Another month's gone by and it is time for an update and a new chapter
For those who are new to this: A number of peopl from this forum have made the effort of translating the background story to the X games 'Farnhams Legend' by Helge Kautz (HelgeK). The whole raw translation has been rewritten by Steve Miller (SteveMill).
The current status of the project is:
1) translation - completed
2) 1st rewrite - completed
3) proof-reading of 1st rewrite - complete
4) manuscript back to Helge - done
5) Helge's review and alterations - work in progress
6) 2nd rewrite - pending
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.
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So yeah, we are getting there and THANK YOU to all involved, in particular Steve!
Anyway, enough chatter, here now chapter 10.
Chapter 10
Course.setCourse[_%e00FF00FF00FF00FFset%ei].byOS
[4D6963726F536F66742057696E646F777320544520286329
2032313135]00FFl_ified00FF00FF00FF{
fail%re}
Terraformer Core dump,
historical excerpt
The tiny, flashlight-shaped missile was no larger than a human forearm and undetectable by even the most sophisticated sensors because of its reduced gravitational wake and a speed close to that of light, thanks to a small Matter-Anti Matter Drive. Continually recalculating the shortest possible route to the next jumpgate it adjusted its trajectory with short but precise pulses from tiny attitude jets, skimming asteroids and shooting unhindered through ship shields. It passed sprawling nebulae clouds, their gases excited to a riot of colour by the stars they veiled, traversed solar systems of planets banded by rings of ice, and skirted the corona of a bloated red giant, cleaving to the most direct route with absolute precision.
With an electric flare that burned the last remnants of fuel it accelerated through the final jumpgate and at a velocity just a few decimal points below light-speed the now dark object hurtled through the system known by the name of its rulers, the Family Chin.
How do you communicate over inter-stellar distances? Faster-than-light communication was theoretically possible but frustratingly hard to implement outside of the lab so the answer became 'a message drone'. Tiny spaceships consisting of little more than a drive assembly, a fuel store, a CPU, a memory store and a transmitter, moving at a speed that made interception or destruction of the message all but impossible.
Normally such vessels returned to their owners for reuse but this one was not intended for recycling. As soon as it had relayed the last bit of information to the recipient, via a point-to-point laser that crudely disrupted all other active transmissions, the drone self-destructed. In a pale yellow flash of light, the miniature craft, whose bare and straightforward assembly suggested a Xenon origin, was gone, its debris scattering into infinity at near light speed.
The content of the message, however, compiled using the nested language of the Xenon, was this:
demand[9a0114].gen_value[0000f9a74fe3cfbc0900f1ffc6]{
intercept[0d079e].deliver[4039a1c0].object[0f71] {
unknown_jumpship[ff7f090cd4ba01ca14b0].vector[830a3f] {
gen_value[a0de.017f.9a40];
gen_value[fe00.d0ba.8211];
}
}
handover[cdee900916].position[830a02] {
gen_value[0000.0000.0000];
}
priority[dda7f1] {
high[fffff9];
}
confirmation[094e8ff0] {
required[f000];
}
}
The Patriarch of the Family Chin dismissed his seventh wife from his presence with a disconcerting snarl. The cantankerous bondswoman hissed something that no other Split of the Chin dynasty would have dared to even whisper in the presence of the sovereign. The Patriarch's eyes widened and he threw Ghinn t'Whht a stare that would have frozen anyone else's blood rock solid. With three fingers of his left hand he formed the sign for eternal pain and evisceration, but Ghinn only shrugged and left the throne hall. As much as her defiant behaviour infuriated him, he couldn't help but salute her for her undaunted irreverence. Maybe - just maybe - he wouldn't have her executed after she had given birth to the son she carried in her womb.
'By the beard of Thuruk!' Chin muttered and shook his head; there was no room for sentiment. Ghinn t'Whht would face the same fate as the other six women before her, and Tchil t'Ggt, daughter of the First Warrior of the Honh family, would become his eighth bond-wife. He shook his head again, his long white beard rustling, and picked up the message Ghinn had delivered on a plate made from pure Nividium. It was written in the broad letters of the Argon alphabet on the delicate wing of a space fly, in an ink of a Ghok's black blood.
Oh great Patriarch of Chin, ruler of the Split, subjugator of the Paranids, hammer of the Boron, bearer of the Battle Axe of Eternal Pain - hear the most obedient petition of we, the unfortunate people of Xenon, warriors against the unbearable brightness of light, bane of the Boron, carrier of the brain bone and from now until eternity, possessors of all that is known. The ship of unknown origin, which is {as you undoubtedly know} able to jump without gates from one source of light to another, and that is now at an exposed position in a star system of the always inferior non-Split, we would like to add it to our possession.
