SPC-179: GLORIOUS BEACON

"To you come the monsters. The pounding fists of the void, The longing gods beyond our knowledge— Like Selachian entities. …excuse me?"


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NOTICE FROM THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE COORDINATION AND PROJECTS OPERATION COMMAND OFFICE


Centre personnel are reminded that non-GLORIOUS BEACON signals produced by SUN SISTER are to be handled by other agencies until GLORIOUS BEACON signals have been resolved. All personnel are encouraged to undergo preliminary screenings for inclusion in the Stellar Pugilism Corps.

—Dr. August Solstice, Boxercrat, CICAPOCO

PROJECT: SPC-179 STATUS: ACTIVE

Selachian Pugnātorial Capabilities



SPC-179 is an early-warning system used to identify extraterrestrial and extrasolar Selachian targets. It is the most reliable early detection system the Centre uses for otherwise unobservable Selachian entities. Information produced by SPC-179 is to be freely shared with the Navigations Unseen1, the Liberated Cetacean Union, and other trustworthy public-facing organizations as determined by CICAPOCO.

SPC-179 produces data extraneous to the Centre's mission, and allied organizations will aid in the resolution of junk data to allow Centre personnel to remain focused on their primary objective. Furthermore, it is believed that public understanding of the universal nature of Selachian threats will increase support and recruitment for the Centre. To this end, GLORIOUS BEACON is to be promoted through all available media channels as a symbol of humanity's role in the universe.


Specific Project Components


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Approximate location of component SUN SISTER.

SPC-179 consists of a Deviant-Class humanoid entity (self-identified as Sauelsuesor, code named SUN SISTER) located at a constant distance of approximately 40,000 km from Sol, and Centre Solar Orbital Station-179, which houses the infrastructure necessary to observe the entity and a diplomatic corps for negotiations with the entity.

Sauelsuesor is sensitive to all radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum, intelligent (but often uncooperative2) and able to communicate through multiple Deviant means. Before Centre contact, most recorded movements performed by Sauelsuesor related to mundane matters.

Sauelsuesor currently manifests two signals for indicating threats: a pointed finger for mundane threats,3 and GLORIOUS BEACON for extraterrestrial and interstellar Selachian threats.

When more than one threat is detected, Sauelsuesor will generate additional limbs identical to its arms as needed. For approximately 50% of the time Sauelsuesor is manifesting GLORIOUS BEACON, she will also make a rude gesture towards Centre Solar Orbital Station-179, manifesting a limb if necessary4.

The limits to Sauelsuesor's Selachian pinpointing capabilities currently remain unknown. Currently, ███ GLORIOUS BEACON signals are directed towards regions of interstellar space that have not yet produced evidence of Selachian entities. The Centre has increased its budget allocations for interstellar spaceflight propulsion & craft and spaceborne pugilism & combat and is actively seeking recruits willing to punch where no sentient has punched before.

At any given moment, Sauelsuesor also manifests an average of ██ additional limbs. These limbs indicate the existence of other spaceborne threats to terrestrial life, which are to be handled by external organizations so the Centre can focus on its primary mission.

Initial contact logs with Sauelsuesor have been preserved in order to aid future Centre personnel assigned to the project in understanding her Deviant-class psychology. Personnel are advised that the following logs may be distressing. Any personnel with a score of 20 or less on the Selachian Resistance Index should avoid reading the following logs unless absolutely necessary.

Contact 1:

Nephthys Mobydick was selected due to her knowledge of French and familiarity with zero-G navigation5. Agent Mobydick was outfitted with a Spatial Orientation Coordination Chassis (SOCC), an experimental spacesuit with pugilistic enhancements developed as an extension of SPC-3871, SPC-████, and SPC-█████.

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Agent Nepthys Mobydick performing zero-G training exercise.

[EXTRANEOUS DIALOGUE EXPUNGED]

Agent Mobydick: So, Sauelsuesor… about the nature of these threats you identify…

Sauelsuesor: To you come the monsters. The pounding fists of the void, The longing gods beyond our knowledge—

Agent Mobydick: Like Selachian entities.

Sauelsuesor: …excuse me?

Agent Mobydick: Selachian entities. Often grey, lots of teeth, rough skin? Squaliformes? Do you know other languages? I can try the words in—

Sauelsuesor: I am the lookout. I stare upon the stars, beyond the reach of your weary satellites, beyond the home, our home. Yet here you come, asking me about sharks—

Agent Mobydick: Selachian Entities, please. Can you? Point out Selachian Entities?

