Aquari by DD White
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Grulmagof pyramid shipbuilding had been resumed in earnest after the Golimechoid had successfully sabotaged the building of the fifth ship. The invincible Asura who chased the remaining perpetrator down with a virtual particle belt before the culprit committed suicide had brought the dead Golimechoid body of Bleeptoo back. Both Asuras were unscathed by the nuclear fission bombs that tore apart the fledgling pyramid ship that they had worked so hard on. Nobody else on the orbiting construction platform survived those explosions. They brought the body of Bleeptoo back to show off some more of their wondrous technologies to the Grulmagof scientists. The Grulmagof were collaborating with the Asuras in their campaign to exterminate the Golimechoid. The Asuras were some very powerful allies.
The Asuras embalmed Bleeptoo’s body in a preservation tank that fixed electrode instruments onto points in the dead brain. One of the giant Asuras knelt way down to explain to the tiny Grulmagof below who where there to learn. “This is a demonstration of what we refer to as an ego-phantasm. This can be summoned from an undamaged brain after the original being has died. This demonstration shows its usefulness for interrogation.”
The other Asura worked the gigantic controls while taking his presentation cue. “This screen digitizes transubstantial imagery that is experienced by the ego-phantasm in ways that very closely mimic the actual conscious perceptual experience of the phantasm.”
The Grulmagof stretched to see the screen on the equipment like little rodents that were appreciating a giant human appliance. Then they all became distracted by smoky lights that began to increase in brightness not far from the Asura that worked the controls.
The lights coagulated into a glowing Golimechoid, which caused the Grulmagof scientists to shriek away in panic.
“Do calm down my friends. The ego-phantasm is made up of phantom matter, and is unable to directly effect the objective reality it projects itself upon. This is a harmless phantasm of the ego, which this dead Golimechoid entertained during his life. It is harmless. Now we had to adjust this equipment to accommodate the Golimechoid physiology, and their unique electronic DNA, but once we are able to reconstitute the virtual parts of its cells with our preservation equipment the brain can project this ethereal construct of what once lived as this body.”
The Golimechoid ghost made an audible radio broadcast in the unintelligible language of Golimechoids. “Where am I? Who are you beings?” Then it turned its gaze to the smaller Grulmagof below. “Grulmagof!? What? Was I captured?”
“As you can see it’s as if we’ve brought the prisoner back to life.” The Asura turned to the ghost to explain in its own language. “We have brought your consciousness back from the dead so you will tell us what you know about Golimechoid treachery against the Grulmagof.”
The ghost of Bleeptoo became angry. “I will never tell you anything of what I knew when alive. If I am dead then you can no longer persuade me.”
Then the ghost deliberately faded away. After what had just happened had been explained to the Grulmagof one of them spoke up. “That was an ineffective interrogation. As in its life, the subject will not reveal anything.”
The stiff mouth of the Asura bent into something like a smile. Asura mouths don’t move when they speak. This makes Asuras look like they wear masks. “The ego-phantasm will not reveal anything however, the ego-consciousness has now retreated into an unconscious swoon where it will tend to go exactly to what we wanted to know as it enters the dream-like state. We can follow this direction of the suggestion I introduced on the equipment screen next to my colleague.”
Then on the gigantic screen appeared Bleeptoo in a room of some kind. The dingy brown planet Poa-3 appeared outside a view port, indicating the room had been onboard some kind of ship or satellite in orbit around the dead planet. Bleeptoo spoke to a round sphere of technology suspended in the air of the orbiting room. “I did not betray you Young Brain. I would never betray you, the future child of Goag Ralus.”
The Grulmagof appeared puzzled. One asked, “What does this mean?”
The Asuras just looked at each other slowly turning their mouths into a shocked expression like morphing masks. They both recognized the object on the screen. They both simultaneously realized that the Golimechoid were cultivating a Young Brain program, which could only mean that the Golimechoid intended to procreate with Goag Ralus. That had been the worse case scenario of what the Asuras had been collaborating with the Grulmagof species to try to avoid. Devasuras and Asuras were both concerned by the implications of technologies left behind by their ancestors, such as the Golimechoid, Goag Ralus, and the star-doors.