“While my mind makes me about nine thousand and I surpass all current medical knowledge and genetics. With my own body I can cure the illnesses of a thousand humans at a time and can kill them with poisons that take only two adrenaline fueled heartbeats.” Renee said calmly confident.
“How is that possible?” the Empress this time asked, a slight tint of fear lacing her voice.
“With this deceiving bracelet.” She showed off. “This is a woman’s Multi-tool version though it’s true name is a Valek. To know it is to know my mother. Isabelle Dorgen modified an ovum using the Geo Record as a template to make it into a Solarian after being infected by the blood of a Defiler. Like me, she was a geneticist and survived long enough to carry me to full term. I am a human born Solarian, but to protect me my father, the pirate king, spliced a gene suppressant that made it possible for me to pass as a human. It kept my bones, ligaments and brain from its true potential. After being rid of the splicing, my Valek recognized my genetics and began hollowing my bones where I store deadly concentrations of hormones and poisons. My bones are ten times denser than a natural human’s and risks that my bones may break aren’t an issue due to my own biology. With it and nanites, even if my bones are breached, I have no risk of death by what I carry.”
“I’m glad you bring this up.” A scientist said and sat a box atop the table and removed the lid to reveal laboratory mice. Nine of them in acrylic clear blocks with air holes. “Five of these mice hold incurable diseases that have been designed to kill them in the next two hours. Can you identify and cure…”
From four meters away Renee raised an arm and nine hair thin needles pierced the clear acrylic wall, took a sample and withdrew. She closed her smoking eyes for a few moments and said “Sneaky bastard. Six have deadly diseases and one has a tracer that you could use to know where I’m at on any planet linked to the terran network.” The man paled and gulped. “You boys certainly are trying to see how good I am. Three of the fuzzy critters have a genetic deficiency that will break down their cells. Nasty. The others have diseases more virulent than is naturally occurring. If you hadn’t tinkered with the strains you would have killed near everyone in this room. Only Olly, his Pride, my daughter and I would walk out of here. Well my little girl can’t walk yet, but you get my point.” Eyes watched as the bracelet vanished under the skin and came back in a minute to spear the mice. “All done!” she said cheerfully. “No more disease and just so you know, I also broke down the radioactive tracer you tried to slip in me.” She winked, but Nova growled low and deep. All of them did.
It was because Oliver was mad and he finally looked up. “Mason, leave right now before I kick you out.”
“Agreed. I specifically forbade any underhanded tests that will anger them.” The Emperor sounded calm, but his flinty eyes told otherwise.
“But they need to be studied!”
Emperor Coleson held up a hand to his elite detail and said “They aren’t your lab rats, Mason. They are not human and are more powerful than our Beyleez ambassador if I’m correct.” Netul inclined his head. “If I didn’t know you meant no harm and merely wished to study them for their own safety as purely an intellectual basis you would undergo retraining. They are our hosts and he could likely have killed you. I’m a gifted telepath so I know he read you and is letting you off with a warning. Do not test him.” When he looked back at the rest of his scientists he added “If any of you have done similarly as Mason for the tests I ordered, you may also leave.”
A woman went to excuse herself, flushed cheeks telling she was embarrassed, but was being honest about it. Sparky hissed as the man was escorted out. “Not you, Siblia. You were intending to request it, not deceive like that man. Sit.”
“What request?” Oliver asked, not intruding on others as is courtesy.
“Spit it out.” Renee added when the woman went still. The Hunters all lazily smirked at the table, enjoying the show.
“I was hoping to… to ask… if you would.”
“Stars!” Renee threw her wrist out and shot out a solution that had an instant effect on the nervous woman.
“What did you just do?” The woman’s trembling stilled.
“Gave you an adrenaline suppressant and released a mild endorphin into your bloodstream so you would calm down and be understood. I’m still a Medic… only more.” Came the wolfish grin. “Now what do you want that makes Sparky stand up for you?”
Siblia swallowed and sat, oddly at ease and lifted a case on the table to open it and set out two vials. “In these are synthesized microbes that give a pheromone signature that can be picked up by a specific magnetic frequency so you could be found in event of an emergency. You are truly an endangered species and your loss will be too great to ignore as the Creelin seem to believe by letting you free to be in great danger… no offense of course.”
“None taken.” Netul said. “If you understood them as my people do you would not fear their well being. You cannot gauge their abilities because you are a young species. We fear not for them, but we keep a constant visual on them at all times because we too know accidents cause more deaths than battle. Know that in event they are in danger they cannot defend against, we plan to bring them to a healing center immediately. So long as we can save the head, we can repair their body. Not as fast or as well as Renee can, but certainly danger to them is also a concern.”
“We didn’t know you could do that. Sorry.” She said.
“Sorry, but microbes will be killed in our bodies.” Renee said before one vial flew across the table and into her hand. She unscrewed the lid and downed it. “Scan until you can’t see me anymore.”
The scientist lifted a crystal tablet, activated it and used a means to detect the pheromones and her readings were baffling. In just twelve seconds “You’re clean already… the resonance inside you is gone. Did you do something with your Multi-tool?”
