*M*I*M*I*C*R*Y*
The One Self continued to analyze the new genetic patterns and memories it had obtained from the two lifeforms—Volos and Napir, they had named themselves. Cetra, they called their collective—their species.
At its leisure, it sorted through new memories, new knowledge and experience. One key point it discovered was that intelligence was not as uncommon on this world as the One Self had first feared. There were a small number of highly intelligent, socially organized species. Only two appeared to be related: Cetra, being the most important, followed by an offshoot species. Humans. There were a couple of intelligent non-Cetra, non-human—non-humanoid?—terrestrial species, none very numerous. At least one aquatic species also seemed to have some indication of intelligence, at least as far as these two Cetra had known. As it was confined to the Planet's seas, it could safely be ignored for now.
The Cetra and the offshoot group of humans seemed identical in all ways except that the human—race? Tribe? Species? Terminology was difficult but categorization was necessary—the humans lacked the profound awareness of the Lifestream that the Cetra possessed. The Cetra were therefore the first and most important priority.
They were the only real threat on this world. They could commune with the Lifestream and help to direct its power. Their existence was—symbiotic or a true extension?—with the Lifestream and the Planet. They provided it with more than just the vicarious experience of living through them as other lifeforms on this world did. When they performed a "Planet Reading" as they called it, they seemed to join in some degree with the Lifestream's melded, overarching consciousness. An aggregate—a group mind. The many combined into a single whole, with a unified ability to direct the power of the Planet.
Like knew like. The One Self would be the only superior, collective existence in its current feeding grounds. The other would need to be removed. Absorbed for its knowledge and power, or destroyed outright if necessary. Then feeding and growth could continue unhindered.
"The clans are gathering, the ones here on this continent have already started the healing rites..."
That memory told the One Self that time was limited. These Cetra would cut off the abundant supply of quintessence—of Lifestream. That could not be allowed.
The memory also pointed out an opportunity, one that might never come again. The Cetra were gathering on the continent. So many in one place. It was time to hunt in earnest.
It considered options. Just one Cetra, or two? It had gained enough mass for at least three of their size, while also keeping a core of itself in the crater and some sentinels to monitor beyond its boundaries.
Two, then. Replicas of the two it had absorbed. They would be expected to rejoin their collective eventually, so there would be no suspicion of them.
As it had done when replicating smaller life, it pinched off some of its own mass. The Cetra genetic and phenotypic information allowed the glob of tissue to take shape as a perfect duplicate of the Napir lifeform, down to the structures of the internal organs and the fluid—blood—coursing through veins, pumped by a central organ called a heart.
It even replicated the extraneous outer coverings—clothes? Clothing? Not part of the organism, but required for protection and for—social?—acceptance.
At last, at last, the One Self could truly understand this world and its Lifestream: It had mimicked the central neurological organ, the control center—a Cetra brain. A rather convoluted affair, with many folds to increase the size and surface area while keeping it contained in its limiting skull, and composed of a variety of specialized, networked cells that communicated through complex interactions of bioelectrical potential and chemical signals. Fed with blood, washed with neural fluids...how mundane. Memory itself was nothing more than elaborate biochemistry in the Cetra brain, so what was soul, spirit? How did memories, built and maintained through electrochemical interactions and macromolecules and cellular connections—so disappointing and physical—return to the Lifestream when the body died?
The One Self had expected more. It had hoped to acquire the direct aetheric communion with the Lifestream that the Cetra took for granted, but it seemed the capabilities of mimicry were limited. The Napir-Cetra it had copied had been more attuned to the Lifestream than its—his—companion, but that talent had not been replicated.
Too bad, he thought. It would have been pleasing to contact the Lifestream, call it to the surface, and perhaps feed through a direct connection tailored to this world.
And it paused in its analysis. Interesting: He thought. Just like a Cetra. Acquiring a Cetra brain allowed it to think like them, to create an identity like them. It called itself "he" in that context, just as the Napir-Cetra had also been "he." Because identity, self-image, memory, and thoughts were biochemical and structural in nature, they could be replicated with little loss of detail and accuracy.
Even the cells now mimicked those of a Cetra. The One Self could easily pass for the Napir-Cetra. Everything was the same, unless for some reason the others of its kind looked too deep, explored the nature of the quintessence in the body, examined the genetic and cellular material and realized that there was much more in place than should exist in an ordinary Cetra being. From the Napir-Cetra's memories, the One Self determined that the other Cetra were not likely to do such as long as the replica behaved "normally." The duplicate would be part of the One Self at its core, but would have the autonomy, identity, and memories to pass as one of the Cetra without creating suspicion.
It squeezed out more of its own tissue and formed a replica of the Volos-Cetra. Now it had its matched set. Memories told it there were living animal mounts tethered just beyond the crater, waiting. Large, feathered creatures—birds? Chocobos? Chocobos. Napir-Cetra and Volos-Cetra had not intended to spend too long investigating and had left their mounts behind. While the area was growing colder, it was slow and gradual, and so the birds would not be in any danger from exposure.
Mounts meant faster transport to the concentration of Cetra beings. It could send its two scouts and begin the process of infiltration, conversion, and absorption.