Moo- moo- moooooo are you?

We are from the League of Sentient Races. Are you really a Precursor?

Yes. I suppose I am. I am surprised to be Un-Devolved by you.

A Precursor! Oh, my God. I'm in awe!

That is not necessary. All that I am is a state available to all creatures... should they be willing to pay the price.

I had somehow pictured the Precursors as being more, um... impressive.

Hubris among the simpler races is refreshing. It often indicates courage in impossible odds.

Whoa! What price?

Cool! How do we go about it?

Oh yeah? Who you calling "simple?"

Oh yeah? Who you calling uh... "hubris"?

Think so? Well, a little humility among "greater" races would be even MORE refreshing.

I'm sorry for that comment.

I must now attend to my tasks. My time is limited, and my responsibilities are legion.

We have a million questions for you!

I do not believe that my interval of sentience is sufficient to accommodate a million questions. My time is limited, and my responsibilities are legion.

But we brought you back to life! Er... sentience.

Sure. I Understand.

Look, we resurrected your mind! You owe us!

Anything you say, oh great Precursor.

I hope you realize that I can nuke you from orbit.

Once I have attended to my myriad responsibilities, I shall expend such time as I have remaining in my limited span to reply to your queries.

OK. I'll just wait.

Man! You save the space gods from wasting away in devolution, and do they thank you? NooOooo.

Never! You answer me NOW!

I shall now begin my myriad tasks.

I shall now begin my myriad tasks.

I shall now nuke your bovine butt!

You think I'm bluffing? You answer me NOW or I fry you and find an Ortog who will play ball.

It appears I will have to expend some of my limited interval of sentience in the distasteful task of eliminating you.

Ok, I'll just wait.

Now accessing remote sensing equipment... Hmmm... This is worse than I expected...

And what would that be?

Tum tee da....

What? WHAT?

Is the universe doomed?

I'll just wait quietly.

Now scanning races that have recently developed... Hmmm... I was afraid of that...

I'll NUKE you if you keep ignoring me!

I have to know!

What? Afraid of WHAT?

You're making me angry!

Please TELL me!

Now scanning your databases... oh no... That is sorrowful indeed...

That does it! You are one dead Ortog!

Anything you'd care to share?

You're not going to tell me, are you? You're going to tempt me with knowledge and then just go away!

My tasks are now complete. I have assessed the current state of the galaxy, from new sentient races to the integrity of reality itself. I have succeeded before my neurological pathways begin to shatter under the ravages of the Cosmic Un-Devolver.

Answer me, you ungrateful bovine, or I'll nuke every Ortog in the galaxy!

Can you please answer a few questions?

I knew it! You weren't planning on telling me damn thing!

In my remaining moments, I shall not sink gently into oblivion, but shall rather struggle to fan the dying flames of my own sentience, that I may slake your thirst for knowledge.

Great! I have a zillion questions!

First, you and your crew must promise not to reveal that we Ortogs are Precursors. Then, you must promise to not harm devolved Precursors.

Finally, you must promise that you will not use your knowledge of us against us. If you promise these things I shall entrust these secrets to you and you alone.

I can't promise that. I need to keep all my options open.

Oh, sure. Don't put yourself out TOO much. I ONLY gave you back your sentience.

Never. You will tell me because I am your only hope!

You don't realize who has the power here. You will answer without conditions.

Scavenging a Precursor vessel does not equate to deserving it.

Why?

We have chosen to hide in plain sight, and we would no longer be safe in our hidden devolution if you revealed our presence. All races would seek us out- to be blessed by the Precursors or to demand our secrets.

I agree! Consider it done!

Then I agree.

Good. You may now ask your questions.

OK. Just tell me everything!

You must prioritize your questions.

How do we reverse the galactic collapse of HyperSpace?

The Kessarri Quadrant Rainbow Worlds must be cleaned. All anti-matter wastes must be removed from the surfaces of the local Rainbow Worlds. This will allow them to perform their natural function: stabilizing minor perturbations in the space-time continuum.

We predict that galactic HyperSpace will return in anywhere from one to ten years after they are cleaned.

