The Light-Field

  ‘He did.’ She had a chuckle at his misconception. ‘I’m married to the professor’s brother, Swithin Gervaise.’

  ‘Oh? Phew.’ Kale brushed off his embarrassment. ‘Congratulations.’

  ‘You are Kale Tane, our pilot?’ Amie guessed.

  ‘Absolutely correct,’ he confirmed, whereupon Amie handed over two sets of key cards.

  ‘These are to your units. Lucian and Taren have a few meetings to get through this morning, but will be down to see you as soon as they are free.’

  ‘Excellent, I’ll be off.’ Kale headed for the lift, but was distracted by the professor’s office door opening.

  ‘Dr Madri.’ Amie turned her attention to Kassa, as the chime from the reception desk alerted her to an incoming call. ‘Lucian and Taren will be with you in just one moment.’

  ‘No problem,’ Kassa assured Amie, who moved to answer the call.

  When Kassa looked back to Kale, she was shocked to find him chatting with the same young man she’d seen herself marrying, when Kale shook her hand earlier! Yet, the men were introducing themselves, so she could only assume that this was their first meeting also? A paradox. She silently considered how very attractive and young the fellow was, and she felt that the notion of them becoming an item was quite ridiculous.

  Once he’d shaken hands with Kale, the fellow appeared a little dazed. When he chanced a glance Kassa’s way, he appeared as stunned to see her, as she was to see him.

  What, in the name of science, is going on today? Kassa wondered if this was what walking into your destiny felt like? She had considered this morning that she was doing nothing less this day, for this position ticked all her boxes and more.

  ‘Kassa!’ Lucian emerged from his office to greet her.

  ‘Lucian.’ She couldn’t keep the smile off her face; he was such a good friend, and her escape from the high pressure and rigid ways of the Maladaan Space Program. ‘It’s so good to see you.’

  ‘The feeling is mutual.’ The professor embraced her briefly and then directed her to his office. ‘Come, let’s talk contracts, and then I’m taking you to lunch.’

  ‘Sounds marvellous!’ She entered the office, also very eager to meet the professor’s wife.

  She had read Dr Taren Gervaise’s many theses and science articles over the years and, never failing to be fascinated by her research, Kassa considered it was a real honour to be finally making her acquaintance. For the doctor’s work into unexplained phenomenon had been borderline seditious when she’d first begun publishing and from any psychic’s point of view, Taren Gervaise was extraordinarily brave. Despite how her brilliance had been misused on Maladaan to trap psychics, on every other planet her research was aiding to banish centuries of fear and superstition.

  When first introduced to Dr Lennox, Kassa was surprised to be embraced like an old friend. During that embrace she experienced the same strange bombardment of future memories of knowing the doctor, as she had with Kale. There was definitely something odd going on!

  As a telepath, Kassa should have been able to read the thoughts of those in this room. However, when she stilled her mind to listen, all she perceived was the faint sound of beautiful ethereal choir and the feeling of utter peace. She had experienced some sort of psychic transference today that she had never had before.

  ‘I’m sorry, Kassa.’ Taren Gervaise was very informal, which Kassa liked. ‘I know what my embrace is probably doing to your headspace, but I just can’t help it, it’s so good to finally meet you.’ Taren let her go. The good energy flow stopped and Kassa felt a little light-headed.

  She was just overwhelmed, as she didn’t quite understand what Taren had said to her. ‘I am the one honoured to meet you.’

  ‘You’re probably wondering why I asked you to wait and speak with us before agreeing to come on board the project?’ Lucian cut in and directed Kassa to a seat, where she sat herself down before she fell down.

  ‘Yes, I have actually, as I cannot think of anything that might put me off signing up.’

  ‘What if all your crewmates had Powers?’ Taren Gervaise asked, before disappearing into thin air.

  ‘Oh my stars!’ Kassa gasped in shock and excitement, and gave a nervous laugh as Taren returned to grace their presence.

  ‘I am also precognitive and have worked with you in the future,’ she said, calm as you please. Kassa’s heart felt like it would pound a hole in her chest.

  ‘That explains a lot.’ Her eyes turned to Lucian, who was smiling calmly also.

  ‘I see dead people,’ he told her, ‘and through walls.’

