Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2

by Eddie R. Hicks

  UNE black site, Titan, Sol system

  White mist blinded Gavin’s vision as he slowly regained consciousness. His body felt lighter and sore as if he was in a bad car crash. He thought about waving the mist away to get a better view of the figures that stood next to him with medical scanners, but decided against it. He was still too weak and his brain was trying to process exactly where the fuck was he to start off with.

  One of the figures with the scanning devices pulled away, and said some muffled words, words that got everyone to cheer loudly. Happy that I’m alive I hope, 'cause that makes you allies.

  The mist finally cleared and Gavin could make out some faces as well as the location he was in. The black site, a room with tube like apparatus inside it, he happened to be inside them.

  “What the fuck?” He groaned as Miriam König helped out of his pod and his body slowly came to the floor thanks to the moon like gravity.

  “My congratulations to you Chambers,” König said to him in her German accent. “You are the first human to become a psionic via this facility.”

  He looked at her as he mustered the strength to stand on his own. “You’re joking me, right?”

  “These numbers and scans don’t lie.” She held up her holo pad. It projected a before and after picture of Gavin’s brain. Various labels reported the increase in psionic activity in his mind as a result of being placed in the pod.

  Time for a test run, he thought as he extended his arm forward in an attempt to move her pad with telekinesis.

  Nothing happened.

  “I don’t feel any different,” he said. “Other than the fact my body is sore.”

  Which begs the question, why was he sore all over? It wasn’t the pod as he saw some of the bandages on his arms and hands. He tried his best to remember what he was doing that would have caused this. He along with Michei and EDF came here to speak with Ella, that part he remembered. Then what? Right, the Hashmedai, he boarded a transport to head back to the Winston Churchill, it was under attack.

  Fuck, I didn’t make it back! “Oh no, the Winston Churchill!” Gavin shouted as he tried to make his way to the exit. He didn’t make it far as he nearly fell over, König quickly held him up and brought him back to his feet once again.

  “The battle is over,” König said to him. “The Hashmedai have withdrawn from the sector.”

  “They shot me down.”

  “We recovered your body.”

  Then why did I end up inside your experimental psionic creation pods? Everything quickly came together. “And tested on me rather than sending me to the infirmary?”

  “Your injuries were non-life-threatening,” König said. “We got a room set up for you, get some rest.”

  Gavin awoke in his quarters twelve hours later. He was certain it was once an equipment storage room that was cleared out and had a bed tossed inside it. Better than the cell they had Ella in he figured, at least he had free access to the black site. He stretched his arms upward the pain had been reduced thanks to some mild pain killers and the medical team doing their thing with him prior to him calling it a day.

  He took walk around his ‘room’ as he turned the lights on and noticed several solid mannequins lined up side by side with combat armor on them, training dummies he figured. He looked at one of the dummies and started to take deep breathes, then thought real hard about it falling over.

  Nothing happened.

  The doctors and König all insisted what little psionic power he had, expanded during his time inside the pod, and therefore their equipment works. They can create human psionics provided they have the potential. Gavin didn’t feel any different than he had in the past, the only thing he felt was guilt, as everyone else out there believed he was dead and not coming back.

  The door leading into the hallways slid up as a staff member entered, pushing in several crates along with Michei who walked up to Gavin directly.

  “A face I can trust, I hope,” Gavin said to the Rabuabin psionic.

  “Likewise,” Michei said. “As you humans say, welcome to the club.”

  “I think those people are nuts.” Gavin pointed to the staff as they left the room. “I’m not a psionic.”

  “If they’re right you’ll get better as time goes on,” Michei said. “Like all things in life the more you practice and train, the better you’ll be.”

  “Is that why you’re here?”

  “I was asked recently to help you develop your powers and come up with a training plan. A quick one at that, Radiance and Hashmedai psionics train for years. They want it done in days.”

  “Won’t happen, will it?”

  “I’ll do what I can, but there’s no way you’ll be like me, there’s just not enough time for that.”

  “Well its clear you and I are prisoners here like Ella was.” Gavin smiled at him then joking bowed in a traditional Japanese manner. “Teach me sensei.”

  “Sensei?”

  “Never mind.”

  Gavin and Michei spent the remainder of the day training together. Michei explained the basics first, freeing your mind so that one can utilize the power of telekinetic force.

  Breaths, focus, visualize.

  Thirty-eight attempts later, Gavin bent a spoon ever so slightly.

  Levitation was the next subject, one that frustrated Gavin to the point of cursing a long barrage words every time he failed to move his body off the ground. Most of his attempts resulted in him falling over, rather than moving up, the gravity of the moon wasn’t helping, he was still used to Earth like gravity.

  Progress was slow and Gavin was thankful for Michei being as calm as he was with the training. But in the end, Gavin was a fighter pilot, not a space wizard. His place was on the battlefield, defending humanity from the imperial navy, not faking his death so that the black site can continue its study of human psionics.

  Gavin stormed out of his during the middle of his training, and barged into König’s office on the third floor where she sat in her chair interacting with four different holographic screens around her.

