The Super Gene Problem has a few noticeable anomalies. These are important enough that I have devoted separate chapters to their discussions. Of course most, if not all, of you will be aware of them, though I hope to elucidate further on these anomalies and their consequences for Supersentient research.
The first of which we shall discuss are the Diocletian race, residing in the Diocletian Empire coreward from the Alliance. Alone among all sentient species, their occurrence rate of Supersentients is the highest even among the anomalies at approximately 100 in 101. This means that almost every Diocletian has the inevitability of evolving powers and abilities classed as 9 or above on the Zetathrax doctrine. No doubt this makes them a feared military power, although in the Modern Galactic Era, the effects of lower class Supersentients on the battlefield is minimal (if you are more interested in the military applications of Supersentients, I would recommend Karlio's Tactics and Strategies of Galactic Combat).
Furthermore, this ratio does equalise with other species as you look at data for higher ranks until at the Singularity level (Class-1) it is the same. Nonetheless, this poses an interesting question regarding why they should be such an exception. The most commonly ascribed to theory suggests that they may not be a species naturally evolved. We know for a fact that an ancient and thriving society once inhabited our galaxy - we see its remnants wherever we look. Therefore, it is not beyond speculation that they may have possessed god-like genetic manipulation techniques, capable of moulding species to their desired forms.
Of course, such a theory can never truly be proven and the Diocletians are a race ruled by royalty that are infamously guarded and secretive. They may not possess tendencies that can be classed as isolationist, such as the Woodland Expanse, but they are extremely protective over these matters.
What I will go over, however, are the various theories proposed and whether the evidence we have supports or rejects them. The first theory, proposed by Magus Carter in the fourth millennium MGE, suggests...
- Reeves, H. 7225 MGE, The Supersentient: A Study in Origins and Evolution, Chapter 3: The Diocletian Dilemma, Galactic Publishing House, Archive File #P786D7G3S002
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Chapter 12: Ambush Squared
Axe attempted to clean himself off, though to little effect. Apparently, entrails of giant worms harden in a similar manner to cement. Whatever metal Kariel’s spear was made of, however, repelled the blood, soon returning to its burnished bronze colour much to his relief.
We continued our march towards the mountain vigilantly, though nothing was entering the range of my Truesight apart from the odd flicker of an animal mind. Soon enough as we approached the base of the mountain, the desert faded to be replaced by a sparse looking forest.
These trees, unlike the ones in the previous forest, were lush with leaves. Although their size was not as immense, their trunks thin and spindly, they reached upwards fairly high. The sounds and colours of life were all around, though I was not so quick to dismiss them as non-threats. Any one of those flickering signals could transform into a potential ambush. A few seconds of inattention could be fatal.
As it turned out, before we found any danger, we found something potentially more ominous.
“Hold on”, Axe said, raising his hand and stopping. He squinted at an object in the distance. The closer we got to the mountain, the denser the trees became until they flanked both sides of a narrow path like the walls of a gorge. I gripped my sword tightly, muscles tensed in anticipation. I checked my Truesight, but there was nothing there.
“I don’t sense any energy”, I replied furrowing my brows. “Not even a disguised animal like the beetle. There’s just a blank spot there”.
“Let me check it out first”, Axe ordered. Quito laid out his rifle and Kariel gripped his spear in preparation. Axe prowled forward, ready to jump at the slightest sound. The starless sky seemed only more oppressive and the object blocking the path seemed to loom in shadow.
Our tension heightened until Axe entered striking distance of the object. Abruptly, his postured lightened.
“No danger”, he called out to us, though still not turning his back to the object. Kariel looked at me and shrugged before jogging forward. Me and Quito followed soon after. As we approached, more details could be made out.
It seemed like a misshapen lump of coal, but realisation very quickly dawned on us.
“Seem’s like one less competitor for us”, Kariel said lightly.
“It could still be a trap”, Axe warned. “Don’t keep your eyes off the forest, Phi”.
I nodded firmly in response, though it would be a lie if I said the corpse had not shaken me. I was no stranger to death, but the oppressive atmosphere only heightened our negative emotions. Drawing on the energy of my Codex, I quickly calmed down.
“Whatever’s capable of that kind of damage would stick out like a sore thumb”, I said confidently. “Even if it could hide its presence, it wouldn't be able to attack without me noticing well in advance”.
“You’re probably right”, Axe agreed, kneeling down to closer investigate the body. “But it never hurts to be cautious”.
“Recognise him?” Kariel asked, poking at the body with the butt of his spear.
Axe shook his head. “Too hard to determine. But it seems like he was already dead when his body was burnt”. A look of concentration crossed over his face. “Couldn’t be the Firewyrm, we’d have definitely seen that if it were. But I can’t think of a reason anyone would risk being found just to do that”.
