Thought Connection

He could hear muffled voices off in the distance... His body felt heavy, but it only took him a moment to recognize he wasn't being strapped down.

After taking a few moments to listen to the voices and the machinery around him, he tried opening his eyes.

Everything looked hazy, and it was much too bright.

Then he realized he'd been forced into unconsciousness. His chest constricted in fear. The mask on his face was helping him breath easier, but it was also making him feel trapped.

There was a soft pillow under his head. It was propping him up a bit.

He tried to move his arms so he could push himself to sit, but it was useless. They wouldn't move.

...Was he paralyzed?

Why couldn't he feel... His clothes were gone.

What had the the Vortians done to him?

The fear and helplessness he felt was something he could suppress. He'd done this many times before...

He just needed to focus on breathing and staying calm.

He knew better than to put up any resistance... it was easier and quicker to stay still and accept the experimentation.

Someone touched his arm.

"You're going to be ok now."

It was a familiar voice.

"W-what happened...?" he stammered through the mask.

Less advanced races often used very bloody and primitive ways to treat wounds and poisoning.

Had he been cut open? Were all of his organs still inside his body?

Stay calm...he told himself, as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

"It's ok..." the voice was Lard Nar's. He recognized it now.

The Vortian was trying to encourage him.

"Your prognosis is much better than it was. You might even make a full recovery."

"What...?" he tried to repeat himself, but his voice petered out.

"You were given a large dose of anti-venom. The lab techs were able to extract enough venom from your blood, and the chem specialists used it to make an antidote... most of your organs were beyond recovery however... they were failing. We had to replace them."

"H-how...?"

"Our lab techs used whatever living tissue they could find from each organ and entered a replicating sequence into the DNA. This allowed them to grow new organs in our lab. After this, they were successfully able to remove your current organs and replace them with the new ones," Lard Nar explained.

Whenever he was assisting Delarla with her experiments, he would speak to the subject and offer explanations when he could... he figured doing so would ease the subject's worries...

He was glad Lard Nar was offering him the same courtesy.

"How...?" Sevai repeated.

He wished his voice wasn't so weak sounding... he could feel his body starting to shiver. Was he cold?

It took him a moment to realize it was cool in this room. Did the Vortians lower the temperature, or was this a consequence of the experimentation...?

"They displayed your failing organs on a screen using an internal imaging device. Then they used a small transfer device to remove the damaged organs while simultaneously replacing them with the new lab-grown ones."

Sevai suspected it hadn't been as easy as Lard Nar was describing. The Vortian hadn't bothered getting into the details, like how the organs had been able to attach correctly.

In any case,Vortians were even more advanced than he'd been led to believe.

"You're shivering," Lard Nar noted, and he flagged one of the scientists down. "Can you get Sevai a blanket please?"

The other Vortian nodded before hurrying off.

Sevai relaxed, feeling relieved he hadn't been cut open. He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh.

His trembling wouldn't stop. His antennae weren't indicating the temperature was cold enough to warrant this kind of reaction, but his body seemed unable to process this.

He was likely experiencing some sort of side effect from whatever they'd done to him then.

"Someone probably turned down the temperature regulator..." Lard Nar said. "I'll go ask them to turn it back up."

"There is... no need..." Sevai insisted. "I will be fine... this... this should only be a temporary reaction..."

"...You can't return home, can you?" Lard Nar questioned him after some hesitation.

"I cannot..." Sevai confirmed.

He couldn't feel any pain at the moment. His wings weren't hurting anymore either. Had the Vortians repaired them as well?

When he thought about how he wouldn't be able to return to his home planet however, a heavy weight settled on him.

"I will be imprisoned... once I return... but I have already accepted this consequence..."

"You could stay here on Vort," Lard Nar suggested. "My people have always worked along side other races from all across this galaxy, and even some of the surrounding ones. You would be welcome here."

