JOSH.
"There's something I didn't tell you."
Jules and Boris looked up in unison.
Josh didn't blink. "In my dream—the one that showed me how I died—there were others. Survivors. People like Jessi. They were… changing. Developing abilities. Empaths. Clairvoyants. Some could manipulate tech. One girl could light fires with her touch."
Boris raised an eyebrow. Jules leaned forward, her voice low. "And you think this is the start?"
"I think it's already happening," Josh said. "Jessi's not the only one. Maybe whatever changed the world—whatever brought the storm—is changing us too. And maybe you two aren't immune."
Jules let out a soft, skeptical breath. "I haven't felt anything unusual."
"Neither have I," Boris added, though his tone was cautious now. "But… maybe it's not about what we feel. Maybe it's about what stress unlocks. Trauma, proximity to the blast, hell—maybe even the amount of grief we've swallowed. Who knows what it's rewiring."
Josh nodded. "That's why I'm telling you. So if something happens, if you start noticing things… don't ignore it. We might need these gifts."
Boris rubbed his chin, processing. Then he glanced up. "Speaking of Jessi… if she's going to keep getting hit with emotional static, we need to help her regulate it. A secure room isn't enough."
"What are you thinking?" Jules asked.
"A sensory deprivation tank," Boris said without missing a beat. "Submersion chamber. Temperature-controlled salt-water, soundproof chamber, light-sealed. Floating calms the nervous system. Could give her a baseline—something to anchor her when the rest of the world is screaming."
Jules raised her eyebrows, intrigued. "You can build that?"
"I've built worse and I've got you" Boris said. "We'll need reinforced acrylic, medical-grade filters, magnesium salts if we can find them. I can jerry-rig the tank with parts from the old hydroponics rig and insulate it in the old server room under the greenhouse. But I'll need a few extra hands."
"I can make that work, I'll have to play with the circuitry to pull the power for the pump." Jules said, already pulling up a schematic on her datapad. "We'll need to isolate the circuits—maybe route power from the solar backups."
Josh leaned forward. "Do it. Prioritize it."
Boris nodded, already sketching in his notebook. "And while I'm at it… I'll start cataloguing possible neurological effects. If more of us start developing symptoms, we're going to need a diagnostic baseline."
"Good," Josh said. "Because something's coming. We just felt the tremor. The quake's still ahead."
--
BORIS.
He tapped his pen against the page, then looked up again, more serious this time. "Actually… before we do anything else, I need to interview the two of you. Establish a psychological baseline."
Josh blinked. "You think we're next."
"I think it's possible," Boris said. "Josh, you've already admitted you've had prophetic dreams. Jules—your stress response has been dialled up ever since the breach. I've seen it. You've gone twenty hours without blinking and you still catch every movement three rooms over."
Jules frowned. "That's called vigilance."
"That's called overstimulation," Boris corrected gently. "The kind I'd expect from someone who might be compensating for new sensory input."
Josh exhaled. "So you want to start tracking… what? Mood swings? Headaches? Premonitions?"
"All of it," Boris said. "Sleep patterns. Memory gaps. Heightened reaction to noise, light, even proximity to others. If you're manifesting—if any of us are—we need to document it now before it gets worse. Or… useful."
Jules sat back, crossing her arms but not dismissing the idea. "Fine. But if I'm being your guinea pig, I want to be part of the data. Full transparency."
Boris gave a crooked smile. "Wouldn't expect anything less from our resident tech goddess."
"Oh fuck off with that." Jules laughed.
Josh nodded, gaze serious. "Start with me tonight. Before this thing gets ahead of us."
Boris tapped the page again, then flipped it and began sketching a rough intake form. "Then let's make history, boys and girls. We're not just surviving anymore. We're evolving."
"Start with him" Jules pointed at Josh, "while you do that I'll start gathering supplies for the tank."