Wade couldn’t look anymore, not into this Grand Canyon of flesh. He backed up, reeling, sick.
“Productivity versus waste,” Besser glorified on. “Mankind is wasteful, here and everywhere else. But the master plan culls the good from the bad, from all worlds, to a single, objective end. What better definition can there be for perfection?”
Wade turned, spied the canisters in the racks.
“And this room is where it all begins. The activeports.”
At first Wade thought they must be fuel cells of some kind, but Besser had said the labyrinth needed no fuel. Wade rolled one of the transparent canisters out. There was a bubble, and he saw something that looked suspiciously similar to a belly button. Whatever mass filled the canister twitched once, quivered. Part of the mass was a human face. Wade put it back in the rack.
“Prototypes are made here. A computer calculates the most useful possibilities, then the best prototypes are removed for further genetic embellishment. We breed females from one world with males from other worlds. Females are fissionizationvessels; males are holotypes—”
That word rang a bell, and Wade didn’t like the sound of it.
“Each target sector is indexed into the Supremate’s intelligence: natural resources, industrial potential, and environmental characteristics. Also indexed are the anatomical characteristics of each species. Then the Supremate calculates which combinations of which species would effect a superior interspecies. Initial prototypes, which we call interspecielmetisunits, are produced very quickly. The entire process involves a complex system of biological acclimations and growth acceleration sciences.”
Wade was leaning against the warm wall, wiping his mouth. “The girl in that thing—she’s from the college, isn’t she?”
“It’s not a thing. It’s an incubreedcatalyzationcapsule, with an expansionbolus to allow for natal growth. And, yes, she’s one of the five surrogate procurements from this planet.”
“What the hell did you do to her?”
“We removed her bones, of course. Antirejectorybifertilization demands some rather drastic acclimations. You don’t just impregnate one life form with the reproductive genes of another and expect to produce an interspeciel. The two physiologies aren’t compatible. So we make them compatible. One thing we do is modify the reproductive systems of the surrogates, but in this forced compatibility they wouldn’t survive the physical stress of intercourse and birth.”
“Like trying to drive a bus through a rabbit hole.”
“Crude, but correct. We remove their bone structures.” Besser picked up a big syringe. “Calciumdecimationliquefactor agents dissolve all bone material in the body, which is then drained off in a suspended state and disposed of.”
Besser pointed to one of the jugs. It was full to the top. Wade remembered seeing Jervis milking white sludge out of the girl in the harness, and how she stretched like putty afterward.
“We can produce primary interspeciels in a matter of hours, and the surrogates can be used repeatedly for future bifertilizations. It’s marvelous.”
Wade was not inclined to agree.
In the next warren, rows of glowing compartments throbbed with feeble movement. The noise was relentless, a raucous rise of squalls and whines.
Wade looked hard. The plump, misshapen things he saw lying there sent him back in an impact of vision. Tiny pudenda wriggled. Chubby arms and legs rowed the moist air. Some seemed to grow even as he watched.
“This is the biomaintenancecarbonsourcehypersaturationvault,” Besser proudly stated.
“It’s a fucking baby ward!” Wade yelled.
“Newborn interspeciels under hyperincubation. In mere days they’ll have sufficiently matured, hosting successfully bifertilized reproductive genes, which will then be transfected again and again until the target species has been produced. Then the desired gene groups will be stored in the cryowarrens until colonization time.”
“When’s that?”
Besser shrugged casually. “Only the Supremate knows. A year from now, or a thousand years. The labyrinth stores interspeciel gene groups for every annexation target.”
“You mean every planet.”
“Yes, and there are thousands, Wade—multiple thousands. Each interspecies, regardless of classification, is genetically created with identical sensor and transception cells. Born in total allegiance to the Supremate’s objectives. Whole worlds, Wade, which will live to serve his will. When the time comes, the stored gene groups will be exogenically mass produced…and dispersed.”
Wade’s brain felt like it was broiling. “Why?” was all he could groan. “Why, why, why?”
“Mass recolonization.” Besser held a finger up. “One day, a new social system will reign over all worlds, myriad populations under one guiding light. No war, Wade, no crime, no aggression. Imagine a world like that, then imagine a thousand worlds just the same. The second phase is merely implementation, and function is the third phase. Perfectly adapted beings will join hands in a new order and live forever.”
“You want to turn the universe into an anthill.”
“No, Wade. We want to make the universe more efficient,” Besser said. “What’s wrong with that?”
A group of sisters came down the warren, their clone smiles sharp in unthinking bliss. Efficiency, Wade thought. They were carrying buckets of defected fetuses to the meat shredder.
“The sisters are just lower order interspeciels. The Supremate activated them for this annexation target because they were best suited for earth’s atmospheric specifications. The actual metisunits that we’ll use for recolonization exist in a multitude of varieties and are much more genetically advanced.”
Wade slumped, looking away. “What’s in it for you?”
“Immortality and governorship, the reward granted to any loyal nativeemissarial.”
“I don’t get it,” Wade said.
“All social orders, even perfect ones, need a chain of command.”
“So for betraying your entire planet, the Supremate’s going to let you and Winnie be his sergeants,” Wade concluded.
“Something like that. But not Winnie, I’m afraid. She’s out of the picture. After recolonization, the earth will need an overseer.” Besser’s eyes shined in glory. “Me.”
But Wade sensed a deeper picture. Didn’t power corrupt, even at the highest levels? “What about Winnie?”
“She outlived her serviceability, so I disposed of her. The Supremate didn’t need her anymore.”
“And when you’re finished with the first phase of your ‘master plan,’ you won’t need Jervis anymore either.”
“Of course not. Jervis will be disposed of too.”
“But you promised him immortality,” Wade reminded.
“We lied. Sometimes deception is necessary for a greater cause.”
“So it’s just you, huh, Prof? You get to rule the world.”
“Yes,” Besser said. “As a disciple of the Supremate, the world will be mine.”
Wade had trouble containing the urge to laugh. He knew a Brooklyn Bridge deal when he saw one. The Supremate had Besser, in his mad delusions, duped. Hook, line, and sinker.
They extromitted down. The transposition from one place to another felt like passing through a wall of sand. The bizarre light in these lower warrens seemed darker, yet more intense. In an unfitting contrast, Wade actually felt aroused.
“It’s the psilight,” Besser explained, “and it serves many purposes. One effect is the obvious excitation. The Supremate likes to maintain an ambience of fecundity. We’re not rapists, Wade. The progenitors of destiny should be willing. Another effect is simple communication.”