We learned a lot off of Ophelia’s data and Atropos’ analysis. The most important from this stage being that conservation of momentum holds true, and that trying to adjust portal speed to allow us to travel through is unreliable. Accelerating after portal launch is preferred.
While I appreciate the cuddle pile confab, it is important for you to consider your notifications from yesterday. They appear to be significant. You received 2104 notifications on kills alone.
That’s alarming, but I don’t see the importance.
The armed beast had just reached tier 2, and the tiger-like beast was on the cusp. Many of the beasts you killed with blue fire were tier 1. The majority of your kills were via cleverly used technology, but if your actions release the bound Aether, you receive a portion.
Is this catch-up going to kill me?
No, but I do recommend saving at least one of those ‘Galaxy Fruits’ to balance out your pending tech imbalance.
Okay, Tess. Will do. I have two left, so it should be good until the lake recovers before we leave. So, please send me the accumulated summary.
That all seems a bit much, but I see what’s going on. Good to see that we earned a few more CE.
Tessa, are you sure this won’t kill us?
The seven modules you are owed would overheat everything in your skull. However, I can load them in Astoria’s ansible and load them when you can handle them. Since you are now eligible for Aether modules, it may be less of an issue.
Aether modules!? My heart rate picks up and my excitement ramps through the roof.
“Honey, are you okay? Your vitals just peaked and I’m pretty sure it’s not my fault.”
“Heh, no Mel,” I hug in close and enjoy her breasts cradling my collar. “Tessa just told me I gained eight levels, and that Aether modules are a thing. I started freaking before I could even look at my options.”
“We have a meeting before lunch Penny, you should finish whatever you can before then. If you want, Ophie and I can finish the distance setting data for drone testing?” She starts circling the base of my skull with her fingers and it relaxes me. When she pulls her hand back like she was bitten.
A kiss at my neck tells me she probably was. Katie’s not much for words in the morning, so she growls while nibbling my shoulder and holding an arm around my middle.
“All things being equal, if you have a fix for mine and Tessa’s comms integration, I’d like that instead. As the next phase of testing on the Indulgence is what really matters.” I turn to my back and hook an arm around Katie’s head and hug both to me tightly.
“I really liked us when we finally got comfortable, can we do this every day?” I ask my friends. “I really enjoyed yesterday, and it felt . . . homey.”
“Penny, I enjoyed it as well, but I will need to work and enjoy my alone time.” She pulls away to stand up and start searching for her coveralls. I take a moment to admire her long frame.
“Jumping back in a little quick eh Pen Pen?”
I chuck yesterdays panties at her head, smacking her right in the face.
“Jokes on you, you smell great.”
“Nasty girl.” And then she growls at me. “Just because I want to enjoy what I can, when it’s simple, doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten, asshole.”
She flips me off. I watch Melissa connect a few cables to our drone from a small cube she carries in her pocket before bringing up schematics on a projection display for something I don’t understand.
The pale vampire kneels on the bed, now fully dressed, and pulls me into a kiss. “This gets complicated again when sex is involved, Penny. Consider that before you jump into it?” I nod in acknowledgement. When she turns, I smack her butt and stick my tongue out at her. She shakes her head at my antics and walks to the stairs.
I look at Melissa to see how she’s reacting and she sports a grimace and sighs. Perhaps a little bit of buyer’s remorse?
I don’t care right now, because I don’t feel as shitty about this whole thing and Andromeda does it feel good to feel a semblance of peace with the turmoil running through my brain. Now for more stress!
Alright Tessa, how do we do this?
You have naturally accepted a mutation already.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
I like that, but look Tessa, I want to take half of my modules in magic. Even before I see them, I want more than just warp and engraving.
These modules can kill us, Penny. You’re only eligible because you have Body of Power IV and a naturally robust psyche.
Copy that. Show me my options.
Choose up to 7 Advanced Aether modules: Elemental Manifestation—You’re a mage Penny! Cross Class, cost 2 Innate Element Manipulation—Requires Manifestation. Cross Class, cost 2 Basic Transfiguration—shapeshifting, but only little bits. Cross Class, cost 2 Innate toolkit—Requires Basic Transfiguration. Any tool manifest for Intermediate skills. Cost 1 Body of Power V – You become a being of Aether. Your biology is fundamentally changed. Cost 5
Andromeda knows how to play me. There is no reality that I chose body of power. However, the system gave me four other options that add up to fucking seven. The way the options feel, the elemental suite would ravage me and possibly cripple me. The transfiguration option feels like choosing a hairstyle and nail colors. Totally non-threatening, and toolkit is rated an in-class option. Literally on my Artificer track if I take transfiguration.
That’s what we’re doing Tessa. A much as I like the idea of being a mage also, I don’t think it’s in the cards anymore. Don’t show me those options anymore.
I have mentioned before, that my preferences are to remain as balanced as possible, so unlocking Elementalist mutations is not preferred. You may want to take some pain killers and take these modules in your shower area. The description says this module can have unpredictable synergies with other mutations.
That does sound messy. I walk over to my “oopsie” station and pop open the tier 2 med kit I bought after impaling myself with bits of test drone mark 2 and find the Vicodin-like tongue tabs, grab a berry soda and a couple of slices of galaxy fruit just in case.
