Toxic (69 page)

“When I saw it, I wondered what it was and...”

He looked at the singer.

“Well,” he concluded, “now  we know. Let’s go, everyone in, hurry up and get inside.”

When he closed the hatch, the shooting had begun again. The cans exploded and the shelves were toppled across the tight space.

F
ive million.

He could only save five million of the seven or so billion people who lived on this border planet.

Five million, a pathetic number.

Even so, that was still a lot more than the survivors of his own race, Jave thought. The thirty thousand Lynians of the Collective represented a confetti culture scattered over hundreds of worlds, in the service of combinates, local authorities or in academic circles. Among that anemic population, an even smaller number possessed the talent.

It was a precious gift, which was disappearing.

The emissary came out of his meditation. The central display showed new information coming from the border of the solar system. The feed emitted by a long-range surveillance drone became stable and the streaks of interference disappeared, giving way to two diamond-shaped forms, making the situation clear to the troopers present in the operations room.

Naakrit leaned forward on his chair. His eyes widened with surprise.

"Where do those things come from?"

"Two enforcers of Jaxan make, from the Poisoners Clan, if I can trust the markings," the Sybarian announced.

For a moment, silence reigned on the top floor of the tower.

That mercenary company was well-known for two reasons: the determination of its members, the majority of them of insectoid origin, and for its use of a radical method to neutralize emerging civilizations: dispersing toxic gases in the atmosphere.

Ruthless adversaries, even by reptilian standards.

The abza'n Sarejt's former partner awaited orders from her Primark. Her blue-skinned face took up the entirety of a video square in the upper corner of the central screen.

"I would like to make sure that they belong to the Poisoners."

The female confirmed it.

"We validated their beacon codes."

"So, they didn't make the effort to hide. Interesting. Has contact been established?"

"They are refusing our calls. However, their hyperbolic trajectories indicate that they don't have the intention of penetrating into the interior of the solar system. In the immediate future, in any case," she though good to specify.

A list of the ships' features and blueprints, extracted from the tactical information database, ran across the margin of the spatial scene in which the sharp-edged ships were moving along. Jave's gaze skimmed over the strip of information. He was very knowledgeable regarding weapons onboard combat vessels, but the list of attributes of these brute powers was enough for him to understand that they were serious customers. The type to hold their own against the mercenaries' tamer ships. The Lynian contented himself with keeping silent and watching the others' reactions. Naakrit's claws retracted and emerged again and again as a gesture of his nervousness. The reputation of the Poisoners was not an exaggeration. The emissary congratulated himself.

As chief of operations, the Arthrosian with the purple shell shared his opinion. His abdomen buzzed in a low tone.

"For the moment, they're keeping their distance, outside the perimeter of the holding. Are they waiting for orders? A signal?"

Reflexively, the Lynian's rootlets grazed the communication device, which he always kept with him. The scene changed, passing from a close-up of the blue glow of propulsion motors to a general panorama, revealing a reddish hemisphere against a starry background.

"What planet is that?" Naakrit asked.

The Sybarian female turned away for a brief moment before coming back to the screen.

"Several celestial bodies of this type orbit beyond the planetary pair that humans call Pluton and Charon. They designated this one 2003 VB12 Sedna."

"Sedna?"

"They often give the names of gods to stars," the Arthrosian interrupted. "A common custom among primitive species."

His tera-server search taught Jave that Sedna was the Inuit goddess of the Arctic Ocean. An ice queen. He appreciated the irony, watching for the reptilian's reaction.

"They aren't there by chance," he whistled.

"Earth is located on the perimeter, octo-diems from commercial routes towards the Collective. Generally, vessels from the Poisoners Clan don't go so far away from their territories without an excellent reason, such as the possibility of a good job," the Arthrosian revealed.

"They already surprise attacked the owners of a holding that they knew were weak. Someone told them."

A logical conclusion, the emissary thought, his nasal vents reduced to thin slits. His rootlets retracted into their pores.

"Most likely, Primark," the operations chief added.

In the corner of the projection, the Sybarian was waiting for orders. Naakrit put his claws on his armrests.

"OK, point taken. Where are our vessels?"

"The Niven is on a surveillance mission, according to the established program. The Scorcher is on reserve in terrestrial orbit. The Corruptor is docked but can be equipped in an octain of minutes. Should we intercept the Poisoners right away?"

The display split into two equal halves. On the right there appeared a view of the complete solar system with its scattering of planets tracing their orbits around the stellar ball of fire. A large purple ellipse marked the planned patrol route of the tamer ship on duty. It cut through the majority of the concentric circles. Farther along, around one hundred times the distance between Earth and the sun, a double green dot and a trajectory estimate marked the intruders near Sedna.

"They have superior weapons and speed," Naakrit said. "Their ships are larger and more powerful."

"We can compensate with our numbers."

