|Viraliv|[17-21]Ciusir-Bi|Umaek|Usaeni|Lidrion|

12,763,892,458cy

High orbit above Lidrion, Arkan Station

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- #Tube Pov#

It’s been six months since then and not much has changed, from the outside at least. On the inside a different story can be seen. One of the super-colonies has been dismantled, its members finding refuge in the other super colonies or trying to survive on their own. These super-colonies are composed of any number of colonies but usually contain six to seven colonies. Each colony has multiple groups of specialists, for example a group specialized in foraging for food or transporting that food to the other groups; though they can all serve any general purposes. Super-colonies are important because they can be thought of as independent human; having their own personality, dreams, goals, and emotions. Unlike a human these personalities, emotions are decided upon by all members in the super-colony. In essence these super-colonies are like a mix of a person and a nation.

The death of even one super-colony is a huge shock and will affect the future of the tube microbes greatly. This death is as a result of a chain reaction within the super-colony due to the loss of one of its essential groups. Though each group within a super-colony has multiple groups of the same type to avoid this case, this specific colony had already lost all other groups of that type causing it to collapse. This left a power vacuum within the super-colony and no other colonies were able to pick up the responsibility of managing the collapsed colony. Nor could the other super-colonies help out either, due to their own issues. This ultimately led to the super-colony splintering due to the rouge population of the collapsed colony and of the super-colony having no way to deal with this issue and not being able to come to a consensus.

Regardless of the cause, the effect is chaos. As many groups have nowhere to go they are either taken in by the other super-colonies to fill certain niches or they simply went rogue. Rogue micro-groups, and individuals, become more feral and simple minded compared to their grouped up counterparts. Simply, the more of them that are unified under a single “consciousness” the smarter they make each other. These rogues will eventually die off as they nearly always do, only given a new chance at life if a larger group chooses to assimilate them.

With the bad, good sometimes comes as well. In this case the death of one super-colony allowed the others to grow and become more efficient while also increasing the overall intelligence of the tube. This result gave some dark thoughts to the super-colonies, after all if the death of one super-colony was beneficial than what if there was only one super-colony? This thought is something that their predecessor back on Lidrion would have never thought of, violence was never an option for them and yet to this 362nd generation it was becoming more of an answer. Of course, it still was a breach of their cultural rules and the likes but in a few hundred more generations who knows what could happen?

#Willum Pov#

Another six months have passed which means the directors will want to have a meeting again soon. Although we have seen some turbulent activity in the tube recently it’s too recent to have written a report on it and likely they wouldn’t even bother listening anyway. So, this meeting will strictly be about deadline information and our progress towards the start of monetizing the microbes. Speaking of deadlines, at the pace we are going we predict they will be “finished” in nearly five years; give or take a few months for anything unexpected. All things considered this is a very fast past and though I hate to admit it putting the microbes under more stress was a risky but correct decision. At least, nothing wrong has happened yet and it sped up the project by at least three years. Anway, now that it’s known that the directores only care about shipping this “product” as quickly as possible, I can use that to my advantage, after finalizing my thoughts with the help of Joseph the only thing left to do is wait.

The meeting went about as expected, me trying to explain the situation to them and them ignoring it due to their own ignorance. After which the demand to know when they can begin to sell the project, surprisingly they were okay with the current speed of five years. Apparently the nanomachines market will sink even lower by then so it’ll be a ripe opportunity to introduce a new alternative. Regardless, everyone got what they wanted in the meeting, which is a rare enough event. Anyway, all of this is just a bother, what really matters are the microbes.

Speaking of, the unknown recent turbulent activity resulted in a breakdown in cellular activity. We aren’t exactly sure what that activity was but it doesn’t seem to have resulted in much of anything, of course the consequences could take time to show so the lab hands will remain vigilant. Overall, the last six months have been steady; of course every now and then something happens in the tube. These occurrences only serve to tell us that we really don’t know much about these microbes but the tests show that nothing hostile to humans is in them. Afterall, it’s not like we can start a new project without additional funding and that would just be a curiosity project which the directors aren’t going to fund.

