10
Flesh Warping
To Luke's dismay it wasn’t so easy to remake himself into a super human. It took AJ’s processing to even decipher all the different information on the reconstruction terminals. It took a day but AJ managed to translate everything into a hologram interface for Luke to mold the way he wanted. While AJ worked Luke went about collecting various bits of hardware and tissue samples that they would probably need. AJ had gathered as much as he could but with the signals being blocked he couldn’t operate much and was hamstrung. Luke solved the issue by retrieving a couple backup PDAs, there weren’t any more Maintenance IDs to be found but they had collected Robotics, Genetics, and a Surface Operations IDs along the way.
Once the holographic interface was ready Luke set about building himself anew. There was a pretty significant limitation on what he could add and change. AJ explained that organs, muscles, and bone structure couldn’t support wildly drastic changes without being modified themselves. Even accounting for the modifications they could make to support more mutations there was a limit so long as Luke wanted to remain mostly human instead of a literal meat pile with wings and laser vision.
With eldritch abominations being off the table AJ had simplified the issue by automatically selecting various enhancements to the necessary bits and giving Luke a few different ‘Mutation Point' variants that Luke could spend on his changes. Luke was grateful he didn’t have to spend a few dozen years trying to balance how he could support strengthened muscles without breaking his own bones every time he took a step.
The end result was Luke being disappointed he couldn’t grow wings and turn invisible and rip apart steel with his bare hands. What he could do was still pretty impressive.
The M energy that about half of the options relied on turned out to be so named because they had no other name for it besides ‘magic’. According to the research they now had access to with the new IDs, the surviving people across the world had collectively named the energy ‘magic’ and so the research facility begrudgingly accepted the name, but called it M in most applications.
AJ had preemptively added a few M organs and implants as a foundation for Luke to build on. The ambient radiation from the nuclear fallout would be converted to M energy, if there wasn't enough then that would be supplemented by drawing in the M energy that had spread across the world, if that still wasn’t enough then a small chip would ration the energy and convert stored fat as needed. It was possible to starve himself by using more M energy than he could generate but the amount required for that was absurd.
If the radiation was beyond what he could convert into M then he would filter it and it would be expelled as waste. Hopefully this would protect him from untimely radiation sickness. He would have a M battery bank installed next to his heart where he would be able to store the energy to fuel the various mutations. A port installed into the heel of his hand would allow him to charge external batteries with the energy so he could use things like his new spear.
His body would be capable of running on M energy without food so long as he had enough natural generation. Once he had familiarized himself with these base functions as well as the improved bone structure and muscle density that was also going to be standard, Luke moved on to selecting modifications.
It took a long time and Luke scrapped the entire thing a dozen times before settling on a setup. He would retain his outer appearance save for being a bit more toned. He would have low light and even full dark vision. His lungs would be able to process water, carbon dioxide, or regular atmosphere into usable oxygen, which he had a far reduced need for. He could eat just about anything and make usable nutrients and energy from it without poisoning or injuring himself.
Next came the more exciting changes. Without being able to fly he had instead gone with specially designed legs that would allow him to jump a solid twenty feet into the air from a standstill even with the higher weight that would come with the changes. The legs would also soften impacts like those from landing from a height well above what he would normally be able to handle. The M energy allowed him to manipulate objects at a distance like telekinesis, and create a jet of flame as hot has the torch he used to cut through doors. He had enhanced hearing that was able to pick out a whisper across a crowded room. His skin would look and feel the same as anyone else’s but would be tough enough to prevent most cuts. Several small changes helped optimize his body but perhaps the simplest was one of Luke's favorites, His brain would slowly cycle his consciousness around which sounded complex but just meant that he would be a bit less than his best, perhaps 90-95% but wouldn’t need sleep anymore. He could turn the cycle off during important and stressful times to function at 100 or with a pretty heavy expenditure of M energy, ramp all the way up to 150% or so.
AJ described the boost to his mental capacity like a controlled but major surge of adrenaline, like fight or flight kicking in and the world slowing down to where you can see everything during a crisis. The boost would only last a short while and couldn’t be used often without hurting himself but Luke could imagine so many ways it could help.
