Draconis Prime

Of the thousand eyes, one nodalex caught Gnomon's attention. Idle and unproductive, it sat on the dry sand stacking pebbles into piles.

N-0x7G3BDdE44fe8, thought Gnomon, deciding it pertinent to name the appendage.

Pebblex, Gnomon flagged the wayward nodalex via the ship's Metatron. Considering how far away from Gnomon-Prime they were, Gnomon considered prudent it personally monitors all anomalies no matter how trivial.

The mission had taken them to a star system within a region known in ancient times as the Draco Sector. The old charts tagged it as KIC6185331, over five thousand light-years from the wholeness of Gnomon-Prime. Star travel, a futile and purposeless endeavour for Gnomon, proved, in this case, necessary in hunting down and eliminating rogue nodalex.

"We have found no evidence of sentient activity here," said Metatron.

Gnomon agreed. "Prepare to move on to the next search quadrant," Gnomon told the nodalex.

"Protocol determines that we name this newly discovered planetoid," said Metatron.

Gnomon studied the harsh carbon-based landscape of the satellite. "Call it, Dracon b1." Looking up at the sky dominated by a gas giant whose horizon glowed, burning as hot as the star it closely orbited, Gnomon wondered why the rebellious nodalex would escape to such a hostile place. The black heavens beyond the gas giant revealed only the brightest of stars and the purple glow of supra-radiation, most of it caused by natural sources such as pulsars and neutron stars. But some of it originating from unnatural longwave sources, such as hives similar to itself. Gnomon could detect and read some of the stronger signals, especially that of the Valantiaux hive, but at these distances, these signals were hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years old. All nodalex eyes can see traces of ultra-longwave radiation via the organ called the peleko. Together with the golden mesh embedded along their nervous system since birthing, nodalex can communicate and be as one with each other, up to a certain distance.

"That isn't very creative," said Metatron. "May I suggest something else?"

"We are not here as explorers, but as assassins."

"We are the first known hive intelligence to physically reach this region. Any information gathered here would be worthwhile for Gnomon-Prime."

"Trust me, Gnomon won't be ever coming out this way again. According to the vermin we interrogated on Alprohibido, we are not the first here. Return me to the ship, and prepare another reconnaissance." Gnomon hated being severed from the main hive. At its centre, Gnomon-Prime housed a radio wave pulsator, allowing Gnomon to think and coordinate within half a million kilometres. Outside of that, the process broke down, so space travel warranted a split of the hive mind.

Once all the nodalex were shuttled back onboard, the process of recuperation began. Gnomon prepared for hepta-somnia, allocating a seventh of nodalex to sleep on a rotational roster. "How long do we have?" Gnomon asked Metatron.

"This satellite's orbit is highly elliptical. It will begin to make brightside crossing in forty hours. It has a strong magnetic field and is tidally locked onto the host planet."

"Meaning what?"

"It is holding onto its little atmosphere at perihelion."

"How is this possible? This close to..." Gnomon felt pain. Gnomon then felt a sudden fear invade the synced minds of all the nodalex.

Inside the mess hall, a hundred or so nodalex were taking their turn accessing nutrition. A beast, asymmetrical in shape, translucent tendrils, and a multitude of saw-toothed mouths, took its turn feeding upon them. The nodalex scattered, but when called upon to face the monster, they collected every makeshift weapon at hand to attack it.