Geometers

Definition

"Geometers" is the working name used by participants at the Convox for the alien visitors; "Cousins" is an alternate label heard among other observers. The term carries no confirmed self-designation from the aliens and reflects human usage only.

Context and Usage

• The name appears in discussions around the Convox and is used by avout and Saeculars to reference the aliens without presuming motives or identity.
• The aliens are linked to a massive icosahedral vessel commonly called the Hedron, seen with a circular pusher plate oriented toward nearby craft. A leaked speely shows the Hedron keeping its pusher plate toward a human capsule, jamming communications, and manipulating the capsule via a robotic probe.
• In a recorded encounter, a single representative - identified as the Warden of Heaven - was sent from the human capsule toward the Hedron at what appears to be the aliens' request to "send one." Communications from the capsule were jammed during the transfer. Hours later, the Hedron opened a central port on the base plate and ejected the Warden's body back toward the capsule. Whether the Warden died before or after ejection is not established in current accounts.

Related Observations and Inferences

• Propulsion and posture: Observers note the Hedron's pusher plate and shuttered central port; some infer a nuclear-pulse style propulsion. During the encounter, the aliens' probe appeared to recognize and use a lifting bracket on the human suit, suggesting technical understanding of human equipment.
• Atmosphere and suit telemetry: After an initial period of radio jamming, suit telemetry could no longer be read; some aboard the capsule conjecture that the Warden may have left the suit, which would imply a breathable environment inside the Hedron, but this remains unconfirmed.
• Strategic posture: The vessel's orbit and earlier plane-change maneuvers lead some participants to suggest that the aliens must manage limited "fuel" for propulsion. Members of the traveling party interpret a prior night of laser illumination as signaling interest in sites believed to hold nuclear material, naming the Concent of Saunt Edhar, the Concent of Saunt Rambalf, and the Concent of Saunt Tredegarh. These are interpretations voiced in-story and are not verified facts.
• Automation hypothesis and aboutness debate: Within the traveling party, one view holds that there may be no "biological Geometers"; instead, ships and probes could run an automated program. Under this view, interacting with them would resemble code-breaking against a deterministic syntactic device; others counter that if the system exhibits true "aboutness" (semantic content), it would be harder to deceive. These positions are presented as in-story speculation.
• Probe details and sensing: An observer fixates on the probe that handled the Warden, describing remote manipulator arms and conjecturing imaging devices guarded by clusters of spotlights; the account acknowledges that memory and imagination may be intertwined, so these features remain unconfirmed.

Related Terms

• "Cousins" - an alternate human nickname for the same aliens.
• "Hedron" - an in-world nickname for the aliens' icosahedral craft (not their confirmed name for it).

Notes

• The Geometers' motives, internal structure, and self-designation are unknown. Current references derive from human observation and leaked recordings; claims are presented here with attribution or hedging when based on in-story inference rather than direct confirmation.