Humanity’s Awakening – Side Story 4 of 6 – The Cyborg Archivist

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--- 6 years after the events of Humanity’s Awakening (The Obelisk Arc – Complete Story)

--- Claranthian Homeworld --- Equator Capital City Shorn of the Tide Locked Claranthian Homeworld Skaransshal, Dayside Government Military Research Headquarters for the Claranthian Government’s Sixth Council. Starwatch Control. Whew!----

Thelorn really hated having to go through the dull astronomical reports. Sun-flares, black holes, new asteroid fields and more. Just ugh. Dull crap that he would have to disseminate to the appropriate government departments for either study or exploitation or both. Give me some Ssherrinsh or Nielleriart privateers to track any damned dayside. Soooo mind numbingly dull. He thought again as his aural cybernetic implant played one of the latest music tracks that he’d pirated last night.

He was alone in the government office today because most of the high executives were off at the Cloronth match. He hoped his bets paid off because he’d bet on that new team from the Nightside city of Kara-Iceshale and they were awfully promising. Their thicker fur and blubber was a sure thing in his opinion to take the hard impacts from the opposition and keep dodging their clochin ball attacks. He’d bet on an eight-goal spread and two more goals would be a nice payday indeed as he grinned at his wrist Dotastremvid 56z’s expanded holo display.

He stretched his long feline tawny body and reached around to groom his back. He finally tagged that itch and shivered with relief. Swishing his tail around to keep his pet druka plant from biting it again, he found a file marked URGENT deep in his pile of never-ending classified astronomical materials to review. The pure white synthpaper with its encoded dots meant that whatever was in the paper file wasn’t on the datakey located within the folder. He found the data key and plugged it into his datapad first. Nothing but some star charts and a detailed route for the De’Nari’s recently acquired section of claimed space which had sadly swallowed their first colony attempt. Then he read the synthparchment summary heading with his fingers as the key continued to be decrypted.

Some urgency. I’ve had this for six standard months, and no one followed up. He thought with absolute boredom.

The summary was just an anomaly found deep in the middle of nothing that the De’Nari had headed to quite a few standard years ago. So, he waited till the key blipped blue and began scanning through the technical details as he really didn’t understand the numbers. Flipping through the dull pages on the datapad, he finally found a more understandable summary. His fur rose in fear as he read the conclusions. He tapped deeper into the files and found the coordinates, the power readings, the distinctive signals, and the conclusive proof. He then let his fingers pour over the detailed paper and it confirmed it. That IT being the signals were actually an AI yelling a warning to stay the hell away from what it was protecting. He then speed fingered the rest of the encrypted paper and he wanted to relieve himself as he made sure to have all of the details. This was ARCHIVE BUSINESS! This was what they’d been searching for, for too damned many years!

“AND NO ONE FOLLOWED UP!!!!” He screamed out in the empty offices.

He grabbed the docket, datapad, the key, the encrypted paper, and shoved them into his back-case so he’d be able to run as fast as he could to the newly renovated council house down the street. Before he left, the pounced over to his wall safe and scanned his claw pad and retinae to access it. He took the necessary identifications, credit chips, and his two favorite weapons. He then turned off his aural playback with a thought and began the adjustments to his artificial arms and legs to ramp up their reflexes and grip strength. He was about to go full tilt to his next destination.

There was too much ground traffic to flag a transport, so he checked his bag for his other secret weapon and breathed a heavy sigh of relief that he’d remembered to bring it today. Then he took off running hard out of his office on that floor and over to the exit stairs of his office building. It was good thing no one was in today but him because he didn’t have to be careful as he picked up speed and used his carbidetungsten claws to help him retain speed as he descended and made his way down through the descending floors.

