Earthfall---Chapter 4

 "Hello."
  A pause.
"Hola."
 Molly was confused. Was her alarm speaking...Spanish? The voice sounded androgynous and flat, lacking any sort of inflection. 
"Buon giorno."
 She opened her eyes. It took her several seconds to make sense of what she was seeing. Where her phone had sat last night, sat what looked like the sphere that they had found yesterday, but different. For one thing, It looked a bit like her Iphone now. The metal and plastic case now encased the sphere, making some sort of exoskeleton for it to stay stable. The phones' tiny camera was set in the front towards the top, the speaker below it, the microphone to the right of the camera. There were other components fitted into the shell, all fused together by silvery strands. Molly didn't know what they were, nor was she in a state to care.
"Bonjour." The voice came from the speaker.  
She rubbed her eyes. "What the?"
  There was another pause, and then from the speaker came "Data indicates that many different languages are spoken by your species in this specific region of your planet. Your response was in American English, which is among the five most common. Is this the primary language you speak?"  
 From the other side of the room Mariko said sleepily "Is that Mark, Molly? What's wrong with his voice?"
 Molly, trying hard not to panic, stage whispered "Mariko! Get over here! Now!!"
"What's the proble-" Mariko saw the sphere. "Jenny, get up!"
The Sphere seemed to understand what was going on. "I apologize if I am agitating you or your companions. I mean you no harm, I only wish to initiate communications with the human who answered my beacon.  Which of you is that being?"
Molly was astounded. She took a second to compose herself, as Jenny and Mariko gathered next to her.
"Um, that would be me. And yes, English is our primary language."
"It is of the utmost importance that you need to prepare. My arrival on your planet is an unfortunate accident, and that my presence here has put your entire planet in danger. I am un--
 Jenny interrupted."Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down--Danger?! The whole planet? Why?!"
The sphere was unfazed. "We were ambushed by the Arthronids and my ship self was badly damaged. We attempted a jump into your system's star, which would have erased any trail they could have followed, but we failed. My ship siblings all died in transit, and I ended up near your planet. I tried to complete the objective, but my ship self was almost destroyed and I was forced to crash on your planet."
Jenny stared at the sphere, mouth agape. Molly felt numb, and slow. Mariko was the first to be able to speak. She was angry, and it overcame her shock quicker than the others.
"If those Arthro-things might be following you, why the hell did you pick our solar system to run to?!"
"You must understand, this is a remote arm of the galaxy. It was picked by random, under extreme duress. We had no knowledge that this system was inhabited by sentient, otherwise it would have never been even considered."  
 "Well, that's a tiny comfort." Jenny muttered under her breath. Mariko elbowed her in the ribs and then asked. "What makes these other aliens so dangerous? Why would they even bother with our world when they have a whole universe out there?"
"The danger of the Arthronids is their utter ruthlessness drive for a singular and simple purpose: They view every other race as inferior, fit only to be exterminated. It will not matter how insignificant your world may seem, the Arthronids will consume it none the less. Countless other worlds have fallen to their swarms. My race has been the only one strong enough to stand against them successfully, and the Arthronids take every opportunity they can to obtain our technology to augment their own. That's why they attacked my ship self, and that is why if they can follow me, they will."     
"And, uh, exactly how much time do we have until they show up?"
"It depends on if the ship that ambushed us is able to locate and trace the energy emissions made during entering and leaving rift space. They might lack the equipment to do so. I do not precisely know."
"Okay, well what happens if they do? What sort of a chance do we have?"
The sphere took a moment before it responded. "The Arthronids were once confined to two planets. When they obtained the means to leave their worlds, they quickly overran the 12 systems closest to theirs. If they find your world, they will enslave your people. Your planet will become the first of a new Arthronid colony, with the rest of your system's worlds soon to follow."
Molly asked. "Is there any way possible, any way at all we could stop them if they find our world?"
