3G: the Glowing Green Goo

"Punctual, as always." The Explorer complemented Pimp as she stepped on the stairs hidden under the opaque greenish water.

"Of course, Master Explorer." Pimp formally bowed.

"Drop it, you know we both hate excessive formality." She smirked.

Surprisingly supple lips and cheeks despite the scales.

"It's been a while, Zweikora-zon."

Zax expected many things from an advanced mutant, and many great things from an Explorer. A powerful, massive body, with a gravelly voice to shook his bones when they talked. A slim, preternaturally perky and fast runner he could barely follow when they talked or moved. A small, flexible body to reach everywhere inaccessible. A camouflage so perfect they were undetectable unless they wanted to. A brain and mind so developed their body was an afterthought and they needed a translator. There were so many options, and to be fair, most were probably real, or had been, somewhere, at some point.

The opaque water parted like a curtain around Explorer Zweikora-zon. She was not as flashy as his ideas, yet she fulfilled every expectation in her own way.

She wasn't wearing any clothing, but it only felt natural. She wasn't even showing off like what he had glimpsed in the Circle; clothes would simply serve no purpose for her. Zax took in everything as she stepped out of her pool.

The layout of her scales. The way they overlapped, their different sizes and thicknesses complementing each other. The casual flexibility where her shell-spine should be unmovable. Her well-defined, athletic but not bulky frame. The round shape of her hairless head. Her lack of claws. Her scaly but still human-shaped foot.

Without a doubt, she was the best hybrid between a human and a tortoise Zax had ever seen or heard of.

Explorers didn't usurp their reputation.

Was his first thought.

What could she ever want from us?

Popped-up naturally after. There wasn't much to improve.

What is her second form?

He finally remembered why he had chosen her specific case. Never would he have guessed Explorers were on the list. Were there others?

"And I guess this is the apprentice you were talking about?" her gaze zeroed in on him. "I thought he'd be… taller."

She was merely a bit taller than he, and still within the average for unmutated people. It dawned on Zax most mutants in the previous room were a lot taller. So, was it an open insult or a back-handed complement?

Pimp and she kept exchanging pleasantries. They never addressed him directly, but her gaze never left him except for occasional glances at Migo. He did his best to stay polite, but his excitement kept him vivisecting her with his eyes.

They called her place the "Heart Beat". Something about her name meaning "Heart" in an ancient language. Pimp and Hip rarely came, but it wasn't their first visit. They were familiar enough to be left without guide. They knew what to do and where to go.

"Our allowed area is delimited by red doors. If they find any of us on the other side, they will attack on sight." Hip warned while Pimp was greeting everyone he knew and was introduced to the new members.

"We'll have designated personal and work rooms later. They'll try to accommodate us "foreign workers" the best they can. It's usually pretty good. It just takes some getting used to, but their biotechnology is mostly equivalent to the normal stuff. Though I guess it won't be an issue for you; we've brought your whole lab."

"What kind of job are you talking about?" Zax queried, saving everything in his memory bank. "We're clearly not here only to introduce me to Zweikora-zon."

"Not much coaching, that's for sure." Hip explained while Pimp talked to the lower ranked Explorers. "Mostly networking and prostitution. Even Explorers need a way to vent, and there are things they want to keep private."

"I don't think most of your employees can handle those customers." Zax absently noted.

He was more focused on the abundance of wood in the construction. It was… eerie, but strangely relaxing. As if a part of him he had never been aware of was relaxing for the first time. It felt deeper a simple change in palette, echo and fragrance.

"It's only Pimp, and me for some cases. We do get a hefty bonus if we can coax an activation out of one of them, but it's not the main goal. Don't try to join, and don't let them pressure you into it. We're guests from the Master Explorer, so they won't touch you, but you're fair game forever if they manage to make you say yes."

They wouldn't care if we weren't?!

The delivery had been so casual Zax nearly missed the implication.

The chilling reminder woke him up. He couldn't let himself forget. No matter how well he was treated, no matter how fascinating they were; none of those people were law-abiding or good citizens. Morals were an unpopular option, and all his benefits were made to profit someone else.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

His excitement mostly cooled, Zax focused less on the mutations and more on the mutants.

What are they doing?

He couldn't make head or tail or their activities. Most were handling bio-technological equipment, but he could hardly figure what it was or how it worked. It was awesome though.

Rooted in a corner of the main room, climbing against the wall, a single giant pea pod was growing, each pea oblong and larger than an adult.

The peas were harvested "to make supplies for the medics". Whatever that meant. From the way they handled them and how hard they were, definitely not food.

"Skin's used to make special clothing."

"Special how?"

The Explorer-workers shared a glance and a smirk or a snicker, but didn't answer.

"Fine, keep your jokes. But what's he doing in there?" Zax moved the topic to the man sleeping where a pea should be.

"Resting and healing. He got too much radiation, and it helps the pod renew faster."

"It absorbs radiation, feed on it, and promote healing?" Zax was flabbergasted.

"And if you're heathy, it gives you a good night's sleep in an hour." Its handler grinned with sharp teeth.

