Silent Sounds by Jack Heart

There is one word that need translation in this story: Noyas: A large body floating through space, usually a planet or star.

Bokolo met Vera Tak while attending a music school on a noyas dedicated to art and education. They were two youngsters from different worlds, but recognized a unique visionary genius in each other. They did not realize the extensive legacy they would create. Nor did they realize the destruction they would foster within each other.

They first interacted before a music course. Vera Tak was in class early. He was a tall blue and slimy being with eight short stubby arms. He could position various long instruments between his appendages and operate them with magnificent proficiency. He strummed on strings, pressed keys, and blew into wind chambers to create elaborate and melodic sounds. Vera Tak was the head of the class and was expected to achieve greatness.

Bokolo showed up halfway through class. He was a brown furry creature who was just as tall as Vera Tak. His hair was long and scraggly and he had large eyes hidden behind black opaque wearables. He covertly paced in hidden and behind the students as they were practicing a song Vera Tak had written for a the annual student recital. Bokolo, though having never heard the song before, began to sing along with his beautiful animalistic voice full of polyphonic range.

Bokolo’s voice was like an instrument buried in his throat. His lungs had a spacious cavity with intricate harmonics allowing him to have a wide range of sounds. When he sang, Vera Tak did not know what instrument it was, but enjoyed the sound so much he did not stop. The other band members were shocked. They stopped and watched and listened. Vera Tak continued on his wind instrument and turned to see Bokolo following right along, making very similar wind sounds. They went off course with the previously written song and were now improvising as a duet. The class was very pleased.

Inevitably they quickly formed a band and wrote many songs. Others were quick to recognize their splendid combination. Critics traveled from faraway galaxies to listen the duo perform. Often they had a band behind them of other very talented performers from other noyas. For a time, they were the most revered musical act in the incorporated universe.

Nether cared much for the fame, they simply loved to perform. But their creative exploration was contrasted.

Vera Tak wanted to learn every instrument his native body shape could possibly play. He tried to master the sounds and integrate them into songs. He learned the traditional styles and added original twists. He discovered new musical formulas that would quickly be adopted by other music explorers. His structure was sometimes elaborate and epic, other times purposefully erratic and chaotic. Then at times he would be soft and melancholy. He created depth without verses. The atmospheres he performed brought the listeners to other worlds.

Bokolo was more concerned with meaning and language. He wrote songs in his native tongue, but also learned traditional lyrics and poems he would express with his operatic modulation. He was interested in the philosophical meaning of songs and what it meant to exist in reality. His exploration was about truth behind why he was alive and what his purpose was. The music he created was sometimes intended to discover a sacred vibration and a perfect eternal existence. At times it seemed he searched for a seemingly unattainable goal.

They were both very young when their fame was at its initial peak. They appeared to exude unlimited potential. But Bokolo fell into a deep hole of confusion. He tested himself and pushed himself to the limits with many different cultures of psychological and spiritual discovery. Many rituals were performed and many sacred symbols were created. Mind altering substances were consumed in an attempt to become more at one with the universe, and were followed by psychotic episodes of outrage and depression. Yet in all the pandemonium, there were moments of pure ecstasy.

Bokolo once invited Vera Tak and other musical friends to a desolate noyas where the atmosphere contained a psychotropic chemical that induced hallucinations. Vera Tak stepped off the ship and took a breath of the air.

The wind was blowing and he could see sparing tufts of yellow grass moving with the wind. Pale orange and light blue rocks jutted out at angles. The sky was pink and blue and purple with streaks of organic smooth clouds. There was a star noyas in the distance, and its luminosity cast on all objects.

Vera Tak inhaled and could sense his lungs filling up with the chemical in the air that made him even more aware of his lungs. He perceived their intricate constitution throughout his molecular infrastructure. The veins moved like trafficked space stations. He felt his eyes were huge globular vessels housed in a physical system made to experience. When he looked down at his appendages and his hands, they felt foreign to his consciousness, but familiar to all that existed. He felt connected to the rocks and the grass.

He looked at Bokolo. His companion appeared more vibrant, more alive. He was as a fish swimming in the ocean; not really a part of the water, but not entirely separate. Vera Tak experienced auditory hallucination and there was music everywhere. All the little touches of grass, the steps of their feet, the hearts beating, the wind grazing his ear drums. Life was music, life is music.

