NationStates Jolt Archive

Blackness.

Light.

Alien concepts to alien minds, fixed upon an alien goal, driven by alien intent.

It was a bright, clear day on earth, when the Monoliths first came. Like a crimson blade thrown by the goddess Kali, they came burning down through the atmosphere, crashing through hundreds of kilogrammes of atmosphere. Yet the Monoliths did not burn. They showed no signs of heat whatsoever. It was only the speed of their movement through the air that caused the particles of atmosphere themselves to become plasma.

Each Monolith was two kilometres of perfect translucent incarnadine crystal, shaped into a perfect rectangular slab, perfectly measured and perfectly created, a pure thought in an infinitely rational mind. Their movement through the scanning systems was unnoticed, despite their size, and they landed far from human habitation. With a crash and a roar each Monolith smashed into the ground, perfectly perpendicular. They should have created massive craters, thrown up mountains of dust and rock. But no. Like gigantic sequoia trees, the Monoliths seemed to be spit up from the ground, grown upon the earth, as if they had always been there, and would be there to the end of time.

There, in twenty five different locations around the world, each Monolith stood. And waited. For the day.

*bump*

Ahem?

http://homepage.mac.com/joebergeron/webpageimages/2001.jpg

Reflection.

Reflection of self?

Was that the purpose of the Monolith?

After all, upon its shiny red surface, one could seem to see not only their face reflected, but the faces of the ones who lived before. And yet it reflected nothing more than the onlooker. The Monolith was a reflection, reflecting a phantasm of a figment of a shadow. It was all and nothing. And it waited, there, upon the earth, for someone to peer.

Disappearances began to occur, strange, unexplainable vanishings. A cow would suddenly vaporise somewhere in some farm, and reappear the next day at the same time, without anyone noticing save the farmer. Then the trees began to lose their leaves. It was a slow process, happening over seven settings and risings of the sun, but surely enough, every tree in the forest next to the first Monolith had its leaves turn brown, curl, and blow away as if burnt. Soon the Monolith, once surrounded by a sea of green life, found itself standing alone in a solemn graveyard of black poles.

The Monolith in the Sahara desert did not grow hot. Rather, it seemed to absorb all heat that it could, voraciously devouring the waste energy like some gigantic filter-feeding animal, creating a one-hundred kilometre sphere of bitter cold...

Current Known Landing sites:

The Mongolian Plateau
The Outset Islands
North Menelmacar
The South Pacific
The North Atlantic
The Russian Steppe
The American Midwest
The South American Amazon
The African Sahara
The African Serengeti
The Australian Outback
The Mediterranean Ocean
The Indian Ocean
Antarctica
The Arctic Sea
Easter Island
The North Pacific
The South Atlantic
The Mekong Delta
Within 100km of the Qa'baa stone in Mecca
Mt. Sinai
Within 100km of Stonehenge
Within 100km of Jerusalem
Between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers
The Nile River Delta
The Andes Mountains
Tibet

There is little joy in the life of a soldier, much less in that of a Mallbertan. Elation has been largely bred out of their emotional pallets, and generally speaking, ecstasy is only found in the seratonin bombardment delivered by one's superiors after a job well done.

However, a smile, intense and tight, played across the lips of Scout-123MR as her ultralight sped across the plateau, wings nearly clipping rocky abutments and the warped skeletons of trees. Truly, there was nothing like flight. Despite the vague sense of dread she felt whenever she left the arcology tunnels, these brief excurisions left her flushed and excited, though she struggled to hide it. It would not do if a Commisar discovered this predeliction; she liked her mind just fine, and would certainly not enjoy having it rebuilt.

As she skimmed over the dusty plains, she frowned, focusing intently at a strange shape in the distance, stunning both for its geometrical perfection and the light which seemed to shimmer through and around it. Climbing slightly, she changed her heading, reporting back to base:

123MR - from NE6536 to NW9599 - stop

Her intercom crackled back at her.

Acknowledge

Vocalization was uncommon for her, but though transmission could not occur outside the arcology enviroment. This thought made her shudder: she did not like being without the comforting prescence of her fellows.

As she approached this strange object she gasped, stunned at the massiveness of it's size. It was mindnumbingly gigantic. For one used to tunnels and darkness, a shimmering monolith of this size was purely terrifying.

Quickly snapping a few shots with a shoulder mounted imager, 123MR swooped downwards and away, returning to the shelter of her beloved caverns, sobbing in terror of what she had seen.

The Megalith on the Mongolian plateau detected a tiny thing, a flying machine of sorts, flit towards it and flit away. It was artificial. The Megalith knew this, for on this planet, the predominant life-form was organic. The Megalith waited as the flitting little craft buzzed towards it like a tiny insect, waited as it hovered, taking photographs, and waited as it flew away.

The Megalith was patient. It could wait.

Alex-090 was doing her scouting for rebels after the nightmare that had befallen Phalanix only 3 days ago. She saw a strange shif tin the tree lining. It was all burnt. She quickly radioed this in and removed the safty on her rifle and started to walk forward

Something approached the Monolith, not seeing it - not yet. It was small, one of the many billions of two-legged tool-using apes that swarmed over this world. The dense forest of blackened poles seemed to conceal the little ape's pitifully limited vision from the Monolith.

The Monolith made no movement, did nothing, but stand imposing, two kilometres of crimson crystal reaching imperiously into the sky, waiting.

"Damn what the hell did this. Lets see what the thermals say," Alex says as she switches to her thermal visor in her armor and activated the active cammo just incase

The gravship TGS-000053 (The Deliah) hummed its way far above the peaks of the highest North Atlantic waves, no visible light shone from the brick like object, there were no windows, just dull metal, black, grey, brown, quite dull, but pitted with little ruts and dotted protuberances, none of which could be made out clearly by the moonlight.
Inside though radar detected something that should simply not be, the sub co-ordinator wasn't equipped to deny facts though, and simply reported that there was an object four times the length of the gravship sticking straight up through the Atlantic Ocean. Shortly an order came through the ether, direct from the primary co-ordinator that the craft should remain with the object and cease its patrol.
Oddly similar in the darkness the two oblongs, one vertical and upright, the other smaller, horizontal and slowly circling the first, waited. One for further orders, the other no one on earth knew.

Emperor Sterling Vortex arrived under Escort of a carrier fleet at the North Pacific Monolith. He had arrived to investigate the unworldly occurence personally. He was reknown for this kind of foolhardy bravery, but he was determined that if anyone was to meet the creatures from beyond.. if any came with this.. thing, it should be him. For only he alone could he trust with such responsibility upon behalf of his own Empire..

The ships sailed within 10 miles of the Monolith, then the Emperor and a crew of lightly armed soldiers were put aboart a light transport craft and they rode up to the side of the Monolith.

