Void's Psionics

by H. Lee Morgan, Jr

  Oliver brushed his hair back with thick fingers taking a moment to think. “I remember… Renee bringing me more coffee and went to the deck. I remember thinking I saw Sparky having three heads while singing opera…”

  “Opera? Three heads? Oh, new ammo.” Steven and Sparky had some rivalry going on for over nineteen months since he was put on the Dorgenox. They fought constantly, but rarely did it get serious.

  Renee backhanded Steven’s metallic armored stomach, adding a bit of a shock to inflict appropriate pain which kicked the wind from his chest. “No you won’t. Keep pissing my Drake off or even mention opera and you may not live to regret it. Sparky loathes that music style fiercely and is one of the few hot buttons that will make him as ornery as a Keptl sitting right in front of him.”

  “Oh, please!”

  “Oops, he already knows, too bad.” Renee said without a trace of remorse.

  In Steven’s head the old Drake thought “If you wish to keep that ass you are so proud of from my teeth leaving an impression for the next few months you better keep opera to your damn self.”

  “Spoilsports… ugh, fine. You two take the fun out of everything.” Steven threw up his hands. Sparky mentally snorted and left his mind.

  “What else, Olly?” Renee prompted.

  “Other than a few disjointed images… nothing. I’m drawling a total blank.”

  “Then I’m happy to inform you that you finally Fractured.” She practically glowed.

  “I did? Really? … so that is why you let me finally get some shuteye.” He realized.

  “Here, give it a try.” Renee pulled the cube that he loathed with every fiber of his being, but took it and widened the valve to stare in complete relief as he began to pull it apart with relative ease and keep them afloat without so much as a shake. “Amazing.”

  “Sorry it nearly killed you, Brother, but at least now you can catch up on sleep again. The hardest part is over…”

  “But now comes the most mind numbing and tedious part.” Renee cut in. “At every spare chance, your task is to pull it apart and reassemble it within fifteen seconds. Maximum.”

  “Wait… what?” he was dumbfounded, but didn’t let any part fall as they gathered in a mass between his hands.

  “She’s right, Brother.” Steven wrinkled his nose, remembering it too when he was younger. “They say it helps us to figure things out more logically. I feel bad for you because my puzzle cube had only eighty pieces and yours is practically double. I spent months trying to complete the deadline.”

  “But I like puzzles… except for this contraption. It’s too simple though. Remember how I fixed up Stephanie and Jessica’s wedding data crystal? My mind is made for figuring thing out. Watch. Uh, Red, time me.”

  She arched one delicate strawberry brow but said “My chip’s ready to go.”

  To say Steven, Visor and Renee were flabbergasted would be an understatement. Oliver closed his eyes and levitated the pieces, his mind working furiously in putting the parts together in mental simulation a nanosecond before it translated into reality as metal clanked together, disassembled and put back again in less than two seconds.

  “Stars!” the three cursed simultaneously. It was Renee who sighed “Tricky bastard. It takes months to Fracture and an instant to beat my own record by eight seconds. Took me a year to get that good. Alright, fine, we’ll get to the next lesson later tonight.”

  “And that would entail?” He rolled a hand to learn more.

  “Later. You said something about a bath… and Steven needs to have a chat… oh, and hold onto the cube to wash it too. You’ve not washed your hands after going to the bathroom.” She turned to the nearest path to lead to the closest elevator.

  The two burly men and bird followed. Renee knew Oliver was staring at her peach shaped backside in tight jeans for his viewing pleasure. She also heard a bit of a groan to know he just smelled her increased arousal wetting her panties a little. She almost doubled over with a fit of giggles as he tried to take his mind off her scent. “So what do you need of me?”

  Steven’s spear thumped the ground with each few steps to say “Mrs. Menann actually needs your help finding a few things out after Mrs. Void, your evil mistress in front of us, told her you finally broke the mental barrier that holds all of us back. Now that you aren’t about to keel over every few seconds she needs your undivided help since you do seem to have a knack for unlocking secrets.”

