"My feelings, too. But Aledus won't accept evaluations from anyplace else, not even Velran. I don't have much choice unless I want to leave Aledus in three days. Father, I can't do that. I haven't seen you for twenty years. I've missed so much. . ..
"What really irks me is that damned psych profile! Mother, you'd think I came home from Penta Prison instead of the University of Learning! This is sure a helluva place for a Psion to call home."
Hankura's mouth tightened into a grim line as he fell silent and leaned his head back to close his eyes and try to calm himself. Ludren seemed to understand and didn't press him to make any more small talk for which he was grateful.
Soon, the domed city loomed on the horizon. Housing more than three-quarters of a million people, Salla was a highly diverse city of varied and elegantly simple styles of architecture. The Aledan world capitol was a rainbow of jewel paneled towers and muted pastel domes attractively grouped together and divided by the many pedestrian beltways that traversed the ancient city.
Salla was where the Aledan colony began with a fair skinned Terran race led by Malkan. In over a millennium and a half, Aledus had grown into an independently governed industrial and agricultural world. Its slight axial tilt provided a fairly even temperate climate, ideal for growing crops year around in its northern plains. Temperatures in the southern hemisphere were cooler and harsher, and few people cared to live in the tundra wilderness. However, there were a few living near the fairly large Federation Defense Installation.
Although the Federation maintained a defense base there, they did not interfere with Aledan politics. They were located on Aledus for strategic defense purposes only, and they rarely mixed with the general populace except for those living around the base.
Hankura and Ludren left the hovercraft at the hoverport just outside Salla's tinted dome. Walking briskly in silence, they crossed the hoverport to the subway to catch a tube capsule to the heart of the city. They stepped into a downtube and floated to the second sub level to wait in a well-lit room with several other people for the next capsule.
A cylindrical car arrived within thirty seconds. Its doors slid open automatically, and twenty people filed into the empty capsule without pushing or crowding. When everyone was seated, the car gave a slight lurch and then there was no further sense of movement until the capsule stopped. About a minute later, the capsule opened at the central terminal near Narcaza Circle.
Pausing outside the capsule, Hankura watched a dozen people push past a young female Psion on the platform where she was waiting to get aboard. The woman flashed him an accusing look as she noticed his left sleeve bore no psi-patch. She could sense that he was a psion.
Because she might have reported him to the Aledan Law Enforcers, he opened his mind enough for her to learn that he was on his way to the Psi Institute to "earn" his patch. He didn't need trouble the moment he got into the city, and if the Enforcers were feeling belligerent, they would take him to jail and ask questions later. Except for going to the Psi Institute on arrival to Aledus, it was against the law for a Psion to enter any of the cities without a patch. He had three days from touchdown to get one or be deported.
After learning his situation, the woman politely nodded and turned to enter the next capsule. Hankura scowled in annoyance as he walked with his father to the lift tubes. The nosy little bitch would have turned him in if he hadn't obliged her inquiry. It was no damned wonder a Psion had no rights here!
At ground level, they stepped out of the lift onto the beltway, heading west toward the Aledan Psi Institute three klicks down the line. Standing together near the center, they let the belt carry them along at a jogging pace past Narcaza Circle, a huge city park and botanical garden traversed by stone paths instead of pedestrian beltways.
The park displayed bushes and trees of all kinds. There were huge bulbous flowers that pulsated like jellyfish in the sea and a great variety of plants and flowers from different worlds. All of this was arranged into a great garden. At its center stood a huge marble pool with a fountain shooting water high into the air and raining it down on lavender ropans in the water below. The reptilian waterfowl swam in all the other fountains in the gardens; but Narcaza Fountain was the most magnificent--graced by a marble statue of the great master himself with a bronze commemorative plaque listing his many achievements.
It had been over twenty years since Hankura had seen these sights and remembered his family's kinship with this place and this man. If not for the ordeal awaiting him, he knew he would be thrilled to be there. But, blast it, Aledus was his home world. His roots were here. He wouldn't let them drive him away again.
