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_ Chapter 17- Entanglement _

<UEF-A 'Tiamat'> July 22, 2085

Several weeks past, and while the general theme of work did not change much at all for Canith, although certain small details did. Of them, the most evidentwas that every couple days, he decided to have a nap, and Will usually joined him. Said nap, of course, was with Canith in his feral form, with Will leaning up against him.

As Canith had fallen into a steady rhythm with the ship cycles, namely visiting E-Deck every couple of weeks for checkups, ongoing lessons with Snow on the nature of shifting, Sky with his martial arts (which now included maneuvers that included wings), and the occasional visit with Drake, Tyco, and Will, he had decided to start another major set of projects.

The first project would be constructing a 'body' for Aura. In the past, he had toyed with the idea of making one, but his research had led him down different paths. What he had discovered on the moon research base had not only reminded him of those early thoughts, but had given him a good baseline to start that research. At the same time, he would also knock out a promise to Terry and take her up on the offer of energy crafting training.

That training would be the second project. In the weeks immediately following him waking up after the collapse, he found that he had started feeling the stirrings of that ability begin to manifest, but slowly compared to the others. He had checked with E-deck on this, and they said it was fine to put off training if it was delayed in awakening.

He contemplated all this while reclined in the grass, his feral form sprawled out on his side. Aura had done very good with the original tweaks to his physiology, and after 2 more visits had increased his shifting efficiency up to around 85%. He no longer had a major dip in energy shifting from anthro to feral either, as Snow explained that it was akin to working muscles out, and he would have better stamina if he worked on it often.

Even his flying had gotten better. Part of the exercises he had started a week after his run in with Drake was to elaborate on the various places he practiced his flying. Unfortunately, after several near misses he decided that C deck was the better place to do that, so the days he wasn't napping here he was flying around instead.

While relaxing there, Aura chimed in after sensing a lull in his through processes. :A message just came in for you. Apparently Snow believes you are also ready to begin level 3 training in shifting. In light of this, he requests that you come to his office this evening. He also says to not plan on being up for much after, as, and I am quoting here, 'L3Sis miles beyond more strenuous then even L2, but only in terms of energy expenditure up front.' Personally, I believe that you should have no issues with it due to the changes we made.:

A slow smile spread over his muzzle. :Agreed, but we are not the experts in this, he is. Let's defer to him. For now, though, give him an affirmative reply, and also inquire after Lt. Terry through the other AI's. I think it's time I gave you some upgrades, and I promised her I would teach her a bit as well. As it is purely a mental exercise, I figure that we can schedule these lessons for afternoons that I also have my L3S training. And this doesn't need to be in the message, but perhaps on the alternating afternoons I might start my training in EC with her. See if my schedule is free for that, although I think I recall that it is.:

Aura gave him the assurance that this was the case, then went to deliver the messages as well. Turning his head over to where Will rested, Canith got his snout close to him and blew lightly. The sudden hot breeze woke Will up, and Canith informed him that he had more lessons to attend to.

"With as many things as you are learning these days, it must remind you of college back on Earth a bit." His tone light, but Canith knew that he was just imagining that it was similar with no actual experience of college himself. He had discovered much about Will after many a long discussion, and one of those things was that Will had been in space almost all his life. And not just that, but no traditional schooling either. So when Canith shook his head slowly, he simply shrugged.

"College was, for me at least, very easy and straight forward. It was all mental, and most times I was surpassing the instructors before I ever stepped foot in their classrooms. Not many of them appreciated that, and they tried to tear me down as a result. Afterwards though, many of them came to realise that they had not been fair to me and apologised, but I never let it phase me. I was there to learn, and was focused only on that."

Will winced at this. "That must have been lonely."

Canith let another smile cross his face, this one much warmer. "You would think. But to counter that I started the early designing of Aura in my spare time, and had a few casual friends in between. In retrospect, though, most of them distanced themselves from me once I really kicked things into high gear. But by that time, I had Aura, so I wasn't lonely."

Canith stood at this. "Anyways, I need to get back to my office. I got some other stuff going on that would likely bore you to death, so I'll catch you tomorrow?"

