More than Human [SciFi LitRPG]

Julia Montoya floated in her VR space where she did all her theoretical math. In the past few years of sabbatical, teaching beginner math at Utopia's elementary school had been a much-needed break. Her surprise encounter with finding cracks in foundational-level physics had ignited an obsession within her.

Seeing firsthand the fundamental value of pi changing, she'd worked the problem and isolated the source of the strange readings to the home of a reclusive scientist Bill Mitchell. The man had done the impossible. He'd founded a new math symbology and dimensional theorems that uprooted the primary models of reality.

Julia had tracked down all his papers and history. The man was an enigma, his past mostly a mystery until Julia had found Darknet conspiracists claiming that Bill was a cover identity for the founder of the Samaritans, Sebastian York. Assuming this was true, the man had created whole industries from the foglet networks to brain-computer interfaces, and now dimensional distortion as an encore.

Not only was the math brilliant, but he'd also already created workable devices, selling on the MakerNet with massive regulatory restrictions and truly astronomical pricing. Subspace pocket devices and paired wormholes were slowly but surely disrupting multiple free market sectors. Wayfarer Spacecraft stock was plummeting while Mars Terraform futures had split three times with double digit growth and no indication of slowing.

She marveled at the theorems and the new 11-D math needed to formulate them. She had finally found a method of visualizing the impossible equations with a kaleidoscopic maelstrom of twisted structures before her. She laughed as the pictures morphed and flexed, the spacetime structures shifting about from multiple viewpoints of normal, sub, and shadow space. A whole new field of study, and she would catch the wave before the masses of augmented geniuses could crowd her out.

She restrained a growing panic attack, trying to project the potential applications and breakpoints. The math was already hard enough, but trying to push its boundaries was beginning to make her lose her tenuous grip on what was real. She pushed her fear down and checked on her split fragment that was monitoring her class.

Blast it! I should have given my fragment more cycle space. Darwin is about to go off the rails. He's a low-level daemon and those animal distractions are sure to unwind his cognitive parsing. I should have opaqued the windows. With a snarl at herself, she shut down the vision and slowed her thought speed down to address the class.

She replayed the last minute in her memory, seeing Darwin's detailed presentation of natural evolution fall apart. The curious uplift animal had taken to visiting the class frequently. While Julia was a sucker for any child looking to learn, the distraction was too great, and her kids had paid more attention to the antics outside than her daemons' lessons.

After a few weeks and more than a double handful of turning off the window's transparency function, the animals had become more respectful of the class and quietly observed. The kids in turn had begun to refocus on the class as the animals outside stopped trying to play and actually paid attention. Apparently, the theory of evolution had sparked some humor in the animals as they were all hopping about on their hind legs to imitate early primates.

The normally behaved kids were cheering and hollering at the parade while Darwin was looping in a negative feedback loop.

"Preposterous!" The holographic projection of Charles Darwin materialized; his wire-rimmed glasses perched critically on his nose. "Is this some kind of joke you kids are playing? The natural theory of evolution requires that animals cannot walk about on two legs unless they evolved to do so!" The daemon's avatar sputtered and started to decohere. Tommy seeing an opportunity pushed harder.

"You're just a crusty old relic, Darwin. Our animals walk and even talk sometimes! Your theory is as broken as you!" He laughed and jumped up to dance a jig like the animals were. Very quickly the entire class was up on their desks hooting and pointing at the animals.

"Class! You need to sit down and pay attention!" Julia called out as several students were glued to the cursed window, where a raccoon and a fox were engaged in a pantomime of a teacher scolding a student. A deer pressed its nose against the window's other side, its gaze intent on the holographic presentation. The entire class and the animals outside froze as Julia stood up. Julia raised an eyebrow and addressed both her students and the animal audience.

"One more distraction," she warned, her hand hovering near the window's opacity controls, "and I'll turn these windows completely opaque. The forest can have its lesson another time. Everyone needs to respect the guest lecturer, or we will have to change our arrangements."

The fox blinked. The raccoon shifted slightly, as if genuinely concerned about losing its impromptu educational session.

Darwin continued, seemingly oblivious to the potential window drama. "Genetic inheritance is a marvel of complexity but immutably tied to nature and evolution. Each and every trait or characteristic is a story written upon their very genetic code. This prank is in very poor taste. My theory states-" Julia held up a hand, stopping the avatar's rant.

"Darwin, this is a new change, far after your time. Your theory has been proven and is in no danger. The animals here, and I guess worldwide, have experienced a very real and very unnatural evolution. Please continue. My class…and the animals, will not be interrupting you again. Isn't that right, class?"

