Jace looked at Shilla. "Are you ready?" They were standing in their full armor about to exit through an airlock that would not vent all of the oxygen into space. They had arrived at the abandoned space ship building yard that was at the edge of the system. The closest inhabited location was an asteroid mining colony and that was at least a day or two away by the standards of this galaxy’s natural speed for space flight.
"Yeah, but I apologize if I seem distracted. How do you constantly do this?" Shilla asked as the door opened and they jumped out into space and floated towards the abandoned space ship building facility.
"Do what?" Jace asked as he reached forward and grabbed a handle that was near the airlock for the facility. Then he raised his other arm and a holographic screen appeared. He used it to look at the facilities schematics. He did not actually need it but it was easier for him to look at.
"Control your strength." Shilla answers as she grabs onto an edge of the facility on the other side of the airlock. "I an, the scans we took from way back showed that you are growing in strength and with the increased gravity on Prima Terra I am guessing that it only increased even more."
"That is what you got from the mutation?" Jace asked with a chuckle as he channeled so electricity into the door and opened it.
"Yes, foreseeing the possibility of it occurring to our own people. The Centuria inoculates us with a drug that activates when a mutation occurs. It guides the mutation to increase our natural strengths." Shilla explained. "So in my case, since I do not have any natural born alteration, I just get an increase in strength and endurance. We could test it if you want?" She offered quickly.
"Nope." Jace answered imdiately. "As for my control. I just try to be as soft as possible and increase strength until sothing works. Try to avoid letting your emotions control you. Your people do have a form of ditation don’t you?" Jace points out as he moves into the airlock.
Shilla followed after him. "We do," She nodded her head. "I will revisit my people’s ditation. Thank you for the advice." She was genuine and then looked at the closing door of the airlock before asking a question. "What is your theory on the reason for the mutation’s occurrence?"
"Ti." Jace answered as the other door opened and he floated through the opening and through the hallway. "Let’s get the power online first. The reactor is still operational but it is disconnected and I cannot reconnect it from here." Jace inford her.
"Can you expand on your answer?" Shilla requested as they floated through the hallway. As she did she switched on a light that illuminated the hallway to reveal an array of damage from scorch marks to claw marks. "Woah..."
Jace turned on his own flashlight as he pushed aside a box. "Was the Centuria’s answer different?" He asked as he arrived at a T Intersection. He looked down one hallway and could see that there were a bunch of boxes floating around. Then he looked down the other way and found the sa claw marks but by the way they were made it appeared as though they were moving in that direction.
"Very, but I would like to hear your explanation." Shilla explained. "There are not many tis where the Centuria have to argue about sothing that they discovered or researched." She grabbed a handle on the wall and launched herself forward. But as she did she overdid it and nearly over took Jace. He grabbed her to slow her down.
Jace kept moving as he looked at the schematic to see how many more turns he would have to make. "It did not occur to initially either. But after hearing about Victor’s experience it made a lot more sense." Jace explained. He reached out and stopped her as they arrived at a four way intersection.
"Lose your way?" Shilla asked as she looked at him.
"No." Jace shook his head. Then he motioned at the marks on the walls. All of them were going in the sa direction. "The claw marks are creatures that climbed along the wall and they appeared to all be going in the sa way that we are going."
Shilla looked at the halls and the one they ca from. "You think the things were going to the reactor. Could that be the reason you could not have remotely started it?" She asked as they started moving down the hallway that the claw marks led down.
"No." Jace shook his head. "The device itself is not automated. Either it is too old or they were worried about sothing remotely starting and shutting off the reactor." Jace explained to her as continued moving.
"Ti and Victor, you were explaining your theory on the mutations." Shilla points out as they start pushing aside a large grouping of boxes.
"Victor said those Abyssal beings or rather a single one was aboard the ship when we were going through the wormhole. Apparently he could move but couldn’t use his abilities. The way he described it, it sounded like a ti stopping grenade that I encountered." Jace inford her as he moved a box to the side and flinched in surprise.
"That still does not explain anything but I- is that a body?" Shilla asked in surprise.
It was more than one. There were at least a dozen bodies of humans in a mummified state. So were in armor and so were not. Jace slowly floated past them and grabbed a round ball that was floating near the bodies. It was like a Chitin ball wrapped up. "Several, both the facility crew and the creatures that attacked them." Jace answered as he tossed the body to her to look at before pulling himself past the dozen or so bodies.
"You think they set up a blockade in haste and got overrun?" Shilla asked.
"Definitely." Jace answers before continuing his explanation. "Apparently Victor could overhear the Abyssal. It was discussing harvesting us. He managed to kill it after he caught it by surprise. But either way it looks like they know a way to enter a ship while it is mid-wormhole as the ship is traveling between galaxies and can slow down ti."
"So, the Abyssal slowing down ti causes the mutation?" Shilla asked.
"No, ti itself causes the mutation." Jace answered as he flipped and put his feet down in the direction he was floating to catch himself on a wall before pushing off in the direction of the reactor. "The Abyssal slowed down ti and that creates the theory that ti exists in the wormhole. If it exists then it is passing. If it passes quickly enough then it confuses our bodies. If it confuses our bodies."
"It makes our bodies think a bunch of ti has passed when none has passed. So we still live but our body undergoes a mutation. How does that make sense?" Shilla asked.
"I am guessing our bodies are confused on a cellular level while our parts all know that we are fine. It is like being brain dead but for our cells for a mont. Then they revive and start changing to get stronger because ti passes." Jace answered and could tell she was still confused. "We lived for one hundred years in that single mont so our cells evolved but the rest of our body did not. Which is why the mutation is unstable."
"Huh..." Shilla nodded in understanding
Jace slowed down as they arrived at a pair of large doors. The pair of doors were where the claw markings stopped. He looked around for a mont and stopped when he spotted what were probably once ventilation shafts had been torn apart by claws. And claw marks that clearly led into them. "Looks like the door was too thick for them to go through so they went through the vents instead." Jace explained before putting a hand on the doors and frowning.
"Can’t open it?" Shilla asked with a chuckle as she tapped the door with her fist.
"Nope." Jace pushed back slightly and crossed his arms. "Like the reactor, the door is not automated. It is set up so soone weaker can open and close it from the inside. But it is not automatic, it uses ancient gears and stuff inside."
"Are we sure we want to use a facility this old and out of date?" Shilla asked.
"There are not many big enough for our purposes and it is not that out of date. I am starting to think it was a security feature." Jace decided, starting to feel a bit fed up with the situation that he was handed. "Looks like we are going to have to find another way to open this door."
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