EliteCommander

The Cradle

Rareth spoke without a hint of hesitation in response to the Agent’s suggestion. “We stay here and establish this transit station. Once we have our fallback point secure, then we can worry about exploration. We will scout the surrounding area, then bring in more of our science team if we find no signs of danger. Once that is done, we can discuss the settlement with our scientists. I would rather have a professional anthropologist on-hand if we are going to make first-contact with a new civilization.”

Rareth knelt down lower to the ground as she moved closer to the edge alongside Athena. She zoomed her own optics in on the village to try and get as good of a picture of the settlement as possible. Even without going down into the valley, seeing the types of buildings could paint a picture of the type of civilization they were dealing with. “But do keep an eye on them. It is possible we are not undetected here. If they come to visit us, I would rather know ahead of time. We are still going to try a peaceful approach, before anything else.”

The Cradle

Rareth had bounced back quickly enough from the sensory overload she had experienced, so she placed herself In the role of scouting their immediate area while the Humans were recovering. She did not stray far from their arrival point, but she did walk the perimeter with every sense and sensor she had available to her, her weapon held intentionally in a more relaxed position. The fusion cannon was too heavy to be held comfortably at the shoulder, but her extensive targeting assistance could allow her to still fire accurately from the hip. So far, there was nothing of note for her to detect. Even in the darkness, her low-light vision could allow her to see at a reasonable distance, and echolocation pushed her “vision” even farther. She also scanned the area in thermal and EM vision, but so far, the only strong electric fields came from her own allies.

Eventually, Rareth moved to the other side of their arrival point, closer to the ridge. They were high up enough to have long sight lines, though the darkness did restrict how far her eyes could see in the visible spectrum. However, swapping through other vision modes did finally reveal something that might have been worth seeing. In the infrared spectrum, there were heat signatures down in the valley, near the far end of her visual range. “I might have something. Heat signatures down below the ridge. Something to investigate, maybe. After we’re set up here. How long until communications are up?”

The Cradle

Rareth did not know what to expect upon entering the simulation, but she was as prepared as she would ever be. Nirann had updated the software she would be using in her translator to include ancient Rothian languages, though it was a long shot that any of them would be useful. Ideally, they would not encounter any lifeforms in the simulation until they were ready to make contact on their own terms. Nevertheless, someone had to be the first one in, and Rareth had no issue being that person.

---

The first breath inside the object for Rareth was a long, painful one.After her senses had faded in the real world, they were quickly, almost violently returned to her in the simulation. Her eyes burned from a seemingly intense light that overwhelmed them, her ears were filled with a high-pitched ringing, and her scales felt like they were experiencing every sensation at once, from light itching to a piercing pain. The sensory overload gave her a sharp headache, but it all subsided in mere moments. The light faded into a world shrouded in near-darkness, the sound softened into silence, and she was finally able to take a hold of her weapon and rise to her feet. She was not sure if the false sensations had merely been short-lived, or if her augmentations had cured them quickly, but she was glad for it to be over.

The area around Rareth was dark like a moonless night, but Rareth’s implants quickly adjusted with low-light vision. She deployed her helmet from her armor, then started to use its sensors to enhance her scans of the environment. She was on a ridge overlooking a valley, though visually, the landscape was rather featureless. She used her echolocating sensors both to get a good picture of her surroundings themselves, and to search for any lifeforms that might be hiding out of sight. Firstly, however, she turned her attention to making sure the Humans had not fared any worse than she had. Establishing their beachhead was their first and only priority at the moment.

The Cradle

For the Rothians, there was less to prepare, given that they were only sending a single of their number for this insertion. Though, the assignment of any Datius to a task was far from a small contribution. Rareth had her body fully scanned to ensure her full array of augmentations would be represented in the simulation, followed by her complete set of combat gear. Her armor resembled that of most Rothian soldiers, being a full-body suit comprised of a light, durable alloy. The metal plating had a silver shine and hugged closely to her body across most of her form. Its integrated power source could work in tandem with the fusion core implanted within her own body, allowing them to combine their power output. It could amplify the strength of her internal energy shield generator, as well as further enhancing her strength, speed, and senses.

