Fiction:The Civilisation/Goal 2 - First Contact

This is for any member of Milky Way Cooperative to edit.

Summary and rules
In the Milky Way alone there is over 10,000 civilizations. Most of which, barely acknowledge each others existence save for a few are the larger (and more likeminded ones). However, there are also various Truly Alien environments and Tier Unknown civilizations. Due to the vast differences in advancement, goals and perception, many ignore each other, or even don't notice each others existence. This has led to the dominance of "Godspawn life" and like-minded species to who activwelly communicate, pushing away other more alien civilizations. Mysteries will be unlocked, and this fiction is to inspire some creativity. Of course, communicating with Tier U civilizations is very difficult.

Try to keep things believible, when inveting some more bizzare forms of life think about how they might be possible. Not all life has to be Truly Alien, normal yet unusual life, ecosystems and environments should also be considered as well.

Participation

 * Wormul.png Wormulon  Talk to me 
 * Cephalodian - Will study various Extreme and Truly Alien lifeforms (from gas giant life to organisms swimming in neutron stars) and will be on a quest for Cosmospawn.
 * Delpha Coalition of Planets - Will seek contact with Tier U's (most likely in the form of mathematical language) and send a new mission to Fahler.
 * Girdo Empire - Will study and classify newly-discovered organisms, and select some truly alien species to be taken back to the Girdo Galaxy Nature Reserve.
 * Girdo Empire - Will study and classify newly-discovered organisms, and select some truly alien species to be taken back to the Girdo Galaxy Nature Reserve.

Beginning
Soon after the DCP's proposal, the BNSC pledged their efforts in helping. The Cephalodians never needed any encouragement, their answer was obvious. Soon, they had contacted the Girdo. Commodore Hlraka of the Starfighter was a possible candidate however, was also scheduled for Station Halcyon. Altough if Hlraka was to leave, the Girdo would give four trade frigates. The Girdo believe that the Milky Way may once have been a nature reserve.

While "Truly Alien" life has been encounted before by various nations, they are rarely understood in a meaningful manner. Life has the great ability to evolve very differently. Most normal "Godspawn" life exists around "Goldilock" zones in orbit around their home planet, star or multiple system, however, "Truly Alien" lieforms are so very different, they are hard to recorgnise as life, and so are hard to find. However, they may exist in all kinds of strange and hostile environments, where "Godspawn" life rarely ventures. Truly Alien life might actually be more common that once believed, and in xenocides like the War of Ages, the Xhodocto may have overlooked many of them, heading directly to "Godspawn" life. So to find "Truly Alien" lifeforms, even environments like neutron stars and gas giants must be scanned.

Tier Unknown civilizations refer to intelligent species who have advanced very differently, or think very differently. They may or may not be "Truly Alien", but are often xenophobic, or simply ignore galactic events, as things like alliances and wars are alien concepts to them. Communication with "like-minded" species is difficult but not impossible, and is quite uncommon. However, no matter how a species percieves the world, the mathematics are likely to be absolute. A new mathematical form of language could flip over the coin.

Cephalodian travels
The Cephalodians were quick. As always, they are prepared to research life.

Expedition to the Velta Gas Giant
The nearest planet with more unusual life known by the Cephalodians to exist nearest their space was the gas giant Velta. Nearly 17,000 miles in circumference, the planet's atmosphere was rich in nitrogen, ammonia, methane, water ices and of course - hydrogen. It was similar in composition to Neptune, however, it was much closer to its home star. Due to convection in compressed oceans below, there was strong magnetic fields, planetary heat and starlight have drivern the planet's atmosphere into a maelostrom. As Captain Boriconas watched from his viewscreen, the planet in a surreal manner had Seladiscas-like appearence - blue sky, wisps of white cloud and raging thunderstorms. Winds were as strong as 800 miles per hour. It was hard to believe life could evolve in such a turbulent atmosphere. But indeed life had evolved in the dephs of the planet. At a certain level, there was a small niche where life has indeed gained a foothold. Gas Giant life were no new discovery, it was estimatated that 1 in a 500 to 1000 gas giants was suitable for life in some form or another (due to the sheer number of gas giants), however, the nature and habits of the lifeforms were very obscure. This would be one of the few planets that will have been extensively studied.

