“Open your mouth!” Tanaka yelled to me over the noise. I looked up at him. He stood over me with his hand stretched out. He was holding what looked like a breath mint in his fingers. I was so tired at that point, I didn’t even care what he was trying to give me. I opened my mouth.
“Let this dissolve under your tongue!” He still had to yell so I could hear him.
I lifted my tongue, closing my eyes. He then placed the mint in my mouth. It dissolved almost instantly. There was no taste at all. It didn’t seem to be a breath mint, at least not like any I’d ever had before.
What the hell did he just give me?
He took my glasses from me. I looked up at him again questioningly. He tried to put them back on me, but I shook my head at him. I started to tell him that they were hurting my head. He interrupted, still yelling over the engine noise, “Close your eyes!”
Fine.
I gave in and closed my eyes. He placed the glasses back on my head.
“You’ll have to open your eyes to give the command to turn the HUD off,” he said in a normal voice. Once again, the earphones let me hear him perfectly.
I opened my eyes to a bombardment of information that made my head swim again. Looking at the red circle I thought to myself, HUD off. The display switched. It was like looking through regular sunglasses now, except for the rearview across the top. The glasses didn’t hurt my head anymore. In fact my head was slowly feeling better.
“What’d you give me?” I asked.
“It’s a painkiller designed to have no after effects like grogginess, and it will even get rid of nausea and other symptoms of shock as well. It’s perfect for field work. You overdid it with your powers earlier. That tends to give you a bad migraine. Now, eat this,” he said holding out a small lavender cube.
I took the one-inch cube between my fingers. It felt like a cross between gelatin and a marshmallow. I glared up at Tanaka. He read the question on my face.
“It’s a field ration. You missed most of breakfast, so you need to eat. It is the nutritional equivalent of four square meals. Eat that and you won’t be hungry for a number of hours,” he said eating one himself as if to prove it wasn’t poison.
I hadn’t realized I was hungry. Actually, I was ravenous. I smelled it first, just by habit of encountering a new food. There was no odor at all. I took a small bite. The unique texture had no real taste. It was sweet, but flavorless. I popped the rest in my mouth still surprised at the lack of taste. Almost instantly I felt full. Tasteless, small, yet satisfying. That’s a new one. I didn’t feel tired anymore, and the pain was almost completely gone.
I felt comfortable in Marsala’s hands. It was that warm comfy feeling when you finally get home to unwind after a bad day at work. In fact I felt much more comfortable than I should have. I twisted around to look up at his face. He looked disturbingly content, like the cat who ate the canary. That just led to a bad thought.
“Marsala, did we use to date?” I asked fearing the answer.
He looked down at me smiling so wide I could see his fangs. “Before Kieran went after Jacob, we were lovers. I know that we probably won’t be together again, but I do like the closeness. Do you mind?” he asked giving my shoulders a slight reassuring squeeze.
I had expected to be repulsed by his answer. Hell, I’d just spent thirty-four years as a very heterosexual male. This was my first day as a woman. In my mind, I was not into guys, but rather than fight it, I just enjoyed the comfort. I defiantly did not want him sexually–at least I didn’t think so–but I didn’t mind his touch. I just leaned back into his hands.
This is all so confusing.
“Wait, you’re huge! If the rest of you is that big . . . just how were we lovers?” I asked fighting off the visuals in my head.
“Not all sex involves intercourse,” he said plainly, as if that explained everything. Ugh! More confusion.
“Is there anyone I’ve met today I haven’t slept with?” I asked, not sure if I really wanted an answer.
“You haven’t slept with Nikolai, or with Dr. Grey. At least I don’t think you’ve slept with her,” Tanaka said with an evil grin and a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.
The pilot chimed in, “You haven’t slept with me!”
I groaned, hiding my face behind my hands. All of the sudden I was more embarrassed than I’d ever been. I could feel another blush rising in my cheeks.
