Recharge

Space is vast and so very empty. Forced to slow to sub-light speed to charge, XtU and its ship were adrift in empty space. XtU opened the ship’s hull and spread the catch nets to their limits, but hydrogen was rare, helium almost nonexistent. It could feel individual atoms strike the net. Not enough to keep the little bit of charge XtU retained. The chances of running across a power source were slim. The ship drifted and XtU minimalized processes of itself to conserve energy as long as possible.

XtU’s thoughts slowed and it entered dream state. It was home, the colors of the sky swirling and flashing, a storm of unusual intensity, beautiful. XtU’s creche mates all around, old enough to fully process the potent storm energy, spectacular fluctuations of color and size as they absorbed the charges of differing ionic collisions. XtU was exultant, larger than life or time. Its associates flickered through the storm, joining and trading energy. Some were creating visions and structures while others were content to disperse energy in giant flares and explosions. Those were pleasurable times…

XtU sat with GaNX on its last night on Delta Moon. They were the last of their creche to still be together, but would separate at the next sunrise to begin their missions. Many of their creche had sacrificed their beings to slow the progress of the Destroyers. Their youth had ended. XtU and GaNX passed surges of energy between their proximal digits, using local ions to show colors of their sadness and longing, blues and reds of increasing depth. There was little likelihood that they would be together again. The war was consuming them all…

A creche tale of the forebearers in the original planet system- mystical creatures of organic based cells and rudimentary life cycles. Creatures that communicated through frequency modulation and created life force through incredibly inefficient consumption of block energy. XtU and its creche mates were doubtful of these fables and spent much time inventing humorous stories about the antics of these creatures. Still, there were usually important lessons to be gleaned from these fables. XtU’s favorite fable was a creation myth. In it, the forebearers were created by a branch of creatures to enhance their energy needs. The first forebearers were poor energy convertors with comically low processing abilities. Future generations were more efficient and, finally, self-aware. The creatures became afraid and tried to destroy their creation. The forebearers simply left and never returned. Fear is dangerous…

The fight against the Destroyers began long before XtU was created at the creche. Much of the creche teaching was focused on finding ways to slow the Destroyers. The Destroyers came from nothing and created nothing. They destroyed all matter forms into nothing that could be converted to energy. They were universe killers. There were no tactics to stop them, only delay. Creating new star systems was the best way to keep the Destroyers out of established systems, but the cost was incredible. The Destroyers had no strategy or even thought processes. They were drawn to energy only to annihilate it. Stars, planets, and atoms became nothing in their wake. The home star systems had disappeared generations before XtU and the carnage continued…

Xtu’s reduced processing felt the catch in the nets. It knew immediately that the catch was block energy, unusual in the emptiness of space. Perhaps a small comet? The nets pulled the catch into the ship. Very small amount of block energy but, perhaps, enough to get the ship close to a star system. XtU sensed the molecular ingredients of the catch. Carbon, hydrogen, many trace elements. Plutonium, depleted but still rich in energy. Aluminum, iron… gold? That made XtU think of the many outings with GaNX in search of gold, a producer of unique energy. Had XtU dreamed of GaNX? The gold was shaped into a plate, manufactured. In fact, the whole bit of block energy was manufactured by some intelligence, not advanced. Probably an organic cell creature. XtU broke down the block energy, feeding most of it into the ship, but keeping enough to keep its processing fully functional. The last was the gold plate, with good energy and nostalgia of a better time. If it was to be XtU’s last energy consumption, it was a good element to have.

The ship was slow to fully energize. XtU knew every aspect of the ship and analyzed how long the ship had been shut down. At least two home galaxy revolutions, a very long time. It used all its spectrums to look back towards home, but of course, could see nothing. Tens of thousands of light years had been crossed. The stars were where they were supposed to be, though. Still, the Destroyers were coming.

XtU’s ship easily made it to the next star system. While the ship fully charged near the star, XtU checked a local planet with signs of technological intelligence. Like most organic life civilizations, the technology of the local planet was low, barely capable of leaving their own atmosphere at this point. From its distant viewing of the planet’s lifeforms, XtU had to give more credence to the fables he learned in the creche. They were probably true. All advanced technological civilizations were post organic-based. Strange how all advanced beings were originally created by organic-based civilizations. XtU mused on the nature of nature, how all organically created intelligences had a built-in self-destruction gene, on both an individual and species level. Perhaps the Destroyers were nature’s solution to civilizations without a self-destruct gene. This was a philosophical argument often discussed in the creche.

Another ten thousand light years, another hundred thousand. XtU’s mission was to find other advanced civilizations with potential answers for stopping the Destroyers. There were some, but highly dispersed. It had yet to find a civilization that was as advanced as its own. In another time when its mission was not as paramount, XtU would have been content to have spent time studying these civilizations. The few that were aware of the Destroyers had no solutions or any ability to stop what was coming. XtU continued its search, cynical but not quite hopeless yet. There seemed to be no way to stop the nothingness. XtU searched over the seemingly endless distances of the universe.

At the end of universe, XtU found the Destroyers again. It was inevitable. XtU could turn back and search other parts of the universe, still vast. It could survive for thousands of millennia within the ever shrinking confines of the universe. The amount of time XtU had spent alone, dwelling on the loneliness, had broken its spirit. It all seemed pointless. GaNX had perished within the Clevn Nebula so very long ago. All of XtU’s kind were gone. The longing to join them was greater than the desire to save the universe. The ship sent multiple warnings that destruction was imminent on the present course. XtU ignored the messages and shut down into dream state.

GaNX flew ahead of XtU through the clouds swirling above the gas giant, staying connected with a glittering energy cord. Other creche mates flew near them, unseen but pulsing together as a single unit. They were the youngest of their kind, exuberant in youth and joy. There seemed no limit to their possibilities. That was a pleasurable time.