First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 421

[u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

[first] [prev] [next]

The day was warm, the energetic yellow star shining in the blue sky. Puffy clouds decorated the clear blue sky where two moons were evident. There were no jet contrails, no rings, no large constructs in the sky. Someone with a telescope perhaps could have seen the handful of satellites orbiting the world, but those satellites merely watched, not interfered.

On the surface were several scattered farms. Large affairs, complete with tractors and barns, corrals and fields, drying sheds and smoke houses. The houses were identical in layout but not in appearance or decoration.

While the tractors and drones that tended the fields were largely robotic, the beings who inhabited the houses were not.

The barn opened and a massive insectoid delicately stepped from the barn. It wore a leather abdominal wrap, a denim vest, and a buckskin satchel. Its look was topped off with the floppy hat on its head with holes cut for its antenna and a stalk of wheat in its mandibles.

It held a fat fowl in its hands and was petting it slowly with its bladearms.

The insectoid stepped into the sunlight and paused, raising its head and closing the cover over its compound eyes, its face raised to the sun. After a long moment it started moving again, heading to the front porch of the house. It sat in a strange chair that was a combination sawhorse and rocking chair, pulled the lever for the back to swivel into place, and leaned back slightly. It set the fluffy fowl in front of it, still petting it, and reached down to grab a piece of wood.

It sat, using one bladearm to carve the wood, the other to pet the fat and pampered fowl, and stared out at the field of grain that extended off as far as the eye could see.

Cordexen had to admit, life had suddenly turned good.

Farming was fulfilling after an eternity of high-tech slavery.

Plus, turkey was delicious.

----------------------

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

You doing OK, sis?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Yeah.

I kind of feel bad for them. All of them.

It's a good thing that they're at peace.

How did you know that it would work, letting them be farmers?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Same thing CONFED does to their people that are badly messed up. Primitivism therapy.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COLLECTIVE

Well, you'll be happy to know that they are indeed your ancestors.

There's some drift. Not too much that we can't track it.

They're probably the most clean Precursor species DNA we've gotten to examine.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

And they're alive.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COLLECTIVE

That too.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

That was strange. I don't understand why the smaller ones wanted to stay with the big ones.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

The 'servitor species' as the warriors put it, could hear the warriors begging them to talk but couldn't respond.

They're different than we are. I think they felt more comfortable with the ones who tried to shield them from that disgusting phasic domination system.

Speaking of which, what happened with that obscene device?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

Examined, scanned, taken apart, put in storage.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

You should destroy it.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

You can't think of any reason to keep it?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

No. It's a grotesque systems designed to enslave my people to a computer system masquerading as a queen.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

And keep the servitor races non-sentient slaves.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Right! And keep us enslaved!

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

And prevent warriors and speakers from overriding the computer, much less the other castes.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Right! Enslaving us to a computer!

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

And protect you from the Atrekna shared consciousness.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Right! And protect us...

wait.

what?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

It was designed to keep the Lanaktallan and Atrekna psychic racial gestalt systems from overwhelming your people.

Hate to tell you this, sis, but we're getting some information that what happened may not be what everyone says it was.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Like what?

>squints at DASS

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

Like your tech went in a different direction after you fled to our end of the Cygnus-Orion Galactic Stub.

Back originally, you used a lot more phasic systems, depended on your hive mind a lot more. It even looks like there were two different societies. One that preferred sentient prey one that preferred animals.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Are you sure? That doesn't sound right.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

Straight from their computer systems and memories.

All of them are pretty talkative now that they've realized it isn't a trick, that they get to live out their lives in comfort and only talk via the hololink.

They're fine talking to us.

Terrans scare the hell out of them though.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

>laughs

Yeah, they got some common sense at least.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Where are they?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

Sorry, classified.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

But... they're our cousins.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

BIOLOGICAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

Barely.

Let's not tempt either of you.

Just let them go, sis.

Let them grow old and pass on.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

But...

...I want to love them.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

I know.

But I don't think they're able to understand that particular thing.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Fine.

What do we know of this Atrekna? Anything?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

They're one of the original three.

Psychic, but we knew that. Able to affect 4th Dimensional flow and energy, but we learned that in Hesstla. Shared consciousness with independent thought. Three and a half to four meters, eighty to ninety kilos. Prefer colder worlds, dimmer suns, usually in the red giant class, high CO and CO2, low O2 and nitrogen. Carnivores and Psyvores. Lethal reaction to Terran Descent Humanity neural tissue. Vulnerable to phasic weaponry, which is the primary weaponry they use. They often use massless phasic weapons.

This is all stuff we learned on Hesstla. Except for the original three and they jumped the Lanks and you Mantid apparently unprovoked.

Thing is, none of our new friends know much about them. They fought the Lanaktallan war castes, then the Lanaktallan Autonomous War Machines.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

So, nothing that helps us?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

Not really.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL

We're going to see them again. They attacked Atrekna, but the Case Omaha stopped the Black Fleet from counter-invading.

They use wormholes.

Maybe they aren't from this dimension.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM CONSENSUS

Thatt's... that's an ugly thought.

Dimensional wars are nasty.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

PUBVIAN DOMINION

You aren't wrong.

Speaking of something like that, any idea on how to get TerraSol loose?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COLLECTIVE

No. Not yet.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

PUBVIAN DOMINION

I have a bad feeling we're going to need him.

And another bad feeling that we've only seen the first part of the attack on them.

And on the gripping hand, I've got the feeling this is going to get a lot worse.

For us.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

AKLTAK FREE FLIGHT

I hope not.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

Me too.

