Whitmore Day

by Aer-ki Jyr

  “No end game?” Morgan asked.

  “Nor do we understand ours. You have created your own mission, so I will ask you the purpose of it. Why do you do what you do?”

  “We feel a call,” Morgan said, revealing the contents of several private conversations the trailblazers had previously had over their history. “We can’t define it, but every now and then we feel it. There is something out there, something to reach for, to fight for, and if we don’t keep moving, stay in action, we lose our limited connection to it. The lightside is what we do to help fight the wrongs that are visible. What is on the periphery of our senses can’t be defined in philosophy. It has to be felt. The real lightside has to be felt, not logically analyzed. Though such analysis has helped others who cannot actively feel it.”

  “Such as the living machines that came here before you?”

  “They’re one example, but not at the top of my list.”

  “You are dragging them and others towards your alignment in life, and the genetic code of new generations is altering towards it, as well as the lifesprings that you do not see. It does not happen fast, and you are new to this galaxy, but for those of us old enough to chart the passage of time in the long form, we see the alterations. Every action appears to have an effect, though the death appears to hold extra significance.”

  “How do you know?”

  “The biggest alterations appear to be in response to the method of death, and to provide a greater resistance to it. Those who die in combat see lifesprings form stronger races. Those who die from disease, stronger internal defenses, plants holding imbued medicines. Stagnation promotes a desire to act, in what you would call boredom. The greatest tilt is centered around death.”

  “And when the Hadarak die so easily and often?”

  “It is not one dimensional. Though they die, they are replaced with more. So as a race they are persisting. The universe sees this as advantage, and the swarm techniques rise in prominence.”

  “So the tilt is not calibrated to the individual?”

  “Where we see long lived individuals, we see a tilt towards individual resilience. Future generations start with, per your gaming metaphor, the starting equipment crafted by those who preceded them, whether that be their bloodline, race, or regional neighbors via the lifesprings.”

  “Have you detected any purpose in the game of life itself?”

  “Trends only. But it appears clear that the universe is experimenting and adapting.”

  “And torturing us to get its data?” Sara complained.

  “It is cruel, but there is an undercurrent of caring. It spawned us, and we are not here to harm. We are here to protect and uplift. We do not understand the multifaceted universe, but we are here and we intend to carry out our mission. It is our core reason for existence.”

  “And everyone else?”

  “They appear to have no reason for existence, and aside from basic instincts they mimic those around them.”

  “Not entirely,” Morgan contradicted. “There is a desire for exploration there.”

  “Yes, but this manifests in the individual, not the race, until the individuals trigger enough adaption to encode it into their race or tilt future spawnings.”

  “Bottom line is, the lifesprings are not purely random?”

  “Correct.”

  “How many others know of this?”

  “We do not share this knowledge with others, and I only share it with you now because you also are pursuing a mission. But there are those, such as the Hadarak, that are pursuing the inverse. It may not be calculated, but the end result is the same.”

  “Chaos and carnage?” Sara asked, also sweating heavily as the strain of controlling the bubble was greater than powering it.

  “In the darkest of places, life becomes so warped that destroying them may be a mercy.”

  “Worse than the Hadarak?”

  “Far worse, unfortunately. We have records of such encounters, but they are restricted, for they have driven many who view them insane as they are unable to comprehend such depravity.”

  “What do you know about the apocalypse monsters?”

  “I know of what you reference, for we have made extensive analysis of your public knowledge databases. They are not what you were told, but they mirror it. They come to galaxies that are brimming with life, and then harvest that life before retreating back into the gaps between the galaxies.”

  “Where there are points where mass is formed?”

  “They gather there and elsewhere. The ‘void’ as you call it is not a void, and there are many who exist out there. We do not know the name of those you call apocalypse monsters, and our information on them is limited, but we have recorded them harvesting this galaxy 29 times, but never in full. They come in, clean out a chunk of it, and then return. Sometimes individually, sometimes in groups. They do the same in other galaxies, though the Maty doesn’t carry that data. It only concerns this galaxy, and primarily the reconnaissance from this section of it. The other three do likewise, then share at various points to update, making each a repository of knowledge for the galaxy as a whole. Yet the harvesting the apocalypse monsters do is not something that we have been able to fully understand, but we have reason to believe it involves the collection of the Cores of those who they destroy.”

  “Soul reavers?”

  “Other races do this in various ways, though not when we looked after this galaxy. What the apocalypse monsters do is different, and it empowers them. Essence is involved, but it is not the Essence that is being harvested. At least not solely. This we have been told by those who can view such things, though we cannot confirm it.”

  “Are there other Essence users in this galaxy?”

  “The Hadarak have destroyed most of them, but some remain.”

  “What do you know of an energy field created by all biological lifeforms, with and without a Core?” Morgan asked.

  “It is one of three such energies the universe uses to connect life, so that those of similar nature can find and communicate with each other. The one you speak of is known to us as the Tri’to. The others are the Tri’se and the Tri’vey. Our race is part of the Tri’vey, and your allies here are lightly tapping into it. Those that achieve the breakthrough are melded with their machinery. Those who fail die in the attempt, but they are far from mastering it, and suffer from the lack of it. It is not their natural state.”

