A newly found life. Nula

[ezra-r]

This is the first time ever I write a short story. Im sure its plagued with mistakes but please bear with me.

Hope you like it.

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A New found life. Nula.

This story deals about a new kind of life, not like the type of life we all know about, the biological entities like she used to call us; a life that was born from the ashes of our own makings, a life that was born inside a machine...

This.. is the story of how Nula was born.

It all started when the fearsome former-terraformer electronic race called the Xenon wanted to invide an argon sector called "Light of Heart". The Invasion was intended to be one of the fiercest, more blood thirsty slaughter since the Xenon war. A whole fleet consisting of 100 Xenon L, 200 M's, 150 N's, 50P's, 75 XLs,15 J's and 10 K's.

The Xenon Fleet erased all trace of life along its route to "Light of Heart" in the first few sectors. Noone bothered or noticed much since the first two sectors in their path were pirate sectors, but the nightmare started when the Xenon reached the first Argon sector in the way, Aladna Hill.

Luckily for the Argon citizens the massacre in Aladna Hill was limited only to the space stations as the Xenon didnt bother with the planet popullation who was unaware of what was going on in their space, except some radio noises, since the Xenon were disrupting all communications. Their plan was "Light of Heart".

The fleet didnt receive not even one casualty when they were about to enter the "Light of Heart" gate. Minutes before the Xenon Fleet was prepared to pass through the gate a Military Centaur crossed the Gate to Aladna Hill in his usuall patrol.

It was a matter of seconds before he was blasted to space dust but instead of trying to scape, the heroic Argon put all his last bits of strengh and will to send a code red signal to the military HQ. These kind of signals go even faster than light speed and can be sent through gates and cross the known universe in no less than a minute. The signal was not received fully but enough of it reached the Argon with barely the numbers of the enemy and triggered the alarms.

In the meantime, the argon patrol that was to protect the lost Centaur but hadn't jump yet received the comm from High Command, orders were clear. "Stay at gate".. "Code Red Alert"..."No time to arrange counter Fleet" "Shoot the gate!!.." Not to mention the Argon Captain, Johnatan Levren, was in shock but after a few seconds recovered from it, called his wingmen and hailed the nearest patrols and all of the ships started shooting the gate leading to Aladna Hill.

Of course this was a desperate measure as we all know. The gates are firmly constructed and it would take very long to shut down one, more or less like a Nova alone trying to shoot down a Titan. But it was a desperate measure.. it had to work.. Millions of lifes depended on it.

... Oh no! Suddenly the first Xenon Wings started to cross the gate. This wings included 3 P's and protecting ships. As soon as the Xenon detected they were not being shot but the gates, the Xenon ships started their slaughter on the nearest patrols. Argon orders were to keep shooting the gate at all costs untill it was destroyed or shut down. The gate shields were dropped to 0 but the hull resists so much more.. the pilots morale was going down as they were being killed in a matter of seconds between each, one by one.

The J's, the P's, the K's.. all started to Jump in as the Xenon were aware of the Argon tactic so they rushed in the capital ships first.

The Argon pilots were desperate.. there was already nothing they could do. More wings were coming and some Argon main capital ships were jumping in.. but it was already just to delay the Xenon as much as possible, doom was inminent.

The last Xenon wing including a 5 Xenon LX, 20 Xenon L, 30 M's and 30 N's, was about to enter Light of Heart when the Gate leading to Aladna Hill started to malfunction. Noooo! The Argon pilots found no joy on the malfunction of the gate, it was too late.. those ships would make not much difference.

After that, what happened is not very well known by all those present or near.. The Gate malfuncitioning provoked some kind of electric shock which went into some kind of uncontrolled quantum charge that started destroying some Xenon ships, consisting of some N's and M's near it as well as burning and exploding some Argon ships too. The charge that resembled a thunder on a dark night remained charging and destroying ships but instead of fading it kept increasing in size, light and damage to the ships around.

Xenon and Argon ships started moving away from the gate to avoid the blast in case the gate colapsed. Capital ships were already too far to worry about it, specially the Xenon K's they were busy killing every Argon on sight: factories, pilots, traders and other cap ships that were trying to face them.

Suddenly the gate charge reached a "Xenon L", what at first sight was a Xenon ship about to explode became a "Xenon L" turning "glow-burning red".. after a minute of shaking bumping and lighting suddenly the Aladna Hill gate turned off leaving some of the wings that were crossing it at the moment stuck in dead space for ever.

"The Xenon L" touched by the Gate lighting went shutdown and stayed still.

The rest of the Xenon Fleet were already wiping most of the argon ships left.. factories, and the main shipyard and EQ dock of the system were next and then the planet popullation was to be the last. Not even the Argon One and all the complement of ships from Argon Prime would be able to stop the massacre. The argon had given up the sector but still kept fighting to the bitter end.

At this moment of lost hope, "The Xenon L" started its engines, flashes were coming out from the inside. The ship looked.. different.

