You know, I always hated the term “sheath.” The term is deliberately backward. Your sheath is the hardware–the physical apparatus you use to interface with the world. Your ego is not the blade, but more like the hand that wields the weapon.
Whatever voider bastard we stole the term from should be ashamed of themselves; their focus on poetic marketing betrays the conveyance of ideas. Pitiful.
But I can deny it does sound good. Catchy. The concept just clings to you after you say it. “Sheath.” It certainly fits more than calling our products “enhanced ego-receivable bodies.” Because bodies aren’t what they are. Bodies are the ugly legacies we got from our parents, hammered into an inefficient lump by our environment. A lacking vessel for these trying times.
I don’t know if you’ve all noticed, but we’re in an arms race right now. Against existence. Against each other. Against our own limits. There’s a war happening, and it’s happening everywhere. And if you don’t upgrade, someone else will, and to steal a phrase from my mother: “Skill’s what you’re forced to fall back on when you’re shit outta luck everywhere else.”
I hated the sow, but she’s right. You get a pureborn Kosgan, fish Old Thousandhand back out from the Big Nothing, have her train the poor shit a thousand years, and then throw them up against some joy-fiend sheathed into a Bearbreaker. See who comes out on top. Two hundred pounds of brittle bone and soft tissue against a sub-ton of super tensile muscle tissue, titanium-duramite endo and exoskeletal supports, hyper-conductive synaptic layering, and desynchronized nerve silos. See who wins.
Thankfully, you choose which part of the metaphor you wish to embody. Most will end up as the poor bastard about to be swept aside. But you? If I’m right about you at all, you’re gonna wanna be the avalanche instead.
Or maybe you fancy yourself another kind of calamity altogether.
We won’t judge. We’re just here to give you options. Hell, we’ll even throw in the immuno-suppressants and the counter-dysmorphia sequencing for free. All you need to do is choose power.
Choose better.
Choose Onta-Fang.
-Personalized Nether-ad of Yaer Coldstrong, Doghead of Onta-Fang (A Stormtree subsidiary)
19-17
An Attunement of Flesh (II)
Dice had a preference for the cybernetic over the purely biological.
There was something about the girl that preferred the certainty of steel over the flexibility of flesh. It was understandable, in a way. She lived life as a thing, an object, a weapon, and so, she saw herself the same way: as a blade; a dagger; a gun. What then could speak more to her self-regard than becoming a weapon above weapons? Encased in skin impervious to the sharpest of teeth.
Joined to Avo’s Conflagration, the specifications of each sheath and implant calcified into understanding within Dice’s mind. After narrowing her search parameters, the Onta-Fang Stormrazer-IX was the first major item to catch the girl’s interest, boasting extreme physical power supported by a modified fusion core for a heart deemed “treacherously volatile” even for light assault vehicles, the girl’s enthusiasm regarding the choice was cut down with but a scoff from Tavers.
The old squire rolled her eyes at the phantoms hovering over Avo’s mind, simulating a modeled projection of a headless ten-foot-tall bipedal sheath with wire-like synthetic muscles and an L-200 anti-drone assault cannon fused into its spine. “Jaus, always with this shit. Look. Juv. Not to piss on your parade, but this sheath is for half-strands and fuckwits. This thing guzzles over a thousand kilowatts on the daily. Even inactive, you’re going to be sucking juice constantly. Ghoul here’s gonna have to plant a Domain of Lightning in you to deal with that. Sure.”
Tavers took a moment more to review the design further. “Sensory suite lining the body isn’t bad; core storage for the brain is good too. And I gotta admit the spinal-mounted heavy cannon is real sexy. Can punch through an assault drone at two hundred kilometers away with BVR assistance. But I propose the contrary: just jock into an assault drone or missile yourself and cut out the complicated middle-man bullshit. You’ll get ten times more firepower at a fourth of the cost. And people won’t look at you funny while you’re walking down the street.”
Dice blinked at all that and shifted her thoughts to template-Draus for approval instead. The Regular stored in Avo’s mind responded with a shrug. [Ain’t wrong. But you’re a Godclad now. You can set your own rules. A recharge is just a resurrection away. A death will give you a clean slate. Old Tavers’ there got limits you don’t.]
The girl nodded. “Okay.”
