She ended up spending a fair amount of time playing cards with Qelu. Dinner was fairly uneventful. Qelu made a few comments, but nothing unexpected. They had considered slipping her sedatives, but decided against it. Given they didn’t know much about her physiology. Thankfully, she was tired. Kiru tried not to think about why, so it wasn’t long after that she went to sleep. Getting her up to the roof, and to the shuttle proved remarkably easy. It was like moving a young child in her sleep, no guard at all.

The shuttle itself was cloaked, but when they came close to it, a door opened. Kiru stepped into the shuttle holding the Irini girl in her arms. Qei and May followed her in after.

A hologram of Megumi materialized and greeted them with a smile as they entered. “Lay her down on the table. You three can wait over there,” she pointed to a bench set in the corner, “This will take a while.”

Kiru nodded, and set her on the examination table. It looked a lot like the bed she had her own procedure on. The one that involved her enhancement, and the undoing of her brainwashing. It wasn’t the most pleasant memory, but if she could go back to that moment she would have climbed onto that table again. Albeit without the reluctance she had then. She honestly loved what Megumi had done to her, and if she had been in the mind to actually agree to it, likely would have. Especially now that she understood everything this entailed.

Looking around, as she headed for the corner she noted that the shuttle was filled with strange equipment. Some that she had already seen in that lab, some of it new to her. None of it was familiar enough for her to know what it was for. 

Glancing at the table, she noted several mechanical arms hovering over Qelu. There was no obvious sign of what was going on, but she had a feeling that those were sensor arms. Qelu was likely being scanned.

Megumi studied the incoming scan data on the newly acquired specimen. The fact that she was sleeping made her quite cooperative, while she conducted her initial scans. They were quite extensive actually. Unlike the more primitive races that surrounded her, she could obtain all the data she needed from those scanning arms. There was no need for dissection. As she could discern everything she needed to know about the girl’s insides via those scanners.

Having already analyzed enough about her physiology to know which compounds would be effective, she deployed an injection arm. It had a special cocktail designed to awaken the specimen and keep her in a calm dissociated state. She needed her awake for the next set of scans. The cocktail was not dissimilar to what she had given Kiru for her procedure, albeit with a few adjustments so that it would be more effective on an Iniri. Like the compound she had given Kiru, it would also paralyze the specimen. The cocktail didn’t contain any paralytic compounds but instead rendered the specimen immobile via a dose of nanites programmed to interface with the nervous system and inhibit motor control.

Within seconds the specimen Qelu woke up, and was understandably rather confused. Her inability to move, and the strange circumstance caused several neurological responses. The conditions were triggering her fear responses. She activated a few speakers, and began to play music. The piece being actively changed and controlled by her as she noted Qelu’s psychological responses to the music. At the same time she supplemented it by introducing calming impulses via her neural scanners. They were afterall a complete neural interface not just a scanning device.

Once the subject was sufficiently calmed, and controlled she began the memory scan. This was the main reason she need the girl awake, it was much easier to scan memories when the subject was awake. It also aided with other tests. Not to mention she could erase the whole incident later. In the meantime she already had new data to parse and assimilate.

It did not take her long. Her ability to process and archive information was far superior to most organic species. Very few organics could compete with a computer like her on that. Many of those that could were highly Psionic. Both Dragons and Soleans, for example, had highly evolved brains that were actually capable of making the complex calculations needed for Interstellar travel without the aid of a computer. Yet both races still used computers, and in fact they were really good with them as well. As a good computer, even with such advanced brains, was invaluable for numerous applications.

Her avatar stretched, and she looked over at Kiru. It had been a few minutes since she had started. Her scans were not complete, but since she was able to analyze the data faster than it was coming in, she already had a few answers for her.

“She is actually a very interesting specimen. I’ve answered a few questions already, and raised new ones. It seems that young Qelu here is the product of some very interesting genetic engineering.”

Kiru frowned, “Someone created her?”

“Oh, yes she was created. At first glance, an amateur might have thought the work Solean. That would be wrong, the techniques are similar, but there are a few markers that give away who really made her, or to be more accurate, started the work on her creation.”

Kiru’s frown deepened, “What are you talking about?”

