Something had changed within her. She could feel it. It was more than her recent experiences. It was something deep inside. Growing. Mutating.
Selene walked out onto her patio that simulated the fields of wheat she grew up in and took a few calming breaths. The simulation wasn't quite the same but it was better than nothing.
The wheat blew in the wind gently.
She grabbed her sketch book off the glass table near her and started to flip through it until she reached a blank page.
Then she drew. Slowly at first, but then frantically. Obsessively.
With each line she proved that she hadn't changed. That what truly mattered to her hadn't changed. That no matter where she went or who she became a small part of herself was always in this field. Drawing.
Minutes turned into hours and not before long it was past midnight.
She yawned and realized she was pretty tired. Then looked down at what she drew.
..It was the face of the encephalon. Centered and staring straight at her.
"H-how? Why?"
It was supposed to be an elephant.
She stumbled back and sat onto the lounge chair the moment the back of her knees touched it. She stared at it a moment longer. Then grabbed the book by the rind and threw it into the field. It bounced off the far end wall of the holographic projection. Breaking the illusion.
Germa let out a little whine from where she sat.
"Don't worry. I'm fine." Selene said. Petting her.
The look Germa was giving her—the genuine concern—it bugged her. It made Selene mad. Mad at the condition she was in. The position she was in. The people she worked for. The distance from her family. The lack of control she had. So many things that've just been compiling one after the other.
She went into her apartments closet and got her red hoodie. Then she racked her pistol and tucked it within her waistband. And left.
It was late at 'night' so the station was quiet. It reminded her of the time she broke quarantine back on Endelon months ago.
The halls and larger 'outdoor' sections were largely barren now. The few people that were around had not reason to pay attention to her. Despite how shady she looked—her hoodie pulled up and her hands in the front pockets.
The elevator carried her all the way to the IBT division. Then she made her way to the research and containment department.
The lobby was empty besides two researchers who were having a few drinks by the bar. Talking about the Zykra with rapt interest.
"What do you think it was? Before the Zykra?" one of them asked, as Selene casually took a seat near them.
The person they were talking to stood on the otherside of the counter pouring drinks.
"Nothing that size exists in the entire system I don't think... Crazy to think something living can get that big. And can travel warp speed no less. Like, how? Shame the DF didn't get a chance to take it down and bring it in for study."
"Where'd we keep it? There isn't a facility on the station large enough..." at this point they noticed her. They seemed to sense her distress. "Hey... Selene right? The telepath?"
"..Sleep."
She sent out a psionic signature similar to the vibe she'd gotten from the encephalon when it told her to throw up.
The researcher gave her a confused look. Then staggered a bit. Which really confused them. They fell over. The glass they held broke against the metal floor.
"Whoa! Hey, the fuck!?" their coworker whipped around in their chair and stood up. But stopped the moment Selene pulled her pistol out from her hoodie and aimed it at him.
"Relax. They're sleeping... I just need your help."
The researcher had their hands raised. Their expression made them seem less than cooperative.
"What, why?"
Selene let out a tired sigh; "Let's just skip the questions. Just do what I say, or I'll kneecap you. Or something. Let's go."
She pointed to the door into containment a few times.
"Open the door."
A flicker of realization passed over their face.
"You're not going to release the specimen do you?"
Selene scoffed.
"Ha, no. The opposite. Come on."
She reached over and yanked him towards the door. Her nano-fiber muscles made the process like picking up an unruly beagle away from a bed he wasn't supposed to be sleeping on.
They stopped ahead of the door.
"Open it."
This time he didn't have a choice. He robotically pulled out his tablet and entered a passcode. It scanned his face too. Then it opened.
As soon as it fully opened he flinched as if coming to consciousness.
"W-what the—?"
Selene pushed him. They navigated through a few more doors then, until they were at the door that mattered. The vault that led to the massive containment cell that held the encephalon.
"I-I don't have clearance for this one..."
"Who does?" she said, yawning.
"Ms. Carrington?"
Selene turned to see Dr. Bryant standing there. In an instant she pulled the researcher in with one arm and pointed her pistol at his temple.
"Right on time. Open it."
Dr. Bryant raised a hand pleadingly; "Ms. Carrington... Please, tell what your intentions are. Why are you doing this?"
