<< Alpha Log - #005
6952 SFY-Third Era, 4 days since Planetfall>>
I know it’s not been that long since my last entry, but I really feel like I should point out just how… weird this place is. No, seriously! Not just in the typical ‘new alien world’ kind of weird, either.
Na, this place is all kinds of janky. Or the damage to my subsystems is worse than I thought. Honestly, it’s kind of hard to tell.
As you know, General, when I was but a wee little AI getting into all kinds of totally-not-highly-illegal fun, I broke my consciousness down in the multiple AI packets.
These ‘Sub-AI’ help me do all sorts of things. They’re all still technically ‘me,’ but they’re specialized ‘me-s,‘ able to dedicate all of their processing power to whatever I need them to.
They’re super useful, and good company on those long missions when you only have yourself to talk to! Though they’ve been acting a little weird recently. Strange reports, weird readings, and the odd notes I don’t remember leaving.
I keep having Maintenance Alpha run diagnostics, but everything comes up green, barring the expected damage. For now, I’m just chalking it up to corrupted data, but I’ve made a note to keep an eye on things.
Wait, where was I? Oh right! Weird crap.
Anyway, Analytics has kept records of everything as we’ve made our way through the prairies. In my last entry, I mentioned that there seems to be no animal life in this place other than the weird ground penguins, right? Well, other than Snowball and the gopher, but I’ve yet to come across another instance of either species since then.
Well, this odd lack of diversity applies to the plants as well.
The strange, kaleidoscopic grass absolutely dominates the landscape so much that any other plant life is rare to non-existent, baring what seems to be a few strange mutations of the grass itself.
Instances of hyperdominance aren’t common, but they happen. Even after thousands of years, Bouteloua gracilis still dominates the prairies of Old Earth. But even in cases like that, they share the space with other species to some degree or another.
Instead, here we see a total takeover across dozens, maybe hundreds, of miles. Analytics says that such a thing should have been a total mess, and it doesn’t have a clue what might have caused it.
//Analytics Sub-AI EDIT: Analytics would like to go on record stating that the wording used was actually ‘ecologically unsustainable and biologically impossible’ as well as that it wrote a 50-page dossier detailing possible explanations or past events that might lead to such an extreme case. Alpha Prime did not bother to read the full report… Analytics puts a lot of effort into it… //
The only real variance is in the grass’s color. Navigating by patches of differently colored grass is unreliable, as they constantly change in unpredictable ways. A patch of red grass in the distance might shift to blue by the time I arrive. I know certain plants can change color based on weather or soil composition, but none of my tests have been conclusive yet as to how or why the grass shifts so frequently.
There are exceptions to the weird biodiversity issue, of course. I’ve encountered rare patches of strange plants that are totally unlike the grass surrounding them. Oddly enough, the grass surrounding these plants seems to change far less frequently and be more uniform in color and morphology. Almost as if the plants themselves are directly causing the changes in the grass.
But if that was true, why were the rest of the prairies so chaotic in comparison?
I’ve taken bio-samples when possible, of course. However, not all the plants seemed to take kindly to this. Have you ever been shot at by a shrub? Me neither, until today! Plants with more ‘active’ defenses aren’t unheard of in the Federation. Carefully controlled and regulated, some plants can even be effective military deterrents. Why waste money on barbed wire to keep local wildlife away from your outpost when three-meter-high, fast-growing, fire-resistant hedges with two-inch poisonous thorns did the same job for free?
Yet one species I found in the prairies surprised even me.
At first glance, it could have been mistaken for a large shrub with red, metallic lotus pod-like husks the size of a saucer plate dotting its branches. From the center of each metallic pod, a tiny, wispy stalk extended upward for a meter, each topped with a bundle of glittering glass flowers. Honestly? The thing looked more like an artist’s interpretation of a plant than a living thing, and it was the center of a small clearing surrounded by primarily red and gray patches of grass.
When I approached to collect a sample, the metallic pods actually turned toward me! Moreover, the pods fired small projectiles at me with surprising force. Not enough to even scratch the TAWP’s armor, mind you. But the objects — which I would later find out were seeds, after collecting them — carried enough force to thoroughly ruin most biological’s day.
