Chapter 1: PROLOGUE

“No. Nope, no way, Nuh uh!” said Vell vehemently. “Did you see what those things did to the last poor bastard we resurrected and sent down? They fucking ate him!”

Two odd creatures looked at the monitor in shocked silence. Their faces were beaked, had no discernable noses, and contained two small black, beady eyes. Their bodies were nearly perfect spheres and covered in thick, shaggy yellow fur. A long thin pair of chicken-leg-like arms stretched from their torsos and terminated into hands containing four claw-tipped fingers. Likewise, their legs followed the same look with narrow legs ending in clawed feet.

Nell, the second creature standing next to the first, sighed and shook its beaked head. “Look Vell, I get that. This is a dead world with … not so dead biological monstrosities on it. We agree on that point. But there is a node down there. We can't pass that up. Not for ourselves or the clan.”

Frustrated, Vell stomped it's tiny foot and turned back to the screen. Clicking its beak in irritation, the feathered being finally responded, “Take a look at what we know about this nearly extinct race. Four-star systems, three worlds, and a large space station, and an estimated fifteen to twenty billion in population. This race was expanding so well. I just don’t even know how such a biological event such as this is even possible. Separate worlds like that tend to be isolated from one another, at least in regards to most diseases.”

Nell nodded, it's fur ruffling slightly. “I don’t know. To be honest I don’t care. The node is the important thing here. Whether they killed themselves or we end up killing them from orbit the result is the same. However … our little friend managed to connect the coms unit to a device on the surface of the planet before he was torn to pieces. The data we received was interesting, to say the least.”

Vell looked at Nell curiously, “The odd creature we found and resurrected? And interesting how? I have yet to review those records. I’m too busy analyzing the … reanimated things down there.”

“Well, to begin with, the planet wasn’t a single polity. There were at least a hundred. Possibly more” explained Nell as Vell clacked it's beak in surprise. “Now their social development was … basic to say the least. They put an emphasis on this thing known as a ‘social network’. Some kind of popularity contest I think, it's difficult to figure out with the data sets I have.”

“Hmm, that is interesting. Most races don’t get off planet much less to the interstellar stage with a fractured home world,” Nell hummed. “What else was there?”

Vell chuckled, “They called their world Dirt. Ah, I apologize. Earth. They called their home world Earth. They seemed to be bipeds, at least based on those things down there. Similar to another species on the planet they called monkies.”

“Seriously? Did they call their world Dirt? Earth, Dirt, whatever. Some races have absolutely no creative abilities whatsoever,” huffed Nell, fixated on the name they had given their planet. Shaking it's head it continued “Regardless, did you figure out how they killed themselves? How this pathogen works?”

Vell cackled madly at that question. It took some time for it to calm down enough to explain what it had found to their comrade. Eventually, though, the tall skinny alien was able to catch it's breath.

“Yes, oh yes I did. It's rather hilarious all things considered. Morbidly so,” it began to explain. “Most races die in vast nuclear exchanges or through an astrological event before ever reaching space. These … these humans, boy, they were just outright stupid.”

Nell waved it's partner on, “Yes, yes. I get it. Amusing. Continue.”

“It has a bit to do with the node you see. They seemed to not even know it was there. Birds were falling out of the sky dead, crops would wither then thrive, no one had a clue,” chuckled Vell. “For Pantheon's sake, they didn’t even know why ships would randomly disappear from their oceans! They should have been more aware of what even an inactive node is capable of.”

Nell grunted again, “Come on Vell, I get it. Big bad mystery. Just tell me already. I tire of these games.”

“You take out all of the fun of this you know. Eight cycles in a ship with you and the survey team and you just want it all spoiled. Fine then,” grumped Vell. “They tried to create a new version of this plant called wheat. Apparently, where they were growing it was short on water. So rather than moving or pumping in water, they changed the genetic structure of the plant.”

“And this killed everyone?” hypothesized Nell.

Vell waved him down, “Somewhat. It was a major factor at least. Based on what I can see from the data we retrieved, something called the chaff of the plant contained a biologically altered bacteria. This part of the plant is often fed to animals. Animals the humans ate. Apparently, this odd bacterial anomaly could survive being ingested and bonded to its host. Animals went crazy, killing humans. The dead humans were infected and this accidental organism reanimated them. Then the humans killed the animals and the humans. I am unsure if they ate both their dead and the animals, but the problem just kept spreading from there. Hence why their world is covered in the dead. Well, undead that is.”

