Re: The Glorious Championship! [S3G5] [Round Two: The Kestalvian Rainforest]
10-14-2011, 07:36 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by TimeothyHour.
The time lemur cried in pain. Pain pain pain the pain of a blow upon time, in the head, resounding. Such a blow, upon her breast, upon her heart. People kept prying and prodding and punching her like it was some kind of indestructible force, an immutable, unthinking entity.
But no. Time is a maiden. A delicate maiden. And everyone seemed to be in the mood to punch her in the face. And if you punch a delicate maiden in the face, what does she do?
She punches back. Hard.
The time lemur screamed in pain louder and louder, it echoed through the forests, bouncing of the paradox ferns and the time oaks, the chronos sycamores and the timeline pines. The wailing was a song of mourning, the mourning of and end and a beginning and a transition. It was the funeral cry, the sound of a single mourner sobbing for the dead. Pain pain pain pain infinite in every level of time down to the atomic level down to levels incomprehensible and irresistible.
You could practically see Lady Time as the lemur’s screams grew to a crescendo, higher than the highest noise, so loud that it could melt eardrums. Her hands were imperceptibly visible as she wrapped her dovelike hands around its neck.
Crack.
Blood spilled from the throat, along with silence.
And this blood, this silence, was what finally awoke The Beast.
~~~~
Despite the apparent constant chaos that exists within the Kestalvian Rainforest, the ecosystem has a variety of stable systems that react and adjust to changes within four dimensions. The spatiality and malleability of time apparent on the planet complicates these systems, to such a degree to be incomprehensible to the tradition way of human thought.
This is, at least, is what is theorized about Kestalvia. Little research has been done on the planet, and no missions have been planned within the foreseeable future due to the tragic failure of Expedition 1. Some information was gleaned from garbled transmissions, however, mostly the musings of Junior Researcher Ix "Ixxy" Zeman. From the messages, various conclusions about Kestalvia and Expedition 1 have been drawn.
The most poignant, moving, and informative piece of information acquired from Expedition 1, however, is the musings of Zeman’s with in what is presumably the last moments of his life:
Zeman: So I’ve been thinking, right? Everything’s gone to hell and screwy as fuck and I have no idea what’s real or not anymore. I’ve been staring at a dead version of myself for how knows how long, now, and outside two different balls of metal are floating outside. And one of them thinks he’s a LUMBERJACK. But it’s not like reality is falling apart. The rainforest is still here, the animals are still here- trust me, I just heard one of the loudest fucking organism scream I’ve ever heard, ever- and even though the paradox grass almost completely died, I’m looking at it, and it’s COMING BACK. Despite what whatever wacky things we or those robots or whatever did out there, it won’t kill Kestalvian. It won’t ruin it. Things will correct themselves, eventually. There’s another, dead, version of me because of a paradox, so the rainforest solved the problem and balanced itself out.
[A long pause. A clattering can be heard in the distance, along with someone yelling “Shut up!”]
Zeman: Sorry about that. There was a, um, problem. One of the floating robot things, the one that isn’t a lumberjack, um. They’re reading some kind of massive anomaly, sweeping right this way. It kind of confirms the point I was thinking about.
Ecosystems don’t just correct for problems within itself, it actively tries to eliminate them. And the thing is, WE are the problem. So, the thing I can’t help thinking about is, if, well…
[The sound fingers tapping on wood. Zeman clears his throat.]
Zeman: What if Kestalvia tries to eliminate us?
[An explosion is in the distance. A hastily yelled “Fuck!” echoes in the static.]
[Transmission End.]
Coinciding with the end of the transmissions were the highest time-energy levels ever given off by Kestalvia in recorded history. Other readings suggest massive earthquakes happened over the surface of the planet, along with increased volcanic activity. It has also been confirmed that the axis of Kestalvia shifted 6 degrees around the time these transmissions. It can only be assumed that the events Zeman theorized about in these last moments was an apocalyptic shift within the planet’s ecosystem and climate, and that it was this shift that ultimately caused Expedition 1 to fail.
-Excerpt from Kestalvia: Theories and Questions.
~~~~
“Fuck. You. Fuck you, Convolution.”
The monkey marching band did not pay much heed to the typewriter. It was an interesting item, something to hung up on a mantle somewhere because it was interesting. They didn’t know I was sentient, nor did they particularly care. They were too busy playing songs from The Protomen.
