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The Renaissance Amulet
Great men of the renaissance empowered the world, sharing their knowledge and painting their reality with fascinating wonders. The lost grandeur of the ancient progenitors returned and a new innovation swept the medieval European continent. The barbarians were defeated and a Holy Roman Empire rose, solidifying the power of civilization and reducing the wild and roaming tribes to their peripherals. Longtime peace was possible. War continued, be it that war always continues, though without the ransacker hordes of brutal insanity. With belief in man's ultimate benevolence, the sentimental visionaries of the old traditions advanced their humanities, saw into themselves and their contemporaries unprecedented potentials and mercies towards the innocents, remodeling conventions and reinventing the standard of life that we all may become finer in mind, act and soul.
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Those were the days that men and women became something more than they ever were. They pressed futureward, enlightened. Invention and discovery powering them.
The year was 1597 and an old man with a long white beard dressed in a cloak-gown was planning to lay himself to rest. He wouldn't last much longer. Alone, his wife perished a few years ago and his children left to the new world across the ocean many years before that. The bishop at the cathedral was his sole kinship and beneficiary, visiting him each day, going to market in place of him. The old man gave his life saving to the church and attended service. There wasn't much time.
Years ago when he was a young man and a traveling merchant, he attended service wherever he went. In every town, every week. There was a secret organization then that doesn't much hold power anymore. He was welcomed and considered a key member on the merits of his Divine Nature and the acts of his goodness. He worked with them to conspire against evil and protect the sacred strength of family, sworn to secrecy in the order of prosperity and health.
This order of secrecy didn't have a title and membership was very limited. Research into the origins of miracles and the articles of spiritual power and the mysterious relics of the antiquities drove all of them ahead and provoked them to keep their alliance strong. They were victorious with their activities, amassing a divine collection of many invaluable articles, relics and items. These material evidences with real physical value were their weapons against malice and maleficence, the holy seed that impregnates the insidious and absorbs into their poisoned hearts, disintegrating their spoil.
This divine collection has since withered to a few disparate artifacts within the hands of the dwindling membership. Although holy and critical to man's well being, the church has deceivers and wrongdoers within its ranks and most of the old man's secret order didn't trust their relics to the religious state, so they would give their items to their children or hide them away in sacred locations with instructions. Some of the membership did trust the church and did give their relics up at the end of their lives.
This old man would pass his savings to the church but his relic would not be reaching their hands. He knew that the church would lock his relic up forever that no man or woman shall receive its blessings and wield its power. He wouldn't have any of that.
He was a great old man who lived a full life. He knew he wouldn't have much time left. This relic was going to be sealed away within a secret wall space inside his small house. This relic that he possessed was an amulet that the divine order gave to him as a wedding gift. He wasn't a member long at that time and he later learned that his wife was the daughter of a man who was among the order's founding members. This amulet, a relic of divinity, was a most prized item in the order. Parting with the amulet was difficult but well thought out and then blessed as a righteous decision.
The amulet, made of a light blue crystalline meteorite stone with a bead of unknown metal contained in the center of it, was encased within a solid gold lattice finely crafted and calculated to maximize the carriage of powers both to and from the wearer. The amulet augmented the spiritual power of the old man and amplified his dominance over unseen forces. The amulet could also absorb the poisons and acids and electricities that the men of evil excrete out their pores and breath, protecting the old man and allowing him advantage where normal men failed. The amulet was a channel that tamed energy into a focused beam and lent control to the old.
The old man would shape the power of the amulet throughout his life. The amulet evolved and strengthened as he used it. The item was much a part of him like his wedding ring. He would not let the church take his amulet, the risk was great and he prayed that someone divine may discover it, no matter how much time was necessary, a year, a century, a millennia. He made his decision and knew that it was good.
A week before he died he sealed the amulet inside a wooden box then placed the box inside a brick wall in his house. He was taught masonry when he was young and so he laid the removed bricks back in place and sealed them so well that any man or woman who would walk past could notice that the wall was manipulated.
The old man died peacefully with the cathedral's bishop attending to him and two friends whom he trusted. His last words were that he missed his wife and children and that he loved them and he thanked the bishop and his friends for being there for him in the end. The three living who remained wished him a teary farewell into the afterlife and the bishop closed the old man's eyes. He would be buried with a tombstone.
And so, the old man's holy relic, an amulet of power, an item of miracles, would lay there, untouched and undiscovered, across the long stretch of a millennia, obeying his prayers to wait to be discovered, till someone divine enough may take it and use it within the rule of his order.
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The millennia of being sealed away without disturbance had preserved the amulet and the now brittle wooden box that contained it. The archaeological team was excavating the area in search of such discoveries and thusfar were largely unsuccessful. They welcomed the box, carefully removing it from the solid crevice that it was placed into and carried it away to be opened later.
The year was 2619 and human civilization was much different in contrast to the world they were withdrawing out of the dirt below them. This site was plundered many times before. This time the Hillendale Corperation purchased the site and was searching with better machinery and gear than ever was available at any time in history before them.
Scans of the soils showed promising discoveries yet awaited them, but those signals were much less numerous than they were accustomed to seeing. Historical findings of this era were few and far between as centuries of hungry archaeologists devoured all of the contents of the remains.
Archaeology also was much different in the twenty-seventh century. Gone were the days of vaults that stowed away unconventional historical discoveries. Gone were the historians that lied to the masses and denied them truth in favor of a mild view of a boxed in civilization that never produced wild cards and technological anomalies. Archaeologists now shared all of their discoveries no matter what belief those discoveries challenged and what historical certainties were proved false. Everything was catalogued and denied secrecy and released to the public within a short designated amount of time.
Much of the world was also under the control of corporations who obeyed much smaller yet much more severe governments that operated within them like white blood cells. The Hillendale Corporation was no different. This process fused civilization in new ways and was nothing like what came before it, created greatly efficient avenues of advancement in technologies and space exploration and allocation of resources while allowing the individual to retain their freedom and liberty. How long this would last could not be foreseen, but many claimed that it wouldn't last long. At that time though, that was how the world was.
The Hillendale Corporation archaeologists followed their protocols without much dissent. Most of them were idealists anyways and were happy to challenge history with new discoveries without a pipeline of politics there to approve or deny what truths could be told. They enjoyed this system, it beat the old system where they were anticipated to draw results before producing evidence.
