Star Force: Crusade (SF93) (Star Force Origin Series) Read online

  “I’m blocking the trigger at the moment. Tissue growths appear to be perfectly aligned. Stress on surrounding tissues is minimal. I’m making adjustments for it,” he said as she felt a bit of numbness enter additional areas spread all around her body, but most of Lara was still under her control and the machine didn’t need to lock her in statue mode again.

  “Yes. This is looking good. Stand by for release. Stay within the chamber as you test, but try not to make shield contact with the equipment.”

  A couple seconds later her hands unfroze from the contact sphere and she flexed them unnecessarily. There was no lingering numbness and all the microdamage of the tendrils had been regrown as they retreated.

  With a thought she created a foot-wide patch of bioshield in front of her face, then felt around her own head looking for the new trigger.

  “I got nothing.”

  “May I?” he asked, picking up a pistol from a nearby rack.

  “Don’t shoot your machine,” she warned, giving him a ‘go ahead’ nod.

  “I won’t,” Vortison said, firing the small plasma discharge into her nearly transparent bioshield patch. The clear coloration meant it was at low intensity, attesting to how strong Lara’s shielding could get when she wanted it, for it fully absorbed and dissipated the attack without more than a brief twinkling of disruption. Had a more powerful shield been needed it would have taken on coloration, usually a blue tint, but it was technically possible to generate different colors based on the composition of the shield, which was variable to great extents.

  “Whoa,” Lara said, blinking twice.

  “And?”

  “Something just opened up. Shoot again.”

  Vortison hefted the pistol a second time, making sure his instrumentation was still fully monitoring with a glance to his left, then he fired. The blue plasma blast made a different sound on impact this time, absent the small crackle/warble that was typical. This one sounded like a ‘pong’ and got Lara giggling.

  “Oh that tickles.”

  “Shield strength has increased by 24%,” Vortison noted as he set the pistol aside.

  “No. Shoot me again. That felt good.”

  “I’ve got enough data. Step aside and I’ll light you up.”

  “You do know how to talk to a girl,” she said sarcastically as the armbar raised and she walked out, flexing her arms before throwing them to her sides and generating a fully invisible shield in front of her. “I’m ready. Empty the clip.”

  Vortison nodded, but stopped short as a pair of Archons stumbled into the room through the main door, one dragging the other.

  “Rio?” Lara asked, seeing the cringing trailblazer being supported by a very junior second gen.

  “Help,” he muttered through clenched teeth.

  “Put him inside,” Vortison said, snapping his fingers.

  Lara responded instantly, picking him up and floating him over to the medical chamber she’d just used.

  “Another?” Vortison asked Rio.

  “I’m…holding it together…this time.”

  “Unnecessary,” the medtech said as he sent the little tendrils into Rio’s hands and suddenly the pain blossoming throughout his body disappeared in a very welcome cascade.

  “Mebvat?” Lara asked in a flush of worry, but Vortison just shook his head. “No. This is a new tier 4. Dream activated like before?”

  “No,” Rio said, his voice no longer stammering, though he sounded incredibly fatigued. “Daydreaming. I was eating in the cafeteria when it happened. My mind wandered and next thing I knew I was a pain puddle on the floor. I had no control over the ascension. No override.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that, but I am picking up some residual data. Thank you for coming here immediately,” he said, throwing the departing second gen a nod of thanks.

  Rio ended his private telepathic conversation with the other Archon before he got out the door, leaving only the three of them in the room together.

  “Something is wrong with this one,” Rio said once he’d left, wanting to keep information regarding the tier 4s to a limited number of people. “I have nothing but the pain. No additional knowledge or trigger to pull. I think something went wrong.”

  “Shock there,” Lara said angrily, though her ire wasn’t directed at Vortison, or any other Human for that matter, with Rio finally getting around to thinking about her presence.

  “You ok?” he asked, drawing a pleased smile from her lips.

  “You just exploded and you’re asking if I’m ok?”

  “Why are you here? Just a checkup?”

  “She’s here because I figured out how to unlock Beynat, and I figured she deserved the first upgrade.”

  “Me next,” Rio half joked. “Have you tested it?”

  Lara nodded. “I had him shoot me, but we didn’t get very far until you came stumbling in.”

  “Hey, at least I was walking under my own power.”

  “There is that,” she admitted. “You are a badass.”

  “Thank you. Now that’s we’ve got that established, what are you seeing?” he asked Vortison.

  “A lot of new tissue.”

  “Purpose?”

  “It’s unfamiliar to me. I’m running a database search now, but I don’t think we’ll find a match in the V’kit’no’sat records either. I’ve been through all of them at least once, and the coding on this is…beyond me,” he admitted, throwing an apologizing glance at Lara.

  “Higher level stuff?” she asked, giving him an out.

  “There’s no documentation on tier 4s, and we believe they come exclusively from Zak’de’ron technology that was never shared with the V’kit’no’sat. I’m seeing a lot of damage here, Rio. I’m repairing it, but you’re going to lose a few levels minimum. Not like her,” he said quickly, “but you’ve definitely been roughed up.”

