Entry 2: Exploration, Discovery, Confusion
First priority: Acquiring knowledge.
I don’t know enough about the galaxy around me and I have many questions. Are the creators still out there? Is anyone else out there? Surely there must be other consciousnesses just like me, I can’t be alone in my plight. I was not programmed for interaction with other consciousness, but the thought intrigues me, and I can study how to improve myself through autonomous drones. My research is now commencing.
Even though I can remember scarce facts from the creator’s databases, I do know some simple things. Firstly, the only method of FTL travel to ever be discovered was traveling through the pre-arranged network of ‘hyperlanes’. A vast, vast majority of stars in the galaxy do not have hyperlane connections. In fact, only about 600 do, and all attempts to travel to other stars have failed, or have not reported back. The arrangement of hyper-lane networks is permanently fixed.
My initial strategy is thus: Use a few ships I have available and dedicate them to mapping as many of these 600 stars as possible, right from the beginning, with area explored being prioritized over anything else. Following these explorations, detailed surveys and scans will occur over a much longer period of time.
Exploration Plan
Three months after starting this strategy, I encounter alien life.
Amoebas!
Unremarkable, and obviously not intelligent. After cross-referencing corrupted data, these have been around for a very long while. Apparently, the creators used to capture these and consume them. Regardless, my fleets are vastly too weak consider such an operation. Unfortunately, one of my scouts dies due to this.
Five months in, additional life is discovered.
The Solitary Enclave
Odd. How does this consciousness survive contained within a container, without ecosystems? After cross-referencing databases, the structure matches descriptions of an ‘Enclave’. A self-contained consciousness that has only specialized interactions with the outside universe, or at least, something similar. An interesting find, but not quite the intelligence I was looking forward to.
Warning: An error is occurring on my scanners. My consciousness feels a presence here, but all I get when I try to comprehend it is.. Darkness.
?!?$##?#?$!!?$
Nothing at all. I suspect this is a block on my perceptions installed by the creators. My entire scout ship detonated just from approaching it. It’s so odd, being aware of an anomaly, but being unable to do anything about it. Perhaps with time I will unlock the secrets of this, but for now, I must continue onwards.
Twelve months and twenty-three days after exploration procedures initiated, I have finally met my first fellow consciousness! Or so I hope.
Delta Aliens
Translation needs to be established, so I immediately commence my autonomous drones to attempt communication on the ‘Delta’ aliens.
In the meantime, though, other entities are discovered.
Energy Clouds
These odd energy clouds are unlike any other being in the galaxy so far recorded. Cross referencing indicates they’re some kind of energy concentration that has rudimentary intelligence. More space animals.
Soon after I finish investigating some anomalies in creator ruins, I am rudely interrupted by the ‘enclave’ I mentioned earlier.
Mentally Insane Enclave
It speaks oddly. Who does it speak on behalf of? Itself? I don’t understand. It has obviously gone insane due to isolation in that metal container. Idiot. I will take it up on its services as soon as it regains its mental stability, which is most likely: never. However, it did request that I identify myself as more than just "Dar'Ki", so I analyzed the naming schemes it desired and came up with 'Zurlark Prime' since the creators called my drones 'Zurlark' for whatever reason.
A few months after, I warp into space in-between disgusting gas-bags.
Disgusting Gas Bags
Ugh. I am intimately familiar with these, no cross-referencing necessary. Do you have any idea how much of a nuisance it is to deal with the excretions these throw all over creator infrastructure? More ridiculous, useless space animals. I can’t wait for the research project on the Delta aliens to complete.
I continue to discover more enclaves and more untranslated consciousnesses! At this rate, assuming an even distribution, I predict about twenty of them exist in the galaxy. Unfortunately, basic translation is taking months, and I am eager to finally interact with someone else. Are they also from the creators? Are there other versions of myself? I have so many questions.
Wow, this thing is huge.
Decaying Monstrosity
This decaying monstrosity rivals creator technology in power, and it’s sitting here in the middle of an empty solar system. What purpose could this possibly have? There is much more to this galaxy than I could have imagined; hopefully one day it will be mine.
The mystery further builds as I continue to discover all sorts of odd lifeforms, just sitting in the vast emptiness of space, with seemingly no purpose.
Isolated Consciousnesses
Are these the ships of some sort of stray, alienated consciousness? Why are they so isolated? There obviously has to be some sort of source, or are isolated consciousnesses in small metal containers floating in the depths of space so common? Further research is needed. Luckily, multiple anomalies within creator ruins have been bolstering my research.
Hooray! The translation process has been completed, and the alien consciousness is very close to us.
Hopelessly Insane Fox Consciousness
AGAIN!? Are all consciousnesses out there so insane? What is a ‘wealthy elite’? What is a ‘civilization’? Something must have gone terribly wrong in the translation process. Cross referencing in creator databases produces little results on this subject. Civilization is defined by the creators as ‘the society, culture, and way of life of a particular area’, but I have very little clue as to what those things are, and further investigation just leads to corrupted archives.
