CHAPTER 25 - INTEGRATION

DATE POINT: APRIL 22nd, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD AAV “CONTACT ONE”

CAPTAIN HENRY O’TOOLE

Three days of negotiations had worn on them, but in that time they successfully hammered out an agreement that they could comfortably sign. Now that the time had come to commit, he hesitated at the precipice.

“What’s wrong?” Paul asked from beside him.

“Nothing.” Henry replied before he applied a digital signature to the document. “I was just thinking on the weight of the decision we are making.”

“We’re all behind you, one hundred percent, Captain.” Lance said.

“We are literally voting for war and imperialism right now, yet we cannot follow the well worn path of our own history.We must do better. We cannot replace an alien imperialist power with one of our own design. We have some planning to do, we will be ready..” Henry said, with growing conviction.

“That’s been weighing on you a lot, hasn’t it?” Victor replied.

“It has been, I have a lot of faith that we can introduce freedom and equal rights from the very beginning we can succeed. We can make that part of the info war once we can no longer hide our surface activities and as we begin to liberate territory. If we can provide a dramatically better life it will make our jobs easier by drawing others to us. We will run out of troops fast if we need to leave garrisons everywhere to maintain order and rule by force. If we allow ourselves to take shortcuts in the field that undermine our moral authority then we will be seen as no better, nor would we be. Are you taking notes, Paul? What have you to add?” Henry stared straight at Paul through the second half of his speech.

“The captain is right, Paul and I will make absolutely sure that your orders are kept, and our standards and rules of engagement stay strictly adhered to, right, Paul?” Lance said, staring the man straight in the eyes.

“Right, though you do realize that to make an omelet we are going to have to break a few eggs right? We will have to defeat armies, we will probably have to lay siege to some cities, definitely going to have to kill the head god of their local religions, maybe even their priests. No matter how good our follow up game is, this will be far from bloodless.” Paul said.

“Yeah, but I think what the Captain is trying to say is we should avoid unnecessary massacres and the tactics of ruling by fear. We should focus more efforts on winning hearts and minds than winning sieges.” Lance replied, already starting to settle into his position in checking Paul.

“For the record, the Alderei will be watching your activities on the surface. We will be looking for an ethical uplift and industrialization without economic exploitation and undue class stratification. That will be a condition of high technology exchange post war and will set the stage for the terms of our future alliance.” Roh Thaad’at added in.

“I remember that discussion well, Commandant. We are committed to our values, even when they are difficult to keep. They are worthless if they are abandoned at the first sign of trouble. The extra rewards being offered are great, but they are not the ultimate motivation.” Henry replied.

“That is gratifying to hear, Captain. We are taking quite a risk in this course of action. We hope that our faith in you is well placed.”

“We take this quite seriously; indeed, you have placed your faith well in us.” Paul said.

“That remains to be seen, Lieutenant. Now that you have officially signed the treaty agreement, we can begin the process of augmentation for your chosen front line soldiers. Have you decided how you would like to proceed?”

“Shockingly, we don’t have a long list of people lining up to be first to get injected with strange extraterrestrial cocktails, regardless of how safe they are supposed to be.” Henry admitted. “We may have to order someone to be first in line. Trust of aliens and alien technology is not exactly high amongst our crew. Silent violent first contact tends to instill a certain xenophobia into a society, which, while muted has the occasional manifestation like this aversion to being the first in line to volunteer. A negative stigma has been attached to the position.”

“An unfortunate predicament, though not entirely unsurprising considering how your first contact went. We had hoped that your people would be more willing to set prejudice aside and make this decision on a rational basis.” Roh Thaad’at replied.

“Jenkins will be first. I am volunteering him.” Paul said.

“Wait, what?!” Jenkins cried out. “But… but.. oh hell. Fine, I'll be the guinea pig.”

“Glad you saw it my way. There you go, Henry, problem solved.” Paul said smugly.