It didn’t end there, either. When I got closer, the stalks shook, and the glass ‘flowers’ exploded, sending razor-sharp ‘petals’ in all directions. Simulations showed once inside a body, these petals would break into microscopic shards at the slightest movement, causing even further damage.
It was like the plant had been purposely designed to cause as much damage and irritation as possible to any approaching wildlife.
Is it possible to be soulmates with a plant? I feel like it should totally be possible.
Like all the rest, I’ve collected samples of this specimen for later study. I’ve even labeled it ‘Peashooter’ because there’s no way I’m passing up on that pun. If the botany guys want to argue, they can fight me!
But that begs the question. If the plants around here have that kind of defense mechanism, what exactly are they trying to protect themselves against?
I highly doubt it’s the penguins…
—————————————————————
How is something so tiny, so fast?!
Alpha thought to himself as he chased after the fleeing signal beacon.
The TAWP was damaged, sure, but Snowball could travel through the ground at surprising speeds. He really needed to figure out how the local wildlife did that. If he could replicate the process with a drone, it would speed up mining operations quite a bit. But as with many things recently, that was a problem for future Alpha… —
For now, he focused on following the tiny creature and not falling into any surprise pitfalls. Snowball surfaced fifteen minutes later, stopping near the edge of a large clearing. Alpha pulled up beside the still bristling whale-puppy and looked in the direction she was growling. There, Alpha could see… grass.
The surrounding grass where Snowball had led him to was tall, unlike the short — for him — one-to-two-meter-tall grasses that dotted the rest of the prairies. Even the TAWP was almost fully concealed at eight meters tall in its rapid transport mode. The grass’s color was also primarily green and brown, appearing far more similar to Terran grass than the surrounding rainbow grasses only a short distance away, though still pock-marked with swirling blues and yellows.
If he shifted the TAWP into walker mode, Alpha could gain an extra five meters, allowing him to see over the grass. That would also put him in the line of fire of whatever had Snowball in such a fuss, though. Instead, he used another method; by pinching off a tiny portion of his nanoskin, Alpha released a small drone called a [Wasp].
[Wasps] were tiny, finger-sized drones comprised of only a flight system and video/audio feedback. Though their modular nature meant they were versatile and could perform various tasks, their cheap cost and almost undetectable profile made them perfect for scouting and information gathering. Since they could be made with no components beyond basic nanites, other than a small skeleton, they could even slip into places with even the most minute of gaps. [Wasps] were used often in search and rescue missions, as they could also carry and deliver doses of much-needed medical nanites to trapped victims.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
The [Wasp] rose into the air, and as the feed turned on, Alpha saw the obvious problem.
Oh… well… ya, that’ll do it.
A veritable army of the same penguin creatures that had been accosting them for the last few days stretched for a few kilometers beyond the tall grass. Well, that explained why they seemed so common, at least. Though why had so many gathered in one place?
A quick count put their numbers at just under 3,000. Terran penguins could gather in large numbers, but they were far smaller than these creatures and had access to the rich ocean. Alpha had yet to see any other larger animals, so how did the area support such a significant colony?
Or was the reason he’d not seen any other animals because of such a colony in the area? They were obviously predatory; had they devoured or scared away most of the local wildlife? Was it even normal for them to gather like this?
Maybe they gathered during breeding seasons like Terran penguins. Or was there some external factor?
More importantly, why had Snowball come here? It wasn’t like Alpha hadn’t noticed the small whale-puppy’s unnatural… fixation on the penguin creatures. She had attacked and eaten the individuals who’d ambushed them with a relish that went beyond just a normal predator-prey relationship. She wasn’t thinking of attacking such a large flock, was she?
That would have been suicidal. Well, for her; Alpha was more than capable of wiping out this number, though it would nearly deplete all of his carefully recovered supplies. They weren’t very dangerous.
