There was quite the crowd in Dr. Krydon’s medical ward. It was the final frequency capability test for Jasmine and her dogs.

Nako had done his best to return the status quo at Uleesia Station. A quick conference with the Esaander corporation’s powers-that-be reassuring them that investment would be well rewarded with centuries worth of contribution credit and perhaps even the bestowment of the title ‘Progenitor Corporation’.

New military-grade species entering the galactic council would be a boon to the economy for dynasties to come, let alone the boost to personnel construction and gene therapy. The new alien seemed almost ideal for Qzetillian restoration; it was almost too perfect.

The Lieutenant stood front and centre having the best view of the observation room. Tifera, forever his Guardian, stood to his right, watching over her Lord Commander. Laandi stood to his left, representing Esander, and her staff; those who could attend observed silently from the back. The security staff and Rynard watched from the rear wondering if all the pomp and ceremony was necessary.

Krydon grumbled about the attendees crowding his workstation, choosing to work as quickly as possible so he might be left in peace.

"So this is a pretty big deal then, huh?" Jasmine stood in the observation room while Xant fussed with the dogs’ translators.

"It will certainly go on record as one of the more hopeful entries of our history." Xant smiled, "A new Dynasty could begin this day."

When Xant activated the dogs’ external translators, a few bright lights blinked on the black beads in the dogs’ ears. "Your companions are ready for the test. Their experiences will be recorded alongside your own."

Jasmine nodded before asking the obvious. "So how am I going to be feeling the Freq if I can't feel it now?" Jasmine wiggled her fingers imitating the same movements she had seen Xant's ears do every now and then.

"For the first half of the test we will be measuring your output. Once that is complete I will be connecting you to an external receiver organ to measure receptiveness."

Jasmine winced at the mentioning of the word organ. "But it will be over quick, right?"

"It shouldn't take any longer than the other tests."

"Right, right." Jasmine nodded. She thought she'd be used to this by now but somehow it was more nerve-wracking with such a large audience.

Xant returned to the other side of the observation glass, standing behind Dr. Krydon as the cranky old lizard began the process.

"Subject Jasmine, I'll need you to give me the most powerful blast you are capable of."

Jasmine wasn't sure exactly how to give off a powerful Freq blast, she had only ever done it by accident. She did know two things: first, Freq was tied to her emotional state, and second, she supposedly let off blasts when she swore. The human took a deep breath and unleashed a truly phenomenal storm of anger and insults.

"Fuck you, fuck you Rajava! You motherfuking murderous cunts, bloody mongrul fuckfaces! You dog flogged fuck nuggets! I’ll tear your arseholes open so I can turn your tentacled shitcunt brains inside out! Fucking dropkick slug pussballs, I’ll kill you all! I’ll stab you cunts! Fuck! Shit!! Cunting cunts! Cowards! Evil, psychopathic braincells! "

As Jasmine yelled at her imagined enemy her dogs began barking along, Spades in particular became riled up; his ferocity even surpassing that of his beloved Namegiver.

"So Doctor," Nako asked, "how strong of a pulse is our alien Maiden putting out?"

"Only about 8," Krydon replied, "but that still puts her on the same scale as a lower quality Prince." The old doctor tapped the comms, speaking to Jasmine directly, "Can you make them any stronger? Like last time?"

"Like last time; I don't know?" Jasmine panted, "I'm not exactly sure what it is that I'm doing…"

"Let flow bursts of your most powerful emotions!" Nako guided, trying to be helpful.

"Yeah nah, it doesn't work like that for humans I'm afraid," Jasmine replied. "I can't just choose my emotions, if that were possible, we wouldn't need half of our own pharmaceutical industry."

"Humans have never needed to have such strict control over their emotions," Xant explained further, "so calling them up as necessary is not within her power as of yet. We are currently trying to remedy it with meditation sessions."

"I see," Nako nodded.

Jasmine tried to let off a few more bursts but they could not match the energy of the first, it only served to make her throat sore.

"I think it's safe to move on Krydon." Xant left the main console and walked into the observation room with a small hover trolley. Jasmine stared at the trolley’s contents, a cylindrical jar the size of her head with a huge red spider-like organ suspended inside, with long tendrils of nerves and a three part segmented body; it twitched inside it's pink goo prison.