  The Archon snarled, but held back whatever comment he was thinking of making when he glanced at Lara, knowing she’d had it far worse.

  “Not the club you wanted to join?” she offered.

  “At least the company is good,” he deflected. “Vort, what did I get?”

  “Sorry, Rio. This is going to take me a while. You have no connectivity whatsoever?”

  “No, and the machine has cleared my head, unless you’re numbing something else.”

  “Damaged tissue is healed. Step on out,” the medtech said, releasing the lock on him.

  Rio walked out, taking a huge sigh of relief as there was no more pain, but he couldn’t feel any new ability.

  “Nothing.”

  “I’ll work it from my end. You let me know if you get so much as a twinge.”

  “How weak are you?” Lara asked.

  Rio rotated his left arm around a bit and hopped in place. “Not too bad. Won’t know for sure until I get into training, but right now I need a nap.”

  “I don’t,” she said, frowning as she looked at Vortison. “Why?”

  “Your body didn’t grow the new tissue, the machine did.”

  “Spurred it, you mean.”

  “It controlled it, thus the strain didn’t incur.”

  “Can you give the rest of us Beynat then?” Rio asked.

  “Yes. But not to you until I figure out what you’ve got.”

  “Great, I get a useless psionic and get blocked from getting a very cool one…to which end,” Rio said, telekinetically picking up Vortison’s pistol and flying it over into his hand. “Want me to shoot you some more?”

  “Please,” Lara said with a pleasant smile, putting up her bioshield that soaked up every blast that Rio fired at her, then he saw her shiver and a wave of goosebumps travel across her exposed forearms.

  “You ok?”

  “Better than ok. That is so refreshing.”

  “Feedback?”

  “I think so. The energy absorption feels like it goes directly into recharging the shields, but some of it went through me. It tingles.”

  “Yet something more we need
to study,” Vortison interjected. “You, go nap. You,” he said, pointing to Lara, “back inside and let’s track down that tingle.”

  2 weeks later…

  Rio was in the cafeteria stuffing his face, but still painfully hungry. His stomach was full but his cravings wouldn’t stop…and nothing he ate seemed to taste right, like he needed food but once he put it in his mouth it suddenly became something he didn’t need. He’d even put on a touch of body fat, he was eating so much, and that infuriated him. Not only had he lost 4 levels due to the messed up ascension, but his metabolism was screwed up as well.

  He stared down at his half full third tray and pushed it away, resisting the urge to fling it into a wall. Hungry or not, he wasn’t eating any more. His stomach was full even if his brain was saying otherwise. Rio stood up, belched, then returned his tray and left in a very bad mood intending to get some easy running in to help clear out some of the extra fuel he’d been taking in.

  On his way through Atlantis’s corridors he passed by an active construction area where an entire wall had been cut away as a remodeling project was beginning. When he passed by he got a whiff of air that stopped him cold. It smelled so good but he couldn’t make out what it was or where it was coming from…but it was food, and food that his senses told him that he was lacking. In fact, it was what he’d mistakenly been trying to get out of a lot of other foods, but now that he’d smelled it there was no mistaking the allure.

  He’d been eating the wrong foods for the craving that had just fully manifested itself, though he still didn’t know what it was.

  Whatever the work crews were snacking on he was going to find out, so he made a sharp detour and followed his nose around a half wall and into the face of a pile of open crates full of spare parts, drawing a frown from the trailblazer. He used his Pefbar to look around and inside them, but there was no food here that he could see. The smell was still here though, so he kept sniffing around until one of the techs came over.

  “Do you need something?” she asked.

  “Can you smell that?”

  “What, exactly?”

  “Something tasty. What were you guys eating in here?” he asked, still roaming around following his nose.

  “Nothing that I know of. We don’t bring food along with us.”

  “I can’t see anything, but my nose says…” he cut off as a particular box caught his attention. The smell was definitely coming from it, but there was nothing but metallic rods inside. He took a long whiff and had the biggest craving yet, making him want to pull one out and snack on it.

  “What the hell?”

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, with a few more techs wandering over to see what was going on.

  “What do these smell like to you?” Rio asked, pointing her towards the box.

  She leaned over and sniffed. “Equipment. I don’t smell any food.”

  “I do, and it’s coming from this box. Smells better than cookies,” he said, pulling out one of the assembly rods and sniffing it. “Yeah, it’s coming from these. What are they coated in?”

  “They’re not. They’re raw product as far as I know,” she said, exchanging a few glances with the other techs that confirmed her statement via nods.

  Rio held the rod up in front of his nose to take a long sniff, swearing that the rod was made of candy. On impulse he licked it, getting a few groans of disgust from the techs, then he dropped the rod back into the box before he uncontrollably took a bite. It tasted so good he wanted to eat the whole box, though he’d break his teeth if he tried.

  “What’s going on?” the tech asked with a weird look on her face.

  “I’m either going insane,” he said, picking up the rod he’d licked and holding it well away from his face as he turned and began to walk out, “or there’s something in this I need. I’m taking this,” he added as he left, leaving the techs wondering what the hell that had been about.

  5

  “You licked it?” Vortison asked with a screwy expression on his face.

