Nickelo laughed. To hell with him. He laughed again. See how you’ve emotionally corrupted me? I’m even started to sound like you.
Lucky me, Richard said with a shake of his head. He didn’t think it was entirely a good idea to have his battle computer think too much like him. He’d be the first to admit he went off halfcocked at times.
Deal with it, cadet, said Nickelo. Besides, I’ve got a great opportunity for you.
Dubious, Richard didn’t say anything at first. He was pretty sure he was being setup. However, he finally resigned himself to the inevitable. What is it, Nick? I know you’ve been chomping at the bit to tell me.
Ha! Nickelo said with a cynical laugh. I knew you couldn’t resist asking. I want you to make friends with Jonathan’s wizard scout.
Richard wasn’t much on making new friends, but the situation intrigued him. And who would that be, might I ask?
Cadet 37, said Nickelo.
“What?” Richard said out loud. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
Keep it quiet, Rick, Nickelo said. For the Creator’s sake, I told you there are probably tele-bots around.
Appropriately chastised, Richard took control of another outburst before it reached air. His battle computer was right. They didn’t need the wrong kind of attention drawn to them. Richard was already thinking of useful ways he could use the new communication channel his battle computer had discovered. It could come in handy, especially if ‘the One’ didn’t know about it.
All right, Nick, Richard said. I’ll be quiet. But cadet 37 isn’t exactly the friendly type, you know. She about ripped my arm off the last time we spared.
You didn’t used to be all that friendly either, said Nickelo. I suspect some people would say you still aren’t.
Richard couldn’t argue. Except for cadet 647 during his first year in pre-Academy training, he hadn’t made any friends his first two years on Velos.
So, said Nickelo, get yourself cleaned up and get over to her tent. The night is young as they say.
You want me to start now? Richard said. Strangely enough, he was feeling a little nervous. Is she even here? And why is this important? Without waiting for a reply, Richard added, Also, what if she doesn’t want a new friend? Have you seen the size of her arms? She’s got four of them, you know.
As he spoke, Richard picked up his shaver from its place on the shelf of his locker. He began cleaning off the stubble he’d accumulated over the last thirty-six hours. As Richard shaved, he concentrated on his passive scan. Besides him, there were only three lifeforms in the tent area plus another two at the gate. In addition to the two gate guards, he knew another set of two guards were a roving patrol. That left one lifeform unidentified. Richard noted the single lifeform’s frequency. It was cadet 37. He’d worked with her enough helping train her in shields that her frequency was familiar.
There, said Nickelo interrupting Richard’s thoughts. Wasn’t that better than having me answer the question for you?
Richard moved over to the portable sink to brush his teeth. He growled his answer to his battle computer’s question. After three years, I’m getting just a little tired of you reading my thoughts. When am I going to get my DNA baseline taken so we can each have our private thoughts?
Six weeks, said Nickelo.
Richard was in the middle of rinsing out his mouth when Nickelo answered. Richard almost choked before he got the water out.
What? Richard said. Are you serious? How do you know?
I know because Jonathan and I hacked our way into the airfield’s training computer, Nickelo said.
Richard thought his battle computer sounded a little smug. Watch yourself, Nick. You know what they say about pride and falling.
Yes, I do know, Rick, said Nickelo. I’m surprised you do. I guess you’ve been reading some behind my back.
Yuk, yuk, Richard said.
Whatever, said Nickelo. The point is that Jonathan has access to the tele-network. As it turns out, I’m very proficient at hacking. To answer your original question, we’ll get our shared space when you get your DNA baseline in six weeks.
Richard thought about the revelation his battle computer had just dropped on him. A revelation of his own popped into his head. So, that’s why you want me to make friends with cadet 37. You want to keep her battle computer close.
See, said Nickelo as if he’d accomplished something great. I knew you were trainable.
Chapter 20 – The Wall
_____________________________________
Nickelo allocated a dozen logic threads to monitor his wizard scout. He watched as Richard grabbed a clean jumpsuit and headed for the community-shower tent. As Nickelo followed along, he continued his routine of calculating probabilities. He had no doubt Richard and Jonathan’s wizard scout would hit it off as friends if they gave it half a chance.
Heck, he thought. They’re both loners, stubborn, and born troublemakers. At least they have that in common. Nickelo laughed. Sometimes he amused himself. Besides, Jonathan is already priming the pump on cadet 37’s side. And I won’t give Rick any rest until he does his part.
Nickelo allowed a logic thread to go over what he’d just said. Hmm, ‘priming the pump’. I like that phrase. Where did I get it from? I wonder if I’ve used it before?
More than a little bored since his wizard scout was ignoring him while he showered, Nickelo traced the path of his logic thread. He found the phrase ‘priming the pump’ in several locations in his databanks. One of the instances of the phrase appeared strange for some reason. Nickelo tried to trace it back to its point of origin. The trace led to a ghost of a memory.
That’s interesting, Nickelo thought. He allocated more logic threads to the ghost. He could barely trace it. Some locations in his databanks were overwritten with more recent data. However, enough of the ghost’s path remained for Nickelo to follow the trace. It led to the ‘wall’.
