Date: 2424 AD

CHOCK

The sound of the axe echoed through a silent forest, the thud of steel upon wood and the splitting of the log silencing any fauna who might have made a sound in this wilderness. Well, wilderness was technically an incorrect way to describe anything on this planet, Vereka had been a desolate wasteland of blue and red rock before the Terrans had arrived here and terraformed it into a livable location. Technically, nothing was 'wild' as everything had been originally brought here from Earth, over a hundred years ago.

"The good news is, there's been no report of any kind of transmission to non-humans. AI are obviously immune, and no uplift has been infected by Project Genesis yet. That's the only good news. Quarantines have broken down, AI can't protect anyone outside the main cities, and the official death toll stands at 47 million. It's higher, I know it's higher, we just haven't found all the dead yet."

The radio played as Dr Johnathan reached for the next log on the pile, working quickly and efficiently to chop up the firewood. He might have been a professor, but all Terrans of his age knew at least a little bit of how to survive. He was just a kid when the Great Colony Rebellion had happened, he'd grown up as temperature dropped and countries collapsed.

Canada, that's what his home had once been called, back when Terrans had only just left their solar system, before things became governed at a far larger planetary scale. None of the original countries existed anymore: They say that the dinosaurs had been wiped out by a single meteor and its plumes of dust blocking the sun, and the 'rods of god' that had been dropped on Earth during the war had numbered in the double digits.

It was almost… nostalgic, watching society and everything Terrans had created collapse on itself once more.

"If you're showing symptoms, the official guidance is to quarantine yourself as all hospitals are overwhelmed. I'm not going to lie to you: There is no treatment. The lifespan increases from the drugs we have are measured in hours, and they're being depleted rapidly."

The voice being broadcast on the 'radio' was also familiar: Dr Fletcher had listened to their show many times over the last ten years, his mornings were filled with the voices of Peaches and Vivian. The duo of human and feline uplift had a popular show on the planet, although now only the shaky sad voice of the uplift remained.

"The AI, they're trying their best, trying to use what they can to build as many stasis chambers as we can, but… don't have enough time. They're giving them out by lottery. One in ten. We have enough stasis chambers for one in ten, and then, and then we get to watch the rest die."

Dr Johnathan Fletcher slammed the axe down once more, the log splitting with ease as the setting sun danced between the trees around him. They were as isolated as you could get without heading into space, the nearest settlement a tiny grouping of buildings a hundred miles north. Only the wildlife, wind and river made any noise out here.

"There's other groups who are making chambers, at Heldever Dam and a few in the plains near Keltona. But… there's no protection there, the AI government isn't able to get the power supplies out that far, and I've heard stories of people fighting over supplies, terrible stories."

He picked up the logs, placing them into the simple box he was going to use to carry them back to the campfire they'd made for the night. They had no electricity, none of the AI powered creature comforts most of humanity had gotten used to. The most 'advanced' thing they'd brought was the case of medigel and the radio he was listening to right now to keep up to date on what was happening, everything else as silent and undisruptive as possible.

"I… never told Y how much I cared. She was the one who uplifted me, you know. I always pretended that I didn't care, that I didn't need her. I said I only stayed here for the easy job, but really I stayed because of her. I hope Vivian's safe."

It was important that they were kept as hidden as possible. Sure they were miles away from civilization, but as civilization collapsed, Johnathan knew what desperate people were capable of. He still had vague memories of what people had done during his childhood, the first time society had crumbled. At least this time it would be faster, since Project Genesis didn't allow for the longevity of such a situation.

"I… don't know if anyone's still listening to this. But if you are, stay safe out there. Here's Vivian's favourite song, Tears in a Storm, by Jaxon Reeve."

Fletcher bent down and turned off the device, removing the sound of a soft sad song, picking it up along with the axe and enough firewood for the night. He could see the faint whispers of smoke from their camp's fire, getting larger and more defined as he took steps towards it in the fading sunlight, eventually allowing him to pick out the silhouette of a figure.

A silhouette that meant everything would be alright. She was the love of his life, as long as Dr Johnathan Fletcher had his wife by his side, there was no storm he couldn't weather. Which is why he felt the panic start deep in his heart as he heard the sound of coughing as he approached the campfire. He dropped the box of firewood and ran to his wife's side, a despair and terror filling his every being as held her as she started to cough up blood.

