Sunday, January 13, 2013

The Beast of the Mountaintop



10/12/2305

I barely escaped the clutches of a fierce creature on the planet Anori in the Viveki system.  I am lucky to be alive, but though the beast was powerful and dangerous, I feel low about its fate.  As I made my escape, it tried so hard to kill me that it fell deep into a ravine.  The last I saw of it, it was struggling on the ground upon which it had fallen, struggling to move.  Chance be its back was broken, chance be it was dead, I couldn’t tell and I couldn’t go back down to aprend for fear it may jump up and lash out at me.

The beast had tracked me.  It was partially intelligent, perhaps evolving past its brethren.  It was king of the mountain, devouring the few other animals in the area and seemingly with no equal.  It could have been the last of its kind, and if so, it would be the greatest shame of all.

I was there searching for the Siguerans, the race that seems to have spread throughout the known galaxy over millions of years, dominating others, much like the beast.  I was particularly interested in the subterranean Siguerans; a more religious sect of the Siguerans whose carving skills are unmatched in the galaxy, and who built grand underground structures.  Sometimes these structures resided on the same planets as the overland Siguerans, sometimes they are on separate planets.  When on a separate planet, such as this one, the walls have no color except the natural color of the rock, or crystals, or other sediments.  However, the walls, ceilings, and floors are differentiated by textures which are often far more fine in detail than any human could accomplish.

Inside the temple I was seeking, I found the religious artifact I was seeking.  It was a round, silver ornament with an uneven feel.  The design carved into it is different on every side, and seems to have a different meaning depending upon which side it is scried.

One side looks to have a dropping face, as though it is melting.  Behind the face, it appears like a waterfall dropped backward, almost like hair on its head.  On one side of the waterfall, flames rise up, and smoke billows away from it.  On the opposite side of the flames and smoke is a roughness that seems to have no meaning, and every meaning at the same time.  It appears as an average rock face at first sight, but I can tell there is something very carefully carved into it that I haven’t yet made out.  I think I’m going to have to learn more about the Siguerans, the underground ones in particular, before I solve this mystery.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Feeling Low


3/6/2305

I feel low.
I set a sight to help Mika, but only geffarred things to the worse.  Much worse.  I fear I got her severenced out of the Universalis Arcanum, a group of stiff collar scientists who’ve lost vis of the entire point of archaeology.  That’s the way I sav them, at least.  Mika felt them differently.  She had been working all her life to be accepted by them.  Every opportunity she got as a professor at Sabereaux University she made herself known so they would coget her.  It took years, but finally she made it.
Then she took me on one of their expeditions.
I wanted to vis inside one of their buildings.  The organizers had been digging out a city which had been buried in rock for millions of years, but no one was exploring them.  No one had any idea what the purpose of any of the buildings were.  Sure, the subter-scanners were sixing layouts and blueprints, but you can’t get the true meaning of a ruin unless you go into it.  You can’t bring out anything that might be valuable information unless you find it first hand.

So I dropped into one of the buildings on a wire.  There wasn’t much to vis, for a while, but then I was thoraned by a herd of giant bat-like creatures.  I hid from them in this small room, and found myself surrounded by controls.  Not believing they would work, I flipped some of the switches, and immediately power coursed through the chamber outside.  It was a giant power generator!  Electric discharges shot hither and yawn.  I had a dagni time getting out of there, and the panicking bats didn’t make it any easier.
The electric discharges got loose, and blew up the building, but in the process, I made a discovery far more valuable than the empty corridors and blank rooms of the building.  Power had not been preserved in that building for eons.  It was receiving from somewhere.  Somehow, power was being channeled to that building.  If that was on the bull of other buildings we’ve discovered, this would explain why the Siguerans had such limitless power generated throughout the galaxy.
I discovered a relic in the building that will lead me to where I can find out.

(More of this story in Relic Worlds: The Deep Beyond.)

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Posting About My Adventures to my Scrapblog

1/1/2305

I have landed a decision to post info to my scrapblog about observations and clues I have found in my search for intelligent life in the galaxy.  Everyone seems to have disappeared except for humans, and I want to find out why.  These listings will not be in any particular order.  I have kept these records for years, but have not kept them in good assemblance.  I'm now posting them as I find them, or they seem relevant.

- Lancaster James