by Aer-ki Jyr
“I’ve never actually done that, but metaphor taken.”
Suddenly Amy’s memories of that activity flooded into him, giving him the proper context to see what she fully meant. “Dig. Find the pieces that are the thickest, the most unlike the Protovic, and start hacking them down to size.”
Nefron pushed his way through his fear and focused on the Chixzon knowledge, hoping that doing so wouldn’t suck him back in faster. Seeing it in the clear now he looked for the points of contention, thinking and analyzing each briefly as he looked for the biggest ones…and when sacrifice came up he knew he’d hit a major sticking point. The Chixzon weren’t quite the lizards, for they didn’t hold to sacrificing themselves so readily, but they didn’t have any reluctance to do so with others if it furthered their goals.
There was no sense of the common good, of right and wrong…only survival, dominance, and subordination. They were essentially hollow and seeking to rewrite the galaxy to fit their assertions rather than facing the truth head on and trying to work the problem. His own imperatives had been skewed to suck away the influence of his conscience. He knew from the Chixzon knowledge that the conscience wasn’t something genetic, but residing in a person’s core. Its effect was known and had to be countered along with any other imperatives that the Protovic form had that differed from Chixzon.
In order to avoid detection, they’d had to create the Protovic to be different in body and mind so that their true destiny could not be guessed at. In order to make the transition into Chixzon, everything that the Protovic were or became had to be altered within well-defined parameters that made the Chixzon Chixzon. Their race had no sense of a conscience because they wished to have none.
Focusing on those memories given to him, he pushed further down that logic thread now that he could think clearly, guessing at the cause and finding it.
The Chixzon, like all people, did have a conscience, but it was engineered out of them, or rather their connection to it was stifled…first with genetic inhibitors self-imposed long ago to give them the ‘steel’ to do what was necessary for survival. They wanted to see the galaxy as a numbers game, resources, assets, and threats that needed to be managed, culled, collected. The idea of non-Chixzon being ‘people’ was an impediment to doing what was required, but once suppressed the Chixzon tested had become solitary, losing their connection and concern for their fellow Chixzon. To counter that they added loyalty imperatives to bind them together into an efficient race that knew no equal, had no division, no backstabbing.
They operated as a single unit, much like the lizards, but on a far greater level…and that wasn’t Chixzon arrogance speaking, for with his mind free now Zefron could come to grasp the sheer magnitude of what the Chixzon were and capable of, while at the same time seeing how they had several blind spots.
Focus on the blind spots, a voice boomed in his mind, and it wasn’t Amy’s. See what they can’t see and it will break the mold. You’ve nibbled your way this far, now bite off a chunk.
“Do you know what is going on? What did you do to me that first day?”
“We preserved a piece of your mind,” he said as he jogged through the open door and up beside Amy. “Encapsulated it until the transformation subsided, then reconnected it with the rest of your mind. There was conflict from the beginning, but now you’ve finally broken through to see a glimpse of the truth.”
“What piece?”
“Analysis and learning.”
When he said that, Nefron’s memories of the past 2 years suddenly crystalized into understanding. That had been the missing piece of the puzzle, for his own mind wasn’t working as it should have been according to the Chixzon’s design and the Archons had never told him what they’d done. Now that he knew he could make a fresh analysis of everything that had happened and was able to size himself up within a matter of seconds.
Kip could feel him gathering his strength, then after a few more moments he stood up and looked at them both with glowing green eyes. “Slowly stop transmitting. I will take it from here.”
“Are you sure?” Amy asked.
“This is my fight. I need to take it head on.”
“As you wish,” Amy said, reducing her mindstate transmissions over the next ten seconds before dropping them off completely after that. Both she and Kip felt him shudder, with the weight of the Chixzon back fully on his mind. Rather than resist it he attacked it, with a whirlwind of conflict stirring up that blinded both Archons from being able to see much of what was happening to him.
Nefron knew the truth now…which is what he had been lacking before, not just because of the Chixzon, but because he hadn’t known about the alteration. Now that he did he was able to correct mistakes and have them take, resetting his mind bit by bit without erasing the Chixzon, which he was not able to do. Knowing a lie and being ensnared by it were two very different things. Seeing its inconsistency and inaccuracy made one doubt, but knowing exactly where it was wrong was what freed one’s mind and he had a lot of material to work through, though with each chunk that was corrected he could feel his own strength growing even as his fatigue increased.
This is your last chance, a very loud voice boomed through the storm and made its way inside to Nefron, which he instantly remembered from one of his favorite Human movies. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill…the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill…you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
“Red always was my favorite color,” Nefron said pithily in response to Brad’s bit of help and recognizing the imperative in it. He needed to go all in and tolerate this no longer. Truth couldn’t be watered down or compromised on. He had to root out these lies once and for all or fall victim to a hybridized prison for his mind…and the truth would never be so fresh as it was now. If he delayed he could numb up a bit again, and he couldn’t afford that. He was Nefron, not Radonon, but he was Chixzon and he needed to assimilate his new race on his terms, not theirs.
