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138717
"I need a moment."
~understood.~ It drifts lazily next to me, sinusoidally bobbing as it does so.
>talk to alien
"Hello? Lastborn of the Warning?"
The creature within does not respond. I tap on the transparent surface. It feels like glass, but warm to the touch.
No reaction.
~the last time my creator spoke is recorded as having happened [converting] 25,000,000 years relative to planetary inertial frame.~
I can't wrap my head around that length of time. "What did they say?"
~the akashic vault records state that the last word my creator spoke was `why', as translated into your language with no loss of semantic or idiomatic meaning.~
"Why? That's it?" Countless galactic years to choose your own last words, your own epitaph, and they chose a word so uselessly open ended.
~not a question. a statement. `why.`~
"Not even a full thought, then?"
~there are two possibilities i can perceive as having unfolded through the passage of time. a cognitive erosion reducing the mind of the creators to complete and total catatonia and cessation of conscious thought due to lack of meaningful stimuli, or perhaps an internal retreat inwards, dreaming of the reality they truly desire the most. i assume the latter is fairly probable, given documentation of the minds of many sapient species inventing stimuli from nothing when deprived of meaningful sensory input. it also is preferable to believe that the creators exist in a state of waking dreams, having been interminably bored with the slow passage of time and seeing all the universe has had to offer repeatedly.~
"So they're just daydreaming forever?"
~it is my theory. i find it hard to accept the degradation of the conscious mind to something no more sophisticated than ocean sponges. it is also something of an ironic twist of fate. when the creators' diaspora was at its height, they feared the concept of virtual reality as a distraction from the problems of life and survival. now, with the problem of life and survival solved, they exist within the oldest form of virtual reality ever to exist.~
I don't understand any of this. I can't accept this outcome as some indicator of how all progress ends. They must have made mistakes. This is ridiculous. This flies in the face of everything I've understood and worked towards. An entire civilisation as short-sighted as my mother. Some ancient precursor species these fools turned out to be.
But... if I had everything I ever wanted, knew every secret that ever existed, had nothing left to strive for, finally perfected every goal and filled every drive I had...
What would be left?
I think, in some part, I understand this warning, but not as it was intended. The answer is not to fear succeeding in my aims. The answer is to not become complacent and to find new goals. Perhaps there was some fault in this species' psychology that prevented them from chasing new goals. Perhaps they lacked some extra understanding or capability to imagine that, say, a salikai would have. Perhaps their society was too homogenous to promote differences in ideas and ideologies to inspire others. For one thing, if their youngest member has an age only measurable on a galactic timescale, they must have suffered stagnation of perspectives to a level I can't begin to fully comprehend.
I may not live long enough to see all my goals fulfilled, but at least I'll have purpose and ever increasing heights to aspire to until the day I die.
>is this a dream
"Am I dreaming this? Did I fall asleep writing my reports?"
~you are awake now.~
>break the sphere open
I smack the sphere as hard as I can manage without hurting myself. Suffice to say, it does not budge. In fact, it feels strangely like my blow was absorbed into nothing.
~what are you attempting to achieve? are you testing the shell's limitations or do you earnestly wish harm on the creature within?~
"More the first. I mean, if smacking the thing inside makes it wake up, that would be good too."
~the eternity shell is not a passive construct. it actively works against harmful influences and attacks. bombs detonate in midair. missiles veer off course. it adapts to any weaponry that can so much as scratch it. this is, undoubtedly, the safest room within the entire planetary inertial frame. the only place safer is within the shell itself.~
I stare through the murk, unable to resolve any more details of the alien inside.
"Well. Are you in a hurry to die?"
~i will complete my function one way or the other, so i suppose there is no time constraint.~
"Wait. What if I just stay here and refuse to leave?"
~the parameters of my mission are such that if you were to perish from standing here and starving to death, my function is complete.~
"That... they considered that a possibility, huh?"
~there were assumptions that, upon learning the safety and security offered by mere proximity to the eternity shell, some of the intended recipients of the message would attempt to live here for the remainder of their days. my function has no duration attached to it. an hour or a millenium are both times so short as to be similarly meaningless now to the creators.~
"Alright. I have some questions, then."
~ask.~
>imperium, kiter, testament
"Has Imperium seen this testament?"
~the parasite is aware of the fate of the creators.~
"What about members of the Kiter Empire?"
~the creators are anathema to their goals, much as the stran would be anathema to the creators during their active period. the stran fear what they have called `contracting an ideological disease'. few things bring them fear but the possibility of stagnation. they would not heed the testament, regardless, as they see all such alien insight as beneath them.~
>eternity shell, facility protection
"Moving on, so your creator's eternity shell protects itself and by extension a facility above this one."
~yes. i am aware of the mirror facility. i am actually not clear myself on why the creators' gate would lead to the construction of a mirror facility. it is not a documented phenomenon.~
"Interesting. Still, the Kiter Empire is going to start stripmining--"
~the facility will be safe.~
"How?"
~it will be safe.~
"No more details?"
~it will be safe.~
"Why are you so certain?"
~it will be safe.~
"I'm... why are you repeating those exact words so specifically?"
~it will be safe.~ The wisp flares up. ~the facility will hold. the facility will hold forever. the creators designed this facility to last forever. it will hold forever. it will be safe.~
"...alright then."
>imperium, parasite
"If you consider Imperium a parasite, can you provide any help to stop it?"
~it infrequently reports to the kiter empire. that is all i am able to share.~
"What? What's stopping you sharing more?"
~that information is not available for me to share.~
"Of course not."
>wisp, projection
"Do you want me to create some means of projecting yourself further than your limited area so you can spread your message further?"
~do you wish me to persist beyond the fulfilment of my function?~
"Well, you have a lot of answers. So yes."
~my function is to appear to those who have understood the technology of our creators to a level of comprehension worth noting, to lead them safely to the testament, and then to return them to where they came from. i am acutely aware that this facility is not where you `came from' and as such it will be trivial for me to... modify the parameters of my mission while remaining compliant and fulfilled. i will linger here until you have need of me again.~
>further things down here
"Well, actually, before I leave to go work on... another project..." I need to maybe think about how many things I've pledged to make for various people at this point. I did the fufa reports for Tirzi, so that leaves the jammer, and going over the nullifier designs with Ekasarra and Ku, and maybe finally getting back to the arti-- to the spacefolder. Hm. I guess working on a means for this mote of light to accompany me further into the facility would help there a considerable amount.
But yes. I'm the first one of the science team above to be down here, so I'm curious.
"Before I leave, you mentioned something about a colony of creatures that I'd pose an `ideological threat' to. What exactly are these creatures?"
~they do not exist within the akashic vault, but they refer to themselves as the `chosen'. they dwell within abandoned chambers on the other side of this chamber. they also appear to worship a salikai within a cyrogenic prison capsule. a primitive, outmoded device that suspends the creature within indefinitely, much like the eternity shell, but in a near death-like dreamless sleep. and without the passive and active defences.~
"A salikai?" The idea of another salikai being here fills me with immediate dread.
~it arrived [converting] roughly two years ago as the cryogenic prison capsule it managed to entomb itself within automatically returned to the closest holding area within range. the spatial vortices appear to have swept up a number of these `chosen' creatures as well. however, while they venerate the salikai frozen within the capsule, i am completely without data or prediction as to how they would react to other salikai.~
Huh.
...Huh. I... hm. Curiosity and self-preservation are tearing me between the decision to investigate further, or to just leave and work on whatever projects.
>how to return
"How do I get back down here again?"
~i will open the doors for you if you wish to return. ask for... hm. i have no name. i am open to your suggestions.~
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