Expedition
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G. Janssen
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2022 9:46 pm
Re: Expedition
The chapter below is -as usual- 100 percent canon and 100 percent serious. It also reveals Meow's purpose, which is completely credible and not over the top at all.
Last edited by G. Janssen on Thu Oct 27, 2022 2:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
G. Janssen
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2022 9:46 pm
Re: Expedition
Chapter 8. Graveyard
---
Six months had passed since Sword had begun her voyage. And at the moment, all representatives were solemny watching the viewscreens in their quarters and lounges, after Wildfire had linked them to the central viewer on the bridge.
"An entire solar system. Seven planets. Now seven junk belts. I can't believe that powers exist that can blow up entire planets." Wildfire thought to herself.
Sword had jumped into the system the day before. After the sensors had established the ship's position inside the system, she had set course to the next jump zone. Scans of the solar system had gradually begun to reveal seven asteroid belts and not a single planet. Wildfire had ordered a course change to the second belt which had been closest at the time.
The close up analytical scans showed shipwrecks, machinery, vehicles, complex organic matter, polymers, parts of structures, etcetera. It was immediately clear that the belt had been a densely inhabited planet once. The scientists aboard Sword had requested additional time to study the belt and thus Sword was now cruising near its outer rim.
"Bridge, EYE. We are detecting an expanding anomaly in between the second and third belt at.. One moment.. The anomaly has collapsed and a ship manifested in the same location. Bridge, another, identical looking ship just appeared near the second ring, 1.5 light solons away from our position. Bridge, the sensors say that it is the same ship that we are detecting at the location of the anomaly."
"One ship in two locations simultaneously?" Wildfire asked nobody in particular.
"No." Song, who heard her, said. "Faster than light travel. The ship that EYE sees in the location where it entered the system, is only an image. One we still see due to the limitation of the speed of light. The anomaly was the exit of an artificial wormhole. The ship belongs to the Bek, or however they call themselves these days. An ancient race."
"Are they friend or foe?" Wildfire asked.
"Neither. They are an upper level 15 civilization. They will ignore Sword or maybe scan her out of curiosity." Sword said. "As long as they are not met with what they would consider violence, the worst you can expect is that one of them ports aboard, takes a tour of the ship, marvels at its primitiveness and harasses the crew with questions."
"They have to see us before they can scan us." Wildfire replied. "And what do you mean by po.."
"Bridge, EWA. We are being scanned."
"Oh." Wildfire said.
"Torret, incoming transmission from the ship." COM sent. "Text only. Torret, it's in Loroi Trade."
"Display it."
A message appeared on the central viewscreen. Wildfire read it. "How interesting. Loroi and members of a few other species that inhabit your subsector inside a vessel partially based on Ha'Sati technology. Interesting enough to extend an invitation. Feel free to come aboard. Unarmed of course. That includes amplifiers. And please bring the creature. I have a question about it. I will also provide answers."
"Creature? What creature?" Wildfire asked and looked at Song.
"Torret, another incoming message." COM sent. "Message says "The furry one."
"Torret, The ship just appeared five kilometers off the starboard bow." SIT sent.
"Song?" Wildfire asked.
"I would accept the invitation. The Bek are not known for aggression or cruelty. Their only major quirk is that they go where they please." Song answered.
"That must cause problems." Wildfire remarked.
"Weapons from species that have the Loroi's level of development would be totally ineffective. I doubt they would consider it violence. Entertainment perhaps. You have been invited by one of the galaxy's senior species and one of the less eccentric ones. I would take the opportunity to learn."
---
A shuttle containing Wildfire, Tigomer, Fireblade, Meow, Jürgen Thomas and Nreep Wrezzlebt left Sword and approached the Bek vessel. It consisted of an outer ring with a diameter of approximately 200 meters and another ring-shaped structure in its center that looked like a somewhat flattened donut with a diameter of approximately 75 meters. The ring and donut had no apparent connection. The ship was bright white and had gold accents.
"Torret!" Hellion, who was piloting the shuttle, called from the cockpit. "I don't see an opening. I have no idea where to dock with that ship."
No answer came.
"Torret?" Hellion asked and turned. The shuttle's cabin was empty.
---
"Welcome and one solon please." A voice said after the group suddenly found itself standing near the center of a spherical space that offered an almost perfect 360 degree view in all directions on the surrounding scenery. The group observed how the shuttle hung motionless in the vicicinity of the ship. Jürgen had momentarily panicked, but relaxed when he noticed that he could breathe. The only thing that obstructed the view was a cilinder in the center that ran from the top of the space to its bottom.
Jürgen squatted and tried to feel the invisible floor. His hand went right through. He stood up and brought his foot down. It hit something that felt like solid matter. He frowned.
"Done." The voice said. "Let me introduce myself." The cilinder opened and a naked alien became visible. Its head had a number of cables connected to it. Several other places of its body were connected to tubes.
A number of clicks sounded and the cables and tubes disconnected and retracted. The alien opened its two large, black eyes and walked out of the cilinder. It was approximately seven feet and three inches tall. It's skin was dark brown. Two slender legs each ended in a foot that had three large toes. Two double jointed arms ended in appendages that had three long fingers and two opposable thumbs, one on each side. Its head was relatively large. A number of connectors ran down its spine.
"Hello guests. My name is Kasham. I assume that you have a number of questions."
"Oh yes." Jürgen said. "About a million."
A lengthy conversation followed.
---
"Well yes, you are going in the right direction if you are looking for them." Kasham said, answering a question that Wildfire had asked. "And about the strange matter that you're looking for: normally it is impossible to obtain, unless you can enter the core of a dead star. And as far as I know nobody can do that. But there's a solar system that the doso pass once in a while that allows harvesting it during brief windows. It's a system that has seven stars. A white dwarf was torn to pieces in it long ago by the extreme gravitational forces within, exposing the strange matter inside the white dwarf. The doso collect and sell it."
"Who are the doso?" Wildfire asked.
"They are a nomadic conglomerate of species that specializes in trade and the exchange of information." Kasham answered. "The original seven member species can be traced back to the end of the soia empire. They travel in large vessels. Some of them should not be unknown to you, Wildfire."
"Dreadstars?"
"An outdated name. Tradestars would be better now." Kasham answered.
"You mean that they are soia? Actual soia?" Wildfire asked.
"Well no. Or yes, depending how you look at it. Soia was an acronym. Doso is also an acronym. The soia civil war was all about power." Kashan answered. "It began with two opposing factions. Then two more joined. One on each side. The three remaining factions tried to remain neutral, but entered the war as a third party, after the two initial belligerents committed several acts of aggression against them. Destruction was total. Both the soia empire and culture were destroyed. But the species that made up the soia survived. Not everyone hated each other. Not everyone fought. Pacifists, scientists, philosophers and many common people saw the storm approach, fled their worlds and the empire's territory before it struck."
"What do the acronyms stand for?" Wildfire asked.
"Soia meant "Divine Empire of the Seven". Its motto was "Conquest through Divine Right." They were considered a bunch of pricks because they created slave races. Doso means "Seven United in Peace". Its motto is "Knowledge, Trade, Cooperation." Kasham said.
"How do you know all this stuff?" Jürgen asked.
"Brain implants. I'm linked to my ship's computers and they're linked to GalNet. It's a realtime connection. I do a query in my mind and bam, the answer appears."
"GalNet?" Tigomer remarked.
"Yes. The name is a translation of course, but its real name is just as boring, I assure you. It's a network that all five tech level 15 civilizations in the galaxy are linked to."
"How very useful." Tigomer said. "Do you allow species to join that are tech level 12?"
"I'm sorry, but you have to be at least 15 to enter." Kasham replied.
"How do you speak Loroi trade?" Jürgen asked.
"I think in my own language, the thoughts get uploaded to a computer that contains a language database. The computer translates and the translated text gets sent to my implants that operate my vocal cords and mouth. It's something that takes time to get used to." Kasham explained.
"Why didn't the doso resettle?" Wildfire asked.
"They knew what was out there seeking their annihilation." Kasham said.
"The Ha'Sati." Wildfire responded.
"Exactly." Kasham replied.
"How large is the Ha'Sati armada?" Jürgen asked.
"Between 110,000 and 120,000 vessels in all shapes and sizes. The last time one of us encountered it was about 200 years ago." Kasham answered. "Building more ships is all they do. Besides eating people and multiplying, of course."
"Parts of the galaxy must be completely depopulated by now." Nreep said.
"Not really." Kasham answered. "They subject most species that live in the areas they move through to their will. A varying percentage of those species' populations are eaten. The species are then ordered to repopulate. They're kept like cattle, I guess. However, those that oppose the Ha'Sati and any Soia-Liron species they encounter, are annihilated. It is however quite difficult to exterminate civilizations that are sufficiently advanced. A number of individuals always manages to escape."
"Like the Orgus." Jürgen remarked.
Kasham continued. "The three Soia-Liron species that were attacked, as well as many others, are still extant. But each of their numbers have been reduced from tens of billions to tens of thousands."
"Do you know where their armada is now?" Wildfire asked.
"Two hundred years ago it was located rougly 750 light years coreward. That's quite close. You might run into scout patrols if it's still in the neighborhood. But you should be fine. Just stay hidden." Kasham answered.
