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(I)
"Of course it will work all right. We have successfully tried it on so many worlds. And even on this one, the last time we came. It has worked all right!"
"I'm not doubting the process, the science behind it is well established, and so are the results. What worries me are the after-effects. The last time, when we genetically enhanced a group of the chimps into humans, all went well; and there were reasons for that. The chimps that remained unenhanced were not intelligent enough to guess our methods. And the enhanced species, the humans, were too proud to think that any other species had a hand in their origin. So they concocted strange concepts of evolution and what not.
But this time... of course there will not be any trouble with those we will further enhance genetically; they will be absorbed into the Pool. But the deprived group will be intelligent enough... they may guess as to the nature of our own handiwork."
"And then again, humans - well, they have pretty complex characters, emotions, and thought processes.
When we enhance only some of them, will the rest quietly accept a state of servitude as the chimps have done under the humans?"
"Ah, don't worry about the rest of them. They will die out. And I see no point in further discussions. The Pool has already decided, and the Pool is never wrong."
(II)
"Maybe," said Jock," I've never given it a thought."
"Still, haven't you ever felt that words, writings and all other means of expressions we have, they are just inadequate for expressing your thoughts? And there are so many...'things' in your mind which you do not even consciously think. They are just...lost to your conscious world."
"Umm... but that's the way it is."
"Not necessarily. Just imagine if you could transmit your thoughts exactly as they are without having to modify them into clumsy words, if you could transmit even your unconscious self, directly to the minds of other people..."
"Telepathy?" asked Jock.
"And more, much more. Think of the best brains linked together into a super brain. And it isn't just wishful thinking. We have the means to achieve this and we need people like you."
It was indeed a weird conversation, thought Jock, and that too with a stranger at this Cafe tea table. A chance encounter. Surely?
(III)
His mind felt totally empty for there were not the thoughts and familiar nuances which he could call his own; and yet it was full, with ideas, opinions, arguments, agreements that went on ceaselessly in the Pool, dripping in from a trillion brains scattered all across the Universe. And of course, there still remained that little part of him, vanishingly small but still discernible under all the mental hubbub... for it had been only two hours since his inducement into the Pool.
And it was in that little corner of his mind that Jock was doggedly contemplating the whole course of events.
He had not believed the stranger and further conversations had convinced him that the stranger was simply a lunatic. But then he had met the whole 'team', the agents who worked for the Pool and were assigned to planet Earth. He was told how these very agents had come so many years before to genetically enhance a group of chimps into humans - the first small step towards eventual readiness for the Pool.
Jock was shown a live demonstration of enhancement from chimp to human... and then he had believed!
...then it was his turn.
"But why?" Jock had asked.
As with humans, they had said, intelligent beings throughout the universe had a single aim - to understand, harness, and indeed fight, the forces of Nature, the forces that governed the Universe. And the 'thought pool' was a natural outcome of this urge.
For, only a trillion minds thinking together could slowly peel back the heavy veils that Mother Nature used to hide her secrets from the unprepared or unworthy.
'It's funny,' thought Jock, 'I never believed in God and all that about becoming one with Him through meditation; and yet isn't that what's happening to me?'. On this point, the agents had been strangely silent...
Jock did not know, but his own personal thoughts were getting scattered.
'So, it was 'the Pool' which was the missing link'. He did not need to worry about his friends and relations because he would remain here on Earth, perhaps become an agent himself; only his mind would be elsewhere.
And Jock smiled at the thought. 'To be one with the Pool- the Sentient force that would eventually triumph over 'Nature'.
'But then', thought Jock in a single ray of crystal clarity, 'isn't it the forces of Nature, of the Universe, that we call God?'
This was a rather disturbing thought... for surely that made the Pool, bent upon subverting these forces to its own ends... the Devil? Jock's eyes and mouth opened wide in a moment of total comprehension, he tried to shout, to scream...
...But the thought was quickly lost in the vastness of the Pool. And in Jock's mind there was suddenly Nothing...
...and at the same time, a Strange, Black, Warped... Everything?...
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BIO:
Suman Datta is 23 years of age and an electrical engineer.Writing stories had started as a pastime for him but has now become a passion.The sci-fi genre is his favourite and he aspires to follow in the path of Isaac Asimov,who he thinks is the greatest sci-fi writer ever!
All the best, Suman - just keep sending us those stories!! - Ed.
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