The reptilian dedicated a few moments to weighing the consequences of his operations chief's proposal. By sending three of his vessels to the other end of the solar system, he was neglecting the defense of his doorstep. The problem remained simple: other mercenaries would come. He knew it. His competitors would gain confidence, testing his determination to protect his property. It was impossible to ignore the situation by waiting for them to leave. He wasn't a lizard ten octo-diems behind the rest.

"Send the Niven and the Scorcher. Equip the Corruptor as fast as possible. We need to send a strong response by making our presence be known and by being ready for any outcome."

Three ships moved away from Earth. More than one, Jave told himself, relieved that the Primark hadn't asked for his opinion. Though in the end, his analysis was similar to that of the reptilian. His plan was taking shape.

In the elevator tube that took him to the Säzkari's quarters, he focused his mind on the operations to follow. There was still a lot to accomplish.

Arriving at the medical lair, the emissary walked along the shelves, upon which gray-skinned bodies were lying. The color changed depending on their ethnic origin, but he noticed that all of them had become pale after stopping the cardiac pump. The last row attracted his attention, isolated from the others by an opaque curtain. That meant an experiment underway. Once he had passed the dividing line, he looked at the six corpses with skin as pink as humans in perfect health. Except that they were indeed dead.

"I've noted a positive change following the injection. Are the tests conclusive?"

The Säzkari turned around, raising his transparent visor. Between his claws, Jave recognized the vial filled with a liquid with a bright yellow precipitate.

"Rather encouraging. Their bodies should tolerate the cryo-fluid."

"Should?"

The practitioner avoided responding to his short remark. He approached the emissary, moving the recipient in his gloved hands.

"A very interesting vegetable-based formula, more efficient than the typical cryogenic preservatives. Where did you get it from?"

"A special order from a biotech company. The standard products don't allow for living beings to come back to life. They only preserve the quality of the meat during transport."

"Very true. And that's not what you want, I understand."

He put down the vial on its rack.

"Now, my next questions is: can you bring them back to life?" Jave pressured him.

As if sparing himself a moment of thought, the doctor attended to one of the bodies, which he covered back up with a plastic sheet. Then, he revealed its swollen face.

"Humans have a word for it. A religious reference, it seems."

"Resurrection," the Lynian confirmed.

"That's it! And so, you see, if they consider it a miracle, it's rightly so."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Not yet, in fact. We need to change the parameters of the experiment."

He couldn't fail. Up until this point, he had patiently got past or around each obstacle on what was quite a difficult path.

"What do you need?"

"To start, living units. A small lot. I'll submit them to the beginning of the treatment chain except that I will replace the normal fluids with cryo-fluid. The second stage consists of placing them in a cryo-coffin for an octo-diem, and then we finish by resurrecting them. That's in theory. In reality, I won't be able to bring back specimens that have been dead for too long. Pumping the blood and injecting the cryo-fluid should be carried out simultaneously during the octains of seconds following the subject's death. All activity must be interrupted and paused, including the degeneration of tissues. These are fragile beings and that makes things a lot more complicated."

He showed him the bodies.

"Don't trust appearances. Even though the skin has gotten back a bit of color, it's because the cells are filled with the cryo-fluid."

"I see."

"The procedure itself remains delicate; it requires that the blood system be completely purged of even the smallest molecule of hemoglobin."

"Or else?"

"Clots form, which crystalize under the cold. That causes significant damage during reheating and the reestablishment of general circulation, notably in the brain. Such a cleaning requires detailed preparations. How many do you want to treat in total?"

The bad news was accumulating, he thought. He didn't dare mention the number that he had in mind as the goal to achieve, which was both enormous and at the same time so pathetic. Was he too ambitious?

"We're going to start with a modest sample. Healthy units, you say?"

"Yes. I have to reproduce the conditions as closely as possible to reality. That will allow me to define a resurrection procedure that would be then applied on a larger scale."

The Lynian couldn't think of how to remove a group of products from the chain. In response to the past incidents, the mercenaries had reinforced controls and security in the domes. The option definitely seemed out of the question to him. Bringing humans inside the tower topped off his pile of problems, all of which were impossible to overcome. Because of that, there only remained one sole possibility.

"You are going to make a request of the Primark," Jave announced.

"He will never accept the presence of humans in perfect health in my charge, without taking into account that he will ask a lot of questions about what I want to do with them."

"I know."

The Säzkari tilted his massive head. "I don't understand. What do you have in mind?"

"You're going to do some field work. At my request."

His rootlets became excited at the contact with the communication sphere. Elaine, he thought. Considering the outcome of her previous call, he absolutely had to respond to this one.

The emissary excused himself from the practitioner and took leave.

Once he was in his quarters, he went to the bay window. The setting sun covered the calm waters of the Persian Gulf in gold. He opened his claws and the ball became orange. With the female captured by her fellow creatures, the likelihood was that it was another individual contacting him was high.