Within thirty feet, the boat came to a still in the water. The Emperor stood and addressed the odd object, "I know not if you might understand my language, but welcome to Earth. If you are sentience with the capability to understand my communiations, please acknowledge. As he stood staring into the side of the Monolith, he saw in the reflection the face of his dead Father.. and for a momment, was visibly shaken as it grinned at him.. then waved. EDSN news crews were at a distance.. watching the rather unique scene with avid enthusiasm and broadcasting it around the world. They loved this Emperor, like his father, he loved to give a good show for the media.

Emperor Sterling Vortex,
The Empire of Draconic States Website (http://www.freewebs.com/vortex79/index.htm)
(A puppetless Region, Certified by Scolo der Game Mod)
EODS DEFCON LEVEL: 1 (Viciously Angry at ANSWA).
National Anthem: Roll Tide - Nightwish
http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/dragonisia.jpg

OOC: upon rereading the topics I'm just going for it.

The Tallcottian Marine Corps Sea Knight made a slow, lazy circle around the object. It stood there on the hilltop overlooking the coast, far from any major cities or towns, unmoving. Curious locals, having seen it smash into the earth as they drove by or worked in their farm fields, had approached it before the government was informed, and they had come as close as they dared before stopping a few feet from it - stopping because for some reason coming any closer seemed like a bad idea...

Almost as if it was warning them that it was a bad idea.

And so a crowd gathered about twenty feet away, watching it intently, whispering wild speculations amongst themselves, curious yet at the same time fearful.

The Sea Kight settled down about fifty yards away and disgorged its cargo of Marines before spooling up again and flying back to its base. The lightly-armed Marines approached it with caution, ordering the onlookers away, and stuck stakes in the ground about fifty feet away from the object's 4 corners. They strung yellow caution tape around it, which was all they could scrounge up at the moment. It was a rather pitiful exercise as the thing towered at least a mile straight up into the sky.

The platoon leader, a 22 year-old second lieutenant, slung his rifle and approached it, reaching one bare hand out towards the absolutely smooth black surface. His hand hovered there, just inches above it, before he pulled it back quickly with a sharp and sudden inhalation. He took several steps back and regarded the thing as if it had bit him.

Heads turned as a Bell 206 touched down and several suit-wearing types jumped out and tucked their heads down into their necks as civillians typically do when around a helicopter. They stopped about ten feet from it and the lieutenant went over to them.

"I'm Doctor Griswold," said one of them, going on to relate his credentials, which mattered little to the Marine. "What's been happening?"

"Well, we've roped it off and pushed the crowd back, but other than that, nothing. It's just sitting here...and it looks like a slab of marble, but..." he trailed off.

"But what?" one of the other suits demanded.

"It's alive...it's thinking...I can just feel it."

The suits looked at each other, then at the shiny face of the object, then back at each other. The Marine could see himself standing there and wondered if the thing, whatever it was, could see him as well.

"Clear this hilltop," the lead suit ordered, waving a hand towards the crowd of civillians. "Get them out of here and seal this place up tight."

The Marine called in the request for more troops and went about shooing the onlookers away, unsure of just what the hell was going on.

The Monolith was approached by another group, this time of rectangular machines that buzzed about it, with little human-things within, bombarding it with radar energy. It waited for them as well.

Excellent.

They were discovering it all over the world.

Soon would be the time when the Great Plan would come to fruition, each piece falling into its place, neatly and perfectly, like a great Cosmic jigsaw puzzle.

The Monolith did nothing. It was nothing, save for a massive block of crimson crystal, emitting nothing, absorbing nothing save for heat when it was required to. The Monolith stood, its two kilometres height, upright in the ocean as it was scanned by the little grav-ships - no more than flies to its collossal size.

Around the base of the monolith, sprawling amongst the ridges and crevasses of it's very feet, a small city of pre-fab structures and half built laboratories spreads outward in concentric circles from the towering enigma, basking in the flickering crimson glow. Scafolding had been erected, scaling the sides upwards to neauseating heights; but still far short of reach its pinnacle.

The encampment crawled with Mallbertan labourers and scientists, all moving at deliberate yet furious paces like cogs in a well oiled machine.
Selack the Philosopher, master of Science, was extremely interested in this inexplicable apparition, and his attention was focused for the first time in decades, and this attention should in the rapid progress of his drones.

But all was not going as well as he'd hoped. Initial attempts to retrieve samples had been futile- the monolith seemed totally impervious to core samplers, drills and the like. No reading could make sense of it's chemical compostion, nor of it's refractive qualties.

Despite this, Selack was confident he would get results, one way or another. He always did.

Alex spoted the giant object "Holy shit. I'm gettin a premotion for this if I make it back." She quickly radio's in her location and a small description of the object

DREAM TWO: DARKNESS

"And God said, 'Let there be light'; And there was Light..."

-- The Book of Genesis

The Monolith could feel the reaction boiling up around it. The experiment was going perfectly according to plan, and there was no question about it - these were the creatures. Outwardly the Monoliths' surfaces remained placid and unchanging, but inwards, the reaction was drawn out, its path plotted through trees of probability, and the Monolith made the next movement.

Simultaneously, on every corner of the planet, there came a massive radio signal, screamed forth from the massive throats of every Monolith on earth. They waited a moment. Then the answer came, from beyond the orbit of Europa, a massive radio pulse, even more tremendously powerful than the collective roar of the Monoliths of Earth. It passed through the space traffic unheeded, clogging every communications satellite with a second of unbroken sound. The earth's talkers and cell-phoners winced with the burst, and then it fell silent.

The answer had come.

The Monoliths began to absorb heat faster. Trace elements in the atmosphere began to gently, ever-so-slowly, drift in an undetectable spiral towards every Monolith. Magnetic disturbances from the 2-kilometre things began to spiral outwards, causing breezes and sucking winds around them.

The North Atlantic monolith had now become the focal point for about a dozen Tholarian gravships, each one experimenting with different concentrations of energy. Some shone bright lights on it, some investigated any reaction to microwaves, some experimented with gamma-rays, all to very little avail. Meanwhile the waves around the monolith behaved strangely, little gusts and flurries of wind passed through the little fleet, not enough to disturb the slabs of metal, but nevertheless strange.
Over the horizon another craft appeared, smaller and more aerodynamic than the hulking craft of war, it quickly sped closer then landed on top of one of the ships, in a part relatively clear of guns and other projections. A door opened in the belly and a short ramp extended, a figure walked out, strange in appearance and in manner, it was some sort of machine enhanced human and it moved in a way that made it seem like its mind was always a second or two behind where its body was. It was the prototype avatar of the primary co-ordinator.
Carefully avoiding all the weapon emplacents it made its way to the front of the ship, seeming to know every inch of the surface before it got there, once or twice a gust of wind disturbed it, but it managed to balance without the usual delays. Once it got within a few metres of what could be a prow, but if so a very flat one, it stopped and below it the gravship started to move forwards, slowly heading right to the very edge of the monolith. Once it was only a metre or so away the other ships had finished their investigations, and the avatar looked into the mass of red crystal...

