To The Beyond, And Further Still

Celestial Empire Of Galactya

Quadrant 1

Crus-Lux Star System

Galactya, Imperial Palace Complex



• 63 BBT •



"Doctor Phesthel. Pleasure seeing you again."

"If we may ask, what brings you here today?"

"It's quite rare for someone to ask an urgent meeting with us, if not for first contacts."

“Greetings to you too my Emperors. I am sorry to incovenience you, but I think that the Dimensional Intertextualization Project just had it’s first breakthrough. I think we just found a new dimension.”

"WHAT!? That's wonderful! We have been running that thing for decades, it was time it finally found something!"

"If you may, Doctor, explain what you found. Don't worry about details, we will understand."

“Of course. Now, we have discovered that gravity wells actually hold the key to accessing different spaces. We compared the Warp Space access data exchanged with the Drakari and the Edhelerim together with what our sensors picked up and apparently, the distortions applied on the fabric of spacetime by the gravity wells of large mass objects such as planets, stars or black holes, weaken the fabric of reality in that specific area, allowing for the creation of transdimensional openings that allow the passage of energy and matter in a relatively safe way. The wells already allow for the exchange of some information between dimensions, thus creating the gravitational shadows seen in Warp and Mirial space.”

“As this hologram displays, such an opening acts similarly to a singularity bridge, but instead of being accessible from just one point, it can instead be accessed from anywhere in the gravity well, and connects two different points in different space and different time.”

"Ah, I see. So it functionally creates a temporary pathway along a stable area inside the Bulk."

“Yes, exactly. I mean, it creates it when you feed the necessary energy and gravitational pull, but yes, it does. We ran different tests in many different conditions and with many different objects. Black holes, stars, planets, moons and even asteroids of all sizes. The more massive a celestial body is, the more stable the area inside the Bulk will be.”

“Here is a table of the various tests. Some wielded results that we did not really anticipate, but as you can see, not all pathways are accessible. For example, smaller moons create shifting pathways that are not very stable on their own, but still won’t collapse. However, anything smaller than that causes the inwards collapse of the pathways. Binary, trinary or even more complex systems create even weirder pathway arrays, but they are still perfectly traversable.”

"Interesting. How could we create an actual pathway though? From what I see here, and from what I've seen in thousands of years of data, the gravity wells are not enough to create them. Otherwise we would be seeing them constantly."

“Well, we ran some multiphasic gravitometric concentration tests, and we assessed that a single pulse ringularity, like the ones generated by our ships could, with EXTENSIVE augmentation and reprogramming, could be closed on a single point inside the gravity wells and “pry open” a pathway.”

“However, we have already been able to pick up some very simple readings about said dimension through small rings of gravity engines concentrating their rings in a single point.”

"If your formulas are correct, and I'm sure they are, such low concentration could only allow for a Picoscale pathway at best."

“Yes, but it was enough to pick up a small amount of basic details, like some of that dimension’s laws of physics. We wanted to try a bigger and more powerful array, but without the needed extensive modifications it would just create an imploding energy sphere, and create a quite dangerous situation for the whole research station.”

"What laws and basic universal conditions did you manage to pick up?"

“Well, even after opening the Picoscale Pathway more than 500 times, we picked up a lot of data, but… we don’t really know how to tie some of it together.”

"What do you mean...?"

“So we did manage to get most laws of physics and apparently even some physical data but, there are still measurement errors that we can’t get rid of, and some things that we picked up don’t really make sense to us. I’ll just show you.”

“Obviously the first thing we did was running a test to determine the various basic laws of physics.”

“We overlayed the data picked up in our dimension and in the newly discovered one. Of course not taking into account the various measurement errors, it all seems to match. The laws of conservation seem to be the same, as well as the laws of motion and non-relativistic gravitation.”

“Until then, everything seemed relatively fine. We even thought we found a mirror dimension of sorts. But then we encountered the first readings that posed problems.”

