Originator by Shepherd Joel

Author:Shepherd, Joel [Shepherd, Joel]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Military, Fiction
ISBN: 9781616149932
Publisher: Pyr
Published: 2015-01-06T08:00:00+00:00

“Talee have words for it,” said Cai a little later, as they sat in the living room with the auto shades drawn. With both Cai and the asura, the potential for ambush was slight. Kiril sat by the animal on the floor rug, having decided it was his friend. Sandy didn’t like that either, but the asura seemed to know who it shouldn’t make angry. “But the words won’t mean anything to you. Talee language is difficult.”

Sandy watched him carefully, sipping coffee, pistol on the coffee table. Poole alongside, with Danya and Svetlana beside that, eating sandwiches they’d bought from a store on the way here.

“Talee are double-brained,” Cai continued. “So are humans, technically, with left and right hemispheres, but in Talee the separation is even more pronounced. In humans, conscious thought can be traced to specific locations, in the left or right sides. In Talee, the conscious thought arises from somewhere between two hemispheres. Like binocular vision, if you close one eye, you see only what that eye sees. But open both together, and the brain combines them to make a composite image, overlaying one image atop the other.”

“But that’s an illusion,” Ragi said cautiously. He was reclined on another sofa, bandaged arm across his middle. The shock of losing a hand was mostly psychological, Sandy knew. Though not a combat GI, physically he could take far worse damage and still function. For a while at least. “There is no single image, it’s the brain creating an entirely new one. A third image, an internal construction.”

“Exactly,” said Cai. “Talee consciousness is a construct of a third image, if you will—neither entirely left nor right brain, but something in the middle. It makes them very clever, perhaps cleverer than humans, if one can measure such things. Talee have vast imaginations. Arts and science, for Talee, are much the same thing.”

“You know,” said Jane, “this would be absolutely fascinating, if they weren’t trying to kill us.” For once, Sandy found Jane’s derision agreeable.

“It sounds like they would be less susceptible to compulsive narrative syndrome than humans,” Ragi offered.

“Yes,” Cai agreed. “Normally that would be true. But Talee psychology has a drawback. Mostly in the form of drugs. Talee have used them to alter chemical neurology for as long as they’ve known how to brew, just as humans with alcohol. But the effect on Talee is different, and targets different parts of the brain. This shuts down the cross-referencing process, or parts of it. Which turns a Talee from a thoughtful, cautious, farsighted individual into a far more focused and straightforward one.”

“A drone?” asked Ragi.

“No. A believer.” A quiet pause. The asura yawned, a flash of long, sharp teeth. Kiril scratched its head. Sandy wondered if the animal enjoyed the sensation as much as Kiril thought it did. “Most Talee are thoughtful. Though flexible, they can be conservative in their own way and not rush to judgement. But an ‘impaired’ Talee will think in straight lines. The uncertainty of cross-referencing between hemispheres disappears, to be replaced by something far more predictable.

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