Prism Academy 5- Chapter 21 (Patreon)

Chapter 21- Technokinesis

I too was feeling drained, but I triggered the yes to allow the appropriations process to begin.

Compatibility detected between cyber-bond and Petra Mitchell’s evolutions. Analyzing….

Analysis complete: New evolutions possible.

Do you wish to appropriate Petra Mitchell’s base evolutions or allow for a merger and upgrade of bonds within you?

Before I could make a decision, ANOP spoke into my head. I was so tired that the words didn’t seem to come out right and she had to repeat herself three times before I understood.

“Master Aden, a unique new ability is open to you. I highly recommend that you take it. If you reject it now, I’m not sure this chance will ever come again.”

I groaned inside my head, but at the end of the day, I trusted ANOP. “Do it.”

Then the world went dark around me and I lost consciousness.

When I woke up, I was down in the lab. At first, I didn’t realize how I knew that. My eyes were still closed, and I felt like I’d been run through a meat grinder. In other words, I felt about ten times as good as I did after the fight with Krig. Yet, I knew exactly where I was.

Without even opening my eyes, I was able to see. Hmm… that was really odd. Then I realized what it was. There was a security camera in the medical bay, actually there were a number of them. I was seeing through that camera now.

This was so cool.

I kept my eyes shut and tried to focus on what the camera could do. Suddenly, I realized it had a motor which would enable it to move around. Before I even realized it, I was directing the camera to pan around the room and I could see some of my bonds sitting around talking, others were working, and still others were training. All of Team Aden was down in the extended lab, but I couldn’t get a good view of everyone through this camera.

That was when I made the mental leap from one camera to another. The shifting perspective was disorienting for a moment, but that quickly passed. I was able to zoom in on the camera and watched as Sophia worked on refining the efficiency of the nanites they were producing. Then I turned it more and watched a girl with silver skin sparring with Gabi.

It took me a second to realize the silver girl was Petra. She was actually managing to make Gabi work a bit. Her body seemed metallic form here, but then I thought to switch to infrared and sure enough I could see a regular, or mostly regular circulatory system within her body based upon the heat patterns. It was so fascinating.

I wanted to see more, so I shifted my mind to try to maintain two cameras as once. That made me immediately feel dizzy, despite the fact that I was lying flat on my back. It took a good minute for me to adjust to the two disparate views at the same time and then if I moved them too quickly the nausea and dizziness returned. Still, it was cool to be able to see in two places at the same time.

To further test myself, I reached out through the interface. It was completely instinctual and I could then see through a camera at the front desk. Construction was going on, but some of the support staff already had workstations set up.

Then I decided to push myself further, and I tried to expand to three cameras at once. I immediately felt a sharp pain go through my head and let out an involuntary grunt. It was like I had a day long migraine all crammed into a single second. The static felt real, and I lost my connection with all of them.

I heard someone call out that I was awake and felt first surges of relief and joy go through my bonds until they must have realized that I’d done something more to hurt myself because I was holding my head. Suddenly, I was inundated with waves of anxiety and concern. I waved my hand in the air and managed to get out past the rapidly fading headache, “I’m fine. Just make a mental note not to try three cameras at once.”

“What? You’re gonna need to explain that,” Jen said.

Molly said, “But stay sitting down till you feel better.”

A moment later, Petra was standing next to me. The silver color of her skin was fading till she looked exactly like she had before. She smiled. “Aden, this is amazing. And I can feel you in my head. It’s so cool. Thank you, it’s better than anything I ever imagined.”

Jill laughed. “Oh yeah, and she’s completely naked, by the way.”

I glanced at her again, but she looked like her normal self in her military jumpsuit. She smiled though, and a ripple went across her chest. For just a second, her breasts were completely on display in all their glory, but the next instant it looked like they were covered in her uniform. “It’s all me, but I can make it look like most anything I want.”

I grinned. The headache had faded.

Sybil said, “He must be feeling better. I guess the doctor prescribed for him to take two breasts and call in the morning if the pain wasn’t gone.”

They all laughed. The fact that I was obviously doing better made everyone happy. “Give me a sec to check the notifications which happened while I was out.”

“Show us too,” Willow said.

I shrugged. Why not? We were pretty much beyond secrets at this point. Instead of projecting the notifications into their minds telepathically though, I wanted to try something different. I reached out with my mind and connected to the largest display screen in the room. Suddenly my notifications were showing across it. Everyone turned and started looking, even the techs and scientists.

