Galaxy of Empires- Merchant Wars Episode #1

by Bruce Marcom

  ***

  Two hours pass, and Eve and Zach have just entered her quarters. They sit down at a small round table. There is a nicely prepared and organized meal for two on the table. A large vase with blue flowers sits off to the right of the couple.

  “This meal looks just as ravishing as you do, Darling,” Zach says in a seductive fashion.

  Eve blushes and replies, “Thank you. You are such a charmer.” She winks at Zach.

  “I made an ancient Earth recipe called ‘pizza.’ I don’t have much experience with human food because I do not meet too many humans out in these parts. I know that Earth is an old planet that is not habitable anymore. The Elemental Empire conquered it thousands of years ago. Surprisingly, though, there are relatively good records of what it was like before the sun burned out.”

  “I am not much of a history buff, but most of the records about human origination are probably a fabrication of the Elemental Empire government, I would think. They are excellent at fabricating information that makes them look good,” Zach advises. “I know it is a touchy subject with you, but I am kind of curious at how you are half-human and half-snake; I did not think they were compatible races. But if the subject is uncomfortable for you, we don’t have to talk about it.”

  “Well, it is an uncomfortable subject, but I will tell you what I know. I think I was created in a laboratory, at least from what I can vaguely remember. I was being transported as a child from this place I can barely remember and pirates attacked the ship. The pirates killed the crew, but decided to sell me into slavery, probably because I was a child. A Snake merchant bought me, even though his wife objected because I was a half-breed. They wanted to adopt a child, but because they were so old, they could not use the regular adoption methods of the Reptilian Empire. Therefore, this couple went to see if they could buy a child slave to adopt instead. Unfortunately, there are very few child slaves; most of them go to the Adoption Guild.”

  “After this old Snake merchant couple bought me, I stayed aboard the ship most of the time, acting as the captain’s girl. I did all the errands and stuff that he wanted me to do. After a few years passed, his wife grew attached to me and eventually urged her husband to adopt me officially. It was kind of hard because I had no birth certificate, but most slaves do not have papers—nothing a few platinum bars could not fix. I grew attached to them and considered them my parents, even though they were not my biological parents. My father only had one ship and a Class 10 merchant’s license when he died. My adoptive mother died soon thereafter, mainly of a broken heart. I inherited what little they had, which included one beat-up merchant ship. Today, I have seven merchant war cruisers in my fleet and a Class 8 merchant license with about 2,000 people working for me.”

  “That is an impressive feat considering where you came from. My story is more boring than yours. My family disowned me when they learned I was a telepath because of all the propaganda and telepath-related hatred in the Elemental Empire. My parents turned me over to the authorities as soon as I started displaying telepathic abilities when I was 15 or so. Unlike regular telepaths, my abilities far exceeded those of most telepaths.

  “I got to the concentration camp, and they separated me from the other telepaths and started taking blood samples and conducting all kinds of other kinds of tests on me. They were going to ship me off to some special secret laboratory that I overheard them talking about. However, I escaped during the transport attempt. I used my telepathic abilities to survive because my abilities were high enough that they bypassed all of the telepathic defenses set up by the government. For example, those telepathic metal helmets the police use for defense against telepathic powers? They do not work against my abilities. You can imagine every time the police tried to arrest me, I would just plant suggestions in their heads and they would stand there staring out into space while I escaped. I wanted to stay off the radar, so I did not kill anybody. That would have drawn attention to me. It was much easier just to escape and hide.”

  “I guess we are both hard cases then,” Eve acknowledges as she resumes eating.

  Zach continues, “I am happy that I met you. I think that you being a half-breed makes you different, even unique. I think your snakeskin mixed in with your human skin makes you more attractive, at least to me. I am glad that you are a telepath as well; it just makes it even better. Your PSI rating must be equal to mine or even higher. Do you know how strong your PSI rating is? Have you ever had it tested? Mine is 18 on the 20 scale. Most telepaths are 1–15.”