The Emperor was not pleased by what he percieved as a potentially hostile reaction. He returned to the safety of the carrier fleet. The carrier fleet, based on the readings of the science craft with the fleet, would edge slowly farther away based upon the percieved threat level of the monolith's magnetic and such forces.

The Monolith felt its surface being probed by minute flecks of energy, all attempts failing at returning any and all readings. As the tiny craft moved up to it and disgorged a tinier human being with machinery laced through his body. The grav-ship brought the tiny creature closer.

What was this?

The little human was within a metre of the Monolith, nearly close enough to touch it, and it looked.

And the Monolith showed.

Slowly there could be detected a minute vibration in the entire monolith. It began to vibrate faster and faster, steadily moving up the Hertz scale. Soon the sound was in audible decibel range, and as it vibrated faster and faster, the sound came higher and higher, until it had passed far beyond the range of what a human being could hear.

And all stopped.

The choppy seas and gusting winds ceased for a moment, the clouds opening up to show a single column in the cloud layer, like the eye of a hurricane at the centre of which stood the Monolith and the grav-craft, invulnerable and impermeable.

In another place, the Monolith was being approached by another small human creature - an armed female.

The Monolith gave out thermal readings, or rather, took them in. It was distinctly colder than the surrounding air, yet it seemed as if the surrounding air were somehow being affected by it, the heat being drawn in, or sucked in. The Monolith itself, though, was like a hole in space - it simply seemed to absorb all but red light. As the human neared the Monolith, walking cautiously through the dead, stripped stand of black pines, the Monolith began to vibrate, emitting a deep rumbling vibration that soon moved into audible range...

Not one, but two of the vast stones had fallen within Menelmacari domains (the south Atlantic and American Midwest ones, as well). Naturally, this got the Elves' attention. Fleets were sent; three fleets currently had little to do, and thus three fleets were dispatched, one to each great stone. One extended about a kilometer out of the water in Menelmacar's southern seas, the other over a mile above the tops of the verdant mallorn forests of the Elvish wilderness, the third sat, looking very out of place in the middle of a cornfield in Iowa.

Why fleets, you ask? Well, Menelmacar has always placed some pretty high importance on science. And three, really big, massive artifacts such as these... falling from the heavens yet leaving no crater... well. This was a find.

It was only a couple hours after the monoliths'... arrival... that a fleet hung like a cloud around each of the trio of monoliths, ships ranging from 150 m to 1.35 km in length, and the occasional phalanx of Thoron fighters on patrol. The Prefecture of Science would be very interested...

http://www.weirdozone.0catch.com/projects/nationstates/sirithil/sirithilnosfeanor.gifLady Sirithil nos Fëanor
Elentári of the Eternal Noldorin Empire of Menelmacar
"If it is to be war between us, it shall be war to the knife and the knife to the hilt."
~Foreign Minister Duke Paolio, The Outlands
We Love the Iraqi Information Minister (http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com)
Clicky-clicky!

Esmerelda, Portent, Shterpa, and Mordiar are in The Emerald Heights; thus, I am left in command. Please direct all problems of concern to the whole of The Outset Islands and Her Tribes to me.

Watchman had said that one month ago, when Queen Esmerelda and her closest advisors left The Outset Islands for the first time in centuries. The chain of command was traced down to him, and the burden of leading Her Tribes fell upon him for the first time in history. He expected no problems.

And now, as four anxious Il Adib in a state of combined terror and outrage lead the great white cat up Het Amid's grand cliffs, Watchman wishes he had never been granted such a burden.

"UP AHEAD!" The first Il Adib. Big ears... not yet fully grown.

"BLACK! SHINY! SCARY!" The second. Scraggly-haired female. Esmerelda's idea... no more reproduction after expiration. No more life through death.

"REAL BIG! GONNA KILL!" The third. Dirty, big-lipped... freshly created genitals flopping out from under the loincloth.

"ALL DIE!" The fourth... so like the third.

Great Goddess, how I hate the Lesser Tribe...

It rises over the wall of the great cliffs as Watchman nears the top... and his glow turns from a frustrated marroon to an awestruck pale shade of pink. Ironically, it is just as they had described. Huge. Black. Shiny. Scary.

GONNA KILL! GONNA KILL!

Watchman dares not touch the (structure? device? vehicle? sculpture? building? creature?) as he approaches it. He only steps a few feet from its flawless surface, looking it over from all sides, staring deep into the tainted black reflection that stares back at him.

Il Adib shrink from the monolith in terror as Watchman performs the unfortunate duties of leadership.

Alex fell backwards in shock for a moment then started scanning again waiting for the Warthog. "Damn it where are you?!?!" Alex shouts into her com when suddenly a Warthog flys over her head and does a 180 and swearves aroud to meet Alex.

((Only One person in Phalanix drives like that))

Esmerelda, Portent, Shterpa, and Mordiar are in The Emerald Heights; thus, I am left in command. Please direct all problems of concern to the whole of The Outset Islands and Her Tribes to me.

Watchman had said that one month ago, when Queen Esmerelda and her closest advisors left The Outset Islands for the first time in centuries. The chain of command was traced down to him, and the burden of leading Her Tribes fell upon him for the first time in history. He expected no problems.

And now, as four anxious Il Adib in a state of combined terror and outrage lead the great white cat up Het Amid's grand cliffs, Watchman wishes he had never been granted such a burden.

"UP AHEAD!" The first Il Adib. Big ears... not yet fully grown.

"BLACK! SHINY! SCARY!" The second. Scraggly-haired female. Esmerelda's idea... no more reproduction after expiration. No more life through death.

"REAL BIG! GONNA KILL!" The third. Dirty, big-lipped... freshly created genitals flopping out from under the loincloth.

"ALL DIE!" The fourth... so like the third.

Great Goddess, how I hate the Lesser Tribe...

It rises over the wall of the great cliffs as Watchman nears the top... and his glow turns from a frustrated marroon to an awestruck pale shade of pink. Ironically, it is just as they had described. Huge. Black. Shiny. Scary.

GONNA KILL! GONNA KILL!

Watchman dares not touch the (structure? device? vehicle? sculpture? building? creature?) as he approaches it. He only steps a few feet from its flawless surface, looking it over from all sides, staring deep into the tainted black reflection that stares back at him.

