Aeolus Investigations Set 2: Too Cool To Lose: The Continuing Evolution of Lexi Stevens

by Robert E Colfax

  Holding her tightly, he stepped into the shower. Urania, who first alerted the rest of the team that something bad was happening with Lexi, was ready and turned on the water as soon as Ron pushed the door closed. The water was just short of scalding, far hotter than they normally used when taking a shower.

  Ron suspected that at this point Lexi could tolerate boiling water without damage. She had been on her redesigned version of the performance-enhancing drugs, hulk-meds as they called them, for a couple of weeks. He wasn’t prepared to test that theory out. Besides, boiling water would still damage him. If this didn’t work, they would strap her down in the medical bay and attempt to find something that could still put her to sleep. After three minutes in the shower, Lexi still hadn’t stopped struggling. Without warning, the high-pressure jets switched to ice cold.

  Although Ron was expecting it, the sudden temperature change was a tremendous shock to his system. For a moment, he couldn’t even breathe. Lexi spasmed, cracking several of Ron’s ribs in the process. Despite the shock from the sudden pain, he maintained his hold as her violent struggles did further damage, breaking four of his already cracked ribs, sending fragments into both of his lungs.

  ***

  Ron woke on the medical-bed, a haunted-looking Lexi holding his hand. But at least, haunted or not, she was his Lexi and not the automaton he had recently showered with. Her clothing was still soaking wet. He felt a little damp himself. So he hadn’t been unconscious for long. There were signs of dried tears on her face. She also wore what looked like blood. Probably mine. He smiled weakly at her, and said, “You look awful, kiddo.”

  Urania, while working on Ron, already filled Lexi in on why she was in the shower in the first place as well as what happened to Ron. “Damn it, Ron,” Lexi said, “I dosed myself with the hulk-meds two weeks ago. I could have killed you. I almost did. What were you thinking?”

  His voice a little stronger, Ron said, “Rescuing you, kiddo. I’m almost certain it’s in my job description somewhere.”

  Urania’s voice came over the med-bay’s comm, “Even without the new meds, you guys are hard to kill, Lexi. Don’t worry too much about what you did to Ron. It’s not like you planned it. Ron, I pulled the broken ribs out of your lungs and sealed the tears. At the rate you’re healing, I can take you off of oxygen in fifteen or twenty minutes. I’ve also reassembled the broken ribs while I was in there. They’re being held in place with surgical glue. That will dissolve in a few days. It took you two months to regrow a finger. I’m not sure how long it will take for your ribs to fully knit. We’ll just have to see. You’re going to be stuck here for a while.”

  “OK,” Ron said. “While I’m here flat on my back, would you run a brain scan, Urania? Then once the bed is free, we’re going to want to scan Geena and probably Jis as well. I know you’ll find changes in mine. May as well check out the ladies, too.”

  ***

  It was tight in the med-bay once Jis and Geena joined them. Lexi was busy eating a very large meal the other two brought for her. It contained more calories than she usually ate in a day. Among other things, she had been starving herself for at least the last week. While it may not have been the best idea to be drinking in Lexi’s case, there was also a magnum bottle of wine in the room. All three women had a glass. Urania wouldn’t let Ron have one.

  After a couple of minutes of silence, Lexi said, “You guys can start. I can eat and listen at the same time.”

  Chapter 40

  Performance Enhancement

  Jis smiled at her. “For the time being, we’re going to skip berating you for whatever it was that you let happen to yourself, but we are going to need to discuss it eventually.”

  Lexi frowned. “No, I should explain. I think it must have been a side effect of the hulk-meds. I also think that if we know they can have that affect on us, it won’t be a problem going forward. Remember, the first version enhanced my anger. I’ve got that licked now, but it seems in addition to enhancing physical performance, it’s enhancing my mental focus. I admit, I didn’t expect that, but in the long run, assuming we can cope with it, it should be a desirable effect. It’s going to take another week before the modifications run their course. If nothing worse than being overly focused on mental tasks transpires, then we’ll try them on Ron. In the meantime, I think I’ll have to sign up for daily brain scans. We can’t let Ron be alone for any length of time while the changes are assimilating.”