“Very well. The scanning room is ready, as are the augmentation facilities. Follow Lor Ix’Alderos, he will take you there.” Roh Thaad’at gestured towards the tall grey to his right, who bowed slightly and began moving toward the doorway.

“Paul, you’re coming with me right? You aren’t just going to send me off alone into the bowels of an alien ship to get experimented on, are you?” Jenkins asked in a panic.

“Nah, Captain needs me here. Grow a spine.” Paul said.

“You know, Paul, I think that idea sounds splendid. I have Lance here if I need any backup. Once Jenkins completes his scan, you are ordered to get scanned afterwards. If he is to be first at your orders, then you will be second to be augmented per my orders.” Henry said, smirking inside his helmet.

“Yes, sir.” Paul spat, abruptly standing to get the reluctant Jenkins to his feet as well. “Lets go, sunshine, we got a date with destiny.”

Henry watched the two of them disappear down the corridor, following behind Lor Ix’Alderos. Henry shot Paul a quick text into his expanded vision.

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR NEW INTEL, LEARN EVERYTHING YOU CAN. – CPT O’TOOLE

I KNOW WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON YOURSELF AND YOUR OWN JOB. – KARST

Fucking asshole, Henry thought. He then turned his attention back to Roh Thaad’at.

“Now that we have begun the augmentation process and having some examples to point to. It should help to have positive role models, unfortunately, all we have are those two.” Henry said with a wicked grin.

“Indeed, it will have to do. This prejudice and mistrust of alien technology, it will not be a problem in other areas of our mutual interests and cooperation, I would see to it being a priority of yours to correct.”

“There is an old saying from back in our politically divided days when we were working on winding down a decades long cold war, and we were dismantling our excess nuclear weapons stockpiles. It basically says to trust but verify when the stakes are this large.” Henry replied.

“We quite like that turn of phrase. That is much the same way we think about our dealings with the Nephaeli’im. Just with a lot less trust and much more verification.”

Henry laughed, Roh Thaad’at seemed to coldly inspect him.

“Trust is a dangerous gift to give freely.” Henry replied. “I am sure you can understand our position. As we work together more and build trust, then things will change. We have struggled with racism and prejudice within our societies in different forms for millennia. That hasn’t completely disappeared in the post-unification world, racism amongst humans has been slowly evolving into xenophobia instead, but we are much more aware of it and can check ourselves on an individual level. The thing about humanity is that there is bound to be a diversity of opinions across a wide ingrained political spectrum. Some will be swayed by xenophobic arguments, but not all. I have high hopes that we can stop that trend. Working with a peaceful allied extraterrestrial race will help tremendously in combating such attitudes. Obvious working examples that shatter narratives are powerful in bringing the right kind of changes in mindset. The truth is a powerful thing when unleashed.” Henry replied, attempting to cover a lot of nuance and to put the best spin on the awkward admission.

“That is not… entirely unsurprising. The foundations of your civilization are rooted in Nephaeli’im patriarchal society and their focus on perfecting a society run via dominance hierarchy and the seductive promise of a digital afterlife disguised via carefully crafted myth. In spite of the evidence to the contrary, to this day they still largely believe that an immortalized benevolent dictatorship is the ideal social structure. They have no room for democratic values, and viciously opposed our offer to build a Consensus network of their own during our last treaty negotiations. We have many times hoped that they would see the wisdom of democratic rule, instead they escaped further into authoritarianism every time.”

“The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh?” Victor mused in the back.

“All the more reason to bring down their tyranny on Earth and create a global democratic system to replace it. Any chance you could build us one of those consensus-style networks, perhaps tuned more to our specifications?" Henry asked.

“Perhaps once your victory is assured, industrialization is on track, and we continue to work well as allies we can invest in such an expensive infrastructure package. Democratic rule of a single planet can absolutely be achieved without such technology. It becomes more necessary once you become a multi-planetary species to have a unified means of conducting governance in real time across vast distances. Perhaps we will reopen this conversation in a few decades, or centuries, as your species expands outwards.”

