by Layla Stone
When she gasped, the sides of his lips curled.
She liked it.
Chapter Eighteen
Training
Sci followed Rannn to a room with lots of padding on the ground, and metal equipment lined up on the walls. There was a platform with three levels of elastic rope around it. “This is a training room,” the captain said. There were six males in blue Federations suits inside. One was Pax, the other Ansel, but the last four were strangers to Sci.
“You said you can’t attack more than two minds. But I want to know if that’s because your mind is not trained, or if it’s because your mind physically can’t.”
Sci nodded at Rannn, realizing what he wanted him to do.
Ansel walked up to the four males Sci didn’t recognize and turned off their blockers. Their minds were terrified at first, but after time, they realized that nothing was happening to their consciousness and looked at Rannn for further instruction.
Rannn handed each of them hand stunners. “The four of you will be on opposite sides of the room. When I call it, all four of you will race toward Sci. He will have to find a way to stop you, using whatever methods he is capable of, or he will get a slight jolt.”
The males grinned when he said slight jolt.
Rannn moved to the wall closest to Pax and Ansel. The other four found their way to the corners of the room and waited for the captain’s command.
“Three…two…one. Go.”
The males ran full-speed at Sci. He was able to stop two and almost a third, but he couldn’t push the images quickly enough to stop the male before he reached Sci and tapped him with his hand stunner. He took the hit but didn’t let go of the other two minds, even when he kept getting stunned.
“Fight them off. Or are you unable to physically fight?”
He had no idea how to, and it showed when he tried to grab one male’s ankle. He didn’t pull hard enough and was shocked again.
Sci was on the floor being jolted over and over by all four males before Rannn called it quits. The Federation members backed up immediately, and Sci could hear and see the smugness in their minds. He didn’t like that.
Ansel moved to Sci, moved a medscope over his chest and whispered, “Your training is being recorded for the Federation council.” What Ansel didn’t say but thought was, you might want to downplay your abilities. They will see you as less of a threat. The medscope beeped. “He’s good,” Ansel called out to Rannn and then backed up all the way to the wall again.
Sci hated how the thought of playing down his abilities both disgusted and appealed to him. A high-functioning Cerebral was not thought of highly. He knew that. He was one step above functional, and those Cerebrals were shunned. Taken for granted, and used to do the mundane tasks on his planet. Sci did want to know if he could get better. His telekinesis was slowly coming back slowly, and that in itself was remarkable.
“Are you ready to go again, Cerebral?”
The four looked hopeful. Assuming Sci would do even worse.
“Yes,” Sci said. And he did, in fact, do worse.
***
Sci woke with Sasha sitting next to him on his cot. He didn’t understand why she appeared so distraught. “What are you upset over now?” He groaned as he rolled onto his back, feeling a massive headache. He asked the question before he had time to sort through her conscious thoughts. It was just easier to ask at this point.
Her eyes cut to him. “You came in with blood coming out of your nose and ears! That is torture, and the captain can’t do that to prisoners. I am pissed.”
So, her anger wasn’t directed at him. She was outraged for him. Sci rolled to his side and paused as he saw inside Sasha’s mind. She imagined rubbing his back, but his back was not hurting so he dismissed her mental musings.
“What did he do to you?” She grabbed a cup off the storage shelf and handed it to him.
Taking the container but not to drink he said, “He had four males come at me to see if I could take down more than two. My telepathic bandwidth can’t seem to focus on more than two minds at a time with enough force to disorient them.”
“Why does Rannn want to know?”
“To test my abilities and report it to the Federation.”
She was silent. “To help your side, or to make you their next experiment? You do know that Numans work for the Federation, right? And we have one in-house. So, offering up something like that could mean the rest of your life in a cell.”
“Ansel is not interested in experimenting on me. I can’t say the same for Rannn. But it doesn’t matter. I didn’t get any better.” Which bothered Sci.
