Giant Appropriated Space Pope Obelisk
From UTRPG
In Oregon there is a mysterious object called the Space Pope Obelisk. Nobody knows where it actually comes from, or what it's for, but there is some indication that it has something to do with slipknot travel. Many cultures have myths and ghost stories about it.
Contents |
[edit] Legends and myths
The shuttle was entering Marion space when Mei-Ling said that, and Derrick was so surprised he nearly flew right into an outgoing taxi. A stream of profanities and static came over the comms as the transport sped away. Once it had quieted down Derrick said, "Did I hear you right? You want to go to the Obelisk?
"Not that I believe in any of the old stories," he added quickly, "but better safe than sorry, you know. Isn't there somewhere else we could get the data you need?"
Mei-Ling was puzzled. Whatever "old stories" the captain was talking about, she'd never heard them. A quick look around the shuttle confirmed that at least Areston, Tombstone and Erewhon had rumours about the Space Pope Obelisk as well as Viagra. Seeing her confusion, everyone tried to give their version of the fables all at once. "They say it's haunted by..." "...will take revenge on anyone..." "...great riches if you can..." "...when the three suns are aligned..." "...the last ship that tried..." "...and each time it grows slightly..." "...sudden gravity waves..." "...and no gag reflex."
"Okay, whoa, one at a time." Derrick silenced the chattering crew. Mei-Ling, are you interested in hearing the ghost stories we heard as kids? It may take a while."
[edit] Yushi
Mei-ling raised an eyebrow. "We have all sorts of tales about it here, too. Yushi fathers scare their sons with..." she trailed off, paused a moment before continuing. "Well. Any educated person knows they are just stories. The thing is basically harmless and obviously artificial, but no one knew what it was for. There've been any number of scientific expeditions to try to figure it out, but no one got anywhere. Until Peng, and now us, I guess."
[edit] Erewhon
"On Eden the worry was that this was where the terraformers for our worlds lived. That it was a giant spaceship and an inkling as to their disposition towards other less advanced races. That being, long, thick, possibly a bit brutish with an eye towards crude humor."
[edit] Tombstone
"Tombstonians talk about it being valuable. It's old, it's advanced. It must have some use.
"About a space-century ago, there was a Tombstonian pirate named Arizona Skullduggery who had discovered an ancient data chip with instructions on how to activate and use it. She had a reputation among all the mining colonies of being the cleverest and fastest of any of the old space pirates. Had a ship named The Silver Stallion. Supposedly absolutely invisible until it was right on top of you - then it shone like the core of a dilithium crystal.
"Anyway, Arizona and her crew had discovered this chip deep in a mine in the Kansas-minor asteroid fields, and pretty soon all of her focus was on getting out of Tombstone and into Oregon. With her ship and some luck, they were able to slip into the system undetected. Made it to the obelisk lickety-split. And they powered it up, too. But no one ever heard from them again.
"They say it was something that could create anything you wanted at the drop of a hat. Universal Constructor they called it. Build you a planet made of solid gold if you told it too. Maybe it didn't work right and some backfire wiped Arizona and her crew out. Maybe they built something too complicated for their lack of science or engineering. I can't imagine telling it to build a slipdrive without the know-how would end in anything but a big explosion. Or maybe it never worked, and they never made it back to Tombstone.
"Whatever it does though, it's gotta be impressive, and so it's gotta be worth a space-ton."
[edit] Viagra
"There were all sorts of stories when I was a kid." Derrick smiled at long-forgotten memories. "Even a series of vids. Usually there was an explorer who got lost and flew too close to the Obelisk, or crashed into it, and either went insane or got superpowers.
"I always got the impression that the Obelisk was a natural phenomenon. Like it was a chunk of solidified aether from the dawn of time or something, but later I realized that was dumb. It was only really recently that I started hearing people talk about it as something manufactured, though never any mention of what it was manufactured for.
"I just got a little spooked, is all. When you said 'You're headed for the Space Pope' — that's almost exactly a line from Shadow of the Monolith, where a ship full of researchers head to the Obelisk and go crazy one by one. It ends with one guy locking himself on the bridge and setting a collision course, killing everyone."
Derrick finished docking the shuttle. "Oh, sorry, spoiler alert."
