✅ Project SETI 2: The Daxut Plan

Part XXI: Seventh Circle of Hell

By the time Jarah and Temet entered, Gabriel had largely stabilized. He remained anesthetized and his respiratory rate was still less than optimal, but with the help of an oxygen mask, he was stable enough. He was also still bound to the gurney by metal restraints, even despite the anesthesia—Sudala didn't want to risk him escaping if he happened to wake up.

"You will likely find this new technology very fascinating," Jarah explained as she disconnected the transfer bed from the magnetized column that jutted out of the floor. "It has a unique focus on transmitting wireless digital signals to the brain."

Temet whistled thoughtfully and followed her back out of the room with Gabriel in tow. "I learned about that breakthrough about a month ago."

"Ah. Well, the folks in GR are pretty certain that this can be used to effectively subdue any sentient being—regardless of brain chemistry and structure," she spoke matter-of-factly, but there was an excited lilt to her vocalizations that she couldn't hide. "By amplifying the effects of Saelan-speak and channeling the sound waves directly into the brain, we should be able to achieve things with it we never could before."

Temet's feathers shrunk and retreated into themselves as she listened, and she was grateful that her mother was facing forward and couldn't see her gut reaction. She took a few moments to disengage and ground herself before responding. "You mean... you've found a way to weaponize Saelan-speak...?"

"Precisely. With this technology, we should be able to conquer any world we want... without outright, guns-ablazing war," Jarah turned to face Temet once they were inside the transport pod together. With one hand, she punched in the code to the deck that housed the massive General Research sector. "I think Prime Sentinel Temet would be proud."

She would think this is a twisted perversion of her ideals, Temet thought angrily. Even though she didn't get to spend much time with her grandmother before the Great Implosion, from what precious little time she had with her, she knew that Prime Sentinel Temet never meant for the galactic government to come to pass by force. It was meant to be an optional coalition, for whichever planets and races wanted to participate, and it was meant to be peaceful, benevolent, and strictly beneficial to all parties involved. Information and technology would be traded freely between worlds, law and order would be community-enforced, currency would be abolished—it was meant to be the start of a long-standing utopian paradise, not a violent conquest in the name of avenging deep-seated cultural trauma.

"I... I guess that's good, right?" Temet managed after a short silence.

"Very much so," she nodded enthusiastically as the transport pod opened to the brightly lit front-end of General Research. There was a long desk that wrapped around an enclosed area, behind which was the large server that housed the mothership's cloud storage. There were three Daxut, all male, tending to the server and other duties involved with data entry and archival science. Beyond the desk and server area was a sizable plaza that split off into several different corridors, all marked with the respective research and development departments they led to. She turned off into the hallway labeled 'Experimental Weapons Development' and beyond the large double doors at the end.

Temet added below the transport code for General Research that they were currently headed into 'EWD', and that she didn't seem to need any special clearance to access this area. The doors opened to a massive high-ceilinged workshop that was divided into many smaller work areas, where individual engineers of all types worked on their projects. The hums and tinkering of tools and the occasional chatter echoed off the drab grey walls, and Temet was immediately enthralled with the sight. She continued to follow Jarah in silence as she led her along the left-hand wall and observed the goings-on of the two aerospace mechanics she passed with an expression of intense curiosity and longing.