stiff.”
“Anyway,” Ellie said again, “in the interest of time, I will tell you everything else myself. According to Archie, the records from the splinter colony show that they conducted a number of experiments on you, most of which are outlawed in those octospider colonies Archie refers to as ‘highly developed.’ One experiment, Daddy, as you have often suggested, involved inserting into your brain a series of specialized microbes to void all your memory of the time period you stayed with the octospiders. I have reported to Archie and the others that the memory experiment was mostly but not completely successful.
“The most complex experiment they conducted on your body was an attempt to alter your sperm. The splinter colony of octospiders knew no more about where Rama was going than our family did. They thought that perhaps the humans and octospiders on board would be coexisting for centuries, maybe even eons, and the octospiders determined that it was absolutely essential for the two species to communicate.
“What they attempted to do was to change the chromosomes in your sperm so that your offspring would have both expanded language capability and greater visual resolution of colors. In short, they tried to engineer me genetically- for I was the only child born to you and Mother after your long odyssey-so that I would be able to communicate with them without undue difficulty. To accomplish this, they introduced a set of special creatures into your body.”
Ellie stopped. Both Richard and Nicole were staring at her as if they were in shock.
“So you are some kind of hybrid?” Richard asked finally.
“Maybe a little,” said Ellie, laughing to defuse the tension. “If I understand correctly, only a few thousand of the three billion kilobases that define my genome have been altered… And speaking of that, Archie and the octospiders would like to invalidate, for their scientific research, that I am indeed the result of an altered sperm. They would like blood and other cell samples from both of you, so that they can conclude unequivocally that I could not have come from a ‘normal’ union of the two of you. Then they would know for certain that my facility with their language was indeed ‘engineered’ and not just incredible good luck.”
“What difference does it make at this point?” Richard asked. “I would think that all that matters is that you can communicate.”
“I’m surprised at you, Father-you who have always been such a knowledge junkie. The octospider society places information at the top of the value scale. They are already virtually certain, as a result of the tests they have performed on me plus the records kept by the splinter group, that I am indeed the result of an altered sperm. Looking at both your genomes in detail, however, would allow them to confirm it.”
“All right,” said Nicole after only a brief hesitation. “I’m willing.” She walked over and hugged Ellie. “Whatever caused you to be, you are my daughter and I love you with all my heart.” Nicole glanced back at Richard. “And I’m certain your father will agree as soon as he has had time to think about it.”
Nicole smiled at Archie. The octospider flashed the broad crimson, followed by a more narrow cobalt blue and a bright yellow. The sentence meant “Thank you” in the octospider language.
The next morning Nicole wished that she had asked a few more questions before volunteering to help the octospiders with their scientific research. Just after breakfast, their constant alien companion Archie was joined by two other octospiders in the humans’ small suite. One of the newcomers, introduced by Ellie as “Dr. Blue-a most distinguished medical scholar,” explained what was going to occur. Richard’s procedure would be simple and straightforward. Essentially, the octos only wanted enough data on Richard to corroborate the historical record of his visit to the splinter colony years before.
As for Nicole, since the octospider data base contained no physiological information on her, and the octos had already learned from their detailed examination of Ellie that the way in which human genetic characteristics fire expressed is dominated by the mother’s contribution to the offspring, a much more elaborate procedure would be required. Dr. Blue proposed to perform a complex series of tests on Nicole, the most important of which involved data gathering inside her body by a dozen tiny, coiled creatures that were about two centimeters long and the width of a pin. Nicole recoiled with horror when the octospider doctor held up an equivalent of a plastic bag and Nicole first saw the writhing, slimy creatures that were going to be inside her.
“But I thought all you needed was my genetic code,” Nicole said, “and that’s contained in each and every cell. It shouldn’t be necessary—”
Bright colors circled Dr. Blue’s head as the octospider interrupted before Nicole had a chance to finish her protest. “Our techniques of extracting your genome information,” Dr. Blue said through Ellie, “are not yet very advanced. Our methods work best if we have many cells, chosen from several different organs and biological subsystems.”
The doctor then politely thanked Nicole again for her cooperation, finishing with the sequence of cobalt blue and bright yellow bands she had already learned to interpret. The blue part of the “Thank you” spilled down the side of Dr. Blue’s head, producing a beautiful visual effect that momentarily distracted the linguist in Nicole. So keeping those color bands regular must be a learned behavior, she thought. And our doctor has a kind of speech impediment.
Nicole’s attention was forcibly returned to the pending procedure a few moments later when Dr. Blue explained that the coiled creatures would burrow through her skin into her body and then remain inside her for half an hour. Yuck, thought Nicole immediately, they remind me of leeches.
One was placed on her forearm. Nicole raised her arm up in front of her face and watched the tiny animal screw its way through her skin. Nicole felt nothing while the creature was invading her, but when it had disappeared she shuddered involuntarily.
Nicole was asked to lie down on her back. Dr. Blue then showed her two small eight-legged creatures, one red and one blue, each the size of a fruit fly. “You may feel some discomfort soon,” Dr. Blue said to Nicole through Ellie, “as the colters reach your internal organs. These little guys can be used for anesthesia if you would like some relief from the pain.”
Less than a minute later Nicole experienced a sharp stabbing sensation in her chest. Nicole’s first thought was that something was cutting into one of the chambers of her heart. When Dr. Blue saw Nicole’s face wrenched in pain, he placed the two anesthetic bugs on Nicole’s neck. In only seconds Nicole was suspended in a peculiar state between waking and dreaming. She could still hear Ellie’s voice, continuing to explain what was happening, but she could not feel anything occurring inside her body.
Nicole found her gaze fixed on the front of the head of Dr. Blue, who was supervising the entire procedure. Much to her astonishment, Nicole thought that she was beginning to recognize emotional expressions in the subtle surface wrinkles of the octospider’s face. She remembered once as a child being certain that she had seen her pet dog smile. There’s so much to seeing, her floating mind thought, so much more than we ever use.
She felt astonishingly peaceful. Nicole closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them again she was a ten-year-old girl, weeping beside her father as her mother’s bier was consumed by flames in a burial ceremony befitting the Senoufo queen. The old man, her great-grandfather Omeh, dressed in a frightening mask to scare off any demons that might try to accompany Nicole’s mother to the afterlife, came over beside her and took her hand. “It is as the chronicles prophesied, Ronata,” he said, using Nicole’s Senoufo name, “our blood has been scattered to the stars.”
The variegated mask of the shaman disappeared into another set of colors, these in bands streaking around Dr. Blue’s head. Again Nicole heard Ellie’s voice. My daughter is a hybrid, she thought to herself without emotion. I have given birth to something that is more than human. A new kind of evolution has begun.
Her mind drifted again and she was a great bird plane flying high in the dark above the savannas of the Ivory Coast. Nicole had left the Earth, turned her back on the Sun, and blasted like a rocket toward the blackness and void beyond the solar system. In her-mind’s eye she could clearly see Omeh’s face. “Ronata,” he called into the night sky in the Ivory Coast, “do not forget. You are the chosen one.” And could he really have known, Nicole thought, still in the twilight zone between waking and sleeping, all those years ago, in Africa, on Earth? And if so, how? Or is there still another dimension to seeing that we have only just begun to understand?
Richard and Nicole were sitting together in the near darkness. They were temporarily alone. Ellie and Eponine were out with Archie, making all the arrangements for the departure the next morning.
“You’ve been very quiet all day,” Richard said.
“Yes, I have,” Nicole answered. “I have felt strange, almost drugged, ever since that last procedure this morning… My memory is unusually active. I’ve been thinking about my parents. And Omeh. And visions I had years ago.”
