Übermensch (3rd Edition)

Day 037, 12:19:21

The Master is ahead, climbing with tireless immortal grace up this last shadow-faced sand dune while still lecturing me. "Yes. And as such, the bacterial matter re-purposement systems in this Evolution Experiment serve a greater function. Despite my own predilections: biome aesthetics, as viewed from atop the Tower, are still only a minimally pleasurable byproduct..."

Spilling-bright atop the crest resolves into a bloated red sun hanging low in the blue sky. I join the Fallen-Silent Master atop the dune, and we gaze out...

A semi-chaotic biological environment germinated from a single programmed Organo-Seed. Who knows what might be found out there?

The leafless, black gnarlbranched high canopy of a twisted forest, marked sporadically by branch-cupped islands of symbiotic growth, spreads dark all the way out to the distant afternoon horizon, shoreline unseen.

"Subjects in this particular Evolution Experiment have Abberated," The Master finally states.

Hm.

Various parts of The Master's vast Domain have been long sectioned off into independent geographies, minor vassal facilities, biomass, ambulatory testbeds and much, more. But I have recently come to better understand that the Evolution Experiments are more than the Darwinian game of chance played amongst the immortal Twelve for stakes unknown. Each player would program an Organo Seed with certain basic components for single or multi-cell life, growth and evolution paths set "accelerated" far beyond any natural pace, then plant the Seed in certain ecosystems or neutral testbed locations and monitor the resultant branching, unnaturally accelerated offspring for enough generations for the player's to either satisfy their opaque goals or become frustrated enough to flash the Subjects with a dose of the Evolution Trigger, which was a highly advanced energy field used to induce explosive evolution in organic/inorganic material depending upon the specific spectrum and frequency set.

The Master has been showing me the local biomes today, and now shares with me a firsthand look at one of its precious Evolution Experiments. Be MOST vigilant.

After a full appraisal of the gnarlforest before me, I turn back towards The Master, and kneel.

Its grey hand softly cups the Id EIS face. "You will be my proxy," The Master whispers.

Translucence shivers down the Id EIS body, covering it entirely. "Yes, Master Gabriel."

The Master–induced transformation of the Id Enclosed Integrated System (EIS) is complete.

And its hand withdraws. "Rise."

I stand, fading invisible...

... while The Master now floats upwards before me, its black robes rippling gently as its white wings spread wide behind it. "Locate. Observe. Return." A thunderous CLAP, then it soars up into the blue.

I stare up, enthralled by that all-consuming devotion, and love...

Endless.

(Orders.)

Nodding, I turn and leap forward, landing into a slide down the steep sandslope with the Id EIS arms held wide and one knee forward, the other leg straight behind me with sand spilling after. The twisted canopy passes above me, transitioning to black trunks like snarled columns of black roots rising higher and higher until I slide down to the bottom, transition into a cartwheel across an empty stretch of dirt bordering the dark forest and tip forward smoothly into a forward walk through shadows before passing among black giants, gnarled roots sunk deep...