Hankura Narcaza shrugged in frustration and rolled over on his bunk, unable to quiet his mind so he could sleep. He was alone in his darkened cabin aboard the Argus Lu, a passenger freighter. It had just put into Earth orbit to take on two more passengers and make a freight drop. Then it would take Hankura to Velran, a place he did not want to go.
It wasn't fair! Why did he have to go to Velran alone? Hankura didn't want to be on this ship with stupid people who tried cheer him up and make his voyage fun and interesting. It wasn't. He didn't want to go anywhere but home. He wanted his mother. He wanted his father to love him again instead of being angry all the time.
Tears filled his eyes, and his throat ached with longing. Someday, he would go back and show them they were wrong. They would be sorry. Someday.
Finally, sleep claimed him, and his mind drifted into a dream that wasn't his own. This dream was more real than any he had ever dreamed. In the dream, he shivered, cold and afraid. He huddled under an abandoned stairway in a dark alley. A hard rain fell steadily, forming shallow pools in the scarred pavement around him.
At some point, he realized it was not a dream. He felt the psychic force of her consciousness pulling him into her mind. Her thoughts, her fear, her pain filled his mind. The little girl was down on Earth. She crouched alone in the dark, more afraid than she had ever been in the short span of her five years.
Her brother, Jerry told her to wait for him no matter what. He would come for her when he finished avenging their mother's death. He gave her the knife and fled. He'd be gone however long it took for him to find and kill the man who had killed their mother.
Hours passed. Michelle sat shivering in the corner against the cold brick wall---alone except for the rats. When they ventured too close, she menaced them with the sharp knife then pelted them with the pieces of broken pavement she had gathered before dark. Although she hit several with the concrete rocks, one broke through and came too close. She screamed and plunged the knife into it, killing it. After that, they stayed back for a while. Michelle shuddered, exhausted. Her body ached with the cold, and her eyelids drooped as she longed for sleep. But the rats were out there waiting. Sleep would mean death--endless sleep just like Mommy.
Some of the rats moved closer again, but the sound of their claws on the pavement opened her eyes wide with terror. She screamed, ending it in a sob as she stabbed at the closest one desperately with the knife.
Jerry, please come back! Don't leave me all alone like this. I want Mommy. Oh, God, I don't want to be alone.
She was sure nobody would hear or care what happened to her. But in blind desperation, she tapped her latent psionic ability and sent a mind-cry with such force that someone did sense her plea.
Hankura sat bolt upright in his bunk and brushed the wetness from his cheeks. The boy realized he was crying, but this time his tears were for someone else--- Michelle...and he reached out... He sensed the little girl was even more alone and scared than he was.
Michelle, don't cry. You're not alone. You don't have to be scared of those rats. You can make them go away with your mind. I can help you.
Gradually, she stopped crying. She no longer felt alone or as scared. He was with her even though she couldn't see him. "Who are you? Why can't I see you?" She said to the voice in her head.
I'm Hankura Narcaza from the Aledan Colony. I'm thinking to you. That's why you can't see me. I'm up in a space ship far above Earth.
Thinking to her? Michelle shrugged. She sensed it was true. She sensed his presence even though she couldn't see him, so he must be real.
"Are you going to come down here?"
I wish I could. I have to go to school on Velran. My parents don't want me to go to the Psi Institute on Aledus, so they're sending me to the University of Learning on Velran.
Michelle looked skyward as his thoughts touched her mind. She could feel that he was scared and alone, too.
"My parents are dead," she said aloud. "Jerry's gonna kill the man who did it. When he's done, he's gonna come back and get me. That's why I have to stay here--so he can find me. But this place is scary. Will you think to me until he comes back?"
Okay. Where I'm going is scary, too. There are lots of strange aliens, and I have no friends there.
"Do they have gangs and overlords?"
No, it's a school. Mother is making me go there to learn the Patterns of Insight so I won't hurt Normals when I think to them.
"But you're not hurting me."
'Cause you're a Psion, too. Anyway, you thought to me first.
"I did?"
Yeah. But, you'd better not let anyone know, or they might send you away to Velran, too.
"Could I bring Jerry?"
Probably not. They wouldn't let me bring Trevin and Capra. I have to go alone.
"Well, there are probably other kids like you at Velran. You won't be alone.”
Maybe, but the teachers are aliens with ugly fangs and scary faces. My use-to-be friends said they eat people.
"Dead people or live people?"
I don't know. They probably lied anyway. After their parents found out I'm a Psion, they weren't allowed to play with me.
"Rats eat people here, sometimes dead ones and sometimes live ones. They wanted to eat me until you showed me how to make them go away. Can you show me how to do that with people?"
It's against Aledan Law.
"Overlord Law?"
Aledan Law.
"That doesn't count here. Show me."
I can't. I promised Mother I would never do that again. Somebody might hurt you if they ever found out you could do that. Besides, you need to learn to use your powers better, and so do I.
"Do they teach you that on Velran?"
They teach everything there; they have a special school for human psions.
"I wish I could go to school with you. I wouldn't be scared if you were there, and we would probably make friends with other kids like us."
I wish you could come, but they won't let me come and get you. When I grow up, I'll come back and teach you the things I learn. I promise.
