Chapter 10
The Giving Tree
(Misha)
“Oh, hello little ones. My name is Doctor Grier, and today I will be escorting you around campus, showing you what is possible if you apply yourself in science and math.” An overly cheerful Dr. Grier greeted. Her words were incongruous to her face, but she had a way about her that set others at ease, despite how she physically presented herself.
Seeing the Doctor, Misha noted that there was likely a heavy use of magic being used. Which was odd, as she herself did not detect anything out of the ordinary.
The more she spoke, the more her words had an apparent effect on the students. Even Ms. Folk began to have a bit of a glassy-eyed gaze towards the end.
This was odd, but then again this is why Misha forged a few documents and changed calendar notes by her mother to be here. While her mother had been vehemently opposed to the idea, she was just human. Meaning that she would trust her electronics that told her of notes she made to herself. Never thinking that said notes could be altered or changed easily. Even the unsigned permission slip was easy to get around, as all the teachers looked as were ticked boxes from the school’s receptionist stating that a permission slip had been provided at some point. No one ever checked the permission slips the day of, to confirm that the slip was still available. As such, lying low and getting onto the school field trip was rather easy all things considered.
The more Misha lived here on this backwards planet, the more she began to appreciate its more rustic lifestyle. Just enough technology to make life easier, but not so much that life entirely depended upon its constant maintenance for survival.
As a Psycher, her past lives were both tough and challenging. Not that living in space wasn’t hard enough, but she would often have to fend off other enemy Psychers, or their equivalents, the Bakshee, to do things a simple as travel through space.
Yes, this world with its vast vegetation, ample water, and clean air was a seeming paradise compared to the different lifetimes of struggle and reincarnation that she had been subjected to previously. This was why she wanted to at least become aware of the true threats to this planet.
The first way to truly do this was to come here, and somehow break away from the main tour group and find the legendary lodestar stone. A piece of the ancient comet that allegedly destroyed the dinosaurs so many millions of years ago. At least that is what the story said.
Of course, there were odder stories that related to the stone, but that was for a different day. Right now, Misha was conducting her own investigation into the world of magic of this world.
Now part of her explorations was always to try to find magic, that is the ability to produce a natural or catastrophic phenomenon that was far larger than what one would expect. These were said to be powers that would work in conjunction with the Psycher powers, or at the very least not hinder Psycher capabilities.
That was the hope, and numerous research groups and scientists left the core colonies early on to explore space and to search for such phenomena. How ironic that now, far removed from her known universe, on a planet too behind the times to develop adequate crystalline communication sensors would Misha find the very spark of hope that trillions of her predecessors died to find.
While it was dangerous, as Misha’s body was extremely vulnerable in this growing state, she felt the risk was worth the possibility of being outed. Also, despite all her precautions, Misha was fairly certain that any and all surveillance systems on her now would be easily wiped out and erased. As most electronic recording devices were so primitive that even the most minor discharges of electrical currents would cause the systems to completely destroy themselves and their valuable content.
This University did have redundant systems, and the ability to back up data to a last saved good spot, but they were primitive, relying on a twenty-four-hour cycle to be able to back up the stored data. Meaning that so long as the data was wiped before she left for today, nothing would link her as being here.
Sadly, this world did not believe in memories of people, meaning that even if notes were made, no one would believe said notes, unless they were backed up by a recording showing the same exact scene. Even then people tended to believe the recording over anyone else who was actually there.
Looking around, Dr. Grier took inventory of the gathered children, until her eyes spotted the group of three that included Misha, Kate, and Allison. While she seemed slightly confused at first, her suspicions were dropped when she saw the black gloves with copper wiring that Misha still wore.
At first the gloves had been necessary for her to use her innate Psycher abilities on computers and internet connected devices. As the copper provided a direct current for her mind to be able to inject energy directly into the device, she would then be able to use the device as an extension of her own body. Just as ancient samurai felt that a sword was an extension of her body. So too did the Psycher feel that a physically connected device was an extension of their own mind and body.
That was of course before her awakening her second affinity with Lightning. Now the gloves were mostly a reminder of her past lives and while they did make the connections between her mind and mechanical devices easier, they were not as needed as before.
While Misha didn’t always need to use gloves, today she also wore them for a very different reason. Her goal was to get close to the lodestar stone, but part of her could not deny the fact that if she was given the opportunity, she would reach out and touch the stone despite the potential consequences.
