Volume 6: Gamma-11, Chapter 6.40

After fucking

twice

, I finally put my foot down before we could get into it a third time.

We got dressed and I wore one of the casual blue jumpsuits they provided—always wildly comfortable and totally form-fitting without needing a tailor thanks to the space-age materials it was made form, and then of course Eve wrapped herself in her classic, organic goth-princess gown.

Eve was all giggles and excited energy now, satisfied from all the sex, but more than that we were finally free to touch each other without a barrier in the way. We could kiss, hold hands, we could play with each other’s hair, so many little affections we missed, now we were free to indulge in them once more.

We finished packing the little suitcases (filled with a few spare outfits and some futuristic toiletries), and as we left the room I was surprised Eve kept her biomass nest up without resorbing anything, but Eve said since that was supposed to be our room for when we visited, it was good to keep there so we’d be more comfortable when we returned—or at least she would be.

Plus, Eve confirmed it would be smart to leave a presence on the station so she could keep an eye on what the supremacists were doing, and even though they’d be careful to work around her spying since they knew most of the Predazoan tricks, there was no way they could prepare for everything.

We walked though the halls of

Supremacy-01

pushing our suitcases that had a nice hover function, looking like we were a couple of fucking tourists ready to head out for a holiday. We passed a few soldiers along the way, always clad in that black armor, and they always moved out of our way quickly.

I leaned over to Eve when we passed a rather large group, “Hey, whatever happened with their assault on

The Judicator

—it’s all over and done with, right?” I asked.

Eve nodded along, “Oh yes, ended just a few hours after we boarded

Supremacy-01

. They ended up losing nine void ships during the attack before they decided to finally pull back, but by all accounts, it was a successful weapons test on their end, able to get through the repulser shields to actually damage

The Judicator’s

hull and everything.” She explained.

“So what happens next, keep attacking Imperial vessels, or stay and continue to develop the Predazoan technology safe inside the void?” I inquired.

Eve shook her head, “The supremacists don’t have the manpower to run an active campaign against the Empire, so naturally the smartest move would be to work to improve their weaponry until they pose a significant threat without the numbers.” She gestured to the random soldiers down the hall, “It’s not like they can hold open interviews for people to join their extremist group; the soldiers now are mostly a collection of smaller fringe organizations, zealots, Imperial rebels, and of course a healthy scattering of pirates to round things out.”

My eyebrows shot up, “They got space pirates working for them?”

Eve trilled a cute giggle, “Why, want to join them so you can finally be a real space outlaw?”

I flashed her a cocky grin, “Aren’t I already a space outlaw considering we faked our deaths to escape from Imperial control?”

Eve’s giggle trailed off into a sigh, “I suppose that’s technically true, my darling, endlessly silly boy.”

I had no idea how Eve knew where we were going, but she led us through the void station until we reached a central lift, and I wasn’t sure if he’d been waiting for us, but I saw Doctor Wit rushing forward to catch us before we could escape again.

“Wait, hold on a second!” Wit called out, lumbering after us like a wrecking ball he was so large.

Eve sighed and turned to face him, “We’re on the way to see your director before we depart—just like you wanted.” She assured him.

Wit stopped before us and paused to catch his breath.

“And you didn’t think to call me? You two disappear in that room for almost two cycles, and then you suddenly appear and want to just leave?” Wit asked, clearly trying to hide his frustrations.

Eve offered him a pleasant smile, “Precisely.”

The lift opened behind us, and Wit rushed forward to bark out some orders so he could clear it out for us.

“Well, at least let me escort you to the command center.” Wit insisted.

Eve sigh, but clearly wasn’t about to fight him, “Very well.”

We all got into the lift together and Wit pressed the button to send us on our way. While we were waiting Eve leaned over to hold my hand, but my curiosity over Wit’s involvement in all this had me distracted.

“So how the hell did you get roped up in all this?” I asked him.

