BETH

Beth rubbed her hair, which had reached the length of her fingers. Her scalp tingled. Was he inside her head again? Both her hands shot up and rubbed across the scalp. If she just could get the itch away, that meant he was not there. He could not be in there! She shook her head, sat down and pressed into the corner of the room. It was reassuring that way, but not as good as a hug from Mom.

Images flashed through her mind. Her fists hammering at Mom’s face. Warm blood and brains splattered across Beth’s face as the knuckles impacted. Beth rubbed at her eyes and temples.

“Stop,” Beth whispered. “Please.”

The very tissue of her Mom’s face ripped apart and the cranium shattered.

“STOP!” Beth yelled.

The sweetness flooded her mouth, breaths came in short bursts, her teeth clenched down. Her fists tensed and muscles anticipated violence. The images faded as the rage came alive.

She made the sweetness retreat, shoulders fell down and her breathing returned to normal. A tool for violence and destruction. That was her purpose and Saif had used her well. He had wrung her mind until this strength had manifested in her.

Did her head itch? She rubbed the scalp thoroughly. The itch faded. Was he in her mind? Otherwise, why would it itch so much? He had to be in there. She should tell Milo. Jonathan. Milo. Jonathan. Milo. Her rubbings timed with the syllables of the two names as they popped out. Would he listen this time? Saif had to be in her head, why else would it itch this much? She rubbed harder.

A knock on the door, but the door didn’t open.

She raised her face. Danger. Her fingers cracked as they formed into fists.

“Beth. It is me, your brother,” Milo said. The voice carried through a speaker. “I am bringing tacos for you. It will be good for you. My Dad always said: ‘Milo, my son, you cannot fight your anxiety on an empty stomach. Eat well and you shall see that life ain’t as bad as you might think right now. Eat well, my son.’”

“I am fine,” Beth said.

Milo coughed. “You have been eating from the synthesizers for the last few weeks. Your body needs proper food, not just synthesized bars. Variation is key. I am coming in.”

“Please don’t,” Beth said.

The door slid opened. Her skin flowed into metal and she tucked her knees under her arms.

“Don’t get too close,” Beth said. “I am warning you.”

Milo smiled. “I don’t think you will hurt me, even though you keep saying so.”

He put the plate on the floor in front of her and slid it towards her. The plate came to a stop against her legs. It smelled of pepper and chili.

“Yes, it smells delicious, does it not?” Milo asked, inching forward.

“Stay back,” Beth said. “Please.”

Milo stepped forward. “I don’t think you will harm me.”

Beth stood up, feet put offset and her fists held forward. “Stay back. My head itches. He might be in my head right now. I don’t know. Stay back, please. I might hurt you.”

“The only thing that will be hurt will be your stomach if you let that taco become bad. Taste it,” Milo said, lifting his foot.

“Stay back!” Beth growled, her jaw clenched hard and raising a fist.

Milo stepped back. “Right, right.”

“Thank you,” Beth said.

Milo stepped back to the door frame. “He cannot be in your head anymore, I burned his influence away. Twice. You are clean.”

“It still itches! Leave me,” Beth said.

Milo left the room and the door slid closed.

Beth’s skin flowed back into normal and she sat on the cold floor. The plate of tacos sat in front of her and the smell kept attacking her senses.

“You will never understand. They will never understand it,” Beth said. “It is better this way.”

Beth’s stomach growled. Milo might be wrong about Saif not being in her head anymore, but at least he was right about her body needing real food. She pulled the plate close and went at the food.

SAIF

Saif grabbed and yanked down another set of Tom’s thoughts. As before, they were riddled with defiance and the usual emotions that followed: anger, disgust and hatred. Strong emotions. Just like Elizabeth once had. But Tom’s connection to his manifestation was what pulled the boy down. It was too warped. The boy needed focus if he wanted to reach further. Saif looked at a particular cluster of thoughts in Tom’s thought stream. The cluster was dense and widespread through the stream and it had an effect on every thought constructed by the mind. As if this cluster was the conscious or soul of Tom and the core that made his telekinetic manifestation function. Saif grabbed the edges of the cluster and pulled, with sweetness flooding his mouth, but the cluster would not move. Saif surrendered the attempt. The seeds were rooted deeply and their corresponding vines clutched around Tom’s thought stream without signs of deteriorating. Tom was under his control, the boy’s manifestation had still not evolved an internal attribute that challenged Saif’s control. Elizabeth’s mental strength had surprised him that one time, but it had been enough to fuel her hope. Saif’s influence and interruptions of his mind created issues, but his thoughts looked healthy, their lining held stable, which were the result of a healthy subject. He yanked down another set of thought from the stream. The boy had really connected with Elizabeth during their stay at Au-delà. But when she turned her strength on the boy, his perception of her had changed sharply. Tom felt cheated by life itself. It might be an opportunity. Saif pulled himself out from Tom’s mind.

