[EE-052-01]
The Swarm
[Description]
Overview
The Swarm, hereby referred to as EE-052-01, is an anomalous entity unevenly dispersed throughout the universe 5038020540+245619335957. The entity is known to be composed of a large number of units along with a core located at the direct center of the universe; deep within intergalactic space. The units fly around until they hit an energy quota, in which they return to the core and transfer all of the extra power into the core, starting the cycle all over again. This new power is used to make more units, although that feature has since been disabled by the Shroominati.
EE-052-01 is sentient, all units share a single sentience with the core, therefore enabling EE-052-01 control over any and all of its units in any way bound within the universe's physical capabilities. There have been some reports of units creating wormholes and going through them (see EE-052-02), but there is not much evidence to support it. If that is the case, the core has likely learned it itself; the founding civilization has probably not achieved the understanding of quantum tunneling required for teleportation.
Many, if not most of the units of EE-052-01 remain undiscovered. Large scanning operations are planned but not currently active (see Test Log XX). Even though the core has been successfully contained in a pocket universe, along with many of its more prominent units, there still exists an unfathomable number of minor units waiting to be destroyed or captured in the universe.
EE-052-01 has mathematically precise components relative to their universe's properties (down to the 50000th significant figure), suggesting that it was built by an advanced civilization, not birthed or spontaneously existed through quantum fluctuation. To the Shroominati, much of the entity is outdated, but can serve a function (see Test Log 02). However, it is believed that at the time, EE-052-01 was a proud accomplishment of the civilization that made it, far exceeding anything that they ever built. However, divine intervention can not be ruled out at this moment.
Appearance
EE-052-01 has a semi-spherical core estimated to be about 1 light year in diameter. There is a fine coating of an ultradense subparticle metalloid covering the mechanism and the "body" of the core. The metal is bluish-gray in color, much like that of Osmium. Dotted throughout the core are gravity wells that trap anything close to it along with tentacles and lasers.
Units are typically much smaller, usually in between 1 meter and 50 gigameters in diameter. Almost all known units are also spherical, except for EE-052-06; a dodecahedron for reasons not yet known. They are also coated in subparticle metalloids, along with various tools.
The tools attached to most of these units (and to the core itself) are tentacle-like limbs which serve multiple functions as listed below, along with telescoping mechanisms connected to a gravity well; trapping anything close enough in it. The latter of which is used to collect matter for power. These are only the most common tools; some have spikes and others have incinerators. Lasers are fairly uncommon but not unheard of, and one unit (EE-052-03) has been confirmed to use annihilation as a means of removal.
The build and capabilities of EE-052-01 suggest that it is either from a galactic cluster empire type civilization; one which has not found the key to the universe. The only other explanation is divine intervention, which at this moment is a possibility.
Function
EE-052-01, as previously stated, has a central core which acts as the “brain” for all of its units. The brain and the units both serve two main purposes; destroying all life and expanding itself further until it leaves behind an empty universe, sans themselves. It is not known what caused the presumed creator to attempt to remove the population in the first place, but there are records suggesting that it was out of revenge (see Test Log 03).
Although each unit varies greatly, all have two tasks that are common in between them; the gathering of energy for powering EE-052-01 and the destruction of all life in the universe. Each unit is optimized for their tasks and their tasks only. They have been seen travelling through stars and even close to a black hole due to their minimal thinking about pathfinding. This is because they do not need to pathfind; they are immune to all pain and destruction, it seemed.
It is believed that over time, EE-052-01 has received a grand surplus of energy (about the output of 5 galaxies). This has caused the units to spend more energy than they receive, thus verifying that destruction of bodies is the main task. It is not known what would have happened once the universe would have disappeared, had it not been for Shroominati intervention. The most probable theory is that it would halt all functions and lose itself to the space of time, but there has been a recent theory that the units would begin fighting themselves that has been gaining traction.
Selected Units
All of the following units have been successfully contained. In addition, all known units have been contained.
