PLAYER INFO. ✖ Handle: Dolly ✖ Contact:pterodotyl ✖ Are You Over 16: Y ✖ Other Characters Played in Consignment: Rapunzel | OC | lettdown
CHARACTER INFO. ✖ Character Name: "Scavenger no.1017117" | also called "World-Eater", "Scavenger" and "Angel" ✖ Genre: VULTURES IN SPACE
✖ Character Appearance:"Tenshi", by さと @ pixiv.net ✖ Character Age: Unknown; Hivemind has existed for billions of years. ✖ Pick A Number: 117 | 711
✖ World Setting:
Once upon a time, the universe was vast and growing: 13.8 billion years old and still young. In 600 years Humans made their first colony on a foreign planet. 1000 years later that number jumped into the hundreds. 10,000 years after that there were over 25,000 intergalactic settlements and humans had achieved deep space travel.
Within a billion years all water on Earth's surface evaporated and escaped into space: it became inhospitable. 5.4 billion years after the first colony was made, half of Earth's Solar System was absorbed by the Sun as it formed a red giant and destroyed most of the inner planets.
The Human race died out as the universe reached 15.1 billion years old without ever managing to contact extraterrestrial life. The number of planets with the potential to sustain life numbered around 40 billion. By the time the universe was 39.6 billion years old that number had decreased to 106 million and was continuing to drop.
Four genetically diverse, sentient species capable of intergalactic travel existed around this time period: Kyleons, GV12s, Eve, and the Iri.
Kyleons of the planet Kyleon 625 existed as one species formed by two independent creatures sharing a symbiotic relationship with one another. They were the most technologically advanced race and once boasted colonies numbering in the millions. But as the number of hospitable planets decreased so too did their reach across the universe. The Kyleons reached an all-time low of five colonies spread across three star systems around this time. They maintained ambivalent relationships with GV12s and the Eve, but were located too far from Ivilus to have ever made contact with the Iri.
GV-12 was a gaseous planet whose inhabitants, the GV12s, existed in a similar state (they also weren't especially creative when it came to names). In order to traverse the cosmos they needed to be constantly contained within specialized suits. Because their environmental requirements only included strong gravitational pull and gas-heavy atmospheres, GV-12's were once able to colonize most of their own star system and many of the uninhabitable gas giants of other solar systems. Five million years ago they boasted over one thousand colonies across numerous systems, but like the Kyleons that number decreased steadily. They only had one other planet colony in a neighbouring star system around this time. They were aggressive and openly antagonized the Eve and Kyleons (the Kyleons just didn't care because they were too far advanced for the GV12s to do any damage).
Geneve B was the home planet of the Eve. They were the only sentient species capable of intergalactic travel to remain on their home world rather than expand, although this attitude has changed when their sun's luminosity began to increase as it neared the red super giant phase. The Eve required water-rich environments to survive.
Ivilus was the home of the Iri and due its distance from the others' colonies, remained completely isolated for its entire existence. Their system had twin suns which bathed their planet in constant daylight; because the Iri were plant-based they never slept and constantly photosynthesized. They made numerous attempts to send messages out into the reaches of space to contact other life, but were never successful. There were three other life-sustaining planets in their solar system but which unfortunately lacked the constant sunlight they required to survive.
Within 100 years Geneve B would be destroyed as its star spontaneously went supernova. The Eve and all nearby GV12s would be completely wiped out. The Kyleons would see the rest of the GV12s eradicated shortly thereafter and then focus the rest of their resources identifying the cause of star disappearance in the universe.
By the time the universe reaches 39.8 billion years old there is no genetically diverse sentient life left in the universe. There are only Scavengers.
What is a Scavenger?:
Scavengers are essentially the vultures of the universe. When a star reaches the end of its life and prepares to go supernova (usually a red giant or super giant, depending on mass) the Scavengers flock to it so that they can feed off of the explosive bursts of electromagnetic radiation and heavy elements. As a nebula forms in the supernova's wake it becomes the Scavengers' replicating grounds until it is completely devoured. This prevents both new stars from forming and the dispersal of the building blocks of life (the heavy elements). Scavengers are directly responsible for snuffing out of all sentient life in their universe besides their own; both the Kyleons and the GV12s lost virtually all of their colonies thanks to the Scavengers.
