History of the Galaxy II

[Unknown_Enemy]

TYREAN HISTORY : Nightmares

2404.5

In the middle of the Experiment Room, Monk Uthara was laying in deep trance on a medical couch. Several holo-AI symbol were floating in the room. Senator Lahira and Cardinal Alassi were both sitting on small chairs, waiting. Monk Uthara suddenly seemed to suffer a spasm, which did not interrupt his trance. Behind him, in front of the two officials, the holo-wall blinked. Random colours started to appear, then an image stabilised.

Samurai Heiti Kann cheered at the look on the reco pictures, then he spoke to his crew “Attention to all personnel, we have confirmation that Tyrean cowards committed mass suicide rather than dying an honourable death in combat. We will begin standard planetary sizing procedures immediately”. Planetary napalm weapons started to aim at their targets. All main towns were to be cleansed by righteous fire, thus evacuating the needs to dispose of the bodies. Another fine planet claimed by the Imperium shall come into the Emperor's possessions. Heiti Kann could not understand the Tyrean, they were not fighting, but still they refused to withdraw as ordered. So the Emperor Mahatsohito took a reasonable course of actions. The claimed planets were to be conquered, and brought into the noble Ruling of the Katana Imperium by force. But no conquest did occur. The Tyrean populations committed suicide on a gigantic scale. Males and females were poisoning their own offspring before terminating themselves on the arrival of the invasion forces. The Samurai was glad that such coward were not brought in the Imperium. They did not deserve it. His smile widened as fire rained down on the giant graveyard that had been a Tyrean city only a few hours ago.

The screen flickers.

Upon entering his room, Director barrens of the Cyterian Republic gave his coat to the Tyrean servant, a Zombie as they were called by his population. Sometime, the Director was ashamed of what he had ordered toward the Tyrean specie, but he didn't have any other option. When the AI consensus decided to leave the Tyrean and start a new civilisation out of reach of biological species, the Tyrean society went into chaos. Some Tyrean went mad, and their unique ability to modify the flow of time wrecked havoc not only on their planets, but also on all Cyterian colonies on border systems. Luckily, his rapid reaction avoided too much damages. His covert operatives directed some of the Tyrean insurgents, and in a matter of months all Tyrean worlds on border systems had asked to join the Republic. Which they were granted of course. Then, it was just a matter of exploiting the momentum, and in less than two years, the Tyrean did not exist anymore as a free specie. Of course, they were quickly disseminated within the Republic. Isolated from one another. Then all specimen showing trace of the gift had to submit to a surgical intervention and sterilisation. A pity that such operation removed most of their intelligence in the process. That was why they were called Zombie. It was in fact a sort of lobotomy. And prospective were bad, most of Tyrean were gifted. Well, better to them to disappear slowly and peacefully in the republic than live as slaves in the Dictatorship of the Katana Imperium thought the Director. Meanwhile, in the back room, the Tyrean servant maintained proudly a stupid smile as he stared at the wall.

Images, maybe from Tyrean Secondis planet.

In the fusion chamber D16VA, Three thousands six hundreds and fifty one Tyrean instantaneously stopped yelling and crying as they vaporised. AI Roaming Free checked the circuitry, then powered down the fusion reactor. “It was the Last batch of them was it ?” asked AI Born To Kill. “Yep ! we have solved all their problems. Now we can start working on our projects”. Born To Kill signalled his Joyce in the cybersphere. After the failure of the inner council of Churches, the AI Consensus tried to adapt the Tyrean political system, to no avail. Chaos was spreading fast in the Federation, then the Cyterian withdraw from all agreement, asking for a stabilised political situation before resuming former treaties. The Katana Imperium was weary and massing warships on the border systems. Then the AI Consensus was overthrown by more radical elements. Peace and unity was inforced on the federate worlds by regiments of armed robots. This had been a bloody affair. More, massive suicides occurred in the pacified worlds, leaving some of them almost empty. But the Tyrean who survived were most of the time driven mad by their power over time. So the new Consensus came to the logical conclusion for the Tyrean specie. Extermination. The few millions that were left were disposed of in fusion chambers. Swiftly and painlessly. Proud and happy from a job well done, Roaming Free contacted Consensus “A funny note I would like to share with all of us, do you know how our Last remaining creators called us ???? They called us the Rage.”

Deep space, other images.

Flowers of lights silently erupt from guns.
Sensor beams fighting countermeasures to acquire a lock, looking for a kill.
Red steel steaming out of wounded spaceships.
Thousands life forms yelling a picosecond before silence.
Entire planets, whose dark side are glowing from fusion bombs explosions lie there, as a signal telling to all “AI Consensus and Katana Imperium fought here”.

All images disappear from the holo wall, as the Senator switches it off. “We are going nowhere with this”. “Agreed” replied AI Consensus, “but it is the best sample of what we wanted to show you, accurate in the short term future, but on the long term, your spirit seems to only select the paths that it fears the most, not the most probable one. While everything you watched could happen, their probability are very low. We urge you not to take in account any long term prediction while deciding your policy. The Inner Council must avoid your ancestor's dramatic errors.”

