The voice form beyond (Borg vs... ?)
Posted: 2010-05-22 05:08am
My first stab at fanfic writing.
It pits the very well-known Borg against...
The Encounter:
Seemingly just floating in the void of outer space, but actually travelling at a very high speed, a cube-shaped ship patrolled and surveyed the vast emptiness of a dead sector. At least, a sector that would be considered dead by most of the other intelligent species in the Delta Quadrant. But, if the Borg could be capable of entertaining such thoughts, this would be a place they could call "home", for it was well within the frontiers of what was called "Borg space".
Suddenly, sensors started beeping and sending alarm signals. Something was out there. Not a piece of space debris, not an asteroid way out of route. In fact, it was unlike anything the Borg had ever found before. The sensors had made it quite clear on their preliminary scans, still at a fantastic distance from the object itself. No known material, no known form of energy. Nothing about the object seemed, well... physical. The object was there, but only certain sensors picked up its signal. It was not reactive to any of the probing beams and waves in the spectrum, except a very few in the gamut visible to the naked eye. Almost as if the object weren't really there, except it was. The Collective could feel it was.
In the clerical exchange typical to the Borg Collective, it went something like this:
UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT LOCATED. RADIATION EMISIONS: 0. RADIATION REFLECTION: ONLY WITHIN SUBSPACE FREQUENCY SIGMA AND VISIBLE SPECTRUM. MASS ASSESSMENT: UNOBTAINABLE. ENERGY ASSESSMENT: UNOBTAINABLE. SHAPE: PERFECT SPHERE. VOLUME ASSESSMENT: 8.54 METRES.
Everywhere within the cube, a sole thought was shared, as were all of Borg thoughts. In human terms, the thought would have meant: "There's something here from somewhere else". And it would have rang all kind of alarms and made hairs stand on end, in the presence of the unknown.
But, for the Borg, that meant one thing, and one thing only. Examine. And, if appropriate, assimilate. "ASSIMILATE". The thought pervaded the whole ship, every mind in the ship. Every mind in the Collective, in fact. "ASSIMILATE". Simple and easy.
Millenia-old conditioning at work. "ASSIMILATE". Undoubtedly, it had to be some sort of technology, for the Borg knew of no natural phenomena that could fool their sophisticated sensors that way. There was just the wait for an order. And that didn't take long.
POSIBILITY OF OBJECT 64738 BEING A TYPE OF ALIEN TECHNOLOGY: 78%.
ASSIMILATION PRIORITY: 57%
Immediately, upon receiving the orders, the cube altered its course, towards the mysterious sphere that was there, just floating still in space, an infinitesimal point that would have gone completely unnoticed had the cube not ventured so close -in astronomical terms- for their superior sensor technology to pick up.
As the gigantic cube approached the sphere, the scans continued to report nothing new. Again, it was as if the sphere weren't really there. But the Borg don't believe in illusions or ghosts. All they crave is to assimilate new technologies and new beings into the Collective. It was their nature, if the word "nature" could be applied to beings such as them.
As soon as the enormous ship was close enough the evanescent sphere, the assimilation protocols started.
BROADCASTING:
WE ARE THE BORG. LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND SURRENDER YOUR SHIPS. WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN. YOUR CULTURE WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
NO REPLY.
ATTEMPT TO TELEPORT 5 DRONES ONTO OBJECT 64738.
FAIL.
TELEPORTERS FAILING TO LOCK ON OBJECT 64738. SUSPECTED SHIELD INTERFERENCE OF AN UNKNOWN VARIETY.
Always practical, the Borg protocols for assimilation assumed the existance of shields, known technology or other. And, before considering other possibilities, they moved on to their standard procedure against shielding, known or unknown.
COMMENCE LOW LEVEL PHASER ATTACK ON OBJECT 64738.
FAIL. OBJECT 64738 TRANSPARENT TO PHASER BEAMS THIS LEVEL.
Then, the Cube started low level attacks with all kinds of weapons it had to its disposal. Upon the lack of response or change, the attacks were scaled up in magnitude. All to no avail. All the beams and torpedoes kept going straight through the sphere, as if it didn't exist.
POSSIBILITY OBJECT 64738 IS USING AN UNKNOWN TYPE OF PHASE CLOAK: 98%.
POSSIBILITY OF RETALIATION: 5%
POSSIBILITY OF DESTROYING OBJECT 64738: 2%
(This is always calculated by the Borg, apparently, just to keep it safe)
POTENTIAL BENEFIT FOR BORG VESSELS IN ASSIMILATING OBJECT 64738'S CLOAK TECHNOLOGY: 18,196%
For a moment, there seemed to be a kind of hesitation in the Borg Collective's hive mind. Maybe weighing the potential benefits, maybe weighing the potential threat. But, as one Cube means a very precise risk to the welfare of the Collective, soon -maybe to little a time to be noticed by a human mind- the next order was almost immediate:
OBJECT 64738 WILL BE TAKEN INTO NEAREST HANGAR BAY.
By the standards of Borg efficiency, the order was carried out with no delay, as every drone knew what to do about such an operation, and asi it was in the case of many drones, it was not the first time such a mission had to be carried out in that particular Cube.