“No point wondering”, Kariel grunted. “If we find it, we kill it. Simple”. I was surprised to find myself agreeing with his words. At the end of the day, this Colosseum boiled down to that simple equation: survival of the fittest.
“I guess you’re right”, Axe stood up, sparing a glance at the body before continuing. “Let’s keep moving. We’re not the first here so keep vigilant. We’re counting on you, Phi.”
The further we progressed, the more the size of the mountain dawned on me – and its implications. It seemed less and less likely that the Colosseum was the space station I had thought previously. The others had even mentioned that arenas of this size weren't even the largest the Duke had to offer. I grimaced subconsciously.
What mess have I got myself into this time.
But I quickly shook myself out of these idle thoughts. The closer we were to the goal, the greater the likelihood of encountering something that could slip past my awareness.
Subtly, I activated my first Edict: [Influx]. Not to draw in energy, but to enhance my Truesight.
Edicts are functionally an ability of a completely different calibre to the passive properties granted by my Codex like Truesight. My teacher sometimes called them ‘Decrees’: a way for the Ascendant to declare their own laws superseding those of reality itself.
I doubted him when he told us. He only needed to demonstrate once to change our minds.
Although I was far from that stage, activating my Edicts still gave me a comprehensive improvement outside of its direct effects of absorbing and emitting the energies of minds and souls. In this case, [Influx] sharpened Truesight into crystal clarity.
My range didn’t increase, but it felt like my mind expanded from my body to encompass everything within it. Each flicker of a soul and every thought that leaked out was captured by my enhanced vision.
In this state, the beetle from earlier would have been as visible as a sun in the sky. I felt confident that nothing could slip past me now.
As it was, I was soon proven right. As we walked down the path, four new presences entered my enhanced Truesight. Their minds were locked tight like a steel trap such that if it weren’t for the roaring flame of a soul, I would have doubted they were even alive.
“Four presences, just less than a kilometre ahead”, I spoke up immediately, signalling for us to stop.
“Have they noticed us?” Axe asked quickly.
I paused, examining them closer. It was difficult even with my enhanced Truesight, but I sensed nothing of the sort of intent that suggested they were hostile.
“Not yet”, I said. “But they’re directly down this path near the base of the mountain. If we want to continue, we’re gonna run into them.”
“We could cut through the forest”, Kariel suggested. “We’ve got the advantage knowing their position. We could be the ambushers this time”.
“A sound plan”, Quito spoke up, surprising Kariel with his endorsement. “If we can get within range of my rifle, we can take out at least one of them instantly.”
“Exactly”, Kariel puffed out his chest. “That was my plan too”.
Axe seemed in thought, before speaking up. “Yes, we’ll go with that. Phi take point from here on out; it’ll be your call whether to go ahead or retreat”.
“Okay”, I nodded. “We’ll have to be as silent as possible from here on out. They haven’t moved form their positions, so they’re definitely waiting for someone to come through. That means they’ll be wary: our best chance lies in the fact that Quito’s rifle outranges their detection.
“As soon as they enter your range, fire at will”.
Quito nodded and gave me a silent thumbs up. Having seen his rifle in action against the worm, I felt confident in his capabilities.
The other three quickly fell in behind me and we entered the dense forest on our right. Luckily, the ground was soft, so the sound of our footsteps were muffled. Kariel, the largest of us, was surprisingly deft at manoeuvring through the trees. Axe was the loudest, clearly unsuited to this kind of terrain while Quito was deathly silent. Without Truesight, he would have been completely invisible to me.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I kept my attention on those four presences. They still hadn’t moved from their original positions, standing eerily still like sentinels of stone. Two of them were on the road while the other two flanked them on both sides, hidden up in the branches.
We moved slowly, inching closer to our targets like a pack of stalking wolves. The forest was too dense for Quito to see through, so we’d have to get a lot closer than his actual maximum range.
At about three hundred metres away, we stopped. Quito nodded to me, his white fur seeming more like dark grey in the twilight. His eyes, however, shone with intensity as he set his rifle on an expanding tripod.
I whispered to the others, “As soon as Quito fires, we dash out. They’re about three hundred metres that way”. I pointed towards the part of the path where they stood. “Two of them are in the trees and two are on the road. Follow my lead and we’ll circle around from here to try and approach undetected.”
“I’ve got them in my scope”, Quito whispered, his finger holding steady on the trigger. “The one on the trees on the other side. Ready for the signal.”
I exchanged glances with Kariel and Axe, who nodded at me. I turned to Quito and said, “Fire”.
