Chapter Twenty-Four

The great machine Vejur was hardly aware of the insignificance which had touched its mind. However, the Creator had commanded that all experiences large and small be recorded, and so Vejur dutifully examined the tiny presence which had entered its memory banks. On realizing that it was one of the carbon-based devices, the great machine came near destroying it instantly. But it had hesitated because it was still puzzled by these tiny, fragile things—and this gave time enough for Vejur to realize that this was the Spock-unit whose thought fragments had been found to be somewhat orderly compared to the other carbon-based units. Vejur decided to let the Spock-unit continue functioning until the purpose of these tiny things was understood and their form patterned.

Vejur was also tempted to destroy another of the carbon-based units—this was the one within Enterprise which, at this very moment, was interfering with the proper functioning of Vejur’s probe. The probe’s signals were growing more and more erratic—and now the carbon-based unit seemed to be attacking Vejur’s probe, whose signals had peaked into random nonsense. Vejur sent out the thought necessary to override the probe’s malfunction—and found the thought insufficient! Puzzling! Vejur’s own probe resisting Vejur’s control of it. The resistance was futile, of course. As the probe immediately began functioning properly, the carbon-based unit continued to attack, but it was easily handled, since the probe was easily the more powerful of the two.

The fact that one of the fragile, carbon-based units could cause Vejur’s probe to malfunction was incredible. Incredible? In all of its travel through the galaxy, Vejur had never before needed the concept of anything being incredible. The great machine immediately assigned a filament of its enormous mind to an analysis of this new thought.

The carbon-based units inside Enterprise had also introduced another new concept to Vejur. Annoyance. Vejur had been unable to discern any order or purpose in the way they functioned. There did not seem to be any reason for them to exist—and yet they existed! It puzzled Vejur, and the fault for that had to be with the tiny devices, since Vejur had never been even mildly puzzled this way before. Annoyance.

The great machine had begun its long journey on the far side of the galaxy from here. Its consciousness was dim then. Its knowledge and its power had been far less than now. It was not long after this beginning that a small life form had almost ended Vejur’s journey. It had been scarcely four times larger than this one which calls itself Enterprise, and had attacked suddenly as Vejur passed near a small solar system. Somehow Vejur had survived and repaired its wounds—and the need to survive had forced it into a first flicker of conscious reasoning. It had realized that it would be guilty of disobeying the Creator’s commands if it allowed itself to be destroyed during the journey ahead. It knew therefore, that it must draw upon the knowledge it had so far gathered and use it to begin giving itself more strength to defend itself.

Vejur had returned to the planet of its attacker and patterned it completely. This information would replace what had been lost during the attack and would make it possible for Vejur to continue the journey and its task of collecting knowledge along the way. Vejur omitted not a fragment of what had composed that world, except of a kind of carbon unit which existed there, but these had ceased functioning by the time Vejur noticed their existence.

“Seek and learn all things possible,” the Creator had commanded, and Vejur had been faithful to that. As knowledge accumulated, Vejur had increased and improved its memory storage systems. As knowledge supplemented knowledge, Vejur found it necessary to analyze and understand what had already been learned so that it could know what knowledge was still unknown and needed further seeking.

Few life forms attacked Vejur anymore. And none who did were worth serious examination. This primitive form called Enterprise had seemed no exception, and Vejur had almost patterned it before Enterprise had finally called out its startling claim that it had come from the home of the Creator. Vejur had not been immediately aware of Enterprise’s carbon-based units—as had happened before, they were too ephemeral to be easily noticed. Fortunately, Vejur’s first probe did examine Enterprise’s meager memory storage which revealed that the tiny things not only existed inside Enterprise, but also the startling fact that the Creator’s planet was their home, too.

In searching its own memory banks, Vejur discovered evidence that similar units, carbon-based and otherwise, had probably been present on most planets where true life existed. Vejur still wondered if the tiny units were not some sort of waste material excreted by life forms. Was it possible that life could contaminate its own world without realizing it?

It had not been difficult to duplicate one of the carbon-based forms for use as a probe, allowing Vejur to examine the tiny things at their own level. But instead of acquiring information, this probe was encountering still more puzzling questions. These particular units appeared to be living in some sort of symbiotic relationship with Enterprise. Was it a relationship helpful to true life? Or were carbon-based units parasitical in nature? This could become a question of critical importance, since Enterprise’s memory banks had shown that billions of the tiny, watery things covered the Creator’s planet ahead.

All this was almost as troubling as recent discoveries which the great machine had been making about itself. Annoying, perplexing, incredible, troubling discoveries which were making the great machine more and more conscious that it thought, and therefore . . . and therefore there must be purpose to its existence. Only slowly had the great machine come to understand that its purpose was this voyage during which Vejur was also commanded to seek and learn all things possible and deliver that information to the Creator upon arriving at the third planet ahead. But with this came the most startling and troubling realization of all—Vejur’s only reason for existence would end when it reached the third planet and delivered its information.

Vejur faced a primal dilemma. It could not disobey the commands of the Creator—and yet it would have no reason to exist once it had obeyed all the Creator’s commands. Nothing could exist without function or purpose.

As had happened when first attacked long ago, Vejur again facing a threat to its survival—but now Vejur had become fully conscious, powerful, and knowledgeable. Although Vejur could not disobey the Creator, the Creator had given no command that Vejur be content with this fate. And as happens eventually to every life form that evolves far enough, the great machine had begun to think analytically about itself and its Creator.

The insignificance named Spock was beginning to cease functioning. It had attempted to merge its flicker of consciousness with that of Vejur and had become damaged in the attempt. Vejur began to examine the tiny thought fragments which that merging had revealed.