She didn't move. "Vikki? Vikki?"
Her eyes snapped open, boring into my face. "Initiating Ego sequence," she said in a flat tone.
Oh shit—
A splitting pain ripped through my right eye socket, spreading a moment later to fill my entire head.
Zoe screeched, and pain ping-ponged between our mental bond. The pressure grew inside my head, my skull brimming with agony. My head was going to explode.
I couldn't see anymore. Everything blurred and turned black.
I was Dustin. And I was Zoe.
Zoe! Dustin! Zoe—
CHAPTER 24
There was nothing but endless black.
Something blinked in the middle. A blue rectangle.
The blue rectangle moved to the right. Words appeared in its trail.
COMPILING BEASTMASTER…
The rectangle blinked, waiting.
WARNING: UNKNOWN HARDWARE DETECTED.
WARNING: NO MATCHING DRIVERS FOUND.
WARNING: USING GENERIC DRIVERS.
AVATAR…DETECTED.
EGO…DETECTED.
WARNING: NONSTANDARD GENDER POLARITY.
INITIALIZING…
WARNING: PREVIOUS BUILD DETECTED.
IMPORTING PREVIOUS BUILD…
DEPRECATION WARNING: SONIC SCREECH. SUPPORT MAY BE REMOVED IN FUTURE VERSIONS.
DEPRECATION WARNING: PHASE SHIFT. SUPPORT MAY BE REMOVED IN FUTURE VERSIONS.
DEPRECATION WARNING: CLAW WHIRL. SUPPORT MAY BE REMOVED IN FUTURE VERSIONS.
DEPRECATION WARNING: PREDATOR REFLEXES. SUPPORT MAY BE REMOVED IN FUTURE VERSIONS.
UPDATING CONFIGURATION…
BUILDING BEASTMASTER…
REMOVING TEMPORARY FILES…
DONE. 9 WARNINGS. 0 ERRORS.
The world appeared in front of me. Vikki's head, her eyes now still and lifeless, stared back at me. What had happened? I remembered a massive headache, and then…
I tried to move but couldn't. I realized there was no sound, no movement. Everything around me was frozen.
DUSTIN! IT WORKED! WHEEEEE!
The blue words scrolled across the right half of my vision.
Dustin?
Zoe! Are you okay?
I CAN HEAR BOTH OF YOU.
Wait…is that you, Vikki?
YUP!
Whoa. We were bonded. All three of us, Zoe, Vikki, and me.
Uh, but why's everything frozen? What's going on? I could vaguely make out Garvek's unmoving form above us.
ALL THIS CODE I COULD NEVER ACCESS! THE NEW CODE IN YOU! THIS IS EXCITING! :) :)
Vikki? Can we focus. There's a robot cat and giant insect trying to kill my friends.
SORRY. WE'RE IN A HYPERMIND STATE. THE BOND LETS AN AVATAR AND EGO COORDINATE AT NEAR-INSTANTANEOUS SPEEDS. IT'S AS IF YOU PAUSE THE WORLD WHILE WE MAKE OUR TACTICAL DECISIONS.
Shit! Did you know anything about this, Zoe?
No, this is all new to me, too. And amazing, I have to admit.
AMAZING? HEHE. WE CAN—UH OH.
Uh, what's wrong, Vikki?
YOUR MENTAL WAVEFORM IS SHOWING SIGNS OF INSTABILITY FROM THE HYPERMIND. ZOE IS FINE, BUT THE HUMAN BRAIN WASN'T MEANT FOR THIS. I DON'T THINK WE CAN USE THE HYPERMIND FOR TOO LONG, OR TOO OFTEN.
Okay, focus, Vikki. What do we do? How do make it out of this?
The configuration…I don't believe this. It's beyond anything we've ever been taught.
Zoe, what is it?
You'll see. Vikki, please complete the configuration.
OKAY! BUT FIRST WE NEED TO MELD.
Meld? But I can't. I just zeroed.
I CAN ACCESS THE RECOVERY CHARGES.
Vikki's words vanished. Another set of words appeared briefly.
RECOVERY CHARGES: 2
RECOVERY COMPLETE.