[EE-052-02]
EE-052-02, informally known as The Eye, is by far the most powerful unit of EE-052-01. It sports a massive laser cannon which gives it the "eye" nickname, along with tentacles, spikes, gravity wells, and two heat absorbers (recycles energy used by the laser and the environment).
The laser cannon has numerous functions and modes. Lasers can either be emitted red (capable of the termination of a body), blue (enough energy to displace a planet's orbit), or green (enough energy to destroy a star). There is a solid ray, rapid pulse, and a slow pulse option for each form of laser. The laser cannon also allows for an adjustable radius to the beam
This unit is still fairly newborn, its deploy date having been estimated being after the Shroominati established colonies in the home-universe of EE-052-01. This comes from eyewitnesses accounts and not the dating of the machine, which cannot be determined. There is a wide range of first appearances from numerous bodies, but there have been no witnesses of its creation so there is still a large uncertainty about it. The general consensus is probably about 3 Earth years ago.
Reports claim that EE-052-02 can open up what has been described as trans-galactic wormholes, but there is much dispute as to whether the claims were true or not. Analysis shows that no such mechanism should exist, but divine intervention could in theory make it plausible.
[EE-052-03]
EE-052-03 is the second deadliest unit of EE-052-01, employing the power of annihilation of matter and antimatter. The unit has 2 chambers filled with matter and antimatter respectively, leading to a combination chamber where the particles annihilate themselves. The energy that this releases is consolidated and tunneled through a tube to the outer shell, where it gets focused and aimed at an object. The beam that this creates is powerful enough to destroy a massive blue star and absorb all of the system's matter. It has been said that this planet can destroy two detached systems at once.
Not all of the mass is converted to energy. Some of the remaining matter gets stored and remains dormant until the next annihilation cycle, where it gets destroyed. EE-052-03 can also control how much matter is annihilated at once. This conserves matter and energy by removing the redundant energy wasted when a beam that can destroy supermassive stars zaps a planet.
In order to fuel its massive energy requirement for the conversion of matter into antimatter, it utilizes a few tools. Firstly, it chooses to not use annihilation on small planets; it typically targets massive gassy planets or stars instead. A red star gives it a greater return of both mass and energy. When it does encounter a smaller celestial object, it uses its tentacles and gravity wells to crush the matter and convert it into energy.
[EE-052-04]
EE-052-04, while only being 200 KM in diameter (about the size of a large asteroid), has shown its capabilities as a killing machine. Covered in quadrillions of circular saws and rapidly oscillating spikes, it has been known to remove large populations in a relatively short time. Eyewitnesses say that it jolts around the planet's surface locking on to any living creature it sees and killing it in nanoseconds. The whole process gets repeated instantly.
EE-052-04 is one of the few units to not have tentacles. It is believed that tentacles would collide with the rapidly rotating saws, crashing the machine. Also, the tentacles would be redundant due to the oscillation and movement of all of the pieces. There is no need for a body to get dragged to EE-052-04.
There is, however, one tool that is not a saw, spike, or gravity well; a light-emitter. The light gets emitted at such a high intensity that it blinds all beings within close proximity, whether they are facing from or away from it. This causes their deaths to be unseen by themselves or anyone nearby, often leaving whole cities without a trace. Many observations with high-powered sunglasses have proven this fact.
[EE-052-05]
EE-052-05 is a unique unit among all of EE-052-01. It doesn’t use any exterior tools which gives it its perfect spherical shape and blank gray surface. The unit gets its energy from its dilation, causing displacement and breakdown of large chunks of matter into smaller bits, much more absorbable than a whole planet. The unit moves at a speed comparable to the speed of light and can range from 1 meter to 1 megameter in size, making detection of this unit incredibly difficult until it has burrowed a hole into a world and fractured it.