The two passed four other psions, but just one man took any notice of Hankura. The other three were content to mind their own business. Hankura gave the fourth the same courtesy as he had the woman, again for his own protection. This was the only time Hankura would traverse the city unhindered by unkind thoughts and outright rudeness from Normals around him. He savored the peaceful feeling.
Hankura would be the last to deny anyone the freedom of his own thoughts. He ignored the thoughts of others for the most part. But there were those who enjoyed making trouble for psions. Usually, it was just taunts and murmured insults; but sometimes, there were gangs of youths who went around assaulting unaccompanied psions in secluded places. .exactly why Hankura planned to start teaching Chelle chackrin before he let her go to the University.
She had already proved she could defend herself fairly well, but chackrin---a sophisticated version of martial arts techniques---would give her a better edge. Psions were never allowed to carry weapons.
The whole system angered him. There would be a lot less trouble in the cities if psions weren't singled out with psi-patches and tough, discriminating laws that they had no part in making. Without patches, they could travel the cities and work unhindered without drawing unsavory attention to themselves. Outwardly, most of them were unremarkable in their appearance.
Granted, a few psions were dangerously unstable, but they were the exceptions. Most of them were just trying to make a place for themselves in the scheme of things like everyone else. Aledus was their home.
My home, too. Hankura thought, yet his own people demanded that he face this degrading ordeal to prove that he was no threat to them. He had spent ten years learning to discipline himself in careful control of his psionic power. He but once ever caused a Normal slight discomfort while he was still a child. He never repeated that mistake.
Now he was a physician, trained to preserve human lives and wellbeing. To him, the human mind was an intriguing world all its own to be respected and protected. He used his insight to help people, not hurt them. Control over his power came as easily as a shout or a whisper to a Normal, but Aledan Psi Laws didn't recognize these factors. He was one of them, a second class citizen of Aledus.
Goddess, why am I doing this? He wondered. Hankura glanced at the man beside him again---his father. He sensed his father's love and concern, and his father's happiness at his presence. It made Hankura feel good. It made him ache for the special times they had missed as father and son in the years they had been apart. It must be worth a half hour of torment to have the chance to recapture some of what was lost. I can do it. I can, he told himself as they stepped off the beltway in front of the Psi Institute.
Inside the large domed building, Hankura and Ludren were greeted curtly by a plump, middle-aged receptionist with short white and blond streaked hair that stood on end.
"I'm Jessa." She gave him a faint smile that didn't meet her eyes. "Which of you is to be tested?"
"I am." Hankura stepped forward, resting his hands on top of the long orange counter. "My name is Hankura, ID number 5-741374, Physician, Telepath Grade 8.5."
"Born?"
"1673 Aledan Standard Time."
"Residence?"
"Agro complex S-1852-D2."
Watching her computer screen to see that Hankura's information was recorded correctly, Jessa handed Hankura
a thin, white plastic disk. Then she addressed Ludren. "Sir, you can have a seat in the lounge." To Hankura, she said, "An attendant is on his way, Hankura. Put your disk on your left sleeve. It will be your psi-patch when your evaluation is completed. A beam from the scanner will turn it blue when the test is over." She told him all of this as though he were a less than intelligent child, which did nothing to brighten his dark mood.
Momentarily, a young man dressed in a two-piece Psi Institute uniform of light blue, synthetic fabric came and beckoned him. Hankura followed him down a long white, arched corridor past rows of closed cells lining each side of it. At the end of the corridor, they turned left and entered the fifth open cell on their right. The man hadn't given his name, but Hankura knew it was Selter.
"You understand the testing?" asked Selter.
Hankura nodded mutely and took his place on a contour recliner where Selter strapped him securely. The attendant poised the neuroscanner over his head, and double checked his restraints.
"Kodric will be here in a minute or so. Just try to relax, and it'll be over before you know it." Selter told him in his best reassuring tone.
