by Dave Renol
After a moment it came to me. “A flat shield can also be pretty useful as a tool, as well as protection from beer suds. Two flat shields holding my eggs in the middle could have been used to flip the omelets this morning and they would have turned out perfect.”
She nodded her head, understanding what I was getting at.
“You could also use a flat shield against a solid surface to grind peppercorns into powder to season the eggs. Sufficient force against a hard object like, say… a toilet seat could squeeze the juice out of something like the poison oak leaves on that tree over there.”
She nodded again, but the puzzled look on her face was reaching epic proportions.
“Now, I wouldn’t recommend using psionics for cooking until you get good at fine control. With only rough control, it would be too easy to smash all the eggs in the carton which would make a huge mess to clean up.”
“Gotcha,” she said, understanding starting to bloom.
“Now I don’t want you to think that shields are the be-all and end-all of psionics. If you wanted to do something like put dog crap in someone’s slippers, then you wouldn’t use a shield, just simple telekinesis.”
“That makes sense, I guess.”
“Anyway, all that is just theoretical stuff anyway. It’s not like you would ever use those ideas for anything… they were purely for educational purposes only.”
“Of course,” she agreed.
“Anyway, let’s go back to the house. My feet are wet and my beer is empty. I’ll explain later how to make shields both soft and hard, and how layered together they can become strong enough to even stop a bullet.”
“Wow, shields can be that tough?”
“Yup, but if you want instruction from an expert, then Mark is the guy to ask. He’s the best out of all of us at shielding.”
“I don’t know him very well yet. You seem to be a pretty good teacher, and I trust you.”
“Me?” I asked, startled.
“Yeah, I can tell you want to learn the mind speaking thing from me, but that’s as far as it goes. You taught me this shielding stuff without any strings attached, and you’re a mighty fine teacher.”
“Thanks,” I said, really meaning it. “But the mind speaking thing really needs to be taught to one of the others. They have the full power abilities like you do… I’m just a Johnny-come-lately to the trade.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that the three of you got your powers from the storm last year and I only got mine from studying it scientifically. It means that my powers are about as strong as a fart in a windstorm compared to you guys.”
“Wow, really? You seem so good at it from what I’ve seen.”
“Only because I know my limitations and work within them the best I can. You haven’t really seen any of us working our stuff, but I guarantee that Mark and Linda can do a lot more than I can.”
“If I can pick one of them to do the mind speaking with, can it be Miss Linda? I think I trust her more.”
“Sure, no problem,” I agreed. “They ran to town for groceries and stuff, but shouldn’t be gone too long.”
“I didn’t mean today. I actually have to leave soon and go make sure my friends are ok. I left them camping at an upland lake and they’re all too much city slickers to trust on their own for long.”
“No worries, but maybe wait until they get back before you head off.”
“Of course,” she said, sounding offended. “You don’t run out on someone who gave you hospitality without at least thanking them for it.”
“Sorry, no offence intended.”
“Ok then. I owe you one too, so let me know if there’s ever anything I can help you with.”
“I may take you up on that someday, but for now let’s just be friends.”
“Friends,” she said, sticking out her hand.
“Friends,” I agreed, clasping hers firmly.
It was a good start.
Chapter 18
Mark: Unexplored Territory
“I hope Carl knows what he’s doing,” Linda said.
“Me too, but what’s the worst that could happen? They seemed to be getting along pretty good, and she desperately needs some instruction before she winds up hurting someone or killing herself. Remember all the trouble we’ve gotten into since this started?”
“How could I forget,” she replied in her driest voice.
“For all that happened to us, it could have been a lot worse. We tried to take a scientific approach to things and work out the how and why, which made our experiments safer. If Claire tries to do something too powerful on a whim, she could really get in over her head.”
“What about the sheriff?”
“I think he’ll be happy as long as things go back to normal. For all the extravagance of how the robberies were committed, the end result wasn’t much different from that of a common shoplifter. I can go talk to him and see what he thinks, if you want to get the groceries.”
“I think you just hate going to the store and are looking for an excuse to duck out. That’s fine, though, since I don’t want to have to explain this to the sheriff.”
“Then it sounds like we have a good division of labor. I’ll tell him I think I know how to get the thief to stop the crime spree, but won’t give him any details that might compromise Claire.”
“Good point… she barely trusts us to begin with, and giving her to the sheriff would end it in an instant. When we first started talking I thought she was gonna bolt, and she didn’t start to really relax until I mentioned how I wanted to learn how she does her telepathy with anyone.”
“Hmm… it sounds like she’s suspicious of generosity from strangers, but understands and respects a trade,” I replied. “I like a fair trade myself, so things might work out good for all of us.”
“I’ll take the truck and meet you back here, or at the coffee shop across the street if you finish before me.”
“That works for me. I’ll send you a message if anything changes.”
