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March 25, 2578

Location : Enigma II

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"Where are we going?" Sarah asked as she followed Bison out the door.

"Nothing important," he said. "I just figured it'd help if you knew how to synthesize hormones."

"What?"

"I have to make my own down there, since they don't bother ordering them for me or doing it up there. I can't be around all the time though. It'll help if I can ask someone to run down there while when I can't. Jay already knows how, but it'll help if there's more people."

Bison always asked for favors, that he took yes for granted meant something was up. Sarah didn't argue, she was more curious than worried.

He brought her several levels down, to a location she hadn't been before. The moment they entered an until section, when the door locked behind them, Bison turned around.

"Here's the deal. Sullivan worked on a project together with Nuitar, which Utara tolerates because it has a stake in it, but it can shut it down if it feels like it. Utara, Barat, Timur and Selatan are all created by Enigma Zero, which is headed but not completely controlled by Naseim Rajaei. Nuitar is ... I'm not sure what exactly, but it wasn't part of Utara's system from the start. A colleague of Rajaei had insisted it be installed. With it came Sullivan. Utara is aware of our project and wants part of it, but many of the humans up there don't know what's up. Right now, Jay and I are the only ones who do."

Right. On this ship, everyone was an obligate criminal sooner or later.

"And now you want me to get involved in whatever this project is. Utara transferred me here, why even bother with the secrecy? You could as well drop this bomb over breakfast."

Bison held up his hands in a placating gesture. "You were transferred to a lower section because Malcolm wanted you near the drones to see whether you were sensitive to them. You went into a coma while those drones died. They have definite proof now. If it were up to Malcolm and Utara, you'd be strapped in a cage and used to experiment in controlling the drones. You have no idea how long they've been hoping to find a natural telepath and you just dropped into their hands.

Please cooperate. It's not so bad down here. I don't know what Nuitar wants with you, but from what I've been told it won't be as bad as what Utara's half will do. You'll be able to go around in the same way as you've done with us so far, you just work here now."

"Not so bad? Then why did I need to come here to be told? If Utara knows about this, you could have done it upstairs. Unless it gets messy if I refuse."

His eyes widened. "No, no, that's not it. You won't be killed if you refuse."

"But I may be locked up?"

"It's not that either. It's be inconvenient, but you won't be cleaned up or anything. It's Malcolm. He doesn't know. The reason someone like him wasn't here all along is because, well, this project requires a mad scientist kind of person. Malcolm isn't quite that. He has the good of mankind in mind and sometimes, he or Jonah watch you. It's suspicious if Utara suddenly would not be able to report on you in a section she covers."

A sinking feeling overtook Sarah. She'd known there was constant observation, but had relegated that to standard security by a program. Not people.

Damn it, Jonah knew how she felt about having her privacy invaded! The idea to get away from that in itself was appealing.

Not that it'd be real privacy, aboard this ship, but then again she had a monster queen in the back of her mind. Said monster had promised a project to find out how reliable she was. Did that mean she was aboard with Nuitar, or did she plant the idea in the minds of the right people?

"Sarah?"

"I'm thinking," she said. "If I refuse, I take it I will be made to somehow?"

"Well, Nuitar doesn't have that much leeway. It can, probably, but Utara's half a mind to just let Malcolm experiment with you. The reason you're here is only on the gamble that your telepathy is well enough to help us not waste time."

Now she was really curious. "Waste time on what?"

"Useless growth."

With that, Bison opened the next door and held it open.

Sarah held her breath, but didn't hesitate to step into the darkness. Bison followed.

The scanners and guards she expected weren't here. The door locked behind her and that was it for security.

Pitch black blocked visual sight, but the torrent of pained sensation crashing into her mind told her enough. She stumbled against the door, instinctively trying to back away.

"Oh, you're getting that much?" Bison said somewhere ahead of her. "It's a good sign ... for the the project, I mean. I guess it's not for you."

Sarah clutched her forehead and tried to still her frantic breathing. "It's ... nothing ..." She closed her eyes. "... just wasn't prepared. Where are we?"

"In Utara's future brain," Bison said with a weak smile.

Say what now?

"She wants to become an organism," Bison said. "Nobody likes to be left behind, she says. As for Nuitar, I'm in the dark as much as you."

Bison switched on the lights, revealing a room full of cryogenic containers. Each was filled with bizarre, biomechanics growths. A few resembles fetuses, but most were just pipes, organs, rough square things and other unidentifiable forms. Despite being in cryogenic freezing, they radiated distorted mental signals.

Maybe it wasn't mental, just a field that the mind happened to be part of ...

