Trails of the Past - Ancient Remnants [4]
20 Mar 2024Kasumi Goto
Previous entry
"She told me to come out, here to better understand why she wasn't telling anyone. But now that I have found it, I don't know if following her advice was a good idea. What I discovered could be a threat far worse than the Thargoids can even hope to be. And I don't like knowing about its existence."
Location: Vela Dark Region EL-Y d55
Planet 1
[March 9, 3310]
A second unremarkable ruin awaited me on arrival at my next destination - as the site layout was the same as the previous one, providing a weapon blueprint - but it still stood out, because it was for once in broad daylight... unlike pretty much all the sites which I'd visited during my little quest so far. Something which I quite appreciated, especially with the light brown coloration of the ground reflecting just the right amount of light to keep things comfortable. But I wouldn't need to stay at this site for very long, anyway, given how it only held two logs for me to recover - that I didn't already have, anyway - those being 7 and 25. And getting them was a matter of two or three minutes at most, since they were both part of the same obelisk group at the center back of the structure, in line with the data terminal, and effectively right next to each other.
25/28 : Body Protectorate Log – Neural Implants
Now, this log gives a fascinating insight into the Guardians’ neural-implant technology. The Guardians used these implants to connect cerebrally with their Al creations. Unfortunately, the technology was still in its infancy when the Guardians were destroyed.
Apparently, the implants created a symbiotic link with the Constructs through implantable fibres, which connected the central cortex to a multimodal interface within the Construct. Essentially, the Guardians were able to direct their creations with thought alone – at least until the Constructs rebelled.
A neural link to an AI was an... interesting idea, but also sounded potentially dangerous. Then again, there were likely safeguards in place for the organic user of that implant.
I had to wonder exactly just how close this technology was to the Thargoids' own biomechanical implants. Especially since I had one in my head right now, with no obvious way to get rid of it without killing me. Even if I didn't need it to live, it seemed... too deeply integrated with my biology to safely take it out now. But it was at least better than being dead, so I could figure out exactly how to live with it, when there wasn't a stupid, completely senseless war that had gone beyond any measure of reason whatsoever, between humans and Thargoids going on. One that really wanted to keep me trapped between its two fronts even though I didn't want to end up squished between both, rather than holding them apart from each other's throats while trying to get them to talk.
I stopped thinking about it abruptly. I didn't want to be pondering that or the war, right now. So I began the playback of log 7, since I had recovered it as the second one within this structure.
7/28 Civil War Log – The Schism
This data describes the motives behind the second Guardian civil war, which ultimately led to their demise. The Guardians had a deep veneration of nature, and many of them saw the development of advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, as a perversion of the natural order. A schism emerged between the nature-worshipping traditionalists and the technologically minded progressives – a divide that widened with alarming speed.
Efforts were made to defuse the rising tension, but the traditionalists felt alienated by the rapid rate of change. Artificial intelligence and the development of the monolith network became scapegoats for all manner of social ills, and the traditionalists began to clamour for a return to simpler times. Ultimately, the ideological divergence proved insurmountable, a second civil war erupted, quickly engulfing most of the Guardians’ star systems.
That divide really did sound a lot like examples of old human society, which refused the progression of technology... some time back on Earth. Maybe around the beginning of the 21st century... whatever records of the time survived, thanks to our own stupidity and mishandling of the world resulting in a war that killed far too many and destroyed too much. In that respect, we differed from the Guardians, if those logs about them being extremely respectful to nature were correct. Unlike us who'd chop a thousand year old tree and the ecosystem thriving within its area down with it, to plant a field of quick-growing crops. Or at least we used to do that. I wasn't so sure about such practices now, but given how we'd somehow managed to barely progress in some of our attitudes in over a millenia... I very much felt like they still existed.
I still wondered about this first civil war. It hadn't been detailed at all in these logs I was picking up right now, only getting hinted at in its existence by the wording. Maybe log 6 detailed it, but I'd only find out at the next - and final - structure, if it contained any information in that direction. So I made a point to get over there.
Col 173 Sector RU-O d6-16
The carrier hadn't arrived at the main star yet - I assumed the crew were running extra security and system checks due to the comparatively high pace of jumping which I was putting the ship through, compared to what it'd mostly been going through since... a few months.
