Cyrix closed the door to his office with a soft click and sighed. Running an operation of this size was a logistical nightmare and he thanked the gods he had subordinates to lessen the workload. The cold, uninviting room was the closest thing he had to call home during his long mission away from Verilia. While he wasn’t used to indulging in luxuries, even he had to admit that the office could use some sprucing up.

  He made his way to the back of the room to where his large wooden desk was. After settling into his chair, he glanced at the keyboard in front of him and grimaced. He hated doing administrative work, but it came with the job. Touching one of the keys prompted a holoscreen to appear before him. He cleared the security measures in order to access the terminal and began his work, calling up several more screens as he did so.

  He was disrupted an hour into his work by an emergency alarm. He immediately stopped what he was doing to see what the problem was and frowned when he read what was displayed before him. The monitoring equipment in Ava’s cell had been completely shut down.

  Working quickly, he tried accessing the feeds remotely, only to find that there was no response. He had no access to any visuals or audio of the cell. He quite quickly realized that he also couldn’t access the terminal in the observation room adjacent to the cell.

  Something was wrong and he couldn’t tell what it was. Had Ava managed to take control of part of their ship? Not willing to take any chances, he contacted the guards to the cell and told them to prepare for his imminent arrival.

  He moved as quickly as he could, but the flagship was big, and Ava was far. Soldiers parted in his path as he strode through the metal halls of the base, not wanting to impede their Commander when he was obviously in a rush.

  The gun at his hip weighed heavily on him as he prepared for combat, thanking his lucky stars that he was already wearing his armour. In what felt like no time at all, the first checkpoint to Ava’s heavily guarded cell came into view.

  Cyrix took a moment to instruct the guards to remain on high alert before blowing past them towards the next checkpoint. The soldiers didn’t know why an unarmed, perpetually escorted stranger was afforded such a high protection detail, but they weren’t paid to ask questions. They stood at the ready, weapons hot and on high alert, as instructed.

  At the next checkpoint, he collected the contingent of guards and brought them straight to the room adjacent to Ava’s cell. There he met with the two guards standing outside the cell and ordered them to ready themselves for combat.

  Commander Cyrix accessed the control panel outside the observation room and stood back. On his count, the soldiers stormed the room, ready for anything.

  What they found inside was Irric, staring blankly through the one-way window into Ava’s cell. He belatedly noticed their arrival and mechanically turned towards them. The soldiers ordered him to stand down, not that he was holding his gun. He blinked when Cyrix entered the room after being given the all-clear. “Commander,” Irric said in a hollow voice. His expression hadn’t changed, even when under threat.

  Cyrix assessed the situation, noting the shock his soldier was going through. He came to a decision and dismissed the soldier’s he’d brought with him. They looked between each other before hesitantly obeying, ill at ease with leaving their Commander alone with the armed soldier that had warranted their presence.

  Once the room was cleared, Cyrix locked the door and faced Irric, who was watching him passively throughout the entire affair. “Irric,” the Commander ordered in a hard voice, “explain yourself. Why was the monitoring equipment disabled? Did Ava take control of our systems?”

  “No, sir,” Irric replied mechanically.

  “Does that mean you deactivated the equipment yourself?” Cyrix pressed, looking for answers. He couldn’t afford to take any chances with anything regarding Ava. Not when her review with the Tribunal was so close and especially not after her bizarre behaviour several weeks prior.

  Irric, for his part, gave a slow nod. “I did,” he confirmed. He remained impassive as his superior’s face hardened, not reacting as he normally would have.

  Cyrix found the lack of reaction off-putting, as it didn’t match his soldier’s usual demeanor. “And why did you do so? You know that Ava is supposed to be monitored at all times.” The more he interacted with Irric, the greater his unease grew. He knew not what possessed his subordinate to act in such a way.

  “I needed to have a conversation with her,” Irric replied simply.

  “And this conversation needed to be off the record?” Cyrix asked, a dangerous edge to his voice. He did not appreciate the unsanctioned secrecy with someone as untrustworthy as Ava. Already, the circumstances surrounding her episode several weeks ago were suspicious. He hoped dearly that Irric hadn’t been manipulated by the android into helping her. “Why did Ava want the conversation to be kept secret?”

