Mindworms Part 4, The Enemy Falters
Chapter 1: The Dead Return
Information, the first principle of warfare, must form the
foundation of all your efforts. Know, of course, thine enemy.
But in knowing him do not forget above all to know thyself.
The commander who embraces this totality of battle shall win
even with the inferior force.
-Spartan Battle Manual
From the delicate strands,
between minds we weave our mesh:
a blanket to warm the soul.
-- Lady Deirdre Skye,
"The Collected Poems"
How could I have left them to them to die!?
I screamed at myself. I grabbed all the Manuals I had taken over the years, treasures I had once collected and put to memory. All of them useless. eighty years of searching, and even using genetic recombinant technology to keep myself alive, I couldn't even protect the people who most needed my help. All those manuals... "Psychic Powers: Shielding the Mind, Shielding the Body." The ability to make layered psychic shields. "Focusing the Mind of the Mindworm." Becoming one with a mindworm swarm, giving them tactical focus. "Tapping the Well." Summoning Planet as your ally. That happened to be my personal skill. "The Skills." General application training advice, for speeding up psi training. "Mind over Matter, Matter over Mind." Using physical strength to enhance psi skills. "Resonance: Detection." Using the newfound resonance to detect aliens and hear them speaking. 'Seeing' the resonance. "Resonance: Manipulation." Using the power of the resonance over electronics and magnetic fields for destruction. I knew them all! I knew how to do it all! I could destroy an entire militia with a single sweep, and it didn't do me anything! I huddled in the ruins of my old base with Taik, Vanessa, Paul, and Endin, the only surving elders, and 20 acolytes, happening survivors of the attack.
Hold it. I've gone too far. 50 years ago, I had gone on a search for the Psi Manuals. I had found 4 more than I had before, had learned them in-depth, and had been searching for the teleportation manual when I felt a ripple in the psychic fields so vast that I could barely stand it. I rushed home to base, feeling that something happened, and it had. After we'd run from Cha Dawn and Svensgard, I hadn't known it, but they had tracked us, and were waiting for me to leave. After I had gone away long enough that they knew I was gone for good, the combined forces of both armies attacked. We had recently armed our base with gatling lasers, and we had 'requisitioned' a large number of prototype photon-wave shields by studying Svensgard's datalinks, and had formed a suitable defense field, as well as shields for the guns themselves. However, it wasn't enough. Svensgard fired an sea-side bombardment, and Cha Dawn came in with all his units and Psi Talents, as well as with some of Svensgard's Elite Empaths. They fought one hell of a battle, but it wasn't enough. The enemy finally defeated them, after a two day battle in which half of the enemy's forces were decimated. However, almost our entire school was decimated. Our classes, once full of 250 plus students, a group that had almost been family, were now almost empty. There were just 19 warriors, 4 elders, a newborn, and me. If I had only been there, it would have all been different! However, it wasn't, and I knew it. I would never have a school like I'd once had. Never again.
I walked into the mess hall, a room I had repaired with the other elders with my psychic skills. In about a week, we'd have the place fixed up. In a rather morbid way, we'd be doing better. We had food stored for 250 for one month. With only twenty, it would last for a long time. Sitting there were the elders, waiting for me to arrive. Everyone else had gone to help repair their rooms with their psi skills that they were practicing with. Everyone sitting at the table looked haggard, worn, like people that had far outlived their prime. I quickly sat down, knowing that I probably looked the same way. Taik was the first to speak.
"This is our first meeting since the attack."
For some reason, we were silent. It was as if there was nothing to say. Maybe, though, it was the silence that comes after someone had said something taboo. It was another minute before anyone spoke.
"There's got to be something we can do."
Vanessa spoke up. I looked at the ceiling, newly repaired, and thought of the totaled guns outside, the hidden shields that weren't functioning with nothing to shield, the dead bodies hastily buried outside by the enemy forces.
"And what do you propose?"
Taik said, thinking along the same lines I was.
"Well... maybe we could. I mean, the first thing we have to do is rebuild."
"That's what we're doing,"
I said, not seeing where she was going.
"I didn't mean the buildings."
I frowned. What else was there to rebuild?
"What do you mean?"
Vanessa sat there, her head shaking slowly.
"I don't... know. I keep getting this idea as to what we need to do, but it keeps escaping me."
No one said anything. There was nothing to be said. A fellow member had gotten alzheimers. Well, not really, but it was a somber moment.
"I'm sure you'll think of it."
Taik nodded.
"Yeah. Well, since that is really the only piece of news we could ever think of, I guess we are adjourned."
I spent the entire night tossing in my bed, wondering what Vanessa had meant. What could she be thinking? Oh well. It probably didn't matter anyway. I couldn't think, though as I finally started drifting off, a single thought came to mind. There are others.
