120 lines
6.2 KiB
Plaintext
120 lines
6.2 KiB
Plaintext
###TRANSMISSION RECEIVED###
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Source: r/HFY
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Author: u/OC
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Title: Last Humans
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---BEGIN MESSAGE---
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Let me tell you what we found at the end of the trail of
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destruction. It was a small system, 10 or so planets around a
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medium sized yellow dwarf star. Around the third planet we found
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the remains of the swarm. Millions of their ships floated in
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burning roiling chaos around this charred rock. As far as we could
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tell it had been a garden world. Despite our best efforts we could
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not get close. Our scans told enough though. The swarm had been
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drawn here like moths to a candle. They did that, back then, when
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they encountered a particular bit of resistance. Pour enough ships
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and lives in and eventually they would break even the strongest
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species.
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It had worked for them so far. A quarter of the galaxy lay desolate
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behind their advance. Our fiercest warrior species and most
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coordinated hive-races were even no match for them. That was, until
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they had begun to focus on this one planet above all else. Legions
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of ships would break orbits and leave their scrapping of suns to
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come here. At the time we were not even aware of intelligent life
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in this region. Certainly no species near the Hyperspace Threshold.
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You can imagine our surprise and shock coming onto that scene in a
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supposedly uninhabited system.
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Of course, we now know of the Humans. Only the youngest emerging
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species have yet to hear of them. When we finally found the
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remnants of their race orbiting the nearest star, we learned the
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price they had paid. You see, the swarm had found them like
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countless before. But Humans are a painfully violent and stubborn
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species. They have been trying to kill each other off for most of
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their history. Yes... you could probably call it insanity. But it
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forged an iron hard species. A species that was also armed to the
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fangs and making technological breakthroughs at an unheard of rate.
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They had even made rudimentary steps into hyperspace technology by
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the time the swarm descended. And they fought back.
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How they fought. Hundreds of thousands of fission bombs were built
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and used... actually used! They reverse engineered the swarm's
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gravity simulators and weaponized them. Weaponized gravity!
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Millions of ships crushed or flung apart or shorn in half by Human
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ingenuity and a bit of physics. They fought like this all the way
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to the ground. There are tales of Humans going hand to hide with
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the swarm. Have you ever seen a Human fight in person? They may not
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be the biggest or most intimidating species, but they never...
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ever... ever give up. From the void of space to the depths of their
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world, they came screaming back at the invaders.
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At some point the humans learned the rest of secrets of the
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Hyperspace Windows. Probably pried it out a smoking hive ship and
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made it speak its secrets through sheer force of will. And then, as
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Humans do, they weaponized them. Now, they also discovered as most
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species do, that if you open a hyperspace window at the bottom of a
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gravity well it causes significant problems. Besides a cataclysmic
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release of energy, the subspace tends to... tear, in a way. In deep
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space these tend to heal up swiftly. But down in heavy gravity they
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linger. As far as we know they will last until the end of time
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itself. Of course the humans used this. Thousands of satellites
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were launched. Powered by the engines of downed swarm ships of all
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things. And on every satellite were dozens of basic hyperspace
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generators. Good for maybe one use. The equipment was just basic
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enough to open a window hardly larger than a Human hand.
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You see... they used them like mines. Once a swarm ship was
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detected a generator would peel away from the rest. At a safe
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distance a tiny hyperspace window would open into the depths of the
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swarm ship. The explosion caused by doing that in a gravity well
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was probably enough to kill a ship. But add in the effect of
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running a ship through a window? A moving ship keeps right on
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going, and that window slices a neat little hole all the way to the
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hull. So now you have an explosion and you are venting atmosphere.
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This went on for a long time. Down there near Earth the void
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shimmers with tears in subspace. Hundreds of thousands of tears,
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waiting to shred a ship into a million ribbons before you know what
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is happening. That is why we could not get close to Earth. The
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space around it is a death sentence. But the Humans had one last
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weapon to fight with. In the end, they made the swarm kill itself.
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From downed ships they learned the deepest secrets of the swarm.
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They learned how to call for help. Humanity built an immense
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transmitter. They called it the Laurentian Candle. Carved into a
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huge expanse of stone, it calls to the stars. With it they summoned
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the swarm to them by sending the call of a swarm Empress in
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distress. That is what finally brought millions of ships to die
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there, sliced to ribbons above a burning planet. By this point
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there were only an estimated 60,000 Humans left alive. So they
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built a ship. Right there on the ground. Thousands upon thousands
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of cryo capsules in massive clusters. And they left. That was what
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cracked the planet in two finally, that massive hyperspace window
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slamming shut.
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With that final goodbye to their only home, they saved the galaxy.
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It is impossible to shut off the signal from the Candle, and the
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swarm plunged in to their deaths. When we found them and learned
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what they had done, word spread like light in the void. These
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remnants were offered shelter, moons, planets, entire star systems
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in the oldest civilizations. Yet they declined every offer. Instead
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they asked for ships. Thousands of ships, enough to carry their
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entire population into the void. So now they wander, searching for
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something. They offer trade of technology or goods for information.
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Always information. Maps, charts, scans, rumors... they take it
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all. These respected people wander, always welcome wherever they
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pause, but never pausing for long. Always on to the next planet or
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system. Searching. Yearning. Hunting. For something they lost or
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sent out long ago when the swarm was surrounding them and hope was
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bleak.
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Something called an "Ark."
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---END MESSAGE---
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Reviewer's note: this message seems to be a piece of creative
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artistic work rather than actual report, although due to the nature
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of QEC-based communication, it is impossible to determine if that's
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actually case or not.
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