99 Gods: War

by Randall Farmer

  “Well, then, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go find a place to lie down and die,” Nicole said. The older woman clumsily climbed off Nessa and Ken’s king size bed and staggered to the door, muttering under her breath about ghosts and auras. Nicole didn’t like the motel Alt had picked out as safest. Too many of her imaginary demons lived here.

  Nicole had far too many imaginary demons, or at least Nessa hoped they were imaginary.

  Nessa studied Nicole’s ears, as she studied Nicole’s ears every time she saw them. On bad days, she suspected those ears were positively unnatural. She had never met anyone with Nicole’s swept-back ears. A straight line drawn through where Nicole’s ears met her face wouldn’t go up to the top of Nicole’s head, but around to the back, well below her cowlick. Those ears, Nicole’s poofy white-shot hair, and her skeletal anorexia-like gauntness made her look like some creature not quite human. Nicole hadn’t known about the milk, honey, mead, and chocolate trick before they recruited her, and not to Nessa’s surprise, the old woman had been closer to death from starvation than any Telepath should ever be.

  Alt stuck his head in Nessa’s motel room after Nicole teetered out. “Got a moment?”

  Nessa shook her head and turned her back on Alt.

  “I think this is important.”

  “Come on in, then,” Nessa said. She needed some down time, but with all the crap circling them as the world toilet-flushed around them she figured she wouldn’t get any. She stuck her face in the bathroom sink, which the hotel in some bizarre excuse for decorating had decided to put in the main room only sort of near the bathroom, and washed sweat off her face.

  “When was the last time you ate anything?” Alt said.

  “Dunno.” She gathered her hair over her shoulders, down her front, and ran a comb through it, all while studiously ignoring her reflection in the mirror. She hadn’t turned on the bathroom light, or hall light, or whatever you called a light sort of near the bathroom for illuminating the bathroom sink, but enough light seeped in through the motel room’s curtains to illuminate her. Behind her, she heard the crinkle of a chocolate bar wrapper.

  “Here,” Alt said.

  She abandoned the sink, took the chocolate bar and ate it without thinking. Yesterday’s lunch was the last meal she remembered. It didn’t surprise her that some of her old problems had resurfaced because of the stress.

  “You finished with Prep?”

  Alt nodded. He had been bashing on Prep’s mind this afternoon, hard enough to distract Nicole and give Nessa a sympathy headache. “His imperial creepiness still can’t even block me. He does fine as long as he’s concentrating, but as soon as he does anything else, like stand, I can get him.” Prep and Alt didn’t see eye to eye. Alt had replaced his paramedic’s uniform with a floor length black leather coat, which made him some sort of effeminate nerd in Prep’s eyes, while Prep’s patched and decaled motorcycle jacket made Prep a barbarian in Alt’s eyes. At least Ken had managed to talk Alt out of constantly referring to Prep’s favored mode of transportation as a ‘donorcycle’.

  “Damn,” Nessa said. “Think we should cut him loose?”

  “We can’t,” Alt said. “Even if Ken and Mary are successful, that’s only nine of us. Any idea why Prep’s having such problems?”

  “He’s Mindbound.”

  “Neither Phil nor Mary had any problems, and they’re both Mindbound,” Alt said. He sat down in one of the two cheap vinyl motel chairs and leaned back. Nessa, worried, noticed the tightness on his face.

  “Their shields are built around shutting off their telepathy,” Nessa said. She couldn’t sit. Not now. She needed to stand and walk. “Prep’s a bodyguard, a natural, and his shields are built off of the denial of his clairvoyance and the other out-of-body crap he’d possess if he wasn’t Mindbound. Even if by some miracle we could find a way to un-mindbind him, he would have shit telepathy at best.”

  Alt didn’t respond. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling.

  “Another migraine?”

  “Grunt.”

  “Dammit, Alt, I’ve shown you three times how to get rid of them.”

  “Uh huh, but none of the three methods you taught me are working on this one,” Alt said. “Almost none of the crap you teach me works. Why’d you need to un-mindbind me, anyway? Why’d you need to mess up my life?”