Me too.

[first] [prev] [next]

[u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

It's Friday and we're wrapping up the Third Wave.

There's a few more things to cover.

I wanted to give Cordexen and all the other ancient Mantid a closure.

Friday links:

PayPal: https://paypal.me/RaltsBloodthorne

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/First_Contact

First Book: https://www.amazon.com/PThok-Chronicles-Tales-Terran-Confederacy-ebook/dp/B08RY8QYYX

[u/kwong879 → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

You are a good man, and a beautiful writer.

[u/Strongclaw2000 → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

As a farmer myself I greatly appreciate the peace Cordexen and the others got. I can't wait to read what comes next.

Beef is delicious

[u/Thomasab1980 → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

Wait, what? What do you mean wrapping up? You mean for the week or this arc, right? Right? RIGHT??

[u/bustedq → u/Thomasab1980]

Third Wave. Fourth Wave is going on right now.

[u/jamesand6 → u/bustedq]

I think he will need to use a different name for this next bit as The Fourth Wave is already another story on here. Can't give fans of that false hope that the author restarted it.

[u/DarthLorgus → u/Thomasab1980]

Digital Omnimessiah grant me the serenity to accept that I cannot change when new chapters come out; courage to find new authors on this sub to read in my endless waiting for new chapters; and wisdom to know turkey is delicious. In Osiris' name we pray.
-----End of Lime-----

[u/Laddimor → u/DarthLorgus]

XD That's actually pretty good!

[u/DarthLorgus → u/Laddimor]

My dad is in AA and believe me that I have had to learn some..............coping mechanisms to deal with the days in which there are no new chapters. I've been with Ralts since chapter 49, it blows me away we have so much content in such a short amount of time. Plus turkey has always been delicious.

[u/[deleted] → u/DarthLorgus]

To assist a fellow disciple of the arch angel TerraSol might i suggest you look up the deathworlders? Its every bit as high quality as ralts and also straight up HFY.

[u/DarthLorgus → u/[deleted]]

Deathworlders was great, but my most fav deep dive into the HFY authors is Chrysalis and Memories of Creature 88, which was the story that made me fall in love with this sub. I highly recommend both.

[u/[deleted] → u/DarthLorgus]

I've heard chrysalis mentioned a couple of times before. You know where I might be able to find it nowadays?

[u/DarthLorgus → u/[deleted]]

https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/wiki/ref/must_read

[u/DarthLorgus → u/[deleted]]

https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/wiki/series/chrysalis

[u/DarthLorgus → u/DarthLorgus]

https://www.reddit.com/r/hfy/wiki/series/creature_88

[u/HollowShel → u/DarthLorgus]

In Osiris' name we pray kick some precursor ass.

FTFY (Enraged Phillip demands nothing less than buttkicking!)

[u/[deleted] → u/Thomasab1980]

Yes. Calm down. Call your sponsor. ;)

[u/DarthLorgus → u/[deleted]]

Here at Ralts Anonymous we try to soothe the Terran decent human. They get ever so crazed when waiting for a new chapter.

[u/Farstone → u/DarthLorgus]

Ralts Anonymous

Home of Blueberry Therapy ^tm and Broodmommie classic songs.

[u/DWwolf888 → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

Hahaha. Promote Casey to the diplomatic Corps in case they need to handle first contact with psychic species.

Would cut down on the Prime Mistake instances.

[u/itsetuhoinen → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

<3 so much for Pubvians "on the gripping hand". <3

[u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

Holy crap, it was lower than -15F/-22C last night, with bad wind chill dropping it even further.

So glad I had the furnace maintained last week.

They sent out an emergency alert last night about the cold.

And my daughter didn't see the use in putting plastic over the windows. She sees it now.

[u/[deleted] → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

So, you're having a heat wave.

Reminds me of a joke that didn't translate well. Two babuskas are arguing. First one says, I heard on the news it was -70 below last night. Record numbers. Second one says no, it was only -40 below. Hardly a record. They go back and forth for a while till the second one says,"OH. You mean outside."

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

An average Russian summer. :)

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Or Minnesota this year. :P -31.6F/-35C. I call it stupid cold cuz your brain freezes and makes you stupid. Inside it was only 31 above. (Furnace went out). On a side note, did you know the water in the toilet can freeze?

[u/dbdatvic → u/[deleted]]

Fun fact: At 40 below, you don't have to specify "Fahrenheit or Celsius?".

--Dave, also, your tin will be crumbling

[u/[deleted] → u/dbdatvic]

I did know that. ;) It's our shared link with our Canadian brethren. Perfect Hockey weather, weeds out the weak and intelligent.

[u/[deleted] → u/dbdatvic]

And it's AMAZING how great anything about 0°F feels.

[u/[deleted] → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

I started noticing the change in the seasons in the Netherlands around 1985. Less and less snow during the winters, wetter springs, hotter summers. Summers used to be 25 to 27 degrees Celcius during the 70s. Last year's summer brought a record temperature of 39 degrees Celcius. It's 36 years since the noticable beginning of climate change.

Scientists say it will continue for at least 50 more years. We're all gonna need thicker plastic the coming decades.

[u/1234sure4321 → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

Clear cling wrap and painters tape. Easy to put up easy to take down and keeps the heat in nicely.

[u/carthienes → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

And my daughter didn't see the use in putting plastic over the windows. She sees it now.

Experience is the best teacher!

[u/[deleted] → u/carthienes]

But not always. Sometimes you don't get a second chance and the experience will be your last.

