Chapter 7: Morning has Broken

Caleb woke slowly on Saturday morning. Judging from the light through the windows, it was just after sunrise. He was normally an early riser, but this morning he just lay in bed thinking. The previous forty-eight hours had been a whirlwind of activity and experiences. He was surprised when he did a recap of the last two days at how clear his memories were.

In his mind, Caleb walked through the steps after he had exited the canyon, on his way to the camp site again. Yep, he remembered everything the same as last night. He reviewed all the poking and prodding at the army base, and then the threats from General Branch. He smiled to himself as he remembered the bus ride back to Phoenix, and the shared dream he had with JJ. His smile broadened as he thought about when he had kissed her. Caleb remembered sinking into a deep oblivion after his dreams that lasted until he woke up. Now he understood what Alice felt like, when she went down the proverbial rabbit hole. The thought struck him that he wasn't normally aware of the chronological progression of dreams through the night.

"Are you still there?" Caleb asked hesitantly.

"I am still here," Al answered in his mind.

"Okay," Caleb said uncertainly. After a moment he asked, "Do I need to do anything for you?"

"No. I am quite comfortable, and intrigued by some anomalies that I have found," Al replied.

"Um, are these anomalies good or bad?" Caleb asked, feeling stupid for asking a question like that.

"Anomalies just are. There is no good or bad. Only their ramifications can be good or bad," Al explained patiently, as if speaking to a child.

"Fine! Their ramifications can be good or bad," Caleb said caustically. "So are the ramifications of these anomalies good or bad?"

"I don't know, yet," Al replied. "I haven't finished studying them."

"What?" Caleb squawked aloud, sitting up in bed. "What is there to study?" he asked.

"It is difficult to explain, because your species has just begun the study of very small particles. I believe that your species are calling them quantum particles," Al explained, patiently.

"Okay. I had an introduction to quantum physics in college," Caleb thought slowly, picking his words carefully. "Electronics Engineering requires the knowledge of how and why electronics work at the atomic level. What does that have to do with the anomaly that you've found, and how long will it take to study it?"

Caleb felt something in his mind that made him think of a shrug.

"A truism of the quantum state is that it can change because a particle is being examined," Al replied, taking on a lecturing tone. "Because of that, the particles in the quantum state are difficult, and time consuming, to study. The anomaly in your brain, actually, in your species' brains ... is an unexpectedly strong quantum attribute."

"I don't understand what you just said," Caleb replied acerbically. "Why don't you try again, and use words a mere mortal can understand."

"It seems, Caleb, that I was wrong about how your species' is able to receive thoughts and emotions from another of your species. I was 'close, but no cigar', to use a human phrase. You do read the electrical signals, as I said, but that ability comes from a quantum attribute of your brains," Al explained.

"What the hell does that mean?" Caleb thought plaintively.

He felt, more than heard, the sigh before Al replied with, "Your species' brains are connected at a quantum level. It is a strong connection, which is why I found it. It may also resolve the debate I mentioned last night. It is a question that I have had for the last ... for a very long time. Reviewing data from previous hosts seems to confirm my theory."

"What question is that?" Caleb thought, nearly afraid to ask.

"What is sentience?" Al explained, excitement creeping into the alien's thoughts. "Remember our discussion last night, about sentience?"

"Do you mean when you explained that I may not be considered sentient to most species in the galaxy? I think that is when you explained that the human race is just smart enough to get in the sentient queue, but can't go further because we haven't advanced far enough on the evolutionary tree," Caleb replied sardonically.

"Good! You do remember, so I don't need to explain it all again," Al replied, seeming oblivious to Caleb's outrage.

Caleb sputtered, and was preparing to begin yelling, but Al continued, "You have many other animals on your planet. Why are humans self-aware and, say, dogs and cats are not? Or ... are dogs and cats self aware? Many of your species believes whales and dolphins are intelligent, and information that I've found in your mind indicates that they are intelligent, but are they self-aware, the lowest level to be considered sentient? Are they sentient? How do we determine if a species is sentient? That is the argument sentient beings across the galaxy are having. I explained that to you last night. I think your species has given me the clue that I need to make that determination," Al said excitedly in Caleb's mind.

"This is probably going to make my head hurt again, but, why should I care how others' want to determine sentience?" Caleb asked guardedly.