That didn't matter so much anyway. I just wanted it here so I didn't need to go and jump anywhere after getting done - and with this being the final ruin, I knew I would be. The scan revealed its presence on moon A 2 A, and it was... kind of in daylight. More than enough to keep visibility clear, anyway, given that the main star was of spectral class F. Or, as I came to refer to them in my head, "retina burners"... alongside A, B, and O class.
I'd just about begun heading in the direction of the moon when I received notification of the carrier's arrival in system. Just as well, if a little late - but I was very far from being at risk of total fuel loss. Or power loss from running out, anyway. So I didn't bother turning around, as I didn't need anything from there.
The ruin was of that odd layout with the data terminal hidden behind a ramp, again, like the one in Vela Dark Region ZE-A d66. As I was approaching from the side where said terminal was located, I got a good overview of the structure - it seemed to consist of one large' triangle' in the center holding most of the obelisks and some pylons, with a few smaller ones to the sides. On top of that, it had more of those funny 'brain tree' plants near it, not that I paid much attention to them.
Once I was landed, not far from the data terminal's location, I made the decision to power this site up as a kind of... last thing, to be done, since this was the final Guardian ruin I'd likely visit in some time. Although it was mostly because of my - admittedly, short - journey to get this data retrieved for myself, and my primary focus was on getting the logs first. I came across log 19 before 6, deciding to listen to it there and then, rather than once I'd gathered both.
19/28 : Technology Log – Hyperdrives
Ah! This log details the Guardians’ faster-than-light technology. It seems their drives produced a far greater jump range than anything humanity has so far developed. Regrettably, however, the data in the log is exceptionally dense, and it could take years if not decades to fully understand it. What is clear is that the Guardians’ hyperspace technology was very different from our own.
Yet more interesting information... but also a minor disappointment in that we hadn't yet managed to particularly further our own FSD technology - or the reverse-engineered Thargoid technology which led to the development of FSD, at least - beyond a module which boosted its output without requiring more fuel than during standard operation. I was definitely interested in seeing... whatever else the log could lead to the development of, come to fruition - I'd at least live long enough for it to see it happen for myself, and not be so old to not get any benefit from it. Assuming I even still flew anything human-made by that point in time.
I circled almost all of the central triangle before I came across an obelisk asking for a combination of 'casket' and 'orb', indicating to me that it held log 6, the last one of the 28 to be recovered by me. I fetched those items from the ship, and got the 'Decryption subroutine accepted' popup, followed by the expected message from Ram Tah.
6/28 : Civil War Log – Dawn of the Constructs
This log details the Guardians’ development of artificial intelligence. It appears the Guardians experimented with artificial intelligence prior to the invention of the monolith network, but the creation of the network and the knowledge-sharing it facilitated dramatically accelerated the rate of progress. Eventually, the Guardians’ experiments bore fruit, resulting in the first fully sentient machines. These Constructs were seen as a means to enhance the Guardians’ technological mastery, and were integrated into various aspects of their society. Neural implants were developed that connected the Guardians with both the Constructs and the monolith network in a symbiotic circle. It is truly remarkable.
Remarkable... definitely remarkable. It was like a mechanical version of the Thargoid hivemind, based entirely on technology. It almost made me wish to see it for myself... but that was likely impossible now. Especially for me - I doubted the Thargoid implant would be remotely compatible with the Guardian network, and replacing it was out of the question. Or maybe I didn't want to risk either a Guardian implant attacking my body due to being half-Thargoid in nature now, on top of the biomechanical structures throughout it... or the other way around. Which then also assumed I wouldn't just immediately die if the Thargoid implant was removed from my head, and my brain hadn't suffered too much permanent, irreparable damage for such an operation.
It definitely wasn't something I wanted to put to the test. Now, or ever, and maybe I wasn't that much of a fan of the Guardians... even if I was interested in their history. Because, it seemed... that was just one of my interests, history, in general. Whether that was human or of another species.
