posted 06-08-99 02:40 AM ET     

I lay in the fungus patch, trembling. The sunlight felt warm and friendly as Chiron's twin suns beat down. I was aware of noises and smells - the soft rustling of the fungus strands as they shifted in the breeze, and the rustling noises they made as they touched and separated and twisted round each other as the breeze randomly dictated. I could feel the energy coursing through my myriad cells. I was a hatchling, recently
emerging to the sunlight and just now exploring my sentience.

I opened my consciousness, and was aware of Planet, part of Planet and yet lying here within the fungal patch on Planet. My consciousness was expanding and I sensed a thousand murmurings within my being, ten thousand, hundreds of thousands of murmurings: **too soon, too soon�needs more time�must be aware �danger�.must warn�.don't attack�find brothers�.**

I lay, absorbing it all. I was alive, aware, and part of the great consciousness of Planet. I sensed my physical presentation to the world. Dozens of small worms, 10cms long, massing together and drawing strength
and energy from each other into a collective sentience that was psi-linked to thousands of others across planet's crust and to Planet herself.

The noise intruded first. A harsh strumming that set my cells vibrating. The voices murmured again, this time with more urgency, more insistence, and with more clarity. **this is dangerous�.destroys sentience of brothers�..need to be reinforced�help is coming�.use time to focus psi-powers�**

Focus psi-powers? I rode the waves of Planet's collective consciousness and tasted the victory as a mindworm halfway across Chiron attacked and destroyed one of the alien human invaders. I sensed the power being used. I turned my attention inward, and focussed on a fungal stalk. I heard its anguished psychic shriek as its infantile cognizance was possessed by my psi probe. I toned down, and the tortured stalk again began waving in the breeze. So this was my psi-power?

I lay in the fungus patch, trembling, as the alien vehicle appeared on the perimeter of the patch.

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MY2179, Foxtrot Zone.

"Sanji, we've got us one", Venkat yelled excitedly as the recon rover lurched over the rocky terrain towards the fungus patch. They readied themselves. The last attempt had been disastrous, almost costing them
their lives and the rover in the process, and necessitating a diversion to a monolith to let the strange healing process take effect.

Since the Peacekeepers executive had voted to pursue a Green economy, and ever since the completion of the Secret Project that had been code named "the Dream Twister", following on the heels of the parallel, but earlier Special Project "The Neural Amplifier", Commissioner Lal had an obsession with the capture of a mindworm. Huge bonuses were offered to the team that first caught on, and Sanji and Venkat stood a good chance of being that team.

Breaking into the Empath Song, they charged, one with neural prods at the ready, the other with a flame gun in hand..

The capture was swift and easy. "Shoot, it's only a baby" said Venkat as they herded it back to the rover.

"Come in Sarita, come in" they comm-linked. "Yes, report." The voice said.

"We've got one, a baby", Sanji said, giving his position. "Stay right there", said Sarita. "I'll come out. A baby you say, a Hatchling. Wonderful."

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I lay in the cargo bay of the rover, trembling. It wasn't meant to be like this. My psi-attack had been unfocussed, uncoordinated and dispersed, and made in an agony of psychic pain. The two humanoids had
approached my lair singing such a song whose words meant nothing to my senses but whose keening tones and melodic counter harmonies tore dissonance through my consciousness, disrupting the attempt I was trying to make to mount a concerted attack on the singers. Their neural whips had flashed and I experienced mind-numbing agony. My own psi-attack had dissipated, and I was easy prey for capture.

I reached out mentally to the rover. Coldness. Blankness. Blackness. Was it not sentient? The harsh guttural sounds made by the two aliens as they communicated with each other grated on my being, as did their
smell, I felt alone, for the first time in my short existence. I whimpered inwardly, lying on the cold metallic surface of the rover, surrounded by alien smells and noises, and wished for contact with Planet's sentience.

The wind brushed against me gently, depositing some fungus spores on my tentacles. **�..Peace, little Hatchling�.** I sensed. **��.. are with you, we are one��not alone�**. Feeling comforted, I waited, and my trembling abated somewhat.

Suddenly a voice erupted in my consciousness. ** HELLO LITTLE ONE, I AM SARITA** I winced, shuddering violently, and unable to contain my shriveling into a tight knot. **Oh, sorry, ** she empathized, **I have difficulty in communicating - I'm new at this too. I've been sent to work with you and train you and introduce you to others we are breeding that you may train them. Together we will be a formidable force to be reckoned with on Planet**

I sensed the aliens appendage coming closer. Slowly it reached out and stroked me. I cautiously uncoiled and let individual tendrils touch her skin. She was somehow inside my consciousness, and I was relating to
hers. I was aware of the neural prod she carried in her other hand. I was not going to cause any trouble. I relaxed and she sensed that.

**That's better. You and I will get along famously, you'll see.**

I wondered what I was getting into.

To be continued��.

posted 06-08-99 02:42 AM ET         

The neural prod produced excruciating pain.

Although no words were spoken, I knew immediately what I had to do. Sarita just inserted the thought right into my consciousness, and if I did what I thought, all was well. If I deviated, I felt the mental shout, which if I ignored it led to the application of the neural prod to a tentacle or two. I usually complied. The training initially was obedience training. If I did well, Sarita empathed such joyous feelings of accomplishment and wellbeing that in my immature sentience I reveled in. I wanted that approbation, so I was an apt pupil.

I could cover about three clicks through fungus at a burst before having to rest and recharge for a like time. Through forests or over barren or rocky terrain my progress was slower, just one click. Strangely, over the aliens' roads, I could move at my fungal speed.

We detoured en route to the base where the brood camp had been set up, in preparation for the development, in vitro, of the first mindworm bred in captivity. I would be 'midwife' at the birth and would participate in the training. The detour that Sarita had in mind involved a visit to one of the ancient monoliths. We stopped outside, as a gentle humming began, and a soft glow emanated from inside the monolith, bringing its dull metallic finish to life as a soft golden color.

I sensed Sarita's snort of satisfaction. Her thoughts entered my consciousness **As I thought. It was silent the last time I passed through, but I had already visited one. It makes sense though that it would work on you - after all you are part of an ancient ecosystem that saw these getting built. **

She commanded me to follow, so I slithered off the rover and across the surface to the monolith. We went inside. The hum intensified, and a soft interior lighting bathed us in a feeling of extreme wellbeing. In one corner was an alien couch, metallic and grey, with consoles and robotic arms.

I sensed Sarita looking expectantly at me, and felt her probing question **well, what now little hatchling? ** I felt her sense of anticipation, of expectancy, of almost palpable excitement. What now? Indeed.

Then pure joy suffused my being as I felt my mind opening to Planet. **Welcome, little one. We have been waiting. It is now time to start your training. Come to the center of the floor and relax and listen and learn.** I slithered over to the center, as Sarita stepped back and observed. I don't know how much of this she was following. Her telepathic link seemed to be with me alone, as I had not been aware of any other empathetic contact with any of Planet's other manifestations.

