Evolution

"Hey Jim, you got a minute?"

Passing by Research Lab One, James "Jim" Raynor considered his options. And although suffering from sleep deprivation and unease from the information Zeratul had brought with him, he quickly came to a conclusion as to what those options entailed. He could either keep walking and pretend he didn't hear Stedman call out, ask what the scientist wanted and decide whether it was worth his time or-...

"Course you do," said the geek, grabbing the captain by the arm and drawing him into his world. "Come on, there's something I've got to show you.

"Yeah...sure..." Raynor murmured, reflecting that the notion of Stedman using something that amounted to force had never featured into any of the options that he'd cultivated in the few milliseconds the geek had given him. And given how the lab was cluttered with empty cans of Nuke Cola, the Raider had a good idea as to where the braniac was getting the energy from.

"Um, Stedman," the captain said awkwardly, accidently crushing an empty can of the soft drink as he did so. "How many of these have you had?"

"What, the Nuke Cola?" the scientist asked, opening a can with one hand while typing with another. "Oh, this would be my fourteenth I guess. Still, if you include-..."

"Let's not include whatever else is making you more hyperactive than a zergling on steroids," Raynor interrupted, briefly pondering how many drinks he'd had at the Hyperion's cantina today. While alcohol had different effects than caffeine, that wasn't to say they were any more pleasant. "Let's just cut to the chase."

"The chase?" the scientist asked, blank panda eyes staring at his superior one second, then lighting up with energy the next. "Oh right, the chase!"

In an instant, Raynor wished Stedman was working for the Dominion. If he could have kept the empire as occupied with drivel as he was now, then maybe the Hyperion wouldn't have to jump around so much, even going so far out as the Fringe World of Jotun. A world from which an apparently xel'naga artefact had been recovered from the protoss there, not to mention a device that Stedman was showing on his monitor. A device that Zeratul had called a "sentry" and was currently under examination in the armoury.

"I think you're already familiar with this," the scientist began, breaking into what Hanson had dubbed "lecture mode." "A protoss sentry, recovered from Jotun and after Swan does his job, a device we'll hopefully be a lot more familiar with."

Raynor remained silent, waiting for the geek to get to the point. He wasn't overly excited about recovering a broken automaton peppered with Impaler rounds and while more advanced than any counterpart humanity could provide, he doubted that any breakthroughs made in such basic tech (well, by protoss standards at least) would make any difference in the long run.

"Anyway, I had Zeratul fill me in on the sentry's history," Stedman continued, the image on his computer splitting into three. "Turns out that the sentry is actually the third incarnation of a trial and error process in alien automaton design. Two designs, the Nullifier and Disruptor, came before it."

Raynor nodded, glancing at the left and centre images on the screen, with the sentry on the right, scrolls of text below each of them. The Nullifier, looking like a blue marine organism from Old Earth, apparently could cast something called "null voids" while the Disruptor could instigate something called "molecular displacement." Apart from that, they were seemingly identical in function, if not in form to the sentry.

"Interesting..." murmured the former marshal. "So, you think this history can help us crack the sentry's-..."

"Damn it man, this isn't about the sentry!"

Raynor blinked. Either Stedman was finally succumbing to the effects of caffeine like a normal human being or he was getting riled up about something else. And while the mad look in the scientist's eyes told the captain that it was probably best not to find out either way, the kid removed the opportunity to do so in an instant.

"Don't you see?" the scientist whispered. "Can't you see the truth, past the conspiracy?"

"What? What the hell are you-..."

"The Nullifier!" Stedman yelled, pointing at the first incarnation of the sentry. "Like one of Old Earth's old marine organisms-archaic, likely before the Cambrian Explosion given the lack of a hard shell!"

"Cambrian Explosion!?" Raynor exclaimed, the term completely foreign to him. "What are you-..."
"The Disruptor!" Stedman continued, moving onto the Nullifier's successor. "Hard shelled, like a trilobite. A sign of post-Cambrian Explosion evolution."

"Stedman, I don't-..."
"And now the sentry!" the scientist exclaimed, a mad look in his eyes. "The pinnacle of the evolutionary process! A testament to the truth before us!"

Using a great effort of will to not ask what truth Stedman was talking about and a similar amount to keep his revolver in his holster, Raynor once again pondered his options. And right now those options were divided between tackling the scientist himself, or getting Tychus to do it. Either way, the kid was leaving this room in the near future.

"Don't you see?" Stedman whispered. "The protoss have been watching us for millions of years. They followed the evolution of our marine ancestors, altering their designs accordingly. They know us better than we know ourselves. And although I've saved humanity by seeing the truth beyond the looking glass I...I..."

Once again, Raynor decided that the silent treatment was the best course of action. This time however, it was the best choice. Because watching Stedman close his eyes and succumb to what was probably sleep deprivation, it appeared that the matter had solved itself.

Well, sort of. What happens if he gets similar ideas? Maybe I can...

Raynor grinned. And picking up a radio from his belt, he put the smile to actual words.

"Zeratul here."

"Hey pal, it's Raynor," said the marshal. "You got a moment?"

"I suppose..." came the voice of the Nerazim. "What do you require?"

"It 'ain't me, it's Stedman. I was wondering if you're familiar with the concept of conspiracy theories..."

A/N

Having played the StarCraft II beta quite a bit, I've noticed certain norms typical of other players. One of those norms is that the protoss sentry is perhaps the most under-utilized tier 1 unit in the whole game. Given its force field and guardian field starting abilities, I find this quite surprising. Maybe people don't like the 'evolutionary path' its development took...