Elder Cultivator

The logs of a long range independent probe sat in front of Engineer Uzun. It always felt better to pilot something himself compared to reviewing logs, but that was simply impossible with the task they had at hand. Even faster than light communication had its limit, even more so when one had to consider security factors.

If a message took weeks or months to arrive, needless to say it was infeasible to actually pilot such a thing. Human operators would be more effective, if their cultivation was matched with the task, but they would also have to end up near the most dangerous places. But any good spying would take place somewhere dangerous.

Uzun took in data from a variety of different sensors, not simply reading it off a screen but experiencing it- to some extent, at least. The probe was assigned to Exalted Quadrant territory, and had been tasked with gathering information about the Exalted Citadel. Despite Zaur Beridze’s death, the sect hadn’t completely collapsed. It wasn’t quite the same as what happened to the Twin Soul Sect, with other sects converging upon it in chaos. Ludek had stopped things from devolving into complete chaos, though obviously losing their primary planet along with their sect head had significant consequences.

The probe had detected unusual trade activity. That was what the summary of its automatic logs had logged. Uzun didn’t have to review things himself, but for particular locations it was worthwhile to do so.

Ships moving in and out of the system didn’t mean anything by themself, but Uzun paid careful attention to the time lapse information. One issue was a greater quantity of ships coming through one of the Harmonious Citadel systems, but they would feasibly be rebuilding. Notable for the location, perhaps, but not actually unusual.

But there were particular ships that had been flagged. Uzun was waiting for them to appear in the recordings. The automatic systems of the probe could have made a mistake, since it wasn’t a true intelligence. That avenue of technological research was very carefully controlled, because even success would have great consequences. The Alliance didn’t need to deal with such quandaries.

The first ship in question that had been flagged didn’t appear to be of interest, nor did the second, third, or so forth. However, given that some of the anomalies had been logged after the fact perhaps whatever was wrong hadn’t risen to the level of a true pattern just from what he had seen.

The ships all appeared to be typical. Aside from more passing through the area than he would have expected, Uzun didn’t see much of note about them. But he paid close attention to the sensors. They picked up all sorts of energy reading, replicating them for human consumption. It wasn’t as good as being there to scan the ships with his own energy, but it at least created a clear record of what could be felt passively.

The ships weren’t particularly high powered or special. They ran smoothly, but what ship wouldn’t when flying through the vacuum of space? If it could move at all, it should have predictable acceleration. The Exalted Quadrant should have had millennia to perfect such ships, so Uzun didn’t find anything odd.

But then he figured it out. There was something off about the ships’ formations. Without active barriers it was easier to sense some of the details. Nothing had stood out to Uzun because everything was the same.

His Ruteran upbringing didn’t think anything was odd about that, but he was reminded that not everyone grew up on worlds with precision manufacturing. Cultivators could be very exacting in their creations, but their work tended to be high quality or easily repeatable, not both. That wasn’t because it was impossible for them to work with machine precision, but because high quality products were paid for by rich cultivators who didn’t want something to be the same as everyone else.

Maybe it was nothing. The Exalted Quadrant could use one manufacturer for much of their shipping vessel production. Uzun would have to check that… and speak to Catarina about the formations. By itself, it didn’t mean anything except that they continued to be active, which would probably be troublesome in the future. Hopefully centuries or more, but Uzun had to think about that because he hoped most people he cared about would still be around.

-----

Bear Hug grew rapidly, replacing much of their lost mass within a few months. Or perhaps it was slowly, given the pace at which standard algae could replicate. Anton simply assumed that the body of a cultivator would be much more difficult to replace. Bear Hug didn’t have much to say on the topic.

There was one piece of evidence that Bear Hug was holding back. Specifically, Anton noticed that the other Bear Hug- or their other body, or however that worked out- was much larger. As in expanding from a few square meters to ten times that size in the same time. But that might have something to do with all day cultivation and growth without having to expend any energy for unnecessary things like walking.

Anton’s friend had been quite morose after failing to befriend the briar patch- or as they insisted, taking a long break between attempts to befriend that particular individual. Anton didn’t know if that particular issue could be resolved peacefully, however.

It was odd to watch the briar patch creeping along. It devoured everything in its path- mainly plants, but occasionally animals. Trees were taken down and mulched into more material, widening the spread of the briar patch. Some of the various protrusions were clearly meant to function as axes.

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A wake of devastation was left behind it. And yet, Anton didn’t think that was necessarily bad. Certainly, there was a long stripe through the jungle behind it where nothing stood, but far enough along the trail of destruction and it had already been overgrown by new undergrowth. Trees would take much longer, but a single ravenous individual was not the end of an ecosystem.

Nor was the briar patch focusing on a particular area. A single long line was far more manageable than an ever expanding circle, which might have been optimal if it wished to devour everything.

