Awareness slowly crept into the newly born mind. It lay on its back on a cool, soft surface. Feeling out through its body, it wiggled fingers and toes and rotated shoulders. A rich, earthy scent permeated its senses and a delightful, crisp, crinkling sound of turbulent, pressurised, viscous ooze met its ears. The Construct felt pleased that its body was operational. Turning its head towards the sound and opening its eyes, it found a long, low box with a clear, bulbous lid hinged open. It would fit the Construct with room to spare, should it lie within. This was the healing tank it had just come from. The Construct felt it calling out.
Lithely moving over and squatting to peer in revealed the source of the noise. Chaotic swirls of writhing black fluid three-quarters filled the tank. Unthinking, connecting, it reached in, scooping up a palmful for closer inspection. Mesmerised, the Construct saw that this was not a liquid at all, but tiny, flat, iridescent, eel-like worms. There must have been billions writhing together in the mass below.
"Hello, little one." A familiar voice called from somewhere above and behind. Somehow the Construct knew the words were addressed to it. A reply would be appropriate.
"Aren't they beautiful, Professor?"
"Yes, honey, they are. You better put them back. They'll get sick out of the tank. How are you feeling?"
"This one is wonderful, Professor." The Construct replied, carefully lowering its delicate friends back into the pool.
"Do you feel different than before?" The professor asked after some consideration.
The Construct idly swirled a finger through the pool of parasites. They seemed to swarm and dance in reaction to the presence of its finger as it considered the question. It knew everything of its life before and a strange sense of vertigo assaulted it when trying to process that knowledge.
"This one feels... dissonant accessing that data. The answer is yes and specifics are challenging." The Construct's answer triggered an even longer pause in the Professor's reply. It continued to play gently, feeling its way through the billions of parasites, the biggest of which was only a few millimetres long.
"Okay, little one. Last question on this topic. What are your last memories before waking up here?"
At that, the Construct paused in its play. Fresh, clear memories leapt to the forefront of its mind. Important information for the Professor. It stood, turning to her, and both briefly froze, eyebrows raised in surprise at seeing the other. At first, the Construct thought the Professor must've grown or been far taller than it remembered. The obvious answer soon came to mind, however, as it realised it was at least six inches shorter than before. That wouldn't have been what surprised the Professor, though. She'd have known. She was clearly confused and a little shaken, so the Construct did the only thing it could think of to help her. It walked over and gave her a hug.
That didn't really take, though. Something was wrong. Stepping back, the Construct tried again, this time borrowing under the Professor's open lab coat. The skin-to-skin contact worked much better, the Professor letting out a long sigh of relief.
"You have changed a lot, little one. I'll be honest; I don't know how or why. Not exactly. You are an enigma and now barely qualify as human. In a good way. What are we going to do with you?" The question might have been rhetorical, but that was ignored by the Construct, happily snuggled between the Professor's heavy, pendulous breasts.
"If this one qualifies as a parasite-breeding sow," came a muffled voice, "put it to work. If not, this body will compost well. Other feed possibilities may also be considered in optimising revenue generation." The Professor snorted at the response.
"Well, preliminary data suggests you'll render a new, improved evolution of sows. I cannot foresee any other path representing better revenue potential."
The Construct sighed happily. "This is fortunate. This one's sow-sister opted for the same mental template." The professor stilled.
"Explain."
"This one established and developed communication with the mind engineering parasite. He learnt this one's self. Proximity allowed him to communicate with his brood sister, who was subjugating the pretty blue lady. That parasite had access to a willing mind but no species-mapping basis for communication rules. He sent her the mapping we'd developed, and then all six entities cooperated, engineering two perfect breeding sows. It was fun."
The Professor relaxed, pleasing the fresh, new gilt. Then she realised something.
"Six?"
"Yes, Professor. The healing tank hives were included so they could make the right bodies for the minds."
Breaking their cuddle, she took the happy Construct's hand and walked over to a sealed healing tank. It was surrounded by displays showing live scans inside, just like the Construct's had. None of that meant anything to the pure gilt. Through the clear lid, the roiling mass of tiny parasites churned at an incredible rate. The Construct recoiled at the sight.
"Professor, they are sad!" It exclaimed miserably.
"Be calm, piglet. These healing tanks struggle with Vingorians. Always have. The nanotech ones are better for healing us but are ineffective at age-regeneration. It is a long, hard process for both us and the parasites. It will be another ten days before she is done."
The Construct looked between the tank and the Professor, blinking.
"Please, may this one help?"
The Professor audibly 'hummed' at the request before tapping at her computer.
"Please vocalise everything going on so I know. When I say stop, you stop immediately."
The tank chirped and the lid opened. The Construct had its arm in, up to its bicep, before the lid was fully raised. It fished around for its friend, finding a tattered, regrowing thigh to rest its hand on. Focusing its mind, it reached out to the hivemind of the amassed parasites. Even through the hive's garbled, frustrated state, the Construct established communication.
"This one has connected, Professor. Requesting the hive to break healing protocols for communication." The surface of the tank calmed and a short time later, the Construct spoke again.
"The hive is blocked and requests permission to break the lock. It causes distress. This one suspects it is being told there is a genetically encrypted block."
"That's right," the Professor dejectedly admitted. "I know that's the reason. But this encryption cannot be broken." The Construct giggled, then quickly corrected itself.
"The hive again requests permission to break the lock."
"You giggled, little one. What did the hive say?" The Construct's face turned red.
"Professor. The hive was rude about you. In an exasperated way. The next part is difficult to translate due to this one's incomplete understanding. This one hopes you understand.
"An individual parasite cannot add one and one. All it can do is sequence, repair, and print genetic structures according to rules the hive sets from electromagnetic instruction and the chemical signals in the substrate. You use it to undo the process of ageing and rebuild broken tissue. It is the perfect billion-node gene-cracking tool. What you claim is impossible is, in fact, trivial. Professor, you engineered rules it cannot break, like, 'If the professor didn't tell you to, don't'. The hive repeats its request." There was then a pause as the Professor processed the idea.
"New rule. Genetic lockbreaking. Permission granted. Set permanent." The Professor tapped on her screen for a moment. The surface of the tank took on a much more ordered, gentle roil.
"One cup of coffee, please..."
"Sorry, little one?"
"Apologies, Professor. This one suspects the message is actually that it will take as long as you take to drink a cup of coffee. To break the lock."