SmackDown: Back to Our Roots

Round 5: The Rise of the Fire Dragons - @jinnis

The Rise of the Fire Dragons

by jinnis

When the Union collapsed, some blamed the disaster to a linguistic mix-up. Others insisted it was the visit of a lenjan fire-walker to the prospering settlement on Oykot 21. A few believed the fault laid with the bloke who invented artificial intelligence.

In the end, all versions come down to the same string of minor mishaps in the people resources department of the Union of sentient planet dwellers, the USPD.  

To put the tip of my claw on the point where exactly events derailed and accumulated to a destiny-turning dimension, it's safe to single out the moment a chrzrrchn secretary confused Oykot with Tokyo.

Of course, no one in their right mind would blame the silicon-based swarm-mind for such a banal mistake. It was a known fact that chrzrrchns struggled to make sense of concepts like left and right or back and front. Not to mention their incomprehension of the need for archaic languages built on consonants and vocals. No need for speech if you communicate telepathically with your 25 073 personal entities.

So, in all fairness, the AI who'd assigned a chrzrrchn to human affairs in the Union's communication hub was blameable. In consequence, the turn of events almost went down in history as the ultimate proof AI were unsuited to master the finer arts of interspecies relationships. Not that organic lifeforms did a better job, but that's a story for another day.

Anyway, in the aftermath of the fire-walker incident, not many found pleasure in analysing events rendered long since irrelevant by time flow. So the lesson to be learned from the story was forgotten with most of the interesting details.

The reason the human council called for a fire-walker in the first place were the antics of Sakurajima. That's not the name of an exotic alien species, but of a restless volcano sitting on a promontory in southern Japan, planet earth. The mountain had developed a hiccup. Now, everyone, their grandmother, and their pet wimot knew a hiccuping volcano was bad news. Especially if said volcano was attached to an over-populated island in the major industrial region of a USPD core-member planet.

While it was an open secret fire-walkers were not as mythological as they liked to appear, they remained rare visitors to the hub planets. Their homeworld Lenja wasn't considered a goldilock planet by other sentient races: Too close to the sun, to geologically active. Mean temperatures would vaporise a chrzrrchn in seconds and turn humans or pirilli into crisp meatballs before they'd find time to curse the heat. Only shoshoshan might take a bit longer to cook, due to their sturdy exoskeleton.

Communication with the lenjans had been a challenge since they first popped up in USPD space. Literally. One of their hot-fusion ships broke down in close vicinity of the trade hub Cheerio 69. It was a sight to behold, the closest to a supernova populated space had ever witnessed.

When the always-altruistic pirilli sent a rescue party, the situation would have escalated into a major barbecue disaster except for the intervention of a shoshoshan scout squad. The insect-people's metabolism and chitinous body armour allowed them to approach their barge close enough to pull the pirillis out, mostly ungrilled, and douse the lenian ship with a cooling sprinkle of Arcturnian ring-ice.

The scout carried enough of the coveted trade good to allow the surviving lenjans to get their ship under control and shut down the glowing drive. Glad for the spectacular and timely rescue, the USPD didn't ask why the shoshoshans shipped an undeclared load of the precious ice. Instead, they were declared heroes of the day, and everyone overlooked the fact the evidence of their smuggling had been vaporised in the process.

Stranded in the centre of activity and interest, the shipwrecked lenjans were left without much choice. If they wanted to get back to their fiery home, they had to interact, as inconvenient as it was. The heated diplomatic squabbles brought up every interspecies prejudice and unfortunate incident, beginning with the first encounter between humans one shoshoshans. The later feasted on the human emissary, misinterpreting his attempt at communication, thinking he was sent by his machine masters as main dish for their banquet. But these had been the old days before everyone became civilised.

In the end, heavy insulation suits were manufactured and the survivors shipped home in the cargo bay of a human ore carrier. The lenjan head of government, a mysterious entity living in the lava tubes of their home planet and communicating through elms fires dancing over devices resembling ouija boards, agreed to take up diplomatic relationships.

Rumours persisted this decision was driven not by gratefulness for the repatriation of the lenjan explorers but a powerful mixture of greed and snootiness typical for godly beings. Still, the Union was happy to have a new associate and didn't pry too hard.

The tall, androgynous, torch-like lenjans were the talk of every pub and pantry between shoshosha, earth and the farthest pirilli outposts. Even the chrzrrchn paid attention to the news for once. Yet the high hopes for lucrative trade were shattered faster than FTL. Hardly any of the classical trade goods could withstand a lenjan's touch and the prices for molten rock in the Union soon dropped deeper than the unexplored depths of the black hole at Sagittarius A.

