novelraw Chapter 192: A Secret Report
Chapter 192: A Secret Report
Peter thought about it for a long time, so terrified he didn’t dare move a muscle.
Had other people’s minds already been altered? Were they all lurking among the population as sleeper agents, waiting for the perfect moment to launch a sudden, coordinated attack?!
"No, no! I have to get out of here right now... I absolutely have to get out!" Peter was so terrified by his own theories that his whole body trembled and his legs turned to jelly. He immediately scrambled to his feet and hurried out of the room.
Fortunately, thanks to his status as a "Great Scientist," his personal freedom wasn’t strictly limited. He simply informed the head of the psychiatric ward and walked right out the door. A monitoring drone followed closely behind him, but he didn’t care.
----
"I need to see Captain Jason," Peter told the security officer guarding the door to the captain’s office. Finding Jason was actually quite easy; the man was almost always either in a meeting or reviewing proposals inside his office.
"The captain is holding an important meeting right now. Please wait," the guard replied coldly.
Peter scratched his head. Not daring to force his way inside, he could only stand by the door and wait.
He started to feel intensely uneasy. This guard looking at him seemed a bit strange... could his memories have already been overwritten by that damned alien metal sphere? Peter was drenched in a cold sweat, his legs shaking. Every passing second felt like walking on hot coals.
He was carrying a massive, world-ending secret that only he knew, and the pressure was suffocating.
Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed in his mind. "What are you trying to achieve by standing here?"
Hearing Black’s voice, Peter immediately cursed back inwardly, You still have the nerve to ask me?! You dared to tamper with my memories...
After unleashing a mental torrent of curses, Peter finally felt a little better. At the same time, he couldn’t help but praise his own brilliant deduction. Thanks to his sharp mind, a catastrophic invasion that humanity hadn’t even noticed might be averted in time. He was so damn clever; he was practically the ultimate hero of the Federation.
"Large-scale memory manipulation?" Black said, sounding highly irritated. "You’re only just thinking of that now? Though, come to think of it, you do seem to have gotten a tiny bit smarter. Is that because of my superior biological influence?"
Damn it, it’s real...
Peter was utterly stunned, his heart hammering against his ribs.
"You absolute idiot! If that metal sphere had truly been a mass-casualty memory weapon, do you honestly think your pathetic civilization would still be alive today? How long has it been since I arrived? Over a year, right?!"
Peter froze. That... actually made sense. Over a year had passed since the incident, and the Federation’s society hadn’t shown any bizarre, systemic anomalies. Was he just being paranoid? Was he the only one who had been infected?
Then he heard Black continue. "Weapons like the one you’re imagining do exist, and there are indeed certain cosmic races that utilize neural overwriting as a method of reproduction..."
"However, that metal sphere was merely my personal AI terminal. It contained only my specific neural backup and could not be used to wirelessly overwrite populations in mass batches... What a pity. What a genuine pity!"
I don’t believe a word you say! Peter thought, only half-convinced. This alien parasite was incredibly cunning; nothing it said could be taken at face value. If he informed the captain, he had nothing to lose anyway.
"Aren’t you afraid of being strapped to a table, dissected, and studied? You, a so-called ’Great Scientist’?!" Black taunted hypocritically. It had recently learned the concept of sarcasm from Peter, saying the exact opposite of what it meant. Sometimes, heavy sarcasm was far more satisfying than outright insults. Since the two had already dropped all pretenses, the alien just wanted to agitate him.
Peter sneered inwardly; he knew Black was just trying to scare him off. He gritted his teeth. The terrifying thought of being surrounded by alien sleeper agents far surpassed his fear of being dissected in a lab. Besides, he felt the Federation government was much more likely to try and save him than to just execute him outright! He was absolutely determined to tell Jason this secret. Nothing would stop him!
But Black didn’t share that confidence. Under these circumstances, it was extremely reluctant to face Jason. *Very* reluctant. Although it was technically just a digital memory entity and didn’t fear death in the traditional sense, surviving was always preferable. It still understood very little about human social dynamics and logic, and it had no idea how the Federation’s leadership would react to a parasitic alien mind.
"With your primitive human technology, there is absolutely no way to surgically destroy me unless... your physical brain is destroyed right along with me.". You’re bluffing! Peter was desperate now. His stubborn streak flared up, and he didn’t care about the risks anymore. *This is what you get for hijacking my life!*
Under the security guard’s deeply confused gaze, the two "personalities" began to violently wrestle for control of the host body. Peter’s entire frame tensed up. His legs suddenly jerked apart, and his torso twisted erratically from left to right, making him look completely deranged.
Damn it, what are you trying to do?! Peter cursed inwardly, bearing down with all his willpower. Fortunately, because he naturally maintained 80% control over the biological body, he managed to forcefully suppress the alien’s physical takeover during the mental tug-of-war.
Feeling incredibly embarrassed about doing a bizarre, twitchy dance in front of a heavily armed guard, Peter forced an awkward, strained smile. "Hey, man... I really need to pee, sorry! Where’s the nearest restroom?"
The guard nodded slightly, his expression flat, and pointed down the hall toward the restrooms.
Peter immediately sprinted over, cursing inwardly the whole way. This is my body! Get the hell out of my nervous system! Ahhh!
After Peter spent three agonizing hours mentally wrestling the alien inside a bathroom stall, Jason finally emerged from his meeting. Delighted, Peter mustered every ounce of strength he had left to suppress Black and immediately rushed over to him.
-----
Inside the captain’s office...
"You’re saying the entire population’s memories might have been overwritten?!" Jason sat behind his desk, his face turning ashen.
Peter was speaking a mile a minute, his words incoherent and frantic as he wildly gestured across the desk. Despite Peter’s chaotic logic and rambling sentences, Jason managed to piece together the terrifying core message.
That damned alien metal sphere was a neural overwrite device?! Really?! Jason’s fists clenched tightly, a cold sweat instantly soaking through the back of his uniform. He didn’t know if Peter was just suffering from a massive psychotic break, but if this was true, the implications were apocalyptic!
The mere thought that his close friends and trusted colleagues might have had their memories erased and replaced by sleeper alien consciousnesses sent a violent chill down his spine. This kind of insidious, invisible weapon completely surpassed his worst nightmares. Did this mean that absolutely no one on the ship could be trusted anymore?
However, unlike Peter, Jason didn’t succumb to blind panic. Instead, he lowered his head and forced himself to think logically. He quickly realized this doomsday scenario was highly unlikely.
Over the past year, everyone had been acting perfectly normal. No large-scale psychological anomalies had been detected by the medical staff. If an entire sector of people had had their memories forcefully overwritten by an alien, there would definitely be glaring behavioral clues, right? They would probably be acting just like Peter, sprinting wildly down the streets and shaving reverse mohawks into their heads.
On the other hand... Jason hadn’t noticed anything unusual among his crew, either intuitively or through observational reports. The entire Federation was functioning perfectly normally.