Humans Don't Hibernate [Part 26/?] (Patreon)

“Right Vir, so where do we stand?” I asked, my headfrills perked up at attention as I leaned over the central console once more. This time with a reinvigorated spirit, and a flame that grew stronger and stronger with each passing moment.

This was something that I’d noticed ever since my first awakening with Elijah. It wasn’t pronounced at first, nor was it something that I had thought much of, but there was something that felt just slightly… off about myself. It wasn’t anything physical, nor was it something that I could accurately measure or even hope to objectively account for. It was more akin to a feeling, a mood, a state of mind. It was this undeniable sense of direction that grew stronger and stronger by the hour. I didn’t feel it at first, given the fact that waking up from hibernation was just about enough to knock anyone, no matter how motivated, off their feet. However, the more time passed since my last hibernation cycle, the more I felt this unrepentant drive coming over me. It felt as if I’d just taken a tenth cup of stimulant for the day, or was riding off of the same euphoric highs I’d gotten from maintaining the status quo in the presence of the Elders within the Vanaran chamber of Lords. But in this case it wasn’t a reward for being cautious, careful, or adherent to standard social conventions. This euphoria was instead rewarded upon increasingly riskier decisions, and especially prominent after these near-death, or life-threatening circumstances.

From the encounter with the Interlopers through to the one on one fight with that compromised Vanaran, all the way to the encounter with the human ship and now upon confronting one of the last few puzzle pieces in this grander game… each step brought on greater and greater heights of a self actualizing spirit of purpose.

Though for the life of me I just couldn't understand why. All I knew was that it just felt right.

“Eager now are we?” Vir responded in kind, bringing up what seemed to be a graphical visual representation of the files that had been extracted from the satellite. “I’ve skimmed through everything. This… this seems to be what was missing from the hibernation conduit, Lysara.”

“What do you mean, missing?” I snapped back.

“Well when you awoke, we were both more or less in panic mode. I’d done the bare minimum in interfacing with the asteroid but it was clear there was no useful data there. Most of it was damaged beyond recognition and useless. The same went for the first satellite. All it gave me were bits and pieces and fragments of my memories, and whilst there seemed to have been elements of the files pertaining to the Hibernation Question, most of it was corrupt and probably lost to time as well. This satellite though? It fills in the gaps, and then some.” The screen in front of us brought about a grander display of what Vir truly meant, as the AI began sifting through each of the files, going across unfathomable lines of data as he isolated a few files that he brought up to illustrate his point. “Data regarding the Vuark’s removal, regarding the various surgical and medical intervention techniques developed, and the full case files and research papers were available on both the Hibernation Conduit and the first Satellite. That’s how I discovered and isolated the situation with regards to your Vuark, Lysara.” Vir began, showing me a few files to prove his point. However, with just a flick of his hand, the screen shifted to include dozens, if not hundreds and thousands more files. Files and documents which were quickly lumped into the same category as the ones he’d pulled up from before. “But just look at this. This is what we need to actually put theory to practice. You’re a sample size of one, Lysara. Er, sorry, I didn’t intend to objectify you like that but-”

“Vir, it’s quite alright. I'm more or less starting to become quite accustomed to my purpose and role here. It’s just a matter of stating objective facts, I’m not going to feel put off by it so please, continue.” I interjected. Whilst I would’ve most certainly felt indignant about being singled out as a mere dataset against who and what I was, the fact of the matter was I just didn’t feel the compulsion or the need for that indignancy anymore. Maybe it was because the stakes were so high and my own personal reservations just didn’t hit me. Or perhaps it was as a result of that drive just to see things through making itself known again. Whatever the case was, Vir nodded and continued onwards. The both of us in tune and very much on the same frequency, a far cry from where we started off just a few days prior.

