Verlin remained standing in the Arctic landscape, his mind wrestling with Chloe's words. The icy wind whipped around him, but he barely noticed, as he was lost in thought. Chloe was right, Maybe he could have disarmed the ship without using such extreme measures, but that was a big maybe. He had little information about who they were facing, but from the little interaction he had with them. He knew they were willing to self-destruct an entire mothership to prevent him from acquiring any of their technology or information.
He didn't doubt that among the aliens were just soldiers following orders, like puppets controlled by their higher-ups, much like the human soldiers on Earth. But there was just far too much on the line to take unnecessary risks. The aliens had showed their willingness to sacrifice themselves and potentially devastate large areas of Earth in the process.
Verlin turned around and started heading back towards the mothership, he couldn't but think what Chloe's reaction would have been if she knew there were 4 other motherships that he had destroyed.
As Verlin flew back towards the mothership, the vast Arctic landscape stretched out below him. He couldn't help but rethink, the entire war. Although the battle only lasted a few minutes, when he destroyed the other motherships, he didn't even consider the aliens in the ship. All he thought was to neutralize the threat as quickly as possible.
Landing near the mothership, Verlin's thoughts were diverted by the sight of Verlin-bots diligently working to repair the ship.
"Desna " Verlin said as he caught up to a Verlin-bot. He continued, "Chloe mentioned she wanted to meet with you to discuss the aliens found in the smaller ships."
The bot turned to face Verlin, its mechanical features impassive as Desna's voice responded, "I see. Did she provide any specific details about what she wanted to discuss?"
Verlin shook his head. "No, she didn't get the chance. I... I told her it wasn't a good time due to the decontamination procedures." He paused, a flicker of regret crossing his face. "I also mentioned the gamma radiation we used on the mothership."
There was a brief silence before Desna replied, " Knowing Chloe, I doubt she had a favourable response to that information."
"No. No she did not. " Verlin replied. He stood there for a moment, his gaze distant, before continuing, "She was quite upset. She believes we could have found a less... lethal solution."
"Possibly, but given the circumstances your actions were logically sound," Desna replied, his voice as emotionless as ever.
"You think?"
"I do." Desna responded through the Verlin-bot.
Verlin stared at the Verlin-bot for a while before switching the subject, "What about the aliens Chloe was talking about? The ones from the smaller ships."
"The aliens were kept in their ships. It's the only place we have available that could sustain their life. Their physiology isn't suitable for Earth's environment. I've administered sedatives to keep them docile, but it's a temporary solution."
"I see. So we've essentially kept them quarantined in their own vessels. What have we learned about their physiology so far?" Verlin asked
Desna's voice continued , "Their biology is fundamentally different from Earth-based life forms. They appear to require a specific atmospheric composition and pressure that their ships provide. Exposing them to Earth's environment would be fatal. I'm also not quite sure what they need for sustenance, hopefully I can decontaminate the database in time to find out more about them.
Verlin turned towards the location of the smaller ships and scanned them with his X-ray vision and asked, " How many of the are still alive?"
"Chloe managed to keep about a dozen or so of them alive. Neither I nor the enhanced humans were nearly as merciful." Desna responded
Verlin could see from scanning the ships that 99% of them had taken some sort of damage, and the ones still intact had an alien in them, presumably alive.
Taking a closer look at the aliens, Verlin noticed they were vastly different from the ones on the mothership. These new beings were smaller and exhibited a completely different phenotype. Verlin's vision zoomed in, delving deep into their cellular structure and even examining their DNA. He quickly concluded that these creatures were an entirely different species.
In hindsight it seemed quite obvious, but he knew little to nothing about these invaders. He had originally thought maybe they were the same species but just had different physical characteristics based on the environments they evolved in, similar to humans. However, it was now clear that these smaller aliens were an entirely different species
Even with this newfound knowledge, Verlin realized it changed little for him. He had already secured their mothership, which likely contained all the information the aliens could offer. He doubted there was anything more the aliens themselves could provide beyond what the mothership held.
What Verlin really wanted to know was about the god seeds the aliens were after. Given now, he had an idea of what they were but, he need to confirm it.
Turning his attention back to Desna, Verlin asked " What did Chloe have in mind for the aliens?"