In consequence, relations between Lenja and the USPD remained loose. The one real gain the association offered was the availability of fire-walkers. The lithe, adventurous lenjans loved surfing on lava streams and spelunking in volcanoes. Members of the walkers guild made it a sport to enter a crack in the bedrock and work their way to magmatic pressure spots. The best could not only predict volcanic eruptions to the minute by humming along with the song of bubbling lava but also control and redirect them. The fact they got high on sulphur dioxide and other volcanic gases remained a well-kept secret of their professional guild though.

The fire-walkers' talent was worthless to the chrzrrchn, who's homeworld was as seismically active as an ice cube. But species saw the potential and possibilities a friendship with a race of fire-proof hotheads offered.

One of these species were humans. Earth had enough volcanic activity to be a top destination for lenjan tourists. Unfortunately, the planet suffered from severe overpopulation. A few fiery incidents with alien visitors later, visa were restricted and only issued to graduated and certified scientists and members of the walkers' guild who were able to control their excitement even in sight of tectonic drifts and rift valleys.

When Sakurajima acted up, local authorities tried to contact one of the three walkers currently assigned to the planet. The most renowned, a seasoned senior specialising on the cooling effects of ice on magma, was busy investigating the lava streams beneath the Icelandic glaciers and couldn't be reached. The second in command enjoyed a sulphur high on a Hawaiian beach and didn't respond to the governmental call. And the third, an adventurous newcomer, had last been seen weeks ago when spectacular pictures of shims skydive into Etna's caldera had hit spherenet.

Out of other options, the humans declared an emergency and called for a fourth walker. Lenjan guild leaders jumped to the rare opportunity. Here was their chance to test a young, promising acolyte. They held an impromptu competition in the ancient art of flame wrestling to determine the hottest of the hotheads, offering an irresistible incentive: The lucky winner would get the chance to visit earth's magmatic core and, if shim could solve the human problem, be accepted into the guild as a full member without taking the dreaded survival-in-fireless-conditions test.

Tikali, a half-grown lenjan in his early adolescence and a gifted lava whisperer, baffled even shims mentors when shim out-burned shims opponents.

~

A hot pod, as the faster-than-light hot-fusion single-seaters where called, brought Tikali to shims destination. The instructions seemed moderately clear. Still, shim worried a bit about the strange wording.

"Walk-fire urgent deen Oykot."

Tikali was pretty sure Oykot was the destination when shim found it in the database: a food production colony, jointly run by shoshoshans and humans, set up a few years ago on a promising planet in the hakatan system. Tikali confirmed the coordinates and retreated to shims cosy meditation slab above the main drive to while away the hyperspace transfer with mind puzzles.

When the ship dropped out of transfer in high orbit above Oykot, Tikali studied the planet shrouded in impenetrable pink clouds. Shims scanners registered no mountains ranges, no fuming volcanoes, not even an insect buzzing or a call from the local authorities. Shim hesitated, dropping the ship beneath the clouds to cruising altitude above the vast emptiness of a surface unlike everything shim had imagined the destination to look like.

A vast amount of liquid covered the entire planet, spread from the northern icecap to the southern, the same lucent purple material, caught in constant movement. Tikali's body temperature dropped. This was definitely not what shim called a nice holiday spot. Ready to quit and accept defeat, shim pulled up the ship when shim spotted an artificial structure floating on the surface out of shims backward eye. Shims body temperature rose in relief.

~

The approach of a lenjan ship was considered an interesting interruption of the boring routine of the kelp farm colony. An excited shoshoshan sky-guard guided the visitor in and assigned it a place to land on the old float to the east of the settlement. It was a tiny ship, after all, no need to interrupt the biannual kelp fair taking place on the new landing pad.

Tikali guided shims pod in, amazed by the respect shown by the authorities by setting apart an isolated landing site far from the other assembled ships. It allowed shim to forego the recommended procedure for landing in a busy spaceport: No need to cut the engines and drop-land to prevent incinerating a few innocent alien ships parked nearby.

While locals and external visitors were busy trading kelp or, more important, degusting kelp booze, two farm workers were the only witnesses of the landing. The duo enjoyed an after-work drink on the terrace café of the settlement. It was a balmy evening and the sun was about to set over the purple ocean stretching around the floats to the misty horizon. Soft waves rolled the modules of the settlement and the salty sting of the sea scented the air.

"What kind of ship is that? Looks fancy." Bob, a harvester from faraway earth, took a hearty swig of his kelp beer.

"My cousin in the control centre says its lenjan. Sounded a bit mysterious. They claimed to bring the fire-walker we ordered." Usho Shoshashuro Shushosha was part of a huge shoshoshan clan. Most jobs in the farming settlement were held by one or another of his several dozen cousins. Bob had given up on learning their names ages ago and didn't bother to ask which one had duty in the control centre.

He frowned at his buddy. "Why would anyone order a fire-walker to Oykot? We only have water and kelp here. Besides, fire-walkers are a myth. Your cousin..."

Before he could voice his opinion of Usho's relative, the pod touched down and the human was interrupted by the flare of the old float bursting into flame. With a sizzling sound, a dense cloud of purple vapour engulfed the structure. When it disappeared, the small ship had been swallowed by the Oykot ocean.

