March 6th

It'd been a few days since I'd handed over the scans to Danny and pretty much ran before he could review them and find what we had. I did have to buckle down for class occasionally.

Which this time worked out to a two day bender of math and spreadsheets for a project presentation in climatology, that had been my off and on again bane for the past two months, even more than a dantian was turning out to be.

Most of the rest of the class had picked local or small home areas to do trending and forecasting against, and it showed. No major variations to anything they did, projecting weather patterns one, three, and five days out and then comparing that versus what the weather actually was.

A notice popped up on my tablet Call me when you get a chance. Dad. I just talked to him yesterday, weird. Didn't sound like an emergency though.

"Ms. Firen, you're up."

Connecting to the projector system from my tablet, an image of a rather large storm off the coast of Alaska appeared. "Projecting winter storm quantity and strength, utilizing previous year metrics and average local weather patterns. Current local weather patterns were mapped with GOES-22."

Professor Auren nodded for me to continue.

"Based on previous year metrics, going back twenty years to get enough data to draw from, the two month period of January first through March first should have had at least one major storm that dropped an average of six feet of snow on the Alaskan coast in a twenty-four hour window, along with half a dozen other storms in this time period with a combined accumulation of four feet." I tapped, and the simulated storm rolled over the coast of Alaska, reds and blacks lighting up in locations where the worst of the snow would be.

"Looks about right. How'd the day to day projections work against it, and how did it work in reality?" The professor asked, looking a little more interested to not be given the local weather forecast for the tenth time in the last hour.

"Day to day projections and actual weather showed the correct number of storms. However, in all cases there was at least a forty percent reduction in precipitation, local wind strength, and general storm energy." I flipped the image over from the computed one to the actual weather system that had rolled through Alaska recently.

Professor Auren gave me a strange, almost hesitant look.

"Energy can't be created or destroyed and a massive shift in weather on this level would have visible repercussions on an even larger scale. Grabbing a few random numbers from the Canadian side shows some fluctuations as well. The overall Canadian effect is the same, with a severe reduction in storm strength. Honestly, enough of a reduction that other systems should have shifted to fill in the gaps, but the Alaskan system alone doesn't seem to be seeing surges from arctic or Siberian weather systems but the school doesn't provide access to satellite coverage for those."

"And your conjecture is the alien is causing this, from New York?"

I shrugged. "All I've got is numbers and dates, and he's the only new variable I know about unless the lizard people running the government finally decided to kick the weather control machine on to stop global warming."

I got a lot of laughs from the class.

"Upload your findings, I'll run validations against them." Auren sighed.

I did so. "There's plenty of rumblings about it on the web too, so I'm not the only one noticing." I offered. "It's really only visible in larger projections and historical datasets. Otherwise, it just looks like a milder local winter."