Il Adib shrink from the monolith in terror as Watchman performs the unfortunate duties of leadership.

( actually it's red, not black )

The monolith did not do a thing, as the tiny animal performed its antics near the Monolith's base. It sat there, as imposing and unchanging as a solid mountain of crimson stone, shaped of the most flawless of crystals. Silently, the minute ecological changes began to manifest. Slowly, but steadily, going at a fraction of a tenth of a percent of a degree Celsius, the area began to lose heat.

*bumpo*

DREAM THREE: AWAKENING

The Monolith was delicately placed at the exact magnetic north and south poles of the world, standing tall, a stately red crystal king atop whirling glacial peaks at the top and bottom of the world. The Monolith here did not absorb or release heat or air particles. Instead, a sizeable but as-yet-unnoticed phenomenon was occurring. Magnetic intensity in the local area grew. Magnetic anomalies, both exactly similar, and both with diametres growing at precisely the same rate, manifested at the magnetic north and south poles.

Ice.

Ice on the Serengeti.

The Monolith's surface began to glaze over with a thin sheath of ice. Despite the searing heat of the African savanna about it, the Monolith itself was cold. Perhaps that was not the correct term. The ice had formed a film approximately one nanometre above the 'surface' of the Monolith. The Monolith, however, had no surface. Like a repelling magnetic field, if one pressed one's hand into it, one would encounter exponentially increasing resistance. But the Monolith itself had no defining surface. It only appeared so.

Earth.

Breezes blew on the Monolith, seeming to be caused by some devil of convection, from every direction - north, south, east and west - towards the Monolith. In each of its locations, the Monolith began to feel the mechanisms of the experiment pile up, probability filling in paths in the branches of the causality-tree, gaining inertia slowly but surely. This was only the first part, and even as it moved faster, it was moving uphill, and soon it would reach the precipice.

In the gulf of Mexico, there was an algal bloom, as rich nutrients began to pour out of the Mississippi river into the gulf, and the sun beat down harder and more intense. The bloom was six hundred metres wide, red, gorged with algae and phytoplankton, and rapidly growing.

Forest blooms...

In the Amazon, an excited researcher awaited for the blooming of a beautiful giant flower that only opened once every twenty years. Night fell, and the blue moon rose to the sky, but the researcher was only intent on the plant. And then, slowly, it began to bloom. The researcher took photographs of the giant flower, and began to walk back to base camp. He then saw that he was surrounded by flowers... by orchids. Each of them was blossoming.

Night bloom...

In England, the rose bush which lay dead and withered near the old Abbey, sprouted a single, magnificent red flower - the colour a deep, almost crystal ruby-crimson.

And deep within a research centre somewhere, a moth collapsed and died in the central computer, its wings disintegrating, falling as beige dust on the intricate wires and silicon chips.

"HOLY SH*T!!!!!!" Alex shouts as she jumps onto the Warthog's gunner spot and opens fire on the Monolith as the drive floors the gass pettal and drives away extremly wreaklessly

The Monolith was being attacked.

The bullets hit the Monolith straight-on. There was no sound except for the still-audible thrumming noise of that the Monolith created. And then...

The bullets returned to the gun, going straight into the barrel. As the Warthog charged forwards, the bullets zoomed in a receding puff of smoke and fire, back into the barrel, complete with their magazines, and into the ammunition belt.

"Holy sh*t!!" Alex shouts again. She quickly grabs a grenade and throws it at the monolith and shoots the nade making it explode right infront of the monolith

In silence Watchman paces about it, perusing it, scanning its smooth surface, utterly dumbstruck.

If wise old Guide were here, he would know what to do... if great Portent were here, he would know what to do... even that filthy Mordiar would be practical enough to figure out some way of determining what this thing is...

If the Goddess were here...

Here Watchman stops.

Could She be here?

He did not detect the presence of the Goddess in The Monolith, but he did detect something akin to her presence: a great power, the sort that could at once destroy and rebuild anew, lay to ruin and carve once more into the everlasting stone.

It is not Her... but She could be here...

Watchman runs, leaps atop a nearby stone, and stares into the purple evening sky.

My Queen... my Goddess... Most High and Most Beautiful Protector and Master... I need you. There is... something here, and I am afraid. My Queen... my Goddess... Most High...

The grenade exploded upon the Monolith's gigantic smooth surface, and then, a second later, imploded. The explosion's fire and smoke compressed backwards into a solid grenade, pieces flying back together into one indefragable whole, and leapt straight into Alex's hand.

And then there was nothingness.

The Monolith had anticipated this. There were no surprises to the Monolith. Everything behaved exactly as the Monolith and its creators had foreseen.

Alex found herself drifting, in a timeless place, in a locality where there was no light, nor dark, nor up, nor down, nor any dimensions. But at the same time, it was full of light, and completely dark, solid and heavy, with gravity at her feet, and with infinite dimensions. And it was both and none at the same time.

She had gone other.

In silence Watchman paces about it, perusing it, scanning its smooth surface, utterly dumbstruck.

If wise old Guide were here, he would know what to do... if great Portent were here, he would know what to do... even that filthy Mordiar would be practical enough to figure out some way of determining what this thing is...

If the Goddess were here...

Here Watchman stops.

Could She be here?

He did not detect the presence of the Goddess in The Monolith, but he did detect something akin to her presence: a great power, the sort that could at once destroy and rebuild anew, lay to ruin and carve once more into the everlasting stone.

It is not Her... but She could be here...

Watchman runs, leaps atop a nearby stone, and stares into the purple evening sky.

My Queen... my Goddess... Most High and Most Beautiful Protector and Master... I need you. There is... something here, and I am afraid. My Queen... my Goddess... Most High...

Foreseen.

Predicted.

Foreanalyzed.

Planned.

The Monolith already knew of the behaviour of such creatures. When confronted with something which shakes their reality, and redefines what they know to be true, they inevitably attempt to restore order. One of the methods is through prayer to some supernatural being or figment of the imagination.

And the Monolith sat and awaited. It set forth a low thrumming noise by vibrating perfectly, as one piece, that began in infrasound and slowly wound up through the audible spectrum into ultrasound. The transition was horrifying - a sound like the moans of the dead slowly becoming a high-pitched scream that passed beyond human hearing.

The wails of The Monolith coincided perfectly with the response from Esmerelda on the mainland. Her voice came to Watchman's mind in deep, soothing tones.

"Do not worry, my Watchman... you are doing well. I do not sense great hostility from The Outset Islands, nor do I sense tension within the Tribes. I will be with you in body soon, child... but my spirit is always with you, and it is always watching."

Panic now. Watchman's thoughts come in sporadic bursts, like the futile efforts at music of a novice trumpeter.

