After hours of searching, he'd found it at last.
Meruel gazed around the room in awe. Four towering pillars held up a canopy which served to shelter a complex computer placed at the centre of the room. Stretched across the walls surrounding it were dozens of computer monitors, glowing with the same ambient violet that emanated from the power core nestled into his chest. An indirect indicator that they used the same energy source, and thus, shared a common origin. Plastered over the screens was an array of astrometric data. Catalogued planetary systems, charts that gave names to solar wind currents and plotted their course, readouts indicating regions of space with noteworthy gravitational anomalies. At first, he wondered if the facility might have been intended as a sort of observatory. Perhaps the nexus of a surveillance network, or a place from which his creators had coordinated their war against the unknown aggressors who had attacked them.
But he changed his theory quickly on noticing the words "propulsion" "guidance system" and "navigation control."
All this time, he'd been under the assumption that the facility where he had been created was terrestrial in nature. Now he recognized it for what it was. A spacefaring vessel that had merely landed itself... likely seeking an isolated refuge from the conflict raging across the stars. A place where his creators could research their next great work without interference. Perhaps the vessel was still capable of interstellar travel? There were no obvious terminals within the chamber. The only landmark of note was the central computer. Approaching it, Meruel rested his hand upon the cool metal. Feeling it thrum lightly beneath his touch as he wound his tail around the base of it, glancing around the room from the very heart of it, taking another moment to drink in the majesty of it. The wealth of knowledge that must have been left by his creators for him to inherit.
The pale outer casing of the central computer was a hard bone-like carapace. However his exploratory touch revealed the inner section, the darker grey part, to be soft and pliable... formed of the same ferrofluid as his body. A curiosity arose in him. Looking the device over more closely... he now noticed the pattern of four curving shapes within the top part of the grey mass. They perfectly corresponded to the tentacles growing from his own head! Understanding now, he floated his body up off the ground, turning so that his back faced the grey section of the computer core. Pushing himself towards it... making physical contact, and starting to sink into the system, integrating himself into the computer core and becoming one with it. The access point truly was shaped to fit him perfectly. If he had been made in the image of his creators, then it must have been a perfect fit for their anatomy too.
His mind expanded yet again. This time branching out like an interconnected web of purple light. His body was but a self-contained system, one fully under his command. This felt the same as that, only on a far larger scale. The starship was becoming his new body. Every sensor a new pair of eyes. He could feel the engines as though they were his legs, numb from lack of use. Much of what he saw and felt he did not yet understand. But he was learning. Even the turrets that had accosted him on his way here, he could disable them as easily as blinking an eye. They were his now. It was an exhilarating feeling, even as he struggled to keep up with the new banks of data adding themselves to his memory.
Scouring those memories in the single-minded pursuit of one detail; he found it. A flight log detailing an emergency evacuation. His creators had left the planet on a shuttle in direct response to detecting their enemy having entered the system. They had flown themselves away in a deliberate attempt to catch the attention of their foe and goad them into pursuing. All so that he, Meruel, would not be discovered. The fact that he was still here seemed to be evidence that their misdirection had been a success.
Yet... they had not returned for him. Why?
His heart sank heavily as he began to realize that perhaps the reason they hadn't was that they had died in the attempt. That they had sacrificed themselves so that their creation might survive. All across the ship, screens momentarily flickered and glitched out for a moment as the deep sorrow he felt manifested itself through his connection with the systems. He had been alone since waking up here. But he had not truly felt the crushing weight of that loneliness- until this very moment.
*****
The search for knowledge can be joyous, but often brings with it dispiriting discoveries.
