A thousand drones are grown, followed by nearly two-hundred of one of the elder forms of the Swarm all the while, four more hundred-metre chambers grow, forming vast internal spaces to encourage and manipulate the growth of creatures and technology.
The area of infestation crowds against the Terran containment line, but using our tunnel networks, we are able to dig to sources of biomass beyond their sight, even as the Terran containment seems looser and looser built with the chaotic spiral of their society.
From tunnels, Terrans are observed closely. They rage against their government, seek desperate solutions to their hunger and generally do not function as a society. Those who are sick are terribly so, with parasite density being increased via the "medicines" provided by the Tech Priest, as their title appears to be, causing the fever to increase in pitch and fury as well.
Other morphs seek in abandoned centers of industry, following the almost-familiar stench of something. We find a vat of some sort of black, tar-like liquid. A drone is selected as taste-tester and nears the vat, drinking in the substance, long-asleep internal processes are suddenly activated, cellular activity rushes into motion, muscular density triples, metabolic rate re-evolves, the Drone rushes about, circling the vat thrice.
Sequencer Agzon had the following to say on the matter.
"Hypothesis: Vespene evolution. Vespene features organic components, components grow, change, over time. Theory: New form of Vespene accepted total Terran domestication. Distaste: Terran domestication, poor fate."
Fifth Mind Agzon. "The New Vespene"
A metabolic accelerant, an evolutionary enhancer. Vespene, or a close cousin. More practical pieces of machinery are recovered, engines that operate off the substance, showing these Terrans have not lost everything of their development, with industrial edifices left to ruin as they still bear the impressive mass of Terran engineering.
Floating hoverwings and burrowing drones seek liquid water, ranging out in all directions until, south-west-wards, they stumble across a major water-way that is then followed all the way out to a salt-water sea. It is fifteen days away by drone pace, hoverwings unable to make the journey without Creep to replenish themselves on.
Inside our hive, we pit hundreds of our creations against one another in vicious battle. Drones slaughter drones, Hoverwings rip into eachother, Crotalids shake their environment with vicious battle, Terrans grab, rip and tear whilst Roaches vomit torrents of acid onto one another before descending into a claw-tearing melee.
The scientific methodology of this is somewhat suspect, especially with the small sample size, but there are benefits to be gained nevertheless. The instincts that drive our creatures in war are honed, replacing the Vespene fury we relied upon for unbreakable morale previously to some extent.
The Terran mind is difficult to infest like this. Our parasite begins its infestation in the intestine, by the time it hooks into the central nervous system and propagates to the brain, the fever has annihilated much brain function, and the metabolic strain typically does in much of the rest within hours.
Despite our best efforts, without a more advantageous infestation point, there will be little-to-no mental recovery as it stands, barring incredible strength of will or significant psychic potential. The most successful experiment on the matter was initially unintentional. The experimentation of the Tech Priest on their subjects, especially implantation past the cranium with, somehow, no immune response, results in a very interesting, fast infestation. Continually supported by medical technology in advance of what Terrans have previously displayed to the Swarm, we are privy to the structure of this Terran's mind.
Quin Anwad, male, thirty-eight, former labourer. His memories unfold to us. Familial unit, social circle, rumours of rebellion. And as his memories unfold to us, so too does the full extent of the Priest. Hanging from his room by wires and actuating limbs, it is obviously connected to the building by Adjuntant-esque bindings, horridly replaced with the remaining flesh sallow and barely alive by any standard.
The infested is kept sedated, and though his internal hyper-evolutionary cells are attempting to beat the sedation, its source seems equally able to adapt and alter its chemistry. Defeating it will be slow without the full might of the Swarm.
"The state of man in this new world is unforgivable. Lonely, single minds swimming through the vast uncertainty of life with only the whispers of God's light in their hearts. It is our duty as penitents of Unity to bring them into the fold, so they may too exist as one. Made whole"
Sixth Mind Innocent, "Make Us Whole"
Using our infested, we attempt to encourage growth of sapience and self-direction, but face difficulty on exactly how we would do this. The Terrans are difficult to work with, fragile and prone to death when altered too aggressively. Part of the issue is these Terrans break themselves. Resisting the Swarm's influence, they do not wish to join Unity, and in doing so, cause undue psychological stress, leading to severe degradations in mental capacity.
This, combined with genetic incompatibility, means that Terrans that retain their intellect are likely to be very, very rare. If we could find a willing convert, or a very compatible convert, this may be more possible.
Whilst that track of thought continues, with the exposure to a Vespene alternative, we put significant effort into discovering what it is. The substance is a long-chain hydrocarbon impregnated with excess free hydrogen and organic components, a perfected energy source in all respects like its cousin, Vespene, and seemingly naturally accessible. As we learn its scent, Drones find underground supplies of it, some already having been tapped by Terran wells and mines, others having been ignored or perhaps not found at all by their efforts.
We should be able to merely tap these wells and directly ingest it, our adaptation will handle the growing pains in a generation or two.
