Point Zero

  1

  September 23, 154930

  Solar System (Home One Kingdom)

  Earth

  “What happened to you?” Sara-012 asked as she walked into the Atlantis amphitheater along with a few other stragglers showing up late and getting their first view of the much larger Paul-024.

  “I ate my Wheaties,” he said pithily as Sara sat down in the second row next to Erin-016, who looked like she was barely able to keep her eyes open. “I’ll explain when everyone is here. This is going to take a lot, and I don’t feel like repeating myself.”

  “I apologize in advance if I puke,” Ivan-029 said, sitting down in the 8th row and deliberately not next to anyone else.

  “That’s everyone that’s coming,” Wilson said as Hank-075 walked in the doorway ever so slowly, and wincing with every step. “The others are either unconscious or won’t stay awake long enough to matter. I’ve got live links to their rooms, so if they’re currently awake they’ll hear you, or they’ll have a recording to rewatch later.”

  “Make sure the feed is ultra secure,” Paul said, his green/white eyes narrowing dangerously. “A lot of what I have to say can’t leak out, or there will be consequences.”

  “Oh?” Jason-025 asked, stifling a yawn that he couldn’t help, though his mind was definitely registering a ‘shit level’ glance from Paul that worried him more than his best friend having stepped on a Mario mushroom and gone giganto.

  Paul held up a ‘wait’ finger while Wilson moved to a side console and made some modifications to the recording and streaming system, then he turned back and nodded at Paul to proceed.

  “The changes you see in me are the same that are occurring in you now,” he said, leaning forward on the dais that was a little too short for his elbows on the front end, so he draped them over the higher front and interlocked his fingers in a posture that suggested a long, but informal lecture. “I just got a head start, and mine are complete. I wasn’t going to return until they were. A lot of our alterations will be identical, others will be unique. What’s happening to us is a natural upgrade the universe keeps in rare supply, and it’s a non-Essence rush Essence occurrence. Simply put, we outgrew our old bodies, so now we’re getting the next level ones.”

  “How?” Bo-065 asked.

  “Our Saiyan genetics caused us to get so many experience points that they pushed us to this level. Why it didn’t occur earlier pre-Saiyan I’m not sure about, but the reason it’s happening to all of us at the same time is because it was due earlier and was put on hold. We never stopped training, and with our metabolisms kicked so high we could never truly rest. When I left with Cal-com he suggested that I become ‘small,’ and in doing so I stopped training, stopped Essence use, and mentally tried to relinquish all responsibilities to the universe and just be me, inside the confounds of my body. When that happened, all the pent up training effect kicked in and pushed me into a rather violent cascade of changes, which it seems you all are also going through.”

  “Ya think?” Kerrie-057 scoffed.

  Paul held up a single finger from his clasped hands. “I have information you do not, due to the fact that my pent up training effect triggered more than just this genetic rewrite. It seems I’m a little different from the rest of you with regards to how I view the universe, and that slight perspective difference allowed me to break through another barrier we didn’t know existed. It’s called the Saiolum, and is an energy field generated from biological life. I have limited access to it now, and in addition to that the fogginess my mind had been in previously has lifted. I needed a day off more than the rest of you,” he admitted.

  “What can this energy field do?” Davis asked, sitting in the front row along with Wilson who had joined him right after Paul began speaking.

  “A great many things. Things that make our current empire and everything we’ve discovered look pathetic. When I made my first breakthrough I didn’t know it was happening. I lost it when me and Cal-com,” he said, gesturing to the Voku sitting in the back row by himself as if he didn’t belong here in such an elite crowd, “had to deal with a situation on Ha’shavi. I slipped back into combat mode and lost my breakthrough as I numbed up to it again. When I later relaxed deep enough in a fortuitous moment, my new friend didn’t risk me losing it again and intervened. That was my first direct contact with Azoro Hikeer Mi’da’ruun of an extinct race called the Sha’kier.”