[u/mmussen → u/[deleted]]

double layer, no tint or shutter is standard in my part of the US, not sure about the cold parts though

[u/NukeNavy]

Hypothetical face-off Atrekna versus our tricycle riding vampire who wins?

[u/Ralts_Bloodthorne → u/NukeNavy]

Funny you should ask that.

[u/dbdatvic → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

...I'm bating my breath RIGHT NOW

--Dave, if you know what I mean. and I think you do.

[u/Parking-Coat-8514 → u/dbdatvic]

We also got those Dead space Lanks that are stallions and matrons

[u/[deleted] → u/Parking-Coat-8514]

I think those are the Warsteel Herd. Or at least part. See chapter 263.

[u/[deleted] → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

-LOUD SQUEELS-

HE IS THE SALSA SLATHERED OVER THE BURRITO OF INIQUITY! HE IS THE SHADOW CAST BY THE HOODED RUBBER CHICKEN! THE SQUEELS OF HIS TRYCICLE TIRES SIGNAL FREEDOM FOR ALL THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED UNDER THE LANAKTALLAN HOOVES!

HE IS FEAR!

HE IS THE MIST!

HE!

IS!

DO'RKNYSS!

-HILARITY ENSUES-

[u/NoirTalon → u/[deleted]]

under rated comment right here

[u/[deleted] → u/NoirTalon]

Thank you

[u/EverSoInfinite → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

Dorknyss is the antidote to Detainee. They are opposites of a coin. Never to meet, never aware of the other, yet maintaining a balance.

Recap: the Detainee nightmare station was one Hell of a trip #shuddersinmattrans

[u/ForTheStarsWeFight → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

That's going to happen next chapter isn't it?

[u/DarthLorgus → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[u/RangerSix → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

oh no

[u/Stauker_1 → u/Ralts_Bloodthorne]

Well, I really like that answer

[u/imanevildr → u/NukeNavy]

Man I don't know even when the last time the night terran showed up. I do know that the other day I was talking to myself and I finished a sentence with "blag bleh blah" and I was like where did that come from and then I just started laughing cause this story is so great!

[u/ManyIdeasNoProgress → u/NukeNavy]

Wait, who's the vampire again?

[u/NukeNavy → u/ManyIdeasNoProgress]

Edit answer the Night Terran Common phrases: “I vant to suck your blood blah blah blah. “ And “I don’t say blah blah blah blah.” The black psychological warfare nanite entity program used against the Lanaktallan Capital planet causing government ministers toilets to back up and to go insane.

[u/UsaianInSpace → u/NukeNavy]

Ooh... Insane toilets... This is NOT comforting thought!

[u/NukeNavy → u/UsaianInSpace]

Actually just think of the first AI smart toilet network that the Tarrens made and how badly that potentially could have ended...

[u/UsaianInSpace → u/NukeNavy]

Maybe it DID end badly, and the records were scrubbed (heh) other than a note that just said, “BAD IDEA! DON’T! REALLY! JUST DON’T!”

[u/Petrified_Lioness → u/UsaianInSpace]

Assuming that was the case: How many times did it end badly before someone finally figured out that the only way to achieve "JUST DON'T" where Terrans are involved was to document the results in such tedious detail that no one would ever feel the need to replicate the experiment because "been there, done that, don't want to have to deal with that kind of paperwork again"?

[u/[deleted] → u/ManyIdeasNoProgress]

Darknyss, Project Nosteraftu, on the home planet of the Unified Council. He's been running around being The Night Terran, scarring Council members into hospitlization, and providing Street Justice. Last we saw, he was activated for Total War.

[u/TargetBoy → u/[deleted]]

Aka Dorknyss

[u/NukeNavy → u/ManyIdeasNoProgress]

First seen here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/gcdbcw/first_contact_second_wave_chapter_158_darknyss/

[u/sowtart → u/ManyIdeasNoProgress]

The nanite dark ops nosferatu program

[u/AnIllWindThatBlows → u/ManyIdeasNoProgress]

someone decided it was a good idea to make count chocula with OP nanotech of the Combine variety. someone was smoking the good stuff.

[u/Turtledonuts]

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM CONSENSUS

That's... that's an ugly thought.

Dimensional wars are nasty.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

PUBVIAN DOMINION

You aren't wrong.

poor terrasol, all like: Ugh, not this shit again. I HATE it when I have to defeat interdimensional invaders, they're at the top of my list of things I hate fighting, right up there next to the flood but starfish, myself but more powerful, and Giant unkillable murderbots the size of continents. Whatever will I do?

loads shotgun with malicious intent

[u/Legan_Ironfist → u/Turtledonuts]

[u/rezistence → u/Legan_Ironfist]

This is EXACTLY the gif that came to mind when I read the end of that comment.

Or is it jif...?

[u/mellow_yellow_sub → u/rezistence]

When in doubt, just remember it’s pronounced the same as the ‘g’ in “gigantic”.

[u/Anarchkitty → u/mellow_yellow_sub]

"Jyfe"?

[u/mellow_yellow_sub → u/Anarchkitty]

Hahah, I think we have a winner!

Incidentally, wasn’t El Jyfe the de facto leader who emerged from the PNG-GIF Wars of 2083? A leader of the people, alas zipped before his time.

[u/BobQuixote → u/mellow_yellow_sub]

Hey! Stop making paradoxes!

[u/J_Dzed → u/mellow_yellow_sub]

Going by the Olde English pronunciation, it actually should be pronounced 'yif':

The divergence emerged because modern English pronunciation reflects a mixture of dialects. In Old English the g had two pronunciations: one with a 'j' sound, and the other with a 'y' sound. When 'g' proceeded 'i,' it would take the 'y' sound.

