Interlude 3 — The Goddess’s Brother
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Blood congealed and spilt from open wounds, armour battered and scratched, arms sore from the constant fighting. He had to go on.
The Sith before him would not let up, would show no mercy, he was charging at him again, crimson blade in hand. He pushed with the aether straight toward him, a clumsy obvious attack, the Sith deflected it with his own telekinetic attack with ease, but in the brief moment he had to concentrate on doing that he launched two more blasts from either side, not the usual blunt hammers of blasts the sith used, these were razor thin long lines of aetheric energy.
The sith barely noticed them in time to stop them, but it slowed his charge just enough for Valance to stand and block the charge with his sword, they clashed furiously on the physical plain while attempting to send objects and aetheric force pushes to the side. Mentally the battle raged as well, the Sith trying to fill his mind with horrific images as Valance tried to confuse his senses by projecting his presence around the room. They locked closer and closer, the Sith driving the blade down…Valance own sword could not take much more…it had a thin Kortosis weave…enough to counter a blade, but not deactivate it. The Sith was pressing right up to him, the red light started to char his cheek.
Then Valance pulled in his presence tightly and pushed out the reflection of it – The Ysalimiri technique…or Yalsam as their gene edited version was now known, it created a void in the aether around him. The Siths face dropped, he physically crumpled backwards, dropping his sabre, his hands on his head as the aether vanished for him. In his confusion Valance surged forward and lopped off his raised arms at the elbow then a leg in a graceful arc.
As Valance slowly undid his void the Sith lay bleeding profusely at his feet, utterly crippled. The aether steadily flowed back to him as he grasped the weakened siths head, then like a needle he injected himself into the Sith’s mind, drawing out what memories he could before the Sith regained the strength to resist him… he drew deeply…vicious training, beatings, humiliation, turned to strength and fury, murder, manipulation…and techniques, controlling underlings, twisting their flesh and minds to serve him…that was half of what Valance had come for.
The sith died of blood loss before Valance had finished and he pulled out, then calmly walked toward the other end of the chamber where the re pyramidal holocron sat…the other half of his task. He keyed the frequency on his gauntlet to General Orus for extraction from the Siths Palace, he hoped She would be pleased.
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The Ante chamber was round with an aetherically carved relief in the super dense White-Heart around the walls. It showed their peoples history.
As he waited for Her, he gazed at the first panel…the first generation, fleeing from the war between Sith ad the Republic, from famine, persecution and disease, to the deep core to find safety, peace in which to pursue their scientific goals.
The second panel…disease and disability were not so easily out run…the solution of the meritocratic technocracy was to edit the genes of the unborn across the whole population – a pre-birth vaccination to cure genetic diseases.
The third panel…though improved the diseases continued…they determined the diseases that plagued them were passed on by children born without a strong connection to the aether…the only choice was to purify that generation…
The fourth and fifth showed the beginning of the Gene Genrations, not just editing the unborn to stave off disease…but to improve the population…every unborn child received the same treatment, passing on these traits to natural children, until a new Gene generation treatment was developed, usually every 50 years, and again rolled out to the whole of a new generation before their birth, with every fertile woman required to birth children made from her own eggs with the new Gene generation enhancements…the population boomed as shown in the abundance of fertility on the panel, the Goddess of love and pleasure Aephrodaea surrounded by her pregnant daughters.
Further panels and more Gene generations, no dogmatic laws and morals restrained their improvements, the start of a Golden age in joyous freedom and isolation.
Carvings of their ships, mining and research stations, showed their first expansion to new worlds, men and women shown using the aether to work the ultra-dense minerals found in the deep core- known colloquially as black-heart, white-heart, blood-stone, storm-stone and a dozen more.
But then, toward the end of the 12th Gene Generation…the remnants of the Sith Empire had encroached near them…the Sith military technology was more advanced, and their numbers far dwarfed the 5 million Aethans…their response was subterfuge, stealing their technology and techniques whilst keeping their world and their societies very existence a secret. The carvings showed the first Guardian squads who stole blue prints and technologies.
The next panel depicted the birth of Aethena, the pinnacle of genetic advancement in the 12th Gene Generation…he had been created shortly after with the same techniques but with concessions to make a male, no murals would show him…she was the embodiment of centuries of striving for perfection, sent to infiltrate and learn from the Sith and beyond beside the Guardians…
The ornate doors showed her victory against the Sith Master Dy’Ganna who had determined the location of their world…their greatest secret…to the left of her image the Goddess Aertemisaea, of strength, vigour, battle, above Aethenaea, wisdom, knowledge, understanding for whom she was named, and on the right, Aephrodaea, of love and pleasure…these ancient Goddesses were carved in Her likeness.
A yellow light signalled above the door, she was ready, he passed through a small chamber filled with hidden weapons to Her actual room The inner door slid quietly open with the unmistakeable touch of Her power.
The vast room was framed by light grey walls with white sheets and furniture, a bed at the far end white synth-satin, the one spot of colour was Her, sitting on the end of the bed, her red hair loose, in a blood red synth-silk robe that seemed a few sizes too small.
