Inheritance (Rise of the Empire Book 5) (20 page)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

May; Year 54 of the Empire – Veritas; hyperspace on route to Tarabat

Aileen stood in the practice room with Adrian.

“Are we not going to start the practice?” Aileen asked.

“No, today I want to show you something,” Adrian said seriously. Both of them were dressed in their Sentinel suits, and were standing in front of the pillars that Aileen often used for balance and telekinesis training.

“Show me what?” Aileen asked curiously.

“A new psionic,” he said.

“One that you haven’t shown me already?” Aileen asked excitedly. There were many psionics in the People’s database, but so far they had managed to use only a few, and those that were connected to those few.

“Yes. I haven’t mastered it yet—in fact, I’m not even close. But I need another mind, as I have hit a wall. I can use it, but not to the full extent of what was described in the sphere. And I think that I am doing something wrong. That is why I need you to see and think about it. I don’t want you to try it; it is too dangerous, and you don’t know how to use all the other psionics required to pull this one off.”

“So what is it?”

“Just watch. I’ll explain later.”

Adrian raised his left arm and pointed it at the pillar. She knew by his concentration that he was doing something. Then, a few seconds later, she started seeing red steam coming through his glove and stopping in front of his palm as if it was being held there by something. The red steam was strange, too; it wiped around in circles, and then Aileen felt heat coming off from it. Then the steam changed and turned into a red ball.

A moment later, it fired off from his hand and into the pillar, hitting it in the center and burning a good halfway through. Aileen just stared, amazed, at the hole in the pillar. She turned back to gaze at Adrian, just as he dropped down to his knee. She rushed over and grabbed him.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said slowly, and then got up with Aileen’s help. She guided him to the bench at the side of the room. Once seated, he retracted his helmet, and Aileen did the same. He turned to look at her with a pale face and a weak smile on his lips.

“Do you know what that was?” he asked.

Aileen looked back at the pillar and then at Adrian. “Plasma?”

Adrian gave her a smile. “Yes. Now how do you think I did that?”

“I don’t know, you somehow converted energy from the organ –  Nursha – into gas...But I don’t know how.”

Adrian shook his head. “No, think about what you saw.”

Aileen started playing the entire thing back in her head. Then something struck her. “The steam. It was gas that you turned into plasma. But it was red. Why red?”

“Why red indeed,” Adrian said.

Aileen thought about it a bit more, and then she frowned. “Blood?”

Adrian nodded grimly. “Blood. I vaporized a part of my blood and pushed it through the emitters and skin on my palm. I held the gas with energy in my palm, and I expended a big chunk of my energy in a burst move in order to flash heat it. Then I fired a kinetic blast at it while I kept it contained with telekinesis.”

Concerned, Aileen started looking him over. “Are you really alright? You are pale. How much did you use?”

“Not much,” Adrian said, his voice a bit stronger. “It is just the shock to the system, and I am already using my healing to recover. Soon I will be fine, although I will have drained almost all my energy,” he said jokingly.

“So what is the problem with the psionic? It seems to work perfectly. And what is its name?” Aileen asked.

“It doesn’t have a name, really. To the People it was simply one ability of the Sha. I think that we made a mistake in insisting on calling these abilities by our names for them. Half of them we haven’t even conceived of. I think that we should just start calling all abilities the Sha; most of them are intertwined anyway. I had to use three different abilities in order to do this,” Adrian said.

“Yes, I agree. It never clicked well with me, giving names to every ability.”

Adrian turned his palms sideways and back. “I should send a message to Clara and Meifeng; they will be the ones teaching others,” he said thoughtfully. “Now, back to the matter at hand. The problem is that according to the sphere, the People could fire off a lot more of these in succession, and I can’t figure out how they did that. At first I thought that they could recover their blood at an incredible rate, but that is impossible. They must’ve found a way to convert something else into gas or plasma, or I might be missing something. Maybe I need some more abilities that I haven’t discovered yet.”

“Hm...” Aileen considered everything that she knew about making plasma. “Why don’t you try using air around you?”

Adrian shook his head. “I can’t grab hold of it. Somehow I can contain my own blood in gaseous form, but air? No way. I need it compressed, and I can’t pull or push on it. And even if I could, it would take me more energy to turn it into plasma. I can heat my own blood much easier than I can the air around me.”