Usho extended a single eyestalk out of his exoskeleton and, noticing danger had already passed, let the rest of his head follow. "Wow. Did you see that? That guy had his ass on fire."

Even after four months on the farm, Bob was still fascinated by the shoshoshan ability to retract their head and limbs into the body shells. Far more than by a ship crashing into the sea. He shrugged. "Well whoever that was will cool down quickly, I guess. Another beer?"

~

In the meantime, Tikali panicked in his doused pod, sinking like a stone towards the ocean floor. Shims body temperature rose and metabolism accelerated. Unfortunately, this didn't help shims situation. The fusion engine, not meant for submerged operation, went into a self-preserving shutdown mode. But the Oykot ocean was deep, the pod sunk fast and the rising pressure proved too much for its structure.

A crack formed on the outer hull and tiny fissures spread in all directions. Upon hearing the moan of the stressed material, Tikali desperately tried to restart the engine. Shim had to get out of this trap. A creature that enjoyed swimming in lava streams, shim was neither keen nor prepared to spend time in an ocean.

The fusion engine spluttered once and fused itself into oblivion. While the pod sunk further, the cracks spread and the hull caved in when the ship hit the cold, rocky bottom of the sea. Water trickling through the cracks became a flood and Tikali knew shim was done for. No being in the known singleverse could survive the Oykot ocean's depth, least a fire-walker.

Shim resigned shimself to a painful death. Then, the dreaded liquid touched shims limbs, and Tikali decided to go out in flames. While water engulfed shims mortal remains, shim concentrated all remaining mental energy into a single outburst that could have incinerated the Oykot colony. Down here, it had a different effect: The radiation of Tikali's energy blast heated the water in vicinity to a point unseen on this planet for aeons.

~

Oykot was an old planet, cooled down to the point where no geologic activity had been registered for as long as most sentient species in the singleverse existed. Its moderate climate was maintained by a mixture of radiation from its star and chemical processes in the clouds. The lack of indigenous life on the ocean planet was one reason it became such an important outpost for humans and shoshoshans.

But the world hadn't always been like this. Back when the planets core was active, volcanic eruptions on the seabed had been common. Abundant aquatic live prospered in the warm oceans and winged creatures populated the air. Alas, they were all gone, extinct when a vast eruption filled the stratosphere with the eternal shield of dust, decimated by the great predators rising from the seabed, only to be killed themselves by the cold claiming the world.

Tikali didn't know nor care about the planets glorious past, prepared to burn out when the soft probing of a tendril of consciousness disrupted shims agony.

~

Woken by the unexpected warmth of the fiery visitor, an ancient entity stirred in the depths of the purple seas, yawned, wondered for a moment who or what it was, and then decided to ignore existential questions in favour of reaching out to the source of unexpected warmth. After millennia spent in hibernation, it was hungry, craving warmth and movement, and the choice to live and reproduce. Though not necessarily in this order.

It reached out, probed, and found the visitor's core, a fierce flame short from dying. Ancient wisdom united with youthful energy, activated a few cell cores here and molecules there, knitted strings of DNA into new shapes, set an improbable cycle in motion, and life began to reproduce.

Out of ancient memories and the dying embers of desperation, new life was born. Liquid fire, the impossible union of water and flame, ready to rise, to grow, expand, explore and conquer.

~

In the meantime, the troublesome volcano Sakurajima on planet earth gave up waiting for the promised belly-scratching and exploded. The eruption destroyed most of Japan and with it the world's biggest production plant for baby napkins. As a result, earth's mostly human population suffering from a severe napkin shortage spiralled into crisis and depression. The inhabitants fought bitter wars over the dwindling stores, pulling in their alien allies.

Neither humans nor shoshoshans found time to bother with a distant colony. All eyes on the escalating napkin conflict, the USPD made the mistake to underestimate the impact of the new species rising from the depths of Oykot's ocean.

Curiosity and ingenuity being major traits of the fast multiplying offspring of an accidental union, building space-worthy vessels became a high priority for the new Oykotans. Soon, the first of a growing fleet of hot tubs, ships containing enough water to allow them to live and prosper, left the Oykot system. The conquest of the galaxy had begun.

~

History books tell us the crisis could have been prevented by proofreading the message to the fire-walkers. But it's old news only ninnies engage in proofreading, and history books tend to bend the truth. Besides, that particular book was written by chrzrrchn. It's on record they don't even get simple stuff straight, like the difference between Oykot and Tokyo.

To give them credit, it has to be stressed they were the only species to survive the onslaught of the liquid fire-dragons long enough to write history books. Some of their works are still preserved in the vault of memory on the home planet. Together with a few human skulls, a shoshoshan exoskeleton and some pirilli claw horns. We Oykot fire-dragons value our history, after all.