DFSF2
Tau Ceti Star System
‘Tlotl yawned.
‘This job is so boring,’ he resonated softly to himself. ‘And to think it was sold to me as a scientific research project.’
He was staffing the Deep Sensor Flowering Search space station on the outer fringes of the Tau Ceti star system. Theirs was an early warning service, designed to pick up with their delicate resonance sensing equipment the first mutterings of the Manifolds if they commenced the flowering emanations. His job was to look at the screens and react if there was the slightest disturbance in the resonance field monitored in their quadrant.
He was at the middle of his shift, and he yawned again, and waggled uncomfortably on the couch. He scanned the screen again, and adjusted the resonance detector download yoke around his neck and shoulders more comfortably.
He wondered if he dared play some of the deep-res crystal he’d smuggled aboard. All the others would be asleep for at least three hours. It would help pass the time, and although the deep resonance pulsing through his body would mask all but the most blaring signal of commencement of flowering by any of the Manifolds, really, what were the chances of that happening on his watch, this day when he had the deep-res running after it not happening for sixty years. None.
‘Tlotl reached into his personal kitpouch and pulled out the player and the small collar attachment. He popped in the disc and activated.
The deep-resonance group was The Ninth Manifold, and they were the hottest thing on the Rim Systems just now.
‘Tlotl leaned back in the couch, and let the waves of resonance wash through his bones and tusks, and relaxed.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
He thought dreamily of the last furlough, when he was back on Rim Delta and had attended the concert given by The Ninth Manifold. It had been held at the Sensitorium, a building uniquely designed with baffles and angles to capture and redirect and amplify the resonances and alterations in many subtle ways.
An all-purpose building, used for lectures, cultural events, sports and concerts, it held about 3000 beings when seated, or 5000 standing.
The Ninth Manifold concert was standing room only.
‘Tlotl had arrived just as the warm up group were finishing their number. A frag-res kind of group, their resonances were disassociative and disjointed, staccato bursts of resonance that grated on the bones and tusks and didn’t let the audience capture or alter or augment. They had their own loyal adherents, but ‘Tlotl didn’t much care for it.
Then the Ninth Manifold had begun, and ‘Tlotl was enthralled.
His whole being responded to their pounding insistence and the vibrations began deep inside him. The waves of resonance that washed over the audience were captured in fragments by each, and altered, and the fresh harmonics blended with the still driven wave from the group to form a counter cadence that set up the secondary, deep resonating, in his bones.
The disc was playing that number now, and ‘Tlotl bared his teeth in a feral grin as he recalled the evening those days ago on Rim Delta.
As the waves grow stronger, the crowd began to shift and waver....become a shadowy semblance of what it was before......levitating those closest to the source slightly.....
And the beat grew, and deepened, and the crowd took it and cupped it, catching it in their flanks and reshaping and altering, and the levitated bodies rose higher, borne aloft by the awesome power of the resonance.
The power grew, and those carried aloft caught it, and in turn they shaped it, turning it and sending it on, and in the act of turning their bodies slowly revolved, getting faster as the resonance deepened until those at the apex were twirling and spinning like tops
‘Tlotl resonated softly, internally, “I must try this,” and with that he leapt into the midst of the inferno of whirling bodies. He was carried aloft, borne by the resonance wave, and aware of it breaking all around him, as the power grew yet stronger and amplified deeper.
He in turn caught the waves with flanks and limbs, clumsily at first, so that he tossed above the crowd like a shipwreck in a storm, but eventually he gained some mastery.
And he caught, and deflected the waves, to begin a slow torquing, then grew more adept at cupping and catching, altering and sending on so that he began to revolve and propel himself forward above the crowd.
The beat became more insistent, and faster, and the resonance deepened still more, and ‘Tlotl found himself having to put more effort into the shapings and deflections. But now he was propelling himself as one of a group, above the crowd, revolving individually and circling the crowd as they surfed the waves of resonance.
Then the pitch altered, and the harmonics changed, and ‘Tlotl fought for control as he ceased the revolutions and was let gently down back into the crowd beneath.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
He sat back in his couch as the crystal recaptured that moment from his memory, and the alterations changed the tone and the mood.
He sighed, and opened his eyes.
And sat bolt upright.
A tiny flicker in the corner of the monitor screen had caught his eye.
He watched and waited.
There
The blips were faint but distinct.
Resonance activity.
