Honestly, I thought the days when a smiling beauty would subtly push you out the door were long gone... How wrong I was.
"The joke about sounds in a vacuum is quite primitive, but no less amusing," Trebal said, looking at me. Or somewhere through me. It's funny, but it seems she's not aware that Ihaar repaired the maneuvering thrusters and the 'Hippaphoralkus' needs to be returned to the hangar for full repair. The phrase about parking by ear was just for that...
While I was still in a daze from hesitating, Trebal unexpectedly hugged me. And kissed me...
"Thank you for everything," she cooed with suspiciously sweet intonations. "Your attention means a lot to me. As does my appointment as battleship commander. I'm glad that our misunderstandings were resolved so easily and fruitfully for both of us. I hope you enjoyed... our conversation. If you don't mind, I'd like to rest a bit. Because... talking," she's emphasizing words after a short silence in a peculiar way for the second time, "with you took a lot of energy from me..."
"Have fun," I waved my hand. "I have things to do too..."
The door closed in front of my nose, completely cutting me off from the beautiful bitch. Oh, for your zero point! I was practically offered sex with a more evolved form of human, and I froze like a boy.
No, that's understandable why – the body wanted it, but the brain was freaking out. The cognitive dissonance that Trebal creates with her speeches and behavior is really overloading my brain.
Perhaps it's for the best that I didn't blurt out what my brain was suggesting... But what if she wanted that instead? And her words about professionalism and so on are just a defense mechanism so she doesn't feel rejected? Who knows these women with their way of thinking!
Just as I was about to head off to my business, I heard a delicate cough behind me.
Turning around, I saw... Ihaar and Chaya.
Bad suspicions arose in my head, directed at the doors that had just closed in my face. That bitch! She should work in theater, not command a ship! If she messes up even once, I'll demote her to a mop girl!
For those who don't understand, Trebal is at it again: she obviously saw two Ancients and decided to gloat. Because, if you think about it... You might think she wasn't thanking me for a conversation. But, for example, for the patronage that "sugar daddies" usually give their "dolls."
Bitch!
Is this the universe of "Stargate" or "Santa Barbara"?! For the sake of genetic chains, Ancients! No, I understand that people are different... But I thought all Ancients behaved like Chaya... But no, Ihaar panics periodically and overwhelms with his technical knowledge, Trebal... Maybe her pipes are really leaking, or her roof has sprung a leak?
This lady really behaves like she has bipolar disorder. One moment a bitch, the next a sweetheart... Or is she just a bitch who knows how to get under your skin reliably? And she succeeds! Because for a minute now I've been looking at Ihaar's and Chaya's open mouths, but I don't hear a word!
Trebal! Witch! Stop your sorcery!
"We need to find the farthest Ancient outpost..."
"...and this will give us a greater energy generation," Ihaar was saying. Realizing what he heard, he exchanged a look with Chaya and clarified:
"And how is the distant outpost related to the offer to replace the battleship's reactors?" the Ancient asked.
"I want to send Trebal there," I admitted. "For reconnaissance, of course. Don't think I want to get rid of the bitch..."
The Ancients exchanged glances again.
"I have business in the lower hangar," Ihaar said hastily. "Chaya, will you explain the essence of my ideas to Mikhail?"
"I'll try," she promised, looking me up and down. "I'm not sure he's thinking about the common good right now..."
"I believe in your intellect," Ihaar called from the other end of the residential complex corridor.
"Let's go," I said, frowning and waving my hand. "We'll talk in my cabin."
"Alright," Chaya agreed obediently, falling into step to my right. "M-m-m, don't think I'm a prude, but... You did fix the shower mechanism, didn't you?"
Oh, for crying out loud!
"How does that relate to our conversation?" I asked, not understanding.
"What girl would be pleased when a man invites her to his dwelling, and he smells of another woman?" Chaya asked in an innocent tone. "And how passionately Trebal clung to you, how she demonstrated her sensuality for dispelling ten thousand years of female loneliness..."
I stopped and looked at the Proculucian:
"You understand that nothing happened between us?"
"And you weren't in her apartments for almost an hour?" continued Sar in the same tone. "I hope it was one long... ahem... conversation. Because if not, then I even pity her... Maybe I should talk to her, brag about how you can spend a whole night in a girl's room?.."
"And this is your gratitude for solving problems?" I sighed sadly, realizing that Sar had gotten on her favorite hobbyhorse. I don't know why, but female Ancients really get some perverse pleasure from such conversations.
