NOVEL WEB Chapter 295: Curiosity
"How's your reproductive organ? I don't believe I broke it, but I apologize for striking you in such a sensitive spot," remarked Atlas, walking ahead of Vahn as she led the way into one of her many labs.
"It was a surprise, but recover quickly..." assured Vahn, his eyes scanning the lab's interior as he spread his domain through it. Nearly every surface had a metallic blue or greenish-blue hue, and there were pipes, wires, and colossal containers of liquid arranged alongside giant-sized terminals with curved crystalline displays.
'Well, that's disconcerting...' thought Vahn, his gaze settling on a series of cylindrical glass containers filled with bubbling green liquid. More notably, each had a version of Atlas suspended within, embracing their legs. Some resembled her current form with cosmetic modifications such as hairstyle or length, but one, in particular, had Devil wings, familiar crimson hair, and ivory-white horns reminiscent of a ram.
"This is the lab where I study and perform genetic experiments, mainly on myself but with contributions from others..." explained Atlas, approaching the container containing the Devil and placing her right hand on the glass, her blue eyes glistening with intrigue as she revealed, "My objectives are to identify what makes Ascendees compatible with Enhancement Crystals and reproduce the results. Unfortunately, while I've been able to produce spare Satellites with the same genetic markers as known Ascendees, they are only capable of absorbing less than three-millionth of a percent of the metamorphic energy stored within the Crystals. The rest bleeds out as an exotic form of tachyonic radiation."
Feeling frustrated, Atlas began turning reddish-pink like a cartoon kettle heating from the bottom up. She had an exceptionally durable punching bag nearby for such occasions, but it wasn't needed as Vahn plopped his left hand down on her head and said, "You've made remarkable progress. The energy within the Crystals shouldn't be usable by anyone who isn't an Ascendee. What you've accomplished in just one year is the equivalent of an average person reaching up and plucking a star from the night sky on a whim..."
"I ordinarily resent praise, but since it's coming from a God, I shall make an exception and accept it just this once~" hummed Atlas, puffing out her nearly non-existent chest with her hands on her hips and her rounded tail bouncing and curling at the end.
"Right...so what's with the swimsuit...?" asked Vahn, resisting the urge to delve into the moral implications of creating biomechanical clones using the genetic templates of other people, much less Ascendees. As long as she and the other Vegapunks didn't cross the line by creating sapient life who were compelled to participate in experiments against their will, it was morally grey but within the realm of acceptable.
"It's not a swimsuit, though I suppose it could function as one..." retorted Atlas, pulling at the front of her sukumizu-like garb and allowing it to snap back into place as she pointedly explained, "It's an adaptive nanopolymer that adjusts to practically any size and body shape, monitors and records biometric data, resists shock, and automatically regulate temperature. It resembles a swimsuit on women because their hips have a broader range of motion and musculotendinous elasticity—particularly in the hamstrings, adductor, and maximal muscles. It's what enables them to give birth and some to perform a full sideways split without their internal organs slipping out."
Though he was tempted to ask additional questions, Vahn got the very distinct impression his thoughtless query had offended Atlas. The latter enjoyed explaining her inventions and the thought process behind them, but as was often the case with minds well ahead of their time, she hated fielding questions unrelated to what she wanted to discuss. That was the job of the original Vegapunk and the Satellites representing his goodness and wisdom, Shaka and Pythagoras.
"Anyways..." segued Atlas, transitioning from a narrow-eye grimace like a thug to a starry-eyed, completely innocent expression as she produced a very large syringe and asked, "Since I have you here, do you mind if I take samples of your blood and bone marrow and biopsy your liver? I've heard about your ability to adapt the characteristics of virtually any creature, so your blood, marrow, and tissues could be a phylogenetic grail—a baseline for all living organisms. If I can crack the code, your genes might be able to cure all diseases, resurrect extinct organisms, and create new forms of life we can't even fathom with our current understanding of xenobiological engineering."
"Your hypothesis is correct," affirmed Vahn, causing Atlas's eyes to flash and her smile to broaden before he added, "But there are multiple issues with it, including its shortsightedness."
"Explain," said Atlas, her eyes narrowing and her body gaining a pale pink hue as she suppressed her violent urge to hear Vahn's explanation.
"A phylogenetic map that can be used to reproduce all creatures, even Gods, can also be used as a blueprint to create a bacteriophage capable of eliminating them," stated Vahn, his expression relaxed but his tone firm as he added, "Less doom and gloom, my blood has no genetic markers on its own. I am willing to provide you with a sample for analysis, but you will find it impossible to store, preserve, or replicate. It will dissolve to nothing within twenty-four hours, even if temporally suspended."
"Alright, I can concede that it's theoretically possible to produce a super virus using your genes," acquiesced Atlas, the color of her body gradually shifting from pink to red as she contended, "But anyone that dedicated to annihilating all life wouldn't resort to a virus. It simply isn't efficient, given the scope of even a single universe. If you don't want to provide samples, simply state as much. Don't bullshit me."
Exhaling from his nose, Vahn stated, "I can't stop you from thinking I'm deceiving you, but what I say is the truth. Take all the samples you want here and now. Just don't be surprised when they vanish, and don't expect me to return daily to replenish them. I've been a guinea pig before. I won't suffer that indignity twice..."
