Changes In The Wind –New Horizons pt5… Journeys

[silentWitness]

Apologies... far too much exposition in this one... I shall endeavour to move to more story elements...

Part one: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=301044
Part two: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=301210
Part Three: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=301748
Part Four: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=302665

Changes In The Wind –New Horizons pt5… Journeys

The Wrathful Assertion must have been hit by the supernova as it was in a sorry state, the ship seemed to be falling apart the corridors were lit by dim threads of light as if the outside light was seeping through cracks in the hull… I still wasn’t entirely sure that wasn’t the case. As we entered a larger room I saw a small sphere like the one in the city… but this one was active and seemed to give off a red glow. I felt ‘Useless’… Tutolmanscont deftly reactivating the cores… nanite trails seemed to spin and twist about until they touched the core… I looked at Sry’akl but he didn’t seem to see it! Useless spoke to me in my mind “He cannot see them, you are more sensitive to the nanites than he” the lights flickered on and several bright spheres rose up out of the floor. “This was once an advanced drone corvette, I shall activate the nanites and set them to repair the ship but as we have no construction resources it will take quite some time” I mimicked his nanite lines and attempted to speak to him “but how is all this possible?” a small voice emanated from what seemed like inside me but it was not from my mouth. Useless smiled at me impressed “So little one, you learn quickly! Priest Emperor Xaar once said that magic is simply technology we have not yet discovered, and like all ‘magics’ this one requires innate skills to fully control” he hadn’t answered my question but Sry’akl was looking at us strangely and I realised who strange it must look for two people to be staring wordlessly at each other! I held Useless’s arm guiding him past wreckage but he seemed to know where he was going, the corridor suddenly opened out into a control room, readouts flashed all around, but there were no windows I was unsure how anyone could steer without seeing where they were going! There was a strange chair it was ornate and looked comfortable, but Sry’akl seemed not to find it comfortable at all, jumping out of it as if receiving an electric shock! He dithered around slightly trying to hide what has happened. I felt Useless tell me to try the chair. As I slipped into the cold confines of the chair it felt as if it fitted me like a glove, but also I felt the chair touching my mind, I felt Useless’s mind enshrouding mine, he seemed excited, he eased his grip and I saw that the ship was around me… no I was the ship. My pulse quickened I felt the dock beneath me, the air above me… it was like nothing I had ever experienced. Suddenly I felt the boundries fade from around me, as they faded life rushed in from everywhere.

Life seemed to burn into me from every angle, the light was everywhere, it was a feeling beyond pain, as if my very soul was being incinerated inside me! I felt my mind slipping into void, I grasped on to my body but the light was everywhere even inside me! Then there was black… I felt Useless’s mind enshroud me tightly, protectively shutting out what would be pain, the feelings of embarrassment and anger fresh in his thoughts as I opened my eyes I saw Sry’akl standing over me, his breath held. Useless paced angrily but he was not angry with me he was angry at himself, I tried to send out a nanite tendril to comfort him but he pushed it away “stupid, stupid, stupid… I could have killed you! Only a child loses control like that! A child not a Masterweaver!” Suddenly he stopped and spoke aloud “Now I remember why I disliked humans! Almost no control of their nanites! It is a wonder you have not set our young friend here on fire!” That was for Sry’akl’s benefit but I did feel slightly upset that he had blamed me for his mistake. As he lead me through the decks towards a small sanctuary room I felt him continue to apologise to me in his strange way. As we arrived in the sanctuary I felt the ship come to life around us. Useless smiled at me, “Sry’akl will be taking us up into space and I thought that we could watch. I will have to teach you to shroud your mind before you sit in the chair again, I could not forgive myself if the same was to happen to you as…” he broke off… sadness in his mind. “Still it is time to watch our takeoff” Sry’akl was an expert pilot, I felt his excitement even through Useless’s shroud and it was infectious! As the ship rose up out of the atmosphere I saw something I should have expected… I saw stars… but more than that I felt like I had come home.

I awoke curled up on a small bed in the sanctuary, it was surprisingly cold, Useless sat in a chair not far away from me, he could have been asleep but then I remembered he had no eyes to open and called out to him “Are you awake?” He smiled at me “I am sorry about before, I am no teacher, the training of adepts was never in my power so to find myself needing to train you was… unexpected at best. “ He grumbled and began to make tea. I nestled in a small wing back chair next to his, the stuffing was coming out of one of the arms but it was surprisingly comfortable. “Now at this time your nanites are simply reacting with you… but we must cross that line and bring nanite and weaver together… It is an ancient Paranid rite and one involving much digression, but seeing as you are already wildly effecting the world around you we much of course skip the formalities and plunge you straight in with little or no training." Useless seemed somewhat satisfied by this… as if it was all quite silly! Then I felt the wind… it was on my skin but it was I didn’t know where it was coming from… my eyes were heavy and I fell into a sleep.