“No one gets better right away. It’s not until they have been tried over and over again before a tester can say for sure that the experiment is a success or a failure.”
Sci slowly sat up and then made his way to the cleaner to wash up and change out of his bloody clothing.
He zeroed in on Ansel’s mind. The medical officer’s brain had begun to theorize about Sasha’s pilot test results. Ansel had to wait until he was back in his room to pull them up on his Minky pad. Sci was just as interested in Sasha and watched as Ansel’s thoughts with multi-colored lines swirled and weaved into each other. As a Cerebral, Sci was in awe of the way the Numan’s mind worked.
The lines slowed down once Ansel’s theory solidified to the only reasonable explanation: Sasha couldn’t be full Terran. Ansel explained to Sci telepathically that Terran’s didn’t react to physical, audio, or visual stimuli as fast as Yunkins did, which was why they were not qualified to be pilots. Their dexterity was subpar. Sasha was exhibiting reaction times better than a Yunkin, which was impossible. Humans had a .25-second reaction time, Yunkins had .10-second reaction time. According to her scores, Sasha was at .08.
The Numan asked “can you save a cup she drank from? I can use it to run a DNA test.”
Sci looked around the room and saw the cup on the counter he sent the image to Ansel.
Ansel was pleased when he responded, “Excellent, I’ll be in a minute to pick it up.” It was five minutes later when he finally walked in, said a quick hello, grabbed both drink and walked out.
Sasha’s eyebrows furrowed. “What was that all about?”
Sci shrugged not wanting to bring back up the topic of her test scores. Moving back beside her on the small cot he pulled her close, to feel her warm skin against his and inhale her familiar scent.
***
“What’s a normal day like on your planet?” Sasha asked. Sci knew this was a cover question. She really wanted to ask if he missed his brother because, for the past few hours, she had been inundated with guilt about leaving her mother. Sci did miss Chollar, and he was concerned about him, but Sci wasn’t overwrought with guilt for not being able to help his brother.
Maybe Sci should have broken out of the station and escaped Pegna when he realized that Sasha was not going to return with him because she wanted to live out her dream as a pilot. But he was unable to leave yet. He wanted as much time with her as possible, so Sci had decided to wait until the Federation council listened to his situation.
Logically, they would send him back. If not, he would break out. Either way, he had limited time with Sasha, and he wanted it to be special. He wanted to give her all the information she wanted about him so that she never forgot him.
Sci hoped that he would be seared into her memories as she was in his already.
“Or do you not have normal days?” she asked as she moved toward the area where she kept lots of extra snack bars.
“Cerebral routines are organized. In primary training, I knew everything that was going to happen each day until the day I met my brother. I was eight. He approached me while I was still in youth training. I’d had my final exit exam that afternoon. Exit exams determine what job a Cerebral will have for the remainder of our lives. I was worried I would be classified as a functional Cerebral and given an undesirable job.” In his periphery,
Sci could see Sasha picking the crumbs from the table and shaking them into the trash bin.
“I was not remarkable and had been getting low scores on my tests for the past eight years. My brother handed me an old textbook and told me to read as much as I could before the test. Being told to do something by a Master Elder, no matter how ridiculous it sounded or how young they are, had to be obeyed by a trainee.”
“Everyone obeys the Master Elders?”
Sci thought about it before answering, “Master Elders don’t usually give orders. They formulate answers.” He continued. “I was almost late to the test because the book was so interesting. When I began the exam, one of the Elders noticed how my mind recounted the words I had read verbatim.”
Sasha poured herself a cup of water, drank the contents, and asked, “Did they get mad that you weren’t paying attention?”
“No, just the opposite. They were impressed by how quickly I had read the book, and how much of the book I retained. I have what Cerebrals call perfect textual recollection.”
Sasha nodded, left the cup on the counter, and crawled into her bed, facing him. “Terrans call it a photographic memory.”