They are genetically identical to one another and share one single consciousness and uniform identity; although each Scavenger has the capacity to possess individualistic traits and tendencies, they consider themselves all one person: some pieces of itself just have greater representations of different traits. A good way to think of it would be the Misaka clones from To Aru Majutsu no Index. The Scavengers can possess individualistic personalities shaped by unique experiences, but they consider themselves all the same person: it's just that portions of itself have had different experiences than the rest and react according to those experiences. Kind of like having all possible iterations of yourself exist at once. Some Scavengers can even absorb memories and thoughts directly from the hive mind and essentially become uniform copies of their fellows. Others can pick and choose what they wish to store within themselves. But no matter what experiences or traits a Scavenger has they all have the same emotional baseline and capacity, genetic code, and belief that they are all one person/consciousness. Their goals and drives are identical but the ways in which they go about achieving them may vary slightly.
Similarly, although considered one mind not all Scavengers perform the same duties or tasks. Some scout for stars with the potential to go supernova, some focus on replicating in nebulae, some observe other sentient species, and others are designated to "sacrifice" themselves to prematurely cause a star to explode.
Scavengers have only one goal in mind: eat stars as they die, then create more Scavengers. Eventually they will consume all matter and energy in their universe until nothing is left. There are more than 2 quintillion (2018) Scavengers spread throughout the existing universe.
All communication between Scavengers is done via telepathic projection of emotion and memory in the hive mind as they possess no actual written or spoken language of their own; they have never needed it and lack the biology to support it.
Interactions with other Species:
The first time Scavengers were observed by sentient beings was during the Great Colonial Period of the Earth Empire. A routine scouting mission meant to monitor the potential gamma ray emissions of a nearby dying star led to its crew crossing paths with a single Scavenger who had come to observe the event. The star was red giant which lacked the sufficient mass to go supernova but it had been enough to catch the Scavenger's attention. And that Scavenger was enough to attract the crew's; it was the first time any living creature had seen one. The Scavenger was nicknamed "Angel" because of the luminescent halo which appeared over its head. Visual contact lasted eight minutes, thirty-seven seconds. They were never again seen by the human race.
When the universe had aged to 39.6 billion years the Scavengers were finally seen again. But this time, contact wasn't fleeting.
Although GV12 activity remained hostile and included frequent attacks on both Kyleon and Eve vessels their presence in the grand scheme of things was for the most part inconsequential. The Eve suffered the greatest from the constant bombardment on their home world as it impeded galactic scouting missions intended to find another water-rich planet for them to live on. Kyleon ships were able to pass through GV12 space and barricades unimpeded but offered no help to the Eve. Their own attention was focused on the strange phenomena they had been observing diligently for several millennia: the overall reduction of stars in the universe.
The Kyleons realized that logically there should be no reason for the number of stars to decrease. If a star went supernova the resulting nebulae could, and sometimes would become the grounds for a starburst region. Or at the very least, new stars should have been forming. So why wasn't that happening? The source of the problem could be traced to the nebulae themselves, or rather, the lack of them. Stars were dying without facilitating the birth of new ones. And it wasn't just happening in their own reaches of the universe, it was happening everywhere.
That's when they began watching the death of stars and found the Scavengers. Not every star had them: only those with mass large enough to create red giants or super giants. White dwarfs capable of performing the same feat were almost completely ignored. But as they noticed the correlation between stars with the potential to become giants and Scavengers the Kyleons initially believed the Scavengers to be a sort of red flag: their appearance would tell them which stars could potentially supernova sometime in the near-ish future. The Scavengers were seen as strange irregularities but not necessarily a problem at this stage.
It wasn't until the appearance of Scavengers on Geneve B that this all changed. Although the Eve knew the death of their star was billions of years off, the increased luminosity would cause all the water on their planet to evaporate into space long before that and make Geneve B uninhabitable. So they did not believe it to be of great concern when the Scavengers appeared. No one knew how long Scavengers would flock to and wait for a star to supernova as they had only ever observed them after having already arrived. But the other side to this was that they had never observed them so close to an aging star. Most commonly they seemed to keep safe distances between them and the dying stars, but Geneve B's solar system was slowly becoming flooded with them as millions upon millions of Scavengers arrived in the system. Some even managed to land on the planet as well.