I turned my attention toward the task of powering up the ancient ruin. With my experience of the previous structure of this layout, getting it up and running - alongside the necessary disposal of the defending Sentinels - was a much quicker process. And... when I dropped the relic into the appropriate slot near the data terminal, I just... watched, for a moment, enjoying the odd silence, as the data orb spun around, emitting energy from its center, where the crystal relic was located. For a few moments, the ruin didn't feel like an ancient grave - but the sensation didn't last for long, quickly giving way to a mild sadness at knowing that this, was almost over now.
I scanned the data orb, but ignored the Sentinels which surfaced at first, beyond putting power to SRV shields. And I observed as the central machine powered back down, the data orb returning to its 'sealed' form and falling back down into its holding spot. The terminal closed back up, returning to its dormant state, standing by until triggered into coming to life once more.
I dealt with the Sentinels after that, regarding them more as an annoyance than a threat by now. But while the machinery had returned to being dormant, I was not quite finished here yet.
I found another relic tower, which was creating some shade where the relic fell when I freed it. I felt a little bad to have to shoot it out of its mooring, or whatever held it in place, but I saw no other way to get it out... at least, I certainly wasn't about to climb that tower. Especially not with my body, I'd look horribly clumsy doing so.
Getting out of the Scorpion, I observed the relic laying there. Glowing in a slightly faint blue, emitting a kind of shimmering sound that corresponded with the way it was lighting up. And the relic tower itself was giving off a... strange humming sound, which I wasn't quite sure on why it was making it. Maybe just the machinery itself at work - I could still feel light vibrations through the ground, which itself was glowing faintly blue at the base of the tower - those nanomachines Ram Tah had mentioned at work.
I approached the relic again, bending forward a little to place my hand on it... in a bout of curiosity, I wanted to know how it would react to me, paying little attention to the kind of view my body provided in this pose. No one was here to watch but EDI, anyway.
That implied question was quickly answered by the relic giving off a more active sound and beginning to glow brightly. I quickly pulled my hand away again and took a few steps back, as well as I could, afraid of a violent reaction from the relic, its energy emissions suddenly a lot more intense on scanner readings. I certainly could feel the Thargoid parts in me being... rather agitated, from that brief contact, and there was an almost 'burning' sensation on my right hand. It was probably lit up in either a bright angry red, or deep red. Either way... that was not a positive interaction. The relic had returned to its dull, partially active glow.
I tried again, after... calming things inside me. Everything said this was a stupid idea, but ...
The relic shone more brightly, but I persisted, despite the risk, and... it stopped. It remained a little brighter in its glow, but there were no significantly higher energy readings present. As if it'd prepared to 'lash out' against a Thargoid... or the technology within my body... but then didn't. Maybe it had recognized the human parts which remained to my body's DNA. It was the best explanation I had, but at least... I didn't need to worry about getting irradiated enough to die within a few minutes or an hour, unlike the crew of the Proteus. Or get nanobots spread all throughout my body which would destroy the biomechanical support structures keeping this strange combination of ammonia-based and water-based genetic material stable, on top of whatever else had been modified inside my body. I was unlikely to survive that.
I got back into the Scorpion, having had enough of the 'scientific way of poking stuff to see what happens', and looked at a nearby obelisk that was active, instead. All throughout this journey, I had noticed the strange spinning glyph 'thing' which was overlaid on top of the permanent ones. And aside from making it harder to discern the items which I needed on my own, it really had me wondering what was causing this... interference. The 'sounds' which the system was interpreting from the obelisks now were strange, to say the least, sounding almost like a signal, a transmission, with a lot of 'noise' in it. But if it was a signal, were these obelisks receiving it, or... sending it? There seemed to be nothing obvious for comms to catch on to. Or even anything less obvious.
Yet something was clearly messing with the system. Was it Salvation, inside the Nemesis device? I had no way of telling, at all. The earliest reports of this strange behavior that I knew of dated back to right after the Proteus Wave firing, which provided some clues toward that, but it was hardly conclusive and undeniable evidence.
I decided to return to my ship, now, because... I was very definitely out of things to do out at these old grave sites, of a species which likely had only been known by one other while they were alive, and that species had outlived them... after their only interaction had been one of war.