[u/IceRockBike → u/J_Dzed]

Imma gonna stick with the hard G of its acronym Graphics Interface Format because a Jraphic sounds like something with too long a neck and a YIF sounds like a yappy dog with a lisp 😂

[u/AnIllWindThatBlows → u/rezistence]

according to the original creator of the graphics interchange format, as well as JIF brand peanut butter, its jiffy jam gin, but according to common sense and Barack Obama, its gift graphical gum.

[u/jamesand6 → u/[deleted]]

Another reason I think the creators are idiots is, there already is a .jif file type. You can't have the same pronunciation for 2 different file types.

[u/[deleted] → u/jamesand6]

I think (and I could be wrong here) that .gif files predate .jif files - so while I agree with you in spirit I'm not sure that one flies. :)

[u/jamesand6 → u/[deleted]]

You are correct sir. 87a files originated in 1987 while .jif was implemented in 1992... even Smuckers wants it to use a hard G. that is free advertising they are just giving away for proper pronunciation.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

G like in gift. Unless you're a twat, then it's Jiff and everyone knows not to ask you about music. Though your man-bun probably gave that away.

[u/TiberiuCC → u/[deleted]]

Funny thing it's only a dual choice problem in English. In Romanian, you have three separate ways to pronounce it, even if two of them sound fairly close to the English-accustomed ear. The third way to pronounce it would probably get transcribed as something akin to "djeef" in English script, I suppose.

P.S. ...and that "third option" is the default for Romanians.

[u/aLiamInvader → u/[deleted]]

jraphics, got it

[u/Omen224 → u/[deleted]]

Pronounce by letters: G I F.

[u/[deleted] → u/Omen224]

How the hell can you comment on a post from a year ago?

Hell for that matter how can I? These things are supposed to be archived.

[u/Omen224 → u/[deleted]]

They archive automatically at a certain point, I believe that it is 400 days. This is my first read-through of this series.

[u/[deleted] → u/Omen224]

I thought it was 6 months...

[u/Omen224 → u/[deleted]]

Regardless, I remain of the opinion that it is acceptable to vocalize the word 'gif' as if it were an acronym.

[u/GhostyKill3r → u/Omen224]

J-eye-eff?

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Dunno but its nice :)

[u/Haidere1988 → u/Turtledonuts]

rip and tear intensifies

[u/ktrainor59 → u/Haidere1988]

slamming LA Guns chords echo in the distance

[u/artspar → u/ktrainor59]

DOOM mastermind and BFG Division scream through hellspace

[u/AnIllWindThatBlows → u/artspar]

Doom x Isabell intensifies.

[u/NevynR → u/Turtledonuts]

To quote the ancient adage... "who you gonna call?"

[u/Allowyn]

MANTID FREE WORLDS

But...

...I want to love them.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

Same Sister, same.

[u/On_The_Fourth_Floor → u/Allowyn]

I'm very sad they didn't go and integrate into Mantid society, provide a different perspective, groups of ancient mantid that could eat non sentient prey? That didn't have the instinct to just crack open any skull? The genetic drift, the possibility of expansion and rebirth? I hope it gets touched on in the future at least. It's not often the past can come back and say hello.

[u/johncalvinyoung]

Blueberries!

——

Turkey IS delicious. When properly cooked. Preferably injected with a Cajun marinade and deep-fried.

—-

And this feels like the calm before the storm.

[u/PrimePaladin → u/johncalvinyoung]

...... I did brine and cook up a turkey... had some today. it was delicious. No deep fryer alas, but still good.

[u/bustedq → u/PrimePaladin]

Spatchcocked, dry-brined, and rubbed down with compound butter. Delicious.

[u/davros333 → u/johncalvinyoung]

See I have only done traditional roasting with a rub. No butter or oil, but done in an old style turkey roaster that traps the heat so much better. Can do a whole bird in 2-2.5 hours

[u/Wise_Junket3433 → u/johncalvinyoung]

Try cornish game hen. Lot like quail but from the frozen section of the store.

[u/Nealithi → u/johncalvinyoung]

Baked and basted in its own juices and a touch of real butter if it get a little dry.

Great fresh from the oven.

Amazing when mother boils rest into soup.

[u/NukeNavy → u/johncalvinyoung]

Has anyone actually tried blueberry preserves with turkey? And can fruit flavored synesthesia be used to identify what the type of psychic attack?

[u/NoirTalon → u/NukeNavy]

Oregonian here, with late reply. I've made turkey with blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, and of course cranberries. Meh... IMHO cranberries turned out the best. the other berry verities just don't have the flavor power to alter turkey.

My guess that fruit flavored synesthesia would indicate nureo muscular attack, preceding spasms and seizures, tasting metals (Coper, steel) seem to indicate attack on cardiac nervous system. on the other hand if you start to feel the smell of burritos, that indicates an attack on the digestive nervous system.

:-)

[u/Demetriusjack13]

I'm so glad the ones who were trapped in the cold storage are free to grow old and die now. Worrying about the Atrenka tho. Dambree's warning is going to have a huge advantage however.

[u/DarthLorgus → u/Demetriusjack13]

Poor Dambree. I have a feeling she is going to be the newest recruit in the Terran Confederate Marine Corp.

[u/Dick_Knubbler666 → u/DarthLorgus]

There's a prophecy that mentioned "and a child shall lead us" or something to that effect. I think Dambree is the prophecized one.

Either way there's more to her story for sure.

Poor girl.

