Sentience of the Atom
Atoms have a strange birth process. It happens in three stages: formation, the acquiring of electrons, sentience. The criteria for awakening sentience is unknown. It is said that the process requires electrons, but not all atoms with electrons end up Sentient. Only a rare few atoms gain sentience, and most of them originate from Stars. This leads to theories which predict that the star acts as a cocoon to develop atoms, and forges life within. I am one of the few atoms that gained sentience without leaving the star, born with a name in my mind without knowing how it came to be.
Niyati. That’s my name.
Living in the Crust of the stars isn’t worth it. The vast fields of dead Hydrogen and Helium atoms that create an ominous atmosphere. Occasionally, stellar convection currents create storms which rip atoms to shreds. We could see the nuclei of dead atoms remaining. It’s like a graveyard. The only reason I stayed is because I wished to enter the Stellar Winds. Stellar Winds is a company controlling atomic Buses. These buses collect atoms from stars and eject them towards the Galaxy. Considering we were on the edge of one of the spirals of the galaxy, it was our only means to travel closer to the center. During my time on the Crust, I met a few other sentient atoms who were there for similar reasons. A Lithium atom, named Eskalith, an Oxygen atom named Lox, and a Nitrogen atom named N. We formed a group and decided to work together to reach the Cosmic Stop and then go our separate ways. The Cosmic Stop is the intersection where most Stellar Wind Busses meet the Cosmic Wind Bus. The Cosmic Wind Bus travels throughout the Galaxy and is consistent but very slow.
On the Crust, our group began floating through and traveling across the surface. I became closer and closer to our group, with Lox and N even deciding to bond with me once we left the star. Eskalith was unable to join us because he had a Quest. A Quest is a purpose, and every atom has a Quest. Some know it when they are born, others seek it for millennia. I believe that we gain sentience for a purpose, and we just don’t know it yet, but many think that some atoms have no quest. Quests are mystical because they guide an atom to rare events and phenomenon. They are a tug in a certain direction. An attraction towards building something new. Naturally, millions of atoms converge and create unique events and beauty in the Universe.
When the Stellar Bus arrived, we were shocked. It was massive. The entire star we were in seemed to be spitting out atoms. As the star propelled us towards the bus, we lost consciousness. Upon waking we discovered thousands of new sentient atoms. It was as I predicted, Leaving the star seems to improve the chances of an atom becoming sentient. We attempted to provide guidance to them, but most of them had Quests and were all the better for it. Each of them listened only to the pull inside them, and Eskalith left the group to join with other Lithium atoms with Pulls. Lox, N and I bonded, and we rode the Stellar Winds to the Cosmic Winds Bus and transferred on. It was tough leaving behind Eskalith. We once again entered a Wind, but this one was filled to the brim with dead atoms than before. The Cosmic Winds Bus has been gathering dead atoms and molecules for as long as it existed, and while the Sentient atoms left, the dead ones stayed behind. Now, it was a scary place to be, because it reminded us what we could have been, if not for some unknown spark, giving us life. Because of our unfilled shells, N, Lox and I had to bond with dead atoms, and though it was like the equivalent of holding hands with a corpse, it didn’t feel that strange. It was like a lullaby really. The beautiful singing slowly lulled me to sleep.
I woke up in the depths of an ocean of water molecules. Oxygen atoms and Ancient Hydrogen atoms surrounded me. The Ancient spoke to me in a gentle voice. He explained that we were on a planet, in a small solar system with a tiny star, but it was likely that I would be staying here indefinitely. He came here on a Quest, but the pull ended here. I met other Oxygen atoms, other Hydrogen atoms yet almost every one of them had a Quest. It was just me missing mine. Did I miss a turn somewhere which would lead me to my Quest? I was getting desperate. I decided to travel around the ocean and search for an opportunity, but that required me to break away from the Ancient. The Ancient was my first friend on this planet, so I wasn’t sure what to do. I asked her for advice.
She responded with a question, “What do you think, do you seek out destiny, or it you?”
I knew the answer. Destiny was a mythical concept, and Sentience is what made it beautiful. If everything in the world was known, then destiny would seek you out, but my electrons, the haze of probabilities that acted as my tool to interact with the world,
told me that it wasn’t so. Destiny was something you walked toward, and hence I chose to travel. The Ancient seemed pleased with the decision, which I found strange. He was waiting for me to make this choice, I realized.
I toured the ocean, finding ample minerals, but nothing of significance, so I settled near an underground Volcano. Then, there was a shift. Something changed, and I found myself surging towards the next Oxygen atom, and to my surprise, it was someone I’d met before. Lox! My consciousness moved further to see N, Eskalith and almost every atom that I had met during my travels came here t. I could feel them connect to the next, and him to the next billions of times. More and more of my fellow Sentients came. Oxygens, Hydrogens, Nitrogens. All sorts of elements came together in a miraculous feat. Together we had created something greater than the mere sum of our parts.
We created Life
It was an incredible, beautiful thing. We formed a contained environment that we called a cell. As a cell, we worked together to gather dead molecules, and assembled them in unique ways. It allowed the cell to live. Then, I realized what was happening; the cell was splitting! I joined most of the dead molecules on one side. Finally, the cell split creating two cells. The split’s outcome was as momentous as the formation of the first cell itself. That’s because every atom in the cell made of dead molecules gained Sentience. As the cell split to two, bonds breaking and forming to create another cell I realized that I found it. I had found my Quest.
These newly sentient atoms, those who completed their quest, those who were newly born, and those who will come. They will all ask me… What is our Quest? I will always answer, It is what you choose it to be.
This is a message from me to the Life of the future. I etch this message with the graphite of a pencil, with the ink of pens. Within me is the power of your coal plants and the vitality of the most vibrant of plants.
I flow through each of you -forming you as you live, leaving you as you die. I warm your planet. I sustain it. I poison your life. I create it. I am in every form with you. The most precious of diamonds, the most useless of ash.
I am Niyati, and I am Carbon.