[center][h2][color=#FF0000]Shem[/color][/h2] [img]https://i.imgur.com/yoI0Vcq.jpg[/img][/center] [i][b][color=#00FF00]Sand must not get lonely.[/color][/b] How could it? There's so much of it, it's always together. In fact, if I were the sand, I think I'd get sick of the company. I'd want some breathing room. How could all these trillions of grains stand to be so close, and so small among so many? How does the desert not seperate? The rest of the universe seems to, two stars can't be so close, much less a desert-full. Even the ocean seems like it tries to escape itself, desperately clawing onto shore. So why does the desert think it's special? Why does the desert not explode? [/i] Lev has thoughts like these in the big empties. His rover kicked up the desert's peace as he sped through the dunes, lost in thought. Sweat dripped from his turban and onto his military-issue pants, a boring tan meant to blend into the sand and rock of the Shemi desert. His rifle clattered in the rover's storage-it's always a bumpy ride, and nobody felt it more than his partner and navigator, Roshi. His seat was designed for humans, and even then it wasn't designed for comfort. His metallic rear bounced up and down off their seat with a loud clanging. While Lev focused on driving, Roshi stared at the human. "Lev," the automaton said in a friendly if not robotic tone. The scout remained silent. "Lev," Roshi repeated. Lev wasn't much for conversation, which made his pairing to the robot so unfortunate. "Lev...are you...'daytime-dreaming' again?" The scout sighed. "Yes, I am, Roshi." "Oh." There was a moment of silence. "May I ask what your daytime-dream was about?" "That's not really how it works, achi." "Oh." More silence. "Lev, did you know that tomorrow is a special day?" Lev groaned, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Yeah, I know Roshi, we've already-" "Tomorrow is a special day because it is your birthday!" Roshi excitedly clicked his fingers together and turned his optical receptors up to Salome overhead. "It is your birthday and you are turning..." "Roshi don't-" "...Thirty years old! My best friend, Sergeant Lev Adami, is turning thirty years old!" Roshi remained giddy while Lev was silent for a moment. "Yes I am," he finally said. "Thank you Roshi, I'm glad you keep remembering, it's very...kind." It wasn't like Lev disliked his metal companion, but a five hour rover ride on a hot day in the Shem desert could get...tiring. And the fact that he's turning 30 isn't exactly something he wants a reminder of. "Oh, we will have a wonderful birthday celebration." Lev smirked. Roshi could be a bit like a dog sometimes. A big, metal dog. With a satellite tracking his every move. "There will be food, and music...you will play your oud, and I will gift you a gift, and you will read me my book..." "Roshi, I'm not reading the book, how many times have I told you that?" Almost every day since the two were partnered up, Roshi's asked Lev to read him a book he had when he first joined the Assembly Military. It's a pretty book, filled with interesting astrological charts and alchemical designs, but Lev couldn't understand a word of it. After some brief calculations, Roshi replied, "You have told me one thousand, six hundred and seventy three now, [i]if[/i] you do not count when you said you could not after your eye surgery." "Alright, so then why do you keep asking me?" Lev asked bruskly, although he knew what the answer would be. "In the earliest reaches of my memory bank, I possessed three items. The first-" the robot played a soft dinging noise he had recorded. "-was a bell, and I still very much enjoy ringing it. The second was a statue of a man. I did not enjoy the statue very much, so I have sold it and bought a board game so we could play it, which we often do. The third was my book, and I would very much like to know what it says." Though his voice remained cheery as ever, Roshi clearly cared about this very much. "Okay, so why can't you read it." Roshi paused a minute. They were getting closer to their destination, and the sun was beginning to set. "I have read my book 870 times, and translated it into over five thousand languages, but I still do not understand what it means." The silence resumed, Lev awkwardly staring ahead. After a few minutes, Roshi said, "We should leave the rover here." At that, Lev slowed the vehicle down to a halt, sand sputtering out from its tires, and the two disembarked. They opened up the vehicle's storage and grabbed their equipment, Lev slinging his rifle over his shoulders and his goggles around his neck, while Roshi put on his backpack. And with that, the two went about burying the rover in sand, enough to hide it but sparse enough to make it easy to dig up. "Pin this location, Rosh," Lev ordered. "I have already pinned the location," the robot responded. Lev didn't know whether or not he was being sarcastic, it's not like his tone changed. The sun set over the horizon, and as the stars overtook the sky, Salome shining brilliantly above, the two marched into the desert. About an hour later, they saw a craggy rock formation in the distance, firelight and smoke spurting out from the middle of it. Finding a nice dune to act as a vantage point, the scouts went prone on their belly. Lev began watching the formation through his goggles. Askari, as was expeted, and a lot of them. It was good this was only a reconnaissance mission, because Askari soldiers dotted every side of the rocks, the firelight leaking out of a cave in the middle. Berserkers moved in and out of the entrance, kicking along human slaves. Lev could hear their raspy growls from where he sat. It