Prologue: Unfulfilled evolution

They say Space is cold and desolate place. And they are probably right in their own way. For purely organic beings constantly dependent on oxygen required to utilize both liquid and solid fuels Space must be a very hostile environment. But Universe is infinite and imperfect creatures reliant on inefficient ways of gathering and storing energy are not its only inhabitants. They are only the proof that Evolution took the wrong path. It started ingeniously from creation of nearly perfect organisms able to harness everlasting power of the Stars.


But each subsequent creation of the Evolution was more and more imperfect. So called higher organisms lost ability to drain power directly from its pure form and plunged into crudeness of ineffective chemical transformations limiting both their physical and mental potential. Evolution took the wrong path and someone had to correct it. Someone had to create a perfect being, a being able to harness energy in its pure form, a being that could adapt to any environment, a being that could benefit from eternal nature of the pure energy, and finally a being of unlimited mental potential. Someone had to do it to complete the final task of Evolution.

Part I: Ascension to sentience

But even perfect creatures in their beginnings are led only by the most basic and subliminal instincts. Hasisu was no different. He wasn'€™t even a sentient being yet. Nothing more than a piece of functionally organized matter and energy with only one hard-coded purpose. To reach the closest star at all costs. Cruising from an unknown place through an unknown space to the only thing that mattered.


As the countless billions of photons were hitting skin of the morph, absorbed energy started the process of awakening. Light. Warmth. It were probably his first sensory experiences. Sun. Entity. Cause. His first own association. Happiness. Security. His first feelings. Soon Hasisu started to feel the environment around him. As the countless waves of radiation reached his body, he learned to organize them and conceptualize as entities. He perceived the asteroid field behind him and planets before him. He seen nebulae and distant stars. But he realized that none of these entities were like him. He was awaken, they were sleeping. He was active, they were passive. Suddenly he felt solitude. Was he the only sentient being in the whole Universe?

Part II: Ascension to consciousness

New captain of EL-HiL27 Rhino-class freighter 'Ironside' was an inexperienced pilot trying to find his fortune in Pennsylvania system. After friend'€™s recommendation he decided to visit Ralston Ice Field inside Hallam Nebula in order to acquire some helium for sale. Unfortunately he was completely unprepared for what had happened to him. First, after he entered the nebula, he felt strange headache. Then, he started to have chaotic thoughts of him being not him and being in his but not his body. Suddenly he had a terrifying feeling that someone is watching him. This alarmed him and he decided to turn off mining turrets in order to check the radar readings. He peered through the visor of his cockpit and became transfixed by a fear.


Captain of 'Ironside' panicked. He could not know that he was a first sentient being encountered by a young Nomad in front of him. He could not know that this Nomad was dazzled by the fact of not being alone in the whole Universe. He could not know that this encounter was forming Nomad self-consciousness. He could not know that this Nomad had no hostile intentions and pain was caused unintentionally only by lack of experience. That is why captain of 'Ironside' driven by fear hit the emergency button and entered cruise in order to escape. In matter of seconds distress call was received by a captain of CT-49X Gull-class transport 'Free' who decided to engage the hostile.


Disoriented Nomad did not understand the reason for aggression. He felt insecurity and instinct overcame his curiosity. Scared Nomad fled. However, he learned that these creatures of hidden sentience are thinking differently. That he must cautiously study them in order to understand. And maybe then they won'€™t be hostile to him, and then he will not be alone any more. He really wanted this to happen.

Part III: Understanding human thoughts

Robert Kint was rather a typical criminal. He joined Liberty Rogues in order to earn easy money. He didn'€™t expect much from life. Only to earn enough cash for booze, drugs and hookers. He was just returning from cardamine trip from Omicron Alpha and stopped at Barrier Gate Station in Coronado to repair his ship, refuel its tanks, and get a good drink in decent company of other hard working men like himself. In fact, all that he needed was a listener, someone who would just drink with him and nod occasionally.


-€“ Listen to me, mate, this is the best route from Alpha. -€“ said Kint to his newly acquainted drink buddy with a little inebriated voice -€“ These mining sheep from Taus don'€™t have the balls, Colonials are sitting on their fat asses in forty-four and Kusarians are so busy with Brets that they wouldn€'t even notice a Dragon pissing to their sake... hahahah... not to mention a little transport flown by enterprising gentlemen like ourselves. Am I right?! -€“ Freelancer nodded and Kint started to like the guy. What he didn't like was the way in which other patrons of cantina were staring at him. What Kint didn'€™t know was that they couldn'€™t see his close-tongued friend. He also didn'€™t know the reason of his silence. That he was still learning the structure of human thoughts and was unable to express propositional contents yet.


After his last encounter with hostile human sentients in Pennsylvania Hasisu decided to avoid direct contact in crowded space and study them from safe distance. Eventually, Hasisu found himself in a desolate system with a dense nebula that gave him strange feeling of security usually associated with home. Hasisu had not discovered the reason for this feeling. Instead, he had found a human hive that proved to be an excellent object to study. Barrier Gate Station in Coronado system.

