"I didn't believe the reports, but your little stunt fixed that. It made you owe me one too." Civilian talked in casual tone, as if to an old friend.

"What do you mean?"

"For deescalating the situation before it got ugly." He stated like it was obvious.

"Why would I owe you for that? I didn't do anything wrong or illegal, so any ugly escalation would've been at their expense, not mine. If anything, the captain owes you for saving his career and/or his image."

"Ah, to be young and naïve again." Civilian reminisced or mocked.

"On the other hand, you used that opportunity to be alone with me, which seems to be what you were after from the beginning, so maybe the captain is even now. In the end, I'd say you helped yourself more than I. Or them. It also makes me think you're the reason behind that order to bring me here yesterday. Are you?"

"You knew? You knew and you still didn't come?" He raised both eyebrows.

"I was exhausted and still shaken from being mugged. All I wanted was to go home and collapse in a safe place. Now, what do you want from me?"

"Care to take a guess?" The flabbergasted face was replaced by an amused grin and a singsong tone.

"No. I've never met you. I don't know who you are. The only dealings I have in the Circle currently only involves Residents who won't involve enforcers if they can help it. You've read accurate reports about me but you didn't believe them. You talk as is we were old friends but you didn't introduce yourself."

It might be a bit curt, but Zax was getting fed up with those constant setbacks.

[ Theory: deeper involvement. Uploading hints. ]

"And it just now occurs to me, you or whoever you work for might have ordered the captain to send the detective after me. It would explain her specific but spotty knowledge about me and why she acted this way instead of calling me like a normal person. Was there any chance I could actually help? But it's just speculation, so nevermind. No, I don't care to take a guess. Or play your games. Or waste more time."

Civilian wasn't smiling anymore, but he wasn't grimacing either. A perfect poker face, betraying a skilled actor. He didn't change his laid-back body language, however.

"The reports did say you favoured the direct approach. They didn't say you were so rude though." He stated as he took a folded paper from his pocket and put in on the table. "We want you to read that aloud, record it like you do naturally, and spread it like the other. In exchange, we guarantee a mutation, plus more 3G than you ever saw in your life, free-for-life lodging in the richest bubble of the Circle, fully furnished and staffed, and more. However! There can be no trace of that exchange. No contract, not letting anyone know, not even from your current recording. That is non-negotiable. You'll speak naturally, of your own initiative, because you saw the damages your previous recording was causing. Someone will notice and sponsor you as a reward. That happens, no one will question it."

What a weird request.

His part was extremely simple too. He'd have to clear up suspicious points first, but it didn't seem too nefarious. And rework the payment, no way he was moving out.

"What do you want me to say?" He reached for the paper, but it was snatched before he was halfway.

"You can't know the details until you formally agreed. We need to know you'll do it."

"Who's 'we'?"

"You can't know the details yet."

"Why is that secrecy so important?"

"You can't know the details yet. But it should be obvious once you've read the paper."

"Why are you giving so much?"

"You can't know the details yet. What I can tell you is; this is nothing to us. Pocket change, at most."

[ Warning : Implied threat ]

Too subtle for a threat, I think. I might be getting paranoid.

"What guarantee do I have that you'll hold your side?"

"You can't know the- oh, wait, you can know that. You have my word. I swear it on the Families." He put his hand in front of his chest in a strange, but deliberate gesture. "You can see how serious it is." He added with a decisive nod.

"… Not really." Zax's mask twisted a hint. "I don't know which Families you're talking about, I don't know how important they are to you, and I never saw that gesture before." He tried to placate any potential offence: "I'm sure it has a lot of meaning to you, but it can't replace an official contract."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He couldn't tell if the placating had failed or not.

He tried other questions to make the offer seem less suspicious, such as "what guaranty do you have that I'll hold my side?", "what recording are you talking about?" and "what damages are you talking about?", but they were all met with variants of the same answer:

"You can't know the details yet."

Once out of questions, the handyman could only give up. He gathered Kamin's papers, still spread on the table, as he summarised:

"You want me to make and spread an undisclosed declaration, for an undisclosed party and undisclosed reasons, in reaction to undisclosed damages, from an undisclosed recording I allegedly did." We wondered where Bathor had been, but it would make no sense. She would've given them better payment options and helped them appear more trustworthy. "Sorry, but I'm not interested. It's way too shady for my tastes, and you didn't do your homework. Which is suspicious if you have that much resources."

He was opening the door, papers in hand, when the still unnamed man called:

"Aw, c'mon, what's a little shadiness for those rewards? Are you even a mutant if you pass that up?"

"See? That's what I meant about homework." Zax glanced behind him and shrugged. "I'm not a mutant. Never activated, and not for a lack of trying. No idea why your reports didn't mention it. Maybe you thought they were wrong again?"

