Chapter 4

“Digressions, objections, delight in mockery, carefree mistrust are signs of health; everything unconditional belongs in pathology. “

― Friedrich Nietzsche

“Hi aunt Ajenix, how are you doing?” Corvus asked his aunt at his usual weekly dinner with her at her home.

“It has been a heavy week. I went to visit the college president to discuss some issues with her. Firstly, I wanted to alert her to the threat of the Gazronnaas. Secondly, I am having problems in the committee trying to reconcile the arguments about which runes we use for the hard sciences.”

“What is the story about the Gazronnaas?” Corvus asked.

“Pleb seconded me to the intelligence committee to help them find the Gazronnaas. They were interested to learn that I have several techniques to block and capture an invading consciousness. I need to get a subject so that I can show what can be done. The situation is much graver than all of you are being told. Several of the University guards and the Military disappeared then reappeared but died shortly after. Twenty students are being taken on average per week. The troops found a grave with 30 dead students this morning. We were initially finding dead students on campus, now that is no longer occurring. The hypothesis is they discovered students live a fixed period after transfer of consciousness, which we estimate as being 36 to 60 hours. It took them a while to learn this. Now they are recovering the original consciousness before the student dies. They were losing their own people, now they are retrieving them, and the Gazronnaas created an opportunity to learn more. They can accelerate the rate of what they know and learn.

“When I meditate, I can feel them, and I can estimate their numbers as I sense them individually. There is a strong leader at the helm who is directing 200 people. I can tell intelligence the approximate direction they can be found from two separate points. It is not close enough to easily triangulate their position, but it was close enough to locate a set of rooms which led to a large excavated basement. When I went to the location in question, I could feel they had been there. They found four buried Gazronnaas soldiers. Gazronnaas bodies are not adapted to this universe, and they were decayed and degraded.

“Last night six soldiers searching for the Gazronnaas disappeared. They did talk about seeing something shimmering ahead of them. The Gazronnaas must use some form of cloaking. The Gazronnaas bodies found did not have their environmental suits or armor. Therefore, we have not found out how they mask themselves,” explained Ajenix.

“Every single day our military team is getting bigger and bigger. We have scientists, engineers, cyber-warfare specialists, and increasing numbers of troops trialing new detectors and sensors.”

“Aunt Ajenix, can we accelerate our progress in the class so we can detect and defend ourselves against these Gazronnaas?”

“Corvus, I can’t answer that question. The group of people I am teaching, are learning far faster than I expected. I had to live in a cave, meditating for most of the day and had tuition with my instructor for an hour three times a week. I did this for over half a million years. I developed my power very slowly over a very long time. This group started very slowly, but they are progressing increasingly quickly. Even so, the best of them have so little reserve they cannot survive any of the potent techniques I have at my disposal. I don’t know how long it will take them to get to the necessary level. I know they are the most motivated group I have ever worked with.”

Ajenix wearily supported her head in her hands.

“It is also not a matter of increasing my input. They need to be practicing during every break they have available.

“The president agreed to allow us to convene special groups of Gromelix students as they are further ahead. We will fly in some of our people to help us deal with the increased load.”

“What are you going to do with Jason?”

Ajenix slowly nodded her head.

“Jason has serious potential as does Annjus. Several other students on campus are close behind them. I have decided to mentor Jason and Annjus. I will arrange for the others to be mentored by others who will be arriving from tomorrow.”

The professor looked at Corvus and slowly nodded.

“I am also going to ask Jason to try and find a way to break the committee deadlock that is occupying so much of my time and emotional effort. Pleb is going to break the educational impasse, but it is not going to influence the highly opinionated Dinnion who believes her way is the only way to go.

“I heard the Emperor thinks of unique ways of solving problems. If it is anything like what he did casting it will blow our minds!”

Ajenix giggled, Corvus smiled widely showing his teeth.