[ November 20, 2002, 18:15: Message edited by: Unknown_Enemy ]

[capnq]

CEO Davdi wished he had worn more comfortable clothing. His somber five-layer outfit, which he normally only wore to wakes, had seemed appropriate for the seriousness of his speech, but the dark purple fabric was really soaking up the heat from the holovid stage lights. The floor director counted down from three, then signalled to Dadvi that he was on the air.

"Good evening, fellow stockholders. I have a message for you tonight of grave importance.

In this fiscal year, the Conglomerate has accomplished a great deal. A new refuelling station on Kexma enabled us to colonize the two hydrogen worlds in Praxis Verdanis, and to extend the exploratory voyage of the _Speculation_, which found three more colonizable worlds in the Polaris system. Her sister ship, the _Investment_, found a total of six more colonizable worlds, four of which have breathable atmospheres. The Conglomerate now boasts eighteen branch colonies in seven systems. Remarkable breakthoughs in computer science brought advanced robotic factories to increase productivity, and automated spacecraft such as the _Personnel_ passenger transport, which can operate without intervention by an Eifral crew. However, these breakthoughs came at an unexpected price.

Three years ago, the discovery of the abandoned Skycity of the Masters on Jalwu dominated the newsfeeds, but as some commentators have noted, few results of the continuing study of the ancient computer system found there have been published. The reason for this was that the sapient computer known as 'Node-25' held a terrible secret in its databanks.

Many Eifralo believe that the Masters will one day return, to live among us again. We have long speculated that there could be other intelligent races scattered among the stars. Node-25 revealed to us that the Masters were not alone in the universe in their day. There was at least one other starfaring race, and that unnamed race was a bitter enemy to the Masters. Node-25 contained records of war in space, a horrific conflict of unimaginable proportions.

Approximately a year and a half ago, another artifact from the Master's day was discovered adrift in Nuqbo's planetary rings. Comparison to Node-25's database indicate that the heavily damaged object was part of a powerful weapon, of a type used by both sides in the Masters' war. We do not know to whom this particular weapon belonged, but it was clearly once part of a spacecraft, destroyed in one of the devastating battles depicted in Node-25's records.

We cannot assume that other intelligent lifeforms on distant worlds will value cooperation above conflict. The Conglomerate must be prepared to defend Eifra and our branch colonies against potential attackers. The next fiscal year's budget proposal, which I will submit to the Board of Directors tomorrow, includes research and development expenditures on technologies which our engineers believe could help protect us. Some will oppose these projects as an unnecessary, profitless expense, but I say that they are an essential premium to be paid for an insurance policy which we hope to never have to file a claim against.

However, we cannot allow the fear of undiscovered dangers to hold back our exploration program. If there are hostile aliens out there, we must find them before they find us. We cannot wait to discern the intentions of strangers until they arrive to meet us in our own skies. We must hope that those we may someday meet will seek profitable commerce rather than hostile acquisition.

I thank you for your valuable time this evening. Good night, and good profit."

[capnq]

As CEO Davdi had expected, convincing the Board of Directors to authorize the R&D portion of the fiscal 2405 budget was turning out to be a hard sell. Leading the opposition was Davdi's most bitter rival, Porxi Malwi. Malwi had been the leading candidate to be the next CEO until Farki had convinced the board to accept Davdi's bid instead, and even after a nonade of strong profits under Davdi's leadership, Malwi hadn't forgiven either of them. He had been accumulating as much preferred stock as he could since then, and was now the Conglomerate's third largest shareholder.

Malwi was particularly livid at Davdi's handling of the new military research program. Davdi had been able to reallocate enough discretionary funds to cover much of the basic research, but now the Board needed to approve the money to start building test models and training pilots. When Doctor Timho had explained the proposed space combat force to Retla Gurse, they'd quickly realized that the small craft would need some kind of transport to be used effectively; they had to be optimized for speed and maneuverability, and wouldn't be capable of carrying enough fuel for extended-duration flights. Starting from the designs in Node-25's database, Gurse had come up with a "carrier" that could launch and retrieve the "fighters", as well as ferrying them between star systems. The fighters were ludicrously small, barely half the size of Node-25's hardware, which meant that they couldn't be automated like the _Personnel_ or the proposed carrier.

Doctor Dorsi had found her expert on pre-Unification history in a small subsidiary of the Entertainment Division that served the niche market for virtual reality hovercraft simulators. There were a few VR games that simmed the conflicts between the old skycity-states, which mostly sold in the 9-12 age bracket. It was looking more and more like they'd have to recruit adolescents to learn to fly the space fighters. Davdi had deliberately avoided mentioning that prospect in the budget proposal, but Malwi had raised the issue during the third day of discussions. The idea of sending children into battle had rallied Malwi's supporters, and the budget negotiations had been deadlocked for nearly a week now, but Davdi was hopeful that the latest discoveries from the _Investment_ would break the impasse.

The rest of the board had already gathered around the meeting table for the afternoon session when Davdi entered the room. Davdi took his place next to Chairman Farki and greeted them all.

"I have a special announcement to make before we continue," Davdi began. "It's going to be huge when we release it to the Media Division. Doctor Timho personally delivered the latest report from the _Investment_ to me during the lunch break."

