by Aer-ki Jyr
“That’s what happens when you buy a new toy and throw out the instruction manual without ever reading it.”
“Speaking of which…I think we need to have a chat with our own.”
“Kara?”
“I’m going to swing by my quarters and send her a message. Meet you guys at Vortison’s lab.”
“Recall?”
Jason hesitated. “Just a chat for now. I don’t want to pull her off the front if we don’t have to.”
Bo nodded. “Anything she can remember would be…useful.”
“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Jason said, turning left at the next intersection and breaking off from the group.
“If you’ve really done what you claim to,” Paul said when the four of them, plus Jace and Riona who they’d picked up on the way, walked into the genetics research lab, “you can have the rest of the day off.”
“Why would I want time off?” Vortison answered deadpan as he enlarged a hologram that showed biotelemetry in a synthesis of numbers and icons that made for easy recognition…once you got used to the tech vocabulary. “Here it is,” he said, pointing to one particular area. “Quite obvious now that I know what to look for. Bo’s data offered more than all the rest of you combined. If you guys can prolong your ascensions as he did it will shave centuries off us getting the complete set.”
“I don’t know how I did what I did,” Bo said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I completely lost track of time.”
Vortison pointed towards one of the beds and Bo walked over and laid down…with the scanning equipment coming out over him.
“Any side effects with this one?”
“No pain, if that’s what you mean.”
“Anything new?”
“Other than a power boost, no.”
“That’s standard for Pren,” Vortison explained, “but you should be extremely tired now.”
“A little bit, but compared to the others this has been by far the easiest ascension…I don’t know why it took so long though.”
“Perhaps therein lays the answer. You weren’t trying so hard and took your time with it, hence the lack of physical trauma…cellularly speaking.”
“Ah…actually I was pressing hard and it just wouldn’t come.”
“Impatient as always,” Vortison said as the scan results started to come in. Archons never did like waiting for anything.
While they were doing that Wilson was studying the trigger hologram intently along with Paul and Riona, with the two men having a telepathic conversation that was going on at a feverish clip…so much so that when Riona asked him a question he held up a wait finger until they’d finished.
“What?” she whispered.
“We’ve got two puzzle pieces now. Pren and Battlemeld.”
“And there are some similarities in the triggers,” Wilson finished.
“Trackable?” Jace asked, walking away from Bo and joining the conversation.
“Possibly,” Wilson said, comparing something on his datapad with the hologram. “I’ve seen these patterns before.”
That comment got Vortison’s head spinning around to face him, momentarily ignoring Bo’s scan. “Where?”
“V’kit’no’sat engineering. Whether it be combat philosophy, infrastructure, or societal architecture there are fingerprints on all of them that can be recognized with a trained eye…and I’m seeing them here as well.”
“What are you noticing?” Greg asked.
“It’s just a hunch, but I’d say that Bo’s stall during his ascension was the result of his Sav tissue. It’s not an add-on like the others, but fully integrated into his every waking thought and subconscious process. I think they designed it that way on purpose, and if I’m right every ascension from this point on for him will take extra long while it makes the upgrades.”
“How did you get that from that data?” Vortison asked, very confused.
“It’s a training thing,” he said simply.
“Then his massive headache earlier?” Paul wondered.
“It wasn’t just growing tissue, it was acclimating that tissue to his current psionic tissues,” Vortison said, taking the next logical step in the path they were traveling.
“Meaning the more you get the more it will hurt,” Greg said, cringing.
“If you rush it,” Vortison added.
“We don’t know which is which when they start,” Jace pointed out. “Instability is instability from our point of view. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever felt even the slightest variation.”
“Neither have I,” Paul said, thinking hard as Wilson continued to study the holographic data.
“Are you done here?” Bo asked, still lying down.
“Almost,” Vortison said, getting back to the work at hand. 30 seconds later he had it completed and up on a different hologram.
Bo rolled out from under the scanner and stood up with the others as they waited for the medtech to do his thing and translate most of the mathematical gibberish they were seeing.
“Interesting,” Vortison mewed as he altered the view to a more traditional brain scan, with the various psionic tissues highlighted. “There are minor variations in your Sav.”
Greg threw a look at Wilson, who he saw crack a smile but say nothing. “Don’t suppose those will help you find its trigger?”
“Probably not, but any information is better than none. Right now I’m more interested in his Pren. It’s advanced further than any I’ve seen to date, including those of you who’ve had time to train and develop it.”
“Synergy,” Wilson commented, still pulling through a comparison of his datapad and the hologram.
“I would agree,” Vortison said, shaking his head slightly, “but I have no idea how. I thought the tissue growth was a fixed lot, but if it can be flash grown variably…then this is a whole new ball game.”
Paul looked at the more intricate holographic scan that had just been done, seeing not only the Sav tissue but the Pren that was spread out like a clump of fiber optic cables between his Pefbar and Lachka tissues. There was already some interlinking there, but this added more onto it…which Paul knew was like adding more shield emitters to a warship’s hull. Upgrading the emitters was one way to get more powerful shields, while adding more was another.
