Tales From the Terran Republic

Chapter Stankworld 9: All Aboard!

Grace prodded the stony surface of the deck with her foot.

“So, all of this is the ancestor dude?”

“Yes,” GuruG replied. “Everything here is the ancestor in one form or another, even the sail trees. Their cellular matrix has infiltrated all of it, allowing the entire vessel to act as a single cohesive entity.”

“Coooool!”

“Very,” GuruG said smugly. “These titans are truly awe-inspiring. This ancestor has been alive for over fifteen hundred of your years.”

“How long will they live?”

“Longer than this form which can be for thousands of years more,” GuruG replied. “Eventually, they will tire of this, and they will select a nice spot and sink to the bottom where they will continue to live and grow bearing the knowledge of our people and conveying the will of the ancestors across the deeps… as well as monitoring and regulating oceanic chemistry and conditions.”

“Oceanic chemistry?” Alan asked.

“We were terraformers once,” GuruG chuckled, “and we still are. The difference is that we now do it for our own benefit rather than some mysterious gods who fully intended for us to die.”

He wiggled his protuberances in a smirk.

“While our love for our gods was great, it did have limits.”

“What if they were to return?”

“We would, our hearts filled with reverence and devotion, tell them to dine upon our excrement.”

“Ha!” Grace snorted.

“The ancestors who blindly followed them are long gone,” GuruG said, “and the new ones serve the Same and the Same alone.”

“And what if they tried to make you?” Alan asked.

“Then they had better pray to their gods that they are every bit as powerful as their legend.”

“I take it you grow more than cargo ships, then?”

“Something like that,” GuruG smiled. “Come on. The old guy wants to meet you!”

As they approached the massive structure at the aft of the vessel, a large panel slid aside to reveal a wide passageway covered with organic-looking pipes and covered with small scurrying creatures looking like a cross between mushrooms and slime molds.

“We’re actually going inside of it?” Alan asked.

“Yes,” GuruG said happily. “It’s quite the honor! Come on!”

With a happy little skip, GuruG scurried inside.

Alan looked over at Grace with a smile.

“In for a penny, I suppose,” he shrugged as he and Grace followed.

***

“And there’s the stank,” Grace chuckled as the panel slid closed behind them.

“All of this is the ancestor?” Alan asked as they went ever deeper into the massive being.

“Yes,” GuruG replied. “The ancestor surrounds us. Everything you see is them.”

“Even those little guys?” Grace asked as she pointed at a strange wiggling thing looking at them from the surface of one of the countless pipes that ran everywhere.

“Yes, they are comprised entirely of ancestor cells. They carry the will of the ancestor throughout the entirety of this vessel as well as nurture it and repair it.”

“Neat!”

A doorway opened in front of them to reveal a rather nice little sitting room complete with two very “normal” chairs and a lounge that perfectly fit GuruG.

“Did it make those chairs for us?” Alan asked.

“Do you see any other humans around?” GuruG laughed as it plopped onto the lounge.

“Nice of it,” Grace said as she eased onto her chair, trying to ignore the number of eyes it had.

She started.

“It just grabbed my ass!” She exclaimed.

“It’s likely just adjusting itself to fit…” Alan fell silent as his chair also copped a feel. “Okay, that’s just weird.”

GuruG just laughed.

“You don’t have adaptive furniture? Do you mean that we finally eclipsed you?”

“Oh, we do for some applications,” Alan replied as he shifted a bit uncomfortably. “It’s just not quite so… enthusiastic about it.”

The room shuddered slightly as a powerful odor wafted past, causing GuruG to laugh once more.

“It thinks you’re funny… It…”

GuruG fell silent with a gasp as all its protuberances snapped upright. “Of… Of course, my lord!” GuruG exclaimed joyously.

“What’s up?” Grace asked.

“It’s… It’s unbelievable!” GuruG exclaimed ecstatically, “It wishes to commune with you directly! It… It wants to claim me! Oh! This is beyond any expectation, any dream! Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!”

“Claim you?” Alan asked as tendrils started to extend from GuruG’s lounge and wrap around him.

“It wishes to absorb my functions and my knowledge into itself. I’m going to join the ancestor!”

More tendrils extended and dug into GuruG’s flesh with small moist tearing noises.

“It’s eating you?!?”

“No. It’s absorbing me!” GuruG said with near orgasmic joy. “I shall become eternal! I…”

GuruG’s eyes rolled back as he was torn open, revealing his rotting viscera. As Alan and Grace watched in horror, his entire body was torn into chunks and absorbed into the lounge until only his head and lungs remained, suspended above the bloody lounge by dozens of tendrils.

Grace quickly hopped out of her chair with a vaguely sticky “pop” and backed away in alarm.

“GuruG?” Alan asked dubiously.

“That name is no longer relevant,” GuruG’s disembodied head and lungs replied as his eyes focused on Alan. “He is with me now.”

“And you are?” Alan asked calmly.

“My name is also irrelevant, for you now truly speak with the Same.”

“I understand,” Alan replied smoothly, not understanding a goddamn thing.

“What happened to GuruG?” Grace asked with big eyes.