The enhanced realism soon brought on hyper real visual hallucinations and he and could see the red and purple clouds turn into giant intricate instruments with wind pipes as big as trees, chambers as big as mountains, and spiraling webs of melodic strings attached to the noyas moons and stars. He walked for an eternity knowing these visions were not real, but experiencing them as if they were, and he could always find meaning in everything.

They had been walking towards some unknown distance for a time. Vera Tak looked back and noticed the others who once were with them had disappeared back to the ship. He could remember them leaving, but it was like a very distant memory. He recalled their bizarre fits of rage, excessive depression, and paranoid confusions all brought on by the natural psychotropic drug. But despite their collapse, he felt confident in their survival. Furthermore, his perception of them felt as though they had always been gone, and were now just a dream. His focus was now on the moment of walking with Bokolo.

They walked towards the horizon, smiling together, staring together. Looking into the distance as if it was showing them the answers to reality.

Bokolo stopped for a moment and picked up a loose rock on the ground. He handed it to Vera Tak and simply peered into his eyes. They continued walking.

( • )

After the intense incident on the hallucinogenic planet, Vera Tak asked Bokolo, “what does it all mean?” Bokolo responded, “this is our reality.”

Bokolo often pushed the boundaries of his artistry, but his genius led to a kind of disconnected madness. His revelations were both enlightening and destructive. He became unstable and difficult to collaborate and perform with. Those who came to listen enjoyed his eccentricity. They deified him as a rebel and a prophet. However, Vera Tak, other band members, organizers, and producers found it difficult and unproductive. They believed the ensemble was not following the progressive path they began with. They were not productively growing and attributed this decline with the asymmetric and often empty creative exploration facilitated by Bokolo.

Bokolo became indifferent about the musical empire they established. He started to follow a strange cultist group that believed serenity could be found in cybernetic integration and computational algorithms. He became listless and secluded. He traveled to a far off noyas on the outskirts of the incorporated universe and disappeared just before a performance which was intended to be monumental.

Vera Tak waited back stage, expecting Bokolo to show up moments before their first set. This tardiness had occurred many times before. But this performance was different because Bokolo never showed up. The musicians stepped onto the stage and began to perform. Vera Tak easily substituted the absent parts. He was a skilled musician and emulated the unique sound of Bokolo with synthesizers and improvised alternative renditions of popular songs. The crowd was pleased but after a few songs began to chant, “BO…KO…LO.” Vera Tak responded, “my mate, my partner, my friend, he is on a journey to discover a sound that will shake your reality. Your patience will be rewarded.” They accepted the answer and cheered. The performance was becoming a hit. But Vera Tak kept peering back stage, hoping his friend would arrive. He never did.

Several days later Bokolo returned and was critically exhausted. He spoke little of his pilgrimage and stated that he had not consumed any nutrients as a way to purify his body. Some of his hair had fallen off in places. His voice was soft and broken.

Due to his absence, everybody involved with the band had decided to expel Bokolo from participating. Vera Tak dreaded telling his companion, especially with Bokolo’s horrible post traveling state. But he could not postpone any longer. Vera Tak explained his reasons and even offered that if Bokolo changed, maybe he could come back later and make more music. Bokolo, with tired vacant eyes only stared at Vera Tak. He said nothing and than left.

The breakup was a scandal but many of the fans could see it coming. Only the radical purists dishonored any further incarnations of the duo. Vera Tak was already a legendary musician and could perform many of their songs without Bokolo mucking them up with his stage antics. After a time, the breakup was disregarded and Bokolo was just an old founding member who had been mostly forgotten.

Many new songs were written and many performances were held. Vera Tak discovered new sounds and made new music. He grew older and more mature. He accumulated many assets and became wealthy. He married one of his young fans, a native from his home noyas. The couple had thirty offspring, common for his kind. Vera Tak watched them grow up, some of them deciding to make music, some mastering other fields.

The infamous musician explored and embraced many opportunities. He taught at the school where he met Bokolo. He received many accolades for his work. Throughout the incorporated universe, within his era, he became the definitive musical artist. And yet, his old friend was in his mind often. But he refused to forgive him.

