NationStates Jolt Archive

Andromeda, Core.

A portal opened up. from it, came a ship that strongly represented a whale.

It paused, investigating a planet below. It took a few hours.

Then it moved on.

The world of Ri-an had never seen anything like it, but it did not seem intrested in them.

Their communications satilites were destroyed, and something about the ships drew in the energies of their ships.

One last message was sent out before transmission failure, a warning, for the Milky way.

*********************************************************

From: The Theocracy of Ri-an.
To: Anyone and everyone that can hear us.

Warning...........vast..............gone..........Milky Way................Highly destructive...........unknown......................BEWARE IT IS COMING!
*********************************************************

How many nations would get it though? every satilite it passed by, was ripped apart by conflicting gravity feilds eminating from the ship.

It sent out a single broadcast as well, as it entered the Milky Way Galaxy, though what the transmission contained, was a mystery. It sounded like a complicated series of various noises, that seemed to have meaning, yet did not, when listened to in a straight forward manner.

It sat their, in space, broadcasting its message. Hate? Friendship? what was it? where did it come from?

OOC: The series of dots in my message indicates static, that part cannot be recovered, in any form.

This RP can go several ways.

If you read carefully, I already told you how to learn what the strange ship broadcast. Though its not as simple as playing it backwards. Think of it as an Audio jumble of letters.

b u m p

BUMPORZ! come on, gimme a chance, at least.

Bump

USS San-Francisco, 3rd scout detachment:

Several light years away from the event, at the edge of known fedral space, a small detachment of 5 ships slowly floated in the darkness, they were some what large.

The ships hulls gleamed in the grayish dark light of the near by star as the calmly floated in the lifeless darkness that was space.


On board the USS San-Francisco (Ticonderoga class dreadnought)

Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, officers and AIS were as usual rushing around doing work, taping on holographic 3D panels, hooking up neural receivers.

The Con officer looked down to his console sighing as he looked over the bans and frequencies, to his surprise seconds after he started looking, he had found some thing, it was faint and some what confusing but seemed to be a communication.

He looked over it confused at the jumbling of things and static, he looked up to the rather older commander who was peering around his ships bridge, the con officer spoke, “Sir, we are receiving some sort of signal, some type of message but I cant tell what it is, or even read it or hear it, there’s way to much interference and We may be to far any way..”

The commander blinked and spoke “Can you even tell what it’s implying captian?”

The captain shook his head “Hardly sir, its either a distress call, a welcome call or a beacon”

The commander moved his had up to his chin and scratched it a bit, his other hand on the holographic console as he looked over to the message, his eyes panning it “A beacon for what… that’s what I would like to know..”



The captain spoke again.. “What I suggest we do is get closer, it may not in our patrol route but This might be more valuable than we think.

The commander interjected quickly with a thought “Or it Could be a wild goose chase nonetheless we cant take that risk .. Helm set a course for that projected area were that message is coming from and make sure you have full scanners ahead of us, I don’t want to run in to any surprises”


The helm officer nodded tapping on here holographic console quickly but surely the ship jumped in to 4D temporal space, it was going at a nice slow pace, making sure It didn’t not disrupt the anomalous nature of the area.

Helm said “ETA, 30 minutes 12 seconds”
The commander nodded and said” keep me posted” He walked off to a corner of the bridge and sat down observing and peering.

What greeted them as they got closer, was the giant ship. Gravity distortions coming from the ship seemed to be pulling at it, and pushing at it at the same time, almost, attempting to rip it apart. The ship itself was dark grey. The closer they got, the stronger the distortions. It sent a message, over all frequiencies.

But, it was nothing more than a series of strange, odd noises. It would take a skilled linquist some time to unscramble it.

What no one would know, was it was really a puzzle. Any monkey could build a ship and make it to the realms of outer space. Only a species truely possesed of intelligence could unscramble the message, decypher it, and open communications.

Another frequncy was eminating from the ship, it was broadcast in all directions, it interfered mainly with communications over great distances, but it also partially interfered with normal ship operations.

The Large ship dropped out of 4D space, it jut spit it out, no distortions or openings just the ship phasing back in to existence, the large white grayish ship stood still over looking the large area of distortions and messages, the hull of the ship lighten up by the hull lights periodicity blinking .


The commander stood on the bridge, panning his eyes over the large 3D screen of pace, the con officer tapped his holographic console and had the AI run the scan through the computers at super lighting speed.


The con officer began to speak “Sir, this area is filled with gravimetric distortions, I don’t recommend we get closer with out putting our shields up, I have managed to scan the area for any objects and we have found some thing that seems to be a ship, but we are getting heavy amounts of signal and bombarded with communications or backround noise, I cant tell yet, Ill have to run it Through our AI computer core.”

The commander nodded and walked along the deck, he paced a little his hands behind his back as he looked around his busy bridge.

He Said “Keep me informed helm try to move closer, bring our shields on, minimal power, just enough so we don’t get tarred to shreds by those distortions.”

The helms officer nodded and tapped her console quickly and surely, the ship began to move its engines revving up and crating a white glow of light behind the massive vessel, it moved slowly towards the unknown ship, very slowly maneuvering some what to keep away from large distortions.


