Fiction:The Phytoworms/Creation

I.	Prelude: cloning in Spacion society

Every developed species has attempted some form of cloning. Not necessarily of themselves, but at least of other lifeforms. It is therefore only expected that Spacions, beings who are exclusively committed to science by nature, would walk down that path as well. They mastered animal cloning near the end of their civilization stage and began experimenting on themselves quickly after, for Spacions did not have the moral doubts commonly found among other species. Their ascension to Space Stage and first contacts with other Empires help greatly in their studies of cloning, indeed they could now experiment on other intelligent beings instead of just themselves. But research in this domain slowed down significantly during the G.A.P. (golden age of physics), a period in Spacion history where physics became the absolute priority of all scientists and every other domain, especially biology and genetics, were more or less pushed aside. This lasted up until after the Isolation, until a geneticist rose up with an idea that would change his society forever. The name of this scientist was Phytoeon.

II. Phytoeon’s ambition and disillusion Phytoeon was always obsessed with cloning. He dreamed of inventing a formula, or machine, that could clone any being immediately, to control the creation of life completely. Spacions knew how to instantly destroy entire species, but he wanted to know how to instantly create them. Millennia of Spacion work on cloning had not satisfied Phytoeon’s desire. Spacions could grow clones yes, but only at the same speed that a normal child naturally would, and the success rate was not satisfying in regards to the efforts required. And so he worked tirelessly towards his objective. He studied biology and genetics when most of his comrades turned to physics. He continued unperturbed down his path despite being told there was no recognition to gain in his domain. Finally, after decades of work that had started at his youngest age, Phytoeon managed to produce a gel-like substance that could, under the correct conditions, be controlled to form a living adult Spacion…or should at least. Phytoeon was so confident of his progress that he began to intensely advertise the future result of his gel, which he humbly called Phytogel. Many had become legitimately interested in his work as it could have great implications, and also bring a science other than physics in the spotlight, which hadn’t happened in a while. And so for the next year, all awaited what the Phytogel would produce, as it was conditioned accordingly to create a magnificent, fully developed Spacion. But it didn’t. As the months passed Phytoeon realized his creation would be at best a grotesque imitation of his kind, yet still he persevered, hoping against all logic (something rare for a Spacion) he could correct the process as it reached its end. But he could not, and so instead of a Spacion he had created an ugly misshaped creature, small and crammed. Its skin was green and elastic, and so thin in some places that the red flesh underneath was visible. But the worst was the head, which was nothing like the model it was meant to be. The jaw was too large, and the upper part was split by a giant protuberance with bone-like horns sprouting on the sides near the back. And of course, the creature had almost nothing of the Spacion’s greatest pride: the brain. His was much smaller and much weaker, with obvious consequences: the creature could not speak and had little more intelligence than an animal. With the suspense that had mounted around his results, Phytoeon could not hide his failure, and did not try to. He presented the creature to a large assembly of some the most eminent minds of his time, while trying to insist on the positive sides of his work. But despite his efforts he could not stop the sniggering and mocking of the assembly as he, who had spent months bragging about having found a way to instantly replicate Spacions, showed this grotesque and stupid animal as his final result. Ulureon, one of those who had not believed one second that Phytoeon’s gel would work, made a comment that remained forever famous: “You were supposed to show us a replica of our kind, the most advanced in this sector, maybe the galaxy. Instead you show this…worm-like thing. Your Phyto-gel has produced a Phyto-worm.” From that point onwards, everyone referred to the creature by that name, and Phytoeon was reminded of it his entire career.

