PART TWO

> “Four shall counter many. All four heroes must be present and willing, else the many will tear the universe asunder and take all with them unto death.”

- Ah Jun’s prophecies

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For Kessa, each day was better than the previous day.

She started her morning with a healthy breakfast of butterseed blooms, plus a strongly flavored brew which gave her an extra bit of energy. While she ate at her leisure, she received missives from spies who were stuck in Torth lands, pretending to be slaves.

She transmitted a response across the galaxy to give a spy more information. They needed to know which launchpads to sabotage, and which high ranked Torth ought to be distracted during a critical time window. Only a handful of planets had supercom access. Kessa knew which and when. She orchestrated dozens of covert operations which undermined the Torth Empire.

Few people gave the spies credit for the huge differences they made. Kessa never forgot them. If a spy retired, she ensured that they received parcels of land, military credits, or other substantial rewards.

After breakfast, Kessa invited her executive secretary to deliver a summary of important news. Instead of launching into a list of which cities were struggling or which territories were lost, Yanyashta had local news to report.

“Thomas failed to show up for his morning absorption of minds,” the pink-cheeked albino maiden reported. “Some of the overseers and premiers are upset about his absence.”

“Give me a moment.” Kessa used her wristwatch supercom to call Thomas.

He did not answer.

Kessa decided not to let that bother her overmuch. Whenever she saw Thomas, he looked more sallow and exhausted. Maybe he was sleeping in? He had definitely earned some time off, once he rooted out the so-called Stranger Danger.

She recorded a brief message expressing concern, and sent it to his inbox.

“What else?” she asked her secretary.

“A few lieutenants say that their penitents are acting oddly this morning,” Yanyashta said.

Kessa stood, alarmed. Penitents tended to react to events in the Torth Empire. None would ever admit to ascending into the Megacosm, since it was against the rules, but they were a conduit to the enemy empire.

“What are they saying?” Kessa asked. “Do they warn of an impending Torth attack?”

“Not that anyone has reported to me,” Yanyashta said. “The lieutenants just say that they seem distracted.”

“Distracted in what way?”

Yanyashta made a face. “Penitents are secretive. They won’t say.”

At least some penitents would say something out loud, if danger was coming. Kessa relaxed. Perhaps they were just reacting to unimportant gossip?

The behavior of condemned Torth might be more telling. A backlog of prisoners awaited zombification. If any of them seemed hopeful, or furtive, or anything unusual…

“Are there any reports from the Mirror Prison?” Kessa asked.

“No,” Yanyashta said. “Want me to ask?”

“Please.”

Kessa chatted with her secretary a bit more, but there was no more news, and nothing actionable. Soon she wrapped up the meeting. As she sped towards the palace on her hovercart, she made calls, suggesting elevated security measures.

Telepathy lessons were the highlight of Kessa’s daily morning schedule. She arrived late and hurried to a leftover seat near the door. Class was already in session.

How many fingers am I holding up? Garrett silently asked the class.

Kessa sensed his trickery right away. Garrett was not holding up any hands or fingers, yet he imagined himself to be holding up three fingers. Exercises like this helped to train Kessa and other students to separate fact from fiction, and fantasy from reality.

Answers bounced around the room. The emitters were pumping, filling the classroom with telepathy gas. After forty wake cycles of regular lessons, Kessa no longer struggled just to make sense of perceptual overload. She could separate who was who, and where each thought originated.

Garrett confirmed that Kessa and other top students were correct—no fingers—and he moved onto another thought exercise. Telepathy lessons were rapid. Thought was much faster than speech, once one got used to it.

How many game pieces? Garrett tossed tiny spiky things onto the floor, where everyone could see them.

Kessa saw forty-three at a glance. She sensed two other students come up with the sum right away, like she did. Others echoed the ones with a sum in mind. Still others counted the pieces, one cluster after another. They also came up with sum of forty-three, but it took them longer.

Varktezo met Kessa’s gaze from across the room. He had seen the sum right away, like her.

One of the counters, a govki, glared at them.

Peace. Garrett mentally acknowledged the feelings of inferiority and superiority swirling throughout the room. Cognitive differences are no big deal. Everyone has strengths that outweigh other people’s weaknesses and vice versa…

Kessa lost track of the lesson as a new presence entered her awareness. Whoever he was, he radiated a ludicrous amount of certainty. This was a person who believed that he could literally lift mountains.

