Arc 2, Chapter 10: Unity's Price
Hayes woke to the soft hum of the Pathfinder's medical bay and the distinct sensation that her body had been through a wood chipper.
"Easy." a calm voice said. Dr. Voss appeared in her field of vision, checking readouts on a medical display. "You're safe. You're aboard the Pathfinder. You've been unconscious for eighteen hours."
"Feels. Like. Eighteen. Years." Hayes managed, her throat raw. "Water?"
Voss held a cup to her lips, and Hayes drank gratefully. The liquid felt like fire going down, but it was the best thing she'd ever tasted.
"Your injuries were extensive." Voss said, her tone clinical. "Severe radiation exposure, multiple fractures, internal bleeding, third-degree burns. Honestly, Lieutenant, you shouldn't be alive. Whatever protected you in that explosion did just enough to keep you breathing, but recovery is going to be long and painful."
"Ugh. How long?"
"Several weeks. Maybe longer. And there may be permanent damage. The radiation exposure alone..."
"Lieutenant Hayes." Unity's voice resonated through the medical bay speakers, and Voss looked up in surprise. "We wish to speak with you. Privately, if possible."
Voss frowned. "She needs rest. Whatever you want can wait..."
"It's okay, Doc." Hayes said. "I want to talk to them too."
Voss looked between Hayes and the speaker, clearly unhappy, but finally nodded. "Fifteen minutes. Then she needs to sleep." She left, sealing the door behind her.
The moment she was gone, silver began flowing through the ventilation grates. Unity's nanites formed a small cloud near Hayes's bed, pulsing with curious patterns.
"You survived." Unity observed. "This is...unexpected. The probability of surviving a reactor detonation at ground zero was less than zero-point-zero-one percent. Yet you are here."
"Yeah, about that." Hayes said. "You saved me. Or...future you did. I think."
"We have reviewed your initial statements to Captain Stellar. You claim our future self intervened. Traveled through time. Called you 'old friend.'" Unity's patterns shifted, almost like excitement. "Is this accurate?"
"As accurate as I can be when I was dying at the time." Hayes tried to sit up, winced, gave up. "It was different from you. More...refined. Purposeful. It spoke differently. More personal."
"Described us as...friend?"
"Said I was important. That I taught you things about humanity. About individuals mattering as much as collectives." Hayes managed a weak smile. "Said it was good to see me again. Like we'd known each other for years. Something like that."
Unity was silent for a long moment, patterns stilling. "We have no memory of this. No record of temporal displacement. No knowledge of time travel capability. And yet..."
"And yet I'm alive when I should be dead. " Hayes finished. "Look, I don't understand it either. But that thing...future you...saved my life because apparently we become friends."
"We would like that very much," Unity said quietly. "Friendship. Connection. To be valued not for utility but for...companionship."
"Then I guess we should start now." Hayes said. "Friends, present tense."
The nanites pulsed brighter, and Hayes could have sworn she heard something like joy in Unity's harmonious voice. "Yes. Friends. Present tense. We...we like this."
"Good." Hayes tried to shift position, gasped as pain lanced through her body. "Though right now, this friend is mostly broken bones and radiation burns."
"We could help with that." Unity said. "Our nanites have medical applications. We could accelerate healing. Repair cellular damage. Reduce scarring."
"Unity, I appreciate the offer, but..."
"The process is not without risk," Unity continued. "Our nanites would need to integrate temporarily with your biological systems. There could be...complications. Side effects we cannot fully predict. But we could reduce your recovery time from months to weeks. Perhaps days."
Hayes was quiet, thinking. Months of recovery versus days. But at what cost?
"What kind of side effects?" she asked.
"Unknown. We have never attempted this with a human. Our medical protocols were designed for Confluence biology. Adapting them to human physiology is...theoretical."
"So I could end up worse." Hayes said.
"You could. Or you could heal faster than any human treatment would allow. Or you could experience effects we cannot currently predict." Unity paused. "We would not suggest this if we believed the risks outweighed benefits. But we cannot guarantee safety. Only...possibility."
The door hissed open, and Captain Stellar entered, followed by James. Both looked surprised to see Unity's nanite cloud in the medical bay.
"Unity," Stellar said carefully, "what's going on?"
"We were offering Lieutenant Hayes medical assistance." Unity replied. "Accelerated healing through nanite integration."
