Microstory 699: The Light Wars Destroy a World

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With the stars slowly learning how to shine upon us once more, vibrant lifestyles are returning to the galaxy. New plants are growing, and genetically engineered animals are returning to their habitats. We are not yet at 100% realization of our potential, but we are getting there. Unfortunately, our war with the Thuriamen is still going strong. And while our resources are bouncing back quickly, we are still struggling to maintain a significant military force. For the most part, battles have been fought in our enemy’s territory, and we’ve even been able to secure some regions of one dimension that once belonged to them. They have managed to cross the dimensional brink several times, however, and threatened the lives of our citizens. Thankfully, they’ve abandoned Earth, so we’ve not again had to protect the veiled Earthans from learning the secret to our presence. Our enemies have instead chosen to focus on destroying everything they can find in Fostea. In one such instance, they managed to enter our borders completely undetected, using a tactic in a complex dimension that we could not have predicted. This technique is generally impractical, because it takes so long to accomplish, but we should not have underestimated their capacity for patience. When Sotiren predicted in the taikon passages that a world would be destroyed by light, we naturally believed this would happen to one of the less important ones. Our hubris prevented us from seeing that our faith is in the middle of being tested, and we will not get off that easy. While many stars in the galaxy remain shrouded—for the solution is a long process—many still have already been fixed. Of course we began to rebuild with the central worlds, never dreaming that this would later be used against us. When the small infiltration fleet fell into our dimension, they immediately headed for Eksterodos, the star at the center of the system that holds Merek, Poreia, and Mortire. Using technology we’ve never seen before, the Thuriamen concentrated and focused the sun’s powerful rays in one direction, which destroyed the central world of Poreia in a matter of minutes. A contingency in training on a moon of Mortire sprang into action, returning the favor to the Thuriamen, obliterating their ships before they could repeat the process for the other two planets. Fostea was placed on high alert, which allowed contingencies to annihilate enemy ships before they could do the same to other planets, but the damage to the first could not be changed. Nevertheless, our enemies will not win, for though everyone living on the planet is dead, the orbital itself remains, and Poreia will live again.

Microstory 528: So-called Light Wars Begin Over Earth

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Our great galaxy’s animosity towards Lactea cannot be overstated. They are full of communists who value nothing. Ever citizen, regardless of how hard they’ve worked—and except for a few “contribution requirements”—is provided for. They are all immortal, telekinetic, and uninteresting. They represent all that our people hate about the universe, and they have always been our worst enemies...until now. As it turns out, there is an even worse way to do things. There is that Lactean rule that says one is not allowed to enjoy the benefits of the system without having some sort of vocation. That vocation may entail sitting in a room, reading a book, and making sure a robot doesn’t malfunction, but it is technically a job that the government accepts. Following that requirement, citizens are free to act as they please. They may travel where they want, learn what they want, and marry who they want. This is not so when it comes to the evil society of Thuriama.

Thuriama is the name of the new branch of Amadesis that rose from the ashes of its former self after the destruction of its originating planet. Amadesis is the most heinous and despicable religion ever created. Its entire purpose is to poison everything it touches, and infect outsiders with their twisted ideals in religious devotion. This particular sect focuses most deeply in the concept of the soul, hidden in their claims of bringing light to the blind. The idea of controlling someone by accessing their soul energy has been a goal of theirs since the seeds of the sect was first planted by historical figure, Ellaraitch. It is not yet clear if they have succeeded in their endeavors, but what we do know is that they are executing at least more traditional forms of fidelity on a compartmentalized group of their own population. Historians believe that they cloned or bred an entire subpopulation designed specifically to serve them. As Fosteans, of course, we find the idea of enslaved humans to be disgusting. It is one of the few laws that we even have. The Thuriamen have no such law, and have been exploiting free-thinking individuals for whatever dastardly plans they have. And so it is with a full understanding of irony that the Fostean leaders have teamed up with Lactea to combat these terrible people. We would normally avoid interfering with other cultures, but it was nearly unanimously felt that standing back threatened our galaxy. If the Thuriamen indeed have the ability to control others, that is something that must be stopped. We have done things our own way, though, and acted somewhat against our alliance with Lactea. We decided to attack Thuriama first. Unfortunately, since Thuriama is located in higher complex dimensions, this meant risking exposing ourselves to veiled Earthans. Details on our battle campaign are forthcoming, but there is one thing that we can tell you. The Light Wars have just begun.

