They were once again floating in a handy bit of empty space. Dr. Jane was watching the video. Usually, she simply stared, transfixed, at what she was seeing on the screen, but once or twice, she raised a thin hand and put it over her mouth, her eyes a little wider.
When she was done, she became aware of everyone watching her.
She swallowed before she spoke. “And I’ll get a copy of that recording?”
“You can have it now if you like,” the captain said.
Jane nodded.
Ciro went to grab the connection wires and the tablet he’d spotted in the top of her kit bag, but he stopped when he heard her dark laugh.
“Oh, no,” she said. “I don’t think so. You back away from my computer, hacker.”
“My apologies, Dr. Jane.” Ciro handed her the cord. As she grabbed her own tablet, he said, “Seeing how good you are with them, I hope you’ll understand why I have to watch as you copy the file.”
“Whatever.”
Ciro sat down next to her. She plugged everything together and began copying the file. As it transferred, she looked up at Vas and Reyer.
“That was you two in the video, wasn’t it?” she said.
Reyer nodded.
“That means you know where their home world is?”
“Yes,” Vas said, “but since they were willing to starve and beat Miss Reyer with a machete in order to learn where it was, maybe you’ll think twice before asking us to reveal it to you.”
“They tortured you?” Jane asked.
Reyer nodded again.
“Who’s they?”
“I’m sorry?” Vas asked.
“Who’s the ‘they’ in ‘they tortured you?’”
“The Supremacy,” Reyer said.
Dr. Jane looked down at the deck and shook her head.
“You don’t like the idea of your precious interplanetary tyrant—” Vas started.
Jane’s head snapped up. “I told you I’m a scientist.”
From up in the cockpit, Lynx said, “Doctor, are you referring to the conversation that took place between yourself and Master Ciro?”
“What? Fine! I told him I’m a scientist. They’re my government, but it’s not like I’m in love with each and every member and every decision they make. Bet you a ten-coin you can’t guess how many of my research proposals they’ve rejected.”
“Twelve,” Ciro said as he unplugged the cord to separate the two tablets.
She turned to him. “How did you know that?”
He grinned at her. “You owe me a ten-coin.”
She pulled a coin out of her pocket and flipped it to him while saying, “The point is that they’re not my enemy, so forgive me if I didn’t instantly jump to any conclusions about who or what might have done it, or how many people were involved.”
Reyer sat down across from her. Once again, Jane noted how deliberate and painful the process seemed.
“Dr. Jane,” Reyer said, “I was taken by a member of the Supremacy military to a Supremacy military base and beaten by Supremacy robots. Maybe we’re generalizing and jumping to conclusions, but try not to blame us.”
“And we’ll try to keep an open mind,” Vas said.
“Captain,” Lynx said, “was that sarcasm? Your tone wasn’t sufficiently clear for me to appraise it with any degree of certainty.”
“It recognizes sarcasm?” Jane asked.
“About half the time,” Ciro said. He was back over by his computers, putting away his tablet.
“Now you have what we promised,” Vas said. “What can you tell us about the xenos?”
“A lot,” Jane said.
“Do you prefer to lecture or answer questions?”
Ciro called out, “She’s got a doctorate. Ask her a question, she’ll start lecturing.”
“Have you ever even been to school?”
“Well, this is going to be fun,” Reyer grumbled to Vas. She turned. “Ciro! Please don’t antagonize Dr. Jane until we’re done.”
“Sorry, Miss Reyer.”
Alix said to Jane, “On the video—those were xenos?”
“Yes.”
“You sound certain,” Vas said.
“I am certain.”
“How do you know?” Reyer asked.
“That’s not the first video of xenos that I’ve seen. I uncovered a video that has someone interviewing a xeno—a human-xeno, obviously—and you see it transform in the video. It looked exactly like that.”
“What did the human-xeno transform into?” Reyer asked
There was an infinitesimal pause before Jane said, “The person interviewing it.”
Vas sat down beside Reyer.
Jane sighed. “Maybe I should start at the beginning.”
“Believe me, we’re all listening,” the captain assured her.
“My best friend’s mother worked at a mental health hospital. One day she was taken away by the Supremacy and never seen again. My friend swears that the day her mother was taken, she had come home different—that it wasn’t her. She said it was someone else that had taken over her body. When I heard rumors about the xenos while I was studying, it caught my interest. Over the years, I tracked down everything I could. It started with a few videos and some reports. When I learned more, I was able to interview one or two people.
“I learned that my friend’s mother was probably the second transformation of a xeno. Because I knew where she worked, I was able to find out who she was watching, and then I learned about the lab accident.”
