Chapter 319 (2/2)

”Then you should record my next words,” Mru'udaDa'ay said.

Tiktak activated the recording system and looked at the Lanaktallan. ”Also, virtually present, are several lawyers as well as your legal representative and your advocate.”

Blank, bipedal holograms appeared.

”What, Grand Most High Mru'udaDa'ay, should we do for those of your people suffering from neural scorching from improperly applied templates forced upon them by the Lanaktallan Unified Executor Council?” General Takilikakik said, sitting up. ”As their highest ranking military commander as well as their species advocate, what is your decision, now that you have been fully informed.”

”Release them from their suffering, General Imak Takilikakik, of the Confederate Military,” Mru'udaDa'ay stated gravely. ”Euthenization once they cease verbal communication and use non-verbal means to indicate great pain. I do not wish my people to suffer in the vain hope that some miracle will save them.”

”Thank you, Grand Most High Mru'udaDa'ay. We will take this under advisement and notify you of our decision in time for you to appeal it,” one of the holograms said.

”How many suffer brain death and at what pace?” Mru'udaDa'ay asked.

”Roughly ten thousand an hour, up from six thousand an hour forty-eight ago. It is expected to reach critical mass in the next thirty days,” another hologram said.

”It must be done, then,” Mru'udaDa'ay said. ”Thank you for considering my opinion.”

One by one the holograms winked out.

Tiktak sighed, feeling the crushing weight of his responsibilities on his shoulders.

”Is that all, General?” Mru'udaDa'ay asked.

”Yes,” Tiktak said. He tapped the holographic button and Mru'udaDa'ay's two guards came in. ”He may return to his camp.”

Mru'udaDa'ay waited for the chair to return to a simple bench then moved off of it before turning around. He trotted up to the door, the variable hardness tile only thudding under his hooves. As he left he twisted around to face behind him, to look at General Tiktak.

”I am glad I do not have to make the decisions that you must now make,” he said.

The door closed and the Lanaktallan was gone.

Tiktak sat for a long time at his desk, staring at the real time numbers regarding the disposition of the Lanaktallan prisoners of war.

He got up and turned away from the desk, rubbing his forearms together.

I am no stranger to death, he thought to himself. I have never directly taken a life. No matter what my decision, I still will not have directly taken a life.

He sighed, still slowly rubbing his arms together.

But I keenly feel this... this... mass slaughter, the thought burned like acid. This will be industrialized death on a scale almost unheard of.

He lifted his arms at the elbows, cocking his wrists, and putting his fingers together in a point.

Any other being has needed a planet cracker to do what I must order to be done, he thought.

For a moment his temper slipped as his mind reacted to the horror with anger.

He brought down his forearms, slamming the tips of his fingers against the glass.

When this is done, I will retire. I will go to a primitivism colony and I will avoid any cattle. I will learn to be a wood worker and I will make dressers, beds, tables, and chairs. I will bury my uniform in a chest behind my house, I will take a wife, I will have children, he thought to himself.

He slammed his fingertips into the glass again, sparks bouncing off his fingertips.

I will teach them to love one another.

He slammed his fingertips into the glass hard enough to bend his fingers, hard enough to cause pain. Sparks snarled around the tips of his fingers and a crack appeared in the smart glass.

I will order this done. I will let no other shoulder this burden, take this blame, he thought to himself.

He slammed his fingertips again, unaware that several monitors in the Mental Health Oversight section were going off as the sparks thickened.

I will order this, ensure it is done, and then... I will diminish and go west and no longer be General Tiktak, he misquoted.

He was unaware he was weeping as he slammed his fingertips forward again.

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>USER MANTID FREE WORLDS HAS JOINED THE CHAT

>USER RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT HAS JOINED THE CHAT

>USER TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS HAS JOINED THE CHAT

>USER TERRASOL HAS JOINED THE CHAT

MANTID FREE WORLDS

It's been awhile since we've had to use this.

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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

A little over a thousand years by my count.

---END OF LINE---

TERRASOL

This one is bad.

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RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

Doesn't seem that bad. It didn't ruffle the tiniest feather on the most skittish pretty little duck.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

Is that why none of the children, not even DASS or BASS or Clone Worlds is in here?

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TERRASOL

Yeah. We'll talk to them later.

We need to talk about what's happening to the Lanaktallan.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

Are they dying for you too?

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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

The whole cone is made of sour milk, sis. Tens of thousands are dying a day and we can't stop it.

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TERRASOL

What have you been able to figure out?

We're at an impasse. It's neural scorching. Worse, it's about a year old, so it's past the point of no return.

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RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

Roughly one hour per year old plus thirty six hours is the normal limit. Are there any neural traces left of the original personality?

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

We've had the best doctors on Hive Home examine them.

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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

What did they determine?

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

The templates put in place were for a genetically distinct sub-species of the Lanaktallan race. One we would probably have records for if we hadn't have gone through so many Filter of Too Many Queens.

Neurologically they have pattern recognition, a lot further than the average Lanaktallan. They have different neural arrangements, different clusters, denser dendrite formation, more folds and ridges in their cerebral matter.

They applied it on your average Lanaktallan genetic stock.

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TERRASOL

So it's worse than a normal neural scorching. It's like trying to apply a Treana'ad Warrior Caste neural template to a Mantid worker caste.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

Bingo, to use your phrase.

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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

That's fatal. Those guys aren't going to survive.

My god, guys, I've got a half billion prisoners, all but a few million are neural scorched.

You're talking a half billion dead.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

We have just over a billion prisoners. Despite our best efforts, using Terran Descent Human guards since the sight of Mantid just agitate them

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TERRASOL

Meaning these templates are from the Lanaktallan/Mantid Precursor War.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

Yes.

Despite our best efforts, we've already lost almost fifteen percent of them.

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RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

I guess I'm lucky they didn't get any further than the Great Gravity Band.

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TERRASOL

It's bad here.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

Define... bad.

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TERRASOL

Over ten billion prisoners.

It's the largest die-off Terra has ever seen since the dinosaurs.

Even more than the Great Glassing.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

Oh Digital Omnimessiah. Oh... oh...

oh, my dear.

We'll be by your side no matter what.

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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

This is an ugly war.

But we'll stick with you.

They did this, not us.

They just left us to clean up the mess.

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RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

Do what must be done.

We, the Rigellian People, are with you.

Always.

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