Bosons Wave Sample Chapter
A number of the long-term Jovian clouds made it back to the Core rocks; Earth and Luna, for additional testing. It wasn't long until these almost-sentient blocks of goo made it out of the labs and into the hands of more innovative scientists.
If the computer and cloud could be self-aware, some scientists wanted to see how they would work on other organisms. Much to their disappointment, they couldn't use human subjects under the current scientific rules. This was probably a good thing since they didn't care how their specimen felt about the process. Their only concern was if they found something they could publish or sell. Science performed without morals did not always go well.
The mammal studies proved especially difficult. It wasn't hard to implant the connections. The lines of communication were well known and easily opened.
Dolphins were friendly, but only wanted more fresh fish and loved to party.
Dogs were no better, they just asked for treats, toys, and playtime.
The large non-human primates were more than happy to speak up. "FINALLY! We've been trying to talk to you for centuries. Are you humans that stupid? And that sign language. Could you make it any more difficult?"
The group in the simian study made a quick decision and pulled the plug on the specimen and the report. This was not something they wanted to publish and risk blowback from their fellow primates.
Not the best scientific results. The only species left were the non-mammalian animals, which meant octopuses.
The aquarium had a few octopus species and their human guards began a test of the new cloud computers against their captives.
"How are we going to stick a probe into the octopus? It keeps on squirming away and pulling the wires out."
"Watch out. It's reaching for the computer."
"Oh, great. Now, what are we going to do? The cloud juice is leaking into the tank."
"What a pain, these beasts are not following the rules."
"Pull it out and wipe it down. We'll tell the boss that it was defective before we got started."
"Good idea."
DNA computer bits and Jovian cloud debris mixed with the salt water and saturated the octopus' environment and cells.
Octopus winked at its captors and flashed agreement colors. The humans don't notice.
"It's late. I'm going to clock out. We can try again in the morning."
"Not sure we will have better luck, but I'm done for the day too."
The lights flipped off, and the octopus sat in his tank, ruminating over the mass of data and information the DNA/Clouds presented. He had all the data from the Jovian clouds and the DNA computer databases at his disposal. It took a few minutes to make sense of the information, but his distributed brains helped parse out the data.
Octopuses are escape artists and it didn't take long for a plan to evolve. The ocean was close, and as long as he kept hydrated, freedom was not far away.
Our brainy beast left the enclosure, a tune bubbling out his siphon.
🎵When you're a jet you're a jet all the way...🎶
Not forgetting his fellow prisoners, he released many of his captured ocean buddies on the way out. He knew what to do and gathered as much of the DNA/Cloud mixture as possible. Sharing was caring. He had a lot of friends in the open ocean who would appreciate a jolt of intelligence.
Exiting the transom over the side door of the prison formerly known as an aquarium, the newly freed octopus had some decisions. Its only goal, for now, was to skitter toward the salty water he called his true home.
Fortunately, it was a dark, waning moon. There were lights from the street lamps and a few cars on the road, but that was only confusing the issue, they gave no sense of direction.
Octopus looked up at the cloudless sky and saw the magnetic lines surrounding Earth. They merged toward the poles, but following them North or South would not get him closer to the water.
Octopus took a hard left against the magnetic lines and carefully picked his way to the shore. His new education warned him against auto-mobiles, trucks, and buses and he took the inglorious sewage outfall line, riding the current out and away. This was not the way he wanted to return home, but he had to do what he had to do. Once in the ocean, he let the relatively clean water cleanse his body and soul as he planned his future in the new world he was making.
The morning crew walked in to broken tanks and missing octopuses.
"Oh great, we have a prison break. How did this happen? Again."
"Look, there is something on the tank wall."
"It's just dots and dashes. I'm sure it is random scratching. It's nothing to be concerned about."
"We better check the CCTV feed and see if they had some assistance. I’m sure the police can find the culprit."
The security contingent meet to review the CCTV. The cameras don't lie. No humans helped in the escape, a tendril picking the lock was their only clue.
"I don't see anyone helping the octopus. Look at what he’s doing."
The octopus had grabbed a clam and carefully scratched on the tank's wall.
"What in the name of Davy Jones locker is that?"
"Is it a message? Can anyone read that? Is it a secret code?"
Snapshots were released to the authorities and found their way to the Press. The local HAM radio groups quickly did the translation, which only caused more consternation to the fish prison officers.
.-- . .-..-. ...- . / -- --- ...- . -.. / --- ..- - --..-- / .--. .-.. . .- ... . / ..-. --- .-. .-- .- .-. -.. / .- .-.. .-.. / -.-. .-.. .- -- ... / - --- / --- ..- .-. / --- -.-. . .- -. / .... --- --
We've moved out, please forward all clams to our ocean home
The news of the Morse code message was a sensation, the talk of the hour, almost a day. Marine biologists were ecstatic, they now had something to do besides count fish scales or chase down polluters.
Dive teams jumped at the chance and began communicating with the newly independent, computer-savvy cephalopods.
Politicians, social influencers, and philosophers joined forces and the aquarium prisons were converted into liquid universities.
More than a few of the newly minted graduates parlayed their counting skills and signed on to the H2LiftShips as they made their way throughout the heliosphere.
Once the octopuses broke the ice, the other sentients; simians, canines, and humans, rebuilt their associations and learned new ways of working together, exploring their solar system for fun and profit.