Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) (51 page)

Yes, I was worried about Bees. Arie had taken good care of her while I was in Quaba with Ice and Saka, and now that Ice was back, she continued her close relationship with Bees. But Ice was spending a lot more time with her new husband than she was with Bees. That was only natural, and I'm sure Bees understood it, but it probably didn’t make it any easier for Bees. I'm sure she was lonely. Honeyhair and Blondie did their best to cheer her up.

Once the first batch of long-term TDYers settled in and began working on us, the Prof called a staff meeting in the auditorium. Standing at the podium under our new logo, a stylized DR dawn radiating sunlight through a delta with the eternity symbol, he welcomed the newcomers, introduced everyone, and briefly summarized how each person was to contribute to the mission. Then he summarized the mission.

"This auditorium is security sealed, so we can speak frankly," he said. "The mission is to learn all we can about Dimension X by studying, stimulating and developing the mental capabilities of our three comrades – Prophet, Saka and Ice. Each one has experienced mental visions that accurately predicted the future. Two of them were killed in action, then revived and brought back to life by the Brights. One of them was able to save probably hundreds of allied lives by accurately predicting a Demon attack. All three are heroes. I warn everyone – treat these heroes correctly. If anyone mistreats my comrades, I will become very angry. And you don't want to see that.

"My dear friends! We are all united in this noble effort. And you can all help in your own ways. The initial objective is twofold: to revive and heal the dead, and to see into the future. Both these goals will save lives and ensure the survival and triumph of a strong, secure ConFree. Both are weapons to use to defend ourselves and defeat the enemy, and assure a peaceful, meaningful life for our families, our women and children. Once these objectives are achieved, we will continue our research into Dimension X, wherever it may lead. Now, let us begin. Delta Research is now officially open for business. We welcome you all. Let us now seek divine guidance. Bees?"

Bees took the Prof's place at the lectern. She looked out over the audience, faintly smiling. She was in her Legion blacks and wore the combat cross, but looked more like a fashion model than a preacher or a soldier.

"Raise the dead," she said, "and see the future. This has been done before. But not by mortals. A noble effort indeed, for us. We are immortals. Perhaps it is our destiny to do this, to follow in the path of the Gods. But we cannot do it alone. We must seek guidance from those who have gone before us. From those who, even now, watch over us. Speak to them, and they will listen. We have much to be thankful for. Ice and Saka have been raised from the dead. And Ice and Saka have found eternal love and happiness, with Kwan and Lan Hwa. And Prophet and Honeyhair and Nitro and Blondie have also found eternal love and happiness. Now we have all been reunited, thanks to Ambassador Wester and our own Professor, who by the grace of God rescued his daughter, along with a host of other innocents, from the evil clutches of the slavers, by the will of God. It is time to give thanks. Let us pray to the Lord, to Deadman, to whatever holy spirit resides in your heart.

"Dear Lord, we pray for guidance. Please lay your holy healing hands on us, the dust of the earth. Please fill us with your infinite knowledge, and passion, and love, and glory. Let us see the glorious future. Let us use this knowledge for good, and not evil. Saint Michael the Archangel, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God we pray you stand by our side in battle against the evil demons of hell, and strike them down where they stand with your flaming sword. We beseech you O Lord, almighty and eternal God, to send your holy angel from Heaven to Delta Research to cherish, to protect, to abide with and to defend all who dwell in this house. May your blessings always be upon us. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."

Δ

"You had a dream? You were asleep? On both occasions?" The psycherchick was hovering over me as I lay there stretched out on a soft and luxurious leatherette sofa. She was on one of those glider chairs, and had parked it right next to me as she questioned me. She didn't look much older than a teenager, although they had told me she was a very hot psycher. She was a pretty little thing, limp brown hair, no makeup, a lovely little mouth with full soft lips. Paula was her name.

"Yes, that's right."

"All right, well I can't put you to sleep but I thought I would give you some advice on relaxing, and see what kind of impressions I can get from you. Are you relaxed?"

"Doing my best."

"You seem…tense. Let's lower the lights." The lights dimmed. It was only the two of us in the examination room. I closed my eyes and tried to relax.

"Ah," she said. "So many images! So much action! Wow. Please slow down a bit. Who is that girl, tall, slim, an absolute princess."

"Honeyhair. My wife."

"And, ah, I know her! That black girl, the preacher."

"Bees. Yes."

"So many people roaming around in your mind. The dog! Wow."

"He's a wolf."

"If you want to open and calm your mind, to allow it to do whatever it may want, you've got to calm down."

"Yes, I know."

"Your images are all happy images."

"Is that bad?"

"Yes, I think so. That's just my personal opinion, other psychers may not agree with me. But I believe psychic powers stem from adversity and unhappiness. I know all about your visions. The first was in the heat of battle – hatred, horror, terror and violence, all around you. The second was brought on by personal jealousy and fear. Am I right?"

"Yes, you're right."

"Happy people don’t turn into good psychers. We're all screwed up and miserable souls, and many of us decide to check out permanently with a laser track in the brain. Offhand, I'd say you're not going to get any new visions until you calm down and get miserable."

"Calm down and get miserable."

"Right. Then you'll be in the proper mood."

"I'm having a little trouble calming down with your hand resting on the inside of my thigh like that."

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry. Please forgive me. Some of my subjects respond well to that. I forgot, you're a happy newlywed. You must be so happy! That's the problem! Consider a little adversity. It frees up your mind. That's my theory."

Some of our facilitators – like psycherchick Paula – were in need of more help than we were.

Δ

"You believe in ghosts, right?" He was some kind of spirit medium, a young intense man, Doctor Dorak. Almost twitching in excitement, he kept looking around the room, as if searching for someone else. He was in civvies, a suit coat and a loose tie that was half undone.

