autochthon

autochthon (from Gk. autos + khthōn, “self-springing from the soil”) an entity whose origin, formation, or phylogenetic development is syngenetic with its current geospatial or ecological locus, exhibiting no evidence of exogenous translocation or allochthonous admixture.

In several senses, autochthon Cho barely existed.

In one sense Cho was the end result of a tumble of mutations that accidentally propagated themselves enough to be able to pass on their genetic make-up through enough iterations to be here, now. In that sense he was no more special than the trillion objects that floated in the Kuiper Belt, the heliosphere, or the Oort Cloud, objects that were also the end result of random molecular coalesces that accidentally propagated themselves enough to be here, now.

In another sense, the autochthon had originally evolved to perceive its own existence planet-side via a series of feedback loops, a parade of homeostasis processes wherein its body regulated its internal stability in response to external stimuli. Here, at the edge of the sun’s gravity well, however, there were no stimuli large enough to trigger those homeostatic processes.

There was no (detectable) gravity, no (discernible) light, nothing for his reptile brain to lock onto.

Some time later a few synapses fired and formed embryonic thoughts which then cascaded into primitive thoughts which eventually resulted in the realization that Cho was, in fact, staring out a cockpit window and not just a black wall. More senses would come, he knew, accompanied by concertos of pain. And no telling which of those pinpricks outside his window was the sun.

No external, but internal stimuli. He was being revived. Feedback loops resumed, homeostatic processes started their regulation dance. He was needed. Something about an invader? His duty. His duty. His duty. Stop them. His duty . . .

The next time awareness exploded he was inundated with sensory data. Lights were blinking in several colors, alarms were blaring, smells assaulted the autochthon, and pressure pushed Cho into a cushion. Deceleration.

“Rise and shine, autochthon Cho!”

Cho turned toward the sound. His vocal cords mimed speaking until finally, “Grhwaaa . . . ” Another attempt. “Whaaa . . . “

Without waiting, the voice resumed. “Don’t worry, Cho, it’s coming. We are currently 30 AU’s out and decelerating Solwise.”

Cho tied again. “How manrghhh . . .”

“I am preceded by three autochthons who have been traveling at sailrates 200,000 through 400,000 AU’s respectively. You are receiving the collected telemetry presently. As soon as we all share frame-rate we will discuss the fugitive. Looking forward to speaking with you, Cho!”

It would be weeks before Cho was fully conscious and functional. The ship helped him understand that he would be receiving information packets from each of the four autochthons, starting with the one furthest away as it had been en route the longest and closest to the origin of the escape. When that first data packet arrived he read it. He studied it thoroughly. When the second packet arrived red he studied it as well. Discrepancies were within variance ranges but essentially reconciled with the first. When the third packet arrived the same happened. The same with the fourth. Finally, he turned to his own vessel and began going over the data it had collected since it first started rousing his corpse.

The facts consistent across the four data packets were this: A citizen had illegally left Tau Ceti e aboard an unregistered, apparently home built pilotable vessel. Once the unauthorized travel was detected a bulletin had been sent to Proxima Centauri synapse. Now there were a total of five autochthons who had been activated and charged with pursuing and apprehending the fugitive.

But why did Tau Ceti autochthons not pursue the fugitive themselves? wondered Cho.

Cho brought up a visual representation of the Proxima Centauri, Tau Ceti, and Sol systems, this last being the system the traveler was attempting to get to. It was almost an isosceles triangle. The distance from Sol to Tau Ceti was just over 12 light years, while the distance from Proxima Centauri to Tauceti was just over 13 light years. But the distance from Sol to Proxima Centauri was a mere 4 light years.

Given the distance of the system the fugitive was seeking it made sense that a closer system would have the only real chance of detaining the fugitive in a timely manner. So Tau Ceti did not initiate a pursuit at all, nor would it have made sense to expend resources for the one individual. This is what autochthons were for.

But the time between when the fugitive and the time when the autochthons would arrive at the target system was odd. The fugitive would at best have a few years living in hiding before they arrived.

Surely, thought Cho, the fugitive would know that a few years planetside was not enough time to establish autochthon. And Cho did not believe that a handful of years of freedom were sufficient enough reason to follow this path.

Could there be another reason?

He sent a query to the other autochthons. He received a reply instantly from his perspective, but which may have taken hours or days for the responder to consolidate. and send at their end.

The data packet came directly from the first autochthon, the one who had been in pursuit the longest. It itself had queried the Tau Ceti system for the same information. The information shared a physiological description of the fugitive as well as a brief contextual history of the world it escaped.

Let’s begin with the contextual history, after all, without context Cho had no idea how long he had been non-existent and less about how the societies he was embedded in may have changed.

