Mith and I finally made it back to the apartment. Gena met us by the door.

"You're finally back!" She gave me a crushing hug. I endured with polite reserve. Then she gave Mith a hug as well, he leaned into to it with dogged enthusiasm. Heh.

"Things didn't go as planned, and a few unrelated complications sprang up. It doesn't matter right now, is everything ready for the calibration runs?" My gaze was shifting from one batch of equipment to another trying to determine the readiness of our plans. Lacie was typing away on a deck with a bizarre truncated keyboard. Evie was puttering around with the medical gear. I didn't see Ricky or Mark.

Gena gave Mith a few extra head pats, "Yeah, as far as I understand it, we are good to go."

She and Mark had a little reception desk that was behind the door when it opened, meaning they could decide to shoot anyone who walked in, before they got spotted. The desk itself was heavy and thick, made of some modern alloy. It would be able to take a few rounds. I noticed Gena had a Defender resting on the desk and pointed at the door. I approved.

"Did you decide who's going first?" I made my way over to the fridge and grabbed a juice pack. Since I was in here I got Mith a snack as well. I tossed him a meat stick, made from "totally real meat, we promise". I say stick, but it was more like a small summer sausage. Mith leapt up and snatched it out of the air lickety-split. He snarffed it down in three or four bites. Gena eyed the fate of the meat and smiled.

She had a strange sense of humor.

"Ricky's up first. Then me, Evie, Mark and Lacie goes last." She shrugged.

"Alright, let's get started as soon as Ricky's ready."

I sat on the couch and watched some show about a cybersamurai getting revenge for the death of their gerbil or something. The quick cuts of the scenes made it practically unfollowable. Though the action included plenty of very realistic looking violence.

Mith hopped up on the couch and laid his head in my lap. I absently stroked his fur, while trying to veg out.

Gena had sat back down at her desk where she was watching her own show on a monitor there.

I let my brain shut down, it wasn't quite sleep, but it wasn't full awareness either.

Ricky woke up from his rest, then put himself together. Once he was ready he come out into the main room.

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Evie hooked him up to a battery of sensors and took readings of his current baseline. Once he was fully scanned she administered a series of meds and nanites designed to cleanse then heal his body. The whole time the sensors kept collecting data on how his body reacted to the treatment. They gave it about 15 minutes, roughly the length of time the meds take to run their course, then called me over.

My mind returned to the present. I shifted Mith's head over and let him continue to sleep.

"You ready Ricky?" I gave him a smile and offered my hand.

"Sure, Longears!" He chuckled and I snorted at the unserious insult. I mean my ears were fucking stupidly long.

He took my hand, and I started running a low level mana current through him.

"Whoa!" He barked.

We stayed like that for a while, letting the machines take their measurements.

"What's it like?" Evie asked in a business like tone.

"It's like an unfiltered XBD, where you're having really, really good sex. Except it doesn't vary." Well, that was an interesting description.

"Can you increase the "mana"?" Evie sent my way.

"There's a lot more power available." I said not really thinking about it.

"Uh." Ricky sounded kind of panicked.

I doubled the flow of mana into him.

"Holy shit!" Ricky grunted. I'm pretty sure I knew why, so I hit him with a Purify. I would prefer not to smell the result of his excitement. My primal nature really didn't react well to rivals.

We kept this up for another hour, Evie asking him questions, me upping the mana and then Purifying him.

"I c-can barely think... this is fucking dangerous. It will surely lead to psychological dependence, if not outright physical addiction." He was gritting his teeth, trying to fight through the pleasure.

Evie had no mercy, "Can you continue to increase the mana?"

"Sure. Though at this point, it's probably not doing too much for him." I answered.

She check her readings, and nodded.

"Let's stop the current experiment." She was typing notes into her tablet.

I ceased pouring mana into Ricky. He was sweating and having a hard time catching his breath. I performed another Purify. Then sat back down on the couch, letting some sadistic gameshow numb my brain.

After a while to go over her data and consult with Lacie, Evie called Gena over. Mark had woken up a short while before and took over the reception desk.

I called a time out to fix every one and myself a meal.

I managed to pull off a mac and cheese and sausage with BBQ baked beans and some cornbread. Once again, it came out almost right. Once again my roommates were stunned by my simple cooking.

Some part of me really enjoyed feeding people. There was a visceral satisfaction to their simple joy at having good food. I thought it strange that I liked to take care of people. I had never seemed to before, this world got stuck with me.

Once we finished, Gena got hooked up and we repeated the process.

Her reactions were much more interesting to me, than Ricky's had been. For one thing, she didn't even try to resist the pleasure. She rode it like a Cowgirl might ride a bull. She was even coherently vocal even at levels where everyone else had crumbled into a drooling senseless mess.

Embrace life, that was her philosophy.

Then it was Evie's turn while Ricky ran the equipment. Her body jerked and twitched, but her face never changed in the slightest.

Mark was stoic during his turn, barely responding.

Lacie went fucking nuts. Screaming snippets of code and operating perimeters.

Then it was quiet again.

I felt a bit awkward, so I decided to take Mith for a walk.