Unity

by Carl Stubblefield

  “Nope, sorry.”

  “That’s what I figured. No matter. I’m going to assume you don’t know anything about history as it relates to supers, but let me know if I go over some things that are redundant. There’s a lot to cover and fortunately I can show you some things that will help with making our camp so we can kill two birds with one stone. To get through this, you may have to save some of your questions until the camp is set up, just so we don’t get bogged down. Do you know how to take notes on your display?” He was speaking frantically and it was difficult to understand him as he rushed to get information out.

  “Go to the gear icon in the upper right and access settings. Got it? Now scroll down to storage, then under that tab should be notes. Try asking a mental question once that’s open.”

  What should I ask?

  The text filled in the blank page, and Gus nodded at the utility of the new feature.

  “You can do a lot with that section of your display, but since you haven’t been trained at all, there’s probably a lot other supers take for granted that are a mystery to you. That section can also take pictures and video if you need it for future review. I almost always have mine running during an active mission so I can review it and see my performance. The Faction can actually stitch the team’s experience together and you can see how you performed through another’s eyes. It’s a bit trippy, but also very helpful for feedback.

  “Getting back on track. I’m surprised you have Ether Weaving, as that’s rare to have as a simple ability. While many powers manipulate ether in varied ways, they only manipulate it in a limited fashion. It frames how they access and express their will when they activate a skill.”

  “So that’s a good thing, I’m taking it?”

  “Oh, more than you know. I have a skill called Ether Design. Ether Weaving is one of the subskills that I picked up fairly early after I developed powers, and is just one way to interact and manipulate this material. That’s a big part of how I use my ability. I’ve never known anyone who can do what I do in the same manner. I want to see how you access your ability and what it looks like to me, then give you some feedback. Next, I’ll create something and I’ll show you how to change your approach to do the same.”

  “So just try to make what you make with ether?”

  “Yes. If we work together, I get XP for training you and you get XP from learning new skills. I don’t have any direct experience being a mentor, but I’ve heard that the quantum computer is very generous with XP allotments.”

  “You know about the quantum computer? What about Nth? I didn’t think they trained supers about that.”

  BoJack threw his hands out to stop the barrage of questions. “Put those in notes for now, we’ll get to them. They’re important and part of the history lesson that you need to hear in a bit. For now, would you show me how you use that ability?”

  “Alright, just a second.” Gus noted his questions, surprised at how many popped into existence in the minimized window. He then looked upward trying to recall what to make. He settled on a simple basket and wove the ether threads, tying them off and securing the construct midair.

  BoJack cocked his head as he examined the basket as it swung lazily there. A single cable extended and poked and prodded at the basket.

  “Not bad for a newbie. And did you say you haven’t developed any crafting skills?”

  “No. I’ve heard that’s another way to get a decent amount of XP besides battling or leveling skills.”

  “Yes, yes, it is…” BoJack said distractedly, squinting his eyes at the bands of ether that made the approximately gallon-sized basket. “Gus, what energy do you use to fuel the construct?”

  A dumbfounded expression swept over Gus’ face. “What energy do I use? I’m not sure what you mean by that.”

  BoJack turned back to the basket and grabbed one of the strands with two cable constructs. He looked at Gus apologetically. “May I break this?”

  Gus shrugged okay, and BoJack pulled apart the section of basket. It began to thin and then held as the cables trembled a bit when it stopped stretching. There was a tiny *snap* that sounded like getting shocked with static and the weave fizzled out of the cables holding it, burning like a fuse as the construct unraveled and disappeared. BoJack sped to observe it from different angles before it was totally consumed.

  “Fascinating,” he drawled in amazement, then stood scratching his head staring at the blank space where the basket had been.

  “Okay. That was different. Kind of changes things a bit, but we’ll work with that.”

  He shook his head to clear it and then turned to Gus. “Alright, I need to shift gears for a bit here. Gus, can you see this?” BoJack outstretched a palm in front of him and then put his other hand above it, like he was seasoning his lower palm with salt. He then drew it upward and a six-inch shard formed over his palm, floating in the air. BoJack pinched it to taper the upper point of the shard but did not touch his fingers. When he drew them away, Gus could see that the top of the shard was open. He could also see that what he was observing was visible by its outline on his display, but not visible to the naked eye.

  “You can see that on your display, right?” BoJack continued as he saw Gus nod. “It’s a plain construct of ether. The only thing sustaining it is the faintest whisper of energy from MP. Now I’m going to infuse it, so watch.”

  BoJack looked upward to the small breach in the trees above and a thin fiber of light began to extend down, ending in the empty shard. Immediately next to the thin filament, everything became as dark as pitch, the intensity of the darkness lessening the further away from the strand.

  Gus looked up as it disappeared above, catching an occasional glint as the thread appeared to literally catch and suck in the light. An increasing glow caused Gus to shift his gaze to the shard, which was slowly brightening with a shimmering soft white glow. Beads of golden light dripped off the end of the thread and pooled in the shard. The intensity increased to the point where Gus couldn’t look directly at it anymore, and squinted his eyes as he watched BoJack motion with his upper hand and seal off the shard. He handed the tiny crystalline construct to Gus.

