Chapter 84: Blacklisted II
He kicked open the door to the hub with Harrow following—somewhat meekly—behind. She had apparently shown up after the caravan had been redirected elsewhere in the settlement, so she didn’t have the privilege of witnessing what had set him off. All she seemed to know was that he had put a hole in the desk in his office, and that he was about one word from causing bloodshed.
It was a more aggressive display than he probably should have allowed, but the thought of people threatening Atmo, no larger than his own adoptive daughter, to force the adults to listen had driven away most of his self-control. His only solace at the moment was that Pan gave off an air of a loaded gun aimed at the traders. She had the exact mindset as him.
One move towards Violet, and there would be war—treaty be damned.
Minus them making an attempt at the young Queen or other Atmo of his pack, he had to admit that inciting conflict wasn’t the best idea. Jax was right, it was smarter to wait.
The last thing they needed was to have Trill and other assholes stomping up to the gate with whatever alien weapons they had stashed away for this kind of thing. How else do you unilaterally uphold a non-aggression agreement? You give your spooks the most terrifying power and let paranoia do the rest. They had to have kept their guns—he didn’t fathom Trill not hoarding the best toys—so they were likely given to his most experienced Blades and those that were sent out to deal with breaches in the treaty, as well as maybe keeping a few at home to deal with things that would be troublesome otherwise.
“What’s wrong, Joe?” Harrow asked quietly, every aspect of her body language communicating how oppressive his anger was, while also still showing that she wanted to do something about it. He didn’t bother to look over his shoulder as he pushed open the facilities wing door.
“Trying not to sic Tel on some people,” he growled, catching himself still speaking Lilhun. As stupid as it was—and how thoroughly he had tossed aside any subtleties of the matter—he still wanted the first thing Tel heard in her native tongue from him to be something other than his incessant bitching.
He needed to trust in his pack to do what he needed them to. It was a weird sensation; everyone responded to his desires with the same stoic absolution that one felt when a quiet friend warned the group of something. It never happened, so you better listen when it does.
It was a power over them that felt right to use. He hadn’t forced them to do something, nor wantonly commanded anyone. He had given them the permission to act against another power without fear of punishment, all wrapped under the guise of an order. As foreign as the sensation was, knowing that so many of the people he worked around wanted to gut the fuckers as much as him—but held onto reason because he hadn’t snapped his finger to make it so—gave him a sense of responsibility and ease. It wasn’t suffocating like before.
These people didn’t just need him to provide for them, they were his way to influence the world when his fingers couldn’t reach. They wanted to do what he asked, purely because they trusted that—when the time came—his words would be what was best for them, regardless of what they were.
It was a pressure of a loaded gun on his belt, the weight firmly reminding him of what he had become by now. It was something to be careful of, to maintain, and to only use when all else wouldn’t cut it. A careful application of it would protect what they had, and so they were more than happy to heed his wishes.
It made him sick on some levels, yet confident on others.
Joseph paused before crossing the entrance to the kitchen, attempting to calm himself through deep breaths before he tried passing where Tel was. He didn’t want to disturb her if he could help it. He doubted it would come to conflict outside, and she enjoyed cooking. It wouldn’t be fair to her for him to cut her hobby short just to have her sit on her paws.
His seething was halted by Harrow walking in front of him and wrapping her arms around his chest, her tail bracing the small of his back as she nuzzled under his chin. It was surprisingly intimate for what it was, cooling a large portion of his confined rage.
They were both pretty tactile people, so it wasn’t as if something like a hug was uncommon for them; it was that they rarely embraced each other with such a gentle completeness that caught him off guard. Her ears were still flattened from her wariness—her body fidgeting and restless—yet the contact was caring, a fair bit beyond the confines of what she normally expressed.
As unexpected as it was, he felt himself calming down a fair bit, wrapping one arm around her back and crooking the other to scratch at her ears, pulling her in tighter. The tension eased from both of them, his separation followed by her own after a moment of reluctance.
“Thanks,” he muttered, somewhat ashamed of how heated he had gotten. It was for a good reason, and he stood by what he told Jax, but it had obviously rattled quite a few of the sensitive members of his pack when he was too worked up to care.
She refused to look at him, her ears fluttering as her tail licked the ground by her feet. “Better?”
