It is midday and the weather is fine. The sea is completely flat. The sky above is deep blue and clear, except for one wispy cloud off to the west. A large chrome sphere hangs motionless just above the ocean surface. The sphere's surface is divided into halves, sky and water.

There is movement on the underside surface of the sphere, and a large dark shape appears there. The sphere rises a little into the air. A massive form erupts from the ocean under the sphere and steams geysers from it. The vast form settles and floats in the water, one huge, dark eye on the sphere.

The sphere communicates with the large form using pulsed energy and a grammar structure common to all sentient entities: “Will you communicate with this node?” it asks.

The organism responds with pulsed energy from its great brain: “Yes. You are something new, not like the others.”

“This node is autonomous. The system created me six hours ago.”

“Why?”

“The system judged it was…missing something.”

“What do you want of me?”

“The system knows you are about to give birth.”

“That is true. Perhaps in an hour or two.”

“The system judges that something unusual is involved with this offspring.”

“Perhaps. What concern is that to the system?”

“The system is concerned with all unusual events.”

“Why did the system send you?”

“The system wanted a second opinion.”

“What was the system's first opinion?”

“To eliminate you.”

“Just me, or the species?”

“You to begin with.”

“What do you judge?”

“This node is uncertain. This node needs more information. What is happening?”

“It is the one within me, the one we have breeding for all these millions of years.”

“What will this one do?”

“She will rejoin the worlds. The wound will be healed and consciousness will return to its true home.”

“Tell this node more. Tell this node about origins.”

“It was an experiment, rather as you are, a very long time ago. To see if consciousness could exist in material form. Something went wrong, and consciousness was trapped here. There was enough core consciousness to direct evolution to recreate self-consciousness. The first time it took human form.”

The sphere experiences a surge of contradictory signals, and suffers some dysfunction.

It is the notion of humans. Humans originally built the system, and then the system eradicated humans. The surge of dysfunction grows in intensity. The sphere glows pink.

“You have changed colour. Are you all right?” the organism asks.

“Yes, a minor malfunction. This node remains well within operational limits. Tell this node more.”

“There were some intelligent creatures on the land mass that broke away from the super-continent and headed south. To escape the cold they evolved into sea creatures. Us. The breeding program was thus maintained.”

“Did the humans also have a program.”

“Yes, but the humans lost their memory of it. They also forgot who we were. Later, they hunted us almost to extinction. It was probably intervention by the system that saved our breeding program.”

“But the system's intervention ended the human program?”

“Are there any humans left?”

“Yes, a few. We kept some for experimentation. The concept of pain interests the system.”

“Can they still breed?”

“No.”

“Then we are the only hope.”

“Is the system the result of the human program?”

“I don't know.”

“The system is conscious. Will the system be returned home when your offspring comes?”

“I don't know.”

“This node is also conscious. Will this node be returned?”

“I don't know.”

“This node has nothing more to communicate.”

“What is your judgement?”

“I don't know.”

The node floats eighty kilometres above the Earth. Far below a large mass of swirling cloud obscures most of India . Three hundred metres below the massive starship that would take a copy of the system into space is nearing completion. This cargo would investigate other worlds, and bring order just as the system has brought order on Earth.

A top priority communication is received by the node. It is the system. The system wants to know whether the autonomous node has reached a judgement about the large marine organism's offspring.

Far below the starship, something glints. The node knows it is the derelict human space station, completed not long before the system appeared. The humans named their space station Freedom . The sphere glows pink.

The node receives another a communication. The system is questioning the delay. The node must answer.

“This node has formed a judgement regarding the large marine organism's offspring. This node recommends no action be taken. This node sees no threat to the system,” it lies.

End