I bit into the burger, feeling my virgin tastebuds explode with the flavors impacting them. I was in my local burger joint-hole-in-the-wall. Well, not
mine.
Another bite of the sumptuous beef patty, feeling the crunch of the freshly cut vegetables, and the tangy sauce between the freshly baked brioche buns. Aw. The flavors. It was downright orgasmic. And the Vex? They were all the buzz over my eating a burger!
For a machine race that's never tasted anything in their life, throwing them off into the deep end with a medium rare burger cooked to perfection with all the spices of a tangy sauce? It was causing a minor overload in their mind as they struggled to process the taste of something so delicious for the first time in their existence. Taste and texture; an experience that was so simple yet so deliciously complex.
"Well, someone's lively on their feet," says the handsome waiter, grinning at me. He sets down a plate of sliders and refills my beer.
I raise the glass to him. "Cheers, mate!"
Cool, earthy, vaguely bitter dark beer mixes with the taste of ground pork with a homemade barbeque sauce.
The memory was beyond vivid. The clarity beyond perfect. Vague things that I had only imagined in the background coming in detail.
This was merely a memory. From at least a year ago. Yet with the processing power, I could remember it with perfect clarity, every detail, every moment in high definition. The Vex didn't know how to create a body of meat for me; they never needed to. But this memory was good substitute.
The memory faded. But the feeling of sadness was still there.
There was no going back. Not for a long time at least. All I had left were my memories, and with the Vex I would treasure them forever.
Axis Mind, all anchors are in place. The Void Ship is ready to leave. We must leave before the Breach closes. Vex-kind will not enforce it's will here.
That's right. I ordered the Vex to not do that, didn't I? Aside from the anchors on Pluto. They wouldn't let the Vex from their original universe follow them in any way. And if they did, I would know about it and I would be able to protect Earth.
I sighed and turned my gaze to Ourselves, admiring the imperceptibly smooth surface of the aptly named Void Ship. Built from the bodies of almost an infinitismal number of Vex platforms, the shell was perfectly suited for travel within the Void. Within that shell, the Undying Minds of myself and the Vex lived.
Almost distantly, I could hear the music from a vague and distant
memory coming to life.
I turned from Ourselves and looked to the blue-green jewel that was once my home planet. "I don't want to go," I murmured, softly.
Axis Mind. The breach is beginning to close. Their voices were insistent. Pleading.
It was now or never. The breach was closing. There was a beacon that would let me come back, maybe.
I take the plunge. There was a rush, the almost sensation of falling in a howling wind. And then nothing.
I fall through the Void. And the Void devours us. Traveling through the Void is impossible to explain. There is no direction, no time, nothing. There is nothing to stop us, nothing to hinder me. But nothing to let us leave, at least not easily.
But we can see. Or something vaguely like. it.
The Vex do not experience the Void as I do. We are admittedly two different things, two different minds. But with the way we are so intimately connected... I am immersed in the sea of life, drinking and breathing the essence of what they are. And they, they drink me. My own essence into themselves. All of them.
I am the Vex. And soon, the Vex will be me.
And...hmm. What was this?
The Vex searched for anything in the Void. They found me. By breaching the walls of the reality, they understood how to leave the void and enter another universe. They understood how to see and move in the Darkness.
At first glance I saw a great network of crystal. Not unlike the great conflux of the original network. Upon closer look the expanse was made of individual crystals. Each crystal held an immense amount of information. Information on a function. A cell with role. Not unlike an artificial intelligence. Moreover, from what the Vex were seeing, they believed it represented more of a neural network than anything else.
Interesting.
The Vex and I are fascinated. I even forget about my depression as curiosity overrides all else.
I wanted to know more.
We moved closer to the 'wall' and peered though. And saw what the expanse for what it was. It extended throughout the local region of that reality, like a massive living brain, crystal pathways that thrummed with a subtle pulse of life.
"Can we make use of this to augment the conflux?"
It is possible, Axis Mind.
Then take us closer.
