Neorai Forests, K-2L, Whirlpool Galaxy
The two had been brought before the same old tree as before. It rose high into the air, its green leaves swishing in the wind while the same pink-furred Rabil still clung onto Samus' backpack. She looked to the Rabil and then back to Old Bird, looking at him with a wide-eyed smile. She wanted to believe.
"Old Bird, can you fly?" Samus asked, staring at him curiously. She looked at him with eyes full of hope and excitement. Perhaps he could resolve the conundrum that she'd been faced with.
"Not with my wings. Most of us have not used those in a very long time." He said gently as she huffed in disappointment.
"Aww, then we'll never get my backpack back," she said as the Old bird looked at the tree and reached out his hand. An invisible force grabbed hold of some purple fruits, round and almost heartlike in shape. He sampled one. The taste was sweet and tart, like a watery date.
"Wow...can you get my backpack with that?" she said as he offered her one of the fruits. She took a curious bite herself. On her tongue, she could detect a more watermelon-like flavour, picking up some chemicals his tongue missed but also missing some he detected easily.
"We should think carefully about how we use force. Do they look harmful to you?" He said.
"Well..no." She said, frowning somewhat and looking back up at him just moments after taking a second look at the Rabil.
"Then why not convince them to come down?" He said, laying a hand on her shoulder before looking back at the Rabil as they turned their head around in curiosity.
"Okay but how?" Samus asked, spinning around and pulling at the Old Chozo's hand to pry answers from him. She gave him a pleading look, clearly eager to understand his wisdom as he had a small chuckle and tapped the underside of his beak.
"It is because they are afraid that you are angry with them." He said, giving her a warm sensation in the equivalent of a smile delivered through telepathy rather than sight. She relaxed somewhat at the feeling, a surge of a sensation of safety slowly disseminating through her. She squeezed his hand a bit more gently now, sighing in a more relaxed way.
"How do you know that? Is it magic?" She asked, getting a small laugh from Old Bird in the process.
"No, I can do magic, but I wasn't using it then. It was psionics. But maybe we can use this as a time to learn about making new friends." He said, patting her on the back.
"Okay." She said somewhat meekly, not quite getting just what he was going for at the moment as she tried to think on his intention.
"Let's start with giving them a name first. Then we can play with them." He said, urging her to look upon the Rabil as she considered his words.
She placed her hand on her forehead and thought intently. She closed her eyes and her mind raced through many possibilities. She considered and discarded dozens of names as she thought, grunting slightly as she tried to think of something perfect. Something that they would really like. Something cute…
"Pyonchi!" she said loudly, raising her index finger in an Eureka pose as she looked at the Old Chozo and then at Rabil, who was clearly startled by the sudden announcement. However, they did not run away and instead looked more intently at Samus.
After a few moments of silence, she started to giggle, something Old Bird shared as he joined in just a few moments later.
Pyonchi, newly named and curious of the reduced hostility they sensed from Samus, began to climb down, the Backpack in their front paws as they approached with a series of short hops. The tuft of white fur around their neck ruffled slightly while their squirrel-like tail swayed slightly behind them.
Samus leaned down and reached out for her backpack, which the Rabil relinquished without a struggle as they stared at the fruit Samus was eating. She looked over at Old Bird and received a nod of affirmation, prompting her to loan out the fruit to the animal who quickly began to strip the fruit of its reddish flesh in a surprisingly voracious manner.
"See if you can pet them now, Samus. Be careful, don't rush into it so that they may be comfortable in your presence." Old bird said, gesturing towards the Rabil for Samus as she slung her backpack behind her back and reached a hand out to the Rabil. The mammal tensed briefly but then allowed the touch to happen.
"Remember, keep your strokes gentle and soft. Don't push too hard into them. And when you embrace them, keep in mind that Pyonchi will still need their space. Don't constrain them." He said, an "okay" coming from her as she slightly picked up the pace of her pets but avoided increasing the force behind them. The Rabil thumped their foot in response, leaning into the pets and getting closer to her.
