The differences should be quiescent while the artifact was unconscious. A telekinetic that wrecked havoc when it had nightmares would not be a useful tool. While the telekinetic receptors were quiescent, they would be next to invisible. There would be no choice but to apply stimulation. Which could quite easily terminate the artifact, as no proper analysis of the gel had been done yet.
But it did not necessarily have to terminate it quickly.
Raw data, little more than numbers and labels, flashed across Uary's screen. Most of it flitted directly to storage to await further organization, but the levels and concentrations of the targeted neurotransmitters stayed in a tidy column on the left-hand side of the screen.
Uary frowned. The numbers were much higher than any that had turned up in the simulations conducted on the artifact's blood samples.
And they were increasing.
"Bio-tech!" called Lairdin.
Uary vaulted out of his chair and ran to the tank. Inside, the gel churned around the artifact. Waves and whirlpools pressed against the lid and washed against the sides. Moisture appeared around the seals and a moment later the overload alarms began to shrill. Uary's gaze swept the monitors. The numbers and levels jumped and flickered, fast, and faster, and far too fast.
"Get the neutralizer in!" he shouted. "Shut it down! Shut it down!"
They moved. Even Basq was bright enough to see something was out of control and the Ambassador dodged out of the way as Lairdin raced to the holding tanks and slammed down the key for the pumps. With a chugging that should not have been there, the siphons fought to drain the roiling gel. The pumps flooded in a saline and anesthetic medium as a replacement. It coated the artifact and the alarms quieted.
Uary looked up into Lairdin's frightened eyes.
"What happened?" Basq demanded. His voice rasped in his throat.
"Ask the Ancestors," snapped Uary. "Lairdin, what's the status of the gel?" His robes swirled around his ankles as he hurried back to his terminal.
He drew out the data as fast as he could read it. It was a jumble of numbers and statistical ranges, concentration levels and a few sketchy diagrams. There was nothing to compare any of it to. There was no way to tell what was normal and what was abnormal, or what reaction had triggered the telekinetic processes.
"Bio-technician," said Lairdin, "the gel has been…damaged."
She touched a key and Uary looked reflexively down at his own screen as the new data appeared. His knees buckled and he sat down hard in his chair.
The gel was not just damaged, it was shredded. Molecular chains had been disintegrated. Cells had burst. Clusters of infant tumors were appearing throughout the holding tank.
The artifact had all but destroyed four cubic meters of gel in less than twenty seconds, and there was no way to tell how it had begun.
Uary lifted his head. "We are going to have to wake it up."
"No," said Basq flatly.
"Then we can go no farther." Uary folded his hands. "I have nothing to work with. I have no pattern of brain activity. I have no baseline neurochemical activity for the active state. I do not know what the normal status of the artifact is, so I cannot tell what initiated the telekinetic, your pardon, Ambassador," he said bitterly, "the 'extramechanical abilities.' I do not know the system. Without even a partial map, I cannot understand anything."
Uary sat back, prepared to wait until the ship fell apart around them.
"Have your Beholden uncouple all the comm lines to the outside," said Basq. "We must observe total computer and biological quarantine procedures. There cannot be a single physical link between this room and the rest of the ship. If we run this risk, it must be just us."
A feeling that was almost respect surfaced in Uary. At least Basq carried his need for notoriety through to the end. If he was witnessed doing any less than this, it would of course be shameful, but he put that thought far ahead of his personal safety. Uary had seen the recordings of Born breaking open the door and of him tapping the private network. There was a real danger to them all if Born could break open the holding tank.
Well, they would just have to make it dangerous for him to try.
"Lairdin, place the artifact on complete life-support. Make sure that we are responsible for its physical existence. If it does manage to damage the systems, it will simply terminate itself."
Before I have to, he added silently, and he realized he was cherishing that exact hope.
Unexpectedly, the Witness spoke. "I must download what has happened here before the lines are closed."
"Cierc, you will assist the Witness," said Uary. He turned his attention to his own work.
All the systems needed to be put into independent mode. That meant shuffling operations around, cutting some functions and making sure there was enough storage space for the data to accumulate. Even with the help of the prompts that began as soon as he initiated quarantine procedures, it was a painstaking business.
But it was finally finished. The proper superiors were notified. The doors were shut and locked by hand and every instrument was physically separated from its links to the ship outside. Uary glanced at the monitors again. The artifact was still quiescent and the neutralizing gel was undisturbed.
"Restore active state," he said.
The monitors showed the stimulants flowing into the system. The response was good. Steady and not too fast. Normal orientation in five…four…three…
The monitor went dead.
"Systems check!" he snapped. The Beholden jumped and Basq sucked in a breath.
The lights went out next, and the backups did not come on.
"Aunorante Sangh," murmured Basq.
Uary did not bother to respond. He groped under the edge of the counter until he found the emergency handlight and pulled it out of its holder. The beam showed that everyone had had the sense to hold still.
The monitors on the tank itself still had power. They glowed eerily in the darkness, as did the tank. The artifact lay totally immobile inside, and the gel around him was undisturbed.
Uary shuffled the board keys with his free hand, but the terminal did not respond. He was barely aware that Lairdin had cleared a space in the wall and was working on the lights. A flicker made him blink. Lairdin fell backward, centimeters ahead of a shower of sparks as, against all specifications and parameters, some circuit burned out.
Uary's terminal screen flared with sudden light. Three words printed themselves across it.
LEAVE ME ALONE.
Basq stood at Uary's shoulder, his cheeks hollow with shadow and fear.
"Can we answer it?" he asked.
"I don't think so," said Uary slowly. He sketched the artifact's name on the notepad. Nothing happened. "We have to shut off its life-support. Terminate it."
"No," said Basq fervently. "We need to tame it."
Uary turned on him. "And how are we to do that?"
"Outnumber it. All it has had to do so far is trip a few switches. If we all work to regain control of the instruments, it will have to fight us all, repeatedly. We will wear it out."
"It could be possible." Sense is the last thing I expected from you, Basq, but I'm glad it's come. Uary hesitated. To keep the artifact alive even a few minutes longer would be a hideous risk, but as long as it was in the tank the monitors were recording its reactions. If they could find out what it took to overload its telekinetic processes, they would have a real weapon against its counterparts on the Home Ground.
And Uary would have the work of the Ancestors under his eye that much longer.