The new segment hadn’t been destroyed, that much was clear, but it had somehow been rendered dormant, as though the imbued life energy had been redirected or blocked.

“We’re so close to reaching someone outside!” The Architect groaned with frustration!

“Have patience.” Irkith urged, using a soothing tone, “You know as well as I do, once a piece of the city has been made, it can’t be unmade. The connection will return. It’s been very little time between these strange shouts, so I’m sure it will return again, soon.”

“You’re right, of course. We must be vigilant or we’ll never escape.”