Embrace the Ether 60 Returning to Basics

Deus and Droh shuffled through the tight corridors aboard the Ararat, leaving Natan to his business as they went on ahead. Finding their quarters, Droh plopped down onto the cot as Deus lowered his supply pack, digging through it with earnest intent.

"It's in here somewhere…" he grunted out, pushing things aside as his hand was buried deep into his bag.

"What are you looking for?" Droh questioned, his faun ears jolting from left to right in interest.

"Nothing," Deus replied quickly, paying little attention to his companion. "Aha, here it is!" With a heavy pull, he ripped his arm out of his pack, holding a familiar item in his grasp.
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"Isn't that—"

"Yeah, yeah." Deus interrupted as he paced over toward his cot, taking a firm seat. "Mister Androma had it repaired for me, even giving it a newly charged battery."

Deus was fiddling with the piece of technology in his hand, rubbing his thumb over the front of it as if to wipe it clean. In his hand was the very same electronic Archive that he had since the moment he arrived. Ever since the Orion clan had been cast out, Deus had very little time to experiment with this old familiar Archive.

"Hey, turn it on!" Droh lamented as he clambered over toward Deus.

With a firm press of his thumb, the Archive began to activate. The device showed signs of returning to life as an energy surge sparked inside the battery pack.

Bzzzz.

A continuous humming tone sounded from the device he held. A familiar, almost relaxing sound that reminded Deus of his pod.

"Initializing."

A faint but monotone voice spoke from the Archive.

"Energy conduits detected, battery recharged. Systems reenabling."

Droh tilted his youthful-looking face as he listened, "I had forgotten how weird this thing was…"

"Archive systems registered and active. Scanning options registered and authorized. The databased registry also reporting functional." After a final low-toned buzz, the device finished its reactivation sequence.

"Archive activated. Welcome back, Experiment X-Z-001."

'It's still going on about that Experiment nonsense.' Deus thought, recalling everything he had learned from the previous scan he had undergone. 'But hey, last time the scanning options it gave me were limited… did something change?'

Deus looked over the archive device, checking for any damage or alterations that seemed different from memory.

'If my memory is right I showed signs of my original genetic tissue having major changes. No, not just changes… it was like I was an entirely different person. Only some of my genetic tissue was even my own according to those records. Whatever happened during Transfer, I still haven't found anything out about it.'

Pausing for a moment to think, one could see the stress building on his face. He had already spent several months learning from some of the most powerful and intelligent minds within the Spire, and yet even with all of his advantages, he had come up with nothing regarding the Transfer.

Either information regarding such an event was kept confidential beyond his level, or there was truly very little known about it.

In all actuality, it wasn't particularly true to claim that he had learned nothing regarding the Transfer, it was simply that he was working off mere speculation at this point.

From his past research and studies, alongside his embarrassingly obvious attempts at prying information out of his fellow officers, Deus had learned more about the happenings of Midnight. This included the storms, which were capable of spitting out any number of rare and dangerous things.

"Archive, commence with basic scan. I want to reconfirm everything we've learned so far," Deus ordered out, lifting the device toward the air as his arm extended out, providing the archive with an overall view of him.

"Confirmed. Initializing scan, targeting major genetic tissue and bone marrow. Remain still momentarily." As the device ordered out, a faint blue light shot out from the front it, scanning over him multiple times before fading back.

"Battery usage registered and logged. Results returned for the low-tier scan."

Deus once more brought the device closer to his chest as he spoke, "Show me the results of the scan in comparison to the previous ones. Show any alterations."

"Searching database, one moment." A faint clicking sound could be heard as the archive device quickly inspected its internal logs. "Results found, listed in systematic order. Memory scan, physical scan, cognitive scan."

"Three scans are available, huh?" Deus thought aloud before ordering out, "Show me the results and alterations for all of them, just overlap them together and organize them into sections. You should now have three entries for each, right? Before the Transfer, after it, and now."

Beep.

The archive device sounded in response, pulling out an abundance of data as it projected it across one of the walls of the room. Seeing this, Droh's attention was immediately drawn over as well.

There were three unique sections, each labeled numerically from one to three. The first section showed a brain scan with numerous red lines forming outward from the source-center, resembling an image of a brain and body. This represented what was most likely confusion, pain, or something of a similar degree.

The second scan result showed a similar image, only this time the lines were more organized, and varied in color rather than the usual red. Different colors represented entirely separate thoughts, emotions, and memories. With the first scan showing mostly chaotic results, this one could be said to be far more advanced and organized.

The third, however, could only be described as strange.

It showed signs of a much darker red, while the other colors also grew in extremes as well. Perhaps this resembled the overall change that Midnight and its environment had on Deus. The evolution that a place like this had on him was very clearly portrayed for him, but even then he couldn't believe it.

He felt normal, so why did these results resemble the first scan more so than the second?

"Archive, are you sure these scans are accurate? According to these results… I've deteriorated mentally… seems only physically have I even grown at all."

What Deus didn't know, though, was the efforts and changes caused by Midnight and the markings that etched themselves comfortably across his back and arms.

Something was changing him, altering him down to the very core, and he never even noticed it.

"Results are accurate, Experiment X-Z-001. According to the localized database, the results are within the expected limits. Code-named Ascension Project prepared speculative data before commencing the experiment, showing similar expected results."

Chapter end