Yet he was trying to talk himself into opening the door to the classroom.

He worried about Thomas, who had not responded to his latest messages and was not answering calls. He was willing to learn a useful new skill; telepathy. Maybe that would motivate him to face battles again? Maybe it would help him connect with Thomas? Except…

… Don’t want Vy reading my mind, he fretted. Don’t want my innermost fears made public.

“Oof.” Kessa slid off her chair. She had never read Ariock’s mind, but she felt quite sure that he was nearby. Who else would contain that mixture of immense strength and self-doubt?

She opened the door. Sure enough, there he was.

Kessa tilted her head back to give him a welcoming look. “Your inner doubts are driving us all crazy. Come in!”

Ariock flushed.

“Yes, we overheard your thoughts,” Kessa confirmed for him. The students nearest to the door had overheard his surface thoughts, anyway, and everyone else had overheard them. “We’d be happy to have you join us for lessons.” She took her seat again.

Yes!

 Please!

The rest of the class heartily agreed without speaking a word. Garrett had been most interesting during the one time he had expanded his awareness during a lesson. The Bringer of Hope was on another level. What would it feel like to vicariously experience his raw cosmic power?

Ariock’s face remained red. He ducked through the doorway, and Kessa sensed him compare the staring faces here to an unhappy memory. Other kids (humans) (fifth graders) had watched him slouch towards a desk that was too small for him. Those kids had smirked. And stared.

A bunch of boys had thrown trash at him after school.

Kessa exchanged glances of disbelief with other telepathy students. A powerful miracle-worker such as Ariock could not possibly fear ridicule. Could he?

It’s about time you (Ariock) joined My lessons, Garrett thought.

Despite the criticism, Garrett’s mind bubbled with happiness. He was genuinely glad that Ariock wanted to learn.

Great-grandfather. Ariock silently acknowledged his telepathic relative, but he seemed overwhelmed. He was clearly struggling with the overload of perceptions.

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Kessa understood what he was going through. As a beginner, she had also felt pummeled by outside thoughts. Ariock must feel as light as an ummin and as heavy as a nussian, at the same time. His vision must look fragmented, torn into multiple perceptions.

“Sit,” Kessa urged him.

Yes, other students agreed.

 Sit.

  Join us, Bringer of Hope!

Kessa sensed a focal point, guided by Garrett. Her classmates showed Ariock the sturdy bench where he would likely be most comfortable.

Ariock sat.

He continued to agonize over a plethora of inner doubts. Kessa overheard every worry in Ariock’s head. He wished he had asked Garrett for private lessons. He regretted coming here, because he had not expected this class to be so far ahead of his skill level. He felt boggled!

Kessa scrutinized Ariock. Had he honestly expected to outdo people with months of daily practice? He was a complete beginner. How could he expect to master a difficult skill within seconds?

Oh.

As Kessa thought about it, she realized that of course Ariock assumed that he was better than everyone else. He built cities and starships. He singlehandedly slew armies. Whenever people complained that a task was monumentally difficult, Ariock got it done. He was the messiah. He performed miracles on a regular basis.

Ariock hunched his shoulders, and guiltily acknowledged that Kessa’s assessment was true. He was aware of the common complaints about telepathy being a difficult skill to master, but in his experience, hard tasks were only difficult for other people. Not for him.

You see? Garrett thought to the class. Even the messiah (even a hero) can make a simple cognitive error. We all have strengths and weaknesses.

The class considered that.

Here’s another object lesson in cognitive differences. Garrett used his powers to gather the game pieces, then tossed a bunch of them onto the floor again. How many are on the floor?

Kessa saw the sum right away, effortlessly, in a glance. Thirty.

But she sensed Ariock counting the pieces in clusters. He felt overwhelmed and bombarded by extraneous thoughts, and that slowed him down, yet even so, Kessa realized that he did not see the sum. He had to count.

It didn’t come naturally to him. Not the way it was for Kessa and Varktezo.

Yup. Ariock and I are “morons,” Garrett thought with sarcastic good humor, demonstrating that he also needed to count. Just like the Torth.

The implication was plain. The Torth were not nearly as wise or clever as Kessa used to believe. Someone could rule cities or planets and yet be unable to count items in a glance.

