Free Sample Chapter - Prologue

Prologue Class 3 Planet – Unexplored – Hunting Expedition

The Sun had risen and set several times while the three hunters stalked prey on this lush, yet unexplored world. The hunters belonged to a star-faring species that had successfully colonized 13 nearby star systems. The species was short in stature, by Takeshi standards, only reaching waist-high on an average Takesh male. But the Takesh had not yet risen to a fully sentient species. And the Takesh homeworld was hundreds of light-years distant.

The hunters called themselves the Breeyan. A cool breeze blew gently through the short, mottled fur that allowed them to blend into almost any background. Raising their long snouts, lined with sharp teeth, they used their highly attuned senses of smell and hearing to locate their prey—strong advantages for any hunter. And as a species, they so enjoyed the hunt—they lived for it. These three had paid a substantial portion of their accumulated wealth to purchase passage to this untamed planet—and be the first to exploit it. They carried with them only the most primitive of weapons and tools. The kill tasted so much better when the killing was done with one’s own teeth and claws.

They had been following a fresh trail of a “Fanged Leaper” for half of a planetary rotation when they came across a sprawling grove of giant deciduous trees. The trunks were as wide as the shuttle that transported them from orbit. Mammoth limbs spread out in every direction, creating a full canopy as far as their eyes could see. And the tracks of their prey lead directly into this forest. Stealthily, they followed. Another scent rode the light breeze, and they all raised their snouts and sniffed in a staccato rhythm trying to identify it. The strong odor of the forest itself almost covered all other smells… corruption, decay, decomposition. Perhaps this was the lair of some high-level predator… they must be cautious. But this prey was theirs! They would fight for it! They lowered themselves so that their chests were almost touching the ground—making themselves as small as possible. They quickly but quietly continued the pursuit.

Under the trees’ thick canopy, light from the sun was a dim stepchild of what it had been in the clear. As they followed the shadowy trail, they soon found evidence of many kills in the past. There were bones, carcasses, bits of fur, teeth, and claws strewn about under the tree trunks. Immediately the fur on the backs of the hunters stood straight up, and they extended their whiskers to sense the slightest of vibrations that might indicate some danger… but they sensed only the wind. As they wondered what had caused such carnage, the scent of the forest seemed to grow more cloying, if not malodorous. No, the smell was—interesting—mesmerizing. They felt themselves taking it in with deep inhalations. A feeling of lightheadedness and fatigue took over the hunters. Soon they began to feel drowsy and experienced trouble keeping their eyes open. Well, the Breeyan had been on the hunt for a long time.... They thought that perhaps this was a fine place to lie down and rest—just for a moment. They would resume the hunt later. As they lay down and huddled close together, their eyes slowly closing, a fine mist settled over them from the canopy above.

This was the way of things. The SEED had spawned in the Sylvistrakah Tree Canopies since the first of these giant trees had sprouted from the ground. It was a symbiotic relationship. The SEED had found a sheltering host where it could grow and thrive. In turn, the SEED used its unique talents to nurture the trees by providing a continual source of nutrients to the surrounding root system. The SEED’s function was both lure and executioner. The SEED rained down on the slumbering hunters—entering their bodies through pores in their skin, through nostrils and other mucous membranes. Science might categorize the SEED as a virus.

But the SEED was unique throughout the galaxy. It was not a simple virus, driven by individual hungry cells alone. Millions of these single-celled organisms, left in isolation, would never have become more than any other virus. Instead, the SEED was a gestalt organism. It was defined by the properties inherent in the collective. The individual cells were part of the whole. A collective consciousness developed once the number of individual cells reached a critical mass. The SEED functioned as a single organism.

As the SEED entered the circulatory system of the Breeyan that day, it used the resources it found in their bodies to begin rapid reproduction. It secreted a strong neurotoxin that was designed to paralyze the victim, yet keep it alive—for the time being. Normally, the SEED would propagate as much as possible in the host body before allowing it to die. The rapid decomposition, aided by the SEED, would distribute nutrients through the soil and into the network of roots belonging to the host trees.

But as the SEED propagated inside the Breeyan hunters’ bodies, something new happened. The SEED had encountered a sentient species for the first time. Though the SEED had a collective consciousness, it had never been truly sentient itself. Encountering and absorbing sentient life energy now changed all of that. As the decomposition continued its relentless progress, the SEED cells that had been exposed and changed by the encounter with sentience were reabsorbed into the trees' root system—and became sentient themselves. When they rejoined the collective organism, the SEED began to change—to think—to evolve. It soon realized that animal hosts might have much more usefulness than as simply a supply of nutrients.

Thus, began the First SEED Empire.

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