If an item were found that didn't fit within the paradigm, it would be fully scanned, measured and tested, all of the data released immediately, no explanation. Scientists could then add to that data of facts and let the power of deduction takes it own course to decide the story and origin of the object. What could not happen though is the discovery couldn't be restricted from public knowledge. An advantage of this system was an increased accuracy of the representation of discoveries and a more scrutinizing force against forgeries and fakes.
Corporations could usually keep their discoveries or sell them, depending on their whim, but they were pressed to adhere to a verification method and document their enterprises or face dire counter measures. In the case of the Hillendale Corporation archaeologists finding the 16th century box in the wall, that policy would stay very much the same. The Hillendale Corporation would keep their discoveries while releasing all data about physical attributes and all results of scientific tests publicly as directed. Any history behind all archaeological finds that was determined to be factual would also be shared with the world.
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Scientists of 2619 were of course beyond all knowledge and accomplishment of the scientists before them. Corporate scientists outside of the realm of archaeology and the health and life sciences were not compelled to share their technological developments.
At this time humanity was at war against and also allied with many extra terrestrial races. Each alien race brought their own advanced technology and it was found that at the higher levels of interstellar races science became a very multi-dimensional affair with endless possibilities, dismantling the notion that existence was perfectly linear with each scientific level lined up with the one before it. High level technology became much what computers had become long ago, limited with what the imagination could perceive. There would be limitless growth in scientific knowledge as man began to travel greater distances from the sun.
Ancient relics were valued because they were known to contain augmentations that manipulated reality. The old belief in curses and blessings were a real phenomenon that ancient man may not have been able to account for with their contemporary understanding of the world around them, but now that science has reached a level of advancement that grants that understanding, the desire to obtain these relics of spiritual power and significance has grown.
Corporations with large investments in technologies and space ventures took the archaeological and antiquities sectors and reworked them into their data and economics systems, increasing productivity and efficiency, driven with the thirst of discovery and profit.
Extra-terrestrial alien races encouraged this corporate conduct when they began sharing their own spiritual relics of antiquity, sharing the knowledge of what powered them and the scope of value such items could have. How one simple item of spiritual power could defeat an enemy over time, morphing their poisonous souls, cleansing the acidic venoms that coursed through their civilizations. One such story was the main motivation behind the surge in antique relics demand. The story told of an alien race that was becoming devoured across the galaxy at the heated charge of a newer evil alien race. The benevolent race, being outdone and losing the war, was beating the evil alien race in numbers, giving them a longer survival clock. The benevolent race gifted one of their most sacred relics of spiritual power to the evil alien race and the evil race placed that item towards the center of their galactic empire. Over the course of a thousand years the relic morphed the empire into a benevolent force and they ceased devouring the benevolent empire and eventually they united both empires. The relic became the centerpiece of the new united empire. The only thing the devoured alien race could do was defend themselves with their greatest strength and wait out the effects of the relic. This was likened to a great cleansing and stimulated many Earth corporations to follow benevolent guidelines of their own and search the dirt for similar such relics, if there were any.
This all leads us to the discovery of the 16th century relic. The box was delivered to the corporate laboratory where the archaeologists could test the contents and have them verified before placing them permanently in the possession of the company.
When they discovered the properties of the object they were very pleased as few items of this significance and power could be found anywhere on Earth. Most of the items of greater power were in church hands and stored in cathedrals or holy cities. Items of destructive power usually were stored in government vaults, used for military campaigns. An item like this relic was rare for a corporation to find.
The corporation would release the documentation and verification and then brisk the relic away into private for secret testing.
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2620 was a year of great grief for humanity as the Nuvuxun alien race invaded nearly all countries around the planet. These extra-terrestrials were so numerous they congested whole economies and caused chaos among the humans. The were near impossible to reject because they landed in starships in remote locations and wandered aimlessly in the search for resources. Many of them were unarmed but eventually many armed conflicts began to arise.
The Nuvuxuns didn't believe in freedom or individuality and worked in groups controlled with a single mind. They could assimilate humans and that was their greatest weapon. The aliens worked against the poorest humans to gain the easiest numbers in assimilation. The more humans they assimilated the more humans they could control and use to deceive other humans.
Assimilation began with frequencies and electromagnetic signals, designed to brainwash, hypnotise and demotivate their human enemy into a passive and sedate state. Deactivating the human self, the human subjects would be forcefully connected to a mind network and essentially reprogrammed to operate in the same manner as the Nuvuxuns. This system of assimilation was powerful and resulted in a 90% success rate. Rejectful humans would be killed before they knew they were being attacked as the process of assimilation could determine a suitable human from a dissident human within minutes of first contact.
This assimilation process was very effective and it didn't take but a few months time before the majority of all sentient races on Earth were assimilated under the mind-melding control of the selfless Nuvuxuns. Televisions went blank and only one message was displayed, that assimilation was imminent and defiance would be met with death. The Nuvuxun aliens began to strip whole countries of their human cultures, forcing them to wear mind control devices connected to their spines. They were forbidden to use human language and forced to communicate mentally through their mind network.
Humans that could avoid them were protected with physical boundaries such as secret government and corporate laboratories, outposts, space colonies, closed-walled housing sectors and snowy climates. Wealthy humans were also on a low risk factor as they were naturally separated and protected. Humans weren't pushovers though, they warred against the Nuvuxuns who intelligently used assimilated humans as meat shields and sacrificed humans to win a large portion of battles.
The casualties were enormous and the starships filled with Nuvuxuns kept on coming. The unassimilated humans banded together in a way never seen before. It was an end of the world scenario and the human race literally faced full extinction in a matter of months.
A human resistance base and station habitat was built in Antarctica where the humans could collect their resources into a single treasury. The Nuvuxuns were naturally a warm climate race and would die fast in the snow and ice. Attacks on the Antarctic base were few and no invasion into the human territory there was ever encountered during the war.
With harsh difficulties the human resistance were able to contact another benevolent race who was already allied with some of the humans before the Nuvuxun invasion. The contact point was an alien being named Tharksmik whose skin was a pale blue and his shape very unhuman. The initial confusion caused with the diversity of humans from all over the Earth arriving at the Antarctic base was eventually sorted out but at that time, when Tharksmik was discovered, the operation was sort of independent as there wasn't yet a central human figurehead appointed as the representative of the human resistance.
The Nuvuxuns surrounded the Earth with thousands of battle ships and colony ships, watching carefully for human ships which were immediately attacked and usually destroyed whether they were launching into space or trying to return to Earth. They destroyed all of the satellites and orbiting space stations that they saw and turned the global human communication network off. Humans on the surface could sparsely contact each other and only when cloaked satellites drifted overhead, escaping the Nuvuxun attacks. There were many remote and distant satellites in deep space but reconfiguring them was slow and ultimately, throughout the war these satellites didn't play a key role in defense, although they would be used to coordinate the migration of more unassimilated humans to the Antarctic base.