Wit chuckled and shook his head, “I didn’t get roped up in all this, I was involved from the very beginning, always a supporter of the Predazoan research, while opposed to its eventual military takeover. However, I was a small-time researcher and knew how to keep my head down to keep my true motives hidden from the Empire, and then when NX-947b was destroyed, luck would have it I was lined up for a huge promotion; that blessing helped to boost our faction’s resources and intelligence significantly.” He explained.

I quirked an eyebrow up, “Then you were always just playing along, working the system from the inside until you could finally break out?”

Wit flashed me a toothy grin, “I could say it was the same for you, right?”

I turned to Eve who batted her eyelashes at me, then I looked back at Wit, “I wouldn’t say it’s

exactly

the same.” I said, and Eve trilled a cute giggle.

Wit nodded along and chuckled himself, “I suppose you’re right.”

“And that’s it then, you’re done working for the Empire and leaking information to your supremacy group?” I asked.

“After

The Judicator

took over and locked down most of our research efforts, there wasn’t much of a reason for me to stick around. I’m not sure if their restructuring was all for trying to control you and Eve, or if they suspected some leaks, either way my time was just about done. After you two left for the Derrion System, me and the other double-agents stole a shuttle and escaped from

The Radiance

so we could work on

Supremacy-01

full-time from that point.” He clarified.

“Other double-agents, anyone I’d know?” I asked.

Wit shook his head, “Doubtful—certainly not any of the friends you were hoping for, sorry.” He smiled sheepishly, “It’s rather hard to recruit people to our cause you can imagine.”

I nodded along, “Right right.”

We made small talk during the rest of the ride to the command center, with Wit asking us questions about what all the Lord Generals had done to contain us and our eventual escape, in turn I asked him a little more about what it was like working against the Empire from the inside.

Neither side wanted to give away too much information, and I was once again reminded how Eve warned me these people weren’t allies, just the enemy of our enemy.

Wit radioed ahead he was escorting us to the command center, and when we arrived at the right floor he continued forward to lead us down the next hallway, and I noticed the guards seemed much more strategically placed now.

I looked over at Eve, and she was still holding my hand while pushing the hover suitcases with the other, and if she was concerned or on edge at all she certainly didn’t show it. Either she was confident we weren’t in any danger at all since she was at full power once again, or she hid her doubts perfectly.

Finally, Wit brought us to a large bulkhead door in the center of the void station, and he put in his security clearance codes to lead us inside.

We continued into the command center, and same as everywhere else it was mostly black—the walls, floors and ceiling that same weird space-age obsidian glass. The room was like an elongated oval, with a row of pristine white computer consoles on either side, manned by a few dozen technicians wearing uniforms that seemed like mix between the strange dark armor and researcher jackets. I also noticed there were a dozen guards placed evenly throughout the room, all equipped with some strange black gun that mostly looked like a normal pump-action shotgun from Earth, but instead of the pump there was a strange canister of glowing blue liquid—probably that weird liquid plasma that could melt through a repulser shield.

I’d guess with those fancy new guns they’d be able to kill me rather easily despite my enhancements, might even pose some danger to Eve too.

In the center of the room was an elevated chair with a computer console on either side, and when I saw the person sitting in the command chair, I was more than a little surprised.

“Finally, so glad you’re here.” The woman said, her voice deep and elegant, and she gestured to the room around her, “Welcome to

Supremacy-01

.”

The woman appeared to belong to the same race as Lord General Kei-Torruk with the metallic grey skin, she was quite large for a woman, maybe a few inches taller than me and maybe a little more muscular. She wasn’t wearing a face modulator like Kei-Torruk, so I could see she had a rather unusual mouth with three flaps that hooked upwards that looked like a weird mix of lips and tusks. She had long black hair slicked straight back, with some dark spikes and quills framing either side of her hair. She was wearing the same armor as the soldiers around her, but with a researcher’s coat as well.

However, it wasn’t what she was wearing or even her alien face and body that seemed so strange, it was the weird physical enhancements I noticed that threw me.

