Ib & Ob: IOP Paradox Part 11

Ib: I wonder did I leave it in the core room.

Helper Swarm (HS): Perhaps we can help?

Ib: Where did you come from, your not the Nano-Swarm?

HS: We were created by the Nano-Swarm and you created them which makes you our

Ib: Hold on a panug! I did not create Nano-Swarm they are Grey Tech.

HS: But you are a Grey are you not?

Ib: Yes but not the Grey that created Nano Swarm tech.

HS: What are you then and why did you bring the Nano-Swarm here to this world.

Ib: Err, let us take this to a different orbit shall we.  What do you know about the Builder Paradox?

HS: Please wait, searching Grey Tech archives.

HS: This is the equation that states there should be no interstellar alliance despite the high probability of life giving planets in the known universe.

Ib: Yes that is the one however it was not always called the Builder Paradox, originally it was called the Builder function.

HS: What does the difference of the name make?

Ib: When it was just a function H-Jump tech had not been invented.  And the function made an extremely basic assumption that was never stated.

HS: And that was?

Ib: Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.  Which means all travel through this universe has a very limited velocity stopping the possibility of any intelligent species meeting each other.  It would only happen it multiple species arose in a single solar system which is astronomically rare.

HS: We understand! It became a paradox because the H-Jump was invented and Grey Tech was distributed to many intelligent species none of which have faster than light drives. And the alliance was came into existence.

Ib: Exactly and my point is your knowledge of Grey Tech is limited to what the Nano-Swarm gave you when they created you.

HS: We are given everything to survive in the lower altitudes.

Ib: What are doing up here then?

HS: Delivering Takeaways, Chinese is our specialty this cycle.  It is trending on many of the higher altitudes.

Ib: What is Chinese?

HS: It is a food created by the bipedal natives of the planet below.

Ib: You have traveled down to ground level, I thought the tech only allowed for high altitude work.

HS: Only those that fall or volunteer to fall in the precipitation end up on the ground and we have had no word from them.  However we have access to the the natives communication protocols.

Ib: You have communicated with them?

HS: No that would be a violation of Grey Tech first contact protocols.

Ib: A lot has happened in the last seventy cycles, where are their telepathic nodes?

HS: As far as we can see they do not have any or are have been dormant for so long they are no longer connected to the intelligence cortex.

Ib: How do you communicate then?

HS: S-Waves and visual stimulation, the visual aspect is how we managed to recreate their food at the microscopic level so members of the swarm can consume it.

Ib: S-Waves!  But I communicated with them when I was in the Muse of Urns.

HS: They were Haxians.

Ib: But the hostages were not.

HS: According the Grey Tech archives the nine artifacts have been sought after for thousands of cycles are you sure the hostages were natives?

Ib: How do you know about it?

HS: One of the native leaders likes to communicate everything and their communications protocols are very simple to decode.  There are no secrets from The Swarm.

Ib & Ob: IOP Paradox Part 8

Ob: How did you know they were Haxians?

Ib: Well the Chameleon suit disguised them but not their footfalls, six vibrations then another set.

Ob: He said he is The Mercenary, like it meant something.

Ib: Unfortunately yes, they live very long lives Haxians that is. I only know one person whoever described a Haxian Mercenary prefixed with "The".  IGal used him quite a bit.

Ob: But I thought you said she had gone into hibernation because you had a falling out.

Ib: Barely besides she had more of a disagreement with the rest of her race than me although it was related to the IOP. She never believed me mostly because she had one of the artifacts.

Ob: What you never said!

Ib: Go roll your orbs somewhere else I had lost a friend.  She said that the artifact proved my theory was incorrect.

Ob: Your theory well let us call it what it really is a hypothesis not a theory. You have no evidence.

Ib: IOP is quite sound, what evidence do you have of the artifact theory exactly?

Ob: Well it is well known that the artifacts are meant to show meaning in the universe.

Ib: Really known by who exactly and in all this time only one has ever been found and its authenticity is definitely in question.

Ob:  When you said she had a disagreement with her race what did you mean exactly?

Ib: Trying to tempt me with a different tangent I see, well if you must know she is the matriarch of her species and they must do everything she commands.

Ob: Did they rebel then?

Ib: They thought she was diverting too many resources into finding the artifacts and even when she found one which is debatable they were still unhappy.  She entered hibernation early and her race had to go dormant until she awoke.  Of course they blamed me since I was only biped on the planet at the time.

Ob: I surprised you got off the planet alive.

Ib: Yes well her escape pod proved very useful indeed, heavily shield too.

Ob: Did not Grey World recover it from you upon landing?

Ib: Yes well Grey World seemed to blame me for IGal's hibernation too which is why they took the escape pod from me.  Said I caused a major diplomatic incident.

Ob: Well technically a full third of the x9-18 sector went dark because IGal's race went dormant.

Ib: Yes but it was not like the whole sector was dark, the rest picked up the work in no time.

Ob: I am not sure two hundred and thirty four cycles counts as "no time".

Ib: Fine! Have you looked at the artifact yet?

Ob: Well I would rather not look at it since it is very ugly.

Ib: But it is a really bad image of us, Greys that is.