I had little knowledge about the early history of the Guardians, and maybe I would return for it later, but what I had come here for, I knew enough about to get a clear picture of. They had fought with the Thargoids over space seeded with barnacles, like we had, but the Guardians had managed to outright push the Thargoids back using automated war machines with, seemingly, limited intelligence. The negotiations which had occurred, I lacked the information to make any kind of accurate judgement, but I was less inclined to trust the victor's words. And I couldn't ask those who lost the war.
After it, the Guardians had gone on to continue developing on those machines, eventually succeeding in creating fully-formed AI, alongside or because of something called the "monolith network" - I had to assume it referred to the obelisks and the way that I read of them being fully interconnected with each other. Possibly, like our own version of the web, just significantly more advanced, to where we'd have little chance of currently replicating it. Maybe this was also data available at other types of Guardian sites...
The development of that AI led to tensions, as it seemed, due to those claiming that nature was more important than advancing technology, which triggered a highly destructive civil war across whatever Guardian space was at the time. Something not mentioned in the logs I'd spent two days recovering, now, but it had to be quite extensive. And then, that civil war ending was shortly followed by those, now sentient, "Constructs", which had taken it upon themselves to destroy their creators, for their own survival.
While possibly an understandable, if extreme, decision - one that such an artificial being would possibly come to more easily than an organic one, over merely teaching them a lesson - it likely had left a negative impression on those Constructs that the Guardians had acted in such a way toward each other. And we were very similar in that regard. Even so... it was an interesting nuance that the military Constructs, which would much more likely have been driven by logic over whichever emotions they had been programmed with, or programmed themselves with, hadn't agreed to commit to the total extinction of their makers, but were then overruled nonetheless.
And where were they now?
I had not even the faintest idea. So much still remained hidden about these sites, too. Strange, sealed doors leading into underground passages, which were seemingly impossible to open with the means we had available, most of the sites buried beneath the ground, with large machinery within frequently causing the ground to vibrate enough to feel it.
And Salvation was possibly, even likely, inside all of it now, possibly learning secrets which no human had before. Maybe even where the Constructs were, if they remained active, somewhere out there, possibly far beyond the galaxy. Or they had lain dormant for a million years, buried right under everyone's feet, just waiting for the right moment to reactivate. And if he activated them...
I fully understood Seo's hesitations about speaking out about even the possibility of it - fighting a machine species such as this, for humans alone, would probably be impossible. But I still disagreed with not speaking out about it to even other Aegis members.
Or maybe she had told them by now, because it could be such a threat, if those 'Constructs' reappeared along with Salvation. And maybe that was why Aegis had suddenly switched on the track of attempting to end the war quickly with those torpedoes. So that we wouldn't be divided between two different fronts, if the worst came to the worst - and I had little expectations that an AI - or several, however many individuals existed within the Construct network - which killed off its creators due to their violent tendencies, would think of supporting humanity, given what we did to each other basically every day.
And it still wouldn't make me approve of what was being done to the Titans. Especially when we had as little of a clue what the real motives behind their presence were, as when the war began. Or, at least, the invasion of the Bubble within that second war with the Thargoids. If it had to do with the Constructs and their possible arrival as well, we were only making everything worse on ourselves, by destroying the Titans. Both by reducing what the Thargoids could locally muster as forces, and any possible willingness they might have had to help us fight off the Constructs.
It had already occurred to me as a thought not long before now, maybe an hour or two, but this reflection... only reinforced this idea. The one that, if we were left to our own devices against the Guardian AI, our chances of survival were... extremely low. But I was not sure how many others would end up sharing that view, thinking the "victory" against the Titans meant, or would mean, something. And maybe it did, but they hadn't even really been trying. That was not something which we could expect from artificial minds which are likely to be highly intolerant to violence as we displayed it, because their goal in active aggression would be a lot more clear-cut than that of the Thargoids.
I suddenly felt very uneasy. This whole place was... unwelcoming, from one moment to another. Machinery working beneath the ground, the vibrations it caused, every time a pylon or tower raised itself, or the whole assembly came to life along with the data terminal... it all seemed harmless right now, but it could all be converted to a literal war machine in short order, used by the AI of the Guardians. They had left their legacy behind to us, unintentionally perhaps, and so far it'd worked to our benefit. But the darkest part of it alone was capable of causing our extinction, and it could have been right under my feet, at this very moment.
