One-shot. Enjoy.

Butterfly

Witness of Universe

Create.

Existence is woven slowly and patiently. Every second means billions and billions new weaves, the result of absorbed work preformed by humongous numbers of small nanofleas, jumping here and there, with precision laying paths that in future will be backbone of new being.

Nucleus of it is round, silver-white structure slightly larger than clenched fist, where already a flame burns, but not yet awakened to full potential of Being. If you would like to compare it by power, you would have a problem. It is so similar to flame that burns in every of us, yet so distantly, disturbingly alien.

Outside of sphere there are created a new layers of peripherals, composing a many meters thick... tissue. It is not made from familiar carbon polymers, constituting organic chemistry. It is not body or bone, not metal alloys, carbon nanotubes or ceramic foam. This is tissue, which weaves has no name in human language.

In the meantime body framework is forming in nearby place, whom will serve for willpower of new Being. Future house is long and bulgy, resembling strange, shape-morphing cigar. It is equipped with receptors and effectors, constructed a power source, matter is woven with precision, where every atom is billed, every erg on account, every quantum counted.

While there are completely different constructions, they are build the same way. That is how corral reefs grows, how child grows in mothers womb. And also this is how Butterfly is born: unfamiliar with its progenitors, blind Being spinning in nucleus, trying to catch something - only and one instinct given to it in its present state. This is a buzzing of unfinished neuronal nanonetworks, a scream of unborn ego. All works already, weaves on fly, establishes new connections, creates new, increasingly complicated structure following project given long ago. This is program that in itself is mind, overseer and worker building a temple of Mind.

However, the impulses are not suffice. Time comes for needed metaorganisation. Blind finally hooks something. A shell opens before him, signals run into a new, gigantic space, overflowing in flood of impulses that ripples like sea of chaos for long nanoseconds. Nevertheless, as the time goes by, this chaos begins to vanish, woven network gives him direction, sense and goal. Being achieve

Transcendence

because now burning flame knows that he is a burning flame. And knows that he will be something more.

Butterfly is connected. And gains knowledge. Learns. Discovers terrifying and horrific, wondrous and amazing things. He is not only being. In order of Reality he is only very small, very weak part. He was created to make difference, add another element together with many, many other forms like himself... kinsmen, whom are endlessly woven in Factory, taught and released to fulfill Goal.

You want it. Butterfly discovers that he wants it. He is not discouraged by awareness of that he was constructed exactly in that way to feel this particular desire. He learns about details of his own construction, his own weaving with lustful indifference, as another component of Knowledge. He learns about cosmos, discovers in what Reality exists, what strange places will visit, what states of Existence will explore, what nightmares will register with perfect indifference of Inquirer. Because this is what he is for, this is goal of his existence, to gather informations for his Creators... but he will never meet Them.

This makes Butterfly wants to know even more about Them. And teachers, being only quasiminds of ancient databases, tell him all they know. They lecture on about a cold sea of distant world, where in the sky are two weak, constantly flashing suns, very, very, very many revolutions ago. They sing about emergent wonder, life, which created itself on bottom of the sea, in underwater hot springs, crept out on carbon sand beach, forever washed by ammonia gunge. It radiated everywhere, creating many amazing various forms. They whisper about light of self-awarenesses in multifaceted eyes, about rabid wars and screaming weapons shattering elements, creating radiation disease in amount unbearable even for these ancestors of Creators. However, they survived and stand test of time. Discovered things with effort of hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands and hundred of thousands revolutions that Butterfly learns in fraction of second. Appreciate it. Went out from cradle of homeworld, crawled among neighborhood stars, like life crept, ascended from black, dense sea. They knew more, developed mode, became more skilled - until they crossed threshold and became more than Butterfly will ever be. Don't grieve; bigger can create smaller, smaller - bigger. This was power bigger than anything imaginable, when ancestors of Creators became Creators themself, throwing away now unneeded shell of atoms, morphing to a new level of Existence. This was maybe another, maybe not first, for sure not last, but in some sense - final Transcendence.

This is why Butterfly will never meet Creators, but still he can serve them in humble way, registering existence, watching the Universe, looking at it as it really is. Only one kind of faith was ever experienced by this Inquirer - faith in the Reality.

Teaching lasted many revolutions of multicolored, banded world, where on its orbit there is the Factory. Butterfly has known from a long time he was born under light of puffed giant colored like rusty iron. This is morbidly obese and ancient star, releasing and leaving monstrous quantities of matter. It is full of new, forged in thermonuclear fire elements, that fraction is now in paths and weaves of Butterfly. This knowledge satisfies and pleases him. But it is not enough. Butterfly wants to know. Butterfly desires to go out and to Witness Universe. Patience.

At the end of learning only one thing is left: Sleep. For the first and the last time in life Butterfly was to fall asleep, works out all that he knew, become disconnected and enter a new body, that he already knew each cubic picometer inside out.

It was the most risky moment in life. Inquirer could never awaken. Could fall into madness and destroy knowledge of his own structure of consciousness. In that case tissue would be unwoven, flame of mind extinguished and matter reused. But still Awakening was performed very, very far away, beyond ring of ice bodies orbiting this star. Powers of Butterfly, while being next to nothing in comparison to Creators, still could caused serious trouble for Factory, if they got out of control. Butterfly learned some time ago about terrifying flash that spreaded certain different Factory, when deranged kin of Butterfly started fight with Security. Before tissue was violently torn and screaming mind vanished in non-existence, many, many, very many beings went into void. Flash itself - united energy of energetic lances powerful as convulsions of dying sun - even today go through space, very slowly, as warning for someone... or mystery for somebody else, that barely get detected this signal, not knowing its real meaning.

But this Awakening was performed without slightest trouble. Awakened has already known his powers and learned them in simulators. However, now this what he registers is real, what he feels - is tangible. He has all sensors needed to register Reality on all levels - from electromagnetic radiation to structure of spacetime itself. He has at his command the powerful lances capable to burn whole worlds in hellish inferno, if he would wish it. He sung about his happiness and freedom, and his mission.

Go. Explore.

The place of Awakening was also the place where the journey begin. Now, Butterfly has the right to choose - first real, completely independent choice that only he will decide. Soon he will see things that no one before him seen. Soon he will register information that no one knows. He craves data, desires Knowledge, he wants to wallow in orgasm of Understanding. May be the new kinsmen will be told what Inquirer discovered. He wants nothing more in whole universe.

Butterfly's drive is a power from hell, modeled through million revolutions of technology of moving matter from one place to another in this universe. He is a gluttonous child of Knowledge who demand a tribute the food of Universe: energy more powerful than crashing of worlds, bigger than whole life of the star. Drive greedily swallows everything that it will be given to, almost without shedding a tear. Almost. Leak is incredibly small fraction of used energy, but in our spacetime will reveal as temporary opening an eye of chaos, monstrous flash. Factory and sleeping kinsmen are protected by shields - subatomic layer of matter stronger than neutronium alloy, lighter than shadow.

Like all before him, he choses place, that was not chosen by anyone - choice being ultimate, multiplied in space and time version of traveling salesman problem. He informed about his choice and next choices, so his kins will know where not to come. He gathered all of the energy on his disposal, to use it to get even more energy, and more, and more, and more, that each level bigger by many orders of magnitude than previous. Then he warped spacetime with ease of child chewing gum. Twisted it into strange, multidimensional shape, resembling a sculpture created by god of madness. And Jumped.