Tharksmik was the human resistance's first representative in Earth to Space relations. He was able to contact his own race and create a line of intelligence through them to gain a foothold against the Nuvuxuns. His race were called The Yartauh Plin and they were too few in number to engage the Nuvuxun, having several battle ships and no surplus population from which to draw in the event of an invasion. They could not provide ground troop support, but could provide single operatives for other missions.
Tharksmik maintained the communications with his people as the humans reorganized themselves. When the humans were somewhat re-functionable they chose a practised representative named Hendrick Bering that worked with Tharksmik to contact other human habitats outside of Earth and establish communications. Both Hendrick and Tharksmik were given the same title of Governor. Tharksmik was largely responsible for the helpful cooperation of The Yartauh Plin and was also in charge of all non-human populations within the Antarctic base, which numbered less than 10% of the total population.
A plan was drawn up to attack the Nuvuxun and regain control of an important technological and military center on a northern continent codenamed Advance1. This particular control center was desirable because of the underground bunkers, bases and laboratories that stretched for miles around far past the boundaries of the surface structure. It was believed that the underground network was blocked off and a human population was surviving there as that facility was strictly a military facility with a vast storage of technology, machinery and consumable supplies. The thought was the technology Advance1 was great enough to put an impenetrable defense but that the population would ultimately be stuck in their facility. They were able to monitor the surface. The area above surface wasn't so impressive and since the Nuvuxuns habitually avoided bringing their own weapons to the surface it would be easy to gauge what defenses there would be above surface there.
During the planning of this critical attack the Nuvuxuns discovered the waiting and watching Yartauh Plin starships and attacked them. The human resistance was notified of this attack and the Yartauh Plin stated that they would run and escape because they were far outnumbered but would continue to search for allies and return. The Plin left behind a tiny communications satellite with cloaking technology and gave control of it to the human resistance before their escape. The humans used this satellite to keep contact with a small human base on the moon and it was suggested that all non-Nuvuxun alien races should be contacted for information on Nuvuxun weaknesses.
It was getting close to bring the Advance1 attack into motion as the plan called for waiting till the snow had fallen at that location for at least one full week. This would slow Nuvuxun activity to a minimum and give the Human & Plin alliance a deeper gouging affect as the Nuvuxun would have much difficulty fighting a ground war in the cold. The human resistance continued to make small gains in communications and surveillance as the pieced together a barely operational network out of the destroyed global communications system. The human bases they were in contact with on the Moon were undetected and unknown to the Nuvuxun.
The Moon base humans continued to contact any and all alien races to get knowledge on the Nuvuxun race and they were finally successful in gaining a small portion of critical intelligence that would give the human resistance an advantage.
There is an energy that can be manipulated and given shape and form throughout time. This energy exists inside specific objects. The energy is a fine-tuning of the resonance of atomic structures within it, which are caused when a biological sentience harmonizes his mind and body with said object. Fundamentally, these items are called relics and charms and each one has a different resonance within a particular polarity. The Moon humans relayed all of this information to the human resistance in Antarctica, urging them to search for any religious and spiritual items that they might have and test them for a particular resonance and harmonization.
The specific numbers and measurements were given and the human resistance immediately scoured every inch of the Antarctic base for any and all items that fit the narrative.
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It was early morning when the Hillendale Corporation employees got the call and were informed of the basewide allocation of objects and relics of spiritual and religious significance. Their team made their escape to the Antarctic sanctuary a month ago as the Nuvuxuns dismantled the their country, devouring it like piranhas. Their weapon was electromagnetic frequencies and mind control. Not many Hillendale Corporation employees made it but there were plenty of them left here at the Antarctic sanctuary to keep the company in operation. They took all of their corporate valuables and families with them on a fast cargo ship, sailing the Atlantic Ocean southward, terrified of an aerial space attack. They were defenseless and holding on for pure luck. They made it though and although they were much fewer in number now, their company remained intact.
They discussed the allocation and dutifully responded that they possessed many such items that could be tested for the properties listed. They went to work searching their cargo. The cargo ship was unloaded but most of the containers were unopened, namingly corporate properties, since they would not be operating at the Antarctic base. The only containers they opened since arriving were the ones that held their personal possessions.
The search took most of the day because there was over three thousand shipping containers and they were disorganized because they were filled in a hurry without recording what was where. They needed to find one container though and that simplified their search.
Once the container was found and they allocated all of their archaeological relics that fit the parameters, they delivered their payload to the Central Operations Contingency as it was called. The other scientists waiting for the delivery were ecstatic as it was the largest stockpile of specified relics they'd seen all day.
The machinery and instruments that tested the relics were already in place and operating when the Hillendale Corporation scientists arrived with their payload. They were given a ticket to reclaim their property once the testing was finished and told that their items wouldn't be tested until late that night. They were told to return in the morning.
When they returned in the morning all their relics were returned with the exception of the renaissance amulet they discovered inside the box in the wall on their last search. This amulet fit all of the parameters relayed from the Moon base humans and it was already being locked into place and incorporated into a specialized technology that would allow it to be used to assist in the attack of the Nuvuxuns. The Hillendale scientists were invited to watch and participate. They accepted the invitation and were escorted to a secret area of the Antarctic base.
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The secret location was filled with computers and screens and laboratory tables and all sorts of advanced machinery. This was the central mission headquarters of the Antarctic base and the human resistance.
The Hillendale scientists were interviewed extensively about the amulet, where it came from, how it was found, what have they seen it do. The scientists couldn't offer a lot of information because they haven't yet run their own tests and research. The origin of the amulet was considered late-renaissance period and its function was some sort of Holy protectorate. This Holy power was the resonant signature they were searching for.
The amulet was fitted into a specialized socket and hooked into a monitored and attunable energy source with both an inflow and an outflow. The object was found to be a meteorite fragment and the composition of the crystal and minerals within it contributed a lot to its ability to both contain and conduct energies and retain an operational memory.
With the amulet in place and all systems readied, the amulet was tested for resonance limits and polarity shifts. Lasers and different lights were shot through the crystal to record more data about the composition and the densities and other criteria that they could feed into their computer system to allow them a greater control when the object would be activated during mission engagement.
