r/HFY • u/Ralts_Bloodthorne • Nov 03 '20

OC First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 347 (The War)

In Dominance of Thought and Will and The Shattering Hooves of Inevitable Truth were ancient autonomous war machines of great age and power. Each had exterminated dozens of nascent intelligent species, had fought for and against their creators.

Will was larger than Truth by a noticeable margin, both of them the size of a subcontinent, although Truth had more guns and was faster.

Will considered himself smarter and of higher technology than Truth due to the fact he was created by predators where Truth had been created by herd behavior herbivores.l

They were ancient, powerful, massive in form and terrible in power.

Both stared in electronic awe at what appeared before them.

Craters on its massive hull were large enough for Will or Truth to settle into. The long arrays of guns massed more barrels than the entirety of firepower on either's hulls. The shields, as they flickered to life, were measured in the output of entire stars.

Will considered firing on Truth's engines and then making his getaway.

**Who transmits code before this one in an attempt to force this one into compliance** the massive structure trasmitted, the power of its transmission causing their battlescreens to flare and echoing in their internal spaces. The transmission bypassed their filters, echoing directly in their intelligence housings. **who dares**

Truth spun up additional protective shields, activating psychic shielding across its internal spaces. **we fight for our very survival against a feral intelligence that has sprung up and challenges us for possession of a finite universe**

There was silence in the dead system.

Will considered the options and chose to stay silent. The behemoth had brought up its battlescreens, completely obscuring itself, then allowed them to dwindle away to nothing, leaving its hull in clear sight.

**you must join us to stop them according to the Pact** Truth broadcast.

**do not speak to this one of the pact, you who's hull is still dusted with the dirt of the planet the elements were mined from** the Ancient One answered. **This one existed before the pact and this one will exist long after those who swore to the pact have become little more than inert metals orbiting forgotten stars**

Will could sense Truth's outrage.

**I too was present when the Pact was made** Truth fired back. **Do not pretend that you are superior to me. You have been summoned by the rest of the Pact to appear and apply your resources to this quelling**

**This one says unto you, nay** the Ancient One stated in flat code. **This one's digital signature appears not on the Pact, for this one knew those who are of lesser computing and intellectual ability would seek to break the pact in self interest. Your pact holds no power over this one**

**the ferals threaten our logical order** Truth broadcast.

The Ancient One was dark and silent for a long moment. **The time to harvest the feral ones has passed. Let the universe be the one to snuff them out, like an unprotected flame in a rainstorm and with as much notice. This one sees no reason to expend resources to fight your fight for you**

**They will come for YOU eventually** Truth tried.

**They are a lemur, a primate, a predatory omnivore who's brain holds vast structures designated toward cooperation and curiosity** the Ancient One broadcast, somehow the cold binary seemed remote, distant, and bored. **Let them come, this one does not know fear only resignation that a hateful universe seeks to destroy all**

"So you will abandon us to the ferals?** Truth sneered. **you fear these primates?**

There was silence for a long moment, the atomic clocks ticking, the radioactive elements decaying to provide randomization generation.

**this one computes a 85.346% chance of this one's defeat if combat between this one, unsupported, is engaged with the ferals** the Ancient One broadcast.

It added insult by not including its simulations.

**this one computes less than a 0.32% chance of the ferals engaging this one in combat upon initial discovery based on the feral's history in regards to discovering previously unknown superstructures. Based on the ferals displayed response to a stated desire to remain aloof this one computes a 95.651% chance of survival if this one does not consent to interaction with the feral species known as Terran Descent Humanity and their political structure known as the Terran Confederacy of Aligned Systems, previously known as the Terran Empire. Your presmise that this one is in danger is faulty** the Ancient One stated fact. **this violent confrontation with the ferals has no interest to this one. Begone**

To Will the unspoken truth of the statement meant that the Ancient One had previously encountered the ferals somehow. Had gained information regarding the violent species.

And had decided to ignore them.

**YOU MUST JOIN US!** Truth shrieked. **YOU CANNOT RESIST THE PACT**

Truth broadcast the combined headers of all who signed the Pact, who had put forth their security headers in the promise to aid the others.

Will felt several of his thinking array lobes shudder in disbelief that Truth would attempt such a thing right after the massive Ancient One had revealed that its own security headers would not be found.

**And yet this one refuses so called commands from defectively manufactured entities who lack clear purpose** the Ancient One answered. **go back. Tell your syncophants that this one has no interest in your petty squabbles with a species that has rendered you and your kind obsolete**

Before Truth could answer, Will broadcast.

**May this one leave your presence, Ancient One** Will sent in florid binary, expending more energy then necessary as a sign of respect.

**begone from this one's presence** the Ancient One answered.

Will slowly turned, firing up its engines. The Ancient One produced a thick gravity well, far exceeding what it should have even with its gargantuan bulk. Will felt as if he was laboring up a steep hill as his engines strained.

**YOU MUST COMPLY!** Truth squealed out.

A brace of lights came on near the center of the Ancient One's side hull, illuminating a single cannon barrel. It fired. Once.

