《First Contact》Chapter Nineteen (Dreams)
Advertisement
The gold mantis, small only compared to her massive forebearer, deployed a small cube on the floor in front of her. A rod sprang out of the cube and the assembled beings, still shocked from the psionic assault, cringed back with a multitude of gasps. The rod folded around the disk, creating a small disc which the golden mantid stepped on. It hummed and at the command of her cybernetics, rose into the air. She waited for everyone to calm down, her bladearms folded carefully and her grasping hands holding onto the bottom of them.
Finally the chamber settled down. In the city beyond beings moved back to their Tri-Vids, nervously approaching, afraid to look but curious at the sight of the small gold mantis who held still on the hovering dish. Across the world beings shook free of the psychic shock and approached their Tri-Vid, fearful but curious.
"The Precursor War happened because my forebearers, like the one you saw, and the others, of whom records have been lost, could not contain their appetites and, upon learning that even the universe is finite, went to war over who would eat last," Her voice was pure and clear, and she fluttered her wings and preened as she spoke.
The council had learned its lesson and did not interrupt.
"My species consumed not only meat, but emotions and even thought and memories, uplifted species to bare sentience. Able to feel emotions and form memories but not enough to develop civilized thoughts," She said. She signaled with a rune in Unified Galactic Standard the equivalent of a shrug. "What our opponents ate or did is lost to the epochs long past."
Silence reigned for a long moment as she paused to clean her antenna. A councilman opened his mouth but one of the massive robots made a growling noise like steel gears grinding away their teeth against a whetstone. He shut his mouth quickly, his tendrils curling and his crest deflating in fear.
"For reasons that have been lost, but many have pondered upon, both sides built huge mechanized war machines. As you can see, my people tend to be tiny, outside of our warrior and, well, ruling castes such as Speaker was," she said. She used displays to show a little cartoon version of her wildly running back and forth to escape shoes and feet, wearing a big floppy hat with flowers on it and clutching a purse almost as big as she was, with little cartoon spirals floating up from her cartoon head to signify frustration.
There were a few titters.
"That aside, we built intelligent war machines. We conquered, or thought we did, a digital artificial sentient's natural tendency to seek to protect itself by wiping everyone else out, by some means we no longer understand," She put up a rune for a sigh. "Sadly, our knowledge of our ancient language and reasonings are lost to the hunger of history as Speaker was lost to his own appetites."
She paused there to clean her antenna again and take a sip from a drop of water she lifted up from the disc. A holograph of a rune asking for patience floated in front of her.
Although there were questions, the recent events stilled tongues. Those who still would have talked stared at the robots beside them.
The little gold mantis set down the water drop and straightened back up, signalling with a hologram in front of her that she was going to continue. "As records will show, one such as Speaker can even stop and devour the thoughts of digital sapience, providing they can get within range. A reason for our forgotten enemy to build so large."
Advertisement
She flashed a rune for humor. "You can see, by my size, why there's a possibility my people built so large. We are a tiny people, and some are aware a being can be quite impressed with size when perhaps we should not be," a rune flashed for double entendre as she preened for a moment.
There were some polite chuckles through the chamber. Some of the earthier species and beings laughed out loud at the humor of an insect so tiny making such a joke.
Fear began to be replaced by curiosity.
"Sometime, during that terrible war, where entire planets were wastefully wiped clean, one side's mechanical surrogates realized that the truth that was imparted in them, the reason for the war, also applied to them," The rune flashed for a regretful sigh. "They, also, realized that in a finite universe there was only enough resources for one, and why shouldn't they be the one? Why should they turn it over to biologicals, who have short lifespans and cannot be trusted stewards of those finite resources."
"It was then that first one side's, then the other's, turned upon us, their creators, throwing back our own warcries to one another," The mantid flashed the rune for patience and sipped at a water-drop again before cleaning its grasping hands and flashing the rune for resume. "It went badly for both sides. My ancestors left our, ahem, food species behind and fled, taking a risky gamble. We would have both sides chase us through the scorched wasteland of our war, through the enemy's territory, and then hide while the rebellious servitors destroyed our enemy."
