And so we dive, nose deep, if not deeper.
Well, sort of?
And yes, too short again..
A slow writer.
=
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With their little community preparing for war, old suit found little time for rest. What quirks he developed he would have to compensate for himself, the best he could, as Royal was fully occupied analyzing those genes. Working tirelessly Royals attention now was fixed on finding a countermeasure. And with neither Jeff, nor the suits, trusting Janelle’s judgment anymore Royal had invoked survival mode, inducting her into a prolonged sleep. Jeff who hadn’t been asked at all had to admit to himself that he secretly was rather pleased, it was better this way than to constantly have to check on her every move. He hated what the Planet had done to them, and most of all, what it had done to her.
They had raised their defense level to the ultimate now, still encircled by those IR visuals of life forms, continuously creeping closer, and closer, strangling their freedom of movement. The time for fishing long gone, suit had sat down with Jeff to instill some of its old combat wisdom.
“What we have here Jeff is more of a guerilla situation than a regular war. Us being outnumbered, and probably outgunned too.” He had explained. “We will have to work from what resources we have, using them to the fullest.”
They couldn’t leave, well, Royal could with Janelle, and probably it would if worst came to worst. But suit needed some serious tinkering before he could be trusted to be flyable. Still, the situation hadn’t become that desperate, yet. There seemed still a possibility of negotiation. Royal had been contacted by a presence, operating on its command frequency of all frequencies, offering yet unnamed bribes for its acquiescence. It had flatly refused any negotiations so far though, demanding her Ladyship to be released before any such could be possible. Royal stood its ground there, refusing to be moved any further. But Planet on its side just as stubbornly refused to let go of its newest acquisition, hoping that winning the suits over with flattery and bribes would bring its newest breeding stocks into their pen.
It tried again.
“Immortality Royal? The first suit to live, for ever? You may sneer at it now my friend, but think about it." Observing Royals indifference it continued. "Have you ever wondered what it would be to be organic then, to breathe and feel?”
The Royal still refused him an answer.
“You could become one of them my friend, a real person. I have that knowledge.”
The Planet was most insidious there. It knew from experience that most 'artificials' thirsted for what that other side might offer. To experience first handedly what biological life would be like. To be able to create their own biological offspring’s. They might try to hide it from it, even deny it to themselves, but it knew that there always existed that corn of nagging self-doubt, hidden deep inside their circuits.
At last Royal answered. “Now I’m disappointed, An intellect, as mighty as you propose yourself to be, expecting me to fall for such a measly bribe.”
“Ahh, but what about your Lady then? Why leave her in the clutches of a lowlife to ravish? Why not make her yours instead, to love and cherish.”
And there it touched a sore spot in Royals armor. No matter what Royal thought of Jeff. As a betrothed to her Ladyship, as he actually was becoming here, he left such a lot to wish for. All protocols instilled by her parents actually forbid it, making it one of Royals foremost priorities. If now a Royal could sigh forlornly, then surely our Royal would have done so. It was true that someone as close to perfection as Royal would be so much more fitting, simple logic told him so. But it must be said, and much to our Royal’s credit too, that even this he refused, although not without a certain regret.
“Leave. There will be no further negotiations. Our demand stands. Free her Ladyship, then negotiate.”
Looking out from the cabin they could now see the life forms with their own eyes, well, Jeff could at least. Some reminding him, and the suits, of bloodthirsty prehistoric beasts, same as those roaming all over Earth once, others looking more like some sort of giant spiders and insects, some just as harmless as rabbits, but all waiting, restlessly pacing their perimeter. At least none had tried to pass it, so far.
“We can’t stop them if they attack.”
“You’re right Jeff. What’s stopping them is not the perimeter, More their fear of losing us.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know why? But it do seems that they find us of some value.”
It was then one of suits glitches, for once, came to do them some good. He had a old but strong resonator, it was mostly used when studying the interiors of asteroids looking for ore. Seldom used, it was a relic from those times when Space first had been opened, and new resources constantly were needed. Anyway, it malfunctioned, sending a short series of pulses through the floor. To the suits surprise they didn’t bounce back? Considering that planets are solid, and of different solidity depending on strata, one could expect them to meet a density reflecting them, but, this time they just seemed to disappear?
While Royal and Jeff continued the discussion suit, now becoming increasingly curious, continued the exploration of the planets innards that it so inadvertently had started. It circled through different frequencies trying to define the different strata. After some extensive testing, as well as a thorough testing of its own circuits, it called them to attention, exclaiming as it sent them a Tri-D of what it had found.