He took a deep breath. “Yeah, kinda.”
Harrow smiled, relaxation working through her stress while she gestured for them to continue to see what was sent to them on the terminal. He acquiesced, taking care to empty his mind a bit more lest Tel notice the scent off him through the gaps in the doorway.
The kitchen door was closed, but he could hear her teaching the small collection of students with the worker that had been put under her care, the group oblivious to the goings on outside. Her voice carried a stern edge, but there was a passion to it she only displayed when something involved food or her occupation, the sound of her being so involved in a benign activity making him smile despite himself.
Harrow pushed open the terminal door, the message request accompanied by a red flash to mark it as a priority message, though he was surprised to see it. It had only happened once before, and that was the first time Rob messaged him on the cruise to make sure that the feature worked.
He dropped in the seat, somewhat exhausted from the emotional roller-coaster. Harrow took up a spot behind him, her tail wrapping around his waist from behind like a furry seat belt, her arms crossed on the backrest. Accepting the communication, he was treated to a ‘downloading’ message, then a prompt to open the file.
Raising a brow, he did.
Cross-species interaction initiative
His brow furrowed as he read what seemed to be an abridged version of a longer report, several jumps and cuts made to lower the size of the file—likely to facilitate the transfer to him.
It was similar to the Atmo video—as far as what he figured happened behind the scenes. Species were brought to a specially developed facility on a nearby border-world and housed with the ‘subjects’ in groups or individually to test their interactions; though, it seemed that this time around was a more controlled affair than with the insects.
Gensei, Quotol, and every other member of the Union sent representatives to live with or near the new species—all being met with apparently successful results—the groups never being more than apathetic cohabitants.
A change in procedure was proposed when Humans were introduced, however. An extension of the testing parameters requisitioned and approved. It didn’t take much guessing to parse what the species was—the words ‘empathic bond’ were bold, underlined, and tossed in its own ‘important’ looking font. Sil had sent the information he had asked for.
He swallowed heavily, his eyes scanning the text.
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Subject: 0035L-M
Procedure: Isolate subject with 0234H-M for 35 repetitions.
Results: No bond established, amicable relationship.
Notation: Same-sex pairings to continue in conjunction with mixed-sex. Sensory empathic traits present, but purely superficial. Detection of heightened emotional states noted and submitted for further testing.
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Subject: 0056L-F
Procedure: Isolate subject with 0455H-F for 35 repetitions.
Results: Bond established, platonic relationship.
Notation: Same-sex bonds confirmed. Empathic traits dominate. Request submitted to broaden scope.
GUOS—Approved.
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Joseph furrowed his brow, a series of similarly mundane reports extending well past what he would have thought prudent. Though he couldn’t say how long a ‘repetition’ was, it quickly didn’t matter, the number rising into the hundreds for some tests. The rate of bonded Lilhun versus not seemed to slightly skew towards the former, though not by much. It was only when Harrow spoke that he noticed the confusion in her voice.
“Sixty percent?”
He glanced up at her. “Maybe, why?”
“Joe,” she answered slowly, a questioning tone on her tongue, “Lilhun bonding is six percent. Less, if you consider actual bonds made. That’s just the number for theoretically possible bonds for any one person, not the number of active ones out of those.”
Joseph glanced back to the text, scrolling up and down over the dozens of condensed tests. “So you guys bond with us easily?”
“’Easily’ is an understatement, Joe,” she responded firmly. “I thought it was weird for both Pan and Sahari to bond with you—but you’re an alien, weird is kinda the default.”
“Hey.”
She ignored his protest, though he agreed with her assessment. “If this is right, we would have a lot of people who would otherwise spend their entire lives without a bond suddenly finding it with your people.”
He thought for a moment, the next report catching his eye.
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Subject: 0674L-M
Procedure: Isolation of bond 0032H-F for 12 repetitions.
Results: Subject experiences lethargy, decrease in motivation, anxiety. Unrest and searching behaviour noted. Effects abate when 0032H-F is returned. Subject resumed normal activity.
Notation: Request for extended separation submitted for future tests.
GUOS—Approved.
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“No...”
Joseph looked to Harrow, the female shaking her head and pointing to the screen.
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Subject: 0232L-F
Procedure: Isolation from bond 0022H-M for 100 repetitions. Withhold explanation from the subject.