Removing the lies hurt, like pulling out shrapnel from his physical body. His mind had to heal and reset itself with each epiphany, but as he did so his connection to reality grew stronger and the risk of relapsing became less and less. He knew he wasn’t going to get through every single bit of memory in him at one time, but he needed to kill the juggernauts and let himself sweep up the rest as an afterthought in the coming days, so he sought them out and forced himself to look at things from an angle his programming resisted. It was raw effort and gave him a monstrous cumulative headache, but he welcomed the pain over the numbness. It was real, not imposed.
His green eyes continued to glow brightly, looking in the direction of the 3 Archons but not seeing them. His eye line remained steady, almost as if he were a statue for the better part of an hour before his spike mandibles suddenly sparked to life and went as green as his eyes. They reached back behind him in coiled positions as his arm struts deployed and fanned out. He raised his head towards the ceiling and yelled…a cleansing reverberation connecting all the mental alterations to his physical form and blasting away the storm in his mind with the effort.
The sound of his voice was low and menacing, but with so much power behind it and his mind that it was evident that this was not a Protovic at all.
When his yell ended he turned sharply and jutted out his glowing spikes into the computer console that he had spent so much time studying trying to figure out a way to ensure Chixzon domination over the galaxy. He slashed through it twice, then pulled back his mandibles and went about beating it into a pulp with his fists, breaking it down into pieces and finally stomping on them with his hardened feet and talons, taking out what seemed like a lifetime of torturous frustration on the device before he casually stood up and walked a couple steps towards the watching Archons.
“My name…is Nefron. And that isn’t going to change.”
Brad, Kip, and Amy were all smiling, and he could feel each
of their presences within his mind. Barely wisps of thought, but he could feel them none the less…which they also noticed.
“I am not Protovic,” he said firmly. “And I am not going back. My body could return to its former attractive glory, but this brain won’t fit in my old head and I don’t want to lose the knowledge and capabilities I have now. Not after what it took to get them. I can help you far more as a Chixzon, even teach you a few things you don’t know. That’s such an odd feeling talking to Archons.”
“Welcome back, buddy,” Brad said, making it official.
“Hugs are not necessary,” Nefron said warily. “Don’t want to accidentally poison you. Is Vortison still here?”
“Yes,” Kip answered.
“Get him. I need these poison glands removed. Even the nonlethal ones. I don’t want them at all. We don’t fight like that.”
“And your glowsticks?” Amy asked.
“No…I kind of like those,” he admitted with a weak smile. “If that’s ok with you guys? I’d also like to get out of this box, sanctum or not, and breathe some fresh air.”
“Actually,” Kip said, thinking. “I have an idea. Come with me.”
Vortison sat in his lab as he did most days, just having come back from a workout and wanting to get to the most recent batch of simulations he was running. What had happened to Nefron had been his fault, and until he found a way to change him back, impossible as that was, he wasn’t going to let it go. He knew better than to let himself become obsessed with it, but the truth was that studying the Chixzon biotech was at the top of his to-do list anyway, with other high level Star Force work being delegated to his lesser peers as he committed himself to exploring and potentially solving the mysteries revealed to them here.
He had a suspicion that the Chixzon, with all of their genetic knowledge, could have undone what they did to Nefron, so he held a little hope that if he assimilated enough of their knowledge that perhaps he could one day undo his mistake…and right now that meant studying the lizard genetic code and notes that Radonon had provided him and learning from it.
To that end he was running various simulations based on that work, some with lizard code and a few with others applying similar principles, all accomplished via computers and not live experiments. Star Force never experimented on those who could not give their consent, let alone torturing them to gain insights. That sort of thing prompted Star Force to conquer races that did, with more than one example in their history to that point.
“I used to think you were so smart,” a deep voice said behind Vortison, causing him to flinch and turn around suddenly…then jerk backwards and fall off his chair as he saw Radonon standing behind him.
“Now you’re just a newb,” the Chixzon said as Vortison saw Kip standing behind him at a distance and smiling.
“What’s going on?” the geneticist said, retreating around the other side of his work station and out of range of those spike mandibles.
“It’s ok,” the Chixzon said, staying put. “It’s me. I’m back. I’m Nefron again.”
Vortison stared at him coldly for several seconds, then his eyes flicked to Kip, who nodded. The medtech frowned and looked at the Chixzon again. “How?”
“Not entirely sure, but my mind is back to…somewhat normal. I still have the Chixzon knowledge, which I think you’ll be very interested to investigate. That rundown on the lizards is just an appetizer. I’ll teach you the good stuff, given time. There’s a lot of prerequisites I have to get you up to speed on first.”
“Is this for real?” he asked Kip as Brad and a few other Archons came into the lab.
“Just happened,” the trailblazer said. “And I can confirm that he’s back.”
“Mission accomplished,” Nefron said. “Took longer than we hoped, but I’m here, now, and fully Chixzon.”
“Can you show me how to turn you back into a Protovic without gutting your mind?” Vortison asked, still very reserved.
