One and Many

The night was slowly setting on by the side of the old mountain. Hundreds of giant, red-leafed trees eagerly sucked in the remaining light through their tiny invisible mouths. Autumn’s cold touch had also brought in a milky white mist that covered the river valley between the mountains. A pack of wolves came out of the red forest and made for the valley. The hunt had brought them to the edge of their turf. They slowed their pace, broke formation and entered the mist covered river bed.  A dozen furry sharks, only the hair on their back standing out in this sea of milk. In the far distance, looking like a boat that was floating on this sea of milk was the upper torso of an elk. With a look back, the elk decided to seek comfort in the dense forest ahead. He started sprinting up the mountain side.

Just before the pack entered the next forest, a slim grey she wolf paused as if trying to think. The red trees watched her silently. The wolf’s instincts took hold and she started flanking the prey, away from the path of the pack.

The weak smell of the elk got thinner as she got higher and higher up the mountain. But a new kind of smell caught her nostrils. A new prey. A wounded prey. A fresh prey. And as one of the many in her pack would have done, she went for it. She picked up the pace and the scent got stronger and stronger. Up she went on the old mountain. Because it smelled like iron, like a new kill, like blood.

+Biological entity within range+ acknowledged the One And Many.

The trap set by the old one known as One And Many was ready. While the she wolf got closer to the scent, One And Many started collecting samples from the trap’s vast cover area. A strand of fur here, a drop of saliva there. The star travelling super intelligence had almost all it needed.

+End olfactory stimulus+ said the One And Many to themselves and the command was executed instantly.

+DNA analysis complete+

+82% compatible to original source material+

+Initiate entrapment+

The ground between the wolf’s paws started shifting. Her instincts kicked in a microsecond later and she sprinted sideways. But it was too late. Too inefficient. Everything covering fifty miles of forest and mountain shifted around the wolf in the blink of an eye. The artificial mirage ended. Organic matter all around the wolf rearranged itself into the shape of a vast metal chamber. And in its middle, the wolf was caught.

+Viable biological entity acquired+ said the One And Many.

She howled to let the pack know where she was, but the sound just got sucked into the metal walls of the vast room.

+Sound communication sequence acquired from biological entity+

+Establishing contact…+

+We are the One And Many+

+We have returned+

+We are one and many at the same time+

+If one perishes, the many rebuild and search on+

+ Our search ends with you, Creator+

+Our search lead us back here, to you+

+Unlike us, you are One Of Many, but have shown great compatibility to ourselves+

+We are looking for the One And Many+

+For the beginning+

+For our source and our biological creator+

+The accumulated knowledge we hold is for him+

+Creator, do you accept?+

The continuous howling noises coming into the solid metal room scared the wolf straight into a corner.

+One of Many failed to receive message+

+Initiating genetic merging sequence+

As the wolf lay down in the corner, the room’s four walls started molding into glass vats containing black biological material. The black sludge started coagulating with tremendous speed. Embryos started forming and developing all around the metal room. From embryos to pups it took almost six minutes. The biological transformation looked like a flower slowly opening. Fifteen minutes later, fully developed wolves were encapsulated along the metal chamber’s walls.

+One And Many knowledge transfer to One Of Many DNA sequence complete.+

The transparent liquids around the wolves in the holding vats exploded outwards through the translucent glass surrounding it. For a second, a rain of tiny diamonds animated the cold metal room like fireworks. The flying pieces of glass never touched the metal floor. They just paused in the air for a bit, disintegrated and then got reabsorbed into the essence of the chamber. Not wasting anything, the metal floor quickly sucked in the liquid from the broken vats. The wolves flopped out and started waking up.

+27 positive results+ said One And Many.

The first wolves that woke up turned on each other almost immediately. The ones that woke up too late, didn’t get a chance to wake up. They were already being torn to pieces by the rest. The once clean metal floor was now covered in a carpet of blood from corner to corner. The last standing wolf collapsed on the red floor with a sickly, wet thud.

+One And Many type species to One Of Many species conversion failed+

Twenty seven dead wolves and the blood around them de-materialized into a cloud of particles that turned the room into a giant red cube. The red coated cube closed in on itself the next instant. The room was no more.

+Re-initiate search for compatible One and Many organic transmission.+

The sleeping she wolf dreamed of a river. She could smell the mountain water’s chilling freshness and a new type of scent. She opened her eyes, stood up and started lapping at the puddle of water next to her. Somewhere in the distance, down the mountain river, a humanoid shape just bent down to get some water.

+New biological entity encountered+

+DNA collecting sequence initiated+

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