Will dusted his suit off as he stood as well, and gave him a grin. "Sure, sounds good. Tomorrow then." He walked off waiving behind him as he went. With him heading out, Canith started for the stairs. He took a few steps, then blurred. He had gotten much better at shifting and between one step and the next was walking on two legs once more. Another step, and a jumpsuit appeared around him, courtesy of his crystals. With his ensemble in place, he went from a walk to a jog, and then with a minor kinetic lift took off, covering the remaining distance to the recessed stairs by gliding through the air. It wasn't true flying, but he found that it did help strengthen the flight muscles a bit more, and he had become more graceful in the air as a result.

A few minutes later found him back in the Sys-Admin room, with Aura already in the main tank having a conversation with the Lieutenant.

"So you finally found the time to keep that promise you made, huh?" She said in a playful tone. "I almost thought that you had forgotten."

"Yeah, it's nice to finally have everything slow down for once- ever since comingonto the Tiamat, I have been going at a frantic pace. First was the inital acclimation, then the changes, then another very short acclimation period before more changes. Add in all the abilities I had piled onto me that I needed to learn to control I didn't have much time to stop and breathe. Then, just as things looked like they were slowing down, the moon base incident occurred." He stopped for a moment to sigh. "I get taken out of commission for 2 weeks after that, then come back and have more abilities that demand my immediate attention, as well as going over all the work I offloaded onto Aura."

For their part, Aura just gave a wolfish grin from the tank, then spoke out loud through the tank's speakers. "True, but you would not have trusted me with those tasks if you did not have faith in my abilities. After all, you DID design me."

The LT smiled ruefully. "I get the idea. So, you are teaching me. What am I learning today?"

With this, Aura began recreating the various terminals, workspaces, and assemblies that the moon base lab had contained on the holo tanks that surrounded the room. Canith began walking from one to the next as he started illustrating his thoughts.

"You already know roughly how AI's operate, and are pretty good at maintainance practices as well. Today is the start of a project I shelved awhile back, and figured you would like in on it to learn more about general AI programming and about Aura in general."

Terry looked at the various tanks and started putting the pieces together. "These are mockups from that lab! You scanned everything in there, didn't you? That seems rather . . . I don't know, dishonest? Underhanded? I honestly don't know what to think on that."

Canith gave her a grin. "Relax. I'm not actually copying their research. It was flawed anyways. I'm more interested in the platform they were using." He walked to the tank holding the display in question. "Here we are. Aura, start running preliminary extrapolations on system usage with this platform as a base, customized to your liking." Said platform was a quadruped, but very bare bones. Numbers and lines of code began swirling in the tank, and several less important tanks also began figuring this.

"So what AM I learning then?"

Canith let out a sigh. "Sorry, I'm not used to teaching. So, lets start with the scope of the project and work from there."

He gestured around him at Aura working. "AI's are amazing at processing data and running simulations, and their abilities are only enhanced within larger systems. What I would like to do, however, is remove the major limiting factor involved with them. Their dependence on being attached to a system to be able to affect changes in the environment."

She nodded. "That makes sense, but wouldn't that just be a reclassification to robots?"

Canith smiled warmly. "Normally it would, if we was to isolate them in bodies. But not in this case. Instead of the AI being housed in the system controlling the body, it would be the AI contained in the body, yet also controlling the system like normal. It would pose new limitations, but in the case of Aura here, this also wouldn't be a problem.

"Let me venture a guess. Aura is already adept at accessing a system from the outside, so being mobile and needing to do that will not be a handicap as they already do that, correct?"

"Exactly!" Canith said to her, excitement clear in his voice. "With thatout of the way, we move on to the next point. The platform they were working on had a major flaw. I don't know how much you discussed with the doctor before I came over, so what did he tell you?"

She shook her head. "Not much that I could make sense of. A lot of talk about interfaces and protocol interlacing, but not anything that I directly interpreted as having to do with the mission or AI's in general. Sorry."

Canith chuckled to himself. "The man was very passionate about his work, but without having dabbled at one point in this field, I wouldn't havemade the connection either. He was working the robot angle. He had an AI control the frame from the system. However, to handle the various protocols they went about it in an odd way, making use of redundant systems and multiple layers of coding that was completely unnecessary."

"Hmmm." She murmured to herself, taking another long look at the designs. "I think I see what you mean. Why though? Why would they think that they had to have so many layers?"

Canith smiled at this. He may not be good at teaching, but she was thinking and learning none the less. "Partly from a security standpoint, partly due to using inferior AI, and mainly because of a little lie that I told in a paper years back that I then 'demonstrated' by purposefully botching the attempt at a fundamental level."