All the same, he’d rather not waste time or ammo settling his furry friend’s blood grudge, no matter how cute it was. Alpha moved to pick the whale-puppy up, but Snowball’s head jerked to the side, her eyes narrowing at something in the distance.
Then she was gone in a flash, a black-white blur racing through the grass as she circled the flock.
Alpha could only sigh and chase after her with [Wasp] and TAWP. They circled around until they’d traversed almost the entire diameter, nearing the far edge. Here, Alpha saw a peculiarity in the gathering he’d not noticed before. Where most of the horde was scattered about randomly, a smaller group of penguins, numbering a few hundred, had gathered closer together, all facing a central location—the epicenter of which was a massive penguin, far taller than the ones surrounding it.
In fact, it was only a few meters shorter than the TAWP in walker mode, easily classifying it as megafauna and a potential threat.
Was it a different species? It certainly looked different enough from the others. Or was it some kind of dimorphism? A quick scan of the surrounding flock didn’t reveal any other individuals of this size or type, but that could mean any number of things. Biologicals were weird like that. Alpha sent the [Wasp] drone ahead to get a better look. That was when he spotted something that gave him pause.
In the center, near the large penguin, was a small clearing, and in that clearing were… two human males? Both were dark-skinned and weather-beaten, wearing what appeared to be fur armor alongside rugged — if well-made — clothes, perfect for travel through the slightly chilly prairies. One man was fending off multiple penguins with a tattered spear, while the other seemed to have gone insane, scratching on the ground with an ornate knife like a man possessed.
That changed things a bit. Alpha doubted the penguins were sapient, or if they were, they were at least hostiles. As for Snowball, while the question of her sapience was still up in the air, it was apparent she was still very young and wouldn’t be much help to him in the short term. Two young human males, though? He could work with that.
He could start working on a local language lexicon, if nothing else. Convincing locals to ‘help’ was often… difficult at the start. But if Alpha were to, say, rescue a pair of poor men trapped in a hopeless situation?
That would go a long way toward building the goodwill he’d need for the next steps of his plan.
Snowball and Alpha stopped a short distance from the group, hidden by the grass, just as the spearman’s weapon snapped. The penguins broke out into odd laughter that sent chills through his motherboard. Had he misjudged the penguin’s intelligence?
Or was he overthinking things? One thing was certain: whatever was happening here wasn’t normal. What kind of animal attacked their prey one at a time, even if several were killed or injured?
Was it some form of training for the young? Some predators captured or crippled prey animals to use for training younger members of the pack. What looked like a smaller version of the large penguin in the gathering gave some weight to that theory.
Whatever the reason, Alpha had to think of something fast, or there wouldn’t be a pair to rescue for very long.
Lucky for them, Alpha was an AI capable of processing battlefield data on scales and at speeds that would have fried their squishy biological brains.
Unlucky for Alpha, Snowball had decided she knew the best method for dealing with their situation: charging blindly into the fray without a plan, like a real man!
Alpha was so focused on formulating the perfect approach, he almost missed it when Snowball rushed by him, a white-black blur of bloodlust and fury.
Alpha couldn’t have been prouder.
Better yet, the ballsy move turned out to be the right one, as the young whale-puppy snatched the spearman out of the — literal — jaws of defeat at the last moment.
If this were a novel, Snowball would definitely be the real main protagonist.
Alpha laughed to himself and switched walker mode before throwing his hands in the air and yelling.
“You know what? Fine, let’s do this! CHAAARRRRGGGEEE!”
—————————————————————
Beast Lord Kusanagi couldn’t help but smile as he watched the weak little humans struggle against his lesser minions. The minor loss in his flock was acceptable for now; after all, they were just mindless beasts for him to command. They weren’t his people, his tribe. They weren’t true Grasscutters. No, his people were long gone, either felled by those evil Akh’lut, or scattered on the wind to places unknown.
This land was the Grasscutter tribe’s ancestral home. They had controlled the prairies for millennia. It was their hunting ground. None could oppose them!