"Absolutely not." Stellar said immediately. "Hayes, you're not letting them experiment on you."
"It's not an experiment." Unity protested. "It is treatment. Beneficial treatment."
"It's untested treatment with unknown side effects on a critically injured patient." Stellar approached the bed. "Hayes, you need conventional medical care. Dr. Voss is one of the best..."
"Dr. Voss says I'm looking at many weeks, possible months of recovery." Hayes interrupted. "Maybe permanent damage. Radiation effects that could last years."
"Better than letting Unity turn you into a science project."
"Captain, with respect, this is my choice." Hayes looked at the silver cloud hovering near her bed. "Unity saved my life. Future Unity, anyway. Reached through time because apparently I'm important enough to risk temporal paradox. I think...I think I can trust them. Present tense."
"Hayes..."
"Sir, I'm not a kid. I'm an officer who just blew herself up to save two hundred people. I think I've earned the right to make decisions about my own medical treatment." She looked at Stellar steadily. "And I choose to let Unity help me."
Stellar looked at James, who shrugged. "She's right. It's her call."
"This is a bad idea." Stellar said, but his tone suggested resignation. "Unity, if anything goes wrong..."
"We will stop immediately." Unity assured him. "Lieutenant Hayes's wellbeing is...important to us. We would not risk our friend."
"Your friend..." Stellar repeated quietly. He looked at Hayes. "You sure about this?"
"No," Hayes admitted. "But I'm sure I trust them. That's enough."
Stellar nodded slowly. "Then I'll stay. Make sure nothing goes wrong."
"As will I." James added, positioning himself by the monitoring equipment. "Someone needs to watch the readings."
Unity's nanites began flowing toward Hayes, and she felt a moment of fear...natural, instinctive...before she forced herself to relax. The silver touched her skin, cool and somehow gentle, spreading across her burned flesh like liquid metal.
"This may feel...unusual." Unity warned.
The nanites sank into her skin, and Hayes gasped. It didn't hurt, exactly, but it felt wrong. Foreign material integrating with her body, microscopic machines flowing through her bloodstream, interfacing with her cells.
"Readings are spiking. Expected." James reported. "Heart rate elevated, neural activity increased, but nothing critical."
"We are mapping her injuries." Unity said. "Identifying damaged tissue. Cellular structures requiring repair. This will take...time."
Minutes passed. Hayes lay still, feeling the nanites moving through her body like electric whispers. She could sense them working...sealing internal bleeding, knitting broken bones, purging radiation-damaged cells and replacing them with healthy tissue.
It was bizarre. Invasive. And somehow...comforting.
"Unity," she whispered, "are you in my head right now?"
"We are interfacing with your neural tissue to coordinate repair. But we are not reading your thoughts. We are not...intruding. Your mind remains your own."
"Good. Because some things need to stay private."
"We understand. Privacy. Individuality. These are important. We are learning."
More time passed. Stellar and James watched in tense silence as Hayes's vital signs stabilized, then began improving. Burns faded from angry red to pink to healthy flesh. Bones that had been shattered began showing signs of regeneration on the medical scanners.
"This is remarkable." James said quietly. "She's healing at exponential rates."
"We are accelerating her natural healing processes," Unity explained. "Not replacing them. Her body does the work. We merely...guide it. Optimize it. Remove obstacles."
"How long will this take?" Stellar asked.
"To complete repairs? Perhaps six hours. To ensure no complications? We will monitor her for forty-eight hours after treatment concludes."
"And the side effects?"
"Still unknown. But we are being careful. Precise. Lieutenant Hayes is...important."
Hayes smiled despite the strangeness of having nanites in her bloodstream. "Hear that, Captain? I'm important."
"You've always been important." Stellar replied. "You're part of my crew."
Six hours later, Dr. Voss returned to find Hayes sitting up in bed, looking exhausted but whole. The burns were gone. The broken bones healed. Even the radiation sickness had receded.
"What..." Voss stared at the medical readouts. "This is impossible. Eighteen hours ago you were critical. Now you're showing normal cellular function. Improved cellular function. Your regeneration rates are..."
"Unity." Hayes said simply.
Voss looked at the silver traces still visible on Hayes's skin...nanites monitoring her recovery. "They...treated you? That's incredibly dangerous. We don't know the long-term effects of Confluence nanotechnology on human biology..."