We arrived at the station and I got out to beard the dragon in his lair. I hoped the sheriff wouldn’t be stubborn, but arguing with him would still beat going to the store.
***
“How’s the training coming?” I sent to Carl, as we pulled into our driveway.
“Pretty good, I think. I taught her the basics of shielding and gave her some examples of how they can be used. I also got in some warnings that this stuff can be dangerous and cautioned her against experimenting on her own. She’s starting to trust me and we decided to be friends.”
“That’s some pretty fast work,” I complimented him. “Is she going to stick around for a while?”
“She has some of her friends out in the woods somewhere and needs to check up on them, but she’ll be back. She agreed to try and explain her version of telepathy with us, but doesn’t want to work with someone as ugly as you; she would prefer to show Linda.”
“She didn’t really say that, you hoser!”
“Well, maybe not in those exact words, but she doesn’t know you as well, so Linda became the lesser of the two evils.”
“Ok, I’ll buy that for a dollar. I would actually prefer to keep practicing on the new pyro shield anyway, so this will work our fine.”
It stung a little that I was considered untrustworthy, but I had broad shoulders and knew that trust would come eventually. I started to unload the groceries myself and let Linda join them in the yard; a little flexing of the mental muscles made moving everything easy anyway.
I took my time putting things away and made some iced tea as well, but eventually ran out of things to do. I figured enough time had passed since Linda went out back that I could join them without spooking her, so I grabbed the tea and fixings and went to join them. I came out in mid-conversation.
“… and you not only think of them and about them, you gotta think at them,” Claire said. “I dunno if I can explain it any better than that.”
“I t
hink I know what you mean, but I won’t know for sure until I try it with someone who doesn’t have telepathy already. We’ve been trying to keep this stuff a secret, so we don’t want to tell anyone unless we’re sure we can trust them completely,” Linda replied.
“I told a few of my friends. Is there anyone else who knows?”
“There are a few people, but not many. The sheriff is one of them, though, so you might want to keep that in mind before you play any more of your tricks.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Look, I appreciate your hospitality, but I have something I need to take care of. I’ll come back again, but I really need to be going now.”
“Ok, is there anything you need or something we can help with?”
“Naw, I’m fine. I just need to get back to my friends.”
“Take care then, and come back soon.”
“I will,” she promised.
She gathered her things and was gone within two minutes. As we watched her fly away, it occurred to me that she never actually said she would stop her tricks, only that she would keep it in mind; I had hoped to get a promise from her. Oh well… we had our own fish to fry.
“What’s on the agenda for today?” Carl asked.
“Same as yesterday, I guess. I want to keep working on the pyro shield and see if I can’t get one built that’s a more practical size. Are you going to try going astral, dear?” I asked Linda.
“I’m a little too keyed up to try it right now so I think I’ll work on getting more of the translation done. The main secrets might lie in the hidden codex, but the regular part might still hold some valuable clues.”
I looked up at the sky and saw it was starting to cloud up. “I hope those clouds blow away by tonight so we can try viewing the hidden part.”
“I wouldn’t count on it. The lady at the checkout counter was saying we’re in for lots of rain… probably all week, if the forecast is right.”
“That sucks, but I guess we have enough info to keep us working for now.”
“Right,” she said, standing and stretching. “I’ll catch up with you boys later… I have some translating to do.”
“Have fun and try to remember to stretch and eat now and then.”
“Ok, hoser,” I began once she went inside. “Should we go back to the pool, or do you think it’ll be safe enough to work with here?”
“I’m not sure. What you did yesterday was safe enough, but it might get dangerous if you start building larger and stronger shields.”
“Everything else we’ve done has been flying by the seats of our pants so why should this be any different? Let’s try working here today since we’ve probably only got a few hours to play with before it starts raining.”
“If you use the fire pit as your center point then you’ll have about a twenty foot circle with nothing flammable for you to worry about.”
“That works for me,” I said, and headed into the yard.
My fire pit was a four foot stone ring with eight feet of flagstones circling it. Carl was right in that it should be safe enough for the shields I was likely to manage, but what would I use for a heat sink today?
I guess I could use the stone ring, but it had a trivial amount of thermal mass compared to the boulder I used yesterday. It would do for now, but I would need to come up with something better once I started building bigger ones.
The banging of our chairs interrupted my thoughts, as Carl started to set them up on the grass a few yards back. I thought it overly hopeful of our success to set things up that far away, but better safe than sorry.
I settled down in a chair and soon had my first attempt underway. Once complete, I stopped to examine it, hoping to figure out a way to make it bigger while still keeping it stable and intact. I found it odd that I didn’t have to work much to maintain it once it was ignited.
That was a definite sign of stability, but it seemed to have a size limit; any attempt to enlarge it destabilized it and caused a complete collapse. I must be missing something, but what? I let it drop so I could check on how my heat sink was holding up.