As she stood and moved toward him he felt the strength of her…it was like being smothered in a red tide, enveloping in a sweet way...yet drowning in another.
He was the only one who could potentially ever match her...what others less powerful felt in her presence he feared to imagine. She was Aethena, created to be as perfect as any being could be, infused with powers beyond most Aethans comprehension, the equivalent of 22nd Generation gene editing…as it stood the population was 1 million 17th Generation and 4 million 18th Generation, none a match for her…and soon less so still.
“you brought it I see,” she glanced at the black box under his left arm that contained the holocron.
She came within arm’s length and stroked his cheek.
“you’re not hurt are you,” she had such sweet concern in her voice,
“Nothing serious,” Her eyes scanned over him,
“Hmm…mostly healed, shall I,” she didn’t wait for an answer, red lighting flicked from her index finder and onto his side completing the cellular repair.
She gestured to the silver table, he placed the box down upon it and opened it.
“The holocron of Hyssis Y’atar, disciple of Karness Muur,” the red light of the holocron illuminated her overly green eyes bathing her features in a soft red glow…her face was common everywhere on Aethas now…a heroic warrior, an incomparable beauty, an unmatched genius…every statue used her as model depicting their Goddesses…though no longer worshipped them, they represented their culture…in that way she had become the living goddess, the living synergy of the triple goddess…
“Anything or interest in its former owner,”
“A few hints, but he was too preoccupied with the internecine conflicts to delve deeply into it…but it should have what we need,”
It had taken two years of searching and raids, whilst their tests had been successful, they knew the Sith had knowledge of a more elegant solution to essence transferal. Combined with the new Genetic advances and device and encasing methods Aetheric Studies had developed…
“Good…” she closed the lid and ran her hands over her body, “170 years is such a long time, I can’t wait for a new body,” The fact that she still had a mid-twenties body didn’t seem enough for her, he wanted one too of course, but for the genetic improvements,
“Anything important happen in my absence,” he inquired,
She rounded her head stretching her neck,
“mmm just the usual, the Technocracy approved 19th generation editing to commence next month, mining operations on Aedaea are progressing slower than expected…” She moved right up to him and put her arms around his neck her hands clasped behind him, “But that’s all boring, you’ve been gone so long…” her nose brushed his, “I’ve missed you,”
Her presence was so intoxicating it was hard to tell whether he was desiring her, or he was feeling her desire for him…. It didn’t matter, few people ever got into this room, few people saw her like this, and only he got to do this with her.
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The Aetheric Signature Transference Device, or “altar” as they called it for short, lay in the centre of the blue and white laboratory, surrounded by various machines designed to record and analyse each step.
The scientists busied around it, preparing for the transition. .In the viewing room stood thirteen of the twenty four Prime Directors of the Technocracy, as well as the High Director himself. He nodded to them, but could feel their anxiety in the aether. They were terrified it would fail…and horrified it might succeed…They worried what he, but mostly She had become…with every year their power, their abilities had grown, beyond all expectations.
She entered the room in a thin white medical gown. They had tested this on others, but this would be the first time for one of the Aethenaen’s...she would if it went well be reborn into a body with the latest advances…30th generation, leaping well past the 18th Gene generation that made up the bulk of the population…far beyond anyone’s ability to control at that level….if she so chose.
They had developed generations 14 through 19 based on their studies of Her, though sequential in number the improvements between the generations were becoming exponential in the population at large…an 18th Gene Generation Aethan was twice as physically strong and healthy on every measure as a 14th Gene generation…at 22nd she, and he were already twice that of the 18th, to make her 30th…she would almost be almost quadruple their physical and mental abilities…and in the aether….
“Everything ready,” Aethena said as she tied back her long red hair,
The head Geneticist looked up, “All is in readiness my lady,”
“Good,” she slipped out of the gown and garnered not a few trembling stares from the men and women in the room…the aether became suddenly suffused with attempts to reign in desire…she smiled mischievously at it all.
She lay down on the altar as the geneticists gathered round,
“Confirm commencement time, 06:72”
“confirmed 06:72”
He stepped up to the altar and looked down upon her his thoughts threatening to wander, but he retained his focus,
“We can play later…when we’re both young again…” she promised as he felt her aura recede into the altar, the tendrils of energy between her body and the meticulously wrought black stone strong, the excess she channelled into him. Her eyes closed as her consciousness shifted out and into the Transference Device.
The Geneticists stepped forward and began injecting her with litres and litres of biological fluids they had extracted from her earlier then edited to 30th Gene Generation, it bloated her body as the lamps above lowered the temperature.
Red lighting coursed from his fingers to surround her body, pieces of skin and muscles begun to flake off swirling around her like orbiting planets…her body receded as the diamond made of her bodies carbon, formed around her and other components reduced to a deep red slurry. Sweat began to build on his brow, his body began to feel drained from pouring out so much aetheric energy.
After nearly an hour it was finished, all that remained was a long oval shaped jagged diamond, containing a sea of deep red fluids.
