RADIO TRANSMISSION: MEDIC #1912
DECODING… RECEIVING…
The neurostim. That's what this was all about. Even with the stress of being a prisoner and foreign objects to awe at around her, she couldn't shake one thing: her PSI index. They were briefly taught PSI during training and were bluntly told that none of them had any.
When she crawled out of the cave the fearsome ultralisk had been killed by a Protoss, they had a clear conversation through telepathy. She couldn't believe how strong the signals were. On the way back to the city, funny how he was helping her job of entering the Nexus, thoughts about her past were where her mind was at.
She had come from a distant colony. The UED had found them and gathered them into their military wing. What was the name of her planet? It bothered her she couldn't remember anything.
The Nexus was a giant pyramid with a teal glowing diamond hovering at the top. Short staircases were on all four sides that went inside the structure.
When they arrived inside the Nexus, a zealot approached. The zealot's golden armor clung to his thin frame. His face looked squished in his helmet. His walk was a quick with small steps like a scuttling ant.
At that moment, she realized something very helpful, she found to have an ability to have a deeper level of thinking. Essentially a second level to hide from other mind readers. She could trick them into thinking they were seeing all of her thoughts. How powerful was she?
When the zealot raised his blade to her throat, she had no fear. The psionic energy felt warm on her neck. She sensed in him that he could not afford to kill her. And why was this dark templar thinking how she shouldn't doubt herself? What did he know?
The zealot dropped the act and disengaged his blade. He pushed her forward through a door and down twisted stairs. The walls turned to black rock, they must have gone underground. She remembered something, at the barracks she had sometimes received others' thoughts. She assumed it was a form of an afterglow from training. The afterglow coming from a machine that prepared you for combat using previous combatants' experiences: how to fight, how to enfilade and use tactical maneuvers, how to repair a severed limb.
"Your mind has been quiet for a while." The dark templar finally sent to her. She wondered why he was so passive toward this zealot.
She wiped her mind and responded, "I'm trying to remember the neurostim."
The staircase ended at an entry archway that opened to a massive cavern. The distant edges of the cave were lit by bright pylons that were randomly placed in the wide area. The pylons sent beams of light into holes in the ceiling. The holes had a bunch of tiny hexagons catching the light and throwing it back out like torches. Overlapping circles of light kept the wide area luminous. The floor was made of flowing blue wisps that moved rapidly and created a solid surface to walk on.
"This is impressive tech."
The zealot smugly responded, "We are the firstborn harbingers of the Universe, our power way beyond any other lesser beings."
They approached a table where a probe had electricity flowing into a tiny silver device. The device had a blue crystal in its center and two vertical pointed claws on either side. She had seen this before, it was a psi-emitter. The probe made a series of beeps.
The dark templar turned to the zealot, "I must agree with the probe, this already proves Zerg attraction."
"But are we absolute? Another wave to report would satisfy our executor. And we might have a neurostem ready. Consider the outcome of reporting success for both…" The zealot said.
This was their secret weapon? All they were doing was combining two pieces of our technology and calling it their weapon.
The zealot confidently added, "Our spirits soar and our fleet will crush anything to come."
They continued to another glossy white table, a datapad sat on it. Its blue glare infused with a white pylon that was lit nearby. The zealot pushed her in front of the table, "Your hour is now at hand."
The medic gave a quizzical look, "And where do I sleep?"
The dark templar stepped in a thought, "A room upstairs. We won't be blind to reason." He sent her the directions via a telepathic message. He held a gaze on her for more than she found comfortable. Did he know?
A line of probes appeared from a doorway on the right. They placed a blue crystal and a cube with a swirling green substance inside on the desk. She sighed, "What use is this?"
"Minerals and gas." The zealot affirmed.
She hesitated. "That helps with construction, but the neurostem uses sugar, water, salt, and a chemical that attacks the neurons at certain parts of the brain." She picked up a mineral and inspected it. "This might have salt in it." She threw it back on the desk.
"What's the chemical?" The dark templar asked.
"That's the problem, I don't know. I only held one stim."
The zealot brushed dust from his blade. "You're making this more complicated than it needs to be. Did they find your feeble mind that incompetent?"
She rolled her eyes. "I'm starting to see where the name zealot comes from." She tapped at random keys on the datapad. It beeped, stating: "unknown entry error."
"Please, this is leading us astray from our journey," the dark templar said.
"Well, maybe she needs time to rest and clear her head." The zealot said sympathetically. He then nodded to the probe. "Shock." The probe sent a thick blue bolt into the medic. A shot of numbness spread from her leg up to her head. The strong tingle sensation morphed to pain. Suddenly a rush of thoughts poured into her head. The last thing she saw was the hard floor closing in…
She woke up in a single queen-size bed. A golden cloth hung in front of a window. Outside light that pierced the curtain morphed to a vivid gold angled like stalks of wheat.
A silhouette appeared in the sky.
Her mind was blank. She leaned her head back and then checked under the sheet. Her leg had a large black mark and her clothes were different. No doubt they now had the empty neurostem, not a lot good it would do them.
She walked to the door with a swirled patterned handle. She pushed then tried pulling it. Locked, did she think it wouldn't be? That zealot was thick but not stupid.
A loud thought blasted inside her —
WE ARE UNDER ATTACK. WE ARE UNDER ATTACK.
A flood of jumbled fearful emotions came in right after it.
TO BE CONTINUED….
Endnote: A story and/or author follow would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for reading my work!