You have already done so. By cleaning the toxic anti-matter wastes from the local Rainbow Worlds, you have allowed them to perform their natural function: stabilizing minor perturbations in the space-time continuum.

We predict that galactic HyperSpace will return in one to ten years. You have done well.

How do we stabilize the space-time continuum?

You cannot. We have discovered no way to stop the inexorable destruction of the space-time continuum due to the Eternal Ones' depraved and heedless abuse of unnatural interstellar fatigue.

The only way to stop the degradation and eventual collapse of the galaxy is to stop the Eternal Ones.

Tell us all about the Precursors.

My race, which you call Ortogs, are really but one of many races that have reached a similar stage of development. Like so many other races, we have aspired to fulfill the seemingly limitless potential that nature provides through the great riddle of evolution.

There were legends and hints of earlier "Precursors" when my race was first evolving, many, many galactic cycles ago. Like us, these races rose from the slime, strode the stars like giants, and then faded again into oblivion with the advent of the Eternal Ones. Unlike us, they are gone forever.

Tell me how you avoided their fate.

We were on the brink of forming sentience at the time of an Eternal One feeding. This not only meant that we were spared from destruction, but that we could develop sentience very early in the new galactic cycle.

We measure galactic cycles in Eternal One feedings. We maximized our potential quickly, and reached the stars. We found evidence of older races that were destroyed in the cataclysm, and found very complete records.

We then focused all our energy into finding a way to survive. We won many galactic wars, and collected as many artifacts as we could. But we could not find a way to stop the Eternal Ones from consuming our sentience and ending our race.

What did you do?

Facing imminent obliteration of our entire species, we took a step only slightly less terrifying: we stripped the intelligence from almost every male, female, and suckling of our species.

This devolution was a voluntary process. Those who wished to stay and fight the Eternal Ones could do so.

What happened to the ones who fought?

They died. But the rest of our race did not. We left massive caches of our technology on all our planets to aid in our gradual re-evolution, and then rode out the Eternal One's harvesting in blissful non-sentience.

As we re-evolved, we were able to use our artifacts to aid our evolution, reconnect with other Precursor planets around the galaxy, and advance our civilization further than it progressed in the previous cycle.

Sounds risky.

How do you prevent grave robbers- er- devolution cache robbers?

Some Precursor worlds get taken over by other races, and some of the artifacts get stolen by other races, but enough of the Precursor worlds re-evolve to continue our species.

When the Eternal Ones are close to returning, we devolve and begin the cycle again.

Most races claim to be your true inheritor? Who is right?

All, and none. We are our own inheritors. Many races have misinterpreted our artifacts as referring to a separate race, when we were actually referring to our own, evolving race.

Why don't you share your devolution process with every other race?

So far we only know how to make it work on ourselves. Besides, if we shared it with the wrong race, they might destroy us during the time we struggle to regain sentience.

That makes sense.

That sounds awfully paranoid.

We want to help other races understand these mysteries. But our first duty is to ourselves, and to keep our race safe during our sleep of reason.

So you use the Cosmic Un-Devolver to resurrect a few Precursors?

Yes. We must monitor the process. But the Daktaklakpak programming apparently went awry during the ravages of time, and they did not un-devolve us recently. We are glad that you did.

Why?

The Eternal Ones are close at hand. We must make sure that we do not start to un-devolve until their time has passed.

Sounds as selfish as the Eternal Ones.

Perhaps. But we must do it.

I have a question on another topic.

Ask your questions.

Tell us the full scoop on the Eternal Ones.

The Eternal Ones are a horrific gathering of entities whose very form of being is so alien to all other sentient creatures that we can barely begin to fathom their ways.

When a galaxy produces many sentient races, some mysterious force signals the Eternal Ones, who inter-dimensionally translate themselves into the galactic core.

They subdue all opposition with their powerful ships, rip open countless HyperSpace portals, and consume all sentience in the galaxy. In their wake they leave many planets badly damaged, all members of all sentient races dead, the fabric of the space-time continuum in tatters.

Sometimes reality recovers. Sometimes it does not, and the entire galaxy is destroyed. But most times, the damage continues to reverberate throughout the galaxy, occasionally imploding a star or twisting planets off their axes.

Where did they come from?