“Fair enough, I had to ask. We will probably adapt our current federal government format that we worked out to create the UTRN as a template for a workable system in the meantime.” Henry replied.

“Good, see to it that those elections remain fair and free, we will be watching. Now, let’s move onto the next agenda item on our list.” Roh Thaad’at replied with a nod. “We still have much to discuss, including new developments with the political situation on Aht’Lantis. The situation on the ground is only getting more dire as the effects of war, stressed supply chains of tin, copper and other strategic goods raise prices through the roof, drought brings the risk of famine, and reports of plague in the northern land mass have reared their ugly head. Many tribes are on the move. The state of their whole world order is in flux, and the major great powers are stressed, hoping the war of a thousand ships doesn't spill over into Hittite or Luwian territories beyond small cattle raids. We have much to discuss and little time to waste. Now if you turn your attention to the projector.”

MEANWHILE…

DATE POINT: APRIL 22nd, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD AAV “CONTACT ONE”

ENSIGN PRESTON JENKINS

Paul and Jenkins followed closely behind Lor Ix’Alderos as he led them through a maze of corridors. Jenkins had been doing his absolute best to be brave, but Paul had been making the task much more difficult by continuing to pick at him, even now of all moments! Why the hell did I have to ask for him to come along? He kicked himself again as he tried tuning Paul out.

“You know, I really hope they have figured out how to solve cancer, because some of these gene upgrades sound kinda suspect, don’t you think? Be kinda a shame to sign up for immortality and rapid healing just to die of uncontrolled tumor growths because it backfired. I guess it could be worse, you could grow a second head, or maybe they will cause you to grow a bunch of new organs that they can remove and sell on the black market.”

“GODDAMNIT, just SHUT UP!” Jenkins screamed. Great job keeping it cool...

“Your emotional outburst is unnecessary. Our scientists worked these issues out of our augmentation procedures thousands of years ago. We have also eliminated all of our genetic diseases and we can actively repair damaged DNA or even revert you back to normal with a fast cellular replacement body as well. You are in absolutely no danger.”

“You guys really cured cancer?” Jenkins asked, trying desperately to change the topic.

“Yes, it is quite easy for us to cure. Perhaps we would still struggle if one were in the very final stages of the disease with mass growths everywhere in the body, but even then I am confident we could still succeed.”

“That actually helps a lot in easing my nerves, knowing you are the type of society that would prioritize enough investment towards curing cancer. You all have some incredible technology; it just blows my mind that this is even possible. It sounds far too good to be true. There must be a downside, a catch.” Jenkins said.

“That is a data-poor conclusion. We have been spacefaring with antimatter technology and shipboard warp drives for tens of thousands of your years. You have just left your system for the first time and neglected to predict that you would be disconnected from your timeline with the choice of FTL tech you used. It is clear that your species lacks the intellect required to properly understand even the most basic principles behind the technology. I advise you to choose to place your trust in our superior science and biological understanding of your species physiology. We have augmented many Adamu and have had no issues that we couldn’t easily address.” Lor Ix’Alderos replied coldly.

“Jeez, you don’t gotta call us idiots…” Jenkins said, deflated slightly.

“I think he was calling just You an idiot.” Paul snarked.

“You are both equally intellectually inferior to the Alderei. Again, you lack the data and understanding to even conceptualize how extreme the difference is.”

“I don’t like you as much as the other guy.” Jenkins said.

“My orders are to scan and augment you, you are calling into question my ability to do so. You began this unpleasant interaction putting faith in the words of someone clearly trying to emotionally manipulate you over the words of calm logic and proven science. What kind of reaction were you expecting from me? Lies for the sake of protecting your primitive ego?”

“Well, no…” Jenkins stammered out.

“Primates...” Lor Ix’Alderos could be heard muttering just under his breath. “We have arrived. Please continue on through this doorway.” With a waive of his hand, the wall split open to reveal a large room.