  Turning it around in his hands, he expected it to be warm like a light bulb, but the shard felt like a simple piece of glass. Looking at it end on end, he could see that it was a perfect hexagon shape in cross section. He handed it back to BoJack.

  “Now we have light for the night. You probably couldn’t see it before, but this ether construct is selectively permeable. The interior looks like a mirror so the photons are maintained inside. Only at a certain angle will they be able to pass out, but enough photons are packed in there that we can have light and this will last until the morning. This is called infusing a construct. Your basket appeared to be infused only with MP. I can detect no other type of energy associated with it. An interesting application, but unfortunately it is pretty inefficient. I can create a construct like that for one or two MP. I’m not sure how much you used but I’m sure it’s way higher than you actually need.”

  “You want me to make another one and check?”

  “Maybe later. Do you have any powers that use something that you recognize as a form of energy? Whether it’s heat, electricity, magnetism, anything as long as it’s something that affects matter in the conventional sense. Try not to find anything that is powered directly from internal energy, but one that uses ambient or external sources to power it.”

  Gus pored over all of his abilities and only three seemed to be relevant. Krackle, whose description only mentioned “energy” but not what specific type. Then there were Shake and Shatter, which used vibration or kinetic energy.

  “Got one? Now it’s your turn. What did you decide on?”

  “Vibration?” Gus said, fearing he would be wrong or misunderstanding the concept.

  “Excellent! We’ll need a heat source and that will do well. It will not be as long-lasting as other types, but it’ll give you practice on creating more. Depe
nding on the type of energy you are trying to infuse, that will dictate what form your construct needs to have. You need something that will perpetuate and preserve the energy as much as possible, but still allow some to escape somehow. It’s best to pick something you need, such as this crystal giving light or your vibration providing heat. Mind you, it doesn’t have to be heat, you can use the energy to turn a turbine that creates other effects but let’s keep it basic for now.” BoJack tapped his lip with a finger as he thought.

  “We’ll need a fire for the night, how about that?” Gus asked.

  “I like how you’re thinking, but let’s make sure you understand some things first. One of the things you need to think about is how to collect and change energy into a usable form, while at the same time streamlining the transition so it’s efficient. That may sound easy, but often it’s the hardest part of this type of crafting.

  “Ether in and of itself is an inert form of matter. It requires some other form of energy to help it maintain its form. In one sense, that makes it incredibly versatile as you can use many types of energy to achieve the same ends. The drawback is that if that energy is not maintained, a construct will quickly fall to pieces.”

  BoJack was becoming more animated the more he explained. “Am I losing you yet?” he asked, peering at Gus from under bushy eyebrows.

  “What about tying something off? I have made some things and it helps them stabilize if I tie them off.”

  “Yes, yes. Exactly. It’s probably easiest to think of like a balloon. You can inflate a balloon with air, but if you don’t manage a way to retain that energy, it will rapidly escape. Unlike a balloon, however, a collapsing construct can be very, very bad. Not always, but it should be avoided. Think of a fireman’s hose that is fully engaged but unmanned. It can whip around and cause damage or injury if not controlled. Now imagine the hose is filled with gasoline and is on fire. That’s probably a closer approximation.”

  “Whoa.” Gus looked upward, imagining the sight while BoJack continued animatedly.

  “But yes, if a construct is formed correctly, it can retain the energy inside and use that to maintain its form. The more ideal the container, the less energy is drained away to maintain the construct and it has more permanence. With vibration, there are a lot of ways to generate energy and heat. How familiar are you with how that ability functions at a fundamental level?”

  Gus screwed up his face. “Not… very? Sorry.”

  “Okay, that isn’t great, honestly. Vibrational energy can be propagated from waves, like a sound wave hitting a tuning fork. It would help to know exactly how you generate the energy to know how best to capture and maximize the energy.”

  “Why don’t we just test it?” Gus offered.

  “I guess just give it a try on this piece of wood and see what happens, then we’ll try it on something with more internal energy.”

  “Internal energy?”

  “Hmm. It’s complicated, but some materials have more ability to absorb and transfer energy. Just like some metals can be affected by magnets but many cannot due to their molecular structure. For now just try the ability on both, and I will observe.” He handed Gus a broken twig about the thickness of a finger.

  Gus activated the ability and found that the dry piece of wood shook, more aggressively at the end opposite of where he was holding, until it snapped in two. BoJack took a ring of keys out of his pocket, removing one and handing it over to Gus. He activated Vibrate on the key and at first felt a numbness envelop his thumb and forefinger where he grasped it. Despite the loss of sensation, he noticed immediately when the key began to heat up and he dropped it, shaking his hand wildly.

  BoJack watched Gus like a hawk and knelt down to look at the key where it lay in the dirt. He poked at it until it cooled and then inspected the edge. Once he ascertained that the key wasn’t permanently damaged, he fished out the ring and slid it back in place.