Xant held two red wires that came from the base of the jar, ready to plug them into the exposed components of Jasmine's translator.

"So how exactly does this work?” Jasmine asked apprehensively, unconsciously leaning back away from them.

“It works exactly like our meditation sessions,” Xant began pouring pink liquid from a small plastic squeeze bottle on to the end of the red wires. “I will feed these through your ear canal and the hardware around your skull, just as I would with my own fingertip nerves. Dr. Yusa was kind enough to grow this specialised receptor specifically for this test,"

Jasmine couldn’t hide the grimace on her face as the wire ends began flailing like live worms in his hands after the goo application.

“They’re just nerve endings, Jasmine, nothing to fear.” he replied cheerfully.

“(Ewwwwwwww) let’s get this over with before I change my mind.” she said, forcing her eyes shut and turning her head so Xant had a better vantage point to her ear.

The hardest part was standing still, since the wires were slimy and wriggling; it was something she was never going to be used to. The sudden rush of goop in her ear changed the pressure against her ear drum, she didn’t even try to stop the awful expression as her face contorted, and then she felt it; the melting sensation that signaled the start of their joining.

Jasmine wasn't sure how it would be different from their meditation sessions, that was already an experience she couldn’t quite comprehend, having to put it into words for the scientific audience was going to be a challenge on a whole other level.

The melting gave way to the cool water feeling Xant had always raidiated but now there was more of a, how could she put it? A sense of space. The water sensation now occupied a location, like a light she could pinpoint the source and where its influence faded. His cool aura tapered and then she could feel others.

Three distinct blobs of emotions; the dogs looked up at her, each beaming with more recognisable glows.

Xant was vague, like faint running water, but the dogs had clear, defined presences.

Sigi felt like a warm comforter, the cotton fibers of an old favourite blanket, seeped with the scents of wood, honey and beer.

Kimiko was much more refreshing, fresh cut grass and the chilled air of a spring morning. Bright and full of curious energy.

Spades, the old dog, had a distinctly bold feeling. Tough like canvas, rough and weathered yet with an overwhelming sense of security and confidence. Salty and coarse like sweat and tears, loud, like the shout of a command. And of a brother.

Jasmine ran her hand over each one of them as she began to understand this new and intimate stimulus.

Eventually, she became aware of her own aura.

Warm and bright like the summer sun, welcoming like the hug of a close friend and as wondrous and invigorating as seeing the world for the first time. As she looked at her own hands she felt revitalised, as though she could do anything if she put her mind to it!

"What do you feel Jasmine?" Xant asked, his words dripping like light rain.

"I feel… EVERYTHING… Or rather, everyone…" her eyes wide as she turned to Xant.

"Do you feel this way all the time?!"

Xant had to chuckle. "Yes, I'm glad you can finally appreciate the nuances of Freq sensitivity. Do you need time to adjust?"

"I'm not sure I'll ever truly adjust… I… I feel so floaty and warm…"

"I will let you acclimatise yourself while I inform the others of your development.”

“Okay...” Jasmine replied entranced at her own wiggling fingers. The aura seemed to move with her hands, distinctly a part of her. She wondered if it could be ‘pushed’ and ‘pulled’ like muscles or held like the air in her lungs. Is that how ‘pulses’ and ‘blasts’ worked?

Is that why the majority of the aliens she had met were friendly? Was it really that simple?

“Jasmine, we will be conducting the test momentarily,” Xant interrupted, “are you ready?”

“Bring it on!!”

“... Does that mean yes?”

“... Yes. That means yes.”

“Excellent. We will be going through the different frequencies that make up the galactic council standard. First will be the ones you’re more accustomed to.”

Xant and Krydon fiddled with the controls and the auras that filled Jasmine and the dogs with delight faded away.

“Aww, I was enjoying that,” Jasmine sighed, shaking her now unglowy hands, “back to boring old nothing.”

"Friends? The Vet’s did something to the Namegiver… I am worried,"

Jasmine froze, looking down to where the new voice had come, Sieglinde pawing at her leg and looking up curiously.

"All is well Friend Sieglinde" a deep gruff voice replied, "Namegiver is still here, be calm like the Namegiver."

