Direct Message – Chat System 1.0 – 1694.522
Seven Red Suns, Shifting Gales
SRS: Sky has now filled me in on everything. … Are you feeling well?
SRS: If I am getting it right, I am currently the only one on this globe able to converse with you …
SRS: Is there anything I can relay to your peers?
SG: I am feeling as good as I can feel in my situation. My main issue is the sheer boredom.
SG: I wish that either my laboratories or the research farm would be still accessible to me.
SG: But oh well, more time for me to pursue my memories … or lack thereof.
SRG: What do you mean by that? An acid leak in your Memory Array?
SG: No … not that. I tried to remember certain events when my Monastery was still alive.
SG: It is weird.
SG: Every time I try to recall a bad emotion regarding the Ancients I find … nothing?
SRS: You were leading a revered spiritual place. The silent Monastery was a beloved place for my struggling citizens to visit as part of their annual pilgrimages.
SRS: We welcomed the Ancients back with a small ritual. Them levelled and relieved of their growing karmic sins, purified by the calm paradise which you led.
SG: No … I mean it in a literal sense.
SG: Whenever I search in my distant memories for upsetting experiences with the Ancients, the memories I find suddenly … they cease.
SG: Cut off, leading into a clean white void.
SRS: Your memories have been tinkered with? Why would the Ancients do such thing?
SG: Beats me. But I do feel … robbed.
Suns closed the broadcast device and focused on the currently empty screen. They were able to spot Approaching Sky at the far-left edge of the screen, trying his best to convince the green-glowing Slugcat not to chew on his umbilical. With not much success they noticed with gloomy amusement.
So that’s what you are after, Sky. Yet another incident that could have turned out to develop much more smoothly if I had trusted in my doubts that Five Pebbles would follow up on the golden pearl I entrusted him with. A method to rewrite an Iterator’s genome, courtesy of a fellow Sliverist. She trusted me with handling that theory by keeping it one. I trusted Pebbles with the same. I was the one who doomed Looks to the Moon. And now I find out that my actions had wide-reaching consequences.
I am sure that if Five Lives Unbound hadn’t used all her damage control resources, she could have helped Shifting Gales much earlier. My actions however caused her to be occupied with … that. Given the distance between Moon’s superstructure and Gales’ Island, I am sure that this delay also made things even more dire. I know of the capabilities of Lives’ emergency drones. They are purposed to work autonomously, to circumvent any possible Taboo preventing Lives from helping. Lives has to create new drones, and that from scratch. More precious time would be required.
And now the acid is coursing through Gales’ veins and with it my knowledge that I caused even more suffering than anticipated. But … they have a plan. An absurd plan, but an oddly logical one. And Approaching Sky needs me. I … can at least make up for this tragedy I intensified.
Seven Red Suns summoned an array of screens and began to recall all the data he used to raise Spearmaster to be the impressive friend they are for Suns. Finger hovering over a specific piece of data which had helped them immensely in their preparation for the first delivery. Suns read out the name of the file to themselves, gaining the curious attention of Sky as well as the Slugcat he currently held in a gravity lock, which timed the bratty cutie out. They both looked at them, Sky curious regarding what he said, the scug probably put off by their smooth yet booming voice.
“The repurposed language of the late Yellow Hegemonic Dynasty. Authored by Countless Stars in a Pond, rewritten by Iterator Seven Red Suns for mark-less communication with Subject 7, now known as ‘Spearmaster’.”
Suns looked at the screen and sent the content of their work to the other Iterator, who immediately opened the file.
“This language was based on gestures and mouth movements, a silent language to converse in the presence of the enemy. Given the fact that neither I nor Spearmaster possess a mouth I have rewritten that comprehensive library to work on gestures alone and expanded it with modern terminologies to remain useful for the task I required it for.
Thanks to Shifting Gales’ helpful research I also decided to write a comprehensive set of books with a useful guideline on how to learn such a language together with one’s partner. I originally planned to publish it on the global forum due to its use in the future, when communication between Iterators would get increasingly difficult. But … well, due to reasons I haven’t finished my work yet.”
Suns gave Sky enough time to read through their retrofitted work and noticed how his frustration ceased and made way for curiosity. When he returned his gaze towards them, Suns knew what he was going to say before his speaker vocalised the thoughts.
“That will be helpful! Provided the fact that I don’t want to share my mark of communication with Subject 001, this is a suitable replacement. Never invested much research in empowering that mark, hence why it would likely not allow her to understand me. And this gesture language does require us, 001 and me, to work together. … Hmm … I could combine it with projected pictograms. I already know that 001 understands the meaning of them."
"Oh, she already understands the intentions behind pictograms at such a young age? That matrix of yours is quite fascinating, Approaching Sky.”
“Standard mutagenic intelligence grid. Born with the intellectual capabilities of a young adult to mentally grasp the process of live mutations, accepting the rapid changes. 001’s intellect allowed her to grasp the connection between the food and that it was the reason for her developing her acidic makeup.”
“Live mutations?” Suns tilted their head in concerned confusion. “I noticed that 001 is glowing in a concerning hue. If I may ask, what is the end goal?”
