Chapter I, Part III
Part III: For Science!
In June 2203, during the construction of the starbase around the P94-L Singularity, Odelina and her team discovered how to modulate the fields of Vernus Aeterna’s energy production facilities, providing a boost to their economy once a planet-wide upgrade was finished. Next, Hazel had them work on a somewhat controversial project: rudimentary artificial intelligence. Though the Dryadens believed it a mortal sin to play god and create natural or artificial lifeforms themselves, Hazel believed limiting it to animal-level intelligence would be enough to allow it to independently process survey data and create simulations, allowing for a boost to research rates across the board. Despite the assurances of the High Queen, some of Odelina’s researchers were nevertheless uncomfortable with the thought.
Although far smaller and predating the Yuht by some 400 million years, this ancient “sea scorpion” of the genus Eurypterida from Earth gives some idea of what the Yuht may have looked like.
Once news of the Yuht reached Vernus Aeterna, the religious community was sent into an uproar. Both Multiplists and Singularists speculated that these colossal beings (or a single member) could have meticulously designed Vernus Aeterna and its ecology six million years ago. It seemed too convenient that Rozalia and her team could so easily decrypt a totally unknown, ancient language in a system suspiciously close to Soari. The most controversial part was that the Dryadens found the Yuht (or rather reconstructions based on the lone corpse from the facility) far too revolting to have created such beautiful and perfect species as themselves. Surely the Patrons would have been much like the Dryadens they created instead of giant bugs.
Though some movements about the divinity of the Yuht persisted, serious consideration that the Yuht were the ancient Patron(s) of Dryaden religion was dismissed within the year. This decline came about after scientists became confident the ecological anomalies of their world went back millions of years before the time of the Yuht Empire.
Though some movements about the divinity of the Yuht persisted, serious consideration that the Yuht were the ancient Patron(s) of Dryaden religion was dismissed within the year. This decline came about after scientists became confident the ecological anomalies of their world went back millions of years before the time of the Yuht Empire.
An artist’s concept of one of the mining facilities in Khagaton I’s atmosphere, as it may have looked in its prime.
Four months later, she discovered that the crater had been formed 10,000 years ago, when a starship exited hyperspace at maximum velocity near the moon and rammed it for reasons unknown. Whether it was a purposeful attack on an enemy base or a simple engine failure was uncertain, and the fact that most debris had long since melted into metal slag made any attempts at discovering the truth impossible. However, there was much data to be had from residual subspace echoes that still lingered near the moon.
The final major event of 2205 came in November, when Hazel (with Erline’s help) passed the Great Centralization Act, an administrative and bureaucratic reform that allowed the previously federalized Communes to greater cooperate and strenghtened their ties with each other and the High Queen. It was heralded as many as the final unification of Vernus Aeterna and the Dryaden people as a whole. Next, Erline was tasked with improving holographic technology for use in temple rituals, a far less groundbreaking but still significant project. Unfortunately, her need to cooperate with Odelina and an overall lack of source materials meant it would take a while.
