A Bio-Weapon’s Rhapsody

Chapter 308: Internship?

The conversation that followed when they returned to the real world wasn't that hard to deal with, if anything it was easier than Ale had expected.

"Really?" Was all that [Big Sister] asked when they returned, that is, after Ale said that she hadn't interacted directly with the scrambled guy, or had been affected by their power.

She even was somewhat immune to it, god knows if that was still a thing after the recent changes.

She should still be immune, as her train of thought hadn't been changed or altered.

Which brought more questions than answers, was the scrambled guy working under the same rules than the ND0 system?

Was he working under their auspices? Or was it the case of a lucky Core User who somehow managed to wrestle more power than they had any right to have?

She wasn't sure what was the answer, or if she even had the spare mental energy to dwell on that.

"So, any weird feeling?" Ale decided to ask when that was dealt with. "No desire to eat the flesh of the living? Feeling like doing anything and everything on my favour? Or Alexa's favor?"

"...Was that a possible result?" [Big Sister] asked with a weird glance at her, "Are you using this to get away with Alexa's occasional mess up?"

"Of course not!" Ale said surprised that [Big Sister] could even think they capable of doing such a thing, "But this is a new field of technology, the Saintsworths are still using whole complex machines bigger than the pod I came in to do this."

"...And you did it with an arm?" [Big Sister] pointed out with a smirk on her face.

Oh right.

"How did I do it with just an arm and one AI Core?" Ale asked looking at her arm, it still was in working order, the post execution diagnosis returning green lights, ready for another deployment, "Main Core?"

[Everything in working order Mistress.]

[The first Spark was used successfully.]

"...Am I a tinkerer type?" Ale said aloud.

"Are you?" [Big Sister] asked looking at Ale as if she was awaiting for an answer too.

"Main Core, define Tinkerer Core Type subset." Ale said aloud turning to the monitor on the desk, "Transmit the data to that terminal, also... let Big Sister hear it too."

"[As you wish Mistress]" Main Core's voice came from the monitor, both girls moving near it.

"[Tinkerer Core Type subset: Commonly known as Tinkerers, they are a subset of Core Powers that grant the user innate understanding over a type of specialty. Most often than not, technological.]"

"Hmm.... Wasn't the voice before kinda spooky, mechanical monster type?" [Big Sister] said as the monitor was filled with examples of what Main Core referred to.

"Different Main Core." Ale said going over the examples, these included Vulcanus and Elder of course, since those two were the ones that Ale had interacted more often than not.

"[A note of interest includes the fact that not every Technology Core User is a Tinkerer, but most Tinkerer Cores are Technology users.]"

"That... sounds weird." Ale said confused, "Wouldn't one need to be a Tinkerer to be able to use their technology?"

"Not necesarily." It was [Big Sister] the one to answer, "I don't understand half the data my Core Power uses to teleport, but even so, I can still use my power."

"That sounds dangerous." Ale said looking mildly horrified, "Wouldn't that mean that if your power uses complex formulae and you don't know what it says... Doesn't that imply you could end up teleporting into a solid object? Or leaving half your body behind?"

"No, my Core Power just doesn't work if something is misaligned." [Big Sister] said shaking her head, "That's why even though I really want to teleport back home I can't, if it worked like you say... Well, I would probably have died the first day I managed to use this power."

"[As Skye Venti has said, there are safeguards programmed into every Core. If one has enough understanding or the ability to directly interface with their own Core, then those could be sidestepped, but that is not advised as such event can end up with the host under great risk.]"

There was a bite in those words. Was Main Core implying the previous event where Ale had been... pseudo-lobotomized?

"My bad Main Core." Ale said with a simple apology, "Will not happen again... probably."

"So, how does it feel finding out you are a tinkerer core then?" [Big Sister] said turning the attention back to Ale, "Can you invent a way for this to work?"

"I mean... That's what this was for." Ale said raising her arm, "Can you try to use the data I gave you?"

"Let me try then," [Big Sister] said closing her eyes, "I have great hopes since the memory and the data was more detailed than I could ever hope for."

[Notice, increase in Space Mana Density detected.]

[Notice, detected a crack within reality's fabric.]

Notice:Detected an attempt to connect with theoretical Space.

Reviewing user's permits.

Reviewing user's authority.

Reviewing user's ID.

Reviewing user's EGO.

Identifying user.