She is not coming... the burden is on me... what must I say? What must I do? Oh Goddess... Oh Most High and Beautiful...

Then he stops. He remembers.

"...my spirit is always with you, and it is always watching."

He stares up at The Monolith once again, a creation at once terrible and beautiful, at once creator and destroyer... the very incarnation of Esmerelda Herself.

Watchman's glow turns a cool, soothing green as he turns back to Il Adib, who are still cowering. He steps toward them.

"Rise."

Il Adib peek forth, first toward Watchman, then back toward The Monolith. Without a word, they rise, still shaking.

"This mighty creation is the very incarnation of Our Goddess Herself. It is Her Spirit, Her Eye by which She watches us all. If we simply look to Her here..." He motions back to The Monolith. "...here lies the Spirit of The Goddess-Queen. If we ask Her, She will answer us. If we run to Her, She will comfort us. She is our protector, and She is with us until She can return in body. Now go and inform the others."

At this command, Il Adib look more than a little bit... confused.

"RED THING SCARY!" shouts the first.

"WATCHMAN WISE!" responds the second.

"YES, WATCHMAN KNOW WHAT SHE DO!" echoes the third.

"WE WORSHIP HER! BRING SACRIFICE!" the fourth suggests, and the whoops and shouts of the creatures running down the hill implies that this is indeed what they intend to do.

Watchman returns to the rock and transmits back to Her.

Thank You.

"Ah sh*t how many more of these f$#kin holes in space time am I sent through?" Alex asks her self

Not a hole. She felt a voice from within her own mind answer her.

[quote=The SLAGLands]"WE WORSHIP HER! BRING SACRIFICE!" the fourth suggests, and the whoops and shouts of the creatures running down the hill implies that this is indeed what they intend to do.

Watchman returns to the rock and transmits back to Her.

Thank You.

The Monolith stood, blithely observing and not observing, seeing and not seeing, comprehending all, yet understanding nothing, as the primitive human attempted to relay a message to it with telepathy. It passively continued in its actions.

A small flash of light appeared, seen from the corner of the Watchman's left eye, darting instantly off, like a flash or figment of the mind.

"Just great now some thing is in my mind talking to me. Now all we need is bozo the clown adn we are set for eternal hell," she says to her self

[] . . .

>> BROAD TRANSMISSION FROM THE OUTLAW TECHNOCRATS

> This is First Speaker Tseung-Li Wong [-disp: PSYCH-Profile] of the Outlaw Technocrats. I come to you to announce a meeting on the latest world development.

> As many of you are aware, in the last 72 hours, approximately twenty-five (25 large objects were detected entering earth's atmosphere, and landing upon the surface. On landing the two-kilometre (-disp: astronomical data) objects began to absorb heat energy from the surrounding air at a very gradual, but detectable rate of approximately ten (10) milijoules per second.

> Approximately 16 hours ago, an extremely powerful radio signal burst was emitted by the objects in the direction Jupiter, 30 degrees over the azimuthal plane of the solar system.

> We propose an immediate convention of scientists and heads of state at Benthic City, Outlaw Technocrats, to discuss the meaning of these objects, and provide a tentative plan (-disp: see Other Scientific Surveys by the Outlaw Technocrats) for the cautious international study of these objects.

>> END TRANSMISSION

The Gulf States military is rushing into severe alert mode, and the high ranking officials are panicking. One of the monoliths has directly handed within it's own territory, out in Northwestern Brazil. Meanwhile, two more are lying around around in the North Atlantic Ocean - far enough away but too close for comfort. The third is in Iowa, where Menelmacar deals with a problem. However, it's close enough to the border of Canada to pose a threat.

A fourth monolith lies offshore of the Florida coastline in the Gulf of Mexico, threatening an ally in Flocarga and Delmarva.

In Lexington, President Alex Ortiz watches with interest with news reports around the world about the arrival of these monoliths. Surrounding him is several high ranking military and government leaders. Supreme General of the Army - Thomas Carter, Secretary of the Interior - Robert Pasqual, the Ambassador from Flocarga and Delmarva - John Proulx, and the Speaker of the House - Lance Possado.

Ortiz: Great, so how do we deal with this Brazilian monolith?

Carter: Well, I guess all the affected nations and allies can come together to come up with a plan to figure what in the hell are these things. How to defeat them, if we can't make peace with them.

Proulx: It'll be helpful for my nation if we can get rid of these things, at least from the Gulf of Mexico.

Carter: Menelmacar would be worrying about that one too ... right?

Pasqual: Well, we could just nuke that one in Iowa right? See if that works?

Possado: You know how much problems that will create with the international community?

Ortiz: Does that matter right about now?

Carter: Where is this?

Pasqual: Roughly 100 miles west of Des Moines.

Carter: Nuke the thing then. Have Menelmacar lead a coalition to blow the hell out of the monolith. We can tag along, and a whole bunch of nations too.

Possado: Well, what happens when the nuclear missiles start bouncing off the side or the top of the monolith?

Carter: Then we'll have to send people inside.

Ortiz: I can call international leaders to see if they want in on all this.

Proulx: Want me to help you?

Ortiz: Couldn't hurt.

Carter: Don't worry, we've already got our forces training and briefing on this whole mess.

Possado: What's our losses so far?

Pasqual: Roughly 13,000 in Brazil.

Possado: Oh, that's not too bad.

Ortiz: I'm afraid it could get worse.

[ a monolithic BUMP ]

We're still waiting for assistance in a hopeful-multinational coalition to figure what intent these monoliths can do.

Location: Mediterranean Sea, New ArAreBee Merchant Fleet. On Trading run to various coastal countries.

A serene blue-green ocean, relatively free of any outside influence. However, as was always, it was broken by something. Today, the elongated pyramids of the New ArAreBeens had the pleasure of breaking the calm.

The congruent in everyway, even size. They skimmed along the water, their fields of antigravity pushing them along via the very fabric of space-time. The glowed slightly opaque, which obscured their green hulls, the insignia of the Zee Trust inscribed on their walls.

However, this serene sameness was soon broken by a very large, very stunning, and very in the way rock.

"Navigator, is that on the map?" remarked the Captain.

"Uh...no."

"Right then. We have a quota to meet, so we'll be moving off. Go around it. Also, send a sat tape to DNA ASAP."

"Understood sir." replied the communicator.

An image of the monolith was quickly transmitted via satelite to the relatively far off DohNutAh Island, New ArAreBee Earth Base.

As the green pyramids sucttled around the monolith, new ones were heading for it. Blue ones, barrying the insignia of the army, carrying within it various government, public, private, and trinitorial scientists, eager to find out what this thing was. And, how exactly, would it make money so they could feed their kids.

