Being of the Field

by Traci Harding

  ‘You know about my resignation?’ She was shocked that it was common knowledge already.

  ‘Only that you intend to,’ Leal said, ‘but—’

  ‘It doesn’t matter.’ Kassa was on a roll. ‘What matters is that I tell you what I must before the powers that be embellish the truth to tarnish me in the minds of all who have known me.’

  ‘My dear Dr Madri,’ Leal said immediately, ‘I assure you that nothing anyone could ever say about you would tarnish you in my eyes.’

  ‘Shush.’ Kassa was nearly in tears, her guilt overwhelming her. ‘I have betrayed our captain and this entire project.’

  Leal was frowning, but still refused to take her seriously. ‘Just what have you done to justify this outrageous claim?’

  ‘I kept silent about certain agents attempting to sabotage this project, because I acquired my knowledge of their affairs via psychic means—’ Kassa paused, took a deep breath, and came right out and said it. ‘I am a telepath.’

  ‘I know,’ replied Leal with a cheeky grin.

  ‘What?’ Kassa was shocked, relieved and delighted all rolled into one. ‘You knew! How could you know?’

  He cocked an eye. ‘Is the answer not blindingly obvious?’

  Kassa calmed herself to a rational state and, indeed, the answer was so obvious it made her gasp. ‘You are telepathic!’

  Leal nodded and neither of them could wipe the huge grin from their face. ‘So, if you are guilty of keeping silent then I am just as guilty.’

  Kassa began to blush as she realised that when she had been secretly viewing the young co-pilot’s fantasies about her, he had been fully aware of what she was doing. ‘So, it seems it is I who have been deceived.’ She sat herself on the edge of her desk to process the fact.

  ‘Not deceived,’ Leal was quick to defend himself. ‘I couldn’t tell you about me until you opened up enough to tell me about you.’

  ‘You seduced me into trusting you.’ Kassa now suspected that he was not as attracted to her as he’d made out.

  ‘Did I?’ he grinned, fishing for compliments.

  ‘You know exactly what you did. And how I felt.’ She was starting to be embarrassed, and a little angry too.

  ‘That is true, I did know how you felt,’ he replied gently and rose to confront her. ‘I’ve just been waiting for you to realise…and your need to confess all to me today seems to indicate that you might have finally got in touch with your emotions.’

  ‘Leal,’ Kassa considered it made little difference what she felt, ‘I am resigning.’ She leant back as he entered her personal space.

  ‘That’s going to be a little difficult if the captain won’t accept your resignation.’ Leal moved in for a kiss, but was halted.

  ‘He has accepted it,’ she argued.

  ‘No,’ Leal shook his head slowly to assure her, ‘the captain sent me to tell you that he will not allow you to resign.’

  Kassa felt rejuvenated by the joy that poured into her heart and tears of relief began to roll down her face.

  ‘Any other questions or excuses that you need me to address before I consummate this secret fantasy of ours?’ he queried, his lips poised at a very intimate distance from hers.

  ‘As a matter of fact, yes, there is something.’ Kassa placed both hands on his chest, and leaning forward she urged Leal to back up a little. ‘How did you manage to conceal your telepathic gift from me?’ She held him at bay, rather enjoying toying with his affections for real.

  ‘But I didn’t conceal it from you.’ He happily debated the issue. ‘Wasn’t me being a telepath, like you, part of the fantasy?’

  Indeed it was, Kassa quietly conceded.

  The fantasy they had been quietly sharing for several years had developed from the romantic, sexual kind of fantasy that Leal had first presented her with, into something altogether more like what really turned her on. Kassa had thought she’d been manipulating his imagination with her own telepathic suggestions, to enhance the fantasy, but now she realised he’d been a fully aware contributing member to what was obviously their, and not just her, ideal relationship.

  Kassa, aware that she was no longer a young woman, knew this might be her only chance to know the true happiness of a life without lies and secrets. The idea of a lover who knew all her secret desires and was not intimidated by her psychic talent was the greatest turn-on for her ever and Leal knew it.

  ‘Make no mistake about my intentions. I am in love with you, Kassa,’ he looked deep into her eyes, ‘and I shall—’

  Kassa silenced her enigmatic suitor with a kiss of reckless abandon before he made any promises and complicated the issue—he was her ideal lover and that was all she needed to know.