She shivered, feared something without even knowing the direction. Little pieces of universe around her ...

In the middle of this mess, something familiar ...

Bison shook her shoulder, worried now. "Sarah, this would be a bad time to go into another coma. Please stay awake."

He seemed to talk to himself more than anyone.

She stood straight and said, "I was never in a coma. Your technology just wasn't good enough to tell where my brain was active."

The certainty with which she said this didn't feel justified, because she wouldn't be able to tell where the activity had been. A memory not her own suggested it had been her entire body, but that couldn't be right.

Bison showed her around again. There wasn't much to see, just a few wide rooms. One storage of material, two for various experiments, one for storing specialized tools, and last a tall room with a smaller observation post. In this they entered, looking across the opposite wall.

Hive resin littered this one from top to bottom, shaped into hollow cocoons at random intervals.

"Thise here work like the hive resin that hosts are encased in by regular xenomorph hives. However, they do a few things they shouldn't do."

"Like the violation of preservation of mass?" Sarah asked, looking up from the screen.

"Nah, all biomechanic things do that. No, this stuff here is meant to keep things alive well beyond what you'd expect of the typical incubation host. The running theory is that this queen adapted for a world where hosts take long to incubate the specimen, like the lepers would stagnate growth altogether. There are divergent theories, but one thing is clear : we can use them as life chambers."

"And you need me for ..."

"Checking whether the neurology stuff actually works like a mind. We can give these things a rough kick to grow things, but we don't have the technology to read it."

Sarah nodded. Being a monitor didn't sound too bad.

"So, where do I start?"

He led her to the elevator, which led to a changing cabin.

Sarah had no eye for the tools and suits in here, because in the middle of the cabin stood a small cylinder full of fluid, hooked up to a support system. Inside was the same kind of creature as in Jonah's quarters.

The exact same one.

And she didn't move.

"What happened?" she asked.

"It just died," he said. "Not so long after those drones did and you toppled over. Incidentally. It far as the humans know, it was disposed of, but Utara delivered it here. Now, if I'm not mistaken, you know something about coming back from the dead."

Ideas whirled around in her mind, leading back to the suggestion she had been infected.

"Coming back doesn't tell me how, but I do want to bring her back if I can. Did this delivery come with data?"

Bison pointed her at a computer, which flickered on on its own and provided her life statistics, age and other details. Someone listened in, apparently.

The files contained life statistics, past experiments and a few detached remarks by Jonah. He described her as it.

One note stood out in particular. He had addressed it to one of the visiting scientists from another station, describing his interest in the queen chimera as purely scientific, but admitting to an idealistic interest in it akin to the Lemuralia ideals. It read like a response to some accusation he had personal investment, which Jonah handled by meeting it part way and redirecting it : Lemuralia was a movement that advocated that humankind not let itself be influenced by alien lifeforms in any way, named after an old festival meant to exorcise the wicked lemures.

Sarah and Jonah had been involved with the side that concerned itself with alien experimentation and suppressing cults that rose up around other species. Jonah didn't seem into that anymore. Now he wanted to subtract the benefits of the chimeras for health progress, he said, but that didn't include the health of the test subjects. He described the mother as amoral, violent and incapable of reason, but expressed hope more useful soldiers could be manufactured from her offspring.

Kirindi's sister had been a confused, maltreated creature, abandoned by Jonah. There was only telling what she wasn't. The chimera sisters were kind to those kind to the right people when given chance, but she couldn't exactly say that out loud.

Sarah knelt down placed her hands on the glass, mentally reaching out to the small mind for any response. There was just the tiniest bit of recognition, but not as much as needed.

"I'm going to need your help for her," Sarah whispered to everyone, Noasyvé most of all.

"You've already got it," Bison said with a smile. "Do you want to name her?"

Let's defeat the ritual meant to exorcise us.

"Her name will be Lemura."

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April 10, 2578

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Sarah ran her fingers across the cocoon's slimy shell. Her face lit up as she felt movement for the very first time.

"Some people would find that gross," Jay said somewhere down below.

Sarah shrugged. "People like you?"

"No, just people."

Sarah turned from the cocoon and sat down, her legs dangling over the edge of an older cocoon's hold. Meters below, half hidden under remnants, Jay stood in his protective suit. A little while later he became visible as he climbed up the nearby ladder.

"Anything I can help you with?" Sarah asked.

"Nope, all good here," he said, even as he almost slipped on the damp steps.

He carried along one of the cleaning tools, and a little later she heard him struggle and curse at one of the robots arms. They regularly overgrew with the organic matter, requiring force to get them unstuck.

