Codename: Freedom - Book 4 - Chapter 5

Nine months had passed, maybe ten, since I first told Peter I’d undergo a DNA Cleanse to become Ekseliksi. I’d had a lot of time to reconsider, but I didn’t regret my decision.

To say I completely understood what had happened to me would be untrue. The virus I’d ingested did many things. The change of DNA wasn’t so extensive that I looked different, or even felt much different. As far as my research had gotten me, I’d learned the cleanse focused on changing a specific set of genes. The outcome was that a person was left in the most disease and virus resistant state possible while also extending cell renewal and making cells more damage resistant.

Human medical technology worked to do the same thing and had been fairly successful. Instead of changing a person’s DNA though, they focused on fighting the disease and slowing the cell renewal process from the outside. Many techniques had been developed to manage these things and the average human could function pain free until about one hundred and fifty years old. Sometimes longer. It even allowed athletes to compete into their eighties, ninety, and even to the ripe age of one hundred in some cases, depending on the sport. A DNA Cleanse however could do better at extending one’s life and without constant medical attention. So much so that a person could live two to three times longer.

The more I read about it, the more surprised I was to learn how popular it was on earth. Because of the ethical issues behind it, those who had such procedures done often kept it private. No wonder Dr. Weis had shown no fear handling my DNA Cleanse right in the middle of a university.

Despite my busy schedule, I’d taken the time to rent out the personal training section of a local gym all to myself so that I could have some privacy to test any changes. The DNA Cleanse wasn’t something focused on improving one’s physique, but Peter had promised it would have positive results. He hadn’t been wrong. I didn’t even wait the two days after the procedure until I pushed myself to the limits. On the second day, I hit the trusty squat machine with the intention of not being able to walk until my muscles recovered. The cleanse hadn’t given me any new strength by itself, but after a few sessions, Destiny was able to confirm that my ability to recover had improved even further.

Without the government’s nanobots flowing through my system that fed my body the hormones and nutrition it needed, my recovery ability hadn’t slowed that much sense leaving Freedom. My body simply utilized more psionic energy to recover than before. Now that I was able to recover even faster, it made me wonder what would happen when I got plugged back into the governments cube and they were filling me with nanobots again.

Can it really be this easy?

What Dr. Weis had given to drink reminded me more of a potion from a fantasy world, then any form of medical procedure. I didn’t feel any different, but there was no denying the fact that something inside me had changed. Even my lifespan had been extended by a possible few hundred years. So why did it still bother me?

There were other procedures that were much more involved that would change me to a much further extent. The fundamental change of tissue or internal systems wasn’t illegal on Earth, and I could certainly afford it now. Xenografting, or enhancement using designer animal parts, on the other hand, wasn’t legal, but there were still countries I could go to that would accommodate me if I truly desired. That was only the beginning. The Ekseliksi had taken such technologies, plus others I wasn’t even aware of, and created a whole culture dependent upon them. At least with my DNA Cleanse, I was still undoubtedly human.

I continued to try and keep my thoughts in check to keep Destiny in the dark. She of course knew about my DNA Cleanse. That was obvious, but unlike before, when she always knew everything going on in my heart and mind, now she could only speculate about my true motivations. Despite always having her with me again, in many ways, it was like I was still in my giant black cube. The secrets I kept placed a wall of separation between us.

Once again, I followed behind the purple bouncy ball that was Destiny’s drone. Unlike my last public outing, this time she didn’t hide my appearance to the world. Nor did she have to. Two grand doors plated with gold and covered with ornate carvings of flowers and grapes, swung open at the middle to reveal a massive ballroom with a crystal chandelier the size of a small house hanging from the high ceiling. It was the people below looking my way that put my nerves on edge.

A year ago, I would have entered this same room with anxiety and questioning my own worthiness to be here. But now, I was just overly excited to see some old friends and meet many world class gamers I’d watched growing up.

An announcement filled the air for all to hear. “Introducing, Lucius Edwards, the Right Hand of Guild Prodos.”

I kept myself from laughing out loud as I heard that they’d chosen to announce everyone with their guild names. It was Vector and Drools wedding. Should I have expected anything less?

Cracking a grin, I stepped forward, willing myself to focus on enjoying the moment. In a sense, I was as popular as any of them, but because of my separation from the real world, and our fans, I hadn’t begun to really feel the weight of my fame until a week and a half ago after leaving Freedom.