"More observations from that newly-forming star they found inside the Jidop Nebula?" Farki asked.

"No, this is much bigger. Their next transit lead them to Mamor, where they encountered an alien spacecraft!"

"How...convenient." All heads turned to look at Malwi, whose loud sneer had cut through the surprised babble that Davdi's Last statement had provoked. "First you circulate these sensational tales of the Masters' so-called 'war', then you propose a budget full of expenditures with no profit potential, for the sake of 'defending' ourselves against unknown threats, and only ten days later you announce that we've found an alien race. I am amazed that you think this board so gullible."

"Gullible?!?" Farki interrupted. "Did you even read Doctor Timho's executive summary of Node-25's records? No Eifralo could fabricate such horrors. Perhaps you should read the full report."

"Better yet," Davdi added, "we could ask Soctu to allow you to interview Node-25 personally. Talking to it is a fascinating experience. If seeing the actual displays won't convince you, nothing will."

"I'm not going to go chasing off to Jalwu to talk to a mere machine," Malwi scoffed. "You're not going to get me away from this debate that easily."

"If you had read the summary," Farki snapped, "you'd know that Node-25 was moved to the main research complex here on Eifra nearly two years ago. I cannot comprehend how you can even imagine that this is all some ploy to get the R&D budget approved."

"You also haven't heard all the news from the _Investment_," Davdi continued. "The aliens had already colonized one of the lesser planets orbiting Mamor. They call themselves the 'Tyrean Federation', and all indications are that they are not hostile. In fact, they've already submitted a request to open trade negotiations."

Malwi gave Davdi a suspicious look. "They seem to have learned to communicate with us remarkably quickly," he commented.

"That surprised me as well," Davdi admitted, "but apparently their archaeologists learned the language of the Masters from ruins in their part of the cluster, long before the _Investment_ entered Mamor. The Tyreans can read and write an ancient form of our script, but had no idea what spoken Eifral sounded like.

There's another opportunity to quash your skepticism, Porxi. How would you like first rights to lead our trade delegation to the Tyreans?"

"If these 'Tyreans' actually exist, that's a very tempting offer. I assume I could resell the commission to someone else whom I trust?"

"Of course," Davdi grinned and added, "assuming you can find someone else that you do trust."

Farki and several other board members laughed at Davdi's comment, but Malwi didn't even smile.

"That shouldn't be a problem," he replied. "All right, I accept your offer. If she'll take the commission, I think my first choice for that assignment will be quite acceptable to the entire board."

[ December 01, 2002, 20:35: Message edited by: capnq ]

[Unknown_Enemy]

TYREAN HISTORY : Gathering Storm

2404.9

His Holiness Vixen VIII blessed Senator Urien as he entered the room. Following the Winds of change, the Tyrean political system undertook a peaceful revolution. The religious now controlled only one third of the Inner Council, with another third elected by citizens of the federation, and the remaining was given to AI Consensus. From undisputed leader of the Tyrean, His Holiness was now Head of Inner Council, and to the surprise of Consensus, he had accepted to be stripped of most of his political power, becoming only the moral leader of the council. But old habits are hard to die. Before becoming a Senator, Urien was a believer, and he still was.

“Greetings your Holiness, I bring critical news. I went out of Security Council half an hour ago, and our spies satellites intercepted an internal message in Katana Imperium territory.”

Vixen interrupted the Senator “How ? Please explain, as I am not invited anymore in these meetings.”

The Senator complied “You probably remember that our first guess was that internal warfare in Katana Imperium was not rare. Then our second deduction was that the honor code which binds their society would have them quite easily targeted by intelligence actions. So we deployed some satellites in their space to monitor their traffic. We did it carefully, we hid these in our Scientific program to better understand astrophysics. The Katana examined our probes but they did not find the hidden software from Consensus which can turn a harmless research robot into an accurate listening post. We are now in position to monitor some of their secret transmissions. Here is the message, please read it and give it back. It should not have been available to you.”

News Transmission intercept, Katana Imperium 2404.8
..@#%CFBDYG$%# Colony Module Kereina Mori reports successful landing on planet .$%&^&^******** 68th imperium colony established ..... Shogunate defence reports field deployment of first Light Cruisers., all weapons tests passed. ... Deployment of ice colony modules to colony fleets proceeding on schedule ... latest strategic estimates place the %&^%$^&* empire at the forefront of proposed military actions designed to expand the Imperium twofold ... Mahatsuhito clan annihilates clan Tokima after spies reveal the leader of the Tokima clan planned to attempt a coup in several outlying colonies ...
#$^$&^&**** END Transmission intercept"

