by A. K. DuBoff
“But this is about a whole consciousness, right? Not just telepathy,” Leon said.
Jack extended his hand in the air, palm open. “What is consciousness?”
Leon scowled at him. “You’re not helping.”
“Settle down, boys,” Tess interjected from her cluttered workstation on the opposite wall. “There are a lot of unknowns here. We need to be systematic.”
“Griping about the monumental task is all part of the process.” Leon smirked.
“Yeah, yeah.” She chuckled and crossed her arms. “But seriously, what gives? I’d expect there to be all sorts of weirdness going on inside him.”
Jack let out a long breath. “It’s not that surprising. After all, it went unnoticed for three years.”
“He was altering his own medical records,” Leon pointed out. “The changes were subtle, but there was a definite shift in neurochemistry.”
“True,” Tess conceded, “but beyond that, who’s to say that there needs to be anything physically different to enable control? Kira’s just like the rest of us, right?”
Leon nodded. “That’s true. They’ve never found a medical reason for Valtan telepaths to—”
“Actually, that’s not quite true,” Kira cut him off. “I didn’t want to bias your assessment before, but Jared revealed something about telepathic abilities back at the MTech lab.”
“And you’ve been sitting on that information?” Leon questioned with a raised eyebrow.
“It may be nothing, so I wanted to see if you had other leads.” Kira leaned her arms on the high table in the center of the room. “MTech was using some sort of new imaging technique—maybe something from that recent Aesir technology disclosure. He and Monica had found a part of my brain that seemed to resonate with the telepathic output or something.”
Leon perked up. “Do you remember where that was?”
“More or less.” Kira approached his workstation and examined the monitor. “Here, I think.” She traced her finger between the left inferior frontal gyrus and the supramarginal gyrus.
“That’s right in the speech and sensory centers,” Leon assessed. “It’d make sense.”
“Huh. Well look at that,” Tess said. “I can’t believe we all missed that.” She pointed to a slight dark spot in Kaen’s neural scan, which branched between the two areas Kira had identified. The line was no more than a hair’s width, and they’d dismissed it as a defect in the scan.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Kira confirmed. “It was most distinct in Jared’s scan, probably thanks to their imaging tech.”
“Could that tiny structure really be responsible for such complete telepathic control?” Leon mused aloud.
“Well, there’s nothing else out of the ordinary here,” Jack replied. “If that’s the only thing different, then it must mean something.”
“Hmm.” Leon’s eyes met Kira’s. “Maybe it’s time we talk with Jared.”
She nodded. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
“How soon can that be set up?” he asked her.
“Probably right away. I think Sandren has been looking for a verbal punching bag.”
“Do you think I could sit in and try to get his input on this analysis?” questioned Leon.
“I’ll ask,” Kira replied and slipped from the room.
Jack watched her go. “She seems to be taking everything in stride.”
“She’s always had a knack for that.” I’d be losing it if I had an unknown alien presence inside of me. Leon sighed. And here I am one of the few people who could maybe help her, and I have no idea where to start.
Regardless of how helpless he felt at present, he had a job to do. Kira and Kaen were both counting on him to find a solution.
“All right,” Leon said to his team, turning back to the business at hand. “That neural connection is a physical thing. What’s it made out of?”
“The closest substance in our database is ateron, but it’s not that. The density analysis looks suspiciously like the nanite sample Kira brought back from MTech, but we’d need to take a sample to be sure,” Tess said.
“Except that Jared saw a neural structure in her scan before she was infected with the Robus nanites,” Leon countered.
“And nanites usually don’t clump together like this,” Tess pointed out.
Leon nodded. “Everything on Valta and in MTech’s research deviates from what we’ve seen elsewhere.” He looked at his team. “What if the Valtan telepaths were made?”
Tess placed her hand on her chin in an exaggerated thinking pose. “How could we have missed nanites in the Valtan population?”
“Yeah, that would come up in medical exams, right?” Jack added.
“It’s possible that records have been doctored over the years—Kaen certainly managed that within the Guard.” Leon shifted in his chair. “I mean, it’s too big of a coincidence that Kira would have something identical to Kaen. All of this tech originated in the same system.”
“Holy shite,” Tess whispered.
Jack’s eyes bugged out. “Is that possible? That the telepaths on Valta are all controlled by the same aliens?”
Leon groaned. “No! That’s not what I’m suggesting at all. I’m wondering if maybe the aliens are from Valta or inhabited it at some point. Maybe they left something behind on the planet that affects certain people.”
“Right, yeah.” Tess flushed slightly.
“But Kaen isn’t Valtan,” Jack interjected. “How would he have been exposed?”
“I don’t know,” Leon admitted. “But if we’re right about this neural structure being made out of nanites, we can develop a test to see who might be under telepathic influence.”
Tess stared at him solemnly. “But if that structure is some kind of receiver, doesn’t that mean Kira is susceptible to control herself? And you?”
