Chapter Ten

Zafir watched in silence as Elara taught breathing methods to the men who struggled to control their ferals. With each breath, they calmed, despite the agitating noise from the speakers that was meant to trigger their change. After a moment’s hesitation, he turned and began walking away from the viewing area.

“Professor? Where are you going?” Sarah called in alarm.

“Elara has their training well in hand. I’m going to go rest in my quarters.” Zafir paused to glance back with a smile. “See to it everyone knows not disturb me, please, Sarah.”

Sarah nodded her affirmation and Zafir took his leave, though there was no one to see his expression change to one of determination. He set off to his suite, locked the door behind him, and carried a stack of folders with him to a room barely larger than a closet. The doors slid shut behind him, and he sat on a low stool, placing the folders on a dark blue device to his left.

The odd machine whirred, then engulfed the documents in cyan light. When the light abated, the folders and their contents were gone, leaving Zafir to place both his hands against an ornate console in front of him.

Within moments of touching the device, Zafir’s consciousness swirled out of his body and into a virtual meeting space. The room was dark, its walls made of a dark blue-green alloy etched with intricate, purposeful markings. It was void of furniture or decorations, giving Zafir the impression that his superior was too impatient with him to give a damn about hospitality.

“I told you not to contact me until you made progress,” the Syldrari man on the other side of the room stated tiredly.

“I have made progress.” Zafir stepped forward, calling the folders he’d transferred to hand. “You just won’t like this progress, or my hypotheses.”

The Syldrari sighed and made a motion with one hand, placing a table and two chairs between him and Zafir. “Fine. Show me your progress.”

“I believe Abel faked Elara’s original diagnostics.” Zafir placed a sheet of paper in front of his superior, followed by a second. “I took the liberty of taking my own readings while she was unconscious. Not only did Abel lie about her brain chip being without detonation properties, but he also lied about her human origins. This physiology is not human…its…”

“She’s experiencing cellular dissonance?” The Syldrari interjected, tracing his fingers over the chart. “Would this be due to the Resonance weapon? Or…no. This is destabilization here.”

“She’s been forced to appear human for long enough that her body is starting to grow…confused, at a cellular level.” Zafir grimaced. “They’re starting to ‘learn’ to be human. The humans are giving her a medication that perpetuates whatever originally gave her this form—though I’m not convinced they’re aware they’re doing this.

“My current hypothesis is that she, and her family, were in hiding, pretending to be humans. The Resonance Incident may have caused the beginning stages of cellular confusion and some of the other problems she’s experienced.”

“What species was she, and why would she be— You think she’s Syldrari?” The man demanded when he realized.

“I believe this is why she was in hiding,” Zafir stated, placing a sheet of black paper in front of his boss. “This was taken while she was unconscious after her spat with you. Her signature—”

“You truly believe she might be a queen? With a signature like this, she could overthrow—” The Syldrari cut himself off with an agitated twitch, quickly regaining his composure. “We must both be careful. No one can learn of this. If she is a queen, and has this much potential, my entertainment and your research will be the least of our concerns—to say nothing of my ongoing investigations.”

“Then, I am to continue as I have been?” Zafir inquired.

“Yes…and do something about her brain chip, would you? Such a distasteful, inelegant invention.” The Syldrari grimaced.

A mischievous smile spread across Zafir’s face. “Not to worry. I already took the liberty of changing it out for one of Syldrari design—and all with my superior’s approval, of course.”

“Tch. Anything else?” The Syldrari questioned.

“If you could refrain from thrashing Elara and giving her ideas, that would be fantastic.” Zafir’s expression changed to one of bemusement as he went on to explain how Elara had managed to ‘reverse engineer’ the Syldrari’s ability to terrify ferals.

“I see nothing wrong with giving her interesting ideas or…’suggestions’ but I will keep your counsel in mind.”

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