by Lisa Eskra
"How much can you see? Do you know what's going to happen tomorrow? Do you know when you're going to die?"
"No. And thankfully no." She took a deep breath, trying to find words to describe the transcendent experience peering into the future was. "I'm not a true Seer. I get visions about major events in the near future. I don't typically know things more than a few months in advance, if that. For example, I knew my trip to Sirius would be more or less viewed as a success so I hope that bodes well for relations between the UE and the PAU."
"It must be amazing to possess that sort of power…though I'd have a hard time dealing with visions of doom. It would've been horrible to know I'd lose my memory and not be able to change it. For all I know it's the first misstep of many."
"I've always found pessimism to be a self-fulfilling prophecy."
As she stood, Amii propped her head on her fist. "I think I've always been a pessimist. And after losing all memory of who I am, now I have a good reason to be."
"Worse things can always happen," Nadine said while she paced across the room. "I mean, there's death. Paralysis. Loss of limbs. Drowning…"
"Pretty sure that counts as death. What if I had this great life somewhere with a great husband before getting kidnapped and who knows what else."
"You're not afraid of me, are you." Nadine didn't even phrase it as a question since the answer itself was already clear. "You don't fear the thought of being forced to reveal your darkest secrets to a stranger against your will?"
"Should people live in fear that the person they just walked past on the street is going to pull out a disruptor and shoot them in the back? Or that their transport just might fall out of the sky while they're onboard? Normals have used psions as the single target for all their fears since the Exodus. Being different was reason enough to brand them the scourge of Astra." Amii seemed passionate about the cause, a fact that appeared to surprise even herself.
"You are different from anyone I've ever met, Amii. I don't think you're a psion, but…I'm sure it's nothing," Nadine assured her. "I'm just happy to have found one person on the ship who doesn't treat me like a freak."
"We're all freaks, Nadine," she said with a smile. "Some of us just hide it better than others."
The second lady grinned, knowing the truth behind those words was worth its weight in platinum. It was rare to find someone so willing to forego preconceived notions about psions. She'd found a man like that once in Bryan Taylor and today discovered the same spark in Amii. For that, she felt like the most fortunate psion in Astra.
***
Why did it always seem like bad situations got worse before they got better?
Magnius sat on his bed and peered out the window in the same vapid suit he'd put on early this morning. The heat had long since drained out of his clammy hands, and though the air was warm, he shivered. His brisk heartbeat hadn't relaxed since his life had been flipped upside-down, and its strong cadence made his entire body pulsate. In an entire universe of options, he felt like he had none.
Yesterday, his wife stormed out on him, and tomorrow Tiyuri planned to take him back to Aliane. In the Astra neighborhood Abyssa was just a day removed from Vega, a fact his subconscious mind never forgot. Her shroud of dread reached its glacial fingers over the bleakness of space surrounding Superbia, and he wondered if he'd ever really escaped her.
Night had fallen in complete darkness, a rare sight on Fantasti. Not a single moon illuminated the blackened sky, unusual because Nuage had dozens. The brightest star in the sky, Arcturus, peered back at their tiny world from roughly thirty-two light-years away. The distorted constellation of Orion barely resembled its Earth counterpart from this part of Astra. A faint halo of light from Comet RD-65 soared across the southern horizon on its regular fifty-year trek between Vega and Nuage. From the second story of his home, the spectacular view quieted his racing heart.
The glint of a ghostly visage reflected in the window, and his hair stood on end. Tiyuri lurked in the house somewhere keeping an eye on him—an ever-present reminder that opposition was pointless. He stood six-foot-four, a towering warrior with amazing strength and dexterity, who possessed the ability to go unseen. He was not a supernatural magician, yet his power of subliminal suggestion convinced people to ignore him. The man could murder someone in a crowd of thousands in broad daylight, and no one would see him. Being a psion gave Magnius an advantage over normals; he couldn't always see Tiyuri, but he did sense his psionic presence nearby.
