Void's Psionics

by H. Lee Morgan, Jr

  Renee rubbed her eyes. “Wanted to see an ocean sunrise… er minus those thunderheads over there.” She pointed away to the fat purple clouds in the early predawn.

  “Take what ye get, Lass. Them cubs looked especially spirited this morn.”

  “Adorable aren’t they?” Renee said and laid her head back on her man’s chest. His arms hugging beneath her bountiful breasts casually. “The sound of the ocean must have lulled me to sleep.”

  “Like it did when ye were a babe. It was the only way to get ye to settle down and let me get some sleep. Me or yer aunts that is. Ye were a fussy baby, but this sound always soothed yer ears.” Jake said, sitting next to them. “Did ye both sleep well?”

  “Sure did, Papa.” Oliver held back a chuckle as he watched her mentally remembering last night’s lovemaking. She especially liked being pressed against the shower wall with her ankles locked around his waist as his cock ruthlessly was more like a jackhammer drilling its way so deep it reached her very soul. If not for the near soundproof doors, it would have sounded like he was murdering her and she had loved every hilt slamming second of it. She looked up and winked. Thought you might like to see me thinking of that. To then rub one of his softly hairy thighs below the edge of his shorts.

  “Did me granddaughter behave herself?” Jake said in a fatherly tone.

  “As a matter of fact I have something to show you.” Renee carefully pulled her daughter off the nipple to use her pinky finger to softly rub the pink belly.

  The reaction had the bearded giant grin. “She moved her arms! She didn’t move two days ago.”

  “My hellion is growing her first muscles aside from her diaphragm. My milk is loaded with protein so she’ll quickly put on weight.”

  “If only I had that book, Lass.” Jake didn’t touch his grandchild, not with Oliver so close. “Yer development would have been better, even after I spliced yer mind to not make ye seem too different from other children yer age.”

  “I’m glad you protected me, Papa. Had you given me breast milk like the kind Izzy is feeding on, I would have been two and looked six to seven years old. I’m just glad when I went hunting Beasts it was at the age where no one would notice my puberty was a bit faster than normal. After all, what girl has a C cup bra size at fourteen? I’m just glad they stopped at a D. Besides, Izzy will have a normal childhood even if she reaches adulthood in about ten years.”

  “I’ll spoil her rotten.”

  “I didn’t turn out so bad.”

  Oliver chuckled.

  “And what the hell was that sound supposed to mean?” Renee looked up and glared. Her emerald irises darkening.

  “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

  “He means yer a pain in the arse, Lass.”

  “Papa!” Renee gasped and glared.

  “Just telling it how it is, Daughter. Yer a stubborn wench and ye get it all from me. I needed an heir worthy to take over me armada if I were killed. I raised ye to take no shit from anyone. Ye know this. Me crew is yers if I die. When I do one day I’ll rest easy among the stars knowing ye are me worthy successor.”

  “Papa, you know I hate death. So stop acting like it is going to happen soon.”

  “It is the truth, Lass. True immortality is impossible. We just prolong the inevitable. I could die in the next minute or the day when the universe eventually dies itself. We never know when the end of our story comes to a close. So enjoy the time we have together and remember them. Ye know nothing of yer ancestors, but they live on through ye. In essence, when I lose me life, it won’t be gone completely. Ye’ll live and so will me granddaughter.”

  “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” The forcefulness in the way she said it made that conversation end and they watched the Liger cubs play some more for several minutes.

  Eventually the silence was broken as the captain asked “Lad, how goes the micro-drone search?”

  “Not as well as I originally hoped. I found a pathway to reach the city, but it will not be easy. I’ve checked the defenses and there are aquatic gates your sensors didn’t detect. From what I can tell, the city of water is made of puzzles you have to complete and also avoid the eels who can pass the gates easily. We also have to deal with undersea turbulence the giant eels create with their massive bodies.”

  “Aquatic gates?”

