Chapter 6

“To paraphrase Nietzsche:

‘That which doesn’t kill us, sometimes makes us wish it had.‘“

― Oran Kangas

Jason was sitting in the University canteen having breakfast after the gym when he felt a call from ‘The One’.

“Please excuse me guys, something urgent has come up, I am taking the portal to my room. I will join you when I can,” said Jason as he stood and began to walk to the portal. A minute later he was in his room sitting comfortably on his bed, his legs crossed, and his back supported by a pillow against the wall. He entered a deep meditative state. He met ‘The One’ dressed in his robes on a bare platform. He could feel ‘The One’ was distraught.

“Jaspon Pesta was captured from his room last night by the Gazronnaas. They rendered him unconscious. He was finally able to break through the Gazronnaas interference to inform me he is in a cage with twenty-one students. He could not maintain the communication. He was unable to sense where he was. His communication with me was abruptly terminated. I also cannot sense where he is. He is a resourceful young man and I am hoping to communicate with you as soon as he knows where he is. I’m sending you a picture of what he saw in the room,” said, ‘The One’.

“The Gazronnaas tried to kill me two weeks ago,” said Jason. “I will send you exactly what happened and what I have learned. A considerable amount of the information I extracted is encrypted. Your people may be able to help us break the encryption. The intelligence services are using their AIs, but so far, they have not had any success. I have now sent you everything I know and everything that has happened. As soon as you hear anything please let me know and I will make sure it is acted on. I will also ask the Colonel in charge to liaise with you.

“The campus looks like we are on a military base. There are thousands of soldiers everywhere. I am surprised they managed to get him,” said Jason. “We will do everything we can to find him.”

“He did say in the very brief time we spoke, he first heard the sounds of firing outside, then his door exploded inward. That is the last thing he recalls,” said ‘The One’ distractedly.

Jason found himself back on the bed. Only a minute had passed. He made his way back to the canteen, told the others what had happened, then informed the Colonel in charge and provided the contact information of ‘The One’.

“You will be pleased to see the first session this morning is an evaluation of our mathematical ability,” said Razza. “That goes for an hour real-time, which is about as much as we can tolerate of virtual time! Then the rest of the morning is magical studies. They gave us the afternoon off, what joy!”

“Whatever you do Razza, don’t use the word magic with my aunt,” said Corvus, “she does not like calling casting, magic. If she hears the word magic, she will give us a lengthy and boring lecture. The essence of the lecture is: magic applies when a more primitive society sees something done by a more sophisticated society and does not understand it. They call it magic. Someone once tried to argue with her we do not know how it works and why it works, and it was given to us by a more sophisticated society. The student said it fulfilled all the criteria that justifies using the word magic. We didn’t hear the end of it. I beg of you Razza, do not use magic. I confess I think of it as magic as do 99.99% of the Gromelix.”

“What about the strange casting stuff Jason does without runes? Jason is from the people who taught the Gromelix how to cast from the runes. Your aunt knows of the powers and can use them, but she doesn’t understand it,” said Julia.

“Julia, trying to argue about this stuff with my aunt is futile. She doesn’t like the word magic and it is not worth arguing about it with her,” said Corvus patiently. “Her teachers drummed it into her for half a million years, so an hour of argument no matter how logical won’t work.”

****

After the mathematics assessment, they returned to the canteen to have a drink and relax for half an hour.

“I think I did reasonably,” said Trackrof then turned to Jason, “I managed to finish all but the last two problems. Mr. Mathematician how did you go?”

“I am still trying to solve that last problem. I got stuck halfway through and couldn’t think of a solution. The problem before that one took me an inordinate amount of time. I am surprised at how much of the new educational stuff we covered even before we received the latest octagon updates. I asked my octagon to feed me Uzliumbax and Dinnion mathematics, and science subjects last term even though we didn’t do it in class. I asked Jiskassa to give me the Azloc stuff.

“I remember I told our group that was what I was doing. I suspect you all did the same?” Jason asked.

They all grinned at him as did Oksana.

“Jason, I suspect nearly everybody from the first year did the same except they couldn’t access the Azloc stuff in the same way as you did. They did it through the octagon. The student forums showed how it could be done. No one wants to find they are behind others!” Oksana noted.

“How did you do, Oksana?” Julia asked.

“I think I did reasonably, I finished all but the last three problems. I don’t think I could’ve done them no matter how long I had,” answered Oksana.

“That last problem is driving me crazy,” said Jason.

“Excellent,” said Trackrof smiling, “now you know how the rest of us feel.”

“Jason, I forgot to ask you, how is Lisirra doing?” Ben asked.

