Reborn as a Spaceship

I wasn't exactly sure what I'd expected from our newly acquired sample of 'living metal.' Something between Terminator 2 and a particularly exotic houseplant sprang to mind, but standing around a sealed containment staring at the inert little shard wasn't giving us much. Could it think? Did it feed? Was it engineered by a forgotten civilisation, or just some rare fluke of evolution? I had no idea, and neither, it seemed, did anyone else. The auction's vague description hadn't exactly helped matters.

Stewie had promptly vanished, far more interested in refining his newly minted submersible lander. From the updates that my system recorded across my peripheral awareness, he'd already started adjusting hull geometry to account for a sealed and integrated bridge. His priorities, at least, were clear.

Mira, however, stood beside me, peering intently through the reinforced viewport of the containment unit. Her face was filled with a curiosity I knew well. Bright, genuine, and irrepressibly hopeful. Wayfarer's planetary avatar stood silently nearby, his surface rippling gently, a sure sign he was intensely intrigued. Laia had chosen her fairy avatar for this session, radiating an air of thoughtful seriousness. While flying around the container, her excitement was palpable.

The living metal itself sat almost but not completely motionless in the sterile containment chamber, just ten centimetres of dull metallic grey. For something that had cost us a hundred kilograms of Telk per centimetre, it was almost insultingly mundane.

Mira tilted her head slightly. "It's... kind of cute, isn't it?"

Wayfarer rotated slowly, sending subtle weather patterns skittering across his projected continents. "Cute?" he echoed doubtfully. "This fragment is beyond 'cute.' It sings to me."

I glanced at him. "Sings?"

"Metaphorically," Wayfarer amended, "but profoundly."

Laia had begun quietly reviewing the initial scientific notes the auction house had provided. "It's thermally conductive, electrically conductive, not superconductive, but consistently metallic. Responds to stimuli and seeks out energy sources, yet no replication or significant morphological change ever observed. It had the hardness and strength of iron"

I crossed my arms, staring at the shard. "Sounds disappointingly ordinary."

Wayfarer disagreed immediately. "No. This metal feels... conscious, or at least structured with intentionality. I sense a resonance or a connection with it."

Laia agreed with him. "I feel the same thing, there something important here"

I wasn't going to doubt either of them. The hard part would be identifying why it's important.

Mira leaned closer, eyes narrowed. "Could it be like a more evolved version of our own organic-nanite alloy? Maybe it's a natural evolution rather than pure engineering."

Laia tilted her head thoughtfully. "Possible. Our alloy is already at the threshold between biological and mechanical. If this is a more advanced form, studying it might lead to our own evolution.

I nodded. "Then let's find out how it works."

Wayfarer's continents shimmered with excitement. "Indeed. Begin experimentation."

We started cautiously. Our first test was simple and direct. Laia introduced a small sample of our own organic-nanite alloy into the containment unit beside the metal fragment. We all leaned forward expectantly, watching for the smallest sign of recognition or interaction.

Nothing happened.

Mira frowned, clearly disappointed. "Maybe it's not close enough?"

Laia shook her head. "They're in direct contact. No exchange of energy or data. Completely inert."

"Perhaps pure nanites?" Wayfarer suggested. "They're more flexible, more interactive."

We swapped out the alloy sample for a pure nanite cluster. Once again, nothing changed. The nanites swirled lazily around the fragment, probing it briefly before losing interest and dispersing back to the containment edges. The metal fragment didn't even twitch.

Organic tissue fared no better. A small strip of replicated biological material designed to be genetically neutral, harvested from Arbiter's stores also elicited no response.

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Wayfarer sounded genuinely disappointed. "It refuses organic and technological integration."

Mira tapped her fingers on the glass. "Maybe it's hungry?"

I chuckled lightly. "That would be too easy."

"Would it?" Laia interjected seriously. "Hunger implies intent. Let's test energy absorption."

We began feeding the fragment various energy sources. Laia calibrated small bursts of heat, electricity, and electromagnetic pulses carefully administered at controlled intervals. It eagerly absorbed heat and electricity, briefly glowing brighter with increased movement and activity.

We decided to try one more test, giving it Telk. A sliver of refined crystal was placed beside the fragment, and almost immediately, the living metal stirred. Not visibly, not dramatically, but the metal moved to seek it out. It began absorbing the Telk, slowly at first, then with a steady pulse, almost identical to the way Wayfarer consumed energy. Yet despite the activity, there was no outward change. No growth, no reconfiguration, no glow. Just silence. It was eating but that was all.

