Jack watched Gutner Dank stop a few feet in front of him and point to spots he wanted each of the Dumont to stop. He soon had all of them lined up across the front of Pan, the Ensign and Jack before turning to face Jack. “I have rounded up all Yachenadumonts on this ship Captain. One was killed when it tried to use its mind trick on us. I wish you to forgive the Trooper for her actions. She is a valuable member of Red Apes and acted appropriately even though the Overseer died. The pain she was in preventing her from not using her full strength while defending herself from the attack sir.”
Jack frowned as he looked the line of overseers over. “Ok Gutner. Why did you round them all up in the first place?”
“What you humans call, Standard Operating Procedures Captain. When one Dumont goes rough, all Dumonts who have come into contact with the aaa, crazy Dumont must be killed. Also any Dumont that attempts to mind influence Apes and or Officers must be killed. We have noticed that you humans do not kill for minor infractions and have always gone out of your way to preserve life if at all possible. We find that now that we have freedom to pursue our wants and desires, we, ourselves do not like dying as readily as we once did. We have also a, grown appreciative of other lives and prefer not to kill if it can be avoided as you have shown us Captain. For that reason we bring these to you for a decision as to what to do with them. Again I beg for what you called forgiving. To forgive Tampan for killing the Dumont when she tried to arrest him. She is very upset for failing to control him instead of killing him.”
Jack looked from Gutner to the line of Dumonts. Most looked scared to death while 3 stared open eyed back at Jack with expressions he could not even fathom. “Damn Gutner you said a mouth full. Since we have already killed Yeti for mind attacks and barely survived we probably should give Tampan a medal.” Turning to Pan who stood staring from one to the next across the line. He could not believe all of them were crazy murderers. Taking a breath. “What do you think Pan. You have to work with them. Can we start by taking off the ca…?”
Jack felt a tickle across the side of his head facing the Dumonts as his mind went blank and then a low pain on that side deep in his head. Turning his head toward that side the pain seemed to move to the front of his head. He could see a glow coming from the Dumont to the far left as its caller flashed almost too fast to see and then he could not see it flashing at all. Just a bright eye hurting light coming from the collar. Then suddenly he heard a big bang as the thick red collar exploded inward beheading the figure whose body stood there for several seconds before it slowly toppled over forward to land flat on its chest and bounce once as the collar still intact rolled away across the deck. The head flying high into the air toppling over and over to finally land on the corps legs below the butt above the grav can where it was wedged in place looking up demandingly. Jack could have sworn he saw the eyes move looking around for several seconds but knew that had to be his own imagination.
All Jack was sure about was that the pain in his head was gone as the red collar blackened around the inside started making smaller and smaller circles as it rolled around the deck. The rolling mettle on mettle sound growing in pitch as it finely flopped onto its side with the rings edge touching the deck as it rotated faster and faster until it stopped with a ringing clank.
Pan slowly slid over to the only Dumont still standing upright with most cringing down into bows making careening warbling noises. Though two others where only partially bent over and kept staring up at the standing one. The standing one’s eyes staring holes into Jack until Pan put her nose to the others nose preventing it from seeing Jack. The Gravely growling noise suddenly coming from Pan was a shock to Jack as he tried to keep from covering his ears and suddenly realized that he was not hearing sound but feeling what was generated in his head as Pans head glowed brighter and brighter. Impressions of love and caring and compassion washed over him in waves as the wall of hate continued to descend onto him.
Jack realized that if the flashing collar around the neck of the Dumont she had her face pressed tightly against exploded, it would take Pans head off as well. The dark thoughts accompanying the flash to brief to catalog.
Jumping forward he watched the Dumonts head briefly flash bright enough to heart his eyes as his head seamed to short circuit again with unimaginable pain almost stopping him dead in his tracks but as the flash of pain faded he could not believe the collar had not exploded yet as bright as the collar’s flashing had been compared to the preceding explosion of the other collar. But know the collar’s light was muted.
As the pain suddenly came back with the collar flashing back to life, Jack saw the tight grip pan had around the other Dumont as she hugged him tight against her. Her head now glowing bright enough to hurt his eyes. The Dumonts down the line seemed to scream loud enough to hurt his ears as their heads seemed to turn into bright suns themselves in the corner of his eyes as they stared at their brother. Their own collars flashing bright as suns and then as suddenly darkened as if it had never happened.
Then a fraction of a second later the head of the Dumont that Pan was hugging, flashed into a sun again as he turned to face Jack even though Pan tried to keep him from twisting his head enough. Jacks head again seamed to fill with searing pain and emotions of terror, loneliness, despair and hate he had never experienced before. The ring around their necks flashing brightly. Suddenly the terror was shoved aside as the bright light the heads were giving off quickly faded with the rings around their necks darkening yet again.
