Star Force: Ringworld (SF80) Read online

  “I was trying not to move.”

  “I’m guessing it won’t be an issue. The V’kit’no’sat designed these too well to get sloppy with something like that, but this isn’t one of the psionics listed in the database.”

  “I know. I think it’s a tier 4.”

  Trofsky raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never mentioned a tier 4 before.”

  “As far as we know, it’s never been reached in V’kit’no’sat history. There’s no data on it, just a rumor from Kara’s memory.”

  “How many tier 4s are there supposed to be?”

  “She didn’t know, but at least 3.”

  “Is this one of those three?”

  Rio smiled. “I think so.”

  “Care to share?”

  “You first. I don’t want to jinx myself.”

  “That good huh?” Trofsky said as he continued to study the data and gather more. “I see your biomonitor data is here as well. Hoping to find the trigger?”

  “Hoping you can tell me when this happened and how long it took.”

  “Well that’s easy enough,” he said, pulling up the timeline. “Looks like growth began at 3:34 and ended at…4:02? Ascensions don’t last that long.”

  “Not previously, no,” Rio said, still laying on the bed.

  “And you have no memory of this?”

  “Nothing until I woke up with my arms on fire.”

  “Figuratively I assume?”

  “Yes.”

  “Looks like smooth growth throughout. Had to cannibalize most of your fat stores and some stuff it probably shouldn’t have touched. You hurting all over?”

  “Less so.”

  “That’s why. It stripped pieces from all over your body to build those. You need supplements and food now.”

  “Where’s the regenerator at?”

  “On its way. I was told you requested it?”

  “It’ll heal the damage enough for me to unnumb and test my theory. How fast are my glands filling up?”

  Trofsky adjusted his equipment again. “Just a trickle…of what I’m not sure. Looks like liquid comprised of solidified particulates of…gasses? What’s the purpose of that?”

  “Ammo.”

  “Volume compression then. With liquefied storage to maintain suppleness of tissue. The only weapon I know of that could operate off of this material is a plasma rifle.”

  Rio smiled. “That’s what I’m hoping.”

  Trofsky stared at him for a moment. “The V’kit’no’sat engineered a biological plasma weapon into your hands?”

  “I think it was the dragons, but yeah. And we know they have one in their mouths. Kara saw that used first hand.”

  “The more I look at this it’s genius, but I still don’t understand the triggering of it.”

  “Neither do I.”

  “Is it possible that they engineered an automatic ascension?”

  “As a reward for completing the dream challenge…possible. I would have thought it just would have kicked me out of dream mode with an active ascension prompt.”

  “That would make more sense.”

  “How much data did we get on the trigger?”

  “I’ll have to dig through it later, but right now I’m not seeing anything.”

  Rio frowned. “You should at least have a regional ID.”

  Trofsky shook his head. “Not showing one at first glance.”

  “Are you running the analysis software?”

  “Yes, and it’s not showing any sign of a trigger. Since this is new it might just not have the right context to identify it.”

  “No, Vortison said it would pick up anything and narrow it down.”

  “Well, it’s not in this case.”

  Rio sighed. “How long before the regenerator gets here?”

  “A few hours. It’s being flown over as we speak.”

  “I’m not waiting that long,” he said, throwing his legs forward enough to pull his torso up without the help of his arms. He slid his head out to the side so he didn’t hit it on the scanning equipment and rolled into a sitting position on the very edge of the bed.

  “You want denumbed?”

  “No, I can do it myself. I need the practice anyway.”

  “How exactly?”

  “I should be able to use Haemra.”

  “Even if you can’t feel your arms?”

  “I can feel above them. I think I can work down from there. Gonna try anyway. Have a second numbing dose standing by if this turns out to be a bad idea.”

  “If it hurts that bad why try…unless you think you can heal the damage now?”

  “I started to earlier but couldn’t concentrate enough. I’m not guessing now will be much different, but if I can do a little so be it. I just need my feeling back.”

  “Wait until I get the dose,” Trofsky said, walking off into a nearby supply room.

  Rio didn’t, getting a feel for his upper arms and beginning to isolate the numbing serum in his tissue. Once he was able to ‘see’ it he triggered a purging procedure, pulling it out and clearing his nervous system from the interruption. The rest of him numbed up a touch as it hit his blood stream, but he was able to counteract that and essentially eat away the drug a little bit at a time and send it into his waste systems.

  By the time Trofsky came back he had his elbows somewhat returned to normal with the beginning of the pain returning and he pushed on from there, relying on his excitement and forced aggression to see his way through it but he was realizing that it was taking too long and that he wasn’t going to be able to maintain focus.

  “Forget this. Manually unnumb me.”

  “Could have made credits on that,” the medtech scoffed, procuring a separate injector from a pocket on his uniform.

  “Just the left arm.”

  “Wise…er,” he said, indicating that he still thought this was stupid. “Ready?”

  “Do it,” Rio said, bracing himself as best he could.

