Chapter Two

The whole far wall was covered in screens showing different views. Brain patterns, stellar co-ordinates, circuit diagrams, even a recorded picture of the events that happened in enhancer three many, many days ago. As Mind Gilgalen reached the end of his pain and toil the recording would loop and replay.

Lordmind Estoor stood looking at all these screens in turn, some interesting him, some boring him, some confusing him. As he stood staring Mind Vasquid entered from a side door and approached. Estoor felt his mental presence before his physical one and thought, “I hope you have something for me today, Vasquid.”

“That I do, Lordmind,” Vasquid replied and placed the silver cylinder he had been carrying on a table. He stepped over to a control board and pressed a few buttons in succession. The wall of monitors went blank and then combined to show a huge picture of a selected portion of space.

The science section of the Mindmoon was unusually quiet now that Estoor had demanded the staff working on the mystery of the Familee child and the enhancer transmission kept to a minimum. Vasquid had complained about being understaffed but the Lordmind had expected results nonetheless. The whole investigation had changed from the reason for the death of Mind Gilgalen to the secrets of the child.

“What am I looking at?” Estoor asked, wondering why he was being shown a section of space and not some form of technical result of Vasquid’s findings.

“We have spent a lot of time trying to figure out where the strange transmission came from, the one that intercepted the enhancers and killed our Minds. We inspected routes of starships and came up with nothing. We scanned for any anomaly in the area of space the interception took place and found nothing reported or out of the ordinary. What we did find was this.”

Vasquid pointed at the screens and pressed several more switches. A section of space was enclosed in a box and enlarged quickly and smoothly, showing close-ups of stars bright and dim. He repeated the procedure and enlarged the starfield even more to show a cluster of suns, one of which was brighter than the rest. He walked to the wall and placed his finger on the brightest star.

“This star here is known as FT-34675435, the planet in orbit of it is called Salura according to the Astrogation specialists on Fedarn we obtained this material from.”

Estoor was not known for his patience and he waved his hand to hurry Vasquid on. “And?”

“And the reason for this is because, according to the scientists on Fedarn, it went supernova over four years ago. It has taken four years for the light of this exploding star to reach us. That light reached the space between Chinngard and the Mindmoon at exactly the same time the problems with our Minds started.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because every star is continuously monitored, even if it is not due to be investigated. The time frame from the stellar cartography records and the incident match down to the last second. Also, after studying the enhancer recording and determining which direction the transmission came from, it pointed straight at this star.”

“But that star has been dead for four years, you said.”

“True, but it has taken that long for the star’s light to reach us after the cataclysm. We believe that star has something to do with the incident.”

Lordmind Estoor fell silent, looking at the screen with interest. He was thinking hard, trying to figure out why the apparent death of a star had something to do with the problems that followed. Surely thousands of stars died this way when enhancers were active between planets. What was so special about this one?

“So let me arrange these happenings in order,” Estoor began. Vasquid sucked his breath in slowly, his lips tight and his thoughts as calm as he could possibly make them He knew from the tone of his Lordmind’s voice that he was not fully convinced of his findings. “What you are saying is that this star, over four hundred years ago, exploded, and it has taken all that four years for it’s light to travel the distance between it and our sector of space. It then interrupted a transmission, which just happened to be taking place at the time, at exactly the same time the Baroness of House Familee was giving birth to her child, which just so happened to have some form of talent and may have been affected in some way. No. What you are presenting me with here is a trail of just-so’s and maybes. I will not believe this child has been touched by the talent whilst this transmission destroyed our Minds. She is the key to this, Vasquid. I want you to trace this incident to her, not this dead star. It is a million to one. More than.”

“Lordmind, we have verified the star’s involvement using spectrographic analyses and directional computation. It was the star that affected the transmission. The child is just, by all findings, an after-effect of the interception. An unfortunate coincidence. From what we have learned from the dead doctor Turor’s notes and findings the child has aged dramatically - years in a matter of days. Unfortunately, a lot of his records were destroyed in the Janos assault, and with him dead the mystery of the child is still... well, a mystery.”

