I could see Madias and Koda talking in the room we called the command center. In a normal house, it would have been a living room. In Kathy's home, the room was filled with computers and security monitors. There's a rifle rack along one side of the room that holds a dozen assorted rifles and shotguns. There's also a large conference table that we use for briefings.
I stopped Lisa and Tim before we got to the command center, and quietly said, "I'd like to talk to you two for a minute." Then I led them through the house to a medical examination room we all called the Medical Bay. We all stepped in, I shut the door, and said, "It's becoming obvious something is wrong." Looking at Lisa, I asked, "What's going on? Why isn't Tim healing?"
Lisa had helped Tim to a seat, and as she turned, I realized how exhausted she was. She looked at me, and said, "I'm not sure what's going on. Tim has a concussion, and it's affected his abilities to self-heal. I called for help from the Chosen yesterday, and I'm expecting one of their empaths to stop in soon. I was hoping they could heal him enough to get his own immune system back on line. Then he could heal himself on his own accord.
"What's the hold up?" I asked.
"Empaths are few and far between, even among the Chosen," stated Lisa. "I'm still new to all this, but I suspect the Guardians, and the Chosen, have a medical shortage going. They're in combat all over the place, and the few Empaths they have must be hard pressed. They take the pain of the person they aid, so there must be limits to how many people they can help in a given period."
"I can wait," noted Tim. "It's not that bad."
I'm new to the whole business of mind reading and scanning. I stepped closer to Tim, and reached out with my right hand, placing it on Tim's head slightly above his right ear. He looked at me oddly, but was patient, just sitting there.
I reached into Tim’s mind, scanning for damage. Years ago I had studied medical textbooks. I had always craved knowledge for its own sake. Now memories, and medical knowledge, melded within my consciousness. I could see the cellular structure of Tim's mind clearly. There was a small aneurism leaking blood, causing pressure to build slowly.
Going in on the subatomic level, I took the healthy tissue, and used it as a template to correct the vessels involved. It all happened in the blink of an eye. I felt mildly weakened, and Tim's color seemed to return at once. He had looked pale for so long, it was a remarkable change. He instantly focused on me, asking, "What the hell did you just do?"
"I don't know," I replied, slightly shocked. "I saw you had a bleeding subdermal hematoma, and I repaired the blood vessels around it."
Lisa was shining a light into Tim's eyes as I spoke, and quickly turned the thing on me, almost blinding me in the process. I shoved the irritatingly bright light aside, saying, "Hey! Get that thing out of my eyes!"
Undaunted, she shoved back, saying, "Shut up you idiot! Who told you it was a good idea to 'fix' Tim's brain?"
The light back in my eyes, I blinked rapidly trying to think this through. "Alright!" I said. "I get your point! I won't do it again!"
"Idiot," she said with a grunt. It seemed to be her favorite word at this point, no doubt brought on by my brilliant responses to her concerns for Tim's safety, and mine as well. Turning, she opened the door, stepped out, and yelled, "Madias!"
She stepped back in with us, and within a few seconds, Madias, Koda, and Kathy showed up. As soon as they all arrived, Lisa gestured over at me, saying, "Mike's an empath! He just did a home fixit on Tim's brain."
"Uh! That's really not a good idea!" noted Madias sternly. "You need a medical background to do work as an empath."
"I have a good deal of medical training," I observed. "It made me a better killer in the old days."
Tim giggled slightly, saying, "I hope my head doesn't explode! You didn't turn me into a bomb or something, did ya?"
"No," I said, slightly irritated. "Though I probably should have done something about your smart mouth while I was fixing whatever was wrong in your head."
"Hey! That's not the point," snapped Lisa. "From now on, you tell me before you mess with somebody’s mind! Most empaths take on the injuries of those they help! This kind of thing can kill you!"
"I get the point," I snarled back. I could feel a headache coming on, and figured it was time to get some kind of relief.
