Nat came to the conclusion, yet again, that he didn't like being the center of attention. Or center-adjacent.

  Moira decided to try to defuse the building terror, “That's really not that likely under normal circumstances — the system is designed to avert circumstances where massive destruction is possible, intentionally or unintentionally.” Without success; she kept trying, “Look none of that is even infinitesimally probable — if it were, everything would already be atomized, and I'd be very bored waiting for civilization to arise on a nearby planet and invent space travel.”

  The administrator turned directly to Lyn, “I am getting conversational whiplash here — is she serious, or joking?” The administrator was growing on Nat; the man seemed very straightforward.

  “Oh, she's serious. It would take me an hour to remember it properly, but I could show you the math,” Lyn did not reassure him. “But, I would like to add that I'm not that concerned about that outcome myself, and we'd be discussing funerary arrangements instead, since AMA would have sent someone other than just me if that was the case.”

  “You're assuming they didn't,” Moira chimed in, cheerily.

  “True, but as I can't know that, speculation is pointless. I was given a purpose. Fragments of that purpose are being revealed — in dramatic fashion.”

  Nat raised an eyebrow and looked at Lyn, preparing an obvious question.

  He was too slow however, and Moira kept trying for reassurance, “Everything should be reasonably safe as long as Lyn, or Lyn and I both, are in reasonable proximity to prevent the conditions that could lead to these events while we attempt to determine how best to permanently stabilize Nat's interface.”

  “Okay. That sounds practical at least — how are you thinking to do that?” — Nat asked.

  Lyn answered before Moira could, “Well, there are two avenues to approach it. One is the interface side of things — Moira has done some work on that — we'll see if it's stable. If not, she can adjust it there. She noted you were coherent while the talent was active, and able to deactivate it, so that seems relatively low risk assuming that it is the failure case that causes the problem, not normal termination. Since we're not entirely certain of that, we'll take precautions. There are also potentially other methods that might be employable that could potentially render it more safe, but some of those may take time.”

  Moira then picked up and kept going, “The other avenue is approaching it from the biological side. The system status, both damaged and some monitor output, indicate that there may have been a brain or similar injury, either system related, or merely aggravated by the system. It is possible that we may be able to mitigate the effects of this damage. Both approaches, in tandem, provide the best possibility for success.”

  If this wasn't so baseline terrifying Nat would be hopelessly fascinated, “How would the biological fixes work? I've already seen the system side of things when Moira was making changes, so I think I have a handle on that.”

  “You remember how I mentioned Tanner and his system being overly sensitive to its own theronic flows?”

  “Yes, you said you'd use aetheric stimulation to desensitize the pathways.”

  “Theromagnetic fields — no energy transfer. But yes, same basic principle as with Tanner's treatment. There are other potential therapies, but they are less safe, and I'd want to perform some tests once we can establish how to do so without excessive risk.”

  Moira cut in, “My working theory at the moment is that Nat's system is over-sensitive to aetheric influence — so much so that a simple probe by Lyn was enough to trigger a cluster of episodes — which from the system perspective was a chain of crashes. I'm unsure why — it may be that it's not the actual aether destabilizing things, but the act of the system measuring a value above a certain level may cause it to crash. We haven't tested if my current fixes will survive another probe yet.”

  Lyn thought for a few moments before asking, “One moment, Moira. To clarify, you think it's likely a sufficiently high ambient aether level could trigger the problem?”

  “Yes, I was able to stabilize things earlier, but the elevated levels returned to normal when you withdrew your palm. Your suppressive abilities would have done the opposite, even though you were touching him, you were drawing aether away, reducing the value it would have recorded. This might sound strange, but it's not an uncommon problem — think of it like swinging a stick at a constant height, while stacking stones. As long as the stones don't reach the height of the stick, they stay stacked. The moment they reach the stick's height, then the stick hits them and knocks the whole pile over.”

  Nat had been thinking about the system interface he'd seen earlier — “Moira, I saw you removing system modules previously — can't you just remove the modules that perform that measurement?”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Good thinking! I wish I could say yes, but the things I removed were optional, designed to be enabled or disabled. But basic monitoring of temperature, radiation, and aether is integral to the system — it cannot be removed or disabled.”

  “I would like to point out the rock metaphor is a terrible, Moira, but all that means we have another problem, if we think elevated aether levels are a likely cause.”

  “Oh good, another one.” The administrator, exasperated, had flipped over to sarcasm. Nat concurred quietly to himself — it really had been that kind of day.

  “Yeah, the issue is that the first wave of an aether storm washed over us this morning. It's too early to see a subsequent wave building on the horizon yet; but that was the reason for my urgency in finishing Tanner's treatment, beyond not wasting his limited time. I wanted him treated well before it arrived, since exposure too soon — a few hours — after treatment could interfere with or even negate the therapeutic effects,” added Lyn.

