Pompods

19

 "What do you mean, the world is dying?" restated Baru.

"This world is changing, but life on this world will become unsustainable."

"How is this happening?"

"The world is changing."

"Yes, you've said that already."

"Hmm..." said Elder Ino as he felt the warm glow of the stone in his palm. "Perhaps I can seek clarification."

Through the stone, he could feel the concern of his fellow kin. But what he found most interesting was that their thoughts were clearer to him. Was this the result of their interaction with the large entity.

Baru stepped back as Elder Ino looked towards the ship in the distance and then to the large Memee.

"Can you tell us who, or what you are?"

"We are the ship's intelligence, its interface. We connect all in the ship so that our creators could travel from their homeworld to this one."

"What happened? Why did your creators come here?"

"Our world was struck by an outside force. A large rock - Bomf! - an asteroid crashed into their world. Temperatures fell and many perished. Our creators left their world as it could no longer sustain life."

"Were your creators that came to this world the only ones to leave your world?"

"No. Many of their kind left their homeworld to seek out suitable new worlds to relocate to. Each ship went in a separate direction, towards systems previously identified to contain planets capable of sustaining life."

"So your creators are also our ancestors."

"Yes. The stories you recount to your podlings and young ones are close to the truth."

"So you listen to our stories?" queried Zaree.

"Yes. We listen to everything."

"I assume you share the information with each other in some way," asked Elder Ino as he prodded Baru's companion in the belly. It gurgled with delight.

"That is correct. It is us, and we are it. Although - Bomf! - some parts of us have developed a sense - Bomf! - of self and prefer to remain apart than return to the collective whole."

Baru looked at his companion with a certain degree of admiration. It had pulled a folded lead out of its makeshift rucksack and was attempting to write on it with a small but sharp twig. It had only succeeded it stabbing multiple holes in it and ripped a section of the leaf when the twig stuck. It then calmly replaced the little twig in its sack and in a flurry of motion, tore the leaf into a hundred tiny pieces and folded its arms in a sullen fashion. Tiny flakes drifted down as a breeze caught one, swirled it upwards to land on the side of its face. It attempted to blow the tiny flake away but failed. Baru removed the flake from his companion.

"Pop!" it said.

"Bomf!"

"Pop, pop!"

"It says, thank you for your - Bomf! - assistance."

"What are friends for," said Baru with a smile.

His companion reached out its little fin and placed it on Baru's cheek for a moment. It then waved its fin towards the large Memee as if to say 'you should be paying attention that way'.

"Pop!"

"Yes. - Bomf! - We collect information. Each part of us returns to a selected meeting point and shares its collective experiences. As a whole we can calculate vast amounts of information and determine if action is required to change - Bomf! - future aspects."