Star Force: Revision (SF78) Read online

  “I understand. I am here because I am the only available Pink?”

  “No. We would wait until someone of sufficient skill arrived before taking an inferior. Your records indicate you are fit to join us, so yours is not a lesser membership.”

  Octaviak smiled, for that was just what she was wondering. “Are there Human telepaths here?”

  “Yes, and they will be working with you more than the others,” Prentha said as they came out of the trees and the full size of the dome became visible across grassy fields and short mountains.

  Octaviak’s jaw dropped. “This is all inside?”

  “Pretty sweet, isn’t it? Other training programs go outside, but for this one they wanted everyone in a contained environment. There’s even living quarters in here,” he said, pointing off beyond a low hill to the right. “You won’t need to go back into the city for anything, save for some down time if you need it.”

  “So this is a training colony?”

  “You can think of it that way, yes.”

  An apt description, a voice said in Octaviak’s mind.

  She physically jerked, which made Prentha smile. “It takes some getting used to,” he said, then frowned. “Is it different than normal?” he asked as an armored figured came strolling down one of the nearby grass-covered hills.

  “Their voice is so loud,” she said, staring at the Archon but only being able to see him with her eyes. His mind was totally hidden from her.

  Not totally, he corrected her. My aura is visible, you are simply not skilled enough to detect it. I will teach you how.

  “This is mage Pel-9833, a member of Clan Samus who has been teaching us how to partially shield our minds, even without telepathy…as well as schooling us in a number of combat disciplines. As an Archon he is an expert in all forms of warfare and a commander in all 5 divisions of the military.”

  “I’ll take her from here,” Pel said as he caught up to the pair.

  “I thought she needed a tour?”

  “I’ll handle that. Go ahead and get back to your unit.”

  Prentha turned to face Octaviak. “I’ll talk to you later. Have fun,” he said before taking off at a jog up and over the hill and off to who knew where.

  “Now, tell me how my voice is ‘loud?’”

  “I…I mean it’s loud. I don’t know a better word,” she said, unsure how to respond.

  “What kind of training did you do on your old world?”

  “We had some practice sessions when we were young.”

  “And when you were mature?”

  Octaviak shrugged. “We trained our bodies, but just learned to use our telepathy naturally.”

  “Then you are in for a surprise, for you can train your telepathy, just like your body. I’m here to teach you how and to devise a program for other Protovic to follow in your place. We will have to experiment a bit, for your telepathy is a less powerful version than ours, but most of my experience will transfer over to you, I imagine.”

  “You’re going to give me knowledge?”

  Pel raised an eyebrow, with his helmet currently tucked into storage mode behind his neck. “I suppose I could, but that wasn’t my meaning. The training drills and challenges we use should work for you in most cases, though I imagine some adjustments will have to be made.”

  “What can you do?”

  “You’re wondering how Kip and Brad took down those fighters?”

  “How do you read my mind so easily? I did not even feel you enter it.”

  “I haven’t left it since you’ve arrived.”

  “How can you do that?”

  “By being subtle…and by you not being very skilled. We’re going to fix that though, and to answer your question we have the ability to not only read minds, but to influence. You can do the same, but our ‘influence’ goes beyond what you can do. We can take direct control over a person’s body if they don’t know how to defend themselves.”

  “What do you mean…” Octaviak said, her words getting cut off as a sledgehammer hit her mind and her entire body froze up, with her becoming a living statue on the grass.

  “This is not pleasant for you, and I apologize, but take a moment to study your situation then I will release you. What I have done is taken priority control away from you, blocking your mental impulses from getting to their target and supplementing my own. This is difficult to do, more so at range, and is enhanced by making flesh to flesh contact. The fighters you saw taken down were defeated because the pilots’ minds were invaded and they were forced to crash them into the ground.”

  Octaviak gulped when she was released and her hand came up reflexively to cover her throat. She was beyond shocked, and a bit scared, with her mental blocks going up as strong as they possibly could.

  “You could do…anything.”

  “Scary, huh?”

  “Why have you not been killed?”

  “Most people, even within Star Force, don’t know we can do this. We prefer to keep it that way, though we’re not going to hide our skills if they’re needed. It took me a long time to learn how to do this, and then even longer to get good at it. Your brain doesn’t have the necessary tissue to be able to do the same thing, and in that way your telepathy is different from mine. A few other ways too, but this is the big one. And yes, we could do all sorts of nasty things with it, but not all Humans have it. Only those trusted to do the right thing. All Archons acolyte level and above, and a scattering of other individuals who have proved themselves. The rest of the Humans have no telepathy whatsoever, but you will not be able to read them, for they do have an unconscious block, as I do.”

  “How does an unconscious block work?”

  “It prevents transmission feedback. When I enter your mind, my telepathic link is two way. I send manipulations to you through it, and I receive information back. The block doesn’t allow the information to come back, so I can telepathically transmit to other Humans but I can’t read their thoughts or delve into their memories.”