"No," the pretense vanished from Chaya's face, and she quickly approached me. "This is my gratitude."
My lips were fleetingly burned with the taste of fruit and warmth. A moment – and her tanned little face regained the expression of that friend who teases you because they can. After all, you've spent half your life together...
"And... what was that?" I asked.
"Well, now I believe you didn't kiss her," Chaya smiled. "Her lipstick has a characteristic aftertaste..."
"I don't want to know how you have this information," the Ancient chuckled, seeing my face contort. "But, if by chance, you sneak around during the day and warm each other under the blankets at night, with sound suppression on full, then I wouldn't mind watching... Ow!"
With a triumphant cry, I intercepted Sar's hand, which intended to deliver pain and humiliation to my cheek.
"You can play dirty games too," I explained to Chaya, watching her face turn into the mask of a fighting hamster. "It's unpleasant, isn't it? Now you'll know how I feel after your jokes about that night..."
"Who was joking?" Chaya pulled her hand away and shook her head.
"You again?" I grimaced.
"And what can I do when I see that an adult man, the head of a city and a faction with the most advanced technologies in several galaxies, gets embarrassed like a child when it comes to quite ordinary things?" Chaya chuckled.
Well, yes, it's not like your lifelong love remained in another universe... If only I knew if I'd ever see Marina again...
"Let's tone down the bedroom humor?" I suggested. "It's unpleasant, given the situation we're in."
"I've been in a similar situation," Chaya assured me. "And, believe me, our position is better. Honestly, I wouldn't want to live this life as a prim scientist from a primitive race, only good as a sacrifice for my own salvation. I want to enjoy life..."
"You need a man, madam," I sighed, suggesting we continue on our way. We're like a couple married for twenty years – arguing in the corridor of a residential complex. And let the whole world wait! "Otherwise, your pranks will give the whole village a heart attack..."
"Earth humor?" Chaya clarified.
"Something like that," I grumbled. "So, what did our languid youth with the burning gaze suggest?"
"Our ZPM cannot be moved between Atlantis and the battleship, but battles with Wraiths are unavoidable," Chaya instantly switched to business mode. "Ihaar studied my generator on board the 'Satellite' and figured out that we can replace the old ship reactors with more productive ones. This will allow us to provide more power to the 'Hippaphoralkus' systems, but without using the ZPM."
"And if we had a hundred of them, we wouldn't need it at all," I remarked.
"We need more," Chaya assured me. "About ten thousand or so..."
"And happiness was so close," I muttered, calculating the difference in energy output between Chaya's generator and the ZPM. It's colossal, actually. "Can we build the required number of your generators for the battleship?"
"The generator I created for the satellite produces much less energy than a ship's," Sar clarified. "We're talking about building a different device."
"Ah, if so, then we need more naquadah and other materials," I understood.
"Exactly," the Proculucian confirmed. "But the mines on Ermen are either depleted, or the naquadah is several kilometers deeper. It will take a lot of time to reach them with our current technologies."
"A suggestion?" I asked.
"There's a simple one and a more complex one," Sar admitted.
"Start with the complex one."
"We need to check planets with naquadah deposits that are listed in the Atlantis databases. Even if the Wraiths mined the material, there are definitely deposits left somewhere, and they can be mined much more easily."
"We just need to fight the Wraiths, right?"
"That's why it's the complex option."
"And what about the simple one?"
"To avoid fighting the Wraiths, you can just blow up the planet..."
Is this floor really level? I almost fell over hearing that.
"...and mine all the minerals from the depths of asteroids," Chaya said as if nothing had happened.
"Say you were joking," I asked.
"M-m-m," Sar bit her lip. "No. This is the standard method of material extraction for Lantians in the final stage of the war with the Wraiths. You find an uninhabited planet, destabilize the core, explode it, and process the asteroids..."
Damn it... Is this really the "Stargate" I watched?
"And... didn't the Lantians invent automated mines?"
"The Wraiths destroyed them," she said. "And building an automatic tunneler takes a long time and requires a lot of resources. It's easier to blow up the planet..."
"Chaya, I'm starting to regret defending you... I hope you didn't blow up Lantea's second moon?"
"No," she blinked. "Honestly."
I'll have to check the database.
"Let's scan this asteroid field first," I suggested. "And then we'll think... But blowing up planets for resources... Imagine how much ore is lost during the explosion? I think it's not cost-effective."
