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Chapter 35
By AC
Darian slowed the car and turned into an alley. "Okay guys," he told Pheonix and Nakano. "We're here. Ready?"
Looking at them, he could see that the juvenile attitude they'd adopted had vanished now that the moment was at hand. Nakano had a syringe of J-10 at the ready, while Phoenix checked his gun one last time.
As one, they left the car. Darian used his remote one more time and the car locked itself. He took point, with Nakano right behind him and Pheonix Mark bringing up the rear.
Darian ran a brief calculation in his head. It had been close to two hours since he'd spoken to Anika. By now the J-10 already in Cisia would have worn off completely... and Dalasius would be in complete control. He thought of trying to call her again, but decided against it. Right now, Anika could be fighting for her life.
As they reached the rendezvous point, Darian stopped. A vermillion glow was coming from around the corner. He could hear voices -- one of them was Cisia's. A second voice Darian recognized as Talehn and the third... He drew his gun and flattened against the wall.
Pheonix and Nakano looked at him, but said nothing. Convinced that something was /not right/, Darian listened to the voices...
Talehn looked at the woman he had come to care for, once again under control of a force he had come to despise. "If you harm Cisia, I'll--"
"Harm? Cisia?" Cisia's voice had a eerie quality to it, as if Talehn was hearing her in an echo chamber. "Who/what is Cisia?"
"As if you don't know, you..."
"Wait," Paula said, looking at Cisia. "I don't think that's Dalasius."
"Da-las-i-us." The entity that had been Cisia spoke the name slowly. "Dalasius is alien. Threat to Me/Us."
"Me/us." Talehn wondered at the pronoun. And then it hit him. /Every plant and animal seems to be connected in the planet's natural Ether networks... I think those networks are a brain/ Paula had told them. "You're the planet."
"I/we are Life. What/who are you?"
"We're living beings, too," Paula said, "We're called humans. I am Paula. This is Talehn. And Cisia... Cisia's the human you're controlling."
"You are seperate? You do not share?"
"No," Talehn said, catching on quickly. "We can't tap into the Ether like you can. Only an Interface, like Cisia..." He paused. "Why are you here?"
"I/We have always been here."
This was getting stranger as they went along. "No, I meant why are you in Cisia? Why are you talking to us."
"Because I/We wished to know who/what you are. You are strange creatures. Long ago you arrived, seperate from Life, yet you breathed, you grew, you bore children. I/We tried to speak to you, but you could not hear me/us.
"I/We thought you were Life from elsewhere, damaged so you could not hear. So I/We tried to heal you."
"Heal... You mean change," Paula said. "But how...?"
"I/We used not-yet-life; Small creatures that cannot reproduce without a host, to carry Life-code to your kind."
Paula drew in a breath. "By the void," she said. "You're talking about viruses. Gene therapy."
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