“Could this new sense be connected to your ability to adapt?”
“I can’t rule it out, but nothing I experienced suggested that. It was just there to grab hold of, and I guess I did to get behind you faster.”
“Instinctively?”
“Ultra Instinct, actually. I think I slipped into it.”
“And accessed something you didn’t consciously know you had?”
Paul locked eyes with Cal-com. “That’s what he meant. The pressure blinds you. Ultra Instinct has to be slightly relaxed. You need full control, and taking on challenges stretches you too far for that.”
“You have to be OP?”
“That’s as simple an explanation as you can get. And if I don’t know what abilities I have, that doesn’t mean I can’t use them if I act on instinct rather than knowledge that I don’t have,” Paul said with a laugh. “When in doubt, shoot about. Even if I don’t have a target. I have been pushing too hard pressing limits without ever stopping to search myself for something that wasn’t designed to activate when a new skill level was reached.”
“Psionics triggers.”
Paul nodded. “What it took to find them isn’t the way to discover everything else. What if…what if my Saiyan genetics never stabilized because I never gave them a chance to? No, that’s not right. I did try, and every time I had to speed back up. Did the rest change my genetics, or did my genetic change allow the rest?”
“You relaxed first. Fell asleep before you started blacking out. The first change occurred during that sleep, but it wasn’t the first time you slept. I do not know what kept you asleep longer than normal.”
“That seems like a lifetime ago,” Paul said, laying back and looking up at the sky as his arms continued to annoyingly hurt. “If I broke through into something new before, I didn’t notice it. That means it didn’t hurt and it didn’t trigger my changes. No blackouts. The second time Harvey did something to expand my peep hole into it so I wouldn’t lose it again. Then the fireworks started.”
“Perhaps he triggered the initial alteration.”
“Or gave me a push,” Paul said, suddenly jumping to his feet. “Adaptation occurs in response to a need. Generation after generation adapt through reproduction by passing on some of the changes to our offspring. In this way a race adapts over time. All people are structured this way. Even plants are designed to change over time, though that’s based on pre-programming rather than training effect. Still, the universe is structured on adaptation and change. Can you name anything that is static?”
“Things that are not alive,” Cal-com wisely pointed out.
“True. And plants, while not people and not truly alive, are designed to facilitate those who are. The Life Springs spawn both the apple tree and the ones who eat the apples, and the inherent design is based on the same philosophy. An upward change. Adaptation doesn’t go in reverse.”
“Is it possible you are tapping into the Life Springs?”
Paul squinted funny as he looked at the sand. “That doesn’t quite feel right, but I think it is related…somehow.”
“You believe you were able to adapt in a surge, and that caused the rest of the cascade to take place?”
“Harvey did this to me, but if he’s telling the truth it was going to happen anyway and he just made sure it happened now rather than later. What if this is a plateau break?”
“Your genetics no longer read as Human. And those genetic limitations you had peaked out are now altered to allow you to go further. Perhaps adaptation had multiple avenues of advancement and you have discovered a more powerful one.”
“One that can massively rewrite genetic code?”
“If it can do so in small ways, why not large ones?”
“If that is true, then it must be tailored specifically to me. The changes have to be linked to what I did.”
“What have you done with your eyes to warrant the zooming upgrade?”
“Other than some focusing exercises to see if I could enhance them, nothing. They’re sensors, not muscles.”
“Did you ever wish to have an ocular zoom?”
Paul fell silent for a moment, then glanced up at Cal-com. “Did you sense any Essence use in me when I was blacked out?”
“No, but I also didn’t look for it. If I can only see inefficient use, perhaps this is something it is designed for.”
“Harvey said adaptation wasn’t about Essence, but what if Essence can be used to alter genetics? To allow you to adapt in a way that’s not normal. I can enhance the growth of a plant by imbuing it with Essence. What if I accidentally imbued myself so much that I triggered a transformation based on my subconscious needs or wishes?”
“That could explain the Hadarak Spice Lords.”
“I was thinking the same thing. How do you do genetic research inside a star or black hole? What if there was a ‘natural’ way to do it. We’ve seen other races with the ability to steal genetic code and incorporate it into themselves. Essence enhances everything else, why not this or something like it?”
“Did the Neofan mention anything about this?”
“Not a whisper. Either they are keeping it to themselves or they don’t know. But they did say that when a Life Spring occurs there is an Essence Rush. A huge one. So adaptation might not be caused by Essence, but I bet there is a correlation there, and I may have stumbled onto one and accidentally kicked in the other. Damn it, my arms still hurt and they’re not getting better.”
Cal-com mentally signaled for his two sentinels to return to his shoulders where they transformed into one solid mantle, and from which he extended a tether down his arm to his hand, which he think put gently around one of Paul’s arms to make the physical connection.
“There is a
