Case TARKIN DOCTRINE

Cetus
Type: Artificial Satellite
Primary Star: M3V (Red Dwarf)
Gravity: .75 g
Length: 2,500 km
Atmospheric Pressure: 1.5 atm
Atmospheric Composition: 2% Water Vapor, 3% Methane, 10% Carbon Dioxide, 15% Oxygen, 68% Nitrogen, 2% Argon
Temperature (Mean): 2 C
Day Length: N/A
Orbital Period: Variable
Satellite Of : Jonah
Gate Access: Cinder Gate

The short version is: We know what Cetus is. Questions of who, why and how elude us. And we're not entirely sure we want to know. The Cetus Gate was discovered by a routine check of library addresses for the Cinder operation, to ensure that nothing particularly dangerous was waiting just a quick wormhole away. While Cetus is probably very dangerous, it's probably too large to come through the gate. Initial reports indicated the discovery of an artificial structure, a bit like Wormwood, but this one clearly artificial. The walls were formed of some exotic polymers and carbon nanomaterials. It also seemed to indicate a gravitic force like a small terrestrial planet, and has an oppressive, humid atmosphere (which is, in turn, toxic to humans by default). The first assumption was that it was a structure built by an alien species to hold the gate. This both is, and isn't true. Long periods of scouting using drones and sensors have indicated what Cetus really is. This was confirmed by a scout team of Sentinels who were not pleased by what they saw, and several of them requested to be restored from backup after the mission. Firewall has classified this as Case TARKIN DOCTRINE. 

The long version is that Cetus is like a thing out of an old twencen sci-fi series. It appears to be a massive "ship" or artificial satellite, a couple thousand kilometers long (meaning it would cover a noticeable chunk of small planets like Mercury). And what this ship does is, for lack of a better term, eat planetoids. The sentinel team discovered this by finding what appears to be an observational window on the fore of the ship, and witnessed it's process. Currently consuming a dwarf planet Firewall has codenamed "Jonah", Cetus was named after the legendary sea monster (despite the fact that astronomically, it does not appear to be anywhere neat the constellation, Cetus). The ship is roughly cylindrical, with one end forming a giant "mouth", and the other end is a narrower port which seems to function for ejection. Exact details are hard to get however, as there does not appear to be a way to access the exterior from the passages connected to the gate, or the central span running through the ship. These interior passages almost seem like they were created by an organic algorithm, and seem to have some kind of arterial function - but nothing passes through them except the dense atmosphere. They have variable size, the largest being 4 or more meters across and roughly tubular in their own right, others are smaller than one meter and have undulating interior surfaces. The polymers the ship's interior is made from inhibit penetrating sensors, including X-rays, though passive electrical sense indicates some kind of power infrastructure which moves through the area around the tunnels. 

How it works, though, is probably the most unnerving (read: terrifying). As far as can be told through the observation windows and sensors, Cetus is powered by some kind of exotic gravitational drive. It latches onto and eats planets via a gravitic bessel beam technology, not dissimilar to the alien bots Firewall has been calling "Slouches" but on a much larger scale. It generates a shearing force in excess of the planetoid's own gravity and simply begins drawing up pieces of it's crust and then interior. Once inside the core axis, Cetus seems to seperate out what it wants, burning it as fuel or otherwise storing it, then matter it isn't interested in is discarded out the rear via repulsion beams. Since exterior instrumentation is not available, we can only make minimal optical guesses but it looks like Cetus prefers volatiles, rare metals and carbon compounds. The ejecta appears to be, oddly enough; radioactives, noble gasses, and certain metalloids, as well as other compounds we can't identify. Cetus appears to be able to propel itself through a combination of riding "tides" of gravity and somehow pushing itself using it's own manipulation. It's gravitic axis is also evenly cylindrical - even if you stood on the front, you'd be pulled down (or "up" if you were on the apparent underside) toward the center. Best guess for how the gate came to be inside it is that one of the bodies it "ate" had a Gate on it, and as we know they are particularly hard to destroy. The gate is almost like a parasite, or an infection on the interior of the craft. 

Details of Cetus' age, construction, creators and so on are all a mystery. Based on what can be seen from "observation windows" in the surface, there are several debris fields in this solar system which could be consumed planets - as many as four or five, depending on their size. From this range and our limited windows of observation, there also appears to be a partially destroyed terrestrial planet, possibly of previously Earthlike dimension, closer to the star, in what might have been a habitable region. It does appear, based on simulations of the debris clouds, that Cetus has a limited speed at which it can impulse itself around the system and has a cap on how much power it can use - this means that it probably cannot easily jump itself out of the system, nor defy conventional physics to arrive in another solar system in a timely manner. Based on this projected speed, it has been in this solar system for a few centuries. This, of course, makes the question of how it got into it's system a bit of a mystery nobody particularly wants to answer. Nor do we want to know how Cetus knows where to "feed" next. It has no wireless transmissions or any particular readings which indicate a central intelligence point or command center. And the only thing audible inside the ship itself is the steady, pulsing thrum of the bessel engine working. Firewall has developed several contingency plans should Cetus or any new subjects for Case TARKIN DOCTRINE be found to be an imminent threat. This might be hard, however, as the exterior is projected to be very hardened and the gravitic drive seems to warp local gravity which might deflect projectile energy. 