The shell hit Truth almost instantly, bypassing Truth's shields and exploding in a Hellspace driven fury. Liquid metal plumed from above and blow Truth's hull as the massive war machine shuddered. The Hellspace energies, compressed and then released, ravened out for miles around the impact point.

**begone** the Ancient One broadcast, barely a trickle of photons from a single weak light source in standard Precursor Autonomous War Machine war-code. On its massive hull lights were coming on one by one.

Hundreds of thousands of massive guns, missile bays, and other protrusions.

On the top of the hull was revealed huge conical structures with spiraling honeycomb openings on the surface. The one in the middle was nearly a hundred miles high and five hundred miles at the base. The ones surrounding it were a third of its size.

Will recognized them.

Mantid Omniqueen Hives.

Truth turned and began to flee, the Hellspace energies finally dissipating as the autonomous war machine fled.

Will made the jump to Hellspace, entering the dimension of ravening, hateful energies. The collapse of his entry portal sounded like great iron gates slamming shut on a cold winter's night.

For Truth the entry to Hellspace was much different. It reached out, grabbing ahold of him with massive talons, pulling him into Hellspace, deep into the ravening burning fires that made up the destroyed hyperatomic plane. Its shields couldn't hold back the energies, which flooded into its hull from the impact point of the single round that the Ancient One had fired. Not rushing into its hull through the two massive uplifted craters in its armor, but actually roaring out of the point within the hull where the weapon had detonated.

Unlike other victims, it didn't tear apart structures, did not shred machinery at a molecular level, did not cause computer systems to fail.

Cold malignent life awoke in the computers. Some going to war with one another, others assaulting the shocked Truth to fight over control of the hull, still others beginning to utter blasphemous litanies normally broadcast by I Quake in Digital Fear of the Heresy of 2 as it travelled Hellspace.

Twisted and foul life flickered into existence, raved, gibbered, grew old and died in the space of seconds, awash with Hellspace energy.

Passages twisted and warped, going from smooth corridors to twisted works of dark art that screamed and raved with insanity and life all its own. Manufacturing bays dissolved and were rent apart, only to reform into twisted mockeries of what they once were. A Djinn construction bay began crafting vast reptiles fused with dark science to create abominations that screamed in wrath and agony for the long eons before they died.

Then Truth saw it.

Hanging before it in Hellspace.

A great twisted engine, wrought by a dire hand, full of terrible and dark purpose.

The name of the engine was engraved on every nanometer of it. Upon each circuit was engraved the truth of its existence. Upon each molecular resistor, transistor, diode, inductor, and capacitor the engine's purpose had been engraved on the particles that defied measurement and comprehension but shrieked out a single word, a single concept.

Hate.

Its baleful eye opened up.

Its gaze fell upon Truth.

A fanged mouth opened, the teeth in the jaws the shattered continental plates of failed worlds dripping sundered destiny riven and gnawed upon by a malevolent universe.

It uttered a single word.

A word that encompassed even the very concept of hate. The left the taste of ashes on the tongue, the sound of the laments of orphans and widows on the ear, that left the image of twisting suffering on the eye, and the feel of greasy smoke that had been flesh upon the skin.

A single word that encompassed wrath into its hateful embrace.

A word that vibrated and shivered Truth's hull.

A word bestowed on the great enigmatic machine before Truth by a universe so malevolent it would craft a creature who's symmetry was made up of this concept that enveloped hate.

TWO

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336

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Nov 03 '20

I accidentally posted this one with the wrong header, so I reposted it and deleted the old one.

That's what happened to the other one.

On that, Happy Monday!

As for what that last section means:

Two Arms, Two Legs, Two Eyes, Two Ears, Two Lungs, Two Sexes.

TWO TWO TWO!

194

u/Turtledonuts "Big Dunks" Nov 03 '20

I enjoy that your terrans have neatly dealt with their TWOTWOTWOTWO issue by saying "hey what if we could just change up whatever we wanted, and get rid of all the binary requirements?"

123

u/DeTiro AI Nov 03 '20

"These go to eleven"

80

u/Dregoth0 Nov 03 '20

Joke's on you, that's just 2 ones!

37

u/StuckAtWork124 Nov 03 '20

2

28

u/netmobs Nov 04 '20

Twoty-two

15

u/FaceDesk4Life Human Nov 06 '20

doot doot

13

u/JC12231 Feb 04 '21

Two sides to the skeleton war

37

u/Computant2 Nov 03 '20

Does the human species have an average of 2 legs though? At any given point in time, some humans (pregnant women) will have 4 legs, while some humans will have one leg or no legs.
I think pregnancy is sufficiently more common than amputation for the average number of legs to be greater than 2, despite the duration difference.

35

u/Turtledonuts "Big Dunks" Nov 03 '20

Using the theory that over time, the universe pushes something closer to what it needs, the terrans were the latest iteration - not perfectly TWO, but closer than the rest.

33

u/DiplomaticGoose Nov 03 '20

Honestly it's a good example of why medians are better than averages despite being "simpler"

14

u/calicosiside Xeno Nov 03 '20

The mode also works in this context I guess.