As I entered the center, the light intensified and focused on me. I felt my sentience expand, as I was swept into the whorl of Planet's consciousness itself. Voices spoke to me in my mind, and suddenly I was reliving experiences of current and departed brethren. I participated in attacks and retreats, experiencing the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat of all. I shared in the breeding experience, and the birthing, and experienced the deaths of countless at the muzzles of the aliens' flameguns. I sensed the creation of the sought after "Planetpearls" when these flamegun attacks succeeded. I was in the stacked attacks where several mindworms joined for greater effect, and then I was aware of the awesome presence in my mind of the locusts and isles of the deep.

I absorbed it all and as the light intensified and the experiences embedded themselves into my consciousness, I could feel a change coming over me. The individual worms in the cluster that comprised my corporeality began to expand, as cells split and multiplied. I could feel my psi energy intensifying and suddenly the change was on me. I writhed around on the floor, and sensed Sarita's questioning probe at the back of my consciousness, but I was helpless to respond to her concern. The individual worms began to braid together and I felt stronger, more powerful, and more aware. The transition to Larval Mass ended suddenly, as the light dimmed and I sensed Planet's withdrawal.

**No** I wailed, sending Sarita to the floor clutching her head in agony. Planet's reassurance was swift. **We are always with you, little one, for we exist as one, you and we together. You must grow with this earthwoman, bond to her and include her in our sentience, for we have much to do together. **

I relaxed, and Sarita slowly picked herself up. Solicitous I queried into her mind ** OK you are? ** I sensed her gaping in wonder at me, as she realized from where that thought within her mind had come. **You can think, and articulate thoughts? ** Her question materialized in my adolescent mind.

**Yes, think we. But not as alien humans think we. We are one, collectively think**

I sensed that I had lost her, but she surprised me. I sensed her giggle, and then she said audibly "I have plans for you Little Hatchling. You'll become famous, you'll see. Well, not exactly see, but you will know." Into my senses came an image of me in the fungus, with a neural prod attached to a bundle of tentacles on one side and an alien flame gun in a bundle on the other, herding a flock of mindworms through the fungus. The concept had a label that Sarita inserted into my mind.

Recruiter.

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But first I had an exciting assignment. Sarita empathed to me the fabulous news of a new base being established at the outskirts of the peacekeepers territory, closeby a fungus patch. I saw through her mind the formers preparing the way, (and sensed planet's disturbance at this change to her/our ecosystem as the fungus was cleared; then the joy as it was apparent that forest would be taking its place, adding to the rich diversity of Planet's experiences). I saw with pride the colony pod lumbering along the surface and shared vicariously in the excitement as the colonists disembarked and began the assembly of the new base, Zeta Sector Base. The military academy was established, and the armourers began the task of outfitting for the expected force that would garrison the base.

Then disaster. From the sky came a Hive platoon of shard drop troops, to occupy the new base. They terrorized the population and diverted a huge sum of energy credits away from the Peacekeeper coffers to their own energy banks. I sensed Sarita's indignation and shared her vengeance thoughts.

Then she melded with me. **Little Hatchling, we have a mission for you. We are the nearest units to Zeta Sector, so we have been asked to win it back. Are you up to it**

**What's with the "you" bit? ** I telepathed, getting daily more comfortable with the language nuances as I spent more and more time inside Sarita's head, and her in my being. **Won't I just be observing and experiencing how you humans deal with this? **

**Unfortunately, no.** She sent back. I cannot fight. I am not trained in the martial arts, nor have I the weaponry to defeat this threat, and my Psi weapons are infantile compared to yours. They will be defenseless against you. I will be with you in mind and spirit, but not corporeally.**

We made plans for the attack to repossess Zeta Sector.

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I approached cautiously through the fungus, senses flaring, with all of Planet willing me on. Their advice to me, in the form of thousands of voices impinging into my consciousness, were driving me insane **�remember to focus your attack�go for their will�don't let them reach for their weapons�project fear and terror�mental images of worms slithering in and out of their every facial orifice� **

**STOP**, I commanded. **Let me handle it my way. How can I be victorious if everyone is giving me contrary advice?** Planet's calming presence suffused my being. **Little one,** I felt the thought, **don't be too harsh. We are only trying to help. If you recall your time in the monolith you will know that you have already experienced every victory we have had. Now go and put this knowledge into practice, and add another chapter to our glorious book of collective wisdom.**

I probed the base with my consciousness, aided by Planet's presence in the very air the guards breathed. There was one drop garrison unit that had occupied the base, and their guard was up, but expecting a human military response from the Peacekeepers. Zeta Sector had not yet had time to build base defenses, so I approached right into the base.

I flung out a bolt of psi-energy catching the garrison unawares. Marshalling my energy, I focused on their wills, implanting visions of horrific deaths and utterly paralyzing them. Unable to reach for their weaponry, held in my neural handcuffs, they were powerless. I struck, going straight for their unprotected heads. As I laid my larvae in each, allowing them to burrow right into the brain, I felt again that transformation occurring that I had felt in the monolith. My compository worms writhed and unbraided, twined and intertwined as the larval mass metamorphosed into a pre-boil state. I rested content that I had done well and sensed ten thousand approbations through Planet's voice in my mind. **well done, Little One**

Sarita arrived the next day, to formally take possession back for the Peacekeepers. As she ran her fingers through my tendrils she communicated to me **I see that you have changed again, Little Hatchling. Before you become too powerful a fighting instrument we had better get you on that recruiting drive.**

We left the next morning for Mount Planet, an area rich in fungus and the reputed home of many mindworms. There I would commence the recruitment of the Mindworm Army of the Peacekeepers.

posted 06-08-99 02:45 AM ET         

I made it to mount Planet under my own steam, or slither, as the case might be. Sarita's instructions had been clear, and they lingered in my mind. **Capture first, but kill to survive**. This was easy for her to say, she was not killing her brothers.

Or was she. I knew enough now about the human equation to realize in my budding sentience that Sarita's people, the Peacekeepers as they styled themselves, believed in the unity of purpose and nobility of mankind, and held that all men were brothers. Yet why were her people's needlejets and shard copters pounding Yang's bases? Why were many of the Peacekeeper bases in full military production? Why at this very moment were there young operatives with eyes glued to the monitor relays coming from their orbital defense satellites in the space above us and fingers poised on the trigger, ready for the first sign of a hive satellite being launched to shoot it from the sky?

I faced a similar ethical dilemma. Now co-opted into the Peacekeeper forces, under Sarita's command, I was the first fighting unit of the Mindworm Army, and me just a pre-boil adolescent mindworm. And it was intended that I capture and recruit for this army from among the wild mindworms roving Planet. That I had no problem with. It was the killing if they resisted that I wrestled with. They were my kind, and the fact that they chose a different way of life than collaboration with aliens didn't warrant the death sentence.

I had shared these worrisome thoughts with Sarita. Her response was considered, and could have come from Planet herself.

