Chapter 9: Cyd

The Nexus, the family, the known remainder of humanity, sat greatly disturbed by the thoughts of what lay before them. Mikey was curled on Matilda’s lap, who in turn clung tightly pressed to Mishka’s left with his left arm around her and his right around Siobhan - a small shivering bundle on his lap. Josella and Susan were paired and clinging, as were the twins. Cyd was huddled between her new best friend Imp and Jade.

“So, BEM,” Mishka asked, “Are all members of a Nexus aligned together? Are they capable of independent thoughts and actions? How does it work?”

“I think that as you’ve probably found with your Nexus, for the most part, there is a commonality with the central male of the Nexus that attracts the females and aligns them,” BEM explained. “There is certainly independent thought, but members of a Nexus cannot lie to each other as they could to someone outside of their Nexus. As I told you before, there are also aberrant groups that are able to overwhelm younger females - and even males - and force them into their Nexuses. This requires a particularly strong male or a very large Nexus, and those forced are more like slaves than members. This is frowned upon, but it does happen.”

BEM told the family, “The three Nexuses that were involved in the plot had different motives and different levels of participation, but all three were judged to be rogues.” BEM paused and, then continued, “If you are trying to ascertain if all members of a Nexus are equally guilty, the answer is maybe or maybe not. You will be the ones to determine their level of responsibility as you decide upon consequences for their actions.”

“The first Nexus says they were only trying to improve your species - eliminate war and hate - goals like that,” BEM elaborated. “The second Nexus is made up of traders and says they were trying to facilitate future trade, and the third felt your species was too much alike and yet too different from ours and therefore aberrant.”

Mishka had an irreverent thought that he shared with his spouses, <They’re much like Goldilocks And The Three Bears. The do-gooders are like Baby Bear, the traders are like Mama Bear, and the haters are like Papa Bear.>

From Jade and Imp, <What’s a bear and a goldilocks?>

Mishka consulted with his family, then told BEM, “We will meet together with three representatives of each Nexus. After we consider their statements, we will probably want to meet with more members from each Nexus.”

Unwilling to have the murderers under their own roof, they elected to meet with the three Nexuses down at the crossroads, under an awning to be erected by BEM’s staff. The family considered a motel in Athens, but the possibility of encountering bodies and thus coloring their deliberations, made them decide against that locale.

Three representatives of their Nexus - Mishka, Josella, and Cyd - drove with Jade to the crossroads in the Jeep, followed by the remainder of the humans and Imp in the Suburban and the Jeep. The day was much hotter than usual in these hills, and the awning was a necessity. Comfortable chairs were arranged in two facing semi-circles, and the nine representatives of the three miscreant Nexuses were already seated. Their legs were bound to prevent escape, or perhaps, attacks. There were also a number of Seeker surrounding the meeting area, but ostensibly out of hearing range.

Once the family was seated behind the three representing humanity, Jade stood in the center of the circle to start the session. She addressed the nine, translating mentally for her Nexus, “You have been tried and found guilty of murder, genocide, and criminal meddling. The nine humans before you are the only known survivors of your crimes. They are charged with deciding your fates.”

The largest of the nine struggled to his feet yelling, and Jade funneled his rant to them, <You aberration! You ugly abomination! You sprat! How dare you speak to your betters that way?!>

Mishka lost it! He stood, and without moving or knowing how, he Darth-Vadered the speaker from across the circle, lifting and suspending him by his neck while shaking him.

<You will NOT speak to members of my family with anything but respect! Understand?> His mental shout was heard - not only by the stunned target of his ire - but also by everyone present. He gave the LGM another shake and dumped his limp and quivering body back into his chair.