The Hillendale scientists were asked to participate in the mission because apparently the amulet remembered them and resonates with them particularly well. They accepted the mission and were trained to operate the amulet power.
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Advance1 mission attack phase was already begun when the Hillendale scientists, accompanied with a few other scientists who resonated well with the amulet, were ordered to use their training while the amulet was activated.
The Moon base humans possessed a small fleet of fast disks with cloaking technology that were sent to the surface base in the Advance1 attack. These disks were outfitted with superheat-lasers and tractor beams that could be used to distract the Nuvuxun in occupation there. Another fleet of high speed aerial jets outfitted with small hydrogen bombs and large ammunitions would ambush the base through the cover of snowfall, heading out of a direction over a forest that spread out from the base. There were no known defenses inside this forest and no cities for eighty miles in that direction.
With the disks distracting the Nuvuxun artillery and aerial forces, the bombers could hit the base unawares and cause enough damage to leave the whole area open for invasion. An invasion of foot soldiers, some of whom would have snow mobiles, launched out of an all-terrain carrier now acting as a submarine. This carrier traveled all the way from Antarctica to the northern hemisphere undetected and would land on the beach in time to see the jets drop their last bombs. The infantry invasion would then level whatever was left and overrun the Nuvuxun foot soldiers, if there’s any at all, taking possession of whatever machinery wasn't destroyed in the bombing and reclaiming the base.
Of particular interest is a communication depot on this base that has served as the Nuvuxun central relay service, helping them coordinate the worldwide brainwashing mind control synchronization with their space operations. This depot would be taken over and the line relayed through the Antarctic base where the interruption signal of the renaissance amulet can break the massive Nuvuxun psychic communications network. The effects are calculated to be critical in decentralizing their powers and giving the assimilated humans their sense of individual self, effectively releasing them of their brainwashed, blank and empty physical state. Once decentralization is accomplished it is expected that the unassimilated humans would immediately engage in war on all levels possible wherever they may be.
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The Advance1 attack proved to work well with the initial disk distraction, followed with the bombings and then finally, the foot soldier invasion. Well coordinated, the defense of the base wasn't able to handle a triple attack and fell fast with minimal foot soldier resistance. This mission was very critical as it stretched the human resistance's resources to their uppermost limit. The Nuvuxuns had a near total control over the whole of the Earth and all of its resources, including its military bases.
The communication depot fell without resistance and the Nuvuxun operators were killed. The system was recalibrated as planned and the signal relayed back to the Antarctic base where the science team was ready to decentralize the brainwash network.
The resonance polarity machine was powered on and the amulet activated. The scientists did as they were trained, mentally engaging the amulet and synchronizing their resonance with it, creating an elemental-human energy consumption cycle that amplified the resonance and forced more energy through the Nuvuxun network. Their power relied on the power and penetration and saturation of their signals and the system they put in place was interdependent in nature, supplying most of it's own power, causing minimal energy needs.
The resonance disruption began to work well and would disrupt the network with a domino effect so long as it stayed powered on. The push of this resonance would continually disconnect human minds but and free them of Nuvuxun control but it wasn't known if they could fully recover. The resonance disruption was going to be continually pushed until the entire system was decentralized and there was no known timeframe to how long this part of the mission would take.
The scientists clenched their eyes closed and most of them bent their necks, straining. The resonance polarity machine was drawing their energy out of them and each minute into the operation they looked more taxed and pressed.
Several minutes went like this when one of the operations personnel monitoring the worldwide network said, "Sir! Their systems are imploding! All across the Earth, they're imploding!"
Governor Bering said, "Great! Attempt communications with the control locations specified in the operations plan!"
"Yes Sir!"
Immediately following that announcement the machine began to discharge plasma, electrical bursts would zip and zap around the encasement where the centrifuges were spinning. Large crackles hit the air with a dry pop. The machine was overloading.
The scientists were now entering a state of overwithdrawal, their blood sugars and electromagnetic energies sapping out of them beyond their capacities. Their nervous systems couldn't handle the demand and some of them started trembling. One man's eyes went bloodshot and two of them collapsed onto the floor in comatose shock.
"Sir! The machine is malfunctioning!"
Governor Bering said, "Decrease power input and slow the machine down."
"Sir! The machine wasn't designed for alternate speeds! I can only turn it on and turn it off!"
One of the collapsed and comatose men began having a seizure, headgear still in place.
"Sir!" said another operations monitor, "Receiving communications from Nuvuxun space operation!"
Governor Bering said, "Connect."
"Yes, Sir!"
On the largest wall screen in the monitoring systems area the main Nuvuxun ruler appeared. He looked like the other Nuvuxun except his head was massive and he was sitting in a specially designed throne that held his head up because his neck wasn't strong enough to support it.
The odd ruler stared blankly, a grimace on his face. There was some sort of clear plastic bubble around him, like he was inside of an incubator.
Governor Bering said, "Turn my camera on so he can see me."
"Yes, Sir!" a few seconds went, "Done, Sir. Camera on."
The Nuvuxun throneman's face animated, his temples pulsing. He said in a thin sharp throaty voice, "I am Torgehrin and I am the ruler of this planet. You will disengage my communications network. If you do not I will obliterate your Antarctic base with nuclear bombs."
Governor Bering said, "I am not going to disengage."
Torgehrin was clenching his teeth now, something obviously wrong. Most of the scientists were now comatose or within the throes of seizures. Some of them had spat up blood or blood ran out of their noses.
"Sir! The alien leader is directly connected into the network!"
Governor Bering said, "We shall continue. Do not cease the attack."
Torgehrin wheezed, skewing in his throne beneath his massive head. "Stop!" He called out with a trembling and fearful cry.
Governor Bering crossed his arms and smirked. He said, "Die."
Torgehrin choked and his eyes sucked inward into his eye sockets. He reached his hand out with his palm on the inside of the plastic bubble, straining and trembling harder and harder and wheezing uncontrollably until finally, with one last reach out in desperation, he collapsed unconsciously.
Nuvuxun attendants wildly entered the plastic bubble and touched his neck to find a pulse. The other attendant lifted his arm but it was inanimate now. Their both looked into the camera with horror in their grimaces. The signal cut out and the screen went blank.
"Sir! Torgehrin appeared dead!"
Governor Bering said, "So it seems. Cut the power to the resonance polarity machine immediately! Get the scientists medical attention!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Governor Bering said, "Defenses up! Call an anticipatory defense to the surface and monitor the airspace for potential threats. Keep us safe. I am going to be back in 10 minutes."