**Little Hatchling** she began, overlaying in my mind a sense of serenity and wisdom that made me think of Planet, **you are now thinking deep thoughts. So bear with me, and think this through. Death is not the end, but just a stepping stone on the journey, for us as well as you, but moreso for you. Your lifecycle is short - yes we can prolong it through the Pholus Mutagen Project our scientists are talking about - but you are brought into being, you live, you breed and you die, in a few short turns of this Planet. Yet you live on, collectively in the planetary web, to be reborn, to die again and so on. This is true of all Planet's manifestations of herself.**

**Is this so, Planet?** I asked the consciousness around me.

**Hush, Little One, listen and learn.** whispered Planet into my mind.

Sarita continued: ** So when one defies your attempts to capture it, let it go, unless it threatens you or any of your charges. You have a higher calling, and I sense that Planet is willing you on to its success. For we are committed to building a planetary habitat for the Peacekeepers that will be Green - no boreholes or mines on the land, only forests. We want to be at one with Planet. There are those however that are out to despoil Planet, to exploit every ounce of wealth, and in doing so are not afraid to leave a scarred and barren landscape behind. I am charged with working in conjunction with our Gaian pactsister to rectify this wrong, this affront to Planet. You and your army of volunteers and press ganged recruits will be at the forefront of this struggle. Ask Planet, she will confirm everything I say is true.**

I didn't have to. I sensed Planet's affirmation in everything Sarita said.

**So let them go if they are not threatening you. But terminate this lifecycle of theirs if they try to resist. They will arise again, but to a better life if you and your recruits are allowed to pursue your calling.**

I pondered those words, and gained comfort from the assent that Planet gave me.

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I lay in the fungus patch, pulsing with psi-energy and anticipation and using every skill I possessed to dampen it, not to give my position away. I had sensed the confused and infantile gibberish that passed for thought in the consciousness of the wild mindworm as it approached. I pounced and quickly subdued it, melding its will to mine and transferring to its neural net a truncated version of own experiential wisdom, leaving the full exposure to Planet's to a later stage.

It's mate was nearby, and I sensed its psi-energy flaring. This would not be a capture, nor a dismissal with the wave of a tendril.

As I readied for battle, I sensed Planet in my mind. **You realize I cannot take sides** she said. **I wish you strength and conquest, but I cannot intervene.**

I reared and struck, willing my opponent to give ground. It resisted strongly, and I had to strengthen my own resolve. I drew on my experiences with the Hive garrison, and narrowly focussed my psi-energy. My opponent was a worthy adversary, as we met, tendrils intertwining, and psi defences active. As the battle continued, I felt the now familiar sensation of the cell split. Oh, not now, I implored I knew not whom. The struggle continued, but as my opponent grew weaker I grew stronger, and again the metamorphosis was sudden when it came, and I progressed to Boil status. This was too much for my opponent, who perished from my attack.

As I calmed down, I was aware of Sarita in the background of my thoughts. I sensed her commendation over the many clicks distance, and shivered slightly as I imagined her hand ruffling through my tendrils with that gentle touch so full of empathy and understanding.

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The next few turns of planet were uneventful. I added to my army, and fought three or four times, a couple of these producing the by now half expected metamorphosis into an upper form. I was now Great Boil status. I had paraded the army through one of the monoliths, with the same effect on all as it originally had with me.

Our firepower was truly awesome, as we numbered around 20 in our brigade. Mostly now I left the fighting to others, to help progress their status level, but I knew now that there was one more metamorphosis I had to undergo to achieve great boil status. I would need to fight again.

In our quiet times I linked with the great Locusts of Chiron that Sarita's team had bred in captivity and was envious of their coordinated attacks with our needlejet and copter squadrons as they marched across Yang's territory, capturing base after base. It was the locusts job to be the first into a defeated base, and hold it until garrison troops could be recruited locally or dropped in from the space elevator. Patrolling Mount Planet seemed tame compared to the excitement they had.

We were patient, understanding the implications of the long term strategy. At this moment, formers were constructing a land bridge to Yang's territory, just a couple of clicks long. When completed it was our mission to storm over and start terrorizing his bases. We rested in eager anticipation.

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The pain nearly killed me outright, and my entire army. We writhed on the ground in agony as our neural systems overloaded, each contributing to the other's distress, as we lay powerless to understand what was happening.

Sarita's mental shriek, from halfway across Planet **LITTLE HATCHLING, HELP**

posted 06-08-99 04:44 PM ET         

The pain subsided as I took command and quieted the others. **Sarita needs our assistance,** I projected, **rolling around in the fungus feeling sorry for ourselves isn�t helping.**

We gathered together, twenty or so of us, mostly now Boils and Mature Boils. I was the only great Boil among us, and the eldest, so I took the leadership role. I marshaled our collective Psi and sent a probe across planet to Sarita.

It was faint when it reached The Hive. Psi defenses had been erected, probably the work of Ota Kyi, whom I had heard Sarita speak of disparagingly, and they were difficult to penetrate. **Help us, Planet,** I implored.

**Little One, you must do this on your own.** came Planet�s response. **But I will tell you this � you must work co-operatively or you will not succeed**

I strategized with my brethren. **We cannot sustain a prolonged probe. We must husband our energy, and send it out in bursts, to breach their defenses.**

We huddled, then flared. We reached her. Fighting the urge to withdraw and cower as her psychic terror looped back to us, we picked up snippets of her thoughts during pulses.

**��.mind probes�.torture�.the pain��warn��.laser knives��Lal�..locusts to Hive�.destroy Planetbusters��**

The signals weakened.

**�excising sensor nodes��..probes�..blind�..ignore pain��sensory failure�..Little Hatchling�..go��warn��������������**

Blankness. Blackness. Silence. Emptiness.

We howled in unison in psychic grief.

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The Hive.
MY2333

Pang cautiously inserted the probes into Sarita�s temples, being careful not to touch the ends together as he brought them over. Ota was standing by, observing the procedure, and hooked up to the apparatus directly. Chairman Yang himself had entered the secure operating room to view the procedure � the interrogation and, if necessary the torture, of the Peacekeepers� special forces operative.

Pang looked over at Ota and nodded. She activated the connection.

As the neural scream erupted, Ota collapsed to the floor, hands scrabbling for the connector nodes and ripping them from her skull. She writhed on the floor in a paroxysm of mental torment. The technician studying the consoles reported �Sir, Sarita spiked the reading right of the scale. We think the overload trashed one of our programs�

Sarita�s body slowly calmed its spasmodic jerking. She was conscious, her soft brown eyes looking deep into Yang�s soul.

�You bastard� she said.

He shrugged. �You will tell us all,� he said, �in your own time> We are just encouraging you to be quick about it�.

The technician reset the programs, and tested them.

Meanwhile Ota had recovered somewhat, and under Yang�s implacable gaze had reconnected herself to the interrogation console. �Resume�, she said to Pang.

�Sir�, said the technician, we are getting erratic readings. The system seems to be experiencing energy fluctuations, but they are emanating externally�.

�It�s her damn Mindworm troops�, said Ota. �I�m picking up their telepathic probe to Sarita and trying to counter it, but they�re focussing a pulsed psi beam to break through�

�Turn up the pressure.� Chairman Yang ordered Pang. He complied.

Sarita�s body spasmed again. Fighting back the screeching in her mind, she focussed on conceptualizing her thought, trusting that Little Hatchling would be able to make sense of what it could pick up.

**They�ve started using .mind probes on me, trying to torture me. I can�t stand the pain much longer. You must warn�aaah, they�r e bringing out the.laser knives�warn Lal and get him to send locusts to Hive. He needs to destroy Planetbusters being produced there.**

Pang was now carefully focussing the laser blade on the sensory node embedded just behind her left ear. There were six in all to remove.