"What happened to this solar system?" Tigomer asked.
"War happened." Kasham answered. "It's always the same story. First a species developes the ability to kill individuals. Then it develops the ability to kill populations. After that, it learns how to destroy all life on a planet. Next it ventures out into space and gains the ability to exterminate other species."
Kasham threw Wildfire a glance and continued his story.
"Gaining the ability to destroy entire planets is next. And finally it learns how to blow up suns. We still wonder if species exist that can destroy entire galaxies. When a species is removed from existence, it usually happens at stage 3 or 4. The ones who make it past, tend to be mature enough to avoid blowing themselves or others up. The two that once inhabited this system, were an exception to the rule. What you're looking at is the result of a war between the species that evolved on the second planet and the one that evolved on the third. They were oh, so proud of how advanced they were, technologically. But any warning from their own thinkers who told them that they were in fact utter morons, were ignored or waved away."
"Sorry to interrupt, but we did not exterminate any species." Wildfire said.
"No, the Loroi stopped the slaughter after killing only 85 percent of the tithric. After killing 2.25 billion males, 2.27 billion females and 4.93 billion young. The tithric should be grateful for such benevolence, I guess. Anyway, this war happened because of the inflated egos and selfishness of politicians and successful manipulation of the masses. Both sides knew with one hundred percent certainty that they were right and the other side was wrong. They were completely entrenched. Completely brainwashed. Something that took several generations to accomplish. All dialogue stopped. Those who disagreed with the politically approved consensus were ridiculed. Or worse."
"We had no choice." Wildfire interrupted. "What we did to the mannadi was unforgivable and should have resulted in a war crimes tribunal. But we had no choice with Tithric. We had to deny the Shells use of that world."
"Did it ever occur to you that the loroi maneuvered themselves in that position?" Kasham replied. "You were dealing with corrupt government officials and the loroi's response was appealing to honor first and resorting to threats and violence next. Do you know why the tithric choose to align with the Hierarchy? Because the Hierarchy bribed the tithric leadership. Large amounts of rare earth metals, gems and precious metals changed ownership."
"Paying bribes is dishonorable." Wildfire said.
"I agree." Kasham replied. "But I think that it is less dishonorable than killing 4.93 billion young due to amateuristic diplomacy. If it was diplomacy. Some believe that the loroi simply expected that they could impose their will on the tithric.
Wildfire folded her arms angrily, turned around and looked at the scenery outside. The shuttle had left the vicinity of the ship and was returning to Sword.
Kasham continued. "So, about this war: a simple insult is what finally triggered what you see before you. Eighteen billion dead because one politician called another one a fruit tart. No, literally! We have it recorded. We organized school excursions so our children could watch them blow up another planet. We watched the whole thing happen."
"Instead of organizing excursions, you could have tried helping them instead." Jürgen remarked coldly.
Kasham looked Jürgen in the eyes for a few solons. "Human, a long time ago, when the ancestors of your species were 90 centimeters tall and lived in trees, we tried such things. More than once. It always made things worse. I will give you one example. We once prevented a nuclear war on a world. We revealed ourselves, taught its inhabitants about the galaxy, about the future they could have. They were very impressed and changed their ways. And thus we left. Mission fulfilled, right? A few centuries later a few of us returned and found that they had used antimatter bombs instead of fission bombs to wipe themselves out."
"A shame about the planet." Nreep said to himself.
"To put it in human terms: one cannot teach a monkey to become human. Neither possessing the knowledge on how to build a nuke nor the act of actually building one, changes a monkey into a human. All you end up with is a monkey with a nuke. You can ask the monkey not to use the nuke and momentarily succeed because you gave it a banana, but its descendants are also monkeys. And they eventually forget or no longer value the things you taught their ancestor and then build antimatter bombs, solely because it is in their monkey nature to do so. So what would you have us do? Hold their hands for hundreds of thousands of years while evolution hopefully changes them for the better? Pretend that we're gods and rule over them as if they were children? Modify their genetic code? Threaten them? Enslave them?"
Jürgen looked thoughtful.
"No. We let species determine their own fate. Who are we to deny them that right? How arrogant would we be if we... Look, it is one of the Great Filters, Commodore. The universe put them in place for a reason. Either you survive them, or everything you ever were becomes dust."
Jürgen objected to Kasham's earlier statement about monkeys. "We came close to nuclear annihilation on a number of occasions. Developing nuclear bombs made us more responsible, more mature."
"And yet war after war continued to be waged on Earth after the discovery of nuclear weapons, exactly like they had during the millennia before. The Second Iraq War, the Second American Civil War, the Third World War, to name a few. Do you notice how your wars gained numbers around and after the discovery of nukes? That's not a good sign. That's a sign of repeating mistakes. No, Commodore. Their discovery and possession didn't make Humanity more responsible, because Humanity simply continued as if the nukes did not exist. So at best it didn't make you less responsible, because you didn't blow yourselves up. Hmm, that fact does count for something. So here, have a banana."
A banana manifested on top of Jürgen's head.
"What are you willing to tell us about your species?" Tigomer asked.
"We come in several varieties now." Kasham answered. "I was born in one of the original bodies. The bodies that we evolved in. I chose to keep it and had it modified here and there so I can connect with my ship. I designed it myself by the way. My neighbor gausted it in his shop. Neat, eh?"
"Gausted?" Tigomer asked.
"Oh, right. Let's go with something that is used at your tech level, though it isn't the same. He 3D printed it."
"Anyway, while I am connected, my consciousness extends, my intelligence increases and the ship becomes my body. It is really awesome. Others have shed their bodies completely and exist as digital entities. A few choose to ascend and become one with timespace. Others float around as energy matrixes on the surface of our worlds or through the atmosphere. They give great lightshows. Many are born in the new bodies that we developed. Those have larger brains, telepathy, biological immortality, more strength. But there's also a community that rejects more advanced technology and lives life like our distant ancestors."
"Are they religious?" Nreep asked.
"Not really. They just like life to be simple. And they pay less taxes." Kasham answered. "The last time that we were involved in a war -you'll love this- was when we got new neighbors who had just learned how to leave their solar system and sought to expand their space. They decided to invade us, because they, and I quote, "couldn't see any cannons on our ships." Kasham laughed. "It was rather cute, really. The war lasted a whole 25 bimas and nobody got hurt. Most of it was spent with their entire warfleet firing in vain at someone's private yacht. The owner recorded the whole thing. It aired on a program that showed funny home movies some time after. It ended when we ported their government and military leadership to the polar icecap on their homeworld, just like I ported you aboard my ship. They surrended almost immediately. Politicians tend to be like that.
Kasham scratched himself near one of his plugs and continued.
"We then ported the shivering leaders, their teeth chattering, aboard one our ships, gave them blankets and something hot to drink and showed them the difference in strength between our species by blowing up a moon in an uninhabited system. After that, we ported them back to their capital city. We let them keep the blankets. They have been very good neighbors ever since. When the difference in tech level between two sides in an armed conflict is big enough, the more advanced side doesn't have to kill anymore. And when the more advanced side is developed enough in other ways as well, it won't kill. It will choose alternative ways to educate. Amusing ways hopefully."
"You mentioned becoming one with timespace?" Nreep asked.
"Yes. Individuals shed their mortal shell and leave this plane of existence." Kasham said.
"We call that "death". Jürgen said while smelling his banana.
"Death is not the same thing. Death is the end of self. But not everyone who dies ends up dead." Kasham said.
"Why create new biologically immortal bodies instead of become one with timespace?" Nreep asked.
"Do you know how boring that existence is? No food, no sex, no games, no parties, no thanks. It's for old people who just like to watch things." Kasham replied.
"Why were you in this system?" Jürgen asked while peeling his banana.
"This place is a good place to contemplate and reflect on things." Kasham said. "Occasionally one of my kind comes here."
Fireblade sent something to Wildfire.
"Fireblade would like to know why you wanted to see Meow, the cat." Wildfire said.
"Ha! When I scanned the interior of your ship I noticed something odd. Something interesting and highly amusing. The scan however couldn't determine the cause with exact certainty. It did however hint that the cat was the cause. It's why I invited you. After arriving here, I had him scanned again and this time the scan confirmed that he is indeed the cause." Kasham said.
"The cause of what?" Wildfire asked.
"The deposits of highly toxic chemicals throughout your ship. Don't worry, analysis showed that they are only dangerous to a single species. Guess which one! The scan suggests that to fellow Soia-Liron species they would merely smell."
"Meow sprays the walls to mark his territory." Fireblade sent.
"Oh, everybody knows that, Fireblade. Believe me. That's why I ordered Paset to clean those spots. They tell me that it's a full-time job." Wildfire sent back.
"I never smelled anything." Jürgen said while eating his banana.
"Me neither." Nreep said.
"The Ha'Sati are a prototype, you see. Their biochemistry differs significantly here and there from the other Soia-Liron species. This makes it possible to attack them with chemicals that do not harm the other Soia-Liron species." Kasham explained.
"You're saying that Meow produces chemicals that are lethal to the biggest threat in the galaxy?" Wildfire asked.
"Marvelous, isn't it? His bladder and glands are full of them. Please, what can you tell me about him?" Kasham asked.
