Artificial... Intelligence?
[WP] They finally found it, an AI left behind by the ancient race called the precursors. They knelt before the hologram and recited their speech "Oh great precursor. Rulers of heaven and Earth. Mappers of stars and-" "You're a real bunch of god damn kiss-ass', huh?" The AI interrupted.
*****
The Cevanti King-Priest stared in confused surprise, a scroll laid out upon the floor before him, gild in silver and gold, as befitted his station as The Holy Eminence of his people. There was a soft chuckle from the suit clad Alari Consortium's President and CEO as she did her best to not start laughing openly.
It had taken their peoples unimaginable efforts to go from one arm of the Galaxy along an ancient pathway filled with breadcrumbs of ancient works, writings and fragmented star charts. Crashed ships of such technology that both opposing Empires had pooled their collective resources in the first ever peaceful interactions between the Cevanti Holy Empire's theological and spiritual might and ancient records and the Alari Consortium's technological prowess, progressive research and development projects and vast automation capabilities.
Both Represented two sides of a coin and it showed in contrast as the pale elven King-priest shot glares at the mocha skinned suit clad woman. Dwarves, gnomes, halflings and other races filled the ranks in-between the two. They were all however staring in utter...surprise as the Precursor AI took shape after the King priests invocation. The short human woman stood easily head and shoulders smaller than either the High Elf or the Dark Elf but it was unmistakable when it spoke out and had called the King Priest a kiss ass.
"I didn't stutter. And you, in the suit - Don't think for a moment I don't know that you're own plan to brown nose your way into my good graces was any different either."
That set everyone back firmly, the unmistakable timbre, the tone, the rough and unabashed irreverence. Humans had existed. Conquered the Galaxy, seeded worlds, and then vanished. Leaving breadcrumbs around the galaxy for the other races to find. Here within this ancient bunker a thousand miles from anything on the third planet of a nine planet system filled with ancient and derelict ships, stations... Was the Heart of humanity. And the small blue eyed, raven haired woman-hologram materialized a office chair and dropped into it, despite not needing it, slung a leg over the armrest and the low-pitched-creak of it's springs filled the air,
"So. Cat got your tongues or something? Seriously, don't grovel, stand upright, yes - good- off the floor, no, don't worry about the scrolls." They rolled themselves up and then vanished back into the box they had been drawn from, and then the box itself was promptly...dropped over in a corner.
"Better. Right. Now that your brains have caught up." A snap of a finger materialized chairs, all of them sized and made to fit each of the peoples in the room, "Never expected to have to come up with a chair to fit digitigrade peoples... or sneks... " The Lamia delegate looked down at the pile of pillows provided and sheepishly coiled up on them... the Therianthrope Ambassador likewise eyeballed it's own chair before nodding and dropping onto the plush beanbag with a grunt and low sigh.
"I.. don't understand..." The King Priest looked to his assistant as they produced a datapad and showed it to the king priest and then shrugged, "Humans, long extinct and believed to be the 'Precursor' that seeded the galaxy... " The pad itself was promptly picked up by the hologram, "Well, we did. And We didn't. Most of us decided that it'd be best to go to sleep, some of us scattered to the other arms of the galaxy. My people decided to become digital beings and we hollowed out earth and the moon to house our populations and monitor things while everyone else sorta...vanished slowly. OR became you all."
She motioned to those assembled, "Some of us just stopped searching. The Fermi Paradox is a real bitch when you discover you're the first and only species to ever escape it. So. We picked worlds we deemed most suitable, and terraformed them to a degree and let nature sort it out. And viola!"
The arms motioned towards the assembled races, "The Lead scientist had a thing for an ancient Terran TableTop Game. And deemed that perhaps it would be best to take a approach by shotgunning genetic materials out into the universe and let the great filters have their way. You all arriving here has activated our own Returnal doctrines. I can already feel the machines under Mars and the Moon Stirring to life, the core forge here on earth was already starting to come online the moment your ships broke atmosphere."