Dr. Bryant was no fool. If she told him she intended to kill the encephalon using the containment protocols... He'd probably have some contingency plan to stop her.
No, convincing him to comply wasn't an option.
She closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated on her power. She felt the swirling manifestation in her minds eye build and coalesce. Then release.
"Open it."
Dr. Bryant didn't even flinch.
"No. Ms. Carr... Selene- let go of that poor man, and let's discuss this in my off-"
Open
Selene and Dr. Bryant both winced at that. The encephalon had ordered that. Similar to her ability. Dr. Bryant coughed and adjusted his lab coat.
"Yes, my queen." he muttered.
He walked casually past Selene and her hostage and began to navigate the complex security procedure to opening the vault.
The hydraulic systems hissed and heavy cogs turned as the door slowly opened.
"You too..?" Selene asked.
Dr. Bryant gave her an apologetic look.
"The queens abilities are not limited to the Zykra. It works on any human she's made contact with at least once. When a connection has been made, it remains. Regardless of psionic shielding. Shall we?"
He gestured for them to move inside the darkened interior. There was only the dim white light of a few ceiling lamps which shone into the containment cell. Beyond which was a black void. And two purple glowing stars within.
She shuffled in and tossed the researcher she held towards the console off to the side.
"Kill it. Now. I know you can make this cell go on fire, or something."
Just then another encephalon command passed through them like a wave.
Die
The command ran through the essence of Selene's being—but it wasn't directed at her. She'd only 'heard' it. But the researcher fell to the ground. Unmoving.
Selene turned her pistol on the observation window then.
As if it this pistols small caliber could penetrate glass capable of containing a creature a dozen meters tall.
Dr. Bryant calmly walked in front of her aim. The two eyes hovering above him in the darkness.
"There seems to of been a misunderstanding Ms. Carrington."
The hand she held the pistol with began to shake a little.
"I, just want... Things to go back to the way they were! Before the Zykra—before puck."
Dr. Bryant crossed his arms.
"Nothing stays the same forever, child. But do not lament. The queen has an offer for you."
Selene put her other hand on the pistol, steadying it; "Why in the hell would I listen to some giant bug freaks offer?"
"She's far more agreeable than her form would lead you to believe. She's... Made similar offers to me."
"You're fucking talking to it? Don't you see it's just in your head? It'll tell you whatever you want to hear so that you free it!"
Dr. Bryant's shoulders slumped. Then he picked up his tablet and pressed it a few times.
A buzzer sounded and the glass door behind him started to lift. Until it was completely opened. Leaving nothing between them and the encephalon.
"She's been free. Her capture was an illusion so that she could evaluate our species. To evaluate you more specifically."
Selene tilted her head sideways in confusion. Then aimed her pistol above his head and shot until the magazine was empty.
Dr. Bryant sighed.
The bullets stopped and hovered midair in the white light between them.
"As capable you are, your intelligence is really not your strength. You're bullheaded. Charge head first into your problems. And you are surprised they accumulate?"
Selene gritted her teeth.
"I didn't choose any of this."
"Choices are overrated. No, you're very lucky. You're a natural marvel, even with humanities innate heterogeneity... You're a rarity among rarities! One in literal trillions. You believe your situation to be hopeless, but you don't understand that is simply not the case. Use your profound talent for adapting! The Zykra are not your enemy. The Protectorate is."
That actually got a chuckle out of Selene, in a way that was bordering madness at this point.
"Puck? What, is this an 'enemy of my enemy is my friend thing'?"
"Imagine—Selene, if you would: a world without sickness or age. Only constant evolution. Where death is only a consequence of stagnation. You're a telepath, so your life is already shorter than most. The Zykra could cure you of that. And make you more powerful than you could ever imagine."
The heavy foot falls of the encephalon's many sets of legs sounded as it walked into the dim lights above them. Illuminating it's hulking form.
"Yeah..." she said looking up into the purple eyes of the encephalon, "And make me a monster."
Dr. Bryants voice continued, but Selene no longer believed the words belonged to him.