The Torth believe that they are superior beings, Garrett thought as he used his powers to gather up the game pieces. Because of telepathy. But this power only enables a person (a mind reader) to borrow the wits, the knowledge, and the perceptions of (slaves) other people. It empowers one to be mentally lazy. Most Torth have flabby minds.

Kessa thought about her blue-haired owner. Sometimes that vain creature had commanded Kessa to do mysterious things. She would toss pins on the floor and demand that Kessa pick them up. She used to bring Kessa on shopping excursions for no apparent reason.

Had she borrowed Kessa’s ability to do sums? To see things the way Kessa saw things?

Let’s loosen things up with a perceptual exercise, Garrett thought. This half of the room should look through that window. He indicated. And the other half—

An alert pinged.

Ariock looked sheepish. He glanced at his huge wristwatch, and Kessa sensed his concern. The local garrison commander would not call unless there was a security or military problem.

Perhaps the hidden mind controller had attacked again?

Whatever was happening, it was not public knowledge. It wasn’t news. Kessa could see a plaza outside the windows, and a shopping bazaar beyond that. If there was an emergency situation, people would be running to the nearest shelter. Instead, pedestrians were strolling or shopping. There were no klaxons.

Ariock stood, preparing to leave the classroom. He wanted privacy in order to call the garrison commander.

? Garrett emanated concern, and Kessa felt the same way. Was the call related to Thomas’s absence from his duties this morning? Or maybe it had something to do with the reported unease among the penitent population?

Other students stared at her. Even Garrett and Ariock were alarmed.

 Thomas is missing?

  What do you mean, he’s absent?

   He missed work?!

    Penitents are uneasy? Why?

Garrett’s wristwatch pinged.

So did Kessa’s. Her secretary, Yanyashta, wanted a callback.

All right, class adjourned, Garrett thought. He used his powers to shut off the emitters.

Students emanated dismay as the telepathy gas died. Kessa overheard (oh no) (please don’t turn it off!) unrequited curiosity and unspoken pleas.

Kessa was not the only student who eyed the telepathy gas emitters with longing. Varktezo looked crazed by curiosity. The emitters were so easy to turn on. All that was required was a flick of a switch.

But she understood why telepathy might be problematic in an emergency. It was best not to exacerbate a panic by telepathically linking to twenty other people.

Perhaps this was why the Torth frowned upon intense emotions? No one wanted to be bombarded by panic.

“What’s wrong?” Ariock put on his earpiece, listening. No one was likely to overhear the other side of the conversation while he was standing.

Kessa clipped her own earpiece to one flap of her headdress. Unlike humans, she did not have an external ear, but head covers were useful that way.

She hurried to a corner of the room for privacy and called her secretary.

“Kessa,” Yanyashta said. “I wanted to let you know, there’s a, um, rumor going around about Thomas.”

Kessa’s skin prickled, as if the room was too humid. This must be something worse than the usual whispers about mind controlling the messiah or spying through the perceptions of lizards. “What rumor?”

Yanyashta hesitated.

The sky outside darkened. Clouds gathered over the mountains and rolled over the ocean horizon as well.

“Thomas is missing,” Yanyashta said carefully. “And, um, it looks like there was an altercation in the bunker where he slept last night.”

“An altercation?” Kessa glanced towards Ariock and Garrett. Their faces were as grim as the stormy sky. She halfway wished the telepathy gas was on, so she could read their minds as they spoke to their own military agents. “What do you mean?”

Yanyashta relented, reverting to plain language. “Bodies were found. There was a lot of blood, some char, and headless corpses. It looks like a mini battle took place there.”

Kessa’s throat felt stiff. She should have raised an alert the instant that Thomas failed to answer his supercom.

Except he was hard to communicate with, lately. He rejected meetings. He never answered messages or calls.

What, exactly, were the implications?

“The city is being searched,” Yanyashta was saying. “Discreetly. Obviously we don’t want any penitents to learn that he’s missing.”

Obviously.

The Torth Empire might launch a wave of attacks if they believed that Thomas had been abducted. Or if he’d been…

Killed.

No. Thomas could not be dead in any obvious way. His adolescence and his leg braces made his body recognizable, and surely the whole city would know if one of those corpses had been him. Kessa remembered to breathe.

But what if he’d been put under mind control?

What had the rogue brainwasher done to him?

“Wait.” Kessa managed to speak. “What about his hoverchair? Has anyone found that?” She wanted a clue.