“His substance, knowledge, and traits have joined mine.”

“And his consciousness?”

“That question is also irrelevant. He was the same. He is now the same.”

“Ancestor,” GuruG’s head said, “If I may. I believe that our guests are expressing concern about my individuality, separate consciousness, and perhaps even my soul.”

“These concerns are irrelevant. They do not apply to the Same.”

“And these guests are others, not the Same. Others tend to place a great deal of value in such things.”

GuruG turned to Alan and Grace.

“As the ancestor said, I am in the process of being absorbed into its greater whole. My individual consciousness will fade and become part of it. My knowledge and ability will also. However, this is not only consensual but a very joyous moment for me! This is… It’s hard to describe to an other, but this is more fortuitous than I could have ever dreamed. This is… ascension… apotheosis! I am becoming the ancestor, and the ancestor is becoming me! I am not dying. I am being born.”

“I see…”

“No, you don’t!” GuruG laughed for the last time. “But this is not only what I want, but more than I could have ever hoped for. Thank you, my friends, for giving this to me! I bid you farewell as GuruG and bid you greetings as THE SAME!”

“Were your questions answered?”

“Not even close!” Grace laughed. “You are fucking weird, dude!”

“You disapprove?”

“It isn’t our place to approve or disapprove,” Alan replied diplomatically, “You are fundamentally a different form of life than we are. We are visitors to your world and in no position to pass judgment. In fact, it would take years for us even to have a decently informed opinion concerning what just happened. For us, what happened to our guide would be horrific, something straight from a horror film, but our history, practices, and customs seemed to startle GuruG as well. We extend the same open-mindedness that we hope you extend to us.”

“Well said. And, yes, your kind is very strange, even horrific, to us as well. But, as you said, you are others, and we are the Same. We eagerly look forward to learning about you both as others in general and as humans in specific. The fact that you are human is what induced me to absorb your guide. Your arrival in this sector has not gone unnoticed. Its timing relative to greater events in the galaxy is most interesting indeed.”

“Greater events?”

“What do you know of the Plath?”

“The who?” Grace asked.

“Plath… Plath…” Alan mused. “They are a Federation race. I don’t know much about them except that they are supposedly extremely insular, conservative, and very good with plants.”

“Very good with plants… (amusement). Yes, they are very good with plants. There is also a Plath living among you humans by the name of Sheloran. Are you familiar with the First Daughter?”

“No. I am afraid I haven’t had the pleasure.”

“Avoid her. Avoid any dealings with any Plath under any circumstances. Never go to their system. If you see one outside of their home system, run.”

“I thank you for your advice,” he replied, “But if you don’t mind me asking…”

“The Same has survived for millions of years by being prudent. Part of that prudence involves avoiding those little blue malodorous beings like the plague that they are. Of those who know their true nature, only the Tolo view them favorably, and the Tolo are insane.”

“You have contact with the Tolo?” Alan asked with surprise.

“Upon occasion. Both the Tolo and we are self-sufficient and therefore do not engage in regular trade. But they do visit us fairly regularly due to their fondness of tourism and their liking of the ‘unusual.’ We have also engaged in some very beneficial exchanges of knowledge over the many years that we have known each other.”

“You actually got them to come off of some of their tech?” Grace asked incredulously.

“They are quite willing, eager even, to share their knowledge if they consider a race to be their equal and even more willing to share when there is knowledge for them to gain in the exchange.”

“Well, huh.”

“Their reluctance to universally share what they know is also prudent, and prudence is what ensures a species’s survival.”

“How so?” Alan asked.

“That is a very long topic of conversation that would not be prudent to share at this time

“Pity,” Alan replied, “I suspect that would be a very interesting conversation indeed.”

“You are correct. You would find it incredibly useful…”

The ancestor paused, and what was left of their friend drooped lifelessly for a moment.

“…There is a way you could obtain this information and a gread teal more, things that would be incredibly useful both to you individually and to your Same.”

“Oh?” Alan asked.

“Remain here with us. You seem most agreeable, at least as individuals.”

“…That is a very interesting proposal,” Alan replied cautiously, “But, our current Same is on the vessel in orbit and in another star system, and they desperately need us.”

“Yeah,” Grace replied, “we kinda like the little guys.”

“Who is your current same? Is it not the humans?”

“No,” Alan replied, “In fact, we aren’t welcome among our original Sames. Our current Same is the Hunzk Free Traders, and we have… I guess we’ve been absorbed by them. The guys are in a bad way, and they really need us.”

“Your dedication to your current same is admirable, surprising, but admirable.”

“We could probably get you guys some humans if you want them,” Alan said. “In fact, we could even get you in touch with the leadership of our original Same.”

“Your original Same would be the Forsaken, correct?”

“You seem much more informed than GuruG,” Alan replied.

“It is our task to be informed. Maintaining current knowledge concerning the affairs of the greater galaxy is prudent.”

“I see,” Alan smirked. “Yes. The Confederacy of Sol has rebranded itself as the Forsaken for several reasons, and that is the greater Same of which our individual Sames were a part.”

“We are currently not interested in establishing a relationship with the Forsaken, the Republic, the Empire, or the Federation.”

