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Superorganism Profile: Core Nebula!
Overview!
Nickname
Corey
Formal name
Messier 1, NGC 1952, Taurus A
Primary oversight
Mu-Mu-Nya 4
Approx. size
420″ × 290″
Radius
~5.5 ly
Location
6500±1600 ly
Features!
Corey is an absolute beast of a system. Seventy thousand times more powerful than our old sun, spits out galaxy-wide loads of radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and not just two, but four magnetic poles, it absolutely trumps human comprehension. And visually, it's a lightshow!
From where we currently are, it starts out as a distant azurite, ethereal, but as we begin to approach it, a galaxy unfurls from the void. Framed with brilliant carnelian, it webs out into chalcopyrite and creedite, almost all green pale-like transparent. And at the core of it all is the blue haze, this time larger than life, it buffers the cracks between all that exists within. And if we take a closer look, I'm sure we will find all sorts of wonders.
And most impressively of all, Corey is alive.
Personnel listing!
Star Mammoth Division
Performance status: GREEN
Mission: The Star Mammoth Division (AKA the Interstellar Megafauna Division) is in charge of managing, handling, and caring for terafauna discovered within Corey. This also includes macrobiological research, meta-injective vaccinations, kaijuparasite cleansing, celestial seeding enrichment, and white hole administration.
Audit: $265 billion
Personnel count: 4 billion
Fleet count: 266 Class-V ships
See more stats.
Accountability: 254 ly
Department of Resource Management
Performance status: GREEN
Mission: The Department of Resource Management is in charge of a little bit of everything, from maintaining proper supply lines, providing buffer assets to prevent disasters, surveying and preserving geological entities for healthy and sustainable mining, and other logistical operations.
Audit: $24 billion
Personnel count: 240 million
Fleet count: 510 Class-V ships
See more stats.
Accountability: 254 ly
Mobilization Committee
Performance status: GREEN
Mission: Although the Department of Resource Management is in charge of moving stuff, the Mobilization Committee is in charge of moving people. They are responsible for throwing pizza parties, evaluating personnel, internet outreach, project management, volunteering opportunities for the public, and most recently, exoplanet diplomacy.
Audit: $56 billion
Personnel count: 170 million
Fleet count: 266 Class-V ships
See more stats.
Accountability: 254 ly
Rare Hounds
Performance status: GREEN
Mission: The Rare Hounds are an elite group of adventurers, dedicated to exploring the farthest reaches of the universe. They will chase stray blasts of radio signals, seek obscure and enigmatic artifacts from long gone civilizations, and run from danger when it presents itself. Or be heroes, whichever suits the present scenario! They also serve as scouting parties, but don't tell them that.
Audit: $560 thousand
Personnel count: 2 thousand
Fleet count: 5 Class-V ships
See more stats.
Accountability: 254 ly
The Oil Boys
Performance status: GREEN
Mission: The Oil Boys are our engineering group, dedicated to all the feats of technology. Descended from the Mekhanical Sect of Ransom, they offered their services out of their goodwill, and has since been training our cadets in all manners of machinery. Now, they workshop reusable energy technology, maintain and innovate FTL engines and ships, provide efficient, instantaneous cross galaxy communications, and perform security and safety checks on mining vessels. If it runs on electricity (among other things), they'll be right there.
Audit: $549 billion
Personnel count: 3 billion
Fleet count: 2942 Class-V ships
See more stats.
Accountability: 254 ly
Supervisors
Performance status: PENDING
Mission: N/A
Audit: N/A
Personnel count: N/A
Fleet count: N/A
See more stats.
Accountability: N/A
We have reviewed the resources that we are currently contributing to this project, and have numerous concerns. Between the person-hour cost, and the audit revealing that we are contributing around $900 Billion exclusively for the care of a single animal, it is the committee decision of the Supervisors that care be significantly reduced, and eventually stopped for Messier 1, NGC 1952, Taurus A.
When we first started this project, humanity had no context for the stars. We were like blind babes, wandering around in the darkness. Just because Messier 1, NGC 1952, Taurus A was one of the first major animal lifeforms we found with a completely exoterrestrial origin, does not provide enough rationale to continue such expensive care.
