The Crystal Library
by Michael Burnett
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Table of Contents parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
part 3
Item 3: The Epsilon Stones
Unedited transcript of Conference Presentation: Unravelling The Asterian Crystal, at The 1st International Conference on Extradimensional Linguistics, Punaauia: University of French Polynesia. (Dr. Katherine Ōpūnui, Institute of Crystal Linguistics)
07/05/2049
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am Dr. Katherine Ōpūnui. I bid you all a warm welcome to this, the very first International Conference on Extradimensional Linguistics. I would like to dedicate this presentation to Second Lieutenant Laing of the Fourth Reconnaissance, who gave his life in the name of the continuing advancement of our knowledge of the multiverse and the betterment of humankind. His sacrifice, and the courage of his entire unit, have opened the way for this exciting new field of enquiry.
Over the next few days, we look forward to a truly engaging and thought-provoking timetable of presentations from scholars from over thirty countries, representing the international intellectual response to the discovery of the Obsidian Archive in September last year. It is my sincerest hope that this is just the beginning, and I look forward to working alongside you all over the exciting years to come.
So, without further delay, I present to you my initial analysis of the ‘Epsilon Stones,’ the alien artefacts responsible for this unprecedented collaboration of minds towards a common, truly human, goal: the pursuit of knowledge.
(Applause)
As you are all no doubt familiar with Dr. Grünwald’s seminal work Expedition to the Obsidian Archive, I will be focusing exclusively on the physical structure of the Epsilon Stones, rather than duplicating Dr. Grünwald’s extensive analysis of the architecture and engineering of the Archive itself or pre-empting the material of subsequent speakers. Later presentations will focus more closely on the specialist subjects arising from study of the Epsilon Stones, such as initial attempts to decipher them, and the associated psychological risks.
The Epsilon stones are all exactly alike in physical structure. As you can see from the image behind me, the stones’ shape is a regular Class III Geodesic Icosahedron with 372 regular hexagonal faces, with an average radius of 120.453mm, accounting for radial variation resulting from the flat surfaces forming the overall ‘sphere.’
Each stone produces internal luminance at a constant 12.540001 lux intensity, with no observable variation, even in the picalux order of magnitude. This luminance has been subjected to seven independent spectrometry tests, confirming a light emission range of between 596.1 and 499.3nm. In layman’s terms, Epsilon stones emit a soft, warm glow, somewhere between a yellowish-orange and a yellowish-green, as can be seen in the following footage.
(13 seconds’ video footage shows an Epsilon Stone, being slowly turned in the demonstrator’s hands, producing a dull light as described.)
(Applause)
The Epsilon Stones’ chemical structure confirms the moniker ‘Crystal Library’ to a very satisfactory standard. Each stone is comprised of a single material of uniform crystalline structure throughout. Although the structure has no direct counterpart on Earth-1, its structure bears a certain unmistakeable resemblance to the tectosilicate Stishovite, ordinarily found in Earth-1’s lower mantle. The Epsilon Stone is, consequently, extremely durable.
Nevertheless, at slightly over 287 grams apiece, an Epsilon Stone is surprisingly lightweight. We look forward to Dr. Leong’s presentation of this line of enquiry in the early afternoon.
These observations raise a multitude of scientific questions. How is this light produced, and whence does this stone receive its energy? The most obvious explanations are instantly refuted: the orbs produce no measurable non-visible radiation, nor do they contain any circuitry or similar structures which may be responsible for the production of light.
But perhaps the greatest mystery of all — such that it is the subject of roughly three-quarters of the presentations over the next few days — is the subjective experience of viewing an Epsilon Stone directly. I will refrain from going into any more detail for the time being, but those lucky scholars who have been able to experience this have described it variously as ‘profoundly spiritual,’ ‘utterly confounding’ and even ‘the most intoxicating experience of my life.’ Rare words indeed from us emotionless scientific types!
(Laughter)
In my paper, I described the light that emanates from the Epsilon Stones as ‘varying in tone, emotion, intent and affectation,’ words that do not do real credibility to the experience. As a linguist, this is the most interesting aspect of the Stones for me and my team, and the aspect we will be pursuing from this point onward in our combined research efforts.
I would like now to round off this introductory lecture with a brief personal address, before we get started in earnest. To all of you, gathered here today, and for those who are watching remotely via the livestream, thank you for being a part of this collective endeavour. We have only just begun.
We’re looking at the tip of the iceberg, an iceberg that surely goes deeper than any of us can imagine. Thank you all.