Wildfire told the story of the encounter including the classified parts.
"So you possibly were the one who saved us back then." Jürgen said.
"Let's talk about that another time." Wildfire replied.
"That was one great story!" Kasham said. "Hey Red! Shout "Plungethatfield!" Come on. Please? Aww, you're no fun."
Kasham suddenly went silent and the expression on his face became serious. After a few moments had passed, he began to speak.
"There are only a handful of species that can see all possible futures and thus manipulate events to get the desired one. And you have a member of one of those species aboard." He said softly.
"Song of Hope?" Wildfire asked.
"Is that its name? The sonliri's living spaceships. We met them and their creators a few times. Charming fellows. Love their singing. It's priceless that the sonliri don't know that their creations are an transcended species that has evolved far beyond them." Kasham said.
"Why suddenly bring up Song?" Wildfire asked.
"Don't you see? Your cat was created before you ever heard of the Ha'Sati. You met it after you did learn of them. And now he's here, spraying nerve gas aboard your ship. That's design, not coincidence. Has to be. Someone obviously intervened. Altered the timeline. Created a creature in the past to deal with a threat in the present. And made sure that it would accompany you." Kasham explained.
"You think that the sonliri's vessel-friends created Meow?" Wildfire asked.
"That would be hard. They have no hands. No, they would have asked another species to do that for them. There's one that lives not too far away from your part of the galaxy that has the technology to do so." Kasham replied.
"Why wouldn't they tell us?" Wildfire asked.
"Oh, such secrets are usually kept to protect the timeline. You see... Oh. Uh oh. Our meeting and me telling you about the cat and all this most likely means that something bad will happen very soon." Kasham said. "I guess that the question about the Ha'Sati's current whereabouts may now have been answered."
"Song was the one who suggested that we met." Wildfire said.
"Song may have a few things to tell you when you return." Kasham replied. "Now, I'm going to let you ask one more question before I send you back, because I have to go."
"What can we expect when the Ha'Sati attack?" Jürgen asked.
"More than 100,000 ships jumping simultaneously into a single or small number of systems, destroying all defenses and critical infrastructure in space and on the planets. Next, a few million landing craft pouring out of them and descending on one or a small number of cities. And finally tens of millions of screaming Ha'Sati pouring out, driven by nothing but hunger, aggression and hate. With them, it's all about overwhelming opponents by throwing massive waves at them. You probably don't know that they starve themselves before an attack. That way they don't care at all about being killed. The soia were quite proud of this creation of theirs for a short while." Kasham explained.
"So basically a massive zerg rush of rabid sharks on legs." Jürgen said, looked around and saw that he was standing on Sword's bridge with the rest of the group.
---
"Torret. A hidden memory unlocked when Hellion reported that you had disappeared." Song said. "It involves Meow and a critical event."
"A hidden memory, you say? How coincidental. I was just told that your kind has manipulated us and kept secrets. And now all of a sudden there's a hidden memory." Wildfire said. "I'm not happy about this, Song. Not happy at all. I don't like being manipulated. Tell me, are there any more of these conveniently hidden memories?"
"I.. don't know." Song replied.
Wildfire looked at Song with a look that showed annoyance. "Well, let's hear it." She said.
Jürgen and Nreep looked at each other. Nreep's face expressed "Uh oh, trouble." Jürgen's face expressed "Here comes a Wildfire moment."
"Song of Calmth explored the Ha'Sati timeline for the coming century while in hyperspace." Song said. "They saw that none of the outcomes are in our favor because we never reach our destination. They had items created and placed aboard Sword during her construction to deal with the different critical events they encountered."
"You see, items need to be brought into existence, because thinking about doing so isn't enough to alter the timelines. The items also had to be kept hidden from all of you. Every time one was created, the timelines were explored again. Finally a living device was designed. Its placement aboard Sword yielded succes."
"Why keep it from us?" Wildfire asked.
"If I may." Jürgen said. "In songs defense, we call it the butterfly effect. Even a minute deviation in a timeline, like a stray thought or a momentary hesitation, will eventually evolve into a massive disturbance that renders all predictions worthless. Life is chaotic and intelligent life is the reason why the universe is possibly no longer a deterministic system. Keeping the knowledge from us eliminated the problem of exponentially expanding uncertainty."
"I agree." Tigomer said.
"Torret, incoming message from the ship." COM said. "The message says "You explained it better than I did."
"Then why didn't you explain it better instead of boot us off your ship?" Wildfire asked while looking at the ceiling of the bridge.
Torret, inco...
Yes! Just read it already.
"I said that had to go." My species may be ancient, but we still need to go, you know?" COM read.
"Go? You're still here. And how are you listening in on us?" Wildfire asked the ceiling.
Another message appeared. COM read it. "No, not like that. You did see the tubes, right? Anyway. I'm leaving now. Until we meet again."
"Does someone understand what he is talking about, because I haven't got a clue." Wildfire said. Jürgen whispered something in her ear.
"You're joking, right?" Wildfire said.
An anomaly began to grow from the hole in the donut until it enveloped the ship. Then it collapsed and the ship was gone.
Wildfire turned back to Song. "We met Meow about fifteen years ago. But construction of Sword didn't start until three years ago. Can your species physically travel through time, Song? Is this another thing that your kind has kept hidden from us?"
"It should be clear to you by now that information can travel backwards in time in hyperspace. After all; it has three dimensions of time. You were there. It is therefore obvious that Song of Calmth transmitted the information about Meow. And another one of my kind who travelled there 18 years earlier, received it and took action."
"Oh, it should be clear because such things are obvious. Yes, of course." Wildfire said while lifting her hands in the air. "Plunge this." She softly said to herself. "You know, things used to be so simpel when I was young. Shells shot at you, you shot at Shells, you had dinner, took a shit, went to sleep and when you woke up, the Shells started shooting at you again. A nice, simple daily routine that went on for 25 years. None of this time travel, infinite number of timelines, being lectured by aliens and plants and fate shit. Not poop mind you, but shit. S.H.I.T. Really, plunge this!"
"I see that Seline's lesso.." Jürgen said.
"Oh, shut up with your jokes, Jürgen! So, when will this "critical event" take place?" Wildfire asked Song.
"Bridge, EYE. "Jump flash times three detected. No signatures."
Wildfire closed her eyes, lowered her head and slowly shook it, inhaled, exhaled, walked to her station, sat down, mumbled some more words that Seline had taught her, leaned back and pressed a button.
NENG NENG NENG NENG
"Crew pay attention."
"Combat stations! Combat stations! Combat stations! All crew to their combat stations. This is not a drill."
"Crew and guests, this is your Torret. We have three incoming Ha'Sati stealth vessels. I have reliable information that we will be spotted and boarded. Defense squads: prepare to repel Ha'Sati boarders. Crew: arm yourselves. All: be prepared for a power blackout. Core rooms: be ready to evacuate. Non combatants: proceed to the saferooms and lock yourselves in."
Fireblade had run out. Meow sprayed the wall and walked out casually.
"Get the reps off my bridge. Now." Wildfire sent to the two Soroin guards near its entrance.
---/\/---
---
Six months had passed since Sword had begun her voyage. And at the moment, all representatives were solemny watching the viewscreens in their quarters and lounges, after Wildfire had linked them to the central viewer on the bridge.
"An entire solar system. Seven planets. Now seven junk belts. I can't believe that powers exist that can blow up entire planets." Wildfire thought to herself.
Sword had jumped into the system the day before. After the sensors had established the ship's position inside the system, she had set course to the next jump zone. Scans of the solar system had gradually begun to reveal seven asteroid belts and not a single planet. Wildfire had ordered a course change to the second belt which had been closest at the time.
The close up analytical scans showed shipwrecks, machinery, vehicles, complex organic matter, polymers, parts of structures, etcetera. It was immediately clear that the belt had been a densely inhabited planet once. The scientists aboard Sword had requested additional time to study the belt and thus Sword was now cruising near its outer rim.
"Bridge, EYE. We are detecting an expanding anomaly in between the second and third belt at.. One moment.. The anomaly has collapsed and a ship manifested in the same location. Bridge, another, identical looking ship just appeared near the second ring, 1.5 light solons away from our position. Bridge, the sensors say that it is the same ship that we are detecting at the location of the anomaly."
"One ship in two locations simultaneously?" Wildfire asked nobody in particular.
"No." Song, who heard her, said. "Faster than light travel. The ship that EYE sees in the location where it entered the system, is only an image. One we still see due to the limitation of the speed of light. The anomaly was the exit of an artificial wormhole. The ship belongs to the Bek, or however they call themselves these days. An ancient race."
"Are they friend or foe?" Wildfire asked.
"Neither. They are an upper level 15 civilization. They will ignore Sword or maybe scan her out of curiosity." Sword said. "As long as they are not met with what they would consider violence, the worst you can expect is that one of them ports aboard, takes a tour of the ship, marvels at its primitiveness and harasses the crew with questions."
"They have to see us before they can scan us." Wildfire replied. "And what do you mean by po.."
"Bridge, EWA. We are being scanned."
"Oh." Wildfire said.
"Torret, incoming transmission from the ship." COM sent. "Text only. Torret, it's in Loroi Trade."
"Display it."
