Chapter 769: Clever Beasts (1/2)

Chapter 769: Clever Beasts

Lan Jue paused. “Why is it bad that there are so many survivors?”

Lan Qing explained in his typical emotionless voice. “Did you think about why there were so many survivors? These creatures are on the top of the food chain, there have any number of ways to extract human genes. No, there’s another reason – to delay us. Once the fight starts I’m sure they’ll find a way to make us watch as they kill any human left. What will we do then? We don’t have a choice, we have to save them. We’ll have to save many people, from many planets, with an army barely large enough to do the job we came here for. How long do you think this rescue will take?”

Lan Jue’s face darkened as he understood what his brother was saying. He’d been focused on whether or not the planets were evolving because it was integral to their plan, but now he saw how tricky things really were. They had been right to assume the alien home worlds had begun the evolution process, but no one knew how long it would take. If they got bogged down in a massive rescue mission the worst case scenario was too dire to contemplate.

“They’re too damn clever.” Lan Jue shook his head. “But we can’t just leave them there. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of people! Can’t we find a way to have it both ways?”

A spark flashed in Lan Qing’s eye. “I’ve been thinking about it. I’m going to summon Admiral Kang and Hua Li, then we’ll talk about it. There’s a lot we’ll need to change from the original plan.”

Lan Jue’s heart sank. Their situation was getting worse by the hour. If they focus their efforts on saving people they didn’t have enough soldiers to clear the planets of aliens, much less go hunting for the alien home worlds.

After a little while Kang Hui, Hua Li, the Wine Master and the Keeper arrived. They gathered together to discuss the plan. Lan Jue began by sharing what he’d learned, going over everything in detail. The others listened with increasingly deepening scowls.

Lan Qing first swept his attention over to the Keeper. “Your Majesty, have you discovered anything about the infected?” He was likely here for just that reason.

The Keeper, his face dark and imposing, replied. “We’ve only just begun to see what we can learn, their condition is complicated. Simply put they suffer from a sort of disease – a terrible affliction that attacks the victim’s genetics and bodily functions. On the surface the symptoms looks relatively benign; it improved their strengths, extends their life, and releases potential by stimulating their genetic code to an incredible degree. However, at the core of it this disease poisons the victim’s mind. It interrupts and modulates brain-wave patterns, making them homogenous with all the other infected. We believe this is how the aliens control them.”

“So you’re saying,” Lan Jue cut in, “the aliens are capturing humans, then unlocking their potency in order to use them as their own tools? As a way to better understand our technology?”

The Keeper shook his head. “That was my hypothesis at first, but evidence disproves the theory. This affliction causes human DNA to activate and become more readily definable. This would allow them to see the advantages of our genetic makeup in order to assist their own evolution.”

“Isn’t this what you told us when you came back from the planets? They want to obtain genetic information from our people, which corresponds with my findings.”

Lan Jue nodded. “Is there a way we can turn them back? Reduce the number of afflicted?”

The Keeper frowned. “It’s difficult. We’ve never seen anything like this before, and understanding it well enough to develop a cure will take time and effort. This goes beyond any modern medicine we possess. With today’s technology it will take one or two years before we can research a cure.”

Lan Jue shrugged. “Perhaps there’s another method? Some scientific process or…”

But the Keeper cut him off with the shake off his head. “There is nothing suitable to be used in this case. This disease directly attacks the genetic code. We can’t simply start destroying the aberrant bonds. At best we return them to a persistent vegetative state which there is no cure for. So far as we’ve been able to tell there is only one option. There may be someone with sufficient willpower and strength to fight off the poison with their own immune system. If we can find anyone who is able to do this we can extract their cells and use them to develop and antidote. However, it is important to realize that the chances of finding someone with resistant genes is very small.”

The aliens and their poisons were strong. Indeed it would not be easy to find someone with the innate ability to resist them.