While Ves was visiting the labs, he made sure to study all of the physical data and conduct a few experiments by himself. One good thing about the voribugs was that they were available in abundance. They were not that special on an individual basis. It was easy to capture them from the battlefield. The tricker challenge was containing them, but so long as all of the security protocols were up to standard, the chances of contamination breaches were small, though not zero. Under Lord Richard Brownstone's instruction, Ves received full permission to operate any idle lab machine and access a restricted database that did not contain too much confidential research data. Numbers flowed in his partially digitized mind as he rapidly began to develop an understanding of the properties of numerous different subspecies of voribugs that the Goliath Hive produced up to this point. He tracked their changes and extrapolated them to guess what their mature forms would be. He speculated on divergences and made predictions on the emergence of new subspecies that were better equipped to fight against human assets. The Goliath Hive placed most of its energies on developing its Goliaths, so the status and importance of its regular voribugs was fairly small. Even so, they were all becoming increasingly more durable and annoying by the day. Ves noticed that their offensive capabilities only saw minimal improvement. Much of their evolution was geared towards optimizing their exoskeleton structures. By making them more durable, they could soak up more damage and form a greater distraction. The main job of breaking through adversary lines and defeating the core of human resistance rested on the shoulders of the Goliaths. It was too bad that a research facility like this was completely unable to safely contain a Goliath. Even capturing one of them was a huge pain as they always committed suicide without question no matter how much of an ego they possessed. Their obedience towards their hive exceeded their sense of self-preservation. "The only safe way to capture a Goliath is to put them in stasis before they realize what is happening." Lord Richard told Ves. "We managed to succeed the first few times, but the Goliath Hive quickly wised up to our means. Before a warship equipped with a remote stasis module can come close enough, the Goliaths have already retreated or committed suicide in advance. When the latter happens, all of the bonds between their cells and molecules have broken down, causing them to collapse into useless dust and matter." Ves frowned. "Does this happen when you pull a Goliath out of stasis?" "Yes. We do not dare to deactivate stasis because the Goliath in question will immediately disintegrate. We can only conduct limited research and examinations due to the interference produced by the stasis effect." Stasis technology was a form of high technology that Ves did not fully understand. He had the sense that it was messing with time and space in a very odd manner. He had made contact with stasis technology very early on in his career when he and the Flagrant Vandals raided the Starlight Megalodon. He had become amazed that human technology had advanced to the point where it could metaphorically freeze any object. Ves hardly learned more about it as the technological principles of stasis technology were too advanced for him. Even if he decided to study it from today, he doubted he would make any significant attainments in a short amount of time. It was too far from his field of specialization. He knew that it was quite troublesome to study any object under stasis. He also knew that the demands for putting anything under stasis drastically rose in proportion to volume. Ves could easily procure a high-tech gadget that could place a data chip into stasis, but it was impossible for him to obtain a giant apparatus that could put a Goliath in stasis! While Ves was eager to begin his studies on Goliaths, he first wanted to complete his examinations of the regular bugs. They came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Among the 6 hives, red humanity had already observed over 1000 individual species and subspecies, many of which were continuing to evolve over time. The sheer variety of voribugs did not seem to hinder the command and control of voribug swarms. They still operated as if they were perfectly controlled by a local commander, a regional princess or maybe even a central queen. Try as he might, Ves failed to figure out what sort of organ or signal the voribugs used to exert such excellent control. "We have made no progress on that front either." Lord Richard said with regret. "We have tried numerous different jamming methods to disorganize the voribugs, but none of them produced any noticeable effects. We have employed both technological biological sources of disruption. We have also given our qi cultivators an opportunity to employ their newly developed abilities in the hopes of producing change. None succeeded. It is as if we are operating in 4 dimensions while the voribugs operate in 5 dimensions. Their bugs are being controlled through a transmission channel that is undetectable and unblockable by our current means." "Wait... are you suggesting that the mutated voribugs of all races employ an unknown means of organic superdimensional technology?" Lord Richard snorted. "No. Definitely not. There are admittedly fringe theories circulating through our ranks that claim that the mutated voribugs are intricately connected to the phase whale race. However, this is just a story that people have invented to explain the unexplainable. There is no credibility to these unfalsifiable claims. We must remain rational and avoid bias and superstition. The survival of our people and our colonial star empire depends on our scientific rigor." Though the Rubarthan mech designer clearly sounded dismissive, Ves couldn't help but feel attracted by the hint of this supposed theory. "Can you share the details of this story with me? I