by Power, P. S.
The revelation didn't fill him with pride or anything like that, it was just a truth. Tor knew he had a lot more to do, more to learn about almost everything in the world, but the fact was, unless he'd been lied to by the other Ancients... something was very wrong with him. Those were things he shouldn't have been able to see about himself. Ever.
Leaning over to Ali he whispered to her, not aware of what he was going to say. The words surprised him, but in a good way.
"Could you make sure that the entertainments are set up for later? Check with Petra on it? Oh... Also ask her to show you how to drive the boat and see if she wants help with it. I know how, but learning to navigate is needed too. I love you." The last words just popped out, an automatic thing, but one that sounded warm and caring. Which he felt.
He really loved her.
Totally.
Thinking about it he realized that he loved Trice too. That was something that had been there for years though, so it wasn't a big shock. No, the shock was that he found he loved everyone. All of them on the ship. Everyone he could think of back home. Alphonse, Connie and Karina. Varley, and even Richard. Really loved them too.
It was...
Not right. Oh, he was fond of them all, but not to that level, this was something different, something forced it felt like. As he thought about it the feeling faded a little, but it was definitely not a normal thing.
He finished eating and signaled Burks and Denno to come with him. Lyn was off in her room working still. Before he left he kissed his wife on the cheek gently.
"I have to see to some things now, but I'll join you and Trice for the entertainment later?" He smiled at her, truly feeling warmth for her. It was a nice change, totally different than how he'd felt even the day before. A powerful thing that almost overwhelmed him for a moment.
"That sounds fun. I'll go check on all that now. I should take Trice with me, since I don't think she has anything else to do right now. It's going to get boring pretty fast if we don't keep busy."
That was just the truth, wasn't it? Tor kissed her again, then sent her off with a soft chuckle.
Denno saw it all and softened a bit as he walked over with Burks not two steps behind.
"Well, you seem in a fine spirit. Is there something you'd like us to do? Maybe help with a special dessert for this evening? I saw some wonderful looking fresh strawberries in back as well as some heavy cream. It's been ages since I've had a real Strawberry shortcake. Austra has many charms, but the food leaves something to be desired. Most of it is prepackaged for convenience and berries just don't keep well in packets. It's hard to get ingredients for anything anymore. Especially on a ship like this. In fact... if you increased the number of performers this would work wonderfully for pleasure cruises. Maybe put a swimming pool on the deck? I could sketch out a design for you if you want." He seemed wistful but seemed to have forgotten that the ship was made of magic.
"I do have something I'd like for you to both do, if it's not too much trouble?" He smiled, feeling a bit less loving suddenly. Just blank though, not angry or mean.
"Could you explain Rhetistic neuropeptide sets and how Green managed to transmit mine to me in a cross generational set up, when my mother doesn't have one at all? Why is mine identical to his for instance? That doesn't make sense, does it? Also, and I don't mean to be alarming, but why has my Rhetistic set just broken down? Or been shut off, I suppose. I know that the complex is self-contained and constantly corrects errors and damage to prevent deviation from the base instruction set, so it should never fade like this." Tor grinned, a slightly manic thing that had to look a little wild.
"Also, how do I know all of that? I've never been given most of this information, which would indicate that something else is going on here, not just a simple break down of an information set. So... Any thoughts? Is this some clever idea that one of you has had? If so, explain why please." It sounded calm and quick when he said it, not scared at all. He didn't feel worried even. Just confident. It was surprising, since he wasn't certain that he'd felt that way before. Not anywhere near this strongly.
Burks put his hand on Tor's forehead, checking for a fever and then Denno did the same thing. Looking at each other Burks shrugged and looked concerned, his too handsome face slightly blank. Denno went wide eyed and hurried Tor over to a chair, as if he feared that falling down would be the next course of action.
"No fever that I can tell... Tor, can you tell me when the symptoms of this first started? Think back, when was the first thing you noticed happening that was out of place?"
He tried to focus his mind on the idea, a simple enough thing, and rewound the memories through the last days. The answer was murky, but he thought he had about the right timing.
"It was yesterday, either just before, or just after I met Ambassador Callings. I was angry at the time, and if that's a symptom then it started before that. It was when I worked out that I had to accept that I'd killed those people and let it go to be free of the symptoms. You know the scent of rot and the voices?" Tor looked at them, but both men just nodded as one.
Green patted his shoulder.
"You killed two people first hand and have already broken free of the programming? That isn't possible Tor. That was certainly a sign of something being different. We need to... Honestly I have no clue what to do. You don't seem to be in danger physically at this point, and we have no way to track what's going on internally. No fever, but that could just be due to wearing your temperature control device. I... Denno, thoughts if you have them on this?" It was a weak sounding thing, lost and baffled.
That wasn't a good sign. If a three thousand year old man didn't know what was going on, that meant it was likely something pretty new. How many new things would be left for someone that old? Tor didn't know, but was willing to hazard that it wasn't a lot.
