It sounded like a war was raging on the other side.
‘Thank the Emperor! It fills my heart with a new level of zeal just to hear you speak again!’ Canoness Diadinah’s voice came through, the distinct sounds of mass bolter rounds cracking in the background did little to douse her enthusiasm. She was currently leading a sizable Sororitas force directly hitting the uncovered heretical cults following the investigation leads recovered from the ritual site.
‘I am fine, it is good to hear from you.’ I replied to the vox unit, just in time for my enhanced hearing to pick up the half muted roars of flamers accompanied by the screams of death. I recoiled from the carnage, but the canoness spoke again with a total disregard of what was happening around her, ‘I should be back as soon as these sectors are done. I have to go now, there are heretics to be purged.’
‘Hope to see you soon, please take care.’
I ended the call and turned my attention to those around me. A few sister hospitallers were wrapping up my final medical examination, strangely the whole procedure was done under the supervision of a Mechanicus tech-priest.
Despite maintaining the basic human form the Magos was completely immune to the art of body language reading, but somehow a distinct feeling of happiness could be perceived from the cold exterior of the tech-priest.
Balpradus was rapidly pacing around while his two servo-skulls orbited me. One moment he looked like a seasoned connoisseur appraising a piece of fine art, the next instance he reminded me of a palaeontologist studying a supposedly extinct species, constantly switching his attention between observing me, reading instruments and making record logs.
‘Fascinating?’
Balpradus stopped his pacing, turned to look straight at me and asked,
Eh? I had been doing that all the time with Kryptorer’s stuff for a while now and got used to it. Now that Balpradus mentioned it, accessing functions on his drone without consent did seem to be quite rude. I quickly apologised for my transgression.
Fear? Why Fear? Wait… if I could so easily hijack his drone, that also meant I could technically take over his senses and even his body function, like that of a cyborg body snatcher in those cyberpunk stories? The notion of being a weapon jumped at me again, but the very idea of taking over someone’s body sent revulsion down my spine.
Before I could sort out my thoughts Balpradus canted again.
‘My deepest apologies, I have been rude and forgot my position.’
‘Please stop, I don’t mind. Are you working under Dominus Cykell?’ I asked while gesturing for him to stand.
Somewhat assured, he stood back up and answered, ‘I happen to have the dubious title of the most achieved Magos Biologis on Nusquam, the field of transhumanism is one of my areas of expertise. I was summoned by the dominus to help treat your injuries.’
‘I see. For that I thank you.’
‘I am not worthy of gratitude from one such as you. For all my knowledge I could do little but nudge the healing process in the correct direction, the miracle of Omnissiah’s grand design did the rest.’
If I recall correctly, Magos Biologis are something of a distinct breed of tech-priests since one of the Adeptus Mechanicus’ main creed being “the flesh is weak”, specialising in biology of all things was more than often looked down upon by their ranks. Curiosity got the better of me and I asked, ‘as a biologis, do you suffer any prejudice from your peers for specialising in this field?’
He seemed surprised by my question but answered, ‘while it is unfortunate some of my colleagues treat biology as a subject beneath their attention, all knowledge is equal before the Omnissiah.’ Balpradus then paused slightly before continuing, ‘that said, may I ask how are you aware of such information?’
Oh, it was written in the lore webpage - I almost said it out loud before stopping myself. ‘Just a hunch, with the common Mechanicus saying “the flesh is weak” and all that.’ I answered.
‘Oh yes. There is no truth in flesh, only betrayal. There is no strength in flesh, only weakness. There is no constancy in flesh, only decay. There is no certainty in flesh but death. So say the Credo Omnissiah.’ Balpradus chanted almost reflexively to the uneasy expressions of the sister hospitallers nearby, but he seemed either totally unaware of it or paid them no heed.
‘That said,’ he continued, ‘in you, I witness the level of perfection attainable only in machines derived from the divine source. How you could achieve cybernetic attunement without any implant is beyond me. Tell me, can you access the noospheric network?’