"Sigi? Spades? Is that you?" Jasmine’s voice choked on her words.

All three dogs looked up at her, before jumping and barking excitedly, almost dog piling her in the process.

"Namegiver speaks! Namegiver can understand Friends!!"

"Hello Namegiver! Let's play! Let's play!"

"Namegiver! You speak like us!"

"Oh my god I can understand you all perfectly!" This was the true power of the translator, Jasmine couldn’t think of anything people wouldn’t give to be able to speak to their animal companions. It was totally worth having a bit of squelchiness in her ear.

"Namegiver speaks! Now Namegiver can listen to Friend Sieglinde?! And Friend Spades and Friend Kimiko?!"

"Yes!" Jasmine grinned holding back tears, "Now I can listen to everything you have to say."

She ruffled all of their fur, smiling so wide her cheeks hurt. "Xant, if I get the new translator installed, will I be able to talk to the dogs like this all the time?"

"Once the dogs are fitted with their own versions yes, they're not currently hooked up to the GC mainframe so only you and I can speak with them currently. They need a ‘telepathy to sound’ translator, the same one that I have installed."

"Shall we continue the tests?" Krydon snapped interrupting the happy little scene. "It is obvious that they are all capable of Zenthi frequency. We can postpone their idle chit-chat until after."

Xant didn’t want to agree with the aging lizard, but there was only so much he could indulge Jasmine, he’d have to move them along for now.

"Jasmine, are you ready to move on with the frequency test?"

"But I'm talking with my friends!" Jasmine retorted, "Kimiko was going to tell me about her life on a dairy farm!"

"I understand this is exciting Jasmine, but I can always return you to this frequency after we have finished. Is that acceptable?"

"I guess," she pouted, "okay friends, we will have to talk again later, but we will have a long talk after Xant says we have finished with the tests."

"Friend Xant? Where is Friend Xant?!" Sigi bounced excitedly, running in a short circle ready to play.

"He's on the other side of the glass; say hi, Xant!" Jasmine pointed.

Xant chuckled and spoke through the comms,

"Hello Friend Sieglinde, I look forward to talking again soon."

"Hello Friend Xant!!" The golden retriever's tail wagged incessantly.

Krydon snapped his teeth, and switched frequency before anyone could protest or prolong the test any further.

The dogs voices faded and the strange auras returned.

Jasmine revelled in the new perceptions granted to her. Closing her eyes, she could almost pinpoint where the dogs were in the room and which dog was where. But it wasn’t long before her own powerful signal got in the way, she needed more time, to learn how to control it.

"Damn, I can kinda understand now," Jasmine murmured out loud, "about signals being too strong or whatever… But otherwise, this feels amazing."

"We will be broadcasting some recorded freq for you to sense,” Xant informed her, readying the file to be played. “Please, do your best to analyse and resist where you can. Are you ready to proceed?"

"I think so…"

"Very well, we will be starting at citizen standard level."

Jasmine waited for, whatever it was the aliens were going to do.

After a while, she noticed from the corner of her senses she felt a slight tapping, like a ticking clock or the flapping of paper. She kept looking for where it was coming from, but it was so faint it was barely perceivable.

"Jasmine?"

"Huh? Yeah?"

"Your analysis of the signal?"

"I mean, I think I feel something, but it's very weak and a little vague." she folded her arms in thought. “It’s very neutral, if it were a sound I’d dismiss it as a light breeze or white noise.”

"Understood,” Xant wasn't surprised that the citizen Freq signal barely registered with her. She had no way to filter out her own Freq signal, let alone sense the presence of one designed to be inoffensive. “We will be moving through stronger Freq signals, please state any change that is brought to your attention."

"Oakie doakie!"

"... Jas-"

"That means yes."

He shifted the signal to the standard military presence to see if that made a difference. The alien audience watched as all four denizens of Earth reacted to the new recording. The dogs lifted their ears and were on alert, as Jasmine corrected her posture, steadying herself against the unknown impact.

"Okay I feel something now," Jasmine instinctively closed her eyes as she explained. "I feel, cold metal plates, a slow unmovable weight, slow yet rested? I'm sorry, I just feel like I'm saying a bunch of random words"

"What you are doing is fine Jasmine, I will be increasing the strength of the signal."