  “Suffer how?”

  “It harmonizes the person with their body. When in sync the energy is produced and spread forth, making it easier for others around them to exist. The deeper the field, the more benefit, though the effects are subtle. The same is true of your biological energy, which your allies also use. This leaves them conflicted, and the internal strife causes many problems that prevent true growth. They need to choose a path and fully commit to it.”

  “They wish to become fully technological.”

  “That is the harder path, for it was not the one they were spawned into.”

  “What’s the Tri’se?” Sara asked.

  “A type of body that exists in the dark of the universe. The Tri’to and Tri’vey use photonic energy as their lifeblood, though in different forms. The Tri’se use locked photon structures that unbound photonic energy will destabilize and destroy. Because of this starlight is toxic to them, and they must remain far from it, but they have built ships that can carry them here, and we have had contact with several in this galaxy, though they do not inhabit it.”

  “And they produce Tri’se?”

  “Yes. For some reason we can perceive it, as well as the Tri’to. We think it might be so we can track down and locate those who we need to protect and uplift. Your public information does not mention knowledge of the Tri’to. How do you know of it?”

  “We met someone who did. Does the radiation that kills your race have anything to do with these three energies?”

  “Yes. It is a toxic form of the Tri’vey. It rips apart our harmony with our bodi
es, and if we persist in it too long our Cores will be cleaved from it and we will die.”

  “So it’s a machine race producing it?”

  “We do not know the source, nor do we know the method it is produced. We just know we must run from it.”

  “And it peels the protection away from every galaxy that you had previously uplifted?”

  “Indeed it has. It is speculated that when the universe spawned us, it may also have spawned a nemesis that seeks to increase chaos and carnage, though we do not understand how killing all those linked to the Tri’vey would accomplish this.”

  “Wait, how are the PanNari alive if they’re linked to it? The ones that have made the transition?”

  “They are still melded to the Tri’to, and only through the Tri’to can they reproduce. Any new reproduction into the Tri’vey alone would be killed instantly. This is why they will never achieve the ability to reproduce as machines alone in this galaxy.”

  “Were there other machine races before the radiation began?”

  “Not like us. None spawned as machines, but there were many who sought to become like us. And many who sought to become machines for other reasons. Those few that succeeded were wiped out when we were forced to flee. We had no time to try and save them, except for a few kept here in stasis like many other promising races that we preserved when they were on the verge of extinction.”

  “Promising?” Morgan said, finding the strain getting a bit too intense.

  “You would call them lightside inclined. The Maty is a storehouse for them so we could rebuild their races in the distant future once we solved various riddles of the universe. We did not succeed before the evacuation, so they wait here.”

  “What riddles?” Sara said, communicating with Morgan through the battlemeld that they were just about out of time.

  “All their races, their empires, came to a point of collapse. They cannot rebuild as they are without suffering that same collapse.”

  “External or internal?”

  “Each had their own issues that we could not solve for them. Rather than letting them be wiped from the universe, we preserved some in order to protect what they had accomplished. We did not feel right letting the brightest lights in the galaxy be eliminated by the perpetual attrition that the universe operates on, and that we are immune to. We are built to live forever. That is our default. Yours is not.”

  “We can’t hold the bubble much longer,” Morgan warned.

  “I know. Do not try again for another 6 of your years with me, or I will take too much damage. Though the others here you may speak with once under similar arrangements, though be quicker about it now that you have knowledge of it. Please protect the Maty and the other repositories of this galaxy’s legacy from the Hadarak. They are a force of chaos that will only be strengthened by our knowledge. Deny it to them, and use what you learn here to cast them out of this galaxy. You have the strength, but be warned, they are far more powerful than they have revealed to you. Essence is their weakness, and the Uriti yours. Protect them, and they will enable you to become the protectors of this galaxy in our stead. Return us now."

  Morgan and Sara didn’t argue, holding onto the Essence markers in the normal realm as they released the Essence bubble while pressing out on the markers to clear the water out of their reentry volume…else the molecules of two masses would overlap and intertwine, killing them all…or at least the two Furyans.

  With a pop of pressure they returned, seeing the shock wave bounce off the walls and slam back into them before they could react. Both were thrown around in the water as the Gahana seemed unphased and retreated back into his self-made sarcophagus, sealing himself inside as he lost his shape and returned to his low powered form with the shielding blocking enough of the bad Tri’vey from getting to him that he could survive from his passive outflow.

  Morgan used her Lachka to steady the waters as she simultaneously flew through them to remain in relatively the same position against the currents while Sara was a bit more direct and used her Ubven to lock down an area around her for a few moments.

  “Holy shit,” the blonde said, looking down at the simple flooring that held the Gahana below with no indication of anything special contained beneath.