Around walls, across ceilings, and down every conceivable shaft he could use, Thelorn made his way down the government building’s fifty floors. He’d scrapped off patches of his tawny fur on a few sharp corners, but he ignored the gashes as his cybermesh skin would graft over and heal them in a few moments. Sadly, he was already out of breath by the time he got to the exit doors to the busy streets outside. His cybernetics just couldn’t help him with every organic system he had, but he did have alternative methods to compensate.

The mess of traffic and Claranthian civilians going about their day were worse in the streets because it was game day, which in this case was a two standard week celebration. One week for the buildup to game day and a week to clean up the aftermath.

Thelorn had too much at stake and too many more miles to go, so he grabbed out his secret weapon or rather his illegal stamina booster from his bag. Three quick breath doses and his lungs and blood system began overproducing the energy signals to his artificial arms and legs to increase his speed past that of a normal dayside Claranthian. Off he ran to use it while it lasted.

Too many Claranthians were in the way today, so he took to the building walls and prayed to the God Below that no Ordinance Official saw him and gave chase. Two illegal citations would have him out of a job by the next cycle. But this would be worth the risk if he made it.

I’ve got to get this to them and make them listen, he thought desperately to himself as he huffed it. Already feeling the boost beginning to fade, he pushed himself harder to keep the pace going. He hoped he didn’t have to use another dose. The side effects got much more brutal the more the boost was used in a short amount of time.

Block after block he scrabbled, dodged, jumped, ran, and scrabbled. Scrabbling was very important on this part of the mission. At least he was a daysider and had a longer heavier tail to keep him from having balance issues. Thankfully the boost ran out just as he made it to the Prime Government Chambers where some of the ambassadors and interspace officials were supposed to be today just to keep things running smoothly. He flashed his credentials to the huge bulky nightsider guards who were more interested in the game on their personal screens. Then he quickly strode to the security post to scan his eyes and tail colors. From there he sprinted again and barely jumped long enough to clear himself into a handy open lift. Once in, he collapsed to the floor breathing heavily and giving the other officials in there the stink slits which told them to mind their own business.

At the top floor he’d finally regained some of his composure and hoped the shakes wouldn’t hit while he tried to explain how screwed he’d just found out they might be.

Finding the nearest floor Enforcer, he tasked him with his recruitment efforts because this was a damned emergency and couldn’t wait for the messaging services to flag the right Siders.

He bowed to the large orange and black striped furred Nightsider Enforcer. “I’m Thelorn Caramack. I must speak to any and all Telusian and Draxian ambassadors still here. I’ll need any citadel and empire logistics officials too. Also please ring up Clarallora Shorna, she should be here today and must hear what I’ve found. This will be a military emergency code Blackstar Myth One.”

The enforcer’s sleepy uninterested eyes nearly shot out of his head at hearing the code reference. Immediately he rose to his full eight feet of height and bowed to Thelorn in return with respect. “Go to council room Redclaw Team 1. I will round them up Official Caramack.”

Thelorn couldn’t be more grateful because the enforcer just confirmed that there were at least some of those here who fit his needs. “May the God Below purr for you.”

The enforcer grunted his acknowledgement and trotted from his post by the lifts to head down the left side of the split beige painted hallways. Thelorn went to the right and encountered the nicer, synth grass hallways of the meeting rooms. His feet enjoyed being able to squeeze the simulated Dayside textures as he made his way down the natural lit halls to the appropriate meeting room.

Once he found it, he badged in and watched as the harsher lights lit up the medium sized more sterile meeting place. Just a table, some pads for sitting or curling up on, and a vid screen. “There isn’t one good thing this room is for except being bored and falling asleep. Ugh,” he commented as he headed over to the government issue computer and scanned in his docs to send them to the data privacy overhead screen.

Then he waited. Ten standard minutes later, eight unlucky officials plus Clarallora were almost pushed into the room amid much arguing until Thelorn shouted at them to shut up, ignore the game, and hear a code Blackstar report. Half shed some fur and the rest hissed at him. But they all immediately made their way in and sat around the black table. Then they popped their electronics, coded in, and waited impatiently to hear what was found.