  Toward the end of her shift, Taren sought Zeven out, knowing he’d be scoffing breakfast at about this time. She felt obliged to tell him about Ringbalin’s discoveries, because Zeven would definitely want to know why she was dragging him off for a photon count.

  The young pilot was not to be found in the cafeteria. However, a few of the engineers directed Taren to the flight bay where Zeven was gearing up to go check for hostiles in the vicinity of the inter-system gate station.

  ‘Word from the station is that things are all cool there,’ Raggus advised, ‘but Starman always does a flyby, just in case.’

  Taren figured that would make a long shift for the pilot. ‘But I thought the gateway was still over a day away?’

  ‘For AMIE it is, sci-chick,’ Raggus emphasised. ‘Starman will be there and back by dinner.’ The handful of technicians and engineers sitting around became engrossed in telling each other stories about their living legend.

  Taren didn’t want Zeven going anywhere before he was tested. If his biology had been accelerated, he was now an untrained psychic and that could be worse than an untrained gunman—accidents were bound to happen.

  She found the pilot up a ladder, loading supplies into compartments around his cockpit. ‘Starman, thank heavens I caught you—’

  ‘You are so full of shit.’ He jumped down to ground level to confront her and his hostility took her completely by surprise. ‘So much for not mixing business with pleasure!’ He blew her off and went back to prepping his ship.

  Taren was completely baffled, then it dawned on her. ‘You saw Professor Gervaise leaving my quarters,’ she assumed, shaking her head to control her rising anger at being so quickly judged.

  ‘Professor Gervaise…that’s rather formal, isn’t it? Yeah, I saw Lucian leave at dawn, looking like he’d had a real good time.’

  Loose objects hanging around the flight bay began to rattle as if the ship was experiencing mild turbulence, which was impossible on a vessel the size of AMIE. Zeven was fuming so hard that he hadn’t noticed anything yet. Taren feared that he was the cause of the disturbance.

  ‘If I really don’t turn you on, just say so. Don’t hand me some crap about being all professional and then go sleep with my superior!’

  ‘Zeven.’ Taren held up her hands in truce. ‘Please, calm down—’

  ‘I will not calm down!’ He shook a fist at Taren, whereupon several loose tools went flying in her direction and although she wrapped both arms around her head for protection, a huge metal wrench hit her right between the eyes.

  After several hours of being sick, several more hours of sleep, a shower and something to eat, Lucian had only just found his sense of wellbeing when Aurora arrived at his door to advise him that Taren Lennox was in surgery in a critical condition.

  ‘How did it happen?’ Lucian was out the door and heading to the medical chambers before Aurora could turn around.

  ‘She was hit on the head with a wrench.’ Aurora burst into tears. Lucian ceased his charge and returned to ease the information out of his assistant with a bit more sensitivity.

  ‘Was it an accident?’ He gently placed both hands on her shoulders, as she sniffled and brought herself under control.

  ‘No…’ She shook her head, tears welling for a second coming
. ‘Zeven Gudrun was the only one with Dr Lennox at the time.’

  Lucian was shocked to the core. He’d seen the look of resentment in the pilot’s eyes this morning, when Zeven had witnessed his exit from Dr Lennox’s chamber. It made Lucian groan in frustration to think that his own drunken foolishness might have played a large part in Taren’s current plight. ‘I cannot believe Zeven capable of such a malicious act.’

  Aurora was relieved to hear him say so, but all she could do was cry.

  ‘I’ll get to the bottom of this,’ he assured her. ‘Where is Zeven now?’

  ‘In your office.’ Aurora wiped her tears away with a tissue.

  ‘Let me know the second that Dr Lennox is out of surgery.’ Lucian headed for his office to find Zeven looking hollow-eyed and sorry for himself.

  ‘I didn’t do it,’ he insisted straightaway, staring Lucian square in the eyes. ‘I don’t know what happened in there, but I swear I didn’t touch her.’

  ‘So what did happen?’ Lucian folded his arms to listen, neither man taking a seat.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Zeven threw his arms up in frustration. ‘It’s like she suddenly turned into a human magnet. All these tools came flying at her from every direction and we were the only ones there!’

