DeuceAlpha907
New member
The main story writer already has his ideas about WT's origins, and KG has already told me about how the team will treat it for the moment--mystery allows the imagination to run wild.
And so, I let mine, with this little epilogue. The two characters are Torin, who needs no introduction, and mine--Ulrik, former UCN Corpsman descended from Norwegian settlers who got caught up in the mysteries of the Starfield universe, which also needs no further elaboration.
A TALE OF THREE ULRIKS
"I do have one question, though," stated Ulrik
"Shoot," responded Torin.
"Why me? Out of the God-knows-how-many Starborn or artifact-awakened in this universe, why me?"
Torin sighed. "It was because of a promise you wanted me to keep."
"Me?"
Torin waved his hand. "Maybe not you, specifically...the other version of you in the last universe I was in. He made me promise."
"What for?"
"He wanted to set things right."
"You're still not making sense, Torin."
"Set the ship on autopilot. Let's go to the galley and talk about it. You might want to grab a drink, this is a doozy."
They sat across each other at a table in the ship's mess. Ulrik had his usual--Akila whiskey, double neat. Torin popped opened a Codo's Crater and was sipping from that.
"Have you ever wondered how Watchtower came to be?" Torin asked.
"It's always been in the back of my mind," replied Urlik. "But, we were oftentimes too busy fighting them to really entertain the question. I always figured, some time, we'd find some evidence in the wreckage--maybe something in a computer core Gren or Harper could tease out."
"Well, the other Ulrik I knew found something."
"Really?" Ulrik took a sip.
"Brace yourself for this."
"I am fortified with whiskey. Lay it on me."
"Watchtower was your creation--well, not you, specifically, but another 'you.'"
Ulrik froze. "Du tuller jævla med meg."
"I don't speak Norwegian, but I know that phrase from all the times I've heard you say it. No, I'm not kidding. Harper found a file in a core from a major Watchtower hub. She put it on a slate and handed it to you--I mean, him. He disappeared into his room, and none of us saw him again until breakfast the next morning. He let me read it.
"It was a very long...treatise...on what that particular Ulrik--the one who wound up founding Watchtower--had learned from all he had done in the Multiverse. His progress on trying to understand the Unity, trying to learn more about its creators, and how the human condition responds to all this...
"As best as I can remember, for lifetimes, he was fascinated with the prospect of bridging universes. The power that temple gave yourself and Barrett hinted at this very thing. The Nishina lab suggested it further still. It would be a way to cheat both time and death.
"Every time we go through the Unity, we have to leave everything behind--money, ships, weapons, gear, homes, enterprises, research, art, relationships...loves."
Torin leaned in. "But, what if you could go back to that universe you just came from...renewed, with another 40 or 50 years to pick up where you left off? This particular Ulrik found a way.
"Over the next millennium's worth of time, he researched, built labs, and as his successes allowed, established his own little community of other Ulriks from other universes and Constellation friends he managed to direct to one particular universe. All of these people dedicated themselves to this project.
"But, success brought him no closer to the answers he had long sought. If anything, he saw the futility of it, like the Pilgrim did, and, possibly like our forerunners did--the ones who made the temples and the monuments with those gravitic anomalies you see scattered throughout the galaxy, and mysteriously abandoned. Maybe even the artifacts.
"Ulrik was most disturbed at the sort of power that could be in the hands of, say, the Hunter, or a more power-hungry version of himself. One of your versions went full-on galactic Genghis Khan and managed to conquer three systems before old age forced his hand to either die a natural death, or go through the Unity.
"This is why there are two philosophical camps among Starborn--the Nobles, and the Hunters. He sided with the Nobles, but even then, he believed it wasn't enough to keep the secrets of the artifacts nor the Unity. Neither the Nobles nor the Hunters could stop him after all--or you, for that matter.
"And so, he spent the equivalent of--I think it was on the order of three centuries--designing, gathering resources, and building up the infrastructure needed to establish a galaxy-wide, yet very covert, watchdog organization to bolster the mission of the Nobles. Hence, Watchtower."
"But at the cost of doing horrid things to Starborn, and even those who just stumbled across the artifacts," said Ulrik.
"You don't know the half of it," added Torin.
"Well, if Watchtower was so well-established, why haven't I come across myself in this universe as director of Watchtower, or something?"
"Following his logic where it led him, that version of yourself let himself die a natural death, once he was satisfied with how Watchtower was running. I don't know if he lived to see Watchtower's excesses."
"I can see how I would want to correct that, even if it wasn't me spending a thousand years' time putting it all together."
"The Ulrik I knew felt the same way. And I took a roll of the die hoping you were more like him, and not like Watchtower's creator."
"Sounds like your gamble paid off."
"I do make a good call every now and then." He held up what was left of his beer. "Skaal?"
