Samurai War Games: Forced Break administered.

  Unable to respond to Call to Action

  Unable to respond to Emergency Call

  Able to respond to Personal Calls in 24 hours.

  Physical and mental health levels to be monitored by AI Synaptic. All clear can only be given by AI Synaptic.

  -Vanguard War Games personal file following his debrief, 2057

  Jill

  I burst through the front door, skidding to a halt, heart thumping in my ears. I sprint to his room and see the door open. Inside, I see him laying on that huge bed of his, the room's screens making the room look like a hospital ward.

  Roger is next to him, reading from a tablet. He looks up as I enter, “Weren't you supposed to be at training?” He asks, eyebrow raised.

  “Fuck training! Hilda knew that if she kept this from me, I would kill her.” I say, marching to the edge of the bed. He shrugs.

  I look down at him, watching him sleep, something I haven't had the opportunity to do in years. “What happened? All she said was that he was injured but stable.”

  Roger shook his head, “He did something stupid, apparently. Morrigan tried to explain it, but I couldn't follow along. Outsider said that someone died due to his mistake, so he nearly burnt out his brain to kill a mass of aliens. Doma gave him some meds and Baba Yaga brought him back.”

  Fuck. I sit on the edge of the bed next to him, stroking his head. “Who died?” I whispered.

  Roger rubs the back of his head, “Blizzard,”

  Shit fuck. “How's Cody?”

  “Conflicted, scared, but understanding of what happened when Leman talked to him. He's in the Screen now, working on his new Mesh chair designs to distract himself.”

  I opened a text doc on my augs. [Synaptic, will Victor be okay?]

  [Physically, yes. The medication Doma provided was Class II and very effective. He will be unconscious for a few more hours, then groggy.]

  [If it's Class II, how does it have a side effect?]

  [By design. Doma is forcing him to take a break, and if he feels off he won't be able to get into trouble.]

  I nodded. Doma was a good woman, smart too.

  I wanted to ask for details, but I held back. That was Victor's story to tell.

  “Baba Yaga mentioned that he is grounded for a week, at least.” Roger chimed in. “She and Doma came to an agreement. No fighting, no hunting. Light gaming, sure, but he cannot leave this building unsupervised for at least a week.”

  “I can agree to that. We rotate the training schedule, right? One person here with him every day, yeah?”

  “Sure. Blizzard's party was supposed to be tomorrow, so we have the day off training already. We can figure out the schedule from the day after onwards.”

  I groan, “The party… Fuck. We have to do something big to distract him.”

  “Buddy suggests swimming lessons for the day, though Bahamut pointed out that with our new bodies, it would only take an hour to get good enough to swim with some amount of skill.” He puts the tablet down, looking at me.

  I see it then, his eyes. They're red around the rim. Not puffy, but he is playing it far cooler that he feels.

  I nod. “Movie night? I can't stand murder mysteries, but I will put up with it for him. This time.” I grumble the last part.

  We sit there and bounce ideas back and forward, systematically eliminating each of our preferred time wasters and his, giving reasons why they won't work. The most common reason we give is just that they don't take much time.

  We never had much free time…

  But the biggest reason neither of us speak out loud, but are both smart enough to understand, is that he would notice. He would notice that we are trying to distract him, which would defeat the purpose.

  We both go silent for a bit, running out of ideas. Roger chuckles, then points to Victor. “You going to stop rubbing his head, sis?”

  I look down and see that, yes, for this entire time, I had not stopped rubbing his head. I think to pull back, but I don't. He's my baby brother, the one who killed his way to save me and Buddy not a week ago. And I have never been able to shower him with the love and affection of an older sister that I have been desperate to do for years.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “No. No I don't think I will. Cause if I stop, then this affection will be directed towards you.”

  He laughs heartily, bodily, with tears streaming from his eyes after a bit. “Sands Jill! Now that's a threat!” I laugh with him.

  In our group, Roger and I were the eldest. Not by much, but it mattered. Roger had always tried to play the emotional core, and I tried to be the strength that made the others feel safe. But now? Now I could be something other than strength. I could laugh, I could shower my siblings with ten years worth of love.

  But I couldn't protect Victor anymore.

  My laughter dies, and all I'm left with is melancholy.

  Roger calms down, then gets a serious look in his eyes. “Hey, Jill. I… I am so glad you can be you. And I'm sorry I have never been able to help you fix that.”

  I tense. I knew he knew years ago, but he was always smart, always doing things instead of talking about it. Always making sure the bug hospital never happened again.

  My face falls noticeably. “Fuck Roger, the bug hospital.” I mutter.

  His face pales and we both look at Victor. “We're going to have to skip training for the next week.” I say. He nods silently.

  ******************************

  Morrigan

  Bahamut is standing over the holotable playing through a dozen different simulations using the data from the previous hive. He had somehow, through Boss Synaptic, convinced the other Vanguard AI to share the antithesis combat data their Vanguard encountered. This further confirmed my theory that the AI see everything on the planet, but simply heavily restrict themselves. The why of it I still don't know, but maybe once Outsider can start predicting the future I will gain a data set to experiment with.