Adjusting her parameters further, she spent a few beats considering the NewLife Bomber Queen and the Ascender Operative before moving on, regarding the first as something too grotesque and the latter as too brittle. Then, her mind came to a rest on the Aegis-provided Big-Stick Diplomat, offering a heavy augmented baseline body built around an expandable particle cannon.
{Ah,} Calvino said, releasing a sigh of satisfaction. {She finally comes upon the diamond we placed among the rough. Fitting for her, don’t you think? It looks so harmless, yet with a single thought, the arms and chest will unfurl to form a–}
Dice promptly eliminated the Big-Stick Diplomat as well, her attention drifting ahead to one of the oddest acquisitions among the items.
[Omnitech Railjumper]
Standard Market Price -> [35,000,000,000 Imps]
Specifications:
Reactor: ENE-393 Microfusion Cells x2
Cog-Tech Systems: Chainglass Polyweave Vivianite Casing with Pre-Built Phalanx Warded Poly-Loci Processing Core with Cybermind ({5.5 TB/s} Sprites)
Modules: [360-Vision]; [Full Spectrum Visual Interface]; [Lidar]; [Sensory Enhancement Suite]; [Synth-Flesh Endomesh]; [Scope-10 ScanGrid]; [“Railjujmper” Mag-Boosted Maneuvering System]
The sheath wasn’t that much taller than Dice was at a glance, barely reaching two hundred and ten centimeters in terms of full height. If judged from the look of its contours, it would have seemed relatively mundane as well, offering two arms, two legs, and even a smooth pyramid-shaped ScanGrid as a head unit. The true specialty lurked behind the curved layers of polished chrome encasing the body, with the inner system being a twisted interplay between heavily modified synthflesh fused around a heavily modified skeleton composed of coils, rails, pneumatics, and magnetically charged extension units.
To put it simply, each step one took while built into a Railjumper allowed them to leap, dash, and soar through the air as if they were flechette being fired out of a railcannon.
{No. Bad. Terrible idea. Avo, advise her.}
The ghoul just grinned. “Like this one?”
For a beat, Dice said nothing, but the twitching of her lips told him all he needed to know.
Across the room, Tavers whistled. “Fuck me, juvs like to live dangerously these days.”
Draus grunted in agreement. “Railjumper. Haven’t seen many people build themselves around those. Knew a guy who made it work for him pretty good. First Lieutenant Kiseng. Fastest among my surviving pod of aspirants. Might be the fastest Reg alive. If he’s still alive. Bastard managed to shoot down a passin’ golem while diving across blocks durin’ the war.”
“Yeah. Way too fast for most to handle,” Tavers concurred. “You’ll need a high-end Accelero just to keep up with how fast you’re moving. And it’s too fragile to survive a direct impact with heavier armor. She’s gonna have a hell of a learning curve if she wants to cut her teeth on that.”
{Not to mention its design is completely nonsensical,} Calvino complained. Drawing up the schematics for the sheath, the EGI scrawled through the data and highlighted several sentences, focusing on how the body was a “scientific success at capturing and redirecting the force of a linear-acceleration platform in a miniaturized vessel” and “a constant counter-magnetic pressure paired with high-tensile tissue allow for the flexing and survival of the host.” {This is utter nonsense.}
The Techplaguer disagreed, chiming with a note of approval. “Good child. THROUGH SCIENCE EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE! EVERYTHING! HAIL SCIENCE!”
{But none of this is scientific you ridiculous, broken thing. Newton’s Third Law is screaming. And the amount of heat this will generate–}
“Have been resolved through TRUE SCIENCE!”
{Loudly shouting science does not alleviate the fact that this body is powered by reality-breaking madness.}
A low warbling drone of disgust sounded from the Techplaguer. “What do you know of science, Sky-Burner?”
{...Are you serious right now?}
“I want to try this one,” Dice said, as Heaven and the artificial mind continued their argument.
“Good,” Avo said. “Can make some adjustments afterward. But your installation will come later. Have our grafters do your cybernetics before I adjust your biology. Provided locus and coldtech mind also useful. Gives us more time to sequence a Metamind to your ego.”
The girl blinked twice and nodded. “Am I going to get the fires too?”
“No. Fires only for me,” Avo paused. “For now.” He would need to experiment with his Conflagration further. He still had a yearning to deepen his control over his current state and prevent any further lapses. The desire to temporarily quell his fires to allow for standard and subtle jacking remained as well. “Stay here for now. Will start work on you once the workshop is finished and the voiders get a look at you.”
