43 The Proposal

The white walls of immersive mode are almost blinding. Unlike Sia's immersive mode, Dernel has combined all the rooms to occupy one space. He sits on a white platform in the middle of a large room. The walls come up and meet to form a dome. The ceiling is black and accented with small red and blue dots.

Behind the platform, a spout sticks out the ground and constantly sprays water out into the room. The ground is wet with several inches of water. Dernel's legs hang off the side of the platform as the water pools around his ankles. The lukewarm water calms his spirit.

The room resembles his old classroom setup. During his imprisonment, rooms like these were what kept him sane for so long. During times of great hardship, the device handpicked the most cherished of Dernel's memories to simulate.

Taste, touch, sight...all of those things were simulated here. Senses that were cut off by the ExplorerTech scientists quite some time ago. Now that his energy levels have recovered S.I.D can remain online for longer periods of time within Dernel's mind, but their current standard of life can't be sustained forever.

Dernel is looking at a virtual screen. The top of the screen reads: Chen, Sia, and below that it reads: Age 6.

Dernel goes over Sia's memories within the immersive mode. He watches her as a small child. He watches how she interacted with other humans and her family. How she acted when totally alone. She is a fairly innocent individual.

'Why is this distance acceptable for her people? Their mental handicap must make alienating each other unavoidable.'

"Apex to S.I.D"

S.I.D TO APEX

"I think I figured out a way to improve our relations."

Dernel pauses the projection of memories at a scene in Sia's past where she experienced a betrayal.

"This..."

The screen shows a fifteen-year-old Sia crying in a bathroom, flushing jewelry down a toilet.

S.I.D IS UNAWARE OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SUBJECT 001'S MEMORY

TO ASSESS THE RELEVANCE OF THE INFORMATION VIEWED

FACTS THAT ARE ---

"I'll explain."

...

"Her progenitors abandoned her for outsiders that they were fond of. Such actions that would be viewed as dishonorable before the council. She stayed in the abode of one of her progenitors, but the betrayals continued. One of the outsiders that her male progenitor grew infatuated with was deceitful and wrongfully accused her of unscrupulous behavior. Stealing, malicious gossip, lying, and other unsavory things. All things that Sia herself was not partaking in, but her progenitor did not take her word for it. In the end, she allowed her emotions to rule her. She discarded items that the individual used to frame her as a criminal. It's off-putting how easily it all could have been solved with a pod's connection. Our blessing puts aside many hardships."

Dernel waves his hand and the projections disappear.

"She was attached to "Puter" in much of the same way I am attached to you. Except I have always had my pod alongside me. That new connection quenched a need she'd always had. Now she is abandoned and betrayed all over again. We have to make her see that we are all on the same side."

...

"I think our best plan is to meld with her. It's the only way for her to see why things became the way they are. Why she was put in this vulnerable position. If we don't take the chances we have now she may seek to cut ties completely and run straight into our enemies hands."

DEEP AND EXPLORERTECH PERSONNEL

WOULD HAVE NUMEROUS RESOURCES

USED TO MONITOR THE POPULATION AND ANY

ANOMALOUS BEHAVIOR

"Exactly, and if she starts looking for a doctor to cut us out of her head. We'll never get out of here."

AFFIRMATIVE

PREPARE FOR MELDING

AT WHAT JUNCTURE

"Soon. While she is resting.....then she can meditate on it while out of danger."

ASSEMBLING POTENTIAL MELDING

SEQUENCES

"Yeah, let's go over what memory would be most efficient. I don't want to overwhelm her."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

16 years ago...

A large brown megalodon streamed past a large cargo ship and then dipped back underwater. Its passenger held tightly to its dorsal fin. He noted the numbers on the side of the boat.

The megalodon dived deep into the ocean until it approached a green force field. The barrier encompassed a large underwater civilization. Each building was carved into the rock, coral, and the ground. Inhabitants swam or skittered across the ground passing through seaweed and schools of fish. Nature and technology coexisted there. As technology continuously increased, the council were kept busy evaluating what technology brought more advantages to their society than damages.

Usually, the proposals brought forward were for the betterment of their own people or entertainment, but nothing that would be shared with the outside world.

The megalodon accelerated forward into the barrier and was welcomed easily into the Treading Port. Its rider released his grip on the megalodon and rubbed a hand underneath the creature's eyes and snout. It raised its head and opened its jaw in enjoyment. Its rider placed his head next to the jaws of the creature and smiled while hugging as much of the behemoth as he could reach.

"Essic, I'll see you later. Go chill in the Depths Depot until I put out a ping." Dernel told his Escort.

The megalodon sent a series of images into Dernel's mind: the cargo ship, humans, and trash floating on the top of ocean water.