When I woke up, I was hit by a strange urge to get up and build, but I knew it wouldn't help. I was tired, so my psi skills wouldn't be so strong. In fact, I would probably need to take a shower before I could get anything done at all. I walked into the shower, a spray that seeped through my clothes onto my body, and then walked out after I was through. The clothes, being synthetic, did not take to water very well, and I was soon dry with a good towel down, but then, something caught my ear. Then again, it wasn't my ear that was caught. It was my mind. In the distance, I could sense 5 minds coming from a nearby hill. There was intent of doing something important, I could tell that easily, but I couldn't tell what it was. I wasn't drawing on Planet's power, and it seemed as though they were blocking me. Being dry, I went off to meet these beings.
I was quick to leave the building, though I had hoped that they were simply hikers, or one of Aki Zeta 5's people coming to inspect the damage. Unfortunately, I knew who they were the moment I walked outside. The plain, white, pleated dress, and that style of hair were so familiar to me. The only difference between these and the ones I had seen before were that there were males in black robes, and that was no difference at all. In fact, I had only seen them once. I walked up to them casually, though my face didn't match my feet.
"Svensgard's Elite Empaths. Considering your last defeat, I thought he would have
sent more."
The group looked at me as though I were an oddity.
"Are you Ro'lin?"
I frowned. If they were the Elite Empaths, they would have known that. My face was plastered on all of their news reports. Then, I noticed something. They weren't in a proper Empath reinforcement configuration, and they weren't preparing, or prepared, for a fight.
"Yes, I'm Ro'lin. Who are you?"
The group looked at him, skeptically.
"The real Ro'lin would be able to read our thoughts."
I sighed at their naivete. Of course I could read their thoughts! It's just that I didn't like it. Sometimes, it made me feel like I was poking into someone's diary. Behind me, I felt an acolyte, Richard, I believe, man one of the gatling guns. It was the only one we had working, so he, being one of the weakest, was probably selected for it. Even though I didn't want to, I drew on Planet's power, pulling on as much as I needed to pierce the veil behind their minds. As I peeled away the layers, I noticed that I needed to draw on massive amounts more power than I needed to. I was almost straining when the veil was finally pierced, and I was amazed at what I saw.
"You... You were Cha Dawn's firstsons!"
Instantly, I drew on all my power and got ready to battle. Cha Dawn, when he first grasped the massive power that he had, had created ten Psi Manuals, resource books that he gave to his 'firstsons,' his finest warriors. Over time, five of them had died. At least, that's what Svensgard's datalinks told me. The women smiled and gestured for me to let down my power.
"Read farther."
I was ready to blast them, but I followed their advice. Like all good psi talents, their minds were a jumbled mess, and difficult to read. I saw a training school, full of veterans, trainees, and little children. Then, I saw... no... I felt a flash of pain and a call from Planet to the woman.
"Go... leave Prophet... 'Destiny' himself needs you... Ro'lin... needs you."
Then, I jerked myself out of her mind.
"You... you are guided by the good Planet?"
The good Planet was the name of the side of Planet that was my ally. Planet was once fully entranced with Cha Dawn, but when I tapped into Planet, and it sensed Cha Dawn's original deception, a schism arose, and I gained half of Cha Dawn's power from Planet... and he lost half of his.
"You might say that. Here."
In her hand, she held five Psi Manuals. I reached to them with my mind, picking them up and putting them in my hand. "Psi Talents and Temporal Mechanics," "The Mental Fog," "The Veil of Secrecy," "The Depth of Planet," and "Planet: The Mythos, and the Reality." I couldn't believe it. These five warriors, the five second-strongest living psi talents, were simply giving me the world's greatest treasures.
"We understand that you have the other 7, including the two of the Resonance."
I launched them into Richard's hands, who's eyes grew wide before he ran back to the others.
"Yes. I do."
The women seemed to ponder for a second, though I could read from their presence that they already knew what they were going to ask.
"When Cha Dawn split us up, he gave us each one. However, you now have all twelve. We give you these manuals because you are far more powerful than any of us, and with the combined knowledge of the Manuals, you will be more powerful still. You have Planet on your side, and that I cannot ignore."
Suddenly, the women bowed down in a sign of respect, their faces to the floor. The men nodded their heads down.
"We have come to you to seek your guidance."
For a moment, I raised one eyebrow. Guidance. Interesting. I was about to probe their minds again when one of them spoke up.
"You have no need to show us again. We submit to you. All we ask, is that you train us, and train our children."
Train? Their children? Suddenly, it came together. With only one manual each, and without my connection with Planet, they weren't nearly as powerful as me, or as knowledgeable, so they were seeking my training. As for the children, a memory came to mind. One of their memories... of a training school.
"The children, they are your students."
I said it like a statement, rather than as a question, to mask my previous naivete. Then, the other Elders came out to meet me. Being the most powerful Elder, the leader of the group, and the only one to know the whole story about these newcomers, it was my choice to accept them or reject them. Then again, it really wasn't a choice. We needed students, they needed a teacher, and that was that. I turned around and smiled at my fellow Elders.
"My friends, meet our new occupants."