From our studies of them, we theorize that the Eternal Ones evolved like all other creatures, arising from simple chemical interactions and evolving toward more and more complex energy exchanges.

They passed through a state of physicality and sentience akin to yours and mine, and then transcended into a state of near-total energy. They went from synthesizing energy from the consumption of matter to absorbing energy directly. But they committed a fatal blunder.

What was that?

For all their power and intelligence, they lacked wisdom. They knew that they needed to rise to the next state of being, but they trembled with dread at the thought of surrendering to their new state of being.

They did not wish to abandon the familiar comforts of the material world. So they became paralyzed on the threshold of their next evolutionary state; afraid to make the leap. But they continue to develop into beings of pure energy.

What's wrong with that?

The Eternal Ones consume a vast amount of power to prevent their own race from transcending into the next, unknown state, and as a result they require more and more rarefied forms of energy to survive.

First they needed any form of energy. Then only energy from life forms would do. Now only the bioelectric energy by-products of sentience will suffice.

They have vast powers and vast intellect, but their fear has turned these advanced beings into genocidal vampires and perverted their natural process of development, just as they have perverted the natural development of other races.

Enough about the Eternal Ones. I have a different question.

PERVERT natural development? Don't you mean STOP natural development?

We suspect that the Eternal Ones do more than destroy sentient creatures in the galaxy. We think they may then "seed" planets with a proto-matter that encourages evolving life to tend toward bi-cameral brains and a relatively consistent form of sentience.

We do not know this for sure, but it would account for the mysteries that have long perplexed races; like how plant races grow meat-like brains, and how startlingly similar life forms could have evolved separately on so many planets.

But we wonder if this is the case, or if there are greater principles at work than we know.

Isn't that just survival of the fittest?

No. It is rapacious greed and faulty stewardship of "lower" races. From the lowliest symbiotes to the greatest energy beings, all living species are interconnected, and have responsibilities to other species.

The Eternal Ones have no right to be recklessly destructive with the ongoing existence of so many species.

I see. I have a question on a different topic.

But if it keeps them alive, evolution sanctions it. Right?

Even if that cynical calculation were the proper law of the universe, the Eternal Ones are violating it by destabilizing the fabric of time and space.

They spend little time and effort ensuring that their feeding does not damage the equilibrium of the galaxies. A galaxy is an intricate natural system- dependent on the interplay of myriad processes.

The Eternal Ones undermine these processes, and risk destroying the very crucible of life itself. If they destroy all galaxies, they die as well. Even in their advanced state, they are not immune to that basic moral law that all beings are fundamentally interconnected.

What's the scoop on the Eternal One "True Name?"

The Eternal Ones no longer have a conventional name. Instead, they have a mathematical formula that expresses every aspect of them- rather like a genetic code.

This formula uses a mathematical structure that is so alien to anything we know that even our semi-sentient computers are unable to process it without self-destructing.

The strongest computers can survive processing it, but are driven "mad" in the process, and can no longer make logical connections.

So you have no idea what their "real" name is?

We know the beginning of it. The Eternal One name actually comes from a misunderstanding of the first symbols in the formula.

The formula looks like it spells "Eternal1s," so we began referring to them that way. Oddly enough, this play on words- or play on numbers- works in the language of every race that has developed mathematics.

Some Precursors say that this is proof of a malicious, or at least mischievous, omnipotent entity. Others say it simply proves the unknowable nature of the universe.

How do we stop the Eternal Ones?

We do not know. First we hoped that we could learn to adapt to the feeding, and evolve a new form of sentience that is not palatable to the Eternal Ones.

It is possible that what you call Precursor Potential is the first step in developing this kind of immunity. But our many cycles of devolution have prevented us from having the time to develop such an adaptation.

The only path we can imagine begins with transcending to the Eternal Ones' level of development. Then, perhaps you could reason with them and convince them of the error of their ways.

Perhaps you could convince them to be bold enough to step across the threshold and transcend to the next level of awareness. We doubt this would work, since we believe that they are aware of their intransigence, and simply do not care.

Gulp.

Is that all? Piece of cake.

Or I could then PUSH them across the threshold. Or destroy them!