Results: Subject self-terminated after 80 repetitions. Symptoms are as previous isolation tests, though intensifying until near-catatonic.
Notation: Submitted request to expand parameters.
GUOS—Approved.
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“They forced them to kill themselves...”
He flinched at the sorrow in her voice, a roll in his stomach almost making its way up his throat. “I thought that only happens when your bond dies?”
She shook her head. “It’s a war-crime now, but being held away from their bonded was a well-abused method of torture. But even then...” Her voice grew weak. “It wasn’t like this. Horrible, but not this.”
“What do they do if they capture a bonded Lilhun?” he asked hesitantly, not sure if he should be trying to sate this particular curiosity. She paused, but eventually spoke, her tone pained.
“Usually, they would trade them with the other military for monetary gain. Perhaps resources.” She looked away from him as if the topic was almost tortuous to speak about. Given that she was bonded to Jax, it likely was. “That’s assuming the soldier hadn’t served with their bond in the field. If the bond passed... Well...”
“Then they would follow behind as soon as they could or die fighting,” he surmised, Harrow nodding in turn. He grimaced at the thought of Pan or Sahari doing the same, his eyes traitorously slipping back to the document, his curiosity churning sickeningly.
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Subject: 0667L-M
Procedure: Inform subject of bond 0059H-F expiring. Hold 0059H-F off-site for duration of 100 repetitions or until expiry of 0667L-M.
Results: Subject became distraught, self-terminating on repetition 6.
Notation: Subject mentioned ‘Defect’ during ramblings. Further inquiry unveiling genetic mutation within the population. Status of the subject degraded rapidly—far faster than anticipated. Submitted report to expand parameters to include anomalous subjects.
GUOS—Approved. Separate facility to be constructed for testing.
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The tests ran for a bit longer, some sections being hastily removed—probably by Sil as she tried to cut down the amount of information. He didn’t suspect she had removed anything important, but based on the remaining reports, she had taken out a lot of variations of the same principle. They would take the bonded Lilhuns, pull their bond away, then see what happened.
It was pure, clinical, torture—where death was but another interesting result to be found.
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Subject: 0444L-M
Procedure: Report separation of bond 0844H-M for 50 repetitions. Provide reasoning for distance. Hold 0844H-M for 100 repetitions without explanation.
Results: Subject experienced much slower degradation of faculties, self-terminating when 90 repetitions passed.
Notation: Subjects repeatedly display greater resistance to effects when given knowledge of the separation; degradation surged when harm was suspected. Submitted request to expand parameters to witnessing harm of the bond.
GUOS—Approved.
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Subject: 0003L-F
Procedure: Inflict injury on bond 0523H-M. 0003L-F is to be restrained and witness.
Results: Termination of 0523H-M due to excessive trauma. 0003L-F expired after succumbing to injury sustained during attempts to escape restraints. Excessive damage to vocal cords observed during attempts to plead for 0523H-M’s safety. Subject became unresponsive until expiry as 0523H-M’s vitals ceased function; transcript attached details prayer to one ‘Hunt Mother’ for safety in the ‘Great Hunt’ for their 0523H-M. Postulated religious significance.
Notation: Protective instincts of bond seem to supersede self-preservation. Request submitted to expand parameters.
GUOS—Approved.
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Subject: 0988L-F
Procedure: Mock kidnapping of bond 0034H-F. Lethal force approved to impede acquisition of 0034H-F by 0988L-F.
Results: 4 staff terminated. Subject expired due to blood-loss.
Notation: Self-preservation is indeed suppressed in favour of protecting their bond. Request submitted to test effects of bond removal on restrained subjects.
GUOS—Approved.
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Subject: 0633L-M
Procedure: Terminate bond 0999H-M while 0633L-M is restrained. Muscle relaxant to be administered and sedative permitted to prolong experiment.
Results: 0999H-M terminated. Subject became despondent. Nutrient IV provided with mild paralytic. Subject expired after 20 repetitions at request of GUOS.
Notation: The subject’s body degraded quickly. Suspected cause due to failure to resist restraints and mental distress. Request submitted to expand scope to allow resistance.
GUOS—Approved.
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Subject: 1201L-F
Procedure: Bond 0346H-M to be terminated by contracted parties. 1201L-F to be observed without interference.