"Now I think Pyonchi is fond of you." Old Bird said, sighing gently as he sat down beneath the shade while Samus stroked the fur of Pyonchi. Pyonchi responded by pushing into her a bit more as she hugged around it, though not too tightly or completely as to stress them out by making them feel there was no escape.
"Can I take them home?" Samus asked, eyes looking up at Old Bird who simply let out a small chuckle at that as he hid his hands away into his sleeves as he crossed his arms. He was quite relaxed right now, and seemed to be satisfied with the work he had done in expanding her horizons.
"That is up to your family Samus, but I am certain they will understand your friendship once you explain it to them." He said, closing his eyes and letting his mind drift into the ether of the morphoscape.
Morphoscape
The Stars were in a peace of sorts. Conflict was there, but war was generally the stuff of localised skirmishes. His brethren on Tallon IV, who had sadly gone silent in recent years, were far more gifted at the distant sight than he or most of the others who did not join their commune were. They had a clarity of vision and an accuracy in determining the likelihood of their visions that the more advanced Chozo could never match.
But he had that gift all the same. And now he would make use of it, letting his mind stretch from his body and open its spiritual eyes to a manner of seeing the synapses of cause and effect in a way no physical instruments ever could. There was a sort of relaxing effect to seeing the pathways of destiny unfurl and transform. Possible futures withered or changed, some so tenuous that simply knowing their existence caused the threads to fade into impossibility.
All seemed to be well to his eyes in the distant sight.
Then he decided to look at threads closer to home. It had been difficult to examine the destiny of the Chozo in recent years. Something had been clouding those fates from them recently, a shroud over the conduits of possibility that he was unable to pierce despite his experience.
But there were unusual sights, something connecting that should not be present. A thread long though severed had been quietly reasserting itself. Something that had been dead for more than five hundred human generations was alive again. The Alimbics? Impossible. The doom that fell upon them was swift and terrible.
And yet...it is never an easy task to fully eradicate a species capable of faster-than-light travel. It is so easy to miss some who may slip through the would-be annihilator's fingers. But where had they been for so long?
He looked deeper and saw another thread coiled around this cable of many destinies. The colour of humanity glowed in the synaptic pathways. One that tied towards the Chozo once again, albeit only ephemerally, but the pathways of destiny began to coil incredibly tightly around something else. Another set of destinies, another batch of possibilities. But one among them, another human, this one woven tightly around the Chozo.
As he looked, he saw many other threads, all woven around the ancient progenitor cultures and young humans.
He tried to examine these pathways deeper and saw violent flashes of pain and strife—trauma, agony, conflict, the shroud weaving ever more tightly so as to block his sight from seeing more than glimpses. Something terrible, the serpent of malignant doom constricting around all fates and hiding them away from the gift of prophecy.
It was too much and he drew back from the visions. What was that? What did he see that made him tremble? What doom could lay in the fates of humans? He pondered this for some time, but he was certain that the quiet era was coming to an end. Fire and shroud were descending upon more and more of the possible pathways of fate.
Not one threat, but an army of them. A menagerie of menace that would require the manner of force to repel that no longer truly existed. Already the drumbeat of conflict was sounding throughout the synaptic corridors of possible outcomes. Threads of destiny struggled and entwined as they warred for supremacy.
This had been known to the Chozo for some time, but the scope of it all was still so terrible to behold—such senseless violence and destruction. Such monstrous sights haunted his visions and made him almost despair. But he held onto hope, and he steeled himself with a mantra, reminding himself that this too shall pass.
Those painful threads, the destinies of those two humans and others whose fates were entangled with theirs. They brought light. Gleaming radiance in darkness, and calm in the firestorm of destruction. They were important. But he needed to know why. Why did they matter? And why was all of this starting to happen now?
