Defection

"A life-form composed of silicon and silicon compounds-that is how we humans broadly define silicon-based life."

Selena pushed her gold-rimmed glasses back up her nose and continued:

"But what I'm doing now is different. I intend to combine carbon-based life with silicon-based life!"

"I've actually succeeded over these past few months of research, but there's one very serious flaw."

Yan Hao looked at Selena in confusion. All he wanted to know now was how she intended to sacrifice one of the two men.

"My research revealed that silicon-based life-forms share an extremely powerful common trait: genetic commonality. But after fusion with carbon-based life, they become frenzied, killing one another and even themselves."

Looking at the two blank-faced men, Selena shook her head. "Let me put it simply. Silicon is the element used in our artificial intelligence's memory storage units. You understand that, right?"

Yan Hao nodded. "Doctor..."

Selena immediately cut him off and continued, "Primitive silicon-based life-forms have no intelligence yet, but they've already begun storing it. It's as though nature, acting as an engineer, is feeding computer code into an artificial intelligence."

Zhang Fan nodded, only half understanding. "Doctor, just tell us what you need us to do. This really isn't our area of expertise."

Selena could only admit defeat. Trying to explain this to soldiers was like talking to a brick wall... the outcome was all too predictable.

"All right, then. I'll tell you directly. I'll fuse one of you with a silicon-based life-form. I'll do my best to preserve your thoughts, memories, emotions..."

"Can you make it even simpler?"

Selena glared at Yan Hao and shouted, "I'll cut out your brain and combine it with a silicon-based life-form. You'll become an entirely new form of life!"

"You should've said that in the first place. Now I get it! All that stuff before was just a load of nonsense."

Selena was nearly sick with fury.

Zhang Fan immediately stepped between her and Yan Hao. "Doctor, let us discuss this."

Yan Hao darted in front of Selena. "There's nothing to discuss. Use mine. In a place this dangerous, only the captain can protect you."

"Shut up. We'll discuss this and decide together! Now come with me."

Seeing Zhang Fan turn his back on him, Yan Hao immediately bent his arm back and swung a knife-hand strike at the back of Zhang Fan's neck.

Zhang Fan had already anticipated his move. He sidestepped, caught him in a hold, and pinned him to the floor. Without giving him a chance to speak, he punched him in the carotid artery, knocking him unconscious.

Startled by the sudden scuffle, Selena cried out, "What are you two doing?"

Zhang Fan patted the back of Yan Hao's shoulder and said gently, "Brother, you're the one the Iris needs."

Watching Zhang Fan slowly rise, Selena asked softly, "Are you sure? If this fails, you'll die. Even if it succeeds, you'll become... a primitive worm!"

Zhang Fan said with unwavering resolve, "For humanity, I'm willing to become a worm."

"You trust me that much?" Selena seemed hesitant, an indefinable confusion showing on her face.

"I trust you. You're humanity's only hope. In this field, who else could I possibly trust?"

Selena kissed Zhang Fan's cheek and smiled. "You're a gambler. Unfortunately, so am I!"

The fusion experiment went on for seven days and seven nights without rest. Selena had injected herself with more than twice the normal dose of stimulants, reaching a lethal dosage.

Yan Hao watched Zhang Fan, now nothing but a brain in a culture dish. He hadn't spoken a word in those seven days, because there was so much he wanted to say, and he wanted to say it only to Zhang Fan.

Suddenly-

The artificial intelligence sounded an alarm...

Zhang Fan's vital signs were plummeting, approaching the threshold of death.

"Vital signs lost. Zhang Fan, acting captain of the Iris and captain of the Earth Federation Guard's Third Squad, is declared dead!"

Yan Hao seized Selena's shoulders with all his strength and roared, "What did you do to him? How could he die?"

Selena smiled weakly. "Idiot. How can he be reborn without dying? The carbon-based life-form he was has died, but an entirely new Zhang Fan has been born."

"What do you mean?" Yan Hao demanded.

"Could you be quiet for a moment? I'm so tired... he... is still alive..."

The moment the words left her lips, Selena collapsed unconscious...

Three days later.

Holding a portable screen, Selena checked the data as she asked, "Captain Zhang Fan, how do you feel now?"

"I'm having a hard time adjusting. I have no body, none of my five senses, yet I can still see and hear. It's a strange feeling."

Selena recorded Zhang Fan's description in detail on her portable screen. "This is communication on the level of consciousness. What you call seeing and hearing is all bioelectric signals. It's no exaggeration to say that you're a god now."

"A god?"

"Yes, but a god of silicon-based life. The... ruler of this planet!"

"I don't understand!"

"All right, you've only just awakened. You don't need to understand so much yet. I'll use the artificial intelligence to send you the knowledge you need as files."

"Files? Have I become some kind of biological robot?"

