Evolution

[Tenacity]

Miranda sat in the center of her meditation chambers, on the top floor of The Shrine. No other human had been in this section of the structure, it was cut off from the rest by peculiar walls that could become solid or liquid as the Shrine saw fit, and it had only let her into this sanctuary. The room wasnt particularly large, perhaps twenty feet across, with arched walls that formed a dome over her head. The walls appeared grown, rather than built, with vein-like tendrils creeping from the base of the floor up to the small, glowing, purple orb at the dome's peak.

Down on both knees, legs folded underneath her and hands relaxed at her sides, Miranda closed her eyes and her mind once again joined with The Shrine. Why it had chosen her, she did not know... perhaps because she was the first Oracle to set foot on the station? Perhaps because she was simply the best choice at the time? Regardless, it had chosen her as it's "host"; just as a nomad can share a body with a human, so did The Shrine share Miranda's mind. She heard it's voice echo in her head, whispering truths and revealing lies.

The Shrine wasnt as much a sentient creature as it was a database, a virtual intelligence interface containing the knowledge of the Daam K'vosh empire. It seemed to be able to make decisions on it's own as any AI would, based on circumstance, but there was no emotion to it... just the cold, hard truth. This was the light that had opened Miranda's eyes, caused her to found the Oracles in the first place. Every time she connected with The Shrine, her mind was filled with images of the violence, slaughter, and depravity that humanity was sowing across Sirius. This place had once been home to one of the greatest empires the galaxy had seen, and now it was overrun by... parasites... feeding off of that mighty empire's remains.

Despite it's vast potential, humanity showed a distinct lack of effort when it came to rising above the level of grubs and maggots. Pointless material possession was all that drove these people of Sirius, greed and hate and lust and want. They lived their entire lives seeing nothing more than the sparkle of credits gleaming before their eyes, and then they died, having done nothing but waste their short lifespan grovelling for that which they could not have.

Miranda knew better... she had once been an explorer, trying to free herself from the laws and greed of the houses when she first stumbled upon The Shrine. She heard it's call across space, like a siren's song beckoning her to follow it's echo. The call lead her to spaces the likes of which humanity had never set eyes on before then, and her crew had come to call this tiny object in space it's home. However, appearances are deceiving, and this Shrine as they had come to call it stored knowledge on a scale so vast that no manmade computer could hope to hold it. Even Miranda's own mind, as unique as it was, strained with the information bestowed upon her.

She opened her eyes, still in a state of trance as the pulsing heartbeat of The Shrine thundered through her bones. Her pupils dialated until her irises were nearly solid black, the floor and walls lit and faded in a hue of purple and green, perfectly in tune with the pulsing she felt within herself. She tilted her head backwards and looked up at the tiny, crystalline ball at the apex of the room's domed ceiling, the light emanating from within it seemed to flow down the walls, enshrouding the area in a bright, purple glow.

Miranda moved her lips, muttering a word hardly louder than a whisper, the sound drowned out entirely by the thunderous roar pounding from the walls:

"...Crete..."

Instantly, the thundering noise ceased, the lights pulsing from the orb above her and the walls around her seemed to stop, her breathing came to a halt, and time stood still. A moment later, the walls tore apart, creating a vortex of metal shards spinning around her, with nothing but darkness beyond, as if she were surrounded by a maelstrom of razor blades in the void of space itself. The light from the orb above her shot down, enveloping her entirely in a bright white beam.

---

[Tenacity]

The exterior of The Shrine began to rotate, it's leaflike arms slowly grinding into motion as the peak of the structure lit up like a beacon. The shrine turned, pointing it's tip towards Omicron Gamma, lightyears away. As the spinning arms of the structure tilted backwards, a beam of light surged through it from bottom to top, sending a pulse from the Shrine out through space at such blinding speed that the human eye was nearly incapable of witnessing it.

Seconds later, the beam smashes into Crete's surface just beyond the perimeter of a spaceport city. The barren, sandy surface ripples outward, melting and hardening into a reflective pane of glass as the light subsides. Where moments ago there was nothing but dry ground now laid a perfectly circular plate of solid glass, twenty feet across.

Miranda stood as the pure white light around her faded and the walls of the Shrine were replaced by the hazy, open sky of Crete. She looked down, her bare feet caressed by the cold, smooth glass that had been created as a landing sight for her transit. Her thin one piece dress flittered in the light wind as she began to walk forward, towards the spaceport ahead.

The feeling of instantaneous transport across hundreds of lightyears, without so much as a ship to carry her, was nothing short of exhilarating. Her blood rushed through her veins, full of adrenaline and endorphins, and the euphoria of suddenly heightened senses swirled through her mind. She wondered mildly if the K'vosh had once travelled in that way, from one galaxy to another without any need for ships, and not a moment later The Shrine's mind echoed inside her own with the answer.

Shaking her thoughts, she gazed ahead at a small group of Corsairs running towards her, fully armed. The Corsairs, despite their constant dealings with the Nomads and their presence in the ever dangerous borderworlds, were still skittish at anything unusual. Miranda had spoken to Romano often about his past as a Corsair pirate, but had never dealt with any other than him. Once again, she had to pull herself from sideways thoughts and pondering as they drew near.