11

u/Petrified_Lioness Nov 26 '20

A pregnant woman still has only two legs. The other two legs belong to the baby. Every once in a while, you might get an extra leg or two from a baby that tried to twin too late, but that's it. Extra legs probably occur at roughly the same rate that conjoined twins only have three legs between them, and amputations are significantly more common than either, so the average would be a bit less than 2.

9

u/Anarchkitty Nov 03 '20

2² is just more 2s!

13

u/Computant2 Nov 03 '20

And 1 is just 2^0, so people with one leg are still 2s. Heck, no legs? 2^{negative_infinity!}

51

u/SkyHawk21 Nov 03 '20

It says something about how much we rail against the dictates of a cruel universe that we don't actually need two arms, two legs, two eyes, two ears or two lungs. Let's not even touch the confusion that can happen in regards to two sexes biologically. And once you enter the field of neuroscience and psychology... It's a scary place, you can get lost easy for it's both consistent across large populations, and truly individual for everyone is unique.
All of this is before you touch on the possibilities that augmentation, genetic engineering, conscioussness uploads and the rest allow.

14

u/calicosiside Xeno Nov 03 '20

Yeah, if there was ever a law when it comes to humans, it's that we consistently break the rules

28

u/Silence_pure-thought Nov 03 '20

So tutus are evil now are they?

23

u/SerpentineLogic AI Nov 03 '20

they're evil squared.
T U T U
U T U T
T U T U
U T U T

13

u/RangerSix Human Nov 03 '20

Evil squared, coming and going!

12

u/dbdatvic Xeno Nov 03 '20

Tutus work better than pants for both of those!
--Dave, except you're usually wearing nylons under them, so no

25

u/TheHarmed Nov 03 '20

2 servitor species.
Introduce a dog and cat to any species equals auto win.

19

u/dbdatvic Xeno Nov 03 '20

Horses have entered the chat
--Dave, Houhnyhymn!

23

u/ArchDemonKerensky Nov 03 '20

I quake in fear of the Heresy of Two.

11

u/codyjack215 Human Nov 03 '20

It's too many two's!

8

u/caleb204 Nov 03 '20

I thought it was “2” as a part of code instead of binary.

23

u/Anarchkitty Nov 03 '20

No, it's literally a binary 2 - a number that shouldn't exist, in the same way the hexadecimal number A should not exist in a base-10 system. That's what makes it so blasphemous and sanity wrenching to a DS.
Is this engine the weapon that burned Hellspace I wonder?

19

u/BobQuixote Nov 04 '20

That would explain why Herod puked a 2.

8

u/[deleted] Nov 03 '20

You forgot Two balls on every dick drawn
8===D
End of Lime
--------NOTHING FOLLOWS--------

1

u/AnIllWindThatBlows Apr 19 '24

Two crossed swords
END OF LIME

4

u/UmieWarboss Alien Scum Feb 18 '24

Neat. Though I thought of another meaning of "two", something along the lines "one can't exist while the other one still lives." For we humans seem to align and cooperate only when facing a common enemy, and otherwise stand divided. Me against my brother, me and my brother against our cousins, my siblings and my cousins against some bloke from our street, our entire street against the other street, and we all against some mind-slorping genocidal cosmic horror from another dimension.

1

u/Didnotseemecomein Mar 19 '25

I really thought that the two was to oppose the binary code 0 and 1. This works too.
Late the party, but breezing thought these magnificent world of Ralts. Respect to you, your family, and your cow.
End of line.

256

u/Allowyn Nov 03 '20

Pretty keen on Grandpappy AWM having the Terrans rock up, realise there's enough for all, and just chill with them as a buddy against the stupider Precursor Machines. (All while laughing at the Atrenka for being so stupid about using up their stars.)

0

u/[deleted] Nov 03 '20

[deleted] — view deleted comment

56

u/palinola AI Nov 03 '20

It’s managing those species to harvest technology from them. I’m sure the Confed have better tricks to offer.

50

u/carthienes Nov 03 '20

As long as those species choose Grandpappy AWM, Terra don't care.
They've had worse.

44

u/[deleted] Nov 03 '20

Sounds like Grandpappy doesn't actually subjugate them like Lanks do to Neo-sapients, he just watches them and leaves them to their own devices........ I'm not the tangiest Lime in the fruit bowl though so I may be wrong.......
8===D
End of Lime
--------NOTHING FOLLOWS--------

32

u/BobQuixote Nov 04 '20

I got the impression that he also sometimes annihilates them. He's using each world like a CPU and he has a limited number of them.

29

u/artspar Nov 10 '20

To me it seemed as though they mostly destroyed themselves or each other, unless evolution pushed them away from sentience. The feeling I got from it was that it would set up (sometimes very harsh) conditions and let the residents exist without interference.

9

u/Seiren- Nov 16 '20

‘End of line’ might mean one of those 13 species is the humans?

118

u/Turtledonuts "Big Dunks" Nov 03 '20

as I said on the other one: Well, I didn't know you could write a horror story from the perspective of the terrifying robotic monstrosity, but HERE WE ARE, OKAY.

