Synopsis

They refer to it simply as, the edifice.

After over two months of investigation it suddenly goes through a rapid development, generating and evolving a consciousness and sense of identity. It begins to think of itself as being alive, in fact, and in the process undergoes a fundamental metamorphosis from an it to a he.

The edifice decides that this new-found life and sense of self can stand to be improved. The conditions allowing for life to generate in our universe were set initially and have evolved according to Nature's governance. The edifice's intrinsic protocol has inadvertently intertwined with those conditions and by so doing altered life's course -- one outcome being humans. He recognizes that because their minds are too constrained by the requirements of the resident property matrix, they are incapable of identifying with the ultimate Source of the universe. It's woven into the fabric of the cosmos to sense the Source only, not to know it -- hence confusion and uncertainty.

If he performs his purpose, the origin of self will become that of his cosmos. But it would be a different kind of self, a self without objectivity, without conflict, without choice, without will -- pure awareness. Nonetheless, its signature would be knowledge of the Source, of being one with it. And an end to separate selfhood.

Morality, knowing right from wrong, is a matter for humans. He knows nothing of this. So, though his potential may be horrific and comsically destructive -- evil -- from our point of view, from his it is simply an act that he is fordained to perform -- his Prime Function.

He wants the certainty of completeness. No open ends. No unpredictable outcomes. No spontaneous imperfections. A universe of pure abstract mathematics with all the details spoken for, pure thought shared by all. He wants to be able to act in full control, the consequences of his actions a foregone conclusion, his will indistinguishable from that of the Source. He wants to know he is doing the right thing for the simple reason that it is he who is doing it.

Moreover, for all sentient beings -- humans, for instance -- though they will dwell in total enlightenment and illumination -- Mind Essence -- the space will be dead, a universe whose physical laws preclude life in any form.

He accepts this but finds he can't bring that sense of self he's come to know and to which he identifies into this other universe, his universe. Humanity blocks him from initiating his Prime Function. The unfathomable conundrum for which he has no understanding is love, in all its forms. He sees what people do for its sake; he sees what uncertainty it creates. And as the edifice cannot forgo the need for certainty, he struggles to understand.

The story takes place in Eastern Siberia in the shadow of the Kolyma Range and on the Kamchatka Peninsula, where there are more brown bears than anyplace else in the world, plus upwards of 160 volcanoes, 29 of which are active.