The ancient Old One Yatel had been transiting in the dense inner part of the Sxvy galaxy. He had
been on a personal expedition of first contact with a new race found deep in the inner region of the
massive collection of stars on the edge of the universe. Few from the Old Ones dared to take the
complex and dangerous journey. This transit required the maneuvering around a dynamically changing
maze of moving stars and uncharted massive debris. The discovery of life that triggered this dangerous
trip had been a highly unusual find. Experience had long proven that in this chaotic inner part of the
swirling mass , the density of stars and their unstable planets created conditions that hindered the
growth of life.

The discovery of advanced life in this part of the galaxy had been totally unexpected. A single signal
arrived at the Old Ones monitoring platform that was studying the great black hole at the center. The
design of the massive instrument extended over a light minute in diameter. Its massive design was
created to locate small signals that were hidden in the noise being received from the center of the
galaxy. As Yatel’s team was doing analysis of the data, a weak strange signal was discovered. The
direction of the signal pointed to a small star embedded deep in the galactic plane. The structure of the
signal was digital in nature and obviously from intelligent life.

The Old Ones had traveled the stars of the galaxy for many generations, but rarely in the inner
dense part. Their current technology was an ion engine that accelerated them to 99% the speed of light
by accessing the inter-dimensional energy fields. So while it would take time to reach this star, given the

long life of this ancient race combined with their technology to hibernate, it was perfectly acceptable.
However the risk dealt with the random motion of stars and associated clumps of matter forcing
constant and significant adjustments.

Yatel had long proven to be one of the most adventurous of the current living beings in their ancient
race. He was the first and only old one to plant sensors around the black hole at the center of the
galaxy. He had been the first to be caught up but escape a blue star transition. He had been the first to
come up with the design to encapsulate a yellow star to capture its energy output. He had specifically
designed his ship to maneuver in this complex environment under its own decision making ability
connected to Yatel’s mind. The unique design was of Yatel’s development and allowed him to stay in
hibernation but his mind was linked to the ship providing key decision making capability.
Given his adventurous spirit, upon the discovery of this unique signal Yatel quickly decided to take
on the task of making contact with this newly discovered civilization. Within a short time, he had
outfitted his small personal space craft and headed towards this new planet.

Ninety eight percent of the way into the trip to the new star, the ship slowed to a halt and Yatel was
awoken from his deep sleep. As he exited his sleep container, the ship was in a weapons exchange with
a strange ship designed like a large sphere. Yatel entered the control seat and surveyed the status
board. With the shields holding but slowly degrading, the ship continued its plasma exchange with the
unknown ship.

Yatel tried to hale the strange ship, but there was no response. When he surveyed the star system
his ship had entered, he found a planet that would perhaps support his life environment, although only
marginally. With a quick mental command, the ship accelerated towards the planet while continuing to
engage the following enemy ship.

The weapon systems and shield appeared to be evenly matched and neither was able to create
significant damage on the other ship although Yatel’s shields were showing signs of weakening. Yatel
directed a scan of the enemy ship to try and identify the number of alien life forms. To his great
surprise, he discovered no identifiable life forms within the enemy ships interior. The ship appeared to
be purely energy storage, weapons, engines and artificial intelligence.

Yatel’s ship accelerated towards the identified planet to find shelter and repower shields. As the
fight continued, Yatel rapidly approached the planet. His ship entered the atmosphere at a steep angle,
relying on the shields to protect the ship till it reached a lower atmospheric layer.

The planet was covered in a thick cloud layer. As Yatel’s ship entered the cloud layer, he noticed
that the strange ship had stopped following and had entered orbit around the planet. Yatel’s ship
continued heading towards the planet surface diving deep into the cloud cover. As his ship exited the
cloud layer, his sensors showed only minimal plant coverage on land and most of the planet was
covered with water.

Yatel noticed the attacking ship stayed in orbit, but followed his moves across the planet. Till he
could find a solution, Yatel had to bide his time. While working on a solution, he began a survey of the
planet looking for any life or a possible landing location; only minimal plant life could be observed. As
his flight took him towards a tall mountain range in the northern part of the planet, suddenly his sensors

indicated a building in a valley within the rough mountain range. As he approached, he found a flat
area with a tower rising from the center. No other indications of life could be found so with a mental
command, the ship came to a hovering stance, meters away from the tower.
The sensor scan showed no doors or other points of entrance, the tower appeared to be solid. As
the ship scanned below the tower, he could see that the tower extended deep into the planet and past
its rocky mantel into the liquid core. Seeing no way in to the tower, Yatel decided to continue the
search.

