Spacer Clans Adventure 3: Naero's Fury (6 page)

6

Rain came in off the ocean again for a few hours. Naero listened to its gentle patte
r and spray while she rested, and went off after lunch with the Change adepts.

She had been up all night. After what turned out to be a long nap in the afternoon, she felt more than ready for another pick-her-brain-clean session with the High Masters that evening.

Naero had some questions for them this time. It couldn’t remain a one-way street. More could be learned from an actual conversation or debate–not just an interrogation.

Every evening after sunset–somewhere between the ninth and tenth hour–the High Masters held their late evening dinner, by themselves, or with all or some of the adepts from all three orders. Whoever wanted to show up, showed up, including any guests that were on hand.

She was dying to know how Jan was doing. Naero thought about her friends and even Admirals Sleak and Klyne. Were they all still here, waiting to see her when she could?

Officially, she would not be given time to relax or go visit with anyone outside of the orders until the end of the first week, and the end of each week thereafter.

From what the other adepts told her, they all worked and practiced hard, six out of the seven days each week. Each day, Naero would train rigorously with one of the orders, and its High Master: Order, Change, Chaos–repeat. Two full cycles each week. Each seventh day was a free day, where the Adepts were off duty to do as they pleased.

Some adepts took it easy. Some went off on their own, wherever they wished, and others met in secret and kept training or shared knowledge between the orders.

Naero even got the very strong sense that there was some definite romance going on between several of the adepts–both within, and outside of the pairings, and among the Three Orders as well. How interesting.

The
High Mystic adepts were all consenting adults, of course–but the unspoken rule was that personal affairs and relationships were to be kept strictly private, and secondary–if not tertiary–to one’s training. They could never to be allowed to interfere with the missions of the Mystics and The High Masters of the Three Orders, in any way.

If the Masters were forced to step in and comment on or take a h
and in adept private matters, such an act would result in a severe loss of face for both parties.

All adepts were strongly advised about this by the orders as a whole. They were fully expected to maintain their private lives quietly on their own.

The High Masters took their meal together every evening around the same time, and usually argued and debated something vigorously long into the night, and the early bells of the morning.

The late supper itself was usually prepared and served in large quantities, most likely by an Intel chef or one from the attached Marines. Each night was a banquet style meal for anywhere from three to sixty persons. Anyone not attending dinner was expected to make that known to the mess hall staff,
in order for the proper planning to be made.

The fare was excellent and varied each day
, according to a menu approved in advance by the High Masters. There was usually plenty and to spare. Naero wasn’t that picky, and never went hungry. Adepts always had their own private stores of snacks and instant meals in their quarters, if they missed a meal or needed to snack on something.

Tonight they had a poultry, pasta, and veggie dish with a rich, creamy white sauce that was spiced perfectly and incredibly tasty. Dessert was some kind of tangy, orange berries and cream on a
delicious sponge cake. Naero was always pleased that she could have as much Jett as she could chug down. She never got tired of her fave.

Once she was finished eating, she watched and waited until the High Masters finished their desserts. Vane, in fact, had three huge helpings, the hog. She had never seen him eat before. He could be quite the glutton.

Naero went over to them all and did her best to direct the discussion for that evening from the very start.

“
Good evening, High Masters.

“
Maeris,” Vane sneered at her, with a scowl.

“
High Adept,” Tree said calmly, with a slight bow of his head.

“
Naero!” Jo exclaimed with excitement.

“
I want to speak with you at length about something that continues to trouble me, greatly. No one has yet to make mention of it.”

All three of the High Masters stopped and looked straight at her, as if expecting something important.

“I think you know what I’m going to bring up. If I can sense it, I know all of you can. What is this frightening Cosmic power source on Thanor-4? It seems to have a will of its own, and it has been calling to me ever since I arrived. I’ve even started to see it in my nightmares. What is it, and what does it want with me?”

