As many of you know I am in the midst of publishing my first novel. It is a trying, difficult, yet exhilarating experience. That work, Collision of Faith, is in the publishing review process.

Meanwhile, I am experimenting with different writing genre.

So I though I would put this out there for your comments. It is in an entirely different venue, science fiction, but hey, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Please if you take the time to read it, comment on it, good, bad, the important thing is you take the time to comment. I truly appreciate it all

SEED

Everyone knows of him, he knows no one.

It is all changed.

Memories no longer matter.

He has outlived memory.

When the Quantum Link Interface Monitor detected the last transmission, it began the termination sequence.

He would awaken in a completely unfamiliar world .

He’d been informed of things since the journey began, but it was through the neural link, not actual experience.

His life reduced to a blog he couldn’t write.

He saw the changes take place, but it was not real, not yet anyway. His “real” memories were of quantum jumps through the universe over unimagined distances. But, then again, was that any more, or less, real?

The first sensations of coldness and warmth.

Sensations of plunging skin chilled by winter air into running water, the neurons confused, sending mixed signals of warmth, then cold, then hot, until settling into familiar recognition of the temperature.

He heard, actually felt, sounds for the first time in a long time.

The neural link had manipulated his brain into believing the audio and visual stimuli, but these sounds vibrated in his ears, he could feel and hear it.

Strange and familiar all at once. Real.

He heard voices, clinical, focused, not directed at him but about him.

“Ready to remove the light dampening systems and reinstate eye functionality?”

“On my mark, slowly bring the artificial dampening unit down in 10 % increments I want the eye function to be gradual. Monitor corneal activity for any signs of deterioration”

Light!

He could feel light as it reached his cornea. His eyes felt, warmth. The iris began to move. He felt it all, these were new, yet vaguely familiar, sensations.

Movement!

He could detect movement, only lines and shadows, but he was “seeing” again.

Then, he heard the voice from long ago, one he would never forget, “Alec, its me Nadie, in a few minutes you will be able to open your eyes, wait until I tell you to, okay? Alec, nod your head if you understand”

Alesdair “Alec” MacGregor, after a moment’s concentration recalling the processes of muscle movement, nodded his head and it was as if he had never felt movement before, he had memories of moving his body, but this was different, this was, real. The neurons firing, the muscle’s contracting and relaxing were all electric, he felt every pulsing cell as they responded to the stimuli.

That voice, that wonderful, beautiful voice, how he had longed for this moment. “Alec, I want you to try to open your eyes, slowly, understand? Slowly”

Alec concentrated on his eyes, he could feel the movement, he could feel the warmth of light on his eyelids, he felt the eyes as they moved against the eyelids. He was deliberate in his focus, he recalled the pre-mission briefing, functionality will be fully restored but you must proceed slowly and follow the recovery teams instructions.

He began to open his eyes, light divided by his eyelashes came through the gap, took shape, warmed his eyes. They continued to widen, slowly, deliberately, until more movement was apparent. Then, color, amazing, intense, vibrant color, red. He recognized the red lights used in equipment to minimize reducing the eyes’ light gathering ability in low light conditions. Everything was red, glowing, moving, confusing.

“Alec, can you move your eyes around, I want to insure full range of motion and functionality.”

He moved his eyes up and down, left and right, things began to focus, he recognized people, rather
the shapes as people, no one was familiar.

“Alec, look all around you, there are quite a few people here to see this moment, ready to try more motion?”

He nodded his head again.

“Okay, try moving your right arm”

It took him a moment, he had to force his brain to recognize the limb, he lifted the arm and tried to flex his hand, again the motion was delayed until the brain reminded itself of the function process, the hand flexed. He switched to his left side, as he did the right arm slumped back to the table.

Until he brought focus to a limb it remained immobile. Gradually this changed.

“Alec, you are doing great, take your time, we’ll have you up an about in few minutes”

Progress was indeed rapid, as the autonomic functions were fully restore, Alec’s control over his movements became more refined and stable. He rose from the table and took his first steps in centuries.

He began to look around the room, there were five other people with him, but only one he recognized, Nadie.

But how was this possible?

“Nadie?”

The scientist turned and looked at Alec “well, it’s about time you got home” smiling that beautiful smile and walking towards him.

He reached out, requiring a great deal of focus, and hugged her. She felt wonderful, she felt as he had remembered her when they first met in the research lab. But how? It had been over three thousand years ago.

“All will be explained Alec, give yourself some time to grow accustomed to being on your own and I will tell you the whole story”

“Can I go outside, I want to breathe real air”

“Let’s give it a few more minutes then I will take you for a walk, okay?”

Alec nodded and sat back down. Every motion brought new sensations, every muscle movement was enlightening. He looked at the various instruments and controls within the room. All of it was unfamiliar, he recognized none of the people or the name tags on their lab coats. All except Nadie.

Walking to a mirrored wall, he knew it to be an observation portal, he looked at himself. He was 32 years old when the project started and he looked exactly as he recalled that day. Yet, he had more memories than any 32 year old human had ever experienced.

He had seen worlds orbiting stars whose light was too faint or obstructed to reach Earth. He had been into wormholes, time vortexes, had ridden Einstein’s light wave and demonstrated that Light speed itself is relative and time flexible and easily manipulated.

Now he had “returned”.

The Quantum Linked Remote Entity, having fulfilled it’s purpose, terminated, and the last of the memories recorded in his mind and in the Quantum Integrated Storage Medium.

He had seeded several thousand worlds with bacteria, single-celled organisms, human and animal DNA in an attempt to stimulate the development of life. His mission was over, now they would send a second mission on the same path to measure the results. Would he be around to see the conclusion?

That depended greatly on the progress made on the “problem”.