"It's the injury from Tim!" said Madias loudly. "You've healed him, and I can tell you've almost healed yourself as well. I should have seen this coming in the timeline." He looked closely at me, and said, "I've only seen these kind of powers a few times in my long lifetime. You're a very interesting life form Mike Rutger."
"Thanks," I growled back. "Right now, I'd trade 'interesting' for a couple of aspirin."
Lisa promptly reached up into a cabinet, and pulled out a packet of pills. Tearing off the top of the packet, she handed me the contents. She reached into a small fridge sitting on the counter, and produced a bottle of water, saying, "Take those before it gets any worse."
I took the pills without mentioning that I was already starting to feel better. Madias was watching me intently. Tim said, "I'm feeling much better now. Whatever you did, thanks!"
I felt a snap, as if my ears had just popped, but more to the back of my head. The slight feeling of nausea I had felt disappeared. Lisa had obviously been scanning me, and said, "I'll be damned!"
"No," observed Madias quietly. "That's what it means not to be damned!"
"Let me get this straight," I said. "I'm able to really heal injured people?"
"To a degree," agreed Madias. "But there are definite limitations, and I have heard of empaths going too far and dying. This doesn't make you a god. It just gives you another chance to accidently kill yourself.”
"I might have saved Shooter," I said quietly.
Kathy instantly said, "That's bullshit Mike! If you had intervened, we might have lost both of you!"
"She's right," noted Madias. "Don't kid yourself. This can quickly kill you. Taking on a deadly wound, even for you, could be a onetime mistake."
I've been given all these gifts, and shown I have a destiny to fulfill. Yet I'm constantly advised to use extreme caution. Talk about conflicting messages. I saw an odd look cross Koda's face as we stood there. I could see in a brief mental scan that her thoughts were running parallel with mine.
We all talked for several minutes more, and then broke up and all started walking out. Madias said he had errands to run, and left us almost right away. One by one, we each went our separate ways. I waited two minutes, locked my thoughts on Koda, and folded space.
Chapter 2
Heather
I was in some sort of large medical facility. For just a second, I caught a glimpse of Koda as she disappeared through a doorway. I followed, and found myself in a darkened room. A dim light was on over a bed, but that was it in the room. I caught the shadow moving to my right, and game around hard on it.
At the last instant I realized it was Koda. I had already brought up my right arm up in a defensive gesture, and Koda hissed, "Calm down! It's me!"
"Don't sneak up on me!" I hissed back. "What the hell are you doing here?"
She stood there looking at me silently. I could tell she was trying to make up her mind about something. Just as I prepared to scan her for my answers, she gestured toward the bed, saying, "That's my little sister!"
"You didn't tell me you had a sister," I noted, more than slightly surprised.
"She's been on a coma ever since our parents died," Koda whispered. "They call it a vegetative state. No hope of bringing her back. Despite that, every once in a while, she squeezes my hand. It's enough for them to keep her on life support, but I'd pretty well lost all hope."
I gave her the look, saying, "And we're here tonight because..." The question hung there for a moment.
Then Koda calmly pulled a nasty looking switchblade from her pants pocket. With a distinct snap, it clicked open, and Koda used her right hand, to deftly run the blade into the palm of her left hand. She did it so
quickly that I just stood there gaping as she grimaced, and then removed the five inch blade from her palm.
The wound healed in less than two seconds, I small smear of blood was all that showed the event ever occurred. As I looked from the blade to Koda's eyes, she said, "If you can do it, I can do it! I'm going to help my little sister!"
"So you just thought you’d sneak over here, and kill your little sister!" I growled, barely able to contain my anger. "You stood there, and got the same lecture from Lisa and Madias I got. What part of 'this is dangerous' did you not understand?"
Her face reddened, but she hesitated. Then she quietly said, "I've wanted for so long to help her! She's my little sister! Do you understand what that means to me? She's all the family I have left!"
"I understand that," I acknowledged. "I'm just saying, if you mess her up, you can kill her. How much medical training do you have?"
"Not much," she said.