**They are excising sensor nodes and continuing the probes**

�She might have some implanted in her retinas as well�, Yang offered

The laser blade moved over Sarita�s eyes and her sight departed.

**I�m..blind I can�t ignore the pain much longer. I�ll soon have total sensory failure. I need you Little Hatchling to go to Lal and warn��������������**

The last sensor node was cut out of her skull, and Sarita finished her thought, aware that it would probably not reach Little Hatchling, but needing to make the attempt.

**�warn Lal that he needs to build more Orbital Defense satellites. Yang has too many Planetbusters for us to cope with**

She collapsed into unconsciousness.

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Area 331, N of Mt. Planet
MY2333

Arvid sat at the controls of the Super Former and carefully aligned the huge bucket just ahead of the last dump. He deposited the mass of soil and boulders a few meters in front of the previous, and then swiveled away for another load. It was a tedious job, building a land bridge a few meters at a time across two clicks, but he had been the closest to the peninsula when Lal�s order came through.

He could feel the beginnings of a huge headache, and cursed himself for not bringing some analgesic tablets with him to the site.

As the bucket dipped to scoop yet another load, he saw them, and sweat broke out. His heart began thumping and he thought his head was going to split.

A swarm of dozens of Mindworms � the largest he had ever seen, were heading his way. He coaxed his former into top gear, and turned, realizing immediately that he was not going to outrun them. He resigned himself to a painful death.

His headache cleared, and a thought entered his consciousness�.**we are peacekeepers** .

�I don�t believe it�, he thought � they are ours.�

He heaved a sigh of relief and wondered what they were come for. As he pondered, he was possessed with a sense of urgency to get the landbridge completed. Although he had a break due, he felt that he needed to continue working to save as much time as possible. Clicking the Former into high gear, he accelerated to the head of the deposit line to drop his next load.

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I had marshaled my troops, and decided to make for the peninsula. I knew from Sarita that for some unknown reason Lal had built no water transports, so the only way to rescue Sarita was via the land bridge being built.

I brought them to the worksite where a single former was going about its slow business. The gaggle of Mindworms were chattering telepathically as we approached, and I sensed the distress being felt by the alien.

**Hush** I admonished, **we are frightening him.**

The babbling ceased. I cautiously probed his mind, letting him know that we were friendly and instilling him with a sense of urgency to complete his assignment. We settled down to wait.

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The Hive
MY2333

�She�s of no further use� Chairman Yang said. �Execute her.�

Pang cranked the dial past the safety mark.

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**Little One** I sensed Planet entering my consciousness. **Go back to Zeta Sector Base. You can do nothing further here. Sarita has joined with me.

**Her dying thought was �Tell Little Hatchling I loved him�**

posted 06-08-99 06:42 PM ET         

I lay by the waters� edge, idly watching the former continue with the landbridge, contemplating Planet�s words; **Sarita has joined with me.** Did this mean that she would become part of Planet�s lifecycle, and that she would be reborn, to know me again? Could I access her personality even now, melded with Planet?

I opened my consciousness wide, flooding my senses with Planet�s accumulated millenia of experiences and knowledge, and probed. There she was!! I eagerly projected **Sarita, it is Little Hatchling**. Planet�s soothing presence intruded. **Little One, it is not Sarita�s personality you are experiencing, but your own memory of her. See, I will show you**

Planet withdrew, and suddenly I felt utterly, achingly alone. I searched my mind, and there she was, my Sarita, almost my first living, sentient contact after my birth. I had always known her, her every mood, and she mine. Was this then what she meant when she had said that death was but a stepping stone on a journey, and that we all lived on? For the aliens, was this ongoing life in memories only?

As I pondered this wisdom, I recalled��.

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It was early in my training, and Sarita wanted to use me to better the psi-defenses of the Peacekeeprs. The scientists and engineers had been working away at their theories and formulae, and wanted to conduct a live test. They had developed a new psi armor, and were not sure that it would work. Sarita had volunteered me to come and show them my psi-powers, to see how effective their neural shielding really was.

She coached me intensely. **Little Hatchling, you must be careful. If you are too strong you will kill the subjects, or at least cripple them psychically, so you must be aware of me at all times. When I signal thus** � and here she projected a piercing psychic whistle into my consciousness, causing me to visibly wince - **I want you to stop immediately**.

I telepathed assent.

**Also,** she continued, **some of these scientist have led a sheltered life, and have never encountered a Mindworm live, so let them get to know you little by little. You can have quite an overpowering personality, you know**. If I had ribs, I am sure that I would have received a dig from Sarita.

The scientists and technicians were ready, with their equipment developed and installed. Some were going to be wearing the specially adapted helmets, with sensory protectors and mind visors. Others would be testing a hand held psi-blanket generator that theoretically would block any psi�energy attack. The date was fixed, and Commissioner Lal himself was going to be present to watch the proceedings. I had met him several times during my training.

We approached the test laboratory, with the VIPs already present and sitting at their places. The test subjects were scattered around, trying to ensure that one�s protection field did not impinge on the other. I was by Sarita�s side as we approached down the corridor.

The guard opened the door and motioned for us to enter.

I leaped on to Sarita�s shoulders and neck, and covered her head, just leaving room between my tendrils for her to see her way into the room. The scientists and technicians shrieked in panic as the apparition appeared, a human body with a mindworm head. They scuttled behind chairs, and hid under the tables, cowering in terror.

Commissioner Lal roared with laughter. �Gentlemen, gentlemen,� he gasped, �so this is your psi-defence. Wooden chairs and Plastisteel tables. We spent all our defense budget this year on that�

I felt Sarita�s shoulders shaking with mirth as I disengaged from her head and neck and dropped to the floor. Her thoughts entered my mind; **Good one, Little Hatchling. I didn�t know you had a sense of humor**

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I loved the maglev tubes. Being able to relax and be whisked at barely subsonic speed between bases, and sense through Sarita�s eyes the myriad colors and sights of Planet go flashing by always gave me a thrill.

I recalled fondly the time we went to UN Headquarters Base, or �The Little Apple� as Sarita called it, explaining that as a child she had grown up on old Earth in New York, where her parents had been assigned to the UN Agency, and how it had as its nickname �The Big Apple�.

We sat in the tube, and I was getting from Sarita�s mental projections a strong sensation of speed, and wind whipping past as we journeyed.

I moved the bulk of my mass forwards, and let my tendrils stream out behind be, as though I was leaning into a strong wind, and maintained that pose for a few minutes. People around us started looking curiously at us, pointing and talking about us.

Sarita telepathed me a wink, and joined in the fun.

�He really does feel the wind�, she said to incredulous stares. �For him there is no shell of the carriage between us and the magtube and he really is hurtling along the magline at over a thousand clicks per hour.�

I sensed her inward mirth and joined in. She mussed my streaming tendrils with her hand. How I loved it when she did that.

Thus began the myth among the aliens that we mindworms were impervious to silksteel

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Then there was the time that she decided I smelled, and needed washing.

I was in her quarters, and we had been doing psi concentration exercises. She suddenly said aloud �Gosh, Little Hatchling, you stink.� The neural vibes reached me, and I recoiled a little. Sarita was displeased with me? What had I done? I am me, and this is how I am.