  ‘Not in my wildest dreams —’ She failed to get her sentence out, as her inner joy suffocated her words. She looked from Lucian to his wife and back again, shaking her head in disbelief. ‘The entire crew?’

  Lucian nodded to confirm. ‘We all take the same risk, but on the upside, you have an entire crew to protect you and your secret. As far as we know, a group of psychics have never been able to come together in wilful cooperation before. We’ve always been too repressed to unite.’

  ‘It’s unprecedented,’ Kassa agreed — so inspired by their vision, she had tears welling.

  ‘But of course,’ Taren mentioned the sticking point, ‘in order to be a fully productive member of such a crew, you too would have to share your secrets with the other children.’

  The notion struck Kassa’s heart full of excitement and yet fear was hovering; clearly they already knew she had a Power, or they would never have exposed themselves to her. ‘It’s overwhelming.’ She breathed deeply, wanting to be as calm and grown up about this as her hosts were being. ‘I’ve never known anyone with a Power, I’ve always had to hide …’ Her panic was suffocating.

  ‘I know, Kassa.’ Taren knelt before her and took hold of both her hands. Again the doctor’s touch had an incredible calming effect and made Kassa feel rather light-headed. ‘But we are here to offer you an environment where you can put your Power to good use, instead of having to repress what you know to escape persecution.’

  ‘To teleport you must be Phemorian royalty.’ Kassa voiced her understanding of the great risk Taren had taken in confiding in her. ‘To expose yourself to me, a stranger, you are either insane or very, very brave.’

  ‘No.’ Taren rejected her analysis. ‘Just determined to make a difference. How about you?’

  ‘I … I never considered I could make a difference to other people like us?’ Kassa felt her resolve harden. ‘Can you use a good telepath?’ She grinned broadly at her own coming out.

  ‘Always,’ Taren assured her, ‘although you will not be the only one on board.’

  ‘You are our one and only doctor, however,’ Lucian added to make her feel special, but Kassa was still caught up in Taren’s remark.

  ‘You have another telepath?’ Kassa was thrilled to learn this, but apprehensive as well.

  ‘Yes, we do … he’ll be our navigator and co-pilot.’ Dr Gervaise smiled as Lucian buzzed Amie in reception and asked her to send Leal Polson in.

  Kassa stood to meet the new arrival and it was too strange when the fellow Kale had been speaking with came walking through the door.

  Hello? he thought, as his eyes fixed on Kassa. He was wondering why he’d been asked to wait around.

  Hello yourself. Kassa thought back, and when Leal registered a shocked smile, Kassa couldn’t help but be excited.

  Interesting. Leal grinned, inclining his head to one side, his blue eyes twinkling like sun on the sea. Airman Polson looked much more space program standard issue — his shaved strawberry blond hair was a dead giveaway. This could get me in a lot of trouble.

  Kassa chuckled. Makes you wonder what our pick up range is?

  We must test that sometime?

  Yes, we must.

  ‘Are you guys going to say anything out loud?’ Lucian joked. ‘So we can all join in?’

  Leal and Kassa both broke into an embarrassed laugh when they realised what they were doing.

  ?
??Sorry, Captain,’ Leal apologised. ‘It’s just so novel to have two-way telepathy.’ He expressed Kassa’s thoughts exactly.

  Lucian did the honours. ‘Leal Polson, meet Dr Kassa Madri.’

  An absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance, Dr Madri. Leal nodded his head to her, and she returned the gesture — also a little wary to shake hands just yet.

  A rare treat, indeed, Airman Polson.

  Please call me Leal.

  ‘Thank heavens you’re coming to lunch,’ Lucian looked to his wife, ‘or I can imagine the conversation might get a little dull.’

  All present were amused.

  ‘But before we go there,’ Taren invited Kassa and Leal to be seated, ‘I have a short future history lesson for you both, and a gift.’

  When Dr Gervaise opened her clenched hands to reveal a piece of flat grey shale rock in each, imbued by a rainbow gaseous glow, Kassa’s eyes opened wide in wonder. ‘Five years from now we discover a planet, Oceane, and on that planet we encounter a strange gaseous anomaly …’

  ‘Any questions?’ Taren finished up her now standard recruitment lecture.

