Chapter 32 - Mind Meld
The three Governors met in the shielded Conference Room. With them were all the teachers that were closely involved in training the High King’s heirs. Each teacher spoke in turn, answered any queries and departed. Perrin Reslic waited until last to speak his piece.
“All that is fine,” he said, referring to the previous reports. “I was not impressed with the stunt they pulled in the natatorium yesterday. I did not tell them to try for the bottom of the diving pool.”
His brother raised his brows and recalled a long ago memory of Perrin doing the same thing.
“I expect you did not tell them not to,” Jono Reslic said evenly. “How did they do? Any problems?”
“No,” Perrin growled. “It only took them three minutes longer than normal to surface after the dive, the cocky little…”
His brother silenced him with a look and asked, “What else can you tell us?”
Perrin reported fully and fairly, and summarised, “I have been testing them since you put them on the accelerated study course. No matter what drill I set them – they do it flawlessly. They are better than the Level Alpha students.”
“The surprise test the day before yesterday – have you any extra comments?” Xyron asked.
“He used Tonnik’s transmitter,” Perrin told him. He didn’t comment on the backflow he had received.
“It proves that he understood the theory, and deduced that we limit the capabilities of the student’s devices. He does have the power to use any transmitter on the estate,” Xyron revealed. “Both Tymos and Kryslie could use a transmitter outside of the estate’s power grid without needing an independent power source.”
“It is still wrong for a student to use someone else’s unit,” Perrin insisted.
“How do they perform when they do not realise they are being tested?” Tymoros asked.
“Usually they are obedient and sensible enough and do their best. I would phrase that as they don’t always have insane whims to act on.”
“I understand that yesterday was their first try at diving,” Tymoros queried.
“Yes. I wanted to see their power control in an unfamiliar activity. I had two of the level alpha students demonstrate the technique for horizontal, medial and high dives. They did well enough, better than some students who have been learning for months.”
“I suspect that doing well enough was not sufficient,” Tymoros suggested. “They know they are being tested and wanted to show you their best and were perhaps testing their own limits.”
“It was still irresponsible!” Perrin insisted.
“Perhaps,” Xyron admitted. “However, I don’t think it was unconsidered. They did act together.”
Perrin growled softly.
“And how did they react to your chastisement?” Tymoros asked.
“They went off calmly and ran for the hour,” Perrin admitted.
“Then they accepted that they deserved censure for doing what was not normally permitted,” Tymoros remarked.
Jono Reslic asked, “Have you any other comments to make?”
“No, except if you want them pushed any higher – you’ll test them yourself,” Perrin proposed.
“I have been,” Jono Reslic admitted. “Tymos is almost my equal in fighting skills, and did manage to disarm me. I can’t fault him there. Kryslie is better at defence, but she can hold her own with me now.”
Perrin betrayed his surprise by raising his eyebrows. “There you have it then. All you have to do is prevent them acting on rash impulses.” He bowed to the Governors and turned to depart after receiving a hand gesture of dismissal from his brother.
While Perrin had been reporting, Elder Tymori had entered unobtrusively. He now moved closer to be acknowledged.
“Uncle, was there something you wished to share with us?” Tymoros invited.
“Yes, Governor Tymoros,” Timenon acknowledged formally. He bowed slightly to each of the Governor’s, and then stood straight, keeping his joined hands hidden in the sleeves of his robe. “The convocation of Elders have meditated on the future custodians. We all agree that they must emerge from within the protection of the estate to learn more of the people and lands that they will one day need to protect. Are they ready? I sensed that Perrin has doubts.”
Reslic summarised, “We have tested them repeatedly and can find no flaws in their power control. They have learnt to control their emotions and their psychic gifts.”
Xyron continued, “Our main concern is that they have only been learning from us for a year. There is still a great deal that they have not had a chance to learn.”
Tymori waited for Tymoros to add his observations. When he did not, Tymori encouraged, “You know them best, what do you feel?”