"I'll report the location of that cargo ship we saw as well. I know you worry about any taints. They wouldn't dare drop waste around these parts. Additionally, they saw you. I'm sure they'll know better than to break any maritime laws while monitored."

An image of a goldfish popped into Dernel's mind.

"Yeah, they might be dumb. I'll report it. I won't forget."

The megalodon rumbled for a moment, and then pulled away to swim to the large cavern that leads to the Escort Depot. It had reserved space for large aquatic Escorts.

The Treading Port is a series of floating platforms over the city. The platforms were made from black volcanic stones. Only Escorts stopped in those areas to drop off their pod mates. There are several ways to exit the port platforms.

An Underling could drop off a corner that is positioned over a tube that would slide the occupant to their destination. An Underling could "fly" off to their destination. Many Underlings have pectoral fins or propulsion abilities. Those with such talents usually only use Escorts for long distance travel. Lastly, an Underling could hop off and climb down the long ribbons of braided kelp that were positioned near the platforms. Not all Underling could swim, so these varied exits were appreciated by the 30% that were limited in their travel.

Each kelp had a different color along their tops to aid an Underling in finding out which sector was in which direction.

Dernel untwined his arms into their separate appendages and lept off of his platform. One of his flexible limbs shot out and grasped an orange-tipped brown rope of kelp. All four of his tentacles rapidly worked together and lowered Dernel to the reef below. The coral poked at his scaled feet and signaled the end of the descent. Dernel then spun away from the rope of kelp and swam toward his destination.

A cloud of bubbles was left behind after his speedy departure.

He passed by natural bridges and swam through rocky passages to reach one of the many subterranean caverns used for social activities. In order to be admitted into the cave, Dernel had to first pass through a thick halocline and navigate to the correct passage without the help of his eyes.

The halocline was dyed orange to notify the citizen of the zone they were traveling in. The orange color denoted that the specific cave system had fresh water compartments. Some Underlings had adverse reactions to such things, so the warning was appreciated. Dernel, his pod mates, and his friends did not have any reaction to the change in salinity, thus the current meeting was booked for this area.

It was a joyous occasion. When Dernel broke free of the thick orange fog of the halocline, he could see several individuals waiting for him. The freshwater area was so clear it was as if they were sitting topside.

His pod mates, his brother and sister, were chatting together beside two large stalactites protruding from the roof of the compartment. They leaned back against the rocky structures like horizontal lawn chairs. Their limbs were comfortably tucked around themselves.

He was meeting with his friends as well. Five Underlings he communicated with regularly or worked within the research halls. There was one unfamiliar Underling, Carmel's pod mate, but they were invited to come along as well.

Carmel worked with Dernel in the research halls and had many white spines around his head and arms similar to a puffer fish. His pod mate, Tyre, had red spines similar to a lionfish. Such similarities happened in a pod. Within Dernel's pod, his sister resembled him the most. She too had tentacles that could be compressed into two humanoid limbs, and her scales were a dark blue, almost black, color. Their brother had a transparent, iridescent baby bluefin on his head and attributes similar to a remora. Like the sucker-like organ along his back that allowed him to remain attached to Dernel's Escort for long periods of time. He was an oddity.

The rest of the Underling were red and green scaled with average scaly appearances, excluding Dernel's old lab partner who clearly had blobfish qualities.

When everyone saw Dernel exit the orange fog, they gathered in the middle of the cavern and settled on the smoothest portions of the floor. Dernel sprinted over to them in excitement and gushed the details of his latest plans.

"I'm bringing a proposal to the council. It will be a complete change from the usual way things have been done. I've planned a system for all levels."

"All levels?" Carmel asked while he leaned an arm on a smooth shelf of rock.

"Well, my first device is for mankind," Dernel revealed.

"..."

Everyone looked at Dernel with surprise etched on their face.

"The council won't allow you to breach the confidentiality clause in our Neutrality contract," Waller commented.

"This could remove so many conflicts that we've had between our people and within their own societies. The device can be temporarily attached to a subject during a tribunal and record memories straight from the subjects minds. It can read their physical signals and can ascertain mental health. It would be invaluable to mankind. With less time focused on their judicial strifes, imagine the breakthroughs they could help us engineer." Dernel argued.

"Ascertain mental health? We have connections for that, so it would definitely be of no help here." Tyre remarked.

Waller laughed at that.

"Do you really think the council would reconvene with the United Human Initiative for that? How well has it performed in your experiments?" his sister, Lenn, questioned.

"It was the easiest part of my plan. It has passed all the checks without fail. Once I have a human subject to test it on I can recalibrate it to their specific biology. All the tests have been practiced on orphaned ones in the Health Sector who have no bonds. They responded wonderfully. This could help all Removed ones with orphaned pod bonds from passing on. But that isn't my secret weapon..." Dernel said with a twinkle in his eyes.