Great men of the renaissance empowered the world, sharing their knowledge and painting their reality with fascinating wonders. The lost grandeur of the ancient progenitors returned and a new innovation swept the medieval European continent. The barbarians were defeated and a Holy Roman Empire rose, solidifying the power of civilization and reducing the wild and roaming tribes to their peripherals. Longtime peace was possible. War continued, be it that war always continues, though without the ransacker hordes of brutal insanity. With belief in man's ultimate benevolence, the sentimental visionaries of the old traditions advanced their humanities, saw into themselves and their contemporaries unprecedented potentials and mercies towards the innocents, remodeling conventions and reinventing the standard of life that we all may become finer in mind, act and soul.
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Those were the days that men and women became something more than they ever were. They pressed futureward, enlightened. Invention and discovery powering them.
The year was 1597 and an old man with a long white beard dressed in a cloak-gown was planning to lay himself to rest. He wouldn't last much longer. Alone, his wife perished a few years ago and his children left to the new world across the ocean many years before that. The bishop at the cathedral was his sole kinship and beneficiary, visiting him each day, going to market in place of him. The old man gave his life saving to the church and attended service. There wasn't much time.
Years ago when he was a young man and a traveling merchant, he attended service wherever he went. In every town, every week. There was a secret organization then that doesn't much hold power anymore. He was welcomed and considered a key member on the merits of his Divine Nature and the acts of his goodness. He worked with them to conspire against evil and protect the sacred strength of family, sworn to secrecy in the order of prosperity and health.
This order of secrecy didn't have a title and membership was very limited. Research into the origins of miracles and the articles of spiritual power and the mysterious relics of the antiquities drove all of them ahead and provoked them to keep their alliance strong. They were victorious with their activities, amassing a divine collection of many invaluable articles, relics and items. These material evidences with real physical value were their weapons against malice and maleficence, the holy seed that impregnates the insidious and absorbs into their poisoned hearts, disintegrating their spoil.
This divine collection has since withered to a few disparate artifacts within the hands of the dwindling membership. Although holy and critical to man's well being, the church has deceivers and wrongdoers within its ranks and most of the old man's secret order didn't trust their relics to the religious state, so they would give their items to their children or hide them away in sacred locations with instructions. Some of the membership did trust the church and did give their relics up at the end of their lives.
This old man would pass his savings to the church but his relic would not be reaching their hands. He knew that the church would lock his relic up forever that no man or woman shall receive its blessings and wield its power. He wouldn't have any of that.
He was a great old man who lived a full life. He knew he wouldn't have much time left. This relic was going to be sealed away within a secret wall space inside his small house. This relic that he possessed was an amulet that the divine order gave to him as a wedding gift. He wasn't a member long at that time and he later learned that his wife was the daughter of a man who was among the order's founding members. This amulet, a relic of divinity, was a most prized item in the order. Parting with the amulet was difficult but well thought out and then blessed as a righteous decision.
The amulet, made of a light blue crystalline meteorite stone with a bead of unknown metal contained in the center of it, was encased within a solid gold lattice finely crafted and calculated to maximize the carriage of powers both to and from the wearer. The amulet augmented the spiritual power of the old man and amplified his dominance over unseen forces. The amulet could also absorb the poisons and acids and electricities that the men of evil excrete out their pores and breath, protecting the old man and allowing him advantage where normal men failed. The amulet was a channel that tamed energy into a focused beam and lent control to the old.
The old man would shape the power of the amulet throughout his life. The amulet evolved and strengthened as he used it. The item was much a part of him like his wedding ring. He would not let the church take his amulet, the risk was great and he prayed that someone divine may discover it, no matter how much time was necessary, a year, a century, a millennia. He made his decision and knew that it was good.
A week before he died he sealed the amulet inside a wooden box then placed the box inside a brick wall in his house. He was taught masonry when he was young and so he laid the removed bricks back in place and sealed them so well that any man or woman who would walk past could notice that the wall was manipulated.
The old man died peacefully with the cathedral's bishop attending to him and two friends whom he trusted. His last words were that he missed his wife and children and that he loved them and he thanked the bishop and his friends for being there for him in the end. The three living who remained wished him a teary farewell into the afterlife and the bishop closed the old man's eyes. He would be buried with a tombstone.
And so, the old man's holy relic, an amulet of power, an item of miracles, would lay there, untouched and undiscovered, across the long stretch of a millennia, obeying his prayers to wait to be discovered, till someone divine enough may take it and use it within the rule of his order.
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The millennia of being sealed away without disturbance had preserved the amulet and the now brittle wooden box that contained it. The archaeological team was excavating the area in search of such discoveries and thusfar were largely unsuccessful. They welcomed the box, carefully removing it from the solid crevice that it was placed into and carried it away to be opened later.
The year was 2619 and human civilization was much different in contrast to the world they were withdrawing out of the dirt below them. This site was plundered many times before. This time the Hillendale Corperation purchased the site and was searching with better machinery and gear than ever was available at any time in history before them.
Scans of the soils showed promising discoveries yet awaited them, but those signals were much less numerous than they were accustomed to seeing. Historical findings of this era were few and far between as centuries of hungry archaeologists devoured all of the contents of the remains.
Archaeology also was much different in the twenty-seventh century. Gone were the days of vaults that stowed away unconventional historical discoveries. Gone were the historians that lied to the masses and denied them truth in favor of a mild view of a boxed in civilization that never produced wild cards and technological anomalies. Archaeologists now shared all of their discoveries no matter what belief those discoveries challenged and what historical certainties were proved false. Everything was catalogued and denied secrecy and released to the public within a short designated amount of time.
Much of the world was also under the control of corporations who obeyed much smaller yet much more severe governments that operated within them like white blood cells. The Hillendale Corporation was no different. This process fused civilization in new ways and was nothing like what came before it, created greatly efficient avenues of advancement in technologies and space exploration and allocation of resources while allowing the individual to retain their freedom and liberty. How long this would last could not be foreseen, but many claimed that it wouldn't last long. At that time though, that was how the world was.
The Hillendale Corporation archaeologists followed their protocols without much dissent. Most of them were idealists anyways and were happy to challenge history with new discoveries without a pipeline of politics there to approve or deny what truths could be told. They enjoyed this system, it beat the old system where they were anticipated to draw results before producing evidence.
