Cutlass Sharpened (27 page)

Turns out she would not come up like the two
who finally stopped twitching. After an hour Scythe said “Hard way
it is.” He and Oliver went to the edge and looked down the hole.
The experience man held his hands over it and faint sparks arched
between his fingers. Deep below there came an indignant screech. In
about a minute the largest Mole yet was telekinetically lifted out
and still had a deeply swollen and writhing belly. Scythe moved her
aside and as she dropped he drew an axe and beheaded the foul
creature.

“
Scythe, you mind if I have
a quick bite. You can keep the meat.”

“
You needn’t my permission
to take from you own kills. Young Ones, come down now.” He raised
his voice and sounds of shaking leaves told of swift
descent.

Oliver’s sword made for quick access through
skulls and he pulled out whole brains and ate as if it were glazed
hot buns. Scythe and the three stared as he ate food raw. Eating
brain that was too toxic for them to ever consume. He sat down to
enjoy the meal and when Scythe regained composure the four of them
quickly butchered the Moles and wrapped the meat in large bags.
Oliver also lifted a share of the weight before leaving as the
blood would attract more Beasts. More deadly Beasts.

Chapter 7

Returning to the village was no large fanfare
as before. The three youth had taken the meat to a wounded Hunter
family to help him recover. The teens thanked the elder for another
valuable lesson and went to their own homes, as teenage Hunters
live alone rather than with parents. Being independent was natural.
Nighttime in the village was just as active as daytime. On the way
back to the elder’s lodge Oliver spotted Stone lounging by the
stream with a round faced woman in his lap with a lazy smile on her
lips. But other Hunters relaxed and spent time talking of exploits
and travels and sights never seen before.

Eventually Oliver and the elder returned to
the only building situated above the cliff and cleaned up in the
showers. They left and went back to the meeting cabin with the
central fie showing new wood in the recess. Only the wolflike elder
was present, the others already retired or did other things.

“
Ready for your lesson,
Brother?”

“
Yes.” Oliver truly was
rather excited.

“
Then sit facing me in only
your small clothes. Boxers, briefs, it matters not.”

“
Why?” He asked as he willed
the armor to strip down to a pair of comfortable boxers. The rest
getting absorbed into the vambrace.

“
You saw the youngest
children wearing little, no?”

“
I thought it was just a way
to cool off in the hottest part of the day.”

“
Hardly.” The wolflike elder
chuckled.

“
What our brother means is
wearing little greatly helps learn how to feel Psionic energy.
Sit.” As he did, Scythe removed his sleeveless shirt and pants,
wearing boxers as well. He mirrored the dark skin man in sitting
with his legs comfortably crossed like a pretzel. Hanging from the
man’s neck was a single Piranha fang from his first kill long
ago.

“
As with all children, I
will first teach the basics. Psionic energy is by far the only
means of defending ourselves from Beasts and other alien races. Old
Earth weapons did more harm than good till the Geo Record’s
discovery. Bullets were chunks of metal fired by gunpowder or a
magnetically charged railgun. Missiles were chaotic explosives and
lasers were not strong enough in time sensitive battles. Average
Beasts skin is too tough for most bullets. They were unable to
pierce deeply enough.

“
But psionic energy allows
us to shock, cut and burn them. Psionics are in essence
concentrated electricity. But to harness it one needs focus and an
affinity. There are three classes of Hunters, but twelve for
psionic strength. To be a class one Hunter you must have first a
psionic class of seven. To move objects like I did with the Mole
earlier this evening. I personally am an eight.” Scythe
volunteered.

“
With psionics, not all can
bring out an external representation such as electrical arcs. Those
that cannot may still use what they do have in a weapon. The best
are in blades, but the military employs blasters that fire
miniature kinetic blasts with different settings. But only the
military can carry a blaster. Blades might be for close combat, but
with distance comes the degradation factor.

“
The further the target is,
the less impact it delivers.”

“
I’ve found that true when I
make a slicing wave. The furthest I can reach is nineteen meters.”
Oliver followed along.

“
But like all things,
there
are
limits.
Contrary to beliefs, people are not all the same. There are strong
individuals and weak. Through hard work and dedication we can
better ourselves and sharpen our skills, but true prodigies can
never be exceeded if they put forth the same quality of effort.
Some are born with power and others are not. But within strong
psionic people, their offspring often have a high probability to
pass along their gifts, such as the one you are infatuated
with.

“
Still, there are rare cases
of people becoming stronger. As with a muscle, the more you work
out psionically, the stronger it will become.

“
To start, all children are
taught in a similar way as we will do. To harness the electrical
power of our minds and focus it to a point within our bodies, we
must be shown how it should feel correctly verses incorrectly. Now
close your eyes.” Amber irises vanished behind the lids. “This is
the correct way.”

Oliver at first felt exactly as he always
had, but then began to notice a very mild tingling sensation
flowing from the crown of his scalp and work its way down over his
face gradually till his whole skull vibrated pleasantly. Yet it
continued down his neck, over his shoulders, arms, back, chest,
groin, buttocks, legs, feet and toes. Soon his entire body hummed
in perfect synchronization. It then changed as the sensation began
gathering evenly in the palm of his hand. It didn’t hurt, but it
wasn’t comfortable either.

He opened his eyes, expecting to see
electricity zipping around, but beside from an arm loaded with
goose bumps there was no outward change. It then eased to nothing.
Oliver did though see Scythe’s open and stiff palm sizzling at him
with dozens of thin blue-white arcs of electricity. He then dropped
it. “How did you do that?”