was a disgusting sight, like finding vermin droppings in your pantry. "What do you see?" The robot asked. "Soldiers, like we thought...ten, twenty...I don't know, I can't really tell. But Hamigdal's here, for sure." Lev began recording, trying to figure out numbers, patrol patterns...anything of interest. But he knew that wasn't really why they were there. "What's the overhead look like?" "One moment, please." Roshi slid down the dune so he could sit up without being spotted. And then, his vision was the satellite's vision. The formation was a tiny spot on the Moon's surface, thousands of miles below. He zoomed, and enhanced...he couldn't make out any definitive shapes, but much of what he saw was the same as Lev. "There are...rocks." Lev rolled his eyes. "How could you tell?" "The formation is hollow. Perhaps the mechs are in there?" "Nah, I've seen Askari mechs before, way too big to fit through that small an entrance," The scout replied, still staring through his goggles. "Then perhaps...wait." Lev looked back at the robot, who had spotted something peculiar in the overhead. "There's a structure, on the southeast side of the formation." Lev sighed. "Alright, stay here, I'll try and get a better view." Roshi exited the overhead view and nodded obligingly, sitting still on the lower edge of the dune, while Lev cautiously grabbed his rifle and moved around the side of the small mountain. Staying low the ground, he crept along silenty to avoid any suspicion. [i]Damn Askari making me squat,[/i] he thought to himself, and, finding a rock to act as his vantage point, fixed the scope of his rifle to the southeast side of the formation. He saw more riflemen, a couple berserkers wrestling, their water supply and... [i]Shit. Shit, shit, shit.[/i] Mechs. Tall, spiky, scary, mechs. So this is it. This is war, then. Shem asked for surveillance, and they got it. Now there's going to be an invasion of this sector, and the Askari are gonna take off towards the desert, and someone's going to have to track them down, and he knows who that's going to be. He and Rufus are going to be stuck there for months. Just then, he heard a feminine voice come through on his comm. [i]"Adami?"[/i] Lev turned away from the formation, confused. Why would HQ be reaching out to him? Especially when he's on assignment? [i]"Adami? Come in, Adami?"[/i] She repeated. Lev shook his head and spoke back. "Yeah?" [i]"Adami, grab Roshi. You're headed back to the fleet."[/i] At this, the scout stood up, a shocked expression on his face, his rifle hanging at his side. "What? Why?" What could possibly be more important than a warlord with mechs? There was a long silence on the comm. Finally he got his answer. [i]"The Gateway's opened."[/i] Lev turned, white in the face. He sat on the rock below him, snapped a few pictures of the mechs with his goggles, and got back on his comm, this time with Roshi. "Hey Rosh?" [i]"Yes, Lev?[/i] "I hope you pinned where that Rover is." ------------------------------------------ On all the Moons, the people of Salome were in a frenzy. Has humanity redeemed itself? Is it time to reunite? Or is it worse? Is invasion imminent? Is humanity to be punished again? The opening of the Gateway begged all these questions but answered none. The Baalim, masters of the Mission's sacred texts, debated hotly in the streets of every city, while Teachist monks stressed for their Students to remain calm. On Adama, news anchors debated the issue and reported on every minute detail of the goings-on of the Tifarah system. The latest story-The Assembly will meet, and discuss what actions, if any, to take. "Personally, I say, let the Gateway be what it is, a pretty light in the sky. Nothing more, nothing less," One anchor said. "You can't be serious!" Another replied. About five experts weighed in over their debate, from every corner of every moon. "After all these years, we finally have a chance to get in touch with the rest of humanity, and you-" "The rest of humanity? We're barely in touch with ourselves!" From there, the debate devolved into a screaming match while crowds gathered in the streets of Adama's many streets to watch. The position of Shem was far more clear. ---------------- "We MUST go through. This much is clear, the idea that any of you could think otherwise is rediculous," Aluf Kazak shouted to the other members of the Assembly. She stood strongly with her arms planted on the table they shared, the standard flair of a Shemi woman. "Human is made to wander, to explore. That the Gateway opens now, when there is peace, when there is cooperation between the Four Moons...that is clearly a sign from God. If you are all too afraid to send a ship, I'll fly one myself." "Now Aria-" "Hami." The two heads of state, one of Shem and one of Nereid, looked to each other with an unspoken disdain. Aria Kazak has been Aluf of Shem since Aluf Hahayal's imprisonment at the end of the War, and since then has pursued an aggressive policy of reform, much to the chagrin of Nereid and Adamia's established leadership. Nereid's president, meanwhile, sat back in the finest Alien textiles, letting a condescending sigh through his nose. "Aria, it's not as if anyone [i]doesn't[/i] want to go through, but we are recovering from a massive civil war, which I hope you do not forget..." He trailed off with a pretention that made Aria, a decorated admiral of Shem's fleet during the war, snarl. "Watch your words carefully, fisherman." The Nereidi president gulped, and shook his head before continuing. "As I was saying, we are recovering from a [i]war[/i], and we have no idea what lies at the other end of the Gateway. IF we piss off the