Duty, Honour, Love

Jane woke with a start unsure of where she was and who she was. She opened her eyes to see the familiar environs of a shuttle, the last shuttle she remembered she was on. Kathleen stood over her a hypo in on hand and a medical scanning glove in the other and a concerned expression on her face.

“What is your name?” Kathleen asked.

Jane had a moment of confusion before she answered her voice unsteady. “Jane, Jane Walberg.” She remembered something she’d long suppressed the memory of a friend who had given her life for a young woman on the run, from her family from her fate and from a street gang. A moment of panic crossed her mind seeing Kathleen standing in front of her. It had nothing to do with her past. “Shouldn’t you be flying the shuttle?” It seemed inconsequential to her past but it was a real fear.

“Because we are on the ground,” Kathleen answered with a shrug. “I wasn’t going to fly through a storm. I’m not that gung-ho.”

Jane looked at the hypo in Kathleen’s hand. “I didn’t have a panic attack while you were flying?”

“Not in so many words,” Kathleen said. “This was Psycodrine a telepath suppressant.” She waved the empty hypo in Jane’s face.

“Dareia,” Jane said bitterly and instantly regretted her words. “I knew she was one.”

“Oh not the only one here?”

“You?” Jane stared at Kathleen extremely concerned she would know her secrets. Any telepath could rifle through her mind like it was a cabinet of files.

“You ‘were’ a latent,” Kathleen told her.

Jane grimly noted that she had said ‘were’ as if it was important. “Latent?” she said the words before she could stop herself.

“Latent telepath.”

But before she could ask Kathleen’s attention was on Dareia seated beside her face pale, her blue eyes wild.

“What is your name?” Kathleen asked the same question to Dareia.

“Dareia,” Dareia replied. She had broken the cardinal rule of telepaths and had gone too deep into another’s mind even if it hadn’t been her who was the culprit that pulled her in.

Jane glanced down to see her fingers interlocked with Dareia’s.

“Are you ok?” a voice asked.

It took Jane a moment to realise that it was Dareia speaking directly to her mind to mind. “You’re a telepath?” she accused Dareia but somehow she didn’t have the heart to be angry with her despite her deceit.

“As are you our minds are linked,” Dareia mind spoke to Jane.

“Linked!” Jane blurted out. “Impossible!”

“But true,” Dareia’s mind told her.

“Linked? Kathleen mused she must have been listening to Jane. “That doesn’t sound good?”

“Not helping here Doc?” Jane told her.

“Although it explains much,” Kathleen said and waved her gloved hand. “The data.”

“What do you mean?” Jane asked she noted Dareia was not saying anything and that had her worried.

“Your heartbeats are in perfect sync?” Kathleen said as if it explained everything to Jane. “Everyone has a heart rhythm. No two are the same until now. Yours are the same beat for beat. It’s as if I’m looking at one person?”

Dareia’s mind worked furiously but with Jane’s entwined with her it was difficult separating their thoughts. “This is what I said when I said we were linked.” She spoke directly mind to mind with Jane.

Jane should have been terrified with Dareia’s invasion of her mind but she felt strangely calm. “Ok Doc give us the worst.” She had meant to say ‘me’ but it came out as ‘us’ as if she was a part of Dareia like they were conjoined twins. She should have run screaming at the thought but she didn’t.

Kathleen sighed. “I wish I could but this is a branch of medicine I’ve not trained in. Dareia would probably be better explaining this?”

“By being linked and I hadn’t wanted to do this to you. Every thought, every hurt we share and if one dies the other dies instantly.”

Jane felt frozen by the fear that ran down her back.

“We will work through this,” Dareia assured her.

Things were fuzzy inside her mind at the moment but somehow she was calm and didn’t know why. Dareia interrupted her thoughts.

“Tell me what you see?” Dareia said talking directly to her mind.

That was the only clear thing she could understand the rest too fuzzy her mind kept slipping from thought to thought, unable to settle on one thing. “What do you mean?”

“Look into Kathleen’s mind and tell me what you see?”

Jane looked at Kathleen regarding her carefully following Dareia’s instructions. “I can’t see anything?” she complained. “It’s kinda fuzzy like I’m trying to peer through a fog.”

“That’s the Psycodrine working. It calms and suppresses telepathic thoughts. I’m kind of glad there was some on board the shuttle.” Kathleen grimaced. “I know I said I wanted the shuttles fully equipped for any eventuality I hadn’t factored having to deal with a newly emerging telepath. I choked at the cost of outfitting the shuttles but I now feel justified. You two are lucky we had it on board but I only had two doses, I hope that will be enough?” Kathleen sighed. “I would have hated to have to sedate the both of you and lock you in a Cell Stitcher.” She gave the both of them a deep look. “You two are going to be alright once the drug wears off. I don’t want you trying to kill each other off by crashing the shuttle?”

“We won’t will we?” Dareia spoke to Jane’s mind. “You kill me, you die. The same will happen if our roles were reversed.”

“I see, you can’t be clearer than that?” Jane’s response lacked any venom.

Sympathy welled up inside of Dareia. “You’ll be ok I’ll get you through this?”

“Like how? You do realise you’ve broken the trust we’ve built up with you. Captain Stillway will never trust you Confeds now. How can I, you lied to me you lied to all of us?” Jane’s words were without emotion.

Dareia understood how she felt they shared the same thoughts, the same mind. “Karasena planned on telling Mark today?” She crinkled her brow. Or was that yesterday the drug was effective in confusing a tepe’s thoughts. She was glad that Kathleen had said she’s only got two doses. “I just can’t concentrate.”

Jane knew how Dareia felt at times it was like they one and the same person their thoughts interlocking. “How long do we have to endure this?”

“About six hours,” Kathleen answered. “I gave you each a full dose it should be enough to make it to White Mountain. If you folks can keep yourselves away from my controls we’d say we’re even.” Kathleen paused. “Otherwise I’ll shoot you full of sedatives and lock you in a Cell Stitcher. Are we clear?” She gave both women a hard look.

“Crystal,” Dareia and Jane said together and stared at each other.

Satisfied Kathleen headed back to the pilot’s seat and buckled herself in. She had heard Jane and Dareia’s scream. It had given her quite the turn but she quickly worked out what was wrong only time would tell if she had made the right call.

Dareia was still working her way through what had happened. Jane had pulled her into her nightmare.

“Jane I’ll guide you through this?” Dareia mind spoke to Jane’s. “Or would you want me to call you by your real name?”

Jane would have shuddered at the thought if she’d been able to the drug prevented her from doing that. “Melissa died the day Jane did. I’d rather be Jane.” The first honest thing she’d admitted to herself.

“Jane it is then. The first thing I need to teach you is filtering.”

“Filtering?”

“The noise other minds make in your head. It can drive you crazy.”

The shuttle powered up taking up Jane’s thoughts and she concentrated on that. She’d deal with the reality later.