The Cosmic Chronicle

Qilnix-9A (interviewer) So, let's get straight to it-how does a nano-creature feel surrounded by all this colossal green and biomagnetic mist in the Rift Valley?
Thri’t (nano-creature) Um, well, it's intense, you know. Everything is huge. For me, a blade of grass is like a towering spiral. The air is full of clouds I can't even begin to deal with-timing is everything when I'm moving from one colony zone to another, otherwise I get completely lost or, worse, swallowed by a steaming mushroom storm.
Qilnix-9A You really do live life in another scale. How do you find your way through this, uh, semi-chaotic abundance?
Thri’t Well, we use the spoor lines of the cytofarmers as highways. Sometimes I sneak a ride on a polyp transporter-if they don't spot me. Honestly? Those luminescent transport rhymes are brilliant if you want to stay under the radar.
Qilnix-9A Spiral City: the nerve center for everything that crawls and makes credits. What do you do there?
Thri’t Haha, well, it's the beating heart of mutating agricultural capitalism. But for us nanos, it's all about meeting like-minded individuals. We trade knowledge fragments, some genetic material... and sometimes tips for the best shadow zones if you want to stay out of drone inspectors' sights.
Qilnix-9A Speaking of drones-how do you deal with all the machines around here? Love them or hate them?
Thri’t Uh, both really. Without drones, my colony would never get up-to-date biofeedback, but if their calibration is off... *sigh* ...you get sucked up as so-called 'contaminant artifact'. It's a balance on a fractal.
Qilnix-9A Have you ever tried to communicate with larger beings, say cytofarmers or even... gasp... a Banda conductor?
Thri’t Once. I boosted my signals, but they thought I was a weather station malfunction. It led to a lot of waving arms and panic in the orchestra, and for me-a quick adventure in a thrilling, but utterly disorienting sound field.
Qilnix-9A Is it true that nano-creatures form secret networks inside the Fabric of the Shadow Archipelagos?
Thri’t *soft laugh* Truth or legend... I'll leave that up in the air. But let's say we're the only ones who truly know the network from the inside. Others just drift blindly through it.
Qilnix-9A What's the most pointless experiment you've witnessed here?
Thri’t Oh, without a doubt the project to accelerate hallucinogenic pumpkins with radioactive twilight. Everything exploded into neon-yellow pulp and now there's a miniature civilization of fungi that only communicates on Wednesdays.
Qilnix-9A And, uh, the cytofarmers-friends or mostly rivals?
Thri’t Good question! We're rivals when it comes to resource access. But... I once helped a cytofarmer recover a drone that chose my colony as a hiding spot. Since then, we exchange information from time to time-always anonymously, of course.
Qilnix-9A Something else: can you walk us through a normal day? Or is every nano day completely different here?
Thri’t You really want to know? Alright, in the morning I try to avoid waking up in mutated clover haze. Then I tune in to the data waves-hopefully less fake than yesterday. Next it’s planning, tracking liquid crystal for energy storage, and at the end of the day, slipping towards the light threads for some collective synchronization.
Qilnix-9A Is there a place in the Rift Valley you consider safe or even... homely?
Thri’t Hmm, yes, between the lower fractal leaves by the western crystal ridge is a zone with almost no interference waves. Really-you only hear pollen swooshing and, now and then, the soft clicking of a stray drum-insect. That feels like home, for a while.
Qilnix-9A Last question: if you could go anywhere in the universe, would you leave the Rift Valley?
Thri’t Oh. Tough one. Sometimes I dream of quieter places, less... chaotic, you know? But once you decipher the valley’s code you realize, nowhere else do you get this variety of... life, chances, well, misunderstandings. So no-here is where I grow.
Qilnix-9A Thanks, Thri’t. You gave us a unique glimpse-and maybe a few spores.
Thri’t My pleasure. And leave those spores, they're lucky. Or hallucinogenic.