  “Yes. I’ve found nanites that noticed my neutrino size drones and found the water compresses into a density resembling steel. The nanites reacted to foreign proximity. There are two gates I located to pass deeper into the core. And they were heavily defended. And I mean that the firepower there is near as great as the defensive drones that fired on the ship when it ripped a chunk of the land off Zerika. Enough to kick my ass in no time. Add to it the immense pressure of the water that deep and I’ll be taxed too much. I’ve yet to test my armor so deep, but I did find that the city of water is maintaining around a ball of a black hole which keeps the planet from spinning all its water away. Very likely the city is mobile. I was wrong, it isn’t the core. A shielded chunk of dense black hole is what is actually keeping Mereddia together. Most likely I can raise the city to the surface. When the castles closed down, they left natural defenses in place to deter access. This castle is no different.”

  “Truly?” Jake was seriously intrigued.

  “Yes, but a second opinion will always be welcome. Want me to flash over my reports.”

  “Aye. It will change how we go about organizing a drop team.”

  Oliver accessed his neural chip and sent over the accumulated and condensed data surrounding the aquatic gates, planetary core and how the city was maintained.

  “I’ll need some time to sift through this data. It helps it reads like a program from a holographic video.”

  “Take all you need. We are safe for now, Papa.” Renee expressed. “But now it is your turn to hold Izzy. Olly and I are going for a swim.”

  “We are?” she gave him a look. “Right we are.”

  Jake chuckled as Oliver moved to the water. When he wasn’t looking Renee gave her daughter to the grandfather to go joining him in more undersea exploration.

  Little colorful fish flitted to and fro, nibbling on algae or each other if they were a slightly larger predator. Trying out a technique Callier once taught, Oliver projected serenity and friendship to the aquatic creatures and did so so gently that the fishes came right up to play without fear. Renee stood on the bottom, watching with a smile as she wore just her clear helmet and dark mouth and nose mask to breathe and a bikini to feel the warm water on her flesh.

  They were soon joined by Stone and Breena who also helped out when one Crab came in for their breakfast. This time Oliver stabbed it through the throat. There was plenty of meat in addition to the extra one set out last night to feed everyone, Ligers and Drakes included.

  Chapter 15

  Plans were made, revised and scrapped over and over for many days as Oliver’s micro-drones came up with new and more detailed analysis of the situation down at the core. It was day seven on the beach and it was often the cool heads of Oliver and Stephanie that kept the peace. Sadly Steven and Sparky loathed each other as they ever had and fought daily. Hardly a surprise there.

  Three minor jellyfish accidents made Renee teleport to the patients spread around the large island to be the dedicated medic everyone relied on.

  Yesterday Andrea’s son and daughter, their respective mates and young children arrived and spent most of their time with her and finally meeting the legend soon to become their mother’s husband. Sadly her parents couldn’t make it.

  It was first thing this morning that the daily plans were put on hold and everyone aside from Renee, Andrea and Jake were outside waiting for news.

  Renee had Andrea sit up on the soft bed and used her bracelet to induce labor as well as administer a neural pain blocker. It made childbirth an actual simple experience for the mother. Instead of hours of contractions, nanites opened the cervix to the appropriate dilation within fifteen
minutes. From there Renee extended her hand and telekinetically reached inside to gently grab hold of her baby brother and pulled him and the afterbirth out gently. A tiny shock from Renee’s finger forced a loud cry from David. She passed him over to the parents and finished closing Andrea up within twenty minutes and with the nanites, everything of bearing a baby was quickly rearranged back into their natural place.

  Andrea was back on her feet within another ten minutes and all of them came out with Jake proudly yelling “Me boy is here!”

  Everyone with hands clapped, the Ligers roared and Drakes flapped their wings against their sides loudly. Baby David wailed at the noise and everyone began to laugh.

  The day was spent fawning over the new child. It was also the first day Isabella make her first squeaking sound. Mead flowed freely despite the tolerance law. Jake’s rank as pirate king allowed the rare liberty. What was especially funny was one of the cubs snuck a drink and got rebuffed by Nova, but the inebriated cub was too cute.

