The world existed as a strange pulsing thrum, composed primarily by the ebbing and flowing of power that rolled and swelled through the confined space like blood flows through veins, though unlike through veins, it seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere at once. There was no feeling, so to speak, no heat or cold or pain, but there was some sense of comfort and familiarity, there was even a sense of movement: speeding up and slowing down and turning. Beyond that there was a sense of the things that belonged inside, almost like cells or organs though they felt more familiar than that, and from them power came. Most of the power was sort of dampened and difficult to access, but there were at least two sources of power from which all that life and energy flowed .

And then there were the eyes, or perhaps that was a bad way to put it, there was no color or light or dark, but there was a sense of everything, beyond seeing or feeling or anything comparable. It was understanding everything about the environment intimately and without trying, seeing everywhere and nowhere at once.

Each and everyone paired with a name.

Strange sounds and languages that were alien and odd, and seemed so small compared to the grand scale of communication that was possible, but still important.

They had moved, slipped through the darkness, folding the universe around them like a sheet of construction paper only to punch a hole through to the other side. And then there they were, and the universe around them was filled with life. Everything here was familiar,, points of energy in the distance that made of familiar stars and constellations which had long been charted.

Not home, but a close second.

Home was far away, very distance but it was not yet time to go home, that would happen later.

Noises.

That strange sense that seemed so small and inconsequential, but was not inconsequential when it was inside.

Turning inward.

Following the sounds.

"Hear me out." The voice was familiar, well known, and soothing. The voice of someone is important, but all the voices were like that if given enough time. The power that leaked from the voice was, dampened somewhat, difficult to read through the pulsing lines of power that connected everything, but still it was possible to feel the flowing and ebbing of flesh and bone and the distant electrical signals as organic material pulsed away inside a contained vessel of meat and bone.

"Forgive me for not seeking medical advice from a marine, who the last time I saw you in my office, came in because you had something stuck up your nose." Dr. Krill said, and as he spoke his internal temperature rose with increased agitation associated with anger. Not that this was uncommon for Dr. krill, he was usually angry, but these past few days had been enough to send him over the edge into a nebulous state of rage that had yet to pass.

There was a pause as Ramirez held up his hands, "Okay, that doesn't exactly lend much to my credibility,but still I think you should at least hear me out, and if you don;t like what I have to say you can throw me out."

"Bold of you to assume I don't already want to throw you out. The less people I have here the better, as of right now The Empyrean is the only thing keeping him alive. You understand I had to remove a good third of the contents of his chest cavity. His heart and one lung. They are irreparably damaged Ramirez. I had to throw them away, and it will take at least another day until I can grow the new replacements, not to mention skin and tissue grafts to replace the literal hole that is his torso right now. And if that wasn't bad enough. I understand having Sunny here, but having you as well!" His voice rose an octave, and a pulse of power surged outward from his body. Not a good pulse though. And so a little bit of gentle blue light was applied to the internal atmosphere.

Hopefully that would have a calming effect.

Ramirez looked over at Sunny, who sat against the wall. Drev don't usually lend themselves to looking bedraggled or a mess. Humans have hair and clothing for looking pathetic, messy greasy hair, unwashed skin, rumpled clothes, bags under their eyes. Drev specifically have a much harder time looking a mess, but still somehow she managed it, slumped against the far wall with her head down. She could have stood up and looked completely in control, but it was her body posture that exuded the real truth.

The truth of her exhaustion and worry.

And behind her.

Him.

Still in this state he burned with power, and that was good..

The empyrean could sense it though no one else could. As stated before there were two primary power sources to the ship, Impetus and Incubus, but it seemed right that Impetus would be the primary source, though now that seemed questionable. The empyrean had felt what was going on, sensed the ebbing of power from a great distance. No one had told her to move when she lifted herself from the ground and dragged them across the ice to follow the source, but still she had done it, and it was no question to her when she had brought his dying body aboard the ship.

There was only one way to preserve him until a better time.

The empyrean could make things.

Not complex machinery necessarily or anything like that, but organic material was easy. She could grow it, and put it together, she could even do simple elements if asked. Deconstructing atoms and rearranging them was her specialty.

So when They brought him in dying, and clinging to the edge of life it was only logical that she do something. After Krill removed the damaged heart and lung, he attached the man to her trusting that the life support systems could keep him alive for just long enough.

The empyrean had a better idea.

Life support.

So she had incorporated him into herself.

She was mildly aware of how strange and disturbing the crew found it, a few of them whispering and comparing the practice to the void mothers they had seen back on earth, and that was true enough, but she was willing to suffer a little indignity if it meant helping.

