Well, that did not seem logical, willingwords to be readable, but it did fit everything else they saidabout the wands. So I pulled one out and attempted to do just that.It took a few minutes but suddenly the writing was clear and Icould easily read the command word. “Incredible,” I said with aslight gasp.
In response I heard a slight giggle out ofKellyn. “Sir, that was exactly my reaction.”
Excellent; not only had I learned how to readthe command words on the wands, I had also managed to crack the icea bit in this group. “Well then, something does not make any sense.If the wands are this easy to use, why did the young Magus I foughtin the corridor appear shocked when I used the wand on him?”
“Well, sir, you’re right. Something does notmake sense and it has bothered all of us,” was Jerran’s reply. Heseemed to catch himself, and the look on his face indicated that hehad not meant to say that out loud.
“Go on, Major,” I prompted.
“It’s just that … well, sir, don’t take thiswrong, but you should not exist,” was his reply. He paused togather his thoughts and I waited for him to continue. “Sir, as youno doubt know the Black Adders are a group of master-level psionicssent here to determine if there was any way to protect against orblock psionic powers, especially telepathic powers. What you maynot know is that we are not merely one group; we are all that thereis. That is to say, anyone who ever reached any degree ofsignificant psionic power was sent here. You see, the colonydoubles as quarantine to protect the Empire from us. Sure, thereare much lesser psionics out there, such as Larath on your ship, alow-level empath.They pose no real danger to the Empire, unlike us,apparently. The problem is, sir: given what you can do, you shouldhave been sent here a long time ago. Not only that, but yourthought shield is what we were sent here to discover, and failed todo.”
“What do you mean, ‘failed?’ You seem tosuccessfully hide from the Magi.”
“Not like you do, sir. You turn completelyinvisible to all sensors. We merely trick the sensors into thinkingwe are something else. In addition, your thought shield completelyblocks our telepaths’ ability to read you, something no one hasbeen able to do before, not even the Magi. You asked if we wouldaccept you as one of us, when in reality you should have been oneof us to begin with and imprisoned here long ago.”
Just when I thought I was getting somewhere,they had to toss all this in. The colony was a prison disguised asa psionic research center disguised as a bioresearch lab? No wonderthey seemed a bit reserved with me. Based on what they were saying,I should have been locked up with them, not be a ranking officer onthe flagship of the Imperial Fleet. “Well, I assure you that I knewnothing about this, but what you said does raise a question. If younever succeeded in creating a thought shield, how did you know thatI could do it and what I call it?” That question seemed to catchthem all off guard. It was like catching a child with his hand inthe cookie jar.
“I am sorry, sir,” started Gafar. “When wepulled you from the fight, I probed your mind to make sure you wereon our side. Of course at that time I could not read you becauseyou had your thought shield up, but later when you were just wakingup I was listening for your thoughts, and your first one was, ‘Ineed to get my thought shield back up’ and then you disappearedfrom my ability to read you.”
“Good work, Gafar,” I said. I did not likethe idea of being probed like that but I needed to keep the unityof the group. “I would have done exactly the same in yourposition.”
Suddenly they all froze in place. Iremembered what they had said about that back when we started outso I too froze, and made sure my thought shield was as effective asI could make it. Then I saw a thin wall of light coming down thecorridor at great speed. No one moved, so I too stayed put. As thelight passed over each of the Black Adders I briefly saw them turninto little pebbles. Then as the light passed over me I saw myselfcompletely disappear. The light passed through me as if I was notthere, not even a shadow. As soon as the light passed out of sightI turned to Gafar and asked, “Did they see us?”
Gafar looked a bit surprised at the question,but answered, “No, sir, not at all. But I did sense that they arefervently searching for you. Apparently you have them greatlyworried. I expect we will see the Greenskins increasing theirpatrols looking for you. Sir, if I may be so bold, how did you knowwhen to ask that question?”
