Slaves

Lazarus wasn't surprised since the parasite in front of him had acquired memories from Iriel who was a crew member of their research vessel. This spaceship that they were on is the Royal Research Ship which they have stolen.

"Please, call me Galen," Lazarus said courteously.

"Galen doesn't ring a bell, but Lazarus does." Iriel (the slither) said mockingly.

"Hm." Lazarus smiled showing that it didn't bother him.

"How can you understand me? I don't recall any research done on translating the speech of slithers."

Iriel had skimmed through their universe database. It didn't contain all the information there is in the universe but it had all of the Grays' knowledge from science, business art, history and so on. Everything significant was recorded and ordered into neat categories.

It was free to every member of their race. Knowledge was free. Except for data books that were considered dangerous were forbidden. Although most weapons and explosives were free, the ones that could cause mass destruction of life were restricted into different security levels that required an equivalent security clearance level to access.

The telepathic wave language of the slithers wouldn't have been classified information. Then that would mean-

"Yes, just as you thought. I figured it out by myself."

"..."

'You can read my mind.' Iriel thought.

'I can speak to you this way if you like' Lazarus spoke to him telepathically. He sent Iriel a series of telepathic waves all in different amplitudes and beats like a Morse code-type telecommunication system.

He was well versed in their language.

...

..

.

"Haha don't be like that. I like your company. Even though everyone steered away from me, you didn't."

"It's because I have no ties with your race so I didn't care that time."

"Hm? And you have ties with yours?"

The slithers would drop eggs in a water source and go off do their own thing. The lives of the wormlets were completely in their hands after birth.

Once slithers infect a race, they would live as members of those species and eat their foods or they could also eat other members. They were an instinctually cannibalistic race. They didn't have any attachments to the host species nor their race because of their lifecycle.

"I had to learn a lot about your kind for my research project. One of the things that I found out when I was examining your cells in detail, was that there's a group of microbes living in your tail. When the tail is cut off, you die in an hour. I thought that was similar to the stingers of bees but it turns out to be a completely different story." Lazarus paused while smirking.

Iriel waited for him to continue.

"It appears that the microbes have some essential DNA that's needed yet separate from your genome."

Iriel thought about this. Lazarus must be referring to something similar to the gene transfer process between the mitochondria and the host cell.

Mitochondria is an organelle in eukaryotic cells that produce ATP and is very similar in structure to a free-living bacterium. That is because they used to be until they formed a symbiotic relationship with Eukaryotes.

Mitochondrial DNA translates essential proteins that the host cell needs and is only replicated when the parent mitochondria divide into two daughter cells (binary fission). Then it transfers copies of its genes to the host cell genome for integration.

One theory state that the gene transfer mechanism is kept after many billions of years of evolution because the mitochondria were holding the essential genes for what can be described as hostage exchange.

The mitochondria are kept alive in the host cell because the host needs the DNA. Similarly, the microbial group living in the slithers' tail probably possessed gene products that were essential for their survival.

"Mmm, you've caught on really fast even though you're in a tiny vessel."

The large cranium of the Zeta Reticulans was a product of intellectual evolution, a huge part of the brain was used solely for cognitive processes. This was rare among the animal kingdom as most of the brain is used to control bodily functions and limbic movement, not for doing math.

The fact that Iriel was able to make that deduction very quickly deeply impressed Lazarus.

Iriel was annoyed that Lazarus read its thoughts again.

"You were close. It's a similar process but from my analysis of the genetic lineages, it's quite the opposite. The microbes and the tail itself are a parasite. It latched itself onto your race billions of years ago. Ironic... Isn't it?"

Iriel couldn't help but be surprised by the revelation but it settled down quickly as that didn't matter to its current predicament.

"I'm surprised you'd waste your time learning our language."

"Oh please, it only took about 30 minutes. It's quite worth talking to you again. Although, to be honest, for my research project, I need to learn the function and structure of every one of your genes and how that manifests into your anatomy."

Lazarus measured their brain waves and telepathic waves and mapped them. He made correlations between the two with the addition of data from the gene products and started a deep-learning AI translator which analysed the data.

Rather than manually decipher their language, he let an AI run trillions of iterations each second on their supercomputers to produce the best translation model.

Then he downloaded the model into the microchip implant in his brain.

The microchip also connects him to the technology of the mothership and serves as a second superpowered brain, allowing him to parallel process.

Not only can he understand the telepathic messages but he could see the brainwaves in Iriel. Information from EEG detectors is transmitted to the microchip, enabling him to effectively read Iriel's mind.

"What are you going to do to us?"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you."

Some of the slithers have died from his experiments but he simply made clones of them so it's like they never died.

"I'm going to make you work for me."