It took several hours to prepare them for the trip back to their academy to break the news, but after they left, I held an emergency meeting. When we got to the table, it was starting to look like we were schoolyard friends, rather than allies at war. Endin had his feet on the table, Paul was chewing some sort of synthetic chewing gum, Taik was playing around with his hat, and Vanessa was practicing her psychic powers, forming weak psychic shields, then letting them go. I adressed them with a cough.
"Well, guys, we're at a crossroads in the life of this academy, and I'm consulting you as to where we should go."
Taik was the first to answer, looking jubilant for the first time since the attack.
"I say we let them come. Think of what 250 students could do to repair this place, and make this school great! We could gain enough power to kill Cha Dawn, finally."
Vanessa approached the problem with more perspective, trying to analyze it from all sides.
"Look, Taik. There are several things we need to work out. For one, can we trust these people?"
Paul opened his mouth and used his psychic powers to fling it into a nearby trash can.
"I say we can. After all, Ro'lin said they were clean. Wait... what else is there?"
Vanessa nodded at the first comment, but continued.
"As I was going to say, there is no way that Ro'lin is going to be able to do this alone. Not a chance. I say we divide the teachings between us to memorize, to cycle the students through. Ro'lin, being the only one that would know them all, would teach the firstsons."
This seemed to make sense, and we divided the teachings between them four. Vanessa would get "The Skills," "Focusing the Mindworm," and "Resonance, Detection." Taik would be given "The Mental Fog," "The Veil of Secrecy," and "Psi Talents and Temporal Mechanics," once I had learned them, which wouldn't be very hard. Paul would get "The Depth of Planet," "Planet: The Mythos and the Reality," and "Mind over Matter: Matter over Mind," After I had sufficiently mastered the first two. Again, that wouldn't be hard, if I was immersed in Planet as I learned it. I learned rather quickly that the Planetary consciousness stores information like a computer. Since it occupied a portion of my mind, anything I learned would be stored there permanently. Endin would get the other 3 Psi Manuals. It was decided, then. The fate of our world rested on the shoulders of our decision, and a serious decision it was.
Chapter 2: The Dead Revive
I plan to live forever, of course. But barring that, I'd settled
for a couple thousand years. Even five hundred would be pretty nice.
CEO Nwabudike Morgan,
Morganlink 3D Interview
I loved my chosen. How then to face the day when she left me? So I took from
her body a single cell, perhaps to love her again.
Commisioner Pravin Lal,
Time of Bereavement
It was three days later before the firstsons came back from their training academy. How they got back so fast was truly beyond me, and I didn't feel like probing their minds for the information. They came in a procession of 25 trucks spread out over just as many hours. Apparently, they didn't want to be found, and I could understand that. After all, when Cha Dawn received the news that some of his greatest warriors had ran away from him, he'd be angry. Very angry.
The first task they started to get at, even before we had asked them a single question, was go to a room, set up their momentos, and then start repairing the place. With the trucks came massive quantities of supplies. Laser welders, food, water filter, xeno-energy extractors, everything you could think of. How they had lifted all this equipment from underneath the nose of one of Cha Dawn's border guards would have been impossible without psychis powers. With it, though, they could have easily blanked the minds of the guards, and then move on. In fact, it would have been impossible for them to have done anything different. Like maggots swarming over a carcass, these students and full psi Talents swarmed over the based, some of them flying with their psi skills to get them to the place they needed to be. It was fascinating, watching them, but I didn't stay fascinated for long. Diving into the work, I summoned a large number of laser welders from one of the nearby containers and had them circle around a gun emplacement. Bringing the emplacement right-side up wasn't all that difficult, and I had the welders instantly tap the base, start welding, and move in circles. After one of the techie psi Talents got under the turret to feed the base's main power line into it, we had another gatling emplacement back online. Still, though, there was a lot of work to do. It was going to be a long day.
After the day's work, even I was tired. Everyone around me was about to collapse. However, we did accomplish a lot of work on the new facility. Specifically, we got all the gatling turrets that could possibly have been repaired back on-line. The photon walls, although many of them were melded together, weren't too difficult to repair. In fact, the entire base was almost repaired, except for the new additions we were planning, to get online. We already had these, but we had yet to set them up, things like an arborium to get our own food, a robotic factory to produce our own weapons and equipment replacements, and a solar panel to generate more energy than the xenofungus extractors could give us. Although the production would come slowly, considering we had such a small base of operations, it didn't matter. What we needed was to be self sustaining. Although none of them voiced their opinions, I knew what they were thinking. The requirements for a single base to be considered part of a faction, principally, was a headquarters command room, some form of defense, at least thousand citizens, and a self reliant infrastructure. We had already met the first two, and all we needed to be represented in the Planetary council was the three additions, and one thousand people. That was all we needed.
I knew it wasn't intelligent to waste my energy. Not at this point. But, somewhere, I knew I had to. As weary as I was, I still closed his eyes and delved into Planet. It seemed to not notice my presence, so I smiled. It would in a moment. In a single, massive blast of psychic energy and physical sound, I sent a wave of summons throughout Planet to any other psi Talents. Planet, though it was not damaged, didn't seem to appreciate being used as a microphone, and it thrust me out violently, taking all the vestiges of my strength. However, it didn't matter. The best was yet to come.
