[ChicletPrime]

Chapter 6 - Sealed In Dust

• Without looking and going just by title -- Zayne?
  
• immediately has to look up what the hell a "duckbill cap" is.
  
• "at the window a man in a raincoat..."  hello Mr. Rain Coat! are you a new raincoat or the one we just met?
  
• well, raincoat guy tells duckbill hat guy that he looks older, so we can rule out duckbill guy as Lemurian.
  
• briefcase, handkerchief so no fingerprints transfer, case smell like a bomb site. inside: 4 yellowed pages with a story from "14 years ago". so, something about the Chronorift.
  
• oooh its about Grandma! well, written by Grandma.
  
• oooh its about me: dead then me: with vital signs. and by "me" i mean Subject 001
  
• so due to suspected mishandling my energy values rapidly increased, peaked at 2:39am which resulted in death by self-contained energy burst. i re-alived myself 4pm the next day. 
  
• oh. OH. "a comprehensive physical exam revealed a newly created, unidentified substance in her heart."
  
• like. wut.
  
• so previously my heart was... fine? then due to some unexplained thing, perhaps interference by someone else, i died, was reborn and only now do i have "protocore syndrome"?
  
• wow. "unknown element / never seen before". what did i doooo? Caleb, were you the instigator? were you there? did you see what happened?!  ... speaking of, where the hell is the video footage of 2:39am?
  
• Josephine is asking a better question: if the element is non-existant, what kind of existance am i, exactly? 
  
• another researcher: Leon
  
• they dub the unknown element "aether" and the object an "aether core"
  
• like true scientists dedicated to the science, i gotta die again to see if i will reborn again. its no good unless its repeatable i guess. so i'm guessing that's the first time i died. which means... they were just experimenting with the anhausen evol itself, and not me in particular? or.. something?
  
• i could be a mythical creature.. a unicorn.
  
• oh good god, really? phoenix is RIGHT THERE.
  
• Grandma is somewhat unsure about this course of action. but only somewhat. you bitch, Josephine.
  
• Unicorn is now my code name instead of Subject 001. bad idea people, never humanize your experiments especially if they're actually human. lets not make this a sympathetic thing that can feel pain or anything, exploring her new world like a newborn creature using primitive instincts. i started from scratch again with no memory but picked up things very quickly when taught.
  
• dear moses, i truly hope i punched that hole through space and time and killed them all.
  
• great. they prepare me to die again and also prepare "emergency measures".
  
• okay, so they wind me up even higher than the previous explosion, so i go out at an even higher energy burst. and yup, i live again. Leon is relieved. so is Josephine.
  
• oh boy. the aether core is stronger on the second resurrection. yay!
  
• we haven't entered Phase 6 yet when the Chronorift Catastrophe happens (soooo, i died five times? four times?)
  
• so Josphine gets out of the wreckage, i'm nowhere to be found. days later, she finds me in a shelter. i call her "Grandma" for the first time, out of nowhere. Josephine didn't even know i knew the word, and i did not seem to actually recognize her from the lab (again).
  
• two months after the Catastrophe, i am calm and doing well, but i still tend to forget things, like my memory is wavering in and out like a 'faint signal'.
  
• Caleb is not mentioned anywhere in here except for one little part where Josephine's record trails off, saying "I never had children, nor did I ever imagine having relatives. Its always been just me at home. But with her and... things have started to change."
  
• The other researchers on the project have started to disappear, those that survived the Catastrophe in the first place. Josephine suspects EVER is pulling them in / away.  She decides to get ahold of Dr Noah as he's in cardiology and she still trusts him.  I get a checkup and the energy peak in my heart is half of what it used to be.
  
• okay, back to the present and Rain Coat and Duckbill.  so apparently Duckbill silenced Josephine and Rain Coat is unsatisfied with the report pages. Rain Coat tosses a vial to Duckbill (as payment i assume).
  
• ooooh, THAT'S INTERESTING.  Rain Coat takes the pages, returns the briefcase to Duckbill, commenting that "it stinks" and that hunters might scent it back to Duckbill.  Duckbill sneers the same thing back about the handkerchief used to hold the briefcase. "When its tainted with that, you won't make it out either."  Duckbill checks (the vial?) that the drug is "the right one", his old voice trembling with excitement. "When are you planning to make your move?" he asks.
  
• Rain Coat: "Why should we rush? Her powers aren't complete yet. Besides..." 
  
• !!
  
• "Your Prince Xavier has been glued to her side watching. I've been curious. Do people still practice feudalism where you're from? Isn't that regression?"
  
• "Xavier can only guard her for so long. He's too busy dealing with his own issues. Don't say I didn't warn you, its not just EVER that wants her. Strike first and gain an advantage."
  
• "The one who strikes first is helping her cultivation." if Duckbill can get rid of Xavier in the process, it would help Rain Coat. "Kill Xavier and let EVER crown you as prince." 
  
• A thin beam of light cuts his neck. A wrinkled hand grabs his throat and lifts him. "I can't kill Xavier but I can do more than deal with a two-legged, carbon-based monkey like you."
  
• "But how long can you survive in this era?" Rain Coat smiles, pointing at Duckbill's pocket where the drug is.
  
• "Tell your masters that they better get their hands on her fast. Her existence isn't as simple as the records suggest. If you keep stalling, EVER will end up losing more than they bargained for once she develops."
  
• .... the substance mixed in the drug hasn't been discovered yet.  EVER hopes to control the Backtracker with the drug. and then controlling Xavier shouldn't be that far off. He will soon beat other Raincoats and join the 'real plan'.
  
• Since Unicorn's power isn't complete yet, its perfectly fine to let her absorb some power - Xavier's specifically. Let his lightblade serve her and becoming the strongest weapon in her hand is something the Resonance Evol can easily achieve. Xavier will surely give her every bit of himself.
  
• Love is truly a wonderful thing.
  

like, fucking WILD. i am going to have to come back and break this down, this was A Lot Of A Lot.

EDIT:

okay, so. the biggest questions IMMEDIATELY are:

-- dying is what gave me an aether core? is this something i bring back from death!?
-- i wasn't in the experimental labs because of the core, but something more likely to do with my evol. 
-- the drug in the vial. has to be something extracted from Lemurians as Duckbill was "older" / "wrinkled hands" so likely looking to extend his lifespan in this primitive age because Philos doesn't exist yet to keep him young and immortal.
-- the drug is laced with something that will give 'control'
-- the commentary about "carbon-based two legged monkey" implies Duckbill, as a Backtracker, is None Of Those Things.
-- are the Backtrackers crystal-based then? Wanderers??? are the elite of Philos not even human anymore?!
-- they are content to allow Xavier to be near to me without undue interference because its assumed I will drain him? or subjugate him? or both? 
-- Duckbill Backtracker 'can't' kill Xavier because why? Xavier's too good at what he does? some other reason? 
-- what was on the briefcase that made it "trackable" and quite apparently dangerous in some manner? not so dangerous that they just didn't turf it. was it the pages inside it then? but they were just "pages" which i assume just meant paper. that part was super ambiguous as to why both of them were leery of it.