Keynes was woken up by a sharp tug. His eyes opened slowly, struggling against unseen resistance. In between his hands was an egg, still unhatched. But it didn’t matter. The connection with the creature inside was formed. And it wasn’t anything Keynes had ever experienced.
With Alice, his bond was both more and less intimate. She was part of him, carved out of his spiritual core. The unhatched Thunder Hippogryph on the other hand wasn’t part of him but it was connected directly to Keynes’s soul.
Both his bonds were unique and served very different purposes. He intuitively understood some of these differences and functions but also knew he was expected to discover the rest. Typical System’s bullshit.
The egg wasn’t ready to hatch though. The bond Keynes formed with the thunder hippogryph kick started the last stage of the process but it’d take more time.
However, unlike earlier, this time around, Keynes would have to spend time with the egg. Mostly bathing it with his spiritual aura.
He exhaled, finding with a shock that he’d been holding his breath. But it was quickly overcome with other emotions that were crashing on him. There was a lot to take in. Having a soul bond was a profound experience.
In some weird way, it was like having another limb, he realised. Because a bond wasn’t a traditional companion or even a soul companion like Lem Solaris. From what he instinctively understood, bonds were becoming something of an augmentation to an ascender while spiritual companions were becoming more independent. It was a strange dichotomy between seemingly similar entities.
“Argh,” Keynes hissed, his stomach grumbling painfully. “What’s going on?” He asked, pressing his stomach. Something wasn’t right. Did the bonding hurt him?
“You are hungry,” an AI voice from his wrist band replied.
“Hungry? How? I ate this morning,” Keynes replied, wincing because of the stomach pain.
“The last record of you eating is from ten days ago.”
“Wait, WHAT?” Keynes shouted, surprised then tugged at his bond with Alice.
Alice, how long was I out? He asked her telepathically.
Long, came a faint reply. She was deep in the Spiritual Realm, likely busy.
“You were in the bonding state for 9 days, 21 hours and 16 minutes and 3 seconds,”the AI informed him. “During that time, you have not eaten or drunk. Your body was fueled by spiritual energy.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
A note to myself; bring snacks the next time.
Keynes climbed to his feet. His body was stiff and each movement sent an army of prickling needles through each muscle.
“I have prepared food in the kitchen,” the AI said. “It is in a liquid form but covers your entire nutritional needs without upsetting your stomach and making things worse.”
“Thanks,” Keynes said, then realised what the AI had said to him. “Since when can you do that?”
“Since always. As per our last discussion. The range of functions this spaceship can perform is enormous but your access to them is severely limited by your own achievements, understanding and resources. Assisting you here is within my scope, however this function is not available to anyone else on the ship as of yet.”
The food that was waiting for Keynes looked like a smoothie but he wasn’t going to make a mistake and ask about the ingredients. He had to trust the AI on this.
He slurped, surprisingly tasty liquid. His stomach didn’t rebel at a sudden influx of liquid. The stomach pain vanished and was replaced by a welcome feeling of fullness. Energy and mental clarity returned a few minutes later.
“Ten days, huh.” It was a long time. He felt a sense of panic. How was the base? Did they manage without him? He almost entered the semi-soul space but made himself stop at the last moment.
He snatched another sachet with nutritious liquid and returned to the living room where the magnificent view of the red planet occupied most of the window.
We can’t keep calling it a red planet. We need a proper name. He realised and after a moment added. I need a name for my organisation as well. Too bad Untainted Paradise is taken.
He knew that it was a mouthful name and in hindsight, maybe not the best one. Something to speak to the visage later on. It may have some good ideas.
He took a seat in front of the window then asked the AI, “Give me a general report.”
“Yes, sir…” Sir? But Keynes thought little of that as he started to listen to the report because many things had happened while he’d been out.
Natalia, Kora and Jedd spearheaded a new initiative to re-evaluate everyone. They changed criteria, removing disclosure of Talent as one of the requirements. They wanted people in roles not because of their Talent but because they wanted to do the jobs. Despite knowing about the True Soul and what the visage of Lem Solaris told them, Keynes felt an inner resistance against an idea of discarding relevance of Talents. Some habits clung to life. He knew it wouldn’t be easy to change their Earthly way of thinking but it seemed like Natalia had adjusted astonishingly well. According to the AI, she was heading the whole overhaul of their recruitment system.
She didn’t completely turn things upside down though. She was mindful of what the visage told her about letting these changes develop on their own. But yeah, he could see a significant degree of eagerness on her part. And understood where she was coming from. Natalia felt they were on a timer, though things weren’t as dire as he made them be.
Of course, because Rell and Willow were absent from the meeting with the visage and discussion about the True Soul, they were baffled by the sudden change of recruiting policy. However, neither man objected.
Likely because, the change, somehow, made a difference. Over two hundred jobless people from the spaceship decided to take a job they wanted to do.
Keynes grunted when he saw that some of them got jobs in what appeared to be a planning and command department.
“What the fuck was she thinking?” He asked, baffled.