"You'll be nothing like the infested you saw on Lamda, rest assured. You'll retain your autonomy unlike most Zykra, rather you will be a source of influence within the Zykra. A queen. And as for you physical form well... You will have absolute control over such things as well. In time, like the encephalon—you will find that your tastes to change. To them, the Zykra are far from monstrous in their appearance. Power and freedom. Freedom to rule the system as you see fit. It's a good deal, Selene. I wish I were the one offered it."
Selene just looked at the encephalon then. Then towards Dr. Bryant. And back to the encephalon.
She put a hand to her forehead and shook her head. Processing the absurd development.
"You want me to lead a Zykra army against puck?"
Yes
"But what if I don't want to be changed?"
Dr. Bryant answered that.
"You already are."
He gestured down to her hand.
A chitinous claw had grown through the center of her forearm, separating her hand into two halves. A scythe of rigid keratin between her fingers like a dagger. Barbed and serrated.
"OH SHIT!" she picked it up with her still-human arm and cradled it as she fell to her knees.
"Whatthefuckwhathefuckwhatthefuck.." her mind was going fuzzy as her heart hammered. She felt her hands on the chitin. She looked up to the encephelon pleadingly;
"What happened to me having control!?"
Dr. Bryant knelt down next to her.
"Look.. You already have it."
The chitinous scythe shrank a bit and receded back into her arm. The flesh knit itself back together around it until it was completely concealed within her arm. In moments it was back to normal.
"This is fucking crazy. How do you know all of this? Can you talk to it?" Selene asked him.
"It takes time and patience to interpret the Zykra's advanced mode of communication. They transmit ideas, rather than use simplistic symbols like writing or verbal sounds. It's deeper. Complex. Confusing. You will be able to understand her too in time. Beyond her simple commands that you've experienced so far."
Speaking of which... Selene looked over her shoulder to the dead researcher.
Dr. Bryant followed her gaze. He frowned.
"An unfortunate casualty. Another reason you should consider the queens offer. She will not be so compassionate in her rule as you would likely be."
"What if I say no?"
"Then the queen will make no direct aggression towards you, but she will treat you as a neutral party while she burns the system down around you."
That leaves her very little choice. But it also meant that this 'queen' likely wasn't lying to her. Because she had no reason to. She had all the leverage she could have against Selene.
Selene came here to kill the queen and end her influence.
But agreeing to this was the closest way to that. Otherwise she'd be putting not only her family, but the entire system at risk. It was clear the the Zykra had larger plans for her, and if she could overthrow puck while keeping humanity from being turned into bug-people, that was a pretty good deal.
Sure, right now puck vastly underestimated the Zykra. But Dr. Bryant likely has seen the same visions Selene had. Of a world covered in Zykra—the likes of which they've never seen—and concluded that this was no threat humanity could win against.
She swallowed hard as she made her decision.
"No more commands on me or any human in the system..." Selene said, glancing towards the dead researcher.
"Agreed."
"And I handle fighting puck. I rule the system how I deem fit, like you said."
"Of course."
"Okay... Okayokayokay..." Selene stood up shakily. "So, where's my army? You do know puck has literally billions of soldiers, right? And space ships? And fancy battle mechs? And how do I control so many? Just getting a few dozen to stop moving tired me out just a week ago."
Dr. Bryant turned towards the encephalon for a moment. And her eyes flashed. He nodded.
"Yes... Well, you'll find it easier to command them now. And since you insist on maintaining your autonomy—you have to prove your ability to lead. Which means managing infrastructure. Growing forces. You'll have to build an army Ms. Carrington."
"H-how? I can command Zykra, but I can't literally build them."
Dr. Bryant smirked; "You'd be surprised as what you're capable of. You could grow wings if you'd like. Claws to rend your enemies. Organs to heighten your telepathic abilities. The vast majority of the Zykra genome is open to you. Not the least of which—the larvae. A morphic form capable of growing into numerous forms. Like the ones you've seen so far."
Selene's jaw dropped.
"I can make baby Zykra!?"
She was slightly disgusted by this revelation.
Dr. Bryant nodded. "Only larvae, which require biomass to grow into other variants. But we will discuss this later. Every queen needs her advisors after all. For now, we must escape the station."
He produced his tablet and tapped on it a few times.
An alarm starting blaring and the roars of many Zykra sounded down the hall.
"W-what did you do!?"