I tell Joseph and the rest of the team the good news and continue my daily routine. This routine consists of waking up in the morning, turning on the autoshocker, going to get breakfast, reviewing the observational logs that the computer made, eating lunch, reviewing some more, dinner, and finally reviewing some more. The second shift does much of the same but instead they turn off the autoshocker. Though this routine is rather boring and everyone aboard this station has been doing it for about a year now I’m still extremely thankful I even got to be here in the first place. Had these microbes been on a different planet, or had someone else thought of going here I would surely not find myself standing at the forefront of the next major discovery of humankind. Well, nothing to do but keep working day by day until this all pays off.

#Three Years Later#

Three years have passed and yet nothing much has changed, the day to day is the same. Meetings every six months, one is coming up soon but it’ll be the same dance it always is. We, at the station, have settled down a bit, getting very acclimated to this lifestyle. Obviously we haven’t slacked in our duties but the atmosphere is definitely more relaxed, the tension almost non-existent. The microbes have not changed much, well haven’t changed in a way we don’t want anyway. They are different enough to the original sample to be considered a new sub-species, as the team that discovered them we get to decide the name. We went with Waceran, to the meaning of selfless helper; in full that’s Lidris Kestlis gratuiti. It’s just a nice little morale booster and the team seemed to like doing it.

Back to business, the date for the meeting is tomorrow and I’ve got to freshen up for it. Of course I’ll do the little dance, I’ve done it many times now, just give them a quick report, especially how long it will take and then they blow what one could consider to be language out of their pie-holes and then we’re good. Still, I should look presentable, after all these meetings could be a part of the biography that will no doubt be made about me and the team. The next day, the meeting starts with the same old push of a button. The meeting starts differently this time, one of the more rounded, bald directories starts to speak before I have a chance to. He says, “Just give us the timeline.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

A bit of a shock but okay, Willum thought then said, “Well, like previously discussed we are currently on time and it’s projected to be two more years until completion.”

The directors turned themselves mute and began discussing amongst themselves, once finished the bald one, apparently the spokesperson for today's meeting said, “Due to the changes in the project we pressured you to take the project was sped up by three years, right? Don’t answer, we already know it’s true, so… we want you to speed it up even more. We want this project completed in one year maximum.”

My thoughts stood still, my face that rarely betrays any emotion showing complete shock. I slowly gathered myself, “You can’t be serious, you might’ve been lucky last time but the microbes can’t handle that kind of shock. There’s a very real chance that they all die and we would have to start over.”

He seems to get angry at my tone, my refusal, or both. “It doesn’t matter what you think! We pay you to follow our orders! Well, not anymore that is…”

I cut in, “What do you mean, not anymore? You can’t possibly be…”

“Yes, that’s right you and your team are formally kicked out of our employment, we discussed that if you refused that you were no longer useful to our company or its shareholders. You’ll have 2 months until the shuttle gets there to pack up, oh and you obviously can’t take any of the samples.

What seemed to be going so well was instantly shattered, like an olympic athlete about to secure victory only for them to trip a few feet from the finish line.

#Two Months Later#

Me and Joseph went back to our home planet, Meridia, to drink our sorrows away I suppose. Not that it worked, we both seem depressed. When we left some of the lab technicians thought to sneak a sample of microbes away to do some independent research. As dangerous a thought as that is, if I was in the position to steal some now then I think I would have; I know Joseph would have anyway. We don’t have anything to do but twidle our thumbs and wait for the release of our project; I wouldn’t be surprised if there was only a footnote about our involvement. Most of all though, I’m wondering how they’re going to speed up the timeline. Obviously, we aren’t told what’s going on in the lab but I can’t help but hazard a guess. I would imagine that they are simply making the autoshocker shift longer. I don’t think the corpos will care much but this time there is no guessing, this will have unexpected mutations. And I don’t think they will invest the time needed to correct those, this will be a vastly inferior product to what the original would have been. Not to mention, possibly dangerous.