A message appeared on the central viewscreen. Wildfire read it. "How interesting. Loroi and members of a few other species that inhabit your subsector inside a vessel partially based on Ha'Sati technology. Interesting enough to extend an invitation. Feel free to come aboard. Unarmed of course. That includes amplifiers. And please bring the creature. I have a question about it. I will also provide answers."
"Creature? What creature?" Wildfire asked and looked at Song.
"Torret, another incoming message." COM sent. "Message says "The furry one."
"Torret, The ship just appeared five kilometers off the starboard bow." SIT sent.
"Song?" Wildfire asked.
"I would accept the invitation. The Bek are not known for aggression or cruelty. Their only major quirk is that they go where they please." Song answered.
"That must cause problems." Wildfire remarked.
"Weapons from species that have the Loroi's level of development would be totally ineffective. I doubt they would consider it violence. Entertainment perhaps. You have been invited by one of the galaxy's senior species and one of the less eccentric ones. I would take the opportunity to learn."
---
A shuttle containing Wildfire, Tigomer, Fireblade, Meow, Jürgen Thomas and Nreep Wrezzlebt left Sword and approached the Bek vessel. It consisted of an outer ring with a diameter of approximately 200 meters and another ring-shaped structure in its center that looked like a somewhat flattened donut with a diameter of approximately 75 meters. The ring and donut had no apparent connection. The ship was bright white and had gold accents.
"Torret!" Hellion, who was piloting the shuttle, called from the cockpit. "I don't see an opening. I have no idea where to dock with that ship."
No answer came.
"Torret?" Hellion asked and turned. The shuttle's cabin was empty.
---
"Welcome and one solon please." A voice said after the group suddenly found itself standing near the center of a spherical space that offered an almost perfect 360 degree view in all directions on the surrounding scenery. The group observed how the shuttle hung motionless in the vicicinity of the ship. Jürgen had momentarily panicked, but relaxed when he noticed that he could breathe. The only thing that obstructed the view was a cilinder in the center that ran from the top of the space to its bottom.
Jürgen squatted and tried to feel the invisible floor. His hand went right through. He stood up and brought his foot down. It hit something that felt like solid matter. He frowned.
"Done." The voice said. "Let me introduce myself." The cilinder opened and a naked alien became visible. Its head had a number of cables connected to it. Several other places of its body were connected to tubes.
A number of clicks sounded and the cables and tubes disconnected and retracted. The alien opened its two large, black eyes and walked out of the cilinder. It was approximately seven feet and three inches tall. It's skin was dark brown. Two slender legs each ended in a foot that had three large toes. Two double jointed arms ended in appendages that had three long fingers and two opposable thumbs, one on each side. Its head was relatively large. A number of connectors ran down its spine.
"Hello guests. My name is Kasham. I assume that you have a number of questions."
"Oh yes." Jürgen said. "About a million."
A lengthy conversation followed.
---
"Well yes, you are going in the right direction if you are looking for them." Kasham said, answering a question that Wildfire had asked. "And about the strange matter that you're looking for: normally it is impossible to obtain, unless you can enter the core of a dead star. And as far as I know nobody can do that. But there's a solar system that the doso pass once in a while that allows harvesting it during brief windows. It's a system that has seven stars. A white dwarf was torn to pieces in it long ago by the extreme gravitational forces within, exposing the strange matter inside the white dwarf. The doso collect and sell it."
"Who are the doso?" Wildfire asked.
"They are a nomadic conglomerate of species that specializes in trade and the exchange of information." Kasham answered. "The original seven member species can be traced back to the end of the soia empire. They travel in large vessels. Some of them should not be unknown to you, Wildfire."
"Dreadstars?"
"An outdated name. Tradestars would be better now." Kasham answered.
"You mean that they are soia? Actual soia?" Wildfire asked.
"Well no. Or yes, depending how you look at it. Soia was an acronym. Doso is also an acronym. The soia civil war was all about power." Kashan answered. "It began with two opposing factions. Then two more joined. One on each side. The three remaining factions tried to remain neutral, but entered the war as a third party, after the two initial belligerents committed several acts of aggression against them. Destruction was total. Both the soia empire and culture were destroyed. But the species that made up the soia survived. Not everyone hated each other. Not everyone fought. Pacifists, scientists, philosophers and many common people saw the storm approach, fled their worlds and the empire's territory before it struck."
"What do the acronyms stand for?" Wildfire asked.
"Soia meant "Divine Empire of the Seven". Its motto was "Conquest through Divine Right." They were considered a bunch of pricks because they created slave races. Doso means "Seven United in Peace". Its motto is "Knowledge, Trade, Cooperation." Kasham said.
"How do you know all this stuff?" Jürgen asked.
"Brain implants. I'm linked to my ship's computers and they're linked to GalNet. It's a realtime connection. I do a query in my mind and bam, the answer appears."
"GalNet?" Tigomer remarked.
"Yes. The name is a translation of course, but its real name is just as boring, I assure you. It's a network that all five tech level 15 civilizations in the galaxy are linked to."
"How very useful." Tigomer said. "Do you allow species to join that are tech level 12?"
"I'm sorry, but you have to be at least 15 to enter." Kasham replied.
"How do you speak Loroi trade?" Jürgen asked.
"I think in my own language, the thoughts get uploaded to a computer that contains a language database. The computer translates and the translated text gets sent to my implants that operate my vocal cords and mouth. It's something that takes time to get used to." Kasham explained.
"Why didn't the doso resettle?" Wildfire asked.
"They knew what was out there seeking their annihilation." Kasham said.
"The Ha'Sati." Wildfire responded.
"Exactly." Kasham replied.
"How large is the Ha'Sati armada?" Jürgen asked.
"Between 110,000 and 120,000 vessels in all shapes and sizes. The last time one of us encountered it was about 200 years ago." Kasham answered. "Building more ships is all they do. Besides eating people and multiplying, of course."
"Parts of the galaxy must be completely depopulated by now." Nreep said.
"Not really." Kasham answered. "They subject most species that live in the areas they move through to their will. A varying percentage of those species' populations are eaten. The species are then ordered to repopulate. They're kept like cattle, I guess. However, those that oppose the Ha'Sati and any Soia-Liron species they encounter, are annihilated. It is however quite difficult to exterminate civilizations that are sufficiently advanced. A number of individuals always manages to escape."
"Like the Orgus." Jürgen remarked.
Kasham continued. "The three Soia-Liron species that were attacked, as well as many others, are still extant. But each of their numbers have been reduced from tens of billions to tens of thousands."
"Do you know where their armada is now?" Wildfire asked.
"Two hundred years ago it was located rougly 750 light years coreward. That's quite close. You might run into scout patrols if it's still in the neighborhood. But you should be fine. Just stay hidden." Kasham answered.
"What happened to this solar system?" Tigomer asked.
"War happened." Kasham answered. "It's always the same story. First a species developes the ability to kill individuals. Then it develops the ability to kill populations. After that, it learns how to destroy all life on a planet. Next it ventures out into space and gains the ability to exterminate other species."
Kasham threw Wildfire a glance and continued his story.
"Gaining the ability to destroy entire planets is next. And finally it learns how to blow up suns. We still wonder if species exist that can destroy entire galaxies. When a species is removed from existence, it usually happens at stage 3 or 4. The ones who make it past, tend to be mature enough to avoid blowing themselves or others up. The two that once inhabited this system, were an exception to the rule. What you're looking at is the result of a war between the species that evolved on the second planet and the one that evolved on the third. They were oh, so proud of how advanced they were, technologically. But any warning from their own thinkers who told them that they were in fact utter morons, were ignored or waved away."
"Sorry to interrupt, but we did not exterminate any species." Wildfire said.
"No, the Loroi stopped the slaughter after killing only 85 percent of the tithric. After killing 2.25 billion males, 2.27 billion females and 4.93 billion young. The tithric should be grateful for such benevolence, I guess. Anyway, this war happened because of the inflated egos and selfishness of politicians and successful manipulation of the masses. Both sides knew with one hundred percent certainty that they were right and the other side was wrong. They were completely entrenched. Completely brainwashed. Something that took several generations to accomplish. All dialogue stopped. Those who disagreed with the politically approved consensus were ridiculed. Or worse."
"We had no choice." Wildfire interrupted. "What we did to the mannadi was unforgivable and should have resulted in a war crimes tribunal. But we had no choice with Tithric. We had to deny the Shells use of that world."
"Did it ever occur to you that the loroi maneuvered themselves in that position?" Kasham replied. "You were dealing with corrupt government officials and the loroi's response was appealing to honor first and resorting to threats and violence next. Do you know why the tithric choose to align with the Hierarchy? Because the Hierarchy bribed the tithric leadership. Large amounts of rare earth metals, gems and precious metals changed ownership."
"Paying bribes is dishonorable." Wildfire said.
"I agree." Kasham replied. "But I think that it is less dishonorable than killing 4.93 billion young due to amateuristic diplomacy. If it was diplomacy. Some believe that the loroi simply expected that they could impose their will on the tithric.
Wildfire folded her arms angrily, turned around and looked at the scenery outside. The shuttle had left the vicinity of the ship and was returning to Sword.
