Somewhere; Another star is clarifying.

© 2025 Cydonis Heavy Industries, (C.H.I) Ltd.

The air in the city of Aethel was impossibly crisp, humming with a low, resonant frequency that spoke of gathering order. Above, the twin moons, once fractured and scattered debris, were slowly, meticulously, drawing themselves back together, their surfaces smoothing, their orbits tightening into perfect, silent ellipses. This was the way of things in this universe – not decay, but assembly.

Elara adjusted the focus on her ocular implant, observing the street below. A discarded piece of plastic, left carelessly hours ago, was not weathering or breaking down. Instead, tiny crystalline structures were emerging from its surface, drawing in ambient energy and matter, weaving themselves into intricate, fractal patterns. Soon, it would be indistinguishable from the deliberately grown architectural components that formed the city’s spires, each one a testament to the universe’s relentless drive towards complexity.

“…out
of its loop
like
an apple
from a branch,
the first of the season.” – Simon Armitage.

Life here didn’t fight entropy; it rode the tide of extropy. Organisms weren’t born simple, growing complex, and then decaying. They emerged fully formed, often from inorganic matrices that spontaneously organised, and then, over their lifespan, they simplified. Elara herself had begun as a being of dazzling, multi-limbed complexity, her thoughts a symphony of simultaneous processes. Now, in her later cycles, her form was streamlining, her consciousness focusing, shedding unnecessary functions like a tree shedding leaves in a conventional autumn. Her nonbinary companion, a creature named Kaelen who was just entering their prime, rippled with vibrant, shifting colours, their form a fluid, ever-more-detailed sculpture of light and sinew. Kaelen pointed a newly formed appendage towards the sky.

“Look,” they chimed, their voice a complex harmony. “Another star is clarifying.”

Indeed, a distant nebula, once a chaotic swirl of gas and dust, was resolving itself. Stars within it are not dispersing, but drawing closer, their elements fusing with impossible efficiency, their light becoming sharper, more defined, burning with a cool, pure intensity. Planets are coalescing from diffuse clouds, their geological strata arranging themselves into perfect, layered symmetries.

Living in an extropic universe was a constant process of refinement. Tools didn’t wear out; they became sharper, more efficient, their components aligning with greater precision. Memories didn’t fade; they became clearer, more detailed, shedding the fuzziness of initial perception. The challenge wasn’t holding things together, but learning to let go, to embrace the inevitable simplification that came with age, to become, eventually, a single, perfect, irreducible point of consciousness before dissolving back into the ever-ordering fabric of reality. Elara smiled, a simple, elegant gesture. “Beautiful,” she whispered, her voice a single, clear note. The universe was a perpetual bloom, each moment adding another layer of exquisite, inevitable order.

They walked through the city’s thoroughfares, the ground beneath their feet a tessellation of self-repairing, self-assembling tiles that hummed faintly with contained energy. The air was filled with the soft clicks and whirs of countless small objects spontaneously organising – pebbles forming perfect spheres, dust motes aligning into shimmering geometric patterns. Even the shadows seemed to deepen and sharpen, defining the edges of things with impossible clarity. Kaelen paused by a public ‘Simplification Garden’, a place where older beings gathered to embrace their final stages. The garden wasn’t a place of rest or decay, but of intense, focused refinement. Figures sat or stood, their forms becoming less distinct, their colours fading, their movements slowing as their consciousnesses distilled towards that ultimate, singular point. It wasn’t sad; there was a profound sense of peace, of fulfilling a universal purpose.”Do you ever wonder,” Kaelen asked, their voice shifting into a slightly more complex chord, “what it would be like… to disorder?”Elara considered this. The concept was alien, almost nonsensical.

Disorder was the absence of the universe’s fundamental drive. It was the theoretical state before the first spark of organisation, a void of formless chaos. “It’s difficult to imagine,” she replied. “Like imagining silence in a universe of perpetual song. Why would you?” Kaelen’s colours shifted, a flicker of something akin to curiosity. “Just… the opposite. Everything here becomes more. More defined, more complex, then more simple, more pure. What if it became less? Less defined, less… itself?” Elara looked at her younger companion, at the vibrant, intricate tapestry of their being. Kaelen was still in the phase of increasing complexity, their form and consciousness expanding, exploring the myriad possibilities of organised matter and energy. The thought of that complexity unravelling, becoming less, was counter to everything in their shared reality.”Perhaps,” Elara said, her voice gentle, “that is the mystery of the ‘before’. The state from which all this order emerged. But it is not our way. Our way is the bloom.”They continued their walk, the city around them a living, breathing testament to extropy. Buildings grew taller, more intricate, drawing matter from the ground and air. Water flowed uphill, purifying itself with every drop. Even the thoughts in their own minds felt sharper, more organised, shedding the extraneous noise of lower states of being.

