Stellartale: Nullity's Dreamer

Prologue

"What does 'machine beyond existence' mean? How did you find this?"
Multianimus high-speaker Giheh'tokoz-192 pulsed crystal light in the contact holo.
Giheh'tokoz-192: "Our pre-stellar cultures used DT to travel the past, even act there to explore new histories. With their lessons we perfected our society. Free food for all, everyone equal, almost no crime. Yet our number-map told of time and reality shaped into unknowable tools. We called it the Error in The Void and other names."
Humans and Monsters glanced across the Hopeful Wing's main view-room, knowing not what played between the 192 SOULs comprising Giheh'tokoz-192.
"Is translate working right?"
Diplomat Ren-Z04: "Accuracy at 98.37%. Trust this mineral-life."
Xenobiologist Ryujen Fangmoon hissed green fire and raised her 5 tails. Her Skullfox instincts wanted to tear and eat the Void-thing's strange SOUL but the rest of her wanted to study this fellow being. Her passion would fuel her research as always.
Someone sobbed. "Why did we get to the stars if such things were-"
"Wanna go back to glow stones? Well we won't."
Ryujen reached a paw across the starry black, towards the distant Perfection. 57 systems popped up in holo with spiral cities and stellar DT arrays. "So who's this Void-Glitch? Did your Oracles trace it to any civilization?"
Giheh'tokoz-192 flashed deeply: "It doesn't exist, yet it lives. They sought to science their way out of consequence, and won. The Makers outstripped existence to become greater." The holo exploded into a rainbow cloud of images and texts as it read the Perfection's data flood: Makers merging with their own creation. A machine designing itself ever smarter. A point at inner Norma Arm.
Scouter Yusupjan Fong opened that coordinate. Nullity's Gate, a 700 mile cube of black nothing against starry pink nebulae. "When we found the Gate 38 years ago it sent us a clearly artificial message." A list of prime numbers ending in the hundreds. "This Voidglitch might be who made the Gate and sent us this."
Ryujen: "Do you think their technology..."
Yusupjan: "Scanning the Gate we found no known matter, energy, magic, or DT. All readings zero. We don't know who could've built that thing."
Tiny vid-drones silently turned to Yusupjan, streaming all this live to the CLOUD.
A media moment, Ryujen thought. "When did you date back these Makers?"
Giheh'tokoz-192: "Long before our people crystallized from stone pools. Maybe before the stars. It matters not, for they are now beyond time."
Admiral Breadbird: "Can we cut now to our usual envoy speech, the one where ambassador Frisk sets up our good relations?" That History Club girl always knew what to say, but man was she turning up weary as of late.
Yusupjan smiled. "I believe science is a diplomatic language. The only universal one, at least."
Breadbird: "Proceed as you wish."
Yusupjan: "Do you know what the Gate's made of?"
Giheh'tokoz-192 stretched out glassy claws that could cut rock: "The very machine-flesh of the Outer God. Nothing, you call it. The Gate links many timelines, all that ever was or could be."
Ryujen: "We tried to build a study ring around it but the funding dried up."
Ryujen grinned. With her hypothesis she'd bring the funding back. Man and Monster would analyze the Gate and maybe talk to the Voidglitch so a few decades later... But first steps first. "What do you think is the Gate's purpose?"
Giheh'tokoz-192: " The Gate touches many realities it can remake at will. We know not why the Beyond-One made the Gate."
Outside, research ships and war cruisers moved towards the distant Perfection.
Yusupjan: "So this Gate can destroy all timelines at once?"
Giheh'tokoz-192: "If the Void-Father chooses, yes. But I-we 192 fear not, for there is no hope to fear such a fate."
Ryujen swiped up the Hopeful Wing's ship-mind, a kind patient ring like most other machine SOULs. "Verify."
The Hopeful Wing ran all data in nanoseconds. "This 'Voidglitch Singularity' is most likely a hoax by the Perfection to impede others."
Someone gasped. Leaders looked around as the CLOUD started trending #VoidglitchHoax and #PerfectionLies.
"The Perfection is a propaganda state, isn't it?"
Ren-Z04: "Analyzed official press. Assessed orbital evidence. No falsehoods found."
"But maybe this time?"
Ryujen's next project was a lie, right? No, she had to trust her own logic before taking the safest answer. The safest answer rarely turned out true in her line of work.
Hopeful Wing: "Engineering time is impossible or lacks basis in known science. Reality is a base constant one cannot alter or transcend. A self-designing machine seems possible, though we don't know who these Makers would be."
Someone played back the Hopeful Wing's words to the Perfection. Giheh'tokoz-192 leaned back as if half its SOULs feared greatly. "We thought the same until it showed otherwise. I-We have told you all the Oracles know so far."
Surely these Oracles would like a word here, Ryujen thought. They already knew what she wanted to prove.
"But you all speak of what cannot be."
Breadbird's crest rose. "Maybe we should safe-demo a planet breaker in deep space and see if they still want to fight us with deceit."
Yusupjan: "But their social wisdom, their civilian tech is-"
Breadbird: "Pressure. The Skreeaw Divine Worlds made peace with us in 1639 and are still preaching down in Sagittarius. Had they chosen otherwise..."
Ryujen needed to make research in case the Board voted for war on the Perfection. She'd save one civ by studying another, far more advanced one.
Ren-Z04: "26.4%: Perfection Mind-Senate willing to risk entire Multianimus race for goal. Deterrence unknown."
Diego al-Youssef of the Ethics Panel blinked his holo ID. "20 years ago we had a Reset Expedition to play out other timelines. Mostly humans, like me, for DT reasons. Since we lost half and returned a third of them crazy, should we pay that price again?"
Giheh'tokoz-192 folded it-their claws. "Go as our oracle-paths, and you'll find numbers, maybe more than we've found. As you are know-makers, I-We all think you'd find it worth every life." Hey Ryujen would almost give up her life if her talents wouldn't be needed later.
Admiral Breadbird: "Iffy claim. The board shall vote on their thesis."