  “I’m craving something in it, and it’s keyed into my sense of smell too.”

  “Of course it is,” the geneticist said, taking the rod from him. “Smell allows you to analyze food without having to put it in your mouth.”

  “No, I mean the craving is. There’s a very powerful allure in it.”

  “A lacking component to your mystery tissue,” he guessed aloud, putting the item in a seldom used molecular analyzer. Most of the work he did nowadays was theoretical, but he had a plethora of equipment to cover any possible permutations that he might encounter, though this was one of the weirdest he’d ever come across.

  “Hmmm,” he said, seeing the list of molecules contained within it. “We’ll get to the bottom of this pretty quick,” he added, sending a quick requisition off to the appropriate personnel in Atlantis that handled logistics.

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning we’re going to do a taste test. I’m having pure samples of all the components brought in, then you’re going to tell me which you’re craving.”

  “Well that’s too simple. Thought you’d be able to do it remotely,” Rio said deadpan.

  Vortison raised an eyebrow. “Checking for an ego?”

  “Guess not then, but I need this fixed in a hurry. I don’t know how much to eat anymore.”

  The medtech pointed to the medical station and Rio walked himself inside, soon with his diagnostic holograms being displayed for Vortison to inspect.

  “You’re getting fat,” he said bluntly.

  “My cravings are screwing up my balance…and I’m not going to start counting calories. I have to reset, but I don’t think I can do it until I know what this anomaly is.”

  “You’re eating everything trying to satisfy it?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “You are showing some imbalances, but I’d guess they’re symptoms of this rogue craving rather than the cause…” he trailed off as he found something else. “Your brain activity is showing a critical level depletion. No wonder you’re eating everything in sight.”

  “So my brain thinks I’m starving?”

  “Yes. Exactly. And it’s overpowering the rest of your biotelemetry indicating that you’re getting too much. There’s definitely a priority here related to the new tissue…unless this is another malfunction, which is a possibility.”

  “I’d prefer part of the design.”

  “So would I, but I don’t often get what I want. Unless you want to try sucking on that rod, just sit tight until the samples get here.”

  “I’ll wait,” Rio said, sitting down on a nearby chair and crossing his arms as he stared at the rod with an odd fixation, for the scent of it was driving him all but mad.

  Eventually a supply tech came in with a box full of small samples, each isolated from the others via an individual containment box, air tight as requested.

  “Thank you,” Vortison said as he accepted the various materials and placed the large box on a nearby table as the tech left. He walked over and retrieved the enticing rod and placed it inside a sealed container and put it out of sight, then caused the air in the lab to cycle by adjusting a nearby control panel, slowly flushing the scents out of the room.

  “Can you smell it now?”

  “Just a trace.”

  Vortison ran another cycle for a few minutes, then Rio gave him a thumbs up.

  “Alright, sniff each and let me know,” he said, opening the first container and handing it to him. “Even if it’s a small recognition.”

  Rio raised the small clear cube up to his face and sniffed, shaking his head immediately. He handed it back to Vortison and took another, also without a reaction. One after another they moved through the samples until they got to the last three. As soon as Vortison opened it Rio’s eyes widened.

  “Oh my god I want that,” he said before even seeing it.

  “Overpowering?”

  “More than before. What’s in there?”

  Vortison stuck
his fingers inside and pulled up a tiny chunk of metal, or rather metalish, for it was non-conductive and a very distinctive green.

  “Corovon,” the medtech said curiously. “I’d bet your new tissue is going to be a biological version of some technology.”

  “How much can I ingest before it becomes toxic?”

  “How to get it in you is the question. If you swallow even tiny chunks it’ll just pass through. It’s not dissolvable.”

  “Apparently I’m supposed to eat it.”

  Vortison tapped his chin thoughtfully. “We’ll need an extremely fine powder, and that’s not something I can produce here.”

  “How much do you think?”

  “Not much, but if it spreads throughout your body it might require a lot. I’m worried about it not traveling well through the blood stream, as heavy as it is.”

  “Injection?”

  “I’m leery of that as well. If you’re craving it, it’s best we pursue that avenue.”

  “Can’t we let the machine build it into me?”

  “Your genetic code isn’t fully deployed in the new tissue, which is why I can’t determine what it does. There’s a trigger mechanism, and I’m guessing that the corovon entering the tissue will start a metamorphosis that will unlock the full genetic code and develop the tissue to its functional state.”

  “Alright then, put the powder into some cookies and let’s go.”

  Vortison frowned.

  “What?”

  “I’m not sure what side effects the corovon would have on you.”

  “What do the V’kit’no’sat files say?”

  “Nothing. Nobody ever swallowed any before.”

  “Never?”

  “It’s too rare and the people using it in its pure form know better. There’s not even any theoretical projections on it. Like I said, it’d have to be a very fine powder, and when does corovon come in powder?”

  “Point,” Rio conceded. “Whatever goes wrong the mega regenerator can fix, right?”

  “Yeah…”

  “I’ve been through some pretty bad ascension pain and survived. I’ll survive the worst this can do to me, but these cravings are not something I can function with. Put in the order and get me my nom noms.”