  Kassa and Leal were absolutely gobsmacked for quite a few moments as they processed the information.

  ‘So you didn’t just perceive the future, you lived through it, wound up in another universe, and went back in time to return to this universe and start the project over?’ Leal summed up his understanding. When both Taren and Lucian nodded in accord, Leal whistled to emphasise the enormity of what they had done. ‘So we have all —’ his sights darted over to Kassa and back, ‘— worked together before?’

  ‘Many times,’ Taren concurred, considering other lifetimes they’d spent together in other universes also.

  That explains Kale’s vision. Leal and Kassa thought at once, and looked to each other horrified and tickled. You saw that? They locked thoughts again. Yes! They replied and burst out laughing.

  ‘What’s so funny?’ Taren asked, as they fell about the lounge, waving off an explanation.

  ‘Something tells me they’ve had enough enlightenment for one day,’ Lucian commented, and clapped his hands together to conclude. ‘Time for lunch.’

  It was supremely satisfying to see the old crew coming together, and catching up with Zeven and his family was a long awaited pleasure.

  It was odd to see Zeven in the role of devoted husband and father, but here he was married to Aurora, proudly showing off their daughter and boasting of her talents.

  ‘At first we though Ray had PK, like me, because she started zapping herself all over the place and I had to keep going and getting her,’ Zeven explained over some cool drinks on the veranda. ‘But for some strange reason she could go somewhere else, but she couldn’t return.’

  ‘But then when Ray was with me,’ Aurora cut in, ‘she kept telling me about what Daddy was doing, and she never popped off anywhere, so I suspected she had my Power.’

  ‘So,’ Taren was curious, ‘she has many Powers?’

  Zeven shook his head. ‘We figured out she doesn’t have any Power of her own. Ray adopts the Power of the psychic she is closest to.’

  ‘Whoa.’ Taren was amazed. ‘That renders her immune to psychic attack even without our Juju.’

  Zeven raised both brows. ‘Pretty much, watch this. Hey, Ray!’ Zeven called to her. As she turned about he sent a bolt of force in her direction, and Taren panicked as the girl was near the railing. The force, however, rebounded back at Zeven and sent him flying through the open door behind him and into the lounge room.

  ‘Damn it, Zeven.’ Taren was relieved by the outcome, as he picked himself up off the floor, chuckling.

  ‘She’s going to give the bad boys a hell of time when she gets older.’

  Ray smiled proudly at her father’s praise.

  Lucian was also pleased to see Zeven married off and enjoying family life, as he’d ceased flirting with Taren at every given opportunity.

  The professor had never met Mythric Zeon before today, but he had seen him appear with Taren in her lounge room once, many years ago. He’d also met another incarnation of him in the universe parallel; in that evolutionary scheme he had been his son. Needless to say, Lucian took an instant liking to the man. In this life they were a similar age and for an ex-MSS agent, Mythric was clearly very intelligent and knew his own mind. At his core, Mythric was royalty. No matter how he tried to downplay it, he couldn’t — he was a gentleman in every sense.

  Lucian, who could see the spirits of the dead, couldn’t fail to notice the beautiful ghost of a woman lingering around the one time Duke of Vidor. She was very poised and clearly well-bred, but her white dress was splattered with blood that was concentrated on her torso. As she’d clearly met with a tragic end, Lucian kept the observation to himself; he didn’t wish to stir up any hurt this evening.

  After dinner, Zeven and Taren went for a walk. Aurora was getting Ray ready for bed, so Lucian and Mythric got to talking about the future of AMIE.

  ‘As your strategist,’ Mythric said, ‘and with the goal of keeping Oceane a secret, I’ve got wind of information that will be of some interest to you.’

  Lucian was all ears. ‘Pray tell.’

  ‘A friend of ours was conscripted by the inter-system gateway network, a few years back, to try to fix the defunct gateway located in Oceane’s system,’ Mythric informed him.

  ‘That’s right …’ Lucian remembered, and was very surprised that landmark event had slipped their minds. ‘They did get that gateway back up and running about now.’

  ‘I was thinking,’ Mythric offered, ‘if we stopped that gateway from being activated, then that’s going to considerably lessen the chances of Oceane being discovered.’