am curious about what your researchers have come up with. Maybe I can provide insights from an unexpected angle." Lord Richard clearly disliked this request. He did not want to give a mech designer who was famous for coming up with the craziest ideas a wrong lead. Who knew what sort of madness he would pursue. However, when the Rubarthan liaison thought about how the Rubarthan forces were faltering in front of the voribug menace, he knew that sticking to strictest scientific rigor may not necessarily produce the killer weapon against this implacable foe. Perhaps madness was exactly what they needed to break the unfavorable status quo. "Very well." He sighed. "There are multiple variations to the story, so let me start with the facts. First, the phase whale race is likely artificial. They were genetically forged to serve an unknown purpose in the Red Ocean Galaxy. They may have outgrown their purpose after their creators have mysteriously left, but there are very little doubts that they originally served a specific purpose, whether it was seeding phasewater throughout the dwarf galaxy or harvesting any deposits that naturally accumulated in different star systems for unclear reasons." "That sounds plausible." Ves nodded. "Second, the voribugs, whether we are talking about the degenerated survivors of the previous age or the mutated ones of the current age, are also artificially made. Their genes may not show too many overt signs of deliberate design, but the way they work is too comprehensive to be the product of natural evolution. Whether this is intentional or not, there exists at least one but likely more mutated voribugs that can actively reformulate the genes to produce new subspecies or improve existing ones. These hypothetical queens and princesses likely did not develop these capabilities independently, but merely gained access rights to this inherent property. Do you agree?" This time, Ves was not so certain. "I agree with the first parts, but the rest sounds a little more dubious. I am willing to believe most of it, though." "Then let us bring these two assumptions together. Both races are engineered. Both races exist in the Red Ocean. It is not unreasonable to assume that their creators... may have been the same. A single progenitor race or alien individual may have been responsible for seeding both the phase whales and the voribugs in this dwarf galaxy. Perhaps there is more truth to the claims that the phase whales are the 'descendants' of the Elder Gods." Ves almost shook as he realized how shocking it was if this particular theory was true! "This is... difficult to believe, but just plausible enough that we cannot ignore the possibility. I still find it difficult to imagine that the phase whales and the voribugs share anything in common aside from residing in the same dwarf galaxy. Their genetics and their modes of operation are completely different. These supposed Elder Gods have mastered biotechnology to a greater degree than the phase whales if this theory is true." The unspoken question here was where the Elder Gods had gone after creating the two completely different races. Why had they disappeared? Why had their traces disappeared? Read on lig‌ht‌no‌‌vel‌world‌.o‌rg Why did no other race aside from the phase whales know about the supposed Elder Gods? The Red Ocean possessed greater depth and history than Ves imagined. He had the feeling that it was not as simple as many people assumed. "Wait." Ves said. "If both of them are artificial creations, then they were most definitely made with a purpose. I refuse to believe their progenitors put so much effort into them just to treat them as disposable toys. I think it is safe to assume that the phase whales are tasked with taking care of the Red Ocean and its phasewater reserves. They serve as a stabilizing and regulating influence. The voribugs are different. They are pure pests. Letting them loose will not lead to a healthy equilibrium. It will lead to a complete depopulation of the dwarf galaxy. The bugs will devour all life and ruin the ecosystems of all planets. The new frontier will turn into a desolate bug-filled graveyard." Lord Richard made a rueful smile. "This is a doom scenario from our perspective, but what if the alien progenitors held a different opinion? What if... the unrestrainable voracity of the voribug race is a feature rather than an undesirable factor? What if they were made with the express purpose of wiping out all life and activity within the Red Ocean?" Ves widened his eyes as he fixated on this idea. Although there was far too little data to support this wild theory, there was a certain elegance to this explanation. "That..." Could this be true? Had a bunch of ancient alien bastards created the voribug race to serve as biological cleaning bots when the time was right? Had the Great Severing accidentally switched their hidden extermination mode, causing them to wake up and mutate en masse for the express purpose of fulfilling their bioprogrammed directives? Ves simply couldn't tell whether there was any credibility to this theory! He really did not want it to be true, but he personally felt that he needed to take it seriously. If this theory was correct, then the Elder Gods definitely wouldn't have done a poor job at creating their cleansing solution. The voribugs were expressly designed to defeat the phase whales and most other races that had taken root in the Red Ocean. Even red humanity may not be able to defend against this engineered threat. What other surprises did the Elder Gods put into their creations? What if there were more engineered races in the dwarf galaxy that possessed the same purpose? What if the phase whales inexplicably teamed up with the voribugs one day? Ves became tormented by all of these questions! "This is crazy." He muttered. "Yet we cannot ignore these possibilities. These voribugs... there has to be a greater story behind their existence. I really want to get my hands on their princess or queen."