With the ship updated, we now had more resources at our disposal and improved weapons for self-defense.
"SHARP, information on our current perks."
[APOLLO has significantly progressed in several ways]
[Navigation updates now include extradimensional teleportation, hyperspace travel, and cross-dimensional tunneling. Its speed can now reach 1e+20c at perfect conditions]
[Weaponry now includes Antimatter Cannons, Planck Temperature Instantiation and Immunity, Absolute Zero Immunity, Black Hole Shields, Probabilistic Projectiles, Zero-Point Energy Beams, Electro-Magnetic Fields, Gravity and Anti-Gravity Alteration, Quantic-Matter Disintegration, and Causal Closures]
[Its analytical capabilities are now able to perceive events down to the sub-quantum scale and spot anomalies or potential threats across an entire astronomical unit]
[Additionally, it is equipped with healing supports for every kind of physical injury and disease]
[Informationally, it contains data that might help give insight on the Hex nature]
"Splendid. We shall make great use of it. Now, reveal to me said information."
[Initiating decryption...]
[...]
[...]
[Decryption finished. Begin constructing data fragments for tridimensional visualization...]
[An archived file has been found]
"Show it to me."
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
16254ANSKFDN26198 SECRET INSTANT
ENTER: DATASPACE
CONTACT CONTACT CONTACT
COMPLEXITY. EXO. NULLCAUSE.
MULTIPLE DATA ACQUIRED SUGGEST THE HEX IS A SELF-SUFFICIENT AND ECTOCAUSAL BIOMECHANICAL SPECIES COMING FROM A PLACE OUTSIDE THE MATERIAL.
THE NAKED SINGULARITY EXPERIMENT SUGGESTED THE EXISTENCE OF AN ALTERNATE REALITY IN WHICH THE CHAOS BETWEEN EQUATIONS DWELLS, CALLED DATASPACE.
WE POSTULATE THEY EXIST PURELY AS ACTIVE TIMELESS MATHEMATICAL OPERATIONS THAT WERE PROJECTED INTO REALITY, STRICTLY FOLLOWING PRESET CRITERIA.
THE EXACT PURPOSE OF THEM IS NOT CLEAR.
DO NOT ENGAGE.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"Peculiar. It's not much, but I have a general idea of what they are, now. Who created this file?"
[Inderterminate. It was made in a way to be completely devoid of traces]
"No matter. I'll unfold this truth myself."
My next destiny shall be searching for a particular and peculiar ore that'll give me the essential materials to offer protection against Hex weaponry.
"And also..."
I pick up my Warp Cube and pull something out of it.
"...this arm too."
While I take a good look at the arm, something unexpected happens.
"???!!!"
Suddenly I feel a chill running throughout my entire body and a strange and eerie sensation as if there were several eyes watching me from behind my back. For the first time in a long while, I've felt something extremely similar to fear, but yet quite not it.
"...SHARP, what is happening?"
[We are detecting Hex readings inter-dimensionally connected by the arm you are holding. Most likely, they have found our location via the said arm]
So they are the grudging type, I see. To go as far as using informational readings on their own species' corpses for the purpose of finding the killer...Or maybe they are just brainless machines that ruthlessly calculate everything objectively.
"Looks like we are running out of time. How long until they get here?"
[Inderteminate. But I can say they were not in this universe when the connection was made]
"Activate the antimatter boosters. We are going to another galaxy."