New World, New Land, Same Power
Go through, my children! The time of miracles is upon us. Let us cast off
sin and walk together to the Garden of the Lord. With God's mercy, we shall
meet again on the other side
Sister Miriam Godwinson,
"Last Testament"
I didn't know exactly how much power it had cost me to do that until six days later, when I finally woke up out of my coma. When I finally opened my eyes, the lights were bright, and I couldn't recognize any faces, but I could hear a dull cheering coming through the murky depths that characterized my mind. In a couple of seconds, it all started to come into focus. I saw a couple of the new acolytes, as well as the Elders, bending over me, champagne in their hands. It must have been a really special occasion, because champagne was very hard to get on Planet. Then, a thought struck me. Was this for me? My vision became clearer, and I saw Gabriel, one of the male firstons, standing over me.
"You did it, you mangy mutt! You did it!"
I got up slowly, in pain, only to hear a sudden roar of happiness at my coming back into consciousness. Why they cared was beyond me, of course. Then, suddenly, I remembered. When I was awake... I had made my summon to the other Talents... in a rush, I jumped up from my bed, instantly regretting it as I became light-headed. Through the fog, I put my hands on Gabriel's shoulders.
"What is it?"
I could barely hear him, but I understood what he said.
"Look around."
I hazarded a guess and looked at the room. It was the normal medical chamber, overflowing to capacity with people, of course. Then, it hit me. There were people that were not only inside the room, but there was a flood outside, as well. I walked out, and received a wave of cheers. Taik walked up to me, smiling. The fog over my mind had vanished.
"One thousand four hundred and twenty three."
"And what about the arborium?"
"Done."
"The factory?"
"Finished."
"The solar panels?"
"Ditto."
I looked at him, let the words sink in, and then launched up into the air with joy.
"One thousand!"
I screamed. There was only one thing left. The council.
Through Svensgard's datalink, I learned the comm frequencies of all the other factions. With the link, it was easy to send out a summons for a council meeting to all the other council members. I was waiting in the dark meeting room when the others came in all at once. The shock on some of their faces was enough to make me laugh until the room echoed with the boom. Only Aki Zeta 5 remained unaffected, as though she had anticipated my manuever.
"What treachery is this, Svensgard?"
Domai yelled. I reached over with my mind and plucked them into the air, except for Cha Dawn who preferred to lift himself. I laughed some more at Svensgard's ignorance. Before Foreman Domai could say any more, though, I spoke.
"I pardon the dramatic flare, but I knew of no other way to contact you all. Svensgard has no knowledge of the summons I sent."
I placed them on their chosen chairs, allowing them to place their hands on a touchpad to analyse for their fingerprints. I stood up to allow Svensgard, the Planetary Governor, to sit down.
"I know this is unorthodox, but I have a proposal before the council."
All of them gave me open glares, except Zeta 5, who simply seemed inquisitive, if even that emotion were possible with the drones.
"If you didn't already know, the city that I head, now dubbed 'Psi Rising,' has met the requirements for a faction state."
I heard a hiss from Cha Dawn, and a subconscious hatred from Svensgard. I promised not to use my psi powers to manipulate their thoughts, and there were psi sensors that could detect what type of action I was engaging in, anyway.
"If you wouldn't mind, I'd prefer to speak telepathically."
The intercom, the one that detected the psychic transmission, boomed with my voice.
"Anyway, I have come before the council for permission to enter into this esteemed group."
There was another hiss from Cha Dawn, but he couldn't do anything. No violence was allowed inside the facility. Then, I switched to formal mode, a tactic which threw some of them off guard.
"Svensgard, please press the symbol on your touchpad to initiate the vote."
He did so, tentatively. If I were accepted, all the alliances in the council, especially his, would be made useless, with another council vote there to annul his.
"Will anyone second that motion?"
From across the desk, Aki Zeta 5 pressed the symbol. I could almost hear the curse from Svensgard's mind. Apparently, he was hoping that no one would second the motion, and it would be dropped, to be replaced with his new idea for the global warming project that he'd almost begged for for a long time. Now that I had my proposal counted, it wouldn't be possible to bring it up for another 20 years. On the touchpad's appeared the faces of the different council members. The intercom, now off of my voice, said the results out loud, though the council themselves could read it on their screens.
Svensgard....... Reject.
Cha Dawn...... Reject
Aki Zeta 5....... Accept
Foreman Domai...... Accept
Datajack Roze...... Accept
I was genuinly surprised that I had won, but I had done it! In fact, there were probably secret reasons behind Domai's and the Datajack's choice, but it didn't matter. We were in the council, and the balance of power was about to change drastically.
Eternity lies ahead of us, and behind.
Have you drunk your fill?
