NationStates Jolt Archive

Spacetime ripped itself apart; a scream echoed from the corners of the cosmos, shaking and vibrating sensors. It sounded as a scream on audio, a high call that sounded like the death-cry of a slaughtered pig, of a frightened child, of an enraged creature (one no tongue could name, but one that was implanted in the brains of all who heard it, like an evolutionary memory). But it was not just a scream; with it it seemed to carry some form of electromagnetic energy, ionising energy, which turned small space rocks to dust and disrupted the path of dust itself. They say there is no sound in space, but this seemed like nothing so much as a hyper-intense sound wave, one that carried audio through the void.

It was a dying scream, and it was, specifically, the dying scream of a Xeneid. That was not something the average passerby (assuming the presence of passers-by) would know. The Xeneids after all, or Nova as they were better known, did not even reside in this universe; their corporeal form was invisible to normal eyes. Moreover, the Nova were immortal.

There was only one way a Xeneid could die: execution. Only once before in the history of Terra Carpedia had a Xeneid been executed, and the consequences were unpleasant to say the least; apparently the death of a Xeneid causes a rift in the space-time continuum to open, releasing a variety of extra-universal creatures. The result of this release was why Terra Carpedia's population was now eight billion fewer, and why the amount of land remaining on the planet was barely sufficient for just about anything.

The scream sounded again; the Xeneid was guilty of the worst possible crime, acting on evil thoughts, and would suffer long before its death came. The Nova understood the consequences of this; but crimes could not go unpunished, and the interloper would die. It was, of course, slightly more difficult to kill a Xeneid than it was to kill a Terran, and that showed: the concentrated energy enveloping Terra Carpedia, visible as a speck on the third moon of the fourth planet of the Nova System, grew even more intense, radiating highly energised photons for light-hours.

As a third scream cut across space, anyone close enough to hear it might observe that it was gradually growing fainter. The energy around Terra Carpedia grew exponentially stronger as the scream grew fainter; then the scream abruptly cut off, and for a moment sensors might read an odd level -- infinite energy.

Then the Carpedia system, and space around it as far as the scream had penetrated, was enveloped in a heavy blackness so thick that all electrical systems simply died.

The Portal was opening.

Sharak of Clan Dom watched the sky beyond the bubble.

It had turned black; a swirling black lit only by occasional streaks of purple lightning. Dark shapes swept past through the blackness; the oceans were boiling, almost closing over the top of the bubble. Almost all of the Carpedians had already retreated down to the underground shelters, and the energy field between the bubble and the sky beyond seemed to waver and sometimes to become invisible. But Sharak continued to watch.

Clan Dom was one of the smaller tribes to reside on Terra Carpedia. Nonetheless, it was one of the more powerful; Clan Dom made money, and used it. It was with members of Clan Dom that the Nova had first signed their Agreement. Sharak was the patriarch of Dom, a hundred years old if he was a day, and now he was watching what may have been the end of the Carpedian people.

A huge dark shape caused a shadow to fall over part of the city as it swung over the bubble; Sharak did not look up, he'd seen the creatures before. He might be watching there knowing that he would die, and thus was guilty of negative thoughts; but in reality, he had passed thought a long time ago. He simply stood at his window looking up at the bubble rim, and waited.

[Glorified bump]

OOC: I'll join, but what are you looking for through the interaction of others? Combat? Diplomacy? Other?

[Summary: You receive this odd transmission, and as you go to investigate it (reading life signs, possibly?) all electrical systems on your ship fail and you're plunged into darkness, then encounter various types of weird creatures that pursue and attempt to eat your ship? This is a first contact-type thread, although to make the contact you'll need to figure out how to get to the planet in question while staving off the creatures.

Ok, that wasn't very clear at all. So just be creative.]