How!? The dotter wasn't a plant expert, but even he knew it didn't make any sense! No wonder no one ever explained how high-level biotechnology worked. By any right, even with the 3G's mysterious properties, it shouldn't.

I know Explorers skirt on the edge of what's possible, but still.

They watered it with water from the leader's pool, which happened to be a natural spring of highly concentrated sulfuric acid, mixed with products from other mutations they harvested.

There were many other examples around it, but a pattern was quickly made apparent; it was a cycle, a whole ecosystem. Something like "Plant A helps plant B survive the parasitism from bug C, whose byproducts feed plant A", just a lot more complex.

An intricate and delicate balance. The Explorers forcefully maintained it, for durability and profit. They even had "thinkers", people whose main mutations were purely cerebral, to keep track and manage everything. Probably not as reliable as a computer, but impressible nonetheless.

Could they still be called Explorers, when this was their full-time job? They were outside the Shelter, so…

Anyway, the byproducts were harvested and used for their explorations, or sold to other Explorer teams who could use them. It was stable and surprisingly comfortable, for the mutants living there. It was a pity mutations were not hereditary; they had to go back to the Shelter if they wanted children. It was the second most common reason for departure, actually, and usually by pairs. Zax had an inkling if they could, they would permanently set in here.

Only then did it jumped at Zax how young everyone here appeared. It was too much for enhanced longevity or youthfulness. One would think such advancement in mutation would take time, likely years of practice. Once a position as prestigious as Explorer was attained, they would want to stay as long as they could. Only one or two people around seemed elderly. Zax asked one of them, Zyynatrixy:

"Naw, they're not considered true Explorers yet. Most people you see here are still young bloods."

The old woman with bark where skin should be nodded to the rest of the room. Cracks like a tree folding its branches sent shivers down Zax's spine and raising Migo's fur.

"Oh, sorry." She made even more of the unsettling sound as she slowly crouched to pet the wolf. "I didn't mean to scare you, little one." Oblivious to the discomfort she was still causing, she continued her explanation. "Young bloods are those got lucky enough to actually get here – somehow. Not necessarily advanced, though most are. You can survive the environment with the right gear, but not partake in an actual exploration yet. If ever. Even a stroll could be lethal. But if you endure and survive it, you'll be stronger for it. That's what it takes to be a true Explorer."

"Do we count as young bloods?" Zax blurted out without thinking.

Of course not, stupid.

"I don't see why not." The horticultural woman shrugged like it wasn't a mind-boggling concept. "You're here, aren't you. That means someone though you were worth something." She added in lieu of argument.

The purestrain had never thought of himself in such a manner. It felt… wrong somehow. How could he? Despite his legs, he wasn't even a mutant.

Sure, I am among Explorers, and someone spent resources to take me off, and Pimp invested a lot in me, but…

But what?

What was this about again?

Feeling his friend's turmoil change into confusion and knowing from experience what it could spiral into, Migo rubbed his leg to pull him out of it.

When the tour and introductions were finally over, it was time to work. They went through a large empty room to a huge backroom filled with all kind of furniture and accessories, most in multiple copies.

"This will be your working place for the duration. The employee rooster and warehouse index are on the front desk." Hip pointed to a wooden but ordinary table by the door, then a large bag of paper next to it. "Here's the worker list. Heavy. We must've done something good last time." Hip puffed as he dropped the bag on the desk and opened it.

"Told you." The boss winked with a smirk.

"What is it?" Zax queried.

"Every worker interested in our services, the duration they want to buy, their kinks and their demands." Hip explained as he and Pimp poured over the list. "Who wants what is confidential, and they take it seriously. Meaning they can't sort it or prepare rooms. That'll be our job."

"Hardcore stuffs?" Zax had seen extreme and ludicrous fetishes by that point, but Explorers would be in their own scale.

"No, actually. Most are quite tame, just difficult because their enhancements are so strong. Some even use us as an excuse to sleep in peace without it being training or a competition."

"Why would they do that?" Zax frowned.

"They can't afford to pass for soft and reveal a potential weakness. Around here, every second must count as training." Hip handed him a paper from the bag. "Look at this favoured scenario and kinks."

"Kinks: silence, darkness and fluff. Scenario: A good long night of uninterrupted sleep in a bed that isn't trying to kill me."

Zax and Migo shared a glance. They had passed the dorms in the tour. The beds were either hard stone, thorns, or both.

"That makes sense…"

They took a day to sort the list. Zax couldn't tell if they were demands or requests. Most didn't even mention improving or adding on their mutations. Some were rejected, because out of their means or simply impossible. In a giant bathtub was one thing; fully submerged in boiling water was another.

Once the rejection notices were compiled and sent, they organised how to perform the rest. There were three rooms connected to the backroom. They would use them alternatively, cleaning and preparing one while another was used. They'd probably sleep in there too at some point.

The main issue was to organise the room preparation and the running order. Zax's nanites proved their worth by saving all the warehouse content and their location, the customer's mutations as stated in the rooster, their demands and the down time Pimp would need for each. The muscleman's experience gave him an impressively precise estimation.

This compiling saved them at least another day. They were ready to start.