  Lucian didn’t know what to make of this, but with all the psychic phenomena he’d witnessed since Taren arrived on board, he could not discount Zeven’s version of events.

  He took a more personal tone. ‘I saw the daggers in your eyes this morning, Zeven. I don’t know what has transpired between you and Dr Lennox, but I do know you jumped to the wrong conclusion this morning when you saw me stagger out of her quarters. All Dr Lennox did was feed me coffee and let me crash on her lounge because I was too inebriated to move anywhere.’

  ‘What an idiot!’ Zeven muttered to himself.

  ‘Hey!’

  ‘I meant me,’ Zeven said morosely. ‘I’m the idiot.’

  ‘Can you honestly tell me that you were not angry at Dr Lennox at the time of the accident?’ Lucian asked, to clarify whether the pilot might have taken temporary leave of his senses.

  Zeven clenched his jaw, angry at himself. ‘I admit I was mad at her, but I could never hit her…or any woman! I swear to you, her injuries are not of my doing!’

  ‘Actually, they probably are.’

  Zeven and Lucian looked towards the door to find Ringbalin had snuck in unannounced.

  ‘Um, sorry.’ He knocked belatedly and entered. ‘I came seeking information about Dr Lennox’s condition, overheard your dilemma and believe I can be of some assistance.’

  ‘How is that?’ Zeven was perturbed by this breach of his privacy.

  Ringbalin explained that he’d been working with Dr Lennox for the past few days and of their discoveries. ‘Dr Lennox was coming to fetch you for a photon count when the accident occurred.’

  ‘I have the Powers?’ Zeven didn’t know whether to laugh or scream—this was insane.

  ‘It’s a very distinct possibility, but we won’t know for sure until you are tested,’ Ringbalin said, trying to make a dent in Zeven’s scepticism.

  ‘Hold on a moment.’ Having taken a seat to hear Ringbalin’s story, Zeven was back on his feet. ‘You’re saying that I was responsible for the attack on Dr Lennox!’

  Ringbalin shrugged. ‘The shoe fits.’

  ‘Why, you…’ Zeven charged Ringbalin and Lucian was forced to step in between them and hold Zeven back.

  ‘You cannot control your emotions,’ Ringbalin said, continuing to bait the pilot. ‘You wanted to hit her, own it.’

  ‘I will not own it!’ Zeven barked. Objects started flying violently in Ringbalin’s direction while the scientist batted most of them away with his clipboard.

  As Zeven realised Ringbalin had just proven his case, all the objects dropped to the floor.

  ‘It was me,’ Zeven moaned and staggered to a seat, utterly devastated.

  Lucian finally found his tongue. ‘You can hardly be held responsible for a deadly talent that you didn’t know you have,’ the captain attempted to console the pilot.

  ‘My spiteful intent may have killed her.’ Zeven’s head fell into his hands and, as anger was no longer a safe outlet for his frustration, he collapsed into tears.

  While Ringbalin took Zeven to be tested, Lucian sat back in his office chair, staring out the window, feeling completely drained. It seemed as if his entire reality had gone down the gurgler!

  This morning Lucian had felt that he’d finally reached a comfortably numb state, beyond care. He’d had it in his head to resign from his position at the institute…provided his home planet was not in ruins or under siege by some previously unknown hostile force, of course. He thought perhaps he’d move to the Maratosh system, where he could vanish into obscurity and lie on a beach pondering his misadventures alone, in peace.

  The news of Taren’s accident, however, brought home another reality. It was beginning to dawn on Lucian that there was still someone who inspired him to remain involved in this life he’d created for himself. It was a wonder to him that in a broken, drunken delirium he’d been more in touch with his true feelings and instincts than he had heretofore. Taren Lennox had sparked a flame in him last night, and although he couldn’t remember most of what had been said, he suddenly felt more attached to her than to anyone else in his world. I don’t want to lose her!

  ‘The immediate threat is over.’ Kassa answered his unspoken fear and Lucian spun around in his chair to find her at his office door.

  He smiled and rose to welcome her. ‘Kassa, old friend, that is good news.’

  ‘I can see that it is,’ she mocked affectionately, and Lucian knew at once that she had picked up on his revelations about the previous evening.

  ‘Now, don’t you start jumping to conclusions,’ Lucian warned her. ‘This is all very weird for me just now and I’d rather we didn’t go there.’

