The Plasma Master

  Chapter 27

  After setting Ned up on the ASI training simulator, Mirana retired to her quarters to recheck her plans for getting into Venom. The procedure was fairly well ingrained in her mind by now, and she found her thoughts wandering to that strange Earth boy she had brought along with her. Mirana had been thoroughly pleased with the success of her little speech back there. She had felt more than a little out of character discussing philosophical issues at all, let alone with someone she barely knew. Still, Ned had truly been on the brink of going home, and that decision had to be averted, even if it had required some inane rambling on Mirana’s part.

  Once he had made the decision, Ned had put aside all of the concerns that had been bothering him and focused completely on the task at hand, a quality Mirana respected a great deal. At the moment Ned was sneaking around inside a simulated enemy base, shooting everything that moved. He was quite good at it for someone so inexperienced, but he was going to have to get a lot better. Fortunately, Mirana believed she could do most of the fighting without Ned’s help, just as long as he could keep up with her.

  It annoyed Mirana a bit that she was thinking about Ned so much. More accurately, it annoyed her that she had to think about him so much, that it was so necessary that he be a part of this mission. On Sigma Omicron she had successfully completed a major mission with other people to worry about, but they had all been highly trained and required a minimum of instruction. Even so, fully a fourth of them had not made it back. Now here she was with a man who had never been on a mission remotely like this, and practically everything depended on his survival, not to mention the successful use of the Plasma force. Mirana could understand why Ned had been so uncomfortable with this mission. In fact, the only reason Mirana had been so dedicated to it while Ned had been so hesitant was that Mirana had long since known what Ned had realized just hours ago: there was no other choice.

  Mirana’s door beeped. “Mirana? Are you there?”

  Oh, great. “What is it?”

  “I was hoping I could talk to you for a moment.”

  “Fine. Come on in.” Mirana swiveled her seat around as Ned entered and pulled up a chair across from her. He looked a little nervous. “I’ve been monitoring you. You’ve gotten a lot better.”

  “Thanks.”

  “What do you want?”

  Ned stared at nothing for a moment, gathering his thoughts. “Mirana, why are you here?”

  “This is my room.” She was afraid she could see where this was going, and she didn’t like it at all.

  “No, I mean why are you fighting this war? I mean, if you’re really a mercenary like they say, wouldn’t it be a lot more profitable to work for the Anacron Empire?”

  Mirana’s eyes grew even colder than usual. “There’s a lot you don’t understand, Ned. A lot. The only thing you need to know about me is that I am very, very good at what I do, and the only way you’re going to get through this alive is to do what I say. I brought up a personal matter today so I could show you that it was in your best interest to come with me on this mission, but that doesn’t mean that all of a sudden we’re best friends.”

  “I know. I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Is that all then?”

  “Actually there was one other thing I wanted to ask you.”

  “I see.”

  “How is it that you know so much about the Anacron Empire? I mean, you said you’ve been inside Venom! How?”

  “Like I said, I’m good at what I do.”

  “That’s a little vague, don’t you think?”

  “Listen, Ned. If I had wanted you to know about my past, don’t you think I would have told you? It’s not much of a story, I assure you. Now I have work to do, and so do you. You’re going to be face to face with the most powerful man in the galaxy in less than a week. Start preparing.”

  Ned was obviously not satisfied, but he nodded and walked out of the room.

  Blue light filled the room and then coalesced around Ned’s clenched fist. More light flowed inward in streamers from out of the walls, floor, and ceiling. Ned closed his eyes and pulled it toward him, gathering the Plasma as Koral had taught him to do. It seemed like one good way to prepare for fighting Dark Viper would be to absorb as much of the Plasma force as he could. Undoubtedly Dark Viper already held more than Ned did, perhaps even all of the Plasma on Venom. The thought was not a pleasant one, so Ned was anxious to even things out as much as possible. Ned stood there for a long time. After a while the influx of power was little more than a slight trickle, but still he continued, anxious to push his capacities to the limit. Then abruptly the influx stopped. It was not that Ned could not absorb any more; it was simply that there was no more to absorb. It was a curious sensation, one he had never experienced before. At first he believed it was because he had absorbed all of the Plasma on Nemesis and that there was no more beyond its hull. That did not seem right, though. Even in space there was a little Plasma. Then Ned got another idea. He sent the power outward to test its limits, and then opened his eyes. He had been right. Not only could he not absorb power from outside Nemesis, but he could also not extend his own power beyond the ship’s hull. It was not a void that was limiting the amount of power he could absorb. It was a wall.

