By David C. Daoust
It was as though the molecules suddenly flared, pulsing with an unknown eerie light; Kind of a pea green, if Dakota had to guess. The surrounding negative space- a dull purple. Sparking green lightning shot throughout at steady intervals. Colors aside, she couldn’t really see, exactly, what it was she was looking for. Still she poked and prodded, her long microscopic needle like talons of solid light cradled the tiny nanite, as her microscopic vision zoomed in closer, all in the hopes of delving deep enough within what was increasingly becoming a swirling abyss, to witness the Nanites circuitry.
These actions, of course, were not thanks to the body she was born with. Having become overwhelmed with an unstable, overpowered, and over creative subconscious, Dakota was able to send that part of her mind out, through the Ark Tech alterations that allowed her to become one with the Uber-Brain, Ergos, and into a construct of solid light, a second body, thus freeing her up to actually use her mind.
Dakota has since continued to tinker with this solid light form.
What began as small modifications to the Holobot, in the hopes of creating a more efficient way to research the Lost Arks’ tech, quickly became a whole new toy once she realized she could simply exchange places with her subconscious. A subconscious she has lovingly dubbed ‘Doppel’, or ‘Dop’ at times; both an abbreviation for doppelganger.
At the moment, Dakota was literally a being of solid light. Her fingers were now so sharp she could grab molecules from the air. Her eyesight was so intense, she could literally see, said molecules. All of which made the world a whole new place. She had witnessed, what felt to her, whole new universes.
These explorations, however, had to be cut short, as she, her sister Suzanne, and an entire army of soldiers, bot and human alike, were currently stranded in the Everywhere. The ‘Everywhere’ was a temporal pocket lodged just outside of natural time. It fell to Dakota to figure a way out. -Out of this stark white reality, and back into Ail’s Solar system; AKA the Second Sun, or more commonly to those just trying to make it through their day, the Onion.
Dakota was just beginning to see something that looked ‘manmade’, or at least something descended from something manmade, when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder.
Dakota sighed.
She liked to turn her hearing off as she made such jaunts into her microscopic investigations; she had to really focus to understand what she was seeing. She released the nanite back into the air, before her eyesight zoomed out of the latest microscopic universe.
Eyes finally focusing at a normal range, she found Suzanne standing over her, with a perplexing look on her face. A look Dakota could only answer with a perplexing look of her own. The sound reached her, just as she spoke, “What?”
“Dakota,” Suzanne said somewhat exasperated, “Did you hear anything I just said?”
“No.” Dakota answered simply, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening.”
“How do you do that? Just shut the whole world out?” Suzanne looked upset.
“It’s actually easier than ever with…”
“Dakota, its Doppel,” Suzanne interrupted the answer to her rhetorical question.
“What did she do now?” Dakota asked, almost comically, as she peered around the room in search of her real body. Unfortunately, she found her– working intently away at a table nearby– stark naked.
“What the hell, Dop?” Dakota blurted out.
If Dakota could blush in this form, she would have, and was not surprised at all when Doppel’s face turned bright red when she turned in answer to Dakota’s gripe. She flung her hands out and murmured what Dakota understood as an innocent ‘what I do?’
Dakota glanced over to where the guards were normally posted, which Suzanne had stationed to watch over the lab and, Dakota suspected, ‘babysit’ her. She was quickly relieved to find the post cleared of watchmen, the humans had a tendency to look at her coldly, men and women alike.
Dakota wasn’t surprised at the cold looks. Most of the soldiers, did not like her. Afterall, they were all in the Uber-brain with her, they were all overridden by her superior intellect. Dakota couldn’t bring herself to apologize. Really, she couldn’t figure out how to apologize. Overruling their conscious wasn’t something intended. She was groping in the dark, in a battle of wills. She won. She’s not really a fan of ‘might makes right’, but Dakota Sun was mighty. They weren’t.
“Well, put your cloths on– can’t you just switch?” Suzanne pleaded.
“I’m not switching with her when she’s naked!” Dakota almost yelled at Suzanne, then turned and yelled, “Dop! Put some cloths on!”
“That’s really only the half of it,” Suzanne whispered the next part, “She was, I don’t know how to say this, ‘coming on’ to one of the guards. She only went over and worked at the table when I came in.”
“They were here? They saw?” Dakota asked, but knew, of course they were here, of course they saw. Suzanne had them watching her like a hawk.
“I ordered them out, immediately,” Suzanne informed,”As soon as I came in…”
Dakota’s blush deepened on Dop’s face as Dakota took this information in. She knew just which one Doppel was after too. She’d noticed him several times through their shift changes, Dakota was really only able to smile a greeting thus far. He was, one of few soldiers rescued from Ergos, to not treat her like a defunct dictator.
Thankfully, the naked murmuring blond, bewildered at her predicament, began to dress.
“I asked you for Bot soldiers anyway, Suzanne,” Dakota was mad and almost near tears. That is, if she had tear ducts at the moment.
“Well, I’m sorry,” Suzanne began snarkily, taken aback as this fell on her shoulders, “If your subconscious mind can’t keep her panties on!”
“They all hate me.” Dakota whispered. She collapsed over the lab table in front of her, hiding her face in her hands. She felt like a child pouting in homeroom, worried what the collective ‘they’ were going to say about her– but she couldn’t help it.
“I…” Dakota began as she tried to collect herself, yet could not look back up from behind her hands, “I think I’m done for the day. Can you make sure the corridors are clear, please?”
“Yes. But…” Suzanne began again, “This isn’t why I came here. I have news- I thought you may want to hear.”
“What is it?” Dakota asked.
“They think we found Sims,” Suzanne explained, “I thought you may want to know.”
“Major?” Dakota asked interest perked, though was suddenly distracted as the small, half naked blond, let out a sound like a purr at the name ‘Major’.
“Damnit, Dop!” Dakota yelled again.
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