by Aer-ki Jyr
“Because we normally extend IDF around whatever we’re hauling.”
“And we can’t do that with a planetoid.”
“Not that big. Not yet, anyway.”
Jadren looked at him with a raised eye ridge. “Pet project?”
“Not that I know of. But I am familiar with the seda gravity drives and their planet-like dimensions.”
“Well then,” the Admiral said, sinking a finger into the holographic data. “What does this have to do with your staying here?”
“For your ears only.”
Jadren nodded.
“The variants are not just a curiosity that we’re pursuing. They’re deliberate.”
“How so?”
“I’m not going to tell you everything just yet. The time isn’t right. But there is a genetic impulse imbedded within all Protovic to seek each other out and bring the variants together from across the galaxy. This is why I think so many individuals and groups are coming to us and willing to go through the pain in the ass indoctrination to get here. There’s a subtle tug on their subconscious tipping the scales of their priorities, whether they realize it or not. We’ve been keeping the Protovic in Axius split up for the most part so this reunification can’t occur there, though we are seeing a few individuals seek each other out regardless of the geography. It’s not much right now, but I have observed that the more Protovic there are in one place the greater the drive becomes.”
“What kind of ‘drive’ are you talking about, exactly?”
“To seek each other out, or more specifically, to seek out other colors. Genetically something will occur when all 8 variants are gathered together and some special criteria are met. This is going to happen soon or later, and if it is going to happen I need to be the one guiding it so it happens on our timetable and on our turf.”
“Whoa, wait a second,” Jadren said, standing up from his chair. “What is going to happen?”
“We don’t know for sure.”
“You’re worried it might be something bad…or dangerous, that you don’t want falling into the wrong hands. Or something dangerous that could harm the Protovic themselves outside of Star Force?”
“All of the above and more.”
“Did you say 8 variants?”
Brad nodded. “We’re still missing one. The Whites were number 7.”
“I thought that makes 6,” Jadren corrected him.
“Check again,” he said, pointing at the indoctee lists. “There’s a small group of 600 or so Aquas that we discovered a while back, or actually the Voku did. They were all in a Menqwel prison. We brought them back here and I have them in a full prison isolation similar to what your ancestors were put in and few came out of. These Aquas have a small chance, if they work hard and long enough, of earning their freedom. I don’t know if any of them will make it, none have seemed too inclined as of yet to fully commit, but there were a handful of eggs collected from them and those 18 Protovic Aquas are currently nearing the end of their maturia days.”
“Why didn’t I know about this?”
“None of them are here yet. When the first one arrives I was going to let the rest of you know.”
“So we’re missing one puzzle piece…for what? What are you worried about happening? Are we in danger? You said genetic, does that mean our offspring or that we’ll actually, physically change?”
“Until we get genetic samples from all the variants we can’t be sure, but we think there will be a physical change in any Protovic affected, not just future offspring.”
“And you don’t know what this change will be?”
“Not yet, no.”
“So everything we’ve built could be in jeopardy?”
“Possibly.”
“And how does your staying here help solve that problem? I assume that’s the reason you’re not off kicking ass.”
“The problem is twofold,” Brad explained, choosing to trust one of his most loyal Protovic with more information than any of the others knew yet. “The genetic transformation is an unknown, but we know it will only happen when all 8 variants are assembled, along with some other things that have to take place. It seems each variant has to undergo an upgrade prior to them all combining. The Oranges have already underwent theirs, which is why they have a physical head start on the rest of you.”
Jadren stared at him for a moment, putting those two pieces together. “And you didn’t feel like telling us this before?”
“We’re going to figure this out before it can cause a problem,” Brad promised him. “We’ve got the appropriate people on the taskforce, so telling the rest of you would just give you cause to worry without the ability to help. Better to keep you all in the dark until there is actually something to do.”
“So why are you telling me now?”
“You accusing me of being a slacker. Can’t have that,” Brad said sarcastically.
“Seriously.”
The Archon glanced down at his desktop for a moment. “I don’t know how this is going to play out, but so long as the Protovic are following an impulse to gather I want them gathering here and adding to our strength. But it has to be as a part of Star Force. In some ways I see them all as family, in others I recognize the threat they pose. When the Blues first came here they wanted to call the shots and they were quite vocal about not being able to. They tried to turn some of you away from Star Force and begin assembling a different type of union before we sent them packing. Those that have come back are doing so on our terms now and as you can see there are a lot of them.”
“You’re worried that there’s more than just a genetic imperative to assemble,” Jadren surmised. “You think it might be something cultural as well. Something that would erode us from the inside out.”
“No matter how much genetic impulses one has, you always has a choice. Sometimes you just don’t realize it. A strong mind guides itself. A weak mind follows and is ruled by the genetic impulses. Star Force trains all of us to develop into strong minded individuals, so…”
“You’re trying to counter a potential threat by bringing as many of us into the fold as possible.”