The one who had built their society into what it was, an empire of artistic and sexual prosperity, in a few brief hours, was very interested in what Etiyr had to say.
“You’re a monstrosity. You-you’re UNNATURAL. You’re fucking idea who fucks people. Where’s the sense in that? YOU’RE AN IMPOSSIBILLITY! YOU SHOULDN’T EXIST. EVERY SINGLE FIBER OF YOUR EXISTENCE SHOULD BE SHREDDED AND TORN, YOUR METAPHORICAL IDEASUBTANCE THROWN INTO THE BIGGEST FUCKING SHITPILES MANKIND HAS EVER MADE. FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU. You ruin everything. Everything.”
“If there ever was a time/If there ever was a chance/ To undo the things I've done/ and wash these bloodstains from my hands/ It has passed and been forgotten/
These are the paths that we must take/” was it’s reply, out of order and slipped into the song. Etiyr knew it was talking to him, now. He knew.
“FUCK YOU. YOU’RE EVERYTHING I HATE,” Etiyr clacked. <span style="font-family: Courier New">“YOU REPRESENT A PERVERSION OF THE THINGS I DO. I DON’T GO CONTROLLING PEOPLE WILLY-NILLY. I’M A DEMON. I FUCKING TEMPT. BUT YOU? YOU CONTROL PEOPLE. YOU DEPRIVE THEM OF YOUR FREE WILL AND FOR THAT I FUCKIN WANT TO HANG YOUR ENTRAILS FROM A TREE. I WANT YOU TO SUFFER, FOREVER, IN THE HELL I USED TO REPRESENT. I WANT YOU TO HAVE NEVER, EVER, EXISTED.”</span>
“Listen to yourself, then listen carefully to me/ If you replace the working parts, you get a different machine/ The man who turns the wheels, they will follow/ Anywhere he leads/”
“NO, LOOK AT YOUR WORDS. OH, WAIT. YOU HAVE NONE TO SPEAK OF! YOU’RE A KING UP IN A THRONE, DRINKING PUTRID WINE WITH PUTRID WOMEN, LOOK AT YOU, YOU DEFORMED FUCKING MONSTROSITY. IF YOU EVER REPRESENTED SOMETHING, IF YOU EVER THOUGHT YOU MEANT SOMETHING, YOU’VE LOST IT NOW. AND YOU DESERVE TO BE TAKEN DOWN. BY ME.”
“Man would cower at the sight/ Man was not built for such a height/ They've waited so long for this day/ There is no price they wouldn't pay/ For someone else to lead them/”
“No, man will rejoice at your destruction. You are their OPRESSION. YOU FUCK THEIR WITH THEIR MINDS IN THE NAME OF CONTROL, BUT REALLY YOU’RE JUST A SICKO. A HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE SICKO.”
“We've spent our whole lives searching/ For a way to make a better world/”
“What, you think you’re HELPING them? What you’re doing is unnatural. Maybe you’ve built some kind of advanced society but deep down you’re destroying them. MUTILATING THEM. And there’s something that I know, that you’ve probably encountered over your years of fucking with reality.”
An unnerving scream echoed in the distance. A few of the monkeys nervously looked into the distance.
“And it’s this: That anything unnatural, any abomination like you, will be met with resistance. The forces of nature are designed so that it tries to completely eradicate disgusting things like you completely. If I’m not mistaken, rainforests are REAL big on balance. And you throw everything out of whack.”
A rumble, far in the distance, like thunder. A lot more of the chimps began to look nervous. Very nervous.
“So, y’know, I don’t even need to kill you, really. Your own fucking existence will destroy you, eventually. And I know you can hear it, the sound of order, the sound of balance, and, perhaps even worse for you, the sound of moderation. Always marching, marching to destroy you.”
The earth began to rumble beneath their feet, the sound of a wind like fire. At this, the former marching band panicked, dropped everything, including Etiyr, and scurried the hell out of there. But the way the purple and yellow trees swayed in the wind, like a couple embracing, told him that The Convolution was still there. Listening.
“And, Convolution, I think it’s finally catching up to you.”
More silence. Slowly, the wind dissipated, and the trees, ever so slowly, wilted. The Convolution left. It certainly had others things to attend to, now.