  “Wait,” Megan-026 said quizzically. “Contact through this energy field?”

  Paul nodded. “He no longer has a body, and his Core has been melded to the Saiolum to grant him and a few others of his race the immortality they needed to break the development plateau their civilization had reached. You see, while they discovered the Saiolum, they did not know about Essence or self-sufficiency. They were all newbs, dying off and leaving their knowledge in texts…but texts can only go so far. Azoro and the other Ju’en’xa became the leaders and repositories of knowledge and wisdom for their race, interfacing through mediaries who were open to the Saiolum and were trained to operate as conduits for them, known as Ke’lars. They’d relinquish control of their bodies and the Ju’en’xa would take control temporarily, either to offer wisdom or to do things the Ke’lars did not have the skill to do. Though that’s not what’s happening to me. I don’t have the skill or development to be a Ke’lar, and each time Azoro speaks to me it takes a physical toll on the transmitter…which is me…so our conversations are limited, though growing in length as I continue to grow.”

  “Are you saying you have a Force Ghost talking to you?” Wilson asked, his jaw agape.

  “Pretty much, except that Azoro was used to having an Avatar of his own. A biological body without a Core in it that he could meld to permanently. When it died he would not, for his Core was attached to the Saiolum, and then he would meld with another when available. Because his Avatars were destroyed, and all of the Ke’lars were killed, he has been able to view events but not interact with anyone. He can’t. He can see, both physicality and our active thoughts, but he cannot touch anything that hasn’t made the breakthrough to the Saiolum. So when his empire was destroyed, he was left to sit and watch his people die after he was out of the combat. Oh, and this was probably over a billion years ago, and his civilization had firm control over 28 galaxies and colonies in many others, including ours.”

  Every other jaw in the room save for Cal-com’s dropped in unison, and Paul let that statement sink in until Liam-090 finally swallowed hard and spoke.

  “What killed them?”

  “A coalition of enemies that jumped them like pack of wolves once weakness was shown. The Hadarak were included, but not the primary force. There are huge threats lurking out there waiting to be tripped over, and boss battles that we will lose if we get that far before we’re ready. Azoro wants to help us upgrade along the lines of his civilization, but since we know things he doesn’t, the combination of the two empires’ tech trees should theoretically give us enough power to be able to defend ourselves against all the enemies he is aware of in the local galactic region…but he doesn’t know all of them, and a billion years or two is a lot of time for change. He’s been looking around since he can’t do anything else, but he can’t be everywhere at once. He’s been following us all for a long time, hoping that we’d make the breakthrough, so you guys are close, just not there yet. I showed the most promise so he tagged along with me, riding on my body across the stars and breathing the Saiolum. Where it is thick he can live forever. Where it is thin he cannot exist, and cannot go there, as if a force field prevents him. But if he is caught on a world that is being purged of all life, then he will essentially run out of air and die. So traveling on a starship is one of the riskier things he can do.”

  “Seriously?” Jason asked.


  “Completely.”

  “Is he here now?” Davis wondered.

  “I assume so, though I can’t make contact with him yet. He has to initiate it, and our communication is so limited he has to use memories I already have to limit the stress on me. Memories that he has seen, but he can’t dig out new ones without harming me, and he can’t dig them out of you period. He can only see your active thoughts, like a shadow from a cloud. He can touch the shadow, but not the cloud itself. And he’s been monitoring us for long enough he knows our empire’s secrets better than any other outsider, though he doesn’t know everything, because there’s a lot we don’t actively think about that we have stuffed away in memory.”

  “Friend or frenemy?” Kara-317 asked.

  “I think a friend. He hasn’t been able to talk to anyone for a billion years, and I’m his only link to the universe. The fate of the other Ju’en’xa is unknown, and without knowing where to look he can’t find them. Some may be alive, but he’s doubtful they all are, or they would have found each other by now. But 28 galaxies plus colonial galaxies is a lot of ground to cover, and their instant communication links were cut when their Avatar bodies were destroyed.”

