by P. S. Power
“Sorry, things got really quiet, after that thing in the past, so I wondered if something was going wrong. An attack or jamming… It’s fine. Just me being paranoid.” As far as he could tell.
It was clear that the changes going on inside of him were moving right along as well. That day he’d had at least two, if not more, new things happen. The brain scan and health checkup thing didn’t really hurt him. It wouldn’t even if the information proved to be incorrect later. The thing where he was apparently getting psychic information while firmly in the middle of the null field wasn’t great, since it could lead to problems later for him.
If that part of things stopped working for him, then he’d end up as insane as the others had been. Worse, most likely. From what he could see he was a lot stronger than any of the others, as far as picking up things telepathically. If a clearer picture counted as being more powerful. That sounded right to him, but it might not work that way. It could be that the raw data he got was the same, and it was all in the presentation. He lived the visions he got. The others saw them, as if they were faded and see through pictures.
It felt like that should get him some extra usage out of things, but didn’t make the thing worthier, as far as he could tell. He got the same kind of stuff, and really, probably not much more, when it came down to it.
His brain was just filtering it differently. Everyone else except for Lissa and Lenore had dessert, going back for several different tasty and forbidden things. Glenda had him on a diet still, trying to keep him from becoming the world’s fattest Cymed. He used to love sweets, pretty much all of them, and had to figure that he still would, if they were an option. They weren’t, so he just sat there and didn’t think about what others had that he didn’t.
Like the freedom to eat whatever they wanted.
Not that he couldn’t go and get some cake or pie. Really, Ben could do it directly in front of Glenda and she’d do no more than give him a look, he was willing to bet. The thing there was that she was right. It had been a long term problem for him. Food in general was. So mastering that was worth doing, even if it was hard sometimes.
Everyone started touching him again, which he allowed, since it was after dinner, and that meant it was time to do something other than work. For the rest of them at any rate. Ben thought about it for a bit and then shook his head, knowing that what he wanted to do, or needed to, wasn’t what anyone else would really enjoy. For one thing Lenore had already had lessons in running away earlier, and Micha had been there with her the whole time. That sounded like great fun, but depending on the task at hand, it could either be horribly boring, or exciting, in a terrifying kind of way.
Depending on Ali’s mood that day, and where people were in their own training.
The thing there was that there were six other people that might enjoy a bit of quiet time. Lenore would be fine there, he knew, but Micha was probably about on her last legs, even if she wasn’t showing it externally. She’d been losing her mind before, after all, and had been hit with some pretty bad losses and stress over the last months. Pretty much without a break, too. Yes, she’d brought part of that on herself, messing with Ben, and killing Clyde, but the fact was that she’d still been soaking in a broth of the stuff the entire time. The cause was almost irrelevant.
There were several hours before bedtime however, and if they were all staying together, they needed to do something that at least most of the people wouldn’t hate.
It was the kind of thing that kept Ben from being a leader, he guessed.
They could do anything, but all he could come up with where things that fit his personal desires of the moment. Goals, really. He desired some of the chocolate cake, with its thick, gooey looking frosting. In fact, he could pick the smell of it out of the air, even from across the table. There was other food, but that one hit him powerfully as Clark took a bite.
Discipline told him that not having it was the right thing to do. That and getting some exercise in. Training in VR could work as well, as long as it was active enough.
“Hey… I was thinking, we should go and play a VR. At the rec center? Maybe… Fight some pirates or...” Ben wasn’t doing a great job of selling it, but Mags started nodding, standing up.
“That’s a plan. We either do that, or watch old recordings of you having sex on the web, Lissa. There almost have to be some. If not we can do one up now, of course. It’s only fair to all those lonely men that still lust after you.”
Instead of acting ashamed of the idea, which Ben would have been, Lis just wrinkled her nose.
“It is about time for me to do a new one of those. I think I missed the last two that should have come out, not being famous anymore. There are rules though. Unwritten ones. You have to desperately try to rekindle your flagging career at the ten year, and then twenty year points, after no one cares anymore.” She turned and smiled at Lenore. “I’m not normally into girls, but the scandal would probably be worth it… What do you say?”
She was teasing, and Ben shook his head, knowing that it wasn’t going to happen, even if it would be more entertaining than a running simulator.
“Only if you have a guy in it too. Clark? You should do it. I’d volunteer, but with my good looks it would seem fake. We can’t have that.”
It was Lenore who nodded, but she looked directly at Ben while she did it.
“I don’t know… You looked pretty good to me, but not that far out of keeping with reality. I mean, I could score a date with someone like you, right?”
It was a strange way to say it, but Mags patted his arm, then pulled him up.
“Mine, and yes. You’re good looking Lenore. Now that you aren’t going around, running away from everyone and crying about the voices in your head constantly, I bet you can find your own date in no time. Really, you might even consider doing that tape with Lissa. Dad is out of office next year anyway, and can’t run again. You could use it to jump start your own career as…”
Lenore started laughing so hard that whatever Mags had said just died.