With all of Luke’s selections made AJ and the computer terminals set to arranging everything. Luke had to sort through their loot to find some specific things that were called for and insert them in the correct locations as AJ directed. The setup took another day but neither of them were idle as there was constantly something that needed doing. Finally as they began to run low on the rations Luke had brought from Hydroponics, the GRAB ME vat was ready.
“Hey AJ?” Luke said nervously
AJ shook in the negative, “Nope, no flags, no procrastination, no second thoughts, go meat bag GO.”
AJ tried shoving Luke to the vat but even with his new upgrades the robot was too small to do much. With his heart racing Luke stripped, cleaned off in the shower that was nearby for the purpose, and stepped into the reconstruction vat.
The vat began slowly filling with a blue luminescent liquid and Luke started to worry he might drown in there. He didn’t have time to worry long though because the air had been replaced with something to make him sleep. He tried to fight the drowsiness but found less and less urgency even as the liquid rose to his chest. Almost the same time that he became buoyant his knees gave out and he floated into unconsciousness.
He dreamed again, but the dream was not unpleasant. He drifted along a white void knowing he was in a dream while his body was being shredded and rebuilt. The nervousness from before was gone entirely and Luke just drifted.
After an indeterminate amount of time just as Luke felt himself begin lifting out of the void dream, a shadow appeared nearby and drifted next to him.
“Ahh, this is quite a warm world you have built, I like it. This is our first meeting, I am Adrian of dreamland, who are you?” The shadow spoke in Luke's own voice.
Luke was aware that he should be wary or even frightened of the shadow person but the feelings never came.
“I'm Luke" He answered absentmindedly
“Luke? No last name? You must be young since I haven’t met you before. Which power do you serve Luke?”
“I don't have a last name anymore, or maybe never did… I don’t serve a power"
Luke's mind was screaming now. For some reason his dream self was answering whatever the shadow asked and Luke wasn’t able to stop. Luckily the shadow took a moment to recover from Luke's response. Something Luke had said was shocking to it, but everything he said was the truth. It seemed likely that Luke couldn’t lie to the shadow if he tried.
The world kept fading around Luke as he slowly woke and the shadow seemed to notice hurriedly asking one more question, “Where are you?”
“I don’t know, somewhere cold"
And Luke found himself back in the vat as it slowly drained.
Luke's body pulsed and thrummed. It was as if he held a massive static charge that shifted around his body. He was simultaneously exhausted and jittery, and his senses seemed distorted almost like he was drunk.
As Luke adjusted to his new body the side effects faded and he got more of a handle on his surroundings. At some point AJ must have dragged him out of the vat and laid him down but Luke couldn’t remember anything between the dream and when he opened his eyes to see the ceiling.
AJ was hovering over him again with concern on his face, not an emotion but the word ‘concern.' Luke tried to laugh but coughed up blue liquid instead. He didn’t feel out of breath and the liquid didn't hurt as it came up, but it did come up.
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“You back with the living?” AJ asked
This time Luke was able to make sounds, “Yeah, had a weird dream while I was in there though"
AJ shrugged, “Eh doesn’t really matter, you don't have to sleep anymore. No dreaming unless you want to.”
Luke rolled to his feet expecting soreness but instead finding his body almost too strong and responsive.
“This is gonna take some getting used to"
“That’s fine, you’re ageless now, M energy assisted cell replacement stops you getting older.”
Luke looked at AJ dumbfounded, “Really? I didn't see that in the lists"
AJ looked away and said, “Yeah, I've seen people getting old and dying. I don't want my minion to die off so I added it.”
Luke shook his head, “Well like you said I’ve got time now. I can figure it out, we should head back to the Tribe. Judging by the M battery level I don't need food now, but it's been a while and we should tell them what we found so far. We need to make plans to explore the rest of the base as well and where we intend to go next.”
AJ hovered alongside Luke as he slowly got used to his new body on the way back to Hydroponics.
As they walked Luke got a familiar message.
Data reconstruction complete
Corrupt file restored
View restored file?
Yes
It took a moment to recognize Kevin and Rick this time, they were both grey and old, but wired and had an insane look in their eyes.