  “Why send you and not call me on my com? They still work inside the ship at least since the captain made it impossible from the outside doing so. Blackout protocol and all.”

  “She said we were getting on her nerves. Can you believe she said we were giving her a headache?” Steven touched his breast innocently.

  Oliver’s eyes didn’t roll half as much as Renee’s. “Not you.” The latter bantered.

  “Well, she sent us to go collect you and go bring her some food.”

  “Then go do it and tell her I’ll be over there after a shower. She’s still in her second research lab right?” Both man and bird nodded. “I’ll be there soon.”

  Steven and Visor parted with the two at the elevator. One pair going to the mess to gather food and the other traveling down six levels to speed down the length of the ship, near the rear. The doors opened on level nine nearest the med bay and joined to it is Oliver’s and Renee’s cozy adjoining bedroom.

  White barren walls, a white desk, chair and one plant that gives off a clean citrus aroma greets people to the med bay. It is large and deceivingly empty. It is deceiving because within the walls are comfortable gel covered beds that can slide out under the command of Renee when she uses an implanted chip within her brain to link to the ship’s systems. Soft lights in the ceiling don’t hurt sensitive eyes and also store several medical drone orb scanners that can peer throughout the body in little time. Also up there are extra seats and surgical gear when Renee must fall back on what she calls ‘medieval’ methods in which she must resort to cutting someone open, but those surgeries are a last resort. With nanites and innate regeneration, the body can heal itself from near everything given time. With her chemical knowledge she can create biological solutions for healing literally within herself now. She may be stubborn and blunt, but she is a healer at heart. She hates death as a result of a mother she never got to know. Leading from the room are three other doors. One leads to a scrubbing room that joins to an emergency docking bay. Another goes to the restrooms and showers and the final steel door leads to their bedroom.

  Soft steps faintly echoed the two of them towards the bedroom before Renee suddenly stopped and tapped behind her ear. “Yeah? Shit! I’ll be right there!” She tapped her ear again and used the nearest wall as a platform to launch herself out the room in a blink. Oliver was about to follow when Sparky’s voice suddenly filled his mind. “Renee asked me to tell you Vanessa’s baby Taylor is having a mild seizure, but not to worry. She told Vanessa there was a chance it would happen. Renee didn’t want to correct it in event Taylor could overcome it naturally. She can correct the imbalance in no time, but it will make Taylor fussy for several months as the imbalance that causes the seizures stabilizes is uncomfortable.”

  “Won’t her bracelet and chemicals…”

  Sparky could read the intent and cut in. “No. The it is the side effect is of the body’s assimilation to correct itself. A fussy child is far better than seizures.”

  “True. Well I’m going to finish that shower.”

  “I will meet you at Stephanie’s afterwards. I find myself curious if you can unravel some mysteries.”

  “Can you give me a heads up on what she wants?” Oliver thought to the Drake he could not see as the bedroom door almost silently slid open from the side. Inside it was much cleaner now that Renee no longer needed extra clothes which she’d scatter everywhere. She had donated the clothes now that her armor could make any desire an instant reality. The bed sheets were wrinkled as always and off to the side was a full length mirror
and beside it was an empty barrel that reminded him absently I need to give that back to the captain. The mead was pretty good. But Oliver walked around the oversized bed towards the bathroom, but not before unsheathing his blade and laying it on the nightstand, careful to let it fall or risk the edge slicing through it. At the foot of the bed showed off the splendor of another part of the Sapphire Nebula through a clear sapphire window the length of the room’s wall. The window was part of the ship’s hull, but few wanted such a window view when in FTL it gets bright if they don’t have a shading dimmer or thick drapes.

  Sparky thought “Stephanie would be cross if I did. She wants to speak on it all now that you are lucid again. I will not deny her such privilege she has earned.”

  With that Sparky left his mind. Oliver turned on hot water to absorb every scrap of clothing into the vambrace.