Reports and tests alike have consistently shown matter being absorbed directly into its shell seemingly without the use of a gravity well. A dissection of EE-052-05 reveals numerous gravity wells, suggesting that the outer shell is semipermeable unlike the other units. The size dilation can be explained with a unique property of the metal; it acts like no other substance known in the shroom home universe and is both a solid and liquid. The metal spreads itself out like a liquid but remains virtually unbreakable. The semipermeability complicates this further, leading to the outer shell material being of particular interest to the shrooms.
[EE-052-06]
EE-052-06 is a pitch-black unit optimized in celestial-body absorption. Like EE-052-05, this is used for gathering matter, but only exclusively from stars. We know that said unit saps off of all known types of stars and absorbs all light with its coating; explaining the dark color. While the unit is used almost exclusively for energy and material generation.
EE-052-06 is approximately 530.0 megameters across. For reasons not yet known, EE-052-06 is a dodecahedron covered in gravity wells as opposed to every other known unit’s spherical build. One theory suggests that it was an error of EE-052-01, although there is no formal proof for this. Others say that the dodecahedron shape comes from its greater volume for a given radius, thus allowing for more conversion. Some argue as to why it is not a square instead. The answer still remains hidden.
[History and Discovery]
Discovery
The Shrooms have detected a universe that is habitable and suitable for shroomkind after a long search. Desperate, the shroom colonizers have teleported in before scanning for dangers and came face to face with a small unit of EE-052-01. Despite its size and their initial beliefs, the small unit posed a great threat to the pioneers. One shroom body was absorbed and a ship was destroyed along with it. The emergency communications were then opened after the shroominati recorded the mysterious destruction of the vessel.
An excerpt of the communications between [Shroom Pioneer] and [Emergency Comms] is listed below.
[Emergency Comms]: We have reported a downed ship. Please reply with more details, I repeat please reply with more details. Do you read? Over.
[Shroom Pioneer]: Upon the arrival of this universe we encountered this small metal ball thing. We first seemed like it wouldn’t cause any harm so we just shot it with a plasma gun. The shot was absorbed and the unit came hurling towards [REDACTED] and his ship just disappeared along with him. I believe that there is some form of gravity modulation involved here. We opened up the wormholes and passed through to safety. Over.
[Emergency Comms]: We are now dispatching a scout group to your universe momentarily. Please wait. Over.
[Shroom Pioneer]: Understood. Over.
The scout division’s mission of finding a unit did not take long; they spotted 3 units over the horizon almost immediately. After gathering some intel on the units and observing their behaviors, they returned back and gave the Shroominati important info concerning the beast.
Not long after they arrived in the universe, the pioneers met a group of races bound together under one goal: destruction of EE-052-01. Currently, as their weapons had no effect, their main goal was to resist the onslaught of units attacking their worlds. It did not take long for the Shroominati and the numerous races of the resistance group to learn about their histories, EE-052-01, and a few of their capabilities (See Test Log 03).
After their capabilities were exchanged, most importantly the possibility of defeating EE-052-01, the resistance urged the Shroominati to see what they could do against EE-052-01. The Shroominati accepted for two reasons; one being the interest in the entity and the other being the condition that allows Shroom settlers to live in the universe. The Shroominati was quick to work on a method of containment and would play the main role in the downfall of EE-052-01 and its containment (as seen in the Containment section).
History
Our estimations state that most of the history of this beast is uncovered. In spite of this, the civilisations responsible and those who have fallen remain unclear, as few relics remain. These relics were most likely absorbed into EE-052-01 for energy, thus losing all of their information. Clues as to the history of this universe remain scarce but not entirely absent. Many resistance members have also shared some information about their races to us, but the most important races have long been deleted.
We have confirmed from artifacts that there was only one civilization responsible for the creation of EE-052-01. The creators have long been extinct, likely due to their own creation. It is estimated that the creation occurred only about 200 earth years prior to the first contact. Despite this, most of the universe is already in shambles and there is a large void covering 82% of it, which suggests that it was mostly cleared out by EE-052-01.