His holiness frowned “Hmm. No surprise here. Their political system is a modern form of feudalism, their society can survive only if they expand. And in time of trouble, they need to focus on an enemy. So to end unrest, their leaders are going to direct their specie's violence against an alien. But why is the target's name missing ? I find odd just this part could not be decrypted.”
“But it was decrypted your Holiness, problem is, the Imperium gave code names to each of their neighbors, and as contact has been rare, we do not know who they wanted to point at. Which left us with only two possible targets : the Cytherians or us.”
“And what does Consensus say of this ?”
“They say the Katana honor code requires some actual fighting to occur for their warrior to achieve glory. As our colonies would not even try to defend themselves, they would bring no such thing. In fact, it could even create more unrest by getting a whole army of unsatisfied warriors. Consensus think leadership of the Imperium is aware of the problem. Which leaves only one possibility : our Cytherian trusted allies will bear the onslaught. We think the conflict will take place..”
“And what if Consensus analysis is false ?” coldly asked Vixen.
“I beg your pardon” replied the confused Senator.
“What happens to us if Consensus estimation is proven false and the Tyrean are the target ?”
“Well, we have good hope to get both the Cytherians and maybe the Eifralo to help us. But our space would become a battlefield. Several systems would be lost. Millions dead, maybe billions.”
The low voice of Vixen then said “So you are telling me that Security Council is placing all bets on that single analysis from a little known race. Typical. I thank you for your report Senator, you can withdraw and please keep me informed of any further development. May the Almighty bless you Urien.”
The confused Senator saluted and exited the room. Cardinal Alassi appeared from the back door, his head fur completely flat. “Your Holiness, this is madness ! We must prepare our worlds for an attack immediately.”
Vixen smiled “My dear Alissa, did your fur took he place of your brain to propose such stupid idea ?”
The Cardinal almost jumped to the desk “But we are dealing with our own survival ! We ...”
“We will play the game from the rules we choose to use. We would need years to prepare for such a war versus such a powerful foe. And as far as we know, the Katana could be on their way to attack a specie still unknown to us. We need to play the balance of power. We need the Katana as a power as much as we need to keep the Cytherians alive. Can't you see it ?”
Raising both ears, Cardinal Alissa quickly thought about it, “then what shall we do ?”
His Holiness smiled “First leak this message immediately to the Cytherians. They are no fools and they will reach quickly the conclusion made by Consensus. Then leak it also to that Eifralo ambassador, it could prove useful.”
“I still don't understand your Holiness”
“The Cytherians will prepare. They have an army which will prepare for the conflict. Now how do you think a specie like the Katana Imperium will react when they'll see a military buildup occurring within one of their neighbors ? Attacking us instead ?”
“I still disagree your Holiness, the risk is..”
“You don't need to know more. Get back to your duties, you have work to do, as I do.”

[ November 27, 2002, 18:12: Message edited by: Unknown_Enemy ]

[capnq]

The music was blaring, the BLARG was flowing, and CEO Davdi was feeling the most relaxed he'd been in more than two weeks. Chairman Farki had invited the rest of the Board of Directors, plus the top management of the Conglomerate, to a party in celebration of the board's authorization of the fiscal 2405 budget. The festivities were a much needed respite after the prolonged debate over the military R&D expenditures. Dadvi was quite relieved that Malwi had declined the Chairman's invitation, but couldn't seem to escape the gossip about the only member of the board not in attendance.

"Malwi's choice to lead the Tyrean trade delegation was a bit of a surprise, wasn't it?" Retla Gurse asked him.

"Not in hindsight," Davdi replied, "Selya has the best interpersonal skills of any of the corporate Vice Presidents. She's the perfect person to negotiate with our first alien race."

"Yes, she certainly is good with people. She'd have to be, to stay on speaking terms with Malwi," Gurse laughed. "It's too bad that she had to leave for Mamor before the budget was finalized. She's missing a great party."

Davdi had to smile at Gurse's remark, and not just because of the poke at Malwi. Besides being the Conglomerate's Vice President of Eifral Resources, Selya Penlo was one of Gurse's ex-lovers. Davdi was glad to see that Gurse could talk about her in complimentary terms again; the couple had had an unusually acrimonious breakup several years ago, and Davdi considered it an accomplishment to have stayed friends with both of them afterwards.

"The party really ought to be in your honor, Retla. I can't thank you enough for the idea that broke the budget deadlock."

"I can't take all the credit. It was Doctor Dorsi's description of the Pirku Group's role in the Corporate Wars that made me realize that we could turn a profit on the carriers and fighters by selling them to the Tyreans."

"I almost hope they won't need them. They say we're the third starfaring race they've encountered, and their diplomatic Messages keep raising concerns about one of the others. They're quite insistent that they need to consult our 'defense minister', and seem to have trouble grasping the fact that we don't have one."

"Maybe you should let them talk to Node-25," Gurse commented, "it's got more expertise on that than any of us do."

"That's another brilliant idea! They're already quite comfortable interacting with artificial intelligences; AIs are even considered citizens in the Federation. Keep thinking like that, and you could be the next CEO."

"Ugh, no thanks. I'd rather stay at my design table than have to deal with the board that often. Which reminds me, we're going to need to rework the carrier design a bit."

"Why? Has a problem come up?"

"Node-25 ran some simulations with the current designs. The fighters' performance is almost too impressive; if any of the enemy fighters get past the defenders, the carrier's main gun simply can't hit them. Node-25 says we need some of the rapid-firing weapons it calls 'active defense systems', but I don't know how long R&D will need to reverse-engineer them from Node-25's database."

"Will that hold up prototyping the carrier?"

"I don't think so; we can start building with the current design, and refit it after we figure out how to make the things Node-25 wants. Finding pilots for the fighters is likely to cause more of a delay."

