Paradigm Mine

The Encounter

It had been several hours since they had exited FTL. They had been searching the ship for some time. Like a squad they moved room by room, chamber by chamber.

The hallways illuminated on their own as motion sensors detected group. Built in features like this one; made the mighty Enigma class vessel fairly unique. One might even think that there were many like the one Zyphr and Mia had.

This was not true. The Enigma stood alone in its make and the role it played. Much like it's namesake and it's proprietary AI: M I A. ( Massive Isomorphic Algorithm)

As The passengers had been asked to rest in the cargo bay, the ship was empty besides the three agents of the empire.

In the entire history of the galaxy; multiple versions of Ai programs had been made and tested. MIA had been; up until this point- flawless. Widely accepted as the best.

However as Mia and Zypher shared a unique connection; there was little MIA could hold back from Zypher from knowing. They were one and the same two parts but one.

As they entered the very last deck; a new atomic residue became perceivable by Zypher. This area was the last possible area where the intruder could be.

In the silence of the vacant corridor; they examined the scene carefully. Onboard memory banks stored every moment that took place on the ship. This was done automatically with out prompting from the hunters. Recordings like this would later be instrumental in identifying the very dangerous creature that they soon would find.

"The walls looks like a high energy pulse was detonated here." Mia explained. "It's like these events happened in a blind spot. Or as if a blind spot was created." She said in slight amazement and awe. As Mia knew everything the ship knew, she did NOT have any record of any of these events. As the 'possible' began to melt in the furnace of reason; the 'impossible' became relevant.

Thinking out loud Cred spoke, "Do you think such tech could exist that could rival that of MIA?" He nodded slightly at the android in apparent respect. Mia; absent of an ego nevertheless appreciated the gesture.

Walking deeper in to this area; The Captain stopped in her tracks. "It IS a tech." Zephyr spoke. Straining she could see someone laying on the ground.

She had a hand slightly lifted towards the intruders body. As they grew closer they observed it was still breathing.

"I can detect the power source. It's really odd but, it feels like I can taste it." Behind her visor she smacked her lips in disgust.

Zephyr had a very strong connection to atoms in general. In rare cases atoms interacted with a 'tastebuds' like sensation. Atomas manipulate or consume atomic energy, the science made sense.

However more specifically with Zephr; her connection was more like an extension of herself. Like a spider's web she could feel other Atomically Connected users nearby. She was no mere fly on the web; she was the spider.

The use of her regenerative abilities hadn't been tested throughly. Surprisingly, as she focused her energy she could tell; it was much different this time. As much as she didn't know what this creature was- healing it was of primary importance.

As Zephyr began to mend flesh and reset bone; she felt very strong. What would have strained her before; was almost subconscious now. Something had changed and she didn't have a way of expressing that.

The other two watched as the mangled body was repaired. The creature chittered and purred and they paused and listened. The body rolled to one side, then slowly it stood. The Kitrin stood confused but somewhat grateful.

It spoke in a raspy feminine voice; "do not approach thorium." For where they stood; it almost looked like a cat like human, it was smiling at them. The flooring rumbled.

The location of where they all were now standing was inside the belly of the ship. The hull plates were thinner here. The Enigma continued to rumble and abruptly; the Kitrin disappeared in a flash of light.

Cred gasped and lurched forward as if to grab onto the fleeing entity. They both looked to Mia as her eyes gleamed with a ribbon of light around her synthetic eyes. Remotely she tried find the source of rumbling. Yet again; in her blind spot she reported to her commander; "My lady, a small shuttle has narrowly missed impacting our hull."

Mia Re-materialized on the bridge. 12 decks above from where the non androids now stood. "Unknown hull class, unknown make." She watched as the nimble craft pulled away with increasing speed.

The other two rushed onto the bridge to find a paceing MIA.

Looking up she uncrossed her nimble white arms. "Sadly I wasn't able to maintain a sensor lock on the craft." They nodded. She wanted to say more but; she identified yet again another emotional response.

She seemed to close her lips tightly and breathed an annoyed huff. Faintly a bright flash of light confirmed the ship had jumped to FLT.

An understandable silence crept into the bridge. Zephyr and the others pondered their options.

"Cred and zephyr; now that we have a moment..." the android seemed tense even tho, the two hunters really poised no threat to her synthetic body. She tensed as her programming was aware of nature of human emotions,

Escorting them back to the medical bay; Mia began to explain.

"As you know; when the emperor's hand was infected with the particle, the number of particles stayed constant," she illustrated a diagram of a humanoid body. "This subject is infected with the particle too, the number of particles has tripled in as many hours."

Looking at the skeleton zephyr looked down at the ground and shot at quick glance at Cred. As zephyr and Mia spoke- Cred became still and his breathing slowed. Realizing it was HIS skeletal system;

"I've been infected." He said interrupting the two women.

"No Cred- you have a viral form of the particle but it's mutated. And judging from what I can see; it matches slightly to A very lethal newly classified condition."

She made him ask her; as she really didn't want to tell him.
"But?" Cred asked impatiently.
"But commander; your particles are not stable. If you use any of your atomic manipulation abilities, there is a chance you could literally burn up..." she thought of a better verb. "You could literally explode in a supernova...sir."

"So my daughter infected me?" He asked quietly pondering what he just heard. He smirked as he seemed ok with a death sentence.

"No Sir, your daughter was infected by the original particle, not your strain."

"Your strain is very power heavy too but like I said, it's like having a glass gas tank."

Cred smiled as he understood what she mean, but then frowned as he remembered it was him that was the gas tank. Thinking about this he remained quiet.

"I see.." he said as he returned his sword to its place behind his left shoulder blade. The clasp locked into place.

"I didn't know about any abilities at first, things just started happening. I should have told you." He nodded as he admitted this.

Zypher locked her silver eyes on her father and for once; saw him as a person. A person that makes mistakes, and one day, if he's not careful- he could die.