DREAM FOUR: VISIONS

"Just great now some thing is in my mind talking to me. Now all we need is bozo the clown adn we are set for eternal hell," she says to her self

She reappeared standing three metres from the vehicle. She had no memory of being inside. In fact, she felt quite normal. The forest around her was green and verdant, and there was no sign of the Monolith. A glance at a chronometer indicates that she was gone for three full seconds.

**

Wind and heat began to gather somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, creating an eddy of climactic energy, growing slowly as the forces of the elements and as electromagnetic power mixed with one another. A cloud, a whisp of grey upon the horizon, began to form as vapour gathered. It grew. There was a slight breeze.

**

The cornfields rippled in Iowa, the south wind laden and heavy with moisture. Like a finger out of the ground, the monolith stood silent and resolute, heat still being absorbed from the local area at the steady rate of ten milijoules per second.

**

Then it began.

A news report - several news reports in fact. Then three more. Then nine. Then twenty, and soon the entire world was talking.

Crop circles. Patterns in the grass, in the corn, in the wheat, in the soy, and even in the trees. In the amazon, around the Monolith, was a great circle devoid of green life, and upon a line that bisected the diametre of the circle, were placed nine smaller circles.

Everywhere.

**

For the first time in twenty years, David R. Armstrong, woke from his coma. He had to be sedated, but as he was surrounded by orderlies and screaming nurses, he shouted over and over again, "SARGON! SARGON! SARGON!"

Sirithil sat in her office, peering at an array of holograms, showing the monoliths from various angles, including on satellite. All in realtime. She must have looked quite perturbed, because when Serendis entered, she asked, "Is everything quite all right, milady?"

"I'm not sure, Serendis," Siri replied. "These monoliths. They have been sitting there for days now, doing little more but drawing heat from the air at a rather slow rate - at least, in the cases of the ones in our lands. Some of the others have done far more... interesting things. Freezing a circle of the Sahara several miles across. Withering a forest. That sort of thing. And there is more to these than giant hunks of red crystal. I sense a presence, Serendis."

"Well, they're doing something now."

Siri glanced at the satellite photos, which Serendis had pointed to. Indeed, the images were changing as plants withered around the monoliths. Even among the great mellyrn. A circle. A line. Several smaller circles. Easiest to spot and most precise in the cornfield, but still visible in the forest. A clear sign of... some sort of intellect. And a clearer sign of great power.

"Well I'll be damned... Serendis, have my ship prepared. I'm going out there."

http://www.weirdozone.0catch.com/projects/nationstates/sirithil/sirithilnosfeanor.gifLady Sirithil nos Fëanor
Elentári of the Eternal Noldorin Empire of Menelmacar
"If it is to be war between us, it shall be war to the knife and the knife to the hilt."
~Foreign Minister Duke Paolio, The Outlands
We Love the Iraqi Information Minister (http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com)
Clicky-clicky!

The primary co-ordinator felt a strange presence when his avatar looked into the monolith, too strange, dangerous? He could not be sure but immediately recoiled, his consciousness releasing the avatar, which slumped down on the gravship, and his thoughts returned to the highest chamber of the central nexus tower. Whatever was there he would be more cautious next time.
The sub co-ordinators commanding the gravships were worried too, the magnetic disturbances if they continued could theoretically pose a danger to the electronic equipment on board. But it was nothing to worry about yet, not that they would worry anyway. Such was not in their natures.
The primary co-ordinator pondered the matter for several days, not yet risking a return of his consciousness, fearful he might be severed from his body somehow. As the days passed strange reports came of circles amongst the organic matter grown in the hydroponics warrens. The risk would have to be braved sooner or later. He sent his consciousness back to the Atlantic, to the avatar, now lying on the floor of the gravitic shuttle, took control back and readied himself for the presence of the monolith.

Somewhere in the Arctic, in the outskirts of the nation of Aleuros, a small research team was conducting a scouting mission. A strange prismatic artifact had landed in the vicinity, and energy disturbances had manifested recently.
-"We're going to send a bunch of 'zombs out there..." - the Strategist spoke to the nervous researchers - "It's too dangerous to send living humans. Once we're sure, though, you can go and experiment all you want."
The scientists nodded silently. Courage was definitely not an option, at least not when dealing with a giant prismatic crystal... thing... with high-energy signatures.

Everyone stared silently into the visor screen. They had sent four "zombies" (Remote-Controlled Dead Human Bodies) to explore the appearance site.
One by one, the screens went blank as the thing in question was sighted through the eyes of the zombies.
Silence settled in the Mobile Lab. Would it be wise to send an A-Corp detachment?

DREAM FIVE: SIGNS

The reports began to come in from around the globe. Lights, strange lights, moving in patterns unnatural to the earth, unnatural even to aircraft and helicopters, disappearing once approached, to become suddenly visible somewhere else...

INTERLUDE ONE: AND FROM EARTH - HEAVEN

Zarathustra, however, looked at the people and wondered. Then he spake thus:

Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman--a rope over an abyss.

A dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting.

What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what is lovable in man is that he is an OVER-GOING and a DOWN-GOING.

I love those that know not how to live except as down-goers, for they are the over-goers.

I love the great despisers, because they are the great adorers, and arrows of longing for the other shore.

I love those who do not first seek a reason beyond the stars for going down and being sacrifices, but sacrifice themselves to the earth, that the earth of the Superman may hereafter arrive.

I love him who liveth in order to know, and seeketh to know in order that the Superman may hereafter live. Thus seeketh he his own down-going.

I love him who laboureth and inventeth, that he may build the house for the Superman, and prepare for him earth, animal, and plant: for thus seeketh he his own down-going.

I love him who loveth his virtue: for virtue is the will to down-going, and an arrow of longing.

I love him who reserveth no share of spirit for himself, but wanteth to be wholly the spirit of his virtue: thus walketh he as spirit over the bridge.

I love him who maketh his virtue his inclination and destiny: thus, for the sake of his virtue, he is willing to live on, or live no more.

I love him who desireth not too many virtues. One virtue is more of a virtue than two, because it is more of a knot for one's destiny to cling to.

I love him whose soul is lavish, who wanteth no thanks and doth not give back: for he always bestoweth, and desireth not to keep for himself.

I love him who is ashamed when the dice fall in his favour, and who then asketh: "Am I a dishonest player?"--for he is willing to succumb.

I love him who scattereth golden words in advance of his deeds, and always doeth more than he promiseth: for he seeketh his own down-going.

I love him who justifieth the future ones, and redeemeth the past ones: for he is willing to succumb through the present ones.

I love him who chasteneth his God, because he loveth his God: for he must succumb through the wrath of his God.

I love him whose soul is deep even in the wounding, and may succumb through a small matter: thus goeth he willingly over the bridge.

