With the discovery of circuitry luck on Pronoea, the export of Lurians to other worlds began in earnest, with pauses for adjustments and every now and then evacuations. For every new scenario, after adequate virtual evaluation, implementation had a high success rate. In many cases, individuals on those worlds even thought they had summoned the Lurian who arrived. Game experts frequently had their physical forms converted to their avatars, as unlikely as many of these seemed to be. Expertise as warriors or mages or others abilities came with the transfer, as well as their hidden skills of non-magic, technology and alchemy, and artificial luck. Likewise, for a suitable candidate to die on Lur meant that gate would make a substitute for their body, then resurrect them in another world, often within moments of their death.
Most importantly, calculations of the galactic magical decay rate slowed substantially, across any number of empires. Bizdoatl had been concerned about how it was working and how long this could continue. Gate volunteered to track these numbers for him, along with most other key processes, so the system could continue to function on automatic, managed by gate, for one thousand or more Urtes.
Yet it was clear that even with regular transfers, there were so very many inhabited worlds in the galaxy that putting even one Lurian on each one would take an impossible length of time at the scale in which they were transferring.
And there were some things that could go wrong. The worst of these was if the Lurians or Lur itself decided to act again. The second was if the masters of the heralds decided to act. Then there were the "unknowns of the known", such as an aggressive empire, or civil war, or something along those lines, an external threat. Then there is a chance of a sector disaster. Finally something within Lur itself that can cause its self destruction or major chaos, like major natural disasters.
And there was an abundance of Lurians. Though only a fraction of them were appropriate to be transferred to other worlds, these numbers still amounted to many thousands each Urte, in a strange pattern across the galaxy. Gate was remarkable in how it selected candidates, and as discreet as possible. It preferred loners who had already adjusted to an asocial life, so had fewer connections on Lur, but were relatively skilled in gaming or adaptable enough to quickly learn the new rules in their new lives. The less capable went to worlds that were more like their own in many ways, even if of a different era. The more capable went where their form could be radically different, such as a realized avatar, with powers equal to those they had in their favorite games, even if those powers had not existed on their new world previously.
But placements by gate seldom failed so much that a transferee had to be recalled to a virtual world and repaired before either being sent back or put on a different world. The very few returned to Lur were so disturbed by their return that they needed to be redeployed so it was only done for grave reasons. Bizdoatl pondered this for some time before wondering if the Lurians inherently wanted to be sent to other worlds.
Since most of his parties activities were now limited to the major base in the frozen extreme and the base on the orbiting body, he happened to be at the latter when he got an urgent message from Doable at the frozen base, to come immediately. He ran to a gate console and entered his destination almost without thought. He arrived to her right, in a room full of what could be described as frightened mechanica, facing off with a group of five Lurians, three female and two males.
Greetings, Master Bizdoatl, a female said, and pardon for any errors in language or formality, as we are new to your language, and know little of your conventions. Then, without pause, she said relax, we mean you no harm. My name is Twilight, and those with me are Dawn, Morning, Day and Evening.
I gather this world is known to you as Lur, and we as Lurians. But we are of a more advanced stage in the evolution of Lurians than most, and more evolved than most living intelligent beings, and we are the models of evolution for other Lurians to follow. And while we truly appreciate all the hard work you and those who preceded you have done on Lur, let us state in advance that it is now time for you to go, to leave Lur forever. At this point, let me suggest that we gather in a meeting area, for we have much to discuss. Please notify concerned individuals to be in attendance. We will be glad to wait here while you summon them.
Most of the mechanica left, and those that remained went into a secure mode, making it much harder for them to be taken over by an outside force. Only Doable, with her heightened Scubausuc emotions seemed to be disturbed. She said to Bizdoatl that while she saw nothing menacing or harmful in the Lurians, she could tell they could and were accessing emotional levels far beyond her abilities. And, she observed, they were aware that she was observing them do this. They likely can play the unknown like a musical instrument, she added, know everything we know, and have powers we cannot imagine.
Bizdoatl reached the conference area, and notified everyone: the virtual masters, the Samiru leader and through him the survivor, Twell Miergo, the away Bizdoatl on Pronoea, Ell Redoubt and Chielena Lethe. He decided not to immediately notify the new imperial ambassador, at least not yet. A smiling herald had shown up unannounced and was already seated. Then the Lurians were invited into the room.
This time their spokesman identified herself as Dawn. After a brief introduction, she then turned to the otherwise invisible Samiru leader, there in his dreaming self, and expressed her gratitude to all the Samiru, before and since, who had worked hard on the behalf of Lur and the Lurians. She especially thanked him for the ancient incorporation of pacifism into their makeup, which finally helped our ancestors to overcome their belligerence enough to survive. And we have asked your dream master ancestors to now join you on your new worlds, to find their rest and peace among your descent, as Lur in its new form will be uncomfortable for them as well. And to the one called the survivor, we say that your creator still lives, in a place beyond time, waiting, that if you someday wish to rejoin her, you may live again with her.
