Paul followed the Volaxians back to the sacrifice chamber that he had previously investigated, and where he had unfortuanately had to kill that Volaxian. He followed them in and saw them hurriedly carry the body up onto the table. Most of them hurriedly ran back down and took seats around the mound in the dug out troughs.
I was right, Paul thought.
One Volaxian remained in the centre with the dead one. He looked deep in thought, perhaps he was praying to his Gods. He suddenly threw up his arms and shouted something. He then pulled a primitive knife off his belt and plunged it into the chest of the dead Volaxian. He proceeded to slit his wrists and his throat. The blood drained into the pots below which had been replaced from before.
After fifteen minutes or so when the bleeding had finally stopped, the Priest (Paul assumed him to be a priest) raised his hand into the ari and all the other Volaxians charged toward the table. It was absolute chaos, Paul had difficulty making out what was going on, especially in the dark, but it eventually became clear that they were all drinking the blood.
Once this was finished, they all walked back down the slope.
Time for me to leave I think, thought Paul and stood up to walk away, however, all the Volaxians collapsed. Puzzled, Paul walked over to them and scanned them with his tricorder. This time he did read something. There reactions occuring within the blood stream. What can zis mean?
A thought suddenly sparked in his mind and he ran back to the runabout as quick as he could. He grabbed a couple of hyposprays and ran back. Luckily, the Volaxians, hadn't yet regained consciousness, so Pual took a few samples of their blood and left for the runabout again.
"Computer, did you record anysing of what ze Volaxians said while outside ze ship?"
< Affirmitive >
"Run zat speech through every single algorithm you have, I need to know what zey were saying."
< Processing >
Paul went back to the aft compartment where most of the scientific equipment was stored. He sat down at the console nearest to him and emptied the blood from the hyposprays onto some palletes. He also collected blood from the dead Volaxian off the floor and put that into a pallette too.
"Computer, begin analysis of blood samples" he said as he put each one in turn under the scanner.
< Annalysis complete >
"Scan zis for any traces of blood similar to ze blood you just scanned" he said placing the finger he had retrieved under the sensor too.
< Scan completed >
"Display all information on ze viewer"
The screen came on and displayed all the information retrieved. The blood from the finger was normal. There were no signs of abnormalities. However, the blood from the dead Volaxian showed signs that severe changes had occured in its chemistry. The other three samples Paul had taken were inredible. The blood itself was being altered. The blood was being altered by the blood of the dead Volaxian, the blood that they had just drank.
"Computer, which sample contains ze most advanced blood?"
< Sample 001 > The finger.
"Zen?"
< Sample 002 > The blood from the dead Volaxian.
"Computer, how different is sample 001 from sample 002?"
< There is a 72% difference >
"And ze difference between Smaple 002 and 3, 4 and 5?"
< There is a 0.2% difference >
It was now clear that the ritual sacrifice of the Volaxians and the drinking of the blood was somehow causing the Volaxians to very slowly de-evolve. Although it was not yet clear to Paul why.
"Computer, Show break down of all substances in sample 002"
The substances were listed on screan.
"Zis is odd!!"
For the most part, the blood was very similar to any other blood from any other species, but there was one unique feature about it. It had a compund in it that Paul had never before seen.
"Computer, identify unknown substance in sample 002"
< Substance not on file. >
Paul had a hunch that this is what was causing the de-evolution, but there was only one way to test it. He needed a test subject, and for that, he needed to be able to speak to the Volaxians...