While waiting for a full energy recharge, Yatel surveyed the planet and found eighty different
towers. All were the same; all had extensions deep into the planet’s liquid core. The towers were
evenly distributed around the surface of the planet. Some were located in the oceans where the upper
part of the tower extended above the rolling waves, while others were located on land.

“Sxxtia (Yatel had named his computer and by reference his ship Sxxtia for companionship), what do
you make of these towers?”

“There is marginal energy flow from the towers. The plant life is fairly recent and seems to be
related to tower locations. Scans show water based plant life is growing around the towers in the
oceans.”

“Given the location of the planet Sxxtia, I wonder why we don’t see more indications of collisions
with meteors or comets. There is an abundance of excess material in this system. I would expect to see
plenty of indications of collisions, but I observe few craters on the surface.”

“Yatel, given the distribution of the towers, they appear to be able to cover all possible approaches
to the planet.”

“Do you think they are some type of planetary protection device?”

“Yes, the indications do appear to provide that conclusion.”

“Sxxtia, compute a probability that this planet is being terraformed.”

After a short period of time, the computer responded. “Probability is 72% that the planet is being
terraformed. I can sense a field coming from the towers that permeates the ground and appears to
encourage plant growth. The plant growth will over time change the atmosphere creating greater
oxygen.”

“Other than our target planet where we think the signal came from, have you sensed any other
location that could be involved in terraforming in this area?”

“No, Yatel. It appears that our target planet is the most likely source for the terraforming program.”

Yatel continued his movement around the planet as he considered tactics to leave the planet. If the
planet is being terraformed, it is highly likely that the ship in orbit is here to interact with the work
underway.

“Yatel, I have new information.”

“Yes Sxxtia, go ahead.”

“I have determined that there is an asteroid headed towards the planet and should arrive soon. I
have plotted the course and expected impact time.”

After a moment of thought, Yatel responded. “Thank you Sxxtia, please position us on the outer
edge of the expected impact zone.”

The ship shifted its current course and headed for the southern part of the planet. After a short
flight, the ship hovered over water not far from a small island where a tower was mounted.
Yatel monitored the approaching asteroid and noticed that the orbiting ship had positioned itself
significantly away from the approach pattern. This created an opening for Yatel to plan an escape route.
When the asteroid approached the upper atmosphere, Yatel engaged his engines to shoot up the
side of the incoming asteroid. As his engines pushed the ship faster towards the massive mountain of
rock, there was an unplanned event.

“Yatel, there is a significant energy buildup in the local tower. I expect that the tower will direct
some form of energy pulse towards the asteroid.”

Yatel had expected this, but knew that a risk was present. As Sxxtia pushed the engines to the
maximum acceleration, the ship quickly approached the asteroid that was encountering heavy friction,
shedding small rocks the size of ten of Yatel’s ships.

With Sxxtia passing the asteroid, at the critical moment, the tower struck with a massive plasma
beam. The effects were two fold. First, the push on the asteroid caused the massive material to begin
to slow down. The second effect was to rip off parts of the asteroid forcing increased shedding of
material.

Sxxtia was being slammed by massive rocks and shedding material, slowing the assent of the Old
Ones ship as it attempted to dodge the shedding material. Yetal worked with the Sxxtia to attempt to
dodge as much as possible and blast other pieces. Suddenly a beam attack struck the ship from the
orbiting robot ship. Sxxtia returned fire in an attempt to keep the attacking ship at bay while still
dodging and blasting debris shed by the asteroid.

The odds of survival were quickly falling for Yatel when suddenly the asteroid exploded. Sxxtia’s
shields were not strong enough to stop everything and the ship took an excessive pounding. Sxxtia had
reached beyond the central mass of the asteroid and as such, the explosion hit the ship from the back
side.

“Yatel, we are losing our ion engines. The shield is collapsing.”

“Push it as long as you can, we need to get outside the solar system to evade further attacks from
the ship.”

“Not sure if the engine will survive, but will push it as long as possible.”

As the ship accelerated, it could be observed that the engine was not working to maximum
efficiency. The plasma exchanges continued between the planetary protection ship and Sxxtia as the
acceleration headed them out of the solar system.

