We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Alpha Seeds [24 bit]

by ASTROPILOT MUSIC

supported by
AS the Fan
AS the Fan thumbnail
AS the Fan What an amazing Compilation. A very well crafted selection of music creating a constant vibe through out. Each track is just as enjoyable as the last. From beginning to end this compilation delivers. Favorite track: Remnants (AstroPilot Edit).
CoryRay
CoryRay thumbnail
CoryRay I don't say this often about compilations, but this is one of my favorite releases of the year. It's extremely consistent in both quality and sound. If I didn't know better, I would have thought it was an album by a single artist. It has the perfect balance of ambience and beats for my tastes, and really sets a particular mood. Fantastic. And the cool little story is an additional bonus. Favorite track: Contamination.
Hugo Andril Trindade
Hugo Andril Trindade  thumbnail
Hugo Andril Trindade This compilation is a nice selection of top quality immersive ambient chill tracks Favorite track: On The Verge.
more...
/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $7 USD  or more

     

1.
1. Solar sails. “Beam incoming, sails dispatched okay, Icarus Five?” asked the fleet bay operator over the open channel. “Yup, these babies are ready for the swim,” replied the captain of the comet. The fleet bay operator then watched from the comfort of his deck in the depths of the Loki station how a concentrated sun ray reached the reflectors located in the back end of a rather large icy comet. The sunlight was collected by a Dyson swarm on a low solar orbit that collected and focused solar energy into tight high energy beams that were used to propel solar sail ships across the Solar System. It then travelled all the way across the Solar System to the Keiper belt where the neutral Loki station was amassing comets full of useful materials that were then sent for colonists in the now independent Commonwealth of the Jovian systems spread around the numerous moons of Jupiter and to Earth-controlled extraterrestrial settlements on the Moon, the Mars, and the asteroid belt. The light reflected by large parabolic mirrors attached to the rear of the comet filled enormous solar sails in the front. A few moments passed and it became noticeable that the comet started gliding softly. Somewhere on the surface of the comet was a small living unit with a crew of five members whose sole function would be to watch over the automatic flight path and repair any sizeable damage done to tinfoil-thick solar sails. At the destination, the comet would be sliced and diced, thawed and filtered. The water would then feed hydroponic farms and go into each and every unit on numerous stations floating around the Jupiter, Mars, and Moon colonies. “Off we go,” said captain. “Icarus Five, over and out!”
2.
2. Awakening. It was getting noticeably warmer. The ice that formed millennia ago, right after the comet came close to the Sun the last time and hurled away by the gravity sling into the frozen depths of outer Solar System, started melting on the surface. Icy shards poking out of the surface here and there were losing their geometrical precision and trickled into dirty puddles full of minerals and organic molecules that came from dust and small rocks trapped in the ice. At the molecular level, among the typical bustling activity of Brownian particles was order arising from chaos. Ideal spheres were consuming simple molecules and weaving them together into long threads of complex ones. And the puddles began to glow with fluorescent pink light.
3.
3. Discovery The cavern was surprisingly large for a comet. Melting ice formed fat and short icicles in the minuscule gravity that the comet had. Most of the water floated in a thin, almost indistinguishable from vacuum, atmosphere. Julie shone the flashlight onto walls, saw its light fractured into a myriad of smaller beams reflected by the remaining crystals of the cavern that hid from furious sunlight scorching the surface outside. The comet was passing the nearest point to the Sun doing the gravity assist. It, of course, caused a significant loss of water vaporized by blazing Sun but was energetically and engineeringly simpler. Julie opened yet another container for samples and bent over the nearest puddle. Suddenly she saw it change color from dark brown to fluorescent pink. Julie’s hand trembled and she dropped the flashlight. It swirled slowly, gradually falling to the ground as if in slow motion. Julie exhaled loudly, grabbed the flashlight, and started collecting pink fluid into the container. “You okay there, Jules?” asked Cornelius. “Yes, boss. Just found something you wouldn’t believe!” replied Julie.
4.