The con officer sighed as he scanned, mean while the lights flickered a bit and some computers went down, but all minor glitches from the distortions.

The closer they got, the stronger the distortions. The Whale ship shivered, and the distortions shifted to a strong pushing distortion, like that of a white hole. A black something ran accross the whale, in response to the San-francisco's approach. a Scan would reveal them to be Anti-matter sheilds, of all things.

It would take the computer awhile to unscramble the message. There were four possible results.

The first one was rude and inappropriate.

The second one was a War Declaration.

The third was a Declaration of peaceful intent.

The fourth, which was the real message, was as follows:

"We are they that come from the infinite Ocean. We come to explore The Place that is, and yet is not."

OOC: The fourth one is hardest to get. Its your computer though, so, you decide.

BUMP! come on, more people can jump in!

Rover Satellite 2RD33

The faint signal was received and the Computer onboard began running it through every translation known to man. After semi-failing it sent out it's own signal, routed through the Yukatan Federal Network it reach the 33rd Exploratory Group. The message told the 3 ship group of their new assignment, to find out where this signal originated from.

33rd Exploratory Group

Captain Mitchell Howard sat in the CC of his Flagship The Begotten a Marathon Heavy Cruiser, it was the pride of the Exploratory Groups. Flanked by 2 Apoc Class Frigates, he felt very secure in this Command Center. After receiving the Signal from the Satellite, he brought up a Map of the Galaxy on his Nav Screen.
"Nav, can you pinpoint the signal from the data received?"
"One sec Captain."
"Well?"
"Got it."
Data began flowing across the screen and a dot appeared on the screen.
"So this is where we are going."
"Correct Sir."

The three ship group jumped into Slipspace.
"Sir, our arrival time is a few hours."
"Keep me posted Nav."

The Whale ship greeted them as they got closer, with the same odd message, with the same four possible results. They could see The Federal Union Ship there as well.

The Whale ship backed up a ways.

Inside the Whale ship....

They were swimming back and forth, hurridly. They were strange creaturesm closely resemblying on Octopus, save that their bodies were bigger, thicker, and they had a mouth just beneath two eyes. Some were a solid Dark Grey. Others, had wild, brightly colored patterns covering them. They lived in an aquatic environment. This world was not there world. There world was a strange world.

Should they? Should they call for reinfocements?

The Novaen communications probe picked up a signal, it was very weak and contained alot of noise but there was definately a pattern to it. It was located in an area of space that the Novaens hadn't been to before. Their curiosity got the better of them and despatched the NBS Hope to see what they could do.

Arriving near the ship and seeing the distoritions of... they received the message from the ship. Noticing the other ships around they sent a message to the Federak Union and the Yuktanian ships

Greetings, This is Captain Trevor Heed, of the NBS Hope. Does anyone know of the situation? We are currently working on a message sent from this large ship. Anyone have an idea?

and with that the translation software came out with the possibilities

"Wonderful, just Wonderful." Trevor thought to himself, "now which one of these is the right one."

The ship sat there. not moving. Just, drifting. It was waiting, waiting for a response. Then, massive fluctions in space began. It began a wavy, ocean like movement. A great White hole was ripped in space. A ship, smaller than the Whale, emerged. It looked like an octopus.

Those inside the ship, felt nervous about three strange ships that offered no communications, so a back up ship was called.

The white hole disapeared. The Octopus joined the ship, and it too, made a sheild of Dark Matter.

Trevor had the 4 options on his PD...

The first one was inappropriate and rude, but Trevor laughed, he was sure that wasn't it...

onto the second one... a declaration of war, while the memory of the Macronesian Alliance incident was still ingrained in the Novaen concious. But the ship had not under taken under agressive actions so that option was struck out

The next two... well they where harder... they hadn't tried to send a message again... so it was intrigueing seeming like it wasn't the third option but the 4th option was pretty unbelievable. But something, a hunch, a gut feeling within Trevor told him that it was the 4th option.

He went with the hunch and sent the following message to the Whale ship.

Greetings, This is the NBS Hope. Captain Trevor Heed speaking. Who am I speaking to? We also ask for clarification on your message. Are you in "The Place" now? and why do you say it is and yet is not?

The Whale moved as gracefully as a real one to be practically eye to eye with the NBS Hope. It removed its Dark Matter Sheilding.

It sent a picture of the Area around them. Then it showed a strange ocean some where. Then it showed a Star. Then it sent accross a series of instructions, which, if done right with the proper equipment, would inable them to cross the layers of Reality seperating Fluidic Space from Non Fluidic Space.

It ended with a Picture of a Very Old looking Creature. It was obviously one of Them. It sat on a reef of Gold Coral, and wore a circlet of Silver. His Eyes were Aqua Marine Blue. He looked like a Giant Octopus, had two eyes, and an opening that was his mouth, spread wide in a smile. His tentacles were spread wide in a gesture of welcome. It was of course, an invitation to Fluidic space.

