“She’s amazing isn’t she? The things she can do by herself are nothing short of extraordinary, but when given a little assistance it just becomes unthinkable.”
The befuddled Ripp stammered as she tried to understand the situation. “What did you do?! How did you make a portal that huge?! I tried to do it and almost passed out with something that wasn’t even close to that! Not to mention it was like a damn megaphone!”
“I could spend time explaining, but we have work to do. It looks like she is done.”
Following their suit, Ripp donned her mask and proceeded to rush into the facility once they found someone with a key. She could not help but stop them before they entered, lest things went downhill quickly.
“There are others in here for sure, we need to be careful.”
Anaar and Stefani looked at one another and grinned. “No need silly! We already got everyone!”
“Wait what?”
“Oh yeah, I just opened branching portals to them so they got hit with the song too. Even with me amplifying it, I’d say we still have only about an hour, so we’d better move fast.”
“But… What?! Branching portals?! This is damn near impossible, not to mention it would rip anything going through it to shreds!”
“Sound is just energy. I’d never recklessly send matter into that. It would be cat food instantly. It takes much more precision to send things or people through them.”
Ripp was doing her best to wrap her head around everything, but with every question answered, five more arose. “What about the security footage?! What about check-ins?! No one is going to just disregard an entire facility going dark for an hour!”
“Don’t worry, I picked up a skill that should help with doctoring the footage. Since this is a black site, they are typically well insulated, so the only people checking in would be others here, which we don’t need to worry about.”
Together they scoured the facility looking for anything that might be of use. Though Ripp was focused solely on information relating to her father, and Stefani had a very limited understanding of what they were looking for in the first place, Anaar found the information he was seeing staggering and invaluable. He now understood why it was so heavily fortified. From the manpower to the encryption, and even the protection against Transporters, some of the darkest, most dangerous secrets were held within its walls.
Though it took them almost the full hour, the team was finally able to locate information about her father’s case. Documents showed overwhelming evidence of her father’s innocence and his stellar record. He was being used however as a necessary sacrifice to prevent panic. While it was clear he did not cause the incident, it was much more frightening to know someone with antagonistic intentions did. Once Anaar saw the raw photos of the incident, he and he alone understood why the army was so frightened and wanted to cover it up. If it had been anyone else other than Ripp’s father, he would have agreed with the sacrifice.
Even he was shocked and somewhat impressed with the level of terrakinetic might and mastery that had been at work in the incident. Though it now appeared to be one giant sinkhole that swallowed all the men at once, Anaar could now see that they were individually consumed. It appeared as if each were sucked through a vacuum tube of earth , all being funneled to the same location. Based on how and where they all ended up, they were mercilessly processed as they when through the tunnel, being reduced to nothing but human matter long before they were rejoined. Anaar was not sure why this was so evident to him with just photographs, but he figured it had something to do with the latent experience he was awakening with his new abilities.
As Ripp rejoiced, she and Stefani hugging, even rare tears streaming from her eyes, Anaar worked on making it appear as if they were never there. Thanks to Peter’s Inquest, he found the process to be trivial with Hobb at his side. Though he worked dutifully, his mind was stuck on the entire conspiracy and what it could portend. Ripp and Stefani were devising plans to utilize what they had learned to free her father, but Anaar had a larger mystery he was worried about. The unease in his gut was enough to make him sick as he considered there were only two Terrakinetics he had registered with a power level high enough to cause such an incident, and Ripp’s father was not one of them.
28
In the months since Anaar had revealed he was a True Quintessence, Miles had been working tirelessly to find new ways to exploit this information. Much like Fredderick, his initial reaction was shock and hurt, feeling betrayed that he would keep something so significant from him. Anaar responded with nonchalance, making a quip that if he paid more attention to Attunement Theory, he would have been able to spot the difference long ago.
Even after learning about Anaar weeks prior, he still had not pieced together that the True Quintessence who had been testing his prototype suit was none other than Anaar himself. It was only his greed that led him to the conclusion at this time. When he thought back on it, the signs were all truly there, he had willfully decided to ignore them.
“I have fantastic news! You get to be my greatest test subject yet! This will net billions!”
Anaar continued his work without stopping to look up at Miles. “Are we forgetting the implant inside of me that allows the world’s most advanced AI free range of my body?”
Hobb appeared nearby, leaning on the counter next to Anaar. “Are you surprised such things do not register in his scope of consciousness?”
“Nope not at all.”
Miles fumes at the two of them as if he were a small child. “I hate when the two of you do that sibling tag team thing! Hobb I created you! You should be more respectful!”