-Lady Deirdre Skye,
Conversations with Planet
Chapter 1: The Dead Return
Information, the first principle of warfare, must form the
foundation of all your efforts. Know, of course, thine enemy.
But in knowing him do not forget above all to know thyself.
The commander who embraces this totality of battle shall win
even with the inferior force.
-Spartan Battle Manual
From the delicate strands,
between minds we weave our mesh:
a blanket to warm the soul.
-- Lady Deirdre Skye,
"The Collected Poems"
How could I have left them to them to die!?
I screamed at myself. I grabbed all the Manuals I had taken over the years, treasures I had once collected and put to memory. All of them useless. eighty years of searching, and even using genetic recombinant technology to keep myself alive, I couldn't even protect the people who most needed my help. All those manuals... "Psychic Powers: Shielding the Mind, Shielding the Body." The ability to make layered psychic shields. "Focusing the Mind of the Mindworm." Becoming one with a mindworm swarm, giving them tactical focus. "Tapping the Well." Summoning Planet as your ally. That happened to be my personal skill. "The Skills." General application training advice, for speeding up psi training. "Mind over Matter, Matter over Mind." Using physical strength to enhance psi skills. "Resonance: Detection." Using the newfound resonance to detect aliens and hear them speaking. 'Seeing' the resonance. "Resonance: Manipulation." Using the power of the resonance over electronics and magnetic fields for destruction. I knew them all! I knew how to do it all! I could destroy an entire militia with a single sweep, and it didn't do me anything! I huddled in the ruins of my old base with Taik, Vanessa, Paul, and Endin, the only surving elders, and 20 acolytes, happening survivors of the attack.
Hold it. I've gone too far. 50 years ago, I had gone on a search for the Psi Manuals. I had found 4 more than I had before, had learned them in-depth, and had been searching for the teleportation manual when I felt a ripple in the psychic fields so vast that I could barely stand it. I rushed home to base, feeling that something happened, and it had. After we'd run from Cha Dawn and Svensgard, I hadn't known it, but they had tracked us, and were waiting for me to leave. After I had gone away long enough that they knew I was gone for good, the combined forces of both armies attacked. We had recently armed our base with gatling lasers, and we had 'requisitioned' a large number of prototype photon-wave shields by studying Svensgard's datalinks, and had formed a suitable defense field, as well as shields for the guns themselves. However, it wasn't enough. Svensgard fired an sea-side bombardment, and Cha Dawn came in with all his units and Psi Talents, as well as with some of Svensgard's Elite Empaths. They fought one hell of a battle, but it wasn't enough. The enemy finally defeated them, after a two day battle in which half of the enemy's forces were decimated. However, almost our entire school was decimated. Our classes, once full of 250 plus students, a group that had almost been family, were now almost empty. There were just 19 warriors, 4 elders, a newborn, and me. If I had only been there, it would have all been different! However, it wasn't, and I knew it. I would never have a school like I'd once had. Never again.
I walked into the mess hall, a room I had repaired with the other elders with my psychic skills. In about a week, we'd have the place fixed up. In a rather morbid way, we'd be doing better. We had food stored for 250 for one month. With only twenty, it would last for a long time. Sitting there were the elders, waiting for me to arrive. Everyone else had gone to help repair their rooms with their psi skills that they were practicing with. Everyone sitting at the table looked haggard, worn, like people that had far outlived their prime. I quickly sat down, knowing that I probably looked the same way. Taik was the first to speak.
"This is our first meeting since the attack."
For some reason, we were silent. It was as if there was nothing to say. Maybe, though, it was the silence that comes after someone had said something taboo. It was another minute before anyone spoke.
"There's got to be something we can do."
Vanessa spoke up. I looked at the ceiling, newly repaired, and thought of the totaled guns outside, the hidden shields that weren't functioning with nothing to shield, the dead bodies hastily buried outside by the enemy forces.
"And what do you propose?"
Taik said, thinking along the same lines I was.
"Well... maybe we could. I mean, the first thing we have to do is rebuild."
"That's what we're doing,"
I said, not seeing where she was going.
"I didn't mean the buildings."
I frowned. What else was there to rebuild?
"What do you mean?"
Vanessa sat there, her head shaking slowly.
"I don't... know. I keep getting this idea as to what we need to do, but it keeps escaping me."
No one said anything. There was nothing to be said. A fellow member had gotten alzheimers. Well, not really, but it was a somber moment.
"I'm sure you'll think of it."
Taik nodded.
"Yeah. Well, since that is really the only piece of news we could ever think of, I guess we are adjourned."
I spent the entire night tossing in my bed, wondering what Vanessa had meant. What could she be thinking? Oh well. It probably didn't matter anyway. I couldn't think, though as I finally started drifting off, a single thought came to mind. There are others.