“The Zaos brain is more complex than the doctors expected. They transported her body and her consciousness to Charassa where the experts are having a wonderful time grappling with yet another challenge.”

“Zafa told me in the gym what had happened,” said Oksana. “I hope you arranged for her to have a personality transplant as well. She is one of the most toxic people I’ve ever met.”

“Annjus was just as horrible to me on several occasions,” said Jason.

“You and Annjus are like water and oil, they won’t mix unless you make a heroic effort and even then, it is an uneasy mix and readily separates!

“As far as I can see neither of you is prepared to make any effort to improve your relationship. You are both equally suspicious of the other. Even though you appear pleasant on the surface to her, she can sense you are hostile to her,” said Oksana.

“Did you know Ooryphyon went home with her and they became close. They visited me at home and behaved like lovebirds. I have never seen Annjus like that before. Annjus would be as aware as I am of how difficult it is to acquire the services of a Teokraeus, especially now there is such a shortage of them.”

“They were getting on well last term. She is the only other person I saw Annjus socialize with. Is that a dig at Annjus, Oksana?” Razza asked.

“Her family like mine push us to look at the interests of the family. Make contacts, look for business opportunities! I am merely commenting Annjus is behaving consistently with the standards of her association and most of the associations. Annjus has few friends and doesn’t trust easily. She enjoys her own company and spends most of her free time with her family. She has many cousins her age with whom she mixes, but every relationship is competitive; they all jockey for position in the house. Her family is inward-looking and self-preoccupied,” said Oksana. “Our relationship is competitive. Her relationship with Ooryphyon is the first non competitive relationship she has begun. Her family will accept Ooryphyon and be delighted to welcome her as a friend of Annjus. Annjus is the most loyal person you will ever meet. Once you are her friend she will support you without reservation. I sometimes wish I was like that.

“It’s time for us to do our yodeling and casting class. No Corvus I will not mention magic. I don’t want to hear a lengthy lecture on the subject,” said Julia, “now, you lazy lot, let us be on our way.”

The group walked in and sat in their designated seats as Professor Ajenix Omulix stood and watched them walk in.

“Let us begin. You have progressed far faster than I expected. You started slowly but you increased your pace, and enlarged your buffers more quickly than any past group I have tutored. We are facing a major threat from the Gazronnaas—I want to equip you to defend yourselves as well as I can. The casting powers will penetrate all known shields. Casting is different from our other powers. I learned how to use my powers over half a million years. My teachers told us we could only learn to cast slowly. I am far from convinced that is true.

“I was taught you first had to learn to cast using runes. Then if you could sense powers you were taught the meditations to see the powers clearly. I am going to teach you the meditation to help you see your powers today; a half-a-million years prematurely. We have nothing to lose. We will continue to learn the runes as they can help you explore complex concepts within the sciences and are a vital tool in learning about the spiritual and mystic beliefs that lie behind the Uzliumbax, Destroyer and Gromelix self-development system. The Uzliumbax taught everything we know to us, but they have lost their understanding of the runes and how to use them. The Destroyers deviated from what they know as a result of the representations from false Gods.

“Jaspon, you are very late! Please make your way to your seat.”

Jason looked at Jaspon who looked like he was trying to communicate. He turned to Professor Ajenix and said telepathically.

“Professor, Jaspon was captured by the Gazronnaas. He must be occupied by one of the Gazronnaas. He is walking strangely and looks intoxicated. He is one of the Una, I was contacted by ‘The One’ this morning.”

“Thank you, for informing me, Jason.” Professor Ajenix replied.

The professor mumbled under her breath and held up both her hands. There was a whooshing sound. Jason noticed a smell of old rusting metal, much as he had smelled before.

Jaspon rocked on his feet and fell to his knees. He began to shudder and shiver. A faint mist emerged from his head. Professor Ajenix Omulix cast again. The mist began to burn from the outside in and continued to burn until it disappeared.

“Thank you very much for getting rid of the Gazronnaas,” said Jaspon in a loud telepathic whisper. “I can’t move my body. Can somebody move me into a more comfortable position? It is taking time for me to regain control of my body.”

The professor strode over to Jaspon and lay him on his side.

“Are you feeling more comfortable?” Professor Omulix asked.

“I have my speech back, and I am feeling a lot better. I was fully aware of what was going on and remained in the background, but I could not see, smell or feel anything. I couldn’t even feel myself walking or moving.”

Jaspon clenched his fist, then a few seconds later jerkily moved his arm, then pushed himself into a sitting position.

“Professor, I don‘t want to miss this class. I want to learn as much of this stuff as I possibly can to defend myself. I will go and see the intelligence people directly after I leave here. That technique you used was amazing!