  “May I help you?” König asked as she waved the screens away to look at Gavin.

  “Yeah by getting me out from here,” Gavin said.

  “You know I can’t do that.”

  “Dr. Lynn was one thing, but me? I’m a fighter; I need to be out in the frontlines. I’m fine with coming back and finishing my training later, or between missions. But locked up here? I’m not helping Earth.”

  König crossed her arms and reclined backward on her leather chair. “The president would disagree.”

  “She knows about this?”

  “Earth Cube knows what we face, and as it stands we can’t win this war. There are at least three Hashmedai command ships with free access to wormhole technology, and now reports of a dreadnought with unknown fire power.”

  “All the more reason for me to be out there!” Gavin said. “Everyone needs to be fighting.”

  “Those Hashmedai ships have psionics aboard, ours don’t. We can’t win this war without them. So no; you can’t leave, your training is going to be the turning point.”

  “Psionic or not, I’m just one man.”

  “One of many human psionics that will follow in time.”

  “You make it sound like others will be using this place.”

  “Come here,” she said and waved for him to stand next to her. As he did she tossed a small hologram toward him from her holo pad.

  “This is data captured from the Celestial Order lab in LA,” Gavin said, reading the information. It was the same files he and Sarah read and downloaded.

  “I assume you’ve seen these files then, yes?” König said. “Your beloved Anna was secretly studied by them. She was becoming a psionic, and not just your typical run of the mill one. Her DNA was slowly altering as time went on. Yes, psionic genes are marginally different from those without, but Anna’s DNA was very different than it should be when taking into account she was a human psionic.”

&nbs
p; Gavin began to remember the vision that filled his mind during his time in the pod. All the things Anna explained it was starting to become clear it wasn’t just a crazy trip. The vision was trying to explain everything to him. “Go on,” Gavin said as he flicked the hologram aside.

  “I didn’t lose you then?”

  “This is all starting to make perfect sense believe it or not.”

  “Telinei or as you knew him as Dr. Jakins, had discovered that humans should they become psionics would be different from those in Radiance and the Hashmedai. Anna was proof of that as she was the only human he discovered that came in contact with the gem for a long period of time. There were of course other humans with psionic potential he discovered according to his notes; they too were different to what he expected. Of course Anna was the most important project to him due to her exposure to the gem; she was stronger than the rest. The order, according to his files, was attracted to Earth because a voice they felt was their gods told them of its location and the importance of humans.”

  “That gem enhanced her and me,” Gavin said, crossing his arms. “And the order worships those gems claiming their gods speak to them through it.”

  “There’s a connection. I’m not a firm believer of Radiance mysticism, but it’s clear that someone or something came to Earth many years ago before Radiance and the Celestial Order. And in turn spread that knowledge out into the galaxy as well as the location of Earth. Theoretically speaking of course.”

  Gavin knew he had failed in convincing König to allow him to leave and return to the fight. She just stood there, looking at him in the same way his school teachers did when he was a kid always coming up with excuses as to why he didn’t get his homework done. She wanted him to do nothing more than leave her alone and get back to the task at hand.

  He did just that and left her office. As he walked through the hallways toward the elevator he started to think of what things would have been like if Anna was alive, and what would she be like if she was getting the training he was. She’d be a powerful psionic right now, hell they’d be others too as Telinei had discovered other humans with potential. The gem had psionic links, the longer one held one, the more powerful they became. He had the power to become what Anna lost the chance to do, become the strongest human psionic.

  Gavin held onto the gem longer than Chloe and Ella, and neither of them was here to get the training done, or went into the pod to fully bring out their powers. Anna had insisted he got the gem with her last dying words, and the gem gave him psionic abilities, abilities he could no longer justify throwing away and walking away from. It would be a slap in her face. He had to become a psionic. He had to continue his training. He had to master it quickly for Anna’s sake, and the human race.

  “Chambers?” Michei said as Gavin stormed into their makeshift training room with determination in his stride.

  “Let’s take it from the top,” Gavin said.

  Four days had passed since Gavin and Michei began their crash course training routine. Gavin had developed a decent grasp on the basics, telekinetic, levitation and ESP, though his scanning range with it was very small. Nevertheless Michei was impressed with how quickly Gavin developed, especially after Gavin beat him in a game of ping pong played blindfolded. No paddles were used of course, just their telekinetic thrusts against the ball as it neared their hands.

  Every three hours of training required one hour of meditation for them to rest their minds, and for Gavin to help further attune his abilities and take in the wisdom he experienced. Their meditations also gave König time to update her notes as she watched them train via a hidden camera. A new message from Geneva prompted König to finish her report quickly and head down to the training room as the two meditated, she didn’t like the idea of interrupting the two, but what she had to say was important.

  “How goes it?” König asked as she entered.

  Michei and Gavin sat on the floor cross-legged. Gavin’s eyes remained shut in his trance, as Michei's eyes opened to address König. “Making progress.”

  “Good,” König said. “In a few hours I’d like Chambers to undergo augmentation.”