High Master Vane started laughing. “Ah, yes. And so the end begins once again. Did I not tell you that she would be drawn to it, and it to her? We stand even more upon the brink of total and complete disaster than ever before–just like we did years ago, back on Janosha. And, I might add, with another member of the accursed Maeris family! How fitting.”

Master Tree spoke calmly. “High Master Vane, you always say too much when you should be silent, and not enough when you should tell all.”

Vane laughed again. “Bite me, you pompous windbag. You know very well where this is heading. We’ve seen it all play out before. Do we repeat our mistakes, yet again? That is the grossest folly and stupidity.”

“We know much more now than we did back then,” Tree said. “We have taken every possible precaution, and now we will be doubly vigilant. Our mistakes of the past shall not be repeated.”

“
Perhaps not in the same way,” Vane added. “But your assurances have failed before.”

“
No plan is perfect,” Master Jo said. “Nothing is ever certain except change, and we cannot always foresee or guide the direction of that change. If the universe wants its way, it shall have it, no matter what we do.”

“
We cannot speak of these things yet,” Master Tree said. “It is only her third day among us. There is still so much for her to learn, and so much for us to learn about her. Now there is the brother to worry about as well…he does indeed show definitive signs of sharing…the same condition particular to their direct bloodline. And there is the additional concern of the missing the brother–the insane one being used by our enemies.”

“
We should not withhold information from her,” Master Jo protested. “Informing her fully may help her understand the situation better, and give her a better chance to her defend herself.”

Tree shook his head slowly. “I disagree. Overwhelming her with too much information, at a
difficult time such as this might make her even more vulnerable to the artifact’s considerable power–which even we do not fully understand. We should not speak of it, and she should not even think about it. The more she does so, the more it will imprint itself stronger and stronger in her mind, until she cannot resist dwelling on it. Once she fixates on it, she will be lost.”

Vane continued to laugh. “You two both think that you can prevent what is clearly going to happen in the end. And I will be there, ready and waiting to act. To do what we should have done from the very beginning. But no. You two idiots think that you can find a way to use Maeris for your own purposes, like a toy, a tool, or a your own private weapon of some kind. Wait until she turns on all of us–all of us
, mind you–just as I have foretold. You think she will obey you? She will not even be able to hear your words. Then you will see that I was right all along, once it is far too late.”

“
Enough,” Master Tree said, putting an end to the debate for the moment. “High Adept Naero Maeris. You will tell us everything that you know about this situation in brief, and explain what thoughts and dreams have come to you concerning it. After this, you shall only report directly to us, whenever you have any thought, vision, or dream concerning this situation. You are not to dwell on it, or continue to think about it in any other way. In fact, I want you to do all that you can to
not
think about this situation, and to keep it from taking hold of your mind. If you begin to obsess over it or cannot stop thinking about it, you need to tell us that, also.”

Naero attempted to protest. “I agree more with Master Jo. Keeping me ignorant will not help me. Tell me what I’m up against. Why is this thing drawn to me, and me to it? Help me understand.”

“You are not ready,” Master Tree said. “And neither are we. You need to strengthen your body and mind, and balance out your abilities There is so much for you to learn, still. And for us to learn about you. You need to achieve all three wisdoms, but there is no time for little more than a crash course, in order to stabilize you as a Mystic adept and prevent you from losing control of yourself as your powers continue to increase.”

“
I do agree with Master Tree in this regard,” Master Jo said in support. “He is right, Naero. Once we have time, you can train fully with the Order Master on Taeha, and finally with me on Oorrii. But we must stabilize you first, or you will never survive long enough to have a chance to complete your full training. Your growing powers will overwhelm and crush you, long before then, I fear.”

“
Trust us,” Master Tree said. “Trust our wisdom and the process, at least for a month or two. That is not so much to ask. Trust in our training and give us all the chances we need. You need time to explore and strengthen your abilities and your control of them. We need some time to study you further, and learn better how to guide and help you along this difficult path. Once we are better informed, and you are more confident, then we can begin to tackle other issues.”