It was there where Captain Boriconas and his small team had to depart from their biological ship. Although their symbiotic lifetech is very adaptable, constantly evolving to their needs, the Cephalodians have non-biological technology as well. Even their great bioship, would perish in the soup of storms that raged between them and the calmer niche below. As the science shuttle (non-polluting of course) lowered into the dephs of the gas giant, the team made their final preparations.

At first, it took several weeks of scanning from orbit or within the atmosphere, but the team worked tirelessly on, until the first lifeforms were detected. Fustratingly, the signitures of life were there. Life on Velta was 115 miles down, where there was a relatively calm and clear region. In this small layer, groups of hydrogen-based "bubble" life had been found before, but only briefly. The "floaters" used hydrogen to stay bouyant, however, they live in a dangerous existence. If they float too low, they risk being ripped apart, cooked or poisoned by gases, and if they venture too high the pressure would make them explode. However, on this expedition, the first life encounted were floating clouds of plankton. The "biome" they generally all lived in was a "desert". For some reason, pockets of air existed between layers. There were thermal updrafts, bluish in colour, where warm, moist (moist with ammonia) was rising. However, communities of floating clouds were found near the rising thermals. It was speculated that when the sky is covered over, or at night, the "plankton" derive energy from the warm rising fronts rather than photosynthesis. Did the floaters also live off the Plankton? Soon the team would find out...

As the ship descended below the Plankton deck more lifeforms were discovered, this time, they appeared like coiled tubes, which acted like jet engines. A huge swarm of these Swimmers was on a collision course with the nowq stationary shuttle, aided by strong jet stream winds, the the Cephalodsians were in a panic, and quickly ascended their shuttle to a greater height, missing the swimmers by a hairs breath, travelling at a velocity of 125 miles per hour. Captain Boriconas was sweating ink, and two of his assistents, Floppyflood and Gorganitus clung to each other. Life of all forms is precious to the Cephalodians. However, asthey tracked the swimmers, suddenly various floating bags of life began to emerge, including the floaters seen before, and massive Kites the size of small ships above them. The high air pressure allowed for truly massive life forms. As the team watched, the swimmers were caught inside traps, where they were digested. The Floaters didn't over-indulge (a quality the Cephalodians respect), however, they realized that if the floaters did, they would sink. Suddenly, all the lifeforms scarped, and at the same, weather instruments detected occluding warm and cold fronts. A violent storm was emerging, and soon the sky was dark with flashes of lightining twenty times more powerful than any on Seladiscas. If the lightining hit even the largest floaters (who had descended in a white downdraft) then they would have exploded. How had all the lifeforms realized a storm was approaching? Suddenly, Boriconas modulated to a higher frequency, and nmoved off to a quiter patch. He discovered that the lifeforms must have at least two senses, one electromagnetic, and the other based on air pressure (using bubbles in their stomachs). Already, an ecosystem was unfolding before their eyes, and the habits of the creatures, were beginning to be realized.

Later on, it was discovered that the life forms were hydrogen and ammonia-based, using haldane to build protiens. Bubbles of ammonia condensation existed inside the Floaters (by examining a dead Floater strick by lightning), in which enzymes would latch onto. The team theorized that life evolved in the planet's atmosphere in a similar manner. However, the expedition was not over, the Cephalodians dared to descend ever deeper, to dephs few have been in gas giants. Due to DCP technology, designed for the compression stresses of wormholes, the Cephalodiand bravely continued...

As the ship plummeted to 8,827 miles, the ride was getting rough. The gas was now getting more and more compressed into a near-liquid state, but the diamond-nanofibre composite latticed with crystalline monopole matter and strong intertial dampners (of DCP design) kept the shuttle was holding. The pressure by now was 3 million atmospheres, and temperature was rising 90°C every 500 miles from then on. It was kept generally cool by large downdrafts, the Cephalodians realized it was much hotter outside the downdrafts. Another 1000 miles and there was huge turbulence as the ship hit large convection cells. Below the cells there was an ocean of superheated water, kept from evaporating by the extreme pressure. "Hull pressure 3 marks off the tolerance level!" barked science officer Varoooshhoib, even the extreme armour was beginning to soften. "Hull pressure 1 mark above the tolerance level!" Said the officer as the ship smacked into the ocean below. It seemed they would not be able to go only lower. The pressure was now 5 million atmospheres and the temperature over 280°C. The winds had calmed though, and the presence of storms was nowhere to be seen, however, this was where the magnetic field was being generated and the ocean was highly ionised. To keep the shuttle there for longer than a few minutes, the Cephalodians used nanotechnology to keep repairing the hull, however, the nanobots were barely staying attactched, meaning they were polluting the ocean. The Cephalodians could not stay for long. They began to use scan to penetrate the ocean dephs. 500 miles below them, the tmperature was over 1000°C, however, the ocean was compressed into "hot ice". Below that was a layer of metallic hydrogen and perhaps in the center, a metallic/rocky core. Unfortunately, thse regions were inaccsesible and life even more unlikely.