  “And you can’t take control of them?”

  “Not without touching them. That gets around the block, but it has to be flesh to flesh to make a physical connection. Clothing or armor prevents it. Does your ability increase with touch?”

  “Rumor has that it does, but I haven’t had much opportunity to try.”

  “It won’t work on me, because of the nature of my mental structure and yours, but we’re going to have to practice on other Protovic so we can measure the difference. I’m guessing that you can’t read minds directly through contact, but it may enhance it by channeling your energy tethers directly through the body to gain more signal strength.”

  “Your words are confusing to me.”

  “In time they will not be, but for now let’s walk and talk. I’ll show you around and you can ask questions.”

  “What are the other skills the other colors have?”

  “Right now 5 of the 8 are unlocked. The Oranges have enhanced strength and speed, though that isn’t obvious because others can catch up to them with time and training. All of the Oranges on this world have it unlocked, but other colonies outside of Star Force do not. We didn’t unlock it, but found them that way and brought them all back here.”

  “Did they attack you?”

  “No, they were living on a very primitive planet and were welcoming after they got past the shock of seeing new people. They had no knowledge of life beyond their planet. All you Pinks have telepathy, and so far we’ve only found one colony. We brought you all back here, so there’s nothing to unlock with you. The Reds, Purples, and Aquas we did genetically unlock. Prentha back there has sensory enhancements, which mean he can see better, hear better, and sometimes feel things behind him that he can’t see. The Reds have a mental upgrade that makes them smarter, while the Aquas can absorb energy and release it back as low levels of electricity. Not enough to kill, at this point, but try to tackle one that is charged and you’re going to get shocked enough that you can’t hold onto the
m.”

  “They absorb electricity…without damaging themselves?”

  “More light and heat, but they can pull directly from some very low power lines. Too much and they are damaged. Right now we’ve only got a few with the ability unlocked and we’re still learning what they can and can’t do.”

  “Do you know what the others will have, once you unlock them?”

  “We have an idea, but it’s better not to guess until we know for sure.”

  “Why do we have these abilities?”

  “A very good question that I do not have a full answer for, but we believe they were genetically engineered into you rather than being natural. Why and by whom we do not know. You are here to help us learn how to use them for our benefit. Others will track down what history they can.”

  “Do other races have similar things?”

  “We know of a few, but most do not.”

  “Are they afraid of you?”

  “I don’t really care. This is who we are, and they’d better get used to it.”

  “I mean no disrespect…”

  “But you don’t like losing control of your body.”

  “No, I do not.”

  “If I was in your position I would feel the same. Which is why I’m going to teach you how to resist it. It may not stop someone from doing it to you, but it will increase their difficulty, shorten their range, etc. The more powerful your telepathy becomes the greater you will be able to shield yourself…so long as you do not allow us to make physical contact. There is little defense to that other than having a stronger mind.”

  “And Humans’ are always stronger.”

  “Not always, but structurally we’re more advanced. Our greatest strength is our block, though it is something I cannot lower, otherwise I would give you access to my mind so you could see and learn.”

  “So you can’t share your thoughts with others?”

  “I can send them to you, what I choose, but I can’t give you access to look where you will.”

  “Do you have other abilities, besides your telepathy?”

  “Yes we do, and many of them we do not share with others. Sometimes it is better when your enemies do not know what you are capable of, and if we share that knowledge with friends it can work its way to them.”

  “Is there anything you can tell me?”

  “You’re not going to like it.”

  Octaviak cringed. “I’ll risk it,” she said, and before the words were even out of her mouth her chest felt constricted and her feet suddenly left the ground, with her losing control of her body for the second time today…though this time she could still move around, just she wasn’t going anywhere as she floated out of legs reach of the grass.

  “Telekinesis, which we call ‘Lachka.’ We can only lift a small pebble when we first gain it, but over time we can strengthen it to move larger objects. Did you see Brad or Kip use this on Yvartis?”

  “I saw a person floating. Please put me down.”

  “You’re uncomfortable losing control,” Pel said as he lowered her till her feet touched, then he released his grip on her torso. “That is something you will need to work on. Not with everyone, for you should want to remain in control, as I do, but for those you trust you need to be able to actually trust them and let them into your head and body. In time hopefully I can earn that trust, for we will need it in the more advanced training to come. If you are twitchy now that is understandable, but please try to stop subconsciously seeing me as a potential enemy over the days to come.”

  “Just you?”

  “Me first, then perhaps a few others. It doesn’t work if it’s forced, so it’ll take you some time to check me out. I just wish I could speed it up by giving you access to my mind. Your suspicion runs deep from the former company you kept.”

  “Being hunted doesn’t help in the trust department.”

  “No, it doesn’t. But you’re not hunted here, so try to relax that part of your mind as time goes on.”

  “Do or do not, there is no try.”

  Pel raised an eyebrow at her. “I see you’ve discovered Star Wars?”