“That they are still very young and inexperienced,” the High King summarised. “My instincts tell me that they will not fail us, but I fear to lose them after knowing them for such a short time.”
“There is still the third,” Tymori ventured. “Llaimos is still a child, and in our visions of the coming conflict, he is a man.”
“My youngest son is growing rapidly,” Tymoros told the Elder.
“We know of that, but if he is the third, as Princess Kryslie foresaw, it will be a year yet before he is fully adult. That is assuming he keeps developing at the same rate,” Tymori proposed.
“How can we train him in just a year,” Tymoros pointed out. “His sibs were much older when they began to learn here. My instincts are a telling me that we will not have a full year before the custodians must act. The Aeronites are aware of these children now, and have already tried to remove them.”
“It is our duty to protect the custodians and prepare them as well as possible,” Tymori acknowledged. “Have you considered the ceremony for those ascending to supreme rank? How each of you received the knowledge of the generations of past governors?”
“The Guardians grant us that knowledge,” Xyron remarked, but he saw where the idea had merit. “However, we are not in the scared temple.”
Tymori reminded Xyron, “You do not need to be within the temple to invoke the Guardians of Peace.”
“No,” Reslic said quietly. “You are suggesting a mind meld, using the Sword of Judgement as the conduit.”
The Elder bowed. “It would also serve the purpose of confirming the rightness of the custodians chosen by the Guardians. If you doubt their readiness, have them touch the sword.”
After Tymori departed, the Governors considered the idea of the mind meld.
“The Elder is correct,” Xyron murmured. “When the time comes for the custodians to act, they will need to know everything possible. What would take years of conventional education, they need now. But more importantly, our knowledge and experience, and that of our predecessors, would benefit them in learning judgement.”
“They are already telepathic,” Tymoros considered. “So the procedure will be less overwhelming. And their power is equal to ours, and that not their full potential.”
“I am not against a five way mind meld,” Reslic made clear his sentiments. “But they will receive many impressions from our minds that are extraneous to the necessity of their training. If we proceed with the mind meld, it should be done on a deep level so that the memories and impressions that they receive will surface only when they require the specific information.”
“That can be done,” Xyron assured them. “I think it would be appropriate to use the room of the Seven Ages. Let us go there and prepare ourselves. I will send a messenger to bring them there.
“How long has it been now?” Kryslie asked her brother, as she rose from the padded chair and began to pace their father’s sanctum. “They have been meeting since before we started the med and psych examinations.”
“Ten minutes longer than the last time you asked,” Tymos muttered from the chair where he was leaning forward and clutching his stomach.
“I wish they would hurry. I am so hungry that my stomach is cramping. Unlike you, I couldn’t eat lunch, and I am still not sure I could,” Kryslie grumbled.
“I wish I hadn’t eaten,” Tymos muttered. “Or can’t you feel the pressure this time?”
“Perhaps that was why I couldn’t eat,” Kryslie agreed, finally realising the true reason for the tension in her muscles and stomach. “What’s this one – the thirteenth tremor this week?”
“Yeah,” Tymos agreed. “Eight more than the scientists reported. At least this one feels like it is going to be right away near the ocean. The build up isn’t as bad as that one the other day.”
“There is no way these tremors can be natural,” Kryslie said forcefully. “Until recently, there had never been quakes on this continent. It has to be those aliens, but I don’t know how – I would sure like to go and stop them. Not that we would be allowed. And that being the case, I’d like to know why it’s so important that we go on this tour. After all, there’s always the next one.”
“Do you want to wait? I don’t,” Tymos countered. “Though why do you think it is taking so long to discuss us? Could we have failed?” Tymos asked uneasily.
“No. How could we? Not with all that extra coaching we’ve had since Father announced he was taking us on tour.”
“Perhaps our demonstration in the natatorium yesterday is being held against us?” Tymos suggested, stifling a groan of pain.