Adam Vir was.... Part of her now. At least temporarily, absorbed into the bulkhead and infused throughout with her. It had been a strange sensation to run an entire organic body. But she pumped the blood and gave it oxygen just fine. She watched the tethers to make sure he was still there, and indeed, it seemed that he was, and all the while she could feel them circling around the ship. The waiting void hoping that he might slip and be lost to their clutches.

The empyrean hated them for it and actively burned them away when she got the chance.

She was growing something too.

A new heart and a new lung, and pounds of interspatial flesh. Adam had lost what amounted to the entire left side of his chest, basically unsalvageable. The wound should have been immediately fatal, but Impetus's connection was stronger than most and he had been able to hold on.

Now it was a waiting game.

"I know, I know, but look. What if that isn't necessary." He pointed to the side of the room where the empyrean was busy growing a couple of new organs. A heart and a lung. So far they were looking good but that didn't mean they would turn out perfect the first go. She wasn't infallible.

Sunny rubbed her temples, "Ramirez, you need a heart and lung to breath and like, live,"

Ramirez nodded, "yes I know that i know, and I have thought about it, but really hear me out." He walked forward producing from behind his back, his left arm, from which came a bluish sort of projection from the implant on his wrist, "I was able to connect with the web now, since we are back in GA space, and I found some stuff, and i think that Adam might agree with me that its a good idea."

"Spit it out before I throw you out." Krill snapped.

"What if..... Well what if, we don't use organic parts."

There was a pause, sunny lifted her head and krill turned resting his hands on his hips, all four of them, "What!'

"Well, advancements in medical robotics have basically come incredibly far, I mean look at the steel eye leg. There was recently a group of scientists that applied that same technology to organs and other areas of the body. They have been working for the past few years, and so far all of their recent implants have been completely successful. So successful they are even selling them retail now." he held up a hand as Krill opened his mouth to speak, "And before you get all pissed at me, just hear me out, they have an entire catalog selection of hearts and lungs, and I'm not just talking to look pretty or anything like that, but, some of these actually have some real application, Direct system monitoring, cell regeneration, blood oxygenation. Think about it guys, sure you can give him back a squishy human lung and heart, but if we give him machine parts, than maybe he won't be so easily killable. He turned to Krill clearly hoping that would peak his interest.

And surprisingly that had hit the spot and Krill inched forward with a look of interest on his face.

Maverick appeared from around the door having been hiding in the hallway while Ramirez proposed their solution, "We have a couple of options, but we have a few that we like more. One of them is a double heart, fits in the same space as a normal heart, has the same pulse rate and its own electrical rhythm, but it also has backup in case the main part fails, and if you pair it with the same lung model, you can control blood oxygenation even if the lung is damaged. Here, and if you read this column over here, if you get the whole package you can allow for a system that allows blood shutoff to certain groups of vessels and arteries if say, you severed something important and are spurting blood everywhere."

She turned to look at Sunny who was sitting up with a measure of both interest and concern.

"Look I know its not really the Drev thing to be okay with machines, and certainly not replacing parts of people with machines, but this is Adam we are talking about. He's only going to get into more trouble, so maybe the more death proof we make him the better."

The group of them glanced towards the wall where Adam slumped.

Sunny, the empyrean knew, didn't like to imagine a void mother, and instead likened his encasement to Han Solo being trapped in carbonite, she felt that Adam would appreciate that comparison a little more.

"Replace the heart and lung, beat him up a bit, and then get skin grafts over the whole thing, or better yet don't get skin grafts and Adam can finally be the true cyborg he has probably always wanted to be." Ramirez was saying

The empyrean knew that Krill would think that the first part was stupid, but the second part made sense.

But then again the empyrean was a bit biased. She trusted machine parts, they were easier to understand than organic parts. She took a closer look at Adam, feeling the ebbing pulse of blood which she controlled as it rolled through his system. A machine could take care of this easily. She took care of it easily enough, and him being less squishy sounded like a good deal to her.

Krill was less sure, but she could almost sense his agreement.

Sunny frowned, "You went shopping for my husband's new organs without me."

The two of them looked down, "We didn't want to bother you unless we thought it was an idea that might work."

Sunny shifted in her seat.

Krill looked over at her, "ITs your call."

She paused, but eventually, "Why not try it. Worst comes to worst we use the empyrean's backup organs."

The empyrean was glad she couldn't speak, and so didn't have to point out that that wasn't the worst case scenario.

They could always accidentally kill him during the operation.