"I... nothing. Not at all. It's like he's simply broken his conditioning somehow, a thing that none of the rest of us have ever done. It could be that whatever process you and Lara used to put the Rhetistics in place was faulty? How did you do it anyway? I would have thought the only one around with the technological knowhow and equipment would have been Blue. Was Cynthia in on your little experiment?"
The name Cynthia... Blue... Caused Tor to flash on a face, a tall cool brunette, attractive but thin, blue eyes that had a haunting quality about them. They weren't friends...
"Um... Guys, I don't think that my Rhetistics just broke down. I... there's information here too. I know who Cynthia Blue is for instance. I remember the time when we were all about sixteen or so and... Remy Nineteen was caught having sex with her in the second orange section storage closet? It was a bit of a scandal because they were both hermaphrodites and weren't supposed to be sexually mature at the time? Then it turned out that one of the lab techs, um, Brian? Had been accelerating their development because he was going to sell the germ line on the black market. It was probably him that stole your line and sold it to that women's group. Kind of a creep, wasn't he?" Tor blinked, and so did they.
Then they all just stood for a while as Tor flashed back on the whole of his childhood. It wasn't complete though, not at all. And not Tor's. It was weird, a slowly building thing being lived in a way as he watched it develop. Like it had just happened to him personally.
"So yeah, I don't think this is normal at all."
Neither did they, it was clear.
"Denno..."
"Yes Burks?" Both voices seemed scared now, slightly harsh.
"Get Lyn please. We need everyone we can get in on this I think."
Then, even though it was uncharacteristic and probably wouldn't help in the long run, Denno Brown, Ancient of Austra and three thousand year old man, a being who'd laughed while being tortured and beaten, who'd been poisoned a dozen times and survived it unharmed, turned and ran from the room at full speed.
It was impressive.
"He always was faster than we were. Couldn't keep up on the endurance side though, could he? Interes
ting that, since we came from the same line... Or... Well, he was from the third batch, younger than you were by a half year." Tor said the words calmly, knowing they were true. How he knew that he just didn't know.
Not yet. It was coming though. It was clear that a sub-personality was being built in his mind. Of course the problem there was that if it was going to be that complex, starting with memories from thousands of years ago, Tor's youthful mind would be overwhelmed. It wasn't a scary thing for some reason, but it certainly didn't seem like something Burks would have done on purpose. It wasn't a copy of the man either. In his memories he could see the others, hundreds of them. Remy and Blue, Nico and Maverick. They were all young looking, and not all of them were given extreme longevity so that meant they were honestly young back then, just kids. It was largely... a zoo.
A testing facility to see what could be done with the magic of genetic influence.
"Burks... that was given to you by one of the doctors as a joke, because you were so smart but didn't know it. Berk... It meant idiot. Kind of mean really. You took it on to show the man he couldn't affect you with name calling. Why you kept it as long as you did I never knew..."
Tor shook his head and smiled.
"Something is taking over my mind Green. I don't know what it is, but we need to stop it. At the current rate of growth I don't think I'll still exist in three or four weeks unless this is undone. Not in any form that can control my own actions at least."
Lyn ran in, her form shifted for speed to her weaponized shape. A tall evil looking skeletal thing. It made her faster and stronger, stretching to over seven foot tall, but the mass didn't change from her girl form. The talons were pretty much just for show though. Real enough, but when they'd been created everyone used firearms, so it was just to create a specific impression of menace. Kind of like her fangs. Things meant to be intimidating, but otherwise useless in the real world.
She stopped and stared at him, then started asking questions in her deep and resonant voice, the worlds slightly slurred, like they always were in this shape.
"Tor... do you know who I am?" It was a funny question. Of course he knew who she was.
"Yeah, your Lyn Red. Eighty-seven, Lot four, command prototype. Also the Ancient of Vagus and a better than average builder with a lot of potential. Still a bit sloppy at times, but powerful. Am I missing anything?" Tor laughed, actually feeling happy. It almost overwhelmed him for a bit. Taking a deep breath he tried to collect himself before continuing.
"I mean I have to be, but is that what you were looking for?" The chair, one made to seem like focus stone, if it wasn't actually made of it, made a scrapping sound on the deck as Tor pushed it back slightly. He felt too short for some reason. Looking down he saw that he really was, like a little child.
Then, he was the way he'd always been, just Tor.
Lyn kept looking him directly in the eyes.
"That will work for now. So... this is interesting. We don't have any way to check you out here. I'd love to do a full blood panel and a brain scan, but no one has that kind of equipment. Except Blue." The idea didn't sit too well with Red for some reason. It was odd, because the two had been friends for a long time, Red and Blue.
Tor knew the answer there though, why they weren't still close, even though it wasn't in the new memories. Denno had told him in the kitchen.
So he still had all his Tor memories, which was a relief. That meant he wouldn't lose his modern world skills. Not if whoever he was becoming was intelligent enough not to just try to bury him. He hoped not. Then, maybe that would just be for the best? He could just rest and let someone else do his work for him. That was lazy though. He wasn't that kind of person. Was he?