With the planet falling behind them, the planetary ship slowly backed off and finally left them alone.
Sxxtia continued to monitor damage and provide feedback to Yatel.

After exiting the solar system, Yatel decided he needed to see if he could repair the engine. “Sxxtia
give me a summary of the problems, I plan to take a space walk and see what I can repair”.

“The plasma nozzle is damaged, the ionization chamber has a leak and the intake chamber has been
clog with excess rocks from the asteroid.”

“Ok, not sure I can fix all of this, but let’s see what I can do.”

Yatel put on his space suit, picked up a repair kit and added some extra equipment from the storage
locker as he prepared to exit the ship. As the air lock opened, he could see damage from both the rocks
that penetrated the force field along with blast patterns that had only been partially blocked by the
shields.

Exercising the suit transport jets, he slowly moved to the back of the ship. “Sxxtia, please make sure
the ion engine is fully locked down.”

“Yes, Yatel, I have fully locked down the ion engine.”

Yatel began to look at the ion chamber and quickly saw where a small rock had damaged the outer
metal shield of the ion chamber. Repair work began.

After a grueling hour of work, he had been able to repair the ion chamber and worked out the major
dent in the engine nozzle. He didn’t know if it would hold, but it was better than when he started. He
next headed to the front of the ship to look at the collection chamber problem.

Upon reaching the front of the ship, his growing spirits were dashed. The collection chamber was
full of debris and the lower walls were split open with major ruptures. He did some work to try and
clear out some of the major rocks, but he was running out of atmosphere and there was still significant
work to be done. Yatel headed back to the air lock and entered back into the ship.

“Sxxtia, it doesn’t look good old friend. I’m not sure I can repair the front collection chamber.”

“I will consider the matter and work on an option. Meanwhile, I will recharge your suit. You need to
rest.”

“Thank you Sxxtia, I will rest for a while and think on the matter as well.”

After a rest period, options were discussed. “Yatel, I have been able to strengthen the shields. I
have run tests on the ion chamber and it appears to be back to 100 percent and the output nozzle while
not perfect seems to be sufficient. However without the collection chamber, it doesn’t matter. Can we
place some small charges to clear the chamber?”

“I have been thinking the same thing. How many nano explosives do we have?”

“We currently have twenty in the storage locker. If you can provide me with a camera view, perhaps
I can help you to place the charges properly.”

“Let’s see what we can do.”

Yatel, again donned his space suit and after a short trip was again at the intake chamber. This time
he wore a helmet imager that would feed Sxxtia. Between the two of them, the nano explosives were
positioned and triggers enabled. Yatel retreated back to the air lock and once inside, Sxxtia triggered
the explosives.

The ship rocked with the ignition of the explosives and after a short wait, Yatel traveled again to the
collection chamber. The results were grim, while the major rocks previously locked into the chamber
were pulverized; the interior of the chamber had major destruction. Yatel slowly drifted into the
chamber and began the job of cleaning up as much as possible.

When Yatel got to the inner filter, it was totally destroyed. Yatel removed the filter and decided to
take it back inside and see if he could figure out a way to repair it when a warning came from Sxxtia.
“Yatel, I sense motion of incoming mass. It is traveling fast so I am trying to get a better fix on it.”

As Yatel wrapped up his efforts, he drifted towards the air lock, Sxxtia announced, “We have a
problem, there is a major incoming meteor shower and the shield will not stop all of them.”
“How long do we have.”

“Sorry, less than one minute.”

Yatel rushed towards the air lock, but as he was entering, the meteorite field hit the ship and he
could feel pain as multiple hits on his suite took place before the air lock door closed.
“Yatel, are you ok? Your vital signs appear to be dropping.”

“I have taken a few hits, let me get out of the suit and I can find out better.”

“There has been a breach of the hull, we are losing atmosphere. I am attempting to repair.”

When Yetal removed the space suit, he oozed heavily from the trunk of his body and knew it was
not a good sign. Yatel crawled to his bed and pulled out the medical kit. While he attempted to stem
the flow, he knew there was little chance left of survival. Between the serious injury and the damage to
the ship, he could see no way that he would survive.

The last decision was made when Sxxtia announced “Sorry Yatel, not all the breaches of the hull can
be repaired, we are continuing to lose atmosphere.”

