✅ Project SETI Trilogy

Chapter Two - Part XXVI: Limits

          Jarah had turned off her communication device for the duration of the Saelan-speak trial, and thus far, had no idea of the goings-on outside of the small room where she and Gabriel were. She'd noticed that Temet had left, but wasn't sure of when and didn't think anything of it.

          Right now she was taking a break, just long enough to give her throat a chance to rest a bit. She had the two receivers near her throat and beak turned off and was silently observing Gabriel beyond the glass. The holographic HUD overlaid on the window displayed his vital signs:

          HR: 141 BPM
          SP02: 97%
          SYS: 153
          DIA: 102
          TEMP: 37.1C / 98.7F
          RR: 32

          She was satisfied with what she had been able to accomplish thus far. By pushing Saelan-speak to its absolute physical limit and amplifying it with digital implements, she was able to take control of the electrical components of Gabriel's suit. As a result, she was also able to crudely disrupt the electrical activity in his brain. The last round of shocks left him in a state of distress that was bordering on unstable, and even though she'd been silent for about five solid minutes now, his condition wasn't improving. She could hear him breathing fast and shallow through the small speaker in the console that transmitted the sounds inside the helmet, and periodically he would speak, but it was so quiet and slurred that she couldn't really understand it. From what little she could make out, it sounded like he was in some kind of unpleasant flashback or memory.

          "... I can't," he whimpered. "I don't know... how you're doing... this... but I can't... I can't..."

          He continued to stutter like that until he trailed off. Jarah watched intently as he struggled against the metal bindings with what little strength he still had and activated the receivers she wore to respond to him.

          "You apparently can," Jarah sassed. "You're actually very resilient, for a human."

          "I don't—want to be resil... resilen..." he struggled to speak and gave up when he couldn't pronounce the word and breathe at the same time.

          Jarah closed her eyes and prepared to speak in the vibrating polytonal voice that seemed to give her the most control. She started off rumbling quietly, just barely loud enough to hear, and then she divided her voice so she could make an extremely high-pitched sound at the same time as the low sound. She gradually increased the volume as quickly as she could manage it and opened her eyes when she reached the peak of her physical limits.

         Gabriel screamed so loudly and chillingly guttural that it made Jarah jump, but she kept vocalizing without pause. His heart rate continued to increase as the seconds passed, and then his wailing abruptly stopped and gave out into a strained choking noise as another series of shocks gripped his body. He started to convulse uncontrollably a short time later, and his breathing stopped completely.

          Jarah finally stopped when she saw his weak tachycardic heartbeat give out into ventricular tachycardia. She tutted and quickly removed and turned off the receivers, then went into the room beyond so she could attempt to resuscitate him.

          So it is possible, she mentally noted as she held his shaking arm still so she could open the cover on the 'medical access' button and press it. We'll need to try it on more suit types... and streamline the process as well. That took too long.

          The collar released from the helmet and receded again, but it was janky in its movements rather than fluid like she'd seen before. She took the helmet off his head and saw that he had blood streaming from both nostrils, and it started to trickle out of the edge of his mouth too as the seizure went on. She quickly placed it aside, then set the wireless monitoring equipment he had on to connect to the small console built into the transport bed. It showed that his heart was still fibrillating without intervention, and his other vital signs were steadily falling along with it.