“The entire dimension, or at least the observable part of it, is much denser than ours, and permeated by a material that apparently behaves similarly to our hydrogen. This reasonably weirded us out a bit, and after some more tests, we discovered our first discrepancy. The Epsilon Constant of the efficiency of hydrogen to helium fusion is lower. It stands at 0.006 instead of our 0.007. Thus, without a warp bubble to isolate us, if we were to ever go in there all of our fusion-powered machinery would not function.”

“Secondly, the dimension seems to be very warm and very uniform in terms of temperature, at least compared to our universe. The average temperature is 20 degrees Celsius.”

“However, what confused us more were the results from the Relativistic Determination tests. Apparently, objects with mass can be propelled to superluminal speeds thanks to an omnipresent spacial distortion field.”

"Wouldn't that break causality and allow for the creation of closed time-like curves?"

“In our universe it would. But we weren’t able to determine how time works in there. For all we know, time could be absolute and not variable like it is here. The only way for us to verify it would be to actually go there,”

"Well if that isn't a sign, I don't know what is! You did great Phesthel, and be sure to give my compliments to the rest of your team as well."

"We will transfer your team has heads of a new subdivision we'll organize. You will be assigned with a Research Supercomplex and will have the Empire's best engineers at your disposal."

"The budget you will need to make the necessary modifications to the warp drives will be given to you as soon as we are transferred. Of course, the Ministry Of Technology will require daily reports."

“I’m honored, my Emperors. I’ll inform my team and gather all my research immediately.”

3 Likes

Galactyan Empire

Quadrant 18

Vitheger System

Vitheger-B Orbital Research Station



• 58 BBT •



Immediately after the discovery report in 63 BBT, the Galactyan Emperors assigned the Interdimensional Gravitometric Access Project to the Research Supercomplex located on Vhythra, the only planet in the Vitheger System, a binary system composed of a large stellar black hole of 20 standard stellar masses, known as Vitheger B, and a supergiant variable star with 31 standard masses known as Vitheger A. While originally dedicated to the research and analysis of singularities and their effects on spacetime, the Supercomplex was swiftly repurposed to the IGMA Project, due to it’s rather secretive location hidden deep inside a Bokk Globule, and thanks to it’s incredibly strong gravity well, which would greatly aid the first practical tests of the new access technology.

For 5 years the teams in the supercomplex continued analyzing, studying and researching all possible aspects about the other still unnamed dimension, in an attempt to find more about it’s mysterious inner workings. However, what they found was not much different from the first analysis they did: only some specifications about universal constants and matter distributions.

At the start of 58 BBT, everything was ready. The first Ringular Gravity Warp Engine had been re-engineered to create a temporary pathway to the “other side”. However, even with the brightest minds in the Empire, the project’s outcome was still very uncertain. It was more than expected that this would not have been the last test, but hope still filled the air.

A remote-controlled ship was specifically adapted for the testing, and was called the “Pathway Traveller” for the occasion. Re-engineering Ringular Gravity Warp Drive had proved to be a hard and very much uncertain task, but with the collaboration of some of the Empire’s best minds, things went without much incident.

The Minister Of Technology, Thethadon Olmanii, together with many high ranking department directors, had decided to attend the test and observe everything from the observation bays, together with the entire personnel that worked in the Research Complex.

“I have to admit that you did quite the work here Doctor Phesthel! I’m glad I could admire this revolutionary day for the Empire.”

“I’m honored Minister, but I’m sad to inform you that you will probably be disappointed. It’s impossible for something like this to work first try.”

“Doctor, I’m not here to be impressed. I already am! You and your team’s work is nothing short of revolutionary. And besides, trial and error is part of any new technology, part of the natural process through which all things go through.”

“I suppose. And it’s not like I don’t have time to see it through. One of the many positives of immortality, isn’t it?”

“It most certainly is. Our lifespans and our augmentations allow us to amass amounts of knowledge so great that even the Drakari envy us. No wonder the inventors of the Geviex won the Grand Imperial Prize. And I have the feeling that in some time, you too will receive it.”