"Sir, we've gotten four messages from a unidentified ship."
"Display them."
Four messages came up one screen, the first one was overtly rude, he disreguarded it immediatly. The decalration of war however immediatly sent him giving orders;
"Comms, relay to all ship, "prepare for battle."
"Sir there are still two messages left!"
"I don't give a damn, if they want a fight we will be prepared."
The third message, a peaceful attent, left him wondering about his previous actions. The fourth message talked about them coming from the infinate Ocean, and how they were exploring this place, but it was not this place.
"Sir, what do you make of the last message?"
"Well, it seems they are looking for a place, and they expected to find it here, but they didn't, send this message to them."
Greetings, what are you looking for?, We would be glad to help you find the place you are seeking.

At this, as the second to respond. One of "Them" came over. It teleported in onto the bridge of The Begotten. It looked like an underwater explorer. Around its body, was a suit, and on its back, were two tanks holding water of all things. It was a giant octopus. It had two eyes, Aqua Marine blue, and was Solid Grey. It closed its eyes. Words came from its direction, yet it was not speaking.

"I Read your soul. I understand your words. And return them to you. I am an explorer from The Place that is. This Place is not. How can it be? There is no Water here. A place cannot be without Water. This place is new. We come to explore. You have managed to prove your kind bears intelligence. You are worthy of contact, though your words do not have the ability to truely express our intent. Perhaps you will understand. Come, let me take you, to the Place that is. The Infinite Ocean on the other side." Said The Aquamarinian.

Once again the UASV Millenium crossed paths with the Novaens, and arrived following the familiar hyperspace/time distortion trail.

As they arrived, they immediately recognised the distinct shape of the Hawdon-class vessels. After all, they built them.

Captain Karellen checked the spectroscopic displays, and exclaimed "It's the NBS Hope!", which brought the bridge crew running over the display to have a look.

The whale ship, however, was the one which caused the most uproar, as the sensor operators and scientists engaged every sensor they had (A huge variety, covering everything they knew), sweeping over the vessel in an effort to gain an inkling of the nature of it.

They first hailed the NBS Hope.

Greetings, NBS Hope! This is Captain Alephis Karellen of the UASV Millenium, may I ask who is the captain of your vessel?

As a science vessel, the picking apart of the message (we'll say they were close enough to recieve it) was easier than most, being effectively a spaceborne city.

Of course, they had no clue why first contact would involve a multi-layered message.

Head diplomat Lawrence Korlis read over the outputs. It was immediately obvious that the second one was the real message, with the 'We are they that come from the infinite Ocean. We come to explore The Place that is, and yet is not.', but was pondering over why they sent a declaration of war and peace in the same message.

(OOC: It's unlikely that everyone would break the ciphers in order.)

The first and most obvious' purpose was immediately evident, as a foil against lesser minds. Only a truly incompetent diplomat would fall for that one. Immediately a likeness of the infamous Cas'rai Gon'do'rai of the Cassiopeians found its way into his mind, as he chuckled at the incompetence of epic proportions that was present in her personage.

He decided to use the big com screen, located just below the bridge. He guessed that the 'not' referred to space. The void, essentially. Whilst he was attempting his best to send an intelligent message, lack of lingual synchronisation was impeding it for the time being. They would need speech to properly translate.

Salutations, we are they who hail from a place of gas surrounding solids. We have no knowledge of the Is, however we know much of the Not.

He, was taken there, to the big Whale ship. Water stood as a wall. It seemed it should crash and drown him, yet it did not.

If he moved towards it, it moved away, and the was behind him moved in, so that he was always in a five foot cube of water. Strangest, every surface was dry.

One of Them was standing in the water. It held a slimy tentacle out through the water, as if in greeting. Captain Karellan was easily veiwable on his ships veiwscreen, a sign that their intent was not to harm.

the Whale ship moved backwards, as it moved backwards, a great white rift appeared, and it backed its way into it. Captain Karellan, was the first human in history, to enter Fluidic Space.

The Gateway was open. Others could follow.

Karellen's Air room, which was always some how square, herded him and the Aqua Marinian out to a window. What he saw, was an Infinite ocean, streaching out in every direction. There where no stars, as he would be used to them, but there were large collections of a floating Coral Reefs, that were glowing. The water itself, was a dark Greyish green Black. This, was the Place that was, the Infinite ocean, it was the place that was, for in every place, there was fluid. It stood to reason then, why these creatures would be intrested, in a universe that did not have water everywhere.

(OOC: Korlis made the contact, not Karellen. Karellen's title means that he's the head of the ship, and only that. There's specialists onboard for every other task. Oh well, we'll keep going with Karellen being 'teleported'.)

The hapless navigator found himself onboard the Whale Ship, and immediately panicked when he further realised that his precious Millenium was no longer surrounding him.

He was probably the least suited to be the first in contact with 'Fluid Space', and moreso without the familiar security of a vacuum suit.

As the profusely sweating captain was herded to a window, he grew wide-eyed at the sheer amount of change, and it was obvious he was struggling to cope with his new surrounds.

Whilst he was the pinnacle of commanding skill in Hakurabi, he was also a notorious agoraphobiac and immediately wished he hadn't been chosen to be taken onboard the unfamiliar vessel.

