Descend- Seeing Stars

by Sean Oswald

  “Well I have to see how far I can modify it but I made sure to set this area up with a terminal in it so we can still get whatever food or water we need out of the system. Also, once I figure out how to modify an active field there is nothing to say that I couldn’t modify it further.”

  “How much time do you think you need to refine me enough? Or maybe I should ask how far you can extend the field. It might actually be cool for us to have a long time together. I know none of us girls are spoiled for choices and what I’ve seen and been told about you so far really paints a great picture of you. You got some real cheerleaders for you on Team Jay, especially your wives, but the one who actually is most persuasive is Rosa. As I understand it, she isn’t even decided about if she wants to fuse with you and she still thinks that you are the catch of a lifetime and would have been even back on Earth, after you get past your uncertainties,” Cecelia said with a smile.

  Jay considered what she had said. The nugget about Rosa was definitely something he would file away for later. “I guess it is time to find out how far I can stretch this field.”

  Jay reached out with his mind. His PSI sight showed him the lines of power that formed the field and how time flows were modified. Moving those flows seemed so much easier with his increased skill levels. As he looked, he saw how the edge of the Tempus Fugit field caused the time flows to spin faster. He knew there was probably a scientific explanation for this, but for him it was just an ability that he had, and Jay was learning to play by ear so to speak.

  He began using his Temporal Manipulation skill to increase the speed of his field. He caused the edge of it to further accelerate the flow of time inside. Inside a dozen minutes had passed as they had been chatting, but at 125:1 that meant outside the field it had been less than six seconds out of the six and a half minutes allotted for the bubble. Jay pushed and strained at the field. It was like trying to catch a spinning top or coin without causing it to stop and then somehow moving his hands fast enough to accelerate the spin.

  Jay poured in PSI by the tens of thousands to the effort. By the time he finished he had drained ninety percent of his PSI pool, but the results had been nothing less than spectacular. He had managed through a combination of the massive amount of PSI applied and his much greater level of skill to create a 289,104:1 ratio. Effectively the remaining portion of the six and a half minutes were now the equivalent of three and half years.

  Fatigue settled in as it always did when he strained his powers in a new way. As he caught his breath and watched his PSI pool filling up before his eyes, he realized that he was starting to use a number of his abilities in conjunction without even thinking about it.

  Iron Will had been running at a low level to allow him to stay focused. Hyper Accuracy had guided his manipulation of the field and increased the precision of Temporal Manipulation. PSI Sight let him see what he was working with and Evolved Adaptive Speed made both his reactions faster and allowed his skill levels to adapt more quickly. Surprisingly, he had even been channeling PSI into his Precognition as he scanned for negative results that might occur from any of his actions.

  He felt drained just from thinking about running all those skills at the same time. Yet somehow, he was doing it almost instinctively now. Perhaps this was a new stage of his evolution. While waiting for his PSI to be fully restored he looked at his status sheet and saw that he had gained another level up to two hundred and twenty, added a stat point to Formation and that all the skills involved had gained between one and ten levels.

  Apparently learning to work with multiple skills as well as trying new things was a superior way to advance himself. As he thought about it, the pieces fell into play. In the early days he had advanced his training as much as possible by using two or three skills at the same time. Then he had learned the value of fusion. This was a way of fusing his skills so that the whole was greater than the sum of the parts.

  “Earth to Jay,” Cecelia said.

  Jay opened his eyes and looked at her. His PSI pool was full which meant that he had to have been lost in thought for at least five minutes. He gave her his most charming smile and said, “Hi.”

  “I was starting to get worried there. You looked fine but weren’t moving at all. I was afraid to shake you but was about to because you weren’t responding to anything that I was saying.”

  “I was just lost in thought. I accomplished something new and realized that I was using a bunch of my skills at the same time. I think it may be an important step forward but for now we need to work on getting you refined,” Jay said.

  “Aren’t you even going to tell me if it worked? Were you able to add more time to the field?” Cecelia asked.

  “Yeah, but I don’t want you to worry. I believe I can end it once we accomplish everything we need to,” Jay answered.

  “Could you be any more vague. This must be what Mia meant about you being cute when you think what you did is going to upset us. Just spill. I am hardly gonna be upset about having more time with you to myself.”

  “Okay, so as far as I can tell, we have about three and a half years in here. I know that may not be ideal in a ten-by-ten space, but we will bring down the field once we get you ready,” Jay said.

  Cecelia was quiet for a moment and then a sly grin split her face. That was hardly the reaction that he had been expecting but her question made it more clear. “So wait, I am stuck in here with a guy who can not only make me stronger but is also hot and from what I’ve been told hot in the sack. It is sorta like we went away to a cabin and never wanted to go outside. But more than that, have any of the other girls gotten that much time alone with you?”