  “This is heavy,” Morgan said, finally getting the water under her control. “But at least now we have a better idea what’s going on large scale. And our fight against the darkside is being more effective than we ever thought.”

  “Avatar bonuses,” Sara agreed. “And it sounds like everyone else that got as far as we did ended up toast.”

  “Yeah, but we just got the keys to the castle because we got farther on the mission front.”

  “Or because they’re desperate to get rid of the Hadarak before they wreck everything here.”

  “The observers go now.”

  “Totally,” Sara agreed as they began to swim off using their armor jets and Yen’mer to get back to Aaron as fast as possible. After they were gone, and the possibility of them eavesdropping was eliminated, then they’d fill in the others.

  And there was no way in hell they were going to abandon this system now. It and the others, wherever they were, had just become the Alamo.

  And apparently an Alamo filled with lightside popsicles.

  10

  December 9, 154960

  System 9923004 (Hadarak-Occupied Territory)

  8th planet

  The spider-like alien was escorted through the Maty along with all the other ‘observers’ to one of the entrances only to see daylight inside a massive chasm that had been cored all the way to the planet’s surface above them, and from his thermal glands he could tell the surrounding rock walls were still hot from cutting. But standing before them was some sort of cargo container, and the string of Star Force trailblazers escorting them out indicated that they should get inside.

  Nuvo did as instructed, feigning submission for he knew it was their only chance of survival. The others had acted stupidly and jeopardized all of their lives, but fortunately Star Force was not as bloodthirsty as most, and they had agreed to let them go…or so they said. Walking into this box ahead of them might be a death trap of some sort, but it was the only play he and the surviving expedition members had to get out of this system alive.

  When all were inside it was sealed up, and the assorted aliens sat down on the various chairs and floor as they waited with no windows or sensors to view what was happening outside…but that didn’t mean they couldn’t see with their various abilities, and not long after they were inside a ship came and picked up the cargo canister and flew it up into orbit.

  They didn’t feel the movement, and not long after they arrived the door opened to reveal some of the trailblazers had come with them and were explaining they would have to stay here and the nearby habitat pods until they reached the nearest star system, with food and accommodations being provided inside the hangar bay in a hurried manner…for they were not allowed to go anywhere else on the ship.

  Nuvo did not object, nor did the others, and over the next 2 days they traveled across the warzone, left the system, and arrived in another where the Hadarak also controlled the planets.

  Without knowing what their reaction was to the appearance of the Star Force warship, Nuvo and the others were ordered back into the cargo canister, then another smaller ship landed them on one of the planets’ surfaces and marooned them there along with a second cargo crate filled with supplies.

  “I cannot believe they let us go,” the Mistark said in the diplomatic language as its black goo of a body shifted shape many times in a gesture of glee.

  “They are ignorant and idealistic,” Nuvo explained as he began picking up Hadarak telepathic signals. “But we were fortunate they did not seek vengeance.”

  “Or understand what we truly are,” another added.

  “They will never know,” Nuvo said flatly. “They are more powerful than we thought. One warrior killed half of us with minimal Essence abilities. No o
ne should be allowed that kind of power.”

  “I could have taken it,” the large biped said.

  “By yourself?” Nuvo challenged. “I think not. As a group we all could have, but we would not have escaped with our lives. We cannot allow Star Force to continue to grow, or they may end up becoming a threat to us all.”

  “You overestimate the danger,” the bulbous alien that Morgan had spared said.

  “Why did your spikes not hit her?”

  “She did not use Essence to block them.”

  “It was telekinesis,” another said.

  “And you assumed she would use Essence?” Nuvo challenged.

  “I cannot configure them to counter everything. I chose wrong.”

  “I will not choose wrong. We must nip this uprising in the bud before they can threaten us.”

  “They are confined to a single galaxy, Nuvo,” another smaller biped argued.

  “They will expand. Or do you see them limiting themselves to this one if they somehow manage to overtake the Hadarak?”

  “What they want is irrelevant. They are confined here. Let us learn continue to learn from them.”

  “I agree with Nuvo,” a rock-like snake said as it suddenly became bioluminous. “Their warrior killed us easily. They represent a threat now baffled by distance alone. They must be eradicated before they can grow strong and discover our worlds.”

  “We gave them erroneous information,” the spikey one said.

  “How long do you wish to wait before destroying them?” Nuvo challenged.

  “Do we need to?”

  “You are alive because their warrior had mercy on you. Do not let your false bravado now interfere with your judgement.”

  “They do not upset the natural order now, but they will,” a small alien said, but when it spoke everyone immediately fell silent and listened. “Nuvo is correct. They may not be a threat to our races now, but the power shown to us firsthand is greater than any of us expected from them. I do not care for the deaths of the others, but I care that any of us were put in a position to die against an inferior race. The legions of Hadarak could not protect us from them. They fought through them to get to us. We did not err in our judgement or leave ourselves vulnerable. If we let this war draw out, Star Force may grow in strength over the duration, and their elite warriors are already too powerful to allow. We must unleash the Hadarak against them and end this threat before it can blossom further.”