 "If the initial force was eliminated before they were able to establish a permanent base, then yes."
"Would you know the chances of that happening?"
"Unfortunately, most conventional Earth weaponry would be incapable of piercing the shields they would create to protect this base. And the Arthronids offensive capabilities are more then a match for most Earth defenses."
Mariko sighed heavily. "Wonderful. So we're pretty much extinct if they followed you. Thanks."
"Knock it off, Mariko." Molly said. "They might have followed it. Not did. there's that."
  Molly looked at back to the sphere, drawing in a deep breath. She let it out slowly. "Please, I want to know how you contacted us. Contacted me. I heard you in my dreams, calling for help. I felt your fear, your...your loneliness. How, and why me?""Before I landed, I was able to obtain data about your species, enough to create a beacon that could be detected by beings with the correct neural elevations."
"Neural elevations?" Mariko asked.
"Yes. Your species refer to them as "extrasensory perceptions". After I crashed, this was the only way I could communicate over long ranges, and bring a being capable of both accessing the remains of my ship-self and removing me."
 As the Sphere spoke, Molly realized that it's voice had been changing somehow. It occurred to her the alien organism was responding to their speech patterns, and modifying it's own to be more natural to them. She felt some of her fear draining away by curiosity.
  The Sphere continued. "It appears these elevations are a comparative rarity among your species. I was extremely fortunate to be found." 
"So...uh, Molly's a psychic then?" Jenny asked.
The Sphere replied "A low level receiver, yes. Most sentient species develop mutations allowing them to receive and eventually broadcast biological frequencies."
  Jenny said."Okay, okay, hold it. I mean, not to be rude, but...but this is almost to much to take in... What about you? Where are you from? As far as we know, you're the first alien to, well, to visit our world. You picked up plenty about our race...what's your world like?"
 The sphere took a second to respond."My race is known as the Prilotvia, and the world I originated is known as Plinglot. Our civilization is very different from yours in that it is driven by symbiosis, not competition, combining our different strengths, working as one. 
 Over a billion years ago, The Prilotvia achieved the ability to explore other worlds, and not only colonized hospitable planets, but successfully integrated with those worlds native species, helping to establish and nurture a galaxy wide communications hub, and continued to explore the unknown reaches of the surrounding star systems. In doing so, we created a form of technology that made ship and crew as one. Shortly after I came into being, when my clutch was chosen to be explorers, I chose to be the vessel to carry them. My body was altered and grew to become my ship-self, with my mind properly configured for the task. My siblings were altered to serve as my systems, and together we explored and indexed unknown sectors of the universe. I did this for a very long time, and I never grew tired of it. Your world and it's people have much potential, and I will stand with you in it's defense."   
 Mariko sighed heavily."We're only three people. Just three. No one will believe us if we try to warn them about the Arthronids. If we showed them you as proof, we'd probably spend the rest of our lives in some government bunker while they pull you apart to see what makes you tick."
Molly started to protest, but Mariko continued over her.
"More importantly, we are three normal humans. We don't have combat experience, we don't have superpowers, we don't have anything remotely close to stopping a frigging alien invasion. I'm still having trouble believing this is real. I understand what's at stake here, but I don't know how we are supposed to do anything about it." 
All three of them looked at the sphere expectantly.
  The sphere was slow to reply. "I must assume that your assertions are correct. But that does not mean that we are hopeless. You will have to act anonymously, for the time being. I have already created an early warning system using the various satellite networks orbiting Earth. It will scan for the proper energy signatures, and give us time to prepare if the worse happens. I have also managed to retain some of my people's technology that will help you three personally."
"How?"
  "It is called a Bio-modifier. My ship siblings each act as a component in my ship self; one as the engines, another as the navigator, and so on. When one is wounded, or otherwise incapacitated, or when additional components are needed for certain missions, Bio-modifier nano-tech is used to reconfigure beings into those necessary components."