“Welcome. I apologize for using the Enforcer, but this should have been on your pads six standard months ago,” Thelorn started. He cut to the summary and let them start reading it, but he also got impatient and began fidgeting with the podium, tapping it with his metal clawtips.

The gathered officials, seven Claranthians and two Quirckir began reading or scanning through the data that Thelorn had uploaded to the small private room server for them. The Quirckir were the lowest of the Draxian ambassador aides, but for what Thelorn had for them, he knew they would be able to get the appropriate message out to their employers homeworld if needed.

Clarallora, a small red fluffy daysider with long ears, a tight black dress, and a cute fluffy tail looked up at Thelorn after a bit of confusion. “Thelorn? I don’t get it. This seems to be old news and data from the De’Nari’s missing colony fleet from a while ago. I mean, I think that they’re still trying to piece together a new one just to go find out what happened to the old one. What’s this all about and why are you ordering a Blackstar level alarm?”

Thelorn knew she’d understand the issue because of all the Claranthians in the Prime Government’s ranks, she was a true thinker and more than that, she knew how to use information given to her extremely well.

“You’re right. That area is where the De’Nari’s pride and joy got shot into nothing. What you need to review are the new energy readings that were taken near that timeframe that our deep scans just got ahold of over six standard months ago.”

The gathered officials turned back to their datapads and it was the Quirckir woman, Jelaaanth who almost lost all of her quills. “You’ve got to be kidding us?! NOoooo…” She turned to Thelorn. “That’s a Claranthian energy signature! What is going on?!”

The rest of the group began conversing all at once and Jelaaanth showed them where to look and they all either hissed or sucked in a breath. Her small beady eyes were wide open with alarm.

Thelorn confirmed. “Correct. It’s a Claranthian energy signature in a realm of space that no one since the De’Nari’s failed attempt at colonization has been to. Worse than that, I know exactly what signature that is and no one in our government is gonna like it.”

A large white and black striped lady nightsider stood up and unsheathed her claws to stick them into the table. “I saw that wavelength ratio. You’re insinuating that it’s the lost prototype array. Aren’t you?”

Thelorn let his fangs show in appreciation of Sorandara’s knowledge of secret government history. “I am. And since I’m an Archivist for Clarnatha Prime, I’m both proud and terrified to say that we’ve finally found that missing array and that means we are in deep shit.”

Sorandara scowled. “We’re in deep shit because you think that AI is still active? There’s no way it would have survived being dormant that long. The degradation over this amount of time alone should have wiped it out. I mean, yeah, I can see being able to…”

The other Quirckir Draxian ambassador, Calleeent spoke up quickly, “You don’t understand! That signature we see here is massive! I’m estimating it’s enough to cover a solar system! There’s no way that the AI isn’t still active to get that much power output out there! That means the Draxian OverQueen was right, and we need to contact Telusia now!”

Clarallora stood up on her chair because she was a short Claranthian girl. She cutely waved her hands around and shouted, “What is going on?! Stop! Stop! Thelorn, explain it so we all are on the same whisker.”

Thelorn clicked a button on his podium. “Just so you know, I'm recording this because once the full session returns from their jaunts around the system, they'll need to know what's happened, why we're about to do what we are, and why they'll need to alert the entire galactic federation that we must act now before the most feared species ever imagined gets out.”

Ambassador Jorwara, a grizzled old master of documents scruffed his greying furred ears and asked, “What the God Below are you talking about?”

Thelorn hopped up on the podium to sit on the edge and put his claws on the table for balance. “That AI Array was supposed to be our crowning achievement. But it was stolen. You all know those rumors and they were true… for the most part. We’ve never been able to replicate that thing, that’s also true. But what Ambassadors Calleeent and Jelaaanth know is that the Draxian did. They did it once and only once. And we are forever going to be grateful that they did. This is because their array’s AI was able to tell them something very important to us all. That we needed to prepare for a war. It did so because it was able to help Draxia solve an issue that they had while helping us in the process. And would my two ambassador aides like to tell the group what those are?"