Yeah, sure. Hankura thought to himself. That's easy for you to say. You're not about to be probed by a Grade Eleven Psion until your brain wants to explode.
An ordinary looking man of medium build in his middle seventies walked into the room with an air of authority and stretched out on the recliner opposite the one where Hankura was strapped.
We will begin as the orange light flashes. Kodric indicated without emotion.
Hankura took in a deep cleansing breath and let it out slowly, watching for the orange light on the scanner above his head.
The light flashed, and Hankura tentatively began to probe Kodric's mental defenses. He found the path into Kodric's mind quickly, only to be met by the other man's strong shielding mental block. Hankura's task was to psionically batter against Kodric's defense shield to the limit of his power, knowing he couldn't break through.
For Hankura, it was like trying to break into a tightly locked room by ramming his body against an immovable door. Clenching his jaw, he squeezed his eyes shut, and his forehead beaded with perspiration in his intense effort to summon all his mental reserve. A beeper sounded from the scanner when it registered the top limit of his psychic power--8.56--six-hundredths higher than his last evaluation on Velran.
The difference was almost negligible, but Hankura still had to endure the same punishment from Kodric.
You are well skilled, physician. Kodric grinned smugly. I actually used some effort to block your probes. Not much, but at least it was somewhat challenging. Perhaps, my probing will be equally challenging.
Hankura scowled at him, feeling the menace of Kodric's thought. He felt like a sacrificial virgin about to be raped. In about a half a minute, Kodric would start probing him, trying to break away his mental shield to seek out his most intimate thoughts and feelings. In a sense, it was a kind of mental rape.
The light flashed again before Hankura's eyes. Kodric's first probe was strong, but not too strong for his mental shield. Each probe attempt became stronger, battering persistently harder against his mental defenses. Only intense concentration and a supremely stubborn effort of will kept his defense intact.
His muscles tensed painfully, and his heart raced with the stress of turning all his energy to upholding his mental shield. Kodric was the last person he wanted to let inside his head. But the probes kept coming, stabbing, pounding, and searing into his consciousness with mind stunning force.
Hankura groaned, straining against the straps that held him down and clenching his fists at the mental beating. He'd reached the upper limit of his tolerance, and the beeper sounded, yet Kodric went on probing.
Hankura jerked against the restraints, fighting desperately to hold his shield until he finally just screamed in anguish. Only then did Kodric relent and withdraw from their battle of wills. He knew he could break Hankura if he wanted; that was enough.
"Well done, physician," Kodric snickered condescendingly and stood looking down at him. "You made 8.65 defensive. Not bad."
"You bleeping nache!" Hankura murmured unevenly.
"I've been called worse." Kodric shrugged as he turned and sauntered from the room, leaving Hankura helplessly strapped to the recliner. Hankura thought of a few worse names he could have called him after he was out of sight.
After a moment, he let his muscles relax and blinked slowly, wincing at the throbbing pain in his head. He sucked a long uneven breath and sighed raggedly. At least it was over.
Trevin approached his brother's dome through the underground tunnel that connected all four of their private domes in the family resident quarters. As he came to the open portal, he heard music playing loudly from the inside, and he started to just walk in as an open door was customarily regarded as an open invitation.
He stopped short at the sound of Chelle's strangled cry followed what sounded like an oath in another language. Then, hearing nothing else but music, he went on inside with the three small disks bunched in his fist. Chelle was sitting huddled on the brown velvet sofa with her knees drawn up to her chest and her head resting on her knees.
"Is something wrong?" Trevin asked gently, not wanting to startle her.
"My God!" She looked up at him and shuddered. "No wonder he said I couldn't go with him."
"What do you mean?"
"The testing was pretty hard on him," she said, a faraway look in her eyes. "They're finished now."
"You sensed that all the way out here?" Trevin looked at her dubiously. "Even mother isn't that sensitive. I thought she was stronger than either you or Hankura."