Saif opened his own eyes. “Why are you emulating her? The defiance, the rage. You hate her just as much as you hate me. So why are you walking down this path? Tell me the truth.”

With the sweetness at his tongue Saif twisted at the vines, forcing an answer from him. A pain bloomed behind Saif’s temples and he hesitated. Had he still not healed from Milo’s cleanse? Rachel had to look over him again.

“Life is unfair,” Tom said. “And everyone around me are so full of themselves. ‘Oh, I really need to do this and so this awful action is of course fully justified.’ Why is life like this? Why are people so shitty against each other?”

Tom spoke as an adult. Was that what happened to a young mind when pulled through as much pain and despair as he had endured? This was a character feature that should be highlighted, since it showed strength and durability even in the face of hardship.

“This is the real world and not someone’s fantasy. People are by nature egocentrically,” Saif said. “There are no villains or heroes. Only results and methods, opinions and motivations. You met the aliens, you fought them. Did they seem happy to see you? If you want humanity to outlast them, I need you to be strong. Lift this shuttle.”

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Saif dove into the boy’s mind again and felt what he felt. Tom hooked the water deposit and the sweet liquid streamed into his mouth. His power awoke, Saif felt how Tom’s mind reached out and touched the shuttle’s surface with his invisible force.

“Vault the hurdle, boy!” Saif said.

Tom grabbed underneath the shuttle, tightening his grip and pushed upwards. The shuttle groaned as it slowly rose, joints and seals fighting to keep the whole thing together. Saif pulled out and jumped back into his own body.

He smiled. Tom had matured.

The shuttle rolled to the side and turned. It aligned towards Saif and floated closer.

Saif took a step back and looked at Tom. “Tom. What are you doing?”

Before Saif managed to suck down the sweetness, the shuttle stopped and fell down onto the shuttle bay’s floor again. Tom could not hurt him, the vines had the boy under control.

“I can see in your mind how you feel about Elizabeth and her friends. But I would like you to word your thoughts. I want your truest opinion,” Saif said.

“You speak of war. Beth speaks of peace. But both of you intend to kill and hurt to reach your goals. People will suffer and I don’t accept that. I will put an end to both of your paths before your destinations are reached,” Tom said.

Saif sighed. “Don’t be naive, I showed you which direction had more value. A side needs to be taken.”

“Maybe humanity is not meant to last,” Tom said.

Tom turned away from him.

More seeds had to be rooted in Tom’s mind and kept there for the future. The loyalty that had grown in Carl, Amanda and the other manifestees would still take time to root in Tom.

Saif sent a sequence of thoughts to the boy. Tom turned back to him.

Saif dove into his mind and yanked down Tom’s most recent thoughts. Yes, the boy had told him the truth. The vines limited his thinking and expression for just that purpose. The lining of the thoughts looked healthy, there was no maligned behavioral change in him. But the opinion was stupid. Why think that mankind should not survive? Saif sent a sequence of thoughts into Tom’s mind.

“Those unnecessary thoughts should not concern you again. So, which side do you stand on?” Saif asked, tightening the vines inside Tom’s mind.

Tom nodded. “Yours, master Saif.”

“Good, good.” Saif smiled at him.

-

The war would come, the fuse had been lit. Carl and Amanda had embarked on their mission, to hunt down Elizabeth and her friends. But if they failed, there was always the stowaway among their manifestees and then it was just a matter of time before the chaos. No alliances held under such pressure.

Saif had prepared and created many manifestees during his years since taking control over the facility. But it still felt like he had not prepared enough. War would come. There had to be more he could do.

“Rachel, I know I used to talk about how we would leave humanity behind and use it as bait. But we changed our mind about that. I think we should do something similar, but yet different,” Saif said, leaning back. “What if we united mankind behind a single ruler and established a united strategy? Pooling all fleets and soldiers and all potential subjects. We could use certain key positions as bait instead and when the aliens roll up to our doorstep, we roll up on them from all flanks. Cutting them off from their own supply lines. Put the treasure in the light and as they reach for it, slice the limb off. And then keep pushing them back. Obliterating them.”

It sounded like a good plan, giving him that buzz in the gut as any good plan usually did. But it would be an enormous task. Grabbing enough planets and space cities, placing them under his rule and his empire. His lips pulled into a smile, an empire would give mankind the best chance of survival.

“You know that I have little understanding of warfare and Navy strategies. It is not my strong suit at all. But I would very much like to have Earth as a home for our long vacations. Coming back to it every few hundred years or so and relaxing for a few decades,” Rachel said. “But you told me how the aliens can negate electricity, so what will all those extra ships do?”