Noyas circled their stars many times and Bokolo grew older. His blue skin was beginning to fade into a pale turquoise. On his home noyas, the eldest were white and slow and he felt internal decay move towards the inevitable fate of his kind. The memories of Bokolo were fading and replaced with his grand kids, and great grand kids. He built a legacy. He still performed but rarely sang songs anymore that were written in conjunction with Bokolo.

One of his later collaborations was a young musician named Jal, who was very wiry and flexible. He did not speak but could operate an electronic voice box and make wonderful sounds. Jal could also write poetic lyrics and intricate beautiful musical notations. He and Vera Tak learned from each other, and taught each other.

Jal asked him about what it was like working with Bokolo and it channeled memories long forgotten. The nostalgia inspired a song called, “What reality did you create?” It was a kind of homage to Bokolo. Jal never understood why Vera Tak would sometimes leave the recording studio and come back with a somber sad look on his face and wet eyes.

( • )

It was Vera Tak’s turn to break down and disappear. He could not even finish composing the reminiscent song with Jal. He knew that he must find Bokolo, and at least check to see if he was still alive. But mostly to try to ask for forgiveness and say his goodbyes before old age brought his final breath.

The incorporated universe was a very large place with thousands of galaxies, each with up to four or five noyas that grew intelligent self aware evolved beings. Vera Tak had a long investigation ahead. His first exploration was Bokolo’s family and friends. They all could only tell him that Bokolo had become a Com Hacker.

They were called many different things with many different languages but the most prominent translation was Computer Hacker or often shorted to something most akin to Com Hacker. They were a sub culture encompassing individuals addicted to a computerized neurological augmentation. Almost any race could get either a small or large cybernetic implant and then integrate and explore complex computations. Mostly the devices induced a highly pleasurable state that was physically addicting and harmful to the body. The mechanism would drain bodily resources for high demanding neurological functions. It also was made to inhibit any pain during integration. Many Com Hackers died of starvation while in computational states. Those that could survive the long state of sedation, formed avocation groups and claimed that their system was a cumulative network striving for perfection. They said that one day they would be seen as the bringers of enlightenment.

Most Com Hackers had no ethics and would do anything to get in a state of computational bliss, including stealing, abuse, and murder. They were social manipulators and corrupt organizers. Their kind was on almost every noyas and space station. Some noyas were entirely covered by Com Hacker followers. They did not have safety, sanitation, art, or any organized government. Most places were unsightly to outsiders, smelling horribly, and made up of crumbling buildings, never ending fires, and death everywhere.

There was a large amount of information and research about the Com Hackers. Many scientists and organizations claimed there was no merit in the goals of the Com Hackers. Vera Tak spoke to an individual who was a recovering Com Hacker. He spoke of integration as a facade for a truly inconsequential fabricated reality. He warned Vera Tak that he should never attempt integration as a means for finding Bokolo. Much of the documentation Vera Tak had read concurred with this opinion. He could not imagine any situation where he would allow himself to be integrated.

Vera Tak had to explore these slums. The grotesque atmosphere rattled his reality. Once he stood on a stage with lush green grass in the distance and happy furry creatures watching him. Four moons aligned and he was in a sublime creative and timeless moment.

Now, in a devastated city once mentioned by Bokolo, Vera Tak watched a Com Hacker bleed out as a four legged animal chewed on his arm. The oblivious being was in a tech trance, smiling as he took his last breaths. Vera Tak imagined Bokolo in a similar situation, justifying his demise for some imagined epochal elation.

The Com Hackers were rude and violent during any interaction Vera Tak attempted. None of the slums ever produced any evidence of Bokolo’s whereabouts. He felt as though his search was going nowhere. At times he would return home to his family and they urged him to move on and let Bokolo be lost forever. But Vera Tak would always depart and go searching more. He visited his home at less intervals, and completely stopped performing.