He'd need to ponder on this later. The others could offer him fresh eyes on this wisdom.
K-2L, Gaela Landing Plaza
"So are we agreed then? We will return to you with what we seek to exchange for your Afloraltite and ensure that you are more than able to make up for the lost product." Grey Voice said curtly.
"Want to shake on it?" Rodney said, extending his hand towards the Chozo who regarded the hand briefly before reciprocating the gesture. His grip was surprisingly gentle for someone clad in armour even given the claws built into it, and it was immediately apparent that Grey Voice had no patience for childish games of grip strength as he pulled his hand away shortly.
"I would very much like to see you again in the future. You were respectful and courteous, and I would like to see you all rewarded for your hospitality." August Wings said, offering a respectful bow to the miners of K-2L as they congratulated themselves on securing something that might turn around the fate of the colony for years to come.
"Now, we will depart shortly; there are arrangements to be made on Zebes, as I am sure you all understand. Expect our return shortly and please feel free to bring more of your hospitality with you for the occasion." Somek-Ka said politely, keeping his hands close to himself.
"Are you all set to leave now?" Virginia said, offering a faint smile to the gathered Chozo who looked at each other and then back at her.
"We must await the return of Re-Sekh. Fortunately, that wait will end very shortly." August said, turning her head to see the emergence of Old Bird with Samus in tow behind him. His pace was unhurried but deliberate, and his presence was unmistakable.
"Old Bird, do you have to go?" Samus said, holding Pyonchi close to her while following the now re-helmeted Chozo Elder who had made an effort to walk across the ground when he just as easily could have hovered over it. She kept pace with him as he walked, tugging somewhat at his cloak.
"My apologies Samus, but there are things I must take care of sooner than later. We will be seeing each other soon though. Don't worry." He said, patting her on the head gently as he prepared to step back onto the plaza.
"How long is soon?" She asked.
"Hopefully, we will be back in less than a day. You have my word." He said.
"And when you come back...will you play with Pyonchi with me?" Samus asked, holding the Rabil up to the ancient who smiled and stroked its head with a few gentle pats before looking back to her.
"I promise," he said, offering her a small medallion, one bearing the stylized S-like symbol associated with his lineage—a Chozo symbol of courage and honour. He slowly clasped her hands over it and let her hold it tight after fitting it around her neck.
"What's this for?" She asked, looking up at him with curiosity as he stood himself back up, pushing himself upwards with his cane and gazing down upon her.
"So that we may always be able to find each other. If you ever wish to call on me, close your hands over the medallion and think of me. And I will be there as fast as I can. And who knows? Perhaps one day I will have need to call upon you?" He said gently, brushing some hair away from her face.
"Okay...can I use it now?" She said, getting a small laugh from Old Bird.
"Soon Samus, soon." He said as he walked back towards Grey Voice and August Wings.
"This will be goodbye for now. But not for long." He said as he let the ship teleport them back in, the loud noise of air rushing to fill in the sudden vacuum giving Samus and Pyonchi a bit of a startle as they jumped in surprise.
Virginia caught her before she could fall though, and helped her stand upright once again. Her eyes were then almost immediately drawn to the Rabil in her arms, which made a high rumbling sound as they adjusted themselves in her grasp.
"Where did you get that?" She asked. She knew that most children would eventually bring in a wild animal to the house sooner or later but she never expected this day would come so soon.
"Their name is Pyonchi and they're my new friend!" She said, beaming at her parents.
Aboard the Chozo ship "Exodia."
"Will it be enough?" Grey Voice asked.
"Plenty, we should be able to manufacture the Zebetite using this as a seed." August Wings said, the machines examining the listed inventory of supplies harvested from the colony.
"With any luck, Mother Brain will be able to complete the Zebetite network on Zebes and we'll be able to complete our great work." August continued.
"Hers or ours?" Old Bird said rather pointedly, his expression tightening somewhat beneath his helmet.