“The Iniri are incomplete, or they were, until someone tried to finish them. Whoever did finish them weren’t exactly skilled. Their techniques are nothing more than crude imitations of the more sophisticated techniques used by the original creators of the Iniri, the Dragons.”

Leaning forward she said, “You are saying the Dragons created the Iniri? Why?”

“Oh, there could have been any number of reasons. The important bit is that they clearly never finished the work. The project was abandoned. Don’t ask why, I don’t know. Someone else then came along, and tried to finish the work for their own reasons.”

“I see. Can you tell me who tried to finish the work?”

“No idea, but I don’t think it was the Neku. They don’t really have the technology for this, and frankly having studied you, I can say with confidence your race isn’t stupid enough to mess with technology you barely understand. Whoever it was obviously stumbled across an abandoned draconic lab.”

Kiru glanced at Qelu, “So you don’t know. Can you find out?”

“If Qelu knows, I’ll find out soon enough.” she sighed, “Although I doubt she would. She is young, and based on what I have already learned. The Iniri were already here when she was born.”

“They were? What have they been doing here for so long, and why?”

“Ah that, I can already answer. A study of her physiology has been most enlightening. The Iniri don’t employ the same reproductive strategy that the Neku use. They are a unisex species, entirely female. They are capable of carrying young themselves, but it seems that the Neku are biologically compatible with them, and can carry their young as well. As such the reason they are here is at least in part related to reproduction”

Kiru interrupted, “Wait hold up, single sexed? How exactly do they reproduce then?”

She nodded, and materialized a holographic representation of the Iniri reproductive organs. “The Iniri have four ovaries, which both produce and store their eggs. When it comes time to reproduce they will release a few eggs into the uterus where they mature. Once an egg is mature, the female would be compelled to seek out new genetic material. There is a special tentacle hidden in the folds of their vagina that plays into this role. They can use it to deposit immature eggs into another female. Eggs that would be absorbed by the mature eggs fertilizing them. These fertilized eggs can then either be retained in the womb or transferred to another host.”

Kiru’s expression changed, and she asked with a sour tone, “Does that mean...”

Megumi nodded and interrupted, “What you think it does? Yes. Qelu was checking those girls she was inspecting for suitability as a potential partner. As a possible host for an Iniri child. It seems that neighborhood was chosen as a future nest, and the residents are expected to carry their children. It implies a few things about what they may be doing to the girls they take, at least about what kind of brainwashing they will be doing.”

“That’s awful.”

“Well as I said it is not the only reason they are here. They aren’t just using the Neku for reproduction. From what I have learned from her memories so far it seems they are also both a workforce, and military for them.”

“I see.”

Megumi smiled, “Hmm this is interesting.”

“What is interesting?”

Megumi gave the three a look, and then she began, “Kiru those gaps in your memory? Remember those?”

She nodded, “Yes, I do remember those.”

 Well, I probably could have restored them if the Iniri hadn’t been so through with their removal of those memories. I had my theories about how they did it, but now I know for sure how they did it. It seems they inherited some draconic technology, although they can’t fully replicate it.”

Kiru frowned. “Okay, how does that play into my missing memories?”

“That tech plays into how they removed those memories from your mind. They used a neural interface not dissimilar to the one I am using, just less sophisticated to transfer them out of your mind and onto an external data medium. To be more specific, a memory crystal. They weren’t erased, they were externalized.”

Kiru’s face brightened, “Does that mean my memories can be restored?”

“Possibly. Although there is a chance that they erased them already to make room for someone else’s memories. Keep in mind producing memory crystals is no easy task for them, that means memory space on them is valuable. Given they likely believe your fleet was lost with all hands, they may believe you are dead. Those memories may no longer be of use to them. Not to mention they can’t transmit them, so only what memories of yours were brought here would still exist if they did. More recent extractions would have been lost with the fleet.”

Her face darkened, and then went through several expressions. “I uh see. Um, any idea why they were doing this?”

Megumi nodded, “There are a few advantages. We already know they are altering memories. Externalizing them actually makes it easier, especially when they alter the memories of entire groups. Helps them identify whose memories they need, and ensure their false memories are consistent.”