“Oh… Sorry. Can you imagine the look on their faces if I did that? ‘Young lady, we didn’t raise you to be a harlot! How dare you do anything to endanger the wellbeing of the nation!’. It’s actually tempting, even if I’ve never done anything like that. We should keep that on the back burner though. There’s that other thing first, and it would be inappropriate if all those people die.”
That could have killed the mood totally, but Ben got up, and went slowly, so that the rest could keep up with him. Not that he got to the door before Glenda grabbed him, her face somber.
“Ben? Ali wanted me to remind you that you have a training session with her tomorrow? Technically you had one for today as well, but she and Carlos had to go and see about something out of state. If they aren’t back, she wants you to set up and train anyway.”
“Got it. I was just going to lead everyone into an exercise program, hidden as an innocent VR. Though we might get sidetracked by a sex tape. Lissa is considering dusting off Casandra Banks again, for the obligatory come back? It could be worth doing, really.” He spun and looked at the woman, who was behind him by about ten feet. Her face was blank, until he spoke. Then she lit up.
“The acting part, not the sex tape we were joking about. Though, I guess that too. I mean, don’t half of people have them anyway? I don’t, but that just makes me special.” It was true, but for some reason Lissa seemed to enjoy the idea more now for some reason.
“So, you think that I should get Clark and Lenore in on it? That really would be pretty incredible. Even if I haven’t been active for a while. I still look young, hair color aside. Really, I have a better body now than back in the day…”
Clark probably did too, and didn’t seem to be all that shy about it. The only problem that Ben could see was that he’d need to be there for it, so they could act, and not worry about accidently dropping their shields at the wrong time. It could be awkward, but he’d live if they would.
&nbs
p; That settled enough for the time being, Glenda let them go, the blonde woman moving to pat him on the back a little bit. She whispered to him, as if everyone in the room wouldn’t be able to hear her speak.
“How are you holding up?” She let her eyes dart to Micha, and glared at the end. Enough so that the young looking woman got it.
Glenda didn’t seem old, but she did for the group right there. She still looked about thirty. Lissa seemed about five years younger than that, at about twenty-five or so, and Clark was just a tad older seeming than that. Lenore looked like she and Mags could have been born at the same time, and Micha could probably pass as a cute schoolgirl if she dressed for the part.
Ben felt old, but hadn’t really looked in a mirror for a long time. It was a thing that he avoided doing, just shaving by feel every few days, and looking down while he brushed his teeth. It was an old habit of his, not wanting to see what he looked like.
Thankfully the Cymeds had given him a top end shaver, which stunned his beard growth every time he did it. It stung a little bit, but his face stayed smooth for three days after each time he did it, and the stubble wasn’t actually that bad for two days after that.
The rest of the night he got to spend in VR, which was fun. He’d asked Beth to set them up in one of the suites in the back, so they could run and move fast if they had to. There was also hinting after something both fun, and that would get their blood pumping. Not in a porn way. Ben didn’t have to tell Beth that however. She wasn’t really all that bad, as far as a dirty mind went.
Except for some of the fantasies she had about horses. Those were a little dirtier than Ben wanted to know about in regards to the youthful looking woman.
What they got involved fighting, but it was VR style, not hand to hand. They each got a magic wand, and had to fire blasts of energy in long arcs at approaching enemies. They were all on a stone wall, that looked like it was part of a castle, and had avatars that looked mainly like them, but in funny fantasy period clothing. Tunics and trousers, but in brown, as if that wasn’t silly.
They did five levels, before it was time to get home for the night. Micha didn’t ask if she should follow, just dropping back a way, catching up a few minutes later.
“Things look clear for the time being. No attacks incoming that I can tell. So, as long as you aren’t coming for me, Ben?” It sounded calm enough, like she was getting used to him again, but there was probably a bit of real fear in her about it. After all, she hadn’t touched him yet, trying to get a read on him before they went inside.
“Not that I know of. You? I’d rather not have to be tense all night. If it’s all the same.”
She shook her head, which made a bit of snow fly off of her short blonde hair. It wasn’t her real color, but was nice enough really. It made her easier to handle, he decided. Less terrifying.
“That isn’t what I came for, so no. I can let you read my mind, if you want? I’m really not trying to hurt you. I won’t.” That probably wasn’t strictly true, Ben knew. Words came up in his vision, warning him about her, and the fact that she had a lot of training in regards to fooling people.
It also probably meant that she knew that he either wouldn’t take her up on the idea of checking her, or that she could be certain he wouldn’t find anything. That might be due to her mental powers being that refined, compared to his, but Ben doubted it. Meaning that she simply didn’t have anything planned for the time being.
“Not needed. We’ll get along, I’m sure of it. Besides, I’m going to be in with Mags. Having noisy sex that doesn’t end with a beating. You should listen in Micha; it might be instructive to you.” Not that he really meant it, but he didn’t want Micha to think that she could get away with things like that and not even have to face the scorn of others over it.
Ben was trusting her a lot more than she deserved, and it felt right, but that was the oxytocin in his brain making him feel like that. Loving, as well, though so far that hadn’t spread to her yet. The others though, including Clark. Thankfully that was mainly as a friend, or it would be harder to explain to himself when he finally got around to talking to a therapist. He certainly needed to. There just wasn’t anyone that was available. Not that could do the work before his world view changed him beyond all recognition.
