The hivemind is conquering for me?

Virulent smiled with his eyes at his daughter then back at me before suggesting. ”Why don’t we start off with your field? I do have quite the interest in it as I expressed the other day. Now, Mithra said you were taking bloods the other day for your dispensation? What do you plan on doing with said blood?”

I leant back, smiled and felt pity for the poor man as once the verbal flood gates were open, that was on him. ”It’s quite simple actually, collecting a wide range of blood, it is my first goal of the dispensation to create a general body combat stimulant using genetic sequences instead of things like chemical steroids. The aim is to give users increased strength and cognitive capabilities, not through pumping chemicals into their bodies but by temporarily heightening the nervous system.”

Virulent’s eyes curled again and cut me off. ”Oh, interesting. So you are to disable things like the warning system in order for people to be able to use their full strength?”

I nodded my head. ”Yes, exactly. While some soldiers might exert themselves using it, having full access to their muscles without their body screaming at them that it could hurt, preventing them from doing so can and does provide a serious amount of added strength. I myself have this feature permanently now, thanks to my own body tweaks, but my pain receptors are still open and fully functional and I never really need to use my full strength. Now for the cognitive part, its a little trickier with my gene science, but the best thing I can do is to simply make it so the substance they consume increases action potentials by a significant degree it won’t actually make them smarter, but it will allow their thoughts to temporarily fire faster, perfect for combat where quick decisions are life and death.”

Virulent rubbed his rebreather in thought. ”And you are sure you can elevate neurotransmitters successfully without side effects?”

I nodded my head. ”Yes, not much has to be changed to be honest, humans are smarter than they think they are, especially in life and death scenarios. The right set of chemicals here and there will simply open up the ion channels with no lingering side effects except for what we want, a clearer headspace. I haven’t cooked up the formula I want to use just yet as brain science is more complicated to me than body stuff, so I am focusing on perfecting the body enhancement first then I will work on the action potentials.”

After I was speaking, Mithra then spoke up. ”Have you considered epinephrine for that? It’s natural so the body will take to it well.” Before I could say anything, Virulent spoke up in my place.

”No, that’s not his vision. While you are on the right thinking sweetie, from what Apollo has told us, he wants little to no side effects of using the enhancement. Epinephrine will naturally spike adrenaline. He wants a calmer all around stim where the user is still coherent, not like the Lyssa stims given to first wave Phalanx. A soft enhancement of what is already there, not a limited spike of potential.”

Virulent then stood up and and tapped on the glass, a screen like visual then appeared on our side and as he began writing something on his side, it flipped and was shown on our side. ”Na+, ca2+. Sodium and calcium are the clear winners to use as an enhancement. They will increase reflex speed of glutamate receptors to help open reflex gates”

I then stood up and added to the writing with my finger ”K. Potassium too, obviously. For repolarisation. Everything needs correct counter balancing or cells could die.”

Virulent nodded his head in agreement and as he began doing a calculation, Mithra came up beside me and added. ”What about some form of Acetylcholine dampener? Not to the point the individual can’t move. You can still keep the pathway open, but somehow suppress the brain’s process of pain? It would go hand in hand with the body enhancement, perhaps even increasing its potency?”

”Hmm.” I rubbed my chin in thought. ”Good idea, figuring out the correct formula for that will be a pain in the balls, but definitely doable.”

I then began to make up a hastily scribbled mock formula. And looked at how to improve it. Virulent then made a correction in one place, forcing me to make another correction elsewhere that his correction made. Adding more onto the formula now there were bridges to cross. And so on and so on

...

Six hours later the glass wall was completely filled with crossed out scribbles galore after restarting over and over and over again. The three of us in deep contemplation looked at the final formula written on the glass and I hummed.

”Hmm, this part is going to be harder than I expected.”

Six hours of think-tanking wasn’t nearly enough time to find the correct formula for my work, but the think-tanking itself was a heck of a lot of fun. Virulent was a genius and Mithra was a prodigy. The two of them together came up with so many ideas I had yet to think of regarding my work. I felt honoured to share the experience with such bright minds, however I had to call it for the day.

”Now while I could spend the next week alone working on this in complete silence, I have other plans to attend today. Sorry that we got so caught up in my work, we didn’t get a chance to discuss your work at all.”

Virulent then laughed extremely hard like I told an amazing joke. ”Are you serious? This was so refreshing! I loved it. It’s probably been half a century since I have used my noodle so hard with little to no results. This is science in its purest form. Even Mithra is still here and not gotten bored, she usually can only tolerate an hour or so with me before she runs away. So either she has also thoroughgoingly enjoyed this session or she has a crush on you and won’t leave your side.”

”DAD!” Mithra looked away from the formulas on the wall and to her father, mortified. ”Why do you have to ruin things! We were having fun! Ugh!” Red faced, Mithra then stormed out of the room, prompting Virulent to laugh once more.

”Sorry about that Apollo, don’t take my teasing of her to heart. I saw the opportunity and I took it. It’s a fathers duty to embarrass their child after all.”

I smiled at the man, waving my arms to emphasize I understood. ”Don’t worry about it, I got that it was a joke. I am also pleased you enjoyed working with me. I also had a good time working my brain out. We should do it again soon.”

”Absolutely! It’s always a privilege working with bright young minds, now would you like me to save the work we have done and have Mithra bring the formula to you later?” He asked, considerately.

I simply pointed to my temple. ”I appreciate your offer, but I remember what progress we have made.”

Virulent simply nodded his head in understanding before tapping the glass a few times and all the work was simply erased. ”Very well, then I shall keep you no longer, have fun with whatever other activities you have planned today and take care.”

He then slipped his hands through the gloves once more and we exchanged another handshake.

Once I left the room, Mithra was waiting for me by the front door, her face still red. ”Look, um. Sorry about my daddy, he has no boundaries when it comes to teasing me.”

”It’s fine, just know I enjoyed both of your company today and leave it at that?” I suggested, prompting Mithra to simply nod.

I then began stripping my clothes off as I addressed her. ”You know, you came up with some very good points during that whole thinktank. You have some serious potential for my field of studies. I will be watching you closely.”

”Thank you.” She said bluntly, covering her face with her hands and looking away from me. I raised an eyebrow seeing this. ”Hey, are you ok? You don’t need to do that. We are both scientists, we know what naked bodies look like.”

Mithra nodded her head. ”You are right. Completely right, I’m not an adolescent, I can tolerate looking at most men nude and wouldn’t have a problem with it, but I am not giving my father more ammunition to tease me with. So with that said, I’ll see you soon Apollo.”

Completely undressed, I shrugged my shoulders. ”Very well. Take care Mithra, I will also see you soon. Take care.” I then entered the decontamination chamber and closed it behind me. The decontamination took a couple of minutes and once done, the slot I placed my clothes in previously reappeared and I got dressed.

I then swiftly left the building with a satisfied smile on my face and made my way over to the college convenience store to pick up a few bits and bobs for what I had planned for the rest of the day.