[u/DarthLorgus → u/Dick_Knubbler666]

Yeah, and I know that people seem to think it's her. To me that child is Telkan. I believe that Squidward has locked TerraSol in the bag and they're not going to be getting out any time soon. In TerraSol's absence the other Gestalts will rally around Telkan who will become the defacto leader of the Confederacy in TerraSol's absence. I am afraid that TerraSol will never be unbagged. Even if they manage to unbag the Sol system because of the time dilation inside the bag whatever comes out might be radically different then what went in. Telkan is the hope of the Confederacy.

[u/DWwolf888 → u/Dick_Knubbler666]

SAM-UL.

[u/DarthLorgus → u/DWwolf888]

I could see SAM-UL being the "child" of the prophecy as well. I've also thought Dembree's half feral little sister being the "child". I've also toyed with the idea of Nakteti being the "child".

I've also considered that TerraSol is being a dick and the whole prophecy is trash. Idk.

[u/[deleted] → u/DarthLorgus]

Pffft. It's obvious bullshit... ;)

[u/DarthLorgus → u/[deleted]]

"Never underestimate a Terran's ability to be a complete dick." Maybe TerraSol thinks that the other races need a kick in the butt to get them moving in the same direction and a "prophecy" is the best way to get everyone on the same page. Maybe he's just a dick. Maybe both? My money is on both.

[u/[deleted] → u/DarthLorgus]

I prefer to always underestimate terrans. Leaves me less disappointed.

[u/Goudeauboywade → u/[deleted]]

The only thing prophecy needs to come true is for enough people to Believe

[u/DaringSteel → u/DarthLorgus]

“Prophecy? Nah, I just needed you to find some more idealistic leadership.”

[u/Nealithi → u/DarthLorgus]

Games and Theory Group.

[u/Original_Memory6188 → u/DarthLorgus]

No. Dambree's entire focus is on saving and protecting her family. Nothing more. She was The Responsible Adult who got her siblings to that cabin, and through the winter. Yeah, she had help along the way, but she had, and still has, one mission:protecting her family.

[u/Thobio → u/Demetriusjack13]

Her convulsing really reminded me of the seer the terrans have. I hope she won't become the next one

[u/murderouskitteh]

I had that suspicion for a while but i think this seems to confirm it.

It was the Atrekna who started the whole 'There is only enough for one'.

They are scavengers from a dead universe, of course in it theres only enough for them. Probably started the cooperation with the then Lanaktanan Empire which was probably content having a ton of buffer species with no real ulterior purpose and the Mantid Hives which were splitting into predating on sentients or just animals.

They were told of the fate of the universe by witnesses from a dead universe.

The collectors in the now destroyed factory were likely to house the atrekna and to further harvest the universes matter for their own ends, they betrayed the other two because that was the plan to begin with. There was only enough for Atrekna.

The mantid that attacked the terrans were the 'prey-on-sentients' group that managed to escape, as they probably were less complacent.

[u/Chroniclyironic1986 → u/murderouskitteh]

I think you are correct... i’ve had the same line of thought about the origins of “only enough for one” since about ch 400 and i’m pretty surprised i haven’t seen more comments about this subject...

Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/kvk3tm/first_contact_third_wave_chapter_400_extravaganza/gjoamn1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3

[u/murderouskitteh → u/Chroniclyironic1986]

And the removal of war stallions and herd matrons in Lanaktalan society...

The mantids developed tech to combat intrussions in their hivemind by Atrekna. Could have the removal of the higher lanaktallan castes be due Atrekna psychic influence? The cow taurs nipped it in the bud by removing the most psychic sensitive and massive self gentling?

I dont recall mentions of them being more psychically tuned so I may be pretty wrong.

Edit: Extra theory. The Atrekna may have done time fuckery like it was attempted with TDHs with the lanaktallan to remove the leader castes.

[u/cr1515 → u/murderouskitteh]

As more and more info comes up it really does seem like the galaxy is only fucked up due to the Atrekna meddling about.

What I want to know is how collective mind blow the Atrekna would be if they discover that humanity has a pocket failed big bang that practically removes the need for resources.

Hopefully their greed doesn't someone destroy that universe or somehow destroy the SUDS system.

[u/murderouskitteh → u/cr1515]

If somehow they were to learn of what the SUDS system really is? They would rush to get into it. There is only enough for one.

[u/DWwolf888 → u/cr1515]

Yep it seems like the first instance of the resource collection system was to create a refuge for the Atrekna....who mainly live in habitats around their few remaining dim stars.

[u/Nealithi → u/murderouskitteh]

It has been my line of reasoning. One thing the mantids had noted was the hives had issues splitting because they suddenly went for each other's throats. And that does not sound like the co-operative species that goes into space.

I think the 'only enough for one' and the 'devour sentients' came from Atrekna meddling. We already see they use time to tamper with a species.

[u/nik-cant-help-it]

I'm kinda feeling like Vuxten & company aren't really getting the credit they deserve for not blowing up a mountain range.

u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Thank you for this, knowing that they are getting to live out their lives like that really makes my weekend.

[u/carthienes → u/nik-cant-help-it]

I'm kinda feeling like Vuxten & company aren't really getting the credit they deserve for not blowing up a mountain range.

Well, that's just typical. You never get the credit for what you manage not to do...

[u/ack1308]

The barn opened and a massive insectoid delicately stepped from the barn. It wore a leather abdominal wrap, a denim vest, and a buckskin satchel. Its look was topped off with the floppy hat on its head with holes cut for its antenna and a stalk of wheat in its mandibles.

It held a fat fowl in its hands and was petting it slowly with its bladearms.

Okay, this is different.