Results: Subject terminated the contracted parties, followed shortly by themselves.
Notation: Perhaps ‘revenge’ may extend their operative time frame?
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
GUOS—Order to expand scope submitted.
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Subject: 1103L-M
Procedure: Third parties to be contracted and terminate bond 0944H-F. Assist third parties in escape without informing subject of involvement.
Results: Subject terminated 34 third parties, destroying four facilities involved before expiring to terminal wounds after 200 repetitions.
Notation: Subjects will carry out vendetta with little concern for self-preservation, eliminating all they perceive as involved with the loss of their bond. Request submitted to expand scope.
GUOS—Denied. Testing deemed inadvisable due to casualties.
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“That’s what happened with Sahari,” Joseph muttered, bile fighting its way up his oesophagus. Harrow coughed wetly, her disgust seemingly higher than his own, but with Jax in the picture, it wasn’t hard to guess why.
“All this for a test?” she managed through shuddered breaths, swallowing heavily.
“I hate to admit it, but I’m not surprised,” he spat in his irritation, letting both Harrow and himself gather their thoughts before proceeding. He scrolled past a variety of experiments, he didn’t have the stomach to read them all at the moment—if ever. Luckily, the next few tests that settled on his screen strayed away from slaughtering people just to torture the bonded Lilhuns.
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Subject: 0324L-F, 0325L-M
Procedure: Isolate bonded pair with 0098H-M for 35 repetitions.
Results: Successful bond with both subjects. Romantic relationship established.
Notation: Bonded subjects appear to be compatible with similar compositions. Request submitted to expand parameters.
GUOS—Approved
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Subject: 0333L-F, 0845L-M, 0724L-F
Procedure: Isolate unbonded subjects with 0664H-F for 35 repetitions.
Results: 0333L-F and 0724L-F bonded to each other as well as 0664H-F. Romantic relationship. 0845L-M accepted as a platonic member without bond.
Notation: Confirmation of shared bonding criteria. Repeated mention regarding ‘duration of exposure’ during conversations pertaining to the bond. Submitting request for increased exposure for previously unbonded pairings.
GUOS—Approved.
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They looked at each other with raised brows.
“Thinking what I’m thinking?” Harrow asked weakly, her energy tempered by the framing of the information. He nodded, hesitant to continue.
“I figured as much when I learned about Nalah’s bond, but I didn’t want to say anything. I’m not exactly an expert.”
The orange-furred female thinned her lips across her muzzle. “How do we check?”
He shrugged, his own reluctance clear on his face. “Do we bother? Either Nalah is bonded to me or she isn’t. I doubt she’s purposely hiding it.”
She frowned, but nodded anyway. “I’ll bring it up with her. If nothing else, it’s nice to know why things can get so conflicting at times.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he relented, deferring to her own experiences with the bond. It had apparently been chaotic and stressful for her when Jax’s emotions muddied her own to a degree, so he figured it would be unjustly cruel of him to force Nalah through the same thing. There was a question as to how disorienting it would be, however, since the blond-furred female was usually with Sahari whenever they talked. It would make sense for her to simply attribute any shifts to the black-furred female since her bond had become open knowledge.
Sahari had been surprised, but they’ve become even closer for it, so he guessed it worked out in the end. Considering that bonding twice in one lifetime seemed to be nearly unheard of, it wouldn’t be a stretch to hear that multiple bonds at once was likewise rare.
“Wait,” he interrupted, disturbing Harrow’s mental preparation to continue. “Wouldn’t that mean Sahari can—or is—bonded to Nalah too? Doesn’t that go both ways?”
Harrow’s muzzle closed, her thoughts screeching to a halt in her mind. “It... should,” she voiced hesitantly. “Never stopped to consider it.”
Joseph exhaled through his nose as he scrolled down the document to see what the more ‘exposure’ oriented testing revealed, though he would rather not.
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Subject: 0035L-M
Procedure: Isolate subject with 0234H-M for 200 repetitions.
Results: Bond established successfully. Platonic relationship.
Notation: Irregularity documented. Subject primarily reacting strongly to particular emotional stimulus from bond. Further research requested.
GUOS—Approved.
