NationStates Jolt Archive

It begins with a flash and a clap.
Flash.
Clap.
And a ship, bouyant looking, appearing in the sea of stars. Where is it? It would be tempting to say the middle of nowhere, but more accurate to say the edge of somewhere.


*Click.
Fizz.
Beep. Beep. Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepclickbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep.
Click.*

"Click? That's a new one. Repeating sequence."

*Click.
Fizz.
Beep. Beep. Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepclickbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep.
Click.*

"There it is again."
"Should we investigate? Should we flee? Response urgent."
"Investigate. "
"Close? Far? Roundabout? Sweeping?"
"To your discretion."
"Damn."
"Ship redesignated. Current designation Curiouser and Curiouser.
"Very quaint."
"That was the intent."
"Proceeding with investigation. Remain hidden?"
"Negative. Remaining hidden implies we have something to hide. By extension, they may want to know what it is, should our target see us."
"Confirmed."
"Beginning scanning sequence."
"Results?"
"Patience..."
"And now?"
"50% complete."
"And now?"
"84.5% complete."
"And now?"
"Finished."
"Results?"
"Uncertain. Design unknown on Haliaen database."
"Possibility of anomaly?"
"Low. Seems artificial."
"First contact?"
"Seems too unresponsive."
"Target designated rabbit hole"
"Suspect human-terran-Earth origin?"
"Indeed."
"Great."
"Potentially. Communications ending. Maintain position until Haliaen Concensus orders otherwise."
"That's usually a given implication. Conflict likely?"
"Uncertain. "
"What do you know?"
"Exactly what you know."
"Not much?"
"Precisely."
"Well that's not exactly comforting. Communications end."



(OOC: Introducing the Haliaens. If you're interested at all in starting up something profitable, then just post up that it was something of yours (probe, sensor bouy, destroyer of Doom, home planet, doesn't matter.)
A few notes on the Haliaens. They live on a primarily aquatic planet, and can be accurately described as amphibian. They have gills and lungs, with a large, bulky chest to hold them. Roughly toadlike in skin texture, they have a humanoid appearance, with thick, powerful legs, and relatively spindly arms. The more observant will come to the conclusion (correctly so) that the Haliaens are genetically engineered in some way.
The ship itself is bouyant, so has a Wet-hull analogue. A mix between an old wooden ship, coated with sleek silver/turquoise metal colouring, minus the sails and masts. The system used to jump in, whilst I won't go into the science involved in running it, is very simplistic in appearance. A flash and a clap. No weird stretchy effect or magic portal opening.
As for playing style? Future tech primarily and obviously, with fantasy undertones, but nothing overt.)

No catches, eh? I suppose I'll send it on back up there then... then perhaps... finish it on my own... yeah... Won't be as interesting, mind.

(may as well continue it for the moment. I thought of someplace I could expand it, so I will.)

There was a planet in view. Soft, aquamarine, faintly tropical. Clouds wisped and formed above it, stretching, before turning grey, and disspating over the oceans. Below the surface, countless species swam through the waters, hunting, migrating, growing along the vast reefs. There were no birds in the skies, though the faint hum of technology could heard, growing in intensity, until the ocean almost trembled before it. Something fell into the water, steam blasting up from the impact. It actually struck quite slowly, submerging almost entirely before it shot up, balancing on the water. This was second of only two star-seaships, looking identical to the first, which had reputedly found something.
The reason this ship was brought back so quickly, was that meeting was called between all Haliaens. Such an occurance would rapidly become infeasible, they suspected, but, for the meantime, such a meeting could be called. The underside of the star-seaship opened up, and a large submersible craft left. Looking similar to the submarines of the 20th and 21st century, whilst still having a silvered turquoise hull, and a more rounded shape. Also, like the star-seaship, its hull seemed to flow, but whether that was a trick of the water could not be made out. It had barely began descending when it reached the surface. Another hole opened, and Haliaens emerged, in groups of twenty at a time. 8 groups left, powerful legs propelling them the last few metres. Loose sand disturbed by their wide legs rising up, discolouring the water. Before them, nearly ethereal in its presence, stood the great city of Haliae, Hesykhian. Low buildings, glowing gently, spread off into the distance.

In the west stood the tallest building, spire surfacing above the waves, the one distinguishing feature on the surface of the planet. The grand assembly chamber was also the most beautiful. Spiralling towards the surface, windows arranged around the surface of the building, revealing small glimpses of its interior. The rest of the city was deserted, but the automated machinery could still be heard vaguely. Everyone was moving towards the assembly chamber to discuss what would be done with the discovery.
It took several hours for every Haliaen to assemble within the chambers, and millions more were outside, joining in silently, combining their consciousness to one whole. Once they were united, the discussion commenced. The consciousness split itself into chunks, representing differenting opinions on how this was to be dealt with. One full half of consciousness was in favour of continued analysis, whilst not commencing a more invasive procedure. Another full quarter believed this was a human-contact event, and should be approached as such. Smaller segments were in favour of more aggressive approaches, the least of which was that the object should be taken, with force, if it attempted to defend itself. Usually, once the consciousness had been divided, such an argument was over, with a clear portion of the populace' will being enough to secure a course of action, however, this time, the issue was of enough import that it must be discussed, to insure that the consciousness was fully informed.
As the largest opinion, the continuation consciousness spoke first.

"We are of the opinion that such an object cannot be interfered with. We have no idea of the power that may be contained within it. Interference is the worst policy we could enforce. Especially when we consider that we know we are not the most powerful force in our sector, and not every species is as benevolent as us."

Human event consciousness spoke up.

"Exactly. Like the humans. We should be taking precautions in case it is a human contact situation, and not idly sitting back, hoping for the best. You have full idea what they done to us the last time. We must be prepared this time. This may be the only opportunity we have to study their technology before we are located again. Surely you can see the logic to this?"

"And what if this is a Human warship, attempting to get at our technology, or one that hasn't noticed our presence? Then we only invite more danger upon ourselves. This is folly. We must stay at a distance until we recieve more information on it."

"We do not concur. In this situation, prolonged cowardice will not assist us. We must attempt a closer survey. Whilst we do not condone the suggestions of other groups of consciousness, we cannot sit back and do nothing. As the most logical medium of action, we believe that further investigation should take place immediately."

"Your thoughts bear merit. compromise is necessary. Should no other information be forthcoming, then a closer examination will be attempted. In 4 days, Curiouser and Curiouser will be sent closer to the object to obtain more specific information."

Given the opposition to a simple closer examination, those who suggested that such an object should be taken by force, if necessary, formed a silent resistance to the meeting.

(Still hoping for participants, by the way...)

(the two day bump. Last hope of a desperate player.)
Once again, if I can't get anyone to join, I'll do the next part on my own also. But it'd be a lot more entertaining if there was more than one person.

(This is the most forsaken post ever. first of all, the forum eats it. Second of all, something so utterly embarassing happens, that I'm not going to specify. Suffice to say.... I've been successfully put off writing it (again, for the third time) for today. Two moderately large posts gone forever. Gah! the internet can be so frustrating.
Call this a night time bump. Comments, participation... custard pies. Anything at all? Even if it's just "This is rubbish, cease cluttering the forum with garbage." Well. Maybe not that, unless you gave a good reason.