Chapter 40

"So, Loyd. Didn't you want to talk with me about something?" Reinhold asked when the two were alone in the hangar.

"Two things actually," Loyd said, not turning away from what he was working on. "What kind of relationship did you have with the Earthborn council, and how have you lived so long with that cancer in your chest?"

Reinhold stepped back, shocked that Loyd had found out about his cancer. "How did you know about that?!"

"Argenti. The girl who shares nearly all of her DNA with me. She has that gift because I wanted to, in a way, give myself a better childhood then what the military could give me. I'm not sure what I messed up during the transfer, other than the obvious chromosome difference, because she was supposed to be a boy. But this was after I had already tried to repair my own genetic material from scratch so that may have been the cause. Or it could've been another of over a billion different factors. Now answer my questions," Loyd demanded, turning back to his father and glaring at him.

"Alright, I guess that makes sense. Well, I was actually the founder of the Earthborn council. Back in its inception we were completely devoted to the continuation of the human race. We didn't care whether you were really Earthborn or were born and raised on one of the evacuation ships. Our goals changed rather quickly once you and Charlette were cut out of your mother. You looked human aside from a rather strange bone structure along the back of your shoulder blades. Charlette had been turned into a meter-tall inhuman monster that tried to fight our restraints, and she almost did. We removed a part of her brain that allowed her to move after we drugged her. You were placed in one of the early cloning vats and allowed to grow more naturally. Charlette grew whether we wanted her to or not. She required nearly ten times the normal amount of food that an adult male consumes when she was only three! You were moved to a facility nearby where you grew up. I thought that maybe the military would give you a better life than I could, seeing as I was barely managing to keep control of a group of psychotic murderers and greedy politicians... I'm rambling, aren't I?" Reinhold asked, noticing the blank stare Loyd was giving him.

"Only slightly. I wanted to know your current standing among them and why you had been kicked out of something you created."

"I got kicked out because I refused to allow any assassinations with the group's money. They had to pay for them from their own money. I also killed anyone they hired to kill someone else. As for my current standing with them, both groups want the other to go to hell," Reinhold explained with a laugh that ended with a coughing fit.

"And how have you lived so long with that tumor?"

"It seems to be growing slowing than it should, and I've had multiple cancers that attack each other," explained Reinhold.

"Alright, then if you have no intention of saving any of the Earthborn, then I'll fix the cancer that's inside of you."

"You can do that when its already spread throughout my body?!"

"I rebuilt my own DNA from scratch. Don't underestimate my power," Loyd threatened.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that. When did you go and learn the entire human DNA sequence?"

"I didn't. Everything I did was trial and error. When do you think I had time to read all that junk?" Loyd asked, smirking. "Like I said a minute ago, don't underestimate me, especially when I've been hurt."

"How many individual combinations did you go through before you came across the ones you're using currently?"

"I lost count around seven trillion. Now let's get to the med bay," Loyd said, walking towards the door.

Reinhold followed his son, wondering what other marvels of biology and physics he was going to create, and how Loyd was going to pull everything off.

xX At the south pole on Earth Xx

The Prime Sentient blinked away the crust of ice that had formed on its eye while it had been asleep. Looking around, it wondered how it had gotten there. It had only moved from planet to planet before, so why was it now somewhere far colder than the waters it had been in before?

"Forgive us, Prime Sentient, but we have reason to believe that something bad was going to happen where you had been previously located and decided to move you as a precaution."

The Prime Sentient turned, still waking up. It didn't normally take this long for it to wake up. Maybe the melatonin hadn't flushed from its system just yet.

"What is it that you are worried about?" The colossal blob of sentient cancer that was the Prime Sentient asked.

"The other Prime Sentient has learned how to talk with the precursors. We have reason to believe that it is going to land on the other side of the planet but we wished to be safe in the event of an orbital attack."

"HOW HAS IT MANAGED THAT?!" The Prime Sentient thundered, shaking its continent-sized body in rage.

"We believe it had something to do with the Indigestible Ones. Some of them seem to be assisting it on its journey, while the rest try and exterminate it," the advisor explained, shrinking back in fear.

The Prime Sentient thought for a moment before turning its eye towards the heavens. "We must make contact with the Indigestible Ones. Let us see if they would be willing to stop hunting us, while we both deal with our mutual enemy. The food that fled so long ago must all be destroyed. If they learn the secret to our evolution, then we are doomed."

"I understand but how are we going to communicate with the Indigestible Ones?"

"We will grow into patterns that they will understand and if they don't, then we will just have to kill this new Sentient ourselves. Start growing the army larger."

"Uhm... The birthing chambers have birthed their last. We need to replace them if we are going to grow more warriors and that will take many rotations around the bright fire in the sky," the advisor whimpered, waiting for death as the Prime Sentient stared down at it.

"Then we will prepare to leave this world. Slow down our enemy while I prepare the world seed."

"But you will be unable to lead our warriors while you create the seed! None of the rest of us know as much about fighting as you!" the Advisor protested.

"Then learn as you fight. That is how I learned and I am in need of new strategies."

xX now to the Crystalids Xx

"What do you mean the hybrid is trying to leave the planet?! Where is it going?!" the Chancellor demanded.

"From what I can tell, it is trying to go to the system's third planet, where it will try to destroy the Swarm. After viewing a few of the transmissions we intercepted, it also has an additional objective on the planet but I am unsure what it could be."

"What game is this abomination playing?" the chancellor asked, turning to his terminal. "Keep a close eye on him. We don't want any surprises."

The eidolon stood. "I understand."

xX back to the crawlers, now that we've caught up with everyone else Xx

"So, all I do is get in what looks like a massive flower?" Reinhold asked, stepping onto the floor of the pod.

"Yeah, and then it'll dissolve away anything that's not part of your nervous system and then it will slowly rebuild you over the next few days."

"Won't that hurt?"

"Only for the first few minutes. After you've turned into a soup of nerves you almost lose consciousness and everything starts feeling weird. Your mind will start working overtime once it doesn't have to worry about making your involuntary muscles work. When your body starts reforming, you'll feel a wave of calm wash over you and you'll wake up from your sub-conscience. The process is actually rather pleasant and can be used to change one's appearance in a matter of days rather than weeks, months or years," Loyd explained as the pod closed around his father and began filling with an acidic solution.

"Wait, what about air?" Reinhold worried as the acidic fluid started pooling around his feet.

"The solution has enough oxygen in it to keep your brain and nerves alive."

Reinhold waited for the solution to come up to his chest before he plunged himself underneath it.

("The goal is to drown yourself with the acid so you start dissolving from the inside as well,") Loyd mentioned walking out of the med bay. His father would be busy for a while, and he wasn't interested in listening to his strangled screams as he was drowning in acid.

("Great. Thanks for telling me that now!")