The anxious captain turned to the nearby aquamarinian and said "Please, take me back to my ship... I'm not the one to witness this... there are others onboard... they'd love this...", the words spilling out in a torrent of jumbled thoughts before Korlis hailed the vessel again.

Karellen put his hands on the windows as he saw the Millenium approaching. Ripples were visible from the back of the ship as the fusion engines had been converted to muon drives.

"I apologise in advance for our captain, he's deadly agoraphobic. Believe me, most of us are not quite so susceptible to panicking at this sight. It really should be one of the scientists onboard, not him. Now, could we have our dear captain back before there's an incident?"

The Captain was taken back, with an Aquamarninian Lady at his Side. The only diffrence between an Adult Male, and an adult Female, was the skin. Female's had brightly colored patterns covering every inche of their skin.
She too had a Water suit on.

The Aquamarinian Searched the mind of the Captain, picking up his language, learning it. Words seemed to come from her, though they are not spoken.

"Greetings, my name is, well, my name is hard to pronounce using your language. I do not say it to be cruel, but your language is limited. The old Wise one, the closest your language can come is king, yet that is not entirely true, wishes to meet those that come from the place that is not." She said.

The closer they got, the stronger the distortions. The Whale ship shivered, and the distortions shifted to a strong pushing distortion, like that of a white hole. A black something ran accross the whale, in response to the San-francisco's approach. a Scan would reveal them to be Anti-matter sheilds, of all things.

It would take the computer awhile to unscramble the message. There were four possible results.

The first one was rude and inappropriate.

The second one was a War Declaration.

The third was a Declaration of peaceful intent.

The fourth, which was the real message, was as follows:

"We are they that come from the infinite Ocean. We come to explore The Place that is, and yet is not."

OOC: The fourth one is hardest to get. Its your computer though, so, you decide.



(OOC finally got off my lazy ass to reply)


The con officer looked at the sensors ahead, the ship shook with large rumbles as anti matter impacted the shields.

The con officer yelled “ALL STOP!”

The commander rushed over and looked at him rising a brow and saying “what the hell captain?”

The helm officer taped here white holographic console in front of her, gliding her hands over stopping the ship.

The con officer responded “Sir we are detecting heavy distortions and anti matter fields ahead of us, I recommend we Reverse Shield polarity, and push more power to the engines”

The commanded nodded and said “Do it, how are we coming with those weird signals?”

The con officer taped his large holographic console, signals came up, the computer had already went through the first and was nearly finished with the second possibility. “

Mean while the large ship began moving again , its huge grey hull pushing forth in the darkness of space, as its hull lights blinked in succession, the shields have been reversed to push back on the anti matter field. It was moving slowly, inching along towards the ship.

By now, the Whale had gone to Fluidic space, so the octopuss came over to play. It kept a fair distance away, with sheilds at a minimum, kept close to the ship.

It too, merely waited for an audio response to their signal.

It was, as others realised, a simple test. Reply with the wrong one, and get destroyed, or enslave. Find the right one, and get invited to fluidic space. All three ships were of course, being examined, each in a diffrent manner.

At this, as the second to respond. One of "Them" came over. It teleported in onto the bridge of The Begotten. It looked like an underwater explorer. Around its body, was a suit, and on its back, were two tanks holding water of all things. It was a giant octopus. It had two eyes, Aqua Marine blue, and was Solid Grey. It closed its eyes. Words came from its direction, yet it was not speaking.

"I Read your soul. I understand your words. And return them to you. I am an explorer from The Place that is. This Place is not. How can it be? There is no Water here. A place cannot be without Water. This place is new. We come to explore. You have managed to prove your kind bears intelligence. You are worthy of contact, though your words do not have the ability to truly express our intent. Perhaps you will understand. Come, let me take you, to the Place that is. The Infinite Ocean on the other side." Said The Aquamarinian.

Those in the Command Center were started at the immediate appearance of an unknown being, weapons were raised, but when the creature began to speak, those weapons were then lowered.

Captian Mitchell stood infront of the Aquamatinian,
"I am glad we could meet face-to-face, I understand that your native tongue is more complex than ours, we would be grateful to assist you in your search for the place that is not."

"Enter the White Portal my Brethren have created, perhaps you will understand." Said the Aquamarnian

The Whale moved as gracefully as a real one to be practically eye to eye with the NBS Hope. It removed its Dark Matter Sheilding.

It sent a picture of the Area around them. Then it showed a strange ocean some where. Then it showed a Star. Then it sent accross a series of instructions, which, if done right with the proper equipment, would inable them to cross the layers of Reality seperating Fluidic Space from Non Fluidic Space.

It ended with a Picture of a Very Old looking Creature. It was obviously one of Them. It sat on a reef of Gold Coral, and wore a circlet of Silver. His Eyes were Aqua Marine Blue. He looked like a Giant Octopus, had two eyes, and an opening that was his mouth, spread wide in a smile. His tentacles were spread wide in a gesture of welcome. It was of course, an invitation to Fluidic space.