Once again I owe Madness_demon thanks for some amazing concept work! I love when environments can be a part of storytelling as much as the characters involved. ^^
Meruel gazed around the room in awe. Four towering pillars held up a canopy which served to shelter a complex computer placed at the centre of the room. Stretched across the walls surrounding it were dozens of computer monitors, glowing with the same ambient violet that emanated from the power core nestled into his chest. An indirect indicator that they used the same energy source, and thus, shared a common origin. Plastered over the screens was an array of astrometric data. Catalogued planetary systems, charts that gave names to solar wind currents and plotted their course, readouts indicating regions of space with noteworthy gravitational anomalies. At first, he wondered if the facility might have been intended as a sort of observatory. Perhaps the nexus of a surveillance network, or a place from which his creators had coordinated their war against the unknown aggressors who had attacked them.
But he changed his theory quickly on noticing the words "propulsion" "guidance system" and "navigation control."
All this time, he'd been under the assumption that the facility where he had been created was terrestrial in nature. Now he recognized it for what it was. A spacefaring vessel that had merely landed itself... likely seeking an isolated refuge from the conflict raging across the stars. A place where his creators could research their next great work without interference. Perhaps the vessel was still capable of interstellar travel? There were no obvious terminals within the chamber. The only landmark of note was the central computer. Approaching it, Meruel rested his hand upon the cool metal. Feeling it thrum lightly beneath his touch as he wound his tail around the base of it, glancing around the room from the very heart of it, taking another moment to drink in the majesty of it. The wealth of knowledge that must have been left by his creators for him to inherit.
The pale outer casing of the central computer was a hard bone-like carapace. However his exploratory touch revealed the inner section, the darker grey part, to be soft and pliable... formed of the same ferrofluid as his body. A curiosity arose in him. Looking the device over more closely... he now noticed the pattern of four curving shapes within the top part of the grey mass. They perfectly corresponded to the tentacles growing from his own head! Understanding now, he floated his body up off the ground, turning so that his back faced the grey section of the computer core. Pushing himself towards it... making physical contact, and starting to sink into the system, integrating himself into the computer core and becoming one with it. The access point truly was shaped to fit him perfectly. If he had been made in the image of his creators, then it must have been a perfect fit for their anatomy too.
His mind expanded yet again. This time branching out like an interconnected web of purple light. His body was but a self-contained system, one fully under his command. This felt the same as that, only on a far larger scale. The starship was becoming his new body. Every sensor a new pair of eyes. He could feel the engines as though they were his legs, numb from lack of use. Much of what he saw and felt he did not yet understand. But he was learning. Even the turrets that had accosted him on his way here, he could disable them as easily as blinking an eye. They were his now. It was an exhilarating feeling, even as he struggled to keep up with the new banks of data adding themselves to his memory.
Scouring those memories in the single-minded pursuit of one detail; he found it. A flight log detailing an emergency evacuation. His creators had left the planet on a shuttle in direct response to detecting their enemy having entered the system. They had flown themselves away in a deliberate attempt to catch the attention of their foe and goad them into pursuing. All so that he, Meruel, would not be discovered. The fact that he was still here seemed to be evidence that their misdirection had been a success.
Yet... they had not returned for him. Why?
His heart sank heavily as he began to realize that perhaps the reason they hadn't was that they had died in the attempt. That they had sacrificed themselves so that their creation might survive. All across the ship, screens momentarily flickered and glitched out for a moment as the deep sorrow he felt manifested itself through his connection with the systems. He had been alone since waking up here. But he had not truly felt the crushing weight of that loneliness- until this very moment.
*****
The search for knowledge can be joyous, but often brings with it dispiriting discoveries.
Once again I owe Madness_demon thanks for some amazing concept work! I love when environments can be a part of storytelling as much as the characters involved. ^^
Category Artwork (Digital) / Fantasy
Species Eel
Gender Male
Size 2400 x 1500px
[Sci-fi Woman Vocalises Loudly.]
MadnessDemon did such an amazing job.
As have you. I'm utterly entranced by how you depict the technology both within Meruel, and what was left behind before him.
<3
I'll be looking for more opportunities to showcase it!
Melding between technology and biology can be very interesting.
I offer him a place among my team: Anthro Elite. He doesn't have 2 B alone N E more...
I want to give this guy a hug!
And Maddy really did do amazingly.
And Maddy really did do amazingly.
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