I’m sitting in one of our meeting rooms, this one specifically made for small groups of crewmembers. No holodisplays, no broadcasting devices. Just about ten cubic meters of space, surrounded by transparent crystalweave glass, with only two other people beside myself sitting inside.

Those two are Agdol and Gralke, the Alarian that I coincidentally rescued from pirates. As Lai just told me, Agdol, the older one, is a mute, his tongue was cut when they captured him because they wanted to use him as leverage to control Gralke, his son, who is a technomancer. Apparently, Gralke made quite a fuss when they were captured, almost killing several pirates and actually wounding a lot of them. Before, he didn’t speak a word, but now, I see that he speaks enough to cover for his father.

“Then i just used Gravity Slam and BAM! That fucker’s knees were gone!” He explains his encounter with the bandits with full detail, standing up with exaggerated gestures and moving his arms as if making sure I understand the magnitude of his story. He receives a slap on the back of his head from Agdol because of the profanities, as has already happened several times during the past thirty minutes.

“Ouch! But father it’s important that the lady understands” He replies, only getting a serious gaze from this father. He gasps, and then turns back to face me “Sorry, i meant Commander”

I just wave a hand “I don’t mind, you are neither a soldier nor a subordinate so speak freely kid”.

He nods with a smile and continues telling his story. There are points that he’s been repeating but I just take the time to process the information.

They were refugees from a religious conflict within the Alari Union. As it seems, the majority of the Alari are highly religious individuals, and even their government is made of religious figures; it’s a theocratic monarchy, their king apparently is considered the avatar of one of their gods, and has lived for at least four hundred earthen years; the Alari usually live up until the hundred and fifty, but their king is a powerful psychic and the stronger their psychic powers, they longer they live. Not technomancer, actually psychics, that can make stuff with their minds instead of relying on technology for that.

As the boy told me, there are several castes between the Alari, and one of them has a gene that produces psychic offspring out of 99% of all children born. That caste is known as the Ascended, and they are the ones holding the majority of power within the Union as they are the ones occupying the most religious positions within the government.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

One of the doctrines of the Ascended, is that technomancy is an abomination, and is a mockery of their worshipped psychic powers. The caste that Agdol and Gralke are from is called the Unbound, who take greater interest in technology and the advancement of the quality of life of the citizens. Around ten years ago, the Ascended used their influence to push forward motions banning technomancy and certain technologies from the whole Union, effectively crippling the Unbound, who retaliated with protest, that escalated to riots, that escalated to civil war.

The war ended six years later, with the Unbound being forced to hide or seek asylum in other civilizations. Agdol was forced to hide Gralke, as he had a technomancy device installed in his body because without it his brain doesn’t function as it should. He hesitated when telling me the details and i didn’t press further, but from what i understood, Agdol was forced to install it to save Gralke when he was a kid, gambling on the slim chance of him being able to use technomancy, and luckily, the kid ended up being a genius at it. Not so luckily, that same status of genius also catalogued him as a priority target for the Ascended.

They’ve been hiding in different planets within the Alari Union for the past years, and only recently were they able to reach the Stellar Union of Mankind, just to be captured by pirates.

“Then that Mindscrew guy came, and i couldn’t get to dad in time” He tells me, shoulders down. I just pat him in the head.

“Hey, you did pretty good for a kid, even i had some trouble with him”

“Pfft, i would have crushed that asshole one on one” He boasts, and promptly receives another slap in the head by Agdol.

I just laugh at it. I mean, if i was in charge of him i’d slap him too, but, i talk like that now and i’m a hundred years old.

“So, Gralke…you say you are pretty good with Technomancy” I ask him.

“Of course i am” He then lifts an arm, and then his yellowish green eyes illuminate, contrasting with his blue hairless skin. I then feel how I'm getting raised from the chair I'm sitting in.

The security team outside the room are about to rush in, but I glance at them and shake my head. They are a bit jumpy leaving me alone with a Technomancer but i told them that i was enough to take care of it. Even if i despise the idea of dealing with a child, if they were dangerous, i was sure that i could take care of them; but, if nothing happened in the two days i was out, it was safe to assume that they were not a threat.

After he raises me about a meter from the ground, he gently places me back. I have to admit, he has way better control than me.

I look at them with a smile on my face, and Agdol looks directly at me. He seems somewhat anxious and I can understand. All this time they’ve been trying to sell me the idea of how useful they can be, and it is working. But, it was unnecessary, i already came here with the idea in mind.

“Say, Gralke, Agdol, would you like to join the Stellar Union as contractors?”

[Note that neither citizenship nor legal contracts can not be arranged without proper…]

Shut up Hallie, don’t ruin it.