“It’s what gave us the psionics when we weren’t supposed to have them. Yes, Humans were messed up somewhat because we were never supposed to reproduce, but we descended from superhumans. I’ve always found validation in that.”
“And when you encountered living Zen’zat?”
“They did not meet all expectations.”
“Then perhaps you were seeing a reflection of your inner self in what you imagined the Zen’zat to be?”
“And what does my inner self look like to you?”
“Greatness,” Cal-com said proudly. “And it uplifts all those who come into contact with you, genetics or no. The Greatness comes from your Core, Paul. Your genetics are useful tools to be thankful for so that you can manifest your internal Greatness, but they are not the source of it.”
“Greatness? I thought I was supposed to be small?”
“They are not incompatible.”
Paul stepped over another small dune, with his feet sinking in relatively deeper than Cal-com’s since Cal-com’s legs were longer, and it didn’t help the soreness in his legs that the sand seemed to flow too much with each step, teasing his foot as to where he would eventually get traction. It made the travel slow, but they got far enough out that they could no longer see the ridgeline past the heat ripples, leaving them in a wasteland that defied all dimension. The view was the same in all directions, and there were no comm towers this far out to visually navigate by. All they had was the position of the sun, and when it set the temperature began to fall quickly, but not enough to actually become cold.
Just before all light went out they stopped and set up camp, finding it a bit more difficult to pile up enough sand on the tent wings when it didn’t want to lump up, but a lot of scooping and overpiling later and they had it secured and their little orange light on top of the tent was soon joined by the stars in a very clear sky above.
Cal-com and Paul sat outside looking at them and talking more, eventually turning their lantern off and letting their eyes adjust to the starlight only, with the cloudless sky becoming quite vivid over time, and the ‘smallness’ within Paul increased tenfold. Right now he was just his own body siting on a rock that was sailing amongst the stars in the great ocean of the universe.
And looking up at it all, the fatigue finally caught up to him and he dropped off to sleep before he could even think about going inside the tent.
Cal-com noticed when Paul nodded off, expecting the nap to only last a matter of minutes, but when it stretched into better than an hour he spoke to him…with no response.
The Voku sat up and spoke again, louder, then crawled over and poked him gently in the arm…still no response.
Cal-com reached out a hand and gently placed it on Paul’s forehead…finding it hotter than usual. When he connected to his mind he was also burnt, for there was a torrent taking place inside him that was both physical and mental, and he couldn’t make contact with his mind through it.
He activated his armor, with the shoulder plates extending out to cover his body inside the robe, and then he extended a hand to him again, using his Regenerator to look inside his body to find out what was happening.
It immediately responded with a request to fix all of the ‘damage’ inside, but Cal-com didn’t allow it. There was cellular damage all over the place, but nothing major. Internal heat production was up, as was his metabolism…with him being very low on water.
Cal-com telekinetically grabbed a bottle out of his pack from inside the tent and flew it into his hand…where he poured it onto his armor and let the Regenerator suck it up and deposit it throughout Paul’s body where needed before the dry air stole it.
The odd readings inside his friend increased as the water was added, at which point Cal-com telekinetically picked up Paul’s body and flew it inside the tent where he set it down and began adding foodstuffs to the Regenerator to supplement Paul’s reserves, but not to actually force changes. Something was happening to him and he needed fuel. It wasn’t an attack, as far as he could determine, but Paul was not in good condition.
Cal-com either had to intervene now or let it run its course…and on instinct he chose the latter, all the while monitoring the changes and trying to figure out what was going on.
When Paul woke it was still dark, and he was inside the tent with the door half open. He didn’t remember coming in here, for the last memory he had was looking up at the stars and feeling so very, very tiny amongst them all.
He coughed, trying to sit up but feeling aches and pains all over…yet his body was very quiet. Deafly quiet.
“Paul?” Cal-com asked from beside him.
“Did something happen to me?”
“You fell asleep outside, then your body began ‘burning.’ At least that’s the best description I have. I couldn’t access your mind, and you would not wake up. I moved you in here and used my Regenerator to give you foodstuffs and water while I observed what was happening.”
Paul sat up, his head swirling in discomfort and his mouth dry. Cal-com saw him working it around and handed him a bottle of water, with Paul sucking it in so fast he didn’t even realize how dehydrated he was until the third gulp.
“What did happen?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand trying to get some of the soreness out.
“You slept for 28 hours.”
Paul blinked twice. “That’s not possible.”
“None the less, it happened. And during that time, your genetic code altered.”
Paul glared at him,