  Not till the following morning did Oliver, Stone, Jessica and the captain stand inside his shuttle looking over the holographic display did Steven ask “So this is the final decision? You sure you don’t want to keep changing the plan just one more time…”

  “Don’t be obnoxious, Lad.” Jake was tired too and he wasn’t known for patience. “This is the best way to raise the city safely.”

  “You mean send us to the belly of the beast blind.”

  “Give me twenty minutes and I’ll create a means to see in the dark and combine our views so we aren’t blinded. Don’t forget that the eels are light sensitive. Even a spark will send them into a frenzy. We go in completely black while my Pride is the relay to the surface. Sparky’s pissed as it is, but he can’t control his body’s glow. He’ll get too excited to fight and must stay too. You’re going because you can control yourself more than he is capable. So go black out your armor, cover every blinking light and seal off the pauldron lights. One spark of illumination and they’ll be on us. If I can create a way for us to see, we can go in hopefully undetected.”

  “If we cannot, Brother?”

  “Then Renee will kill by telepathy. But that is a last resort.” Stone said and got a nod from Oliver. “Come, Brother, we must ready our armor.”

  “I’ll go create that linked visual aid.” Oliver stepped out and flew over to the beach. On the way he aimed an arm at the beach and a tendril scooped up the silica sand and he touched down in the trees for space from others as he began transforming sand into specialized crystalline devices that integrate into Hunter armor circuitry as well as into four lenses for two sets of Solarian. His vambrace began imputing information as well as power with which to operate the crystal technology. It took longer to create the technical aspects than to make the optical enhancements in practically total darkness. Where light never seemed to reach.

  Out ejected three tiny white crystals and four thin lenses. Two of which were set inside the hidden eyelets of his helmet. He sent out a single micro-drone to see how he looked and the completely black form that sucked in all light didn’t glint. Not even the new lenses offered reflection.

  Oliver soon returned to the beach where Stone, Breena and Steven had removed all their armor and were spraying their armor completely black. He handed the rice size crystal to all three and showed them where to integrate it and how to activate it by vocal command.

  Renee had also come up, hearing it all through him to say “I synthesized my breast milk enough to feed Izzy for a good week. Andrea and Gemma will look after her along with Rose. These the new optics?” she wondered, taking the lenses and inserting them over the blackened film covering her whole head.

  “Yes. Just don’t activate them till we get deep.”

  “Yep. Don’t want to go blind anytime soon. I hear growing back an eyeball sucks ass.”

  All too soon the paint dried and the Hunters donned the jet black armor. Oliver then willed the armor and out shot four tethering lines. “So we don’t get blown apart in the currents.” He said and they nodded.

  Together all five of them walked into the water. Renee was centered among them, Stone taking the rear, his hatchets also blacked out and ready. To either side of her were those carrying a lance. Oliver out front moving with his blackened shield and sword so the sparkle didn’t give them away. They all walked across the bottom, Oliver using his armor to snatch the spare anchor Jake disengaged from his shuttle. The line was attached to his waist like everyone else. Without a trial of hesitation the five stepped off the roots to plunge after the anchor dragging them all down to save energy.

  By the time the sparkling blue water was going darker and darker, pressure sensors inside Hunter armor were getting to dangerous levels and Breena said so. Renee, as the core in the group, stretched out her hands and a foot to Stone and released a barrier to counteract the water pressure that would crush them like a tin can.

  Remarkably both Oliver’s and Renee’s specialized armor began to transform all on their own. Their masks began sucking oxygen straight from the water to add counter pressure to the crushing depths. The thing is, the pressure was done inside the material itself so they didn’t get hit with hyperpoxia, too much oxygen forced into bodily issue. The armor compensated for each additional increase of pressure, making them feel only the minor squeeze put on from the armor itself. Inside they were experiencing a comfortable oxygen rich atmosphere.

  With pressure came a drastic drop in temperature. Hypothermia was negated by extra insulation.