{They’re not going to like that,} Calvino said. {Jack and Jane might be quite liberal about using thaumaturgically affected materials, but the shadow of the Builder War hangs over us yet.}
+Girl’s chosen. Will it be a problem?+
{Just be ready to hear a lot of complaining from both of them. And me.}
Avo clicked his fangs together and regarded the rest of his cadre; the endless templates constantly sniping and sneering at each other in his mind.
The EGI groaned. {Very well, point taken.}
“Chambers,” Avo said. “Call up more grafting station. Going to do the rest of you while drones bring in the rest of the workshop. Call the voiders too. Get them on standby. Have a side job for them to do.”
“Yeah… sure, got it…” Chambers said. A hint of uncertainty remained in his voice. His eyes were flicking between Avo and Dice.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“What?”
Chambers just shrugged. “You know, like, Tavers said right? It’s pretty extreme for the kid. That’s–her body’s going to be completely replaced and stuff. It’s not even going to remotely look the same. It’ll just be her brain, skull, spine, and bits of torso fused to the core of that thing.”
The man’s apprehension was understood in an instant. Avo could feel the same unease boiling inside template-Chambers as well. “Worried about her suffering dysmorphia.”
The half-strand opened his mouth and squeezed out an effortful breath. “I’d have trouble making the transition is all I’m saying.”
“She won’t,” Avo replied. “Have her mind inside mine. Know her limits. Her sheathing tolerance is comparable to Draus. Comparable to me. Will shape any damage out of her ego if it happens. Ensure her lasting sanity.”
“Yeah? Okay. You got the burn, consang.” Despite the words leaving his lips, a slight wariness remained in Chambers’ posture. “Just, uh, you know… You know better than I do.”
“Yeah,” Avo replied. “Chambers?”
“Hm?”
“New grafting stations.”
“Right, right.”
***
Implants qued:
Jelene Draus -> [Neurotuner]; [Chem Sniff]; [Soulgazer Optics]; [Accelero-XI]; [Volant Reflex-Acceleration System]; [Modular Projectile Unit] (Right Arm)
Kae Kusanade -> [Neurotuner]; [Examiner Optics]; [Nanosurgeons]; [Accelero-XI]; [Duramite Skeletal Lacing]; [Muscular Nanofibers]; [Nanosurgeons]; [Respirocytes]; [Tox-Filter]
Aedon Chambers -> [Neurotuner]; [Duramite Skeletal Lacing]; [Muscular Nanofibers]; [Nanosurgeons]; [Respirocytes]; [Tox-Filter]; [Accelero-XI]
Avo -> [Neurotuner]; [Mastermind Personal Data-Cortex (58 TB/s)]
Dice -> {SHEATH UPDATE: RAILJUMPER]; [Neurotuner]; [Modular Projectile Unit] (Left+Right Arm); [Meteor Omnidirectional Manuvering System]; [Volant Reflex-Acceleration System]
Domain of (Biology)
->Canons: My Blood The Harvester, My Flesh the Symphony (III); Remembrance of Flesh (V)
Extracting Biological Traits…
Grafting…
Jelene Draus -> [Endo-Chitinous Plating]; [Bioelectric Skin Sensors]; [Magnetoreception Sensitivity]; [Bomb-Queen Bio-Hive]; [Bomb-Queen Bio-Pheromones]
Kae Kusanade -> [NewLife Phagekiller-TURBO]; [NewLife Metabolics]; [FANG Endocrine Modulator]; [Omni-Lung]
Aedon Chambers -> [Immunobooster]; [Omni-Lung]; [NewLife Phagekiller-TURBO]; [NewLife Metabolics]
Dice -> [Bone Demon Mycelia]; [NewLife Phagekiller-TURBO];
Avo -> [Condylostylus]
Steel sank into shifting flesh as machines performed their surgeries and the Woundmother expressed its touch.
Aside from the Aegis Neurotuner requisitioned for all active combatants in the cadre to tune and keep their cognitive processing speeds synced, each member obtained varying implants and modifications based on their own preferences and requirements.