"Okay…" she replied, her voice becoming unsure "Ah!-" she raised her hands to her face and stumbled backward. The dogs began growling, barking aggressively at their Namegivers side.

"That's hot! Like I'm close to an open fire! A… A stupid bloody fire! Which idiot is responsible for this?! I just want to strike them! Beat their skulls in and-" Jasmine's arms stiffened and her fists clenched, she began to take long deep breaths, "I'm… I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

While Jasmine was able to gather her senses, her poor canine companions were overcome.

"Are you alright to continue?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay," she replied, touching her red flushed face. “But I think they’ve hit their limit,”

“I agree, I will isolate the signal so it will only affect your translator.”

Xant carefully shifted the recording, watching as the dogs instantaneously calmed while Jasmine's body swayed and shuddered, arms wrapping around her chest as she let out a powerful roar.

"FIIIIIIGHT! STRIIIIIKE!! IIIIGNIIIITE!!"

She began stomping her feet, hands unraveled and punched the air. "God I just want to keep running and fighting and moving!...” Her body reeled mid pace, jerking and clenching while fighting itself. “No! This isn't right! Stop Stop Stop!” she yelled at herself regaining control, shivering with fevor. “Fuck me…” Jasmine shook her head, memories of competitions and fighting words kept flashing in her mind, no clear visions, just her brain jumbling together every memory that fit her sudden urge to rush and conquer obstacles.

Once she had worked out what it was trying to do she was able to wrangle to set her own feelings straight, it was hard once it had already settled in.

“Jasmine, we have two more Emotional Freq signals on record, would you like to continue?”

“You know what?” She panted rolling her shoulders and bending her knees, “Go ahead, let’s see how far I can push it,”

Xant apprehensively played the next recording.

Jasmines breath stuck in her throat.

She couldn’t move, she didn’t dare breathe she couldn’t look anyone in the eye as an overwhelming pressure of disappointment welled in her chest. She didn’t deserve to exist, she wanted to crawl into a little ball and shrink into the earth and fade away. She felt her knees buckle and her arms shivered limply, she welcomed the floor, lowering herself slowly. The dogs tucked up in balls beside her, trying to comfort her but no matter what she did, she couldn’t shake the awful memories and nausea this Freq signal produced, cowering from the invisible judgment.

Xant’s voice pierced through the paralyzing worthlessness.

“Jasmine, do you want us to stop the test?”

“Yes,” Jasmine replied while curled up in the fetal position, “Please.”

All of a sudden, the pressure released, the anxiety lifted and Jasmine once again felt like she was in her own skin. It all vanished as quickly as it had come.

She rolled over flat out on her back reflecting on the hijacking of her emotional state.

“Well, that was certainly an experience…”

It was as though every memory and thought that questioned her self worth rushed to the front of her mind, she couldn’t remember a time when she had been so anxious.

“So, what was that?” she asked, taking deep breaths to rid herself of the existential dread that began to creep in.

“That was a personnel paralyzing Freq blast delivered by a military grade Princess unit.” Xant explained with sincere sympathy. “We don’t have the authorization to play a Princess strength Freq signal that could cause bomb level damage. It is designed to freeze you in place,”

“Well, it certainly fucking worked, that’s for sure…”

With every step of this examination Jasmine began to realise the full scope of how she was affecting those around her and the power that others could hold over her.

It was a humbling and terrifying experience.

“Are you hurt Jasmine?” Xant asked concerned

“Hurt? No, just a little shaken. Well more like a lot shaken, I’ve never felt like that before.”

With the exception of Nako, Tifera and Rynard, Xant didn’t think anyone else in the Medical wing would have understood what that felt like either. As much as Xant admired Jasmine’s resilience, he worried about the physical and mental toll it would take to survive a blast like that untrained.

“We will give you a moment to relax before we move on.” Xant decided to impose a break in the test, for Jasmines sake.

“Cool,” she replied, trying not to think too hard about what had just happened to her. “Hey, how many more of these do I have to do?”

“There are four more Freq components to cycle through,” Xant explained, “but the most abrasive of the signals are behind us.”

“Good, I’m going to need a drink after this.” she sighed, “but I’d go for some water now.”

“Of course Jasmine.”