  Geena and Jis exchanged glances. Jis said, “No, I think I’m next. We can discuss that later also. Geena has some findings we want to tell you about.”

  Ron interrupted, saying, “No, I definitely need to be next if I’m going to be showering with Lexi.”

  Jis smiled at him. “Not a problem, dear. I’ll shower with her.”

  “You guys all know she can’t crush my avatar, right?” Urania said.

  “While you were off wherever you went,” Geena said, ignoring Ron’s wisecrack, Jis’s comeback, and Urania’s unnecessary observation, “Urania constructed a simulation of a Kreesh based on what you guys have discovered so far. The crew has been using it for target practice in the range. Bullets don’t penetrate. Zappers won’t burn through whatever it’s made of either. One of the Borgolians hit it with a bazooka and blew it back against the wall. In the simulation, he actually blew it through the wall, but it got up and came back pretty much immediately.”

  “They’re not a natural species,” Lexi said, while passing her wine glass for a refill. “They can’t be. We’ve assumed they’re biological lifeforms wearing an artificial nanotech exoskeleton. I think they were built. Since I can’t cut through the shell, I haven’t been able to prove that one way or another. Think about this. Do you remember Geppetto?”

  “The puppet maker you dreamed about,” Urania replied. “Of course.”

  “My dream-Geppetto said they were built by the Forerunners, but never worked right. He didn’t explain what he was referring to, but I doubt the Forerunners would have left something as deadly as the Kreesh laying around.”

  “Lexi,” Geena remarked, “that’s the first time you mentioned Forerunners in connection with the Kreesh.”

  “No, it can’t be.” She paused. “Sorry, maybe it is. What dream-Geppetto actually said about his marionette was that three friends helped him with the design. He specifically said they were three friends he went running with. In my mind, that means there were four runners involved.”

  “Which you’re suggesting could mean the Forerunners,” Ron observed. “Only works in English.”

  Lexi nodded. “The entire dream was in English, now that I think about it. How much of my dream came from the Wraixain database and how much from the influence of the Barossa Channel and the Rose of Light? We may never know. In the dream, Geppetto made a Kreesh marionette. He said it was flawed. With his death, he left his other creations to me to protect from it. In that same dream, dream-Geena pointed out that the flying monkeys were a metaphor for the Kreesh swarm.”

  “OK, Lexi,” Urania said. “Where are you going with this?”

  “Some of that dream was derived from future events I picked up through the Rose of Insight. What if Kreesh aren’t natural? What if the Forerunners built them? Why were they built? What is their purpose?”

  “You’re suggesting dream-Geppetto represented the Forerunners?” Urania asked.

  “In a weird sort of way,” Ron said, “That makes sense. In the dream, he made puppets of any number of the races of the Accord. Sure, they were mixed in with the Star Wars Cantina crowd, but it was Lexi’s dream, after all. And we know it was the Forerunners who seeded space with human stock. It might be reasonable for the same people planting humans on alien worlds to have built a tool for terraforming some of those worlds, especially if the worlds didn’t quite meet spec. That could explain the origin of the Kreesh if Lexi’s right and they’re not natural.”

  All of them looked at him, speculation in their gaze. “On the other hand, they descend on a
world and destroy everything,” Ron observed. “They may have been designed as a doomsday weapon from a war that predates the Accord.”

  Lexi said, “Everybody believes the Forerunners’ intentions were noble. I just don’t see them leaving a world-destroying weapon lying around.”

  Jis said, “Then again, the Wraix found them somewhere. They also may have figured out how to weaponize them.”

  “How sure are you of that, Jis?” Ron asked.