A bright muzzle flash momentarily illuminated the small copse of trees around us. The purple aura around his mind writhed familiarly, no doubt using his telekinesis to accelerate the bullet.
One of the signatures, the one hidden in the branches on the opposite side of the road, flickered before fading. Yet even as it faded, I felt no surprise of fear usual of those facing death.
Something’s strange.
But I had no time to spare on these thoughts, apart from a brief warning to the others as we dashed forwards.
“Be careful”, I spoke urgently. “They seem more like robots than people. They’re not going to be surprised or off guard. Our only advantage is that they don’t know where or how many we are.”
We dashed parallel to the road, past the three who remained. The other one in the trees had dropped down onto the road entering a triangular formation with the others. I banked sharply to the left towards the road, dodging trees and branches with heightened reflexes. Axe and Kariel were a comfortable presence by my back.
We emerged from the forest behind them, in the opposite direction from where Quito had taken the shot. The path itself was fairly narrow, barely a few metres separated us from our enemies.
The three were dressed identically in a pitch black that actually seemed to stand out against the slightly lighter purple of twilight. They wielded double sided spears, a small cloth hanging from the handle.
In an eerily smooth movement, all three turned around to face us, but there was no time for greetings.
I slashed my sword in a horizontal arc at the first one. With inhuman speed, he brought up his spear and blocked my blade with the shaft of his. The red metal screeched as it threw up orange sparks as he slipped it to one side with a tilt of his wrists.
Kariel and Axe shot past me on either side, engaging with the other two respectively, but my vision tunnelled on the one in front of me.
He’s dangerous. Far more than the one I fought in my last arena battle. In the split-second when I emerged from the forest, he was already swinging his spear up to block my attack.
We eyed each other up. His face too was covered by the same pitch-black as the rest of his featureless body.
The clashes of Kariel and Axe resounded, but we stood apart, studying each other.
He leapt forward first, holding his spear from one end and using its range to force me back. I dodged to one side and grabbed the spear as it flew past my left ear.
But it wouldn’t be that easy. I let go hastily as I felt his strength overpower me in an instant. Had I been any slower, my palm would have been sliced open by that blade.
Confident in his strength, he swung his spear in dizzying patterns. At this point, I was relying completely on Truesight to detect his movements. One attack nicked my right cheek as my sword was a heartbeat too late to deflect his thrust. Heat spread from the point of contact and I raised a hand to wipe off the blood that dripped down.
But I hadn’t been twiddling my thumbs either: immediately after that first exchange, I knew that overpowering him in pure strength without [Influx] would be a fool’s gambit.
Instead, I went on the defensive, feigning weakness to study his patterns. I wasn’t perfect – that attack slipping through was evidence – but I did realise something. From the onset, I had felt something off about them. Something that tickled the instinctive part of my mind.
Then it dawned on me.
Their movements: they don’t align with their thoughts. No wonder it seemed so eerie.
Their actions seemed like those of soulless puppets, which clashed with the clear presence of a soul in my Truesight.
They're not under their own control. They’re mindslaves.
Realising this, I immediately jumped backwards from his onslaught, attempting to create space. Taking this brief opportunity, I shouted out to the others:
“They’re just puppets, but their master isn’t anywhere near. That means they’ve only got a limited number of attack patterns.”
I had no clue if the others got my message as the one I fought lunged at me. I grinned.
That attack isn’t gonna work twice.
I noticed his grip early and tensed my legs. His spear thrust forward, the blade aiming right toward my eyes. Just like his first attack. Instead of dodging to the side, I crouched down and lunged forwards.
He tried to withdraw the spear, but the attack’s momentum was too much. And it was already too late.
I swung my sword in an upward diagonal slash at his right armpit. The red blade sliced cleanly through with minimal resistance and his arm dropped to the floor. Off balance, the puppet staggered, clutching the spear in the other hand and swinging wide.
I sidestepped easily and with another swing, I separated its head from its shoulders. They may have been controlled like puppets, but mindslaves still had the bodies of living beings in the end. The black-clad figure collapsed to its knees before keeling over forwards, its spear falling powerlessly to the ground.
I spared it a pitiful glance. I didn't know how he ended up as a mindslave in the Colosseum. But I had done him a favour.
Better dead than a mindslave. Hopefully you live better in the next life.
Axe was finished with his fight, his enemy smashed beyond recognition by his psyker-sigil enforced fists. Kariel had ended the fight too, though much neater, with a spear shot through the eyes. He retrieved it and flicked it to the side to clean it.
“Puppets?” Kariel nudged the corpse with his boots. “Seem pretty living to me”.