Master Vane still scoffed. “Do we even have one or two months? You fools really think any of this is going to wait that long? Each day she grows more and more powerful, closer and closer to
going out of control.”

Master Jo snapped at Vane suddenly. “We are her only chance, and we will all work diligently to provide her with the best chance that she will have to succeed and survive. And you will do your part as well, High Master.”

Master Vane raised both eyebrows. “Yes, indeed. Certainly I will waste my time further on an obvious lost cause–just to prove my point all the more to both of you fools, in the end.”

Naero gave the High Masters a full account of every thought, dream, and interaction she had had with the mysterious artifact thus far.

She appreciated all that they were trying to do for her. But whatever they said, she and Om both agreed that they desperately needed further information.

On her free day that weekend, she could go back up to her ship.

If Baeven was still around, she had a lot of questions for him. The High Masters let slip that they had faced a situation such as this once before–with another member of Clan Maeris–and possibly with another one of these strange artifacts. How many of them were there? Where did they come from? And somehow, it had all ended in some kind of disaster once before.

Everything pointed to Baeven, and perhaps one of the main reasons that he was banished, made an outcast, and sentenced to death in the first place.

Vane seemed to believe that Naero and the High Masters were going to somehow repeat that same mistake or series of mistakes–whatever they were.

More than ever now, Naero needed to know exactly what had happened in the past.

That night, she dreamed that the obelisk had finally stopped shifting its shape, and took on a completely new form.

Now the bizarre
artifact looked like a statue, made out of some kind of unbreakable material.

Now it looked exactly like Naero, herself.

7

The following morning was capped by a drenching rain and slight thunderstorms the rolled up from the south. At sparring practice the next day, Naero went to the arena, trying to expect anything–even a Chaos adept beat down.

Many of her traps were still in place. She could attempt to play the same cat-and-mouse game she had used with the Change adepts.

Yet once she arrived, she only saw three persons, and one of them was Gaviok. Naero raced up to her friend and hugged him.

“
How are you?” she asked him.

Gaviok grinned as only a mantid could. “Never better,” he said cheerfully.
He was his normal, cheery, dark blue color, but it lightened slightly when he came near to her. Gaviok had a great fondness for her, mostly because she was Baeven’s niece.

Naero scanned the area with her various senses and abilities. Her sense of warning was
n’t even flickering.

“
I half expected the Chaos adepts to jump all over me the second I arrived,” she said. “I thought for sure Master Vane would put them up to some deviltry involving me.”

Gaviok laughed. “Who says he did
n’t? Don’t you see, Naero? They’re shunning you. It’s a terrible affront, a direct insult to your honor, you, and your Clan.”

Naero chuckled and rest
ed her hands on her hips. “I’m so hurt I could cry. So, if I’m being shunned by the pak, what are you and these other two doing here?”

“
You know I don’t care what anyone thinks,” Gaviok said. “And Daiyana Fae and Arnall Blooding here are contraries, so they’re going to do just the opposite of whatever the rest of the group does. I find it both amusing, and rather refreshing.”

Contraries, huh? Naero had heard about such people among the Spacer Clans, but never among Mystics. How did that work?

She went up to them and offered her hand.

“
Hello, I’m Naero Amashin Maeris, from Clan Maeris. Glad to meet you.”

Both the male and the female smiled. Then they slipped around her to either side and turned their backs to her.

“Good bye, Maeris Naero adept,” the female said. “It is a great unpleasure to meet you. I am not Daiyana of Clan Fae. Isn’t this weather wonderful?”

Lighting shattered a tree up on the heights, and they were all getting soaked out in the open
.

“
Farewell, Maeris Naero adept,” the male added. “I take no happiness in our meeting. I am not Arnall of Clan Blooding. I have no intention whatsoever of sparring with you today, or pitting myself against you to learn any of your puny fighting secrets.”

He came at her immediately, punches and kicks flashing. Naero gave ground, fighting off his combinations with effort.

“Hold, hold!” Naero shouted.

Arnall merely redoubled his attacks. He just missed her with a mind blast that Naero dodged.

