Star Force: Revelation (SF79) Read online

  1

  February 28, 3092

  Aphat System (Bsidd Region)

  Nym

  Kip telekinetically picked up Nefron and pushed him inside the medical station cage, lowering the arm and holding him there as the Protovic struggled to retain focus as a wash of memories and new mental programming began to take hold.

  “Follow my lead,” Brad said as he began sending Vortison mental images and cues as the four Archons fought a losing battle inside Nefron’s mind to ward off the changes being made to his existing memories. He played communicator while Kip took the lead, deciding where to make physical changes as if laying sandbags ahead of a flood.

  “This could make things worse,” Vortison cautioned.

  “Don’t focus on quality, just get the blocks in place as fast as possible,” Brad said as one of the mages took the physical restraint away from Kip and allowed him to focus totally on the mental war as both of the mages and Brad helped him where they could by disrupting new programming and causing it to have to rewrite itself multiple times. No matter how many pieces of it the Archons undid, it would regenerate itself and continue to spread.

  Kip knew they weren’t going to be able to shut that down, so his strategy was to try and isolate a piece of the Protovic’s mind physically like an island, and to do that they needed tissue changes of their own. The structure of Nefron’s mind was changing far less than his body, due in no small part to the fact that you couldn’t tear his brain down and rebuild it without killing him. With the Red’s neural enhancement already in place there were only minor changes being made to the hardware…in addition to new brain tissue being added, but the corruption was being done via software so Kip figured they had a chance of preserving a bit of him if they could get a capsule formed.

  “We have to lock it down entirely,” Brad explained as he continued to feed Vortison position data for within the Protovic’s mind as he rapidly grew physical components that were forcing the transformation to seek out new routes into the region they were attempting to protect…and losing fast. “Make it think there’s nothing left of his mind to convert and it might shut itself down.”

  “I’ll try,” the geneticist said as he rapidly pressed buttons and the machine made the changes in biology just as fast. “But this is going to be crude as hell.”

  “Let us worry about that, just become our tool and forget about the big picture right now,” Brad said as he blanked another tiny segment of the new coding like he was wiping away a rain drop, only to have another one immediately fall in its place. He could continue doing so indefinitely, blocking further corruption, but there were only so many places he could manually control and even with the other three Archons doing the same there was just too much brain for them to cover. Focusing on the sections that they knew to hold reasoning and judgement programs, they drew their no-go line there with Brad having Vortison physically sever inroads so the transformation couldn’t reach it.

  That also meant that from Nefron’s clouded point of view he didn’t have access to it either. The Archons were disconnecting a piece of his brain by making the physical blocks, but Kip had no other choice rather than just sit by and watch the Protovic being consumed by the transformation programming. As they worked he had Lina-10388 numbing some of his pain, for the transformation of his physical body wasn’t slowing, but the rest of their focus was so intense that they didn’t even feel Amy come into the room until she offered them a battlemeld prompt. Adding her strength to theirs they continued to wipe away as many new tendrils of corruption as they could while Brad and Vortison added more sandbag blocks around not a physical piece of his brain, but rather a section that held specific programming.

  That meant it was stretched out across several areas, with each needing to be encapsulated with the blocks. They focused on the major inroads first, but left themselves access points that they guarded the heaviest. Little by little they held their lines, having drawn them conservatively at first and been fighting well beyond them in a losing effort to buy time for Vortison to throw up the blocks. The more that went in the less ground the five, and soon to be eight Archons once more arrived, were able to firmly hold the rest of the openings until they were no longer in jeopardy of being overwhelmed.

  At that point Kip let them continue while he searched other places looking for regions not yet infected…which was when he began to feel the new tissue being grown and coming online. It wasn’t just more brain, but with it was coming the memories, skills, and powers of a very strong telepathic race he’d never encountered before…and it was happening within Nefron. There weren’t two people in his mind, but two customizations…one of which was being repurposed and converted, ostensibly so this new race wouldn’t be clueless as to what was going on in the galaxy and helpless at the outset.

  It would know everything that Nefron knew, save for the piece they were walling off, which wasn’t much, but it was all they could do for him. Already Nefron was becoming another race, in mind and body, with very little Protovic left in him.

  “You cannot stop this,” he said after several hours of silence being held in place inside the machine, startling everyone in the room with his reverberating voice. He was speaking English, but it had a definitive accent to it that wasn’t there before, being produced on vocal chords that were no longer Protovic. “I am becoming what I was always destined to become, I can feel it happening, and no amount of genetic manipulation is going to stop it. As you already have doubtlessly learned, the transformation is redundant and will continue to make alterations until I am complete. Try to delay as you will, but you will not succeed.”

  “What are you?” Brad asked, realizing he was talking to Nefron, but a Nefron who now thought he was someone else.

  “I am soon to be Chixzon. A race far older than your memory. We made an error once that nearly destroyed us, forcing us to disappear from the galaxy until we were but myth. Now we are returning, first I, then many more to come.”

