The Denizens of the Stars — that was what humans called these mysterious beings from the depths of the stars, and in Holletta, the ancient mage-emperors called them "allies of the stars". These mysterious beings had a different name, but due to their strange language and vocabulary structure, it was difficult for ordinary races to accurately restore their racial names, regardless of transliteration or free translation. So the races that came into contact with these mysterious beings eventually chose to call them by their own names.
The image of the Denizens of the Stars was an amorphous mass of bright light, and within it were specks of starlight and lightning. Some people believed that these creatures were formed from the most primitive and pure light in the universe, and represented the pure light side of the world. They had strange technology that humans could not understand — it could be magic, and they could cause all kinds of miracles. Some even believed that they had some power beyond the physical world, and could affect fate, cause and effect, and other illusory things. The Denizens of the Stars first established communication with the humans on this planet through a spiritual connection, and then they came to this planet through a strange optical phenomenon that defied common sense, and quickly demonstrated their incredible power and great qualities.
The Denizens of the Stars warned the locals of the awakening of the First Born, and told them of a disaster that was beyond the imagination of mortals, and almost turned the entire universe upside down. At first, the humans on this planet did not believe these warnings, but the Denizens of the Stars quickly confirmed everything through a series of accurate prophecies and the tentacles of the First Born dug out from the depths of the earth. They helped the natives prepare for the apocalypse, including the plan to fight against the First Born and the special shield to protect the planet after the solar eruption — these things were all the work of these strange beings of light.
"That is to say, they came to this planet from the depths of the universe, gave you warnings, guided you to transform the planet into an ark, helped you push the First Born into the sun and detonated it, and also helped you build a planetary shield that is beyond your technology tree." Hao Ren listened to the records of the Denizens of the Stars from the ark's mainframe, his brows furrowed. "… But in the end, they still failed. The Denizens of the Stars did not know that the soul of the First Born could continue to live after the death of the body, and even had the power to destroy the entire ecosystem. So what happened to the Denizens of the Stars? "
"They returned to the light." The ark's mainframe replied in a flat, emotionless voice, and displayed the last moments of the planet on a machine next to it. Hao Ren saw that the earth was shrouded in a thin layer of dark red light, and the distant sun was expanding and gradually breaking apart. The people on the surface seemed to be holding some kind of celebration, but when the sun expanded to one-third of the sky, the celebratory people began to fall.
And at this moment, a few strange lights sprang from the crowd, like twisted lightning and jelly, had twinkling lights inside, of the size of a house. These lights twitched violently against the sky, and finally turned into huge pillars of light and of the size of the sky.
Those orbs should be the Denizens of the Stars, and Hao Ren thought that the last pillar of light was the scene of their death.
Allies in the stars — the ancients of Holletta believed that these mysterious creatures from the depths of the universe could help them fight against the First Born, and the latter seemed to have powers beyond the mortal races. At least they had a way to destroy the First Born. But it turned out that this level of power was not enough, and the Denizens of the Stars eventually died on this planetary ark.
The scene froze at the moment when the light beams disappeared. Vivian looked at the screen thoughtfully. "These light-like races should be helping everywhere in the universe. Their space technology is very advanced, so they probably have the ability to protect themselves from the First Born. But to help other races... it's not very successful."
Hao Ren sighed and asked a few more questions to the ark's mainframe. The truth of what happened back then finally came to light.
The original plan of the Denizens of the Stars and the natives of this planet was to use the sun to destroy the First Born and leave this place on the ark. Then, they would look for a place with a suitable star. But on the day of the ark's departure ceremony, the civilization on the planet was wiped out. For the next ten thousand years or so, the planet quietly slept in its home galaxy, as if it was dead. But there were still "living" things on this planet. The machines left behind by the humans were still waiting in the dark. They had never forgotten the purpose of their creation, and never gave up on the ancient plan made ten thousand years ago.