Michelle sighed. She knew he meant it, but she didn't believe it would really happen. Daddy promised he would come back, and he never did. Mommy promised she would come for her, and she never did, either. She didn't believe Jerry would ever return. Why should she believe Hankura?
The sun's rays peeked gradually over the towering ruins of the ancient city and through the mist rising from the wet streets. Michelle stirred in her sleep and brushed at the big black fly that buzzing over her stringy red hair.
"Mishy? Where are ya, kid? Mishy!" The impatient sound of her brother's voice registered in her mind, and she opened her eyes and blinked.
"Here, Jerry. I'm here," she called softly and strained to hear the sound of his footsteps. She sensed his nearness long before he found her. By then, she had turned her attention elsewhere.
"I have to go, Hankura and pretty soon, I won't be able to hear your thoughts anymore. But it's okay. Jerry's here, now. I'm not scared anymore." She spoke with her eyes raised to the morning sky, wishing she could go wherever he was going, too.
Someday, I'll take you there . . . Or maybe Aledus. I promise.
"But, how will you find me?"
With psi--I'll find you. Believe me.
"I do," Michelle answered softly, and she did.
Jerry frowned. He hunkered down under the stairway in front of her and stared into her eyes. After a moment, Michelle focused on his face and smiled sheepishly.
"Mishy--who were you talking to? Are you all right?"
"I'm okay. I was just talking to Hankura. His parents sent him on a star freighter from Aledus to a school on Velran."
"What?" Jerry frowned and raked a bony hand back through his unruly red hair. "How can he be on a starship when ya were just talkin' to 'im?"
"Well--he wasn't here exactly--not like you're here. I heard what he said in my head." Michelle touched her temple. "Psi. He helped me make the rats go away, too."
"Who told you that word—psi?"
"He did."
"And I suppose he killed that rat over there, too."
"Of course not." Michelle chided. "I told you he wasn't really here. I killed that rat with your knife."
Jerry looked at the dead rat, and the bloody dagger on the ground beside her then grinned and pulled his little sister into his arms. "You did good, kid." He hugged her. "I'm sorry I left you alone so long, but I had to."
"I wasn't alone. Hankura was here—sorta."
"Ah--sure, kid. If you say so." Jerry crawled further under the stairway with Michelle under one arm. It had been a long night, and he was tired. He should never have left the kid alone for so long. Cold and scared, alone all night, it was no wonder she heard things. She still felt cold to his touch, so he cuddled her wiry little body close--to warm her.
"Jerry?"
"What?"
"Is Mommy really gone forever? Forever?" Her voice trembled on `forever.'
Jerry's arms suddenly squeezed her too tightly, and she groaned. He loosened his hold, but he was trembling. It was a long time before he answered.
"Y-yes. She is gone forever." He rasped, tears filling his eyes. Michelle sniffled softly; she had known the answer before he said the words.
#
A few days after the Argus Lu left Earth orbit, Hankura realized he felt less angry and less afraid since his meeting of minds with little Michelle Marlow. From the memories, they had shared through their telepathic connection, it was clear that her life was far worse than his. The situation on Earth was even worse than his Earth history studies hinted. Michelle had never had a real home. Her parents were dead, and all she had was her older brother to care for her. Food was so scarce, they sometimes killed and ate rats just to survive.
What kind of life was that? The kind of life people get after the ravages of interstellar war. They should have known better. About 800 years after Aledus was colonized, some Terran’s ventured into alien territory and invaded an inhabited planet in the Procyon Fegisar system. They killed a lot of the inhabitants to claim the most habitable planet in the system. It was under the protection of a powerful alien race; whose response was to blast Earth back to the level of a third world country of the 20th century.
Most of Earth remained at that level some 800 years later. Their biggest accomplishment was the re-establishment of the Star Port at Farringay on the what was left of the North American Continent. The StarPort was under Federation control, but most of Earth was run by gangs and overlords just like Michelle said.
Hankura wished there was some way to help Michelle and her brother---more than what he had done. She had seen so much danger in her five years, he wondered if she would live to grow up. Would she still be alive when he grew up---in case he really could go back and find her? There was something amazing and powerful that drew their minds to connect. Even at his age, he knew that. They could even be psi mates. Was that what he had sensed between them? It was so rare for his kind. How could he know? Maybe he could figure it out while he was on Velran. The Wholaskans should know if what he mother said was true. She believed so, anyway. A psion could tell.
Even at ten, Hankura knew what that meant. Psi mates became lifemates, according to the Path of Insight. He might not know for certain until he met her. He wouldn’t I have a chance to do that until he was grown, now that Argus Lu had left the Sol System. Then again, maybe it had only been a dream. At that point, he wasn’t so sure anymore.
During the rest of the journey to Velran, he became friendlier with his primary attendant Lucy. She was the one who had greeted him at the shuttle on Aledus. While he knew not to try to read her, he could sense that she was a caring person. She showed him through the various departments on the ship and introduced him to the crew as much for their peace of mind as his. There were still times he felt scared and lonely, but he no longer took out his feelings on the crew.
Lucy assured him that Velran was a good place for a psion to learn to use his abilities safely without hurting anyone. The Wholaskans were a kindly race that favored human psions. Many young human and non-human psions were sent to Velran for psi training and for education.