It wasn’t long after when the Resistance was formed. All hostilities in between warring races would stop and all would band together to fight EE-052-01. Their efforts were fruitless; their weapons did no damage against the units and many bodies, from the resistance or not, were being absorbed. All of the universe was prone to EE-052-01, except for 1 small volume (~20 ly3) of space which no unit has passed through. There is currently no explanation for this, some suggest that it was an error or an oversight while others say that this area had once held special value. Either way, there were no intelligent beings in the area named “the zone for the liberation of all peoples.” This was where the resistance retreated to.
This was all 200 years ago. Since then not much has happened other than the removal of 80% of the universe and the inhabitants. The resistance remained strong.
[Containment and Testing]
Containment
The containment began with a temporary ban on all non-experimental travel to the universe. Those who remained in the colonies and the natives were put on high alert and under protection in the zone where the resistance retreated to (most natives retreated here anyways). As soon as the scouts returned with the intel, the shroom professors began working hard to determine its properties and how to contain it.
It was believed that all units were being controlled by a core, and that all units were connected to it. They believed that if the core existed and was disabled, then all units would be disarmed and floating through space, thus allowing for containment and testing.
The first step was finding the core (see Test Log 01). After several attempts at locating it, the efforts of the professors were realized. The core was found. The next step was trying to disarm it. There were numerous expeditions of bots and people to the core, and all have immediately been sucked in and turned into energy. After figuring out that no matter could exist within a close radius to the core, and after figuring out that the core was sentient, they had to figure out a plan B: fractal realms.
The core did not move on its own, it needed a force for any kind of movement to occur. The force needed to move EE-052-01’s core just 1 meter is equivalent to that of a supermassive star ramming into it at one-tenth of the universe’s light speed. Whatever portal that it goes through must move throughout space to envelop the core.
After locating a new empty Fractal Realm after a tiring amount of exploration and a lot of arguing, the plan was ready. The wormhole was set up and started at a safe distance away from the core. It was moving in the direction of EE-052-01’s core, ready to warp it into the fractal realm.
The plan worked. The core was successfully contained after years of resistance and loads of work by the Shroominati. The units now began drifting through space, waiting to collide with something. Several units (most notably the major ones) were also transported to the fractal realm for testing. The universe was freed of their fear and old relations were restored, and the universe was now open to shroom visitors.
Test Log 01
[Foreword: Test Log 1 contains tests dealing with the identification of the core, beginning with decoding the then-presumed data delivery between units and the core of EE-052-01. Once it was revealed that no such data transmission existed, the scientists looked for other means of finding the core.]
[Hypothesis]
It is believed that there is a core which guides this mysterious beast, and observations suggest that it is using communications through quantum tunnels to command each unit. We can measure two signals and find the source using trigonometry.
[Result]
We have not been able to identify any sources of data transfer, and therefore, we have not been able to determine the location. The units seem to be sentient due to reasons not yet known.
[Reworked Hypothesis]
The smaller units cannot be self sustaining; they receive too little energy, even assuming all matter is converted into it. Perhaps this beast can return to its core for supplies and we can track it.
[Result]
After numerous trackers and cameras being absorbed into a miniscule unit, we have calculated the gravitational pull of the unit and allowed a tracker and camera to drag along the unit through space. This worked with minor orbit adjustments and we have been able to see and track down the core.
Test Log 2
[Foreword: Test Log 2 deals with the properties of the machines.]
[Hypothesis]
There is great interest surrounding the entity known as EE-052-01. Perhaps we will be able to harness its energy for our benefit.
[Stress Test]
We have chosen 5 units of varying functions and sizes, and gave them each the same amount of mass (consisting of prisoners and scrap). As expected, none showed any sign of stress. Harnessing the matter of a newborn universe and feeding it to the core also showed no stress, as all of the matter was converted to energy.
[Dissection]
After countless tests and techniques, we have found that the outer shell of any unit can be pierced by using string rays. The inside of the unit remarkably showed no machinery nor organs, as expected of something of this type.