  The shadow field. Ned was not anxious to talk to Mirana again after their previous conversation, but he thought she might find this significant. He walked over to a computer console and called her up.

  “What is it now?”

  “Mirana, I was trying to increase the amount of Plasma I could absorb, and I found that I can’t extend it beyond the hull of the ship.”

  “Of course you can’t. Nemesis is in shadow drive. Didn’t you say you can’t pierce Shadow Plasma?”

  Ned stared at her for a moment. “Of course. I guess for some reason I didn’t realize that the shadow drive actually used Shadow Plasma. I guess it would have to, though.”

  “You look nervous.”

  “I guess I sort of am. I mean, what if it collapsed inward? What if some of it leaked out and touched me?”

  Mirana looked genuinely concerned. “Do you think that’s a possibility? We can’t do this if we’re visible, you know. Nemesis is the whole reason this mission was decided on.”

  “I don’t know. It seems like we have to go on like we are and hope nothing happens. How much do you know about the shadow drive?”

  “I know it works, and apparently it hasn’t affected you yet. It uses the warp field generators, which means that when I engage the shadow field the Plasma travels aft to the warp drive and then out in a bubble around the ship. When I turn it off it goes back in. No corridors intersect any of the warp conduits, obviously, so you should be safe.”

  “Okay, I guess that will do. But still, I can’t do much in the way of preparation while I’m stuck here like this. There’s nothing to practice shooting at, and I’ve absorbed everything I can.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  “I don’t know. I was hoping you might have some idea, but I don’t suppose you would. I guess I’ll just have to wait until I get to Venom.”

  “I guess so. I wouldn’t try using your Plasma there unless you want Viper to know where you are, though. Well, I’ve got a lot to do. You know how to get yourself dinner, then get some sleep. I think the best thing you can do right now is to let me do what I have to do. Understand?”

  “I believe so. Good night.”

  Mirana responded by flicking off her viewscreen.

  Delightful young lady, Ned thought sarcastically. “Let me do what I have to do,” she says. What she means is, “Stay out of my way and stop bothering me.”

  Ned headed off to the kitchen to get himself some dinner. He almost felt like despairing again that there was nothing he could do and that he was doomed to failure, but he had tried that already a couple of times, and it never did any good. Besides, he had always been wrong about it. In fact, after a few minutes Ned found it difficult to be angry at Mirana for being so unfr
iendly when she was the only person Ned was likely to see for a while. She was, after all, making a great personal sacrifice on his behalf in taking him to Venom, and she was showing tremendous faith in him as well.

  But why?

  The next day as Ned was training in the ASI simulator, Mirana interrupted him over the intercom.

  “Ned, meet me in the shuttle bay. I’ll explain later.”

  Ned smiled. How to describe Mirana Kelar in three words: “I’ll explain later.”

  Mirana met Ned just outside of the airlock. A viewscreen on the wall showed an asteroid field, with an especially large asteroid up close. “I found this asteroid field on the sensors. It’s not too far off course, and I figured you could use one last practice before going on to Venom. I take it you haven’t had a lot of practice lately, which is good; it will make this little experiment more accurate.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  Mirana looked at him quizzically again, and Ned was beginning to think that maybe that was Mirana’s version of a smile. “I’m dropping you off on a barren asteroid,” she said. “What do you think you should do?”

  “You mean you want me to destroy it.”

  “We’re not in sensor range of anything, I assure you. Now go. I’m timing you.”