“And at the same time further develop our little piece of the empire. The changes that this reunification will make may very well be beneficial. Time will tell, but if it is something undesirable we’re going to rewrite your genetic code to make you immune to it.”
Jadren straightened, sensing another layer to Brad’s reluctance to leave the Protovic. “You can do that?”
“Not yet, but we’re learning. And the more variants we find the more data our medtechs have to figure out what’s going on and how to deal with it.”
“You’re trying to save us from a potential doomsday on the horizon.”
“If there is one, I need to shield you from it before it happens.”
Jadren looked down at his glowing hand, striped in both green and red bioluminescent bands that were mostly uniform amongst all Protovic, but always slightly different per individual. “Is this a natural thing or engineered?”
“I can’t say for sure, but the going theory is engineered. There have also been bits of mythos collected from the various civilizations that refer to a reunification and the glory that will follow. Stories that they have had before they had contact with other variants.”
“As if someone had told them what was coming…and scattered them?”
“Something went down. Right now we have mostly guesses.”
Jadren was silent for a long moment, with Brad peeking in on his thoughts as he sorted through all this. “What’s the last variant color?”
“We don’t know, nor did we know any of the others prior to finding them, save for some rumors, some of which turned out not to be true.”
“And you don’t know how many civilizations were out there originally?”
“We’ve found evidence of some that have since been destroyed, so we assume there were many of each variant. We have also found a genetic imperative, stronger t
han the assembly, that urges you to turtle up and survive. We think this is why a reunification hasn’t occurred yet, prompting each civilization to err on the side of caution before reaching out to group with others.”
“By design?”
Brad nodded.
“So someone put our ancestors out there in danger and told them to survive, and you know that a lot of them didn’t make it?”
“That seems to be the case.”
“And it makes you worry that whoever started all this were dishonorable bastards?”
Brad looked him straight in his glowing red eyes. “That thought has occurred to me.”
9
November 1, 3056
Aphat System (Bsidd Region)
Nym
Brad stood waiting on the edge of the landing platform as a dropship came down through the overhead shield dome that was keeping bugs and birds out of the city’s interior while maintaining the open air approach. The higher mass of the ship easily punched through the weak shield that was designed to dent rather than lightly crunch anything hitting it and flew in to the otherwise empty pad reserved for special traffic. The Eagle-class dropship lowered its boarding ramp and a trio of medtechs walked out with a host of cargo pallets following them, each pushed by techs wearing dark green uniforms that had black stripes, indicating that they were handlers for precision and sensitive equipment. Computer hardware fell under that category, but Brad knew that’s not why these were here.
Of the three medtechs dressed in their aqua-colored uniforms, most prominent among them was someone he truly had never expected to see anywhere outside of Sol, with the other two being his support staff, he assumed.
“I’m surprised you came here yourself,” Brad said as he walked out to greet Vortison.
“If something goes wrong I can’t fix it from Earth,” the geneticist argued.
“Have you even been outside of Sol before?”
“Twice. This makes the third. You have some place for us to set up shop?”
“Are you sure you can do this without a pyramid trip?”
“Our tech is sufficient. It’s the manipulation that is the question mark…which is why I’m here in case onsite improvisation is needed.”
“Alright then, follow me. You have enough guys to move everything in one trip or you need some extra hands?”
Vortison glanced over his shoulder, with Brad’s glance being directed to one of the techs.
“There’s a lot more where this came from,” she said.
Brad reached out telekinetically to one of his people in a nearby control facility and requested assistance as he looked at the other two medtechs. “Should I know you two?”
“Only after today,” the man said. “Name’s Brenson.”
“Tahiri,” the other said, offering the Archon a nod.
“They’re here to relieve me of some of the mundane work,” Vortison explained, “and to catch any mistakes I make before they can be implemented.”
“Does that happen often?”
“Like never,” Tahiri muttered.
“This is too important to take chances with,” Vortison insisted.
“Agreed,” Brad said as a handful of Protovic emerged from a nearby door. “There’s your extra hands. I want everything moved together. It’s a bit of a hike to get to your lab.”
“I assume you have volunteers,” Vortison said plainly in the otherwise empty hangar bay, for they’d come down into what amounted to a private facility within the Protovic city and not one of the primary spaceports.
“I do.”
“Purples I assume?”
“Of course. You can do this, right?”
“I believe so. If I can, do you have a plan for how it will be implemented within this society?”
“Yep. That’s the easy part.”
“How so?”
“We already do it for Archons.”
“Hmmn. I expected a bit more widespread distribution.”
“We can always expand later.”
“True,” Vortison said as more crates on hover sleds came down out of the dropship hold. “I’ll leave that to your judgement then. Get me to my lab and we’ll make this happen.”
“How long are you staying?” Brad asked as he turned and walked side by side with the man towards the landing bay exit into the city’s interior corridors.
