Suddenly, from the back of Leo's thoroughly weakened mind, words came to him.
"Fuck you."
Exony acted as if she hadn't heard him. "Tell me, Leo, do you understand your gift? I know you don't. Otherwise, I wouldn't be standing here with you at my mercy. I know you want to, and I can help you, Leo. I can help you to understand... I can help you learn to control it. Together, we can unlock your true potential. Together we can do great good for humanity. I will guide you towards the path of heroism you so obviously seek!"
Exony walked closer to Leo, reached out with her left hand, and touched his cheek. He tried to recoil from the touch, but he couldn't. She spoke of his gift, but he would never allow her to control him...
Control him.
That's what the silver tendril was trying to do! It was messing with his mind, sapping his strength, making him pliable...
He needed to fight back! He couldn't give up! Not until she was dead!
Leo gritted his teeth. "S-so then, if you want to do great good for h-humanity, why are you planning on destroying it? It seems kind of d-dumb to me, Mother..."
Exony closed her eyes and put her arms behind her back. Then, Leo felt an odd sucking sensation at the nape of his neck. He strained his eyes to the left and caught sight of the female servant. She was no longer working within his his mind and was now moving toward Alice.
The silver worm was gone from his brain! The realization gave him a burst of energy, and the fog in his mind began to clear...
Exony opened her eyes and looked at Leo with light surprise. "You are stronger than I anticipated... No matter..."
"And you're weaker than you know..." Leo growled back.
Exony stared at him with a piercing gaze. "I once was weak, but no longer. I once was dumb, but no longer. I once made a mistake, and itis now my responsibility to repair the damage I have done. You see, technology, though it can be amazing and though it may forge great good in the lives of humans, can have unintended consequences and cause much greater harm than it is possible to foresee. In spite of this, the problems created by technology can only be counteracted with more technology. And thus, the cycle of unintended technological consequences continues."
"Ganymede?" Leo interrupted..
Exony smiled coyly. "Indeed, that was a mistake. However, even that atrocity proved useful, and it may have even provided me with the crucial knowledge to defeat a greater evil. I speak of something far worse..."
Leo watched in his peripheral vision as the female servant reached toward Alice. Then, the tendril came forth from her finger and pierced into Alice's neck. She stared down in horror at what was happening, but she could do nothing to stop it.
Leo was appalled at what Exony was doing to them, but there was nothing he could do. The hands that held him were unbreakable...
As he turned back to Exony, she continued. "I tried to warn the Council. I warned them about the aberrations time and time again, but they never took my warnings seriously. It was a scandal that they did not desire. It was a mistake that they could not acknowledge. There were many other, more important things for me to turn my attention to, they told me, time and time again. And so, I was forced to ignore the looming threat."
"What aberrations?" Leo demanded. "What are you talking about?"
Exony took a deep breath, and Leo saw regret blossom on her face. She looked up to the deep blue ceiling of the cavern before continuing.
"Through my work here, I have become relatively certain of the cause. The Universal Identification Act of the Year 2225 C.E. The Council unanimously approved it, and I was tasked with implementing the technology it mandated."
"Every human citizen was to be implanted with technology that would, for the first time, automatically imprint a technological signature on any offspring they might produce. It was a little implant installed in the reproductive organs that would install a critical identification chip on every spermatozoon, and every egg. It was the only way for us to enforce the childbirth quota. The earlier quotas had failed due to our inability to regulate humans outside the inner colonies. And so, as our penultimate effort to solve the overpopulation problem, we knew we had to try a different, more drastic approach."
"And let me guess. You fucked it up!" Leo blurted out.
Exony nodded. "Indeed... Over twenty years, we successfully implanted the technology within all humans, and overall, it was a success. We managed to lower the birthrate to sustainable levels thanks to the implants. But alas, as there always are, there were unintended consequences."
"It was ninety years later when I discovered the first aberrations on Titan. One of my operatives had informed of an experience they had had there with a few of the colonists. They told me of the bizarre behavior displayed by a segment of the population in a village called Carth. There had been a large number of missing persons reported, there. The Operative had been tasked with discovering their fate."
"The Operative discovered their fate, and that fate was to be eaten by the aberrations. In fact, the Operative himself was nearly eaten by those mutated, malformed people. He managed to escape, however, and tell me of his experiences. Humans hadn't displayed Cannibalistic behavior for hundreds of years, and so I thought it was worth my time to investigate the cause of this bizarre behavior."
"I traveled to Carth, and I watched and listened. Hidden in the shadows, I came to know this small tribe of strange, gifted individuals who partook in the compulsive consumption of human flesh. Initially, I believed them to be a religious cult, but after scanning them and analyzing their behavior, I realized they were much more than that."
Leo was growing impatient. He didn't understand why she was telling him the bizarre story. Was it all just a distraction?
"Can you get to the point, please?" Leo grunted.
Exony continued as if she hadn't heard him. "When I captured one of them and brought him back to my ship, I learned the horrible truth of what I had done. It was a mutation, and one that I now know was caused in part by the Universal Identification Act that I had helped implement. You see, the implants, when exposed to just the right mixture of radiation, would malfunction and cause interesting mutations in the offspring of those affected."
