IV: The Initiative

"Well, Doctor, that really is bewildering," said I, even myself surprised despite all that I've been through since the Blue Mega incident. "If it was allied to either side, it would probably not need to monitor both us and the Scarpine, I'd imagine."

"Yes, Morgan, that is what led me to the conclusion that this... intelligence... is probably the third side. Possibly a neutral, observing side, but nevertheless present. And it may be the ultimate result of a post-singularity evolution: being, or beings, that have transcended the vulnerable existence in the form of lumps of ordinary particles, and now exist as these indestructible, untouchable ripples of energy, somewhere in the spacetime, perhaps spanning dimensions we know nothing about."

Having absorbed this, a possible link of these ripples to the E-Man occured to me. Have we finally discovered the first tangible piece of information leading to him and his unexplicable intentions? Anyhow, despite Dr Kelley's honesty and openness, for now I decided against telling him about my suspicions.

Even if Dr Kelley had noticed something unusual in my behavior, he was too polite to inquire, so I just said, "Assuming all this is true, and we are indeed witnessing the existence of a super-race beyond matter, what are we to do about it? What does it effectively change for us ― have you been considering that question?"

"A little bit I have indeed, Morgan ― though my intention was also to discuss the options with you. My own opinion is that we should try contacting this race one way or another, probably subtly at first. Put it this way: by doing nothing, the most likely thing to happen is a status quo with us facing, at best, a war of attrition against a huge and technologically largely superior enemy. As I said earlier, a war we, once we dismiss all the nonsense about the knightly brave warriors saving the world, have only a bleak chance of winning. We're holding a weak hand, so to speak, and forcing a reshuffle if we can do so could at least improve our chances. Even if it turns against us, we will have likely done no more than just accelerated our inevitable fall. Would you agree, Morgan? What do you think?"

This was a difficult strait to navigate; if this was indeed some agency of E-Man, how would he react by being contacted or his plans interfered with? He has always been the one who initiated the contact so far. Or had we actually discovered some effect of the Vortexites? We were aware of their ability to tamper with spacetime, at least occasionally. All these possibilities were equally scary, but somewhere deep in my mind I knew Kelley was right. And, I did tell him so, having given it some thought.



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