“Lay on…continue!” Naero shouted. Arnall immediately stopped sparring and went over to sit down by Daiyana.

Gaviok came up to Naero. “See what I mean? Those two are fun.”

“Yeah, fun and annoying. So, my friend. You’re an adept now, I see. In Chaos Wisdom, no less. How did your initiation go the first day?”

“
Brilliant,” Gaviok said with great pleasure. “They attacked me with amazing skills and techniques I had never seen before. Then I chased them all over the arena until I had throttled everyone of them into an unconscious state. It was great fun. It took them a full day to recover, and I was immensely disappointed when they didn’t want to give it all another go.”

Naero covered her mouth and struggled not to burst out laughing.
She could just picture that.

“
I do have one complaint,” he said. “The food here is sufficient, but the taste is not quite to my liking.”

Gaviok seemed to relish fish head
s, pickled bug guts, and other nasty stuff that would make most species hurl from just glancing at it. Of course normal food would leave him wanting.

“
Master Vane is very impressed with my innate Chaos abilities, Naero. He says I’m such a natural, that he can’t wait to train me in every way possible. He said it is a terrible shame that I do not have the high enough capacity to develop a psyonic third eye.”

Naero suddenly had a wild idea.

She hadn’t used her biomancy quickening ability in a long while. What did they have to lose?

Arnall and Daiyana ignored them and started sparring among themselves.

Naero summoned her own third eye, linked with the psyonic centers in her mind. Then she mindlinked with Gaviok, studied his own psyonic source points, and let him experience what she could do with her third eye, through his mind and his abilities.

After a few hours of practice together with their minds linked, Naero felt certain that she could awaken the same
psyonic ability in Gaviok’s mind. She explained the modification process to him, and the slight risks involved.

“
There may be some pain,” Naero said. “It might take you a while to adapt to it and fully make use of its abilities. Beyond that, I think the worst thing that would happen is nothing. Are you still game?”

“
Of course,” Gaviok said. “I heal even faster than a couple of Spacers I know.”

“
All right. Here goes. Whatever you do, don’t break the link until I do. I’m merely triggering the psyonic potential for the Third eye to form within you. You will have to develop it on your own after that, if it does awaken. It will then act as a new gateway for your psyonic powers.”

The connection
s failed the first four times she tried to make them.

On the fifth attempt, Gaviok’s third insectoid eye–a psyonic insectoid eye of Chaos energy–popped open wide.

“Ohh!” Gaviok exclaimed.

A scarlet beam drove into Naero without warning from Gaviok’s new eye and drilled her right into the rocks nearby, winding her.

“Naero! I’m sorry,” Gaviok exclaimed. He rushed forward and helped her up with one dexterous claw, covering his new eye with the other.

She caught her breath, and quickly stood behind him.
“Now, let’s mindlink again and work on a little control, shall we?”

“
Good idea. Thank you, N. This is amazing. Wait until I show Master Vane!”

“
Oh, let’s give it a day or so,” Naero suggested. “And it might be best if you don’t tell him how much I helped you develop you third eye. Just say I helped you bring it out. That would not be untrue.”

“
No, it would not.”

By now, Daiyana and Arnall were watching their every move intently.

Both of them summoned their own third eyes and came up to Naero and Gaviok.

Daiyana
spoke first. “Goodbye, enemies. We can completely control all the abilities of our third eyes. And we already know how to shoot that lame force beam out of ours, as well.”

“
So,” Arnall added, “there would be absolutely no reason for you to teach that useless technique to us, so that we could learn how to not use it. Both of us would be very ungrateful if you did so. Shall we finish?”

Naero laughed. They were a hoot.

“Whatever you do,” she told them. “Don’t let me mindlink with you two, or teach you that lame technique that both of you already completely understand. I would be extremely unhappy and unwilling to help you. Because I think we must become the worst of enemies. Are you ready to stop? I will end with Arnall last.”

Naero mindlinked with Arnall first.