She next turned to herald and said, after consultation with your masters, it has been decided that you heralds may retire, so we suggest joining this group in their departure from Lur. Herald looked surprised, but then his expression changed to resignation. He looked at Bizdoatl who nodded that he was amenable to the idea.
To Twell she expressed first the formal request that his communications array and observation of the star system be discontinued, but then added that Twell's work against the chaos of magic collapse was laudable, as was his long term goal of creating a galactic knowledge base far in the future.
Then Dawn spoke to Ell Redoubt, Chielena Lethe and Doable, with the simple message that you need to become living beings and get married. After a brief pause, she clarified. Marriage means a more formal version of having a mate. It is a Lurian expression. Now it is yours. Bizdoatl was concerned because Doable's face had become flush and he imagined her emotions were stressful.
At that point, another Lurian spoke and identified himself as Morning, before addressing the two Bizdoatls and the virtual masters. Your mission here using gate has been a great success, but is too limited to reach its potential. In the near future, Lurians will no longer need gate, and will select a time and place for their transfer, and travel there on their own volition, so their purpose in the galaxy will continue and accelerate. In a few generations, Lurians will deploy to habitable worlds whose beings are at risk.
There are many options available for the two of you. At our request, gate has reached back in time to when the masters were young and made reproductions of them. Combined with your virtual masters they will live again in a form and place of their choosing. However, at your option they will be removed from your bodies as well, despite being protected from interference.
Given the option, Master Parkdeer and Felideer have said they wish to be transformed into a Felideer god and goddess, as the Felideer empire has lost its momentum and is in decay, and they hope to go there to restore its vitality and spirit.
Dake and Anye Stop want a challenge, to be reborn as childhood friends in a world of weak beings with corrupt leaders, yet to retain their knowledge and abilities, with the idea of redeeming a world of those who are not too smart. But mostly for the love of making mischief.
The virtual Jaldo demurred, as he had already been remade in another form, so was content to continue to serve either or both Bizdoatls, or to be eliminated.
However, before we commence with this, with respect to those who thought to use the great invention that is Lur to protect the galaxy from much harm, you were correct that this was the plan of the creators as well. However, the creators made several serious errors. The first of these was the pursuit of immortality, not just for themselves, but for all who lived in their worlds. In doing so, they greatly enlarged their barrier of magic, so that everything within their worlds was imbued with it. But this also hastened their collapse.
Only when they learned of this impending disaster did they create Lur, which they designed to have no magic, but also to evolve life quickly. To accelerate this the creators used great quantities of magic, but also borrowed great amounts of the unknown, the result of which were vast numbers of terrible monsters. So they sterilized the world. The second time they just used the unknown, not knowing that it, not magic, was what spawned the monsters. Once again the monsters were eliminated. But by the next time, when the creators exclusively used magic, their empire was in full collapse.
The creators who had built Lur had been very clear as to its purpose, which did not include killing its children. So when the last of the creators sought to kill its latest children, those creatures who later evolved into the uncivilized, Lur itself lashed out into the unknowable and killed the killers. And without the involvement of the creators, Lur could evolve is new children, and did so. And thus the Lurians came into being over a long time.
Then the Lurian named Day spoke, and addressed Bizdoatl by name. To you we express our greatest of gratitude, as your choices in pursuit of your mission were exemplary. As a kind, many of us will soon be spreading out in the galaxy, with the training in technology and non-magic and alchemy we need. And once we are in other worlds, knowing of magic we will be far stronger in magic than those who live there.
Our reward for mastery in these things is the understanding that the known is the training ground for the unknown, that we will eventually evolve into entering it fully as individuals. And in turn, the unknown is the training ground for the vastness of the unknowable. Now that Lur knows the process, it will evolve many different kinds to follow that path of the Lurians again and again. And in doing so they as well will limit the crutch of magic, so that other worlds will also evolve as they should without at times dying out.
But this also means that Lur must remain a world forbidden to others. Its entire system will continue to be protected, which is why we ask you to leave. However, as a reward to you for all that you have done, you may take the gate console from your orbiting base with you, so that you may have transit about the galaxy, to any worlds other than Lur. This applies to your other self on Pronoea, as well, who may keep his console.
We have also divined a solution to your problem with your mate Doable. Bizdoatl glanced at her and saw her shocked reaction. While your kind are very long lived, her kind, when alive, do not have such longevity. So with considerable calculation, gate will change both of you into a new kind, a blend of both your kinds. While you likely will not live quite as long as those of your kind, you will have many inheritable talents and gifts not typically found in your kind either. And wherever you choose to go, gate will also provide you with abundant material goods, wealth, and assistants as you desire.
