Special Delivery sped toward Jiirdrian at incredible speeds. The occupants assumed that an attack was imminent and scrambled for an appropriate response that would not get them all killed. The trip to Jiirdrian was expected to take 70 Earth days. They were on day one when they became aware of the trap, but they slowed until they discovered that they would be discovered if they forwent the trip causing them to lose a day of travel. If the deceleration vector were corrected, they could still make it on time and there would be a chance that they would not get discovered.

“What are we going to do?” Rebecca asked. “We have about fifty days to come up with a plan.”

“We need to figure out what everybody’s gifts are, and work from that.” Lane said.

“Well, how do we do that?” Todd asked.

“I can map out runes, but I don’t know what they do.” Mike said.

“I can figure out what they do if the powers are already manifesting.” Sebastian offered.

“How do you do that?” Rebecca asked.

Sebastian looked at this right hand as he held it up. “With this.”

“Let’s try it.” Mike said as he offered his hand to Sebastian.

They grabbed each other's hand as before with the thumb and forefinger pressing on the first knuckle. Mike noticed how the runes in those places lined up as the grip began. He was concentrating on the runes when the grip began transmitting to Sebastian, and this time he was not drawn into Sebastians history but watched the runes interacting with each other. When the grip was completed, it emitted a faint blue light that penetrated their hands and extended through the room passing through everything. He adjusted his grip in the handshake which altered the amount of light that the 8 runes involved in the grip, four on each person’s hands. He adjusted Sebastians' grip with his other hand while he was in his trance. When he had aligned the runes completely, the light intensified into a flash that caused Mike to pass out. Sebastian came out of his trance and caught Mike as he slumped, breaking his fall.

“What just happened?” Rebecca asked.

“That was amazing.” Sebastian said. “I have never had such clarity. How did he make everything so clear?”

Paige gathered up Mike and set him in one of the chairs while he came back to his senses. She smoothed his hair out of his face in a motherly fashion. He opened his eyes and sat up strait. He looked over to Sebastian.

“You are going to be the key to our success.” Mike said.

“I saw your abilities.” Sebastian said. “Right at the end. I saw them.”

“What are his abilities?” Rebecca asked.

“He is a prophet.” Sebastian said.

“That wasn’t his prophecy.” Lane said. “Jonathan put that in the box a hundred years ago.”

“As true as that is, he is a prophet.” Sebastian repeated.

“Well then, start to profess.” Rebecca said.

“Um.” Mike stammered. “This is news to me. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“The original prophecy was that you would come to lead the universe to salvation.” Rubin said. “You are the reason we are looking at Earthers in the first place.”

“Bullshit.” Lane said again as he shook his head in disbelief.

“How am I supposed to profess when I don’t know anything.” Mike said.

“Do that alignment thing with our hands as we mind meld with Sebastian.” Rebecca suggested. “Me first.”

Paige gave them a concerned look as they sat down for the exchange. Mike helped them to get the runes on their hands aligned when they began the transfer. The light was faint like the previous time, but this time it was a light purple color. It was not as intense when it was brought to full power, but Mike figured it was because the runes on Rebecca’s hand were not as well pronounced as the ones that were on his hand. They shared an intense look on their faces, but Sebastion’s body was more relaxed. Rebecca’s eyes were moving beneath her eyelids as if she were in REM sleep. The exchange lasted for at least 5 minutes before the two of them released it. Rebecca slumped in her chair exhausted. Sebastion stood up, looked at a smaller monitor and began searching for something on the computer.

“What did you see?” Lane asked.

“Rebecca has an affinity for electricity.” Sebastian said.

“What do you mean by an affinity?” Paige asked.

“I have never felt such a strong bond in my life.” Sebastian said. “I need to take a break before trying that again.”

“I can feel it.” Rebecca said. “I can feel the electricity inside me. I just don’t know what to do with it, or how to use it.”

“Why don’t you have the prophet show you how to tap into that while Sebastian rests?” Lane suggested sarcastically.

Mike examined the runes on Rebecca’s hand, and then the runes on her arm followed by her other arm and hand. The ones on her hand that she used for the link were unchanged, but the color of the others had changed from before the transfer.

“Is there a part of this ship that wouldn’t be affected by a discharge of electricity?” Mike asked.

“Seriously?” Lane asked. “Like a lightning bolt?”

“I’m not really a prophet Lane.” Mike said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I just don’t think we can afford to take any chances while we hurtle through space at incredible speeds. We have little chance of being rescued if something goes wrong.”

