you will itto be, and you read the command words merely by willing them into alanguage you can read. Try it, sir. Take out a wand and focus onthe writing, and will it to be understandable.”
Well, that did not seem logical, willingwords to be readable, but it did fit everything else they saidabout the wands. So I pulled one out and attempted to do just that.It took a few minutes but suddenly the writing was clear and Icould easily read the command word. “Incredible,” I said with aslight gasp.
In response I heard a slight giggle out ofKellyn. “Sir, that was exactly my reaction.”
Excellent; not only had I learned how to readthe command words on the wands, I had also managed to crack the icea bit in this group. “Well then, something does not make any sense.If the wands are this easy to use, why did the young Magus I foughtin the corridor appear shocked when I used the wand on him?”
“Well, sir, you’re right. Something does notmake sense and it has bothered all of us,” was Jerran’s reply. Heseemed to catch himself, and the look on his face indicated that hehad not meant to say that out loud.
“Go on, Major,” I prompted.
“It’s just that … well, sir, don’t take thiswrong, but you should not exist,” was his reply. He paused togather his thoughts and I waited for him to continue. “Sir, as youno doubt know the Black Adders are a group of master- level psionicssent here to determine if there was any way to protect against orblock psionic powers, especially telepathic powers. What you maynot know is that we are not merely one group; we are all that thereis. That is to say, anyone who ever reached any degree ofsignificant psionic power was sent here. You see, the colonydoubles as quarantine to protect the Empire from us. Sure, thereare much lesser psionics out there, such as Larath on your ship, alow-level empath.They pose no real danger to the Empire, unlike us,apparently. The problem is, sir: given what you can do, you shouldhave been sent here a long time ago. Not only that, but yourthought shield is what we were sent here to discover, and failed todo.”
“What do you mean, ‘failed?’ You seem tosuccessfully hide from the Magi.”
“Not like you do, sir. You turn completelyinvisible to all sensors. We merely trick the sensors into thinkingwe are something else. In addition, your thought shield completelyblocks our telepaths’ ability to read you, something no one hasbeen able to do before, not even the Magi. You asked if we wouldaccept you as one of us, when in reality you should have been oneof us to begin with and imprisoned here long ago.”
Just when I thought I was getting somewhere,they had to toss all this in. The colony was a prison disguised asa psionic research center disguised as a bioresearch lab? No wonderthey seemed a bit reserved with me. Based on what they were saying,I should have been locked up with them, not be a ranking officer onthe flagship of the Imperial Fleet. “Well, I assure you that I knewnothing about this, but what you said does raise a question. If younever succeeded in creating a thought shield, how did you know thatI could do it and what I call it?” That question seemed to catchthem all off guard. It was like catching a child with his hand inthe cookie jar.
“I am sorry, sir,” started Gafar. “When wepulled you from the fight, I probed your mind to make sure you wereon our side. Of course at that time I could not read you becauseyou had your thought shield up, but later when you were just wakingup I was listening for your thoughts, and your first one was, ‘Ineed to get my thought shield back up’ and then you disappearedfrom my ability to read you.”
“Good work, Gafar,” I said. I did not likethe idea of being probed like that but I needed to keep the unityof the group. “I would have done exactly the same in yourposition.”
Suddenly they all froze in place. Iremembered what they had said about that back when we started outso I too froze, and made sure my thought shield was as effective asI could make it. Then I saw a thin wall of light coming down thecorridor at great speed. No one moved, so I too stayed put. As thelight passed over each of the Black Adders I briefly saw them turninto little pebbles. Then as the light passed over me I saw myselfcompletely disappear. The light passed through me as if I was notthere, not even a shadow. As soon as the light passed out of sightI turned to Gafar and asked, “Did they see us?”
Gafar looked a bit surprised at the question,but answered, “No, sir, not at all. But I did sense that they arefervently searching for you. Apparently you have them greatlyworried. I expect we will see the Greenskins increasing theirpatrols looking for you. Sir, if I may be so bold, how did you knowwhen to ask that question?”
“That is an odd question, Gafar. I merelywaited until the light from their scan passed out of view,” Iresponded.
“Light, sir? There was no visible light. Sir,are you saying you can actually see their scans?” asked Gafar.
“You cannot?” was my feeble reply.
“Sir, if you do not mind, can you tell usexactly what you saw?” asked Major Jerran.
“Sure. There was a very thin wall of lightthat came down the corridor and passed over us. As it passed overeach of you, you briefly turned into pebbles. When it reached me itpassed over me as if I was not there at all. It continued down thecorridor and out of sight. What did you see?”
“Nothing, sir. The telepaths can sense itcoming, but none of us can actually see it,” answered MajorJerran.
As we started walking again I asked, “If youcould not see it and only Gafar, Darnath and Luke could sense it,how did you know when to stop?”
“Sir, Gafar warned us telepathically. Hecannot warn you the same way because of your shield, and it is toodangerous for you to lower it at this time,” was Jerran’sreply.
So that explained why they were so quietunless I was talking to them. They communicated telepathically.“Okay, so how does this all relate back to the wand? And how come Iwas not sent here with you?” I asked.
“Well, sir, your second question we cannotanswer, but the first is simple. You see, only either amaster-level psionic or a Magus can use the wand. The ability tofocus one’s willpower is an extremely rare knack that one must beborn with. The Magi thought, as we did, that all the people in theEmpire that could pull off such a feat were already here. When youpulled out and used the wand, your attempt should have failed.”
“Perhaps that is why the Magi attacked herefirst,” I said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, it sounds like the Black Adders arethe greatest single threat to the Magi, and as such a surpriseattack on them in the first battle would be the most logical move,”was my answer. “The Magi must be wondering how many more BlackAdder cells are out there, since I apparently shattered their ideathat you were all that existed.”
Chapter Fourteen
We traveled for a while in silence as Ithought over all the new information I had. I had a lot morequestions to ask but wanted to sift through the data a bit first.Suddenly, I saw Darnath jogging back towards us, and Luke camejogging up from behind.
“Greenskin patrol, twenty strong, headingthis way,” he reported.
“Sir, we should hide. Right now the Magi haveno idea where you are. If we fight, then this hallway will beflooded with reinforcements,” suggested Major Jerran.
“I agree, but where?” I asked.
Then they all gathered up tight near a walland pulled me in. Next I saw Andreya waving her arms around in theair as if drawing something with both hands. Soon after, asemi-transparent rock wall appeared and completely surrounded us.It was not long after that I saw the Greenskins coming down thecorridor. I held my breath as they filed past at a fast march. Oncethey were out of sight, I saw Andreya relax a little and the walldisappeared.
“Amazing. I take it all they saw was a rockoutcropping?” I asked.
“Exactly, sir, and if they reached out totouch it, they would have felt it too. Their own minds make itreal,” answered Andreya.
That was probably the same thing the Magi hadbrought against us in orbit. It was not a new weapon at all; justone that the Empire had decided to keep secret and confine to thisplanet, a move which could end up being the worst tactical mistakeof this century.
“So then are the Magi also master-levelpsionics?” I asked as we resumed our walk.
“No, sir, we do not know what they are. Onthe surface some of our powers and theirs look similar, but inreality they are extremely different. For example, they can scanfor us, as you saw, but they do not have any other
