Chapter 26: Swim

Once I got Brad sorted out, we could pick up the pace a bit. I could feel that the swimming was using my muscles in a completely different way to running and fighting had. I had known that being swimming fit was different to being running fit before, but with my new awareness of my body that came with the Battle Mode I was able to see the difference in detail. As we swam, I started working on adjusting my body to compensate for the strain that the swimming was putting on it. I could see though that the warriors in my Finger were not able to do anything like that. The changes to their bodies were still at the involuntary stage that I had experienced during the run on my first day on War World. I thought about that a bit and decided that I could ask for some advice.

"[S'Alor, can you hear me?]"

"[Yes Cy.]" S'Alor gave the feeling that he was sleepy and a little grumpy at being woken up.

"[Sorry to wake you, I just wanted to ask you a quick question. Is it possible for me to teach the members of my Finger how to control their bodies a little better?]"

"[No. You are their pack leader so you can do it for them. {image/explanation}. Now leave me to sleep.]"

S'Alor dumped a fairly complex concept in my mind which took some time for me to unravel. If I understood him correctly, I could guide the process in the members of my finger in the same way I had done for myself. I decided to be very, very circumspect in what I attempted with this because I didn't want to do anything that would be dangerous to them. I picked on the shaving thing as a good place to start, because even if I messed up, it was no big deal. According to S'Alor, once we were in battle mode with me leading the gestalt, I didn't even need their permission. I thought carefully about the way that I got rid of my hair, and reached out to the Finger and gave a {push} for them to lose theirs. There was an immediate chorus of confusion and shock.