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Everyone was in the dining room. Lars, Seamus, Yuri, and I all had the same bemused expressions on our faces. No words were necessary to say that we had all just experienced the best sex of our lives. Tracy had been nearly insatiable. I had finally begged off after our fourth bout, claiming a pulled hamstring. It was almost like she had never experienced the pleasure of sexual intimacy before, which I knew firsthand to be ridiculous. She had wanted to try every conceivable position, as if we were two randy teenagers.
Seamus walked over, moving in much the same manner as I felt. “What do you make of all that?” he asked. “For as long as we were partners before cryo, Sumi was always reserved and gentle in bed. This woman is like a tigress,” he complained. “And yes, before you ask, I am complaining. Our average age onboard is 30, and we’re all in very good physical condition, but this was more like a marathon than a walk in the park.”
“Believe me, I understand,” I replied.
Just then, Jovi stepped into the middle of the room. “I can tell you’re all a little confused about what’s going on. Well let me set your minds at ease, we’re still who we were. We’re just purer, healthier, and more at peace. Plus, we have a neural connectivity to the entire planet. It is well suited the four of us elected to assimilate. Something in the quadrary assembly holds resonance for the People at the most essential level of their existence. We must have absorbed some of that nexus because we are most comfortable as a quartet.”
She paused to let that sink in before changing her focus. “Nobody on this planet has had sexual intercourse in over two thousand years. They’ve forgotten what procreation is like. It’s all done in a lab on the rare occasion someone new is needed. Because the average lifespan here is over a thousand years, most of their civilization is dedicated to science and the arts. I know nothing about music compared to what they’ve accomplished. What you were just involved with was tens of thousands of Peeping Toms experiencing the acts we just performed.”
The collective gasps and objections echoed around the room. “Our connection to the global neural network allows us to share sensory and emotional experiences. Anyone who wishes to share an experience can do so with anyone else who wishes to be involved. We can choose to block everyone out, let a few in, or open it up to the world.” She laughed like a giddy teenager at our expressions.
“You should see your faces,” she chortled. “No, they can’t see through our eyes, or hear what was said; they just experience the waves of emotions and sensations we did. No one knows who our partners were unless we tell them, so it’s not like you were on display for the entire planet.”
Sumiko stood up at that moment. “You may be pleased to know, the planet is experiencing a sensual revival,” she stated. “Right now, tens of thousands of Minsans are copulating with random partners, in what for all intents and purposes is a global orgy.” She exploded in laughter at our expressions.
“No, they’re not doing it in the road,” she said, looking at Yuri. “They can be very discrete when they so choose. Many are blocking all others from their experimentation, but there are enough unblocked that we can easily see what is happening. So our first galactic accomplishment for inter-species cooperation was to teach them the physical, sensual joys of intercourse. That’s got to say something for us as a species.”
“Does this mean you intend to live with us in the compound,” Lars asked.
Jovi touched his face lovingly, but shook her head. “You really can’t experience the full impact of living on this world unless you’re right there amongst them. From forty miles up, our connections are muted, especially as we are just learning how to control them. If we had done what we just did on the planet, we might have sent a lot of the People into shock.”
She stepped forward and addressed the room. “I, at least, intend to return to the colony of musical artists I have merged with. Those terms fail to truly define what I’m trying to share. There are no words in our vocabulary to explain it any better.” All four of the assimilants nodded simultaneously. So that was that.
“I’m still trying to figure out what happened to your knowledge about religion,” I said aloud to Tracy, but so that everyone could hear.
Sumiko turned to me and asked, “Please explain this new term; religion. The way you say it makes it sound important.”
I hesitated, hoping someone else would chime in. Sari stood up, and walked over to where Sumi and Mica were standing close together. “We were the mystical three,” she said, “not to exclude Tracy, but ours is a different kind of mysticism. Do you not remember any of that?” She asked incredulously.
As both the changed women looked quizzically at Sari, Tracy spoke up. “I’m not concerned with any exclusion, but I am curious how everyone except we four seems to know more about this religion and especially our Mysticism than we do. These are completely foreign terms to us. I will admit Joacim attempted to question me on it, but I was distracted.”
The smiles around the room didn’t reduce the concern on all faces over this important and very confusing revelation. “How is it you remember all our names and apparently everything about yourselves, yet can’t recall one of the core tenets which made each of you who you are?” I was stymied. I didn’t like being stymied.
Frank spoke up for the first time in a good while. “As a general scientist, I would propose we design a series of test questions to ask them. Drs. Semican and Mbube can perform a complete physical. But what shall we call you four?” he stopped, looking at the four women. “You’re not really Minsans, but I’ll wager my little black book you’re no longer human.”
“Oh, let’s just call us The Four,” Jovi said. “It makes us sound all mysterious.”
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THE FOUR CHOSE TO STAY onboard for the duration of the testing. We spent several hours amassing and collating the most exhaustive list of questions we could all collectively devise. Meanwhile, Sherry and Sampson were busy giving them flight physicals. After we administered the test and the results of the medical examinations were completed, the entire crew assembled in the dining room. What we discovered ranged from the mildly curious to some rather startling results.
“The holes in their collective memories seem to focus on only four batteries out of the fifteen we assembled,” Frank explained. “The number one most complete erasure of knowledge is, as we hypothesized; religion. No information about attending services, background, history of the specific religious tenets; nothing survived.”
The Four looked puzzled, but not alarmed. Had I just been told a major portion of my spiritual self had been deleted from the file, I would be furious. But then, what if I had never known it existed?
“What about spiritual recognition, outside of religion?” I asked.
“Well, sir, that would be hole number two,” Frank replied bemusedly. “They also have no collective memory or understanding regarding the term or concept of spirituality.”
“Okay, spill it Frank; what are the other two areas?” I was rapidly growing more and more furious.
“Childbirth and all things associated except sex. They understand what that is.” There were a few chuckles around the room, and The Four smiled. “But as far as what might happen as a result? The in vitro process, birthing techniques we were all taught as part of the mission; all gone.”
“And...?” I prodded.
“The fourth was accidentally discovered by Dr. Semican during the routine organ scans,” Frank informed them all. “I won’t steal her thunder; and thunder it is.”
All heads swiveled to Sherry. Clearing her throat, she began in a report-like fashion. “All four women are no longer that in the most biological sense of the term. They have no uterus, no ovaries, no Fallopian tubes, etc. They have a vagina, but that’s pretty much the extent. The other part proves you correct, Joacim; their physiology is no longer human.”