Part IV: Expressing human thoughts

Through observation and experimentation Hasisu learned that human thoughts are propositional in nature. They are limited by concepts of subject, object and action, as well as restrained by simple binary logic. But most of all, they are only inaccurate approximations because of a mediate status and referential function of used notions. Only the most exceptional individuals are capable of objectual thinking. Brilliant engineers, genius scientists, sensitive artists or people with extraordinary imagination are sometimes able to think directly through pure images or sensations. Hasisu understood that his only chance for a successful communication was to find such creatures.


Margaretha Zelle was neither genius scientist nor a sensitive artist. Quite the contrary, she was corrupted Junker hauling human cargo and cardamine between Liberty and Edge Worlds. Hasisu encountered her in Tau 37. He stayed out of scanner range and tried to communicate with her keeping safe distance. However, her mind was closed and her subconsciousness rejected every attempt of external interference turning them into manifestations of desires, like in the case of Robert Kint. Hasisu failed once again.


When Hasisu started to wonder whether communication with those mentally withdrawn beings was even possible, something completely unexpected happened. He was approached. Another sentient being consciously and voluntarily welcomed him. Spirit. The creature referred to him with this strange concept. Concept that betrayed familiarity. Concept that betrayed friendship. Hasisu realized something that he subliminally knew all the time. That there are others like him. Beings of flashing sentience and clear thoughts. He realized that at all costs he must find them. And when he does it, he will be finally back home.

Part V: Awareness of the mindshare

Hasisu traveled through countless systems in search of his kin. Ironically, he did not found what he was looking for in remote Edge Worlds. It was New York where Hasisu for the first time heard a distant song of Slomon K'Hara. He focused his attention and its source came to him intuitively. Hasisu knew exactly where he must go.


In the presence of mature Nomads for the first time Hasisu felt a link to something. Their thoughts were like a flashing lights, distinct and unpolluted by inadequate approximations. He could read them directly without any effort. For the first time he felt that he belonged somewhere. He was finally taken back home.


Proximity of Dur-Shurrikun extended his awareness and ignited the process of absorbing collective thoughts that were not beyond his capacity of comprehension. Hasisu learned his ultimate reason for existence and realised that he was nothing more than a single element of a greater structure beyond his understanding. He had to evolve and gather experience in order to be able to fully play his part. His real learning was about to begin.

Part VI: Self understanding

Rules of evolution are quite simple. Survival of the fittest. Traits that increase survivability and reproduction are essential, while others are just by-products. There is no method in evolution. Just a law of large number and principle of randomness. There is no intentional link between cause and effect. And no purpose. When Hasisu met Virulians he sensed that they were different from all the lightless creatures he encountered before. They were more like him. They were made.


However, their cognitive constitution was limited at best. Virulians were constructed to resemble human beings with all the drawbacks of their nature. Narrow associative heuristics and limited memory capacities constrained by fragile physical vehicles not capable of endorsing benefits of dispersed processing. But the most important difference was that Hasisu was not bound by laws of evolution. He realized that his unique nature of being composed mainly from energy allows him to shape himself according to his will. To advance in any chosen direction in order to achieve perfection. He realized that he can potentially be everything. But you cannot want what you don'€™t know and Hasisu had yet to learn what was worth to be pursued.

Part VII: Understanding hate

Lena Nikolaevskaja was a Zoner. But even Zoners have their own daemons. She feared and hated Nomads. Maybe it was because her relatives were on board of Freeport 7. Or her lover gone missing in Omicron Kappa. Or just she simply hated what she couldn'€™t understand. No wonder that when she saw a young morph in Omega-49 close to Zoner™s' promised land, planet Gran Canaria, she felt adrenaline rush and urge to kill the beast.


Hasisu knew that this was a great opportunity to study two main primal human emotions. To discover their nature and role they were playing in motivating human behavior. When Lena engaged him, Hasisu let her pursue him at close distance, but outside of any effective fire range. When she was giving up the pursuit, Hasisu was following her and provoking by his very proximity. Then Lena usually furiously tried to reengage Hasisu. After a while he learned how to intensify such emotions in her, to drive her crazy and make her mad. After some time Hasisu left mad Zoner alone. There was no reason to torture her anymore. Hasisu learned everything that he could from her. Lena Nikolaevskaja was no longer an interesting subject.

Part VIII: Understanding love

When Hasisu entered Edinburgh system he was intercepted by Gaians. A bunch of radical kiddos fighting and dying for preservation of one planet. He decided to study their motivation for such behavior and sacrifice. He couldn'€™t understand why they would dedicate their lives to pursue something impossible to achieve. Gaia will eventually become barren world due the fluctuations of sun'€™s emissions of thermal energy prior to complete consumption by its expansion. Even before that happens it is certain that numerous cataclysms will occur. Hasisu couldn'€™t understand their motivation. He couldn'€™t understand their love.


It was something different than Nomad'€™s warmth. What Nomads felt was grounded in intellectual unity and immediateness of intercourse. Human love was complete opposition of that emotion. It was random attachment born out of chaos and potentiality. Being a purpose in itself this emotion had no explanation and could be directed at anything. Hasisu learned that unlike hate, which was easy to control and exploit, love and passion were making from human beings dangerous creatures. Hard to be modelled, calculated and predicted. It was probably the only reason why they were able to endanger Nomads. It was probably the most important lesson Hasisu ever learned.