“They fought a single entity?” M-Bot said.
“And won,” Chet said, “by somehow making it real. But there were great casualties.”
“And we now face…more than one,” M-Bot said. “Way more than one.”
“Yes,” I said, leaning forward in my seat. “There was something else. No loss of memories in the nowhere back then. It’s a more recent development.”
“It’s connected,” Chet said. “And the answers are at Surehold. Some of them at least.”
“In the memories of a man named Jason Write,” I said, frowning.
“Jason Write?” M-Bot said. “Superiority historical archives list him as the human who initiated first contact with the greater galaxy after accidentally discovering he was cytonic. He…kicked off the expansion of humankind into the galaxy, and indirectly caused the First Human War of conquest.”
I nodded absently, thinking about that ancient cytonic who had communicated with us. The feelings of exhaustion and loneliness that had permeated her. I felt that something had sparked inside me. Or…well, the spark had always been there. Now it burned brighter.
“Chet,” I said. “Do your powers feel different?”
“Indeed!” he said. “They talked to me about using my mind to ‘see’ around myself! I feel that with practice, I won’t just have an instinct for the fragments. I might be able to see into buildings, or around corners, or…well, it seems incredible!”
“I learned something else,” I said softly. “But I don’t know what it means yet.”
You are a star.
“Hey,” Maksim’s voice said over the comm, “the rest of you registering that figure down there? At my nine.”
“Odd to see someone,” Shiver said, “out so openly, not hiding. If we were recruiting, they’d be in trouble.”
I checked out the window. A solitary figure stood on a ridge on a distant fragment. It appeared to be a heklo—the distance was far enough that it made it difficult to tell. And though I couldn’t see for certain, I could feel a coldness and a pressure against my mind. I was positive the figure had white glowing eyes.
“You feel that?” Chet asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s one of them. At least they didn’t find a way to destroy the fragment this time.”
“Still worries me,” Chet said. “I had hoped that we’d lost them these last few weeks. It is difficult for the delvers to project attention this far out. But now they have located us again. Hopefully this doesn’t lead to difficulties.”
I shivered. Soon we were past it, the figure dwindling in the distance. My comm started flashing though. A direct call from Peg.
“Yes, Captain?” I said.
“What did you see,” she asked, “in those ruins?”
“Why?” I asked her.
“Something feels odd,” she said. “About that figure we just passed. About this entire excursion. I answered your questions about my plans. Now answer mine. What did you see?”
“We saw the past,” I admitted. “Memories, like you said. We’re investigating a way to fight the delvers—and we got a message from a woman who encountered something like them long ago.”
“Fight the delvers?” Peg said.
“Yeah…” I said.
“If it’s any consolation,” Chet said, “we would prefer to find some way to placate or reconcile with them. For now, however, we must continue our quest—and visit the portal at Surehold to find the memories hidden therein.”
“Well, our goals overlap,” Peg said, “so I can’t say I’m sorry about that part. But fighting the delvers…I suppose if you’re cytonic, maybe you can manage it? I knew this one dione in the security force. They left soon after arriving, because they kept…changing, to look like different people. The heads of the Superiority pulled them out the moment they heard of it.”
Changing shape? I’d never done anything like that.
“A cytonic talent,” Chet said. “Projecting illusions into the minds of others—making oneself appear different, even feel different. It works on anyone in here, though I’ve heard that in the somewhere it only works on other cytonics.”
Actually… I felt a chill. I had heard of that happening. Someone had done it to my father—making him see the wrong things. I was coming to understand more and more that different cytonics…they could do different things. I could hear the stars and teleport. Chet could extend his life span and “see” great distances with his powers.