Telepath

by Jolea M. Harrison

  The engines dropped an octave in tone. Attack ships, so close, distorted briefly. Dain saw one appear directly in front of them, and jumped, swearing. He hit the weapons controls, overriding automatic targeting at the last possible moment, lasers blasting the ship to pieces.

  Stars elongated before them. Forward momentum drove the XR-30 into the debris. Dain knew instantly the mistake they’d made, reacted quickly, and cut the sublight engines.

  “Dain?”

  “Hold on! This is going to be—” His warning was cut off as the ship’s regular engines engaged, but at the same time a moon’s pocked surface rushed toward them.

  Trent choked something unintelligible, while Jode shrank back into his seat. Dynan, the only one standing was thrown forward, crashing hard into the back of Dain’s chair. The ship spun out of control. Nothing Dain tried corrected their course, and the moon’s individual craters sharpened in clarity.

  The interior lights winked out. Terror seized him when the engines failed, locking his mind, and slowing his reflexes. He half stood, slamming his fist on the long panel above the controls, and the lights came back up. He punched keypads, switching overhead controls, bypassing every known safety that wouldn’t allow the engines to restart.

  A booming roar reached his ears. Too quickly for him to do anything about it, the ship shot forward, heading directly toward the moon’s surface.

  “Course changed to zero five three,” Trent said between clenched teeth. They watched the surface fill their vision. A plume of surface particles rose around them, obliterating sight for several long, excruciating seconds as the ship slowly leveled.

  “Up would be good,” Dain said, swallowing. Trent quickly complied, and the XR-30 responded, moving away from the moon. “Let’s try this one more time. Where’s the Destroyer?”

  “Coming up behind us. Fast, Dain,” Trent said.

  “Dynan, you all right?” he asked, standing over him to get to the sublight control panel. “Change course to zero four nine.”

  “But that’s heading back—”

  “Do it! Dynan?”

  “I’m all right.”

  “Liar. Setting coordinates. Trent, evasive maneuvers. Attack ships?”

  “Twenty. Course zero four two.”

  “Good. Course set.” He jumped back into his chair. “Engaging. Everybody hold on.”

  ***

  “I thought I said you weren’t allowed to get hurt,” Dain said lightly, helping Dynan up off the floor, while his brother cradled his right arm. Trent slumped back in the co-pilot’s seat breathing fast. Jode didn’t look much better.

  “Sorry.”

  “Your shoulder? Collar bone?”

  “Broken.”

  “Great. Come on.” He guided him back to the hold after taking one more glance at the welcome sight of light streaking by them. “What is this, the fourth time?”

  “Fifth.”

  “Damn. Hurt much?”

  Dynan laughed, and eased down onto the couch, teeth clenched together, face pinched in pain. Dain quickly retrieved a medic kit, then sat down beside him. Trent and Jode came in, watching. They both still looked shaken.

  “I could use a hand here,” Dain said, gently pulling away Dynan’s shirt to expose the injured area. Trent moved to assist him, holding Dynan from the other side so he couldn’t move while the bone was set. “This is going to hurt. I’m sorry.”

  “I know, Dain. Just go ahead.”

  Dain glanced pointedly at Trent, and the guard tightened his grip. Dynan jerked anyway when the probe touched his skin, but Dain was ready for the movement, having witnessed this procedure a number of times, usually from Trent’s position. He held his hand as steady as he could, wincing when the fuser latched onto the broken bone. Carefully, he followed the line of the collarbone, reading the biomonitor and fuser controls, watching to see when the instruments would indicate that the job was done.

  Dynan’s face paled noticeably, his breath ragged, and Dain felt him shaking. “Almost there,” he said, cringing because of mirrored pain, throbbing dully in his own shoulder. “Almost...”

  He knew it felt like longer to Dynan, but at last, the fuser disengaged. Dain moved quickly to administer a large dose of cordalin, carefully folding Dynan’s right arm close to his body. He stood, nodding to Trent.

  “Can you stand? We should get you into bed.” Dain helped him up, and got him moving back toward his room.