“I’ll work with Annjus and Jason separately and then try to work with them together. Both are moving faster than any student I have previously taught. I just wonder whether we have been educating our people too slowly in the runic arts. I have my suspicions. I have developed an accelerated program for the Gromelix and for the Gromelix troops we are recruiting to help patrol the campus.”

“It is going to take a lot of people to do all this!” Corvus remarked.

“Elizaveta believes we Gromelix can sense the Gazronnaas, and she considers we can be more effective than the existing guards who are blind to the cloaked Gazronnaas and cannot detect the Gazronnaas consciousness in the students. She sees this project as top priority and is sending us whatever support she can. Our troops are enthusiastic and look forward to more education in the mystic arts.”

Ajenix paused to take a breath.

“Queen Valsam joined us at our meeting this morning. She has gained permission for her Azloc to search for the Gazronnaas on and near the campus. She also contacted the Prime Minister of the Collective, Ouma Chatzke. Her people are experts in locating underground structures and tunnels. They are going to work together to see if they can locate the tunnels and spaces where the Gazronnaas are hiding. The Collective troops have a great sense of smell, and the Azloc are even more capable. The Gazronnaas bodies have been placed in a trans-dimensional space to preserve them so the Azloc and the Collective can learn what they smell like. Once we kill our first soldier, we will ensure both groups can learn what they or their armor smells like.”

“Corvus, what is the mood of the students?”

“The students are tense and their level of anxiety is made worse as examinations start soon. Everyone feels insecure on the campus. If we were armed, we could at least shoot through the doorway if someone was attempting to get in. At least we would feel we could do something,” said Corvus.

He shrugged his heavyset shoulders.

“We will teach the Gromelix technique, of detecting the Gazronnaas, to the military, as soon as we can,. It will drain the reserves of everyone every casting they do. If we have a team of six, I will suggest they cast in order, while they are on duty. They will increase the size of the buffers quickly. In two weeks they will double the size of the buffers and be capable of much more. The students will combine runes continuously in class and practice at every opportunity when out of class. In class when one finishes, the next will cast. What I want to do is to increase the size of all of your reservoirs as fast as we can. This goes against everything we teach. We were cautious about depleting people regularly since they got very tired in the beginning. The students here have been practicing continuously and they are progressing increasingly quickly. They do not complain of tiredness any longer. Several students tell me they are feeling rejuvenated after practice.

“The Gromelix students are developing skills rapidly. That is why we will have special groups for you. The students are too weak to cast the detection spell, but I will teach them to produce a more intense flame that will deplete their larger reservoirs. I will also suggest they go to the practice rooms at every opportunity to create fireballs. We must take risks to increase our abilities.

“If you cast a detection spell twice a day for two weeks, you will be able to create a reservoir of sufficient size to drive a Gazronnaas consciousness from a student. I have been casting the construction to eject a Gazronnaas consciousness from a student before and after each class. I have done it for a week, and I have doubled the size of my own reservoir. The master who taught me did not allow me to cast at that level more than once every three months. I cannot for the life of me fathom the basis of much of what I was taught. It was just as it was done. She did tell me the Uzliumbax used to learn the techniques much more quickly. She never told me why we moved so slowly.

“Now we have an excellent incentive for everyone to learn the runes. They can see the potential of what the runes offer,” said Corvus.

“It is also making the academic debate more intense!”

“Jason tells me he was able to sense the power in the environment. He harnessed that power to produce his casting. This morning he can sense very much bigger sources of power but is not trying to draw them towards himself until he learns what to do properly. I have also seen you casting without going through runes. I assume you are using the same method?” Corvus observed.

“Corvus it took me 400,000 years to begin to sense the power in the environment. That was a long time. We are three months into the year, and Jason can achieve that feat. I am going to teach the other students the meditation technique to shift perception to see powers. We were not taught the most effective meditation technique until we sensed the power. I think that is back to front. The master believed very few would ever sense power. I want to test if that is true. Maybe very few will be able to sense any energy without the meditation but can sense it after they meditate. This is something I have yet to test. If it is going this quickly with Jason, perhaps we can accelerate the process of learning how to access energy much more quickly. After I spoke to Jason, my thoughts were in turmoil. I began to question everything I had learned and the pace I had learned it.