Kasham continued. "So, about this war: a simple insult is what finally triggered what you see before you. Eighteen billion dead because one politician called another one a fruit tart. No, literally! We have it recorded. We organized school excursions so our children could watch them blow up another planet. We watched the whole thing happen."
"Instead of organizing excursions, you could have tried helping them instead." Jürgen remarked coldly.
Kasham looked Jürgen in the eyes for a few solons. "Human, a long time ago, when the ancestors of your species were 90 centimeters tall and lived in trees, we tried such things. More than once. It always made things worse. I will give you one example. We once prevented a nuclear war on a world. We revealed ourselves, taught its inhabitants about the galaxy, about the future they could have. They were very impressed and changed their ways. And thus we left. Mission fulfilled, right? A few centuries later a few of us returned and found that they had used antimatter bombs instead of fission bombs to wipe themselves out."
"A shame about the planet." Nreep said to himself.
"To put it in human terms: one cannot teach a monkey to become human. Neither possessing the knowledge on how to build a nuke nor the act of actually building one, changes a monkey into a human. All you end up with is a monkey with a nuke. You can ask the monkey not to use the nuke and momentarily succeed because you gave it a banana, but its descendants are also monkeys. And they eventually forget or no longer value the things you taught their ancestor and then build antimatter bombs, solely because it is in their monkey nature to do so. So what would you have us do? Hold their hands for hundreds of thousands of years while evolution hopefully changes them for the better? Pretend that we're gods and rule over them as if they were children? Modify their genetic code? Threaten them? Enslave them?"
Jürgen looked thoughtful.
"No. We let species determine their own fate. Who are we to deny them that right? How arrogant would we be if we... Look, it is one of the Great Filters, Commodore. The universe put them in place for a reason. Either you survive them, or everything you ever were becomes dust."
Jürgen objected to Kasham's earlier statement about monkeys. "We came close to nuclear annihilation on a number of occasions. Developing nuclear bombs made us more responsible, more mature."
"And yet war after war continued to be waged on Earth after the discovery of nuclear weapons, exactly like they had during the millennia before. The Second Iraq War, the Second American Civil War, the Third World War, to name a few. Do you notice how your wars gained numbers around and after the discovery of nukes? That's not a good sign. That's a sign of repeating mistakes. No, Commodore. Their discovery and possession didn't make Humanity more responsible, because Humanity simply continued as if the nukes did not exist. So at best it didn't make you less responsible, because you didn't blow yourselves up. Hmm, that fact does count for something. So here, have a banana."
A banana manifested on top of Jürgen's head.
"What are you willing to tell us about your species?" Tigomer asked.
"We come in several varieties now." Kasham answered. "I was born in one of the original bodies. The bodies that we evolved in. I chose to keep it and had it modified here and there so I can connect with my ship. I designed it myself by the way. My neighbor gausted it in his shop. Neat, eh?"
"Gausted?" Tigomer asked.
"Oh, right. Let's go with something that is used at your tech level, though it isn't the same. He 3D printed it."
"Anyway, while I am connected, my consciousness extends, my intelligence increases and the ship becomes my body. It is really awesome. Others have shed their bodies completely and exist as digital entities. A few choose to ascend and become one with timespace. Others float around as energy matrixes on the surface of our worlds or through the atmosphere. They give great lightshows. Many are born in the new bodies that we developed. Those have larger brains, telepathy, biological immortality, more strength. But there's also a community that rejects more advanced technology and lives life like our distant ancestors."
"Are they religious?" Nreep asked.
"Not really. They just like life to be simple. And they pay less taxes." Kasham answered. "The last time that we were involved in a war -you'll love this- was when we got new neighbors who had just learned how to leave their solar system and sought to expand their space. They decided to invade us, because they, and I quote, "couldn't see any cannons on our ships." Kasham laughed. "It was rather cute, really. The war lasted a whole 25 bimas and nobody got hurt. Most of it was spent with their entire warfleet firing in vain at someone's private yacht. The owner recorded the whole thing. It aired on a program that showed funny home movies some time after. It ended when we ported their government and military leadership to the polar icecap on their homeworld, just like I ported you aboard my ship. They surrended almost immediately. Politicians tend to be like that.
Kasham scratched himself near one of his plugs and continued.
"We then ported the shivering leaders, their teeth chattering, aboard one our ships, gave them blankets and something hot to drink and showed them the difference in strength between our species by blowing up a moon in an uninhabited system. After that, we ported them back to their capital city. We let them keep the blankets. They have been very good neighbors ever since. When the difference in tech level between two sides in an armed conflict is big enough, the more advanced side doesn't have to kill anymore. And when the more advanced side is developed enough in other ways as well, it won't kill. It will choose alternative ways to educate. Amusing ways hopefully."
"You mentioned becoming one with timespace?" Nreep asked.
"Yes. Individuals shed their mortal shell and leave this plane of existence." Kasham said.
"We call that "death". Jürgen said while smelling his banana.
"Death is not the same thing. Death is the end of self. But not everyone who dies ends up dead." Kasham said.
"Why create new biologically immortal bodies instead of become one with timespace?" Nreep asked.
"Do you know how boring that existence is? No food, no sex, no games, no parties, no thanks. It's for old people who just like to watch things." Kasham replied.
"Why were you in this system?" Jürgen asked while peeling his banana.
"This place is a good place to contemplate and reflect on things." Kasham said. "Occasionally one of my kind comes here."
Fireblade sent something to Wildfire.
"Fireblade would like to know why you wanted to see Meow, the cat." Wildfire said.
"Ha! When I scanned the interior of your ship I noticed something odd. Something interesting and highly amusing. The scan however couldn't determine the cause with exact certainty. It did however hint that the cat was the cause. It's why I invited you. After arriving here, I had him scanned again and this time the scan confirmed that he is indeed the cause." Kasham said.
"The cause of what?" Wildfire asked.
"The deposits of highly toxic chemicals throughout your ship. Don't worry, analysis showed that they are only dangerous to a single species. Guess which one! The scan suggests that to fellow Soia-Liron species they would merely smell."
"Meow sprays the walls to mark his territory." Fireblade sent.
"Oh, everybody knows that, Fireblade. Believe me. That's why I ordered Paset to clean those spots. They tell me that it's a full-time job." Wildfire sent back.
"I never smelled anything." Jürgen said while eating his banana.
"Me neither." Nreep said.
"The Ha'Sati are a prototype, you see. Their biochemistry differs significantly here and there from the other Soia-Liron species. This makes it possible to attack them with chemicals that do not harm the other Soia-Liron species." Kasham explained.
"You're saying that Meow produces chemicals that are lethal to the biggest threat in the galaxy?" Wildfire asked.
"Marvelous, isn't it? His bladder and glands are full of them. Please, what can you tell me about him?" Kasham asked.
Wildfire told the story of the encounter including the classified parts.
"So you possibly were the one who saved us back then." Jürgen said.
"Let's talk about that another time." Wildfire replied.
"That was one great story!" Kasham said. "Hey Red! Shout "Plungethatfield!" Come on. Please? Aww, you're no fun."
Kasham suddenly went silent and the expression on his face became serious. After a few moments had passed, he began to speak.
"There are only a handful of species that can see all possible futures and thus manipulate events to get the desired one. And you have a member of one of those species aboard." He said softly.
"Song of Hope?" Wildfire asked.
"Is that its name? The sonliri's living spaceships. We met them and their creators a few times. Charming fellows. Love their singing. It's priceless that the sonliri don't know that their creations are an transcended species that has evolved far beyond them." Kasham said.
"Why suddenly bring up Song?" Wildfire asked.
"Don't you see? Your cat was created before you ever heard of the Ha'Sati. You met it after you did learn of them. And now he's here, spraying nerve gas aboard your ship. That's design, not coincidence. Has to be. Someone obviously intervened. Altered the timeline. Created a creature in the past to deal with a threat in the present. And made sure that it would accompany you." Kasham explained.
"You think that the sonliri's vessel-friends created Meow?" Wildfire asked.
"That would be hard. They have no hands. No, they would have asked another species to do that for them. There's one that lives not too far away from your part of the galaxy that has the technology to do so." Kasham replied.
"Why wouldn't they tell us?" Wildfire asked.
"Oh, such secrets are usually kept to protect the timeline. You see... Oh. Uh oh. Our meeting and me telling you about the cat and all this most likely means that something bad will happen very soon." Kasham said. "I guess that the question about the Ha'Sati's current whereabouts may now have been answered."
"Song was the one who suggested that we met." Wildfire said.
"Song may have a few things to tell you when you return." Kasham replied. "Now, I'm going to let you ask one more question before I send you back, because I have to go."
"What can we expect when the Ha'Sati attack?" Jürgen asked.
"More than 100,000 ships jumping simultaneously into a single or small number of systems, destroying all defenses and critical infrastructure in space and on the planets. Next, a few million landing craft pouring out of them and descending on one or a small number of cities. And finally tens of millions of screaming Ha'Sati pouring out, driven by nothing but hunger, aggression and hate. With them, it's all about overwhelming opponents by throwing massive waves at them. You probably don't know that they starve themselves before an attack. That way they don't care at all about being killed. The soia were quite proud of this creation of theirs for a short while." Kasham explained.