“That is an odd question, Gafar. I merelywaited until the light from their scan passed out of view,” Iresponded.
“Light, sir? There was no visible light. Sir,are you saying you can actually see their scans?” asked Gafar.
“You cannot?” was my feeble reply.
“Sir, if you do not mind, can you tell usexactly what you saw?” asked Major Jerran.
“Sure. There was a very thin wall of lightthat came down the corridor and passed over us. As it passed overeach of you, you briefly turned into pebbles. When it reached me itpassed over me as if I was not there at all. It continued down thecorridor and out of sight. What did you see?”
“Nothing, sir. The telepaths can sense itcoming, but none of us can actually see it,” answered MajorJerran.
As we started walking again I asked, “If youcould not see it and only Gafar, Darnath and Luke could sense it,how did you know when to stop?”
“Sir, Gafar warned us telepathically. Hecannot warn you the same way because of your shield, and it is toodangerous for you to lower it at this time,” was Jerran’sreply.
So that explained why they were so quietunless I was talking to them. They communicated telepathically.“Okay, so how does this all relate back to the wand? And how come Iwas not sent here with you?” I asked.
“Well, sir, your second question we cannotanswer, but the first is simple. You see, only either amaster-level psionic or a Magus can use the wand. The ability tofocus one’s willpower is an extremely rare knack that one must beborn with. The Magi thought, as we did, that all the people in theEmpire that could pull off such a feat were already here. When youpulled out and used the wand, your attempt should have failed.”
“Perhaps that is why the Magi attacked herefirst,” I said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, it sounds like the Black Adders arethe greatest single threat to the Magi, and as such a surpriseattack on them in the first battle would be the most logical move,”was my answer. “The Magi must be wondering how many more BlackAdder cells are out there, since I apparently shattered their ideathat you were all that existed.”
Chapter Fourteen
We traveled for a while in silence as Ithought over all the new information I had. I had a lot morequestions to ask but wanted to sift through the data a bit first.Suddenly, I saw Darnath jogging back towards us, and Luke camejogging up from behind.
“Greenskin patrol, twenty strong, headingthis way,” he reported.
“Sir, we should hide. Right now the Magi haveno idea where you are. If we fight, then this hallway will beflooded with reinforcements,” suggested Major Jerran.
“I agree, but where?” I asked.
Then they all gathered up tight near a walland pulled me in. Next I saw Andreya waving her arms around in theair as if drawing something with both hands. Soon after, asemi-transparent rock wall appeared and completely surrounded us.It was not long after that I saw the Greenskins coming down thecorridor. I held my breath as they filed past at a fast march. Oncethey were out of sight, I saw Andreya relax a little and the walldisappeared.
“Amazing. I take it all they saw was a rockoutcropping?” I asked.
“Exactly, sir, and if they reached out totouch it, they would have felt it too. Their own minds make itreal,” answered Andreya.
That was probably the same thing the Magi hadbrought against us in orbit. It was not a new weapon at all; justone that the Empire had decided to keep secret and confine to thisplanet, a move which could end up being the worst tactical mistakeof this century.
“So then are the Magi also master-levelpsionics?” I asked as we resumed our walk.
> “No, sir, we do not know what they are. Onthe surface some of our powers and theirs look similar, but inreality they are extremely different. For example, they can scanfor us, as you saw, but they do not have any other telepathicabilities that we can detect, nor can they block our powers anymore than we can. The only thing that stops us from probing themconstantly for all their information is that they can detect uswhen we do that and locate us instantly. But it’s more than justdifferent powers, it is more like a different form of energycompletely. We do not truly understand how either our powers ortheirs work, but we can tell they are fundamentally different,”answered Jerran.
“No telepathic powers, but earlier you saidthey used a telepath to fake Lieutenant Tom’s message?” Iasked.
“Well, sir, there are different degrees ofMagi, and the most advanced ones break all the rules,” hereplied.