In this universe of perpetual assembly, life was a journey not towards dust, but towards ultimate, perfect form.A summons arrived shortly after their return to Elara’s dwelling – an invitation to a wedding ceremony on the world of Xylos, a place renowned for its breathtaking crystalline forests and the complex, resonant harmonies of its inhabitants. Travel between worlds in an extropic universe wasn’t about propulsion through space, but about aligning one’s own energetic signature with the increasingly ordered frequencies of distant systems. It required immense focus and a deep understanding of cosmic resonance. Elara and Kaelen prepared for the journey. Elara, with her refined consciousness, would act as the primary navigator, her mind a finely tuned instrument seeking the harmonic pathways between star systems. Kaelen, with their burgeoning complexity, would provide the necessary energetic amplification, their vibrant being resonating with the universe’s ordering forces.Their vessel was less a ship and more a contained field of pure resonance, its form constantly refining itself for optimal efficiency as they travelled. As they detached from Aethel’s orbital resonance, the familiar hum of their home city faded, replaced by the silent, vast symphony of intergalactic space, a space not empty, but teeming with invisible threads of organising energy.

Their journey was smooth at first, a graceful descent into deeper layers of cosmic order. Distant galaxies, once fuzzy and indistinct, resolved into breathtakingly detailed structures. They passed through regions where nebulae were collapsing into perfectly formed star clusters and rogue planets were aligning themselves into stable, harmonious orbits.The first sign of adversity was subtle – a discordant note in the cosmic symphony. The resonant pathways they were following began to waver, their frequencies becoming erratic. Elara’s focused consciousness felt a jarring sensation, like a perfectly tuned instrument suddenly encountering static.”The path is… distorting,” Elara communicated, her thoughts projected directly to Kaelen. Kaelen’s form flickered, their colours momentarily losing their vibrancy. “I feel it too. A resistance. As if the universe is… faltering in its ordering here.” They had entered a region known in ancient texts as the ‘Churn’, a vast, anomalous zone where the relentless march of extropy seemed to encounter an opposing force. Not entropy, the slow slide into disorder, but something more active, a localised field of chaotic generation that actively prevented organisation.Their vessel, designed for smooth resonance, began to struggle. Its refined form wavered, tiny imperfections appearing on its surface – a terrifying sight in a universe where imperfection was anathema. The air within the field grew heavy, the crispness replaced by a thick, cloying sensation.”We need to find a stable frequency,” Elara focused, pushing her consciousness against the rising tide of chaos. “A pocket of order within the Churn.” Kaelen amplified her efforts, their being radiating pure, focused energy, trying to cut through the distortion. But the Churn pushed back, its chaotic forces attempting to unravel Kaelen’s intricate form.

Appendages blurred, colours muted, their harmonious voice strained with effort. Their adventure had begun. It wasn’t a physical battle, but a struggle against the very fabric of reality. They had to navigate this zone of anti-order, find a way to realign their vessel’s resonance, and reach Xylos before the Churn’s influence overwhelmed them, threatening to reduce them, not to a perfect point, but to formless, unorganised potential. The wedding, and perhaps their very existence, depended on their ability to master the disharmony. The Churn pressed in. It wasn’t a void, but a swirling, nauseating kaleidoscope of un-forming. Matter here didn’t coalesce; it fractured into ever-smaller, less defined particles. Energy didn’t organise; it dissipated into a formless hum. The very concept of ‘structure’ seemed to lose meaning. Elara’s refined consciousness, so used to navigating the elegant symmetries of the cosmos, felt assaulted by the sheer randomness. Her thoughts, usually sharp and linear, began to scatter, fragments of memory and sensation blurring together. She fought to maintain focus, anchoring herself to the image of Xylos, the crystalline world, a beacon of perfect order.