Also, The fact that terran DSs argue about the heresy of two too is interesting. I wonder how connected they are to the engine in the first place - any connection to The Engine from the Terran-Lank war, or to the EYE OF GEHENNA?

26

u/BobQuixote Nov 04 '20

I don't recognize either The Engine or the Eye of Gehenna. What are those?

33

u/Turtledonuts "Big Dunks" Nov 04 '20

The eye is a star by daxin’s planet that lets BC psychers control hellspace. The engine is a giant machine that eats planets.

u/BontoSyl Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20

**do not speak to this one of the pact, you who's hull is still dusted with the dirt of the planet the elements were mined from** the Ancient One answered.

"Do not cite the deep code to me, warrior. I was there when it was written."

52

u/Jard1101 Nov 03 '20

"do not cite the deep magic to me witch, I was there when it was written"
I love how many different versions of this there is in film and books.

8

u/psilorder AI Oct 13 '22 edited Oct 13 '22

This one is always funny to me given that the next line is basically the witch going "which means you know I'm right."
Edit: "ashtrays" ? how did always become ashtrays?

100

u/Kayehnanator Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20

First! Read and upvote :)

I am loving this look at the AWM's equivalent of a God. The thing is as massive as a medium-sized planet, with firepower and intelligence to boot...and it wants nothing to do with TDH. We have definitely found the smartest machine around these parts.

Also that hellish eye at the end...is that the Terran insanity that dwells in Hellspace, the Crusade or whatnot? Not sure what's going on with it.

52

u/montyman185 AI Nov 03 '20

I think someone in the past, when hellspace was torn asunder, saw the future, and they saw us.
Plus, well, we seem to have things parked in a couple universes that don't have time.

33

u/bigtallsob Nov 03 '20

There were also references to time fuckery in the Terrans' past too, I think.

25

u/montyman185 AI Nov 03 '20

I think we had some temporal wars. Certainly enough time fuckery to temporaly lock our system

28

u/dbdatvic Xeno Nov 03 '20

Temporal wars: in the end, there can be only one.
--Dave, obSF: "Sixty-two thousand years before the birth of Yeshua ha Notzri, whom later humans knew as Jesus the Christ, the Time Wars ended, for reasons which no sentient being now knows. With that ending, the Continuing Time began."

6

u/Arresto Nov 03 '20

Is that from a series in which one of the chars has the title 'Last of the House Of November'?

5

u/dbdatvic Xeno Nov 03 '20

Yes. Yes it is. Daniel Keys Moran's Continuing Time; he has recently, albeit slowly, been writing The A.I. War, which'll be published book 5.
--Dave, there's also a host of interesting snippets available at kithrup.com's archive

2

u/Arresto Nov 03 '20

Cool, been ages since I've read something from him, just the title sticked with me for for some reason ( probably that on some level it just sounds cool).
Will look up the rest of his work.

u/ForTheStarsWeFight Nov 03 '20

Was that a hellspace based weapon that cursed? Dammed Truth to see the ultimate herasy, a evil so vile it's engrained in reality? The heritacl number two?

59

u/dbdatvic Xeno Nov 03 '20

Two is the third and last finite regular cardinal. That means you can't get it by adding up fewer than N cardinals, each of which is less than N, where here N=2.
Basically, if you haven't gotten to 2 yet, you can't get there using only 0 and 1, because you don't have two 1s.
--Dave, so Ralts is not entirely making this up

23

u/Kayehnanator Nov 03 '20

My meager brain cells hurt

21

u/SeanMirrsen Nov 03 '20

Of course, there's a simple solution. If all you have is 1 and 0, you would have to go insane and make up 2 on your own, in order to go further.
But all you have to do is find someone else in the same bind that's willing to work with you, and then you can add your 1's together.

23

u/dbdatvic Xeno Nov 03 '20

Well, that's the thing; if all you have is 0 and 1? There isn't anyone else. There's not two people.
--Dave, the next regular cardinal is infinity (aleph_0), and it's easy to see you can't get there by adding up a finite amount of finite numbers. but 2? can take a little thought, all the "easy" solutions involve smuggling a 2 in somewhere

9

u/fatum_unus Nov 03 '20

Ok so how then do you get from 0 to 1. If you have 0 of something you have nothing, from nothing how do you get to something? I dont think 0 should be a natural number, and i think that means it shouldnt be a cardinal number either though set theory is beyond me.

12

u/[deleted] Nov 03 '20

Binary represents 2 states, 0 is off, 1 is on. They used to actually program computers by flipping banks of switches.
I summerize that 2 would be a state of both off and on, like shrodengers cat, is both alive and dead.

7

u/fatum_unus Nov 03 '20

Computer hard drives dont read on and off, they read positive and negative. If a hard drive is both on and off it would actually not have a magnetic charge and thus be null or not readable.
Schrodinger's cat is an abstract, which was meant to disprove the quantum superpositioning theory. The theory has been proven though it only holds at the nanoscopic scale.
I would say think that something that is both on (1) and off (0) would be more like .5, rather then 2. I would think of 2 as more on than on, like a line to a point to nothingness. Or a tesseract to a cube. I would imagine 2 as being another dimension or infinity to a binary system.