Jelaaanth spoke up softly. “The Draxian Barrier array’s intelligence helped them with their population crisis. It shunted their excess queens and broods into a stasis stream of time where they could stay safe until the time would come when… the original AI had been… found. They think that the original AI’s reappearance was a signal for something bad, but even they didn’t know exactly what. But their AI had shown them glimpses of it and they acted accordingly.”

Thelorn pointed at Ambassador Jorwara, “Soooo… Jorwara, what little secret do you know about the Telusians since you’re their oldest and wisest council here?”

Jorwara growled at him before looking around the room. “They fear… oh no. They fear the return of a system that disappeared into myth.” Jorwara turned back to Thelorn. “Are you implying that the Telusian’s mysterious system disappearance is connected to the Draxian and the two AIs?”

Thelorn nodded. “As an Archivist, it’s my job to find these connections. Thankfully, we had some pretty smart predecessors who helped me with this. Yes. They’re connected. That AI is a signal alright. Somehow, the Draxian’s believe wherever that AI pops up at, that’s where something evil is and that they will need to pull out all of their future warrior Queen Brood’s to go fight it. What they’ve got the Archives convinced of is that whatever the evil is, it’s some kind of God or supreme darkness that must be destroyed. And they believe that the mythical system will return and announce when to do so. The real mystery is the system itself and why it’s so conducive for life. There on that point, the Draxian said they glimpsed that too. And them telling us that it was a soldier factory on a scale undreamt of, well… the old documents say this is why the Draxian became peace loving so quickly. So, Jarwara, you need to make a call to Telusia Prime and find out if anything interesting has happened because if so, we have a lot of decisions to make that will decide the fate for us all. One of them we need to decide on right here and now. That being are we going to wait for the Galactic Council to go into session next standard month and tell them about this or are we going to get some of our furry asses onto a ship and warp down that De’Nari route to see if we can head off a war that will kill trillions?”

Jorwara sat back in his pad and thought about that.

Sorandara looked over to the two of the ambassadorial aides who had been furiously researching through Thelorn’s information packets full of decrypted documents and classified astronomical data with picture references. She huffed and sat down to do the same and confer with the other Claranthian ambassadors and three planetary science officials to talk about what resources they could pool together when any of them came up with a semi-half-baked plan.

Jorwara stood up. “Thelorn. We can’t do this alone. You certainly can’t do this alone. I’m going to check my second secured datatab for a moment and find out if I can get someone from Telusia to respond. But… I think before I even do that, I want to make a call first to De’Nari Prime. If this is all a huge warning for a galactic level war, we need more information… more proof than what you’ve got here with just energy signatures and star charts and Draxian supposition. Agreed?”

Thelorn nodded to him. “Okay. Who are you contacting?”

“The High Moon Council’s Sherad’Corat. If anyone can give us some insight on something like this… especially since it involves the loss of eleven million of their people, it will be him.”

“Understood. The conference room across this one is empty. Don’t go any further or I’ll have the enforcer come after you.”

Jorwara sighed and then laughed a little. “Yeah. Yeah. I’m not going anywhere. Be right back.”

Thelorn fidgeted with his internal mechanisms while he waited for Jorwara to return. Then he sent a few signals to his home to begin prepping his military grade arms, legs, and eye for return to service. While he did that, he studied the aides, science officials, and ambassadors around the table as they began organizing the data and started to understand what the Archive Faction of Homeworld Safety already knew. A war was coming, but the enemy wasn’t obvious or understood clearly enough to prepare properly. The only thing Thelorn knew for certainty was that staying on Clarnatha wasn’t an option. He or he and a team needed to get to the root of the problem to start to understand what the God Below was going on.