Ulrik grinned, and imitated the gesture. "Skål!"
And so, I let mine, with this little epilogue. The two characters are Torin, who needs no introduction, and mine--Ulrik, former UCN Corpsman descended from Norwegian settlers who got caught up in the mysteries of the Starfield universe, which also needs no further elaboration.
A TALE OF THREE ULRIKS
"I do have one question, though," stated Ulrik
"Shoot," responded Torin.
"Why me? Out of the God-knows-how-many Starborn or artifact-awakened in this universe, why me?"
Torin sighed. "It was because of a promise you wanted me to keep."
"Me?"
Torin waved his hand. "Maybe not you, specifically...the other version of you in the last universe I was in. He made me promise."
"What for?"
"He wanted to set things right."
"You're still not making sense, Torin."
"Set the ship on autopilot. Let's go to the galley and talk about it. You might want to grab a drink, this is a doozy."
They sat across each other at a table in the ship's mess. Ulrik had his usual--Akila whiskey, double neat. Torin popped opened a Codo's Crater and was sipping from that.
"Have you ever wondered how Watchtower came to be?" Torin asked.
"It's always been in the back of my mind," replied Urlik. "But, we were oftentimes too busy fighting them to really entertain the question. I always figured, some time, we'd find some evidence in the wreckage--maybe something in a computer core Gren or Harper could tease out."
"Well, the other Ulrik I knew found something."
"Really?" Ulrik took a sip.
"Brace yourself for this."
"I am fortified with whiskey. Lay it on me."
"Watchtower was your creation--well, not you, specifically, but another 'you.'"
Ulrik froze. "Du tuller jævla med meg."
"I don't speak Norwegian, but I know that phrase from all the times I've heard you say it. No, I'm not kidding. Harper found a file in a core from a major Watchtower hub. She put it on a slate and handed it to you--I mean, him. He disappeared into his room, and none of us saw him again until breakfast the next morning. He let me read it.
"It was a very long...treatise...on what that particular Ulrik--the one who wound up founding Watchtower--had learned from all he had done in the Multiverse. His progress on trying to understand the Unity, trying to learn more about its creators, and how the human condition responds to all this...
"As best as I can remember, for lifetimes, he was fascinated with the prospect of bridging universes. The power that temple gave yourself and Barrett hinted at this very thing. The Nishina lab suggested it further still. It would be a way to cheat both time and death.
"Every time we go through the Unity, we have to leave everything behind--money, ships, weapons, gear, homes, enterprises, research, art, relationships...loves."
Torin leaned in. "But, what if you could go back to that universe you just came from...renewed, with another 40 or 50 years to pick up where you left off? This particular Ulrik found a way.
"Over the next millennium's worth of time, he researched, built labs, and as his successes allowed, established his own little community of other Ulriks from other universes and Constellation friends he managed to direct to one particular universe. All of these people dedicated themselves to this project.
"But, success brought him no closer to the answers he had long sought. If anything, he saw the futility of it, like the Pilgrim did, and, possibly like our forerunners did--the ones who made the temples and the monuments with those gravitic anomalies you see scattered throughout the galaxy, and mysteriously abandoned. Maybe even the artifacts.
"Ulrik was most disturbed at the sort of power that could be in the hands of, say, the Hunter, or a more power-hungry version of himself. One of your versions went full-on galactic Genghis Khan and managed to conquer three systems before old age forced his hand to either die a natural death, or go through the Unity.
"This is why there are two philosophical camps among Starborn--the Nobles, and the Hunters. He sided with the Nobles, but even then, he believed it wasn't enough to keep the secrets of the artifacts nor the Unity. Neither the Nobles nor the Hunters could stop him after all--or you, for that matter.
"And so, he spent the equivalent of--I think it was on the order of three centuries--designing, gathering resources, and building up the infrastructure needed to establish a galaxy-wide, yet very covert, watchdog organization to bolster the mission of the Nobles. Hence, Watchtower."
"But at the cost of doing horrid things to Starborn, and even those who just stumbled across the artifacts," said Ulrik.
"You don't know the half of it," added Torin.
"Well, if Watchtower was so well-established, why haven't I come across myself in this universe as director of Watchtower, or something?"
"Following his logic where it led him, that version of yourself let himself die a natural death, once he was satisfied with how Watchtower was running. I don't know if he lived to see Watchtower's excesses."
"I can see how I would want to correct that, even if it wasn't me spending a thousand years' time putting it all together."
"The Ulrik I knew felt the same way. And I took a roll of the die hoping you were more like him, and not like Watchtower's creator."
"Sounds like your gamble paid off."
"I do make a good call every now and then." He held up what was left of his beer. "Skaal?"
Ulrik grinned, and imitated the gesture. "Skål!"
