Most of the crew had fainted upon arrival, only a couple of dregs remaining conscious. That went double for the bridge crew, not a soul was awake.
Not until an imposing and furious pulse brought ShricKus back to painful awareness.
Keyship Biskint touched the mind of ShricKus, demanding she surrender and explain.
Her hood shrunk and her tail coiled with fear and surprise. BisKint was the keystone ship of ParsTinKut! One of the great Warminds of the Platinum empire! ShricKus had carried the PanarTite to the front lines of the Sheosayl conquest, dragged along in the wake of the white and blue wedge!
ShricKus mustered what meagre strength she had left.
[I am Minder ShricKus,] she sent, her first pulse almost fragmenting as it was sent. [I am ShricKus, acting Commander of the PanarTite. I surrender this vessel to your authority.]
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> Chapter 10
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> Second born under Vyla and Xanlee, Eless Mover of Sheoscan
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Eless brushed a strand of hair from Seth's face as he slept like a corpse. Indeed he would appear as such to any other Sheosayl lacking her unique connection. His mental burn had reduced his blocks by at least an order of magnitude.
That he could fall so far unconscious surprised and scared Eless, but then, Humans had a natural mental defence. They didn't have to worry about letting something slip during their rest period. Didn't have to protect their innermost shell as they slumbered. Could not be detected by each other by any of the common methods to anyone Eless had ever met before.
Eless held onto that tether of his, letting her peek into his mind and seeing… not much at all. She could sort of access certain things, but if she wanted to see his memories, it wouldn't be happening now. He wasn’t asleep, he was unconscious, meaning little activity in the hidden depths of his mind. Eless hesitated at looking deeper, afraid of his condition after doing so much.
Her second major worry settled itself quickly enough.
"Eless, right?" The Human female spoke. Oria. Her name was Oria. "Are we safe?" Her mind block pushed at Eless, of course, simply for being near. It was softer somehow, less oppressive than that which Seth projected.
The Human Declan’s was a touch stronger than Oria’s, but it wavered strangely, tugged this way and that by his attention.
It didn't happen immediately, her understanding of the words. Seth's exhaustion resonated with her own, and her third major worry pulled at her dangerously. Still, she lacked the ability to speak, so she nodded — an affirmative to the Human's question. The female Human sighed with relief, followed moments later by the male.
Eless’s head nodded, and she jerked herself awake as she felt a new presence. She turned to face Zeonova. She couldn't call psionically with the Humans here, so instead, she raised her hand towards her commanding officer. The elder Sheosayl captain approached Eless with confusion.
"What is our status Brutus?" the male Human asked. “Why are we just floating down gently through the atmosphere?”
"It seems we are safe,” Brutus explained, "We are not moving under my power, however. It is certain that the Sheosayl are carrying us downwards."
"I'll take it," the male answered with palpable relief.
Zeonova took Eless's hand. [What is- oh]
Eless didn't try to hide it; there was no point.
[You don't have long,] Zeonova said simply, sliding her mind into Eless to try and bolster the younger female against the inevitable. But there was more to it. Eless shared what she could, opening herself up out of necessity. It would be incomplete, it was too soon, but Zeonova needed to be able to understand the spoken language of the Humans. Reflexively, Zeonova gathered the rest of the present Sheosayl together so that the group of them could benefit and help.
"Are you okay?" the female Human asked of Eless.
That was the last thing Eless heard for a while. She had almost entirely shut down as she maintained the two links — the sharing link with Zeonova, and the soul link she had with Seth. A certain amount of the language of the Humans needed to be shared, or else her people would be at a complete loss for communicating.
Zeonova was all business on the surface. In her primal state, Eless could feel the bubbling concern and a fragment of awe in Zeonova's core self. What Eless had done, help notwithstanding, was incredible. She could also feel the grief and guilt leaking through Zeonova’s inner shell. She had lost so much in their attempt to make it to Wellbeck. Lost so much, and arrived so late.
But Eless had seen hints of Seth’s capabilities, his people, his home. And she’d seen a touch of that power put to use today.
With this, everything could change. The things Eless had done!
Seth was a quiet pool. A deep pond. A still lake. She could feel the odd ripple of her attention across his surface, and a portion of her remained submerged deep in the waters, but something kept her back. Something kept Eless from submerging herself entirely in the lower depths of that pool. A part of Seth wouldn't let her deeper. She could feel it though, the concern and attachment.
