[The data stream is steady, I will now start issuing movement commands to the drone.] Nico informed the crew.
If nothing went wrong, moving the probe back and forth, they would send another probe with a living organism through and make sure it was safe for life to travel. There hadn't been any indication of harm so far, but it was better to be safe than sorry when you were in the human test group.
The probe maneuvered back smoothly and picked up a small collection of plants and creatures that the Terraforming Array could create alive.
They carefully monitored them for changes to their behaviour and vital signs as they passed through the Portal, but much to their relief, nothing seemed to change.
"Everything looks good from here. No signs of distress or hostility. No damage to the probe or anything on it." Nico said, looking at Max for permission to move on to the next step.
"Let's get out of here." Max agreed.
Nico sent the command to the bridge, and the Portal was expanded large enough for them to send the entire ship through. They were about to bring the probe back when one of the researchers noticed something strange about the data.
"Before we move, look at this. We can see out to the probe, but the probe isn't returning any data on the Portal. It's like it doesn't exist on that side. It's just the probe floating in space." She explained.
That led to another round of data analysis before the ship could move, but they didn't see any harm in the process, even when they moved the probe back and forth multiple times.
As long as it moved to the correct spot, it would pass through without issue, even though its sensors didn't detect anything there.
[Captain, move through the Portal. We have not detected any sign of harm or instability on this end, only an inability to detect the presence of the Portal from the other side.] Max instructed.
The Giant's reluctance to actually become the test subject was intense, but he followed the order, and the Cutter smoothly glided through to Koleska's space.
[All hands, I need a status report. Any unusual emotions, physical sensations or injuries need to be reported immediately. Please perform full personal scans with your room's built-in medical scanners.] Max ordered.
Max had a theory that the Arisen and possibly even the Darklings might be the way that they were because of the interference of the subspace level that they travelled through. If it was making them violent or affecting their minds, he would have to put all testing on hold for the time being until they could determine what exactly the issue was.
It only took a few seconds for the reports to roll in. None of the Innu or Giants reported any issues. The Valkia all reported a brief moment of nausea as they passed through the Portal, but it had faded before they could finish the self-scan. All of the humans were reporting themselves to be in the same state as always.
"Maybe we picked the wrong test subjects. You see, the Innu live to please others, while the Giants and the Valkia both conquered their home galaxies through force. I don't think that there is any disputing the violent nature of humans, so that leaves us with exactly zero people on board who might be susceptible to trauma from their experience in the other layer." The researcher who was working on the layered space Thesis explained.
Nico smirked at her. "So, what you're saying is that the violence likely isn't directly caused by anything on the other side unless it was blocked by our shielding. But there is the possibility that it could be caused by mental trauma resulting from a peaceful species being repeatedly forced to fight for their lives?"
The researcher nodded and then brought up the data that they had managed to gather on the fight between the Galen and the Demons.
"It doesn't look like the Galen suddenly went insane or anything. They only started fighting once those things appeared in their ship."
Nico's mind immediately went to ways that she could get back into that layer without shielding to see if the presence of living organisms would trigger the appearance of the Demons, but the look on Max's face made her change her train of thought immediately.
"It was just an idle thought." She apologized, though Max could tell that she didn't really mean it.
"Just don't do it. You can think about it, but don't do it." He reminded her with a smile, and her thoughts went to ways to test the theory using the Galen as the bait.
It was a bit more acceptable to consider throwing their enemies through a portal to hell that they had little to no chance of making it back out of, so Max didn't reprimand her again and instead ran a full system diagnostic while keeping an eye on the Koleska Fleet ships which were headed their way.
There was a slim chance that they had returned to a different point in time, either before or far after they left, and interaction with the Koleska would tell them exactly how long they had been gone.
The species had been reasonable when the humans first came through the Anomaly, so there was no reason that they couldn't negotiate with them now, even if they happened to be at a point in time when there wasn't an agreement.
[This is the Koleska Command Vessel Kirsk. Please state your name and identity.] The lead vessel demanded as it came to a stop thirty thousand kilometres away.
[This is the Terminus Trading Company Cutter Unit 404. We are on a technology development trip with Commander Keres Max and Subcommander Tarith Nico, originating from the vicinity of the Anomaly to our Galaxy.] The Duty Captain explained.
[Commander Max? Can you put him on the visual? We just received the report that the Commander had welcomed a large number of new human soldiers to the region.] The lead ship reported.
[Of course, Ship Commander. But first, might we verify the current time, date and spatial coordinates for outside verification of our experiment?]
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