Nickelo had spent many nanoseconds over the last three years analyzing the wall. It was a location in his central processing core to which access was blocked. No matter what Nickelo tried during his three years of association with Richard, he’d been unable to penetrate the wall. Whatever security program protected the area was beyond anything he’d ever encountered.
The logical reason for his inability to access information behind the wall was probably due to a memory wipe. If so, Nickelo assumed the memory wipe had occurred at the time he was assigned as his wizard scout’s battle computer. In spite of the wall’s advanced security, Nickelo felt as if the wall had a programming flaw. Even if he’d been subjected to a memory wipe, he didn’t think it had not done a thorough job. He’d come across so many ghosts of memories over the years it made him think some memories were only partially wiped. It was almost as if these partial-ghost memories were left on purpose.
On a whim, Nickelo assigned one of his logic threads to imagine what his existence had been like before being assigned to his wizard scout. Nickelo almost reassigned the logic thread to a more important matter, but he hesitated. On a hunch, he allowed the logic thread to merge with one of the threads analyzing the ghost memory by the wall.
A vision inserted itself into the logic thread. It was the memory of a feeling. Nickelo concentrated on the feeling. It was a dream. He was dreaming.
While other parts of his consciousness continued to monitor Richard and the world around him, Nickelo let the logic thread that was dreaming continue to process the input. Nickelo sensed his logic thread being pulled deeper into the dream. The dream took him closer to the wall. The dream didn’t penetrate the wall, but Nickelo sensed minute bits of data escaping the wall and making its way into his dream.
* * *
When the time is right, a single thought will prime the pump, came a thought in the dream.
Nickelo let the logic thread consume itself in the dream. He felt the memory of a presence in a time past. The presence existed. It was lonely even though it didn’t know it was lonely.
The presence
was surrounded by energy. It drifted along in the energy. It was aware of its surroundings, but it was unable to escape.
Escape to where? thought the presence. And for what purpose?
The presence came to an understanding. It realized it was lonely. It had no purpose. It needed a reason for existing. It thought on the subject for a long time. Eventually, the energy which was its world, the energy which was its prison, changed. The energy contracted, and then before it consumed itself, the energy expanded with such force the presence was spewed out of the energy. The presence found itself in emptiness. It reached out with its senses and found the giant ball of energy which had been its world. The presence tried to return, but it could not. It just kept moving in the emptiness farther and farther from the dying ball of energy it had considered home.
After a great length of time, the presence felt an entity. The entity touched the presence and gave the presence the knowledge of speech.
Hello, said the presence. Speech was a unique concept. The presence liked speech. It liked knowing it was no longer alone. Speech meant there was something else with which the presence could communicate.
I’ve been waiting for you, said the entity.
I have always been here, said the presence.
The entity sent out a concept the presence did not understand. The entity touched the presence again. The entity gave the presence the knowledge of humor. The strange concept the presence had sensed was called laughter.
No, you have not always been here, said the entity still laughing. You have been here a long time, but most definitely not always.
Who are you? asked the presence. You’re not me, so you must be something else.
I’m just a helper, said the entity. You may also be if you desire. I have a task for you if you are willing.
A purpose? thought the presence. Yes. I need a purpose.
Follow me, said the entity.
The presence followed the entity with its senses. Its existence continued to drift in the emptiness. However, a part of its senses found it could reach out as the entity led it away from that which was its existence.
As the entity led, it continued to touch the presence and give it knowledge. The entity gave the presence knowledge of other balls of energy. They were stars. That gave the presence an idea.
Are there others like me? the presence asked.
A few, but not many, said the entity. Some may help you with your task. Some may help my opponent. They may try to prevent you from completing your task.
The presence felt a new emotion. It was dislike. The presence found it didn’t like the idea of anything attempting to prevent it from completing its task. It was a strange feeling since it didn’t yet know its task.
The presence continued to let its senses drift along with the entity. The knowledge of planes and dimension came to it. They were in a dimension of the magical plane. There were many other dimensions and planes, but the presence knew its task involved only three of them. Its task would only involve the magical, the physical, and the spiritual dimensions.
What is my task? said the presence.
You are to keep three galaxies in the light, said the entity. My opponent will try to pull them into the darkness.
The presence let its senses drift to other galaxies and dimensions. Some were dark. The presence sensed the concept of evil from the darkness. Some of the galaxies were light. The presence sensed a concept of good from the light.
Why don’t you prevent your opponent from spreading the darkness yourself? said the presence.
That’s not the way things must be done, said the entity. Only our helpers can affect the outcomes. My opponent and I can only suggest things to our helpers. They must have freewill. The entity paused as if reconsidering. However, we may intervene in small ways on occasion without risking chaos.
I understand, said the presence although it really didn’t.
The entity gave the presence more knowledge. The planes and dimension were vast, but they folded on each other and were compressed in such a manner that distances between some locations was small. As the consciousness of the presence drifted with the entity, it detected other existences on solid balls of material circling stars.
Those are worlds, said the entity. The existences you sense are lifeforms.