If an item were found that didn't fit within the paradigm, it would be fully scanned, measured and tested, all of the data released immediately, no explanation. Scientists could then add to that data of facts and let the power of deduction takes it own course to decide the story and origin of the object. What could not happen though is the discovery couldn't be restricted from public knowledge. An advantage of this system was an increased accuracy of the representation of discoveries and a more scrutinizing force against forgeries and fakes.
Corporations could usually keep their discoveries or sell them, depending on their whim, but they were pressed to adhere to a verification method and document their enterprises or face dire counter measures. In the case of the Hillendale Corporation archaeologists finding the 16th century box in the wall, that policy would stay very much the same. The Hillendale Corporation would keep their discoveries while releasing all data about physical attributes and all results of scientific tests publicly as directed. Any history behind all archaeological finds that was determined to be factual would also be shared with the world.
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Scientists of 2619 were of course beyond all knowledge and accomplishment of the scientists before them. Corporate scientists outside of the realm of archaeology and the health and life sciences were not compelled to share their technological developments.
At this time humanity was at war against and also allied with many extra terrestrial races. Each alien race brought their own advanced technology and it was found that at the higher levels of interstellar races science became a very multi-dimensional affair with endless possibilities, dismantling the notion that existence was perfectly linear with each scientific level lined up with the one before it. High level technology became much what computers had become long ago, limited with what the imagination could perceive. There would be limitless growth in scientific knowledge as man began to travel greater distances from the sun.
Ancient relics were valued because they were known to contain augmentations that manipulated reality. The old belief in curses and blessings were a real phenomenon that ancient man may not have been able to account for with their contemporary understanding of the world around them, but now that science has reached a level of advancement that grants that understanding, the desire to obtain these relics of spiritual power and significance has grown.
Corporations with large investments in technologies and space ventures took the archaeological and antiquities sectors and reworked them into their data and economics systems, increasing productivity and efficiency, driven with the thirst of discovery and profit.
Extra-terrestrial alien races encouraged this corporate conduct when they began sharing their own spiritual relics of antiquity, sharing the knowledge of what powered them and the scope of value such items could have. How one simple item of spiritual power could defeat an enemy over time, morphing their poisonous souls, cleansing the acidic venoms that coursed through their civilizations. One such story was the main motivation behind the surge in antique relics demand. The story told of an alien race that was becoming devoured across the galaxy at the heated charge of a newer evil alien race. The benevolent race, being outdone and losing the war, was beating the evil alien race in numbers, giving them a longer survival clock. The benevolent race gifted one of their most sacred relics of spiritual power to the evil alien race and the evil race placed that item towards the center of their galactic empire. Over the course of a thousand years the relic morphed the empire into a benevolent force and they ceased devouring the benevolent empire and eventually they united both empires. The relic became the centerpiece of the new united empire. The only thing the devoured alien race could do was defend themselves with their greatest strength and wait out the effects of the relic. This was likened to a great cleansing and stimulated many Earth corporations to follow benevolent guidelines of their own and search the dirt for similar such relics, if there were any.
This all leads us to the discovery of the 16th century relic. The box was delivered to the corporate laboratory where the archaeologists could test the contents and have them verified before placing them permanently in the possession of the company.
When they discovered the properties of the object they were very pleased as few items of this significance and power could be found anywhere on Earth. Most of the items of greater power were in church hands and stored in cathedrals or holy cities. Items of destructive power usually were stored in government vaults, used for military campaigns. An item like this relic was rare for a corporation to find.
The corporation would release the documentation and verification and then brisk the relic away into private for secret testing.
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2620 was a year of great grief for humanity as the Nuvuxun alien race invaded nearly all countries around the planet. These extra-terrestrials were so numerous they congested whole economies and caused chaos among the humans. The were near impossible to reject because they landed in starships in remote locations and wandered aimlessly in the search for resources. Many of them were unarmed but eventually many armed conflicts began to arise.
The Nuvuxuns didn't believe in freedom or individuality and worked in groups controlled with a single mind. They could assimilate humans and that was their greatest weapon. The aliens worked against the poorest humans to gain the easiest numbers in assimilation. The more humans they assimilated the more humans they could control and use to deceive other humans.
Assimilation began with frequencies and electromagnetic signals, designed to brainwash, hypnotise and demotivate their human enemy into a passive and sedate state. Deactivating the human self, the human subjects would be forcefully connected to a mind network and essentially reprogrammed to operate in the same manner as the Nuvuxuns. This system of assimilation was powerful and resulted in a 90% success rate. Rejectful humans would be killed before they knew they were being attacked as the process of assimilation could determine a suitable human from a dissident human within minutes of first contact.
This assimilation process was very effective and it didn't take but a few months time before the majority of all sentient races on Earth were assimilated under the mind-melding control of the selfless Nuvuxuns. Televisions went blank and only one message was displayed, that assimilation was imminent and defiance would be met with death. The Nuvuxun aliens began to strip whole countries of their human cultures, forcing them to wear mind control devices connected to their spines. They were forbidden to use human language and forced to communicate mentally through their mind network.
Humans that could avoid them were protected with physical boundaries such as secret government and corporate laboratories, outposts, space colonies, closed-walled housing sectors and snowy climates. Wealthy humans were also on a low risk factor as they were naturally separated and protected. Humans weren't pushovers though, they warred against the Nuvuxuns who intelligently used assimilated humans as meat shields and sacrificed humans to win a large portion of battles.
The casualties were enormous and the starships filled with Nuvuxuns kept on coming. The unassimilated humans banded together in a way never seen before. It was an end of the world scenario and the human race literally faced full extinction in a matter of months.
A human resistance base and station habitat was built in Antarctica where the humans could collect their resources into a single treasury. The Nuvuxuns were naturally a warm climate race and would die fast in the snow and ice. Attacks on the Antarctic base were few and no invasion into the human territory there was ever encountered during the war.
With harsh difficulties the human resistance were able to contact another benevolent race who was already allied with some of the humans before the Nuvuxun invasion. The contact point was an alien being named Tharksmik whose skin was a pale blue and his shape very unhuman. The initial confusion caused with the diversity of humans from all over the Earth arriving at the Antarctic base was eventually sorted out but at that time, when Tharksmik was discovered, the operation was sort of independent as there wasn't yet a central human figurehead appointed as the representative of the human resistance.
The Nuvuxuns surrounded the Earth with thousands of battle ships and colony ships, watching carefully for human ships which were immediately attacked and usually destroyed whether they were launching into space or trying to return to Earth. They destroyed all of the satellites and orbiting space stations that they saw and turned the global human communication network off. Humans on the surface could sparsely contact each other and only when cloaked satellites drifted overhead, escaping the Nuvuxun attacks. There were many remote and distant satellites in deep space but reconfiguring them was slow and ultimately, throughout the war these satellites didn't play a key role in defense, although they would be used to coordinate the migration of more unassimilated humans to the Antarctic base.