"No one said that," Chaya reminded me. "Only that it's fast. If we stop at mines as a source of material extraction, it will take a lot of time to train the Athosians in this. And even then – only based on databases. There are no former miners among the Dorandans."
"But we have the Mantle of Taranis," I reminded her. "And the ore filtered from it."
"But it doesn't have a large quantity of the materials we need," Chaya said. "Naquadah, for example."
"Priority – scanning asteroids," I said clearly. "Without my consent, planets in this galaxy will not be blown up. Understood?"
"I can work with the hyperdrive and we'll go to another one..." Chaya began, but stopped, looking at me. "You have no drive for discovery..."
"I seem to be the only one in this universe who is friends with conscience."
We had just reached a small open area that was on every floor of the residential complex. A kind of hall, a lounge area, maybe even a food court...
Sitting down on the soft sofas, Chaya and I continued our conversation.
"I hope you have no intention of continuing experiments with the 'Arcturus' projector?" I asked.
"Despite it being an extremely promising energy source, I don't know how to solve the problem of exotic particle generation," Chaya admitted. "I suspect it's fundamental, and therefore insurmountable. All I could think of was to implement part of the project's energy to create a space-time tunnel to transfer exotic particles from our universe to another. Or, spend ten times more energy than we get to destroy these particles. But then what kind of profitability are we talking about?"
"And... what is the probability that the universe to which we send the exotic particle discharge will be inhabited?" I asked.
"I wish I could say 'negligibly small,' but in reality, given the constants of the laws of alternative universes, there's a ninety percent chance we'll send exotic particles straight onto our doubles," the Ancient said. "Not to mention that, unlike the hyperdrive of the stargates, this tunnel will not be one-way. Therefore, if they have someone smarter than this chair," she lovingly stroked the armrest of the piece of furniture upholstered in unknown snow-white leather, "they will redirect these exotic particles back to us. Using the particle-universe identity equation, I don't think we'll be able to get rid of them."
"Because, having been in another universe, they will acquire the frequencies of their new place of residence?" I clarified. "And then we'll face a cascading entropy failure, won't we?"
Chaya looked at me with benevolent surprise.
"Actually, this postulate applies to objects larger than particles," she said. "And they must possess individuality. Otherwise, when moving between universes, the failure would start with the atoms of air in the lungs, or the molecules of clothing fabric... But I think you're right – the behavior of exotic particles will be very difficult to predict... And besides, the more 'Arcturuses' there are, the more dangerous it will become to be in our universe. The destruction of the system's foundations is no joke. Maybe not tomorrow, not in a year, not even in a thousand years, but the consequences will manifest themselves. And we won't like them."
"The more energy we take, the faster we'll drive the universe to ruin," I agreed. "What if we take energy drop by drop from the universes, connecting to them through the bridge you wanted to use as a pipeline for exotic particles?"
"First, particles arise at any power level, except very low ones," Chaya said. "Second... Let's say I can stabilize the project's operation – with great luck – and we can indeed connect to other universes, receiving a microscopic amount of energy from them, thereby causing negligible harm... Let's assume that particles will not form... given the infinite number of universes and the zero-point energy draw from them... It's pointless," she smiled. "We'll get a very dangerous generator that can power, say, a 'jumper' with a one-time draw... And why would we need such an installation? It's easier to dismantle 'Arcturus' for parts. The turret, by the way, could be installed on Atlantis as defensive and offensive armament and powered by the ZPM..."
"And why not on the 'Hippaphoralkus'?" I asked. "It would be nice to give the ship something more powerful than simple shells. Which we don't have enough of."
"And the energy output?" Chaya reminded me. "This weapon cannot be fired solely by ship reactors – its effectiveness will be low, only against 'arrows.' Pulse cannons will be much more effective. If we're talking about offensive ship armament, then a completely different energy source is needed. And," she raised a finger upwards, "definitely not an upgraded 'Arcturus.' Even if it sucks energy from other universes like a conveyor belt, it won't provide the same power as the ZPM at once. And, in case of destruction or damage to the generator... I'm afraid we'll face a rupture of the space-time continuum."
Indeed... We don't mince matters.
"In fact, 'Arcturus' should draw zero-point energy, shouldn't it?" I clarified.
"Yes."
"And we have at least three empty zero-point modules," I suggested. "Which the Ancients call 'batteries.' Do you think we can recharge them using 'Arcturus' and other universes?"