A plant consuming other plants was an oddity, but not actually that concerning once Anton thought about it. Animals ate animals and plants, why would a plant not do the same if it could? The only issue that really stuck with Anton was its treatment of Bear Hug. A lack of regard for sapient life was a huge concern that he couldn’t just pass up.

Fortunately it didn’t seem that such life was so populous that it was likely to come across anything soon. If it did, Anton would probably try to save anything he could. Without that bit, it was just something trying to grow as well as it could. It would have been a step better if it replanted behind it, but nothing was born with the knowledge of how to sustain long term growth in an ecosystem, least of all unique entities such as that.

Maybe an encounter far in the future would be good for them. Bear Hug clearly wasn’t going to give up, and Anton wasn’t going to lie and say he couldn’t find the briar patch when they finally asked. But for the moment, he was still going to enforce that Bear Hug try other things. Maybe they could meet some more ivy. Helix was nice.

-----

The invasion began just above Anton. It could have been a coincidence, but it could have also been because he was a notable entity.

Anton had sensed the swarm of spacefaring creatures approaching, but he hadn’t expected them to simply drop into the atmosphere, certainly not in the way they did.

It was a brutal descent, in which those individuals at the top of the pile used the ones in front as a sort of ablative shielding, wearing through their natural energy and then their bodies before the next layer of beasts took over. They dropped in large clumps, making use of their numbers to slow their descent. Surprisingly, over ninety percent of those involved seemed to land successfully. R̃â𐌽ՕꞖΕⱾ

There wasn’t even a crater as the beasts hit. Many of them had the ability to fly in the vacuum of space, so even if they couldn’t do so entirely under the weight of gravity they at least slowed down enough that crashing into treetops slowed their fall enough more.

“Something fell!” Bear Hug excitedly gestured. “Is that a shooting star?”

“Not at all,” Anton said as a swarm of what Anton would have considered unrelated beasts began to flow over the landscape towards them, devouring things along the way. The pace at which they moved made the briar patch look astoundingly temperate in their hunger. “I don’t think they’re going to be friendly.”

“... Do they think?” Bear Hug asked.

“It’s difficult to tell,” Anton admitted. He focused his senses. “With so many of them, I would presume not more than animals.” The leaders of the swarm were stronger, but even paying special attention to them Anton didn’t see a spark of intention. They were just faster, and thus they were out front- at least until they came across something they considered edible.

The beasts of the swarm mostly seemed to avoid devouring each other. Mostly was the key word there, as occasionally they came into conflict over a particular bit of food and sometimes decided to go from a squabble over a particularly tasty bush or a juicy hunk of meat into eating each other.

“I did not think it would be this dangerous to leave my lake,” Bear Hug admitted, watching the approaching group with their energy senses. “Anton can fly fast, so you should go.”

“I can carry you, you know.”

“I would slow you down. It’s hard to carry things,” Bear Hug said. They folded themselves around Anton briefly, almost seeming to change their mind. Then they shoved Anton with all of their squishy might. Anton let himself be shoved a few meters back. “Go! I will suffer only a partial death. Some of me will live at the lake, and we can meet again.”

Anton really didn’t like the wording there. “I appreciate your nobility,” Anton said. “But I didn’t grow so strong to abandon my friends or allow them to sacrifice themselves.”

Arrows weren’t appropriate for Anton’s next move. While he could target very large numbers of enemies at once, he didn’t want to draw too much extra attention from other things living in the system. Otherwise, this planet could receive even more visitors. Anton was already worried that this might be his fault- though given the current arrangement of the planets, he thought it might be a repeated phenomenon.

A spiral of flame appeared in front of Anton, forming into a wall of fire. The majority of the swarm didn’t seem to find fire to be a good enough reason to stop, and the same principles of survival applied to them as they pushed through the barrier. Those in front mainly perished, but others lived.

That said, the bodies impeded the progress of the swarm, and a few different sorts of creatures thought it was easier to eat roasted meat than bother continuing further.

Bear Hug nervously flickered their energy towards Anton. “You won’t flee?”

“Not without you.” He could grab his friend and go. He would, if he had to. But Bear Hug needed to accept that violence sometimes happened.

“I am not good at running,” Bear Hug commented. They focused their energy on the charging horde. “Hey! Don’t come!” The words carried with them an intimidating power, sending some of the beasts reeling. Slowing them even for a moment staggered much of the horde for a second time after the wall of fire- which was now rapidly being stomped out.

The leader of the pack was a large ape of some sort, and it swung towards Bear Hug with a large fist. Comparing it to the briar patch, Anton thought it was weaker and generally less of a threat, so he waited to see how Bear Hug would respond. They appeared to do nothing, but the way their energy mobilized actually meant they wrapped around the fist.

The ape smashed the algae into the ground a few times to no visible effect. Then it simply pulled the mass towards its mouth, taking a great bite.

Bear Hug’s energy flared, hardening some of their strands into spikes inside the creature’s mouth. The results were particularly gruesome, though perhaps not any more deadly than the aggressor had intended.

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