Tharksmik was the human resistance's first representative in Earth to Space relations. He was able to contact his own race and create a line of intelligence through them to gain a foothold against the Nuvuxuns. His race were called The Yartauh Plin and they were too few in number to engage the Nuvuxun, having several battle ships and no surplus population from which to draw in the event of an invasion. They could not provide ground troop support, but could provide single operatives for other missions.
Tharksmik maintained the communications with his people as the humans reorganized themselves. When the humans were somewhat re-functionable they chose a practised representative named Hendrick Bering that worked with Tharksmik to contact other human habitats outside of Earth and establish communications. Both Hendrick and Tharksmik were given the same title of Governor. Tharksmik was largely responsible for the helpful cooperation of The Yartauh Plin and was also in charge of all non-human populations within the Antarctic base, which numbered less than 10% of the total population.
A plan was drawn up to attack the Nuvuxun and regain control of an important technological and military center on a northern continent codenamed Advance1. This particular control center was desirable because of the underground bunkers, bases and laboratories that stretched for miles around far past the boundaries of the surface structure. It was believed that the underground network was blocked off and a human population was surviving there as that facility was strictly a military facility with a vast storage of technology, machinery and consumable supplies. The thought was the technology Advance1 was great enough to put an impenetrable defense but that the population would ultimately be stuck in their facility. They were able to monitor the surface. The area above surface wasn't so impressive and since the Nuvuxuns habitually avoided bringing their own weapons to the surface it would be easy to gauge what defenses there would be above surface there.
During the planning of this critical attack the Nuvuxuns discovered the waiting and watching Yartauh Plin starships and attacked them. The human resistance was notified of this attack and the Yartauh Plin stated that they would run and escape because they were far outnumbered but would continue to search for allies and return. The Plin left behind a tiny communications satellite with cloaking technology and gave control of it to the human resistance before their escape. The humans used this satellite to keep contact with a small human base on the moon and it was suggested that all non-Nuvuxun alien races should be contacted for information on Nuvuxun weaknesses.
It was getting close to bring the Advance1 attack into motion as the plan called for waiting till the snow had fallen at that location for at least one full week. This would slow Nuvuxun activity to a minimum and give the Human & Plin alliance a deeper gouging affect as the Nuvuxun would have much difficulty fighting a ground war in the cold. The human resistance continued to make small gains in communications and surveillance as the pieced together a barely operational network out of the destroyed global communications system. The human bases they were in contact with on the Moon were undetected and unknown to the Nuvuxun.
The Moon base humans continued to contact any and all alien races to get knowledge on the Nuvuxun race and they were finally successful in gaining a small portion of critical intelligence that would give the human resistance an advantage.
There is an energy that can be manipulated and given shape and form throughout time. This energy exists inside specific objects. The energy is a fine-tuning of the resonance of atomic structures within it, which are caused when a biological sentience harmonizes his mind and body with said object. Fundamentally, these items are called relics and charms and each one has a different resonance within a particular polarity. The Moon humans relayed all of this information to the human resistance in Antarctica, urging them to search for any religious and spiritual items that they might have and test them for a particular resonance and harmonization.
The specific numbers and measurements were given and the human resistance immediately scoured every inch of the Antarctic base for any and all items that fit the narrative.
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It was early morning when the Hillendale Corporation employees got the call and were informed of the basewide allocation of objects and relics of spiritual and religious significance. Their team made their escape to the Antarctic sanctuary a month ago as the Nuvuxuns dismantled the their country, devouring it like piranhas. Their weapon was electromagnetic frequencies and mind control. Not many Hillendale Corporation employees made it but there were plenty of them left here at the Antarctic sanctuary to keep the company in operation. They took all of their corporate valuables and families with them on a fast cargo ship, sailing the Atlantic Ocean southward, terrified of an aerial space attack. They were defenseless and holding on for pure luck. They made it though and although they were much fewer in number now, their company remained intact.
They discussed the allocation and dutifully responded that they possessed many such items that could be tested for the properties listed. They went to work searching their cargo. The cargo ship was unloaded but most of the containers were unopened, namingly corporate properties, since they would not be operating at the Antarctic base. The only containers they opened since arriving were the ones that held their personal possessions.
The search took most of the day because there was over three thousand shipping containers and they were disorganized because they were filled in a hurry without recording what was where. They needed to find one container though and that simplified their search.
Once the container was found and they allocated all of their archaeological relics that fit the parameters, they delivered their payload to the Central Operations Contingency as it was called. The other scientists waiting for the delivery were ecstatic as it was the largest stockpile of specified relics they'd seen all day.
The machinery and instruments that tested the relics were already in place and operating when the Hillendale Corporation scientists arrived with their payload. They were given a ticket to reclaim their property once the testing was finished and told that their items wouldn't be tested until late that night. They were told to return in the morning.
When they returned in the morning all their relics were returned with the exception of the renaissance amulet they discovered inside the box in the wall on their last search. This amulet fit all of the parameters relayed from the Moon base humans and it was already being locked into place and incorporated into a specialized technology that would allow it to be used to assist in the attack of the Nuvuxuns. The Hillendale scientists were invited to watch and participate. They accepted the invitation and were escorted to a secret area of the Antarctic base.
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The secret location was filled with computers and screens and laboratory tables and all sorts of advanced machinery. This was the central mission headquarters of the Antarctic base and the human resistance.
The Hillendale scientists were interviewed extensively about the amulet, where it came from, how it was found, what have they seen it do. The scientists couldn't offer a lot of information because they haven't yet run their own tests and research. The origin of the amulet was considered late-renaissance period and its function was some sort of Holy protectorate. This Holy power was the resonant signature they were searching for.
The amulet was fitted into a specialized socket and hooked into a monitored and attunable energy source with both an inflow and an outflow. The object was found to be a meteorite fragment and the composition of the crystal and minerals within it contributed a lot to its ability to both contain and conduct energies and retain an operational memory.
With the amulet in place and all systems readied, the amulet was tested for resonance limits and polarity shifts. Lasers and different lights were shot through the crystal to record more data about the composition and the densities and other criteria that they could feed into their computer system to allow them a greater control when the object would be activated during mission engagement.
