Chapter Fifteen - Part One: The Assistant
The first thing that she recognized as she floated out of the dark world of dreams was the smell of bread and the sound of mundane chatter in the kitchen. The muted click-clack of utensils being shuffled around as her team prepared breakfast and the heat of the rising sun on her cheek was enough to pull Leta from dreams of Loupgaru and lightning.
It took a few blinks for her sleepy brain to reboot enough to remember everything that happened last night.
She sat up in bed, her sheets trying their best to tangle her up as she snapped around to find Koa had vanished.
His chair had gone cold in his absence but was by no means unoccupied - a piece of paper had been folded into an origami boat and left in his place.
Leta unwrapped herself from her blankets and picked it up.
She saw that on the side of the boat were the words 'unfold me' scrawled in pen. It took a moment for her to figure out how to take apart the tiny statue but eventually she figured it out, discovering that it read 'See you soon. Call me if you need anything.' with a Greek phone number.
It was signed 'K'.
"Leta? You up, kiddo?" Vigo called with a soft knock at her door.
She answered, "Yeah! I'll be right out." and headed for her suitcase that had yet to be unpacked.
When she pulled on a pair of jeans she paused as she realized that her pants were loose.
"These nanites have their benefits." She mused under her breath as she searched around for the only belt she'd packed with her.
Leta took stock of herself in the mirror once she was fully clothed and was amazed once again at what she saw.
Her jeans were at least an inch or two too big, and after looking at her reflection, the appeared to be too short as well.
"Did I get taller?"
[HOST HAS GAINED 5 CENTIMETERS IN HEIGHT SINCE THE INITIAL SOFTWARE DOWNLOAD. THE HOST CAN EXPECT TO SEE A GRADUAL INCREASE IN STATURE AS THE NANITES CONTINUE TO OPTIMIZE CELL GROWTH AND PERFORMANCE.]
"Does that mean I'm just going to keep growing?"
[NEGATIVE. STATURE OF THE HOST IS BASED ON THE CLASS SOFTWARE. IN ORDER TO CAUSE THE LEAST AMOUNT OF STRESS AND TO PRESERVE THE HOST'S MENTAL STATE, THE NANITES WILL GRADUALLY MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THE HOST'S PHYSICAL CAPABILITIES.]
"Okay. So, not overnight then. But, eventually, I'm going to keep growing?"
[ACCORDING TO ARCHIVE RECORDS, THE MONARCH CLASS WAS DESIGNED TO SEAMLESSLY MATCH THE ATLAN PHYSIQUE AND CAPABILITIES. HOWEVER, THE CLASS WAS NEVER ADMINISTERED FOR TESTING AND WAS STILL CONSIDERED AN EXPERIMENT. THEREFORE, WHILE IT CANNOT BE CONFIRMED, WE CAN HYPOTHESIZE THAT THE HOST WILL BE CLOSE TO IF NOT THE SAME IN HEIGHT AS THE AVERAGE ATLAN FEMALE.]
"Uh… and that would be?"
[ARCHIVED RECORDS SUGGEST THAT AN AVERAGE ATLAN FEMALE WOULD BE ABOUT 2.3 METERS IN HEIGHT.]
"Holy fu-!" Leta gasped, then covered her mouth when she realized she'd nearly screamed out loud.
"Is everything okay in there, Leta?" Chandi inquired worriedly from somewhere in the living room.
"Uh… yeah! Sorry. My toothpaste exploded in my bag." Leta rushed to answer.
"Oh, that is unfortunate." Chandi replied in a reassuring tone. "Do you need to borrow some?"
"No! No, thanks. I think I'll have enough for today, but I'll need to get more later." She shouted through the door before quietly addressing Gada in her thoughts, 'You mean I'm going to get over seven and a half feet tall?!'
[ANSWER IS UNKNOWN. HOWEVER, BASED ON THE INTENTIONS OF THE MONARCH CLASS CREATION, IT IS A POSSIBILITY THAT REMAINS, THOUGH IT IS UNLIKELY THAT THE HOST WILL GROW TO BE THE SIZE OF THE AVERAGE ATLAN MALE, WHICH WAS OVER 2.4 METERS.]
Eight feet tall. The average Atlan males were eight feet tall.
"I can't. I just can't go down that rabbit hole." Leta whispered, running her hand through her golden blonde locks and noting that they, too, seemed to be longer as well.
