PRL Serials

The necessity for social interaction will not be eliminated from the Ascendant and the race will not work toward full integration with machines as the final step in sentient evolution. By the time the Ascendant emerge in the universe, it will be populated by more sentient beings than at any point in its history, and the Ascendant will study them closely and clandestinely in order to determine what the goal of their continued evolution should be. The Ascendant will want to avoid a dependence on machines, but not a future devoid of them. They will hope to encourage the development and advancement of technology, but they will be adamant that their members maintain the concept of individuality and a personal attachment to their own bodies and its place within space, and that would be impossible if their society worked toward a culture-wide hivemind that they were uploaded to. They will not want members of their race to toil for their lives at agriculture or struggling to pull food from their home planet because those societies that they study will be fractured between the Haves and the Have-nots; the owners of the land who monopolize resources for their own gain and the thankful consumers of resources who feel obligated to live in service to owners. In order to avoid perpetuating bloody wars and conflicts throughout the universe, the Ascendant will decide that any conflict that presents itself will need to be handled as an internal matter with as little influence from outsiders as possible, which means that the Ascendant will have no armies, but a robust network of spies and intelligence gatherers. 

In their desire to create the perfect society, the Ascendant will be largely separated from the other civilizations of the universe, and they will watch as each civilization folds under the weight of its deficiencies, or, their inability to anticipate the problems that will arise.

The result will be an Ascendant population that is generally very happy, but none will live in intimate family units of their own. The Ascendant will be one big family, they will feel familial obligation to anyone like themselves and this will minimize feuding for resources. The Ascendant will freely satisfy sexual desire with any willing partner they find and they will generally avoid feelings of jealousy because the only exclusivity that they will insist on is that sexual gratification be satisfied by a member of their own race. Because the Ascendant population will be female, they will not worry about unwanted pregnancy, and in fact, the 77 will decide which members will procreate with the very small population of males, known as the 100,000, who father all children on the planet and live secluded lives under the close watch of the 77. 

The planet Top is so big that even though no member of the Ascendant has ever left the planet, they do not feel claustrophobic on their world. Only the 77 travel the planet Top regularly and know all of its various regions, but the average Ascendant can spend her life traveling and taking in the wonders of the planet without knowing it all first hand. Members of the Ascendant are very dedicated workers who are drafted to their profession by the 77 after the initial portion of their education is completed in adolescence, but leisure and relaxation is extremely important to the race. They only ignore leisure and relaxation when they have pressing missions, like the time jump to the distant past, that required all hands on deck to avoid calamity. 

Life on Top is not ceaseless work and dedication to advancement, though the Ascendant will be known for just that by their peers before they are left as the last beings of the universe. This misconception about life on Top will be perpetuated by the fact that no non-Ascendant being will ever be welcomed to the planet and the Ascendant will be happy to perpetuate the misconception about themselves to bolster their reputation as a civilization that is a cut above the rest. 

But for all of their advancements, the Ascendant were ill prepared for their adventure in the Quinspace. They could have never anticipated that the very essence of the Quinspace would confront them and promise to obliterate them from existence. But they would not be intimated.

“We came here for one thing,” Neu-Brosme 77 said at the gathering of the 77 following the confrontation with the gigantic Dru-Earthling. “If we don’t stop the happening, if we drop our wings and give up, we should go back now. Who among us thought this would be easy?”

They all stood around a table in the middle of their debate hall, and all listened respectfully to their commander before offering their opinion.

“We have to press on,” Telyne-Rhad 77 said, looking around to others in the room, “we’ve risked so much as it is. If we are to be obliterated, we will do it fearlessly”

“That does not sound like confidence,” Neu-Brosme said.

“I suppose that this is why you were elected commander, you are a keen listener,” Telyne-Rhad said. “We have not come all this way to be spooked by some apirition, we all saw it swing and miss. There is something else at play here and we can defeat it. We did not risk everything to turn tail and run.”