The team was limited in what they could bring for their first insertion, but they could still bring along their personal weapons. For the sake of ensuring she was prepared for any potential enemy, Rareth’s chosen weapon was a fusion-powered heavy repeating cannon. Normally a vehicle-mounted or stationary weapon, it was large, bulky, and unwieldy for even a Rothian soldier, but Rareth could handle it with roughly the same difficulty as a light machine gun. The energy blasts it could produce were intense, though it was also equipped with a secondary micro-missile launcher. Compared to the normal version of the launcher, the missiles she would be using were…nonstandard.

Once Rareth was ready, she laid down in the harness, and waited for the others to be prepared as well. “Remember, do not stray far from our arrival point unless absolutely necessary. I would rather avoid violence if we can help it. At least before we get a chance to make contact.”

Meanwhile, as the Human team was still preparing, Freyr soon found herself with additional company. In the chair next to her, Vreta took a seat, placing his hand gently upon her shoulder. Even without the assistance of his neural implant, he would have been able to recognize how she was feeling. "It's alright. Your scientists are in the best possible hands, I can assure you."

The Cradle

Rareth did not show any of the signs of inspiration that the Sacred Band demonstrated. As many of the other Rothians might have expected, her response was measured and rational. “I do understand and agree with the need for haste in regards to your planet. Even if no Human entered the Cradle again, its influence on your world could lead to a great deal of suffering and death if you were to lose control of it..” She said. However, as expected, there was a caveat to how much she agreed with Freyr.

“But, it is also true that times such as these are where you must avoid allowing emotion to rule your decisions.” Rareth said, still maintaining her firm stare towards Freyr. “The willingness to sacrifice and take risks for your people is noble, but to do so unnecessarily will cause more harm than good. Given that we have, gathered here, the most prominent experts from our respective species, that means this research team is not easily replaceable. If you die unnecessarily, your replacements will be less capable. They will work more slowly, if they can find a solution at all, and your world will suffer more than if we had just approached with due cation. For this first entry into the simulation, what we need is this: effective combat personnel, the resources to quickly establish a defensive position, and the individual, or individuals, who can most quickly establish a temporary transit station. Anyone else is not necessary for this first task and should stay behind.”

The Cradle

Although the Rothian scientists did have plenty to consider, Rareth was still the one to most readily respond. “Dr. Lang, I have been tasked to ensure the success of this expedition, and the safety of its members. For the purposes of this expedition, I will be treating all of your lives the same. I will be risking none of you unnecessarily. Are there any potential dangers you have identified in the environment itself?”

Given a more focused question, Nirann responded quickly. “Keep in mind this is all just in the immediate area of the program’s arrival location. The program was not designed to move and explore. But, I can say that the simulated atmosphere, as I am seeing it in these readings, is breathable. I also do not have any evidence of airborne toxins. The temperature is safe, and there were no roaming murder insects in the program’s sight. I can’t guarantee safety, but there also isn’t evidence of danger yet.”

“Understood, and these harnesses, are we safe to use them to scan our technology.” Rareth asked without skipping a beat.

Again, Nirann was the one to give the answer. “Yes, that I can guarantee. I’ve explored every nook and cranny of its code base. I have guaranteed there will be no data collection from the scans, and if somehow there was, I can make sure it would not be translated. The ones I prepared for Rothian use will be safe.”

Rareth gave a nod, though she still was not quite done. “Good, and can you guarantee that anyone who goes in will be able to return?”

This time, it was Marae who answered. She had expected she would inevitably end up in the simulation at some point, so she had made sure to understand the process before they even arrived. “We can always be pulled, though that does carry risks. It can be a shock to the brain. It is better to set up a transit station inside to stabilize the synaptic impressions during the transition. We do have the capability to do that, though.”