Kae’s needs weren’t so unlike Essus’ in some regards, though her augmentations focused more on enhancing her physicality. Both she and Chambers had their bodies'' major systems boosted, with special consideration applied to their bones and muscles. It would likely take the Agnos a bit longer to adjust to the changes, but she would acclimate in time. Now, at least she could keep up easily with the rest of the group.
Avo borrowed a few organs from the Bomb-Queen rejected by Dice and applied their benefits to Draus. Despite how formidable her sheath already was, being able to command and compel a swarm of highly explosive hornets at range was likely going to be a trait she enjoyed.
Of course, this modification would pale compared to the sheer spike in effectiveness that the Aegis Volant Reflex-Acceleration System offered. Paired with her existing Accelero-IX, the exo-spinal neuro-booster implant was a module adapted from highly advanced voider interceptor drones.
Reduced in potency though it was, it remained a restricted modification to most even among the polities beyond the most extreme body modders or those with extremely durable sheaths. Anyone lesser tended to reap a quick death after their synapses were overloaded.
Neither Draus nor Dice fully qualified as either of the above, but with their ability to resurrect and Avo being capable of mending their flesh with a thought, the risk posed to them was acceptable.
As a needle empty of heavy aesthetics lifted from Dice’s unmoving form, Avo listened to Jack grumble about the sheath they were assembling opposite of the waif, describing its design as cursed and “powered by goofy bullshit.” The Techplaguer regarded them with muted scorn as the voider grafters continued with their task, Jane testing the whining articulations of her drones as she fired her monosaw twice.
“Ah, shit,” Chambers muttered, watching in silent apprehension from his own grafting station as Dice prepared to undergo her changes. “Hope you’re right about this, Avo. Sheath rejection gets real nasty.”
“She’ll be fine,” Avo said, reassuring Chambers. The anxiety inside the man and his template was growing; brewing like a forgotten kettle set to boil. “Seem nervous Chambers. Got something you want to say?”
“What? No. I’m just… You know. Tired. You growing those biomods inside me tickled something bad. Got me unbalanced and all that other shit, you know.”
“Have your mind inside me too, Chambers. Don’t need to do this. Don’t need to lie.”
The man drew in a long wheezing breath. “I forgot. Why don’t you just ask the version of me who’s burning inside you? Just pull the mem-data from him. You don’t need to talk to me.”
"You would like it more if I talked to you,” Avo said.
A beat passed. Chambers nodded. “Yeah… I’m… worried about the juv. And jealous of her ass too.”
“Jealous?” Avo asked, refraining from accessing template-Chambers for immediate understanding. Amassed intuition told him that letting this moment play out to the end as a process would be more poignant than just knowing everything in an instant.
“Yeah.” Chambers snorted. “You already fucking know why, right? It’s stupid. Shit, I’m blushing. Fuck.”
“Embarrassed?”
“No shit I’m embarrassed. Got the Reg, Kae, Essus, and Tavers giving me looks right now. I just… you know. Kinda wish someone gave a shit about me like we give a shit about her back when I was a kid. You know? It would’ve been nice if I had someone looking out for me, caring about what I wanted, and stealing stupidly expensive sheaths for me…”
It promptly dawned on Chambers what he was asking and he buried his face into his palms. “Fuuuuccck. Holy shit, consang. I wish that you could have been my dad instead.” He barked a humorless laugh. “A godsdamned people-eating monster for a father. What a joke.”
“You had a monster for a father,” Avo said. “You should wish for more. Act to cast his shadow behind. Leave him forgotten in the end.”
Chambers shifted his face and peeked at Avo from the corner of his eye. “Listen. Can I ask you a question? But I’m not sure if it means anything–”
“Ask it anyway.”
“I mean, you already know everything I’m going to say. What’s the point?”
“For you? Everything.” Avo regarded Chambers. “There is a difference between knowing something will happen and being part of the action. Gnosis is not a manifestation. Epiphany is not full comprehension. The possibility of a miracle is not the miracle itself. Ask your question. Make your thoughts true.”
“Why don’t you just… burn the useless out of me? Out of me and Essus and–and anyone else, really. Elegant-Moon, the Paladins! You can make us think like anyone. Make us whoever you want us to be. Why are we still us? Why? I don’t get it. It’s what I would have done.” A darkness fell over Chambers’ features. “Hells. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I could do the things you can. Probably named myself god boss of some Syndicate in some district somewhere and then get myself snuffed after pissing the wrong person off.”
