Garin and the Empire - 4. Chapter 4 Journey into Psionics

Garin awoke in the middle of the night the glow panels were very dim. The first thing he noticed was that a soft blanket covered him, reminding him oddly of the soft zaphir fur blanket of his childhood. He also saw a dark shape sitting beside him. He jerked and was greeted with searing pain in his left shoulder. He groaned and the dark shape beside him laid a gentle hand on his painful shoulder.

“It’s alright Garin, I’ll get you something for the pain.” Mallory said.

Garin looked around and realized he was in his cell. He could hear the disrupter field on the door and could just make out the figure of the usual guard. He watched as Mallory brought him a cup of water and a tablet. He placed the tablet on Garin’s tongue and tipped the cup of water up for him to drink.

“Why are you here and what’s wrong with my shoulder?” Garin asked groggily.

“I’ll explain in the morning, rest now.” Mallory said and rested his hand on Garin’s shoulder. Garin laid his cheek against the hand without thinking and nodded. The pain pill drew him down into a dreamless sleep. Mallory looked down at the handsome even features and the short red hair; the red stubble of his beard scratched Mallory’s hand. Something inside him awakened, a desire he thought was fastened up with a vow made in the Mother House chapel years ago.

Mallory sat through the remainder of the night with the sleeping man, in case he awakened again, contemplating the plan, and meditating on his vows. Towards morning he dozed in the chair.

Garin opened his eyes and realized the glow panels signified it was standard day. He slowly sat up, gingerly cradling his left arm and shoulder. The cell was empty but the blanket remained. “I thought it was a dream.” He thought. He heard the panel slide open and saw the tray appear. He made his way over and with his good arm carried the tray back to his bunk and ate. The disrupter field disengaged and Mallory appeared.

“How’s your shoulder?” Mallory asked.

“Well enough.” Garin said, “What did you do to it?”

“We implanted a device that will help you harness your Psi ability,” he said.

“I don’t’ understand, what device?” Garin said with anger rising, “Haven’t you done enough experiments?”

Mallory took the instrument that Dr Crane had given him and touched it to Garin’s shoulder. Mallory watched as Garin’s eyes widened and then his expression became blank.

Garin felt the cool metal of the device then he heard a distinct click. Suddenly he heard things in his head, voices and feelings and music. A cacophony of sounds and feelings flooded his mind. In the midst Mallory burned through the din, pale and blond his blue eyes staring into Garin’s and he suddenly knew that Mallory felt attraction every time he looked at Garin. The sounds swelled until Garin thought his mind would explode.

“Garin, Garin?” Mallory was shaking him.

“What?” Garin said very loudly

“What do you feel?” Mallory said.

“Turn it off, please turn it off. It’s too much!” Garin screamed.

Mallory turned at the sound of the disrupter field being disengaged. “It can’t be turned off, Talurian.” Pei said as she entered the cell.

Garin had his hands over his ears, “Please turn it off.” He pleaded.

Mallory looked at his superior, “It can’t be switched off?”

Pei touched the redhead’s forehead with one finger and her expression went blank.

Garin felt the presence and realized the Lady in the fine robes was standing in his mind’s eye and the maelstrom of noise quieted. “What have you done to me?” He asked.

“You will do what we want, one called Garin, and you will live. If you refuse or you fail, you will die.” Pei said, “We’ve implanted an amplifier in your chest, the same technology that you have experienced before. With it you can hear others thoughts and feelings, know truths that they themselves may not acknowledge, and plant seeds in their minds that influence their thoughts and emotions. It also allows us to communicate with you and know where you are at all times.” He felt her laughter, “You will do what I want, if you want to remain sane, only another Psi can teach you the discipline needed to control and harness the power of the amplifier.” Garin felt her withdraw and heard her speaking to Mallory through the crescendo of noise.

“The ship is prepared, you leave within the hour. This one will go into Cryo while you’re on the journey. You’ll need the solitude and resonance of the novitiate for the training.” Pei said as she turned to leave the cell.

“What training, what the hell are you planning?” Garin said angrily.

Pei turned and held up her blue orb. She gazed into the depths and her blank expression told of her connection. Garin felt the pain between his eyes it increased until he was blind with it.

“You will do as we command, or pain and punishment will be your reward. Know that I can see into you at any time or place.” She said in his mind. Then the connection broke and she left the cell.

Garin was escorted by guards through a maze of hallways and into a turbo lift; the ride lasted for several minutes. Everywhere they went the cacophony was present in his head. If he focused he could hear the thoughts of the guards and thoughts from others far away. He guessed they had been far underground. When the lift opened he was standing on a launch pad far above the ocean. It appeared that the building was completely surrounded. He was ushered into the spherical space craft of standard Waldian configuration and was taken to a bay of Cryo tubes.

