“Those aren’t his eyes you know.” Mike said.

“I know.” Paige said. “But there is nothing we can do about it until we get back to Earth. We still need to finish the mission to Mars too. Do you think they have a recording device, or a transmitter?”

“I do.” Mike said. “I don’t think I can be him for two years. Somebody is going to slip up.”

“It makes it hard to practice as well.” Paige said. “Becca needs practice. She is having a challenging time with alignment. It is not like a thunderclap on board will go unnoticed.”

“The gig is up when we get to Mars anyway. They will see the containers and know that we are not as helpless as they think.”

“What do you expect they did with his eyes anyway?” Paige asked. “They think they have this special secret, but they don’t. It won’t keep them guessing for long.”

“Well, the Earth is screwed if we go to war.” Mike said. “Sooner or later, they will send a ship. Then what?”

“We have ships.” Rubin said as he entered the barracks and sat on the bed next to Paige.

Mike looked at Rubin with an accusing look. It was Rubin’s turn to stay with Lane.

“He was complaining about eye pain again.” Rubin said calmly. “I put him in stasis with the chickens.”

“Huh, I didn’t think of that. Will he be, okay?”

“Assuredly.” Rubin said. “I have done it hundreds of times without any problems.”

“You said we have ships?” Paige prompted.

“An entire fleet of them.” Rubin said.

“Since when?” Mike asked.

“Since humankind was in the stone age.” Rubin said. “We don’t keep them on Earth.”

“I don’t want to have this conversation twice.” Paige said. “Let's get everybody together on the bridge and have a pow wow.”

...

“Why not just leave him in stasis while we do our gig on Mars?” Todd asked.

“We can’t just leave him in stasis forever.” Paige said. “Besides, if there’s a listening device hidden in there then we could still get caught.”

“These, people or whatever,” Rebecca said. “They must already know, or at least suspect that we have this ability. There’s a reason that things were set up this way with the runes and getting messages sent off. Didn’t they get the first message? I thought that was how they knew to send the supplies to Mars.”

“That was us.” Rubin said. “We have a base hidden on Uranus.”

Mike and Todd started to laugh for no particular reason.

“Who knows about it?” Paige asked.

“Jiirdrian knows that we have one there, but they don’t know where it is.” Rubin answered. “We have a few of them there.”

“Are they secure?” Todd asked.

“Of course they are, but they wouldn’t hold up to a bombardment from space.” Rubin said.

“What else do they know?” Todd asked. “On Jiirdrian?”

“I am not at liberty to answer an interrogation.” Rubin answered. “My people are guardians of information that has been lost and squandered in other systems. Earthers are not ready for the information. We will supply you with the information on a need-to-know basis.”

“What if they send an armada from that planet that we just came from?” Rebecca asked. “Would that justify a need to know?”

“It would not.” Rubin answered. “A degree of protection would be appropriate, but not a transfer of this kind of information.”

“What if they blow up Uranius?” Rebecca asked.

This time all the men but Rubin laughed.

“If they destroy Uranius then the information dies with the planet.” Rubin said.

“What about your people?” Paige asked. “Would you allow yourselves to go extinct?”

“My people are on a great number of worlds throughout this galaxy and others.” Rubin said. “We will not go extinct if this entire system is destroyed.”

There was a long sobering pause before anybody else spoke. Rebecca rubbed her thumb and her next two fingers together a few times before a small crackling sound came off them. She drew them apart and a softball sized lighting ball formed in her hand. It grew and diminished as she flexed her fingers. She looked over at Rubin and the others before closing her grip on it causing a pop. Small lines of smoke rose from her hand, and she put it in one of her pockets.

“Earthers can’t do that.” Rubin repeated.

Rebecca looked at him and smiled a mischievous smile. “Who can?” she asked.

Rubin got flustered and started doing something on his computer. A few minutes later an image of a gas giant appeared. “Some of the people on this world can manipulate lightning like you, but they have had FTL travel for over 12,000 years, and less than .001% can do anything like that.”

“Can your people do that?” Mike asked.

“No.” Rubin said. “To the best of my knowledge there are none of my people who can do that.”

“I know where the power comes from.” Mike said.

“It comes from FTL travel.” Rubin said with confidence.

“It seems like it does.” Mike said. “I could show you where it comes from.”

“It does come from FTL travel.” Rubin repeated.

