“Let’s try another thought. The creature called the Devourer? Could it cause the attacks and also be the source of terror in these individuals?”
“In that regard, yes. The Devourer is a uniquely terrifying life form for any sentient species that can understand it. Why merely being in the room with one of the parasites loose would inspire fear in most species if they knew it was there.”
Now we are getting somewhere. Ormond shot a glance at Connor, who didn’t seem to like that idea.
“But only if the Devourer were not being governed by its hive mind. Or working on the instructions of its hive mind to perform such an attack.”
“Say what?”
* *
“You believe that the attackers are some kind of pirates, then?” Meriam asked Shandra.
Lekiso didn’t think the Wirurgeon woman would have more information. By now, she was sure that she probably knew as much as many of the refugees.
Which really wasn’t a lot.
She let Meriam continue the conversation for a while as they discussed the fate of those attacking the galactic citizenship when Manor Vax got involved.
The Domums had established a strong reputation for upholding law and order, and it seemed that their space navy was fundamentally the most well-armed force around. But even then, something didn’t sit right to Lekiso. Her experience told her that there was something more than pirates going on. She had some experience at guerilla warfare and the depredations of pirate activity from her time in Africa.
Her training in the military also opened up a lot of other options for her, not that she expected the civilians like this Wirurgeon family to explore the possibility of an organized armed force out there. The galactic citizenship had ensured peace for so long now that massive armed conflict was a far-gone idea to anyone.
Perhaps even the Domums of Manor Vax.
But there were other options.
Lekiso interrupted at an appropriate pause while Meriam and Shandra both drank some tea to ask the most obvious question on her mind: “Shandra, what do you know of the Devourer?”
The Wirurgeon responded with a loud hiss. Both her children shrank back, and her husband spat onto the deck plating.
“Foul creatures. The Devourer is as evil as it is ancient. The species that found them are all dead and gone, extinct, as is their due for awakening such a devious and malicious entity upon the galaxy.”
She put her teacup down on the table and put both hands flat on either side of it.
“Why do you ask? Do you think these attacks have something to do with the vile parasite organism?”
Taken aback by the reaction, Lekiso looked to see if Meriam knew of the politest way to respond. Marc had frozen and was standing still.
After looking back and forth between Lekiso and Shandra, Meriam replied, “We don’t know that much about it. We were attacked by one earlier and only afterward heard its name.”
The Wirurgeons all crept back from the humans when Meriam said this. The male moved back to put his arm protectively around his children while Shandra made ready to rise, her eyes slit in suspicion and anger.
“You have been touched by this creature? It attacked you, and you have informed no one?
“What? No, no, please. We were there when it attacked a corpse. We were not injured or touched by the creature.” Meriam half rose, her hands held forwards towards the family to calm them.
“The Domum security of Manor Vax incinerated the creature before it could do us any harm.”
“Which one of the creatures did you see?” Shandra asked, glaring back but not moving further away.
“Which one? We didn’t know there was more than one,” Lekiso answered for Meriam, who looked as puzzled as Marc did.
“Yes. Can you show me?”
“Marc?”
“Uh, sure. Hang on a second.” Marc fiddled at his bracer for a moment, and then an image appeared above the table between the humans and the Wirurgeons: the Devourer centipede creature hovering horizontally and rotating slowly.
The two children squealed at the sudden projection while Shandra looked closely at it.
She pointed at the two ends that looked like starfish and asked, “Did either of these two make contact with any of you? Were you touched at all, even the slightest brush of skin or faintest scratch?”
“No, not at all. We never even got close to it,” Meriam replied carefully, sitting down slowly as the Wirurgeon family relaxed.
“Good, that is good.” Shandra settled and took a deep breath.
“That is one of the deliverer forms of the Devourer, one of the smallest and most persistent of its spawn. It exists to infest a host and make the target lifeform one with the Devourer hive.”
Marc shut down the projection and took up the tea. Shandra held out her cup, and he poured for her. The ceremonial action seemed to help her gather her thoughts.
“The Devourer comes in many forms depending on its strength, the size of the hive mind, and the amount of life it has gathered into its clutches. The more organic material that can be added to its spawn, the more the hive mind can also grow, spreading further and able to contaminate more life as it goes. It is a cycle of misery that cannot be stopped.”
She sighed, closing her eyes a moment before continuing.
“The Devourer was the greatest threat to the galactic citizenship in the last three thousand years. The initial spread it had after being resurrected on whatever forsaken world that hosted its malevolent form was devastating. Manor Vax and the galactic navy quarantined entire sectors of our space and worked to eradicate its spawn wherever they went. For years, there terror gripped every space station and vessel among our stars.”
“It was only once the Domums managed to contain the Devourer that they were also able to deal it significant harm. Our species had all come together, enhancing the space navy and building on their technology. Analysis of the foul creature had provided insights and weaknesses. Being the baleful and devious creature that it was, the Devourer hive mind then spoke with the Domums.”