Thelorn startled when Jorwara ran back into the room holding up two datatabs and began loudly proclaiming, “Thelorn! Everyone. The High Moon Councilor and the Telusian Skybearer just confirmed what Thelorn is saying. That system of death has returned to Telusian space and the Skybearer is arranging to send people to De’Nari Prime. De’Nari Prime is already prepping a mission to find its missing colony and figure out how to help Telusia. The Draxian are accompanying that mission with TEN HIVE SHIPS!”

Thelorn slipped and fell to the floor in stunned shock. “What the God Below’s furry white balls?!”

Jorwara ran over to him and breathlessly told him loudly. “Sherad told me to tell you directly… get to De’Nari Prime as fast as you can with whoever you need to bring. He’s putting this mission together and wants your involvement.”

Thelorn stood up and looked around. He got over his shock and smiled while smoothing his whiskers. “And here I was thinking I’d have to have you all hijack a ship for me. Whelp… Who wants to help get me to De’Nari Prime?”

Sorandara raised her hand and then stood up. “I’m also in charge of the local space docks. There are ten repossessed meteor class and highly illegally upgraded Starphenom ships just collecting dust. I can get you a pilot and will go with you. This concerns so much more than the De’Nari colony and Claranthian AI.”

Thelorn looked around. “Any other volunteers?”

No one else raised their hands. “I had to try,” Thelorn said as he shrugged. “No fur off my tail. Sorandara, get that pilot and I’ll round up a few more crew from my Archive contacts. We’ll take up the Councilor’s offer and see what adventure awaits. If the God Below purrs our way, perhaps we’ll even get to see if a real dark god exists and if he like belly rubs or not. Never know.”

None of the room cared for that last remark, but Thelorn didn’t have a normal sense of humor, so he let it drop. “Okay folks, send me any useful information you can while we’re waiting to get that ship ready. Sorandara, see if we can leave no later than three standard days from now. Jorwara, send me all your contact information and any other useful bits you think I might need. Oh, and send a message to that councilor to expect us. Thank you for your help today.”

With that, Thelorn beckoned Sorandara and they made a quick exit with Jorwara coming up behind them. Once the three of them were outside, they stopped to exchange some more information and pleasantries. That’s when Clarallora came huffing up to them.

“Oh thank the fields… I caught up with you. Thelorn, I was a former ships logistics expert before joining the government. I’ve changed my mind. I’ll come too. There’s nothing here to hold me back.”

Thelorn really liked this short lass. “Years, you felines. We are going to be gone for years. The system has shifted and we are not going to get there as fast as the De’Nari did over six standard years ago. Clarallora. Sorandara. You understand that right?”

They both nodded. Sorandara spoke. “Years… it’s the way of great dark. We know what we’re getting into. But it won’t be years getting to De’Nari Prime. Let’s see what we have to work with there before we get a false hope up that this will be a run in the grass.”

Thelorn really liked both of these strong-willed lasses. “Looks like I may need to make you two Archivist Initiates. All right, let’s do this. Go get packed and prepared. We’ve got an AI track down, a god to punch, a soldier factory to shut down or take charge of, and a whole lot of De’Nari to save.”

Clarallora jumped up and down and cheered a little. Jorwara just looked towards the sky and shook his head. Sorandara folded her arms over her massive chest and shook her head. She sounded disappointed as she said, “I’ll take the Initiate title, but never do that kind of pep talk again. It was lametailed.”

Thelorn drooped his head and scuffed his foot. “I can’t help it. We gotta stay positive.”

Jorwara patted his shoulder. “Next time, just say the berrywine’s on me.”

Thelorn perked up. “Sounds excellent, let’s go! Hey ladies, Jorwara just said he’s paying at the bar around the corner! You heard him!”

Jorwara laughed as he just got caught and the look of affirmation on the ladies and their smiles of victory all told him that they were gonna side with Thelorn on that too. “FINE! Let’s talk more over drinks and get you three out of my fur before you give me another reason to regret coming into the office today.”