Behold: Humanity!: Total War, page 24
"Well, Almanique, you have to understand, for over a hundred million years my people just weren't challenged. We had every advantage after the Precursor Conflict and we used to it ruthlessly suppress all other species that might eventually evolve to challenge our views of a perfect universe," Vu'uklu'u stated, puffing on his pipe.
"So, you don't argue that you were merely doing it out of self-protection?" Almanique, hostess of Face Smashing Opinions asked pleasantly, sipping at her champagne. She knew that right now hundreds of millions of people were watching her show.
She could see her viewer count in the upper right of her vision. Oddly enough, her audience approved of her guest to a near 80% level, which, since her audience was a multi-species audience, was rare.
Vu'uklu'u shook his head. "Not unless you count pre-emptive genetic manipulation and genocide as self-protection. Even if you do, my people never tried a single attempt at any other method of protecting themselves."
Almanique leaned forward, her eyes catching the studio lights oh so perfectly and making them sparkle. "Ah, but the Terran Confederacy has used pre-emptive strikes and genocide to protect itself within living memory."
Vu'uklu'u chuckled. "Comparing an attack by silicate based XNA life form uninterested or unable even unwilling to communicate to what my people did is a rather daring statement. As for pre-emptive attacks, I assume you mean with military forces?"
"Of course," Almanique stated. Nearly ten thousand viewers had just tuned in.
"Facing your opponent through martial might is one thing. You obviously felt that they were a military threat, or, like my people, a genocidal threat," Vu'uklu'u said. He puffed on his pipe for a moment, enjoying the taste of Fiji Sugar-Grass. "My people merely observed there was intelligent life, or life that had the capacity to become intelligent, and automatically assigned them the context of a threat to the Lanaktallan way of life and so immediately, upon discovery, moved to destroy them as a people."
"My audience finds it interesting that you display no remorse for what your people have done historically and are currently at war with the Confederacy for doing now," Almanique said.
Vu'uklu'u nodded regally. "Indeed, I do not. It was performed without my knowledge or consent. While I may have been part of the system, as a genetic researcher investigating ancient genetic data and samples on a nearly forgotten and almost abandoned space station, I would have never condoned destroying a culture. The guilt lies solely on those who built and guided such a criminal enterprise under the guise and pretense of having my own best interests at heart."
Almanique smiled. "An interesting ethical quandary and one I am sure will be argued for decades to come," she turned to face the camera. "Thank you, everyone, for tuning in. In two days we will continue our discussions on the Lanaktallan Great Herd, with my current co-host and featured guest: Vu'uklu'u, author of I Was So Busy Grazing I Missed the Slaughter."
"Until next time," Vu'uklu'u nodded at the camera again.
-----
MANTID FREE WORLDS
You know what bugs me the most about the Lanaktallan?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT
Their murderous genocidal ways?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
MANTID FREE WORLDS
In a way. It's their hypocrisy.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
BIOLOGICAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS
What do you mean?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
MANTID FREE WORLDS
Well, they're all about conservation, but the only thing they conserve is resources. That's it. We don't even know if they refine them into something else. It's just 'conserve conserve conserve' and 'there are only enough resources for one species to survive to entropy' but they don't even try to conserve anything beyond naturally occurring resources.
There's no conservation of art or literature or music.
There's not even a conservation of talent.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA’AD HIVE WORLDS
True. Which brings us to the big question.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
MANTID FREE WORLDS
WHAT are they doing with all these resources?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS
Considering I've estimated they've harvested enough resources to build 4.138 Dyson Spheres, including the creation of the stellar mass, they have to be doing something with it.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA’AD HIVE WORLDS
Oh man, I just had a horrible thought.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
What?---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA’AD HIVE WORLDS
What if... bear with me now, what if...
Back during the Precursor War, or right before, they had envisioned this massive, and I mean, MASSIVE project, all dedicated to ensuring that they would be the ones to survive the entropic end of the known universe.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
OK. And?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA’AD HIVE WORLDS
Well, they go to war, and they turn all their construction and resource gathering vessels into the AWMs we all know and love, right?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT
Makes sense.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA’AD HIVE WORLDS
I'm not done.
Now, we know the First Precursor War was pretty devastating. All three sides basically lost, right?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
MANTID FREE WORLDS
Yeah. Basically.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA’AD HIVE WORLDS
Well, what if they're still working on this grand project. Gathering up all these resources and taking them to be used by their great project.
What if that's what's happening?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS
Well, we know that.
Is that it, is that your whole theory?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA’AD HIVE WORLDS
Yes.