The response from the Whale ship came in as the pictures where shown the bridge was quiet... The Strange ocean, most likely where they where from.... the star... most likely the star where their planet or where ever they lived orbited. Then the instructions, designs for the Fluidic Drive (OOC: the drive to get to Fluidic space, this is my own name for it) and then The arms of the octupus eyes with their arms spread open wide in a welcoming gesture.

finally one of the diplomatic people that are on board (OOC: Every NBS ship has diplomats of some type on board) suggested, "Why don't we see if we can send someone over and have a talk with them?"

The whole message was sent back via the Novaen Communications probes back to Nova and engineers that will start work on the device.

While a desicion was being made the UASV Millenium jumped into the area. They received a message from them and sent the following one in reply


Captain Trevor Heed is my name. I'm glad we could meet again. You probably don't remember but I did briefly meet you when I originally took control of the Hope back on Nova Merchant (ooc: The name of the Trade planet). Nice to meet you Hakurabi again

And by that time a decision has been made...

The following message was sent to the Whale ship.

We welcome your invititation to come to your world in the great ocean that you showed us. The details and instructions you have sent us have been relayed to our engineeers and they will soon get started working on it. I unable at the moment to give you an estimate of how long it will take but it should not be long. To further develop a relationship between our peoples we would like to engange in face-to-face dialogue betweeen us. We would welcome a representative of yours aboard our ship and we are also willing to send a representative of ours aboard yours. The choice will be yours to make.

One of them came over. It too, was wearing a suit of water for them to breath.

"We hear your words, and the words of others. The common language shared by the Place that is not, is limited, and cannot express what we truely wish. The Old and Wise one, who welcomes you to the great Gathering area known to us as the the ancient place, most anxiously waits to meet those that live here, in the place that is not. When fully assembled, the Reality shifter that we gave you instructions for, is no more than an add on for an already powerful drive, allowing you to enter the infinite ocean, and return again." said the creature. The words were eminating from it, yet it did not speak.

OOC: In case no one's guessed it, they are using psionic powers to vibrate the air with their words. Mainly because they do not yet know how to speak. The Place that Is, is Fluidic Space. It has a water like substance everywhere. No where, is it dry, unless it is manipulated to be otherwise. The Place that is not, is our existence. They are confused, because there is not something everywhere, at least as far as they know. Eventually, everyone's going to meat the King, in one fashion or another. And though the circumstances of meeting are somewhat diffrent, its all on purose, as they are studying you, to see your reactions, and still guage if you are truely possesed of intelligence, and not perhaps, a bunch of lucky unevelved creatures.

"Enter the White Portal my Brethren have created, perhaps you will understand." Said the Aquamarnian

"Nav, has any portal opened up recently?"
"Yes sir, right off of the bow of one of the unidentified ships."
"Ok, Comms, tell the two Frigates to stay close, Nav plot a course to the portal."
"Are you sure about this Captian?"
"I trust our new-found friends."

The three Yukatan ships lumbered to the opened white portal, after several minutes they entered the portal and awaited thier fate.

"Nav, has any portal opened up recently?"
"Yes sir, right off of the bow of one of the unidentified ships."
"Ok, Comms, tell the two Frigates to stay close, Nav plot a course to the portal."
"Are you sure about this Captian?"
"I trust our new-found friends."

The three Yukatan ships lumbered to the opened white portal, after several minutes they entered the portal and awaited thier fate.

The first things their sensors would pick up, before any visuals could be given, was a constant shifting pressure on the ship, and it was as if an infinite ocean pressed in on them from all sides. Then they would notice that indeed there was a water like substance surrounding the ship, and it stretched as far as the sensors could go, in all directions. There were no stars, but there were floating reefs, and the glowed brightly. There were also planets, and they had things living on them.

"Welcome, to the infinite ocean. When described to a human long ago, in a diffrent place, and in another language, called it Fluidic Space. We thought him a bit strange, but he had wonderful stories. We enjoyed knowing him, until he died." The Alien said.

"Sir hull pressure has increased sevenfold!"
"How well is the hull holding up?"
"Well under these conditions we can survive indefenatly."
"Well thats good."
"Sir, the pressure is changing!"
"If it gets to crush ratio, jump us out of here."
"Yes sir!"---"Message from our "Friends".
"Display it."

"Welcome, to the infinite ocean. When described to a human long ago, in a diffrent place, and in another language, called it Fluidic Space. We thought him a bit strange, but he had wonderful stories. We enjoyed knowing him, until he died."

"Send this to them."

We are glad to be here in "Fluidic Space", now onto the buisnesse of finding the place that was not. Is there any information that you could give us that could help you in your quest? Now we would like to know more about this human that you knew so long ago.

"Sir hull pressure has increased sevenfold!"
"How well is the hull holding up?"
"Well under these conditions we can survive indefenatly."
"Well thats good."
"Sir, the pressure is changing!"
"If it gets to crush ratio, jump us out of here."
"Yes sir!"---"Message from our "Friends".
"Display it."



"Send this to them."

"This, The infinite Ocean, Fluidic Space, is The Place that is. Use your mind, your technology, no matter where you search, something, even the Great Ocean is there. In the Place you where, In many places, nothing was there, no matter how carefully we searched.

As for the Human, we stumbled accross him, in a place he called home. He was what was known as a story teller. After he met us, he made many storys about people of his kind in the future, and their journey's accross space. Others liked his stories, and continued them on.