Shandra looked at the humans, glancing from one to the other before looking Meriam straight in the eyes, her gaze intense.
“The Devourer sued for peace. Its abominable nature was not without a cunning intelligence, and it understood the galaxy and its opponents. It knew we would have sought its utter destruction if it had continued, so it surrendered. Just like that, it gave up the worlds and its spreading influence. It provided samples of itself for further study, and it gave in.
“But if you think it may be behind these attacks, I believe you are possibly correct. Such a life form, with such hunger to absorb and consume that gave it the name Devourer, may just be the same kind of devious mind and patience that has allowed it to wait for the time to earn a new name. That of Tempest!”
* *
Connor could scarcely believe what he was listening to.
The facts were excellent, and that wasn’t the problem. It was the precise picture being painted of the sheer danger the Devourer represented that shocked him. How no one was automatically putting two and two together to see that the Tempest threat was most likely the Devourer was beyond him.
Sure, he might be jumping to conclusions, but when the mysterious ship that had brought all five of them here handed them the clue on a silver platter, what else was he to think? Everything slipped into place when he considered it carefully, and the Domum’s explanation wasn’t alleviating the lousy turn of his mind either.
“The Devourer is, in fact, a macro and a microparasite, an evolved form of life that, quite simply put, is probably the most genetically advanced species ever encountered in this galaxy. The Devourer itself starts out like a virus, the microparasite that contains the entire genetic structure of the Devourer and a complete set of genetic memory,” the Domum explained.
“The virus, as is the nature of these biological organisms, can survive dormant in vacuum or extreme conditions and comes to life under the right c
onditions. Only severe heat or radiation can destroy it, but it takes an extreme amount beyond what just about every other living thing can handle.”
Screens lit up with various sets of information on the biology of the Devourer as the Domum typed out some more commands at the console.
“The virus invades a host, and within minutes, it multiplies aggressively to completely take over first as much muscle and fat mass as it needs to fuel growth and then the nervous system. The virus unpacks genetic strands of itself to consume the host into its own makeup, transforming the host into a protean mass ready for the next form it requires. Which is where it gets exciting.”
The Domum paused to see if the humans were following, taking their somewhat horrified looks as continued interest.
“The amount of virus-infested organic matter determines the transformation the new host will take. If there is very little of the virus hosting material, then the host becomes a carrier. Like the macroparasite showed here.”
The Domum pointed to a display showing the centipede-like creature the humans wanted a sample of.
“If, however, there are enough thriving cultures of virus and there is a good pool of available biological matter still to be infected, say, for example, a thriving colony of people. A herd of mammals, or perhaps a jungle or forest full of life, then the host reforms into builder or warrior forms and, as soon as possible, the hive mind flesh. The virus breaks down the dense genetic material that every copy contains and unfolds the building blocks that make up the unique ‘brain’ of the Devourer and all of its memories.”
“Well. To be more precise…” The Domum did seem disturbed that he had been vague.
“All of the memories from that family line that the virus originated from. After all, since the Devourer separated from its original world, it has broken off and formed many hive minds in various infestations, for the first time forming new copies of itself that learned and experienced different things from the original genetic lineage.”
He returned to his original explanation, pulling up some other displays that showed sine waves, like radio frequency graphs.
“The hive mind communicates with the individual virus organisms and hosts. This communication takes place on a neutrino band, faster-than-light waves that transfer the thoughts and commands of the living hive mind-brain to the individual neural networks or virus organisms themselves. The limit of this effect is light years depending on distortion so the hive minds could communicate memories with each other when they formed enough size and neural pathways.”
Some more data scrolled up on the displays.
“After detailed analysis on the communication method, the Domums built a jamming device capable of targeting and interfering with the communication of the hive mind. Of course, the individual hosts and virus organisms would then revert to their default genetic instincts, still dangerous, but far less organized. With this and the massive firepower at their disposal, Manor Vax brought the Devourer threat to a halt, and the hive minds opened communications. Effectively, a truce was made, and the Devourer left various worlds and infestations while being allowed to survive as a species.”
Wait, Connor thought. So, this thing is hugely dangerous, nearly unstoppable, and also intelligent enough to communicate and debate about its own survival?
That is impressively scary.
The hive minds then split up to make their own way among the stars or organize the worlds they still had. One of them is here at the Puzzle Box even now.”
“What?” Ormond and Connor said simultaneously.
The Domum looked over his shoulder at them in puzzlement. “Yes.”
A tap of some icons on the console and the image of a huge ship appeared in the display.
“Well, I’ll be,” Ormond muttered. “We saw that ship. It’s docked on Enone Hub on the lower docking arcs!”
“Correct. This is one of the spacefaring hive minds.”
The Domum wasn’t in the least concerned by the dangerous viral organism sitting in a ship just a few levels and a docking arm away.
“Why is it allowed to be here and docked?” Connor asked with anxiety clear on his face.