His compassion for all forms of life had always made him tear up when thinking of the ways he planned to fix the world. No more helpless Underlings. No more helpless humans. They all shared the same planet, the quality of life shouldn't be so drastic, but it was. Underlings had a small limited amount of hardships in their lives, mostly centered around the rare death or two that would occur in pods. Besides that, the famine, pestilence, and death that occur in human societies were unheard of in their world. He couldn't pull his mind from that as a child. Why do they allow that cycle to continue? Why doesn't anyone fix it? What purpose is their suffering fulfilling?

"Secret weapon?" my brother, Z, muttered and leaned forward.

"What do you mean secret weapon? You are making destructive materials? I thought you were focused on earthly peace?" Jenga asked.

"Yes, it is a human term. I have an unknown project that will definitely peak the elders interest and push forward the talking to reconvene the UHI summits." Dernel said with pride.

"So....what is it? Is it to be withheld from us as well?!" Stace exclaimed.

"Yeah, this is...what is it?" Mackie asked her round bulbous nose nudged at his head.

She leaned on Dernel's arm and squeezed his shoulder, "Did you bring it along with you?"

Everyone looked at Dernel's bare form. He doesn't seem to have a new device with him. Dernel looked back at them while suppressing a smile.

"I have made a successful time jumper," he announced.

"What?!" everyone shouted back at him.

His friends rushed forward and yelled questions at Dernel. He couldn't suppress his grin any longer and sharp teeth were revealed. His pod smiled right back at him. Z and Lenn sat back from the excited group and projected feelings of awe and joy.

Z's habit of clinging to something while excited or nervous activated and he grasped Lenn's hand in his.

"What sort of time jumper? How far can you travel with it?" Z asked while brimming with delight.

"It can go several weeks into the future or the past if enough hydrone is processed into the device," Dernel replied.

"Hydrone? Isn't that a volatile substance? Highly corrosive and in some instances, it can poison the organism handling it." Mackie commented.

"Yes, which is why I use it along with a dimensional space converter to utilize a subspace that the subject's physical and spiritual beings inhabit while lively on this plane," Dernel said.

"Is that a play off of Velia's subspace theory?" Jenga asked.

"Didn't Cornel dispute that anything packed into subspace with a converter would be obsolete because the loss of consciousness would result in the loss of product?" Tyre interjected.

"Not the loss of consciousness, death you dweeb." Carmel corrected.

Mackie and Dernel nodded at the correction.

"Actually, I've fixed that problem by including a ...." Dernel explained the basic structure of his hydrone processor and its dimensional converter.

"Always the amount of false convictions is blamed on the technology of the time, lack of resources, and urgings for the defendant to plead guilty on both sides. With my invention, their alibi could be shown before a judge or jury and verified. False witness statements can be thrown away. Of course, there might be some exceptions, but overall I really think this could resolve a lot of cases and free up a lot of time in many of their civilizations." Dernel said in his lecturing voice.

Mackie listened with her eyes closed. Her head leaned on Dernel's shoulder as she contemplated what he had said.

"Judge, defendants....witness statements....haha, you've really gone all out with researching their judicial system," Jenga said with a confused look on his face.

"Well, if it helps I didn't know even a quarter of what I know now before I researched about it," Dernel reassured the confused male.

"When did you find time to do both projects?....'Ling, a converter for hydrone processing takes intense engineering sessions, and the research for the rest of that," Carmel asked while waving his arms around his head.

"When you're passionate about something, you find the time," Mackie muttered.

"You're a nut," Carmel said pointing at Dernel.

Dernel laughed.

The conversation shifted to everyone else's news and progress on their own endeavors until they were interrupted by a Depths Depot employee.

"Thaya and Essic are quarreling again," a male Underling wearing an orange ribbon around his neck, and long black pectoral fins, shouted into the compartment.

The employee was half submerged in the thick halocline. He circled within the orange haze, waiting for Dernel to follow behind him.

"Sigh, Thaya shouldn't even be allowed in the Depth Depot," Dernel grumbled and looked back at his companions. "I'll let you all know the outcome of the meeting. The date should be announced soon."

He rose from his seat on the floor and prepared to dive and follow his guide.

"It'll be a breakthrough for Underling and Mankind. You'll be famous outside the tide, brother!"

Dernel's brother exclaimed as Dernel swam toward the exit.

Lenn yelled out to Dernel's disappearing form.

"Connect us when it's over!" Dernel's sister shouted.

"No sneak peaks!" Dernel shouted back over his shoulder, then disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"This one will suffice. Show this to her while she sleeps. Don't force the meld if she rejects our connection. I don't want to further damage relations while making amends."

AFFIRMATIVE

CONFIGURING MELD PARAMETERS
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