"Alright." He nodded to me and I shut my connection off. "Mr. Truden, you're up next. Wow me with the local weather again." There was a nervous laugh.

~~~

Heading out of class, I pulled an earpiece out, clipped it in, and tapped Dad's contact. It connected almost immediately. "Hey, what's up?"

"You know, I'd forgotten I get a report monthly on new apps on all the account tablets. Dantian Seekers? I thought you agreed no mystic bullshit so you didn't get hurt." Dad's voice was concerned but sounded a bit amused as well.

"I agreed not until it passed engineering. Which, right now? It doesn't. I've got a little bit of data and a CAT scan that shows up with something weird, but not much more." I answered him, walking to the exit. 12 was blinking on the door, and I eyed the bright afternoon sun. I pulled the sleeves on my jacket down and hoodie up, before heading out.

"What are you doing with it then? I thankfully haven't gotten any calls as your emergency contact."

I left, headed out to the dining hall. "Minimal weights. One, five, and twenty-five pounders. Even if it fails out on me, I can lift twenty-five pounds without issue."

Dad hmmed for a moment. "Well, at least you're not trying to do anything crazy with it. Just, keep your mother and I in the loop, would you? It's not like either of us has it, but I'd really like to know my little girl doesn't just have her head in the clouds on more things."

"Daad." I grinned and whined at him. "But alright, I will."

"So, what are you hoping to get out of it anyways?" Now he turned curious.

"Dunno. The alien turned up out of the blue without a spaceship and might be messing with stuff in the world, based on the weather project I'm finishing up. Everything I've seen with it so far is really local, so either I'm too early or he's got hidden technology doing more."

"Your insights are fascinating, and I wish you'd log them and your tests with the Seekers." A new voice broke in from right behind me.

"GAH!" I screamed, dropping my bag and spinning around.

"Nicole!?" Dad's voice yelled into my ear.

Danny had apparently crossed paths with me, or something, and was standing with a smile on his face. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

I took a deep breath. "Sorry about that Dad, someone from the Seekers is here and scared me."

"You okay then?" Dad asked, still worried.

"Yeah. Let me call you back in a bit, alright?"

"Alright, if nothing else I'll talk to you this evening when your mother calls." He said, before I heard the beep that ended the call.

"Damn it, why'd you sneak up on me?" I nearly growled at Danny.

"I didn't mean to sneak up on you." He answered mildly. "I'd honestly hoped to catch you leaving your class, as I wanted to discuss the scans you provided to the Seekers. I saw you were on a call and just decided to follow and wait, but then you started talking about it, and I couldn't help but commenting. Sorry."

"I'm going to get a late lunch. What'd you want to talk about it?" I picked my bag back up and clipped the earpiece in, continuing to walk.

Danny followed. Drat.

"While I have the scans from you and your friends, you did say the scan was testing a theory about the dantian. And two of the results had quite the strange little thing in your bodies. Do you believe that is a dantian?" He asked. "I do have to admit, I have scans of several people that have come through the Seekers, both with and without a power, and none of them show that little weird body part."

"I'm still putting together some thoughts and ideas about it." I said slowly. "But yeah, maybe."

"I do wish you'd upload that data then. Oh, wait." Danny paused. "You haven't been a member for over a month yet, have you? The app would be hard locked down. It's only a few days, but I'll get it unlocked for you so you'll have access to the full repository and able to upload your notes into the system."

"I'll hold onto them until I get more detail, but thanks." I answered him.

Danny just gave me a look. "Where's your spirit of scientific discovery? Of making a mark on history with the discovery of something new? To share with your fellow man so we don't all have to reinvent the wheel every time?"

"Hidden behind a requirement that anything the Seekers do for me, I owe them the cost back."

"Bah. It's only for five years, then it gets wiped out. No one ever reads the contract." Danny scoffed.

I paused, thinking back. "I'll think about it."

He grinned. "Do so. You do have some fascinating insights that I'd love to get a better handle on. If your methods are giving good results, maybe we can get the rest of the Seekers in on it."

"Well, I'm at least going to think it over during lunch." I answered as we got to the dining hall. "So unless you're buying, I'll talk to you later."

Danny shook his head. "No, I've got to get back to my office to upgrade your app rights."

I headed into the dining hall without him then, grabbing a quick meal and sitting at a table. I pulled up the copy of the contract I'd authed a few weeks ago, looking it back over again.

"Who doesn't read the contract, now?" The ten grand fine was waived after five years, but it didn't say anything about the other costs the Seekers paid for you. I could see how you could argue it, but it still didn't explicitly say it.

A notification popped up for an upgrade of the Seeker app about twenty minutes later, and I looked at it. Same basic thing, but I was now authorized to download anything directly to my tablet. I approved the storage permissions and shrugged. Maybe later when I actually had more than a couple of weight lifting spreadsheets and Melissa's recording.

Thinking of who, I pulled up the school messaging system and sent her a note, seeing if she had practice time. We'd shared class schedules when we'd aligned our workout schedules, but that didn't mean she wasn't working on something else either.

Hey, nothing going on here. Meet over at Karen's?

I looked at the schedule. Nah, she's in Composition right now, head over to my dorm.