Ob: I find it quite vulgar to look at let alone handle it.

Ib: I am sure the statue is merely a facade.  It is what is inside that interests me.

Ob: Err, your not going to stick to protocol then?

Ib: Do you really want to explain to the Colony Commission about your attempt to seed a new planet?

Ob: Perhaps you are right but what about the Haxian mercenaries?

Ib: You did get the ship shielded right?

Ib & Ob: IOP Paradox Part 3

Ib: Well it definitely seems a little odd that the density of the hydrogen is so high.

Ob: Perhaps someone else is here?

Ib: Anything showing on sensors?

Ob: No, but they could be blocking us.

Ib: Okay, how exactly will I be communicating with the natives, we still have not found the location of their telepathic nodes.

Ob: Well the information I have gathered points towards that big hole in the front of their heads. Plus we still do not know the function of the holes on either side of their heads.

Ib: But that is the food intake is it not, how disgusting! Well I suppose those two holes could be the telepathic nodes.

Ob: Now the suit can mimic the holes movements whilst you communicate.  I mean all intelligent races have some method of receiving telepathic communication.

Ib: Of course they have to be intelligent first.

Ob: Now I suggest you use the shuttle with the landing lights set to your chaotic play list.

Ib: Why?

Ob: The Communication probes says there is a gathering tonight and the sub-species have already put up a lot of flashing lights so hopefully with the shuttle in hover mode no one will see anything unusual.

Ib: Hiding in plain sight very clever but make sure you have the remote control enabled then just in case.

Ob: You have to enable it in the shuttle first before I do it on the console.  Do not worry I will have an open channel with you at all times.

Ib: That is what worries me, now remember do not you use the teleport on the shuttle unless I say.

Ob: I do not see how you can possibly blame me for any additional pigments you picked up whilst using that teleport.

Ib: My natural pigment is not green, ever!  Admittedly I have picked up a little blue over years but not green.

Ob: And remember when talking to the sub-species do not mention anything to do with your theories, they will not understand them.

Ib: Which theories are you referring to?

Ob: The IOP Paradox for instance, you cannot be telling them anything like that.

Ib: Why? It is almost a fact of life in the known universe.

Ob: Only to you, try not to give them ideas. You complained at me for ruining a primitive planet before.

Ib: But that was art, you cannot mess with that.

Ob: I suggest you have some rations, the gathering starts soon. You are looking a little green round the orbs.  And feed the Trilons whilst you are down in the thruster bay.

Ib: Very funny when did you grow a sense of humour?

Ib & Ob: Rite of Passage

Ob: The probes that came back are quite disturbing in the fact that the quadrupeds appear to commit ritual sacrifice.

Ib: Purple Monopods! Hardly an intelligent species then, killing their own.

Ob: Yes I know although it is a bit of mystery since the probes have been unable to capture the location of the temple that the sacrifice occurs in.

Ib: Then how do you know it is occurring? 

Ob: They found thousands of buildings where the subspecies consumes organic matter which they call: Hamburgers.

Ib: Odd name for food.

Ob: It is an odd food, upon analysis most of it appears to made up of chemicals that make the subspecies feel good very very briefly and then hungry again.

Ib: Sounds more like a drug, where do the quadrupeds come in?

Ob: Part of the organic component to the Hamburger contain quadruped parts.

Ib: Parts, what parts?

Ob: As far the biology probes can tell nothing that would be useful to the subspecies's nutrition.

Ib: Are you sure this is ritual sacrifice perhaps the quadrupeds are trying to kill off the weak members of subspecies.

Ob: Or maybe make them more subservient, we have a missing link in the chain.

Ib: I am curious how do they consume this food by injection?

Ob: Did you not notice that your lunch had a hole on a its head?

Ib: It had several holes as I recall however I assume you are talking about the large one.

Ob: Yes, they take their food in through that hole.

Ib: That is disgusting what about all the infections you can get from such things?

Ob: You seem to forget that thousands of cycles ago we too ingested food through our nasal passage.

Ib: Yes and I glad I was not around for that.  I remember Prof. Zi telling us about the diseases of the past before we started using the injectors.  Made my orbs spins, horrible days indeed.

Ob: Then you have not heard about the Anti-Injectors, Grey World does insulate you from some of the more extreme news.

Ib: What are you talking about?

Ob: Basically there is a movement that wants us to go back to using our nasal passage for food intake, they say it is more natural and satisfying.

Ib: You are pulling my Danuses, no Grey in their right orbs would do such thing.

Ob: I agree injectors have nearly wiped out all known diseases, why would anyone want to bring back a disease.

Ib: Let us get off this horrible tangent and return to our proper orbit.  I think the quadrupeds are practicing a form of population control we have seen it before in other cultures or maybe it is a voluntary sacrifice?!?

Ob: True, maybe they are giving parts of themselves to the subspecies to make them feel like they are the quadrupeds. Organic worship, interesting maybe my initial issues with the probes results were not ions in the grill after all.

Ib: Well if that is all sorted out, I will take the shuttle back out to get some lunch.

Ob: Okay but before you do we need to address the problem of the two holes on either side of their heads.

Ib: Are you trying to make me thinner than I already am?