Kaelen, in their prime of complexity, was more vulnerable. The Churn’s forces actively worked to dismantle their intricate structure. A newly formed appendage would begin to pixelate, its vibrant color fading, before Kaelen could pour more energy into reforming it. Their complex voice fractured into dissonant clicks and static.” Elara,” Kaelen managed, their voice a struggle. “The… the vessel… it’s… losing cohesion.” Elara looked at the field around them. The shimmering boundary, usually a picture of perfect, self-repairing geometry, was rippling violently. Small tears, like pinpricks of anti-light, appeared and vanished, each one a threat to their contained resonance.”We need to find the ‘eye’,” Elara said, her voice steadier than she felt. Ancient texts spoke of the Churn having a core, a paradoxical point of intense, localised order at its heart, around which the chaos swirled. It was a dangerous theory, but their only hope. Navigating towards a point of order within a field of active disorder was like trying to swim against a current of pure chaos. Elara had to filter out the overwhelming noise of the Churn, searching for the faintest signal of structure. She reached out with her consciousness, not seeking pathways, but seeking patterns, however fleeting. Hours bled into a timeless struggle. Kaelen poured their energy into maintaining their form and amplifying Elara’s search, their vibrant being a shield against the Churn’s corrosive influence. Elara delved deeper into the cosmic static, her mind a finely tuned sieve, discarding the noise, searching for the signal.Then, a flicker. Not a pathway, but a resonance, faint but distinct, a perfect, unwavering tone amidst the cacophony. It was the eye.”There!” Elara projected, a surge of relief steadying her thoughts. “Towards the core. Amplify, Kaelen!” Kaelen, despite their struggle, focused their remaining energy. Their form flared with a desperate brilliance, pushing back the encroaching chaos just enough to allow Elara to lock onto the signal. She adjusted the vessel’s resonance, a subtle, precise shift, aligning it with the frequency of the Churn’s eye.Slowly, painstakingly, they began to move. The chaotic forces still buffeted them, but the vessel, now resonating with the core’s frequency, held together. The air within the field began to clear, the heavy sensation lifting. Kaelen’s colours deepened, their form stabilising. As they approached the eye, the chaos didn’t vanish, but it became… structured chaos. Like the turbulent flow of a river around a perfectly still stone. At the very centre was a point of absolute stillness, a singularity of pure, unadulterated order. It was breathtaking and terrifying.They didn’t stop at the eye; they used its stable resonance as a sling-shot, aligning themselves with the pathways beyond the Churn. With a final, collective push of will and energy, they launched themselves out of the anomalous zone, the discordant symphony of the Churn fading behind them, replaced once more by the vast, silent harmony of the extropic cosmos.They were battered, their vessel showing faint, lingering signs of the struggle, and Kaelen was exhausted, their form simplified by the energy expenditure. But they had survived the Churn. Xylos, a point of brilliant, crystalline light, shimmered in the distance, a beacon of order in their path. The wedding, and the promise of perfect harmony, awaited them.Emerging from the Churn was like surfacing from a suffocating depth into clear, resonant air. The vessel, though still bearing the faint, almost imperceptible scars of its passage, hummed with renewed stability. Xylos grew larger in their view, a world not merely of solid rock and liquid water, but of living, breathing crystal.From orbit, the surface was a breathtaking mosaic of towering crystalline growths, refracting the light of its clarifying star into a dazzling spectrum. Forests of resonant quartz trees sang in harmonic chorus with mountains of perfectly structured obsidian. Rivers flowed, their water not merely H₂O, but intricate, self-organising liquid crystals.

They descended towards a designated landing resonance, a point above a city that seemed to have bloomed directly from the planet’s crust, its buildings spiralling upwards in impossible, self-similar patterns. As they neared, the air filled with the complex, layered harmonies of the Xylosian inhabitants, a species whose very biology was based on resonant crystalline structures.Their vessel settled onto a landing platform that instantly began to integrate itself with the vessel’s form, sharing energy and information. As the field dissipated, Elara and Kaelen stepped out onto the crystalline surface, which felt cool and vibrantly alive underfoot.The Xylosians who greeted them were beings of pure, shimmering light contained within intricate, ever-shifting crystalline matrices. Their forms pulsed with complex colour patterns, and their communication was a symphony of resonant tones and harmonic vibrations.”Welcome, travellers,” chimed a Xylosian, their voice a chord that resonated deep within Elara’s being. “We felt your struggle through the Churn. A difficult passage, even for those of refined order.”Elara inclined her form in greeting. “The Churn is… a profound challenge to the universal flow. We are grateful to have reached your world.”Kaelen, though still simplified from their ordeal, managed a resonant greeting in return. The Xylosians acknowledged their fatigue with a gentle shift in their light patterns, a gesture of understanding.They were guided through the city, the crystalline structures around them constantly refining themselves, adding new facets, deepening their resonant frequencies. The air hummed with the collective song of the city, a symphony of ongoing organisation.The wedding ceremony was held in a vast, open space where the crystalline forest met the sky. The two beings to be wed were radiant, their forms pulsing with anticipation. The ceremony wasn’t an exchange of vows, but a complex dance of resonant frequencies. They circled each other, their individual harmonies intertwining, creating new, more complex chords. Energy flowed between them, their crystalline matrices beginning to merge, forming a single, more intricate, more ordered being. It was a breathtaking display of extropy in action – two distinct entities willingly combining to create something greater, more complex, and more perfectly ordered than either could be alone. The assembled guests, including Elara and Kaelen, added their own resonant frequencies to the ceremony, amplifying the merging process, contributing to the creation of the new, unified being.As the final, perfect chord resonated through the space, the two individuals were gone, replaced by a single, magnificent entity of light and crystal, its form a dazzling, intricate tapestry of their combined essences. A new, unique harmony pulsed from its being, adding to the symphony of Xylos.

Witnessing this act of ultimate organisation, Elara felt a sense of profound peace. Their struggle through the Churn, the encounter with anti-order, had only deepened her appreciation for the universe’s fundamental drive towards the bloom. Kaelen, watching the newly formed being, seemed to understand something new about the potential for complexity, their own form pulsing with a renewed, vibrant energy.The adventure had tested them, pushing them against the very limits of their reality. But it had also brought them to Xylos, to witness this beautiful, resonant expression of life and love in an extropic universe.

They had navigated the chaos and arrived at a place of perfect harmony [Cydonis], a testament to the enduring power of order in a universe that was forever assembling itself.