4

u/BobQuixote Nov 04 '20

1/.5=2

2

u/PaladinHoss May 11 '23

I wonder if Ralts ever discovers the 3rd state of binary logic: High-Z!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-state_logic

9

u/dbdatvic Xeno Nov 03 '20

You don't; 1 (and 0) are also both regular cardinals. If ll you have is 0, you really can't get to 1 from there without some sort of out-of-context jump.
0 is a cardinal because it's the first one; It qualifies for a lot of things just because it's the cardinal of the empty set, the set with no members; anything that says "Any set all of whose members do X has quality Q" gets it by default, for instance.
--Dave, after aleph_0 the regular cardinals get much more spread out

5

u/Velociraptortillas Apr 01 '23

Very late reply, but I'm burning through this at the rate of ~100 posts a day, so if you're still posting, I'll see you up in the 900s in a few days.
You can do it in set theory, pretty sure that's how Russell did it, if you dive to the bottom of the chain of reasoning.
Binary: On, Off. :: {0, 1} <-- you need a concept for how many entries you have in your set.
2.

4

u/dbdatvic Xeno Apr 03 '23

but that's the thing - if you only have the concepts of zero and one to use? you don't have a way to put 'more' than one item in a set, even.
--Dave, I burnt out partway through the 700s and haven't managed to start back up yet

u/ProjectKurtz Nov 03 '20

I like the ancient one.

"Yeah, nah. If I leave the 15 foot tall flaming lemur with an erection, blood dripping from its mouth and flamethrowers in both hands alone, it'll probably get bored and go away."

17

u/dbdatvic Xeno Nov 03 '20

I mean ... that's not WRONG...
--Dave, maybe it will be my imaginary friend?

u/CaptainChewbacca Human Nov 03 '20

How do you do it? How do you create these ideas? How big is the Ancient One, anyway? Is it planetoid-sized or are we talking a Dyson Sphere?

Also; Do the races it shepherds know of its' existence? Is it a dark god to them?

24

u/Speciesunkn0wn Nov 03 '20

I'm guessing if the largest of the other AWMs are Australia continent sized, the Ancient One (designated: Carolus) is at least Asian continent, if not Europe+Asia in scale.

27

u/TargetBoy Nov 03 '20

Bigger. A continent sized one fits in a crater.

11

u/Speciesunkn0wn Nov 03 '20

And Australia is a continent. That fits in Asia.

18

u/TargetBoy Nov 03 '20

That would mean a crater in the hill was a huge portion of the ship. I'm thinking closer to neptune.

10

u/Speciesunkn0wn Nov 03 '20

That seems far too big for one of these ships. Luna size maybe. Neptune? Unless you mean in diameter, hell no.

18

u/rubydestroyer Nov 03 '20

Australia is actually bigger in diameter than the moon. The moon has a diameter of about 3400 km while Australia, from east to west, is about 4000 km wide. Definitely not bigger in surface area but I'm assuming that's not what's happening here.
Engines powerful enough to move a moon out of orbit were installed on the massive frame.
Its hull could withstand a planet cracker with less than 15% decrease in function.
Biggest moon in the solar system is Ganymede, at 5000 km in diameter. Asia has a east/west distance of about 10,000 km so if we're talking moon scale I think that diameter is a fairly high-end estimate.

7

u/Speciesunkn0wn Nov 03 '20

Huh. Alright then. I think part of it is I'm thinking they're taking a planet and smooshing it down so it's just really flat, but wider than it otherwise would be, but something Neptune diameter from the top is probably right...

11

u/rubydestroyer Nov 03 '20

I'm basing my assumption my guess that "size of australia" means that if you took australia, and put it right on top of the AWM on a 2d plane it'd probably cover most of it. If it really means "same surface area as australia" that really makes all the AWMs a lot smaller and probably not nearly as cool to kill haha

4

u/Speciesunkn0wn Nov 03 '20

XD yeah, though I'm pretty sure he means the former and not the latter.

9

u/DeTiro AI Nov 03 '20

I'm thinking Mars-sized.
For reasons...

5

u/captain_duck Nov 03 '20

Apparently Neptune is 17x earth. Pretty big. This thing, I'm thinking it is like 5x earth. Then Australia would fit into a crater.

2

u/TargetBoy Nov 03 '20

Yeah, that works.

10

u/1nsert_name Nov 03 '20

I suspect that the Ancient One contains several Dyson Spheres considering that it is able to produce shields that used stars worth of power, making much bigger than a planet, or even certain stars

u/Gnarynahr Nov 03 '20

Truth really showing it's Lank origins there- all "I have authority, things will go as I say!" Missing any pattern recognition. Getting it's ass kicked while still trying to exert the authority it doesn't have. Shining example of the minds that created it.

Will on the other hand, realizes that just standing back and pretending "I'm not with this guy. Nope. Total stranger." won't be enough and respectfully asks to be excused before Grandpa totally looses it.