“I don’t know,” Aileen said, now intrigued. “Isn’t there anything else in the data from the sphere?”

“No. They talk about what the abilities are and how they can be used once you already have them, not about how to
make
them,” Adrian said, frustrated.

“What were they using it for? And where did they get it?” Aileen asked. The People were known to have copied the abilities of other races.

“From a race of beings that evolved it as a defense mechanism against much larger predators. They weren’t intelligent, and I got the idea to use my blood from them, as that was what they did. But our ancestors obviously added things so that that wasn’t necessary. Otherwise I have no idea how they could do it like what I saw in the sphere. It obviously still worked, but they must’ve added a system where they didn’t need to use their blood. I just can’t figure out what it is,” Adrian said.

“Well, nothing is coming to me right now, but I promise to think about it. I can’t wait to be able to do that,” she said as her eyes wandered back to the pillar.

“But not for a while yet,” Adrian said as he stood up. “Come, I have a bit more energy left. Let’s see if you can land a punch when I have a handicap.”

***

Aileen twisted in mid-air and swiped with her leg towards Adrian’s head. He moved a step back, letting her foot pass in front of his head, and then he stepped close as she landed. The moment her leg touched the ground, she turned, throwing a wide punch. Adrian moved to the side and threw a kinetic blast at her shoulder, deflecting her punch. Then he reached for her other hand, turned, and threw her over his head and to the ground.

She landed hard, but the armor took the brunt of it; she barely felt it. She threw a kinetic blast from the floor directly into Adrian’s head, which made him stagger back. Her Sha was nowhere near strong enough to do the things he was able to, though, so instead of him flying away as she would’ve, he took a single step back. Aileen rose to her feet in an instant and started attacking him with quick, short jabs, all of which he blocked. Then she saw him try to goad her into a trap, and remembering his training, she plunged into the trap, allowing him to counterattack.

She took a punch to the chest, but as his fist connected, she made it stick there by expending the rest of her energy supplies. Then she threw a counterattack over his now defenseless side. Her punch flew and connected with his head.

For a moment, both of them stood there frozen, and then he stepped back. His helmet retracted, and she saw him looking at her with pride. And that made her feel wonderful. She retracted her own helmet and grinned at him.

“That was very good, Aileen. So you did listen to me,” Adrian said warmly.

“I did, and thank you.”

“It won’t happen again, naturally. But good job,” he said jokingly.

Aileen narrowed her eyes and went to attack, but he moved away.

“You want to fight some more?” he asked.

“I managed to hit you, but it still means nothing...” Aileen said sadly.

Adrian tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“I am nowhere near as strong as you are. That punch wouldn’t have even slowed you down,” she explained.

Adrian studied her. “That is not true.”

Aileen gave him a doubtful look. “Of course it is true, you must have noticed.”

“You only think that you are weaker. And that comes from the simple fact that you are holding yourself back. You don’t know how to use your body, how to coordinate your muscles and movements in order to get the best results,” he said, and then sighed. “I think that I have neglected teaching you some of those things. I’m going to need to find a way to teach you how to control your own body, how to be consciously aware of everything your body does. But the biggest reason why you are weaker is because you think that you have limits, and that is what is holding you back. Limits are an illusion; the human body is capable of so much more. You need to let go of your preconceptions and allow yourself to push past that boundary.”

Aileen’s face turned skeptical. “I would love to learn all that, but I doubt that I will ever reach the level you’re at.”

“You will, in time. Now get ready, we are not yet finished.” He gave her barely a second before he threw himself at her.

Chapter Thirty

May – Sanctuary

“The Trivaxians have been progressing well,” Tomas heard Nadia say, and he abandoned his place at the window, turned, and walked back to his desk.

“How are their colonies doing?” he asked. The Trivaxians had expanded their territory greatly in a short amount of time. Which wasn’t surprising, really; they had the population, and with the help from the Empire, they had the technology.

“Well, they have been setting up mining operations in systems rimward from Trivax, and are already in talks with Clan Dai Ven for trading agreements. As well as with Warpath in order to provide a steady workforce in the Sol sector. And they have taken a three life-bearing planets for themselves. They have a small number of people there, and soon they will start expanding and sending more people,” Nadia answered.

“Good.” Tomas knew that adding the Trivaxians into the Empire would boost their colonization efforts and give them an enormous workforce. There were far more Trivaxians than there were humans or Nel—at least the Nel that were a part of the Empire.

