Chapter Seventy-Nine - Xenocide Act VI; Terms Of Disengagement

"Love's a glitch in the system. It don't respect the boundaries of a cold and calculatin' world."

– An unexpectedly wholesome message amongst all the penis jokes on the walls of a public toilet.

 

***

 

Running spikes… What shape would be best? And, uh, malleability.

Probably stiff ones, right? The less energy was lost to springiness, the better. At least I thought so.

And I'd need to have an easy time accelerating, changing directions, and stopping.

So just cones? 

Right. This was the kind of thing to ask my resident AI about.

"Tynea, what kind of spikes should I use for running?"

You'll want morphing spikes - short spikes for sprints to allow quick turnover, longer ones for slower movement for better traction. Wide, flat paddles for the current weather. Or very long spikes to dig deep.

You will get most of your efficiency from levering mechanics, though. It might be preferable to have retractable spikes that can "kick", so to say.

Ah, and active spikes would want yet different shapes.

Hmm.

There was a split-second conversation between one of my quasi-selves and Tynea, following which AI-I presented a first draft to test in the form of a mental picture of my feet, but modified.

There were thin, grooved soles of chitin at the bottom, designed to provide good traction in mud. The chitin would be soft and pliable, not very punch-proof, but enough so that my own weight wouldn't suffice to cause injury even if I sprinted across sharpened nails. Not to mention my skin beneath, tough enough to repel small caliber firearms.

These soles had extending cat's claws at the front for climbing, and a mixture of more rugged claws and paddles across the rest of the sole. These paddles were fitted with that kicking feature Tynea spoke of. They were spring loaded and would provide some force to push me forward, just before the foot left the ground.

My weight on the next step would then help load those organometallic springs again, also softening my footfalls in the process.

– Advice: Prepare edge of hands with retractable climbing claws. –

Another image revealed a pair of thicker cat's claws installed like hooks just past my wrist at the outside of my palms.

Hmm. Yes, that actually made sense.

I'd be able to hold something, say a weapon, even while climbing or hanging off of a wall or tree.

Oh yeah, combined with my tail, it would give me more maneuverability off the ground. Sure.

It will take about ten minutes for all these changes to complete, Tinea.

"Yeah, I got that. Uh, will I be able to walk while the soles are growing?

Certainly. The process will not open up any wounds, and any shifting will not disturb it, either.

"Okay. In that case, let's have the, uh, morphing start."

Moments later my feet and hands started to tingle, but thankfully the uncomfortable, almost painful sensation was deadened immediately.

I let the Myriad split at the front again and checked my foot. The skin at the top was still covered with those glittering hydrophobic scales, but they were being absorbed back into the skin at the bottom in a slow, kind of squicky process. It didn't look healthy—or like it belonged on Earth.

While they'd grown very quickly to cover my legs, the reabsorption meant the skin had to open up in gashes to even fit the scales back inside, where they'd be slowly consumed. There wasn't any blood, but the whole thing still gave me the shivers.

"Urgh, I wish I hadn't seen that. Ah, Tynea?"

Yes?

"If we have changes like these happen in the future and they're somewhere visible, just let the stuff fall off instead? I'd rather spend points on food, to be honest."

Understood. I should note that reabsorbing hair is very different. It looks like reverse hair growth in time lapse.

"... Alright. A bit weird to see on a human, but not…that." I said, pointing at my soles.

Speaking of food, it'd be good if you consumed the remainder of the broth. You're a little low on both protein and minerals.

Right. I spied the bowl half-buried in the muck not far from Leah, where I'd left it earlier, and walked over gingerly. The crawling sensation at the bottom of my feet kinda gave me the shivers. Not exactly what I'd imagined being a samurai would be like…

Mercifully, it stopped after a few seconds, and I lifted a foot to see that the skin looked mostly normal.

The scales will be dissolved over the next thirty minutes. You should not sense any of it.

"Say, did the skin, uh, ingest any dirt along with the scales?"

A little of course. Usually it would simply be expelled by the skin itself. However, as you have bionites available, they're instead pulling it apart for minerals and such. Most will still be excreted directly.

Looking closer, I could see that happening. It looked a little like I was sweating water, mud and other residue across my soles. Weird. But at least this process didn't make the skin look like it was doing creepy alien things.

"Tynea, can we do away with the icky factor, actually? Make the whole reverse skin regurgitation thing look less, well, phobia-inducing?"

There are multiple options. Considering that this particular method of reabsorption is only necessary with saeta with a head considerably larger than their root, you could grow the scales more like overlapping fingernails. Reabsorption would then look like slow retraction, instead. That would have additional benefits, too, but reduce their ability to interlock and potentially increase the harm suffered against their breakage.

Another option entirely is to grow skin past the scales, reabsorb them, and then reabsorb the skin from beneath. I'm not certain that would look much better, and the energy efficiency would be terrible, barely better than just ejecting the scales.

"How much of a loss of energy are we actually talking about, anyway?"

Thousands of calories, and that's only for your feet. Please eat.

Oh, whoops. Uh, yeah. That was multiple meals a day.

"Is my metabolism even fast enough to really support that?"

Within moderation, yes, especially because the nutrient solution in your chest serves as a battery of caloric energy, and your Class II Innovated Innards offer a great deal of improved and quickened absorption of food.