She turned to him, her tail twitching in aggravation. "Why would you do that?"

He held up his hand for a moment. "Aura, security lockdown this room. Nothing in or out except you. Ghost protocol authorized."

The doors snapped shut with an audible click, and all the tanks flickered for a moment. Then the lights stabilized and Aura, their eyes glowing a crimson color, reported that the room was fully secured.

"You wanted to know why I lied. Let me show you instead of just telling you." He turned to Aura fully. "Bring up the cortex blueprint, full 3D interface, 3x size please." Aura faded out a bit, and the crystalline core that contained Aura was displayed. It flickered with light, even made up only of light, as if a cross between a heartbeat and a thunderstorm was contained within.

Terry spoke up in awe. "What is that? It's so pretty."

Canith spoke quietly, but firmly. "The lie I spoke of was that you could not use a crystal core to store the massive amounts of information required to house and maintain an AI. The truth is, that outside of the conventional means, this IS the best way. In all honestly, it's better. Even as large as Aura is, they have plenty of room to grow and expand. The flaw is that you have to have just the right crystals, and they have to be harmonically in tune with one another. Otherwise the process of placing a volatile entity like an AI causes catastrophic fracturing of the entire matrix. The sample I did was strategically flawed already, and the AI in question was the tap to shatter it. It was such a resounding success that between my fame in the field and the overly dramatic explosion of crystal that no one even questioned it."

She just stood there, entranced by the cortex. "Why though? Wouldn't this make AI's easier to transport and allow for more complexity?"

Canith frowned. "It could. But, there is a flip side to that. You have seen how powerful Aura is. I like to think that I am more responsable than some would be with that kind of power. "

She got his point immediately. "Yeah, that could be bad."

He smiled then, and added flippantly, "And come on, all someone would have to do is try to recreate that experiment with an unflawed properly tuned and calibrated crystal that resonated at the right frequency and they could disprove the entire publication."

She looked at him for a moment then started giggling, then snorting with laughter. She did this for a couple of minutes, before finally composing herself. "So, with this 'cortex' of Aura's, you are planning on directly controlling the frame. Is that right?"

Canith studied the cortex himself. A doubt had nagged him about that very point. "I would like to think so, but all it would take is an accident to destroy Aura. That is unacceptable." He started pacing around the tank, thinking. He had his hand on his forehead when his eyes caught the glitter of light off of the kinetic crystals. "Crystals . . ." He mumbled to himself.

Terry just watched him, curious. She had heard that he was impulsive, but this thinking was the opposite of that. The he stopped, and started smiling. And that smile, for some reason, made her blood run a few degrees colder for some reason.

"Aura, duringthe experiment with complex manifestations, how large did you feel the storage capacity of the medium was?" Terry cocked her head sideways a touch, confused at the change of topic.

"According to initial estimates, large enough, if barely, for active processing comparing to the cortex if I am following your thoughts correctly." This stopped her. Following his thoughts? That implied that he was not just thinking himself, but that his AI had a direct line to his thoughts? How? Then the answer dawned on her- his neural uplink that Desmond had gifted him. She could imagine the increased pace that they could work if they knew each other's minds.

"As the projectile creation proved too mentally stressful for practical application, could you potentially link the two crystals into a quantum entangled field with the cortex to expand your direct control without risking your actual core?"

Aura was quiet for a moment, and Terry thought that they had answered mentally or had not understood the question. Then, all the lights on the room dimmed as it looked as if Aura took a deep breath. All but the main tank blanked out, then formula and lines of code filled every tank in the room, except the main one with Aura in it. They were now pacing back and fourth in silence. The coding flashed and changed, all morphing so fast that Terry couldn't follow, so she didn't try to thought through what she had heard.

According to what she had read in his personnel file, Canith was especially gifted in both Telepathy and Telekinesis. He had phasing as well, and was already confirmed to have energy crafting developing. There had been a footnote that had been blacked out, but she didn't dwell on that. There had been a couple of interesting incidences surrounding the hybrid, including one where he had taken multiple k-blade crystals and formed a bow that fired an arrow that energy-wise was equivalentto a very large laser cannon. Other ones were not that bad, but after their operation together, she knew that he has very driven.