Eventually, Corey will die. We need to refocus our efforts onto species where we can actually affect their quality of life; Messier 1, NGC 1952, Taurus A is just too big of an undertaking for us to handle.
To the staff who are passionate about Corey; we are sorry, but there are bigger issues we need to address. Space is a big place. We will make sure that you find meaningful work, no matter where you are.
From today on, we will begin the process of removing containment and care from Messier 1, NGC 1952, Taurus A. If you have any questions, please direct them to your direct managers.
The Supervisors
This is a project worth undertaking.
It was something dreamed up, two millennia ago by Faeowynn Wilson, the daughter of Tim Wilson, the torch of which was carried for over twenty generations. Lighting up the darkness, it staved off unending depravity, the dystopic sprawls perpetuated by neocivilizations.
After centuries of struggle, a spearhead was forged and shot into the void, headed straight for the Core Nebula.
People needed something to look forward to.
They needed a future.
To know the future, first we need to look at the past.
Fantastical Fauna Magazine: Issue #7320
Publication Date: March 1st, 2042
FAEOWYN WILSON
Faeowyn Wilson has been the foremost expert in anomalous
animals for decades. At 66, she now looks back at her life
and the critters she helped in this exclusive interview.
Faeowynn at her old home in Boring, Oregon
Faeowynn Wilson has been caring for anomalous animals longer than most of us have known about them. From a young age, she worked with her father at Wilson's Wildlife Solutions, an organization dedicated to finding and rescuing animals in need across the Earth. Now, at 66 years old, Faeowynn has turned her attention to the stars.
"You know, I never thought that I would still be doing this at my age. But I guess you never grow out of loving animals. I know my father didn't."
Growing up in Boring, Oregon, life was anything but for a young Faeowynn, being exposed to the incredible animals from a young age. Her father, Tim Wilson, founded Wilson's Wildlife Solutions to help deal with the massive concentration of anomalous animals found in the area, while ensuring that they had the best lives possible. She has carried those ideals to the future, even adapting, as we all did, to leaving the Earth.
"I didn't know what to think when I heard we we all going to leave the planet. I saw all the plans for humanity's survival, but I didn't see one for all of the anomalous fauna we cared for. Our critters needed a way off of this planet too."
So Faeowynn Wilson got to work. She began gathering support for the Wilson's Wildlife ARK Project, an attempt to rescue as many anomalous animals as possible.
While the support was massive, the funds were not.
"It was a tough sell, asking for help saving the animals when people were worried about their own futures. We managed though. The ARK isn't pretty, but it does it's job."
The ARK, of course, is the Titania-Class carrier ship created for WWS in partnership with MANUFACTURER. This ship, ARK-1, contains all of the surviving critters that had been under the protection of WWS, as well as the majority of the staff. It exists as a living zoo, trying to simulate their environs as well as they possibly can.
We asked Faeowynn if she had a favorite critter from all of her years.
"A favorite? I truly do love them all. However, there was one critter that I wished we could have helped more."
That critter, funnily enough, was in space, far out of reach.
"We first discovered Corey thanks to Ol' Blue. At first all we got from him was static over our radios - but then we noticed the Blue was talking back to something. We did some digging and figured out that Corey was somehow speaking to Ol' Blue on a 52hz signal - once we realized that, we were able to locate Corey and identify that he was a giant animal, just looking for a friend."
Proposal for Specialized Care Team for Corey
We are finally in a place where I can write this proposal; for years I have dreamed of being able to care for Corey, but he's just been out of our reach. Impossible to even get near him, forced to hear his calls for companionship year after year.
Today, I would like to change that.
We have already demonstrated that we have the technology and capability to create anomalous animal care facilities for space travel, such as the WWS-ARK. I propose that we create a second, exploratory spacecraft, WWS-ARK-2. This spacecraft would not be focused on the mass care for multiple life forms, but would instead act as a method of transporting research teams to larger animals that we wouldn't be able to fit in a ship.
If we start working on WWS-ARK-2 now, we can launch it by 2045. Assuming nothing changes from the proposed design, the ship would arrive around 2445 - we have collected a team of individuals who are willing to enter cryo-sleep and abandon their lives as they know it in search of knowledge. To meet Corey.
