Dyson Aliens

Dyson Aliens, also known as "Primes" in the noval, are a fictional species of intelligent extraterrestrial life which originate from the solar system of the primary sun of the binary star system known as the "Dyson Pair" in the Commonwealth Saga of science fiction novels books by Peter F. Hamilton. The Dyson aliens are discovered in Pandora's Star and feature heavily in the rest of the Commonwealth Saga.

Physiology
Dyson Aliens exist in two separate forms &mdash; motiles and immotiles. The motile form performs physical tasks &mdash; labor, construction, and warfare. Immotiles are clusters of fused motiles with greatly improved brain power. Immotiles are immobile and are responsible for controlling motiles.

Individually, motiles are capable of only limited autonomous function, and are only really capable of obeying the orders of the immotile that produced it. Immotiles are created when, given appropriate conditions - usually a shallow pool of water - four motiles combine into a single immotile, expanding their collective capacity for thought to the point that a new intelligent being is created. Immotiles control motiles to build, cultivate and exploit the land around them. They are, in essence, the immobile brains of a single large entity capable of spanning over miles. Immotiles are also responsible for the reproduction of the species, as they produce "base cells" - single-celled organisms that are the basis of Prime life. Base cells are both food to the Primes, and also the source of primes - when certain chemicals and hormones are excreted into water containing a culture of base cells, the cells will react by coalescing and forming, over the course of a few days, a functioning Prime motile.



The motile form can take many forms that have been specifically constructed to perform certain tasks. One of the more basic and versatile varieties appears as having a pear-shaped torso approximately a meter wide at the base, with four vertical tapering ridges of hardened skin running up the flanks, each of which terminates in one of the motile's four legs, which are flexible, strong and hooved. Motiles of this type sport four arms, which sprout from the body some sixty centimetres above the leg joints. The arms are similar to the legs, differing only in that they terminate in a neat quad pincer arrangement. The form is topped by a cluster of four sensor stalks, each of which incorporates a nerve receptor - a thin impulse-permeable membrane over raw ganglions that allow motiles to communicate directly with another motile's brain by touching these receptor pads together. The brains are stored deep within the body.

Immotiles are only capable of handling the organisation of a certain number of motiles at any given moment. Past a certain point, the entity will be forced to grow a new immotile unit, which permanently attaches to the first, increasing its capacity for thought and multi-tasking. Extremely old Primes may consist of many hundreds, or even thousands of immotiles, controlling vast armies of motiles. If an immotile loses contact with the motiles under its command they will resort to a primitive animal like mode

Prime Society
Immotiles have no names, or language. They are entirely thought-based creatures, and identify themselves based upon the mental image of the location of their central immotile cluster, resulting in identities such as MorningLightMountain, ColdLakePromontory, TemperateSeaIsland, or SouthernRockPlateau. They are intensely hostile to any and all life that is not under their direct control. Other life represents competition for resources and space, and the concept of sharing is so completely alien to Prime immotiles that it simply doesn't exist. All immotiles exist in a state of permanent cautious war with each other, vying for resources, territory and dominance. Although they may form temporary alliances, such agreements are very short-lived. During the commonwealth saga the primes offer no kind of alliance or treaty to the Commonwealth. The primes have also been described as being the concept of growth in a physical interpretation.

Immotile technology is quite advanced, and they have functioning spaceships, nuclear warheads, and advanced electronic communications that allow them to transmit their neural control impulses over vast distances, effectively allowing a single immotile cluster to control a whole star system. As their war with humanity continues they develop wormhole technology, prototype starships and "corona-rupture devices", weapons capable of creating massive solar flares and lethally irradiating entire star systems.

MorningLightMountain
Towards the end of the book "Pandora's Star" there is only one known Immotile left in existence. That immotile, MorningLightMountain, has used its knowledge of wormhole technology, taken from the memory storage of the captured human astronomer Dudley Bose, to eliminate all the other immotiles. It is possible that more Immotiles are still alive behind the barrier surrounding Dyson Beta.

Having learned the location of the Commonwealth planets, MorningLightMountain then undertakes to invade the Commonwealth, eliminate all human life, and claim the territory as its own. Its ultimate plan is to spread across the entire galaxy and beyond, ensuring its own immortality - with each system claimed and with each immotile cluster that is founded, the probability of its being completely destroyed by a single event dwindle.

War with the Intersolar Commonwealth
After acquiring wormhole technology and discovering the location of the Commonwealth from the memories of astronomer Dudley Bose, MorningLightMountain launches an attack on the unprepared Commonwealth with a massive fleet of warships and an overwhelming number of soldier motiles. Tens of millions of humans are killed when MorningLightMountain captures 23 Commonwealth worlds.

With the Commonwealth unable to launch an effective counterattack, MorningLightMountain begins the invasion of a further 48 worlds, but is stopped when the Commonwealth destroys the wormhole staging post it is using to transport its forces into human-occupied space.



MorningLightMountain is eventually re-imprisoned at the end of Judas Unchained when the Commonwealth finds a way to reactivate the force field surrounding Dyson Alpha. Although MorningLightMountain is not dead it is suggested that the motiles will one day evolve independent thought and rebel.