OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 648

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(This rattled in my head and refused to actually come out for so long. Then refused to be what I thought it would be. Where's Roger's story Muse!?)

Meanwhile! At the LAB!

“Hello? Your text implied that...” Observer Wu begins to ask as he walks into the laboratory and pauses as he sees an Alfar woman looking at the men holding scanners near her speculatively but confused as well. “Am I permitted to speak with the patient on the table?”

“Hunh? Oh shit! Sorry sir! We’ve just discovered more potential Ode users and it’s very fascinating.”

“It’s just a weird quirk.” The Alfar woman protests.

“A weird quirk that uses the same energy that makes the living gods known as The Primals into Primals.” A Scientist notes.

“Really? My skin refusing tattoos is the same divine power as literal gods? Are you joking?” She asks.

“Ma’am, please raise your arm.” A Scientist says.

“You are asserting once again that the device you are using is merely a scanner, unable to cause me harm on any level.” She asks.

“We are.”

“And this individual is qualified to be here, in this room?”

“If you have concerns ma’am I am willing to leave at your request and with no repercussions towards you in any manner whatsoever.” Observer Wu says recognizing the tone of a person who’s reached the end of one kind of patience and has found another, far worse patience.

The kind that breaks things.

“No thank you, I would rather have witnesses to the possible criminal activities happening here.” The Alfar woman states and the scientist stops.

“Ma’am, what exactly do you think I am scanning for?”

“You have requested, numerous times and at repeat for me to come in for a scan of a delicate substance that could not be openly discussed about. You have given only the broadest and most obtuse and...”

“Obtuse is not the proper word in this context ma’am, if you want to play the legal speak, malicious compliance game then please play it well.” The Scientist notes.

“Very well Doctor Foster. You have failed to establish the risk of my peculiarities and potential dangers of it going unscanned.”

“The issue ma’am, is that much like Axiom being introduced to a human fresh from Cruel Space, is that the Ode energy can be used with great ease, but only at great consequence when utilized outside of the natural patterns and proclivities of the few individuals blessed with it’s capacity. Across an entire spire, we have discovered only you as a previously unknown Ode user.”

“Your pardon, but in what manner is she using Ode?” Observer Wu asks.

“I do not consent for my medical information to be released to another party. Let alone a party that intends to share all information they collect with an entire planetary population of individuals.”

“I am sorry Observer Wu, I cannot give you specifics beyond the fact that like all other patterns of natural Ode use we have discovered the effects are either so ingrained into the imbued individual that they are considered a normal state of affairs or so subtle that it requires deliberate searching for oddities to divine it’s presence.” Doctor Foster replies.

“I see. Your message stated that you have discovered two potential pieces of Ode use. I assume the young lady here is one of them. Which is the other?”

“On Zalwore currently. The Floric Man known as Kudzu has proven to have either inherited or developed a form of Ode ability. We have attained little more than a confirmation of Ode being present within him however as we have yet to actually find more than a natural gathering of Ode energy within his person.”

“I was under the impression that the Ode detecting tools and scanners had some degree of failure in them when not utilized by an Ode endowed individual?”

“I beg your pardon? Am I being examined with untested technology?” The Alfar asks.

“No ma’am, our latest advancement of Ode Detecting Scanning Devices involves using multiple such devices in sequence with the data they broadcast all projected to the same general area.” Doctor Foster says as he turns around the rectangle he’d been waving around her. The Screen shines in a strange way, as if it’s in pieces. “You can see the multiple screens yes? The clear divides into eight separate segments?”

“Yes.”

“Ode based devices work properly for a Non-Ode user one time three. As such I scan you multiple times with eight devices simultaneously and use the average to conclude on likely data. Is this explanation sufficient?”

“Are you implying that if I were to scan myself with that device then it would provide more accurate information purely because I myself am the one using it?”

“As far as we understand, yes.”

“How does that make any sense?” She asks.

“That’s what we’re trying to make sense of ma’am. You want your privacy, autonomy and don’t want your time wasted. All respectable. I just need to finish up the scan and I apologize for it taking this long to begin with and for getting exciting and summoning Observe Wu before we were finished.”

“Why are you informing him? Is he not here to more or less audit the Undaunted?”

“No ma’am, my title of Observer is a bit loose with definitions. I am here more along the lines of a safety inspector but with regards to truthfulness and information. It’s been quite the journey.”

“Oh?” She asks.

“Oh yes.” He answers. “Incidentally, why are you so defensive at the moment. Not that I fully expect an answer.”

She goes silent for a moment and then holds up a hand to Doctor Foster. “I’ll answer that, but only if I can see that thing first.”

“Very well ma’am, the device is base simple. The red lined button on the side here is the power button, this button on the top takes a quick scan and must be held down for three seconds for proper use. The eight screens then display the results. Do you understand?” He asks.

“I do.” She says as she examines the images for a moment. “Only two images are matching, am I to assume they are the ‘correct’ ones?”

“Yes, the advantage of the faults in Ode scanning is that each fault is different. Meaning that if you use multiple scanners at once, then the results that match are the correct ones.”