Those in attendance were in formalwear, but the biggest shocker was the utter lack of face obstructing headgear. There were countless microdrones flying about overhead. Just as I had Destiny’s drone and an earpiece to interact with her, the others had the same type of setup.

I saw the stage across from the entrance where the ceremony would take place. The groomsmen, including Treetop and Cornelius, stood in front of it at the head of the room greeting people. The bridesmaids did the same on the bride’s side of the stage.

After walking a short distance into the room, the doors closed behind me. I was quickly greeted by those closest to me. Trick-or-Trick, a close range VR first person shooter expert, was the first to greet me with a pat on the shoulder. His dark blue hair with silver streaks was done back in a ponytail to not get in the way of his matching silver scarf that hung down over either side of his chest. His jacket had strong shoulders and was tightly fit in the body as well as a tail.

Seeing that most of the guys wore tailcoats made me feel better. I was completely new to this dress up thing. My suit jacket was gray to not clash with the groom’s, and I had a black buttonless form-fitting shirt underneath. Destiny insisted that my upper chest was developed enough that I didn’t need a scarf or bowtie.

I was a bit giddy as I took the hand of pro gamer after pro gamer, many of which I was still following—though I hadn’t had a chance to catch up on what they’d been up to in my time away.

It wasn’t long until the crowd parted, and I saw the face I’d been hoping to see the most. Those green eyes with dazzling silver streaks brightened as they fell upon me. Her skin was between honey colored and golden brown. Her jet-black hair hung down her back in the most intricate braid I’d possibly ever seen.

When we were a few yards a part, I bowed my head with a mock overly-formal greeting.

She rolled her eyes to tease me, and I looked her over as if to scrutinize what she was wearing. Her shoulderless dress was a dull golden color with a gentle sheen that fit her form tightly from chest to her hips. From there her skirt fell loose all the way down to her ankles. It didn’t have many frills and instead looked almost like she was trying to dress down to not distract from the bride. With her perfect posture and petite, athletic build, the dress didn’t look like it had been designed to emphasize her good qualities and hide her imperfections, but to allow her to make the dress itself look better. Which she did.

I gave her one last look before issuing my assessment. All seriousness fell from my face as a grin took its place. “You look stunning.”

Grabbing the sides of her skirt, she dipped at the knee in a tidy little curtsy. “Thank you.”

Taking a deep breath, I prepared to say something when I realized I was lost for words. A small tap on the shoulder from my personal drone reminded me of something I promised.

“Victoria, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

Seeing that the true to life princess was waiting expectantly, I turned to the side where my purple orb of a drone flew lower to hover beside me. Suddenly, Destiny’s full body hologram appeared with her wearing a rich purple evening gown and her blonde hair flowing in curls down her back. She looked over at Victoria with an affectionate smile.

“This is my AI, Destiny, who I’ve told you about,” I said.

Victoria cracked a grin, but, when Destiny squealed in excitement, both girls started to laugh. “Hello, Destiny. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

My little blond AI was just nodding her head in a frenzy. “It’s so good to see you in person, Victoria. And you look so lovely tonight.”

I stood back as the two girls, if you could consider Destiny a real person at all, spent a few minutes exchanging compliments. I really wanted a peek inside of Victoria’s head to find out what she was thinking. She’d told me they relied on bots and drones, so she wasn’t completely unfamiliar with such things. Personal AIs were common on Earth, but few could even mimic the personality Destiny had. For all the disagreements I had with my father, his genius was undeniable.

“I’ll leave you two to enjoy the party,” Destiny said. “Have fun!” With that, her holographic body disappeared, and her purple orb flew up into the room above us as if to give us some privacy.

Turning to me, Victoria raised her brow as if surprised. “She’s very special.”

Stepping forward, I offered her my arm. As she took it, I replied. “She is.”

As a person with superior experience to my own in attending such events, I followed Victoria’s lead, but was also quick to introduce her to every gamer that approached us. She wasn’t actually a direct member of this crowd and there were no illusions about that either. Neither was she considered a part of the athlete community. Happily, none of that mattered. Victoria was readily accepted by everyone there.

I doubted the gamer and athlete rivalry was dead, but Freedom had gone a long way to building bridges between the two communities—even between those that hadn’t participated. I could hear Cornelius chuckling from across the room and he was surrounded by the supposed proverbial enemy. Honestly, with his legendary status and genial personality, he probably would’ve been welcome regardless.

