It had been about two weeks since we decided to let Rein head to New York to try to let Myc bond with the old ash tree. Planting season was just about to start in full force, Myc had been using John as a factory to make the modified seeds. Apparently they still needed some tweaking but Myc needed more time and figured a test run would be good.

Unfortunately this was also the only time that Rein’s sister could take him to New York. She was usually a pilot for hire, doing lessons, or just taking people up. Although the main money maker was apparently moving artifacts and precious cargo. She moved anything from old dig sites to collectors, or expensive paintings and the like. She had a reputation for being clean and careful with the cargo so some of the more wary collectors used her.

Apparently she had to pick up some old statue or something from up in Quebec and drop it off in Mexico. She was willing to leave a little early to stop in New York for Rein, grab the relic from Canada, then make a quick stop back in Arkansas to drop him off. It was going to take nearly a week instead of the few days Rein thought it would.

Most of us were worried, the possibility of the human government finding out or another hostile species was an unlikely but real chance. According to Myc, Rein was feeling fine, worried about leaving our little camp but otherwise the connection was still solid. Although John was more anxious than the rest of us.

He hid it well, his thoughts were always focused on the task at hand. However, he hadn’t sat at his spot by the pond since Rein left. He had been working harder and longer than usual, most of the fields he worked on through the night. More lumber was piling up in the storage space, and the fruit trees were picked clean every morning.

It was a nice time for the rest of us to relax, however I was worried if John was going to work himself to death. Even with all his augmentations the guy couldn’t go on like this forever. Maybe I should talk to him.

There is no point Cat, I have already tried.

“So we are just supposed to leave him like this.” I watched as he dragged another tree onto the pile of lumber and headed back out again, ax in hand.

I have already talked to him about this before Rein even left. He feels through the connection much stronger than the rest of you. Rein’s nervousness, mixed with your guy’s feeling of anxiety makes it difficult for him to focus. Mixed with the still not fully healed frontal lobe creates a distinctly uncomfortable feeling, he is trying to distract himself.

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“I thought that he was getting better. He seemed to be fine lately, smiling, talking more, I thought that he would basically be fine.” He still sat at the lake a lot, but his mind didn’t seem as fuzzy when looking into it. And when he focused it seemed to mostly clear up.

He is doing better, I have healed the damage. However, the lingering effects are still there, the old nerves were destroyed and the new connections are being filled. The problem is that when it happened he didn’t have any time to heal before you two were infected. Then everyone else was as well, the new connections are being formed with the collective consciousness in mind.

“So shouldn’t he be more in tune with us and his emotions?”

Well yes and no. The frontal lobe controls a person's ability to control their own responses. So with the collective influencing all his decisions it makes him more connected to the others. While usually that is fine, when the whole collective feels a certain way, especially about a single task or person, it makes it overwhelmingly strong.

“So he essentially has a case of extreme empathy?”

Vaguely, the haze that you see when you attempt to look into his thoughts is actually a feedback loop. His thoughts are so connected to yours that you are essentially attempting to look into your own mind. He is attempting to distract himself with other tasks, it focuses his mind and limits the capacity for incoming thoughts and feelings from you guys.

“Well, can’t you do anything to help?” I was trying not to think about how bad I felt that we were doing this to him. Since feeling bad was only going to make him feel worse.

I could attempt to increase his brain's emotional capacity, it would allow him to better deal with the increased strain. However, my studies on the human brain have been relatively limited. Humans have only truly just started to look in depth into the human brain, so my research material is limited. The few changes I have made to your bodies are still within line of normal human expectations. However John’s changes are something entirely new, it will take time and experiments to test the limits of your hybrids.

“So all we can do is wait it out and hope that nothing happens to Rein?” That felt worse than doing nothing, I knew of a problem and I couldn’t do anything to fix it or even help.

Unfortunately, I hope that this experience allows me a better understanding for future issues that will most likely arrive. The position John has been put in is not fun, however he is reconciling in the knowledge that he may be the only one to go through it.

“Alright, well I suppose I should finish my chores. Niki wanted my help making fabric for a new dress.” I placed the last corn seed into the last row of the field. It would take a couple of months to grow, unfortunately the books on micro farming helped only in a general sense.

Myc’s changes to the seeds would affect growth time, final size, and amount of water and fertilizer. It was difficult to tell exactly how long we would have till harvest. Myc had changed certain aspects on some of the seeds more than others, so some would grow faster while others would take even longer than normal.

“I guess we will just have to wait and see.”