“The cargo hold can handle anything.” Rubin suggested. “It is separate of everything important on the ship when it gets disconnected. We can go down there and sever the connections to do a test.”

Everybody on the ship wanted to see Rebecca use her power so they all followed along. It only took a minute to sever the connections to the cargo container portion of the ship.

“You are a prophet.” Rubin said. “And the prophecy states that you will return to Earth.”

“What does the prophecy say about the rest of us?” Todd asked.

“Our fates are tied together, but not all of us make the return voyage.” Rubin said.

Stolen story; please report.

“Who dies?” Paige asked.

“The prophecy is full of holes.” Sebastian said. “Just like every other prophecy it has holes in it so that the end result will be open for interpretation.”

“Of course, is does.” Lane said.

Mike had Rebecca stand like a mannequin while he moved her arms and hands in slow circles and no real pattern. Rebecca had a concerned look on her face, but she followed along attentively.

“What are you trying to accomplish?” Todd asked as he watched.

“Well, I don’t know if I ever mentioned this before, but I am not a prophet.” Mike said as he swiveled her arm close to her torso until he saw a flicker of violet light emanating from the alignment of a rune on her arm and one on her torso under the sweatshirt she was wearing.

“I felt that.” Rebecca said as the flash happened and then disappeared equally quickly.

“Are you wearing a bra?” Mike said as he looked at her face.

“I didn’t bring a bunch of bras.” Rebecca said. “I thought I was going to be spending most of my time floating around weightlessly.”

“Well did you bring one?” Mike asked. “We were also going to be doing a lot of work on Mars.”

“I did, but they are on the rocket ship. I wasn’t expecting to take a detour on my trip to another planet.”

“And yet, here we are.” Lane said shaking his head.

“Well, this will be a lot easier if I can see the runes.”

“I have one you can use.” Paige offered. “I’ll go get one from the barracks.”

Rebecca lifted her shirt enough for Mike to see the rune that had triggered. Her torso was firm and tone. There was a shimmer around the rune. Mike examined it closely. He could envision the energy moving through the gaps in the pattern like the fuel in the engines. When he got the rune aligned with one on her elbow, it caused a beam of violet light to shine through the air, penetrating the room's supports and probably the walls as well. He held it there for a moment while Rebecca sensed the power and supported her arm in that pose while he looked at the beam of light. She held still while Mike gave her an assessing look from many angles before noticing another rune on the other side of her elbow. He moved her arm to get them aligned but it threw them out of alignment with the one on her torso. It took several minutes to get them all aligned simultaneously, and it wasn’t until after Paige had given her a bra to wear so that she could expose the runes on her torso for Mike to see.

He held her arm in a position that had 3 of them aligned. The light changed angles in her elbow like it was traveling through a prism.

“Everybody needs to stay out from in front of Rebecca.” Mike said as he flexed her wrist. He moved her fingers to point at the wall in front of them and made a final correction to the angle of her wrist. Rebecca tensed up and let out a scream that started quiet but grew louder until she had a glow that only Mike could see. Then suddenly lightning flew from her hand and struck the far wall of the cargo container with an eardrum exploding crack.

Rubin went to the wall and gave it an assessing look. It was blackened with smoke and oxidization. The room had the odor of ozone, and a thin line of smoke rose from Rebecca’s hand. She lifted it and inspected it, but it seemed unaffected.

“That didn’t even hurt.” Rebecca said in amazement.

“Your runes are gone.” Mike said. “Well not gone, but very faint.”

“That’s not something that Earthers do.” Rubin said. “Earthers have powers that are benign.”

“Except the prophet?” Lane asked.

Rubin nodded.

Mike watched as the color filled the runes in Rebecca’s arms and waist.

“I’m going to circle these with a marker.” Mike said to Rebecca. “Then you can practice the alignment on your own.”

“Are you ready to do that again Sebastian?” Lane asked.

“I suppose.” Sebastian answered. “Who should I check next?”

“Me.” everyone said simultaneously.

The routine was the same each time Mike repeated it. Each of them took off their shirts and exposed their torsos to Mike while he looked at the markings on their bodies, arms, and hands. Todd went next. Mike had him stand like a mannequin while he looked at the runes that went along with what Sebastion suggested each power was. Sebastian had limited his exposure to the effects each time as he refined his own abilities. This gave him an opportunity to do them in closer succession. The actions were more taxing on Mike than he would have expected. He did not know how many more of these he could do before recharging his batteries so to speak.

