Chapter 1 - Conception

Primal life had existed for thousands of millennia but did not notice that the new day had dawned with a second small light source in the morning sky.  The simple creatures were only concerned with the daily routines involving consumption, reproduction and survival in general.  But there were a few that were affected by their new sun without ever knowing that it had appeared – and they never would. 

It started small within a single square meter along the equator; this new “start” was generating a sterile field that would be the equivalent of a nest.  Nothing survived within it – not the amphibious swampretta that almost escaped its boundary, not the insects that lived in the column of air above it or within the soil or various crust layers below it.  All bacteria that would normally thrive on the remains of these victims were cleansed.  Even viral forms were disassembled at the most basic level.  Within a day, the nest was pure.

            As night fell, the gaze of the new sun fell away from the nest as well.  However, before it closed its eye completely for the night, it performed the first of its many miraculous tasks on its duty list.  By binding the atoms of five aluminum atoms into a purely pyramidal structure and charging the electrons in a cyclic pattern, a vibrational frequency never before known on the planet was initiated.

            By the next morning, all aluminum molecules within the nest had collected into a single source of raw material.  With a weaker strength than the day before but identical frequency, the new seed eagerly awaited the next rays from the fledgling second sun.

            Each day thereafter, the field was re-sterilized and prepared for further growth.  And each day, the structure within became more ordered.  Throughout the seasons, this procedure repeated itself with little notice by the indigenous life until one day at the height of noon, the yearling star that had become a normal addition to the sky, simply went dark.  As though an eye had closed, the primal planet was no longer being watched.

Chapter 2 – First Birth

            It appeared no different than it had since its beginning, but now the nest no longer had a need of the sterilization field.  However, just below the surface, activity was occurring at incredible rates.  Exponential growth was occurring – growth that wasn’t like the cruel competition just meters away but rather a development founded by pure order.  Insects sometimes resembled this kind of pattern but never with such plan or purpose.

            Throughout the next year of gestation, the elements developed from simple geometrical crystalline forms into higher orders with the ability to capture and recycle energy, sense environmental conditions and move with intention.  Eventually, communication was mastered allowing for the unification of purpose.  These automatons, while no bigger than a few molecules, were becoming alive.  The primary tool of the founders had arrived.  The Enbits were ready to begin the next stage.

            With their fundamental skills developed, the Enbits only had to receive one last inspiration before the link to their beneficiary left them to perform their role.  This was, in its simplest form a single instruction: build.  In its more complex form, the plans and patterns of their purpose was also delivered.  However, these instructions would never be known to all and would only be revealed throughout time as the project progressed.  The automatons would not know or understand their purpose.  They would simply fulfill the requirements presented to them through a lifetime of stored meaning…  meaning stored in the very elements in which they were made… meaning available for them to consume in the same way that the life forms that shared their new planet consumed food for survival. 

Chapter 3 – Preparation

            After a decade, the Enbit colony was becoming an empire.  While still within the original square meter of real-estate, it had become a vast commonwealth of resources and functionality.  To the observer, this small plot of land still looked very much like that around it except for the lack of natural life forms.   Beneath the surface, it was a different matter altogether.  Elaborate systems for transportation were constantly busy as exceedingly specialized generations took over where previous ones left off.  While still not possessing a consciousness on an individual level, the colony as a whole continued to refine its purpose and sense of a unified self.

            By the twentieth local year of its existence (by the primary star’s calendar), the colony was ready for its next evolution.  Having transformed the crust below the surface into an inhabited complex delving almost one half mile down, the population was ready for expansion.  As though waiting for a sign, all activity stopped.   The seconds of waiting were like an eternity but eventually the signal came.  The young star was back in the sky once again – visible even during the hot summer’s mid day.  Instead of a yearly visit, this time the founding eye only observed for one hour.  But this time it sent a century’s worth of information.  The capacity at the receiving end was now able to receive the instruction.  And the core of the colony had become a vast library for storing it.

            Now, when the second star went dark again, the colony sensed the change and proceeded to act.  Within hours, the outpouring of the entities onto the surface was visible as a change in the coloration of the rock.  By evening, the coloration had turned to texture.  Within a week, these textures were clearly discernable as the walls and structures of a mini civilization.  The Enbits were becoming a society.  They were programmed with a sense of direction, a goal for daily living and a need for security.  Even though the colony appeared defenseless at first when seen from the surface, the sheer subterranean volume ensured that one way or another; the colony would fulfill its purpose.

