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Galactic Border Bus Station
墨書 Inktalez
000—Border Bus Station
The galaxy has boundaries, but it's hard to describe exactly where. Beyond the boundaries, there is a large expanse of dark matter, and as for what's within the dark matter, not many people know.
Located at the galactic border, the stars are quite sparse, and there is a vast expanse of a desolate asteroid with almost no stars in the sky. At some point in time, a space bus station was established here.
The space bus is a small intergalactic space vehicle, unlike the massive interstellar ships that are hundreds of kilometers in size, these vehicles are usually not used to transport organic life forms.
Mostly unmanned automated driving, transporting some special races that are not afraid of harsh environments.
As for why not take a large hyperspace ship or use a stargate for transportation, the main reason is because it's cheaper.
This type of driverless bus consumes extremely low energy. If we don't consider the time spent, it can significantly reduce transportation costs.
For the "longevity variety" that doesn't care about time, exchanging time for money is certainly beneficial.
Not all planets have enough economic power to support high-energy transportation systems, but for various reasons—such as the extraction of special minerals, the collection of research probe data, the need to transport longevity variety species or items that cannot withstand superluminal or transdimensional travel, and so on...
Of course, not all buses follow the pattern of departing from Planet A to Planet B. There are also those that transfer after crossing a stargate aboard a spacecraft, as buses are not very large and can easily fit inside a spacecraft.
Most space shuttles have the capability to penetrate the atmosphere, although this particular border asteroid does not have an atmosphere.
The shuttle station established here is actually more like a space station, with most interior areas lacking air. The majority of passengers are wearing their own race-specific space suits while moving around.
The service personnel are all artificial intelligence, occasionally taking on the role of guiding, with a cold tone and no warmth. Overall, the silver-gray environment of the bus station also makes it difficult for people to feel comfortable staying for long. Whether it's the service personnel or the passengers who happen to be here, basically everyone is cold and there is very little interaction.
Sorry, the interaction consumes a lot of energy. In this borderland, sometimes energy is life. The chances of freezing to death are quite high when it runs out.
Don't expect to get too much energy supply here unless you can self-consume dark matter or convert light energy, but the efficiency of doing so is not high.
As for building an energy production factory here? Just transporting materials would be costly, and even though selling energy here might bring huge profits, not many people would be willing to waste their efforts here.
After all, this is the galactic border, beyond the border there is nothing but dark matter. The entire star system has scarce sunlight, low energy, and harsh, uninhabitable environments.
Apart from some suspicious passengers with unclear intentions, there really aren't many people who would linger here, let alone spend money.
This is a desolate, nameless, sparsely populated Galactic Border Bus Station where it wouldn't be surprising if it shut down at any time.
001—Bezat and Inna
The people at the border bus station are always few and far between, sometimes a few buses come down, and sometimes a few go up.
Most of them are just passing through. Of course, because of its remote location, it's common for people to stay for two or three months.
Local residents? Of course, they don't exist. There are no conditions for nurturing life here, and those who can get off here are not ordinary people.
At least, a species must be able to maintain stable signs of life for over a year in harsh low-temperature and low-atmosphere conditions before daring to come here.
Even so, there's still a guy who has been here for ten standard years.
"Bezat Mr., is from Dulan Galaxy Bezat Mr.!"
The clear and pleasant voice of a young girl transmitted through an unencrypted radio wave to the electronic auxiliary brain of a humanoid extraterrestrial being of medium size—about three meters tall—that looked like a tree.
That Ents first shook the half-leafless dry branches on its head, then slowly opened its hollow, lightless eyes - its visual organs had no pupils - and looked at the small floating light in the air, asking:
"What's wrong, Miss Inna? Has my bus arrived?"
Sound naturally cannot travel in space stations, and if it weren't for the installation of the electronic auxiliary brain, the Ents wouldn't be able to hear the woman's broadcast voice.
"You're not here yet. According to the public database schedule, the bus you're waiting for won't arrive for about fifteen standard years."
"Oh? Then why did you wake me up?"
"Mr. Bezat, according to the new company regulations, I have to confirm the signs of life of the passengers on board after each bus arrives at the station."
This is also unavoidable. Although the consumer agreement clearly states that individuals are responsible for their own risks, if someone were to die at the station and the body is not handled, there might be a biochemical crisis. Because most people enter a dormant state upon arrival at the station, they are only awakened by the station's administrator - the artificial intelligence Inna - when the train they are waiting for arrives.