Due to his inability to find any leads, he felt it necessary to explore a galactic sector annexed by Com Hackers. He knew it would be a difficult trip since passage to the devastated civilizations was often not sanctioned by the authorities of the incorporated universe. There was also a realistic chance his ship would be shot down or hijacked for its parts or he would be forced to be a Com Hacker himself. Conversely, rumors often circled that nobody was ever really forced by the Com Hackers. Despite their poor temper, they never coerced or manipulated individuals to be augmented against their will. These were all risks he was willing to take. As his skin grew pale and his body began to slow down, he felt he must find his friend before the end of his life.

( • )

Eventually a Com Hacker agreed to help him. He was very short and had a single large eye that encompassed most of his head. He only had one arm grafted to the front of his body, and scars where his bilateral side arms would have been. Wounds and rashes were all over his body and he smelled of bile. He had no name. Vera Tak called him Guide or The Guide.

The Guide spent many days accessing different terminals, systems and networks. He attempted to find any information about Bokolo but was also met with failure. The little vile creature was predictably difficult to work with. Guide would often disappear around a corner or recede into integration. Vera Tak spent most of his time waiting for the putrid Com Hacker to return, always with no helpful information. When he spoke, his words were sparse and simple but cryptic and confusing. After emerging from integration he would say things like, “fail….next…4922” or “dead, no search, search, dead.” Vera Tak often suspected he was being taken advantage since he provided resources and shelter the guide was not accustom to.

After one particular long session, the guide emerged saying, “Records, records, RECORDS! Moon, herethereherethereherethere, Moon MOON MOOOOONNNNNN…..answers.”

They acquired a ship that would sneak to a small moon with an old base. Guide promised he would integrate with a massive database that held information about every Com Hacker. Vera Tak was skeptical but would take any minute lead.

The ship was small and rickety. It felt like it would fall apart as they cosmically jumped from noyas star to noyas star. They evaded checkpoints and had to traverse a galactic path that avoided populated routes. Often times an alarm would sound indicating they were illegally jumping into an unauthorized sector. Guide would always panic and doubted his ability to disable the alarm. But he always had some hack that would override the system. Vera Tak was grateful since he knew he would be imprisoned if discovered by the authorities who controlled cosmic traveling.

They arrived at the moon and Vera Tak felt so close to Bokolo. He imagined landing and greeting him and hugging him. The moon was dark blue and slightly oblique. It had a small section blown out that looked like a bite into a piece of fruit. The ship moved towards a lighter colored section with various structures.

They landed at the station and it looked abandon. There were piles of trash and debris laying everywhere. Vera Tak wore a breathing mask but could feel his skin get very dry. Guide wore nothing, and breathed heavily and walked slowly, stumbling and falling quite often. Above them were dozens of huge spires venting out gases. They were creating a micro atmosphere and were obviously not functioning well. Some were burning at their tops, others were collapsed. It was typical that the Com Hackers only wanted the most minimum of living conditions, with as little maintenance needed.

The facility was very dirty with a once white worn metallic surface rusted in the upper areas near certain spires that had probably been venting too much moisture. Many windows were broken or wide open. The main entrance was an old hanger and was dark at its innermost end. There were ships inside with dirt and dust, long haven been operated. One little light emitted deep inside.

Guide walked towards the light and Vera Tak followed. There were long hall ways with a few Com Hackers spread out, all attached to various computer components. The lights overhead did not operate. Instead there were strings of power cables bent and twisted and lining the corners. They powered a variety of types of flickering and dim light sources along with powering any needed electronics. Some creature in the distance was coughing its last breaths. Vera Tak still wore a mask but could only imagine what the smell would have been like.

They went down a staircase that dropped them several levels. There was a large mining facility that was not operational. Instead there were massive computer databases strewn together with wires everywhere. Vera Tak could feel a strange pulsing that emanated from all the highly charged devices. It was an electromagnetic wave that made him nauseous. There were many Com Hackers working on the system. Against the wall in the back of the chamber, a line of many creates were integrated, all zoned out and connected.

Guide sat down at the end of the row and tapped in. He was not in long when all of the Com Hackers began to make strange moaning and screaming sounds. Their limbs moved and they shifted erratically in their positions. A few of them had electronic blowouts from their heads. Vera Tak was not sure if they had been killed. Suddenly they simultaneously froze and Guide disconnected and spoke.

“No find, find find find. Next. NEXT next. Find. Different noyas. Friend find. Different noyas different data.”

