Chapter 509

The station was new, put together like a living thing that had grown naturally. The aesthetics were strange, flowing like living tissue and angled like crystalline growths. It orbited a neutron star, far enough out that the gravitational tides did not affect the interior, but close enough for the gravity to keep it in orbit.

The idea of just having a research station floating through the deep dark between stellar systems was usually discarded because of stellar cartography and astrogation would make it difficult for the research station to be useful.

So the station orbited the star. Multi-colored in a strange way, the coloration for eyes that were developed around less energetic stars. To those eyes, the neutron star put out enough light to see by, but without the discomfort of the more energetic stars that filled the sky.

Phasic energy rippled around the station, maintaining its integrity, shoring up its tensile strengths. It could survive hits from the strongest weapons, the largest bore nCv cannon shots would only make the phasic shielding ripple. The radiation cascades from the neutron star only made the phasic shielding ripple.

Inside was a complex intertwining of phasic systems and high technology. Copper wiring stretching between semiconductor computing systems twined with fiber optic cables. The molecular circuitry was the finest in crystalline lattice systems, sensitive to the phasic manipulations of users. Crystal lattice storage, which would remain stable for millions of years, held the observational data of those within the station.

And it's sole subject.

Those who dwelled within were the masters of living flesh, able to twist and warp living matter into the desired shapes and functions through the application of phasic energy. They could take a simple single celled organism mass, like the ones found in vast warm oceans on water filled words, and within only a few decades create a creature capable of destroying entire cities, chase and kill other organisms, even adapt to changing conditions.

But despite their mastery of living flesh, they were travellers of the vast spaces of the void. In great ships shaped like deep sea creatures they explored space, seeking out resources to sustain their people in the fact of a closed system of finite resources.

But they were more than that.

They were also the masters of phasic energy. Able to use it to create shielding, hide themselves, shift across physical space, even manipulate time itself.

And that was where their true skill lay. The manipulation of time. Forward, backwards, side to side, even diagonally. The could influence one timeline to become dominant over the others, even exist in alternate timelines and mine those timelines for resources.

Even copy objects, creatures, energy, and resources from the past to the present, only slightly diminishing the resources on both ends.

In their old universe, it had been a simple thing, easily done, and nobody could stop them.

However...

The Universe Dislikes That.

The Universe Will Remember That.

And so, those who had created the station, who had manned it, had no idea that the universe, which they had only previously experienced as a source of resources, was malevolent in its designs and function.

Those who manipulated time only eventually created the worst outcome for themselves eventually.

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**What is it doing?** asked one of the researchers, staring at the glimmering hologram projected by the carefully grown and aligned crystals.

The hologram showed a largely hairless lemurian primate, heavy with muscle and thick bone, sitting in the middle of a room. Its lower two appendages were crossed, exposing its groin. Its hands rested upon the middle joint of the legs, the middle arm joints bent at nearly a right angle. Its head was lifted, its eyes and mouth closed, breathing slowly and steadily through its nose. It was covered in sweat and its body temperature had raised before steadying out.

It had ignored the food that dropped around it. Had ignored the water that had poured from the ceiling and onto the floor.

**Elevated brain activity. Elevated organ function** another said, staring at a phasic representation of the primate. It pointed at several parts of the brain, then at what appeared to be vestigial organs inside the lemur's torso. **This has raised its body temperature and forced it to excrete liquid H2O in order to regulate its body temperature**

The others just nodded.

**Begin the experiment** the older one ordered.

A phasic shield wavered into existence. Strong enough to deflect a plasma cannon from a Herd Species tank, it was four feet thick and strong enough to distort the light passing through it.

The lemur opened its eyes, still expressionless.

The phasic shielding on one wall parted, revealing a blank wall. The wall shimmered, rippled, and a portal opened as the phasite alloy irised open.

Two of the Young Ones, having recently deposited their larvae and thus were able to be risked in close proximity to the lemur, floated in on thick clouds of phasic energy.

The lemur's eyes narrowed and the observing scientists watched as brain activity increased.

The organ functions dropped in two places, which the researcher noted. He was not sure what the organs did.