It was a humbling offer... but he knew his own people wouldn't forgive him so easily. They would never allow him to leave and go where he pleased... no one was ever afforded that option.

If the Vortians stood in his peoples' way, they would be crushed too. All of their advanced knowledge would be erased; their accomplishments forgotten.

"I appreciate the offer... but my kind will not allow it... they wouldn't have allowed me to be treated either... I have..." he sighed again.

By allowing the Vortians to study his biology, he'd given them the ability to discover more of his peoples' weaknesses.

The counsel would not be happy with this... they might even destroy Vort over such a breach.

"I have broken too many of our laws..." he quietly admitted.

"Why did you break them?"

"I don't fully understand why I chose this path..." Sevai admitted, and he slowly opened his eyes.

He had to squint because the lights were so bright. He managed to raise one of his arms a little off the mattress and move his trembling hand to the mask covering his face.

With care, he removed it from his mouth.

"I suppose I wish to protect more than just my own dying race... if my people die then your people... and perhaps the Irkens... will be all that remains of us..."

The other Vortian returned with the blanket, and they handed it to Lard Nar.

"What about your home world?" Lard Nar asked, sounding genuinely interested as he moved to place the blanket over Sevai's legs. "And your technology? You still have those don't you?"

Sevai tried to see Lard Nar's expression as the Vortian pulled the blanket up to his mid-section. He opened his eyes a little more. Everything had a strange hazy glow.

"If my people go extinct, our planet will die along with us and our technology..." he responded. "That is what our counsel decided many years ago..."

"I don't really understand..." Lard Nar began. His voice had become a bit quieter. "Your people have all of this amazing technology. Why can't you use it to save yourselves?"

Sevai managed a smile as he closed his eyes again.

"No matter how advanced my people may be... there are still things we cannot control no matter how hard we try..." he started to explain. "Technology cannot fix everything... and sometimes it can even complicate matters... yet my people have placed all of their hopes in it."

He carefully shook his head.

"Sometimes I wonder if there is a simple answer... one we can't see because we believe we have moved beyond it..."

Then he remembered they weren't alone in this room. There were at least a dozen other Vortians who appeared to be busying themselves with other tasks, but they could still be listening somehow... their technology was quite advanced after all.

"I don't wish to discuss this any further..." he said quietly.

He'd probably given away too much information again... he wasn't sure why he felt a strong desire to share his knowledge with the Vortians, though he was starting to think it might be because they reminded him of how his people used to be long ago.

He needed to suppress this. Giving away too much knowledge and technology had only hurt his people in the past.

"I'm sorry..." he apologized.

Hopefully his lack of cooperation wouldn't be met with hostility.

"If you're uncomfortable talking about your people... you don't need to discuss it with me," Lard Nar assured him. "But if you ever want to get into specifics, I wouldn't mind offering you a different perspective."

"I'm afraid I would be disintegrated on the spot for doing such a thing..." he admitted.

It was rare for his people to kill one of their own... but it did happen on occasion. Indulging another race with secretive information would be one of those occasions.

"But I thank you for your offer."

There was silence. He wondered if perhaps Lard Nar had left even though he hadn't heard the Vortian leave.

"You should rest," Lard Nar decided. It sounded like he was still standing beside the bed."I need to check on a few things, but I'll be back soon. There are scientists working nearby. If you need something feel free to ask them."

Sevai's arms shook as he managed to push himself up from the mattress into a sitting position. He regarded Lard Nar who was watching him intently.

The Vortian's eyes were wide and his mouth parted a little in surprise.

"I don't think..." Lard Nar began, quickly glancing over his shoulder. "You shouldn't be getting up. It hasn't been very long since your organs were replaced... You could hurt yourself."

Sevai gingerly touched some of the wires attached to his body. They were connected to some nearby machines.

Suddenly four Vortians hurried over to him. They were surrounding him with one on each side.

They spoke very fast in their unfamiliar language. He couldn't understand what they were saying... were they angry with him?