“Lab accident?” Reyer repeated.
Jane nodded. “The original exploration teams the Supremacy sent out were supposed to bring back samples of interesting substances they found while on new planets. I believe the xenos were originally captured then. The explorers probably didn’t realize they were dangerous. It’s likely they would have remained inert while in a container, but once they were brought out for study, the people studying them didn’t use the right precautions—”
“They were taken over?” Vas said.
“Yes. But it was worse than that. The xenos had never been human before. They weren’t very good at it. Something happened, and the accident destroyed almost the entire lab. Only the live people made it out. The corpses they had taken over burned to nothing.”
“Could the xenos have destroyed the lab on purpose?” Reyer asked.
“No,” Jane scoffed. “If it was a xeno which caused the accident—which I don’t know, by the way—it was definitely not on purpose.”
“How do you know?”
“I told you—they were bad at being humans. When they transformed into their first human body, they became mentally comatose. They could eat, sleep, and walk around. They could manage the body. But the brain?” She shook her head. “That’s why they were put into a mental hospital while the Supremacy did everything they could to try to figure out what happened. They knew whatever had caused the problem must have come from one of the new planets that they had been exploring, but because the information was destroyed along with the lab and no one knew what had happened, there was no way for them to know which planet that was.”
Vas leaned back and folded his arms.
Jane waited, but since he didn’t interrupt, she went on: “Then something happened to the people working directly with the mental health patients, and the Supremacy began wondering if they were dealing with an unknown alien contagion. Until they could learn where it had come from and how dangerous it was, they marked the boundary and stopped any and all development in that region. By the third transformation, the Supremacy began to figure out what was going on. By the fourth transformation, the xenos were completely lucid. Once they had taken over a body, you couldn’t tell they weren’t the original person. Then they must have learned to hide. They went underground and have remained in hiding ever since.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Is the Supremacy even looking for them?” Ciro asked.
Jane held up her hands. “I don’t know. As far as I can tell, the policy regarding xenos is silence and denial.”
Vas huffed.
“How many times can a xeno transform?” Reyer asked.
Jane said, “Theoretically—unless there’s something that would limit them that we don’t know about and probably can’t even imagine—there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to continue transforming from one thing to the next.”
“What can they transform into?”
“Again, I’m not sure, but I do know they’ve only ever transformed into humans”—she motioned to the tablet she had seen the video on—“and animals. They don’t do plants, and I’d bet a lot of credits they can’t do anything non-organic.”
“Why not?” Vas said.
“It doesn’t make any evolutionary sense. To transform, one of their appendages reforms into specialized claws that they bury into the next victim’s brain.”
A memory flashed through Reyer’s mind—the Supremacy man with Rurik in his arms, one hand clasped on his head. She shivered.
Vas glanced at her, then returned his attention to Jane.
She said, “A jar or a rug doesn’t have a way to grab onto the next target.”
Ciro came over to them. “But if they can keep transforming, moving from body to body, doesn’t that mean they’re effectively immortal?”
“From what I’ve seen—” The doctor gave a tremendous, exaggerated shrug.
“You mean from our video?” Reyer asked.
Jane leaned forward. “I’d never seen an untransformed xeno before. Remember, it was two transformations before anyone knew what was going on. I thought that you could kill them. I thought it would be as easy as killing a human. But what if they can simply transform back into goo? I don’t know how to kill goo. Do you?”
Fear closed over Reyer’s spine, making it tighter. “How many are there?”
Jane shook her head. Her face was still and somber. “I don’t know.”
“Can you guess?” Vas asked.
“No.” Jane pointed to both of them. “What you found changes almost everything. I might be able to guess how many there are if I knew how much goo was taken as a sample, and how much of that goo is needed for a xeno to transform. I don’t know how they reproduce. I wouldn’t know any of that without more testing and information.”
“How many xenos does the Supremacy have?” Vas asked.
“I’ve found records of at least three they managed to capture and study.”
“No. How many are the Supremacy using?”
“Using how?”
There was a silence.
“Why are you all looking at each other?” Jane asked.
Ciro smirked. “It’s about to get political, Dr. Jane. Brace yourself.”
Jane looked at Reyer.
Alix took a breath. “We have reason to believe the Supremacy has been using xenos against the Rising—”
“As a weapon,” Vas said.
“As a tool, at least,” Reyer said. “From what you’ve said, most of the people under the Supremacy haven’t heard of the xenos. But the Rising has encountered at least a dozen.”
“And you think the Supremacy was sending them on purpose?” Jane asked.
“Until we found that planet, we thought the Supremacy had created them to use against us.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
Vas said, “You don’t think the Supremacy would do something like that?”
