"So you're a Zykra." Raymond said. Stoic as ever.
They all sat next to each other in one of the shuttles rows of seats that lined each wall. The shuttle in question was currently being piloted autonomously with coordinates set from Dr. Bryant's tablet.
"...No. Yeah? I haven't thought about it."
Selene had just finished catching Raymond up on current events. Her deal with the Zykra queen, her strange version of infestation, and her plans moving forward.
"Prove it." he said instantly.
He definitely deserved proof at this point. They left the station during a Zykra containment breach, and she told him their tenure at puck would be over after this.
Selene held her arm up.
"I guess I just..? —Do I just think about it?" she looked to Dr. Bryant who nodded unsurely.
The sound of crinkling flesh followed as her arm began to transform at a thought. The surface of her hand became gauntleted in orange chitin with purple veins running through it. And purple flesh beneath. All in the course of a dozen seconds or so. It wasn't an instantaneous change.
Raymond's eyes widened.
Then he pulled the sleeve of her hoodie down revealing the armor travelling down the length of her arm gradually changing to her normal skin in a gradient.
"How's that possible? The others on Lamda turned instantly!" he poked and prodded the chitin. "Is it infectious?"
Dr. Bryant who sat in the shuttle seat next to them answered that; "No, Selene lacks the ability to infect humans. On her own at least. But she could implant a larvae which would gestate before absorbing their biomass to become a Zykra variant."
"About that... Do you know how I do that?"
Raymond fell back into his chair and deflated.
"This is fucking crazy. I came because I thought you were having a mental break—second thoughts about enlisting. God knows I have. What about Luan?"
Selene shrugged.
"I'm not going to put her at risk over a crush. She's cool, but she has a career and important things to deal with. A family and stuff. Even her knowing would be a risk for her. And me."
"But it's not a risk for me? Why the hell did you send for me?"
He asked, a little irked.
Selene looked at him sheepishly, maintaining eye contact randomly with difficulty.
"Cause... I knew you would?"
He looked as if he expected more of an explanation than that. Okay, so complete honesty. Selene could do that...
"—I can trust you. You don't have a family puck could use against you. Or a past in their army. There's lots of reasons. I guess the main reason is that I don't want to do this alone. I know it's selfish, but I had a feeling you wouldn't care. A-am I wrong?"
Raymond gave a thousand yard stare. It made sense that it was all a bit overwhelming. Selene was still coming to terms with the fact that this wasn't all a dream.
"I'm sorry Raymond, I know it's a big change. But you don't like puck right? You joined 'cause of me? You know I'm a telepath right, I can sense how you feel about me."
He looked away then.
She leaned forward and looked at him; "I-I can't promise I can return those feelings but you're a good friend!"
"Let me think! God!"
Raymond unbuckled his seatbelt and went into one of the bathrooms. The door hissed closed behind him as it pressurized.
Selene just stared for a moment.
"Don't worry Ms. Carrington. He'll come around... This new farming colony your family is on, what do you know about it?"
She leaned back in her seat and considered.
"..It has blue grass."
"The musical genre?" Dr. Bryant asked.
"Like the plant. There's blue grass music?"
He waved a hand as if it were irrelevant. Then interacted with his tablet.
"I've been looking up the name you referenced. It turns out it's not only a farming colony... But also a prison colony."
He swiped the screen a few times and then showed it to Selene.
It showed a massive metal hexagon facility with two dozen meter tall walls lined with barbed wire. Watch towers with search lights at the end of each wall. A central featureless building of the same dark steel.
"Camden didn't mention that."
The bathroom door hissed open and Raymond came out. He headed straight to them and stood awkwardly for a second. Then he put his hands in his pockets. He shrugged.
"Okay. Fine.... For now."
Selene looked to Dr. Bryant. Then back at him.
"..Okay." she said nodding a few times. Unsure of what exactly he was agreeing to. "—I guess I should explain what we're doing: like I said, the Zykra want me to take over puck and if I don't they will. And they won't be so nice about it. So I figured I'd move my family, get them safe then head to a planet with a lot of...?"