  “Instant?” Davis said before the others could even process the thought, though to be fair they were all physically hindered and he wasn’t, but his mind was racing faster for other reasons.

  “Yes. Distance diminishes connection, but there is no lag in the Saiolum. They could communicate from person to person across galaxies in a limited fashion instantaneously after first making physical contact with the person to establish the Saiolum link. Without the Saiolum, there was no way they could have risen as far as they did, and the fact that they were able to do so without self-sufficiency or Essence…but especially self-sufficiency…should indicate how powerful the Saiolum is when its applications are explored, though they’re pretty much non-combat applications. No Force lifting of rocks, but the rest of the Star Wars Lore matches up fairly close.”

  “And they got their asses kicked?” Enrico-094 pointed out.

  “Yeah. That’s why we’re not going to go beyond our galaxy in the near future. Not even on scouting missions. We’re turtling up here, dealing with the Hadarak, and cocooning ourselves in heavy defense mode as we transform into a higher power. If we don’t, or we move too soon, we’ll attract unwanted attention that we can’t handle. As it is, we’ll attract some anyway that will come to us, and more so Saiolum-related than Hadarak-beating. So we’re not safe in this galaxy, and some of the mega threats have a presence here too, but not all are what they once were, and we’ve already met one. The Chixzon are a fragment of another fallen empire, one that has lost much of its power, but the limited legacy they hold onto is a testament to how much they lost…and they don’t even know it. They are a fragment of an enemy of the Sha’kier who helped defeat them, but in the process the Ni’o’zon’chi were ended and the survivors scattered. Apparently some lived long enough to form the Chixzon and use the shards of their former knowledge to try and wrest control of this galaxy.”

  “Azoro has been around a billion years?” Morgan-063 asked. “And hasn’t been able to speak with anyone that entire time? Only watch and observe with impunity?”

  “Yes.”

  “Now my head is really hurting,” she said, rubbing her temple.

  “It’s a lot to process, and I’m only learning tidbits. I get exhausted on short conversations, and he can’t share any of his own memories until I develop a lot further.”

  “Can he harm you?”

  “He could kill me easily now that I’ve made the breakthrough, but he can’t touch anyone who hasn’t. He’s promised to teach me how to defend myself against such an attack in time, but development is going to be slow. He helped me stabilize my second breakthrough by pushing on the connection and essentially boring out a hole that wouldn’t close again. That, combined with the physical changes you are all going through, meant I had one hell of a vacation blackout wise.”

  “What does Azoro want from us?” Davis asked.

  “Payback, someone to talk to, a civilization worthy enough for him to bestow the knowledge that he is pointlessly carrying since his own race is gone. He said he watched the survivors fragment and devolve until they were wiped away into the dustbin of history. There are none left for him to find and teach even with our help. But our Lightside philosophy is to his liking, and his race is described more as builders than warriors…which is one reason I suspect they were defeated. Just my suspicion there. We haven’t gotten into any of that history yet. Too much other vital stuff to cover in a few minutes of conversation every few weeks.”

  “So you barely know anything about him?” Jason pushed.

  “He didn’t waste time with smalltalk, and he already can read my thoughts and has been watching all of us long enough to know the subject matter. It’s been brief, but very informative. And a lot of our conversations have involved my current transformation. He didn’t know about Essence back in the day, but he’s added a lot of knowledge since then, so he’s been helpful. Point number one is to stop pressing and just let the transformation play out. No training. Just back off and let it run its course. I got scolded a few times on that, but he was right. And my metabolism has now fully stabilized so I have the option of resting as much as I want. Yours should adapt the same way due to the same need.”

  “And your growth?” Kara asked.