Frustration began to show on Mira's face. "It's absorbing energy, but for what purpose? It's just holding onto it."

Wayfarer's avatar rippled slowly. "It reminds me of the current Telk issues.."

I met his eyes. "You are right, they feel very similar"

"Undeniably. It is storing this energy elsewhere, just as this ship is absorbing Telk yet experiences no tangible immediate change any more."

Mira suddenly brightened, snapping her fingers excitedly. "It reminds me of something! Some plants we are using currently store energy underground, invisible to the surface, waiting for the right conditions before emerging. Be it the amount of water or energy they get"

Laia turned toward her. "A sort of biological potential energy storage?"

"Exactly!" Mira said triumphantly. "What if it's not inert at all, but just dormant? Maybe it's gathering energy in a form we can't see or detect. Like it's waiting for the right moment or condition to activate fully."

I felt an idea click into place. "Maybe it's dimensional."

They all turned to look at me, clearly interested. "Go on," Laia urged.

"Our dimensional shifting," I explained, "relies on accessing higher-dimensional spaces like the slipstream or Energy Lattice. What if this metal stores energy similarly? Perhaps the reason we see nothing happening is because it's transferring that energy into a higher-dimensional plane?"

Wayfarer's continents surged dramatically, continents reshaping and waves cascading. "A dimensional root system. Fascinating concept maybe we are doing the same thing?"

There was only one way to find out.

"Activate a dimensional bubble," I said firmly, locking eyes with Laia. "Let's see what happens."

This was originally created to give us a window in the slipstream, we now use it for shifting. This time I would have a look around inside the dimension.

Laia promptly engaged a small-scale dimensional bubble. I reached out with my consciousness, slipping gently into the slipstream. Immediately, I felt the familiar rush of expanded awareness. I focused on our ship, Its footprint shone bright with a branching network of energy connections weaving through the wall of the lattice. It was like we were a parasite on the lattice itself. I wondered if we disconnected and reconnected each time or if it was anchored in one location.

And there it was a tiny yet unmistakable new thread in a slightly different color extending gently outward from our position. It stretched directly from our small metal fragment into the higher-dimensional plane, delicate but undeniably present.

Pulling back, I refocused my awareness into my avatar. "There's a definite dimensional tether," I reported, my voice betraying my excitement. "Just as we suspected, it's sending absorbed energy into the slipstream lattice. It seems our ship is doing the same. There is definitely a connection between the too"

Mira was excited, her idea had been correct. "We were right! It's exactly like those energy-storing plants! It's waiting, storing up energy somewhere we can't see."

Wayfarer nodded gravely. "Then our next challenge is determining the trigger condition. Whatever activates it fully must require a specific set of stimuli."

"Question is," Laia mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "what exactly is it designed to become? A living tool? A weapon? Something more complex? And what are going to become?"

I hesitated. "This feels too sophisticated to be purely natural. It must be artificial, possibly even precursor tech but less advanced than the inter-dimensional material the Harmonics provided to build our core."

Laia looked sharply at me. "Less advanced?"

I nodded. "The Harmonics gave us material that allowed us to fundamentally stabilise our existence. This fragment is remarkable but feels less refined like an earlier or simpler design."

Mira leaned closer, whispering softly, almost reverently, "But designed by who?"

None of us had an answer to that.

I looked around at the small group gathered around the containment unit. Mira, radiates youthful curiosity; Laia, analytical and composed; Wayfarer, thoughtful and reflective. We stood quietly, each absorbed in speculation.

After a moment, I finally broke the silence. "We're chasing unknowns. Let's take a break. Rest, think. Tomorrow, we come back fresh and tackle this puzzle again."

Mira smiled warmly, nodding. "Fair enough. It's not going anywhere, after all."

Wayfarer's continents calmed into gentle, rhythmic tides. "I shall reflect. Perhaps I can sense deeper resonances if I meditate."

Laia gave a slight bow, formal but gentle. "I'll review dimensional field data tonight. Maybe something useful was captured."

"Good," I agreed, feeling strangely optimistic despite the lingering mysteries. "Tomorrow, then."

As everyone dispersed quietly back to their own routines, I lingered a moment, staring at the tiny shard of metal.

Who made you? And why?

The silence offered no answers, just more secrets. But that was fine. Secrets were something I was becoming increasingly adept at uncovering