4. Organics “Where did you get it?” said Cornelius. “Caverns to the south of the crew quarters,” answered Julie. They were both staring at the holographic feed from a 3D stereoscope floating in the air just above the rig. Oval shapes reminiscent of bacteria with long tails were swarming around smaller spheres that worked like a molecular sewing machine, consuming nearby tangles of simple organic molecules and spitting out longer chains that immediately folded in on themselves. The ovals were chasing the spheres and fought for them among themselves, swallowing one another with impunity. “Do you have any idea?” asked Cornelius scratching his two-day stubble. “The information density is insane but it’s definitely an organic entity, some type of nanobot, really.” said Julie after a long pause. “Organics, huh?” replied Cornelius.
5.
6.
6. Contamination Callisto 01 spaceport could not reach the maintenance team of Icarus Five for several hours before the scheduled approach. The automatics have reversed the focused sun beams on the comet’s sails and it was decelerating as expected. However, the team failed to send its typical status updates for five hours before arrival. When the comet approached the Callisto and took a steady orbit around the most occupied of Jupiter’s moons, a boarding team gathered up in a tactical room. Soldiers in full riot gear, suitable for open space combat were intermixed with technicians finishing putting on bulky biohazard suits that made them look like walking balloons. Omnibus, the AI responsible for running Callisto 01 port and settlement appeared in the center of the room as a hologram. He chose for his model a middle-aged man with a touch of gray hair, neatly trimmed beard, dressed in worker’s overalls. This type of image was supposed to impart of sense of paternal authority on humans while avoiding the unsettling feeling of inferiority that governmental AIs seemed to have on the public. With that, he said with a synthesized voice that had an uncanny similarity with a human one: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a situation with Icarus Five.”
7.
7. Unity Omnibus was re-running the data collected by the infiltration team from the Icarus Five for a millionth time in attempts to understand what happened. First, the science team discovered a strange pink crystalline web but it wasn’t dirty water that one would expect to find on most comets. When taking a sample, pink crystals became liquid and quickly engulfed the scientist, soon appearing inside his helmet, streaming into his ears, nostrils, and eyes. The bubble costume fell and rolled around for a minute until it stopped, abruptly. The rest of science team huddled around the landing unit, somebody started screaming on the radio. The armor cocked their guns but did not really know what to shoot at. When they saw that the pink fluorescent liquid crystals already crawled up their boots, the soldiers panicked and opened fire on each other. Everything was over within five minutes of landing. However, what was the most interesting, Omnibus still received the vitals from all the suites. The landing party was not dead. The pink crystalline web stretched out from fallen soldiers to toppled over biohazard suits. Its fluorescent light oscillated within the frequency of a human heartbeat. It looked as if all of them were united into something new.
8.
8. On the verge “It’s a small corvette, nothing to fear really despite the name. Jovies say it’s a diplomatic ship but they demand to land in Cheyenne One.” said the General Reynolds of the Imperial Guard. “And why can’t we just turn them into vapor?” asked Governor Cooper and slammed his fist into the table. “Jovies have at least a dozen more asteroid aimed at us, sir. We’ve depleted our arsenal down to a few nukes, we just cannot risk our last defenses against this one little ship.” scrambled the general in his defense. “Okay, let those bastards land,” reluctantly said Governor Cooper, “but make sure your imperial guard keeps “Shiva’s Trishula” in scopes all of the time. And, of course, divert most of the Prometheus’ power for frying anything approaching Earth larger than a tennis ball!” Governor Cooper again slammed white-knuckled fists on the table, the papers flew from his table in different directions as a dole of doves. The Judgement Day, when at least a dozen of rocks was sent onto the overpopulated Earth, was still fresh in his memory, even after five years. Billions died, most of the Earth became barren, except for several lucky patches that avoided the tsunamis, earthquakes, persisted through the Darkening. The war wasn’t over yet, it reached a stalemate on the verge of mutual destruction: jovies had more rocks to send Earth-bound, the Earth had a rag-tag fleet and the Prometheus system of mirrors and collimators that powered solar sails of most ships in the System but could also be focused on Jovian settlements vaporizing them with the colossal energy of concentrated solar rays.
9.