"Wait!" Jenny exclaimed. You want to turn us into ship parts?!"
"They will not affect your physiology so drastically. No, they will give you specialized abilities far beyond your species normal capabilities. The process is quick and painless. These abilities will prove incredibly useful for the benefit of your world and people, regardless if the Arthronids find your world. If they do, those same abilities will provide a great boon to your planet's defenses. 
   However, I cannot force this gift and the responsibilities that it comes with upon you. You must choose to take them, with the understanding that the abilities they give you are permanent. These bio-modifiers are relatively delicate. I lack the proper permanent storage capabilities, and there is not much time before they become inert and useless.  It is your choice alone."
 Without a second thought, Molly said "I'll do it." She looked to her sister.
Mariko shrugged. "If Molly's in, then so am I." They both looked at Jenny.
Jenny grinned. "As if I'd let you two do something this awesome without me. Let's do this."
"Excellent." The sphere said. A small hole opened in it's top half. Several spidery tendrils withdrew a small object and placed it Molly's waiting hand. It was a flat, obsidian crystal, less than an inch across and five inches long. It gently hummed in Molly's palm, warm to the touch.
 The crystal suddenly fractured into 3 separate pieces, and Mariko and Jenny each took a shard at the sphere's direction.
Molly's crystal began to gently thrum in her palm, reflecting her pulse. Almost immediately, Mariko's crystal started mimicking the beat of her pulse.
Jenny's gently gasped as a miniature lightning storm flared up in her crystal's center. Tiny bolts of blue lighting painlessly jumped from it's surface to the tips of her fingers.
"Now what?" Molly asked, her voice quiet and childlike with wonder.
"Now we wait," the sphere replied, "The devices are reading your DNA."
   Molly gasped as the diamond suddenly melted, the shimmering liquid sitting for only a moment before disappearing into her palm, the flesh seeming drinking it up. She fell back on the bed, overwhelmed by the sensations spreading from her hand and flooding her body. It was not unpleasant at all. She vaguely registered Mariko and Jenny having similar reactions. She felt her mind expanding, like ice spreading on water, branching out, pathways opening.
 She heard small vocalizations, and closed her eyes to concentrate on their source. She realized with a start that she was actually hearing the thoughts dancing in the front of her sister and her best friend's minds. Molly had time for one last moment of wonder, before her reconfiguring brain simply shut her consciousness off and went on to do it's work uninterrupted.

EarthFall---Chapter 3

   The walk back was without incident, the girls quietly and slowly making their way back up the trail. When they got back to the house, they proceeded to shower, change clothes and eat. The three then discussed what they had been through. They quickly came to the conclusion that, as remarkable as it had been, it was best to keep the incident to themselves. Surprisingly, it was Mariko who speculated that there was really no point in trying to get anyone in a position of authority to believe them. The Government either already knew, which in that case it seemed wise to just surrender the alien sphere and hope for the best when they showed up, or they didn't, and they would miss out on being subjected to hours, if not days, of interrogation and whatever tests the government could think of.     
Then the attention turned to the sphere. Mariko took it from her bag and put it in the middle of the table. It was perfectly round, with a metallic, slightly reflective surface. It was completely featureless, and the only sign of it's true nature was that it sat where it was placed, instead of rolling around as expected.
"Hear anything now, Molly?" Jenny asked.
Molly looked pensive "No, and I'm not sure what we're supposed to do."
"Maybe we should break it open?"
"What if we can't?" Mariko asked. "It's not from this planet, you know. And even if..."
"Well, what do you suggest we do?"
"I don't think that's my decision. or yours. It's Molly's."
Molly ran her fingers over the surface of the sphere It was smooth as glass, but slightly pliant and warm to the touch.
"I think we should wait. I think it'll come out on it's own."
"Is it telling you that?" Jenny asked.
"No, it's just a feeling. We should wait, ok?"
