Mindguard

by Andrei Cherascu

  Also, Isabel did not sense the presence of mindguards - human or artificial - so she quickly dismissed that possibility. She feared that they might be enforcers, but then the woman walked in. That left her with a great mystery regarding their identity.

  She projected her mental defense procedures on her teammates. She saw Francois turning to look at her for a moment but then quickly returning his attention to the beautiful woman. He was hypnotized. Isabel came to a frightening conclusion: the woman must have specifically targeted Francois, knowing about his crippling sexual appetite. That meant, that whoever these men were, they were already on the offensive.

  The woman got closer to Francois and said something. It was like the sound of a trigger. With lightning speed, she grabbed his crotch and he fell to the ground in tremendous pain. Immediately, Manner got up and positioned himself in front of Isabel, to shield her. He pulled out his weapon and fired at the assailant, but she moved away from the energy blast with such incredible speed that she seemed to vanish and then reappear somewhere else, as the shot pulverized part of the bar.

  Iasbel had never seen a human being moving so fast. She knew of only one group of people who allegedly possessed the ability to move at such incredible speed and whose trademark weapon was the neurostunner.

  Manner was about to fire another shot at the woman, when the three men at the nearby table got up and spread out. The bodyguard quickly adjusted his aim and fired at one of the men. He did not have time to get out of the way. Instead, he simply absorbed the shock of the blast and seemed to release its energy through a technique Isabel had never seen before.

  The other two men simultaneously threw neurostunners in the air. The combined effect of the devices knocked Isabel to the ground, along with a few of the bystanders, who hadn’t had time to take cover. The attackers themselves were as immune to the neurostunners as they had proven to be to the energy blast. Manner was dazed but he was still standing. A powerful kick from one of the men sent him back-first into the wall behind him.

  The resilient bodyguard quickly recovered and went after his attacker with punches but the man easily dodged them all. When a left hook missed him by an inch, the attacker grabbed Manner’s head and drove it into the table with such speed and force that the wood broke on impact. A slight modification in Manner’s thought timbre told Isabel that he was unconscious.

  Francois was trying to wobble back to his feet. The woman delivered a swift kick to the back of his knee that sent him back to the floor. She then quickly mounted him and placed his hands in neurocuffs. By now, it was clear who the disguised attackers were, in spite of the fact that they had a woman in the team. The way they moved, at such amazing speed that the human eye could barely follow, the way they seemed immune to energy blasts and neurostunners and the way in which they had made short work of the two bodyguards, left no room for doubt. A few seconds later, the door opened and a few more men walked in, all wearing Enforcement Unit uniforms.

  Isabel was horrified by them. She knew that the enforcers were notoriously opposed to artificially enhancing the body’s natural abilities. Somehow, they had taught themselves to move at lightning speed and to repel energy attacks. She thought about the vast sums of money Maclaine Ross had spent on advancements that allowed him to achieve what these people had apparently accomplished just through pure training. She wondered if they had also attacked Mac. It made sense that they would. If the enforcers had them in their sight, then surely their primary target was the carrier.

  She wondered if her other teammates might already be in captivity. What were the odds that they had fared better against these ruthless soldiers? Mac was the fiercest warrior she had ever known, but these were enforcers. He was prepared to fight desert dwellers, mercenaries or bounty hunters, not the most powerful military in the universe.

  She tried to move, but her body was numb. She was still lying helpless on the floor. After they finished immobilizing the two bodyguards, the enforcers cleared up the bar of any customers who had not already fled. They also ordered the innkeeper to wait outside until they finished and the man begrudgingly complied. Nobody paid any attention to Isabel, as if she weren’t even there. They clearly considered her completely harmless.

  She struggled to her feet, fighting the pain in her muscles and nerves. She knew that they were right, there was nothing she could do. But she wanted to look her enemies in the eyes as a gesture of defiance. The mysterious woman seemed to notice her for the first time.