“If you look at the command circle and think of who you want to talk to, your voice isn’t openly broadcast. Only the person you want to talk to will hear you.” Marsala’s voice was comforting, but I didn’t feel any less embarrassed.
They could’ve told me that earlier, like before I ate past my foot clear to my ankle.
“Why’d I lose it back there? I’ve never felt rage like that before,” I asked Marsala.
“Kieran constantly had to fight to keep from giving in to her anger. She is very powerful. If she–you lose control completely”–he paused as if searching for the best way to explain–“let’s just say that there are only a handful of people in the world that could stop you. Her powers first manifested when she was just a child. The shield-aura around herself wasn’t a problem. It was when she learned to use her shields like a telekinetic that she became dangerous. . . . She never told me the whole story, but once she lost her temper very badly. She was just a child, angry at her father. I don’t know what had happened, exactly. Somehow, when she lost her temper her powers became uncontrollable. Her father died that day, because she lost control. After that she started to fight her anger, never letting it control her again.
“Only once that I know of she completely lost her temper. It’s a very long story. The short version is that she was tortured for days until finally she was pushed over the edge. It was five years ago in Prague. She leveled four city blocks. Everything was flattened. Three-story buildings were instantly smashed to only two-feet-tall. It was impossible to get an accurate death count through the rubble. The GCP Council suspended her from active duty for almost an entire year after that. During that time they were deciding whether or not she had gone rogue. They finally decided that she had acted within acceptable limits given the situation. She has been through a lot. You may not have her memories, but that does not erase who she is, or who you now are.” His deep voice held a touch of regret in it.
For the first time since we took off, I looked out the door. There were no buildings. All I could see were snowy mountains and trees. Where are we? The glasses responded to my unasked question. The HUD displayed a map showing us moving away from the city deep into the mountains.
“Where are we going?” I asked openly.
“Kieran had a favorite place she’d go to get away from it all. I thought you’d like to see it,” Tanaka answered. I had a strange feeling he was up to something.
Ten minutes later, the transport stopped moving forward. It began to climb. We went up until the air started to get thin enough it was hard to breathe.
What the hell is going on?
“We’re here. No one ever really comes here because there’s no roads. A few hikers visit from time to time, but mostly there are no humans. Take a look down. This is the best view,” Tanaka said with his face oddly void of expression.
I moved past Marsala’s leg to the edge. I was on my hands and knees as I slowly peered over the edge. Far below us was a deep blue lake. It was surrounded by snowy forest on all sides. It was a beautiful view, even though I did not like sticking my head out of the transport that high up just to see it.
Suddenly, I felt something solid press against my butt. I looked in the rearview to see Marsala’s size thirty boot resting on my backside.
“Forgive me,” Marsala said solemnly as he kicked me out the door.
* * *
I was suddenly falling.
There was nothing to hold on to. I tried in vain to grab the rapidly fading transport with my shields. The ground was coming up fast.
From this height even the wa
ter is going to feel like hitting concrete!
“YOU SON-OF-A-BITCH!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. It was all I could do. I screamed every curse-word I knew, then I screamed them all again. I was going to die and there was nothing to do about it.
“Listen to me!” Tanaka was barking commands through my earphones again. “You can use your shields to slow you down. Push your shields out against the air around you.”
This is all just another one of his stupid tests!?! If I wasn’t falling to my death right now, I’d beat him to a bloody pulp!
I tried my hardest. Concentrating on slowing my descent. I tried to imagine a parachute, then a glider.
Nothing’s working!
I was almost to the ground. I shut my eyes tight throwing my arms up to protect my head as I prepared to kiss the water at full speed. I forced my shields out.
If I can’t slow down, maybe I can use them to soften the impact.
The world seemed to stop as I waited to crash into the lake.
“Kieran. . . . Kieran, open your eyes.” Marsala’s deep voice filled my ears with a calming softness to it.