A myriad of structures and windows popped up along the walls of the room, as the human woman smiled, "You all came here seeking knowledge and to understand where and who you came from? Welcome home, kids. Sadly after a short consultation with the Sleepers, Only one of them seemed interested. Myself, in particular."
The ambassadors whispered and spoke amongst themselves slowly, a few argued and once or twice a few blows were thrown before things calmed down, leaving the Dark Elven woman in the suit to raise her hand and ask a single question, "Why?"
The Ai leaned forwards, "Easy enough to answer. The Sleepers have already torn through everything you all have to offer, had their debates while I spoke, listened in on the conversations and then went back to sleep. The woman I was brain-scanned from is one of very few to ever remember a world before going to sleep. and I am quite frankly bored. They can sleep."
The Walls behind the hologram flickered as a slender woman stepped out of the wall and stretched, flexed her fingers and whistled softly, she was a cross between the King-priests high elven features and the Alari CEO's figure, a Half-Elf was something quite taboo, but only marginally so since often times both parents had to overcome racial prejudices. The woman bowed and curtsied properly and then smirked as the Ai yawned and shut off with a wave, thankfully the AI had decided to copy it's Holograms appearance and remained human even if they could be mistaken for a half-elf, "I'll be here for consultations with any scientists of theologians who want to pick through our archives."
The woman bounced across the floor in an obviously human designed bodysuit, "No, I am not a robot. Or a Cyborg. I am completely Bio-synthetic. the Alari are the closest to making Bio-synths, while the Cevanti have the best chances of actually making them work." Both elves stared at one another then back at the Human as she grinned to them, she stood now that she was even with them on the floor, barely a head shorter than either, "A little Faith, a little Technology and viola! You create life. Just to be clear - No, I am not opening up all of my archives and giving you all the technology and answers. You have to learn and earn them yourselves. It's a bit like Pandora's box, Kids. Opening up the box leats out all the bad and the good and you have to figure out how to live with that. I won't begrudge ya'll the things you've found outside Sol system, but everything in here is mine. I've already charted a number of scavengers and pirates, and there's a few machine races already stirring out in the outer reaches of the galaxy. Welcome to the Great Filter, now you all gotta figure out what to do from here. I'll help, but not too much. I'm gonna be busy dealing with Pirates, rogue AI's and eldritch horrors... Not all of you races were created equally and I have a feeling someone out there thought it'd be cute to make a sentient hivemind that eats everything."
There was silence in the room before chaos erupted and every voice tried speaking at once.
the Ai popped back in by the dozens as conversations spiraled into individual councils. Meanwhile the human stood there between the other two elves, "I'm Illiana Triellis, by the way."
The King-Priest grunted, Millenia of theology would have to be re-written. Ancient pacts would have to be revisited, "I am Emperor Forgeus the fifth, King-Priest of the Cevanti Emperium." He'd stare at the human woman, the uncanny resemblance between her and him was hard to miss, she could easily be mistaken as his child. Which was even more troubling since she also resembled the Alari witch just as much. His Detractors amongst the clergy were going to have a field day about him so blatantly mingling with the heretics despite all the progress made to reunite the two people..
The Alari readjusted her glasses and smiled, "I am Julhanna Sarn, President and CEO of the Alari Consortium." Her PR people were going to rip their ears off in frustration, she was already a controversial figure amongst the Alari for daring to enter an alliance with the Cevanti and their backwater religion. Atleast the other species were tolerable. The High Elves were just arrogant pricks. And then the Human goes and makes herself look like a child born from her and their Emperor.
Illiana simply grinned at both. Stirring the pot was what she was chosen for to do best. Let a human run loose amongst the other races and see what falls out. Deep within the earth she felt a billion voices speak up at once, a billion different idea's all distilled into information, vetoed, voted, tallied and sent right back to be debated. Humanity was already spreading out and touching everything technological or biological that was on offer. Filling in the gaps and requests were already being filled for Bio-synth bodies to walk the stars again by those who wanted them, which was a fraction of a fraction of the whole. Everyone else simply wanted to be left along to sleep and dream a bit longer.
*****
THE END
