Seeking out new worlds | Glowfic Constellation

The secrets of Delver technology could not resist decryption forever. While the tools they wielded are deeply weird, jealously guarded, and immensely complicated, living beings built the tools that brought aliens to the dragons' first world. The great calamity left ruins aplenty behind, and once grown the Seeker gathered these old tools as their very favorite sort of treasure. Dragons are not intelligent in quite the same way as a No-Tail, but they are far from stupid. They live forever and can be very determined if they set their mind to it.

The Seeker brought all its tools and treasure along with it when the world was evacuated ahead of the Tailless's relentless growth and hunger for resources. It studied under the great elder Darktooth on the new world, studied together with Darktooth (an arrangement not very common with dragons, as they are not particularly social), for a very long time. And eventually, by application of the hard claws of experiment and calculation and theorizing, the universe revealed its workings, cold and precise and mathematical. Creating more and more tools of the highest sophistication, and teaching others of its kind in exchange for wealth, and even spawning offspring and guiding them to adulthood, was all satisfying for a long while, but eventually... He got bored.

And so, the Seeker wondered if the long sleep for the journey between stars was really necessary, and got to work seeing about making it not. He managed it eventually, and built a starship, and went exploring. Stars come in a beautiful variety of kinds, and the worlds around them do too, but very, very few bear any sign of life. They are mostly barren and empty.

...Oh, this one is emitting curious amounts of low-frequency light. Worth investigating. Pushing a starship faster than light requires a touch of magic (at least for now), which he provides.

In the outer solar system of a certain star, well above the plane of the ecliptic, a black sphere the size of a city block appears and has a look around with powerful telescopes.

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Are you going to be up for the second half or should I tell them it's off?

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I promised I'd do it. More or less. Right? I don't remember if I ever actually promised but in practice I did.

People are expecting it, but if you aren't comfortable I can cancel.

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I might not be as good in the second half - last third, it's more like the last third - but I'll do it.

Okay. You can take a longer break than you'd planned, if you like. Do you want another water?

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Don't need it. An extra few minutes would be good, though.

Of course.

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With the remaining part of her break, she peers around to see if the kids from the pool are here.

(It might be pretty difficult to tell, all the Amentans kind of blend together to Draak eyes.)

Some of them are! Not all.

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She thought-nudges the first one she recognizes, a purple kid. Hi! How do you like your swimming-contest prize so far?

It's weird! I never went to a thing like it before!

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It's weird for me too. Never done a thing like it before.

You don't do this all the time on your planet?

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Nope! Not for a whole audience, and telling a whole story like this. I'm not sure why not, it's fun! Lessons are a little like this I suppose.

Did you invent this thing?

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...Guess I did! Shiny, I've never invented anything before!

Coooool.

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Huh, you say 'cool', we say 'shiny'.

I hope you're having fun at least?

My mom says it'll be a good story for my kids.

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So it's not fun? Huh. Not everyone likes the same things I suppose.

I'm definitely going to tell my eggs about Amenta, but I don't know if meeting you and those other kids at the pool will be part of that. Stories for eggs have to be really short and I'm seeing a lot of things and meeting a lot of people.

That's okay. It was real nice of you to invite us.

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I made a bet, so even if it was partially a game of course I kept my end of the bet! May you be blessed.

That seems to be a conversation-ending phrase - the telepathy stops. She at least says hi to all the others she recognizes from the pool, including the parents.

They smile and wave and say hi back!

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Are they enjoying her story? It's exciting that people mostly seem to like it! ...But also fine if they don't.