An Ecology of MInd (39 page)

He could see potential flaws though in this argument and some ways to circumvent his being necessary to create the items in the past. Furthermore, there
may be more to the universe than he could perceive. It seemed that the items must be created in the past somehow, with or without him. However, he felt the
possible risk to the creation of all life in this area of the universe and to his past self was too great to play games with. He reached out to the past
and created first the higher dimensional construct that gave him abilities and then created ten thousand robots throughout this volume of space to create
life. He was careful to include his mark upon them so his past self of a few minutes ago would recognize his work as well.

The loop was now complete. The past seemed secure. As far as his current self was concerned there was nothing in his future that he had any foreknowledge
of. No tasks that he knew he would do, because he could see them in the past. It was freeing in a large way. He did not like the idea of predestined
events. To be fair, his past self had not known events were predestined. It was a matter of perspective. Furthermore, other realities may exist that he
could not perceive where his past self had taken other actions. He liked not knowing. Either way, from his perspective, his future was wide open.

He reached out in the present and created a duplicate of the construct that gave him his abilities. He made a couple of small alterations and then after a
last look around, he shut down the devices and his awareness of the higher dimensions ceased.

MICHAEL TOOK A SIP OF SCOTCH. "I'm telling you all of this because you are my son."

Chris just looked at him for a while. Michael sat patiently while Chris processed the information. Finally, Chris spoke. “My mother never told me who my
father was. I wondered a number of times if it might be your father, who you said earlier, was another of your bodies. My mother was great friends with
your mother and father, but I never fully understood the close connections with your family when I was growing up. After my mother passed away, your father
continued that connection and was a good friend and mentor. So I am not totally shocked by what you are telling me. What you are, is a total shock, but the
fact of fatherhood is not.”

“Actually Chris it is not quite that straight forward. I told you that I was sterile. I was only able to change that once I gained a greater understanding
of my body and my DNA. Crick and Watson made their initial conclusions about the nature of DNA in 1953. I spent a few years examining and learning to
understand the full nature of DNA. I then could make changes to my body to allow me to have children of my own."

"I had already identified the area of brain mutation that gave me my abilities and where the coding for it was on my DNA. I did not wish to pass that on to
my offspring. I took half my DNA just as you would have in a sperm or egg cell and made sure nothing related to my abilities was included in it and then
using my knowledge of genetic coding, I coded the other half myself artificially and added it to the mix. You are forgetting my full nature and making
incorrect assumptions about how that happened. You are my son, but I was not your father. I was your mother.”

Michael’s form shifted into Chris’ mother as he remembered her, shortly before she had died from pancreatic cancer when he was twenty-two.

“Once I understood the inner workings, I could be a fully functioning female if I chose. As a woman, I implanted the fertilized egg, and I could give birth
to you normally on my own without needing another party.”

Chris was at a loss for words for a moment. He felt a wide gamut of emotions, betrayal, loss, love for his mother, confusion, doubt, all intermingled.
Concepts were one thing; he could be clinical and keep his distance emotionally when dealing with concepts. Family relationships and emotions were in a
different category.

“You died and left me alone.”

“You didn’t need me anymore. You were fully grown and ready to lead your own life. And I didn’t leave you alone. I was there as Michael shortly after and
in my persona of Michael’s father, I made sure you were doing okay.”

“That’s cold.”

“Perhaps, as I said earlier, living for thousands of generations while everyone else around you dies, changes your perspective and how you think. Most
children find it a shock when they realize their parents have or had a life outside of being just mommy or daddy. I’d also say that there is a wide variety
of family situations today, such as two parents of the same sex, a parent who has a sex change, or the complex web of relationships that a child has when
both parents have a number of marriages and children from each of them. What you are dealing with is only one of many possible odd situations that today's
children have to deal with.”

“You’re really not going to apologize are you?”

Chris’ mother transformed back into Michael. “No, I’m not Chris. Our situation and relationship are different, but I do and have, always loved you. I am
proud of how you turned out, and you should be proud of yourself. I only ever interfered twice in your life after I died as your mother.”

“What did you do?”

“The first was when Nora was five, and she fell into the swimming pool and almost drowned.”

“Yeah, I remember. She was saved by the dog that lived next door. Baron, he was a golden retriever that belonged to our neighbors. He was a wonderful dog
and after saving Nora, I made a point of sneaking him bones every now and then.”

“Yes, that was very nice of you. I noted the danger Nora was in and used the dog to save her. He was a very nice real dog, but I moved his body like a
puppet to save Nora. Just because I was not around as your mother did not mean I didn’t keep watch on you and your family.”

“Thank you. The odd thing is that the concept of you using the dog that way does not shock me like it would have an hour ago.”

“That’s because you are adapting well to the situation.”

“Okay, what was the second time?”

“Margaret. She developed breast cancer four years ago. You said yourself when you told me she was visiting her sister who has breast cancer; it tends to
run in families. I noticed it and eliminated it without anyone knowing.”

Chris was shaken. The thought of losing Margaret was not something he wanted to face, ever.

“Thank you for that.”