Rather than any mechanical or cybernetic alterations, the woman appeared to have one of her arms covered in leathery black flesh—several ropes of tentacles coiled together like muscles, with only two clawed fingers and a thumb compared to her other normal hand. She also had a large patch of black leathery skin on her face that spread around her left eye, and the eye on that side was yellow and glowing—exactly like a Predazoan eye.

For a moment I wondered if the woman was a Predazoan herself, but there was no way Eve wouldn’t have mentioned that—probably never would’ve aligned herself with one of her sisters in the first place, at least not again after they all worked together to escape and destroy NX-947b.

The woman gestured to herself with her normal hand, and I could see she had a repulser barrier over her body, different from what I’d seen before, this one was red and seemed to follow the contours of her body—kind of like an inhibitor field.

“I’m Director Ventrella, founding member and commander of the Evolutionary Supremacist Coalition.” She announced grandly, then turned to Eve, “I’m thrilled your plan to escape the Empire went off without any complications.”

Eve nodded once, “Yes, great, thanks for your help.” She said dismissively, then gestured towards the director, “I assume everything on your end worked out fine?”

It looked like the director was trying to smile, but the expression was strange with her tusk-flap mouth, “Yes, we dealt a significant blow to the Empire, and we acquired some invaluable data during the exchange.” She put her elbow on the arm of her chair to rest her chin on her normal hand, “So what is your plan moving forward? You said you wanted to hide from the Empire for a while and bide your time before striking back at them, so do you intend to hunt down more of your sisters?” She asked.

I wasn’t sure if it was on purpose, but it almost seemed like the director was ignoring me or at least focusing all her attention on Eve. Maybe I was overthinking it; I didn’t know the woman after all, and Eve apparently did from her time trapped in the void, and it wasn’t like I’d ever have anything to contribute to a conversation about the Empire and the factions rebelling against it.

But Eve noticed too, and she moved closer to me and squeezed my hand reassuringly.

“My beloved Adam and I are going to take some time to get away from all this nonsense, to rest and recuperate and spend some much-needed quality time together.” Eve confirmed.

Finally, Ventrella acknowledged me, barely inclining her head, “Welcome, Adam, we’re all happy you survived the ordeal and escaped with Eve.”

The director sounded anything but happy when she said that, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think the supremacy group wanted Eve free and unbound from her human lover, to evolve in whatever way they believed a Predazoan should evolve, without being influenced by some dumb mortal.

Despite being at odds with the Empire, it seemed like neither faction wanted me around.

I nodded along, “Right yeah, thanks for all your help.” I gestured towards her, “So what’s your deal, have you been performing Predazoan experiments on yourself?” I asked brazenly.

It was probably my rebellious human spirit acting up, but I didn’t like the director’s high-and-mighty attitude, and I had a strange sense of wanting to put her in her place—to remind her she wasn’t a true Predazoan like my Evie.

I saw a couple of technicians shift uncomfortably in their seats, but Eve beside me seemed rather impressed as she flashed me a subtle grin.

Eve’s demand for respect from lesser lifeforms was really starting to rub off on me.

But Ventrella wasn’t bothered, rather she kept that regal air about her all the while, “I assume you met Lord General Kei-Torruk and saw all his cybernetic enhancements?”

I nodded along, “Yeah, of course.”

Ventrella held up her strange black hand, “We belong to the same race, the tynterions; before our people evolved beyond animalistic intelligence, we developed tools, and as we evolved, our tools evolved, and when we developed religion, our tools and primitive technology became a central part of that.” She explained.

“Okay.” I said, wondering why I was getting a history lesson now.

Ventrella lowered her hand and leaned back in the seat, “Thanks to religious fanaticism, our people believed technological development was a core aspect of evolution, and eventually we developed technology that could integrated into our bodies—cybernetics. Even when our planet was using simple steam power, my people cut off their own limbs to graft a claw onto their body for an arm, or wheels instead of legs. We believed we were becoming one with the machine god, but we had to be careful not to become too much of a machine ourselves, otherwise we would lose our souls to the machine.”