  “Make sure you immobilize the mindguard,” she told the others. “They can be deceptively dangerous.”

  So, the woman wasn’t only a soldier, she was also in command. To Isabel’s knowledge, there weren’t even any women in the Enforcement Unit. How could she possibly be a field unit commander? Who was she? Like a threatened beast, she exuded raw aggression. An older enforcer with a long goatee approached her with a worried face.

  “Villo is gone,” he said.

  The woman’s eyes widened. “What? What do you mean, gone?”

  “It looks like he never came in with us. I noticed he’s missing and went outside to check, but there is no trace of him.”

  The woman looked like she had just received a hard slap to the face; Isabel couldn’t help but feel incredibly satisfied. The female enforcer looked around the room like she was desperately searching for something. It took her a few seconds to regain her composure.

  “Initializing Phase 2. We need to go after Ross right now,” she barked.

  In the commotion that ensued, as she was being grabbed, placed in neurocuffs and pushed towards the exit, Isabel could think of only one thing: Mac is still free.

  With every fiber of her being, with every neuron in her brain, she tried to focus her mind to send him a message. Though every thought rebelled against this action, she concentrated her whole entity on communicating with him telepathically. She needed to warn him of the imminent danger, it was vital!

  With all her energy, she tried to reach out to him. Her body started shaking from the effort, but it was all in vain. The Weixman Barrier was impenetrable. Her mind simply refused to infiltrate somebody else’s. The very quality that made her such a capable mindguard, would now become their undoing.

  They are coming for you, Mac, she thought, though she knew that he could not hear her. They are coming to ambush you, to attack you when your guard is down. Ah, but your guard is never down, is it my cherished friend? They do not know that about you. They do not know you like I do. You will not be defeated so easily; you will fight. But you must be aware that these are not warriors like you, Mac. They must not be fought with honor and respect. They are savage beasts and they must be slain. Oh Sheldahn, please keep them safe.

  ●

  “Let’s get inside, it’s not safe over there,” Mac said. It sounded like an order. Sophie had been standing on the porch sobbing for quite a long time. Though she tried to be strong, the events of the last few days had taken a great toll on her.

  The moment she had entered their temporary living quarters and placed her backpack on the bed, she broke down again. She asked Mac if she could go outside to get some air and the giant told her to be brief. Sheldon, of course, had to go with her.

  The first time she had been told she would not be permitted to leave Sheldon’s sight throughout the rest of the mission, she had protested. But she knew deep down that she was being childish. The events of the last few days had proven just why his presence was always a necessity. Exposure to the neuraltranscendence field was the most difficult and traumatic experience of her life. It was like the emotions of a million people had poured into her soul, all at once. Their cries were deafening, their fears were petrifying and their hopes heartbreaking.

  The coolness of the long Noriado night worked its way into her bones, but it made her feel better. At a respectful distance, hidden in the shadows, Sheldon quietly observed her. He was completely motionless. So much so, that he himself appeared to be a shadow.

  But your m
ind is racing, isn’t it? though Sophie. She still couldn’t make up her mind how she felt about Sheldon. She had grown comfortable around the rest of the team, but she still felt awkward around him. At times, there was an overwhelming attraction. She was fascinated by his every move and gesture. Especially by his eyes, which seemed to communicate so much, only it was in a language he alone could understand.

  Other times she felt repelled by him. A visceral feeling made her want to back away, as if he were a reptile or some sort of exotic insect. Still, there was a strange bond she felt she shared with him, which she did not share with the others. She could neither understand nor explain it.

  As they went back inside, Sophie thought how awkward she was going to feel having to share her sleeping quarters with five men. The wooden house was spacious, clearly designed for large groups. In the middle of the room was a round stove and in front of the window she could see a desk and a small chair. Aside from that, the room contained seven cots. She longed for the presence of Isabel but she had to accept her absence. After all, she herself had requested Sheldon. As if he had read her thoughts, Ross approached her with an honest, fatherly smile.