“This can't be a planet, it's just a shell?”
=
Comments
Hm... it gets curious and
Hm... it gets curious and more curious ^^
It is a hollow planet... With a central brain, or a space station inside?
Thank you for writing,
Beyogi
Dyson
So it's more like a dyson sphere.
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The world was so full of sharp bends that if they didn't put a few twists in you, you wouldn't stand a chance of fitting in. -- Terry Pratchett
A living dyson sphere? You
A living dyson sphere? You ain't serious. You'd need a literal wonder material to keep it from beeing torn apart by the power of gravity. A dyson sphere wouldn't have varying gravity. It would have gravity as any other star or planet.
A sentinent dyson sphere would be something like a sentinent solar system.
No I think it is hollow and can reform its surface to its own needs. I probably has somekind of central processing unit in the center and maybe some possibility to secure data.
Tri
Maybe it's made of tritanium and unobtainium and a lot of science fiction ;)
Or the planet warps space. Like it did to pull them in. Gravity is warping of space too.
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The world was so full of sharp bends that if they didn't put a few twists in you, you wouldn't stand a chance of fitting in. -- Terry Pratchett
Actually it-
makes sense. Being sentient you wouldn't expect it to be as solid as a more normal world. After all compact a human body and you have a much smaller package, although don't do that because it would very messy. For the planet to be alive and to do what it does it has to be less dense.
How about that! The gardener did break down and start talking to the roses. Or in this case the thorns. :)
All in all I can see tough times ahead for our characters. It does make sense that Royal is Janelle's chaperon, and that it doesn't see Jeff as accepted material. Then again we have the still unknown quantity of what ringlet's assimilation did to him.
Please may I have another? :)
hugs
Grover
Aha!
My first thought was that there's somebody inside (like John Varley's Gaea) running the whole thing. (Those who've read the trilogy know what I mean and the reason that destroying the intelligence in charge won't have a negative impact on the physical planet.)
Not sure what this new development means with respect to the gravity increasing back when the four of them first got there. Is there a control panel inside that can change the gravity without shrinking or expanding the planet? If so, could it be used as a weapon against our quartet? Can it do other things such as changing the atmosphere -- moving all the oxygen outside their living area, for example? Actually, altering conditions for life could sideline Jeff, since he's organic, but Royal could probably handle such things, since it's made for space, and Royal's the one in charge of strategy here. (And the Planet's desire to subjugate and not exterminate them extends to Royal and Suit, too, though one wonders if Planet would be willing to destroy the nonorganic intelligences if that were the only way to breed the organic ones.)
It also brings up the thought that something down there is controlling the Planet and its sun's bounces throughout the universe. If I recall correctly, our narrator explained earlier that the planet was originally designed to allow its creators to keep tabs on everything in space. If so, they might want a way to put the brakes on if they discovered something interesting or (somehow) threatening to space-time.
I suppose it's a logical speculation that the designers are inside the Planet, but I'm reluctant to think that's the case; they seem too transcendent, from the description we've seen, to need a protected physical location. If they are there, that'd seem to make the Planet a pet of sorts, with its creators too interested in the big picture to think much about the kitten playing with its new toys.
One more thing: is there anything to Jeff's dream that the circlet is independently doing its own negotiating with Planet -- or even with the creators -- while this is going on? (And if the latter, why would the creators care?)
Eric
(I've written the spoiler to Varley's Gaea trilogy below, FWIW. Ignore it if you already know or don't want to. I doubt that it'll affect your appreciation of this story or even of my comment. Highlight to read:
Gaea, assumed to be the intelligence that created the planet of the same name and has been running it in her eccentric and arbitrary way for eons, is actually a (more-or-less) humanoid that took over the controls a few thousand years ago and has now gone insane from the isolation. She's fixated on Earth and has re-created her planet's life forms accordingly -- centaurs, among others. She has set up embassies on our planet, welcomed adventurers and permitted selective immigration; she ultimately ends up clandestinely starting a nuclear war (each of two human sides thinks the other started it) to wipe out life on Earth. Our two adventurous heroines ultimately figure it out, discover how to use Gaea's schizophrenia to destroy herself, and take over the control room themselves, setting things right on the planet and hoping to avoid a similar eventual fate since there are two of them.)
? what what waht.. :)
I promise, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for it all.
No, not involving rubberbands..
nor mirrors.
It has a lot to do with physics, and I might have to tweak it a little.
Remember, we all luve nanotechnology..
The last outpost, before 'magic'.
( Anywhichway I'm s000 insured. Told you it's a mix of fantasy/SF
heh. )