In conclusion, Cetus is existentially terrifying, but unlikely to cause any Transhumans other than my research team any serious problems - it's just further evidence we're small fish in a very, very large pond, and Cetus probably isn't anywhere close to the biggest fish. 

Though some of my pragmatics colleagues on Cinder have wondered if a TITAN world-brain project like Iapetus seemed to be would be able to do much vs a TARKIN DOCTRINE subject...

-Blue Mab, Firewall Crow

SIDEBAR: TARKIN DOCTRINE SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT

OP NECRONOMICON EYES ONLY

Well, it cost us a few asyncs and some resources, but the little "think tank" circle operation was a success - in a sense. We've got new intel about Cetus which might be useful. For opsec the six members brought in will use codenames, Alpha through Zeta. 

Gamma was the most immediately helpful, probably should have tipped me off. He was able to make predictions about the pattern of the arterial passages which we verified with mapping drones. He also said that it seemed like the structure was based on a mathematical principle, but not an original one, it was mimicking something else. No way to prove it, but might be relevant. He said he was going to try and walk the passages to see if there were any more clues. Could hours later we lost his signal. Turns out he smuggled in a plasma cutter and tried to get into the walls. All that was left was a blackened corpse, just a carbonized shell. We didn't tell him we knew it had a self-defense mechanism like a bug zapper. 

Alpha was the most cryptic. She kept touching the walls with her bare hands, speaking in bad poetry. Something about how Cetus would eat the stars, and through it flowed the blood of planets and it being a life-drinker or something. She seemed to think Cetus was partially organic, or had an organic mind in it. Well, she called it a soul but claimed it was something she could sense, psionically. Unfortunately somebody else will have to pick her stack for more details, as after a while she seemed to break. She got a nosebleed and started ranting about the "Worldeater's brood" and that it's sire would come hunting for those who "bled it" and it "feasted on civilizations melancholia". Since she was getting violent and disturbing the other operatives, security dropped her and took her back to the gate. 

Beta and Zeta weren't very helpful, but at least stayed reasonable. I guess this was outside their normal areas of expertise. They marveled a lot at Cetus symmetry though, but also on it's non-symmetrical portion. I'm not sure how much is supposition and how much was Psi, but they both agreed it was probable that Cetus was designed, at least, by an organic race or if it was built by an alien AI, they were clearly mimicking something known to their own creators. Possibly something aquatic? They couldn't agree between themselves if it was some kind of war-machine or just a ludicrous mining drone. 

Delta has straight up vanished. Security has been advised to treat them as a risk if they run into Delta. Supplies in particular are being closely watched. I expect drones will find a corpse in a few days unless they can acquire some water. What exactly was Delta's MOS again?

Epsilon stayed close to me most of my survey. She insisted on telepathically linking to me, and it was an... unusual experience. Never felt like that outside of infomorph working groups. Her insights flowing straight to my mind helped me concept some things, but I think she was probing for something from me as well. I lost track of her while disposing of Gamma's body. Last we got was a transmission which appeared to emerge from the core axis, where the gravitic beam was. The message was about as useful as "my god it's full of stars" and is cut off part way - we think she was destroyed by gravitic shear. I've had forensic drones trying to find out how she accessed the core area, something we haven't been able to do, but have so far not been able to find any sign of her. It was progress in a sense, but I can't figure out what data she had to make it on her own. Do I have it and just don't know it?

I think I need some time off the case, too. I've been dreaming about Epsilon. She tries to speak to me, but I can't understand her - it's like we're trying to talk underwater. Last night, I took some stuff which is supposed to help make dreams lucid - I tried to speak back. But when I did, I tasted the liquid we were in, it tasted like blood. I still couldn't understand, or be understood. Don't know what it means. Then my dream got esoteric: I dreamed of sharks made of starlight swimming through the Milky Way. Their stomachs were singularities, and their teeth were plasma. They kept swimming, devouring all the smaller, more sedentary fish they came across. Only the fish were alien worlds, with architecture and technology like I'd never seen. But they could not stop, because something was hunting them. The only thing I can think about the dream is "What the fuck scares sharks?"

-Blue Mab, Firewall Crow