Sarah was reminded of natural hives, at least hives such as Noasyvé would build ... they weren't Sarah's own memories. Still, it was a nice association. While this area was far from natural, it had a living pulse to it, as it should have. This did what no human technology could achieve for the unborn child, and Sarah did the rest.

She couldn't see Lemu right now, but her telepathic range grew. At first Sarah had needed to be really close to even sense her, now she could be a few meters away and still influence her. Most of this served the purpose of keeping her balanced while her brain grew, and alerting Bison if she came to be in pain, so they could adjust chemicals and similar.

Growing hurt her almost constantly, but she didn't end up with the mutations or erratic behavior of the others. Sarah considered this a success and allowed herself to be happy about it, as far as she could in this place.

The cocoon gave off another small tremor. Lemu wanted to know what happened.

"Jay! What exactly are you doing up there?" she shouted up the cocoon wall.

The answered came muffled at first, but then clearer. "Knotted veins growing into one of the arms. Gonna take a while."

Sarah relayed the information to the unborn, who greedily absorbed it, pictured it for herself, and even thought about what to do about it. Not unlike Sarah, though of course, these were sporadic, trivial thoughts for an adult human. For the child, they were complex.

Lemu didn't think the arms should be cleaned, she liked the hive resin better. Sarah quietly tried to reason with her, but that was a little too beyond Lemu yet.

"Hmm ..."

An high-pitched squeak jerked Sarah out of her musings.

"Yikes!" She reached for her ear, where the suit's communicator buzzed.

"I'll fix that some time, promise," Jay hollered down.

"I anxiously await that day," she said, just to humor him. Then serious :"What is it?"

"Check out that cocoon down to the right if ye will. I'm getting some odd readings from it."

Sarah nodded. "Alright." She climbed off the ridge while wondering, and in response Lemu said that the content of the other cocoon sometimes would just jerk. That's where she got the idea to move.

Careful, Sarah climbed across the empty cocoons till she reached a small one that had been put to use a few days ago.

The sensation of growing biomechanica hadn't stood out at first, but as Sarah became accustomed to being telepathic, there was no escaping the unpleasant sensation. Xenomorph did not actually grow mass out of nothing, rather they generated it out of energy somehow. The energy itself was drawn from the surrounding world across a field that human technology was too weak to detect.

The cocoon was in the middle of growing a particular part of a xenomorph head. Not the rest of the body, just this one piece. Without a queen's call, regular drones were vulnerable to telepathic influence, easy even for Sarah as a novice.

Being just an incomplete creature, it shouldn't be causing any movement. Sarah laid her fingers on the cocoon and mentally pushed at the organ, or creature.

Just the slightest tremor came as reply. She had the impression of having moved her own arm.

"Affirmative. I think this one's not doing what it should," she said. "Could it be growing limbs?"

"Improbable, but not impossible," Bison said. "It'd be the first time it moved while inside, but we've had a few before. Actually ... more since you and Lemura are here."

Lemura called to Sarah with her first clear sentence, "~ It's not me... can I come out?"

With this came the distinct impression of her being ... afraid of ... the other one.

Not Jay or Bison. Someone else was here.

She didn't know what else to do with that information except hurry back to Lemura, quietly asked how long that had been so.

All the time.

Lemura wanted out now, perhaps too early, but now the idea was in her head she didn't want to let go.

She softly started to tap the shell where she sensed softer spots. The drumming would loosen up the "muscles" of the cocoon, making it easier for the unborn to break through — how she knew this wasn't clear. Lemu disembedded from the cocoon's walls, crawling to the edges through the thick goo inside.

Lemura was too weak to break out herself, so Sarah used one of the tools in her suit. She'd only opened a cocoon once before and that had been to remove a dead piece, so she had to be extra careful not to hurt the one inside. She worked slowly, all the whole coaxing Lemu where to scratch and when to stay back.

When the cocoon broken open, a spray of slime burst into Sarah's helmet, knocking it loose. She lost her footing on the ledge and tumbled to the floor.

Sharp pain shot through her back as she hit the floor. For long moments, she lay still on her back and couldn't move.

"~ Momentary paralyzed due to immediate shock to body, nothing abnormal~ " she recited in her head, trying to push away her own panic.

Someone else worried too.

"~ Lemu? ~"

Tiny hands clutched at her clothing in response, and flooded her mind with questions.

Mainly about this thing called air.

Sarah cursed at herself for being unable to move right when she wanted nothing more than look up and see. Lemura was out, she should be on her feet and teach her, rather than lay here unable to even see the ceiling. Goo covered her eyes, stinging when she forced them open.

