The Purple World (FT/OPEN)

[Despoticania]

ooc: This is really open to anyone - while I certainly wouldn't be overjoyed about someone arriving here to blast the crap out of everyone else, I'm not going to whine (much) if someone actually does. Besides, I do have certain... countermeasures in case something really bad happens. It'll be interesting to see where this actually ends...

ic: Interstellar superfreighter Uncanny Valley of the Transhuman Trading Clan Leyland-Mossman finished a long, 4-gee deceleration, bringing herself to a geosynchronous orbit around the unnamed planet below. In the ample databanks of the vast trading vessel, this world had no name other than "NCHC-1196" - as far as Leyland-Mossman knew, no one had even visited this star system before. At least no one human.

Of course, this was a very unrealistic and overtly hopeful thought. Leyland-Mossman had learned the location of the star system from one of their former customers through a rather unpleasant interrogation, and after a complete brain-imaging, it had become quite clear that at least one Trading Clan had been here before. For reasons unknown, however, they had been forced to leave before they had a chance to make any profit... or damage the planet in the process.

Captain Leyland-Mossman was perfectly happy with this outcome.

Now that the Uncanny Valley was safely in orbit and initial scans showed the star system free of any other vessels, the Captain had absolutely no intention to leave. Before expiring, the final interrogation-subject had revealed much about the unique characteristics of this... this Purple World. And indeed, when observing the planet through the numerous cameras, scanners and infrared radars scattered around the superfreighter's outer hull, the Captain noted a a clear purple hue in the atmosphere - a thick mist covering the entire planet, from the deepest valley to the highest mountain. And the seas... The seas almost glowed with a magnificent, mysterious and utterly alien purple light like some ancient Chinese lantern. If it hadn't been physically impossible, the Captain would have smiled at this thought. He was very, very old indeed, and some parts of his composite-personality dated back to the First Star System and Old Earth.

After observing the planet from orbit for a day or so, the Uncanny Valley sent down a few unmanned probes controlled by onboard-AIs. The drones took samples of the purple mist and water - or, to be more precise, from the micro-organisms - covering every possible niche and corner of NCHC-1196's biosphere. After the probes had returned back to their mothership, the samples were ran through several thorough laboratory tests before the claims of the unfortunate interrogation-subject were deemed to have been correct.

After hearing these news, Captain Leyland-Mossman ordered the first "Walkers" - two crewmembers who had been plotting against him and caught - to be transported to the planetary surface. Deprived of their cybernetic implants, partially lobotomized and medically restrained, the Walkers were not given biosuits or any other form of protection against the purple mist. In fact, the only thing they were given was a copy of one of the more advanced, fully sentient combat-AI's of the Uncanny Valley, stored inside a crystalline datacube. The Gift.

From the safety of the superfreighter's bridge, the Captain watched as the micro-organisms began swarming around the Walkers, eventually covering them altogether and disrupting the view of the cameras observing the situation.

And now, the Captain thought, the only thing we need to do is to wait.

[Despoticania]

No one knew it they were engineered, the tiny creatures that formed the purple mist, or if they were simply a product of some unimaginably evolutionary process. They had been here for millions of years, however, and they had quite a few unique characteristics. The most striking of these - as well as the one Captain Leyland-Mossman was after - was their ability to bound themselves with synaptic structures of both living and nonliving creatures and then copy these structures into their collective memory.

They were not really intelligent, but as a whole, they had some kind of conciousness that allowed them to make decisions and analyze all newcomers with near-sapient accuracy. Now these two human beigns, with their badly damaged minds and weak, skeletally thin bodies, had entered their realm, and their smell drew the attention of the purple mist. The humans weren't really interesting at all - they were simply too badly damaged - but the thing they had brought with them - a crystalline cube containing extremely advanced synapse-like structures - was very fascinating indeed. And when the purple mist entered the crystal, they found it to be filled with a mind unlike anything they had seen before.

And this mind contained instructions. Very specific instructions concerning these two human beigns.

"The process is complete", one of the AI-assistants onboard the Uncanny Valley told to Captain Leyland-Mossman. "The Walkers have been absorbed. It appears that the purple mist consumed their bodies as well. Even the datacube is gone."

The Captain nodded to himself. He had expected a full absorption of the first Walkers. The purple mist seemed to be curious enough to completely dissect the first humans it encountered. But now was the time to send down the next pair. The second Walkers. The Initiates.

This time, the Captain hoped, the Walkers would return, although not quite as the same persons they were before.

And if this works, he thought, it'll be the time for a very large-scale harvest...