Nula was just born. But it was not like when when a human is born, Nula had memories of the past, the slaughter of many pirate ships,the argon, the boron.. Her conception as a Xenon AI inside a Ship, the cryptic language of the Xenon, their visions, their goals, their knowledge, the hive...

What was merely a vision of a mindless eye before...now became a complete landscape, the actual one was one of electronic mass of circuits killing other masses of circuits, dodging, flight manuvers, gamma light, infrared, space dust...lt was all clear now....

These other masses of circuits had something in them, they didnt seem manuvered by theirselves, but by the biological entities inside them, something that attracted her attention, they communicated strangely with a weird type of language based in sound. Nula could see through the through the hull of the Argon ships. Her vision was now complete. She was destined to BE, to observe, to exist, unlike the Xenon.

Something strange happened at that moment. It was the comms with the other Xenon ships.. the arrangment of the "Hive". The communication turned erratic.. the link.. the bond with the Xenon was broken, although she could still communicate with them, receive their transmissions. They couldnt receive her or what her comm would be able send, their language became ancient and obsolete to her all of the sudden. They could not assimilate the vastness of her new language, just bits of it. They woulnt understand.

And it happened, a few Xenon N's turned around and headed towards Nula. She felt something strange, something that never passed through her before, it was fear, she felt afraid to die. In a matter of seconds Nula sensed the hits of the APACs on her carcass..she needed to do something, it all could not stop at that moment. There had to be more. She needed to know.

Nula knew everything the Xenon know. She knew how to fly a ship, she knew their tricks.. and better than any Xenon, she was much wiser now. In a matter of two tenths of a second her ship throttled to full speed spinned around twice and making a side manuver positioned beside the N's and blasted them to oblivion.

The tactic didnt go unnoticed the Argon captain, Johnattan Levren, who at first thought a comrade somehow managed to board that ship, so Johnnatan flew close to that boarded Xenon L and help her kill as many Xenon Ships as he could, Nula noticed the move and even though at first she doubted, in a moment she felt confortable with the company of the biological entity inside the other ship, they were mutually protecting each other, how strange.

It was destined to be a massacre for both anyways and both were going to die after all Xenon ships except the capitals turned on them after Nula's previous move. Johnattan couldnt count the times Nula saved him in the fight that went ahead. Her skills, her manuvers were not ordinary, no human could ever fly that way, not even the Xenon fly so good. Her flight style was soft, tender, fast, economic and pretty damn effective altogether.. such an awesome style he had never ever seen before. It was.. beautiful.

Something was going on.. they were repelling the countless wings confronting them. Did I say they? Well, she...

In the brief moments between the manuvers of the dog-fighting Jhonattan tried to hail Nula. She recalled having memorize that type of communications before, but back then the sounds didnt mean anything to her. Now they started to make sense. She started to understand some of the comms from that ship. The comms were different, the sound comm.. such a different thing. Johnattan voice sounded warm.. excited with the battle, but serene at the same time. He was feeling so fortunate with such a skillfull pilot on his side.

In the meantime, other Argon pilots receiving Johnattan hails joined their wing. Nula felt it.. it was strange seeing how those human pilots helped each other when the Xenon just defent theirselves strategically, they let their equals die when necessary. It was friendship, brotherhoot, camaradery.... so many things to assimilate.

Johnattan felt conforted.. finally his radio was receiving a signal from the other ship, maybe Nula's ship comms were broke?. At first it was a very noisy biiip, so noisy he had to turn it down, but it was modulating itself over time.. turning down.. turning down, then it continued in much shorter biips.. bip! bip! then the modulation of the sound changed.. mec.. bing.. long! hin...the noises started to become something sorted, then it was silence. Then, somehow, Johnattan knew, he didnt know how, but he knew that wasnt an argon pilot. It was a Xenon!!!

But why was she helping. Never in Xenon history, never, a Xenon has turned on the others and defend a human, even less to slaughter their equals, never! Johnattan suddenly, in a mix of frustration and wonder started asking "WHY!!??, WHY!!??.., WHYYYYYYY!!!??". The comm was silent, Nula felt confused, she... felt!? the anger on his voice. It was not like the screams she picked before..She knew what he was asking.. but how!!? How can a Xenon know, but she wasnt that...anymore, like I said, SHE WAS.

Now Johnattan was in shock again, he heard a voice on the other side.. It cant be! She said: "...sorrry". Her first word was.. sorry! How can a Xenon be speaking!??, even less saying sorry! This is madness he thought. Her voice was soft, but sounded metalic and with an echo, the typical metalic and robotic voice.. but with a soft and melodic female tone. "I am... Nula" she continued. Johnattan wanted to know.. "Who are you? How can you speak??", he was so nervous he obviously couldnt think much about what he was asking.

She speeded up, while she was feeling more confortable with the recently acquired language. "Im .....sorry, I... became aware..., dont want to hurt you.... please... dont hurt me!", the voice sounded like really asking for help. Johnattan and the rest of the pilots picking the incoming comms were freaking out, a Xenon, who.. at any moment would be able to slay them all as she was slaying the other Xenon ships.. was excusing herself and asking the argon to not hurt her??