The elder smiled as any man who is master of
his craft is to teach a successor. “I merely sent a fraction of my
power into your body enough that could be felt. Too much and you’ll
jerk from being shocked. Using your own psionic ability won’t trick
your muscles into contacting, but mine will without defense.
Psionic defense will come later so you are not incapacitated by
someone of ill intent. It is why I had you be mostly naked. Clothes
would not allow for accurate sensation.” He held his palm again.
“Close your eyes and feel the wrong way.”

He did and instead of starting in the crown
it was all over. There was no gradual flow like a gentle stream. It
was a storm.

“
Stop! Please!” Oliver
called out as he jumped two meters straight up and rubbed his
body.

“
What happened?” Scythe got
up and looked in concern as the pupil shook all over as if
hypothermic. His color paled and looked ready to throw
up.

“
Please…” Oliver’s teeth
chattered. “Do as beforrr…” he shook violently.
“Hurrry…”

Quicker than last time, but just as smoothly
the tingling sensation suffused and at once the shakes stopped.
“That was awful.”

“
Brother, that never
happened before. Explain.” The wolf man was on his feet as
well.

“
Well it did feel wrong. I
mean
very
wrong.
Like I was about to collapse from cold. I can’t explain it better.
Thanks for fixing it.”

“
Do you wish to stop?” Elder
Scythe was greatly concerned.

“
No. The feeling passed.” He
took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Let’s keep going. Now
how do I do it?”

The two elders looked to each other and
silently communicated for a moment before the furry elder shrugged
but sat behind Oliver. “You simply imagine it is you doing it and
becoming accustomed to the feel. I will keep making you feel the
sensation till your own psionic prowess asserts itself. And when
you are not with me or another helping, practice on your own at
every available moment. In time you will be capable of doing it.
When you pass the first trial, we start on defense, blocking others
from disabling you and even end mind reading.”

I like this feeling.
Oliver thought, not for the first time as hours
flew by. He enjoyed the gentle hum his body vibrated at, as if
being beat all over in a warm shower. He carefully followed along
and was asked to do it and see if he learned as fast to harness as
in learning. No such luck.

As the midnight chime went off Elder Scythe
said “This will be all for today, Oliver. I must attend Elder
Javelin as promised. Please, I’ve allowed you the first spare
bedroom for yourself. Take it and practice if you will, but get
some rest. I will wake you at daybreak and see about tracking the
fruit thief.”

A yawn broke through Oliver and he let it
happen. “Thanks. I’ll take you up on it.” He got up and went to the
simple bedroom. It really was simple. A single large bed was all
there was in the glossy gemstone room.

Soon the door closed and it was dark. So dark
only the hilt of his sword gave off any light. He could smell the
room had seen plenty of visitors and plenty of sex. Nevertheless,
sleep called and he laid down.

Sleep didn’t come till he decided to settle
the nerves.

“
Renee, are you busy?” he
called via the com implant.

Renee too laid wide awake in her bed on the
Dorgenox, unable to sleep. “Not at the moment, Dimwit. You in
trouble again?”

“
You know me so well.” He
chuckled, staring at the shifting surfaces his sword created.
“Actually I was wondering how things are going over
there.”

“
Better than yesterday for
sure. No one died thankfully. If not for the nanites clotting
abrasions and internal hemorrhaging my patients would have been in
greater risk. Abdul landed us in a relative safe area close to the
village we headed for anyway. The hull is fully repaired, but the
gravimetric strip needs a good week to fix itself. The worst issue
are the engines. They’ll take three weeks minimum to get us off
this hot rock of a planet. On the plus side the Hunters made it
here and are watching over us. The crash could have been
far
worse.”

“
I’m just glad you are still
okay. Before we left, Stone told me you punched someone,
why?”

“
Moron had it coming.” She
snorted and chuckled at the memory. “He came to me with a tiny
little knee scrape while I was dealing with broken bones and
critical injuries. So I punched the asshole in the throat and told
him I’m not his spineless mate who would kiss and make it all
better. If he wanted a wound I’d give him one. He left right away
holding his throat and forgot all about the scrape.”

“
So it’s not just me you
kick around?” he teased.

“
My philosophy is to nip
stupidity in the bud with a hammer.”

“
Just as I’d expect.” They
laughed.

“
Tell me what’s going on.
Papa told me all the Inferno Fruit just disappeared from the entire
area.”

“
It’s true and there are no
definitive clues other than faint tracks. I’m going out first thing
to put my nose to work. But today I told my story to some elders,
hunted down some Moles and had my fist lesson in psionic
use.”

“
Stars! I feel sorry for
whoever your trainer is.”

“
I’ll let that slide, Red.
But I need to ask a medical question. Earlier I was shown the right
and wrong way to do it. Go from the head and let it flow down… then
experienced the wrong way and something happened.”

Renee sat up in her dark room out of habit.
“What? Spit it out.”

“
Well I had sickness
symptoms. I suddenly got very cold, clammy and it felt like my
stomach was about to turn inside out.”

“
Please tell me someone
immediately was there to do it again the correct way!” there was a
hint of concern.

“
Yes, I had the elder do it
again, but he didn’t know what happened. I felt better instantly
though.”

‘
Ha.’ She released a sigh of
relief. “Whew. Oliver,
never
let anyone do it to you again. What that was is
psionic sickness. It affects those with high psionic compatibility
and sensitivity. I’ve never heard of a class one being sickened…
That is more associated with elevens and twelves. I’ve felt it too
and I understand how terrible it is. Traditional methods work well,
but no more full body activation. The sickness can, and has,
killed. You need to learn fast how to shield your body from outside
influence or they can induce the sickness.” She came to a decision.
“Damn it! I can’t leave you alone for two seconds before you fuck
up my happy go lucky life.”

“
Hey. No one
asked
you to be my mother.
I’m not some timid and frail idiot you’re used to. I’m driven to
figure who the hell I am and won’t stop till I do.”