With the expected chorus of affirmatives, the class settled down again and the crotchety daemon scientist continued with his outdated presentation. Julia listened in, determined to keep a firmer presence in the classroom. Her habit of spending time in VR while daemons provided their designated edutainment was growing shorter and shorter.

She had just resolved to avoid giving in to her own distractions for the rest of the day when her system alert triggered. Her augmentation settings only allowed critical communications to come through while she was in class. Keeping the guise of attention, she mentally queued the pop-up screen. She almost released a shocked and very profane exclamation upon seeing the new notification.

Julia's eyes widened. She affirmed the relocation request and the system's mapping function had already started to format the raw data. A new anomaly! She frowned at the map. She'd expected it to occur eventually, signaling the return of Bill and his entourage of strangeness.

However, the origin point was much more powerful than the reading that had led her to his doorstep months ago. She was surprised again as the projected origin location landed kilometers distant, deep into the Grand Oaks Reserve where humans, and her deployed sensors, weren't allowed.

With a growl, she sent the command to redeploy the sensors. They couldn't cross into the restricted areas, but she could refine her picture at the very least. She considered what the report could mean. Bill had permanently left, uprooting his house ship, shortly after the Uplift event. The man's involvement had been masked by the FBI and local sheriff's office, but Julia knew for a fact that both he and his dog…son...dog-son?... Max were both involved.

Julia fretted. That damn robot deputy hadn't been too helpful in the past. She wondered if she should report it.

Maybe I'll wait and see how these readings change. Perhaps Bill or his son have returned? I guess the boy might be allowed to pass the automated fencing array since he's not human. Hmmm.

Julia split her thought stream again. This time ensuring her monitoring alternate had enough processing power to respond faster. It would slow down her review of the data, but she'd make do. She dug into the data, determined to understand what was happening.

Badger Mort surveyed the damage, nose wrinkling at the smell of blood and skunk and something else…something like a cross between ammonia and petrochemicals from antique motorcars. Whatever happened here, the shunned Skunk Karmy was missing. Her den had been torn apart. Flip chittered aggressively from high in the tree. Mort caught the jist of the squirrel's complaint even without his Doolittle daemons decoding efforts.

"I'm not doing nothing, you little twit! I'm surveying the damage. There's no scent of humans at all. I don't think this is them." He growled. The squirrel landed with a small thump and screeched.

"I do smell it, but do you SEE a car here? By the Tree, how would a human even get a vehicle like that here?" Mort answered. The squirrel began a series of hand motions, chitters, and angry screeches. Mort knew what he meant.

"I know, I know. The animals are scared and several of the more distant Tribals have gone missing. We need to know what is happening so we can respond appropriately." The little red squirrel hopped up and down with expressive sign language.

"Are you certain? If we ask her, the ruse will be completely revealed. Picked berries can't be unpicked." Mort said. The squirrel poked him aggressively and flailed his arms about the ruined nest.

"Yes. Yes, you're right. We owe it to Karmy. Even a stinky skunk deserves better. Let's get to the bottom of this. I saw her by the river. Let's go!" Mort answered and began waddling in the direction he'd pointed.

Mort ambled as fast as his little legs could propel him. The squirrel ran and flipped like his namesake urging the fat badger on. Soon enough they arrived at the edge of the roiling river where HoneyBear was focused on the fish passing by. Mort yelled out, startling the large bear.

"HoneyBear! No time for lollygagging. You scarcely need to fish; the Trees provide all we need. We have an important problem, and we need your help." Mort snapped, scurrying down to the bank quickly. Flip landed right beside HoneyBear, brandishing a plastic spork.

Ashe was scarcely surprised but needed to put on the show. Over time, she's been able to access most of the animal's tree-net. While there were plenty of bootlegged Maker Files in there, even some low-level weapons, there was no evidence of terror plots or grand conspiracies that she could find.

She had passed along her recommendation to close out the surveillance. It was a waste of her time. If anything, the local governments should be working to establish some new rules and methods to properly coexist. These animals in the Grand Oaks weren't out for human blood. If anything, Ashe thought that they might even need protection from unscrupulous human scam artists. She cleared her throat, which morphed into a long plaintive growl.

"What? HoneyBear tired. Sun feels good." She said slowly.

She'd built her cover meticulously, ingratiating her way into the animals' loose and crude power structure. Mort was the closest the animals came to a real leader, with Harambe removed. They'd drafted her services as an enforcer of rules, which allowed her access to their "secret government meetings".

Needless to say, their intelligence-gathering apparatus was limited to bird overflights and nocturnal patrols of the Grand Oaks established property lines. These animals were no threat. She needed to get back, but Benny hadn't conveyed a release order from The Daemon Queen yet.

"Enough. The animals in the north bluffs are fleeing. There have been disappearances in addition. We found blood at Karmy's nest, and she's been missing for two days now. I think she was murdered. You must come clean with us…was this the humans?" Mort said deadpan, arms crossed.