He left without waiting for an answer. Kamin was at desk in the open space. When he gave her file back, she confirmed she still wanted his help, but as expected the lawyers were in the way again. She would contact him when they were done with their thing, but she didn't know how long it would take.

The handyman sighed, gave her his available time, confirmed she had his coordinates, and left the station. He looked at the hour and was surprised at how little time had passed. This side quest had felt like an eternity, but they had arrived at the station hardly an hour ago.

This expedition had been bad news after trouble after bad news; he wanted nothing more than to relax with his friends. He had been looking forward to testing the first actual skill book prototype all day.

The station's signal wasn't strong enough to connect to its network from outside, so he went to the nearby transport stop to mentally save a picture of the local map, connect to the public network and see where the girls had gone. The localisation function wasn't available outside the dot, but they had sent a message.

He jogged as a warm-up and joined them at the nearby park. It was… less organic than expected. Sure, every unoccupied ground was covered in grass and soft soil, but there was not a tree or bush in sight.

Guess they don't need to when there are so many in the streets?

It wouldn't be as soothing if it was a common sight. The playgrounds were the normal fare to make children move and spend energy. Zax expected more stone, but it was as much metal as the dot's. He wouldn't complain about familiarity.

Given the new experiments and their general need to unwind with a mindless activity, they focused on the basic moves. The results were incredible; the prototype had worked spectacularly. Normal training had made Aran proficient enough to do the fundamentals on her own, but today each repetition was a league better than the last. SG and Zax's nanites observed the results of one week of daily training in minutes. Minutes.

"Incredible" didn't do it justice.

Her movements were smoother, her breathing more controlled, her balance sturdier. It didn't seem much, but the effect was tremendous on her speed, stamina, and even her power and flexibility. Every movement was just that much more effective. Her somersaults rose higher, and she could now chain them up. Her high jumps went higher. Her long jumps further. Her grip was sturdier.

It wasn't like her muscle mass had changed in any way, but her technical skill was a world apart.

It wasn't perfect, however. She was not naturally aware of what she could or couldn't do. She overshot many times. SG could see a wall or an obstacle and know if she could climb it and how. Aran couldn't.

"It just comes down to real experience." SG stated.

Zax concurred. The foxy girl had the technique and a compatible body; she just had to figure what those techniques were. They even had a lead on how to do that. Like the first accidental overachievement, she was to move without thinking about her own movements. Easier said than done. It only had to be done once per move though, afterwards she would be aware of the new move and could practice it normally.

Her fear of heights was another obstacle, but the skill book couldn't do anything about that. Pure technique wouldn't change the limitations of her body either, so she wouldn't stand toe to claw with SG anytime soon.

Lastly, Aran's biggest disappointment, the neural pattern didn't have incrementing thresholds of difficulty. The model's proficiency was transmitted directly; only the user's hesitations would stop them from directly using it fully. The skill book wouldn't work as a typical RPG mechanic. The closest would be to only give part of the pattern, a partial skill, and Zax wasn't sure it was actually possible.

He had tried to only keep the free running part of SG's skill, but some fighting moves ended up mixed in. SG had refused to try them, but it was undeniable. There was simply no clear limit between specific parts. As far as the expert could tell, at least some bleeding was inevitable.

In any case, the prototype was a resounding success. It was now just a matter of fine-tunning and smoothing the edges. The handyman was even confident enough to consider using it on himself.

As if to deflate his rising ego, the following experiments were a resounding failure. No matter what they tried – and they tried a lot – they couldn't force a resonance to happen. Aran suggested they needed actual opponents, which made SG shiver, but Zax shot the idea down. Minor instances could happen with only the three of them.

"It's so frustrating! The rules are weird but clear. Why is it so hard to actually use them!?" He vented.

"Haha. When nanites act like the 3G, right?" Aran laughed.

"What?" Zax's head snapped to her.

"Well, hum-" She jumped back, surprised at the sudden move. "Inexplicable but consistent rules. We try to use them, but we don't understand them. And we rarely succeed. It sounds a lot like… the common comments in the 3G activation forum. I've been skimming a bit, now and then."

"That's… correct. I didn't notice."

They were done with experiments for the day, but they stayed a bit longer. Aran's new skill felt like a superpower, SG had fun with her, and Zax couldn't get her comment out of his head.

He had seen it and he couldn't unsee it. There were many other similitudes between the 3G and some of his nanites. Uncannily so. Especially specific configurations of the swarm. The most effective ones; developing naturally when aiming for optimum energy efficiency. It was too fitting to be a coincidence, but what could it mean?

The hobbyist was certain it was related to the mysterious resonance. He couldn't pinpoint a reason, it was highly speculative and unbecoming of a scientist, but he couldn't help it. The thought was there and refused to go.

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