"So basically a massive zerg rush of rabid sharks on legs." Jürgen said, looked around and saw that he was standing on Sword's bridge with the rest of the group.
---
"Torret. A hidden memory unlocked when Hellion reported that you had disappeared." Song said. "It involves Meow and a critical event."
"A hidden memory, you say? How coincidental. I was just told that your kind has manipulated us and kept secrets. And now all of a sudden there's a hidden memory." Wildfire said. "I'm not happy about this, Song. Not happy at all. I don't like being manipulated. Tell me, are there any more of these conveniently hidden memories?"
"I.. don't know." Song replied.
Wildfire looked at Song with a look that showed annoyance. "Well, let's hear it." She said.
Jürgen and Nreep looked at each other. Nreep's face expressed "Uh oh, trouble." Jürgen's face expressed "Here comes a Wildfire moment."
"Song of Calmth explored the Ha'Sati timeline for the coming century while in hyperspace." Song said. "They saw that none of the outcomes are in our favor because we never reach our destination. They had items created and placed aboard Sword during her construction to deal with the different critical events they encountered."
"You see, items need to be brought into existence, because thinking about doing so isn't enough to alter the timelines. The items also had to be kept hidden from all of you. Every time one was created, the timelines were explored again. Finally a living device was designed. Its placement aboard Sword yielded succes."
"Why keep it from us?" Wildfire asked.
"If I may." Jürgen said. "In songs defense, we call it the butterfly effect. Even a minute deviation in a timeline, like a stray thought or a momentary hesitation, will eventually evolve into a massive disturbance that renders all predictions worthless. Life is chaotic and intelligent life is the reason why the universe is possibly no longer a deterministic system. Keeping the knowledge from us eliminated the problem of exponentially expanding uncertainty."
"I agree." Tigomer said.
"Torret, incoming message from the ship." COM said. "The message says "You explained it better than I did."
"Then why didn't you explain it better instead of boot us off your ship?" Wildfire asked while looking at the ceiling of the bridge.
Torret, inco...
Yes! Just read it already.
"I said that had to go." My species may be ancient, but we still need to go, you know?" COM read.
"Go? You're still here. And how are you listening in on us?" Wildfire asked the ceiling.
Another message appeared. COM read it. "No, not like that. You did see the tubes, right? Anyway. I'm leaving now. Until we meet again."
"Does someone understand what he is talking about, because I haven't got a clue." Wildfire said. Jürgen whispered something in her ear.
"You're joking, right?" Wildfire said.
An anomaly began to grow from the hole in the donut until it enveloped the ship. Then it collapsed and the ship was gone.
Wildfire turned back to Song. "We met Meow about fifteen years ago. But construction of Sword didn't start until three years ago. Can your species physically travel through time, Song? Is this another thing that your kind has kept hidden from us?"
"It should be clear to you by now that information can travel backwards in time in hyperspace. After all; it has three dimensions of time. You were there. It is therefore obvious that Song of Calmth transmitted the information about Meow. And another one of my kind who travelled there 18 years earlier, received it and took action."
"Oh, it should be clear because such things are obvious. Yes, of course." Wildfire said while lifting her hands in the air. "Plunge this." She softly said to herself. "You know, things used to be so simpel when I was young. Shells shot at you, you shot at Shells, you had dinner, took a shit, went to sleep and when you woke up, the Shells started shooting at you again. A nice, simple daily routine that went on for 25 years. None of this time travel, infinite number of timelines, being lectured by aliens and plants and fate shit. Not poop mind you, but shit. S.H.I.T. Really, plunge this!"
"I see that Seline's lesso.." Jürgen said.
"Oh, shut up with your jokes, Jürgen! So, when will this "critical event" take place?" Wildfire asked Song.
"Bridge, EYE. "Jump flash times three detected. No signatures."
Wildfire closed her eyes, lowered her head and slowly shook it, inhaled, exhaled, walked to her station, sat down, mumbled some more words that Seline had taught her, leaned back and pressed a button.
NENG NENG NENG NENG
"Crew pay attention."
"Combat stations! Combat stations! Combat stations! All crew to their combat stations. This is not a drill."
"Crew and guests, this is your Torret. We have three incoming Ha'Sati stealth vessels. I have reliable information that we will be spotted and boarded. Defense squads: prepare to repel Ha'Sati boarders. Crew: arm yourselves. All: be prepared for a power blackout. Core rooms: be ready to evacuate. Non combatants: proceed to the saferooms and lock yourselves in."
Fireblade had run out. Meow sprayed the wall and walked out casually.
"Get the reps off my bridge. Now." Wildfire sent to the two Soroin guards near its entrance.
---/\/---
Last edited by G. Janssen on Fri Oct 28, 2022 9:37 pm, edited 6 times in total.
Re: Expedition
More like -300% canon, but at least it's funny. There's the same problem as with the last chapter, though. The formatting is utterly confusing.G. Janssen wrote: ↑Thu Oct 27, 2022 2:37 pmThe chapter below is -as usual- 100 percent canon and 100 percent serious. It also reveals Meow's purpose, which is completely credible and not over the top at all.
My fanfic: A sword that wields itself
-
G. Janssen
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2022 9:46 pm
Re: Expedition
The identity of the person who speaks is mentioned in the paragraph/block/lineCthulhu wrote: ↑Fri Oct 28, 2022 8:06 amMore like -300% canon, but at least it's funny. There's the same problem as with the last chapter, though. The formatting is utterly confusing.G. Janssen wrote: ↑Thu Oct 27, 2022 2:37 pmThe chapter below is -as usual- 100 percent canon and 100 percent serious. It also reveals Meow's purpose, which is completely credible and not over the top at all.
The paragraphs of lengthy statements by a single person have been added together. No more empty lines in between.
When someone else says something, an empty line is inserted.
Sanzai, speech or thought are indicated.
--- means a switch in scene or a fast forward in time. Like in the example below, where Alex, Fireblade and Beryl are sitting in one location, while Greywind is somewhere else and the three dashes are used to switch from the scene with Beryl's group to Greywind.
Example:
"What are these annoying, black, flying things?" Beryl sent.
"Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- di- "two", and πτερόν pteron "wing". Fireblade explained to the group. The space cake she had eaten by accident had made her quite talkative. "Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced mechanosensory organs known as halteres, which act as high-speed sensors of rotational movement and allow dipterans to perform advanced aerobatics.Diptera is a large order containing an estimated 1,000,000 species including horse-flies,[a] crane flies, hoverflies and others, although only about 125,000 species have been described."
"Flies have a mobile head, with a pair of large compound eyes, and mouthparts designed for piercing and sucking (mosquitoes, black flies and robber flies), or for lapping and sucking in the other groups. Their wing arrangement gives them great maneuverability in flight, and claws and pads on their feet enable them to cling to smooth surfaces. Flies undergo complete metamorphosis; the eggs are often laid on the larval food-source and the larvae, which lack true limbs, develop in a protected environment, often inside their food source. Other species like Metopia argyrocephala are ovoviviparous, opportunistically depositing hatched or hatching maggots instead of eggs on carrion, dung, decaying material, or open wounds of mammals. The pupa is a tough capsule from which the adult emerges when ready to do so; flies mostly have short lives as adults."
"Diptera is one of the major insect orders and of considerable ecological and human importance. Flies are important pollinators, second only to the bees and their Hymenopteran relatives. Flies may have been among the evolutionarily earliest pollinators responsible for early plant pollination. Fruit flies are used as model organisms in research, but less benignly, mosquitoes are vectors for malaria, dengue, West Nile fever, yellow fever, encephalitis, and other infectious diseases; and houseflies, commensal with humans all over the world, spread food-borne illnesses. Flies can be annoyances especially in some parts of the world where they can occur in large numbers, buzzing and settling on the skin or eyes to bite or seek fluids. Larger flies such as tsetse flies and screwworms cause significant economic harm to cattle. Blowfly larvae, known as gentles, and other dipteran larvae, known more generally as maggots, are used as fishing bait and as food for carnivorous animals. They are also used in medicine in debridement to clean wounds."
"I like turtles." Alex thought and drank his beer.
--- <- Indicates https://youtube.com/watch?v=0hYZaqYCZyQ
Greywind paid for another bumper car ride at the funfair. She was now the only one who was riding one, as her aggressive driving had scared the other customers away.
End of example.
Using the example above, how would you write it?
Re: Expedition
This helps a lot. But the main issue are these monologues.G. Janssen wrote: ↑Fri Oct 28, 2022 9:11 amThe identity of the person who speaks is mentioned in the paragraph/block/line
The paragraphs of lengthy statements by a single person have been added together. No more empty lines in between.
Why does every part, or even each sentence need to be in its own quotation marks? It looks like dialogue, yet without references who is speaking each line. Usually, such pauses are then filled with small intermissions, therefore visually breaking up a massive wall of text. That's what I would adjust in your example. Add some replies, interjections, information about what the character does, maybe a reference to body language or facial expression, basically something to cut the lengthy monologue into bite-sized pieces.G. Janssen wrote: ↑Thu Oct 27, 2022 2:43 pm...
"War happened." Kasham answered. "It's always the same story. First a species developes the ability to kill individuals. Then it develops the ability to kill populations. After that, it learns how to destroy all life on a planet. Next it ventures out into space and gains the ability to genocide other species. Gaining the ability to destroy entire planets is next. And finally it learns how to blow up suns. We still wonder if species exist that can destroy entire galaxies."