“I could, but I’m not going back. I have too much valuable information, plus the cognitive upgrades are considerable. But I can go back, and I’ll show you how to do it later, but right now I need you to make the alterations to remove my poison glands. I don’t want them anymore. Afraid I might jab someone on accident.”
Vortison cautiously walked around his workstation and up to Nefron, looking at him closely.
“It’s me,” he promised. “A whole lot uglier, but like I said before, I’m willing to take one for the team.”
A single tear bubbled up beneath the medtech’s right eye, but he kept the emotion out of his voice. “Alright then. Let’s get to work.”
9
May 29, 3094
Aphat System (Bsidd Region)
Nym
Nefron walked into the hangar bay carrying a duffle of personal gear hooked over his right spike mandible to find Brad and Kip waiting for him at the base of his dropship’s boarding ramp. The two Archons were talking with each other as he walked up to them along with some of Vortison’s medtechs that were carrying their own travel kits in addition to pushing some hover crates of more sensitive equipment that was going back to Earth, along with him.
“Is something wrong?” Nefron asked.
“Nope,” Brad said reassuringly. “Just wanted to see you off.”
“Any last orders?”
“You’re on your own from here, but I do want constant updates.”
“You’ll get them,” he promised as Vortison came into the hangar behind him along with the rest of the passengers headed back to Earth.
“You are leaving me someone, right?” Brad asked across the bay.
“You have three medtechs that I’ve cleared to make the alterations to the eggs. I assume that’s sufficient.”
“Take care of your apprentice,” Kip said, talking to Nefron. “He’s got a lot to learn.”
Brad snickered, but Vortison didn’t share their amusement. “Yes, let’s get back to a proper facility where we can be left to our work in peace and you guys can get back to doing your…thing.”
“Thing?” Kip objected, knowing how peeved Vortison had become with his own lack of understanding of the science that Nefron had been exposing him to.
“You do improvise, so ‘thing’ seems a suitable term.”
Brad shrugged. “Can’t argue with that. Is there anything you need from us here, data or otherwise?”
“Just periodic updates as usual until the completion of the program. I don’t anticipate any anomalies but we need to be thorough.”
Brad nodded. “Thank you.”
Vortison cracked a small smile. “That’s what techs are for.”
“You’re welcome,” Kip added.
“For what?” Vortison asked.
The Archon pointed dramatically at Nefron.
“That wasn’t your doing,” he scoffed, turning and headed up the boarding ramp. “Come on, Nefron. Time to get you acquainted with a far smarter peer group.”
“Which he’ll be teaching,” Kip spat back.
“And learning from.”
“Your medical technology is impressive,” Nefron offered. “It’ll open up some new possibilities that the Chixzon never had access to. I’d still prefer to be fighting rather than doing tech work, but I’m looking forward to this, and not just because I get to see Earth and the Director.”
“He’s an Archon too you know,” Kip said, looking at Vortison who was half turned around on the ramp.
“He is?” Nefron asked.
“Yes, and you can ask him about that when you arrive,” Brad said, raising a fist towards Nefron. “See you later.”
The Chixzon raised his own hand and lightly fist bumped the Human so not to hurt his soft flesh. “Later,” he echoed, then offered the same to Kip before following Vortison up the ramp and towards an exciting new chapter in his life. Both Archons retreated a few steps then waited while the dropship lifted off and exited up through the open ceiling port and into the planet’s atmosphere through the energ
y shield.
“He’ll be fine,” Kip said.
“I know.”
“No, you’re worried about a relapse.”
“If I was I wouldn’t have let him go.”
“But you’re still worried.”
“The knowledge is still there, but he’s owning it now.”
“Yes he is,” Kip said, eyeing him as the dropship moved off laterally and disappeared from view as it made its long trek up to orbit. “So what’s bothering you?”
“There could be Chixzon out there somewhere in the galaxy right now.”
“Our Protovic are getting inoculated, so unless they show up really soon we’re not going to have to worry about it.”
“Thankfully no, but these guys were beat once. I don’t think they’ll make the same mistakes twice.”
“They’ve got the V’kit’no’sat to deal with this time.”
“They could just avoid them and push into the rim again.”
“I’m more worried about them using biological weapons. The V’kit’no’sat can kill Hadarak, so what do you think the Chixzon would do to take them out?”
“I don’t think they can.”
“That’s what worries me. I don’t think they can conventionally, but they’re good at finding roundabouts. I’m not sure how we prepare for that.”
“With him,” Kip said, gesturing at the sky. “He knows everything they know…unless some of the originals survived.”
“I don’t think so. These bastards got wiped out a long time ago.”
“Maybe the V’kit’no’sat finished them off.”
Brad laughed. “That would be ironic, but I doubt it. Core and Rim. They never came out this far. I think the Chixzon were destroyed, and are going to give the galaxy a big coming back party in their own way. And the damn thing is we can’t stop it from happening outside our little slice of the galaxy.”
“We’ve got time. If the galaxy is as rough elsewhere as it is here, the other colonies are probably turtled up trying to just survive…by the way, are we still going to bring in any more that we find?”
