The Dark Between The Stars

FIFTY-FOUR
EXXOS

Trapped in an incomprehensible pocket behind the universe, Exxos and his black robots struggled to understand the Shana Rei’s hatred and capriciousness. Was it curiosity, or just a penchant for destruction? The cold inkblot creatures had offhandedly dismantled two more robots for no comprehensible reason, unless they were bored or frustrated.

“How can you help us fight?” the Shana Rei demanded.

“We have abilities that you cannot know,” Exxos bluffed. “We will demonstrate them—when necessary.”

With racing thoughts, he collated everything he had learned, including unreliable knowledge from his databases of Ildiran myths. He needed to comprehend the Shana Rei before he risked offering further answers.

The robots drifted in a netherworld of darkness surrounded by a cloud of debris from their dismantled ships. Suddenly a flicker of light rippled through the void, and all the inkblots flinched. The representational eyes flickered and blurred, then blazed more intensely.

“What was that?” Exxos asked. “Please explain.”

“Pain. More pain. It grows worse.”

“Where does the pain come from? What hurts you?” Exxos said.

“Pain comes from the evolving universe. Pain comes from the stain of life, from thoughts and order being imposed upon the natural state of chaos.”

“My robots are powerful, but our sentience causes you no agony. We are different.”

“You are different.”

“We are powerful.”

“That remains to be seen.”

The black blots swelled and closed in on Exxos, and he thought they might call his bluff and dismantle him, but the Shana Rei kept talking in their vibrating portentous voices. “In the beginning, all was silent, all was black, all was peaceful. But now the chatter of thoughts, the burning of stars, the outcry of gravity is one endless scream in our minds. We cannot unmake it fast enough.”

“Our goals are aligned,” Exxos immediately pointed out. “We wish to destroy as well.”

“We intend to destroy everything—including you.”

“No, not us. My robots are unique. Do not underestimate what we can do.” Exxos had to convince them. “Listen—and hear our silence amid the scream of creation. A powerful silence. We know how to create the silence you need. If you destroy us, you will lose an opportunity to win your battle.”

“We will not destroy you. Yet.” The eye in the inkblot vanished, then reawakened. “The greatest agony is caused by the frenzy of life, the pulsing of minds, the energy of thoughts. We are exploring, reaching out. We have found an Ildiran ship and swallowed it. We have found the hydrogues and will systematically eradicate them. But they do not cause us the worst pain—there is something new, something greater.”

The surviving black robots floated motionless in the entropy bubble, unable to escape. Exxos calculated their probability of survival as… very small. “We know the Ildiran race fought you long ago,” he said. “You failed. You lost. You need our help.”

Another flicker of light rippled through the void, causing the Shana Rei to flinch. Exxos observed, but remained unable to draw useful conclusions. Something in the outside universe was disturbing them, but he did not understand what it was.

The nearest inkblot swelled. “Ildiran thism burns like a net made of agony. We would have disintegrated the thism network long ago, but the faeros fought beside the Ildirans. In a similar way, the extended verdani mind forms a deadly web that traps us. We nearly destroyed it once, but some trees survived… and now we can feel that the worldforest thrives again. The task ahead of us is great.”

Exxos insisted, “Our robots also attempted to exterminate humanity and the Ildirans. Robots and Shana Rei fight the same battle. We know how to destroy it all. Together, we can succeed, if you trust us.”

Apparently they did not want allies. “For millennia, we retreated to where we found a glimmer of peace, but now the universe is stirring, like a monster emerging from a chrysalis. Something powerful threatens us in a way we have never before experienced. We were driven to act, triggered to return.”

The dark blots insisted that their war was not just a physical one, but a conflict that required more than weapons and ships and explosions. The Shana Rei would lash out in less-comprehensible ways against the cosmic shrieks of life. They would attack their enemies via their psyches; they would follow the paths of thism that were strung like hot wires from planet to planet, cutting with razor edges into the minds of the Shana Rei.

The Shana Rei gathered around the helpless black robots. “The jabber of sentient life will never fall silent. If we do not prevent the great awakening, all is lost, and the void will never know peace. We must eradicate the detritus of creation.”

“We robots are intellectually familiar with the Ildiran Empire and their thism, with the verdani and their green priests,” Exxos said. “We can design an organized plan to achieve our goals. Together, we will be invincible. We can help you create weapons that will obliterate everything.”

“Creation is pain.”

“It is necessary to create in order to destroy.” Exxos would say whatever was necessary to maintain his survival and that of his robots. He surmised that the Shana Rei were insane by any rational measure. An insane sentience was dangerously unpredictable… but potentially manipulable. “We will help you extinguish sentient life. All we ask is that you preserve one small corner of the universe for us. You would be wise to take advantage of our powers.”

The inkblots fell silent, conferring with one another in a manner the black robots could not detect. Finally, the nearest Shana Rei answered, “We agree to exclude a zone where you and your kind can exist—provided you prove useful and can accomplish what you promise. So long as the pain diminishes.”

Exxos felt that he had achieved a great victory; the Shana Rei believed his claim, for now. The other captive robots buzzed and hummed. The shadow creatures converged on them. The voice said, “We Shana Rei wish to be at peace. We wish to die. We wish to be uncreated.”

Exxos digested that data for a moment, then said, “We can help.”