“Very well, then my last question is for you, Dr. Lang.” Rareth said, staring her down rather intently. “Is this a necessary course of action? Even if we can be sure that the simulation itself will not kill us, we have no such guarantees about its inhabitants. What do we stand to lose if we act more slowly, and is it worth the risk that accompanies it? If so, if this is necessary, then I will approve it. You may send any team of your choosing, but I will be going myself as well to help establish this transit station, and to prepare its defenses.”

The Cradle

Marae was silent for a while as she carefully went over, line-by-line, the documents Freyr had passed to her. Nirann sat alongside her as well, though it seemed more like he was looking at Marae than the documents. Despite that, he was still the first of the two to speak up. “I can’t deny the similarities. The genetic match is close…very close. Some differences, but consistent differences. Not just random noise or errors. I don’t think this is an echo of my program, I can say with ninety-two percent certainty.”

Marae looked up at him and tilted her head. “Ninety-two percent?”

Nirann shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, ninety-one point nine nine repeating, but that is literally just ninety-two. Point is, this isn’t likely an error. There may well be Rothian minds in there, or your close cousins, at least. Very, very…old cousins.”

Rareth, naturally, listened on to every conversation that took place in the lab, and while she was mostly silent unless needed, she did have input on this matter. Many of the scientists had fallen to silence as they silently contemplated the implications of this discovery and the many possibilities of what it could mean, but Rareth was nothing if not decisive in her judgement. “Then we try to make contact. The Cradle’s denizens may have become hostile on Outremer, but that does not mean the same must happen here. If there are ancient Rothian minds in there, our common-ground may help us. Can we send them a message? Perhaps use the oldest dialects of the oldest Rothian languages we know of?”

“Even those may be too new, depending on how old these minds are.” The xenoarcheologist, Artek, commented. “Dr. Lang, your reports mention that one of the Cradle’s creature spoke to you, and you could understand it. Do you know how it learned your language?”

The Cradle

“A genetic sequence from within the simulation, but…why?” Marae remarked, briefly showing a perplexed expression as she observed the hologram.

Nirann reappeared next to Marae and shrugged. “Could just be noise in the transmission from our program. I did wrap it in an artificial impression of a Rothian mind, and a very realistic one, if I do say so myself.”

“But…it might not be.” Another of the Rothian scientists chimed in. He was a xenoarcheologist named Artek’Qin. His scales had perhaps some of the most elaborate decoration of any Rothian the Humans had seen since their arrival. Much like Marae, he had black detailing on a backdrop of white scales, but his patterns were a mosaic of symbolically-represented scenes from Rothian history in an ancient artistic style. He called attention, for those gathered, of the sequences Freyr had mentioned, as well as others from the Cradle’s language. “Maybe there is something more to this…genetic connection? Whatever species created the Cradle, this object, and however many others are scattered across the galaxy, they clearly had a far reach. They may have even influenced the development of our species, and others.”

Marae looked on somewhat disapprovingly. “Now let’s avoid jumping to hasty conclusions. We have hardly confirmed that the interaction went to such an extent as…”

Artek held up his hands and shook his head. “I know, I know, just hear me out. Whatever the nature of our interactions, this species was still clearly spread out far beyond just one planet. If the evidence is as it seems, then this species was directly meddling with lifeforms. What if this Cradle language follows that connection with life? What if this is a DNA-based language? For a species that may have interacted with many other forms of life, what better a basis for a language than the language of life itself? There could be patterns we are not seeing, hidden among the existing patterns of life. Proteins as letters or ideas, epigenetic markers as accents or punctuation. There are possibilities I do not think we have begun to approach.”

Nirann appeared in a chair so he could lean back and stroke his chin. “I…don’t think I can rule that out. Normal genetic patterns could be hiding deeper ones. I’ll have to write up a custom algorithm to try and filter unrelated patterns, but…I could give it a go. Maybe give it a few trillion iterations in the Core and see what pops up? Oh, and Artek, don’t think I missed that little implication. I do take offense to it.”

