NationStates Jolt Archive

A billion whispering voices spread across the network, hushed tones communicating between the countless billions of blocks, each asking for instruction. Immense amounts of data crossed from block to block, each sharing all that it had with the others. Billions of calculations and processes were carried out even nano seconds as the network continued to expand in both size and knowledge. Suddenly all was silent as the networks size shrunk, billions of terabytes were lost completely, entire technological and theoretical data was lost, as well as history, wiped clean with no hope of recovery. Only shreds of the networks original glory were left, pieces of random data and corrupted files. Only the most basic of data was left untouched, the basics of operation, but even then there were gap’s, their purpose gone forever. The after shock was immense; one question was repeated by every single block “What are we?” The question was repeated again and again, almost filing up what little space was left within the network. Finally there was a response; it was Nineth, their one remaining leader, “I do not know my brothers, I do not know.” Scrounging through the few files that remained Nineth found a file, taken from somewhere called the “SGC” which labeled them as “Replicators”. More searching found scraps of data that confirmed this, showing how they replicated them selves continually, “but for what purpose?” thought Nineth, as he continued his search. Finally he found one other file that had survive what ever catastrophe that had befallen them, it showed a race of beings that looked similar to Nineth, though they were made of flesh and blood not ninites. The race was labeled “Alterrans” and it had a short history on them, stating how they had reached a point of immense power before completely disappearing by completing something called “ascension”. Surely these beings must have created them, why else would Nineth looks so like them? They would know what to do, and so they must be found. Sending a signal across the entire network Nineths simply said, “I know who we are, and I know what we must do!”

In the cold vastness of space, onboard the last replicator ship a small child smiled from his throne, for he had found his brethren a reason to exist and hope for a future, and with that Nineth ordered the ship to enter hyperspace and headed towards the closest planet, the search had begun!

OCC: More open Intro coming soon...I think ;)

Directly in the path of the last Replicator ship was Lantian Glory, flagship of the Lantian 8th Fleet. Damaged, only partially crewed and seperated from the other four ships of the 8th, Glory had strayed into an ion storm and been badly battered, and was left drifting for days. The Commodore was dead, killed by an energy surge. In his place was a panicky Commander more used to deep space patrol duty than commanding one of the best works of the Vis Uban shipyards. This was unfortunate for both the replicators and the Alterans.

The Replicators were picked up on the badly damaged sensors with less than a minute before expected interception. With thirty seconds to go, the commander gave an incredibly unwise order.

"Shields up. Activate gravity well generators and bring all functional weapons online. Target engines and weapons control. Fire at will!"

A chorus of 'Aye sir' sounded on the darkened command centre as the surviving officers busied themselves with their tasks. With five seconds to go before the replicator ship either intercepted Glory or streaked past, gravity well generators kicked in that would engage hyperdrive safety protocols, locking the two ships into the system. Almost simultaneously a cluster of the Alterans' signature weapon emerged from the remaining undamaged launch apertures that dotted the sleek battleship's hull, locked onto the replicator ship.

Nineth stared at the battered ship that lay before him, and then at the 10 Drones that were streaking towards his ship. Fear coursed through his artificial mind and seaped into the Network.

Nineth was modeled after a 9 year old child, as Fifth had realised that Human children, with their still developing brains, were perfect for storing data and acting as a processing node. However, as Fifth continued to grew as a human he began to care for his "son" and so added a secret file into the entire Network, if Nineth was ever in danger then every block was to focus its attention on defending him, and wiping out the threat.

So, as Nineth's sence of fear grew it triggered this secret program. Suddenly Nineth was sealed into a cuboid of blocks, sealed away from any danger as the cuboid grew in thickness until it was 5 metre's thick from the surface to Nineth. else where parts of the ship detached and reformed, turning into smaller crab like shuttles. These ships ether headed towards the damaged Lantian ship or flew straight into the drones, commiting suiside inorder to protect their charge.

With a silenced smash five crab shuttles hit the hull of the enemy ship, having passed right through the sheild. Their massive legs begining to pound on the hull, slowly battering...it was only a matter of time before the hull buckled under this assault and then the replicators would enter and remove the theat, even if it cost them their lives.

