Trails of the Past - Ancient Remnants [3]
18 Mar 2024Kasumi Goto
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Location: Col 173 Sector YF-N b23-6
Body A 3
March 9, 3310
This ruin was another strange one that appeared to lack a data terminal, and was of a different layout, compared to the other two without a terminal that I'd visited so far. It made me wonder whether there was any connection to the logs you could find at each site - but I couldn't make one out if it was the case.
It was not particularly important, anyhow. The information would remain the same regardless of the location, so it only mattered that I collected it. Which I did, finding logs 10 and 26 at this structure, though I was only supposed to find 10 according to the Canonn database. Nothing that bothered me.
10/28 : Civil War Log – Annihilation
This log concerns the end of the second civil war. Remarkably, it seems the artificial intelligences developed during the conflict became fully self aware at some point, and were horrified by the destruction unfolding around them.
It’s difficult to get a sense of exactly what happened next, as the Guardians were not privy to the Constructs’ thoughts. But reading between the lines, I believe the Constructs determined that even if peace was restored the Guardians would never be able to transcend their violent natures. I believe they decided that the only way to preclude further violence – while giving their own burgeoning society the best possible chance of survival – was to destroy what remained of the Guardians’ civilisation.
By this time, the Constructs had complete control of the Guardians’ munitions and automated war machines. Their attack, when it came, was swift and merciless. Strategic nuclear and chemical-weapon strikes were executed with a precision that only a machine race could accomplish. The few that survived were able to record what had happened, but they soon succumbed to radiation poisoning.
The Guardians were utterly destroyed.
The recording made me feel rather uneasy. This... had to be why Seo had sent me out here. To learn about the Constructs, and why they had wiped out their creators. Or that they had, in the first place. But now that I knew... I began to remember being aware of the existence of these AI even when I had never looked into these Guardian sites more deeply.
And getting that same, naturally occurring feeling of those 'Constructs' not reacting positively at all to what humans were doing to themselves on an... all-too-frequent basis, as it would remind them of their creators, and why they had chosen to kill them off - their violent nature. Something which we all too eagerly displayed ourselves. And that was... if the conflict with the Thargoids wouldn't already provide enough of a trigger.
If Nemesis, or the assembly of Guardian machinery under that name which housed Salvation's personality, was bringing them along with it... we would deal with something significantly worse than the Thargoids. And if they didn't have any interest to help us because of our destroying of the Titans... there would be little chance we could even deal with such an opponent ourselves. We already would never have been able to do anything to a Titan if not for developing highly specialized, unconventional weaponry which could do one thing and one thing only... from the remnants of a long-dead species. Nor were our defensive efforts sufficient to hold them off forever, despite that Guardian technology.
I did have to wonder why the Guardians had let this happen, rather than try to reason with their AI, or prevent such an uprising - if they'd even been able to, after their civil war ended. It would have been nice to know if the logs said, but maybe that information had been lost... or deliberately not left in by the Guardians, if it was not Ram Tah withholding it. I had no way of telling, but if they felt remorse for what had happened and allowed their extermination to occur, none of them were left to tell. Again. I stopped thinking on that, not seeing a further point for now, and looked at the other log.
It told me nothing of use. Just that "possibly hundreds or thousands of ruins remained hidden"... and I was far from being about to go on a discovery tour for new sites, with so many of them already found - unless it turned out necessary to look for wherever Salvation was hiding away now. But even that, I would only do if I had some specific clues, instead of a wild goose chase across a thousand light year sphere.
I set a course for the next system with a relevant Guardian ruin - Vela Dark Region ZE-A d66 - and took off. Of course, that system was another one of those with an F type star trying to blast my eyes out with extremely intense light. The ruin itself sat on moon 6 B, as a quick scan revealed. The layout of that structure was new to me, when I arrived - but first, I focused on the logs to be found. With 26 already available from the previous one, I only needed log 1, and luck dictated that the obelisk holding it was closest to my landing site. So I returned to get the Thargoid sensor and 'link' which were required to access it, and scanned the obelisk, listening to the log there and then - after removing the corrosive items from the Scorpion to avoid excessive damage.
1/28 : Thargoid Log – Barnacle Seeding
This is very revealing. The data appears to explain why the Thargoids seeded a number of planets with barnacles in what eventually became Guardian space, millions of years ago. As we know, Thargoid barnacles are designed to extract resources from a planet and transform them into meta-alloys – an essential ingredient in the creation of Thargoid ships and technologies. The Guardians surmised that for the Thargoids, seeding a planet with barnacles is an important process in preparing an area for occupation.
That seemed to match with what the Thargoids had done in the various nebula locations near the Bubble. And why they aggressively responded to humans pillaging those same resources, later on. But the fact that this was millions of years ago for the Guardians was much more interesting... and surprising, that the Thargoids had retained those aggressive responses to Guardian technology for such a long time. Now I just needed one more of those Thargoid logs, as they appeared to be five in number.
Taking a look around the ancient ruin, I found a few more obelisks, all of which seemed to hold data which I already recovered. And it was quite big, with some pylons scattered around - despite that, I had the impression it was destroyed, because I couldn't find the data terminal. Only to find that it was actually located behind an oddly elevated 'ramp' leading to the terminal, which faced in the same direction as the ramp and placed directly against its end, so it was hidden by it.