—---------------------

Date: 77 PST (Post Stasis Time)

"Five. Star. Triangle. Green."

The recording showed the test subject saying the words with confidence each time the top card of the deck was flipped by Dr Johnathan, the picture on the simple white card matching what was stated each time. The subject's voice was harsh on the ears of everyone who wasn't a Thryzari, the grinding of rock upon rock making up the majority of their language.

"Spaceship. Terran Alliance Flag. The Terran Letter 'A'."

Each time the Thryzari spoke, the three crystalline looking orbs that made up nearly the entirety of the being span slowly in place a simple pedestal, three three legs and three arms with the appearance of granite moved about slowly as they continued to speak each word. The Thryzari were one of the stranger species of the Terran Alliance, originally evolving from deep underground on their home planet, perfectly adept to camouflaged among the opals and stalactites of the caves of their homeworld.

They were also the only member of the Terran Alliance with notable XK capabilities.

"XK Capabilities are measured on a logarithmic scale, with everyone attuned to some extent." Jojnathan spoke simply and efficiently as the recording continued "An Average Human registers at a 3, which is why people can tell if someone is watching them, or why you sometimes get a sense of deja vu. The Thryzari are generally rated around 5.5 to 6, in this volunteer's case making them capable of prediction up to eight seconds into the future with near perfect accuracy. Their species is also known for a mild form of hypnotic persuasion."

There was a pause as Lena slowly reached over from the position where they were hovering, pressing a few keys on a computer and watching as a small device placed on the table in between the Terran and the Thryzari lit up and activated. Dr Fletcher nimblely reshuffled the deck of cards before placing back down upon the steel surface.

"Announcement: Now that the device is turned on, we will repeat the test."

The difference was clear and distinct, the gradual spinning of the orbs upon the Thryzari going from a calm smooth motion, to a more panicked unstable trajectory.

"Square? Red… no Green circle. 8? I… I don't know. I don't like this."

The grinding sound of the Thryzari's voice was louder, discomfort and worry obvious even without the translator stating as much. Each flip of the card now revealed a wrong answer for the first time.

"Terran Alliance Flag? This is weird, this is wrong, I can't see what will happen. Is this what it's like for everyone else? How in the dark do you live like this, not knowing what's going to happen? Can we stop, please turn it off."

Rux looked up from his pad, the Quoxxett giving a simple nod of approval as he finished watching the video of the test. The little rodent took a moment to go through the video a few more times, checking the results and overall output of the device the Terran and Scythen pair had created.

"Impressive stuff dude! All that from a machine smaller than I am. Damn that's gonna be a game changer if you can mass produce it."

Rux was indeed correct as he enthusiastically went back to drinking hot chocolate topped with whipped cream in a glass half his size. While XK limiting devices did exist, the technology was known to be highly inefficient and not suitable for personal use: Mostly due to them being the size of a bus, with the power requirements to match. Johnathan and Lena's device could be comfortably placed inside a pocket and carried around with each person on the battlefield.

Once again the four academics: Rux, Spencer, Lena and Johnathan were at their standard spot in the cafe, talking with each other after Johnathan's successful trial of his XK blocker.

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"Indeed, it's very impressive." Spencer added softly, scratching and pulling on his fur like he always did.

The black labrador looked… drained, tired and desperately wanting to see the end of his research, only being forced out of his lab for this catchup at MATILDA's insistence. The Uplift's sour mood was only made worse by the funny taste of his lemonade that didn't seem quite right, spitting it out with a grimace and getting up from his seat.

"Sorry, this drink doesn't taste right, I'm going to go get another." Spencer announced as he left to go grab another.

Lena couldn't help but feel pride in their Terran friend's accomplishments, Rux wasn't exaggerating, what they'd created really was something special, pushing forward Terran understanding of XK waves by decades in a few short months.

For all Johnathan's chaos and Terran brand… actions, he really was a talented academic. This kind of deal was exactly why the Scythen spent their time slowly influencing chosen members of allied species to speed their technological development along.

"Yeah, yeah, everyone was very impressed when we showed them."

