Pei is dead. I was alone in my room on an upper level of the Betelguese Laboratories of Dr. Peter Hsiang. He treated me as his guest, but I was more a lab rat. I had time to console myself and shed tears for her. She had been my teacher and prepared me for the difficult moments in my life and I would now face them alone.
Deacon paid a visit, as he always did every evening after dinner. He was still involved in Dr. Hsiang's research and spent less time on dream travel. They were working to perfect the inhibitor drugs that both Ilara and myself were taking on a daily basis. I was developing a tolerance faster than Ilara which both surprised and troubled them.
I was now taking about 10 micrograms compared to 3 micrograms for Ilara. At the present rate they expected I would hit the safe limit of 15 micrograms and would have to cease treatment. They gave me about three months before that would happen, but were uncertain as my resistance to the inhibitors was growing exponentially.
They provided the drugs in a serum that we injected every morning. Deacon was able to reduce the dosage for a while by having me injected in smaller amounts throughout the day. I would take 3 to 4 shots of 2 or 3 microgram doses. The drugs were very powerful and I felt nausea and during the worst of it an induced vertigo.
Deacon no longer took the inhibitors as he exceeded the safe limit and would sometimes be forced to take a brief dream trip to reset himself. He hasn't dream traveled in a while and avoids the topic when I ask him. Finally, he told me that on a recent trip the brain worms began to swarm towards him and he could feel a sense of anger and hatred. They must have discovered what we are doing and are showing their hostility. He narrowly escaped his most recent encounter a week ago, but knows he must make another trip soon.
Once you are off the inhibitors, you have to travel every few days otherwise your brain begins to experience excruciating headaches and your body begins to shut down. It's something Dr. Hsiang is trying to solve.
I asked if we could go together on his next dream travel and he reluctantly agreed. Dr. Hsiang was open to the idea and allowed me to halt the injections. I felt lightheaded and a sudden rush of euphoria and Deacon said he suffered the opposite with painful withdrawal symptoms. He had been tested with an earlier version of the drug that proved addictive.
We found a comfortable spot in one of the domed gardens and Dr. Hsiang ensured our privacy. Ilara joined us, although she wasn't dream traveling with us. She agreed to monitor us as she was familiar with the signs if something were to go wrong and how to bring us back safely.
Deacon and I agreed to enter through a junction and head towards iG's planet. We found the void empty, with the exception of the crystalline strings and plucked the one that pulled us towards our destination. I had a sense of foreboding as I saw not a single trace of a brain worm and we could see millions of miles in all directions, nothing.
We reached iG's planet and found it too had changed. The plants were wilting or dying. The shadow robots were nowhere to be found and I could only seem dim lights from the various sleep towers. We rushed to the nearest one and found each of the doors, spanning the long corridor were dim and empty. All of the sleeping Alpha Centauri were gone. We went building to building, hallway to hallway and each was the same. iG's world was now completely devoid of sentient life.
The only light still flickering brightly was from the Library. Deacon took me there and the glowing orbs were now a crimson red and crackled. I pulled forward an orb and it showed me what had happened as it was a record of the planet. The power source maintaining the sleep towers had been shut off and slowly everything went with it. We saw what appeared to be a humanoid figure walking about and assumed it must have been another human dream traveler, possibly one of the Proto-Artesians who were trained on Despina.
Deacon tried to remember and recalled there were at least 3 others who managed to survive Zal's training and at least one he believed could have mastered these abilities. We decided not to linger any longer and attempted to return to void, but found our way blocked and we remained stuck on iG's world.
I then heard a familiar whisper, it was Sam. He began to reform and wiggled out my hand. He was the size of a small inch worm, but I could see his face and he smiled. Deacon also realized his brain worm had returned. They had not been killed, but merely incapacitated and recently awakened from their slumber. Sam was not upset as he smugly replied and wished to help us. The other worms were blocking their ability to enter the void so they would beam up first to have a chat with them. They had more pressing matters at hand as several billion Alpha Centauri were just wiped out of existence and this has diminished their food supply.
Sam immediately returned and signaled for both of us to join them in the void. We arrived and were in shock as all we saw was a writhing mass of darkness spanning as far as the horizon. Sam said this was but a few of the brain worms, but enough to share a voice for all. They have been monitoring events as well and tracked another human who caused the destruction on iG's world and to their fear also knew of the location of other sleep farms.
The brain worms had no known defenses other than to shut off all access to the void and only allowed Deacon and myself to enter so they could observe us then possibly ask for our help. Sam explained that without a sufficient food source, they would cease to exist and to their greater fear the void that was created by the Scion's would also collapse and disappear as well. They had carefully calculated and had reserved enough Alpha Centauri to sustain them for the billion or so years it would take mankind to reach the equivalent stage of evolution to become a replacement food source, but now with the loss of iG's homeworld, they were reduced to a fraction of that timeframe.
Very soon there would be riots and war among the brain worms as they will fight over the dwindling food stock. Sam was fearful of this as it could spillover to our reality. The void in many ways is a mirror and when cracked in a certain way it can cause inconceivable consequences in our reflection.
Deacon shared with Sam that Dr. Hsiang was trying to evolve me into a Scion and I was making great strides. Sam addressed the other brain worms who were suddenly hushed. If a human could evolve into a Scion then this would be the answer to their impending crisis. A true Scion, even a human one could restore the thoughts of the countless Alpha Centauri in deep sleep and replenish their food stores well in excess of a billion years.
Some of the worms smacked their lips. The thought of Scions being created so easily from an inferior food stock could change many things. But Sam warned that I was exceedingly rare, unique and unlikely to occur for many more generations. However, my potential to become a Scion would resolve many problems and they excitedly allowed us to pass and travel freely anytime we so chose.
I asked Sam if I were to become a Scion, what would become of me. He sighed, I would be eaten. It would be a true feast as they haven't had a Scion, not for millions of years. The loss of iG recently was a considerable tragedy. What confounded them was usually a Scion near death would create a beacon and transfer all the thoughts it has remembered to all remaining Alpha Centauri. Naturally, this beacon would attract brain worms, but by not beaming out those thoughts, they were lost forever and its unclear if there are any Scions left.
The brain worms had been rationing their food supply and gambled that a Scion beacon would refresh their supply. It didn't and now with the loss of what precious few Alpha Centauri its exacerbated their problems.
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