“Oh my, and who might you be, little one.” Dr. Grier said, going over towards Misha, the only person who was still able to maintain eye contact without a hint of blurry or glassy eyes.
“This is Misha Collins.” Ms. Folk said, offering up all relevant information about Misha without a second glance.
At that Dr. Grier’s eyes went wide with excitement. “Collins, is it?”
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Then she paused, as she seemed to taste the name. “I don’t believe I have come across too many Collins’ in our line of work.”
Misha just stared, not angrily like a typical kid would, or with a scared expression like so many others would have at such a discovery. Instead, Misha just stared blankly at the woman, her eyes stating more than words typically could.
“First, we will begin by showing you our current research into natural sciences. Our primary focus currently is on regrowing organic tissues from scratch. The idea is to help people who have been injured heal faster and safer.” Dr. Grier said.
Hearing this Misha almost opened her mouth, but then thought better of it. Instead, she wished to see what exactly the known processes were on this planet. Given that these people have had magic available to them for centuries now, Misha expected there to be great progress being made in the field.
As this too was a field that often-plagued scientists and was why her bodies slowly became sexless, this both cut down on the need for physical partnerships, while also cutting down on potential organs that could eventually fail in a body.
There during those times, it was discovered that new bodies could be produced, but at a very slow rate. Often taking years to grow and mature a shell that would be ready to be inhabited by one’s consciousness.
“Whoa!” Almost all the half-dazed boys said, as they saw a video of a pig being injured, and then the wound being healed almost instantly with a form of powder.
“Ahh!” A few of the more sensitive girls cried out, but their responses were muted, likely due to the effects of the mental persuasion they were feeling currently.
Powder, a good first step, Misha thought to herself, before continuing her thought, but ultimately meets its limits at the energy usage phase. The primary reason for this limitation was because all the energy used to activate the powder came from the injured person. Meaning a person who was injured would then have to provide the energy necessary to save their own lives, which was not always possible in every situation. Shaking her head mentally, Misha was not impressed, until she heard the Doctor’s statements.
“This used to be what we had to do, in order to provide life saving skin to an open wound.” Dr. Grier stated, ending the video and leading everyone to a lab room that lay just behind the giant wall mounted television that had been set up just for this occasion. “Now, let me show you what we are working on now.”
With that Misha’s ears perked up, as she finally hoped to find the very heart of magic that she had come here to discover.
***
(Dr. Grier)
The presentation was proving to be both exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. It was exhausting as Dr. Grier had to maintain twenty-three concurrent trances at a time. While controlling children was relatively easy, maintaining that control was proving to be a bit more taxing than she had originally anticipated.
Though, despite her best efforts to try to shackle the odd girl with black gloves, this Misha Collins, Dr. Grier felt even more excited by her presence. As her ability to fully resist her control even to this point pointed towards her being a truly powerful magi, which was why she now decided to fully open up this tour to the class, and even to eventually expose the students to the special room.
“Whoa.”
This time the girls and boys of the class both called out excitedly as a visibly injured plant grew back its broken branch within seconds. Then the branch began flowering. Within seconds a perfectly normal bare branch began sprouting leaves and tiny pink and white flowers.
“So pretty.” The girls cried out, well all but Misha who looked on with a studious gaze that implied she had seen better. Seeing the seemingly unphased Misha, Dr. Grier decided to turn it up a notch.
“Now watch this.” Dr. Grier said and pushed a button.
Shortly after the button was pushed a dense wind was sent into the room with the budding plant. The wind seemed to work with the plant for a second, before the leaves of the pink flowers began to fall away.
“Oh.” The girls cried out but were then caught off guard by the growing red lumps on the tree.
“What is happening?” One of the boys asked.
“You are witnessing a new form of self-pollination, where we can get the plant to pollinate on its own, without need for mechanical devices, or even bees, if you can believe that.”
“Are they real?” A girl asked from the front of the group.
Seeing all the eager faces, Dr. Grier smiled to herself. “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me for yourself.”
With that Dr. Grier opened a side door that had been seamlessly blended into the side of the wall. A quick scan of her hand disengaged the magnetic locks, allowing her to enter the room with the now fully healthy tree, and its one perfectly grown branch of cherries.
Snap.
Dr. Grier snapped off the new branch, leaving a mark on the tree, just like the one that had been healed moments ago.