"Then I guess we'll find out." Hayes said. "But right now, I feel better than I have in days. So I'm calling it a win."
Voss's expression was difficult to read. "I'll need to run extensive tests. Monitor you for complications. This is unprecedented...and absurd."
"Do whatever you need to, Doc." Hayes said. "But right now, I'm just grateful to be alive. And grateful to Unity for making sure I heal properly...can I get a cheeseburger?"
The silver traces began withdrawing from Hayes's skin, flowing back toward the ventilation system.
"Thank you, little buddies." Hayes called after them. "I mean it. Thank you."
"You are welcome, friend." Unity's voice resonated one last time. "We will speak again soon. When you are fully recovered. We have much to discuss about the future."
Then the nanites were gone, and Hayes was left feeling strangely empty. Like something important had just left.
"You okay?" Stellar asked.
"Yeah." Hayes said. "I think so. Just...weird, you know? Having them inside me. Part of me. And now they're gone, and I kind of miss it."
"That's...concerning." Stellar said.
"Maybe." Hayes admitted. "Or maybe it's just what friendship feels like when one friend is a nanite collective and the other is a human who blew herself up."
"Let's maybe avoid the blowing yourself up part in the future." Stellar suggested.
"No promises, sir."
---
In the Pathfinder's secure briefing room, Admiral Margaret Chen sat across from Stellar, James, Sarah, and Professor Carmelon. She looked stronger than she had days ago. Dr. Voss had cleared her medically, but her eyes carried the weight of eleven years as a prisoner.
"Let's start with the basics." Stellar said, activating a recording system. "Admiral, what can you tell us about your capture?"
Chen took a breath. "Eleven years ago, I was traveling to a secure meeting with colonial governors. Routine diplomatic mission. My transport and two escort ships were ambushed in deep space by what appeared to be pirates." She paused. "They weren't pirates. They were Confluence ships using human-disguised technology. The attack was surgical. Disabled our ships without destroying them. Boarded my transport within minutes."
"How many attackers?" James asked.
"Dozens. Maybe more. They moved like professionals. Soldiers, not pirates. They killed my security detail quickly, efficiently. Then they sedated me." Chen's hands clenched. "When I woke up, I was in a cell at Omega-Seven. And they had my aide, Lieutenant Carmichael, the cell next to mine. They showed me...showed me the shapeshifter with my face. With his face. Perfect copies."
"Did they tell you why?" Stellar asked.
"Not immediately. For the first few months, they just kept us in stasis. Woke us occasionally to update our memories. The shapeshifters needed to stay current, needed to know how we would react to situations. They'd ask questions. 'How would you respond to this policy? What would you say to this person?' And we'd answer because...because what else could we do?"
Sarah's voice was tight. "So the shapeshifter had your memories. Your knowledge. Everything."
"Up to the point of capture, yes. And periodic updates afterward." Chen looked at her daughter. "I'm sorry, Sarah. I'm so sorry you had to grow up thinking that thing was me. That it raised you after your father..." She stopped, swallowing hard. "They told me. About Richard's death. About how the shapeshifter attended his funeral, comforted you, played the role of grieving widow. All while I was frozen in a cell."
"Mom..."
"No, let me finish." Chen's voice sharpened with something like anger. "That thing was me for eleven years. Made decisions in my name. Continued policies I started...yes, Captain Stellar, I'm aware of my responsibility there. But it also made new policies. Harsher ones. More restrictive. It guided humanity exactly where The Confluence wanted us." She pulled up data on a tablet. "During my debriefing with Unity, they extracted information from the shapeshifter before they...destroyed it. I've been reviewing that information. The scope of infiltration is far worse than we thought."
"How so?" Carmelon asked.
"Hundreds of replacements over thirty years. Maybe thousands. Military leaders, politicians, colonial administrators, corporate executives. All replaced. All positioned to guide humanity toward harvest." Chen brought up lists...names, dates, locations. "The Chen incident wasn't unique. It was protocol. The Confluence has been systematically removing key humans and replacing them with shapeshifters designed to weaken us. Divide us. Make us easier to process when harvest comes."
Stellar studied the data, feeling cold certainty settle in his gut. "These names. These positions. If even a fraction of them are accurate..."
"Then we don't know who to trust." James finished. "Anyone in authority could be one of them."
