In the latter cassse, we werrre closssest to the target. The block was about to disssintegrrrate, but thats when the death orrrder went off.
Do they feel anything when the block starts to disintegrate?
We dont know. Anyway, itsss a very sssubtle feeling, almost imperrrccceptible.
Can we dull it with something? Like pain?
Only the pain ssshould not be too sssevere. I need the patientsss clearrr consciousssnesss.
The pain wont be strong, but itll be throbbing in a jagged rhythm, distracting.
Okay. Letsss trrry it.
This time our legend for the quargs has changed. We didnt talk about checkups to find a way to prevent their sudden deaths in captivity, it could put patients on their guard and make them subconsciously listen to life-threatening feelings. We told another batch of test subjects that were selecting candidates for resettlement in another colony where living standards are higher, but health requirements are stricter, because the hard work there required certain physique. The prisoners were not very enthusiastic about this information, because they knew that they had at best a few months left to live and that there was no point in changing anything in life, but they agreed to be examined without objection, as a matter of habit, even when we gave them honest warning that there might be pain.
A sixth prisoner entered the capsule as in all previous trials. The first test we did with the dummy probes in order the quarg to get used to the sensations and not twitch. Then the session was repeated with real probes released by the cocoon of lizards. In the fifth minute, the medical complex triggered the alarm, but not in the way it did when a patient died. The quarg was bad, very bad and painful, but he didnt die, and the resuscitation module, which was automatically activated, called out for help from people, because it couldnt decide what to do in an unfamiliar situation.
The prisoner survived.
Chapter 2
The block was rrremoved, informed me Lit-ta, but the memorrry isss damaged. Theresss no telling what hell rrrememberrr, but whatsss left of it, well get it out of him without killing him. We mussst continue with the other prrrisonerrrsss, Rrrearrr Admirrral, time is rrrunning out.
Time. It really doesnt like to wait. But our success has not yet been impressive. Weve only been able to remove a block from every third quarg, the rest died immediately or went into a coma and died a few hours later. Of course, it was still a breakthrough. The Ministry of Defence Security Service, after listening to my report, became ecstatic and rushed to the Kruger 60 system. They now had a lot of work to do, and a job that was very promising in terms of concrete results and beneficial to their career development.
We fought for patient survival. I never thought that deaths of quargs might be upsetting to me, but they grieved me. The surviving prisoners, who no longer had a block, had not yet realized the changes that had taken place. In any case, they continued to ignore our questions on previously closed subjects, but I think it was purely out of habit. We havent addressed this problem seriously yet, waiting for the professionals from the Solar System.
One of the cruisers medical staff suggested we try injecting the quargs before the procedure with various medications, that do not cloud the mind, but suppress individual reactions of the body to external stimuli. The idea seemed interesting to us, and we started with anxiolytics, substances that dispel anxiety and fear. It went better right away. The full range of measures, including the application of drugs, the refined legend and demonstrative successful «examinations» of several other quargs and the patient himself before the beginning of the real procedure, increased the survivability of removing the block to 60 percent. But the real breakthrough was the use of several neuroleptics, which were chosen with regard to the characteristics of the quarg organism.
These substances were originally intended to control psychosis and behavioral disorders such as increased aggressiveness and mania, but we used them to delay the patients death order from the brain block for at least a few seconds. As it turned out, this delay was enough to prevent such an order from being generated before the block disintegrated.
Survival rates have risen to almost 100 per cent, and memory damage has been greatly reduced, but it has not been completely avoided, and Lit-ta regretted that it was likely to be unavoidable in the future.
Thatsss it, Igorrr, I did what I promisssed, said Lit-ta after another successful removal of block, My ssstaff will ssstay here with you and work as long as it takesss, and I have to fly.
Arent you curious to know what the prisoners without the blocks will say?
Itsss interesssting, of courssse itsss interesssting, I was shown the tongue again, but my lizzzarrrds will tell me. Its time to go, Rrrearrr Admirrral.
Itll take you half the time to get back there. We placed a chain of hyperbeacons between the endpoints, and our latest technologies allow us to do longer jumps with them. Its gonna take less accelerations and less pauses.
Fine. Im waiting forrr you to pay me a visit, Igorrr. I have sssomething to ssshow you in my sssystem. Rrrememberrr, yourrre welcome to any lizzzarrrd now. Our sssuperior leaderrr has confirmed your ssstatusss.
Thats for certain, Lit-ta, at the very first opportunity. I have one last question. You gave a very impressive speech in your meeting with the Federation President. I liked the way you treated our relationship after the victory. I want a lasting peace, too, for personal reasons of late, as well, I smiled. Lit-ta already quite understood why Im making up faces and showing her my teeth, and I want to offer you an idea that I think will help.
Lissstening with great interrressst, Lit-ta tilted her head to the side, which meant increased attention to the words of the interlocutor.
Our paths of development are too different. Technologies are very different, they are so different that its going to be very difficult for us to take them from each other. But thats a good thing, itll make us work together and depend on each other. Isnt it a unifying factor?
Sssoundsss rrreasssonable. Whatsss next?
Next, Id like to suggest to create a fleet of ships based on a mixture of our technologies. At first, of course, itll be rough stuff, but we need to learn to combine our technologies and get them to work together, and, very importantly, ships should have mixed crews. People will be responsible for their share of the equipment, and lizards for their own.
We can considerrr it, Lit-ta nodded her head, Ill passss it on to the sssuperior leaderrr
I guess I didnt explain it very well, said I, its not an abstract idea for the future. I want to start right now. I need a perfect reconnaissance ship. I was very impressed with your engines. Theyre weaker than our engines, but when theyre working theyre not lowering the ships camouflage, which is more than important to a recon ship. I want to prepare a ship with a hybrid propulsion system, more simply, with two engines, yours and ours. Why do you think I asked you to work with the quarg prisoners? I needed information. I wanted to know where the enemy was holding the captured humans and lizards and what they were doing to them. One way or another, Im gonna get that information out of them, and then Ill need a ship on which I can get to the right points in the quarg rear without being spotted, and find out everything in detail. Lit-ta, I do not know about you, but we, humans, have lost nearly ten billion prisoners in 20 years of war, if you count not only the soldiers, but also the civilian population of the conquered planets. If any of them are alive, I want them out of there.