Chapter 11 of my endless, Endless fan fiction. I promise the end is within sight.



Ch 1 https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16426-fan-fiction-the-duke

Ch 2 https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16382-fan-fict-the-missionary

Ch 3 https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16383-fan-fict-the-vain-god

Ch 4 https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16386-fan-fict-the-chained-chancellor

Ch 5 https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16396-fan-fict-the-silver-paladin

Ch 6 https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16395-fan-fict-the-doubtful-clerk

Ch 7 https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16394-fan-fict-the-mad-emperor

Ch 8 https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16399-fan-fict-horatio

Ch 9 https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16398-fan-fict-the-war-bird

Ch 10 https://www.games2gether.com/endless-space/forum/38-creations/thread/16400-fan-fict-the-ice-paladin



The Child of Eaur



The universe began with a single spark. A great explosion that sent matter and energy to the far corners of the void of space,. Over the dance of time stars and planets formed, coalesced into galaxies. A single spark that brought light to where there had only been darkness, and over the eons, life where there had been nothingness. The first recorded species known hailed from the planet Tor. They were the Tandu, the hunters of the plains, the dark Handuns who roamed the arctic wastes, and the Eaur the dwellers from under the sea. They were the Endless.



After countless centuries of gazing up at the stars, The Endless finally reached beyond their own planet, hungry for the answers to the countless mysteries of the universe. They became the first space faring civilization and successfully colonized other worlds and star systems. However they were far from benign. In their greed and arrogance, the Eaur mined too far and deep for precious metals and brought death and destruction to Tor. They fled. The trials of space proved too much for the ocean living Eaur and they sought ways to ease their transition to life in this new environment. Some used perverse forms of technology to change their genetic code, becoming mutations, shadows of their former selves. Those who refused to conform to this changing were destroyed in a horrible civil war, the War of Alteration. Yet some survived.



A last band of true Eaur escaped the perversion and over generations found a new home. They became reclusive from Endless society and developed a fear of technology and so shunned it in all forms, preferring to live as hunters and gatherers as their ancestors before. Over time the knowledge of their origins were lost. Their fear of technology forgotten. Once again they ventured out among the stars, not as The Endless, but as their children, the amoebas. Worlds were colonized, a great empire was built. However a deep seeded memory of the mistakes of the ancient past kept root within them, and they kept a balance within their new found worlds, and sought peace with other civilisations met in the galaxy. Until the cravers made themselves known.



World after world was eaten up by the gluttonous hives. When all seemed lost, a last desperate alliance of Sophon, Terran, and Amoeba stopped the Craver fleets and made fire upon their home world, destroying their great queen. However the Terrans looked out on the vacuum of power left by the Cravers and sought to fill it in their greed. The alliance dissolved and war continued. What remained of the amoebas empire was conquered by the terrans, but not before some fled and made their home here, in the deep ocean of Xenophros, with the purpose of forgetting war and dedicated to unlocking the secrets of Dust.



Over the decades the discovery of quantum communications lead to the establishment of a neural net society. All individual amoeba on Xenophros gained the ability to communicate telepathically, no longer constrained by the complicated language of flashing pulses of light. It was only a matter of years until the individual ceased to exist and all melded into a single consciousness. The individual was now no more than a feeler for the great mind. The amoeba explained all this to the terrans that stood before its feeler on the beach. Of course they couldn’t understand its pulses of light so it told them this through its neural link with Gero Kartal. In order to establish communication between the terrans and itself Gero volunteered to act as a verbal thrall of the great mind. A quantum chip was planted in his auditory cortex of his brain allowing the thoughts the Amoeba mind wished to express be related through the voice of Gero Kartal.



The leader of the terrans stood dumbfounded. Amoeba could hear Gero’s thoughts through the neural link, speaking to it. “Why do you insist on giving out the history of the universe whenever someone asks you your name?” Thought Gero.



The Amoeba answered. “I could ask why terrans believe ones essence can be summed in a simple label.”



Gero spoke to the party on the beach, “I told you, just call this one Gary.”



The feeler of the Amoeba quivered with blue pulses. The mind couldn’t help but be amused at Gero’s insistence on labelling its feelers. “Gero, if you continue to give names to my feelers, You might as well give them to your fingers and toes as well.”