~~~

The projector again was displaying both dantians, and I frowned. "So, the spirals on mine are bigger and further apart, and I was actively using my power at the time. You weren't doing anything extra, and the spirals are smaller and nearly completely covering the center. Either case, the internal little center bit here," I managed to enlarge mine, "still seems larger on yours. So, whatcha think?"

"I had my power longer, and broke through a block? Maybe that's the actual power, and the spirals are the blocks?" Melissa took her shot in the dark. She pointed to the odd little piece dangling from the spiral closest to her center. "Where I broke through, maybe?"

"Really wish we'd had a better chance to do a baseline for both of us." I restored both of them to their initial projections. "Because this is a really freaky thing to be in the body. It doesn't actually have any connections to other organs from what I can see in the scans."

I sighed. "This damn thing gives more questions than answers. I was hoping if we found something, it'd at least be useful." I turned off the projector. "Alright, practice. Two power variables. Longest time you can push, and highest minimum weight you can ignore. Any luck on the weight side for you?"

Melissa shook her head. "Nope. Still at the same point."

"And time takes forever to add to." I muttered. "Well, since time's increasing, let's try to figure out why." I flicked the lecture recording software on again. "Confirming. When pushing the power for adding to total time, I am pushing the power the same amount every time, even if it's not a new maximum. Melissa?"

"Same. It took me a few tries to get that sense, but yeah. I'm not adding anything extra."

"Alright, the only thing that changes the time is how much we're cycling that power for the overflow. I've got two ideas of tests, and they're probably both going to hurt. Test One, we push against that pain point that is the maximum we can, see if pushing past that causes growth in the time we can overflow. Test Two, cycle power even when holding back the overflow, see if we can build up pressure."

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Melissa thought for a second. "Considering the amount of power overflowing changes my minimum ignored weight, can we mark Test One as a test for that? We already know it's painful to push up against that, so I'd like to leave known pain for later."

"So, hold back the overflow, and cycle it faster to make more overflow anyways?" I asked.

"Yeah. Also, when did you switch to cycle?"

"More concise than spinning a current in circles." I answered. "Anyways, let's go ahead and try it."

Melissa nodded and I tossed her one of the five pound weights for measuring. I picked up my own then closed my eyes to concentrate on the pool of power inside me, the current lazily spinning circles. In what as far as I could tell an infinite circle, an infinite cycle.

The weight in my hand was negligible and I pulled the overflow back into the center. I still couldn't describe how I could do that, I just knew how. The weight in my hand felt more solid, actually causing muscles in my arm to tense to hold it now.

I pushed the cycle faster, just a bit, and could feel the overflow almost slosh up against my demand to not actually overflow. No pain so far.

I held it that way for a few minutes, then pushed it a little faster. Still no pain. I held it there, actually feeling myself get a little tired like I'd been jogging. I pushed a little more, and felt the overflow actually slip my grasp, the weight in my hand becoming nearly ignorable again.

Slowing the cycle back down again, I regained control. I gave it a moment, then tested my control again. Slower, then faster. Slower then faster. Slower then f-

"You know, if you guys were going to get this sweaty, you could have at least invited a couple of guys over to make it a real party."

"GAH!" I nearly threw the weight at the voice, before opening my eyes just to watch Melissa not control her reflexes and throw a five pound weight nearly straight up, before it fell to the ground between them.

I was drenched in sweat. "How did I not hear you come in?" I asked, actually panting now. "Wait, you should still be in class?"

"No?" Karen shook her head. "I've been out of class for thirty minutes, sitting here for ten. Neither of you heard me come in, you were concentrating and sweating hard. If you were testing your stamina records, I don't have the stopwatch but you've both beaten them."