They agreed. Mariko returned it to her bag, put it upstairs near her sister's bed, and when Mark dropped by they gave him an extremely abridged version of the days events. Molly checked on it several times before they went to bed, but the sphere remained quiet.
    
  A few hours later, as the girls slept, the sphere finally began to vibrate softly. The intelligence inside woke up.  
  The surface of the sphere seemed to swim in the moonlight, and then silvery filaments, spider silk thin, extruded from the sphere's surface. These filaments twisted into thicker strands and spread out, probing the surrounding areas. They manipulated the sphere quietly from the bag, and sat it on the floor, as more filaments continued their explorations.
 Several found Molly's cell phone sitting on the bedside stand, pulled it down to the sphere, and quickly began to disassemble it. Several more filaments, detecting a power source, snaked into the nearby outlet, and began to convert the energy and feed it back into the sphere. As the filaments pulled apart the phone, the sphere analyzed the components and began employing them them for its own uses. It first interfaced with both the cellular and wireless receivers and quickly began tapping the wealth of information from the human's global network.
   The sphere had compiled thousands of languages from hundreds of different sentients over it's existence. Learning the basics of humanity's most widely used languages took it only minutes. It rapidly gained more comprehension with every piece of information it processed, and adapted the terrestrial lexicons to it's own to make the process easier. Over half the information was clearly useless to its goals, while a quarter more required specific cultural contexts to properly understand; these were marked for later analyzing. A basic information filter now built, the sphere began learning at a geometric rate about humanity.   
 While it did this, the silvery filaments disassembled the phone's other components, including the case and started reassembling them around the sphere into more useful configurations.
    As the sphere probed the human's recorded history, a jumble of emotions ranging from wonder to disappointment flashed through it's mind as it witnessed the species highest achievements as well as their vilest crimes. It remained largely impartial, having experience of similar events of many different civilizations. It quickly ascertained that the dominant species of Earth had reached their current status for only a fraction of their planet's existence. They were practically infants, and acted as such. But it saw that there was much potential in this race, if they could overcome their base nature of competition. Their obvious affinity for creativity and innovation would serve them well if they finally reached this goal. 
   The sphere continued on, locating and infiltrating the most guarded secrets of the various Earth governments mainframes, looking for references to the arrival of it's shipself. There were none, which was unsurprising. Although humans had advanced their technology at an amazing rate (especially in the last century), it still paled in comparison to the sphere's. The planetary defenses were practically nonexistent; this was consistent with its relative isolation.                
      It turned its attention to the other components of the disassemble phone. The sphere quickly discerned the camera, interfaced and bonded with it. It looked around at it's surroundings, noting the sleeping human nearby. So this was the one who rescued it? It sensed there had been more, but as soon as it had been removed from it's ship self it had been deprived of most stimuli and information, and shocked into inactivity by the trauma.
   But despite it all the sphere was relieved. The beacon had worked. The signal the beacon had broadcasted was designed specifically to be received by sentients that fit a certain, vital set of criteria. This criteria included a specific level of intelligence and other elements necessary for the sphere to achieve proper levels of communications and actually help the beings of this planet. It had only been a matter of good fortune that not only had it picked the right set of criteria from what little information it had gleaned in the fall, but also that the proper receiver had finally caught the signal; even then, relatively unfamiliar with the human's anatomy, the signal had almost created a fatal feedback loop in the receiver before the sphere was able to properly attune it, and lead the receiver to the sphere's location.
  Using the phone's GPS, the Sphere triangulated it's location, and began accumulating specific information about the area. From it's studies, it knew that humans required a period of inactivity called sleep. The Sphere would give these humans roughly six more hours to sleep, while it accessed the human's satellite grid. It would create several programs hidden in the systems to scan for and detect anomalous energy signatures coming from space. Particularly those generated by an object reentering real-space.    
Then it would awaken the humans and attempt to establish communications with them. The humans needed to be warned, and prepared.