“Nada. It’s my natural immune system. Anything foreign is destroyed instantly. I doubt even Keptl blood could infest me at this point.”
“Is that true?”
Someone asked the shocked room, needing a second opinion from Netul. “Average Solarians would succumb, but no, not them unless in vast quantities or their immunities are fighting something off. A Defilier could spew their vile blood on them and they could resist.”
“Then we need to find a way to synthesize that immunity for…” Johnny the Medic began.
“Unless you want to die, go right ahead. The Solarian gene therapy I invented for humans is part of the enhanced immune system. If you don’t have the MAOA gene you can’t get it. It negates Beast brain poison and boosts the immune system. You can try disproving me, but you won’t get anywhere. I ran every variable and even got permission to access the Creelin database recently specifically on genetics to circumvent human limitations and make you like us, but it is impossible. Human evolution is different than Solarian. Though they made it possible for us all to be here today, you guys have as much in common as Drakes compared to us. I may sound like a bitch, but I’m not going to sit here and give you hope where there isn’t any.”
“You could be a little more socially proper.” Jessica said a second later. To the rest of the table she said “Forgive my niece, as a child she liked to harass other children than listen to me about manners.” Renee grumbled.
Talon though put her sword away and said “I rather like her. If she’d swear the Hunter’s oath she’d be just like any Huntress.”
“Sorry, Blondie, I like money. My credits on the cures I made are being spent to make the city of Fire ours. Olly already plans to make it into an interstellar flying city and make it a battleship like a Creelin Mothership. I and Papa are going to need resources to make it a reality. Especially since I’m going to be having enough daughters to make sure if we do croak, our line won’t die off.”
“What about a son? Can you dictate gender of your offspring?” Elder Javelin asked, leaning her head to the side.
“Can’t have
a son. Olly’s sperm was made sure he could only give daughters. Apparently Mantiv and Reten had a son once and the moment he hit puberty he went nuclear. Daughters are safe. Sorry, Elder, no son to sew his seed in every willing female, but on that note humans are a close enough match to my daughter that they can have children. Be warned, they’ll all be as strong or nearly as strong as me.”
“Just how strong are you?”
“You all know Archiver Tammat from the holovids splitting a red giant in half?” heads around the table nodded as it was part of all childhood education. “I could defeat him and not break a sweat and Olly can smother my own power.” She grinned more at all the pale faces. Only the Hunters didn’t do much more than chuckle. “Papa is the strongest Class Twelve in all of humanity, and is getting stronger thanks to me, but to us he can’t even be considered a Class One to us.”
“It is not a boast, but a fact. But do not let your fear dictate your future actions. Neither have the will to be destroyers. They are creators and healers.”
“But what of their children? The security risk is a great matter.” Emperor Coleson had to play the opposing field. “The danger is too grave if they are among humans. Earlier I was warned Oliver Void would kill me and be unable to stop himself for his newborn babe resting above us. If I were an assassin and tried to kill Isabella and managed, Oliver would kill me and in his rage would destroy an entire planet. Or can you guarantee it he would be satisfied with me?”
“No, but we would not let you get that close to the youngling for that very reason. We would remove all assassins because the danger is greater. Mantive’s four hundred and thirteenth daughter was slain, but he vaporize a whole solar system, killing four trillion sentient lives till Reten managed to bring him out from the bloodlust.”
“Four trillion?” Oliver had a look of horror on his face. “Why? Why didn’t you tell me, Netul!” his fist cracked the table.
“Because you are not him and that was not the worst thing he ever did by accident. He lived for a long time and did both good and ill. Your crimes are not his. I was granted this one allowance for Emperor Coleson to have perspective on what would happen if he tries anything against you.” Netul turned his head down the table. “As for the offspring of their union, Renee’s decision is to bare only enough daughters to the species doesn’t end with them. No more than a thousand true daughters be alive at any given time. That much we can easily handle despite individual power. Renee and Oliver have demonstrated allegiance to both our ways and yours. Their children will likely do the same and will know the penalty if they use their abilities for illegal gain. We would detain them and your retraining methods are similar to Solarian. I will not say there is no danger. Just like your own vessel in orbit, depending how it is used is always in question. Attack or defend. Either way, we will always be observing them for their own safety and yours.”
“Glad to hear it. Reassurance is all I need. Amanda Lockwell be sure that is part of the airing, in context. It will deter anyone from acting recklessly.” The reporter could only nod.
“Four trillion lives.” Oliver took the news hard.
Privately Netul spoke with the Emperor and Empress. “Do you see how hard the knowledge hit him? Because of Renee he is influenced by her own need to save lives. This is why you know of him at all. We would have taken him if he were dangerous and conditioned him in the ways of honor and justice.”
“It is good. It will let the common folk find he has empathy to temper the use to use power for selfish purposes.” The Empress said. Her husband keeping his thoughts silently private.
“Enough with the dark turn.” The leader of all humanity declared. “The tests will wait till later. But I’m curious to know what you are assembling on the table.”
“Oh, this?” He pointed to the gradually growing ball. “It’s the teleport disrupter.”
“So small. I can play golf with it.”
“It doesn’t need to be larger.”