  Trofsky put the tip of the device against his skin and the numbing effect vanished over a handful of seconds, replaced with the blinding pain that was somehow worse than Rio remembered. He dropped to the floor, pulling inwards to try and control it.

  “Stand…back,” he ground out between clenched teeth. The trailblazer only had one arm to contend with this time and he managed to temporarily push his mind past it. The sensation was hazy, but he could feel the new part in his arm, though he knew his control over it was going to be questionable given the pain distraction.

  “In here?” Trofsky asked, taking two hasty steps back, then circling around to the other side of another med tabled.

  Rio half yelled, turning it into a continuous sound that he poured his effort and focus behind. Inside his arm he could feel his Rensiek activate, heating a tiny chamber beneath his wrist in a very specific and automated fashion. The potential within it was small, but building. He could feel it through the pain, hazily, but it was there. He also knew that it was being contained beneath a shield, and that if breached there was no going back.

  He knew this from the genetic knowledge that came with the upgrade, as there had been confirmed to be with others, but this one had to be far more complex, for there were different stages to it. Three to be exact, and he knew it even before he moved to stage two.

  Increasing his yell after a short pause to collect his breath, he forced the heated material in the holding cell down a short tube to this palm where it pooled. The orifice on his hand split open a bit wider and he could feel an energy field be produced around it, into which a glow flowed. Just a pinprick at first on the surface of his hand, but it grew in size and brightness, as well as oscillating different colors.

  “Amazing,” Trofsky marveled from several meters away as Rio held it in his hand, palm up. “Careful,” he also warned, having to yell to be heard over Rio’s own Goku-like guttural trill.

  Rio sensed that he didn’t have much ammo to work with, but he pulled what he could into a glowing ball that turned nea
rly white, then he stood up and angrily pointed his palm towards an empty wall. The pain wasn’t subsiding, and somehow using his ability was even making it worse. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to do this twice, so he went all in and steadied himself a bit more, giving himself as much of a Dragonball Z pose as he could manage with his arm straight out in front of him.

  Part of him wanted to say the words, but he didn’t have the luxury. A yell was all he could manage and it was the only thing holding his effort intact, so before he lost control he flexed his arm and his mind, causing the energy field to squirt the white ball the size of a marble forward, condensed down into a narrower stream that stretched out a meter and a half as it flew towards the wall.

  The explosion that followed paled in comparison to the pain that Rio was racked with, but he smiled none the less as debris sprayed him and the med bay in a giant poof of dust and fragments…then he dropped to a knee as his focus crumbled.

  “Now?” Trofsky asked, coming out of the thinning cloud and kneeling down next to him with an injector.

  Rio nodded, and soon the biting pain disappeared along with his feeling and control of his left arm as doors opened and other medtechs came racing in.

  “It’s alright,” Trofsky said, raising a hand and waving at them through the lingering dust. “Just a little Archon redecorating.”

  “What happened!”

  “Don’t worry about it. Just call for a cleanup and repair team.”

  “Is he alright?” one of them said as they saw Rio on the ground.

  “Yeah, he is,” the trailblazer said, getting his focus back a moment before he did his feet and stood up with his arms drooping lazily to either side. “He is doing real well.”

  Trofsky looked at the expression on Rio’s face, then glanced at the medtechs surrounding them.

  “Take note, this is what destructive euphoria looks like. It’s rather common in Archons, especially the more powerful ones, and there is no known cure.”

  Rio smiled, then began laughing. Not so much at Trofsky or the fact that he couldn’t use his arms right now and probably looked a bit stupid. No, he started laughing and didn’t stop, tuning out everyone around him and just relishing the moment.

  He didn’t know how he’d done it, but he’d just achieved something that no Zen’zat in the history of the V’kit’no’sat had ever attained, let alone even known about…well, maybe the Zak’de’ron Zen’zat knew of it, but the rest didn’t, though they all had it hidden within their genetic code.

  Rio had stumbled across the tier 4 psionic called Choratrik.

  And now he had a real Kamehameha.

  7

  February 7, 3099

  Solar System

  Earth

  “You wanted to see me?” Wilson asked as he ascended the last few stairs into Davis’s office.

  “Sorry to bother you, but we need to have this discussion in person.”

  “It’s not a problem. I’ve got a 2 hour window, if that’ll be enough.”

  “Possibly. We have a bit of trailblazing to do.”

  “Oh?” Wilson said as he sat down.

  “Have you heard about Rio?”

  “No. Is he alright?”

  “Happiest Archon in the galaxy right now.”

  “New psionic?”

  Davis nodded. “The first tier 4.”

  Star Force’s head trainer whistled. “What did he get? We know of 3, right?”

  “Kara knows of 3, and Rio got bioplasma.”

  “Let me guess, he needs new training challenges?”

  “There is that, I’m sure, but what I have you here for is something more long term.”

  “You have that look.”

  “Which one?”

  “A combination of a mastermind and incoming problems.”