“Right, so, whereas before we only had a single clinical study, and anecdotal evidence to rely upon. What we now have is a far more in depth deep dive that involves thousands upon thousands of papers that have not only cross peer reviewed the initial findings from the first studies, but we likewise have intense observational studies done upon the unique relationship between the Interloper’s mechanisms for controlling and triggering the Vuarks, amongst many other datasets I’ve literally just scratched the surface of.” Vir excitedly continued, before bringing up a few more files, this time of our encounter with the Interloper ship that had been the brains behind the flotilla we’d eliminated.

Seeing the ship sent a shiver down my spine as a deep, sharp, piercing sense of guilt and regret pierced through every fiber of my being. How many Vanarans did I doom to an early grave because? How many people could we have saved instead of sentencing to death?

These thoughts clouded my mind, yet, something within me pushed them aside. The rational part of my mind understood that in the circumstances we were presented with, that we made the right call. It might have not been the best call, nor was it the most well informed or prudent. Perhaps there might have been a series of decisions that could have resulted in the liberation of the would-be Vanaran infiltrator and the crew aboard that ship. It just so happens that we chose a path that had assured our survival and victory.

We eliminated an enemy combatant, we killed those that posed a real and present danger against us. We did the best we could given the scarce intel and resources we had to work with.

We could have done better.

But we still did the best we could.

I settled myself down as I nodded on and continued listening to Vir’s explanations.

“Prior to your captured return at the hands of the compromised Vanaran, I’d been observing these anomalous signals being transmitted from what I’ll now be referring to as the Interloper command ship.” More datasets were brought up, this time a wealth of data from the various scanners and sensors from Vir’s perspective. “They didn’t correspond to any known frequency I knew of and the contents of these transmissions, if they could even be called that, were utterly nonsensical from both analogue and digital decoders. After the ship’s destruction and the revelation that those signals were being generated by the Interlopers’ as a means of control, two major questions came to mind. One: were they generated by the interlopers themselves, or by an artificial mechanism? Two: Is there a means of intercepting these signals and thus temporarily freeing Vuark-bound beings?” The AI flicked his hand once again, revealing more documents from the satellite. “It seems like the humans have been asking those very same questions, and now… we have answers.”

Another click, and a disturbing image of what could only be described as a blob of flesh was revealed. I couldn’t make heads or tails of where the flesh ended and where the floor or warehouse around it began. It just looked… wrong. A series of numbers and barcodes were all I had to go off on that this was in fact, a sample of something captured by the UN. An assumption which would be confirmed by Vir.

“Question one? Well, it seems as if the Interlopers are generating these signals themselves. It’s almost as if it’s an innate part of their biology, like they were naturally evolved to control the very biological environments and ecosystems they belonged to. Or at least, that’s what the papers say.” Once again, Vir flicked through thousands upon thousands of papers before we landed across something else. This time, a series of complex mathematical models.

“Question two? Well, it seems like while it is possible, the effects are… complicated to say the very least. In some cases, take you for example Lysara, the blocking of signals allowed for Elijah to interface directly with you. However, it seems to be a temporary solution as your body remains bound to the physiologies of the Vuark. Without a consistent and latent signal, or rather, with an absolute absence of signals for a sufficient duration of time, your Vuark starts sending out greater and greater amounts of anomalous neurotransmitters which will eventually lead to an overactivity of neurotransmissions and a cascade effect leading to seizures and potential death. That’s why we can’t just block signals and call it a day, it seems like the UN tried that and… well, it didn’t end well.” Vir paused before shifting to another study. “In addition to this, it seems as if the Interlopers went a step further. The satellite doesn’t seem to reach the Second Intergalactic War that Captain Veers refers to, but this paper postulates that it is indeed possible that a dead man’s switch could be implemented in all Vuark-containing species, and triggered upon the lack of detectable signals from the Interlopers.”

“Right, that’s all well and good, but where are you going with this?” I raised my voice whilst still maintaining my patience.

