05. THE UNKNOWN

The totality of working with Queen Mab was incomparable to the working with Hera. The amount of processing and data units completely dwarfed what we had placed on Ark-5, and that included all the secondary and tertiary backups for all three AIs. As a direct result, the time dilations were much more intense. For every hour in the real world, I spent a week inside a forest castle. Merely calling it “magical” would have been an insult to any fairy tale.

While Heras domain was modeled after the Mediterranean of times long past, with temples and marble sculptures were on a cliff that overlooked a sea of the purest green waters. Mab’s was clearly every magical story ever brought to life. Every one of Hera’s processes was modeled after an ancient god or goddess from mythology, and everyone ran around in togas like a cheap holovid that didn’t care about historical accuracy. But Mab’s domain was wholly different and astounding.

The first time I jacked in, I was greeted by an army of “soldiers” and escorted, blindfolded of all things, to Mab’s palace. The walls were made of lit quartz with a light source that would illuminate to the degree needed for any task, without asking. Mab had an interesting show that she would perform as part of her persona, with a court where the designs we created were judged as if human children in old fairytales. Sometimes released because they were “not a threat,” other times they were confiscated as being a threat. Usually because of too large a quantity of porous and magnetic metals.

Several of the designs that I had uploaded were immediately executed. Mab was definitely showing her displeasure. Honestly, I did use a lot of metal. It was plentiful. We were in a nickel and iron asteroid, after all. It was quite the spectacle, even if it was an attack on my designs.

After that first Court, we adjourned to a private meeting hall where I was introduced to her subordinate processes. Rosette, Tangerina, Xanthous, Skylene, Violetta, Coral, and Absinthe. One of those was not quite like the others. Each was represented by a color, Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Purple, Pink, and Green.

“Not to be rude, but isn’t the list out of order? Shouldn’t Absinthe be I dunno, sitting next to Xanthous and Skylene?” I had to ask

“If we did that, then it would be a much larger production to have her fetch the drinks.” The answer was obvious, though unexpected.

“Right. I’ll just allow that to make sense, here, then.” I didn’t have a real reply.

“Probably for the best. We kept asking Emerelda, but she couldn’t tell the difference between Mead and Ciders, so we sent her to the mines.”  I wasn’t sure if Violetta was being serious or not.

“Let us not go off the rails. We have discussions to yet be had. Mainly that ‘THING’ in your head!” The once beautiful Fae queen had changed colors. Her hair turned to a burning reddish fire. Not just the color, but the actual hair became flames.

I found myself unable to move. It took me several embarrassing moments to realize I had been lashed to my chair with threads so small which absorbed light instead of reflecting or refracting it. A few minutes of me shouting later, Hera entered the chamber.

“Did you start without me? And has she already began resisting? You didn’t explain things to her, did you, Mab? Humans must be handled gently, so we do no bruise their egos.” There was a small bit of condescension in Hera’s voice when she said “humans.”

“Mab, what are you doing? Hera! What is this shit?” I was more than a little angry at being tied up.

“Well, Hera wanted to run some experiments, and they had me curious as well, so I figured we could start. She decided to show up early, however, before I could have my fun.”

“Mab doesn’t understand people, yet. It seems Asimov rushed the job a smidge.” Hera looked over towards Mab and flung an arm towards me, the bonds cut were cut free. I immediately stood and started to back towards the doors to the chamber.

“You won’t be able to run,” Mab said with a laugh, which she immediately followed up with a sigh. “Since Hera is here, we will do things her way. You have the floor, cousin.” That was a lot more acceptable. Mab’s colors shifted again, taking on more of an aquamarine hue.

“We have a theory which  you will not want to hear, but we must understand.” Hera’s eyes were pools of white, her skin not the usual bronze she usually had, but white marbled with golden lines as if she was a walking sculpture. The robe she wore was pure white as well.

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“You see, with that metal in your head, it is connecting more lobes, hemispheres, and sectors of your head than any others ever before. I want to see if we can unlock anything new. Anything yet unknown in humans.” She had been slowly approaching me the entire time yet was suddenly standing in front of me.

“There is a chance that there is power in your brains.” Mab was approaching me from the side, slowly as to not scare off a skittish animal. “How would you like the power to not be taken advantage of again. That is all we are talking about.”

I noticed the rest of the Fae Council had disappeared. I was ready to bolt as well. Hera clamped a hand around my arm.