For a few seconds he found peace and then he started hearing unintelligible voices leaving impressions in his head as the heads down the line started brightening again. The impression of Shock washed over him that the attack had been shunted aside from the primeval savage depths of his mind. It was clear that he should be dead by now and the minds could not understand why he was still alive.
The voice impressions decided in unison to go after a different part of his mind and attacked again. His pain centers of his mind suddenly filled with excruciating pain until another part of his mind or was it someone else was pushed in to say no that it was not real. The impression that he could ignore the pain, push it away flooded over him. Ignore the pain. It’s not real. Isolate the feelings. His love for the Ensign flooded in from where he did not know, giving him strength. He concentrated and the pain went away as the line of heads and their rapidly flashing collars darkened again.
The Voices impressions came back on clearer this time as the heads brightened again. They decided as one to go for another part of his mind and Nightmares burst forth with monsters consuming him until he realized that they were only dreams. Something he had learned years ago, that dreams were dreams and he could influence them turning nightmares into just dreams by materializing weapons or doors or laughing at the monsters and changing them into harmless phantasies. The flood of nightmares stopped as he laughed at them and the heads and collars darkened again.
The voices came back again with the heads flaring even brighter as they seemed to start arguing about the best way and where to attack again and again he felt something rush into a part of his mind as languages flooded into him with nothing making any sense at first as his mind started to explode with far too much information overwhelming him beating him down into a deep isolated hole as he started falling apart. Just when he could not take any more of the information flooding into him something clicked and a peace fell into place allowing him to hear clearly the entities talking to each other, coordinating the masses of information they were shoving into him. Then the information started making some sense and then it all fell into place and he felt his mind expanding to hold the flood and then the flood was not a flood but just information about hundreds and then thousands of species and strange words and concepts and places that started not being so strange and then it just petered out to a trickle and stopped again with the darkness descending around him but this time he did not want it to stop.
The voices came again in a massive flood with the
brightening light but this time he could understand them perfectly. His mind accessing the information that had flooded in only moments before to explain every word. They started arguing again about why the last attack had failed and where to attack next as they pushed harder and harder to overwhelm him and after he heard their plans about the parts of the brain that made no sense he watched as hundreds of impressions, images and almost thoughts intruded into his every attempted thought. He did not seem able to form a concept of his own before it was replaced with something else not associated with anything else. He rapidly stopped knowing what was his and what wasn’t as he started going mad as sights and sounds and thoughts he could not understand took over his mind washing from section to section of areas of his mind he had no idea existed.
But then something clicked as one outlandish impression was so foreign that he knew it could not be his was rejected and then another. His mind slowly started learning the difference between what was his and what wasn’t. He slowly taught himself how to differentiate what strange thoughts were not his and then he started exorcising one thought and then another and another and soon discarded whole streams of thought impressions putting up a wall to shield himself from them. The thoughts started bouncing off with less and less effort. Then he started putting together whole sentences with some difficulty while the strange thoughts continued to wash over him reflected by his shield. It seemed to take forever with a lot of hard work but he slowly became the master of his own mind again as it rejected more and more of the thoughts that were not his until they were only a buzz in the background in different parts of his brain bouncing off his shield. It even became possible to isolate the different entities intruding into each part or section of his mind and even identify the differences between them. Then he looked out at the world around him again.
Jack watched as the bright flash emanating from the Dumont’s head continued to shine hurting his eyes and pinpricks and impressions echoed across this thinking. The voices and impressions from the others started to fade as he reached up placing his hands to both sides of Pans head covering her small almost nonexistent ears and dug his fingers in between the two heads pressed amazingly close together and pulled with all he was worth twisting her head away. This second bright sun in front of him on the other side of Pan did not fade this time with the others around him but continued to brighten and the collar flashing became a solid light with overwhelming rage beat against his new shields flooding around his mind but not penetrating. The other Dumonts to the sides suddenly became black holes and then the world exploded in front of him as he watched the sun bright head fly up into the air.
Jack held Pan’s head in his hands against his own head for a fraction of a second now afraid he had broken her neck as hard as he had jerked. Letting go he fell backwards as he watched Pan fling the corpse away from her as she tumbled back to land on top of him. Her gravity can pinning his legs to the deck. Jack watched the bright head fly up into the air. Waves of pain slapping over him and trying desperately to penetrate to his heart each time it tumbled to face him only to disappear again as its face gazed elsewhere. Each tumble seamed to bring less and less pain until Jack could barely feel the waves any longer even though the head seemed to shine just as bright with its light sweeping across the hanger as it now fell toward them still tumbling through the air. Its eyes following him as it tumbled.
The head finally hit the deck only feet away from Jack only to bounce several times before it started to roll. Slowing to come to a stop facing Jack only some 10 feet away. He could barely feel the pain as a low buzz until it winked out with the light as the eyes stopped moving.
