'Come in,' said the commander as the door slid open. It had been designed – one of Dr. Shen's many additions to the existing blueprints of the base – to be practically impenetrable from the outside. Shen and Dr. Vahlen filed inside and waited for the commander himself to sit down behind his desk. 'Please, sit down,' he said, and the two complied. The chairs were soft and luxurious, as per the commander's personal request. His own was rather more Spartan.

There was a pregnant silence. The doctors exchanged silent glances while the commander shuffled a file or two out of the way of his holographic desktop to better see their faces. 'As we speak,' he began, a tinge of weariness creeping into his voice, 'your engineers are putting the finishing touches on the Gollop Chamber.' He nodded pointedly at Shen. 'It therefore seems likely, given what we know of the alien hierarchy, and their psionic links, that this war may soon be over.' The experts didn't reply, although it was obvious that they both knew this was the case. Word travelled fast in an enclosed space.

'Both of you have been my close friends since long before this invasion. In fact, you both seemed to doubt me when I told you I'd killed some aliens, but who's laughing now?' A weak smile. He coughed, as if to disguise the joke, then carried on. 'Regardless, both of you believed in me when this project was merely in its infancy, being run out of a lab in Vladivostok, and for that I thank you. Soon, the projects we have worked on here will be revealed to the public, and both of you – and your assistants, of course – will be credited with their discovery and/or invention.' He glanced at them each in turn. 'Dr Shen,' he said, focusing his gaze, 'I understand you have had some… reservations about releasing this technology into the wider world.'

Ah. This was why they had been summoned. Shen cleared his throat. 'Yes, I have.'

'And why is that?'

'Simply put, Commander,' although the tone of his voice implied a complete and total lack of simplicity, 'the innovations that we have worked on here will change the face of war on this planet, possibly forever. We have developed weapons of almost ludicrous lethality, and the various enhancements we have made to our conscripts…' He shuddered as he recalled the voices of the MEC troopers before he continued. 'The path the aliens took, the path of genetically and technologically altering their very bodies and minds to achieve greater combat prowess, is at least ethically irresponsible, if not absolutely impermissible. Releasing this technology into the public domain could have worldwide ramifications. There would be anarchy.'

Another silence. The commander seemed to take his arguments in calmly, tapping his mechanical arm on the metal desk.

'Rubbish.'

'I'm sorry?'

'Complete and absolute garbage. Where do I even begin?' If he hadn't planned this conversation, he certainly made his mind up quickly; he dragged pictures from various password-protected folders on his computer to the main screen. 'Our bionic enhancements, Dr Shen, are nothing short of miraculous. You must be aware of the sorry state of limb replacements and other mechanical augmentation technology that's going on out there now?' He vaguely gestured outside of the office, despite the fact that none of the three had been to the surface for at least a year. In this, all three were united in their quiet envy of the troops. 'Hell, it was only in the autumn of 2013 that, even experimentally, truly bionic limbs were developed. These things,' he held up his arm, 'will be nothing short of a new lease of life for paraplegics, amputees, and others.'

'And is augmenting our bodies really that much more of a leap into the unknown than simply repairing them? Even your own glasses were developed hundreds of years ago for the purposes of monks to fight the effects of aging. If that's not going against natural processes for our own benefits, what is? My arm would have degraded in much the same way, like your eyes – except I've fixed it now, with the help of both of you.' The hand spun around the wrist. 'And if I can do this,' he said, as a plethora of tools and assorted knick-knacks emerged from his forearm, 'is that really so much of a sin?'

'Even allowing for technological enhancements,' Shen interrupted, leaning forward in his seat, 'genetic augmentations are practically playing God. That's something no-one should ever have done, and this invasion has simply accelerated it.'

'Without genetic augmentation, this arm would never have been accepted by my body. Gene therapy has been around for years to fix assorted ailments – and personally, I consider not being able to rapidly heal ourselves with bone marrow and bioelectrically sense motion to be a fairly large ailment. And that's ignoring the massive list of diseases we could fix with Dr Vahlen's research.'

Vahlen nodded meekly and stroked the back of her neck. She was feeling decidedly awkward.

'That's as maybe, Commander,' although the particular kind of venom with which the engineer said the word managed to make it sound like a curse of the worst kind, 'but simply fixing and enhancing our own bodies isn't just what we do here. If you'll recall – and I hope you will, because you've been commanding these soldiers for a long time – everything here is developed to more effectively fight. The plasma weaponry, the fusion lances, the MEC suits, even the arc throwers; all designed to main, injure and kill. How can you justify that?'

'Raymond, the side effects of that research are improving lives already. We sent out those arc thrower prototypes all over the world, and they are quite literally non-lethal weapons – the Taser and other stun guns couldn't say as much. If I recall, in fact, Doctor, you were hit with one of them after a manufacturing defect, were you not?'

Shen nodded slowly, wondering where the commander was going with this. 'You're 65 years old, Raymond. Using a stun gun on you would be like flipping a coin on your life, especially with your pacemaker – which you wouldn't even need if you had accepted that offer of a second heart we gave you – but you just woke up three hours later in sickbay with no side effects that couldn't be taken care of by a couple of painkillers and a glass of water.'

'The arc thrower was designed to be a non-lethal weapon, Commander. Not so with the plasma weaponry.'

'That, I shall concede. But this gun,' he said, pulling open his desk drawer and pulling out his plasma pistol, 'this is special.' The pistol's Elerium core glowed green, casting an eerie light over the faces of all present. This gun in particular was the earliest foray they had made into adapting the alien technology, and as such was covered in ugly bolts and metal patches. A couple of dark singes on the barrel showed where this model had seen combat. 'This gun is right now the most efficient reactor core on the planet. Nuclear fusion technology has been studied for years, and people always say it's always fifty years away – but this, Ray, this changes things.'

Vahlen, previously silent, piped up. 'Send a kilogram of Elerium to every fusion research laboratory in the world, and we'd have free energy within the decade.' She turned to Shen. 'You did Physics, Raymond; this is high school stuff. e=mc^2, Doctor. With enough energy… the possibilities are literally endless.'

'Johanna,' said Shen, obviously somewhat vexed that she had joined the conversation in the commander's favour, 'surely you can see the potential threats this technology possesses?'

'This is why you're an engineer, and not a scientist, Doctor,' she replied, with more than a little condescension. 'You have to see past the risks, to the possibilities beyond.'

Shen sighed. 'I'm afraid, Doctor, Commander, that I simply cannot allow my name to be attached to these… the weapons of war.'

The commander looked down. 'I see. Credit shall be given to the deputy head engineer. You are both dismissed until I call for you next.'

Vahlen, who by now was feeling awkward enough to have left on her own, was already halfway to the exit. Shen followed after, but stopped when the commander continued. 'And Ray?'

'Hm?' Shen turned his head slightly.

'I'm sorry.'

The door slid home with a hiss once Shen had left, and the commander began to prepare for possibly the most important battle of his species' short existence.