Sil-Prom 77, the master of communications, interjected, “So we plan to ignore the warning that that thing put into all of our minds? It said that we are the happening. And it did not engage any of our systems, yet the entire population heard a voice inside their minds. How do we counter something with that power? And should we? Have we made a mistake in coming here?”

“This is very alarming,” Es-Ther 77, the nutrition chief said. She looked to Viol-Ete 77, the head of mental wellness, who said, “Our jobs are to ensure the health of every Ascendant and you all are making that impossible.”

The debate continued, and Neu-Brosme eventually heard from each of the leaders, before deciding that the best course of action was to once again confront the vision of the giant Dru-Earthling, which was easier said than done because no one had any idea where it had gone.

“We can’t track anything here,” said Manu-Ad 77, the chief investigator and law enforcer. “We can’t even say where were are right now. We are literally in uncharted territory.”

So they waited, not longer than a rount, for the return of the giant Dru-Earthling and they explored as much of the Quinspace as they could. It was very much like A-space, it was A-space, but it was as though they saw it all through a multicolor veil. There were few planets in early space, plenty of debris, dust and rocks. Neu-Brosme called together other of the Ascendant with Quinspace senses and they explored their powers on the Outshell. They could all change size, some could gather together and repel energy. But none were as comfortable as Neu-Brosme on the Outshell and they were thankful when she allowed them to return inside.

When it seemed that the giant Dru-Earthling had returned, Neu-Brosme was with Manu-Ad and Telyne-Rhad reviewing Outsell maintenance with Paul-Iuar. They all seemed to hold their breaths as what looked like a distant figure approached through the dazzling colors of the Quinspace, and when it was close, they realized that it was not one giant thing, but five. All five of the creatures were large, though not as large as Top. The biggest of the creatures looked very much like a member of the Ascendant, though the form of the being did not have the same auburn color that every Ascendant in the ship wore when they passed through the timespace anomaly. This being was red, but pastel or pink, and it’s horns and wings were made of a black fire.

“We were made in answer to your presence,” the Quinspace Ascendant said. “Find an exit now and return home or our armies will descend upon you.”

They all heard it in their minds, and Neu-Brosme felt her new power surge.

“Meet them with me,” Neu-Brosme said as her fur stood on end.

They passed through the Outshell, surrounded by a containment field, but also dressed for battle as no other of their race had ever done before. The Ascendant know combat as sport and they all have militaristic uniforms for that purpose, but the uniform of the 77 provides considerably more protection. The Ascendant uniform is plated with sheets of extremely durable and lightweight material that in the Quinspace shimmers like glittering fish scales in dark colors. 

Manu-Ad, Telyne-Rhad, and Paul-Iuar watched as their commander grew to a size that matched the five beings before them. Their battle armour was equipped with propulsion and they followed after her off of their planet with invisible containment fields that made them just as curious and impressive as the mysterious beings.

Along with the Quinspace Ascendant was what appeared to be a lion or giant cat conjoined with a dog or wolf, a giant bug or spider with many more legs and eyes, an eagle or bat with two sets of wings and a large beak, and a whale or a shark with huge gills and rows and rows of teeth.

Neu-Brosme floated before them. She said, “We only want to stop something, something bad that will happen. The other thing misunderstood, we are not trying to cause any problems.”

The Quinspace Ascendant said, “We could care less about your motives. We were created to destroy you and we will.”

“You will have to find us to destroy us,” Neu-Brosme said as spaceships began to launch from Top. After hundreds of ships sped off, the planet went warp speed and also disappeared.

“We only want to talk. It is worth it to talk to us.”

The Dru-Earthling laughed. “Your games are funny. There is nowhere to hide from us here. We are the First Wave. We are this space.”

The cat-dog, the spider and the whale went off in search of the ships, and the eagle went for Top. And their battles created the terrain of the Quinspace. The First Wave created minions of their own to battle the crafty Ascendant who learned to navigate the Quinspace and co-opt the first wave minions for their own efforts. It would become an all consuming battle and the Ascendant precipitated the use and manipulation of Quinspace energy. Many of the Ascendant would die, but most, in the prime parallel of existence anyway, still exist there, and it seems that they always have.