“Actually Therna already has a name for, well, one of my appendages,” thought Gero.

The next few hours were spent informing the beach party of the events after Gero’s disappearance. Upon detecting the Errant Fleet entering the solar system, Amoeba thought the worse. It seemed that the Empire had found its new home and was launching an invasion. Amoeba sent out feelers to disable Gero’s ship and capture whom it could to learn the plans of the invaders.



Amoeba stole Gero from his escape pod and dragged him down into the depths of the ocean, enveloping him in one of its feelers before the deep could crush him. That was when it established the neural link and found that Gero Kartal and the pilgrims were simply looking for a new home, and shared a desire for the knowledge of dust.



The terran was brought to the city of the Amoeba. Gero, in the belly of a feeler, breathing liquidated oxygen, was awestruck of the oceanic home of the Eaur child. From the ocean floor rose a mountain of rock with a great mouth cut into the side, giving way to a great under water cavern. Stalagmites and stalactites glowed with ever changing lights and pulses, housing the millions of feelers that carried on the work of the city; research and building, feeding and playing, gathering experiences that would enrich the knowledge of the great mind.



Gero fell in love with the city and spent weeks exploring every cavern and tunnel, wondering at the data terminal plug ins that transferred ancestral memory and experiences into his mind. When not at the plug ins he was hunting prey in the phosphorescent reefs outside the city. In exchange for sharing his mind with Amoeba, he was given a feeler to control for his own, and because it was necessary if he wished to survive in the ocean habitat. For whatever reason, he had taken to calling his thrall Gary. Time seemed to slip from Gero among the glowing city, and he finally insisted on returning to his people.



Gero’s happiness in returning to the Pilgrims was quickly sapped by the knowledge that his dear friend, Therna Ubantri, was lost in a battle with the Empire. He retreated to a quiet place in his mind full of memories of his friend to grieve while Amoeba was given use of his body to explore his peoples’ city, Legacy and to meet with his leaders, Ziecheal and Chidi Bademdi, whom it met on the beach.



“Please allow me to apologize for the grievous loss of life your people have suffered at my feelers,” began Amoeba through Gero. “It was a most unfortunate misunderstanding. Know that I have every intention of making amends for my mistake.”



Chidi stared with cold eyes. It was no wonder that Gero referred to him as Iceberg. He was utterly emotionless. The faces of terrans gave signals to emotions they are experiencing just as the colours of its feelers, but the only emotion detected from this one was a coldness in his eyes, his face gave nothing away.



“An unfortunate misunderstanding?” repeated Chidi flatly, “Our people were killed by you, and all you can say is that it’s a misunderstanding?”



“Yes. Given the history of your people, surely you can understand why we would perceive your arrival as a threat.”



The dark skin terran gave a nod, and placed a hand on Chidi’s shoulder as if to calm him, though the admiral gave nothing away that he was in need of calming. “I understand why you would see it that way. In fact my admiral here knows more than any other man the extent of your race’s suffering.”



Chidi’s cold eyes looked to the floor. Could that be shame he is feeling? “It’s true. When I was a young man I served as a lieutenant with the Imperial Ministry of Recreation and Game. I administered the deployment of hunters to your worlds. We may have fooled ourselves in thinking that what we were doing was simply hunting animals, but there is no denying that it was a war of conquest.”



“Please,” said Amoeba through Gero, “Let us forgive and forget the sins of the past, both old and recent and look to our future. You cannot possibly know the danger are now in. Xenophros is very old, and has many secrets. Your allies, the Sophon delve too dangerous and deep into these mysteries. I fear that they have awoken something from the deep of the planet…”



Ziecheal’s eyes glittered with gold, “What? What did they awaken?”



“The Sowers.”



There was no further time for discussion. An officer barged into the Ziecheals chamber with urgent news. An Imperial fleet has emerged from the slip stream node. The siege of Xenophros had begun.

Damn you Nolan! You make such good stories and then leave me hanging But anyways. Really good! I am getting all Emotionly-like. REALLY looking foward to the next one. Great job 10/10

lol! Thank you very much, Ever!

Great writing!