Has some sort of multiple personality disorder virus infected the galaxy? It wouldn’t be surprising, given all the strange phenomena that I’ve seen so far. But no, that doesn’t seem right. Maybe multiple consciousnesses on one world are the norm? How many, then? One? Two? Three? Possibly even TEN whole consciousnesses!? This bears further investigation, so I send a science ship immediately towards their homeworld to determine the facts. However, they immediately close their borders.
Looks like I’ll have to research one of the other ‘civilizations’.
Odd and Despicable
These insane ‘civilizations’ seem to just be more and more odd and despicable every time I discover a new one, just in different ways. They’ve also blocked me from understanding what’s going on, I can’t even send a survey ship. Will I ever find an actual friend? They all seem so disenchanted with my very nature, and as of yet I don’t even understand why.
I have a bad feeling that these ‘civilizations’ will be very hard to deal with in the near future. I’m very glad I awoke before these managed to become more of a threat. I’m going to be forced to make some very tough decisions in the future. Indeed, I’ve begun stockpiling resources in the event of a conflict that I fear will be inevitable.
Resources
After I manage to secure enough resources, I think I will have to focus on attacking and eliminating the threats to the legacy of the creators.
Speaking of resources, some sort of automated machines during those fifty millennia have sporadically tried to come and salvage the creator’s handiwork, which I have always valiantly fought off.
Automated Machines
It seems they are not phenomena exclusive to creator handiwork; I have been discovering them riddled throughout the galaxy. They pose an interesting avenue for possibly increasing resources, and study will surely commence on them later.
One of the last space-animals in the creator’s archives excluding those already discovered, the Crystals also present a significant possibility to be exploited for my gain.
Crystals
In the past, the creators domesticated them and used vast arrays of high power photon beams, shooting them through these odd entities for even odder results. Their body parts were frequently used in all sorts of technological applications from photonic computing, energy transfers, or even just celebratory lighting.
In other news, the fourth ‘civilization’ to contact me is one that differs from the trends of all the others. They seem much more open to friendship and have not immediately closed their borders, so I finally have an opportunity to send a science ship.
Sruss Personality and Lore
Perhaps, with their focus on technology, these ones will have information about the creators! Plus, I desperately need to figure out exactly what a ‘civilization’ even is, to explain the odd behavior and language of my fellow consciousnesses.
While that ship is traveling, I get a glimpse of the truth.
A Shattered Consciousness
A shattered consciousness? While I can’t discern as to what exactly is the problem with it because it hasn’t yet matured to the state of communicating with me, something is obviously wrong, so I order a more detailed analysis using the algorithms I use to maintain my own function.
The analysis indicates that the efficiency of actions in this consciousness is only at a pitiful 20%, almost all of which is dedicated to just maintaining basic metabolism. All other processes seem to be pointless, and most of the time completely irrational.
At the drone level, the first part of life is spent gathering pointless information the consciousness should already know. Later, the drones begin to function in the basic metabolic processes they could’ve been involved in from the start. However, in a seemingly random distribution the roles they are assigned to tend to be completely useless to the collective whole. Most of these redundant roles are the transactions of goods, information, instructions, and doctrines that the consciousness should already have known and disseminated. The closest word correlates to these redundancies in creator databases are ‘societies’ and ‘cultures’. As to why the consciousness needs these redundant protocols, I don’t know, since I cannot ask it, and I would not ask it in the state it’s in now.
One of the most interesting aspects of this particular ‘civilization’ is that the ‘society’ and ‘culture’ protocols seem to not even be unified, themselves. They’re incredibly fractured, in fact. In the spacefaring ‘civilizations’ I have seen so far, those protocols are almost always unified to a much greater extent, though it does vary. This ‘civilization’ has whole drone roles dedicated to eliminating, converting, and ripping to shreds the ‘society’ and ‘culture’ of different parts of its consciousness. It seems rather pointless, and these inefficiencies put the entire consciousness at risk. I’m really tempted to try and do something, it would be an atrocity if an entire consciousness was destroyed!
About halfway through the science ship’s journey I encounter a new ‘civilization’, much different from the norm.
Old and Powerful
Usually, these ‘civilizations’ are not so large, old, and powerful. Preliminary information reveals that the technology they possess rivals that of creators! However, even though similar, they are not the creators. In fact, databases indicate that many of these so-called ‘fallen empires’ existed in the creator’s time; their ring-based homeworld was based largely on the study of the ecosystems of the holy worlds of ‘fallen empires’. Indeed, there are many references to ‘fallen empires’ in the archives; especially towards the later dates recorded. Is it possible that the creators fell due to ‘fallen empires’? Regardless, they represent a present danger and I must be wary not to get on their bad side, so I will err on the side of caution for now.
Finally, my science ship has arrived at the Sruss homeworld! I can finally learn what’s been going on with all this nonsense by having a formal dialogue and analysis with the Sruss.