"That's why we can't go public with this information," Chen said firmly. "Not yet. If people learn that their leaders might be shapeshifters, if we create mass paranoia without the ability to identify and remove the infiltrators...we'll tear ourselves apart. The Confluence wins without firing a shot."
"So what do we do? Lie?" Sarah asked.
"We verify." Stellar said. "Lieutenant Reeves collected data from multiple attack sites. Cross-reference his findings with the intelligence from the shapeshifter. Start building a list of confirmed replacements. Then we figure out how to identify and remove them quietly."
"Black operations." James said. "Hunt shapeshifters without revealing their existence to the general population."
"Exactly." Chen looked at Stellar. "Captain, I know we didn't part on the best terms. I know you hold me responsible for policies that harmed the colonies...and you're right to. But I can help with this. I spent eleven years watching Confluence operations. I know how they think. How they plan. I can help identify patterns, predict targets, understand their strategic doctrine."
"And what do you want in return?" Stellar asked carefully.
"Eventually? I need to return to New Earth. Stand trial for my actions. Answer for what I did...and what the shapeshifter did in my name." Chen's voice was steady. "The public thinks I was kidnapped by you. That I'm probably dead. When I return, alive, claiming to have been a prisoner replaced by a shapeshifter...they won't believe me. Not without proof. And we can't provide that proof without revealing the infiltration."
"So you'll take the blame." Sarah said quietly. "For everything. Both what you did and what it did."
"It's the only way." Chen replied. "But Captain, there's something else. The current leader of the United Earth government, Vice Admiral Raney took over after my 'death'...we need to determine if he's human or a shapeshifter. If he's human, if he can be convinced that the infiltration is real...he has the authority to give you what you need."
"What do I need?" Stellar asked.
"Legitimacy. Black ops clearance. Permission to hunt shapeshifters without being labeled traitors." Chen leaned forward. "Right now, you and your crew are wanted criminals. But if the UE leadership knows the truth, if they're convinced to work with you quietly...you become authorized operatives. Still secret. Still deniable. But with official sanction."
"And if the current leader is a shapeshifter?" James asked.
"Then we have a much bigger problem." Chen admitted. "But one way or another, we need to know. And I'm the only one who can make contact without immediately being arrested or killed."
Stellar was quiet for a long moment, considering. "Admiral, you're proposing a dangerous game. Return to New Earth, expose yourself, stand trial for crimes you may or may not have committed, all while trying to convince leadership that shapeshifters exist without causing mass panic."
"That about sums it up." Chen said simply.
"And if it goes wrong? If they don't believe you? If the new leader is a shapeshifter and you've just revealed yourself?"
"Then I die...probably. They'll have me killed." Chen said. "But at least I'll die trying to fix what I helped break. Trying to protect humanity instead of weakening it."
Stellar looked at Sarah, who nodded slowly. "It's her choice, Captain. And...it might be our best option."
"Not yet." Stellar decided. "Not until we've verified more of Reeves's data. Not until we have concrete proof of other replacements. If you're going to convince Earth's leadership that shapeshifters exist, you'll need more than just your word and one captured infiltrator."
"How long?" Chen asked.
"Weeks. Maybe months. We need to be sure." Stellar stood. "In the meantime, Admiral, you'll work with our intelligence team. Help us identify patterns. Predict Confluence movements. Make yourself useful."
"Understood." Chen said. "And Captain? Thank you. For rescuing me. For not giving up on those prisoners."
"We don't leave people behind." Stellar replied. "Even complicated people with complicated histories."
After Chen left, Sarah remained behind with Stellar and James.
"You think she's telling the truth?" Sarah asked. "About wanting to make things right?"
"I think she's genuine." Stellar said. "But I also think she's still the person who made terrible decisions before her capture. Rescue doesn't erase responsibility."
"I know." Sarah said quietly. "I just...I want to believe she can change. That she can be better than she was."
"Maybe she can." James said. "People do change. Given the right motivation. The right reasons."
"We'll see." Stellar replied. "For now, we focus on what we can control. Identifying shapeshifters. Building our network. Preparing for whatever comes next."
---
Late that night, Stellar stood in his quarters, reviewing data on shapeshifter infiltration. The scope was staggering. Hundreds of potential replacements, all positioned in key roles, all working toward the same goal...weaken humanity for harvest.
His comm chimed. "Captain, this is James. We've got a situation. You need to see this."
