“Why did you expect us?” Mercy asked, looking around the disappointingly boring room. The majority of the small space was taken up with tables for the many computers and stacks of files bound with large rubber bands or yellow string. To their left, one whole wall was dedicated to a row of file cabinets, and in the far corner, a chair sat surrounded by an array of medical equipment, all turned off.
“Here, have a seat.” Noticing her perusal of the room, Alan said, “I know, it’s not much, but this is just our research hub. We have another room for most of the lab work just next door. Look,” he put on a concerned frown like it was a hat he kept for special occasions. “I didn’t have anything to do with that incident last night.” He was giving most of his attention to Cord. “Please believe that I would never condone such treatment, ever.”
Cord didn’t speak when Alan paused for a response, and it was clear that his blank, unimpressed expression made the man very uncomfortable. He decided to appeal to Mercy, “I hope you can forgive our misguided students. They can be a little overzealous…”
Mercy was trying for the same look as Cord, but she didn’t think it was working very well. He didn’t seemed the least impressed. Besides, it felt weird on her face, so she decided to cut to the chase, “I am still interested in your information, if your offer from the other night stands?”
“Of course…” His concern disappeared even quicker than it had appeared.
“Good.” She shrugged off her backpack and pulled out her tablet. “I want it downloaded onto here.”
“What?” He looked at the computer like it was a snake. “I can’t do that. I offered to share...not hand it over. I thought you would like to hear some…”
“No. I want it all, and I want it now.” When he just shook his head in amazement, she added, “I have no intention of stealing it, I just want it for personal use.”
“No way.” He stood up, raising his hands and backing away from the aggression that started rising up in front of him in the form of two increasingly determined visitors.
“You want me to do it, or do you want to?” Cord asked.
“I will,” she said, sending her power out toward him in a thin ribbon. It wrapped around his arm, after encountering his natural shield and being permitted to pass through. She spoke to him, It would be better if he didn’t know you have powers. He already suspects me anyway.
She could feel his dislike of her touching him, but he allowed it, knowing that they would be much more efficient as a team.
They had very rarely communicated that way, because it was so intimate and they had never had more than a working relationship with each other. Because her ability was so strong, it was hard for her to not press on his mind unconsciously, and that bothered them both. He didn’t like that she could view his inner self, and she was undeniably uncomfortable with what she found there, anyway. However, this time she couldn’t help but notice that there was some subtle change in him from the last time they had cooperated together. Something was...softer…
“Let’s try this first,” Cord said, moving into the man’s space and forcing him to back up. “How about you unlock your information, step aside and let us take what we want? That way, you get to have a happy, pain free day?”
“I’ll just yell,” Alan protested, glancing at the door he had locked himself.
“Sure, but you’ll still be hurt, won’t you?” He laid his hand on the man’s shoulder.
When he opened his mouth, Mercy sent her power into Alan, and instead of screaming, he sucked in a loud breath. His eyes flew open, and his body straightened out like a board. She already knew how to find what she wanted, so her power went straight there, to the place in his chest where all the lines connected.
When she first learned how to do it, she thought she was grabbing on to some core part of the person’s spirit. She had since learned that her power just sat there, over something like a well, and drew on the power lines that ran through the body, soaking up all the energy, until the lines and the well were empty. She could, if she wanted to, just grab everything that was sitting in the well in one shot and pull it out. When she did that, the person would start to convulse and then die within minutes. She had only done it on one occasion, and only to defend herself. It was something she never planned to do again.
She had no intention of hurting Alan. She would leave with nothing before she even got close, because he wasn’t a bad person or her enemy. However, she wasn’t adverse to scaring him a bit, to get the information that he had. It was a dirty trick, she knew, and well below her family’s standards in terms of honorable behavior. On the other hand, he had shown her that unethical manipulation wasn’t below his standards the other night, so she had decided to let him have a taste of that particular spicy dish.
She connected with his thoughts and showed him the things she was capable of. She immediately felt his whole body shake with the realization of both what she was and what she could do. Alan, as you can see, I’m highly interested in your research. Why don’t you help me to understand this power? Transfer the files, now.
He nodded and moved slowly and stiffly over to the computer at his desk. He entered his password, created a dump folder and began copying files into it. Because he had no experience shielding his thoughts, she could hear everything that he was thinking as he did it.
I can’t believe this. A high level manipulator, right here on campus!...Here is everything on the genetic research, but not the experiments, she won’t need…
Those too, Alan. All of it, please.
Of course...The opportunities are endless! If we could study her...There, now for all the EFM work, there’s a lot of that...and that should be the last…How long can you sustain this level of exertion?
You said something about using machines…
Images of some kind of container, like a box flit across his mind. Then a man with a collar...the stinging fear and regret.
Yes, it was mostly experimental...here it is…
It had been a disaster, but to him it was an important starting point. His thoughts betrayed his desire to see what reactions and results he would have gotten from her.