And in the distance, the hand of a beast reach out of the mountain, into the infinite sky.
The time lemur cried in pain. Pain pain pain the pain of a blow upon time, in the head, resounding. Such a blow, upon her breast, upon her heart. People kept prying and prodding and punching her like it was some kind of indestructible force, an immutable, unthinking entity.
But no. Time is a maiden. A delicate maiden. And everyone seemed to be in the mood to punch her in the face. And if you punch a delicate maiden in the face, what does she do?
She punches back. Hard.
The time lemur screamed in pain louder and louder, it echoed through the forests, bouncing of the paradox ferns and the time oaks, the chronos sycamores and the timeline pines. The wailing was a song of mourning, the mourning of and end and a beginning and a transition. It was the funeral cry, the sound of a single mourner sobbing for the dead. Pain pain pain pain infinite in every level of time down to the atomic level down to levels incomprehensible and irresistible.
You could practically see Lady Time as the lemur’s screams grew to a crescendo, higher than the highest noise, so loud that it could melt eardrums. Her hands were imperceptibly visible as she wrapped her dovelike hands around its neck.
Crack.
Blood spilled from the throat, along with silence.
And this blood, this silence, was what finally awoke The Beast.
~~~~
Despite the apparent constant chaos that exists within the Kestalvian Rainforest, the ecosystem has a variety of stable systems that react and adjust to changes within four dimensions. The spatiality and malleability of time apparent on the planet complicates these systems, to such a degree to be incomprehensible to the tradition way of human thought.
This is, at least, is what is theorized about Kestalvia. Little research has been done on the planet, and no missions have been planned within the foreseeable future due to the tragic failure of Expedition 1. Some information was gleaned from garbled transmissions, however, mostly the musings of Junior Researcher Ix "Ixxy" Zeman. From the messages, various conclusions about Kestalvia and Expedition 1 have been drawn.
The most poignant, moving, and informative piece of information acquired from Expedition 1, however, is the musings of Zeman’s with in what is presumably the last moments of his life:
Zeman: So I’ve been thinking, right? Everything’s gone to hell and screwy as fuck and I have no idea what’s real or not anymore. I’ve been staring at a dead version of myself for how knows how long, now, and outside two different balls of metal are floating outside. And one of them thinks he’s a LUMBERJACK. But it’s not like reality is falling apart. The rainforest is still here, the animals are still here- trust me, I just heard one of the loudest fucking organism scream I’ve ever heard, ever- and even though the paradox grass almost completely died, I’m looking at it, and it’s COMING BACK. Despite what whatever wacky things we or those robots or whatever did out there, it won’t kill Kestalvian. It won’t ruin it. Things will correct themselves, eventually. There’s another, dead, version of me because of a paradox, so the rainforest solved the problem and balanced itself out.
[A long pause. A clattering can be heard in the distance, along with someone yelling “Shut up!”]
Zeman: Sorry about that. There was a, um, problem. One of the floating robot things, the one that isn’t a lumberjack, um. They’re reading some kind of massive anomaly, sweeping right this way. It kind of confirms the point I was thinking about.
Ecosystems don’t just correct for problems within itself, it actively tries to eliminate them. And the thing is, WE are the problem. So, the thing I can’t help thinking about is, if, well…
[The sound fingers tapping on wood. Zeman clears his throat.]
Zeman: What if Kestalvia tries to eliminate us?
[An explosion is in the distance. A hastily yelled “Fuck!” echoes in the static.]
[Transmission End.]
Coinciding with the end of the transmissions were the highest time-energy levels ever given off by Kestalvia in recorded history. Other readings suggest massive earthquakes happened over the surface of the planet, along with increased volcanic activity. It has also been confirmed that the axis of Kestalvia shifted 6 degrees around the time these transmissions. It can only be assumed that the events Zeman theorized about in these last moments was an apocalyptic shift within the planet’s ecosystem and climate, and that it was this shift that ultimately caused Expedition 1 to fail.
-Excerpt from Kestalvia: Theories and Questions.
~~~~
“Fuck. You. Fuck you, Convolution.”
The monkey marching band did not pay much heed to the typewriter. It was an interesting item, something to hung up on a mantle somewhere because it was interesting. They didn’t know I was sentient, nor did they particularly care. They were too busy playing songs from The Protomen.