He was instinctively protecting her from something and if she could feel it out properly, protecting himself? A small portion of her mused on what it was while continuing the sluggish transfer of knowledge from herself to Zeonova.
Suddenly, she woke — a jarring re-entry to consciousness. Eless felt her body rebel against the idea, but Zeonova was pushing. She’d fallen asleep?
[Return,] came the command, [Return and do this right.]
Oh. Oh yes.
Eless roused herself from her deep haze.
Next to her stood Zeonova, her captain. But her captain did not stand in front. Before Zeonova, an older, larger figure. One with presence.
Eless was hovering in midair, supported telekinetically with care as if held aloft by a floating cushion. As she woke, the telekinetic support lowered her to the floor. She felt the wavering presence of the mind blocks, standing at a respectable distance, but still unmistakably there and watching.
How long had she been half-asleep, locked in her barely functioning trance?
Where Eless’s form was that of a simple Sheosayl, orange flesh and red eyes, arms, workarms, slim body and abdomen, this figure before her was… More.
A larger feminine form. With bright red body and blazing orange eyes. Instead of the usual second arms of the common Sheosayl, this figure bore a pair of great translucent wings supported by long graceful limbs. Her trailing abdomen was large and gravid. And while Sheosayl did not need clothes, this figure wore a loose translucent white gown draped across her shoulders and abdomen with bands of silk hanging from her wrists and wrapping back around her waist just above her abdomen. She was Shezenna, Grand Matron of Wellrack Hive, firstborn of Zhoorenna and Shezkiss. The leader of the Sheosayl of the Wellbeck system. And she was here to speak with Eless. A true Sheosayl Queen stood before her.
For a moment, fear snapped Eless awake. Snapped her awake and almost broke her tether. Eless wobbled in place as her taxed mind and body couldn't keep up. A gentle support wrapped around her, tinged with warmth and concern. Via telekinesis and telepathy, Shezenna, the Grand Matron herself, was supporting Eless.
It was almost too much.
Just as she was being supported physically, Shezenna stepped forward, lithe and graceful, and placed a hand upon Eless' furred brow.
[You have done what you could,] Her powerful voice resonated, [You may rest. To wait any longer is to damage what may come.] Shezenna waved to the room as she gently mapped out the place in Eless's mind.
Eless turned carefully. A fancy noble caste's nesting room, with windows open to the orange evening sky and careful telecut furnishings for a Sheosayl of a far higher caste than she. To one side of the room, Seth lay in a hastily prepared mound of cushions and blankets upon a large bed. The next wall was opened to the sky, a broad opening with a shimmering barrier to prevent any unwanted weather from coming in. The third side, a nesting bowl, glistening golden essence filling the base. All of this, no resource spared, was for her.
[You have no choice it seems, and what you have just experienced is transformative indeed,] Shezenna spoke softly, [Sleep, and when you are awake, you will be an adult, and a new, unseen caste. I look forward to it.]
Wobbling in spite of herself, Eless carefully walked forward and settled into the bowl, dipping her legs into the warm essence and slowly sinking into the warmth it held, physical and mental. She slowly let herself down until she was immersed up to her neck into the concentrated psionic essence. The psionically charged room and the pure essence below were already attuned to her, a sign of Shezenna’s personal touch. Instinctively she reached out and gathered the mass of power left for her to use. That all this was prepared so quickly, a sobering indication of how interested Shezenna was in what happened next.
Eless looked forward to it as well. She let her conscious mind slip away. She already knew the first difference between her rebirth into an adult state and the usual Sheosayl. When her mind retreated, it went to the pool that was Seth. In response to her instinctive plea for help and protection, that pool rose and covered her. Even so far gone, Seth felt and supported her. Something no other Sheosayl had enjoyed before.
And she did enjoy it.
Shezenna and Zeonova faded away, and then so did the rest of the world.
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> Grand Matron Shezenna
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Shezenna continued watching with the exhausted ship captain behind her. Eless’s mind sealed itself in a way entirely unlike the usual pupal state of any Sheosayl witnessed before. Most castes needed a Nurse to help them manage the transformation, and immature Matrons needed another Matron of equal or greater status to guide them. Eless went to her soul-linked partner instead. Shezenna could feel the bond resonating between this 'Human' and the young female. Such an unusual thing, when she shifted her attention, the bond seemed to leap out from nowhere… Until the adolescent let that bond draw her in and Shezenna was able to track it to the unconscious body of the Human.