9. Emotionless Irene was looking through the new data from Omnibus’s analysis of the “Icarus Five” incident when the amber light shone in the corner of her eye, projected by the augmented-reality lens. She waved her hand to save the figures for later analysis and stormed out of her lab in the far tunnel of Callisto 01. She was one of the last to arrive at the meeting. “It’s okay,” said the hologram of the Omnibus. “Take your seat, Irene.” Georgy Erdos, the admiral of the collaboration fleet which bargained a stalemate in the war with Earth through his clever bombardment tactic and literally saved the rebel colonies from vaporization, raised his hand asking Omnibus’s permission to speak. Omnibus nodded. “I see this as a unique opportunity to end the war forever. How many years do we have to live fearing the Earth?” he said with deep bass and slow cadence of words through gritted teeth. “We have to end this stalemate once and for all!” “My results are still inconclusive, the rate of success is subpar,” replied Omnibus. “Yeah, about that…” started Irene. Admiral Erdos darted a stare at here for not following the discipline. She blushed and raised her hand. Omnibus nodded and the rest of the board of the Commonwealth of Jovian colonies turned to Irene. “I am not sure if we can use the “alpha seeds” as a bioweapon,” started she. “Alpha seeds? What is this some kind of a science fair for you?” almost yelled Georgy at Irene. “Listen, it’s just a name, and it’s a fitting one! On top of that, we are not sure what it does to human tissue yet. Omnibus’s analysis shows clearly that infected subjects were not completely dead but rather transformed into a unified structure that exhibits signs of life.” Omnibus nodded. “I agree. We need further analysis. I see the Trojan-horse scenario presented by Admiral Erdos as an excellent opportunity to collect such data.” Irene gasped with disbelief. She admired Omnibus’s wisdom and the lack of decisions based on the workings of a limbic system, a so-called “reptile brain”, upon which most humans unknowingly based a lot of daily choices. This emotionlessness had backfired and there was no way out of it. Omnibus had the final word, that’s just how the Commonwealth was run, as opposed to the rule of dictatorships of Earth (many now gone after the Judgement Day) that relied on the vagaries of a single human being. “Admiral,” said Omnibus, “when can you transfer the infected unit onto one of your dispensable ships?” “It’s already done”, Erdos replied. “Corvette “Shiva’s Trishula” from the Hindu settlement is sealed tightly and ready for the take-off.” “Then I authorize you to send it to land in the Cheyenne One under the pretense of peace talks. Make sure it is set to disintegrate upon arrival to maximize the spread of alpha seeds. This should end the Earth’s resistance and provide the data we need to better understand how alpha seeds work. Everyone dismissed.” summarized Omnibus. Irene stormed out of the meeting room into the chilly corridors of Callisto 01 station.
10.
10. At a light speed Irene was sitting in her lab staring aimlessly. She always admired the new social structure adopted in the Commonwealth, which delegated the power to an AI. It was one of the biggest reasons why her family immigrated here. And now the same AI in cold blood made the rest of Earth’s population lab rats sentencing them to something worse than death. A cringing feeling of evolving schism between the loyalty to her community and ethical standards of a scientist was tearing her apart. Suddenly, the conflict in her mind reached a climax and became a decision, unexpected as crystal formation in an oversaturated mineral solution. She pulled up her working screen and waved her hand to open the directory of Earth’s last standing government huddled around the Cheyenne One bunker. She found the ID she wanted and requested a tight beam to Earth.
11.
11. Prometheus’ Rage Governor Cooper was sitting in the biggest room in the bunker, deep down under the tons of mountain’s rocks. It was a command center outfitted for the nuclear war scenario. Multiple screens displayed telemetry from satellites on the orbit, observatories on the ground, dynamical projections of “Kali’s Trishula” flight. So far, everything went as planned and there were no deviations from agreed upon flight path. “The corvette still doesn’t respond, we can’t establish the link,” said General Reynolds wiping his sweaty palms against his uniform. Suddenly, the emergency line beeped in Governor Cooper’s ear. It was one of his numerous aids. “What is it?” burst Governor Cooper with impatience. General Reynolds turned towards him with the look of alerted confusion but then he saw that Cooper was pushing the earpiece with his index finger. General Reynolds returned to watching the telemetry. “It’s an emergency request from Callisto 01,” said the aid. “She says it’s something of utter importance about the corvette we are expecting.” “Put her through,” barked Governor Cooper. After the short call, Governor grabbed the shoulder of General Reynolds that he turned around with a look of pain on his face. Governor Cooper was pale and all he could do was just stutter: “Burn this motherfucker! Burn it now” The bunker became an angry, disturbed swarm of bees, everybody returned to their stations. “Do we have it in the scopes?” “Two minutes for re-alignment and we are a go!” “Why can’t we fire now?” squealed Governor Cooper. “Corvette engaged in evasive maneuvers twenty-five seconds ago!” Right when I got the call, thought Governor Cooper. He gritted his teeth, there was nothing they could do