Name: Bella Campbell.

Verifying...

"Amm.... Any sucess?" Ale asked as the blue screen was flashing around them, was [Big Sister] able to see that one? It referred to [Big Sister] instead of Alexa or Ale for the first time in... well, forever.

"I think..." [Big Sister] started saying as her hair started shining in a different color.

Usually, when she used her power, it shone in green hues, which made her black hair create an interesting contrast. But right now? It was shining in purple color.

That was new.

Notice:Amend found.

Name: Skye Venti.

User not authorized for interplanar travel.

Please finish your internship.

Gate closed.

"Wha-?" And with that last blue screen the mana reaction stopped, as if it hadn't happened before, "It was connecting!"

[Big Sister] screamed as she closed her eyes and frowned, starting to stockpile Mana once again. She was kickstarting the process again, but it didn't matter how much Mana she piled up on her Core.

It didn't matter what she attempted, the mana reaction never started again, her Mana didn't flare in purple again, nor did her Mana make that jump in density.

"Ale." [Big Sister] said after a few extra attempts, "Do you have another memory to share? Maybe if we try another one?"

"...That was the one I had." Ale said shaking her head.

She did have others available, but not only did she not have enough atmospheric data of them, those were on the empty white Space where she had met old man Alexanders.

She did not want to open a doorway into that place, who knew what would happen if that old bastard managed to cross over to this side. It was bad enough to have one Alexanders around, imagine having two...

Besides that one was grumpier than the one they had at the moment, so yeah, no.

She was not going to be responsible for increasing the Alexanders count on Terra Nova.

"... I see." [Big Sister] said closing her eyes and letting herself fall to the ground, "... I almost did it you know?"

[Big Sister] said as her voice cracked.

"I could feel the connection forming..." [Big Sister] nestled her face against her knees, and there was a small sob as she spoke, "...almost."

That...

"You didn't try to open a doorway to the place I gave you." Ale did not ask, but assumed as much.

"...No," [Big Sister] admitted, "I didn't."

"...That was a very dangerous thing then." Ale said as she sat besides [Big Sister], "What would have you done if the data was corrupted? If your memory of back home was tainted?"

"...I can't make it back with my own memories anyway." [Big Sister] said sighing, "You gave me a vivid, livid memory of another place that is not in Terra Nova. So I attempted to use that information to fill on the gaps of my memory back home."

"There was no proof that the place I saw was the same you came from." Ale pointed out, "I don't even know if what I saw was true, it was no memory of any place I was in."

"It was real." [Big Sister] said filled with conviction, "I can guarantee that, my Core felt the place, it tasted the [Space], that place was real. My homeworld was real."

"Then..." Ale couldn't be sure what to say, "It means that what the people think about the scrambler is wrong."

"He isn't fabricating personalities and changing people." [Big Sister] said raising her face and looking at Ale, just as she had suspected, the older woman had been crying, "He is kidnapping us from our homes and dropping us here. We are victims that were pulled from our worlds and thrown here for his amusement."

"...Assuming he knew what he was doing." Ale pointed, "We don't know how or by what method he did this. Crossing dimensions... is not something people can do willy nilly."

"How do you know?" [Big Sister] asked, "Is that your real Core Power? Jumping dimensions?"

"...Grampa told me." Ale said with a shrug, "You may not believe it, but a very nasty asshole of an old man was the one who told me."

"Oh." Was all the reaction that got out of Big Sister, "Yeah, that checks out."

"It does?" Ale asked confused, "No more questioning? Not suspicious? Nothing? I say an asshole of an old man said it and you believe it?"

"Was it not the truth?" Big Sister asked smirking.

".... I mean, it was." Ale said sighing in defeat, "But people usually don't get information like that you know? Usually you have to investigate, do theoretical testing, get a building or twenty to do experiments... Perhaps open a black hole in the backyard... Or even do some eldritch ritual."

"You are a Saitnsworths." Big Sister said with a shrug, "Your family is not normal, your brother is not normal, your parents aren't normal..."

Ah right.

The Saintsworths.

"...Fair." Ale sighed to that, the name was useful, even if Ale was not sure how to feel about that, "So do you know the name of the grandpa?"

"I assume it was your father." Big sister stood up to sit at the desk and pull out the keyboard, moving on the cursor she opened a web browser and typed a name. "Thaddeus Saintsworths."

