"Ah, AI Ninety-Seven," Bath said, greeting the android as it stepped into the control room.

"Radiance...You've been meddling," the android replied, looking distastefully toward the glowing sigils on the floor. "Where is the Church?"

"In the libraries," Bath replied. I sent her away as soon as I knew that you were coming. "So, how did humans receive the V-Taps?"

The android glared, surprising Bath with its realism. "They didn't," it spat.

"Oh?" Not what I was expecting.

"Their enhancements prevented me from even breaking their skin," AI Ninety-Seven explained, the green glow of its eyes flaring up. "My display was shameful."

Shameful? Since when do robots feel shame? Then again...so far, AI Ninety-Seven has acted like a sapient in every conceivable way. Just as my quasi-sapients were created artificially by myself, AI Ninety-Seven was created by others.

"What happened, exactly?" Bath asked, unfamiliar with the exact procedure to give sapients the V-Tap. AI Ninety-Seven had only given him a brief overview.

"I needed to make two incisions: one on the neck, another at the shoulders."

Bath nodded. I made the constitution boons especially strong around areas bordering the spinal column. Specifically, I made them most strong around the skull and neck.

"Didn't you say that the V-Tap came with a mechanism of inserting itself into the body of the user?"

"That mechanism is precisely what failed," AI Ninety-Seven sighed. "There are other ways of implanting the V-Taps, but they're all nonstandard. If we had to implant all humans manually by this method, it would take a significant amount of time."

Bath sighed. This does seem like a problem. "You just need the flesh around the neck and shoulders from the epidermis to the spine to be accessible to the V-Tap, correct?"

The android gave him a serious look. "More than that," it replied. "The V-Tap is also called the Vertical Tap because of how it extends up and down through the spinal column, fully integrating itself into peripheral nervous system of the host."

Bath blinked. I'm not sure that's a good idea... "Is the peripheral integration necessary?"

"For monitoring purposes," AI Ninety-Seven replied. "And for facilitating and inhibiting action potentials in a localized and specific manner. They also work to stimulate muscle growth."

"But is it necessary?" Bath repeated. None of those functionalities warrant such an invasive procedure.

"Yes; the V-Tap is closed-source, and almost impossible to modify without a specific skill set which, I am sure, your COTD sapients lack."

Bath frowned. "Closed source?" Besides, what about the verdora? Don't they have skilled scientists and engineers? If humans could make advanced technologies at an increased pace thanks to his COTD boons, he had no doubts that verdora would soon make innovative--and even more advanced--technological innovations.

The android sighed. "Yes, closed source, as in closed off. The makers of the V-Tap keep its nervous system integration programming under lock and key. The automatic implant process is state-of-the-art, at least by the standards of worlds beyond the Core."

Bath gave AI Ninety-Seven an appraising look. "How difficult would it be to reverse engineer the technology?"

The android's eyes narrowed. "With your the technological capabilities of your current sapients? Impossible."

Impossible...? Bath smirked. "We'll see." What a shame, though, he thought. It'll be some time before we can reverse-engineer the V-Tap. Then, a new thought crossed his mind. "You only mentioned the implant procedure for the peripheral nervous system. What about that of the central nervous system?"

The android's eyes blinked. "For the central nervous system, the upper neck vertebra replacement extends up into the brain."

Bath nodded. "The problem you had today was with making the proper incisions into the body and placing the vertebrae replacements down, correct?"

"Yes."

Bath paused. "Was one of the individuals chosen to receive the implant today particularly...eager?"

"Yes; a woman by the name of Fartuun Roble."

Bath smiled. "Bring her here."

---

From: Fartuun

>Dean!

Hmm?

From: Dean

>What's up? I'm doing logistics work right now, so much that I've, uh, gained two PP from advancing down the tactician and director paths.

From: Fartuun

>AI Ninety-Seven has come to take me to the Dragon!!!

Dean froze, turning away from the three arrayed holo-screens on his desk.

From: Dean

>Why?

Dean wished that the thought text captured his incredulous, angered tone. The Instachat developer needs to implement an algorithm for turning thoughts into emojis.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

From: Fartuun

>It's got something to do with getting the V-Tap!

Dean's eyes widened with alarm, his right fist clenching.

From: Dean

>This sounds like a bad idea.

From: Fartuun

>Why? You talk all the time about how overpowered the Dragon is. It'll be perfectly safe with him overseeing everything!

Dean snorted. Perfectly safe? Bath knowingly programmed the spearrows to skewer millions of people on Earth guilty of "stymieing the self-determination of others." He killed off thousands of US soldiers because he could, only issuing the order to keep un-enhanced assailants alive after I told him to. And he did that only because not killing enemies meant that those humans could later join COTD.

The only reason Bath has for keeping Fartuun alive, Dean thought, is because of her position in COTD. He probably wouldn't let an important COTD human die, right?

From: Dean

>Just be, um, careful. Tell me about everything later.

From: Fartuun

>I'll try my best.

---

Bath looked to Lisa, who was currently at his side studying the sigils on the floor. "What have you found so far?"

Lisa groaned. "Nothing makes sense. I moved all the books out, one by one, and then put them back in a different order. However, the sigil didn't change. I did this in three different rooms."

Bath inclined his head. "So it must have been something else I did while moving the books that triggered the sigil's change," he murmured.

"Do you know how long it takes to move thousands of books?" Lisa lamented, steamrolling over Bath's commentary. "Even with my enhanced strength and speed, I have to go slow because they're old and I don't want to accidentally damage them."

Bath nodded. "I'm glad you're being so careful."