"Fine. But if this is my only opportunity, I want to biopsy as much as I can, not just your liver," stated Atlas, exhaling from her nose before expelling a large amount of steam from her ears.
"I didn't say it would be your only opportunity," countered Vahn, rolling up his left sleeve and flexing to accentuate his veins as he clarified, "You may disagree, but there isn't a single person or organization more interested in the mysteries of my blood than me. It is due to my experience with them that I know that the tests and analyses you're about to conduct will offer no meaningful information. If you can discover a method that does, I will support your research wholeheartedly."
"Alright, then, hold this," said Atlas, offering a curt nod and handing over the oversized syringe before performing a cartoonish pre-dash pose and taking off at a full sprint toward her pillar-like punching bag. Halfway to it, she leaped through the air, the thrusters in her boots causing her to rotate rapidly as she performed a meteoric spinning drop kick against one of the dented metal plates lining its surface. As she made contact, a shockwave spread throughout the lab, followed by a screen atop the pillar displaying the output: 1,148MJ.
"Phew, that's much better," stated Atlas, wiping non-existent sweat from her brow with the back of her right arm—seemingly oblivious to the many alarms she had set off. Then, staring back at Vahn with a broad smile, she raised her right hand, the tips of her metallic fingers opening like caps and a variety of medical instruments emerging as she innocently asked, "Shall I administer anesthesia~?"
"It wouldn't work, even if you did..." sighed Vahn, purchasing an operating table from his System Shop before pulling it out, shedding his yukata, and lying down with his eyes closed. What followed was an hour-long process of having needles of various shapes and sizes inserted into virtually every part of his body, sans his brain. He had no doubt Atlas wanted to, but she settled for some cerebrospinal fluid extracted from between his third and fourth cervical vertebrae...
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//ERROR-041. INSERT SAMPLE//
"You have the damn sample inside of you...!" shouted Atlas, smacking the side of the computer that was supposed to be analyzing the composition of Vahn's blood. Instead, it continuously responded by telling her to insert a sample.
"Machines can only do what they're programmed and designed to do. Try checking the sample manually," suggested Vahn. He knew that wasn't the solution to Atlas's problem, but he doubted she would believe him.
"I don't need you to tell me how to do my job...!" barked Atlas, grumbling under her breath as she deftly prepared a slide and microscope with the finesse of a machine. Her eyes were already capable of seeing cells, but a microscope was more effective as it didn't require her to place the sample up to her eye—risking contamination.
"..."
Following nearly a full minute of silence, where she adjusted the settings of the microscope a dozen times, Atlas frowned and asked, "Just what are you...?" in a low, almost somber tone.
"What do you see...?" questioned Vahn. He already knew the answer, but he was curious to hear Atlas's interpretation.
"You have no red or white blood cells or platelets..." answered Atlas, her voice suffused with a mix of awe and confusion as she added, "Instead, it appears your blood formed from some kind of...superpositional crystalline spheres. They keep disappearing and reappearing with the total quantity decreasing over time..."
"The scientists that previously studied me called them alpha and omega nucleic superatoms..." revealed Vahn, a cold sensation washing over his mind alongside an emotion similar to nostalgia but far less pleasant as he explained, "Within my body, they take the form of red, white, and every other kind of cell needed to produce a living, breathing human being. But when they're taken out, they revert to the state you see now—waiting to be given purpose."
"What happens when they're placed inside someone else...?" asked Atlas, raising her head from the microscope to meet Vahn's gaze, her blue eyes glistening with fascination.
"I've heard them compared to nanomachines," answered Vahn, shrugging as he detailed, "They latch onto cells that don't belong within an organism and disappear alongside them. From there, they seem to use the patient's DNA as a blueprint to repair missing or damaged tissue, rejuvenate cells, and just about anything else necessary to restore the recipient to perfect health."
"What if the DNA is damaged or mutated in some way?" asked Atlas, her tail bobbing behind her as she drew nearer to Vahn, her intrigue growing the more she heard.
"I won't implicate anyone, but in the situations I've observed, beneficial mutations remain while anything perceived as detrimental by the recipient is ousted..." answered Vahn, preempting Atlas's follow-up by nodding and affirming, "Yes, there is a perceptive component to it. Several experiments were conducted where my blood was transfused into patients unaware of its effects by similarly uninformed Doctors. In those instances, it acted as completely ordinary blood."
"What if someone believed the blood was tainted?" asked Atlas. "Would it accordingly make them sick?"
Shaking his head, Vahn exhaled faintly from his nose before explaining, "It might be able to, but the key factor in my blood's function and potency is my perception of it. I was taught even before I could articulate that it was a panacea that could cure any ailment. Then, during my formative years, I was exposed to media that gave me a hero complex. Because of that, my blood can only be used to treat injuries and illnesses, not cause them. Not without a drastic change in my mentality, at least."
"Fascinating...!" exclaimed Atlas, turning away from Vahn and scampering over to a drawer to retrieve a microphone and handheld recording device before returning to him, holding the mic up to his face, and asking him to recount for her everything he knew about his blood and the experiments he had already been subjected to. Her words and actions would have come across as insensitive if any other Vegapunk were to ask them, but due to her child-like appearance and baseline innocence, Atlas gave off the impression of a young schoolgirl eager to learn rather than a callous scientist only interested in advancing their research...
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