The huge hangar bay's doors opened up, and the cubic nightmare motioned forwards to engulf the comparatively minute sphere.
Almost as it came within reach, sensors of all kinds tried to carry out analyses of the ever silent and ever motionless sphere. Again, with no results other than what they already knew about the transparent object After the Cube had all but ground into a halt in its parsec-long patrol course, with the sphere secured into one of its hangar bays, all kinds of drones moved towards it, while all sorts of scanning devices were being brought forth for the task at hand. However:
ATTEMPTS TO ANALYSE OBJECT 64738 FUTILE.
Only one thing was there left to do. The very essence of Borg behaviour. The Borg were of course oblivious to what other sentient species would experience as fear. So, upon being ordered to, a drone got close, at arms' length, of the sphere that eluded comprehension, attempting the one thing it knew to do. Two prongs prodded at the sphere, protruding from the drone's hand. That was second 0.00 of the encounter.
Second 0.23 was the -formerly-human- drone been thrown five metres out on its back, all its cybernetic implants categorically fried. Then, before the gaze of the Borg drones, standing before a sphere that was itself a negation of all known physical laws, the unthinkable happened.
The sphere opened up.
And what was inside was dark. Dark not only to the naked eye. The Borg scanners did not understand the data they were perceiving. Only the light sensors adjusted to the light visible by humans registered a blue light. Just a little, round spot of blue light, in the darkness. A sight that by itself would have driven the minds of all superior sentient beings in its original universe mad out of sheer terror.
But the Borg, the relentless assimilating collective machine they were, were unfazed.
An angry, heavily synthethic, staccato voice said something, from within the sphere, coming from the blue light, as two white lights blinked in rhythm with the words, that were captured by all of the sound analysing systems, all the radio frequency scanners, but most importantly, by all the subspace frequencies -many of which the Borg had always regarded as only their own.
Mindlessly, upon detecting what they might classify as an intelligent being, the Borg just delivered they're usual, soul-crushing ultimatum...
WE ARE THE BORG. WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN. YOUR CULTURE WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
There was an instant in which a silence was made, between the Borg announcement, and the reply. But nobody knows for sure how long it was. Which means nobody knows exactly how long it took the creatures from the sphere to figure out the Borg's language. But, for any human observer who could have been there, it would have seemed as if the last sylable of the Borg announcement had been overpowered by a sound, a sound that flooded all of the Cube hive minds at once. A sound that would have made any of the really superior races in that other far-away universe shiver and scream, for it was the source of destruction itself.
The Borg Universal Translator Devices were working at full speed...
---TO BE CONTINUED---
It pits the very well-known Borg against...
The Encounter:
Seemingly just floating in the void of outer space, but actually travelling at a very high speed, a cube-shaped ship patrolled and surveyed the vast emptiness of a dead sector. At least, a sector that would be considered dead by most of the other intelligent species in the Delta Quadrant. But, if the Borg could be capable of entertaining such thoughts, this would be a place they could call "home", for it was well within the frontiers of what was called "Borg space".
Suddenly, sensors started beeping and sending alarm signals. Something was out there. Not a piece of space debris, not an asteroid way out of route. In fact, it was unlike anything the Borg had ever found before. The sensors had made it quite clear on their preliminary scans, still at a fantastic distance from the object itself. No known material, no known form of energy. Nothing about the object seemed, well... physical. The object was there, but only certain sensors picked up its signal. It was not reactive to any of the probing beams and waves in the spectrum, except a very few in the gamut visible to the naked eye. Almost as if the object weren't really there, except it was. The Collective could feel it was.
In the clerical exchange typical to the Borg Collective, it went something like this:
UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT LOCATED. RADIATION EMISIONS: 0. RADIATION REFLECTION: ONLY WITHIN SUBSPACE FREQUENCY SIGMA AND VISIBLE SPECTRUM. MASS ASSESSMENT: UNOBTAINABLE. ENERGY ASSESSMENT: UNOBTAINABLE. SHAPE: PERFECT SPHERE. VOLUME ASSESSMENT: 8.54 METRES.
Everywhere within the cube, a sole thought was shared, as were all of Borg thoughts. In human terms, the thought would have meant: "There's something here from somewhere else". And it would have rang all kind of alarms and made hairs stand on end, in the presence of the unknown.
But, for the Borg, that meant one thing, and one thing only. Examine. And, if appropriate, assimilate. "ASSIMILATE". The thought pervaded the whole ship, every mind in the ship. Every mind in the Collective, in fact. "ASSIMILATE". Simple and easy.
Millenia-old conditioning at work. "ASSIMILATE". Undoubtedly, it had to be some sort of technology, for the Borg knew of no natural phenomena that could fool their sophisticated sensors that way. There was just the wait for an order. And that didn't take long.
POSIBILITY OF OBJECT 64738 BEING A TYPE OF ALIEN TECHNOLOGY: 78%.
ASSIMILATION PRIORITY: 57%
Immediately, upon receiving the orders, the cube altered its course, towards the mysterious sphere that was there, just floating still in space, an infinitesimal point that would have gone completely unnoticed had the cube not ventured so close -in astronomical terms- for their superior sensor technology to pick up.
