The return trip to my territory on Chiron was uneventful. Once we had landed, the genetic heroes hastily began unloading things they'd taken off the ship, which they planned to make into trophies. I could really blame them, especially since I'd sent a few fabbers and CNDRs to pick up the remains of the bot I'd smashed through the wall for similar reasons. Idly, I noted I'd need to add to the trophy room to include a mount for the remains. Said remains would likely end up being the only remnants I'd have of something I defeated with my own two hands.

I was wrong about that last part, but that is irrelevant for now.

Once the genetic heroes had gone to their quarters, I turned my attention to examining the Artifact I'd recovered. The children had been taken by their tutors to begin learning how to command their powers, while Rory had fallen asleep. The sight of him curled up on a couch was too adorable to disturb, so all I did was drape a blanket over his sleeping form. As for Melissa, well, she was busy helping herself to my pantry along with her daughter, leaving me alone for the time being.

This provided me an opportunity to examine both the Artifact and its accompanying AI unmolested, something I was looking forward to doing. Previous artifacts had given me visions, but with nothing else to provide context. Maybe this one would be more helpful? Given that it couldn't tell me who had created it, though, that helpfulness might be limited.

Well, time to get to work.

XXXXXXXXXX

AN: In the following exchange, Flame's responses will be written in normal text, while the AI's will be written in all caps.

Hello.

GREETINGS.

Nice to see you active again. Could you answer a few questions for me?

OF COURSE, BUT ONLY IF MY DIRECTIVES ARE NOT COMPROMISED DOING SO.

Okay. First off, what is the purpose of the memory holders?

ELABORATE.

Is there a meaning to the visions they send?

THEY PROVIDE A WARNING.

A warning?! A warning of what?

MY CREATOR'S ENEMY. I CANNOT TELL YOU WHO SAID ENEMY IS, ONLY THAT IT IS POWERFUL.

I see. Are you from a different universe than this one?

YES.

Okay. Since there are six artifacts in this universe, does each one carry it's own memory or do the carry the same one?

ASSUMING THAT YOU ATE TREATING ARTIFACTS AND MEMORY HOLDERS IN THAT QUESTION AS SYNONOMOUS, BOTH, TO A DEGREE. EACH ARTIFACT CONTAIN'S A PORTION OF ONE MEMORY, AND YOU WILL NEED ALL SIX TO SEE WHAT IT IS.

Noted.

DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS.

Not yet.

THEN I WOULD LIKENTO POWER DOWN FOR THE TIME BEING.

Very well.

GOODNIGHT.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Well, that wasn't exactly too helpful. However, at least now I had some goal to shoot toward, besides helping people: finding the rest of the artifacts in this universe. Of course, that would be easier if I knew what to look for.

I pulled up the schematics for the ARKYD and started tinkering with them. First off, I added in larger scanners and power sources, as well as some advanced cameras I'd obtained from examining the orbital telescopes on Chiron. Additional radio telescopes were added to improve its signal tracking capacity, with extra computers added in to assist in data analysis. Lastly, I added in a couple of small weapon system onto the satellite, to deter pirate craft from attacking it, then tuned the radio telescopes to track the signal I was looking for. Boom, a tracker for the unknown signal. Until I had a better name for it, the satellite design would be designated ARKYD-rho. I set a couple of them up to build so that I would be able to scan the galaxy for the artifacts' signals. Once I found them, I'd figure out how to retrieve them.

With that out of the way, my attentikn turned back to something I'd almost forgotten about: the people I'd rescued from the Blind Eyes. Apparently, they still hadn't woken up. My bots and the various members of my creations who had medical training had been forced to start giving them physical therapy to keep their bodies fro atrophying. If they weren't all on IV drips, they'd probably start to get really slim right about now.

I noted that most of these people had been missing for some time, at least according to public records. Most had been forgotten, due to lack of blood relatives and close friends, but a few of them did still have families who were still searching for them. Among them was a mother who's husband now had to try and care for their three kids all on his own. Reading those records just made my heart break.

I decided to examine the intel I'd stolen from the base when I'd rescued these people to see just why they'd been kidnapped. While something related to psychic powers was most likely, considering the children's plight, I needed to be sure.

XXXXXXXXXX

'To my concerned Board of Directors,

I apologize over the lack of results, but it is rapidly becoming apparent that our attempts to create a psyonic group mind are not working. The individual minds cannot be forced to subsume themselves to the whole, meaning that, at best, we may need to retire the subjects before long.

I do have a theory that might explain this issue, though. The minds may be rejecting the unification attempts because they are too mature to be subsumed. We may yet be able to create our psyonic gestalt if we focus on younger, more pliable subjects

Additionally, using younger subjects will allow us to teach them skills that would make them far more effective as operatives. Children have a far greater capacity to learn than adults, so infiltration, advanced mechanical skills, and high end calculus, among other skills, would be easier for them to come to grips with then it would for older agents.

I have already created a program to seek out potential candidates that would make a psychic gestalt a reality. If this plan is given the green light, I do not believe it will be hard to recruit these people.

Your Chief Scientist,

Dr. Harold Tragger.

Glory to EXALT.'

XXXXXXXX

Really? That's why they wanted these people? They wanted to build an army of hive minded psychic soldiers? That was ridiculous!

Also, it looked like the Blind Eues were a front for EXALT. That needed to be addressed.

I started searching for businesses that the Blind Eyes owned. Once I found one, I redistributed most of its wealth to charities, leaving only a modest sum of money behind. Gradually, I could use this to wear them down, but outrigjt ruining them financially wasn't going to be easy: any stock-based assets they owned could have transactions canceled remotely, so those assets were on ice. As a counter, I began to distribute nanites into their facilities via orbital drops from satellites. Once the nanobots were in position, they began to eat away at the buildings, weakening their supports. It wasn't enough to cause the buildings to collapse, but it would force EXALT to close the building a down for repairs, further emptying their pockets - what's this alert?

Aplrentaly, the levels of mental activity in the people I'd rescued was returning to normal...which meant they were likely to wake up in the next few hours.

Oh joy.

XXXXXXXX

AN: Sorry for any mistakes, I'm typing this up on my phone.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!