"You do not fully trust Mother brain?" Grey Voice asked, his neck craning over towards Old Bird and tilting his head somewhat.
"I sometimes feel she is too focused on the task of building order that she forgets that the truest order is born of harmony, something that can only arise from freedom and solidarity coming together into one. To try to craft order from one ruler's vision will inevitably lead to chaos and friction. Only the masses can create a structure that lasts." Old Bird explained.
"She does what we have designed her to do. We have given up the Imperial Peace, but there must still be a way to provide structure to our efforts, look what happened to the communes of Tallon IV." Grey voice said, conjuring an image of the slowly dying world being devoured by the contents of the crater that marred it, slowly leaking out of the cage its former inhabitants sealed it within.
"They forsook the path of science to embrace the trees. We have much greater means with which to take care of ourselves. Re-Sekh is right to worry about how often we trust her judgement on all matters." Isa-Hesh said.
"You trust in our technology to protect ourselves but not in its ability to form and cast judgements?" Somek-Ka said, his thought waves indicating curiosity had taken hold in his thoughts over the previous scepticism. Why did they think that way?
"My issue is not with her nature as a synthetic consciousness. My fear is that we have given her a dangerous set of priorities that may lead her to one day devalue happiness and freedom from repression and want for the sake of efficiency and a cold, rationalized order. And if she does, she will inevitably gain none and lose them all." Old Bird said, a heavy sigh coming from his helmet as their ship simply carved a tunnel in space and shot through in a heartbeat. Far faster than hyper-drive could ever manage as the ship slingshotted from one galaxy to the next.
"And yet we must still complete our great work. The seals have started to wane and the cosmos requires the totality of our wisdom if it is to advance to the heights we occupied before any of the present generation could walk the stars." Grey Voice said as the Chozo ship began its descent, sliding through the manifold barrier that repelled the unwanted and unwelcome.
"I just hope that we are not widening the cracks in the great dam of peace." Old Bird said as the ship started its final approach to the surface of the yellow and brown world. The warm surface of Crateria awaited them which lay before the city and templescape of Chozodia. Great pyramids, mighty walls and temples, adobes, libraries, and universities all awaited them in that hallowed place of knowledge and wisdom.
But where they were needed was someplace deeper and more forbidden. A place that they named for an old style of Fortress in ancient wars long past.
A place called Tourian.
Tourian, Zebes, FS-176, Zokunai Nebula, Aradar Galaxy
The great machine inside opened a single eye bigger than an entire person curled into a foetal position. Metallic spikes divided her reddish hemispheres and a stem of machinery at the bottom hummed gently with energy flowing into her from across a network of Zebetite cells. Seated at the centre of a well-defended room bristling with defensive weapons in case of an unexpected attack on her, she pulsated briefly as she absorbed all the information laid out before her. Cerebral electricity crackled across her every ridge and wrinkle and the thoughts of an alien mind of scarcely imaginable genius turned to analysing the sight before her.
"Mother Brain, what do you make of this planet?" The ancient Amun-Set asked, Platinum Crest's white-coloured helmet dipping low as he presented to her an image of K-2L, generated by a simple spell he weaved from the power flowing through his old bones.
"-The Afloraltite will be more than sufficient for conversion into Zebetite. Then I will be able to accelerate my part in the great project.-"
Ge-Shut, the bitter and proud Iron Heart raised his hand to speak. Grey was his chest plate, rust was his helm. "I believe honoured Amun-Set wishes to ask what you think of the planet, not of its resources." A small whistling laugh came from him after that.
"I believe that went without saying," Amun-Set said.
Such inefficiency, she thought to herself. She had already thought of that possibility, but why bother expending the joules to put her mind to such worthless tasks as the study of some miserable rock? One may as well ask her to waste her time with running holo-games. Her gaze slowly adjusted from Ge-Shut to Amun-Set and then narrowed.