However, life had indeed penetrated the dephs. A giant creature submerged, over 2 miles wide and incredibly flat, oval in shape. Scans concluded that the center of the Sinker was mostly dead, as any gases or fuids inside would have been squeezed to the edges. Around the rim, it bulged, indicating this was where the Sinker's fluids were. But it was not alone. Tiny organisms, no more than a millimeter in size were crawling in and out of the Sinker much like a coral reef system. Creatures at these extreme pressures must be either incredibly wide and flat or incredibly small. There was no sunlight at these dephs, however, using magnetic fields, there was neccesary energy for processes like chemical bioluminescence to be generated, flashing and pulsating, almost in rythem, almost... Communication, a song even. The team were mesmerized by the spectacle in front of them. Before the shuttle was forced to leave, the crew had to work out how biocemistry was working at this deph. Perhaps tiny bubbles were allowing for complex molecules to survive under this pressure, however, this wiould remain a mystery unsolved. Finally, the Cephalodians had to pull themselves away. Their skin turned yellow, the colour of happiness and returned to their mothership in orbit, patiently waiting for them...

Ruins
The Empire of the Girdo Galaxy sent an exploration flotilla - the Imperium-class Starfighter led by Commadore Hlraka, four Frigate-class cargo ships, and 216 Droners - to the Wastelands, a large area of the Norma Arm that was apparently left barren and empty by a Xhodocto incursion, followed seventeen years later (and just a month ago) by a Grox fleet. Each ship constantly flew from system to system, scanning every planet for any traces of life. Despite the large number of ships and their high speed, which allowed 221 planets to be explored every minute, it was several hours before anything was discovered.

They were the ruins of a city, on an empty desert planet orbiting a yellow dwarf star. The ruins had been discovered by a Droner, but it had since been sent away and a Frigate had been brought to the planet in its place. The small cargo ship scanned the ruins and, determining that they were safe, sent a small team of three crewmen and the captain down to investigate.

Delpha Coalition of Planet's travels
The DCP will specialize in contact with Truly Alien life and Tier Unknown civilizations, whose intelligence, technology and culture are completely alien. With experience on contacting other civilizations the DCP hopes to bridge the gap between them. However, locating Tier Unknown civilizations would not be too difficult, as there were quite a few known already, existing outside "Civilization".

WDC 1184
Life on stars, had already been known to some civilizations. Centuries ago, a neutron star had passed close to human space, who discovered a race of organisms who lived for millionths of a second and evolved a million times faster than life outside the star and could swim in electron seas and waves of high energy particles. They were nanite-like, composed of nuclear chemistry. Life in the cores of larger stars had also been speculated about but never proven, and to even the advanced technology of the DCP, travel to the center of star was deemed imposibly by many, and such exploration might disturb their habitat. Then then was the mythological race of dark matter birds, that used star's gravitational mass shadows as breeding grounds, but due to the nature of dark matter any meaningful contact would be near-impossible. The Astrolights also needed stars for their mothods of reproduction.

However, three decades before the Xhodocto xenocides, the DCP had achieved communication with a race of square-plate like beings residing on the surface of a white dwarf star, known as WDC 1184 in the Monoceros Ring (a stream of stars orbiting the Milky Way). There was little in common that could be shared, to the white dwarf civilization, the outside universe was cold, hostile and unchanging. The white dwarf creatures (no good name was given) preffered chaos to order, as chaotic forms of matter allowed them to reproduce. The world outside was too ordered. 30 years later, the entire stellar stream was purged by the Xhodocto, leading the DCP to believe the star creatures were long dead. However, recent evidence shows that the Xhodocto missed and overlooked various planets during the Scourge, in fact, some life had even flourished in their hellish envronments. The DCP decided to return, but this time communication would be via mathematics and not subspace radio or telepathy which was disrupted by the star's large mass shadow. The DCP would communicate with chaotic light signals. If contact is established, then they would be the first star-life to be in active communication!

