Free Aneka Jansen 7: Hope by Niall Teasdale

Obviously, the production of a complex bioweapon would merit the attention of a senior administrator.’
    ‘And the truth?’
    ‘We found the virus. It’s a very advanced form of biological nanomachine. Quite ancient and quite deadly. We found some evidence to suggest that it caused the Xinti to move from their natural bodies to synthetic ones. Variations of it have turned up at various points in history. The most recent of those was about thirty years ago when someone did try to use it as a bioweapon.’
    ‘And what happened to that person?’
    ‘A friend of mine killed him and we nuked the viral production facility.’
    ~~~
    ‘My wife informs me that you had prior experience of the viral weapon on Lacora?’
    Ella stood beside Commander Arundal’s desk while he sat on the far side doing his best impression of a superior, Pinnacle officer. She looked at him for a second, considering her words. ‘I encountered a viral weapon which shared some characteristics with it. My microbiologist indicated that the structures were too similar for it to be coincidence. One was derived from the other and Lacora appeared to be the original source.’
    ‘So the previous encounter was with a less virulent form?’
    ‘More and further engineered. It performed restructuring on the victim’s body, turning them into mindless, cannibalistic, disease vectors.’
    ‘And where did this happen?’
    ‘A planet called Eshebbon. It’s of no use to you. It’s several hundred parsecs away, well outside your sphere of influence, and the site is still radioactive.’
    ‘Nowhere is outside our sphere of influence should we wish to involve ourselves. I find it difficult to believe that anyone would throw away a weapon of such utility.’
    Ella shrugged. ‘Historically, bioweapons have always been problematic. Deployment is messy, they can backfire, and we really don’t need that kind of weapon. Perhaps we have a different viewpoint on warfare. If we encounter a species who won’t listen to reason, we remove them entirely and directly. Not that we’ve ever been required to enact the threat.’
    ‘You “remove” them?’
    ‘Our military strategist is very clear on the matter. Should it ever come to it, and she fervently hopes it never does, an enemy who refuses peace must be eliminated for the greater good, down to the last man. To show mercy to a species without mercy is to invite terrorism, insurgency, and a drawn-out war which threatens everyone else. Every system they inhabit is to be destroyed. They are to be hunted down and eradicated. It’s never happened because… Well, most species aren’t suicidal.’
    Arundal waved a dismissive hand. ‘With that kind of power you would be ruling the galaxy by now.’
    ‘We aren’t interested in ruling the galaxy, Commander. We just want to learn from it.’
    ~~~
    The Pinnacle, it seemed, were not interested in learning anything from the galaxy unless it had a military application. With the household asleep, Ella had connected into the local network and quickly found a map of the region which gave her a working route between the township she was in and the spaceport. However, she could have taken a more direct route were it not for the large regions marked as dangerous thanks to the silver webbing, and she had gone looking for information on the odd material.
    It was organic and native to the planet, and it was more or less a monoculture. After it had evolved, more or less nothing else had. Almost everything which had existed prior to that had also been wiped out. Pinnacle scientists had established that it conducted electricity, but not especially well, and that it gave off low levels of radio waves. If touched, it was capable of electrocuting a victim, and large collections of it could emit high-energy static discharges which could disable someone getting too close. It grew quickly, but it was vulnerable to fire. Having established a threat potential, research had stopped. They knew what