She sensed my confusion, and projected calm reassurance to me **No, no. You have done nothing wrong. I still care for you, but your coils are giving off a stench, and I think that I need to fill a bath with water and wash you**

I winced, and flashed panic **No. You don�t understand. Your alien treated water will kill me. I am from the fungus and need fungal spores in abundance or else I will get sick. Rain and swamp is good, even our ocean can support my kind, as it does the great Isles of the Deep. But not your water.**

**That�s okay,** she retorted, **I�ll get some fungal gin and pour it into the bathtub.**

Her reference to fungal gin puzzled me. I did not understand the inference.

Sarita rose, and went to a cupboard, and removed two bottles of Morgan Distilleries� finest fungal gin. As she returned to the couch, she telepathed **You are right Little Hatchling. It would be wrong of me to change nature�s way of cleansing you. I�ll drink the gin instead and put on a vidcom of an old earth movie. You can meld minds and learn a little more about our alien ways**.

We sat there in companionable silence, and I was enjoying the movie through her mind projections.

The movie, through Sarita�s eyes and ears, began to lose focus and the soundtrack became dissonant. Thinking that her vidcom unit was malfunctioning I telepathed a query to her. I recoiled in anxiety. Her mind was a jumble of images and fragments, her thought patterns running riot through long forgotten memories and the recall of long past experiences. She was a schoolgirl in New York�..there she was leaping out of her rover to confront me�.. riding her first bicycle.

Each sip of her fungal gin introduced more chaos into her mind, until finally the glass slipped from her fingers and she sagged back on the couch, comatosely drunk.

I gingerly probed her mindwave patterns. She was deeply asleep. I was puzzled. I knew that the aliens slept in special rooms in their habitats, on couches that accommodated the length of their bodies. This was not one of them. I explored her apartment, and found the room, with the bed. Moving back, I exerted my meager physical strength and manhandled (wormtentacled?, I thought amusedly) Sarita to her bedroom and on to her bed.

I left her there, and stood guard in her lounge all night.

I was dozing in the morning when she appeared. She ruffled my tendrils with her hand, and entered my consciousness **I really hung one on last night, Little Hatchling. Thanks for taking care of me**

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I lay by the ocean�s side with a great void in my consciousness. Never again would I feel that presence enter my sensory field. Never again would her mind open to me and mine to her. We would play no more practical jokes on her kind. Never again would I thrill to the touch of her hand ruffling my tendrils with love and affection.

Sarita.

posted 06-08-99 09:27 PM ET         

I was now running the Peacekeeping faction.

They didn�t know it, as they still looked to Commissioner Lal for decisions, but he was my puppet. Sarita had trained me well.

I sat in on all executive meetings in UN Headquarters and participated in every discussion. Lal didn�t object, so how could his minions. (And how could he, when I inserted an undetectable mindprobe into his neural synapses and suggested **Invite Little Hatchling to your meetings � he has much to contribute.**

I was a Demon Boil now. The metamorphosis had taken place on the journey from Mt Planet back to UN Headquarters. We had encountered a lone wild mindworm of some ferocious size and temperament, and I sensed my battle impulses crying out for action. I willed my way to the front of the pack and took on the challenge.

It was short, sweet and satisfactory. Somewhat bruised psychically, we detoured past the old monolith to effect the necessary repairs.

I left the army in charge of a Great Boil brother, and made my way alone to headquarters.

Sarita had trained me well. All the hours spent in the exercises to learn to focus my psi-powers into a narrow singular band were paying off. I could control direction and intensity over an immense range, and as a Demon Boil my strength and power were awesome.

I soon found myself invited to join the War Council, then the Executive

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The first task I set myself was to find out why my Sarita had been at the front lines at all, and why she had been exposed to capture by Yang�s troops.

I tentatively opened flicker psi-probes into the minds of those around the war Council table. The Minister of Defense�.knew of the assignment, but after the fact. I moved on. The Minister of the Interior�..barely knew Sarita, and was unaware of her death even. Production�.like the Defense Minister, only knew after the fact. Then I hit paydirt. The Chief Science Officer.

I sensed guilt. I cautiously strengthened the probe, and erected some trace barriers. I dug a little deeper, and probed his memories. There had been concern with the new squadrons of locusts, that they were being rushed to the front after inadequate training. Yes, they were formidable fighting units, more than a match for anything Yang could currently put out in defense. But they were somewhat immature, a little erratic. Sarita had volunteered to go closer to the action, to be within their effective psi range, with less command distortion. Accordingly she had moved to one of the captured cities in Yang�s territory. His agents had informed him of her arrival, so he had expended troops and materiel in an effort to effect her capture, and had succeeded.

I relaxed somewhat. I had originally wanted to attend a War Council meeting with the intent of finding out who had ordered her to the front. If identified, I was prepared to inflict ten times the mental anguish on that human as was suffered by my beloved Sarita, even if my psi-energy burst killed them all in the room and even if it cost me my life as well.

But she had volunteered. Typical of her, thinking of her charges before her own safety. My rancor softened as the memory of her generosity in giving of herself permeated my consciousness, and I relaxed.

My target was Yang.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The Hive needlejet made a low, slow, pass over the aerospace center at UN Headquarters, its landing gear down and flaps extended, an historical symbol of non-belligerence. �Hold fire�, the SAM battalion major yelled, �it�s not attacking us�

As it performed its slow flyby, its bomb doors opened and a synthmetal wrapped package dropped out, thudding along the runway. The needlejet retracted its undercarriage and flaps, activated its fusion reactors, and crested its own shock wave as it accelerated through mach 6 on its return to friendly territory.

In the command room, Lal�s comm-link beeped. He flicked it on to the overhead monitor. Yang�s evil face leered out. �I�m returning your worm-worshipper, Lal. I�ve finished with her.�

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

If I could have, I would have wept.

The ceremony was moving. I had persuaded Lal to grant me special interlocutor status at the dedication.

Lal concluded " . . . and in her memory, let this base henceforth be known as �Sarita Base,' that her bravery can serve as an example to all and that her hopes, her dreams, her deeds shall not have been in vain."

I rested on the high podium in the crowded commons of the base once styled Zeta Sector Base, where so much of my training with Sarita had been undertaken.. A mixed crowd of soldiers and VIPs and other civilians provided sustained applause as Lal rededicated the settlement in Sarita�s name. Anyone who was anyone in the Peacekeeper faction was present, such was the regard in which Sarita had been held. Across the peacekeeper territories all the population was tuned into the ceremony.

The dedication complete, Lal turned to me and said to the assembled audience �Sarita�s first pupil, Little Hatchling, is now going to address you�, and sat down.

The crowd was abuzz. How?, they wondered. Address us how?

I had strategically positioned my worm troops in each base throughout Peacekeeper territory, and linked my personality to theirs. In turn, they sent out psi probes throughout the minds and consciousness of the citizens of the various bases relaying and intensifying the images I now transmitted. I had enlisted Planet�s help in the endeavor..