Nu was sent to fulfill her request while the lieutenant and the staff talked about her progress.

“Impressive,” Nako remarked pleased, “She came out of an interrogators grip almost unscathed. With training there is no telling the possibilities.”

There came a chorus of mumbled agreements, and Xant just couldn’t let that go unchallenged. Hoping to waver his tenacity of her more aggressive abilities, Xant cautioned the Lieutenant as politely as he could. “I’m not sure Jasmine will be up to the tasks you are expecting of her, despite her abilities.”

“I think the maiden might surprise us yet.” Nako replied unphased, “After all, Akira lead me to her, there must be more to this calling.”

Krydon rolled his eyes, annoyed this was taking longer than necessary. “I’m going ahead with the next test, we would have been finished by now if you didn’t insist on asking her permission for every single test.”

“Jasmine is a creator level intelligence, she deserves as much-”

“We are the professionals here, we shouldn’t have to explain that this is for her own good,” Dr. Krydon began the recording before Xant could explain or Jasmine could protest.

“Starting Physical Freq Test.”

“Wait, Physical Freq? What-”

plink!

Water dripped down Jasmines back,

plink! plink!

First one drop then two,

plink! plink! plink! plink! plink! plink! plink! plink!

Then the water poured over her skin, and whilst she was dry as a bone, Jasmine could feel every glorious drop. She outstretched her arms and twirled in the imaginary rain, Sigi, Spades and Kimiko ran alongside her, snapping their snouts at nonexistent water drops.

“Yeah! I can feel the water!”

“Starting Physical Override Freq Test.” Krydon stormed ahead once he had gotten confirmation that she could sense it.

A tickling shot of lightning ran up Jasmine’s arm as it jolted up in the air all on its own, she let out a startled yelp as her elbow was now stuck in her left ear.

Jasmine let out a groan. “‘Physical override’, I get it.”

All the dogs left front paws stuck right out in front, whimpering as they hobbled to move them.

Jasmine tried to pull her arm down by itself, when that proved futile she wrenched her arm down with the other. Keeping it down only by physical strength, the fingers of the possessed hand continued to flex in and out. “So, is this a common thing?!” she growled, “Or just a unique form of torture you brought out for us?!”

“It is a military grade technique,” Xant reassured her, “it can only be used on enemies of the galactic council-”

“Her heart rate is increasing…” Krydon muttered, observing the vital screenings. “trace adrenaline and other military grade hormones are being released into the system, stress levels are increasing at an exponential rate…”

“Strange, she wasn’t nearly this upset during the Frequency Aggression tests, but the Physical ones are more distressing?...” Laandi wondered out loud.

No one got the chance to entertain Laandi’s thought, Jasmine’s exasperated yells cut through over the comms.

“That’s it! I’m over it! Stop! Stop this test!” Jasmine growled in anger, “Give me my body back!!”

“If you just relax-” Krydon huffed.

“No! Fuck off!” she roared, “Stop it NOW!!”

If it were not for the freq-proof, glass barrier they would have almost certainly suffered her wrath. Only Nako seemed to delight in the situation, it only seemed to highlight positives in his mind. “There’s a vigorous pulse if ever I saw one…” he chuckled.

Krydon looked to Nako to rein in the alien maiden.

“Your Honour-”

But the Lieutenant seemed to be quite entertained with Jasmine’s outbursts or at least approved of her more abrasive personality.

“You’d best do as Miss Howe instructs, before I decide I’d like to see a live demonstration of her abilities.” Nako replied offhandedly.

Krydon’s objections overruled, he stopped the recording as instructed, finishing the data cache and preparing the next one.

“The next cycle of recording will be-”

“NO,” Jasmine growled at him, “You will wait until I am ready for the next one, understand?!”

It was not a suggestion on her part.

Xant nearly pushed the old lizard out of the way.

“I know you want to have the test run as efficiently as possible but is it really necessary to rush so fast we risk disorentating the Subject?! This test is not just for the benefit of Jasmine’s benefactor or the Company but for Jasmine herself. She is a future Creator Citizen and should be given respect as such!”

Krydon huffed, but decided to step back, letting Xant take control.

“Very well, do as you will.” he replied, contemplating retiring all the while.