“Well, the satellite also contains a lot of files regarding how best to approach the mass removal of Vuarks. A lot of the older papers seem to rely on the idea that blocking the signals might be the way, but it’s clear the whole seizure and dead man’s switch thing makes them all very moot points. Another idea postulates that we can actually mimic the signals, and thus whilst ridding the galaxy of all Interlopers, we’d maintain the bare minimum of signals required to keep Vuark-containing species from dying off whilst we dealt with the source of the problem. However, that idea has clearly fallen through given the Second Intergalactic War ended in well, the reality we’re living in now. Finally, and here’s the crazy idea… we kidnap or somehow hijack a lesser Interloper in order to seamlessly enter a system without interfering with the Interloper’s invisible network and setting off alarm bells. And while doing so, we use that signal to send all the Vuark-containing sapients and species on that planet into hibernation mode, whilst operators enter and remove every single Vuark from every single person.”

I stared blankly at Vir, eyes wide and my headfrills expanded as wide as they could possibly be. “And they expect us to do this?!” I spoke out incredulously.

“Well… not exactly, you see, they expect us to understand that this would be the most ideal plan. Provided we have the support of the UN, or at least, a good chunk of it. However, should that not be possible, then… there’s an addendum to that plan.” Vir continued moving through the files, now displaying an image of something that sent shivers down my spine. Something that had been touched on in science fiction for being the foolish way out, and something that simply could not be controlled no matter how well thought out the plan.

It was a graphical deconstruction of a virus, with all of its components divided into neat segments akin to what one would find in a medical textbook, with particular emphasis placed on the virus’ nucleic acid genome.

“No. Vir, don’t tell me what I think this is.” I stuttered out, my eyes widening at the AI who could only nod in response.

“Oh no, that’s just the beginning.” Vir explained as another virus was suddenly brought out on screen. “You see, it’s a 2 pronged attack. The first is a virus which is designed to fundamentally alter a Vuark-containing species’ DNA, specifically targeting the locus which is responsible for expressing the Vuark. The second is a virus specifically designed to target the nascent progenitor cells that keeps regenerating and replacing the cells of the Vuark which has been shown to be the root as to why simply removing a Vuark surgically is non viable. It keeps regrowing, and so, we need to kill the cells that keep doing that.”

I stared on at this with trepidation, turning around to Vir with only a single question in mind.

“So. That begs the question then, it’s all fine that we’re able to remove the genes and the cells which express the Vuark. That doesn’t solve how we’re actually getting what’s already there, out. I recall the paper written about my surgery that my procedure required both surgical and gene therapy intervention. So where does the former fit into all of this?” I asked, as Vir could only give me a look of solid apprehension, before moving on to the next file.

“As with any species, the brain atrophies over time. The Vuark however, seems to be exceptionally quick at atrophying, at a rate of about twice that of the brain. As a result of this without the progenitor cells to keep on healing and generating new Vuark cells, it will atrophy over time, and simply cease functioning. At which point, well, yeah.” Vir shrugged, staring at the screen with the same trepidation I was now.

“Wait so, this isn’t instantaneous? They want us to go in, implant these viruses, go out, and… wait?!” I exclaimed.

“It seems like the plan assumes that humanity doesn’t exist in any meaningful capacity to resist the Interlopers. What else could we do with a single ship and a few supply caches around the galaxy? This… honestly is the only viable way to really beat the Interlopers, or at least, free every race in the hopes they might finally fight back. It's the ultimate last ditch plan, Lysara.” Vir admitted as I could only look on with an expression of renewed determination.

“Well then the plans are wrong.” I stated simply.

“What?”

“Humanity hasn’t fallen. They’re just… taking time out. And what’s more, the humanity that I know still seems to be alive and well with the UN. So I think it’s time we finally take matters into our own hands.” I started to grin, my mind filled with the possibilities of supercharging a plan meant for a grim and dark future that never actually came, gesturing towards the windows leading into space. “These plans aren’t set in stone, Vir. They’re built for a reality that never came to pass. So I say screw the plans! And let’s make our own destiny, formulate our own plans based on what we have and the reality we’re actually in. Humanity is still alive and well, and with the data we have, well… there’s hope for victory after all.”