The name got a page with the picture of...

"So that's Alexanders Father?" There it was the picture of a man who resembled old man Alexanders... only in vibes, this one had aged poorly (Compared to old man Alexanders anyway).

"Your father too." Big Sister nodded, "Thaddeus Saintsworths is someowhat of a myth, no one has seen it in almost eleven years."

That long?

No wait, wasn't that roughly around the time that Alexanders was (Allegedly) dealing with the ones who caused the Vulcanus.exe incident?

"I would believe it if you said he was the one who gave you the data you gifted me." Big sister opened one of the links on the profile that they got, "Thaddeus had a more focused Saintsowrhts Corporation. He focused on theorical psychics and space exploration. Unlike how Alexanders has an approach to almost everything he can get his grubby hands on."

So this man was more focused?

"People think that he managed to find life in other planets and that is why he hasn't been seen." Big Sister continued saying as the articles moved from ones with verified data to basically gossip, "I just didn't think he had attempted to breach the walls to other realities."

"Right..." Ale of course didn't confirm nor deny, this was easier than explaining that she had meet the alternate reality Alexanders. "So, what do we do then?"

"About what?" Big Sister asked turning her attention back to Ale.

"Well, for one... We found that the scrambler is not really what people think." Ale pointed out the first issue, "Not that we can prove it."

"We can ask Gabriel." Big Sister answered with a shrug, "It will not change anything, for all intended purposes, his power is still a death sentence, either you survive or not."

"Gabriel? Not Vulcanus?" Ale asked, "What's the deal with that?"

"...We... We really need you to speak with Billy." Big Sister said with a grimace, "And Gabriel if possible, he will probably want to speak with you more than anyone."

"...Right." Ale also wanted to speak with them, did they found about Vulcanus.exe? That... wasn't much of an issue to her, but it may be dangerous for Vulcanus.

Vulcanus.exe did want to get rid of his other half, not that Ale was in a position to question or give her opinion on that. If she didn't have a good relationship with Alexa...

Would she have ended like that?

Ale couldn't imagine or even picture such an outcome. Or more like, she didn't think she would even thought about such a thing before.

"Then there is the thing with our actual Core Powers." Ale pointed the next point, "Is everyone actually hidding their powers?"

"More or less." Big sister shrugged, "Not everyone told everyone what their power was. Before we used to think that only you did... But apparently, you didn't either. Or well... Was that before you split?"

"...Alexa did not lie." Ale said in a serious tone, "This much I can say, Alexa never lies."

"But your power..." Big sister pointed at the mechanical arm. "That is not shape shifting."

"I mean..." Ale turned to look at her arm too, a flare of Mana was all it took and the thing turned into motes of light, Ale had turned the components into Mana Nanites and then stored them back into her body. This way she wouldn't need to burn as much Mana as the first time.

A neat trick she had just thought.

[Second half of first spark consumed.]

Or not.

She really needed to check on those things, was she burning a finite resource? If so she needed to speak with another Tinker and find a way to not burn them.

"Everything is shape-shifting." Ale continued on what she was saying, "I am reassembling something, changing how it moves and shifts. I just specialize into machines... apparently."

"...So your excuse is that you are a Shapeshifter that shapes machines." Big Sister said laughing, "Right... Let's go with that then."

"You have seen us change forms," Ale pointed out, "You have seen me transform into someone else, change into Alexa and into Alexandra. How could a tinkerer whose power was to manipulate machines do that?"

"...That is what I am trying to answer too." Big Sister said nodding, "There is no way you can do that, and this."

Ale frowned and tried to change her left arm into the muscular gorilla arm form to prove her point... Only her Mana wasn't answering and her body wasn't shifting like before.

"Main Core? Why can't I change the form of the biomass on my arm?" Ale prompted the manager of her powers.

[...Host's Core Power is not suitable for biological modifications that extreme.]

[Do you wish to burn a Tinkerer Spark to find a solution to this?]

"...No." Ale immediately refused, there was no reason why they would need to do that to achieve something Ale knew she had been doing.

She just needed to find the reason why their Powers weren't reacting like usual. Was it something that came from whatever the old asshole did?

A side effect from whatever cause that had divided her from Alexa? Would this solve itself when their link stabilized as hwo it was before?

Ale could only hope... Or they would need to find a very good excuse as to why she couldn't do the things she had been doing before.