Michael Crichton - Sphere

“He understands me fine,” Harry said. “I’m glad somebody does.”

Harry typed:

PpP

The reply came:

HELLO. = 00032125252632

“Okay,” Harry said. “He’s getting bored. Playtime’s over. Let’s switch to straight English.”

Harry typed:

YES.

The reply came back:

0004212232

Harry typed:

HELLO .

There was a pause, then:

I AM DELIGHTED TO MAKE YOUR ACQUAINTANCE. THE PLEASURE IS ENTIRELY MINE I ASSURE YOU.

There was a long silence. Nobody spoke.

“Okay,” Barnes said, finally. “Let’s get down to business.”

“He’s polite,” Ted said. “Very friendly.”

“Unless it’s an act.”

“Why should it be an act?”

“Don’t be naive,” Barnes said.

Norman looked at the lines on the screen. He had a different reaction from the others-he was surprised to find an expression of emotion. Did this alien have emotions? Probably not, he suspected. The flowery, rather archaic words suggested an adopted tone: Jerry was talking like a character from a historical romance.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen,” Harry said, “for the first time in human history, you are on-line with an alien. What do you want to ask him?”

“His name,” Barnes said promptly.

“Besides his name, Hal.”

“There are certainly more profound questions than his name,” Ted said.

“I don’t understand why you won’t ask him-”

The screen printed:

ARE YOU THE ENTITY HECHO IN MEXICO?

“Jesus, where’d he get that?”

“Maybe there are things on the ship fabricated in Mexico.”

“Like what?”

“Chips, maybe.”

ARE YOU THE ENTITY MADE IN THE U.S.A.?

“The guy doesn’t wait for an answer.”

“Who says he’s a guy?” Beth said.

“Oh, Beth.”

“Maybe Jerry is short for Geraldine.”

“Not now, Beth.”

ARE YOU THE ENTITY MADE IN THE U.S.A.?

“Answer him,” Barnes said.

YES WE ARE. WHO ARE YOU?

A long pause, then:

WE ARE.

“We are what ?” Barnes said, staring at the screen.

“Hal, take it easy.”

Harry typed, WE ARE THE ENTITIES FROM THE U.S.A. WHO ARE YOU?

ENTITIES=ENTITY?

“It’s too bad,” Ted said, “that we have to speak English. How’re we going to teach him plurals?”

Harry typed, NO.

YOU ARE A MANY ENTITY?

“I see what he’s asking. He thinks we may be multiple parts of a single entity.”

“Well, straighten him out.”

NO. WE ARE MANY SEPARATE ENTITIES.

“You can say that again,” Beth said.

I UNDERSTAND. IS THERE ONE CONTROL ENTITY?

Ted started laughing. “Look what he’s asking!”

“I don’t get it,” Barnes said.

Harry said, “He’s saying, ‘Take me to your leader.’ He’s asking who’s in charge.”

“I’m in charge,” Barnes said. “You tell him.”

Harry typed, YES. THE CONTROL ENTITY IS CAPTAIN HARALD C. BARNES.

I UNDERSTAND.

“With an ‘o,’ “Barnes said irritably. “Harold with an ‘o.’ ”

“You want me to retype it?”

“Never mind. Just ask him who he is.”

WHO ARE YOU?

I AM ONE.

“Good,” Barnes said. “So there’s only one. Ask him where he’s from.”

WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

I AM FROM A LOCATION.

“Ask him the name,” Barnes said. “The name of the location.”

“Hal, names are confusing.”

“We have to pin this guy down!”

WHERE IS THE LOCATION YOU ARE FROM?

I AM HERE.

“We know that . Ask again.”

WHERE IS THE LOCATION FROM WHERE YOU BEGAN?

Ted said, “That isn’t even good English, ‘from where you began.’ It’s going to look foolish when we publish this exchange.”

“We’ll clean it up for publication,” Barnes said.

“But you can’t do that,” Ted said, horrified. “You can’t alter this priceless scientific interaction.”

“Happens all the time. What do you guys call it? ‘Massaging the data.’ ”

Harry was typing again.

WHERE IS THE LOCATION FROM WHERE YOU BEGAN?

I BEGAN AT AWARENESS.

“Awareness? Is that a planet or what?”

WHERE IS AWARENESS?

AWARENESS IS.

“He’s making us look like fools,” Barnes said.

Ted said, “Let me try.”

Harry stepped aside, and Ted typed, DID YOU MAKE A JOURNEY?

YES. DID YOU MAKE A JOURNEY?

YES, Ted typed.

I MAKE A JOURNEY. YOU MAKE A JOURNEY. WE MAKE A JOURNEY TOGETHER. I AM HAPPY.

Norman thought, He said he is happy. Another expression of emotion, and this time it didn’t seem to come from a book. The statement appeared direct and genuine. Did that mean that the alien had emotions? Or was he just pretending to have them, to be playful or to make them comfortable?

“Let’s cut the crap,” Barnes said. “Ask him about his weapons.”

“I doubt he’ll understand the concept of weapons.”

“Everybody understands the concept of weapons,” Barnes said. “Defense is a fact of life.”

“I must protest that attitude,” Ted said. “Military people always assume that everyone else is exactly like them. This alien may not have the least conception of weapons or defense. He may come from a world where defense is wholly irrelevant.”

“Since you’re not listening,” Barnes said, “I’ll say it again. Defense is a fact of life. If this Jerry is alive, he’ll have a concept of defense.”

“My God,” Ted said. “Now you’re elevating your idea of defense to a universal life principle-defense as an inevitable feature of life.”

Barnes said, “You think it isn’t? What do you call a cell membrane? What do you call an immune system? What do you call your skin? What do you call wound healing? Every living creature must maintain the integrity of its physical borders. That’s defense, and we can’t have life without it. We can’t imagine a creature without a limit to its body that it defends. Every living creature knows about defense, I promise you. Now ask him.”

“I’d say the Captain has a point,” Beth said.

“Perhaps,” Ted said, “but I’m not sure we should introduce concepts that might induce paranoia-”

“-I’m in charge here,” Barnes said.

The screen printed out:

IS YOUR JOURNEY NOW FAR FROM YOUR LOCATION?

“Tell him to wait a minute.”

Ted typed, PLEASE WAIT. WE ARE TALKING.

YES I AM ALSO. I AM DELIGHTED TO TALK TO MULTIPLE ENTITIES FROM MADE IN THE U.S.A. I AM ENJOYING THIS MUCH.

THANK YOU, Ted typed.

I AM PLEASED TO BE IN CONTACT WITH YOUR ENTITIES. I AM HAPPY FOR TALKING WITH YOU. I AM ENJOYING THIS MUCH.

Barnes said, “Let’s get off-line.”

The screen printed, PLEASE DO NOT STOP. I AM ENJOYING THIS MUCH.

Norman thought, I’ll bet he wants to talk to somebody, after three hundred years of isolation. Or had it been even longer than that? Had he been floating in space for thousands of years before he was picked up by the spacecraft?

This raised a whole series of questions for Norman. If the alien entity had emotions-and he certainly appeared to-then there was the possibility of all sorts of aberrant emotional responses, including neuroses, even psychoses. Most human beings when placed in isolation became seriously disturbed rather quickly. This alien intelligence had been isolated for hundreds of years. What had happened to it during that time? Had it become neurotic? Was that why it was childish and demanding now?