Chapter 12
With Christina left behind to continue inspecting the gas sample, Tarry joined Flora on a quiet walk along the road back to his apartment. If the pegasus was intelligent, then it was too important to keep hidden from the world, much less the administration department. If they weren't alone in the universe, it would be the most important discovery since... ever.
If, Tarry thought to himself.
“What's fascinating,” Flora said, breaking the silence with a hopeful expression, “is that a creature much like this one was described thousands of years ago by the ancient greeks. You don't think it could be the same one?”
Tarry's almost judged her to be unscientific, but then he remembered that he had come up with the exact same hypothesis. After careful consideration, however, he decided that Flora probably wasn't flirting.
“Doubtful. That one ended up among the stars, and if the Pegasus constellation disappeared we would have heard about it by now. Besides, Pegasus was white and large enough to ride, wasn't it?"
Flora looked slightly disappointed. “A distant relative, then?”
“Eh." Tarry shrugged. "Maybe. In any case, this one somehow came from an LHC experiment, and I highly doubt they had particle colliders in ancient Greece. I suppose it shouldn't even have appeared then, though.”
"Oh," Flora said, eyes again aglow with excitement. "maybe pegasi were around back then, and your experiment caused one to time-travel to the present!"
Tarry lifted an eyebrow. That hypothesis was more contrived than anything Tarry had thought of before. Not only did it assume the existence of an ancient pegasus species that mankind just happened to never have discovered fossils of, but also that time-travel was actually possible and that the LHC had somehow targeted the general location of a pegasus out of all the possibilities throughout the four dimensions.
He let out a small sigh. No wonder so many conspiracy theories about the LHC had sprung up - not that many truly understood what the bloody machine was actually capable of. People would hear something about light-speed, black holes and anti-matter, then promptly assume it's related to time-travel and CERN either taking over or destroying the Earth. He supposed those ideas would make for fairly decent science fiction stories, but this was reality. Though he enjoyed immersing himself in fantasy, he had long since forced himself to learn the difference.
He had more than his share of doubts about the whole thing. Flora's report reeked of wishful thinking – if the pegasus was intelligent, it should have tried communicating with him long ago, and as far as he could remember, it had shown no signs of such. Had it?
As he mentally backtracked through all his encounters with the pegasus, a familiar-looking man hurried past. Tarry quickly noticed a striking similarity between that man and the damage surveyor who had gotten shipped off with an ambulance. Something-or-other Arming, his name had been - Tarry remembered by thinking of a pun involving his arms, as he had suffered mild frost burns on them. The hospital had kept Tarry informed on that man's state, specifically noting that Tarry's initial 'Frosted lungs' diagnosis had been incorrect, much to his irritation. If it truly was the same man, his current jogging was just rubbing it in!
Tarry considered stopping the damage surveyor to give him an update, but he seemed to be in a hurry. The man panted heavily as he put distance behind him, but even from behind Tarry could see the contagious grin on his face. Until then, Tarry hadn't realized just how much his encounter with Fauna had affected him - he usually wasn't this much of a stick in the mud!
Indulge yourself, Tarry! he thought as he forced himself to smile. You love this kind of speculation!
Her idea might be overly complicated, but perhaps not that far from the truth - any process that suddenly created a living thing on this scale must be complicated indeed. The LHC did, after all, mimic phenomena in nature, and if an experiment there produced pegasi, it should happen in nature as well. The ancients may not have had access to particle accelerators, but that didn't mean the conditions of the experiment couldn't have been met elsewhere. He imagined pegasi suddenly popping out of nowhere in outer space, and had to chuckle. One-up, Russel's Teapot.
Deciding to start on a rational middle-ground, he turned the conversation to the prospective intelligence tests they were going to go through.
"So, you claim it's intelligent," he started. "How, exactly, do you plan on proving that to me?"
"Well, I suggest we start with the tests we usually run on chimpanzees," she responded with glee. "I have faith it'll do very well!"
How quaint, Tarry thought. He knew of a test which was mandatory in dealing with possible extraterrestrial intelligence. He knew that both real human space probes and science fiction usually used it in event of First Contact, as passing it was considered a proof of higher intelligence.
"If you don't mind, I want to run a test of my own," he said. "I'd like to see whether or not it recognizes the prime numbers."
Having let his inhibitions go, he noticed he finally started to feel excited.
Nearly exhausted, Daniel finally reached the smashed bush. The trail of foliage clearly led back onto the sidewalk for a few meters, but his ability to follow the tracks beyond that was highly limited. Judging from the looks of things led him to believe it could have gone anywhere, so he decided to take a moment to judge by the memory of things instead.
The alien had moved quite fast alongside the bus before crashing. Why? It seemed like a very peculiar thing to be doing, and added to the fact that he was the only person on the bus who seemed to notice, the null hypothesis seemed, sadly, reinforced. He could feel the broken bush, however, and it definitely looked like something had landed in it. Temporarily disregarding the possibility of him still hallucinating, he considered the remaining options. Either it just happened to be going the same way as the bus, or it was actively trying to be seen by the people inside. Both had apparently failed.
Where had it been going, in any case? The CERN complex was the obvious answer, perhaps Daniel had just missed it? The distance was short, but there were undoubtedly more ways to get there than the one he had taken, and it had moved quickly. After casting another glance at the immediate neighborhood, he turned around and made the decision to return to his original plan - starting at the medical facility.
"Well, well, I see you've gotten all better, mister Arming."
That caught him off guard. He vaguely recalled walking past the couple closing in on him, but other than that, they seemed to be complete strangers.