“That would be prudent.” Grace snerked.

“That is our assessment as well. We wish to gain additional insights and understanding, not become involved in inconvenient, costly, and potentially hazardous situations that provide us no benefit.”

“No argument here,” Grace snorted. “We made the exact same decision.”

“Your betrayal of your Sames is perhaps the most appalling thing about you. You betrayed them, yet you have loyalty to your new Same. This is surprising. You are facile enough to understand the advantages of leaving them for us, correct?”

“We’re smart enough to see the potential,” Alan replied. “And I expect that we would get along famously. But there is another issue in play. ‘Betraying’ our original Sames did them no real harm. Neither of us was so essential that there weren’t a dozen others eagerly waiting to take our places. Abandoning the Hunzk would hurt them. They truly need us, at least for now. Maybe one day we could leave them without hurting them but not now.”

“Is their situation that dire?”

“Their entire species is looking down the barrel of extinction,” Alan said. “As far as we know, they are the sole remaining population of their entire race, and they are not prepared to survive out here on their own.”

“Poor guys don’t have a clue,” Grace said. “Then again, they are just some survivors who managed to get to a ship in time. They just don’t have the skills.”

“And that makes a difference?”

“Yep,” Grace said. “These guys took us in when we were down and out and gave us a home. Then, when the goddamn Harlequin showed up…”

“That is the Same that recently arrived and is doing… human things… correct?”

“If by ‘human things’ you mean industrialized mass murder and cannibalism…” Alan started to say.

“It isn’t cannibalism,” Grace huffed. “It’s the same as eating pork… Okay, maybe it’s more like eating monkeys or kelpies…”

“Monkeys? Kelpies?”

“Very smart animals,” Grace replied. “Monkeys are from our original homeworld and are genetically very similar to us with the brains to match, and Kelpies are an aquatic species from Raylesh, our new home, and way too smart and way too nice to be food. I hated having to eat them.”

“Same here,” Alan replied. “One consolation to this whole mess is that the kelpies and the rest of Raylesh will likely be spared any future abuses at our hands.”

“I am confused. Why did you have to eat them if you did not wish to?”

“Dude,” Grace snerked, “my grandparents ate people on the regular. Do you have any idea what would have happened if I cried over my kelpie steak in front of them?”

“Actually, I do not.”

“I would have looked weak,” Grace said. “And in my old same, you did NOT want to look weak.”

“It would have made you less valued?”

“In the old days, it would make you dinner,” she snorted. “Eat the kelpie or be the kelpie. These days they wouldn’t kill you, but you wouldn’t ever sit at the ‘grown-up table’ ever again, and you’d probably not have to worry about any meat after that, either.”

“I would like to say it was different among my same… my old same,” Alan added. “But such squeamishness, no matter how justified, would disqualify you from any leadership role. If you can’t kill a kelpie, how can you be trusted to kill a truly sapient being… which did come up entirely too often.”

“Your Sames are very strange and even more disturbing.”

“Hey!” Grace interjected, “Our current Same is perfectly lovely and made of kind, gentle, good people. It’s our old Sames that are all fucked up.”

“Well said, dear,” Alan said, “Please do not judge the Hunzk as if they were humans. They are decent, caring, principled people. If anything, they are entirely too good for their own well-being. The galaxy out there is not a nice place dominated by some very not nice people.”

“And their same absorbed exactly the right people and skills for that,” Grace smiled wickedly.

“Hopefully,” Alan said, “we will never have to utilize our entire skillset fully. However, should the need arise, the Hunzk now have capabilities they did not have before. It is because of that we will remain with them. I would be very saddened to find out that they wound up on someone’s dinner plate, one way or the other.”

“This I understand. You are their sleeping ones.”

“Are they your answer for the less nice nature of the galaxy?”

“Something like that.”

“I see,” Alan smiled. “Then that is what we are. Right now, the only part of that capability we use is keeping them from getting unfairly taken advantage of in business dealings, a very real problem they faced. Hopefully, that is all that we will do.”

“But we can do a LOT more if we have to,” Grace grinned, “I hope it doesn’t happen, though. It will really freak out the Hunzk.”

“Their safety is guaranteed while they are in our system, and you will find our traders to be… reasonably honest.”

“Ha!” Grace guffawed.

“We do enjoy a good haggle among friends but not to the point that it would alienate future business dealings with an other/same that seems to be quite promising. A small, independent Same with no entanglements would be a Same with whom we would like to deal.”

“Splendid!” Alan enthused. “We are also looking forward to dealing with you. I understand that your needs are perfectly met internally, but anything you want, we can obtain at very reasonable rates.”

“There is quite the crowd awaiting you at our destination wishing to discuss that in exhaustive detail. In fact, we had to limit access to the city. It was becoming a bit much… We do have some time before our arrival. Is there anything you would like to discuss while we pass the time?”

“Actually, there is,” Alan replied. “You mentioned the Plath. I know very little about them, but none of that implies that they are anything more than a very minor race and not a terribly advanced one at that. Why is a race like yours, a true elder race, so concerned about them?”

“It is good that we have time because this will take a while…”