III. The idea: a proxy Empire Despite the obvious failure of his experiment, Phytoeon was not shut out, quite the opposite in fact. His community recognized that, despite not achieving his goal, he had conducted intense and serious research which clearly improved the knowledge they had about cloning and genetic manipulation. He also shook the domination of physics for a moment by drawing the whole community’s attention on another subject, something many (even some physicists) were grateful for. His mistake had been the arrogance which led him to announce a result before having one. A lack of scientific and Spacion professionalism which, if corrected, could lead him to a bright career. Phytoeon had no choice but to accept the critics and recognize his fault. He began conducting research on eugenics and how to improve its efficiency in his society, it was the most appreciated subject in biology and would allow him to quickly wipe off his humiliation. And so he abandoned his phytogel and Phytoworm, but never forgot them. Nor did he forget his dream of creating entire races in a blink of an eye. Just as predicted, Phytoeon had a remarkable career once he aligned his research with the trends of his community. He made groundbreaking discoveries in genetic manipulation of gametes, and improved nearly every aspect of artificial growth and gene selection. He managed, over the years, to not only improve the quality of newborn Spacions, but also to reduce the energy consumption required for their growth. He became president of LifeForce, the biggest and most influent biology organization, and under his lead it continued to grow. But as time passed, things were not going well in Spacion society. 200 years had passed since the Isolation and there was no tangible improvement to their Empire’s growth. Yes they were still making progress in many domains, yes they continued to acquire new knowledge and develop new technologies, but not any faster or any more efficiently than before. Their biggest problem was how to continue their experiments and observations without being detected by other Empires which. Up until now, they had invested in upgrading their stealth technologies to organize observations, abductions, eliminations and other sorts of experiments without being seen. But this method quickly showed its limits, mainly when it came to the amount of experiments possible at once (each required extra and so extra time) and their scale (even stupid Empires could put 2 and 2 together when half a colony’s population disappeared). And so only two options remained: find a different way to conduct experiments or abandon the Isolation. The latter was unthinkable considering all they had invested in that project, and so it had to be the former. Phytoeon looked at this problem and though “if only we had a dummies that could take the blame for us, fake Spacions that everyone would accuse while leaving us alone”. When the words “fake Spacions” crossed his mind, he knew immediately what could brilliantly fulfill that role. And so, only a few days later, the eminent biologist presented his plan: the creation of a proxy Empire through which the Spacions could implement their experiments while it reaped the consequences. And what better candidate for that then an easily creatable clone like the Phytoworm. The response of the Spacion community to Phytoeon's idea was variable. While most of his companions thought the proxy Empire was an excellent idea, they were less thrilled about using failed ugly clones of themselves for it. People saw in the biologist's proposition an attempt to turn his past failure into a success, and a proof that he had never gotten over his humiliation. Within LifeForce, voices rose to oppose his, fearing his obsession for the Phytoworms would be his undoing...and of the organization as well. A group, wishing to avoid this, came up with an alternative plan: why not subjugate an already existing Empire and brainwash it into servitude to use it as proxy? A massive and complicated project no doubt, but less (they argued) than Phytoeon's which required to build a second Empire from scratch. Debates and conflicts lasted for several years while both parties tried to impose their idea. When it became clear to Phytoeon that support within LifeForce tilted towards his opponents, he stepped down from presidency and gave up on the organization. Instead, to prove that his idea was the best, he would found a new organization who would be dedicated to the creation of new life as well as the study and genetic enhancement of existing creatures. Not a new concept, but his would be the state of the art in the domain and its first mission would focus solely on Phytoworms and how to make them credible for his proxy Empire. He used his influence and power to attract some of the best scientists in the field (other than him of course) and, 20 years after his failure, resumed his research on Phytoworms. He named his organization the Spacion Entity for the Creation, Reconstruction, Enhancement and Transcendence of Species, aka S.E.C.R.E.T.S.

•	Project Phytoworm Empire It became rapidly clear which of the two projects would be the most successful. While LifeForce was bogged down in their complications, progress on the Phytoworms was seemingly unstoppable. Phytoeon and his group were working harder, better, faster and stronger than any had in biology before them. Every month a new breakthrough occurred and in 3 years only, the Phytoworms went from vegetables to growling animals to capable creatures capable of thought and speech. And most importantly, they could obey, and that was the key factor that gave Phytoeon's project the edge over his competition. Indeed, those who had doubted him at first now backed him completely. In 5 years S.E.C.R.E.T.S. had surpassed LifeForce and the latter was nearly forgotten, in 10 years half of the Spacion community was working on the construction of the Phytoworm Empire. The food they would eat, the ships they would use, the weapons they would be given, the structure of their society...All these questions needed answers and the Spacions worked vigorously to find them. The Phytoworm Empire had become the second largest project in Spacion history after the Isolation. The years passed, the project continued and Phytoeon was raised to the highest rank his society offered: the rank of Genius, and was even given the exceptional privilege of artificial life prolongation. Indeed, Spacions have a rather short average life of 50 years (but a very efficient one), Phytoeon was already 52 and dying. Though they are against the concept of stretching an individual life by artificial means, Spacions exceptionally allowed it for scientists that have profoundly revolutionized their domain and that must see one last project through. In 3230 years of Space Stage, only 4 individuals had been granted such an honor, Phytoeon would be the 5th. His prolongation lasted for 50 years, bringing him up to 102 years of age, just in time to see the establishing of Phytroth, the Phytoworms "Home world" (or at least the one the Spacions created for them), which officially marked the creation of the Phytoworm Empire.