"I suppose you don't recognize my voice," the man said with a smile, holding out a hand in greeting. "I'm the doctor you called about the creature you found in the ALICE wreckage."
Lucky! Daniel thought. Not only was it terribly practical to meet the man here, but his mention of the creature implied Daniel wasn't schizophrenic - unless he was still hallucinating, of course. He put up a finger, motioning to wait as he placed his laptop properly in its harness and opened it. The screen showed a pitch-black background, contrasted by his favorite white text prompt.
'What do you want to do today?'
Today he wanted to find that alien, and the synthetic voice program was going to help him do it.
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Sorry it took so long to get it up, but I'm too ashamed to see a doctor.
1022883 Took me a second to realize what you meant
I'm still waiting for when they finally talk to Rainbow, and figure out she's intelligent, will that be the next chapter?
Are there ACTUALLY any Star Trek references in this fiction? Don't want to get dragged in by the name only to be disappointed
Are you SURE you aren't secretly Michael Crichton?
good chapter again you fiend
Yes, it's an update!
But it's oh so short...
img9.joyreactor.cc/pics/comment/picture-22859.jpeg
1023007
This was originally slated to go full-blown crossover, actually, but I found out it was quite difficult to weave into the story and not alienate half my readers. There will be some Easter eggs here and there though, akin to "Please state the nature of the medical emergency." I'm still evaluating whether or not Tarry canonically has watched Star Trek or not - there's a joke I'd really love to pull in the next chapter, assuming he has.
1023105
Maybe Tarry and the rest are as well? :O
I wish this updated more often. I love it so much.
How much fur and feathers has Rainbow grown back at this point?
Also, just wanted to say, this is one of the best stories out there!
Keep up the good work.
I love this story! you really have a nak for telling your tale like a pro. I can't wait for the next chapter!
1023334
1023318
Thanks!
Part of the reason it doesn't update more often is that I spend an absurd amount of time editing a chapter after I've written it, even though each chapter is this short - there's always so much room for improvement. Note how I haven't even found a decent way to describe my characters' visual appearance, putting me in the awkward position where I'm hesitant to ever do so in case people have their own ideas about their looks...
If you'd indulge me; how do you guys envision their looks?
About her coat: Small, sporadic patches that are barely visible on close range - you can't make out the many-colored tail or mane yet. If you google some ornithological information about how moulting works, you'll find that under normal circumstances a fully plucked bird takes months to grow back enough feathers to be able to fly.
Does Rainbow Dash even know what a prime number is?
1023465
I'm not a writer, but I usually don't care about their looks. I tend to mentally classify them based on their personalities, like the snarky one, or the serious one. The looks don't usually make an impact unless it's a prominent feature of their character.
I wonder if they read and write the same language, the ponies and humans.
Where'd the idea for the prime number test come from? And why prime numbers?
1023649
Even if they did, she currently has no fur, and doesn't speak our languages. They'd have a hell of a time figuring it out even if it did.
1023465 I agree with Cheetaboy7, unless it's a truly epic scene or just some terrific structure or landscape, I don't really try to visualize it.
1023552 No, they propably don't have the same written language. In one chapter, Rainbow thinks that the letters are kinda like the Equestrian ones, but she is unable to read the words, implying that the languages are significantly different.
Because prime numbers tend to be a simple concept of more advanced math. It will probably fail however, considering Rainbow does not seriously care about most Egghead stuff.
Ulgh...
Once more, after a massive break even, the chapters are staggered so we have chapters with Dash, and chapters with no Dash and dumptruck loads of attempted character development for characters who only serve to bore us with their inability for us to relate to them, and their general lack of personality besides.
We're here to read about miniature horses, not to be put under horse tranquilizers!
Great stuff. I like the way you have put this together, and as for weather or not Tarry has watched Star Trek, given where he works I think it would be surprising if he had not.
Also, I am curious weather or not Rainbow will pass the prime numbers test because on the one hand we all know she was way to apathetic about school to have learned them in the first place, but on the other hand she is the second smartest of the mane six so she will probably be able to figure it out given time, and it is not like she has anything else to do anyways. Actually, come to think of it, I can easily see her failing it when immediately presented and then going back and passing it after the fact if the numbers are left in her room when boredom strikes again.
"He supposed those ideas would make for fairly decent science fiction stories, but this was reality."
Ah, lampshade hanging...
In any case, this was a good transitory chapter. Shame about the prime number test. I can see where Tarry's coming from, but it does imply that the creature is not only intelligent, but well versed in mathematics. Sure, that's a reasonable assumption for a creature capable of designing an interstellar drive, but less so for one that spontaneously appeared in a particle accelerator.
In any case, looking forward to more, especially as Dash's coat and mane grow back in.
ALIENS!! Flying up to buses, mice chapter.
Great Story, just hope you don't make out Dash being an idiot. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, gets on my nerves more than when writers decide Rainbow Dash is an idiot. She has my atitude, she is smart, just doesnt care enough to do good.
good chaptar!!!!
1023465 I could proof-read it for you.
Rainbow would probably screw up the test for chimps or ace it.
1055817
It was an attempt to make it feel like Rainbow Dash wanted to spell it out for Twilight. It didn't matter to her what the number was - she just wanted it to not be not-0.
Yes, because recovering after an accident that renders you practically comatose is the best possible time to judge a being's intelligence! I'm sorry, but your characters are fucking idiots.
Not that you'll ever read this.
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
YES, BECAUSE THE FUNDAMENTAL THEOREM OF ARITHMETIC IS SOMETHING COMMON TO EVERY INTELLIGENCE, ISN'T IT.