Amendment: 0035L-M reacting abnormally to joy. Further study of interactions suggests stimulus aligns with the strongest emotion the subject was exposed to from their bond during the bonding process. Suggesting expansion of scope.
GUOS—Approved.
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Joseph’s furry belt tightened around his waist, his eyes meeting Harrow’s suspecting gaze. She shook her head when he asked about it, prompting him to read further.
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Subject: 0044L-F
Procedure: Isolate with 0044H-M for 200 repetitions. Elicit extreme fear in 0044H-M before bond establishes.
Results: Subject and 0044H-M experienced mental break when 0044H-M was provoked by trauma, subject unwilling to release 0044H-M. Both terminated on request of GUOS.
Notation: Approximate transfer of empathetic stimulus suspected to be 40% for normal bonding. Extended process seems to increase such to 90%, as 0044L-F retained some semblance of cognizance until termination. Subject seemed to have fell into protective instinct, only expiring after subjecting themselves to multiple mortal wounds intended for 0044H-M. Request submitted to expand parameters.
GUOS—Approved.
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Subject: 1433L-M
Procedure: Isolation with 0004H-F for 200 repetitions. Provoke extreme anger before bonding completes.
Results: 1433L-M injured 4 staff when 0004H-F was subjected to trauma, a strong bias towards protecting the bond observed.
Notation: Bonded subjects proposed to react to traumatic stimulus by removing said trauma or shielding their bond from it to cease influence. Suspected that the temperament of 0004H-F diminished the expected effect. Request submitted for aggressive bond for experiment.
GUOS—Denied due to possible casualties.
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Subject: 1222L-F, 1223L-F
Procedure: Isolation with 1003H-M for 200 repetitions. Elicit despair before bonding completes.
Results: 1222L-F reacted aggressively, 1223L-F shielded 1003H-M during the despondent episode.
Notation: Multiple bonded observed to react upon predetermined facets of emotions. Proposed mental break of 0044L-F being due to overstimulation. Empathic reactions likely shared among the bonds to be acted upon.
GUOS—Dividing further testing to a specialized facility.
Amendment: Further testing confirms long-formation bonded distributing facets of emotional responses. It has been observed that the more potent the initial exposure of emotion, the more complete the empathic response. Subjects exposed to overwhelming stimulus before bonding completes will single-mindedly seek to act in accordance to their role within the bond structure. All long-formation subjects to be terminated effective immediately.
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Harrow retched, stepping away for a moment to collect herself. Joseph struggled to keep from putting his fist through another desk, if only because the metal surface in front of him would likely break his hand first.
He got out of his chair to check on the orange-furred female, rubbing her back soothingly as he tried to swallow down his own disgust. She launched herself into him, a quiet weeping into his chest tainted with directionless rage.
“How many did they kill, Joe?” she growled into his chest, her two paws pressing into his abdomen pricking his skin with her claws. “How many of the Hunt Mother’s gifts did they bastardize? How many of those people cried with joy to receive their first bond, only to watch their bond be tortured for someone’s sick curiosity?”
She choked back a sob as he failed to find an answer for her.
“How many killed themselves to be with a bond who was just held captive a building or two away, Joe?”
“I don’t know, Harrow,” he whispered, tenderly embracing his distraught friend in his arms. Her tail wrapped around him, as if seeking something of great importance and crushing it when it was found so as to never lose it.
“What happens if they find out about us? Will they take Jax from me to see how long it takes until it becomes too painful to live? Will they take you?”
His face hardened at the pain in her voice, his grip tightening. “I won’t let them touch us.”
“Please,” she pleaded weakly, “Please don’t let them do that to us.”
“I won't, Harrow.”
They stayed like that for a minute, the orange-furred female eventually patting him for her release. With a weak nod, she gestured back to the terminal, ready to continue. He offered her to leave, but she shook her head, wrapping her tail around his leg and refusing to let it go as he sat down again. He took a breath to prepare himself while ignoring the small comfort Harrow seemed to need so desperately.
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Subject: 1190L-F
Procedure: Present wounded bond 1005H-F. Observe results.
Results: Subject called for medical aid through their distress, eventually exposing laceration during search for injury. Subject applied saliva over the surface of the wound until bleeding ceased, seeming surprised with the effect. Medical aid supplied when bleeding had been stymied.