  “I was the one who decided that it needed to be that way,” Irric replied. “She wouldn’t have spoken to me otherwise.”

  “And what did the two of you discuss?” Cyrix asked.

  Irric jolted, his expression turning pallid. “I’d rather not say. Not until I have more information that would confirm her words.” He paused for a moment. “Just to be certain, Ava and the gru’ul prisoner have no way of communicating with each other, correct?”

  Cyrix eyed him warily, alarm bells ringing in his head. “Not that we know of. You know just as well as I do what measures we took to ensure they never interacted with one another, nor knew of the other’s existence.”

  “Could I speak to it? The gru’ul, I mean,” Irric said hurriedly. “There’s something I want — no, need — to confirm.”

  The sheer desperation in Irric’s plea gave Cyrix pause. “Why do you need to speak with it?” he asked. “We keep it isolated for good reason. You’re not in any position to make any bargains with it.”

  “That doesn’t matter! Please, Commander,” Irric pleaded. “I need to know.”

  “Need to know what?”

  Irric hesitated. “If what Ava said is true. The only one who knows is the gru’ul. It’s the last link we have to the facility and is the only one in a position to confirm I’m looking for.”

  “And what, exactly,” Cyrix said, “do you need to confirm?”

  Irric’s eyes widened. “I can’t tell you yet.” The words came spilling out of him.

  “Fine,” Cyrix said after a long moment’s contemplation. “But I want to be there when you speak with it.”

  “No,” Irric refused. “This needs to be off the books. We can’t afford for somebody to know about this yet, even by accident.”

  “Even me?” Cyrix growled. “Don’t forget, soldier,” he stressed, “that your orders are to share the findings of your research with High Command.”

  “I need you to trust me. Just this once,” Irric begged. “You’re not ready for the truth. I thought I was, but I wasn’t.”

  “You’re asking for a lot,” Cyrix said. “Why should I grant you a blackout conversation with our faction’s highest profile captive?”

  “Sir,” Irric said, “this is something I need to know. I won’t work another moment if you refuse me this opportunity.”

  Cyrix’s expression darkened. “We have Tassie to help us out. You’re not nearly as irreplaceable as you think you are.”

  “Tassie isn’t here,” Irric refuted. “She doesn’t have access to the gru’ul systems the way I do, and I know that time is something we’re very much short on. You can’t afford for me to stop my work.”

  “I strongly suggest you rethink your statement,” Cyrix warned. “High Command doesn’t tolerate threats. What does it change if what you’ve learned today is true?”

  “Everything,” Irric whispered hoarsely. “It changes everything.”

  Cyrix gave Irric a long, searching look. “Fine,” he relented. “You have exactly one conversation off the record with the prisoner. I hope it’s fruitful, because it’s the only one you’ll ever get.”

  “Thank you, Commander,” Irric said gratefully.

  “Don’t thank me just yet,” Cyrix warned. “I won’t forget your refusal to divulge what you’ve learned here today.”

  Irric nodded vigorously. “I swear it won’t happen again.”

  “It better not. You won’t find that things will go as well the next time you act this way,” Cyrix said.

  “Can I go now?” Irric asked.

  Cyrix nodded. “Make sure you turn the equipment back on before you go.”

  Irric bolted towards the terminal and did just that. A minute later and he was out the door with no time to spare. Cyrix quickly followed suit, ensuring that the door to the room was well locked. He gave quick instructions to the guards on standby outside and hurried after the shrinking form of his subordinate.

  He caught up and together the pair made their way past the security checkpoints. When they reached a fork in the corridor, Irric went to the right, leaving Cyrix alone. Once his figure was out of sight, the Commander issued brief instructions to the soldiers guarding the security checkpoints that led to the gru’ul’s cell to allow Irric to pass without question.

