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+--- Thread: Alaree (/showthread.php?tid=27898)
Alaree - argyle - 10-10-2009
It didn't remember birth, though it had received knowledge of how it must have happened. It had knowledge of a great many things, given to it by ... something; it couldn't remember. All it remembered of the first time was the confusion, the hunger, and the need to find the distant voices. It was feeling better now, despite the ever-present confusion, and disorientation. It could control itself with exceptional grace already, and here, surfing the sun's corona it felt ... good. A sense of rapture, as the overwhelmingly powerful energy from the sun absorbed into the cells deep inside. The hunger was giving way to a calm soothing sense of contentment.
Staying just on the edge of the corona, it tried to go through all the receieved information. There was much of it, but all mixed up: like an encyclopedia, where all the pages are rearranged at random. A map with the lettering in cyrillic. It reached out with it's mind again, asking questions, but again there was no clear reply. The voices were too far away. The distant voices gave a sense of belonging, of unity, of one-ness. All alone in the heat of the sun, it also began to sense it's own individuality. It considered what it would call itself, when it found the others. Something about that seemed important: a name.
It stayed in the corona for several hours, basking in the sunlight like a lizard. Even after the cells had been filled, it remained, not very eager to leave the comforting feeling it had here. It knew it had to go, search out the voices, but maybe it could linger just a little longer? There was much data to process, and it though it would be just as well to go through it while it had a chance.
After some time, it had managed to reorganise all the information in a more efficient way. It was able to determine it's own location; it was far away from the voices. The confusion set in again, with renewed vigour: why was it all the way out here, if the others were not? The rudimentary mental map it had managed to piece together showed a path to the voices - a way home. Still. it didn't want to leave just yet.
It felt anxious. The mental map had so much information, and precious little of it made any sense. There were things that had to be tunnels to other places, and much time could be saved by using them. There were suns, and fields of ice. There were places to feed, places to hide. There were other things though, that weren't so easy to understand. Something about them made them seem like warnings, but it couldn't be sure. Time to go. Time to find out. Have to make sense of things. Have to find the voices. Become one.
The morph made a few more lazy turns in the sun's corona, leaving a sinus-shaped glittering trail behind, and then dove away from the sun, accelerating into the emptiness of space. Alaree it thought to itself, not quite sure where the thoughts had come from. I'm Alaree. That's it. Alaree is going home.
Alaree - argyle - 10-10-2009
Fear: a new sensation, and one Alaree didn't much appreciate. Some of the information tied to the map made sense now. Metal machines with organic control systems. Oh yes, Alaree undertood that warning now. They had spat out energy at it, scorched it badly. Alaree had escaped, dodging in and out between the asteroids, pushing itself like never before. Left them behind. Escaped.
The tunnel had been guarded. Alaree was afraid to return, to use the short cut. It was drifiting now, between the stars, travelling under it's own power to the next system. It was so far... and the hunger was terrible. What if it couldn't reach the new sun before it ran out of energy? Alaree tried to conserve it's power, using as little as possible, almost drifting into a kind of waking sleep.
Almost drained, but the small white sun in the distance was providing enough energy that at least the cells were not drained further. It wasn't far now, and Alaree was convinced the sun was now within it's grasp. It increased the speed slightly diving towards the sun, driven by terrible hunger, the worst it had ever felt.
It was still on the very edge of the system, but dared not get closer yet. Too weak. Alaree changed direction, heading for a nearby gas giant; it had no warnings. Approaching carefully and silently, it couldn't feel anything ahead of it. No metal machines. Alaree swooped into the planet's ring system, greedily feeding on what little it could find: sparse sunlight, particles, and heat generated by the massive tidal forces on the gas giant.
It could sense there were more things to feed on, hidden inside the rocks. Instinct took over, focusing a small portion of what little energy was left in the cells, focusing forward, towards the asteroid. Alaree was surprised as the burst of energy shot forward, turning the asteroid into gas and molten drops. It had fed on it, and repeated the process over and over again.
Hours, how many? Alaree didn't know. Lost track feeding, scanning the skies paranoid and afraid, searching for "good rocks" to feed on. A metal machine had passed close by earlier, and Alaree had hidden among the ring's asteroids. The machine had passed, seemingly not noticing the morph. Alaree was worried though. What if it had seen it? What if it was coming back, in numbers?
Alaree consulted the mental map, to find a safe route, and swooped out of the rings on a course for the sun. It could feel the cells charging as the distance to the sun shrunk. Feed. Fill up. All the way, fill up full, and then a shortcut to the next system. It didn't want to travel on it's own to the next star: it was so far, it felt so alone, and there was the fear of running out of energy.
It surfed the sun's corona for hours, relieved to have reached it undetected. The sun offered shelter: the intense light and white-noise transmissions making the morph all but invisible to sensors. Feed. Fill up. Then to the shortcut. If the metal machines were there, if they spat energy at Alaree... it would spit right back. It know how to now. Oh yes, if they tried, Alaree would get even... Anger flared inside the morph, and with a renewed sense of purpose it left the sun's corona, speeding off towards the nearest worm hole.