"Hahaha! You're countless times more advanced than those things. Hahaha! You're a god. A god, do you understand? On this planet, you're omnipotent! A creator!"

Selena's laughter brimmed with madness and excitement...

Yan Hao looked at the brain that was all that remained of Zhang Fan in the culture dish-if that wormlike purple crystalline body suspended inside could even be called a brain, then what he was looking at was Zhang Fan's brain!

"Captain, I should've been the one to do this. You..."

"Weren't you thinking the same thing I was?"

"I..."

"Hahaha! If you want to ambush me, you've still got a lot of training to do!"

Even the toughest man would cry when the pain cut deep enough. Tears slipped from the corners of Yan Hao's eyes and rolled down his cheeks as he roared, "Was it worth it?"

Zhang Fan answered with a question. "What do you think? Were we supposed to keep scraping by like this?"

"But with you like this, even if..."

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that humanity can return to Earth, that our souls have somewhere to call home. That's enough."

Over the next two months, Zhang Fan began receiving vast quantities of information in files. Earth's 4.6 billion years of evolution and an enormous trove of biological data were implanted into his consciousness in just two months.

One day, two months later, Selena put on a beautiful evening gown. With her intellectual elegance and that dress glittering like a river of stars, she was the most beautiful sight in the universe.

Yan Hao also stood before Zhang Fan in an impeccably maintained uniform.

"What's with you two today? Are you here to tell me you're getting married?"

"Captain, you really know how to joke. Me and this woman... ah... we tried, but it didn't work."

"What do you mean?"

Selena said frankly, "Even if we're the last man and woman left from Earth, we have no interest in each other. At least, I don't!"

"You're still worrying about attraction at a time like this?"

Yan Hao scratched his head and said awkwardly, "We'd rather not make the next generation suffer."

"But you'd be helping humanity survive."

Selena glanced at Yan Hao and said, "All right, just tell him. I'm still waiting for our last supper."

Zhang Fan suddenly sensed that something was wrong. Oppression, sorrow, and helplessness mingled into an inexplicable, volatile emotion.

Zhang Fan roared, "What exactly are you two trying to say?"

Yan Hao said quietly, "The power's running out. We're here to say goodbye."

"Impossible. The Iris was built to search the universe for life. Even if our engines are damaged, this planet has sunlight. How could the Iris run out of power?"

Faced with Zhang Fan's questions, Yan Hao was about to speak when Selena cut in. "Why is that impossible? Don't forget, this is a paradise for silicon-based life. The air is full of sulfuric acid and other corrosive compounds. It's a miracle the Iris has lasted this long."

Zhang Fan suddenly picked up on Yan Hao's fluctuating emotions and clearly sensed that he was hiding something.

"Yan Hao, tell me. What are you two hiding? I order you to tell me!"

Selena spoke first again. "You can sense our emotions now. That means you've begun to evolve. I wasn't going to keep it from you any longer anyway. Yan Hao and I were husband and wife all along."

"What? Impossible. You two..."

"Yes, we lied to you. People are selfish. I didn't want Yan Hao to become a monster, so I taught him to stage that attempt to ambush you!"

"You... impossible! Yan Hao, tell me!"

Yan Hao hesitated, but after glancing at Selena, he said calmly, "Yes, captain. She's telling the truth! We don't have much time. We're leaving, and you'll stay here. We'll take the only escape pod out of here."

"Where could you possibly go?"

"Anywhere's better than waiting here to die. Just stay put. But remember, the people of Earth will return to Earth someday. Those were your words. That has nothing to do with us anymore. It's your responsibility."

With that, Selena pulled Yan Hao out of the biology lab. Though they had gone far away, Zhang Fan could still sense their movements through his consciousness.

The two ran all the way to the escape pod and rushed inside. They exchanged a look, both wearing smiles that defied description.

The escape pod flew away. Just as Selena had said, the Iris's power lasted less than three hours before it was completely exhausted.

The biology lab fell into darkness...

After sensing Selena and Yan Hao leave, despair and rage filled his entire consciousness. Yet there was nothing he could do. Even death had become an unattainable wish.

Time no longer held any meaning for Zhang Fan. He had no idea how long had passed before, one day, he sensed a heartbeat.

That pulse was as faint as the plucking of a strand of spider silk, yet it struck Zhang Fan's consciousness like a thunderclap. The entire world seemed to awaken.

A worm-a legless, thumb-sized worm with crystalline spikes covering its hard shell-was wriggling across the Iris's outer armor.

Zhang Fan sensed its movements and saw its dazzling crystalline spikes. He watched it quietly, afraid of frightening it away.

He wanted it to come closer. He wanted it closer still.

The worm seemed to sense Zhang Fan's call. Slowly, it shifted its body and moved toward him.