As to the ocean crushing your ship, if it lives now, it should be fine. The ocean grows stronger or weaker, depending upon how many are in it, where they are, and if they are moving." The Aquamarinians said. The Last part was hinting at Displacement of the ocean by the things in it.

Then, a pair of Octopus ships came up on either side.

"Now, come with us, The Old and wise one is anxioust to know of you." They said. The Octopus ships began to escort them to a planet nearby.

After returning to the bridge and calming down for around a moment, Karellen had recomposed himself and had returned to his usual calm self.

The Millenium was poorly designed for time in the Infinite Ocean and quickly passed back out through the portal before any permanent damage was done.

"Sorry about earlier, I'm agoraphobic. Now, as captain I welcome you to the UASV Millenium. Apologies for not being able to extend any further offers, but though I hold the traditional rank of supreme leader onboard a ship, my duties lie solely in the running and navigation of the ship. Mr. Korlis over here, our head diplomat, can take you over to our labs, where our anthropologists can give you a run down of what we know of space."

In the construction bay, the engineers were building a vessel resembling a submarine, utilising a proper muon drive, not some sleeve fitted over a fusion drive.

As Korlis took the Aquamarinan (whom the crew had taken to calling 'rainbow', for lack of an actual name) to the Anthropologists, he explained about the circumstances. "Our ships just aren't built to take the pressure that we experienced when we headed in the first time, so we're building an old type of vessel called a 'submarine'," The archaic word felt awkward in his mouth "that should be able to move more readily in the Infinite Ocean. We'll be sending that through the portal instead of this enormous thing, which has already taken some damage from the pressure."

Back on the bridge, Karellen was sending a reply to the NBS Hope.

Ah yes, I remember you. Good to see you guys again, too.

The muon drive was also an aged piece of technology that functioned by superheating water within milliseconds. Far more efficient than more modern drives, it was abandoned because once Earth was too far for a return trip, water became far too scarce for boiling into space for star drives.

By adding intake valves, it became an incredibly effective form of transportation for the Infinite Ocean, which featured an unlimited amount of water for the Muon Drive to function.

The construction process would normally take weeks, but was finished quickly using the energy-inefficient nanolathing process - such an opportunity was not to be missed.

A few hours later, the submarine was complete, and awaited only its crew.

After returning to the bridge and calming down for around a moment, Karellen had recomposed himself and had returned to his usual calm self.

The Millenium was poorly designed for time in the Infinite Ocean and quickly passed back out through the portal before any permanent damage was done.

"Sorry about earlier, I'm agoraphobic. Now, as captain I welcome you to the UASV Millenium. Apologies for not being able to extend any further offers, but though I hold the traditional rank of supreme leader onboard a ship, my duties lie solely in the running and navigation of the ship. Mr. Korlis over here, our head diplomat, can take you over to our labs, where our anthropologists can give you a run down of what we know of space."

In the construction bay, the engineers were building a vessel resembling a submarine, utilising a proper muon drive, not some sleeve fitted over a fusion drive.

As Korlis took the Aquamarinan (whom the crew had taken to calling 'rainbow', for lack of an actual name) to the Anthropologists, he explained about the circumstances. "Our ships just aren't built to take the pressure that we experienced when we headed in the first time, so we're building an old type of vessel called a 'submarine'," The archaic word felt awkward in his mouth "that should be able to move more readily in the Infinite Ocean. We'll be sending that through the portal instead of this enormous thing, which has already taken some damage from the pressure."

Back on the bridge, Karellen was sending a reply to the NBS Hope.



The muon drive was also an aged piece of technology that functioned by superheating water within milliseconds. Far more efficient than more modern drives, it was abandoned because once Earth was too far for a return trip, water became far too scarce for boiling into space for star drives.

By adding intake valves, it became an incredibly effective form of transportation for the Infinite Ocean, which featured an unlimited amount of water for the Muon Drive to function.

The construction process would normally take weeks, but was finished quickly using the energy-inefficient nanolathing process - such an opportunity was not to be missed.

A few hours later, the submarine was complete, and awaited only its crew.

"Then I shall go with you, for The Aged wise one wishes to meet those from this place, which is not a place, yet is. It is, mind boggling. Once in The Ocean, a Whale ship shall take us to what you might call, The Grand Reef City." Said Rainbow. After figuring out what and why they were calling her Rainbow, she only had this to say.

"Rainbow is a suitable name. In orger to pronunce mine properly, i would have to rig out your lungs through your Ribcage, and make a sharp slice in your neck. It would proabably kill you, and would not be looked upon with favor, by anyone. I am colorful because I am Female, yet that is not even known if it is complete truth. It has been thought that Each Aquamarinian, Us, that is, has the power to choose their Sex at the time of maturation. It has been proven as true, and has been proven as false. It is indeed a great mystery to us. It is not our choice to be colored so. It is a natural byproduct of that which makes me a She Aquamarinian, and my Brother a He Aquamarinian.
Rainbow said.

"Well, until we find a way to speak your names without becoming horribly mangled, I suppose it will have to do. Well, the submarine should be ready, so we'll head down there - the rest of the team are already over there."