A part of him sympathized with Tiyuri. Had he been born on a more benevolent planet, his future would've been a bright one. His unwavering loyalty would serve him well in the Allied Fleet. He wouldn't be saving puppies, but he wouldn't be a monster.
Rumors of how the assassin had gone to kill Aliane and was instead persuaded to join her cause for the honor and justice of psions everywhere became ingrained in her lore. She found her way out of almost any situation. After 250 years, her notorious exploits took on a life of their own. She'd replaced the Boogyman because she was real.
Years ago, Magnius respected her. The most powerful telepath in Astra saw worth in him. Potential enough to tutor him. At the time he was too young to understand how often she killed people to maintain her extraordinary power. And then after what she did to his best friend's father—he still longed to forget the terrible sight.
After dinner, he began to pack his bags when he asked himself why he bothered. He didn't plan to bend to Aliane's will so her only recourse would be to kill him. If she didn't do it right away, she would in time. That is, if she didn't have some other heinous plot in mind.
He browsed through the drawers of the nightstand next to him. Lyneea kept jewelry inside, and the fact it hadn't been touched meant she'd left in a hurry. He grabbed his shoulder satchel out of the top drawer and tossed it onto the bed. He'd withdrawn a few thousand dollars after work as he did every Tuesday; the act seemed pointless at the time, but having it now felt like a godsend. For the first time in his life, he regretted not owning a disruptor. Only a headshot would stop Tiyuri, and Magnius had never been proficient with the guns.
The bottom drawer had a comtab inside. He took it out and scrolled through the recently viewed files. Most were books his wife planned to read. But a scrap of a notefile caught his attention. It had the word "Kearsarge," today's date, the address of a landing pad on the other side of the city, and a universal time less than an hour from now. Was it possible she hadn't left the planet yet?
If he planned to escape, this was his best chance. The prospect scared him shitless, but no matter the outcome, he needed to try.
He stuffed the comtab into his satchel in case he needed to refer back to it and returned to the window. Lyneea's electric commuter vehicle sat in the driveway next to the angular black monstrosity Tiyuri arrived in. He could not risk getting into the garage for his hoverbike so the tiny car would have to do. He took a few deep breaths, realizing the jeopardy he was about to throw his life into. For an instant he wished he were a Seer to assure himself this was the right decision.
He unlatched the window and quietly slid it open. The warm ocean breeze caressed his face and tempted him to stay, but he couldn't. He tossed the satchel outside and watched it flutter to the ground. Before he managed to step onto the overhanging roof, he felt an invisible arm wrap around his neck and begin to choke him.
"Going somewhere, Magnius?"
Tiyrui's tight grip had him gasping for air. The assassin didn't have to bring him voluntarily. Incapacitated would do just as nicely. He loved to flex his muscles every chance he got. If only Magnius could use that to his advantage…and before he lost consciousness.
As his perception began to waver, Magnius lurched backward and slammed him into the dresser. Tiyuri yelped as the mirror shattered, breaking his stranglehold enough for him to slip out of his grasp and dart to the other side of the room. He reached for the doorknob but it didn't budge. Locked.
He felt a heavy object slam across his back, f
orcing him to double over from the stunning blow. When he turned, Tiyuri stood there behind him, swinging a glass lamp at his head. Before the sight even registered in his mind, Magnius reacted, blasting the man back ten feet into a wall with a telekinetic repulsion wave. The discharge embedded Tiyuri in the drywall, but he shrugged off the pain as he climbed out. A dusky sheen gave him a phantasmal appearance, but he charged back into the fray without pause.
His captor moved faster than a mortal man had any right to. Magnius had not yet recovered when he found himself grappling face-to-face with a master fighter. Tiyuri locked his arms around his head in an attempt to gain the advantage, and Magnius pulled away with every ounce of strength he possessed. They stumbled around the room in haphazard motion, and their flailing broke shelves and a display case on the wall. Lyneea's porcelain figurines wailed as they smashed against the floor. The two careened back into the dresser. The moment he fell onto it, Magnius felt his weight crush every object on it.