"Through years of further study and searching, I realized that the aberrations would pass on their mutations to their offspring. And, when two aberrations produced offspring together, the mutations would maximize."
"When the Council learned the results of my research, they thought the problem would be easily solved. They elected to use brute force. Thus, the aberrations were hunted out of existence, at least, the ones we could find... One of their mutations, unfortunately, is a powerful survival instinct, and one that can't be readily counteracted. The aberrations learned to hide their existence, and for a time, we believed them to be extinct."
Leo pondered Exony's story as she spoke. He sensed that what she was saying related to him, but it wasn't clear how...
He snuck a glance over to Alice. The female servant had moved behind her, and the silvery tendril was squirming into Alice's head. Exony was doing the same thing to Alice, that she had done to him.
"I discovered them again during the war of the New Republic," Exony continued. "This time, it was a much larger group than any we had discovered before. Unfortunately, the war took priority, and any resources I might have used to investigate them further were earmarked for wartime purposes."
"I had already grown tired of the Council's stupidity, even before that war, and so after the disaster of Ganymede, I knew I would have to escape the Council's pride if I was to understand and solve the problem of the aberrations. So, I left them to their own silly, pointless, egotistical devices and began my critical work here."
"After a year, I learned how the aberrations had managed to increase in number so drastically. One of them had discovered and implemented a process to contaminate healthy humans with their abhorrent mutations. With that ability, they had grown into thousands of small gangs and organizat
ions and had become incredibly skilled at avoiding detection."
"Though they lacked any centralized leadership that I could discover, they all seemed to work with one shared purpose, and that was to gain power and influence anywhere they could, all while leaving a trail of rape, torture, and brutal murder in their wake. The bodies of victims were difficult to discover because the aberrations devoured their victims as sustenance."
"Thrall..." Leo said abstractly, thinking back to his experiences with the psychopath on Osiris. Were he and those who followed him the aberrations Exony described?
"Yes," Exony answered. "You have encountered the aberrations yourself, and I believe they now want you in their captivity very badly. So you see, we have the same enemies, you and I. I would like nothing more than to see Thrall and all like him gone from the human realm forever. They are a pure manifestation of the true evil than humans are capable of becoming, and they must be dealt with."
Exony lowered her gaze from the ceiling and stared at Leo directly in his eyes. "And now, as you'll be happy to learn, we've reached the true answer to the only question that matters. What am I actually doing here?"
Leo stared back angrily as he waited for her answer.
"I'm engineering an antidote to the aberrations, and all other ills that plague our poorly led human race. Murder, rape, theft, violence, and manipulation for shallow personal gain - they are the symptoms of the poorly evolved human condition, and I must guide humanity into a new age. There will be no more unintended consequences when my work here is done. There will be no more pain, no more fear, no more aberrations, no more Ganymede incidents, and no more renegade Arcturans."
With a deep breath, Exony stopped speaking, closed her eyes, and looked upward.
Leo snuck a glance at Alice and saw the female servant extract her silver tendril from Alice's head. When she was finished, the servant walked out in front of Leo and marched toward the shimmering pool.
Then, she walked to its edge and stepped into it.
Chapter 42
The mindless servant that had stolen Leo and Alice's blood slowly slid beneath the surface of the shimmering pool.
Then, Leo was suddenly surprised by an ominous rumbling that shook the ground beneath him. He stared up at the ceiling as small particles of dust and rock fell from it onto the ground below.
Exony's eyes remained closed, and she seemed not to have noticed, but Leo felt a change in the grip of the hands that held him. They weakened slightly, and he was able to stretch far enough to get a clear view of Annabelle.
Annabelle was still held there, just as Leo and Alice were, and she still appeared to be unconscious.
"Annabelle?" Leo shouted over to her, but she just stood there, supported only by those that held her.
Leo strained against his captors' grip and felt for a moment like he might be able to break free, but as he gave a great heave and tried to twist violently, he felt the pressure from their hands increase, and he was held securely once again.
In front of him, Exony opened her eyes and looked at him confusedly. "Interesting... Perhaps there is too much? Very interesting, but no bother. It will flow forth, regardless..."
"I've had enough of this bullshit! Leo roared. "What have you done to Annabelle? I need to know that she's okay. Tell me what's wrong with her."
Exony frowned. "I told you already. Origin Council technology will not function here..."
Leo had dark conceptions of Exony's meaning. "Explain what you mean by that. How does that relate to Annabelle?"
Exony stared deep into his eyes. He was uncomfortable under her gaze, and he knew that she was discovering something about him through the look.
Exony sighed with clear disappointment. "Oh, Leo, my troubled son. You met a beautiful woman who is charming and kind, and who didn't treat you like a freak. You think you are in love with her, but you have no idea how wrong you are. Annabelle is neither who nor what you think she is."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Leo demanded, hellfire now in his eyes.
Exony nodded seriously. "Your beloved Annabelle is a tool of the Council, I'm afraid. She has been programmed to manipulate you into killing me. I would imagine she has been acting in accordance with that goal to a nearly illogical extent."