‘Noosphere?’ Now that was a really obscure piece of lore, supposedly an information and communication technology system developed during the closing years of the Great Crusade. I was quite sure no way Syrine could … a line appeared in my vision.
[Activate Noosphere connection? YES / NO]
Eh?
Dumbfounded, I selected yes from the options and in the next instance a never seen before interface appeared in my vision.
Ehhh~!!!??
* * *
I sat alone in a room, aware of the stringent security arrangements just outside the door. They were not taking any chances of me going missing again. After my examinations, I was brought here to wait for Inquisitor Thaberus and had the time to reflect on various matters.
In front of me were many noospheric information windows, floating in augmented reality only visible to me. I was at a total loss on how this technology worked, in essence it was an information network without the need of infrastructure. The network was utilised almost exclusively by the Mechanicus, to me it looked like a strange internet without any advertisement. If that was not weird enough, somehow I was able to access it without having any cybernetic implant.
You are a weapon for a different era that never arrived.
That statement from Big-E struck me again as I pondered its implications. The main question for me was, what type of weapon?
Definitely not a warlord like the actual primarchs, otherwise I would be another Giga Chad of uber stature. Instead I was slightly vertically challenged compared to even the common folks here, that and my own reflections reminded me of those social media models with their carefully crafted pictures. Say, Syrine can definitely make a killing as a media influencer back on earth.
So, an era where the great crusade had successfully concluded then? If… if the Emperor’s initial plan had worked as intended, peace and order would be achieved in the entire Milky Way by the might of the primarchs and their legions. Running low on tangible enemies that could directly threaten the Imperium, the Emperor should then turn his energy to his other biggest hobby - science.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Unshackled by dogmas and superstitions, scientific research will march with such speed the armies of Imperium would continue to advance until they reach or surpass even the fabled Age of Technology. Then the critical Webway Project would have been finished, the Imperium could then in theory move its inexhaustible, hyper-advanced armies anywhere at any time around the whole milky way.
In this new era, humanity would flourish and reach new heights. Instead of spending endless amounts of resources grinding on the eternal wars, we would have terraformed many more worlds, increasing our population in the countless trillions.
In return the number of armies we could raise would reach an unfathomable quantity. By then, the Imperium would be so resource rich and technologically advanced that your average guardsman would be equipped with power armour, whereas the current rare resources like terminator plate and artificer armour would become standard issue for all Astartes and other elite troops. In theory humanity would be able to deploy what would now be considered arcane grade weaponry like phosphex, vortex ordinances and others in unimaginable numbers.
The Imperium would become so powerful that nothing in the galaxy, not Orks, not Necrons, not Tyranids, not even all of them combined could stand in our way. Given time we would Dyson up all the suns in our galaxy and attain powers rivalling that even the fabled old gods.
As I was daydreaming about the glory of an enlightened Imperium, something tagged at my attention.
What is this peculiar feeling …?
I had a distinct feeling that someone, or something was trying to contact me psychically. The source of this calling was weak, or weaker than me. I could easily refuse the communication like turning down an unsolicited phone call, but something about it felt familiar. I took a moment to measure it, tasting its meagre power. A distinct texture of apprehensiveness mixed with a sense of urgency was seeping over and a figure popped into my mind: Astropath Arradus.
I weighed the possibility of it being a masked psychic attack but decided the odds of that were very unlikely. Taking the risk, I steeled myself and accepted the communication.
+Hello?+
+My… my lady!+
Yup, it was the astropath. I could even picture him clearly being half soaked with perspiration from the level of anxiety of his voice. +Arradus, it has been a while.+
+I … I heard the news. After sensing your active powers I could not help but attempt contacting you.+
+It is good to hear from you again. How is my favourite astropath doing?+ I replied, somehow naturally talking to him like bantering with one of my old pals.
+Please, my lady, I am beneath your praise. Anyway, you are not in any trouble are you? The inquisitor had collected that scary old lady a while ago and is probably heading your way.+
Scary old lady?
+No idea who you are talking about and no, I am not in any sort of trouble at the moment.+ I replied.