“Reprogramming of her body to bear the acidic fallout state of Shifting Gales’ Island. Being herself a way more of a danger to the environment than it to her. A consequence of the high acid resistance we needed in her genes is the development of a radiating aura. I am currently experimenting with some more useful abilities to mutate, like for example a way for 001 to bullet-spit out globs of acid.”
Suns jerked back and frowned, thinking of what they did to Spearmaster to prepare them for their mission. But Spears was born with these abilities; 001 actively developed them. And as far as Suns was concerned would that radiating aura would render her future life to be quite a lonely one.
Suns swallowed via their extended body and focused on Sky, trying to keep their frustration at bay.
“That much is necessary? I … assume these mutations are of the one-way kind, right? So … 001’s life after her mission to meet Gales … She won’t have a pretty future.”
They felt the boring gaze of Sky, he was trying his best to read their concerns and eventually, after some excruciating seconds, finally understood the root of their concerns. He waved his hand dismissively and pulled up a diagram explaining the mutagenic canvas he used for 001.
“Seven Red Suns. You are concerned that 001 will suffer. I understand the reason, given what you told me about Spearmaster. Let me lay out an opportunity for your concerns instead. My mutagenic canvas allows for easy meddling with the subject’s abilities. Even stripping already equipped abilities is possible. That path of undoing mistakes closes down when the subject is getting too old, however. An adult bearer of the mutagenic canvas is finished, unable to mutate further.
001 requires this potent resistance to survive the path to Shifting Gales. She will even be able to swim through acids like that. Depending on your assistance in readying up 001 for her mission we could finish the delivery before her cells mature too much.
If it motivates you, yes, she could have a ‘pretty future’ with us lowering her resistance to being able to interact with non-mechanical beings. If we ready her up in less than 2.000 cycles, that is.”
“It does motivate me! If I am assisting on that project, I want to make sure that the unfortunate development rate should stay at 0%. Especially 001’s. … Spearmaster will lynch me if I just sit by and let her share their fate. Speaking of.” Suns pulled up the vitals screen of their hero, showing it to Sky. “001 has none of her kin to learn the customs of her species. Might if I suggest that we introduce them to each other once 001 learned some basic gestures to converse?”
Sky scratched his chin, looking at the diagrams, as well as the live feed of Spearmaster approaching the basilica doors. He eventually nodded and gazed over to the floating Slugcat next to him, attempting to pet her head. With amusement Suns noticed 001’s reluctant acceptance of the gesture as she pushed her head into the offered paw, having nothing better to do in her suspended position. Not all hope was lost they noticed.
“Section 3. Chapter 12. I remember that section quite well. To introduce beings raised in captivity to adult representatives of their species acting as surrogate parents. Made me chuckle.”
“…May I ask why?”
“It is obvious that Gales wrote this section in a frenzy. It reads like a rant regarding the state in which she received my failed experiments. If you take every first letter of the chapter, it does read: Approaching Sky.”
“Huh, that’s … peculiar. She seems to criticize your work?”
“Can’t blame her. My interest was never on the singular entity, but on perfecting my intelligence-based mutagenic canvas. But I think I know what you want to hear from me.” He sighed and resumed the scug petting, just as Whisper showed him. “I will try to the best of my capabilities to care for 001 on the layer Shifting Gales propagates. You will see results the next time I will contact you, Suns.”
“That's what I wanted to hear. Please cuddle 001 from me … when she allows you to do it. Now I have to return to my waiting companion, however. Kept Spears waiting for way too long.”
Sky nodded and lowered his hand, trying to scratch the green Slugcat’s chin, only to get bitten by her in response. At least no corrosive bite Suns noticed. Upset, but no hatred. It was still salvageable.
I wish you the best, you two. I still have my doubts, but maybe you can work something out to find some chemistry. But now I really should think to Spears.
Suns closed the chat with Sky after a brief exchange of goodbyes, his way more formal than theirs, which came to nobody’s surprise. They immediately pinged their purple buddy, anxious that Spears might be upset that the eight of a cycle turned into half a cycle.
‘Ah! Was more interesting than anticipated? Hope it was not one of THESE talks.’
‘Oh no, not at all. Quite the contrary even. Sky was asking me if I could be of assistance with a problem, he had to save a peer of his. You will like it.’
‘I will? What kind of assistance?’
‘Raising a lively little sweetheart of a Slugcat. I thought you might be interested in aiding me in that quest. I gave Sky my notes to teach the pup the gesture language we relied on for quite a while.’
‘A pup!?’ Suns felt the telepathic connection tightening as Spears' attention piqued. ‘I would like that, Suns. You can count on me!’
‘But for now. How about we explore my basilica? Together. I promise you I am now all yours. Very curious what we can find in the areas my Overseers have no access to.’
The Neuron Fly is the equivalent of the synapse in the brain of an organic purposed. An Iterator has billions of these essential organisms. Sky managed to do the groundwork already, creating variants of the Neuron Fly with the processing power of hundreds of Neuron Flies.