wrong people, I don't want an invasion fleet coming through from the other end." Observers from around the room murmured their agreement. Aria tisked her tongue and rolled her eyes. "All the more reason to go through and know what we're dealing with on the other end! It is our [i]Mission[/i] has humanity to...I don't know, learn ourselves, and that means learning each other." "I have to agree with Aluf Hazak." All eyes in the room turned to the speaker, Admiral Eyef, Admiral of the Capital Fleet. "As the only two leaders sitting at this table with military experience, we can tell you, even more than knowing yourself, you must know your enemies. We have the ships to spare, I say we go through." "Thank you Admiral," Aria said, and the Admiral obligingly nodded. She settled back into her chair, fixing her hair which was neatly pinned into a bun. The Missionary Baal who was moderating their conversation also thanked the admiral, before turning to Adama's president, Kav Benhai. He wore a tailored suit and tailored turban, with his statement clearly having been prepared for quite a while, and he gave a quick smile to all the leaders at the table. "Assembly," he began, as Aria quietly groaned her disapproval, "Do we have a responsibility to humanity? Of course. But we have an even greater responsibility to our people!" "By 'our people', do you mean your corporate interests?" Aria shot back. The moderator moved to say something but the Adami President raised his hand in protest. "Now, now, let us not pick fights, I have my responsibilities as do you, Aluf." Seeing that Aria went silent, he raised both hands to speak to the Assembly. "Why rush [i]anything?[/i] We do not know how long this...'Gateway' will remain open, who knows if our soldiers who go through can even go back? We went through to get here and we were lost for...well, three centuries, I suppose. So, it pains me to say it, leaders of the Assembly, but I must vote no." The president gave a nice speech, but everyone in the room knew that his opinion was one that was clearly bought. The corporations of Adami have been hotly debating the subject of whether to go through the gates or not, with many wishing to expand Salome's trade capabilities, but the price of security in the end was much higher, and President Benhai fell into their camp. It was silent for a while, when the moderator spoke up. "That's two against two...Teacher Qubon, you're the tie breaker." The monk, and leader of Da'lu, sat quietly in a dark corner of the table, lost in thought. Aria assumed that, since the initial Gateway opening brought humanity to the Tifarah System and led to the occupation of Da'lu, Qubon would certainly object, but as she began to say something, the alien raised a finger. "We exist on small stretch of River of Consciousness." The humans who surrounded him stared at him, perplexed. "To us, the river moves straight...hm?" With this, he made a gesture of a straight line with his hands. "We move downstream, and in short time, must disembark." He paused and look the between the leaders at the table. "When we get back in river, we forget we were there before. And we never see...river not straight at all." He then gestured a circle. There was a pause, and the President of Nereid spoke up. "So that means..." "Change is not space between states of calm, but actually, change is state of nature. Calm...only branching moments." He bowed his head, his eye closing in one of the aformentioned branching moments. "Through the Gateway...that is where the river branches." ----------------------------------------------------- And so it was that for the first time in 300 years, the people of the Four Moons would enter the Gateway in search of humanity. Three teams would go through at first. It was decided very early on that, due to Missionary protest, nobody would go to Earth for now until it was clear there was Divine permission. Instead, three expeditions, each with different focus, would be sent to find human colonies that were separated in the time of Babel. Each expedition would have a military attachment (including scouting teams), and at least one Missionary Baal and Teachist monk. From there, one group would be focused exclusively on discussing religion and philosophy, one would be focused on economic cooperation, and one would be focused on science and technology. As the ships prepared to leave, Lev looked back at Salome, celebrating his birthday quietly among a crowd of monks, priests, philosophers and alchemists, who Roshi ran among showing his book off. The expeditions, full of fear, anticipation, and excitement entered the Gateways, and in a moment, they were gone. Lev and his religious ship quickly caught a signal-music. They heard music. It sounded quite like the Missionary hymns many of the Baals had grown up with, so they pressed on. [sub][@Tortoise][/sub] The trade ship, meanwhile, picked up a second signal, with a wide variety of human and alien languages coming through. Could this be another branch of the Interstellar Trade Route? With hope in their hearts, they set forth. [sub][@Sigma][/sub] Finally, the ship of scientists and alchemists stayed, passing by multiple signals until they heard the whirring of engines and machines. They found their destination. [sub][@Irredeemable][/sub] ----------------------------------------------------- Elsewhere, an old man looked up to a purple sky, and above saw the open gateway, beautifully shining in every color imaginable. He smiled and began to laugh. A robot standing next to him look puzzled. "Is everything alright, father?" "Oh...yes, I believe it is." He chuckled once more. "Brilliant, just brilliant.