Star Force: Perquisition (9 page)

“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 than 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.

“How you doing?” Brad asked, his voice sounding a bit
odd.

“I’m fine…whoa.”

“What?”

“Everything sounds weird. I can…I don’t know how to
explain this,” he said, looking down at his hands.

“Take your time,” the medtech urged. “Tell us what you
can but please remain inside the machine. You can remove your hands from the
sphere now.”

Prentha
pulled them off and
flexed his fingers, feeling a rush of adrenaline. “I can feel everything.”

“Try to be more specific.”

“I can feel what I’m looking at. Its dimensions. I can
even feel what’s behind me. I can taste the air and smell…it’s like my nose
just opened up. My hearing is like everything is super loud and distorted. Is
this supposed to happen?”

“I believe so. The data we’re getting from you now is
promising, but for the next few weeks you’ll need to wear one of these
biomonitors.”

“Here, take this one,” Brad said, but didn’t move a
muscle. A weird sensation prompted
Prentha
to turn
around where he saw a tiny circular device floating in the air behind him.

“Proximity sense confirmed,” the medtech noted.

“It goes on your forehead,” Brad said, floating it
over to him and attaching it with a telekinetic press. “It’ll transmit data
back to our systems wherever you go within the city.”

“You can step out now,” the medtech said as the other
stepped forward and raised the mechanical arm. “Number 2 please.”

“
Ileen
, you’re up.”

Prentha
passed the female
Protovic on the way out, brushing arms with her and getting a huge emotional
surge.

“Whoa…you’re a lot hotter than before.”

The trailblazer and medtech exchanged glances, but it
was the medtech that spoke, more to himself than anyone else. “You’ve received
a sensory package upgrade. Biologically speaking, sexual attraction is tied
into one’s senses as a software add-on. This could have an effect on that.”

“Do you mean we’re going to get
more
horny
?”
Ileen
asked, stopping a step outside
the machine.

“A small possibility,” the medtech admitted. “This is
probably just a reaction to the new senses. Give it some time to sink in and I
think your sexuality will adjust accordingly. You might have a period of heightened
incentive during the transition though.”

“We’re not permitted to mate, right?”

“Not for the foreseeable future, no,” Brad confirmed.
“
Prentha
, think you can control yourself for a
while?”

The Protovic laughed. “I’m not that bad off, I’ve just
never seen a girl look this way before. Use your Archon superpowers and see for
yourself.”

Brad was silent for a moment and
Prentha
didn’t feel anything different while he was, but that wasn’t news to him. It
was well known amongst the Protovic that the Archon could read their minds, and
they often made weird or rude thoughts when passing him just to test whether or
not he was taking a peek inside, some of which he responded to in hilarious
ways. His level of sarcasm was not to be underestimated, and rather than feel
violated the Protovic had come to welcome him looking over their shoulder, so
to speak. They had nothing to hide from him and resented anyone who did.

“You’re right,” he said at last. “She is extremely
hot.”

“For real or an illusion?”
Ileen
asked, accepting the compliment with skepticism.

“He’s got more information about you than before. As
if you were looking at a colorless sensor feed and suddenly the color returned.
You’re in ‘color’ now, as is everything else, so all the other chicks probably
look just as hot.”