“Oh Minister, you’re being way too generous with me. I don’t think I deserve such recognition.”

“Come on Doctor, you’re being much too hard on yourself. Have some confidence in your work.”

“Thank you Minister. I’ll try to follow your advice.”

“I’m happy to hear that you will. However, there’s one thing that has had me wondering for quite some time. I noticed that you, together with many, many, MANY others, are much more formal with foreign peoples even if of lower rank, than you are with me. I’m not saying I pretend otherwise, no, but I was asking myself why that was. You think you could help answer my question?”

“Well, it’s rather simple. You’re a Galactyan sir!”

“What do you mean exactly?”

“Oh you must know what I’m talking about sir. I love our allies, but they are always so rigid and formal. Us Galactyans don’t need all those complex behavior protocols to show eachother that there is respect! And besides it feels so detached and insincere. I don’t like “sucking up to the boss” as the Terrans say.”

“Uh. Yeah, I guess you’re right. I never thought of it that way. However, I still wonder how we manage to keep our composure when dealing with allies and other foreigners.”

“Well Minister, think of what Captain Asdariek said in an interview two Imperial Centuries ago: “It took me a single look at their delegation to understand that they were kinda stuck up, at least more than us. So I adapted.”. And that’s that. I think it’s a pretty good explanation.”

“It is, all things considered. But oh well, it’s just another cultural difference after all.”

“Our lack of such formalities between eachother is actually quite known, but us continuining to act formal regardless is a point in our favor.”

“Because it can be seen as a sign of our trustworthiness, and of the effort we put into foreign relations.”

“Exactly! I’ve also been reflecting on how, regardless of that, we still use formal titles. It’s an interesting re-”

“Uhhh, Doctor? I’m so sorry to interrupt, but we are going to start now. I’ve called the rest of the team to gather. We’ll begin in a minute or so.”

“Oh yeah, sorry about making you guys wait.”

“No, no, don’t worry. It’s just that I want to see what we’ll have to correct after the test. Also uh, pleased to meet you Minister.”

“Pleased to meet you as well. I’d introduce myself more properly, but I don’t want to make anybody wait longer. It’s time for you to go Doctor. I’m looking forward to some impressive light displays!”

“I’m looking forward to some impressive light displays Doctor!”

“And light displays you shall receive!”



“Everyone, stay ready to apply the necessary tunings. Are we all ready?”

“On it.”

“Ready.”

“Yes.”

“Of course.”

“Well then, let’s do this. Initiate Activation Sequence Tethis-B3.”



INITIATING ACTIVATION SEQUENCE TETHIS-B3.
ACTIVATING FUSION REACTOR AT MAXIMUM POTENCY.
ACTIVATING ANTIMATTER ASSIST REACTOR.
DIVERTING ENERGY FLOWS TO ARRAYS A1 TO B6.



ACTIVATING ARRAY ROTORS.
INITIATING GENERATION OF RINGULARITY.
RINGULARITY GENERATED.
INITIATING FRONTAL GRAVITOMETRIC COMPRESSION.


IAM-Interface-5-online-video-cutter.com


ezgif.com-optimize


GRAVITOMETRIC COMPRESSION THRESHOLD REACHED.
STABILITY LEVELS ARE WITHIN ACCEPTABLE PARAMETERS.
INITIATING ATTACHMENT OF COMPRESSED RINGULARITY TO GRAVITY WELL.
ATTACHMENT SUCCESSFUL.
INITIATING PATHWAY OPENING.


image_processing20210901-4478-187j9y1


EMERGENCY


WARNING. INSTABILITY LEVELS INCREASING.
WARNING. ENERGY CONCENTRATION INCREASING WITHIN CENTER OF THE COLLAPSED RINGULARITY.
WARNING. PATHWAY DETACHMENT IMMINENT.
WARNING. DESTRUCTIVE ENERGY PULSE IMMINENT.