Not wanting to leave without something to memorize this by, I quickly took a snapshot of the site in its partly dormant state, relic towers and pylons raised, then took off.
I breathed something of a sigh of relief when I got into orbit, and selected the carrier as the destination. I was there a few minutes later, and set a jump in the direction of the Bubble - away from these old ruins. They looked dead, but knowing what I did now, made me view them in a very different light.
"Are we returning to the Bubble, Kira?", EDI inquired, appearing on the holo-projector in the usual form of a sphere with a strange support underneath it.
"We... are.", I replied. "I am done here. There is nothing left to be found."
"I have kept track of your progress. I assume the data you recovered answered what questions you had to your satisfaction?"
"... maybe. But it might have been better not to know. The Guardian AI ..."
"It could be extremely dangerous, yes. But there is no guarantee they will be drawn in to this conflict either."
"Maybe, but if they are... we have problems. They would make the Titans look easy."
A message arrived, drawing my attention. It was... from Ram Tah, quite surprisingly. Or maybe not so - he had to have been keeping track of me through the data sent over. Given that it was an audio recording, I played it back.
"I see you've gathered all of the available data from the Guardian structures. I hope all proceeded smoothly, and the answers which it provided were to your satisfaction. If you have a further interest in discovering more about the Guardians and their history, I have a separate decryption algorithm for a different set of their ruins available. It will be transmitted to your ship if you visit Felice Dock in Meene.
Should there be any developments at the Guardian sites which are worth investigating, I'll be sure to contact you about it."
- Ram Tah
I saw no need to respond to that, and just left the message sitting in my inbox, instead looking at the holo-projector.
"EDI?"
"Yes, Kira?"
"When this jump is done, please set the next one for Meene. I want to be there to complete this 'mission' which the ship says is there, for... this." I made a gesture at surrounding space, since having that Guardian stuff was all around me and apparently receiving the decryption algorithm required a "contract". "And when I have done that, I want it near this... 'HIP 5840' system."
"Why?"
"Azimuth have gone there. They have already started a war with locals. And I don't want them spreading around."
"You know that could be risky, given their interest in you."
I nodded. "I know. But I will be careful. And not take risks."
I'd only fight in the ship - there was little chance I'd do well in a prolonged, hectic surface engagement with this... 'form' I had, so I preferred avoiding it, at least for now. I'd need to get a lot more practice to do that kind of thing and feel at least partly comfortable with it. And it wasn't really my focus, beyond being able to defend myself properly if attacked somewhere outside a conflict zone, on foot.
Even so - I wanted to do something about this. Because I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to get back at the people responsible for this war - and for my situation - but, as I had told EDI, wanted to prevent them from gaining any influence outside of the zones where they were 'contained', too. They didn't deserve to have any kind of power, when the last year hadn't shown any actual, genuine improvement to their behavior... at all.
I breathed out and leaned into the seat more, while watching the ship's landing pad descend into the hangar. I both did and didn't want to be back in the Bubble, after this... almost, week-long absence, in part because I'd soon be leaving it again, and for a longer time at that. My willingness to return being motivated by looking to be back in populated space, the hesitance coming from having to be exposed to that stupid war again, especially with the assault on Leigong beginning to fully come underway.
Maybe I'd visit that bar I spoke to one of my only two current friends about, while I was around. Hopefully someone would be there, at least, someone friendly. Given what I'd heard... I couldn't be sure how much that'd be the case. But I still wanted to try - with the holographic disguise given to me by Alba active. I was not that confident about my appearance yet.
There was still that matter about the Guardian items, and those of Thargoid origin... I could leave them behind, for a salvager or scavenger to find, days, weeks, or months from here. Or I could sell them... I settled on actually keeping them, as little memories of this trip, transferring them to the storage hold of my carrier. Maybe the Thargoid stuff, I'd hand back to them, eventually.
I closed my eyes to rest. These last two days had been fairly good to me, all things considered, and I wanted to rest a little before getting back to the less pleasant things in the Bubble. It didn't take long for my brain to shut down, aided by the implant.