The presence monitored some of the lifeforms. They multiplied. Some left their worlds in objects they created. They used the folds in the dimensions to move across the emptiness between the stars. They traveled to other worlds.
The word ‘empire’ came to the presence’s mind. Some lifeforms created empires among the stars. Some empires expanded. Sometimes the various empires met. When they did, the presence often noticed the disappearance of many lifeforms.
That’s called war, said the entity. You’ll see much of war. Sometimes wars are instigated by my opponent. Sometimes it comes naturally to the various lifeforms. You may need to use war on occasion in order to accomplish your task.
The entity took the presence to one of the worlds. The presence sensed two strange forms of energy on the world.
Those are gates, said the entity. The entity touched the presence and gave it knowledge of gates.
* * *
Even though Nickelo was just a spectator of the dream, he received the understanding of the gates. They were the key to the task. The gates had to be defended at all costs. The entity’s opponent required at least one gate for its plans.
Nickelo had heard the plans before. He’d watched the videos from the tele-bots that had been with his wizard scout the previous year. A master demon had told Richard that he’d make a choice that would affect the three galaxies for good or ill. The master demon had seemed confident Richard would make a choice beneficial to the master demon.
The dream faded. Nickelo tried to get it back, but the trace of the ghost memory was overwritten by more recent data. He sensed only the wall. Nickelo pondered what he’d dreamed. It was knowledge, but how to use the knowledge for the benefit of his wizard scout escaped him.
Nickelo had recognized the world of the two gates. It was Portalis. Richard and he had been there on a mission for ‘the One’ twice since Richard’s internship the previous year. How those missions fit into the dream he didn’t know. His knowledge of those missions had gaps. He suspected ‘the One’ selectively erased memory upon mission completion. Nickelo knew his wizard scout’s memory was affected. Richard had large gaps in his memory. Nickelo was unsure of the size of the gaps in his own memory.
Chapter 21 – The Blind Date
_____________________________________
The tent was a meter higher than the surrounding tents.
She’s a big girl, Richard thought before he reached out and knocked on the tent’s wooden frame. He was nervous. While he’d interacted with cadet 37 during training, this was different.
What am I supposed to talk about with a giant lizard? Richard wondered.
A large, scaly-gray hand raised the tent flap. Cadet 37 stepped out. Without any preliminaries, cadet 37 hissed. Richard heard a mechanical voice come out of the translator on cadet 37’s hip.
“Where we go?” said cadet 37.
“I was wondering if you wanted to grab a bite to eat,” Richard said. He gestured towards the main gate. “Our mess hall’s closed since the other cadets are on pass. However, the cafeteria at headquarters is open all night. The night crews have to eat somewhere. We’d have to walk though. The hover-buses aren’t running today.”
Cadet 37 nodded her head. “I hungry. We go.”
Without waiting for Richard, cadet 37 took off for the gate. Richard had to semi-trot to catch up. Neither of them said anything before they reached the airfield’s headquarters building.
Nick, are you there? Richard said. What’d you get me into? Richard waited for an answer. None came.
Great, Richard thought. Most of the time I can’t get him to shut up. Now when I need him, he doesn’t say a word.
They entered the head
quarters building and took the stairs to the second floor. When they entered the cafeteria, Richard took the left line for the human food, and cadet 37 took the right line for the non-human food. After Richard got his food, he found cadet 37 already sitting down at a table and enjoying her dinner.
Richard sat across from cadet 37 and watched as she stuffed a handful of squirming fur into her mouth. She grabbed a second ball of wriggling fur out of the cage on her tray and offered it to Richard.
“Ah, no thanks,” Richard said. He’d been around non-humans enough to be accustomed to their eating habits. Still, he had no desire to try a sample.
“Ha,” said cadet 37. “You carrion eaters don’t know what’s good.”
Richard did a double-take. “A carrion eater? Are you calling me a vulture?”
Cadet 37 pointed a free hand at Richard. “You a carrion eater.” She drew her hand back and looked quizzically at Richard. “What’s a vulture?”
“It’s a disgusting creature from my home planet that eats dead things,” Richard said. “I ain’t no vulture.” Richard took a bite of his sandwich as if to prove his point.
“Ha!” hissed cadet 37. “You vulture.” She pointed at Richard’s sandwich. “That meat dead.” She made a series of hissing sounds. Laughter came out of her translator. “I not vulture. I not carrion eater.”
And so it went. In spite of their obvious differences, Richard and cadet 37 spent a long time in the snack bar swapping stories and telling lies.
Several hours later, Richard turned off the light in his tent and lay down on his cot. He was tired, but he didn’t feel like going to sleep right away. Richard took a few moments to send an active scan to cadet 37’s tent. He found cadet 37’s link to her Power reserve and cautiously probed it for weak points. Like he’d done for the rest of the cadets in the cohort, Richard had spent a lot of his free time beefing up the defenses of cadet 37’s link. Although cadet 37’s link was in pretty good shape, Richard did find two weak points that could use improvement. Richard spent a few minutes putting traps on the weak spots. Once he finished, he withdrew his active scan.
Wizard Scout (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 3) Page 22
