The Martial Unity

Rui candidly informed the laminar integuments of his intentions, adding on top of peace several related objectives.

“We hope to establish a relationship of mutually beneficial trade and exchange of information, goods, and services as well,” Rui continued. “We believe that we share the same goal and the same enemy: the alien virus that seeks to infect the Universalis Mensis. Thus, we can work together to prevent the virus from succeeding in its objectives. We hope that these talks will yield a peace pact, a mutual security agreement, and even a trade agreement.”

The laminar integument hovered in space several meters away from him as a flux of light flashes flowed within its body, its mind entirely transparent to him.

Its response was simple.

“Peace. Possible.”

Rui was hoping for something more affirmative, like a reciprocated statement of peace. But at least the laminar integument hadn’t rejected peace. “However. Absolute. Guarantees. Certainty. Needed,” the laminar integument continued. “Planet. Still. Infected. Virus. Mind. Eliminated. But. Exotic. Infected. Material. Still. Intact. Risk. Still. Present.”

Rui knew that this would be a point that would need to be resolved. Even though he had destroyed the deep biosphere beneath the Panama Continent, it was still possible for it to return and recreate the virulogical consciousness of the alien virus. After all, the bacteria of the deep biosphere were still alive and well outside of the Panama Continent. This meant that eventually it would return to the Panama Continent through natural geological processes.

He would most likely need to leave behind a massive colony of antithesis cells that constantly eliminated any and all deep biosphere bacteria trying to return to the Panama Continent.

He couldn’t just destroy the entire deep biosphere across the entire planet either; that would be disastrous for geochemical cycles that sustained all life. In fact, the Panama Continent would suffer ecological shocks because of that, but that was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

A little bit of climate change was better than the planet exploding violently to seed the alien virus across the cosmos.

However, it was the laminar civilization that needed convincing. Not him. They were extremely hostile to the alien virus and anything to do with it. They wouldn’t let go of the fact that Gaia was an infected world, as they called it.

The most important thing for him to do.

“We understand your concerns,” Rui began with a reassuring choice of words. “Indeed, the exotic matter serving as the foundation of the infection is still present within a part of Gaia. However, we have taken very powerful measures to ensure that there is no risk of returning. I personally have injected my cells across the crust and mantle of the infected area, ensuring that there is no bacteria that could serve as the foundation of the virulogical mind.”

The laminar integument paused as a flux of light flashes washed through its entire body. It was processing his words, trying to evaluate the veracity of his claims. The reality was that the laminar integument would ordinarily have never accepted such bold claims from a more primitive civilization like Gaian Civilization. This came from the trauma of watching their own world be destroyed, even though they thought that they had managed to get rid of the alien virus. Thus, the standard procedure in these cases was to simply ignore the native indigenous and destroy the infected world no matter what. The risk was simply too great.

This case, however, was the most unique case that the Tendril of Light had ever come across. Not only had they managed to repel the Laminar Army for quite some time with absurdly powerful infantry, but they had also managed to repel the nebulars, which was just completely unfathomable to the laminar integuments.

The so-called ‘Paths’ that the Tendril of Light saw in these interesting indigenous species were of extremely great interest to the Laminar Civilization. In fact, if the Tendril of Light had its way, it would have loved to forge peace and collaboration with the Gaian Alliance.

However, it couldn’t just have its way. It had been entrusted to represent the Laminar Civilization.

And like any civilization, there was a diversity of opinion on how this unique case needed to be treated.

There were forces with the Laminar Civilization that stated that the infected world needed to be destroyed even more urgently because of the revelation of these exotic phenomena known as Paths. Because if the native species were this innately powerful, then it meant that the alien virus seed from their world would also contain the power of Paths.

If the alien virus got its hands on this power, then there would be no hope left. The situation of the cosmos was precarious and tense, as it was, but it would completely destabilize with such an intensely powerful variable.

On the other hand, there were also those in the Laminar Civilization who advocated for not just peace and cooperation, but a wholesale investment and sponsored growth from the Laminar Civilization, helping Gaian Civilization spread across their galaxy and grow more and more powerful to become more and more of a powerful force against the alien virus.

Then there was the power of Rui Quarrier himself.

The news that they had found a new non-alien virus lifeform that could harness the power of the information dimension had sent shockwaves through Laminar Civilization, causing the stakes to rise to even greater heights. In the past twenty-four hours, while Gaian Civilization had been sorting out its domestic matters and unifying under the banner of the Gaian Alliance, the Laminar Civilization had only grown more divided on how this particular native species had to be dealt with. Some advocated for destruction to mitigate risk, others advocated for peace, exchange, and cooperation. It was very difficult for the Tendril of Light to represent his entire civilization perfectly with such a vast variation of opinions, but he resolved to see it through to the end.

“Make. Your. Case.”

It told Rui, insisting that he convince it of his plan to keep the virus in check.