Star Force: Sav (SF51) by Aer-ki Jyr Read Free Book Online Page B

over at him, then reached a
hand up and put it on his head.
    “You’re running hot still?” she asked, not meaning
temperature but how his brain was processing.
    “Can’t turn it off. All I can
manage is a slow idle,” he said before taking another large bite and chewing
vigorously.
    “Is it eating ambrosia?”
    “Thankfully no…” he said with his mouth half full.
“But it’s still taking over when I sleep.”
    “Have you tried staying awake?”
    “Doesn’t help, but yeah. I
only got about 6 hours in last night.”
    “So you’re physically fried too?”
    “Not so much, but if this keeps up I
will be. I just hate nodding off before I can’t get all the way asleep.
My new processor wants to run its own simulations. The only way I can get it to
shut up is to be really tired, then it takes over sometime after my body soaks
up the rest it needs.”
    “Want some help?”
    “I don’t even know what could
help…other than letting this play out.”
    “We can catch a nap later and I can help nudge you off
to sleep. At least give you an hour or so of real rest.”
    Bo hesitated, thinking. “Not sure if that will work or
not, but it’s worth a shot.”
    “About 3 then?”
    “That works…I think. Not sure what drills these guys
have set up for me today.”
    “Still holding your hand?” Greg commented.
    Bo glared at him but didn’t say anything, preferring
to continue eating.
    “Speaking of which,” Paul added, “they’ve got the new
obstacle course ready. I ran through it this morning for a light trial and got
my ass kicked pretty easy. I’m curious as to how you’ll stand up.”
    “New course?” Greg asked.
    “Designed for me,” Bo answered. “They want to put my
multi-tasking abilities into the next dimension so they rigged up something.”
    Emily whistled. “Oh, I want to see this.”
    “Later,” Jason said. “He needs to get adjusted first.
Cheerleaders can wait.”
    Emily levitated a bit of the filling out of one of her
pastries and sent a glob Jason’s way, but Bo telekinetically intercepted it,
freezing the red goo a foot in front of his face and pulling it into tiny
pieces that he arranged in a cubical grid, further dividing them down into
smaller and smaller segments until it looked like a holographic grid map.
    Greg’s jaw dropped when he saw the intricate control
he had over his Lachka. “Now that is impressive. How many pieces is that?”
    “12 by 12 by 12. Can’t do much more
without losing focus.”
    “1728?” Greg said after doing the math. “That’s one
hell of an upgrade. Most I’ve ever managed was 162, and nowhere near that
small.”
    “I can see smaller detail now too,” Bo added. “I think
my Pefbar was overloading to the point that we can only see as much as we can
process and now…”
    “How small can you go?” Greg asked.
    The filling collapsed in on itself, returning to a
single glob that Bo sent the rest of its way to Jason’s face.
    “That small.”
    Greg laughed, but Paul just shook his head. “No,
look,” he told Greg, pointing to what appeared to be an empty spot of air in
between him and Bo.
    Greg focused, then his jaw dropped again when he
flicked on his Pefbar and saw a tiny little speck…no, four tiny little specs so
small that they were all but invisible with normal eyesight.
    “How in the galaxy are you doing that?”
    “Not sure,” Bo admitted. “I just have a finer control
of my Lachka.”
    “When did this kick in?”
    “A couple days ago when I started
messing around with stuff.”
    “Jealous yet?” Paul asked.
    Greg stared at the tiny little pieces, not believing
what he thought he was seeing. They were so small it was hard to be sure.
“Combat applications? I could see how this would help a tech but…”
    “We’re working on it,” Jason said. “Right now it’s
about mass coordination. We’re not sure if the microscopic angle is intentional
or just a side effect.”
    “I don’t think the database mentioned anything