  “He’s going to be all right, isn’t he?” Jode asked, taking a step toward them while Trent held Dynan from the other side.

  “Yes, but he’s going to be unconscious in—uh, now.” Dain tightened his grip as Dynan slumped against him. “That worked a little faster than I thought. Let’s get him back to bed. You got him?”

  Trent nodded, and together they struggled back to Dynan’s room. Just then, a console alarm sounded, startling them all. Jode checked the controls quickly. “There’s a reaction chamber cell fluctuation,” he called back.

  “Which one?” Dain asked, yelling to be heard as he pressed the door key to Dynan’s room.

  “Number two.”

  Dain grumbled under his breath. “Figures. Take him. Is the auxiliary working?” he asked, returning to the hold, looking at the controls.

  “It hasn’t come on-line yet.”

  “Which means it probably won’t,” Dain said, moving to the engine access panel, grabbing the kit to take up as the ladder dropped. “Stay where you are, Jode. If that cell starts to go, we’ll have to shut the engines down, and I don’t need to tell you what a bad idea that would be.”

  Jode shook his head, eyes wide, looking nervous and overwhelmed by the events that kept descending on them. Dain hauled himself up into the engine compartment, wondering what might go wrong next.

  Trent appeared a few minutes later, crawling down an adjacent grate. “Never a dull moment,” he commented, situating himself across from Dain with the damaged reaction cell between them. “The cell is spiking every three cycles.”

  “You know anything about this?”

  “A little.”

  “You’re turning into a handy guy to have around, Trent. Try re-routing power to the chamber coil through auxiliary power.”

  “Everything I know I learned from you,” Trent said with a slight smile while he performed the needed transfer. “All right. Now it’s spiking every four cycles.”

  Dain rolled onto this back, eyes closing momentarily. “That means auxiliary is dead, and the main coil is about to go. Trevan, my friend, I wish you were here.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because he would be able to fix this without what you and I would consider the necessary equipment. The man’s a genius. If you want to learn from anyone, learn from him. If you ever get the chance, that is.”

  “Actually, I have been.” He snaked his way down to the auxiliary power panel, opening it. “Aux power has a chamber coil, right? So we’re going to borrow it.” He removed the slender filament from the dead power pack, then wriggled back to the faulty cell chamber. “And we’re going to put it in here.”

  “You have to shut down the engines for that.”

  “We’re spiking at five now, they’ll shut themselves down and soon. I can just about guarantee they won’t come back up again, and, that’s not necessarily true.”

  Dain frowned. “Which part?”

  “I don’t have to shut them down. It’s the preferred method for this type of repair, but not completely necessary. But, there are no guarantees when you’re around, so both, to answer your question. All it takes is a steady hand. Give me the, uh, connection sealer thing. Yes, thanks.”

  “One wrong move, and you’re going to blow us up.”

  “What? You think I’ve never done this before?”

  Dain laughed. “Trying to get even? Not a good idea, Trent.”

  “Really? Sorry. I forgot back there when you almost smashed us into that moon. Not that it was your fault. If you hadn’t blown up that attack ship, we wo
uld have smashed into it instead. Who would have thought a little debris field could throw a ship entering sublight off course like that. Tough choice there.”

  As he spoke, Trent carefully removed the cover panel of the chamber cell, then gently, evenly and above all steadily inserted first one end of the coil into the connector slot beside the original coil, then moved to attach the other end, sealing the first slot before moving on.

  “You’ll only have a few seconds to switch over,” Trent said, his face tense, sweat dripping off his brow.

  Dain watched him, and nodded tightly. “Ready here.”

  “All right. Here’s the next connection. Completed. Sealed. Now! Switch over!”

  Dain pressed a few control keys, hoping he remembered the right sequence, realizing in the same instant that they hadn’t blown up yet. “Switch over complete,” he said, rolling onto his back again, breathing, while Trent did the same thing across from him. They started laughing. “You know, I don’t think I can take much more of this,” Dain said, still chuckling, until he realized the sound was borderline insane, and closed his eyes.

