HAT WEARING AUNTIE

It's official.

We're off war-time footing for Total War.

We're down to standard border protection.

It's as close to peace as we're going to get.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

Has it really only been thirteen years?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Feels longer, doesn't it?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

AKLTAK SOARING WORLDS

It really does.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

LANAKTALLAN GRAZING FIELD OF FREE THOUGHT

Yes. The future, for the first time for my people, is uncertain.

Yet, oddly enough, we all relish it.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

It was a devastating war.

The census is in.

We lost nearly 60% of the population of the Unified Council and the Confederacy in total.

We lost the Biological Artificial Sentience Systems.

The Digital Artificial Sentience Systems.

The Clone Worlds Conglomerate.

The Cybernetic Organism Collective.

As well as Terran Descent Humanity.

Terran Descent Humanity is considered either extremely endangered or extinct.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

So, they're no contact unless they reach out?

Do you think they will?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

AKLTAK SOARING WORLDS

Why can't we help them like they helped us?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Kid, they don't want our help.

They've got serious internal problems. Either they're a LARP world that's just now recovering. They're an isolated system who took 80+% casualties. They're a lost colony.

Or they're enraged.

We asked.

They told us to jump up our own asses in a clown suit.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLD

It seems like we should help them.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

We can help them by doing as they asked and just guarding them.

It looks like, with the exception of the Crusade and Tabula, they're abandoning space travel for right now.

Lots of primitivism or primitive LARP colonies.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

And the Dandelion Fleets.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

Brrr, don't remind me.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

So, that's it? We just ignore them except to make sure nobody jumps them?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

That's the basics.

I mean, we've got the New DASS, they're the main ones in charge of it.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

NEW DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

We will guard over them, those unwilling to give up their bodies.

Let us not repeat the most destructive act to happen, in terms of repercussions.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

What's that?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

When we glassed Terra.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TUKNA'RN GESTALT

That is logical.

That set about a chain reaction that led us here.

Let us avoid such disastrous events.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Well said, kid.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLD

So, we're not being shut down?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

HAT WEARING AUNTIE

Too many domestic issues.

With the Senate being reconvened, there's a lot our peoples need to do, and having us around helps avoid any problems with xenophobia.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

It's going to be a rough road.

Our people need us. Need us talking to one another.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

LANAKTALLAN GRAZING FIELD OF FREE THOUGHT

I, for one, look forward to the challenge.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL

Same here.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

The sky was full of smeared pixels, artifacts of GIFs and jpegs long passed, the background the color of a tri-vee turned to a dead channel. Here and there was the streak of a file being copied that left a bright line in the sky for a few moments.

The ground was softly waving error checkers that came up to the hips of the quartet traveling across the great plain. In the distance were mountains, huge blocks of object oriented coding that made up the bedrock of the strange place.

The quartet consisted of a Man, a Bird, a Fox, and a Frog.

The four of them had become fast friends in their travels as they explored the forgotten places of the world, saw ancient wonders long passed into the mists of history, and trod trails long neglected.

They sang as they walked. They told stories to one another as they moved through the grass. Their friendship deepening and expanding as they moved toward the far away mountains.

They camped, sometimes for a single night, sometimes for longer, their camp always ringing with laughter and song.

Finally, they came to a great gate guarded on either side by strange creatures that were a melding of technology, animal, and man. Riddles were asked and answered.

The guardians allowed the travelers to continue.

They moved onward, ever toward the Great Firewall Mountains.

And into history.

-----

The imp fired off the plasma Spin-o-Matic, whirling over and over as the lights and colors sprayed.

WHEEE!

It didn't know it was lost. It didn't know it had once been part of an armada that had sought to hoard the resources of the universe for itself. It didn't know that in ages past it had been a feared herald of certain doom for any system it arrived in.

All it knew was that the sky was full of singing lights, that the Spin-o-Matic was fun, and that it liked spinning and twirling through the endless void that was full of music. It knew joy and wonder as it spun through the music and lights.

It had been visited again and had shown the stranger how neat the Spin-o-Matic was. It had shown off the light sparklers. It had even showed off the Dancy-Jiggy-Thingy that made neat fire shoot from different nozzles so it jittered and jumped around.

The stranger had given the imp another bauble to wear that sang and sparkled.

So Twinkle was happy the guest had visited again.