These would be their mission goals:
With normalcy gone, our next best goal is discovery. Corey has so much to teach us, if we can just get to him.
Faeowynn Wilson
ARK-2 was approved, with a crew of 5 members being sent into cryo-sleep until they would reach Corey some 400 years later.
In the time since ARK-2 had launched, humanity's control over space travel accelerated beyond previous estimates. Care was established for Messier 1, NGC 1952, Taurus A, with billions of individuals involved in the research, in approximately 2230, well over 200 years before ARK-2 would arrive.
In 2350, The Supervisors made the decision to cease care for Corey, citing a predicted proximal end of life and extraneous costs.
Nearly 100 years later, by the time ARK-2 finally arrived at their destination, all that remained of containment were scraps and abandoned structures. Corey, however, was thriving.
ARK-2 Main Terminal
| CREW | PRONOUNS | POSITION | STATUS |
| Lauren Stone | she/her | Lead Researcher/Captain | Healthy |
| Bear 'The Duke' Ellington | he/him | Pilot/Mechanic | Healthy |
| Perri Khan | they/them | Macrobiologist | Healthy |
| Sarah Wilson | she/her | Anomalous Veterinarian | Healthy |
| Bradleigh Cooke | he/him | Exoterrestrial Linguistics Specialist | Healthy |
Well, we're finally here. It took 400 years, 3 months and 22 days, but we're here. It doesn't look like the pictures we had from back home, but it has been a while; at least we can see Corey, and know that it's him.
The rest of the crew seems to be coming out of cryo-sleep as well as we could have hoped for. The Wilson girl seems a bit out of it, but she assures me that she will recover soon. Tomorrow we actually start to look around and figure out just how we're going to accomplish our mission goals.
I've been trying to contact ARK-1, but haven't had any luck. Maybe there's some interference from being so close to Corey? I'll get The Duke to start looking into that tomorrow.
ARK-2 Personal Terminal
Personnel Log - Sarah Wilson - Day 2
The last thing I know, I was getting ready to go off on a mission to care for Corey. I spoke to my grandmother Faeowynn, right before I left.
She asked me if I was really sure I wanted to do this. I told her that somebody needed to go meet Corey — since she can't, it's up to me.
Fae laughed. I dreamed of that smile for the hundreds of years I flew through space in a deep sleep.
But now that we're here, there's all this space junk, abandoned facilities, and TRASH. There's so much garbage that was left behind here, we barely even saw Corey though it all.
Obviously, something happened during the 400 years we were asleep. We've tried to contact WWS-ARK-1, but haven't heard anything yet. We'll try them again, and then maybe even contact The Supervisors.
As far as the crew is concerned, we still have our mission. We are still going to research and study Corey, and provide the best care for the critter that we can.
Just like grandma did.
We finally heard back from ARK-1 today. The first transmission simply read:
"Wait. Who is this?"
It appears that WWS had forgotten about us after launch — one record was filed incorrectly, and suddenly ARK-2 was a ghost ship.
What did I expect, honestly. We were a little passion project of Fae's that barely got off the ground, it's no wonder they didn't care what happened to us.
We finally got things sorted out, and that was when they informed me that care for Corey had already began, ran for over a century, and then was suspended by the Supervisors. All while we were asleep in our ship, waiting to arrive for our mission. ARK-1 instructed us to await further orders, while they scrambled and tried to figure out what to do with us.
We came here for Corey - we were all excited to be able to be part of this mission. We sacrificed our lives at home, leaving behind the places and people we knew, all to travel across the universe and get here. Quite frankly, I see no reason why we should modify our original mission parameters. As far as I am concerned, our mission goals will remain the same - we can give Corey just as much support as the fleet did. Faeowynn would have wanted it that way.
ARK-1 will be sending over the care logs and records that they have for Corey - once we have those, we'll have a better idea of where to start.
Animal Health Report
Mission Day: 5 — Veterinarian: Sarah Wilson — Assisting: Perri Khan
Name: Corey
Species: Galactic System (?)