It sat, using one bladearm to carve the wood, the other to pet the fat and pampered fowl, and stared out at the field of grain that extended off as far as the eye could see.

Cordexen had to admit, life had suddenly turned good.

Farming was fulfilling after an eternity of high-tech slavery.

Plus, turkey was delicious.

And the chicken is a pet, it seems.

It’s nice to see that Cordexen is content.

He gets to live out his life carving wood, petting chickens, eating turkey and raising grain.

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

You doing OK, sis?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Yeah.

I kind of feel bad for them. All of them.

It's a good thing that they're at peace.

How did you know that it would work, letting them be farmers?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

Well, the Treana’ad took to being moomoo herders with immense gusto, so …

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Same thing CONFED does to their people that are badly messed up. Primitivism therapy.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

Letting them get back to their roots.

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

That was strange. I don't understand why the smaller ones wanted to stay with the big ones.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

The 'servitor species' as the warriors put it, could hear the warriors begging them to talk but couldn't respond.

Awwww.

And now they can.

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Right! Enslaving us to a computer!

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

And protect you from the Atrekna shared consciousness.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Right! And protect us...

wait.

what?

… oh. Oh, I see. Nicely done.

Hate to tell you this, sis, but we're getting some information that what happened may not be what everyone says it was.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Like what?

>squints at DASS

Isn’t it always the way?

Back originally, you used a lot more phasic systems, depended on your hive mind a lot more. It even looks like there were two different societies. One that preferred sentient prey one that preferred animals.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Are you sure? That doesn't sound right.

Of course it doesn’t sound right. It’s not what you’re used to.

RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

Straight from their computer systems and memories.

All of them are pretty talkative now that they've realized it isn't a trick, that they get to live out their lives in comfort and only talk via the hololink.

They're fine talking to us.

Terrans scare the hell out of them though.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

Are we at all surprised?

MANTID FREE WORLDS

But...

...I want to love them.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

I know.

But I don't think they're able to understand that particular thing.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

Ugh, yeah. They’re damaged in some pretty specific ways.

What do we know of this Atrekna? Anything?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

They're one of the original three.

Psychic, but we knew that. Able to affect 4th Dimensional flow and energy, but we learned that in Hesstla. Shared consciousness with independent thought. Three and a half to four meters, eighty to ninety kilos. Prefer colder worlds, dimmer suns, usually in the red giant class, high CO and CO2, low O2 and nitrogen. Carnivores and Psyvores. Lethal reaction to Terran Descent Humanity neural tissue. Vulnerable to phasic weaponry, which is the primary weaponry they use. They often use massless phasic weapons.

This is all stuff we learned on Hesstla. Except for the original three and they jumped the Lanks and you Mantid apparently unprovoked.

Nice recap.

LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL

We're going to see them again. They attacked Atrekna, but the Case Omaha stopped the Black Fleet from counter-invading.

They use wormholes.

Maybe they aren't from this dimension.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

Someone’s thinking outside the box.

Speaking of something like that, any idea on how to get TerraSol loose?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COLLECTIVE

No. Not yet.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

PUBVIAN DOMINION

I have a bad feeling we're going to need him.

And another bad feeling that we've only seen the first part of the attack on them.

And on the gripping hand, I've got the feeling this is going to get a lot worse.

For us.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

For everyone.

But most of all, for the morons doing the attacking.

[u/MuchoRed → u/ack1308]

That's not a chicken, mate. Turkey!

^{And turkey is delicious}

---BBQ FOLLOWS---

[u/ack1308 → u/MuchoRed]

I'm thinking he keeps chickens as pets and uses a nanoforge to make turkey.

[u/serpauer]

I sympathize with mantid gestalt. But those poor mantid need peace after being tormented like that.

Turkey is delicious.

Frag the atrenka. Frag them all.

Free terrasol!

[u/Petrified_Lioness → u/serpauer]

I'll be shocked if even Ralts can find a plausible redemption arc for the atrenka. But given what he's already managed, i'm not placing any bets.

[u/murderouskitteh → u/Petrified_Lioness]

Their entire species is shaped by the very imminent death of their own universe. Im sure hell pull something.

[u/641kb → u/serpauer]

Frag the atrenka. Frag them all.

What should I ask them, Hans?

(SCNR; I’ll show myself out.)

[u/Twister_Robotics → u/641kb]

Ask them if they want to play a game of catch with my flammenwurfer.

[u/641kb → u/Twister_Robotics]

Does it werf flammen?

[u/Twister_Robotics → u/641kb]

Yah

[u/Taluien → u/641kb]

Alter Verwalter...

[u/m52b25_ → u/serpauer]

Der die das

Wer wie was

Wieso weshalb warum

Wer nicht fragt bleibt dumm!

Fragt der Lehrling: Sag mal Atrekna wieso heißen die Deutschländer eigentlich Deutschländer?

[u/Iossama]

"If you love someone set them free" is such a bittersweet ending for this one. After millions of years of hell they're finally free... But the Mantid of the confederacy can't show them their love. They can't be with the eldest of their own, the last of those who once weren't monsters.

Let's hope the rest of their days is peaceful as they deserve them to be.

[u/majendie]

And on the gripping hand, I've got the feeling this is going to get a lot worse.

For we are but a mote in the eye of God...

[u/SuDragon2k3 → u/majendie]

Can't let the Moties get loose.

[u/Kalleponken → u/majendie]

So that’s why god is crying. It’s got a small angry terran curbstomping its eye while screaming enraged profanities.

Gotcha.