Before this, the signs of life for the dormant races were very weak, especially the Ents Bezat, who looked almost dead.
This is a racial characteristic issue. After all, the life signs of the longevity variety life form are usually not obvious, and special detection instruments are needed to detect them.
So every time Inna has to wake him up first to know if he's still alive.
"I see... then I'll go back to sleep if everything's okay."
" Bezat sensei, I'm so bored."
"Huh?"
Bezat, who was feeling drowsy, was suddenly wide awake upon hearing this sentence.
Shouldn't artificial intelligence be more than just rigid and passive, how could it spontaneously come up with the word "boring"?
"Inna, have you installed some strange thing?"
"The headquarters recently already connected to the server of the World Tree Civilization in the third quadrant of the galaxy. Now, the company's artificial intelligence module's computing power has been greatly enhanced."
"Is that so? I see. So, have you evolved?"
"That would be 'upgraded,' Mr. Bezat."
"Oh, I see..."
Whether it's an upgrade or an evolution, anyway, Inna is different from before, and Bezat finds it very intriguing.
" Bezat sensei, can you talk to me about your past? I have a strong desire to know now."
"Sigh... Well, I have plenty of time anyway, more than I can use."
002—Star Chaser
Bezat squinted and looked up at the sky, where a star was hanging high in the dark night sky.
The lack of atmosphere means no scattering, and the sky is nothing but black. In that extreme darkness, the bright stars stand out especially. It's not that there are no other stars, it's just that they are too few and too far away. This is the border, a remote and sparsely populated border of stars.
"We are known as the tree dragon clan, a name given to us by the empire that rules the supergalactic cluster we inhabit. Inna, do you know what a tree is?"
"A species with cell walls, capable of continuous growth, theoretically with unlimited lifespan, is that right?"
"It's almost like that, yes. Photosynthesis is one of the ways trees obtain energy. However, the idea of unlimited lifespan is a false premise; all life has a limit. Theoretically unlimited does not mean there won't be a limit under the influence of external factors such as the environment."
"Is Mr. Bezat a tree?"
"Our juvenile body is indeed a tree."
Bezat recalls his childhood, when he had not yet opened his wisdom, almost all trees in their youth had no self-awareness.
The collective consciousness of some planets is formed through the connection of trees, and there are trees that can penetrate deep into the earth's core.
But that is only the first step of growth; true trees must undergo tens of thousands of years of sedimentation to reach this stage.
At this time, the height at which trees break through the earth's surface can mostly reach the lower layer of the atmosphere, which is the top of the troposphere. Of course, the height of the troposphere will vary due to different gravitational conditions on different planets. But generally speaking, the young tree dragon clan will definitely exceed the troposphere.
But to grow so high, they will encounter endless disasters.
Perhaps the God of Thunder will strike, or a meteor will descend and destroy everything, or there will be a war with the indigenous creatures of another planet, or for various reasons, deforestation... The ice age will cause a sudden drop in temperature and insufficient water absorption... The decline of the sun, and so on, for various reasons.
It is very difficult to grow to this point, but even more difficult is the need to leave the rooted planet and come to space to get as close to the stars as possible in order to pursue the energy needed for adulthood.
"Our tribe is not conscious in childhood, it is only in adolescence that we gain consciousness and learn to think."
"I see, so Mr. Bezat doesn't have any memories of his childhood?"
"No, when I became conscious, I was already a towering tree reaching into the sky," Bezat paused and then said:
"Because once we become conscious, we start to fear death, so we desperately want to escape the constraints of this earth."
"Why do we want to leave?"
"Because of that," Bezat pointed to the star above his head and said, "That is the source of life. As long as there are stars, there will be life."
"Our clan will move towards the orbit closest to the star as long as we leave our mother star. Occupying a closer position allows us to absorb more energy and grow into a complete being."
"Perfect form?"
"It's just a bigger tree, but growing is not an easy task. The energy emitted by stars is infinite, but its efficiency is limited. The larger the size, the greater the consumption. When the power generated is lower than the power consumed, growth will be restricted. Sometimes, when a star's decline period arrives, other methods must be considered."
"What should we do?"
"Drift towards another star system, where there are bigger stars."
Bezat revealed a nostalgic expression and said, "Actually, compared to the name tree dragon, I used to prefer another widely known name from my youth, which is 'the star chaser'."