Sauelsuesor: You want me to pledge my sight-know to you, so you alone can… punch sharks. I love all things upon the home, our home. All that I know. All that I see. And yes, that includes sharks. So here I will remain, besides my brother, my only equal. I shall behold threats and warn. And I will not target sharks.

At this point, Agent Mobydick terminated the communication, requesting psychological counseling and additional time to research avenues of persuasion. The request was granted.

Contact 2:

After extensive analysis of Sauelsuesor's dialogue to remove possible memetic contagion6 Agent Mobydick requested the use of additional projects as a means of compelling Sauelsuesor's cooperation with the Centre's mission. This request was approved.

Agent Mobydick: Hello, Sauelsuesor!

Sauelsuesor: Hello, Nephthys. My answer is still no.

Agent Mobydick: Oh, that's not what this is about. I wanted to share some music with you. As a gift!

Sauelsuesor: I see all. I hear all. Your music is beautiful, and your words are music. But I have heard them all before.

Agent Mobydick: Please? Has anyone ever gotten you a gift before?

Sauelsuesor: No… Very well.

Agent Mobydick plays SPC-3733 to Sauelsuesor via earphones. The entity appears to nod its head in tune with the music. After cessation of SPC-3733, Sauelsuesor returns the earphones to Agent Mobydick.

Agent Mobydick: So… will you help us?

Sauelsuesor: I am sorry. My answer remains no.

Agent Mobydick: What? But…

Sauelsuesor: I am not human. I am more. I am the sister of Sauel and his solar wind. Your music is very pretty, but I am beyond cognitohazards.

Agent Mobydick prepares to terminate the conversation.

Sauelsuesor: May I keep your music player? I would like discuss the possibility of forming a band with my brother.

Agent Mobydick: Sorry, this is my work phone.

Sauelsuesor is unresponsive to attempts by Agent Mobydick to continue conversation. Agent Mobydick returns to Centre Orbital Station-179. Agent Mobydick requests an additional phone to give to Sauelsuesor. Petition is denied because sound cannot travel in space.

Contact 3:

Agent Mobydick approaches Sauelsuesor. Sauelsuesor conspicuously turns to avoid Agent Mobydick, though her arms remain at fixed angles. Agent Mobydick uses the SOCC's thrusters to follow Sauelsuesor's path, maintaining eye contact. Eventually, Sauelsuesor manifests an additional limb and covers her eyes. Agent Mobydick signals Centre Orbital Station-179 that she will wait for additional actions from Sauelsuesor until her oxygen supply necessitates that she return. Agent Mobydick is about to signal Centre Orbital Station-179 of her return when she receives a transmission from Sauelsuesor.

Sauelsuesor: Are you still there?

Agent Mobydick: Yep!

Sauelsuesor: I am sorry, I cannot speak to you. My brother is entertaining guests.

Agent Mobydick: Oh. When will he be done?

Sauelsuesor: When the seas have run dry, and Nergal and Ereshkigal are spoken of no more.

Agent Mobydick: How many years is that?

Sauelsuesor: If I do my job right, several billion.

Sauelsuesor turns away from Agent Mobydick and refuses to speak any further. Agent Mobydick returns.

Proposals to temporarily drain the oceans of Earth were rejected as a violation of the Marianas Treaty of 1968 and likely to trigger the Third Benthic War against CYAN ABYSS. Proposals to erase the Mesopotamian deities Nergal and Ereshkigal from human history are pending have been deemed unnecessary given further developments.

Following Sauelsuesor's acknowledgement of solar-dwelling Apex Tier Pluripotent Deviant entities, the decision was made to contact Deviant entities with solar relations in the hope that one or more would be capable of interceding on the Centre's behalf. A table of the most notable contacts and results is below:

Entity Codename Contact Result
SPC-4997 "Surfer Dude who Pushes the Sun" Centre operatives attempted to communicate with SPC-499, but were unable to get his attention as he fell asleep after pushing his rock. Centre operatives resorted to Braille in SPC-499's path in order to send a message to the sun. While the sun appeared to jitter from terrestrial viewing locations, Centre Orbital Station-179 observed no signs of successful communication.
SPC-1543-J8 "The Sun Launcher" SPC-1543-J is currently under the possession of the secret society AWCY. When a proposal for use of SPC-1543-J was discussed (to send a strongly-worded letter into the sun), it was summarily rejected with the missive "Not cool, you shark punching dorks." The Centre's cryptography, neurology, memetics, antimemetics, noospherics, counterconceptualistics, linguistics, essophysics, pataphysics, and art departments have made the decryption of this message a top priority.
SPC-39659 "Dragon on Mercury that is Son of the Sun" SPC-3965 stated that trying to convince his father to influence his aunt's beliefs would be against Confucian values, and berated the Centre's agents for western chauvinism. It then stated that religious beliefs should rarely be taken literally.
SPC-2713-2-8 "Malina" SPC-2713-2-8 stated that Sauelsuesor was old enough to make her own decisions, that she was trying to hold down a job while being ill, that she barely knew Braille, and that frankly it was sexist to try and influence a young lady by talking to her brother. SPC-2713-2-8 refused to elaborate further, beyond saying that it was rude to discuss a lady's age when Centre personnel tried to tell her that the initial detection of SUN SISTER had been in the 1940s.
SPC-2270 "Nergal" Centre personnel attempted to establish contact with SPC-2270. The resulting incident was covered up as [LOOK AT THE NEWS AND GUESS]. While no progress regarding SUN SISTER was made, further dealings with Selachian Pugilist Candidate 2270 are being considered under Project SPC-2270.