Vera Tak was devastated. He was exhausted and feeling old age embrace his frail body. He did not want to travel the rest of the universe looking for his friend. He stopped Guide from leaving and spoke down to him with great stern. “There must be another way.”

Guide walked over to a large medical apparatus. A Com Hacker was sleeping next to it. Guide woke the strange creature that had scales and solid red eyes. The creature turned on the machine and they both looked at Vera Tak. Guide said “yes, computational, you. Friend find computational, interface. You you you you you.”

Vera Tak hesitated. He never wanted to become a Com Hacker despite his friends reverence. He remembered Bokolo first talking about integration and how wonderful and mind expanding it was. How it was the deepest feeling he ever experienced and that he believed they were onto some kind of universal revelation. Vera Tak also remembered talking to several scientific experts who said they had conducted many studies and found that there was no real data being processed, and that Com Hacking was just an habitual and destructive drug.

All these thoughts were trumped by one prevailing idea, spawned from a tiny statement he had heard once from a street cleaner in a city that had only a minor blight of Com Hackers. The cleaner was not augmented himself, but said, “they have some secret technology that lets them communicate across the universe, without messengers or wires or radios. Its like some kind of sub physical network.” This was Vera Tak decided to become augmented. He stepped forward to the machine and braced himself for the pain of his head being cut into with lasers.

( • )

The first time Vera Tak delved into the integrated augmentations, into the Com Hackers reality, he was presented with massive amounts of data. It was far more than he was accustomed to processing in such a short amount of time. His concept of time and reality drastically changed. His existence felt as though he had evolved.

He was able to access written history, multiple noyas databases of planetary statistical data, geological and weather reports, exact star chart information, lyrics to every song documented, and so much more. He processed the information rapidly, giving even the most minute details his full attention. He found a path towards conceptual exploration of fractal equations that seemed to go on forever. He did not to want to stop.

It was only his first session and the Com Hackers forced Vera Tak to leave the integration. From within their network, they messaged him and claimed he would die without interruptions and consumption of sustenance. He did not want to disconnect so they forced him to. Once he was awake, his body was so weak and dehydrated he passed out.

When Vera Tak was conscious again, all he wanted to do was go back inside. Outside of integration seemed simple and foreign. He felt he had processed more information then his entire lifespan, though it had only been a short time. Guide helped him and gave him a tube to drink with a horrible tasting liquid. The assisting Com Hacker explained that it had all the nutrients he needed to stay alive. After he slept some more and ate some more, Vera Tak went back in.

The explorations were extremely stimulating and sedative. He explored harmonics of a higher order, and the calculations of their vibrations within theoretical and impossible simulations. There were endless landscapes and environments to simultaneously traverse. It was as if his imagination were expanded to the breadth of the universe. He discovered spatial constructs that made up the multiverse and understood the complex intricacies of creation and entropy. Each session of integration brought on glorious revelations and he was never satiated by the philosophical illumination he felt he had gained. After several session he learned to regulate when he needed to unhook and replenish his strength just enough to survive and maximize his time in the virtually timeless system.

The Guide told him that his arms were using more nutrients then he needed so Vera Tak had all but one amputated. He needed some kind of appendage that could operate the integration device. The Com Hackers also transfused his blood with a synthetic self healing ooze that was used my many of the advanced augmented beings. It was very uncomfortable and he felt suffocated, but when he dived into the system, all his pain disappeared into an insignificant memory. He felt comfortable and at home within the synthetic neurological expansion.

After countless sessions, he began to notice new beings entering the facility. They looked confused and entered the medical bay to allow themselves to be integrated. Then they found a trivial location to sit or lay and access their freshly installed augmentation. Vera Tak saw their eyes glaze over and their mouths began to drool. Other times, already initiated Com Hackers would join their silent unison. There seemed to be no order. Sometimes a deceased body was removed and quickly replaced by another explorer.

Vera Tak never kept track of the many individuals who came and went. He only kept track of programs and projects he organized within integration. In that synthetic reality, he would communicate with other Com Hackers scattered throughout the incorporated universe. There were many complex computations he would lend his brainpower to, and assisted with creating more efficient ways to manage information. He began to participate in their most prolific venture, the discovery and understanding of what they called the infinity formula, a theoretical universally interwoven pattern that would lead to absolute order. A quest for this ideology was the highest truth and peace of a Com Hacker.