(Applause)
(END OF TRANSCRIPT)
Item 4: Brain Structure and Other Anomalies
Excerpt from Asterian Physiology: Brain Structure and Other Anomalies (Dr. Juliette Haarström)
21/03/2053
Somewhat counterintuitively, their brains held a structure remarkably like our own; in certain key aspects, at least. Many leading neuroscientists, neuroarchaeologists and philosophers now suspect the similarity to be neither random nor designed, but, in a sense, inevitable. The speech production and comprehension centres — Broca’s and Wernicke’s, respectively — though grossly enlarged, were recognisable. The supplementary motor cortex, though proportionally seven or eight times human size, was again roughly correspondent to our own.
The similarities, such as they were, end there. The Asterian itself, though dead for thirty thousand years, is immune to all known terrestrial decay-causing bacterial strains, and continues to heal when damaged by the scalpel. The specimen defies multiple formerly accepted theories and resists any attempt to draw out any meaningful observations, beyond those of a purely anatomical nature.
The discovery of the Asterian led to the founding of a completely new branch of enquiry, dubbed ‘Neuroarchaeology’ after Dr. Grauten’s legendary seminar at the 3rd International Conference on Extradimensional Discovery.
In the Asterian brain, the supplementary motor cortex has almost entirely subsumed both the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex; one wonders whether, at the nadir of their civilisation, they were capable of any physical movement beyond the most basic antagonistic muscle contractions.
In a similar fashion, Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, normally compact in relation to the surrounding cerebral tissue, had come to dominate the outer edge of the left hemisphere to form a brain shape entirely different to that of any terrestrial creature. This asymmetrical brain shape can clearly be seen in the lopsided, grotesque features of the Asterian head, viewed from the exterior.
Further to this, synaptic connections both within and between these regions are massively overdeveloped by several orders of magnitude. Drs. Kaplan and Formalk, of the Institute of Crystal Linguistics, somewhat paradoxically credit this unusual brain structure as both the enabler and a symptom of the Asterians’ bizarre language system in their 2052 article in the fourth issue of Neuroarchaeology.
I am reluctant to attempt to extract any meaning from these purely physical observations. What we do know, albeit from largely anecdotal evidence (I have never seen The Library myself, nor any artefacts from it), is that their language is predominantly, or even entirely, a physical system.
Much as a human being’s communication system is largely given over to the recognition of symbols and auditory motifs, the Asterians appear to have deciphered the world around them dynamically, storing information as movement and relational positioning. Even now, we are barely scratching the surface of this profoundly alien ‘kinetic language.’
Transcribed Fragment II: Fractal Keys
Series: 91, Group: 3
Individual Designation: 804,616, Facet: 19
Linear av. range: 21.247mm to 28.334mm
Rotational av. range: 301.401° to 309.995°
Translator: Prof. Lanying Yida
Affiliation: Lower Beijing Collective
Latest translation date: 07/07/2052
I: Intra-Universe Exchange
Each universe does not exist in isolation within the multiverse; continual cross-dimensional energy exchange occurs, for the purposes of maintaining permanent homeostatic balance. Nevertheless, most organisms remain unaware of the fact. This ignorance is a necessary element in mindpath progression in the earlier stages. Too much knowledge of what lies outside any given subject’s total event field is detrimental to its interactions with adjoining nodes within its own universe.
In 32% of species we have studied, a sub-culture (in a smaller proportion of cases, two or more) became aware of certain such elements and, in every case, withdrew almost entirely into ecstatic introspection and subsequent decay, eventually being overrun by their more grounded contemporaries, or absconding from life of their own free will. This supports the consensus of the necessity of contextually limited awareness.
Nevertheless, such events occur in many times and places. The logical conclusion is that this, too, is a necessary element within the balance of the multiverse. One must not forget that the existence of such elements within our own field were vital to our progression but appeared late enough to prove beneficial rather than deleterious. Chance had no hand in this; chance does not exist.
Whilst each organism’s energy remains rooted to its own universe unequivocally (even whilst travelling outside it), thus disallowing extra-universal energy exchange during the lifespan, death provides an opportunity for this exchange; indeed, what purpose would death serve otherwise? Death, therefore, equalises energy flows across the superstructure of the multiverse; it is responsible for its eternal stability. Death and life exist as counteracting forces. The one is meaningless — and impossible — without the other.
Precise, immutable rules determine the nature of this energy exchange, ensuring balance is maintained across x universes, y organisms in uncountably large numbers. But each single death and rebirth, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is vital to the superstructure’s integrity. Indeed, any large system is only the sum of its parts.
