Torl's Journey

Someone was coming into the room; she had to break contact with Torl. It took all her concentration to search for a way to confuse the Witch Hunter’s equipment, run the machine she was hooked up to, and talk to Torl. She definitely wanted to know what was happening in this room, so she broke contact.

It was the captain and the same two thugs he had had with him earlier when he caught her trying to shut down the machine. They had beaten her as he ordered. What did they want now?

“Listen up, witch. If you want your friend to be okay, you better not try anything funny. Jakel and Finus here will stay and watch you just to make sure.” the captain barked at her and then turned towards the two thugs.

“And if you two idiots fall asleep or miss her doin’ something, I’ll part you out, without no pain juice. Understand?”

“Yes sir! She won’t do nothin’ without we catch her.”

The two thugs stepped to either side of the door, staring at her. But the captain came forward, coming right up to her. He grabbed her face, squeezing it until the bruises left earlier started to throb again. Seala almost cried out from the pain. Only her determination not to let him see her break down kept her from expressing emotion. He leaned forward until she could not help smelling his disgustingly foul breath.

In a tone lowered for her ears only, he growled, “You cross me and I’ll empty this room and make you watch us part out your friend. Then I’ll give you to the crew. And when they’re done with you, I’ll part you out myself. You understand me? No tricks!”

“Yes, sir.”

Seala was proud of how steady her voice sounded. If he was trying to scare her, he would never know that he had hit the mark. The captain pulled back and hit her full in the chest. She almost passed out from the pain inflicted by that blow, but he had only knocked the wind out of her. Again she did not cry out. By the time she had recovered, the captain had left the room. Only his two thugs remained with her.

Seala reached out for the grays and checked the door. She found it was locked, so she set an image for the monitors again. Then she reached for the greens and searched the minds of the two thugs. They were riddled with fear. Fear of the captain was foremost in their minds, but that was a normal state for them. Now they seemed to be comfortable with it. And...another fear.

She went deeper... Seala pulled her mind back in shock. These men were afraid of her! Maybe even more afraid of her than of the captain. This was a new experience for her and she was not at all sure that she liked it. No one had ever been afraid of her before.

She tucked away hurt feelings and returned to the task at hand; otherwise she and Torl would be confined here forever or parted out. Once again she reached for the greens as she searched the thugs’ minds for anything that they knew about the Witch Hunter’s machines.

Deeper and deeper she went. One mistake and they would know that she was probing. There...yes, she knew it. These two were low level Witch Hunters. Jakel was the one who last set and checked the machines. She went even deeper. That’s it!

If she had been able to, she would have jumped for joy. She had the answer. She could short circuit the equipment from the captain’s quarters. Quickly she put the two men into a trance and created memories for them that would last for a few hours.

Then she went to work in earnest. First, to bypass the protection circuits in the captain’s quarters. Done.

Now, the Witch Hunter circuits. Carefully, she set a sequence of events for the recording equipment, and then she shorted it. She ran the short all the way back to the master units and erased the master chips. Torl would have to fix this later, but for now, she would settle with what she had learned from Jakel’s mind.

Nearly an hour later, she finished. Next she must contact Torl and have him correct her work.

“Torl, I have solved the problem of the Witch Hunter’s equipment. You will have to fix my work, but for now, it is disabled. Here is what I did...”

“....You did well Seala. I’m proud of you. Now, just concentrate on what you have to do. I’ll take care of the outside for a while. What else have you learned? May I search?”

“Yes. I am just about at the end of my capacity. If you search, I can focus on other things. Torl, I love you. Be careful.”

“I love you, too. Pace yourself, you may have to continue in this state for a while.”

“...That son of a Fin Wench. He will pay for what he has done to you Seala. If he comes in again, call to me.”

“Torl, I’m okay. Let it go. At least until we get out of here. Please!”

“I’ll wait... for now... I am reprogramming the Witch Hunter’s equipment. I must focus on what I’m doing. As soon as I’m done, I will try to figure out the machine you are hooked to. Be careful...Break...”