I Am The Swarm

“Elder Humes, I recall you mentioned earlier that the Riken Race sent an expedition to LKDW399 after detecting unnatural thermonuclear reactions there,” Elder Cecil said, as if she had just thought of something, and quickly turned to Elder Humes.

“That’s correct, I did mention that,” Elder Humes replied after a moment of recollection.

“If even a fledgling civilization that had just stepped out of its home star system could detect it, why didn’t our monitoring equipment pick up on this information?” Elder Cecil mused to herself.

“I’ve checked. During the last routine inspection, the inspection team did find life on LKDW399, but the native creatures didn’t reach the level of intelligent life. Therefore, LKDW399’s priority level wasn’t high, and the next routine inspection wasn’t scheduled for several hundred years. It was during this period that the Swarm appeared.”

“No, we’re not talking about the Swarm right now,” Elder Cecil shook her head. “The routine inspection system is a supplementary system independent of the monitoring and early warning network. Their main responsibility is to maintain monitoring equipment and periodically record data from outer star systems. Unless a nuclear explosion happened right in front of them, it’s normal for them not to notice.”

Elder Humes nodded in agreement as Elder Cecil continued, “But those monitoring devices are constantly surveilling that region. If the Swarm’s appearance was due to their unique technological path, causing the monitoring system to mistake them for low-level beasts and not trigger an alarm, then unnatural thermonuclear reactions couldn’t possibly evade the monitoring devices. Let me take a look…”

With that, Elder Cecil began operating her console again. Information streams flashed by at incredible speeds, far too fast for an ordinary person to follow. In truth, Elder Cecil couldn’t see it all either. What she was doing was using a custom algorithm to sift through the vast amounts of data, retrieving what she needed, and then reviewing each piece individually.

Soon, she had completed a broad search, but the results didn’t seem to satisfy her. She muttered a soft “strange” and began setting up a new search with different parameters.

Just as Elder Humes was about to doze off, the repeated murmurs of “strange, strange…” from Elder Cecil jolted him awake.

“It’s strange. I accessed the monitoring network for that region and used my Elder privileges to review the records from the past hundred years, but found nothing. I kept extending the time frame and narrowing the area, but still found nothing. I’ve even pulled up ancient records from the time of the original Ji Race, but there’s still no trace.”

“Could the monitoring system have malfunctioned?”

“It has a complex retrieval system. Each point, each surface, each region has its own connection and retrieval mechanism. They confirm with each other whether the surrounding systems are functioning properly. Information is collected and sent to regional terminals with quantum communication capabilities, which then relay it upward. Eventually, all information is gathered by Lumina. Lumina identifies devices that need repair or are malfunctioning and relays this information to the relevant responsible agencies until they are restored. Do you think Lumina would make a mistake, Elder Humes?”

Elder Humes shook his head. Lumina had been operating flawlessly for over a million years. If the entire Confederation were to vote for the most trustworthy entity, it would be hard to choose among individuals. But if the scope were expanded to non-living entities, over 90% of the votes would go to Lumina.

“I also checked the maintenance records for that region. Although the equipment had experienced a few malfunctions over the years due to wear and tear, they had all been repaired. Besides, the timing doesn’t match. The last maintenance record for that area was over a thousand years ago, and it was in a star system more than ten light-years away from LKDW399. Moreover, the energy fluctuations caused by the battles between the Swarm and the Riken Race are recorded, which proves the monitoring system was functioning properly.”

“So, could the Riken Race’s records be wrong? Did they lie? Maybe there was no thermonuclear reaction at all,” Elder Humes speculated. Given the Ji Race’s technology, even if their monitoring equipment was outdated, the detection range for unnatural thermonuclear reactions should cover at least twenty to thirty light-years. If none of the devices in such a large area showed any anomalies, it couldn’t be an equipment issue. But then he proposed another possibility.

Elder Cecil thought carefully, retrieved some more data on her screen, and then hesitantly shook her head. “Unlikely.”

“Why not?”

“Because there was no need. The Riken Race didn’t know about our existence at first. Therefore, these records are original. Even if they were later deleted or altered, it was only to conceal the origin of the life-extension plant. Besides, the Swarm, the unknown creature, and the life-extension plant—two of these have been proven to exist. The likelihood of the unknown creature existing is almost certain. Do you understand what I mean?”

Elder Humes nodded, indicating he understood. The Riken Race initially didn’t know about the Ji Race or the Interstellar Confederation, so there was no reason to fabricate records. Even after learning of their existence, any deletions were made to protect their own interests, not to mislead on a conspiratorial level.

Moreover, most of this data was reconstructed using Ji Race technology. Without understanding the Ji Race’s capabilities, there was no need for the Riken Race to modify the data before deleting it.

Of the three elements in the records, two were confirmed to exist. The third, while not directly observed, had video and image evidence, making its existence almost certain.

The conclusion was that these records were likely accurate, but this created a contradiction. Where was the discrepancy? After some thought, Elder Humes said, “Perhaps the unknown creature did exist, but its thermonuclear attacks were fabricated?”

Elder Cecil considered this and said, “It’s possible, but unlikely. Again, the Riken Race didn’t know about us at the time. Who were they trying to deceive? If it weren’t for the Swarm, I might still find the idea of a biological entity achieving controlled fusion reactions somewhat fantastical. But with a real example in front of us, I have to accept this possibility.”

The two fell into silence again, the clues leading them to a dead end. The Ji Race’s equipment records showed no issues, and the Riken Race likely didn’t lie or fabricate evidence. Yet the two were contradictory, meaning there was some hidden detail they hadn’t uncovered.

“Could it be that the Riken Race confused the Swarm with the unknown creature? According to the records, the Swarm emerged from another planet and defeated the Riken in space.”