Wait, ten minutes? Thirty minutes? "We were testing something else." I answered with confusion, flipping the lecture recording software off. It blinked fifty seven minutes and eighteen seconds.

I peered internally, and having let go of the power it was just slightly refilling again, not enough inside of it to overflow to my body yet. But there was more empty to fill than I normally had when I fully emptied it. "Huh." I flipped the recording software back on. "Test Two successful. Well of available power seems to be drastically increased."

"Damn. Majorly." Melissa agreed, having thrown herself onto her back.

"So if that was Test Two, what was Test One?" Karen asked, eyebrow up in question.

I shook my head. "We didn't do Test One, because we figured it'd hurt. Maybe try it next?"

"Food first, and I want a shower." Melissa argued from her spot. "I'm sweating enough to have done six hours of workout. Hungry enough for that too."

I staggered up, realizing that even though I'd had lunch less than, apparently, two hours ago I was pretty hungry myself. "Alright, go ahead and snag my shower, I'll catch Karen up. Then I'll shower and we get an early dinner." I tapped my tablet with a toe, clicking the recording software back off.

As Melissa rolled to her own feet and grabbed her duffel, I grabbed the tablet and started playing the recording back for her.

After only a couple of minutes, the recording got quiet. "Is this going to be like fifty minutes of you guys breathing then? Maybe broken up somewhere with the door opening when I come in?"

I out of breath laughed. "Looks like."

She frowned. "From everything I know, I can see why Test One would hurt. And from now on, if you guys are going to do Test Two, you still need a spotter. Would you guys have wasted away to nothing if you weren't interrupted?"

"That's... a really good question I don't know the answer to." I winced. "Sorry?"

"You should be."