One hundred years after the first Scavenger sighting and approximately 7.2 billion years before Geneve B's star was set to die, it spontaneously went supernova. The event devoured over half the solar system and wiped out the Eve and most of the GV12's; all Kyleon ships in the area were lost, and all Scavengers within the area of effect were destroyed. That's when those biding their time in the outlying reaches of the star system converged and began to feed and replicate. When the data findings on the event made it back to Kyleon 625 they couldn't believe what they found: the supernova had been caused by the Scavengers...and they were eating its remains.
The Kyleons nicknamed the Scavengers "World Eaters" and declared that any and all found must be eliminated on sight. No matter what it took or what it cost, the Kyleons would see them wiped from existence. Two thousand years later, the Kyleons were gone. The Iri followed 150 million years later as Scavenger expansion finally reached their galaxy.
✖ Character History:
For billions upon billions of years, Scavenger no.1017117 did not possess any sort of name or designation. Scavengers don't have a name for their "species" nor do they give themselves names, so for quite a long time 1017117 went without any sort of title to differentiate it from any other Scavenger (and to date, it still does not consider itself to possess one. You can't same a piece of them and not all of them). The name "no.1017117" didn't actually crop up until the time of the Kyleon discovery and observation of Scavengers and it doesn't actually correspond to it's number within the Scavenger fold. It's just the 1017117th Scavenger observed in space by the Kyleons.
In truth 1017117 has existed since human times. Officially designated to search for suitable stars, the majority of 1017117's lifespan has been dedicated to fulfilling this purpose. It travelled with hundreds of millions of others and scoured the universe until it found stars that were sizable enough to explode. Then it would wait...and wait, and wait, and wait, until the supernova finally occurred. It would eat its fill from the resulting radiation and heavy elements and then move onto the next closest meal. Sometimes it would stay to replicate in the resulting nebula but more often than not 1017117 would depart within a couple hundred years.
This routine and mundane behaviour didn't deviate much until another Scavenger shared images of a strange white asteroid floating through space: the shuttle belonging to the Earth Empire. It was the first time any of the Scavengers had seen other life out in the universe since they couldn't land on planets. Scavengers considered most of them inconvenient hunks of rock they couldn't eat because of the their gravitational pulls and atmospheres; trying to enter them would usually result in their burning up in its atmosphere. The notion that there was something out there besides them was intriguing, and from that point 1017117 took on more of an observational role as it scouted through space.
Eventually this role put it in contact with the Kyleon Scavenger Research Division and it was apprehended for study and testing. Naturally 1017117 did not resist nor did it find any issue with the various experiments performed on its person; it couldn't feel pain so there was never and issue there, and there was plenty for it to observe while there...like the effects of routine gamma radiation on organic beings. The entire crew was dead within a week. But since 1017117 could not move around in an environment with artificial gravity it was forced to wait until another ship came to see why the first had stopped responding, and that was the start of 1017117's extended stay with the Kyleons during their research phase.
1017117 learned not to emit deadly radiation and was able to slowly condition its body for movement in areas with gravity. It's preferred method was still to teleport if possible, but often times that was not the case since the Kyleons preferred their test subjects to remain in the testing area. So natural movement became necessary, and as 1017117 observed the Kyleons and underwent their various tests it became the recipient of a process to communicate with the Scavengers at large. The attempts were successful, and for the first time Kyleons were able to connect to the hive mind.
Unfortunately the strain of trying to connect to the whole consciousness almost always resulted in death, so they tried approaching things from a different angle and 1017117, along with many others, were the "singular targets" they tried to communicate with. This round of tests produced much better results and basic communication was achieved. 1017117 began to "speak" to the Kyleon researchers assigned to it, although speak is a very relative term. Emotions, desires, and curiosity could be transmitted but actually expressing concepts and ideas was much, much harder.