So far he still felt like himself. With the possible exception of the times when he just stood there, staring blankly and muttering to himself a little.
That was off, but the rest felt all right, in the main.
Chapter seven
“All right, I thought that I liked the snow, but I’m considering a change of heart on the issue.” Due to the fact that he’d just lost his right slipper to the stuff, not three feet outside of his door. The things stayed on pretty well for the most part, but weren’t designed for what they were doing.
Which was trying to go for provisions.
Not that it was anything all that special, just the morning trip to the dining hall. Everyone had to wait with him in the cold while he struggled to find his lost gray shoe, dump out the snow and not whine about how it was very cold now. It looked ridiculous too. Ben was certain of it, because Lenore and Lissa managed to do the same thing no more than ten feet further on. If there was a trick to not losing their footwear, mean old Clark and Micha weren’t letting on about it.
Mags had gone ahead, out of the null field to check on some things. There was no mention of what that might be, and Ben refused to ask about it. She wasn’t going to try to kill him, and had cuddled with him for a few minutes that morning to prove she had good intentions. Or that she was cold, and his body temperature tended to stay up pretty well now.
Green one, as he’d figured earlier in the year, was not well insulated. The situation was a lot worse for the others, who, lacking good cold weather clothing, had taken to wearing two, or even three layers of the standard gray uniform and socks. Possibly underwear too, but he hadn’t asked anyone, nor had the information whapped him in the head when it wasn’t supposed to.
The thing the day before, where he’d seen Lissa’s mom die… That had kind of shaken him a little bit. Not the event itself, which was no worse than a lot of things that had been coming at him over the last month or two. No, the issue was about it being clearly psychic in nature, and him picking it up while in the null effect zone. It wasn’t impossible that the thing wouldn’t be strong enough to protect him, in the end, but something about the whole thing wasn’t right.
Ben had to wonder if it was just… Different. A memory of an event, or even a vision, that he’d picked up before, linking from Lissa, who was, face it, around almost constantly, that replayed when he needed it later. If that was the case, it was better, for him, but not exactly something that anyone could prove. Even brain scans wouldn’t work, unless he started doing the same kind of thing a lot, and he wore around a portable EEG all the time.
It might not have been a bad idea, but he was momentarily distracted, when a large clump of snow, soft and powdery, hit him in the back of the head. A snowball, Ben had to assume. He didn’t spin in place, just taking a deep breath, the cold fading even as the water melted on his skin. Water vapor rose from his head, in a gentle cloud, and he bent over, grabbing a handful of the white himself. Running was out, after all. The snow would make that pretty much impossible for him. Shooting people could work, but seemed a bit over the bar, since it was only tossed snow.
Besides, when he turned, it was clear that everyone else had armed themselves against him.
“Now!” It was Clark, the traitor, who bellowed the word, causing a volley to come at him at varying speeds. Half of them were lobbed, and arced through the air, the rest were slung at his face directly. His purchase on the snow wouldn’t allow a lot of dodging, unless he was planning to roll and flop in the snow on the ground, which would be worse than the snow projectiles. By enough that he didn’t even think about that consciously. Red lines formed however, showing where the things would land. Two of them were off to his right, too fa
r away to worry about. Two of them sped at his head, and the other was going to take much longer.
Which meant he ducked, nearly slipped on his behind, and had the last snowball land directly on his skull. Everyone else started to laugh, which didn’t show a proper appreciation of what was about to happen. Not in the slightest.
Ben turned, and started to walk away, as quickly as he could, shielding his mind and slipping into a full gamma state. It wasn’t until he was nearly a hundred feet away that anyone got what was happening, and even then, they were all wrong. Even Clark didn’t understand the idea at first. Ben wasn’t leaving in a huff. Not with the big smile he had on his face, which was now running with melted snow. Fresh flakes were falling still, and there was at least thirty centimeters of the fluff on the ground. A foot, according to the helpful measurements that showed then, drawing a glowing green line, and putting numbers beside it.
He wasn’t even trying to just break out of the null effect, though that would be helpful. For instance, when the next volley came at him, distance like that might just help a lot. As long as he turned to look at the others.
The trick for the day came in as far more unexpected, and effective, than he would have thought. Focusing well behind the others, Ben left his body, and found himself standing there, not cold or wet any longer. This part wasn’t real, so there was no reason for that to keep going on. The others all stood in front of him, worried to different degrees.
Clark felt a little bad for setting the whole thing up, because it was cold out, and probably too early in the day for things like that to take place. It had been meant to cheer up Lissa, who was obviously not in a great mood still, and the target, Ben, had just come about due to the fact that hitting the others with snow like that would seem mean. At least if they didn’t do it first.
Lissa was meditating, and concerned that Ben would cut her off again, for taking part in an attack on him. Her silver hair was down in the back, and had collected a bit of snow, which had to be constantly brushed off, to prevent her from walking around with a wet head the entire day.