Lisa gave him a look. "You will let me know if a sigil changes while I'm messing around in the library rooms, right?"

Bath cracked a grin. "Of course. But, y'know, there are one-thousand and twenty-four sigils. If just one of them changes, I might not notice..."

Lisa slugged him in the shoulder. "I'll be back in a few. I have a few new ideas that I want to test out. I can see why Dean goes on about the utility of his artist boons: They definitely make it easier to see connections between the sigils. I feel like I'm on the crux of understanding something..." Lisa jabbered as she walked to the door.

"Bye," Bath called out just before the violet door clicked shut. He was alone once more.

Excellent timing, he thought. AI Ninety-Seven should be entering the Arc in a minute. While he waited, he began to study the approaching human. Fartuun Roble...one of the Somalian natives. He probed her body, taking measure of her current boons and PP investment.

For Bath, measuring PP investment was troublesome since all PP was the same, regardless of origin. For instance, gaining insight into close combat would generate PP just as surely as gaining insight into cooking. Therefore, to judge the PP of a sapient, he needed more information than could be found by studying a sapient's physique and taking stock of their PP-fueled bodily modifications.

However, the innumerable possible uses for PP--just thinking of each boon's different paths and those paths' endless roots left even Bath overwhelmed--added another level of complexity. Furthermore, the inherent difficulties of measuring PP investment in mentally-oriented paths (such as that of the artist boon) complicated things further: Bath still had difficulty understanding the human brain, even if he had recently made strides in modifying and enhancing it. Each human brain is so different from the next, he grumbled. Trying to gauge PP investment into mental areas is like trying to judge, at a glance, the number of ripples on the surface of a pond. Some PP investment would be obvious, like great disturbances on the pond's surface. Others, however, would be subtle, appearing as little more than blips on the pond's otherwise still surface.

Bath had prepared for the difficulties in PP measurement from the very beginning by outfitting each human with a small symbiote of his own design. The organism--Bath hesitated to call it a protozoan--discretely kept a record of all PP gained and all PP invested. The process was automatic: generating PP prompted the human body to release a certain kind of modified chemical compound that would bind to a receptor on the protozoan's surface. This, in turn, would lead it to register the change in a "registry."

When the human visited the Anima for boon upgrades or for PP investment, the squirrels could measure the human's current PP by prompting the protozoan to transmit a copy of the host's registry.

While Bath had the capabilities to take this registry straight from the symbiote himself--in fact, he did this almost immediately with Fartuun--the information held within was general, just a record stating that Fartuun had gotten all her basic boons and had four-hundred and twenty-five PP invested and seventy-six un-invested. The registry didn't include other information, such as how Fartuun had invested her PP.

Only through probing her body did Bath discover that she had invested much of her PP into her mental faculties. And I only know this because, of the four-hundred and twenty-five PP she has invested, only around eighty have been used to modify her physical capabilities. She must have invested the rest of her PP into something else: her mind.

"Radiance Dragon," AI Ninety-Seven called out as he entered the control room, Fartuun trailing behind him. "I have brought the human."

Bath pivoted his head around, snapping out of his reverie. "Excellent. Come, Fartuun. AI Ninety-Seven, produce a V-Tap."

"This one is honored to serve," AI Ninety-Seven replied, fishing a V-Tap out from within its loose-flowing robe. Bath whisked the V-Tap away with a swipe of his hand, sending his essence over to collect the implant and bring it into his waiting palm.

Fartuun swallowed. "I-I didn't know the Dragon looked like the android," she whispered.

Bath's eyes locked onto hers as his fingers closed around the three vertebra-sized V-Tap implants. While Fartuun had whispered so low as to be inaudible, Bath felt the movement of her lips through the air.

He smiled. "Fartuun," he began. "You are from Somalia, correct?"

She nodded. "Yes, Radiance."

"Then you've never seen my human appearance," he replied, his expression serene. He whipped his hand across his face, as though clawing at the air. As his hand passed, his face changed from that of the four-eyed android to that of his youthful, human self.

Fartuun's eyes widened as she smiled. "Radiance, your face is a pleasure to behold."

Bath rolled his eyes inwardly. My face isn't anything special. Which was true: Lisa's face was beautiful beyond compare, his was plain by comparison.

"I plan to give you this implant," Bath said impassively. "I will make the requisite incisions into your back and neck myself. Then, I will clear the way for the V-Tap to take root within your brain. At the same time, I will prevent the V-Tap from interfering with your peripheral nervous system."

The android looked at Bath as though it wanted to speak, but simply gave the Devourer a baffled look.

"I consent," Fartuun said, beaming and inclining her head.

Bath cocked an eyebrow, giving her a small, cold smile. I wasn't asking. Before she could react, he whisked her forward with his essence, placing her over a spontaneously-generated dragonleaf table. Because of the suddenness of the act, Fartuun struggled briefly; however, after a full second, she regained her composure and waited silently for the Dragon to proceed.

Bath held out his index finger; a wicked claw projected from its tip. He brought the tip over Fartuun's neck, holding out the three V-Tap vertebra in his left hand. "AI Ninety-Seven, you look like you have something to say before I begin."

The android shook its head slowly. "I was merely making a series of calculations that used an uncharacteristically large portion of my processing power," the android stated.

What kind of calculations leave AI Ninety-Seven distracted? he wondered. "Excellent. Fartuun: because the procedure will affect your brain, I will keep you conscious. However," Bath said, tiliting his head forward. "You won't feel anything."

And with that, Bath plunged the single claw into Fartuun's neck.