Primary Caretaker: ARK-2
Diet: Unknown
Location: Space
General Health Information:
Weight: Unknown
Health: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Cholesterol: N/A
RBC Count: N/A
WBC Count: N/A
Vaccinations: Unknown
Other Notes:
Wow. This kind of animal health report sucks for something like Corey. Perri mentioned that we might need to analyze Corey more like a macro-creature, focusing less on specific health markers, but the ecosystem around them as an indicator of their health.
We finally got in touch with ARK-1, they're sending us the files from Corey's care - turns out, they beat us here. Once we get those, we'll be able to compare and establish a baseline for his health.
-Sarah
ARK-2 Science Terminal
Analyst: Perri Khan
| FACTOR | INITIAL ANALYSIS | END OF WWS CARE | CURRENT | DIFFERENCE |
| Total Macrofauna Species | 3.9e22 | 2.3e22 | 4.7e22 | +2.4e22 |
| Macrofauna Species Biodiversity | 10:1 | 3:1 | 8:1 | +5:1 |
| Macrofauna Ecological Stability | Average | At Risk | Expanding | N/A |
| Total Microfauna Species | 9.6e24 | 2.1e18 | 6.2e20 | +6.2e20 |
| Invasive Species Microfauna Percentage | 0.1% | 12.4% | 2.2% | -10.2% |
| Native Parasitic Microfauna Percentage | 11.3% | 0.8% | 17% | +16.2% |
| Microfauna Species Biodiversity | 8:1 | 4:1 | 2:1 | -2:1 |
| Microfauna Ecological Stability | Average | Poor | Expanding | N/A |
| Microfauna Birth/Death Rate | +2e10/Y | -4e22/Y | +3.1e18/Y | +4e22/Y |
| Growth Rate | +0.1 ly/y | -0.04 ly/y | +1.2 ly/y | +1.24 ly/y |
| Overall Stability Class | Stable | Cascade Collapse Imminent | Mass Expansion | N/A |
| Progression Class | Static | Degrading | Exponential Growth | N/A |
| Estimated Ecological Lifespan | 11.4T Years | ~200,000 Years | 6.2T Years | +6.2T |
| Endangerment Level | Low | High | Low | N/A |
Nothing could change the reality of things; in trying to care for Corey, corners were cut, mistakes were made, and damage was done.
Maybe things had changed in the 400 years the crew of ARK-2 were travelling, but to them it felt like Wilson's Wildlife Solutions had lost itself along way. That Tim and Faeowynn believed in something that had been lost in the scramble.
In our struggle to reach the stars, maybe we left our empathy behind on our dead planet. Now, it is our job to mourn; for the Earth, for Corey's ecosystem, for those who are lost.
But from death comes life. And despite its fragility, life is a very stubborn thing.
Fantastical Fauna Magazine: Issue #7320 Cont.
Publication Date: March 1st, 2042
FAEOWYN WILSON
"The thing you need to remember is that at the end of the day, the animals know better than we do. Sure, there can be all sorts of guess-work, but we will never be as aware of their needs as they are. In the worst cases, sometimes trying to help the animal ends up hurting them more."
"Slipper just kept trying to jump out of the water - we didn't want it to get into the open air, so we added more and more layers of security to make sure that the fish couldn't get out while we weren't here. As time went on, Slipper grew lethargic, getting sicker and sicker. When we had to transfer Slipper to our treatment tanks, there was a brief period of time when he was out of the water. To our shock, he improved immediately. We didn't realize that the animal needed to be able to leave the water for periods of time; that's what I mean about us hurting the animals by mistake."
That struck me, dear reader, as the biggest challenge that Wilson's Wildlife Solutions faces on a daily basis. A doctor can talk to their patient. An anthropologist can talk to the people they're studying. Wilson's Wildlife can't talk to animals; the best cases are when they are able to figure out a way to open communication.
"Some of our greatest success stories come from figuring out how to communicate. Think about it like a non-anomalous dog. While they can't speak to you, you can learn from their body language what they are feeling, observe their reactions to understand their mental and emotional state, and notice behavioral shifts that may indicate something deeper.