With that, Dr. Grier came out, and offered the kids to touch the branch and even allowed them to eat the cherries if they were bold enough.
“It feels so real.” A girl said.
Chuckling.
“That’s because it is real.”
“Can I have one?” A boy asked, after ripping off one of the cherries.
“By all means.” Dr. Grier said, then with her free hand gestured to the other kids to take a cherry.
At this everyone surged forward to at least touch the branch. While the cherries were eaten quickly, everyone seemed eager to touch and feel the branch. Everyone except for Misha who just sat there staring at the group.
Watching Misha, it was clear that she was staring at the boy who first picked off and stole a cherry. She watched him for a long moment, until he opened his mouth and started talking again.
“That was delicious.” He stated.
Dr. Grier seeing the girl just stare, it was clear that her gaze had gone on to other students. With a shock Dr. Grier realized that the girl was looking at all the students who ate a cherry.
“Did you want a cherry of your own?” Dr. Grier asked, trying to get the girl to engage. With her holding the branch, any signs of magic would easily be felt by her. As right now this tree branch was acting as a mini focus item. Since this item was as yet unattuned, Dr. Grier would be able to feel the subtle pull of other magicians who would reach out and try to synchronize their energies with the very branch she held.
If Dr. Grier held onto the branch for long enough, it would easily bond to her. However, this was not the intention of this test, and while she did note a slight pull of energy from one or two of the students, it was nothing close to being enough to wield true magic.
“No.” Misha answered coldly, no, not coldly, but succinctly. She answered in short succinct sentences, a quality that Dr. Grier would love in a future apprentice.
“Then what are you looking at?” Dr. Grier asked, trying to get the child to relax a little and come closer for her to use the branch as an impromptu magical calibration tool.
“The pits.”
“Sorry what?” Dr. Grier asked.
By now all of the other students stopped talking as they all looked to Misha, who everyone subtly gave more space than necessary, almost as if they understood the true danger that the girl wielded.
“There were no pits in the cherries.” Mish sated, before continuing in a much softer tone, “you couldn’t grow them either.” That last part seemed to be more of a statement to herself than anything, if not for the fact that this was Dr. Grier’s personal domain she too might have missed the silent comment to herself.
Hearing the girl, Dr. Grier was impressed. Thinking that even if her magical acumen wasn’t high enough, she might still make a good apprentice with her observation skills alone.
“Very good observation. Yes, currently this process while fully healthy and nutritionally safe, will not cause a seed to be germinated, yet.” Dr. Grier said.
“So it’s even better?” A girl said.
“That is one way to look at it. With this we can hopefully end world hunger by having plants that can grow enough food to feed a city or town within hours, versus the months that are currently available to us.” Dr. Grier said, stating the true benefit of this novel process.
“That is amazing.” Ms. Folk, the teacher for this class that Dr. Grier personally chose to escort said.
“Yes, yes, it is. One day there will not be any hunger, and people will be able to eat healthy foods all year long. At least that is the goal of our project.” Dr. Grier said, with that all the kids seemed excited. Well, all the kids except for one, the girl Misha just stared at the branch and shook her head. Seeing her, Dr. Grier couldn’t help but want to understand what she was thinking right now.
“What are you thinking about?” Dr. Grier asked.
Misha looked shocked for a moment, as if she had been pulled from her own personal thoughts. Then turned to Dr. Grier and said flatly, “this process cannot be sustained. Yes, for this generation of plants you will be able to do this, but these plants will die out, making it so you will eventually run out of seeds to plant.”
Hearing the girl, Dr. Grier was again impressed with her foresight. Hearing her, Dr. Grier was almost certain that this Misha was a diviner of some kind. Someone who might be able to glimpse future calamities and prevent them from happening. After this, Dr. Grier didn’t even need to use the stick method to see if this girl was a magi. Instead, she decided to take the girl herself to the sacred stone and see what happened when she got near.
While this wouldn’t necessarily be permitted, especially not without fully indoctrinating the girl. Dr. Grier knew that the stone would only react if she herself was a magus, meaning that her indoctrination would be conducted shortly thereafter.
It was an acceptable risk and given Dr. Grier’s status as the leader of the Southeastern district of magic, this was her decision to make regardless. Which is why she decided to pull ahead with her plan. With her mind made up, she asked the question that would forever alter the lives of the class of students before her.
“Now for the final portion of our tour. How would you all like to see a fragment of the meteorite that killed all the dinosaurs?”