The Cycles of Revelation Series
Artifact of the Dawn: Cytra (A Queer Sci-Fi Adventure)
Episode 17: Inside the strange underground structure, Jevan and Ardyn inadvertently wake up an artificial intelligence.
Ardyn needed a moment to think, mulling over how Cytra was using the word rahn’naa. That’s when he realized something. “I think… that Cytra isn’t talking about the dawn of a new day. She’s using it like a name.” Looking back up at Cytra, Ardyn asked. “Cytra, is the name of this settlement Rahn’naa?”
“The name of this pah’maala is the Rahn’naa,” she confirmed, emphasizing flying settlement.
“So, it’s a name, but there’s that word again,” Jevan said. “Earlier, she said something about traveling. I wonder if maybe a pah’maala is a kind of ship? They travel the oceans and I guess they could crash, but we’re too far from shore. Where could it have crashed from?”
“Cytra, where did the Rahn’naa come from?” Ardyn asked.
“The Rahn’naa came from the aria’maal,” Cytra replied, her dialect continuing to become easier to understand.
“Did she just say that this ship came from the… home… world?” Jevan asked, sounding confused. “Isn’t this world your home?”
Ardyn’s mind raced at the implication. “I… thought so. I know your people call it Medellus, which doesn’t translate at all into our word for this world, Baaru’nor. That always seemed strange to me.”
“Baaru’nor translates to our world, right? I’ll admit, I always thought that was a bit arrogant when I learned the meaning.”
Ardyn smirked at him. “Cytra, what is the name of the homeworld?”
“The homeworld is called Aria’naa,” she replied.
Jevan looked at Ardyn. “That’s close… but doesn’t that mean first world?” he wondered aloud. “Cytra, are you sure the name of the homeworld isn’t Baaru’nor?”
The floating head did not react to Jevan’s query, and he rolled his eyes. “Let me guess, she won’t respond to me.”
Giving him a sympathetic look, Ardyn asked. “Cytra, why did you not respond to my friend’s question?”
Cytra looked at Jevan before looking back at Ardyn. “I am programmed to only respond to queries from Athla’naa.”
“Can you change that, please?” Ardyn asked. “I would like you to respond to both of us.”
“Yes, of course,” Cytra replied. The glowing shape of an Athla’naa hand appeared on the surface of the desk. “Please place your hand here so I can scan it.”
Reaching out his hand, he placed it over the four-fingered outline as best he could. “I’m sorry, my hand is large,” he apologized.
A glowing line appeared under his hand and ran down the length, from his fingertips to his palm. After it finished, Cytra looked blankly ahead for a moment, her eyes fluttering, before turning to Jevan. “Please state your name and the name of your species.”
“My name is Jevan. My people are called the Medellans,” he replied.
“Welcome Jevan of the Medellans,” Cytra said. “Your input and queries will now be accepted.”
“Thank you, Cytra,” Jevan replied.
The glowing handprint remained, and Ardyn reached out to place his palm on it as well. He looked up at Jevan and gave him a shrug. “Can’t hurt, right?” he said before looking at Cytra. “My name is Ardyn of Maala’naa. That is the name of my settlement.”
“Welcome Ardyn of Maala’naa,” Cytra replied, as the table scanned Ardyn’s hand as well. “You have both been added to my records. What is your query?”
“You said the name of the Athla’naa homeworld is Aria’naa,” Jevan said. “But Ardyn’s people call this place Baaru’nor. Is this pah’maala not from here? From Baaru’nor?”
“No,” Cytra replied. “The Rahn’naa crashed here. It came from Aria’naa.”
Ardyn sighed in frustration. “Then where is Aria’naa?”
Once again, Cytra explained with too many words that neither of them understood. “Cytra, we don’t understand,” Ardyn said, stopping her in the middle of her explanation. “All this technology you have is more advanced than anything I have ever seen. My people live simply in tree-top settlements. We don’t even forge metal like the Medellans do.”
Cytra once again switched to a blank stare for a long moment, before looking back at them. “The Rahn’naa traveled here from across the stars.”
“The stars?!” Ardyn and Jevan exclaimed.
“How is that even possible?” Ardyn asked. “The stars are very far away.”
“I think I’m starting to understand,” Jevan said. “We have some learned men in our capital city who study the stars. You know that this world we live on circles around the sun, right?”
Ardyn nodded. “Yes, the Athla’naa elders taught us of the motion of the sun, stars, moons, and planets.”
“Good. I think Cytra is saying that your people, the Athla’naa, came from a different world than this one,” Jevan said.
“Then… that would mean that the Rahn’naa… it traveled the stars like a ship travels the ocean?!” Ardyn asked incredulously.
“Yes,” Cytra confirmed. “The Rahn’naa travels through the vaara between the stars.”
Now they understood the meaning of vaara. It meant space.
Sitting back in the chair, Ardyn’s mind reeled as his ears pulled back. This meant that his ancestors had been far more advanced than he could have ever dreamed. “Cytra, how long ago did the Athla’naa arrive here?” Ardyn asked.
“According to my records, the Rahn’naa crashed one thousand, two hundred and fifty-three years ago.”
Ardyn could hardly comprehend that. He’d believed that his people had always lived in the forests of this land, which is why his ancestors had fought so hard against the invading Medellans.
“That explains why your people were already here when my ancestors arrived,” Jevan said. “My people came here only eight hundred years ago.”
“Does the Triumvirate know any of this?” Ardyn wondered. “Why didn’t they want us to know we came from another world? I still have so many questions.”
“Please state your next query,” Cytra said.
Ardyn didn’t know where to begin, so Jevan intervened. “Could you explain what those structures are that we saw aboveground?”
“Activating external sensors,” Cytra said, fluttering her eyes. “I detect that one airlock, one hatch, and the observation tower of the Rahn’naa are still aboveground.”
“That structure we’ve been sleeping in must be the airlock,” Ardyn deduced. “Cytra, does the tower control all functions of this ship?”
“Yes, most functions for this ship can be controlled from there,” Cytra replied. “However, the main control room is in a more heavily protected part of the ship, and overrides everything in the observation tower.”
“Cytra, there was an invisible wall around the tower that I could not pass through. Is there a way to allow me to walk through it like Ardyn can?” Jevan asked.
“The forcefield that is active around the observation tower prevents any athla’maakh from passing through.” Cytra explained, before her eyes fluttered briefly. “Medellans should now be able to pass through the forcefield.”
Turning back toward Jevan, Ardyn looked up at him. “This is more than I ever expected to find and it’s making my head hurt.”
Jevan squatted next to Ardyn and reached out a comforting hand. “Yeah, I know. It’s one thing to think your people may have once been more advanced, but that they came from the stars… I never imagined such a thing was possible.”
That thought prompted a new question. “Cytra, how far away is the Athla’naa homeworld from here?”
“Aria’naa is approximately three light years from this world,” Cytra replied.
Jevan and Ardyn looked at each other, once again, in complete confusion.
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