Dekkir (Galaxy Alien Warriors #1)(19)
Beside me on a wooden bench built into the wall, Dekkir nodded. His arm was still bandaged, but after a few more days on the road, I no longer saw blood spots seeping through the white cloth whenever he moved too much. “We wished to see if it might assist my father. Using one part of their technology against another, basically.”
“It’s an interesting idea. Let me examine the medicine.”
I removed the necklace and twisted the vial pendant open, shaking the single capsule out into my hand. The golden powder inside shimmered as I handed it over to her. “I was instructed to take this if my own health was badly compromised.”
She peered at the tablet, then walked over to a small desk in the corner and sat down at it. Pulling over a white porcelain tray, she opened the capsule and tapped out a bit of the contents. “You say your mentor claimed this to be human technology?”
“Yes. Nanotech. Tiny machines that fix people from inside, basically.”
Her lips quirked. “Well, it has been known to perform in such a manner. But I am afraid your mentor misled you, Grace.”
“What’s that? Is it dangerous?” Dekkir stepped forward to look at the powder. “It almost looks like—”
“It is.” Neyilla peered at me curiously. “And you say you received this from Dr. Stirling?”
“I did. He told me to use it in case of emergency.” I came up beside Dekkir and looked down at the plate. “Why?”
“Because this is no modern technology of Earth. It is instead a technology of our world. If you want to call it that.” She smiled at my startled look and carefully scraped all the powder back into the capsule. “This is a purified form of a symbiont that is essential to our health, culture, and environment. It is known as the Golden Strain.
“Long ago, our people were reliant on technology just as yours are.” Neyilla finished replacing the powder and closed the capsule. “When we decided to change our ways, one of the last things we invented with our biotechnological skills was this symbiont, which was meant to help our descendants adapt to our world more organically. The symbiont colonizes our neural tissue, as well as certain muscle groups. As a result of this, our eye color is uniformly golden.”
I looked up into Dekkir’s eyes, meeting a gaze so soft and wistful that I blushed. “What does it do?”
“It enhances the immune system, assists in wound recovery, enhances our sensory processing abilities, and awakens the inherent abilities of the pineal gland.”
“Such as?”
“The gifts used by those of us in the seer caste.”
I quickly put two and two together. “You are saying this Golden Strain gives its carriers psychic powers?” That’s impossible.
“Might I remind you, about a week ago, you believed psychic abilities in general were ‘impossible’?”
I stared at her for a moment. “Does that mean every single animal on the planet is psychic?”
“No. The Strain only colonizes the brains of creatures with at least some intelligence. For example, you have encountered the Rilleen we use as mounts. You may have noticed their eyes are the same color as our own. They have some minor empathic ability, which helps us to communicate with them. They also have a strong psychokinetic power, which allows them to counter their weight when they fly. That is how they can not only keep themselves aloft, but bear multiple riders.”
“Wait a second. So you’re saying Dr. Stirling wanted me to inoculate myself with this symbiont?”
“That certainly appears to be the case. I am not surprised he developed an interest in the symbiont without telling the rest of his fellow humans. He explained to me once that he did not believe humans were ready for some of the knowledge he had gained here.”
I thought of Damon Norcross and had to agree. “If I swallowed this, what would happen to me?”
“If humans react as Lyrans do, your brain would take about a week to adapt. You would slowly manifest whatever abilities are intrinsic in your nature. It could be empathy, it could be prescience, and it could even be a form of telepathy. In addition, any injuries and illnesses would be dealt with rapidly by the symbiont.”
“So Dr. Stirling wanted me to inoculate myself to protect me.” Doctor, what were you trying to do? I wish I could talk to you right now.
“If I know Dr. Stirling, I would say rather that he was attempting to help you adapt to our world and culture. I am surprised, in fact, that he never inoculated himself.”
Adapt to our world. I turned and looked at Dekkir again, who was suffering because I did not have the sensitivities he had and could not sense the bond he swore existed between us. I looked down at the pill again, and for a moment, I had to fight the impulse to simply swallow it down. If I could feel what he felt, then this messed-up imbalance between us would no longer exist. “What are the side effects of having something like this in my system?”
Dekkir’s jaw dropped. “You are actually thinking of inoculating yourself?”
“I’ve got a lot of reasons to.” Including you. I hesitated. If he realized why I was considering it, I didn’t know if he would feel flattered, grateful, or guilty. After all, if I did this, I was basically going to be rewiring my brain. Neyilla had already warned that it would be an ordeal that lasted at least a week. I turned to her. “Look, just answer the question, okay?”