“You will wait here until your partner’s scan is completed, then you will be able to get your own scan. Once we have analyzed the results, you will be provided with a list of augmentations that your physiology is capable of accepting without side effects or issues.” Lor Ix’Alderos said while looking at Paul. He then turned to Jenkins.

“You must shed your armor and clothing before entering the scanning chamber."

"Uh... can I maybe skip that, go in wearing just my boxers or…” Jenkins started talking before Paul cut him off.

“Take it off! Whooooo!” Paul joked, Jenkins fervently hoped.

“Fine, at least turn around or something.” Jenkins said.

“I assure you, I have no sexual interest in your naked form. Your armor will block the scans, and if you have any form of radiation protection built into your under suit it will prevent the scan from working too. For that reason, it is simpler to simply perform the scan naked.”

This just keeps getting worse and worse. Jenkins thought as he reached back and popped the seal on his helmet and then hit the control to open the armor. The armor flaps that held his arms and legs securely in place separated and folded away in their upper and lower segments as the backpack section of the hauberk decoupled and lifted itself up away from his back. Jenkins stepped out of the armor and began to fiddle with the zipper on his BDU’s.

“These suits are quite the accomplishment for such a primitive species.” Lor Ix’Alderos said as he walked around the suit, inspecting it. “Of course, I recognize that your use of Nephaeli’im electro-muscle betrays your reliance upon reverse engineering superior technology.”

“We will take any advantage we can get in this war. If you were in our situation you would be a lot less smug.” Paul said darkly. A door on the other side of the room opened in the wall right as Jenkins finished stripping down.

“You are probably correct, but that is not the situation we find ourselves in, is it? Perhaps you should ground yourself better in objective reality than your imaginations of a fairer universe.” Lor Ix’Alderos then turned to Jenkins. “Go on through into the next room, human. Even you should be able to figure out what to do next.”

With a scowl on his face, Jenkins walked into the next room only for the door to immediately close and melt back into a solid wall behind him. He looked around the room to see a number of tools of unknown usage on the walls. In the center there was a raised platform with some kind of clear glass floor. Several mechanical arms were suspended from the ceiling with all sorts of strange objects on the ends including one that was long, ribbed and shockingly phallic foot and a half long pine cone looking object. A sweat drop rolled down Jenkin’s forehead as he began imagining the various uses for the devices he saw in a far more paranoid light.

“Can… anyone hear me? Paul? I don’t want to do this anymore…”

A whirring sound behind him caught his attention, when he turned, several of the mechanical arms had begun to move, including several more flexible ones that looked more like semi-organic tentacles that began to reach out for him.

“Fuck this!” Jenkins began to pound on the wall where the door had been. “This isn’t funny! I won’t let them probe me! LET ME OUT!!!!”

One of the tentacles attempted to wrap itself around his wrist, which he swatted away only for two more to go for his legs. Oh god the texture of the skin was rubbery, but strong with muscle at the core. Soon he found himself hopelessly trapped.

“Oh god, oh fuck, oh god, oh fuck!” Jenkins swore as he fell to the deck, being dragged toward the center of the room where the other tentacles grabbed at his arms and he was lifted into the air, limbs splayed out over the central platform. A light shone from below, almost blinding him as the other arms including the horrid massive spiked object began to move around behind him. Tears flowed freely down his face as he sobbed and begged to be released. A dispassionate voice from a speaker above told him to calm down and open his eyes, only for him to be blinded by some oval shaped scanner that had moved in front of his face, waiting for the opportunity.

Jenkins braced for the inevitable probing, trying to clench and fight the best he could. A loud series of knocking noises came from the floor beneath him before the light shut off, the arms returned to their positions, and he was gently lowered down to the ground again in a relieved bawling heap as the tentacle arms released their grip.

The door opened in the wall once more and a confident, naked Paul swaggered right up to Jenkins with a look of disappointment on his face.

“God you are such a pussy, nothing even happened. Go get dressed.” Paul said, Jenkins wordlessly rose, and rushed out of the room.