No thanks. Keep moving.
I don’t think you understand how much you could contribute to our work, our body of knowledge. It would be so important…
After he had transferred the last subfolder, another thought appeared briefly and then winked out. Was that person a Human?
What was that?
Nothing.
It was something...something dangerous. She squeezed, just a little.
Okay, stop! It was just something we heard of, a rumor on the network.
The Kin are trying to develop a tool to interfere with the fields? She scanned his thoughts as they flew by. Get it.
He accessed another computer and pulled a folder labeled Teris Screen Shots over and into the cache. Then he transferred everything to her tablet.
“That last one,” he gasped, when she let him go, “isn’t something you want to show around.”
“We’re not showing this to anyone, Alan, I told you that. It’s for me.”
She picked up her computer and stuffed it into her bag, nodding to Cord who had taken up a position by the door.
“Hey, you’re just going to leave?” Alan sputtered. “At least let me ask you some questions before you go. Please? A short interview, for purely academic purposes?”
“Sorry, but we’re kind of on our way out,” Cord said, opening the door for her and standing in front of Alan who had followed her.
“Out? Where?” He asked urgently, peering around Cord at Mercy.
“Out out,” Cord answered, tilting his head to block the man again.
“You’re leaving? But, this could be…” he pleaded with Mercy, and now that she knew him better, she could see how desperately he wanted to know… “My only chance to study...to learn from a strong candidate! We have nothing...nothing on someone like you.”
Mercy hesitated. She
knew him now. He was a researcher, a scientist to the core. Alan Gibbs lived to piece together puzzles, solve riddles, identify complex relations. His elation at mapping creation made him, drove him, wove him into a man.
It reminded her of Scythe and the hours he would sit in his room or outside under some tree on sunny days, reading like each word was a breath of air and he couldn’t stop, because it meant he’d suffocate. Sometimes she’d sit by him and read, too or just lean back against him and close her eyes and feel the breeze. She’d use her power to tie herself to his waist or his ankle and quietly coast in the soft melody of his contentment. It was not an empty song, like when he meditated, but one filled with a million moving parts, flying along every trajectory in a gigantic pattern too big for her to understand. She didn’t try to wrap her mind around it or even grasp a passing phrase. She didn’t need to comprehend it. It was enough to bear witness to its perfection.
“You can come with us,” she surprised them all, even herself, by saying, “on our way out, and I’ll answer anything that I can. How’s that, Alan Gibbs?” They’d be leaving soon, and she didn’t plan on coming back. It would completely ruin her Karin identity, but she was pretty sure that was already a done deal after today anyway. So, for Alan Gibbs, to give him something only she could give, she broke a rule.
“Mistake number one,” Cord said, grabbing the man by the shoulder and pushing him out in front of them. “When I said you were a train wreck and a half, I was way short of trains. This is a multi-train, multi-track…”
“Yeah, okay, I got the message. No,” she shook her head when Alan pulled out a mini recording drive from his pocket. The size of a stick of gum, it was great for taking notes, but only had about a two hour storage limit. They were very expensive, so she never had one. “No recording.”
“Oh, okay. Thank you, this means a lot to me, to my…”
“Go ahead. We’re going to be moving pretty quickly, so you don’t have much time.”
They had already rounded the front of the building and were crossing the grass. Soon they would pass the dormitories and arrive at the bus stop. A short twenty minute trip to the main station would put them in position to get Mercy’s first ticket, which, because Karin was supposed to be going home, would send her in the wrong direction for a short while. At the first rest stop, she would get off and purchase the second ticket in a long line of fares that would carry her across the continent to her remote home.
“Okay. When did your ability manifest?”
“Um...” She quickly realized that she still had to decide what she would and would not tell him.
“A general range?”
“Younger than twelve.”
“Really? Okay, that is informative.”
So would the truth have been. Most people, based on what little information had already been gathered, started showing signs of an ability around puberty, usually between twelve and sixteen. Mercy had been having visions since she was eight.
“What are your abilities, exactly?”
“Energy field manipulation, in the form of energy bands, very controlled, directional from any part of my body outward.”
“Distance?”
“Up to half a block.” That was actually way short.
He stopped, his mouth dropping, and then rushed to catch up when they didn’t wait for him. The bus had pulled up to the curb and some students were already getting on.
“Well, I guess this is..”
“Can I ride with you, just for a bit?”
“Um, alright.”
“Mistake number four.”
When they waited for him to explain, Cord said, without looking, “Mistake two was when you opened your mouth, and mistake three was when I followed you.” He shrugged when she narrowed her eyes and pinched her lips together, “At least I’m not counting each time you open your mouth as separate mistakes. They all fall under one big, gigantic...” He began to gesture with his hands, making the shape of an enormous sphere in front of them. “...humungous mistake number two.” He had to shrink the mistake bubble to fit it through the bus door...the extra wide double door.