“I was impressed when I saw how effectively the Empresses split streams of thought and how they use the technique to fly. I know we teach it to our own people slowly. They acquired the necessary skills in weeks and have continued to hone their abilities. They have been able to teach the skill to children in days and adults in weeks. They have been able to teach the techniques to all of the allies quickly and expeditiously. We believed we were the only ones who could learn those skills because we had such unique brains. We chose to forget we acquired those skills from the Uzliumbax. From tomorrow we move at full speed with every group. We cannot allow the Gazronnaas to run rampantly through our university.”

“Aunt Ajenix, one of the Uzliumbax students, Oksana, was heard to say she saw the head of the snake on each arm split into three near the end and spit even more fireballs into the forming tunnel. Did you see that?”

“Yes, Corvus, young Annjus who was sitting next to Oksana, came to speak to me about what she saw and to ask some questions. She clearly saw the head of the snakes split as she was able to see the triple skulls from the side. She inquired if the extra draw of power might’ve been the factor to lead to Jason to become unconscious. I think she has a valid hypothesis. I saw her animated for the first time ever. She has always struck me as highly controlled and restrained. In class, she talks through clenched teeth. When she came to see me, she was enthusiastic and was even waving her arms. She usually holds herself stiffly and rigidly.

“She told me she is less tired after casting and is growing her reservoir quickly, but she said all the Uzliumbax feel tired and irritable in their old bodies. She doesn’t give in to the tiredness. I showed her how to create the sounds to intensify the flame. There was no doubt her claim that her reservoir had grown was correct.”

“Yesterday Oksana told me several of the Uzliumbax feel better the more they practice magic. She wondered if it was the magic or if they would have improved regardless,” said Corvus.

“That is an interesting observation Corvus, and one that may be of great value. It is far easier to get the Uzliumbax to learn to store energy than it is to replace a body.”

Ajenix nodded slowly.

“I will evaluate the size and capacity of Jason’s reservoir. The conjuration he cast requires 100 times the energy needed to banish the Gazronnaas consciousness. A six-headed snake, requires 300 times the energy of the consciousness cast. If one is using runes, you draw on the reservoir. Jason will only use his storage as a buffer if he uses external power. He must learn how to switch off his cast more expeditiously and how to stop drawing in power. Young Jason will learn not to enlarge his cast unless he has a more significant source of energy. Maybe he can learn all of this quickly and become as powerful as are our most potent within a year. I suspect Annjus will do as he does. I am excited, but I’m trying not to get too enthusiastic in case we can’t speed up what we are doing.”

“How big can one grow one’s reservoir?”

“I was taught, the size of my reservoir was as big as it gets. It was the size it was because Gromelix can create large reservoirs because of our size. That is utter drivel. The reservoir is not within us but in trans-dimensional space. I doubled the size of my reservoir this week. My master told me stories of the abilities of the Uzliumbax that contradict everything we learned and the way we learned it. From tomorrow we test everything. There is no time to waste. I can feel the evil in these Gazronnaas. They want to sow fear and have their revenge at all costs. I will do my level best to frustrate the hell out of them. Sadly, we have a long way to go and we have little time to do what we need to do.”

****

Zerna Parengus, the section instructor stood in front of the twenty-two members of the section. She was wearing her underwater gear. “You have spent the last week training underwater. Today you will assault an underwater position held by the enemy. Your section is going head-to-head against section blue your traditional rivals. Make sure your holograms show red on your left arms.”

There was a loud groan.

“In every army, I have trained to fight with individuals I did not like. Luckily for you in this scenario, they are your competitors, not your friends. I know the bullies are clustered in unit-blue and I know they are not your favorite people. We are going to watch them carefully. We have many more underwater drones observing this exercise than we usually do, but watch your backs as we can’t support you quickly.