RnQc



“FUCKING COMET IT’S GOING TO EXPLODE! DEACTIVATE, DEACTIVATE EVERYTHING NOW!”

“DEACTIVATING THE REACTORS AND TURNING ON THE ENERGY DAMPENERS!”

“ARRAY ROTORS LOCKED IN PLACE!”

“THE RING IS STILL CONTINUING TO COLLAPSE!”

“ACTIVATE A GRAVITY ENGINE BEAM AND PULL THE RINGULARITY INWARDS! QUICK!”

“I’VE ACTIVATED THE ENGINES AND THE RINGS… have… dissipated.”

“Holy. Fucking. Shit. That explosion would have generated gravity waves so strong to compress the station into a sheet of paper!”

“The next time we are controlling it from the other end of a star system. I don’t care about the logistics but I’m not gonna risk being partly responsible for blowing up a fucking MINISTER.”

“I uhhh, I agree… I agree. Doctor, are you alright?”

“Yes. I’m… fine. I mean, I EXPECTED it to be a failed test, yes, but I didn’t think it would screw up THIS ROYALLY!”

“Come on, don’t be that hard on our work. It was just the beginning anyways.”

“Yeah, I agree. A mistake is still a further step towards improvement.”

“We can get to the bottom of this dimension. Together. Don’t you agree Doc?”

“Ahah, I guess. Thanks guys. SO! Now, I’ll go talk to the Minister and let them be rightfully mad at me! And us! And everyone else!”

“Do you want us to come with you?”

“No need for that. I’ll take the blame.”

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“Minister I am SO sorry I, I should have never-”

“HOI! Calm down doctor, I’m not mad. Quite the contrary in fact. It was an amazing display, and a sign of particular technological advancement for the Empire.”

“R-Really…?”

“Doctor, come now. I’m the Minister Of Technology, except for the Transapients, if there is someone who can see a notable advancement, that’s most definitely me. I don’t care that it nearly exploded, that was exciting! And think about it objectively: were we ever able to concentrate so much gravitational force in a single point while using just ONE Drive? I don’t think so.”

“Well, when you put it that way I suppose it was a relatively sizable achievement.”

“Again Doctor, stop putting yourself down! Your implementation of interconnected Chaos Wand Programs into the Drive’s Mainframe to achieve greater stabilization was almost revolutionary!”

“I was told that before, but are you really not mad at all Sir?”

“Yes, yes. I’m not mad, and I wouldn’t have any reason to be. Now, I would like it if you and I met at my office for a discussion. The Emperors asked me to question you about a couple ideas they had on this new dimension.”

“Y-You mean the Office? On the C-Capital ? In the… ImperialPalaceComplex…?”

“Yeesh, what the Emperors said about making the hierarchically lower scared of you was actually true then. I wonder how they manage to deal with it.”

“What? I didn’t get that, sorry Sir.”

“No it’s - uh - it’s nothing. Nothing important. Listen Doctor. You have NOTHING to be worried about. I won’t a big deal about your presence, and you will only have to speak with me. Nobody will have any expectations because they aren’t meant to.”

“O-Okay Sir. I’ll come as soon as possible. But uh… I have to ask. Are we going to discuss, you know… secret… stuff?”

“Relatively. You will be allowed to talk about our discussion with our team obviously, but that’s it. It’s not meant to go towards any foreign ears.”

“Of course Sir, of course. As the Emperors wish.”

“Now Doctor, I believe I have to go. I have been requested to attend a meeting with the 16th Quadrant Representative about a the management of the Research Complexes there, and I need to get at least three modifications for anxiety each time. Keep up the good work Doctor. I look forward to seeing you.”

“I look forward to that too Sir! With the Comet and Each other…

All else shall follow.

