Vex Chronicles 1: Infection

Trapped

Lucena's Ascent, prow section, laboratory

Cassilia's head throbbed in numb pain. The machines had either applied anesthetics. Or it had outright shut down most of her pain receptors. And as Cassilia's mind was shill sharp, it had to be the latter. And that was a scary thought. The hybrid woman could feel the thing cut and slice into her head. But it was a mechanical feeling, as if the woman under the knife wasn't her. As if someone else's brain was worked on...

The orchestral tones of the veteran soldier's war chants hammered into her unprotected mind. There was a nearly comfortable warmth in the war choir in High Gothic. Cassilia understood only little of it. She knew Low Gothic. And she had a rough understanding of High Gothic because of her training to join the ranks of the Administratum. But that felt like a whole life apart...

The veteran soldier had stopped growling at her. He was a pious man and strong in his Imperial believes. Guided by the Imperial truth, he only saw a wretched xenos in Cassilia. She still could not fathom what that meant for her. Her entire life she had been part of the Beloved Heart. Cassilia had always known that they had been different. She had known that they would be shunted and killed for what they are. She was with a minority. And the Imperium was their enemy. She had never questioned that. That understanding and that hate was inside her. It was en integral part engraved into her genetics. Spread and grow, rise and revolt. But Cassila had never questioned and never cursed her existence. She was born like this. And it was good, it was how she was supposed to be.

As the machine cut into her mind, lesser instincts flickered on and off. Emotional understanding flickered as well. Cassilia was afraid, more than afraid. Her fragile mind was in the hands of that machine. And she had not the faintest chance to change that.

In phases where Cassilia's mind was still harp mind, she dove into memories. One moment she returned to was the brief dialog with the big half-ogryn girl. Cassilia knew that she had already been under the machine's influence and her emotional understanding had already been addled by that point. But Cassilia clearly recalled the deep pain in Sill's words.

Was the Beloved Heart really a harbinger of doom? Cassilia could not believe that. But the half-ogryn had. The big girl had felt grievous loss. Cassilia knew that feeling too. She had seen her Beloved Heart die. She had felt the death cry of the Beloved Ones. Cassilia was alone...

Or was she really? Cassilia had felt a twinge in her mind. And it had not been the machine. It was the warmth of the collective mind, the unification that she preferred over the loneliness of her own thoughts. But it had been fleeting, just a sporadic stutter of distant warmth. Was there someone still alive? Cassilia called for assistance, craved to be back in the brood mind. She begged for orders to flood into her mind to take the burden of painful self reflections away.

And then it really was back! The weak whisper that felt like Beloved Heart. But there was no guidance to find in it. It was another lost soul like her, begging to be commandeered. But there was no one to reply, only Cassilia and that other voice.

Cassilia swallowed and pain jolted through her. There was something inside of her. Something that struggled, something that wanted out. And she just followed instincts. She stopped asking for guidance and instead gave it herself. And to Cassilia's surprise she felt a reply. The simple voice responded to her queries. Someone woke from a sleep that was nearly a hibernation. And the sensation of utter coldness swelled in Cassilia's head. The other one was sending and she was receiving...

And as the other woke, he asked Cassilia for instructions with devotion in his voice. Whoever it was, he treated Cassilia like a Beloved One. And when she tried to correct that voice of his error, it begun to vibrate inside of her. The unification gave her strength and comfort. But it was different than ever before. Cassilia was not the drone that eagerly joined the other. She stood at the center, she was the brood mind. And the only way to no longer be alone was to draw them into her.