  “Do you know who I am?”

  “Yes, I know you Brad. Your powers are impressive, far more than any we’ve encountered before, and I know you are in my head. All of you are in my head,” the peeling black creature said as the growths on his skin continued to bump out into nodules. “I do not have the strength to resist you, so there is little point in deception. Your abilities, that I know of, make you very powerful, but know that I am more so. Not in raw physical strength, but the Chixzon on the whole are superior. I know you will not believe this, and even now you are conflicted with concern for me. Do not be. I am in a great amount of pain, that is true, but this is who I was always meant to become.”

  “This wasn’t part of the plan.”

  “No it wasn’t. You were to learn and then return me to my inferior form. Now you are learning that is not possible, for this is not an upgrade, rather a return to former glory. We had to diminish ourselves in order to survive. An abominable task, but necessary. None of those living at the time were able to do so, only subsequent generations were able to be altered prior to birth. Though I have no way of knowing for certain, it was assumed that all Chixzon would be hunted to extinction. The fact that you have no knowledge of us reinforces this prediction.”

  “Hunted by whom?”

  “Our enemies, of which there were many. You do not have to be one. The Chixzon will never serve Star Force, but we can coopt you. We can find a place for you to service us. A recompense for hastening a unification to which there was no guarantee. We owe you enough to endow a privileged position…and while your first reaction is to deny, in time you will learn. I will not hold your ignorance against you. You will keep me imprisoned while you search my mind for answers. Until I am strong enough to resist such
intrusions I will not attempt to slow you. Learn from me what the Chixzon are and realize that you are better off with us than against us.”

  “Is there no other option?” Brad floated, trying to make this an intellectual discussion even as his insides were twisting up in disgust at how Nefron was being hijacked.

  “You have grown too large, and developed skills too powerful to be ignored. Your only options are to join with us or be destroyed by us…and killing me will not prevent this. I am not in a position to make demands, but know that our seeding of what you call Protovic occurred throughout the entire perimeter of the galaxy. You only have access to a shred of it, and even your ally The Nexus is not so large as to possess the ability to search out and find all of our wayward seeds. Sooner or later you will encounter us. Better it to be here and now while you have time to make a wise choice rather than as an outsider that must be contended with.”

  “Galactic domination is your end goal then?”

  “No. There is far too much galaxy for us to control, nor do we wish to do so. We cannot, however, ignore threats. Foremost among them are the core plague known as the Klamensh, of which you have no knowledge. Fortunate, that is, for we feared they may have spread this far out over time. There are…no, you have seen them,” Radonon said, seeing a twitch in Brad’s facial expression. To test that theory he used what was there of his own telepathic ability to transmit the basic knowledge of the Klamensh to the others in the room.

  They had the same reaction, a visible twitch, and one of understanding.

  “You do know the Klamensh, but by another name I assume. Tell me how far they have come, for you have not made their existence public knowledge. Are they close? Tell me, for I cannot reach into your minds. They are so strong my limited skills are blocked entirely from access.”

  Guys, he’s finishing for information, Brad told the others, Vortison included. Finish plugging the holes but do not speak to him. Let me handle the interrogation.

  Good idea, Kip said, trying to push that recent revelation out of his mind so he didn’t slip up on the last few necessary holds while Vortison finished creating the capsule.

  “You know far more about us than we do you, so it is you that we will focus on.”

  “Information shared may garner you favor,” Radonon offered loosely.

  “What sort of favor does being your slaves hold?”

  “Servants and slaves are not the same. As I previous inferred, the galaxy is vast and we do not wish to hold firm control over most of it. We seek to find and eliminate threats before they can harm us. We failed to do so previously, the same mistake will not be made again. In this form we are vulnerable, and until our empire is rebuilt your assistance can be immensely valuable, for which we would allow you to maintain most of your current holdings and expand upon them with our blessing and guidance. If you align your objectives with ours it can be a great advancement for Star Force, rather than the penalty that your words infer. In this language the term ‘subordinate associates’ would be more accurate.”

  “And if we refuse?”

  “Then you will probably kill me, but that will not stop our eventual return. While there are no guarantees, we placed many seeds to counter statistical improbability. And the fact that two of the eight segments had already achieved second state before your beneficial intervention tells me that the time is nearing for others to unify. You may have another million years, but eventually my brethren will come to this part of the galaxy, seeking out potential threats, for which your considerable abilities will take our notice. Better for your empire to be an ally before that happens, for we do not take chances any longer. If there is doubt we will destroy you. No malice intended, but we cannot linger in indecision. You will either join with us or not. Time will not be granted to you to develop a means of battling us.”

  “As someone else did?”

  “My head is still awash with transformation. Can you not find the answer to that yourself within it?”

  “Trying to gage our skill level?”

  “Would you not?”

