Interstellar Age

Chapter 234 An Improved Truth Serum

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Erich was alerted immediately after the decision was made. The pantheon had decided to hand over the Sage into Erich's custody. And thus, without delay, the man was arrested, and brought to Erich's ship, where he and his crew were already waiting for them. Anubis himself had decided to meet with Erich and send him off with a particularly thankful farewell. 

"You have your prisoner and are one step closer to finding the other fugitives. I do not doubt that this man holds the answers that you need, and I trust that you are skilled enough in interrogation to discover them. Or at the very least, your companion is well suited to the task. 

You have my thanks, Archon. It has been some time since I have been able to one up Osiris. You should have seen the look on his face after the pantheon decided in your favor. It was priceless. You may continue to bear my mark, so long as you do not do anything which would bring me dishonor. And so long as you hold the mark of Anubis, you may travel freely through our quadrant as an honored guest. 

I truly wish I could speak with you more, as I feel our fates are tied together. But I am sure because of this we will meet again, and sooner than you realize. Besides, you have bigger fish to fry, and I fear that after the sages learn that one of their own is in your custody, they will be coming after you.

If you care to listen to the wisdom of this ancient one, I would like to give you one last word of advice: make sure your loved ones are well protected, because the reach of the Sages, even in exile, is larger than you might think. And I assure you, they are indeed petty enough to try to harm them, especially if they can't get to you." 

Erich cupped his hand and bowed to the living "god" before thanking the man for his wisdom. 

"I promise you, nothing is more important to me than the safety of my loved ones. I will make sure they have double the security that they currently have after what we have done here today. And you should also be on your guard. I know that you are worshipped as a god here, but there are those who still believe in the sage's so-called prophecy, and prophecy is a dangerous thing, especially in the minds of fanatics...." 

Anubis simply smiled and accepted Erich's warning with a bit of a compliment. 

"You may be young, but you have the makings of a wise man yourself. But wisdom comes with experience, and you have only just begun to make your mark on the galaxy. Perhaps in a few centuries your name will be known far and wide, and by then you will have the experience you need. I look forward to watching your development closely." 

After saying this, Anubis departed, leaving Erich and his crew in the hangar bay, where they were finally able to sigh in relief. Mirage had a particularly awful expression on her face, as she posed the immediate question on her mind. 

"Can we please go now? If I have to stay another moment on this worthless planet, I think I might literally kill myself..." 

Erich sighed and nodded his head, and after making sure his entire crew was onboard the vigilance, they took off, and headed back towards Alfheim space. After this whole ordeal, Erich wanted to visit his family and provide an additional layer of security for their daily lives. 

Though they were not particularly at risk of a Sage's attack, due to the fact that the Empire was isolated from the rest of the galaxy, and let few Aliens into their midst. There was always the possibility of another Echo hiding within the ranks of Germanic society, waiting to strike at his loved ones at the first given opportunity.

Thus, Erich spoke up to Tia, who seemed to be in a particularly good mood, as he told her to set a course to his home. 

"Tia, set a course for Teutonia. There are some things which I need to take care of, and besides, it will be a while before we can break this bastard..." 

Tia's holographic projection was a bright pink as she clung to Erich's figure, despite not being able to actually touch him in her current state. 

"Master's back! Tia was so worried that something had happened to master that she almost destroyed the star system!" 

Erich did not know that the adorable little artificial intelligence was one hundred percent serious, and mistook her words for a joke. Which caused him to chuckle, and pet her pink hair, despite not being able to actually touch it. 

"Alright, just get out of course set, and I will be with you shortly on the bridge. For now, I need to speak with our new prisoner." 

Tia pouted when she heard this, before making a suggestion which shocked Erich. 

"Tia suggests that the master use this new drug that she has invented. According to Tia's research, it has a 100% success rate on carbon-based lifeforms, including those embedded with nanites such as the NeuroLink which your species makes use of. There are no known side effects, so you can be sure that your prisoner will be safe once the drug has been administered to his bloodstream."

Erich looked at Tia strangely. Although he knew how intelligent she was, or at least had a close approximation, he had no idea where she got this data from. Or how she had been able to conduct it while aboard the ship. Then again, he also didn't know how she got her robotic body. This compelled him to ask. 

"Tia? Just where did you get this data from? As far as I know, you would require test subjects for your research, and you have been on the ship this entire time. Also, where did you get the chemicals to produce this drug?" 

Tia looked extremely guilty. She had underestimated her Master's intelligence, and knew that he would find the answer quite disturbing. After all, she currently owned a barren world that was used to produce the advanced technology that allowed her physical form to exist, let alone the upgrades she kept making to Erich's ship and equipment. 

However, she grew dreadfully bored while waiting on board the ship. Though it may not have seemed like it, three galactic standard weeks had passed. And since she trusted in Erich's ability to get hold of the prisoner, she had decided to make a truth serum. That was even better than that used by the Svartalfheim Federation. 

Thus, she built a rather large testing facility on her barren world, as well as a chemical production plant. Where she then sliced into the federation's network and stole their serum's formula. She then sliced into the Dominion's network and transferred a number of prisoners to this facility who came from all types of carbon-based life forms. Where she performed inhumane medical experiments on them until she could produce a much improved truth serum. 

It is unknown just how many lives were terminated in the process, and how many bodies were disposed of. But she had created a satisfactory truth serum in as little as three weeks. Of course, Tia did not mention this at all to Erich, and simply chose to plead the fifth. 

"Tia won't ever lie to master, because Tia loves master, and doesn't want him to be angry at her. Thus, Tia is choosing to remain silent on this issue. Master just needs to know that our medical clinic has all the chemicals needed to produce this truth serum, and that it will be 100% effective!" 

As much as Erich was concerned how this was remotely even possible, he trusted Tia to have his best interests in mind, and thus he did not pry further into how she had accomplished something so spectacular in such a short period of time. Which he probably should have. 

Instead, he decided to let Tia produce this improved truth serum so that he could properly interrogate his prisoner. 

"Alright, Tia, I trust you, go ahead and produce this truth serum of yours, and once you have done so I will administer it to the prisoner. Thank you for your support!" 

Tia smiled when she heard this. There was only one organic lifeform she cared about in the entire universe, and that was her master. Of course, if Erich knew that she had terminated millions of prisoners, some of which who were on charges as simple as petty theft, he might have become concerned that she was turning into a monster. But Erich did not know this, and thus he was happy that she was able to help him so much.