  The administrator cut in, “The forecast didn't say anything about a storm this week and the schism has been stable. Any chance it's a normal storm — maybe dry lightning?”

  “I might be able to give you a better estimate of the timeline when the next wave starts cresting the horizon, but I'm absolutely sure. Aether storms don't look like anything else, it'd be like you mistaking daylight for moonlight.”

  “Wait! Wait wait wait,” Nat chattered, suddenly interrupting, “Go back a moment. You said you saw a wave this morning.”

  “Yes, while I was-” Lyn started to answer, but Moira broke in suddenly.

  The urgency of the tone came through even the strange tinny voice, “Oh. Of course. What's the most aether field insulated room in the facility?”

  “This one.” The orderly had rallied somewhat and decided to rejoin the party in progress.

  “The one that wasn't sufficient this morning?” — Moira again.

  Lyn suddenly got it, “… Correct.”

  “And the second wave was arriving roughly when?”

  “I don't track Laster's oscillation schedule, I'm not down this way nearly enough for it to matter, and it's a small schism. If it's similar to most irregularities, the off-schedule waves will coalesce either at dusk or dawn, then pulse outward. But there's no way to know when it will pulse again based on a single observation — it will only happen when the excess energy buildup passes a threshold. I didn't get a feel for how energetic it was this morning, sadly. So it could be in a few hours, at dawn, or potentially days from now, but I caution against assuming anything, let alone the best, until we have additional data points.”

  “Okay, so, who's up for a spontaneous road trip? Does Bell House have a fast transport available to leave, say, now? Is now good?” Moira sounded agitated.

  The administrator put fingers to his forehead, “Not as such, no. We have a couple of carts for use on the grounds, and a wagon we use for patient transport, but our horses are past their prime and suited for neither fast nor extended travel.”

  “I'm hearing 'we got them cheap',” this from Moira.

  “It's not inaccurate,” the administrator admitted, “We're a clinic and research facility — not an emergency hospital. Our funds are not unlimited — it's only prudent.”

  Tanner volunteered, “The covered carriage for my trip home tonight is out in the courtyard — I'm not sure how fast it is, but I was already headed back that way towards home, so she might be amenable to just keep on going. If not, you can likely find willing transport on the way.”

  “Okay, so, you're going to need to go talk to the coach master and discuss a quick change of plans. Emphasis quick.”

  “We're sure the storm is coming from the Laster schism, right? Which direction was the storm coming from?”

  Lyn took a moment to orient before they answered, “Let's see. Garden's there, wall is there. It's moving … that way, administrator.”

  “Yeah, okay, that's the Laster schism — at least it's not a sub-continental destabilization — you could not possibly outrun one of those.”

  “Okay, so, that sounds like we'll need to travel westward to extend the time available. There's a relatively uninhabited desert a few days travel to our northwest. When do we leave?” The absence of options really did wonders for the speed of decision-making.

  “We're going to need to determine who is going, what supplies we have available that can be grabbed quickly — food, water, feed, bedding — tents if we have any — and we need to get on the road.”

  The administrator pondered a moment and said, “Lyn, I know you travel light, regularly, and were already preparing to leave, so I assume packing won't take you long. Nat, we don't have a lot we can provide, but you should raid the laundry for at least a couple changes of clothes — while your talent protects what you're wearing.”

  Lyn added, “I doubt you have any experience with just how dirty roughing it can be, and we won't be able to stay at inns or near populated areas till things are stabilized. I'd also encourage you to take some bedding from your room — fire-resistant bedrolls are neither common nor cheap.”

  “I'll want to take some of my notebooks and pens with me, they're fireproof. No books though — that assumes anything even survived this morning I suppose.”

  “That all sounds reasonable, no objections here.” The administrator nodded to the orderly, “Tell the laundry and the kitchen please.” He turned back to Lyn, “I have some other details I need to take care of before you depart. Lyn, find me when you're done packing, please.”

  Nat decided to interrupt before everyone got busy with preparations, “Okay, I know this is important, but can I adjust our order of operations somewhat?”

  “Hmm? What for?” asked the administrator while Lyn looked towards Nat, curious.

  “Can we detour to the kitchens before anything else? I am starving.” Nat was nothing if not pragmatic.

  “It might be better to focus on packing and loading the carriage — assuming they agree to take you all.”

  “I appreciate that we're in a hurry, but if we don't eat now we'll just have to pack lunch anyway, so we won't save much time. It's also harder to work when hungry. Not to mention, I feel like I haven't eaten for years.”

  Everyone in the room turned towards him at that. Nat wasn't sure exactly why he was getting weird looks just because he asked about lunch — he figured everyone was just anxious to get on the road.