Humans Don't Hibernate [Part 122/?]

119 Hours After the First Round of Interloper Interrogations. Dunir-Sar Moon Base. Administration Center.

Lysara

A narrative had slowly coalesced around the chronological sequence of events leading to both the downfall of the moonbase and the bathing of Evina’s planet in nuclear hellfire.

A narrative… which stood at odds with any and all conventional wisdom surrounding the interlopers. One which not only corroborated this specific interloper’s claims, but also lent credence to its most outlandish insinuation — that it was somehow intent on committing to a truly non-sequitur path outside of the typical themes of control.

Evidence for this could be drawn from the mere existence of the moon base itself. 

It could further be seen from the medical texts detailing the fundamental differences in how the ‘Vuarks’ manifested in felinor-kind, in that not only was it replaced by the ‘inheritance-organ’ in some, but that it was completely absent in just as many. Moreover, whilst a large portion of the population did have ‘Vuark-like’ organs, they seemed to lack any effect on neurophysiology, acting almost like a vestigial anatomical holdover than the active-Vuarks seen in most species, or the ‘inheritance-style’ modified ones seen in Evina.

Vir corroborated this using scans from Eslan, showing just how vestigial the Vuark could be in those that still had them.

However, this didn’t mean that a certain portion of the population didn’t have active Vuarks. 

And you didn’t need medical journals or neurophysiology papers to back this up either.

As inferential evidence from the existence of Eslan’s bunker was more than enough to indicate that there were more than likely just as many active afflicted Vuarks as there were vestigial ones.

It was once again the moon base that would prove corroborate this assessment, as the existence of two distinct groups — the government loyalists and the ‘communion’-obsessed ‘benefactor’-worshipers — which proved that the neuroanatomical makeup of Evina’s people was not only divergent, but completely counter to what one would expect from an interloper-controlled world; even if the world had been commandeered for the purposes of experimenting on the process of inheritance. 

However, that was beside the point.

As there was a more pressing, more relevant question that tied everything back to my initial suspicions on the moon base itself. 

The fact that there was even a mind-controlled portion of the population to begin with, ones that clearly had power and influence over global politics — meant that the interloper could have easily stopped the moon base from even getting off the ground.

Yet it didn’t.

Or at least, that’s what my hypothesis currently leaned towards.

Though it was one that was almost immediately countered by Evina.

“Lysara… I don’t think you’re giving my people the credit they deserve here. Just because there were mind-controlled freaks living among us doesn’t mean that the interloper had the final say in everything. Sure, my people kinda sucked. Sure, they were corrupt and messed up. But these correspondences—” Evina paused, waving the stack of papers in her hand to prove her point. “—prove for a fact that when push comes to shove… they were able to band together to fight a common enemy.”

“All I’m saying, Evina, is that the interloper must have known about the plans for the moon base far in advance.” I replied. “This means that it would have had not just enough resources, but the time necessary to counter or cripple said project. Such an undertaking is, after all, extremely resource-intensive in fledgling intrasolar civilizations. It wouldn’t have taken much to have sabotaged the whole program, especially if the ones under interloper influence had enough political and economic capital to construct the command and reconstruction bunkers we encountered.”

“And this is supposed to prove what? Your assumption that because of the interloper’s far-reaching control, that the only way for the moon base to have been successful was for it to have wanted the base in the first place?”

“That is my current hypothesis, yes.” I nodded, eliciting an incredulous frown to form across Evina’s features.

“Again, I refer back to my first point — I don’t think you’re giving my people enough credit. I think that there’s a deeper story than what we’ve uncovered here. Maybe there was some super deep dark shadow war that’s since been lost to time given the undocumented nature of those sorts of operations. Maybe it really is the indomitable spirit of the felinor people that managed to overcome interloper machinations, brute forcing the moon base in spite of interloper sympathizers. Regardless of what it was, I’d like to believe that the interloper didn’t just allow the moon base to happen, but that it was my kind that brought our collective fury right to its doorstep.”

I considered Evina’s points, taking a moment to nod along with her as I attempted to parse things from her perspective.

“We do lack a clear picture of just how far-reaching the interloper’s influence on your people truly is.” I admitted, garnering a nod of satisfaction from Evina. “Though it’s clear that their influence was far-reaching enough to have incited nuclear war.” I continued, garnering an even more incredulous look from Evina as I raised both of my hands up in defense. “I meant no offense by that Evina, I was just… thinking out loud.” I explained apologetically.

“Maybe the truth actually lies somewhere in between?” Vir offered, breaking through both of our arguments with a steady voice. 

“Go on?” Evina urged.

“You’re going to call me crazy for this, so let me preemptively reassure you that I’m fine.” The AI ‘winked’, before continuing. “With that said —  what if both of your arguments are correct?” Vir began, garnering a look of confusion from the both of us. 

“What if the interloper, or at least its indoctrinated forces, were working together with felinor government forces? What if they reached a deal to reach the moon together, combining both of their resources where neither one could do so independently? What if both parties thought they could one-up each other? The indoctrinated forces believing the government forces to be susceptible to interloper machinations, whilst the government forces believed this to be the most prudent means by which to kill two birds with one stone as we discovered in the documents detailing the decapitation strike?” 