Mishka’s family was stunned and asked, <Where did that come from?>

<I don’t know, > he replied. <BEM said telekinesis might happen, but he never mentioned telepathy outside a Nexus. And it did just happen. I didn’t think. I just did.> He shrugged and said, <I guess we’d better get back to the task at hand.>

He thought to himself, ‘Let’s see if I can make this work again.’ Still standing, he pointed at a group of three off to the side. <You! Identify yourselves and explain what you were thinking. What was your role in this horrific fiasco?>

The trio looked at each other, stunned that anyone outside their Nexus could communicate with them without speaking. Their audible responses also appeared in his head, and he relayed them to his family, translating the names to something similar in English. <Adam, Prime of the Peace Nexus> <Lottie, also of the Peace Nexus> <Narccissa, also of the Peace Nexus.>

Adam continued aloud, “We were improving your species. You are warlike and contentious, and your average intelligence is much lower than it could be.” He shuddered, “And your shape and appearance is offensive. Our improvements would make it easier for your species to associate with our superior civilization.”

“So you changed a few of us and killed off the rest,” Mishka’s sarcasm was evident even to these bigoted, self-righteous creatures.

“No, nothing like that,” Adam protested. “We were experimenting with a small representation - fine-tuning - with the goal of later modifying a larger group that would, over time, breed and upgrade your species. Apparently, we succeeded with you - excepting your appearance.” His tone was priggish and smug.

Seeking to keep information flowing, Mishka ignored the tone and the insults and asked, “So how did you do this, and where did you fail?”

“We didn’t fail!” Adam protested. “Those bigots over there deliberately sabotaged our project and caused the deaths. At least you survived to continue your species.” He saw the looks of disgust on the family’s faces, correctly interpreted them, and hurried on. “Twenty-five of your years ago, we began implementing our project.”

<So that’s why none of the survivors is over twenty-five, > Mishka told his Nexus in an aside.

Then he listened as Adam continued. “We chose a city with a sufficient population, and an institution of advanced learning, and a variety in what you term ‘racial types’ and ancestries. We chose a common birth date - one of your holidays to facilitate our monitoring - and each year we released our agent into the city’s water and air two hundred and eighty two days before that date.”

“Any female ovulating and having sex during the agent’s presence would conceive. If their DNA were appropriate, an improved human would be the result. Most would be born in the city’s medical facilities. We could track and monitor them - you,” Adam said.

“Why did you limit this to once a year?” Mishka asked, “and how did you ensure that the women had sex? AND how did it happen that all the babies were delivered on the same date?”

“Our agent was designed to make your females fertile and aggressively receptive to sex - I think you call it ‘horny’. We thought of it as artificial estrus. You know, lower orders of animals have that, to ensure pregnancy at an optimum time,” Adam explained, proud of his ingenuity and unaware that his human audience considered the process to be rape. “The agent also created a timer in the fetuses, to start the birth process so as to arrive within the same twenty-four hour period. A small fraction arrived before or after by a few hours, but I infer from your question that you all were born on the same date.”

Mishka’s family was seething; Imp at the ‘lower order’ comparison, and the rest at the nonchalant, willful violation of humanity. He silently cautioned them to hold it in so as to keep the information flowing.

“Unless the resulting fetuses’ DNA matched the required profile, the agent did nothing - not even the timing component engaged. Each year, there was a small spike in births around the two hundred and eightieth day from the sexual activity after releasing the agent, but that was it. The most modifications that we achieved in any year was five.”

“Why the low representation of males?” Mishka asked.

“This was an experiment,” Adam responded. “Until we were sure the modifications were viable and according to plan, we didn’t want males spreading large numbers of genes. Females had a built in limit, you see. We only planned for two males in our pilot group. You were our backup, until the original Prime was killed with his Nexus in an accident. You became our principal male, and the young male over there was created as your backup. He and another child were the last offspring created for our twenty-five-year experiment.”

“This was to be the year. The initial male Prime had created a Nexus, one of his females was pregnant, and the experiment was considered to be a success. The agent was released a year ago so that it would spread completely around your planet, and the upgrade of your species would begin simultaneously. Instead, our agent was subverted - by them,” he pointed at the belligerent male now seated and glaring, “and your species began to die.”

Coinciding with the finish of Adam’s explanation, Mishka’s family conferred and found that all members of their Nexus could ‘hear’ Adam’s ‘voice’ without Mishka’s assistance. They noted, confirmed by Imp’s ‘read’, that the responses contained no apology and no acceptance of culpability from Adam.