When I woke up, I was hit by a strange urge to get up and build, but I knew it wouldn't help. I was tired, so my psi skills wouldn't be so strong. In fact, I would probably need to take a shower before I could get anything done at all. I walked into the shower, a spray that seeped through my clothes onto my body, and then walked out after I was through. The clothes, being synthetic, did not take to water very well, and I was soon dry with a good towel down, but then, something caught my ear. Then again, it wasn't my ear that was caught. It was my mind. In the distance, I could sense 5 minds coming from a nearby hill. There was intent of doing something important, I could tell that easily, but I couldn't tell what it was. I wasn't drawing on Planet's power, and it seemed as though they were blocking me. Being dry, I went off to meet these beings.
I was quick to leave the building, though I had hoped that they were simply hikers, or one of Aki Zeta 5's people coming to inspect the damage. Unfortunately, I knew who they were the moment I walked outside. The plain, white, pleated dress, and that style of hair were so familiar to me. The only difference between these and the ones I had seen before were that there were males in black robes, and that was no difference at all. In fact, I had only seen them once. I walked up to them casually, though my face didn't match my feet.
"Svensgard's Elite Empaths. Considering your last defeat, I thought he would have
sent more."
The group looked at me as though I were an oddity.
"Are you Ro'lin?"
I frowned. If they were the Elite Empaths, they would have known that. My face was plastered on all of their news reports. Then, I noticed something. They weren't in a proper Empath reinforcement configuration, and they weren't preparing, or prepared, for a fight.
"Yes, I'm Ro'lin. Who are you?"
The group looked at him, skeptically.
"The real Ro'lin would be able to read our thoughts."
I sighed at their naivete. Of course I could read their thoughts! It's just that I didn't like it. Sometimes, it made me feel like I was poking into someone's diary. Behind me, I felt an acolyte, Richard, I believe, man one of the gatling guns. It was the only one we had working, so he, being one of the weakest, was probably selected for it. Even though I didn't want to, I drew on Planet's power, pulling on as much as I needed to pierce the veil behind their minds. As I peeled away the layers, I noticed that I needed to draw on massive amounts more power than I needed to. I was almost straining when the veil was finally pierced, and I was amazed at what I saw.
"You... You were Cha Dawn's firstsons!"
Instantly, I drew on all my power and got ready to battle. Cha Dawn, when he first grasped the massive power that he had, had created ten Psi Manuals, resource books that he gave to his 'firstsons,' his finest warriors. Over time, five of them had died. At least, that's what Svensgard's datalinks told me. The women smiled and gestured for me to let down my power.
"Read farther."
I was ready to blast them, but I followed their advice. Like all good psi talents, their minds were a jumbled mess, and difficult to read. I saw a training school, full of veterans, trainees, and little children. Then, I saw... no... I felt a flash of pain and a call from Planet to the woman.
"Go... leave Prophet... 'Destiny' himself needs you... Ro'lin... needs you."
Then, I jerked myself out of her mind.
"You... you are guided by the good Planet?"
The good Planet was the name of the side of Planet that was my ally. Planet was once fully entranced with Cha Dawn, but when I tapped into Planet, and it sensed Cha Dawn's original deception, a schism arose, and I gained half of Cha Dawn's power from Planet... and he lost half of his.
"You might say that. Here."
In her hand, she held five Psi Manuals. I reached to them with my mind, picking them up and putting them in my hand. "Psi Talents and Temporal Mechanics," "The Mental Fog," "The Veil of Secrecy," "The Depth of Planet," and "Planet: The Mythos, and the Reality." I couldn't believe it. These five warriors, the five second-strongest living psi talents, were simply giving me the world's greatest treasures.
"We understand that you have the other 7, including the two of the Resonance."
I launched them into Richard's hands, who's eyes grew wide before he ran back to the others.
"Yes. I do."
The women seemed to ponder for a second, though I could read from their presence that they already knew what they were going to ask.
"When Cha Dawn split us up, he gave us each one. However, you now have all twelve. We give you these manuals because you are far more powerful than any of us, and with the combined knowledge of the Manuals, you will be more powerful still. You have Planet on your side, and that I cannot ignore."
Suddenly, the women bowed down in a sign of respect, their faces to the floor. The men nodded their heads down.
"We have come to you to seek your guidance."
For a moment, I raised one eyebrow. Guidance. Interesting. I was about to probe their minds again when one of them spoke up.
"You have no need to show us again. We submit to you. All we ask, is that you train us, and train our children."
Train? Their children? Suddenly, it came together. With only one manual each, and without my connection with Planet, they weren't nearly as powerful as me, or as knowledgeable, so they were seeking my training. As for the children, a memory came to mind. One of their memories... of a training school.
"The children, they are your students."
I said it like a statement, rather than as a question, to mask my previous naivete. Then, the other Elders came out to meet me. Being the most powerful Elder, the leader of the group, and the only one to know the whole story about these newcomers, it was my choice to accept them or reject them. Then again, it really wasn't a choice. We needed students, they needed a teacher, and that was that. I turned around and smiled at my fellow Elders.
"My friends, meet our new occupants."