Renee noted his confusion. “Idiot, he’s trying to lighten the mood. It does resemble the old tradition of golf though.”
“Guilty.” The man at the other end of the rectangular table raised his arms. “How does it work?”
“Creates a broad spectrum electrical field that keeps all openings of hyperspace at a single frequency from happening with a calculated distance of sixteen million kilometers. And when it is finished and shuts down it’ll self-destruct.” He looked down and went back to putting the tiny parts together.
“Why?”
“It is an advanced technology I cannot allow into your hands or anyone’s. If someone figured it out there is a possibility in that someone could trap a person in hyperspace, which is deadly if the individual stays in it for more than a single second. That higher level of reality shreds all particles except in the very instant. You can open a hole to go through, but have no exit. Since you want President Chandler’s technology I need to make sure this doesn’t also become a weapon. The danger of this item is too great a risk. And it’ll take two more days to assemble and test it. Don’t ask how. If it works I’ll need to make another because they are single use and will explode apart. So if you try to capture it in space, these tiny pieces will scatter in all directions. Neither you or anyone else will be able to reassemble it.”
“Paranoid much, Brother?” Vanishing Claw rolled a shoulder.
“I do what I must to save lives. Even from yourselves.”
“Point taken.”
“So what’s next people?” Renee asked as the knowledge seeped in and to keep arguments at a minimum, but that is exactly what the Emperor did, but telepathically made sure he personally didn’t like it. He liked being the good guy so much more.
“And who are you to decide what we can know and what not? Humanity isn’t going to get so overwhelmed that we’ll implode. If you know our history as I believe you do, we are survivors. When something bad happens we learn from our forefathers mistakes and our own if we live long enough. Since entering the Age of Logic, threats of religion and government segregation have been nigh an issue. We believe in technology and one another. Sure there are issues, but you are still just one man. If you gave us your technology and we discovered how to use it I would personally promise its use to be used for its intended beneficial purpose. Given to trustworthy people with a known track record of course.” Coleson inclined his shaven head as a sign of sympathy. “Many believe the Creelin are unfairly hindering us by not teaching like a parent would to a young child. Ours is a curious race and we make it known we stumble and scrape our knees and elbows. We make mistakes, but like a child we’ll grow and become stronger because of those mistakes. If we do not learn, we stagnate and stagnation leads to festering rot. Like the mercs that took your lovely mate and you alone killed millions of the most despicable bastards plaguing our society that all would have hung if our Marines had caught them. Some we did thanks to the king’s fleet I’ve been told. You’ve been open to me, or should I say Pirate King Dorgen has been. He and I go way back when he uncovered the Geo Record’s secrets. Mr. Void, won’t you teach us?”
Oliver was still working as he said “You made a good point about scraping elbows and knees.” Netul held his breath. “You did it on your own, but your parent’s spanked your ass when you did something bad as all parents do. I’ve done done that when my woman was kidnapped and repeatedly raped. I crushed cruisers, fighters and battleships like you would swat a fly and vaporized their stronghold as easily as I breathe. I spanked a metaphorical child harshly, but I still killed millions. Many of who never knew better. Quite a few were raised believing bad is good. I Read them and they didn’t know any other way of life. That is on me that I didn’t give them a chance.” He carefully used the Valek like a tiny pincer. Telekinetically he could have assembled it in a second or two, but he was enjoying the act of taking his time. “And like children, you do not give them the Psionic chromosome as a toddler. You’ve seen how badly their tantrums backlash on them.
&n
bsp; “Right now though you are learning, not stagnating. People will throw tantrums like a child because they aren’t getting their way. It’s why the Creelin aren’t more than friends. They aren’t allies. They are watchers. If you seriously fuck up, they won’t intervene. I might, but you cannot count on it because I am just a single person. I’m not a super hero in your movies, though I do enjoy them as a novel distraction.” He looked up to smile then went back to work. “But you haven’t asked yourself one important thing about me yet.”
The silent table waited as the Emperor took several breaths and interlaced his fingers atop the table. “Please enlighten us on this question.”
Oliver stopped working, sat up straight and locked amber eyes on midnight black. “You’ve yet to ask how I feel about being absolutely alone knowing all of my people are gone. They stripped me of my memory and left me alone indefinitely with no way to recover. The Creelin knew where I was as soon as they saw the Geo Record, but decided to leave me buried likely to the end of time. I know my people fought an enemy and I was their greatest general and my younger brother was the Galactic King of thousands of whole galaxies. They all vanished along with this enemy… but I asked myself always if whatever made them disappear was my doing. Was it a creation of mine that went awry and left me alone and buried for twenty five thousand years? Was I evil and my brother gave me a second chance by making me completely blank. If I didn’t have Renee, no one can think at my level. I’m in constant agony because I don’t know what the fuck happened and they aren’t making it any easier and I know they know, but rather than crack open their mental defenses I’m humoring them.” Netul breathed. Renee reached under the table and ran a hand over his jeaned thigh. “There are some who have forms of amnesia, but mine was total. They can associate with me. It is frustrating, but they have others to help them. I’m alone in my search, though I have help.
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