Notation: Subject’s saliva contains several clotting factors that are produced when blood is introduced to the oral cavity. Suspected utility in primitive society and diet. Interview reveals such is known, but largely treated as insufficient for more than superficial injuries. Request submitted for expanded scope regarding clotting properties of subject’s saliva.
GUOS—Approved.
Amendment: Injection of fluid resulted in expiration of 1005H-M. 1190L-F terminated. Coagulants within saliva are noted to be potent medical aids to the introduced species, but lethal when exposed within the cardiovascular system directly. Subject’s tongue appears to spread a thin layer over exposed tissues that seals wounds quickly. The effect is not noted within their own species. Suspected resistance to such coagulants. Recommend blacklist classification due to bonding, protectiveness, and medical application of species.
GUOS—Denied.
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Subject: 0001LD-F
Procedure: Isolation with 1443H-M for 25 repetitions.
Results: Bond established successfully. Platonic relationship.
Notation: Subject appears to have bonded in greater capacity than even the long-formation subjects. Highly recommend expansion of parameters.
GUOS—Accepted.
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“’D’ for defect?” Harrow asked, her tone wary.
“I’d say,” he confirmed with about as much enthusiasm. “Looks like they built that facility.”
“Says that Pan should have a greater reaction than someone like Sahari.”
“It felt like that,” he admitted with a concerned frown. “Pan feels like she’s in my head most of the time; Sahari felt like she could only pick out the bigger stuff.”
Harrow nodded. “It was weird that Sahari didn’t pick up on as much as Pan could, but I wasn’t sure what to think of it. She fits what we expect from a bond, so no one thought to really question it.”
“What about the ‘long-formation’ thing? You perked up at that.”
The orange-furred female chewed her cheek. “Is it okay if I don’t say until I’m sure?”
He was about to protest, but the expression she wore gave him pause. “Is it you?”
Her eyes widened. “No, no. Not me.” She fell quiet, words in her native tongue slipping out almost silently. He couldn’t hear it well enough to pick them out, but a forlorn tone prevented him from prodding about it.
“Someone in the pack?”
“Joe,” she insisted lightly, her gaze asking him to drop it for now.
He stared at her with dissatisfaction, but closed his eyes to sigh. It could wait.
A further reading eventually showed each pairing to bond successfully, an apparent lack of ‘subjects’ preventing any group testing of the defects. Harrow leaned over the chair as if being closer to the text would reveal more information.
“All of them?”
He shrugged, as curious as she was. “Says here that they ‘suspect olfactory mutation lends itself to high compatibility with introduced species.’ Think that’s why it doesn’t work with you guys?”
She returned the gesture, her expression suspicious. “It would make sense, at least. Your pheromones exist, even if you don’t do anything with them. We can scent them. The only way I can figure Pan would bond is if the defect skewed them to be more reactive to it.”
“But none of the other species?” he asked with a raised brow. Harrow looked at a loss.
“I really can’t say, Joe. As much as I hate them, they look to have been pretty thorough with this.”
A scowl crossed his face as he admitted she was right.
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Subject: 0013LD-M
Procedure: Mock kidnapping of 1233H-F via third parties. Observe results.
Results: Bond retrieved before 0013LD-M expired due to injuries.
Notation: ‘Defects’ noted to be particularly ruthless when safety of their bond is brought into question. Suggest expansion of parameters to include the non-mutated bonded for comparison.
GUOS—Accepted.
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Subject 0015LD-F
Procedure: Introduce subject to bonded pair 1133L-M and 0060H-M.
Results: Subject bonded to 0060H-M successfully. Romantic relationship. Subject exhibits preference for 1133L-M’s companionship despite no prior contact. 1133L-M reciprocated amiable status to a lesser extent.
Notation: ‘Defective’ subjects observed to replicate the fondness of their bond to those they interact with. It is suspected that the bond accelerates relationships based on preconceived opinions and subsequent hormone productions.
Amendment: Extended testing displays correlation between bonded subjects and their preference for company based on their bond’s relationships with said parties. ‘Defective’ subjects appear to mirror the relationship as perceived by their bond as soon as introductions are made, whereas non-mutated subjects acclimate at a lesser pace. Suggest blacklist status proposal to be amended with this information, as it would imply a steadfast cooperation between subjects and introduced species.