In another hour, all four of them were having contests, blasting targets out of the sky with forcebeams from their third eyes. Naero also increased some of their other existing Cosmic abilities while she was at it.

After they finished, they all relaxed and shared some Jett.

“I hate this stuff,” Daiyana said with a smile.

“
No,” Arnall added. “It is terrible. I don’t want another.” Gaviok handed him one.

Daiyana
frowned. “I care a lot about what happened to Hashiko,” she said. “She was always nice to me. Her death was completely your fault, Naero.”

“
I agree,” Arnall said. “I think the other Chaos adepts were right for shunning you like they did today. Master Vane is always fair and nice, and has good reasons for hating you. He is such a great guy.”

“
I am certain the others will be very happy to experience the new technique you did not teach us today, Naero,” Daiyana added.

“
Yes,” Arnall said. “We will be sure to be gentle with it, and not surprise the living shit out of them at all.”

When it came time to break off, Gaviok and the contraries went back to their compound. The latter walked backwards, telling
her hello, and to have an awful day.

Naero went back to her nanocabin.

Just three more days. All she had to do was make it through three more days of training, and then she could get back to her ship, and try to get some answers.

In the afternoon, she actually trained with High Master Vane.
That was very strange, to say the least.

As soon as they were together, h
e started to instruct her on the basics of the Harmony, and how each of the Three Wisdoms balanced each other out and led to a fleeting period of desired stability.

“
It never lasts forever,” he explained. “It can’t. Nothing does. But there cannot simply be constant change and flux either. There must be periods of relative stability, or nothing can ever be accomplished. That is why the wise strive to achieve and maintain harmony–for the good of all.”

Naero paused. “I’m considering how strange it is to hear those words, coming from a Chaos Master.”

“Then you’re still an idiot, Maeris. Just because Chaos Masters accept things as they are and as they will be, it does not mean that they desire each moment to be in a constant state of turmoil and destructive change. That would serve no purpose at all, and is just as unrealistic as wishing and hoping that things would somehow never change, when it is clear that they always have, always do, and always will do so.”

He grunted in frustration.

“Do you actually think that we do not think of the future, and just dwell on the present? Even Chaos Masters desire time to pursue matters that they wish to pursue. Like others, they want time to have the ability to learn and enlighten, and comprehend all that they can in the time they have. And to pass that knowledge and wisdom on to others who can not only perceive its value, but actually pursue the
furtherance
and growth of that body of knowledge into the future. Were just not as vocal or romantic about doing so as the other orders are.”

“I know you still hope to have a chance to kill me someday,” Naero told him. “I just do
n’t understand why you are still committed to helping me.”

Vane hummed absently, puttering on a datapad. “I know you do
n’t, Maeris. Your capacities for reason have always been quite dim and limited. That’s just the way you are. I agree, helping you is indeed a waste of my time, but I must do so in order to honor the concept of fairness that is of such vital importance to the other two orders. It’s an even greater waste of time to argue that point, so there it is. I will do my duty to the letter, and not one jot less or more. And hope has nothing to do with me having to destroy you when the time comes. To me, it is an eventual fact.”

“
Forgive me if I fully intend to prove you wrong about me, Master Vane.”

“
Impossible, Maeris. And I have no interest whatsoever in any shade of the waste of time called forgiveness, either. Either you are responsible for something or you are not. And we all must take responsibility for our actions. I don’t blame you for anything, Maeris. Not even Hashiko’s death any longer, or whatever you did to Janosha. It was just a planet, after all. The universe is filled with them. What is past is past, and I’ve gotten over my own stupid personal problems with the entire mess.”

Vane paused and shook his finger at her. “
Yet you remain a ready and constant threat to all. Eventually, others will realize and accept that fact, as well. And I will be there to end that threat. You said yourself that you would not want to lose yourself and become a wanton thing of mindless destruction. You should take comfort in the fact that I fully intend to be there to stop you, when that need arises. And it will.”

Naero sighed and looked down.

How could she argue with all of that?

She hated it when even Vane started to make sense to her.