I brought some objects into play, raising them up in the air. I was still unsteady, but I had jumped massively in terms of my ability. Havok broke into my thoughts: “We can adapt our fighting style now. I should be able to drink more souls already.”
My mind put the brakes on, screeching to a halt. “You’re fucking with me, dude! Drink more souls?”
“I can see how that sounded a lot worse than I intended. I was trying to be cool, and admittedly I normally am, even if I do say so myself. Although I accept that I may have overstepped the mark a bit there. Let me rephrase: I can already see how we’ll be a much more effective fighting force. Our enemies will fall before us, which will benefit us both. Was that any better?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, man,” I slapped my thigh, laughing my ass off. “Seriously though, if anyone else heard you say that there’d be some worried people around. Keep the soul drinking on the down-low.”
“I will, Shaun. Now let’s see some more of your ARSE skills.”
“My arse skills?”
“Yes, ARSE! Your ability to Affect Real Shit Externally with your mind.”
“Havok, old pal. That acronym was both brilliant and shit. But I appreciate the effort, and we’ll continue to use it.”
“Shaun, I accept that my acronym was shit, only how do you know what an acronym is?”
“Beats me, Havok. If I was to take an educated guess, it quite possibly has something to do with the clearing of one's Cognition Room, thus gaining vastly improved recall speeds and memory capabilities. Unexpectedly, my vision takes into account that which I’ve seen and imposes it upon my projected images with what I assume is near to 75% accuracy.”
“Oh no, Shaun! You’re talking like you're clever. Please stop it. You’re ruining your charm.”
“Whatever you say, Havok. I think you're probably right. People have an expectation of me, and I wouldn’t want to disappoint them,” I laughed “But I see and understand so much more.”
“Good. Keep your burgeoning intellect well hidden. You're much more fun like this.”
Ember came around just then and I switched my focus back to her as she began to speak, “No luck. I don't know what the hell you did. Has it allowed you to do everything without going into your mind?”
“Well, I think so. I've not done much yet.”
“How are you going to get me this skill, Shaun? You're not getting ahead of me.”
“Ha! You’ve already tried once, and she wouldn't listen. This is going to be an interesting conversation,” Havok said.
“Fuck you, Havok.”
“If only.”
“What? That doesn’t even make any sense!”
“She’s looking at you, waiting for a response.”
I quickly moved on, “Ember, it's like I told you. When I did it, I just thought closing my eyes would be the opposite of what I wanted to achieve, so I thought about how it would feel to overlay my Interface Room with my real vision. I won't lie, it involved a little pain, but now I can kinda see everything around me. Focus on what I said, until you can feel like… I don’t know, like they’re actually trying to merge together. It hurts in the way transcending did. Only you just have to force through it.”
“There has to be another way. I’ll try it out again though.” She kept her eyes open, staring at the wall. I saw her wince in pain.
“Keep going, Ember. You can do it,” I encouraged.
I actually sensed the moment that she broke through; I don’t know whether it was a look on her face, or a change in the aura around her.
“Shit! This is freaky-deaky. I’m blind as a bat. I'm going to check in my Mindscape to make sure everything is as it should be.” I left her to it. Within about three minutes, she was back in her body. “Here it comes, Shauny baby. Eyesight level two, on its way,” she paused for a moment. “Oh, wow. This is weird. It feels right, though.”
“It’s pretty cool, huh?”
She didn't reply. She suddenly levitated over to the far wall of the room. It was a little ungainly, but it was fast. Within an instant, she was back next to me. “Shaun, you're a goddamn genius. I don’t know how you do it, but keep doing what you do!”
Before we could practice anymore, there was a knock on the door. I answered and found Elyek standing there. “Ah, finally! Are we to be freed from our prison?” I said, smiling at them.
“It was not a prison. You were allowed to go to the gymnasium, were you not?”
“You know prisoners are allowed to exercise, right Elyek? At least in Earth jails.”
“You were not held as prisoners, Captain.”
“I know, Elyek. I’m only messing around.”
“Oh, okay. Enough of that now. We should go to collect Calparr. It’s time to vet our potential new crew members. He should be in the gymnasium.”
We went for Calparr and found him doing pull-ups at an extraordinary rate. “Hey dude, time to go.” I said.
“One moment. I’ll grab my things,” he said, then returned a minute later looking fresh as a daisy.
As we walked along the corridors, I spoke with Elyek. “I really don’t know much of your people, other than what you’ve told me, so I hope you’re okay to conduct the interviews for the most part. You know what we’re looking for, and probably how to spot someone unsuitable from your race. At least, much better than we ever could.”
“Of course, Captain. It would be an honor to act in this capacity, and it also makes a lot of sense.”
Ember gave me a pat on the back. “Well done, Shaun. It's always a nice surprise when you use your brain for a second. Keep up the good work.”
I growled internally, feeling her tone was a tad patronizing, but quickly let it go, taking it