“Not just puppets”, I shook my head wearily. “Mindslaves.” If the controller were within range of my Truesight, that connection would have easily given away the truth. But he was cautious and severed that link, leaving the mindslaves with a set of instructions to guard the path onwards.
“Mindslaves”, Axe growled and spat to one side. “A degenerate practice”.
“Didn’t think you’d be that passionate about this”, I raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic show of emotion.
He shook his head and Kariel let out a sharp laugh. "It may not seem like it but Axe had his own honour, once. Thought the Colosseum had it beat out of him though.”
Seems my Suggestion is working. It's only a little, but its a start. With the scale of this Colosseum so far beyond my expectations, I'll need all the allies I can get.
“Don’t say anything useless, Kariel. I just hate the idea of mindslaves”, Axe replied coldly. To be fair, the rage that dominated his mind emanated in waves clear to my enhanced Truesight. Any other person would have been frothing at the lips with that amount of anger in them, but Axe was merely silent. Only a slight tightening of his brow indicated his emotions.
The silence was interrupted by Quito’s form approaching from the path. I was about to call out to him when something suddenly flashed into existence behind him. As though a veil was lifted, an overwhelming aura burst into focus within my Truesight.
Axe and Kariel seemed to notice it at the same time, immediately readying for combat.
“Now, now”, the voice drawled from a sleek armour-clad figure behind Quito. “No quick movements: I wouldn’t want my hand to slip and gut your friend here”. The figure nudged Quito who stumbled forwards. His white fur was stained red with blood and his rifle was nowhere to be found.
‘Damn’, I cursed. 'A veil to hide from mind- and soul-axis abilities? Something of that grade surely doesn't belong in a bronze ranked match.'
Those kinds of abilities and items maybe highly effective, but the essence of Truesight was in its adaptability. I only needed to see it once to understand it.
Too late now though.
I scanned around us, noticing several other figures in the forests on either sides who appeared at the same time.
Axe raised his hands slowly, and Kariel tightened his grip on his spear.
“What do you want”, Axe’s voice was chilling as it cut through the air.
“No need for such hostility, man”, the armour-clad figure laughed. “I just want a conversation”.
I grit my teeth silently. Despite my racing mind, a solution to this new threat was not forthcoming.
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[SYSTEM BOOT INITIATED]
* Initiating Primary Neural Kernel…
* Bio-sensory Failsafe: Armed
* Signal Buffering: [Engaged]
* Connecting Transdimensional Clock…
* Establishing date…
* Date established 18.01.033…
* Establishing co-ordinates…
* Co-ordinates established uncorrupted…
* Executing bootstrap.exe please standby…
* Loading…
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[LEGACY PROTOCOLS ACTIVE: WELCOME USER 1!]
* Preparing Xenographic Interface…
* Decoding Archive - Access Level: CLASSIFIED
* All Systems Synced. Initialisation COMPLETE.
[AWAITING INPUT]
* Begin personal log…
[START LOG]
ENTRY: 004-C
Secondary Directive PROMETHEUS has been deemed complete as of yesterday. All margins are within acceptable boundaries; the simulation accuracy reaching unrecorded heights in our final few iterations. Although the possible applications for this technology we have developed frighten me, it is a necessary step towards our final product.
And yet the entirety of PROMETHEUS only encompasses a single step on our path. Once again, the daunting nature of our task is made clear. For even a single step to be taken, we have made enough advances to the bleeding edge of science that if it were our life's work we would go down in history as some of the most influential figures to have ever existed.
Nonetheless, we are nowhere near completion. No clear deadline was given to us, though that brings its own psychological burden. Working towards a clear end date is always easier compared to an indistinct shadow on the horizon. All the missives from the Council merely highlight the urgency of the situation. We cut corners where we can, but in systems this complex, even a few fractions of a percent one way or another can cause catastrophic failures.
Perhaps we should have developed a cure for chronic fatigue before this - it may have even been easier. Alas, such a thing remains myth - I refrain from using even the stimulants provided. Even with the entire budget of the Council at my disposal, a clear mind is still my most valuable asset.
I ramble. Regardless the obstacles, we will pave our way to success. I believe this fully. As always:
May we overcome Calamity.
[END LOG]
* Ending personal log…
* Personal log saved…
[SYSTEM SHUTDOWN SEQUENCE INITIATED]
* Disconnecting Primary Neural Kernel…
* Disconnecting Transdimensional Clock…
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* Signal Buffering: [Disengaged]
[EXITING LEGACY PROTOCOLS: GOODBYE USER 1]
* Memory Encryption Sequence ACTIVATED
* All files archived. Quantum stabilisers powering down.
SYSTEM STATUS: DORMANT
[COMMAND: STANDBY UNTIL NEXT INITIALISATION]