Zeus 25 - Praxis

16 - The Risss workroom

The Risss workroom was the neatest Praxis had seen so far. Everything looked lizard-made from the polished wooden floor to the tables and benches of the workers. Impossibly finely wrought machines covered every surface or stood in rows on the intricate floor. All the devices were humming and Clicking. Even the air seemed cleaner. No breeze made it through the double-doors connecting to the corridor, no scent lingered in the air.

One of the workers approached HaziKan and handed him a small glass tube with a silver ball in the bottom about a quarter the size of an Orb of Pain. "Would you like to be permanently enhanced?" HaziKan said.

"You mean made into a Rockman?" Praxis asked.

"As strong as a Rockman, yes."

Praxis hesitated, trying to figure out Hazikan's angle.

"I thought that was why you were seeking out AvoDar?" HaziKan prompted.

"Is that an Orb of Strength you're going to use on me?"

"No, but the result will be almost the same."

"Don't do it," Eudora cautioned.

"I'll take permanent enhancement," Spyro volunteered. "What does a doero have to lose?"

"I'll do it," Praxis said, not wanting the opportunity to pass to Spyro.

"Hold out your hand," HaziKan instructed.

The lizardman tipped the glass tube, and the silver ball rolled out onto Praxis's palm. Then it seemed to melt into his skin.

It disappeared completely.

"What just happened?" Praxis demanded.

"You've received millions of our tiniest helpers. They are moving through you now targeting some of the trillions of little compartments that make up your body. Science names the building blocks of all organisms 'cells'. That silver ball contained hundreds of different varieties of helpers each programmed to improve you. Each has its own instructions. One type will make your bones many times stronger than nature alone could. Another allows your muscles to contract normally while using only half the energy they require now."

"If you can do that," Praxis said, "why not enhance yourself and use our red Orb of Travel to step through the Star Portal to Gaia?"

"More happened when you went through the Star Portal than losing your Orbs of Strength, every cell in your bodies got coded for your home world Gaia. Those tags will let you back in, but if I tried to cross, my cells would disappear as surely as your Orbs of Strength did when you arrived here. Even SaTaan would not survive. The Star Word can bring him very close to your world—like viewing it through a soap bubble. Light and sound leak through to SaTaan and his words can whisper to humans as happened when he talked to Izador years ago. But if he chanted the final syllable of the Word of Travel to actually arrive, his essence would dissolve, and he would cease to be. Anyone can visit with a Blue Orb, but only matter from Gaia can return to Gaia via the Red Orb."

"So when you send us back to Gaia the little helpers you've given me will go away?"

"Yes, but the changes they're making to your body while you're here won't be lost, and what I've told you about our science will still be in your mind. The two together will make you Zeus 25 and let you change Atlantis forever."

#

"How long will it take your helpers to change me?"

"Only a day. Tomorrow you can return to Atlantis."

"Okay, I'm sold. My turn," Spyro said.

"Sorry, I was instructed by SaTaan to enhance only one of you."