> The rogue Overmind is still linked to sapients, so it isn’t completely unchecked. Even so, this definitely explains the Intangible Connections stock sell-off.
>
> – Radio transmission from Voices for Non-Citizens
Over the next few days, the situation in the Quarry slowly improved as our healers’ strength increased. There was a lot of red tape restricting healing-oriented Specialties, at least ones that could benefit anyone other than the contestant who earned them. I picked through the rules summaries Ariel sent me as closely as I could, sharing them with Pointy so she could lend an eye, and we found a few loopholes.
One such was a Specialty that allowed the exhaustion caused by Healing Touch to affect the beneficiary, rather than the user. Since most of our injured were out of action anyway, that “cost” was almost a non-cost. Fort Autumn’s infirmary had expanded to fill most of the Quarry’s common area, but after Ariel granted the first healer that Specialty, the whole place emptied out in a matter of hours, as exhausted-but-whole former patients returned to their quarters to rest.
Regenerating body parts was a tougher nut to crack.
“I think it’s just another lever they’re using to shove people into taking Biological Augments,” I told Pointy. “If you haven’t twisted your genetics around six ways from Sunday, a major injury is supposed to last, at least for any species that can’t regenerate naturally.”
Pointy frowned. “That further explains the low numbers of Fluffy’s species. Anyone who doesn’t have an augment for regeneration is likely to get injuries that make it harder for them to survive the rest of the contest. That means people with Biological Augments will be overrepresented among any survivors.”
“And then those survivors would have to match up to people with identical Biological Augments, or they’ll have a tough time having kids,” I confirmed.
“Unless they reproduce asexually…” Pointy said. “Well, at least we’ve addressed that problem.”
I smiled. There’d been a lot of emotional turmoil, but that had been an unmitigated win. Ariel had confirmed that the Biological Augments altered our DNA. Remembering how Ariel had used the process of granting my Specialty to rummage around and make changes in my anatomy, I’d asked if she could do something similar for people with Biological Augments. It had taken some explanation, and I didn’t think Ariel really understood why I wanted the changes made by Biological Augments to be removed from women’s stored eggs and the internal parts of on men’s testes, but the changes were small from her perspective.
Yes! Absolutely. Make it happen. Direct order.
From now on, everyone with Biological Augments who earned their Specialty would be able to have 100% human kids. I was sure that the showrunners would hate this, but they’d left the door open and I’d dove straight for it.
I grinned at Pointy. “There weren’t any restrictions in place keeping Ariel from doing something she’d never consider doing.”
“Indeed,” Pointy said primly. “They did not anticipate her collusion with contestants. We need to find every method we can to exploit that blind spot.”
I dropped my head tiredly, in a motion that was meant as a nod. I was spending as much time as I could up in the tower, earning Points. Down below, I was supposed to be recuperating… but wringing every advantage out of my connection to Ariel was too important.
The only people who seemed as tired as I felt were the stone and metalshapers who’d worked on the exterior of Fort Autumn and the tower. Their ability to instantly repair any breaks in our defenses was critical, and the only reason the Shop and fort were still standing, but it also meant that they rarely slept for more than a few minutes at a time. Someone set up bunks for them in the center of the Quarry. It was a noisy, busy place, terrible for sleeping, and yet every time I’d looked over they were either out or being shaken awake by defenders anxious to get them to repair another break. Signs attached were attached to each bed, identifying each occupant. They didn’t say their names, like “Helen” and “Tori,” but instead said things like “south wall segment with spiderweb texture.” The different shapers had carefully handed off control of different areas as more of them achieved their specialties. Decorative flourishes made it more obvious who had shaped each section, and reduced the amount of mistaken awakenings.
We’d considered putting the stoneshapers on rotation and having them repair each others’ sections manually, but the automatic restoration caused by the Continuing Connection Specialty was far superior, because repairs were instantaneous and thorough. Walls and parapets were returned to their former condition with no opportunity for errors or mistakes, no matter how tired the stoneshaper was.
I didn’t mind that the decorative flourishes made the fort prettier, either. Most of the shapers weren’t artists, but even polka dots were more appealing than bland, smooth, stone. We’d spent plenty of time fighting, so we’d had ample chance to admire their work over the past few days.
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All my guys had earned their eleventh abilities, and Vince and Micah had even earned their Specialties, with Gavin only thirty thousand points away from earning his own. That was a funny way to think about it, but that quantity of Points should only take another hour or so.
For his eleventh ability, Vince had wanted something to make him better able to predict his foes’ movements and abilities, especially new opponents. I’d suggested Analyze, of course, but he hadn’t been excited about the idea.
“It’ll have terrible synergy, Meghan. There’s got to be something better!”
It had taken some searching, but I’d leaned on my connection with Ariel until I came up with a Biological Augment somewhat fancifully called “Predator’s Regard.” I was a bit leery of it, since it seemed to be a brain augment, but Ariel had reassured me.