But there is yet another possibility beyond that. While what you and your group accomplished on Lur took a long time, you are still youthful for your kind, so instead of going your separate ways, why not see what can be accomplished elsewhere. While the empire of the creators was great and powerful, they were not alone in the galaxy of that time, and coexisted with four peer empires of equal power, though they are are no longer around. But each of them have left behind mysteries equal to or greater than Lur, either on their homeworld or on worlds in their domain, some of which are inhabited, some are not.
In the age of those empires, only five beings and their entourages were allowed to freely transit among them, the masters of each of the homeworlds and other worlds of the five. They were titled Overlords. So you now are designated by us as having this title, as Overlord of Lur, by default the last homeworld of the empire of the creators, that you and your subordinates may freely explore what remains of these other empires without concern for activating any long dormant defenses by those worlds. However, those living beings on those worlds may neither know or respect your title.
The advantages of doing this are great. Twell will be able to greatly expand his network by sending along mechanica versions of himself, spreading reproductions to network wherever you travel. Your virtual masters may be combined with their earlier versions and remade into your new kind, while retaining their knowledge and skills, and make good allies on your journeys.
Each of these other four empires also had a gate mechanism, and the gate you know has already introduced you to them, so you don't need to worry about a hostile reception, at least from them. And last, it has been made known that your title is a noble title, but an Overlord is not bound to a single empire, so you may meet any imperial family and nobility as a guest without delay, and travel unbound by rules and regulations.
In the time being, we are giving you thirty star cycles to make your preparations to leave from both Lur and your orbiting base. Circumstances are such that at first your entire group here will be transported to a comfortable accommodation in the capital city of your new empire, purchased by Twell Miergo. Someone named Admiral Isstil will meet you there prior to your introduction at the royal court, with the honors accorded a foreign dignitary, and he will provide you with the protocols for the meeting.
Bizdoatl needed much of that time to get used to being half Scubausuc, filled with new emotions, as well as having a living Doable as a mate. Ell Redoubt and Chilena Lethe remained as powerful mechanica for the time being, which would command respect from both living beings and mechanica in the palace. And Dame Kaede and the princesses were strong allies among the nobility, and had spread many tales of adventure and derring-do to their fascination.
For his part, Admiral Isstil had become an expert about the spacefarer tales surrounding Lur, quick to discount the farcical ones, but serious and grave about the real ones. On learning that Bizdoatl was no longer directing its defenses, but that the Lurians were doing so with far more powerful means, he felt a deep shudder and ordered an additional sphere of warning beacons even further away from the Lur system. Any vessel that meandered in that area would be met with an imperial warship. Nobody was going to do anything that might provoke the Lurians that he had never seen, only read about, to start a fight he knew they would win.
His meeting with Bizdoatl was very stressful, made more so because the diplomatic protocol staff had no idea of what an Overlord was. In an inspired bit of mischief, Bizdoatl said it would be appropriate for their majesties to address him, and he them, with just their title in public, and to be on a first name basis in private. Effectively that an Overlord was of near equal rank with an emperor.
Trying to be crafty, a senior staff officer politely inquired about their kind, thinking if they were of a less distinguished kind they could be looked down upon in that way. Thinking quickly, he replied that among the distant ancestors of their unique kind were Scubausuc, not mentioning his own, unremarkable kind. In the new empire, the Scubausuc were seen as some of the highest kind.
But then Bizdoatl realized he hadn't even thought of a name for their new kind, so he changed the subject, which was also to the relief of the staff officer.
Enroute to the imperial palace, with Doable, Ell and Chilena, and individual mechanica Twell of level unknown, and a former herald gawking like a tourist, accompanied by Admiral Isstil, who after all this time couldn't contain himself and asked what had happened to that rocky mass used as his demonstration. Bizdoatl was in a good mood, so told the truth, that the rock had been transported to a virtual reality.
I thought for a while what do do with it. Had it been your ship I probably would have put it into orbit around this world, or parked it in a space dock, but I figured that might embarrass you. It just being a rock, I thought that tossing it into the Lurian star would be wasteful, so after you left I put it back where it belonged, but displaced enough that it would be obvious that it had been moved. While doing so I had a memorial built that would attract the attention of someone in a small vessel that had evaded the warning beacons. It contains the ship's plaque of the Meduase.
That actually happened?, asked the Admiral. Yes, and so did the annihilation of the armada. The epic poem about those is generally accurate. But they are just two of the library of stories from Lur. We did record a great amount of data in our time, but within a short time after our departure, everything could change there into something very different. Our message about Lur is simple, it is a precious gem within the boundaries of this empire, and it is working tirelessly to save the galaxy, but one that should not be gazed at too much, and is deadly to the touch.
