by Simon Bown
“It is always a pleasure to see you Filerea.” Jenson said.
“You are always welcome Jenson. I know you have returned only at the behest of the Mezzyima but I wish you would come back more often even just for a rest.” She sat in an old leather chair and motioned Jenson to sit opposite. “I’m afraid I have some bad news. The Mezzyima have informed me that the operation to capture Teafu was a failure. I know you have worked long and hard to stop Teafu, I can only say I am sorry you have been so far unsuccessful in your task.”
“I should have been on that mission. How did they lose him?” Jenson asked.
“Teafu took his ship into an unstable spatial fissure. The Mezzyima engaged Weedon Bec and Sutton Courtney in a ferocious battle above the planet. Antimatter weapons were used and the several detonations caused a massive amount of damage to the area. After Teafu escaped the planet’s surface he rendezvoused with his colleagues and directed them through the fissure. The Mezzyima tried to follow but the rift collapsed.”
“Are they sure he survived?” Jenson asked.
“Yes, before the rift closed the Mezzyima sensors did detect an opening further in. Where it led is unknown but they are working on the premise that he survived.”
Jenson remained silent and closed his eyes. The mission’s failure was a dark blow. Not least for the fact they had sacrificed Brightwell Baldwin. Jenson and The Mezzyima knew that he would probably not survive the plan but they had decided that the price of one life was enough to pay to stop Teafu and his campaign to kill millions. Brightwell hadn’t known he was a sacrificial lamb, sent to the slaughter for greater aims, his life was taken and the mission a failure.
Filerea collected a cup of tea for each of them from her desk.
Jenson accepted the cup and took a sip.
“Now, what can you tell me of this young lady you have brought here? The Mezzyima almost seem excited.” She asked.
Jenson smiled at the suggestion of the Mezzyima showing emotions. The old leather chair creaked as he sat down. “Her name is Gea Aro. She was found amongst the wreckage of a space station in the Napom sector. Her immortality has been confirmed. We are lucky her latent telepathic centre is well masked from her.”
“And her father?”
“He is traumatised at the loss of his wife. Considering the stress he is under he is doing well.” Jenson paused for a moment as Filerea handed him a cup of Tea. “I feel somewhat worried that I cannot continue my pursuit of Teafu. Wormelow Tump has chosen a most difficult time to take a sabbatical.”
Filerea smiled. “Wormelow left on my advice. I knew we would need your particular skills for this young lady. Wormelow has helped an immortal before but the results were not entirely satisfactory.”
Jenson could feel his temper rise. “You arranged this? You told Wormelow to leave so that I would be the only one to help this young lady?” He asked.
“I perceive a most advantageous outcome to your work, an outcome certainly not guaranteed had Wormelow taken on the task.” Filerea talked with an earnest intent. “Gea has something that will help in your work to capture Teafu, I can’t see what it may be yet but it is definitely there.”
Jenson accepted Filerea’s intuition without reserve. “Very well. I will start work with Gea today. Thank you for your time.”
Jenson meditated for two hours before his first session with Gea to balance himself and be able to offer her grounding as the session progressed. He knew from his own experience the first few sessions could be intimidating as the psychic realms opened up to the new mind. He sensed her imminent arrival and brought himself into a light alpha state. He had chosen a shielded chamber on the highest floor of the library. The circular room’s white, domed ceiling had the appearance of an upturned cereal bowl. Gea entered, Jenson noted she was somewhat nervous and determined not to show it. Once again he found it necessary to block her attempts at entering his mind.
“Hello.” Jenson got to his feet and held out his hand, Gea looked at his hand as if unaware of what to do. He sensed a certain suspicion in Gea. “I only wish to hold your hand as a greeting.” Gea held Jenson’s hand and allowed a smile to shape her lips. “We are going to start our work today with a guided meditation. Do you meditate regularly?” He asked.
“I don’t think so. I’m not sure what meditation is.” Gea replied.
“If you have never meditated you would have not opened your psychic mind. That would explain your tightly masked telepathic centre. Meditation is the foundation of telepathic strength and psychic protection. We will sit together and I will guide you to an alpha state and from there we will see how far it is best to progress.” Jenson sat on the floor, Gea followed his example and sat opposite. Jenson took her hands in his. “While in the alpha state you are to be completely aware, if you feel you are falling asleep then you have not followed my instructions properly. Do not be worried if nothing seems to happen, meditation is a practised art and takes a lot of work to perfect.”
Gea let go of Jenson’s hands and fidgeted herself into a more comfortable position. ”Okay. I’m ready.”
“We will begin by taking long deep breaths. Feel your lungs inhaling and exhaling, listen to the sound of your breathing and try to slow your rate of intake.” Jenson lowered his voice and talked quietly. “Think of only your breathing, do not close your eyes and remember you should be as aware as you are normally.” Jenson was able to discern a change in Gea’s mind state. “Now imagine your legs are very heavy, feel the weight pushing down. Now feel that weight disappear.” The mental cloak enveloping Gea’s telepathic ability momentarily dropped. The explosive flash of psychic energy caused a sudden potent shock across Jenson’s own open extrasensory centre. Their hands flinched. Jenson quickly reached out and held onto Gea’s fingers. He moved telepathically into her mind, shored up her natural reactive protection and withdrew with a passive sweep through her psyche. He glimpsed a field of view, most certainly psychic, that he had never witnessed before.