[Harness Test]
Compared to our most advanced means of converting unwanted matter into energy, EE-052-02 is just slightly less effective in terms of energy produced over time. This has led to EE-052-02 being spared destruction and being used as a backup waste disposal. The core seemingly emits no energy, and all other units emit a respectable amount of power, especially while looking at energy output for the mass input.
[Conclusion]
We have found a purpose for EE-052-01 and will be keeping it sealed away in a pocket universe until its use is needed or
Test Log 3
[Foreword: Test Log 3 deals with the history of the universe and contains interviews.]
[Hypothesis]
We have come in contact with some of the native life in the universe of EE-052-01. Perhaps we can gain some information from interacting with them.
All interviews are translated.
[Interview 1]
In between [Resistance Leader], [Resistance Member A], [Resistance Member B] and [Shroom Professor].
[Shroom Professor]: Good day sir. I am [REDACTED] of the Shroominati, and I have come here to ask you some questions relating to your history and this so-called "swarm" that exists in your universe.
[Resistance Leader]: Greetings, my name is [REDACTED]. My team I will do the best I can to answer your questions fine gentleman. The swarm won't have their way with us!
[Shroom Professor]: Do you know when the swarm was created? Our analysis of the units does not show any implication of age or wear.
[Resistance Leader]: We do not know the true date of the Swarm's creation. Our records date back 1032 ages [roughly 200 years of our time], describing the swarm as "our time's terror of the stars," we cannot rule out any date further back.
[Shroom Professor]: I see. Who designed this entity?
[Resistance Leader]: We do not know how this creature was made. We do not know if this creature was made or born.
[Shroom Professor]: Our current research denies the possibility of any form of birth. It is an artificial being.
[Resistance Leader]: Very well. We care little about where it came from. We care about where it's going.
[Shroom Professor]: Do you have any evidence of a destruction of a unit?
[Resistance Member A]: We give 'em bullets and lasers and all that occurs from trying is a broken bullet or a dead laser. We have not found any remains of a unit.
[Shroom Professor]: How many beings and how much of the universe did the Swarm absorb?
[Resistance Leader]: I do not know.
[Resistance Member B]: I have been told that 80 percent of the universe is gone and an uncountable number of species and lives have perished in the fight for our liberation.
[Resistance Member A]: What horror!
[Shroom Professor]: How frequently do you see these units?
[Resistance Leader]: There is not a single corner of the universe void of them. Well, except for this one for some reason not yet known. This is why we retreated here.
[Resistance Member B]: It's not even, sir. Some ages I see none, some ages there's a billion of them!
[Shroom Professor]: Have you seen the core or the hive of the beast with your own eyes?
[Resistance Leader]: No. Those that see the core see death.
[Shroom Professor]: Very well.
[Interview 2]
Short Questionnaire made by [Shroom Professor] and [Resistance Researcher]
Have you determined the material of The Swarm's shell?
We have not. This substance is unlike anything that we have ever seen. It does not help that we cannot get a sample to determine it, but even with our scans, we have not been able to identify it.
What can you tell us about the behavior of The Swarm?
It shows no emotion other than pure anger. It just destroys and multiplies. It has no heart, no brain, just rage.
Are there any clues leading to the creation of The Swarm?
The only surviving relic concerning the ancient race mentions it as a "ridiculed species who wanted revenge at all costs."
How much force does it take to halt the largest unit of The Swarm; "The Eye"?
Stars and Planets Alike have been plowed through by The Eye. We know of a black hole, moving right at The Eye, which was destroyed by the beast. We do not know the exact value of the force, but it is almost unimaginably high.
[Addendum]
Addendum 1
The identification EE-052-01 refers to the entire entity. Any of its logged subdivisions are considered separate (but related) anomalies and therefore, classified with increasing suffixes from most dangerous to least dangerous. The core has no official designation and is often referred to as simply EE-052-01.
Addendum 2
At this moment, there does not exist a complete list of the several trillion known units due to low demand. If it is needed, the fungocomputers required for processing and archiving can generate a database within several seconds.