"I used to read medical dictionaries for fun," I said. "I started getting first aid training as a Boy Scout, and got refresher classes every few years till the military trained me in battle triage. Lisa still told me I wasn't qualified for brain surgery, and she was probably right. If I'm not up for this, you definitely aren’t up for it."
I could see the frustration on her face, and read it in her mind as well. Looking around, I asked, "Where the hell is this place?"
"It's a private hospital," replied Koda. "My real parents were pretty well off, and heavily insured." She looked down at the girl sleeping in the bed, and then said, "I made sure she would be safe, and taken care of."
I shouldn't have, but I reached into the girl's mind as she laid in the bed. At first glance, nobody was home. I saw no sign of neural activity, and went looking for an abnormality within the structure of her brain. To my untrained eye, there was no sign of easily evident damage.
I focused back on Koda, and said, "I don't readily see anything wrong, but we should let Lisa and our doctors look into this. They may see something I don't."
With a great deal of hesitation, she said, "I've carried this for so long, I've even blocked it from my mind." She paused, thinking for a few seconds. Then she quietly asked, "Do you think they can help her?"
"A few months ago," I observed. "Madias took me to visit a huge white dragon on a distant planet. The Dragon and I had a nice little talk. Since then, I've kind of stopped limiting what I believe is possible in this Universe."
Koda's face lit up, and she almost lost track of where she was, loudly saying, "Oh my God!" Then she dropped her voice again, whispering, "I want to see a dragon so bad!"
"I get the feeling you'll get your chance," I said. "For now, let’s agree that you'll talk to Lisa about this. As for your ability to instantly regenerate, I'll remind you of the same thing they tell me. You can still die. If you get run through with a steel rod, and remain impaled, you will die just like any other human." She nodded her head, acknowledging the comment.
I stepped closer to the girl laying on the bed. It was obvious she was Koda's sister, but her features were darkened, and her body looked slightly shriveled. The years of being bedridden had obviously impeded her body’s healthy development.
"I just want her to wake up," said Koda. "I was hoping I had finally found a way."
"Not like this," I said. "Let’s use the new powers given to us wisely. You know this is wrong. Once you think it through for a minute, you'll see what I mean."
"I don't have to think it through," she agreed. "I already know you're right, I just came here without thinking. I probably wouldn't have even done anything. I just had to see her. I haven't been back since I met you. I was overdue for a visit."
"I'll talk to Lisa about this myself," I noted. "Between her, and the medical facilities of the Chosen, I'll bet more can be done for her, than they can do here!" Koda stood looking down at her sister. I abruptly asked, "What's your sister’s name?"
"Heather," Koda said softly. "I can remember she used to sing like an angel. Her voice was so sweet, it gave me chills to hear her."
The remark seemed to finish the conversation. "Let’s return home," I coaxed. "I'll talk to Lisa as soon as we get back."
"Fine," she agreed. We stood there a few seconds longer as Koda looked down at her sister. Then she said, "Let’s go."
We folded space, reappearing in front of Kathy's house in Florida. I had Koda walk in with me, and brief Lisa on the spot. An hour later, we were making arrangements to transfer Heather to a special facility, controlled by the Chosen.
As we were finishing, Koda and Bugs started into a conversation about the self-healing capabilities she and I were exhibiting. I could tell the entire concept had Bugs very excited.
It was two days before Dona showed up again. We worked on the use of handguns, and it quickly became obvious I was a better shot with a pistol than Dona. A small competition began, and I shot a perfect pattern, never dropping a shot in fifty rounds. Firing on a target fifty yards away, Dona missed twice.
Then Koda asked if I was up to a second round. I agreed, and we ended up in a dead heat. Koda had a pattern no larger than a fist, and mine was a match. I glanced at her smiling, and asked, "Would you like to try swords instead?" She just smiled, and backed out of the ring.
Dona had been watching the last duel with growing interest. As we stood talking about swordplay, Dona casually asked if I would like to meet a really good swordsman. Without thinking, I agreed.
