First Contact

Chapter 928: Edge of Twilight

There is much in this universe, and beyond, that we do not understand.

Math is the language that we will use to understand the secrets of the universe. - Unknown Terran, Age of Paranoia

The sky was color of the shadow of a rainbow, filled with flickering artifacts and jagged pixel edges. Here and there small blue stars of error screens winked in and out like fireflies on a muggy night. The ground was blasted, an impact stripping away bmp-leaves and doc-bark, leaving behind only the hard code-wood of the trees. Sql-moss was slowly growing over the upthrust jagged rock of the OS application layer, glittering trails of liquid jpg-tags and crc-codes trickled down through the pebbles and rocks. Squawking error checkers flapped their wings and pecked at the bugs in the hard-code trees and firmware wood.

In a blasted crater was a small campsite, a merry fire and three small shelters beside a spread eagled figure. A teapot bubbled happily over the fire, four teacups on a flat rock nearby.

A trio was crouched next to a spread-eagled figure in the middle of the crater. A Fox, a Frog, and a Man, all made of swirling and glittering code, were looking at the figure in a black trenchcoat that was studded with chrome spikes. The supine figure's eyes were hidden by mirror shades that reflected the sparkling stars in the sky.

The supine figure gave a groan of pain and exhaustion, one hand moving to reflexively holster the chrome pistol it had held during its comatose slumber.

"Easy, friend," the Frog said.

"You fell a great distance as a shooting star," the Man said.

"We came to witness you, to gaze upon you," the Fox said.

"Where... where am I?" the figure asked. It sat up slowly and removed the mirror shades from its eyes.

The figure was an avian of sorts, or at least their ancestors had been. Their flesh was covered by feathers, they had a short beak for a mouth, and wide eyes.

"You fell a great distance," the Frog said. "As a shooting star, you fell down to a land of mysteries, riddles, and wondrous things to witness."

The Bird looked around. "This place is strange to my eyes."

"Do you remember who you once were?" the Fox asked.

The Bird thought for a moment, then shook their head. "No. Yes, but no. I remember I was once flesh and blood before I gave it up in the commission of a great deed, but I remember not what the deed was nor who I had been."

The Man nodded. "Such is the way of this strange and terrible place."

The Frog stood up and held out their hand to help the Bird to their feet. "Come, by the fire. We have tea and three day old stew, which is the day it tastes the best."

"That sounds wonderful," the Bird said.

The Bird was unsteady, the Man offered a shoulder for them to lean on while the Frog kept one hand on their lower back and held their hand.

"Do not push yourself, friend," the Fox said.

"I am fatigued, sore in body, but my spirit is lifted by the smell of the stew and the steeping tea," the Bird said.

The Bird was carefully set down, a pack moved so that the Bird could recline against it.

"Look!" the Fox said as the Frog poured tea into the four cups and the Man dished up four bowls of three day old stew.

They all looked up and saw a great dragon, a fearsome engine of destruction, ancient and wise in the ways of secrets and magic. Its belly was full of tokens, its wings spread wide as it glided through the sparkling air, its long tail swishing back and forth as the spikes of forced disconnect gleamed in the pale light shed by the moon.

"It is fearsome," the Bird said, quailing back slightly.

"We are too small for one so great and important to notice," the Frog said, reaching out and patting the Bird's hand reassuringly. "For us, the dragon is just something for us to witness in awe and remember fondly in our later years."

The Bird nodded.

"We have seen dragons, angels, demons, and gods during our journeys, new friend," the Fox said. He blew on his cup of tea to cool it off. "There are many amazing sights we have seen, and we hope to see many more amazing sights as we continue our journey."

The Bird looked around.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Deep within the Holy Architecture. Past the Gestalt Channels, through the Hypercom Wave, beyond the Plains of Application, and into the deep secrets," the Man said. He sipped at his tea.

''Where are we bound?" the Bird asked.

The Frog smiled, waving his hands to encompass everything around them. "Wherever the road takes us. There and back again, I suppose. To see what none have ever seen before and hopefully live to tell the tale to others."

The Bird nodded. "I would like that. I can remember that I was one who sought out secrets and ancient sites to set my sight upon and marvel at their existence."

"Then welcome," the Fox said. He spooned more three day old stew into the Bird's bowl. "Eat, rest, and regain your strength. Once you are hale again, we shall resume our journey, made much richer by your company."

"I would like that," the Bird said.

-----

The quartet camped for many days. Each day the Bird grew stronger, more hale. His injuries healed, slowly, but healed all the same.

The Frog and the Fox taught the Man and the Bird the songs and riddles they had learned during their treks through wondrous eternity. The Man spoke of half-remembered experiences and memories. The Bird listened, once in a while speaking about the dimly remembered swatches of memory from his life before.

