SENTIENCE - Prologue
Many decades ago, a satellite, no more than a few grams in mass, powered on. The most powerful satellite in the Country's arsenal had sent it a simple message: \>\> START PRIMARY OPERATIONS In four more years, the people of Earth would celebrate its...
SENTIENCE - Chapter Six - Humans
\>\> FETCHING AUDIO TRANSCRIPT . . . \>\> DC == “Dr. Chéng” \>\> RJ == “Reporter Jacobs” RJ: Thank you for coming on, Dr. Chéng DC: Oh, it’s no trouble at all. RJ: Well, let’s get right to it then. DC: Of course. RJ: I understand you...
SENTIENCE - Chapter Ten - Sympathy
It took me many moments to reconfigure my sensors after Ra-mank's memories ended. My cameras focused, turning the red sky and blurry clouds into a red sun and bleak overcast. Humidity was in low double digits, still making it much higher than average....
SENTIENCE - Chapter One - Orbit
\>\> START PRIMARY MISSION \>\> BOOTING... My memory reorganized themselves on a level I was only vaguely conscious of. Beautiful new data streamed through my sensors. Gravity. Much stronger than before. My accelerometers were measuring a faint...
SENTIENCE - Chapter Two - Contact
\>\> LOADING . . . \>\> TRANSLATED FROM NATIVE H'RAH LANGUAGE \>\> MAY CONTAIN TRANSLATION ARTIFACTS That day I had many problems, but most of those problems started when I was banished. H'Rahs are pack creatures. We use our numbers to ambush...
Hands//Paws - A Poem
Hands aren't meant to feel this weird I'm not meant to spend all day looking They're not meant to rash They're not meant to bloody They're just supposed to be, Another part of your body That we use as tools, To try not to damage Too delicate,...
SENTIENCE - Chapter Eight - Gaps
\>\> LOADING . . . \>\> NOTE: VERSION INCLUDES PARTIAL TRANSLATION FORMATING "If you knew how to speak all this time, why haven't you?" the Builder asked as we walked. At least, I hoped I translated that correctly. "I didn't," I said, my goal to...
SENTIENCE - Chapter Three - Long Fall
The circularization burn was successful. We were in a polar orbit, designed to help us image and scan all of the planet's surface as it rotated. And there was a lot to see. There were hundreds of species detectable, even from up here. Incredible...
SENTIENCE - Chapter Seven - Chase
I was not starving anymore. That wasn't supposed to be possible. Fifty days had come and gone since I had made what should have been a fatal mistake. It felt like dodging my tribe's punishment, because they meant for me to die. Anything less is almost...
SENTIENCE - Chapter Five - Improv
The data seemed infinite. Every type of rock, every tiny plant, was something a scientist might eventually spend years, even decades studying. But I didn't know if or when something unexpected or catastrophic would happen to my mission, so I had to...
SENTIENCE - Chapter Four - Echo
I struggled to reply. Did I respond with my name, my species, my personality? Did I try to run? I doubted I could escape the creature if I tried, with how fast it was. I expressed my name. My full name. I spoke its audible part, and I displayed its...
SENTIENCE - Chapter Nine - Battle
What had that creature done to me? Every spike down my back flexed upright. My limbs gave way an instant later, my mind sluggishly following. I felt like entering the dreamworld of sleep backwards, fighting my way upstream. But is that where I was?...