But things generally went well. 1017117 took a casual interest in the Kyleons' efforts and maintained amicable relations with the researchers assigned to it. They got along, insofar as any Scavenger could, and 1017117 was noted as being one of the more "talkative" Scavengers in their possession. It took a long time but slowly 1017117 began to get the hang of things. For over seventy years 1017117 remained on the Kyleon ship, until the hive mind communicated that Scavengers would be gathering to destroy Geneve B's sun prematurely.
In turn 1017117 and the other Scavengers made a request to leave, their first ever. It puzzled the Kyleons but there was no way they were willing to let their test groups go...so deciding that they would just have to set themselves free, all the Scavengers aboard the ship began to emit enough energy to disable the ship so the shields keeping them contained would deactivate. A side-effect of this was also putting life support offline and the entire crew suffocated as 1017117 and the other Scavengers returned to the vacuum of space in preparation to feed.
Geneve B's sun went supernova just as planned, and the cycle continued.
✖ Character Personality:
As previously noted, all Scavengers consider themselves to be the same person even if they have slight variations in personality. They all share one connected consciousness where they can transmit memory and emotion, and they are so intimately familiar with one another's thoughts and feelings that they may as well be their own. This doesn't mean that all Scavengers imprint that onto themselves though. Scavenger A may have observed humans and learned from them but Scavenger B did not; as a result Scavenger A has adapted human quirks. Even though Scavenger A is now different from Scavenger B in terms of how it acts, they believe themselves to be the same person; one has just had slightly different experiences.
At their core all Scavengers have the same goal, same range of emotional capacity, and same instinctual drives. They have a limited threshold for what they can and cannot feel compared to humans and do not have the ability to feel fear, anxiety, any sort of aggression or anger. What this basically means is that a Scavenger will never be driven to any displays of anger or irritation, physical or otherwise. Remorse is also foreign to them: they can regret upsetting someone but not feel bad that they did so. They are unable to bear any ill-will towards a person, they don't entertain malicious thoughts, and they don't hate.
They do however feel disappointment and can form opinions of something: they may "dislike" when a potential meal is stolen or prevented, but they don't retaliate in any sort of fashion or hold a grudge. No matter how rude or violent or antagonistic any behaviour is towards them Scavengers won't raise so much as a finger in return. They won't even defend themselves. Perhaps the only real "aggressive" behaviour a Scavenger is capable of displaying is to intentionally induce a supernova, but doing so is never with the intent to kill or harm. It's simply something they do to create more food for themselves and if any loss of life occurs it's just a byproduct of the action.
As one of those designated for observation, Scavenger no.1017117 is more curious and willing to engage in socializing compared to other Scavengers. Other sentient beings capable of communication are interesting and 1017117 considers observing and interacting with them somewhat of a hobby. It's a fun way to kill time between meals and it has nothing better to do...which is to say that any form of interaction for 1017117 is purely recreational. It does not socialize with others because it seeks companionship or desires friendship, but simply because it's a enjoyable past-time. 1017117 would think nothing of leaving someone they had known their whole life to die because social bonds and a drive for companionship is something all Scavengers lack. While they can feel benevolent and a certain level of affinity towards someone, they would not genuinely care for that person's well-being on an emotional level. If that person died 1017117 would simply move on.
This is because Scavengers have no concept of what it means to die. If one Scavenger was killed in front of another it would mean nothing because the first would still be alive. The best way to think of it is that all the Scavengers together make up one human body. If you clip a finger nail off the rest of you is still alive. The loss of a nail doesn't affect you in the grand scheme of things and will grow back anyway. To Scavengers, any part of them that dies is that nail. The hive mind will continue to exist with or without those of it who have fallen, so their collective identity never really "dies." This means they also do not understand the concept of murder. 1017117 would think nothing of eating someone if they got too close to its "mouth" and would not miss them afterwards.
Understanding that every member of a species is a unique individual is a huge challenge for Scavengers: it just doesn't make sense to them. Once 1017117 realized that interacting the same with all members of a species did not produce the results it would if it spoke to other Scavengers, 1017117 just decided to consider every single person their own unique species. It's easier that way.