As the gigantic cube approached the sphere, the scans continued to report nothing new. Again, it was as if the sphere weren't really there. But the Borg don't believe in illusions or ghosts. All they crave is to assimilate new technologies and new beings into the Collective. It was their nature, if the word "nature" could be applied to beings such as them.
As soon as the enormous ship was close enough the evanescent sphere, the assimilation protocols started.
BROADCASTING:
WE ARE THE BORG. LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND SURRENDER YOUR SHIPS. WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN. YOUR CULTURE WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
NO REPLY.
ATTEMPT TO TELEPORT 5 DRONES ONTO OBJECT 64738.
FAIL.
TELEPORTERS FAILING TO LOCK ON OBJECT 64738. SUSPECTED SHIELD INTERFERENCE OF AN UNKNOWN VARIETY.
Always practical, the Borg protocols for assimilation assumed the existance of shields, known technology or other. And, before considering other possibilities, they moved on to their standard procedure against shielding, known or unknown.
COMMENCE LOW LEVEL PHASER ATTACK ON OBJECT 64738.
FAIL. OBJECT 64738 TRANSPARENT TO PHASER BEAMS THIS LEVEL.
Then, the Cube started low level attacks with all kinds of weapons it had to its disposal. Upon the lack of response or change, the attacks were scaled up in magnitude. All to no avail. All the beams and torpedoes kept going straight through the sphere, as if it didn't exist.
POSSIBILITY OBJECT 64738 IS USING AN UNKNOWN TYPE OF PHASE CLOAK: 98%.
POSSIBILITY OF RETALIATION: 5%
POSSIBILITY OF DESTROYING OBJECT 64738: 2%
(This is always calculated by the Borg, apparently, just to keep it safe)
POTENTIAL BENEFIT FOR BORG VESSELS IN ASSIMILATING OBJECT 64738'S CLOAK TECHNOLOGY: 18,196%
For a moment, there seemed to be a kind of hesitation in the Borg Collective's hive mind. Maybe weighing the potential benefits, maybe weighing the potential threat. But, as one Cube means a very precise risk to the welfare of the Collective, soon -maybe to little a time to be noticed by a human mind- the next order was almost immediate:
OBJECT 64738 WILL BE TAKEN INTO NEAREST HANGAR BAY.
By the standards of Borg efficiency, the order was carried out with no delay, as every drone knew what to do about such an operation, and asi it was in the case of many drones, it was not the first time such a mission had to be carried out in that particular Cube.
The huge hangar bay's doors opened up, and the cubic nightmare motioned forwards to engulf the comparatively minute sphere.
Almost as it came within reach, sensors of all kinds tried to carry out analyses of the ever silent and ever motionless sphere. Again, with no results other than what they already knew about the transparent object After the Cube had all but ground into a halt in its parsec-long patrol course, with the sphere secured into one of its hangar bays, all kinds of drones moved towards it, while all sorts of scanning devices were being brought forth for the task at hand. However:
ATTEMPTS TO ANALYSE OBJECT 64738 FUTILE.
Only one thing was there left to do. The very essence of Borg behaviour. The Borg were of course oblivious to what other sentient species would experience as fear. So, upon being ordered to, a drone got close, at arms' length, of the sphere that eluded comprehension, attempting the one thing it knew to do. Two prongs prodded at the sphere, protruding from the drone's hand. That was second 0.00 of the encounter.
Second 0.23 was the -formerly-human- drone been thrown five metres out on its back, all its cybernetic implants categorically fried. Then, before the gaze of the Borg drones, standing before a sphere that was itself a negation of all known physical laws, the unthinkable happened.
The sphere opened up.
And what was inside was dark. Dark not only to the naked eye. The Borg scanners did not understand the data they were perceiving. Only the light sensors adjusted to the light visible by humans registered a blue light. Just a little, round spot of blue light, in the darkness. A sight that by itself would have driven the minds of all superior sentient beings in its original universe mad out of sheer terror.
But the Borg, the relentless assimilating collective machine they were, were unfazed.
An angry, heavily synthethic, staccato voice said something, from within the sphere, coming from the blue light, as two white lights blinked in rhythm with the words, that were captured by all of the sound analysing systems, all the radio frequency scanners, but most importantly, by all the subspace frequencies -many of which the Borg had always regarded as only their own.
Mindlessly, upon detecting what they might classify as an intelligent being, the Borg just delivered they're usual, soul-crushing ultimatum...
WE ARE THE BORG. WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN. YOUR CULTURE WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
There was an instant in which a silence was made, between the Borg announcement, and the reply. But nobody knows for sure how long it was. Which means nobody knows exactly how long it took the creatures from the sphere to figure out the Borg's language. But, for any human observer who could have been there, it would have seemed as if the last sylable of the Borg announcement had been overpowered by a sound, a sound that flooded all of the Cube hive minds at once. A sound that would have made any of the really superior races in that other far-away universe shiver and scream, for it was the source of destruction itself.
The Borg Universal Translator Devices were working at full speed...
---TO BE CONTINUED---
