“You knew we were coming when we were two systems away. I believe that that should not have been possible either.”
Kelly cocked her head. “I suppose you are correct. Are those really wings?”
“You can see them?”
“Sort of. I can put all the hints together to end up with the logic that I didn’t hear your feet on the ramp, or coming through the door. You flew in.”
“Correct. You and Volunteer Hathaway are friends?”
“Sort of. I have never seen her, even before they burned my eyes.”
“Your eyes are not burned, they are black. Think of being in a dark room with your pupil expanded to let in light. Your entire being is looking at the world around you, but your body is still in that dark room.”
Kelly blinked and smiled. “A nice way to think of it.”
“The right way to think of it. Your sight wasn’t taken, it was expanded. You just haven’t learned to focus yet. Yes, the process was horrific, but the end result is expanded consciousness.”
Kelly tried to look at him. “You are older than you look, and you are planning on getting the hell out of here the moment we land.”
He chuckled. “See? Your vision is getting better already.”
She sobered, “What about Addy?”
“She will be kept in a state of suspended animation until a plan can be created that will let her gain control over her talent. It is too violent to experiment with, so a lot of consultation will be involved.”
Kelly nodded. “Do you think I will be able to stay close?”
He didn’t comment on that, but he said, “You will need to gain control of your own talent. Watching out for your friend might not be the best use of your time.”
She nodded again and turned her head toward the back of the ship where Addy was. “I hope she isn’t dreaming.”
The rescuer didn’t comment on that either.
Chapter Two
Addy woke with a gasp, sitting up and finding herself on a neatly arranged bed in a small room.
“Relax, Addy. You are fine. Everything is fine. They just needed to find a safe place to wake you up.”
“Kelly?”
Addy swung her legs to the side of the bed and stood up. Her limbs were wobbly, but she could hold her weight. The weird thing was that the cuts, marks, and other bruises were gone. Her skin was whole again.
“You guessed it. Now, I need to warn you that you have been asleep for a while.”
Addy blinked. “How long is a while?”
“More than a day, less than a hundred years. Now, there is a food system in front of you, go and get something to eat.”
Addy looked at the machine, and the alien symbols translated themselves in her mind. She picked some soup and bread.
“Good choice.”
“Where are you?”
Kelly sighed. “I am close by, but it was thought that I give you the briefing before I showed up in person.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Well, you have had some walls built in your mind by specialists. They have managed to put your new talent aside and keep it from touching your conscious mind. If things go well, you can reach through it to use the power that woke.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Eat your meal and watch the monitor.”
The monitor in question descended from the ceiling, and a video began to play. Addy ate her meal and paused when she realized that the woman being hauled into the room was herself. It was that day.
“I am going to fast forward a bit of it, but pay attention.”
The first few hours of torture were a blur, and then. Addy’s video body began to fight the restraints.
The sadists high-fived each other and then turned back to her, but she was still arched against her bonds. She was locked and still, and then, the world around them quivered.
The men trying to ignore the results was obvious, but when the shaking became more violent, they put their attention to her. Addy’s eyes were wide, and she was screaming, but there was no sound. A wave of something came from her. It looked like the sonic interference from a speaker, but it moved out and then down into the floor beneath her.
Addy pushed her bowl aside and watched as her body on the exam table was isolated by fissures while the idiots died or ran. It was a familiar sight, and she did remember what happened next.
A figure arrived at the edge of the monitor’s view and spoke to her. She spoke back, and the man with wings moved into full view as he sedated and then unbuckled her.
“Great, Kelly. That was yesterday, so what happened next?”
“You were stored at the Alliance Archive and that is where you remained for thirty years.”
The soup roiled in her stomach. “What?”
“You were in stasis for thirty years. I visited you when I could, but I had to earn my keep out in the great unknown.”
The ground under Addy’s feet began to move.
“Calm down, Addy. Take a deep breath and calm down. They could only block so much. Your talent is definitely wired into your lizard brain. If you panic, feel anger or pain, you are going to destroy the world under your feet.”
“My feet? Where are you?” Addy snarked it while she tried to breathe slowly and deeply. The quivering under her slowed and stopped.
“I am in an orbital station, watching the seismograph and hoping that you can get yourself under control.”
“Why can’t I see you?” Addy was suspicious. Kelly couldn’t be watching anything. She was blind.
“Because I am thirty years older and you are still the little psycho that I met and that kept me sane all those years ago. It hurts every time I see you.”
“I want to see you.”
The display flickered, and a woman in her fifties was sitting, wearing a weird set of robes, and her eyes were still the midnight black that Addy remembered from the open files in the lab.
“You said you could see.”
Kelly waved her hand from side to side. “It is more like sense, but the seismograph has an audible readout. When I say I see you, I see an imprint of you. It is like you made an impression on my mind, and I compare that to the new image every time I am near you.”
“Why did it take so long to get me awake?”
“The Citadel only just got a healer who could slow their mind to match yours in the stasis chamber while building fast enough to create a usable barrier.” Kelly clicked her tongue. “It was not easy.”
“Why bother to wake me at all?”
Kelly grinned. “Terrans are all the rage. We are in the Sector Guard, the Alliance worlds, the Nyal Imperium, and a few hundred have joined the Citadel. You have to pay for your upkeep, but you get to travel and do things you never imagined.”
“So, we have turned into collector’s items?” Addy snorted.
“Something like that. We are a trendy accessory. Now, you are in a small complex on Iratho. Iratho is a sentient world, and he will stop you from doing too much damage.”
“Sentient, so there are other folks here?”
“Sentient, as in the ground under your feet is awake and aware. He has an Avatar that can speak for him, and you will meet him once you are settled.”
“So, I am on a world with just one other person?”
“Yes. Iratho is trying to decide on his environments, so the world is relatively empty with all the water beneath the surface. If you go outside, wear a suit.”