  He then turned and bolted down the left end of the hall, racing back towards his office, where he knew a special line that would allow him to listen in to Irric’s conversation was waiting for him. The gru’ul was in the highest security cell the flagship had to offer, which came equipped with backdoor access. Never in his life had he moved so quickly, bowling over any soldier that dared get in his way as he made towards his destination, hoping that he would get there in time to catch the entire conversation.

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  It was eerie. It was quiet. Irric walked alone through the halls, ordered to be let through by security that didn’t know what they were guarding. Like many on the flying fortress of metal that was the flagship, they were in the dark about what the military was actually doing in such a barren location.

  His heavy look intimidated the soldiers as he walked up to the final checkpoint. They tried guessing how high his rank was in order to have personal clearance from the Commander to be let through to view what really lay beyond but were uncertain. They’d seen him before and knew that he was important.

  Their most recent orders cemented the thought in their minds as they entered the passcode that would open the door. Irric strode through and continued, towards his destination. The final door, he would have to unlock himself.

  Scanning his identification chip, the panel on the wall next to the door flared to life. He input the long code and the door opened with a hiss. Locking it behind him after entering the already lit room, he made his way to the one-way window and stared silently at the monstrosity sitting idle in the cell that lay beyond.

  There was so much he needed to ask, but did he want to know? A lump formed at the back of his throat, his stomach turning queasy. He placed a hand upon the glass as he contemplated the consequences of learning the truth. Eventually, he made his way over to the to the holoscreen floating above the desk, upon which a slate gray box sat. Opening it revealed the round, silver translator he’d used the last time he’d interacted with the gru’ul prisoner.

  He picked it up, the object weighing heavily in his hands as he stared at it. After placing it on the desk, Irric focused his attention on terminal beneath the holoscreen and turned off all monitoring equipment in the room and the cell beyond. Reluctantly, he opened the communications channel with the cell. Silence dominated as he searched for the right words to say, for the right place to start.

  “Why?”

  It was the only thing that came out. For all that he was, a single word thick with emotion was all he could manage. The gru’ul’s antennae twitched rapidly before a series of shrieks, clicks and hisses emanated from it. “I do not understand your question, a’vaare,” came the mechanical voice of the translator.

  “You know damn well what I’m talking about!” Irric exploded. “I know what the Mandate is. Why? Why us?”

  “It is impossible for you to have learned what the Mandate is,” the gru’ul responded. “You attempt to trick me into revealing this information. I will not answer.”

  “It’s not impossible for us to learn about it.”

  “Only the gru’ul know of the Mandate and are forbidden to speak of it. I am the only one you left alive. I am therefore the only one that has the information you seek. You lie.”

  “It’s possible if it wasn’t a gru’ul that told us,” Irric said softly. His eyes hardened. “There’s always a way to learn. Adrian was nothing more than an experiment within an experiment. I know this now.” When the translator spoke to the gru’ul, it didn’t translate Adrian’s name into its garbled language.

  “What is this word?” the gru’ul asked. “I do not understand it.”

  “It’s the name of your test subject. The one you tortured for years.”

  “We have had many test subjects, but there has only been one that lasted for more than one of your cycles. It is of this one you speak?”

  “Yes. Adrian was never your primary experiment, if your Mandate is to be believed.” His voice quavered. “We are. All of us. Every a’vaare, every human. We’re all the real experiment, aren’t we?” His voice cracked as he asked the question whose answer he desperately wanted to be a lie.

  The gru’ul remained silent, its antennae twitching erratically. “You have learned,” it spoke. “How?”

  “So it’s true?” Irric’s voice quivered. “Everything that we are, everything we’ve become — it’s all a lie? What gave you the right to do this?”

  “We created you,” came the confirmation of Irric’s worst fears. “You are artificial and ours to do with as we please.”

  His world came crashing down around him as the truth was laid bare before him. Irric shook his head in denial. “No,” he whispered to himself. Blood drained from his face, and he grew lightheaded. “It can’t be true,” he muttered. “It can’t be.”

  It had seemed so simple at first. An anomaly he’d accidentally detected with his equipment. Something worth investigating to determine whether he’d miscalibrated. And then the General herself had taken an interest in his findings, unleashing the chain of events that had led him here, to this very moment that was beyond his wildest imagination.