Jonathan did not sound impressed, enthused, or happy as he spoke, staring glumly into their coffee, mind lying elsewhere. While their official task had been pushing ahead at full speed, the Terran was far more worried about their unofficial failures.

"Dude, what's up with you?" Rux exclaimed, pointing at Dr Fletcher. "You should be ecstatic, you've created something that will let us take on those Uhae bastards! You look like someone died."

"Explaination: Friend Johnathan is sulking because our attempts at gaining access to Dr Xavius' lab have been unsuccessful."

Lena's normal neutral electronic voice was tainted with a hint of humor, the Scythen finding the Terran's obsession about Dr Xavius's research amusing. The claim also caused the entire table to groan in response.

"That again?" Rux rolled their eyes "Why are you so obsessed with some other scientist's work, it's all you talk about!"

"Indeed," Spencer added, finally returning with a freshly created cup of lemonade, still fizzing with carbonation. "You have near infinite resources to work on your cutting edge research, yet spend half your time sneaking around the facility."

Dr Fletcher couldn't help but feel a little defensive at that statement. Sure, he'd spent more time than he'd want to admit being thwarted by MATILDA's defense, but it wasn't interfering with his actual research. Frankly, most of his research was just sitting around waiting for simulation to finish running or new devices to be constructed. He'd always found the science part of the job quick and easy.

"It's not like I'm ignoring that part. I'm still getting my job done, it's just… they're clearly hiding something."

"Everyone is hiding something Johnathan." Spencer responded with a sigh, a huff of annoyance escaping his lips. "You're working on something that could help billions in their battle against the Uhae, focus on the right thing for goodness sake."

The uplift took another sip of new drink, face once again turning to a grimace as Spencer immediately let the liquid drop from his mouth back into the cup, a measure of frustration running through every strand of black fur on his body.

"This isn't right, is something off with this replicator? The taste isn't right in my mouth, that's not what lemonade tastes like…"

The remaining trio stared at Spencer with confusion for a moment as he left the group once more to retry his luck with the machine, each of them looking down at their own perfectly reasonable drinks sat in front of them, before returning to the discussion.

"Look." Rux started, pointing at Johnathan as he spoke with a matter of fact tone. "You're complaining about a secret military black site for research being all secretive. What did you expect? There are tons of secrets in this place no one knows the answer to: What handsome bastard is secretly supplying everyone with MDMA? Why do kids like the taste of cinnamon crunch? Mysteries nobody is going to solve."

Well, most people would guess the answer to the first 'mystery', it was well known Rux was both a fan of 'fun enhancers' and was more than willing to share, with rumors going around he had a hacked replicator stashed somewhere. Dr Fletcher ignored this though to continue to lament about his issues.

"They're clearly doing something messed up, otherwise they wouldn't be doing this off all known records, not even MATILDA knows what Xavius is researching."

The little Quoxxett leaned back for a moment, stroking their chin for a second before responding with the question a lot of people would ask.

"Why do you even care? The Estorians can be described in two words: 'not cool'. So what if Xavius is doing a no no against them?"

Lena couldn't help but watch this exchange with full interest, as the Terrans caring this much about their enemies was an oddity as species went. Sure, practically every single species in the galaxy had rules of war, but most of them were focused primarily on the most efficient way to apply such warfare. Killing prisoners was a no no not for moral reasons, but simply because it reduced the change of further enemy combatants surrendering.

Terrans were one of the few where the morality of war was just as debated as the act itself.

"War or no war, nobody deserves Geneva breaking bullshit thrown at them, we're supposed to be better than this."

"The Estorians deserve it."

Spencer announced his return to the conversation with a sour look on his face and a new freshly made drink in hand, a hard stern sound to his voice as the uplift retook his seat, announcing his presence with the hard line opinion.

"What?" Johnathan's voice was full of shock as he tried to wonder if the normally soft spoken uplift was being serious, or if they'd misheard the statement.

"Whatever Xavius is making, warcrime or not, they deserve it. Trust me." Spencer didn't lower his gaze as he stared Dr Fletcher down while speaking, a mixture of anger, hurt and conviction in his voice as he did so.