I mean, think about it. What if they're gathering all these resources and delivering them to the place where they'd be refined and used for the Great Project.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS
That's what they're doing. Why is this bothering you? We know they're doing that.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA’AD HIVE WORLDS
No, no, you don't get what I'm saying.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
BIOLOGICAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS
Explain.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA’AD HIVE WORLDS
What if they're delivering all those resources.
And that's it.
Nothing else.
They've stockpiled over four entire Dyson spheres out there in space, at where this Great Project was going on or was supposed to happen.
And that's it.
For a hundred million years they've just been piling up cigarettes and ice cream into this HUGE pile.
And that's it.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
MANTID FREE WORLDS
That's... terrifying.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
How? It just means they're dumber than a box of bricks. How is it terrifying?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA’AD HIVE WORLDS
Think about it. The Lanaktallan have repeatedly stripped planets of life and resources, over and over, for a hundred million years. Completely mined away entire solar systems till all that's left is the stellar mass, some gravel, and wisps of a gas giant.
They've dedicated all this work, all this time.
To just stacking shit in the corner, staring at it and rubbing their hands together going "At last, we will have our revenge."
Think of the complete, utter, absolute madness of it.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
BIOLOGICAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS
Oh God.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
MANTID FREE WORLDS
The way the universe works, I'm afraid you may have just figured out their sinister plan.
Stack all that stuff in the corner so they have it in a big pile when the universe, I don't know, suddenly vanishes because of entropy.
They'll still have stuff, I guess.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
That makes no sense.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TNVARU GESTALT
Which is why that's exactly what happened.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
MAKEOUT POINT
Dambree left the house, through the window as one was wont to do when avoiding a parental unit's notice, and snuck across the yard. She jumped over the short fence and hurried down the alley. She was dressed in soft cloth, a pair of soft pants made of blue cloth, a shirt of blue that had short sleeves and left her belly-fur exposed, and a pair of soft shoes. In the last year she had seen the Overseers flee the system and leave the entire world empty of their presence, then the hairless primates called "Terrans" showed up and wanted to do trade.
It had been an exciting, heady time, and she had loved every moment of it.
Over the summer she had met a male Hesstlan named Alkree, and despite her male parental unit's admonitions of 'no daughter of mine...' regards dating, she had still carried on through private chats and messages. Alkree was handsome, older, and had a ground vehicle and a job overseeing agricultural robots.
That's why Dambree was sneaking out to meet him even though her parental units would disapprove of her sneaking out at night, her bare midriff, and the fur dye she had on her cheeks and the tips of her ears.
She exited the alley and walked to the corner, waiting for Alkree just like they had agreed. She checked her datapad and saw that Alkree had left a message that he was on his way.
**I'm here** she sent back.
After a few minutes Alkree pulled up in his ground car. A black car with narrow headlights and a roomy passenger cabin. Alkree popped open the door and she slid into the car, looking at him. He was tall, lanky, with a stripe of shaved fur on the top of his head and down his neck. He had metal piercings in his ears and had dyed the tips of his ears, around his eyes, and the tip of his nose black. He leaned over and licked the side of her neck and face, making her giggle, then handed her a bottle. She opened it and sniffed at it. Uddlevent fruit liquor.
"Thank you," she said, sipping it lightly. She handed it back and he bumped noses with her before taking a long drink off the bottle.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"How does Shalpeenea Bluff sound to you?" Alkree said, turning smoothly onto the side-road.
Dambree nodded, taking another sip of the alcohol and gulping. The Bluff overlooked the agricultural fields and the city both and was a well known spot for boyfriends to take their girlfriends. The thought made her fur prickle just to think about it.
Alkree put his hand on her thigh and she giggled as he rubbed the soft cloth up and down her leg. The car moved up the incline up to the bluff as she sipped at the sweet liquor, taking three or four sips for every drink that Alkree took.
She was feeling a little light headed and tingly across her ears and face when Alkree parked the car so that they could see the robotic tenders in the agricultural fields below and the lights of the city beyond.
The evening was giddy for Dambree, the attention that the older Alkree was paying to her, the lights of the city beyond and the robots moving through the fields, and the alcohol all combined to make her head swim.
She was looking up through the windshield when she saw the streaks of light in the sky. A few, then dozens, then hundreds. She moved her head, looking closer, as the streaks seemed to slice across the indigo night sky. Her arms were over her head, out the side window, and her shirt bunched up under her armpits and against her throat. Some of them were at weird angles, where the streak disappeared and only a slowly growing point of light was visible. Alkree took that time to pull her shirt off over her head, tossing it into the passenger seat beside him, and when she looked up even more shooting stars had started. There were bright sparks erupting to life in the sky that quickly went away, clusters of them, of all different colors.