Fine, she thought, she would indulge the old sorcerer in his nonsense. However much she disdained such...worthless endeavours as characterizing a few million miners.
"-A doomed people who rely on the promise of timely naval intervention to guise to prevent themselves from rioting when they realise that the Federation is stretched too thin and has too many rivals and enemies to protect it. They are inevitably and invariably doomed, sooner or later raiders or invaders will arrive and that will be the end of the colony. Please, do not waste my time with conclusions that are obvious. If the beings who reside on that planet cannot realise they have been sent there to die, then they deserve it.-" Her words were colder than the ices of neighbouring Tallon IV's Phendrana region, her prognosis grimmer than the fate of planet Bilium. Outrage flashed within many of the Chozo.
"You cannot say such monstrous things!" Violet Rose, Hatho-Sekhma, was shaking with visible anger. Mother Brain regarded her through a composite of sensors placed throughout Tourian. Hath was of Somek's generation, and her righteous fury was aimed squarely at the great intelligence that lay before her. Her violet and rose coloured armour that she had styled after her Galaxan name.
"Planets die all the time, such is the nature of the evil days in which we live." Star Strider said, the old black-and-white armoured Chozo shifting her position slightly as she floated cross-legged in the air near Mother Brain. This was someone Mother Brain could respect, at least; she could recognise the aberrancy that surrounded them and her.
"What manner of foe would dare to attack a world they know is in our eye? Surely they would have to be void of mind and possessed of Arkimak spines to even consider such a thing!" Horath-Baast spoke up. The young War Hawk was barely an adult, and she had the audacity to think that just because the Chozo wished for a voice of the Youth to be on their councils, she could speak out of turn to her of all things? This one would grate on her nerves just as every other speaker of the Youth before her did. She couldn't wait for her term to end.
"-Have you so swiftly forgotten your vows of pacifism? What could you actually do to protect this or any other world without my drone forces? Forces that I will not waste on the defence of these proletarian wastrels while we have such high ambitions to realise. None of you could defend the smallest space station from a foe determined to attack it. Not as you are now. You need me, and I will see to it that our plans are realised.-" She said. She would have laughed if she had not thought such joviality to be beneath her. Yes, she had the keys to the Kingdom and only through her genius could the destiny of the Chozo be realised.
"Vows that will be the end of our people. How much have the Mawkin sacrificed because you are too soft-hearted to do your own dirty work?" Askar Behek, or "Raven Beak" scoffed, the Warrior Lord looming huge over the other Chozo, gleaming chrome and gunmetal armour largely hidden by his great red cloak.
"How soon do you forget the example of the Alimbics, who turned against our vow to shepherd the peoples of every reality to try and force them into enlightenment? Or perhaps you might even be taking inspiration from the Krazimak you bald-headed fool?" Violet Rose shouted, daring to look the giant in the eye even as he tilted his head to the left, the fanlike headdress upon his sharp-beaked helmet clinking as it touched a pauldron.
"Warrior tribes such as the Mawkin are why you down-feathers can enjoy pontificating about your moral righteousness. Scholar Tribes such as the Kah-Sahmat, who study for knowledge's sake without regard for practical use, are why we allow crude savages such as the Kriken and the Space Pirates to roam as they please." He said with wholly unrestrained disdain, not even bothering to look at Violet Rose as he dismissed her.
"Mother Brain is right, this world is doomed. Because we are so set in our old ways that we would simply watch and let the ants scurry to their graves." He concluded.
"Ashkar Behek's response is logical. We are pointlessly constrained by traditions that call for specieswide retirement when according to the data I have perused, this iteration is already hopelessly awry. However, I will perform as protocol demands and work with the tools I am provided." Mother Brain concluded.
"So many of our kind have already departed for the next iteration, we do not have the numbers to enforce the old peace and to call those who have already left back would be sacrilege. This is the only way." Platinum Crest said.