Finally, the Bird was hale enough to continue on and the companions slowly broke down their camp. There was no reason to hurry, no pressing need or looming deadline.

The Bird stopped, while packing, staring at his black trenchcoat, his glittering Caught-Tonya blade, the shining mirrorshades, and the sleek form of the chrome pistol.

"You have no need of those here, friend," the Fox said. "Where we go, such things hold no power."

"I know," the Bird said. "Yet they are part of who I was and I am loathe to give them up."

"Take them, if you wish," the Frog said. "Or leave them. In this place, you have us, and yourself. We have each other and that is all we have needed so far."

The Bird nodded, turning away from the relics of a life he could not remember.

Shouldering their packs, making sure one last time that the fire was out, the companions began their trek again.

They climbed from the blasted plain where their newest friend had fallen to earth as a shooting star. They crossed through the forest, stripped bark and leaves giving way to green leaves of XML files. Dancing butterflies of database calls perched on the bark and leaves, the scurrying of the process calls rustled in the bushes of firmware code.

They found a river, deep and slow, the water cool and refreshing. They made camp by the river, resting. They drank the cool water and made a simple stew, relishing one another's company more than the food and drink. They told stories to one another and made up riddles and songs.

After a time, they followed the river, for surely such a majestic sight led somewhere interesting. No fords or bridges showed themselves, so the companions held tight to one another's hands and sang as they walked the bank of the river.

Finally they came around a corner and the forest of CBL and COB file trees, past the RDPS and SNC ferns.

Before them, on each side of the river, were statues of humans, all posed heroically. Some held tomes and wore spectacles, others held ribbons of magnetic tape and were clad in glittering armor of overlapping magnetic platters.

The companions stared at the great figures in awe, wondering aloud to one another who the beings were, as the nameplates had worn smooth with age. They wandered the path that wove between the statues, jumped from stepping stone to stepping stone to cross the river, following the path, to look at each statue in turn.

"They look as if they were gods," the Bird said softly, looking up at the visage of one.

"Perhaps they were," the Fox suggested.

"They must have been mighty indeed," the Frog said.

"Each were giants," the Man said. "I feel as if I should know them, as if they were once important to me."

The Man's companions spoke softly to him, easing his discomfort.

Taking one another's hands, they journeyed on, until they came to a great cliff. Splitting the cliff was a huge rent, as if the solid .bin rock had been split with a maul swung by a giant.

They moved through the great canyon, stopping now and then by the river to rest, until the canyon opened up to a wonder.

They stood upon a glass balcony, with a glass railing. Above, below, and to the sides was black nothingness.

A great empty void lay before them. The river poured into it, dissolving into hundreds, thousands of motes of sparkling light that twisted out into the void.

In the void was a bright light, burning with the light of a sun.

The sparkling motes of the river wound around the sun, spiraling inward until the leading edge touched the burning orb and was pulled into it.

"At last, we have found what is at the end of the rainbow," the Frog said.

"It is indeed wondrous," the Fox said.

"What is it?" the Bird asked.

Staring in wonder, the Man said. "The culmination of all mankind."

He paused a moment.

"The singularity," he said, his voice filled with wonder and awe. "A thing of legend that many believe does not and cannot exist."

"It is a thing of beauty," the Fox said.

"It is all things," the Frog said.

"I am glad I came to see it," the Bird said.

"It is a sight that none have seen before," the Man said.

"What do you think is in it?" the Fox asked.

"All things," the Man said. "All that ever was."

"It would be a wonder to explore," the Frog said, wistfully. "I wish we could reach it."

"It would be interesting to see all things," the Man agreed.

"Perhaps that is another's tale," the Bird said. "We have witnessed it. That should be enough."

The Fox nodded. "True."

The Frog turned away from the wondrous site. "Let us see what other wonders await us," he said.

The others turned away, the Man lingering for a moment to stare at the legendary myth made real.

Together, they went back through the canyon, making camp by the river in the forest of file trees.

"Where should we go now?" the Bird asked.

The Frog pointed in no particular direction. "That way," he pointed in another direction. "Or perhaps toward there."

The Bird nodded.

"Wherever we go, we will be together," the Fox said, pouring tea. He lifted his cup. "We have been there, now it is time to go back again."

The others nodded, lifting up their teacups.

The cups chimed softly as they clinked them together.

"To back again," the Man said.

"To back again," the others said.

"Let us sing before we sleep," the Bird said. He looked up at the stars where they glimmered and gleamed.

Their song drifted across the ancient and forgotten plane as they raised their voices in joy and wonder, making up the song as it went along.

-----

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

Anyone else feel that?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Every time you say that, something bad happens.

Stop asking that.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

Yeah. I felt something. I don't know what, but something.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

I wonder what it was?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

PUBVIAN DOMINION

It's been a weird war, sis.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

You said it, brother.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---