Kiru nodded, “I uh see. That does make a twisted amount of sense. Any idea why Qelu could answer this, and not tell me a thing about why I was sterilized?”

Megumi nodded, “They are doing the procedure here with some groups. Qelu has assisted with it, in fact. As for why she doesn’t know that? It’s because she doesn’t really work with the Military. As it is, I haven’t found any answers yet about what happened to the men. I do need to take a look at an ‘enhanced’ Neku though. It seems that they are doing more to the local women than just brainwashing them. A lot more. I’ll tell you about it later. Why don’t you three get off to bed? I have some more to do, and I will tell you what else they are doing in the morning.”

Megumi smiled, and watched them leave. Then turned to young Qelu who was looking at her quite frightfully. “Oh, don’t be so worried. If I wanted to harm you I would have done so already. Now I am almost done here. We just have a simple correction procedure to perform. After that, I’ll send you back down to Kiru.”

A panicked question spiked in the girls thoughts, and Megumi answered, “Ah. Is that what has you so worried. No Kiru didn’t betray you, and I am not here to harm you as I just said. The corrections procedure is quite simple. Your creators never finished you, and whoever tried didn’t really know what they were doing. I have a few things to fix in your genes, but you don’t need to be awake for that. I’ll wake you again later, when it is time to erase your memory of this. Maybe you would like some more pleasant memories of a good time with Kiru?”

Sensing some relief in the girl’s mind, she quickly administered a sedative. Putting the girl back to sleep. She wasn’t lying to Qelu about having a few things to fix in her DNA. Some of what needed fixing was the part of her DNA that governed behavior. The dragons had done a fine job coding that part, but weren’t quite finished. They had never installed the normal hardcoding that both her own creators, and the dragons were known to use. Creations like the Iniri needed safeguards and controls to ensure they didn’t get out of hand. The Iniri had no controls, which is why they are out of control. 

There were also some other parts of her code that could use some work, especially those touched by the amateurs who tried to finish the creation of the Iniri race. They knew just enough about genetic engineering to complete the work, but not enough to do it right. When she was done, Qelu would be a far more complete, and powerful specimen of the Iniri race. Thanks to those errors, she only had about a third of the telepathic power she should have been born with. Not to mention those controls would also be included in her completed genome, ensuring the race won’t get out of hand again. Even if they were doing exactly what they were created to do, subvert other races.

On the table she had already started the procedure. Robotic arms had lined up and were attaching injector ports to her body in key locations. This procedure did not require Megumi to open her up, as all the work was going to be done by nanites introduced into her body. The locations of the ports were calculated to maximize the spread of the nanites. All she would be doing was the programing and delivery of the nanites.

It took only moments for the ports to be securely placed, and then she activated them. The injectors activated, puncturing the skin to allow the introduction of nanites to the key locations she had identified. Already those nanites were spreading through her young specimen’s body. They had not yet begun to do anything yet. She had not given them the order to do anything but spread. Not yet, anyway. She paid close attention to their progress.

It was not long before the nanites had spread sufficiently. Megumi initiated the next phase. Instantly the nanomachines began altering cells, and manipulating the girl’s DNA according to their program. The machines had very sophisticated protocols for this. Not surprising considering that the technology for this was very old. It was older than the Empire in fact. The Solean people didn’t even develop nanite technology, they inherited it from an even older race that is no longer around, their progenitors. That race employed nanotechnology widely and even used it to extend life more than doubling their own lifespan with it. Being so old, the technology was very reliable and largely perfected. It had applications in virtually every field imaginable from medicine to construction.

Her sensors monitored the progress of the nanites. It took them time to enact the changes. Once they were done with the first stage they moved on to the second stage. Her cells had already been altered, adjusted to the new genome she programed. Now they were doing the same with her eggs, while also making a few minor adjustments to various organs in her body. Optimizing their function, once completed the changes would extend her life by about a hundred and fifty years. The alterations to her DNA that were already completed had already extended it by a hundred, as such young Qelu would have another two hundred and fifty years to look forward to, in addition to the years she had already had ahead of her. If she managed to reach transcendent level, which is highly likely given her lifespan, it would be more. She looked down at the sleeping girl with a smile, she was quite cute sleeping there.