The question of who the old races are is one of the biggest mysteries of our time. We know that some of them must have possessed immense power and aggression. How else can we explain space phenomena like the Rift or, even more puzzling, the Empty? Especially the Empty with its thousand light-years span, void of intelligent life. Full of green, lush planets. But no intelligent life ever evolved there.
If you ask the Trki or the ominous Lakonis, the two oldest known races, they will shrug their shoulders or clean their insect wings and say nothing.
Xenoarchaeologists have sometimes found trinkets. In rare cases, the gravity of stars captured parts of million-year-old ships. But there is no certain proof of anything.
Only whispers and myths speak of wars that nearly tore the universe apart.
High Volkar Nuurf, Introduction to Xeno History, Navar University.
The ship finally exited slipspace. Nugru, like all his people, disliked how the strong magnetic fields affected their orientation crystals. Unfortunately, slipspace remained the only known method for faster-than-light travel.
Except, of course, for the Old Races. They seem to be able to appear and disappear wherever they like.
He spread his wings and ruffled his feathers, just like everyone else on the bridge of his ship, the Seeker.
"We have reached our destination, High Lord; passive scans are in progress." Nugru acknowledged the report of the white-feathered navigator by clapping his short beak.
Nugru gave the now almost ritualistic order he made after every jump.
"Launch a message rat with our current position and all log entries."
The operations officer next to the navigator answered with the standard beak clapping.
Seconds later, he saw the small message torpedo leaving his egg-shaped ship and disappearing into slipspace. It would take years for the Senate to get the news, but they would get it, even if the Seeker got lost, like so many other ships had done in this sector of space.
Had they really made it after five years of searching?
"Sir, Trki city-ship just appeared 50,000 km behind us," Corgru, the navigator, informed again, almost ritualistically. He had made the same report after every jump for years now.
The same city-ship had followed them since they left home in their search. Quietly, always in the distance. Nugru knew they would not harm his ship; the old ones never did, but still he felt haunted by them.
Ever since his time as a cruiser captain, seven years ago. That day, the day everything changed.
The lizards had come from behind the Empty without warning. No one knew what they called themselves. They were simply the lizards, and in a matter of a few years they had wiped out whole species.
When the governments appealed to the old ones, the answer was blunt and final: "Every generation has its fights; we can't save you every time. Stand up and fight, or lie down and die."
So they fought. A defensive line was drawn, and the war ground on for seventy years. Nugru had been there at the end, willing to give his life for just one more evacuation transporter to safely leave. The front was close to breaking. Everyone knew it.
Then the lizards simply stopped coming.
The slipspace portals formed, but nothing emerged. The fleet held formation for days, unwilling to risk any deception, when the Trki appeared. Their massive city-ship dwarfed even the largest space docks of the Gru-Gru, its spires rising into the dark like something from a fever dream.
A single message arrived: "The lizards are gone; they had touched what should never be touched and paid the price."
Then the ship simply stayed there.
For a year the Senate and scientists debated, until they reached their answer. The Trki were waiting for them to react. And so Nugru and his crew were dispatched into the heart of lizard space to see if the threat was truly gone.
The day they left was the first day the Trki ship moved. It had followed them ever since.
They had crossed the Empty, a truly haunted place where no one dared to build a colony, even though the planets looked inviting.
They had found planets full of survivors. Prisoners, abducted by the lizards. All reported that the lizards were simply gone one day.
They had reached the lizard home planet. Gone were the large cities reported by the survivors. All that remained was a green, lush world with a wide variety of wildlife. Among others, some lizards that threw rocks and then hid in caves.
That was the first time since the day on the line that the Trki communicated again.
"Hubris has its price, and the lizards now have a thousand years to think about their sins."
Somehow, something had made all the lizards in the galaxy vanish, had turned their planet back into a wilderness, and placed a few lizards there.
To be sent back into the beak age, no tools but the ones you could make with your beak and claw. All while remembering you had ruled an empire.
Was there any punishment harsher than this?
"I know they are the enemy, Sir, but… I can't help but feel sorry for them," the ship's navigator, Corgru, said from his console while they watched the planet slowly rotate on the bridge viewscreen.
A storm had formed over the spot the away team had visited, and Nugru wished the lizards all the luck they could get. By the old ones, they would need it.