"Because humans provide the clue to a scientific way to determine sentience, instead of the opinionated arguments that exist now. Sentience is determined by the presence of an extension into the quantum real, by the minds of corporeal beings," Al said triumphantly. "There are other races that communicate telepathically, and every one of them have an organ specifically evolved to handle that task. Humans do not have an organ to communicate telepathically yet you are able to do so. It is the quantum connection between humans that allows, or creates, the capability for that type of communication. That, in itself, is surprising. However, when I reviewed studies of other sentient species ... both telepathic, and non-telepathic ... there was also a quantum connection. It was so slight, though, that it was never noted to be of any importance. I also reviewed studies of non-sentient species. Nearly every species did not have that quantum connection. The only exceptions were species that were already being disputed as to whether they were sentient ... such as humans."

"Okay!" Caleb thought, as he swung his legs out of bed. "It's too damn early to be playing mind games ... pun intended. I don't care where my mind extends, as long as it includes breakfast. I'm hungry, and thirsty!"

"Good. You will need to increase your liquids intake for the next couple of days," Al informed him, as Caleb pulled on a pair of jeans. "Your body has stored many toxins that need to be flushed out."

Caleb zipped up his jeans and looked down, stunned at the amount of extra material left over.

"Al, why don't my jeans fit?" Caleb asked.

He wasn't whining. Really. He didn't whine.

"I just explained that to you," Al replied, with a sense of over used patience. "Your body has many toxins stored in your body fat and it needs to be flushed out. You need to expel as much as possible, therefore, you need to drink as much liquid as possible. Right now though, I think you should expel stored liquids before drinking any more. The waste storage container that humans are equipped with is not well designed. "

"In other words, I need to take a piss," Caleb grumbled as the urge hit him, hard, and he hurried into the bathroom.

"How long will this toxin flushing take?" Caleb asked, standing in front of the commode for what seemed like many minutes.

"Three sleep cycles should finish the adjustment," Al replied.

"No. That won't work. If you really feel that it's necessary to expel these toxins, stretch it out over three weeks," Caleb ordered. "If I suddenly lose a lot of weight, questions will be asked. We are going to be watched by General Branch and his crew. We don't need any questions asked right now."

Caleb's mind flashed through several scenarios that could occur if he got on the General's bad side. Death was the most pleasant of the scenarios.

"That is why I have tried to avoid primitive societies," Al remarked plaintively, and Caleb could feel the alien's shiver in his mind. "Does that mean that now is a good time to talk about what the Army can do to you?"

"Not really, because there's really nothing to talk about," Caleb explained. "If I don't make any major changes ... like lose a lot of weight in a day ... and don't raise a stink, I'll probably never hear from the General and his little soldiers again. We'll just have to watch what we do. We'll try not to let anything show that can tip our hand to the Army about your presence. Eventually, they'll go away and leave us alone. In the meantime, we'll just go on with our life."

Caleb tried to evaluate how he felt, and liked what he found. His body felt fine, better than fine in fact. He didn't have the familiar stiffness or sluggishness common after a good night's sleep. The headachy feeling he'd had early yesterday was gone, and the 'full' feeling in his head was gone. His memory of the past forty-eight hours lacked the haziness common to memories that gain a little age, or are superseded by newer, more important memories and concerns.

"How come I can remember my dreams so clearly?" Caleb asked.

"In many ways," Al answered, sounding like a particularly irritating professor he had in college, "your species creates their own reality, so your dreams are as real as anything you touch in your everyday life. Your dreams are information that you should have access to, so I added a link to your ... umm ... your filing system."

"Okay," Caleb said thoughtfully. Then he asked. "What happened last night when the dreams went away? It felt like one of the deepest sleeps I have ever had."

"There are many answers to that question, but I will attempt to answer in the context that is closest to resolving your concerns. My responsibility to my host is to help it ... ah ... him or her ... in any way I can," the alien explained, continuing to search for the correct words.

"I am learning more of your species characteristics. Learning those characteristics requires more than accessing your surface memories, dreams, and fantasies," the alien explained. "Remember, Caleb. This is the first time I have joined a host without proper preparation. Because of that lack of preparation, I needed to move some of your memories, both conscious and unconscious. Your mind has stored information in a very haphazard way. I needed room to ... fit ... yes ... that's the right word. I needed room to fit comfortably in your mind. Think of me as a very cohesive set of memories that need to be kept together for efficiency, and to be allowed to grow. Your memories were haphazardly stored in your brain. I needed to organize them, without losing any of them, for your sake. Organizing them helped you. It also provided enough room for me. You will find it much easier to learn, to retain information, and to access information and memories in the future. In the process, I have found some interesting hints of traces of interaction between my species and yours. Granted, much of it was located in an area you would call racial memory, a kind of species history that I haven't seen before."