Making 'Arcturus' pump energy from our universe, even on a microscopic scale, is foolish. Well, we won't extract enough energy to crash the system in a short time – we'll do it over a long time. The idea is precisely not to destroy our own Universe and to minimally mess with others.
"I've never heard of such a thing," Chaya admitted. "But... we can certainly try... However, I advise you to look for other ZPMs anyway. This time I won't listen to anyone and won't start the machine until I'm sure that no one will be harmed. In any universe. And for that, I need to interpret the multidimensional equation of universe drift, including the theory of smallest probabilities, laws of logic, and so on, to choose a planet where life is guaranteed not to exist."
"Something tells me that Dorandan is perfect for this," I chuckled. "I don't think life has survived there in even one universe. In the one I'm familiar with, the planet was blown up. And five-sixths of the star system."
"Was the project reactivated?" Chaya clarified.
"By humans," I confirmed. "They thought the Ancients' calculation error wouldn't lead to a bad outcome..."
"The destruction of five-sixths of the star system and Dorandan itself without the formation of a supermassive black hole or continuum violation is, most likely, a rather good outcome," Chaya muttered.
Did I mention we don't mince matters?
"In general, I'll work with the theory," Chaya assured me. "But I won't promise anything. Nor will I rush."
"That suits me," I confirmed. "And you also need to disable the installation so that no one but you can turn it on on Dorandan. Do you understand why?"
"I've already done it," Chaya assured me. "As soon as I got there."
Well, then I felt a little more at ease.
"Did the telepathic ability blockers of the Wraiths work on Koschei without incident?" Sar asked.
"Yes, he couldn't overcome them," I confirmed. "I think they'll be useful to us in several missions. Especially here on Lantea."
"Queen of Death," Chaya shivered. "Do you still want to reach her?"
"I want to get the drilling platform," I explained. "And also destroy the leader of all Wraiths, so that the irreparable doesn't happen: our enemies will arrive, and we'll return the Queen of Death to them on a silver platter. Can you imagine what will happen when she takes power over the Wraiths?"
And that it would happen exactly like that, I had no doubt. The strong rule the weak among the Wraiths. And, since ten thousand years have passed, the number of those who could resist her is likely minimal. And what is beneficial to me? Dozens, maybe hundreds of Wraith factions that won't unite with each other without a special need, or one unified faction under the control of a queen who actively participated in the destruction of the Lantian Confederacy?
When the Wraiths wake up, and I'm no optimist to think that won't happen, it's better for them to fight among themselves than to swear allegiance to one queen out of old habit.
The drill... Yes, it's not a ZPM. But it's already a working project for obtaining energy, and there's never too much of it. It would be foolish to just forget about the mobile drill. Especially since the Queen of Death, whose ship crashed near the drill, was the only thing stopping me from capturing it before.
But if we can rid ourselves of her mental influence... Then why continue to ignore the obvious?
"I'll work more on the neutralizer," Chaya announced. "Koschei is a strong mentalist, of course, but I think the queen will be even stronger. We should foresee this..."
"Agreed."
What kind of people are these Ancients? As soon as they reached the brink of destruction due to their carelessness, caution immediately kicks in. However... Would I myself be better if I didn't have post-knowledge?
Unlikely. So, I should put my snobbery aside.
"Misha," Chaya looked at me intently. "You know we have a very simple way to solve all our problems? MNT, drones, ships… We can get all of that with just one jump through the gate. I've already found the address, and I think we can make a simple decision."
The main thing is not to let Chaya be led by her brilliant ideas… I think that's what the tribune said.
"Seemingly simple," I corrected. "Only, in light of everything I've learned, you know, I'm overcome with the thought that showing up to the Asurans and saying: 'Hello, you fucking machines, it's time to serve the white master!' is not the best idea."
Chaya, lowering her gaze, said:
"Nevertheless, since, as you say, the Asurans are not destroyed and have begun to copy the Ancients, then… And since they were created for war, then we can force them to return to their original task – the destruction of the Wraiths. If we force the Asurans to fight against the Wraiths, then we will have the opportunity and time to build up our own forces! Without knowing fatigue or regret, the Asurans will destroy the Wraiths in months, or even less. Probably, at the moment, they are the best of the versions of the Ancients that are known."