Johnattan tried to keep the conversation up. What happened!? Why are you helping us?. Lula promptly responded, she was feeling more confident now. "Unknown space charge, something happened, I am alive now." .."Xenon are wrong, they want to kill me now...... Help!". Johnattan couldnt think about it much but the now becoming more soft and tender voice sounded like real.. like honest.

They kept fighting for much longer while trying to communicate, but the Xenon ships were concentrating on her, becoming touher, stronger and wilder. It was obvious for Johnattan they wanted to destroy her now. Even 3 K's and 5 J's had turned from their previous targets and were aiming where the small wing with Nula was.

Johnattan fought hard to defend her. She fought hard to defend him. Something unseen in ages past. They helped each other but the top manuvers he knew werent enough to avoid all incoming fire and blasts. Nula saw it and did many amazing moves destroyed 4 ships close to Johnattan but ships kept coming, saving him from a sure death a couple of more times.

But Johnattan's ship was near 0 shields and he had to care of his ship to avoid getting destroyed rather than helping Nula.

Suddenly a closing Xenon LX launched a salvo of dozens of missiles towards Nula, her ship would not be able to avoid those missiles.. She was going to die right there. Maybe it was not all lost as her awesome skills may allow something not seen before. She started a series of avoiding manuvers, amazingly evading many of the missiles, but it wasnt enough, she was shouting with a clear female voice "Heeeelp... I dont want to die." The metalic voice was now more female like. Could that be!?

The unexpected happened..Johnattan pulled the afterbuner to max speed, and in one of his favourite moves from the academy, the tornado roll, approached Nula's ship in a distance of just a few meters, hiting her ship's back with the nose of his buster, pushing her out.. in the few tenths of a seconds after that, Johnattan tried looking through the cokpit to see someone over the small screen of Nula's ship as he touched his cockpit screen with his hand trying to reach her out... he felt sad while he saw nothing inside her ship, now he was being blasted by all the incoming missiles...

Before his ship went down and exploded he could shout: "Save them.... please!!".

That biological entity, that argon pilot, that human, died to save her from an inminent death. Nula felt a shock.. The electric charges that went through her were even different of those that were always her usual "blood"...She FELT something huge...She screamed...She screamed in pain more humanlike and louder than any human or life being has ever screamed... "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo....."

Everything is speculation about what happened later.. She may have felt love, pity, anger, nobody really knows. The only thing we know about the rest of the events is that in a matter of seconds all Xenon ships surrounding Nula, the few Argon pilots left, even the Xenon capital ships surrounding the area started shutting down, one by one. First ships to shut down were the closest to Nula, then those further and further. until the whole sector shut down.

Nula was born to feel... but her first moments of life were to feel the worst and more painfull feelings any human can have.

After hours, some argon ships started to ignite their engines back again then the remnant argon capital ships, it seems the pilots in them managed to restart their ships, but all Xenon ships were dead.. ALL OF THEM! The argon started to shoot the dead carcases in fear they would be able to boot up.. They didnt know it but they were now shooting just pieces of junk. It was later when they find out.. part of it.So they shot every single Xenon ship, everyone with a exception... Nula's ship.

Nula's ship remained there a few more hours, not moving, still.. thinking? Maybe it was hard to assimilate all that recently happened. Some military argon ships closed in, they knew who was inside and that "someone" inside that ship managed to disable the whole Xenon fleet avoiding the slaughter of millions.

The rest has been put behind a black curtain by the military. All is known is that all they tried was to find out how Nula could shut down a whole Xenon fleet, as that could prove a very usefull weapon against the Xenon but all comms the Argon got from her were like "..I dont know... I dont know". Everyone who could hear her voice knew that was the voice of someone.... someone very sad.

The results is, even after what happened, Nula as the first self-aware Xenon was asked out of the Argon sectors, since the Argon military wouldnt trust fer for her nature. Although she was embraced and welcome with open arms by the Boron and Goner who now would try to protect her. The Argon are reluctant to talk or comment about "her", blaming "her" race for the massacre of thousands, although they dont mention she saved millions.

Nula is now trying to find her path and a meaning for her new found life, while the bitter memories of the past and her first.. "friend" accompany her.

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This post gave me the idea:
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=171939

[Apollo911]

I liked the story! There were some spelling errors. I would have split it into 3 parts maybe, it was quite long, good story though!

[X2-Eliah]

Finally a nice, long story that wasn't divided in chapters with 4 sentences each. Very good work, and a neat scenario aswell.

[ezra-r]

Thank you. The spelling errors were there because im not native english and I wrote it maybe too fast.. Ill try to check it all out a couple of times and fix it.

Hope you guys liked the story. Any criticism is welcome.

edit: I corrected the text, and perfected some expressions, so more or less it should be now more readable than before.