1 Like

The Imperial Palace Complex was a place that few people not belonging to the Empire’s administrative apparatus could could say they had been to. An enormous circular garden, tens of kilometers in radius, placed right in the middle of the Middle Plazas of Galactya’s Diplomatic District. Separated from the incredible density and vitality of the Sector’s biggest ecumenopolis by an equally titanic wall, the garden hosted sights that could only be seen in the other planets of the capital system: flora belonging to the Galactya of bygone times, all the species and clades of flowers, grass, trees, moss and shrubbery much older than the Empire, if not older than the Galactyans themselves.

At the center of the Imperial Garden rose the Palace itself, a tower of unparallelled proportions, so tall in fact that it was technically classified as an Atlas Pillar under the Megastructure Codex. A truly enormous tower, rising high into the upper-most layers of the atmosphere thanks to internal conducts of magnetically accelerated pellets flowing around in circles at staggering speeds. Some 1700 years ago, the Imperial Palace was much, much smaller - a small fraction of it’s width, and a much smaller fraction of it’s modern height - due to the Emperors of the time being smaller themselves. However, while Karheismas and Nixhoeils were being neogengineered into existence, the residence and center of command of the two Immortals was rebuilt completely, with the older palace lowered under the foundations of the new one, so that history would not be lost.

Radially arranged around it rose the Nine Grand Ministries, enormous buildings in which thousands upon thousands of Imperial Administrators - whether virtual or embodied, sapient or transapient did not really matter, as there was no difference in consideration - worked in unison to administrate the Empire, connecting with their other outposts on the Empire’s countless colonies, from the biggest of gas giants, to the smallest of asteroid habitats.


Doctor Phestel, escorted by a floating virtual assistant shaped like a small engraved blue sphere the size 15 centimeters across, walked across the bustling entrance hall and lower floors, and after taking a private elevator that the golden sphere unlocked for him, he continued his journey through the top floor of the Ministry Of Technology, where the office of the Minister was located.

HERE YOU GO MR. PHESTEL! THIS IS THE MINISTER'S OFFICE. I'LL BE WAITING OUT HERE TO ESCORT YOU BACK TO THE EXIT WHEN YOU AND MR. OLMANII ARE DONE.

“Thanks for helping me out Virchosphere.”

YOU'RE WELCOME MR. PHESTHEL! I'M ALWAYS HAPPY TO SERVE MY INTENDED PURPOSE.

“Who isn’t…”

Vircosphere inserted itself inside a spherical recess near a large door in the center of the wall opposite the elevator, a luminescent outline illuminating after Vircosphere’s clearance code was read by an interior scanner. After the doors disappeared, the Effector Frames repositioning their nanorobotic foglets to move aside, Phesthel walked inside the large room.

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“Ahhh, there you are! Please, please, take a seat.”

The Minister was sitting behind a large colorful wooden desk, engraved with geometrical patterns on it’s sides. The armchair on which he was sitting was one of the newest models put out by Therren, the Empire’s furniture company, who had enormous dealings with foreign countries and had buyers from all over the Sector. This armchair in particular was incredibly expensive - so much so that only the royals in more capitalist nations could afford it - since it was made out of Bionano Fabric: the foglet units made the armchair look like an opening to deep space, with units assuming different colors and light intensities to emulate Galactyan space, with shifting nebulae and glowing clusters of stars. Of course, being made of what was essentially Utility Fog, it was also able to reconfigure it’s shape and carry out a variety of functions: voices had it that specially made ones could even act as personal defense units, but said voices were still rumors at best. However Phestel wouldn’t be surprised if someone as important as the Ministry Of Technology wasn’t always covered in an endless layer of protections, no matter how unneeded they were in the Empire.

Just as the Minister welcomed the Doctor, another large armchair, similar to the one the Minister himself was sitting on, rose up from the floor. Effector Frames really were the trend that had been hot for thousands of years. Oh well, it was to be expected: nanites were such a convenient, efficient and universal technology. Luckily the Empire had taken all precautions possible to ensure that they wouldn’t cause problems, so much so that when they intentionally provolved them to sapience they didn’t revolt or destroy the Empire itself, but they integrated and forged a new species of their own, travelling through the stars.