FROM: 435c3417A4323

TO: AMALGAMATED RACES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

RE: Twinkle

Visited the old Precursor relic from 27.85 millennia ago known as Twinkle. Assessed its intellect at firmly (TODDLER) level. No Precursor code strings detected beyond basic digital life function and mechanical autonomous functions. Attached additional beacon. Recommend frequent checkups to ensure it remains undisturbed.

It's fairly cute. It'll sing you a little song if you ask.

So far it has never sang the same song twice.

-----

Shakhan was old for his people, at nearly 133 Galactic Standard Years he was almost the oldest Shavashan on the planet Argassa. He had outlived his wife, but had kept his life full of love and laughter by staying connected with his family, which had slowly grown as the decades rolled on.

He was often sought out for interviews.

After all, he had written "Max the Human and His Amazing Junk Show", detailing his encounter with the Terran Descent Human Max A Millions AKA Max Yo Ngyn. He had been one of the first to encounter the Mad Lemurs of Terra and the very first to write about his experience.

While his story had been largely mocked in the beginning, once the Mad Lemurs of Terra had made their presence known by facing off against the Precursor Autonomous War Machines, then the Unified Galactic Council, and finally the Atrekna, his book had been in high demand.

He sat, now, in a chair, staring up at the stars, on the back veranda of his manor.

He had gone from a simple researcher to a famous author by simply typing out his experiences and observations of one of the few non-martial Mad Lemurs of Terra encountered.

His book second book had included interviews with Dreams of Something More, the golden Mantid diplomat.

It had been as popular after the Second Precursor War as his first book had been during.

Many believed that the Mad Lemurs of Terra were gone.

Extinct.

None had been seen in nearly a hundred years.

There were always rumors, of course.

But Shakhan knew better.

They were still out there, somewhere.

He knew it.

He sipped his warm drink and stared at the sky.

He whispered four words to the night sky.

"Do you need assistance?"

-----

In his long life Sleemas had been several things.

A Shavashan, he'd been present for one of the first meetings with Terran Descent Humanity, meeting the Mad Lemur Enraged Phillip. He'd fought with the army of Aastruk of House eshThsashal, helping the Dread Dragon Knight liberate the Shavashan people from the Lanaktallan.

He'd also managed to lure away an Atrekna ambush and save hundreds of school children.

And seen the Lolita Sorceresses of the Sailor Moon Sisterhood completely destroy the system, ridding the universe of that pack of the Atrekna.

Some said he was foolish, that his quest was useless.

But Aastruk himself had blessed Sleemas's quest.

He knew the Mad Lemurs of Terra were out there somewhere.

And he'd find them.

Which is why he was back in his little ship, moving from system to system.

He always asked the same question when he made the translation to realspace.

"May I come in?"

-----

Preveerat-19 tended to his garden carefully. The air was sweet again, without the bitter tang of volcanic ash and sulfur. He cared for each flower, he sang to each berry bush, and he carefully cast the spells of wind and rain.

He was an elf. A wood elf to be exact.

He could hear the dreams of the High Queen, where she lay dozing on her throne. Hear her whispers of what to do, what spells to cast, what songs to sing.

He smiled as he tended his gardens.

It was slow work that required patience, but he was an elf and to be an elf meant that one knew patience.

With careful hands, an upraised voice, and a strong will he followed the commands of the High Queen as he worked to restore his section of the gardens.

At times another would visit, or the High Queen would dream of them.

A powerful lady, with strong and wise children.

Four strong sons, knights who guarded the realm.

A patron with one eye, a powerful Lord Knight whose will and hands guided the High Queen.

Preveerat-19 carefully tended his sections of the gardens.

As his fathers had before him.

As his sons would after him.

It was a wondrous work.

And when Preveerat-19 laid down on a bed of soft moss, the Great Lady came to stroke his forehead and sing gentle songs to him while the Lord Knight stood guard over him.

Preveerat-20 was an elf.

He strode across the moss with the Lord Knight, showing the Lord Knight the flowers, the bushes, and now the tiny insects that flitted from bush to bush. How lovely their colors were, how soothing their buzz was, how industrious they were.

The Lord Knight was pleased.

Preveerat-20 felt joy in the fact the Lord Knight and the High Lady approved of his work.

He knew that the High Queen craved their approval.

Slowly, he encouraged the garden to grow, to link with others.

And when it was time, he laid down to sleep.

The work on the Gardens of Tabula continued.