She glanced to Dr. Bryant.
"Biomass." he finished for her.
Selene pointed a finger. "Yep. That. Totally not weird at all. Then I build an army of bugs, so big that maybe puck surrenders?"
Dr. Bryant nodded. "It's in my understanding that the Zykra will be satisfied once you are in control of the system. All encephalons have territories where they build their forces after all. The larger and more potent your force, the greater your influence with the Zykra in general."
Raymond sat back down—this time across from them on the other row of seats that lined the shuttle.
"What about us? Will they attack us? Or any people around?"
Dr. Bryant shook his head. "No, but there is a condition to that." he looked to Selene apologetically. "Several, actually. First we need to establish a crucible. That is the closest english word to what the Zykra perceive it as. A place where different influences come together to cause new developments. The center of a hive typically."
Selene shuddered at the thought. It was becoming more real to her—that she'd be living around a bunch of giant bugs all the time. A hive?
"Also, to maintain control of the hive Selene must maintain her full form until she has a proper command structure to operate in absence of her. Who understands her intent so well as to operate autonomously from her. A strong command could last a day or so but without renewing it they may revert to their base programming."
"Wait, so I'm going to be stuck in monster mode once we start?"
"Only temporarily. Encephalons create unique strains of Zykra which are essentially enhanced forms of the others. They can act as commanders. They are capable of thinking for themselves. They're Sentient versions of Zykra essentially."
Raymond swept a hand through his hair; "This is... A lot."
"I suppose I can cover each stage as we come to them. For now we should focus on the objective at hand. Selene's family. We'll recover them so that puck has nothing to use as leverage against her in the future."
Selene clapped her hands together.
"But it's sometime before we reach this Athena colony right? 'Cause I'm hungry. We got any food on this shuttle?"
Raymond scoffed. "Guess we better find you some 'biomass'."
Selene slapped his arm.
"No Ms. Carrington—these shuttles don't even have emergency rations. But regardless we need to stop at the nearest colony. This shuttle isn't suited for deep space travel. We need something much faster. We can pick up supplies then."
"So... Where are we going then?" She asked.
Dr. Bryant looked to his tablet.
"The arctic world 'Cryos 16'... A remote colony mainly used as a pit stop in the system. Just the place to source the vessel we need—likely from the traders that frequent the route."
"Well I... Never seen snow before." Selene said optimistically. Then she realized; "How much time until puck tells my family about what happened?"
"They usually wait a few days to notify families of the deceased so that preliminary investigations can conclude. Which should be plenty of time to reach Athena if everything goes well. Our stay on Cyros should take a half day at most."
"Goooood." Selene yawned. 'What time was it? Early morning? Hard to tell on space hours.'
"We should all get some rest before we arrive at Cyros. A couple hours is better than none." Raymond said.
"You two go ahead. I believe the pilot chairs recline. I'll stay up in case anything goes awry on our journey.
"You sure?" Selene asked.
He waved her off; "I'm used to staying up late." then he gestured to the pilots cabin.
Selene unbuckled. She was exhausted. Raymond and her went into the pilots cabin which was surprisingly roomy. Two chairs sat in front of a wide open window displaying the cosmos beyond. Lights on the consoles flickered and some faded in and out gradually.
"Not exactly a 5 star hotel." Selene said, taking one of the seats.
Raymond took the other, pulling the lever that leaned it back.
"Could be worse."
"..Yeah."
They laid there in a slightly awkward silence for awhile.
"..Raymond?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think we have a shot? We're literally taking over a universe. I mean, who does that? Who's dumb enough to try?"
Raymond rolled over onto his side.
"The rebels, I guess... But yeah, I'd say we have a shot. Considering all the weird shit that's happened in the last half year or so, I think anything is possible at this point."
Selene considered that for awhile. Maybe she could try to get the rebels help too. If her dad was one they couldn't all be so bad. Maybe they have good plans for how things should be run.
She could be the muscle and they could be the brains. Then she had another idea. Well, mostly an intrusive thought.
"...Raymond? Do you think Zykra poop? I haven't seen one poop."
"Go to sleep Selene."