  Pulsing hot drops of water felt wonderful, nearly as much as voiding the overinflated bladder. Grabbing a coarse scrubber and pumping unscented liquid body and hair wash onto it quickly lathered and removed odor as well as dead skin cells. The coarseness scratched his slightly itchy body in all the right places. Cleaning under a vambrace that doesn’t leave the body no matter what is attempt wasn’t difficult. Just thinking about needing to clean that area made it creep higher up the arm and return to its neutral position once the area was washed of all suds. Oliver rather liked the feel of scrubbing a full head of hair and letting the showerhead blast his face meanwhile.

  Invigorating.

  But it was short lived and he turned the water off. To dry in seconds the shower door closed and a blast of hot air from all angles removed nearly all dampness. Only hair was mildly wet, but not so much as to drip.

  Exiting the shower, Oliver willed on a pair of normal pants and went to the sink. On it he filled the basin with soapy water to begin washing the puzzle cube as needed. It took ten minutes to make sure every piece was untainted before grinning as he levitated them into the shower, hit the dryer and reassembled it all before the door opened. He liked how he could do it and not need to look. He rather liked knowing telekinesis was just an extension of his physical form and could feel out without touching or seeing with his own eyes. He sat the now completely clean and dry steel cube down to look at himself in the bathroom mirror.

  Dark rings still surrounded tired eyes, but not as badly as he could last remember. A deep bearded shadow showed about five days without a shave so he pulled a laser pen shaver out of the cup that held their toothbrushes and went to work burning off facial hair. It took two passes to get the jaw baby smooth. Then he put it down to lift a mechanical toothbrush and applied minty paste to remove foul breath. Cavities were no longer an issue with regeneration, but bad breath and clean teeth remained part of normal hygiene.

  Another quick onceover showed he was ready to meet another day head on. This time though he was much more lucid. A long sleeved blue shirt covered the torso, but he decided to go barefoot. He knew he needed to start growing some calluses on his feet to be healthy. Soft feet could be a hindrance even though he could change shoe function on a whim. Sometimes challenging the body was a good idea. Never know when it will be needed.

  Oliver put the cube in the nightstand drawer, sheathed his sword and didn’t forget the empty barrel before leaving. He took the nearest elevator up to level one. The bridge. There he found Abdul Krabble, the ship’s first mate. Abdul had his DNA spliced with that of a jaguar so his body was covered in brown spotted yellow fur, has higher round ears, yellow eyes, filed teeth, a cat’s nose accompanied by opaque whiskers and retractable claws within his fingers. He didn’t have a tail nor a rearranged skeletal structure, but he was rather striking to witness. Right now he sat in a chair, feet kicked up on the helm reading leisurely on a holographic screen. The moment he heard the elevator open he smiled. “What an unexpected surprise. Haven’t seen you in a couple weeks, Oliver. I take it Renee’s leash on you is cut and you finally Fractured?”

  “Hello Abdul.” He was greeted. “And you are correct. I finally got a somewhat decent sleep, but I’ve got so much more to catch up on.”

  “I bet.” The man took a hand off of an oval crystal and the holo-screen disappeared to stand up. “What have you there?”

  “Oh, when the captain invited us to dinner that first time he gave us a barrel of mead. I think it was a week ago we polished it off, but hadn’t thought about giving it back. Need to do it before I forget again or get busy.”

  “Jake sure makes some sweet tasting mead that will get you drunk in no time. I know I’ve had my fare share of blackouts.” Abdul laughed, showing off his teeth. “But Jake’s busy and asked me not to let anyone disturb him. You can leave it behind the first door, in the private lounge, but don’t pass into his private treasury. I’ll be sure to tell him you stopped by.”

  The captain’s cabin opened in recognizing Oliver and he did as asked to come right back out saying “Thank you. Oh, when will we be heading out to Havannah?”

  “When Jake gives the order, but not much longer I’ll wager. From what I know, Renee asked him to wait till you Fracture and now that you have, it will be soon so long as he hasn’t discovered something more interesting from your last mission. I’ll let you know as soon as he tells me.”

  “Then know I’ll be over with Stephanie.” Abdul confirmed he heard with a drop of the chin.