Using what little leverage the dresser gave him, Magnius kicked at Tiyuri to break his grip. His opponent slammed his fist hard into Magnius' face. As he recoiled from the pain, he hit the brute with a telekinetic shock more powerful than the last one. Tiyuri crashed into the door, breaking the lock and sending it flying open. But the obstacle didn't hinder his motion. He continued on and plunged down the stairs, frantically pawing to grab something—anything to stop his violent descent.
Magnius didn't hang around to watch. He ran to the window and stepped onto the overhanging roof. After climbing down the nearby tree, he fell onto the ground and panicked, knowing it would only be a matter of moments before Tiyuri came to. He sprinted toward the white car, threw the gull-wing door open, and jumped inside. Without even unplugging it from the house, he shifted into reverse and sped out of the driveway. Upon reaching the street, he jammed it into drive, running over a flowerbed in their front yard with his getaway.
He breathed an uneasy sigh and headed toward the other side of the city. The trip wouldn't take more than fifteen minutes on a bad day. But this was about to be a very bad day. He glanced into the mirror and saw a large vehicle skid around a corner behind him. Within seconds the bright headlights blinded him, and the car accelerated toward his. He stomped the pedal to the floor but the electric car didn't respond, since it had been designed for city travel not high speeds.
He swerved into the other lane, missing a collision with an approaching hovercar by inches. Dodging oncoming traffic became a frightening prospect so he made a series of rapid turns onto side streets in order to lose the pursuer. It didn't work, only serving to make the car behind him more aggressive and dangerous. They dodged lampposts and vehicles in a frantic race for survival, one he had no illusions of winning. At the sedan's current rate of approach, he'd never make it to the landing pad.
The two entered a residential area, and the last thing Magnius wanted to do was injure a child or any pedestrians. He decelerated and let Tiyuri clip his right rear fender. In one surreal motion the car spun around clockwise and the black hovercar smashed into the passenger's side of the commuter, pushing the two down the street with their inertia. As they slowed, the vehicles slid against a tall concrete wall, grinding them to a stop.
Jolted but uninjured, Magnius tried to get his door open, but it wouldn't budge. The car's frame had buckled during the impact, preventing the handle from operating properly. He glanced at the smoldering hovercar still wedged into the opposite side of Lyneea's poor wreck. A jogger they'd passed after the collision rushed over to Tiyuri's vehicle like a Good Samaritan. If he could've done anything to save that man, he would've—now was too late.
He put his right hand on the window and turned his head away, shutting his eyes before shattering the glass next to him. Without another thought, he slid out the opening and wrested himself free of the vehicle. He saw Tiyuri with his fingers around the young man's forehead while he tore out every trace of gammamine from the naïve person.
Before he finished feeding, Magnius ran west down the street. Could he best the rejuvenated combatant after expending so much energy in their earlier struggle? He might've had a chance if the assassin hadn't restored all his powers. He could kill Tiyuri, but then he'd be one of those psions normals like Lyneea hated because they had no respect for life itself; he would not make a concession on his morals unless absolutely necessary.
After sprinting past several large houses, he turned to see if he was being followed. Sure enough, Tiyuri trailed about thirty yards behind him. "You can't run, Magnius. Coming with me was never a choice."
Magnius feared that had been the case. After another hundred yards, he felt winded but stopping would seal his fate. Now more than ever, Tiyuri would delight in beating him until he fell unconscious before hauling his war trophy to Superbia. Tiyuri never went against Aliane's word, and if she told him to bring Magnius to her, that's what he'd do. The assassin didn't bother with petty personal vendettas but followed orders like his life depended on it.
As chance would have it, the following morning was garbage day. Green bins lined the street as far as Magnius could see in the darkness. To keep Fantasti in pristine condition, a mandatory recycling system had been enacted, which made the most of the limited resources available in the Vega system. Never before had the decree seemed so fortuitous.
