Alzigo shook his head. “Nothing as crude as that. Tec are small machines, yes, but they can be smaller than atoms or as big as molecules. They are like space dust, invisible, yet everywhere. They travel across the galaxy and Infuse everything they come in contact with: biological, technological, photonic, silicon-based, everything.

“Only a small amount is needed to Infuse a living entity. The Tec makes adjustments to their brain and sensory organs, allowing them to receive and view information directly. That’s how I gave you the language pack, it was just a simple information transfer.”

Lana sat up suddenly. “So that’s why we can suddenly see information about ourselves, our strength, agility, and such.”

“Precisely.” The alien nodded. “The Tec creates a standardized baseline that carries over across species. For example, looking at you, I see that human average strength is two. There are species whose strength starts at fifty, but even then, the ratio will remain the same. If a human reaches the same strength score, he’ll be comparable to those beings.”

“How does that work?” Bulco grunted. “My strength started at three, and I was the strongest person around. Now I’m at ten. How can I be three times stronger than before? I didn’t grow extra muscles.”

“You did, in a way,” the alien explained. “As I said, there are different types of Tec. The ones used to support muscle structure are the biggest. They settle in your tendons and muscle tissue and strengthen them. Similarly, other types of Tec can increase cognition, improve brain receptors, etc. With Tec, anything is possible. The only real problem is obtaining more of them.”

“How so?” Lana asked.

“Each living creature releases its Tec when it dies. If someone touches the body, they can extract some of it. However, since the Tec adapts to their host’s bodies, a relatively small percentage is compatible with the new host. The rest is released to the atmosphere. There are tools and technologies that can refine more Tec from the dead, but it is still a limited quantity.”

“That sounds gruesome.” Lana shuddered.

“It is gruesome, Miss.” Alzigo nodded. “And often a cause for violence. That is why almost all enlightened species have strict laws against killing other sentients for their Tec. There are space farms that cover huge spans of space, filtering the ambient Tec, but that type of mining operation is immensely expensive. The easiest and most conventional method is to extract them from the Warped.”

Nori leaned forward. “That leads into my other question. What exactly are the Warped?”