3G: the Glowing Green Goo

Migo was familiar with loss. Life had him drifted apart from his first friend, and more recently criminal scum had taken his last.

His world had greatly expanded since, and in ways he had never suspected. He even had a new friend, who talked to him as a person and not a pet. It had been more… stressful than expected.

Being able to actually talk back, through his own efforts even, had wrung his heart in ways he didn't understand. Being limited to stick to short words and simple sentences was frustrating, but they had to let their captors underestimate him.

Better yet, it was merely beginning. The things Zax was teaching him, the things he did with his nanites! Furniture, tool, even clothing! Some the wolf could barely understand, but he was learning every day. His self-diagnostic application was steadily evolving, and he was building actual machines to exercise in the lab. He needed it to train his body and for his sanity. Cabin fever was a real danger for the former Resident.

Possibly related, his meditation was improving too. "Resonating" with Zax or his mysterious friends wasn't getting closer, but his teacher assured him he was getting there, with vital readings as proof.

Overall, the situation was not as bleak as kidnapping should be. It was… hopeful.

Until recently, when his mood was soured by an insidious new worry.

Zax was… different, somehow. His legs were still mutating, but he was hiding it with a clever use of nanite clothes and shoes. No, the difference had also set over time, but it was more subtle.

The human had always been eager to talk about mutations and activation; it was his reprieve in their trying situation. Now, whenever he did, it felt forced. Spoiled, somehow. Rushed sentences. Fumbling his words. Fleeting eyes. Tense shoulders. The acrid smell of stress. He kept denying it, but it was unmistakable.

His sleep was agitated. His clothes dishevelled. His workshop messier. More mice were dying daily. He had even stopped complaining about how eating actual food was inefficient compared to his usual pills and chemical solutions. The dot had weird quirks.

Now was not the time to think about it, however. It was time to not think about anything. Meditation. Before today's session, Zax had changed something in their nanites, without giving details to not pollute perception. Fair enough; not the first time.

They were sitting back-to-back, following the automated count. As usual.

Migo did his best to put his concerns aside, focused solely on his breath. His existence was only his respiration and Zax's. The numbers were nothing more than a white noise.

No matter how he tried, his thoughts drifted back to Zax behaviour.

[ Resonance detected.

Connexion…

Connexion established ]

The words appeared in his HUD without warning. As the same time, the felt another presence beside Zax. There were two other people, far from here. He could tell. More arrived before he could process what was happening.

[ Zax: Resonance amplifying wireless signal: Success. ]

[ Zax: Nanite configuration facilitating Resonance between specific individuals: Success. Welcome, Migo. ]

[ Zax: That confirms it. Nanites and 3G support each other. Both are needed for any kind of Resonance effect. Among other things. ]

The letters appeared at a jerky pace. The words weren't alone. Each message came with a sensation, an emotion not Migo's. First was a resigned detachment, followed by exhausted relief. Nearly a sob.

"What the -beep- was that!?" Surprise startled the canine out of his thoughts, and his meditation. He jumped out, turning to the only other occupant of the room.

Who ignored him, still in concentration.

Migo realised his fangs were bared and his hackles raised. Was he growling? He hadn't noticed, and it definitely wasn't from surprise at the connexion or the messages.

The canine took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. Checking his chat logs, there was no trace of what had happened. After some hesitation, he elected to sit back and try again. He would ask Zax later.

At least the collar's censor is working as intended. Silver lining.

He was too agitated to go back in the right mental state, but it helped clear his mind at smidge.

Zax eventually came to himself. He tried and failed to hide how downtrodden he felt.

"Congratulations for this breakthrough. I don't understand any of it." The apprentice tentatively fished for an explanation.

"I hardly do, too." The teacher sighed. "It needs work, but it should help. There are other uses than communication, but they're still theoretical." His tone had never been so monotonous.

Migo was hungry for more, but another topic felt more urgent.

"Bad news?" He ventured.

"Yes. No. I… I don't know." The man slumped. "I knew they were preparing something. They confirmed it, but they won't tell me what. They know I'll try to make them stop. It proves my efforts are not in vain, but it hammered home how I can't do anything. I feel so… powerless. I have to keep going. I can't help from here." The flatness was slightly broken at the end.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Migo was surprised. Zax had always seemed, if not pleased with the situation, at least casual about it; not in a hurry to escape. Even enjoying himself at times. Less so since he was keeping more to himself, but then any answer at all was unexpected.

Great to have an answer. Now, what can I do about it?

He drew a blank.

Pimp noticed changes in his prisoner-apprentice too. He didn't call it out immediately, but he kept frowning when Zax wasn't looking. Some considering, some worried, some calculating. Their romps were louder too, but they were harder to qualify. The wolf wasn't interested in human mating, even if it had a functional reason and he was required to be present for his cover.

He eventually brought it up, however:

"Look, I don't know where this… newfound focus comes from, or why you keep denying it, but it's there. It's a good thing in most cases, but for us it's an obstacle. We have to let go of our self-imposed limitations. Our worries and inhibitions, our constructed selves. To be more in tune with our true selves, our core beings."

"I am, though?" Zax leaned his head on the side.

"No, you're not." The towering man shook his head. His horns drew arcs in the air. "Your every actions feel like a task to perform. Squirming and dirty talk and even twisting your face for expression. A checklist to keep in mind all along, when it's supposed to be a series of things you can do to scratch an itch you're not necessarily aware of. I can tell, from experience. It'll be great with customers, but it doesn't help with personal development."