  Nessa sighed and turned her back to Alt, resting her hands on the open bathroom doorway. She leaned forward to stretch out her shoulder muscles. “You were a Telepath in denial, not Mindbound. People like you end up institutionalized by the time you’re thirty five, like Nicole was.” They had found Nicole in a psych hospital, confined against her will as a delusional psychotic with symptoms of schizophrenia, and with an anomalous lack of reaction to her anti-schizophrenia and anti-psychotic drugs because of the obvious. “Or dead. We saved your life.”

  Alt groaned. “Hey, what ever happened to the story about your hidden friends who ratted me out? You never said anything about saving my life before.”

  “I’m tired of your whining,” Nessa said. “The other isn’t a story, it’s the truth. I’m just tired of telling it.”

  “I was managing just fine before you found me and ruined my life.”

  “You were a neurotic well on the way toward a full breakdown, in complete denial of your own abilities, and filled with self lies,” Nessa said. She walked into the motel room and lay down on the floor, on her back. “I’m not trying to cut you down, Alt. The only thing keeping me or Ken from being institutionalized was what we went through as young adults.”

  “Which you won’t say shit about.”

  “Which we won’t say shit about. What Ken and I put you through, and what we’re putting Nicole and Giselle through, will stabilize you. The same way Ken and I are stable.” Nessa paused. “Which isn’t saying much, as I’m sure you fully realize, but this will give you a much better chance at a normal life.”

  “How many others have you stabilized before?”

  “None,” Nessa said. “Neither Ken nor I have any ability to find messed-up Telepaths, and Telepaths, Psychics and Mindbound are by necessity good at hiding themselves.”

  “Dammit,” Alt said. “You’re holding back. It’s not a lie, but something close.”

  Those annoying little lies. She couldn’t mislead Alt any more than she could mislead Ken or that asshole Lorenzi. “Ken and I tried a few interventions early on,” Nessa said. “Not one of the ones we found, through mundane detective means, were anywhere near as open to intervention as you, Nicole and Giselle are. Without you, Alt, we’d be stuck. You’re the key to our current success.”

  “Hell,” Alt said. “Nicole and Giselle are both insane.”

  “Sanity is overrated.” Nessa extended her tired mind and listened to Alt’s thoughts. His mind shielding had improved, but he still leaked. “So, Alt, why are you so upset?”

  He sighed. “I don’t like having our group split up.”

  “Split up? Ken and Mary aren’t even fifteen miles away.”

  “Fifteen miles is far enough away that if one of the violent Gods flew in to Indianapolis” their current location “we wouldn’t have time to get back together.”

  “This is something you picked up?” Nessa said, prickly skinned, her attempt at relaxation ruined. “Is there a God on the way?”

  “I’m not sure, and that’s the problem,” Alt said. “Some of the Gods must have figured out I can track them, because they’ve found a way to shield themselves at times.”

  “Shit.”

  “Shit indeed.”

  The man stank. Old sweat, bad breath, garbage, piss, even a little bit of dog poop. He sat in one of the two vinyl chairs and they would need to wash the chair before anyone else in the room would use it. Ken stood by Nessa’s side, Mary and Prep guarded the motel room door, while Alt, Giselle, Dr. Phil Blackburn and Nicole talked softly together on the far side of the motel room and scarfed fast food. Well, all but Nicole, who did the Winnie the Pooh ro
utine, holding a plastic cup filled with honey in her skeletal fingers.

  “You’re all like me and you don’t hate me,” the man said. “Fucking unbelievable.” He took a bite from his hamburger and licked his grimy fingers. Breadcrumbs from the bun nestled themselves in his unwashed beard.

  “We’re not all like you,” Ken said. Nessa spotted a tiny teek shell in use, keeping the man’s foul breath away from Ken’s face. “But most of us are. As I said, we’re all Telepaths and the like, and yes, normally we can’t stand to be around other Telepaths either, but because of the 99 Gods we’ve decided to put aside our differences and work together.” He paused. “We would be even friendlier if you told us your name.”