“Your tanks are going to transport you to the designated coordinates. The tanks will dive and when you reach a depth of 300 feet you will debark. It is a quarter of a mile from your objective. Swim to your marshaling area and then under a rock ledge to reach your objective. It is dark down there. Instructors will crew the tanks as pilot and gunner.

“Razza will be acting section commander and lieutenant and Julia will be section sergeant. All the rest of you take the same roles as yesterday. This is a stealth mission. Infiltrate the target and capture the flag before the other team. Six instructors will swim behind the forty competitors to score your performance. The underwater base is as large as most land bases and is crewed by an underwater species. The base is well equipped and defended. Those of you who have gills may use them or you may choose to practice with your rebreather and use your gills as a backup if you have them.

“Watch out for the other team, they don’t play it straight. If we are lucky, we will catch them in action!

“Are there any questions?” Zerna asked.

“The instructors know section blue has a bunch of scumbags. Why do we need to fight alongside them?” Stinger asked.

“That is a good question and an important one. All armies have people who will stab their own people in the back. You may fight with allies who do not have the same standards as we do. We spend a considerable amount of time and effort to weed out such people, but some are cunning and are very difficult to catch in the act. Sometimes bait is necessary to catch a naughty little fish.” Zerna paused for several seconds then continued.

“As there are no further questions please move to the assembly area so they have an opportunity to trash talk. I love micro-drones; they help armies observe all kinds of things.” Zerna laughed.

“Let’s go, people,” said Razza. “Try to not react to their taunts.”

“Jason,” said Ooryphyon speaking telepathically and including the whole section, “I’ve been monitoring Neg and Ekford. They are planning to catch you from behind and pop your rebreather. They want to knock you out and make you fail, then they are coming after me.”

Jason thought for a few minutes, asked Ooryphyon for further information and discussed his plan with Razza and Julia before the groups met up.

Ekford sidled behind Ooryphyon and whispered.

“Egghead, I doubt you can do this exercise, you are too dimwitted and the bubble in your overlarge cranium won’t let you sink. We are watching you and your primitive friend. We have four arms and can swim rings around you.”

“Vomit, you can threaten all you like. Yup, just keep swimming in rings while we take the objective. Remember you fight us next week and once again we will take you apart. Vomit, you face me first-round. I look forward to it. You so badly need to learn to become competent in at least one area,” said Ooryphyon laughing. “Oh sorry, you already are a pitiful sneak and bully. I forgot you are also a qualified incompetent.”

Ekford Vomet glared at her, his face suffused, and a dark red. He clenched all four of his fists. My name is pronounced Vomyay, not vomit pea brain.

“Very well Vomit. Let’s get on with it.” Ooryphyon stood close to him with her hands on her hips.

Ekford stormed off.

“Well done, Ooryphyon, the angrier he is the more likely he is to make a mistake,” Julia remarked.

They filed into the tank. Five minutes later the tank took off and they flew together with section blue’s tank to the defined coordinates. The tanks dived into the water and moved deeper until it reached 300 feet, and then they cruised two miles to reach the debarkation coordinates.

“Pass out through the equalizer then the shield in the back five at a time. Your heads-up display will guide you to your destination. Unfortunately, the blue group got here slightly ahead of you.” She grinned. “Move to the target as quickly as you can. Be careful and make me proud. You guys are the top team. You have a good plan and a good chance of winning this encounter,” Zerna informed them.

“Jason’s squad of five will go first. Ooryphyon position yourself as discussed and keep in position. Use our advantages. Let’s go!” Razza waved them to follow her.

Jason loved the underwater equipment. The light armor ensured they were warm and comfortable. The helmet facilitated a 360° view and provided information continuously interpreted, correlated, and updated by the platoon and section battlefield AIs.

Jason waited for his squad. He saw Ekford swimming towards him with Neg above and behind him.