  “Oh…that one. Fairly accurate. Didn’t realize I was emoting so much. For now let’s keep this between us, alright? The trailblazers have enough on their plate as is.”

  “Fine with me, but you haven’t said what it is yet.”

  “Rio’s ascension wasn’t a normal one, and there are issues with that that we’ll get to in a minute, but his was a one shot and it really wrecked his arms.”

  “Cascade issue?”

  Davis nodded. “I don’t know what the V’kit’no’sat had planned, but the Archons are getting so many new tissues that their bodies are literally running out of room. The reorganization is getting more extreme each time, and I’m wondering when or if there is a line where we hit too much.”

  “Isn’t that more of a medical question?”

  “No, it isn’t. This new revelation aside, I’m not worried about them dying. They can take the adjustments more gradually. But from a tactical viewpoint, are all of the psionics necessary? Should we eliminate some?”

  “Unless there is a disadvantage the answer is a flat no. The more capability one has the better.”

  “Let me rephrase. We’ve been using the V’kit’no’sat playbook thus far, and given recent developments with Nefron we may one day be able to write our own.”

  “Custom psionics?”

  “We’re far from it, but I’m looking down the road. I’m sure the V’kit’no’sat had their reasons for developing each of the psionics, but is it the best kit for our needs?”

  Wilson’s eyes widened. “Honestly, that is something I’ve never considered before.”

  “While you think on that, you should know that the tier 4 ascension happened when Rio was asleep. He woke up in pain with the new ability and no memory of what happened. Apparently he’d been chasing a very specific dream for years, something that some of the other Archons also seem to have. An identical dream that disappears when they wake. Rio was apparently better able to hold onto bits of it and brought it to the others’ attention. They were convinced this was some sort of test, and apparently Rio passed it.”

  “Which was why he couldn’t avoid the cascade penalty.”

  “Yes, but the important part is that this method had never been used before, or at least activated, in known V’kit’no’sat history. The trailblazers seem to think that the more tier 3s someone has the more access they have to the dream, or at least better able to remember it.”

  “Now that is interesting. Our sharing aside, if someone achieved a tier 3 it automatically opened up a…dream challenge?”

  “Without information to analyze it’s guesswork, but Rio seemed to think so.”

  “The blackout is probably to keep them from adapting to the test. If it’s trying to locate a specific prerequisite then it’s probably a reaction test where foreknowledge would compromise it.”

  “Rio said his personal notes said it involved a quest of sorts, as if it was a fully interactive video game.”

  “Is he coming back here?”

  “Already has. Vortison is working on him now. It seems the trigger isn’t there.”

  Wilson frowned. “That means no sharing?”

  “That’s what they’re checking on now.”

  “If this is a mental test, then the trigger probably lies there and isn’t a physiological state that can be mimicked.”

  “But if it’s just an ‘on’ switch it might be medically able to be initiated.”

  “That sounds too easy.”

  “Yet worth looking into. Down the road we may be able to do more than just turn it on. We could adjust the existing psionics or even create all new ones.”

  “And you need to know what we need to look at?”

  “This is very long term, but we need a plan in place.”

  “That would depend on what is possible. I can probably come up with some modifications to the existing psionics, but as for creating new ones…I’m kind of at a loss. I don’t know what’s biologically possible.”

  “Well, like I said, we’ve got time. Another matter I wanted to let you know about is that we think we’ve found a way to wipe the Zen’zat psionic coding from the civilian population. Not all the secondary physical enhancements an
d not the Ikrid block, we’re not going back to the weaker Ter’nat, but we should be able to eliminate the problem of accidental breakthroughs.”

  “Can you add them back for the Archons?”

  “Yes, we’ve still got the Zen’zat profiles stored. It’ll be a few more years, but we’ll start wiping the ability from the younglings in the maturia and eventually eliminate the problem altogether.”

  “And no more rogues.”

  “It won’t stop existing ones, but it would stop any future ones from occurring,” Davis said, referring to a handful of stable breakthroughs that had occurred and escaped their medical radar. Some of those individuals had put their meager powers to less than scrupulous purposes before they were found out, and even a few small bands had been formed of the ‘mutants.’ One had been shut down but Davis knew there was evidence of some others still out there, not to mention other rogue individuals.

  “And this upload can be altered, in time, to meet whatever requirements we want?”

  “We can’t experiment too much, but we are going to tinker. Long term I was thinking it would be a good idea to have some abilities that the V’kit’no’sat do not know about.”

  “Immunities would be the most useful. We already have an Ikrid block, but a semi-permanent Rentar in passive mode would be a big upgrade.”

  “To make you immune to telekinesis? That could also be a disadvantage if you need to be lifted or thrown by another.”

  “That’s why I said semi-permanent. But even something that only blocks internal organs. The idea of an Era’tran reaching inside and scrambling everything around for a one shot kill, right through our armor, is something we can’t ignore. Our regulars can have psionic resistant armor, but the Archons can’t.”

  Davis swallowed. “I don’t recall any mentions in the database of them doing that.”