  “I sincerely hope you don’t have to,” Trent said, then repeated himself, voice sinking to a whisper. Dain smiled, glad at least that he wasn’t alone in that thought.

  They climbed back down to the hold surprising Jode with their smiles. Trent checked the controls, and informed them that the low frequency transmitter had been damaged by the power fluctuations of the chamber cell. Dain paused at that, considering the implications briefly. Carryn wouldn’t be able to track them, and they wouldn’t be able to communicate with her. He shrugged, knowing that piece of equipment was beyond his ability to repair. He fixed them all a drink, really stunning Jode into complete shock.

  “I’m going to go check on Dynan. Jode, you think you can handle the ship alone for a few hours.”

  “I’m all right,” Trent said. “I can stay up.”

  “No, you need the rest. Your shift was about over when all this started. We need you alert when we arrive at Rynald.”

  “If the Destroyer—”

  “Catches us out here without a planet to slow it down? It won’t matter.” Dain raised an eyebrow at him, and Trent subsided, moving to pull down his bed from the ceiling. “How long until we get there?”

  “We’ll be in System in three days,” Jode said.

  “All right. Come wake me up in five hours.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.” Jode smiled, and Dain left them. He found Dynan asleep, checked his shoulder, and then collapsed on the couch nearby.

  ***

  “Ralion and Sheed should be close to catching up with us,” Dain commented after they landed on Rynald, setting down near an expanse of forest that from overhead had stretched as far as the eye could see. “A day or two at the most.”

  “We’ve got one more move until then,” Trent said. “These are the coordinates. First thing in the morning?”

  “Yes.”

  “Looks like Carryn intended for us to re-supply there too. We’re outside a town called Trophan.”

  Dain frowned. “I’m not so sure we should risk that. We’re probably nearby to pick up Ralion and Sheed.”

  “We’re about out of everything edible, Dain,” Dynan said.

  “And it says here, we should re-supply if needed,” Trent said, showing Dain the comboard. “We need to.”

  Dain relented, but still didn’t like it, not for any other reason than he didn’t want anyone so far from the safety of the ship. The uneasiness had abated since leaving Thylin, and hadn’t returned.

  Dain and Dynan, followed by the guards, left the ship for some fresh air, staying near the open ramp. The weather was cool enough to be comfortable, and they spent the day outside in it. The time passed slowly. By nightfall, they were all anxious to be on their way, looking forward to seeing Ralion and Sheed. Not that Trent and Jode had turned out all that badly, Dain thought, watching the guards playing a game of rooks, but he missed Ralion and Sheed.

  They lifted off the next morning, slightly earlier than dawn, and made the quick flight to Trophan, making sure they kept the ship below sensor detection levels, and avoiding any populated areas at the same time.

  Their landing site proved to be a field in a wood, large enough to hold the XR-30 easily. Trent and Jode followed Dain off, while Dynan remained onboard. “We should get going. It looks like about a half hour hike into town,” Trent said.

  “We?” Dain questioned.

  “I won’t be able to bring back everything we need in one trip unless Jode goes with me. It’ll be all right, unless you really think otherwise. You haven’t been feeling any, I don’t know what you’d call it, but—”

  “No, I haven’t. All right. Go on, but don’t take any longer than you need to. Here.” He handed Trent an extra control pad to the XR-30. “We might cloak the ship while you’re gone, just to be safe about it, and you’ll need this to get in.” He gave him the access codes, admonishing the guard not to forget them.

  Dynan joined him a moment later, looking around for the guards. “Where’s Jode?”

  “He went into town with Trent.”

  “Both of them? Well, all right. Maybe they’ll come back with Ralion and Sheed.”

  Dain shook his head. “I don’t think they’ll get in until tomorrow. I know they’re expected today.”

  Dynan nodded. “There isn’t anything to do but wait. How long did they say they’d be gone?”

  “They didn’t, but it shouldn’t take them that long to get what we need, and get back. Two hours at most.”

  “I fixed breakfast. You hungry?”