As he consumed the data he imagined his face scrunching more and more. It appeared that the local star neighborhood had split into various . . . nations? But nations on a stellar level, what would you call that? Stellation? No, that’s geometry. Stellationism? That’s ridiculous.

The boundaries of these “nations” showed the local star at their center and extending out to the edge of their respective gravity well. This included any paired stars, all planets, asteroids, planetoids, and debris within their version of Kuiper Belts, heliospheres, and Oort Clouds (assuming it had any of these, which they didn’t always). Anything, then, that was slaved to that star.

He quietly wondered if any overlapped areas were addressed and decided not to worry about it.

Emigration, it seemed, was the biggest issue of this time. Vast libraries, entire planets were dedicated to the laws defining nationality.

In brief, actual citizenship could not simply be codified by proving that an individual’s physical, or digital, composition was slaved to a star’s gravity well. If that were so, then anyone could simply embed themselves within a star’s gravity well and claim themselves a citizen. So, how, then, was citizenship determined? How did one identify a citizen of one nation versus a neighboring nation?

autochthon Cho stopped. He composed a question and sent it to the first autochthon. He received a reply immediately.

“You wouldn’t be able to tag markers at the atomic level, autochthon Cho,” said a baritone voice. “Most atoms would show that they are the age of the universe. Heavier elements would show different younger ages, but they would be mixed dramatically even within an individual. In other words, one citizen’s eye could be composed of atoms and molecules that were formed during multiple star novas across eons.”

autochthon Cho said, “I understand. 99% of any given system is composed of hydrogen, which itself is just shy of the age of the universe. So using identifying markers at the atomic level to determine citizenry is not possible.” He thought and added, “neither could they use markers for heavier elements that were formed in supernovas because those spread throughout the universe indefinitely, meaning all systems would have molecules from any number of star formations.”

“That is accurate.”

Cho could feel the answer just around the corner. He was slightly aware that his mood lifted with the joy of solving a puzzle, an echo of a previous incarnation? For a moment he wondered what life he’d led in the deep past.

The baritone voice continued. “The current iteration of the autochthon laws required that the nations decide on a manner by which to identify that a threshold percentage of the molecules making up an individual’s corporeal self must match the age of the home star.” And there it was.

“Your vessel, autochthon, includes a chamber than can scan your physical form. It will, if you wish, tell you if you meet the threshold set by the current stellar society to determine your citizenship. I’ll wait here.”

The voice stopped. Cho sat for a long time. Eventually the vessel led him to the chamber. Nothing fancy, just a room large enough for him to stand in. The scan did not take long.

The ship informed him that a minimum threshold of his physical form originated in Sol System.

Conversation blurb:

“They had to develop a method to determine if a threshold percentage of the atoms making up an individual’s corporeal self matched the age of the home star.”

Cho paused and said, “Helium.”

Bo said, “helium?”

Cho said, “Helium. That’s what is produced via fusion in Sol.

Tau Ceti e was naturally inhospitable to most organic life. Therefore most of it’s inhabitants lived in domes or underground.

The autochthon system.

The autochthon system had been in place for a half a degree turning of the galaxy, equivalent to 1.35 million years according to established records. It wouldn’t matter if it were twice that long, spans that large were incomprehensible to him. But the records were comprehensive, including the names of the local stars, who named them, and how long they were identified thus before being “rediscovered” by a new species. Cultures came and went, familiar patterns always ensued, empires conquered and fell like the propagation of waves created by drops into a body of water. There were, of course, interference patterns of complexities that were difficult to predict, but the end result was always the same.

And all of them contributed autochthons at intervals between systems, time and space intervals. An autochthon was any entity indigenous to an area. As laws changed the defining parameters of “area” shifted. Sometimes it was someone born on any of the worlds of the system, sometimes it was anyone who resided in the system including individuals who had emigrated from a neighboring system. Sometimes autochthons had been volunteers, criminals, scientists, or chosen randomly. In some epochs autochthons had been entities that had been generated non-biologically, the logic being that an artificial entity was far better suited to the emptiness of space and time.

autochthon roles, then, also changed. A Quick Look through recent records showed autochthons had been used as data stores, ports, silos, communications relays, but overwhelmingly as enforcers, boundary policing, border patrol.

The technologies required to place autochthons in their place were old. Compared to the size of empires the cost and effort of maintaining autochthons were quite manageable.

autochthons were used in various ways based on the needs of the current societies and whatever laws were being observed.

Cho paused his research and queried his ship’s system. It reported that he himself had been born several thousand years ago on one of the moons of the larger gas giant around Sol.

4.17.2024