Rynard closed the Medical wings doors behind him, joining the others in a huddled group in the wide halls. Pa and Nu were excitedly chittering to each other, fussing over the dataslate and swaying from the lingering Freq-manipulation. Krydon sighed as Xant stood beside him.

“I’ve never endured so many interruptions in my life.” The ageing doctor shrugged, “I’ll never get anything recorded at this rate.”

Xant blinked his second eyelids, unamused.

“I apologise that the discovery of two entirely new sentients has disturbed your workflow, Dr. Krydon.”

Krydon narrowed his golden eye and the cybernetic one zoomed in.

“Was that… sarcasm?” The Sulin got uncomfortably close to Xant, who simply pushed his own face into the doctor's personal space. Krydon stumbled back in surprise. “You’ve never used sarcasm before.”

“I’ve never needed to before Krydon, but your lack of comprehension of the circumstances is rather disconcerting.” Xant ears pointed back and he stalked closer. “I do not appreciate that your assessment of this entire situation is that you are being inconvenienced.”

Rynard’s massive claw rested on Xant's shoulder.

“Back it up Doc, you’ve only just woken up - no need to get aggressive.”

Xant shook his head before folding his arms behind his back and straightening up. He had lost composure. He had lost composure in front of his work colleagues.

“Forgive me, Captain, CMO,” He nodded in each of their directions, lowering his shoulders. “It seems I have not yet recovered from my last VEFS attack; I do hope you’ll excuse the outburst.”

He smoothed out his tone and began to breathe calmly.

“Of Course! Can’t expect you to be fully recovered from a blast like that!” Rynard exclaimed happily but giving Krydon the stare down. The old doctor nodded mildly, turning his head to the side.

“Subject Jasmine is rather volatile, I suppose it is to be expected.”

Xant's hands clenched behind him.

“Yes, it is expected.”

“THIS IS AMAZING!” Nu’s voice carried over, all six of his eyes glued to the dataslate. The glow of the display reflected against his mottled brown carapace. Pa brought her hands together before addressing her superiors.

“CMO Dr. Krydon and DH Dr. Xant, I implore you to have a look at this data, it is simply phenomenal.”

The doctors gave each other one final disagreeable stare before putting their differences aside for science. Pa reached over and with one elegant green finger, tipped the dataslate in Nu’s hands so it lay horizontal for them all to see. The diagram of Jasmine’s brain was lighting up like a controlled explosion. Speech, reasoning and emotional centres of her cranium were in constant flux, a swathe of activity across the strangely split hemispheres.

All four doctors were entranced. Rynard felt he needed to inquire.

“So uh, for those of us not in the medical field, what do the pretty colours mean?”

Pa was all too eager to explain.

“This activity is extensive, she’s using her entire brain to communicate. If it were not for the limiters on the translator she’d be using Royal Command levels of Freq manipulation all the time.”

Rynard muttered a dull “Huh,” still not entirely understanding, but refusing to be caught out.

“Without the ability to broadcast or receive naturally, the brain is undisturbed, funnelling as much energy as it can to the lobes while functioning.” Pa continued, “It is astounding the Zenthi Translator hasn’t overloaded; in fact it’s a wonder you haven’t incurred more damage Dr. Xant, your control must be exemplary.”

Xant nodded his head, continuing to study the readings - only realising at this moment exactly how stupid he had been. Initial scans of her brain activity were while she was still in the enclosure, without anyone to communicate with. The human brain thrived on interaction, processing several different functions at once. These were the levels he was exposing himself to when joining? A Freq force equivalent to a Prince’s battle cry? This was the sort of thing a soldier was forced to endure, not a scientist like himself.

“Suppose I have more resistance than I expected,” he replied to Pa.

“By the sounds of it, you’d be a reasonable replacement if a Messenger ever went down!”

Rynard gave Xant a playful nudge; Xant did not return the sentiment.

“I doubt I would last anywhere near as long.” In fact, he was beginning to take the advice Rynard had given him seriously. He would slow down the meditation sessions for his own sake.

“Hmmm.” Krydon looked over the scans. “If this is what she is processing while interacting with a User, do you think the levels would increase with a more competent partner?”

“Do we even have a basis for this kind of test?” Nu asked the CMO “I’ve only ever studied normal conversation levels-”

“The Freq-Level tests, provided our schedule is not interrupted further, will be performed in 48 [hours]. We will be able to determine her true strength when the Lab is set up properly. I am quite curious to see how she handles a Frequency charge equal to her own strength.”

Xant nodded in agreement, half caught in his own thoughts. Jasmine had never experienced a Freq-pulse before - he had never thought to test her.

Rynard scratched the underside of his chin. As pretty as the brain patterns were, they didn’t really mean anything to him. He took a step back from the pack of brainiacs and tapped on his own arm mounted dataslate, linking up to the security mics inside the patient room.

Subject: He was a very good Namegiver, trying to protect you from the bright light. I would have done the same thing.

Specimen: Oskar Namegiver, longing lonely

Subject: Yeah, I’ll have to ask Xant about that, about the ship we were on before the station. I wonder how much he knows? Maybe Xant’s-

Specimen: Xant! Friend Xant!

Subject: Yeah, the very same! He’s a good friend, isn’t he?

Specimen: Friend Xant, Special Job Namegiver!

Subject: What was that Sigi? What do you mean special job?

Specimen: Friend Xant, Sigi, Namegiver no sad!

Subject: Okay, I think I'm going to have to ask Xant to give you a proper translator, we’re not going to get very far with your broken English.

Specimen: Namegiver happy! Sigi happy!!

Subject: Sure thing Sigi, I wouldn’t be nearly as happy without you here. Thank you for being such a good girl-

Specimen: GOOD GIRL?? GOOD GIRL??

Subject: Ha ha ha! That's right! Who's a good girl? Who's a good girl?!

Specimen: Who Good girl?

Subject: YOU’RE A GOOD GIRL!

Specimen: UNDERSTAND!! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY-

The Captain turned off the security feed, even more concerned than he was before. A conversation like that holding military strength Freq?

Rynard ground his teeth a little. Sometimes he missed the days when all he needed to do was tear the enemy apart. He hoped the Doctors were smart enough not to do anything to Jasi that would mean he’d need to step between them.