The small ship ran close to silently, the only noises it
produced being the occasional dings and beeps of system updates. The pilot, a tall, lean, bald human with very
pronounced bone structure and an engineer’s uniform, sat at the helm, quieter
even than the ship, moving only occasionally to make adjustments.
Mary
watched the other occupant of the ship, a tall woman with dark skin and pale
golden hair as she flipped through screens of information. Her frame was likewise lean, her neck long as
long and graceful as her arms, her movements deft and confident. Her uniform had the blue trim of the Research
Corp, and the chevrons she had displayed earlier marked her as being Journeyman
First Class.
The
open ports in the front of the ship displayed the yellowish sun, larger than a
large star at this distance but still small and unimpressive, and a large gas
giant with an impressive multitier ring structure towards the right. The rings were their destination, though in
truth that was only part of the purpose of their expedition.
At
length Althea turned around and sat down on the swivel chair that she had been
ignoring, across from Mary. Her nose was
small, her lips thin, and her eyes seemed downcast at the outer corners, giving
her an almost sorrowful look, or so Mary thought. She examined Mary’s face again as though it
was her first time meeting her and nodded gently towards her.
Mary
frowned, then raised her eyebrows expectantly.
They were quiet like this for a moment, the three of them, and then Althea
broke the silence.
“We’re
in a safe place to discuss what I brought you here to discuss, Mary. There are no recording devices currently
working in the Cabin, and Davis won’t repeat anything he hears, will you,
Davis?”
The
pilot shook his head distractedly.
Mary
nodded, feeling a little awkward. “What
did you want to discuss?”
Althea
raised an eyebrow and her lips quirked into a brief smile. “What do you think? Larry told you to wait after your assignment
was complete. He told you that you’d be
contacted, am I right?”
Mary
frowned. “Larry?”
Althea
laughed. “He never told you his
name?” She shook her head. “Larry, Larry, Larry. We only put up with him because we need
him. We especially need him in the
position he is in. He works as a bartender? He asked you to kill a SCAPE agent?”
Mary
stiffened and looked around reflexively.
Not like there’s anywhere to go,
she thought. “I’m sorry… what are you
talking about?”
“It’s
okay to talk about it, Mary. I work with
Larry. So does Davis. We’re all part of the same concern. Consider this your interview.”
Mary
frowned again. “But you’re not wearing…” She trailed off.
Althea
frowned right along with her, looking genuinely puzzled. “Wearing what?”
Mary
held up her hand. When Althea just shook
her head, still looking confused, Mary said, “The ring?”
Althea’s
confusion dissolved and was replaced with a look of amused comprehension. “Oh, the ring, right. That’s not… that’s not a badge or something. Hmmm, how do I explain?” She tapped her fingers against her knee,
looking up for a moment. “The ring that
he wears, he showed it to you when he was first recruiting you, right? It’s there in case someone spots someone like
you, someone who needs help. Then we can
tell them, ‘Go to this bar and talk to the bartender with this ring.’ We don’t all wear some signature thing. People would spot it! No, it’s Larry’s ring, we just tell people to
look for it if we think that they’re good candidates.”
“But
Larry said that I would earn one if I joined.”
Mary said, puzzled.
Althea
rolled her eyes. “Larry says a whole lot
of things that aren’t right. I think
maybe I need to set things straight for you, no?” Mary did not object, and Althea
continued. “We are a group, a concern, a
private guild if you will, for psychics who do not want to deal with
SCAPE. We help people escape the
Strainers, or live privately, and help them learn how to hide their gifts and
use them in subtle ways.
“You
were given a rather grievous test to pass to enter, no? Part of the test was whether you would do
it. The other part was how.
We know that you did not kill Rell, just his shell. We know that that was deliberate. It could not have been otherwise; everyone
knows that Awakeners tend to keep their mass in the head and chest cavities of
their Vessels. Even if you did not,
Larry made sure that you knew how to kill him, yes? Of course he did.”
Althea
looked expectant. Mary cleared her
throat. “So, why did you bring me out
here?”
“As I
said, this is an interview. My position
in our organization is one of responsibility.
Davis and I have the opportunity to watch you in close quarters, and to
let you know about us and answer any questions that you might have.”