“Wow,” Nell said. “That’s … that’s new. A society completely dependent on something that would be an observationally appealing addition to my garden back home. Forty dead worlds so far and this is the first time I’ve heard of a plant wiping out an entire species. A domesticated grain killed most of the species who domesticated it. Makes you wonder who tamed who in the end. Ah, question. Do you think we can use that bacteria?”

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Vell rolled it's shoulders suggestively, “Who knows. Maybe. With caution perhaps. But let's not go down there and bring something back that could potentially contaminate anything. After all the survey team is all dead due to a lack of precaution. Anyway, that’s not the end of this little tale.”

Nell rocked forward slightly, it's interest was unmistakable. “Oh? Do tell.”

Vell chuckled again, “Well that node we found? At some point, after this bio lifeform started spreading it went active. And as we both know, even in the best of times a node activating can be catastrophic for the native race.”

Nell rocked back as if struck. “So there may be variants down there? Variants based on this … resurrection bacteria?” he asked in a breathy voice.

“Yes, more than likely. At least that’s what I postulate based on the evidence,” agreed Vell. “And the humans called them ‘zombies’. Some kind of old media reference from their cultural history. Why they don’t call them undead, resurrected, or something sane completely baffles me.”

Nell rolled it's eyes, “Perhaps the entire race was insane. After all, how could these zombies wipe out the entire race? They did eliminate our survey team as well after all. Sane or not, these ‘zombies’ must be formidable to breach battle armor,” said Nell curiously. “Formidable indeed.”

Vell nodded, “Yes they killed the survey rather quickly. Even took out the bots. Apparently, anything not infected is deemed an enemy to be infected or destroyed. However, you are incorrect about their race being extinct. The humans seem to be far more adaptable than first perceived. Our resurrected experiment notwithstanding.”

Nell considered that statement for a moment before responding. “How so? We resurrected that … astronaut? Yes. That astronaut and we sent him back to the surface with one simple purpose. Attach a transceiver. Then he goes off when he sees the … zombie did you call them?” Vell nodded. “Right, the zombie of some political leader from his nation. Then he gets eaten by said zombified political leader.”

“Nothing new there. Politicians are known for devouring their opponents and constituents equally,” shrugged Vell. “But politics aside, there are nearly a hundred million survivors spread around the planet. The deep crust scans show that some of them have dug deeply into various mountain ranges. Much like the Dwarves.”

“Incredible. And rather tenacious,” admitted Nell. “And those creatures don’t go after them?”

Vell shrugged, “I don’t know. I'm certainly not going down there to find out. From what little the survey team was able to gather, those reanimated things home in on either body heat, some kind of living signature, or by sound.”

“And the node being active complicated things quite a bit, didn’t it?” remarked Nell as it examined the screen.

Vell shrugged, “No more than any other node activating. It’s when we connect it to the System’s network that things will get really complicated. And to top that all off, we won’t even get much of a bonus for this survey.”

Nell blinked at that, coming quickly to the same conclusion that Vell had. “Pantheon damn it, you’re right. There are still natives down there. That means no claims until they unify.”

“Indeed Nell, that is the case,” said Vell cautiously. Then it's eyes narrowed in concentration as it said, “Now, and just hear me out for a second, crazy as this idea may be … what if they weren’t any natives left? This mysterious bacterial phage just happened to kill them all. After all, their colonies were simply full of the dead, not the reanimated.”

“Specicide Vell? That’s pretty low, even for you. And I’ve read your docket,” shamed Nell. “But if, and I’m just saying this off-hand you know if the node happened to become fully active? And that activity happened to increase the survivability factor by, oh say, fifteen levels? Well … the natives wouldn’t stand much of a chance now would they?”

Vell chuckled darkly at that, it's beak clacking in amusement. “While my docket may be full of warnings, it seems you were smart enough to avoid any type of administrative action. Your plan has merit, but how would we cover up such an event?”

“Well, Vell, my good friend, and comrade … let me tell you about this interesting concept I have recently learned of. Courtesy of the human media of course. They had so many interesting and insane things, but this really stuck out to me. It’s called a ‘fall guy’.”

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