"The best?" I clarified. "Chaya, they consist of killer machines, created solely to destroy the Wraiths by any means. And something tells me that depriving the Wraiths of food is the simplest of them."
"Did they do that in the events you know about?" Chaya asked, looking at me with fear.
"After they met the Earthlings, and they messed with their base code," I admitted. "Not to mention, if I were in the place of the killer machines, I would at least decide to get even for how the creators treated me. The Lantians practically destroyed them. And what's stopping the Asurans from doing the same? In my memory, that's exactly what they wanted to do, and only a miracle, or perhaps the hints of the Ascended, saved the Earthlings from extermination. Considering that they have all the cards in their hands and, most likely, all the technologies of the Ancients, the Asurans are not a force that can be ignored. Unlike them, we have a city falling apart from old age, no shells, one battleship, and a couple of dozen people. And they, if I remember correctly, are millions. So what's the point of us messing with them if one interrogation with torture is enough for them to understand that none of us are Lantians."
"As far as I know, their base code had a prohibition on harming the Ancients," Chaya said. "And the Ancients here, in Pegasus, are not only Lantians. But also representatives of the younger races. That is, me, Trebal, Ihaar, and other Dorandans. The Asurans simply won't dare to do that – the program won't allow it. Especially since you have the tribune's code, a junior member of the Council. You entered this code into the city computer, and Atlantis actually became your property! We can try to do the same with the Asurans."
"Are you ready to bet your life on it?" I asked. "That one old code will be enough for a race of killer machines? Considering that they have evolved for ten thousand years in one way or another."
After thinking, Chaya said:
"No."
"That's what I think too, the idea of sticking my head into the mouth of a predator is also not justified by the possible problems," my words saddened Sar – it was noticeable to the naked eye. Sighing, I added:
"I would also like to know how to create MNT and drones without straining myself. I think it's somewhere in Atlantis's database, but it might be encrypted with Moros's code. I understand that you wouldn't want to go back to working on the 'Arcturus' project, given the last experience…"
"I really wouldn't want to," Chaya admitted. "I understand how much we need energy, but… At the same time, I realize that my knowledge is completely insufficient to radically change the situation, to solve the problem. But they… If they can create MNT."
"In the events known to me – they could. And they attacked with shells too. And somehow they could control Atlantis's arsenal, although that's only possible through the chair, isn't it?"
"Not exactly," Chaya frowned. "If you calculate the exact control channel, simulate it… Not all at once, but they could control a small number."
"Listen," I leaned forward. "The Asurans in the events known to you, after several failed simple attempts to destroy the Earthlings, decided to build a fleet. Forty or so ships like our battleship. What will we respond with to a race of robots capable of such a thing? The Wraiths almost died out when they clashed with them after the Ancients fled. And the most they could do was cancel the attack command. But the Earthlings turned it on. And the Asurans began to exterminate people… Maybe I'll even say that for a higher purpose, we can close our eyes to this, but… I don't think I want to see nightmares of millions and millions of murdered people, exterminated by the Asurans, at night."
"I understand," Chaya said. "I… I'm looking for a better way."
"The lesser evil is not always objectively so," I sighed. "We've already flown to 'Aurora'. And the ideal plan, as I thought, led to the death of 'Aurora', and the Wraiths will most likely be at our doorstep soon. If I were them, I would definitely fly to the last place where the Ancients were seen, to find out: 'Haven't they returned?'. Simply because there aren't that many places from where warships of Lantian design could have arrived, right?"
"It sounds logical," Chaya admitted. "Did they do that in the events you know about?"
"Yes," I confirmed. "But the difference is that we have MNT, living Ancients, as well as a city underwater and protected from orbital bombardment. But this doesn't solve the other problems. Now we have several planets under our conditional control: Lantea-1 and Lantea-2, Athos and New Athos, Taranis, Dorandan… I think the Wraiths no longer appear on Proculus. But the fact remains – we lack the resources to even defend Atlantis in a fight. 'Hippaphoralkus' won't withstand a good beating, and turning on the generators on Athos and Taranis to protect the planets from the Wraiths is dangerous due to the eruption of supervolcanoes. And even if we close all these gates with shields or something else to prevent the Wraiths from entering the planet, the very first attempts to attack, by old memory, the same Athos, will only lead to new questions. Unfortunately, we don't have the resources for open confrontation. No army, no fleet. And the last thing we need in such a situation is to risk following the path of the Ancients: creating more and more new weapons, and in fact – more and more new problems."
