Ivan Kal - What War Had Wrought

Axull sighed. He knew how his friend felt about his sister, but there was nothing he could do. Ullax was brilliant, the best in her fields; her automatons and machinery were revolutionary. But her brilliance also made her disregard anyone that was less than that. It was her biggest flaw; she expected all to be equal to her, and when they fell inevitably short, they slipped beneath her notice.

“We don’t know that she is right for sure. They could still move beyond this phase,” Axull tried to reassure his friend.

Waiss turned to look at him. “You were right the first time, they are an aberration. A stage two lifeform that uses tools, nothing more,” Waiss said, defeated.

“Not necessarily…” Axull said slowly, trying to decide whether to share his thoughts with his friend.

“What do you mean?” Waiss asked.

“I have been doing some testing of my own,” Axull responded hesitantly.

“What kind of testing?” Waiss asked confused.

“Here, look at this.” Axull brought the data from his tests on the holographic display above their table.

Waiss leaned in and studied the data, then turned to look at Axull with a frown on his face. “This is a study on the Sha.”

“Yes,” Axull Darr said.

“What does it have to do with the Alphas’ intelligence?” Waiss asked.

“Do you notice anything strange about the levels of Sha with the Alphas?” Axull asked.

“No, everything seems to be normal,” Waiss responded unsurely.

“The levels are normal; right about in the middle of the scale of every lifeform that isn’t us.”

Waiss narrowed his eyes. “So there is nothing strange about them. What is the purpose of this, Axull?”

“This here is a scan of the Sha level of a newborn of the People,” Axull said as he put the new data alongside the first.

Waiss took only a short glance at the new data before he turned to look at Axull. “This is nothing new, of course there is a discrepancy. We are far more attuned to the Sha; we can influence it, they can’t. Sha permeates through them, but it isn’t gathered in them; they have no conduit nor the biology necessary to achieve that.”

“Exactly,” Axull said with a smile.

“And what does that mean?”

“Do you know when our people achieved a connection with the Sha?” Axull asked.

“Well we don’t really know. Based on the remains, historians believe that it was just about the time we started living in larger groups and using tools.” Waiss said.

“You are half right. That period was when we supposedly achieved conscious ability to manipulate the Sha. But, most biologists agree that we had evolved a conduit to the Sha much earlier in our evolution.”

“And what does that have to do with the Alphas and their intelligence?”

“They don’t have a conduit; they can’t even feel the Sha around them.”

Waiss opened his mouth to say something, then stopped himself and looked at Axull for what seemed hours before he spoke again. “You think that the Sha has a direct correlation to intelligence.”

“It makes sense,” Axull Darr said slowly. “There is no other lifeform in the galaxy that has our ability, none that can even interact with the Sha within them on an unconscious level. We are the only ones, and we have attained higher intelligence. It is an avenue worth exploring.”

“If that is true, then the Alphas will never be intelligent, or at least not for a long time,” Waiss said, defeated.

“No, not unless we help them along,” Axull said.

“What do you mean?”

“We could alter them slightly, give them a conduit,” Axull responded.

“I doubt that the Grand Exatts would approve of that,” Waiss said slowly, but even as he did, Axull could see that his friend was interested.

“You are in charge of this project and can do whatever you want. We could change only a small number of them, monitor them for a couple of generations and see if it sparks anything. If nothing happens, it will be easy to remove any alterations we do. And if it does succeed, we would have answered the question the People had sought an answer to since we started exploring the stars. The Grand Exatts will be ecstatic,” Axull said.

“Yes,” Waiss said, almost to himself. “Can you imagine it, Axull?” Waiss looked at his friend. “If it turns out that Sha is required to spark higher intelligence, we could spark life across the galaxy with just one small alteration!”

Axull smiled at his friend’s enthusiasm. “Yes, we wouldn’t be alone anymore. Imagine speaking with a lifeform that is not like you, who perceives the universe through senses different from yours. What kind of conversations would we have?”

“That will only happen if you are right,” Waiss said, his bright mood dimming a bit.

“Well, then, let’s get to work,” Axull said as he stood up. “Oh, and we better find Ullax before she packs up and leaves. I doubt that she will want to miss this.”

Waiss’s mood brightened again at the prospect of Axull’s sister remaining with them. And Axull couldn’t help but smile at the expression of hope and happiness on his friend’s face.

November; Year 58 of the Empire — Numvani — Bloodbringer

The Bloodbringer dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of the system where the meeting with the Erasi was supposed to take place, and slowly Bloodbringer made its way towards the planet, all the while scanning everything around them.

They had detected a single Erasi ship on the opposite side of the system, and a super battleship moving towards the meeting place. Once they’d detected them and calculated their speed, Anessa had her people adjust their speed so both ships would reach the planet around the same time. Almost a day later, both ships were in orbit of the planet, with the Erasi ship and the Bloodbringer taking positions on opposite hemispheres.

“So far so good,” Anessa heard Adrian say from behind her as she was putting on her Sentinel armor.

“There doesn’t appear to be anything suspicious, no indication of a trap,” Anessa said.

“Unless you count this whole thing,” Adrian said cheerfully.

Anessa turned and glared down on him. “If you are so convinced that it is a trap, why are you even coming? Why did you tell me to accept?”

“Because as I said, we have no choice. The Empire needs to accept the talks because of our image, and you need to show other races that you are changing your ways and are willing to talk instead of just conquering and subduing anyone who isn’t Shara Daim,” Adrian said somberly.

Anessa grimaced without responding and took the last piece of the armor from Akash, who was holding it for her in his jaws, and put it on her right hand. With a thought, she triggered the armor and within moments it was fully deployed except for her head, which she left bare. Adrian did the same. Anessa walked over to the table, picked up the translator, and attached it to her temple. Then they walked out of the room and towards the Bloodbringer’s landing bay with the two wolions following behind them.

The shuttle—one that had been upgraded with skim drives—that would take them to the small island was already ready, and a squad of four Va Sun led by Do Sun Arisak and four of the Empire’s adepts, along with one of the Empire’s Sowir, were waiting in front of the shuttle. The Sowir had made some of her people uncomfortable, but in the end they didn’t complain much. Lurker of the Depths was there because Adrian wanted added security, as according to him the alien was the most powerful telepath in the Empire, and the one that had trained and taught Adrian everything he knew. And after witnessing Adrian’s fight a few months ago, she knew how powerful of a telepath he was.