"She's not Hankura's psi-mate." Chelle raised an eyebrow at his uneasiness in her presence. "Hey, take it easy. I haven't mind wiped anyone lately."
"Have you done it before?" She did a double-take as he took a step back from her.
"Of course not, Trevin," she laughed, amused at his expression. "I was joking. Why don't you sit down? Maybe you'd like a drink or something---jern tea?"
"No thanks. I'm fine." He hesitated briefly before he sat on the far end of the sofa. "About last night--I didn't mean to insult you. I meant no harm."
"Forget it." Chelle half shrugged uncomfortably and wrinkled her brows. "He's blocking me." She sighed and jumped up suddenly, pacing across the room to the window. "He hardly ever does that. It must be that damned testing," she muttered, staring out the window with eyes unfocused. After a moment, she turned back to face Trevin. "They are going to do that to me. If I'm not tested, I'll be deported in two days."
"Have you ever been tested?" Trevin wondered.
Chelle shook her head no, resting one hand on her hip. "I learned I'm a Psion from Hankura. He says I'm about as strong as he is, but I'm not that good at reading people yet." She paused at his worried look. "Oh, don't worry. Hankura taught me how to do it, so I won't hurt anyone. It's just that I'm still a little clumsy at it, and I don't always learn much--except from him."
"Has he warned you about using your power against Normals? It could get you into a lot of trouble if you ever did."
"Oh, sure. He told me." She nodded walking back to the sofa where she sat down again. "Why should I do anything like that? I never hurt anybody who didn't try to hurt me first. I only stabbed Berke. .because---"
"You stabbed a man?" Trevin's mouth dropped open. He didn't know how she escaped to save Hankura, only that she had.
"I had to. Hankura would have died. .and you don't know what he was like. Berke would've--never mind," she murmured. "I can't talk about it. I didn't kill him, though. Jed Rankin told us he didn't die."
"Have you killed men before?"
"Yes--twice," she said grimly.
"Why?" Trevin breathed incredulously.
"To survive. One of them killed my brother, the only person in the whole world I cared about. It was an ugly thing in an ugly life. I don't know what would have happened to me if your brother hadn't com
e. I'll just be glad if I never have to kill anyone again. It's not a good feeling. I even felt bad when I thought I killed that no good bastard Berke. But I didn't. .and I'm glad." She paused, meeting his hazel eyes earnestly. "Tell me, Trevin. How could things be any worse for me here?"
After a moment, Trevin averted his eyes from her gaze. "Sometimes, they are pretty cruel to psions, especially at the University in Salla. Chelle, I really don't think you ought to go there. I don't think Hankura truly understands what it'll be like for you."
Leaning back into the cushioning, she draped her arm over the back of the sofa. "I don't see that I have much choice. I'm not used to idleness, and there's nothing for me to do here. I want to do more than be entertained. I'm a healer, and someday, I might be a good one, if I just learn more about human physiology. That's what Hank told me." Chelle shifted her position again, still too keyed up to relax and a little shy in Trevin's presence.
"Well, I've brought you some disks on Aledan culture, government, and what-have-you. You seemed interested when we talked last night, and I thought these would help fill in things Hankura may have forgotten to tell you. After all, he's been away a long time. Father has a lot more if you're really interested.
"You know there is a lot you could learn from the disks. They cover just about any subject you could want, and you wouldn't have to go to the University right away---maybe not at all." he went on.
"But, I won't learn how to fit in, hiding here at the complex, and I can't be certified that way. I want to work with Hankura. I can't be kept here as a pet. I had a hard life on Earth, but there I was free."
"Yeah, until Berke came along and tried to take your freedom away from you." He pointed out.
"And you know what happened to Berke."
"That's the point, Chelle. You're a psion. You haven't the right to stand up and fight for yourself here. That's what I'm trying to tell you. If you don't conform, I don't know what could happen to you."
The Aledan PSION: The Aledan Series Book 1 Page 10