The project that the circle opted to pursue instead of Opodi Talhem's Kamsho experiment involved an alien species that originated on the planet Elakima.
A Kamir explorer named Il'ri Kamm, a first-line descendant from the most honored and revered ancestors, led a translation team to Elakima about a year before Opodi's team discovered Kamsho. The planet didn't seem useful at all when Kamm arrived. It had lush jungles, productive hardwood forests, and abundant seas, but none of the millions of life forms held within them the spark of anything that Il'ri Kamm would classify as worthy of uplift.
“We should go home,” Utako Searr said to the expedition leader as he sat with his colleagues around the flickering campfire. His bioluminescent skin gave off a dark blue aura, suggesting disappointment.
“I do not think we should surrender so easily,” Oni Plosa replied, shaking her head. A dim crimson aura rippled around her. She was one of the more aggressive explorers on the team. “Perhaps more exploration would yield something more promising.”
Ellu Perax nodded. “I agree it is too soon to call it quits and return to Aukam. However, we do have at least six other candidate worlds that might be worth consideration.” A neutral green aura, indicating that Ellu could be swayed to stay or go without much concern for cutting losses here.
Il'ri Kamm knit his brow, pondering the options laid out before him. His own aura flickered between white and dark blue. “Translation is not without its cost. We can visit two worlds at most before we must return to Aukam for replenishment. It would take at least one million years to replenish our translative energy. That would then put us out of the running for this round of project funding.” He tilted his head, lacing his fingers as he considered the choices. Finally, he said, “Ellu, look over those other candidate worlds. Select one that you deem the most promising. If you think it will meet our needs, then that's where we'll go. We leave tomorrow morning.”
“As you wish, Il'ri,” Utako said. He gathered up a bundle of sensor equipment. “If there are no objections, then, I shall collect additional data about the wilderness for the Multvaros Archives.”
“Of course,” the expedition leader agreed.
Fifteen minutes later, Il'ri, Oni, and Ellu were lunging and thrashing through the woods, hunting for Utako. They had heard their colleague's agonized screams. They called his name, but only their echoes answered.
It was Oni who found him: Sprawled on the ground, equipment scattered amidst the bushes, his face drained of all color, his eyes gone black and sunk into shadowy sockets. Gouges had been torn into the flesh of his neck by his own gnarled fingers as if he had been trying to wrest something away from his head.
Il'ri and Ellu arrived shortly thereafter. The expedition leader knelt beside the corpse, resting the tips of his fingers on a ridge of torn flesh on Utako's neck. “Self-inflicted,” Il'ri mused, his aura shifting to an intrigued violet. “A reaction to whatever attacked him, no doubt.”
“Can we leave now?” Oni asked, a fearful pink and gray ribbon of light rippling around her. “No need to wait until morning, is there?”
Ellu shrugged, maintaining a neutral green that sometimes wavered toward pink. “I have determined that the next best candidate world is a planet identified as Maltar III, but we might have to compete with Zolen Fahm's team for that one.”
“We are not leaving,” Il'ri said, lifting his gaze from the fallen Utako to regard both his surviving colleagues. His eyes glowed a pale, curious yellow. The aura shifted to a steadfast brownish-black. “How can either of you even suggest such a thing just when this world has finally produced something that might actually be relevant to our interests?”
Oni gaped at Il'ri, rippling pink and crimson. “Whatever it is wants to kill us! You think that makes it interesting?”
Unapologetic, the expedition leader simply nodded. Then he started hunting through the bushes for the dead Kamir's active sensor equipment. Hopefully, Utako kept it running while he died. Il'ri did his best to ignore the hateful gaze from Oni as her aura rippled a furious orange and red. It would serve no purpose to bicker when hard data about this new species awaited discovery. He found the sensor orb cupped in the branches of a sweet-smelling flowering bush. Plucking the orb out of the branches, Il'ri held it in both hands as he watched the collected data swirl in triple columns across the display. The creature that killed Utako melded with the shadows, due primarily to the fact that it appeared to exist across multiple realities. It fed on psionic energy. Initial scans showed that the creature had been starved nearly to death. Then it had pounced on Utako, shrouding his head, sapping his energy, drinking deep from the rich well of psionic power that the Kamir carried within him. As the beast crept away, sensor details showed remarkable energy spikes each time the shadow creature seemed to cycle from one dimension to the next, culminating in the highest burst when it existed in this realm.
“Remarkable,” Il'ri said, his aura pulsating yellow. “Near extinct species that feeds on psionic energy. My guess is their old food source ran out many years ago.”
“Can we kill it?” Oni hissed, her aura still bleeding red and pink.
“It appears to be susceptible to electric discharge when it is in our dimension,” Il'ri acknowledged. “However, we are not going to kill it. We are going to capture it. We are going to genetically engineer another one. And then we will develop the species until it can be uplifted for use by the Kamir.”
“How do you plan to satisfy the dietary needs of this revived species?” Ellu inquired.
“That is a fair question,” Il'ri said. A weak smile touched his face. “Naturally, I cannot countenance the wholesale feeding of Kamir to them. If we can train them to drain without killing, of course, then perhaps a simple transfusion of psionic energy will suffice in the near term. Ultimately, they could develop their own psi energy. They could drain off of each other to survive in the long term.”
“Unless they just think we taste better,” Oni snapped.
Il'ri shook his head sadly, a pale blue aura shimmering around him as he stood beside the body of fallen Utako. “We have what we need to make a full report and recommendation. Translate back to Aukam with Utako. I will meet with the circle and rejoin you as soon as I can.”