            By the time the year had ended, the surface city complex of the colony was complete.  Exhibiting its un-natural metallic surface and sharp features, it now stood uncharacteristically apart from the rest of the environment.   Now, a perfect cube was in place upon this planet.  The seed from the founders had finally been planted.

Chapter 4 – Growth

            This new seed didn’t require water or sunlight to sprout.  Immediately upon its completion, the flurry of activity within and below it increased tenfold.  Even though it wasn’t biological, it did functionally resemble the seed of the varied flora around it.  Virtual roots branched out in all directions below the surface.  The primary sub-stem transformed the rock below it into channels of high tensile alloy as it burrowed deeper into the planet towards the mantle.  Veins of mineral ore were tapped and processed by specialized entities.  All had the same goal – to bring their materials to the surface.

            The core of the initial colony had become the DNA of this new society.  It had received and stored the blueprint of what would occupy the colony for the next century.  As the material passed the core, the programming for its purpose was assigned in exacting precision.  By the time successive layers of building entities had manipulated it, the material was ready for final processing on the surface.  The cube city took these components and generated factories.  The factories in turn built secondary cities.   Years passed as the factories grew and spread and generated the components that would be needed by future generations.

            By the third generation, the components being built were so large in comparison to the builders that they were self propelled by design.  By the seventieth year these components appeared to assemble themselves as they produced ever larger machines.  Some units became material gatherers and others specialized in building the goal.  Others were the goal itself.

            The years passed and machines were built continuously.  Day and night the plan unfolded.  Year after year, progress was made.  The plan was so sound that every contention was foreseen – weather and adversary alike.  The components gave no thought to sacrifice or suffering.  Each season taught them of the conditions with which to contend.  Each season made them stronger.

Chapter 5 – The Goal Achieved

            As the last year of manufacturing came to a close the shape of the target was clearly visible.  However, the scale was such that it dwarfed the original builders on an astronomical scale.   The planetary wildlife saw it as just another mountain range--and it considered them as just so many insects to be ignored.

            For, as it turned out, the true result was a behemoth machine far larger than the colony had perceived.  They had no way of knowing that the founding star planted other seeds just like theirs all over the planet.  Sixty four sites were chosen and populated by this strange eye in the heavens.  Each site grew separately and developed both unique and redundant parts.  Upon completion of each major part, they converged to the origin of the first seeded colony.  Extra parts were stored while they arrived as the primary system was assembled.  The project was designed to work without fail. 

            What had been made?

            It had taken exactly one hundred twenty one years and countless generations of builders.  Each did only their own task but with precision and frictionless cooperation.  The result was a new child.  It was the first offspring of the founders to be born on this planet.  

·        One kilometer long, one half kilometer wide and 500 meters tall. 

·        One million kilotons gross weight.

·        Self powered.

·        Impervious to the elements.

With the knowledge derived from all of its creators back to the beginning, it was also on the verge of sentience.

And it was to be called Colos: the constructor, Lord of the Sabulia.

Chapter 6 – The Sabulia

Colos was an awesome being.  Its purpose was not unlike the entities that made it…to build.  And like the processes that brought it into existence, it too was going to begin its life by generating more of its kind.  Initiated by the programming of the founders, it proceeded to consume resources and generate components.  It built factories which built specialized automatons of all kinds.  These in turn developed and populated a huge city in its own right.  And once Colos was ready, it began to fulfill its main purpose – to create offspring. 

To assist with its task it also created a new species of being: the Sabulia.  Semi-intelligent drones of biological construction, the Sabulia have simple souls.  Manufactured within Colos itself, the Sabulia are designed to be resilient self healing workers and warriors dedicated to the maintenance of Colos from within and protection of it from without.  An initial army of 100,000 Sabulia was generated for the benefit of Colos.  And Colos in turn provided for the needs of the Sabulia.

With a monumental scale of work ahead of it, Colos relied on the same technique as the Enbits that built it (and still remain throughout it).  In the span of the next sixteen years, a new child of Colos was created one per year.    Upon the completion of each, a new army of Sabulia would be created to escort it to its final destination to continue the terraforming of the planet.

Sabulia Drones

Copyright (c) 2004 Heesbro Games, Updated 01/16/04:fsh