Like most Scavengers 1017117 is endlessly patient. It will wait hundreds of thousands of years as if it were only a few minutes for a desired outcome and for this reason it has no qualms waiting for planetary or solar debris. It never has any reason to rush in and be hasty or react impulsively. 1017117 considers the best route of action for what it wants and follows it. Admittedly it does not take initiative in problem solving since most issues Scavengers have encountered can be solved by waiting: there's no need to be proactive about action when your collective lifespan is virtually endless. 1017117 is used to the time schedule of the universe, not that of a single sun or the time it takes for a planet to complete a revolution of its yearly cycle.
Basically to sum it up, Scavengers and 1017117 in general do not act or behave in a way that would be familiar to another species. They have a limited understanding of other cultures beyond themself and do not engage in typical social behaviour. They have almost zero body language and they do not physically express emotion or make gestures. 1017117 is the same! Personal space and boundaries of that sort are entirely foreign concepts to Scavengers and have almost no meaning; often times when it was fed it was in surplus; so if offered food 1017117 would continue to follow and pursue that person, expecting more to be given. Limits of what 1017117 should and shouldn't do around people is not always easy to judge. It would do something it was asked to even if doing so would be to the detriment (health or otherwise) of the one who asked.
This goes all the way back to the fact that Scavengers cannot feel pain! Because 1017117 doesn't know what it is, it does not know which actions will cause it in others; and if it's causing it, 1017117 would not know to stop. If asked to do something that would torture or harm another 1017117 would do so without understanding the consequences of its actions and, once made aware, it would not feel sorry for doing so. It may regret that it had done something to upset someone, but there would be no guilt or sense of responsibility attached to it. 1017117 may act friendly and generally pleasant to everyone it meets, but deep down it doesn't truly care for them at all. It's only real goal is to eat and replicate. Past-times and hobbies are nice, but they aren't it's ultimate driving force.
1017117 won't offer aid to anyone in trouble, suffering, or in pain. It isn't generous and would quite willingly follow any orders to harm, torture (as far as it is able), or kill someone if doing so would result in it's ultimate goal. This means that 1017117's loyalty to the CDC is absolute provided that it upholds it's end of 1017117's sign-up request. And 1017117 assumes it will because it has no concept of deception or hiding of the truth. Lies are a notion totally alien to Scavengers.
In general 1017117 will always respond text-wise as honestly and openly as possible. If it omits details or information it's not out of desire to hide it, rather because it does not see it as necessary. 1017117 will express humility and apologetic behaviour even if it does not feel it because it is a learned expression; it parrots the notion, more or less. Again 1017117 will act inquisitive and curious but often times the persona it displays in written form does not match it's in-person interactions because Scavengers don't...do that. They communicate telepathically and have no need for physical expression, and if someone is in 1017117's immediate vicinity it is more likely to observe them than to attempt to communicate. Its default explanation for this would be an expression of shyness, but in truth 1017117 would be distracted by the star-like reactors inside their cuffs. And there's the fact that they can't see or hear, so in-person conversations are kind of moot without their telepathy. Which can cause adverse side-effects as described below!
✖ Character Powers & Skills:
Note that this is mostly biological stuff! Scavengers' only real powers are energy emission and empathetic telepathy.
Replication:Currently unavailable
The only time Scavengers replicate is during the aftermath of a supernova. After absorbing the massive amounts of radiation let off by the blast Scavengers spontaneously begin the process once their own personal radiation levels reach a certain point. Once that threshold is passed a new Scavenger is born from the blank space where their head ought to be, first growing a skeleton before tissue begins to form. Eventually a perfect copy will be made and begin absorbing the same radiation and heavy elements. The old Scavenger will remain.
Physiology:
Scavengers have a unique body-type that separates them from the Humans they resemble. They have no lungs, no ears, no eyes, and no sense of taste or smell; the "clothes" they possess are actually part of their bodies. Because their native environment is the vacuum of space their bodies have incredibly dense skeletal structures which make them heavier than a human their size would be. On Earth a Scavenger would weigh close to 180lbs.