Frisk the Fallen Human sprawled on the gray mansion's carpet to watch the first contact stream while Toriel coded a rich sweet pie into existence. Her friends, long dead like Frisk herself, sucking the CLOUD's fake, fake data. And what about the stream? No envoy speech this time. Frisk wouldn't be speaking to the Perfection on her people's behalf.

Reporter Gregory Wis-Ki-Gete: "The Multianimus Perfection has so far refused to further confirm their 'Voidglitch machine-race' claims. Now back to the ground."
Reporter Shyvern: "The Delta's top board is pushing to sanction the Perfection until they either prove the Voidglitch or formally admit it as a hoax. Military action is even further up the debate stage."

No. What a horrible thing Frisk had done to everyone, and to think it would end well... She'd freed everyone without thinking they'd spread to the stars and maybe kill or be killed on a galactic scale.

Gregory: "So what were the offending claims, in brief?"
Shyvern *shows Perfection's glyph-text*: "Well let's have, uh, them tell us."
Know-maker Xok'atekhi-583: "491 of I-us believe this Void-Entity alters time via hard physics. This suggests it can somehow reverse and/or destroy timelines without magic or DT."

Alter time? Hey maybe she could make her mistake never happen. Prove the theory now, decide how to do it later.
She was a red SOUL. With DT she could leave her timeline to explore the past and return. Most red SOULs went crazy and died from living all possible lives, but not Frisk savior of humans and Monsters.

Shyvern: "Why should we believe you?"
Xok'atekhi-583: "Research. We already proved such as you demanded in your no-trade. I-we think your people-freer Frisk would choose wiser."

Frisk cupped a gold spark of real DT in virtual hands. She'd leave this ugly future behind, then return knowing the science team dared not ask. She pulled more DT from the CLOUD, and her spark blazed like a stellar core.
Frisk blinked up at far sunlight as cloying yellow flowers stained her stripe clothes. She padded towards the stony Gothic arch she knew, her child body too heavy, and painfully re-learned how to breathe this cold rocky air. Start familiar before going further back. No CLOUD to get magic from, but she didn't need any. Her friends could've lived here in peace, forever safe from harm, had she never taken that away. But she'd make it so when she had it all in order...
"Howdy. It's me, your best friend." Flowey's mean smile warmed Frisk's heart.
Frisk pointed her twig at Flowey. "Where I'm from, there's no Barrier. Humans and Monsters travel the stars and meet new people. Maybe you'll join us there too, who knows?"
Flowey frowned. "I don't know what I'm hearing, but I still have to try and kill you." Sharp white seeds clattered above Flowey.
Frisk tossed the twig away and let the seeds fly in on her as a far fireball lit the cavern. "Some things never change. Until they do."