  “Uh, no. Not even close. I don’t think I’ve had more than a couple days alone with any one girl,” Jay replied.

  “Not even your wives?” Cecelia asked.

  “Not even them.”

  “So I see real potential here. Let’s just see how things go. Now you can start refining me and I don’t mind if you have to touch me to do so. Maybe it will make things go faster,” Cecelia said seductively.

  Jay grinned and said, “I think I’ve got the system figured out pretty well. Here goes.”

  A month passed, and Jay spent hours every day working on refining her, but equally they spent time in other ways and not all of it horizontal. They slept. She needed more sleep than he did although the more he refined her the less she needed. The refinement pushed her up past the fifth threshold which was important because she became a catalyst now for his PSI energy.

  Experimentation demonstrated that change made it even easier to refine her. Beyond all of that though, they talked, for long hours. Cecelia had been a political science major who was about to graduate. She had already secured a prestigious internship in the office of a US Senator. She hated horror flicks but liked suspense-filled movies and enjoyed a good rom-com but also like several anime that he had enjoyed.

  Her tastes in many things were eclectic and Jay got to see her be both the bubbly persona that she put out as well as the girl unafraid of making hard decisions. They shared what their dreams had been, and he talked about Earth history as much as she talked about Earth politics. They commiserated over the fact that their areas of study were uniquely dead knowledge now. Although Jay did try to encourage her that knowledge about previous failures could help them with setting up their society once things stabilized.

  When she did sleep Jay used the time to practice various skills, but he actually much preferred the time she was awake. He didn’t know if he would say he was falling in love with her because this was a unique situation, but he definitely had come to realize that he liked Cecelia and they could be friends. Or as he now called her CeeCee.

  Forging a permanent bond with her only helped to improve this, but after a month she started to grow impatient for him to fuse with her. In total she had gained levels from seventy-two to eighty-eight and had gained one hundred and forty-six stat points, mostly in her physical stats. He kept putting it off because he t
hought that the more fully, he had refined her body the more they would both benefit from the fusion. Of course, that was only a theory.

  It was ironic that in a month they had talked about their lives on Earth, their old dreams, their new hopes and even the struggles that both of them had had in their clusters here. What they hadn’t spoken about was the powers that each of them possessed. CeeCee had early on said that while they could talk about them later, she wanted him to know she valued him for who he was not for what he could do.

  Finally on the thirty-fourth day he agreed to fuse with her. Jay was confident that it would be perfectly safe now. He just needed to have one more conversation with her. After telling her that he was ready to fuse he said, “We do however need to talk about our abilities finally.”

  “Why? Won’t you know everything about me after the fusion?” CeeCee asked.

  “Everything is a stretch; the fusion is incomplete. And the one time that I did a full fusion with two people it was, odd and temporary,” Jay replied.

  “Odd?” she asked.

  “Just leave it at that for now. I’m not asking to pry or anything. I am asking because of that conversation that we had about how me and some of my wives have come to believe that intention governs much of how we change and the abilities that we have. It also controls what abilities we pass on to each other during the fusion. So, a little knowledge might help me know what to pass on to you. Traditionally, I have passed on physical durability and strength because I want to know that you can survive an attack. The most impressive powers in the world do you no good if a simple knock to the back of your head can take you out,” Jay answered.

  “I get it. That makes sense. Well, you show me yours first,” CeeCee said.

  Jay laughed. Her sense of humor was almost as naughty as Huong’s. Almost, since no one could quite keep up with the petite Vietnamese girl in that regard. “Pardon me, but I think I’ve already shown you mine on a number of occasions,” he replied, going with the innuendo.

  “Yes, and hidden it then showed it, then hidden it again, repeatedly. Which I quite enjoy I might add, but you know what I’m talking about.”

  Jay then went on to list his powers and give her a short summary of them. He was so at ease with her that he didn’t feel any need to hurry things along. They spoke almost exclusively via telepathy, not because he didn’t like to hear her voice but so that they could improve the skill. That combined with their bond and the time spent together made him feel relaxed with her. It was a nice feeling.

  Once he finished, she explained what her primary powers were. She had a couple of minor ones but the ones she focused on were Assimilate and Chameleon. Chameleon allowed her to not only hide by blending into her background but also to take on the appearance of another person as long as she knew them well.

  CeeCee demonstrated by first taking on the image of one of her cluster members and then transitioning to Jay. Each change took about a minute, but she said that she was able to hold the change for as long as she needed to so long as she didn’t expend too much Stamina on other activities and as long as she stayed awake.

  The more fascinating skill was Assimilate. It was similar to Mia’s Borrowed Adaptation but superior in almost every way. The downsides were that it required a willing partner. She hypothesized that it might be possible to force it on someone much weaker in PSI than she was but also expressed how the very idea turned her stomach. Jay was definitely glad to hear her.

