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“No way! Your people really schtooped their ancestors?” Xiaoli shouted from behind Nox.

“As amusing as that conclusion would be, I believe it is much more likely a deliberate but ultimately unsuccessful attempt by a third party to recreate something similar to the Dhar. I would suggest these Ancients as you call them as the most likely culprit, though that is pure speculation.” Nox stated.

“Unsuccessful?” Pharaa asked, not sure if she should be offended.

“Unsuccessful in the sense that they did not achieve the intended goal. Assuming it really was their goal to recreate a Dhar. It may be that they were just trying to see what happened if you added Dhar genetics to a carbon-based life-form, in which case the attempt was quite successful as you are a perfectly viable species and a rather well-functioning one at that.” Nox corrected her earlier statement.

“So you’re suggesting that the Eriads were created as an experiment? How sure are you?” Pharaa questioned further. News like this was not something you got every day and it was hard to react to. She had already learned that many of the inhabitable systems in the galaxy were created by these Dhar. Finding out that her own species might have been created in their image so soon after was shaking her assumptions about how the universe worked.

“That or deliberately guided and modified. Similarities like these are too much to be just random chance. I’m 99% certain in that, though I have less confidence when it comes to estimating the reasons for such an endeavor. I wouldn’t want to venture guesses concerning that.” Nox replied confidently, which was undermined a bit as her legs wobbled a bit while she took an unsteady step. She was getting better at walking, but she wasn’t perfect yet.

“You’ll understand if we won’t just take something like this on faith?” Pharaa stated firmly, hiding her shock quite well. Only Yrala could sense her disquiet.

“I understand. I was simply answering a question to the best of my ability. I do not expect you to trust the answer without any of your own research into it, should you even want to confirm it. Things like this might be better left as a mystery after all.” Nox replied. She had records of what happens when a race finds out they are the result of some genetic experiment. At best the result would be ambivalence. At worst it could lead to a real crisis of identity spanning the entire race, though that one was quite rare. Not that news like this was common in the first place.

“You seem rather blasé about this.” Xiaoli pointed out, looking at Selendil. “Last time a race tried to take the identity of the Dhar, you didn’t take it so calmly.”

Selendil gave a dismissive wave. “You saying that just shows you don’t fully understand why I was angry in the first case. The Cortoids knew about us and knew we were gone, although I’m not sure they knew why. They knowingly took our name and tried to usurp our identity. Let’s put it this way. How would you react if someone stole your identity, moved into your house, mocked your dead relatives, stole your resources, and ruined your reputation in the eyes of others? What if it was someone you had helped in the past? Instead of being thankful, they spit in your face instead. And the Cortoids knew we would not approve of such actions.”

“That explains why you were angry at them, but doesn’t quite explain why you aren’t even slightly upset by this.” Xiaoli countered. While she didn’t fully approve of or condone Selendil’s extreme reaction before, she understood it and didn’t feel strongly enough about it to try and stop it. In fact, she thought it kind of awesome, and thus worth doing just for that reason alone.

“Three main reasons. Firstly, emulation is the purest form of flattery. Whoever did this to the Eriad didn’t try to claim that they actually were Dhar. They just tried to create something similar. Assuming that’s even what they were going for, which we don’t know. Secondly, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Others have tried copying Dhar traits in the past. We don’t exactly encourage it, but we don’t disapprove either. It never really works, as it’s quite impossible to make a genetic copy of an energy being that is not an energy being. You can try to copy traits, but that’s just normal genetic engineering, except you’re using a model to aim for. Thirdly, even if I were to get angry about this, I wouldn’t get angry at the Eriad. I would show my displeasure at whoever performed the experiment, though I’m not really inclined to do even that in this case.” Selendil explained.

"Well I'm sort of pissed," Pharaa stated with a vexed tone. “Someone did this to us without our knowledge and approval. I think an explanation at the very least would be fair. Not that I can do much about it I suppose. Is there any way to tell when all this happened and what we would be like without…whatever this is?”

Nox shook her head. “The only way would be to find some common ancestry with another species on your world, but even then it would be guesswork at best. You could assign your AIs to perform a calculation based on the template I’ve made, but the result would be wildly inaccurate at best. I won’t even bother running that calculation myself due to how useless the answer would be. We don’t know the exact extent of the changes that were done, nor do we know what would’ve been there had nothing been changed. For example, were you chosen because you already had some genetics similar to the Dhar? Or were you a completely random choice?”

Pharaa tapped her horn in frustration. “I’ll need to consider all this. In the meantime, we had other matters to discuss as well. Namely, concerning your future plans. Your ship is enough to upset the balance of power in our galaxy, so I kind of have to ask. You said you aren’t here for an invasion, and I believe you, so what are you planning on doing in our galaxy? Yrala told me you need some information concerning extra-galactic visitors, but what does that entail?”