“I’m sorry Garin, but the amplifier will only frustrate you without the training and a space voyage is no place to try.” Mallory said and laid his hand on Garin’s arm.

“I feel your attraction, monk. You’re under vows of celibacy.” Garin mocked.

Mallory’s hand dropped like a stone and he motioned the guards to help Garin into the tube. The last thing Garin felt was Mallory’s embarrassment and hurt as the cryo gas fogged the inside of the clear tube.

Mallory sat in his Spartan quarters and let the discipline clear his mind. Garin filled his every thought, and that he knew of Mallory’s attraction to him made him blush with embarrassment. Their discipline trained the Psi initiates to jettison personal pride and shame, but in Garin’s presence he struggled. The tone signally launch sequence interrupted his thoughts and he tightened his crash harness. The voyage of 6 standard days would give him time to return to the stringent code that governed the Psi.

You entered at 14 if you were a boy and 12 for girls. The Psi ability showed up in the government run, school testing. Mallory’s childhood had been happy and perfectly average. He’d gone to school one day and his class was confronted with three soberly dressed Psi Initiates. The Boys, including Mallory, were led away to a small room. Each boy in turn was brought into the room and placed his hands on the amplifier. Of Mallory’s class of seventeen boys he and another were found to be positive. Only Mallory had been deemed positive enough. The Initiates had followed him home and had talked with his parents alone. They had left and his parents had told him he would be collected the next morning by the men and taken to the Institute. Mallory’s parents had had little choice but to send him. They were modest land holders on a small planet in the Corialis cluster.

“It’s a great opportunity for you, my boy.” His dad had said, and looked away. His mother smiled but he could see she’d been crying. He was the youngest of five children and her favorite.

At 14 the discipline was both a comfort and a task master. The daily exercises, the training in meditation and controlling of one’s mind were difficult hurdles. The Institute had been refining the training for two centuries.

The first year had been a torment of home sickness. Postulants, those who were in their first year, weren’t allowed visitors or allowed to leave. They could receive three messages from home. During that year they continued their regular school curriculum and had classes in meditation. At the end of the year the children who showed no signs of mental illness or other traits deemed unsuitable were taken into the Chapel where they vowed to study the discipline. Included in that vow was celibacy and obedience. Breaking the vows in the novitiate was punishable by a number of increasingly harsh penances. The first time you were confined to your cell for three days on bread and water. The second you were made to kneel in the common room for the duration of the class on discipline for a week. The third you were beaten. After that you were expelled, and while that may sound simple, it reflected on you and your family for life. Once the novitiate ended, four years later, you were initiated in a solemn rite in the Chapel of the Mother House. You signed your vows; fine tuned your Psi ability and was evaluated for assignment in the Imperial government.

The Institute had initiates assigned in nearly all levels of imperial rule. Every military unit had at least one initiate in its crew, who served as a tactical consultant and first officer. Every Imperial secretariat had Initiates serving as under secretaries to the political appointments. They served as watch dogs for the Emperor and as decision support personnel up and down the chain of authority. Even Pei served as the Imperial advisor and sat in the Imperial counsel.

Of course there were also Psi initiates in private contracts as well. They were the very talented and gifted who went to the wealthiest houses to counteract the Psi working for the Emperor. If an Imperial Psi could implant an idea in your head you needed a Psi of your own to recognize it. All the monies went back to the Institute and your living expenses were paid out to you from there. Mallory had heard rumors of the most talented Psi being rewarded individually and in effect leaving the institute, if their patron was sufficiently powerful enough to stand up to the Institute and the Emperor.

When the ship had left orbit Mallory took off his robes and lit three candles made of bees wax dyed black with the resin of the balko tree. The thin green smoke started to rise as the wax warmed and he inhaled deeply. He concentrated on emptying his mind and pushed out into the blackness. The tone summoned him and he felt the ship and the physical surroundings fall away. He drifted in the peace created by the meditation exercise.

Cryo is usually a dreamless sleep. All biologic functions were slowed to barely perceptible. In nature it was similar to hibernation. When the gas had fogged the tube Garin had felt reality slip away. He was use to the feeling. Most spacers had to under go Cryo at sometime. Long space voyages, injuries; slowly Garin became aware, images some fantastic and unrecognizable, some were like holostories. Like eerily realistic dreams the thoughts and memories of others intruded in his still mind. One particularly, the pale form of Mallory floating in the blackness reaching for him. He felt the cool touch of Mallory’s hand as it took his, and then the other resting on his shoulder and they were floating twisting and turning in a realm that was not a dream but not quite reality. They created figures in the blackness with their dance and the music was the stream of thoughts that filled Gain’s mind. He dimly was aware of desire, but whether it was his or Mallory’s or someone outside them both he couldn’t tell. He was lost in the stream of images.