“I hope they actually do probe you. Fucking asshole deserves it.” Jenkins muttered under his breath as he began to zip himself back into his BDU’s.

Lor Ix’Alderos stared mutely at him as he began to step into his armor again.

“What are you looking at?” Jenkins snapped.

“What were you so afraid of in there? What do you mean by probe?” the Alderei asked.

“Oh. You saw that? Oh, right, you probably have cameras. Can we maybe just… forget that you saw all of that?” Jenkins asked in burning shame.

“Primates…” He said while rubbing his temple. “Very well, though I still do not understand what you were afraid of."

“Yeah, I don’t exactly feel comfortable explaining what I was afraid of to you. Wouldn’t want to give you all ideas.” Jenkins replied.

An awkward silence descended upon the room until the door on the far wall reopened to release a disappointed looking Paul.

“That was… different. Why were you such a dribbling mess from that again?” Then Paul’s eyes grew wide, and he began laughing hysterically.

“Wait… no… You thought they were going to probe you with that spiky cock looking scanner! Oh, this is fucking priceless! I can’t wait to tell everyone. Oh, please tell me you have video you can share!”

“What do you mean by probe? Oh… you thought we were going to insert... that into your cloaca?! What is wrong with you!?” Lor Ix’Alderos exclaimed in horror, taking a step backwards.

“I’m never going to live this down, am I?” Jenkins asked.

“Never, and it looks like we are going to both be immortalized soon, so there will be plenty of time to give you shit over this.” Paul said in smirking victory.

“Is it too late to back out of this? Immortality stuck next to you sounds like a fate worse than death.” Jenkins snarked.

“Are you absolutely certain you are allies?” Lor Ix’Alderos asked.

“Well, we sure as shit ain’t lovers.” Paul replied.

“Kill me now.” Jenkins said, fighting a headache.

“Nope! You’re stuck with me. Now, let’s go get augmented!” Paul said as he affixed his helmet. Jenkins sighed and followed behind him. Lor Ix’Alderos nodded and looked at the pair.

“Follow me, then,” he said before waiving at a different wall to ripple open a doorway for them. “Will you be planning on using nanotech or strictly genetic modifications?"

“What nanotech options are there?” Paul asked, taking the initiative. Jenkins was perfectly content for the moment to sit back and listen. He felt more like throwing himself out of the airlock, but if he was to get modified he should at least listen to the answers about the procedure.

“There are four nanotech upgrades that are available for your species. The first is the neural semi-organic computer interface that will be a prerequisite if you plan to use any of the other nanotech upgrades. The side benefits to this upgrade are substantial. You will feel more intelligent, you will be able to perfectly recall memories, you will be able to upload new information such as language packs or even technical manuals directly into your brain. Most importantly, should you die, your neural computer will create a personality backup that will allow for later revival in a cloned body if your compatriots can retrieve at least your head intact.”

“I want that.” Paul said.

“Actually, I do too.” Jenkins agreed, it sounded amazing. “Does that mean I get to hack into computers with my mind?”

“No, having any form of open wireless connection in or out of your neural computer is a foolish idea. Anything allowing you to hack outwards also allows your computer to be hacked in turn. This is strictly an internal upgrade to your cognitive abilities and serves as a control hub for the other nanotech augmentation options.” Lor Ix’Alderos said.

“I see, what else is there?” Paul asked.

“The second option are respirocytes, which are tiny machines that flow through your bloodstream acting as additional oxygen storage, dramatically improving cardiovascular efficiency in the process. You will be able to run and fight much longer and hold your breath for up to an hour with a full storage capacity.”

“That’s a no brainer, what’s next?” Paul replied.

“Subdermal flexible graphene armor, the name says it all. It won’t stop a superficial wound, but it will stop deep penetrating and slashing strikes as well as stop impacts of many types of kinetic weaponry. Bronze and low quality iron are the only available weapons materials currently used on the surface of Aht’Lantis, all of which you will be mostly impervious to, including arrows. Only the advanced alloys used in forging the weapons of the god-kings will be able to wound you. There are some gaps in the protection, primarily your ankles, knees, elbows, and other joints, though the rest of your skin in-between will have this armor. This is because while the armor is considered flexible, it would hamper movement too much if it were also under the skin on your joints.”