“No, it does not.” Mike said. “I want to make an exchange of information. I want to keep my planet safe. I can’t afford to have these pirates come and wreck the place just as we are about to do some real good.”

“The prophecy states that...” Rubin was cut off.

“I don’t believe the prophecy.” Mike said.

“You don’t have to believe it.” Rubin said. “It has been right for tens of thousands of years.”

“What does it say concerning Earth?” Todd asked.

“It says that you survive and explore the cosmos.” Rubin said. “But not for several years.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“How many of your people have vision?” Mike asked. “Total vision, like me.” he corrected.

“Fewer than a handful.” Rubin answered.

“Your hand or mine?” Todd asked as he held up his hand.

“Mine.” Rubin answered.

Mike closed his eyes and thought for a moment before continuing. He held up his hand to forestall the conversation while he compiled his thoughts.

“What would happen if other peoples had the power that I have?” Mike asked. “Like the people who tried to steal it from us on Jiirdrian.”

This time it was Rubin that took a minute to think before answering.

“I suppose they might do like you were doing with the others.” Rubin said. “Help them to unlock their abilities.”

“And you don’t see a problem with that?” Rebecca asked loudly. “They ripped out Lane’s eyes and put in false ones. What length do they need to go to before it becomes a concern for YOUR people?”

“We are prepared for an extinction event.” Rubin said.

“An extinction event?” Mike asked calmly while Rebecca stood and left the bridge.

Before Rubin could answer there was a deafening thunderclap from the corridor. Mike winced as a peel of laughter followed the noise.

“What is the prophecy concerning an extinction event?” Mike asked.

Rubin was still looking down the corridor that Rebecca had gone down.

“Rubin!” Mike said. “Focus.”

“The prophecy doesn’t concern my people.” Rubin said. “It only concerns the people that we have custodial duties to.”

Mike nodded.

“Well, what does your prophecy say about us then?” Todd asked.

“It says that you will prosper for two to four years before the famine comes.” Rubin said.

“Famine?” Todd asked. “What starts the famine?”

“A new faction vying for power.” Rubin said.

“And you don’t care if this new faction is coming from Jiirdrian?” Todd asked.

“It is part of the underground movement on your own world.” Rubin said. “Not from outer space.”

“Do you know the book that was in the safe deposit box Rubin?” Mike asked.

Rubin nodded.

“Where did that book come from?” Mike asked.

“Jiirdrian.” Rubin said.

“And before that?” Mike asked.

Rubin shrugged his shoulders.

“What are you talking about?” Paige asked.

“How much do you know about how I got the job as the prophet?” Mike asked.

“I know that you had to come to Mars, and that the rest of us were going to get you there.” Paige said. “I know that you can see things that no one else can see. But I witnessed that on the trip to Jiirdrian. I saw the video of you predicting the cargo delivery to Mars and it happened like you said it would. But all these things are known everywhere.”

“Do your people know what is written in the book?” Mike asked Rubin.

“I read it.” Rubin said.

“That copy of the book?” Mike asked. “Is there another copy of that book someplace in our system?”

“I don’t think so.” Rubin said.

“Why does that matter?” Paige asked.

“That book contains certain keys.” Mike confessed. “I haven’t brought them up because I didn’t know where the gifts came from until we got to Jiirdrian. It’s not FTL travel that gives people their powers.”

“Yes, it is.” Rubin interrupted.

“It’s the reaction to the flux fuels.” Mike said. “We are constantly consuming the flux materials given off by the flux drive system that powers this ship. Them being turned on and running fills the air with flux particles.”

“And then?” Paige asked.

“And then the flux particles activate the sequences in our DNA that have written runes into our flesh and skin. When these energized flux particles replenish the ones in our bodies it causes us to age slower. It also makes the runes have power.”

“I don’t see how that can work.” Todd said.

“I know a secret, and I don’t know if Rubin’s people even know it.” Mike said. “I know how the flux gravitation drives work.”

“Of course, my people know how the drives work. We invented them.” Rubin admitted.

“Your people who invented them are gone.” Mike suggested. “They know how to make them, but they don’t know how they work. That technology died with them.”

“What makes you say that?” Rubin asked.

“I read it in a book.” Mike said. “I read it with eyes that can see the hidden text. I used what I have learned to decipher the hidden code.”

“What hidden code?” Rubin asked.

“The contest that Jonathan used to find me with.” Mike said. “I understand a great deal of things that I didn’t know before. I can see how to make things happen. I am even learning how to learn better.”