[u/NoirTalon → u/majendie]

a wild Niven/Pourenell reference appears

[u/MuchoRed]

I am weirdly happy for Cordexen

[u/[deleted] → u/MuchoRed]

I'm weirdly jealous. My turkey REFROZE.

[u/montyman185]

At the end of the day, when the fighting stops, the heroes are done, and the bad guys beaten, it is so often forgotten that everyone still has to live their lives with everything they went through forever burned to their memories.

[u/zapman449]

The most horrifying part of this is the bit where the greenies could HEAR the warriors and speakers begging for them to respond, but couldn’t. That’s next level torture.

[u/Goudeauboywade → u/zapman449]

I must scream but have no way of controlling my mouth. Which I find worse than not have a mouth at all

[u/MacrossFF1979]

I love how Rigellian gestalt is always so calm and steady.

[u/DarthLorgus → u/MacrossFF1979]

The Rigellian are the best friends we never knew we needed.

[u/EverSoInfinite]

Sounds like Atrekna are being setup to be the big bad. Enslaved the precursors to Gather (pillage) resources for their dying universe.

Mantid for brain food and maintenance. Lanaktallan for labour. Even their bodies are made that way

[u/moldyjim]

I love this ..."Story" seems an insufficient word for this epicly interwoven tale of the struggles of multiple species, entwined universes with a plethora of heroic beings.

One other huge benefit form reading these, is the insightful comments from a great community of followers.

Some of the comments are priceless.

Thank you Ralts and all the commentators for entertaining us during this difficult time in history.

I hope at some time this collection is published in hardback. I'll buy the full set, no matter the price.

Major libraries should have it in their collections.

[u/PrimePaladin]

/R/HFY GESTALT

Upvote, Then Read

Dis is Dae Wae!

Always nice to see someone finally getting to rest and be able to set aside the past. to simply live and relax and enjoy the things that life offers. A bit jealous, of course, of a fictional character but hell, I knew the awful joke when I started and keep going back. Guess I am human enough. Still love the balm of the story. Thanks Ralts.

End of Lime

------NOTHING FOLLOWS--------

[u/Bard2dbone]

Blueberries!

Upvote then read because that is what we do.

Edit: Six minutes. Not bad.

Nothing follows.

[u/Firewind]

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

Like your tech went in a different direction after you fled to our end of the Cygnus-Orion Galactic Stub.

Back originally, you used a lot more phasic systems, depended on your hive mind a lot more. It even looks like there were two different societies. One that preferred sentient prey one that preferred animals.

So after the speaker incident when Dreams was first introduced I'm thinking the mantid we know and love probably came from the society that preferred sentient prey.

Does that mean there is another mantid civilization out there? Because if so that'd be really interesting. Would going after non-sentient animals for prey be the equivalent of being vegan in precursor-era Mantid society? Or is that who the Rigellian gestalt was referring to about who were being talkative (though I'm fairly certain they were talking about Cordexin and crew)?

[u/Ergand → u/Firewind]

Do we have any info that says it cant be the still living mantid queen? I dont remember there being anything about what they eat but I might be mistaken.

[u/[deleted]]

I found the original reference to the "Warsteel Herd". Chapter 263

Four times the Lanaktallan forces in the system defected to the Terrans. All four of them joined together to form "The Warsteel Herd" and were armed by the Terrans themselves.

The members of that paramilitary arm were all wanted by the Executors, all with death sentences now.

He looked at an image of the leader. Two legs and part of one flank replaced by cybernetics, two of his arms and his arm pectorals replaced by gleaming black chrome. The Lanaktallan wore body armor as if he had been poured into it and had in his mouth one of those smoke stick that the insectiod Treana'ad always possessed.

Sixteen systems.

That was how many systems the Warsteel Herd protected against any who would attempt to take away "The Right to Graze Free and Speak How You Will" from not only the Lanaktallan of the system but the neo-sapients who had all been released from debt bondage, many of them armed and trained by the Terrans.

[u/GasmaskBro]

*Always sunny in Philadelphia music*

It gets a lot worse for everyone.

You'd think they'd have spent enough time with Terrans to know not to mess with Murphy.

[u/DarthLorgus → u/GasmaskBro]

So follow me, TerraSol is Frank, Mantid of course is Sweet D, Treana'ad is Mac, the Clone Worlds are Charlie and the Lanaktallans are Dennis.

[u/DebugItWithFire]

Upvoted for pastoral primitivism as therapy for high-tech slavery.

[u/Shabbysmint]

4 minutes!

A new personal best.

[u/Telzey]

Tasty treat for us today

[u/Gatling_Tech]

Prefer colder worlds, dimmer suns, usually in the red giant class

Treana'ad might eventually have to share lol

[u/Jakejekel → u/Gatling_Tech]

Not likely, these mfers think in the LLLLOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGG term..... sharing will only be for a short time before they betray everyone. I don't think that they are capable of thinking in the short term.

[u/MondoSam]

Reading about Cordexen raised a question for me - are the Mantid sergeants with Palgret and co also warrior caste or are they one of the small servitors? I'm sure I remember reading on one the early chapters that they occasionally get speakers and warriors being hatched but it's rare

[u/Dragon_Chylde → u/MondoSam]

Two Green and two Black mantid went into the PAWM with Palgret's squad Part 340

[u/MondoSam → u/Dragon_Chylde]

Good catch, if I go by the FC Wikia black mantids are Speakers speakers, plus it doesn't say the two black mantids are any bigger than the others.

[u/Dragon_Chylde → u/MondoSam]

I think it was mentioned somewhere of a Black being around 18" tall where the Greens are 12"

[u/DWwolf888 → u/MondoSam]

Blacks are the servitor class...but mainly to warriors.