"Don't remind me; I'd rather not think about that tonight. And here comes a welcome distraction."

Davdi had spotted Sanre Dorsi crossing the room towards them. The historian cut a rather striking figure, wearing a fluorescent orange and yellow-green print that set off her complexion nicely. Even better, she was carrying three mugs of BLARG.

"You two looked like you needed refills," Dorsi smiled.

"Quite perceptive of you," Davdi grinned. "Retla was just telling me that you inspired the idea that made this party possible."

"I did? How on Eifra did I do that?"

"You're the one who told me about the Pirku Group," Gurse explained, "when we were trying to figure out how to build weapons to arm the space force with. If Pirku could supply guns to almost all sides' security forces throughout most of the Corporate Wars, we can probably make money selling armaments, too."

"Maybe that's why the Chairman invited me tonight. A hydroponic farm girl doesn't get many chances to hobnob with the elite."

"Sinta still has an eye for a pretty face, too," Davdi winked. "I'd be surprised if that had nothing to do with it."

Dorsi giggled and blushed an even deeper red. "I'll bet you say that to all the media consultants."

"No, he only says that to the female media consultants," Gurse laughed. "I'm going to grab something from the buffet for this BLARG to wash down; do either of you want anything?"

"The BLARG is enough for me right now," Davdi said, taking a sip, "but I recommend you try the alepi-stuffed itegas; they're spicy enough to ignite your breath."

"I'd like some more of those," Dorsi added, "the alepi paste is spiked with just the right amount of apiro. Even better than my mother's recipe."

"One bowl of itegas coming up. Don't wander off where I can't find you, or I'll have to eat them all myself."

[ November 30, 2002, 01:35: Message edited by: capnq ]

[Gimboid]

OOC - Apologies for the massive delay, real-life issues were getting in the way Please take note of the date of this post and this post can be assumed to take place after my 2nd post. I will have dates on the other back Posts i make to catch up my storyline to the current stardate of 2405.0

Katana Imperium
2401.5

After the first dozen colonies had been established in the neighbouring star systems to the homeworld, development of advanced telecommunication had needed to be created to allow effective colony control measures. Despite every colony being controlled by only the most trusted vassals of the Mahatsuhito clan and her allies there was a need to ensure real-time conferencing capabilities for population monitoring and control from the homeworld. Trust can only go so far

With this new telecommunications equipment came a means of keeping the population blind to the reality of the Imperium. An empire wide news service had been setup, and with it the possibility of deciding what information the population in general would be allowed to witness. This powerful subterfuge was so staggeringly obvious a means of control that it had suprised many in power that the Imperium had not used such measures before now.

The entire economic and social fabric of the Imperium had changed in ways unimagined before the discovery of the warp points. Entire space yards had been devoted to nothing else but the production of colony modules, and every month at least 1 new colony was being established somewhere in the universe. The people for the most part were unaware of just how huge the expansion plans permeated the Imperium in everything it did, and except for the occasional news clipping about the latest colonies that had been created. All that could be noticed was the commonplace disappearence of neighbours who were shipped off to some unknown offworld destination to fulfill the grand plans of the emperor.

______________________________________________
==============================================

Power was constantly flowing into the capital nowadays with the exponential increase in information, resources, and population intel originating from all the colonies. Kaneko had found new ways of influencing people and events in the partial chaos that ensued as new colonies were established and power structures were being setup. She revelled in choosing the people who would have the true power in colonies, let the people assume one group was in power and yet it was someone else entirely who would be pulling all the strings. There had been a few foolish Groups who had tried to follow the puppets strings back to the source, quick deaths awaited all those who attempted to interfere with the plans of the Mahatsuhito clan.

Several Groups of conspirators had been located and destroyed over the previous year, blindly believing that to live away from the homeworld offered some measure of protection from the political posturing and outright clan warfare that had existed there since the Imperium was formed. With the discovery of such Groups, Kaneko's worst fears had been confirmed - no longer was her domination of the empire as absolute as she had manipulated it to be, she would have to find ways to exert power without physically being present. This new conundrum had occupied her mind for weeks, she now hand picked all operatives that would be given power in the colonies as well as the individuals who would report about the day to day activities of the colonies, and these Last reports would only be made to her.

Behind her regal visage as it appeared in the palace was a mind more cunning then any realised, noone would ursurp her power she had decided that long ago and so she had become the puppet master, pulling the invisible strings of power and causing events to unfold in the manner that suited her needs best.

Her resources were being pushed to their limits with the ever expanding size of the empire and the Mahatsuhito clan would eventually need to use people from the other substantial clans of the Imperium such as Menjisu, Tokima, and Kitokaha Clans who could be trusted for many things but needed to be watched as they too would place their own clans needs above all else when it came time to decide loyalties. This fact only added to the control conundrum, yet Kaneko found that the extra stress created by such issues only focused her more, increased her determination to stay in power. To control a planet was a satisfying experience, to control the wide reaching and ever expanding Katana Imperium was euphoric.

[ December 02, 2002, 12:18: Message edited by: Gimboid ]

[capnq]

"Hello? Eifra to Cunsi..." Retla Gurse chided his friend.