Estoor went quiet, a form of concentration that always unnerved Vasquid. He stood immobile, is chin in his hand as he thought the situation over and over in his head. Vasquid ventured an opinion.

“What we need is the child. We need scans and data. I think I have taken the investigation as far as I can with my limited resources and information.”

Estoor came away from his musings with less arrogance than Vasquid was expecting. “I already have that in hand, on two accounts. It appears that Baron Janos has killed the Prime Lord’s daughter. This, of course, has placed him in a most uncompromising position, inviting retribution from the Prime Lord. He has spun some kind of story, saying that the Baron and his wife have fled the attack into the mountains where a search is now in progress. This knowledge cannot stay secret for long, and whilst the Prime Lord is distracted with the welfare of his daughter I have decided to use my knowledge of the Janos mistake for my own ends, and have ‘convinced’ the Emperor-Priest to help me locate the child and hand her over. I have also utilised another soul, one of Familee’s men, which I hope will be fruitful.” Vasquid frowned in consternation, not wanting the Lordmind to continue disclosing his plans to him. He did not want to be implicated. He knew, however, that the Lordmind thought differently, and would involve as many people as possible to make the blanket of deceit so huge he could hide away under it.

Estoor continued. “I estimate, if things go well, I will have the child in three days. Then I will inform the Prime Lord of the death of his daughter and remove a potential troublemaker. So, Vasquid, you will have the child, and you can probe and probe to your delight.” Estoor smiled at his Chiefmind, swung around within a swirl of robes and walked from the hall.

Perfect, he thought, perfect. With all the almost private work Vasquid had put into the study of the child he had someone else to implicate, someone else to pass on or, at the very least share with, the blame. He never actually felt anything for Vasquid, anything for anyone at all, come to that, but he knew that he had another doorway, another exit to use should the need arise.

As he barged past acolytes and Mind’s, oblivious to their presence and wrapped up in his own thoughts, a Mind, the replacement Mind in enhancer three, came running to him, his breath ragged and his eyes red with exertion. “Lordmind Estoor,” he thought, causing Estoor to swirl on him, eyes blazing and teeth gritted. As Estoor saw the messenger, he realised he had asked the Mind to call him if he received any important messages from other Minds across the Ki-Ki Sector. He relaxed but kept the angry visage. “What is it?”

“I have just taken a message from Mind Frit on planet Nebrassa, home of House Ash. Apparently, the two remaining children of the Baron Familee have arrived there with an infant. They have claimed sanctuary. The Baron Ash is asking the Prime Lord to intercede with the situation on Chinngard.”

“Has the Baron mentioned anything about Baroness Familee?”

“No, Lordmind, he has not. The Baron’s communication was only brief, inviting the Prime Lord to speak to him in full.”

“Good. Have Mind Frit damage his enhancer, so that no signals can be sent but can be received. I do not want Baron Ash informing the Prime Lord of the death of his daughter too soon, but I am interested to know the Prime Lord’s reply. Call me with any other details.”

The Mind nodded and bowed, turned and all but fled from Estoor.

The halls of the Mindmoon were quieting, now, as students retired to classes and training. Many of the members of the moon would go on to be enhancer users, advisors, investigators, and planetary inquisitors. Estoor imagined how a trained army of psychics would fare against the lesser-powered peoples of the sector, wondered how psychics could use their powers to sway a battle.

The hall was deserted, now. Not one Mind walked the flagstones or ran to a class. Estoor stood alone, as he always had through life, and grinned to himself.

All these daydreams of armies of psychics and wars of power were distracting him. There was plenty of time for planning later. Right now he had to inform his Mind in enhancer three of his next step, now that he was sure what it was. He would send a message to Mind Hillit on Chinngard to tell Baron Janos of the Familee children’s whereabouts and release his trap.

Estoor was unsure whether he trusted Mind Hillit’s loyalty to the Mindmoon, knowing his heritage. He also felt unease from Hillit’s empathic emanations as he conversed with him. He knew that placing Hillit on Chinngard was a mistake, but consequences demanded a Mind there at all times, and there were no others to take his place. He would send another Mind to Chinngard soon, to replace the troublesome Mind.