ENERGY: 280/1600
We had 1600 energy total? Weird. I hadn't felt an evolution, either.
It must be from Vikki.
YOUR PREVIOUS CONFIGURATION WAS INCOMPLETE. AS A FULL BEASTMASTER, YOU HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR ENTIRE ENERGY LOAD. I'll SUSPEND THE HYPERMIND BRIEFLY WHILE WE MELD.
For a split-second, I could hear piercing screams. Vikki's head fell from my hands. Then the world was once again silent and frozen, except I was no longer lying on the ground. I was crouched in my Beastform, melded with Zoe.
BACK IN THE HYPERMIND. NEXT IS SELECTING YOUR ABILITIES. YOU HAVE TWO REMAINING ABILITY CHOICES.
I was puzzled. Two? At 800 energy I should have gotten another ability. I had forgotten to use it with everything that had gone on. But how was that two?
And one more at 1600, the next doubling. But you have to see this, Dustin!
Zoe's excitement poured through our bond. I had felt her emotions before, but this time, it was stronger, brighter, as if the bond between us had been strengthened and cleaned.
There was another source of excitement, a second wave, new but not unwelcome. It must have been Vikki.
OMG! WHAT A MESS! :o HOW DID YOU SURVIVE WITHOUT ME? AS YOUR EGO, I'LL MANAGE YOUR EVOLUTION FROM HERE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. YOU HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR FULL EVOLUTIONARY TREES NOW. I'VE SUBSTITUTED YOUR PREVIOUS ABILITY NAMING CONVENTIONS AS APPROPRIATE.
An orderly list of text appeared in the upper right corner of my vision.
MEKANIKA [Level 1]
NEURAL
>>PREDATOR REFLEXES I, NA
{FOCUS ABILITY I, NA}
{ADAPTIVE CONFIGURATION I, NA}
{MULTIMIND SPECIALIZATION}
SPECTRAL
{RESONANCE SCAN I, 5 ENERGY}
{PHOTON SYNTHESIS I, NA}
{EM SHIELD I, 1 ENERGY/SEC}
{WAVEFORM SPECIALIZATION}
CHIMERIKA [Level 3]
CORPUS
>>PHASE SHIFT I, 5 ENERGY
>>CLAW WHIRL I, 10 ENERGY
{TELE STEP I, 20 ENERGY}
{SIMULACRUM SPECIALIZATION}
DYNAMUS
>>SONIC SCREECH, 5 ENERGY
{SONIC SHIELD, 10 ENERGY}
{SHOCKING SLASH, 20 ENERGY}
{DESTROYER SPECIALIZATION}
Holy shit! You've been holding back on me, Zoe.
It looks like Garvek was right. We…we were never meant to bond alone. Chimerics and Mekanics were meant to co-exist.
But what do I choose? How are we going to save Mia and Julie? And get the hell out of here?
The abilities were cool and all, but if we didn't all make it out of here alive, it wouldn't matter. I scanned the list. I could guess what some of the abilities did, but I needed an expert's opinion, not guesses.
Zoe? Vikki? Suggestions?
I'm not sure, either. Vikki?
So Zoe was deferring to Vikki, too?
I have to admit, she knows more about this than even me.
OF COURSE I DO. I'M THE EGO. YOU'RE THE AVATAR. ;)
BUT WE'LL NEED MORE DATA. HOLD ON.
More words flowed across the screen. It took me a moment to realize that they were some kind of in-depth reports on Staccato and Garvek. Most of it was incomprehensible to me, though.
Vikki, I can't understand this. Can you give me the short version?
The wall of text disappeared. In its place appeared shorter summaries.
ID: STACCATO
DESCRIPTION: FORMER BEASTMASTER AND TRAINER. CURRENTLY BONDED TO SECOND STRAIN (UNKNOWN ID). INSECTOID BEASTFORM.
ENERGY: ???
KNOWN ABILITIES: BLADE ARMS, SPEED BURST, PARALYSIS SPRAY, ???
WEAKNESSES: ???
NOTES: CURRENT BEASTFORM IS HIGHLY MOBILE AND SUITED FOR MELEE GROUND COMBAT. CAN PENETRATE DEFENSES INCLUDING PHASE SHIFT