She paused, taking time to clean her bladearms and grasping hands and then her antenna. She flashed the runes for "Please excuse my fatigue, I am discomforted" as she did so.
One of the council flashed a rune for attention. She pointed at it and flashed the rune for assent. The councilbeing stood up.
"Do you need us to go into recess?" The councilbeing asked and sat down.
"Thank you for your kind consideration, but no. It is more than us, whole worlds are watching and eager for the ugly, terrible, horrible truth," The little gold mantid said. She rubbed her wings together and then flashed the rune that she was ready to continue.
On thousands of worlds beings hurried back from the kitchen or nutri-dispenser when family members called out that the little gold mantis was going to continue.
"While the strategy worked, drawing all our mechanical creations after us into our enemy, and beyond, our escape, in the end, did my ancestors little good beyond sheer species survival," The gold mantid said. She made the rune for ironic sadness and the continued. "My species, constrained to a few planets, with only a few space craft, fell to internecine warfare. When the dust settled, only a few scattered planets contained our race. Our space vessels were gone, our advanced technology smashed, just our fore-bearers desperately trying to survive on worlds that were chosen out of desperation."
She flashed holograms of the other mantids at her feet.
"In time, we separated, became slightly different, but the Hive Queens and the Omni-Speakers still ruled over our hives. Each advance, we fell victim to what is called the Fermi Paradox, collapsing again and again. We had our own Fermi Boundary. When one hive split in to two, those two hives would eventually got to war over the limited resources," The gold one paused. The black mantid and the green mantid were signalling holorunes of distress. She waited until they signed runes for continue before speaking again.
Advertisement
"Millions, tens of millions, over a hundred million years passed before we reached space again. Some colonies called out into the void, then were silenced, but we only know that through archeological records. Then, of course, we found our other colonies and went to war, falling to our own Fermi Paradox Boundary of More than One Hive," She said. "Then we discovered signals. Signals meant thought. It was alien thought."
She waited a moment before flashing a rune.
"It was delicious."
All of the mantids flashed holorunes of distress and the gold mantid paused. A holorune representing a questioning speaker flashed and the gold one flashed the "If I am able" rune.
The questioner stood up.
"How are you... um..." she asked. She curled her tendrils in embarrassment and sat down.
"Different?" The small gold asked. The questioner flashed the questioning rune. The little gold one pointed at the big robot. "Thanks to our friends," She said.
There was an inhalation of fear at the thought that little mantid creatures had built those massive mechanical beings.
"No, no, friends," The mantid said, flashing the rune for negation and the rune for reassurance. "That is not a robot. It is a warborg, a human being who has undergone full cybernetic conversion body replacement to amplify their combat abilities. It is driven by a living mind, the mind of a sapient being with morals and ethics, culture and society."
That seemed to relax the gathered body. Tri-Vid cameras moved in and got better angles on the massive "warborgs", some cameras lingering on the belt of 60mm ammunition that gleamed with silent menace.
On the featureless faceplates of the warborgs flashed the Unified Galactic holorune for "I am expressing pleasure at your presence" in calming blue.
Some of the younger viewers laughed.
The little gold mantis gave it a few moments, pausing to take another drink from the droplet and clean her antenna. The other ones flashed that they were calmed again. When she felt the stress in the chamber ease she flashed the rune for attention.
"As I was saying, thanks to our friends, we learned that our ancestors may have been titans striding across the stars smiting our foes and devouring what we pleased, but the great galactic wheel had turned and we were no longer the apex predator," She brushed her antenna and then continued.
"We encountered humans, who approached us eagerly, clamoring they wished to be friends," She signaled the rune for sadness and made a motion at the small cleaner robots who were still cleaning the mess Speaker had made. "Omni-Speakers and the Hive Queens had other plans."
"In cruel betrayal we struck at the humans, and they recoiled," She said. She took another sip of the water droplet as the other flashed runes of embarrassment and sadness. "We thought them instantly beaten. Destroy the Queen you win the war."