“All
right.” Mary pondered for a moment. “Well, what do you call yourselves?”
“Nothing.” Althea gave an almost mischievous grin. “We have no name for our group. A name, like a badge, can be traced. We have no identity, no strict structure, and
very few hard and fast rules. Many of us
come to think of our group with a certain name, but that would just throw the
Strainers off more, if they find and question one of us. So far, this has not happened.”
“Well,
that’s good.” Mary said, feeling
lame. “What will I be doing if I join?”
“Well,
you will be yourself and do what you want to do. You will learn tricks from me, from Davis,
maybe from Larry and the others to protect what is inside your mind and keep
yourself from getting into trouble.
Maybe we will ask you for help with one of our projects, or to help
watch out backs, and maybe you will say yes or no. Unless it has to do with a threat to our
organization, there is nothing compulsory.
“You
will keep an eye out for others and refer them to Larry, or to someone else if
you decide to move away. I have
connections in both the Collective and our network, I can get you reassigned if
you need. You’ll keep an eye on the
Strainers and the Awakeners, and let us know if you see them doing anything
unusual.”
“The
Awakeners?” Mary asked. “Do we have any Awakeners in our group?”
Althea
shook her head and Davis made an odd clicking noise with his tongue. “No,” Althea said. “No Awakeners, no non-humans. Other species have other rules. The Zig, they have some psychics, but they
don’t have a problem with SCAPE; their laws regarding the use of psi are the
basis for a lot of the Collective and the Society’s regulations anyway. The Mauraug might make good allies, but we
can’t trust them, and if their Inquisition ever found out about us it would
threaten all of humanity. The Great
Family is insular; I bet there are a dozen groups like ours among them. They watch out for their own interests. The Tesetsi , well, they don’t tend to care
about psi all that much. If you haven’t
heard, the Ningyo have psi, but we can’t communicate with them, nor they with
us – they are very, very different. As
for the Awakeners, they are hiding something.
Something ugly. You’ll learn more
as we go, hopefully. Maybe you can help
us figure it out.
“So no,
we are just humans. We are all right
with this; other species have their own problems and their own solutions.”
“What
is it that the Awakeners are hiding?”
Althea
shrugged. “We don’t know for certain,
yet. All we know is that the more we
explore the outskirts of their space, the more strange things happen. People losing memories, acting strangely,
even sometimes disappearing. Psychic
signatures changing and things like that.
We believe that there is something that they are hiding from the rest of
the Collective. And since Lotus Station
is being constructed on the edge of their territory, it’s a prime observation
post. We aren’t all altruistic, but we
do want to watch out for our own kind, no?”
Mary
sighed back into her chair and considered what Althea had just said. Althea, for her part, just waited patiently.
“What
about SCAPE? Why should we hide from
them?”
Davis
made the odd clicking sound again and Althea laughed incredulously. “Look, little sister, I was a SCAPE agent a
decade ago. No longer; don’t worry, but
you have no idea the amount of trouble that I had to go through to escape from
them. Suffice it to say that you would
not even come close to recognizing me from those days, not at all. These laws that the Collective makes – even in
places run under Generic Law, there are very
specific bylaws and rules about psi usage.
Just because anyone can develop psi doesn’t mean that everyone can be
good at it, and it’s hard for a lot of people.
A lot of people are scared; they want their thoughts to be private and
their actions to be their own. I cannot
blame them, can you?
“Ignorance
of the law is no excuse. As a SCAPE
officer I was involved in the apprehension and punishment of too many, way too
many people who were doing no harm with their abilities. The law is not forgiving when it comes to
mind-crime; it is very draconian. I was
tired of hurting children who did not know better, or hurting people who were
not causing trouble. Many members of the
Society become bitter, distant, or cold.
Many psychics do in general, because of all of the garbage that they see
and experience in the minds of others.
Larry was not always as he is now.
Perhaps he was never an angel, but the things that he has experienced
and seen have colored him with a darker palette.
“The
Society exists to protect average people from having to think about
psychics. They achieve this goal through
cruelty and manipulation. I hesitate to
call them traitors, but they allow themselves to be complicit in harming people
just like themselves.” As Althea spoke,
she grew more impassioned, her eyes widening, the cadence of her speech falling
into a different pattern and her pronunciation sliding into a different
accent. Mary took careful note of this
and said:
“You
sound like a revolutionary or an activist.”