“And the people they sent to the Fleet and Army Academies are adjusting well, as is the faculty. In a couple of years, we will have Trivaxians fighting alongside our current troops,” Nadia added.

“How are things going in their home system?”

“The fabricators we provided them have sped up their plans substantially. In a year or two, they will have facilities to match Sanctuary, only with a greater workforce,” Nadia answered.

“And I am afraid that we will need all that workforce. I’ve received a message from Adrian,” Tomas said seriously. “He has encountered another race relatively close to Sol. They appear to be a part of a larger group, and they also have advanced tech. At least on the same level that we have now with what we got from the sphere.”

“Hostile?” Nadia asked.

“No. But we still haven’t found the Ra’a’zani. And the galaxy is filled with intelligent races; not all of them will be peaceful. We need to be able to defend our people.” He paused, then turned to look Nadia. “I want to increase our colonization programs, provide incentives to the Clans to expand aggressively in all directions.”

“I doubt that you won’t be able to convince them,” Nadia said with a smirk. “They will jump at an opportunity, especially if you give them incentives.”

“I also want to bring the Guxcacul and Nel into the Empire, as fast as possible,” Tomas said.

“I thought that you wanted to wait until they asked.”

“I did,” Tomas said hesitantly, “but us meeting this new race that has existed in space for thousands of years before we even realized what stars were…it makes me nervous. We need to be strong. The only reason why we are strong is because of the technology we’ve gained from the sphere. And if I go to the Guxcacul and Nel and convince them to join us on our terms, we get more people and boost every area of our advancement.”

“It is your decision, Tomas,” Nadia said solemnly.

***

Seo-yun entered the room where Axull Darr’s sphere was held. Only a fraction of the data had been copied and transferred to other systems. There was too much for them to transfer it all, and more than 99 percent they couldn’t even understand. There was billions of years’ worth of data.

“Hello, Axull Darr,” Seo-yun greeted the copy of Axull Darr’s mind, the hologram floating above the sphere.

“Greetings, Seo-yun,” he responded.

“I came down here to show you something,” she said, and sent a file from her imp to the holo in the room. A report came to life in front of her and Axull Darr. “What do you think?” she asked.

“It looks good. The meld of human or Nel DNA and the Sha upgrades is going well. It will add a few days to the incubation times, but the children will be healthy, and they will have all the enhancements I intended for you, along with what you gained through your own evolution,” Axull Darr said.

“That’s good to hear. We were pretty sure that everything was good, but I wanted to check,” Seo-yun said. The first group of embryos in the vats in the progeny center had been given the treatment to unlock psionics, and the body upgrades that allowed for their safe use. They wouldn’t need to go through augmentation in order to use their abilities.

“You should still monitor the process closely. Even at the height of the People’s power, these things were delicate,” Axull Darr said.

“Of course,” Seo-yun said. She hesitated. “There was one more thing I wanted to ask.”

“Ask.”

“The People had been adding psionics to their own genome from other beings, yes?”

“That is correct.”

“I couldn’t find any information on that topic in the data from the sphere available to us,” Seo-yun said.

Axull Darr didn’t respond immediately; it seemed like he was thinking. But Seo-yun knew that he didn’t really need the time. “The data concerning alteration of lifeforms has been restricted,” Axull Darr said.

“Restricted why? Weren’t we supposed to gain all the knowledge that the People possessed?”

Again, he paused. “There are things that you are not yet ready for. Things that not even we were ready for.”

“You are referring to whatever it was that the last of your people created? The thing that made the original Axull Darr make us?”

“Yes.”

“But that occurred millions of years ago. Whatever they made is probably long dead. And we have you. You can warn us, keep us from making the same mistakes,” Seo-yun said.

“You are wrong. You don’t understand. And you are not yet ready to understand. The thing that they created is still alive; I have seen proof of it. The threat is still out there.”

“And what is that threat? Why won’t you tell us?” she asked.

“Because you are not ready, and you can do nothing as you are now. In time, when you have grown, I will tell you. But now you need to focus on other things,” Axull Darr said, and Seo-yun could see that she wouldn’t be able to get anything from the ancient intelligence before he was ready to say it.

“Fine.” She sighed in defeat. “Let’s talk about...”