“We already have evidence for the latter.” I acknowledged, turning towards Evina with an expectant gaze.

“We just lack evidence for the former since all of these documents are from the government’s perspective.” Evina responded, before letting out a solid sigh. “Though I gotta acknowledge that the truth could very well lie somewhere in between… so I’m leaning towards Vir’s analysis if anything.” The felinor shrugged reluctantly. 

“However, this does beg the question — if Vir’s analysis is right, then doesn’t this mean that the interloper wanted to meet non-indoctrinated forces?” I thought out-loud, as what sounded at first like a far fetched idea, slowly began to make sense. “It would have little incentive to meet its own indoctrinated forces, after all. So if it was willing for its indoctrinated forces to work together with government agents, wouldn’t that mean that it had something it wanted from the un-indoctrinated forces?” 

“Or maybe it just wanted to turn all government agents into double-agents that would return to the planet freshly-indoctrinated.” Evina countered. 

“I have a possible third interpretation.” Vir once more interjected, prompting both of us to cock our heads in response.

“You see… I have reason to believe that interloper indoctrination, or at least the new form of ‘direct-control’ indoctrination we observed from our close encounters with interloper forces—” I shivered for a moment upon hearing that, as the memory of that fateful encounter with my fellow ‘Vanaran’ and her crazed indoctrinated state still remained fresh in my mind “—is potentially limiting if not entirely unsustainable on a massive scale. The interloper status quo, for the longest time, relied on soft gentle nudges, and for the civilizations afflicted with Vuarks to go on their own path until hibernation kicked in. Interlopers in the reality we now find ourselves in, seem to be doing things with a far more hands-on approach. However, judging from what I observed from the interloper ships we’ve scanned and destroyed, I have reason to believe that the process of direct control is rather… intense. This leads me to believe that one singular interloper, operating outside of interloper aid and most critically of all — outside of access to logistics and materiel — would be operating in a far more limited capacity.” 

“So what you’re saying is that maybe its tactics are less about total and complete self control of all indoctrinated forces—” I concluded, only to be interjected by Evina as she completed my thought for me.

“Rather, the forces that are controlled are given prompts and beliefs, then allowed to fend for themselves with the occasional overriding or course-correction?” Evina quickly added, prompting an affirmative beep from the AI.

“Yep! That’s my current standing hypothesis. I mean, we’ve seen just how intense interloper indoctrination can be, don’t get me wrong. Addie’s underground facility is a clear example of some serious interloper handiwork. However, evidence on the moon seems to indicate that there was probably a good chunk of indoctrinated who were probably a lot less ‘directly-controlled’, but more so ‘indoctrinated and then let loose’. Now don’t get me wrong, there were probably a few that were close to the meat puppets one would expect from a sensitive operation, but for the most part, I believe that they were operating mostly independently.” 

My eyes grew wide as a realization hit me, my body tensing as the memories of that one room crept back into the forefront of my mind. “There is evidence for this.” I began warily, garnering a nervous yet curious look from Evina. “The… altar room. Or the worship room, or whatever we decided to call it.” I managed out under unsteady breaths. “The one with the same avatar of worship as in our religions.” 

That response garnered an affirmative beep from Vir, and a worried expression from the felinor. “The room that was filled with indiscernible wall-drawings and scribbles.” She uttered out. “The one you showed me in the mission briefing.” 

“Yes.” I nodded. “This… could corroborate Vir’s hypothesis. Because if the majority of these indoctrinated peoples were truly not under constant direct control, then they’d be put under the next most viable form of control or belief — a false religion.” I took a deep breath, steadying myself. “Just like we were.” 

The next few moments were spent in silence as we both chewed through this newfound hypothesis. One that had… intense implications that I didn’t care to touch upon.

But one which I needed to address regardless.

“Let’s go there next.” I announced, garnering a cock of Evina’s head.

“Listen, Lysara. I know how much that place freaks you out. We can just ignore it and move onto other places or even head down to face the interloper right now if you—”

“Saving the universe is never bound to be easy.” I interjected with a sullen breath that I attempted to shape into a reassuring smile. “Sooner or later, after meeting an unfathomable amount of demons, you’re bound to meet one that’s your reflection.” I managed out, finally forming a smile. “That’s a quote from one of our philosophers. One that I thought would apply strongly enough with my chosen field of xenoanthropology and archeology, but that seems to apply even more so in this new venture of ours.” 

“The second quote yeah, but the first quote sounds like it was pulled straight out of a videogame.” Evina countered facetiously, prompting me to dryly chuckle as we made our way out of the admin center. 

“You got me there, Evina.” I acknowledged, as we followed the highlighted markers on our HUDs towards the next path towards figuring this whole mess out.

A place that would force me to face what was possibly one of the more insidious aspects of interloper meddling — their attempts at drafting out the heart of one’s culture and identity.