When he was outside the system, he could not process the large and complex information with his regular consciousness. Most of the dull time he was in a daze trying to hold onto the fleeting false ideas and he rushed to fulfill his bodies requirement of rest and nourishment. But sometimes he wondered how long had he been there.

He tried to remember what brought him to this place and what his life was before integration. It seemed like a fading dream of meaningless simplicity. His fame, his family and his friends were trifle accomplishments compared to the unmeasurable exploration of his own brain and the incalculable network the Com Hackers constructed and maintained.

( • )

Vera Tak exited the system and found several Com Hackers around him and looking at him with their spacey eyes. They told him there was a component in his ship they needed but it was locked with a code. They said they could hack it, but it would be easier for him to access it with his unique identification. He was unconditionally compliant and stumbled outside and opened the ship. He watched as they stripped it for parts. Many components he now knew their functions and scorned himself for not removing and adopting them sooner.

As he watched, he saw the rock that Bokolo had given him on the psychotropic noyas. Though most of his memories were now reduced to meaningless engrams, that memory stood with great nostalgia. He made a connection between the memorable, drug induced, profound thoughts and the Com Hackers network. Vera Tak picked up the stone and rushed back to his interface.

These thoughts disturbed and transformed his core character, and he felt an imposing urge to find Bokolo. He was now an advanced Com Hacker and acquired many skills. He could listen to the chatter across the universe and setup dedicated systems to perform purposeful tasks. He could use the combined communication of other advanced Com Hackers and easily manipulate them for his own endeavors. He knew many of them would willingly contribute their integration to his desires. It was time to find Bokolo.

Vera Tak was inside the system. He dove deeper then ever before, ignoring any communications that dealt with the infinity formula. He posted notices asking for Bokolo and broadcast overwhelming calls for participation with his project. Many of the Com Hackers did not like his plea at first so he began to claim that Bokolo had important information regarding an undiscovered element of the infinity formula. Many began to work with him unquestionably even though his assertion was false. He then realized he had gained great authority within their skewed and misguided community.

They searched over countless integrated session but could not find anything about Bokolo. Vera Tak dove into the far reaches of the construct, into places that were difficult to traverse. He scrutinized benign and redundant data. He inspected network areas where scrap and destructive data was maintained by insane unstable Com Hackers that sought emptiness and oblivion instead of the infinity formula. It was in their toxic system that he found his almost forgotten musical friend.

Bokolo messaged Vera Tak and implored him to shed his physical body so that they may join together in a different reality. He explained it as a place where they could be at peace and away from the scourge of the physical universe. All he had to do was pass a secured data gate.

Vera Tak hesitated. Most Com Hackers knew of this particular gates function. It would attempt to download the entire brain functions of an individual and transfer its essence to a theoretical computational system that resided in the future. Many Com Hackers were lost to this gate and few believed its proposed function was truthful.

The Guide became synchronistic to the integration session of Vera Tak. Guide had been ambivalent, unethical, and uncaring, but for this moment, he paused to protest Vera Tak’s intention to pass through the gate. The Guide accessed an audible transmission and spoke in its sparse language, “It nothing, Gate ennnnnnnd, you end.”

Vera Tak ignored the message and chose to enter the gate. His body convulsed and he took his last breath.

( • )

Bokolo landed on the moon and saw the remains of a ship once piloted by Vera Tak. Bokolo had to wear a full body suit to sustain his breathing and body pressure since the stacks no longer supported life. He entered the building and found many Com Hackers rotting away, their skin dry and constrained onto their bones. Most still had their cybernetic interface tapped in, and some were still powered on, transmitting data to dead brain cells.

He held a flashlight and looked throughout the building. When he came to Vera Tak, he noticed that he was missing most of his arms. His wiry body had little flesh left, but his long skeleton was enact, laying against the wall and in line with a large row of dead Com Hackers.

Bokolo knelt down and looked at his friend. Next to the corpse was the stone he had given him. He picked it up and went back to his ship.