Part 13 (2/2)
*I believe I have heard about that incident,* Corina sent, *but would you mind refres.h.i.+ng my memory?*
*It got made into a holoshow, so I'd be surprised if you hadn't--but okay, why not? He got captured by a group of rebels--a lot smaller scale than this rebellion, just one system--who beat him with a whip they'd soaked in a particularly nasty poison. He'd refused a comm implant for reasons he never explained, so I can't argue them, but it meant he couldn't call for help. If it hadn't been for a young camper who rescued him, and one of the rebels who decided to call the Marines when a Ranger got hurt, he'd have died of stingweed poisoning. The rebel was killed by his former colleagues before Marines could get to him to protect him, but the youngster earned a Life Dukedom.*
*I believe I do remember,* Corina sent. Medart's voice had kept getting softer, and by the time he finished, he was using only telepathy. The redirection was successful, the new pathway now established. Still, Corina hoped he would not realize it right away, would instead remain intent on the conversation for at least a few minutes more to strengthen the new pattern. *The young man was David Scanlon, was he not? And he cared for Ranger Tarlac in a cave, was in the middle of a gun battle with the rebels when the Marines arrived. I have wondered if that part was the holo director's dramatic license, or if it actually happened that way.*
*That was how it happened,* Medart a.s.sured her. *Scanlon wasn't about to give up, either, according to the Marines' testimony. He insisted that one of them come into the cave to prove @'s ident.i.ty before he'd give up his blaster--and when he did, he only had one half-exhausted powerpack, and a knife for a backup. That was one brave and determined young man.*
*I must agree. Ranger Tarlac was most fortunate he and the unusual rebel were in the area.*
*Right, but the Traiti'll tell you it was the Circle of Lords looking after him. Speaking of which, how do you feel about religion?*
*I know it is a subject both important and sensitive to humans, so I normally hesitate discuss it. To most Irschchans, religion is a rather peculiar aberration; while a deity or deities may exist, they are unnecessary and none have shown any proof of themselves. I prefer to regard them as interesting possibilities. May I ask you the same question?*
*I was raised Omnist, and it stuck; I believe in one Creator and a wide a.s.sortment of secondary G.o.ds. I have no more proof than you do, but since that's how I was raised and I can't disprove their existence, I accept them, though I'm not what you'd call devout. Most of us are either Omnist or agnostics, like you, and the rest aren't dogmatic about their beliefs being the only truth.* He chuckled. *Naturally, since the Empire doesn't promote any given religion or lack thereof.*
*Quite understandable, from what I have read of human history.* Corina was no longer pretending vocal speech, though she wasn't being obvious about her silence; he was doing well enough that he deserved a fair chance to discover how he was ”speaking” to her.
At that thought, he gave her a sharp look. ”How I'm doing what?”
*You have been using telepathy alone for the last few minutes,* Corina sent with a purr. *And you have surpa.s.sed your teacher; it was some weeks before I could receive thoughts not specifically directed at me.*
Medart rose and stalked to where she sat still purring with satisfaction, and glared at her, fists on his hips. ”You tricked me!”
Then he gave her one of his lopsided grins. *But I guess you had to, didn't you?*
*I am afraid so,* Corina agreed, pleased but not surprised by the Ranger's rapid grasp of the situation. ”It was the only way I could get past your s.h.i.+eld.”
”How long?”
”Since that mental picture you had of me curled up in your lap. It relaxed and amused you enough that you dropped your s.h.i.+eld to the point where I could get past.”
”Well, I'll . . . be . . . d.a.m.ned,” Medart said, half in admiration and half in wonder. ”I never felt a thing.”
”You were not supposed to,” Corina said calmly. ”If you had, the procedure would have been a failure.”
”Can I work it on humans? Did you find anything else?”
”I know of no reason you could not. In fact, you should find it easier with other humans than with me, because the basic mind pattern ought to be more similar. As for your other question, you do have much potential; it remains to be seen if you can develop it. Your mind s.h.i.+eld can be made stronger with practice, and there is unusually powerful darlas latent. I sensed no traces of the other usual Talents.”
She paused, then continued, puzzled. ”There is also something else, but I cannot be sure what it is. I have never before sensed such an aspect of Talent. Even describing it vaguely is difficult.” She paused again, laying her ears back in a frown. ”The closest I can come would be to call it a sort of darlas in reverse, but that is almost pathetically inadequate.”
Medart could feel her puzzlement changing to amus.e.m.e.nt, echoed it with some of his own when she sent, *And Thark believes humans are unTalented! Undeveloped and untrained, most certainly, but hardly unTalented. You have not bred for it, even as indirectly as we have, so the percentage of Talented humans is probably much lower than it is for Irschchans, but--*
*--we're hardly the total incompetents he thinks we are,* Medart finished.
”True. However, he does not know that and would not be convinced merely by being told, even if we knew his location and were able to communicate with him; his beliefs, once established, require overwhelming proof to be changed.” Her ears twitched. ”I have thought about contacting him telepathically, but even if he were to accept my mind-touch, which I am certain he would not, he no longer trusts me enough to believe my unsupported word.”
”I'm afraid you're right,” Medart agreed. ”There's not going to be any easy way to end this Crusade of his. I'm just hoping the information you've already given us, and the help you're still going to give, will let us stop it without too much bloodshed.”
”I hope so, as well,” Corina said, her tone as serious as his.
”Irschchan culture was quite chaotic and warlike at one time, but the Order was a civilizing influence, and the idea of unnecessary bloodshed has become quite unpleasant.”
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