  The ability essentially allowed her to absorb another ability from any other person within the restriction. So far, she could only hold onto one assimilated ability at a time but again she thought that might change as her ability level went up. The ability could be held onto permanently and didn’t require any energy from her to retain it unlike Mia. The difference in part was likely due to the fact that Mia’s skill was a Metabolism skill and CeeCee’s was a Formation skill. In fact, that worked out perfectly since his current highest stat was Formation which meant that her stat was about to get a massive boost from its current level of sixty-five.

  “Well, I truly hope you can pass that skill on to me. As interesting as your Chameleon ability is, and despite how many powers I have, there are always other abilities that I would like to have added just as a way of rounding myself out,” Jay said.

  “Yeah and as cool as your Temporal Manipulation skill is, I am sure you are right. I need to be able to survive to enjoy this long life, so please do your standard thing and give me your enhanced durability and strength,” she said. Jay didn’t bother to mention to her that he had no intention of sharing his Temporal Manipulation power with anyone. It was simply too dangerous and felt like a genie that shouldn’t be let out of the bag.

  “Okay, well here goes,” Jay said as he reached out to begin the process. They had already decided to keep it sex-free, since they were getting plenty of that over the past month. He just wanted to focus on the process and perform the fusion intentionally.

  It wasn’t that it was exactly becoming old hat, not at all. But he was better prepared to understand what was about to happen. More than that, his body was so much stronger than the first time. Even with that, the shock of fusing caused him to lose consciousness, if only for a second. Then the notification was there.

  Error… Searching parameters…

  Test Subjects Compromised

  M1789, F19785 and numerous others

  Separation failed. . . Searching for options. . .

  Level gains magnified

  Stats gains balanced

  Greetings M1789/F19785

  You experienced a partial fusion. This is outside of test protocols. Results unanticipated. Multi Status Sheet has been expanded accordingly. Future impact still being examined. Fusion had a multiplicative effect upon both test subjects. Implants have guided awakening as best as possible.

  As this is your nineteenth fusion, the risk of complete loss of individuality or death was greater but has been avoided. Further fused awakenings are not recommended at this time.

  Syncing with Coreframe not possible due to temporal distortion. New expectations being generated. Results outside of all parameters.

  The highest stat was stacked with the other segments. F19785 stats insufficient to balance so additional stats utilized until equilibrium achieved.

  It was much the same as he had expected. The time distortion was keeping her from syncing with the others although, if past experience held true his other fuses would soon be aware that he had fused with CeeCee.

  He first took stock of himself. The changes had been colossal again. This time he had gained a full four levels. Those points had been applied equally to Formation and Awareness. Then because Fusion was his highest stat, CeeCee gained a Formation stat level of 3,453. The difference of 3,388 was credited back to him and split between his other four stats.

  It did tickle the back of his mind to realize that her combined other stats were only something like two hundred. So it wasn’t that the system was copying her stats onto him like he had at first believed. Instead, the process of fusion was creating more power in him than she had to give. That had to come from somewhere and he couldn’t help but feel that there was some significance to the answer of what that source was.

  The surge of power was intoxicating and once again he felt the urge to go out and fuse every girl that was willing. Still, he realized that he needed to be smart. He needed to adapt to the changes as they came in increments. As he had hoped he also gained the Assimilate ability, but he would need to wait for CeeCee to wake up to try it out.

  Since she was out, he did think of another idea. It was risky and definitely something he had never tried before but he was feeling emboldened by the successful fusion and so he began the attempt before that little voice of doubt could talk him out of it.

  Jay reached out with his power to the border of the tempus fugit field. He exerted his will over it. Time itself was but a form of energy in the universe and he wasn’t going to let i
t stand against his will. He was going to shape this in an all-new way.

  He wasn’t trying to speed up or slow down the field. He wasn’t even trying to expand or reshape it. Instead, he was trying to punch a hole through the bubble so that he could send a message out into the normal time flow around the field, with the additional hope that even a momentary break in the field would allow CeeCee and the others to sync.

  The strain was much worse than it had been when he tried to accelerate the field. It was literally like trying to put a needle through a soap bubble without breaking it. It called for incredible precision and control, that, and a crap ton of PSI. He pushed and felt like he was almost there but then ran out of energy.

  In frustration he stopped and let his PSI refill over five minutes. During that time, he decided on a new strategy. He began feeding energy into CeeCee. Even unconscious she should still act as a catalyst for his power feeding him back double the over 400,000 PSI that he now controlled. He bound their channels together, of course noting that CeeCee now only had the one core as did he and the other fuses. Gone were separate channels for PSI and Stamina, instead she operated on an entirely PSI-based system as he did.