“Stage 1 complete 07:84”,
“Confirm 07:84”
He backed away from the ‘altar’, he would have to rest before proceeding to stage 2.
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They lived above the Fortress of Aertemisaea…named for the ancient goddess Aertemis of the Aether…one of the triune Goddess that the people had once worshipped before such delusions were educated out them.
He was using the aether to craft another small miniature to add to his collection…in the raids he lead the elite Guardian squad, the best of the Defence forces…each member he recreated out of White Heart in miniature…a tribute to them…over 150 years nearly 300 men and women had come and gone as part of the squad Guardians…for each he had crafted a statuette…some dying in combat…others of old age…this was the little he could do to remember them all.
The door chimed and the High Director stepped in…the old man was 16th Gene generation, one of only a handful left, born nearly 120 years ago…he still looked like a man in his forties – such were the boons gene editing had given their people…it was said 19th gene generation would not physically age past 25 at all.
“Valance,”
“Anderis,” he replied, they had been friends for all 40 years of his High Directorship,
“Recovered from stage 1 I hope,”
“Almost completely,” he replied honestly,
“Good,” he took a chair….
“there is something I need to ask you…in strict confidence…” he leaned forward, “whilst I’m certain we have it correct…there is always a chance she could come back…worse than before…”
Valance knew what he was referring to…
Though superior in every way, she was no perfect…an unintended and unanticipated reproductive gene expression and hormonal imbalance had resulted in her developing pheromone receptors keyed to female pheromones…not really a problem…but that same hormonal over balance left her with a near insatiable appetite for female intimacy and the pheromones it released…truly an avatar of the goddess Aephrodaea one might say….
“Hopefully the issue will be corrected in her new DNA….but if it does linger or worsen…could you take her?”
The problem with her desires was that where a woman didn’t return her advances, she had no compunction using the aether to make them want her….Valance then had to come in and mind wipe them to avoid any ongoing trauma…
Their laws were few, their culture was a flexible guide that emphasised the pursuit of knowledge, understanding, and above all survival …this and the key role she had carved in the minds of every Aethan as the embodiment of their society meant they didn’t stop her…but anyone wo couldn’t moderate their desires was a danger….
He looked at Valance intently, “Could you kill her if you had to?”
He had wondered that himself…his bond to her was strong though one sided…their sibling like genetic similarity and superiority created a commonality no one could share, she used him as a toy, a physical and emotional plaything…he knew it, but didn’t care, she was the only being he had any attraction to.
“As she was before…” he returned his mind to the topic at hand…”Yes, with the support of the Guardian Squad I could…just…but after she is reborn…” he left it hanging
Anderis nodded, “It is highly unlikely…,” he sighed, his presence in the aether somewhat despondent, “We can only trust that everything goes well…or at least she transitions you to 30th Generation quickly as well…”
He stood up and looked over Valance collection of miniatures,
“So many years we’ve been raiding and stealing from the Sith…the nearby free worlds, the Republic…” his presence dimmed…”It’s only a matter of time before they find us…before they hit back…”
He turned to look Valance in the eye, “We need this to work…Prime Directors of Genetics and Aetheric Studies inform me if his works we could use the same method to transition the entire population to 30th Generation…can you imagine, our entire population leaping light years ahead in health, strength, mental acuity…Social Affairs says if they see their “goddess” transition people will flock to do it…we already have the additional Transference Devices in production….”
Valance asked the obvious question, “And if it falls apart?”
Anderis stared intently at one of the older models he had made, one familiar to them both, Yoranaea…a 16th Gene generation woman, Anderis grand-niece in fact, killed whilst covering for Valance escaping from Byss nearly 70 years ago.
“Then we may very well collapse with it.”
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Stage 2…reanimation.
The lightning flickered to a violet colour as he artificially sped a single stem cells growth in the diamond tomb that encased his sister…his lovers…his goddess’s body
It drew resources from the red fluid around it duplicating, 2 cells, 4, 8 ,16, 32, 64…
As more cells developed the energy from the altar began flowing back into the flesh making his input less necessary as it energized its own growth.
Differentiation began, a foetus formed the red depths. The safe zone reached, he relaxed the flow of energy from his hands, the worse that could happen was they extracted her and placed her in a surrogate mother to grow as a normal child till she was ready for the full return of her consciousness from the altar…he mused on that perhaps it would be better if she were re-raised as an infant, it would modify her personality if nothing else.
As he strained to keep pouring in energy the baby grew - to a young girl, to a teenager, a young woman, there it stabilised at an age in-between an adult and a teenager, between 18 and 20 in a naturally grown aethan.
His arms feeling as heavy as Black-heart dropped, he fell to his knees, it was only now that he noticed the burns across his skin, in the reflection of the sterile floor his face was ravaged and old from such intense aether use. The emergency med team began applying bandages, injecting him with fluids providing raw materials for his enhanced body to repair itself.
The tendrils of energy competed their transition from the Transference device back into her body. The diamond around her body began to crack…
Like a scene from some ancient myth, red lighting and aetheric fire crackled around her as the closest thing to a Goddess ever made rose from the ‘altar’,