Perhaps. But first you would have to develop to their level, surpassing even the Precursors by a greater leap than we have known in galactic history.

There's got to be another way!

Perhaps there is.

Yeah. There is that MINOR detail.

You should know that we built an Eternal One Signal Deflector, hoping we could use it to deflect the mysterious homing beacon the Eternal Ones use to locate a galaxy full of sentience.

We wanted to make them overshoot the Milky Way by a few galaxies. But we could never get the Deflector to work properly.

We continually refined it, but it still needs some final adjustments. We may perfect it after a few more cycles of harvesting.

Ah, that would be a tad too late to save me and my allies.

I regret that. You show great promise.

Tell us about Rainbow Worlds.

The Rainbow Worlds are the Precursors' gift to a wounded galaxy during our cyclical devolutions. They are massive stasis fields that are built to absorb and neutralize any kind of energy and withstand any sort of attack.

Each individual Rainbow World serves the vital function of smoothing out all but the most severe perturbations in the fabric of local space.

Together, they link with one another across the vast reaches of space to form a galaxy-spanning Precursor device that stabilizes the galactic space-time continuum.

We built them during our third cycle of existence, when the Eternal One's repeated assaults of unnatural interdimensional fatigue threatened to tear apart the natural structure of the galaxy.

The Rainbow Worlds keep the galaxy stabilized while we are devolved.

So the Rainbow Worlds are NOT Precursor waste disposal sites?

No. But it is understandable that other races would think so. Our advanced language is difficult to translate, and "Space-Time Pollution Stabilizer" could be misinterpreted as "Galactic Garbage Dump."

Especially since we left many unstable artifacts there, to take advantage of the neutralizing effect. The Rainbow Worlds are impervious to most energy forms, but anti-matter wastes prevent them from properly performing their essential function.

Why do they form arrows that point the way to the galactic core?

The Eternal One attack begins at the galactic core and radiates outward. The stabilizing conduit of Rainbow Worlds must follow the same radiant pattern.

Also, since the Rainbow Worlds emit energy that covers a broad range of the spectrum, most races sense them as a "rainbow" of sensory input. To you optically-oriented humans, they appear as a visual rainbow of color.

The spectrum saturation is appealing to the senses of most life-forms, and compels them to investigate. These combine to forewarn newly evolved sentient races about the significance of the galactic core.

Isn't devolving yourselves awfully cowardly?

Perhaps. But it works. Genetic survival is vastly more important to our species than the survival of any single individual.

What's the Arilou connection to humans?

We do not know for certain. But we can speculate based on what we know about the old Arilou race and what we know about the new Human race--information learned from scanning you after you un-devolved me.

The Arilou are an old race?

You scanned us?

Yes. You must understand that the Arilou actually survived an Eternal One harvesting. They did so by fleeing into the unpredictable nooks in physical reality.

Their travels into inhospitable dimensions stressed their physical and psychic components. Their genetic material is weak and diseased. Their attempts to breed perfect Arilou only weakened them further.

They need fresh infusions of similar genetic material to revive their race.

Is human DNA the closest match to Arilou DNA?

In a sense, yes. But Arilou DNA is not like human DNA. Human genes are actually very fresh, flexible, and versatile. Human genetic material can be successfully spliced into the genes of many species.

Your race outshines many far more developed races in potential, and adopting your genes allows other races to gain a part of that strength.

IF they need HUMAN DNA, how come the Arilou have supposedly been cutting up Earth cows and stuff like that?

That we do not know. But we speculate that after your people developed nuclear power, the Arilou gained an interest in monitoring the radiation levels in Earth's environment.

After all, even a small exposure to radiation can quickly ruin all that is fresh and vital in human DNA.

So the Arilou HAVE been protecting humans?

It appears so. They know that you are the key to their future, and want to help you.

Have they been tampering with our genes?

My scans show no evidence of artificial genetic tampering in you. Your genes are quite raw and vigorous and ragged; culled by many wars and catastrophes, gnarled in places by toxins and radiation, but overall quite strong and brimming with potential.

No. If the Arilou tampered with your DNA, your genes were strong enough to reject the tampering, and re-establish dominance.

What's the deal with humans?