“Before that, what’s Yrala’s situation?” Amaterasu asked a little worried.

“No need to concern yourself over that. She will be traveling to the capital world in two days in one of our warships. It’s only two jumps away so she’ll arrive in less than an hour. We’ll be sending a large enough fleet with her to make our point clear. I’m also applying pressure to the CAS military to make sure they understand that we don’t appreciate their politicking in this case. They will give in, simply because they can’t avoid it.” Pharaa waved the concern away, though she appreciated it.

“Well, to answer your question, if we can’t find the information we need any other way, we would need to visit a few systems in this galaxy that these visitors would’ve likely also visited to see if we can find any signs of their visit. What’s in these systems?” Selendil asked and a projection of the galaxy appeared above them with several systems highlighted.

Pharaa studied the map carefully. “That one, and that one,” she pointed at two systems. “should be easy enough. They are inhabited, but the races there are our allies and the systems are not important due to how hostile they are.” She pointed at a third system. “That one might be a bit of a problem. It’s controlled by one of the Prime races. Even our trade ships don’t get access to that system or any of its neighbors for some reason. The race in question isn't generally hostile, but they don't like others poking around in their territory. Even so, they might give you access if you can convince them. The fourth one, however…"

All three of the Eriads stared at the fourth glowing spot with various looks. “Well, the fourth one might be a problem. That system doesn’t exist anymore. I’d have to refresh myself on the details, but if I recall correctly, either the star died out or it was destroyed a long time ago, so the system no longer exists. This was back when the Ancients were still around. They designated the area as dangerous afterwards and forbid entry, but we of course ignored those warnings once they vanished. None of the ships we sent there returned though, so we stopped sending more ships.” Pharaa explained.

“Why do I get the feeling that’s exactly where we need to go?” Xiaoli asked rhetorically.

"Well, it piqued my interest at least," Amaterasu replied with a grin. "We should probably cross the other ones off our list first to be on the safe side, but it does seem the most suspicious."

“So is that everything? A pure information gathering trip?” Pharaa confirmed.

“Well, that doesn’t mean we can’t benefit in other ways from this visit. Just like the body for Nox, you have certain specialties. I’m not going to hide the fact that we wouldn’t mind getting access to the method of travel your military ships use. When combined with our ability to travel between galaxies, it would cut down on our travel time. It’s just a convenience thing for us though, so we don’t need to do something extreme to gain the technology.” Selendil admitted nonchalantly.

Pharaa considered the situation carefully before speaking. “Would you be interested in doing more? Say in exchange for that technology and our assistance with those systems you want to visit. I am well aware of the fact that with your strength you could gain the technology by force if you really wanted to. How about a trade instead?”

“That depends. What did you have in mind?” Selendil asked.

"Well, as I mentioned before, your power is enough to upset the balance of things in this galaxy. The political situation of our galaxy is a little precarious and sliding in a direction we don’t really like. I’d like you to help upset that balance to our benefit.” Pharaa suggested.

“That sounds like a risky proposition. You’ll need to be a bit more specific. I’m not prepared to fight your wars for you. The technology is not worth that much to us since it would be just a convenience. And like you mentioned, we could take it by force if we really had to.” Selendil said carefully, without shutting the idea down entirely.

“I didn’t plan on having you fight our wars, though taking part in a particular battle or two might be necessary. What I mainly have in mind is having you help us with the internal struggles of the CAS. If we can say that the Eriad have the support of a being as powerful as you and a ship as advanced as yours, then just that alone will give our words a lot more weight if we use that advantage in the right way. That little extra might be enough to allow us to push things in a direction more favorable to us.” Pharaa explained her thoughts. “The problem is, we can’t just claim to have your support. We might be called upon to prove it at some point.”

“We might be able to offer another card that will make your hand even stronger.” Amaterasu suddenly interjected.

“Do tell.” Pharaa prompted, willing to take all advantages on offer. The Eriad were not in a desperate situation or anything close to it, but the direction things were developing was not good.

“Well, you may have noticed that the rest of us aside from Selendil are not Dhar. We also have a home galaxy, one that we return to fairly regularly. What’s to say that the next time we return, a few Eriads can’t join us? Since Selendil is the one that has to facilitate all the travel, it can’t be anything like regular trade, but the Eriad having access to a method to travel to another galaxy should be enticing.” Amaterasu explained her idea.

“That…certainly would make our position even stronger.” Pharaa frowned a bit. “You said that Selendil is the only one that can facilitate the travel. What would it take for someone else to do the same? Is it a power thing?”

