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

are creating a weaker, less effective group of supers. Hobbling the next generation to avoid dissent is cowardly and unbefitting what we should be standing for as supers. Inflexibility is what ultimately led to the conflict and ‘winning’ and the resultant fallout only compounded the problem.”

BoJack threw out cables from tree to tree above the cleared space, anchoring them. He then created wide bands of material, rolling it out from his outstretched arms. The area became visibly darker and colder as the ambient energy and light were sucked out of the area like a sponge. After securing the sides of his ether tent construct, the area appeared to brighten, but not to the level it was before. It reminded Gus of a time-lapse video from early dusk to twilight.

The sudden chill motivated him to focus again on his constructs, realizing they may need more heat than expected with all the crafting BoJack was doing. He returned his attention to making containers as BoJack continued.

“Communication with Nth personality constructs was discouraged and it was found that, as a result, the new generation of supers could still improve their skills and level them without interaction with an interface. However, their overall levels stayed the same and they couldn’t apply any stat increases their Nth unlocked. New supers did not have access to the exact quantified data that a display offers at all.

“Somehow, they adapted to get a general sense of where their HP or MP was. Fortunately, they could see HP bars above enemies, which is essential in battle, so things settled out and have been the same ever since. The Factions shared their findings and it became pretty universal. Know this though, Gus…”

Gus peered over his shoulder as BoJack stopped talking.

“The veterans are counseled never to speak of this. I could get reprimanded or even demoted for sharing what I have. I have always disagreed with it, but I’m not ignorant of the shift that’s been happening in our Faction in the last couple of years. We need to make some big changes. This has created more of a rift than it is preventing, and it becomes more pronounced the longer it is maintained. You can’t tell anyone of this, Gus. Not yet. Hopefully things will work themselves out, but I’m not confident in the direction we’ve been heading.”

“It’s in the vault,” Gus replied and BoJack nodded, turning back to his task. From there they finished their preparations without too much new discussion. Gus was caught up in thought, both with crafting and checking his XP gains, and BoJack had fallen into a somber mood as he went inside the ether tent and was working out of sight.

When he had finished, he poked his head out and motioned Gus to come inside.

“Bring those ether vessels as well.”

Gus scooped up as many as he could carry, surprised that he had made so many while they talked. He expected them to clink together as he gathered them, but they did not respond like the glass containers they resembled. Dropping a couple of them on the way, Gus elbowed into the flaps of the tent and saw that BoJack had made bunks, two chairs, and a small table at the far end of the tent.

He set the ether vessels down on one of the cots and BoJack grabbed some, motioning for Gus to watch. BoJack created a simple piston that seemed to compress the air inside. He set it aside and the piston kept working with barely perceptible clicks. He picked up a couple more and repeated the process, then let Gus finish the rest.

At first it was difficult to maintain the simple machine parts, but after referring to the others that BoJack had made and altering his approach, he was able to duplicate his first piston. His next one was a failure so he picked up the initial container BoJack had infused and was surprised to see it was very warm, bordering on hot. Setting it down quickly, he put his hand over it and felt a mild heat radiate from the small container.

“You’ll have to recharge them after a while but they usually keep going for about four hours, depending on how much MP you channel in there,” BoJack answered Gus’ unasked question when he saw Gus trying to puzzle out his next construct. “Don’t be afraid to put a lot in there, the ether can handle it, and then you won’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to recharge them.”

Gus spent the rest of the time charging mini heaters and when he looked over, BoJack was already asleep. The walls of the tent held out the night and the insides quickly became a comfortable temperature and Gus rubbed his eyes, deciding to settle down for the night.

Regardless of when he had made them, the pistons all fired their soft clicks at the same time and the sound relaxed him. Gus had to shake himself and slapped his cheeks a couple times as the increasing warmth was making him drowsy.

Can’t sleep! That was close.

Gus murmured mentally then turned and grabbed out the Quorian cube. Spinning it, he found another surface to evaluate. Purple? Why not? I need something to occupy my time.

Chapter Seventeen

Hot in Herre

Aurora awoke, her coughing pulling her out of sleep. Orange light flickered off the low hanging clouds and the smell of the campfire was overwhelming. Rubbing her stinging eyes, she blinked and saw that it wasn’t their campfire at all, but a thick haze hanging in the air.

Realization struck her as she reached over and shook Yuki.

“Fire!” she yelled as Yuki moaned, curling tighter in a ball, wrapping her blanket more tightly around her.

“Yuki, get up!” The super lifted her head pleadingly, eyes still closed. Tasting the air and licking her teeth she grimaced in disgust.

“What the…?”

Aurora cast the crinkly blanket aside and hauled Yuki up to her feet.

“Hey, get away. I’m so tired…” Aurora helped Yuki walk away from the orange