When we made our way to the line of groomsmen, Treetop, who had his brown mop-top of a hairdo done up and slicked back for once, grabbed ahold of me with his not so skinny anymore arms and lifted me into a bearhug. He hadn’t changed a bit.

Cornelius was next. When I went to shake his hand, he pulled me forward just so he could smack me firm on the shoulder. His time sparring with Kline was giving him bad habits. He was at least five hundred pounds of solid muscle earned over decades as a combat master. I’d gained a good hundred pounds of muscle myself while in Freedom, but he was on a whole other level of freakishness.

Our conversation quickly turned to sparring, with Treetop included in the mix.

“Boys will be boys,” Victoria chimed in snickering, cutting us off. “You’ll be able to get back to playing around in a few days when Vanguard begins. For now you all better behave.”

“Too bad dog collars aren’t very fashionable,” another voice interrupted.

“Marrabella,” Victoria cried, giving the rhythm gamer and professional dancer a side hug to be careful not to wrinkle her pink bridesmaid’s dress. The girl had a full head of strawberry red hair in shoulder length waves accenting her rich sable skin tone. She gave me an impish smile.

After a little back and forth, Marrabella pulled Victoria and me aside to address me specifically.

“I was told you were offered a contract with Vibrations. Have you signed with them by chance?”

Rubbing the back of my neck, I looked to Victoria, unsure how much I should say.

She noticed my dilemma and asked. “Are you worried about the info about exchanging cryptos for points?”

I nodded.

“Don’t worry then. All colonels are provided with this information to prepare their troops. Marrabella will be joining our battalion with guild Dawn Maximum, so I’ve already passed the information along.”

I had a sudden desire to laugh at how crazy that sounded, but simply shrugged and turned back to Marrabella. “I’ve held back on any long term contracts and just been doing one time gigs nonstop to get as much money as possible before Vanguard begins.”

“Good,” the dancer said, suddenly all business like. “If you’re interested, I’d wait to sign anything until next year. Jams Universal, their closest competitor, is getting ready to come out with a new product that will leap ahead of everyone else for this generation of rhythm gear. You can probably negotiate with Vibrations for much better terms when they’re readying to release their next product line. They’ll be more desperate.”

“Thank you,” I replied, instantly enthused. I’d only had a few conversations with her, but she wouldn’t say anything if she wasn’t interested in working with me. She was in an interesting segment of the industry that attracted music and gaming fans alike. She had the popularity of both a pro gamer and popstar in one. “I was hoping I’d get to work with you,” I replied. “I’ll take your advice on that then.”

“Very cool. Now if you could only help talk girly here into doing the same,” she said, nudging Victoria.

“We’ll see. You know my options are limited,” Victoria replied, showing the appropriate amount of sincerity.

I wasn’t exactly sure what she was telling everyone but knew the truth as to why she’d be taking no sponsorship deals. There was only one thing she would allow herself to represent, and that was her Ekseliksi people.

“All right. Whatever you say. The world is missing out. Has Mr. Biceps here even seen you dance?” Marrabella cocked her head to the side in question. Before I could respond, she looked at me squarely and added. “She’s probably better than I am.”

“Oh, stop it,” the girl holding onto my arm said, before glancing back to me with a secretive smirk.

I knew her well enough to read further into her reaction than what she might have meant to give away. Swallowing down a knot of tension, I realized immediately that Marrabella didn’t know the half of it. What she’d seen was only what Victoria had wanted her to see.

Victoria had said she’d been a dancer, and I assumed she was good, but if she was better than Marrabella, what did that even mean? There wasn’t supposed to be a higher level than that…

When it was time for the ceremony to begin, we were called to our seats. I found Oliver, the tall ebony Ekseliksi bodyguard of Victoria’s who’d accompanied her in Freedom. He wasn’t built as large as Cornelius but was still larger than I was. It had taken him a while to warm up to me, but after we had to burst into a room with a whole platoon of men holding Victoria hostage and laid waste to them together, he’d dropped most of his reservations.

As he came to escort Victoria to her seat he took the time to shake my hand and even gave me a small grin.

I wasn’t surprised when he asked me to follow, since the seating arrangements probably had Victoria and I sitting together. Vector and Drool had arranged everything. They’d actually helped me set up hot baths to surprise Victoria for a hot tub like experience while still in Freedom. Even if publicly our relationship was platonic, the couple getting married today knew how much I cared for her.