“Achilles’ heel…” Jenkins said as a sudden flash of insight hit him.

“Damn, Jenkins, you might be right there. That actually makes a hell of a lot more sense than dipping him in the river styx by his heel. Either way, I want that too.” Paul replied as he turned back to Lor Ix’Alderos as they continued following him down the long corridor. “What else is there?”

“The next upgrade provides a complete overhaul to your musculoskeletal system. First, we will introduce a flow of nanomachines that will clad the outer surface of your bones with a blood-permeable layer of interlocking titanium nanobots. Once complete, the signal will be given, and they will fuse together in place to reinforce key sections of each of your bones to help protect them from breaking while still maintaining their flexibility. Next, a second and third type of nanobot will be introduced that will begin weaving strands of powerful electro-muscle into your existing musculature, granting immense strength increases that multiply over time as the nanofactories continue to work installing and repairing additional electromuscle. This process is accelerated by the normal process of muscle strain and regrowth, so the more you use your muscles, the faster integration will be completed. The last part of the upgrade will be a series of lactic acid processing facilities that will dramatically reduce muscle fatigue in stressful situations.”

“I want the lot of them!” Paul replied.

“I find myself entirely unsurprised.” Lor Ix’Alderos replied sarcastically.

“Any other nanotech upgrades?” Jenkins asked.

“No, at least none that have been redesigned with Adamu physiology in mind. Perhaps Consensus may choose in the future to provide the full range of Alderei nanotech augmentations for your species, though I believe it will be a waste of valuable resources. Perhaps we could craft certain upgrades into replacement limbs, as I am sure one or more of you will wind up needing.”

“What, don’t think we can succeed?” Paul retorted.

“I fully expect that your ground teams will fail in much the same way the last group of Adamu that we had trained and augmented failed. Your technology, while impressive, still lags behind the Nephaeli’im, meaning your ship will likely be destroyed in battle against their system defense fleet. Even if you survive that encounter with your ship intact enough to continue operations, there’s almost a billion souls on the third planet, and they are all hostile. You will need an occupation force numbering in the tens of millions of soldiers at the very minimum if you hope to maintain political control, which you clearly do not have. The mission is a suicide mission, even with augmentations.”

“Fucking hell, that’s an optimistic take on our chances.” Jenkins replied gloomily.

“We have fought them before in space battles. Our tactics and weapons are optimized against theirs. The Indomitable Will is more than capable of taking two of their ships on and winning. So long as we maintain the element of surprise, it should be over fairly quickly. Remember, we are used to fighting a version of them from three thousand years in the future, if anything this should be an easier fight than the ones we are used to. I admit I share your concerns about the ground op though. If we cannot win hearts and minds and gain true believers to join our cause then we stand no chance of occupying the planet. If we cannot succeed there, we can always focus on assassinating god-kings and exposing their lies. Maybe if nothing else, we can free the planet and leave it to its own fate and to develop freely on its own like we did.” Paul’s speech actually seemed to work in buoying Jenkin’s mood.

“Most noble of you. I still fully expect that I will be hearing of your untimely demise.” Lor Ix’Alderos replied coldly. “Would you still like to hear about the genetic upgrade list?”

“By all means, please proceed.” Paul replied.

“Very well, the first step will be to correct minor genetic deficiencies and remove or replace genetic code fragments that would otherwise lead to health issues and repair damaged connective tissues and bodily functioning. Next, there will be a series of genetic upgrades across the body including to eyesight, height, natural muscle, natural intellectual capacity, durability and efficiency increases to your cardiovascular system, and much more. Much of this will be dependent upon your scan results as well as your body’s own unique level of genetic malleability.”

“I’m excited then to see what options are available to me. When will we find out? Also, I think I remember Roh Thaad’at saying something about functional immortality. I Really want to know what that means.” Paul replied.