They entered the construction bay, where the submarine was on docking clamps already.

"As soon as we get in the portal we'll need you to navigate - we've not got the right sensors to find our way long distance. We've got sonar, though."

As soon as everyone was onboard, the submarine was launched from the bottom of the ship and was launched towards the portal by three shuttles - water was far too precious onboard the ship to be used with a muon drive.

The submarine entered fluidic space, and the intakes opened to fill its reserve tanks with water for when they left fluidic space. When they filled up, the reserve tanks closed their intakes and the panels covering the drive intakes slid open as the superheating elements warmed up.

In the meantime, everyone onboard was busy watching the spectroscopes.

Rainbow pressed her hands to her her head, she closed her eyes, she seemed to be talking with someone, or something, through telepathy. An Octopus Ship came by, and headed towards the planet below.

"Follow that octopus." Rainbow said.

"Alright, Nav, follow those ships."
"Yes sir."
"Also, open a inter-ship comm I want to talk with the Frigate's Captians."
"Doing so Sir."

As Captian Mitchell discussed recent events with the Frigate captians, the Three Yukatan ships followed the Octopus ships to the one who is Old and Wise.

The Planet was large. an almost glass like sheild seperated what was supposed to be the breathable water of the planet, from the non-breathable water, of what was to them, space.

They would pass into a small ctructure, that would drain away the bad water, and fill it with good water. Then they were lead to a docking bay. Water was pumped out for the air breathers.

Nothing could yet be seen of the cities on the planet.

"It is requested, that all leave this submarine." Rainbow said.

Then she lead them on down the path way. a light flashed, and her suit was gone. She stepped into the watery section, and guided them on. It lead out into a massive city. The ground was composed of Rocks, and smooth slimy dirt. Large underwater plants grew, and various marine life swam around. The Aquamarinians were everywhere. The buildings, the buildings were made of a metal resembeling steel, yet over time, Coral had grown over it. The most noticable thing of all, was the palace. It could have easily been a city twice the size of Tokyo in Japan. It was old, it was massive, and manny tubes and roads ran into it.

Rainbow waited for them beneath a pipe on a circular platform. The pip pointed down.

"It will be quickest, to go by Tube. We will provide you with the oxygen your bodies require." Rainbow said. Her voice sounded more velvety under water.

Jellyfish like creatures were all caught in a cage.

"These creatures, naturally produce oxygen. Let them cover your face, and you need not fear drowning in even the deepest valley." She said.

Many young Aquamarinians, all of whom, were light gray, looked at the air breathers in wonder. Many adults ignored them as an illusion. However Rainbow seemed to carry some weight here, as all gave her a partial Bow.

The people onboard the submarine disembarked, wearing sealed vacuum suits.

Korlis spoke through a speaker on the front of his suit.

"Thank you for your hospitality, but we feel it would be easier for communication if we remain within our suits. Our breathing organs function on gases and it would be difficult for us to speak clearly."

They did, however, bring a few specimens with them for study later. Fission within such a small package would be useful for any further contact between the Void and Fluid space.

"Would it be alright if we took a few with us for the labs back on the ship?"

The Tube came down around all those there. It seemed ominous, then like a Jet they went shooting through the pipes, up, down, left, right, in great dizzying loops. Through buildings, over buildings under buildings, by buildings. Nothing could be seen of the city, but a fast species of Eels was easily keeping pace.

Then, they were set down, within the Grand palace. The Water was swirling in a vortex, as a gate, at a signal though, it stopped. They were allowed through, into an area that was obviously special. A great tower rose into the middle of the courtyard they were in, and the gates to the tower, were of a high value of pearl, lined with Gold, and had a silver handel. They swung open, to reveal a raised platform, in the center, with a single Aquamarinian, surrounded by twenty fierce guards. Unlike all other aquamarinians, this one was white. Its eyes had lightened to sky blue, and it was obvious that this one had seen many years. A since of wisdom pervaded his presence, and it was obvious at a glance, that he was, above all else, the only one who could concievably be ruler of Fluidic space.

He rose, and and nodded, then sat back down again.

In a single, comfortingly gentle voice, he spoke.

"I am he that is old, and wise. I am he, that sits in servitude of my country. Long have I desired to know about your ocean, the dry ocean, the place that is, yet is not, and burns with great balls of gas. Long have I desired how life is possible, in such conditions. Long, have i desired to know about those that live there. Come, sit, The young ones shall fetch you objects of comfort. A moss pillow? A blanket of the finest seaweed? a Light Coral, to chase away the darkness perhaps? come, tell me of your world, of your lifes.
Tell me, why it is, that in some places, everything is drown towards a hole of awful blackness, and yet in others, endless streams of matter spring up out of nowhere. Please, do not hold back, for I am an old Aquan. For a name, yes, a name, a needless, yet necessary label, My name cannot be translated into your toungues, for long have we tried. Simply, call me King Aqua, or Ocaen Master, or what ever other name suits you best." The old, and wise one said. His voice was diffrent from all others, and spoke, of his long life.

OOC: Yukatania, this part of my post, post number 37 applies to you too, sorry, I thought you knew.