+Good to hear that.+ Arradus then hesitated for a moment before almost whispering the rest of his message in a hushed tone, +And… erm, while it might be not my place to say this, but please, be careful of the cardinal. He is rushing back from off world.+
His words reminded me of the archdeacon who mentioned an astropathic message in that hallway. Being officially the sole astropath on the planet, all astropathic messages had to go through Arradus, that meant…
+Arradus, aren’t you breaking the rule or taking a risk by telling me this?+ I asked.
He hesitated again for a while before replying, +well… sort of, maybe. But between a to-be canonised living saint and a known corrupted priest, it is easy for one such as me to place my loyalty for the Throne.+
The current cardinal has such a bad reputation?
I sighed internally on the foreshadowing of more troubles ahead before sending back. +Thank you, Arradus. Your advice is appreciated, but please do not risk yourself unnecessarily in the future.+
+Will do. That’s it from me for now. The Emperor protects.+ He sent and ended the psychic communication. That left me alone to ponder upon the revelation, so this cardinal’s reputation was terrible enough it preceded him. While I was not sure of the extent of influence he had on the planet, with the current backing of two dependable power brokers in the form of the Inquisition and the Mechanicus, in theory I should be fine.
After a short while, I could tell Thaberus had arrived at the monastery by the increase of highly encrypted vox messages in the air and the presence of psykers. Some more waiting later, the door finally opened and the inquisitor stepped in with his retinue of six people. Niandra and the psychic duo aside, there were three new faces.
Among the newcomers there was an old lady who wore round shades and a psychic hood. The psychic might radiating from her was on another level above the psychic duo. She was probably the same person Arradus was referring to as the scary old lady.
Then came a bald elderly man whose physique seemed too muscular with his supposed age. On his scarred and weathered face was a bush of greying beard, above that was a big nose accompanied by a pair of green eyes that looked at me with a steely gaze. A dark brown priestly robe together with a huge ministorum emblem hanging down from the man’s neck completed his stereotypical holy man look. The only thing that looked out of place for him was the massive eviscerator on his back.
The final addition was the strangest of all, a little boy with light orange hair looking no older than six years old. The boy was in front of the group and eyeing me curiously. Appearance wise he seemed totally unremarkable if not for the huge Inquisition emblem displayed on his simple grey tunic.
Niandra was as cold and pretty as I remembered, looking a bit tired yet somehow giving off the impression of a loaded spring, standing beside the inquisitor. Fulton and Tsalieh were in the back row, trying to appear chill but I couldn't help but notice they looked somewhat nervous. There was this uneasiness in the air which was beyond my grasp. I tilted my head a bit, activated thought acceleration to analyse the situation and soon figured out the gist of it.
This is a test.
Thaberus was being careful, just in case I was tainted and became twisted by the warp with my close encounter with the greater daemon.
What if I was really compromised? Do we start a deathmatch here and now?
While that notion gave me the chills, it must be nerve wrecking for them. These new people must be some previously hidden big guns. Here was a more powerful, probably primaris grade psyker while the pious-looking old man must be a hierophant who specialised in daemonic threats. It reminded me of what I read in an old book titled Codex: Witch Hunters. Then there was this weird case of a little boy who looked kind of emotionless as the vanguard.
Why would Thaberus bring a child? Unless…
Curious about the small kid and having nothing to hide, I smiled and walked towards my final test. Thaberus bowed slightly while pulling down his hat with his left hand, then drew a deep breath and exhaled slowly while his right hand hovered discreetly close to an inferno pistol before addressing me.
‘Syrine.’
‘Inquisitor. I appreciate that you are still honouring my request. So, who are these new people? And why is this kid here?’ A peculiar new feeling hit me as I got closer to my visitors. I noticed the slight increase of gravity drag and the feeling that something was being drained away from me. The weird sensation increased in its intensity the closer I got to the unsmiling boy.
What is happening? Is he a…
Resorting to a familiar skill, I ran [Analytica] on the little boy but no text appeared. I knew it. Being this close to the boy, I became aware some of my powers were being drained away, however the replenishment rate seemed to outpace the stripping.