before the Prometheus system was properly targeted. Minutes stretched into eternity as the humid and foul-smelling air was flowing out of air recyclers working at full capacity. “It’s too fast, do you authorize a beam split?” asked General Reynolds. “There will be even more casualties.” “Do whatever it takes to vaporize this bitch, it’s a fucking bio-weapon!”, slipped Governor Cooper into high-pitched, hysterical voice. A wave of chattering engulfed the bunker, people pausing their intensive work in disbelief. “What are you looking at, engage the split beam approach, it has to be destroyed before it reaches the ground!” yelled General Reynolds at his subordinates. In a few moments, one of the engineers reported, “Ready to fire!” “Fire at will!” yelled Reynolds. Outside the bunker, high in the dusty atmosphere, “Kali’s Trishula” was falling as the sword of Damocles bringing judgment to the last survivors of Earth. It was performing evasive maneuvers that should not be possible for a massive physical object like a corvette. It defied inertia. Cutting through the dark clouds, like a hot knife cuts butter, one large beam from the Prometheus system was trying to catch up with the ship. The beam was bloody red due to the dissipation of blue wavelengths of the solar spectrum in the dusty atmosphere. It left wildfires and scorched earth in its wake. The beam frequently changed its path but the corvette was faster. Until, suddenly, one large beam changed into a fractal lattice of smaller beams and one of them had cut through the corner of the corvette. The ship seemed to lose its engines or whatever was helping it to defy the laws of physics and crashed straight down to the ground evading the shanty towns around Cheyenne One base by several kilometers. The beam lattice had raged for a couple more seconds but disappeared once the kill was confirmed. The whole settlement looked like it was sliced and diced by a maniac with a laser scalpel. Gaping holes in makeshift buildings were full of smoke, fire, people running for their lives or to recover those that might have survived the rage of Prometheus system.
12.
12. A humble growth The search party had landed nearby the crash site. Winged carriers opened large doors and first armed soldiers and then hazmat suites spilled out of their metal bellies. Soldiers scurried around the transport ship to check the perimeter and protect the biohazard team. Holding formation, they slowly started moving towards the spot where “Kali’s Trishula” had crashed. There was black smoke rising above the pile of twisted metal, torn wires and malformed conduits. The smell was so acrid that soldiers one by one put on gas masks. As they drew nearer, biohazard team started chattering on their private channel. Soldiers saw their lips move but couldn’t make out what science team was discussing so frantically. Coronel leading the military team stopped and pulled chief scientist aside. “Is there something wrong?” A figure in a bulky hazmat suit raised his arm and pointed towards the crash site. “Can you see the pink hue?” asked the scientist. Coronel grabbed a binocular from his waist and looked where the scientist was pointing. “Yeah…” he trailed off as if startled. “Shit! It’s worse than we thought. There seem to be no survivors so it’s all yours.” “Yes, stay here and secure the perimeter. I’ll take only two men to the site. Just in case.” “Yes, sir!” Chief scientist was ready for anything from ugly brown goo spilling over the remains of the corvette to malformed, mutated human carcasses roaming around like zombies. What he saw was nowhere close to any of his expectations. The crash site was located at a high altitude where only most vigorous flora used to thrive before the Judgement Day. Now barren, the site only had a few dried grass stalks undulating in the light breeze. However, next to the ship, where the pink liquid got spilled out of the extraterrestrial ship, the ground was abuzz with activity. Lush greens were pouring out of the soil so fast as if one was watching a time-lapse of the process. Scientists stepped away from the pink puddle afraid to disrupt the process. “It’s unbelievable!” muttered chief scientist. “What is it? What are seeing?” asked coronel over the radio unable to see from the distance what was going on at the crash site. “This bioweapon, it’s not really a weapon…” mumbled chief scientist. “So, what it is?” barked coronel in reply. “I might be wrong but it looks like it’s not a disease, it’s a remedy. It’s healing Earth!” Roman Popov, October 2017

about

We would like to present you the “Alpha Seeds” – an experimental project that combines atmospheric chill music selected by AstroPilot and science fiction written by Roman Popov. Make yourselves comfortable and embark on a breathtaking journey to the planets and moons of the Solar System.

credits

released November 9, 2017

24bit Audio

Science fiction novel by Roman Popov;
Atmospheric music selected by AstroPilot

Cover design by nilaseth vk.com/fishcakestudio

license

all rights reserved

tags

If you like ASTROPILOT MUSIC, you may also like: