FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 1

Kendra Forrest sat in the dark in her small living room, a half full glass of strong liquor loosely held in her fingers. The amber liquid sparkled slightly from the tiny slivers of light that sliced through the blinds covering her windows. She raised it and finished off the last of the drink in a single gulp then set it aside with a sharp clink onto the coffee table. It burned going down her throat but left warmth in her stomach after a few moments. Her right hand went up to her face and her finger traced along the scar on her cheek. She couldn't sleep; the same as it had been for her for a full cycle and a quarter. The nightmares would not leave her alone. Her memories refused to stay buried and in the past. She relived them night after night, felt the loss, heard the cries, and smelled the blood. All she wanted to do was sleep.

The sound came to her ears like a crash of thunder, despite it being soft and barely audible. The apartment was so silent any sound would have stood out. It came from her kitchen. Kendra slowly pulled herself to her bare feet and walked towards the dark room. The hallway leading to it and her bedroom beyond was partly bathed in darkness. Light came from a few appliances in the kitchen and cast a dim glow into the hall. As she closed on the room she heard the sound again. It was a wet noise, low and dragged out, like the sound of a damp mop being pulled across a smooth floor. She froze in place, her heart suddenly hammering inside her chest. The sound repeated itself again and a vague shadow slid out of the room and began to rise along the hallway wall. It was slim and long and moving upright. Kendra felt the icy fingers of terror creep into her, her blood running cold and all the hairs on her arms and neck standing up.

The tendril slid out of the kitchen, pushing along the doorframe and wall beyond. It was slick with mucus and carried a scent of sour milk along with it. A widened mass at the end of the tentacle, similar to a squid, extended hooks from it that scraped along her wall, scoring the paint in thin lines. A second tentacle slid along the opposite side of the doorframe. The head pushed out of the kitchen, long and tubular with four oval milky eyes radially arranged around it. It turned slightly and looked towards Kendra. She saw a slim bone-like spike slide out of the thing's horrid mouth along with thick saliva and mucus which splashed onto the floor and left foul smelling puddles. The worm pushed itself into the hallway and loomed about a head taller than Kendra, supported by two of its six tendrils to remain upright.

Kendra could not move. Her legs were locked in place. Her terror stripped her body of all motion and she simply stared at it in horror. Tears slid down her cheeks and she whispered, “Please… please go away. Why won't you leave me alone?"

The voice came from around her, not coming from it yet echoing the words she knew it would say. “Not… us…" The worm rushed towards her, hooked tendrils reaching out to tear at her bare flesh, bone spike ready to pierce her skull. Kendra screamed.

Her scream continued as she sat up in bed, the nightmare tearing her out of her normally fitful sleep. She stopped screaming when her throat went hoarse. All she could do was gasp and pant, desperately trying to catch her breath. Her fingers gripped the sheets so tight her nails almost dug into her own palms through the cloth. Sweat covered her body and her t-shirt was plastered to her flesh. It took almost three minutes for her to calm down enough to pull herself out of the bed. She stumbled along, turning on all her apartment lights as she moved. Kendra went into her bathroom, turned on the shower, and stood there under the flowing water, her tears mingling with the stream. The woman slowly leaned against the wall at her side and slid down it until she sat there shaking like a leaf and sobbing into her hands.

* * * *

Three hours later Kendra was working in the warehouse district. She sat at a desk organizing data lists and staring blankly at the screen before her. Though the room she was in was mostly silent, the sound of load haulers and heavy vehicles was omnipresent outside the office. Cargo and shipping containers were being moved about from place to place. Industrial hauler mechs with human pilots worked side by side with the immense Union alien races. Kendra was so used to their presence that she paid them no mind when one of the huge aliens strode past the windows of the raised office. She continued sorting files, moving them from received to shipping or back. Her eyes scanned over the latest batch from Nashurr Transit Amenities, a total of one hundred fifty two cases of goods destined for Terra. A sigh escaped Kendra's mouth. A sudden feeling of homesickness swept over her and kindled up thoughts that maybe she needed to go back home; to return to the safety of her home planet. It was literally across the entire galaxy, far away from what was out there.

“Hey Kendra, you look like crap. You all right?" asked one of her co-workers. Arnold Wells was a heavy set human in his late forties. Balding, disheveled, but with a big smile on his face, he was a good man and Kendra found herself liking him despite not wanting to get close to anyone at this job. He also wanted to pry into her life a little too much for her liking.

“I'm fine Arnold. Same as usual," she said in an almost dull monotone.

“I was just concerned," he replied a little defensively. “I know you have a sleeping problem and all, but you've been looking worse for wear lately. Have you been to see a sleep therapist? I had an aunt who…"

Kendra cut him off. “I said I'm fine Arnold. Please, stop bothering me about everything. I'm fine and that's the end of it."

He looked down at Kendra as she sat there, the woman not even looking up at him. Arnold shook his head side to side slowly and pulled himself away. He knew she wasn't fine. She had bags under her eyes from lack of sleep and was constantly on edge. She seemed to be getting worse ever since a quarter cycle ago. Arnold remembered her mentioning something about an anniversary, but that was pretty much it. He never met someone so private his entire life before. No, not just private. It was more like she deliberately kept everyone away from her, as if she was afraid to make friends. It tugged at his heart slightly as the man knew he had feelings for her. She wasn't the prettiest woman in the galaxy by far, but she was what he liked. He didn't even mind the scar on her cheek; in fact, he thought it made her look a bit exotic.

Arnold walked over to the wide window in the office to look at the workers when a giant head suddenly came into view directly before him. Huge eyes peered at him and Arnold stumbled back a few steps and almost cried out. It was a tordenchi, one of the giant mice folk, however this one was pretty short even for a tordenchi. Most aliens were a few heads higher than the office, not at eye level to it. The man frowned for a moment and went over to a console at the window. He tapped a button and the speaker system turned on so he could communicate with the giant alien.

“Yes? Can I help you?" he grumbled. He didn't recognize the tordenchi at all.

“My name is Imacha Tachai. I would like to speak with one Kendra Forrest please. Oh, I see her there already, no need to trouble yourself," the tordenchi said, his words tumbling out of his mouth quite rapidly. His big black eyes focused on Kendra as he completely ignored Arnold's presence. “Kendra, I would have a word with you please if you could spare the time."

Kendra continued to focus on the screen, unwilling to turn around and look at the huge tordenchi. Arnold glanced back and forth between the two of them, a little confused at what relationship they had. Kendra never told him she had any giant alien associates at all.

Imacha waited a moment and then frowned. His nose twitched making his long whiskers flick about. He let out a clearly annoyed huff and said, “This is unbecoming of you Kendra. Both your attitude and this deplorable place you work in."

Arnold held up a finger and said, “Hey now, this job isn't so…"

“Oh please. Spare me. You file details on cargo shipments. One of your Terran dogs with only a month's training could do so as well, and likely with greater aptitude than most of your current staff," snapped Imacha.

“No need to be rude," mumbled the man as he fiddled with his ID tag he wore on his shirt.

“This line of work is beneath Kendra. She is a trained rescue engineer and medic with additional knowledge in parasitology and immunology. She knows how to fly three classes of star ships, can nearly converse on my level in some aspects of xeno-biology, and…"

Kendra spun around in her seat to look at Imacha, a scowl across her dusky face. Her hands gripped the arm rests on the chair tightly.

“…is my only friend."

The harsh look on Kendra's face faded a little. She stood up and walked past Arnold. “Cover for me for a few. I'll be right back," she said to him, tossing him her yutri she used to collate data files. He fumbled it in his hands and nodded as she exited the room.

Arnold mumbled, “Yeah, sure. Will do. Just gonna stay in here while you talk to the giant, rude mouse. Crap."

Kendra walked along the outer scaffold of the office, around to the side and away from the speaker area. The scent of the warehouse was a mix of so many different odors at once it was even an assault to a human's sense of smell. Grease, smoke, tar, myriad foods, rotting produce, week old fish, too many fragrances of perfumes, a hundred different kinds of smelly packing foam, and more and more filled the warehouse. She could only imagine how it must be for Imacha and other races of the Union who tended to have keener senses than many humans. She leaned against a wall and folded her arms over her chest. Imacha moved over before her in two small steps. His eyes looked her up and down, took all of her in. She watched his expression become softer, almost sad. The whiskers twitched again. He was about to speak when Kendra held her hand up before his face. Imacha crossed his eyes to stare at her tiny opposing hand.

“Look, whatever you're going to say is not going to make me change my mind Imacha. I'm fine here and I'm happy. Just leave me alone. You're wasting your time," said Kendra.

“You don't look well Kendra," Imacha said slowly in a near whisper. “You look tired and malnourished too. Your eyes are bloodshot. You appear to be as far from happy as one could be."

“How would you know? Why would you even care?" she growled at him.

“Of course I care Kendra. How could you even…"

“You care? Really?!" her voice rose higher as she began to wave her arms for emphasis. “How dare you say that. How dare you! You care about me, but not about our friends… no, our family that died out there on that wretched fucking planet? They died so that we could get home and you wouldn't even back me up in trying to get the truth out to the public on what we saw there. On what is really out beyond the rim."

Imacha looked about to see if anyone was focused on them. He was relieved to notice that no one could really hear them, or was paying attention. His eyes snapped back to Kendra. “Please Kendra. Please don't say that I don't care. I do, very much so and have never stopped thinking about them or you. But we had no choice. I had no choice Kendra. I…"

“Bullshit. I was alone there, up before the Union Security Council and the company board. I stood there and shouted to anyone who would hear me about what killed our family. What did you do? You shut the hell up and rolled over when they told you to. They stripped me of my licenses, blacklisted me, and made sure I could never get a job on another starship the rest of my life. I'm even flagged as a travel threat out of system just so I can never get on a ship. I got assholes surveilling my every move and have to make twice a quarter psych evaluation checks just to keep the shit job I have. They ripped my life apart for trying to tell the truth, which they utterly buried from the public. So don't you tell me you care or still think about them. If you really did, you'd be just as screwed as I am." Kendra fell back against the wall and leaned there, barely keeping her rage in check.

Imacha's lower lip quivered and his eyes were watery, but he still kept what composure he had. “I know they did all this to you Kendra. I tried to warn you not to speak out against them like you wanted to. It required a more… subtle way of navigating the process to be able to…"

“Subtle? Fuck subtle! Those things blew a hole through Neji's head. Made her do it herself! Made Hakurr try to kill us! Then they tell us that none of that can come out; that all of it has to be swept under the rug and hidden for the good of the Union. That it wasn't the right time because it could start a panic. I can't Imacha. I just can't accept that. How could you?"

The tordenchi leaned his head a little closer and spoke in hushed tones. “I work in the government center that has been conducting the ongoing research of the annelid. I did as they asked. I kept silent and did not oppose their desires to be able to accomplish this Kendra."

She stared at him with wide eyes, speechless for almost a minute. Imacha waited for her. Kendra finally said, “It… its body is still on this planet? Here, in this city?"

Imacha nodded as a reply, his large ears wobbling a little.

“So you… you folded and let me get screwed so you could manage to get in good with the sciences and xeno-biology division. All so you could study it?"

“One of us had to Kendra. You wouldn't listen to me. I told you they would never let us reveal this to the general public. We should have both been working together on this by now, but you were too stubborn to let logic dictate the actions that were needed for this. I admire your passion Kendra, the power of your emotions. It is something I was never very good at, but in this case it was not the solution. So I had no choice but to let you do this to yourself while I worked from the inside. I am trusted now and have learned much about… it, the annelid, which is the current official name the species is given until such time as a proper discourse can be made with them."

Kendra rubbed her hand over her face a few times. “I think I need a drink," she mumbled.

“No, you don't. You drink far too much."

“How do you know that?" she snapped at Imacha, scowling again.

“I… may have managed to gain constant access to your physical and psychological evaluation records as they were collated. I was concerned about you Kendra. I… you're my friend. The only one I have left." Imacha brought his hands together and rubbed them against each other, clearly a nervous reaction.

“So you've been the one in charge of spying on me? Making sure I…"

He raised his hands defensively and shook his head side to side rapidly. His ears flopped all over the place as he did so. “No no no! I didn't do that at all. I accessed the records on my own, not working in tandem with the security detail assigned to you. I just wanted to know how you were since I wasn't permitted to contact you."

“An entire cycle Imacha. You mean they wouldn't let you contact me for an entire cycle? Did you… try to?"

“Yes Kendra. Yes… frequently at first. They stopped me though, intercepted my attempts. Eventually I was warned and had no choice but to cease such actions, until now."

Well why now?" she asked.

“There is a new head researcher in the lab. He is more… open-minded. He listens to my suggestions and takes them into due consideration. He also wants to meet you," he said. A look of hopefulness was on his face. The tordenchi tapped his small claws together.

“You mean I could go there with you? Or does he want to see me out here somewhere?"

“He wants you to come to him. He believes you have a right to see the annelid and wants to hear your description of it in person. He is never pleased with recordings. I begged him to let me contact you and invite you to a meeting with him. I assured him I could convince you to come, despite any likely apprehension to the contact. I want you to meet him and see what we have discovered Kendra. I can't force you to go, but seeing it once more, facing the annelid, it might help bring a little more closure to the past events in our lives. I know it helped me."

“Closure? No, no no. That won't bring me closure Imacha. Not a bit. I'd like to know more about them, but the only thing that will help bring me closure is when the Union leadership openly admits about their presence and what kind of potential danger they pose to the galactic community as a whole; when they properly pay tribute to the families of our friends who died on the planet. When they admit that we have to fortify our borders against that freak show of a race and be prepared to do whatever it takes to deal with them," she growled. “All the history I've studied of your Union has never once alluded to an alien race so utterly hostile in first contact. Not even the rynar. Can you imagine what would happen if they came towards the core worlds? What they could do if they… they infect others?"

Imacha put his finger to his mouth and made a shushing sound. “Please, no more speak of this out here Kendra. It isn't wise nor allowed to be honest. I just need to know. Will you come to the science facility with me, or shall I tell my superior that you chose to deny his invitation?"

Kendra looked deeply into Imacha's large black eyes trying to pry into his thoughts, to see if he was being honest with her. He was never good at expressing emotions, but on the other hand was never good at suppressing them either when he felt about something strongly. She heaved a long sigh and her head dipped down, looking towards her feet.

“Tell him I'll come," she said in a low voice.

“Excellent. Thank you Kendra. Thank you very much. You have not made a bad decision, I promise you. I have wanted this for a long time now, to be with you again. To be honest, I have felt… incomplete… for the last cycle. You were the person I felt closest to out of our crew… friends. You accepted me despite all of my… idiosyncrasies," he said. The tordenchi began to look a little confused on how to continue expressing himself. His mouth opened but words stopped tumbling out.

Kendra spared him. “Okay okay, I get it. You can stop now Imacha. I'll see you…"

“Later this eve," he said rapidly, “I'll pick you up here after work. I would take you with me now but I would likely have to explain to your superior about why you would have to leave your job. I would find that distasteful."

“Pain in the ass not being able to lie sometimes, huh?"

“No, but talking to whoever is your superior is. I cannot imagine any person willingly working here being more than a dullard. No no no. Not an intellectual at all," said Imacha as he began to leave. “After work. Be ready. Thank you," he called back to her over his shoulder as he left her.

Kendra stared at the tordenchi as he left, shaking her head slightly at his constant blunt and abrasive nature. For the first time in a cycle Kendra smiled.

Chapter 2

“You didn't have to carry me," grumbled Kendra. She leaned back against Imacha's chest as the tordenchi kept his hands cupped together to provide her a large sitting surface to relax safely on. His hands were right up against his body. It was a slightly awkward position for his arms but he didn't mind at the moment. In fact the tordenchi was pleasantly satisfied with being able to carry Kendra for the first time since he cradled her in his arms while fleeing from the annelid. This was a much better situation. He appreciated it, inwardly of course.

“It is easier this way. We will make better progress. More expedient," he said swiftly.

Kendra glanced up and saw how Imacha's whiskers twitched. How his ears were slightly canted forward. She knew the signs and tells and subtle expressions of most of the races of the UTO; when they were angry and sad and worried, or in this case happy. She decided not to rain on the giant mouse's parade and let him revel in the moment. She did remember how he was not allowed to participate in the Guardian program when he was younger. He claimed he had no real interest in it. That was likely a deflection though, as most all folk in the Union were terribly excited to get to meet humans and deal with them when they first arrived. The larger races still loved the idea of being a Guardian. Imacha though was deemed emotionally unfit to interact with a human in such a way. He lacked a certain degree of empathy according to the evaluators. He was intellectually brilliant in several categories but not able to interact socially well at all.

An outsider might see Imacha that way, but she knew that he was able to care for others. Deeply in fact. He just chose to not often express such feelings. The giant mouse simply didn't 'suffer fools well' as Imacha often put it. Of course, his definition of fools was rather broad and cross species, including his own. So, to see him happy like this with her, it was a rare moment indeed. She let the subject drop and enjoyed the ride as best she could.

Imacha walked with her for over twenty minutes, strolling along at a brisk pace through the city outskirts and heading towards the science facility that he worked at. The sun had long set and the dark sky was filled with clouds this evening, rain likely soon. Storms were common this time of year. The air was crisp and chill; the planet in the middle of what Kendra would consider the start of autumn back home on Earth. Her breath came out in little puffs before her, same for Imacha as he moved along. The buildings were smaller out there and sparser. The lighting was also less omnipresent, shimmering street lights spread out farther apart than in the heart of the city. It cast long shadows, the ones from leafless trees looking elongated and spindly and reminding Kendra of… She took a deep breath as she closed her eyes then let it out slowly.

The research center soon loomed ahead, right at the very edge of the city. A single long and lonely road led to it which Imacha turned down and strode along immediately. It was dull and unimpressive. Very few windows dotted the front of it and it was only two stories tall. A large and sprawling security fence surrounded it. Said fence was only a series of tall poles with lights atop them, though Kendra knew what those were. Motion sensors would easily detect something trying to come close to it and activate a laser grid between the poles. Anything trying to move through said grid was going to have a very fatal encounter. Thus Imacha stayed to the road and proceeded to the security gate.

Two neishor guards looked down at him, checked his security clearance and, after a short looking into clearance for Kendra, ushered the both of them through the check point.

“Anatalay Center for Bio Studies," Kendra read from a sign over the large double door that led into the huge building. She glanced back up at Imacha. “That's a rather humble name for this."

“Would you prefer 'Secret Research Center for Hostile Alien Study'?" replied the tordenchi flatly.

“You can save the snark for someone else you know."

“I thought you found that one of my most endearing traits."

“You would never speak to me like this when I was your captain, you do know that right?"

“That was then. This is now. You're a civilian. I can snark you as much as I wish at the current time," he said as they entered the building.

A lupari sat at a curved security desk across from the door and immediately looked up as they entered. Though his expression was pleasant Kendra could easily tell that the huge wolf alien was sizing them up, getting a feel for the both of them. It was a common practice to have a lupari as a security guard. No other race had such a keen degree of empathy as they did, could pick out a potential problem or threat before it even happened.

“Evening Sek Tachai. Working late again with Dr. Tahk?" Wurgaryn asked.

“Yes. As usual," said Imacha. He scurried past swiftly, obviously unwilling to engage in any small talk or pleasantries of any kind.

“Then you have a good night, you hear? Oh, yeah, baccat cards tomorrow night if you want to join Tahjek and I," called the lupari after him.

Imacha groaned slightly, ignoring the security guard, as he reached the elevator and used his identity card to open up the doors. He stepped inside and lowered his head a little, grumbling softly. He ran the card across a sensor and the doors closed, the elevator heading not upwards, but down. Kendra noticed it slid down three levels, five levels, and finally halted on sub-level eight. She glanced up at Imacha.

“How the hell far down are we?" she asked him. “Is this a lab or a bomb shelter?"

“Both and five hundred fifty two of your Terran meters below ground. It is a very secure facility Kendra. No one can get in here without one of these security cards and precious few have them. At the current time the facility below only has twenty six cleared personnel. I am hoping you will become number twenty seven," said Imacha.

The doors to the elevator slid open and Imacha carried her down a long white corridor, brightly illuminated. Everything 'smelled' sterile to Kendra. The walls and floors were spotless. A background hum was heard by her as they approached another set of security doors.

The doors slid open almost silently and revealed a large room filled with machinery far outside of Kendra's familiarity, even with her background in veterinary science and biology. Some she could parse together as various forms of biological scanners but others were too alien for her. All she did know was the room was definitely a laboratory for the study of lifeforms other than those commonly seen in the Union. Several digital and holographic monitors on the walls verified that as she saw the annelid's image plastered all over them. Some images rotated about providing a full view of the creature, just as she had seen it. Others revealed its internal organs and nervous system. Close ups of what she assumed to be its brain, which appeared to run down almost a meter of length through its body, was shown. Another monitor revealed details of its blank, unblinking oval eyes.

Kendra began to shiver as she saw all this. Flashes of the dissection room in the ruins of the Lothia filled her mind. She saw the bodies. She smelled the stench of their death. The revulsion crept up in her all over again and made her gag reflexively. Not us. She heard its voice echo in her mind. It was always with her. It never left her. The thing traveled home with her and would not leave her alone until it killed her. It was going to kill her…

She was shaken out of her downward spiral by Imacha deliberately moving his arms and jostling her. He stared down at her, concern etched across his face. Kendra let out a slight gasp and slowly began to compose herself again. Her gaze traveled up her big friend until their eyes met. Neither needed to speak aloud. Both knew what the other was thinking at the moment. Kendra settled back into her friend's arms and tried to relax.

Imacha chose not to bring up his concerns. His friend was rattled enough by just seeing the images of the annelid again. It made him worry about her seeing its remains directly. The therapy wasn't helping her at all and he knew it. He had hoped that by bringing her here to see it, to confront it one last time and confirm that she killed it, would finally push her past dwelling upon it obsessively. Now he was regretting that decision.

“Are you sure you want to…" began Imacha.

Kendra cut him off, interrupting his question. “Yes. I want to see it. I need to see it Imacha. Please."

“As you wish my friend."

Imacha walked through the lab, around multiple tables filled with machines and computer terminals big enough to block out the sight of the one he had come to see, until he made his way around to the wide end of the work station. There loomed an old arkatian. Kendra was rather surprised at the sight, having never seen an arkatian look old like this one did. The green scales on its body looked pale and dry, not glossy like younger members of the species. The alien's eyes were deeply sunk into the skull with a vast spider web of wrinkles surrounding them. His head hung low, as if it was too heavy to keep raised up while his back was stooped over, a common sight in the elderly of all races. This arkatian sported a full set of wings jutting from his shoulder blades, though they were similarly pale and tattered looking, resting firmly against his back. The eyes of this arkatian still held what Kendra knew of the proud race. They were bright and vibrant, darting about, and full of life.

The arkatian, who wore white robes and an ID badge showing he belonged in the facility, was poring over a data screen attached to a micro-analyzer; a seriously fancy microscope as far as Kendra was concerned. He fiddled with a sliding panel on the screen to adjust the image. It looked like he was studying the cells of something but it didn't take Kendra long at all to realize what she was seeing was unlike any cellular structure of any of the Union races she was familiar with.

“Fascinating, isn't it?" said the old arkatian, his voice coming out in a growly whisper. He didn't even glance toward the pair but clearly heard them approach.

“As always Dr. Tahkmethrahn. Are these the samples focusing on the third heart equivalency?" asked Imacha.

“Yes. It's more than I ever imagined… wait." His head turned away from the screen and his eyes looked closely at Imacha. A pair of glasses, actual glasses, was perched on the end of his long snout. Kendra almost chuckled at the sight. The arkatian smiled at the human when he spotted her. “Kendra Forrest. You have no idea how delighted I am to meet you after all this time."

The arkatian turned to face the pair directly and bowed before them, his hands pressed together, long slim fingers interlaced. When he rose he continued to speak. “I had pressured my superiors to have you with us for half a cycle since I became director of this lab, along with my little friend here, Imacha. Unfortunately, they disagreed with our opinions on the potential assistance that you could render unto us." He raised a hand up into the air, one finger pointing at the ceiling. “But, with perseverance and being a… what is it those humans say… ah yes, being a pain in the ass, we were able to finally get our way. I have wanted to hear from you directly since the first day I was brought to the annelid."

“Annelid," said Kendra slowly.

“Yes. We have no idea what the species' name actually is so we are going with that for now. We found it fitting since they appear to be much like lower life form worms found on a myriad of other worlds. But we are getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we? Proper introductions are needed. Even in the face of the apocalypse, proper decorum should be maintained."

Imacha carefully moved Kendra over to the work station before the two looming aliens and deposited her there. She stood before them, not a hint of being uncomfortable in the presence of both the giants. “All right then. I am Kendra Forrest, ex-captain of the Lothia and the only person to see one of the annelid alive."

“While I am Dr. Tahkmethrahn Sakheema, chief xeno-biologist of the Annelid Studies Department and Assistant Director of the ACBS. My closer associates here call me Dr. Tahk as some arkatian names can be quite cumbersome for other races to pronounce casually. You may call me Dr. Tahk if you so choose Kendra Forrest."

“Then you can call me Kendra. Now, with that out of the way… I want to see it," Kendra said curtly. “Whatever is left of it."

Dr. Tahk glanced to Imacha and the tordenchi nodded to his superior. “I told you she was as bluntly direct as I at times."

“Fascinating. Very well then. Remain here and I shall bring the specimen back for you to see," said Dr. Tahk. The hunched over arkatian slowly lumbered out of the room to fetch his precious specimen.

Once he was gone Kendra said, “He seems nice."

Imacha didn't miss the hints of sarcasm in her tone. “He actually is. You can let your guard down around him Kendra. I do. He has earned my trust and wears his opinions and nature on his sleeves. He openly and honestly wants you here and values what you have to say to him. Please, try to accept him. He wants to help."

“He sounds like he's a bit on the infatuated end about the annelid. I see it in his eyes, how they sparkle when he mentioned anything about it."

“Kendra, he's a xeno-biologist. This is going to be the crowning glory of his life's work. You have to understand how important it is to him to encounter an entirely new alien race, one that is small in size like you humans. Humans are not alone now in the galaxy at that size," said Imacha.

Kendra scowled. “If you think that's in any way comforting to me Imacha, you're dead wrong. They killed my friends, my family, just because we weren't them! Do you have any idea how fucking horrid that is to me?"

Imacha's ears drooped down a little. He went to speak but the scowl she directed at him shut him up. He would let the doctor do the speaking for now.

Dr. Tahk returned in a few minutes, holding a small case in his hands. He carried it with his fingers carefully curled around it to prevent any chance that it might drop to the ground, like it was the most precious cargo in the world. The arkatian glanced between Imacha and Kendra and immediately sensed the tension, especially since the human woman had her back to Imacha and her arms folded across her chest. The arkatian rolled his eyes and moved over to the work station. As he carefully set the case down Kendra backed away from it. Imacha turned around to join in on the activity.

“So, that's it, huh?" asked Kendra, clear trepidation in her voice.

Dr. Tahk nodded slowly. “Yes. It is. Remember, this is the same specimen you shot and killed back on RT-4522. Keep that in mind when you see it."

The arkatian raised one arm and accessed a wrist worn yutri. He tapped at a holographic control then slid his claw up the length of it. The case on the work station hissed and slowly began to open. It was a wide, technological coffin as far as Kendra was concerned. What it actually was, was a bio-specimen preservation tank. They were capable of keeping a deceased body from degrading, greatly slowing down decomposition and cellular degeneration to allow longer periods of time to study a dead specimen. However, Kendra knew that even those had their limits. It worked for several tendays, a quarter cycle at the absolute outer limit of time, but by then the specimen was usually frozen to preserve it for any further analysis. The thing submerged in the fluid bath before her was perfectly intact and whole, showing no visible signs of decomposition at all.

She nearly recoiled in horror when she realized it wasn't how she last saw it. She shot it again and again; saw its tentacles blown off; watched as her rounds shattered its soft head; nearly tore its long, worm-like body in half. Yet here it was before her in perfect physical condition, as if she had never damaged it at all. The annelid's blank, unblinking eyes stared up at her, just as cold and unfeeling and devoid of emotion as she remembered. Kendra slowly took a step back from it, then another, shaking her head side to side.

“No… no no… I killed it. I fucking killed it. It was dead. I blew it apart," she stammered out, panic starting to grip her. Her heart slammed inside her chest and her breath came in ragged gasps.

Imacha brought a hand down beside her and carefully curled his big fingers close to her. She reflexively gripped them and squeezed tight; staring at the case the annelid was in with wild eyes, wide and staring. “It's dead Kendra. Trust us. It's completely dead. It has no non-autonomic brain activity at all. You killed it and that is its corpse."

“B-But it's… it's in one piece… h-how can it…"

Dr. Tahk spoke up. “If you take a moment to calm yourself, I will help explain it to you. Take the time you need, then open your mind to what I am about to say. It will take a lot of that."

Imacha kept his hand by Kendra until she appeared to calm down. She finally stepped away from Imacha's hand and back towards the case. Step by step she approached until she came to the side of it once more and peered down into it. There it laid in silent repose; unmoving and peaceful, yet no less horrifying in her eyes. She traced her vision down its long, sinuous body, some four meters in length. Six thin tentacles extended from the top half of its length, each ending in a form of pseudopod, like a terran squid, that had perhaps hundreds of tiny hooks that grew out of it. The bulbous head and its four lidless eyes set radially around it disturbed her profoundly, alien and horrifying to her. Everything about it was too alien for her to easily grasp, but at the same time disturbingly familiar to earth's worms. Kendra gripped the side of the tank carefully, using it to steady herself as her legs felt weak.

“Okay… I'm all right. Let me hear this. All of it," Kendra said in as calm a voice as she could muster up. Not us. She flinched for a moment at the thought in her head.

The arkatian stared at her closely then nodded slowly when he seemed to be satisfied with her current state. He gestured down at the creature before her, his massive green hand coming close to her, ragged white claws looming overhead. “Tell me what you see first," Dr. Tahk asked of her.

Kendra looked the body over. “If this is the same thi… annelid… I brought back with me then…"

“It most definitely is."

“…then it has somehow completely had its body reconstructed. I assume this is a new form of cellular regeneration therapy used on dead bodies to stave off the decomposition of…"

“It is not. We have not taken any steps to heal it other than placing it in the hybelex bath it is in."

“Sherlock Holmes," said Imacha softly. He stared down at Kendra. She met his gaze and looked back at the annelid's body.

“It… regenerated on its own. Completely regrew missing appendages, restored its major body mass and head. It also appears to have repaired some of the missing organs and internal structure that I can see through its translucent epidermal layers. However, there are gaps in it. Missing organs I presume." She leaned closer and squinted. Kendra quickly looked up and scanned some of the charts and screens about the room that showed the creature's anatomical break down. Once satisfied she returned her attention to the body. Her hand moved along the length of its body, some meter in distance total. “Its… brain… is here. All along here. But not all of it. Some of it is clearly missing, large portions of it in fact from what I can see. All of that didn't regenerate and that's why… it's still dead. Enough self-repaired that it is in a permanently vegetative state, the body barely functioning but no memories or cognitive thought processes ongoing.

“But that means it healed from what was easily destruction of close to a third or more of its body mass and brain. Completely regrew limbs and internal organs on its own. Regrew its own brain. That's… that's impossible. Nothing can regrow its own brain. No higher lifeform ever encountered has that ability or even regenerative abilities a fraction of what this thing exhibits," she stated incredulously. Kendra looked up at the huge arkatian.

Dr. Tahk smiled down at her and nodded slowly. “Except, it does."

“You did well Watson," chimed in Imacha.

“Shut up you smug jerk," she said to the tordenchi. Imacha grinned in reply. Kendra asked the doctor, “But how? Is it a natural ability? The results of drugs on it that were injected automatically into its body when it was injured? It had some pouches and tech on it that might have helped it."

“We studied that tech. It had an older model human scaled yutri that it 'plugged' directly into its head, a crude but effective neural interface with the module. It used it for translation purposes as you had clearly explained in your deposition on your encounter with it. Little else was accessible in the yutri after it died. It seemed to purge its own data banks quite thoroughly upon its death. The rest of those pouches it wore upon its body contained food and clean water spheres. Liquid contained in round gel capsules. There was nothing else on it. No drugs. Its ability to regenerate was wholly its own," said Dr. Tahk.

“So it has a regenerative capacity somewhere in the range of a terran starfish or hydra, if you've ever heard of them Dr. Tahk," said Kendra.

“I have and it does, but superior in many ways. The annelid was covered with mucus or 'slime' which we discovered to be mostly composed of sloughed off dead cells. It not only was healing its damaged body but was staving off proper senescence, replacing older cells with rejuvenated, younger cells. The creature appears to have no biological aging process that disables it. We think the only reason it actually 'died' as we understand death, is that you destroyed enough of its brain that it couldn't restore proper functionality to its mental faculties as a whole. When the attempt to fully heal the brain failed, the body began to shut down. By that time though its corpse was in our possession and we placed it in the hybelex bath. That seemed to kick start the regenerative process in the body again. Though the brain wouldn't repair any further, there was still enough of it to allow autonomic processes to work in the body. It restored itself to that state over the course of a quarter cycle."

Kendra stared at the alien in disbelief, stunned and horrified at what it could do. Despite the disgust she felt over it she found herself asking, “What more do you know?"

“We have a full break down of many aspects of its biological functions, likely sensory capacity, and more. These creatures, annelid, are extraordinarily advanced as far as biology is concerned. In fact, so advanced that Imacha and I fully believe it is an uplifted species."

Kendra raised an eyebrow at that announcement. “Uplifted? You mean something took worms and made them into something… more?"

Dr. Tahk held his hands up before him, palms facing outwards defensively. “I didn't suggest that another species made them what they are. I think they did it to themselves. Their genetic code is improbably complex, consisting of close to 5.2 billion base pairs and 35 pairs of chromosomes found in each of its cells. We only completed mapping out its full genetic code two and a tenday ago. In it we found information that seemed incongruous with other aspects of the code, as if they were natural abilities, possibly from other species, forced into their code to improve their bodies and overall capacity to survive."

“That's… that's insane. How old was this one here? Can you tell?" she asked, her curiosity growing.

“That, we can't tell exactly. Because of how it constantly replaces older cells with new ones we can't get a proper gauge of how old the annelid we have here is. But we did find something that gave us some data. The neuro-receptors in its head, the implants that allowed its modified yutri to work for it, had metallic studs as part of it that we registered as being over 2000 cycles old."

“Precisely 2226 cycles," added Imacha.

“So our 'friend' here is likely at least 2300 cycles old, allowing time for growth out of youth and to a size viable for implants to be put in it. However, nothing says it is not 4000 or even 10,000 cycles old," finished the doctor.

“It's… it's a precursor species," Kendra said slowly. “This one alien is capable of being old enough to predate modern civilized homosapiens. My god. What have we found out there?"

“Something very much not like us at all… for all the woe and weal that may bring," responded the doctor solemnly. “We had best pray that the Union higher ups agree to stay out of the rim and deeper abyssal reach, until we are ready to meet them."