  “Not very, but it fits the Wraix psychological profile as we understand it. Like Lexi said, leaving a deadly tool around doesn’t sound like Forerunner behavior.”

  Lexi smiled her grim smile. “Certainly a possibility. We know the Wraix did something that activated them, but I don’t think they understood them well enough to make any modifications. The exoskeleton is composed of metal cells, an extremely advanced nanotechnology. I’m surprised that Zappers don’t affect it though. I did expect it would be proof against conventional weapons. Despite its strength and resilience, it is relatively light-weight.”

  Ron spoke up from the bed. “I read back through your boards, Lexi. I just want to warn you, we’re not going to let you rebuild Urania until we’re out of crisis mode.”

  “What do you mean, Ron?” Geena asked.

  Ron glanced at Lexi’s questioning face before turning to Geena. “I don’t think she realizes it yet, Mom, but those nano-cells aren’t self-powered. They’re fed from a power source inside the body through nano-conduits. Those conduits have a higher capacity than our existing power threads; they’re significantly smaller and they’re self-repairing to boot. The exoskeleton nano-cells themselves are stronger than the hull-metal protecting Urania’s core now. I’m not sure how they compare to the Wraixain hull-material.” He paused noting that even Lexi was looking at him somewhat wide-eyed. “Urania, any results on that brain scan yet?”

  “Just comparative results so far. Your production of neurotransmitters is slightly less than double what it was the last time we did this. Your synaptic membranes are showing evidence of increased permeability. Also, as we noticed with Lexi, the number of axonal projections in your brain’s corpus callosum has increased fairly dramatically.”

  Now all three of them were looking at him. Urania almost certainly had her sensor on him as well. With his ribs in their current sorry state, he had more sense than to shrug. “Mom, Jis, you guys need to be checked, too. Urania, any signs of the Rose of Light in there?”

  “No, Ron. I see no signs of the pattern itself. However, the areas of the brain influenced by the Rose are showing enhanced activity, similar to what we see when we scan Jis.” She paused. “You can get up and start walking around this afternoon, I’d estimate. Nothing more strenuous than walking until I see you again in the morning. And Ron, taking a shower doesn’t have to be strenuous. Lexi, dear, how are you doing?”

  “I’m still hungry. I guess I’ll have another meal when you let Ron up. I need sleep, too. For the rest of it, Jis phrased it correctly. I let it happen. There’s not much to discuss. It was gradual. I just wasn’t expecting it and didn’t realize that it was happening. We absolutely have to understand the Kreesh and we don’t have all that much time.”

  Jis said, “And you’re the only one who can figure them out.”

  Lexi smiled and looked at Ron. “Maybe Mr. Incredible can. Our specimen isn’t dead at the cellular level, at least. I can trace low-level energy flows throughout its body. It’s just inactive for some reason. I don’t understand why it’s inactive. And I’m not at all sure that I might not accidentally do something to activate it like the Wraix seem to have done with those they found. I have the transporter Ron installed on Glaurang set up to reach through Urania and fling it out into space if it starts moving on its own.”

  She thought a moment. “What I have learned is that all of those cells, even though technically dead, are in constant communication with each other. I think that’s what the energy flows are about. Still, I don’t know how they’re doing it. The energy conduits Ron mentioned don’t seem to be involved.”

  She looked angry as she said, “It self-repairs every time I make an opening in the shell, keeping me from getting at the internals. Making an opening is next to impossible. I was using the Rose and the Channel to try to consciously connect myself into its communications network. That’s the last I remember until I found myself on the floor of the shower with Ron unconscious and on top of me, his blood dripping on my face. It wasn’t a pleasant way to wake up.”

  ***

  At breakfast the next morning, Geena asked cheerfully, “How is everyone feeling this morning?

  Lexi smiled at her. “Other than still being ravenous, I’m fine.” She gave a little laugh. “I got up in the middle of the night and ate a pumpkin pie before going back to bed.”

