Shadows 4: Roots by faroutsider

Mixed Medium • Science Fiction • posted on Jun 20, 2011

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Description

As she tumbled through data space, Macali struggled to keep track of the nine simultaneous downloads. There was an astonishing wealth of data on the humans contained in the kalilja - science and technology, weapons development, space travel, mathematics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, literature, even musical form and structure. Macali briefly wondered if the Beridae's files on the Opae were as comprehensive, but then shifted her focus back to the task at hand and continued to filter the datastream. The constant arms race between the humans and Opae went beyond weaponry, each utilizing energy sources in unique ways that continuously widened the dimensional phase shift between them, while at the same time accentuating their stalemate. Macali attempted to probe the historical roots of the conflict to fathom how to breach the divide between the two races, but she became increasingly frustrated. Every time she approached the files that promised to reveal the source of the conflict, and might therefore give some clues as to how to unravel the human energy cycles, she was met with a powerful firewall that even her most ingenious subroutines could not circumvent. Why would the Beridae want to hide that information from her? They had promised to give her the information she needed to break the deadlock with the humans, but seemed to be actively preventing her from obtaining the information she really wanted. Each of the nine members of the Beridae war council monitored one of Macali's data links and reported the direction of her investigations to Augidarr, who was personally shadowing the Opae's primary persona. "Keep Macali away from the files detailing the primary disentanglement of the Opae and humans," Augidarr squirted to the council members. "Under no circumstances is she to discover that we initiated the split. That will only distract her and turn her on us. We must keep her focussed on the humans." Augidarr was surprised and concerned that Macali had honed in on the historical roots of the conflict as soon as she entered the kalilja. Perhaps she had miscalculated just how far the Opae had evolved since the Beridae had created the phase-shifted split to neutralize the growing danger that the technologically advanced but psychologically immature humans were presenting to the entire sector in the galaxy. The conflict between the humans and Opae had effectively stopped the human expansion into deep space, but both groups were now poised to launch seeding fleets into the galaxy, despite tying up each other's energy resources... Macali sensed a transitory weakening of the firewall and immediately drove a data wedge into the gap. The breach lasted less than a nanosecond, not enough to make sense of the jumble of files detailing tampering with the human genome, nanotechnology, neural and endocrine implants, even corruption of the quantum superposition waveform. Then the firewall came crashing down again. Augidarr cursed her momentary lapse of concentration. She immediately initiated a dataworm to wipe all traces of Macali's incursion into the disentanglement dataspace. Macali felt a searing pain as the worm invaded her neurons and circuitry, and her brief glimpse of the details of the disentanglement dissolved away... ******** Craig & Tara (autietk)

Previous image: Shadows 3: Kalilja Deus Machina by Oskarsson and Cult of the Black Sun by Ironman13/Fugazi1968

Comments (11)

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kftate

3:02PM | Mon, 20 June 2011

Very cool image and story! Excellent done!

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cecemckenzie

3:16PM | Mon, 20 June 2011

Kewl!

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adrie

3:53PM | Mon, 20 June 2011

Fantastic image and story my friend, excellent done.

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Black-Carrie

6:32PM | Mon, 20 June 2011

Fantastic done again, excellent done story and image!

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mgtcs

9:46PM | Mon, 20 June 2011

Very cool render and amazing story, spectacular work!

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lyron

12:46AM | Tue, 21 June 2011

Great work!!!

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auntietk

1:57AM | Tue, 21 June 2011

Macali winced with pain, but kept all nine data-transfer links wide open, let the information flow into her processors in a flood. She would sort it all out later. Pain was immaterial. For now, she needed to collect every bit and byte of data she could gather. The longer she was in the kalilja, the easier it was for her to monitor and direct the flow. Her memory systems should be more than enough to hold everything she was receiving. Someone on Opae once told her they only used a tenth of their storage capacity. She had not contradicted her colleague, but was aware that her own capacity was quite a bit larger than ten times what she used. There were vast blank spaces inside her, available for an as-yet-unknown future. Some small part of her internal library had flashed a tiny red light, and she did not pursue the conversation. She monitored the data links. All indicators continued green, and she returned her attention to the firewall. Twice more she was able to find her way in, and twice more she was rebuffed. The pain from the dataworm was nothing. Macali sluffed if off into one of those vast reservoirs of hers, hoping some of the information would stay with her. She labeled the seemingly empty file with a code only she would recognize, and let the information and the pain flow through. What had been difficult at first now seemed like second nature. It seemed as though she had been made for this. At last the flood eased to a stream, and then to a trickle, and finally stopped. Macali knew she had everything she was going to get. She initiated the protocol that brought her out of the kalilja, reinstating her full self into her physical form. "You've come back on your own," Augidarr's voice was even, but Macali saw the surprise behind those calmly neutral eyes. "Yes," replied Macali. "I believe I have received all the information my memory will allow." She did not mention the dataworm. It was better for Augidarr and the rest of the war council to believe she had no idea of what had transpired while she was in the kalilja, and of course they would not mention it. "The information you have received about the humans should enable you and your people to break the deadlock between your races," Augidarr told her. "While you are organizing the data, you can begin the first step of your assignment." Macali nodded her head in acknowledgment. "You have the ability to collect humans and keep them in a temporal vortex. Having human specimens available to study during this phase will enable you to more efficiently process the new data we have given you. We will be in contact and will advise you further in the fullness of time." It was an odd expression Augidarr used, but Macali kept her expression neutral, expressing no surprise. Two lights -- no -- three lights, two red and one orange, blinked slowly on and off in the background of a group of her internal subroutines. She silently marked the files for later review. "We will send you back to your planet now," Azinorc's musical voice came from behind her right shoulder, and Macali turned to face the Beridae. "Walk with me." Azinorc turned, Uven at her side, and the three of them stepped out into the corridor. Macali was aware that she now had the ability to return herself to her own world, but she allowed the two Beridae females to think she was still in their capable hands. Sometimes it was better to remain silent.

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bmac62

2:36AM | Tue, 21 June 2011

Ok, Craig...I've read all four parts (1 thru 4) plus Tara's next contribution above. Everything dovetails very nicely. Writing is great, imagination is firing on all cylinders and best of all, this is an easy, fun read for me (I typically don't read Sci-Fi). Looks like we are going to now get to see the characters develop in this prequel. Outstanding:)

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