New combination evolution gained: Technokinesis 2. At this level your skill allows you to communicate with any computer, AI, or machine within 50 miles. You may also control any such machines within a half mile. Limits on the number of systems which you can control apply based upon your Processing and Willpower. Note that this ability also allows you to use progenitor energy to rebuild or otherwise alter machines within sight up to a maximum of 500 feet.

Processing +5

Ingenuity: +10

Then there was a glitch message.

Error… unquantified ability has been identified. Seeking to examine.

Analysis pending…

That was a bit ominous, but ANOP said that she had to lock away a part of processing to examine it and was saying it would be a couple of days before she could quantify it for us. That seemed an exceptionally long time, but I couldn’t really say much about it now.

“All I can tell you, Master Aden, is that it seems completely different from any of your other evolutions. It is somehow connected with that Essence type energy from before and so I’m being very careful with it.”

“Good call, take your time. No rush. This upgrade is already going to be a lot to deal with.”

“What does that even mean?” Kenna asked.

I realized that my brief conversation with ANOP had been private, so I explained what she had said. Everyone seemed a bit uneasy about it, so I switched gears. “So, has Petra shown you all what she can do now?”

Willow said, “Some of it, but we’re working on putting together a build out for her to be able to equip into her mech mode. That and having Sophia create some negative space storage. What we want to see now is what you can do?”

“Some of us just mean different things by what you can do?” Hua said with a grin.

I nodded at her and then winked. If she was gonna keep bringing it back up, maybe it was time that I leaned into teasing her a bit. “Technokinesis is my only upgrade, but it seems pretty amazing. I can plug into any camera in the building and immediately see through it. I can get information from the computers and access it almost instantly.”

Eve asked, “Pardon me, Pookie, but couldn’t ANOP simply have done that for you before?”

I thought about that for a second. “I guess, I could have asked her to do some of those things. But she can only connect to things which she is networked with. My power works based upon progenitor energy rather than requiring a wireless network. Anywhere my thoughts can travel this power can travel.”

She smiled at me. Then I realized she would have already processed the explanation for that answer. She was pushing me to think through the advantages of this ability. I winked at her.

“But ANOP couldn’t have done this.” Then I focused my mind on a piece of tech which was spread out on one of the tables. I had no idea what it did. Yet as my mind touched it, I started to get a stream of information. It was difficult to put together, but eventually, I realized that it was a prototype for a gun which would fire small shells which could be charged which progenitor energy.

With understanding came a realization of what needed to be done to put it together. The feeling was strangely sublime. It was like all the days of tinkering which I had enjoyed all rolled up into one. I felt a satisfaction and connection with the machine that I’d never experienced before.

Then energy poured out of me. My capacity was higher than when I had fallen asleep, but still not full. The machine soaked in a portion of that power and then I watched as I saw the wires move of their own volition. It was almost like the metal came to life and slowly but surely a stream of parts moved like columns of ants each finding its perfect location.

The process started out slowly, but the longer it went on, the better feel I got for it. Within a little less than four minutes, the new weapon was assembled. Deep within me, there was a sense that the weapon would work. “Care to test it?”

Willow said, “We’ll do that soon enough. You were unconscious for the entire night and most of the morning.”

Hua slapped Petra’s ass then and said, “Way to go, girlfriend. You wore him out good. When I get my turn, he won’t be able to walk straight.”

Willow shook her head but said, “Things are progressing faster than we wanted. Feinston has been able to lock the rest of the board down. You and Jen have officially acquired a total of forty-nine percent of the company, but no one else seems willing to sell.

“The news stories are continuing, although there is a great deal of confusion about what’s happening. A source has leaked that an order of martial law is expected soon, but nothing official has come from the government. Then secretly behind the scenes, General West has been ordered to turn over command of his troops to a new general being sent from Atlanta and to then report to the President-General for a discussion about the best way to withdraw from the reclaimed territory.”

I shook my head. It was too frustrating to be funny. “I bet General West didn’t take that very well.”

“No, but more than that, he is impatient. He’s trying to stall but will have to act soon. He’s willing to support you, but not if you aren’t going to take charge.”

And there it was. Suddenly, Plan B, or whatever it was had been pushed to the forefront.

“Okay, let’s suit up. I’m heading to Atlanta in two hours.”

Willow and everyone else in the room were staring intently at me as she asked, “What do I tell General West?”

I thought about it for a moment. There was really on one answer. This was the future of humanity. “Tell him I’ll be rooting out the shadow from NAAG and when I leave Atlanta, there will either be a new government, or the people in charge will have a reasonable explanation for what’s happening.”