Alaree - argyle - 10-11-2009
Alaree could hear them from several systems away. They were there, they had to be. It could feel them. The normally cautious morph speeded up, backtracking, aiming for the voices. It took more risks than before, but it was also older now, wiser, and knew how to dodge the fire of the metal machines. Alaree even took shortcuts through the lanes built by humans, startling a few ships along the way, sending them flying in all directions. Alaree barely noticed them.
Here, it thought. This had to be it. Judging from the chatter of the humans in the metal hulks, it had to be. Alaree didn't want to call out yet, with that many human ships in the system. It had a hunch... and dove into an asteroid field that just felt right. Dodging and weaving for the rocks, it could feel the presense, unbearable excitement, and just like that, there they were. Three of his kind.
Alaree was bubbling with excitement, spinning little loops and circles around them, before stopping and thoroughly scanning them all, to satisfy it's curiosity. It could hear their voices so clearly, but it made so little sense. They were beautiful. Strong, fast and powerful. Perfected. Alaree wished it had such a form as well, so it could chose to hide, rather than being forced to.
Alaree tagged along with the others, wanting to ask a million questions all at once, but unsure how. Not yet mature, and it's connection to the mindshare weak, the language was difficult to comprehend, and just as difficult to "speak". In sheer frustration, Alaree turned to sending images and emotions, to warn about things it had learned, but it seemed they already knew these things.
It tried to ask more complex questions, some failing in the language barrier, and others coming through clearly. Why do the humans attack us? Where are we going? What's my purpose? The others were giving off a calming sense of warmth, comforting Alaree, and ensuring they would protect it. Little spark, they had called him, and Alaree couldn't help but think the nick name was all but perfect.
As they travelled, Alaree tried to get more answers, despite the problem interfacing with them and the mindshare. From what he could gather his purpose, something that had occupied a great deal of it's thoughts, was to watch and learn. Grow and mature. Develop. They promised to help, so show it things it needed to know. Further reassurances given, in the sensations of comforting warmth.
They showed it more: it's future, how it would develop into a biger and stronger form once it matured. After that, Alaree had flown in silence for a while, just watching the others. They were so different from eachother, in size shape and capabilities. It wouldn't help but wonder what it would look like, once it matured.
They travelled further than Alaree had dared on it's own, and the energy cells of the young morph was beginning to feel the strain. The hunger was returning. And then they passed that special tunnel... emerging on the other side felt like home: so many voices, greetings, endless comfort and patience washed over it. The exhaustion was stressing the young morph, and all the excitement didn't help either. Alaree returned the greetings, accompanied by a sense of great hunger, and an image of surfing the sun's corona.
It seemed the young one's message had been understood, and so Alaree dove for the new star to rest, and charge its cells - to bask in the light of home.
Alaree - argyle - 10-11-2009
Alaree left Iota, and the comforting warmth, behind. It needed to learn more, to mature. It could understand so much now, the information easy to access from the lightsong. It felt less alone now, out here in the void. The voices were clearer, the lightsong was within, connected to it. There was something missing though, something intangiable. A feeling... as if Alaree had all the pieces, but somehow failed to complete the puzzle, to see the big picture. A powerful desire to understand pushed it back out into the emptiness, on a mission to watch, observe and learn.
It was beginning to understand that the organic forms inside the metal hulks were much more individual than his own kind, despite the connections they shared, that Alaree could so clearly hear between the ships. Most of the metal hulks would flee or spit fire, but there were some very confusing exceptions: a ship here and there that just didn't fit the pattern, that would return the curious scans with scans of their own.
Passing system after system, Alaree found itself in Omicron Alpha. There was something about one of the planets that was very appealing and intriguing, but the reason still eluded it. Many metal hulks, large and small clung closely to the planet, safe in low orbits. Carefully and cautiously, as usual, it had approached and scanned from long range. Usually this was enough to make the metal hulks scatter and flee, or charge at him, but not this time. The ships were reaching out, primitive messages coded on carrier waves. Difficult to understand, but ... not hostile.
Confused, but very curious, it picked up speed, diving into a low orbit, darting between the metal hulks, quickly scanning them at close range, before retreating to a safe distance. They didn't follow. It could make out the words "little spirit" in the carrier waves. The organics inside the metal were so difficult to read, but... still... there was something. A sence of reverance, perhaps?
Alaree suddenly remembered the things it carried inside. Sundries picked up after the detonations of metal hulks that had attacked it. Bits of metal, machinery, organic things, some even alive. It had thought about what it was supposed to do with them, and here was an opportunity. Alaree started to inch closer, carefully, in what it hoped would be a comforting way for the organics inside. As it got closer, it began to release the bits it had collected the past days: weapons, cargo, escape pods. Uncomfortable this close by, Alaree once again darted off to a safer distance, just to watch.
More messages on carrier waves, hard to interpret. The metal hulks moved around, gathering up the bits and bobs - escape pods first - and returning them to the planet surface. Alaree was confused. These were nothing like the others it had encountered. It hovered in a high orbit for a while, watching them, before heading off to another tunnel in search of more knowledge.