3.6
+++
My growth was... slower. Measured. Careful. In terms of actual numbers, I didn't grow much at all.
In terms of energy, though...
That was another matter entirely.
My income ticked up and up with every passing day. Even just Timaeus was a considerable increase, but with the rest of the next generation coming into play, optimized genetically for robust minds and great Psychic potential? Further strengthened by their own parents, already more powerful through their Symbiosis?
It was a lot. And it grew quickly.
The number of Entity-selves jumped up equally quickly, just to store it all. My refinement experiments began to speed up as I matched the income, generation after generation of shapes tested and tweaked into peak efficiency. Those done, I moved on to new shapes, and then more shapes, and then more...
It was just waiting, really, for the energy income to grow even more. Refinement passed the time, the years draining away as it happened. Groundside, I felt that I was quite complete, in terms of roles and shapes.
Spaceside, though... That was another story.
I had the shapes ready, of course. I'd thought them up shortly after I got my mind in order and realized where and
where I was. I had never
deployed them, however. Hadn't given them any refinement, other than the theoretical kind.
Shapes that large wouldn't need the kind of refinement I went through for my planetbound shapes, though. That much of my flesh and energy together would be able to change itself far more easily than anything lesser. Refinement would happen through the mere process of existing. I could have supplied the energy needs through planetary harvesting, but again, I was in no hurry.
How much did a few years, even a few dozen of them, matter in a plan that was going to last a hundred and thirty five, just for the setup? Nothing, really.
So I waited. Ten years passed, and then another ten after that. I slowed my refinement experiments as the day of the Lightchaser's completion came closer and closer, allocating more and more for storage. I ended them completely when it was finished, joining everybody else in watching the ship float into orbit, its gleaming silver-white form a bastion of sanity against the inanity of the sky.
The next day, I plunged the reserves gathered over the previous weeks into a single project. The largest thus far, but also the smallest of my true fleet-shapes.
The
Harbinger Probe.
Six hours of growth, a significant chunk of my energy income tied up, and the Lightchaser had its first attendant. Far smaller than the massive city-ship, it had a completely different role; long-ranged operations.
Technically a scout, though it was a scout in roughly the same way that the Man of Iron would use the term. It was meant to be sent off to the frontier, more or less alone, but...
Well, most 'scouts' didn't eat a planet whole if you left them alone for a few months.
It was... certainly nice to have it, though. It was a rough shape, at first, draining significant amounts of energy just to keep it up, but a few months of self-refinement took care of that problem, dropping the sustainment cost down to a third of the original.
There was another component, too; more than just the physical capabilities of the body. As it grew and was refined, so too did my mind. Thoughts speeding, reach expanding...
No longer did I have to split myself apart to cross to the continent. Even just the single Harbinger-self allowed me to maintain full awareness and connection across a much wider range, a fact which I quickly put to good use by making two more.
All three together, and I could expand the Silence significantly.
Something the Compact with quick to take advantage of. We scanned the world repeatedly, looking for those last few survivors, though we didn't find any. Resourcing operations expanded significantly in the aftermath, even as the second Lightchaser began to be constructed...
That, for the most part, set the tone for the rest of the time we spent waiting.
At twenty years, the population of Sanctuary was at eighty million. They had one Lightchaser and I had three Harbingers.
Forty brought it to a hundred and eighty eight million. They still only had one Lightchaser, but now I had six Harbingers.
Sixty years brought their numbers to four hundred and thirty eight million. They had two Lightchasers, with the third nearing completion. I had thirteen Harbingers.
Eighty years had the population breach a billion. They had five inhabited with a sixth ready to go. I'd reached twenty Harbingers, less than I could have had, but only because I was beginning to experiment with even larger shapes. I had an idea, see, about the kinds of foes we might end up facing, and I'd decided that I'd need shapes to fill the equivalent roles. The Harbinger was a perfectly good general purpose scout, but...
Well, specialization had its upsides.
I didn't have that many, for the moment. One or two for each theoretical class. I had no experience in space combat, after all. Adaptation required exposure.
One hundred years brought the population to two point three billion, and a hundred and twenty took it to five and a half.
The plan was on track. The final fifteen years took the population to over ten billion. Forty six Lightchasers completed in that time, as well as scores of autovessels to go with them.
The full attendant fleet had not been created. Instead, the number was divided roughly between protective vessels and simple mass storage ships. Lightchasers had their own resource storages, yes, but they were outmatched by these dedicated vessels holding nothing but raw mass feedstock, capable of keeping the fleet going for millennia if they needed to.
A precautionary measure, of course. We did not actually expect to take a thousand years. We were expecting, at the absolute most, a few years.
But this was the Warp we were dealing with, and even with my presence, having a backup plan was always a good idea.
Nevertheless...
We were ready. They day had come. The plan reached the zenith; stage three.
Now it was just up to me to get us through it.
i wonder if the shroud does what ya said sword and the orkz evolve into all mekboys but with tech thats not waaagggghhh bullshit
