Chapter Twenty-Nine (Dreams) (2/2)

She paused for a moment. ”Does your species perform DNA scans to see what each individual would be best at?”

Hashknesh nodded. ”Of course. How else will they achieve happiness and completion?”

”How indeed,” Dreams said. She flashed the rune for wry amusement. ”The humans do also. Would you care to guess at what percentage follows the dictates of DNA?”

Hashknesh signaled confusion. ”Oh, they seem to thrive on chaos, so I guess... umm... 80%. That number seems quite low, but reasonable.”

Dreams flickered the laughter icon. ”Oh, my, no. Much less. Try about 4%. On a good year,” she waved at the two warborgs. ”The one on my left is a tailor, the one on my right a bricklayer, according to their DNA. Yet both have fought and prevailed upon a hundred worlds.”

Dreams flickered the amusement icon again.

”We are all slaves to our DNA, despite our high technology. Yet somewhen, back on ancient Lost Terra, some human who was genetically a hunter, looked at another human who was chipping flint and said: I want to do that.”

”Why would they do that? Do they not seek contentment?” Hashknesh asked, looking at the two warborgs.

”Have you met a human?” Dreams trilled her laughter and flicked four different icons, including a violent Neko Marine emoji, all of laughter. ”Too often a content human looks around itself and thinks: 'hm, should I break that?' while you are willing to just sit there, content, your brain turned off, humming to yourself in contentment. For a human, happiness and content are fleeting and lead to boredom.”

”What does this have to do with what is going on out on the Outer Rim?” Hashknesh asked.

”Because humans broke their chains, freed themselves from their DNA before they mastered fire, they understand freedom is not only a right that all living things have, but a state the universe itself prefers,” She slid her bladearm through her mandibles and looked at her guest. ”In the same way light seeks to escape a star, particles attempt to escape an isotope, a human shrieks and screams and fights for freedom.”

She folded her bladearms. ”So no, it does not surprise me that the humans are freeing your servitor species.”

”Why hasn't that tendency been gentled through DNA and breeding?” Hashknesh asked, the idea of denying her DNA mandate disgusting her. ”Surely it interferes with their society and culture. Surely someone would suggest or assist them in such an endevour.”

”To quote a human philospher: You and what army?” Dreams said. When she saw her guest didn't get it she shook her head. ”So, which races shall you volunteer to force the Terrans to kneel to the determination of their DNA and biology?”

The Shavashan opened her jaws to answer but the gold flashed a wait icon.

”Choose ones you never want to see again, because I will promise you that those races won't survive the attempt,” Dreams told her guest. ”And do it somewhere you don't mind losing. An odd star cluster or two, maybe part of the galactic arm spur. Because that fight would be so legendary galaxies not yet born will awaken to see ”OH GOD IT HURTS!” splashed across dying stars still reverberating with the screams of the dying.”

”Surely it won't...” Hashknesh started to ask when Dreams interrupted her.

”Stop thinking as a politician of the Unified Blah Blah Blah Council and look at what is behind me. Two. Two Humans,” Gold triggered a sound-meme of a man laughing. It was a joke but the other politician didn't get it. ”There's nothing on this planet that can stop them. No orbital weapons are in position. By the time they stopped this place would be wreckage. This is not hyperbole, this is fact. And I promise you, right this second, they've already run simulations wondering: hmm, should I break that?”

Gold shook her head and speared a piece of fish a little too hard and her bladearm point tacked a small dent into the tray. She slowly ate the fish meat, staring at her guest, flashing the wait rune. Once the fish was gone Dreams folded her grasping hands and sighed.

”Your Unified Science Council has already determined that the majority of your 'civilized' races show signs of genetic manipulation, of uplift, correct?” Dreams asked. Hashknesh nodded. ”That was my race. You were food.”

The wire tingled.

”We left, and after a hundred million years, all you've done is step into our shoes,” Dreams shook her head sadly. ”You don't know any better, I guess. Even cattle want to rule over somebeing.”

Dreams waited, watching the Shavashan struggle with the realization that she was looking directly at the race that had modified hers.

To eat.

Dreams deliberately stabbed another piece of fish meat rolled in rice and plants, dipped it in sauce, and delicately nibbled it away, staring at the other politician.

The words so many humans had uttered bubbled up in her mind as she stared at the lizard in front of her.

Yeah, it's like that.

To break the tension Dreams flashed the rune for 'heed my words' after she had cleaned her bladearm. She could tell the Shavashan wanted to leave but was frightened to.

”These worlds, in this area of the spur, were, well, probably cattle worlds. Probably gentled to ensure that nothing would hurt your species. You had that advantage. Some archeological records suggest it was done all across this broken off area of the galactic arm spur,” Dreams said. ”Even the races that rose up later, during our 100 million year absence, benefited from such.”

”There has been evidence of terraforming,” Hashknesh admitted. ”But didn't the humans have someone help them rise up? Destroy the dominant life form, a feathered lizard if I'm correct, so that they could rise up?”

Dreams chuckled. ”Despite human suggestion at times to the contrary, nobody did it to them. It was complete random chance. Just luck of the draw. The most is that maybe a ship nudged a chunk of rock that led to the meteor impact, but no. By the time that happened the war had been over a couple thousand years. We know that much.”

”Oh,” Hashknesh had hoped to puncture a hole in Dream's statements.

”Go back, tell the massive corporations and conglomerates and such that if they want the humans to give back their slaves and those planets, they're free to force the Confederacy to do so,” Dreams said.

She stabbed another piece of fish.

”Just remember Speaker for how well that goes.”