Microstory 506: Amadesin Remnant Hiding in Higher Dimensions

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Martian Authorities have uncovered possible evidence that the remaining sects of Amadesis have been hiding out in higher Prime dimensions. The best way to access these dimensions is through Earth, which is why the evidence wasn't readily available before. An unnamed Aviid historian first proposed this theory about sixty years ago. Though his ideas were not dismissed, they were deemed too risky to pursue at the time. During this period, Earth was steadily ramping up its efforts to either prove, or disprove, the presence of alien entities within their airspace. Though visitors from across the galaxy regularly traveled to and from Earth before then, it was decided that a greater amount of secrecy and security needed to be implemented in order to prevent any unwanted attention. It has taken this long for all members of leadership of The Core to agree that a minimal investigation of the uncharted dimensional space could be logistically possible. Details are scarce at this time, but the number of Amadesin descendants are said to number in the millions...possibly billions. A great deal of resources have been allocated to creating, demonstrating, and protecting the Right Eye Papers, but Martian representatives assure the public that a more complete investigation into this second major intergalactic issue will begin within the next few weeks. A source inside the authority has revealed that these Amadesins in particular derive from the Ellaraitch school of thought, and execute a form of indentured servitude and compartmentalization in order to attain their goals. As far as the infiltration mission goes, members of the Isala administration have all agreed that the elite team should be comprised exclusively of humans. Because little is known regarding the current level of Amadesis technology, scientists from Levida have concluded that it would be too dangerous to include Martian Arsenic suiters. Their true nature may be discovered quickly, placing the entire mission at risk. A representative from the Eridani military contingency has spoken up as well, promising the public that preventing war is of the utmost priority for all those involved, at least on our side of the dimensional brinks. The number one priority, however, is...well, Priority One; which obligates any member of deveiled society to act in the best interest of safety for everyone, regardless of cultural or developmental consequences. Specifics on the mission will be released at a later date, possibly following the effort, in order to preserve universal security.

Microstory 325: Love

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Family Support

Sophie Love Highfill, on her first night at her new home. Yes, her real middle name was Love.

I’ve heard people explain what’s happening when someone feels love. They speak of brain chemical messengers, hormones, and other bodily reactions. They seem to think these explanations are sufficient proof that love “isn’t real”. Legitimate scientists, however, don’t lose their fascination for a scientific phenomenon after learning how it works. I’m going to tell you a little bit about my spiritual beliefs, and I call it spirituality because none of your religions make any sense to me. I’ve spoken on this before, but with a fictional slant, so here is only how I truly feel. I believe that nearly everyone has a soul, and those that don’t are known to as sociopaths. The soul is a tangibly intangible some sort of nothingness from another dimension with a connection to other souls on the quantum level. Animals are born without souls, but can obtain them later through the love of a human. We call these pets. Trying this method with a sociopath is more difficult, but not impossible, which is one reason compassionate caregivers are so important to a person’s upbringing. Our souls are in constant flux by the input they receive from the people and conditions around them. When a person dies, their body decays, their consciousness dissipates, but their soul recedes deeper into its dimension to live on forever. At this point, the soul is unchanging except by the general state of humanity. Your goal in life is to fuel the soul collective with goodness. The afterlife is not a place. Your soul persists either through eternal bliss, or eternal itch. It’s up to you to decide which it’s going to be, but keep in mind that your choices have an effect on humankind. Every ensouled person needs love, and deserves it. Ignoring all specifics, the only reason any ensouled person is bad is ultimately because of a lack of love. Love everyone, including yourself, and you’ll be well on your way to happiness.

Civilization

Microstory 81: Eternal Fall

If you are going to travel faster than light, then you’re going to need a few things. First, you’ll need a vessel capable of withstanding and protecting you from the plex radiation. Next, you’re going to need a machine called an astral collimator. This will tilt your ship over into the desired simplex dimension. Gravity is much, much stronger in the simplex dimensions than it is in mithgarther (where you live). As soon as you enter one, you’re going to start falling, and the only way to navigate to the location you want is to use gravity transfunctioners to direct your fall. You can fall towards any degree of a sphere, because there is no up or down. If you don’t want nature deciding which direction you’ll go, you have to control it. One amazing thing about simplex dimensions, is that they’re full of energy. If you have a tuplodeler, then it will gather this ambient energy, and essentially keep your vessel in working order indefinitely. This is important, because crossing dimensions will potentially use nearly 100% of any energy stored. This is why travel to a complex dimension—which will have no ambient energy—is a one-way trip unless you have a power source on the other side.

One day, a ship named Tresteria was making a journey between galaxies when they suffered a cataclysmic failure. Their collimator was overheating, and needed to be jettisoned, so they were unable to tilt back into mithgarther. Their gravity transfunctioners were damaged, so they were unable to navigate. Their communications were down, not that it mattered; no one was around to receive a message anyway. To save lives, they decided to enter stasis pods, and wait for help. But there weren’t enough pods for everyone. After plex travel was discovered, suspended animation was largely considered unnecessary. Those left out sacrificed themselves so that others could live, but they perhaps were the lucky ones. The Tresteria has been uncontrollably falling through astral red for the last few billion years.