“No, there’s no way we have the technology to create something like a xeno! Right now it’s a biological impossibility. We can’t even begin to work out how the xenos exist, and you think we’re manufacturing them?”
Reyer put her hand on Vas’s shoulder so he wouldn’t snap at the doctor. “Jane, we know nothing about biology. There’s a reason we had to kidnap you. We haven’t all had the advantage of a good education.”
“I’ll bet Wonder Boy over there could have found out for you.” Jane motioned to Ciro with a flick of her head.
“He did,” Vas said. “He found you. Now maybe you can tell us why the xenos only seem to be targeting the Rising.”
“I’m afraid I can’t.”
“Is it possible the Supremacy might be using the xenos?”
Jane looked down at the deck, and her shoulder’s squirmed. “From what I’ve seen, the xenos can be reasoned with after they’ve had time to get used to human consciousness, so they could be talked or forced into doing something.” She raised her head, “But I would like to point out that this is universally true. Anyone could do it—not only the Supremacy.”
“Noted,” Vas said.
Ciro shook his head. “We have got to get them on our side.”
“No,” Reyer said. She looked at him. “We don’t use weapons we can’t control.” She returned her attention to Jane. “Is there any way to find a xeno? Especially if we don’t have a DNA profile to compare it to?”
“What?” Jane said sarcastically. “You don’t want to go hacking into everyone’s birth records?”
“I’m only one man, Dr. Jane,” Ciro said. “I can’t do everything.”
“Well, there might be a way. There’s a possible genetic filter—a pattern of anomalous code that marks a xeno as a xeno.”
“Why haven’t we found it?” Vas asked.
“There are differences in each DNA code, even among xenos. You had to be looking for the pattern, not a specific sequence of letters.”
“Is it reliable?”
Dr. Jane smiled. It was tight and mostly straight, but it pulled one of her cheeks up. “Theoretically, it should be. Sadly, it’s only theoretical.”
Reyer noticed the smile. “You found it, didn’t you? You personally hunted it down?”
Jane’s smile grew. “I did. It took a lot of work. I wish I could tell you how effective it is, but since I’m not even supposed to know about the xenos, I probably won’t be able to get approval for a research grant.”
“Is there any other way to know if someone’s a xeno?” Vas asked.
“You mean aside from the fact they left behind two bodies? No. They’re indistinguishable.” A moment later, she added, “Until after death.”
“I thought you said you didn’t know if they could die.”
“I don’t. I read a report that described a decomposing body that was presumed to be the current body of a xeno, but just because that one didn’t turn back into goo doesn’t mean that none of them can. Or maybe it did later. A lack of information is not proof, Captain Vas.”
“It’s no use, Dr. Jane,” Lynx said. “He seems determined not to learn that one.”
She motioned to the bot. “At last, someone sensible. If we keep reminding him, he’ll learn eventually.”
“What happens to the body after death?” Reyer asked.
“It decomposes faster and turns much more…gooey.”
“Is that now an official scientific term, Doctor?” Ciro asked.
“When we all know exactly what it means, I think it’s good enough.” She said to Vas and Reyer, “But how fast a body decomposes won’t be useful for identifying them.”
“Do you have a copy of that genetic filter you mentioned?” Vas asked.
“Yes. But maybe I haven’t made it clear—this isn’t something that’s been tested. The only way I found it was by tracking down as many samples as I could where I could compare the original human’s DNA to the DNA of the xeno which copied their bodies. Total sample size: six.”
“Would you like another?”
Jane blinked before blurting out, “Absolutely!”
“Lynx,” the captain called, “come down here.”
The bot came down to the main deck and stood waiting for orders.
“You still have Rurik’s and Harlan’s profiles?” Vas asked.
“Yes, Captain.”
He motioned to Jane and Ciro. “Enjoy.”
They worked together to hook Lynx to her machine, with Jane occasionally slapping Ciro’s hands if he reached out to touch her tablet.
A few minutes later, the doctor looked up with another of her straight smiles. “That’s seven.”
“It fits the pattern?” Reyer asked.
Jane unhooked her machine. “Yes. The xeno known as Jack Harlan took the body of Ivan Rurik.”
Lynx said, “Forgive me, Dr. Jane, but your certainty is not supported by your experiment. A greater sample size is necessary—”
“Shut up, Lynx,” Ciro said.
“Harlan probably took over the body of Ivan Rurik,” Jane said.
Reyer nodded.
As he removed the cord, Ciro muttered to the robot, “Remind me to teach you the value of the phrase ‘close enough.’”
