Read Online The Embers Of My Heart by Christopher Nelson - Free Book Online
Authors: Christopher Nelson
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to all of those who have some sort of advantage over another. I use my superior intellect to gain advantage. Drew uses his physical condition. You use your natural charm and financial situation. How are these so different?"
"I can get smarter, ripped, and richer. I can't get psionic powers."
"As far as we know," Andreas said. We all turned to him. "Perhaps a normal person can gain powers in some fashion. There may be genetic therapy in the future that could provide access to those powers."
"Don't think I'd want it," Drew said. "I like myself the way I am, you know?"
"I don't think they'd want people to get powers. The haves never want the have-nots to rise to their level. They'd probably crush the hell out of anyone who tried it." Max snorted. "What a load of bullshit. So what does your organization actually want, Kev?"
"Hell if I know," I said. "Not to take over the world, according to them. They want to make sure no crazy assholes do that. Of course, that might make them the crazy assholes. I don't trust them. I don't trust anyone, to be honest."
Max finally cracked a grin. "Smartest thing I've heard from you all day."
"Sometimes I'm not a complete dumbass."
"So there's totally a shadow war going on in the background," Drew said. "That sort of shit is exciting. Scary, but exciting. What can we do to help you?"
"Help me?"
"Yeah, of course." I looked between all three of them. "Kev, we're on your side here. We're not going to choose to forget. What are you, nuts?" Andreas nodded as I met his gaze.
Max looked away for a moment as I caught his gaze. "I'm with you Kev, but this shit is scary as fuck. If you're part of the good guys and you don't really believe they're good, what are the bad guys like? Are we going to come down with a seriously terminal case of dead if they find out we know about you?"
I nodded. "They've already threatened that."
"Say what?"
I told them the abridged version of my traineeship with Shade. I left out the parts involving what actually happened on our trip through Washington. No one needed to know about Star. I wanted to forget all about her myself.
"Kev?" Max asked. I blinked and realized I had stopped talking. "You ok, man?"
"Yeah, just lost my train of thought," I said. "But to end the story, he tried to kill me. It was a straight no holds barred fight. He had me beat and tried to force me to surrender. If I didn't, he'd take control of me, make me into a puppet, and force me to kill or torture all my friends and family."
"Seeing as we're all still here, I guess you kicked his ass, right?" Drew asked.
"Let's just say he's in a coma and not coming out of it any time soon."
Drew laughed and Max smirked. I hoped I was right. If Shade ever did come out of the coma, he wouldn't try to make me surrender, he wouldn't try to capture me, he wouldn't try anything, he'd just kill me out of hand. I resolved to check if he showed any signs of waking. A darker side of me said I should just make sure he never woke up.
"So what can we do to help?" Drew asked. "I mean, I know we're just a bunch of normal dudes, except Max, who's weird, but we can do something, right?"
"There are a couple of things," I said. "First, obviously, don't tell anyone outside this room. Literally. Andreas's room is the only place we'll ever discuss it. Deal?" They all nodded. "Second, this is more for Andreas, but can you keep working on that device? Any way to get the sensors down to the bare minimum, maybe use a wireless connection so you don't need to have a phone dangling off it? That would be useful to figure out if there's a psion nearby. It's difficult for us to detect each other outside of active power use."
"I will work on it," Andreas said. "The data logged from the earlier events should provide me with a starting basis. I will require your assistance on occasion to refine the data."
"What about Max and I?" Drew asked.
I shrugged. "Keep an eye out for weird stuff. Really, I don't know what you can do right
"I can get smarter, ripped, and richer. I can't get psionic powers."
"As far as we know," Andreas said. We all turned to him. "Perhaps a normal person can gain powers in some fashion. There may be genetic therapy in the future that could provide access to those powers."
"Don't think I'd want it," Drew said. "I like myself the way I am, you know?"
"I don't think they'd want people to get powers. The haves never want the have-nots to rise to their level. They'd probably crush the hell out of anyone who tried it." Max snorted. "What a load of bullshit. So what does your organization actually want, Kev?"
"Hell if I know," I said. "Not to take over the world, according to them. They want to make sure no crazy assholes do that. Of course, that might make them the crazy assholes. I don't trust them. I don't trust anyone, to be honest."
Max finally cracked a grin. "Smartest thing I've heard from you all day."
"Sometimes I'm not a complete dumbass."
"So there's totally a shadow war going on in the background," Drew said. "That sort of shit is exciting. Scary, but exciting. What can we do to help you?"
"Help me?"
"Yeah, of course." I looked between all three of them. "Kev, we're on your side here. We're not going to choose to forget. What are you, nuts?" Andreas nodded as I met his gaze.
Max looked away for a moment as I caught his gaze. "I'm with you Kev, but this shit is scary as fuck. If you're part of the good guys and you don't really believe they're good, what are the bad guys like? Are we going to come down with a seriously terminal case of dead if they find out we know about you?"
I nodded. "They've already threatened that."
"Say what?"
I told them the abridged version of my traineeship with Shade. I left out the parts involving what actually happened on our trip through Washington. No one needed to know about Star. I wanted to forget all about her myself.
"Kev?" Max asked. I blinked and realized I had stopped talking. "You ok, man?"
"Yeah, just lost my train of thought," I said. "But to end the story, he tried to kill me. It was a straight no holds barred fight. He had me beat and tried to force me to surrender. If I didn't, he'd take control of me, make me into a puppet, and force me to kill or torture all my friends and family."
"Seeing as we're all still here, I guess you kicked his ass, right?" Drew asked.
"Let's just say he's in a coma and not coming out of it any time soon."
Drew laughed and Max smirked. I hoped I was right. If Shade ever did come out of the coma, he wouldn't try to make me surrender, he wouldn't try to capture me, he wouldn't try anything, he'd just kill me out of hand. I resolved to check if he showed any signs of waking. A darker side of me said I should just make sure he never woke up.
"So what can we do to help?" Drew asked. "I mean, I know we're just a bunch of normal dudes, except Max, who's weird, but we can do something, right?"
"There are a couple of things," I said. "First, obviously, don't tell anyone outside this room. Literally. Andreas's room is the only place we'll ever discuss it. Deal?" They all nodded. "Second, this is more for Andreas, but can you keep working on that device? Any way to get the sensors down to the bare minimum, maybe use a wireless connection so you don't need to have a phone dangling off it? That would be useful to figure out if there's a psion nearby. It's difficult for us to detect each other outside of active power use."
"I will work on it," Andreas said. "The data logged from the earlier events should provide me with a starting basis. I will require your assistance on occasion to refine the data."
"What about Max and I?" Drew asked.
I shrugged. "Keep an eye out for weird stuff. Really, I don't know what you can do right
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