Jason’s gills activated and he dived deeper. Ooryphyon kicked her legs, and dived, popped Ekford’s release, and before he could react opened Ekford’s helmet and pulled it off. Ekford was forced to make for the surface and would face decompression. Jason turned to intercept Neg.

“I got to him before Linda,” said Oksana triumphantly. “I popped Neg’s rebreather and knocked his backup out of his hand. So sad!”

“Thank you, Oksana,” said Ooryphyon.

“Glad to do my bit. Now let’s show these suckers what we can do! Hey, Jason, you are still with us, you have gills!” Oksana observed.

“Yes, thanks to the Azayal,” said Jason.

“You are a man full of surprises,” she mused.

“Move it, people, you are lagging,” said Julia. “We need to overtake the blues and get inside before they get there. Stealth, is not the forte of the blues. Well-done back there, Oksana. You are a fast swimmer.”

“Thanks, Julia, swimming was my favorite sport! I was dying to do something to Neg. I hate those two bullying bastards. I hope this will be enough to knock them out, though I guess it is only enough for a reprimand. It was a brazen attempt to remove you guys from contention.”

“Five minutes and we are there. Move along the paths I marked on your heads up displays. I want two squads to move each side of the base. If you find a way in, let us know and we can swim below to meet the other group. I can see a patrol in a two-person transport moving left to right 100 yards in front of the base. Use your camouflage,” Razza instructed.

Jason swam to the right along the line drawn by Razza. The two squads met up fifty yards to the side of the base. “Andrea and I will go and see if we can find a way in,” said Jason.

Andrea followed closely behind Jason. The light was dim, but he could see as he had insect vision as given to him by the Collective. The entrance was a hundred yards wide but was covered by a dense shield.

“Razza you can get a frigate in through the entrance. They have sensors and a shield protecting the front,” Jason informed her.

“Alex, you and Ben do your AI mind-bending to block the sensors, or if you can, get them to see us as friendlies. Grenma Orduk, Yemsor Parayekt, please bring your equipment and let us get in through the shield before the other group gets here in case the cyberwarfare guys can’t get us through. The Blues stopped and are fiddling around 500 yards away,” said Razza.

Grenma was a blue Orc, with prominent tusks. She was part of the ruling family of Marduk the Orc leader and was an enthusiastic engineer with considerable experience. Jason knew she had one of the newer Orc bodies. Yemsor Parayekt was an engineer and heavy weapons specialist and a tyrannosaurus. In her humanoid form, she was a tall woman with blue/black hair, black lips, and intense brown eyes. She was a granddaughter of the queen. She and Grenma had both worked as engineers for several years. Grenma was an offensive and Yemsor a defensive specialist. Both were highly competent.

Both specialist partnerships worked quickly and efficiently. “I am into the system,” said Ben. “Give me a minute and I will change the internal defenses. Razza, I can see where everyone is inside. I can identify them as the enemy and get their own system to knock them out. Then we can go in at full speed and get the flag. Razza someone must find and then knock out the patrol, as they will be automatically alerted, as soon as something happens.”

“Ok, go ahead and prepare to change the friend and foe designations. Let me know when you are ready to push the button,” Razza requested. “I will tell you when to push it.”

“Jason, get your sniper stuff ready and go and hunt the patrol, you have it on your HUD (heads up display). Oksana you cover him and do your spotter thing.

“Let me know when you see them Jason and have a clear shot,” said Razza. “Hurry the blues are on the way.”

“I am ready,” said Ben.

“I have a clear shot without moving from here,” said Jason.

“Fire Jason. Go, Ben.”

“Shield penetrated,” said Yemsor. “Ben, I can’t believe you got in before we did our thing. I have a sneaky idea. I am moving over to you now. Let‘s retune the shield to prevent hostiles from re-entering and supporting the base.”

