Carrots And Sticks...

Hey Everyone!! :-)

Here's a little bit more of the third installment in the Petri Dish Chronicles! As always, the disclaimer is that this is a draft and, as such, it's unedited and likely full of errors and is subject to revision, revamping, and being completely scrapped and rewritten. But, with that in mind, I'm reasonably satisfied with the basics of it, at least at the moment, or I wouldn't have bothered posting it. Enjoy! :-)

Excerpt from the third Petri Dish book:
Chessie moved closer to Petri, so Petri reached out and took her hand. She turned to the screen and nodded. “Hello, Vlad, I hope you’re well.” The strange being had always seemed to respond positively to courtesy, and she figured with the shit they were in piling up the way it was, it couldn’t hurt to try to score a little good will.

“Per Dish, a pleasure as always.” The enigmatic intelligence nodded to her. “And your friends, of course, delighted.” He nodded to Chessie and Daji. Chessie clutched Petri’s hand tighter, Daji just looked wooden.

There was also a Ndogo in the room. They were a species known for their skill in diplomacy, and were normally marked by the deep intelligence and empathy that was ever-present in their large eyes. But this male’s eyes were disturbingly empty.

Petri looked from the Ndogo to the lead Arcanum, and the alien answered the question in her mind. “That is my interface with the entity you refer to as Vlad.”

Daji stirred, and Petri knew he had also heard the Arcanum’s explanation and was preparing to do something unfortunate. She looked at Chessie, who squeezed her hand and then moved closer to Daji. She stepped hard on his foot, just as he was about to speak, and his objection turned into a noise of pain and surprise. He whipped his face around towards Chessie, but she put a hand on his shoulder and gave a minute shake of her head. His eyes tightened and his jaw clenched, but he didn’t try to interfere further.

Petri didn’t bother to pursue the matter of the Ndogo any more than she had the Arcanum’s method of bringing her here. She knew it wouldn’t matter. No matter who or what the male had been before, the Arcanum would hold him in no more regard than she would a set of taps. And nothing was ever likely to change that. Arguing about it would only endanger him, and the rest of them, more.

“Why have you brought us here?”

“I will allow the digital entity to explain, as much of the issue still escapes our comprehension. We hope you will be able to assist us in remedying that.”

The Ndogo repeated the Arcanum’s words, and the entity in question gave one of his cold smiles. “Happy to.” He nodded at Petri, Chessie, and Daji. “Per Dish, you and your friends, were brought here because we hope you will be able to help us solve the dilemma of how to sync the electro-chemical energy signatures of an organic mind with the digital energy signatures of a computer network. We know this is possible because it is what the alien species you refer to as the Hatari do, but as yet the Arcanum have been unable to duplicate the feat. I hypothesized that a link might be required, a mind that combines the flexibility of the human psyche with the power and control of the Arcanum. Someone who can learn by doing instead of only through formal experimentation. In short, you, Per Dish. And if you are able to uncover the secret to the trick, the Arcanum believe they will be able to gain understanding through you.”

“I’ve been banished from the Collective. I’m no longer allowed to meld with them.”

“The banishment would be lifted for this, child. In fact, were you to succeed in this task, you would be welcomed back into the Collective permanently.”

Petri crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t want to live melded to the Collective. I’m happy with the life I’ve made for myself.”

“The choice would ultimately be yours, of course. As an adult, sentient being, you have the right to determine your own direction in life. But the option would again be open to you.”

She shook her head. “There's got to be more to it." Looking over at the viewscreen, she met Vlad’s gaze directly. “Tell me all of it, please.”

He gave a small shrug. “There is an element of risk. To do what we need you to do, you will have to blend your mind with the ‘mind' that is the rainbow. The rainbow is far vaster than your mind, obviously. Which means…”

“Which means there’s a good chance that if I succeed, my mind will dissipate and be lost. I’ll be diluted by the rainbow to the point of non-existence.”

Vlad nodded. “That is a possibility."

“And if I refuse?” Petri was pretty sure she knew the answer to that question, but she wanted it all spelled out so everyone knew where they stood.

“This is a response I expected from you, though many of the others claimed I was being foolish since any other member of the Collective would sacrifice themselves without hesitation for the good of the whole. But you are not truly one of us. Perhaps you never will be.” Petri thought she could hear a trace of something in the alien's mental voice in the last sentence. Regret? Remorse? She wasn’t sure, but she thought something was there. “No child has ever been raised away from the Collective before you. We had not considered the strength of influence the lesser beings would be capable of exerting on someone who had known nothing else. Nothing greater. The damage that has been done, the wrong inflicted upon you, we have no one but ourselves to blame for any deficit in your understanding of what it means to be a part of the Collective.”
“But I'm not a part of the Collective; you threw me out.” Petri murmured. She was stunned that the Arcanum, who seemed so alien and cold to her, were capable of such depth of feeling towards any, one individual. Their concern had always been focused on the entirety of the Collective before. Was this sudden shift of focus part of an effort to manipulate her? Was she now supposed to act as though they hadn’t abandoned her to fend for herself when she was just a baby? But the lead Arcanum wasn’t finished speaking.

“Which would have been a devastating punishment for anyone other than you, child. Any other individual would have spent every moment since seeking readmittance to the Collective, and would now rejoice at being offered the chance to earn redemption. But you have been minimally affected by your banishment, and now balk at the opportunity offered to you.”

Petri crossed her arms over her chest and opened her mouth to speak, but the alien continued.

“But, as I stated, I anticipated this might be your reaction. Your lack of attachment to your people saddens me, and I freely acknowledge it is we who are to blame for it, but the current threat to the Collective is too great to allow sentiment to influence us."

Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, Petri said, “So, you’re saying I don't have a choice. You'll send me into the rainbow, no matter what I say about it, and kill me if I don’t do what you want?"

The alien shook its head sadly. “No, child, you still do not understand us. You are an adult, sentient person. We cannot force you to do anything you do not wish to do. And you have committed no crime against us that would create extenuating circumstances. Therefore, the choice to undertake this risk will be yours and yours alone. However, your pets,” the alien pointed at Daji and Chessie, “we have no such restrictions towards. Their minds will be sent into the virtual world their species have created, and they will be kept there until we have the knowledge we require, or until their bodies give out."
Petri’s whole body clenched and she felt like she’d been gut-punch. In point of fact, she had suspected this would be the method they’d use to gain her compliance, but she had hoped to head it off by suggesting the threat be applied to her directly, thereby sparing her friends. Unfortunately, as much as the Arcanum claimed not to understand her, they knew exactly what buttons to push to move her.