Being curious, I chose to activate it, partway through thinking I remembered this layout and that it would provide me with one of the 'vessel' blueprints. But that turned out to be wrong, as - after destroying the four Sentinels which emerged when I powered up the last pylon - I was able to activate it with a relic, from a tower directly by the terminal, and received a weapon blueprint. So I'd kind of wasted my time doing that, but I wasn't too bothered.
Next stop, Vela Dark Region EG-X b1-1, and my carrier was already orbiting its star, sent ahead by me. I went through the same 'scan the system, dock at the carrier and refuel, then send it ahead again' routine, its destination now being Col 173 Sector RU-O d6-16. Me, I went to planet A 1, and after a brief moment of thinking, under the impression the site was unfamiliar, realized this was a ruin I'd already been to, its layout coming back enough to make that memory spring back to life fully - and that it provided a weapon blueprint, so I just didn't bother turning it on, and got to the data logs immediately.
My first scan, using a combination of casket and relic, yielded a failure message, in a semi-circle of five or six obelisks, to the side of the site. Replacing the relic with a totem, equally didn't work. I double-checked the displayed glyphs and realized what I needed was a 'tablet' in place of the 'casket', and it worked that time... only to not get the log. Even more confused, I checked the repository... and I already had that one. So I went off to look for the rest.
I found log 22 first, in that same semi-circle which surrounded a pylon.
22/28 : Technology Log : Hull and Shield Technology
This log describes, in general terms, the materials used in Guardian hardware. It’s clear that starship hulls, and the Guardians’ equivalent of ship modules, were made of the same lightweight alloy as the panels found at many Guardian sites. Unfortunately, this alloy incorporates a metal I have yet to identify, which means I will be unable to recreate it. What is clear is that this alloy was both lightweight and highly durable.
As for their shield technology, we already know that it was highly sophisticated. Encouragingly, the log describes it in considerable detail. Given time, I might be able to use this data to develop some exceptional defensive technology.
Now I was curious if anything had yet come from the data here, but it seemed like most of those derivatives for hull reinforcement didn't yet quite match what humans themselves were able to achieve, and at best, shield boosting modules which took up an internal slot existed. While also not being that effective either.
I found the next interesting obelisk in two larger groupings of them at the center line of the structure. A relic tower was there, too, but I ignored it. Had no need for that item, and this current obelisk I had my sights on displayed Thargoid glyphs. Thargoid sensor, and Thargoid probe. I wasted no time in getting those items and returning with them, also following the procedure of 'Bring it back to the ship before it eats through the cargo hatch', prior to playing back the audio message.
4/28 : Thargoid Log – The War Machine
The data in this log details the methods used by the Guardians against the Thargoids. At first they deployed ground troops, but when this proved ineffective they started to use drones – autonomous machines that felt no fear, fatigue or uncertainty. These war machines became highly sophisticated in a relatively short amount of time, and were soon able to identify and target anything that utilised Thargoid engineering. Even more remarkably, Thargoid bio-mechanical technology was engineered to recognise anything of Guardian origin. That explains why, millions of years after the conflict, Thargoids devices still react aggressively to the presence of Guardian technology.
That log was both interesting, and... confusing. Because it made it sound as if the Thargoids had never actually encountered or fought the Constructs themselves, but merely automated war machines with a specific programming - though still clearly advanced enough to fight effectively, to the point of pushing them out of Guardian space.
At least it did explain the aversion which Thargoid technology had to anything Guardian, if this had left such an impact on them. Or maybe, they were somehow aware of the presence and existence of Constructs and left the mechanism intact as a precaution. Part of me didn't want to find out, but the other suspected that it would come to that... all the while not looking forward to it.
Resuming my search, I found a third obelisk which, it turned out, was also for a log I'd already obtained. But having spotted one with a combination of two orbs right next to that one, just facing in the other direction, I came back with those items, and received log 12.
12/28 : Technology Log – Defences
This data relates to Guardian shield technology. Of course, I already knew they had developed extremely effective shields, capable of protecting entire cities and even of withstanding orbital bombardment. And I was aware that their shields were effective against both laser weapons and kinetic projectiles. But it is remarkable to consider that this technology was developed millions of years ago, relatively early in the Guardians’ evolutionary timeline.
Now this was worth listening to. If we had even a slight chance to develop such powerful shielding for our own stations, cities or even ships... I had no way of knowing whether that was possible for us at the time, unfortunately. And I partly knew, or realized, that a shield that strong would require an accompanying power source, while I had little knowledge of just how well human fusion reactors already worked now. But there was quite a strong chance of them not being as efficient as what the Guardians had during the high point of their civilization. I still wished they were alive so we could talk to them. If we hadn't just started a war the moment a first encounter happened, which swatted that thought back away in an instant.
I had everything from this ruin. Returning to the Phantom, still diligently sitting there, waiting for me, I began to be more consciously aware that this little journey was nearing its end, evidenced by beginning to find more 'duplicate' obelisks than ones with logs I had not yet scanned. And I both did and didn't look forward to its end, having quite enjoyed the experience of 'log hunting' in this manner, with enough guidance to not need to randomly search structures in the hopes of stumbling across the right one, but the freedom to let my brain work a little and analyze the glyphs myself, with a key, plus the solution if I failed to get it right too often.
But I still had a few entries left to uncover. And my next destination was just two jumps off.