The Hillendale scientists were asked to participate in the mission because apparently the amulet remembered them and resonates with them particularly well. They accepted the mission and were trained to operate the amulet power.
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Advance1 mission attack phase was already begun when the Hillendale scientists, accompanied with a few other scientists who resonated well with the amulet, were ordered to use their training while the amulet was activated.
The Moon base humans possessed a small fleet of fast disks with cloaking technology that were sent to the surface base in the Advance1 attack. These disks were outfitted with superheat-lasers and tractor beams that could be used to distract the Nuvuxun in occupation there. Another fleet of high speed aerial jets outfitted with small hydrogen bombs and large ammunitions would ambush the base through the cover of snowfall, heading out of a direction over a forest that spread out from the base. There were no known defenses inside this forest and no cities for eighty miles in that direction.
With the disks distracting the Nuvuxun artillery and aerial forces, the bombers could hit the base unawares and cause enough damage to leave the whole area open for invasion. An invasion of foot soldiers, some of whom would have snow mobiles, launched out of an all-terrain carrier now acting as a submarine. This carrier traveled all the way from Antarctica to the northern hemisphere undetected and would land on the beach in time to see the jets drop their last bombs. The infantry invasion would then level whatever was left and overrun the Nuvuxun foot soldiers, if there’s any at all, taking possession of whatever machinery wasn't destroyed in the bombing and reclaiming the base.
Of particular interest is a communication depot on this base that has served as the Nuvuxun central relay service, helping them coordinate the worldwide brainwashing mind control synchronization with their space operations. This depot would be taken over and the line relayed through the Antarctic base where the interruption signal of the renaissance amulet can break the massive Nuvuxun psychic communications network. The effects are calculated to be critical in decentralizing their powers and giving the assimilated humans their sense of individual self, effectively releasing them of their brainwashed, blank and empty physical state. Once decentralization is accomplished it is expected that the unassimilated humans would immediately engage in war on all levels possible wherever they may be.
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The Advance1 attack proved to work well with the initial disk distraction, followed with the bombings and then finally, the foot soldier invasion. Well coordinated, the defense of the base wasn't able to handle a triple attack and fell fast with minimal foot soldier resistance. This mission was very critical as it stretched the human resistance's resources to their uppermost limit. The Nuvuxuns had a near total control over the whole of the Earth and all of its resources, including its military bases.
The communication depot fell without resistance and the Nuvuxun operators were killed. The system was recalibrated as planned and the signal relayed back to the Antarctic base where the science team was ready to decentralize the brainwash network.
The resonance polarity machine was powered on and the amulet activated. The scientists did as they were trained, mentally engaging the amulet and synchronizing their resonance with it, creating an elemental-human energy consumption cycle that amplified the resonance and forced more energy through the Nuvuxun network. Their power relied on the power and penetration and saturation of their signals and the system they put in place was interdependent in nature, supplying most of it's own power, causing minimal energy needs.
The resonance disruption began to work well and would disrupt the network with a domino effect so long as it stayed powered on. The push of this resonance would continually disconnect human minds but and free them of Nuvuxun control but it wasn't known if they could fully recover. The resonance disruption was going to be continually pushed until the entire system was decentralized and there was no known timeframe to how long this part of the mission would take.
The scientists clenched their eyes closed and most of them bent their necks, straining. The resonance polarity machine was drawing their energy out of them and each minute into the operation they looked more taxed and pressed.
Several minutes went like this when one of the operations personnel monitoring the worldwide network said, "Sir! Their systems are imploding! All across the Earth, they're imploding!"
Governor Bering said, "Great! Attempt communications with the control locations specified in the operations plan!"
"Yes Sir!"
Immediately following that announcement the machine began to discharge plasma, electrical bursts would zip and zap around the encasement where the centrifuges were spinning. Large crackles hit the air with a dry pop. The machine was overloading.
The scientists were now entering a state of overwithdrawal, their blood sugars and electromagnetic energies sapping out of them beyond their capacities. Their nervous systems couldn't handle the demand and some of them started trembling. One man's eyes went bloodshot and two of them collapsed onto the floor in comatose shock.
"Sir! The machine is malfunctioning!"
Governor Bering said, "Decrease power input and slow the machine down."
"Sir! The machine wasn't designed for alternate speeds! I can only turn it on and turn it off!"
One of the collapsed and comatose men began having a seizure, headgear still in place.
"Sir!" said another operations monitor, "Receiving communications from Nuvuxun space operation!"
Governor Bering said, "Connect."
"Yes, Sir!"
On the largest wall screen in the monitoring systems area the main Nuvuxun ruler appeared. He looked like the other Nuvuxun except his head was massive and he was sitting in a specially designed throne that held his head up because his neck wasn't strong enough to support it.
The odd ruler stared blankly, a grimace on his face. There was some sort of clear plastic bubble around him, like he was inside of an incubator.
Governor Bering said, "Turn my camera on so he can see me."
"Yes, Sir!" a few seconds went, "Done, Sir. Camera on."
The Nuvuxun throneman's face animated, his temples pulsing. He said in a thin sharp throaty voice, "I am Torgehrin and I am the ruler of this planet. You will disengage my communications network. If you do not I will obliterate your Antarctic base with nuclear bombs."
Governor Bering said, "I am not going to disengage."
Torgehrin was clenching his teeth now, something obviously wrong. Most of the scientists were now comatose or within the throes of seizures. Some of them had spat up blood or blood ran out of their noses.
"Sir! The alien leader is directly connected into the network!"
Governor Bering said, "We shall continue. Do not cease the attack."
Torgehrin wheezed, skewing in his throne beneath his massive head. "Stop!" He called out with a trembling and fearful cry.
Governor Bering crossed his arms and smirked. He said, "Die."
Torgehrin choked and his eyes sucked inward into his eye sockets. He reached his hand out with his palm on the inside of the plastic bubble, straining and trembling harder and harder and wheezing uncontrollably until finally, with one last reach out in desperation, he collapsed unconsciously.
Nuvuxun attendants wildly entered the plastic bubble and touched his neck to find a pulse. The other attendant lifted his arm but it was inanimate now. Their both looked into the camera with horror in their grimaces. The signal cut out and the screen went blank.
"Sir! Torgehrin appeared dead!"
Governor Bering said, "So it seems. Cut the power to the resonance polarity machine immediately! Get the scientists medical attention!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Governor Bering said, "Defenses up! Call an anticipatory defense to the surface and monitor the airspace for potential threats. Keep us safe. I am going to be back in 10 minutes."