"When a species is removed from existence, it usually happens at stage 3 or 4. The ones who make it past, tend to be mature enough to avoid blowing themselves or others up. The two that once inhabited this system, were an exception to the rule."
"What you're looking at is the result of a war between the species that evolved on the second planet and the one that evolved on the third. They were oh, so proud of how advanced they were, technologically."
"But any warning from their own thinkers who told them that they were in fact utter morons, were ignored or waved away."
"This war happened because of the inflated egos and selfishness of politicians and successful manipulation of the masses. Both sides knew with one hundred percent certainty that they were right and the other side was wrong. They were completely entrenched. Completely brainwashed. Something that took several generations to accomplish. All dialogue stopped. Those who disagreed with the politically approved consensus were ridiculed. Or worse."
"A simple insult is what finally triggered what you see before you. Eighteen billion dead because one politician called another one a fruit tart. No, literally! We have it recorded. We organized school excursions so our children could watch them blow up another planet. We watched the whole thing happen."
...
"Song of Calmth explored the Ha'Sati timeline for the coming century while in hyperspace." Song said. "They saw that none of the outcomes are in our favor because we never reach our destination."
"They had items created and placed aboard Sword during her construction to deal with the different critical events they encountered."
"You see, items need to be brought into existence, because thinking about doing so isn't enough to alter the timelines. The items also had to be kept hidden from all of you."
"Every time one was created, the timelines were explored again. Finally a living device was designed. Its placement aboard Sword yielded succes."
...
My fanfic: A sword that wields itself
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G. Janssen
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Re: Expedition
I see. That helps a lot.
It's hard to correct something if nobody tells you what to correct.
Next chapter won't see many lengthy monologues, but it will contain a lot of scene switches. I'll try to do those in a different way as well.
It's hard to correct something if nobody tells you what to correct.
Next chapter won't see many lengthy monologues, but it will contain a lot of scene switches. I'll try to do those in a different way as well.Re: Expedition
Monologues do have their appeal, and may play an important part in storytelling. At the same time, the massive wall of text might overwhelm the readers. The trick lies in variety, just mix in a dramatic pause, a reaction, or even a raised eyebrow.G. Janssen wrote: ↑Fri Oct 28, 2022 11:47 amI see. That helps a lot.
It's hard to correct something if nobody tells you what to correct.
An example, the villain has captured the hero, and needs to deliver a monologue, no, The Monologue explaining their most nefarious plan. Before this becomes boring, allows the hero to escape too early, or even manages to convince you, the villain pauses, issues some kind of order to his minions with a mere nod, arrogantly smirks at the hero's apparent puzzlement, and then continues. Such a silent intermission should intrigue the readers and renew their interest, allowing them to better handle the second, techobabble-ish part about the death-ray.
My fanfic: A sword that wields itself
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G. Janssen
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2022 9:46 pm
Re: Expedition
Done. I hope. Awaiting your verdict.Cthulhu wrote: ↑Fri Oct 28, 2022 12:27 pmAn example, the villain has captured the hero, and needs to deliver a monologue, no, The Monologue explaining their most nefarious plan. Before this becomes boring, allows the hero to escape too early, or even manages to convince you, the villain pauses, issues some kind of order to his minions with a mere nod, arrogantly smirks at the hero's apparent puzzlement, and then continues. Such a silent intermission should intrigue the readers and renew their interest, allowing them to better handle the second, techobabble-ish part about the death-ray.
Re: Expedition
Can an advanced enough species in this fanfic-verse really detect mind sbecoming part of Timespace? Does that mean advanced races have discovered life after death?
Kasham certainly has a casual, humorous manner of speech for a mysterious alien.
I like the intrigue mixed with humor in this chapter.
Just out of curiousity, did the philosophical conversation on the “Is the Comic Dead?” section partially inspire this chapter?
Kasham certainly has a casual, humorous manner of speech for a mysterious alien.
I like the intrigue mixed with humor in this chapter.
Just out of curiousity, did the philosophical conversation on the “Is the Comic Dead?” section partially inspire this chapter?
Re: Expedition
I'm honored by the trust you placed in me. No idea whether it's justified, but here I go.
1. You should differentiate speech and sanzai. Why not make the latter cursive?
2. The intermissions did make it better. However, the whole exchange with Kasham is still a bit chaotic. Perhaps because everyone's dialogue feels too similar in style? I'd say overly casual, or "salopp" as we say here in Germany. Your equivalent would be "slordig", if I remember it correctly. It's like a sitcom in space. Nothing wrong with that, but you need to work on giving each actor more individuality. Were you perhaps in a hurry? The previous chapters were definitely better in this regard.
3. That Kasham guy was perhaps too much of a sitcom trope, the "visiting neighbor", basically. Paired with a "god explains everything" trope, it is certainly a peculiar combination. Remember Q from Star Trek? It's a somewhat similar role, except that Q also had a mysterious undertone befitting of a powerful elder being. He was still incredibly annoying, though. I hated this character the most.
My fanfic: A sword that wields itself
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raistlin34
- Posts: 270
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Re: Expedition
I feel the same about the exchange with Kashamm. Like watching an episode of Lower Decks.Cthulhu wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 9:11 amI'm honored by the trust you placed in me. No idea whether it's justified, but here I go.
1. You should differentiate speech and sanzai. Why not make the latter cursive?
2. The intermissions did make it better. However, the whole exchange with Kasham is still a bit chaotic. Perhaps because everyone's dialogue feels too similar in style? I'd say overly casual, or "salopp" as we say here in Germany. Your equivalent would be "slordig", if I remember it correctly. It's like a sitcom in space. Nothing wrong with that, but you need to work on giving each actor more individuality. Were you perhaps in a hurry? The previous chapters were definitely better in this regard.
3. That Kasham guy was perhaps too much of a sitcom trope, the "visiting neighbor", basically. Paired with a "god explains everything" trope, it is certainly a peculiar combination. Remember Q from Star Trek? It's a somewhat similar role, except that Q also had a mysterious undertone befitting of a powerful elder being. He was still incredibly annoying, though. I hated this character the most.
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G. Janssen
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2022 9:46 pm
Re: Expedition
Cthulhu wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 9:11 am*curls up in fetal position and begins to suck his thumb*1. You should differentiate speech and sanzai. Why not make the latter cursive?
No. I'm not going to do that anymore. I will indicate sanzai in the text with "he/she sent", but adding a million [ i ] and [ /i ] pairs went out the window after I copied all of my stories to a phone (not from the edit window and thus losing the cursive parts because I'm stupid) edited everything I wrote and reuploaded it.
Too similar in style? I'll give it a look. But not today. Salopp would be "gewoontjes". And I was working at 3 chapters at once.2. The intermissions did make it better. However, the whole exchange with Kasham is still a bit chaotic. Perhaps because everyone's dialogue feels too similar in style? I'd say overly casual, or "salopp" as we say here in Germany. Your equivalent would be "slordig", if I remember it correctly. It's like a sitcom in space. Nothing wrong with that, but you need to work on giving each actor more individuality. Were you perhaps in a hurry? The previous chapters were definitely better in this regard.
Good to hear I got Kasham's personality right.3. That Kasham guy was perhaps too much of a sitcom trope, the "visiting neighbor", basically. Paired with a "god explains everything" trope, it is certainly a peculiar combination. Remember Q from Star Trek? It's a somewhat similar role, except that Q also had a mysterious undertone befitting of a powerful elder being. He was still incredibly annoying, though. I hated this character the most.
These guys are beyond playing Kosh (from Babylon 5) or Q. They've seen all the sights. They've visited all the destinations. They've done all the things. The galaxy has become small to them. Not a prison yet maybe, but certainly a walled suburb. They travel halfway across it like others go to a drive-in to get a Happy Meal. They live to be entertained and surprised. They're not cruel or feel the need to act mysteriously like Oz the Great and Powerful.
When upstarts give him bullshit, he will rebuke it. Diplomacy is, among other things, about understanding the other party, speaking their langue and comprimising. Acting warrior-like around the Maffia will not win the hearts and souls of the maffiosi. The loroi screwed the Tithric situation up and it's something they don't like to hear.
A Bek will also gladly tell you that in XX million years, after your race has passed through its glorious space empire phase, its galactic exploration phase, its dyson sphere building phase, its teaching the less advanced races phase and its god complex phase, all it will want is to escape boredom. What's mysterious about it? It's daily life to them.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if they, in the next fase of their existence, terraform a planet, move to it, collectively induce amnesia and start anew as cave people.
Last edited by G. Janssen on Sat Oct 29, 2022 2:08 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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G. Janssen
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2022 9:46 pm
Re: Expedition
No. But minds that become part with the fabric of reality can observe events in our universe, like in The Dig from LucasArts. Arthur C. Clarke lets them even manipulate events in our universe in 2001: A Space Odyssee.
The comic suggests that there is such a thing. The legend of Tempest mentions the summoning of spirits. I wouldn't be surprised if the legend is real and the spirits were the souls of genocided loroi.Does that mean advanced races have discovered life after death?