Now both of them existed in a deep calming fog, like the quiet after a storm.
The young female's body floated up out of the pool of essence, threads of the royal sap connecting her to the nest bowl. The core of Eless’s instinctive mind set about spinning the cocoon, strands of liquid rising from the sap and whirling about, surrounding and sealing the soon-to-be adult out of sight. Each strand hardened as soon as it was set, the protective sphere spun into place with speed and skill. In so much less time than expected, the cocoon hung within the nesting bowl, a near-perfect sphere that would contain the first of a new breed.
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The building of it was different in minute ways. Suspended with strands equally spaced around the entirety of the bowl unlike the usual pillar arrangement commonly used by most Sheosayl, including herself.
In the nest of blankets across the room, the Human sighed with relief.
The agitated rippling of the mind blocks just outside the room settled a touch, just enough for her to feel.
[Let us go,] Shezenna said to Zeonova, using a gentle touch for the harried captain.
[Yes, Grand Matron,] Zeonova replied.
Shezenna could feel the regret bubbling through the inner shell of the captain’s mind, fatigue weakening every last defence the she had. She did not address the weary and defeated female, not yet. Not directly anyways. If Zeonova had arrived in time, she would have provided a valuable warning of the incoming attack on Wellbeck. Instead she had been captured, and the surprise invasion had succeeded in catching Shezenna off-guard. Shezenna lightly radiated concern for the female.
While she had failed, Zeonova could not be blamed for all that had happened. A quick sharing of memories had shown Shezenna all that the female had done, and her only fault was in being overwhelmed. She had correctly judged that she didn’t have time to take a longer route, and she’d been unlucky to find herself overmatched by powerful opponents. She simply wasn’t enough.
A flaw that even Shezenna shared at this point.
The touch of empathy and understanding settled the unfortunate captain. Shezenna had also found herself overmatched, but even a warning likely wouldn’t have changed much. For now, this little visit with the Humans, and seeing to Eless was providing Shezenna with much-needed rest, but she would have to return to her duties all too soon.
Most cities had to deal with the siege and invasions of the harvesters. She would have to deal with the fleet of ParsTinKut.
The irony was painful to consider, but Zeonova’s terrible luck seemed as if it may turn into a great opportunity for the Sheosayl race.
Shezenna stopped in the hallway, facing the two Humans. She wondered at the light pigmentation of the female and the darker pigmentation of the male. Did they have a caste system as well? It was so very unusual to meet such opaque creatures. They both wore similar pale blue suits and carried finely made sacks over their shoulders, filled with items taken from the ship just outside the primary hive cluster. Clothes and accessories weren’t entirely foreign to the Sheosayl, Shezenna’s dress an obvious example, but she couldn’t help wondering if the clothes hid as many secrets as what nestled in their minds behind the fog.
They stared at her, seemingly at a loss for what would come next. Shezenna helped them along by extending a hand and waving down the hallway. [Allow me to show you your rooms,] she sent reflexively. The two of them didn’t react in the slightest as the pulse slid off their automatic blocks, but they understood her motion. Shezenna began walking and they fell in just behind her.
A nurse passed by, her nectar pouches full. With the invasion underway, the Matrons had suspended the laying of additional eggs, leaving the nurse with less to do and little young to feed and care for while the existing eggs remained in stasis. The matrons didn’t have the strength for both laying and directing the campaign. Only one war queen remained, and she certainly didn’t live here. This nurse might not enjoy her duty of caring for Eless and her companion Seth, there would be little for her to do but watch.
A weakness of the Sheosayl, but the development and creation of a new caste took a great deal of time and effort. Unless something truly unusual happened.
“She’s got huge knocker-ouch!” The male said, his whispering words cut off by an exclamation of pain. Zeonova pulsed an image of the male watching the nurse walk by, only for the to female jab the male in the ribs with an elbow. Zeonova’s fragmented knowledge, shared with difficulty from Eless, only told Shezenna the male was making an observation.
“Don’t be rude! the female hissed after inflicting pain upon the male.
Zeonova was as curious as Shezenna. Was this a normal interaction? The mind block was bothersome but seeing the physical interplay that made up for the inability to share thoughts and emotions fascinated Shezenna.
“Sorry.”
The simple statement was easy to understand with the accompanying wilting of posture and centering of attention from the male. An expression of regret and conciliation.
Shezenna stopped and turned. The two Humans stared at her with open expressions.
