Chain 221: Speaker For The Dead

Chain 221: Speaker For The Dead

Location: Lusitania
Age: 27
Identity: Xenologer
Drawbacks: [+800] Once And Future Hegemon, They Lied

[Free]      Cultivated Mind
[100/1800]  Philotic Communication
[300/1800]  Inverse Communism
[900/1800]  Biotech Creation
[1000/1800] Fast Learning
[1600/1800] Philotic Thought
[1800/1800] Delphiki's Organelles

"Oh, hello. You must be Ender."
>"Who are you?"
"I was Hegemon during the war."
>"They said you died."
"I got better, and then I skipped ahead in time. Anyway, sorry about nobody telling you what was going on, it really was a bit crazy back then but that doesn't excuse their actions."
>"Very well. Why have you come here?"
"Eh. Turns out the Formics are capable of telepathy."
>". . . what."
"Yeah, they were using that to get in peoples' heads to convince them they were innocent victims, rather than planning the extinction of any sapient race that wasn't them."
>"...wHAT."
"It's a simple calculus, my young friend, and I'm certain you can see it. Cro-magnons and neanderthals. They interbred to create modern humanity, when they didn't war. And without the possibility of interbreeding, there is only war."
>"You're saying that they- but I- I felt them! I FELT the queen's sincerity! They're just a hive mind! They didn't realize we were intelligent beings!"
"Let me ask you a question. Who taught you this?"
>"...oh no..."
"The enemy tells elegant lies."

Well, at least now I won't die of a heart attack at an inopportune time, again. And I suppose philotic communication is an interesting way to upgrade both my technopathy and telepathy. Sure, I was already connected to any clones I made, but being able to ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL is an amusing concept, and I'm going to have to find a way to create an army. And now I can better tweak the genetic makeup of that army, should I decide to clone them.

Oh, my existence was soon discovered. The Hegemon that led humanity to its victory over the Formics... they begged to see it again, begged to make the Starways Congress great again. And yet, when I returned and assumed my place to do that, nothing I did was good enough for anyone.

Amusing.

>"Creating ships that can go faster than light with directed energy weapons? The Starways Congress will never stand for it! Bringing the worlds closer together would be a threat to their power! The Hegemon must be mad!"
>"The Starways Congress will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the Hegemon has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Hegemony have been swept away."
>"WHAT."
>"Apparently, he can do that, it isn't illegal."
>"WHAT."
>"He said he will make it legal."
>"WHAT."
>"...are you okay?"
>"WHAT."
>"Ender, you're scaring me."
>"WHAT."

...and so I brought peace and prosperity to my new Empire, starting with the destruction of every last Formic and egg in the galaxy. Let's see those buggers make biological copies of hyperdrives.