**Reach out and suppress its motor control** one ordered.

Flush with confidence the Young One ordered reached out with its phasic power, its abilities honed to a razor's edge, intending on plunging into the feral lemur's mind and seizing control of its ability to control its own body.

Instead of soft putty, like every other species, or thin brittle armor like the hated Hive Species, it instead found thick heavy clay. The resistance stopped the attempted penetration, growing 'thicker' with each bit of progress. It was if the lemur's entire brain was full of cold cool wet clay, sticky and thick, that slowed the blade of the Atrekna's assault.

Snarling, it pushed harder, the other joining it, using its power to assist in widening the gap in the claw.

The one on the left felt something 'touch' its psychic intrusion as it tried to push the clay aside. Realizing it could be a 'bubble' in the clay, a gap in the defenses, it angled the attack toward the psychic object.

The object was sharp edged, glimmering like glass, as the Atrekna's psychic powers touched it.

It ruptured, its contents under pressure, like some kind of psychic boil.

**DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME** roared out from the Atrekna as its eyes burst in the sockets and its brain was suddenly reduced to a slurry by the counterassault that was so intense that it broadcast the thought outwards in its dying moments.

The other one squealed in pain, physically pulling back even as it tried to disengage psychically. The body of the other one fell to the ground, convulsing and trembling.

It found it was unable to pull free, the clay holding the blade fast. Even as its physical body moved back, the blade was pulled deeper into the clay.

The watchers activated a defense system, lowering the oxygen content of the room even as they added more carbon monoxide.

The surviving Young One squealed as it thrashed, trying to pull its psychic senses free of the clay.

The feral lemur slowly closed its eyes and the Young One was able to pull free.

It fled out the 'doorway' which irised shut with a ripple.

The researchers watched as the brain activity shifted and the organs again went into elevated usage.

They reduced the carbon monoxide and raised the oxygen level back up, confident that the feral creature had been rendered unconcious.

As they watched, the body of the dead researcher began to steam. Its fine robe, laced with crystalline lattices, thinned and tattered as if it was rotting. The flesh seemed to melt away, off the cartilage skeletal structure, until it was in a puddle of liquid. The cartilage melted away, then the bone. The liquid steamed for a long moment, then slowly vanished, as if it was absorbed by the floor.

The researchers carefully documented it. They were unsure where the matter had gone. It had seemingly vanished. The lemur did not increase in weight or mass.

As they watched the meat and crude vegetables, even the globs of nutripaste, slowly dissolved in the same way.

They merely observed, silently communicating with one another, wondering how the lemur was doing such a thing, even if the lemur was actually causing it.

Their instruments, sensitive enough to detect even the fine hairs on the lemur's skin, even measure the percentages of gas contained in the air exhaled by the lemur, could detect no clue of where the matter had gone.

Two of the researchers examined what their phasic instruments had shown them. The lemur's phasic energy output had not increased, with the exception of the single sharp directed burst that had slain the one researcher. Even that had not been accompanied by an increase of brain activity.

They determined it must have been some type of interaction with the shielding. One put forward the unpopular opinion that it was some kind of autonomous defensive system.

That would have required a phasic predator at one point. The others scoffed at such an idea. A phasic manipulation capable predator would have been the dominant life form on the planet, not a hairless lemur with a lack of physical weaponry.

That researcher pointed out that the lemur was a predator and it was capable of phasic defenses, perhaps the defensive system was to counter some kind of offensive system that the lemur had not used, or perhaps had even lost due to atrophy.

It was mocked and set to patrol the hallways to ensure the phasic shielding was smooth.

The primate just sat, eyes closed, in the middle of the room.

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The Young One secretly felt relieved. When its companion had been killed by the sudden needle of directed phasic energy, it had felt a split second emanation of malicious glee from the lemur. Almost as if the lemur had known what had happened and was taking pleasure from it.

Yet the lemur, to his senses, had nearly no phasic energy potential aside from what was normally found in living creatures.

It was in its quarters, meditating, a crystal in front of it held up by phasic power, as it calmed itself by concentrating on the comforting mathematically precise crystalline alignments within the crystal.