Mike stood up and started walking toward the corridor. He stopped and turned around. He thrust his right hand up toward the ceiling and a giant sword appeared with a pop. Then it disappeared and he rubbed his fingers together with his thumb and made a lightning ball that he squeezed, and it popped. He walked down the corridor and when he rounded the corner there was a flash of light and the sound of thunder.

“Earthers can’t do that.” Rubin said as he cowered in his seat.

...

Mike was an early riser. He had trouble sleeping so he spent much of his time on the bridge of Special Delivery looking at the drawings of the engines and systems on the ship’s computer screens.

He was alone on the bridge when he noticed something about the flux gravitational drive systems that the engines were made of. He tried to recall his conversation with Jonathan about the wavelength of light and how it affected his sight. The thing that made him unique among humans was that he could see two color spectrums. He saw the one that many others could see. The one that used red, yellow, and blue flux colors. But he also saw the phase shifted red, blue, and green colors that were unique as far as he knew.

He still thought that he must have been genetically modified. There was absolutely no way genetic code would randomly form like his did. He wondered about his parents, and if he really had any. His Mom let him in on the adoption secret when he was twelve. At the time, he thought his real parents were poor or young and couldn't take care of a baby. His thoughts seemed to bounce between that and thinking that DNA might evolve that way, but not on a planet that was void of flux materials. He looked down at the runes on his left hand. He could mimic the other Earthers abilities where he had the same runes, but he had runes stacking up on one another and many of them were unique to him. The intricate designs were changing. Some of them changed automatically while others required concentration for them to work. He was looking down at the runes on his left hand when Sebastian walked in and sat beside him.

“I’m afraid for the human race.” Mike said. “I don’t think this is a blessing.”

“And a curse.” Sebastian said. “I agree with all of you. Rebecca included. How can you do those things?”

Mike looked at his hands and arms. The markings were in many distinct colors and shades. His color blindness was the only thing that he knew.

“Did you ever wonder how to explain what color was to somebody that was color blind?” Mike asked.

“I know how you feel about that.” Sebastian said. “I was color blind before I was abducted. I thought that my partial color blindness that I have now was connected to FTL travel, but you have shown how that isn’t the case.”

Sebastian leaned forward in his chair to be closer to Mike.

“You said that you know where the power comes from.” Sebastian said. “Where does it come from? Is it the ship?”

“I can let you in on a little secret, but you have to promise not to tell anybody.” Mike said.

Sebastian nodded.

“Mind meld me.” Mike said, and he held his hand out for Sebastian to grip with his secret handshake.

When Mike had finished getting the runes aligned to channel the flux power through the grip it downloaded a two-way conversation that revealed everything to both Sebastian and Mike. Mike was able to control the flow of information like a flow control valve so that the connection speed wouldn’t overload either of the men. The transfer took several minutes. Sebastian could see the runes on his own skin in the images that were flooding his mind. Like looking at himself with Mikes eyes, and from his perspective. He saw that he would have the power of telepathy if he could control his own runes and manipulate them to his will. This was the first time he could see his own powers. He had been using this power since he had been abducted in 1790 but never been able to read himself.

“How can I see myself this time.” Sebastian asked as the transfer of energy and images flowed.

Mike changed the perspective of the transfer. He allowed Sebastian to get a current read on his abilities. Mike had powers that were someplace between a mimic and a doppelganger plus some powers of his own. Sebastian willed the exchange to end before he grew too tired. When they released each other, he was quickly refreshed.

“I have the power of telekinesis.” Sebastian said. “And you have my powers as well as your own.”

Mike nodded.

“What other powers do you have?” Sebastian asked.

“I think that I create them from the ones that I see, or at least my body does.” Mike said. “Some of them are not quite the same, but close. We need to keep this information away from malevolent beings. I am tempted to fly this ship into the sun to keep it from getting into the wrong hands.”

“That wouldn’t help anybody.” Rubin said as he entered the bridge from the corridor. “You have the ability to change the universe.”

“And if anybody gets their fat little fingers on my ability, they could change the universe for the worse. I don’t even trust myself with that information let alone people who have tried to steal my eyes.”

“It is all foreordained by the prophecy.” Rubin said.

“Like fate?” Mike asked. “I don’t believe in that stuff.”

“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t control our lives.” Rubin assured him.