“What was that?” Gea asked excited.
“We have found your psychic centre, and somewhat sooner than I had expected.” Jenson was very pleased. “You have a very energetic focal-point, I believe we can make quick progress.” He sensed a level of anxiety in her. “Nothing to worry about, we’ll have a short rest and try again.”
“I saw something. It didn’t make sense.” Gea said.
“What was it?” Jenson asked.
Gea closed her eyes. “I can only describe it as viewing space from a godlike perspective except there were no stars, just many threads of brightly coloured light.” She opened her eyes and looked at Jenson. “What was it?” She asked.
“I’m sorry Gea, I don’t know.” Jenson replied. He handed Gea a glass of water. “Every immortal that has been helped to develop, as I am helping you, has exhibited a special talent beyond the telepathic prowess expected of an immortal. We never know what that talent may be until we open the mind and see what’s inside.”
“And you think this visualization I experienced may have something to do with a special talent. How many immortals have you worked with?” Gea asked.
“None.”
“None? But I thought there must be thousands.” Gea was confused.
“An immortal is born approximately once every hundred years. As far as we know we do not number in the thousands.”
“Who helped you?”
“I was caught late. Several talented telepaths helped me until it was discovered I am an immortal. It was a very painful time for me.”
Gea remained silent for a short while, Jenson waited for her to speak. “How old are you?” She asked.
“I am around three hundred years old.”
“Approximately? You don’t know?”
“Age has no meaning to an immortal. The passage of time ceases to have an effect on the body and the question becomes irrelevant.”
“I have so many questions I don’t know where to start.” Gea was becoming exasperated.
�
��This library is the best place to be. Every answer to the immortal question is here. I’m sure Filerea would be glad to help you.”
“Is Filerea an immortal?”
“Yes. And although I said the idea of age becomes irrelevant I have heard she is the oldest immortal to still reside in the Amalgam. Her telepathy has a boundless energy probably due to some kind of maturing over the years.” Jenson shook his head. “I wish she would take an active role in the affairs of the Amalgam.” He took Gea’s hands in his, breathed out and closed his eyes. “Shall we return to the job in hand?” Jenson carefully led Gea to an alpha state and found the focal point of her psychic energy. “Gea. I need to have control over your telepathic masking.” He said. “Visualise your psychic centre as a ball of incredible light wrapped in a dark cloth. The cloth protects your centre from unwanted prying and also shields you from unexpected telepathic behaviour as we experienced before.” Jenson perceived Gea following his instructions. “You have now taken the first step in controlling your centre, your core of telepathic energy. It is from this point that you will be able to draw your strength when pursuing any psychic task.” Jenson released his hold on Gea’s hands. “If you can now allow yourself to rise to a normal state but still remain in touch with your centre.”
Gea raised herself back to normality. She smiled and took a sip of water. “That was easier than I thought it was going to be.” She said.
“I would like to take another look at the visualisation you experienced. If you feel up to it?” Jenson asked.
“I was hoping we were going to do that.” She said.
They held hands and Gea allowed Jenson to take control of the path they took through to her psychic core. He found the ball of light and removed the cloth to reveal a startling brilliance. Several different strands of telepathic energy snaked out. He paused, the threads of energy reached out in a manner he had not encountered before. He was excited as he sensed a connection to a form of energy far greater than the telepathic norm. Against his better judgement he decided to follow a thread to see where it would take them. As he linked to the energy a storm of imagery swamped his psychic centre. A planetary execution in all its traumatic detail besieged him and overwhelmed Gea. Multimillion human deaths inundated Gea’s perception and she collapsed under the pressure. Jenson held onto her hands and moved forward to let her body fall back slowly to the floor. He erected extrasensory barriers across his own psychic centre and quickly gained a state of influence over the terrible imagery.
He felt the telepathic essence of another mind join and steady his fragile composure. It was Filerea.
“Jenson, I sensed yours and Gea’s collapse. I will come to you and aid you with her care.
Gea had lost consciousness. Jenson shut down her psychic core and wrapped it in a virtual protective material. The flow of horrifying sensations ceased and Jenson was able to separate from Gea safely.
Filerea entered the room. “Jenson I am glad to see you have regained your control.” She reached out telepathically and examined Gea’s fragile mental state. “We must join and concentrate both our energies otherwise we may lose her.” She reached out and took Jenson’s hands in hers. Gea lay on the floor between them, unconscious and not breathing.
A tremendous energy swept over Jenson and submerged him in a calming telepathic serenity. The intensity of the wave took him by surprise and he realised too late that his own strength was being sapped away. “Filerea, I’m losing control. What are you doing?”
“I must transmit all our latent energy to Gea, her suffering is greater than you realise. She may fall into a very deep coma. Trust me Jenson, I have seen this before.”