A few minutes later, I found myself sitting at a round table with her at my side, and Oliver and Peter there as well. We were near the front by the stage.

There had been no skimping on any of the decorations. Each of the chairs was cushioned with white embroidery and the tables were silky white. The flower arrangement at the center of the table was cut low so as not to hinder anyone’s view of the stage or those sitting across from them.

I didn’t realize how large the room really was until everyone was seated. It was like a long throne room with rows of the round tables stretching down either side of the dance floor that would soon double as a walkway. There had to be five hundred people seated there.

Glancing up, I saw hundreds of microdrones. My own was actually one of the larger ones there, but it also held top-tier tech which always took a few generations to shrink down to the smallest level. I caught sight of a fly-size drone that sat on my purple orb. Giving Peter another look, I could see through his eyepiece enough to see him scanning information.

The last thing I had expected was for him to be all teched out, but he was taking his job of security very serious as always. He’d said he held the most openminded Ekseliksi philosophy, which I assumed was why he’d been able to save the Epithumia from assassination attempts when no one else had despite his low psionic talent. The drone he had perching on my own wasn’t the only one he had under his control. According to Destiny’s guess, he had over a hundred of them placed at strategic positions all throughout the building. No wonder his greeting had been kept so short. This was the real world, and this wasn’t a game to him. If there really was some kind of threat to Victoria’s life, I didn’t even want to imagine what kind of destruction he and Oliver were prepared to unleash on this place to keep her safe. I guess I could lump myself in with them. I still didn’t know how powerful Oliver really was.

The groomsmen and bridesmaids had soon walked down the aisle to take their place on the stairs going up to the stage. Vector was announced, and he began his trek. He wore a suit of black on black. I noticed right away that Drool had approved him restoring the blue to his hair. He was a good looking guy, but the hair was one of the distinguishing features that everyone knew him by.

Numerous voices cheered as he passed, and I was sure to do the same. Looking my way, he gave me a shaky grin, which I got a kick out of. He was known for having nerves of steel, but Drool had gotten passed his defense. At one time, I would’ve warned him against her. She was known for competing with male gamers specifically and going out of her way to embarrass them. After getting to know her in Freedom, I learned I’d been completely wrong about her. So had Vector at first.

Once he reached the stage and took his place, the song changed and the piercing sound of a violine with a Mediterranean flair filled the room. When the entrance’s doors swung open again, Drool was standing there in one of the most incredible dresses my uncultured eyes had ever seen. It seemed to be one piece of fabric that covered her from neck to fingertip, and down to her hips. The intricate patterns were only at specific places, like over her hands and forearms, shoulders and neck. Her collar was high around her neck but opened down the middle to reveal a multilayered silver necklace. From her hips, the dress belled out and had more designs covering her from hip to lower thigh.

Vector may have re-dyed his hair, but Drool had not. There was a straight layer where her dark strands were shining and reaching down to her back. A second layer with many thin braids woven together overlapped it. Just as with Victoria though, it was her own features, mainly her eyes which tilted slightly inward giving her an exotic appeal that really made her glow.

At her side was a man smiling down at her who barely seemed to notice the rest of the room at all. His hair was dark and trimmed short, with speckles of silver sprinkled throughout. Drool’s father…

I smiled at her as they passed, noticing how much care the man was giving to guiding her down the aisle. It seemed like the two of them were really close.

Though the grin never left my face, I found myself looking down, lost in thought. When the bride reached the bottom of the stairs and Vector descended to take her father’s place, I couldn’t help but to feel a prick of remorse, even pity. This was a scenario Victoria would likely never get to experience. There might be a ceremony maybe, but not with a father she loved and who loved her, or with a groom who she actually approved of. For so many girls it was one of the events they most looked forward to. For Victoria, she dreaded it.

I kept the turbulence of emotion going on inside of me from reaching my face. More than once I glanced at Victoria, matching her smile.

My mind returned to what I’d felt after getting my DNA Cleanse. I didn’t exactly feel different, but some part of me still felt it was wrong. I also knew that if necessary, if it could change the future for Victoria and myself, I probably wouldn’t hesitate to go even further. Keeping my humanity intact was important to me, but as for what line I wasn’t willing to cross, I wasn’t entirely sure. How many hundreds of hours had I spent in meditation trying to figure out the answer to that very question? What if I had to choose between losing myself and loosing Victoria? I just hoped it would never come to that.