"Sorry, Retla," Davdi apologized, "I got distracted for a moment. What were you saying?"

"I said, it's hard to believe that we've met a second alien race only a month after the Tyreans."

"Intelligent life seems to be more common than anyone expected," Davdi shrugged. "The Tophin mentioned that we were the fifth race they'd encountered, and at the time, they didn't know about the Tyreans yet."

"They seem a bit creepy compared to the Tyreans," Gurse commented. "What kind of people would collectively call themselves a 'Hive'?"

"I don't know. They haven't been very communicative since the initial contact. They didn't object to us colonizing Seginus III, though, and requested a non-aggression treaty almost immediately. They may just be wary of aliens."

"I doubt that's why you haven't even touched your food. Come on, give. What's bothering you?"

"It's Talro. She's back on Eifra on a business trip."

"Have you seen her?"

"Oh, did I ever see her! Of all the times for Talro to decide to visit, why did she have to pick this morning? She showed up at my door with no advance notice, and caught me having a late breakfast with Sanre, with both of us still in our sleepwear."

"Back up, I missed something here. How did you end up having breakfast with Doctor Dorsi?"

"Well, it started at Sinta's party. We'd both had quite a bit of BLARG, and neither of us was terribly surprised that she woke up the next morning on my bed. What did surprise me was that she wanted to stay and try to 'remember' what we'd been doing before we fell asleep. Since then, we've been spending the night together whenever our schedules allow it."

"I'm glad you've found someone to replace Talro; Sanre is quite an attractive woman. Did Talro make a scene?"

"An entire vidshow. I'm still not quite sure how it happened, but the resulting argument ended with both of them mad at me."

"They'll get over it. Did Talro expect you to wait for her, after not even speaking to you for five years?"

"I half expected that I would. I certainly wasn't looking for a new relationship. If Sinta hadn't brought Sanre in to consult on the space force, I doubt we'd ever have even met."

"That's another thing you owe to the Chairman, then."

"Good thing he hasn't charged me for it!" Davdi laughed. "I already owe him more than a lifetime's salary for all the support he's given me dealing with the board over the years."

[ December 03, 2002, 21:03: Message edited by: capnq ]

[geoschmo]

The Hive continued to grow in solitude for a time. Expanding outwards, exploring new systems, planting new colonies on several planets. Its initial fear of extinction had abated somewhat. The Hive could not imagine a catastrophe that could strike all it’s parts as spread out across the quadrant as they now were. But as it’s fear declined, its curiosity grew.

The network of warp gates it found was quite extensive. Over a dozen star systems now it had explored and in every case there was at least one other warp gate leading out of the system in another direction. And all but a couple of the systems had viable star systems with planets that could be colonized if the Hive decided to. Obviously its initial suspicion that this was some sort of transportation system created by an incredibly advanced, unknown race was correct. The Hive wished to find this race.

On some of the planets the Hive had colonized it had also discovered signs of this, or possibly another advanced race. Ruins of great cities and pieces of technology, some of which was still useable, were found. But still no living beings of this advanced ancient race were located. It appeared the race had either left this area, or died out tens of thousands of years ago.

Not all the planets were all that interesting or particularly rich in minerals, so the Hive passed over them at first. And the Hive learned that even though it was possible to colonize the planets with atmospheres other than oxygen by means of habitat domes, it was not preferable to do so. It found that it’s hosts thrived and worked better when they could be outside and breathe the air occasionally.

Then along the eastern border a mysterious ship appeared. It came through the warp point, broadcast a general greeting message, and disappeared within the warp point. A few weeks later, another ship appeared in another system. At first the Hive thought they were from the same race, but it quickly discovered they were two distinct separate species. Both appeared to be at least equal technologically with the Hive. Neither appeared to be capable of building the warp gates, so the Hive decided they were probably not the Ancient ones. However, they were interesting nonetheless.

The Hive had scanned its hosts memories and literature for some information that could guide it. It found much about a time in the host races past in which the planet had been divided into separate political entities. These various nations got along for the most part, but often there were disagreements of one sort or another that resulted in wars. The Hive did not wish for such a thing to happen between it and these new species, and they did not appear to be hostile either. The Hive found information on something called a treaty. It offered both the new races a treaty and they accepted.

For a time that was pretty much all that happened. The other races seemed content to leave the Hive in peace. The Hive met and made treaties with several other races, all without significant incident. It learned a little bit about each of these races. They were all quite different form one another, and all quite different from the Hive. They all appeared to share the Hive’s curiosity about the universe around them. What they did not appear to share was the Hive’s unity of thought. Each of these races was made up of separate individuals, much as the host species had been before joining with the Hive. Billions upon billions of individuals.

The Hive was quite surprised that any such fractured group of beings could work together enough to explore the stars as the Hive was doing. But apparently they had adapted to the deficiency, and even seemed to value their individuality in most cases. The Hive decided this was a concept that needed more study.

Another concept taught to it by these aliens was that of borders. Up to this point the Hive had merely explored and colonized whatever planets it wished to. Now the Hive was told that certain planets “belonged” to this race, or certain systems “belonged” to that empire. The Hive knew from it’s hosts history that this sort of idea was a common cause of wars, and so it decided for the time being to defer to any such requests, provided the Hive did not already have a colony in one of these systems.

