Proto-Supreme Beckon
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| Classification | |
|---|---|
| Type | Supreme Beckon (developing) |
| Structure | Nexus |
| Characteristics | |
| First found | 2025, Hiroshima |
| Development | Months to years |
A proto-Supreme Beckon is a Supreme Beckon in development on Earth. Given months to years, it would become a Supreme Beckon in control of the planet. H&A tracks each one's development as a percentage of maturity, and every one found has been attacked with nuclear weapons. The first was found beneath Hiroshima in 2025.
Description
A proto-Supreme Beckon belongs to the Supreme Beckon species from the start of its growth. Like other Beckons it grows out of infested ground. It has the body plan of the larger Beckons: a gas-filled trunk, a bulb at the crown that holds most of the organs, a root mat and an ingrown Dispatcher. It grows faster than any other Beckon and to a far greater size.
Development
A proto-Supreme Beckon develops continuously, and its development slows at later stages. H&A expresses its progress as a maturity percentage, estimated from the size of the bulb, the extent of the root mat and the strength of the organism's signals.
A developing proto-Supreme glows far more brightly than an ordinary Beckon, in step with its activity; the Hiroshima organism was visible from orbit before it was destroyed. Proto-Supremes are found by their glow from orbit and by the vibration of their root mats, which spread faster than those of any other Beckon. Since 2025 H&A has kept a watch for them with satellite imaging of the night side of the Earth and with seismometer networks in held and contested territory.
Strikes
H&A Thermonuclear makes the recommendations for nuclear strikes on proto-Supreme Beckons, and the strikes are authorised at closed meetings. The root mat around a struck organism is burnt out by the fire that follows the detonation, and the site is watched for new growth afterwards.
Hiroshima
In January 2025 a proto-Supreme Beckon was found beneath Hiroshima, in Japan. A nuclear strike was authorised within 96 hours, on 20 January 2025, at a meeting of eight people at an H&A Thermonuclear facility near Lyon, and the Japanese government consented to it. The strike destroyed the organism at about 40% maturity and killed about 240,000 people. It was the largest Beckon ever recorded on Earth.
The strike began a shortage of radioactive material for nuclear weapons and RTG rounds, which continues as of 2028.
2028
In 2028 four proto-Supreme Beckons began growing at the same time, in separate regions. Three were destroyed.