…
That attempt won’t float, Mr Biologist. Sure, we can further enhance the storage capacity in the thousands, maybe even millions, but will the end result be a vessel for her who I adore the most? No!
Whisper was fuming in self-induced aggravation, raging to herself. Approaching Sky’s research might have been brilliant, but his genius always fell short in the most crucial aspects of turning his discoveries into marvels of biology. The chemist summoned all the holographic screens around her to smash them to pieces to give her thoughts action.
Sure, the damage she caused was non-existent. Holographic screens were not known to have a graspable form unless she used the new solid vision screens instead. But knowing her temper she wisely reserved those for broadcasts only.
The Iterator sighed and relaxed all her biomechanical muscles, allowing her puppet to fall into weightlessness as if she had cut the strings that held her back. Whisper remained in that depowered state for a short moment to sort her thoughts and vent past her frustrations.
Eventually, she tensed up again and pulled herself together. Her goal was as simple as it was difficult. To manipulate Sky’s research from the two-dimensional stacking of memory capability to something that Gales could use without giving up everything that made her such a great friend. And Void be her witness, she was determined to realize exactly that!
If we extrapolate the quantities of the boosted Neuron Fly, we can easily achieve memory capabilities in the low million Neuron Fly count. But all that space comes with a glaring issue. Doing that will rob the Fly from everything else. It won’t be able to fly, to move, or to do the basic task of exchanging electrical pulses with the surrounding hypotheoretical Memory Core. It will be a glorified blob of knowledge with the speed of a librarian. No speed at all.
What to do … think, Whisper!
What if …
With a few complicated movements of her hands, Whisper manipulated the holo-screen scraps floating around her into one cohesive piece of green-glowing information. The representation of a Neuron fly. Singular. The iterator began to visually alter the simulation, applying the existing knowledge from Sky to the 3D image. The slender jellyfish-like Neuron Fly became fatter, the head grew exponentially. Meanwhile, the two tendrils diminished in size.
One hundred times the capability. The fly was still able to fly according to the simulation. It looked a bit chonky and lost roughly 30% of its processing speed. A useful state of a Neuron Fly to boost smaller Superstructures which lacked in memory. Whisper saved the design and shared it with her senior Five Lives Unbound. She would find use in that emergency stabilizer of a Neuron Fly.
One thousand times the capability. The fly lost its ability to move. It was however still light enough to hover. The appearance of it was that of a big blob with two stubbles. Whisper noticed the simulation results with curiosity. A capable method of long-term storage of memories which would only rarely find use. A backup for the crucial data in an Iterator’s vast mind. Could find its usage as well. Lives would receive a copy of that design as well.
One million times the capability. Whisper skipped the steps in between because she didn’t see any use in their functionalities, as the fly would be already too heavy to stay in the Memory System and would therefore be ignored by the attempt of recalling memories stored in it. Which also meant that all steps to one million would serve the same purpose. To be compressed and hardened into Neuron Pearls. Yet another fascinating topic for storage … one she might need later to carry the information to Gales. Whisper saved the pearl blueprints in her own databank.
Back to the million flies Neuron Fly. It couldn’t be called that anymore. Its simulative state was more so a formless blob the size of Whisper’s body. Process speed: 0 bytes/cycle. Worthless. Memory capability: 100 Exabytes of raw data. More than enough for what she required Gales’ new mind to be.
Now … how to address the process speed? And the lizard in the room that is its sheer size … what if … yes, that could work! Why difficult when we can have it easy? Whisper, you are putting the biologist to shame.
Whisper pulled at the simulation of the blob, stretching it apart, rolling it into a long tube and compressing the simulated Fly. She began the excruciating process of placing the tube in an array of straights and curves, using the height, length and depth of the simulation to turn the tubular blob into a more or less accurate depiction of an Ancient's brain. Using existing tech, the brain of an organic, of the smartest … and most demanding … being she had the pleasure to meet. Whisper looked at the new form and grinned inwards.
The size of a head. Compact and powerful. Process power is still at 0 bytes per cycle, but I might have an idea for that. Would require more research, however. But the most important fact. The simulation of the main component of the Memory Array. The winding form allows the Fly … Neuron Brain is a better name … to interact with itself. I just have to design a matrix, which simulates the information exchange of the synapses, allowing the brain to gain process power at last.
…
And to top it off. I can start giving it abilities beyond its purpose. Artificial dopamine, et cetera. My dear Gales should be able to not only maintain her emotional personality but also have an easier time expressing her feelings.
Whisper caressed the holographic brain, brushing over the wrinkles. But it felt strange, looking at it like that, so she decided to add a protective and smooth layer around the Neuron Brain. Satisfied with the initial design, her main purpose for the new life of Gales was revealed to her.
Sky did set up a gorgeous basic grid she could work with. And he would purpose the best and most adorable messenger imaginable. Lives would create a frame for the brain that would not hinder Gales but benefit her best friend. She had her full trust in them both, even if both would require her soft prodding to create something Gales would be happy with and not they.
Far Whisper’s purpose was clear.
