Unity by Carl Stubblefield (epub read online books TXT) 📕

at the end opposite of where he was holding, until it snapped in two. BoJack took a ring of keys out of his pocket, removing one and handing it over to Gus. He activated Vibrate on the key and at first felt a numbness envelop his thumb and forefinger where he grasped it. Despite the loss of sensation, he noticed immediately when the key began to heat up and he dropped it, shaking his hand wildly.

BoJack watched Gus like a hawk and knelt down to look at the key where it lay in the dirt. He poked at it until it cooled and then inspected the edge. Once he ascertained that the key wasn’t permanently damaged, he fished out the ring and slid it back in place.

“So it appears you are manipulating ether in and around a material to move in different directions. Just think of a wet sponge in a microwave. Your ability is like microwaves, causing the water in the sponge to rotate, which in turn causes the whole thing to gain kinetic energy and heat up. This will be ideal for you, because while this generates heat, it typically dissipates fairly quickly.

“Now you just need to make your construct. You can make a simple box and put water in it and vibrate that or play around and develop something new. I’ll leave you in charge of that so we have heat, but make sure you clear a spot and keep things under control. We don’t want anything exploding or burning the forest down. Start small. If we need to, we can start a campfire, but this will give you something to begin with that won’t blow up in your face. I’m going to show you how to sculpt a box out of ether, then you see if you can copy me.”

Using his fingers, BoJack touched his fingertips together then spread his hands outward. A thin film like a soap bubble began to form. It reminded Gus of how he had to exert a pressure to create the interior of the dimensional bag. As he reached a certain size, he changed direction and the corners of a box formed, as if he were stretching plastic wrap around an invisible container.

He maneuvered gently again, forming the upper corners, then he stretched the film over itself and around the opposite corners on the top of the forming box. Slowly pinching his fingers, he sealed off the construct and plucked it out of the air where it hovered, handing it to Gus.

It appeared the same glasslike substance the shard was made from and he gingerly picked it up, fearing even slight pressure would shatter the sides.

“You don’t need to be that careful with it, it’s fairly durable. Go ahead, try to squeeze it.”

Gus pushed in with a finger on one side of the box, expecting it to implode and possibly cut his finger, but he only saw the smushed imprint of his fingerprint through the transparent box. Gripping it more solidly, he tried to push in with both thumbs and the box resisted any type of flexure or deformation.

“Ether constructs are like that. They have a high resistance to elastic deformation because they actually store that as a form of energy instead of breaking. It actually gets stronger the more stress placed on it, until the whole construct fails cohesively. But it takes a lot to get there. I was able to break your basket weave because it relied on MP too heavily to keep it intact. Once you refine your constructs, it will become intuitive which containers best hold different forms of energy.”

“I still don’t know what energy you’re using to do that.”

“Don’t worry about any of that for now though. Just use MP to manipulate the ether into a box, we’ll use the energy to sustain it. I think you can modify your weave to do this same thing, just try to make a band that is wide enough to copy what I have done, and mentally manipulate it into the shape you want. I’ll be working on our shelters while you do that. If I finish before you can manage a decent heat source, we’ll call it good and just make a campfire. Sound good, mate?”

Gus nodded and turned his attention to trying to form a box from ether.

“Ah, ah, ahhh,” BoJack said, wagging a finger as Gus started stretching his hands apart as he had seen BoJack do. “You’re infusing it with MP already. You want to manipulate ether without filling the box at all. It takes a bit more finesse. Think of pulling it rather than pushing it.”

Gus shook his head and focused on the space in front of him. Instead of his typical method of blowing a bubble he tried imagining tiny fish hooks grabbing a section of ether. On his display a blob of ether resolved into a tiny sheet as he delicately pulled the corners outward. The hooks were glowing in his display and he could tell that his MP was funneling into them, but it was at a much lower rate than his usual MP drain. As Gus tried to form the corners, the film popped and dissolved.

“Um, yeah. Corners are hard. I should have mentioned that. At first keep them rounded; it’s easier to maintain force along a curve than at a sharp point.”

Gus tried again and was able to make a box that resembled a square bar of soap. As he brought the top of the construct over itself, it blended, forming a single layer. Ever so slightly moving his fingers closer, he slowly disengaged the hooks and the shape wobbled but stayed.

“Quick, grab it,” BoJack urged. Gus grabbed the construct and turned it around in his hands. “It looks like you have the basics, ah. That’s nice. I just got a ping!”

At the same moment, Gus also got a notice on his display.

Chapter Sixteen

Gimme Shelter

Far away from the camps of supers, the final remaining eight drones clustered