It was his weekend. He went for a tour in his ship, saw something, scanned it, was slightly entertained by what he found and decided to have a little chat with the upstarts.Kasham certainly has a casual, humorous manner of speech for a mysterious alien.
The credits for that go to Cthulhu.I like the intrigue mixed with humor in this chapter.
Not really. I just needed an advanced race toJust out of curiousity, did the philosophical conversation on the “Is the Comic Dead?” section partially inspire this chapter?
SpoilerShow
repair Sword after the upcoming Ha'Sati attack.
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G. Janssen
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2022 9:46 pm
Re: Expedition
Look at it this way: the group met a wagie from a hyper advanced, tech level 15 civilization who went for a drive in his car in the weekend to get away from his nagging wife for a few hours and he's going back home because there's going to be a football match on.raistlin34 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 1:07 pmI feel the same about the exchange with Kasham. Like watching an episode of Lower Decks.
Re: Expedition
Well this was entertaining.
What makes it so is your use of the senses to describe things, which fully immerses the reader into the story rather than being partially elsewhere mentally. But you use sight, sound, taste, and touch judiciously... not excessively.
I thoroughly enjoyed the focus on Wildfire as she heard the incoming unknown jump flashes and lowered her head while closing her eyes and slowly shaking it.
I can tell you that those mannerisms indicate extreme frustration and annoyance at the verge of a full on explosion of anger... it's entertaining to 'watch' lol, since reading your story is like watching a scifi TV episode.
Wildfire is no Jean Luc Picard from TNG that is sure... Picard would have been fascinated and said a speech or two pondering existence.
Wildfire is simply highly annoyed at being manipulated by higher beings.. likely her Loroi honor code and 'we are the true Soia and superior beings' warrior culture clashing with the reality of the present.
Namely that Loroi trying to employ and enforce their honor code on other species won't end without bloodshed, and that dishonorable bribes can be better than bloodshed at times.
I guess Umiak would be fans of Machiavelli but the Loroi fans of the Art Of War by Sun Tseng or whatever his name was. Since Loroi seem arguably better at the art of war but the Umiak better at playing politics and manipulation to get their way through whatever means honor be damned.
Even though this is not canon you have Loroi culture and characters well understood so that if it were this could pass for it.
Lastly... here is music I think fits Expedition. As always I enjoy your work and please continue!
What makes it so is your use of the senses to describe things, which fully immerses the reader into the story rather than being partially elsewhere mentally. But you use sight, sound, taste, and touch judiciously... not excessively.
I thoroughly enjoyed the focus on Wildfire as she heard the incoming unknown jump flashes and lowered her head while closing her eyes and slowly shaking it.
I can tell you that those mannerisms indicate extreme frustration and annoyance at the verge of a full on explosion of anger... it's entertaining to 'watch' lol, since reading your story is like watching a scifi TV episode.
Wildfire is no Jean Luc Picard from TNG that is sure... Picard would have been fascinated and said a speech or two pondering existence.
Wildfire is simply highly annoyed at being manipulated by higher beings.. likely her Loroi honor code and 'we are the true Soia and superior beings' warrior culture clashing with the reality of the present.
Namely that Loroi trying to employ and enforce their honor code on other species won't end without bloodshed, and that dishonorable bribes can be better than bloodshed at times.
I guess Umiak would be fans of Machiavelli but the Loroi fans of the Art Of War by Sun Tseng or whatever his name was. Since Loroi seem arguably better at the art of war but the Umiak better at playing politics and manipulation to get their way through whatever means honor be damned.
Even though this is not canon you have Loroi culture and characters well understood so that if it were this could pass for it.
Lastly... here is music I think fits Expedition. As always I enjoy your work and please continue!
Re: Expedition
I guess the Bek are what Soia could have grown up to be had they not fought each other to the annihilation of their empire.
Re: Expedition
Writing on a phone? Well, that's a weird kind of masochism, but okay, whatever floats your boat. Literally.G. Janssen wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 1:17 pm*curls up in fetal position and begins to suck his thumb*
No. I'm not going to do that anymore. I will indicate sanzai in the text with "he/she sent", but adding a million [ i ] and [ /i ] pairs went out the window after I copied all of my stories to a phone (not from the edit window and thus losing the cursive parts because I'm stupid) edited everything I wrote and reuploaded it.
I'm using LibreOffice on my laptop, and then have a BBcode converter plugin replace all italics with the [ i ] [ /i ].
If you have so many characters speak at once, you'd need to make sure, extra sure even, to abide by their personality settings, speech patterns and quirks. Otherwise, it may become too chaotic if they sound too similar to each other. I'm not particularly confident in doing that, actually, so I simply avoid such scenes.G. Janssen wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 1:17 pmToo similar in style? I'll give it a look. But not today. Salopp would be "gewoontjes". And I was working at 3 chapters at once.
Or, you can underline their personalities by adding a reaction befitting of them into the narrative. A serious character will try to understand what is happening there, abstain from casual speech and ask logical questions, while a less serious one might simply go with the flow. You already did that with Jürgen, and the alien rewarding him with a banana was a very good idea. A funny one, too.
It sounds like they are afraid of advancing to the next level of development, so they simply procrastinate. By the way, things like tech levels wouldn't be known "in-universe", that's "meta knowledge", a mechanic from an RP rule book.G. Janssen wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 1:17 pmGood to hear I got Kasham's personality right.
These guys are beyond playing Kosh (from Babylon 5) or Q. They've seen all the sights. They've visited all the destinations. They've done all the things. The galaxy has become small to them. Not a prison yet maybe, but certainly a walled suburb. They travel halfway across it like others go to a drive-in to get a Happy Meal. They live to be entertained and surprised. They're not cruel or feel the need to act mysteriously like Oz the Great and Powerful.
When upstarts give him bullshit, he will rebuke it. Diplomacy is, among other things, about understanding the other party, speaking their langue and comprimising. Acting warrior-like around the Maffia will not win the hearts and souls of the maffiosi. The loroi screwed the Tithric situation up and it's something they don't like to hear.
A Bek will also gladly tell you that in XX million years, after your race has passed through its glorious space empire phase, its galactic exploration phase, its dyson sphere building phase, its teaching the less advanced races phase and its god complex phase, all it will want is to escape boredom. What's mysterious about it? It's daily life to them.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if they, in the next fase of their existence, terraform a planet, move to it, collectively induce amnesia and start anew as cave people.
My fanfic: A sword that wields itself
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G. Janssen
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2022 9:46 pm
Re: Expedition
Cthulhu wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 10:55 amHmm. What tech level would you say that we (real Humanity anno 2022) have and, more importantly, how do you know?By the way, things like tech levels wouldn't be known "in-universe", that's "meta knowledge", a mechanic from an RP rule book.
It can't be from an RP book. Because that's meta knowledge and doesn't exist in our universe...
But it does. And therefore it must exist in the Outsider universe, since that is our universe in 2160.
I can imagine that contact with an alien civilization will trigger a scientific debate to introduce a formal scale. And since the Kardashev scale is outright bonkers, the science community would be looking for something more realistic.
In my version of the Outsider universe, the science community did after first contact with the Orgus and hearing about other species. And because all scientists are nerds and all nerds play role playing games, it didn't take long for the scientists to suggest to use the systems from role playing games as a base. After many debates they settled on one that uses 12 levels.
Meanwhile the Loroi adopted one that uses 16 levels after contact with the Historians, mainly because they use a base 8 numerical system. Song is using that one.
There, I got out of that predicament.
Re: Expedition
By the simple rule of elimination, we have the highest tech level out of all the known civilizations.G. Janssen wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 12:03 pmHmm. What tech level would you say that we (real Humanity anno 2022) have and, more importantly, how do you know?
Well, maybe except for the ones which built the vimanas.
A formal scale is a bit difficult to implement, since no sane civilization would disclose enough information about them for such an assessment to be anywhere exact. A ranking on the Kardashev scale, however, would be plain to see. Anyway, that's just a tiny nitpick on my part, pay it no further heed.G. Janssen wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 12:03 pmI can imagine that contact with an alien civilization will trigger a scientific debate to introduce a formal scale. And since the Kardashev scale is outright bonkers, the science community would be looking for something more realistic.
In my version of the Outsider universe, the science community did after first contact with the Orgus and hearing about other species. And because all scientists are nerds and all nerds play role playing games, it didn't take long for the scientists to suggest to use the systems from role playing games as a base. After many debates they settled on one that uses 12 levels.
Meanwhile the Loroi adopted one that uses 16 levels after contact with the Historians, mainly because they use a base 8 numerical system. Song is using that one.
There, I got out of that predicament.
My fanfic: A sword that wields itself
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raistlin34
- Posts: 270
- Joined: Sun Nov 08, 2015 3:46 pm
Re: Expedition
And said wagie casually drops VERY disturbing intel about the Soia, to the point it could put Loroi entire society and even the Union in jeopardy if the learn about it.G. Janssen wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 2:20 pmLook at it this way: the group met a wagie from a hyper advanced, tech level 15 civilization who went for a drive in his car in the weekend to get away from his nagging wife for a few hours and he's going back home because there's going to be a football match on.raistlin34 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 1:07 pmI feel the same about the exchange with Kasham. Like watching an episode of Lower Decks.