Before I could ask for more information,Darnath came back to the group and said, “The storage depot isahead. It looks like two Magi apprentices are guarding it.”
“You know their ranks?” I asked.
“Not completely, but we have a general idea.It appears that seven older humans rule them, and they are by farthe most powerful. Under those there appear to be a few levels ofpower, and each lower level addresses the people in the levelsabove them as “master”. During the early battles we discovered thenames of a couple of the lower ranks. “Apprentice” appears to bethe lowest,” answered Darnath. Well, that at least explained whothe “Seven” were.
“Well, if there are only two, I want you sixto stay hidden. Right now they probably assume I am the only threaton the planet, and I would like to keep it that way. About how longdo we have from when the two Magi see me until reinforcementsarrive?” I asked.
“On average it takes them about five to sevenminutes to respond, sir,” answered Gafar. “But that assumes theyare completely unprepared. They can be anywhere in less than aminute if they are fully prepared to move.”
“Okay, then: the instant it is safe to do so,charge in there, get all the explosives you can carry and get out.I will be looking for detonators and timers. If anything happens donot wait for me. Head down this corridor and hide when you get farenough to be safe. If I do not show myself in fifteen minutes,carry on the mission without me,” I ordered.
“Yes, sir,” was the reluctant reply.
I drew out two of my wands, one in each hand,took a deep breath to steady myself, and then slipped around thecorner to where the guards were. The instant I could see them Ifired both wands, one at each of them in rapid succession. Both ofthem were caught completely off-guard and were killed instantly. Ithen turned both wands on the door and fired again, blowing thedoor wide open. As soon as I was sure the room was secure I wavedthe Black Adders in and started grabbing anything that looked likea timer or detonator.
“Here they come,” whispered Gafar.
“Get out,” I ordered.
Everyone sprinted down the hall a mere fewseconds ahead of me. Before I got far I felt an icy cold chill onmy back. When I turned and looked I saw one of the older Magistanding with staff in hand just a few meters behind me.
“Pity you have to die, Vydor. Had you beenborn amongst us you would have been a great power,” he said.
Not wasting any time, I pointed both wands athim. He did not seem at all worried about it and casually loweredhis staff. I quickly re-aimed my wands at the ceiling and fired twobolts, causing it to collapse. When the dust cleared the corridorwas completely blocked off and he was nowhere to be found. I ran tocatch up with the Black Adders.
As I rounded a corner I saw them tucked tightagainst a wall with a translucent rock wall in front of them. As Iapproached them, Darnath reached out and pulled me in whilegesturing to be quiet. Almost as soon as I was behind the wall, asquad of Greenskins came running down the hall heading in thedirection I had just come from. They passed us without even aglance.
“It is clear,” said Gafar.
“We need to get out of here quickly. It willnot be long before this whole area is filled with Greenskinpatrols,” I said.
Darnath took off on point as before and weall moved out. The next hour was spent constantly hiding from scansand dodging patrols. We traveled deeper and deeper into what lookedlike older and less-used pathways. Eventually we reached a smallhollow just off the main path. “Gafar, is anyone near us at all?” Iasked.
“No, sir, we appear to have completelyavoided their search net,” was his reply.
“Excellent. Rest here in this hollow then,and we should eat while we still can,” I ordered.
For a while it was quiet as we feasted on thefood the Black Adders had been stealing from the Magi. Each of themlooked scared, tired and spent. I wondered if they would have thefortitude to carry on. We had too much information on the Magi now;we had to get off this planet with it.
“Sir, can I ask you something?” askedGafar.
“Certainly, feel free to ask whatever is onyour mind,” I replied.
“Well, sir, we know that just as we got awayone of the Seven appeared in the hallway. What happened?” heasked.
“Not much, really. He said something abouthow it was time for me to die as I pointed my wands at him. He didnot seem at all concerned about the wands, so I blasted the ceilingover his head instead, which caused part of the tunnel to collapse.I do not know what happened to him, only that when the dust settledhe was gone. I assume he was either killed by the rubble, or wasjust on the other side of it. After that, I ran until I saw you,”was my reply.