  Ned activated his battle suit and walked through the airlock into the depressurized shuttle bay. All Ned could see through the open doors was a stretch of barren rock, and Ned wondered just how big this asteroid really was. He walked to the edge of the shuttle bay and jumped. As soon as he was out of the ship he felt the effects of near-zero gravity. The asteroid’s gravity pulled him slowly downward, but he used his suit’s maneuvering jets to speed up his descent. At last he was standing on the asteroid, and he was amazed. It was about as big in diameter as a small city, dotted with craters of various sizes. The horizon was amazingly close, and the asteroid’s curvature was visible. Still, it was a rather large thing to try to destroy.

  Using his maneuvering jets to guide his jumps, Ned moved over to a crater wall and placed his hands on it. He sent the Plasma into the rock and felt that the asteroid was full of it. Good. He reached out to draw it in, just as he had done on Nemesis. After having absorbed the power from Nemesis, the asteroid’s power was slow in coming. Ned focused his whole mind on bringing it in, but still the process was slow. It was a lot like cramming cotton balls into a shoebox, Ned thought. At first it was easy, but eventually it filled up. When that happened, you could keep cramming more in, but each time you had to compress them more, and the resistance increased. After about sixteen minutes Ned stopped.

  This isn’t working. I’m going to have to try something else. Ned knew that at the moment he did not have enough power to destroy the asteroid on which he was standing, and that very likely meant that he did not have enough power to defeat Dark Viper. He suddenly realized just how wise Mirana had been in stopping here; if she had not, Ned might not have realized just how inadequate he was until it was too late. He had to learn something new about the Plasma now, while it still mattered.

  Ned’s first thought was that there might be a limit to how much Plasma could be associated with a person’s body, just like there was a finite number of cotton balls that could fit in a shoebox. But Dark Viper had created Venom somehow, and Ned did not believe that something like that could be done by the power of a Plasma Crystal alone. Dark Viper must have had a lot more power than Ned did.

  Then Ned thought back to all the other advances he had made over the Plasma force. When he had learned to absorb power, and when he had learned to use Blast Plasma and Vortex Plasma, he had done so by thinking. It was almost as if realizing how something was possible was all it took to make it possible. Did that make sense? Maybe a little. If it were true, then perhaps all Ned needed to do was realize that he could absorb the asteroid’s power.

  I can absorb the asteroid’s power. Easily!

  It didn’t work.

  Perhaps, then, Ned had not been that far off in the first place. After all, he had been able to absorb some power, so he must have been on the right track already. Ned tried to articulate exactly what it was that he did in order to absorb power. He decided that he imagined an object full of a fluid, and himself, only partially full of a fluid, and he caused the fluid – the Plasma – to flow out of the object and into him. His present problem was that, in this hypothetical model, Ned’s container was full, while the asteroid still had a lot more in it.

  I can easily hold a lot more Plasma than I’m holding right now.

  That didn’t work either.

  It must be more than must saying it, then. Maybe I have to work with the model I have. Ned pictured himself and the asteroid again, each holding some supply of Plasma. Then he reached into himself in an attempt to tie the image in his mind to the actual power he was dealing with, then did the same with the asteroid. Slowly, Ned started absorbing power again, and adjusted his mental image to account for the exchange. It was like the Plasma inside him was compressing, but it didn’t want to compress any more. He tried to imagine it compressing more easily, or to imagine that his supply was not nearly full, but it did not make much of a difference. Maybe he really was carrying as much power as he actually could.

  To take his mind off of the immediate problem, Ned extended his arm toward a large boulder and fired. A blue streak of Blast Plasma tore into the boulder and melted it, showering the surrounding area with drops of molten rock. Unfortunately there was no air, so Ned didn’t hear a thing. Sad.

  But the explosion got Ned thinking. When the rock had exploded it had expelled Plasma, but that Plasma had not come from within it. It had come from Ned. Maybe Ned needed to think more along those lines. Rather than gather power and then use it, perhaps he could manipulate Plasma that was not in him. Really, he was doing that whenever he fired Plasma out of himself, so there was no reason it should not work in this context. He extended a beam of energy outward and enveloped another boulder. He created a shell of energy around it, and then slowly collapsed it, constricting the Plasma of the boulder. The constriction took place within the Plasmatic ether, so there was no visible effect yet, but Ned could feel the Plasma building in the center of the rock. Finally, when Ned could feel the power inside the rock exerting enough of an outward force, he removed the shell he had created. In the same motion, he pulled the Plasma inside the rock into normal space. The rock exploded, just like the one he had shot. Yes! It had worked! Now all Ned needed to do was to apply that principle again – only about a million times stronger.