“Hmm... It is showing a basic outline of my body with a green pattern... superimposed everywhere I... hmm... I will be using this myself for a moment.” She says and then holds the device so the cameras are all facing her and presses the scan button. Four seconds later she lets go of it and looks again. “... This is working. And it all lines up...”

“Yes.”

“One more thing.” She says and Doctor Foster nods even as she hands the scanner back. She gestures for him to come closer and he crouches a little to be at face level. She puts a hand on his forehead and her eyes bore into his. “Who is Catherine Doge to you?”

“An unknown individual.” He says plainly. “But if you let me call in a favour from our Intelligence Division I can find out a lot more in a short while.”

“No. Thank you. I’m sorry for my previous attitude. Catherine Doge is a superior officer in my place of business. She is an idiotic, insufferable bitch that has been doing everything in her power to make my life a misery. My only recourse has been absolute obedience and...” She explains and there is a slight snort from Observer Wu. “Ah, you understand.”

“Oh yes. I most certainly do. No soldier, police officer or any kind of individual who has suffered under a terrible employer is ever truly unfamiliar with Malicious Compliance. I used my own variation to keep myself clean while working alongside corrupt peers.” Observer Wu says with a smile. “You’ll make it through dear girl. But if you wish to speed it up, may I suggest getting everything in writing and signed off? Every order and command?”

“Already doing that.”

“Good. Bare in mind you can also do things like remind people about work privileges they are legally permitted to enjoy but may have forgotten about. Vacation days, breaks and the like. To say nothing of how elaborate and just plain useful safety regulations can be in this field.”

“Thank you! Hmm... is that medical information too... wait I saw it... It’s not too private and not an issue. You may explain to your famous Observer here what oddity you found in me.”

“Thank you ma’am. Sir, as you likely aware of, the Alfar Peoples have a rich history of using Axiom Resonating Tattoos to assist with and amplify Axiom use. We have in fact learned an enormous amount from the sheer breadth of their impressive capacity. The actual patterns, colouration and more have a great deal of beautiful and elaborate cultural meaning and is nearly universal among their kind. However, as you can see, our dear woman here has no visible markings. Which is odd as many of them often have the patterns extend to their upper necks, hands or even faces. All of these parts she has easily visible.”

“Is she regenerating then? Healing in a manner so complete that the tattoos are being erased?”

“That’s... about half of it sir. She still has the markings on her, but in Ode patterns. Yet, they still function as Axiom tattoos, despite being erased. She has, over the course of her life, attained at least four distinct full body tattoos, each of them is fully functional simultaneously and also gone. By all rights, two hundred and eighty percent of her skin should be tattooed. But she has no markings.”

“How did you get the number of two hundred and eighty percent?”

“Each of my tattoo patterns were added onto until they covered about seventy percent of my body. Each time. I actually come from a family line where we use much heavier tattoos than normal. But I’m a barefaced girl. Somehow. Apparently it’s because of this... Other Direction Energy? Or Ode? Funny name for it. Is it translated from a language I don’t know?”

“Other Direction Energy in the human language of English has the initial letters of O D and E. Put them together and in English you get the word Ode.”

“Oh! That’s silly.”

“A lot of things are, ma’am.” Observer Wu notes. “You know if you need some help with some legal representation...”

“Oh no, I’m in the endgame with Doge, I’m just... wary about retaliation at this point. Her days are numbered.”

“I’m glad to hear it ma’am.” Observer Wu says with a smile. “Now Doctor, you mentioned the Floric Kudzu? Do we have any form of speculation as to what form of ability he has developed or inherited?”

“My peers on Zalwore are still persuading him to come in to have a scan. But from speculation we presume he has some kind of survival ability. Something that either revives him from slain or nudges the odds of his survival. As he is part of a species that grows stronger after duress and in particular is part of the culture that seeks out duress in order to force this adaptation this is to be expected. The fact that he is infamous for surviving events that he should not have further cements this assumption. But we will only know when we can get a good look at it and poke it. The lovely Miss Amakiir here is much more straightforward in her expressions of Ode use.”

“I mean... I suppose. I just assumed that while the tattoos disappearing were weird I was learning fast from them. Knowing I still have them but can’t see them? I don’t really know if I like that. Being good enough that it didn’t matter that they vanished was a point of pride. Now I feel like I cheated myself in a way. But also proud that I have something so exotic and strong.”

“Sometimes a blessing is what you think it is, sometimes it is not. Either way, a blessing is a blessing. Are you so morose at learning that you are blessed in a different way than you assumed?”

“Just a little off balance. Do you think I should get more tattoos?” She asks.

“I think madam, that your body and life is yours to do with as you please.” Observer Wu says and she nods.

“But I would like to recomend you come to us so we can observe the tattoos being incorporated into your Ode. I’m sure I can scare up some budget to basically pay you to be on vacation here with us.”

“Really?” She asks.

“Think about it, we just need to keep taking pictures as you relax and let the tattoos fade. You mentioned before Observer Wu arrived that it takes a period of a single month.”

“A month paid to relax while being watched. That is tempting. Tell you what, when you get a budget for it together and a price for my time and tattoos? Call me. I’m interested.”

“Excellent. Thank you so much for your time and patience ma’am, and best of luck with Miss Doge. Not that you’ve given us any clue you need it. But good luck anyways.”

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