SECTOR 10 (The CLOUD 2)

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 13

"Pssst... hey," Yasmine whispers to Dr. Adams, the artifact paleontologist. The inside of the National Resource Center is empty, and most patrons have long since gone home.

Yasmine's beginning to show symptoms of a cosmic web mutation. Dizziness continues to plague her, while the pain of a synaptic pinch bites at her wrist where the underlay lies beneath the skin. Dr. Rachel Adams of the NRC keeps her housed in quarantine away from any sightings, inside an antique book depository. Inflamed bumps lining her chest leave imprints of some latent virus that refuses to leave. Dr. Adams does not want to tamper with whatever is developing on the underside of her skin since it could lead to even worse outcomes.

A sample of blood from her finger takes only a second. "This gene designation is, is of reptiles, not mammals. What have you been eating?" Dr. Adams asks facetiously.

Dr. Adams uses the blood to fill a flask that has an automated gene capture capability. They can test for many things, and the checkup is pretty much instantaneous. While quarantined, Yasmine's only symptoms are a headache, minor pain, and some bumps, but it is what she doesn't feel that's so dangerous.

Adams continues to ask Yasmine questions about her symptoms from an intercom across offices, enclosed by thick wooden panels. She does not want to risk contamination, so she leaves. The reserve of polluted lettuce is taken off shelves, what was once in sandwiches, burgers, and anything else that already reached people all over the country. The suspension of Delphi Corp. farming machinery is just now restructuring the supply of food, but the trampled stores and emptied grocers have left cities with no other recourse. It is much too late to stop the steady decline.

Yasmine is on the verge of mutating with a transformative ability that up until now, only Yhemlen Overseers and the Grey Order possessed. Instead of mining for the coveted power stones themselves, Yhemlen prophecy is soon going to meet humanity as a divine inevitability. The cosmic web is crystalizing in a few individuals who are close to the Wall of computing power. What Yasmine feels is the pull of radioactive astral stones coalescing at her wrist. The bulge forming seems cancerous if anything to Dr. Adams who is monitoring her closely, and it is starting to scare her more than before.

As the Yhemlen prophecy comes to fruition the chase is on as Xavier Moth of the Mirai plots a course to reach the human timeline. The Grey Order is a foe that humanity has not faced. While Xavier finds a way to bring the apocalypse, Yasmine and the few other Overseers will need to use their power stones together as the rightful heirs of Yhemlen and destroy the bounty hunter. Only this time when all of them are transformed, the zodiac will not only create the Dragon but transform the 13th sign of the zodiac, Ophiuchus, into Asclepius, a herculean demi-god which wields a serpent. At least, that is what should happen if these humans muster enough strength to get past the initial high doses ailing them.

Dr. Adams returns to Yasmine's quarantine room from leaving the intercom station at the clerk's desk but keeps her distance. Dr. Adams, hunkering down on a wooden table, watches as Yasmine quivers with crossed arms. Her trembling becomes so intense that Dr. Adams drops the tray of food that she specially prepared and was aiming to slide her way. Yasmine's clothes begin to disintegrate, ruffling to expose piercing bones and ligaments tearing loose from their original frame. Frightened for her own life, Dr. Adams rushes back to the door, grasping its handle with both hands.

The crystal forming on the underside of Yasmine's wrist short-circuit her underlay. Its bright, reddish-brown tinge reminds Dr. Adams of something from when she was only a child. She is fairly sure that's a Carnelian stone protruding through Yasmine's skin. Yasmine's astral power stones are the leftover radiation from the cosmic web whose new consciousness is rooting itself in a few people.