  The doors opened again on level eight where most of the research and labs were held. About a kilometer’s walk away Oliver found Stephanie’s secondary researching area, knocked three times and called out. “It’s me, Oliver.”

  “Come right on in!” Said a soft feminine voice as the door slid open on its own. Inside the room sat Stephanie Menann, a voluptuous woman of average height. She had long blonde hair braided down to the small of her back and large blue eyes. She sat at a desk finishing the last few bites of a meal Steven and Visor had brought.

  The Hunter and eagle sat off to the side near the Drake, Sparky. From snout to tip of the tail Sparky was ten meter’s long, had an arrow shaped head, mossy green scales, brown and orange flecked eyes with a catlike slit for a pupil, thick arms tipped in curved talons and two pair of wings. The wings were situated above the shoulders and just behind the hips. A long neck was exceptionally supple and a thin tail could act as a whip so long as he didn’t decide to use a maw filled with sharply curved teeth.

  The room was where the expert archeologist Stephanie did her work on items too large than her normal room could hold. Off to the side was a clear door that led to a contained clean room where the fifty three barrels they salvaged sat. The containers originated from the wrecked Solarian battleship before the group needed to make a hasty exit after a Keptl Goliath arrived. On the other were many shelves holding other ancient artifacts, but the nearest standing shelves were mostly empty aside from more Solarian Star-sabers, a generic term to describe the ancient weapons, many of which weren’t swords at all. There were of course swords, but also lances, flails, shields, bows, maces, axes and so on. On another shelf were strange black cubes that hardly reflected any light from a smooth surface. Each length Oliver knew them all to be nearly exactly five centimeters long. And each one was identical to the next, even in weight.

  “Hello everyone.” He hadn’t forgotten how to greet a room from lesson’s Sparky taught about proper and polite socializing.

  “Welcome back to the land of the living.” Stephanie responded warmly before taking a drink and pushing the remnants of a meal on the desk aside. “Let’s get right to it, Oliver.” She patted the vacant chair beside her and his bulk consumed it. Sitting on the table were three black cubes and a salmon colored Star-saber dagger in a stand upside down so it didn’t cut through the table under its own weight. She lifted her pen scanner and an oval crystal similar to the one she had given him which also rested in his pocket. She gave the voice command and it made a holo-screen. “Show analysis on the Solarian cubes we found.” And the screen cut to another visual rotating the image of a cube. “Oli
ver, as you can see I’ve determined each cube’s very atoms are packed so tightly they cannot vibrate and is why I need to wear gloves. They suck the heat right out of my fingers. I near got frostbite, but oddly they don’t steal heat from the air around us” She showed the white rubbery gloves off. “I found out the hard way since you and Steven kept yours on after cleaning them and putting on the shelf. The thing is, my scans cannot detect where the heat it stole from me went. They are so dense they can’t be cut, but all weigh no more than two hundred and twenty six point eight grams when they should weigh an excess of ten million kilos at such density. They are as dense as your own cutlass and the rest of the weapons and made of the exact same metal I’m coining as Voidium. Has a nice ring don’t you think?”

  “Why not.” He chuckled. Void being his new last name.

  “Well as I was saying, my scan’s cannot find where the heat of my touch went and you see I killed one of Renee’s lab rats by making them touch and still cannot see a temperature difference anywhere, not even in the core. I’ve hypothesized that since the cubes are made of the same metal as the sabers… it is possible that these are the building blocks to forge new weapons. Sabers draw from you in constant minute quantities to store energy for the gravity manipulation it does automatically. The problem is that it draws too much heat too fast and I cannot figure out why. The other weapons though block any form of psionic channeling and are cold, but not too cold. I’ve done all I can, but you have something I do not.”

  “And that would be?”

  “A functional multi-tool.” She pointed to his right arm which covered the vambrace. “You’ve already proven through it you can figure out how things function. You and it have a link. I think the reason the Voidium cubes were stored behind the locked gate is they were dangerous too. Your multi-tool can tell you what to do, like it did for my wedding crystal and other broken devices. You told me then how they worked before it spat the items out completely fixed.”