Leon hadn’t wanted to consider that possibility, but he couldn’t ignore the potential. “We can’t rule anything out. But we do know that Kira has faced off against the alien presence and not been subverted. Maybe being a telepath herself changes the dynamic. As for me… I’m Valtan, but I’m definitely not telepathic, as Kira would be quick to tell you. So, I don’t know. I’ll need to be tested like anyone else.”
Jack nodded. “Okay, one step at a time. First, we’re looking for evidence of these neural structures in people who aren’t Valtan. Should be easy to cross-reference with old medical exams.”
A message popped up on Leon’s workstation. It was from Kira: >>Sandren agrees we should interview Jared and see what he knows. We could use your expertise to ask the right questions about the neuroscience.<<
>>I’m in,<< Leon wrote back. >>Where should I meet you?<<
Kira sent a map to him, detailing the destination and an optimized route.
Leon looked up at his team. “We got the go ahead to talk with Jared. Can you two try to work out an automated way to check for that telepathic structure?”
“Sure,” Tess agreed, “but we really need to give it a name.”
Jack nodded. “We do. I already can’t stand ‘the structure’ as a nickname, and I’ve only been using it for five minutes.”
“What about ‘telepathic receptor’, or TR for short?” Leon suggested.
Tess and Jack looked at each other and shrugged.
“Works for me,” Tess said.
Leon smiled. “It’s got a name, so now you can define it.”
— — —
Kira glared at Jared across the interview table. He was being entirely too calm for the situation. He should be afraid right now. What happened to the twitchy man from Valta?
Behind her, Sandren shifted as he leaned against the wall next to Leon. “You may as well talk, Jared,” the major urged. “You know what Kira can do to you.”
“Do your worst,” the scientist replied.
Kira could sense Leon’s concern. Even though they’d grown up together, he had never witnessed the darker side of her abilities up close. Part of
her didn’t want him to see that side of her, but if they had any chance at a future together, she needed to bare her full self—whatever that self was now.
Ignoring those around her, Kira spread her hands on the tabletop and stared into Jared’s eyes. “Tell me what you know about the Valtans’ telepathic abilities.”
“There’s not much to tell,” he replied.
“We saw an artificial neural bridge between the left inferior frontal gyrus and the supramarginal gyrus,” Leon interjected. “What do you know about the expression of telepathic abilities in that region?”
“We saw it in a number of Valtan creatures but never on other worlds,” Jared explained.
Kira glared at him. “Is that how the aliens were controlling Monica?”
The scientist laughed. “Monica? She was never under telepathic control.”
“So, she was a willing participant?” Kira prompted.
“Most of us were. It was important work. We were the ones willing to do what no one else would.”
Kira shook her head. “That kind of thinking has always led Tarans down a dark path. You’re just as bad as the Priesthood was.”
Sandren stepped forward. “Some collaborators were willing participants, but these aliens have taken over others against their will. Who are they? What are they after?”
Jared stiffened in his chair. “I only know about our work.”
“You’re not telling us everything.” Kira stared into his eyes.
“I’ve said all I care to share.”
“You know I don’t need your permission,” she cautioned.
He glared back at her.
“Suit yourself.” Kira bored inside, peeling back the layers of his consciousness that so thinly veiled his inner mind.
The information she sought was there for the taking, if she could locate it. A lifetime of memories and knowledge spread out before her. Random connections led to tangents of the mind, with the timeline of experience having no bearing on how the history was organized. She would have to dig, and the more Jared resisted, the more it would hurt him.
He cried out in pain as she began the process. She was vaguely aware of Sandren’s and Leon’s discomfort in the distance, but that wasn’t her concern. This was her job, and she was good at it.
Minutes passed as Kira dug through the disjointed archive of Jared’s experience, seeking the time when he was at MTech’s lab on Valta. He had to have seen something, talking about something with Monica, which would offer insight into their present predicament.
In time, she found an impression of Valta and traced the thread back to a bundle of memories. Flashes of Monica came to the surface, of working with her in the MTech lab and committing their atrocious experiments on innocent people. Jared had been a willing participant in it all.
“Jared didn’t come to Valta until later,” Kira said aloud to the observers. “I don’t think he arrived much before me.”
“He seemed to know an awful lot for being a latecomer,” Leon said.
“Yes, he was definitely involved in some way before,” Kira agreed. “I’ll have to do some more digging to find out where.”
She returned to her prodding, searching for another thread that would lead her to earlier in Jared’s career, when he had first been corrupted. He had been a willing participant with the aliens—she could feel it. When she’d probed Kaen’s mind earlier, she felt the strife of his situation. Here, though, Jared was all-in.
He had handed himself over to control years ago, even if he wasn’t an active host. She should have sensed that when she controlled him briefly while back on Valta, but it wasn’t something she had been looking for. Now, though, understanding the context, she was struck with a pang of pity for how misguided he’d been.
Kira tugged on the various threads leading from Jared’s time on Valta, searching for the one that would yield the answers she sought. Eventually, one caught her attention: a connection straight to MTech’s headquarters on Mysar.
She separated her mind from his just enough to relay the information to the observers. “He worked for MTech at their headquarters. Someone in the senior leadership brought him in—a man. They told Jared he had a special part to play.”