  “I know it’s weird Sophie but it’s just for the night.”

  She nodded and smiled back. She was happy that he at least he was aware of her discomfort.

  “And it’s absolutely safe because Francois isn’t here,” he added.

  Sophie laughed for the first time since the start of the mission.

  “Try and get some sleep,” Ross said and winked. He ordered Bayles and Brinks to go outside and guard the entrance and then walked over to Elden, to speak with him.

  Sophie wondered if she could actually fall asleep, given the circumstances. She was exhausted, but at the same time, she felt very alert. She looked at Sheldon. The mindguard was sitting on the side of his cot, reading from a leather-bound book. How calm he appeared, how completely uninvolved in the world around him. The calmness he projected gave him an aura of unearthliness. Sheldon was an entity that seemed to exist in its own dimension. She had a hard time picturing him in a normal environment, doing normal things. Sheldon shopping for groceries, Sheldon cooking, Sheldon working out. Still, he had to do all those things.

  Looking at him now, she noticed how fit he was. Surely he must engage in some sort of physical activity. She had never really noticed his physique before, usually because it was so unimpressive compared to muscular leviathans like Ross, Brinks and the others. But for a regular person, Sheldon seemed to be in very good physical shape. Sheldon working out; that thought amused her.

  Before, she only ever pictured him exactly how he appeared in that moment: reading, thinking, as still and silent as a painting. The stillness he expressed seemed to fill the entire room, but it felt like a calm before a storm. What storm? She didn’t know why that thought had crept into her mind but she was overcome by a sudden feeling of anxiety. She felt strange, like she was about to pass out. She looked across the room at Ross and Elden chatting. They made no noise and the movements of their hands and lips seemed unnaturally slow, as if they were under water. She looked back at Sheldon and startled when she saw the mindguard looking at her with an expression of concern.

  Though his lips never moved, she distinctly heard him say ‘get down’. She immediately obeyed. She dropped to the floor as if she had been doing military drills all her life. The second she did, the front door was kicked off its hinges. Something that looked like a man, moving at an extraordinary speed, entered the room and threw two devices in the air. They emitted a pulse of energy that sent waves of pain through her nervous system. If Sophie hadn’t been lying on the ground already, she was certain that the shock of the weapon would have knocked her down, just like it did Sheldon, who hit the floor with a loud ‘thump’ before Mac and Elden could even register what was going on.

  Spread out on the floor, unable to move, she desperately looked at Sheldon. The mindguard was unreasonably calm and she felt his mind gently shield her thoughts. She wondered if the attacker was a telepath, though she hadn’t sensed anything. She didn’t even know if she would have sensed anything. She saw Ross and Elden reacting to the attack. The young bodyguard was dazed by the weapon’s blast and was trying to keep his balance but Mac effortlessly brushed it off and fired his gun in the direction of the attacker.

  The man vanished like a ghost and immediately appeared next to Mac, kicking the weapon out of his hands and then kicking the bodyguard in the gut so quickly that it appeared to be one single movement. Sophie had never seen any living thing move so fast. The kick sent Mac flying onto one of the cots.

  Elden managed to regain control of his movements and fired his weapon at the attacker, who once again disappeared from the path of the blast. Sophie’s eyes could not even distinguish his movements. All she saw was Elden crashing into the wall behind him, as if pushed by some unseen force. He was clutching his throat. The attacker moved as if he possessed control over time itself. In one lightning-quick strike, he thrust a silver spike through Eldens right eye and into his brain. The bodyguard was dead before he even hit the floor. Sophie’s scream was muffled by the fact that she hadn’t yet regained control of her vocal chords, which were as numb as the rest of her body.