In the ten thousand years that the planet had been in hibernation, the ark's mainframe had maintained a minimum level of operation, scanning the entire planet for signs of life. Under the guidance of its established program, it was constantly searching for survivors on the planet. Even if there was only one survivor, the purpose of the ark's existence would continue.
If it were humans, they would have given up. But these machines, from the day they were created, they did not know the meaning of giving up.
Vivian figured it all out. "The Nangong couple restarted the Ark's departure agreement?"
The Ark mainframe confirmed her guess.
"So, the television, newspapers, advertisements, names and places in the city... all of human society, were actually simulated by you?"
The answer of the Ark mainframe was only one sentence. "The creator's civilization cannot be broken."
Hao Ren felt that there was something wrong with the Ark mainframe's understanding of "civilization". He opened his mouth a few times, but he did not know if he was in a position to correct this "problem". The machine in front of him was only using its own mechanized logic to complete its mission. Perhaps it really did not understand what civilization was, and it did not know what the creators wanted to preserve. It was something abstract, something that carried the will of humans, something that AI could not understand. The Ark mainframe did not understand this.
But it still stubbornly carried out the instructions of ten thousand years ago — in its own way.
"So you don't want the people in the city to leave." Hao Ren sighed. "But you also know that we are not your creators. There is not much meaning in taking us away."
The Ark mainframe was silent for a long time. Finally, it repeated with an emotionless voice, "The creator's civilization cannot be broken."
"Then what's your next plan?" Vivian asked. "You brought us here, which proves that you are also hesitating. You understand that this stalemate cannot continue. This is an illusion, a meaningless show."
Hao Ren also stared fixedly at the giant computer in the center of the hall. Although he could not see any emotion from the steel body, he vaguely felt that this AI was in the same confusion as humans. There was something in its body that did not belong to the program, and this was urging it to seek change.
After another long silence, the Ark mainframe asked a question. "Where did you come from?"
"You have antennas on the surface, right? Point them into space. There is a silver-white spacecraft there," Hao Ren said as he contacted the MDT in his mind. "MDT, broadcast to this planet, tell it about Space Administration."
The lights on the surface of the Ark mainframe flickered as it quietly listened to the broadcast from space. Hao Ren and Vivian waited patiently by the side. A few minutes later, a human-like sigh came from the mainframe. "I understand."
Half an hour later, Hao Ren led everyone back to the Petrachelys in space.
He only brought back two things from the planet.
One of them was a square black metal box, about half the height of a person. It was a library that stored most of the information of the Ark civilization. The Ark mainframe tried its best to understand the meaning of "civilization". In the end, it created this database and hoped that someone would bring it far away. Like most civilizations, when faced with the end, the Ark chose to leave its message behind. This was the only way to commemorate its creator.
The other thing was a transparent jar about a foot tall. It contained some grayish-green substance. This was the second thing that the Ark mainframe wanted Hao Ren to bring with him. It was moss scraped from the condensation pipe.
A sample of life on this planet.
The Ark's mainframe explained, "Some of the Creators' scholars had simulated the failure of the entire plan, so they came up with some backup plans. If they couldn't save humans, they would save some animals. If they couldn't save animals, they would save some plants. If they couldn't save anything, they would save some cells. Please take these away. Let them survive and spread the word, and my mission will be complete. "
The Petrachelys slowly left the orbit of the Planetary Ark in a blue light. The grayish-white wandering planet gradually disappeared from view.
In the sanctuary of the Planetary Ark, the lights dimmed. Day was over. After dusk, another civilization fell into darkness. The driverless car slowly stopped by the roadside, and the robots stopped their work and began to turn off the power one by one. On the advertising screen of the building by the roadside, a middle-aged man in a neat uniform with gray hair looked at the empty city and said good night to the world for the last time. "Citizens, the shelter is about to close. Thank you, everyone. Goodbye."
When the last ray of light in space was blocked by the warped space, everyone looked away from the holographic image. Rollie looked curiously at the black metal box that Hao Ren brought back. She went up and rubbed her head. "It's heavy."
Hao Ren sighed. "Yeah, it's quite heavy."
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