“Honored to be in your presence Minister. Sooo, could I know why I was summoned to your office?”

“Like I told you some time ago, the Emperors asked me to question you about some stuff.”

“Such as…?”

“The Emperors have been analyzing all the available data about your research ever since it first started. They became VERY interested in that new dimension you and your team discovered, and after running and combing through everything they came to a conclusion. However, while they’re still transapients, the data they have is not enough, at least compared to yours. So, their question was: would it be possible to utilize the spacial distortion present in the dimension to allow for an even faster form of FTL travel than the one we have? Something similar to Drakari Warp Drives.”

“Well… if a regular RGW Drive entered the dimension, it could push it’s warp bubble at much higher speeds thanks to the distortion… the energy usage would remain the same since the push is created by space itself, although some reworks would be needed to properly integrate the entrance engine with the Drive, and further changes to the fusion generators…”

“I got to ask though… why would they want to develop such a Warp Drive? We already have access to Mirial Space, we don’t really need it.”

“This might sound unusual, but the Emperors, as well as the Council, want to develop an independent form of Interdimensional FTL. The Edhelerim are already distrustful enough of the Empire, and they don’t deserve a scenario in which we become dependent on them for travel. Besides, Mirial Space has enough flaws, especially with that whole Beacon mechanic: an hybrid form of Realspace and Interdimensional FTL like the one that could be developed from your dimension would be far mor efficient and versatile.”

“The reasoning does work out I suppose. However, you yourself saw that the Drive is far, far away from completion. There are just too many problems which I just can’t wrap my head around, no matter how many simulations I run, or how many tweaks I make! I don’t think this endeavor is useful to anyone at this rate…”

“The Emperors had the same problem as well. They were able to solve some things, but most of it remains beyond them. Which is why the Council will hold a vote tomorrow about whether or not your research should be moved to the Lesser Archailects. You’ll be able to collaborate with them of course, and the credits will mostly go to you, but you and your team won’t be the driving force of the research anymore. I don’t believe there’s a single Councillor who is against the transfer, so I might as well just tell you as if the vote already happened.”

“Oh… I see. This isn’t what I was expecting, but deep down I figured it would have happened at some point.”

“I know, many have been through the same situation, myself included. But after all, our duty is to drive forward the technological advancement of the Galactyan Empire. When our capabilities aren’t enough, we must pass our duty off to someone else who can carry them out.”

“I suppose so.”

“We all do.”

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Galactyan Empire, Quadrant 5

Lanvidal Star System, Devrebohr Open Cluster

Jupiter Brain of Provius, Central ISO Node of Promethepi

Multiformia Planetary Rungworld




After the voting of the Council Of Clades, and after it was confirmed (as expected) that the project would pass on to a series of Lesser Archailects, Phestel had received a formal invite from Promethepi, the SI4.5 Lesser Archailect of the Lanvidal System, and one of the highest ranking Archailects in the Empire.

While transapients were largely considered to be relatively humble and not arrogant, a good portion of them still kept to themselves and interacted with other transapients instead of ordinary modosophonts: the higher the toposophic, the less they interacted.

Which was why receiving a spontaneous invite from an SI4+ was so special. Although it wasn’t a spoken thing, and they weren’t recognized as such in theory, the Lesser Archailects and Godlings were the Galactyan Empire’s nobility. Or at least, the closest thing to it they had. All of them were the governors of the systems they were based in, held total control over the inhabited computronium substrates in their structures, and had plenty of power of their own. Regardless of this noble-like status, they were still treated as equals under the law, and due to the power they held they would meet much harsher consequences for their actions.

If a Godling or Archailect became a perversity or blight of some kind, and had hurt the Empire’s citizens or was trying to spread over the rest of the Imperial ISO Nodes, there would be no inquiry or questioning before they were destroyed by the Galactyan Armed Forces through a series of Superluminal Kinetic Kill Systems or other kinds of planetary destruction weaponry.

