The recording ended, and curiosity fueled Chevallier’s fingers to access the next recording. The same Linl man, Dr. Golvin appeared in a different location in the ship, tanks full of water were behind him, it looked like an aquarium.
“It took some time, but we managed to acquire specimens of the aquatic species to study.” He stepped away from his desk before the aquarium. “We are currently operating in the upper atmosphere of the planet to allow gravity to take hold. I doubt these creatures have been in a weightless environment before, let alone a weightless aquarium full of water.”
The camera zoomed in closer to the shiny reflective glass keeping the water separated from the rest of the ship. A Siren-looking woman swam close to the glass, the palms of her hands rested upon its surface. She was joined by another within the aquarium, this creature looked similar to her, but different. Its upper body resembled more of a fish-like species, unlike the woman next to it which had an upper body that looked human.
“We haven’t figured yet why two types of this species exist, though I have a team analyzing DNA samples we collected.” The palms of his hands met with hers against the glass separating them as they gazed into each other’s eyes with lust. “I can’t explain it but . . . there’s something about her that’s alluring. I must figure out a way to communicate with her. She’s . . . so beautiful, more stunning than my wife.”
The next video played, the same two aquatic species swam aimlessly in their captive tanks as Golvin sat at his desk. He brought his hand before the camera and within it rested a white glittering orb. “I did it. I know how to speak with them, and this.” He looked at the orb in his hands. “Is the key. They call it an engram, thoughts, memories, experiences, all balled up into pure psionic energy. These engrams are the most common way they share knowledge, stories, or entertain one another.”
He pushed the engram orb against his forehead. It sank into it like a stone splashing into a small river, the flesh on his face rippled like a distortion field as the engram vanished. His body began to tense up and tremble from head to toe, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He began to breathe heavily when the psychedelic trip ended, and then slowly faced the camera.
“I just experienced nearly a hundred thousand years of history passed down over the generations of her people. They don’t educate one another; they simply copy memories and hand them off to a younger generation. Brilliant. They call themselves the Undine, they came from an obscure ocean-covered world deep within the galaxy. The planet they came from orbited a star that captured a smaller star within its gravitational pull, thus transforming their home star system into a binary one, heated by two sources of light and energy, it was that extra heat that led to the planet’s ice caps melting and flooding its surface.”
He stopped to note his discovery on his computer. Chevallier looked to the side of the screen and saw added notes had been attached to the recording, it was a listing of all known binary star systems, Golvin was trying to narrow down the search for the Undine true home world. Her attention shifted back to the recording as Golvin spoke again, he had more to say.
“The Undine originally looked like the male subject behind me,” he pointed to the Undine in the tank that had more of a fish-like appearance. “Understandable, since fish and aquatic life were probably the only life forms that survived in the aftermath of their planet’s ice caps melting. I’m guessing from there, they developed larger bodies and larger brains that allowed them to fight off sea predators and forge a community that looked after one another. I’m not sure however, I’m starting to . . . forget details from the engram experience, I plan to try again later.” He stood up and stepped next to the tank, gawking at the Siren woman and her upper humanoid body. “They also have a strange form of telepathy, this might explain why I had such an attachment to her. She was trying to reach out to me. Using a song.”
The final video recording auto played, others had been made, however the data containing those files had been corrupted, at least that’s what Chevallier assumed, she was no computer tech. In the video she saw Golvin stand over the bloodied and multi-impaled body of a Linl lab worker. The Siren in the tank had several long tendrils protruding out from her back as she floated calmly in the water with a satisfied look upon her face
“We made some . . . interesting discoveries today, though it cost the life of my assistant.” Golvin sat down in front of the camera and folded his hands together. “The Undine has a unique means of reproducing, where the female absorbs genetic material from the male, and in turn uses it to impregnate herself. Due to the nature of their mating rituals, this almost always leaves the male suffering from fatal wounds as you can see behind me. The Undine can reproduce with other species, and their offspring can inherit the unique features the father of the other species had. As you can tell by her appearance and by the results of our DNA testing, she is a cross between Undine and another species, one that looks Linl.”
“Females will always give birth to two offspring if memory serves me correct from the engram . . . one male and one female, the male being almost an exact clone of the father, complete with its memories while the female is a whole new being. Which gender got the better deal is another argument, males always die after bonding with a female only to be reborn. Females could move on from partner to partner, never having to worry about death unless it came via external forces or natural causes as with all living things. This might explain why the female subject behind me chose not to mate with the male with her, better to sacrifice the male of another species than one of their own. Which brings me to the subject I had intended to talk about before my assistant sought to experience sexual pleasure with my specimen . . . my most recent engram experience gave me a glimpse of how the Undine arrived here. An alien species took great interest in their abilities, uplifted them, gave them their psionic abilities, and transplanted them here. We have unconfirmed reports of a ship discovered in the remote regions of the system, the captain suspects it might be the aliens that transplanted them here. We plan to contact them, and build a working relationship with them and our newly established colonies in the system—”
Chevallier heard footsteps clang on the surface behind her, prompting her to leap to her feet and draw her rifle, the video playback proved to be quite the distraction. She saw the silhouette of a small person stand within the doorway that had led into the cockpit she sat in. The person in question instinctively raised their hands in surrender while Chevallier walked closer to them, the light on her rifle unveiled who they were.
A female Qirak.
“Who the fuck are you?” Chevallier said, jamming the barrel of her rifle closer.
The Qirak trembled and squeaked as the video recording continued to play in the background, though Chevallier had long lost interest in it. She continued to grill the Qirak with a raised voice and her finger close to the trigger of her rifle, then remembered the experience they had when they had first met Norauk.
Chevallier extended her left hand toward the Qirak while keeping the other wrapped around her rifle, and waited for it to perform its psionic nervous system mind-reading whatever-the-fuck it-is they do to understand alien languages. The Qirak slowly made contact and drew upon its psionic power to transfer Chevallier’s understanding of English into its brain.
Only it didn’t. “Please, I mean you no harm.” The Qirak spoke in French, Chevallier’s first language.
“What are you doing here?” Chevallier replied in French.
“This is my home. You look like the owners of the ship, coming to reclaim it, yes, yes?”