Star Force: Cascade (SF73) Read online

  When he got to the nearest track entrance, for there were many on the giant hula hoop, he transitioned back into a walk and headed through the sanctum and out into Atlantis’s corridors drawing odd stares from everyone he passed with his floating passenger in tow. He got Rio into the closest lift car and transitioned to the medical wing where Vortison was busy at work on something when he entered the main lab. He saw the man do a double-take from his office, then jump up from his console and come out into the larger work room.

  “He’s working on his second ascension,” Paul explained, “and is going to push it through to completion. Thought you’d like to get some active sensors on him.”

  Vortison nodded. “We never have seen you guys actually go through the process. Put him on that table,” the medtech said, pointing to one of their work stations, “and we’ll bring the equipment to him. How long does he have?”

  “I’d guess he’ll be working on it for an hour or so, but there’s no way to tell. When your control slips you either have to push it through or cancel it.”

  “Quickly people,” Vortison said with a snap of his fingers and his team splitting up like an angry hive of bees as they moved around to grab whatever tech they required.

  Paul set Rio down on the workstation, which was at the moment deactivated so his butt wouldn’t be pressing any buttons, and left him there just as he had been on the track, turned inward and processing. He gently grabbed his wrist and took a peek inside his head while noting that his biomonitor was at 4 yellow.

  We’re here and the medtechs are setting up. Can you give them a few minutes?

  I’ll be at this longer than that. As much as I want Jumat I don’t want my head to explode.

  No promises. You can still cancel out and go for it on a third try.

  No, I’m going for it this time. Need a baseline to figure out how much processing others will need to go through to avoid the cascade. If I cut it too short we’ll know what not to do.

  Well that’s brilliant.

  Am I wrong?

  No…just reckless. As usual.

  For all of us.

  Shut up and focus. I’ll make sure they have a regenerator standing by.

  Don’t use it unless I ask for it. Gonna try and stick this out the hard way if I can.

  Alright. Do what you need to do. If you want help stabilizing I’ll be here poking around in your head.

  That’s comforting.

  Sorry, no hot chicks available this time.

  On that note…

  We’ll deal with the dream later. Get this thing now.

  I intend to.

  Paul let their conversation end there and stayed with him through the latter stages. He did ask for help then, trying to ride out 4 red for a while longer in the hopes of minimizing the pain to come. Eventually Rio warned him off and Paul broke the link, then his biomonitor started flashing red and he saw Rio’s body wriggle around a bit like he had an itch running down his back that he couldn’t scratch.

  The holographic monitor off to the side displaying Rio’s body exploded with fireworks that showed the flash tissue growth inside of him over the next few seconds, with all of the medtechs going wide eyed when they witnessed just how fast and widespread it was. While his mass didn’t change, only repositioned within his body, it looked like he gained over a pound and a half of tissue, accounting for .9% of his biomass…which was insane, judging from Vortison’s expression.

  Soon the fireworks settled and Rio slumped over, leaning a hand on the table for balance.

  “How bad?” Paul asked.

  “Not as bad as last time, but it still hurts like a...I don’t know. Get the regenerator.”

  “I thought you said it wasn’t as bad?”

  “I can’t train like this, and I want to get started tomorrow.”

  Paul nodded and turned to Vortison. “Get the wuss his binky.”

  Rio’s lip curled in a snarl that was fueled by the pain washing through him. “I hate you.”

  “Kerrie’s not here to say it, so I did.”

  “She probably would,” he said, leaning back and half falling as his left arm collapsed down to where his elbow hit the tabletop. “Ok, maybe this is as bad as last time.”

  “It’ll be over in a few seconds,” a medtech said, bringing the regenerator over to him.

  “Wait!” Vortison yelled, and the assistant froze in place a few inches away from making contact with the trailblazer’s body.

  “I hate you too,” Rio added.

  “I just need a few seconds,” he said, reconfiguring one of the sensors. “If we monitor what the Kich’a’kat repairs then we’ll know how the cascade is damaging you and may be able to create a dampener of sorts.”

  “Worth,” Rio said, looking at Paul and adding in a whisper, “Give him 60, then smack that thing on me.”

  “Just a moment more,” Vortison said, punching keys and swiping touchscreens in a fury. “Ok, do it now.”

  The medtech set the regenerator against Rio’s bare neck and it clung there, melting against his skin and diving into it with tiny tendrils that looked oh so torturous, but Paul knew from experience that he couldn’t feel them, for they were numbing everything as they went. On the monitor the tendrils spread throughout the interior of Rio’s body but didn’t linger for long, eventually pulling back on their tiny paths and healing the microdamage they created during the withdraw. When the tiny bits of machine pooled into globs on the surface they melted back into their original rigid form and the device fell away from his neck with the medtech catching it before it could land in his lap.

  “Damn, wish I’d used that last time,” Rio said, flexing his jaw and blinking several times.

  “You were right to come here,” Vortison commented, his eyes on his consoles and not the pair of trailblazers. “We’ve got a slew of information to sift through that we’ve never had before.”

  “Come on, Gumby,” Paul said, pulling Rio off the table and holding onto his arm knowing that his legs were going to be a bit weak with his first steps. “Nap time for you.”

  “No arguments there.”

  “Later, fellas,” Paul said as the medtechs were gathering around Vortison and largely ignoring the two Archons.

  “Ingrates,” Rio muttered as they left the lab and headed back to their turf inside Atlantis.

  Half an hour after Rio hit the pillows and passed out, his mind became blocked to outside vision and he slipped into the recurrent dream again, working his way through a process that he had never recalled before, but when he woke some 13 hours later he gathered his thoughts and found he was able to remember a few new details…or rather details that he hadn’t been able to recall previously. The places he had been, including that particular sky with 4 suns in it, were now almost recognizable, but still just out of mind’s reach, as if he had a word on the tip of his tongue and couldn’t remember it.

  What he did remember was a short sentence that he’d constructed while in the dream itself. Something that he had done many times before but failed to remember. He had been trying to send his waking self a message, and this time enough of it remained to survive the passage between dream world and real world.

  Indiana Jones find the idol.

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