  Turning back to the crater wall, Ned placed his hands again on the rock. He reached outward in all directions, blanketing the entire asteroid in a thin layer of Plasma. He continued to let the Plasma flow out of him, strengthening the blanket. At the same time, Ned absorbed as much Plasma from within the asteroid as he could. In this way, Ned was acting not as a receptacle for the Plasma or a source of it, but more like a conductor, merely pulling it from one place and sending it somewhere else, in a different form.

  Finally the Plasma blanket was strong enough all over the surface of the asteroid, and Ned began to contract it. It was a very slow process, given the enormous amount of Plasma he was trying to contain. Still, the Plasma inside the asteroid was not already compressed like the Plasma inside him was – at least that was how he thought of it – so it was fairly easy to press it toward the center of the asteroid. Ned worked steadily for ten minutes, then twenty, and eventually he completely lost track of time. Trained by the time he had spent on Galactron preparing for Moldrona Kren, Ned was able to keep his attention focused entirely on the manipulation of the Plasma force despite the monotony of the task.

  Even with the training, though, Ned had expected it to be more difficult than it actually was. There was something about the Plasma force – a beauty even – that Ned could not quite describe. Something about the way it flowed, the way it felt to him as he sensed it, that invigorated him and compelled him to work with it. It was like artwork to hi
m. He wished he could explain the feeling to others so that they too could understand. There was a loneliness to the enjoyment he took in the Plasma force. Koral had understood, but now the only people in the galaxy who could relate to Ned in that way were all his enemies. Ned had never really thought about it quite in that way before, and he found himself hoping that someday he would be able to show someone else how to use the power like he did, even if it was only so that he could share what it was like with someone.

  Ned’s thoughts trailed off as the asteroid’s Plasma started to resist his constriction. He was almost ready; he could feel it. He pushed it together for a moment longer, then stopped. Just holding it still did not require as much of his concentration, so he flicked on the com link to Nemesis.

  “Mirana.”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ve just about got it. Make sure you get a video recording of this; it’s going to look really neat.”

  “Whatever, Ned.”

  Ned maintained the Plasma shell for just an instant longer, then let go.

  This time, the explosion made plenty of noise. The escaping Plasmatic energy instantly broke apart all of the atomic bonds of every particle of matter it struck. Great pillars of light stabbed upward out of the asteroid in its weakest places as it disintegrated, but it was only a fraction of a second before everything disappeared in a white burst of light. Protected by a furiously sizzling shell of blue energy, Ned was flung far beyond the asteroid’s former location. Floating now in empty space, Ned was tempted to try to “stop” himself by firing jets of energy, but there was nothing to use as point of reference – for all relevant purposes, he was stopped already. So he just floated there, still rather dazed. Then everything abruptly darkened to black, and he found himself floating inside Nemesis’s shuttle bay. He righted himself as the artificial gravity kicked in so that he hit the ground standing. “You like doing that, don’t you?” He said over his intercom as he waited for the airlock to pressurize, then deactivated his suit.

  Mirana entered the shuttle bay. “One point three hours. Not bad I guess, but you might not want to make Dark Viper wait that long before blasting him.”

  “I had no idea it took that long.”

  “So did it help?”

  “A lot! I learned a whole new way of using the Plasma force! I bet I’m at least a hundred times stronger now!”

  Mirana raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m impressed.”

  “It was your idea! Thank…” Something about Mirana’s demeanor made him stop. “So… what were you doing during those one point three hours?”

  Mirana’s expression softened so much Ned was afraid it might break. She seemed almost sad. “Ned, come with me. I have something to tell you.”