The sound of boots crunching on sand and gravel came to a sudden halt, and was replaced by clicks and the distinct, high pitched charging sound of laser rifles being armed. Miranda stared down at a small bug crawling over her feet, smiling to herself at it's little, peaceful world, then brought her attention up to the men leveling their weapons at her. They hesitated a moment after realizing she was only a young girl, but their weapons were brought to bear again when they saw the circle of glass embedded in the ground behind her.

"Chica, what are you doing here, and what the hell was that light?"

Miranda said nothing, but donned a coy smile as she stared into the speaker's eyes.

*Peace*

The man's right eye twitched momentarily as Miranda's single thought echoed in his head. He shook it off and pulled his weapon up again, finger tense on the trigger, nearly to the firing point.

"Boys, I think she's a Nomad!"

The full group suddenly became more alert, ready to fire their weapons without hesitation should their leader give the signal. Miranda rolled her eyes and sighed at their lack of cooperation, before raising her right hand, palm up, to eye level. With the motion, the rifles were yanked out of their wielders hands, floating just above their heads, slowly rotating as Miranda held them with willpower alone. The men took a step back, ready to reach for knives, pistols, and anything else they had to spare.

Miranda flicked her hand to the side, sending the floating weapons flying through the air and skidding across the ground. She took a more direct approach this time.

"Perhaps you boys didnt get my meaning, I do not have time for your violent ways, now would you please quit trying to kill me, and take me to the starport?"

They looked at one another, nervously, before nodding and turning from Miranda towards the roar of ships from the starport ahead. Miranda smiled and followed, daintily striding across the desert barefoot behind the thugs.

---

[Tenacity]

Miranda knelt once again, meditating in a quiet, sandy room as she waited. She had sent the thugs off to find an artifact dealer for her, and as her mind cleared she could feel it's presence getting ever closer, one footstep at a time. It was amazing what one could hear, if one simply opened her ears to listen; though Miranda admittedly had a bit of help from The Shrine when it came to the art of perception.

She smiled, at peace with her surroundings. She felt the flapping of a fly's wings as it buzzed in the corner of the room, the clicking of a beetle's tiny feet as it skittered across the sandstone floor, the whistle of the breeze outside as it passed by the window. Not the tiniest change in the vicinity went unnoticed to her. Hyperawareness was only one of the benefits granted to her by the Shrine; it's evolutionary effect on her mind had granted her telepathy, telekinesis, and other senses she could not yet understand.

Eyes closed, Miranda tracked the artifact dealer beyond the tiny room's closed door. She felt his footsteps through the ground, his breathing through the air, she even heard his thoughts... 'how much will she pay?', 'is she going to kill me?', 'why does a nomad want artifacts?', 'I wonder how good she is in bed?'

She chuckled to herself, shaking her head at the man's narrowmindedness and singular devotion to his material needs. All unenlightened men and women were the same, only money, food, power, and sex mattered to them. Past those simple needs, they had nothing to strive for... at least, nothing they could be bothered to learn of.

Miranda took a breath as the door opened and the artifact dealer stepped in, carrying a large crate full of ancient alien gadgets and gizmos. He smelled of sweat, fear, and arousal.

"Oy, miss, I dunno what you want 'round here but this is all I got to sell right now, make it quick and pay in cash!"

His eagerness to get the deal over with was a sign of defensive behavior, he was uneasy about her and she could feel it.

"I'm not a nomad."

"Wha? I never said you was a nomad!"

"No, but you were thinking it. Set the crate down, please."

The dealer dropped the crate to the ground, almost spilling it's contents out across the floor. He backed up a bit and crossed his arms in front of his chest, expecting her to dig through the pile herself. Miranda relaxed once more, and the crystalline devices began to glow, floating up out of the grate and rotating through the air around her. The dealer's mouth hung open in astonishment as one artifact after another floated in front of Miranda's eyes.

As suddenly as they had floated out of the crate, all but one artifact dropped to the ground, that one still hanging in the air directly in front of Miranda. It was relatively small and cylindrical in shape, made of purple crystal outlined in metallic gold. The artifact hummed and pulsed as Miranda stared at it intently. Most of the other artifacts were simple tools, ranging from personal maps to simple lights and children's toys. This one, however, was significant... it was a piece of the puzzle, one component of the conduit that Miranda sought to rebuild.

She reached out and pulled it from the air, the now-active artifact humming in her hand as it rolled across her palm, warm to the touch. Miranda stood, and slipped the artifact into a small, thin pocket at the waist of her dress. The artifact dealer straightened up, realizing that she was taking one of his precious commodities.

"Hey, you gotta pay for that, I got kids to feed!"

"If you truly care for them, you will teach them to fend for themselves; else like you they will require others for the rest of their lives. Find a new profession, dealer."

Miranda's skin began to glow, dousing the room in pure white light as she once more reconnected with the Shrine. When the light subsided, the dealer found himself alone in the room, his 'customer' having disappeared into thin air as if she was nothing more than a hallucination to begin with. He sighed heavily and began to pick up his artifacts off of the floor, piling them back into the crate.

Miranda once more opened her eyes to find herself within the Shrine, one artifact closer to her goal.

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