"From your notes on the 'Spartan' project, I understood that you are not against open confrontation with the Wraiths at all," Chaya noted. "Super-soldiers…"
My sigh was meant to symbolize the whole weight of the world that I felt on my shoulders.
"To understand which course to take, you need to have a plan," I explained. "And I'm used to bringing plans to something material. The 'Spartan' project is nothing more than one of the theories. And, if you noticed, I haven't developed it beyond stating some theses."
"And it was born after I mentioned genetic enhancements of human bodies," Chaya understood.
"In my world, science fiction writers have used the theory of creating super-soldiers more than once as an alternative to regular troops," I explained. "The 'Spartan' project… Honestly, I borrowed the idea from a science fiction universe about giant installations that burn everything alive to stop an incredibly dangerous biomass…"
"'Biologically, genetically, cybernetically, and technically enhanced soldiers in power armor'," Chaya recited my theses for the 'Spartan' project from memory. "Can you tell me more about it?"
"In that universe, humans were at war with aliens. And they were losing. To win, they created a group of super-soldiers whose capabilities surpassed those of ordinary people. Faster, higher, stronger… As well as robotic armor connected to artificial intelligence, personal shields for each such soldier… When I wrote this, I thought that such soldiers would be much better than ordinary scouts. After all, in the events known to me, people often lost to the Wraiths in ground combat purely physiologically. And here, imagine, a soldier in armor, covered by a personal shield, like the ones you and I have. They run faster than the Wraiths, are not afraid of stunners, and can survive due to their armor in extreme conditions. When you said that the Ancients practiced genetic modifications of people, I thought: 'Here's our chance!'. Because, in fact, no matter how much Alvar and Kirik tried to train the Athosians, it would be foolish to send them to storm a hive ship or a Wraith base. But super-soldiers…"
"I don't think we could find data on such genetic experiments in the Ancients' database," Chaya admitted. "They bet on the proportional development of human bodies. And even then, not for war, but for achieving Ascension and bringing the younger races closer to their physiology…"
"It's very similar to the fact that the younger races were actually needed by the Ancients so as not to lose their own evolutionary changes too much during interbreeding with other types of humans," I muttered. "At least that would fit into the overall picture of their behavior, which is revealing new colors every day. And, after the genetic changes affected Selise… I came to the conclusion that 'Spartan' is unrealizable in this universe. Because where I got this idea from, the modification of Spartans made them tactical geniuses. And here… even if we modify every first Athosian, they will only be good soldiers. But hardly two and a half meter tall soldiers with super-reactions and so on…"
"Most likely," Chaya agreed. "Yes, they will become more developed, but… Knowledge… That's why I pointed out to you that it's best to conduct manipulations with those who have not reached the limit of physical development. A child's brain can absorb much more information. And their hormones will allow the body to grow faster… And adults… They will become genetically slightly better, but that's all. After all, the Ancients' genetic therapy is more of a targeted mutation with certain limits of possibilities. For underdeveloped physiologies, it can cause harm rather than development. It took me several days to calculate the optimal genetic therapy for it…"
"That's why we should forget about super-soldiers," I chuckled. "The Ancients' knowledge is not as perfect as it might seem…"
"I agree," Chaya said. "Genetics is not the Ancients' strongest suit, but…"
"But?" I perked up.
"The thing is, in the past, before the Wraith invasion, genetic therapy for younger races was even less perfect," Chaya said. "It worked on me because it was fundamentally of a different order…"
"What do you mean?"
"I heard that the Ancients refused one developed race permission to join the Confederation precisely because they got too carried away with genetic perfection and cybernetics," Chaya said. "Janus once mentioned it, saying that their knowledge would be useful for creating soldiers in large quantities. He was thinking about negotiating with them directly, avoiding the Council's ban on contact with them…"
"Did he succeed?" I asked.
"I don't know," the girl admitted. "We didn't bring up the issue again."
"A race that indulged in genetic mischief, cybernetic prosthetics, and was considered dangerous for the union by the Ancients," I summarized. "Sounds like something that threatens big problems…"
"Or prospects," Chaya suggested. "But I think, still problems."
"Considering that the Wraiths would never have allowed such a race to develop to the point of threat?" I chuckled. "What was the name of that human race again?"
"Salumai."
"Sounds like the very evil that should not be dealt with under any pretext. It reeks of colossal problems… I hope the gate address will be found in the database?"