" She had no specific plan for them in mind. But she was adamant on letting them live."
"Of course she did." Verlin couldn't help but smile slightly
He continued, " Alright. Do what you can to keep them alive until we have the information to create a habitable area for them."
"Understood," Desna replied. "I'll do my best to maintain their current containment and life support systems. Granted I don't know how long they can last without sustenance."
"Just do what you can," Verlin replied, his voice carrying weariness . With a powerful leap, he soared towards the nose of the skull-shaped mothership, the wind whipping past him as he ascended.
Landing on the nose, he laid down on the cold alien surface, he gazed at the Arctic sky. Chloe's words of reproach lingered in his mind, impossible to ignore. Maybe next time, he thought,If there was a next time. He wouldn't be so brutal with his attack He couldn't change what he had done so there was little point in dwelling on it.
All he could no now was wait for the mothership's databanks to get decontaminated and get the answers he's looking for.
As Verlin lay on the cold, alien surface of the mothership, an idea began to form in his mind. He had often used his Super speed ability to accelerate his mental processes, making the world around him appear to move in slow motion. But what if he could do the opposite?
Intrigued by the possibility, Verlin decided to experiment. Seeing that he had time to spare. He started by slowing his mind down to what he estimated was average human speed. The world around him seemed normal, the Arctic wind moving at its usual pace across the vast, icy landscape.
"Okay," he muttered to himself, "let's see how far we can take this."
Concentrating intensely, Verlin began to slow his mental processes even further. At first, nothing seemed to change. But then, gradually, he noticed a difference. The clouds above him started to move faster, their shapes morphing and shifting at an accelerated rate.
Encouraged, Verlin pushed harder, slowing his perception even more. Suddenly, the world around him burst into a frenzy of motion. The clouds flew by in quick succession as the mild wind rushed by like a torrent. Pushing even further, he could now see the sun rapidly move across the sky as day swiftly became night and shortly after the sun rose once more.
Verlin watched in amazement as time past by him. And just as quick a massive influx of information flooded his brain, he stood stunned as his brain rapidly processed everything his sense felt. From the wind pressing against his skin, to the minute changes in temperature as the sun rose and fell, to the sound and movement of subtle shifts in the terrain.
And out of the million of different impression and details. He could hear desna voice, only lasting a few microseconds from his perspective. " Verlin, are you alright?"
Verlin quickly willed his thoughts back up to normal human speeds. The world around him decelerated abruptly, settling into its usual glacial pace. He blinked rapidly, his mind reeling from the vast amount of sensory information it had just processed.
"I'm... I'm alright, Desna," Verlin voiced out a lot louder than he intended, causing a shockwave to ripple through the air. The amplified sound created a shockwave that rippled through the air, echoing across the Arctic landscape. The force pushed nearby clouds away and caused the nose area of the mothership to shake.
The tremor subsided, leaving Verlin standing on the nose of the mothership. He quickly realized that the constant exposure to sunlight had been increasing his strength, which was typical. However, he was usually able to adjust his power incrementally as it grew. With the rapid passage of time, he hadn't had the opportunity to make those necessary adjustments.
"Desna," he said more softly, "I'm fine now. Just an experiment that got out of hand."
Although the ability was intriguing, it ultimately felt like a waste of time. He couldn't think of a practical use for it that would benefit him right now.
Desna replied, "Alright. I was concerned something might be wrong—you've been fixated and motionless for the past several days."
Verlin blinked, processing Desna's words. "How many days have passed?" he echoed.
"Approximately 98 hours have elapsed since you positioned yourself on the mothership's nose." Desna confirmed.
" More than 4 days have passed?"
"Yes."
Verlin closed his eyes, taking a moment to reorganize his thoughts and process the influx of information he recieved the days that flew by. Opening his eyes again, he asked, "Desna, how is the decontamination process progressing?"
"I've been able to successfully decontaminate the databanks and access the information. The rest of the mothership still requires considerable effort, but we're making progress," Desna replied.
"Perfect." Verlin said, a hint of excitement creeping into his voice.
Verlin continued, "Send all the archives of data to my suit."