“You can try it, but don’t get too sidetracked. Dr. Lang may be right as well. Even if you are right about this language, there could be one or more digital lifeforms within the simulation. Dedicate a subroutine to that task as well.” Marae commented.

The Cradle

Marae shrugged and turned her head towards Nirann. “Do you have anything, Nir?”

“Nothing tangible, other than that initial telemetry.” Nirann answered. “I’ve been collecting and analyzing every bit of the data stream coming from that object, checking for patterns, any way it could have been encrypted or corrupted, but…this is a process that deals with the data stream of an entire living mind. That’s a mountain jumbled up data in a programming language I haven’t seen before. Before I can even think of trying to interpret the raw data stream, I need to solve this language issue. Now, I’m good, but it will still take me time to work miracles.”

Marae tilted her head and crossed her arms skeptically. “It’s just a language translation. I could understand the delay if you were restricted to just this ship’s computer, but you have the Core at your disposal. With that kind of power, you should have the translation nearly done by this point.”

Nirann suddenly appeared beside Marae’s chair, just to start pacing around it. “Correction, I have access to the partition of the Core allocated to this expedition. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I can see why the Humans have had trouble with this one. This language is…weird.”

Marae narrowed her eyes. "What sort of 'weird'?"

“Weird…weird.” He answered.

Marae sighed and rolled her eyes. “Very helpful. But I know you have access to more of the Core than that. Just allocate more.”

By this point, Nirann was pacing back and forth around the entire table. “You know I have to get approval for that…”

Before the pair’s bickering could continue any longer, Rareth’Jharn made a quick connection with the outside network and, with just a few thoughts, made a decision to help move things along. “I’ve sent back my approval, with my authorization code. Make the allocation request and you’ll have as much of the Core as you need. Within reason.”

The expression on Nirann’s face could, perhaps, best be described as “giddy.” He clasped his hands together with a wide grin. “Ah, now that’s what I’m talking about. I can practically taste that sweet, sweet processing power. I’ll see what miracles I can work while you deal with this.”

It was difficult to tell if Marae was legitimately frustrated, but nevertheless, her attention was soon back on Freyr. “As for your question Dr. Lang, yes, I think that’s about the only step we have left with this experiment. We know that there is a simulation in there for the programs to observe, at least. It might just be that there’s something interfering with the return transmission. If that’s the case, our program does store a copy of all its observations in its internal memory, so hopefully we will be able to see its findings when we pull it out.”

The Cradle

The abundance of armed individuals, especially the Human soldiers, was a source of discomfort for some of the Rothian scientists. They were accustomed to Rothian authorities, but foreign soldiers could put them on edge, at least subconsciously. Though, Rareth, of course, was perfectly calm. She had been the one to approve the presence of Human supersoldiers, and as a Datius, her own capabilities were legendary. Even a Rahn’Masser agent like Vreta did not truly know how much of their reputation was true, and how much was propaganda.

Now that it was time to get to work, Marae cleared the space around the conference table for Freyr, Rareth, and the others to join her. Rareth stepped up to stand at one end of the table, while Nirann’s hologram appeared in the seat next to Marae. Vreta knew that his presence was not entirely necessary at the moment, but if there was space at the table, he intended to take a seat as well.

Marae was the one to start, once Freyr posed her question. “Yes. Now that the containment shield is in place, we are free to interact directly with the object. While we do not yet know the purpose of this object, I do agree with the approach of treating it as we would the Cradle. Given its location and properties, testing whether or not there is a simulation within is a fair starting point. Nirann has prepared a simplified scouting program. It is designed to carry out its one task, then shut itself down. It is not adaptable in the slightest, but it should be reliable. It is my understanding that your team has a program to try as well, Dr. Lang? I see no reason that we cannot attempt both, and once we have the results, we can decide on our next move.”