#Almost Seven Months Later#

“And with the release of this one-of-a-kind competitor in the medical industry, putting a stop to the ever tyrannous nanomachine conglomerates, is the all new microbial based body enhancer.” Flicking through old shows on tv, an ad appeared that made my almost asleep mind fully alert. I hear the phone ringing, I already know it’s Joseph before even looking. I don’t even answer, I just stand up and walk closer to the tv. There on the tv, images of the very microbes I was working on, announced to all of humanity. My accomplishment. My dream. My work. My duty. All of it, except I’m not there with it. I knew it would happen but there was no way to prepare myself for the shock. I had half a mind to kill myself right there, to jump from my apartment. But I didn’t, I should say I couldn’t. Some part of me was driven to study these little microbes even more. It’d be easy too, I would just need to get them injected into me and then collect some saliva. Given enough time those microbes would become numerous enough that I could study them fully.

This is what I need right now, a driving force to continue living. I sound like a crazy person but I really will die if I don’t do anything. The phone stopped ringing but I called Joseph back, he answered right away and I told him my plan. He was on board obviously, he was in the same situation I was in, only Joseph wouldn’t kill himself. Having no money would be a problem but it’s fine, I’m willing to exhaust myself to see this through.

#Nine Months Later#

It’s been nine months since the rollout of the “finished” microbe product. Enough time for 100,000s of humans to get the treatment, enough time to see if there are any unintended short-term side effects. So far it’s clean but Willum, and everyone on the team, know that you couldn’t possibly speed up the production without a significant loss in stability. Of course, one can’t just steal some microbial soup so Willum took the risk himself and got treated, then drew enough saliva to create a stable sample. This “laboratory” of his was using whatever he had lying around from his schooling days, nothing like the nearly state of the art lab where he originally worked in.

#Five Months Later

Most of the planets in humanities Earthen Alliance have completely rolled out treatment, aside from a few humans who live in isolation from society, they have all gotten the microbial enhancements. Willum and Joseph never got over their depression, working in a place comparable to a pig sty. Except for the lab area itself everything else is covered in grime and dirt including Willum and Joseph. Their only motivation is to do their research. Speaking of research, not much progress has been made. Afterall, it’s just two people in a homemade lab. At the very least they know to target bad genetic traits, things that could harm humans or otherwise mess with our bodies in unattended ways. That’s the only way to get back at the company.

#3 Months Later#

Nearly all of the remaining planets in the Earthen Alliance have at least one treatment facility and 89% of all humans have undergone treatment, not counting those who refuse treatment. Willum and Joseph have continued their research and have found a lead. Something that they believed would never come up due to the microbes' predecessors. These microbes seem to be more apt to defend themselves than their original species, more research is required but this was a cause of celebration for them. Afterall, they specifically chose this species because of how neutral and passive they were. So, them having a defensive mechanism, even a simple one, is enough for cause of concern and will at least do some financial damage to the company; not enough to make Willum happy though.

#3 Months Later#

97% of humans, who planned to, have gotten the treatment. The governments of the Earthen Alliance have worked with the company to patent the technology, effectively creating a monopoly on the microbes; making the company extremely rich. Willum and Joseph have excitedly chased down the defense mechanism lead. Trying to figure out what exactly triggers it is the turning point on whether it’s useful information or not. And… it was, very useful actually, something on the level that could utterly destroy the company. However, that would require some help, just publishing their findings isn’t enough. It could very quickly be buried under all of the other papers, getting picked up by some news organization or a rival corp would be the best case. So that’s what Willum did, after publishing, just calling up everyone he could think of. Albeit, many thought that he was a crazy person, he didn’t look clean nor healthy and his speaking was very frantic. Still he got a few responses back, a sudden reprieve to his depression allowing him to freshen up at least a little.

#4 Months Later#

Willum is dead. News coverage of his suicide was the expected results by most influential people. Willum’s evidence was met with strong pushback, funded by the company and even some governments, who bribed news agencies, researchers, and independent detectives. Anything they could do to drag Willum through the mud. The company provided information that Willum was fired for many high collar crimes, of course lies. Basically, the company and the governments that supported the company used Willum, the first person to publicly have evidence for concern against the microbes, as a warning to others. Willum’s depression, the end of his research, and the end to his reputation lead to him taking his life. Joseph’s whereabouts are unknown, though his name was also dragged through the mud; most people in the original lab team also had their reputations ruined, although to a lesser extent.