I love him whose soul is so overfull that he forgetteth himself, and all things are in him: thus all things become his down-going.

I love him who is of a free spirit and a free heart: thus is his head only the bowels of his heart; his heart, however, causeth his down-going.

I love all who are like heavy drops falling one by one out of the dark cloud that lowereth over man: they herald the coming of the lightning, and succumb as heralds.

Lo, I am a herald of the lightning, and a heavy drop out of the cloud: the lightning, however, is the SUPERMAN.--

5.

When Zarathustra had spoken these words, he again looked at the people, and was silent. "There they stand," said he to his heart; "there they laugh: they understand me not; I am not the mouth for these ears.

Must one first batter their ears, that they may learn to hear with their
eyes? Must one clatter like kettledrums and penitential preachers? Or do
they only believe the stammerer?

They have something whereof they are proud. What do they call it, that
which maketh them proud? Culture, they call it; it distinguisheth them
from the goatherds.

They dislike, therefore, to hear of 'contempt' of themselves. So I will
appeal to their pride.

I will speak unto them of the most contemptible thing: that, however, is
THE LAST MAN!"

And thus spake Zarathustra unto the people:

It is time for man to fix his goal. It is time for man to plant the germ
of his highest hope.

Still is his soil rich enough for it. But that soil will one day be poor
and exhausted, and no lofty tree will any longer be able to grow thereon.

Alas! there cometh the time when man will no longer launch the arrow of his longing beyond man--and the string of his bow will have unlearned to whizz!

I tell you: one must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing
star. I tell you: ye have still chaos in you.

Alas! There cometh the time when man will no longer give birth to any
star. Alas! There cometh the time of the most despicable man, who can no longer despise himself.

Lo! I show you THE LAST MAN.

"What is love? What is creation? What is longing? What is a star?"--so
asketh the last man and blinketh.

The earth hath then become small, and on it there hoppeth the last man who maketh everything small. His species is ineradicable like that of the
ground-flea; the last man liveth longest.

"We have discovered happiness"--say the last men, and blink thereby.

They have left the regions where it is hard to live; for they need warmth.
One still loveth one's neighbour and rubbeth against him; for one needeth
warmth.

Turning ill and being distrustful, they consider sinful: they walk warily.
He is a fool who still stumbleth over stones or men!

A little poison now and then: that maketh pleasant dreams. And much
poison at last for a pleasant death.

One still worketh, for work is a pastime. But one is careful lest the
pastime should hurt one.

One no longer becometh poor or rich; both are too burdensome. Who still
wanteth to rule? Who still wanteth to obey? Both are too burdensome.

No shepherd, and one herd! Every one wanteth the same; every one is equal: he who hath other sentiments goeth voluntarily into the madhouse.

"Formerly all the world was insane,"--say the subtlest of them, and blink
thereby.

They are clever and know all that hath happened: so there is no end to
their raillery. People still fall out, but are soon reconciled--otherwise
it spoileth their stomachs.

They have their little pleasures for the day, and their little pleasures
for the night, but they have a regard for health.

"We have discovered happiness,"--say the last men, and blink thereby.--

And here ended the first discourse of Zarathustra, which is also called
"The Prologue": for at this point the shouting and mirth of the multitude
interrupted him. "Give us this last man, O Zarathustra,"--they called out-
-"make us into these last men! Then will we make thee a present of the
Superman!" And all the people exulted and smacked their lips.
Zarathustra, however, turned sad, and said to his heart:

"They understand me not: I am not the mouth for these ears.

Too long, perhaps, have I lived in the mountains; too much have I hearkened unto the brooks and trees: now do I speak unto them as unto the goatherds.

Calm is my soul, and clear, like the mountains in the morning. But they
think me cold, and a mocker with terrible jests.

And now do they look at me and laugh: and while they laugh they hate me too. There is ice in their laughter."

The lights... the weather... all were just tributes to Her glory. All were signs that She was watching, and that She--gracious, flawless, infallible She--loved her children.

Il Adib had constructed an altar of stone before the Monolith, vehicle of Her Eye, tribute to Her Glory. The altar was three feet high and decorated with the last flowers they could find in the area--as if She had allowed this flora to survive to honour Her here.

They came by the dozens each day--Brethren and Il Adib alike--to see Her, to bring their problems to Her, and while she only answered with a flicker, that was more than enough to satisfy. Surely there was some deeper meaning for Her vagueness, where once before she had answered all of their questions, solved all of their problems herself.

Could it be that she is teaching us to be self-sufficient? Watchman wondered as he stared into the deep red of the Monolith. She has been so direct; why suddenly this vagueness? There is a greater lesson behind this, I fear.

At that evening's celebration, as Il Adib danced around the fire lit before the Monolith and made a grand sacrifice to it, Watchman had a revelation. With eyes glistening in the light of the fire, he speaks to all who are present.

"We must get to work."

Curious reaction to a stimulus. The creatures were worshipping the Monolith.

It merited further study.

In the dark of night, the moon hanging like a silver sickle in the sky, the Watchman saw a vision of Celestial Eden. Lights, shapes and forms which only he himself could see, appeared upon the Monolith's crimson surface, now turned an ominous and awe-inspiring colour of deepest onyx. Lights formed geometric patterns, swirling, dancing to some orgiastic fractal formula, appeared upon it before the Watchman's eyes. Then the lights seemed to stop, becoming indescribably tiny specks of white fire, which disappeared the moment the Watchman's eyes came upon them, like the grey spots in the centre of a grid of white lines on black. The points of light began to stretch and move, hurtling him a thousand billion light years away in his mind, through space and time, forming a spectral starbow circle around the front of his vision.

Then, as soon as it had come, it stopped and he dropped out of the trance, blinking. He felt a strange coldness overcome him, as if his body had been invaded and gripped by the icy fingers of the airless void...

*bump*

The Empire wasn't worshipping the Monolith. The monolith was being studied by their sensory arrays as much as the monolity was sensing out them. However, they have reached no conclusions.. as much as the monolith had not itself. Reflections in the Mirror are the eyes and ears of this Vast Imperial Information Technology System and Bureaucracy. Omnipresent was an understatement to the breadth of this governments power and ability to scruitinize those who scrutinize it.

*bump*

(OOC: Not THE Watchman... just Watchman. I guess now we're even. ;) )

Watchman shivered, at once dazed, terrified... and entirely, almost orgasmically, enamored. The Brethren and Il Adib before him simply sat silently, more than a little bit confused regarding their leader's strange reaction to nothing. A few whispering Il Adib wonder if Watchman had gone mad.

Watchman looks around the group, his eyes distant, at once overrun by the knowledge of the universe and the foolishness to exploit it.