He allowed his energy to be drained away in the hope it would help to put right the mistake he made in searching through Gea’s telepathic ability too quickly. The golden light of telepathic connection he had to the higher energies became less and less distinct. Soon all his strength had ebbed away to Gea and Filerea let go of his hands. His legs gave way and he fell onto his backside. The complete isolation chilled him.
Gea gasped and sat upright. She gulped down air and clutched her throat. Tears streamed from her eyes as she suffered a minor coughing fit.
Filerea got down on her knees and placed her arm around Gea’s shoulder. “Don’t worry now Gea.” She said. “We have rebuilt your energies. You will be fine.”
Gea berated Jenson. “What was that? What were you doing to me? Why did you show me that?”
“I’m sorry…” Jenson began.
“Oh it’s not Jenson’s fault.” Filerea interrupted. “He couldn’t have known where your talents would lead you. In fact, we are lucky we have discovered what you are capable of where we are. If you had been on another planet and I or no other immortal had been on hand to help we may have lost you.”
“What do you mean lose me? I thought I was immortal?” Gea asked.
“Yes you are but you may have suffered a catastrophic blow to your mind. You could have been in a coma for many many years while your psyche repaired itself.”
The three immortals sat facing each other, cross-legged in the middle of the floor. Jenson and Gea sipped at tea while Filerea meditated on the shocking events the two had experienced.
“It was Teafu’s asteroid attack.” Filerea said. “I think Gea may have tuned into the incident due to your intense desire to stop him.”
“Somebody did that? It was not an accident?” Gea was shocked and dismayed.
Jenson sighed and looked between Gea and Filerea. “It is the work of a mad man intent on pushing the Mezzyima back wherever they came from. He believes if he causes enough damage they will give in to his demands.” His sense of emotional perception was returning and even though it was weak he could feel a very great depth to Gea’s shock and fear. “We are very close to capturing him, I have hope he will not be able to attack anyone again.”
Filerea decided it best to change the subject. “Gea, I think you are able to connect to something outside the cosmic confines we have always been limited to. A link to that disaster of such intensity was nothing short of being there, in some way you and Jenson travelled back in time to witness the event. Your particular talent is something we have not seen before. I know a large number of people who will be very interested in meeting you.” She saw a flash of fear in Gea’s mind. “Don’t worry, you do not have to do anything you don’t want to.”
A STEP INTO THE PAST
Lucy arrived home and without removing her coat went straight to the basement door. She reached to open it but hesitated, her eyes lacking focus as she gazed beyond the door. The fact that she might suffer from nerves had not occurred to her. Being motivated by a supreme focus on achieving her goal had left all other considerations to fall by the wayside. She brought her eyes into focus and stepped away from the door. Food was her favourite aid in contemplation so she went to the kitchen. The toaster flipped up the two slices of bread as she was pouring the milk into his hot chocolate. Mozart played quietly on the radio but the music didn’t register on her mind. She daydreamed about the day she could leave the university and continue her experiments with a huge grant. She finished her dry toast and switched off the radio. It was time to return to the basement.
She unlocked the door and stepped onto the top of the stairs, the dry musty smell of her basement implying a more mundane evening in store than time travel. She eyed the room, taking in every aspect before descending the stairs.
Adjusting the polarity of the electromagnets would be a simple matter but first she had to work through the appropriate calculations. She sat at the table, opened a large notebook and set to work. She decided her first journey should be short in time and in space. She chose the previous evening in the town centre as the target destination and she input her fresh co-ordinates into the system. As she finished her hot chocolate she ran through the calculations once more, but something just didn’t seem quite right. She could find nothing wrong but she felt a nagging doubt. As the equations appeared t
o make sense she decided to continue. She put down the empty mug and got up from her chair. It was time to start the reactor.
Once again she placed the radioactive material in the chamber and locked the spherical lid shut. Hydrogen gas hissed into the reactor until it had reached the correct pressure and Lucy shut off the supply. She switched on the system and took a step back. The reaction increased in volume as the anti-matter particles collided with the electrons in the Hydrogen gas to produce the enormous energy needed. As safety systems triple checked the environment in the reaction chamber, Lucy watched, excited, waiting for the system to engage. The green light on the reactor indicated everything was operating at optimum and the time circuits sprang to life. A beam of brilliant blue light reached out across the room tracing a wide arc. The light writhed and shimmered, growing in intensity as it spun a broad circle just a few inches from the wall. Lucy watched transfixed as the light traced a mesmerising pattern, within seconds it had doubled its effective circumference. She began to relax as the arc of light reacted exactly as predicted in her equations. A subsonic rumble pulsed through Lucy’s body forcing her to her knees and to grasp the table for anchorage. Blinding flashes painted the room in a rapid chaotic frenzy of light. The empty mug vibrated off the table and smashed on the floor. Lucy looked up at the light, she felt a level of excitement she had never felt before, her whole being electrified by this incredible aberration of nature. It was then the extreme symptoms subsided, it was as if she had entered the eye of the storm, all dramatic occurrence had ceased except for the startling presence of a rift in space-time.