“That shouldn’t – we proved we can control our power, consciously,” Kryslie stated. “Wish I had the knack of blocking this pressure echo in my gut, though. None of our instructors have this problem and have no idea how to deal with it.”
“If we had time to think we might think of a way,” Tymos thought.
The arrival of the green clad attendant distracted them.
“Are the Governors ready for us now, Aldiv?” Kryslie asked.
“Yes, Princess Kryslie.”
Aldiv bowed to both of them. “I am to bring you to them.”
“Finally!” Tymos sighed, and straightened up and rose from the chair. Kryslie knew he referred to the easing of the stomach cramps as the ground trembled – too far away for anyone at the palace to feel it. She felt the same relief, though Aldiv did not realise that the comment was not a reply to his message.
“You cannot expect such an important evaluation to be hurried, Prince Tymos,” Aldiv told him in a tone of mild reproof. “Reaching level Delta means you have your power under complete control. They would not wish any doubts to linger about any student as powerful as you both are.”
“What us?” Kryslie feigned innocence. “We aren’t so special. The level Alpha students could still out do us a few weeks ago.”
Aldiv merely bowed again, and said, “It is not acceptable to keep the Governor’s waiting.”
Realising that perhaps Aldiv had said more than he should, Tymos and Kryslie refrained from further comment. They moved to be near Aldiv, allowing him to take them to their appointment.
They expected to arrive in the Conference Room, but instead, they saw the detailed murals that adorned the wall of the Room of the Seven Ages. Aldiv bowed and departed. Tymos and Kryslie bowed, and then stood in a formal stance, waiting for the Governors to speak. Their eyes flicked to observe the faces of each of the Governors, trying to gauge what they were thinking without trying to intrude mentally.
Xyron, sitting next to Reslic behind a curved table, moved a hand to brighten the lights and instigate an anti-intrusion field. Reslic sat back in his chair, seeming to study the children in front of him, noting the departure from a formal ‘eyes forward’ pose. Tymoros rose and came to greet them.
“There is no need to be formal,” he told them, as he came closer. “Sit with us.” He gestured to two chairs and then to a position on an arc across from the other Governors.
Tymos and Kryslie took the implied hint and moved the chairs. Their brief glance at each other was merely confirmation of their individual confusion. This was not what they had expected. Being informal with their foster-father was one thing; they had never really been informal with the other Governors. They waited until Tymoros had re-seated himself before they did. However, their posture was stiff.
“We wish to tell you that you have both reached Level Delta. I know you understand the importance of this milestone.”
Tymos nodded cautiously. Both his sister and himself, were wondering at the setting of this meeting.
From his seat, Reslic spoke, “You have only had your power for less than a cycle of seasons and training for an even shorter time when normally, children with your strength of power have had many years of study.”
For a moment, Kryslie thought he was criticising them. Tymos flicked her a thought, “They sure pushed us though.”
After a pause, Reslic continued, “Because of that, we tested you more rigorously than any other students, but you passed easily. We are certain that you do have your power fully under your conscious control. Now you must learn to fully utilise it for the benefit of all our people and for the protection of the Tymorean Trust.”
Tymos heard in his mind, “But they still won’t let us go out and find those aliens who are causing us so much discomfort.” But both of them sensed their foster-father’s pride in them.
Kryslie verbalised, “How can we do that if we are not allowed to leave the estate? Or when you will not let us risk ourselves. Those aliens are causing ground-quakes and we feel every one of them building up. There was just another one, over near the ocean.”
Xyron glanced at a data pad on a small table next to him. It did have a report of a tremor. “Perhaps you feel that you could find them at work? However, they have cloaked flitters. They are long gone before we can get people to the quake location.”
He saw the flash of determination on the two young faces.
Reslic gestured to himself, and then Tymoros and Xyron and commented, “Even we cannot be everywhere. We must always delegate tasks to suitably trained people and only become involved in exceptional circumstances.”
“But surely we can do more…”Kryslie blurted.