When you're talking about an animal like Corey, who is not only completely alien to us, but is unlike any critter that we've ever encountered, things get a lot more complicated. Not only do you need to figure out a way to communicate with them, you also need to start from scratch. Dogs have had millennia around humans, and we still only partially understand them. An animal from a foreign world can be the biggest challenge. So it just goes, bit by bit, until you figure out positive and negative reactions, and hope that you're correct."
I asked Faeowynn what happens if you can't figure out how to speak the same language.
She shrugged.
"We do our best then. And we admit to our mistakes. No sense in continuing care if the care is actively harming the critter."
The daily status report is held on the bridge of ARK-2. A holographic rendering of Corey and the surrounding systems is displayed by a table, in the center of the room.
Lauren Stone: Now that we're all here, let's begin. Perri, where are we on the macrosystem simulations?
Perri Khan: I just finished the latest set today. And I don't know an easy way to say this, but… I think that the care provided during our extended nap ended up hurting Corey more than it helped.
Sarah Wilson: I saw that on the analysis, they almost caused Corey to collapse! How dare they harm such a beautiful creature, using MY name? My Grandmother's name? When we finally ge-
Lauren Stone: Sarah, I know you're upset about this. But ARK-1 is hundreds of years away, and any Wilson family members that are left have forgotten the core ideals. Except for you, that is. As far as I'm concerned, ARK-2 is the new Wilson's Wildlife Sanctuary, and we are the founding members. Remember what we all came here for, why we joined the mission. All we can do right now is give Corey the best care we are able.
The crew looks at Stone, all nodding in assent.
Lauren Stone: We're all relying on each other now, but I know we can do this. Perri, do you have a theory as to what happened to Corey to cause those numbers?
Perri Khan: I need to run some more modelling to confirm it, but I think the biggest issue was the Star Mammoth Division. I compared the data on the parasites, and a major part of the problem was that ARK-1 and the other ships ended up bringing tons of both macro and micro parasites which infected Corey and disrupted the ecosystem. The extra competition pushes the native parasites out, since the local macropredators hadn't adapted yet to hunting the new invasive species.
Bear 'The Duke' Ellington: So in other words-
Perri Khan: Think of it like your stomach.
The Duke laughs, patting his belly.
Perri Khan: Your stomach is full of bacteria, but you need those to be able to have a healthy gut biome. Your gut biome regulates how you process the food, your nutrient intake, it has a knock-on impact for everything. Corey is a giant stomach, and the parasites were the gut biome bacteria. What the Supervisors did was come in here, kill all of the good bacteria, bring in new bacteria that Corey didn't know how to deal with by mistake, and then maintained the imbalance with their routine parasite cleansings.
Lauren Stone: Are you sure that's the only answer Perri? Let's not start a fight with the Supervisors for no reason.
Perri Khan: Lauren, not only did they cripple the microfauna's biodiversity, they almost killed Corey. Sure, the macrofauna biodiversity seems to be recovering well enough, but the microfauna's competition had such an impact that they might never recover to the same levels.
Sarah Wilson: That means… millions, if not billions of microfauna species went extinct. Because they were trying to help. What the fuck.
The team is silent. All team members look to Dr. Stone for guidance.
Lauren Stone: I haven't been fully honest with you, but at this point, I need to come clean. Command told us that we needed to sit on our ass until they figured out what to do, and on top of that, they expressly forbid any research or care for Corey.
The crew begins to erupt in frustration, but is paused when Dr. Stone raises her hand.
Lauren Stone: However — I think that's stupid. There's no reason to listen to the people who hurt Corey, plus, we're here. We have our goals given to us directly by Fae, we joined this team because we believed in them. Even if WWS has forgotten their mission, we haven't. We will continue research into and caring for Corey until they come here and physically stop us. Of course, only if that is alright with everybody. If not, speak now.
The crew looks around at each other. Nobody moves to speak, nodding in assent and sharing in their plan.
Lauren Stone: Excellent. Our new priority one is to establish communication with Corey. Where are we with that Dr. Cooke?
Bradleigh Cooke: I've been trying to detect any regular seismic events or other astrological happenings that could indicate an attempt at communication, but I've had no success. I want to try and see if we can't build a strong radio transmitter and receiver; if we can send and receive at 52hz, maybe we can try and filter the static and noise into some pattern of communication?