That night, Nugru read through the interview reports of the rescued survivors.
One of the reports was from a female Gru-Gru; she had been a slave in the service of a lizard scientist. It seemed they had found ruins in the space opposite Senate space and the Empty. Deep in the unknown of the outer galaxy.
Another old race.
The lizards assumed it was the space of the mythological Humans.
Maybe that was the reason they were all gone now.
Nugru and his crew discussed it for a long time. Then they sent a message to the Trki, asking just for a hint if they risked their people's lives by searching for the Humans.
The answer was as cryptic as always, but it was an answer: "Looking is allowed in every nightclub; touching gets you thrown out."
So they decided to risk it.
They reached many systems, and even encountered ships from unknown races, all looking for the same answer.
What happened to the lizards, and who did it.
To Nugru's surprise, each of the other alien ships was also shadowed by a Trki city-ship.
One captain, a large mammal with brown fur, obviously a carnivore by the look of his teeth, mentioned something interesting at their meeting. The ship that followed them had only told him they were there to rescue them if they found what they were searching for.
Typical Trki speech. Never a straight answer.
After interviewing more survivors and comparing their notes with those of other ships, they were almost sure they had found their target.
A small yellow star thirty light-years away.
And now… he was here.
The passive sensors slowly returned enough information about the system before them. They had decided to use only passive sensors, not risking appearing to "touch" anything.
The Solar System was nothing special. Maybe one of the gas giants was a bit larger than usual, and one planet had an odd rotation. But all in all, it seemed pretty common.
But then there was the third planet.
"Sir, the planet is orbited by a massive moon; we could even speak about a twin planetary system here." The operations officer's voice carried something Nugru hadn't heard from him in years — genuine excitement.
The monotony of the long flight was gone.
Nugru's interest was piqued. "Anything else? Space installations or something?"
"No, nothing we can detect at this distance, but, sir…"
Nugru looked at the operations officer as he stopped mid-report.
"Yes?"
"Sir, the planet's orbital period is exactly one galactic standard year."
The bridge went silent.
How and when the galactic standard year was decided is unknown. Some expect it to have originated from the dominant species of the Old Ones.
Finding a planet that has that exact orbital period is the goal of generations of xenoarchaeologists. Because that planet, the species on that planet, would be the founder of the galactic measurement system.
The First Ones.
Nugru's pulse spiked. "Send message rats with our findings. Now!"
The Senate had to hear about this.
"Sir, there's more; I am detecting an artificial structure beyond the outer comet cloud. At first, it seemed like a dwarf planet, but I am now sure it is artificial," the sensor technician behind Nugru's chair reported.
Artificial structure. Relics. This was the greatest find in Gru-Gru history. If this was indeed the first system, the home of the mythical Humans…
Then the Trki warning came to his mind: Look, don't touch.
Yes, they would look. They would look and learn.
"Navigation, set a course for the artifact. 4g acceleration."
Nugru just knew that they would find answers here. Around him, the bridge crew moved with a focused energy he hadn't seen in months. No one spoke. Every eye was fixed on the viewscreen.
They knew and felt it; they were crossing into a space where giants once walked.
Nugru could hear the operations officer whisper. He couldn't understand the words, but the way the head bobbed and the cadence of the whisper made it clear he was praying.
Religion was an outdated concept in Gru-Gru society, but now it was comforting.
They closed in on the artificial structure. At a distance it didn't make sense, but as the Seeker came closer, the bridge crew could only stare in awe.
The largest part of it was a dwarf planet, or rather what seemed like the remains of one, broken into pieces by forces unknown.
In the empty spaces between the fragments, the inhabitants of the system had constructed massive dry docks, extending from the surface for kilometers.
All the spaces between the fragments were filled with artificial structures. It seemed as if the whole dwarf planet was one giant station.
But that wasn't all; the dwarf planet had a moon, a massive one compared to the planet itself.
And it was connected to the planet by an artificial construction, a 19,600-kilometer-long station. Similar to the space elevators other species used, only much more massive.
The station's radius was largest at the approximate center of gravity between the planet and its moon, getting thinner the closer it got to either surface.
"Diameter at the center: 350 kilometers; diameter at the contact points: 5 kilometers."