Emanating from Manifold Six
Tau Ceti Star System
‘Tlotl yawned.
‘This job is so boring,’ he resonated softly to himself. ‘And to think it was sold to me as a scientific research project.’
He was staffing the Deep Sensor Flowering Search space station on the outer fringes of the Tau Ceti star system. Theirs was an early warning service, designed to pick up with their delicate resonance sensing equipment the first mutterings of the Manifolds if they commenced the flowering emanations. His job was to look at the screens and react if there was the slightest disturbance in the resonance field monitored in their quadrant.
He was at the middle of his shift, and he yawned again, and waggled uncomfortably on the couch. He scanned the screen again, and adjusted the resonance detector download yoke around his neck and shoulders more comfortably.
He wondered if he dared play some of the deep-res crystal he’d smuggled aboard. All the others would be asleep for at least three hours. It would help pass the time, and although the deep resonance pulsing through his body would mask all but the most blaring signal of commencement of flowering by any of the Manifolds, really, what were the chances of that happening on his watch, this day when he had the deep-res running after it not happening for sixty years. None.
‘Tlotl reached into his personal kitpouch and pulled out the player and the small collar attachment. He popped in the disc and activated.
The deep-resonance group was The Ninth Manifold, and they were the hottest thing on the Rim Systems just now.
‘Tlotl leaned back in the couch, and let the waves of resonance wash through his bones and tusks, and relaxed.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
He thought dreamily of the last furlough, when he was back on Rim Delta and had attended the concert given by The Ninth Manifold. It had been held at the Sensitorium, a building uniquely designed with baffles and angles to capture and redirect and amplify the resonances and alterations in many subtle ways.
An all-purpose building, used for lectures, cultural events, sports and concerts, it held about 3000 beings when seated, or 5000 standing.
The Ninth Manifold concert was standing room only.
‘Tlotl had arrived just as the warm up group were finishing their number. A frag-res kind of group, their resonances were disassociative and disjointed, staccato bursts of resonance that grated on the bones and tusks and didn’t let the audience capture or alter or augment. They had their own loyal adherents, but ‘Tlotl didn’t much care for it.
Then the Ninth Manifold had begun, and ‘Tlotl was enthralled.
His whole being responded to their pounding insistence and the vibrations began deep inside him. The waves of resonance that washed over the audience were captured in fragments by each, and altered, and the fresh harmonics blended with the still driven wave from the group to form a counter cadence that set up the secondary, deep resonating, in his bones.
The disc was playing that number now, and ‘Tlotl bared his teeth in a feral grin as he recalled the evening those days ago on Rim Delta.
As the waves grow stronger, the crowd began to shift and waver....become a shadowy semblance of what it was before......levitating those closest to the source slightly.....
And the beat grew, and deepened, and the crowd took it and cupped it, catching it in their flanks and reshaping and altering, and the levitated bodies rose higher, borne aloft by the awesome power of the resonance.
The power grew, and those carried aloft caught it, and in turn they shaped it, turning it and sending it on, and in the act of turning their bodies slowly revolved, getting faster as the resonance deepened until those at the apex were twirling and spinning like tops
‘Tlotl resonated softly, internally, “I must try this,” and with that he leapt into the midst of the inferno of whirling bodies. He was carried aloft, borne by the resonance wave, and aware of it breaking all around him, as the power grew yet stronger and amplified deeper.
He in turn caught the waves with flanks and limbs, clumsily at first, so that he tossed above the crowd like a shipwreck in a storm, but eventually he gained some mastery.
And he caught, and deflected the waves, to begin a slow torquing, then grew more adept at cupping and catching, altering and sending on so that he began to revolve and propel himself forward above the crowd.
The beat became more insistent, and faster, and the resonance deepened still more, and ‘Tlotl found himself having to put more effort into the shapings and deflections. But now he was propelling himself as one of a group, above the crowd, revolving individually and circling the crowd as they surfed the waves of resonance.
Then the pitch altered, and the harmonics changed, and ‘Tlotl fought for control as he ceased the revolutions and was let gently down back into the crowd beneath.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
He sat back in his couch as the crystal recaptured that moment from his memory, and the alterations changed the tone and the mood.
He sighed, and opened his eyes.
And sat bolt upright.
A tiny flicker in the corner of the monitor screen had caught his eye.
He watched and waited.
There
The blips were faint but distinct.
Resonance activity.
Emanating from Manifold Six
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