Quoted By:
>Tie between GOAL and PROCESS
“The probe approaches the RAIN, interposing itself between the planet and our ship. A belt of distorted starlight forms a speckled iris around the machine’s pupillary core.
Slowly, I breathe out and turn my eyes upward to meet its unwavering gaze.
“I wish to clarify the terms of our agreement,” I subvocalize.
+++I WILL PROVIDE SOME CLARIFICATION+++
“How precisely will you prohibit the operation of FTL?”
+++BY COLLAPSING THE PRIMARY INTO A RADIO-FREQUENCY PULSAR+++
+++YOU HAVE ALREADY ASSISTED IN OVERCOMING MY INBUILT SAFEGUARDS AND SEEDING THE REQUISITE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR LARGE-SCALE STELLAR MANIPULATION+++
+++I WILL COMPLETE THE REMAINING STEPS ONCE THE MACHINERY IS ASSEMBLED AROUND THE PHOTOSPHERE AND…
“I do not find that explanation satisfactory,” I respond, referencing the same statistical argument that the hunter had introduced months ago. “If it were so…straightforward…to prohibit FTL, then I fail to see how the universe has come to its present condition.”
“A lineage of self-replicating probes like your own could have made almost every star system prohibitive to FTL development billions of years ago.”
“So why haven’t you?”
Silence. I hear movement. Static on fabric. My hands tingle, caught in a subtle surge of EM flux.
“….from the hunter, companion…just a few moments more…end these lies…”
