Chapter Text
Looks to the moon stared at the information projected before her. Scans, graphs, observer eyes. It felt good to be connected to her system again, she felt awake for the first time in cycles.
Looks to the Moon has been alone for quite some time now, the younger iterators are still around of course but the amount of energy required to keep up constant communication was difficult, especially considering Five pebbles recent collapse disrupting the communication lines.
That was the reason I couldn’t let Ruffles go. In a world of constant repeating stagnation, Ruffles was a nice change of pace. Curious and energetic, they were a marvel to watch.
They weren’t the only creature over her life to arrive at her desolate can. Many slugcats and a few scavengers had made temporary homes here. They had all since left, following five pebbles advice. West past farm arrays, down where the land fissures… She couldn’t remember the rest and honestly, she didn’t need to. Ruffles showed no sign of wanting to leave anytime soon, they enjoyed exploring the ruins of this once prosperous area.
It had been so long even the rain had stopped. Now replaced by chilling snow, the air was still and sharp. The pain was a nice change, it showed that, even though it was slow, the world was slowly changing, evolving. Looks to the Moon hadn’t expected to live long enough to see it, yet she was floating in her can from her umbilical, using projections she hadn’t expected to work after years of sitting dormant.
She was engrossed in her work one cycle when she heard a plop from behind her. She turned to see a pearl floating in the water, sending small ripples in every direction.
It was an iridescent colour and felt strangely familiar to her. When she reached down to touch it, she saw a flash of green fur in the top of her vision. A green slugcat, dry as the earth on sky islands, wind ruffling through his fluffy fur. He was sitting impossibly far away from the pearl. He couldn’t possibly have thrown it from where they were sitting.
They stared with foxy eyes, unmoving, unwavering.
They were the fluffiest slugcat I've ever seen, much more closely resembling a moth's antennae than a silky slugcat. They had three dots on their forehead, darker than the lime green of the rest of their fur.
Despite already having a mark of communication, they turned before she could say a word, swiftly slipping through the grate to the next room. She picked up the pearl, feeling the glossiness on her touch processors. Compared to her prime, her feeling was dull and muffled, the pearl felt like it was floating on her hands.
Compared to the pearls the slugcats normally threw her way, this one was full of new data, text logs, blueprints, plain text. It was addressed directly to her.
“Looks to the Moon, I wrote this pearl a long time in advance of you reading this. I hope it finds you well.
It has been a while since we spoke in person, or on call. I hope the younger Iterators you have come to care for are doing well too, I can surely say the same about mine at the time of writing this. I miss the time where we had the space and time to talk. I miss iterating with you back in the old days.
If you are receiving this pearl I have achieved triple affirmative but I’m sure you already know that.
I wanted you to be the first to have this pearl, I trust you most out of anyone…
The experiments I have been doing are unorthodox to say the least. The great solution is something none of us were able to solve, yet the ancients achieved it anyway… I have spent my time without you trying to connect the dots.
Using the strange karma flowers that have begun blossoming around my can, I have been experimenting whether a living creature, or iterator, is able to ascend another. I feel close to the solution.
I know that my messenger is not the fastest of creations… I hope that by the point this reaches you, you are still aware enough to read it.
This pearl also contains blueprints for a ‘mobile battery’ that may allow iterators to venture outside of their can. At the cost of much of their iterative abilities, I feel that you won’t mind the procedure. It should technically be reversible.”
Looks to the moon was standing. Her feet up to their knees in the chilly water. The water seeped through the seams and cracks in her puppet, chilling her internals and her wires.
She looked out aimlessly to where the slugcat had slipped away. She was still completely alone, her room was empty. She looked back at the pearl, reading the dialogue
1200.02 - Private
Perceived bewilderment, Silver of Straw
PB: Hello world.
SoS: Hello, perceived bewilderment.
PB: S- Silver o- o- o- of St-Straw,
SoS: Hmmm… perhaps the portable puppet was a bad idea, your limited neurons seem to be affecting your vocal communications. Can you stand?
PB: Creator… W- Why am I h- h- h- here?
SoS: Do you not know? Maybe I failed at programming your purpose… You need to ascend the creature before you…
SoS: That… Wasn’t what I expected… You tamed it?
PB: The c- c- c- creature can now a- ascend!
SoS: Experiment Perceived Bewilderment failed.
End of communication.
Looks to the Moon didn’t know what to think. They looked over the blueprints next… The blueprint, while complicated and unnecessary, was actually makeable, even for someone as ruined as Moon.
Ruffles scampered down into the room from the entrance way in the ceiling. They plopped down into the water, squeaking at Moon happily.
“Little creature! Can you do me a favour?”
Making the strange compartment to allow the portable puppet to work was surprisingly easy. She hesitated when it came time to turn it on. She trusted that ruffles would be able to reattach her umbilical cord in the event that the portable puppet failed but it didn’t change the fact that it was a big risk.
She took a long breath, standing on the sharp rubble at the bottom of her can. She slowly clasps her fingers around the mechanism connecting her umbilical to her. Every synapse in her system screamed at her not to. Technically, this went against her programming. Under normal circumstances, it would leave her immobilized, only able to think. She pulled the mechanism, feeling her fingers and feet go numb, then her legs buckled underneath her. Her vision was cut out before.
Technically, Looks to the Moon had split herself in two, her can and her puppet. Connected through the communications pole, a connection that was flimsy at best. She woke up slowly, dazed and disconnected from her own brain.
Ruffles nuzzled her cheek. She chirped happily, licking the cold blue skin of the puppet.
Looks to the moon looked up through the crack in the roof, the stars shone above them.
Being free from the can only made her think of one thing…
“Pebbles.”