"Understood, I will categorize and compress the data into files for you. " Desna replied, and within moments, Verlin felt a subtle vibration in his suit as the data transfer began. His suit's interface started displaying lines of alien text and schematics, slowly translating and organizing the vast amount of information.
Countless files of data appeared on the interface, encompassing information on thousands of planets and species, along with maps and advanced technologies. Verlin ignored the other files and focused his search on those pertaining to the god seeds. He would have time to look through the other files.
It didn't take him long to find the files he was looking for. Verlin found a short file about the god seeds. According to the records : The god seeds possess energy signatures nearly identical to those of gods, but far weaker. Our initial scans of the planet Earth detected these signatures, which piqued our interest. Further investigation revealed that these signatures belonged to what the indigeneous species refer to as "enhanced humans." These beings, while not gods themselves, carry within them abilities that seem to defy our understanding of the laws of the universe.
Our primary objective in studying the god seeds is to uncover weaknesses in the gods themselves. If we can understand how these seeds function, we may finally have a means to neutralize the gods.
Verlin's eyes narrowed slightly. His suspicions were confirmed - the enhanced humans, were indeed the god seeds the Coratians sought. However, what intrigued Verlin even more was the mention of gods.
He scrolled through the Coratian records on his suit's interface, absorbing the details about these so-called gods. According to the Coratians, the gods possessed powers that dwarfed those of the enhanced humans. The records suggested that these gods were nearly invincible, with abilities that bend the very laws of the universe their will.
The file even had a two videos of a brief encounter the Coratians had with the gods. One being their first encounter with the gods. The video began to play on Verlin's suit interface. It depicted a vast, empty space, a black void peppered with distant stars. Suddenly, a flash of light illuminated the scene, and a massive Coratian mothership appeared and heading towards a planet in the distance.
Then a being materialized between the mothership and the planet, a figure that was almost humanoid but with distinct differences. Instead of feet, it had hooves, and two horns extended outward from its head. The so-called god raised a finger, summoning a ball of light that appeared instantly. In an instant, the ball of light vanished from its finger. Abruptly, the video cut to black, leaving no time for further observation.
Unsatisfied with the first video, Verlin selected on the second one. The second encounter took place in the same solar system as the first, but this time the Coratians came with 5 motherships, and unlike the first one that appeared outwardly, these ones were hidden in the fold of space just like the ones that had attacked him.
They tried the same tactic of sneaking up, but whoever these gods were, they had a way of sensing them as once again, the exact same being appeared between the Coratian fleet and the planet. This time the being opened its mouth and said something that the recording couldn't pick up. However, the effect of its words was immediately apparent. The folded space around the Coratian fleet began to warp and twist. The folded space collapsed exposing the ships to normal space.
The fleet attempted to retaliate with numerous attacks, but anything that approached the being was neutralized by some sort of force field. The god spoke again, and though the recording didn't capture the words, the effects were immediate and devastating. Pressure began to build around the ships, crushing their hulls with immense force. One by one, the ships began to collapse in on themselves. Then the recording ended.
Verlin stared at the now-blank interface, astonished by what he just watched. He now realizes he knew so very little about the galaxy around him and even less about the universe. There were beings capable of feats beyond what he thought possible for lifeforms. What he need to do was to learn more and understand more of everything.
The good news he got from this was that the Coratians are unlikely to attack again. Given that they gave up on attacking the gods after the second attempt, hopefully they give up on the god seeds and himself as well. Verlin looked at the map that showed an area 250 light year radius in every direction from the Coratian empire HQ.
There were hundreds of thousand of stars that millions of planets, each star system that had been discovered and conquered by the Coratians had been labeled, and the ones they couldn't conquer had had been marked with warning symbols. Among the territory that the Coratians claimed there were few dozen star system that they avoid. Verlin assumed were the planets some of these gods resided. The closest just being 17 light years away from Earth.
While along the border of the map, there was a cluster of warning signs. Focusing on this area, Verlin zoomed in using his suit's interface. It turns out the warning signs was a civilization the Coratians were currently at war against fighting for territory. A civilization who had technology capable of repelling the Coratian Empire.
Verlin used his time to commit the map of the surrounding area into his memory. The more he learned the more he realized how small the Earth truly was. He had always planned to leave Earth eventually, but now knowing there was so much out there made him want to explore the universe more.