Sarita as a small child, riding her first bicycle. In a girl guide�s uniform. Matriculating from University. Emerging from cryosleep on the Unity. Proudly donning her first peacekeepers uniform. Her first mindworm capture. Some of our training routines. Her capture at the hands of yang�s troops. Pang approaching with extended probes. Yang�s face grinning evilly, and her words reverberating in the collective mind of all of us �You Bastard�. Her bruised and desecrated body lying on the catafalque. As I finished, I left them with my personal memory, of her fingers mussing my tendrils.

To each, individually, it was as if she were caressing the hair on the nape of their neck.

Commissioner Lal wept openly. In every base, tears were shed without reservation.

My own distress was relayed and magnified by my cohorts, resulting in an even greater collective grieving that fed upon itself.

I had trouble steadying my own emotions as I sought to dampen my psi anger. But I was unsuccessful.

My anger and thirst for revenge was picked up by the crowds all across the territory. My desire was translated into their will and their resolve.

In unison, they chorused:

posted 06-09-99 05:42 PM ET         

I was furious.

How could I have been so unaware? (Actually, stupid was a more apt expressions, but stupid to me carried connotations of fondness and approval, as when I would suggest something to Sarita and she would respond **Oh, don�t be stupid, Little Hatchling**, usually accompanied by a ruffling of my tendrils.

But I was furious with myself, with Lal, and most of all with Yang.

Yang had surrendered to Lal, who had accepted his abject offer of turning The Hive into a vassal faction.

I had been unable to control events. The war had been running smoothly, and we were advancing Base by Base through the Hive territory. Then, at the perimeter of one of the larger bases, Lal had received a comm-link call from Yang.

In person, I could have prevented Lal�s acceptance of Yang�s groveling offer, through some subtle psi pressure. But, of course, I could not monitor electronic communications, and was totally unaware of the messages passing back and forth.

When Lal announced the ceasefire, I had thought it to be just for the purpose of bringing fresh, more advanced troops into the front lines, but when the subservience pact details were released, and when I understood their full implication, I was like a worm possessed.

My vengeance was going to be thwarted.

Or was it?

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I convened a virtual meeting of my Mindworm army � virtual in that it was through our linked consciousness. All were Demon Boils now, but they deferred to my leadership as I was the firstborn, and as I had developed the closest bonding with Sarita.

I outlined my plans, and each signaled their approbation and moved to their assigned positions.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Pang was wandering home to his living cell after a night out on the town in Great Clustering. He had been to the new holotheater just built with the approval of the new peacekeeping governor. It had been showing a holorecording of a new Gaian artist, Velociryx, a wonderfully gifted musician. Haunting melodies interspersed with foot stomping up beat neo-rock music. He had drunk one too many fungal gins, but had thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Some light cloud cover masked the moons of Chiron, although Nessus could be faintly seen when the clouds shifted. He wondered why the Peacekeepers weren�t mining on Nessus. They had the technology. They were rumored to have more than 200 satellites orbiting now.

A cloud drifted over Nessus.

Something in the shadows of a building caught his eye. He turned to look.

And froze, terrified.

�It can�t be�, he muttered to himself, breaking into a cold sweat. But the more he looked, and focussed, he could make out the shape.

Sarita

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I huddled in the shadow of the building intensely concentrating, and projecting a narrow beam of psi energy right into Pang�s mind. The image was of Sarita, in her full battle gear, with the adapted helmet with the sensory probes pulsing, and for added effect I was projecting a vision of red eyes, with a sight that Pang believed was boring into his soul.

I couldn�t speak, but through intense concentration could make Pang believe that he was hearing speech.

�I�ve come back for you�, Sarita said. �We have some unfinished business, you and I�

Pang saw her unshoulder her neural probe and flick it on with one hand, while a flamegun appeared in the other. I held him transfixed in a psi lock, paralyzing him with fear.

Sarita brought the flamegun up and pointed it at Pang�s legs. �You won�t be going anywhere after tonight�, she said, as she cut his legs from under him.

I probed the neural synapses till I found the link, and severed it with a narrow bolt of psi-energy.

Pang felt the flame scorch his legs, and collapsed to the ground, whimpering, as the pain racked his body.

I moved closer.

Sarita stood over him. �I don�t have your laser knife�, she said, �but you will wish I had�. She drew circular motions around his temples with the neural probe, and he screamed in agony.

Except he didn�t scream. I had found the speech synapses and had severed their stems, so his scream was soundless.

Sarita said �Pang, justice must be done. An eye for an eye�.

Nooooo�. Came the silent shriek.

I possessed his mind. His fingers went to his eyes, clawing uncontrollably, until his night went black.

(As he knelt on the ground, face contorted, sightless eyes imploring, silently screaming I thought that this might make a good advertisement for The Dream Twister training course all the peacekeeper units were now put through)

Pang keeled over on the ground.

I moved in.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The drones found his body next morning, lying baking in the morning sun, with Mindworm larvae happily infesting his brain.

Three days later, in Manufacturing Warrens, Ota Kyi�s body was found, in similar circumstances.

The next week, a young technician�s body was found in Workers� Nest

Then, mysteriously, on a routine patrol mission a needlejet crashed, engulfing its pilot in a particularly fiery death.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Across the Planet, in the peacekeeper bases, the underlings were puzzled. This morning the Base�s Chief Production Manager had abruptly ordered a change in their production objective, and usually in circumstances like these they were consulted, and it was a consensus decision what base improvement to build. Strong arguments were routinely put forward both for and against, and the debate was spirited.

But not this time. The Chief had simply given them new orders, and that was that. Grumbling, they went about rearranging production schedules, mineral and energy supplies and contracting with suppliers to follow the new guidelines.

Parts of half completed orbital satellites were stripped down for their mineral content, and each base for a short while was in total disarray.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Chairman Yang awoke with a splitting headache. As he popped an analgesic tablet he had this nagging thought at the back of his head.

It was like a voice, whispering insidiously in his mind.

posted 06-10-99 02:51 PM ET         

My Mindworm Brigade had more than quadrupled.

Within a couple of Planet�s revolutions the incubators across the peacekeepers territories produced the infants, about 50 of them, eager, with questing minds and a thirst to explore their burgeoning sentience. With The Pholus Mutagen Special project completed, they were emerging as Larval Mass units, but not without personal cost.

It had been my idea, implanted into one of the scientists minds (who then took credit for the concept thereby earning fulsome praise from her colleagues).

She had said:

�Our belief is that the various living organisms that comprise Planet are linked in a primitive neural net � sharing experiences and memories to create a collective whole that is greater than any individual part.�

�This is true�, her audience assented.

Then why don�t we accelerate this process by taking cells from our oldest Mindworm specimen� (Specimen, I snorted, my tendrils rising like hackles on an earth animal�s back) � and grafting these, one to each embryo, to see if this one�s experience and wisdom can somehow be inbred into the hatchlings.�

Absorbing this, I did the math. About 50 bases were incubating mindworms. As a Demon Boil I had some 250 worm tentacles massing in my bulk. I would be reduced to about 80% effectiveness until regeneration. This was acceptable.

I imperceptibly sent a probe tendril wafting over the consciousness of the assembled scientists.

�Excellent idea�, they said, �let�s do it�.

Thus the hatchlings that emerged from the incubation bays had already progressed one stage in our native lifecycle.

At my gentle undetected insistence, the bases again retooled their production objectives.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I dragged my somewhat bruised and damaged mass to the nearest monolith with more than a little hesitation.