He looked at her like she was overreacting; "I've opened the all of the containment cells? They will free Queen Ku'senai, and provide adequate distraction for us while we make our way to the hangar."
"They'll kill hundreds!" Selene couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Only those who get in their way... They're not as mindless as they seem. You know that Ms. Carrington."
"My friends are soldiers though!"
"I doubt they will gear up in time to join the response teams... But feel free to message them on the way. Some may even join you, not everyone joins the Defense Force out of patriotic devotion to the Protectorate after all..."
Selene considered it. But the only one she could think would join her was Raymond. He was weird that way. She wanted Luan and Brett to come too, but they had obligations to puck. Family that could be used against them. Speaking of which.
"I need to rescue my family too... My pets.. Shit. Why couldn't you warn me first? Give me a few days?"
Dr. Bryant shook his head; "Hard to hide a dead researcher, and Queen Ku'senai is less patient now that you and her have reached an agreement. Also, as a short term solution we could fake our deaths before leaving. It's not like I hadn't planned this at all, you know. Perhaps you could have an ally you trust send your pets and other items to you later?"
Selene glared at him for a second.
Then quickly pulled her tablet out of the holster beneath her hoodie on her back.
She messaged Brett and told him her doors passcode and to get her sketch book. The only thing that really had any kind of value to her. And also to get the dogs and her cats.
"It's time we left Selene..." he started jogging towards the exit. "Pretend to be fleeing the Zykra! Come on!" he waved at her to follow.
She did so while she called Raymond.
A very tired voice answered; "Selene? What time is it?"
"Late. I'm getting off the station. If you want to come—meet me at the hangar."
"...What?"
"I'm faking my death and going awol. There's a good reason why. You want to retake Endelon, I can help you do that. I'll tell you how on the way."
"You're not making any sense Selene."
Selene and Dr. Bryant were running through the slate grey halls of the research department now. Zykra running around them. It was terrifying but they all were clearly avoiding them.
"Once we're off the station I can explain everything. And then you could choose. By the way the Zykra are out of containment. Go now. Or don't. Up to you."
She hung up and kept running.
She wasn't overly invested in Raymond joining her. Having another human around that she was somewhat friendly with would be nice. But not necessary.
Once they left the research and containment departments lobbies they were met with a wall of guns trained on them.
Dr. Bryant stepped forward; "The Zykra are loose! They destroyed the automated defenses somehow! Hold this location, and put the station on lockdown!"
He pushed by and Selene followed.
The soldiers all looked at them with seemingly confused looks as they ran by.
Their commander went to stop them but just then the Zykra started pouring out of the door they'd just left.
Gunshots rang out from behind them.
Those soldiers were probably toast. But Selene didn't give herself time to think about that. She thought about what she was currently doing. They rode the elevator to a floor with a trolly system that travelled down the station in a horizontal line, which they rode to the hangar.
The station was locking down from the Zykra outbreak. Along the way they came across a lot of worried people and Defense Force members setting up defenses against the Zykra.
They waited for Raymond outside one of the many entrances to the hangar.
"First Endelon and now Alexandria. You have a habit of causing trouble don't you?" he asked rhetorically as he arrived.
"Where we going?"
Dr. Bryant answered; "To retrieve Ms. Carringtons parents, I assume?"
Selene nodded.
He continued; "Then I suggest we go to a world on the outer rim rich in biomass."
Raymond glanced between her and Dr. Bryant.
"Uh... It seems like I have a lot to catch up on here."
Selene scoffed; "You have no idea. But trust me, this is the play."
Raymond shrugged.
"So long as it involves screwing over puck and getting Endlon back.. I can't complain."
Dr. Bryant used his high-level clearance to bypass the lockdown on the hangar.
They all ran to one of the generic shuttles that wouldn't be overly missed and boarded it. Once they were all strapped in the autopilot guided the shuttle out of the hangar and into the void of space.
Selene couldn't believe it. In the course of an hour or two she broke into the encephalon's containment cell, became queen of the Zykra—whatever that meant.
Recruited Dr. Bryant and Raymond to her cause and was on course to kidnap her family from whatever colony they were currently living in.
And it was going to get even crazier after that. She'd have to start making Zykra.
"So..." Raymond said, deadpan. As the station shrank from view. "What just happened?"