“We can all penetrate the shield freely. We are all recognized as friendlies. The enemy is down inside,” said Ben. “You are a real sneaky little tyrannosaurus Yemsor. Bring me the values and I will reset the shield so the blue equipment will need a careful recalibration to get through; lucky for us, so sorry but unlucky for others. Happy hunting blues. Oh ... Yemsor, that is more sneaky than I expected, a variable shield, that is a slimy technique — I love it!” Ben said enthusiastically. Yemsor thumped his arm. “You idiot, I am a really big tyrannosaurus! I am considering challenging you to a duel. Small is a great insult to my people.”

“I believe in love not war when it applies to a beautiful huge tyrannosaurus, such as yourself,” said Ben.

“I neutralized the enemy in the patrol craft,” said Jason, “we are good to go!”

“Jason, take your squad and start your search upper-left, Patata, you guys lower-left, Pukini you go upper-right, Nasta, you go lower-right. Now move it,” Razza instructed. “Snipers and spotters cover us in case of hostile visitors. Don’t let the blues see you. Perna, set up your antitank system above the entrance, and Norda, you cover her. Sheila, you cover me, we are moving down so the blues don’t see us. Mystera, stay inside the entrance and blend into the rock on the roof.”

“Ben, it is my turn first. Yemsor, don’t interfere with the free-love aspirations of the bugs.”

“Are both of us too much for you Bennie?” Yemsor asked flirtatiously.

“Laughing with this rebreather is not a good idea,” said Mystera coughing loudly. “Coughing is even worse.”

“Make love, not war when we get back. Now we are making war, not love,” said Razza sending an amused sign telepathically.

“When you find the flag, go back the way you entered staying in the corners and then go another 100 feet deep, and wait five hundred yards away for us to catch up. Signal beta as soon as you find the flag. Ben, monitor the band the blues are on. They don’t use telepathy as we do. Let me know what they are doing.”

Razza and Sheila swam into the blackness below. Razza watched the progress of the teams. Two minutes later, Jason’s squad returned. “Ooryphyon signaled beta.”

The other squads turned and returned upper left, lower left, upper right, lower right and passed through the shield before diving downwards.

“Right people make for the designated position, then we head for the tank; blue has finally reached the shield. That was smoothly executed, excellent work people. I don’t know if any group could have done that faster.”

Razza turned to Ben.

“Bennie, I hope you haven’t bitten off more than you can chew.”

Mystera sounded like she was choking, then sped to catch up with Ben who was swimming ahead with Yemsor and Grenma.

“Bennie, would you like Grenma to also join us, are you man enough for all of us?”

She laughed and nearly choked again. She cleared her rebreather and swam to Ben. “I really need to stop joking with a rebreather in my mouth.”

Ben laughed but also nearly choked.

“You are all a bunch of idiots, but a talented bunch,” said Julia. “I think we did very well. The tank is waiting; form up in squads so we know everyone is back, then go in. You know the routine. Those who need it, don’t forget your decompression tablets. You need two of them. Excellent job, we did it in less than a third of the set time.”

They made themselves comfortable in the tank.

“Ekford and Neg had to go through decompression. They did not use their tablets on the way up and panicked. Ekford nearly drowned despite the inflator which took him up. Both have been reprimanded, but neither showed remorse,” said Zerna. “Watch your backs, they won’t stop now.”

“You did well. Razza, you ran a smooth operation. I didn’t think you were going to be able to disable the system from outside. Alex, you and Ben penetrated the security surprisingly quickly. Retuning the shield is always a good idea if you can do it. Protecting your back is important. Your engineering score is excellent. Grenma, your probe was well done. Yemsor you found the keys very fast. You guys are a top platoon. Jason, you hit the targets in the head, through murky water, and at 124 yards. That is good shooting for underwater. Everyone kept up, the search was done efficiently. I am impressed.

“Now Bennie, I hope you haven’t bitten off more than you can chew. Are you trying to be like the Emperor?” Zerna raised her eyebrows.

Ben blushed deeply.

Everyone laughed.

Mystera put her arm around him.

Jiskassa did not look happy.