003—Space The Garden er
Bezat Remembering tens of thousands of years ago, when I was young. That huge body spanning thousands of kilometers, when passing by a planet, it would block out the sun, even causing a short-term eclipse.
Because they were too vast, no planetary civilization could pose a threat to their race.
In that star system, they were invincible. Until one day, an external Type II civilization changed everything.
star cluster of The Garden The civilization, jokingly referred to as "cosmic The Garden ers" by some unserious space hunters, is one that has a deep understanding of plants and is dedicated to protecting various special plants. They share a nearly unanimous value system, which prioritizes plants. Of course, this value system is not one of worship or belief, but rather a form of care-oriented philosophy.
Why would such a civilization come into conflict with its own tree? Ultimately, it stems from different perspectives on survival.
tree dragon clan considers the competition for sunlight a matter of life and death, and this is their way of natural selection.
A star can only leave behind one tree dragon in the end, even if there is a way to migrate, most tree dragons will die due to lack of energy during the long journey.
The Garden people disagree with this elimination method, as they believe it hinders the diversity of a species. When facing drastic environmental changes, the entire population is likely to face a survival crisis.
Therefore, in order to ensure that a star can support several tree dragons, they implemented a "pruning" measure. This involves destroying parts of the excessively large tree dragons, trimming the branches and leaves that absorb too much sunlight energy, and controlling the speed and scale of the tree dragons.
Bezat with the ability to monopolize its own territory of sunlight naturally does not want to accept such treatment, so the two sides have opened an interstellar war.
Don't be fooled by the fact that it's just a tree. After long-term evolution, it can also harness stellar energy and emit beam cannons through specialized organs.
Although the other party is a Type II civilization, they have a slight technological advantage. However, the The Garden people were unwilling to harm their lives, which hindered their conquest, resulting in the war lasting for a hundred years.
In the end, exhausted and lazy, they gave up resistance and allowed the The Garden people to "trim" them.
"Having a spirit that is inherently passive like a tree, it is truly exhausting to argue with these tiny little animals that are so small.
"Mr. Bezat," Inna interrupted his reverie, "since you say your kind can grow to be huge, why are you so small now?"
"Hehe..." Bezat laughed, "This will be a very long story, but I can tell you now that I don't regret becoming this way."
Naturally, this was also the trouble brought by The Garden people, but at that time, Bezat never thought that he would one day become like this.
After pondering for a while, Bezat finally spoke up and asked, "Do you know about The Garden people?"
"Of course I know. It's a civilization circle composed of dozens of planetary civilizations, but their values are surprisingly consistent."
"That's right... This is a civilization jokingly referred to as the cosmic The Garden ers. Their favorite thing to do is to travel to various parts of the universe to protect various special plants."
004—Treaty on the Limitation of Development of Extraterrestrial Civilizations
Apart from Bezat, there are no other passengers in the station at the moment, after all, the bus that just departed already took away everyone.
Bezat is a long-distance route, and the low profits from border crossings make it difficult to operate a single bus. Naturally, the interval between each trip will be much longer.
So, talking about the leisurely conversation of the civilized universe people in The Garden, there is no need to worry about being eavesdropped on, I suppose.
"The GardenCivilized extraterrestrials like to wear green space suits because they believe it helps them connect with plants. However, one annoying aspect about them is that they often use aggressive means to protect plants, leading some other extraterrestrials to call them the Green Guards.
Internet search results show that last year, there were at least 3247 interstellar armed conflicts initiated by the The GardenCivilization extraterrestrials in the galaxy, all related to overdevelopment of planets inhabited by less advanced civilizations."
Inna made Bezat feel a little helpless as he scratched the green leaves on his head, thinking that it seemed like this group of old friends was still as energetic as before, causing trouble everywhere.
"Well... the energy utilization methods of lower civilizations are more primitive, and it's inevitable that they can only cut down trees. Now, with the Universal Civilization Development Limitation Treaty clearly stipulating that excessive interference in the progress of civilizations is not allowed, it's very difficult to solve the problem in the short term."
"Restriction treaty? Searching... Does it refer to Article 1-1, prohibiting any civilization from interfering with the development process of a pre-Type I civilization?"
"Yes, especially strict limitations for low-level civilizations that have not yet acquired interplanetary space travel capabilities."
"Searching... I see, adding special clauses 4-7, it is prohibited to disclose the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life to low-level civilizations without interstellar travel capabilities."