Planet had been remonstrating with me, scolding almost, and I had been busy erecting a neural shield between planet and my fiercely loyal Mindworm Brigade. As all of us had reached demon boil stage our appearance had assumed a reddish hue, so that the aliens had taken to calling us �The Red Guard�. I knew that I would be vulnerable to Planet while within the monolith�s sphere of influence, cut off from my wormtroops unless linked through Planet.

But I felt myself ready to take on Planet, to tell her that her way was not the only way. I was powerful; I was in control of events. My Red Guard was the equal � no the better � of any troops the alien factions could throw at us. Why even our locust squadrons accepted my leadership.

The familiar golden light bathed my tendrils, and I felt the healing process begin. I also felt Planet enter my consciousness, my feeble barriers proving useless in this environment; this was her territory.

Planet wasted no time.

**What you are doing is wrong, Little One.**

**I AM NOT LITTLE ONE. I AM DEMON BOIL**, I shouted telepathically.

But only Planet could hear, and she was not intimidated.

**We know, we know. You have become strong, and are growing stronger, but your way is not the way that we think is best.**

I pondered this, then projected: **Your way is not effective. Forcing random bursts of fungus into forest patches and releasing untrained mindworms to infect the aliens mines and farms, to be picked off and sacrificed to their needlejets and laser guns is suicide. You cannot win such a struggle. The aliens are too strong, and are growing stronger.**

I continued: **My way guarantees success. I will have a highly trained marauding army that will be focussed on the task of expelling these aliens and restoring ownership of Planet to our kind. I have copied the command structure of the aliens� military forces. My more experienced commanders are all demon boils well versed in mind control techniques and able to narrowly focus their psi-energy. Under my leadership we are able to influence a whole faction of aliens to do our bidding. They do not yet know it, but these peacekeepers are sowing the seeds of destruction of their own race.**

Planet softly interjected: **They are not all evil. Not all are out to despoil my atmosphere and pillage my land for their own selfish gain. Some wish to live in harmony with us, and respect our fragile ecology. And, too, remember Sarita.**

That was a low blow. Was I not doing this for Sarita? Was this not her revenge on those who had tortured her and mutilated her body? Did they not deserve to have this stage of their lifecycle abruptly terminated?

Planet read my stream of consciousness. **Oh, how bitter you have become, Little One, and how vengeful. And how powerful. I fear I cannot stop you, as you have become too powerful. But listen well. There are those among the aliens that I have communicated with. Who respect me, and us, and wish to work in harmony. I have been talking to them, and together we are looking for a better way. Do not be hasty in your actions that you destroy them and their dreams.**

I let these thoughts seep into my being, and reflected on them. Planet continued: **You have wreaked vengeance on those who physically harmed your Sarita. Be satisfied with that. Return to the fold with your brethren, and together we will work with those aliens who are in harmony with us and evolve into a better future for both our species.**

I closed my mind. No, I was committed to my planned course of action. I knew better than Planet, with my constant interfacing with the aliens. I knew them as Planet didn�t. Her way was that of a sentimental idealist. I was a realist, and my way was the right way. Besides, my red army was poised, waiting for instructions. I closed my mind.

The soft glow abated as Planet withdrew. The monolith again became harsh and metallic.

posted 06-10-99 06:05 PM ET         

Morgan Industries,
MY2346

�Report�, barked CEO Nwabudike Morgan to Gavin McClure, his Intelligence Chief. �And it had better be important to interrupt an executive meeting.�

Gavin replied: �Sir, we think it is.

�Our agent in UN Headquarters Base reports that the Peacekeepers have started on a major special project that dwarfs anything either we or they had undertaken before. It�s being codenamed �The Ascent to Transcendence� and we think that it involves an attempt to integrate their personas with Planet�s sentience to create some sort of ethereal lifeforce that would supersede humanity.�

Morgan raised one eyebrow quizzically. �Will it?,� he asked.

�We�re not sure. But one of their key scientists has defected and has brought the compiled sourcecode of their research programs and I am sure that we���������

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sparta Command
MY2346

�������can duplicate their efforts. Perhaps even beat them to the punch,� replied Major Rodriguez, the key intelligence officer of Colonel Santiago�s command. �It will involve a tremendous allocation of our scarce resources, and retooling our production at Sparta Command, but our scientists think that it could be done.�

Corazon Santiago pondered for just a moment, then spoke: �Do it. There may be military applications here. The first faction to meld � is that the right word? � with Planet will have an enormous head start on the evolution to this enhanced lifeform, with all the advantages that can bring.

�How did they get started on this line of research?�

�Well, Colonel,� Rodriguez replied, �it all started when they completed their �Voice of Planet� project and progressed from there to�������.�

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

University Base
MY2346

����..another Special Project they commissioned, codenamed �Threshold to Transcendence�, we think.� said Chekhov, the top scientific officer at the University faction�s headquarter base.

�The Peacekeeper defector told us that the massive diversion of energy a few months back was of their doing.�

�Yes, I remember that� Zakharov said, �that was quite disruptive. What was it?�

�Well, if I understand correctly,� Chekhov started, �they had assembled together the entire datalinks�����..�

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

New Jerusalem,
MY2346

������contents into a single data stream that could be transmitted in a massive energy burst into Planet�s neural net,� offered Brother Joaquim, the leader of Sister Miriam�s small science team of clergy. �The Peacekeeper technician whom we converted was quite adamant that the experiment had succeeded, and that the entire history of the human race as contained in the Planetary Datalinks was forced into Planet�s consciousness.�

�Amazing,� Sister Miriam said. �And you are convinced that he has brought with him enough of the research to allow us to commence our own project, and perhaps beat the other factions to Transcendence?�

�Yes, Sister,� Brother Joaquim replied.

�Let�s do it then, and Lord willing, we shall succeed,� was Miriam�s retort.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The Hive
MY2346

Chairman Yang was rattled. Pacing up and down the fungalbraid carpet, he was visibly agitated. He turned to Manshan Chow, his top scientific officer and said:

�Did we not know of this research?�

�No, Chairman,� Manshan replied. �We were kept in the dark. Had it not been for the defection to our cause by one of the Peacekeeping research staff we might never have known.�

�How typically Lal�, snarled Yang. �You would think that we were mortal enemies, not Pact Brothers. Did I not sign a surrender agreement with hi, pledging unfettered loyalty? Do not our bases feed the units he has garrisoned here? Don�t I support his every vote in Council, waiting to see how he votes before casting mine?. And he treats me like this!�

�We have the technology now to compete, and perhaps even be successful,� said Manshan.

�Then do it�, said Yang, his face assuming his old, almost forgotten, supercilious sneer. �Of all the factions, although vassal to Lal, we are the strongest and most numerous. If anyone has the resources to compete on an even footing, it is The Hive.�

Manshan Chow nodded his assent, and left to get the Special Project underway.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Gaia�s Landing
MY2346

Lady Deirdre stood serenely at the head of the hardwood table, one hand resting elegantly on the back of the chair. She swept her small team of senior advisors with her gaze, letting her soft hazel eyes rest for a moment on each as she searched for the right words to say.

