Calan - The Immortality Paradox

Chapter Nineteen: The Godkiller Architects, Part Two

'Feed your friends!' Randhanu demanded as they entered Vanhi's laboratory. The macaw had perched himself on top of an ecosystem, possibly eyeing the sumac plant blossoming under the UV light. The Professor immediately rummaged through his store of fruit and mealworms he had concealed in a temperature-regulated container. As he poured a healthy portion into a food bowl for his best friend, Randhanu simply stared at him blankly.

'Playing hard to get now, huh?' He placed the bowl at Randhanu's feet, knowing he wouldn't last long under the temptation.

Meanwhile, Svana gained access to the academic library in the Professor's central console. The Professor clocked her inate curiosity and determination behind the bright hazel eyes. She approached experimentation with the same independent attitude of diving in headfirst without instructions, something inherent in his own academic youth. He could still recall the joy when he first experienced a virtual dive over seventy years ago, wandering through the fake pastures of a Mesopotamian valley.

'There's no specific archive on any Godkiller experiment, but I found a recording of a transaction made to Pankosmios, which might explain how it ended up there.' Images of files rolled past until Svana selected one. She directed it to a portable visualiser, and placed it on one of the central columns. Filiments of light coalesced into the conception of another Academy lecturer. Vanhi recognised Doctor Ozana Herescu, a molecular engineer. She was situated in a lab several floors below his, buried next to a underwater shoulder of coral that grew like a tapestry across her exterior windwos. They had coordinated on a couple of projects together in the past. She could only have been a maximum ten years younger in the depiction. He felt a slight tinge of uncertainty in his gut.

Randhanu reacted in the usual fashion, 'Prepare for a lesson!' he sqwaked.

The voice that emitted, sputtered like a tired engine. 'Date: 096, OA19,646. Record of donation on behalf of the Hazzard Natural Science Division of the Starrise Academy. Recipient is Pankosmios: charity for the improvement of youth education in the galaxy. Donation is made as a goodwill gesture to show the Academy's support for encouraging valuable pedagogy for future generations, regardless of Chapter, nationality or life circumstance. Items included in the donation are as follows: four-thousand two-hundred digital copies of various academic texts, covering all scientific branches of knowledge; two-thousand eight-hundred and five visual headsets for virtual lessons...'

'Svana...I'm grateful to the department for this little bit of altruism, but is it really necessary for me to watch this?'

'Keep watching, Professor!' she never broke eye-contact with the visualiser, clearly aware of something he was not. He decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

'...fifty new Draconian quantum nanoprocessors; twenty-three Draconian three-dimensional environments; eleven Scorpion android assistants, tzzzz.' The visualiser temporarily fizzled out; the voice of Doctor Herescu jumping in and out of coherency.

'You see?', Svana pointed animatedly.

Herescu continued to read out the objects in front of her like a scientist's dream shopping list.

'What's there to see?' The Professor didn't mean to sound condascending, but he didn't want his student making accusations where none were justified.

'The break - the recording's been corrupted somehow to remove information. Whatever Doctor Herescu says in that short moment has been scraped from the original. There's got to be a good reason.'

'I'm sure there is,' the Professor was starting to have second thoughts. 'Svana, I appreciate the effort you're putting into this investigation, but I don't want you obsessing over every detail. Godkiller may have been created here, but that doesn't mean the general faculty are involved. I've been working at this institution for seven decades - do you think I wouldn't have noticed some of my colleagues devising a weapon to destroy Gods?'