The weight of small arms shifted from her shoulders to her face. Clumsy little hands tried shoving the mess away from both her eyes. A knee leaned on her collarbone ... Lemura must have been sitting on her stomach, but Sarah hadn't felt it ...

She couldn't feel anything below her chest.

The ceiling didn't become any clearer despite the slime being gone. Lemura leaned over her as a vague, white blur, and that was the last Sarah was aware of.

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Jay leaned his chin on his crossed arms and looked at the other end of the table, where Bison meticulously cleaned the ugly little ball of white flesh as if it did not repulse him at all. Jay couldn't imagine himself touching that thing with such a calm face, especially not in a situation such as this.

Bison continued his work steadily, with only a few struggles from the thing. It was almost like a ragdoll, a very ugly and waxy one.

With a sigh, Bison set down the towel and looked up at Jay, the creature in his bare hands. Egads.

"Would you please make yourself useful and go check on Sarah?"

"Wha? Why all of the sudden?"

"Sarah may be waking."

Jay looked from Bison's face to the closed eyes of the little chimera, then back at the human. "Oh crap, tell me that thing isn't talking to you?"

"I think she is," Bison whispered, which not nearly enough panic. "You know, these chips are designed to block animalistic impulses from the outside. Maybe she's too advanced."

Jay's face contorted. "You're becoming one of them."

Bison stared back calmly. "Really? You noticed that just now?"

Jay grinned, though with and threw his arms up. "Oh, what the hell."

He got to his feet and paced down the hall.

They had placed Sarah in one of the storage rooms, repurposing a cryogenic tube as sick bed. It had taken remodeling the robotic arms a little to safely get her in one, but after that it was easy to get her here. It was the best they could do for now, that and hope she got better.

Didn't look so bright with what seemed to be a case of thoroughly broken spine. They would have brought her straight to sick bay if they hadn't known she had survived being fatally shot.

Upon entering that room, Jay turned the light a little brighter. Sarah was still out of it.

"Stats, Nuitar?"

"The same as before. Did you expect otherwise?"

Jay shrugged. Deep down, he was a little relieved that Bison had been imagining things.

Now he was here anyway, he looked over their arrangements, trying to figure out a way to improve things.

"Why are you sneaking around like that?"

He nearly jumped at Sarah's voice.

"You're awake?"

"Eh, yes, and?" Sarah said, like she'd just affirmed the most obvious thing ever. "Where am I?"

"Cryo bed thing we cooked up. How are you doing?"

"Like limbo. Bison seems to get along with Lemu."

Jay chuckled nervously. "Yeah, that geek would."

"Well, there is the thing that, you, eh, you broke your spine."

"Shit. We're in deep trouble."

"Hell yes we are. Can you miracle yourself out of this perchance?"

"Jay, a broken back isn't quite the same as altering the functions of a one lung and keeping the brain intact. I've lived breathing on my spare lung for a dozen days, but I only have one spine to go with."

A silence fell.

"Want me to get you a blanket down here? Maybe we could all stay down here under some work related excuse, then it won't stand out if you're not around till you get better."

"Yes, do that. We don't know who else is here, so maybe we should stay together all the time."

Jay's head jerked back up. "What?"

"Just before, Lemura said someone else is here. It's why there's more weird things with the drone parts."

"That can't be, Nuitar's part is really small and Utara has a good look of the rest of the place? Right?"

"What if they just think they do? They can be blinded if they don't have enough power, and we're surrounded by things that eat energy. And ... sometimes I dream of halls and passages that I can't find on the maps. Codes, wires, information, cyberspace ... it's too much sometimes."

That was a horribly good point, about the energy eating and blind spots. He didn't want to think about it.

"Can you bring Lemu to me, please?"

"Utara and Nuitar are the masters of the ship, they've got no reason to hide things like passages. They're just dreams."

"You don't need to believe me. Please bring Lemura to me, she's calling. Jay?"

"Yeah ... give me a moment."

Back in the other room, Bison had set Lemura on the table and tried to get her to crawl by holding out some candy.

"Sarah says the little thing detected someone else down here," Jay said, giving Bison a probing look. "What do you think of that?"

Calm as ever, Bison set down the candy. "If you're suggesting I'm withholding information, I can't really disprove that, can I?"

Jay had arrived on Enigma II, recruited for having the knowledge and being in need for a job after his colony collapsed. A scrap from a vanity project. Once he realized what Enigma II was, he had refused to cooperate with the worst and now was effectively a prisoner for labor. Bison had been here already and Jay had assumed he was in a similar position. Sometimes he just wasn't entirely sure that guess was accurate.

"I was just asking."

Bison shrugged. "I don't think anything, we don't know enough. We never do."

"I guess so."

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