“Please calm down. There is no threat. The hive minds control their hosts and the virus organisms quite strictly. Any outbreak would have an immediate response from the command center. They would jam and destroy the hive mind at the first sign of aggression.”
He seems quite sure of it too, Connor thought.
“Whooo, well, that’s a relief, hey, Connor?” Ormond didn’t really look relieved, but he gave Connor a nudge over the private channel. “Just go with it, mate, no need to rile them up on the subject.”
Out loud, Ormond asked the Domum, “So, would you mind if we get a copy of this data? And perhaps even a live specimen if you have one?”
The Domum blinked. “Of course you may get a copy of the data. I shall authorize it for you now.” Some buttons on the console were tapped, and both Connor and Ormond had the option in their displays to download the data over the Puzzle Box network.
They did.
“But as for a live specimen, no, we don’t keep any in our facilities. It would be too dangerous in the wrong circumstances.”
“Right, so, uh, in your expert opinion…” Connor paused for emphasis. “Would the Devourer be dangerous and potentially able to create a lot of destruction and fear if it decided to aggressively expand?”
“Yes.” Again, the Domum seemed unfazed. “But it could be easily stopped again with the threat of destruction and our jamming technology.”
“Okay, but what if it had adapted or found a way around the jamming?”
“Well, then it would have little to fear except total annihilation unless it could destroy every other species before they could respond.”
“Ah, perfect. That’s what I thought. Thanks.”
* *
It took some time to calm the Wirurgeons down.
The rest of the conversation hadn’t been beneficial, more of the Devourer being a creature of destruction and so on. Lekiso had let Meriam continue to wrap things up politely with the ceremonial ending of a meeting and a small donation so that the Wirurgeons could get away.
Near the end, Ormond had contacted her to let her know what they had found, which was troubling enough, even more so because it tied in with her own suspicions after the Wirurgeons’ reaction and comments. Connor and Ormond were coming up from the medical center and would meet them back at the lifts.
Marc, Meriam, and Lekiso left the restaurant where the Wirurgeons’ tastes were provided for, and they were making their way along the outside arc near the windows when a small creature waddled over to them from the food shops’ side.
“Excuse me, mistress, but you are looking for information on Devourer, yes?”
A quick thought as to what the small creature was popped the information up into her mind and the same thing was happening to Meriam and Marc considering the winces.
The Being was called a Jascalian.
Standing up, it was still short, coming only to about Lekiso’s chest, and standing was a loose term since it waddled along on two bent arms.
The first thing that came to mind was the monkeys of Africa; the alien looked a lot like that. Marsupial mammalian genes had shaped the Jascalian into a sentient monkey: four arms, no legs, and adept fingers on each arm, a flat face with slit nostrils, and although the ears had shapes, they were in recesses at the sides of the skull to keep them from being available for pulling or tugging.
Her memories told her that Jascalians were incredible mechanics and engineers due to their small size and ability to get through all spaces in ships’ ducts or stations’ sophisticated machinery. They had the minds for it too.
Lekiso could just see this creature pulling apart a cellphone to see inside and putting it back together.
She decided to answer the small, furry alien in its mechanic’s outfit.
“Greetings to you. Yes, we have asked questions
about the Devourer.”
The waddling gait brought the Jascalian right up to her, where it stopped and pointed at the case Marc was carrying.
“This one thinks you want one, yes? One of the Devourer parasites?”
Very bright little thing, if it worked that out for itself, Lekiso thought.
“We might be, yes. Why do you ask?”
Before the Jascalian could answer, Marc spoke up over the private channel. “Um, Lekiso?”
“Yes, Marc?”
“It has got an open channel and is sending a recording back over the space station network.”
“So, it is an agent of some kind. Perfect, this might help us,” Meriam said.
The thoughts flew between the three humans quickly.
The Jascalian was eager, though, and it broke into their discussion, saying, “Yes, this one did think so, and this one has one for you. One of these parasites that you want, yes?”
“Oh really?” Lekiso tried to keep the sarcasm from her voice. She wasn’t sure if the alien would even understand it, but better to be safe.
“Yes! Look!”
The Jascalian held up a small tablet-type device, somewhat battered but still functional. The display showed a long, transparent tube on a metal table. Inside the tube was one of the Devourer centipede-like creatures that matched what they had seen earlier. It was moving, scrabbling at the inside of the container, trying to find a way out.
“Uh, that’s live. I can pick up the carrier signal coming over the network,” Marc told them.
“You mean it is alive or that the video is being sent live?” Meriam asked.
“Uh, both.”
Lekiso interrupted them. “Right, let me speak to it.”
To the Jascalian, she said, “What is it that you want for this specimen?”
“Oh, you are right over to the trade, are you, yes?” The Jascalian showed several alternately blunt and sharp teeth in a tight grin.
So, it’s a plant and meat eater, Lekiso thought.
“But no, no. We do not make the trade with this one, no. You must come to negotiate with my master, yes?”
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