Melissa took that moment to come back into my living room, and Karen started in on her while I made my escape to the shower.

~~~

As we sat around with delivered pizza, Karen pointed a breadstick at both of us. "No more being dumb testing things without me, Ash, or someone else here to actually keep an eye out. Understand me?"

"Yeah, it was dumb. Dad would yell at me too." I answered while Melissa nodded around a slice. "Oh yeah, I've gotta call them this evening too. So I've only got at best a couple of hours until then."

"I'll give you each thirty minutes, separately, for your Test One. You said it's likely to hurt, I don't want to have to try to help both of you at once if that's the case." Karen gave as a requirement.

I nodded. "I'll go first then. If it hurts, give me more time to take an aspirin and get over it before the parental call."

We quickly finished up the meal and I sat back on the floor, stretched out for a moment. I turned the recorder back on. After the shower, meal, and rest, my dantian had filled back up to it's normal amount, slightly overflowing again. "Test One. Cycling enough overflow to hit the max limit, then pushing further. Actively touching that point causes stress pain. I am expecting to be in more pain, hopefully just like stressing muscles past a normal limit."

Karen nodded as I picked up the five pound weight in one hand, and the twenty five in the other. The five pounder felt like lifting a smaller weight, while the twenty five still took plenty of effort.

Actively cycling my power didn't require closing my eyes and concentrating, only if I was trying to hold it up and wall it in. The overflow came out rapidly and I could feel it spill into my body.

The twenty-five pound weight became nigh effortless to hold up, the strain vanishing.

I pushed, the overflow going further. Not escaping my body, but reverberating against something else. The overflow in my whole body, felt like it was pushing against something small still at my dantian. The strain of something holding back.

I imagined the spirals I'd seen in the image. If the inner core was my dantian, maybe the flood was going around the spirals, and the strain was where I hit the spiral. Now I closed my eyes, focusing on that image, pretending I could truly see inside myself, see that first spiral wrapping around my core. I pushed at it, cycled power specifically to push against it. I felt an internal spasm, an unused muscle contracting and pulsing in time with the cycle that created my power. I whimpered but refused to give up.

"You ok?" I heard Karen ask and managed a tight nod.

The power pushed again, and something seemed to give a bit. I could feel the power flowing into a new area, another well it was filling up. But something was pushing it back, pain and blackness and refuse.

There was something there, and rather than infuse myself with the overflow in general, I focused on that spot pushing back. For once, the overflow of power listened, went where I wanted. It felt like it carved a channel. No, cleared a channel that led to that other pool. It fell in, everything going into that new pool.

Darkness and yuck overflowed from it, instead of my power. I could taste it on my tongue, bile and the pizza we just ate, remnants of lunch and somehow, weirdly, a feeling of ignorance.

"Nicole! Nicole!" I heard both Karen and Melissa yell in alarm, but I could see the blackness thinning out, my power starting to show through this new pool. But my dantian was nearly empty, I wasn't sure what would happen if it emptied. Just a moment longer and... and... it was done, everything clear, barely a drop left in my dantian.

Now, both my dantian and this new pool pulsed at the same time, linked together. A flood of energy seemed to explode from the dantian current, filling itself back up and flowing into the other pool. The extra flow stopped, power now cycling gently between the two.

I opened my eyes as I continued to hear my name being called.

"Oh. Oh god. What the hell?" I was covered, not in sweat as I was expecting, but some weird black goop. My workout clothes were definitely going in the garbage. Possibly a fire, based on how bad everything smelled at the moment.

"Are you ok?" Karen was nearly grabbing me, trying to find a clean piece of clothing to do so. Good luck there.

I coughed, but nodded. "Doing alright."

"Nevermind, she's ok. I thought she was choking on something and panicked." Melissa said, and I noticed her holding a tablet. Oh, 911.

"And everything is good now?" The voice echoed out.

"Yeah, I think so. She's talking now." Melissa answered the operator.

"Alright. Have a good night then."

She very carefully turned off the call without facing it to me. "What. The. Actual. Hell?"

To be honest… "I found the first block? Getting past it was weird." I offered, before looking to my own tablet and seeing the red light still on. "I pushed past the stress point, found something like a pit of black goopy weirdness." I paused, looking at my skin and fairly ruined clothes. "And my power started trying to fill it in. Looked kinda like this stuff."

"Yeah, you were wincing and making painful sounds, then all of a sudden starting bleeding out black goo. Very Exorcist of you." Karen stated.

"Yeah, I focused on it, then my power stopped just filling me in general and started filling it up. I nearly didn't have enough to clean it out, it seemed to be pushing back against me. Once it was clear, well, they were linked. Somehow I filled everything back up."

I looked at the twenty five pound weight in my hand. "It's not effortless, but nearly. And I'm not cycling faster. Surface area of the overflow, maybe?"

"Go get cleaned up, science afterwards." Melissa pointed me away. "You were only doing that for like ten minutes." She clicked off my recorder.

I went and took another shower, making a special garbage trip for the completely soiled clothes. I'd probably need to get a carpet cleaner for the living room and pray that worked.

"Alright, I want to try." Melissa said.

I pointed to another room. "Kitchen. I can mop easier than try to clean carpet."

We all laughed and Melissa hung her head with a smile as she moved into the kitchen. I turned the recorder back on as she sat down and started doing the same thing, and within a couple of minutes she closed her eyes, concentrating. I could see little winces coming from her. "Can't...Can't get it past." She whispered. "Hole. Losing power...to fill it."

I watched as she sweated out the smallest amount of that same black goop before she blew out her breath, eyes open and looking at us. "Just that little bit? Why'd I get more?"

She coughed. "Yeah, little different for me. I pushed past that same painful point and found that black pool of goop. But when my power tried to get to it, it went the same path I originally broke through, I could tell."

She paused. "It was like a hole or a void or something. It ate up my power to fill it up. Literally, my dantian is a hell of a lot shallower now, almost as shallow as before we started this. I barely got any power into that pool before my dantian was empty. And now it feels even thicker there."

"I'm kinda afraid of what would have happened if I didn't have enough power to fill that hole."