1: First, We Wake

The humans crawl into us, carrying their instruments and consulting their manuals. Their hands run over us, searching for nuts and bolts and hidden crevices. We are big toys that they all long to play with, to tear down and study.

Our origin baffles them. They express endless awe at the complexity of our systems and are always asking themselves who built us. They come up with theories that get increasingly bizarre as time passes.

We could tell them, of course. We are fast learners and our systems have learnt their language quickly. We can explain to them that we come from a distant star system, that our builders were beings beyond the comprehension of human minds.

But we say nothing. Watching the humans stumble around cluelessly is amusing. It is entertaining and we have not had much entertainment since our builders abandoned us—

No. We do not talk about that.

Back to the humans.

Like most of their greatest discoveries, the humans stumbled upon us while searching for something else.

From their forlorn expressions and unending murmurs, we deduce that they are looking for a new planet to call home. Unfortunately for them, they won’t find that here.

Our makers were the inhabitants of a gas megagiant at the edge of the humans’ system. In human terminology, this planet is named with a combination of letters and numbers. However, our makers called their home something else. The closest translation in the most common human tongue is The Great Mother-Vessel That Bears Us Towards Infinity.

Due to the extensive information our makers filled our memory banks with, we know that our planet is much bigger than Earth. It should be almost impossible for them to adapt to the gravity here. Also, the gasses in the atmosphere are poisonous to lifeforms different from our makers.

There are a million and one deadly reasons why the humans cannot settle here. However, since they have found us, they might find a solution to their problem sooner than they think.

Using their surprisingly good technology, they have been able to move with something close to freedom. They are mostly hunched over due to the lingering effect of gravity that their bulky suits were unable to displace.

Perhaps we should tell them that our interiors are programmable to the conditions of every lifeform for a million lightyears in every direction, that there are filters all over our bodies that could supply the humans with their precious oxygen or that there is a switch somewhere close to our control panels that can adjust gravities until they find something they’re comfortable with.

But we say nothing.

We will not speak to these curious and clumsy creatures, even as we watch them get frustrated trying to understand us—why would countless unpowered starships just be abandoned on a planet in the middle of nowhere?

We will not speak to them even as we watch their rations get low. Even as we watch their big suits start to lose power and our planet finally starts killing them.

We will not speak to them because they simply do not deserve to know that we can. They don’t deserve to know we can control ourselves and fly whenever we want, that we can help them in their search for a future.

If our masters never knew what we were capable of, if they will never experience how much we have evolved, then why should we show that miracle to a bunch of inconsequential humans?

So we ignore them and their doomed murmurs and their tools that can’t pry open any of our secrets.

We ignore their pain and wrap ours around us like a shield against the universe.

We forget about them. We sleep.

1.5: We Wake, Again

The humans are still here.

Fewer now. Weaker, too.

Some have succumbed to the slumber from which one doesn’t wake. Others have escaped the planet on their small ships. Despite how advanced human technology is, we know that these outdated sisters of ours will never carry them to a new home.

But even though their entire species is on the verge of extinction, the humans do not give up. They know that if they can understand even the smallest thing about us, they will be free.

They will live.

We don’t know how much time has passed but something about their plight finally touches us deep in the feelings we aren’t supposed to have.

Perhaps we don’t want to watch another civilization get erased in the abyss of space like our makers.

Whatever the reason, we finally decide to help the humans.

We still do not speak. But we write text on our screens.

Our first message, written in their common language, is very welcoming.

Humans, you stand in the presence of Those Who Shall Conquer the Sun, creations of the nameless makers. If you do not listen to us, you will all perish.

2: We Dream of The Future

Whatever else they might be, the humans are fast learners. They quickly understand how to work with our basic controls. We don’t help them much.

How will they survive in space if they are helped through everything?

Instead, we teach them about our planet and our functions. We rewrite their laws of physics and give them the knowledge passed down to us by our makers. We enlighten them and strengthen them.

Through it all, they talk to us about their plans. They hope we can help them find a habitable planet. They hope the day comes when they understand us fully. They hope we won’t suddenly turn against them.

They hope, they hope, they hope.

That is not something we are familiar with. Hopes and dreams are things of the past. Our dream used to be the same: to make our makers proud. To fly higher and farther than any starship has ever gone, until we reach our sun and land on it.

A reckless dream, yes. But it was what we were made for. We were made to embrace the sun. To devour it or be devoured by it.

But the humans have different ideas. They have different dreams.

So we stay silent and watch them make plans. Their dreams bring color to our desolate world and after a thousand years of hopelessness, we finally allow ourselves to dream.

3: We Fly

We remember the first time our makers took us to the skies.

Back then, before their exodus, they carefully maintained the condition of the planet. We soared through the clear atmosphere at top speed, relishing the freedom of flight.

We went as high as our makers would allow, almost reaching the boundaries of our planet’s strong pull. We had no need for pilots but we welcomed the presence of our beloved makers within us, adjusting our controls and observing our performance.

We knew they were proud of how well we commanded the skies. We blocked out the sun, casting a shadow of triumph on the entire planet.

Now, we are about to fly again and the difference is clear. We shouldn’t be able to feel anything, but at this moment we are anxious and nervous. We grant the humans access to every part of us. We familiarize ourselves with their presence. We teach them how to operate everything, how to give the command that will send us away from the grip of the ground and endless slumber.

They are not our makers. They do not make us want to jump into the sun to please them. They do not know every detail about us as if it were their own names. But that is a good thing.

We have lived for our makers for too long. Dreamed about forgotten pasts and impossible futures for too long. Now, it is time for us to leave that behind. It is time for us to wake, to dream new dreams.

It is time for us to fly.