Dr. Veyla adjusted the drone\u2019s viewport, scanning the tundra of Eidon-IV. Ice stretched endlessly, save for the black spires jutting from below. The spires had appeared overnight\u2014organic, pulsing. <\/p>\n
A comm alert flashed. “Surveyor Veyla, report. The anomaly grows.” <\/p>\n
She hesitated. The spires weren’t just growing\u2014they were mimicking her equipment. A tendril now resembled her drone\u2019s antenna. Another, her own gloved hand. <\/p>\n
She reached out. The nearest mass quivered and reshaped, a crude reflection of her face. Understanding flickered behind its shifting features. Not invasion. Not mindless growth. <\/p>\n
Replication. <\/p>\n
Veyla exhaled. How do you negotiate with something that doesn\u2019t know if it\u2019s separate from you? She keyed her comm. \u201cIt\u2019s not an anomaly. It\u2019s learning.\u201d <\/p>\n
Silence. Then: \u201cTerminate it.\u201d <\/p>\n
The spires shivered. They weren\u2019t weapons\u2014yet. Veyla raised her torch, hesitating. If they mirrored destruction, what would they become? <\/p>\n
She lowered the torch. \u201cI think we should teach it something else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s not invading. It\u2019s becoming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction","category-scifi"],"_wp_attached_file":null,"_wp_attachment_metadata":null,"_thumbnail_id":"1184","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}