  Dark Viper looked into the throbbing green light of his hand. The power there helped to calm him, to remind him that he was the Emperor, and that nothing could ever stand in his way. It helped sometimes to remind himself of that fact, because there were times when it almost seemed that his enemies had become a real threat. Or, in the case of the Shadow Master, his allies as well.

  Dark Viper had come to hate the Shadow Master very much since the events surrounding the disappearance of Nemesis from Sigma Omicron. Previously he had believed he was merely dealing with a very good computer pirate who every once in a while learned something worthwhile and offered it to him, perhaps hoping for a reward some day. But now that he knew that his mysterious messenger was a Plasma Master capable of invisibility, the only thing Dark Viper could think about was the incomparable amount of destruction the Shadow Master could have done for him and had chosen not to. Now the Shadow Master had contacted him, and he was wondering whether or not he should even respond. He finally decided that he would. He flicked on the monitor. As always, though, there was nothing there but blackness.

  “Greetings, Emperor,” rasped the Shadow Master’s voice.

  “And what invaluable news have you brought me today?”

  “Your sarcasm is ill-chosen, Emperor. You should rejoice. Even now your Shield Crystal is on its way to your doorstep. Thanks to me, of course.”

  “That would be good news indeed if it did not have a Plasma Master attached to it!”

  “Just a few days, Emperor. Shall I leave now, or would you like to know the other tidbit I have learned?”

  So it wants to me to beg it for information? Hah! “I suppose it is your choice. I can’t say I expect you to tell me, given your recent lack of loyalty.”

  “Then I will surprise you yet again. I have learned that Gerran Marnax is planning something special at Nembis Four. Something you will undoubtedly like to see.”

  “Is that all? Would you like to know how long I’ve known that?”

  “Fortunately, I have learned from a more reliable source that Nembis Four is merely a decoy. Gerran Marnax plans to draw your attention there so he can sneak Ned Simmons into Venom.”

  “You must be joking.”

  “Be ready for him, Emperor. Goodbye.”

  Dark Viper thought for a moment over the news he had just learned. Perhaps it was true; perhaps not. It did not matter. It took only a few minutes for a plan to form in the Emperor’s mind, one that would take into account every contingency and destroy StarBlazer once and for all. And then …

  Dark Viper almost laughed.

  Mirana had set up one of the vacant rooms on Nemesis as a lounge area, and it was to this room that she brought Ned. “Last night I thought about some of the things you said,” she began. “As I told you, I do not like to have others know much about me. Knowledge can be very powerful, and I don’t like to give power to other people. But you are putting a great deal of trust in me in coming on this mission. In fact I hope for your sake that you never have to rely on anyone this much again. So, I believe you are entitled to a degree of trust in return. I must have your word on this, though. You must promise to never tell anything of what I am about to say to anyone, even if you think they already know.”

  “I won’t, I promise. Not unless you tell me I can.”

  Mirana looked into his eyes for a moment as if to measure the worth of his promise, then continued. Her eyes were distant as she spoke, and the hint of sadness on her face seemed to increase with every sentence.

  “Mirana,” Ned said quickly. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I thought about our conversation too, and you have a right to …”

  She dismissed him with a shake of her head and went on. “I was born on Anacron and raised by my father. My mother died when I was very young. I was basically an average child, a little smarter perhaps. But I had friends, I went to school, I played games. My father taught me to live on my own when it was necessary, but it was always for fun. We went camping sometimes, just to see how long we could survive without modern technology. Then one day while I was out in the woods playing by myself there was an explosion in part of the city’s power grid. Many homes were destroyed. Mine was one of them. Something happened inside me that day. I did not mourn, I just locked myself up. I guess I was afraid of what would happen to me if I paid attention to how I felt at the time. I have since wondered whether that was such a good idea, but I can’t say I regret it. It kept me going when I might have fallen apart completely. I decided that I was alone, and that I had learned enough about life to live that way. A bit of that attitude I picked up from my father, but a bit of it was my own. I had always dreamed of being independent, and I decided to look on that day’s events as the beginning of the road to that goal.