  “I’m more interested in why you do not think you are Nefron anymore.”

  “Because I am not. I am Radonon, first of the Chixzon to return.”

  “How do you know you are the first?”

  “My name says so. When I encounter another I will pass on the transformation code along with a temporal marker. When he wakes he will have a different name, based on what number he is.”

  “What happens if you encounter many at once?”

  “It will sort itself out. We are telepathic, and even though I cannot read your mind I can sense it there. Likewise we can sense each other, as can our code, and it will appropriately name us all, and from those names we will know our purpose.”

  “And yours is what?”

  “I am to do what you will not allow me to do. Find other ‘Protovic’ and fulfill their destiny to become Chixzon. Because you will not allow this I must negotiate an adequate alliance first. You are in my mind, so you should know I am not being duplicitous. Any agreement made here will be honored into the future, and not just with my faction, but any others that venture into this portion of the galaxy. We act as one, and an agreement made will be honored by all, so when you speak with me you are speaking with the whole of the Chixzon.”

  “I’m not impressed yet,” Brad said dismissively. “What are those growths on your body?”

  “Additional limbs. We had to disguise our physiology in a somewhat compatible form else our seeds would have been discovered and eradicated. The Protovic physiology is what you would consider to be our base, while we have many additional add-ons…which the medtech is no doubt now realizing.”

  Brad raised an eyebrow in Vortison’s direction, but mentally told him not to respond and keep working.

  “Enlighten me then.”

  “We are quite skilled with biological manipulation, and have altered our own over the course of time to meet our needs. My primary limbs you see here, what are growing off them are secondary ones.”

  “And from your back?”

  “We share a bit of familiarity with your Bsidd. They are mandibles that have weapon caliber endings.”

  “Poison tipped?”

  “No, these are physical weapons…with an armor piercing modification. It is so strange to be talking with someone who has access to my own memories, for I can hide nothing from you. Even amongst ourselves there are limits, to which I know you can breach even if I was fully formed. I’m beginning to understand just how much you’ve hidden from everyone else, but tell me, you did not engineer such things. I know this because your biological skills are inferior. Is this truly a natural development? Our telekinesis was not.”

  Another twitch from the Human, which Radonon noted…and that he knew the Human knew he noted.

  “We can play games as much as you like,” the Chixzon said as another piece of black skin flaked off and fell to the floor of the medical chamber, “but given that I can hide nothing from you let us just speak plainly. Or rather I will, your secrets you will keep until a time that you choose otherwise. Right now you do not understand who and what we are, so the idea of an alliance is ridiculous from your current point of view. You are dominant here and you rightly should not give it up lightly, but know that I can solve your lizard problem with much greater ease. Theirs is a primitive problem solved most efficiently through spreading contagion that will target their biology specifically. Given that they are annihilating every race they come into contact with rather than picking and choosing wisely, they are a plague that must be eradicated by us, so I have no qualms with building the weapon for your use.”

  “You should know we don’t fight that way.”

  “I know, but you are also calculating and keen warriors. If the lizards are to be all killed, why not use a more direct method. Offer them surrender first, and then when they refuse bombard their planets with canisters. I can assure you only they will die, and it can be made into a numbing d
eath. We typically do not care about such things, but allotments can be made to fit your methods.”

  “No,” Brad said flatly.

  “Then what do you wish of me? My transformation will require additional time, but soon I will be complete. You no doubt want information from me and my body. Will you kill me thereafter or will you preserve me while you study the…problem? Long enough for you to fully grasp my offer. I am patient when needed, so there is no rush. Mistreatment will be held against you, though I know that is not your way.”

  “It is also your way.”

  “My protoform, perhaps. My way is that of the Chixzon, and I can feel it returning to me like waking up from a long, suppressive dream. I am becoming myself, I know you can feel this in me. This is who I am supposed to be, do not allow yourself to believe otherwise. As for your neutered Protovic Blues…you may keep them if you wish. Without their true nature buried inside, they were merely empty vessels and no longer seeds.”

  “But you want the others?”

  “We can negotiate that. As you already know there are other seeds out there, some that did not wish to partake in this unification. I can wake them up and leave Star Force as is, if that is what you wish.”

  “Generous…or cold, I’m not sure which.”

  “I was not myself until moments ago, and I am not fully there yet. The Protovic are not Chixzon.”

  “Good to know.”

  “You would not say that if you understood. Perhaps when the turbulence within my mind settles you will be able to learn from me more quickly.”

  Done, Kip said after conferring with Vortison to make sure the capsule was holding. There’s not much of him left elsewhere to save, but the corruption is taking a while to fully unfold. We’ll have to wait and see if the capsule holds, so we need stay here and monitor.

  “You need food?”

  “My physical transformation will delay until I have sufficient resources, yes. You should know you cannot stop it without starving me to death, so yes, I need more food in larger amounts than previously. I’m guessing you didn’t account for my additional limbs?”