“For ships? Warp engines that you won’t be able to gain access to without something that really piques my interest. Even then I would not allow it easily. Secondly, it would require the same as personnel warping between galaxies. A destination and someone to facilitate the warp. For someone to be able to do that would require them to be part of the universal consciousness, for them to join the unity with me, and for me to grant them access to the warp network. It’s not something you can learn in a short time.” Selendil didn’t mind revealing this much since it was impossible for anyone to fulfill the conditions without her allowing them to. The warp network only recognized Dhar, and she would be able to revoke any access if someone actually managed to convince her to grant it in the first place.

“That reminds me. With this galaxy having so many powerful psions, why don’t they have access to the universal consciousness?” Amaterasu asked. “I mean, both Moonshadow and I could do it, why haven’t they?”

“Because it’s not a matter of power. Even the weakest Dhar could do it. I honestly do not know what the conditions for being allowed access currently are. Back when the Dhar were around, only we could do it. This despite the fact that there were more powerful and skilled psions among the servant races when compared to the worst Dhar who all had access. Now you two also have access, though with a bit of help from me. It could be that my presence incited the potential that existed inside you all along. It could be that with a bit of help from me, some of the Eriad could do the same. I simply do not know. I could sense the potential inside you two, but honestly speaking you sucked at hiding your abilities and the Eriad do a much better job at it. Even Pharaa here could have the potential but just be hiding it.” Selendil explained with a shrug.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but universal consciousness? What's that?" Yrala finally entered the conversation, and Selendil gave her a short explanation.

“I think the Ancients at least knew about the ability. There are some fragmented and old records about them mentioning the ability, though I can’t recall any details. Our researchers have tried learning more but with little luck.” Pharaa said, trying to recall the detail of something she had read decades ago.

"I always thought about it as that something that I could barely sense at the edge of my consciousness that I could never quite reach," Amaterasu explained the feeling as someone who had actually managed it.

“Is THAT what it is?” Yrala asked in shock. “That damn thing has been driving me bonkers for years. It’s like an itch you can’t scratch. Light knows I’ve tried.”

"I think I have a vague idea of what you're talking about, but I don't think I'm as close to whatever it is as you are." Pharaa speculated.

“Huh. Finally something Yrala is better than Mother at.” Haahun muttered to himself, except his words were heard by everyone, and most turned to look at him. Some with amusement, while others with admonishment.

“Anyway, even if you did manage to enter the universal consciousness right now, it would still take a while of getting used to the ability to really join the unity. And I’m not sure I’m comfortable handing out passes to the warp network. The potential for misuse is too high.” Selendil waved the idea away.

“Well returning to the previous topic. How about my proposition? Depending on the circumstances, you might not have to do all that much. At least not once you make a show of force. I’m not going to sugarcoat it though. We might have to ask you to do more later on.” Pharaa suggested.

"I'd say go for it," Xiaoli exclaimed, giving her opinion. “This galaxy seems interesting. I wouldn’t be opposed to spending a bit more time here.”

"Three conditions," Selendil said after a moment of consideration. “First of all, we’ll get our rewards upfront. You have the potential to string us along, and that is not good for either party. On the other hand, it will be easier for us to help you if we can use your jumping technology. And you don’t actually lose anything if we don’t hold our end of the bargain. It doesn’t actually matter to you if we have the technology as long as we don’t share it with your enemies, which I can swear to not do.”

“That one we can deal with. I was intending to do it that way as a show of good faith anyway, though I have a condition of my own. I want one person from our side on your ship just to keep an eye on things. You’ve already had Yrala on your ship without trouble, so she should do fine. I will admit straight out that I want to keep an eye on you.”

“Agreed.” Selendil nodded. “My second condition. If this thing stretches over a longer period of time, we can’t stick around all the time. We have our own goals and can’t be stuck in this galaxy constantly.” Selendil gave the second condition.

“Reasonable. I’d like to suggest that you keep us informed so we can plan things around your presence though. We don’t require your constant presence, but we need to know when you are available so that we can plan things around those times.” Pharaa countered.

“Also reasonable. The third condition. As you said, we might end up being forced to do more than we assume at the moment. If that seems to become a problem, I reserve the right to renegotiate things. As I said, I will not be fighting your wars for you. We will also not stick around for years on end either.” Selendil stated firmly.

“That’s fine in principle, though we need to come up with some actual limits for that condition, just to avoid things becoming complicated later on if one party starts making arbitrary demands. If our ideas of what constitutes ‘too much’ or ‘too long’ are too far apart, we might run into problems, so let’s prevent such problems before they become an issue.” Pharaa enjoyed negotiating with forthright and logical people. Deals could be reached so much easier and faster without all the political bullshit and posturing. Both sides got what they want, which was the best way to do such deals.