Metamorphosis, Aer-ki Jyr [best classic literature .txt] 📗

down next to Jason but keeping several inches away. “Any pathogens?”

“Not on them or the air or the ground,” another medtech said, this one a Human, that was standing over Vitor.

“What happened?” Oni demanded.

“Jason went down and Vitor flew over. We just got here as he went down.”

“Shit,” she said, knowing there was little she could do without touching them. “Give me that.”

Oni telekinetically grabbed one of their regenerators and flew it into her hand, then she proceeded to mentally connect to it and reconfigure its myriad of settings, after which she threw it down next to Jason and watched as it sprouted legs and walked up onto his arm and settled into it.

“What if the warning was to protect them?” a medtech asked.

“The floor is touching them,” she scoffed as a holographic display screen popped up above it. “No reason it can’t in view mode. I’m not seeing any damage or interruption.”

The now 4 medtechs there pulled out datapads and wirelessly connected to that regenerator so they could get more data, but Oni just kept staring at the hologram rising above Jason’s slightly heaving chest as nothing seemed out of place.

“This doesn’t make sense. Their minds are jammed up good, but there’s nothing biological to trigger it. I don’t even see why they’re unconscious.”

“They’re in rest mode,” the Calavari said. “Deep rest.”

“Why are they still blonde then? They should be…”

“What do you suspect?”

Oni didn’t answer, instead mentally toggling the diagnostics to look at their Saiyan-specific cellular structure…then the Regenerator pinged a warning that the subject’s genetic code was being altered.

“Archon?”

“I see it,” she said, biting her lip as she thought. “Do any of you see a causal mechanism?”

“Nothing,” another Human said, with the others shaking their heads in agreement.

“What the fuck is going on, Jason,” she said, looking down at him, then over at Vitor…then she got a weird feeling from both of them, like a faint aura made of chilly wind that made her take a step back.

“Get back further,” she warned, knowing without any data that this was Essence-related. She couldn’t see it emanating from them, but she could feel it…in a form she’d never encountered before. “It’s not biological. It’s Essence.”

“Changing his genetic code?” the Calavari asked. “Should we stop this?”

“Hold on,” she said, jumping into the air ever so slightly then disappearing entirely with an audible pop. The air around them jerked towards her location, then a moment later it pushed back the other way, knocking down one of the Humans and moving Jason and Vitor slightly as they were dragged across the floor a few inches from the air displacement as she returned from the Essence Realm.

“There’s no one here messing with them. This must be internal. Let it play out for now. If it starts causing harm we can reverse it.”

“Not if the rate escalates beyond the ability of the Regenerators,” one of them said as Wilson finally arrived, flying through the sky much slower than Oni had, but he dropped down fast enough a step behind her.

“Essence related, but no visible exterior threats,” she reported as he walked by her and reached down to Jason, but she caught his arm before he could touch him. “Vitor said not to touch just before he passed out. Whatever this is may be contagious. I can feel a weird aura around both of them.”

“Testing a theory,” he said, gesturing with his eyes for her to let him go.

Oni frowned but relented, then Wilson knelt down and put his hand on Jason’s forehead and was silent for several moments.

Oni tapped her foot on the floor impatiently, prompting Wilson to turn his head and look up at her.

“And?” she demanded.

“I think this is a limit break. It’s having no effect on me, but keep your distance. All of you may be so close that one can trigger the other with a taste of this.”

“A taste of what?”

“Another theory I’ve been working on, with no data to back it up,” he said with his hand still on Jason. “I’m feeling a heavy dose of Delayed Training Effect, intermixed with non-rushed Essence. I can feel it swirling inside him, with no resistance. This may be a natural ascension.”

Oni knelt down next to him, but kept her distance. “And why would I not want in on it?”

“Remember Jason’s breakthrough to Lachka?”

The Archon winced. “Point. So we just let this run its course? They’re still in Saiyan mode, probably level 2. They’re going to burn up if it’s stuck on.”

“Wait and watch,” he said, flicking his chin behind her, “from over there.”

“Yes, Daddy,” she said sarcastically as she retreated 3 meters further back then sat down on the floor cross-legged as she tried to break into either of their minds for even a glimpse of what was going on, managing to get a few wisps of buzzing from them over the following minutes as more and more trailblazers arrived from elsewhere in Atlantis, with Davis being the last to get there as they were all surrounding their two downed brothers who Wilson had laid out into less crumpled positions, but otherwise wouldn’t let the medtechs move them further.

“What’s happening?” Davis asked.

“Something significant,” Wilson said with an eerily epic voice. “And something beyond us. They’re breaking trail again. All we can do is follow and watch…”

7

July 1, 154930

Poolion System (Home Two Kingdom)

Turron

Paul was on the beach again, but not sitting. He was dancing through the sand, making a rhythm out of various movements, most of which were combat related along with a few connective poses. He was moving quickly, but well within his control, and the Archon had learned that this helped him think more freely than sitting and observing.

Or to be more precise, it helped