With the Crotalids, we begin manipulation of their neurology to incite whatever reaction causes the Warpspace phenomena. We place one in an evolution chamber and then trigger it's internal emotional states one by one. Fear and rage lead to very little other than a period of violent behaviour that is arrested by our Warmind, Zrug.
It is only when starvation experiments are further pursued that we get results. The Crotalid shivers, and the Warpspace phenomenon is observed closely by the watchful eye of Agzon and Zrug. The shifting morass is tremendously violent, previously only observed to be as such near super-massive black holes and other severe gravitational phenomena.
Then, an influence attempts to connect, a small psionic presence we easily buck off with an instinctive reaction, but is then replaced by another, and another, and another. Zrug is left defending every angle, a thousand minds collapsing on his as he marshalls forth, waging the mental warfare for the Swarm's defense.
After a paralyzed day of fighting, the Swarm returns to action, having defeated the horde of mental attackers by the raw violence of Zrug, having lashed out with waves of horror and rage at the enemy, shredding their Essence into lesser and lesser pieces until it is washed away in the whirl of Warpspace.
Still, the small opening is investigated under the watchful presence of our Warmind, and we think if, perhaps, the Crotalid was a few megatonnes heavier, we could get a useful Warp out of it. Navigation in general will have to be reapproached, we neither have the long-used Leviathans nor would even Leviathans be able to easily find their way in this chaos.
There is much work to be done on the matter, if we wish to see the stars again.
Whilst that takes places, evolutionary pressures are tested in chambers, exposing carapace to lava flows dug into from far below to increase its gross heat resistance. The eventual end result after many parallel evolutions is a carapace impregnated with silica gathered from sandy river shores and processed with exposure to magma heat. Afterwards, the shards are fed into our morphs to implant the silica into the carapace on the orders of Zrug.
This leads to a significant increase in heat resistance, allowing short periods of direct exposure to geothermal flows without undue harm and should allow them to withstand the energy rifles of the Terrans well enough, hopefully.
Terran technology has always been primitive, but this seems oddly primitive even for them. Drawing from a life of education before his ascension into the Swarm, Innocent observes the strange mesh of the simple lenses, wooden stocks and mostly mechanical components of this laser rifle before arriving at the actual laser generation mechanism.
A battery that works via anti-entropic principles, connected to a superconducting array which feeds into a pulse generation system that is entirely solid state. Featuring no moving parts whatsoever save for the connection between the battery and the system itself. The weapon itself's energy is significant, though it is not a Terran Impaler rifle or equivalent for the damage dealt to our bioforms, it can store an absurd amount of energy.
Some of the components almost call to mind a similar molecular structure to the technology of the Protoss, an incredible feat, but assumedly based off reverse engineering due to how it seemingly is separated from the rest of the device, as if installed afterwards.
The armour on the other hand, is created by a plastic impregnated with metallic compounds, creating a reasonably tough substance. It is a far cry from Neosteel or our mineral-hardened carapace.
Finally, the Infested mind Innocent seeks out the remnants of our infested as well as brand new infested, dragged from tunnels by drones to our evolution chambers. They are carefully infested, and though we cannot preserve much, we establish the following.
"These Terrans are interesting, they are possessed of a powerful faith, powerful enough to allow them to resist much more than many Terrans we were used to could. This resistance breaks them, and it is possible infestation will never work as well as it once did, a terrible shame.
An "Emperor" is present in their last conscious thoughts often, a religious figure it seems, but moreso than that, there is an "Imperium" he rules over from a holy world that is somehow centralized."
"It is a terrifying thing, to be faced with an opponent of such surety, such fervent belief that they would rather die than give in to our will. Without the skill and raw psychic might of the Overmind or The Queen of Blades to infest their minds and lull them to us, we will face great difficulty in infestation.
Their faith is their shield against all, including our Unity."
Pope Innocent XX, "Faith."
Finally, as the solar cycle comes to a close, the control of the New Triat wavers, shudders, but then comes alive as it forces itself into stability. The New Triat holds for another cycle as they react to the world.
The Terran dominion continues to crumble and shiver, with order completely falling apart in many urban centres from the stress on the local economy made intentionally worse by the Tech Priest's wrongful medical influence.
Our hive expands to several dozen kilometres, the Terran demarcation line proving very porous with the collapse of society. One worry the newly infested mentally die with is the "Tithe", and how it being missed will have consequences.
However, we cannot account for that, and instead must focus on the matter at hand. This world is ripe for the taking, and the parasite is ready to swirl it into chaos.
The New Triat leads the Swarm.
Evolution Roll: Agzon: "The Thunderdome"=3d6 (3, 5, 3)
Evolution Roll: Agzon: "Terran Infestation"=3d6( 2, 4, 4)
Evolution Roll: Agzon: "Vespene Recreation"=3d6(3, 6,1)
War Roll: Zrug: "Mental Defenses"=3d6 (4, 3, 5)
War Roll: Zrug: "Carapace Hardening"=3d6(2, 2, 1)
Technology Roll: Pope Innocent XX: "Terran Technology"=2d6 (3, 6)
Diplomacy Roll: Pope Innocent XX: "Infested Studies"=3d6 (4, 4, 3)
Control Roll
Must Exceed 3
D8=7