"Return to your homes," he commands. "I must speak further to Her. We will begin work tomorrow."

Il Adib and the Brethren quietly wander off, leaving Watchman to commune further with The Monolith. He turns back to the monstrous red device, looks it up and down, and lies down in the dirt before it.

"Show me more, my Goddess... please... show me more."

There's a growing array of sensors around the Serengeti Monolith - not as much as would have been preferrable, but this is sovereign land. Still, there're quite a few Territorials in country, working with the African Genetic Sequestration Project.

And if more trickle into the country, the locals won't be any wiser.

DREAM SIX: WOMB OF THE HEAVENS

This time it was not shiny, nor was it rectangular. It was, in fact, not alltogether unlike a walnut, but a mottled shade of pinkish-red, as opposed to the bloody crimson glow of the Monolith. At its tip was a great onyx crystal, like a lance out of the heavens, shaped like a sharp, many-sided needle with which to pierce the bubble of earth's atmosphere. The thing glowed red hot, its needle brown becoming a fiery arrow, absorbing the heat from the friction of its cosmic plunge through the air. Trailing a column of fire and smoke, the thing landed quite differently from the monoliths, with a great roar, casting smoke and debris about. It was about 1.5 kilometres tall, and as its needle tip slammed flaming and glowing into the earth, its outer walnut-like coating cracked open, revealing a massive almond-shaped ... thing. It pulsed, almost as if alive, and its mottled reddish surface was covered in a glistening yellowish fluid.

It sat there, pulsing gently, as if respiring after a great physical exertion, alone upon the Russian taiga, waiting.

**

All around the world, the Monolith roared a warning, pitched precisely towards a frequency that would be most painful to humans, whilst sending in all directions, a wave of radio signals so powerful that they blocked transmissions for nearly an hour with their electronic scream.

[ A MONOLITHIC BUMP ]

*Another MONOLITHIC BUMP*

All around the world, the psychics and mediums and clairvoyants screamed, their bodies arching and convulsing in pain, hands so twisted and fingers so curled they couldn't even reach their heads to claw away the faces that were so contorted with inhuman agony...

(OOC: Holy... wow. Sorry.)

Esmerelda's vehicle is not as impressive as a great crimson monolith fallen from the sky. Instead, it is a disc, approximately fifteen feet in diameter, a flat and flawless disc of smooth cerulean shale. It sails across the wind now, the Goddess sitting atop it, leaning back against her hands. The wind presses her translucent white dress against her perfect curves, her long blonde hair flowing behind her head as the disc flies. Next to her is her son, fully grown yet in appearance even older than his mother. His usual black suit and tie is now replaced by a simple combination of sweat pants and T-shirt. His feet are bare, and his sunglasses are gone, revealing his utter lack of eyes. In silence he rides, lying prone and breathing steadily as the disc approaches The Outset Islands.

Watchman sees the disc approach long before it arrives. His fur takes on a warm orange glow as he rises to the nearest promontory near the Monolith. As the disc approaches and glides to a halt beside him, he bows his head, speaking slowly and reverently.

"Welcome back, my Queen... and Bari."

Esmerelda does not reply, and neither does Bodyguard Barry. The two stand slowly, staring into the great red crystal that rises from the mountain like a sword thrust in its side. Barry does not move, but Esmerelda approaches with caution. Watchman follows her, looking directly up at her.

"I am greatly pleased that you have given us this wonder, my Queen. I have had Il Adib and Brethren alike coming to pray to It, to honour It as You requested. I know now that You are always watching, that You are..."

Esmerelda, still staring up at the Monolith, interrupts Watchman. She is calm. She is always calm.

"This is not Mine."

A psychic wail emanated from the crimson slab, piercing Esmerelda's mind as the Monolith created a terrible audial shriek, so high that its very surface seemed to distort and blur from the vibrations of the Monolith.

Pain.

Flames of the mind, a storm of lightning coursing over the bitter landscape of the psyche, a spike being driven through the fragile fabric of the superego, delving like a drill into the id and the subconscious.

Fear.

*bump*

Bloom

The eerie pulse of fluid through the mass of towering pinkish-yellow fungus caused the fronds and tendrils slowly rising from the surface to quiver slightly, utterly silent in the desolate Russian taiga. Then, as sunlight crept into the fleshy complex, certain subcellular reactions were triggered, and the Fungal tower dug its tentacles deep into the soil, deeper and deeper...

NIGHTMARE ONE: ECLIPSE OF THE MOON

And when that one psychic stirring in the Fungus was heard, the Monoliths, like shrieking, crying beacons, heralded its coming. The heat energy they absorbed, the mass of entropy, became one vibrant electromagnetic banshee howl, rumbling forth at 150Hz, 700 Hz, 70,000 Hz, 1,000,000 Hz..., bellowing from twenty five vocal chords 2 km long.

BLOOM! said the Monolith in Africa, BLOOM! said the Monolith in Asia, BLOOM! cried the Monolith in the oceans.

BLOOM! BLOOM! BLOOM! BLOOM BLOOM!

[ anyone? Anyone here at all? ]

Sirithil sat in her office, peering at an array of holograms, showing the monoliths from various angles, including on satellite. All in realtime. She must have looked quite perturbed, because when Serendis entered, she asked, "Is everything quite all right, milady?"

"I'm not sure, Serendis," Siri replied. "These monoliths. They have been sitting there for days now, doing little more but drawing heat from the air at a rather slow rate - at least, in the cases of the ones in our lands. Some of the others have done far more... interesting things. Freezing a circle of the Sahara several miles across. Withering a forest. That sort of thing. And there is more to these than giant hunks of red crystal. I sense a presence, Serendis."

"Well, they're doing something now."

Siri glanced at the satellite photos, which Serendis had pointed to. Indeed, the images were changing as plants withered around the monoliths. Even among the great mellyrn. A circle. A line. Several smaller circles. Easiest to spot and most precise in the cornfield, but still visible in the forest. A clear sign of... some sort of intellect. And a clearer sign of great power.

"Well I'll be damned... Serendis, have my ship prepared. I'm going out there."



The Menelmacari ship mattered not to the Monolith, as it was indifferent to the puerile actions of mere corporeal beings. All that mattered was the Message. The Message that the Monolith had broadcasted, all over the world, in appearances everywhere, the message that the Creators of the Monolith intended to bring them. It grew more insistent as the little corporeals began to approach, drawn by the signals sent forth by the Monolith.

In every vibrating chord of its being, the Monolith was projecting now but one message!

BLOOOMBLOOMBLOOMDANGERWARNINGBLOOOM!

[startmusic: thusspokezoaster.mp3]

BUMP!!!!!!!!!!

.... anyone still interested?

[cricket noise]

At all?