“It’s all in the way these beings communicate. It is not just thought energy, Ike. While humans store information in the brain, cephalopeds download and store information in a vast network of neurons that run through each tentacle. When they link tentacles, they are passing on not just the acquired knowledge but the muscle memory that accompanies the task. Think about that. It’s like having an entire community of Picassos, all of whom are also sculptors and farmers and physicians of equal talents. While that explains the physiological functions at play, what makes the entire dynamic work—and ultimately makes their species different from our own—is the cephalopeds’ innate sense of community. Because each acquired skill or body of knowledge is instinctively shared among all members of the pack, there are no aggressive individuals vying to rise above the herd, no class warfare or divisions of wealth, no political or religious sects. Equality allows every member of the colony to prosper.”

“Are you saying there are no leaders?”

“Individuals like your friend Oscar who are physically more imposing accept certain responsibilities beyond the norm, but only because size determines the signal strength of their thought-energy transmissions. Other than that, the pack moves or feeds or renders decisions according to the will of the majority. These beings possess what amounts to a hardwired democracy that resolutely remains in harmony with nature.” She smiled. “As you can see, I learned a great deal while you were away, chasing after your Madonnas.”

“How did you know?”

“Oscar shared your memories with us. Really, Ike, does your foolishness know no bounds?”

“I loved Andria … I couldn’t just ignore her. Besides, I had to know the truth. And the truth is, GOLEM has gone mad. The computer is hunting the cephs down in order to harvest their DNA, which is needed as a unifying base element to genetically engineer an alphabet soup of transhuman hybrids. Dharma, they’re slaughtering the cephalopeds … butchering them for their genes.”

“Evil has its place in every equation; we can’t always see the bigger picture.”

“I saw the bigger picture. GOLEM means to create millions of these cloned monsters, which it will use to seed the universe. We have a responsibility to future races to stop it now.”

“Ike, do you know why a cephaloped will not act in anger? It is because they have learned that the brain ceases to think when the mind becomes enraged. The same thing can be said of humans. You must learn to control your anger.”

She was really pissing me off. “Dharma, weren’t you the one who told me the children of GOLEM have to be stopped? Isn’t that why I’m here? Isn’t that my karma?”

“Karma is a reflection of past lives. And yes, while everything happens for a reason, karma, like existence, reveals itself in a cause-and-effect relationship.”

“Really? How about that asteroid? Was that cause and effect?”