  “So it appears you are manipulating ether in and around a material to move in different directions. Just think of a wet sponge in a microwave. Your ability is like microwaves, causing the water in the sponge to rotate, which in turn causes the whole thing to gain kinetic energy and heat up. This will be ideal for you, because while this generates heat, it typically dissipates fairly quickly.

  “Now you just need to make your construct. You can make a simple box and put water in it and vibrate that or play around and develop something new. I’ll leave you in charge of that so we have heat, but make sure you clear a spot and keep things under control. We don’t want anything exploding or burning the forest down. Start small. If we need to, we can start a campfire, but this will give you something to begin with that won’t blow up in your face. I’m going to show you how to sculpt a box out of ether, then you see if you can copy me.”

  Using his fingers, BoJack touched his fingertips together then spread his hands outward. A thin film like a soap bubble began to form. It reminded Gus of how he had to exert a pressure to create the interior of the dimensional bag. As he reached a certain size, he changed direction and the corners of a box formed, as if he were stretching plastic wrap around an invisible container.

  He maneuvered gently again, forming the upper corners, then he stretched the film over itself and around the opposite corners on the top of the forming box. Slowly pinching his fingers, he sealed off the construct and plucked it out of the air where it hovered, handing it to Gus.

  It appeared the same glasslike substance the shard was made from and he gingerly picked it up, fearing even slight pressure would shatter the sides.

  “You don’t need to be that careful with it, it’s fairly durable. Go ahead, try to squeeze it.”

  Gus pushed in with a finger on one side of the box, expecting it to implode and possibly cut his finger, but he only saw the smushed imprint of his fingerprint through the transparent box. Gripping it more solidly, he tried to push in with both thumbs and the box resisted any type of flexure or deformation.

  “Ether constructs are like that. They have a high resistance to elastic deformation because they actually store that as a form of energy instead of breaking. It actually gets stronger the more stress placed on it, until the whole construct fails cohesively. But it takes a lot to get there. I was able to break your basket weave because it relied on MP too heavily to keep it intact. Once you refine your constructs, it will become intuitive which containers best hold different forms of energy.”

  “I still don’t know what energy you’re using to do that.”

  “Don’t worry about any of that for now though. Just use MP to manipulate the ether into a box, we’ll use the energy to sustain it. I think you can modify your weave to do this same thing, just try to make a band that is wide enough to copy what I have done, and mentally manipulate it into the shape you want. I’ll be working on our shelters while you do that. If I finish before you can manage a decent heat source, we’ll call it good and just make a campfire. Sound good, mate?”

  Gus nodded and turned his attention to trying to form a box from ether.

  “Ah, ah, ahhh,” BoJack said, wagging a finger as Gus started stretching his hands apart as he had seen BoJack do. “You’re infusing it with MP already. You want to manipulate ether without filling the box at all. It takes a bit more finesse. Think of pulling it rather than pushing it.”

  Gus shook his head and focused on the space in front of him. Instead of his typical method of blowing a bubble he tried imagining tiny fish hooks grabbing a section of ether. On his display a blob of ether resolved into a tiny sheet as he delicately pulled the corners outward. The hooks were glowing in his display and he could tell that his MP was funneling into them, but it was at a much lower rate than his usual MP drain. As Gus tried to form the corners, the film popped and dissolved.

  “Um, yeah. Corners are hard. I should have mentioned that. At first keep them rounded; it’s easier to maintain force along a curve than at a sharp point.”

  Gus tried again and was able to make a box that re
sembled a square bar of soap. As he brought the top of the construct over itself, it blended, forming a single layer. Ever so slightly moving his fingers closer, he slowly disengaged the hooks and the shape wobbled but stayed.

  “Quick, grab it,” BoJack urged. Gus grabbed the construct and turned it around in his hands. “It looks like you have the basics, ah. That’s nice. I just got a ping!”

  At the same moment, Gus also got a notice on his display.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Gimme Shelter

  Far away from the camps of supers, the final remaining eight drones clustered together. The more there were, the better their processing power. They ran through scenarios, attempting to find the optimal plan to achieve their programmed goal. That goal was to destroy those who had gained the master’s attention.

  Unable to tap into local area networks, they became severely limited in this remote location, away from the typical transmitters that allowed them to piggyback off their signals. Their targets turned out to be supers, who had managed to destroy a majority of their number as they defended themselves after the drones attacked. Unfortunately, this variable had not been presented and resulted in more losses than expected.

  Among these supers, a statistically improbable number could fly and thus avoided death, despite the loss of their ship. The trajectories of the survivors were calculated and options evaluated. Due to the limited number of drones, remaining tactics and options were evaluated and the drones sped away in different directions as they reached a consensus.

  Gus felt a surge of hope when the message surged onto his display.

  Skill gained: Ether Crafting (Level 1)

  Ether Crafting: You now have the ability to shape ether into various vessels to contain energy. This ability unlocks the ability to learn elemental forces, but you have not currently gained control of any of these affinities, merely the opportunity to learn of them. Experiment with constructs to discover insights.