Under Glass

Posted on Sat Sep 5th, 2026 @ 3:35pm by The Undermind & Commander Intharia T'Zor & Advisor Polyphron & Senior Agent Paafvo Tlex

893 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: UnderMind [4]
Location: Harmony Institute Sub-level - Dreizhen III
Timeline: MD07 - Afternoon

“Thank you both for taking the time to speak to me.” Senior Agent Paafvo Tlex told Polyphron and T’Zor as he reached the specimen chamber below the newly rechristened Harmony Institute, once known as the colony-city of Shitau. Agent Tlex had always found that name rather off-putting, as a native Federation Standard speaker. The Ithenite spoke loudly and clearly, there was a refinement in his voice, like he had experience on the stage.

“The Lieutenant Director sends her apologies, but her priority has been the recovered Borg drones. After Frontier Day, active nanites are as high-priority as Thaloron radiation. She's probably fending off questions from seven different Federal entities right now.” Agent Tlex explained, in no way jealous of his superior's task. Such were the perils of success in Starfleet Intelligence.

"It is no trouble, Senior Agent. I am happy to be of any assistance that I can." Polyphron said.

"Maybe if you'd asked us to come down here when we weren't already planning to meet you'd owe us thanks, but for now we're okay." T'Zor said with a smile. Another trio of science non-comms had accompanied them, doing the needful around the room for what was to come.

Through a transparent floor they could see the creature the Order had called the ‘Undermind’, which had been classified more precisely as a ‘brain bug’, given its function as a sort of telepathic leader-coordinator for the Bug swarm, although its control was more suggestive than absolute.

“Naturally we want to know everything we can, and your report was very thorough, thank you Advisor. But I have a few more questions for you, if I might? Official intelligence report, and all that.”

“Of course.” Polyphron’s suit responded.

“You were inside the mind of their swarm. How do they think of themselves? Do they even have a sense of self?”

“They seem to understand that they are parts in a whole. The brain knows its power over the others, but is also keenly aware of its limits, and the fact that the individual bugs have certain needs that must be met, and tolerances that can’t be exceeded, even if they have no sense of self-preservation whatsoever.”

“Was there anything resembling language?”

“No, no words. But there was a sound that seemed to mean many things. It was the bugs as they referred to themselves. An instruction to move. A desire to kill. The celebration of dead foes. ‘Klendathu’. It repeated over and over again. ‘Klendathu.’ Like a name, and a battlecry. The only word it knew.”

“Klendathu. Interesting. At least we can stop just calling them bugs. Klendathu Bugs. Has a certain ring to it. Do we know if there are any other subspecies beyond those we encountered?” Agent Tlex rattled it off casually, this was something he knew they both wanted over with quickly.

“Not that we’ve seen any evidence of. Our newfound ability to scan through the soil presents a significant advantage on that front, but there’s still nothing.” T’Zor explained.

“I can’t quite explain it, and I certainly can’t confirm it, but I felt a presence when I occupied the bug. Something greater than the others, but also very near. We saw no sign of it. I didn’t see it through the eyes of any of the other bugs.” Polyphron confessed.

“Mysteries. Goodie.” Tlex said sarcastically. “Is it well?”

“Yes, it seems to be in robust good health. I’d say a lot of that is owed to the benefits from Polyphron’s blending. It's got naquadah in its bloodstream, and basic systems running at twice their usual baselines. It’ll come back down again, but slowly.” T’Zor explained.

"Ah, so we've made it even stronger. Double goodie." Tlex replied. "And we trust the Order to maintain it? Their last Grandmaster started worshipping and sacrificing his and our people to it."

“They are the Institute now. And Dr S’Lace says she will be personally overseeing the studies of and interactions with it.” T’Zor clarified.

"Well. Let's hope she doesn't start worshipping it too. So our people aren't at any risk from psychic infiltration by the creature?" Tlex wondered aloud.

"Not that I could interpret. Its connection to the other bugs was direct and hardwired. They're only communicating with each other on a biological network. We think that being fed Vulcans increased its ability to communicate telepathically, but it doesn't seem to have any understanding of langauge to use it." Polyphron explained.

"Well, I'll recommend they station a telepath nearby, just to make sure. Don't want this thing getting into any new brains. If it does start getting interested in that sort of thing, we'll have to put it on the moon." Tlex said, as though completing his review. "Now, I believe you both have some tests to perform. Mind if I watch?" He asked, becoming more casual as he knew he was done.

"No. But it won't be pretty." T'Zor made a cautious invitation.

As they began their examination of the sedated creature's spike-weapon, the word mucousy came to Paafvo Tlex's mind far too often. The brain bug, he'd heard it called. Cerebrus Rex. That would be appropriate Latin, yes? He wrote it anyway. Someone else could figure out what to call the warriors, hoppers, tankers and plasma bugs.

RSS Feed