“I was about to explain that one. There is a difference between functional immortality and true immortality. You can still be killed should you suffer catastrophic damage to critical internal organs, or by bleeding out, suffocating, or any other form of sure death. Should you avoid a violent and sudden expiration, your physical body will never age and will constantly regenerate itself with minimal basic care. The effect is created through a complex interplay of factors ranging from regenerating telomeres, to ensuring a constant supply of new stem cell generation, stimulating neuron regeneration, active repair of cellular DNA, and many more functional upgrades maintained by new medical nanofactories across the body. As a byproduct of this treatment, your body will be able to heal itself exponentially faster, at the cost of an accelerated metabolism.”

“Wow! If you have them all then you are effectively invincible, then aren’t you?” Jenkins said in awe, adding the possibilities together in his mind.

“There is no such thing as invincibility. Thinking so will get you killed and will waste millions of credits worth of augmentations. Your body will have multiple potential weak spots, you can still take major internal trauma, even with subdermal armor should you get hit hard enough, you can still bleed out with a bad enough wound, you can still be poisoned, you can still drown, you can still be incinerated by a powerful explosion and any of the solar deities will be able to boil away flesh with high powered lasers. Furthermore, should you be unlucky enough to encounter either a null matter blade or plasma weaponry, it will cut through your defenses like a sharp knife through a steamed mushroom. Your augmentations will dramatically increase your survivability, but no, you will not be invincible.” Lor Ix’Alderos said, pouring cold water on the concept.

“Still worth it.” Paul said.

“Indeed, you will probably die either way. At least this gives you a fighting chance.”

Lor Ix’Alderos led the pair through a security checkpoint into a what appeared to be a bustling hallway rows of beds and strange looking equipment.

“We have arrived.” He said at last, pointing to a large room with six beds with sturdy metallic straps for the arms and legs along with several dozen metal arms with replaceable syringes, blades. and other instruments folded up overhead each bed.

“First, you will once more need to strip down. Your suits will be quite safe against the wall over there. The installation of a neural supercomputer requires minimally invasive surgery. The interface is installed at the base of the brain stem, and a section of your skull will be replaced with a metal plate for future access and removal of the memory chip. When complete, our regenerative medicines will have fully healed the incision point. You will experience no pain or discomfort as the neurofilaments begin to connect to the various segments of your brain. Most subjects report full functionality of their neural supercomputer within three days.”

Paul nodded and removed his helmet before he hit the release for his armor seals and stepped out of the Paladin suit. Jenkins hesitated momentarily, fighting fear and a flashback of his near probing earlier.

“What’s the matter Jenkins? Don’t be such a pussy, it’s just brain surgery!” Paul mocked. “I just updated the captain, and he gave the green light, so let’s get this over with.”

“Fine…” Jenkins said with a heavy sigh. He popped the air hose from his helmet and removed it before hitting the release control for his own Paladin suit.

“Let’s get this show on the road.” Jenkins said, bolstering his confidence to the best of his ability.

“It is all quite safe, I assure you. We have been installing these types of neural supercomputers for many tens of thousands of years in various formats. These newest models have military grade hardening, so they can take more abuse than your body can, and they mimic natural tissue in their outer coatings so that your body will not reject it. Brains feel no pain, so the filament threading is painless, and is a harmless process as well. You have nothing to worry about, Human.”

Now naked, Jenkins laid himself down in an appropriately sized bed and with extreme trepidation he set his arms and legs between the metallic straps. The straps snapped closed and tightened down a bit too much before the pressure loosened to a more comfortable level. Another strap threaded itself around his torso before tightening itself down as well as another that clamped both sides of his head before strapping itself against his forehead.

In spite of himself, Jenkins began hyperventilating slightly until a robotic arm moved down with a gas mask that sealed itself against his nose and mouth. A sweet smelling gas began to fill the mask and the world faded to black as a single tear rolled down his cheek.