I would have preferred “zero,” but the numbers were low enough to be coincidental. Plus, Ariel had said that the augment added additional structures to the brain, instead of adjusting what was already there.
I’d warned Vince, of course, but he hadn’t been deterred, and I’d reluctantly gone along with it. He liked the idea of the ability, a sort of passive Analyze that exclusively worked to assess and predict the movement of living things. The choice had still made me nervous, but I hadn’t detected any issues.
Vince’s Specialty had been straightforward: an ability called Enhance that doubled his speed, strength, and durability for a minute every hour. I'd suggested other avenues, but this was what Vince had wanted, and Ariel had been quick to confirm it was possible.
“It’s exactly what I need, Meghan. Just a little extra oomph when I’m up against something tough. Not to mention, my regeneration’s actually getting battle-relevant! I can heal a little cut in a matter of minutes and a big injury in a couple of hours. As long as I don’t lose a limb…”
For Micah’s eleventh ability, he’d taken an Automated Assistant ability, sort of like Cassie’s Mrs. Fiery Offensive Assistant. The ability’s usual defensive counterpart flung weak Force Shields out in front of attacks. While these diminutive shields did hamper attacks, the effect was generally pretty lackluster. Even Micah’s moderate synergy with Force Shield probably wouldn’t result in something truly effective.
Micah’s synergies would have been alright with that, but we’d found a far better option for him: Automated Point Defense Assistant. A small UFO now hovered over Micah, blasting anything that got close to him with lasers and small fire bolts. With his high synergy for those types of energy, it did a much more effective job at stopping or diverting physical attacks than the regular defensive assistant would have. As far as non-physical attacks? His Temperate Aura and resistances should make him near-immune to heat and cold, and for everything else, he had his Specialty.
Ariel had suggested a number of possibilities for Micah as he got close to earning his Specialty, until finally she’d landed on one that he and I both loved. It was called Energy Vortex. Every ten minutes, he could choose one of the kinds of energy he had influence over, and it would sap the strength of any attacks of that type that came within a few feet of him, absorbing a portion of the attack’s energy. At the end of the ten minutes, he could - and had to - release any stored energy as a blast of a different kind of energy. Even with the restrictions, it was a flexible defense that had the potential to be a powerful offense as well.
“I just don’t know what to do about Gavin,” I said. “Resilient Skin was a great eleventh ability for him, even if he wasn’t excited about it, but now he’s about to earn his Specialty. Do we keep him down here the next time we go up? We haven’t figured out how to get him what he wants.”
“Actually…” Pointy said hesitantly. “I may have found a solution there. It’s not quite what he wanted, but…”
I listened as she explained, then nodded thoughtfully. “It’s not, but… I think it’ll work.”
We headed up again. Pointy carefully monitored Gavin’s Points, letting us know when he was a few thousand away from earning his Specialty so we could make space around him in the narrow confines of the tower. A swirling orb of colors concealed him for mere seconds, then faded away.
Gavin had an expression of excitement that quickly faded to grief. “Restore-a-tin? That only fixes me! That’s not what I wanted at all.”
I’d negotiated with Ariel for Gavin to be given a version of the same Specialty we’d seen in the South American warlord during the dinosaur Challenge: an automatic self-restoration ability on a long cooldown. Healing Touch could bring people back from most injuries, but it wasn’t proof against poison, and an unlucky blow could still end a life near-instantly. Restoration was insurance against both of those, since it would activate automatically if the user was incapacitated. It was a huge relief to me as a mother, and I’d issued standing orders for Ariel to issue a similar Specialty to any child with adequate synergy. I would have given it to Micah if I could, but it wasn’t an option. Vince was eligible, but he’d argued that a more active ability would make both him and the kids safer. I didn’t buy that it would make him safer… but making him better able to defend our children made sense.
I smiled at Gavin gently. “Restoration might only fix you, but look at your Ruler interface, sweetheart.”
Gavin eyed me suspiciously. His brow furrowed in thought as he laboriously scanned his interface.
Pointy took pity on him. “It’s your ruler benefit, Gavin. Each of your subjects gets access to your Regeneration at 1% of your synergy level. That works out about the same as if they had 9% of a Rapid Regeneration ability. It will take a long time for any of your subjects to get their limbs back, but it will happen eventually.”
Gavin’s smile broke across his face like a sunrise. “That’s only a little, but if my number gets bigger, theirs does too!”
“That’s right.” I grinned at him and Telekinetically floated another arrow to his hands. “You ready to earn some more Points?”
Gavin snatched the arrow and fired it, his actions smooth after the hundreds of shots he’d fired in the past few days. As the arrow arced into a D-Rex’s neck, Gavin howled with glee: “I’m going to fix everyone!”