Human DNA is a vigorous strain of genetic material brimming with potential. Also, humans are very close to the spaces between dimensions--more so than many of the races we have seen rise and fall...

Uh, OK. So what's the practical upshot of that?

You have the potential to become more sensitive to the fundamental ground of reality where all things, living and non-living, are interconnected. This manifests in some of your species as high psychic ratings.

The ability to see the future. Or view past events previously unseen. In others it is the ability to decipher the mysteries of the universe through intellectual or intuitive flashes.

In others, like yourself, it is the ability to comprehend equipment built by the Precursors.

Cool.

What else?

Not many races uplift themselves into space by themselves. Most races are uplifted--given technology and space travel by other races.

This close proximity to the tenuous barriers between dimensions appears to be the reason that the Human clones called Androsynth were able to perform advanced experiments with interdimensional fatigue.

Did the Orz kill the Androsynth?

We cannot say. Our remote sensing equipment could not record the arrival of the Orz into Androsynth space.

We cannot say. Our remote sensing equipment could not record the arrival of the Orz into Androsynth space.

Can we use this "close proximity" to stop the Eternal Ones?

I do not know.

So what can humans do with this "close proximity."

So what can we humans do with this

That is for you to determine.

But it most likely involves slipping free from the bonds of space and time, and beginning to experience the fourth dimension as more than one single point.

Yeah, yeah, sure. What's that got to do with anything? Will it help me build better ships?

Probably not in the short term.

Then I have a question on another subject.

What happens when I see time this way?

Heavy. How does that work?

Time is not as you experience it, any more than space is as a sightless worm experiences it. We Precursors have a different view. We see not only your body in this split second of time, but the long body of you through time.

I see you extending forward in time to your old age, and I see you extending backwards in time to your origins from a genetic seed.

And behind that I see your genetic seed fall from your progenitors, and their progenitors before them, in an endless chain back to the organic soup from which they spawned.

And I see your generations ahead, in a vast chain that coils the stars like a great dragon. We Precursors do not see ALL, but we improve our "sight" every cycle.

I have some more questions

Dragon? That's pretty superstitious for an advanced being.

When one lives with such powerful truths, metaphor and myth are often the only way to communicate. The Pkunk understand this more than most.

If you say so.

Well, all that insight hasn't saved you from the Eternal Ones, now has it?

In a way it has.

Why were the Ur-Quan so keen to nuke the pyramids when they reached Earth?

Humans have apparently been manifesting their Precursor potential for a long time--before your recorded history. Ancient human lore was stored in the areas that the Ur-Quan destroyed.

Lore so powerful that it manifested to the Ur-Quan as an anomalous energy reading.

What are the Orz up to?

I do not know. They are new to this quadrant. Our remote sensing apparatus reveals that they are inter-dimensional projections of a greater creature. But I cannot see what this creature is.

I have a question on another subject.

What is with the Daktaklakpak?

The Daktaklakpak are mere maintenance automatons. They were built to be semi-sentient scrub-bots networked into a central system. Their job is to monitor our equipment over the millennia and make sure that one of us is routinely Un-Devolved.

The Daktaklakpak seem to have suffered severe "bit decay" lately. They tried to re-program themselves, but only made themselves more machine-like.

There's no way to make them more reliable?

They are prone to breakdown because we had to build the Daktaklakpak to be far less sophisticated than our other sentient computers. We had to ensure that they could not be driven mad by the True Name of the Eternal Ones.

The True Name only destroys them when they try to read it. It does not drive them mad.

How do I fix them so the Daktaklakpak so they go back to being scrub bots?

That is a question I cannot answer. They are self-programming, and have created new lock-outs. If you can find their specific re-initialization code, you can re-program them.

Tell me about the Crux races.

Except for the Clairconctlar and the Daktaklakpak, they all seem to be races struggling with their own potential.

Tell me about the Clairconctlar

The Clairconctlar are mysterious to me. They appear to be similar to the ancient Taalo race, but we do not know how.

Tell me about the Kessarri Races.

They are all races struggling with their own potential. The Exquivan are coming close to manifesting their Precursor potential. The Vyro-Ingo are the result of one of our genetic experiments.