Behind it the phasonium alloy seemed to shimmer for a moment, as if it was covered in a light coating of diamond dust.

The Atrekna did not notice.

The surface suddenly trembled, dust vibrating on what had been a clean surface only a moment before. There was a twinkle and the dust vanished, lifting up into the air.

Dozens of short thin needles suddenly appeared around the Atrekna, hovering in midair. They paused for a split second, then sliced forward, ripping into the Atrekna's flesh. The Atrekna jerked up, the wounds mortal, but not instantly fatal. It attempted to reach out with its phasic powers, to connect to the shared consciousness.

The needles had destroyed most of its phasic cortex.

The needles burst from the skin, curved around the Atrekna, and savaged it again.

It fell forward, dead, and the needles suddenly dissolved in midair.

The body slowly began to steam.

Then dissolve.

In under a minute the body was gone.

So was the crystal.

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The Atrekna frowned. The stations internal sensors and many of the instruments being used to examine all manner of things about the lemur had all picked up high frequency radio bursts at 60GHz from multiple points throughout the facility. The bursts were able to penetrate even phasic shields, phasonium, and more standard materials.

The Atrekna noted that the signals all overlapped, completely filling the entire station, three times before cutting off. It scanned, but could not find any source for the signals. It cleared the instruments and checked again.

Nothing.

It summoned several of its fellow researchers, all of whom examined their instruments.

One pointed out that the extremely fine object detector in several corridors had picked up small particles, but another pointed out that Atrekna had passed through the corridors and what the instruments were picking up were standard epidermis shedding. The air within the research facility was quite dry, more than a few of the Atrekna had complained.

They all waited, paying close attention to their monitors, but nothing showed up again.

---------------

**The lemur is not moving** one researcher said.

**High brain activity but no phasic activity detected** another said.

**What is this section doing** one asked, pointing at part of the lemur's brain that was deep within the brain. Deep enough that it nearly rested against where the sinus cavity met the lemur's throat.

**Unknown, although it seems to be generating a lot heat** another said.

The lemur yawned, pulling air quickly into its lungs.

**See? That section of its brain generates so much heat the lemur must use rapid air movement to cool the blood to carry away the heat** the researcher said.

**Has it been active the entire time?** the Atrekna asked suspiciously.

**Yes. Even when it is asleep** another answered.

That Atrekna nodded psychically within the shared consciousness.

The lemur was a strange creature.

The Atrekna moved through the station, to the vivisection and autopsy lab. The Atrekna had only managed to secure dead lemurs and a single living lemur so vivisection had been unused.

There were nearly a dozen lemur bodies in various states of examination.

One odd thing about the lemurs was that even after death the brain had electrical and slight phasic activity for weeks afterwards. Even after death, there was a piece of high technology that once in a while would induce an electric shock into the lemur's brain.

The Atrekna had deduced it was some kind of cerebral integrity implant.

It examined two of the most recent acquisitions from a planetary assault that had ended in disaster for the Atrekna.

Even dead lemurs were extremely difficult to move via temporal mechanics. The section of their brains that retained electrical activity were near the sections that seemed to regulate temporal observations.

It looked down at the two subjects.

One male. One female.

To the Atrekna, they looked slightly odd. Grayish skin. Their eyes were covered by white cataracts. Their fingers were desiccated, the short thick keratin claws sticking out above bone that was razor sharp. It noticed that the female had perfectly intact claws while the male had lost them and instead the ends of the fingerbones protruded and were razor tipped.

It wondered if the coloration of the female's finger talons meant anything, then turned around.

The air behind it shimmered for a second, as if there were tiny diamonds or other crystals in the air.

Behind the Atrekna, there was movement.

The female's fingers trembled as her eyes opened, showing white cataracts. The pink enameled keratin claws scraped for a moment against the steel.

The Atrekna turned and looked.

Nothing.

It turned back to its instruments, readying them.

The male's eyes opened, then its mouth.

It's lips moved.

In her cell, Lady Khoonkeenade slowly smiled as the observing Atrekna wondered why.

The Atrekna in the autopsy lab heard a whisper. A cold whisper.

i taste cherry nipplegloss and blood