The Fractal Key — as we call it — operates thusly. The algorithm that nestles deep within each one of us meticulously records every occurrence, assimilating every distortion into its lattice structure. Its judgment, for the sake of overarching multiversal stability, is absolute. Every time we push or pull upon a node-chain (or node-web), our Key adjusts itself to accommodate the event.
Upon death, the sum of our actions — the Key, in its final state — is released from the event field to interact with wider multiversal forces. The Key seeks out its receptor-counterpart within the superstructure, and reforms. Thus, death becomes birth: the energy continues as its latest manifestation; the balance is maintained.
The diversity of myths surrounding this process is without equal. The archive identifies that 23.2384% of ‘epiphanies’ contain some aspect of non-linear revelation of the workings of the Fractal Key. Such epiphanies, where they occur, entail on average between 5.19 and 6.44 times greater node-connections, when compared to revelations excluding this element. This explains their resilience to nullification by other anomalous local nodes; indeed, such events frequently eclipse other, lesser epiphanies within their sphere of influence completely. The generation of these abnormally large probability clusters explains the preoccupation of the many species we have studied with what lies beyond death; certainly, it explains our own curiosity.
II: Formation of the Final Algorithm
The Fractal Key’s purpose is to ensure that an organism’s energy destination reflects that energy’s total influence within its most recent manifestation in a given universe. As we discovered long ago, universes are arranged in order of the severity of their basic physical laws towards life: the higher the Universal plane, the more conducive to life; the lower the plane, the more violent. Inanimate matter-energy remains eternally consistent with these basic physical laws, and consequently remains forever within the same universe.
In contrast, an organism’s ability to interact with the event field constantly deforms its energy, relative to the primal laws to which it is subjected. Referring to the twin principles of Destruction and Creation, it is possible (indeed, inevitable) that an organism is either more Destructive or more Creative than the physical laws of its universe, on balance, are.
Thus, the Fractal Key, upon death, serves to deliver an organism’s energy to the plane most closely corresponding to its actions in relation to these two polarities. This is a vital process that prevents the proliferation of cumulative energy imbalances that would threaten the structure of the whole.
In primitive mythologies generated through epiphany, these principles frequently manifest as mystical philosophies, religion, and transcendental moral codes, set against a backdrop of Judgment on the point of death. Such mythologies perpetuate successfully by allowing the primitive mind to conceive of non-linear elements with only limited risk of destabilisation, using a linear analogy that blocks access to higher event nodes whilst maintaining those on a level comprehensible to the subject.
In experiential terms, the subject becomes convinced of either partial or total agency in the formation of its own Key; that is to say, the subject believes that it can determine the destination of its energy after death. Surprisingly enough, in not every case have we found that the professed purpose of these mythologies is to enable energy reformation at a higher plane; in some mythologies, the aim is to access lower planes. This we credit to the massive variety of conscious forms in existence within the multiverse: to these unusual, seemingly perverse forms, our own value systems may seem just as contrary.
III: Controlled Release of the Fractal Key
The advent of awareness of the Fractal Key in a sentient subject is invariably followed by a desire to control its operation; this is true of our own kind as with all others we have studied. Direct interaction with one’s own algorithm is extremely dangerous; this danger reduces with more complete knowledge but cannot be eliminated entirely.
Consequently, in primitive societies, attempts at direct manipulation of the Fractal Key are typically hated and reviled practices. Most such practitioners, once discovered, are cast out, murdered or imprisoned. The few primitive societies we have observed where such taboos had not developed suffered greatly. Such societies either destroyed themselves, or experienced massive upheavals until the necessary cultural inhibitors were produced.
Controlled release of the Fractal Key is our race’s only remaining mystery. What we do know is that a being’s algorithm is greatly constrained by the universe that it is bound to. A being from the lowest plane, for example, would be unable to produce the Creativity required to reform in the highest plane; its in-built proclivity towards Destruction, even chastened to the highest possible degree by self-negation, might only result in reformation several planes higher.
The reverse is also true. By means of a reductive example, if 0 is the lowest plane, and 1 the highest, we postulate a maximum ascent/descent factor of 0.04, representing a journey spanning at the very least 25 individual organism-lives. Thus, direct manipulation of the Fractal Key is the only route enabling free movement within the planes upon organism-death.
This process of artificial manipulation is, at its most fundamental level, unnatural; an abomination to the functionality of the multiverse. Its potential implications to macro-stability are vast beyond comprehension. Thus, for every Key released, an opposing Key must be sought out and manipulated in the opposite direction.
The ethical implications of this are profound. It remains to be seen whether our event field may evolve to the point at which theory transmutes to reality; the point at which we must question the very basis of our morality, mapped against the highest aspirations of our race.
Copyright © 2021 by Michael Burnett