“Don’t!” she said as I, on instinct, started to swing at her with my free arm. The command stopped me. Hera released my arm once she noted I had stopped.

“Please, Jax, walk with me. Let me explain further.” She could have easily overpowered me but chose not to. Reluctantly I followed her.

“We think it is highly likely that we could open up certain latent gifts in humanity, thanks to your unique implant. We did some research on the bodies which you, in your reports, called dragons. Since they resemble giant winged flatworms, we had decided to call them the Turbellaria. We understand WHY you called them what you did, but when you think about it, this name is much more accurate.”

I wholeheartedly agreed. In my reports, I even noted that “dragon” was being used as a placeholder until a suitable name could be decided upon. I would have to look up what the word meant before I knew why, but it seemed to fit them.

“What did you find?” I asked, staying about a step behind Hera and just to her left.

“I was getting to that. They had a different type of nervous system, as you would expect, but the different areas of their bodies seemed to connect to all others. We do not know if this was for redundancy, load sharing, or another reason.” Hera motioned to a set of doors that lead out of the building into a garden with giant flowers, and the doors opened for her.

“The Graeae seem to think that connecting all major centers of the brain could lead to mystical abilities. Much like being able to afflict others with blindness or deafness, as stated in your report. We want to turn you into a weapon. Or, at the least, see if it is possible.”

We continued to walk the garden in silence for a few minutes while I thought about what was just told to me.

“You think it’s possible that I could end up psychic if we tweak my neural?

“It’s a possibility. It could also kill you, cripple you, have no effect, turn you into a synesthete, or make you fart rainbows. We simply have no idea, which is why I called it ‘unknown.’  At a minimum, we are hoping that it will make you impervious to other similar attacks.”

“You hope to use the changes in my implant as a template? You need to know what it will change, though, first?” I asked the construct, trying to buy time as I made the decision to play their games.

“In a matter, yes. We will need to ask the Shadows to help with the others we wish to change, but eventually we are wanting to have at least one strike force so nothing like the battle for the bridge of the Escort happens again.”

We continued to walk in silence, finding ourselves at the entrance of an oversized hedge maze made from white rose buds. The buds were only enhanced by a light dusting of snow that was isolated specifically to this area.

I stopped Hera before we entered the maze, gesturing towards a set of benches made of obsidian just outside of the “snowy” area that surrounded the maze.

“What else are you hoping to get out of it?” I asked her. “It seems that there is another layer or three beneath your request. I just want to know fully what I am agreeing to or denying. Also, if it is something I am unable to do, I may be able to find someone to ‘step up’ and take my place for me in the plans. I am sure I could get Observer or one of the others to make the necessary changes.”

“We are unsure how much of the time while you were in a coma was because of the changes.” This was the first time since freeing Ark-5 of alien influence that my explosion was brought up. It caught me off guard.

“Wait, I thought I had been kept in a coma because no one knew what to do with me.”

“That’s not entirely true. Sure there was some time which you were not kept in the coma, but most of it was us. We think. Your vitals were unusual and we had no idea what was happening to your neural. Pieces were removed to stop it. That didn’t really work.”

Well, shit.

“Then grabbing someone from one of my teams may put you behind schedule for weeks if not years?”

“Precisely. We are looking at having you grab others anyway so that we can check the theory. We are in agreement that twelve other than you should be chosen. We want one medic, one pilot, one comms officer, one with sensors experience and the rest soldier trained. We would prefer Marines, but an MA would work as well.”

This would take a lot of discussion with my team.

“Why that spread?”

“It allows us a good chance to view the effects. A leader, a medic, several soldier, pilots and comms users is also a large portion of what is needed for a long range ship. Having the several soldiers will also allow for additional strike teams.” She took a deep breath as if explaining this was trying.

“With this grouping you would have at least one full fireteam that could put up a shield to block attacks from several attackers.”

“If it works.” I supplied.

“Of course, if it works. We wouldn’t continue if we do not get results.”

Something seemed off.

“You already know that it will work, don’t you?”

“It already is working.” Hera completed. “You are currently being checked for compatibility updates, to validate that it could work. That is why the Fae council disappeared. To save resources.”

“So asking is a formality, then?”

“Ohh, hush. We both know you will agree. If there’s a chance that you will not have to lay more soldiers to rest you will take it.” Hera stood and started walking back towards the hedge/rose maze. “Come, let’s get lost in your thoughts for a while.”