by Aer-ki Jyr
Zack spun around, doing his best to manage a 180 to keep with a grid pattern. He took a step forward and stopped, pointing forward. Another ‘yes’ command formed in his mind like a lingering ping and he took another step.
Jason heard the mental commands as well, as could anyone within a limited radius around Aaron. He’d learned how to transmit openly, rather than point to point. Some of the other Archons that had come in were able to spot other minds, and in this same room they practiced identifying where they were on a grid, much like a chess board. When one person would move from point to point the Archon would sense where their mind was and adjust the board, all the while not being able to see or hear them.
From that ability it was quickly assumed that if an Archon could do both then they might be able to send private messages to one individual rather than blasting it out for all to hear, but so far no one had progressed far enough to try, given that they either had the ‘tracking’ ability or the ‘transmitting’ ability, with Aaron being the most advanced in the transmitting department.
They’d experimented with range outside of the cerebro building, and at his best Aaron had managed 345 meters, though he’d had to practically shout with his mind, which had been taxing, similar, Jason expected, to lifting an object smaller than a marble. He guessed as each of them advanced their power levels would increase, but right now that’s not what Aaron was working on.
“Slow going?”
“My ‘vocabulary’ sucks,” Aaron said as Jason sensed him give Zack another ‘yes’ command when he pointed to his left. “I can handle binary because it’s measured from one extreme to another, but can you notice the variation?”
“Your yesses aren’t all the same.”
“And that’s the problem,” the trailblazer said, sending another ‘yes’ as Zack pivoted and took a step forward, even before he’d pointed ahead. “We’ve been trying four points…left, right, forward, and back…but I keep slurring the thoughts and he has to guess. It’s like I’m a baby just learning how to speak and all I can do right now is make random sounds.”
“Any sensing ability peeking through?”
“No, and I’d hoped that I might be able to pick up a bit of reflection from my own transmissions but I haven’t got nil.”
“When you’ve got time they’re going to want to stick you in the machine.”
“I’ll head down in an hour or so. I want to get him to the end of the maze first. The more practice I get the better.”
Jason clapped him on the shoulder then headed out the door, leaving him to work without having to talk. As he left he heard another ‘no’ from him, followed by a ‘yes’ in the hallway that was fainter. He caught one more ‘no’ before finally walking out of Aaron’s transmitting range, then as he moved over to another part of the sanctum his head started to hurt worse.
His vision blinked out for a moment, then he steadied himself against the wall as he forced his mind to function…then the strain released and he was back to his normal pain-racked self.
Jason shook his head clear then entered a door a few steps down, finding a pair of Archons in the adjacent room. This one was a normal sparring chamber, circular in design, with Kian-093 sitting in the center while Ellie-579 worked her way around the perimeter doing a series of gymnastics exercises ranging from flips to balance bends, all of which required a significant amount of mental control and coordination.
“Your range is getting better,” Jason commented, with Ellie ceasing her circuit at the sound of his voice. She pulled up, her chin-length blue hair flopping down over her ears as she completed an inversion.
“You felt that?” Kian asked.
“Just now,” Jason confirmed. “Unless someone else was nearby.”
“No, that was me,” the trailblazer said with a bemused look on his face. “I just didn’t think my range had progressed that far. I’m surprised you could tell the difference with how screwed up your head is already.”
“How’s Barbie doing?” Jason asked, referring to Ellie who frowned at the reference.
Kian’s face clenched up and Jason felt another upgrade to his headache that made his balance wobbly, but he managed to stay on his feet. Ellie, however, looked like she was suddenly standing on ice and slipped, falling back onto her butt just before Kian released his disruption field.
“Still getting caught off guard, I’m afraid,” he said, standing up. “I’m surprised you didn’t go down too.”
“Like you said, already got a lot of stuff rattling around in here, so I have to stay on guard.”
“That was cheap,” Ellie complained, getting back up to her feet.
Kian snickered, but offered no further explanation.
“You any better at resisting?” Jason asked her.
“Yes,” the Sangheili said, “but it’s not so much about resisting as it is pushing back. It feels like firing a squirt gun only to have the wind scatter the squirt into droplets. Up the pressure and flow and you can still maintain decent firepower. I haven’t found a way to fight back against what he’s doing, just manage it better. Is your headache really blocking it?”
“My mental pressure flow is sky high already,” Jason told her, “but I almost fell over too. Any twinges from you?”
“Not yet. Still just spherical sight.”
“I want to know the moment it happens. There are some drills I want you to work through so you can hopefully avoid the fragmentation I’ve got.”
“Cheery thought…but as far as keeping you notified of any changes, I’ll add now that I’m also starting to show some tracking ability. Minute levels, only about 3 meters in range, but that puts me on the doubles list now.”
“You and three others?”
“Five total,” Kian corrected. “Tyr came in this morning. He’s got tracking and transmission at minimal levels.”
