Chapter 81 31:
"I think his actions were not the right ones back then. In fact, he was very cruel to me."
"I consider that your father was very lenient with you." Vexa hinted to him.
"He created a robot with the same characteristics and appearance as her, under the pretext that I 'had' to reflect on my mistakes."
"Well," Vexa shrugged. "Your father simply has a 'firm hand,' nothing more. Others would have chosen to eliminate you; in fact, this situation was entirely your responsibility. She could have been alive had you simply decided to do 'nothing,' don't you think?" Faced with Vexa's words, Korr effectively gave her all the reason.
Sometimes he wondered whether things would have been different had he remained silent, simply observed and acted exactly as an imperial nato was expected to be, nothing more and nothing less.
If he had simply accepted what his father wanted, perhaps she would still be alive.
Perhaps he would not have ended up being tortured by his instructor in vacuum chambers, he probably would have responded to her under the premise that he too was a child by biological standards and probably would have carried out all the parameters imparted by the Empire and, very possibly, this planet would have been destroyed and cast to another part of the universe by that Lithari bomb.
It would have been ironic if the galaxy had been able to catch its breath from a race as dominant and ruthless as the Viltrumite Empire.
But he always arrived at the same conclusion. To allow all of that to happen, he would have had to become someone else or, to begin with, never have been reborn.
Because what was the point of having retained these memories, of being aware that he was aware? And as a nato with consciousness, why stop being conscious that those events, his new reality, went against what he considered his own judgment.
So then, despite having returned to life, in a new body, in a new reality, in a new civilization that seemed to have been built upon principles completely alien to his own, he remained the same even after death.
Therefore, he would continue being the same, flaws and all. He would continue down that path that he considered his only road toward his objective... Escape, someday.
As for his mistakes, he simply had to learn from them and "build a hope," in order to remedy that which had been harmed by his actions, directly or indirectly.
Korr smiled at his instructor.
"you know, Instructor Vexa? Had I changed, we probably would never have met."
At his response, she smiled back at him, shrugging her shoulders.
"you are probably right. But well, we are not those fragile Kronozapiens, we cannot manipulate time."
Both remained silent, leaving behind what could once have been or what never came to pass. Because, to begin with, none of that made sense. Only the present mattered.
"by the way," Korr decided to dispel that taciturn atmosphere provided by external emotions bubbling through the air. "Were you able to recover what I asked for?" Korr asked, his voice barely above a whisper, for this required clear discretion.
Sensing what he was referring to, Vexa nodded, slipping a hand into a fold of her uniform.
"It was difficult, very difficult I mean. What little remained of her had long ago been sold on the galactic market. But yes, I got it."
Korr shuddered at the thought that she was nothing more than "livestock" to this society. Conscious life was worth so little in this supremacist society.
Vexa extracted a small sealed vial, displaying it only for what amounted to an instant.
Inside, a pale violet liquid glowed faintly beneath the light. Korr did not dare take it, not on an occasion as important and dangerous as this.
Instead, he merely witnessed it for that brief instant in which his instructor showed it to him and concealed it again so as not to raise suspicions.
That vial was all that remained of Syra-Vel. A sample of her blood, preserved and recovered long before the Empire chose to establish its sale, that blood being valuable for its psionic properties on the galactic market.
At the sight of Korr's unfocused gaze, Vexa asked again.
"Are you sure about what you are doing?" she said, her words carrying an unusual seriousness rarely seen.
"Without a doubt." Korr did not hesitate to answer.
She shrugged at that response, assuming it was another "episode" of this very strange nato.
"Very well; but let it be known that it seems like a strange whim to me, even for you, Korr-add. Collecting genetic samples from every species in the universe, PROJECT ARK. It is the most stupid thing I have ever heard come out of you, even more than those 'pocket imperial territories.' For what purpose? Why do you want to preserve the genetic memory of these inferior races, even that of the Lithari? They are already dead, and if they are dead it is because their own incapacity defined them as such. The Empire exterminated them because they were weak, so far removed from resemblance to the 'Viltrumite physiological archetype.' Are you even aware that you could die if they found out about that audacity?"
"I am aware of all of that," Korr interrupted her, his voice full of determination. "but it is my responsibility, Instructor Vexa, I... I; damn it, I do not think I can make you understand it. You probably cannot, because you were molded to be that way, but; under that same premise, was it not the purpose of our Emperor Argall to assimilate the universe under a single government, united through 'genetic resemblance'?"
Korr's words caused the young woman to raise an eyebrow.
"Interesting... you always surprise me, Korr-add. Tell me more." The young woman said, delighting herself at the sight of the nato burning his neurons in order to sophisticate so shamelessly in front of her.
Korr, for his part, after thinking carefully, continued.
"Considering the ideas that constituted the essential foundation for the possible imperial expansion into the galaxy, according to the ideas of the founder Argall, the Third Stage of Conquest, Assimilation; it was expected that mixed colonists programmed with dominant Viltrumite genetics would be implemented, since at that time it was theorized that hybrids, over time, thanks to the dominance of their genetics, would eventually become pure Viltrumites. But that final objective was never achieved due to the ideological transformation that followed after the assassination of the first emperor and the subsequent fragmentation of the Empire." Upon Vexa's confirmation, Korr justified himself. "Taking into account our problem of genetic diversity and the possible risks that such an unfavorable situation could entail for the race, would it not be valuable to preserve a genetic 'strain' that could function as 'genetic relief' for our own genes? We do not want another imperial purge because the future births of our children start coming out with psychological or physiological delays, right?"
Korr's explanation seemed amusing, but plausible, to Vexa.
She smiled at him while deciding to leave the matter aside, saying,
"good suggestion, Korr-add. Although it seemed like a far-fetched idea to me, I can see the logic in it. You have my support." She said, taking out another vial that seemed curious to Korr.
"and what is that?" he asked.
"a vial of my blood," she said, smiling. "if one day the Empire goes headfirst into disaster and you are the only one with any crazy idea good enough to save it, I am counting on you to take responsibility for helping 'YOUR PEOPLE.'"
She emphasized those last words with great insistence.
Korr wanted to refute her, but... certainly, even being the same person both in his previous life and in this one, there was no doubt: these beings, intrinsically identical yet at the same time so despicably alien, were, despite everything negative, his people.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I want to thank Azazel184 for the suggestion of the Ark (a center where the DNA of all species in the universe is safeguarded and all that... the idea was so damn good that I already have a more "logical" way for Korr-add to survive the punishment virus).