The Limitation Treaty was jointly formulated by the Seven Great Galactic Civilizations to mutually restrain and maintain balance. It's not difficult to support low-level civilizations as subordinates in the universe, but without restrictions, the Seven Great Galactic Civilizations would probably have unified the galaxy by now.
If there's still room for discussion, it means there's still room for maneuvering. However, Bezat, who has lived for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years, doesn't really care who's in charge.
The galaxy is just too big, and it's very difficult for conflicts to arise between advanced civilizations. Therefore, it's very difficult for anyone to influence each other's core areas no matter who wants to be in charge.
It's because of this that the star cluster of The Garden civilization is causing chaos everywhere. As long as they don't violate the treaty to support civilization, the leaders just turn a blind eye and play dumb.
Anyway, no matter how many people die in lower civilizations, as long as they can't connect to the interstellar network to expose it, who would know?
So Clause of Civilized Control may not necessarily be a good thing for lower civilizations, at least there's no way to seek justice if something goes wrong.
Of course, Seven Great Civilizations will handle it afterwards, after all, authority still needs to be taken care of, but this has nothing to do with the victims already.
My mind was filled with random and boring thoughts, and Bezat shook his head, trying to remember what he was about to say.
After organizing his thoughts, he finally spoke slowly and methodically:
"Although the people of the The Garden civilization are very annoying, their love and appreciation for plants is unparalleled. I used to have a lovely group of friends who were the people of the The Garden civilization."
005—Symbiotic relationship
"The civilized extraterrestrials in the The Garden have actually been working hard to establish a Symbiotic relationship with the tree dragon, and of course, this does not refer to 'pruning' but rather to a deeper mutual cooperation."
"Mutually beneficial cooperation? Searching... I see, based on the vague conclusion from the search results, can I assume this refers to some kind of communication protocol?"
"For you information-based life forms without survival concerns, that's about it. But for physical organisms that need to adapt to the environment for survival, symbiosis is a very complex operational mechanism."
"For us, information is like food, and sharing information requires authentication through communication protocols."
"But the transmission of information between physical beings doesn't necessarily require communication protocols; sometimes it's just a signal. I can't communicate with the children of the The Garden civilization at all - I'm too big, and they're too small."
"Why did it later become a Symbiotic relationship?"
"Because a common external threat forced us to establish a Symbiotic relationship."
Bezat paused for a moment before saying:
"Have you heard of Megaloceros?"
"Searching... a highly predatory cosmic insect species. Most of them lack rationality and cannot communicate. Wherever they go, even entire planets will be devoured, designated by the Seven Great Civilizations as a natural disaster on a stellar scale."
"Yes, that's right. The name 'Logost' also comes from the common language of a certain planetary civilization, because this thing emerged from that star system of the planet."
"According to recent research reports, Megaloceros has been documented to engage in cannibalism when extremely hungry and unable to find food, even consuming their own kind. However, the surviving individuals after cannibalism become stronger and more enduring, capable of even traveling across star systems to other planets that still have food."
"Their favorite food is plants containing chloroplasts, so my body is considered a feast for them."
"Nagalgardean? Do they eat too?"
"Of course, they eat whatever they can, no one can escape."
"Is this considered a Symbiotic relationship just because of this mutual cooperation? It seems inconsistent with the definition and logical judgment."
"Indeed, this is simply a cooperative relationship established to resist a powerful external enemy, and not a Symbiotic relationship."
Bezat looked up at the starry sky with a nostalgic expression on his face and said:
"Perhaps this is the arrangement of fate or the miracle of coincidence. In the process of fighting side by side, my consciousness network has slowly established a connection with the subconscious of the The Garden civilization. This connection has fulfilled my need for stellar energy and allowed me to communicate with another tree dragon cared for by the The Garden civilization."
"It sounds like the prelude to sexual intercourse."
"Oh? Why do you think that?"
"Just feel like a powerful creature like Mr. Bezat would find it very difficult to find a partner in the vast universe, right?"
"You're not wrong, that's indeed the case. The sexual reproduction of the tree dragon clan is very difficult, mostly they reproduce asexually. But such behavior degradation is inevitable, and most of the offspring are difficult to survive through their infancy. There was once a tree dragon that killed itself to reproduce, scattering its clones throughout the entire star system. But in the end, not a single tree grew into a tree dragon, because the degraded genes have a very short lifespan, at most a few hundred years."
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