The shuttle jolted as they sat in silence while it hurtled backward towards the archive sector. “We should scrap the recovery mission, Captain. The longer we’re here, the stronger they become. We’re here to destroy the ship. That should have been a priority from the get go,” said Munroe.
“We’d be losing a lot by doing that,” said Captain Miller. “We’re staying the course, Corporal. No matter what lies ahead.”
“No issue, Cap, but how do you expect us to survive this when these things can attack our minds?”
The Captain faced a huddled over Vadir Kor. “I was hoping our new friend here might help.”
Vadir folded his hands together and looked up at the man. “It’s difficult fighting psionics as a blank. We have two actual choices. I can go under and project myself to fight any supernatural force they throw at us. Meaning, some of you will need to remain with me to guard my body.”
“And the alternative is?”
“I explain how you can shield your minds from what tried to influence me to kill you.”
Lieutenant Jackson leaned forward. “Now this I got to hear.”
Vadir straightened and looked from one man to the next. “These monsters rely on psychic energy to attack the mind. Even if you yourself can’t draw from the Aether, your will can fight it. Imagination is both its strength and weakness. A powerful imagination can keep the madness at bay.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Explain what we need to do,” said Mason with an offhand gesture.
“You’ll think I’m mad, but it might just save you,” said Vadir Kor, standing up. “When my parents explained it to me, I didn’t fully understand it, but,” he said, pointing to his head, “Up here will. Picture yourself in a safe place, far away from here or anywhere else. How would you defend it? What would you do to make sure no one got through?”
“I’ve heard of this concept,” said Mason. The others looked at the engineer to explain himself. “The Net, works in the same way. Before the wagon, I ran down some deep dive missions in the ProtoAsia Net architecture. Like us, they hid stuff behind data forts and other means of protection. I’m talking about fully visualised virtual mines reminiscent of naval mines that would rend your data and leave you catatonic. Probably the scariest period of my life. You want us to think in those terms.”
“If we make it out of here, I want to see this net for myself.”
“Why?” asked Mason.
“Because in the stories about our past, passed down to us by our elders, they sometimes described a virtual interconnected system. The VIS. It used fragments of something that already existed as the foundation.”
“That sounds awfully similar to how we did it.”
Captain Miller stepped in between the men. He placed a hand on Vadir’s shoulder. “We can talk tech later, this concept of mental warfare. You’re sure this will work.”
Vadir brushed the hand off and connected to the mind of the Captain. ‘It only works if you believe it will. I can’t do much more than that.’
The connection ended and Vadir returned to where he was and sat down. “It will work, Captain. Like I say, you just need the strength of will to make yourself indomitable.”