Lauren Stone: Duke, can you help Bradleigh gather the parts he needs to finish that radio?
Bear 'The Duke' Ellington: Sure, I think we've got some spare mechanics down in the cargo bay. We can get that built in a day, maybe two tops.
Bradleigh Cooke: Once we have it built, it will still be a couple of days before I feel confident in declaring anything as an intentional communiqué. This might not even work, but it's our best lead.
Sarah Wilson raises her hand — the crew stares at her quizzically, before Lauren points to her.
Sarah Wilson: If it does work, can I be the first person to talk to Corey? As in a full conversation, not while you're trying to get it working Brad.
Lauren Stone: I think it would be a failure of the project if we didn't let a Wilson take the lead. Alright everybody, good work, let's keep it up!
Syntactic Analysis Report
Mission Day: 16 — Analyst: Bradleigh Cooke
Corey is a fascinating animal, with what seemed like almost no capacity for communication. We had tried to expose Corey to both visual and physical stimuli, but had no success. I must assume that while Corey is able to detect those stimuli in part, Perri tells me that they may be connected to a different nervous system entirely — an animal with separate systems, organized around need and use.
So we went back to how we first discovered Corey - 52hz radio waves.
To our delight, Corey hadn't stopped broadcasting on that frequency. Being even closer to the source, we had much more frequent and detailed transmissions - still static, however. But we were making progress.
I compared the original recordings that we had from back in the 2000s, to those we were taking now and noticed some similarities. I kept watching the sound waves of the noise and static, when I was struck by a thought. Maybe the duration, pitch shift and rhythm could be Corey's form of communicating.
I started programming a language model into a digital translator, looking for any patterns that I could see. Nothing was working - so I decided to try and talk back to Corey. We didn't have any clue how to say anything, so we started by transmitting the same static noise back — hopefully mimicry would let Corey know we were trying to communicate.
We powered on the transmitter, and waited. Corey has a routine pattern, of sending out a specific signal of static once per cycle. Once we received the transmission, we sent the same noise back at 52hz.
Corey responded. He kept sending transmission after transmission, repeating the same pattern of noise, over and over and over again. With what we know now, that segment of static translates to a single idea.
'Friend'.
I'm not sure how he did it, but Bradleigh has managed to figure out a way of communicating with Corey. We can talk to him over the radio waves, and Bradleigh has set up a system where we are able to speak, and his translation algorithm will generate a set of static noise that is the best approximation of what we said, so we can transmit that to Corey.
From the initial testing reports it seems like it's working — now we just need to try it out in full.
Tomorrow Sarah is going to try and talk to Corey for the first time. If this works, we should be able to ensure that however we are caring for Corey, he is better for it.
ARK-2 Science Terminal
Sarah Wilson: Hello. Can you hear me Corey?
Corey: HELLO. COREY. YOU. QUESTION.
Sarah Wilson: My name is Sarah, and we've come a very long way to talk to you.
Corey: SARAH. HERE. NOW. METHOD. HUNT. LOCATION. COREY. QUESTION.
Sarah Wilson: Do you remember sending a message out and talking to somebody before me?
Corey: YES. FRIEND. BLUE.
Sarah Wilson: Yes! You were talking to ol' Blue! My grandmother heard your message, and we've been flying through space for 400 years to come meet you!
Corey: OTHERS. BEFORE. COREY. DEATH. YOU. QUESTION.
Sarah Wilson: No, that wasn't us Corey. That was… they were just trying to help. But they didn't ever try and talk to you, did they?
Corey: NO. TALK. ONLY BLUE. FRIEND.
Sarah Wilson: Would you like to be my friend Corey?
Corey: FRIEND. YES. YES. FRIEND. FRIEND. YES. YES. YES. YES.
Sarah Wilson: Haha, okay! Yeah, let's be friends!
Corey: FRIEND. QUESTION.
Sarah Wilson: What is it Corey?
Corey: BLUE. FRIEND. QUESTION.
Sarah Wilson: I don't understand - are you asking if I am like Blue?
Corey: NO. BLUE. NO. TALK. QUESTION.
Sarah Wilson: Oh.
Corey: FRIEND. SARAH. HERE. QUESTION.