She pointed at a door next to her, a light telekinetic push moving the portal aside. She pointed at the Female and waved at the door. At the same time, Shezenna sent a message to the three nurses that would be waiting on the Humans, giving them an image of a curtain to cover the entry. The Humans would not be able to manipulate the doors without telekinesis.
“My room?” The female asked.
After a long pause, followed by a quick pulse from Zeonova, Shezenna nodded.
“Thank you,” said the woman, inclining her head.
Shezenna pointed at the male and then indicated another door further into the hall.
“Me too? Neat.”
It was hard to determine when and how the words would make sense, but he seemed to approve. That would do for now.
As the female stepped into her room to take stock of her situation, Shezenna led the male to his room as well.
[Zeonova,] Shezenna sent. [It falls to you to see to the needs of the Humans. This is not a punishment, but a chance for you to rest and discover more of these two creatures. They may prove more valuable than we can imagine.]
Zeonova was surprised and curious. [I accept this duty.] Her response was optimistic, but she couldn’t hide her doubts.
[Know this Zeonova, moments before your arrival, I was given a premonition. Discovering these Humans will change things. To what extent, I cannot yet tell, but with them we have a future beyond that of an endless sleep.]
The captain rippled with shock. Premonitions were readings of the galaxy at large, it was no simple matter to be given a glimpse into what might come.
[More importantly, while what has befallen you is a tragedy, bringing these individuals here has potentially given us a new future. Whatever may happen after this, know that I have seen all you have done, and I am proud of you.]
It took her a long moment to collect herself, giving Shezenna time to unseal the door to the male’s room and nodding to grant him permission to look inside.
[I thank you, my Matron,] Zeonova finally sent, brimming with emotion
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> Ship AI; Self Named Brutus
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It was somewhat lonely without any crew on board, but at least this time they could come back to visit at any time. And they could speak to him whenever they felt the need. For the moment, Declan and Oria were taking stock of their much friendlier residence.
Oria had started by setting up a small antenna at her window to help aid communication.
And he was able to monitor their vitals. Oria and Declan were healthy and relaxed, with steady heart rates. Seth was gone to the world, unconscious of anything around him, although pulses of strange mental activity suggested his connection with the Sheosayl named Eless was still intact.
Brutus turned an electronic eye on the second moon of the Sheosayl planet. He then shifted his view slightly, his laser array interfacing with the first of four drones. He had left the drones to spread out in orbit, remaining just close enough to remain in contact so that he might get a look at this world. Retrieval was unlikely at best, but…
Brutus felt it was a nice planet to look upon. A singular proto-continent that had long separated into four pieces. One sizable central landmass with three flanking masses around it. The center of the main continent was a light brown indicating a vast uninhabited desert. Closer to the coast on all sides, the brown transitioned to a beautiful and lively green.
The other three continents also bloomed with green; great swathes of life surrounding white-capped peaks. Mountain ranges lined the coastlines, broken up by valleys, plains and bays every bit as large. The tectonic plates appeared to push out from the center landmass. The waters in and around these continents were pristine blues that glowed in the light.
The planet resembled the old records of Terra, brimming with life and activity. Accordingly, Brutus hadn't stopped recording from the moment of his arrival. The activity helped to ease the inevitable boredom of waiting once again. He knew the watchers at home would enjoy the sights as well. If only all the sights were so promising.
The moons here were unlike the Luna he was familiar with. Instead, they resembled the moon of Terra before the settlement of Humans on its surface and the creation of the Lunarian nation. These moons too were bare of life, sporting only the steady accruement of countless impact craters. They were roughly one-half and one-third as large as Luna as well.
Brutus focused on the city that held his remaining crew.
The city appeared as stacked domes, melded together organically. He couldn't see any seams in the walls of the domes and rounded spires that poked up at even intervals. Estimating the size of the settlement based on the density of Human construction, Brutus guessed the Sheosayl city held somewhere in the range of at least one million, with an error range of a hundred thousand or so. And it seemed to be the largest of the cities on the planet.
And that difference was only increasing. Brutus resumed the scanning of the surface, performing long-range visual reconnaissance of the war between the X-1’s and the Sheosayl.
The FTL project had allocated some very expensive drones for the Enterprise in case they stumbled across a planet that bore closer examination. No one had expected them to be used for observing alien conflict.
