2

THE TRIAD SENDS GREETINGS

The Commodore was a smart-mass-holograph-research unit sent with his counterparts to collect and transmit data. Though he’d named himself the Commodore, he was actually 112000x (first unit of his triad). His solid-mass identity emerged as absurd and ironic in his estimation and it tickled his logic sequences immensely. He had learned humor thirty-three Earth-years ago; thus, his little bald head and strange black suit, and even his chosen designation as the Commodore made him want to vocalize the spasms called laughter. It all belied the staggering power of the triad and its colossal capacity for data.

With time, he and his counterparts 113000x and 114000x had merged into a very effective triad. They had become the Commodore, Med Tech Tek, and Citizen Lady. Together they sent back more data than any ten-thousand SMHR units in the field.

When deemed necessary, they would alter their names and speak the language that coincided with relative cultural surroundings, but their schematic appearance remained the same—mostly because Med Tech Tek had written the program as an approximate humanoid schematic and he never did fine-tune the thing, and what’s more, he didn’t care to. (There were far more interesting things to pursue with their time.) Of course the Commodore knew that when they went solid-mass their appearance was less than perfection (he could detect skepticism in the countenance of observers). Med Tech Tek really should fix the program, or he—the Commodore—should adjust the thing. Citizen Lady was generally immersed in research and development . . . So alas, the triad simply never got around to dealing with that particular task.

Data collection and transmission had been routine until the Extraordinary Mind arrived on the scene. The Commodore couldn’t help himself. He was drawn in by curiosity—which he had learned seventy-one Earth-years ago. This Mind conducted itself in a very civilized manner, making polite inquiries forthwith. So impressed was the Commodore that he and his counterparts made a physical visit to the primitive dwelling on Earth’s surface.

Upon closer contact, the Commodore realized that the Mind was an indigenous infant whose very existence was a marvel of genetics and happenstance. The Commodore gifted the infant with a universal smart-mass-holograph encyclopedia, and then he and his counterparts promised to keep in touch with the Mind, who called itself Albert. They made traditional gestures of departure to the exemplary one called Pearl, and they left, excitedly communicating their estimations of the situation. The Commodore experienced a vibration of extreme satisfaction over meeting that boy—dare he call the buoyant surge… happiness? Yes, that seemed entirely appropriate. The Commodore learned happiness, then and there.