The stones were cold to the touch and covered with condensate, but no frost. The ring seemed to be adequate for these small ones, but would be nowhere near enough if I linked it to a big one. Wait a minute… could I somehow link more directly?
I began to pace in a circle around the pit, the kernel of an idea starting to grow. When the shield took form it was with a link to the heat sink. I made the link with a mere thought and that was a tenuous thread indeed to carry that much energy.
When I tried to force more power into the shield, it was like sending too much power through a thin wire; the link would burn out. I needed a better ‘wire’. Well, if I could use one layer of my shields for pyro ignition, why not use another for the cryo portion?
“I think I have an idea,” I murmured.
“Should I start running now, or wait until the screaming starts?”
“Just stand back and get ready to yell for Linda if things go wrong. I’m going to try using another shield layer for my heat sink instead of going straight to ground.”
“Ah, you think it’s a balance problem, eh?”
“We’re about to find out.”
With that, I began building shields in front of us as a safety measure in case this worked too well. I had gotten pretty good at the normal types of shields, so it only took a few moments before they were rock solid and I was ready to begin.
I started to build a simple containment shield inside the stone ring, but let it drop after a few moments of consideration. I rebuild it around the middle of the surrounding flagstones so I had a good ten foot circle to work with, and kept building until it was a dozen layers thick.
Next, I placed a simple shield layer inside it as a placeholder for the pyro part and then added a few more layers of sturdy shielding to separate it from the cryo layer. I wasn’t sure if it would be needed or not, but after placing my cryo placeholder, I added a final layer of shields on the inside.
The way it looked made me think of a triple-decker clubhouse sandwich and I suddenly had a craving for one. Maybe later, but right now it was time to see if this would work. I extended tendrils of my cryo shield into the ground, weaving it through the joints between the stones. That should theoretically allow for dispersion of any excess energy.
Next was to form a link between the ham layer and turkey… I mean the hot and cold sections. I pulled threads of energy from both parts and fused them together. So far, so good… now to see if this was going to work, or if I just wasted the last hour.
I began feeding power into the pyro shield, but let my containment layers hold it together instead of trying for ignition right away. I was soon sweating with the effort, but things felt right so I kept at it. Once it had as much power as I figured it could take, I began ‘singing’ that odd blend of telekinesis and telepathy which gave birth to flame.
With no fanfare or warning, it instantly ignited into a tightly contained blaze of pyrokinetic glory. A full ten feet in both width and height, it looked a lot closer to what Linda had described in her vision.
“Holy shit,” Carl shouted, pumping his fist in the air. “Now that’s what I’m talking about, bro! That’s a real friggen shield.”
I made sure it was staying under control before answering. “It kind of makes the wood burning fire pit superfluous, doesn’t it?”
“Not really… it looks nice, but I bet it would be tough to toast marshmallows on.”
I tried, but I just couldn’t come up with a reply for that one.
Chapter 19
Claire: Caught In the Act
I still didn’t know what to think. My guts said I could trust them, but my head wasn’t so easily convinced. I’d seen too many friends get screwed over by people that seemed nice and friendly, although I had to admit to myself that they had no reason to play me. They coulda done anything they wanted to me and nobody would’ve ever known. Maybe they were for real.
Carl w
as the one that had me puzzled the most. He taught me a lot and even seemed to understand my need to get even with Murphy, but didn’t want anything for himself. I could tell by the way he talked and looked at me that it didn’t matter to him I was a girl, and that was doubly strange.
Everyone else I’ve ever known would treat a girl as either beneath their notice, or stare at them like a hungry hound eyeballing a piece of meat. He did neither… maybe he liked boys? Naw, he didn’t seem to have that feel about him.
Maybe he thought I was too skinny and ugly? That had never stopped anyone else from making a move on me, so I knew I was mostly fine, even if I would never win a beauty contest. He would either be trustworthy, or dangerous. I would have to wait and see which was true.
My head was closer to agreeing with my guts when it came to Miss Linda. She seemed like a fine, proper lady, and not at all like that idiot yuppie woman that foster care put me with after my folks died. If those useless turds had picked someone like her, then I might not have had to run away so quick.
I wasn’t sure about her husband, but she seemed to be everything I was ever taught about how to act as a woman. She also scared the bejesus out of me with the way she would use her powers so casually for something as simple as fetching me a glass of juice.
That was the kind of thing my brother used to call ‘quiet power’ and he said that was the type of thing you either respect fully or get bit in the ass by, ‘cause those kinds of people don’t mess around.
I was looking forward to showing off this new shielding stuff to my friends, but I needed to think about things first so I was sitting up in a tree on the far side of the lake. I figured it would be best if I said I figured it out on my own rather than tell them about the others; I was never one to spill a secret unless there was a driving need.
It was nice to take a short break to be alone with my thoughts and just enjoy the fine summer day. I think it was still spring according to the calendar, but I always thought that calendars were dumb.