“Reminder set, Master Ciro. What—”
Vas interrupted: “Lynx, did you copy the pattern?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Run it against Private Bray’s profile, then tell me the results.”
Jane stopped what she was doing and watched as the bot processed.
Lynx said, “There are enough similarities to indicate a greater than ninety-eight percent probability that Private Bray was also a xeno if we assume that the pattern is reliable—which I am obliged to point out, is only an assumption based on mostly unknown factors.”
“It’s better than the nothing we’ve got,” Vas said.
Lynx paused, then said, “Captain, the fact we have no other method to identify xenos does not have any impact on how reliable this new method may or may not be.”
“You’re right,” Reyer said, “but it does impact how desperate we are to use it.”
“Lynx, return to the cockpit,” Vas said.
The robot went and sat in the copilot’s seat.
“What was that?” Jane asked.
“I’m sorry, Doctor?” Vas said.
“What did you just do?”
“We had Lynx use your pattern to search a code we suspected might be from a xeno,” Ciro explained. “We wanted to see if the filter would flag it. Which it did.”
“You think it works?”
“I think we’ll start testing it for you as soon as possible, Doctor,” Vas said.
Reyer stood up to stretch.
Lynx called out from the cockpit, “Be careful, Miss Reyer. Your lacerations haven’t completely healed.”
“Lynx, I let you dress my wounds. I didn’t say you could be my nurse.”
“That is accurate, Miss Reyer, but I fail to see—”
“Do you know what the term nag means, bot?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Don’t nag me.”
There was a pause. “Understood, Miss Reyer.”
Vas said, “Belay that order, Lynx.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Vas stood up. Reyer was staring at him with affronted wonder.
“Someone should nag you,” he said, “and I’d rather you were mad at him than me. Besides, I don’t think I should be the only one on this ship to suffer.”
Jane’s yawn was so large she had to use both hands to cover her mouth. “Sorry,” she said. “My body thinks it’s stupid late.”
“Get some sleep,” Adan said. “Ciro, clear off some space for her.”
“Where?”
“You’ll have to put some of your toys away.”
“Yes, Captain.”
As his brother passed him, Vas reached out, grabbed his shoulder, and whispered, “When you’re certain she’s asleep, send out a ping to base. Get them that code.”
A much softer, “Yes, sir.”
“Miss Reyer, if I might have a word?” Vas nodded toward the cockpit.
He made his way over to the pilot’s chair and stood there, waiting, while Alix climbed the three stairs and sat down between him and Lynx with her back to the panel.
“Would you prefer my seat?” Adan asked.
“You’d let me sit in it, but not Ciro?” Reyer said.
“First of all, he’s my brother. Second of all, he steals it anyway. I’m offering it to you. There’s not a lot I can do to make you more comfortable, so I have to do what I can.”
“Thank you, Vas, but I’m fine here. If getting up is hard enough, I might sleep here. Now, what did you want to talk to me about?”
Vas sat down. “I’d like your opinion on something.”
She waited.
“I’m considering doing something ill-advised and impulsive,” he admitted.
“And you’re stopping to consult with someone first? Vas…” Reyer shook her head.
“Believe me, if it was only me, I probably wouldn’t even look back, but things have become a little more complicated. I’m carrying around the Uprising’s foremost technology expert, a presumably innocent biologist we had to kidnap, and one former sergeant who I’m charged with keeping safe no matter what the cost. That’s enough to make even me pause before charging into danger.” He hesitated. “At least this time.”
“What are you thinking, Captain?”
“Even if whoever is looking for that planet can’t find it through you, somehow they probably will find it. By the time that happens, I think it’d be good for us to know as much about the xenos as possible. There are a few important questions that the good doctor wasn’t able to answer.”
“Only a few?”
Vas motioned with his hand to acknowledge her point. “I think Dr. Jane would be willing to help us as long as we don’t restrict her rights to the information we find.”
Reyer turned her head. “Lynx, do we have any qualified biologists in the Rising?”
The robot replied, “No known biologists are enlisted or employed by the Uprising.”
“I think if we want to learn anything about the xenos, we’ll need her help. We’d have to make sure she didn’t come across any sensitive information about the Rising, but that’s not impossible. We could get Lynx to watch her when we need to sleep.” Reyer looked up at the captain. “It could be done.”
“I want to go back to their home world,” Vas said.
Reyer shifted her eyes to the main deck where Ciro was helping Jane find a place she could rest that wouldn’t be too uncomfortable. “Dr. Jane, one more question for you before you go to sleep. Out of pure interest, if we were able to get you a sample of untransformed xenos, how confident would you feel about your ability to handle them safely?”