It took several hours to prepare them for the trip back to their academy to break the news, but after they left, I held an emergency meeting. When we got to the table, it was starting to look like we were schoolyard friends, rather than allies at war. Endin had his feet on the table, Paul was chewing some sort of synthetic chewing gum, Taik was playing around with his hat, and Vanessa was practicing her psychic powers, forming weak psychic shields, then letting them go. I adressed them with a cough.
"Well, guys, we're at a crossroads in the life of this academy, and I'm consulting you as to where we should go."
Taik was the first to answer, looking jubilant for the first time since the attack.
"I say we let them come. Think of what 250 students could do to repair this place, and make this school great! We could gain enough power to kill Cha Dawn, finally."
Vanessa approached the problem with more perspective, trying to analyze it from all sides.
"Look, Taik. There are several things we need to work out. For one, can we trust these people?"
Paul opened his mouth and used his psychic powers to fling it into a nearby trash can.
"I say we can. After all, Ro'lin said they were clean. Wait... what else is there?"
Vanessa nodded at the first comment, but continued.
"As I was going to say, there is no way that Ro'lin is going to be able to do this alone. Not a chance. I say we divide the teachings between us to memorize, to cycle the students through. Ro'lin, being the only one that would know them all, would teach the firstsons."
This seemed to make sense, and we divided the teachings between them four. Vanessa would get "The Skills," "Focusing the Mindworm," and "Resonance, Detection." Taik would be given "The Mental Fog," "The Veil of Secrecy," and "Psi Talents and Temporal Mechanics," once I had learned them, which wouldn't be very hard. Paul would get "The Depth of Planet," "Planet: The Mythos and the Reality," and "Mind over Matter: Matter over Mind," After I had sufficiently mastered the first two. Again, that wouldn't be hard, if I was immersed in Planet as I learned it. I learned rather quickly that the Planetary consciousness stores information like a computer. Since it occupied a portion of my mind, anything I learned would be stored there permanently. Endin would get the other 3 Psi Manuals. It was decided, then. The fate of our world rested on the shoulders of our decision, and a serious decision it was.
Chapter 2: The Dead Revive
I plan to live forever, of course. But barring that, I'd settled
for a couple thousand years. Even five hundred would be pretty nice.
CEO Nwabudike Morgan,
Morganlink 3D Interview
I loved my chosen. How then to face the day when she left me? So I took from
her body a single cell, perhaps to love her again.
Commisioner Pravin Lal,
Time of Bereavement
It was three days later before the firstsons came back from their training academy. How they got back so fast was truly beyond me, and I didn't feel like probing their minds for the information. They came in a procession of 25 trucks spread out over just as many hours. Apparently, they didn't want to be found, and I could understand that. After all, when Cha Dawn received the news that some of his greatest warriors had ran away from him, he'd be angry. Very angry.
The first task they started to get at, even before we had asked them a single question, was go to a room, set up their momentos, and then start repairing the place. With the trucks came massive quantities of supplies. Laser welders, food, water filter, xeno-energy extractors, everything you could think of. How they had lifted all this equipment from underneath the nose of one of Cha Dawn's border guards would have been impossible without psychis powers. With it, though, they could have easily blanked the minds of the guards, and then move on. In fact, it would have been impossible for them to have done anything different. Like maggots swarming over a carcass, these students and full psi Talents swarmed over the based, some of them flying with their psi skills to get them to the place they needed to be. It was fascinating, watching them, but I didn't stay fascinated for long. Diving into the work, I summoned a large number of laser welders from one of the nearby containers and had them circle around a gun emplacement. Bringing the emplacement right-side up wasn't all that difficult, and I had the welders instantly tap the base, start welding, and move in circles. After one of the techie psi Talents got under the turret to feed the base's main power line into it, we had another gatling emplacement back online. Still, though, there was a lot of work to do. It was going to be a long day.
After the day's work, even I was tired. Everyone around me was about to collapse. However, we did accomplish a lot of work on the new facility. Specifically, we got all the gatling turrets that could possibly have been repaired back on-line. The photon walls, although many of them were melded together, weren't too difficult to repair. In fact, the entire base was almost repaired, except for the new additions we were planning, to get online. We already had these, but we had yet to set them up, things like an arborium to get our own food, a robotic factory to produce our own weapons and equipment replacements, and a solar panel to generate more energy than the xenofungus extractors could give us. Although the production would come slowly, considering we had such a small base of operations, it didn't matter. What we needed was to be self sustaining. Although none of them voiced their opinions, I knew what they were thinking. The requirements for a single base to be considered part of a faction, principally, was a headquarters command room, some form of defense, at least thousand citizens, and a self reliant infrastructure. We had already met the first two, and all we needed to be represented in the Planetary council was the three additions, and one thousand people. That was all we needed.
I knew it wasn't intelligent to waste my energy. Not at this point. But, somewhere, I knew I had to. As weary as I was, I still closed his eyes and delved into Planet. It seemed to not notice my presence, so I smiled. It would in a moment. In a single, massive blast of psychic energy and physical sound, I sent a wave of summons throughout Planet to any other psi Talents. Planet, though it was not damaged, didn't seem to appreciate being used as a microphone, and it thrust me out violently, taking all the vestiges of my strength. However, it didn't matter. The best was yet to come.