  “I’m not sure and I’ve never really thought about it. I never had anything to compare it to. I haven’t had much contact with other telepaths, except for you. Actually, I should say I never socialized with another telepath. I have encountered some telepaths, but mostly in passing.”

  “Well, if you are curious, I have a PSI tester with me.”

  “I am curious, not that it matters to me, even if it is low.”

  “Even if it is low, that does not mean anything—you are still a telepath. But you might be stronger than you think and you don’t know because you have never been tested.”

  After all the plates and glasses were cleared away, Zach pulls out an electronic device and puts it on the table. He pulls out five cylinders, each a different size and width.

  “Okay, this machine will register your PSI strength. What I want you to do is crush each of these cylinders one at a time.”

  Eve focuses on the first one and bends it very easily. The second cylinder is a bit harder, but she bends it very easily as well. The third cylinder is getting harder to bend, but Eve does it without too much effort. The fourth cylinder is considerably harder to bend and takes her a few moments. Then she starts on the fifth cylinder, which is massive and extremely difficult to bend. She focuses all of her energy and thoughts on crushing it; eventually it begins to turn slowly. Eve is sweating profusely on her face and forehead. The cylinder starts making a creaking noise as it slowly but steadily bends into an L-shape. Zach looks on with amazement; he has never seen anyone bend the fifth cylinder, not even himself. Eve grunts and the cylinder becomes red hot and melts on the table and disintegrates into hot metal that drops all over the table.

  “Wow, you have really strong telepathic abilities! I have never seen that before or even heard of anyone who has ever done that! The machine says 20 PSI, but it only goes up to 20. You may be even higher than 20, if there is such a thing,” Zach says with amazement.

  “Interesting. I did not know,” Eve says, trying to recover from the strain. She thinks to herself: This is very useful information, especially when it comes to dealing with my enemies. Not bad for being a lab experiment.

  “You need to spend more time with other telepaths to increase your knowledge and experience with your telepathic abilities. You probably have some abilities that you are not even aware of. The only way that you can ever fully appreciate them is with other telepaths. You have probably mastered telekinesis, telepathy, and suggestion. Most telepathic people start with those because they are the most common abilities. Have you tried energy projection or invisibility?”

  “Um…no. I did not even know I could do that.”

  “You probably can—and a lot more. I will show you what I can do. I have never known anyone who had a PSI rating higher than mine. You may have other abilities beyond known telepathic abilities. I suggest you take a trip to the Consortium and access their telepathic library, which is probably the most comprehensive as far as telepathic studies. The person you really need to talk to is Empress Draca, if that is even possible. Draca is not known for speaking to people outside of the Consortium. In fact, she rarely talks with anyone, even within the Consortium.”

  “Really…hmm,” Eve becomes concerned about the message Empress Draca sent her, and then realizes she is with a guest right now.

  Zach says, “Hold your hand out and picture holding a fireball. Focus on that.”

  Eve gently puts her hand forth and looks at it. She begins focusin
g on that thought for a few seconds as her hand ignites with fire. Then she starts to make different shapes with the fire in her hand, such as turning her hand to the wall and shooting the flame into the wall and igniting it. The ship-wide intercom comes on, blaring, “Warning! Fire in the Captain’s quarters! Warning! Fire in the Captain’s quarters! This is not a drill!”

  “Woah there, Girl on Fire,” Zach says loudly. “You need to watch it there before you burn us all up. You can also put it out, but that is usually with water and not with your mind.” They both laughed as they grab the fire extinguisher hanging on the wall. About that time, the door chimes and someone asks, “Captain, are you okay in there?”

  Eve says, “It’s all good. The fire is out. Return to your station.”

  “You need to start small and work your way up, Princess. You can also do that with electricity—but not tonight. We don’t need any more fires, ha ha.”

  Eve giggles.

  “Now when two telepaths make love, it is very different than when non-telepaths do it. All of the senses are amplified. The more powerful the telepaths, the more intense the sexual encounter. Now…do you want to find out if half-breeds can be made outside the lab…?” Zach says with a big grin and a wink.

  Eve chuckles, “But, of course. Let’s play Doctor….”