“No,” Yanyashta replied. “But he was using a borrowed, generic hoverchair, so it will take a while to track down. It could be any hoverchair in the city.”

Kessa nodded, speechless. She had nearly forgotten that the most recent attempt to assassinate Thomas had resulted in damage. His signature smoky hoverchair was broken.

Just how many people wanted to murder Thomas?

Kessa never should have believed that he would ignore his many duties. Would he luxuriate in the Dragon Tower while people waited for him to show up for work? No. That wasn’t Thomas.

He should not have been sleeping alone.

He should not have been coerced into confronting the lurking brainwasher alone. That wasn’t right. Thomas was a capable hero, but he was not all-powerful or super strong, and he’d been forced to take on too much alone. He needed friends! Kessa wished she had insisted on prying into his private life. Could she have persuaded him to accept a friendly visit or two?

“I’ll let you know if there are any updates, all right?” Yanyashta said.

Kessa wasn’t sure what to say. “Thank you.”

She gave her secretary a few seconds to volunteer more information. When none came, she ended the call.

Outside, canvas stall dividers billowed in a gale.

Kessa hoped the Dovanacks would get their emotions under control. A violent storm might clue the Torth Empire into realizing that something was amiss in Freedomland. That might be disastrous … unless the Torth already knew.

Penitents were acting distracted.

Kessa ought to question them.

“I’ll check the Megacosm,” Garrett said.

“No,” Ariock said. “Don’t.”

“It’s a risk,” Garrett acknowledged. “I get it. We don’t want to accidentally tell the Torth Empire that our one and only super-genius is, uh, missing. But we have to—”

“The Torth aren’t his only enemies,” Ariock pointed out. “He might have been abducted by Alashani undergrounders.”

Or he might have been brainwashed by a rogue Torth. Nobody guessed that out loud, but Kessa figured she was not the only person with that terrifying thought. She saw the wariness in Garrett’s eyes. Varktezo looked grave, too. They both probably regretted allowing Thomas to deal with the brainwasher alone.

“Once the Torth Empire knows,” Kessa said, mostly for the benefit of her fellow classmates, “there is no turning back. They consider Thomas to be their main enemy. He’s their Conqueror. If they think he’s gone? They will feel emboldened.”

“They’d hammer us,” Garrett said, morose. “Relentlessly.”

It would be worse than ever. The Torth Empire was already emboldened because Ariock, the Giant, refused to go into battle zones anymore. Kessa did not say that. She was glad that no one could overhear her thoughts right now.

“Let me search for him.” Ariock sat back on the bench seat, which creaked under his weight. “Maybe he escaped, and is hiding in the city? He could be injured.”

“Right.” Garrett made a cigarette appear. Smoke trailed him as he paced. “Good idea.”

Kessa tried to imagine Thomas locked in some basement in the Alashani Quarter. It was remotely possible, wasn’t it?

Ariock closed his eyes. Students watched him with expectation.

No doubt Ariock was expanding his awareness across Freedomland. Any life spark that seemed strong enough to be Thomas would warrant a clairvoyant inspection.

What did it feel like, to encompass the city?

More than a few students flicked their gazes towards the emitters. Telepathy students were, by definition, overly curious. But all they could do was wait. Kessa checked her messages and considered how she might help.

Ariock roused himself after a minute. “I don’t think he’s in the city.”

“Are you sure?” Garrett demanded.

“Not one hundred percent,” Ariock admitted, frustrated. “He could have gotten hit with the inhibitor. Or he might be drained.”

Garrett swore. “He could be anywhere. What if some Torth figured out how to teleport with a passenger?”

Students exchanged fearful looks.

“For all we know,” Garrett said, “the Torth could have figured out how to boost their powers by linking.” He threw his hands in the air. “We don’t know!”

Judging by Garrett’s fretfulness, he cared more about “the boy” than he let on. He paced so furiously, he was wreathed in smoke.

“I should check the Megacosm,” he concluded.

“Not yet.” Ariock said firmly. “Find out if any spaceships are missing.” He closed his eyes. “I’ll scan local space.”

Ariock didn’t want to show the Torth Empire that his side was vulnerable and worried. That was prudent.

What if Thomas was trapped and terrified, in some cage?

But as Kessa surveyed her fellow classmates, she knew it was only a matter of time before the news trickled through the city and into the ears of penitents.

They had to find Thomas soon.