Looks Gently Upon Blossoming Flowers hated review meetings. In this, it was not unlike most Xeranai. Their scientific temperament was most suited to working alone, not as part of larger teams. When two needed to coordinate, they had AIs and Spine or Bone assistants for that purpose. There were, however, some topics that the Xeranai couldn't discuss with their slaves. Political maneuvering. Military defeats. And the dissensions amidst the races that made up the Mind of the Hierarchy. The latest disaster had been a combination of all three. So when Whisper of a Springtime Dream had sent word that it wanted to speak to him, Looks Gently Upon Blossoming Flowers had reluctantly agreed. Had the conversation been a personal one instead of official, there would have been no reluctance. Springtime - as Blossoming affectionately referred to it - had been a partner in the past, centuries ago. Three of Blossoming's offspring could claim Springtime as a parent, and two of Springtime's acknowledged Blossoming the same way. Of course, in the manner of Xeranai offspring everywhere, these children spoke rarely to their parents, preferring to pursue their own scientific endeavours. Blossoming supposed it might be the same for other species, too. The Raptors, the Lynxians and the Grizzeloids tended to have far closer relationships between parents and children than the Galactic norm. In truth, the humans gave more time to their children than any of the spacegoing species. A wasteful expenditure of energy, in Blossoming's view, but it had long since learnt not to judge other species by its standards. Puppetmasters usually mind-controlled their spawn into compliance, and a test of adulthood was for the offspring to break free of their control. Vautari laid egg-clutches and raised them in batches of hundreds. Rakturai spawned in water and their offspring went through a larval stage. Carnotaur young had to survive vicious cullings of the pack. As for the Archons, nobody knew how new Archons were created - or dared to ask. Blossoming reflected that with the advantage of hundreds of slaves at their disposal, Xeranai could give their offspring the best tutors, resources, nutrition and care. Everything except time. Still, it wouldn't hurt for him to reach out to his offspring for a bit. Find out how they were doing. Perhaps after this review. The holographic display lit up with the image of Whisper of a Springtime Dream’s elegant form. Blossoming took a moment to admire the senior Xeranai’s attractive features. Perhaps they might find time for another offspring, or at least time for enjoying the attempt… “Stop staring,” Whisper of a Springtime Dream hissed at him. “Your beauty always takes my breath away.” “This is supposed to be an official call, you fool. Focus.” “Only if you promise to put in a personal call later.” “You’re an incorrigible old flirt, Blossoming Flowers. Fine, but you have to take this review seriously.” “I always take work seriously.” “You do recall the mess at Ederria. And how it got you reassigned here, watching over the humans for all these cycles, while the major efforts of the Hierarchy are devoted to the absorption of the Chaikanderi?” Blossoming winced. "Apart from that one time. How goes the Chaikanderi campaign, in any case?" "It progresses. The largest of the Chaikanderi clans has started to show consistent use of lightning affinity." "That may be useful." "The Archon Exemplar doubts it. Suggestions have come to steer them in a more productive direction. A Gellatoid strike squad has been dispatched to deal with the clan leaders." "That is an unwarranted level of interference." "The Exemplar has commanded it directly. You plan on debating the point with him?" “I have no desire to be reduced to a point, thank you. I shall keep my opinions to myself.” “It is likely that the second-largest Chaikanderi clan will soon become the largest, as a result of this. Now, on to the review.” Whisper waved a claw, and the telltale red dot of RECORDING began to glow. “Scientist Whisper of a Springtime Dream, Doctorate First Class, conducting review of the progress of experiments conducted on the world of Sol Three, homeworld of species designation Humans. Lead researcher, Doctorate Second Class, Looks Gently Upon Blossoming Flowers. Please acknowledge.” “Doctorate Second Class Looks Gently Upon Blossoming Flowers present for peer review.” “Please explain the prevailing hypothesis prior to the experiment conducted last week.” Looks Gently Upon Blossoming Flowers marshalled his thoughts. “It was believed that the humans were in the first stages of the Liraen development cycle….” “Context, please.” Right, this was a formal review and would probably be read by students many years from now. That meant he had to start by listing the basics. “Drawing reference to the Theory of Liraen Guidance, a target species for Inclusion is granted a variety of enhanced abilities until the right ability for their species is identified. This process goes through five stages - Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Conforming. In Forming, individual sentients of the species are granted unique powers and abilities; in Storming, empowered individuals clash with each other in individual struggles for supremacy; in Norming, the empowered seek to create coalitions and factions. These factions vie for power until the end of the Norming stage, where the strongest of the empowered emerges as the Exemplar. “The purpose of Hierarchy experiments is to accelerate the progress through each stage, with experimental intervention increasing as the stages advance. At the Forming stage, intervention is limited to small-scale actions involving a few hundred active agents; at the Performing stage, the full strength of the target species is tested by the active intervention of Hierarchy battlefleets and elites. Response is to scale with the stage of evolution, and upon the conclusion of the Performing stage, the target species will either pass or fail the Liraens’ Test of Inclusion. Based on this result, in the Conforming stage, the species is called to conform to the expectations of the Bones, Spine or Mind of the Hierarchy.” “Thank you. Please state the prevailing hypothesis prior to the experiments.” “Species: Humans, the primary sentient dwellers of Sol III, were believed to be in the late Forming and early Storming stage of the cycle until very recently. As evidence for this, the Humans were previously unable to mount effective responses against incursions. However, at a recent encounter in their city of Liverpool, it was observed that the Humans had been able to