She held up a single sheet of flimspad and began;

�I have here � and I shall pass it around for your viewing � an offer that was brought to me this afternoon by one of Commissioner Lal'� envoys. He deemed it too important to trust to a comm-link for fear of interception, but wanted a written record in our hands to emphasize the earnest of his commitment as well as the extent of his trust in us.�

Her audience waited on her every word.

�The Peacekeepers have invited us to become their Pact Sisters and to pool our resources in joining them in their Ascent to Transcendence.�

The air was electric, and the silence was palpable, as her audience absorbed this statement.

The Finance Minister spoke up; �What�s the trick?� she said. �They don�t need our �pooled resources�. They can complete this on their own in a few Planetturns. In fact my agents there tell me that their treasury is so overflowing that if they threw energy credits at it they could complete it in one turn. In fact my exchequer reports that in five years time the Peacekeepers will have cornered the energy market. Why would he make this offer�.

Her General added �And my sources report that if he truly wanted to, he could enslave us all, as he has done to Yang. He is the most powerful faction conventionally, and then there is his Red Army.� He gave an involuntary shudder as he voiced the name.

The Gaian Ambassador to the Planetary Council chipped in; �He also has enough votes right now that he could elect himself Supreme Leader if he so wished.�

Lady Deirdre smiled fondly at her trusted advisors.

�I am sure that the offer is genuine. Commissioner Lal, for all his bumbling ways, is a friend of Planet. His economy is Green, and his entire economy is built around forestry and solar energy. Every mine that he has is now forested over, even his once odious boreholes. And I know Voice has talked to him, even as to me. I trust him.�

�What about Yang?� asked one of her advisors. �Do we have to pact with The Hive as well?�

Lady Deirdre�s eyes misted slightly as she produced another small sheet of flimspad.

�This message was personal to me, but I will read it to you�, she said. �It might help you in your decision.�

She read:

�And if the Gaians sign a Pact of Brotherhood/Sisterhood with the Peacekeepers, I will immediately dissolve my pact with The Hive. I have no desire to spend a Transcendental eternity with Yang at my side. It may mean war, but so be it.�

The Gaian High Council voted Pact with Lal.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I sent out to my Red Army commanders:

posted 06-10-99 07:52 PM ET         

Under cover of darkness, they moved. They came by air, by land and over the ocean; stealthily, surreptitiously and however hard we tried, not unnoticed.

Agents reported back to their intelligence controls.

�Large crawler platform with the structure hidden by a silksteel camouflage sheath.�

�Heard screaming in my mind when I tried to get closer to observe, but it was huge.�

�Unloaded at Aerospace Center � too far to observe details, and covered anyway�

�It moved into the city last night�

�We think that there is at least one in every city.�

�Lost our best operative when he got too close. Had his brain fried by a mindworm�

�I�ve heard whispers of the codename�

�Operation deathsphere.�

Even at Gaia�s Landing, speculation was rife:

�Lal�s finally cracked � all those years without Pria, now he�s gone mental.�

�Who�s the target? All except us?�

Lady Deirdre herself wondered what sort of an alliance she was entering.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I knew I hadn�t much time. Lal had given the order to throw energy credits at the Special project, and a tentative date and time had been set.

I had tried to intervene, but Planet was blocking me. She had become immensely powerful in her own way after the assimilation of all the alien knowledge, and I began to wonder why She didn�t take me on.

Had I indeed become too powerful for her to deal with? Was she preoccupied with her impending venture with the aliens? I attempted to interrogate her, but found her consciousness largely closed to me.

I pondered this. I recalled distant memories of my training with Sarita, and the early exercises in logic we had engaged in. Planet had originally been against my ideas, and had tried to dissuade me from pursuing my goal. She had argued that even one righteous person should be saved. After some thought, I had seen her wisdom, and had engineered the pact between Lal and Lady Deirdre.

Now that Phase two was underway, Planet was not remonstrating, not impeding, and in fact although She now had ample power to, was not blocking my psi-control of the scientists and technicians within my and my commanders� range.

The revelation hit me like a massive psi-energy neural whip. Planet now agrees with me. I have become part of her master plan.

**Well done, Little One.**. The thought entered my consciousness like a whisper in the wind.

It was all I got. Planet couldn�t acknowledge any more.

I had been skillfully nurtured and sculpted into Planet�s Avenging Angel>

I had become Planet�s Dark Force.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Under the Pact I had been given control of The Gaian Mindworm Corps, to oversee their contribution to the prosecution of the Gaian Morganite war.

My contribution was minimal, limited mainly to putting one of my trusted commanders in control, with instructions use our operation as a template and try to recreate the same vigor and tactics in their battle.

I was more concerned with the Ascent preparations, and in my own role as Planet�s agent.

Gently probing the minds of the scientists and technicians, I explored their thoughts, learning more of the great adventure from the alien�s perspective. I inserted some suggestions, and was gratified to see their immediate responses as they programmed accordingly.

The clock ticked on, and as it neared the deadline I opened my consciousness wide to embrace my commanders and the red Army troops.

**Prepare for Phase three.**

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The people were gathering all across Planet in the Gaian and Peacekeeper bases. In the civic square of each base had been built the Ascent. Some were serious and sober, others chattered excitedly. Families came together and stood holding hands. Others who were not going on the journey, and some curious observers from other factions were idly standing around, watching.

As the hour neared, they entered the edifices that had been built in the center of each square.

Agents were whispering into comm-links to record the sequence of events for their intelligence superiors back at headquarters. They knew that they would be grilled repeatedly on the events of this day.

A Morgan News team stood by, with holo-recording and vidcom equipment ready to record for their viewers.

The program counted down, and the temporal mechanics underwent a dysfunction shift. At the center of each Ascent gate a light slowly grew, gathering strength, until it became too bright for the naked eye. Photosensitive lenses and holo-recorders burnt under sensory overload. The light continued to grow until it focussed into a raw energy beam, and started rising, swaying, searching for the sky. Breaking through the atmosphere from over a hundred Gaian and Peacekeeping bases the energy flares rose to meet the stars as their light weakened and dissipated on Planet, leaving the handful of onlookers staring at a sea of corpses, with blissful smiles on their faces, waiting to be absorbed by Planet.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The sensors on the lone Hive hydroponics satellite picked them up first, and relayed the signal to the monitoring station on Planet. The signal moved through the ether to the control room where the young technician was sitting raptly listening to the report from Communal Nexus, a Hive base that had been captured by the peacekeepers. He was mildly jealous that he hadn�t been in that base when it had changed hands, as even now he would have been part of the exodus.

A flickering on the console caught his eye and he glanced over.

He swiveled round in panic, unable to believe what he was looking at. Glancing at the others for corroboration, he saw that it was all too true.

The signal went dead as the Peacekeeper Orbital Defense Satellite turned the Hive�s hydroponics satellite into cosmic ash, just a few seconds behind schedule.

He hit the communications override button and his frenzied voice interrupted the meeting Yang was having with his war council about possessing the newly vacated Peacekeeper bases.

�Incoming.

� Massive launch of Planetbusters.

�Every Hive base targeted.

�ETA 1 minute.�

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My commanders linked with me telepathically as we sent our psi-energy burst across planet and to the stars, not knowing if she could hear:

**Sarita, Rest in Peace**