He decided there was only one thing left to be done. “Sxxtia my old friend, prepare the bloom
chamber.”

“Yes, Yatel, it is ready.”

Yatel reached into the medical kit and pulled out the gold injector. With a steady hand he held the
injector to his body and pushed the plunger. As he finished the injection with his final move, he reached
with his left arm and placed it within the entrance to the bloom chamber and with his last sigh
“Goodbye my friend” as the entrance sealed around his arm.

It was one thousand star cycles later before The Old Ones had extended their technology enough to
safely maneuver through the inner parts of the galaxy. During one such expedition, the Old Ones ship
discovered Yatel’s damaged ship. The ship had maintained the force field as best as it could. It had
been good enough for the ship to survive despite loss of atmosphere.

In the star cycles of time, the ancient race had progressed to being able to jump between stars
using dimensional shifts. With the new technology, they were able to take the trek to the inner system
and track down the missing ancient.

The mystery of the ancient story ended when they found Yatel’s ship drifting on the outer edge of a
star with a planet that was just reaching a livable condition. On the planet, they found the remains of a
failed attempt to build a new civilization with only small remains of life, but no significant intelligence.
Not far away was the star system where Yatel had been planning to investigate.

When they sent a robot to investigate, they found the planet destroyed, probably not long after
Yatel’s death. It appeared that the planet’s star had connected with another star and the dual stars had
destroyed any life that the planet previously held. Where or how the race had evolved would ever be an
unsolved mystery.

With the discovery, they were able to piece together the final events of Yatel’s life. The one positive
of finding his ship was the discovery of the preserved pods. When the ship was discovered, one
hundred forty five seed pods were discovered preserved in a protected compartment that in ancient
times was known as a bloom chamber. Yatel had seen his life coming to an end and protected the pods
that were released in the final stages accelerated by the special injection known as the “Bloom of
Death”.

The computers needed to complete the Master Plan computations. The pod which was the focus
was the last of the one hundred forty five used to develop a being added to the Old Ones race. This was
the last remaining pod from the great ancient Yatel, some of the most treasured pods in the ancient
race’s history. The overseer had to hurry, the design of the new member of the race was dependent on
this critical computation and time to inject the necessary DNA changes was running short.

While Jxy examined the DNA of the pod, he patiently waited. This master geneticist had worked at
this position for most of his life, a life that had seen more than one hundred civilizations within the
galaxy of Sxvy requiring movement to be protected. Most of the ship managers involved in those one
hundred civilization movements had been designed by Jxy. He was master at his craft, his keen ability to
interpret the outputs of the Master Plan were uniquely recognized within this ancient race.
While he had worked with a number of pods created by dying Old Ones, every one of the pods
coming from the great Yatel had developed to be major leaders and great ship managers within the
ancient race. This was the last of the great ancient’s precious gift to the race. This was his last chance to affect the history of the Old Ones.

Left to their own design, the pods would grow to the traditional design of the race, a tall, green life
form looking too many as a massive plant with legs and arms that flowed as strong vines. While for
some, this form was perfectly acceptable; to those tasked with first contact or who would be living for
most of their lives with other civilizations spread across the galaxy; a different form was best suited. It
was Jxy’s task to divine the life plan for each new being as foretold by the Master Plan and understand
how best to prepare them for their main path in life.

When Jxy suddenly heard the computer speak through the connection to his mind, he knew the
computation was done. His mind quickly reviewed the output of the complex computations to
determine what this newest member’s future would require.
This was definitely unique.

Jxy requested the computer recheck the results. After a few moments, the computer returned with
a validation of the results. There was a 75% chance that this pod would result as an explorer across the
universe. This pod would lead the race in one of the grandest explorations in the history of the race.
The pod would result in contact with thousands or millions of races mostly of a humanoid design and
had a strong link to a planetary survey scheduled to take place in the near future. This last point was
curious since never before had the Master Pattern been tied to a planetary survey.

The results were clear. Jxy enabled the proper injection for the pod to start its continuing
development as a semi-humanoid design. It would still have many of the plant traits of the old ones
race.

The development of its body design was enabled, its design was set.
The pod was given the name Sxxty in honor of Yatel’s closest friend, his ship.

It became clear during the planetary survey that there was a new pattern, later to be known as the
Watcher Pattern. This Watcher Pattern became the key focus of Sxxty’s future and the future of the
Universe.