I looked down at said chest.

"So, uh. Better food, bigger boobs, more safety?"

… Yes, Tinea. Better foods equal bigger boobs equal more safety.

"Awesome."

I heard Leah chortle from the other side of the egg, and her head popped up.

She grinned at me.

"What?"

Her grin widened, and with twinkling eyes she said, "As good a reason for bigger boobs as any."

I blithely cupped my breasts and hefted them. "Right?"

Inevitably her eyes wandered downward and a very slight blush tinged her cheeks.

I pursed my lips with my head tilted. Wonder why? I sure didn't know. Nope, not at all.

Bouncy-bounce.

Suddenly Leah's hand flashed up and something squishy hit me square in the face. Something that was very, very soggy and absolutely dunked me.

I caught it as it slowly slid down my front balcony, and recognized the silk ball I'd tossed at her earlier.

I looked back up at Leah with a raised eyebrow, and she gave the cheesiest of grins with her squirt-gun pointed right at me and a stream of water already halfway to my forehead.

AI-Tinea was having a ball and decided to join the fun. She instantly modulated the forcefield to catch the water, and then compressed it like the mother of all squirt-guns and shot it all back as a single splooshy sphere of aerated water that exploded on Leah's nose.

She recoiled with a funny sound, and this time it was me with the cheesy smirk, once she was done spluttering.

Quick as a snake she recovered and shot another stream at me, dodging the return volley from both my tail and emitter. Seeing that her attack was rebuffed so easily, she squinted at me and slowly lowered her squirt-gun. "Cease-fire?"

Huh. I scratched my jaw and studied her. The gears were definitely turning behind those pretty, pretty eyes. She's planning something. Hmm. 

I crossed my arms on top of her egg and laid my chin on them. She followed suit, which meant she got in range of my antennae.

They immediately locked onto her face, since, surprise, that's where my focus lay, and softly stroked over her lips. I tasted all kinds of interesting things on them. Some of that amazing juice we'd had. Toothpaste. And certain other very sweet things she'd…savored in the past few days. She gently blew at the sensilla until the antennae twitched away, and then smirked at me.

Yup. I wasn't gonna be able to hide the object of my consideration ever, was I?

But I didn't mind. I liked Leah's reactions to it. The way satisfaction lit her up when she realized she'd caught my gaze, how it made her preen just a little. I appreciated the picture. There was something special about unashamedly allowing her to know, especially since she liked my attention so obviously. Reservations or not, she was quite clearly pleased with how into her I was, and, I thought, was equally taken with me.

Those thoughts filled me with a warm and bubbling gladness and lifted my lips into a happy smile, which Leah couldn't help but answer.

"Well, my dear samurai." I asked, humor ringing in my voice. "What are the terms?"

The devilish twinkle was back in her eyes, and my antennae fluffed at her again. This time she just let them and simply closed the eye they were closest to. "Why, my lovely adversary. I would submit Terms of Disengagement until such time as that we are on the road again."

She grew quite a bit more serious, and a little sadder. "I rather miss my littles," she said, "and my friends. Let's hurry?"

Aw. I easily mantled the pod and my butt landed on one of its legs next to her, where I hugged her and squeezed her thoroughly against my bouncies.

"Sure, Leah. Let's hurry." I released her and patted her mussed-up hair and gentled her cheeks, wiping away a tear or two with my thumbs. Aw, aw. "Hey, if you're done equipping yourself and loading up your cannon, I'll take care of the rest. Wanna call home? I'll be done in a few minutes, too."

She smiled at me with swimming eyes and glomped me back. "Yeah. Thanks, Tinea."

"Aww. No worries, Leah. Important things are important, and I have no particular need to meet right now. You do what you want to do, and I'll help."

"Mm." She nodded at me, and after a final pat to the back of her head, she turned away and retreated into her pod.

Well, time to actually get busy, I thought, and dropped the meter and a half down from the pod's spidery leg onto the ground.

My feet would need a little more time to finish their growth, but I could already feel a thin layer of what my sense of touch told me was particularly thick skin on my soles. A look confirmed that I had about three millimeters' worth of rubbery chitin grown, with grooves and pits beginning to form.

The soles will be complete in roughly one minute, and the various claws, paddles, and spikes, in about four.

"Understood, Tynea. Is there another upgrade you would suggest? Something that's reasonable, considering that we're still looking to save up for Leah's big vehicle."

Do you intend to keep using guided bullets, and perhaps also those rocket-powered javelins?

"Oh yeah, we'll actually need them again soon," I said, thinking of my bargain Rod From God technique using those artificial gravity balls. "Assuming the mobile nests exist, and that Leah's cannon can't kill them with indirect fire."

I looked at her cannon and figured it was a little low to the ground. She might be able to walk right up to one and point down enough to hit it even if it didn't rise to move, but that would put her at unnecessary risk in melee range.

In that case, I would suggest you buy combat geneware for your Quanta. Something that will allow you to directly connect to any suitable projectile, be it your own or another's. You currently rely on your Sentinels to route guidance through, but it is a slower and less efficient method.

"Hmm, okay. Make me some suggestions?"

Well, first of all, you do still need to eat. The bowl's that way, Tynea said, with a neon-pink arrow blinking in my display.

And like a good little girl, I went and grabbed it.

I even washed my hands first.

 

***