  “A friend showed them to me, and I have watched them many times. The Jedi had your Lachka too. Can you see the future?”

  “Nope. Guessing like the rest of you,” he said as they came over a hilltop and a large lake came into view with people swimming in it. “How are you in the water?”

  “We didn’t have water like this on Yvartis.”

  “You’ve never tried?”

  “I don’t like not being able to breathe.”

  “It does take some getting used to, but you need to learn to swim just in case you fall into water at some time. In fact, there are ways to use your telepathy to help you navigate underwater when your eyes are no help. It’s on my list of things to teach you, but I guess swimming will have to come first.”

  “If it’s that important why wasn’t it part of the indoctrination?”

  “Probably because you had to go through that in isolation and swimming is too dangerous for you to learn on your own. Need someone standing by in case you start to drown…and no, that’s not going to happen with you. We’ll start you with a breath mask…after we get through several weeks of other training. It’ll be a minor thing, your telepathy is what we want to focus on.”

  “So you’re to be my Jedi Master then?”

  “Yes, my young padawan.”

  Octaviak smiled widely. “I think I’m going to like this.”

  7

  July 5, 3066

  Aphat System (Bsidd Region)

  Nym

  “Back again?” Brad asked as he met Vortison’s dropship in the hangar bay.

  “I’ve completed the work on the last three variants,” the medtech said as he walked down the ramp alone.

  “Oh?”

  “And you’re not going to like it.”

  Brad frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  “For starters,” Vortison said, stopping in front of him as they had the wide hangar deck to themselves, “the Yellows’ ability is poison injection.”

  “Poison?”

  The geneticist help up his palm and pointed just below the wrist. “A reservoir will grow beneath the skin here, unseen, and will be connected to a visible port here,” he said, tapping just below the center of his hand. “Retractable needle. Whatever they grab onto they can inject within a second.”

  “That’s not good,” Brad agreed. “What type of poison?”

  “A very potent kind that will kill most Human-sized organisms with a single drop. There’s a built-in immunity within their genome so they can’t kill each other with it…or themselves.”

  Brad shook his head firmly. “We’re not giving them that.”

  “Unless you want to wait another 50 years on a maybe, we have to with at least 1 person to get the Yellow activation key.”

  “Can you reserve the process afterwards?”

  “I’m still working on doing that with the Purples and I think we’ll be able to reverse their development soon, but it will require treatment in a medical station. There is no reverse process to access, so it’ll have to be a forceful rebuild.”

  “How risky is that?”

  “With a physical reversal…not very if I know what I’m doing. Taking the Reds back is something I’m not ready to tackle. Messing with the mind is infinitely harder.”

  “What about the other two?”

  “As we discussed earlier, the Whites have a significantly enhanced resistance to disease, infection, and an overall healing rate above standard, but the Blues have a hardening of the skin similar to their exoskeletal patches…save that it happens everywhere.”

  “They lose their soft tissue?”

  “It will transform into a much harder version, as well as losing its bioluminescence. The eyes will remain the same, but they’ll basically be a hard carapace that I doubt will have the type of agility you want.”

  “So scratch that one too. Is it safe to assume you
can reverse it as well for a volunteer?”

  “I should be able to, but this is far more tissue changes than any of the other upgrades.”

  “So we should hold off on that one for a while?”

  “And the Yellows. I’m here to upgrade the Whites and will stay until we get the Yellows and Blues squared away. At which point we can start tackling the big problem.”

  “Problem? What else did you find?”

  “Just a metaphor, but you’re right. I did discover a massive amount of genetic memory modules in the coding…and I have a feeling they might be overrides.”

  “Put the existing individual’s dormant or overwriting them?”

  “I don’t know, but the more I look into the coding I’m seeing that someone wanted to not just upgrade the Protovic, but create an entirely different race. They’ll still be bipedal, two arms and a head, but beyond that they’re going to be something different, and I think the memory modules will allow them to become this new race in mind and culture immediately. I would not recommend having anyone go through with this.”

  “A new race?”

  “Or an old one. I only have bits and pieces of coding worked out but they’ll be unlike anything the Protovic are now, and my bet will be they’ll be far more advanced. This might be pandora’s box we’re opening here.”

  “How close are you to blocking it?”

  “Blocking I can do now. Removal of the coding entirely is iffy. We’re getting closer to doing that and it’ll solve the problem entirely, but with so many other Protovic colonies out there the reunification is bound to happen at some point.”

  “Which is why we need to know what this new race is. Can you send the coding into a computer simulation?”

  Vortison shook his head. “That only works with genetics we’re familiar with, and is basically structured guessing. There are too many unknowns with this, not the least of which is the compressed nature of the coding. I can tell you there will be an unspooling that happens when it is activated, and we’re not going to fully understand what this is until we see it and I can get some active genetic samples. Again, I don’t recommend doing this, but it’s the only way we’re going to get the answers we need.”