In this case Bo had gotten an emitter count increase, just as Paul and the others had done before. The thing was, he’d gotten a higher level version. Paul could see the difference, though not recognizing all of the statistics at first glance despite the extensive study he’d done into this area. Vortison was the expert, but still he could tell that this wasn’t the same Pren as he had.
“Wilson?” he asked.
“From a functional standpoint it only makes sense that the Sav would unlock higher processing capabilities that would aid the other psionics. In order to do that there would be a physical restructuring needed above and beyond training adaptation. I’m guessing that since Bo already had Sav those upgrades simply occurred simultaneously with the growth.”
“What are you basing that on?” Vortison asked, glancing at his datapad.
“Nothing more than a hunch.”
“A hunch?” the medtech repeated.
“You look on the body from a designer’s point of view, I look and learn as a user. We see things from a different angle and trust our gut and experience, because we have no rulebook to work off of except what we write and record as we live and learn.”
“Gamers guide,” Paul said, understanding his metaphor, as would the other trailblazers, he knew, for they were all gamers.
“Can I get a copy of Wilson’s version,” Jace said in a pleading voice. “Please.”
The taller man raised an eyebrow at him. “I record everything in my logs.”
“That just didn’t come from your logs,” Jace pointed out. “I can from your head and things you would never write down because you’re uncertain of them. That’s the playbook I want.”
“We each have our own,” Wilson said, dismissing
the compliment. “We share when we can, but mine won’t work for you and vice versa because we have different experiences to pull off of.”
Bo looked at Jace. “Try to give the man a compliment and he schools you for doing it inaccurately.”
“Yep,” Wilson confirmed.
Paul laughed. Usually the master trainer didn’t show much sass.
“So,” Bo said, glancing at both Wilson and Vortison. “Big picture is if I can ascend again it’ll take longer?”
“If his theory holds, yes,” the medtech said.
“And if yours lasts longer,” Paul added, “we might be able to get enough data from you alone to find the triggers.”
Riona walked over and wrapped Bo up in a big hug from behind. “Looks like you’re going to be our new training buddy.”
“She’s right,” Greg said. “You’ve got to stay here and train your ass off. Forget field work, go after as many triggers as you can.”
“Please,” Paul urged.
Bo held up his hands in surrender. “You don’t have to tell me twice. Sounds cool, regardless I’ve been wanting to catch up to Morgan for a long time anyway.”
“Ha,” Greg laughed. “Good luck with that one.”
“Hey,” Paul said, frowning. “I’m ahead of her now.”
“We all know that won’t last,” Bo dismissed offhand.
Paul glared at him. “Now them’s fighting words.”
“If I can beat Vermaire…” he floated with an innocent look.
“I believe,” Wilson said casually, still studying the hologram and making some notations on his datapad, “that he is looking for a rematch. I’ll wager 100 credits he’s going to beat you next time around.”
“Ouch,” Paul said with a hushed laugh as he saw the air visibly go out of the other trailblazer.
“No bet there,” Greg added. “But it’ll be fun to watch.”
“Killjoy,” Bo mumbled.
8
July 18, 2546
Solar System
Earth
It took three days for Jason to get the trigger down, with him having to internally adjust his physical and mental state to what was required for Pren ascension. He’d already gained that ability, but it was necessary for him to realign himself with it in order to pass it onto others…something rather easy in execution, once you knew what you were looking for. The trick was calibrating yourself without knowing where you were.
Originally he and Paul had learned the battlemeld trigger, which was now so familiar to him he didn’t require any biomonitor help when he helped a ranger ascend and gain the ability. In this situation that wasn’t the case, so he’d worn a headband biomonitor connected to a datapad display and sat in a meditation chamber making internal adjustments until he’d hit the mark. Then he repeated the process again and again until he was fairly confident he could hit and hold the necessary trigger.
That was when it was time for his first ‘handshake.’ Paul was lagging a little behind him in learning the trigger, as was Greg, so it was Jason who got to try the first share outside of Battlemeld, with him choosing Wilson to be at the head of the line. He did that for two reasons, one being that Wilson was already close to getting it on his own, so it shouldn’t take that much link prodding to hit his trigger. The second was that he knew that if Wilson got it he’d probably learn new angles to train it, which Jason would rather have sooner than later.
When the time came the two sat down in a meditation chamber, alone with nothing else aside from Jason’s datapad that he kept linked to his biomonitor so he could troubleshoot if he lost the trigger.
That wasn’t the hardest part, for he also had to form the twin link with Wilson. He and everyone else who had the Battlemeld shared with them already had been trained to replicate the link, so that wasn’t a problem, but each person was different and forming the link was a bit of a customization endeavor. He’d done it so many times with Paul that it just felt natural, but attempting to do so with others always required a great deal of work…which is what Wilson and Jason started with.