  “I walked around and gathered everything of use that I could find that had survived the explosion. There was not much, but it was more than enough for me. I spent several hours at it, working in order to block away the fear and sadness that were threatening to overwhelm me, and then a scanner I was carrying detected someone coming toward me. I tried to hide, but of course they had a scanner too, and soon I realized they were going to find me sooner or later. So I waited in a ruined building until they were close, and then I used a t
echnique my father had taught me about temporarily jamming weak handheld scanners. I quickly approached them – there were two of them – and shoved my blaster into the leader’s face and insisted that he leave.” Mirana eyed Ned meaningfully. “It was Gerran Marnax.” She paused as Ned’s eyes widened in surprise, then continued.

  “He didn’t leave, of course. He stayed and talked to me, told me that a home could be found for me. I told him I wasn’t going to live with anyone I didn’t know. I said I wanted to live by myself. Gerran was always so kind; he told me that he could arrange for me to live in a small apartment by myself, and that he would make sure I got the things I needed. I told him I would not need much, but I accepted his offer for a place to live. As it turned out, the apartment he was referring to was a room in his home. Gerran and his wife Rinel moved their things out and let me live there for years, until I decided to leave. I was not always perfectly kind to them, if you can believe that, but they were like second parents to me. They saw my eagerness to learn about the world, and they taught me a great deal as well. During the time I lived with them I went to school, and I worked – as Trelan Thendrak’s secretary.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “No. Gerran was sitting on the Imperial Council at the time, Trelan’s old secretary moved to Jendaris Prime, and I had all of the necessary skills. And it paid a lot of money. I didn’t spy on Trelan then, of course. Both Gerran and I believed him to be an honorable man. But I learned a lot about him, and about the other councilmembers as well. Including Kayleen Rax and Markan Dren. In fact, I was present on many of the occasions when they were learning to use the Plasma force.

  “After a while I saved up enough money to buy a small starship, and I went out on my own. I stayed in touch with Gerran, though, and when he decided to leave, I decided to stay and watch Trelan, who by that time was starting to be called ‘Dark Viper.’ As much as I learned from my father and Gerran and Rinel, I taught myself a great deal more. My newfound skills included breaking into computer systems, piloting a starfighter, and fighting in hand-to-hand combat. As you can imagine, that kind of thing is occasionally useful in my line of work. In fact, I have been inside Venom a couple of times. I’ve intercepted one or two of Viper’s transmissions as well, but I’ve never been to see him personally since he retired to his fortress.”

  Ned was smiling, not because it was a pleasant story, but because things were starting to fit into place now. “That’s incredible! Back on Earth they make movies about people like you! I’m sorry I was skeptical about you, Mirana. I really appreciate the sacrifices you’ve made, like risking your life like this to bring me to Venom.”

  “I didn’t tell you that to entertain you.”

  “I know. I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Ned, as I watched the Plasma Masters develop their power, there were some things I noticed, some things that you should be aware of.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, let me ask you this: what was it like today as you used the Plasma force to destroy that asteroid?”

  “It was exhilarating! There was a huge amount of power flowing through me, and I was controlling it and shaping it – it was almost like music.”

  Mirana did not look impressed. “Ned, I have to assume that your planet’s history is not that different from the history of every other inhabited planet in the galaxy. What happens when someone gets a lot of power and really enjoys using it to destroy things?”

  “Mirana! It’s not like I was attacking people with it! It was just an asteroid!”

  “I know. With Kayleen Rax it started out with big rocks too. I really don’t think Trelan Thendrak started out with a burning desire to destroy everyone in the galaxy. Incidentally, I also don’t think you’ll turn out like him. But it’s something to be aware of. Power can be subversive. If you destroy the Shadow Master and Dark Viper, then you’ll be the only Plasma Master left in the galaxy. I don’t think now’s the time to plan how you’re going to use it, but you really should be careful every time you use the Plasma force. Make sure you’re using it for the right reason.”

  “I guess you’re right. Thanks, Mirana. Thanks for telling me this.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. You have two boring days of combat training ahead of you, and then you and I get to break into Venom. Once we’re in, I don’t think you’ll be in a very grateful mood.”