  Dain glanced at him, then smiled. “I don’t know. I’ll have to look at it first.”

  “You could always go hungry,” Dynan said, leading the way back onboard. It turned out that the meal was cooked to reasonable satisfaction, and Dain sat down to it eagerly.

  They spent a leisurely time over the food, enjoying the solitude of each other’s company. “It’s been a long time since you and I have had any time alone,” Dain said, helping himself to more sausage and eggs, with a tall glass of synthetic juice he found only slightly repugnant.

  “I can’t remember the last time we were left to ourselves without any guards around.”

  “Had to be Beren.”

  “Ralion and Sheed were always there,” Dynan said.

  “I know, but they left us alone often enough,” Dain said.

  “You’re right. Remember the day we spent out on the lake?”

  Dain smiled, and nodded, recalling that day easily. They’d gone alone, on their sailing ship, the Windrift, out to the middle of the lake by the Beren Mansion, then spent the day there, fishing and swimming, or rather, Dynan had tried to fish while Dain swam around the boat. They didn’t fly it that time, more to avoid some calamity their father would get angry about. It seemed so long ago, before Ambrose died, and before Liselle’s activities had driven them apart for so long.

  “Think we’ll ever get back there? Be able to go back to Beren, and spend a day on the lake again? Just us?”

  Dynan looked at him, then slowly shook his head. “You know how often Pop managed it, and he was never alone. I have a feeling Kings aren’t allowed those sort of luxuries,” he said. “That’s assuming we ever make it back at all, so I can be denied that sort of thing.”

  “We’ll make it. We will. We can’t live like this all our lives. It’s got to end sometime. Carryn is doing everything she can to make it happen, and so are we, being out here, protecting the Base, and the work there. We’ll make it back, and some time before you’re crowned, I’ll take you to Beren, and we’ll go out on the lake. Just you and me.”

  “Ralion and Sheed will likely still be our guards. Do you think I’ll be able to order them to stay behind?”

  Dain thought about that for a moment, then shook his head. “Probably not. I suppose that’s why Pop brought them in. So that we could never get away from them.”

  “You slipped off oft
en enough without Sheed,” Dynan said.

  Dain couldn’t deny it, so he didn’t try. He knew Dynan would be surprised to discover that asking his guard to leave him alone was the best and only way to manage it.

  They fell silent while Dain helped himself to another serving. He watched Dynan pick at his food, leaving more than half of it uneaten. His brother hadn’t ever had the same appetite, in more than one way. He smiled then.

  “I remember Mother telling you to eat more too,” he said. Then his smile faded. “Do you remember her?”

  “Just images mostly. I remember being in the Arbor with her. She always seemed to like it in there, and I’d sit with her while she fiddled with the plants and flowers. I don’t remember where you were those times. Probably off climbing a tree.”

  “Getting in trouble with the gardener. I remember the first time she punished us, when it was her, and not some other woman sent to keep watch on us.”

  Dynan laughed. “Well, since you’d just nearly broken your neck sliding down the stair rail, how can you blame her? She did feel pretty badly for yelling at you when she found out you’d broken your leg. You got away with everything after that.”

  “No, I didn’t. The next time she caught me she sent me to Father.”

  “Right after Eldelar made sure you didn’t have any broken bones,” Dynan said. “I was sent right along with you too, even when I wasn’t the one sliding down the rail.”

  “I tried to tell him you didn’t have anything to do with it. It’s not my fault he didn’t believe me.”

  Dynan laughed, and shook his head, but his smile faded quickly. “I miss him.”

  Dain nodded and stood. “Me too,” he said quietly. “But I don’t miss getting in trouble with him, which happened more often to me than you.” He picked up their plates.

  “Just your natural propensity for it,” Dynan said, following him with the glasses and utensils.

  “Except half the trouble I got into was your idea.”

  “Right. An idea, Dain. I usually said, ‘I wonder what would happen if; not let’s go do it’. Like the time you climbed on top of the Arbor, and fell through the glass. I only said ‘I wonder what it would look like from up there’, not ‘why don’t you climb up there and find out’.”