They spent nearly four hours in a mental chess game as they tried to line up their minds with one another, then finally they achieved the handshake and locked up, with one’s body/mind mimicking the other by registering it as their own. It was essentially a forced Ikrid glitch, but a very useful one, not only in that it could help share triggers but that it completely bypassed the Ikrid blocks and allowed one to read another, not by requisition of data but by continuously transmitting everything.
Once the two men had that link established they remained still, Wilson focusing on holding the twin link while Jason began adjusting himself to the Pren trigger…without jeopardizing the link. That was very delicate work, but he’d done this so many times with others in sharing Battlemeld that he knew how far to press before the twin link would break on his end. It was Wilson that was the unknown factor, but the man was a beast in anything training related and held his end up admirably.
A little less than an hour later and Jason successfully held himself aligned to Pren long enough for it to register in Wilson’s mind, making his subconscious think that he was actually in that required state. When that happened his trigger activated and Jason immediately felt the instability surge inside both of them.
The trailblazer broke the twin link, knowing that it would interfere with the process. Wilson had to chase it, and Jason’s presence would be a stabilizing point that would essentially weigh him down. That said, he was going to help him, so once he broke the link he reached with his Ikrid and transmitted like a beacon a stable point into his mind for him to use, but otherwise staying out of the process. This was Wilson’s battle to fight, as it should be.
It took him a long time to increase the instability, and Jason felt him almost lose it several times, but whenever that happened Wilson used Jason’s mental anchor to effectively reset the ascension process and try again. He was learning each time without losing the trigger activation, which impressed Jason thoroughly after he reached out and made physical contact to monitor what was happening more closely. Wilson only had one ascension under his belt to date, and he was showing considerable skill navigating the process despite his ‘newb’ status…and on top of that he wasn’t even an Archon.
There were a handful of trusted individuals who had gotten the psionic carwash, but only two had been given battlemeld…Wilson and Davis. Paul had offered it to Vermaire, but he’d declined stating he didn’t want anyone in his head. That was typical Black Knight, to the core.
Davis had taken some 18 tries to eventually get the battlemeld, underscoring the fact that it was something he wasn’t ready for and reinforcing the Archons’ ranger 50 minimum benchmark for sharing the ability. They didn’t regret sharing it with Davis, for he was a very special case, but those who weren’t Archons and didn’t earn it were so mentally inexperienced in such training disciplines that it was going to be difficult for them to achieve the ascension, even with help.
Wilson was no exception, but how he went about working the problem was the impressive part. He was literally learning how to fight as he fought, which truly showed his caliber in a way that Jason nor any of the other Archons had ever seen before…which only added to his already considerable respect for the man.
Jason sat and gave him the mental anchor for more than 5 hours before Wilson’s headband started flashing 3 red and he eventually let go of his wrist, breaking the Ikrid connection.
Viewed from the outside Wilson was sitting perfectly still, then blinked his eyes a few times before opening them and craning his head up towards the ceiling and stretching his neck against the pain Jason knew was coursing through his head.
“Got it,” the head trainer said. “Thank you.”
“Well done. I’ve never known of anything to hold onto the instability for that long.”
“That’s because you guys don’t need to. I’m still the learner here.”
“That won’t last long,” Jason said as h
e stood up. “Ow…watch yourself. Been sitting here too long,” he said, limping off to the door as his legs were sore and half asleep.
Wilson stood up and followed him with less effort, but at a much slower pace. When he got to the doorway he put his hand on the rim and steadied himself.
Jason reached out and touched his forehead, taking another read on his bios. “That long effort really scrambled your head.”
“I believe ‘fragged’ is the right word, though it seems to be insufficient at the moment.”
Jason withdrew his hand. “Can you walk?”
“Barely…but I’ve got a window. I’ll work it out.”
“Come on,” Jason said, grabbing his arm for some added support…by way of hacking into his nervous system and partially taking control of his body to keep him from falling over. “I’ll get you back to your quarters.”
Wilson was in agony for the next two days, with most of the first just staying in bed and trying to be as still as possible. When he wasn’t making much progress there he experimented with various music, eventually finding an active song that his mind seemed to lock onto and fall into sync with rather than randomly going every which way in a chaotic frenzy. He put it on continuous repeat and felt the first slight crack of relief, doing his best to stay in it until his stomach began complaining enough for him to venture out for some food some 19 hours later.
The second day he got three short runs in, staggered out with long naps in between along with brief computer sessions where he got caught up on events and just killed some time. He kept changing up what he did, because stagnation seemed to hurt his head more than light activities, almost as if he had to keep changing what he did in order to keep the painmaker from getting a lock on him.
Come the third day the mental fragging had diminished a detectable amount and Wilson could have no more sitting and lying around so he laid out a light but long training schedule for the day and suffered through it. He did the same for the fourth and fifth days before his head finally relented and the pain began to diminish, having been beaten into submission.