The she remembered that he always wore those crystals on his wrists, and remembered the comment about his k-blades, where he had simply tapped the crystals. (So he uses k-blade crystals instead of the whole thing. I guess that lines up with his high kinetics.) Then she saw the glint of crystals on his tail, and saw that it was a pair of them, and the commentsabout about the 'two crystals' began to make sense. She was also vaguely aware of what quantum entanglement entailed linking two or more items at the quantum mechanical level, to where they were always connected, regardless of distance.

She was interrupted from her reverie by the coding finally fading away, and Aura stopping their pacing. The wolf AI sat down in front of Canith and spoke a single word. "Yes." That gave her another chill, as always when the AI spoke it was not just fluid, but explanatory this time, that single word held all different shades of ideas. Yes it was possible. Yes it was the perfect solution. Yes, I want this. Yes, the project can go forward.

Canith flicked the end of his tail up over his shoulder, and with a click the bracelet gave up the two crystals. He placed them on the table of the tank in front of Aura, and gave the go-ahead.

Again the lights dimmed, but instead of coding, all the tanks but Aura's turned off. The crystals began floating in the air, and what looked like static flickered over them. At first, it was just once or twice, but as the seconds went by more and more little bolts joined them, until the pair were glowing, not just from within, but also surrounded by a latticework of energy. At this point even the main tank was dimming.

Then Canith swore loudly. "Aura's not going to risk the ship by pulling any more power. I need a hand adding Energy crafted electricity to the matrix. Link with me and guide me- I know I have the potential, so work through me to do so. He held out a hand to her, and she took it and linked minds with him.

The first thing she noted was how clear and calm his mind was- it reminded her of a calm sea back on a tidal locked planet that she had visited. There was no waves, just a smooth plane of thought. He did have lightning energy crafting, and although she didn't have it herself he had beenright- she could direct his usage of it. So calling forth the lightning within him, she guided him on its usage, and back in reality lightning began flicking between his hand and the crystals. The matrix continued to glow, and taking her guidance he channeled even more, pouring all he had into the working.

Just as she felt him reaching the ends of his budding gift's strength, there was a snapping sound, and the entire matrix seemed to etch itself into the crystals themselves. He let out a sigh and relaxed, and she eased out of his mind as he slowly collapsed to the floor in a boneless heap.

"Next time let's try to avoid using that as a last resort. It worked, but only barely." He was speaking softly to her, and was obviously tired from the effort. Then, in a louder voice, "Aura, was the entanglement successful?"

She was confusedabout why he said it worked, then asked for a status update- then she realised that he was referring to her guiding his EC, not the entanglement when he had spoken to her.

"It appears so, although a full test will need to be done. The power output was not as stable as I would have liked to perform that, although the inital quantum feedback is looking promising."

She gave him a hard look. "I only just barely follow what you just did, but my bigger question is why?"

He gave a tired grin. "You were right. I couldn't just risk Aura's cortex by placing it in the frame, and I would be opening up major security leaks by having them remote into the frame. This solves both problems. It allows Aura direct control of the frame, while at the same time keeps the cortex distant from any hazards."

She looked at the pair of floating, glowing crystals. "But why two?"

Canith began chuckling. So Aura will never have to be far away from me again, like they were during the moon base. One crystal goes to the frame, the other back in a modified setting on my tail." Putting action to words he motioned to the crystal on the right, and it floated down to him and into the setting on his tail. With a mental twist the setting twisted, and instead of a setting for two crystals they blended together around the one. The other he started to stand up and grab, but hesitated.

"It actually would be a smart move to not actually touch it. The setting allows for some shielding, and it will naturally attune to my energy field, but that one needs to stay 'clean'. He frowned in concentration for a minute, then held up his hand toward the door. It opened a crack, and an object soared in into his hand. As it came to rest, Terry realised it was a small cloth bag. Then she realized he had used his kinesisfrom a deck above where his room was to pull it to him.

He slowly wrapped the crystal in the cloth, then turned to her. "I need a bit of rest, then I have to go down to E-deck for some lessons. Is every couple of days good for you to continue this project, and perhaps alternate days for EC lessons?"

She readily agreed, and headed out. She glanced back only once, but he was still leaning on the console, obviously tired but staring at the bag.

Canith remained standing in front of the tank for a few more minutes, staring at what he had helped create. This was not what he had originally intended, but it would work so much better. Aura had been rather quiet as he contemplated the crystals both in his hand and on his tail.