  The spectral attacker stopped for just a split second and looked at Ross, as if giving him time to fully comprehend the loss of his teammate. The giant bodyguard let out an angry roar and swung at the assassin, who was there one moment and gone the next. He swung again and his fist hit only the wall, breaking a hole in it. Meanwhile, the attacker connected with two kicks to Ross’ thigh, but the bodyguard barely felt them.

  Given Ross’ amazing strength, Sophie figured that, if he landed one single blow on his opponent, he would instantly kill him. But that blow never came. Ross missed punch after punch and kick after kick; the man was simply too fast. For every blow that Ross missed, the attacker connected with three. After a while, even the near-invincible Maclaine Ross started noticeably slowing down. A roundhouse kick to the liver sent him to his knees. Before he could get up, a kick to his throat finally put him down. The mighty Maclaine Ross, more machine than man, was lying on his stomach, struggling to get back to his feet.

  Sophie knew that she had to act quickly, or the man would kill Ross just as he had Jason Elden. She was starting to gain some control of her movements. She reached out for Ross’ weapon, which had fallen down next to her when the assailant had kicked it out of his hands. The man pulled out another spike, with the very evident intention of sticking it through Ross’ eye, when Sophie aimed at his head and fired. She missed, but the energy blast still caught him in shoulder. His body seemed to somehow absorb the energy of the shot and then eliminate it, but the unexpected attack caught him off guard.

  Slowed down by Sophie, the man did not have enough time to back away completely when Mac threw a powerful punch that caught him in the face. The impact of the blow projected him a few feet back. If he had caught it at full force, Sophie was certain that the man’s head and his body would no longer be part of the same person.

  The bodyguard followed with a straight kick that sent the man flying into a corner of the room. When Ross lunged forward, ready for another strike, there was nowhere for the assassin to go. With all his incredible strength, Ross punched him in the stomach. Sophie was surprised his arm didn’t come out the other side, like a spear. Blood gushed out of the man’s mouth and nose, and he fell to the ground struggling for air. He was dead before Ross could land another blow.

  Sophie was in shock. She stared at Ross and then at the man she had just helped kill. Only in death was the attacker motionless, so that Sophie could make out his uniform.

  “Enforcers?” she managed to say after what seemed like an eternity.

  Ross didn’t answer. He looked around the room, trying to assess the situation. Even though he was breathing heavily, he was amazingly calm. Sophie figured he must have killed men in far more gruesome ways than this. When he paused upon the sight
of Elden’s body for the first time, he looked vulnerable, like a human being made of flesh and blood and heart and feelings.

  “We need to go,” he said gravely.

  “That man is an enforcer,” Sophie said, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that they had just killed a member of the Enforcement Unit. They would probably all be sentenced to death for this. A torrent of frightening thoughts flooded her mind. The most terrifying was the thought that she had failed her father. The mission was over.

  “We need to leave now,” Ross thundered, snapping Sophie back to her senses. “There’s a secret passage somewhere on the left side of the room. If it leads to an underground tunnel, we might have a way to get out unobserved and gain a few minutes’ advantage. If it leads to a basement, we’re dead.”

  “How do you know this?” Sophie asked.

  “Later!”

  Sheldon had already found the trap door. He walked over to Sophie and gently put his arm around her shoulders.

  “Come on,” he said. Or he might have said. Or Sophie might have just imagined his voice. At that point, she couldn’t really tell.

  She was being lead by Sheldon, down into the darkness. As the world grew black, she heard Ross’ voice somewhere above them. It sounded raspy and hushed - broken.

  “I’ll get Jason.”

  Chapter 21

  Remember that above all else, you are your own mindguard!

  Samuel Weixman, Strengths and Limitations of the Mindguard

  Tamisa felt like she was in a dream. There was a certain weightlessness which made her feel as if her soul was no longer joined with her body. Just like in dreams, random thoughts and images formed bizarre connections, making very little sense, alternating rapidly to form a structure, a fabric… something. Something that tried to pass for reality. Something entirely nonsensical. Just like in dreams, it felt so real.