After they found their seats at the relatively deserted back, Mercy held up her hand when Alan started to ask, “How many…”
She connected with him, reaching out to do the same for Cord, but he repelled it with a small burst of his own power. He didn’t want to listen in, apparently.
Go ahead.
This...This is amazing!
She couldn’t help but visualize a kid with a wad of money in his hand standing in the doorway to a toy store. He saw the picture as well, and his excitement doubled. He stared forward blindly in his seat, unable for a moment to put together a coherent sentence, and soaked up each detail of the image.
Isn’t there anything about this in your studies? She asked.
There are some telepathy references, but they are not well documented and the descriptions are nothing like this. This is so clear and the addition of visual imagery is...well, it’s unprecedented. So, EF manipulation and telepathy. Anything else?
Not that I’m willing to talk to you about. Sorry.
That’s okay. This is enough, I assure you. Are there any side effects?
Not really. Maybe at first...I used to get tired after a while, but that was years ago. The EFM has its limits but I don’t really know what they are because I’ve never tested them. I don’t use it much. No reason to, really, in my daily life.
Of course there is! You could move things, like telekinesis…
What, like moving balls around? What for?
What for? Because you could! Or, if you are looking for more practical applications, what about getting things that are out of your reach, or eating with it? He envisioned drinking from a floating cup.
Okay, that is just silly. And lazy. I’d be the laughingstock of my family. Besides, she added when he immediately perked up at the mention of family members, the control probably wouldn’t be good enough. I’d probably make a mess.
Is your family like you?
Derailment was a failure.
No comment.
Oh. He was only disappointed for about half of a second. That’s okay, I have a million others.
It wasn’t a million, but it was a lot.
-----------
Scythe woke up when they wanted him to, when they were sure they had him bound just the way they wanted, body and mind.
At first, he didn’t understand where he was. He was sitting up, which was a strange enough way to wake up; then he began to feel how sore his body was. Actually, it really hurt. Every single muscle was aching, and his head was pounding. The only thing that didn’t hurt was his alarmingly numb hand, which he could barely open. Then there was the problem of being strapped to the chair. He wasn’t just tied up, he was completely wrapped in something that resembled a heavy straightjacket that was buckled to the chair every four inches from his shoulders to his ankles.
Damn.
He looked around the small cell. He could tell it was a cell because he had spent time in a few of them. They had a distinct odor, temperature, and design style: cement box with a metal door, no windows, and a tiny little air vent that a cat would have trouble escaping through.
A bed and a metal toilet were usually the only furniture, but his cell had some special features. One was the chair he was sitting in, which half a second helped him determine was bolted to the floor. The other was the table across from him with a variety of interesting tools and machines on it. Some of them he knew of but hadn’t had experience with. They were used for interrogation when one didn’t have a powered mind reader available and had to rely on older methods of getting information.
He swallowed and took a breath. Then he took another when the first was a little shaky. Relax.
How did I get here? He had been in Tiburon’s study...that’s right, and Tiburon didn’t have any useful information, so he finished up the interrogation...and he was ready to leave. He took out the ou
tside guards and went out the window...no. He had planned to go out the window. He’d opened it...and then been hit by an electrical current that was activated when the window opened. So stupid. That’s why his hand was still a mess and his body felt like he’d been thrown from a bull and then trampled.
He really was overconfident. He needed to be more cautious. Well, if he got out of this, he would have to be more cautious.
He flexed his power.
Holy crap.
He tried to flex his power, but nothing happened. No power in his center. No thin layer that always covered his skin. Nothing to spread out or pull in. It...it was like he was a normal person.
He had to work to control his breathing. His power was his trump card. Since he had learned to control it, it had been his right arm on nearly every assignment. Without it, he felt vulnerable.
Extremely vulnerable. Naked, even.
He looked down at his body. Something he couldn’t see was keeping his neck stiff. It was not metal, but it might have had metal wires running through it because it bent strangely when he tilted his head; it felt like a very heavy, tight turtleneck shirt that was underneath the jacket. His legs were covered with something similar under the pants, but his feet were bare and very cold.
He tried wiggling and twisting for just long enough to determine that it was futile. He was going to stay that way until someone came in and untied him.
He thought about Tiburon’s eyes, he looked across at the table in front of him, and then he spent a lot of time thinking about nothing.
Chapter 13
“Well, didn’t you turn out to be a surprise? Bet you got them in a tizzy,” the pretty woman said, her eyes sparkling.
“Scampering like rats for the cheese,” Scythe quipped.
She didn’t expect that, and he didn’t expect her to throw her head back and laugh with gusto. “You’ve never seen a rat! Not in this city.” He jumped when she slammed her hand on the table and declared, “Damn, you are so much fun.”
Scythe just stared at her, entranced, his heart racing.
She sat down across from him and tilted her head, inquiring when he didn't speak, “What?”
Halfblood Legacy Page 20