Logan moved his head around a little; the window stayed oriented in a manner that didn't cause disorientation or get in the way. It was like when the time popped up yesterday morning. He couldn't look directly at it, but Logan didn't need to; it was fully visible if he just looked straight ahead.
It took a moment to get used to, but Logan got the hang of having it in his field of vision. Unable to touch or interact physically with the window, he spent a few moments in the dark room trying to focus on the button he wanted to press. The occasional red flash from Logan's glass on the bedside table filled the room.
Lilith shifted in her sleep beside him and rolled over, draping herself across Logan. Her body was incredibly distracting. It was strange looking at her form illuminated by the flash of red light, the dim window not providing any visibility.
Focusing on the ceiling, Logan took a breath and tried to think about what he wanted to do. The small red icon indicating a message was still there; he could pick the glass up and check it manually, but where was the fun in that?
A few minutes passed with no change; he was visualizing touching the button he needed, but nothing was happening. Furrowing his brow, Logan took a firm hold of the outcome he wanted and pushed; there was a flutter at the edge of his mind like something pushing back.
He wanted to slam his mental effort against it in frustration but took a deep breath and tried to let go a little. Almost like the feeling of shaking hands with someone, Logan felt the force pushing back change to gentle pressure.
The window illuminated for a moment with a button press, much like how his physical glass device would behave. Another window opened, filling with rapidly scrolling lines of complex code. It looked slightly different than before. Trying to follow what was happening, Logan could only pick out tiny fragments of what was crossing the window. He got the sense it had to do with his terminal.
Thirty or so seconds later, Logan was looking at the secure access screen of his terminal. Which, to his knowledge, should be impossible. 'Impossible for us, but wherever you little robots come from, it looked pretty easy for you,' he thought.
Logan paused for a moment and worried about giving a foreign entity access to the C.A.S. database or his terminal functions. Still, it wouldn't really matter, would it? Whoever made the nanomachines would be capable of penetrating any kind of security they had.
With some effort, Logan opened his secure messages and was greeted by a message from the Chief Auditor, Victor Rellor. The subject line read: Priority Mission. What the hell kind of mission could he have to undertake here?
Focusing on opening the message, Logan was having difficulty getting the feeling right to use the interface that was displayed to him. Trying to imagine invisible hands wasn't working; the harder he pushed, the harder the sensation at the edge of his mind resisted.
It was like a mental exercise of using strength delicately or opening a jar with a bomb without damaging anything. Logan spent some time letting his mind wander for a bit; the terminal interface window never disappeared. He wasn't entirely done with it, and it apparently knew that.
His thoughts drifted to Lilith and their history. Some events from Logan's four years in the Navy popped up, and thinking about where he was now was bizarre compared to the life he led up to a few days ago.
Logan felt a little more relaxed, so he changed his focus back to the waiting message and tried to open it again. There was still some resistance, but it opened after a brief and slightly draining attempt.
He was thankful the headaches he used to experience when trying to tap into his abilities were no longer a thing. Still, there was some level of mental fatigue involved that he hoped he would get used to.
The message contained a set of coordinates but nothing else. As he was thinking about where they could lead, a map was displayed, a small green dot marking a building at the city's edge to the east.
This was going to complicate things. If it was a mission from the Chief Auditor, he must have seen everything Logan was uploading. It had taken a few hours for the footage of the brief fight to cover Emily and her companions to upload to the database. Beyond the quarantine lockdown of the data net, something had to be wrong with the communications system.
Logan could ignore it, but there might be a way off the planet if there was a mission to complete. Kissing Lilith on the nose, he began to wake her gently.
Lilith's hand flopped onto Logan's face like it was an old alarm clock, making him chuckle quietly. Placing a few more kisses on her nose, one of Lilith's eyes cracked open, and she looked at him sleepily.
"Can I help you?" Her voice was still in dreamland.
"It's time to wake up; there's something important to discuss." Logan pulled her into a soft cuddle.
"How rude, can't even let a lady sleep off a huge load in peace." Her mock indignation was undercut by the mention of the cum she had been absorbing.
Caressing her now clearly slender stomach, Logan played his fingers across her skin, "Seems like you already took care of it all to me."
Lilith pushed into him at the loving touch and snuggled closer, "What did you want to discuss? Keep it up with the hands, and I'll be walking out of here with a stomach full of cum."
Going over his brief interactions this morning, Lilith slowly perked up and turned to look at him thoughtfully. After telling her where the map coordinates pointed, she lay in silence and processed.
Playfully cupping a breast, Logan gave it a firm squeeze, eliciting a soft moan of approval.
"Well, do you truly think there could be a way for us to get off Skye if we go to the coordinates?" Lilith placed her hand on top of Logan's, and they both fondled the same breast.
Considering the question, he eventually answered, "Possibly, I suppose there's no way to be sure."
"A chance is better than nothing. It's also a risk." Lilith breathed and wiggled closer, "We should probably discuss it with the others."
Logan was hesitant to loop everyone in but ultimately agreed it was the right thing to do. Weighing the soft, warm flesh still in his hand, Logan couldn't feel much difference. It didn't seem like Lilith had changed further.
"It's a little concerning, if helpful, that the technology behind the nano-machines was able to directly interface with your terminal. I wonder what else it can interact with?" The question felt more open-ended as Lilith looked off into space, lost in thought.
She was right; it was concerning. Balanced with the notion of accessing his terminal functions without touching it, Logan was torn.
Spending a little more time glued together, they eventually got up and dressed. On their way out of the room, Lilith split off and went to check on Emily while Logan headed upstairs to find some food.
Vance was once again playing the role of chef, which Logan appreciated.
People slowly filed into the upstairs space they had been using as a dining room; everyone just about fit around the conference table comfortably.
Thirty minutes into eating, Lilith appeared with a rather tired-looking Emily behind her. The other two marines who had been hovering outside her door also filed in. It was a squeeze to get everyone sat down.
Logan shot a curious glance at Lilith, who just smiled at him. Looking far better than the day before, Emily seemed no worse for wear. It was a pretty remarkable transition; the nano-machines were very good at fixing people.
