[ original ] Nanowrimo 2021 - Intergalactic Plague Invasion

[sativa]

Basic Premise:

A message is intercepted speaking of tragedy and a civilization lost nearly a millennia ago that may hold the key to a long ago secret that could save the universe from a new wave of terror and heartache. Can we learn from the past or are we doomed to walk in the footsteps of a long ago world instead?

Goal:

Write the story in a mixture of despotic communications from a lost world as “scene” changes intermixed with the desperate current political climate as a new, unknown plague starts a wave of destruction across the universe. Things escalate as the plague starts to shut down important supply chains and communication relay stations leaving only a few capable of rallying to save the universe.

Twist: The current inhabits/rulers of the universe are collective robot hive-mind that survived the first destruction of the universe that sought out and protected the few remaining humans. Now they are debating letting the humans know that they have been watched over and protected by the very things that they fear to allow them to advance on a new chapter in their intergalactic lives.

Bonus, the original plague was nanomites that were designed to help the “humans” prolong their lives by having them seek out and destroy cancerous cells while repairing and rejuvenating existing “good” tissue. Now, the nanomites have evolved to attack the very machines themselves, threatening an end to everything that has been built.

Nano Goals: Manage to write something daily - word count optional

Day 1 = Pass | Day 2 = Pass | Day 3 =

Total Words Written: 891

Comments

Scene 1

[sativa]

It traveled across the darkness, hurtling at speeds faster than the eye could see along the strands of dark matter that makes up the hidden universe, expanding, rolling, silent as the grave on an every expanding wave of sound that was too hidden to hear.

Until something did hear it.

A relic of a forgotten age chirped, buzzing as old gears shook off the silky fine stardust clinging to its static forcefield as it powered up, recording the message that came in barely coherent bursts and fits, the words a jumbled whine that spoke of signal decay; a result of both distance and time. The relic cataloged the disturbance, parsing out the code into a coherent whole as it translated electric currents into voices, into words that bespoke a dead language.

Message

Received

As the electric storm passed in the blink of an eye, the relic chirped again, attaching a string of numbers to the digital code, waiting for the next messenger relay ship to pass by before info dumping its cache. And then it powered down, hunkering down for the long years between ships, experiencing time differently then those who zipped across the universe at speeds faster than light. It was good at waiting, designed to withstand the cold, empty vagaries of space.

It was not alive after all.

None of them were.