Xant assumed his position at the head of the controls, configuring them to his liking before .

“Jasmine, I will be handling the test introductions from now on.” Xant soothed. “The next few recordings will be more subtle and nowhere near as intrusive as the previous ones have been. It will only be a matter of you being able to perceive them instead of suffering them.”

“Tsk!” Jasmine bit her tongue, “Fine.”

Xant pressed the icon then waited for an observable effect.

Nothing happened.

“Jasmine?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you feel anything?”

Jasmine looked around.

“Nope.”

“Then we can mark you as insensitive to radio waves. The next two will be much the same, it should be quick and painless.” Xant explained.

“Right, ‘should be’,” the human replied offhandedly.

The next recording did indeed start subtle, Jasmine didn’t even realise she was pacing at first. It took longer to realise the dogs were doing the same thing, going back and forth in a small straight line.

When she stopped, her stomach and head began to spin, dizziness began to push her to move.

“I’m starting to feel sick,” She announced; it wasn’t strong enough for her to actually throw up but it was certainly noticeable. “It’s not getting any worse though,” she took a few more steps, as she returned to the pacing the sickness eased. “It stops when I start walking though.”

“Fascinating, she can sense Rajavan amalgamation signals.” Krydon murmured. The doctor changed recording and Jasmine acted immediately.

“You guys just let off a pulse, didn’t you?!” she exclaimed

“Yes, that was a Rajavan designated Frequency, usually we need to have specialised units dedicated to intercepting them. You are a being of many talents Jasmine,”

“Thanks…” she replied flatly

“With every test we are regaining what the Rajava took from us Jasmine,” Laandi spoke wholeheartedly. “You are the great equalizer of the universe.”

Jasmine raised an eyebrow skeptically. “No I was just in the wrong place at the right time.”

“The last signal will be the Industrial Frequency, it is what our more powerful computers and ships give off in residual Freq,” Xant explained as he prepared to start the signal, “After this we will be able to finish your application for citizenship.”

“Good,” Jasmine replied relieved, “Cause I’m kinda getting sick of being a guinea pig”

“Jasmine? That didn’t quite translate…”

“I don’t want to be experimented on any more,” She clarified firmly.

Xant smiled. “No more tests after this, you will be able to walk your own path,” Xant promised.

“Great! So start the test already so we can get out of here!”

Krydon let out an exasperated sigh, Xant chuckled before playing the recording, only to watch as Jasmine and the dogs flinched and shook in pain.

“Oh fuck my head!” she shouted, hands holding the sides of her skull together. “God it’s like an instant migraine what the hell-” her arms dropped to her sides, the dogs began circling in panic and pain. Her eyes glazed over and her mouth opened slowly.

“Mum?”

Xant’s hand hovered over the kill switch.

“Jasmine?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s happening? What do you feel-”

“In the cupboard to the left, next to the chips.”

“Jasmine I don’t under-”

“No I don’t want to switch drinks! Get your own ‘prissy cocktail’!”

“Jasmine-”

“Here! I stayed up all night making these sandwiches!”

Xant and everyone observing stood stunned as Jasmine became increasingly erratic.

“Who is that girl i see? Staring straight back at me, why won’t my reflection show who I am?- I could be a loud man, I could be silent, I could be young man or I could be old. I could be a gentleman or I could be violent- Australians alll let us rejoice, for we are young and freeee- Mum?... Mum?!”

The human reached out to nothing before her entire body crumpled, smashing into the white tiles beneath her.

The loud crack of her protective skull, the sickening wet splat of her flesh.

The sounds of the other Esaander staff members faded behind him as Xant beat the kill switch with his fist and rushed to Jasmine’s aid.

Even after the Freq pulse had been terminated her body suffered, beginning to convulse in his arms.

“Jasmine?! Jasmine?!” No amount of calling out or even his own Freq pulses could pull her back.

He tore the receptor wires from her ear and the glove from his hand threading his nerves tips in, hoping to soothe her back to consciousness.

Pure lightning forced its way up and through his brain, tearing it apart.

Numbers, memories, smells and tastes bombarded his senses until he felt a lightness envelop his being.

Time stopped...

Light faded...

Darkness

Quiet

Lost.

Rest.

Rest

Rest

Rest

Rest

rest...