Two of them grabbed him by the arms, and they pulled them out from underneath him while another Vortian lowered him back down onto the mattress.

He was too startled to say anything. There was nothing he could do to defend himself... They were going to paralyze him for moving without their permission... or maybe they would force him into unconsciousness again...

That was what his own people would do if their subject showed any kind of resistance or hostility.

He squeezed his eyes shut and his body became rigid as he braced himself.

"That's enough!" Lard Nar spoke over them. "You're going to aggravate his injuries more if you force him to lie down like that."

Sevai felt the Vortians release his arms.

He sucked in a trembling breath as he cracked open an eye.

The Vortian scientists had moved away from the bed.

He swallowed the lump forming in his throat.

"It was... it was my mistake..." he managed to utter.

Lard Nar was standing with his back to him, facing the other Vortians who were speaking again.

One of them pointed at him while talking.

Sevai winced and tried to sink further into the pillow.

He didn't know what the other Vortians were saying... they spoke a much different language than his own, and without his technology he couldn't understand their words.

Then Lard Nar turned to him with a scowl on his face.

"They can't understand what you're saying.."

"My apologies," Sevai immediately apologized. "I've been told our language is rather complicated."

"You're speaking our language, aren't you?"

"Without my technology, I'm unable to do so..."

"Then how can I understand you?" Lard Nar asked as he motioned around him. "We haven't inputted your language into any of our translators.. we haven't even scanned your brain... and you don't have any technology on you either." He lowered his arm back down. "How are we communicating right now?"

"Our minds were connected... it seems because of this we are able to understand each other..."

"You mean..." Lard Nar scowled. "We're telepathically linked?"

"We have a different description for this kind of side effect... but yes. I suppose you could call it that... however we are only able to understand basic levels of communication... I assume our private thoughts have not been shared..."

His mandibles clicked together nervously.

The Tallest had been able to understand him as well... but then he assumed this was due to the Irken's PAK system... that machine had originally been crafted by his people, not the Irkens.

There must have been some left-over data that recognized his speech.

Surprisingly it had even recognized his biology.

Lard Nar wasn't using any kind of translation system however, and neither was he.

"I never considered this as a possibility. It is not very often we come across races that have a similar intelligence to our own..." he admitted. "There hasn't been enough research into this matter, so I'm not sure if it's a permanent condition... I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize," Lard Nar rubbed his temples and sighed. "It's fine. I just wasn't expecting it."

Sevai lowered his gaze.

"I truly am sorry for not informing you of the possible after effects of our mental link..."

"There's no reason to keep apologizing," Lard Nar said, managing a smile. "I'm not upset about it. You should be focusing on resting and getting better..."

He switched his attention to the other Vortians.

"There's no need for any of you to be so forceful. Only one of you needs to approach him at a time."

The four scientists spoke and a couple of them nodded.

Then they left to return to whatever they'd been doing before.

"Will you be ok if I leave for a little while?" Lard Nar asked him.

The Vortian was looking at him again.

"Yes..." Sevai responded in a quiet voice.

He was frightened of being left in a place where there were sharp implements and chemicals and people he couldn't understand, but he didn't want to trouble Lard Nar.

"I'll be back as soon as I check on some things."

Sevai watched Lard Nar leave the room. He was definitely more frightened now.

He glanced at a few Vortians who appeared to be working with vials and a mysterious purple liquid. Then there were those monitoring a machine that had just risen off the ground.

A group of them were standing by something that resembled some kind of dispenser. They were talking and laughing.

The Vortians were inventing... creating... and enjoying each other's company.

There was only one person on board the main expedition ship he could talk with freely, and that was Diu: the young apprentice and youngest son of Delarla.

They had shared many similar ideas, only Diu was much better at keeping quiet about them.

Perhaps his people could learn something from the Vortians. He wished he could discuss it with the counsel, but they were the ones demanding his imprisonment.

He may never be permitted to speak with them again... that was a sobering thought.