  Ron laughed. “A whole pie? Yikes! I didn’t know we had any left. I didn’t hear you get up. But to answer your question, Mom, my ribcage hurts. I know you want to, but please, no one hug me today. They gave me a bit of trouble sleeping. That might be why I had such a weird dream last night when I did finally doze off. It was really vivid too. You and some older man I didn’t recognize were being held hostage on Glaurang and the rest of us were coming to get you. I remember saying, ‘Thunderbirds are go.’ It was quite exciting until I woke up. I don’t usually remember my dreams.”

  In a somewhat ominous tone, Jis remarked, “Being around Lexi enhances my precognitive abilities. No one is around Lexi more than you are.”

  Looking introspective, Lexi said, “Your brain scan yesterday showed Rose-related activity, Ron.”

  “You guys think it was a precognitive dream? Yeah, maybe. It seemed so real. Too bad I woke up when I did. It might have been nice to see whether or not we were successful.”

  “If it’s going to happen,” Geena said, shrugging it off, “I have no doubt you’ll get us out. Lexi, you and Ron went to bed really early last night. Jis and I stayed up with Urania, chatting, and figured out how you can get to the internals of your Kreesh.”

  “I’m interested,” Lexi said. “What’s your idea?”

  “You have Glaurang standing by to transport that thing out into space through my hull,” Urania said. “We don’t see any reason why, with a little bit of fine-tuning, you can’t transfer the guts of the thing out of the carcass and onto a table in your lab.”

  Lexi put her coffee on the table and beamed at them. “Thank you.”

  Chapter 41

  Surf’s Up

  Lexi knew she would soon be commanding the entire Accord in a war against the Kreesh that was most likely unavoidable. OK, no way out of that. But she also knew she wouldn’t be alone. She looked around the table at the friends she thought of as her core team. Urania, Ron, and Geena, of course. But now, Jis as well. Jis just couldn’t be with them all of the time. Now that Glaurang had a crew, Urania did not need to be controlling his computer systems. Glaurang’s own rebuilt command core could handle the demands placed on it by the mixed Ackalonian, Borgolian, and Vankovian crew.

  Vankovia was the only world they contacted by fast courier instead of message drone, primarily because they didn’t want to include information about the embryos on a recording. The drone dispatched to Ostrieachia detailed, in general, what the current situation was along with instructions to transport ninety to one hundred naval personnel, including Marines, to Earth to be incorporated into her crew.

  Ron was right when he pointed out her notion of using Hepca for this effort at all was foolish. Earth would be her base of operations. Earth had eight times the population of the most populous of the Accord member-worlds. The bulk of her crew would have to come from there. Earth didn’t quite have the infrastructure to build starships. Lexi and the Accord would change that.

  All of the drones carried the holographic model of Glaurang. Due to very unusual circumstances, Lexi already personally headed, in absentia, the government of Ostrieachia. Ostrieachia would also ratify her position as Marshal of the Accor
d without question. Ideally, she would eventually pick up additional recruits from the other space-threading worlds of the Accord. She would fill out the roster with humans from Earth. But for now, still a few days distant from her homeworld, it was time to have some fun. She had made zero progress with the Kreesh remains for days now. The hulk-meds had run their course and she felt, and was, over-the-top powerful to the point she had to be careful, not only with Ron in bed, but with simple things like pushing buttons and turning knobs. She had to learn how to walk again as she had a tendency to fly into the ceiling with each step she took. Every morning, before the others got up, she visited Urania in the med-bay for a full body scan. So far, so good with that.

  Off of Glaurang’s bridge, in the captain’s conference room, she installed a Klaavaanit field, isolated and shielded from the rest of the ship. All of the chairs around the conference table were recliners. Eyeing the five jet-black suits resting in five other chairs, Geena said, “I can tell you’re pretty excited about this Lexi. What have you got for us this time?”