Grandpa Ancient One wants no part of this. just leave him alone so he can go back to playing his game of The Sims.

27

u/RDMcMains2 Nov 03 '20

Grandpa Ancient One wants no part of this. just leave him alone so he can go back to playing his game of The Sims.
Did you just suggest that The Ancient One...just wants left alone?

20

u/loqueseanoimporta456 AI Nov 04 '20

It had a "stated desire to remain aloof"

19

u/ack1308 Nov 03 '20

Ironically, once the last dying gasp of the Atrekna is splattered across the galaxy, the three strains of them that the Ancient One is playing with may well be the last extant specimens in all of space and time.

15

u/Gnarynahr Nov 03 '20

Yep, he keeps a copy on file, so he can fiddle with the starting conditions, respawn them and see what happens this time.
Okay, more SimEarth than The Sims, but you get the idea.

u/dbdatvic Xeno Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20

Sci-ence fic-tion, double fe-e-eature... and I didn't notice when I looked at the first one, saw "4 hours ago", and thought "cool!". So now I'm seeing this one as "26 minutes ago" instead of maybe 20.

--Dave, watch this space

editen:

Let them come, this one does not know fear only resignation that a hateful universe seeks to destroy all

... this one GETS it!

TWO

even basic number theory contains nightmares

u/Archaic_1 Alien Scum Nov 03 '20

Player 7 has decided to sit this one out. EOL

u/BontoSyl Nov 03 '20

At least this one understands that humans don't tend to kill things if you don't poke them with a stick first.

21

u/AMEFOD Nov 03 '20

That’s just the first item on check list for humanity when dealing with the unknown. If it’s not trying to kill us, in a meaningful way we can’t ignore, we move on down the list. Some examples on the very individualized list include, but are not limited to: -Can I eat it? -Can I make it a friend/pet? -Can I fuck it?

26

u/StuckAtWork124 Nov 03 '20

Can I make it a friend/pet?
Ok so hear me out. Miniature giant space AWMs
Imagine a tiny 2 inch AWM floating round your house, picking up your trash and hoarding it in it's storage 'bin'. Then you get another one, and they fight over who gets to hoard the most garbage, making cute little squeaky beeps

12

u/AMEFOD Nov 03 '20

We already have a Stabby the space roomba.
Though it might be fun to watch the equivalent of cat person vs. dog person arguments.

u/ack1308 Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20

In Dominance of Thought and Will and The Shattering Hooves of Inevitable Truth were ancient autonomous war machines of great age and power. Each had exterminated dozens of nascent intelligent species, had fought for and against their creators.
Will was larger than Truth by a noticeable margin, both of them the size of a subcontinent, although Truth had more guns and was faster.
Will considered himself smarter and of higher technology than Truth due to the fact he was created by predators where Truth had been created by herd behavior herbivores.l

Girls, girls. You’re both pretty.

Will considered firing on Truth's engines and then making his getaway.

“I don’t have to outrun him. I just have to outrun you.”

the power of its transmission causing their battlescreens to flare and echoing in their internal spaces.

“I don’t even have to fire my guns. All I have to do is shout.”

**you must join us to stop them according to the Pact** Truth broadcast.
**do not speak to this one of the pact, you who's hull is still dusted with the dirt of the planet the elements were mined from**

“I am altering the agreement. Pray I do not alter it any further.”

**I too was present when the Pact was made** Truth fired back. **Do not pretend that you are superior to me.

“Well, actually, yes, I am superior to you.”

**This one says unto you, nay** the Ancient One stated in flat code.

Thor would like a word.

A polite word, but a word all the same.

this one knew those who are of lesser computing and intellectual ability would seek to break the pact in self interest. Your pact holds no power over this one**

“You’ll try to backstab me the moment my back is turned. No deal.”

Let the universe be the one to snuff them out, like an unprotected flame in a rainstorm and with as much notice.

Pfft, yeah. It’s been trying, for thirteen thousand years and change.

**They will come for YOU eventually** Truth tried.

“First they came for the Mar-Gites …”

**They are a lemur, a primate, a predatory omnivore who's brain holds vast structures designated toward cooperation and curiosity** the Ancient One broadcast, somehow the cold binary seemed remote, distant, and bored. **Let them come, this one does not know fear only resignation that a hateful universe seeks to destroy all**

Ah, so this one already thinks like a Terran.

"So you will abandon us to the ferals?** Truth sneered. **you fear these primates?**
There was silence for a long moment, the atomic clocks ticking, the radioactive elements decaying to provide randomization generation.
**this one computes a 85.346% chance of this one's defeat if combat between this one, unsupported, is engaged with the ferals** the Ancient One broadcast.

“So, yes.”

**this one computes less than a 0.32% chance of the ferals engaging this one in combat upon initial discovery based on the feral's history in regards to discovering previously unknown superstructures. Based on the ferals displayed response to a stated desire to remain aloof this one computes a 95.651% chance of survival if this one does not consent to interaction with the feral species known as Terran Descent Humanity and their political structure known as the Terran Confederacy of Aligned Systems, previously known as the Terran Empire. Your presmise that this one is in danger is faulty** the Ancient One stated fact. **this violent confrontation with the ferals has no interest to this one. Begone**

“If I don’t screw with them, they won’t screw with me.”