  “I ain’t saying nothing ‘bout my name,” the man said. He wiped his deeply lined face and shook his head. Several breadcrumbs fell to the floor. “Gives yah too much power over me.”

  “You’re from Texas, New Mexico or Arizona,” Nessa said. She could hear the dry southwest in his voice.

  “Yup, been there. I was born in Colombia and spent time in Guatemala,” he said. Goo-aaat-eh-maaala. He wiggled open his dirty coat. Underneath he wore a tattered down coat, flattened from age, which he unzipped. The reek of filthy male body floated upwards. “Don’t like the damned Gods, either, I guess you’re right about that. I unnerstan what they’re doing…they’re a buncha nasty lying fucks pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes. Most of’m make our politicians look like fucking saints, pardón my French.”

  “I spent time on the street myself,” Nessa said. “Anchorage.”

  “Goodie for you. Drugs?”

  “Done too many of those,” Nessa said. “Didn’t want to hear thoughts. A phase I went through.”

  The man looked her over. “Ah yup, unnerstand that. You glow. You I recognize; I’ve known you for years. You hate me when you lose your temper.”

  “Ah,” Nessa said. “I hate everything when I lose my temper. I apologize if you picked up one of my rants long distance. We need you.”

  “For fucking what? This malo crap in my head doesn’t do nothin’ ’cept get me in trouble. Never helped, never will.”

  “I can teach you how to protect your mind from the Gods,” Nessa said. “I don’t understand what you can do as a Telepath, but I’m sure I can teach you how to protect your mind.”

  “Telepath? Fuck, I’m no fucking bruja. No comic book mutant neither.”

  “It’s just a name,” Ken said.

  “Fuck off and thanks for the food,” the man said.

  “Let me,” Phil said. Nessa turned and found Phil had walked over to stand by her side. He had the best shielding of the lot, both a good thing and a bad thing. Nessa had always been queasy about talented Mindbound after the incident. She had argued against recruiting him, just a funny hunch about this one, but the others talked her down. Phil pulled over the room’s second chair and sat, about two feet away from the recruit. “Ken and Nessa can be quite intimidating.” He shooed them back.

  Nessa frowned and stepped back. Phil pissed her off most of the time, pushy as all hell, which made him a real person in her eyes. Someone with free will, an underappreciated commodity. She didn’t trust him, though.

  “You’re some sorta highbrow perfesser?” the man asked. Phil shook his head. “You talk like one.”

  “Where I worked they called me a wizard,” Phil said, with a smile. His polished business-casual appearance contrasted strikingly with the decrepit decay of the street bum. “Look, friend, we all have it bad. Ken and Nessa talked me into quitting a six figure job. Can you top that?”

  “They talked you into that?” the man said. “Means you’re a fool, then.”

  “If not for the 99 Gods I wouldn’t have given either of them the time of day.”

  “I hear yah,” the man said. He leaned over toward Phil and lowered his voice. Nessa saw the flicker of a wince from Phil, but he stopped himself from showing more of a reaction. “There’s one of them damned Gods who’s stealing nukes. He’s not destroying them, either, he’s collecting them. There’s another who stole a goddamned solid rocket booster from the Air Force. Now there’s a white elephant.” Ken groaned, but that sort of thing didn’t surprise Nessa. It’s what she would do as a God. If anything, she thought the Gods showed almost too much restraint.

  Phil held his face firm and breathed through his mouth. “It doesn’t surprise me. They’re messing up the stock markets world-wide, too, and I have the statistical analysis to prove it.”

  “Fuck,” the man said. “Guess it’s too late to get my ‘vestments out of the market.”

  As if. Nessa glared at Phil but he ignored her.

  “Nessa and Ken convinced me that we could do something about the Gods because the Gods can’t muck around with us like they can most people. But to take the fight to the Gods, we need people like you, people who are functional Telepaths.”

  “You call me functional, I’ve got some stories to tell,” the man said. “You’re not a whatchamacallit functional?”

