"Childhoods End" by Arthur C. Clark

I recently read “Childhoods End” for the first time since 1968. I had forgotten  what an incredible novel this is. I had also forgotten that Arthur C. Clark invented the “Borg” in this novel.

Clark created a collective of ascended species. The novel ends up being about  the children of humans ascending into a collective on Earth, with personalities smeared out across individuals. When these human children were fully assimilated, they were taken up into the collective called the “Overmind”.

The Overmind caused a highly advanced race called the “Overlords” to go to each planet with people who were about to see their children taken. The “Overlords” were Renfelt to the Overmind’s Dracula.

People could not volunteer to join the “Overmind”. They had to be children when the change happened.

The “Overlords” have a symbiotic relationship with the “Overmind”. The “Overlords” are unable to ascent and are bitterly envious of the species who could.

In the Star Trek Universe, the Borg draft as many as they could. Their potential victims do everything to avoid this fate. Anyone could join the Borg; the Borg could not ascend, that Is something species like the Q could do.