Of course! Gehenna laughed. You still look human on the outside.
On the outside? He gasped.
Well, you’re… uhm, evolved? Yes, that’s probably the term I should use, Gehenna mused. Improved makes it sound like humans aren’t good or something and they clearly are! They must be the best of the Seeded Species, after all the Osiris chose you over anyone else to be the Pilot.
Jace just blinked. This was too much to take him. He felt a little dizzy. But that, he realized, was because he was hungry and thirsty. And overwhelmed.
“Jace? Neither of you are speaking out loud, but I think it is clear that you are speaking to one another,” Khoth stated.
“Ah, yeah, sorry, Khoth. Gehenna’s sensitive about how she would sound out loud until she gets the proper materials. And I…” Jace paused as, once more, he struggled to describe his physical and mental state. “I need some pants.”
Khoth’s right eyebrow lifted. “Yes, I understand. Let me assist you.”
Khoth gracefully stood up and offered Jace a hand. Jace reached for it and froze again as he caught a glimpse of his powerful arm. Rippling muscles. He dared look down at himself.
“Holy shit!” Jace gasped and would have tumbled back into the tank but for Khoth keeping him upright.
“You have gained approximately 43.2 pounds of muscle to this form,” Khoth stated.
“I… wow… okay… shit, it was like Captain America here. Osiris must have given me Vitarays or whatever they gave him!” Jace laughed. It sounded a little hysterical. Okay, maybe a lot hysterical.
“Another of your species has been transformed by the Osiris?” Khoth asked, brow furrowing.
“What? No! Captain America is a… uhm, superhero and… he’s made up. Fiction. Not real.” Jace ran a hand over his six-pack stomach. He had never had much fat on him, but now he was seriously cut. “But I’m really wondering here if those comic book guys weren’t onto something.”
Khoth was frowning again and more furrowing was going on. “I am afraid that I do not--”
“It’s complicated and not important. It’s just I’ve been sick and weak all my life and now…” He gestured down to his muscular yet still lithe form. “I’ve never… oh, God, I can’t explain this! It’s so…” He let out a giggle. He slapped a hand over his mouth but more giggles erupted. “I’m a fucking superhero, Khoth! Scrap that! I have a spaceship! I’m freaking Luke Skywalker! Well, I don’t have the Force, but still!”
Frowns. Many more frowns. Khoth’s beautiful blue face was all scrunched with confusion.
“I’m sorry! I’m just a little… freaked out. I mean it’s awesome, but… I have no idea… it’s just so… everything’s changed and I… well, I never thought… I mean I dreamed, but never really thought… oh, my God, I’m babbling!” The giggles were coming every fourth word now. It was then that he saw his mother and father’s faces looking at him through a--a window? No, it was a screen beside a closed door. “Mom! Dad!”
They were frantically waving at him. They were speaking too, but he couldn’t hear them. He brushed off Khoth’s help as he staggered towards the door. After a few steps, he was walking with confidence again. He was incredibly light on his feet.
“Ah, Gehenna, what’s the deal here? Khoth, why can’t I hear them? And what are they outside?” Jace asked as he put his hand against the screen where his mother’s hand was. “How do I open these doors?”
There wasn’t any sensor pad that he could see and they weren’t simply opening with his touch like other things had in the Osiris. He glanced up at his parents and put a finger up to indicate he needed a minute. They both nodded. Remembering how incredibly brave his mom had been last time the two of them were in this room had warmth flowing through Jace. His mother and father were the strongest people he knew. They had lied to him though.
But they couldn’t tell me about any of this. It would have been treason.
“The sound was working previously, but it abruptly ceased when you were emerging from your transformation,” Khoth said stiffly. “As to why they are out there…”
“They would have stopped the transformation,” Jace filled in with a nod as he took in his parents’ anguished faces.
Who could blame them? After Dr. Rancic had been attacked and then the ship had tried to literally cut him out of his mother… He swallowed. What had done that exactly? Who had done it? Gehenna had said that the Osiris had tricked her.
The Osiris…
He turned towards Gehenna and Khoth. The AI’s squid head was flashing different colors and he could feel her attempting to access the ship’s systems. She knew that he wanted the doors open and his parents let inside.
I’m sorry, Jace! But the Osiris is blocking me. I’m not quite at full strength here, she apologized. But, no matter, it won’t keep me out! I am better than it! It’ll see!
That was when Jace saw the screen with the blinking cursor. Khoth followed his gaze.
“That appeared soon before you awakened. It appears to be some kind of… input,” Khoth said.
Jace turned to his parents’ frantic faces again. He could only imagine what they were thinking with him inside of here with a metal squid and an alien and him now looking like Captain America. He held up a finger again. His mother was mouthing something but he shrugged and touched his ear. He couldn’t hear her. His gaze was drawn again to the cursor blinking.
