Chapter 61

***This article contains spoilers.***

## Highlights

* Dana gets schematics for the Progenitor Power Core, Tachyon Drive, and projector device.
* John meets Athena, who explains that he made Alyssa a Progenitor, and he created Athena as her guide, similar to how Progenitor John was supposed to be John's guide.
* Edraele secures an alliance with Leena Ghilwen.

## Summary

Jade nurses Calara, who is now missing a hand due to Shinatobe's bomb (Chapter 60).

Faye snaps at John, blaming John's paranoia about AI for her helplessness. She was locked out from the ship's defenses, so she couldn't protect John and Jade (Chapter 60). John promises to start trusting her more, and gives her permissions on the internal and external anti-personnel defenses. Faye has PTSD from seeing Jade get killed. Faye asks if he's going to kill the assassin. John said he might have to. Faye hopes she tries to escape. Now she can use guns.

Rachel had performed an autopsy when Jade died. Jade only has one vital organ: a viridian crystal right where the heart would be.

Before Nexus kicked Irillith out of his data archives, she ~~stole~~ requisitioned everything she could on Progenitors. She doesn't recognize any of the data formats of the data Nexus acquired when he achieved Unity. When Dana saw the data displayed in ancient Progenitor language, she clutched her head, the answer just out of reach. Alyssa turned radiant, put her palm on Dana's temple, and caressed the side of Irillith's face. Irillith's eyes glowed, projecting technical schematics in the air. They were ancient Progenitor tech. The Unity files are ancient video archives, and now Dana knows how to make a projector device that can play them. Dana also has the schematics for a Progenitor Power Core and Tachyon Drive.

The Ashanath have a reputation for being gifted scientists in the fields of Power Core technology and FTL travel, but apparently they've been cheating. The Tachyon Drive and Power Core from the Ashanath were their attempts to reverse engineer Progenitor Tech. However, they messed up because they didn’t fully understand the science behind it. The Ashanath held huge amounts of territory before the Terrans started annexing it, so they could've found a Progenitor Power Core and Tachyon Drive.

Irillith tells Alyssa she had deca-shaped the Raptor (Chapter 60), but she doesn't remember it. Shaping 10 times means it's immune from lasers damage.

Edraele meets Leena Ghilwen, now Matriarch after Edraele's assassinations, and explains the birth crisis. Behavior modification kicks in and Leena agrees to ally with Edraele.

John Spirit Walks to talk to Radiant Alyssa and had to squint his eyes at first. Her aura was so bright because of how much Alyssa had been getting stronger. She says she's a part of Alyssa, and suggests being called Athena to avoid confusion.

Athena explains a lot.

* John turned Alyssa into a Progenitor. John's mind rejected the idea of psychic powers, but realized he still needed them. So he gave them to Alyssa instead. He created Athena was created to protect and guide Alyssa, since her mind wasn't ready deal with it all in one go. Alyssa isn't yet ready to merge with Athena.
* John was never prepared for the kind of power he has, his Progenitor nature. Progenitor John was meant to be a guide to help prepare John to use his powers and begin his conquests. But being essentially a good man, he subconsciously rejected that siren call. Instead of enslaving and conquering, he found ways to master his mind, imprisoning Progenitor John behind a mental barrier. He built that up over the years with careful focus and meditation. John's stubborn refusal to accept the nature of his species has driven Progenitor John mad. He's decided to take control, and he wants to become the dominant personality now.
* Athena intervened a number of times over the past few months to help keep John safe. The glowing figure he saw in the healing dreams was Athena, although the healing ability actually comes from John. Athena was merely there to help guide him through the process, and channel psychic energy from the girls to help fuel the rejuvenation. She's tried not to be too active, and only assisted while Alyssa's mind was at rest, to avoid accidentally unsettling her.
* Athena had to step in to stop Edraele from breaking open John's mind shield, and inadvertently unleashing Progenitor John (Chapter 47).
* When Progenitor John was freed anyway a few weeks later, he was far too dangerous for Alyssa to face alone. Athena guided her through that confrontation, then helped break John out of the abyssal prison he’d cast him into (Chapter 53).
* After the recent assassination attempt, Alyssa was consumed by rage and grief, so Athena helped her channel that raw emotion (Chapter 60).
* Now that John's aware of Athena's presence, she took the opportunity to directly assist him, unlocking some of the secrets he's imparted to Dana. (Although Irillith wasn’t ready for that yet, so Athena ended up hurting her.)
* Although John "gave" the powers to Alyssa, he still has them. It's been built into his DNA. His mind just suppresses the abilities it can't really get to grips with. There’s no reason why he can’t use Telepathy yourself; his mind simply refuses to countenance the idea.
* Having to devote so much of John's mind to maintaining Progenitor John's prison makes Astral Projection much harder for him.

John lost his fight with the astral cord, and was yanked back into his body. He told Alyssa she's a Progenitor and apologized, but apparently she didn't mind. "*This is fucking awesome!*" Being a Progenitor means she's even closer to him. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean she's going to grow a big cock and four balls.