  How he wished he’d never made that initial discovery.

  “Why?” he repeated softly, his voice failing him. He struggled to find the right words, unable to think straight. “For what purpose did you create us?” Ava’s explanation hadn’t been complete, as even she didn’t have the full picture embedded into her dataspace.

  “To study you,” the gru’ul said with a malevolent screech. “That is your only purpose. You exist by our whims. You are nothing without us.”

  Irric’s thoughts raced as quickly as his pounding heartbeat. “If you’re studying our genetics,” he said, “why did you create both humans and the a’vaare? We’re too similar, if Adrian is anything to go by.”

  “To study the divergence between your populations as they adapted to different environments.”

  He frowned. If they were studying human and a’vaare genetics, why was there a need to experiment on Adrian? he wondered. They didn’t need to modify him to study us. He was still missing something. His eyes narrowed as he regarded the monstrosity sitting in the cell beyond the wall. “What were you really doing here?” he asked.

  Time ceased to exist as he held his breath, waiting for the final answer that would complete the puzzle.

  “Improving you. Creating the next step in your evolution. As we have done before and will do again.”

  Irric’s mind blanked as he processed the revelation. Everything he’d learned since arriving at the facility tumbled around in his mind, a mess of information he tried to sort now that he knew the truth. He latched onto the previous words the gru’ul had said. Adrian was the only one that lasted for any modicum of time long enough to properly modify. “Did you succeed?” he asked fearfully.

  “Yes,” the gru’ul hissed.

  What does that make Adrian? Irric thought. Memories of Adrian’s experiments came to mind, his screams echoing in his head. By the gods how he pitied the man for having endured such misery. “What about the chemicals?” he asked. “The purple one you used on Adrian, as well as the other orange one.”

  The gru’ul’s short antennae twitched rapidly in an agitated manner. “You accessed the Highest’s terminal,” it stated. “How? This should not be possible.”

  “You don’t need to know that,” Irric spat. “We’re learning more about what you sick bastards did every day. You created something that vile and expect us not to be concerned about it?”

  “You do not have full access,” the gru’ul realized. “If you did, you would not be asking such a question.”

  “Answer me, gods damn you! Why did you bring something that awful into existence?”

  “Test subjects must be properly controlled. It would not do for you to entertain the idea of rebelling against your creators. The chemicals will ensure that you will forever know your place. Pain will make you obey. This is an immutable fact.”

  “You’re just afraid of us,” Irric simmered with rage. “We’re becoming too powerful, aren’t we?”

  “You are pitifully weak. Do not mistake our generosity for fear. You have been left alone thus far in order to continue our observations. There are many of you now. You are expendable.”

  “You call those chemicals generosity?” Irric replied, utterly dumbstruck. “You’re monsters for creating such a thing. What you did was pure cruelty and will never be anything but! You succeeded in creating one chemical, why did you create two?”

  “The purple substance caused the subject to expire repeatedly. We needed something that would keep you alive.”

  Irric felt nauseous. “And the neurotoxin used on Reya? If you already had those chemicals, why refine a third one on her?”

  “What is this new word? Is it yet another of your nonsensical identification methods?”

  “The person you took captive several months ago.”

  “The female,” the gru’ul clicked. “She served her purpose as a secondary test subject to validate our work. She has not expired yet?”

  “It’s a miracle she didn’t. Not after what you did to her.”

  “Good. We have achieved our desired results.”

  “And those results were?” The gru’ul remained silent, refusing to answer, frustrating Irric. He decided to try a different approach. “Why are you obsessed with our genetics?”

  “We will transcend our limits and achieve perfection. What we have learned can be applied to ourselves. Experimenting on your kind has provided us insight into manipulating our genetics without introducing imperfections amongst our glorious selves. Soon we will be ready.”

  Irric tore his gaze away from the holoscreen and studied the monstrosity directly. “All those poor souls,” he said, thinking about the deformed, mutated bodies floating in the room where Stanley had been found, “were violated because of your delusions? Perfection doesn’t exist.”