Phestelìs cruise tracked at the airwalled Spaceport of Polymorphos, located in the lower Connector Ring below one of the McKendree Cylinders of the Multiformia Rungworld. There, one of Promethepi’s assistants waited for him.



“Greetings Maeleil Phestel. We have been waiting for you.”

“Hey there! Dasmonius, right?”

“Yes, it is. Do you have everything with you? Or do you want me to send some Transport Drones to move them?”

“Yes, it’s all right here with me. Some transport drones would be nice though.”

“I’ll call for some immediately then.”

“So, where do we go from here?”

“If you just follow me, I’ll lead you over to the Archon. E chose a special place to meet you. One more… suitable to eir nature.”

“Like what…?”

“Like the Hall Of Promethepi.”

“No fucking way, really? Doesn’t e greet only other Archailects and the High Government there?”

“Oh my Doctor Phestel, language, language, ah ah! But yes, e’ll greet you in there. E said that e considered it the most appropriate non-virtual space available.”

“Well that’s really sweet of em, but I wouldn’t mind a temporary upload. They didn’t have to go through all the effort.”

“Appropriateness is important to the Archon, Doctor Phestel. Besides, it would have been more of an hassle to upload you, compared to just bringing you into one of the Chambers. I mean it would probably require one or two extra minutes to set it all up, but the other alternative continues to be more in line with Keifonasyan Etiquette.”

“Oh, wow! I had no idea e was a Keifonasyan.”

“E’s actually part of the religious majority sect. It’s quite unexpected, but to each their own.”

“Yes, definitely. What about you instead? Do you believe in anything?”

“Me? I’ve been an Orthodox Universalist for most of my life.”

“Oh, nice, nice! I might be wrong, but it’s the one where you have to isolate yourself for some time to find God right? Or something like that.”

“Yes, exactly that one. These periods are called “Questionings”. We retreat for some time from modern society in order to contemplate our souls and find the God within ourselves.”

“Ah, interesting. Now that I think about it, I did hear of it before. Must have slipped my mind.”

“If I may ask Doctor Phestel, what about you instead?”

“Sure you can. Well, I used to be a Child Of The Sun until I was about 87, and then I gradually became an atheist. I mean, I’m still a Solarian at heart, but the idea of Crus convinced me less and less over time.”

“Mh. Well, I’m sad to hear that you lost your faith. May you be able to find your God again one day.”

“Thanks I guess, ah ah. Completely unrelated, but can I ask you something I’ve always been curious about?”

“Yes, of course. What is it?”

“What is it like to be a God Dweller? You know, living inside and even working for and Archailect. Is it overwhelming, or do you barely notice it?”

“It… depends. Trying to contemplate the real proportions of high transapient minds can be very overwhelming, but it can also be an important source of reflection and consideration. In fact, it’s something that plenty of Universalists contemplate on during their Questionings. However, most of us think about it as much as any other citizen does. Archailects are both flashy and subtle, in a way. After some time, you want even think about the fact that you’re living in one.”

“As for working for one, well… it’s certainly complicated to explain! I personally see working for Promethepi just like working for a normal governor or important figure. I try not to delve too deep into the various considerations one could do.”

“Ah, I see. In all honesty, I was expecting something like this. Otherwise, why would people even want to live there?”

“A simple reasoning is often all that you need.”




The automated shuttle flew quickly above the expansive cityscape of Schimat, an endless sea of gardens, skycrapers and buildings of all shapes and sizes flowing below it. Polymorphos was the most colonized and inhabited out of the Rungworld’s many McKendree Cylinders, and Schimat was it’s biggest city: a sort of Capital’s capital.

There, the arches and flowing mechanized forms of Vechozoian Architecture pierced the sky, enormous domes and spirals overlooking the rest of the urban expanse. Here on Schimat, the entertainment industry had really taken off thanks to the large-scale presence of Polymorphic technology, such as effector frames and replicating units, that decorated the city and added an additional layer of depth to the Vechozoian Style that already permeated it almost entirely.