“As long as necessary. Perhaps longer if a few subsequent inquiries pan out.”
“You’re getting close?”
“Closer. I have been able to formulate some guesses though, which we’ll get into later. Right now we need to get this equipment set up.”
“How long?”
“Two hours tops,” the hardware tech answered when Vortison deferred to her.
“How soon do you want the volunteers?”
“About 15 minutes later.”
Prentha and four other Protovic stood next to Brad in a medical lab off limits to the rest of the colony as a handful of medtechs worked their various devices setting up for the first trial run…which was to be him. Previously he and the others had been recruited in a pool of some 500 that they had to earn their way out of. All of them were high level veterans within the Protovic faction of Star Force and the competition had been fierce. Prentha was surprised he’d been one of the five to make it through, then he’d been brought into the trailblazer’s office for a private conversation in which he was told what this program was about.
He’d been asked then if he wanted to continue, with Brad noting that four others had declined when asked. That meant Prentha may have been in the top 9 rather than top 5, but that ultimately didn’t matter. However the candidates shook out, he’d been selected for an experimental biological upgrade that was apparently only applicable to Purples. The other four with him were the same, and they’d been told what was actually happening was an unlocking of some dormant genetic code, so even the medtechs and the Archon didn’t know what would happen…hence the potential danger.
Knowing that this was the first time they’d ever tried this made him unbelievably proud, as was the presence of the Human medtechs that had come out here all the way from Earth. He’d never been to the Star Force capitol before, nor had anyone else he’d known. Travel there was highly restricted, more so than the other factions. Axius had open access, but like this world Earth was off limits to general tourist traffic, as was the entire star system. One had to get permission to go there or have a free pass ID that he did not have, so whenever someone that lived and worked in Sol came here he knew they were on a special mission.
How long Nym would be closed to outsiders he didn’t know but other factions, including the Humans, had some worlds where travelers could come and go, Star Force citizens or not. Thus far the Protovic had been shut off completely, with rumors that that was going to change in time, but all the factions kept some worlds exclusive to themselves and Earth had always been the most secluded of the Human worlds. He didn’t know what it was like there, but all the most important people in Star Force had ties to it. If there was a problem that couldn’t be solved, you sent it to Earth…or had people from Earth come out to solve it, including the Archons.
The fact that they had a trailblazer of their own on Nym running and growing their faction was impressive enough, but now that these medtechs had come out it meant something big was going on and he was glad to be a part of it. Star Force had taught him that no one, anywhere, at any time was ever completely safe, so if there was extra danger in this procedure he was ok with it. The experts from Earth were here and so was Archon Brad. If he couldn’t trust them, he couldn’t trust anyone.
“Prentha, you ready?” the Archon asked.
The Protovic nodded. “Still not sure what this is all about, but ready and willing to dive in head first.”
“We’re not sure either, hence you five are the prototypes. Step into the machine,” he said, pointing to the slightly altered copy of the V’kit’no’sat medical station that Star Force was now using in a
few exclusive locations. It wasn’t quite as advanced software wise, but they’d finally been able to replicate the hardware and had fashioned a duplicate device built to Star Force design specs and using their own altered version of the advanced tech.
Prentha walked over to the booth-like chamber and stepped inside. One of the medtechs pulled a mechanical arm down across the entryway completing a thin ring around him waist. “What do I need to do?”
“Put your hands on the sphere in front of you and keep them there until I say otherwise,” one of the medtechs instructed.
“Alright,” Prentha said, placing both of his glowing green/purple hands onto the cool sphere.
“You may feel a slight numbing sensation. Do not be alarmed,” the medtech said a moment before he lost the feeling in his hands…or actually he could still feel them he just couldn’t move them. He wasn’t trying to, but it felt like he was firmly rooted in place.
“Connection made, now just hold still. You’re going to have tissue changes in your body occur at a rapid pace. There should be no pain involved, but your senses might get disoriented. Try to remain still and standing for the next few minutes.”
“Will do,” Prentha said as the slight numbing sensation began creeping up his arms and into his torso, spreading throughout his body.
“Why is this taking longer than us?” the trailblazer asked.
“Because we wrote this program and it hasn’t been polished over the millennia.”
“How much tissue?”
“A fair amount. Judging by the uptake rates he’s going to gain a couple pounds.”
“So he’s active now?”
“Yes. The timelock has been removed and the growth rate of the new tissue is being ramped up slowly. Without a base to work off of this is unexplored territory and I don’t want to force the rates as fast as the equipment is capable of doing. Right now the…”
The medtechs words blurred out from there as the outside world got foggy as far as Prentha was concerned. Soon he lost his concept of time and was awash in disorientation that passed without him knowing how long he had been incapacitated. The numbing retreated from his body faster than it had taken over and he found himself standing with his hands on the sphere like before, save his legs had repositioned into a wider stance.