  “That’s not possible.”

  “We’ve scanned your implants, reproduced them and modified them for human use.”

  “The cybernetic upgrades will put him out for months,” Michei said. “And again he still needs years of training before he’s ready for that stage.”

  “We won’t be giving him full upgrades, just the basics.”

  “He’s still not ready.”

  “I think he is,” König said. “Remember he is no ordinary psionic as he was exposed to the gem for a long period of time. And let’s not forget . . .” König slid a holographic screen from her holo pad to Michei. The screen depicted a map of the solar system. A gigantic red dot represented the location of the Hashmedai fleet. It was moving toward the inner planets from their stronghold round Uranus.

  “The Hashmedai,” Michei said, looking at the hologram.

  “They’re moving out,” König said. “The president wants something to work with right now.”

  “Give us another month at least.”

  “We might not have another month left.”

  “I’ll do it,” Gavin said as his eyes opened. He stood from his spot on the floor and said to König. “If this is what’s going to get me back into the fight, then let’s do this.”

  König shot him a cunning grin as she extended her hand out in a please come with me motion. She and Gavin walked to the cybernetic augmentation room, where a group of doctors stood waiting, with cybernetic implants with Gavin’s name on it.

  And a chip implant for his brain.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Veromacon, Aervounis, Luminous system

  The scales on Queenea’s neck glistened a vibrant indigo as she took one last her at herself in the mirror. She debated on brewing a glass of Piuash, a caffeinated beverage enjoyed by many within the union. She never got much sleep the previous night there was just too much anticipation for the day that lay ahead. Her final grade for her university thesis was to be given to her today, in addition her dear twin brother Ienthei was to learn if he would be nominated for the upcoming elections to select a new Aryile representative on the council.

  It was going to be the start of a new age, not just for her and her dear brother, but the union as well. Ienthei was going to get nominated, win the election, and he’d bring the balance and level headed thinking the council lacked. He’d help lead Radiance into a new age. Then there was her paper on ethereal energy and the great advances it would bring. Today it starts, today the son and daughter of Jainuzei, the slain legendary war hero, would lay down the ground work that would take the Radiance Union where it belonged, the leaders of the galaxy.

  Queenea’s excited footsteps raced down the stairs in the main foyer of their home. Her mother Marrea had prepared a bowl of fruit for her first meal, a meal she’d have to skip, Queenea had to leave or risk missing the rapid transit train. Perhaps if she woke up earlier she could have endured in the sweet and juicy fruits, but when one doesn’t get much sleep, you stay in bed until the very last minute.

  “Today is the day, isn’t it?” Marrea said, looking at Queenea’s blonde hair, something Marrea had never approved of. She did after all spend lots of credits to ensure Queenea and Ienthei’s hair color was brown naturally. The two twins had insisted on dying it blond.

  “Yes, mother,” Queenea said as she approached the front door.

  “Such a wonderful week awaits us,” Marrea said to her. “You about to find out your grade for the paper, your brother and Dienei will find out if they will be nominated to become the next Aryile rep on the council.”

  “Indeed, I hope all goes well.”

  “Hope? You mean you didn’t pray to the gods?”

  Queenea grimaced she had been busy lately and she neglected to say any prayers to the gods. “We’ll be fine,” she said. “I’m sure you, dear brother and D
ienei prayed heavily.”

  “Make us proud, show the union the extent of your wisdom.”

  Queenea left quickly, her blue summery dress rustled like the purple leaves above her head as wind blew through the upscale community. She smiled as she boarded the train. It wasn’t every day one got a window seat. Typically she was always got stuck sitting in the middle row of seats. As the train left she tilted her head toward the right to gaze out the window. A bright green grassy hill was next to the glass tube the train travelled through. A shining river separated the tube from the hill, reflecting light from the bright star Aervounis orbited.

  The hill grew larger in size as they continued to move past it. Its grass was covered up by massive trees that arched upward, their purple leaves swaying back and forth. It looked like it was going to be another windy day, typical during this time of the year. The hill vanished as the horizon appeared, the train was in the process of traveling from the floating platform Queenea’s family lived on, toward the platform where the university was located. The train for all intents and purposes was suspended in the skies, the glass tunnels being the only source of support. Outside of the tunnels was nothing, just the great ocean a few kilometers below and the skies around them.

  The university was only twenty minutes away so it was time to sit back, for at this point of the journey the only sights outside of the train was the skyscrapers and various residential areas outside of the university as the train traveled to next section of Veromacon’s artificial floating landmass.

  Veromacon University, Aervounis, Luminous system

  “Queenea . . .” Scholar Mil Coritea said as her four eyes looked at Queenea enter the vacant classroom. “Here for the news?”

  Queenea walked over to the scholar’s desk as she stood. “What did you think of it?”

  Coritea searched her cluttered desk, then handed Queenea a data crystal. “Everything that you need to know is on it, but . . .” Coritea paused and grimaced, Queenea braced herself; she knew something negative was coming. “Long story short we cannot issue you advancement into the next level.”