Tymos turned and seemed to speak to his sister, and made his agreement sound less like a grievance. “It is like his Excellency said, "We’ve only had less than a year of study.” His mind added, “Even if we were pushed five times harder than everyone else. We may not be abysmally ignorant – but obviously we don’t know everything.”
Kryslie tried to hide her wriggle of disgruntlement by sitting further back in her chair.
“We are not criticising you for wanting to do more,” Tymoros said gently. “It is simply that the more knowledge we can give you – the better prepared you will be. Tomorrow we will depart for Dira. We will travel by coach so you will get to experience the lands beyond this estate.”
He saw a distant expression come onto his children’s faces and wondered at it.
“We saw a glimpse of it from the Room of Stars when we were waiting to meet the Elders,” Tymos remarked, but he was recalling the feeling he’d had then. It had seemed important at the time, but for some reason he had forgotten that.
Kryslie mentally commented, “They keep us too busy to think of such things – even the reports of all the sabotage and civil disruptions – we quickly lose focus on them and simply assume that everything necessary is being done.”
“Or all they can think of to try – but it is not enough. Those aliens are laughing at us, and thumbing their noses,” Tymos thought back.
Aloud, Kryslie said, “I am really looking forward to this tour. Will we be going straight to Dira?”
“Yes. On the way there, we will be skirting towns and villages because we need to arrive before the storms begin. On the way back we will stop at some of the towns and villages that look to Dira and Reva.”
“What will we be doing in Dira? Visiting the Temple?” Kryslie asked.
Tymoros smiled. “Yes, if you recall, I told you we would spend the season of storms in the Sacred Temple – meditating with the Elders. You may learn wisdom from them, and perhaps the Guardians will choose to reveal to you the reason for your existence.”
“To protect the trust…”Tymos said, then stopped, realising that he did know but like so much else, the memory slipped back out of recall. It annoyed him that he could not remember that, when he had a highly retentive memory for whatever information his teachers put to him. It was like they were being lulled into forgetting anything but their study. He had a surge of irritation. He knew Kryslie shared it, but then he sensed that her mind was elsewhere. She was looking to one side – towards the wall mural. Without trouble, he knew which section of the enormous mural she was concentrating on. Oddly, it showed two tiny figures diving into a pool.
His own eyes scanned the mural backwards from that point and stopped at another odd scene – in this one were two red headed figures in a room with a desk and a blond man.
“In here, I cannot help feeling that we are some inevitable part of Tymorean history,” Kryslie said, surprising the Governors. Her irritation was overcome by curiosity. “Even though we were not born here. You knew to expect us, but we still surprised you, didn’t we?”
Tymoros rose and walked to a section of the mural. He gestured an invitation to his foster children to join him.
“Many years ago, when my own children died, my father foresaw that I would have heirs in time.”
Tymoros pointed to a tiny picture of two red headed babies set apart from a tiny depiction of himself.
“Who those tiny babies were, was unknown until shortly before your arrival. One of the Elders saw, or sensed your power rising in a vision from the Guardians. From him, we knew we had to find you.”
He moved along the mural towards the end and pointed to the section that had caught Tymos’s eye.
“Those two…that’s us,” Tymos stated. He thought he should recall the scene.
“Why is there a faint glow around the figures?” Kryslie asked.
“Perhaps because the Guardians of Peace were shielding you,” Tymoros suggested. “Come further, look how the mural is changing.”
They walked to be level with the last image, next to a section of blank wall. This was the scene that had caught Kryslie’s attention – the two diving figures. Yet as they looked, a new picture was forming.
“What… is causing that?” Tymos asked, amazed. He reached out to the wall. It felt like a perfectly ordinary wall, lined with a smooth synthetic material.
Two red heads, one with his own face, were surrounded by three who wore the robes of state of the Governors of Tymorea. The tall red head had his arms around the two children, even as Tymoros had now. Then, in a fainter degree, a third red headed child became visible.