In the tugging between energies, a familiar and nostalgic feeling emerged: the sense of normality. Every time when psychic energy was pulled away from me, for a microsecond it felt as if I was a normal person again, feeling the mortal mundaneness and a stronger pull of gravity on my body.
I found myself captivated by the sheer nostalgia of it and reached my hand out to the boy, savouring the familiar feeling. Upon seeing my action the boy hesitated and stepped back with fear in his eyes, but I distinctly felt he was afraid of hurting me, not the other way around.
‘What is your name?’ I asked.
He seemed surprised, raised his head and stammered. ‘I am Zaki.’ ‘Zaki, nice to meet you. I am Syrine. Tell me, are you … a carrier of the pariah gene?’ The boy’s eyes widened, he then looked down and slowly nodded. It kind of broke my heart. Poor kid must have had it hard, all his life being repulsed by the people around him due to the anti-psychic field generated by his rare genetics, making everybody around him uneasy and practically a walking bane to all psykers and warp entities.
Judging by the fact that the trio of psykers were still functioning this close to the boy probably meant his pariah’s nullifying effect range should be quite small and weak, he was still a small boy after all. That said, to me Zaki was a precious gateway for a brief taste of normalcy. I reached out and lightly touched the boy’s hand. That was an action that would have been painful for a typical psyker, but I only felt an increase in the false sense of mortality.
While my action surprised everyone present, the boy practically looked stunned. Then it dawned on me this might be the first time in a really long while since someone had actively sought out to touch him. That probably explained why the kid looked perpetually sad. His life so far probably consisted of mostly social isolation and episodes of being shunned by other people. Humans are social creatures after all, growing up like that would be mental torture.
You poor thing.
‘Zaki, let’s be friends.’ Not waiting for a response, I knelt down and pulled the cute little boy into an embrace to comfort him, while simultaneously enjoying the nostalgic illusion of being a mortal human again. The trio of psykers practically flinched at my action but I couldn’t care less. This feeling of normality, it has been too long.
For a moment I was my old self again, being that geek back on earth with my normal self, a mortal, a nobody in society. Someone who would leave no trace on the history, utterly mundane but human. Emotionally I was hit so hard a familiar message appeared in my vision. [Regalis] Action override-
I welcomed it, for it had blocked tears from flowing.
‘It is alright, it is alright. Everything is fine.’ I said softly, more to myself than Zaki. The little boy tensed up at first, gradually he relaxed and finally embraced me back before starting to cry while hugging me tighter. Already I could feel my powers had completely neutralised Zaki’s pariah effect.
Like the flow of a river being temporarily obstructed, my suppressed psychic might pushed through the obstacles, triggering [Psykana Activa]. Powering up, a sensory world unique to psykers opened up to me. I no longer had the illusion of being a mortal human, but was grateful to Zaki for the brief experience.
Nearby, three psychic resonances flared into existence, two of which I was familiar with while the third, despite being the strongest of the three, flickered unstably as if in fear. I looked up at my visitors and wondered for a moment why the old lady was shaking uncontrollably before remembering this was the first time she witnessed my active state. Ignoring the trembling primaris psyker, I held the crying boy up, pinched his chubby cheek slightly while turning to the inquisitorial gang.
‘It is alright, Zaki. Tell me, did any of these people bully you by calling you soulless?’
The trio of psykers were unable to hide their grimaces at the sight of me holding up the boy. I imagined if they were to do it, the experience would probably be akin to hugging a molten stone. Zaki stopped weeping and answered in his childish voice, ‘no, but no one ever played with me.’
Niandra slightly raised an eyebrow while the elderly man visibly relaxed and formed the sign of aquila. Thaberus sighed softly, his right hand pulled away from the holster to reach into his trench coat and pulled out a flask. Ignoring Niandra’s full glare, the inquisitor took a big gulp from the flask and said his greetings.
‘Good to see you up and well again, princess.’