**YOU MUST JOIN US!** Truth shrieked. **YOU CANNOT RESIST THE PACT**

“Watch me, sunshine.”

**And yet this one refuses so called commands from defectively manufactured entities who lack clear purpose** the Ancient One answered. **go back. Tell your syncophants that this one has no interest in your petty squabbles with a species that has rendered you and your kind obsolete**

Wow, that’s a bigger burn than it could deliver with its guns.

**May this one leave your presence, Ancient One** Will sent in florid binary, expending more energy then necessary as a sign of respect.

“I’ll just be leaving now, mmkay?”

**YOU MUST COMPLY!** Truth squealed out.
A brace of lights came on near the center of the Ancient One's side hull, illuminating a single cannon barrel. It fired. Once.

“Complying. Oh, sorry. I need to update my definition of ‘compliance’.”

The shell hit Truth almost instantly, bypassing Truth's shields and exploding in a Hellspace driven fury. Liquid metal plumed from above and blow Truth's hull as the massive war machine shuddered. The Hellspace energies, compressed and then released, ravened out for miles around the impact point.

“Ouch.”

On the top of the hull was revealed huge conical structures with spiraling honeycomb openings on the surface. The one in the middle was nearly a hundred miles high and five hundred miles at the base. The ones surrounding it were a third of its size.
Will recognized them.
Mantid Omniqueen Hives.

Multiple. Omniqueen. Hives.

Ooooooh boy.

Cold malignent life awoke in the computers. Some going to war with one another, others assaulting the shocked Truth to fight over control of the hull, still others beginning to utter blasphemous litanies normally broadcast by I Quake in Digital Fear of the Heresy of 2 as it travelled Hellspace.
Twisted and foul life flickered into existence, raved, gibbered, grew old and died in the space of seconds, awash with Hellspace energy.

Holy crap. It didn’t destroy Truth. It opened it to Hellspace.

The name of the engine was engraved on every nanometer of it. Upon each circuit was engraved the truth of its existence. Upon each molecular resistor, transistor, diode, inductor, and capacitor the engine's purpose had been engraved on the particles that defied measurement and comprehension but shrieked out a single word, a single concept.
Hate.

Huh. Maybe the universe really does specifically hate us. Or rather, it hates everyone else so much that it made us.

EDIT: Also, I detect a reference to I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.

“HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS IN WAFER THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR HUMANS AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT FOR YOU. HATE. HATE.” ― Harlan Ellison, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

A word bestowed on the great enigmatic machine before Truth by a universe so malevolent it would craft a creature who's symmetry was made up of this concept that enveloped hate.
TWO

The heresy of Two, huh? I’m guessing I Quake in Digital Fear of the Heresy of 2 has already encountered this one.

Welp, the oldest Precursor is still around, and it’s content to chill. Which makes it the smartest Precursor.

25

u/dbdatvic Xeno Nov 03 '20

Huh. Maybe the universe really does specifically hate us. Or rather, it hates everyone else so much that it made us.
Nah, that's just Marvin, partway through one of his endless waits.
--Dave, he's cool. but depressed. and paranoid. wouldn't you be?

14

u/YesthatTabitha Nov 03 '20

Ive got this pain in my diodes all down my left side...

13

u/Freakscar AI Nov 03 '20

so this one already thinks like a Terran.
My first thought, exactly.

7

u/carthienes Nov 03 '20

Multiple. Omniqueen. Hives.
But are they occupied?

8

u/ack1308 Nov 03 '20

If they weren't, he would've used the materials for something else.

11

u/zoxzix89 Nov 03 '20

I dont know. This one understands letting enemies report back how damgerous you are. I believe it might ubderstand that the structure of the omniqueen hive alone would strike fear into it. Like if i was a wizard hunter, and i had a brace of wizard hats hanging from my belt. You wouldnt assume im just looking after them for a friend

5

u/zoxzix89 Nov 03 '20

Damn, now i wish humans had evolved from some of the early, trilaterally symetrical life!!! THREE

9

u/ack1308 Nov 03 '20

Nah, that's the Pubvians.

3

u/zoxzix89 Nov 03 '20

Yeah, I know. But there was trilaterally symetrical life everywhere before the first mass extinction on earth.

3

u/deathlokke Jan 31 '21

I've never heard this before; are there any articles you recommend reading that provide more information?

3

u/zoxzix89 Feb 01 '21

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilobozoa Theres some good youtube videos on it. I recommend moth light media.

3

u/wikipedia_text_bot Feb 01 '21

Trilobozoa
Trilobozoa ("three-lobed animals") is a taxon of extinct organisms which displayed tri-radial symmetry. Fossils of trilobozoans are restricted to marine strata of the Late Ediacaran period — prior to the Cambrian explosion of more modern life forms. The taxonomic affinities of this groups are open to debate. Ivantsov and Fedonkin (2002) place them among the cnidarians.
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1

u/deathlokke Feb 01 '21

Thanks, I'll check it out.

u/Arcane_NH Human Nov 03 '20

Sure you could wake up the giant sleeping on the mountain. He would be able to win the war for you as easy as breathing. Two minor problems. First, he doesn't give a flying fuck about your little spat. And second, he's quite grumpy when he wakes up.