"Then perhaps we should bring in fresh blood," Horath-Baast muttered to herself under her breath. Please, Mother Brain thought to herself. She was the Fresh Blood. She was the heir apparent to the Chozo Legacy. Their crown jewel and finest creation. She would be their eternal gift to the stars. Nobody could change that.
Samus' Logbook Entries
Psionics: Concepts: Extrasensory: Morphoscape
The Morphoscape is a scientific term used to describe the realm that certain psions and practitioners of other esoteric abilities are able to access with what the Chozo referred to as the "Distant Sight". This ability allows for perceptions of possible futures as well as their likelihood, which are perceived as a series of visions connected by threads spreading through the synaptic webs of the Morphoscape. The farther removed in space, time, and relation to the event or pathway of events that one is from a future the hazier it becomes and some possibilities are eliminated through simply becoming aware of them. However, the present era is infamous for the "shroud" that serves to obscure the Distant Sight, leading to significant anxieties and speculation as to the cause and reason of the Shroud.
Samus' notes:
My own warning sense is probably the only well-developed psionic gift I have right now. But I've always been interested in developing the Distant Sight further. Call it curiosity in destiny, or simply wanting to practice a gift from my guardians.
Esoterical Concepts; Magic/Thaumaturgy
Magic, more professionally known as Thaumaturgy is considered a stranger and more difficult to verify experimentally art than psionics. Magecraft is something that is somewhat rare amongst many present-day civilisations, particularly those who are of a less spiritually inclined bent, though it is at the very least repeatable even if its rules function more on abstract story logic than conventional physics. However, most of the "precursor" civilizations were known to practice some form of magic which was verifiable without a doubt and was widely utilised in virtually every form of precursor artifice to blend together the best of all worlds. Efforts to try and match precursor skill in these matters remain ongoing, and many believe that the present era is thousands of years at best from achieving a comparable understanding of magic to the progenitor cultures.
Samus' notes:
One of my greatest regrets in life is never getting the time I wanted to practice the sorcery of the Chozo. I suppose I'm not really going to have a chance to learn properly now. But I always loved the little shows Old Bird would put on for me.
Languages: Constructed: Galaxan
Constructed by the Chozo to serve as a common means of communication across the universe, Galaxan is something of a combination of the Chozo language of Kaset, the human language of English, the Alfae language of Astraemdi, the Omyrn language of Omanesch, the Vhozon tongue of Kuut, the Zekunso language of Uskarling and a number of other influences. While not quite the universal language, at least an understanding of Galactica is usually considered necessary for travel beyond one's homeworld. Designed to be spoken by the widest possible range of vocal structures while also being simple to learn, Galaxan is available to learn for free at any licensed memory download provider.
Samus' notes:
The Space Pirates take pride in never speaking Galaxan amongst themselves, defying its universalist intentions. But their standard language, Dismak, is a strong contender for the ugliest language in the entire universe.
Substances: Energy Production: Zero Point Energy Catalysts: Zebetite
A material derived from the specific quantum structures of Afloraltite, Zebetite serves as one of the primary methods of Chozo power generation. In contrast to Afloraltite, Zebetite is far more stable and is capable of regenerating itself endlessly, even from apparent total destruction. It is so stable in fact, that it can be utilised as protection as well as power production, and the speed at which disrupted Zebetite can regrow itself is infamous for its astonishing nature. The biomechanical substance is primarily generated either synthetically or through refining Afloraltite into more of it. When interacting with psychic and mystic energies in tandem; it is also able to mimic the effects of Aeion energy in admittedly reduced form. Despite the modern name, Zebetite and its production was shared with most of the other precursor civilisations for similar purposes and was in use long before the foundation of the Zebes colony.
Samus' notes:
I've asked why it looks like brain tissue. From what I've been able to gather, it's because the cerebral structure is especially conductive to the sorts of energies that the Chozo like to use in tandem with Zebetite and helps with processing that power.