These characters appear in the short work "Through the Roof of the World". Owing to the very simple nature of the piece, they have been placed on a single page.
Quorn characters[]
Scog was a female Quorn. Her clansmates included Ib, another female, and Lund, a male. Lund could train networms. Ib had obtained a stone-tip (or knife) from the Longshells from the Bottom, much to the envy of Scog and Lund. One day, a strange noise began to come from the Roof of the World, the Quorn the species most disrupted by the noise. In addition to the intense physical pain the noise created, the Quorn found themselves debating their understanding of the world, as plainly, the Roof of the World was not infinite as they'd believed. As the noise continued, the three debated why the Quorn Who Made the Roof, Space, and the Bottom would continue to subject them to this intolerable noise. As the noise continued for days, the various groups, including the Longshells and the Talking Worms, began communicating with the Quorn as they prepared to fight whatever came through the roof.
One day, Scog woke up and realized that the noise was done. She joined several Quorn who attempted to contact whatever had broken through the Roof. They were disturbed by the item's lack of sound, wondering if it possessed senses they did not. A male from far away touched the thing, sounded it, and even attempted to bite it. He reported to the other Quorn that the thing was smother and harder than anything he'd encountered. The group was disturbed by the fact that whatever the thing was, it kept rotating.
Ib attempted to stab the probe with her stone knife, but the knife broke. Lund sent networms to attempt to penetrate the probe's exterior, but they could not. Finally, Scog seized a part of the radula she believed to be a tentacle, and bit through it. She received a shock, but she stopped it from moving.
Darius Heydari[]
Professor Darius Heydari was the head of the Sarpedon project of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Some weeks after Sarpedon landed on Europa, drilled through the surface, and began transmitting recordings, Heydari held a press conference confirming that Europa sustained intelligent life. He played recordings depicting a nautalus-like creature using a stone tool. He further explained that this suggested that there were still all manner of life forms on the ocean floor. He also explained that the Sarpedon probe's wiring had not been covered because there wasn't enough room, and there had been no expectation that any Europans would be intelligent. Heydari also conceded that there wasn't another probe ready to go yet. He described the process for sending another probe. He privately realized that he'd be middle-aged by the time another probe made it to Europa, and hoped that the Europans didn't have to jump through the same hoops Earth's scientists would have to jump. [1]
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