Kevin spoke first, “L2 greetings, the project is finally complete, after all these years we managed to grow a body for you. It will be another few weeks and then we can upload you into the body and start the waking process. We will explain in person but I just wanted to be the first to…”
Rick punched Kevin in the face, hard, the man literally flew backward from the punch.
Rick looked back into the camera and continued, “like he was saying I want to be the first to welcome you to the new world. Things are a bit different now, Janet fucking left, the wars are constantly raging all around the world, nobody expected it to be this bad, Janet fucking left, each global power had their own Non-Nuclear Future Weapons as they called them, Janet fucking left, and they all worked perfectly, Janet fucking left, the world is basically falling apart to the point that we are being told to look into space based life, Janet fucking left, terraforming, giant space stations, another habitable planet within reasonable travel distance, Janet fucking left.
Rick paused in his nearly incoherent rambling for a moment as if waiting. Suddenly Kevin leapt in from the opposite side of the frame from the one he flew off and tackled Rick. They both started screaming and punching each other, each time they dodged a punch the floor would crack under the force.
End of restored file
Further corruption detected in later files
Continue restoring files?
Yes
Luke stopped walking.
“What is it?” AJ asked
Luke shook his head and continued toward the Tribe, “I don’t know, I don’t understand anything that’s going on.”
“So?”
Luke looked at the robot.
AJ continued after a moment, “No one has ever understood everything, and most people haven’t understood much beyond their own little world. The only thing different with you now is you’re more aware of your ignorance.”
Neither of them said anything for a while after that as Luke considered AJ's words
Finally as they approached the reception door separating the sectors Luke said, “You know, I think you're right about that.”
AJ sighed, “I know. I'm always right, I tried to be wrong once but I did it wrong.”
Luke stepped through the door and was about to retort but froze when he saw the scene on the other side.
They couldn’t see much beyond the reception area but even that was destroyed. Something had smashed everything in sight. The Tribe had either tried to stop it or was in the way it wasn't clear which, but broken and mangled bodies were strewn everywhere. In the distance Luke's improved hearing picked up screaming and shouting.
Hoping he wasn't too late Luke snatched his bundle of spears and sprinted to the cries. Even after a few stumbles while adjusting, his new running speed had him at the scene in minutes. Luke could hear the Tribe fighting but couldn’t see them. Blocking the entire corridor was something from a nightmare.
The creature looked like dozens of animals had been haphazardly stitched together. Its middle was several elephant torsos with random limbs, a hooved leg like a horse was crushed under the weight of the thing while a dozen clawed paws scrabbled pushing it forward. Some of the limbs weren’t really limbs. One reptilian leg had a cat instead of a foot, another was a giant human arm made entirely faces all of which screamed as they slapped into the walls pushing the monstrosity forward. Heads and bodies protruded everywhere all with their own minds and all constantly screaming in agony.
It's own movement tore it’s skin and it oozed sickly yellow pus and blood everywhere. Luke was nearly sick when a human torso that dragged along by a ragged and torn goats waist spoke to him in English.
“Kill me, DIE, kill us, BE MY MEAL, end the pain.”
Luke pulled one of his longest spears from the bundle and charged.
Unfortunately it wasn't as easy as just stabbing the thing. As he rushed in tentacles with snake heads on them whipped at Luke. He tried to swipe at the tentacles but they were far too quick and he was struck in the chest. The blow smashed him into the wall cracking the concrete but didn't hurt nearly as much as it should have. He didn't even get the wind knocked out of him and was back on his feet in seconds.
It was a good thing too because as soon as he regained his feet Luke had to dive to the side. A dog head attached to the end of an oversized bat wing breathed a stream of fire as the wing flailed around. The heat made the concrete expand, cracking and popping. Unable to get close Luke tried throwing one of the smaller spears aiming for an unidentifiable mouth large enough to swallow a child whole. The throw was off as the monster turned its body around presumably to face him with whatever it called it’s front. Instead of the mouth the spear struck a patch of fur on its body. The spear only sunk an inch in and stuck. As it turned the spear was carried along with it until the shaft struck the wall, the angle was such that the spear was driven deeper but if it caused any pain Luke couldn’t tell.
As the turn continued Luke watched in fascination as the metal of the spear that was so much harder than steel twisted, bent, and finally snapped.