It took me a while to work up the courage to open my eyes. When I finally looked, the lake filled my vision. I found myself stopped above the water. At least ten feet above the water. My shields flowed around me with the wind. I was floating.
No, not floating, I-I-I’m flying! I CAN FLY?!?!
It only took a thought and I was moving. The lake floated by underneath me. With another thought I turned directions. My shields pushed against the very air itself, propelling me forward. I spread out my arms. The wind rushed around my body as I flew through the air. I wasn’t even airsick. The feeling was indescribable.
Laughing to myself, I flew in gentle circles over the lake and the snowy shore. A push on my shields and I was going faster. I started making a circuit over the lake. Pushing myself to go faster on each pass. I wanted to know just how fast I could go. The lake seemed to grow shorter as I went faster each time. On the seventh pass over the lake I looked in the rearview. There was a wake in the water from my passing over it. I angled up, pushing myself into a loop. Then I tried a few barrel rolls. Not once did I ever have a feeling of motion sickness.
I came to a stop over the trees, turning in midair. The lake was truly beautiful. I felt so free. Gliding down, I drug a hand through the water as I flew over the lake again.
“I CAN FLY!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“I knew you could do it!” Tanaka laughed, his voice filling my ears through the comm.
I could feel the anger boil up to life inside me again in a nanosecond. I’d finally had enough of his training methods. I looked up at the tilt-wing still floating high above the lake. Tanaka was leaning out the door waving.
Let’s see how he likes it.
I willed myself up, and away I flew taking off like a bullet. The BOOM and the change in air pressure after pushing through what felt like an invisible wall of tissue paper let me know that I was suddenly flying past the speed of sound. The transport grew rapidly in front of me, much faster than I had fallen earlier as I sped to it at hypersonic speed.
“Oh shit!” Tanaka’s eyes went wide as I approached. He started back into the transport. I could clearly see that he had a look of horror on his face.
Good!
I flew into the opening of the transport tackling Tanaka. On the way out the other side, Marsala grabbed my foot in an attempt to stop me. He was pulled out of the transport by my momentum to fall with us. We plummeted towards the lake below.
“How do you like it! Do you like being thrown out of a plane!?!” Shaking Tanaka by his tactical vest, I was yelling in his face.
“Kieran, you have to help us. We can’t fly like you!” Marsala sounded slightly panicked. Something inside my mind flipped a switch, the anger was gone and I could think clearly once more.
Oh my god! What have I done? Why did I let my anger control me again?!
I grabbed Tanaka by the wrist and turned to grab Marsala. He wrapped his huge hand around my arm. I had them. I pushed with my shields trying to fly back to the transport. We were still falling no matter how hard I tried. I can’t lift them both! I focused all of my power into lifting them. We slowed down. I couldn’t bring us up, but I could slow us down.
We splashed down in the middle of the lake. The water rushed up around us and they let go of me. I could see Tanaka and Marsala swimming for the surface. The water hadn’t touched me. My shields kept me dry and warm. In fact I was even breathing.
My shields are letting me breathe underwater?!
Just like flying, I could use my shields to move through the water. I went to the bottom of the lake just to see what it was like. I wasn’t wet or cold. I couldn’t feel the pressure of the water, but I knew it was there. If only I could see better. As if on cue, my glasses switched vision modes. I was now able to see in a type of night vision that didn’t require any light at all. I watched the fish swimming by. This is fun.
“If you’re going to stay down there all day, let us know so we can go back now.” It was Tanaka’s voice in my ears. I was surprised the comm system worked through that much water.
“I’m on my way,” I replied not sure if he heard me or not.
Reluctant to leave, I started to swim for the surface. Once my head cleared the water the air through my shields tasted different, less musty. I looked around. Tanaka was sunning himself on a rock at the edge of the lake. The lake was frozen around the edges, and snow covered the shoreline. Even with the snow on the ground, he had stripped down to only a pair of shorts. Tattoos covered his bare chest, back, and legs in strange tribal designs that matched his arms and neck. His breath was making little clouds again.
