After a long session with Magos Biologis Juggler and a few Apothecaries, consisting mostly of scans and biopsy probes, we finally had a guess what the Emperor had changed inside me.
Sure, now we had the Primaris tech to compare, making it all easy to understand...haha. I wish!
"The four glands at the basis of your limbs are likely to aid with your reflexes and speed." Juggler declared confident, poking the body plan lit on the screen, at my armpits and groin.
"And how sure are you?" I wondered curious.
"Less than a percent. But you are getting faster." he continued unfazed.
I sighed and closed my eyes. We basically had no idea what the Emperor did.
"And the brain things?" I asked with a hopeful voice.
"One of them, is very likely the Primaris Magnificat gland, but twice as large. Makes you taller, stronger and faster. The other may be the Ossmodula. Also does the same thing." my young Apothecary son, Alex said in a certain voice.
"So you suspect..." I mused softly.
"Then again, you should be 3 meters tall by now. These glands are not working properly..." Alex declared with a confident voice.
"So, the Emperor himself worked on my body, and made a few mistakes. I'll be sure to castigate him, next time we meet." I offered in a thankful voice, then slumped on the marble table they used for examinations.
After a minute of doubting himself, Alex slumped as well. "I have no idea what these things are."
"Lord Lancefire is alive and healthy, even able to produce children by the thousand every year. I have seen defective gene-seeds, but they never produce such results." Juggler argued more logically.
"Nevermind my brain. I barely use it anyways. The heart? I told you the glow I felt." I asked next.
"Well, a Primaris Marine would have a Belisarian_Furnace between his hearts. You still have only one heart, and this gland between your lungs. It might provide the healing boost you felt, father." Alex mused with a thoughtful voice.
"And the glow?" I asked with a smile.
"It might be the heat of the chemical release. Or something else entirely. I heard your wolf could project a solid glow of light that blocked a powerful Daemon?" Juggler asked with a curious voice.
"Canis did. He howled, and the sound became a solid wall of light, for a second. Then he fainted. Is that a word for wolves?" I mused to myself mostly.
"Then, the glow would not be chemical at all. Perhaps solo-luminescent tech? I am not very familiar with pressurized fluids..." Juggler wondered as well.
Alex just stared at the tech-priest for a second. "Father is still human, Magos! His heart would explode way before the blood pressure could start to emit light. Canis is also not a pressure vessel."
"That is what we think, yes. But, we do not know for sure. It could be. However, most likely it was simply divine intervention. We should not assume more complex possibilities if a simple one is at hand." the religious mechanical priest concluded with a weird shrug. He completely inverted the scientific reasoning here, but it was also a valid option.
"We are clueless then?" I proposed more stoically.
"Completely, Chapter Master! It is likely you are the prototype for the Primaris Marines, or some type of new Assassin clade, or something else. I don't know!" the young Apothecary declared proudly.
"I also agree, my Lord. You are getting better, but very slowly. The new glands may be of help, but I don't see them do anything. Otherwise, you're perfectly healthy!" the Biologis Magos concluded in victory.
Excellent then! Healthy was good.
I just moved back inside the Black Lament, and the Demiurg Fane, where Valerian was epically holding his staff in the air, as if blocking a meteor. Back away slowly? Say something smart?
"I hope this means you found the Ion Cannon." I said instead.
Valerian nodded eagerly, then sheepishly hid the staff at his back. " And many more things, father. The Demiurg Weavefield_Projector shield is scalable! From personal shields to entire cities or ships. And far better than your Ionic Flare shield. We need to get it into production."
Stolen story; please report.
"Anything else?" I asked as he gave me a new dataslate. After a quick look, I found this Demiurg shield similar to the Mechanicus Voltagheist_Field , but again, way more advanced.
"Yes, there is a wealth of information here, but my training was focused on Warp powers. There is barely anything Warp related in the Demiurg files. Barrier-tech they call it. Like my Staff called an Ancestral Warding Stave or the Ancestral_Ward_Crest . Which is like a Rosarius, but better." Valerian grinned while tapping his own Rosarius at his belt.
"But they travel in the Warp. I saw their Warp engines." I commented with a smile. One couldn't travel the Warp without Warp tech. I knew what horrors lay beyond the veil.
"They do...let me see. They have something called Gellar Ramparts. Far better than anything we have..." he exclaimed in a surprised voice.
I wasn't surprised though. By now, it was clear these Demiurg were part of a larger human polity, somewhere in the galactic center. And they must have even better tech at home, if they could afford to let these miners roam freely with such incredibly valuable tech on them. Possibly similar to Mars and their Exploration Fleets? Or Rogue Trader Fleets?
Most likely the latter, seeing as they traded with the Tau.
Eh, they were closer to Terra than the Fringe, so the Emperor would soon find them, if he hasn't already.
"Keep digging, Valerian! I want STC templates, as many variants as you can." I demanded from my poor Librarian son, now stuck as the Grimnyr leader of a religious machine cult. Basically a Fabricator tech-priest, with psyker powers.
At least there were countless books and other data in the Fane library. For a second, I wondered if the Harlequin's Black Library was something similar, then shook my head. I didn't want to know, actually.
If it was, then it was bad. If it was something Warpy instead, then it was worse.
That damn Vashtorr thing though. Has it once been a Terran Federation AI that got taken into the Warp during the Fall? Maybe a genial Fabricator like Cawl? Something else?
I needed more Blanks. More Blank Marines too. Chaos was bad.
Another displacement, and I arrived on an airless moon nearby Illevar. The new Culexus facility was already open, albeit only two levels deep so far. We might keep digging a few kilometers down, then bury the facility with a blackstone fragment from the Necron Moon. For now, we needed to test the genetic meld. My own genes and the natural Blanks. Then a few Pariah.
Chi Lancefire looked a bit out of place in a white lab coat, but such was my requirement here. Only Blank workers and as tight as possible with biological and other types of contaminants. Like oil and grease, normally found everywhere 40k machines existed.
Here, it was all stainless steel and pressurized locks in the gene labs. If there were to be accidents or genetic abnormalities, they will not be from dirty shoes or etheric emanations.
I stood behind the transparent wall and just watched as blood samples were being tested and mixed, while a few Blank Apothecaries in pressure suits kept watch.
"Any progress, Chi?" I asked gently on the intercom.
"There is hope for one of the blood poison cases. If this works, we may continue the implantation to full Primaris. He will be sterile anyways, but also a Pariah." Chi declared while showing me the graphic proof, some kind of blend of human DNA and Warp magic.
"Good. Test more Tyranid blood samples on the rest. I know they can work, as they did for the Sons_of_Dorn . I'll provide more Tyranid Tyrant samples soon."
"How will I know if they do?" Chi asked skeptical.
"Watch for the blinding light, and a Pariah aura. I'll bring a few mice to test the aura too." I said with a grin.
I will science the shit out of these Blank genes. I could take some failures, even more deaths. The sad truth was, nothing else mattered. Even if the Imperium and the Emperor went up in flames tomorrow, I would be fine here in the Fringe, just like the Exodite Eldar were at their Fall.
Of course, I hoped everything will be great, and the Emperor will fix everything. But I planned for the worst anyways. The galaxy had been split open before.