In captivity, the quargs behaved very well, even surprisingly. Therefore, Barrington settled the matter quite radically. In the Kruger 60 binary star system, there was a suitable planet moving in an intricate orbit around two red dwarfs, one of which flares up every eight minutes, doubling its luminosity. The value of this celestial body was highly questionable, and it would have deserved the definition of a «worthless boulder», but from this it was saved by a rather large but very scattered deposit of Americium, which was a rare, moderately radioactive metal, and was highly sought after by the Federation economy. The colonization of the planet for the extraction of Americium by industrial methods was considered to be economically impractical, and the planet was forgotten by people who didnt even bother to name it. But then General Barrington showed up and it was about the use of manpower, which was not just free, but in fact had a negative value, that is, it received subsidies for its maintenance and guarding from the Ministry of Defence. In this scenario, the economic indicators suddenly became quite positive, and the Earth Federation had its first quarg colony.
Barrington did not create unbearable living conditions for the captured enemies. The standard artificial sun has warmed the planet with its gentle thermonuclear rays, the gravitational corrector has normalized the gravitational force, atmospheric generators wrapped the stone ball in an air coat, and then Barrington then handed it over to the quargs themselves. Humans brought to the planet food for the nearest future, mining equipment for the development of scattered deposits, modular structures for housing construction and public buildings and a minimally needed set of industrial blocks to build the citys primary infrastructure. The new residents of the colony have been told a very simple rule of life: you give us Americium, and we give you everything you ask, well, except you know
That was a very productive idea. Among other things, it made it possible to observe the quargs in the natural, so to say, conditions of existence. Security didnt go on the planet, humans could only be found at a few locations where the quargs could exchange for Americium the goods they needed. Other than that, the prisoners managed on their own. They quickly created some kind of settlement with their administration and even the police, as crime among them was as common as among people.
Three years later, it became clear that the model had worked. The quarg police were even allowed to purchase hand-held weapons and order light armored suits. This step was taken after several major clashes between criminal elements and forces of order were observed from orbit, and those clashes led to mass fights in which the police had no advantage over criminals. Barrington decided that it was easier to arm the quargs themselves with light weapons than to take charge of maintaining order in the colony, and he was quite right. In any event, there were no further major disturbances.
And now Lit-ta and I have arrived at this colony. To Kruger 60 we were delivered by cruiser Moscow, kindly assigned to me from the Fifth Strike Fleet by Admiral Nelson. The lizards leader brought along five of the congeners who were in charge of the science and engineering part of the operation, I understand.
Igorrr, told me Lit-ta, It isss highly desirrrable that the quarrrg you brrring me have lived here forrr about ten yearsss. If he diesss, it doesnt matter, the block in his brrrain will kill him sssoon enough.
Why is it so?
We dont know. Maybe the block needsss to be updated perrriodically, otherwissse itsss killing the host. But we dont know why they did it.
Lit-ta, how long does it take your assistants to grow a cocoon to remove the block?
About three hourrrsss.
In that time, I will select ten candidates. Well get them all to the cruiser together and politely explain that we want to do a full medical diagnostic of their organisms to try and figure out the causes of their deaths in captivity. Many of them have already undergone such procedures. They usually acquiesce in silence and tolerate tests. This time, were going to put them in a full diagnostic capsule designed specifically for their bodies. The first five prisoners will undergo the normal procedure in front of each other. Theyll see another patient lie in the capsule, it closes and after a while releases it back alive and well. Except the capsules will be different all the time, and in the fifth capsule, instead of our stuffing, there will be your cocoon. Your men Im sorry, but what do I call you to make you comfortable?
You can sssay «yourrr lizzzarrrdsss». Sssoundsss good, we apprrreciate, responded Lit-ta, showing me her split tongue.
Great. So, can your lizards make it to be as close as possible to the inside of our capsules?
Thatsss trrricky, but we have to trrry. Otherwissse, itsss not gonna work.
The main thing is that theres a resemblance. When the outer shell of the capsule is closed, the light will go out, and then do whatever you want, but without any sudden movement.
We need accessss to the occipital part of their skull and to the ssspine. There will be attached ssseveral Litta thought, looking for a word, prrrobesss, most likely. Theyre sssuch sssoft extensionsss.
Very well. We have a lot of stuff in the capsules, too, and these things touch the head and the back during the examination. Well just make special holes for your probes, and leave the rest of the capsule inside as it was. There wont be seen any difference.
Im ssstarrrting, Lit-ta nodded in a perfectly human motion and turned to her aides.
* * *
The first five quargs passed the standard procedure of examination impassively as usual. They were used to comply with the orders of people, knowing that no one is intentionally harming them, but if they resist, there can be complications.
The sixth prisoner, who looked very similar, like all of them, to a zombie from the grave, but neat and moving normally, unlike this popular horror hero, calmly approached the capsule indicated to him and stepped into the niche behind the doors slid open. The doors closed, and the capsule slowly took up a horizontal position. Nothing unusual happened for five minutes, and then the capsule shook, and the medical diagnostic devices that we didnt dismantle to provide the procedure some extra credibility gave us a warning.
We urgently stopped the process of «examination», but it was too late, the prisoner died.
Itsss a classsic death when a block goesss off, said Lit-ta behind my back, We havent considered sssomething, Igorrr. We have to trrry again.
Our attempts cost the lives of three more quargs. We changed the terms each time. Weve even made a complete analogue of lizard cocoon probes from our terrestrial polymer materials and we did a «checkup» of another prisoner first on this simulator. He survived, but when he tried to repeat the procedure with a real cocoon, he died, just like all the others. The only condition we knowingly did not change was the length of the quargs captivity. Neither I nor Lit-tа wanted to experiment with prisoners who still have a few years to live. I mean, theyre enemies, but right now, theyre not dangerous and theyre perfectly law-abiding, so its better to risk those who are about to die, cause if our method works, theyll have a chance at a normal life for years to come.
Werrre making a little bit of a missstake sssomewherrre, told me Lit-ta while making nervous movements with the tail from which the cruiser officers tried to stay away. Cause trampling a high-ranking allys tail is, you know, not so good, its fraught with diplomatic complications.