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Authors: Christine Pope
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seemed satisfied with her reply, since he put aside the discussion of her headache and said, “Good. I was hoping you’d be recovered enough to begin the next phase of your training.”
“Which is?” She didn’t think she liked the sound of this “training,” although she knew there was probably a great deal more preparation she’d have to go through before Gabriel and the people pulling his strings deemed her ready for her infiltration of Zhore society.
“Nothing too strenuous,” he told her. Now the smile was back, showing his amusement at her trepidation. “We went back and forth on this, but we decided that it would be better for you to experience as much as you can in this form, so you can get used to it, so it can become you. You’ll be training with Blake next. Your power to read minds is very strong, according to him, but your natural defenses aren’t as robust as they should be.”
Trinity began to bristle, and Gabriel raised a hand.
“I don’t mean that as an insult. But besides Blake, have you ever met anyone with your particular talents?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Not surprising. We’ve calculated that the incidence of true psi powers such as yours is less than one in a hundred million. So it makes sense that you would never have crossed paths with another ‘talented’ individual, and therefore wouldn’t have developed the abilities that would allow you to keep intruders out of your mind.”
No arguing there. The way Blake had been able to penetrate her mind had been disturbing, to say the least. True, she’d created her own barriers, but those were intended solely to keep other people’s stray thoughts from getting into her brain. Dealing with someone like Blake was completely different.
Since she offered no comment, Gabriel seemed happy to plow ahead. “But living among the Zhore will be very different. They aren’t true psychics, but they still can sense emotion, as far as we’ve been able to tell. So Blake will train you how to keep all that banked down. After all, the last thing we want is for the Zhore to smell fear on you.”
No, she supposed not. Precisely how easy it would be to train that fear out of her…or at least block it…she wasn’t sure. After all, she’d never counted on being dropped in the middle of an alien planet to spy on its inhabitants…to get closer than she’d ever dreamed to one of them….
A shiver went through her, and all she could do was nod. In that moment, she thought her fear and her worry must be so intense that the Zhore could sense it all the way from their home world here to Gaia.
She didn’t think a barrier existed that could conceal terror like that.
CHAPTER FIVE
In the end, Zhandar did not contact Jalzhin, agent of the Ministry of Health. Instead, he waited until he and Leizha were alone, the other workers in their department out on their various field assignments, making sure the plants and flowers of Torzhaan continued to replenish the air and feed both the stomachs and the souls of the city’s inhabitants.
Since he was the supervisor of the department, he had a large private office situated in one corner of the building. Leizha came to him there, trepidation clear in her hesitant steps and the way she cast a glance backward at the empty space behind her. Zhandar had heard that the Gaians liked to put their workers in little boxes to work, but that was not the way here on Zhoraan. He had his office, true, and Leizha, as his assistant, a smaller one, but the rest of the workspace was open, with tables and chairs arranged attractively in the center of the floor, and potted plants all around. Water cascaded down glass waterfalls to either side of the corridor that led to the banks of elevators.
A smaller waterfall flowed down an expanse of beaten copper on the wall behind him. Normally, Zhandar found the sound soothing, but now, as Leizha entered the office, he found the soft burble of the water almost
“Which is?” She didn’t think she liked the sound of this “training,” although she knew there was probably a great deal more preparation she’d have to go through before Gabriel and the people pulling his strings deemed her ready for her infiltration of Zhore society.
“Nothing too strenuous,” he told her. Now the smile was back, showing his amusement at her trepidation. “We went back and forth on this, but we decided that it would be better for you to experience as much as you can in this form, so you can get used to it, so it can become you. You’ll be training with Blake next. Your power to read minds is very strong, according to him, but your natural defenses aren’t as robust as they should be.”
Trinity began to bristle, and Gabriel raised a hand.
“I don’t mean that as an insult. But besides Blake, have you ever met anyone with your particular talents?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Not surprising. We’ve calculated that the incidence of true psi powers such as yours is less than one in a hundred million. So it makes sense that you would never have crossed paths with another ‘talented’ individual, and therefore wouldn’t have developed the abilities that would allow you to keep intruders out of your mind.”
No arguing there. The way Blake had been able to penetrate her mind had been disturbing, to say the least. True, she’d created her own barriers, but those were intended solely to keep other people’s stray thoughts from getting into her brain. Dealing with someone like Blake was completely different.
Since she offered no comment, Gabriel seemed happy to plow ahead. “But living among the Zhore will be very different. They aren’t true psychics, but they still can sense emotion, as far as we’ve been able to tell. So Blake will train you how to keep all that banked down. After all, the last thing we want is for the Zhore to smell fear on you.”
No, she supposed not. Precisely how easy it would be to train that fear out of her…or at least block it…she wasn’t sure. After all, she’d never counted on being dropped in the middle of an alien planet to spy on its inhabitants…to get closer than she’d ever dreamed to one of them….
A shiver went through her, and all she could do was nod. In that moment, she thought her fear and her worry must be so intense that the Zhore could sense it all the way from their home world here to Gaia.
She didn’t think a barrier existed that could conceal terror like that.
CHAPTER FIVE
In the end, Zhandar did not contact Jalzhin, agent of the Ministry of Health. Instead, he waited until he and Leizha were alone, the other workers in their department out on their various field assignments, making sure the plants and flowers of Torzhaan continued to replenish the air and feed both the stomachs and the souls of the city’s inhabitants.
Since he was the supervisor of the department, he had a large private office situated in one corner of the building. Leizha came to him there, trepidation clear in her hesitant steps and the way she cast a glance backward at the empty space behind her. Zhandar had heard that the Gaians liked to put their workers in little boxes to work, but that was not the way here on Zhoraan. He had his office, true, and Leizha, as his assistant, a smaller one, but the rest of the workspace was open, with tables and chairs arranged attractively in the center of the floor, and potted plants all around. Water cascaded down glass waterfalls to either side of the corridor that led to the banks of elevators.
A smaller waterfall flowed down an expanse of beaten copper on the wall behind him. Normally, Zhandar found the sound soothing, but now, as Leizha entered the office, he found the soft burble of the water almost
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