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

as he looked at his reflection. “That ring looks like an ocular enhancement,” he said, glancing to the side and staring at his pack on the floor next to the wall. He squinted, not seeing any difference, then he played around a bit randomly, trying to get something to happen in response to him adjusting his focus in and out…then all of a sudden everything zoomed in on a piece of his pack and occupied his entire vision.

“What the fuck…” he said, still staring at his pack.

“What is it?” Cal-com asked as Paul remained distracted.

“Somehow I can now zoom my vision.”

“Second lens?” Cal-com guessed, kneeling down next to him and using a bit of his remaining armor power to activate his Regenerator and scan Paul’s new eyes…as well as the rest of him.

“Whatever it is, it’s creeping me out. My situational awareness is horrible like this,” he said, bringing his vision back to normal, then zooming in again.

“These are not Human eyes. They’re…for lack of a better term…super human.”

“I like the sound of that…”

“But the source of the change is still unidentified,” the Voku said.

“I think I have a partial answer on that.”

“Another vision?”

“No. Not that I can remember anyway. Whatever’s going on in my head when I’m blacked out I can’t recall. But I think I know why my body is so sore. It’s not from damage inflicted, but from updates processing. Some of it, at least, I think is from Delayed Training Effect.”

Cal-com knew what that was, though it rarely happened. When the body went through really hard and long workouts, a significant adjustment was made afterwards, usually while sleeping. If there was a delay in the downtime, the body would try and make some adjustments on the fly, but it couldn’t make all of them. If one had a multi-week excursion that was intense throughout, such as in combat, and it produced a significant training effect rather than just damage, the adaptation to it would occur in bits throughout as needed to keep moving, but the rest would essentially be stuck in queue until the body could get into a rest state.

When it finally did, it would often update in stages rather than one long rest if the accumulation was great enough. The process was not usually peaceful, with the adjustments coming in chunks that produced instability, and sometimes pain, in the transition. Whereas normal adaptation…where you had rest breaks often…occurred in smaller ‘jumps’ that were less traumatic. In either case, the body’s genetic code rewrote itself in tiny ways, and some of those ways…if significant enough over time…would be passed onto the offspring in the genetic code merger of conception, mitosis, or whatever other method was used.

“I can’t confirm that, but you’re still changing in waves. Cellular structure is getting tighter again. I think with more food in you you might put on more mass for the same volume.”

“I feel too light.”

“Your weight hasn’t dropped much. I think your body is reorganizing and scavenging from where it can. Do you feel up to binge eating?”

“No,” Paul admitted. “If I eat too fast I start to get queasy, but if I stay awake long enough I think I can slow charge. What do my levels look like?”

“Fat is almost nonexistent, and blood sugar is low. Everything in your stomach is…”

“Is what?”

“How long ago did you eat?”

“As soon as I woke this cycle. My sense of time is obviously off, so I can’t say for sure how long it’s been.”

“Your digestion rate is very high. I’d guess you’d eaten 10 cubes a few minutes ago?”

“I got down 18, but not the big ones. Their taste is too tart, and I have to nibble.”

“Delayed Training Effect from what?” Cal-com asked, getting back to the original subject matter.

Paul’s new eyes narrowed, with the gesture being identical with his annoyed/serious look that he only showed when he’d made a mistake.

“We messed up with the Saiyan genetics, I think. My head fog might be part of that, maybe not all of it, but I’m fairly sure it’s part of the problem.”

“Lack of rest?”

“We thought we didn’t need it, but if some of our adaptation wasn’t processing and has been building up over all these millennia…I might be letting it through, since I can now sleep.”

“Your eyes?”

“I don’t see how that’s connected, but who knows.”

Cal-com held up his arm again, this time producing a solid shield plate rather than the mirror. On it he produced a variety of colors. “Spectrum check.”

Paul stared at the lines, seeing the wavelengths clearly measured, then his eyes went wide with shock.

“I can see UV and a bit of Infrared, but I can also see Gamma. Run a check with other races. See if there’s a partial match.”

“I already did. Unless it’s not included in the Regenerator database, there’s no exact or partial match. Similarities yes, but this appears to be upgraded Human genetics…to the point that it’s no longer registering as Human. Did your Saiyan genetics affect your eyes?”

“Just the color, and we added that separate.”

“Are you close to blacking out?”

“It’s starting to build, but I’m not close yet. Give me some water. I used the rest earlier.”

Cal-com passed him a fresh bottle, and Paul downed all of it, motioning for another that he half drank…then he stretched out his legs and laid back on the ground, staring at the tent top. “Check my water burn rate.”

The Voku grasped his wrist again, with the Regenerator tendrils lightly drilling into his body briefly to get the necessary sensors where they needed to be.

“Elevated. Your metabolism is far higher than Human or Saiyan, in spurts. If it was constant you’d be dead by now.”

“The numbness to the universe. The focus on the mission. The need for something to