“Shower beer?” Melissa asks, seeming more impressed than judgmental.
“In case of vomit mouth. I’m going to load two Aether mods, so it might be gross.”
She nods, but looks worried. I try to disarm that look with a smirk and a thumbs up, but it doesn’t work. I pull a plain chair into my shower area and get a taste of the soda.
Alright Tessa, load ‘em.
At first, I feel a tickle in my brain that brings back memories of Aether manipulation and floods me with images of how to massage and force the Aether into changing objects I know intimately, parts of myself. The tools module just broadens what knowledge is considered “Basic” with regard to transfiguration. The knowledge load is relatively light, and the distraction fades into a tingly feeling at the base of my skull and some fizziness in my brain? Wait, is that a twitch in my abdomen?
Tessa, can you tell what’s going on? Is the symbiote placement okay?
It appears that your subconscious and autonomic processes are attempting to integrate more effectively with Body of Power.
Meaning those wiggles were only the beginning?
With the number of areas that have been indicated, there will be considerably more wiggling. I also recommend ordering aether-infused liquids and begin consuming them.
She gives me several recommended options at 5AE a piece. I buy 10 and start there. They appear in 5 liter jugs. I splurge and buy a long, bio-plastic, loop and swirl straw in unicorn colors and start drinking the refined Aether fruit juice.
“Okay, the Aliens vibes in my belly are freaking me out. I want to review my tech mods.”
Choose up to 4 modules from the following: Intermediate Space Manipulation—How to not get lost in space-time. Cost 2 Aether Forging—Control the aether involved in every facet of fabrication. Cost 3 Basic Combat Discipline – chose a weapon, gain a skill Targeted Destruction – Deconstructing Moons for pleasure and Profit. Cross Class, cost 2 Introduction to Community and Habitat management – Be better, for everyone’s benefit.
You said I had a tech surplus right? I want to burn an imbalance. It feels like a good time to finally buy that space skill, and Aether forging would help me and Katie push our construction capabilities well into tier 1.
I will load them into the Ansible, and filter them to you this evening after your . . . initial transfiguration adjustments are complete. It is interesting to me that you don’t see the imbalances as future levels. I don’t think what your doing is a waste, but I also don’t think it’s necessary.
I shrug at that, I’ve mostly hopped from windfall to windfall. Sure, I’m being rewarded from dangerous situations I’ve lived through, but from day 1 it’s felt like advancing along my track is more important than pure leveling. Tessa nods in my head, but doesn’t say anything else.
I sit there, in my shower for the next few hours eating pain pills and drinking juice while watching a movie on the wall. Various purging points happen throughout the process, toilet to shower multiple times until I’m sitting in a chair, naked, under a constant stream of water.
“Penny!” Mel calls from across the loft. “We have fifteen minutes until the meeting. Clean up and get dressed please!”
That’s the end of that, Tessa. Okay body, you’re done for now. I need to walk around and not poop out my innards or leak refuse through my skin.
Our Symbiote integration indicates that that the remaining changes your subconscious intends were either not “Basic” or were purely cosmetic. There should be no further internal changes from this mutation.
Great. Fruit, shower clothes, meeting. What kind of clothes do you go to a council meeting like this in. Tessa, how long would it take you to design an Astorian Navy flight suit?
With Ophelia’s assistance, 5-10 minutes. She sounds very excited.
Hah, oh no, what have I done? I trust you two. I need to make a startling impression.
Mel walks up behinds me, kissing my neck while I put my hair up in a tight bun.
“Why has my AI been giggling for the past five minutes, refusing to tell me what she’s doing?”
“Same reason I’m not dressed yet, I imagine.”
“You’re letting my AI go shopping for you? What kind of traitorous shenanigans are these?! And why was I not invited to shop for you?”
“Could you have done it in 10 minutes?” I ask, my brows accusing.
She looks away, because we both know she would get lost in the Exchange for a while. But before she can reply, a box plops down next to us. I eagerly pry the lid off and see something completely different than I was expecting. Tessa and Ophelia designed me a lightweight, tactical EVA suit.
The pants are on top, showing structural reinforcement in matt grey, where the lighter weight materials that offer flexibility show a mosaic of colors that look a lot like my eye colors. I hook my feet into the stirrup loops at the bottom of the tight fitting pressure collars at my ankles and pull over the suspender straps attached to an inner collar that fits snug to my waist. The boots are edgy looking stompers with the grey reinforcements that lock over the pants in a pressure-tight seal.
The top seems a mix of body armor and flight suit with a chest plate designed to showcase a name and a rank insignia. It says “Astoria” and instead of a rank insignia, a thick heliotrope bar with embellishments at the edges. The same bar appears on the left side of my split collar. Melissa helps me lock the top to my pants and we leave the gloves and helmet off.
“Okay, you look badass. If I wasn’t standing right in front of you, I’d swear you were over six feet tall. And the mosaic pattern is pretty in your eye color. Ophie and Tessa did a great job. It’s got an ‘I could be fighting, or in space, or fighting in space at any moment’ vibe.”
I pat the flexible sides of my chest piece and finger the fiber reinforcement when Melissa lifts my head to kiss me. “Now please teleport us to the Ansible or we’ll be late.”
I smile wide, “Yes ma’am.” She chuckles as I grab her hand and warp her across the colony.