“Six of us now,” Jason commented, referring to the number of trailblazers. “I get the feeling that eventually we’re all going to end up here.”
“You had your test yet?”
“Just. The techs have got some data to work with now, but they’re going to want to run everyone through the machine.”
“Learn anything?”
“Energy fields and lots of new questions.”
Kian rolled his eyes. “Well, we knew they were energy fields. Anything useful?”
“Not particularly. You figured anything out recently?”
“Starting to,” Kian said. “I’d give you a demonstration but your head hurts enough, I’d imagine. Sorry about the accidental one, by the way. The disruption field can be modified to affect the target in different ways. I haven’t mastered control over it yet, so it’s pretty much accidental when it happens.”
“What ways?”
“Well…ask her. I haven’t actually been on the receiving end yet.”
“The usual is staticy interference, like your nervous system has been disrupted with bit errors. But twice now he’s done something different with it and the static wasn’t there, but it required a lot more mental effort to move.”
Jason glanced at Kian. “Slow?”
The other trailblazer’s jaw dropped. “I totally missed that connection.”
“It didn’t slow me down,” Ellie differed. “My movements were the same speed, it was the mental processing that was…well, ok, that was slowed. Call it slow reflexes, but movement was unaffected.”
“Not like that,” Kian said, shaking his head.
“Have you ever played Final Fantasy?” Jason asked.
Ellie shook her head. “No.”
“That’s why you don’t get it. ‘Slow’ is an effect that you put on an opponent allowing them to get, say, three punches in a given span of time as opposed to four.”
“I’ll have to check that game out…because that’s pretty much what it felt like. Of course I didn’t have long to work through it. He only managed a few seconds each time.”
“Start with Final Fantasy 7,” Kian suggested.
“Just trust us on this one,” Jason agreed. “Any other variations?”
“He did something once that felt like a sharp pain inside my head. I don’t know if I shook it loose or he just couldn’t maintain it, but as soon as it started it stopped.”
“Do you have any variations on your end?” he asked Kian.
“I’d say a weak yes on that. Every time I produce the field it feels a little different. Kind of like trying to hold onto something slippery. You never know which way your hand will go when you squeeze.”
“That makes no sense to me,” Ellie said, looking at Jason for confirmation.
“Not much here either, but I understand the lack of control. I assume no one else has joined the disruption group for you to share notes with?”
Kian spread his arms wide. “Just me and me right now.”
Jason sighed and did a fair impression of McKayla Maroney’s ‘not impressed’ face. “You know where Tyr’s at?”
“Cerebro 1, I imagine.”
Jason shook his head. “Aaron’s there.”
“I think he headed up to the holograms,” Ellie offered.
“That’s not mutant training,” Kian scoffed.
The Sangheili shrugged. “Maybe he’s low on power. I heard he tested with almost nonexistent readings.”
“Actually, there’s something I want to check out there anyway,” Jason said.
“Try and see if you can force throw a hologram?” Kian asked, half serious.
Jason frowned hard. “Not unless it’s a holographic marble. I want to see how it looks with spherical sight.”
Kian’s eyes widened just a touch. “Good call.”
“Carry on,” Jason prompted as he walked out. “And you might want to find a bigger room so you don’t keep tripping up people in the hallway.”
Kian smiled deviously. “Now where would the fun be in that?”
Jason glanced back and mock slapped him through the air…with his cheek denting slightly as he added a telekinetic nudge to the gesture.
As he turned into the hall he got a dizzying burst of static in return, making him stumble just a bit but he brushed it off and moved on, heading back to the mongooses parked outside. He grabbed one, noting the one he’d ridden in on was already gone, and drove across the command deck until he got to the dino-ramp that was made up of differently shaped stairs. In the past they’d had to hoof it up and down, but Star Force had built its own ramp over top along both sides and Jason drove his upwards on the right, riding the accelerator heavily to overcome the steep grade.
He drove up several levels before getting off at the entrance to the Zen’zat levels. From there the hallways were too small to accommodate mongoose traffic without running over people, though the hallways were sufficiently wide to accommodate a single vehicle if necessary. They weren’t the smallest hallways in the pyramid, for Ari’tat were half as tall and their habitat section was constructed accordingly, but they did function as the cap to the ginormous structure, preventing most of the other V’kit’no’sat races from physically entering the tiny bipeds’ domain.
Rit’ko’sor still could, which was why the Zen’zat hadn’t been able to hide out during the rebellion and maintain control over the pyramid, but Jason never understood how they’d managed to get the Ari’tat out, for it would have required them to crawl in. Then again, maybe they simply had…or used some sort of weapon to ferret them out.
Jason worked his way through the Zen’zat levels until he came to the sealed section…which had been purposefully left open to allow non-Archons through. He could clearly see the hidden markings around the door that the others couldn’t, and wondered if they would also open up to Rit’ko’sor or just Zen’zat.
Yet one more question in a long list that was attached to the pyramid. They’d had it in their possession for nearly 400 years and there was still more mystery to it than answers.