Because of the ancient pact between the great people of the Split and us, the unfortunate and mute machines, we do not dare enter your sovereign territory. Great would be our satisfaction if you were able to intercept the unknown vessel and deliver it to the position of our, the machine's, headquarters. Naturally, we creatures of bare metals know that your time is occupied with immeasurably more important tasks; however, still we obediently beg for a word of confirmation that you will assist us in our mission.
With eternal thanks and diligent admiration;
Ambassador of the unfortunate machines called Xenon.
With a deep throated growl Chin crumpled the message wing into a ball and resolved to punish the translators with his own hands in trying to placate him with this pompous blather. They were obscuring the true message and thus they were stealing information from him. Even worse, the flattery was so stylistically uninspired as to be an insult in itself. The translators, no, the entire communications department deserved execution at the earliest possible convenience.
Seventeen mizuras ago the communications network of the palace had delivered the true content of the message to him, compiled in the nested language of the Xenon. It was a blatant demand, not a petition, and the Xenon were anything but unfortunate! Most likely, they ruled over more star systems than anyone else, and they were probably older than any memory of the stars.
"Raaaahhhh!!!!!!" The Patriarch shouted and punched the armrests of the throne with both hands. His skin turned a sickly, yellowish grey like the yolk of a rotten Teladi egg. Nothing was guaranteed to anger him as much as the incompetence and presumption of subordinates. His breath came in loud, quick rasps, the veins on his forehead throbbed alarmingly and it took him some time to regain a degree of control.
Thankfully, there actually were a few competent and dutiful officers, ones that had never disappointed him. Especially high in his favour at this time stood young Cho t'Nnt, oldest offspring of Family Zein, his personal Special Representative. Endowed with the official seal of the Patriarch, he stood outside, and thus was above and beyond the military organisations, the secret services, and all the other Split institutions.
And rightly so!
"Send me Whi t'Rllt," Chin barked at the computer. The leader of the Whi, a Family that currently held a long-term cease-fire agreement with the Chin, was the only person whom the Patriarch would have called "friend" - if that word had existed in his vocabulary. At the same time, and typical of the Split, Whi t'Rllt was also his archrival - a perfectly healthy and balanced love-hate relationship, so to speak. Naturally, Whi was gazing lustily at his friend-foe's throne with his one and only eye. If Chin made even a single wrong move, his Tazuras would be numbered and the era of the Whi Patriarchy would begin.
Chin had previously ordered the leaders of the six most influential families, Whi, Honh, Thyn, Zein, Tharka and Quay to attend the palace as he intended to issue new orders in light of the changed situation. Only Whi t'Rllt and Zein t'Nnt had arrived so far, and the others weren't expected for another Tazura or two, at least.
With a loud creaking rumble that echoed for several sezuras through the dungeon gloom of the Throne Hall, the heavy stone portal opened and as the echo faded, Whi t'Rllt respectfully approached Chin's throne. Clad in a flowing, richly decorated tunic, the ageing family leader wore his long white chin and cheek beards in the traditional fashion; proudly, unlike many of the younger Split, who kept their beards short or shaved them off completely. He hinted a bow, and formed the sign for strong sword and profitable prey with the fingers of his right hand. The Patriarch answered the bow with the slightest nod - more would have been an inappropriate concession that might send him straight to Thuruk's proverbial dungeon at a later point in time.
"Take note," the Patriarch said, indicating the original Xenon message on a view-screen. Whi studied the nested terms attentively, sitting down on the Patriarch's left side - unasked. Chin let the small insubordination pass.
"One thing immediately catches my attention," Whi said after a short while. "The unusually long designation code they use here for the unknown jump ship."
"Very attentive, my friend," the Patriarch agreed. "And this leads us to one conclusion, namely, the machine-creatures have defined this designation only most recently."
"Not surprising - one can hardly surpass the news value of a… a jump ship."
"Whi -he will inform me of the latest insights of his clan's intelligence service!" the Patriarch ordered. The older man hesitated visibly - just for an instant, but enough to cause the Patriarch's grimace to deepen. Whi had hoped to be able to profit from a head start gained by the fact that the foreign space ship had entered the realm of the Split through his clan's jump gate. But of course he didn't have a choice, to evade a question by Chin, the Patriarch of all Split, would mean his instant death and all his possessions, including subordinates, bond folks and vassal families would be taken by the Patriarch.
"My Lord, the most important information seems to be that the propulsion system of the alien ship is superior to our fastest scout ships. Even the machine-creatures have a hard time keeping up with the intruder."
