RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

Hans approached Tyrus with a brow raised.

"You sure made a lot of ruckus by just collecting samples."

Tyrus didn’t know what to say for a moment. "That was not... I did not intend for that to happen, Commander."

"Sure you don’t. So, what happened to you?"

Tyrus dusted his coat. "Tier One. How do you like that now, Commander? Being on the same level as you."

"You’re still same old as before, Tyrus. I’ll be expecting more from you starting from now on."

Hans patted his shoulder.

"Ugh." Tyrus rolled his eyes. "Did you send me here because you knew this would happen?"

Hans didn’t answer.

The sample collection order was real. Hans also wanted to see whether the residue left by the Tree would react with Tyrus after what they had already observed from other psychic sources and HELIX-enhanced people.

He expected a reaction. Tyrus wandering deeper among the remains and absorbing enough residue... to push himself straight into Tier One was considerably more than that.

Tyrus observed Hans for a moment, unable to discern anything from the Commander’s expression.

"Fine. Consider this making us half as even."

Tyrus had relied heavily on Hans’s forces for the samples behind most of his recent work. Without them, he might still have been stuck in Pandora.

"Half as even?" Hans raised a brow. "We’ve had a history longer than that, doctor."

"Whatever you say, Commander. Whatever you say."

Tyrus smiled and walked away. "I’ll be getting my samples now. I have another experiment in mind."

"Don’t grow a garden inside the plant. The Overseer may not like that."

"We’ll see to it."

Tyrus slowed near one of the containers he had left beside the roots.

"The interesting part isn’t that it pushed me into Tier One."

Hans followed a few steps behind.

"My cognition changed. Biological structures that would normally be blurry are considerably clearer now, and I can examine them in my mind with less effort. The changes spread through the rest of my body too."

Tyrus flexed his hand. "And they stayed after you pulled me away."

"Including the strength?"

"Fortunately or unfortunately. Depends on how you look at it."

"How do you look at it?"

"Unfortunately." Tyrus sighed. "I nearly fell over three times, Commander. Allow me some resentment."

"Wouldn’t physical enhancement be good?"

"Not for someone like me. I handle glassware and samples all day. Before this, I already knew how much force I needed. Now I have to relearn it before I crack a damn tube in my hand."

Tyrus picked up the second sample more carefully this time.

"See? Even this feels wrong. I know how much force I used before, but the same movement gives me more than I expect now."

He adjusted his grip slightly.

"It’ll be useful once I adapt. Until then, everything delicate becomes considerably more annoying."

"So your experiments will be delayed?"

"Greatly."

"Do you resent me now?"

"Absolutely not." Tyrus shook his head. "The side effects are irritating, but the improvement is considerable."

Most of Tyrus’s work depended on understanding what changed after each experiment. Measurements could tell him that something had happened, but separating the useful response from everything that followed was another matter.

That had always been one of his strengths, and Tier One had sharpened it considerably. Changes that once required several passes to compare could now remain distinct inside his mind at the same time. He could follow one biological response into another, separate unrelated abnormalities and notice relationships he might previously have needed much longer to confirm.

The stronger body would probably annoy Tyrus for several days, but the improvement to his research was considerably more useful.

"Once you adjust, your experiments should move faster."

"Not as fast as your expansion, Commander."

Tyrus carefully returned the sample to its container.

"The equipment still has to confirm what I’m seeing, of course. But I can narrow down where to look much earlier now."

Hans’s brow rose slightly. That was considerably more useful than Tyrus learning how not to crush a test tube.

"Do I expect Johannes to bicker less with you in the future?"

"That depends." Tyrus shrugged. "If he’s still as irritating as he is, then even achieving the highest Tier won’t save me from all that."

Hans was about to answer when one of the DASFs approached from the rear.

"Commander."

Hans turned slightly. "What is it?"

"The mistress and the Directorate group are secure. There was one other incident before Doctor Shearman’s pressure reached them."

"The mistress?" Tyrus stopped handling the container, then quickly realized who the DASF was referring to.

He stole a glance toward Hans, then shifted back to the soldier and asked.

"What incident?"

"The mistress encountered one of the Tree’s roots inside the Directorate. She reported absorbing something from it."

Tyrus straightened.

"She absorbed it?"

"A small amount."

Hans’s expression shifted slightly.

That explained why Dianne’s earlier report had mentioned nothing unusual from Kimmy before the disturbance. Whatever she encountered had apparently been weak enough to remain unnoticed until Tyrus’s breakthrough forced everyone out.

"Any effects?"

"She said she felt less tired. Nothing else was confirmed."

Tyrus looked toward the Tree again.

"Interesting."

Hans glanced at him. "And I thought you were afraid to test on her."

"Of course not her." Tyrus rolled his eyes. "I’d rather bathe a few willing subjects in that refreshing essence and see what happens."

"I think Johannes might say otherwise."

Tyrus returned his attention to the samples.

"Kimmy’s reaction is still useful. Small amount, small effect, at least so far. Mine was considerably more concentrated."

"And considerably louder."

"Yes, yes. Everyone heard me."

Hans looked back toward the dead Tree. The residue was still there, although nowhere near as active as it had been around Tyrus.

There was probably something useful in it.

How useful could wait until Tyrus extracted more information about the Tree.

"Take what you need. Don’t start feeding it to people yet."

"I wasn’t planning to feed it to anyone."

Tyrus picked up another container.

"What about the giant corpse? Any idea who that was?"

"Oh yes. Adams Pearson. One of the more infamous people in entertainment."

Hans frowned at the name.

Adams Pearson had been one of the biggest names behind Ashington’s entertainment industry, not because he was particularly talented on a stage himself, but because he knew how to find people who were.

His agencies recruited singers, actors, models, dancers and almost anyone else with enough potential to make money. A recommendation from him could put an unknown performer in front of the country’s largest studios within days.

The same name had also followed enough scandals that even people who never cared about entertainment knew who he was.

Predatory contracts and careers disappearing after disputes followed his name for years, along with lawsuits from former talents and private parties that generated new rumors every few months before the usual settlements and denials.

Pearson somehow remained influential through all of it.

Hans had never followed celebrity news closely, but avoiding the man’s name entirely would have required living under a rock.

"That Adams Pearson?"

"The same one."

Hans looked toward what remained of the Giant.

The Pearson Hans remembered from television had been a normal-sized man wearing expensive suits and standing beside whatever new celebrity he had signed that month.

Now, most of his body was buried underneath a dead Tree after spending the apocalypse as something six stories tall.

"Well, that’s one hell of a career change."

Tyrus glanced toward the corpse.

"That is one way to describe it."

Hans kept looking at the corpse.

"Any idea what turned him into that?"

"He had access to quite a few HELIX shipments and was exactly the type to take too much of it. Then came the meteorites. As to how that specifically happened—"

Tyrus adjusted the sample container under one arm.

"His size alone makes whatever happened to him worth examining. I would rather not guess before I’ve taken enough material."

Tyrus started toward the corpse.

Hans watched him for several seconds.

Adams Pearson had apparently survived the end of the world only to become one of the largest things walking through Grefort.

Considering the man’s reputation, there was probably a joke somewhere in that.

Hans decided to leave it alone.

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