New World, New Land, Same Power
Go through, my children! The time of miracles is upon us. Let us cast off
sin and walk together to the Garden of the Lord. With God's mercy, we shall
meet again on the other side
Sister Miriam Godwinson,
"Last Testament"
I didn't know exactly how much power it had cost me to do that until six days later, when I finally woke up out of my coma. When I finally opened my eyes, the lights were bright, and I couldn't recognize any faces, but I could hear a dull cheering coming through the murky depths that characterized my mind. In a couple of seconds, it all started to come into focus. I saw a couple of the new acolytes, as well as the Elders, bending over me, champagne in their hands. It must have been a really special occasion, because champagne was very hard to get on Planet. Then, a thought struck me. Was this for me? My vision became clearer, and I saw Gabriel, one of the male firstons, standing over me.
"You did it, you mangy mutt! You did it!"
I got up slowly, in pain, only to hear a sudden roar of happiness at my coming back into consciousness. Why they cared was beyond me, of course. Then, suddenly, I remembered. When I was awake... I had made my summon to the other Talents... in a rush, I jumped up from my bed, instantly regretting it as I became light-headed. Through the fog, I put my hands on Gabriel's shoulders.
"What is it?"
I could barely hear him, but I understood what he said.
"Look around."
I hazarded a guess and looked at the room. It was the normal medical chamber, overflowing to capacity with people, of course. Then, it hit me. There were people that were not only inside the room, but there was a flood outside, as well. I walked out, and received a wave of cheers. Taik walked up to me, smiling. The fog over my mind had vanished.
"One thousand four hundred and twenty three."
"And what about the arborium?"
"Done."
"The factory?"
"Finished."
"The solar panels?"
"Ditto."
I looked at him, let the words sink in, and then launched up into the air with joy.
"One thousand!"
I screamed. There was only one thing left. The council.
Through Svensgard's datalink, I learned the comm frequencies of all the other factions. With the link, it was easy to send out a summons for a council meeting to all the other council members. I was waiting in the dark meeting room when the others came in all at once. The shock on some of their faces was enough to make me laugh until the room echoed with the boom. Only Aki Zeta 5 remained unaffected, as though she had anticipated my manuever.
"What treachery is this, Svensgard?"
Domai yelled. I reached over with my mind and plucked them into the air, except for Cha Dawn who preferred to lift himself. I laughed some more at Svensgard's ignorance. Before Foreman Domai could say any more, though, I spoke.
"I pardon the dramatic flare, but I knew of no other way to contact you all. Svensgard has no knowledge of the summons I sent."
I placed them on their chosen chairs, allowing them to place their hands on a touchpad to analyse for their fingerprints. I stood up to allow Svensgard, the Planetary Governor, to sit down.
"I know this is unorthodox, but I have a proposal before the council."
All of them gave me open glares, except Zeta 5, who simply seemed inquisitive, if even that emotion were possible with the drones.
"If you didn't already know, the city that I head, now dubbed 'Psi Rising,' has met the requirements for a faction state."
I heard a hiss from Cha Dawn, and a subconscious hatred from Svensgard. I promised not to use my psi powers to manipulate their thoughts, and there were psi sensors that could detect what type of action I was engaging in, anyway.
"If you wouldn't mind, I'd prefer to speak telepathically."
The intercom, the one that detected the psychic transmission, boomed with my voice.
"Anyway, I have come before the council for permission to enter into this esteemed group."
There was another hiss from Cha Dawn, but he couldn't do anything. No violence was allowed inside the facility. Then, I switched to formal mode, a tactic which threw some of them off guard.
"Svensgard, please press the symbol on your touchpad to initiate the vote."
He did so, tentatively. If I were accepted, all the alliances in the council, especially his, would be made useless, with another council vote there to annul his.
"Will anyone second that motion?"
From across the desk, Aki Zeta 5 pressed the symbol. I could almost hear the curse from Svensgard's mind. Apparently, he was hoping that no one would second the motion, and it would be dropped, to be replaced with his new idea for the global warming project that he'd almost begged for for a long time. Now that I had my proposal counted, it wouldn't be possible to bring it up for another 20 years. On the touchpad's appeared the faces of the different council members. The intercom, now off of my voice, said the results out loud, though the council themselves could read it on their screens.
Svensgard....... Reject.
Cha Dawn...... Reject
Aki Zeta 5....... Accept
Foreman Domai...... Accept
Datajack Roze...... Accept
I was genuinly surprised that I had won, but I had done it! In fact, there were probably secret reasons behind Domai's and the Datajack's choice, but it didn't matter. We were in the council, and the balance of power was about to change drastically.
Eternity lies ahead of us, and behind.
Have you drunk your fill?
-Lady Deirdre Skye,
Conversations with Planet