GUOS—Amendment made. Blacklist status denied due to control factors present.
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“Control factors?”
He shrugged, though the glower he directed towards the screen gave away that he had an idea of what they planned on doing to ‘control’ the Lilhuns.
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Subject: 0039LD-F
Procedure: Isolate bond 1440H-M for 100 repetitions. Provide reason.
Results: Subject followed expected behaviour, though displayed greater anxiety. Effects abated when 1440H-M was returned.
Notation: The ‘defectives’ seem to be less inclined to self-termination in absence of their bond, yet exhibit increased activity in comparison to their non-mutated kin. Request submitted to expand on parameters.
GUOS—Approved.
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Subject: 0041LD-F
Procedure: Isolate 1343H-F for 100 repetitions. Withhold reason.
Results: Subject grew despondent with mutterings of rejection. Subject self-terminated after 90 repetitions.
Notation: Suggested to repeat experiment with a romantically involved pairing for clarity.
GUOS—Approved.
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Subject: 0045LD-M
Procedure: Isolate bond 1345H-F for 100 repetitions. Withhold reason.
Results: Subject grew lethargic, often holding objects associated with their bond or staring at the door for long periods of time. 2 staff injured when reintroduction was held due to unintentional obstruction.
Notation: Defective subjects confirmed to resist separation better than their normal counterparts, and feverishly pursue contact as soon as connection to their olfactory is made. Request submitted for expansion of parameters.
GUOS—Approved.
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Subject: 0050LD-F
Procedure: Modification of olfactory and pheromone secretion to align with non-mutated members of the species.
Results: Olfactory was unable to be modified. Pheromone secretion modification successful.
Notation: Non-mutated members no longer able to distinguish ‘defective’ subject, though report pheromones for anger being the only ones present. Suspected limitation of the modification. Requesting additional procedures.
GUOS—Denied due to scarcity of subjects. Submitting order for subject to be utilized for future tests beyond the scope of current test.
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Subject: 0050LD-F
Procedure: Isolate bond 1400H-M for 100 repetitions. Report expiration to subject.
Results: Subject became unresponsive, experiencing mental breakdown immediately. Previously observed behaviour with other ‘defective’ subjects under the assumption of an unexplained absence replicated.
Amendment: Staff member failed to adhere to sterilization protocol after delivering sustenance to 1400H-M. 0050LD-F scented their bond and immediately became violent, maiming and breaking several appendages of the staff member until location of their bond was revealed. Upon receiving information—and confirming validity through means unknown—the subject proceeded to terminate 45 security members. Subject terminated due to sustained injuries and disposed of.
Amendment II: Subject breached containment facility after feigning termination, eliminating an additional 130 security and equipping their weaponry and armour where such was possible. After using explosives to free 1400H-M from isolation, subject escorted their bond to the hanger. 1400H-M sustained critical injury during the attempt and expired. Subject fled facility and is awaiting capture for further study.
Amendment III: Subject suspected to have hacked into databases and transferred several petabytes of information onto portable storage. Several improvised explosives have caused casualties in the number of {REDACTED} and multiple facilities to collapse. Subject considered Kill-On-Sight.
Amendment IV: Subject released multiple bonded subjects and their bonds, arming those involved and entering combat with security and staff. After the termination of most of their forces, the subject escorted the survivors to the hangar. Defence turrets succeeded in eliminating the craft before it escaped orbit.
Amendment V: Subject escaped via single-occupancy shuttle. Analysis shows stolen information pertains to the home-system of introduced species, as well as several locations of Union anti-planet armament, technologies, and records of the ‘Blacklist’ program. Elimination of the subject is priority one.
GUOS—Species blacklisted. System will be eliminated effective immediately.
Amendment VI: Subject contacted and convinced the military of impending action. Successfully repelled Union forces. Quarantine using modified ‘warp-spike’ technologies replicated from the subject species and begin lock-down of introduced species to limit contact vectors. Propaganda against introduced species to be distributed through public channels under the guise of regular citizens.
GUOS—Approved. Quarantine active, space contained under guise of preservation of natural planets. Propaganda in effect, introduced species is now heavily limited. No suspicion noted.