The question made Avo smile. It was an honest question magnified by Chambers’ greatest insecurities. “You have seen my brothers. Remember how they are?” Avo asked.
The man nodded. “Yeah?”
“What are their characters like? Personality. How do they behave?”
Chambers opened his mouth and shrugged. “They’re… hungry fucking monsters that hurt and eat shit.”
“Yes. Small differences. Some bigger. Some smaller. Some cunning. Some simple. All without impulse. All ruled by hunger. All ruled by the Hungers and the Low Masters. A self-referencing set of traits and habits. Nothing more. No culture can grow from them. No expression. Not people. Poor pathetic things. I will not make the Hungers'' mistake. I will not be foolish like the Low Masters.”
“You don’t want to play god?”
[Oh, for fuck’s sake,] template-Draus muttered. [How much do the rest of you have to put up with this shit?]
[All the time,] Abrel muttered. [I swear, the ghoul thinks he’s some kind of philosopher.]
[Especially when he’s torturing or killing people,] Benhata added. [It’s disturbing.]
Avo ignored his inner hecklers and kept going. “I am a god. I don’t want to play human. Play tyrant. Tyranny is rooted in fear. Fear of the oppressor. Fear of the oppressed. But this fear is relative. And I do not wish to be chained by such things. Debases my pursuit of freedom. The ideals I wish to embody. My power is not relative to another’s existence. My powers are total. Absolute.” Avo looked to Chambers. “And so are yours.”
Chambers just blinked. “Consang… I wish I could catch on to half the shit you’re saying. This is like, freedom and philosophy and shit, right? About letting people live their own choices all the way?”
Avo smiled. “All these minds. All these memories. All these lives and perspectives. There are many ways to consider the world. Many angles to look at a mistake. Do you know why I think existence is broken?”
Chambers shrugged. “Why?”
“Because humanity refuses to cross over. It wants to indulge in all the pleasures of mortality while also enjoying the privileges of divinity. But an idea is perfection. A canon is absolute. I once lamented my fate as a ghoul. Didn’t ask to be. Pitied myself in a way. But I see the grander pattern now. That all of us live lamentable lives. That we are all of us torn by the way of things. Seeking ascension. But anchored to affliction and addiction. Pulled between the heights of apotheosis and the debasement of primal desire.”
A wince passed through the half-strand’s face. “I just wanna feel good sometimes, The rash–all the porn, it’s just… I needed to feel.”
“Yes. I understand. I was not better. I was just as addicted. But mine was harm inflicted. Yours is lust internalized. I shaped others with my cruelty. Broke them. Ate them. You dreamed of love and lust in the greatest extremes. Stimulation. Reminders that we are here. We exist. But you can be more than that now. Or you can be just that. All up to you. I just think it would be another kind of pity. Another kind of pitiful. If you do not seek the ends of who you can become.”
Silence fell. But not in Avo’s mind. Template-Draus made whimpering noises in mockery of the moment. [Listen to you both whinge.]
{I felt it was quite caring,} Calvino said. {A show of our ghoul’s growing maturity. Using stolen goods to augment what is functionally a child soldier aside.}
[Well, that’s ‘cause you’re a bit of a bitch, Calv.]
{Charmingly described as always, Captain Draus.}
Back in the real, Chambers exhaled. “I’m real happy I got lucky. That you decided to keep me alive and use me against Mirrorhead. That you didn’t snuff me afterward. Or take back your Frame. That’s all. That’s all I had to say.”
And so that’s all Chambers needed to say. But there was one more thing Avo could do. One final act of extreme positive reinforcement. “Chambers. Have a final question.”
“Yeah. What?”
“Was thinking about adding a final biomod. Just for you.”
“Yeah…”
“Would you like to get your genitals enlarged? For the sake of enhancing your Heaven.”
Avo could see Kae’s face break out in horror while Draus leaned over next to her. “Avo, fuck you. What are you doing?”
“You mean it?” Chambers said, eyes growing wet.
“Why would I lie.”
“Godsdammit, Avo, if I catch a twelve-inch dick from his Fucktopia in the future, I’m gonna lodge that shit in your skull!”
The ghoul just kept grinning. And in time, Chambers’ smiled too. “...I love you, consang. I really, really do.”