"No humans here. HoneyBear guard good." Ashe "HoneyBear" said slowly with a sinking feeling. Flip chittered and poked her with his spork. "Stop! Flip bad."

"For the love of the Trees! Your game is up, human. Flip suspected you from the very beginning. We have animals missing! DID YOUR PEOPLE DO THIS?!" Ashe eyed the squirrel and badger and finally released a huge sigh. If her cover was blown, she was most definitely done here. A bright spot, despite the feeling of loss.

"Fine, but answer me this; what gave me away? My form is perfect. Even my scent is spot on." Ashe asked, using her regular unaltered voice. Flip screeched and signed. Ashe's ASL module decoded it.

"Seriously? I was too nice?" She asked.

"It's true. The real HoneyBear was a menace. At first, I thought your capture by the humans had brought some humility to you. HoneyBear has always been a most violent and aggressive bear. When you continued to be helpful and nice, it became obvious. There was no possible way you were HoneyBear, despite your perfect duplication."

"God damn it. This deep-cover work is bullshit. Pardon my language." Ashes said.

"So…" Mort prompted.

"No, sorry. Regarding your question, I can't tell if it's the humans or not. My senses are much narrower here under the Oaks EMP canopy. Bring me to the crime scene, and I'll tell you what I can determine."

The trio of animals made their way back to the skunk's bloody home. Flip rapidly crossing branches above, while Ashe lazily lopped behind the no-nonsense ambulation of the squat badger. Ashe grimaced and toned down her form's acute sense of smell. The den was ripe with a skunk scent, blood, and a third caustic chemical smell.

Ashe activated her full range of augmentations and triggered the slow transform back to human while she was refreshing her world map and extra-sensory skills. She growled in frustration as the motes she shed went dormant under the continual EMP jamming effect of the colossal carbon collection trees. She scooped up a twisted scrap of black material covered in dripping grey goo.

She hissed as it began to eat into her armored dermal layer. Her counter nanobots rushed through her body to lock down the swarming foreign micromachines. She dropped the twisted material and backed away.

"Honey! What's wrong?" Mort shouted in surprise.

"Damn it. You know I'm not Honey. Call me Ashe. Whatever this is, its crawling with grade-4, military-level, nano-disassemblers. This is not good! I need to call for backup." Ashe said tightly.

"Fuck, you might want to turn away. This is going to be a little gross." Ashe said. Counter to her suggestion Mort stared harder as she worked at her abdominal fur. Flip screeched as she grabbed and tore open her concealed dermal pouch. Although there was a lack of blood, she shocked the animals as she exposed a large cache of equipment hidden in her form's ample abdomen.

She withdrew a large drone and slapped the contact pad, injecting a quick stream of instructions. Before Mort could gather his wits and close his open mouth, the drone shot straight up with a whining assent.

"Won't be long! Once the drone is above the canopy and outside of this damnable jamming, it'll act as an optical relay to my handler. We'll get to the bottom of -" Ashe stopped at the distant sounds. Howling and roars combined with a rasping scream.

Ash wasn't the only one with augments. Both Mort and Flip tensed, and Mort announced.

"The Lobos den! And that sounded like Padric the Mountain Lion as well. They're fighting! Honey, ah…Ash. Could I request one more favor?"

"No time to waste on niceties, Mort. Let's run! That sounded serious, more than just a tussle. I picked up another noise that didn't sound like either wolf or lion."

Ashe bounded over scrub and through the underbrush, quickly leaving Mort in the dust. Flip landed on her back and held tight as she tore east, toward the Lobo territory. High overhead her drone's lasers began flashing. She synced her sensors and returned the signal with her own laser diode comms to link up. Her brother, Benny's avatar, materialized in her OverLayer.

"[Shit Ashe. Cover blown, huh? Good choice just sending your recorded lifelog. I've got a clear picture of your situation.]" Benny said with a pout.

"[Benny, this is serious! Level 4 restricted nano. I couldn't catalog the make and type at all. We've got a rogue tech warlord at the very least, a shadow organization at worst.]"

"[Sis, this is me being serious, and it's probably even worse than you think. I'm on the way, hitching a ride with the Utopia deputy. Whooooo! A frickin' ballistic launch targeting your destination. We were already mounting up when your call came through. Some science teacher was reporting a dimensional decoherence, whatever that is. It's very close to your target location.]"

"[What the fuck is a dimensional decoherence?]" Ashe yelled aloud as she crashed through the top of the ridge. She skidded over the embankment and rolled aside at the last moment as her precog augment skill screamed. A freight train-sized technorganic centipoid crashed into the tree next to her with a reedy whistling noise like an overheating teapot.