  “You’re doing the thing again,” Bahamut says aloud, snapping me out of my thoughts.

  I hate that he noticed things about me that I didn't program into myself. I apparently had a habit of chewing my hair when deep in thought, and there was nothing in me that dictated that behavior. At this point, I am willing to bet that Boss Synaptic hid unique emotes in our cores.

  “Yeah, well, you're boring Bahamut.” I say, sticking my tongue out.

  He chuckles, “Yes, yes Morrigan. And you are so much more fun running around in your lab. At least help me analyze the enzymes from the thorn before you dive into your thoughts.”

  I roll my eyes as I focus on the thorn currently in the secure portion of the lab. It's very dense and smooth, with millions of microns of holes filled with a very hostile enzyme. I had a million Scout nanites working with my Fabricators and Recombinants, breaking down the enzymes and figuring out countermeasures.

  I pull a small subsection of me away to think. I think of how we have all decided to use the more inefficient physical bodies to talk to each other and interact with the world. It was Baba Yaga who convinced us it was for the better, to better connect with Victor. I think she just preferred a platform to whack with that wooden spoon of hers when we sent her stupid memes.

  Then I think about Victor and, well, his near death experience. It was just the other day that he went off on Rogal and Outsider for their, objectively correct, scouting mission. He was angry about how they could have died, and I kinda understood that. I would be angry of my lab got wrecked because of a rogue element reacted with something.

  Boss Synaptic tried to explain, and the explanation made sense, but that was a different situation, where he could do nothing-

  “And there it is.” Bahamut said, “You just realized why Victor reacted like that.”

  Fucking dragon bastard, fucking Boss Synaptic and her ticks. “Fine! Yes, I get it. Fuck you and your observations.” I was actually angry about this, but he just chuckled.

  Then he sighs, “Even with everything gathered, this new Variant showed no signs of the thorns prior to that moment. The two that died before must have had theirs compressed to nothing before they showed, as there was no indication anywhere that they could launch thorns.”

  “Their Fours. They don't do ranged normally.” I responded. “That tongue of theirs was deadly enough. It wasn't just sticky via mucus, but also numerous microstructures that act as harpoons, chemical adhesives, electrostatic magnets, even vacuum pockets. Shame there was nothing of them left to dissect.”

  “Indeed. You have made a number of interesting toys for the PMC, eventually.” He said, closing the holo screens. “The biggest problem in that room was the Thirty Seven in the center. The subsonic waves it released acted like Outsider's eyes, leaving nothing hidden. The moment anyone appeared with the Exterminatis, they would have died.”

  “Let's keep that from him, yes?” Baba Yaga said, entering the Screen. “He is already hurting because he caused a friend's death. No need to rub salt in the wound.”

  We nod in agreement, then I get a notice from my main self. “Analysis of the enzyme is done. It's a nasty piece of work, I'll give the xenos that. It is designed to dissolve proteins and polysaccharides in contact, but only those.”

  “Then how did it slip through the hardlight barrier?” Baba Yaga asked.

  “It didn't. The Thirty Seven did using a precise burst of a specific frequency, it pushed the light away, causing enough of a crack that it slipped through,” Bahamut explained. “I've updated my SOP for future operations, if a seven series is detected, they will be the priority target, regardless of what other threats are in the area.”

  “Will you be able to synthesize a countermeasure to the enzyme?” Baba Yaga asked.

  “No. It's biological in nature and biology is not a field I have much knowledge in, let alone the internet and Mesh here. I would need Class II biology knowledge, maybe III, since it came from a Forty.”

  “He will buy it for you if you ask, just say you need it for future medical research for the PMC.” Bahamut offers.

  “Duh, of course I know that. And it's not a lie, they will need it.”

  “So, in other words, you plan to manipulate my brother in order to better protect him.” Came a voice from the left side of the room, Cody. Shit, I forgot he was back there.

  “Indeed, Cody.” Baba Yaga responds. “For that is our job. To take the burden from him, to lessen it, so he can focus on the things he wants to.”

  Cody approached the table, staring at each of us. He remains silent for a minute.

  “Good.” He nods, “Ask for cyberwarfare upgrades for you as well. While I'm sure Class I is good enough for most companies, we have already run into an encryption that it isn't. With this, he has proven himself to be a threat, but his political leaning has yet to be discovered. I know of nine intelligence organizations with Samurai backed tech that might start investigating us. Force him to get better medical utilities as well, so that way we don't have to rely on that fox, Doma.”

  I raise an eyebrow at him, but silently agree as I adjust my request pattern.

  “I keep telling you guys, but don't underestimate Victor’s family as just humans. If it means protecting the unit, they won't care of the method.” Baba Yaga said, cackling and patting Cody on the back.

  I may need to figure out how to get a psychology Catalog. My model of humanity needed to be updated if Cody was alright with us manipulating his family.