Chapter Five - Clair Voyant

The human mind was not suited to precognition.

Joy, more often than not, comes from the anticipation of a good thing happening.

No one is happy because they're eating a real-meat burger. They're happy before they eat it, they're happy that they'd be well-fed later, they're happy that they'd be able to brag about it.

Human brains feed happiness to anticipation. Anticipation doesn't work out so well when you know exactly what will happen from the moment you get a precognition core until the moment you die.

More often than not, a precog will end it on their own terms, usually soon after getting their precognitive abilities.

Some are smart enough to just get rid of the core outright. Some gain very weak precognition, more of a sense of the near future, or very keen reflexes. Ivil had some of these, and she had very meticulously avoided upgrading those powers.

Those who weren't smart about precognition tended to die by their own hand... or they avoided that by simply going absolutely insane.

Claire was a fantastic example of the latter.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Claire said as she spun herself around. Her hair flew out into a tangled mess and her dress, another oddity onboard a ship, spun out with the centrifugal force of her spin. "I've been looking forward to this since forever!"

"I'm glad to see that you're excited," Ivil said. She tossed the little core she held up and caught it when it came back down. "Do you know what I'm here to ask about already?"

Claire reached out and caught one of the chairs mounted to the ceiling, bringing her spin to an abrupt halt. She panted, then locked eye attention onto the little core Ivil was holding. "I need to hear you say it," she said.

"You do?"

"Yup."

"As a function of your power?" Ivil asked.

Claire grinned. "No. I just want to hear you say it. Maybe with a 'please' slipped in there somewhere."

"Please don't make me paint the walls with your innards. I'll have to give your cores to someone else to get what I want then," Ivil said.

Claire laughed, clearly unbothered by the threat. That was another problem with precogs that were strong enough. They sapped the fun out of life. She pushed herself down until her boots clunked onto the floor and locked in place.

"Alright," Claire said. "I do need to hear you ask though, threats and pleases aside. And the usual warnings come into play."

"The usual warnings?" Ivil asked.

Claire nodded. "Right, right, you might not know. Everyone that works with me has heard the spiel before... it's been a while... okay." She cleared her throat. "I, Claire Voyant, seer and see-er of the future, do warn thee who wishes to know what has not passed; the future is ever-changing and in flux, but in the passing of souls and the thread of mankind is a pattern unseen by most. The weave is known to me, and by following the path of your future's thread, I can discern your place within its pattern."

Claire's voice had deepened, and Ivil felt a power's touch skimming past and around her. To most it would be little more than a shiver down their spine. To her, it was a siren going off in the night.

"Interesting," Ivil said. "So, this warning?"

Claire sighed. "Look, the long and short of it is that my predictions are the best, but they're not infallible. Also, I might not tell you what you want to hear. I've had some people get really pissed off with me when reality doesn't line up with their expectations."

"I imagine there's a story there?" Ivil asked.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it!" Claire said, she swung her arms wide, then had to spin them around to return to standing straight. "I had one mom blow up on me because she wanted to know when she'd reunite with her lost kid, and the answer was never. Which, yeah, that sucked. I also avoid doing predictions for religious people. They wanna know when they'll meet God, or when the end will come, or whatever, and they're never happy with what I have to say."

"You could lie."

"Pfft, no," Claire said. "I know what'll happen to me if I get a reputation for lying, and it ain't pretty."

Ivil nodded along. "Very well. I imagine you know what the deal between us is already?"

"You gimme that tasty, tasty ultra-rare core right there, and I don't whisper a word of what you ask me to anyone."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"And you know what will happen if you do tell people?"

Claire snorted. "One of the two dozen or so spies in the Lunatics will report it up the chain, word will get out, you'll find out, then the next thing I know I'm waking up on the void of space, choking on nothing while my eyes pop out of my skull from the pressure change. The last thing I'll see is this ship floating in two big parts. Yeah, I know."

"I don't play with my victims," Ivil said. "That's the only comfort you'd get."

"Uh-huh," Claire agreed. She leaned forwards, feet still planted on the ground and hands grasping for Ivil. She grabbed onto one of Ivil's hands. "Now... shall we do this?"

Her hands were cold. "Yes," Ivil said.

Claire grinned wide, and any vestige of sanity slipped out of her gaze. "Now, ask."

Ivil didn't clear her throat. She didn't allow herself the luxury of being nervous. Instead, she asked. "I... I want to find true love."

Claire snorted. "There's a couple on deck seven. Older people, like, sixties or so, been married for forty years and still adore the sight of each other. It's almost sickeningly sweet."

Ivil glared. "That's not what I meant," she said.

"Then be specific," Claire said.

"Fine then. I want to find someone who will love me, and who deserves my loyalty. Someone that I can live a happy life with. I've been at the top for too long. I want, need, someone to kill my loneliness."

Claire blinked. "Well, that's something. But okay, I think I can manage."

There was a wash of unfelt warmth through the room. Ivil fixed herself against it, resisting.

She noticed the sweat pooling on Claire's forehead. "You're not making this easy, you know," Claire muttered.

Ivil let go, and the warmth washed through and past her, then back. It stopped as easily as it came, and Claire let go of Ivil's hand and fell back. "So?" Ivil asked.

"Gimme a minute," Claire said. She brushed a hand through her hair, which had started to mat against her scalp. "Oh, this headache had better be worth it."

"Any results?" Ivil asked.

"Yup," Claire said. "I... hmm."

"Yes?" Ivil asked.

Claire brushed the sweat off of her hands along the front of her dress. "Go to Ceres. You'll find what you're looking for on this piece of junk ship called the... uh... Held Together. You're going to need to take that ship to wherever it's going next."

"That's it?" Ivil asked. "That's hardly precise."

"Hey, you're getting good service here, woman," Claire protested. "I'm leading the horse to water."

"Am I the horse?" Ivil asked. "Because I might find that insulting, and your usefulness to me is certainly coming to a middle."

"Chill," Claire said. "If I tell you everything, it doesn't work out the way you want it to. This way it does. Figure the rest out yourself, I've already pointed you in the right direction. Claire Voyant's work here is done... now gimme the core."

Ivil sighed and tossed the core over. Claire fumbled it out of the air, then grinned at the little marble-sized item. "Is your name really Claire Voyant?" Ivil asked.

"Is yours really Ivil Antagonist?"

"Fair enough."

"Right, you'd best get going, you have like, six days to make it to Ceres or you'll miss your chance and never find love. Then you'll die old and bitter and angry and lonely."

Ivil quirked an eyebrow at that pronouncement. "I see. I won't linger then. Thank you for your service, Claire. And do recall what'll happen if you speak of this."

"Oh, piffle, you think you're the only person that asks me about love? You wouldn't believe how many divorces and marriages I've caused. There's seven little baby Claires on Haumea and it's all my fault!"

"I see. Well, try to keep your mouth shut and your head on your shoulders." Ivil nodded to the seer, then walked to the door. It opened on her approach and she slipped out into the corridor where Captain Circus was in the middle of a stare-down with Sonic Spectre. There were several more Warclowns out now. "We're going," Ivil said as she moved past it all. "Come on, I don't have time to waste on inconsequential things. Good day, Captain."

If time was pressing, then she'd do what she could to slip across the system. Ceres wasn't close, but she'd make it.

***