Rovi walked back to the holographic projection console.
He wiped away the battlefield statistics table representing "death probability," leaving only the molecular structure diagram of Gray Mule-1.
"Alpha, you mentioned earlier that this toxin was a disguise, induced by the Star Child Patriarch's psychic network, correct?"
"Yes, Advisor." Priest Alpha scratched his metal chin, trying to find a simpler explanation. "It's like... a magnet attracting iron filings."
"In its natural state, these toxin molecules are scattered and harmless."
"It is the Patriarch's psychic network, like a powerful magnet, that forcibly draws them together and arranges them into the form of a deadly poison."
"Then what if the magnet is removed?"
Rovi raised the crucial question.
The Priest froze for a moment, then activated his logic core and began calculating.
"If they lose the support of the psychic network, these unnaturally formed complex toxin molecules will become unstable."
"According to the second law of thermodynamics, they will break down."
"Break down into what?" Rovi pressed.
"Into basic amino acids, carbohydrates, and some bitter alkaloids. In other words, ordinary protein with a somewhat unpleasant taste."
At that, Rovi snapped his fingers.
The light in his eyes burned even brighter.
"This is our way out, Alpha."
"We have been overlooking the most basic principle of physics: distance."
Rovi looked up overhead.
"That Patriarch hiding in the gutters may be able to spread his psychic power across all of Fertility II and even extend it into low orbit."
"But can he penetrate a Warp Storm?"
"Can he cross fifteen thousand light-years of physical distance and continue remotely controlling this wheat?"
The Priest immediately shook his head. "Impossible. Unless he is a Warp entity himself, no living being can maintain such a distant and precise psychic connection. Once the ship enters Warp transit, the signal