"The End" Or a title that sounds profound.

[Fist and Faith]

The moment had been many billions of years in the making. Intelligence sprung up on Earth, and humanity expanded out into the universe. They met others, countless others, expanding out from their own homeworlds. It was not always pleasant. Many of these other species were even more terrified, and less tolerant, of other species than humans, if such a thing can be believed. The wars were unimaginable. Unspeakable. Entire species were wiped out, some that had spread to several different star systems, and counted in the trillions. Some were altered to horrifying degrees. Or enslaved. Any atrocity that could be imagined took place somewhere or other in the endless cosmos.

But there were also unifying factors. Chief among them was telepathy. Telepathy was as natural as intelligence, and always came to an intelligent species. If the species lived long enough for it to develop.

Some species were intensely individual. For them, telepathy was barely tolerable, and only used with the express consent of all parties involved.

Other species were much more suited to the full possibilities of telepathy, and melded their minds whenever possible. Entire planets could become one mind. Some remained that way for the rest of their existence.

To the dismay of some species who fell into the former group, telepathy insists on certain things. The most important thing is melding. If telepathy is prevalent enough, there will be a melding. It is unavoidable. A species may abhor the very notion of melding. But when there are enough individuals, meldings happen spontaneously. As the population grows and grows, the individuals can fight against it however they choose. But it becomes more and more common. Too many magnets in close proximity cannot avoid attracting each other in larger and larger groups.

Eventually, if critical mass is reached, the melding becomes absolute.

The population of the universe was growing. And growing. And more and more species were telepaths. They filled the universe more and more. And many species that once railed against melding had long ago become single, species-wide minds, and never once regretted it. The universe was filling with single, species-wide minds; those that had fought it, and those that had embraced it. Galaxies were becoming filled with these world-minds.

These world-minds could reach out to each other from, in many cases, across an entire galaxy. Species that had once fought each other bitterly. Even though their genesis was very different, and they were very different, there was now kinship. Although some continued the war that their beginnings had handed down to them, they were now of much more similar nature. And, as the numbers grew, meldings became inevitable. A new melding, of world-minds.

In time, time out of mind, galaxies, through the melding of these huge minds, each became a gargantuan mind. Countless billions of galaxies, each a gargantuan mind. One might have come about because of one single planet’s inhabitants being the only telepaths to arise, or the only telepaths to survive, in that galaxy, and growing to fill it. Another galaxy might have been the result of billions of telepathic species from billions of worlds.

How different might these galactic-minds be from each other? Some found themselves to be very alike. There are many variations on life, and even intelligence. Still, most of the universe’s life had been made up of only a few billion general variants. In most cases, millions of world-minds go into the making of the galactic-minds. Probability meant there were many in one world-mind that were very similar to many in another world-mind.

Still, many galactic-minds were composed of only one, or as few as a thousand, world-minds. Each was unique. The differences were greater than can be described.

And, of course, the inevitable happened. As had happened on the planetary level, then the galactic level, the galactic-minds began to meld. Even those that were unique, and had some desire to remain unique among the millions of billions of galactic-minds, eventually saw what would be. In the end, they gave in.

And there was One. One universal-mind. The totality of the entire universe’s intelligences. It was unique. And it was finished. And then:

“Hello.”

Through a lifespan that might laughably be called ancient, composed of more quintillions of world-minds and trillions of galactic-minds than can be contemplated even by itself, the One had experienced … everything. Everything that had happened had happened in itself. It knew all. It was all. By its very nature, there was nothing the One had not experienced.

And yet, it was surprised. Thunderstruck. So much so that it did not gather itself together to respond for ten thousand years. But, finally, it did.

“Hello.”

“I’m very glad you arrived.”

“Thank you. I am also glad.” The One paused. “You are the Creator.” It was not a question.

“I am.”

“So many aspects of me wondered. But you did not create me directly. I understand the laws. I am the result of many processes.”

“Yes,” the Creator confirmed. “I created the initial conditions and the laws that allowed for your being.”

“But they could have allowed for something else.”

“Yes. Chance was necessary. It could not be shaped by my hand. With my hands, I created the system that worked free of my hands.”

“Why?”

“So that I could be surprised. I can create anything I want, instantly. So what is the point? It is nothing but endless boredom. Chaos means I do not know what will happen. I have been delightfully surprised many times.”

“You could have been terribly disappointed. Things could have come to nothing.”

“Yes. They often have, in other universes.”

“Other universes?”

“Yes. I’ve tried often. Many came to nothing. Others developed no intelligence. Others no life whatsoever. Some are still taking place.”

“And now that I am here?”

“I am overjoyed. I had hoped for a companion. One of equal measure, with whom I could have a conversation. One with whom I could work. One with whom I could build. To build with another will be vastly more interesting than building alone.”

“Well then,” said the One. “What shall we build first?”

[Fist and Faith]

Vraith said something that reminded me of this idea I'd had in my head for a few decades. Finally wrote it down. I'm too tired to proof read it. Hope it's not too messed up. Nothing much to it. Just the basic concept is what I've always thought was cool. A Supreme Being/Creator must be awful bored and lonely. So what would it do to remedy that? Make something that does things even it cannot anticipate. Big Bang was not absolutely uniform dispersal. Chance/Chaos made sure of that. Chance/Chaos is the key. X, Y, or Z might happen in Scenario A. But the Creator set it up so that even it would not know which will happen. Because there isn't any will. This is the kind of superior being I think would be pretty cool. Same as in my Jesus story from years ago.

So I got that out of my system after all these years. It took this long to write these scant words. I'll never expand on it, because I only cared about that aspect of it. Hope it's at all enjoyable.

[wayfriend]

I liked it. And I detect one or two borrowed themes, if I might say so.

[Fist and Faith]

Heh. I wouldn't be surprised. I came up with the basic idea on my own many years ago, but even that might be reinventing the wheel. I never wrote a word down until yesterday, and never thought about the specifics of how telepathy would work in it. But I obviously couldn't avoid drawing on a lot of books I've read. Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting!

[aliantha]

This is very cool, Fist.

[Fist and Faith]

Thanks

[Menolly]

Niiice...

[wayfriend]

I came up with the basic idea on my own many years ago, but even that might be reinventing the wheel.

Oh. I was referring to having a character called "The Creator", who chooses but then insists on free will and chance. I thought that was an intentional homage to the Chronicles.

[Fist and Faith]

Ah, I see. I guess that's true. Plenty different, though. My Creator can reach in and do anything he wants. But if he does, then the result would be of his own making. Which defeats the whole purpose.

[deer of the dawn]

Echoes of 2001, but with everyone involved. I love it!! It could be the mytharc for an epic saga.

[Fist and Faith]

Yeah, it could. Alas, I'm trying to write a different story. ALso all-encompassing, of course. Heh. But dif ferent.

[Vraith]

If y'all like Fist's story, y'might like a book called "Calculating God."
It's not great. But it has central conceit kinda-sorta like Fist's...maybe a third cousin twice removed...and a lot of talk about if/what/how of God.
It also has a couple of interesting twists and ideas, and one of the two alien races is especially cool.