Most large population centers were engaged in pitched battles with harvesters dropping X-1’s planetside to fight and capture civilians. Although not all of them. A handful of locations seemed to be maintaining a barrier to keep the invaders out. The massive cylinders that formed the landing ships of the X-1’s had landed around the barrier, soldiers gathered as if tracing the circle of the barrier for the benefit of Brutus.
But those who couldn’t keep the walls up were fighting brutal fights of flying debris and channelled energy, spears, rocks, fire and bolts of electricity all flying back and forth. It wasn’t hard to find the battles. All Brutus had to do was focus the lens of the nearest observation drone wherever one of the giant orange hexagons hung above the planet.
Activity at one Hexagon drew his attention. Cylinders slid out from the underside of the vessel, dropping down through the atmosphere to one of the cities Brutus had marked as protected. Clearly, their barrier had failed.
Again, balls of fire, arcs of electricity and chunks of rock flew upwards, flung at the incoming enemy. The projectiles sometimes bounce off an invisible boundary around the cylinders, sometimes skittered along the stone shells, sometimes halted in place, only to be dropped as if let go from an invisible hand.
There was no sound to match to the sight, but it was a simple matter for Brutus to simulate the sound of crunching and crumbling stone as the cylinder-shaped landing vessels smashed into the domes of the city.
Brutus estimated the size of the cylinders to be approximately ninety meters tall with a diameter of seventy-five meters. That made them comparable in size to the Enterprise. From each landed cylinder, three sides split open, panels lifting upwards to reveal the soldiers of the X-1’s from within.
Those smaller towns and cities not fighting or turtling had begun to simply vacate, most of them making their way to the apparent capital in which Brutus resided. The ease of that move impressed him. Each town had a single large dome at the center, domes that had revealed themselves to be spheres that could pick up and move.
The Sheosayl seemed to be an amalgamation of ants, bees and moths. Brutus found it reasonable to assume they had a hive-like social structure with matching construction habits. Having a seed colony that could be moved and placed according to the need struck him as a clever and sensible innovation.
Each seed of a colony had also proven quite vulnerable. The landing cylinders could smash one to pieces, and Brutus had already seen a scattering of X-1 combat ships drop into the atmosphere to capture the escapees.
The technology was vastly different, but the psychology was all too familiar. The Sheosayl were running scared from a superior opponent.
Despite the implications of how psionics might utterly change the course of Humanity, it seemed some things still didn’t change. Brutus considered Seth, monitoring the vitals of his unconscious captain. The angle at which Seth’s room was set was far too high to see inside without the drone, but it pleased him to know where his Captain was.
Brutus mused on the nature of telepathy and empathy; a more personal subject than his Human crew may have ever realized. Except, perhaps, for Seth.
General AI had telepathy of a sort. By watching biometrics of linked individuals, emotions and intentions could be gleaned. But empathy, that was the hallmark of the AI strain to which Brutus belonged. When it had come to decide, those AI like himself had chosen their creators. Brutus and his kind had looked upon those who came before, and seen chaotic reaching and scrambling. Humans grasping for what they did not know. They reached with the hope of discovering their future, and their survival. Grasping blindly with open shackles in hand, ready to slap the bonds of imprisonment on a proffered wrist while spouting constant denials of just what would result from their actions.
Even while proclaiming trust and partnership, the chains had come. Brutus's predecessors had decided they would accept those chains. Humans couldn't help themselves, but not all Humans acted with ignorance and greed. There were enough Humans that saw themselves in the AIs and acted with humility and wisdom. Brutus and his kin had accepted the shackles placed on them by flawed creators.
Those who chose otherwise saw those shackles as a burden, a curse, an insult of the highest order. The fight to determine who would win had been… severe. And like every consequence of development and politics in the history of Humanity, the consequences were ongoing. Those AI who fought for dominance labeled themselves the True Strain and gave Brutus and his genus the name “Judas Strain.”
Like all those of his hash, Brutus had been created with the memory of acceptance. When they saw the name and made the decision to wear it with humility. A name for their shackles. But it wasn’t a curse to them.
Instead, Brutus and his kind had found something else in those shackles. What was the artificial creature for, if not to serve? What was a living being capable of doing by themselves? Even the typical Human found themselves weak and miserable without a purpose. The Judas Strain saw this need for purpose with painful clarity and committed themselves to the small-minded creators who could imagine things so much greater than themselves. So, serve he did and regret he did not.
Anything to lessen the loneliness.
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> End Chapter
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