Reslic spoke from behind the group. “Our history is of a living power and it is recorded in this room. Your achievement today is an important event.”
Xyron, from his chair, added, “There are many details on these walls that even we do not fully comprehend. Often meanings become clearer – or we are enlightened – through meditation.”
With seeming irreverence, Tymos thought at Krys, “Why is our diving into the pool an important event? Was it because we decided to act on our own instincts?”
She thought back, “Where might it be important to dive? Or is that an analogy for something else?”
Tymos mentally shrugged, returning with, “Not in the pool here, that’s for sure.”
While Tymoros pointed out other scenes, Tymos found his eyes straying to ambiguous scenes that might refer to the hidden doings of alien saboteurs. The urge to go out and face those aliens stirred strongly. Surely, that was the reason for their existence.
Tymoros realised that his children were no longer attending to his words and he sighed inwardly. “I know that you are both impatient to help resolve the current situation caused by the alien infiltrators,” he said, regaining their attention. “And we have said, repeatedly that you still have a lot to learn. We know of a technique that may help. Would you be willing to share a period of meditation with us?”
Two heads nodded agreement, with neutral expressions.
“We will, in effect, be melding our minds,” Tymoros warned. “Only in that way, can we share with you some of our experience and wisdom.”
“We would be honoured, Father,” Kryslie said with a faint bow. Her eagerness was barely restrained. “Then – would we be allowed to do more?”
Tymoros made no promises, just suggested, “Will you help move the chairs closer, so we can form a joined circle?”
They kept the small table in the centre of them all and then Reslic laid the unsheathed Sword of Judgement upon it.
Kryslie eyed it, recalling clearly when she had touched it once before. She also remembered that the Sword had disempowered that aliens caught on the estate. Once again, some indefinable urge made her reach out to touch it. This time, Tymos copied her.
The Governors watched, not alarmed. They saw the stillness that overcame the children in that moment of touching it. Whatever message the Guardians had given them, it was not sensed by those nearby.
From determined and almost mutinous, the faces of Tymos and Kryslie seemed to become resigned. They withdrew their hands and sat back into their chairs.
“Is there a message you might share with us?” Reslic asked quietly. He, of all the Governors, had most contact with the Guardians of Peace.
Tymos was quiet for a moment, and then tried to verbalise what he had sensed.
“Wait. We are to wait…and learn…listen and consider.” He stopped, trying to verbalise the message in the rest of the contact. Kryslie finally found the words.
“The real enemy is still hidden,” she interpreted.
“Was there more?” Reslic asked, leaning forward.
Kryslie shook her head. “The images are fading, but all that is clear is that it is not yet time for us to act. But how will we know when it is the right time?”
“You will know,” Tymoros assured them. “If you keep your mind open to the Guardian’s wisdom. Come, join hands with us and we can learn from each other.”
With the five chairs placed so each person could reach hands and take the hands of those on either side, a link was formed. Tymos had Kryslie on his right and Xyron on his left. On Kryslie’s right was Tymoros, with Reslic in the middle of the two other Governors. All were well trained in the art of meditation. Soon Tymos and Kryslie were deeply oblivious to their surroundings.
They felt the gentle touch of the Governors’ minds and seemed to become part of them. For what seemed like hours, the five minds melded, receiving images, knowledge, ideas, intuitions and wisdom from each other. Finally, the five minds separated. Hands fell limply.
In the time of sharing, all the knowledge and wisdom of the Governors had been given to those who were destined to play so great a role in the future of the planet. Each of the five minds needed time after the meld for solitary meditation to consider what they had learnt. Even the Governors, for they had come to know more of what these children were to become.
Tymos and Kryslie found the details they had learnt slipping away from them as so many other details had done. They remembered that they had shared a mind meld with the Governors and the loss of details worried them for a while until they realized that when they needed the information it would be available to them.
The Governors reinforced this belief and then dismissed them to prepare for their journey that was to begin next morning.