Althea
sat up straight in her chair, a cold gleam filling her eyes. “Yes, Mary, I am. Others join our group to protect
themselves. I joined to help. Our people need help; what is being done now
is not right. The Society will blind the
Collective to many dangers and resources in the name of maintaining a
comfortable ignorance for its majority.”
Her expression warmed briefly and then fell, reminding Mary of a tragedy
mask for a moment. “It is only causing
harm, and someday it may cause doom. I
cannot sit by and let this happen. You
do what your conscience calls you to, even if it is nothing; I will not judge
you. But my conscience says that we must
act, that we must change things, before they are changed for us.”
The
ship was silent again for a few minutes.
Althea seemed lost in painful memories and Mary was absorbing and trying
carefully not to think about certain
things. Davis might as well have been part
of the ship.
That
thought made Mary raise her head again.
“Althea? What’s the deal with
Davis? No offense, Davis, but you
haven’t said anything.”
Davis
didn’t respond, but scowled a bit, making the clicking sound again, but more
faintly. Althea said. “Davis is a blocker. That’s where his talents lie. He is good at not listening to what he hears,
and he is good at keeping his mind shut as well as his mouth. If you need his help, by all means go to him,
he will not ignore you. But he will
ignore things if you ask him to, and sometimes it is very helpful to know
someone who is good at ignoring things.
And he does talk, doesn’t he?”
Davis
turned around and gave an almost-sheepish grin.
“Yeah.” He said, and turned back
to his panel.
“I
guess that I don’t have any other questions right now. I’m still kind of absorbing. Wait, what about the test? Shooting the Strainer?”
Althea
nodded. “Yes, we discussed that.”
“But
you said that I passed?”
“Yes,
you passed. And by the fact that you
tried not to kill Rell, we know the sorts of things that you are, and are not,
willing to do. And that’s okay. I wouldn’t have either.” She seemed very matter-of-fact about
this. Mary shrugged.
“So
what if I was to say that I didn’t want to join now?”
Althea
took a deep breath and looked grim.
Davis made the clicking sound again.
What the heck is up with that? Mary wondered.
“Mary,
you know too much for us to just let you go out and be caught by SCAPE. We would need to make sure to do things,
things that would ensure that you did not talk about this to anyone – or know
about it.”
“You’d kill
me?”
Althea
tossed her head back and groaned. “No,
Mary, if you disappeared that would be no end of trouble. Also, I don’t like killing. We would just have to make sure that you
wouldn’t remember anything of import. We
can do that, I know that they say that it’s not possible, but believe me, we
can.”
Mary
contemplated this, and reached out gently, feeling for the emotional signatures
of the others on the ship. Althea was
there, and she felt the tang of curiosity but little else from her. Davis may as well have not been there. He was, for all intents and purposes,
psychically invisible.
“I know
that it’s a lot to absorb. We have three
days to talk about it in safe space.”
Althea gestured around her. “When
we return to Lotus Station it will be a bit more difficult; I cannot get you
assigned to work for me too often without arousing notice if not
suspicion. We have ways to relay
messages safely, places that we frequent at certain times. It can be a lot to keep track of, to be
honest, but having this freedom and safety is worth it. Trust me.
“Part
of the reason that I have the position among us that I do is that I am good at
predicting. You know how stories and
legends speak of people reading the future?
I don’t read the future, but I do know how to submerge myself in the
thought streams and perceptions of those around me and notice bigger
trends. Things that many people notice
but don’t think much become obvious to me.
From this, I know that you
will be a benefit to our organization.”
Very
suddenly, Mary felt the pressure of direct contact from Althea. <<Even
though I know that you are not who
you say you are.>> The
pressure withdrew as quickly as it had come, and Mary shifted, trying to warm
herself against the sudden chill she felt.
Mary
nodded again, still considering. “Can
you teach me to do what Davis does?”
Davis
spoke again, for the second time since they met eight hours ago. She was so unused to his voice that it made
her jump. “She can’t. I can.
And I will.”
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