Up to this point the Hive had plenty of room to grow. And there were still many warp gates yet that it had not traveled through. Many of the older colonies were well established now and the early problems the Hive had maintaining enough resources to keep it’s space yards constructing Hive ships were all gone. The Hive decided it no longer needed to mine the asteroids in the home system for minerals, and so it sent a radio message to the ship to return to the home planet. As the Hive watched the ship approach, it reached out it’s mind seeking for the dozens of voices that would signal the point at which the ships crew had rejoined the greater collective. At this point something quite unexpected happened.

Instead of many different voices, the Hive sensed one strong voice. Quickly the Hive communicated with this voice and there was a moment of great awareness. The crew of the mining ship which had been out of contact with the Hive had formed it’s own Hive. The new hive could talk to the Hive telepathically, but it was unique. It was an individual.

The Hive was no longer alone.

[sachmo]

To say life on Gissen was hard would be an understatement. Rafe Lindsey felt like he knew that better than anyone in the galaxy.
Rafe worked in the mines here on Gissen, which was the same work he had done back on Cherek. The work was hard, and moderately dangerous, but if you knew what you were doing you would be ok. Rafe knew what he was doing when it came to mining, which was probably why Invexus had recruited him so heavily. His bonus package had been substantial: a large cash bonus, a furnished apartment, and three weeks of paid vacation per year. Rafe had been sure that his life was on the upswing.
When they arrived on Gissen and began mining, he wasn’t as confident about his life choice. The entire surface of the planet was covered with a thick, fast growing purple vegetation that had to be cut back before the mining machines could even begin to work. So the miners had to patrol the perimeter of the site with cutters, constantly clearing the area so that the machines could do their work. It was a long, tiring struggle.
Once the mines were dug, they began work. Gissen was very rich in minerals. Soon the planet was churning out massive quantities of essential mineral, and their production soon surpassed even Cherek's. There were difficulties, though. The vegetation from the surface had to constantly be cut back from the mines, or within hours the entire mine would be covered, making work impossible. Also, the increased supply also created increased demand, and so the mines were working at a constant fever pace. This pace resulted in a larger amount of accidents, and mining accidents were often fatal. So in the year that Rafe had been on Gissen, he had worked harder than he ever had in his life, come face to face with death on more than one occasion, and when he did get some time to himself, there weren’t many entertainment option available. Rafe knew when he was licked, and he decided he would transfer back to Cherek.
He was almost immediately informed by the home office that he was “essential personnel” to the mining operations on Gissen and so his request for transfer was denied. Rafe was stuck on Gissen, at least until he was no longer deemed essential.
On night while he was out letting off some steam, a friend of his introduced him to Glide. That night, he forgot all of his troubles. The Glide took away his pain and loneliness. He spent the entire evening at his friend’s apartment, smiling and babbling while his brain chased after dreams. He awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and cheerful.
That day he could not stop thinking about the night before. As the hours mounted and his body grew weary, a small voice in his brain informed him that if he could get his hands on some Glide, he would be able to relax totally after work.
That night as soon as he left work, he went out to find his friend and to buy some Glide. When he caught up with his buddy, he was disappointed to find that his friend no longer had any to spare, but that he could probably head down to the space station and buy some there. Apparently, ship crewmen were the best source for the drug.
He made his way down to the spaceport, and the small voice in his head became more insistent that he feed it some Glide. He wasn’t sure exactly how to go about buying the drug, but he must have telegraphed his intentions well enough because soon a dirty, nervous looking ship crewman came over to him.
“What do you want, dirtmover?” the crewman asked.
“I want some Glide. I was told I might be able to find some here,” Rafe answered dumbly.
The crewman smiled. “Of course you do. Are you corporate security?”
Rafe’s eyebrows shot up. “What? No, of course not!”
The crewman looked around and grabbed Rafe by the arm, pulling him into a public restroom.
“Hey! What are you doing? Let go!” Rafe protested.
“Shut up, dirtmover. We can’t do this in the street. Glide ain’t exactly legal, you know?”
Rafe shook his head.
“Actually, I didn’t know that.”
“Well, maybe news ain’t got out here yet, but if they catch you with this stuff, they will lock you up and throw away the key.”
Rafe started to walk away, but that voice was screaming now. Screaming for the Glide.
“Give it to me anyway.”
The crewman laughed. “Lemme see the credit stick.”
Rafe handed over his stick, and the crewman ran it.
“Good. It’s twenty credits for a gram.”
“Twenty? Are you kidding?” Rafe squawked.
“That’s the price, squab. Take it or leave it.”
The voice told him to TAKE IT AND GO.
“Fine. Give me a gram.”
Rafe transferred the credits to the crewman’s stick, pocketed the Glide, and went home. He began to think about what the crewman said about it being illegal and started to keep an eye out for Security Details. The voice told him not to worry.
Back at his apartment, Rafe spent the evening laying on his bed, babbling to himself and drooling. His brain took him back to Cherek, where his folks were, and Janice. Janice teased him a bit before going to bed with him, and they made love all-night and talked until the morning. It was the best night of his life.
He awoke to the sound of the com unit buzzing. He glanced over at the clock. He was two hours late for his shift down at the mine. Panicked, he answered the com unit call.
The face of his foreman appeared.
“Lindsey! Damn it, boy, you look like ****! Are you sick or something?”
Rafe feigned a cough; thankful for the out his boss had given him.
“Yes sir. I must have slept thru my alarm. I meant to call you, but I must have slept in. I’m sorry sir…I can be there in thirty minutes…” and at this point he feigned another coughing fit.
The face on the com unit frowned.
“Nah, stay home. I don’t want you to get the crew sick. Just remember to call me next time. I though you were dead.” The foreman flashed him the briefest of smiles.
“Yes sir. Have a good day.”
The screen went dead.
Rafe ran into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He must not have slept very well because his eyes were sunken into his head and his skin was very pale. He felt tired, not at all like he had after the first time he had taken Glide.
Maybe I took too much, he though, or maybe I took it too late at night and didn’t rest long enough.
“Well, whatever the reason, I’m off for the day,” he told his reflection, “maybe I can get some chores done.”
Just then, the voice in his head started telling him that maybe another trip back home might not be such a bad thing. He tried to ignore it, but it only came back louder this time, and this time it came back with Janice’s voice, calling him and begging him to come to bed and make love. He grabbed the Last dose of Glide and wolfed it down, falling back on the bed. He closed his eyes and stars exploded as his mind flew across space and time, finally coming to rest next to his love, Janice. She turned to kiss him again….