  Lucian loved Mythric’s nerve — it was very ambitious. ‘And how would you suggest we go about that?’

  ‘Pilfer the technicians they’ve sent to open the gate,’ he said. ‘They belong with us, or so Zeven says.’

  ‘Who are they?’ Lucian couldn’t think of any crew they’d forgotten.

  ‘Kalayna Zuri and Telmo Dacre,’ Mythric revealed.

  The names made Lucian smile and he nodded to concede they were indeed Zagriata. ‘We may have to recruit them a little sooner than expected.’ As Kalayna and Telmo were the youngest of them, they were avoiding getting them involved in their clandestine operations before it was absolutely necessary. ‘Still, we can’t risk launching any missions until we have AMIE in space. While she’s docked, we’re too easy to find.’

  ‘Can’t argue with that,’ Mythric concurred.

  ‘Goodnight, BA.’ Ray came running over to give him a kiss.

  ‘Goodnight, gorgeous.’ Mythric scooped her up, smothered her neck in kisses until she squealed and then put her back down again. When she landed, Ray was unsteady on her feet a second and grabbed hold of Lucian’s knees to steady herself.

  ‘Goodnight, captain,’ she said proudly, as Lucian ruffled her hair. She looked back to BA, stunned, and then smiled with delight.

  ‘What is it?’ Mythric wondered, as she was looking slightly above where he was sitting and he couldn’t see anything there.

  Ray gave a little wave. ‘Night, Grandma,’ she said and returned to her mother inside.

  Mythric was speechless a moment, and then figured it out. ‘That’s your talent, isn’t it, seeing the dead?’ He almost choked on the question; he’d thought Satomi’s ghost would have given up on him long ago in disgust. ‘Can you see anyone around me?’

  Lucian nodded and raised both brows. ‘There is a woman,’ he acknowledged and as soon as he did the beautiful ghost began speaking at Lucian in a foreign language. ‘She is speaking another dialect … sounds Phemorian.’

  ‘Oh my giddy aunt.’ He stood and turned about. ‘Where?’

  Lucian directed him to just behind where he’d been sitting. ‘She’s smiling at you, but I can’t understand what she’s saying.’

  ‘She never was much good at speaking the universal language,’ Mythric warra
nted; the fondness he still felt for her was written all over his face.

  The smile slipped from the beautiful ghost’s face and she began speaking at Lucian, seeming desperate to make him understand her.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ he appealed to her and then to Mythric. ‘We’ll need a translator.’

  ‘Where are we going to find a Phemorian who will translate the ramblings of their long-dead, banished and shamed princess?’

  ‘I’ve got two on staff that would fit the bill.’ Lucian stood to calm Mythric and stunned him with the ease of the solution. ‘You remember Jazmay, surely?’

  ‘The shape-shifter.’ Mythric cast his mind back five years and then looked to the ghost he could not see nor hear. ‘I need to ask why she has not moved on?’

  ‘Many who die in tragic circumstances cannot rest in peace,’ Lucian explained.

  ‘It is obvious to you then, that Satomi died a distressing death?’ clearly, Mythric still felt guilty for not being able to save her and Lucian empathised completely, as there was a strong family resemblance between Taren and her deceased aunt.

  ‘Her attire gives that impression, not her expression,’ Lucian said. ‘Before I mentioned I could see her, she appeared quite at peace watching the family.’

  Mythric’s tension eased. ‘But, if she is not at peace for whatever reason, you’ll help me discover what it is?’

  Lucian placed a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. ‘You’re all family,’ he stated with a fair serve of sentiment. Swithin had been his only family for a large part of his life, so now that his kindred were multiplying rapidly, the professor couldn’t have been happier. ‘I want to see you all happy, whatever that takes.’

  ‘I appreciate that,’ Mythric replied with a forced smile. ‘Still, true happiness has been a bit of a myth to me in this life … maybe next time around.’ He resolved to be more cheery. ‘Finding my son has certainly proved to brighten things up a little, though. No children for you yet?’

  ‘No!’ Lucian was taken aback by the query and couldn’t help but sound a little disappointed. ‘No. Taren won’t even consider it before D-day five years from now. She claims a child will only make her vulnerable.’