:It was a creative stroke of brilliance to quantum entangle the crystals to the core. It will allow me greater access to your surroundings, and to the platform you are planning on building, and without the risk of damage to the cortex.:

:I know. It's just that it was much more impulsive, and we nearly didn't have the energy requirements to do it. A failed entanglement might have had disastrous consequences to you and the ship Aura, and I don't think I could have handled that very well.:

Aura fell silent at this, and he finally stirred himself to head out and down to the galley on B deck to replenish his reserves. A brief visit with Tyco later, with only a slight amount of flirting and mostly simply eating, and Canith felt ready to head down to E deck.

"So," Snow said as they both sat in his office. "Now that you are fully comfortable shifting, are you feeling ready for the next step?" It was a rhetorical question, of course. Canith wouldn't be there if he wasn't ready.

"So," Canith echoed Snow, using the same tone of voice for the fun of it, "do you feel I am ready for it?" They both stared at each other for a moment, then started chuckling.

"Alright, I'll get right down to it then." Snow leaned back in his chair, and propped his hind paws up on the desk. "Level 3, as I have explained earlier, is able to mimic forms outside of your genetic species. For most, they can even imitate pure humans, but the results of even a quick DNA scan will show you are not a pure human. However," he pointed at Canith, "You are different. You are a very rare variant of L3 that can actually mask your DNA as well as your form. Even a deep scan will not trip on you being an Anthro. Simply put, you can be as human as you like." He let his hand drop after his little speech.

"That seems a bit dangerous, though. If I was to show up as a human, and something happened that I needed to use an ability, say for instance my telekinesis, I would be outed immediately. Then the concept ofshifters would be on the radar."

"You have a bit of a point there, but don't fret. Shifters are actually fairlyrare- at least level 3 is. Those of us without the extra push to mask our DNA usually avoid pure human forms for that very reason. Without that handicap, most go unremarked. Still limited, of course, in what we can get access to, but still more free to blend in."

Canith leaned back and thought about this. Sure, he could imagine the response he would get if he tried accessing anything related to his human life now-access denied at the minimum, imprisonment being more likely. The idea of being able to somehow gain even more knowledge as a form of repayment for all they had done for him seemed the least he could do.

"So what's the trick to it? I recall the inital sessions being about focusing and releasing the changes, with the level 2 feral shifting back and forth being more of a seal." In stead of leaning back now, he was leaning forward eagerly.

"Ah, but that's the beauty of it- your level 1 and level 3 are somewhat tangled together. The 'trick' as you call it is pretty much the same. You visualize what you want your appearance to be, and let the power flow. The difference, of course, is in the degree of change. Changing from scales to fur may have seemed like a large change, but changing at a fundamental level your entire species is much harder. Therefore, much more energy expended. Luckily for you, and for me, the energyrequirement is all up front, and shifting back is actually not draining, as it is a matter of letting your ability relax the changes."

Canith's eyes got wide at this, and the possibilities this could offer.

"Now, let's try something rather simple for your first L3 shift. As you are part western, and have most of the markings for it already, let's have you shift to appear as Drake. And yes, we will keep it between us if you fudge and of the details. After all, this is training!"

When Canith returned to his room several hours later, he felt almost as tired as he had when he fell into the pod for several weeks. He was back to looking like himself, though, complete with fur and no wings. The last thing they had worked on, in fact, had been his wings. They were still there, but they could now be absorbed into his back when not in use. The tradeoff, of course, was it took a few moments longer to pull them out. If he needed them in a moment, he would be better of going feral for now. But it did allow him more freedom of movement. And that was always a good thing. So he quickly dismissed the image of the clothing he had worn, and stumbled over to bed.

He laid there for a bit, letting his mind drift a bit as he let his muscles relax. His hand found his slit and simply rubbed it, marveling still at the different textures. Then, a devious idea came to mind. Concentrating, he slowly invoked his level 1 shifting inside his slit. At first glance, nothing was different though. Then his erection slowly pushed its way out. Again, nothing at first glance was different. Then the tip bent toward his head and started wagging back and forth.

He chuckled and marveled at the small change he had made. Dragons did not normally have prehensile penises. But it would definitely be fun to play with Will with it . . . Canith grinned again, and without any assistance his dick doubled over and started to slowly work its way into his own feminine lips.The sensation of both penetrating and being penetrated seemed to wash away all other thought, and he lost himself in the dual sensation until sleep finally took hold of him.

All the while he remained buried in himself, until sometime in the night he finally slipped out and retracted back into his slit.