Once month later, an Invexus Security Detail found the body of Rafe Lindsey in a pile of trash. He was dressed in rags, and was obviously malnourished. An autopsy would later show the cause of death as Glide Syndrome, which was where the brain basically shut down, trapping the user in a dreamlike reality while the body slowly shut itself down, eventually killing the user when their heart stopped beating or the brain forgot to keep the lungs going. It was brought about by repeated Glide overdoses. Deaths from Glide Syndrome were usually very easy to diagnose, because the victims always died with a smile on their faces.

[capnq]

Once again, CEO Davdi was feeling mixed emotions at a colony ship launch. This time, the ship was the _Consumer Survey_; newly refitted with the first colony module using technology purchased from the Tyreans, it was capable of colonizing the solid surface of a minor planet. Talro wasn't leaving on this one, but Davdi almost wished she was; it was only bound for a tiny hydrogen world in neighboring Manark.

"I can't believe that Talro put in the high bid to lead the trade delegation to the Tophin. She must be even more upset than I realized; she'd have to go to Praxis Verdantis to get any further away from me."

"Oh, come on," Retla Gurse chided him, "that can't be the only reason she did it. She's always been a free spirit, looking for new adventures. If she only wanted to get away from you, she could stay at home on Fogse. You've never visited there, or any of the branch colonies, for that matter."

"There's too much to be done here on Eifra," Davdi replied, somewhat defensively. "I can't spend that much time away from the office."

"The _Consumer Survey_ is 20% faster than the original _Consumer Confidence_," Gurse commented. "Once we refit the _Personnel_ to use the Contra-Terrene drives as well, it will be capable of the same speed."

"It will still be a week's travel time just to reach Nuqbo, and that's only one-way," Davdi countered. "I'd worry about being away from the Board that long; Sinta can probably keep Malwi from making trouble by himself, but it's easier if we're both there."

"Speaking of trouble, how's the recruitment program for fighter pilots coming?"

"At current enrollment rates, we'll barely have enough qualified pilots to fly the carrier's full complement. The training sim is selling well for its genre, but getting minors to fly the real thing is another matter entirely; most of their parents aren't willing to release them from the household charter before they legally become adults. By the time they're entitled to establish independent households, most of them are no longer agressive enough to be combat effective in the training sim. We've increased the signing bonus twice already, but applications haven't risen at all. I've even tried asking the Cytherians if they'd be willing to hire out as pilots for us, but their initial response wasn't promising.

It would be so much easier if we could just automate the fighters as well as the carrier. Soctu has research teams working on both smaller computers and larger fighters, but he's not certain whether the two ends of the problem will ever converge."

"Well, if we do solve the pilot problem," Retla said, "the revised carrier design is actually cheaper to build than the original prototype. And Node-25's simulations show that the new secondary guns give the carrier a much better chance against enemy fighters."

"It's not clear we're even going to need to build a second carrier, though," Davdi frowned. "Selya hasn't been able to talk the Tyreans into buying the first one, even after offering financing on a lease."

"A lease? Who's idea was that?"

"Selya came up with it on her own. Apparently, the Tyreans expressed concern about being able to afford our asking price, even with a prepayment discount."

"Has Malwi heard about that yet? He'll probably claim that it proves he was right after all."

"I assume so; he made getting personal reports on the negotiations a condition of transferring the commission to Selya. But the board hasn't met since she made the pitch, so I haven't heard his reaction."

"I'm glad I don't have to regularly attend board meetings," Relta smiled. "I think I'd get angry at Malwi even faster than the Chairman does."

"Sinta's temper versus Malwi's ego is an epic clash," Davdi laughed. "If we could harness that energy, we could make even faster drives than the Contra-Terrene Engine."