effectively counter the deployed forces, led by a Raptor clan scion, and not only rout them but also successfully capture two live prisoners.” “Clarify: how did the humans take prisoners?” “The present mechanism for this is unknown. However, it was also discovered that the Humans had at least some enhanced capable of Mindspeech. A public domain broadcast made by them recently included key information that could only have been revealed through questions posed to a species of the Spine. Gellatoid agents were able to identify the source of the information - namely, two Raptors who had been taken prisoner and were providing valuable insights into the Hierarchy to the Humans.” “I see. Continue, please.” “Further data indicated that the information was distributed from the city of London, the capital city of the faction to whom Liverpool belongs. Also, the forces at Liverpool included several enhanced, many of whom were seen to act in concert and follow a specific battleplan. These traits are commonly seen in the emergence of a battlelord amongst a target species.” “Observation: the Humans have conventionally sent battlelord candidates to the Liraen monitoring station.” “Acknowledgement: that is true, and as yet unexplained. However, the emergence of the first battlelord and its sustained participation in multiple engagements is a precursor to the transition to the Norming stage. Based on the observations from Liverpool, it was hypothesized that the humans might be in the late Storming stage.” “Thank you. Explain the experimental construct.” “To test the hypothesis, a combat force was assembled suitable to a late storming stage civilization. The same was deployed for an attack at London, with the twin objectives of hypothesis testing and asset retrieval.” “Clarify: exact force deployment level in number of sentients?” “Two hundred and fifty thousand.” “Clarify: how was the chosen force level suitable for late storming? Contrast with early storming and early norming, please.” “Early storming level combat forces involve mixed units of Spine and Bone species, with heavy ground infantry, shapeshifters and masked infantry units, as well as a limited number of masked light vehicles or light strikefighter support. Maximum size is one thousand sentients. Early Norming level combat forces involve heavy combat vehicles, both masked and unmasked, deployment of Spine and Bone enhanced troops, strikefighter regiments in sufficient strength, and the active use of electronic warfare. Maximum size is ten million sentients. Late Storming limits the deployed forces to three hundred thousand sentients.” “Thank you. List the observations from the experiment.” “The deployed forces were defeated by a combination of enhanced humans and normal soldiers. Casualties in the main sector - London - were total, with no survivors from the main force. A secondary mission, however, was the elimination of the intelligence leak, which was achieved by a single shuttle diverted from the main force.” “Clarify: the secondary mission was successful?” “That is correct. Furthermore, there were no casualties amongst the team deployed for the mission.” “Thank you. Please state what inferences may be drawn.” “Based on the casualties suffered at London, we may infer that the humans have achieved at least one battlelord and clan capable of providing a suitable challenge for a late Storming or early Norming force. However, at present this capability is only available in certain pockets, and not consistently across the species. Hence, it is recommended to reclassify the humans as late Storming stage, with the possibility of an Exemplar emergence in the next five cycles.” “.... So soon?” “That is the twenty-fifth percentile estimate, the ninetieth percentile is ninety cycles.” “Clarify, please, that is a very wide range.” “I am working on a separate paper on the topic with the relevant statistical analysis. I will file the details within the week.” “I would be interested in seeing that. Now on the topic of the reclassification - you are saying the human ability to provide such defence is inconsistent? That makes little sense, either they can defend or they cannot.” “We had assumed that London is the base of the relevant battlelord. However, secondary research data indicates that London may not actually be the capital of the relevant clan. The potential battlelord candidates we’ve identified are actually from a different clan and the clan centred around London is building an alliance with them.” “Clarification: the London clan is building an alliance with the battlelord?” “Yes. The candidates have some retainers, but have yet to formalize the alliance. However, during the battle, it was observed that the London clan’s soldiers took direction from at least two possible candidates, who themselves had an existing body of several dozen vassals before the battle started from at least two other clans.” “It seems that human politics is somewhat complicated.” “That is an understatement, if there ever was one.” “Very well. Do you have any other comments to add to the review report, Doctor?” “Not at this time.” “Then I, Scientist Whisper of a Springtime Dream, Doctorate First Class, hereby declare this peer review closed. The report of the same is to be submitted to the Central Research Archives of the Xeranai.” The red RECORDING light blinked off, and Springtime Dream’s demeanour shifted. “Blossoming… what in the name of Xeran is going on there?” “It’s all under control.” “The humans were supposed to still be in Forming! The Chaikanderai have taken sixty cycles to get to Norming, and the humans have had less than ten!” “Storming in ten cycles is only a little faster than normal…” “Early storming, maybe, but most species spend time in the Storming stage, until they have enhanced-led clans emerge. What happened here?” “We’re not quite sure, but I’ll keep you posted.” “You’d better. This report is going to come to the attention of the Archons, you know.” “The Archons are going to read our peer reviews?” “Let’s say there are those who will draw this report to their attention. The Exemplar is not going to be happy about a world reaching this level of advancement without his coming to know. Especially not one that was supposed to take another two hundred cycles to reach this point…. You can expect additional deployments to show up soon.” “I’ve already been dealing with that fool Bloodsword…” “He may be a fool, but the Puppetmasters are growing their influence amongst the Races of the Mind. You need to be careful, Blossoming. We’re already second in the Hierarchy. I have no desire to be third.”