The patriarch rested his arm on the throne's massive armrest, leaned over and brought his face confidingly close to Whi's.
"Then why, thinks he, does the intruder not use his miraculous jump drive? The same jump drive that so vociferously proclaimed his arrival here in our realm. Why doesn't he use it to make a safe distance between his ship and the machines, hm?"
Whi shook his head thoughtfully. "His technology is superior to ours in every respect - he feels safe."
"And that's exactly the wrong conclusion!" the Patriarch of Chin shouted and jumped to his feet. "He looks here!"
Whi stood up hurriedly, while the Patriarch went behind the pedestal throne to the view-screen controls and summoned a new image - a graph labelled 'Gravitational Pulse, ' showing two overlaid curves. The blue arc, labelled 'jump gate event' was almost flat, showing a small increase just after rising through the zero axis crossing point and then a slow, gradual ascent. The red trace started abruptly at zero and rose above the blue. It was labelled a 'jump ship event'.
"My scientists assure me that the jump gates as well as the alien jump drive must be based on the same principle, even though it's not fully understood. But these figures here…" - he pointed at the projection with his fingers forming 'triumph and prey for the patient' - "these figures do actually prove that something went wrong with the alien ship. It must have suffered an accident!"
Chin circled the throne, walking on the pedestal steps to look down on Whi. The old family leader's skull glistened faintly yellow in the light of the incandescent mantles and was blotchy with spots. Disgusted, the Patriarch sat down to evade the sight.
"I don't have to reiterate just how important it is for us to lay our hands on that ship. As soon as the scientists have unravelled the secret of the jump drive, the Split will rule the Universe! We will dissolve the Community of Planets, enslave the Argon and Teladi, and terminate the Boron. We will smash the Paranid's sanctuaries right in front of their eyes, and the Xenon will be our source for cheap spare parts!"
'And I am going to strangle him with my own hands right on his throne,' Whi thought, but he said. "What a vision of grandeur, my Patriarch. How can I be of assistance?"
"For the time being it would already be a great helping if he didn't stand in my line of view. He's not transparent," the Patriarch growled with almost straight lips. Whi stepped aside quickly. Thuruk's beard! Perish will this exuberant temper of his soon enough! Almost as if Chin had read his friend-foes thoughts, the corners of his mouths sagged again. "Unfortunately, we're not the only ones to know about this alien ship. My special Representative was able to glean a lot of information from our stupid allies, the Paranids." He stood up and again adjusted the view-screen controls to display more details about the intruder.
"The Paranid negotiator didn't want to hand us the promised data-octahedron for reasons unknown. But ... well, it's sufficiently known what these religious fanatics call data security, isn't it?"
Whi snorted disdainfully. "Probably the octahedron has relayed the whole of its content to about every receiver online within a two-parsec radius, without even being asked for it."
The ease with which a properly equipped person could penetrate the Paranid data banks was an open secret to all Intelligence organisations, except the Paranid, and the others worked hard to keep it that way.
The Patriarch nodded. "Indeed! But already, the Teladi have detailed information as well. Just how much Kingdom's End and Argon Prime know is currently unknown. Our intelligence services are working full force to assess that."
Whi raised his hand to his chin in an unfinished gesture and frowned but, before he could say anything, the Patriarch ordered him to remain silent.
"He listens and learns."
Chin linked to a Message Drone and recorded a communiqué to be sent to the Bonescout, his Special Representative's ship.
"Cho, proud warrior of the family Zein! The alien intruder is now on Split territory. Cho will position his ship in the solar system of Thuruk's Beard and await the events to come. In the case that the intruder slips through the mesh of our defence, I want him to follow the ship, no matter how fast it can travel. Should he lose sight because of the intruder's acceleration advantage, I demand he relocate it - even if this will send him to the remotest corner of the universe. He has to proceed sensibly, especially on contact with non-Split."
The Patriarch rose from his throne again, leaned into the camera and knitted his eyebrows threateningly. "I trust that he understands! Too much has already been given away by uncontrolled actions of badly trained Split. I have the highest expectations of him."
The Patriarch of all Split closed the connection, but before doing so, he formed 'sceptical trust and chance to gain honour' with two fingers of his left hand. This young officer deserved the respect of his Patriarch - at least for now!
With a few short commands Chin attached a file of the most recent information to the message and sent it off to the Bonescout, currently returning from Teladian space.
"And now," Chin ordered the computer, "He get me the deaths man." From the corner of his eyes he noticed Whi wincing. The Patriarch's lips curved a little. No, not him - not today! "Whi stay here until I return. I've got to take care of something in the communications department."