Madias instantly appeared with a Guardian right behind him. I could quickly tell the person was a woman. Madias and the Guardian stepped up to me, as Dona said, "I’d like for you to meet Delphi Marx. She is one of the Guardian's best people with a sword. She has personally asked to try her hand at disarming you. Is that alright?"
I was getting a really bad feeling from all this. She wasn't a large woman, but she moved like a cat. I could see that she would be fast on her feet. I nodded at Dona, and said, "I'm willing to try."
"Don't try," instructed Madias. "Do!"
Reaching over my shoulder, I pulled the long blade off my back. A full sword seemed to just appear in Delphi’s hands. A smile spread across her face as I took my standard opening stance, and without further ado, she attacked me. She attacked low, and had me backing up right from the opening move.
We went back and forth, faster and faster. The blades became a blur, and for a split second, she stepped into my guard, and tried to knock the blade out of my hand. I caught it at the last moment, but she almost had me in the first sixty seconds of the fight. Her smile spread further across her face, till she look almost feline. With a snarl, she attacked again, rushing me twice, forcing me to move quickly to stay out of her reach.
I suddenly lunged, and reversed the attack on her. She was almost running from me at one point. She would try to turn, and I would be there waiting for her. There was a final fury of swords, and then we broke.
Her smile still evident, she said, "I’d like you to meet one of my instructors. Would you mind?"
I really didn't want to meet her instructor. I could barely keep up with this young woman. I hated to think about what her instructor would do to me. Despite that, I heard myself say, "Bring em on!" Delphi looked at Madias, and just smiled. A split second later, another Guardian appeared. Like Delphi, she was a woman. Unlike Delphi, there was no smile on this woman’s face.
"This is Admiral Lisa Naft Trent," Delphi stated respectfully. "She is on Lord Satu-Ra's private staff. She's also one of the finest Sword Masters ever linked to the Guardians."
"And she wants to chase me around with a sword," I observed, only half joking.
The woman never smiled, but she said, "Don't run if you don't want me to chase you!" Then she attacked.
She screamed as she came at me, and she was fast. Her blade started the opening arc low, swung up high, and came down with a brutal crash. My hands were already going numb from fighting Delphi, and I almost dropped the blade as Lisa came around with blinding speed. Stepping back away from he
r, the blade she had scratched my arm, ripping the shirt. A bead of blood appeared, and the wound instantly healed over.
"Interesting," said the Admiral as she circled me warily. She lunged at me again, and went into a series of spinning arcs that brought her closer to me with each pass. On the third pass, I couldn't back away fast enough, and she ended up right in front of me. She reached out, shoving out hard at my chest, and I fell on my ass.
To my own surprise, I rolled around, and came up below Lisa's guard. Rolling my blade to the inside, I curled Lisa's blade away, and it arced twenty feet through the air, coming to rest buried fifteen inches in the ground, ten feet away.
Lisa, now disarmed, suddenly smiled for the first time, and said, "That was well done!"
"Damned straight!" yelled out Koda.
Delphi burst out laughing, and said, "I've never seen you disarmed before."
Even Madias was smiling as he said, "I told you he was good!"
There was about an hour of discussion, and when Madias and the two Guardians left, I felt that I had passed a test, without knowing the full implications of what I'd done.
Afterwards, I was talking to Koda when we were alone. She looked at me, and said, "You haven’t told anybody I have the same abilities you do. Have you?"
"In the military, we called it a need to know," I noted quietly. "Besides. We don't know what your capabilities are yet. Let’s wait till we have a better understanding of what is happening."
She just nodded agreement, and we let it go at that.
Chapter 3
Giants
It's been almost a week since I updated my journals. Our training has intensified greatly, and Delphi Marx has started making regular, daily, visits, to our little training camp. At first I thought she was showing up to train me. But after a few days, I realized she was using me as a training tool.
The Koda Files Boxed Set - Books 1 & 2 Page 18