Nope, not at all.
"So, we meet up with Blue and get her to take me to her equipment to be check out? I think we have some time. I don't feel like any of this is bad or dangerous, but... Could it be related to the things you mentioned earlier Red? I mean Lyn." Tor tried to think through it all and map out the possible connections. Too many pieces were missing though. All the attacks had seemed potentially lethal, but what if there was a secondary reason behind it? Behind them? One not easily seen?
"Denno, your Larval assassins carry a nano hive net, right? Is it possible that some of the structures they have could include Rhetistic information sets? I don't know how you built those originally, but that makes sense, if you wanted to create a hive mind. New learned information is shared on contact right?"
Brown tilted his head, a mannerism all the slave line subjects had, a quirk built into their systems by the same technician that decided they should all show how playful they were by sticking their tongues out. It would make them seem childlike and harmless. They didn't have a choice in the matter.
It really was cute though.
"That's a good description. A bit too good for Tor. I know that he's had some instruction, but the Noram school system doesn't seem to have included the dynamics of integrated nano-structures. To answer the question though, I think I see what you're suggesting. You've had several points of contact with the Larval and they do indeed have the ability to pass Rhetistic information to one another. It should be only with each other and I can guarantee that information doesn't carry memories from my childhood. Nothing in their structure should have affected you at all." He spread his hands, palms up.
Pulling a chair over for herself, Lyn sat, staring at Tor intently, examining the new phenomenon no doubt.
"There could be other vectors. Tor, you went to Afrak, right? Met with Lara Gray? Did she hand you anything, or give you food to eat?"
Tor nodded.
"Of course, she even tried to use a tailored virus on the whole party, she said it was to keep us calm while we were there, but the shields handled it. Well... most of it. I smelled it first, which triggered my shield. Before that I could have been breathing it in for a while, a half minute or so. I didn't notice any effects on myself or anyone else in the room, but if it wasn't really designed to take effect instantly, if it was targeted only toward me, it wouldn't have, would it?" That made sense, but it was only one point of possible contamination.
"Of course Burks has had access to me for my entire life, even if I didn't know it. It's pretty clear that I wasn't sent to Lairdgren school by mistake. Probably put in with Prince Alphonse on purpose too. Did everyone at the school know who I was back then?" He was just curious about it, not angry. It was in the past and important only in an abstract way after all. Something that he should have wondered about earlier, but just hadn't. Even after he learned that there were spies in his own life.
"Only Kyle... who you know as Dean Hardgrove, and your Royal guard protector. Most of them were kept in the dark about it, which is why Captain Wensa was suspicious of you to begin with. Spies hide things about themselves and a lot was done that way for you. I wanted you to have as normal an upbringing as possible. It didn't work too well, but I did try. Your guard Kara was surprised when you were given that position as a Knight Esquire you know. I'd told her that the goal was to keep you in the dark for as long as possible. Things just didn't work out that way. You did a run around us all and kind of ended up forcing Richard's hand you know. After you built the sky river and saved those children in the waste pit, he had to respond. There were too many rumors about you in the Capital to keep it all quiet. I had to beg him to keep you from being Knighted right off, or turned into a baron." The Ancient shook his head and sighed, a thing which sounded long suffering. He didn't explain that part though.
"There were a few others that knew who you really were. Richard and Connie for instance. They kind of had to, since I arranged a special scholarship for you. They would have been shocked to see you otherwise, since they both know me well enough to recognize my youthful form. A bit surprising that you managed to get Connie's attention like you did though. She never cared for me in that way at all. Ricky said that you won her over in mere hours. That might be a sign of something going on even back then."
/> It got nods all around. Tor had to make himself focus to keep from being distracted by the idea of the King and Queen knowing who he was for years before they met him. They'd both acted like he was an unknown back then, hadn't they? Then he hadn't been nearly as good at reading people back then, so it wouldn't have been hard for them to hide that from him.
"There are just too many possible points where this could have been put in place, including before I was born. What mechanism did you and Gray use to put the Rhetistics in me?" Tor stared at the man, wondering how something that complex could have been done at all in their medically and scientifically primitive society. It must have taken years of work, planning and high tech equipment not available in Noram at all...
Except it didn't. Green had figured out a way around all that.
"I made a visit to see you when you were born, and did a full genetics work up then. When I found out that the pattern had successfully carried to you, I snuck into your room and gave you a blood transfusion. It didn't take much. We're the same person after all. Nearly. At the time it looked like we were truly identical. That was a magical process, not simply a genetic one. Lara and I worked together to make it happen, so that we could see to generating replacements for ourselves, in case we fail. Attrition has taken its toll and eventually we'll all die, one way or the other. We need to come up with a way to make replacements that won't let the Earth be destroyed. Tor was the first attempt at passing the Rhetistics like that and it seemed to work."
They all nodded again, except for Tor who shook his head and sighed.