“This is quite the view! I’ve actually never been inside a McKendree Cylinder before.”

“Uh, is that so?”

“Yeah, I’ve only ever been to O’Neill ones. I did go to a couple of O’Neill Polystars though. Stayed in one of the super-luxurious hotels in the central section of the star. But this is maybe even more awe-inducing! I mean, how large is this habitat again?”

“Each Cylinder of the Multiformia Rungworld follows a standard size of 9500 kilometers in length, and 1000 kilometers in diameter.”

“I just love megascale engineering,”

“Few species don’t enjoy grandeur and greatness of some kind. For us Galactyans, it’s expressed through making friendship across the stars, giving aid to those who need it, affirming ourselves individually, and building the best megastructures the entire Sector has ever seen.”

“Damn right they are! I mean, the ones in the Drakari Imperium are nice, but they just…”

“… aren’t as big and grandiose as one would expect of a nation 2300 years older than Galactya.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth. Anyways, since I’m going to be staying here for a while, is there anything especially entertaining to do on Multiformia and around? I’ve heard that the entertainment industry here is particularly booming, but some recommendations wouldn’t hurt.”

“Oh I can’t possibly choose anything right now. I’d have to look it over before telling you.”

“I’ll look it up myself then, don’t worry. I hope they have Vertical Shot or Asteroid Defense somewhere! Haven’t played those in quite a long while.”

“Well we do have those ones, although they are both outside of Multiformia. The various Vertical Shot elevators are all on the moon of Barhhin, while we have Asteroid Defense on the barren moon of Wolim.”

“Then I will check them out if I have some time in between research.”

“Glad to hear you will.”




The light shone from the Hall into the antichamber. If one didn’t know any better, they couldn’t be blamed for thinking that on the other side of the titanic door, a sunny summer day waited for them, the warm, bright light evoking the same feelings of comfort as the season itself. But they would be wrong.

On the other side was the Hall Of Promethepi, the great chamber in which E greeted visiting high transapients and other Archailects, as well as any member of High Government.

Promethepi didn’t get eir title of “The Multiform One” casually. E had always been very, very interested (almost to obsessive levels) around the shapes and forms that the world around em takes, and that was reflected in eir main avatar as well: an angel of hands, the same things that allowed so many species all across the Civilized Galaxy to reshape what they wished.

As soon as reactive nanobots were first invented, Promethepi had spent decades hoarding each and every model e could get eir hands on, and studying them as much as possible, and trying to improve them to fit eir needs. A large portion of the efforts that went into the creation of the Nano Effector Cloud avatars that so many SI3s and SI4s used were accredited to em after all.

However, eir magnum opus was another one. Some thousand years ago e built the Hall Of Promethepi, a giant room that, through the use of programmable matter, nanobot and bionano technology was able to reshape it’s environment to the most mind-bending of forms. One moment, the Hall could look like a flowering forest of blossoms with a warm sunset sky with white puffy clouds over head and a babbling brook of shiny water cutting through the colorful fields of grass and flowers.

The other, it could look like the void of interstellar space, dense Nebulae, stars and streams of flowing gas glittering in the dark and moving like dust in the air, if one were to pass their hand through them.


Dasmonius and Phestel stood in front of the entrance, on the other side of the large antichamber.

“And here we are. The entrance to the Hall Of Promethepi emself. Didn’t take too long to get there, did it?”

“I mean it did take us almost an hour…”

“You should consider that crossing 9500 kilometers at surface speed in less than an hour is no laughable task.”

“Guess you’re right. So, do I just go in or…?”

“Yes, yes, you can just head inside. E’s been waiting for you.”

“Okay, okay, nice. Then I’ll start walking. Wish me luck!”

“Well, you won’t need it, but still: good luck Doctor.”

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