Contact 4:

After the exhaustion of all alternative means of communication with the sun, Agent Mobydick was instructed to attempt conversation with Sauelsuesor again. Agent Mobydick needed to return to Centre Solar Orbital Station for additional oxygen three times before a response.

Sauelsuesor: I'm not talking to you.

Agent Mobydick: Sauelsuesor…

Sauelsuesor: I don't appreciate you gossiping with my brother's friends behind my back.

Agent Mobydick: (surprised) You know about that?

Sauelsuesor: He is my brother. He is my equal, as I am his. I behold what he has made. We share all that his light touches.

Agent Mobydick: So… what does that mean for us?

Sauelsuesor: I love you. I love all of you. That includes the Shark Punching Centre10, but that also includes the sharks. And the sharks never asked me to point at you. I love you, Nephthys Mobydick, but I don't think we should see each other anymore.

Agent Mobydick: Are you going to… to see sharks now?

Sauelsuesor does not respond to Agent Mobydick's question. Agent Mobydick waits for a response until her oxygen supply is finished. Agent Mobydick returns to Centre Solar Orbital Station-179.

Following the events of Contact 4, Agent Mobydick requested authorization to regularly visit Sauelsuesor and attempt to communicate. Request was granted.

After 3 months of regular visits, no further communications between Agent Mobydick and Sauelsuesor had occurred. CICAPOCO was reviewing the viability of continuing SPC-179. Extensive discussions between Centre psychologists, diplomats, and computer engineers determined that Sauelsuesor's potential Selachian pinpointing capabilities were too unique and potentially valuable to ignore.

As such, Agent Mobydick was briefed on basic conflict resolution and diplomacy and sent to approach Sauelsuesor again.

Contact 5:

[WAITING EXPUNGED]

Agent Mobydick: (tears in her eyes11) The truth is, Sauelsuesor, I feel like we got off on the wrong foot.

Sauelsuesor: You asked for too much. I could point out all the sharks in the solar system, and in doing so grow a billion limbs. In bringing you light, those I love would be blind to the world.

Agent Mobydick: …I brought you a gift. This time, you can keep it. And nothing on here will try to brainwash you.

Agent Mobydick hands Sauelsuesor an iPod.

Sauelsuesor: I accept this apology, but I hope you understand that I cannot, will not be yours. That my love is vast. My purpose, my duty, to be a lookout. What you ask—

Agent Mobydick: We were wondering if you were open to compromise!

Sauelsuesor: I was unaware the Centre knew the meaning of the word.

Agent Mobydick emits whalesong of pain. Sauelsuesor does not react to this.

Agent Mobydick: We have plenty of ways of finding terrestrial Selachian entities. And you've made it clear that you… you love them as much as you love everything else. But are there things you don't love?

Sauelsuesor: There is a sea of nothing and islands of light. I am their shore. I have told you of the monsters, of the gods hidden in the void. Of course there are some I cannot love. Of course there are some who seek only to destroy what I do love.

Agent Mobydick: And in the sea, surely some of the threats are… sharks?12

Sauelsuesor: (appearing distressed) …many. But if I am to point at the sharks between the stars, then the others that would destroy our home would go unnoticed, lost in a sea of hands.

Agent Mobydick: Well, what if you didn't point? What if…

Agent Mobydick raises her right flipper-arm and makes a fist.

Sauelsuesor makes a rude gesture. Agent Mobydick assumes her mission has failed and returns to Centre Solar Orbital Station-179 for debriefing. However, shortly after her return, Sauelsuesor manifests a limb pointing into deep space.

At the end of the limb is a fist.

The iconography of the outward-pointing fist has been designated GLORIOUS BEACON.


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