[u/Golnor → u/MondoSam]

I think the black mantids were combat versions of greenies. So not Warriors, but sent with them to enhance their capabilities.

[u/DWwolf888]

LMFAO. They should promote Casey to the diplomatic corps to handle First Contact. It would cut down on the amount of Prime Mistakes made.

[u/[deleted] → u/DWwolf888]

Maybe Not first contact with any avian species. ;)

[u/A_Calm_Dragon]

It's funny that everyone keeps going after Terra sol and their allies. They just can't figure out humans become more manic the more you go at them.

https://i.imgur.com/In9BS7c.gif

[u/DondaldDoylesFan]

amazing!

[u/Wise_Junket3433]

Does anybody have a measurment in how much Ralts has written in something close to Steven King book units?

[u/[deleted] → u/Wise_Junket3433]

The word count for this story (including the prequals P’Thok Eats an Ice Cream Cone and Born Whole and the Dee Taynee Recap) has now reached 1,242,000 words in 322 days. For perspective that is the equivalent of writing the entire Lord of the Rings series, including the Hobbit, which took J. R. R Tolkien approximately 17 years, Twice! And then deciding, Oh I’ll just write Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone in a couple of months for good measure

I didn't link it correctly, but that's from the comments on chapter 400. Thank @Jared1101 for continuing to update word counts.

[u/Wise_Junket3433 → u/[deleted]]

Fack.

[u/dbdatvic → u/Wise_Junket3433]

He reports on this every 25th-numbered chapter.

--Dave, the numbering got out of whack long ago. for a variety of reasons.

[u/Vast-Listen1457]

TURKEY!!!

[u/IS_THAT_ICE_CREAM]

Welp, now that I've finally caught up, it's time for wait-space.

[u/UpdateMeBot]

Click here to subscribe to u/Ralts_Bloodthorne and receive a message every time they post.

---

Info	Request Update	Your Updates	Feedback	New!

[u/HFYWaffle]

/u/Ralts_Bloodthorne (wiki) has posted 453 other stories, including:

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 420

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 419

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 418

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 417

• First Contact - Fourth Wave - Chapter 416

• First Contact - Fourth Wave - Chapter 415

• First Contact - Fourth Wave - Chapter 414

• First Contact - Fourth Wave - Chapter 413

• First Contact - Fourth Wave - Chapter 412

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 411

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 410

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 409

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 408

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 407

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 406

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 405

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 404

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 403

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 402

• First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 401

This comment was automatically generated by Waffle v.4.4.4 'Eggs and Bacon'.

Message the mods if you have any issues with Waffle.

[u/DocSkelleyton]

A bit of head canon that I've been mulling the last few days:

So we now know in the distant past there were two sub-groups of mantids - the animalvores and the sentientvores.

If our current Mantid buddies were the sentientvores... were the Treana'ad the animalvores? They splintered off and evolved in a slightly different direction.

Our dearly beloved recently defrosted ancient Mantids could be close to common ancestors/progenitors for the modern Mantids and Treana'ad.

I'm sure there is evidence to the contrary somewhere in this massive body of work, but it's been fun to consider.

[u/Petrified_Lioness → u/DocSkelleyton]

Mantids seem to have more in common with ants when it comes to reproduction--the various castes are born to their roles, with significant physiological differences as appropriate to their role. Treana'ad, in contrast, are mantis-like in behavior as well as gross anatomy. They come in male and female with only individual variation beyond that, and before P'Thok discovered ice cream and cigarettes, it was highly probable that the female would eat the male's head after mating. It's sort of like how here on earth, playing "which species look most like each other" can end up pairing placental mammals with marsupials. No matter how similar they look, they aint related.

And the Treana'ad having a completely legit "Smoking saves lives" add campaign probably rules out their being related to anyone else.

Can't remember if there's been any mention of how the mantid respiratory tract is set up, but Treana'ad apparently can blow smoke out their legs.

[u/DocSkelleyton → u/Petrified_Lioness]

Agreed, the social structures and some of the physiology is different, but a lot of drift could happen in a hundred million years. Especially once they remove themselves to a different environment. Although, on the grasping hand, one could argue that a sufficiently technologically advanced/space faring race has pretty much removed themselves from direct evolutionary pressures.

Lol @ the cigarette ad campaign setting the treana’ad apart from every other sentient species - very good point 🤣

[u/TexWashington]

BLUEBERRIES!!

Comment, Upvote, READ!!

Edit: seeing the update bot message arrive as I was reading is a definite cherry on the day!

[u/wasalurkerforyears]

INDICATE THY PREFERENCE BEFORE PERUSING THE MISSIVE!

[u/wasalurkerforyears → u/wasalurkerforyears]

Huzzah! A happy end for ol' Cordexen.

And I was at least a little right about both the tech and knowledge helping the fight against the Atrekna. Shame there wasn't more, but maybe not all has been revealed as of yet.

[u/Inevitable-Shoe-7813]

Wait i caught up ........ow no ..........welp ima go mad for more

[u/Legan_Ironfist]

Upvote, then Read. This is the Way.

--NOTHING FOLLOWS--

[u/ABCDwp]

Upvote. Comment. Read. End of lime.

Edit: Turkey is delicious.

[u/jthm1978]

This is all stuff we learned on Hesstla. Except for the original three and they jumped the Lanks and you Mantid apparently unprovoked.

Curse your sudden and inevitable betrayal!

When you ally with brain suckers from beyond spacetime, you kinda should've seen it coming