The bright silvery world that surrounded me I felt Useless’s voice telling me to relax… but something was beginning to happen around me, the once solid beach was becoming an ocean … I felt the nanites washing over me in waves … no! Washing into me! They seemed attracted to me… Woosh! They were inside of me… not just around me… it was if they were deconstructing me… but then… wait. In a blink I realised… they were me too.

I opened my eyes… the world looked the same but everything had changed. I didn’t yet know how but things had changed. Useless’s voice seemed clearer as he spoke to me “Now concentrate on the nanite fields… concentrate on seeing them”. I saw the faint lines of the tendril that Useless was communicating with, I concentrated on that, it was hard but it did seem to start to become clearer, it was like a ever moving field of stars, I pushed harder... it was like shifting sand. It was like trying to pour myself into something, then I felt it… the faint glimmer of memories and consciousness, they were like a faint sphere, there was a sudden powerful wave of anger and fear from the sphere, the shockwave knocked me to the ground. When I opened my eyes Useless looked upset he spoke to me with his mouth “Perhaps it would be best that you practice on your own fields rather than trying to invade mine” I could feel the anger and indignation in his voice but he seemed to remain calm. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment “I’m sorry” I searched around for his fields but they were tight about him… almost indistinguishable from him. I concentrated on the swirling nanites around me, the field of nanites flowed about like a strange web around me… going around and around in ever more complex shapes. A soft voice echoed slightly in my consciousness… What did it say? “now bring back your attention into the real world” What? The nanite shapes disappeared as I lost concentration and the real world came crashing back into focus. “Good. I had not expected you to master a nanite trance on your first try, but perhaps it would be better if we concentrate on more utilitarian constructs shall we.” His mind directed me to a shape or form… I mimicked it in my mind… I felt the nanites all around me… Satisfaction spread through Useless’s mind “Now try to move them” The blind Paranid chuckled as he felt me toss and throw my nanites around… they were a little like extra arms and legs… no… they were like troublesome puppies barely doing what they were told!

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Space is dull…. Really dull… I had been flying towards the station sure… One big straight line with nothing in between… four stazura had passed and the station was finally coming up… four stazura of staring out at nothing… I had tried to entertain myself with breakneck turns and evasive manoeuvres but there was nothing out here!!!! NOTHING! A few stations… a few cargo ships… but basically nothing! Slowly the nanites were pulling the ship back together, but we were still practically crawling along… some freighters outpaced us… most… all. This was a disaster! Damn Redhead and her banged up snail of a ship! This was as bad as guard duty! I could see the council laughing at me as I crawled in this garbage scow towards the station. The turrets had come on over half a stazura ago but with no target the pulse pounding blasts of the flak cannons had grown boring! We were finally at the station! I flicked the comms online, Station Operations came onto the line “Welcome to Siion Station, you are speaking to the automated interaction system” great… an ‘automated’ system! “DOCK!!!!! DOCK!!!!!!!” “Thank you, please…. Foll…” damn this thing didn’t know how to shut up!! Little sparkling docking lights, the manoeuvres were simple…. Phallic imagery seemed to run through my mind as I aligned the nose with the dock and eased my way inside the doors shutting tightly at the end. The clamps came down and we were docked.

The chair released me and the first thing I thought about was to find My Redhead… Sry’akl! Your mind has gone crazy! Her hair cascaded as she turned to look at me. The lights of the dock seemed to turn her skin into luminescent alabaster. The dress she wore seemed to cling to her curves… All that fleshy fat hung in alluring ways to tempting… what was the saying? A woman to bring an empire down? If she were a Curb I would be powerless. This one was still growing into her powers I was fortunate I might affect the future outcomes at least for now.
As we stepped from the gantry into the space port there was a strange gassy taste to the air.What the hell were we even doing here? Why was it a blind Paranid was running the show? Way was it I was attracted to an Argon? So many stupid questions!

[Deeparth]

Good work!
Waiting for more.

[silentWitness]

Ok... I'll try to provoke some interest... I've edited my story to be a bit more racy and exciting...

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=3631054

Do you prefer how it was or this next part?