“You are very welcome. While this mini family reunion is great, you being my son is only one of the reasons I am telling you all of this.”

“What are the other reasons?”

"I have been attempting for some time to prepare you for a decision I had made. This was the real reason I have been doing special lectures for you. You
always sit in on the lectures, and I have been using that to attempt to alter how you think and look at the world. You have a fine mind, but your
perspective is limited. You viewed things from the perspective of a portion of a single culture and didn't even think to question it."

"My doing the lectures for the students was only so I could stimulate a new type of thinking in you and give you the information without you realizing what
I was doing. That the students received it was just a minor side benefit. Hopefully, it may lead in some small way to an improving of how humanity views
the world around it, but the reason and focus was you all along."

"There are numerous ways to view the world and they all keep changing over time. If you stay locked in one single way, the world changes without you, and
you become more and more obsolete in your views and understanding. It is helpful to be aware of more than one way of viewing the world and open to them
while constantly questioning the validity of them all. You sort through the possible ways of thinking and choose what works best for you and the
situation."

"Any of them may work fine for a short duration or in specific circumstances, but over time, you need a larger and more flexible mental tool set. I was
trying to make you more prepared mentally for immortality. I had intended to have more time to continue the education process, but circumstances have
caused me to alter my original plan for you drastically. I no longer see immortality in the way I had planned as the best option for a situation that has
changed and will continue to do so."

Chris stared at him. "Immortality?"

"Yes. It is not something I have ever attempted before for a variety of reasons, but I had felt I had a workable but limited way of doing it. One, that I
now see as totally inadequate for the new situation."

"So let me get this straight. Without consulting me, you had planned on making me immortal and now again without consulting me; you have decided not to?"

"Yes and no. I didn't and am not consulting you for permission, and I am still making you immortal but in a much different manner. I have learned a lot in
the past few days, and much of the situation has changed. I just altered you so that as my son you do have the same abilities that I do but with a couple
of limitations. You have complete control of all matter, unless I am controlling it, to a radius of about three hundred feet. The range of your control
will not grow beyond that point. You also cannot make additional bodies and become a multiple entity as I am. I have already put the changes in place to
make your body totally immune to all harm, and you have full conscious control over its shape."

"While the thought of immortality sounds appealing, I find your arrogance in not even consulting with me appalling," said Chris indignantly. "I feel the
same about how you handled those twenty-five thousand people within the barrier. You are blithely making life-and-death decisions without any input from
the people involved."

Michael took another sip of scotch and calmly answered. "Yes I am. I act as I feel is best and most in line with my interests. One of my interests is
protecting the human race. If I had not interfered with the aliens, they would have genetically enslaved all humans as a labor source. The president and
his administration as duly elected representatives of the people of this country were treating every step as a polling point for getting re-elected. I was
the only person on the planet able to find a way to communicate with them, much less stop them."

“The aliens had some different ways of thinking, but the mechanics of how they thought were very similar to humans. Many of the same flaws and shortcomings
I discussed in lectures were present.”

"They had a mindset or world view in which other species were used or seen as a threat and destroyed. No other options were available in their system of
thought. Since they were stopped from turning the human race into slaves, they were going to use the star drive to jump several antimatter missiles
directly into sections of the core of the Earth and totally destroy the planet. Offering peaceful options or showing them reasons not to attempt that did
not fit within their way of thinking and was ignored. To save Earth and humanity from total destruction I eliminated almost their entire species in over
two hundred star systems. You made the comment earlier that the contact with the aliens had not released anything overly dangerous, and I answered not in
the way you think. It did though, it released me. The technology that brought them into contact with our world, released me."

Chris just looked at him in shock.

"I have had to make some major changes to myself to meet the threat of the aliens for humanity. However, along with far greater power, my thinking has
altered and will continue to change to be more and more non-human in nature. You feel I have been overly intrusive. You have no comprehension, of how much
I restrain myself. I have reached a level of power, where not a single atom or subatomic particle of the entire Earth or any living thing on it moves or
does anything, unless I allow it to. You have no concept of the level of tyranny that is possible to me, but that is not my way or purpose."

"My concern is that despite my thinking becoming increasingly non-human in nature; I still wish to protect humanity. I feel that is best done by another
with power but not too much, and with their thinking closer to the rest of humanity. This is why I have made the changes to you. You now have the role of
protector on a more human scale."

"I will continue to exist and act in the pursuit of my goals. I don't know exactly how my outlook will change, so I plan to leave much of the protection to
you."

Chris had been so focused on Michael that he had not noticed that their surroundings had changed. The area around them had diminished and returned to the
look of his den. He could see the sun shining in the window and as best as he could tell, they were back in his den within his house. His mind was racing
as he considered everything Michael had been telling him.

"I have already transferred my bank accounts, house, and the operations of the Redstone Foundation to your control. Feel free to do whatever you wish with
all of that and in any of your other future actions. You are my son and I love you, but unfortunately, I cannot be relied on to shield you and humanity any
more. I will continue to do my best but my perspective has changed, and it will be from much more of a distance if at all."