Despite being able to see the work directly through Anaar’s eyes, Hobb projected that he was leaning over Anaar’s shoulder, busying himself by asking questions. Miles’ need for constant and unbroken attention was well known to anyone who encountered him, which made for an easy time aggravating him. He had come to know Anaar had an extreme amount of willpower and concentration, which would make it practically impossible to win by complaining. Resigning himself to a loss, he instead decided to continue on with his original line of thought.
“I am going to make you a bodysuit that is the most advanced on the market! I will need to get more of your specific biometrics, and directly code it to your DNA rather than allow it to adapt over time, but I promise you there will be nothing like it! Much of this data I have is confusing, but it is quite fascinating! Now you get to benefit from it! No need to thank me for my benevolence.”
Anaar continues his simulation with the help of Hobb, waving a hand dismissively. “I don’t want it. I already have one.”
Miles’ cheeks puffed, but he forced himself to calm down. He was used to Anaar’s attitude by this point, and understood it was partially because he was engrossed in his work. Even though it annoyed him when he refused to listen, Miles respected his level of commitment to whatever it was he was working on. Leaving Anaar and Hobb to their work, he carried on with his own business until he saw they had taken a break. Once he saw his window of opportunity, he sprang forth with a tablet full of models and specifications.
“Behold! My greatest invention yet!”
Anaar looked to Hobb standing next to him, moving his arms in a presenting fashion. “You mean besides Hobb?”
Hobb shot a fithly look at Miles, then looked back at Anaar with a smile. “Thank you Anaar, it seems my efforts are often undervalued.”
“Hobb is only great because he is a living being! You can’t take credit for a child that grows up to be great! So many idiot parents love to take credit where it is not due. If we look at Hobb from the moment of his birth, he pales in comparison.”
Anaar seemed somewhat displeased, but the answer was logical enough for him to not argue. “I have already told you, I don’t need another suit. The one I have is perfect.”
“That is only because you don’t know of what is available! I would not have to go through such hassle if Ixnes would just tell me
to whom she gave my prototype! While I appreciate the data, I need better context! I must ask questions! All she ever tells me is that it is in good hands, and that the data is the best I could…” Miles’ finally understands the odd expectant look behind Anaar’s eyes. “Damnit all! It’s you isn’t it?! You are my prototype!”
“Who else would Ixnes entrust it to? JaMarkus Schrodes? Some other random True Quintessence she has no control over? You know her better than that.”
“Why didn’t you just say that long ago?!”
Anaar sighs, gently rubbing his temple. “You are literally the world’s smartest man. Why should you need me to tell you something that was so obvious?”
“Because you hid being a True Quintessence for so long!”
“Miles, even a cursory glance between the data from my implant, and the data from the suit is far too similar to ignore. How is it both of them just so happen to include data that has instances of temperatures that jump off the scale, at the same time no less?”
Miles opens his mouth to speak, but then pulls up two screens side by side, scrolling through both of them simultaneously. After a few moments he stares blankly at both of them, finally releasing a breath that had been held for far too long.
“How did I miss that?”
Turning back to his work, “Gee, I wonder…”
The exchange ever fresh in his mind, Miles had been a man possessed. He had a number of items he had been working on, but they were missing key elements to their construction, namely ones that would ensure safety. Based on his data, and Anaar’s unique physiology, he had come to realize that he would be capable of skipping many of these additional safety measures if he were the tester for the products. In Miles’ mind, it would be easier to dampen the effects of the product to a level where normal people could benefit, if only he had comprehensive data from a functioning unit.
In all his time knowing Anaar, the impossibilities he made a reality seemed endless. The sheer fact he not only survived the prototype implant, but somehow made it better, was beyond anything he could have ever accounted for. His projections placed him at four failures, three with the possibility of death, before he had one success. For his first prototype to be a success was unheard of, even with his genius.
Everything he had done before was always created for an above average person, with a tremendous amount of risk. With Anaar, everything pointed to a complete dissolution of risk, which meant he could pour everything he had into creating the most insane invention to date, sparing no functionality. He had been working tirelessly on his project for months, building on plans he thought would never be viable. Jadeyn had become somewhat concerned with his obsession that he refused to share, but his behavior was not far from normal. She placed her concerns aside as it being one of Miles’ many eccentricities and went about her own work.
The day had finally come to reveal his grand invention, leaving Miles a jittery, bumbling mess throughout the day until Anaar arrived. Because of the procedure, he would need Jadeyn’s assistance, so he made certain she would be available for the entire day. When Anaar entered the lab, he was greeted by a pirouetting Miles, who seemed even more energetic than normal.
“This is it! This is it! I will forever go down in history as a genius!”
Anaar looked to Jadeyn, then to Hobb, who both bore sour expressions due to being exposed to Miles’ antics the entire day. “Let me guess. You have created something that will change the world as we know it…”
Miles’ eyes grew wide, then he scuttled to Hobb with hurt in his eyes. “You promised you wouldn’t tell him!”