The Lk appear to have been aided in their development by evolving from spores in our largest artifact cache. We did not intend for sentient life to form there, and we are baffled about how it happened.

The Harika and Yorn baffle us, since we are unsure of how their unlikely symbiosis occurred. This gap in our knowledge is unsettling...

Tell me about the races from my home quadrant.

They are all races struggling with their own potential. The Pkunk and the Utwig have developed their Precursor potential to a high degree. The Utwig seem to have reached the limits of their potential, but they are still very advanced.

The Chmmr are a remarkable race that we do not completely understand. We do not know the origins of the mysterious Chenjesu, but the Mmrnmhrm were one of our living machines: the Mother Ark that birthed the Daktaklakpak.

The Mmrnmhrm were supposed to lie dormant until we activated them. They came "alive" a thousand years ago, during the time the Daktaklakpak were not attending to their duties.

The race called the Slylandro were clever enough to find a way to hide from the Eternal Ones by drastically changing their sentience, and by hiding in a gas giant that is inherently immune from planetary disruptions.

What's with the Mycon?

Mycon were our planetary transformer biots. We built them to terraform, and also to stabilize our planets. We needed them to protect us from the planet-shaking, crust-displacing Eternal One attack.

The Mycon were programmed to be just under the sentience threshold. This way, they would not be destroyed by the Eternal Ones, but could continue stabilizing worlds filled with devolved Precursors.

Elder Mycons were supposed to write their standard programming onto the organic memory banks of all new born Deep Children. This would ensure that they would never become sentient enough to fall victim to an Eternal One attack.

But it appears that during the last galactic cycle, Mycon programming began to suffer from "bit decay."

They began to speak in incoherent fragments. Sometimes they would directly echo the voices of their Precursor masters giving them instructions. They even began to destroy the wrong planets.

As their signal-to-noise ratio in their programming became worse and worse, their organic nature reasserted itself. The Mycon actually began to evolve and develop sentience.

During your colonization of the Kessarri quadrant, the Mycon were so weakened in Vux raids on their planets that they were unable to continue suppressing the Deep Children.

What is your position on the Mycon Deep Children?

The Mycon Deep Children deserve to be free.

Then we will tell you that you have the means to help them. We built an artifact to neutralize Mycon programming. Before the emergence of Deep Child consciousness, the regroover turned standard Mycon into inert lumps.

Now it should release the Deep Child. I see that you have already found this artifact. It's called a Plasma Regroover.

The Mycon elders deserve to attend to their family matters within their families.

I see.

What's the deal with Precursor genetic tampering?

In order to understand our own potential, we needed to find a way to isolate it in non-sentient creatures. We tried removing essential genetic material from races, producing two flawed, partial versions of the original species.

We never succeeded in isolating the source of our own great potential. I am surprised to see that some of our experiments, like the Vux and the Vyro-Ingo, survived and gained sentience, despite the damage to their beings caused by their missing genes.

You did well in restoring them.

You can restore these two races by joining their twin Encrustation Matrices.

What's with the Red Spiral Rail?

Is it not clear? The Red Spiral Rail is but the outer housing that encloses the artifact we built to locate sentients with great potential. Using unwitting sentients, it maneuvers itself into proximity with advanced beings.

But the housing has been separated from the artifact. Since the Rail houses the seeking artifact, many races have come to believe that the housing alone is the seeking artifact.

So what is the seeking artifact?

It is called an Ultron. It is a living intelligence that is also very close to the spaces between dimensions. This gives it the ability to detect "Precursor Potential."

So the Utwig were the most advanced race?

Yes. They appear remarkably prescient. Even if they believed the Ultron responsible for their own flashes of insight. Now it appears the Ultron has found YOU.

Cool.

Yes.

Are you kidding me?

No.

Come on. Humans are barely up from slime compared to some of these ancient races.

If you say so.

Thanks for answering my questions.

Thank you for your service to us. I now release my agonizing grip on my intellect. Remember me. Farewell...

How do you know I'll keep my word?

I will trust you.

I cannot agree. I need flexibility in my options.

I can force you to talk! I've got the Precursor ship!

You think so? Not any more.

You scorn my exertions and dissipate my remaining moments with trivia?