The one who had built their society into what it was, an empire of artistic and sexual prosperity, in a few brief hours, was very interested in what Etiyr had to say.
“You’re a monstrosity. You-you’re UNNATURAL. You’re fucking idea who fucks people. Where’s the sense in that? YOU’RE AN IMPOSSIBILLITY! YOU SHOULDN’T EXIST. EVERY SINGLE FIBER OF YOUR EXISTENCE SHOULD BE SHREDDED AND TORN, YOUR METAPHORICAL IDEASUBTANCE THROWN INTO THE BIGGEST FUCKING SHITPILES MANKIND HAS EVER MADE. FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU. You ruin everything. Everything.”
“If there ever was a time/If there ever was a chance/ To undo the things I've done/ and wash these bloodstains from my hands/ It has passed and been forgotten/
These are the paths that we must take/” was it’s reply, out of order and slipped into the song. Etiyr knew it was talking to him, now. He knew.
“FUCK YOU. YOU’RE EVERYTHING I HATE,” Etiyr clacked. <span style="font-family: Courier New">“YOU REPRESENT A PERVERSION OF THE THINGS I DO. I DON’T GO CONTROLLING PEOPLE WILLY-NILLY. I’M A DEMON. I FUCKING TEMPT. BUT YOU? YOU CONTROL PEOPLE. YOU DEPRIVE THEM OF YOUR FREE WILL AND FOR THAT I FUCKIN WANT TO HANG YOUR ENTRAILS FROM A TREE. I WANT YOU TO SUFFER, FOREVER, IN THE HELL I USED TO REPRESENT. I WANT YOU TO HAVE NEVER, EVER, EXISTED.”</span>
“Listen to yourself, then listen carefully to me/ If you replace the working parts, you get a different machine/ The man who turns the wheels, they will follow/ Anywhere he leads/”
“NO, LOOK AT YOUR WORDS. OH, WAIT. YOU HAVE NONE TO SPEAK OF! YOU’RE A KING UP IN A THRONE, DRINKING PUTRID WINE WITH PUTRID WOMEN, LOOK AT YOU, YOU DEFORMED FUCKING MONSTROSITY. IF YOU EVER REPRESENTED SOMETHING, IF YOU EVER THOUGHT YOU MEANT SOMETHING, YOU’VE LOST IT NOW. AND YOU DESERVE TO BE TAKEN DOWN. BY ME.”
“Man would cower at the sight/ Man was not built for such a height/ They've waited so long for this day/ There is no price they wouldn't pay/ For someone else to lead them/”
“No, man will rejoice at your destruction. You are their OPRESSION. YOU FUCK THEIR WITH THEIR MINDS IN THE NAME OF CONTROL, BUT REALLY YOU’RE JUST A SICKO. A HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE SICKO.”
“We've spent our whole lives searching/ For a way to make a better world/”
“What, you think you’re HELPING them? What you’re doing is unnatural. Maybe you’ve built some kind of advanced society but deep down you’re destroying them. MUTILATING THEM. And there’s something that I know, that you’ve probably encountered over your years of fucking with reality.”
An unnerving scream echoed in the distance. A few of the monkeys nervously looked into the distance.
“And it’s this: That anything unnatural, any abomination like you, will be met with resistance. The forces of nature are designed so that it tries to completely eradicate disgusting things like you completely. If I’m not mistaken, rainforests are REAL big on balance. And you throw everything out of whack.”
A rumble, far in the distance, like thunder. A lot more of the chimps began to look nervous. Very nervous.
“So, y’know, I don’t even need to kill you, really. Your own fucking existence will destroy you, eventually. And I know you can hear it, the sound of order, the sound of balance, and, perhaps even worse for you, the sound of moderation. Always marching, marching to destroy you.”
The earth began to rumble beneath their feet, the sound of a wind like fire. At this, the former marching band panicked, dropped everything, including Etiyr, and scurried the hell out of there. But the way the purple and yellow trees swayed in the wind, like a couple embracing, told him that The Convolution was still there. Listening.
“And, Convolution, I think it’s finally catching up to you.”
More silence. Slowly, the wind dissipated, and the trees, ever so slowly, wilted. The Convolution left. It certainly had others things to attend to, now.
And in the distance, the hand of a beast reach out of the mountain, into the infinite sky.