The report of the science officer left out something essential, probably due to stress.
The diameters were exactly 350 kilometers and 5 kilometers. As if the structure had been planned with archaic but universal measurement units.
"Sir, by my estimations, this structure alone is large enough to house the entire Gru-Gru species, including all our colonies."
Nugru only listened to his science officer with one ear; he had to force his beak closed.
They had only just entered this system, and already the first artifact surpassed everything the Senate or any known species had ever built.
Even the massive Trki city-ships seemed tiny against this wonder.
'Hello there, it's nice of you to drop by.'
A voice suddenly appeared out of nowhere, speaking perfect Senate Standard.
Nugru stood up, fully alert; two security officers left their post at the entry, searching for the invisible intruder.
'Don't be afraid, I won't harm you. Is this better?'
A face appeared, floating in midair at the center of the bridge. It was clearly mammalian, with no fur except on top of its head.
Nugru remembered that a few naked mammalian species had such fur. They simply called it hair.
The hair was long, but only the head of the unknown visitor had appeared. It was slightly transparent, like the holograms the Gru-Gru vessels used.
Nugru recovered from his shock and walked over to the floating hologram.
"Yes. Who are you? My name is—"
'You are High Lord Nugru. Your orders were to search for me, well, not me, rather this place. And I am Lyra, the keeper of this place.'
Nugru took a second to process what the visitor had said. Was this the last human?
"Keeper? So… you are a human?"
The floating head suddenly showed its teeth.
'Yes, no, well, maybe. They made me, long before your time, so in a manner of speaking… yes.'
More riddles. Did all old ones answer in riddles?
Nugru focused again on his mission. "Is this their home?"
Lyra showed her teeth again. Nugru began to suspect it was some kind of carnivore sign of respect.
'It was, once. But they are gone now. Now I take care of it, preserve it for the next inhabitants.'
Next inhabitants? Who? And the humans were gone… dead?
'I see you have many questions. Just ask. I won't bite… much.'
Lyra clearly enjoyed his confusion, knowing very well how impressed he and his whole crew were. She was playing with him, but she didn't seem hostile. That was the important part.
So he continued, "Gone? Are they dead?"
Again, the baring of teeth from Lyra.
'Dead? No. They just went away. This universe became too thin for them. Just… leave it at that.'
What did she mean by too thin…?
"And this system? They just left you here with it? Alone?"
'Oh, I get visitors: the Trki, the Lakonis, now and then even a few humans come by. And of course I watch over the inheritors of this system. And then there are curious searchers who stop by every millennium or so. Like you, my feathery friend.'
The mystery intrigued Nugru. Without consciously realizing it, he began slowly pacing the bridge. Lyra seemed amused and followed him.
"So, you watch over the inheritors. Who are they?"
'I don't know yet. Whoever wins the evolutionary race, but I have high hopes for the raccoons this time.'
To Nugru, Lyra's voice seemed to change pitch and gain a more vivid tone all of a sudden.
He prepared himself for the question he had feared most. His neck feathers rose when he thought about it.
"Ahm, Lyra, are we trespassing, or is it allowed to enter the system?"
Lyra's head moved directly in front of his own.
'Yes, you can enter. You can always visit. But you can't land anywhere, especially not on the third planet. Do you understand me?'
Her voice had lost all playfulness, and Nugru had to swallow before he could speak.
"Yes, understood. Did the lizards…?" He left the question open, fearing the answer.
Lyra bared her teeth again, regaining her playful tone.
'Yes, it seems they were especially bad at following orders. Just hope they learn their lesson, otherwise the humans will get really creative the next time.'
The humans had almost wiped out a species for trying to land on a planet?
As if she could read his mind, Lyra spoke.
'No. They were cut back because they ignored all warnings and wanted to get for free what others fought for. Always remember, there is no free candy.'
Nugru had the urge to change the subject, seeing his officers in his periphery grow visibly nervous. Some had begun quietly chewing at their own feathers — an old, involuntary habit that appeared only under real fear.
"So, Lyra, who… what… what were the humans?"
The head transformed into a full figure. Bipedal, typical mammalian body, but more slender. No fur, but uniform-like clothing, something all naked mammalians seemed to prefer.
'That, now that is an excellent question. And a long answer. Do you have time?'