Leta gave herself a pep talk as she tied her hair back in a ponytail, reminding herself that she was going to keep changing and there wasn't anything she could do about it but to move on.
It was the best she could do from going down that dark mental spiral that she'd had last night after the attack.
Squaring her shoulders, she'd bolstered her courage to face whatever madness today was going to throw at her.
That was until she opened the door and came face to face with Dr. Annika Galloise.
All the air seemed to turn to stone in Leta's lungs as flashes of glassy eyes swam through her brain.
Warm brown eyes that twinkled with care seemed to harden in concern as Dr. Galloise watched Leta's face go pale.
"Looks like you've seen a ghost. Do you need to go back to the hospital?" She questioned. The Doctor didn't miss the slight flinch when she raised a hand to check Leta for a temperature.
"No hospitals." Leta swallowed, settling her nerves and reminding herself of what Koa had said earlier - that the monster that tried to kill her last night wasn't the mentor in front of her.
Taking a deep breath, she faced Dr. Galloise and plastered on the best smile she could. "Don't think I'd survive another hospital visit. I'm fine, promise. Just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."
Dr. Galloise's face said she guessed there was more to it than that but didn't press further. "Well, try and take it easy today. We're still on ice for the most part until the government gives us the all clear to get back in the water."
They made their way to the kitchen table where the rest of the dig crew were hard at work making breakfast and shoveling it in their mouth.
Though several pots of coffee had been made, they seemed okay despite last night's revelries.
That is, except for Pilar.
Pilar was sitting on the coach, moaning into a trash can. Her hoodie was rumpled and the Colombian women's usually tan skin was tinged green.
Her dark hair that typically fell in genetically perfect waves was in a messy bun that was little more than a birds nest rats had taken up residence in. Leta had seen raccoons with better hair days.
"Maybe some hair of the dog?" Vigo offered, but Pilar responded with a gagging moan.
Leta sat down at the table and was quickly served Kagianas and tiropita, a morning cheese pie.
Everyone - but Pilar- dug into the meal, content to chat about what was on their mind around mouthfuls of phylo freshly squeezed orange juice. Most of the conversation centered around the dig, or lack thereof, with speculations on how long it would take to find out if they would be able to get back in the water again.
While the team tried to keep their spirits up, there was an unspoken trepidation that stemmed from the idea that someone would try to sabotage their dig. Like a ghost that was unseen but still sensed, no one actually voiced their opinions on the matter but from the quiet pauses and shifting eyes, it was on everyone's mind.
Leta focused on eating as much food as possible, both in order to keep from being pulled into any conversations that could get her in trouble and because she was absolutely famished.
[CHEESE PASTRY. UNPROGRAMMED NANITES: 1]
[EGG AND VEGETABLE MIXTURE. UNPROGRAMMED NANITES: 4]
[EGG AND VEGETABLE MIXTURE. UNPROGRAMMED NANITES: 4]
[EGG AND VEGETABLE MIXTURE. UNPROGRAMMED NANITES: 4]
[CHEESE PASTRY. UNPROGRAMMED NANITES: 1]
[CHEESE PASTRY. UNPROGRAMMED NANITES: 1]
[CHEESE PASTRY. UNPROGRAMMED NANITES: 1]
[CHEESE PASTRY. UNPROGRAMMED NANITES: 1]
[ABSORB UNPROGRAMMED NANITES? YES/ NO]
'Wow, you need to come with a pop up blocker.' Leta mentally rolled her eyes, 'Any food I eat, I want to absorb any available nanites unless there's no more room. Can you toggle off notifying me of unprogrammed nanites when I'm eating and just automatically absorb without asking me to confirm?'
[NOTIFICATION PREFERENCE HAS BEEN SET. UNPROGRAMMED NANITES WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE ABSORBED WHEN HOST IS CONSUMING NOURISHMENT. THE HOST WILL NOT RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS ON NANITES ABSORBED WHILE EATING.]
Satisfied, Leta went back to eating, but was surprised by how hungry she was.
After a quick inquiry to Gada, she'd confirmed that her increased metabolism meant she was burning 100-150 calories every hour while she slept compared to the 40-80 calories per hour of a normal human.
A knock at the door caught everyone's attention. Chandi rose to answer but Dr. Galloise waved him to sit and keep eating as she headed for the door.
"Hello?"
"Are you Dr. Galloise?" A familiar voice questioned innocently.
Leta froze.
"Yes."
"My name is Koa Masters. I believe Professor Marrow may have mentioned me coming by."