NationStates Jolt Archive

A chill wind blows through the long abandoned city, earth and sand have piled up against the once mighty walls and towers. Towers now broken, collapsed in on themselves after countless years without maintenance. Storms, blizzards and hurricanes have taken their toll on the dead capital of Tholaria. A crashed oblong gravship, its automated reactor still running, lies upended on the outskirts, a near silent monolith, memorial to a long dead nation. Nature has taken its revenge on those who thought to master it, many of the high buildings now resemble dunes, covered by the detritus of the years as the dust swirls.

But deep beneath the earth, far below the maelstrom of the surface a long neglected computer, run under its own power, reaches the end of its cycle. A hallway lights up, thousands, millions of individual chambers are activated. Out of each comes a disturbing amalgamation of biology and technology. A mindless subservient creature, a born slave.

Whatever it was that destroyed the city above, there was a section sealed off, a section cut off, a backup or failsafe. And this failsafe is now activated.

A long abandoned probe in orbits begins to broadcast and deep space transmission is send to a long awaited automated station far away in known space.

The transmission reads:



<<<<<<<Priority Alert>>>>>>>>

Systems Alerted to Movement:

Request Condition Update:

Life, Energy, Radiation , Detected....................

Transmission Ends

A little while later a long range transmission is relayed back to the probe in orbit...........

<<<<<<<<<<Transmission Recieved and Confirmed>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Recon and Survey enroute..................

Probe to contiue Primary Mission of deep watch...............

Authorized functional use of force is recommend as deemed as needed.......

Planetary cleanising is authorized if failure of primary mission is indicated..........

<<<<<<<<<TRANSMISSION ENDS>>>>>>>>>>

The probe becomes more active and awakens from its long slumber........

It follows its primary functions and programming..........

It awaits and watches................

The Collective re-establishes. 5 million cells activated. The sealed area, long functioning on minimal energy is rapidly returned to full power. Abandoned power grids and scanning stations are redroned.

Cells are sent out of the sealed area, testing for dangers. None are found. Whatever it was that caused the Collapse appears gone. The cell replication centres are retaken. The Collective grows, spreaing outwards to fill the city. Scans are made, messages sent. The renewed Collective working to fulfill its two current goals; regain the old technology and discovere the controller.

Some places are monitored. Some areas are unexplored. Some areas are occasionally checked up on. When one sends out anomalous signals, one should expect to find a few strange reactions from other beings. Admittedly, signals aren’t all that uncommon - indeed, they’re positively common – but nevertheless, as one gets the attention of a super-luminal-radio (or equivalent, of course, the term covers a multitude of devices) telescope, either aboard an exploration ship or a distant outpost, one gets flagged for interest.

The necrontyr-empire still kept thousands of ‘wasp’ two-jump FTL probes aboard its ships and outposts for just such eventualities. It dispatched one without a sentient being – organic or otherwise – ever paying the slightest attention to the matter.

And so, the wasp settled down in the target system without pyrotechnics or easily-noticed emissions several light minutes away from the planet that had drawn the automated interest of its distant masters, and watched.