The rest of their body is made up of a mixture of tissue and a gelatinous substance capable of hardening to a degree where it resembles muscle. They are softer than humans and as such can be pierced and damaged much more easily than them. Their central nervous system processes electronic impulses differently thus Scavengers have no sense of pain or pleasure; they are limited to temperature and pressure. Scavengers are riddled with a network of special nerves and glands which allow them to keep their bodies warm despite the lack of any real warmth in space and they are capable of withstanding intense gamma radiation without any adverse effects. They cannot handle abrupt changes in temperature, and if a Scavenger is too close to a supernova it will be completely destroyed. Similarly they cannot land on planets with atmospheres because they would burn up upon entry.
Scavengers are physically weaker than humans and do poorly in environments with gravity. Should they manage to land on a planet with gravity they lack the strength to hold themselves up and often collapse in a heap. Because energy emission is disturbed by weakness in gravity they cannot levitate either. Most Scavengers possess almost no motor skills at all; they very rarely use their arms or legs and cannot lift any amount of weight without first conditioning their bodies to do so.
Scavenger no.1017117's body has been conditioned for basic movement in Earth-like gravitational environments but its physical capabilities are limited to walking and incredibly minimal arm movement. It cannot lift any significant weight, run, or jump. It has little to no reflexes and motor skills are poor, if present at all. Stamina is maintained by energy diffusion.
Feeding:
Instead of a mouth Scavengers have a chute-like opening where their faces would be (if they were human) and it is filled with special jagged protrusions designed specifically for breaking down and capturing heavy elements. They can quite easily chew through iron and steel, and with enough time even diamonds can be broken down. They can consume any matter composed of heavy elements but struggle with Helium and Hydrogen. Beryllium is toxic to them, but they will consume it regardless of the fact that it causes death.
The reason their hood remains blackened instead of showing their "chute" is because similar to a black hole, they do not let light escape from it: they eat it, and thus it cannot reflect anything. sans the crushing gravity part.
Sight:
Because they have no eyes Scavengers cannot perceive the world the way we do. Instead, they have a special gland inside their head allows them to view the electromagnetic spectrum and they use this to hone in on stars near the end of their lives as well as other life forms; most of what they perceive is energy in an ultraviolet-esque light, similar to how NASA has mapped LMC & SMC. This gland is also responsible for the transmission of their hive mind and what allows them to break down the radiation they feed upon. Related glands throughout their body allow them to produce minute energy emissions for movement.
If a person's core temperature is too low to show up distinctively on an infrared or energetic UV scale Scavengers cannot tell the difference between that person and a lump of refuse. Sorry Dagger, you're just a really pretty centrepiece.
Energy Emission:
Energy consumed by a Scavenger can be used to heat their bodies, propel them through zero-gravity environments, and is the key component in replication. In some cases it can be used to "scramble" their atomic structure, causing them to vanish and "teleport" to a desired location and reform. This requires a conscious effort on the Scavengers' part and its effectiveness is dampened by atmospheres. Limited to 50 meters on Ajna. Most commonly this ability manifests in the form of a luminescent red halo above their heads, giving them their "angelic" appearance.
In very rare cases it has been possible for Scavengers to expel enough energy at once to tilt a star towards self-destruction but this requires hundreds of millions of Scavengers working together. On an individual scale they can power large machinery for as long as their own supply of energy lasts. This is determined by when they last ate, how much, and whether they have recently replicated.
While they are capable of producing and emitting gamma radiation, Scavengers have learned that this usually kills everything around them and generally has a negative connotation. They try not to do it around organic life forms. They can't Hulk out or anything; it isn't explosive, it's just a small emission localized to the Scavenger. Between Scavengers emitting this energy is considered normal and even positibe because of its association with dying stars and food.
Empathetic Telepathy:
Scavengers communicate exclusively through emotion, memory and feeling, and this is normally done through their hive mind. In the case of communication with other species they have the ability to "project" what they feel onto them, however doing so repeatedly or for an extended amount of time can lead to nosebleeds, dizziness, disorientation, nausea, and also possibly strokes. Exceptions to this are powerful telepaths and creatures whose minds facilitate forms of empathetic or mental communication; they may experience lessened or no effect at all, depending. They can however "read" the emotional states of a person with no adverse effects. Anything more in-depth than this results in the above side-effects which follow the same rules as stated above.