“I was assigned responsibility as an archiver with the classification of high-functioning.”
“Was that a good thing?” Sasha asked, seemingly uncertain.
“It was. I left the test area pleased with myself and wanted to thank the Master Elder. It took me a while to find him since his mind was closed-off to me. When I did find him, he stopped me from expressing my gratitude and took me to the outskirts of the city—to his home.”
“Wait, how old is your brother?” Sasha was mentally trying to figure out how old Sci was if his brother had found him when he was eight and he had said before that Master Elders didn’t live much past their teens.
“My brother will be thirty this year.” Before she asked the question in her mind, Sci answered it. “My brother is the oldest living Master Elder on record. He is four years older than I am.”
Speechless, Sasha pulled her blanket over her legs and waited for Sci to continue. Her eyes gleamed with anticipation. A look he had seen before, mostly while they had been roommates in the transporter. He missed it. It was exhilarating for someone to give you their full attention.
“Chollar opened up a portion of his mind to me, letting me know that he was my biological brother, that we shared the same parental DNA. He also wanted to meet me before he died.” Sasha gasped. “He had been showing signs of mental failure. Bloody noses, blurred vision, headaches, and other things that I won’t go into.”
Sasha stiffened. “No, you should really go into it. Don’t drip feed me, Sci.”
Sci hunched over, reliving the time when his brother had blacked out right before his eyes. At Sci’s young age, he’d had a difficult time picking apart all the voices in his head. So many were talking at once. Sci was too scared to move. His brother lay on the road until nearby nurses came to pick him up. Sci remembered thinking that he’d just watched his brother die. “He would black out. Blood coming out of his nose one moment before he fell like his legs were made of noodles.”
Sci looked away to take in a breath. “One day, he wanted to spend the day with me. Just me, not in the city doing something he wanted, but in the country where no minds were connected to us.”
“What did you guys do?” Sasha asked softly.
Sci had to clear his throat. “Chollar knew that I wanted to play, to go running outside and climb a mountain. I had read about it and thought it sounded exciting. I had only lived in the training facility up until then, so the outdoors was an adventure to me.”
Pulling her blanket around her tightly, Sasha said, “The outdoors is an adventure. I could live outdoors forever.”
Sci knew she meant it. Being cooped up was worse for her than it was for him. She always had excess energy.
“My brother was quiet all day, so at the end of it, I asked if he wanted me to come back.” Sci raked his fingers through the side of his hair. “Chollar told me he wanted me to stay with him until he passed. He didn’t want to die alone. Even as a child, I understood that and claimed his residence as my own.” The memories were just as painful to retell as they were to live. “Cerebral houses are claimed, not bought like in other planets. Our society is civilized, we work together and work for each other. So, if someone’s job is building houses, he or she would do so not to make money but to give others a place to live.
She swallowed. “That’s…a nice thing to do.”
Sci agreed. “The first few hours living with my brother, I noticed he was concentrating very hard. I didn’t say anything to him until it was time to eat dinner. When he didn’t want to eat, I urged him to enjoy his last days with me. Then, the next day, I made him join me for all my meals. After a week, he had adopted my schedule to eat, sleep, play, and work.”
Sasha bit her lip again. “You took time out to play? When did you stop taking time out to play?”
Confused at her comment, he clarified, “I always took two hours out of my day to climb the mountain near the house. It helped clear my mind.”
Sasha nodded slowly with an odd expression. But her mind was chuckling.
“My brother never suffered another nosebleed, headache, or any of the other things his body had been suffering. We never talked about it, but I have my theories on why he got better after he stopped working all day, every day. Instead, he followed my routine, which was to wake up, eat, walk, run or climb the mountains for an hour or two, clean up and change, then work the evening shift until dawn, before we ate again and then slept.”
“Why did you work the night shift? That seems odd. Not that I can explain why I think that, but it just is.”