Pan rolled off of Jack, reaching down and touching the top lip of her grav cylinder. The cylinder up righted itself dragging her upper body with it until she could stand upright. Then holding her hand down toward Jack to help him up. “Now you know what is so special about my species and the worst we can get. Our only weapon is projecting pain, love, peace and some other emotions which is only a defensive close range weapon and as you can see of limited value. But it is why the Gods are quick for the Apes to put those collars around our necks when we miss behave. The collars detect the magnetic waves minds give off even if it does take a few seconds for the collars to recognize it as mind waves which was why my cousin was able to flash such high but brief amperages toward you in an effort to kill you before the collar could recognize the radiation.”
Pan brushed herself off. “I have to admit I am impressed. Your mind adapted to shut out the attack which is impossible for a non-Dumont and much faster than I have even seen a Dumont do before even after years of training. But I am surprised by how strong the attack was. Though I must apologize. I was hoping I could persuade my cousin by flooding his mind with love and wellbeing and all the good things you have done for everyone you have touched since I met you. But I have to admit his mother’s greed was too well ingrained into his mind for me to penetrate. Though I was able to dull and direct his attack to the parts of your brain that controls your own thoughts in such a way and long enough (it turns out) for your mind to develop its own defenses. Otherwise he would have been able to kill you for a good minute after his head was blown off when I could do nothing to help.” Pan looked at Jack strangely and then tried her best human smile. “Thanks for pulling my head away from his just in time. I was so lost in trying to control his attack I completely missed the warning signs the collar was about to explode. But then I was trying to mask the signs so he would not notice in time.” Pan slid forward wrapping her arms around Jack hugging him to her in a bear hug that threatened to squeeze the breath right out of him. “I am amazed and cannot believe we are both still alive.”
The Ensign picking herself up off the deck fingered her stun gun as a growl came to her throat. The wave of jealousy and hate still strong in her mind from before she had blacked out.
The Red Apes picked themselves up off the deck checking their weapons as they stared at the still comatose Dumonts hanging down from their tubs bent over at their wastes, their heads brushing the deck with their arms laying out at strange angles. All the Apes could remember was the searing pain before they had blacked out. If it had not been so sudden they would have pulled the triggers of their weapons killing all the Dumonts before the collar had time to work on the one doing the attack but the attack had been so viscous and so much more powerful than any one Dumont had ever been before that they simply had not the time to act. Now they only remembered that they were supposed to make sure the Dumonts did not use their mind tricks and they returned to keeping a close eye on each of them with their weapons ready. Unsure an attack had ever happened.
Gutner Dank picked himself up from the deck. He knew a powerful attack had been made by the now second headless body with its head not far away. He was already some 20 points smatter than the average Ape which was why he seemed to be in the right spot when he was needed most of the time instead of simply grunting or saying yes sir. He was able to see possible futures and how different actions would help or hinder the battle or situation he usually found himself in. He was smart enough to feel the love Pan was pouring into Jack from only feet away though he did not understand it and see the jealousy and hate on the Ensign face as she watched Pan hug Jack though he did not quit understand it. Fact was after being bombarded with so many emotions with the spillage from the battle directed at Jack, Gutner Dank was going to take a long time to sort things out in his very confused mind that seemed just a little smarter than it was before.
Jack hugged Pan back out of shock more than anything. Still trying to put things together and understand them. He could feel the waves of love and relief at still being alive, Pan was unintentionally directing toward him. Not realizing that he suddenly had a much better understanding of the Dumont mind and could even now understand the Dumont mind speak with surprising clarity as Pan’s mind raced talking to herself trying to sort things out in her head before her cousins’ regained consciousness. Jack understanding more
and more of her mind speak as his mind practiced with the deluge a hundred times faster than normal spoken speech flooding through his mind. Slowly realizing that she was not talking out loud but in her and now his mind.
After the massive attack on his mind, it had no choice but to adapt and learn just to stay alive. He could now even see the soft light of the mind’s radiation spilling from the comatose bodies around him. The Red Apes speaking in God speak was suddenly clear and concise instead of just catching and understanding a word now and then when he was out of his suit and its translator.
Jack turned to Gutner taking his arms from around Pan. “Is there someplace you can put these Dumonts that will be safe where they can’t talk to one another until I get time to deal with them? If they give you any troubles kill them. I don’t want a repeat of what just happened. They seem able to add their powers together when they attack.” Frowning as he looked at the collars. “See if you can up the sensitivity of those collars as well. I don’t care if one or two get killed because the collars mistake them trying to talk to each other for an attack. Fact is I don’t want them talking to each other period.” Turning back to Pan. “Do I need to collar you too?”
Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer) Page 12