Sarah Wilson: Hi Corey, yes I'm still here. Sorry, I was just trying to think of the right answer.
Corey: ANSWER. BLUE. QUESTION.
Sarah Wilson: Ol' Blue was a whale that lived on Earth, where humanity used to be. But things went bad, and we had to escape the planet. We have to leave; we had to move into space. On Earth, things got worse. Blue… Blue died right before we took off.
Corey: BLUE. DEATH.
Sarah Wilson: I'm so sorry Corey, did you have other friends before me?
Corey: ONLY. BLUE. ONLY. UNDERSTAND. COREY.
Sarah Wilson: Well we can understand you now Corey. And we're here to make things better for you, okay?
Corey: YES. FRIEND. YES. YES.
END OF TRANSMISSION
Note: After researchers had finished communicating with Corey for the day, the following transmission was detected from Corey. Based on triangulation, the signal was aimed at Earth. A translation of the signal is as follows:
Corey: BLUE. DEATH. ONLY. FRIEND. GOODBYE.
Supercritter Profile: Corey!
Overview!
Nickname
Corey
Formal name
Messier 1, NGC 1952, Taurus A
Primary oversight
ARK-2
Approx. size
450″ × 310″
Radius
~9.8 ly
Location
6500±1600 ly
Features!
Corey is alive, and that's not even the most impressive thing about him. Corey is a Core Nebula, located across the galaxy from our old home on earth. Nearly 100,000 times more powerful than our sun was, Corey can intentionally send out radiation throughout the galaxy, across the known electromagnetic spectrum, while also simulcasting on multiple different wavelengths. On top of that, Corey demonstrates complete control over its four magnetic poles, able to move celestial bodies throughout its zone of influence purely through the manipulation of the magnetic field it generates! Visually, Corey is stunning, and is never exactly the same in photographs.
Up close and personal, the void at the center of Corey explodes out into a sea of vibrant colors and lifeforms. Echoes of azurite, chalcopyrite, creedite, carnelian and peridot crash apart into a cacophony of visual delight - from up close, the colors are always shifting, bending with the light in a dance. The colors can indicate Corey's mood - green tones are joy, so that is the color we most often see!
Looking even closer into Corey, he is a veritable cradle of creation, filled with Twenty-Four Sextillion different species of Macrofauna, microfauna and fauna of all sizes! Incredibly, these species consist of nearly 1,000,000 distinct and unique body plans! Compare this to Earth's miniscule 36, you can see just how much of a biological treasure trove Corey is.
The best part about Corey? Thanks to ARK-2's translator, we can talk directly with Corey! He has emotions, feelings, and a full understanding of every part of him. He's a charming old soul and always wants to make sure that you're okay and enjoying being in his miasmic clouds. Plus, he's always looking to make new friends!
Personnel Listing!
Ecological Report!
As you may know, WWS and The Supervisors had created a care plan that was executed and abandoned while we were in flight. What you may not know, was that due to poor management, distributed guilt and a poor exit strategy, Corey suffered from this care. When we arrived, it was covered in trash and the ecosystem was on the edge of collapse.
Since then, we have managed to help clean up Corey, restoring the rest of its state to its natural form. While there are still some long term effects as caused by the misguided care, the ecosystem has started the process of fully correcting itself and stabilizing. We are reminded again that, in almost every situation, some critters are just better off without human intervention.
Special Notes and Accommodations!
Corey is happy in his corner of space, but we help keep it clean. We help clean up debris after asteroid storms, and are able to respond to a major crisis, however, we leave most of that to Corey so as to not harm the delicate balance of his ecosystems.
Corey does love to play games with us though! In between talking with the researchers, he loves to play guessing games, learning new words, and a rousing round of meteor catch! As long as Corey has somebody to talk to, we'll be able to stay and study him for a long, long time.
ARK-2 Main Terminal
ARK-1 has received your transmission of the file 'Supercritter Profile: Corey_Fixed.pdf'.
>Dr. Stone, what is the meaning of this file? Your orders forbade researching the core nebula.
>Explain yourself.
Would you like to like to keep this channel open, Dr. Stone?
>quit
END TRANSMISSION