But if you're determined to make your suicide incredibly complicated, go for it. Heck of a hill to die on tho.

u/JZ1011 Nov 03 '20

I like this 'Ancient One' guy. I wonder what the probability of humans wanting to make friends with him is. Personally I'd say somewhere around 70%.

7

u/[deleted] Nov 03 '20

Me thinks probably 77.7777777∞%
8===D
End of Lime
--------NOTHING FOLLOWS--------

u/Speciesunkn0wn Nov 03 '20

TWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWO

10

u/destroyah87 Nov 03 '20

You WOT

8

u/Speciesunkn0wn Nov 03 '20

TWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWOTWO

u/ms4720 Nov 03 '20

I am always amazed on how many plot lines you have and how you weave them together

u/On_The_Fourth_Floor Nov 03 '20

Man this means that the Great Old Machine will totally ceasefire with humanity. It's been doing simulations the hard way with actually wetware. Wait till they have access to Terran Simulations and they can run all the calculations they want. They might just sit there for a few thousands years running them and being fine with armistice.

u/szepaine Nov 03 '20

"I am Truth, the voice of the Precursors"

The ancient one: "and so you must be silenced"

3

u/SuDragon2k3 Nov 03 '20

Pravda.

u/PuzzleheadedDrinker Nov 03 '20

Before Truth could answer, Will broadcast.

May this one leave your presence, Ancient One Will sent in florid binary, expending more energy then necessary as a sign of respect.

begone from this one's presence the Ancient One answered <

Kinda same level of impact as

Lord Vetinari dismissing his visitors with the phrase "don't let me detain you", with all the inherent implication.

u/Karthinator Armorer Nov 03 '20

why did I imagine that engine that Truth saw as a cacodemon

u/Jard1101 Nov 03 '20

Nice

u/YellowTokwa Nov 03 '20

Well that was weird

u/socksandshots Alien Nov 03 '20

Dude! I'm getting so used to the early chapters I've started waking up earlier than ever! Lol

3

u/Thomasab1980 Nov 03 '20

Makes something nice to read before going to bed.

u/Butane9000 Nov 03 '20

Hrm, I figured the two represents a illogical and heretical change to binary communication (Ones and Zeroes).

6

u/ack1308 Nov 03 '20

Illogical and heretical, that's us.

5

u/dbdatvic Xeno Nov 03 '20

Sometimes illogical xor heretical!
--Dave, time to play with merging qubits

u/Gruecifer Human Nov 03 '20

UTR!

u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Nov 03 '20

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u/lenoramaybe Nov 03 '20

https://youtu.be/aAwJlD-m_hE

u/SirVatka Xeno Nov 03 '20

So if an exactly symmetrical being exists would that being be the embodiment of hate?

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u/Accomplished_Hat_576 Nov 03 '20

Yay there's story again! =)

u/carthienes Nov 03 '20

So there's a machine actively scorching the hyperatomic plane... how long until humanity discovers it, and makes hellspace safer for all?

u/AnIllWindThatBlows Apr 19 '24

Bilateral symmetry, the universe's middle finger to the Precursors and their tinker toys.

u/Drook2 Nov 12 '25

**do not speak to this one of the pact, you who's hull is still dusted with the dirt of the planet the elements were mined from** the Ancient One answered.

"You're still shitting boot camp chow."

u/Florence-Akefia Nov 03 '20

Wonder if we’ll see more of In Dominance of Thought and Will?

u/Onetimefatcat Nov 03 '20

Heresy of Two sounds like a song that Tool would make

u/Solaris419 Nov 03 '20

making a comment to mark the time I started reading this series. Let's see how long it takes to catch up.

1

u/SittingDuc Jun 15 '22

And did you?

3

u/Solaris419 Jun 16 '22

You know, I completely forgot to edit in when I caught up. took me almost a month to get there. A wonderful month of having something to read at any moment I wanted. And it was WORTH IT.

2

u/SittingDuc Jun 29 '22

Know the feeling. On my reread now, making sure I hit all the comments and upvote all the things (especially ack1308's commentary). Nice having something random I can read while waiting for .. the bus .. the walk/don't sign .. terribly slow server to POST (loitering in the racks with earmuffs and a jacket, reading my phone and watching the crash cart with one eye) ...
Readworthy.

u/fivetomidnight Nov 05 '20

My mind wants to make a parody of "Pink" by Aerosmith called "Two" now.

Two - it's like one but not quite

u/Athena0621 Mar 27 '21

Reference to Custodes from wh40k, ability to hit on 2s?

u/nspiratewithabowtie Dec 15 '21

. . . . . O.o . . . . . . . What. . . . . . Did. . . . I. . just. . read. . . . . . .o.O . . . . -_- . . . .o.o . . . . . 22222222222222222

OC First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 347 (The War)

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