  ‘It’s wonderful.’ Kassa gave a little clap, in an attempt to downplay her excitement.

  ‘Look…’ Lucian couldn’t believe he was actually grinning and embarrassed; he felt like a schoolboy. ‘I was very drunk and she was just being polite—’

  ‘Rubbish,’ Kassa insisted. ‘She’s had a crush on you for years!’ The doctor immediately covered her mouth and scolded herself. ‘I did not say that.’

  Lucian was absolutely gobsmacked. ‘Really?’

  ‘No.’ Kassa said, trying to back-pedal, but Lucian’s smile had widened. ‘Damn it. I’ve spent so many years keeping secrets that now the floodgates have opened, well…’ She shrugged, as if she didn’t give two hoots any more. ‘By the way, I accept that you don’t accept my resignation.’

  Lucian was so pleased to hear this that he actually embraced her. ‘That is the very best news I’ve had all month.’ He let her go to observe her. ‘I don’t have so many good friends that I can afford to lose one.’

  ‘It will never happen, kiddo.’ She made a fist and gave a soft nudge to his jaw. ‘I assure you that from now on, I shall use my talent to this project’s greatest advantage, and not my own.’

  ‘Well, now you have that choice,’ Lucian proffered.

  ‘Yes, I do,’ Kassa responded, looking very grateful for it.

  Lucian’s concern returned to Taren, and Kassa answered his unspoken thought.

  ‘There wasn’t as much damage done to her frontal lobe as I first feared. Just a lot of swelling and clotting, so I had to operate to ease the pressure,’ Kassa advised, as if that were the good news.

  ‘But?’ Lucian prompted her.

  ‘Physical damage seems to be minor. But because the wrench hit her centre forehead, between the eyebrows, the knock may have impacted on what those, in metaphysical circles at least, would term her third eye.’

  Lucian rolled his eyes. ‘Kassa, I am a scientist, not a witch doctor—’

  ‘Several ancient cultures,’ she spoke over his sceptical protest, ‘believed that those of us with the Powers use our third eye to a
ccess inner realms of consciousness, which is why clairvoyants like Taren are known as Seers, because they see within themselves and beyond this realm of time.’

  ‘Oh, please,’ Lucian argued. ‘I’ve toured through every accessible system in our galaxy and I have seen nothing that would lead me to believe that there is some grand inner realm hidden within this universe. Be that as it may, I assume you are implying that Taren’s psychic ability could be impaired.’

  Kassa nodded. ‘It’s a possibility. I’m sorry to be spouting ancient belief at you, professor, but when it comes to the realms of the esoteric it is the only doctrine I have to work with apart from the works of Dr Lennox herself.’

  ‘We are all breaking new ground at present, which is what we set out to do…’ He raised his brows at the realisation, and softened his stance. ‘Although I hardly imagined it would be like this. I claim to be open-minded but I see I am going to have to be far more so if I am to make sense of any of this mission and its repercussions, whatever they may be.’

  Ringbalin led the pilot to his lab. Zeven had gone very quiet since his emotional collapse in Lucian’s office.

  ‘I broke down in front of the captain,’ Zeven said awkwardly. ‘I haven’t cried since I was in junior space camp!’

  ‘Shock and remorse tend to make you do that. I cry all the time,’ Ringbalin stated unabashedly and shrugged it off as no big deal.

  ‘Really?’ Zeven found this odd. ‘Why?’

  ‘Beauty,’ Ringbalin said as he stopped and faced Zeven. ‘The beauty of the natural world never fails to bring tears to my eyes.’

  Zeven nodded, kind of relating. ‘That’s how I feel when I get behind the controls of a powerful vehicle.’

  Ringbalin frowned and chuckled. ‘You and I are very different creatures, methinks.’

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ Zeven agreed, as both their pagers went off.

  Aurora had put out a general bulletin advising that Dr Lennox was no longer in a critical condition and was resting comfortably.

  ‘Praise the universe.’ Zeven breathed a great sigh of relief. ‘I thought I’d killed her.’ He was nearly overwhelmed by his emotions once again, but he managed to pull them back into check. ‘You have to help me, Malachi. I’ve never been scared of anything and now I scare myself.’