Zax stayed silent. Probably because he was spot on. Migo hadn't seen it, but it fit with his own observations.

"I'm not sure you know what's going on yourself, so I'm giving you a different type of assignment. I have a few like that; long-term projects with specific and/or unusual circumstances and objectives. Choose one. Any will push you to the limits of this new concentration of yours, and hopefully break you out of it productively or at least let you see and understand it better. As you are right now, the only thing you'll mutate toward is a nervous ball of stress."

Zax didn't say anything as Pimp left the training bedroom. He merely stared with an unreadable face, listening to the massive hooves stomping away.

"I wouldn't have put it his way, but he has a point." Migo stated when Zax was cleaning himself.

"You agree with him?!"

Fair reaction; the canine had never hidden his disdain for the criminal, as sympathetic as he could be.

"You're not acting like yourself. You haven't for a while now. And it shows. That guy saw it. Even the herm saw it. It hasn't been needlessly difficult for a week now."

"I'm just doing what I have to." Zax's voice was as flat as it got, but the tension in his shoulders belied his false aloofness.

"Look." Migo pushed off the ground and put his front paws on Zax's chest, the highest he could go naturally. It was as close to eye level as he could get. The whole body was as tense as the shoulders. "You're worried for your friends. I understand. But abandoning yourself won't help anyone. Neither will isolation."

"It does help. A lot. I'm progressing faster than ever. I'm nearly ready for… clinical trials." His placid mask briefly broke at the last part. He looked… nauseous.

"Clinical? You mean human testing?"

A wordless nod answered him. What could that research be, to make him so distressed?

Just nanites and 3G activation, right?

Shaking the thought away, Migo put the conversation back on track:

"Even then, can't you trust them a little? They are smart, competent and resourceful. They are aware of the danger. They have a plan. They know to adapt when it'll go wrong."

With Zax's improvements; meditation led to resonance nearly every time now. Migo was familiar enough with the girls on the other side to make such a claim. How he reached that point might weaken his argument, but he didn't care about the irony.

"It'll never be enough! Even Enforcers are corrupted accomplices." A slight growl racked his voice.

"And thanks to you, they already know it and they took precautions." The wolf calmly replied, pacing his words and keeping his tone even. His years as professional emotional support were showing. "Reliable Enforcers from the dot are supporting them. They have your nanites, your diary, and all your programs. They are not throwing themselves blindly into danger. They want to help, just like you do. Just like I do. Please let them. Let us. You're not alone."

The human's face twitched, but he didn't say a word.

Migo sighed. He could only let him go, get down, and leave the room. His teacher and friend was alone with his thoughts, but the door was open.

The day continued as normal, but a surprise arrived at dinner.

"What's that?" Migo probed the weird flesh-coloured ball in the plate Zax had put in front of him.

"What do you think?"

Typical teaching moment; letting him ponder on his own before explaining. Reassuring, it had been a while.

The ball had no smell. Not like something after a thorough cleaning, more like there was nothing at all to give it any. It wasn't exactly spherical; its own weight collapsed it a bit. The finger-sized mound yielded to touch, but went back to its original shape as soon as it was left alone no matter how it was crushed, rolled or spread. Licking it, the taste was as the smell. Non-existent.

"Something between flesh and dough? I have no idea." Migo eventually settled. "I never saw anything like it. Did you make it?"

"It was a mouse, but it can be done to any creature. Fleshy dough is a good name; let us call it that. It can be kneaded, but not damaged. It bends under outside pressure but it does not react to any stimuli I could perform. Piercing, slashing, burgeoning, it simply parts before any tool I use and comes back to this shape afterwards. Even nanites go right through it. I tried heat and cold, acid and base, under water, under high and low pressure. No reaction, no effect."

"Awesome. How do you change it back?"

"I do not. As far as I can tell, it's stuck that way, possibly forever. I cannot detect any sign of activity, biological or otherwise, so no thinking or aging. Or eating. It does not care about food or water, on it or nearby. It does not excrete or absorb anything. Maybe light, but it doesn't react to high or low brightness. Gastric juices and saliva do not do a thing either."

"That one sounds… very specific. Why would you try that? You already mentioned acid."

"Because it is edible."

"You can eat that thing? Wait, you ate that thing!?" Migo's eyes widened and his hackles instinctively rose.

"No, the other mice did. A mound was close to the manger and the mice took it for food. It let itself be gnawed on like it was true, until there was nothing left. No side effect on the eating mice. It was even particularly easy to digest."

"That's… creepy." Master of Euphemisms. "How did you make it?"

"That's the question." Zax kneeled and rubbed his back fur comfortingly.

[ Zax: It happens a lot in my experiments, when I go too far too fast. A side effect I'm trying to avoid. ]

[Zax: I can't let Pimp or anyone else know the details. ]

Of course.

[ Zax: You asked to let you help me. That's what you risk if you do. If I succeed, you can become whatever we want. If I fail, you'll become fleshy dough. And I fail a lot. ]

A shiver ran along the wolf's spine to the tip of his tail when he understood the implications.

[ Zax: You may have to eat some too. If only to hide what I'm doing. ]

[ Zax: Take your time to decide if- ]

Migo didn't need time to decide. He had made the decision long ago. Becoming whatever he wanted? No risk was too much.

Before the end of Zax's sentence, he had licked the plate clean and swallowed whole the tiny mound of fleshy dough.