Jason headed through the open doors and worked his way to the holographic training chamber and did indeed find Tyr inside sparring with a much taller opponent. He wore a black body suit with emerald trimmings that stood out in stark contrast with Tyr’s white with green stripe Archon uniform. The two were exchanging blows, with the Zen’zat hologram using a rotational fighting style that they seemed to favor. Whether moving forward a step or back, the man’s large torso would twist around in a full circle, swinging arms or legs with it to keep Tyr at bay or to inflict damage.
Jason stayed out of holographic range, standing a step outside the doorway as he extended his spherical sight out in a wide cone towards the pair…whereupon he discovered that he could sense the hologram, as well as feel the pair of bumps on its chest.
That surprised him, because he didn’t remember there ever being any holographic female opponents, but more than that the hologram didn’t feel like Tyr did. It felt sparkly and hollow…with a very rigid frame, like it was made of moving glass just waiting to be broken. Like an energy shield, it diminished on contact, and Jason could just barely make out a weak point where his fellow trailblazer punched it, then the thinness dissipated as more power was pumped into it from the emitters in the room, restoring the thin shell to full thickness.
A series of kicks on Tyr’s part ended with his foot punching through the hologram, whereupon it disappeared with the Archon’s victory…but to Jason’s sight the hologram disappeared prior to the impact, suggesting that it had shut itself down rather than be breached, making him wonder how tough the hologram would be to penetrate at full power.
“Long time, brother,” Tyr offered when he finally noticed Jason. “Bit of a constant headache I hear?”
“You shouldn’t have to ask, Professor.”
Tyr waved a finger at him. “I barely count. I didn’t even notice till after the recall order went out, then I started paying attention. I started mentally yelling at people I passed in the hallway and freaked myself out when somebody actually heard me.”
“You try force-lifting anything?” Jason asked, walking inside.
“No joy there. I hear you’re the only one to break through to Jedi mode?”
“Hmmn, I like the sound of that.”
“Can you lift a stun sword yet?”
Jason reached down into his pocket and pulled out the marble, then levitated it in the air between the two.
“This is about all I’m rated for now. I can manage a bit more mass, but I don’t have the longevity.”
Tyr stared at the floating white orb in wonder, then ran his left hand around it, feeling for connections and finding none.
“Now that is impressive.”
Jason returned the marble to his hand, then his pocket. “Hurts like hell though. And yeah, I’m the only one to break through, but there are several with the precursor so I don’t think I’ll be alone for long.”
“The Jedi sight I read about?”
“Seriously, why didn’t I think to call it that?” Jason said, a bit disappointed with himself. “Yeah, I was just using it to scope out the hologram you were kicking the crap out of. It’s what you use to guide the telekinesis, so if it pops up the other is bound to follow.”
“And which is damaging you?”
“At this point, I so much as blink and it hurts. I don’t know if I’m actively being damaged anymore or just tearing open old injuries. My head is fragged, not as bad as it was before, but enough that I can’t sleep. You can imagine what that’s done to my training.”
“How’d it start?”
“The sight started popping up randomly, and it did fry me pretty good, but there was a building pressure inside that did the worst of it, and that only released when the telekinesis broke through. I’m hoping we can get some answers before the others get to that point.”
“Physical activity help?”
“Other than a distraction, no. This ability operates on its own little island with its own rules. Don’t know if it shares a cabana with yours or not, but it
’s completely separate from the physical skills.”
“I brought 18 Angry Chipmunks with me, four of which have your Jedi sight. One of those is starting to get headaches.”
“Who?” Jason said, now well used to Tyr’s Clan name. In the beginning he, Morgan, and others had chosen more humorous names than the rest of the trailblazers, but at this point the words had gained new definitions and Clan Angry Chipmunk no longer registered as funny, but rather a group of Archons strong in aerial and commando with a large chunk of Titan under their control.
“Riona-111.”
“Where is she?” Jason asked forcefully. “Time matters.”
“I don’t know,” Tyr said, walking towards the door with Jason dropping into step. “But if you think it’s urgent?”
“The headache will build continuously until it pops…I broke through to telekinesis. If I hadn’t…”
“You could have died?”
“I came close,” he whispered.
“That wasn’t in the update,” Tyr complained, changing from a walk over into a jog as they exited the restricted section back out into the communal hallways.
“I just got here too. I didn’t have a hand in writing it.”
“I meant your logs.”
“You haven’t read the recent ones then.”
“Damn those comm delays,” Tyr swore, meaning it more than ever.
“I know. I’m going to put Clan Sangheili techs to work on it round the clock now. We’re getting way too spread out for couriers.”
“Angry Chipmunk will do the same. What’s taking Davis’s people so long? We should have at least a primitive version up and running by now.”
“As long as we’re here, why don’t we ask him?”
“That…is a very good idea,” he said as they ran down a narrow set of oddly shaped stairs. “After you get Riona squared away.”
3