"Shooting stars," she said, starting to sit up. Alkree moved his head, cursing, as she turned in place, shuffling her knees because her pants were down around them, and stuck her head out the open window. She laughed, feeling light headed, and opened the door, kicking out of her pants as she climbed out of the car and looked at the night sky.
HEAVY METAL INCOMING! roared out from every flat surface, every speaker. Many people winced, a few cried out in fear and confusion and pain.
Alkree mumbled something and followed her as she stared up at the sky.
She wasn't the only one. Several vehicles’ couples had gotten out, although most of them were fully dressed, all staring at the sky and pointing at the streaks, the twinkling of sparks in the sky, or the steadily growing bright dots that were seemingly dropping down.
"Get back in the car," Alkree said, pulling on her arm.
She pulled away, pointing at one of the bright dots. "What do you think it is?"
"Who cares?" Alkree said. He grabbed her arm and pulled at her again. "Come on."
One of the balls of light suddenly streaked forward, roaring over the cars, making all the Hesstlan duck and scream. It hit in the trees right behind, a ball of fire reaching up to the sky and the impact making the trees wave back and forth.
Hesstlan were yelling, wondering what it was, wondering where it came from, some wanted to run toward it, some wanted to leave right away.
Alkree adjusted his black vest and stepped toward the woods. "I'm going to go see who crashed a flitter," he said, looking over his shoulder. "Unless you can think of something better to do."
She shook her head, looking back up. She lifted the bottle to her mouth and took another sip of the liquor, the movement absent minded as she watched streaks pass straight over them. She looked back in time to see Alkree and some other males and females go into the woods. She sighed and looked up as she took another drink, flickering her ears nervously.
HEAVY METAL IS HERE! roared out over the speakers and from all around.
More bright flashes appeared up in the air. She squinted, trying to make them out. After a minute she looked down and saw her pants laying behind the car. Suddenly reminded she was outside in her underwear she moved over and bent over to grab her pants, laughing as she almost went headfirst into the ground.
There was a loud groaning noise that vibrated the air, so loud, deep bass she could feel vibrating her bones. It was followed by the snapping of wood and bright searchlights began to sweep the woods, casting shadows on the vehicles.
One male Hesstlan and his girlfriend got in their car and took off, leaving behind a cloud of dust.
There was a bright red light and screaming sounded from the woods.
She turned around in time to see several Hesstlan run from the woods, screaming. One was a female holding onto the stump of an arm. She got to the car, stumbling and whining, and the male helped her into the car.
Cars were starting up as Dambree looked around.
"Alkree?" she called out, suddenly nervous.
There was more bright red flashes and trees started cracking, falling to the side, and even more floodlights began to pan around the forest.
Alkree ran out of the woods, tripping and falling when he tried to jump the ditch and misjudged the distance. He scrambled up to her, his vest torn, a couple of his metal studs torn from his ears. His eyes were wild and it was obvious he was panicked.
Dambree looked up as a bright light suddenly shone down from the heavens in a flash. She saw a spreading light in the sky that slowly went out, staring at it befuddledly, wondering what it was.
Alkree grabbed her, pulling at her. "Get in the car, you stupid pup," he shrieked.
Dambree yanked back, her eyes filling with tears from his tone and his words. There was a crashing of breaking wood behind her but she was staring at Alkree with her eyes wide with hurt.
Alkree's eyes somehow widened even further in horror. He stepped up to Dambree and grabbed her, backing up, holding her at arm's length, his hands tight enough around her upper arms that it made her cry out in pain.
"Not me! Not me!" Alkree screamed. A bright red line went up and down Alkree's face and Dambree could see it on the back of her arms.
Dambree's foot hit a rock and she cried out, crumpling as her leg collapsed. She looked up just in time to see it happen.
A long tentacle with five graspers around the end snaked over the top of her, the tentacles made of dark metal, ringed every handspan or so, and the end of the tentacle settled on Alkree's head. The graspers flipped down, holding his head securely.
Alkree screamed and there was a crunching sound that reminded Dambree of a food chopper trying to digest a large thick tuber. She stared as his screaming turned to gurgles and suddenly his eyes sucked into his head. The graspers let Alkree go and he fell silently to the ground.
She realized that the top of his head was gone, to reveal an empty skull slicked with blood.
She rolled over and looked up, her eyes widening.
The thing stood on six stilts, ringed metal legs with wide flat pads on the ground. It was a wide oval, three stilts per side, and had rough looking mechanical sections on top. There were a dozen glass or plasteel or crysteel bubbles on the top, machinery visible inside. Three of them were blue, lit up, and she could see what looked like brains with tubes and rods and wires stuck in them. One of the dark glass bubbles lit up with soft white light, revealing bubbling liquid, rods, crystals, wires, and other devices inside.