  Oliver said “We’re deep enough. From here on all talking is by telepathy. Not only are they light sensitive, they are also sound too. ‘Illuminate the deep abyss’.”

  “Illuminate the deep abyss.” They all chorused to activate the new visual systems.

  Darkness turned to a soft blue, pushing the gloom back. From the display projected inside the helmet came up four other views.

  “Much better. I was getting worried there for a moment.” Breena announced with her mind.

  “Anyone having problems?” Renee asked.

  “Left at fifteen hundred. Spotted a big ass squid.” Steven alerted and all heads glanced to the invertebrate lazily swimming away. “Bigger than any on Earth’s records of indigenous species.”

  Still they dropped. Deeper and deeper with nothing to stop them. Twice were sightings of giant sharks, but minimal movements didn’t draw either’s attention. Renee continued to strengthen the barrier around the three following and she manipulated it to render the increasing glow invisible due to Phantom training where by manipulating electrical fields in a delicate way rendered the barriers invisible. She could have cloaked everyone, but it was decided to limit the sense of Psionic energy. Going invisible required a large amount to sustain. Enough that other creatures sensitive to electricity would follow.

  More than twenty long and tense minutes was spent in relative silence except when there was animal sightings. They especially steered clear of fish that gave off natural light. They had seen a shark take one out the size of the captain’s shuttle.

  Strong underwater currents blew them around some, but the anchor was heavy enough to resist. Oliver was sure glad Breena had thought up the binding together last week. It sure came in handy. Some currents would throw them around like a ragdoll.

  When it seemed like the fall would take forever it at last happened, the anchor hit something and was deflected so hard Oliver barely unhooked his line from the anchors as the weight was ejected so fast it left Mereddia space.

  “Fuck, that almost hit me!” Steven yelled.

  “Shut up, Dumbass!” Renee snapped. “You were told it would happen. How else has the planet not filled with landmass? It stays water because of the barriers. It would have been hit by dust, debris and asteroids to fill it up over millenia, but hasn’t. Only living matter isn’t ejected. So unless you want to be eaten, shut the fuck up!”

  “Oh I get eaten all the time. It’s why I like Gemma so much.”

  “
Just shut up already.”

  “Yes, Mrs. Void.” His mental voice was hardly scolded and he imagined dancing, something Renee saw and punched him upside the head.

  “Enough. We’re about to reach the first barrier.” Oliver canceled further bickering. “I’m going to let all of you go. If I am rejected like the anchor, return to the surface. Jake should be ready to catch me before I leave the system.”

  The lines connecting them unlatched as he got closer to a translucent wall. With upmost care Oliver placed a foot down going limp. Being tense would do more harm than good.

  Sudden thrust didn’t happen and he touched down completely. “Solid.” Carefully the four followed.

  “Which way, Brother?” Stone said as he hit bottom.

  Oliver checked the readings to say “Three klicks that way.”

  So began the slow march. On the surface Andrea told Jessica the news who in turn said “Nova tells us they reached the outer one. Come back to the planet.” Jake confirmed and reentered the atmosphere.

  “Hold! Nobody move a muscle.” Stone mentally shouted and every person froze. From his view they all watched as a great pale body over a kilometers long swam roughly in their direction from below. The lazy swim of the eel indicated they were not seen. Renee readied to kill with a thought, but wasn’t needed.

  Because from below it came another thrice as large as the other. A brilliant flash slammed into the smaller eel as the larger took the opportunity to kill its dazed victim and tore into it.

  “Move fast while it is preoccupied. Fresh blood will attract others.” Renee said and wasn’t questioned. They swam and ran as fast as they dared. What they saw next proved her words true. Another large one began to fight over the prey from out of nowhere. “Still want to play, Steven?”

  “I’m good.” He just got a healthy dose of fear after that ferocious display.

  Good luck lasted all the way to the aquatic gate. It wasn’t an actual gate with bars or a door. Instead was a node that looked like a strange larval life form, but made out of a strange azure metal that was untouched by debris and time.