He rushed across the dark street. When he reached the other side, he continued west. Passing a pair of refuse bins, he used his telekinesis to shove them into Tiyuri's path. Magnius glanced back to see paper and plastic flying everywhere, bounding into people's yards and into the street as though it were confetti. Tiyuri dodged the objects with little effort, or they bounced off his chest without breaking his stride.
Failure didn't stop Magnius from trying again and again, leaving a mass of debris in his wake. And Tiyuri continued unfazed. He began resorting to other methods, using objects in people's front yards: children's toys, signs, hanging flowerpots, and seasonal decorations. Some of the larger items tripped Tiyuri up, allowing Magnius to widen the gap between the two. But that didn't matter if he couldn't keep up the torrid pace.
Instead of allowing himself to resign to the inevitable, Magnius tapped into the anger he'd suppressed all these years. There had always been a quiet rage inside of him toward Aliane. He continued to live with the misery she'd put him through so long ago. She'd ruined his childhood, and if he ever planned to put an end to things between the two of them, now was the time to send a powerful message her way.
Magnius stopped in his tracks and spun around. A vicious burning welled behind his eyes—a seething energy of pure hatred. "You want me? Then come and get me you son of a bitch."
He closed his eyes and channeled a massive concussive blast at Tiyuri's location. The square of sidewalk underneath him detonated, sending Tiyuri flying into the street with a rain of concrete fragments around him. A nearby fence splintered from the shockwave and water from an underground pipe burst into the air, soaking everything around it. He'd never channeled that much raw power before. He took a step back in astonishment, and all at once the sight of such destruction startled him.
Tiyuri picked himself up without taking his eyes off Magnius. He approached unsteadily, limping on his right leg. Blood spatters covered his bruised face from a broken nose, but he was no less determined to complete his mission. Within a minute his foe would regenerate his wounds, leaving Magnius worse off than he was now.
"I don't want to hurt you, Tiyuri," he said. "Let me go."
"I can't do that, Magnius. And now you've made it personal."
In a sudden burst of energy, Tiyuri lunged toward Magnius in an attempt to knock him to the ground and pin him there. He cowered, holding his arms out to lessen the blow. But it never came. Instead, Tiyuri hung suspended in midair several yards away from him. He'd used his telekinetic powers on instinct without even trying to.
All color drained out of the assassin's face. It was the first time Magnius could recall seeing Tiyuri scared.
"So maybe you really did turn out to be the boy wonder everyone was hoping for," Tiyuri said, his words dripping with sarcasm. "You belong with us. You belong with Aliane."
"You seem to be forgetting that I'm holding all the cards right now," Magnius said as he stood and lifted Tiyuri further off the ground. "Nothing in all of Astra could get me to see eye to eye with Aliane."
"Don't kid yourself that you'll ever fit in with these pathetic normals. Your life is a lie."
People started to stir from inside the houses to see what the commotion was all about. Magnius panicked, not wanting any of them to recognize him. He grabbed a bicycle out of a nearby yard and fled the scene. Moments later, Tiyuri fell ten feet out of the sky with a thud and a groan, but Magnius didn't look back. He needed to get away from the scene and to that ship.
He wove through alleys and side streets until he got back to his house. If he went back for his hoverbike, he'd be able to make it to the landing pad in time. He grabbed the satchel on his return visit before speeding into the night on his bike. He found himself unable to relax, given Tiyuri's singular obsession with pleasing Aliane's every command. He remained out there, somewhere.
Every minute that passed with no sign of Tiyuri was a blessing. However, when he approached an overpass, he felt a strong psionic presence. No sooner had the red flags gone off in his mind, an oncoming vehicle swerved through traffic and jumped the median.
With his heart racing out of control, Magnius activated the counter-thrusters and skidded to a stop. He held his arms out in front of him, using every last bit of psionic energy he had left to stop Tiyuri. His hands trembled under the strain, and his eyes burned like a hot needle plunged through them. He deflected the hovercar toward the guardrail, which it hit with an incredible amount of force, its momentum carrying it over the edge. The vehicle plunged down toward the street below, its hover mechanism cushioning the impact, and crashed into a lamp pole.