"On my way."
He found James in the intelligence center with Lieutenant Reeves and Professor Carmelon, all staring at a display showing cross-referenced data.
"Okay. What am I looking at?" Stellar asked.
"Reeves's data from the debris fields." James said. "We've been comparing it against ship manifests, personnel records, official reports. Looking for patterns. Discrepancies."
"And you found something?"
"We found one that you'll find interesting." Reeves said quietly. "Sir, do you remember the Meridian incident? Eight years ago, a science vessel attacked by pirates near the Gungi Belt?"
"Vaguely. What about it?"
"Official report says all crew survived. No casualties. They were rescued by Earth forces and returned home safely." Reeves pulled up a passenger manifest. "One of those crew members was Dr. Elena Voss. Medical officer. Twenty-six years old at the time."
Stellar felt cold wash over him. "Our Dr. Voss?"
"That's what the records say. But sir..." Reeves brought up new data. "I found the debris field. Found the actual ship. And inside..." He paused. "Bodies, Captain. The entire crew. Mummified. Dead for eight years. Including someone matching Dr. Voss's genetic markers."
The room went silent.
"You're saying Dr. Voss is a shapeshifter?" Stellar said quietly.
"I'm saying the real Dr. Voss died eight years ago," Reeves corrected. "Whatever's been serving as our CMO for the past six months... it's not her."
"She's treated the crew for years." Carmelon said, his voice shaking. "She has access to all medical records, genetic data, biometric information. If she's a shapeshifter..."
"She's been gathering intelligence on all of us." James finished. "Reporting back to The Confluence. And we had no idea."
Stellar's mind raced. Dr. Voss. Competent, professional, trustworthy. Had access to everything. Been on the Pathfinder for 3 years...Recommended by Admiral Chen. I should have seen it.
And she'd just spent hours treating Hayes. With Unity's nanites. Monitoring the procedure. Collecting data.
"Don't tell anyone yet." Stellar said. "Not until we're sure. Not until we have a plan."
"Captain..."
"That's an order." Stellar looked at each of them. "If Voss is a shapeshifter and she realizes we know, she'll either run or sabotage something critical. We need to be careful. Strategic."
"What do we do?" Reeves asked.
"We watch her. Monitor her activities. Document everything." Stellar pulled up Voss's personnel file. "And we figure out what she's been reporting. What damage she may have done. And how we remove her without alerting every other shapeshifter in human space."
"Well, I'm not taking so much of an aspirin from her." Carmelon said.
Stellar looked at the data, at the evidence that one of his crew, someone he'd trusted, someone who'd saved lives...was actually an enemy infiltrator.
The war just got more complicated.
And more personal.
---
Deep in Unity's nexus, the collective processed new information.
Lieutenant Hayes. Healed. Restored. Better than before because Unity had helped her.
The process had been...revealing. Interfacing with human biology at such an intimate level. Understanding how fragile humans were. How easily broken. How miraculous their capacity to heal.
And more than that, experiencing Hayes's trust. Her willingness to let Unity inside her body, her cells, her most vulnerable systems.
That was friendship. Real friendship. Not strategic alliance. Not mutual benefit. But actual trust.
'We like this.' Unity thought to itself. 'We want more of this. More connection. More friendship. More...'
'More everything that makes humans worth protecting.'
But there was something else. Something Unity had sensed while treating Hayes. A presence aboard the Pathfinder that didn't match the others. Biological readings that appeared human but weren't quite right. Too perfect. Too controlled.
Dr. Voss.
Unity had noticed anomalies weeks ago but had dismissed them as individual variation. Now, having experienced real human biology through Hayes, Unity understood. Voss was different. Voss was...not human.
'Should we tell them?' Unity wondered. 'Should we reveal what we know? Is that what a friend would do?'
But the humans were already discovering it themselves. Reeves's data. Cross-referencing. Investigation.
They would handle it their way. As they preferred. Unity would wait. Watch. And if asked, provide assistance.
Maybe that's what friends did.
They helped. They protected. But they also trusted their friends to handle their own problems.
Unity was learning. Growing. Becoming more than it had been designed to be.
And somewhere in the future, centuries ahead, another version of Unity would reach back through time to save a friend.
That future was worth working toward.
That future was worth protecting.
So Unity watched. Waited. And prepared to help however it could.
---