assignments. But hewas completely right. It was just a matter of time before I too gotsick like my father.
“Vydor, before you leave pay Dr. Rannor avisit. No, I am not worried about your health, but about his. Yousee, he is the reason you are here.”
To say that remark surprised me would be anunderstatement. I knew that High Command had sent orders ahead tosecure me this position, but it never occurred to me that theship’s doctor would even know my name, never mind be the reason formy acceptance.
“As you know, High Command sends outrecommendations for crew replacements whenever positions open up inthe fleet. What you may not yet have learned is that most of thetime, most captains ignore them and choose whoever they think best.High Command makes its decisions based on records, while captainsmake their decisions based on their personal knowledge of theofficers. When your recommendation came down the line I intended toreject it, but Dr. Rannor piped up in your defense.
“He was very convincing, singing your praisesand telling me that there was no one better in all the Empire forthis position. I was amazed by this, as he has never done anythinglike that before or since. Based solely on his recommendation, Iaccepted your assignment to my staff. I thought that you wouldn’tlast more than a few days and I could appease him and then be ridof you. But to my surprise, you turned out to be all that he saidyou were. You lack only experience, something you’re about to get abig dose of.
“I am worried that if something should happento you on this mission, he will take it hard and blame himself. Soplease stop by his office as soon as you can and see what you cando about that.”
With that, the captain left the room.
Chapter Seven
I just sat there for a while, I do not knowhow long. This new information from the captain must relate in someway to the puzzle of the Magi. In my mind I could see many threadsall tangled together. There had to be a way to untangle them andweave them into a tapestry that would explain everything. I wassure it was just a matter of time before I loosened enough threadsto see the outline of the pattern, and could start to weave themproperly.
When I got up and left the room, the honorguard was still dutifully at their post. Since I had called themeeting, they could not leave until I dismissed them. Oncedismissed, they secured the room and walked off in perfectlockstep. Their dedication to perfection was amazing. With all thatwas going on, it was heartening to see them so calmly going abouttheir duties. Most of the ship was plagued by the fear weapon, yetthese two were seemingly unaffected by it. I set this thread asideto be considered later. There was too much I needed to do now toget ready for my mission.
I headed to the common mess hall wherecrewmen of all ranks mingled off-duty over food and refreshments. Ifound a dark table in the corner and covered it with my work todiscourage anyone from approaching me. The rule changes did nottake long. I had already considered some adjustments, so it wasmore a matter of drawing up the official documents and placing theorders. Before I left I would have to schedule a department-widemeeting to announce these changes.
Instead of moving on to review my officers’records, I found myself once more focused on the tapestry of thepuzzle. It seemed to call me in; I could not let it go. It hadtaken a while to get to a point where I could start working withthe threads of information, but now that I had something to workwith, my confidence of success was much greater.
I sat there staring blankly at piles ofrecords, working in what my father used to call “puzzle-solvingmode,” hyper-focused directly on the puzzle at hand almost to theexclusion of everything else. I have been accused of not evenbreathing when I am working this hard. I had not gotten very farbefore Larath came to the table.
“Hello, Vydor, mind if I join you?” he askedas he sat down. Clearly he was not really looking for permission.“I see you are lost in thought, no doubt about the upcoming missionand the Magi.”
“You know, Larath, sometimes you have amazinginsight into people and seem to read minds — and other times youare the master of stating the blindingly obvious,” I responded witha big grin.
“They are one and the same. It often justtakes a change in perspective to see what others are blind to.”
“Perhaps that is so, but you did not comehere to trade quips. I perceive you have something on your mind?” Iwas bluffing. I could never read him, but it was odd for him toappear at my table.
He grinned and said, “Now who is stating theobvious? You are right, of course. Vydor, I know we have not servedtogether for long as yet, but hopefully by now you have learned totrust me as a friend.”
He paused here; he was leading up tosomething. Because of the nature of my position and rank on thisship I was required to see him regularly for psychiatricevaluation, and through those visits I had learned a bit about hisstyle. He was a master at getting people to talk about theirdeepest secrets. I had often wondered if he would be willing totrain my officers, as his methods would be a major help ininterrogations.
“Officially, I am here to make a finalevaluation before we are committed to this mission. Unofficially, Iam here to offer you a way out. I heard your speech in the meeting,and I know that when you said it you fully believed it, but youwere under the pressure of the meeting and the desire to proveyourself to us. In such situations, people may later regret takingso strong a stand and wish they had a way out. As your friend, I amhere to offer you one.
“You see, if I declare you unfit for thismission, then the mission is off, and the captain shoulders noblame, as I would be overruling him. Your name would also be clear,since you can lodge a formal complaint and appeal my ruling. Thisof course would take many weeks to process, and by that time wewould have been forced to wipe out the Magi, ending the need foryou to fly this mission. All you have to do is let me know that youwant out, and I will take care of it. There will be no record ofyour request, just my assessment saying that you were notpsychologically ready for such a mission. Nice and neat, and no onehas to take a fall.” He stopped here and waited for my reply.
“If you know me as well as you claim, youknow my answer to that,” was my response. I was being very carefulnot to give him anything he could use to remove me from thismission. I needed to go or I might never solve this puzzle.
“You are right, I do. Originally you wereserving out of faithful loyalty and whatever mission was tossedyour way you would blindly accept. But that has changed. Now youare so tied up in solving this mystery that you cannot see anythingelse. To you, this has gone beyond a mere act of loyalty or anattempt to prove yourself. Instead, it’s a challenging puzzle thatcries out for an answer. I doubt short of tossing you in the brig Icould stop you from going at this point.”
Amazingly, his insight into me was betterthan my own. He was right, although I was not sure when this changehad taken place. I was no longer afraid of the mission, and in astrange way actually looked forward to it. “Okay, Larath, since Iam bound on a suicide mission your secret will be safe with me. Howdo you do it? What is the secret to your insight?”
That actually seemed to catch him a bit offhis guard; I had finally got one up on him. I wanted to move theconversation away from my evaluation, to ensure I said nothing togive him reason to think he should cancel my mission. It onlylasted an instant, but it was a small victory for me.
“Have you not heard the rumors? I am amind-reading amphibian from the Outer Colonies,” he replied with abig grin, masterfully not answering the question at the same timeas seeming to answer it.
“No, I have not heard that one. Are you atelepath? Look, Larath, I am about to face an enemy who may haveparanormal powers. If you have any information on these powers, Ireally need to know.”
He said nothing for a minute or two. I couldsee he was deciding how to answer, but nothing could have preparedme for his reply.
“No, I am not. I am an empath, as are most ofthe top counselors in the fleet. This means I can read yourfeelings which, allied to my training and experience, is almost asgood as being a telepath.”
I just sat in silence. Up to this mission, Ihad thought all this psychic stuff was silly children’s fantasy andnot worth my time studying. I realized that might turn out to bethe biggest mistake of my career.
“The Empire has been actively seeking andtraining anyone they can find with empathic powers and, yes, thereare some telepaths. All anyone in the Empire can do is read minds,until now at least. The Magi, or more likely