  “We ran out of room for more psionics long ago, so I guess the universe finally said ‘enough, you’re getting bigger’ whether we like it or not. You’ll all probably end up a similar size. As for my other changes, I can now manufacture ambrosia internally at a far higher efficiency rate than our industry allows. I have zoom vision and bioluminescent eye rings which act as a flashlight in total darkness. I can also see a bit more spectrum, including gamma. I have a Sav-like brain enhancement that is actually a new organ within my brain. My skin has become color sensitive, in that it will respond to the environment or my emotions with armor shifts. I can’t control it, it’s automatic,” he said, pulling up one of his sleeves to show a mildly blue arm that looked normal with a little pigment added. “This is sedentary state, while stress turns me red, speed green, and taking hits makes me turn brown. There are probably more, but I haven’t been able to do much training and am taking my progression very slowly. Each color is adaptive, similar to how Vorlon technology remembered taking weapon hits and made itself more resistive to each one. My skin now does the same.”

  “So if we shoot you…?” Jason asked.

  “Gonna try that later,” Paul said honestly. “I’ve also got some funky alterations to my Saiyan mode I haven’t yet explored. It’s much more elastic, but beyond that I’ll have to get back to you. Muscle cell density has increased beyond Humanly possible, bone structure enhanced to the point of being Spartans without the medical implants. I keep getting telepathic pings as if I need to connect with people who aren’t there, so we may have a hive mind like thing going above and beyond what we had before. I’ll have to wait until you guys catch up to explore that,” he said, seeing Erin’s head fall back as she lost consciousness.

  “Damn,” Sara said, looping her arm around Erin’s and pulling her towards her so her head could rest on Sara’s shoulder rather than hang back at an odd angle.

  “I could comment on that being how boring I am, but I went through the same stuff, so I understand,” Paul said as he glanced out at the others, seeing some barely hanging on. “I also have developed an additional organ that neither I nor Azoro know the function of that encases my spine. It’s not armor, and so far it doesn’t seem to be doing anything, but the transitional flux is gone, so I don’t know about it. Let’s see, I also got upgrades to all of my psionic tissue except bioplasma. That actually got removed somehow, but my Bra’hem is still here and also upgraded.”

  “Rensiek?” Arron-010 asked.

  “Still here and boosted, so I don’t understand the bioplasma thing
. My left arm evened out in weight as it added additional bioshield nodules, most of which are currently inert. There is also compacted genetic coding of a type our instruments can’t fully process, so I think we’re at the very beginning of the development of our new race. And yes, I can reproduce. My blocks have been erased, though I don’t know how compatible I am with Human or Saiyan right now. Something else to look into.”

  “Wait…” Morgan said suspiciously.

  “Do you want more advanced races in Star Force, or to stick with the weaker ones we’ve already upgraded as we can?” Paul challenged. “I’ve been giving this a lot of thought, and the answer for right now is hell no. But down the road, once we get a handle on this, I think we have to. We’re going to need more strength in the empire, and as it stands, I’m the most advanced race we have. We’ve just leapt past the Knight races, despite the size difference. And we know how to train others to figure out who is worthy and who isn’t, but the starting Avatar has always been a limiting factor. The universe just gave us this potential, and we’re going to use it eventually. Probably not a hybrid with Humans, unless there’s an advantage there I don’t see, but as long as one of the girls makes the full transition…which I assume all of us will…then we can use surrogates and craft the first maturia class of Furyans…

  2

  “I don’t get the name,” Morgan said. “Unless you’ve developed a Hulk-like repressed anger?”

  “Not at all,” Paul said calmly. “It’s about how we got here. We weren’t timid. We weren’t patient. We weren’t slow to act. We hammered, over and over again, more than our Saiyan metabolism required of us. Can any of you say you did the minimal required to sustain it? Anybody?”

  No one answered, so Paul nodded. “Yeah, didn’t think so. When it comes to training and advancement, we’re relentless, and in this case it was actually holding back our transformation. We may not have started out this way from our default Human genome, but I’ve now got a body that matches me more than I could ever have hoped possible. And if we reproduce, some of that, hopefully a lot of that, will carry over.”