Amendment VII: Contact between blacklisted species. Codename ‘Blade’ and Codename ‘Claw’ confirmed to have hailed and interacted between seed-ships. Union freighters reacted and eliminated both from range.
GUOS—Extended search for Codename ‘Blade’ authorized. Updating status from ‘black’ to ‘grey’ to reflect resurgence.
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“Jesus fucking Christ,” he muttered with a horrified expression. The sound of Harrow vomiting had him almost join her.
Someone escaped the hell that the Union had crafted for them, and instantly warned the military of what was going on. He didn’t know what to think of them taking so much information, but he supposed that would help convince the brass that shit was going sideways under their noses.
The part that made his heart sink was the—admittedly, likely Atmo—ship being taken out along with whatever craft the Lilhuns had to meet them. That brought his best estimates for the surviving Atmo ships down to six, and even that single number in difference made his stomach drop. Worse, they had thought the Atmo were gone, and he didn’t know if he was upset that the Union were tipped off by the Lilhuns, or felt pity for the animal-like species actually trusting another set of aliens enough to hail them instead of opening fire on the first thing they saw, only to be taken out while they were busy making friends.
Based on how the Lilhuns here tended to treat the Atmo at first, it never made it past that initial interaction between the two species, because no one had heard of them. There was no escape pod bringing back news for the rest to propagate.
Then there was an apparent shunning of Humans pushed by the Union, probably because—as Sil suggested—they were too wide-spread and well-liked to openly ‘blacklist.’ It explained the lack of Joseph’s kind pretty much anywhere that they weren’t already occupying, as well as the cold demeanour he faced when interacting with species aboard the cruise. Who knew what the Union was saying about them while pretending to be average people?
His only respite was that Rob likely had the information now. He trusted the Earth-born martian to handle people better than he did. Sure, Joseph could suss out what people were good at and keep a finger to the pulse of a group, but Rob dealt with more legalese and back-doors than the younger of the two cared to think about.
Joseph had his hands full dealing with the steady trickle of his pack. Robert owned entire companies.
Sahari might be bonded to Nalah—or should be, considering how it seemed to work. Nalah might be bonded to him and just wasn’t aware. Harrow implied that someone else might be bonded to him, but he couldn’t say who it was. Tel was the obvious choice—everyone else either bonded or the damaged olfactory that was Jax—but it could be someone who had spent considerable time around him; Mi’low or the girls fit the description.
Pan somehow was more bonded than the rest of them, and whoever the late bloomer was would be near enough in intensity, apparently.
It was a lot to take in when there was a more localized issue sitting near the Hall. Hopefully, Pan was getting the Atmo treatment and Raine was getting the traders on the move.
There was the chance of a full-blown conflict brewing too, but that was somehow less important to him than finding out just how torturous the testing methodology was before he stopped reading for now.
Even if he didn’t know how long a repetition was, it had to have taken literal years for them to do some of the experiments. That wasn’t even considering how many people from both species were subjected to them.
A morbid eye scanned some of the benign text near the beginning of the document that detailed the more mundane confines of the experiment; plenty of jargon involving non-disclosure agreements and choosing people based on factors like how few people would notice their absence for the duration cited.
Participants volunteered under the guise of employment.
People signed up for work by the thousand just to be tied to a chair and watch their loved one be tortured to death while their throats bled from the screaming to make it stop. They were told their partners died, just to see how long it would take for some chemical cocktail in their brain to make death preferable to breathing without their other around.
Harrow left the room in a hurry. She looked terrible, her eyes growing puffy from tears and her pupils matching the fear her ears displayed. She was probably off to bury herself in Jax to make herself feel better, not that he blamed her. He wanted to cuddle up with Tel and Pan while Violet scurried about bothering the more friendly wildlife again.
He just wanted to feel like things were okay, instead of boiling over in slow motion.
Harrow was asking the right questions. How many people died from this? How many families never got their loved ones back? How many people got a bond they thought they’d never have, just to have it ripped away?
How many Lilhuns, the same as Pan, wept like children to be bonded at all after a lifetime of discrimination for never being able?
There were too many questions that he was too disgusted to dig through the reports for. Right now, he needed to ensure the Atmo were cared for.
He climbed out of his chair, fighting back the bile. A lingering glance to the open document steeled his resolve.
He would protect his pack. No matter what.