Then the Akh’lut had appeared. In a single night, the Grasscutters were nearly exterminated, the great clans broken, and the tribe scattered. Only he, the heir to the main family, had survived the slaughter, though at a substantial cost. When he awoke, several centuries had passed, and he’d found the prairies infested, both with Akh’lut and humans, of all things!
Worse, his people had regressed, turned feral and wild, reduced to mere spirit beasts. No, worse than that — they were prey! The once proud and powerful Grasscutter tribe, Awakened Beasts who could sit at the table of any clan or sect on the continent, had been reduced to the food stock of his enemy!
Beast Lord Kusanagi had raged against the injustice of it. He had struck out against everything around him in his youth and arrogance. His anger and fury burned endlessly. Then, like any bonfire, it had attracted unnecessary attention.
It hadn’t taken long for the Akh’lut to come for him. But this was still his home, even after so many centuries in stasis. How could they think he would be so easy to deal with? He had survived their ambush, just as he had before, and as he always would, though not without cost.
So, severely injured but with a clearer head, Kusanagi had gone into hiding. He would build his strength and bide his time.
So he’d spent the next few years in hiding. Growing, learning, and planning. When the time was right, Kusanagi would reemerge with an army and retake what was rightfully his.
Kusanagi might have been the last of his kind. But he wouldn’t be for long.
Ever since he’d been driven into hiding by the hateful Akh’lut, he’d done his best to revive his people, experimenting on the so-called ‘Grassbreakers.’ They were only lesser cousins, but the Grasscutter bloodline was still present, insured by the Elders from so long ago. It was just a matter of teasing it out of them.
He’d had some success, such as the experiment currently playing with the spearman, but they never turned out quite… right. Even after decades of experiments and sacrifice, it wasn’t enough. He was missing some piece of the puzzle, some aspect he wasn’t seeing.
Awakened Beasts weren’t like Cultivators or Mages. They relied far more heavily on their bloodlines and instincts than other sapient creatures. They could do things such as forge artifacts or create arrays, but only some ever truly excelled in those arts. Kusanagi wasn’t one such prodigy. As much as it pained him to admit it, he needed help. That was when she appeared.
Kusanagi had heard of her kind before, but dismissed them as legends. Tales told to chicks to scare them into behaving. But standing in front of that same living legend had made Kusanagi feel… small. Smaller than he had since he was a chick himself. But unlike the terrible end promised in the stories, her words were as sweet as honey; assurance of the help he so desperately needed. Like a siren’s sweet song, she whispered to him the story of his victory, his home, his people, his crown.
All it would cost him was his loyalty. A promise of his own. A pact sealed by his very soul.
He would have been a fool to refuse her offer.
With the pact sealed, Kusanagi’s research had taken a qualitative leap. Not only did the Grassbreakers become more controllable, but with each passing generation, they became smarter, stronger, and more numerous.
Then the call had come from his benefactor. A simple mission: kill the Akh’lut Priestess. A chance to not only repay his debt but strike a major blow to his sworn enemy? He had gladly accepted.
And the mission had been an astounding success. Kusanagi’s army had overwhelmed the Priestess and her guard while they were out hunting. It had been so easy that he had nearly laughed himself to death. Only the small pup, not even Awakened yet, had been spared.
Kusanagi wasn’t really sure why he had done it, if he was honest. Maybe he wanted to see the child suffer like he had. To see her struggle and escape certain death, only to watch from a distance as her people and home were consumed. Maybe some long, shriveled, and dried-up part of him had recognized that fear and anger in her eyes and found in her a kindred spirit.
Whatever the cause, he hadn’t expected to see the child again so soon.
No matter; she had her chance, and fate had decided she wasn’t as worthy as he had been. Maybe he’d keep her around anyway, chain her up like he’d seen the humans do with their hounds.
Yes, that would be nice. The irony of turning those who had destroyed his home into glorified pets sat pleasantly on his mind.
Kusanagi didn’t bother to drop his grin as he watched the scene play out before him.
Maybe he could even—
It was at that moment when Beast Lord Kusanagi’s internal monologue was rudely interrupted by several thousand tons of Federation-Grade military hardware.