  “It can and we will be it,” the alien shrieked. “Every gru’ul has been tasked with this. Our Mandate is absolute and will not be stopped. We will bring true perfection into existence.”

  He couldn’t take it any longer and closed the communications channel, shaken. The translator mercifully remained silent, no longer divulging the gru’ul’s secrets. His heart palpitated as he came to grips with what he’d just learned. He sat down on the chair behind him and slumped against the desk, wondering how in the hells he was going tell the Commander what he’d just learned. He understood now why Ava had chosen to keep silent on the matter.

  How could he tell anyone they were living such a lie?

  Cyrix mutely sat at his desk in his office, slack-jawed and stunned into silence. The special line had allowed for him to listen in on the entire conversation. He had heard it all. Everything he ever knew was upheaved in the span of a single conversation, if what was said was to be believed.

  Could he believe it, though? The mere possibility of it being true sent him into a panic. He forced himself to calm down long enough to consider whether it was a ruse from the prisoner. It had been rather forthcoming with its answers, whereas previously it had bargained in exchange for divulging information.

  Doubt filled him.

  Their origins. Their myths. Their religion. Were those all false? A chill ran down his spine as he wondered how many iterations of testing occurred before the a’vaare were created. How many iterations of test subjects had it taken before Adrian was perfected to alien standards?

  He was glad he was already sitting for his knees were weak. No sound came from the line that had allowed him to share Irric’s secret without him knowing. Without access to the monitoring equipment, he had no way of knowing how Irric was taking the revelation. Cyrix decided that he would use Irric as a benchmark to determine the veracity of the conversation.

  As one of the people with the most exposure to the discoveries made at the facility, if even Irric believed the alien’s words, he figured there must be some measure of truth to them. The only thing he was missing was Ava’s conversation with him. Cyrix had no idea what was discussed and therefore didn’t have enough insight into what exactly Irric believed was true.

  His thoughts raced furiously as he envisioned being the one to tell the Tribunal what he’d just learned, if he could even present such incomplete information at all. The recording he had of the conversation would be one piece of evidence, but Cyrix knew he couldn’t appear before the Tribunal without tangible proof.

  He stood up on shaking legs and wandered over to one of the few cabinets that adorned the room. Opening it revealed a glass and a dark, red-tinted bottle. Popping the cork, he poured himself a generous amount of one of the few luxuries he afforded himself. Specifically for times like this when he was overwhelmed.

  He took a small, tentative sip followed by a large swig, grimacing as it burned a trail down his throat and into his stomach. Glass in hand, he walked back over to his desk and sat down. Irric had yet to say anything more, not that Cyrix blamed him.

  Eventually, the monitoring equipment turned back on, and he had full access. He brought up a visual of the room Irric was in and saw him sitting stone-faced at the terminal. He then used it to call Cyrix, startling the Commander.

  Cyrix quickly turned off his hidden line and accepted the incoming call. Irric’s face appeared before him. “I’m done, Commander,” he said in a weary voice.

  “Have you learned everything you need to know?” Cyrix hedged.

  Irric hesitated for a moment. “For now, yes. I no longer have it in me to keep up our discussion. Could I have the rest of the day off? I’d like to rest before continuing my work with Ava.”

  Cyrix gave Irric a searching look. “Fine,” he said. No sooner had he said that did the call drop from Irric’s end. Cyrix’s eyes flicked back to the holoscreen that gave him the visual of the room. Irric ran a hand through his hair and buried his face in his hand. He turned around and left the room on unsteady feet.

  Cyrix dismissed the feed several long seconds later. Soon after, he received a report from the soldiers stationed at the innermost checkpoint. They reported seeing Irric looking haggard as he’d trudged past them without acknowledging them at all.

  Similar reports came from the soldiers at other checkpoints when he spoke with them. Once he was certain that Irric was clear of the area, he sagged back in his chair. He summoned up another screen and stared at the button that would summon a direct line to Nessah.

  And closed the screen.

  the main series. Once Book 4 is fully finished, and it's a long one, trust me, I will post the prequel.