A Dark, Distorted Mirror. Volume 5 : Among the Stars, like Giants. Part 1 : Learning How to Live

Fear wasn't something he was meant to know. Not him, one of the special, one of the unique, one of the few. Fear was a lesser thing, for lesser beings. For mundane beings.

But as he ran frantically, his breath burning in his mouth, his heart pounding as if to break free from his chest, his blood rushing, Chen Hikaru knew fear. The thought uppermost in his mind was that this was not meant to be happening. He could not be afraid. He was a telepath, a personal agent of the Psi Corps itself.

Telepaths were not meant to be afraid. Not ever.

But he was, and he doubted anyone could blame him. The things chasing him, they were not human, they were not natural. They looked human, they talked like humans and acted like humans, but they weren't, and only one type of person could tell that they weren't human.

The special people. Telepaths, just like him.

This was supposed to be a routine mission. A simple reconnaissance. He had been here for three years, just keeping an eye on things for the Corps, or what was left of it. There was not much to Mokafa Station, at least not much to the public eye. A Brakiri trading station set up across a couple of moderately important trade routes. A layover point for traders and travellers into a few of the less explored regions towards the Rim.

But what the Corps knew but few others did, was that Mokafa held a secret lab making Dust, run by one of the more prominent Brakiri crime syndicates. Such a lab needed watching, and that was what Chen had been assigned to do. Just watch. He had been warned it might be a long time before he heard back from his superiors, and so he had not been unduly worried about the long period of silence. The rumours about the loss of Sanctuary and Mr. Bester going into hiding had troubled him, and he had even heard a whispered report that Laton had been taken and Bester killed, but he had not believed it.

It was only when the strange humans arrived that he realised something very wrong was happening.

They looked no different from any other travellers. There were four of them, a businessman of some kind, a secretary, a local guide and a bodyguard. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary. At least, to any mundane person. Chen had sensed something strange from the first moment he had seen them and a subtle probe of the businessman had confirmed his suspicions.

There was nothing there. No thoughts, no memories, nothing but a brilliantly shining light, a light that burned and blazed and raged at him. He had stumbled back before the unexpected pain, and all four of them had turned to look at him. And all four of them had smiled.

That was when he had started to run.

They had followed him, moving effortlessly. He could hear them communicating with each other, not by words, but by the thoughts he had been unable to sense. He could also hear them talking to him, sinuous whispers, soft echoes of childhood nightmares. Come to usss.... Be with usss.... We will show you the light. We will show you beauty and power and an entire universe of majesty and terror.

He wanted to scream, but he did not have the breath. He wanted to fall and collapse crying, but then they would catch him. Somehow he knew that they would catch him anyway.

Something twisted beneath his leg and he fell, his knee striking the floor hard. He stumbled forward and tried to scramble to his feet, but all he did was roll forward a little and hit his knee again.

Then they were there, just materialising behind him.

Let us show you the light, one of them whispered.

'Who are you?' Chen said, tears in his eyes. He was one of the special, one of the unique. He shouldn't have to feel like this.

Fear was for lesser beings.

We are the Hand of the Light, the first one said. He could no longer tell them apart. Everything seemed to be melting, clothes, features, build, everything. They were becoming mannequins, twisted approximations of what a human being should look like, made by someone who had never seen one.

Chen tried to lash out with a telepathic attack, but there was nothing to attack. There was simply nothing there. No mind. Nothing.

Come with us. We will show you the light.

'What are you?' he asked again. 'What.... what are you?'

We are the Hand of the Light.

'You mean, you are worthless abominations,' said a new voice, one harsh and strong, one that did not fear anything. Chen reached out with his mind to welcome the newcomer, but he recoiled. A mundane. How could a mundane be so calm when he was so terrified?

'Die!' snapped one of the creatures. There was a blur of motion and the thoughts of many telepaths joined in one. The sound as a PPG was fired, and one of the creatures fell. Another one stumbled back, clutching at its head. Chen could see light pouring from its distorted eyes and mouth. Something terrible and dark was seeping into the creature's head.

He shifted his gaze, only just daring to move, and he saw a tall man, dressed in innocuous grey, holding a PPG. There was a long scar down the side of his face. This was the mundane.

There were also several telepaths, led by an elegant, hard-faced blonde woman. They were joined, and holding off one of the creatures. The mundane shot another, moving with almost blinding speed.

Chen breathed out slowly and lent his own mind to the telepaths. Joining was a simple exercise, taught to every child. He had been warned in training that some joinings could remove control from him entirely, but he had not expected anything like this.

His mind was swept up in a current of energy that immediately pulled him free from any moorings he might have tried to form. It was a flowing river of darkness, that felt foul and smelled foul and was foul. He gagged at its touch and at its presence, but he could not escape. All he could do was try to stay sane and force the flow in the direction the others wanted — into the ball of light inside the last remaining creature.

It moved forward, unbelievably fast. The mundane fired again, but it managed to grab the throat of one of the telepaths. Looking with his eyes rather than his mind, Chen saw the light flow into her body. She gagged and stiffened, choking. He watched helplessly as the thoughts fled from her mind, the blood left her body, and she died, the body decaying practically before his eyes.

The creature turned to him next, and he trembled. He wanted to scream, but he could not even muster that much independence.

It stiffened and clutched at its throat, looking for all the world as if it were choking. More and more of the darkness poured into it, and finally it fell.

As soon as it hit the floor the joining ended and Chen was freed. He rolled over onto his side and shook, his stomach heaving. He gagged, and vomited helplessly until his stomach was empty.

He did not know how long he lay there, shaking, lying in his own vomit. Patches of conversation reached his ears, but he dared not even try to hear with his mind.

'No! We need one of them alive.'

'They won't tell us anything. The last ones certainly haven't.' That was the man, the mundane with the scar. Chen felt he should know him, but he just could not think clearly enough.

'Then maybe this one will. We certainly won't find out anything if we kill him.' That was a woman's voice, but he did not know who she was.

'Another one dead, though. Was this worth it? Look at him, throwing up like a student celebrating his birthday.' Chen felt his contempt and there was a moment's anger within him. Who was this mundane to criticise him? Him! He was a telepath, one of the special few, not some mundane, ten-a-penny mouse.

'At least she died free, not in one of their machines. We're doing something here. Each step we take is a step closer to ending all this.'

'If you say so,' the mundane grunted. 'I'll take your word for it.'

Chen rolled over and looked up at them. The woman was shorter than the man, and despite signs of strength and conviction in her face, he looked so much stronger than her. Of course she was a telepath and he was a mundane, but it was odd to see him taking orders from her like that.

'You shouldn't have tried to do that,' the woman said, noticing Chen's efforts to rise. 'It's more than a little disorienting the first time. And the second, come to that. It'll get easier though, once you've communed with the artefact.'

'Artefact?'

'You'll see. We'd better get out of here, quickly. We can explain later.'