"You don't get to decide that, you can't make that-"

"Yes I can!" Spencers voice finally rose to a shout, the uplift glaring at Dr Fletcher as anger ran through the black labrador's tired eyes. "You sit here spouting your stupid morality and complaining day in and out without any thought as to what those bastards did to people, did to him! The Raha are murderous religious zealots who torture people for fun, they and anyone allied to them deserve anything that's coming to them! Maybe you should stop worrying about an empire run on slavery and cruelty, and focus on helping people in your god damned actual job before whining constantly!"

All eyes were now plastered on the shouting uplift, Spencer taking another sip of his new drink before spitting this out as well, this time tossing the glass to the floor in a rage as nothing tasted right upon his tongue, nothing seemed the same as it was before.

"And why does everything taste wrong?!" The Labrador screamed in despair, staring at the shattered glass fragments upon the floor before noticing that his conversation was no longer being monitored by only the three other companions, but instead other groups had turned their attention to the shouting from Spencer.

The normally quiet scientist stood there, looking around at all the eyes staring at him from other tables, before rushing to the exit without a word, pushing past a few onlookers who stared with confusion at the uplift.

"Is Spencer OK?" Rux asked slowly, the Quoxxett no longer being as cocky and jovial, legitimate worry creeping into his body language unsure as to what to do next.

"Worried statement: His actions have become more sporadic recently. I will ensure Spencer is OK, since he will not want friend Johnathan to do this."

Realistically Lena was the only one who could help Spencer, since Johnathan was the source of the uplift's annoyance, and Rux wasn't exactly the most sensitive person. The Scythen hurried away after the uplift as fast as their hovering disk could take them, ensuring Spencer was ok and leaving the remaining two scientists alone.

"Weirdly specific crashout aside, Spencer does have a point." Rux stated, going back to his drink. "What Dr Xavius is doing is all you talk about, it's kind of a huge bummer."

"Well they're clearly doing something-"

Johnathan started to defend himself, but was interrupted by a tiny little hand held up by the Quoxxett

"Which is why I'm going to let you into a secret, so you stop your constant moaning and complaining." Rux interrupted, " Do you know why I always suggest we meet here?"

"It's a nice little cafe?" Jonathan asked warily, getting the inkling that this wasn't the case.

"This place sucks." Rux responded bluntly "You have to grab your own drinks, there's no EDM playing, and a lack of chicks. No, this place does have one little interesting thing about it. One of the few places with no cameras."

With that the little rodent hopped off his chair and onto the ground, walking towards a nearly indistinguishable panel bolted into the ground while he continued to narrate his journey.

"The Quoxxett are what the Terran Galnet would describe as 'short kings', since very few sentient species are around our size. From my experience, larger species tend to have a blindness for anything small, which is why this flaw exists."

It took a few seconds for Rux to finish off unscrewing the panel, shifting it out of the way to show a small tunnel, lined with thousands of wires. Johnathan also noted that not only was this the chair they always sat at, but several of the nearby planters perfectly blocked the outside view of what Rux was doing.

"These tunnels run all over the place, connecting everything together, miles and miles of pathways. It's also completely unmonitored, because who could fit down there? Me, that's the answer, I can fit down there. Really useful for trading stuff."

Johnathan frowned for a moment, as a vague rumor of a secret illicit items network popped into his head.

"Wait, is that how you got your hands on cinnamon the last time you had a 'scientific minds meetup'?"

Outside of his weapons work, Rux was well known for hosting the best parties, including getting ahold of items that Quoxxett weren't allowed to have: cinnamon being a mild psychedelic to the small rodents.

"Exactly! But how kickass my events are are besides the point. I can tell you these wires go everywhere, including Dr Xavius's lab. Travel along them, get inside, then you can stop moping about all the time!"

"In case you haven't noticed Rux, there's no way I'll fit down there."

Rux gave an eye roll at that statement, staring at the Terran as if he's said the dumbest thing ever.

"I was getting to that! I know a guy, I always know a guy. He's working on shrinking tech, basically 100% safe… probably. Only a little bit of cancer. You use it, shrink down, and you're now fun-sized!"

Jonathan couldn't help but wonder if this was a good idea, eyes narrowing with suspicion

"And 'your guy' will just let me use their experimental tech?"

"Well… he still owes me from the MDMA I delivered to him."

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