Sci’s neck was getting stiff, so he laid his head down, maintaining eye contact with Sasha. “I enjoy reading without distractions. At night, the Cerebrals in the city are sleeping, and I can work quicker and more efficiently. I had to submit a schedule change to the Elders, but that was a formality.”
Sasha moved with her blanket to his cot and sat down next to him, looking down. “You know,” she said, “overworking is tough on a body, no matter what race you are.”
Hmmm. “You say that as if it’s a known understanding. It’s not. At least not for us.”
Looks like Cerebrals aren’t as smart as everyone assumes, she thought.
In response, he said, “I think the Federation confused brilliance with ability.”
Sasha laughed. “You have a photographic mind, and you’re one of the unimpressive Cerebrals. I can’t even fathom what your brother’s abilities are, but one thing I would bank on is that he’s a genius.”
The side of his mouth curled up. Clever woman.
Chapter Nineteen
Furnace
Abruptly, Sci awoke to Sasha’s intense thoughts. She was staring at his back, wishing she could touch him, cuddle with him. It had been hours since she had fallen asleep, or so he thought. This was not the first time she had imagined connecting with him physically. Sci didn’t understand why she would assume she would feel better if she touched him, but she seemed to crave it.
This didn’t make sense to him, nor did his curiosity in letting her fulfill this need. He remembered what had happened when he embraced her before and he worried that he would have the same reaction if he gave in to her now. Pax had made Sci’s biological response to Sasha sound bad.
Sci tried to ignore Sasha. She also seemed disturbed by her need, tossing and turning in her cot. Finally, he could no longer stand her uneasiness. “Sasha, come here,” he said.
“What?” she whispered.
“Come, lay down with me.”
“Why?”
“You know why. Now, come here.”
He held up his blanket, an invitation to his bed. Her heart was soaring, and she was nervous. She rolled over and crawled up to him. At first, she didn’t touch him, but then she snuggled closer and pushed at his
shoulder slightly. He took heed of her gesture and rolled onto his back. She moved her head to his chest and threw her leg over both of his. He didn’t just see, he felt her body begin to fade into a state he didn’t understand. It was…peace. It radiated from her, so much that it infected him. He felt himself ease into the bed, and his mind didn’t exactly relax, but it did feel different. Taking a deep breath, he let it happen; let his body unwind, his mind quiet. And he fell into a deep sleep.
***
Sci woke feeling like he was near a furnace. Slowly coming awake, he realized that Sasha was still in his bed, and he…he had his arm tightly wrapped around her middle, keeping her back to his chest. His hand was pressed against her flesh. Her skin was soft and pliable and warm, so very warm.
Sci was thankful that Sasha was still asleep. He eased his hand off her and rolled off the bed. Carefully, he stood and looked her over. She did something to him. Something not recorded in his archives. But he felt different. Not himself.
Sasha rolled over and peered up at him. She took one glance at his middle, and her cheeks turned a dark red. In her mind, he understood what was wrong with him…he was—in her terms—aroused. Again.
He looked down and, sure enough, his sex was hard. And he ached for something. Was it her?
Sasha cleared her throat and sat up. “Good morning.” She didn’t look at him when she spoke. Walking to the cleaner, she said, “Um, thank you for letting me sleep with you last night. I—uh…I’m grateful.”
He nodded. Unsure if he would ever let her do it again.
The door slid open, and Rannn stood there. He looked over at Sci and smirked. “I can come back.”
Sci instantaneously contacted Ansel’s mind to relay the scene. As he dressed, Ansel mentally sent images and explanations back. He showed Sci what the captain likely assumed Sci and Sasha had done or were about to do. Sci was…appalled. That, that was what both Sasha and Rannn had assumed he wanted to do?
It looked so primitive.
Sci put those images out of his mind as he followed Rannn to the training room. Once inside, he noted extra bodies standing near the walls, dressed in their uniforms, not in training gear. The same four males from last time were waiting for him, all with stunners.