The Planet was large. an almost glass like sheild seperated what was supposed to be the breathable water of the planet, from the non-breathable water, of what was to them, space.

They would pass into a small ctructure, that would drain away the bad water, and fill it with good water. Then they were lead to a docking bay. Water was pumped out for the air breathers

OOC: Just for the sake of moving the story along, Ill continue where Post #39 ends.


IC: Captain Mitchell stood, and wondered where to begin telling this King Aqua about "Dry" Space.

"Well, the only way we survive in the dry is because we breathe in gases, not water. Our biology is dependent on the Gases we call Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and many others. Those that live out there are very varied in appearance, size, intelligence, and speech. The areas where everything is swallowed by "holes of Darkness", those are called "Black Holes", they are areas where Stars have collapsed on themselves and because of Gravity it pulls everything into it. Now I'm sure the Hakurabians can elaborate more on what we've said."

He nodded.

King Aqua looked at the Hakurabians.

"One of you expressed intrest at studying creatures offered to you to let you breath air in even the deepest waters. It was the result of long years of carefully guided evolution. Biological technology, you could say. You may take ten. Five males, five females. They subsist on tiny microorganisms, we call brine shrimp. One pair can produce 100 children per year." He said.

(OOC: It's just 'Hakurabi'.)

Korlis stepped back and allowed one of the scientists to speak.

"Thank you for allowing us to take some specimens with us. However, I must ask the purpose of creating such a creature - we've found that Oxygen is a deadly poison for most species we've encountered."

Korlis coughed discreetly.

"Oh, right. Whilst there is the obvious, such as the lack of water, there are other key differences brought about by the vacuum that do not manifest in a high-water environment. The first is that all supplies required for survival must be carried within the vessel. Planets-wise, the lack of a universal breathing medium means that colonisation is a long and expensive process. An unfortunate side effect is balkanisation - whilst Mr. Mitchell and I are of the same species we are affiliated with different federal entities."

(OOC: It's just 'Hakurabi'.)

Korlis stepped back and allowed one of the scientists to speak.

"Thank you for allowing us to take some specimens with us. However, I must ask the purpose of creating such a creature - we've found that Oxygen is a deadly poison for most species we've encountered."

Korlis coughed discreetly.

"Oh, right. Whilst there is the obvious, such as the lack of water, there are other key differences brought about by the vacuum that do not manifest in a high-water environment. The first is that all supplies required for survival must be carried within the vessel. Planets-wise, the lack of a universal breathing medium means that colonisation is a long and expensive process. An unfortunate side effect is balkanisation - whilst Mr. Mitchell and I are of the same species we are affiliated with different federal entities."

"Long has it been since the consept of a foreign government was in these halls. Many and varied were the governments, with ,many diffrent goals and objectives. All was peaceful, until we all encountered each other. Each of us, every single one of us knew our goals, our objectives were diffrent. Some we could remain friends with, but others, their only goal was to spread destruction, and terror. Yet, in the end, we must find, it was not only because of that. Each of us, everyone, we were all subtly convinced that or goals, or government was the better one. And so, war was invented, and it was a terrible beast indeed. For countless years we fought, and we destroyed each other. we expanded, we invented, we increased our strength, all to no avail, for in the end, we only destroyed ourselves. Eventually, we all came together, and agreed upon one government, to rule accross the entirety of Fluidic space. But then, there was still unrest and disorder. Leaders split with factions of the military, and returned again to destroy us. The first international government fell, upon agreement, for we could not escape ourselves.

But then, a time of peace emerged, and weapons turned to rust, battlefeilds were plowed for crops, and slowly, the waters ran clean again. It was, as though we were afraid to go to war, afraid, to prove common opinion right, that were were nothing more than bloodthirsty savages, and that no matter how much we learned, we would never be able to advance past our primal nature. Fear of ourselves, kept us at peace for many years, but then, a dark and terrible force came upon us, and the craving for a single government, won out of force, came upon the darker empires. They looked again, to the ancient secrets of weaponry, wand war. And war was upon us again, but this time, it was a final war. I shall not go into detail about it, suffice to say, that it was long, bitter, and bloody, but in the end, all the royal aquamarinians, killed each other. we, the people, came together, as one massive nation, and became our own government, one of peace, and prosperity. And, because I was there from the beginning, and I have lived a long life, in the pursuit of wisdom, and understanding, I was made to rule, though I wish it could be otherwise. I only hope, it has been a wise, and fruitful rule. That is my story, what is yours?" King aqua said.

"Yes the space beyond this are filled with many federal governments, sometimes we can agree with each other, but most of the time war breaks out and countless lives are lost."

"Well, then, perhaps you can explain to us, some rather strange creatures we encountered in, eh, hmm. We need a way to diffrentiate between the great ocean, and the non-ocean, your space. Ahh, yes, Non-fluidic space will do nicely. anyway, we encountered some strange creatures during exploration of another section of Non-fluidic space.

They are very strong indeed, some even have four arms, these ones seem revered by the rest, and they seem to have a glimmering of intelligence, yet sadly, they do not show it, instead, being prone only to violent outbursts every few seconds. We call them Gareens, which is modled after the sound of their breathing, when labored." King Aqua said.