Saif nodded. “A good observation. I have a theory about the aliens’ suppression fields. I think they only can suppress electricity when being close to it. The probes were affected in stages, which would suggest that. And the electricity on the Au-delà was only affected once the alien sphere and its friends entered into the ship. The fleet will still function when given a proper distance. We can make it happen. After a single campaign, mankind shall stand behind me,” Saif said.

Rachel stepped forward. “Us, behind us. With me by your side, we will be the most powerful couple in the whole universe and we will live forever.“

“Yes.” Saif smiled, it was kind of mind boggling when he thought about it, how they would live forever. Decades turned into centuries turned into millennia. There was no cap on Rachel’s attribute of de-aging them.

“But one thing first: the campaign. I have little understanding of warfare, how much do you have? You never served in the Navy or expressed any interest in the topic. Maybe we could find someone with the correct experience and knowledge?”

“A someone with many years in the profession, with real space battles under their belt. A someone that is comfortable with the subject enough to be able to adapt the strategies on the fly,” Saif said.

Saif had one in mind right in that instance. One who didn’t have the physical strength anymore, due to older age, but one who had a mind filled with just the correct qualities they needed.

“Lets pull Admiral Harris into the fold,” Saif said. “During the earlier parts of his career he was a corvette Captain, where he ran protection duty for convoys. Space pirates are brutal and clever, otherwise mankind would have eradicated them a long time ago. With multiple medals decorating his uniform, he transitioned into becoming a space city builder. Where he fought off even more space pirates. Those fuckers will try to grab anything that looks remotely valuable. Admiral Harris will have the tricks and the forward thinking we need.”

Sweetness flooded his mouth, his manifestation came alive. He pulled out from his own physical body and looked for Admiral Harris.

All the minds within reach lit up, as the stars on a star chart.

The Navy bases and Police stations spread across Europe13. Where he had put all the combat suit troops and higher ranking officials, who he might need to have closer and within reach for a quick takeover.

Admiral Harris’ mind was distinct from the others. Older, more experienced, it’s stream of thoughts wider than the others, even if he moved slower and the memory thoughts were frailed at the linings, but intact enough for him to repair them.

Saif dove into Admiral Harris’ mind.

He disconnected himself from Harris’ physical attributes and pains. The man was ancient, having slept in hibernation through many years and many builds. His experience was too important to let him retire and die of old age. Saif should get Rachel to rejuvenate him, to put his mind at peak performance. He wanted his mind, not the other stuff and Rachel’s manifestation was a valuable resource and one which he didn’t want to strain for nothing.

Saif yanked out a few of Harris’ thoughts and studied them. The signs of deterioration from old age were apparent, but with a little tweaking from himself, the thoughts were given a quick fix. Some liquid was expended from his water deposit to achieve it, but it was worth it, making it easier to shift through the man’s many thoughts and memories, to confirm the experiences and knowledge, which he needed to be located in Harris’ thought stream. He yanked out more thoughts, keeping and repairing the ones that looked promising and tossing back the others. He kept battle strategies, tactics learned from both the academy and real life experiences. Harris had an abundance of both kinds. Yes, this man was perfect for the task. He wasted no time in making his decision. For security reasons, he double checked the health of the rooted seeds and the climbing vines. They looked good, no tearing or degradation. Admiral Harris had not fought back in the slightest since Saif had seeded him. A nice convenience.

Saif pulled out and returned to his own body. Its physical sensations rushed into him as feelings and nerve endings awakened again, as if a wave of warmth flooded a numb and cold body.

His eyes opened, Rachel sat in his lap with her eyes wide open and a warm smile on her face.

“I waited for you. The entirety of the 52 minutes you were gone,” Rachel said. “I like how your body moves and the stiff frown on your face when your mind wanders to other people.”

Saif nodded. “Yeah, I have seen it for myself. I look weird and mentally retarded.”

“No, not at all! You are cute,” Rachel said, kissing him on the forehead. “Your manifestation is powerful. I like it and being close to it when you use it, it fills me with inspiration. What did you find you on your mental travels?”

“We will pull Admiral Harris into the fold. His mind is perfect for our campaign. In addition we will pull into his closest and most loyal personnel, to support his abilities. I will call him here, please Rachel, rejuvenate him. He is old and fragile, and we need him alive. Keep him as an adult, at peak age for his mental capacity. I don’t want a young man filled with rebellious thoughts and being easy to anger. I want a mature man. Did you know that he is the oldest man in human history?”

Rachel smiled. “Oh, really? That’s interesting. He must have hibernated a lot, I wonder how it has affected his cells.”

“Yeah, he just comes out from his pod during his city building career when an important decision needs to be made. I am pulling him in.” Saif said.