Hobb’s expression never changed, but even before he could offer a response, Jadeyn had already stated the obvious. “You are prancing around, boasting about being a genius. What other conclusion would there be?! You finally learned how to eat cereal?”
“I know how to eat cereal! I just prefer my own way.”
“It is not normal to lap it up like a dog! You know what, I’m not even going there with you right now. Can we get this show on the road? This is going to take a long time and I would like to get home in time to catch my show.”
Anaar’s eyes narrowed as he looked to an apologetic looking Hobb, then to Jadeyn. “I don’t like where this is going.”
Miles glided over to Anaar, grabbing hold of his shoulders and shaking him with excitement. “You should! There is no way anyone could be anything less than thrilled about this development! Sadly, no one can ever know, but if they did, they would be ecstatic!”
“Fine, but that type of commentary has only ever led to trouble with you. What have you developed?”
“I’ve created enhancements for your implant! Much to my dismay, since removal is impossible, and my own genius caused it to fuse with your body thanks to my bioorganic engineering, there is no way to modify the one currently in your body. What we can do however is add a new one that will support the old one!”
“Why are you determined to turn me into a cyborg?! What does this new implant even do that the old one can’t?!”
Miles’ eyes began to glimmer as he looked off into the distance. “Many things, oh so many things! There are two in particular that utterly destroy the ideas of what we thought were possible though!”
“Can you please stop with the preamble and get to the point? You are proposing I let you stick another foreign object in me, and if I know you, since you now have knowledge about me, you probably disregarded as many safety protocols as you could to make it work.”
“Well, there are some things that are too great to limit with erroneous protocols!”
He didn’t even try to deny it!
“At this point there is no way he could attempt to say otherwise.”
There is no way he could have done whatever this is without your help, especially since it pertains to you. What flaming catastrophe is he trying to saddle on me?
“Unfortunately I promised I would not spoil his surprise. It is within my ability to give my opinion on the matter, however. The only feeling that it evokes is joy. Based on the simulations, it would provide a great measure of relief for me.”
Anaar considered what Hobb had to say, which was staggering due to his typical lack of qualifiers when it pertained to emotion. He acknowledged whatever he experienced were more so a complex string of algorithms designed to appropriately respond to the situation, therefore he concluded there were only rare instances where he could consider what he experienced emotions. With a heavy sigh, Anaar finally agreed to consider the new implant, once he heard more about it.
“I will first start with how this is of benefit to you! You are the first person I have heard of who possesses a genuine secondary consciousness that you can readily access. Not only that, the two work in tandem, seamlessly allowing you superhuman levels of processing, the likes some of the best supercomputers would struggle to compare.”
“Your point?”
“My point is that by studying this, I have come up with a way to add a third consciousness! I think…”
“Wait a minute. Why do I want or need a third consciousness, and what is this hesitant ass, ‘I think?’ I don’t like the idea of uncertainty when it comes to my brain functions.”
“Well, in theory, with the expansion of the implant’s capabilities, Hobb will serve as your official third consciousness, without limiting his functionality as it would now. This means rather than being scaled down to a human level, you would have Hobb operating at maximum capacity at all times, which would allow him to take over for you instantaneously, even if you were to fall unconscious.”
Anaar thought of the implications of such an enormous increase in functionality. As it stood, Hobb was essentially a spectator in his body. When he blacked out, Hobb could only watch helplessly at best, and was completely disconnected at worse. Though he tended to lose conscious only when his body was destroyed in its entirety, he could still see the benefits.
“I’m listening.”
“Haha! I knew you would come
around! Very good! Because you two would be bound on an even deeper level, you would of course have access to Hobb’s vast suite of abilities and knowledge. You could search for things in realtime like he does, without even asking!”
Anaar thought about what Miles had just offered, and logically could find nothing of true detriment. He and Hobb already worked seamlessly, but from what he understood, they would be synchronized on a different level. It gave him the impression that rather than being the sum of their parts, they would more or less fuse into something new. Though only few people knew about it, even he was somewhat terrified for what the fusion of the most powerful human and the most powerful AI on the planet would bring about. If it had been three years prior, he would have had concerns about allowing Hobb free rein of his body, but given their relationship, he would relinquish it whenever Hobb liked. There was also the new condition that the connection worked both ways, which made for more fairness.
“And the other thing? You said that one benefited me. That clearly meant for my benefit. What is the other thing, and to whom does it benefit?”
“I was just getting to that! Though what I just explained is nothing short of miraculous, what I am telling you next brings tears of joy to my eyes daily. Based on my simulations, by doing this, you will be able to serve as a mobile server for Hobb, increasing his functionality close to or exceeding what he can do here.”
Revelations (Song of Sophangence Book 4) Page 49