He has to be freezing now, wet and half naked on a rock surrounded by snow. Just looking at him made me feel colder. What exactly is he? Marsala was close by. He was rubbing on his sunblock again. I guess it must’ve washed off.
I took two strokes in their direction. Then I had an idea. I focused on my shields, raising myself out of the water. I was now able to walk across the surface of the lake. I was walking on water!
The surprises never end in this episode of “What all can Kieran do?” Stay tuned for more.
Tanaka looked up. “Okay, now you’re just showing off,” he laughed. “The worse thing about working with you is that no matter what happens, you’re always clean and dry.”
“During times of great emotion, like anger or fear, is when most psionic powers manifest themselves the first time.” Marsala talked to me as I walked across the lake to them. “The first time Kieran learned to fly was when she had been thrown from an airplane during a mission. Tanaka figured that if we recreated that incident, you would learn to fly as well.”
“From now on, you are both to tell me before we do something concerning my powers! No more shooting me, then telling me I’m bulletproof. Or throwing me out a window, then telling me I can fly. Or anything else stupid like that. Got it?” I reached the edge of the shore and stood between them in the snow.
“I didn’t figure you’d go if I asked you.” Tanaka shrugged, leaning up on his arms to talk to me.
“You, didn’t ask now did you?” I was upset with Tanaka shaking an angry finger at him with what he had done. Even though Marsala pushed me out of the transport, it was Tanaka I blamed. “Is there any other powers that I need to be trained on, or are we done for the day?”
“You still need to learn about your shield-strength.” Marsala finished putting on his cream then stood up. “You can use your shields to enhance your strength. It works for things like the stairwell doors earlier today. Using your shields you should be able to tear apart doors like that in the future.”
“How does it work?” I groaned, getting tired again.
“Punch this rock. Your shields will keep you from hurting your hand, so punch it as hard as you can.” He was pointing at the boulder he’d been leaning against earlier.
I didn’t say anything, just did as he wanted. I punched the rock. My shield hit the rock first, then my hand hit. It didn’t hurt, the shield cushioned my hand like a glove. I looked at Marsala and shrugged.
“You felt the shield hit first, right?” he asked. I nodded. “This time when you hit the rock, hit it with your shield. Don’t think of your shield as a glove protecting you. Instead, think of it as a weapon to destroy things with.”
A weapon. What type of weapon does he mean? A hammer breaks rocks. Is that what he means, think of a hammer?
I hit the rock again. This time my shield was a hammer, not a glove. The rock moved slightly when I hit it. My hand never touched the rock this time.
“Good. Now hit it once again. This time hit it to destroy it. Pour your energy into your shields and destroy the rock.” Marsala stepped back.
I turned back to the rock. I imagined it breaking. I poured all of my energy, all of my anger, everything I had into my hand. Then I hit the rock.
It exploded. Small chunks of the large rock flew everywhere.
“Shit!” We all said at the same time.
“I think you understand now. You can use your shields like different types of weapons, hard as a hammer to sharp as a sword.” Marsala turned away looking up to the sky through his glasses. “Pick us up. We’re done for the day.”
The tilt-wing descended towards us. I was feeling tired again, so unbelievably tired. The headache was rising again.
My first day as Kieran. This girl sure has an interesting life, exhausting, but interesting.
Chapter 4
I woke up in another strange bed, this one was big and fluffy. It was the largest bed I’d ever seen, like a quadruple King-Size. You could’ve fit a number of people in it. I sat up. Silver silk sheets and black fur blankets covered my legs. I was naked again. Did she always sleep au naturel? When I was a guy, I spent a lot of time just in boxer shorts, but I didn’t really mind being naked. In fact, today, in this room especially, I was strangely very comfortable being nude.
Survivor Reborn (Kieran Grey Psionic Hunter) Page 5