  Phil shook his head. “Nope. I’m what these people call Mindbound. All my mental tricks are invested in keeping other people’s thoughts out of my head.”

  “Ayup, that’s the truth. I can’t even tell if you’re there with my ESP.”

  “ESP?” Phil smiled. “You understand what you are and you have your own name for what you do, then? That’s good.”

  “I know what I am, dammit, and I know they’re out to get me.”

  “They?”

  “The ESPers in the government. CIA, FBI and NSA.” They weren’t ‘ESPers’, and Nessa knew the last thing they wanted was to end up facing a real Telepath. Heh.

  “Why didn’t they get you?” Phil said.

  “Cause I’m good at hiding and the ESPers and their bosses argue all the time,” the man said. “It’s only a matter of time before they snatch me, though. I think Indianapolis’s gotten a bit hot.”

  Phil nodded. “You can stay with us.”

  The man shook his head. “I can’t be around ESPers who hate me.”

  “Who hates you?” Phil said.

  The man’s voice lowered some more. “Those two ESPer women over in the corner.” He glanced at Giselle and Nicole. “Those two.”

  Nessa sent.

  The man jumped and shrank back in his chair. Ken nudged her but she ignored him. Phil’s ridiculous conversation annoyed her, and she had held back long enough. Too long.

  the man sent.

  Nessa sent back. She pushed into his mind with ease; for a Telepath, he had almost no mind shields, despite his comments about keeping himself hidden.

  Ken’s hands slipped off her body, and he said something rude, but she ignored his words as she tore through the man’s mind. She felt Alt, Giselle and Nicole rush past. They ran out the motel room door and fled to their own rooms, all three of them near vomiting.

  They had all experienced this trick, though Alt’s had been worse because he had been farther into denial.

  Phil grabbed her and tried to yank her back, but as with Ken he couldn’t touch her. He cursed and kicked at Nessa, then fell to the floor clutching his foot. That would teach him.

  Nessa sent. She showed Javier, the man’s name, the truth. Like so many Telepaths, he created his own enemies in his head. He screamed in his mind. They all screamed in their minds when they saw the depth of the lies they told themselves.

  More screams.

  Nessa steeled herself for the hours this would take. The poor man had buried himself in lies and delusions. She let her heart ice over, a necessity when confronting the truth.

  “A little warning next time, Nessa. Please?” Ken said. He had crawled into bed and Nessa had curled up against him. Outside the window, she heard the endless hum of the
interstate, a lullaby in the quiet night. Inside, the buzz of Javier’s peaceful breathing sucked her into sleep.

  “Sleep,” she said. She had spent too much time in other people’s minds today, exhausting her.

  And pleasing her, this exhaustion. It helped her see.

  “Fuck sleep,” Ken said. “Our entire crew, save for Mary, is ready to shoot you for what you did to that poor man. You managed to convince them you’re as evil as the worst of the 99 Gods.”

  “Good,” Nessa said, and cuddled up tighter against Ken. “Then when I say we’re not going to kill the Gods, only subdue them and neutralize them, they’ll say ‘oh so killing Gods is too evil even for Nessa’ and they’ll back off. Too many of our group wants to kill.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  “Uh huh,” she said.

  “You violated that man’s mind without even a shred of permission from him.”

  “Yup. Did Opartuth ask us?”

  “That’s your rationale?”

  She wanted to sleep. She knew she had this coming, though. She deserved everything she suspected Ken would throw at her.

  “Yes.”

  “You’re not God,” Ken said. “You don’t have the right to violate people that way.”

  “Also true.”

  “Then why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why’d you invade his mind? We could have let him go, like the last three who didn’t work out.” Ken’s voice rose, but Javier didn’t wake. Nessa suspected that after what she did to him, he would sleep through Armageddon.

  “Alt said recruiting him was too dangerous for us,” Nessa said. “I agree. We can’t split up anymore, and we can’t recruit as a group because when we try, they all run. He’s the last. We’ve run out of time.”