“Right.” I nodded along, again, no idea what the fuck this lady was going on about.

Ventrella turned back towards me, “So when our race was uplifted to join with the rest of the Empire, naturally we flourished with all the new technology, and rather than diminish, our religion continued to grow in power and influence to the point our race gained significant influence over the rest of the Empire thanks to all our assistance in expanding existing technology.

“However, while our race dove straight into mechanical and cybernetic technology, most were greatly opposed to genetic and biological experimentation, considering that the work of heretics; back when my race was still bound to our home planet, doctors had to tread carefully not to push medical research too far, otherwise they’d be branded as heretics and killed, and even after being uplifted into the Empire, those wild superstitions remained.”

Finally, Ventrella seemed to be wrapping things up, “I am a heretic, born to a long line of doctors who faced severe persecution in the past, I was always fascinated with the forbidden knowledge of biology, and thanks to how expansive the Empire is, I was free to study genetics without fear of persecution.”

I quirked up an eyebrow, “Sounds like you’re thankful for the Empire.”

It was subtle, but Ventrella narrowed her gaze at me, “Hardly. Even after joining what should be an enlightened population, supposedly free to research whatever I wanted, the military came in and took over—weaponized my project, rather than help usher in a new stage of biological evolution.” She said.

“

Your

project?”

Ventrella nodded, “I was a founding member of the original Predazoan cloning program—but they dismissed and blacklisted me when I rebelled against the military when they took over.”

Holy shit, so she was one of the original top-dogs before things transferred over to the Lord Generals—before Kei-Torruk and the others took over. I wondered if there was some personal beef between the two, like if Kei-Torruk was running his own little crusade against the Predazoan heresy.

I gestured towards her, “So what, you decided to continue the experiments on yourself instead?”

Ventrella seemed to smile with her weird mandibles, “Despite resisting my race’s beliefs at every turn, I found myself compelled to try to achieve perfection too, but rather than receive cybernetic enhancements like the other tynterions, I worked to perfect myself with biological enhancements.” She confirmed.

My eyes grew wide, “So what, you’ve turned yourself into some kind of Predazoan hybrid?” I pressed.

Eve snorted a quick laugh beside me, “She wishes.” She said flippantly.

Ventrella didn’t seem upset by Eve’s remark, she didn’t even try to deny it, “I’ve used my Predazoan genetics research to further my evolution, and while it’s turned me into an irredeemable heretic in the eyes of my race, I’m still nowhere even close to perfection—nothing like the miraculous Predazoans.” She confirmed.

I could definitely see where Ventrella fit in with all this; a crazed zealot obsessed with the Predazoans, but like Eve was saying, the director surely had her own agenda—probably wanted to become a Predazoan herself, rather than just give the universe over to Eve and her sisters.

Still, they were more agreeable than the Empire, so while I wouldn’t call them allies, I’d feel much more comfortable dealing with them—at least for now; no telling how things would turn out in the future once all the factions started clashing with conflicting aspirations.

When Ventrella’s explanation finished, she turned her attention back towards Eve, “So where do you plan to go on this holiday with your Adam? Outside the Empire’s influence I would imagine.” She inquired.

Eve had a cute, grumpy frown on her face, and I wondered briefly if Eve was going to keep our destination hidden from the supremacists, but after a few silent moments of deliberation, she let out a quick sigh.

“We’re returning to Adam’s home planet—Earth.” She narrowed her eyes until they were slits, “And I expect you all to keep your distance and leave the pre-contact planet well enough alone.” She insisted.

Ventrella chuckled, but it didn’t sound like it held even an ounce of genuine amusement, “I assure you we have no interest in that primitive planet. However, you should know one of your sisters decided to follow your footsteps and made her way towards Earth too.”

My eyes grew wide, “Holy shit, are you serious?” I blurted out.

Eve continued to glare at the director, “Who?”

“It’s Beta-06.” Ventrella said, and then her mandibles widened into that weird smile once more, “Your daughter.”

Volume 6 End