“That was a smart move, sir,” started Gafar.“The Seven have a way to block the wands; they seem to catch themwith either their hands or their staves. Had you tried that youwould be dead now. At least one of them seems to be completelyimmune to any wand or staff attack.”
“Catch them?” I asked.
“Yes, sir. We found out in our fights withthem that not even staves can generate enough power to overcomethis ability of theirs,” he replied.
“You know, I wish I could have seen yoursquad in action against the Magi. I bet it was a sight to behold,”I said, hoping to instill some pride.
“Oh, it was, sir,” called out Kellyn. “Theywere brilliant!”
“Sir, if you want, I can show you,” saidDarnath. “You would just have to let down your thought shieldenough for me to show you.”
“Is that safe? I thought you said never tolet it down?” I asked.
“Sir, Gafar and Luke will alert us if anyonelooks our way, and while I do not know how you create your thoughtshield, I suspect you can crack it just enough to let me in withoutgiving away our position,” answered Darnath.
I thought about it for a minute. On one handI did not like the idea of letting a telepath poke around my head,but on the other hand I suspected this was a test. “Very well, giveme a moment and I will see what I can think of,” I replied.
I envisioned my thought shield as a rocksphere around me, completely and totally protecting me fromeverything, with no doors or windows. Then I pictured a door on it,and I cracked it just a little. Just on the other side of the doorI saw what I knew to be Darnath, but he looked more like a spiritthan a person. He was holding a box. I reached out and took itinside my sphere, closing and erasing the door behind me. I openedthe box to look inside when out of it came what looked like aholographic movie which wrapped around me. Suddenly I was elsewhere…
Chapter Fifteen
I was crouched behind a makeshift barricadefiring my wands for all they were worth. Bolts of energy wereflying all around us as the Greenskins advanced on our position.Humans were coming up behind them using portable shields to protectthemselves from our weapons. They fired through the ranks of theGreenskins, not seeming to care if they killed a few of them in theprocess. As they slowly approached it became evident that there wasno way to stop them. There were just too many of the Greenskins,and we could not penetrate the shields the humans were using.
A loud, gruff voice called out from behindme, “We will make ou
r stand here! They will not reach the primarycomputer core! This far and no further will they come! Today theywill learn the true strength of an Imperial soldier!”
I recognized the voice to be that of GeneralTizar, head of the colony’s security forces. I knew we wereoutgunned and outnumbered, but still that brief speech helpedbolster my confidence and bravery. I looked over at Andreya who wasnext to me behind the barricade. “Andreya, remember the idea wetalked about a few months ago, the one where we combine ourpowers?”
“Yes, Darnath. Now is a good time to find outif it would work,” she replied.
“Indeed,” I replied. I put down my wands andfocused all my power on the approaching army of Greenskins. Idumped on them all my personal fear and feelings of helplessness. Iassaulted them mentally with all the power I could muster. Andreyaused her powers to alter the appearance of the Greenskins, makingthem think that we had rushed their line and were in amongst them.It worked beautifully. Their advance halted and they turned on eachother. The humans behind them were screaming out orders, trying toget control of the situation but the Greenskins were overcome byfear of each other and did not respond. Soon all of them weremassacred, bodies piled everywhere.
“Well done, Andreya,” I said.
“Thank you, but they still keep coming,” shesaid.
All the Greenskins were gone, but the humanskept advancing. Andreya and I were too drained to try anotherattack like we did to the Greenskins, so we grabbed up some wandsand fired for all we were worth. The shield line of humans justkept inching forward. It seemed we were doomed when a largeexplosion ripped through a section of wall between our position andthe advancing humans. Then suddenly all the bodies of theGreenskins lifted off the ground and flew right at the humans!
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