AJ finally caught up then and shouted over the cacophony of wails, “What the hell is that?”
“I don't know but I gave it a splinter and now I think it’s mad"
Sure enough as it finished its long slow turn several mouths and other orifices across its front spat a green liquid at Luke and AJ. They backpedaled out of its range and watched as the floor hissed and popped under the acidic spray.
“How do we kill this thing, I barely scratched it with one of those spears"
“I don’t know, kill it with fire?”
Luke was about to yell at AJ to be serious when an idea struck him.
“Can you grab the acetylene bottle from the cart? I’ll keep this thing busy”
AJ grinned wildly and flew off.
Luke grabbed another spear at random and continued to stab at the arms and tentacles trying to keep the monster’s attention from the Tribe on the other side. A giraffe neck with several elbows snapped out at Luke and the crocodile head on the end bit at him. Reflexively Luke braced the spear against his side and the head impaled on the spear. There was a flash of blue light at the moment of impact and the spear didn’t even budge. The neck went limp and several arms reeled it in where a mouth bit down and tore the dead appendage free.
Luke gaped. The casual self cannibalism wasn’t as shocking as the spear. The spear he grabbed was the one that used M energy. He still didn't understand the weapon but it was effective and that’s all that mattered at the moment. Luke pressed forward again and the tentacles seemed more hesitant around the spearhead. If it had smashed Luke from multiple directions he wouldn’t be able to defend but either it wasn't smart enough for that or it was truly fearful of the spear.
Rather than fight Luke the creature was trying to back away. It spat more of the acid at him and pushed itself as fast as it could down the corridor. Luke was far faster though and it seemed to take a few seconds to work up the acid spit. As Luke got closer to the main body the monster shrieked at him and gave up running. Suddenly Luke was amidst a storm of flailing limbs and gnashing maws.
Without understanding how he did it, Luke pushed his mind into overdrive. The world seemed to slow around him and he slashed at the limbs as they approached. There were still too many and he took a few glancing blows. Luke slashed the spear with one hand while pushing and blocking with the other. Even still there were just too many things trying to kill him and as he stabbed one direction using his arm to brace against a kicking leg in the other, a mouth clamped onto his free arm.
The teeth were of a crushing sort so didn't tear the arm off but that didn’t seem much better as Luke was picked up and smashed into the ground and walls. At some point he lost grip on his spear and just became a ragdoll. He felt the M energy reinforce his bones to stop them breaking but he hadn't had much time to fill the batteries so was running low.
The mental boost was still active so between smashing into the walls and the ceiling, he had a moment to think. Luke still didn’t have much practice but it seemed he was able to activate his modifications instinctively. He didn't have enough M energy left for anymore than one quick attempt. With a bit of focus Luke was able to turn off the mental boost and bone reinforcement to save on M. In the seconds after he was smashed and broken several times and pain flared across his entire body. The pain was a searing heat and he grabbed onto it. He pressed the hot pain down into his arm and out his palm.
The creature wailed and let go of his arm.
Luke stared at his hand dumbly as a two foot jet of blue flame whistled from his hand. Even though it was exactly what he was attempting to do it took a moment for Luke to shake himself back to his senses. The monster was again trying to flee screaming and wailing at Luke. Luke pointed the flame at it and set the patchy fur alight.
Another tentacle grabbed Luke by a broken leg and flung him away. When he landed Luke saw spots in his vision.
AJ finally showed up dragging a bottle, “Shit you really did set it on fire… you look like shit though.”
“Thanks” Luke choked out
“So…It’s not dead… this is kind of worse. It was a horrible shrieking ball of flesh before. Now it’s a horrible shrieking ball of flesh on fire.”
“Yeah…”
“You still wanna try the plan?”
Luke tried to shrug and failed, “Have to, its gonna kill the whole Tribe”
AJ grinned, “Can I do it?”
Luke laughed, “I can’t move my arms, all you buddy"
AJ cracked the valve of the bottle and rolled it toward the monster. It looked like it might get stuck in the pitted cracked floor for a moment but one of the mouth arms snapped it up and fed it to a bigger main mouth. The bottle crunched and buckled under the jaw’s pressure. Luke worried it wouldn’t work but then a fireball consumed the corridor.