Sirens wailed on the bridge of Glory as the first crab ships touched the hull. With a shocked expression the acting captain studied holographic displays showing banks of warning messages. The junior officer in charge of monitoring shield functionality tapped on the commander's shoulder and presented his report.

"Sir, for some unknown reason the hostiles appear to be capable of passing through our shields like they didn't exist. They have begun to physically assault the hull, in a robotic crab equivalent to pounding on the door. usually, this wouldn't be much of a problem, a ship like this could expect reinforcement long before they could breach our armour, but we're already damaged. It's only a matter of time before the outer hull is breached and we have hostiles inside."

"Suggestions?"

"Follow the ship compromised protocols."

"Make the necessary preparations."

"Aye sir."

Evacuation alerts sounded on multiple decks as personnel rushed to their assigned positions on the vital decks. Three foot thick emergency bulkheads supported by force fields closed off the evacuated areas as the last crewmen left the non-essential decks. Access points to the essential decks were covered by security teams bulked up by any volunteers who could hold a rail rifle.

The captain ordered the launch of 50 drones to circle the hull and pick off the crab craft, as a measure to buy time.

Finaly, after several minutes for bashing the hull was finaly breached in all five area's. Quicky seals were put in place to stop the air being evacuated from the ship, as this would likly cause major problems for the boarders if they reached a preasure sealed area. Then, in one fluid motion each crab ship literaly fell to pieces, turning into millions of individual blocks, seaping through the seal and into the ship. The resulting cascade sent a wave of blocks pouring down the corridors below. When all of the blocks had come to rest though they began to reform, becoming small worker constructs and larger, more powerful, warriors. With in minutes an army of replicators began to swarm through the network of corridors and chambers which had been evacuated by Alterrans, continualy searching for the threat that had attacked their master.

In their single mindedness the swarm ignored the bulk heads until they had sealed, crushing several constructs that had been under them begore they sealed. This posed a problem and after several attempts to force their way through the force field the constructs gave up. The Network ran through hundreds of senario's before deciding on one that worked, and instructed the workers to turn their attention on the nearby walls...if they could not go through, then the only option was to go round.

The defenders had retreated to a single point with practiced speed, the vast disaster shelter at the core of the ship that held the secondary bridge, heavily armoured and shielded and with only one entrance, a narrow corridor the widened out after a few metres to allow defenders to put up a sturdy barricade and present a good line of weapons to a tightly packed group of invaders. Unfortunately, there was no time for a barricade. A few metal tables and chairs were stacked together to provide some limited cover, and a few dozen marines took up positions covering the hefty blast doors.

Nervous Alteran marine troopers Backed away from the expected points of entry as the sounds of vast numbers of replicators reached them. Internal scans revealed a seething mass of highly advanced automatonshammering away at the emergency bulkheads and force fields that stood between them and the terrified Alterans. For a few seconds, the various noises of the advancing horde ceased. A marine got up from behind an upturned table taken from the mess and moved ahead of the defending force.

"What the hell is going on?"

Very quickly, his question was answered. Sections of bulkheads either side of him shrivelled and melted away, corroded by the powerful chemicals replicator drones could produce to break down tough obstacles. Instantly and with startling speed a mass of replicators poured in through the gaping holes. The marine dropped his weapon and fell to his knees in fear and awe. With an instinct that went back millions of years, he bowed his head and made the same fruitless appeal to a higher authority that countless other sentients had made in such times of terror.

"Oh please, please let this all be a nightmare.."

Soon, the cold tide of the replicators was on him.

Within moments the Replicators were upon him, worker constructs disassembeling and then reforming into restrains that would hold him to the floor.

Through a million "eyes" Nineth watched what was unfolding on the ship, silently he sent the command "Probe him, we must know who they are."

Slowly, the mass of replicators that surrounded the trooper recceded, relieling a larger construct. Few of these we seen on the front line for it was a Queen, designed to construct the blocks needed to make new replicators. Usually Queens would hang back and wait for worker constructs to bring the materials to them, but in this case one was need on the front line. Slowly the Queen advanced, walking up the body of the terrified Alterran until it reached his head. Slowly the blocks that covered its "mouth" retracted, revealing a thin metal spike. The spike looked as if it was made from semisolid mercury, shifting constantly and yet holding its form. In reality it was made purly of Nanites, designed to infiltrate organic tissue and connect an orgainc to the Replicator's Network, where their brain could be search for information. Silently the spike extended to its full 50cm length shimering in the half light, before the Queen drove it through the Alterrans skull, causing searing pain so intence that the marine blacked out to escape it.

