Maybe I shouldn’t have sent them all to the surface . . .
“Do not be alarmed,” Tolukei said as he lowered his hands. The body of the soldier fell back to the floor and resumed its deceased state. “That was my doing.”
Kostelecky’s trembling hands picked her data pad back up. She cursed in Czech and threw it aside after noticing the screen had cracked. “Overworking your brain right now with telekinesis will only make you worse, lie down and rest, doctor’s orders.”
“That was not telekinesis, it was mind-control.”
She rolled her eyes and began to push Tolukei back onto his medical bed. “Whatever.”
“Mind-control?” Williams said. “I didn’t know that was a skill psionics could use.”
“As I said before.” Tolukei leaped back onto his medical bed. “I am a Muodiry.”
Williams remembered the conversation he and Chang had with Tolukei days ago. Muodiry was the Javnis word for Necromancer. What Tolukei just demonstrated proved he was just that. Using mind-control against the dead and forcing them to rise and carry out his will. Radiance must be hiding something, I’ve never heard of psionic mind-control, let alone mind-control of the dead.
“Doc, make sure T’ gets the rest he needs. I have a feeling we’re going to have a long chat.”
Tolukei’s head jerked upward from his rest. “My name is not T . . .”
Kostelecky chimed in. “And if you call me doc one more time . . .”
Williams smirked at them on his way out of sickbay.
ESRS CARL SAGAN, Bridge
En route to Sirius C system, Sirius A system
May 21, 2050, 20:55 SST (Sol Standard Time)
Williams’ body felt unexpectedly heavy as he sat, strapped into the captain’s chair. Gravity on the bridge was restored, which meant only one thing. He spun around in the chair and saw Tolukei enter and return to his psionic station.
“Ah, the doc let you out?” Williams said to him.
“Yes.”
“Good, we got some talking to do.”
“Indeed.” Tolukei said as he began to input new data into his computer terminal. Williams deactivated his magnetic boots and stood next to Tolukei. “Take a look at this; it is the reason why my telepathic messages have not reached any minds beyond the system.”
Williams saw a diagram of the planet SA-139 and an impressive amount of psionic energy radiating from it. “That’s a lot of psionic power. I’m guessing its coming from that Lyonria fortress?”
“It wasn’t until I was placed in my incapacitated state that I was able to sense how strong it was, and how widespread. It has flooded the entire system creating a field where all psionic thoughts are reflected after a certain point. We must have crossed it unknowingly when we were still in cryo.”
“Well that problem is solved, we just need to travel beyond the interference and we’ll be able to contact Earth,” Williams said. “EVE, how long will it take us to reach such a point?”
“Approximately six months eight days at sub light speeds, Commander,” EVE said.
“Well, shit.”
“Want me to turn us around, Commander?” Chang said, having overheard. “You know, so we could call home and let them know we arrived safely.”
“Given the recent turn of events, calling home is at the bottom of our priority list.”
Chang nodded. “Staying on course then.”
Williams walked back to the captain’s chair as he looked at the star-filled void of space through the windshield. “Hang tight, Becca, you’ll have your chair back,” he mumbled to himself.
ESRS CARL SAGAN, Mess Hall
En route to Sirius C system, Sirius A system
May 21, 2050, 23:08 SST (Sol Standard Time)
It took a while for Williams to figure out why he was having problems sleeping. He neglected to eat much during his long shift. Stress, anxiety, and self-doubt, those were the three meals he’d consumed since the day started.
The mess hall was devoid of all personnel apart from Chief Rivera, who also had been working long hours. Chef Bailey was kind enough to stay in the galley and prepare meals for the two before he set to the tiring process of cleaning up and making plans to retire to his quarters.
Williams sat with Rivera with his meal tray full of food. A medium-rare steak from the Rabuabin home world, seasoned with Montreal steak spices, and sautéed vegetables. Rivera had just finished her meal and made no attempt to acknowledge Williams as she fiddled with her holo pad.
“Thought I was going to be eating alone,” Williams said to her. “Hey, sorry about what I said earlier on the surface about your Zen thing, it was out of line.”
“You did what you felt was necessary.”
“Stress I guess, being pinned down like.”
“We got out of it alive and rescued those Poniga in the process.”
“But not the captain.” He paused and looked at his meal. “Damn it, I got to stop screwing things up.”
Rivera grimaced, shut off her holo pad, then stood up. “I gotta go.”
“Chief,” he called out to her before she vanished through the sliding doors. “We good?”
“Yeah, don’t sweat it, sir.”
Williams sat back in his chair after finishing his meal. He felt his body slowly return to something like normal as he looked out the observation window on the far side of the mess. Bailey joined him sometime later and placed a perfectly baked soufflé and fork on the table.
“Hey, Chef, how you doing?” Williams said to him.
Bailey’s aged face smiled at him as he removed his chef hat. “Fine, mon. But are you doing good?”
“I hope so.”
“Forgive me, but it don’t sound like it.”
“Like I was explaining to Rivera, I’m just a bit stressed out. I wasn’t expecting to be in command so long during this expedition. Honestly? Between you and me, I’m not sure I should be doing this.”
Bailey began to spin the dish the Soufflé rested on around and around, staring at it intently. “Let me tell you a story. When I was a young apprentice, the head Chef nearly cut off his thumb in the middle of a banquet service, he had to leave, and I was left in charge of the kitchen.”
“Why you?”
“All the cooks were young. I was the only one with experience, mon! I had to make it happen, but at the time I ain’t never made a soufflé which was the last course to be finished. I knew if I panicked, the cooks would lose it. I had to take control and lead them, I had to not let my worry that it wasn’t gonna rise properly create self-doubt.”
“I see where this is going.”
Bailey pushed the soufflé across the table to Williams. “The soufflé was served. You need to stop this self-doubt nonsense, its messing with your head, creating negativity, negativity that’s spreading to th’ crew. Want to know how I know this?”
“Enlighten me.”
“She wanted this soufflé, I was going to present it to her personally if she was willing to wait for it. Now she’s gone.”
Williams cringed. The more he thought about it, the more it was clear, Rivera upped and left because of him, not because she had something else to do. “I made her leave . . .”
“You got to take command of this ship, steer it in the right direction, and instill your team to follow and support you. You might get the captain back and protect the colony, or you might mash up the ship tryin’, but you have to try. Just like the soufflé, it might rise or fall, but I had to get it in the oven and accept what came next.”