Gold Digger; The Enemy that Sees you

[q99]

Since people are starting to post creepy stuff, I thought I'd serve up some cosmic eye scream.




Recently in Gold Digger, the heroes managed to capture Rao, leader of the Dynasty of the Stars, a very nasty bunch (You can get a sample of him Here, if you're curious). One of the long-running mysteries of the Dynasty is why, thousands of years ago, at the height of their brutal reign, they vanished, apparently terrified of something. Some thought someone had just pulled a con on them or just some BS the Dynasty made up since ever since they've returned they've been saying how everyone should be happy to serve thimg, but...

... well, now that they have someone who was there, it's better to check. Penny Pincer, one of the top scientists, links Rao, and herself, into a virtual world, even giving herself a minor nano implant to get data from it better, a tech somewhat derived from Dynasty tech.

Rao, while they're going, keeps telling Penny to stop, though this is mixed with him trying to hijack the program and trying to get free (only to be smacked down via Penny's god-mode), and him eating some force-feedback since the VR is linked to his nanites, so it seems like it's purely a ruse at first, and Penny pauses the program to put him in his place

However, when he discovers Penny has nanites too, he smirks.
















(In case you can't see, that's an image of the... whatever it is, and barely visible, someone saying Penny's name)



Penny wakes up ten hours later, having been attacked by the whatever in the *paused* simulation, telling the others what she saw.



Now the only question... did it see her?





Five scans from Fred Perry's Gold Digger #211

Comments

[q99]

A simulation using a recording of a time when they were. And that was enough, they almost killed Penny through a recording...

[md84]

The implications are...disturbing. If it can use the "eyes" in a VR simulation, maybe it could use the eyes in paintings, photos, videos, etc. Makes you wonder how the Dynasty managed to hide from it in the first place. Did they gouge out their own eyes before fleeing to parts unknown?

[q99]

I think it means that they can only find people in *this* universe. If you leave it (like they did, to Quasispace), you're ok... so sure, all you have to do is leave the universe and go to the wasteland full of gigantic superpredators and you'll be fine!

Hm, I wouldn't think a painting, since it's just a representation, but if a photo or video was of this quality, and the viewer was viewing it with the implants that seem to draw their attention...

[md84]

Sort of begs the question of why the Dynasty came back to this universe in the first place. If something spooked me badly enough that I'd be willing to abandon my entire power base to flee into another UNIVERSE, I would never come back.

It's only limitation may be that, while it can use ANY eye, it can't use EVERY eye at once. Something the Dynasty did with their implants caught its attention, and it's been hounding them ever since.

Speaking of relentless Lovecraftian pursuers, this reminds me a bit of the Hounds of Tindalos: creatures that exist in the "angles" of space-time that crave some unknown element present in other lifeforms that they lack. Due to their nature, they only catch the scent if someone goes time-traveling. But once they do, they NEVER stop chasing them. Avoiding them means avoiding corners for the rest of your life, since they can manifest in any angle in existence.

I just posited the idea of it being able to look through paintings and such because I like the inherent creepiness: Now every time she looks at a painting or a picture or even a reflection, she'll always be wondering if it's staring back...

[q99]

There does seem to be a limit akin to the Hounds one, namely if you don't do anything to attract their attention in the first place, they don't seem to know to look. Which was why Rao was strongly pushing Penny *not* to look in the recording- it was too 'close' to where he knew they'd watch.

The universe is still where all the stuff is, and iirc the Dynasty was running low on power after hanging on quasispace so long. Upon return, they could drain planets, grow strength, and prepare for the watchers. The heroes only beat the Dynasty the first time because they were, comparatively, starved (and they still were tremendously powerful despite this). So Quasispace was a place to hide, but it couldn't be a permanent solution, just one that'd let them have a breather of several thousand years.

[md84]

'There does seem to be a limit akin to the Hounds one, namely if you don't do anything to attract their attention in the first place, they don't seem to know to look. Which was why Rao was strongly pushing Penny *not* to look in the recording- it was too 'close' to where he knew they'd watch.'

Kind of scary to realize that this thing spent millennia waiting for the Dynasty to reappear on its radar.

[q99]

Judging by which, I get the impression there is no safe time to wait. The Dynasty hides for awhile to gain an opportunity to gather their strength, but there's no question that They will, without a doubt, eventually spot who they're looking for again...

[md84]

I do like the bit at the end with Pincer paying close attention to her friends' eyes. She'll probably never feel safe again.

[q99]

Oh yea, the closeups of each eye!


I see her starting to wear an eyemask when going to sleep ^^