Kira watched the memories play in her mind’s eye as she lived through Jared’s eyes. His recollection was hazy, and she struggled to make sense of the images and feelings passing through her.
“A man gave him an injection,” she continued. “Jared couldn’t see it, but he felt it. That must be how they transfer the nanites.”
“Like when Monica stuck you with that syringe?” Leon asked from behind.
Kira relived the memory again. “I think so. The strange man handled it like a precious commodity. I don’t get the impression that it’s something they give to just anyone.”
“That limits the number of potential hosts,” Sandren assessed. “Good for us.”
“Yes,” Kira concurred, “but this also means we have a bigger issue on our hands. Monica didn’t just go rogue on Valta—MTech’s leadership is involved.”
“I wonder…” Leon mused. “I saw a man with the Mysaran chancellor on Valta. What are the chances it’s the same man you just saw in this memory?”
Kira shook her head without breaking eye contact with Jared. “Pretty high, and I bet you he’s an MTech exec.”
Sandren groaned. “So, MTech and the Mysaran government are both compromised. What a foking mess.”
“Fortunately, the Guard just happens to specialize in fixing that sort of situation,” Kira said with a slight smile.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” the major cautioned. “We know how they get the nanites in, but how do we get them out?”
Kira combed through more memories, seeking any indication of a weakness. “Tell me,” she demanded of Jared, echoing the thought throughout his mind.
“They’re always so hungry,” he replied at last. “They feed on the darkness within us.”
She almost dismissed the thought at first, thinking it too ridiculous, but she sensed truth in his statement. They thrive on suffering, she realized. No wonder Monica had made such a perfect ally.
“Then how do you drive them out?” Kira pressed.
“You must starve them,” he replied. “Change the neural chemistry. So long as there is stress and loneliness, they can survive. In a serene mind, they can be driven out.”
Something stirred underneath Jared’s consciousness, just out of reach. It snarled at Jared as he revealed the secrets that were never supposed to be shared.
Kira’s heart jumped into her throat as she felt Nox’s presence. “Shite, it’s here!”
“What?” Sandren demanded.
“Nox,” Kira explained. “I can feel it.”
“How did it get out of Kaen?” Sandren questioned.
Kira began to connect the pieces in her head. “If it never was physically in Kaen, it can jump bodies… but maybe only to an extent.”
“My team is developing a test for the neural markers that indicate the telepathic receptor—or TR, as we’ve dubbed it for now,” Leon cut in. “Jared will make the perfect test case.”
Sandren took a step toward the door. “Then there’s no time to waste. Let’s get him to your lab.”
“I suggest we bring Kaen, too, sir,” Kira said. “If we started to drive Nox out, it may start jumping between potential hosts.”
“What if there are other hosts?” Sandren asked.
“It’s unlikely there are others in this base,” Kira countered. “If I were an alien looking to gain leverage, Jared—a captive—is the last person I’d jump into. When it left Kaen, I’d wager it only went to Jared because it had no better option. Its ability to take control has to have something to do with that TR Leon’s team identified.”
The major nodded. “I’ll agree with that logic.”
“And this is going to sound weird, but the key to beating these guys is to be… happy,” Kira said tentatively.
Sandren e
yed her. “Please explain, Captain.”
“The nanite structure that they build requires a certain neural chemistry to remain intact. It’s the kind of chemical cocktail that comes from emotions on the negative side of the spectrum. If you’re happy, the chemistry shifts.” She glanced at Leon. “This would explain why they could never get ahold of me. Despite all the craziness going on, I have the new—or, renewed—relationship bliss thing going on.”
“Then why do you still have telepathic abilities?” Sandren asked.
“Well, just because this TR appears in the same place, that doesn’t mean the mode of creation is the same,” Leon replied. “There’s still some mysterious ‘X factor’ with Valta. Whatever alien nanotech is in Kaen and Jared right now likely isn’t identical to what enables abilities in Valta’s Readers.”
“Yeah, no one is going around sticking mopey Valtan kids with syringes full of nanites, I’m sure of that,” Kira added. “Whatever causes those abilities is a more natural means.” She looked over at Jared. “He doesn’t know, but Nox does.”
“I don’t think our alien friend is in a sharing mood,” Sandren said.
Kira stared into Jared’s eyes. “What do your people want with me, Nox? What makes Valtans so special?”
The alien didn’t reply.
“Tell me, Nox!” Kira demanded. “Are you from Valta?”
The alien resisted, but she cut into the entity’s mind until she found the answer she sought. There were more of the beings, but not in a sense of life Kira understood.
She felt the alien’s memories—shared across the consciousness of many. They had been one with the network of life on Valta long ago. It had allowed them to expand their consciousness in a way they’d never dreamed. But the process left something behind. Even after they left Valta, their remnants remained, and those had changed the people on Valta. Those remnants were the source of Kira’s telepathic gifts.
Her heart caught in her throat. “Where did you go? Back home?” She was desperate to know more, to understand how she came to be.
Nox ignored her pleas, but her determination drove her deeper into its mind. Eventually, she saw an image of a vast, empty space.