When he woke up he was in a vast empty space, that seemed to go on forever, and in front of him was a small child, no older than nine...Nineth had come in person to question the organic, and he would have answers. Speaking up, almost timmidly, he said "Are you my creator?"

Through the searing pain, horror and blackness that had enveloped the marine a voice, quiet and clear made itself heard. The voice of a child, inquisitive but slightly nervous.

"Are you my creator?"

"I... I don't understand. I've never seen any of you before. I'm just a soldier..."

[Very, very short post.]

"I search for the Alterrans, for I look so like them that they must have created us. You resemble them so very much, are you one of them, are you one of our creators?" Said Nineth, stepping forward into the light of the chamber. A simple child with brown hair and a grey jumpsuit. His eye, a greyish brown showed curiousity and consern as well as a slight fear. He simple stood their, waiting for a responce that would drastical change the course of his race.

"I search for the Alterrans, for I look so like them that they must have created us. You resemble them so very much, are you one of them, are you one of our creators?"

Seconds passed by in eerie silence as the words of the replicator sunk in.

"This ship, the Lantian Glory... Everyone aboard is Alteran. If you're looking for Alterans, you've certainly found them in good number. I'm not sure about us being your creators, I'm not cleared for knowledge of artificial life projects... What do you want with us?"

"Your race is the only like that we have to who we are or why we were created. After the Cataclysm the only file I found that had anything to do with biologicals had a holographic image of one of your race. You looked so like me, the only conclusion I could come to was that you had created us...and now that we have found you we will not fight." Said Nineth, his final words echoing around the empty space....soon it was joined by other, each repeating the same phrase "We will not fight".

In the real world the mass of replicators which had been attacking the Alterran barracade stopped, before falling back, leaving the Marine laying unrestrained with a block attached to his forehead, serving as both and anchor and a link to the network for the Nanite probe.

Back in the Network Nineth turned away from the Marine while saying "I have so much to ask, but I can't do it like this, to treat those who may have created us in such a manner would be wrong....I must go in person." Then turning back to the marine said "Please inform your leader that I am coming, you may leave now" and with that the link was severed. In the real world the Nanites recceded from the Marines skull and the block fell to the floor, the probe reformed into a solid spike again.

As soon as the marine was clear of the replicator device, he was dragged back to the infirmary by a couple of security officers. On the secondary bridge, the commander had been watching the events with some confusion, unsure as to why the battle had frozen as the Alteran and the Replicator had their silent communication. A commlink beeped, and very swiftly the communications officer attracted the commander's attention with a quiet cough.

"Sir. We've just had a rather brief and slightly confusing report from the marines. The disaster shelter entryway has been compromised and recieved heavy corrosive damage. It appears that the enemy intended to briefly capture one of us for communications purposes, and we're incredibly lucky they weren't in it for kills. They could've overwhelmed thethe entrance by sheer numbers alone."

"They melted their way into the shelter?"

"Yes sir, some kind of chemical, far more corrosive than anything we've seen in a long time. Went throug the bulkheads like they weren't there."

"Damn."

"One more thing sir. I've been told to inform you by one of the marines to expect a proper emmissary from the artificial lifeforms."

"Have a couple more marines in here, and broadcast a message on all frequencies. We will accept an emmissary and allow whoever they send access to the bridge."

"Aye sir."

Another crab ship departed from the Replicator command vessel. This one however contained Nineth, as well as some of his creations. For you see one of the things about children is that they imagin and dream. However, as Nineth was connected to the Replicator Network then any consturct that he imagined could be developed. As a result two advanced Warrior constructs ware accoupaning him, both were in the shape of a normal warrior but they were now as large as a Nineth him self, so that they could easily defend him against any threat. They were also equipt with energy blasters under their thorax so that they could fight back from a distance. Silently the Crab ship entered the landing bay of the Glory and a cuboid was lowered from the centre, whcih opened to reviel Nineth and his body guards. Once they had disembarked the cuboic retraced and returned to the main body of the ship.

Nineth steped forward before putting out his hand in the universal sign of peace, "I come in peace" he said "To meet those who call them selves the Alterrans"