"Well, sure," I said.

"Good, good. Some people are so superstitious they refuse to accept reality. All right, so you know ghosts are all around us. They are inhabitants of Dimension 2, which is part of the fabric of spacetime in U1, our universe. Of course, we normally cannot see into this dimension, or see the inhabitants, or interact with them, except on special occasions. And D2 is where the souls of our dead reside. But lately, oh my goodness, we’ve made so much progress in communicating with these spirits. Let me see if we have any with us here." He fumbled in a jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of thick, blue-tinted spectacles, his hands trembling as he jammed them onto his face and looked around the room, blinking.

"Let's see, let's see, anyone here? No? No. I wasn't really expecting it. After all, I know very little about Pandaravos." He took off his spook glasses. "But you see the connection. We can see and talk with the spirits in D2. Your visions are from another dimension, DX, which is brand new to the scientific community. And it is connected with another universe, one the natives call Mid Haven. My! Is this new dimension inhabited, or not? Or is it just connected with both U1 and Mid Haven? Either way, the DX portions of your brain are reaching out somewhere and pulling in these visions from the future. You can see the future! Isn’t that remarkable?"

He was telling me a lot of things I already knew. Some of our facilitators were like that. But the Prof asked us to be patient, and try to learn all we could from them. So we did as he asked.

Δ

Saka and Ice and I took refuge in the Delta Lounge between individual sessions. Nobody was allowed in there except members of the former Delta squad. That included Blackie, of course. He often hung out there alone, when Doggie was too busy to take him out or play with him. He would wander back and forth on the open balcony, looking over the scenery.

"Anything interesting so far?" Ice asked me. I was sipping dox in an airchair.

"Well…not really. I guess the best insight I've received so far came from that dingy psycherchick. What's her name, Paula. She believes the best visions will come in very stressful situations. Violence, fear, worries, danger, uncertainty and so forth. I think she may have something there. She says we're too happy here to have any effective insights into the future. Ah, she said, 'calm down and get miserable'.

"I see," Ice said. "So we should all go back into combat."

"Yeah, or return to the Recovery Hospital."

"Well, let's put that one down as a last resort. I'd like to stay here in Happyland as long as I can."

"Is that what you call it?" Saka asked.

"Happyland. Right."

"A good name," I said. "By the way, Saka, have you met this Paula creature?"

"Not yet."

"Well, if she slides a hand along your inner thigh, I'd recommend resistance. I'm not sure what would have happened had I not asked her to remove her hot little hand."

"If she tries that with me," Ice said, "I'll punch her right in the nose."

Blackie charged in from the balcony and barked happily, licking Ice right in the face. "Doggy drool," Ice said. "Maybe it will clean up my wounds."

"You know, I'm kind of worried," I said.

"About what?"

"What if Paula is right? What if we don't see any new visions? What if we don't get any new glimpses into the future? They've spent millions – maybe billions – setting up this institute and bringing in all this expensive hired help. And we don't produce?"

"All right," Ice said. "Tell you what, why don't you worry and fret about that. Maybe the extra stress will produce a vision. As for me, I'm on borrowed time already. I intend to enjoy my tour in Happyland."

"Yeah me, too," Saka said. "I'm a soldier of the Legion. Also living on borrowed time. I'll do exactly what they say. And if they want me to listen to these ding-a-lings, I'll do it. I've never been happier."

Δ

"It's like Paradise," Honeyhair said. Winter had arrived on Pandaravos, and Delta was strolling through the snow. It was Senday, an offday, and we were making the most of it. Oneday through Sixday we worked, but Senday was free. It had snowed heavily but silently the night before and when we awoke, we discovered Paradise. As far as we could see, everything was coated with a thick blanket of icy, bluish snow and sparkling icicles. The forests were a startling white, the fields were glowing white, the skies were full of icy white mist, muting the bluish star, and the lake was transformed into a startling blue mirror, stippled with white specks.

"It's just like Magna 5," Ice declared, hand-in-hand with Kwan. Blondie took Honeyhair's hand. Her other hand was linked to Arie. Blackie took off, racing through the snow. Then he skidded to a stop, raised his head, and howled at the sky. In moments, he was answered by a far-off chorus of wild howling. He took off like a shot, heading towards the forest.

"He'll be back," Doggie said. "He's done this before. He's just looking for some feminine companionship." He seemed happy for Blackie. His breath froze in the air as he spoke.

Scout and Smiley started throwing snowballs at each other, cavorting around like kids. My right hand was free, so I nabbed Bees and pulled her in to join our group. She smiled. I didn’t want her to be lonely. It seemed that everyone else was falling in love and pairing up, even Blackie. Doggie, Scout and Smiley were attracting random Assidic honeys with no effort at all, and I'd bet there would be more weddings before our Happyland tour was over. The Prof seemed content in his role as a single father, and he was not looking for a mate as far as I could tell. I wasn't worried about the others – but I was worried about Bees.

That night we threw a private party in our lounge, for Delta Squad and certified groupies only. Blackie had not yet returned from his adventure but everyone else was there, even Bird. The adult beverages were flowing freely, and we were all happy. I don't drink much, but even I was getting in the mood. Trouble is, I was still acting like an old lady, worrying again about Bees. Where was she? Was she enjoying herself or had she left already, bored? Ice was all wrapped up with Kwan, sitting in his lap and making out like a midschool kid. I wandered into the kitchen mod, which was deserted. Somebody was on the kitchen mod balcony, looking out at the starlit snow. Bees! Wait a mo – someone was with her. I froze, anxious to see who it was.

Scout! It was Scout, standing there near Bees. They were both looking out at the view. It looked like they were talking. Was it my imagination, or was Bees standing closer to Scout than normal for her? She was usually pretty distant.