"Bullshit!" Leo roared in denial. Annabelle had nothing to do with the Council. Annabelle had never even been off of Osiris station up until several days before. How could Annabelle be a tool of the Council?
"I know Council technology better than anyone, and I recognized the implants within her the moment I first scanned her," Exony sadly revealed. "I can tell you with certainty that Annabelle has been implanted with behavior modification technology, similar to that which I developed myself years ago. She isn't completely to blame, however. This particular implant appears to have been installed without her permission, so it isn't her fault. I suggest you remember that once I remove it."
"You're insane!" Leo screamed. "Annabelle hasn't been implanted with anything. She hasn't been manipulating me."
"See for yourself," Exony stated as she turned and walked over to Annabelle.
With smooth and graceful movements, Exony placed her index finger on Annabelle's temple, just above her ear. Then, a silver tendril extended from Exony's finger and burrowed into Annabelle's head.
"Stop!" Leo demanded. "You're going to hurt her!"
"No, I'm going to save her," Exony replied. She then closed her eyes as her tendril did its work within Annabelle's skull.
Leo could do nothing but watch in terror as Exony's wormlike appendage dug into Annabelle. He felt a profound need to help her, and that spawned a pure sense of purpose to within him.
The roar of the Void began to rise in the back of his mind. It's divine symphony of obliteration called to him, but it was still too far away...
He tried to close his eyes, but he couldn't. They were glued on Annabelle. What was Exony doing to her? What was she doing within Annabelle's mind?
It took Exony thirty agonizing seconds to complete her work in Annabelle's brain. The Void retreated when Exony's silvery tendril left Annabelle's skull as it gripped something small and white. The tendril dropped the small object into Exony's open hand. Then, she turned and walked over to Leo.
With a sad, knowing smile on her face, Exony reached out and held the object out for Leo to inspect. It was a tiny white rectangle, maybe ten millimeters wide, and spattered with Annabelle's blood.
"Leo, this is an artificial intelligence cognitive implant interface," Exony revealed. "It's similar to one that would be installed on any typical Council operative. However, this one has been the subject of some disturbing modifications. For one, the consent pathway is non-existent. Typically, an A.I. interface like this would require coded assent from the bearer to allow the A.I. linked to it to control any cognitive functions. This one is missing that feature, however, and would allow an A.I. to control the bearer's cognitive functions without any knowledge or consent."
Leo became terrified and disturbed as he stared at the little white rectangle. Was Exony telling the truth, or was it a theatrical attempt to manipulate him? He racked his mind, trying to think of how Annabelle might have had such a device installed within her.
The answer came to him surprisingly quickly. It could have been Idi.
Idi had had Annabelle at her mercy during the acid treatment. She could have installed the implant during that treatment, but that would mean... Alice could have have ordered Idi to do it...
Leo looked over at Alice and saw her staring back at him. There was fear and confusion in her eyes, but her mouth was still covered and she couldn't speak. Leo glared back at her, trying to decipher the meaning in her look. If what Exony said was true, and Alice was behind it, there would be hell to pay...
As Leo stewed over what Exony had shown him, his dark thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Annabelle's tired voice.
"Mmmm, what? Leo? Where am I? What's happening?"
Leo's heart pange
d when he heard her voice, and his eyes instantly flashed over to her. She stared ahead blankly, but fear and confusion were evident in her tense jaw and tightly closed mouth.
"It's okay, Annabelle!" Leo yelled over to her. "Everything is going to be okay!"
"Leo?" Annabelle fearfully replied. "Leo, where are we? I can't see anything... I CAN'T SEE!"
"I've humored you enough," Exony stated as she closed her eyes and looked upwards. "I have work to do."
Leo kept his eyes on Annabelle, and his anger grew as one of the servants placed his hand tightly over her mouth. Leo's anger grew into a rage as he felt another hand reach around his neck and cover his mouth. He tried to bite the hand, but it nimbly dodged his gnashing attempt and was easily able to hold his jaws securely shut.
Leo was forced to watch in silence as Exony opened her eyes, then turned and walked over to the console next to the shimmering pool. Her fingers began to flash across it in a blur as she spoke to herself absentmindedly.
"Yes... Yes... Close to what I expected. Oh, and what's this? Interesting. Very interesting, indeed..."
She stood like that for nearly a minute, fingers tapping frenetically and speaking quietly to herself. Then, her hands suddenly ceased moving, and she spoke more loudly.
"This may seem odd to all of you, but I think, in the end, you will be proud of your contributions to this great work. Ultimately the scale of what my great machines will achieve is limited only by the scope of humanity that they can fully embrace. I was right in hypothesizing that two more unique specimens would greatly increase the capabilities of this strain."
Leo was confused. Why was she telling them so much? What did she mean?
"It's all in the blood, and to a smaller extent, the grey matter. Everything that we are, everything that we do, it's all code, and it can be manipulated if you can find a way in. The key is finding the right pathways. I've learned through experimentation that the nervous system and brain are only two of many elements that must be affected. There are many other important systems; the limbic, the digestive... The more systems affected at once, the greater the subjects chances to accept the agent..."
The Ganymede Legacy Page 36