The ship that was dispatched was the Majestic, a Galactic Star Runner, carrying the DCP and humans (from previous discovery of star life). The ship dropped out of tachyonic shift into the system and slowed during the approach to the white dwarf, minding the star's deep gravity well. Sensors displayed close up images of the surface under many wavelengths. There was extreme ultraviolet radiation and soft X-ray emmissions - ordinary life would perish, and the tempertature was exceeding 30,000 kelvin. Its magnetic field was over 1 million gauss. The luminosity was pulsating and the surface was completely white-blue with no distinction (nearly all electron-degenerate matter) - at first. But as the ship approached, there was indications that the surface was crystallized, floating in "seas" of electrons. Curiously, there was a simple cycle, of electrons flowing up magnetic loops and then settling back as "rain", quickly crystallizing or melting under regions of high magnetic current. However, the surface contains no mountains, valleys or landforms, as it was all crushed down to no more than a millimeter tall. But there was chemistry going on, and where there is chemistry, no matter how different, the possibility of life holds. A "nuclear chemistry", involving carbon, magnesium and oxygen was occuring.

Yet, there was no sign of the "WDS'ians" as they were dubbed. Had they been destroyed by the Xhodocto after all? After 3 standard day cycles of scanning, it seemed like that was so. But suddenly, curious activity was detected. "Tentacle"-like filiments or "arms" began to erupt from the surface towards the ship, building its self on top, almost like a staircase. The ships's shields were raised. The DCP sent their mathematical message How have you been? Encoded into spectral lines. There was no reply... The captain believed what it was, is trying to communicate in its own way (it could be another organism). It was pulsating X-rays which took a day to decode. Apparently, since the Monoceros Ring had been scourged, the WDS'ians (who do not name them selves with sound) had rapidally expanded their civilization, to nearby white dwarfs, using ships propelled by magnetic fields. There were few WDS'ians who stayed. They were lonely, as gravitational time dilation meant they would never again see their "friends" who left into the slow unchanging void above them. The DCP began to ask questions, like genetic information, and the WD'cians replied that fluctuations in ionised plasma which acted like infomation whose resonances could be stored in crystallized matter. Then, the arm sank back into the surface with a final message "Can you see us again soon"?. Mission success...

Near-termination of Fahler
Fahler, was a bizzare planet located near the center of the Delpha Sector. The planet from orbit appears extremely beautiful, a world which made its first colonists feel so lucky. A dream to scientists (planetary geology, ecology and exobiology) and miners alike, the world was packed with Spice and other bountiful resources. However, its beauty would soon turn stale...

Things, very unlucky things, minor at first, began to occur. Vehicles and structures kept moving around or vanishing, settlers could hear strange sounds and see odd things. There were unknown diseases and the spice kept getting corrupted. All of these were dismissed by authorities, until colonists began to dissappear. Some left in fright, while others stayed (all of the colonists who fled were Jarzo). The planet's biosphere collapsed, forcing more out and then it became an unlucky target of the Grox during the Grox Resistence era. After that, the planet was deemed to be cursed, and was quarantined. Expeditions since have vanished, including a group of Lequians who had dared to land on its surface. However, in very recent times there were new trade route nearby, and planet was becoming a hindrence. The DCP finally decided enough was enough, and sent a fleet of 350 warships (overkill again) to vapourise every square millimeter of the planet, inside and out. Armed with planet glassers, Quark-gluon deconfinement disruptors and a planet buster, the DCP was so sure there would be a swift victory that will be written in warsongs for ages to come...

But when the fleet vanished from sensors only two minutes from entering, the Council of War was highly surprised. Finally 1000 hyperspace missiles were sent instead, however, as soon as they neared the system, they were disupted, and sent to a nearby colony, causing its crust to go into a catastrophic overturn. By now, Dr.Kender's theory of some form of intelligemnce on the planet was starting to look true and with the First Contact mission in process, a ghost shifted/cloaked ship was sent to make peace with the planet (robotics seem to go heywire) as the DCP had lost their short war.