Todd had been in security for most of his adult life and was a natural at it. That was why he was the chief of security and brought on this mission. Mike did not think he was as immune to threats as Sebastian and Jonathan told him, and he wanted all the protection he could get. When Sebastian identified that Todd had the sworn protector attribute it confused him as to what that meant. It was difficult to know what to expect for an ability that was not as strait forward as the lightning one. Mike studied the runes to see if they had any similarities. He did not see any on his torso that worked with the ones on his hands or arms, but there were some that complimented each other on his left hand, and similar ones on his right hand. He moved them together in a spiral pattern until he saw a white flash from his left hand when his thumb was pressed on the palm of his pinky finger. Todd felt the flash of power and instinctively held it there while Mike looked for a connection. There seemed to be a shimmering that led up his arm to his shoulder. Mike scootched him down so he could see his shoulder better. There was a dim sparkle like a sequin on his collar bone. Mike moved Todd’s elbow away from his torso while he held his hand in the same position that started the shimmering. When his elbow was strait out it grew bright. The rune on his shoulder became vivid, and a huge shield appeared out of nowhere. It was made of light and attached to Todd’s arm rather than his hand. It had a look that was like the graphics in battle zone. Lines of light that were on the outside and the rib work of a forcefield shield.

“Cool.” Todd said. He held perfectly still as he admired the shield on his arm.

“Try moving it around.” Mike said. Don’t worry about your thumb position any more. The shield will stay up until you will it, it expires, or you run out of flux.”

Todd moved it around. He could see through it and walk forward like a riot shield. He could shield bash with it. He could block thrown shoes with it.

“Will it to go away so you don’t run out of flux.” Mike said. “I want to try something else too.”

The shield vanished and Mike looked at his right hand. He moved his thumb to the pad on his palm next to his ring finger and it did the white light shimmer thing again. This time he moved Todd’s hand out straight over his head. When his elbow was completely strait an impossibly huge sword outline appeared in his right hand. He could swing it effortlessly even though it had mass. He barely had a chance to swing it a few times before it disappeared with a pop. It caused pain in Todd’s hand when it did. The runes were extremely dim.

“Did you feel it draining your power?” Mike asked.

“I did. It hurt when it was depleted.”

“You need to learn to recognize when it is about to be depleted then.” Mike advised.

“Where did those armaments come from?” Rubin asked.

“These runes.” Mike pointed.

“Earthers cannot do these things.” Rubin stated again.

“Who can?” Lane asked.

“Only the divine can do any of these things that you are doing.” Rubin said. “One or two worlds that I know of. Maybe a few dozen throughout the galaxy.”

“How did they get the power to do that?” Lane asked.

“Nobody knows.” Rubin answered. “They have been able to do it for tens of thousands of years. Every planet that has people who can do that are at war. Combat is the only thing that they know.”

“Do you think that there might be people who would like to have this power for themselves?” Paige asked. “People who might kill to get it for themselves?”

Rubin nodded.

“Then we need to be ready for a confrontation when we get to Jiirdrian.” Todd said. “We need to know everything that we can learn before we get there and have a plan for getting away.”

“Agreed.” Lane said.

“The seven of us against the galaxy?” Sebastian asked. “I hate those odds.”

“Let’s do one more, and then I need to rest.” Mike said.

“Do me.” Paige said.

Lane resisted making a comment. Paige was middle aged but well preserved. She had light brown hair in an easy to care for style, and hazel eyes. She was slender and fit. Sebastian had suggested that she was empathetic and an herbalist.

The runes on her hands didn’t have anything in common with the others on her body. She had three identical runes on her left hand. They were stretched out and distorted as they wrapped around the pad of her thumb, middle finger, and pinky finger on the second pad from the tip. She assumed the position with her posture holding where Mike positioned it. When he got her hand stretched out as wide as it would go there was a blue green sheen forming between her fingers. He straightened her elbow with her arm parallel to the floor.

“Todd.” Mike said. “Get a meter in front of her hand.”

Todd had a confused look on his face, but he did as he was told.

“Paige, can you feel that?” Mike asked.

Paige nodded.

“Then let her rip.” Mike instructed.

She narrowed her eyes and willed the action to take place. The sheen in her hand flew forward and struck Todd in the chest. When it did, she closed her grip and put her hand to her side. The runes on her skin were diminished slightly, but the ones on Todd had been rejuvenated, and they continued to get brighter each second for 6 seconds until his energy level was completely replenished.

“Earthers can’t do that” Rubin said again.