Even in the shattered world, where the idea of space aliens had either been largely forgotten, left to the old-world media, or mixed in with the folklore about the fae and demon invaders, there’s always been a question of what would one do if one suddenly ran into an advanced lifeform. There was also a question of why a truly advanced lifeform would care a whit for us humans. Backward and relatively primitive as we were.
Back when I was reading those comics and books, about alien invaders and visitors, I’d found myself thinking about these things from the perspective of a human. Never in my wildest dreams did it ever occur to me that when I finally ran into such a situation, I would be playing the role of the alien.
That being said, for those wondering why an advanced being or race might treat with, and interact peacefully with, a more primitive one, I have three answers for you. Boredom, curiosity, and empathy. Boredom was a powerful motivator. The myriad warnings about idle hands aren’t just for fun. Being bored was like sitting in still, uncomfortably lukewarm water. Regardless of one’s species, the mind and body will crave a certain level of stimulation. Jack and I had been raiding spheres and shards with the chaotic sea for ages, but even that had been starting to get a little stale.
Now suddenly Jack and I had run into this whole new group of people. A new species, with a new culture. People who’d apparently come from an entirely different universe. Which led to the second element, “curiosity”, a desire to know more about our new neighbors from beyond the shattered world. Competent biological, and anthropological, study requires an exhaustive amount of observation, research, inspection, and maybe the occasional vivisection. This alone would be enough to ensure that we stayed in touch with the Harvester Colony, but the apt Lady Kalpana made a move that helped ensure that our interactions with the Harvesters stayed amicable for the foreseeable.
The War-Princess befriended us. I’m not talking about her acting as a representative for her people and interacting positively with us two alien visitors. I’m talking about her making friends with us on a personal level. I’m honestly quite impressed. It takes a deft hand to be able to reach beyond the world of roles, and manage to make a profitable impact on the individuals in a room. It was made all the more impressive to create a friendship that crossed the boundaries created by class and power. The Harvesters apparently came from one of the myriad alternate-earths that were similar enough to our Shattered World to have its own superpowered assholes.
Kalpana became our friend, and as a result, even if the Harvesters weren’t necessarily our friends, for her sake, it’d take a great deal for them to become our enemy. At most, we’d just leave them alone if things turned sour. Sailing elsewhere in the chaotic sea in search of some other distraction. For the time being, we got to enjoy the expansion of our social circle. Talking to people through the Empty-Network was enjoyable enough, but it was really nice to be able to interact with folk in person. It gave me the impetus to make further expansions on the Empty-Network’s capabilities.
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War-Princess Kalpana stood on the thorax of her Eciton-Titan. Staring out into the colorfully dark, swirling, expanse of the chaotic sea. Atop her usual, gray and gold military uniform, she wore a dark beige space-suit. Its bulk hiding much of her form, as dozens of material, and energy-based, seals protected her body from the inhospitable environment that lay behind the atmosphere and shielding that covered the Harvester Colony.
She looked up through the dark-globed helmet she wore, and watched, as an unfathomably large being made of beige nothingness and countless shining lights, reached out with countless limbs, and gathered hundreds of shards and smaller spheres from the chaotic sea. The entity’s tendrils pierced the shards and miniatures spheres, and then all those small worlds and pieces of worlds detonated like fireworks.
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Each time every melted shard and miniature sphere was about to burst, the glowing, superheated, mass would be caught. Freezing in place as a blindingly bright orb, making Kalpana very glad that her suit was built with protection against dangerously bright light sources in mind. This process of melting the miniature worlds continued for several hours, until eventually, the massive being gathered all the orbs it had created together and merged them into one massive orb.
Kalpana’s eyes widened as she watched the massive orb shift and undulate and subtly change before her eyes. She didn’t know what she was looking at but she could tell that she was witnessing something unbelievable. She could tell that she was standing at one of those moments, like the first literal shots fired on a battlefield at the beginning of a war, and the last figurative shots fired in the myriad houses of power at the war’s end. Kalpana’s ancestral indoctrination and personal experience told her that this was so.
“Amazing…” muttered Kalpana.
“Heh, yeah...That’s Jill for you,” said a voice. Sounding mellow and relaxed, as it leisurely smashed Kalpana’s train of thought to bits.
“Ah...Damn, I kind of forgot you were here,” said Kalpana. Laughing in chagrin, her hand on the larger of her two hearts.
“Sorry about spooking you...I can’t really blame you for forgetting, even “I” get caught up when that guy starts to seriously work,” said Jack.
Kalpana had been quite surprised when the two metallic aliens had transformed into creatures roughly identical to the humans of the homeworld that their colony was exiled from. She was further surprised when they informed her that according to the standard of their people they “were” humans. Which led to a third surprise, when the conversation drifted in the direction of the two entities’ homeworld, a world filled with myriad races, some of them familiar, some of them not.
“Er, if you wouldn’t mind...What exactly is he doing? Why is he so into...whatever it is?” said Kalpana.
The pale, snow-haired woman laughed and Kalpana's thoughts froze again. That was one thing that Kalpana still had a hard time getting used to. These strangers were two good-looking. Even if they lacked the antennae and secondary set of eyes that a good-looking Harvester would have, the similarity between their species meant that aesthetic standards were still largely the same. Kalpana couldn’t help wondering if the rest of the humans from their world were as good-looking. If so, she wondered how they got any work done.
This went beyond pure attraction. The two strangers made the genetically-modified, computer-generated, models and movie stars from the Harvester’s original world look like misshapen monstrosities. Which in turn meant that they made the average person look like a walking sack of meat in an old burlap sack, rather than an actual person. It was frankly a little disturbing how good they looked. It took all of Kalpana’s willpower to keep her expression even and her reactions normal, when they were around and in human form. Fortunately, Kalpana was slowly growing used to them. She was slowly building up a tolerance for them. This had the happy effect of making Kalpana the chosen liaison for their colony’s interactions with the two aliens.
Jack smiled.
“My Jill is a weird one. He’s sweeter than syrup. He’s not super ambitious even though I’m pretty sure the two of us might have been able to take over our world...or least like a huge chunk of it, if we'd wanted to. He’s kind of bland at times...and really quiet...but when you give him a target, or a goal...then he ‘really’ comes alive. Enough so that even now after however long we’ve been married...I still can’t help feeling dazzled by him when he’s like this,” said Jack.
“Ah...I see. Wait, but what is he working on then?” said Kalpana. Not sure if she’d call what she was seeing dazzling, rather than just awe-inspiring and terrifying. Slightly surprised to hear that these two eldritch beings “weren’t” rulers of their own worlds who happened to be touring the chaotic sea, as had been the case with some of the Harvesters' other visitors.
“Eh?! Didn’t you say that you guys were having a hard time due to overpopulation, lack of space, and lack of resources? Why else would he be building you a new sphere?” said Jack. Giving Kalpana a puzzled look.
Kalpana blinked as her mind made the connection between this and a couple of her last conversations with the aliens, only to find that the shape the dots made when all lined up together was still a big fat question mark.
“Huh?!?! Re-, Really?!” shouted Kalpana. The War-Princess’ exclamation echoing across the chaotic sea.