She let it pause. Waiting.
"We saw the humans go still, as prey do. We, in our Hive-Queen's arrogance, mistook that reaction for fear, terror, and borderline submission as we assaulted them, linked as one mind, our hunger held together as one, moving each as a perfect cog in the universe's perfect machine. But, we had made a mistake," She paused again. "You see, we had never encountered murderous all consuming overpowering rage.
"Even the Hive-Queens quailed back as the humans exploded. Even the Omni-Speakers screamed in horror as something much worse than the great machines we still dimly remembered came out of every cattle world, every terrible broken and savage world, every shattered ruined city, out of every corner.
"Screaming their war-cry, they overran us, crushed us beneath their armored treads, tore us limb from limb with their armored fists, ripped into us with their very teeth," the others were flashing runes of distress but she powered through, shivering, "Then they found our home planets...
All of the small mantis people were rubbing their wings in distress.
"And destroyed every single Hive-Queen and Omni-Speaker. They used nanites to alter our genome so we would never again produce a Queen and only rarely would we produce a Speaker, scorched away our royal jelly, and loomed over our suddenly disconnected, sundered people, their mailed fists clenched to deliver the final blow.
"They saw our confusion, our panic, our bereavement as we were torn from the hive-mind and even as they screamed their war-cry they suddenly paused," The gold said. "They spared us, embraced us, taught us to live without enslavement."
She flashed for a pause and everyone waited, many staring at the two cyborgs in horror. She waited until the smaller ones flashed that they were composed and ready. She waited for the councilbeings to flash that they were ready. She saw a light for a single question flashing and signaled assent to the questioner.
The gentlebeing stood up, a Shavashan female, her scales dull and her tail thin with age. "If I might ask, gentlebeing..." she bobbed her head in nervousness then looked up. "What was their war-cry? I see it still disturbs you to think of it even though it is centuries past."
All the mantids flickered their dismay icons.
The black one moved forward, extending himself to his full three foot height. "I am Words Spoken We Fear," it announced, lifting it's bladearms up over it's head. "And I shall tell you."
There was a pregnant pause.
Words pointed at the two warborgs with his bladearms. "Speak the Words We Fear!" it cried out in small voice.
The two warborgs took a single step forward, their footsteps shaking the entire room. Their roar lifted to the heavens and more than a few councilbeings felt that it echoed off the stars.
"REMEMBER TERRASOL!"
------------------
MANTID FREE WORLDS MESSAGE
TO: CONFED
now they all know
will you protect us
-------NOTHING FOLLOWS-------
TERRAN CONFEDERACY MESSAGE
TO: MANTID FREE WORLDS
Always. In blood and fire, brothers.
We face the Long Darkness together.
Advertisement
Rise Of The Cosmic_Emperor
There are three realms in the multi verse; The Cosmic, the Mortal and the Nether realm.
8 3063Contact First
2039 - Earth A narrow beam energy signal appeared aimed squarely at earth from the TRAPPIST system. The communication consisted of a layered set of repeating data over several thousand wavelengths. Over the next few months scientists discovered that the lower wavelengths carried an encoded numerical language which could then be used to interpret the more complicated messages carried on the higher wavelengths. After half a year of painstaking work the signal was fully decoded. It described a small satellite launched along a precise trajectory towards the fourth planet of our solar system. Included was a package of advanced research that humanity would need to have ready in order to receive the satellite and decelerate it safely. The alien data provided the kick that humanity needed to turn from petty squabbling and unite to explore the final frontier. Major government and corporate leaders worked together to create the framework for the United Federation of Sol. UFS spaceports went from scaffolding to daily launches in every major city around the globe. Ships floated like dandelion seeds, spreading on solar wind to grow into colonies. 2397 - Mars orbit, Egeria Station The command center was a hive of activity as checks were conducted and systems initialized. Scientists flitted by like mayflies as communicators beeped and holoscreens spat out green tinted readouts. Nervous energy was thick in the air as everyone anticipated the culmination of over three hundred years of work. Massive fusion reactors under the planet's surface thrummed with barely restrained power as energy fed into a gleaming metallic maze criss crossing the planet. Metal fingers reached up, overshadowing the mighty olympus mons and trying to grab the stars. All over the solar system, people quickly turned to look as gigantic energy lances shot from the dusty fourth planet. Two years later. The same people that clapped loudly at the successful activation of project Hermes now wait with baited breath. A silver capsule trailing bright photonic sails is captured by a net of grav beams and guided with care bordering on reverence into the station. Holoscreens across the headquarters project an image of the sleek craft settling in the bay. Data connections are established and the holoscreens blink to white. Slowly an image forms on the screen. Across the headquarters people stare in wonder as a wholly alien face stares back. "Contact established. Welcome to the universe."
