When the door of the laboratory opened, Soshyan saw Bangura and a group of biological sages marveling at the huge creatures in the stasis field.
Hearing the footsteps, everyone turned their heads, and then the strange-looking sages lowered their heads.
"No need to be formal."
Soshyan raised his hand to interrupt their salute, then walked to Bangura and turned to look at this thing.
This is none other than the Genestealer Patriarch whom Rozim captured beneath Terra!
"Oh, it's unimaginable, legion commander, this is the first time I've seen a living specimen of this weird and alien thing alive. This is... the patriarch, right, the leader of an alien tribe."
After Bangura finished speaking, he looked at a sage with a three-meter-tall body covered with cables and a small mechanical arm that looked like a giant spider.
"Sage Francis, I remember that you have been conducting research on this alien species that infects the human genome?"
The sage rubbed his small metal hands like chicken claws and made a sound like a chainsaw.
"Well, yes...yes...they are amazing...fascinating. The genes are full of secrets, blasphemous secrets. They are generally called gene stealers, a legacy left to mankind by the Tyranids.
It's a dirty scar, but it can enter a person's cells, forming an uneasy bond between the familiar and the unfamiliar, creating something... unique."
Soshyan had a deep enough understanding of those fanatical technology enthusiasts, so he warned:
"I give these samples to you in the hope that you can decipher the weaknesses of these dirty aliens. The Tyranids are a very terrifying threat, and unlike the Greenskins, Necrons and even the Dark Eldar, they do not show emotions.
, and there is no tactical intention. Because of this, we have almost no real understanding of them. The Storm Star Territory has been very unstable recently. I am worried about these precursors of a large-scale Tyranid invasion. Your job is to crack it and eliminate it for us.
These aliens are providing help, not conducting dangerous research and experiments."
"Of course, of course..."
The sage was still rubbing his hands and staring at the patriarch with his nine visual holes.
"...I now want to obtain some of its blood, tissue, and brain tissue...many experiments, yes, many..."
Soshyan doubted whether the other party heard what he said.
Then another sage spoke again, like a broken gramophone.
"Legion Commander, biology is also a kind of machine. We can make it obedient and predictable, using numbers, calculations and replicable results to nail down the variables. We will tame it, just like a beast, like some alien planet.
Animals, humans are superior, aliens are weak...The best way to eliminate threats is to control them. This kind of network biome is often very easy to control. Maybe we can start with their thought control network, if..."
"...I have captured a living Gene Stealer in the Ghoul Star Sector in the past, but it was at a relatively low level. I have tried to use a modified thinking servitor to connect with its brainwaves."
Hearing this, Soshyan and Bangura turned their heads to the sage who spoke at the same time. He didn't look very tall. He was carrying a huge can behind his back. He had a pair of mechanical prosthetics on the left side of his body and his legs.
He has a reinforced walking device, but there are still a lot of flesh remnants on his face, which shows that he is quite old.
Bangura's expression looked a little stunned and shocked.
"Sage Cornelus Medici, when did you conduct such a dangerous experiment!? Such risky experiments need to be reported. Although I am not a biological sage, I also know the psychology of the Tyranids.
The network has the ability to resonate with far-flung kindred, and in doing so you put the Forge World in front of the aliens."
The other person replied in a hissed voice:
"The Foundry Director need not worry, that was already a hundred standard Terra years ago... The Forge World was moved not long after the experiment."
Soshyan asked:
"So Medici Sage, what valid information have you obtained?"
"Legion Commander, there is an extremely powerful malicious force wandering in the dark outer realm. The thinking servitor cannot withstand the strong alien signal, but it still allows us to confirm some things."
As he spoke, the sage raised his head and looked at the patriarch.
"The original thoughts of these aliens are only reproduction, infection, and survival... But once they are parasitized, they are highly consistent with the thoughts of the host. If the parasite is a human, they will also be fearful, greedy, timid, and think about benefits.
..It’s just that their thoughts can be constrained by a huge consciousness network, which is close to a kind of psychic witchcraft..."
"Psychic energy? You mean that the Tyranids' consciousness network is based on psychic energy?"
"At least, gene stealers have extremely active psychic powers, which means they are very sensitive to psionic energy, but this is the most interesting point... Psychic energy is extremely dangerous according to current scientific knowledge.
Yes, untrained psykers who blindly use their own powers often lead to subspace disasters, but this does not seem to apply to these aliens. They use psionic powers as safely as using firearms... This is what I am currently studying.
The point is, how do these aliens obtain the ability to use psychic energy so safely? What role do their hybrid genes play in this?"
"Are you still researching now?"
The sage then bowed to Soshyan and said:
"Sir, please believe me. I don't have any living Tyranids on my hands right now, because dissection and experiments have completely killed its body. I just... took out its infected brain and continued to study it."
"So what else can you tell us?"
"Sir, I have often gone out to conduct research and data collection on the Genestealer tribe over the years. I can basically confirm that most of these aliens have no consciousness of being aliens. They are the unconscious vanguard of the Tyranid fleet. According to me,
It is inferred that when their number in a world reaches a certain scale, the collective psychic network they have established may produce a highly directional signal in the subspace that is almost difficult to interfere with, and the Hive Fleet may
They plan their invasion route based on this signal."
After he finished speaking, another sage immediately raised objections.
"There is currently no evidence to prove this theory. The Tyranid Hive Fleet has a strong desire for biomass. The mainstream view that determines their invasion route is that they are attracted by a large number of life signals, and if the gene stealers use subspace
The signal contacted the Tyranid Hive Fleet, why was the planet’s Astropath Chorus unaware of it?”
"Because this kind of signal is very special, the psychic sensitivity of the astropaths is simply not enough to detect it. The messages in the subspace are inherently chaotic and noisy. The astropaths have to try their luck even to receive the signals sent by humans themselves, not to mention
Such a secret signal."
"Do you think this race's psychic abilities far exceed those of humans?"
Soshyan immediately stopped what he was saying.
"Everyone, let's only talk about academic issues. Don't criticize others, and don't make positional attacks."