In the case of the cuffs, words are translated into emotion and intent for the Scavengers and likewise their feelings are translated into text. Specifically, emoticons and kaomoji.
In rare cases they can project memories and experience onto other people, but this almost always results in migraines, nosebleeds, and vomiting. The same exceptions as before apply here.
Why Are They Covered In Blood??:
That's iron-heavy waste matter and it's toxic to most organic life forms. You should probably not touch it. That's right, it's Scavenger poop.
The Antenna Galaxies just weren't as pretty as they used to be. 1017117 had never seen them up-close before and it's didn't really know what it meant for something to be beautiful, but it was true that they had once been quite appealing. Other Scavengers had shared the memory billions of years ago of a region of space where stars were formed. New meals had been created near-constantly as the region chaotically produced both the birth and death of stars. Scavengers had never needed to induce a single supernova in that region.
Now it was barren, a shadow of its former glory and barely even recognizable compared to bright, bursting image stored in 1017117's memory. All of their memory. Scavengers hadn't come to this region of space in tens of billion of years. There was no longer a reason to, the sun in this region had long since turned into a white dwarf and ceased to produce the supernova they had desired. But food was not 1017117's reason for visiting. Today, just like the hundreds of thousands years prior, it was simply observing. Many of them were, fanned out across several neighbouring galaxies. This was as routine and repetitive as anything it had ever done.
Except perhaps for the strange minds that had wanted to speak to it so very long ago. The "Whisperers." Or not very long at all, really. The memory was still as fresh as if it had happened the day before...if days existed in the vacuum of space. Or it had any concept of what a "day" constituted. But it had been long enough for 1017117 to witness the birth and subsequent death of at least one star between then and now. That seemed like it must have been some sizable amount. The Whisperers would have thought it a long time.
They had been interesting. Not important nor particularly significant but it had been..."enjoyable." 1017117 and 672233321 and 1000234112 and 890115 had all enjoyed it. But then they had shared almost everything between themselves in their entirety so there was little they did not see exactly on about the experience. The rest of themselves took passive notice and digested the information at their leisure. There was no rush and no hurry, nothing significant to differentiate this time from any other now that the Whisperers were gone.
Nothing, except the sudden but seamless intrusion of another mind into 1017117's that left it coming to a full stop as vague confusion, intrigue, and curiosity pulsed through its body in short radiated waves. It wanted to know what was happening; who had come to say--
Hello.
Or the closest approximation any Scavenger could come to expressing such a thing. 1017117 recognized the pulse as being similar to what the Whisperers had done...but there was no confusion, no learning process involved this time. Whatever it was that had gotten inside a piece of itself was perfectly versed in its thoughts. 1017117's interest was piqued. It pulsed back to the greeting, mimicking it. Then it pulsed inquiry; not to discern any sort of name or title, but to find a more innate understanding of what the presence was.
1017117 was not disappointed with its answer: memory, just as clear as if 1017117 had perceived it itself flooded into its mind with such clarity it left virtually no confusion. The Speakers came from someplace that was not here: someplace outside the emptiness they left after they had fed. It wanted to offer 1017117 a chance to go there, someplace filled with matter and energy to consume...so long as the right conditions were met. 1017117 was hungry; it wanted to go someplace with plenty to eat.
The Speakers let it know that was possible. Anything was possible: as many stars and worlds as they could eat...even if they could not eat worlds on their own. The Speakers would help. It could become a reality for 1017117. For all of it.
And 1017117 saw no reason to refuse. It was the first time anyone had gone so far as to offer the food all of it truly craved. The Whispers had given them many things, but never the stars...no, once they had realized they feasted upon their remains the Whisperers had begun to destroy pieces of itself. It had been of little interest back then. And none now: the Whisperers were gone, consumed by the violent bursts of their own suns.
Now, it was The Speakers. And 1017117 was finally, somehow, more than just a "little interested."
CHARACTER ITEMS. ✖ Pick a Team: Red Team ✖ Reason for Joining the CDC: They want to eat the remains of planets and stars. ✖ Mission Freebie: To eat destroyed planets. ✖ Personal Item or Weapon: N/A; Scavengers have no possessions, and no home planet to get them from.
pterodotyl
lettdown