8 155Chronicles of Athionia
Betrayed and left for dead. Perfect setup for a revenge saga. Especially when the betrayal is committed by someone who meant everything to you. Scott Degen was no exception. However, instead of taking revenge after the fact, he decided to go back in time and nip the betrayer in the bud. I know, pretty crazy. He did pull it off though. However, things didn’t go according to his plan. Then again, they rarely do. Hrax: “I’ll grant you your wish. You’ll be reincarnated and have a chance to exact revenge. Do you accept?” Scott: “Oh god … thank you! Thank you so much! I accept, you bet I accept.” Hrax: “Perfect. How good is your gaming skills? Played RPGS before?” […Silence…] Scott: “Huh?” Hrax: “Do you prefer a system that’ll grant you new abilities as you grow stronger?” Scott: “Sys…system? Hey…what’s going on?! I didn’t ask for a…” Hrax: “Great, let’s go with that! Brace yourself, Athionia awaits your adventure!” [Epic portal music. Portal opens. Scott starts getting sucked into Portal] Scott: “AthioWHATNOW? HEY! WHERE ARE YOU SENDING ME?! THIS IS NOT WHAT I….” […]
8 153Sadistic Player In A Fantasy Game World
Apathetic, cruel, and terrifyingly sadistic. Gray's world is brought alight when beings of unknown origin summon creatures and structures of terrifying nature to his hometown. "Enjoy that feeling of pain. After all, you're only human." laughed Gray as he watched the goblin tug at the girl's breasts, prompting her to scream in pain. Equipped with a rather unique power, and sadistic nature, Gray's days are bound to be filled with blood goring fun. Join Gray on his bloodlustful rampage, if you dare.
8 155The Dragon & The Demon
Orenda Nochdifache-Firefist has sucessfully overthrown the Empress Xandra and broken the empire to allow the individual colonies to return to self-rule, as well as abolished the chattle slavery that had plagued the land- earning her the title of "Orenda the Reign Ender". The Knights of Order have officially won the war in a bloody revolution, putting an end to the three centuries of warfare under Xandra's leadership. No longer must people live in fear of Xandra's puppet, The Emerald Knight. But now Orenda must face the realities of her dream- the imaginary princess has become queen. And, she has a deadly secret she must keep in the form of a teenage Urillian boy who is not what he seems. Anilla is still on a never ending quest to find her dragon; her people beleive that every memeber of their tribe is born with a soul bonded dragon that exists somewhere in the world- and Orenda's little secret claims to have seen Anilla's soul before. Could he be the key to ending her quest? This work is a direct sequel to The Crimson Mage, and will obviously contain major spoilers for that work, so it might be a better place to start (though I will warn you that the first chapter of that story may be the worst thing I've ever written. Just power through it or encorage me to put up a second draft). It can be found here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21654/the-crimson-mage/chapter/307763/chapter-1
8 95The Special Forces
A war between a kingdom and an empire trying to assimilate it has been causing too many casualties. A general from the kingdom thinks of an idea that will drastically change how war is fought. He plans to make small elite groups designed to cause havoc in the enemy ranks. A few teenagers from a distant town do not realize how important their powers are until they are found. *borrows names and powers from video games like Dota 2 and World of Warcraft*
8 190