I rested trying to see the scout, but I cannot find him, I am here. I am awake. I am here. Someone reaches out to me, It is She Who Knows here things are, she leads me, this way.
What about the scout? They found him.
She contacts me and she shares.
The scout is being brought back he is older than me, he requires stupor less frequently, he recently woke, he shall remain so for an uncountable period. But he has been injured, and he shall repair himself in his pod. Do not worry, he has adjusted for survival.
What of the shark? I inquire,
The beast is being brought back, it is impressive that you brought it low, what of the eye?
It was destroyed, I need to...
Smack, stay awake. We are almost there.
She continues to send to me, and while I struggle to understand she keeps me awake. She leads me to my pod, and I begin to rest. One last thing, I hand over a shard, I need the beast's fins, they shall be useful. And I sleep.
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The beast's fins? Why would Ur-Im need the beast's fins? I inquire to others the workers. They do not know, I inquire, what of the scouts.
One survived, the others are all dead. What of the enemy? We need more waking scouts, address He Who Keeps Time would know who is awake, and I needed a He Who Remembers Past Woes Accurately. The hive memories and their keepers. But first He Who Keeps Time, many are in stupor, and only some can we wake.
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Zur had seen the damage, he had seen the beast being brought to processing, The disturbance in the water was hard to miss, and the workers feared, so they shared. Zur knew what fear smelt like, Zur had become who he had been because it was a role that healed no fear for him. But many who taught food of their own volition did so out of fear of starving. It is hard to tell, and those who work alone often lose track of time. They who check upon us, occasionally take rounds, but she who remembers us truly digs deep on those deserving of memory. Yet the beast awoke old memories, a time of fear, but Zur cannot tell why. He must remember he would return to his pod.
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She Who Knows Where Things Are did a few rounds, her worry converting to work. She passes by each pod, connecting to they who were awake, seeing if there were scouts or soldiers available, and reminding all to eat. They would need sustenance if they were to go into stupor soon. If this danger was more than a few solitary hunters much would have to be done. At least, that's what he who remembers projected.
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And she did not like how those memories felt.
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Someone reached into Wim's pod, he reached back and they connected. Inquiry, sustenance. That was important, but what was the undertone of worry.
She Who Remembers Battle called for him.
Regardless he was making great strides, and he had a model of a shockwave projector. He Who Speaks With Giants would have a useful role again, though his tools failed in his intended purpose, She Who Shared His Mind understood their use for war. And she left him with a few of those memories.
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I awoke in our over-pod. I owe He Who Sees, a great debt, one of his prime seeing devices destroyed. Scratch that I owe the hive a great debt, I pulled myself out of my pod, and I came across another plastic bag of food. One of my scratch pad shards written upon and a set of shark fins with some tendon attached.
I reached towards the memories. Zur had more food prepared and brought for me, and he was able to argue to give me the shark fins. He probably paid of his own possession to keep them, and there were additional fins here. They could not be processed the shard says, but it is hard to deceive in written memories. I owe him a debt as well, but first for the one who saved my life.
I reached for the shark fins, In my memories gliders, wings, boats, and movement through liquids and solids. My memories in the form of images, with little understanding, but I could unpack those. And read most of what was written. I suspect one of my kind tried something of this sort before, but with little need and little understanding. I might be wrong on that one, but I shall succeed where others have failed and with pretentious thought, I got to work.
First, I thought of fins that flap, but that wouldn't work with those of a shark, and while that might be able to enhance the movements of our bodies slightly, it would not be worth the increased effort. Then I thought of the wings of a plane, water flows differently from air, by pushing against it we can increase our movement. Maybe I would need to experiment.
I would be a pathfinder, one who knows where things are, to get me extra materials, I didn't need all these fins, but I could trade them for what I did need, I would not let them go to waste.
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She Who Knows Where Things Are was approached by He Who Knows Where Things Are. Communication, Ur-Im, Wim presence.
So she left to go to Ur-Im, wondering why a He Who Sees would call for her, maybe he remembered her? Another one who would keep her in mind? The call was for Wim, so it must be the broken one.
She reached the over-pod of they who see. She entered, and Ur0Im reached out to her, she responded and she was bombarded with images of movement and the beast. Pain, She sent.
Guilt. Gratitude.
Ur-Im handed her a strange object and gently passed a shard over so that she could see, she felt the object. What was it, it was gratitude, it had strings and the fins of the beast. She gently reached over the shard. Memories of movement, a pattern She felt the object and she understood. Gratitude, she responded if these could truly enhance her movements. They left the pod and holding on to each other demonstrated what he perceived as flight. And to the idea of floating flight, it truly was. The speed, the efficiency, the lack of control as they turned around and smacked right into the overpod.
These were amazing.