“I told ‘the One’ I am back, Jason. We are back in contact.” Jaspon said as he held on to one of the nearby desks and unsteadily stood up. He walked carefully to his seat holding his arms out wide.

“Professor, that was awesome! I could feel the terror of the Gazronnaas. He wanted to use his powers to defend himself, but he didn’t have enough power or control to do it. I had access to some of his memories and I was working on gaining more access to him. I learned the Gazronnaas language.”

Jaspon shook his head and grinned.

“I’m sorry for interrupting the class, Professor please carry on.” He said.

“Jaspon, are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?”

“I will, but I prefer to remain here until the end of class. My first priority is to learn how to defend myself, the second to see the intelligence people and the third is to go to the hospital for a checkup. He didn’t have enough time to damage me.” Jaspon replied. “I am hungry and thirsty as they didn’t give us food or drink.”

Professor Omulix briefly closed her eyes before continuing.

“There is a specific word that is used as a mantra in this meditation. I am going to make the sound and then you follow me with your eyes closed, your hands on your desk, or your lap, and both your feet on the ground. When you practice you can best do it seated on your bed or outside on the grass. Support your back. Now let us begin, and as you repeat the sound watch your thoughts and let them pass. Try and imagine you have a different kind of sight; you are aware of the environment around you and you can detect sources of power. Don’t try and do anything else. Thoughts may intrude, briefly watch them and return to the task.

“I will now generate the sound. Repeat it out loud and then when I stop making the sound continue making the sound in your mind. Store the sound in your crystal so you can be sure you get it right when you meditate. It won’t work if you use your crystal to generate the sound for you. That I can tell you with absolute certainty.

She began to make a sound very close to “Om”. The class repeated the sound after her. She continued making the sound for five minutes, slowly diminished the volume and then stopped. Professor Omulix remained seated on her chair in front of the class. Ten minutes before the end of the class she stood up.

“Bring your thoughts back into your mind and let the sound go. Very slowly open your eyes and reorient yourself to the room. I want each of you to give me a brief description of your experience. We will begin with Razza on your far right in the first row and go right along the first row to the end and directly up to the second row. Take no more than fifteen-seconds to say what you experienced.”

Jason, Annjus, Corvus and all the Gromelix, Razza, Julia, Andrea, Zafa and another four or five students all felt or sensed the powers.

“That is excellent, I see the process can be accelerated. We will spend equal time on the runes and the direct manipulation of powers. I want all of you to practice as much as you can. Your life may depend on it. Those of you who did not detect the powers must meditate in every spare moment you have. Wake up a bit earlier and meditate, and meditate before bed.”

“It’s time for lunch. Next lesson I will start teaching all of you how we use the powers directly. Far more of you accessed powers than I expected. To use your powers you must accelerate the growth of your repository.

“Jaspon, I am delighted you managed to escape apparently unscathed. Get something to eat and drink, then I suggest you make your way to the hospital before you see the intelligence mob. The hospital is quick. Once you fall into the hands of the intelligence community, you’re going to be with them for a long time. “Thank you very much, Professor, I am grateful for the help you gave me. I tried to influence him as much as I could to come to your class, I was able to persuade him it was his own idea. I will see you tomorrow, Professor.” Jaspon replied.

“I am exhausted after that mathematics assessment and then the drama with Jaspon,” said Razza. “I know why they gave us the afternoon off. None of us would’ve been able to do anything very much. I am going back to the room to sleep as soon as I finish eating.”

The rest of the group mumbled assent.

There was a loud explosion followed by a brief earth tremor mid-afternoon. “What the hell was that?” Linda asked rubbing the sleep from her eyes. I am going outside to see if I can find out what is going on.”

“Hang on, I am coming with you,” said Jason, “take your weapon.”

Jason climbed out of the bed after Linda. They were followed by a dazed-looking Razza and Julia. Andrea remained fast asleep.

Linda looked first to her left and then to the right as Jason joined her on the walkway.

“Look there,” Linda pointed to her right. A block of four rooms had been obliterated a block away. There was only a steaming cavity where the rooms had been. There was a pall of black smoke lazily rising above the ruins. Two adjacent groups of four rooms were damaged and were burning furiously. Soldiers and tanks streamed into the area and cordoned off the damaged and destroyed units. They guarded the fire teams as they put out the fires.

“I wonder what that was about?” Jason asked absently.

“I suspect the Gazronnaas are starting to change their tactics. Perhaps they tried to target somebody, or this attack was a diversion. This is the first time I think you being undercover is a good thing. I am pleased you don’t look anything like the Emperor. No one would have survived that explosion,” said Linda.

They were subdued at dinner.

“Jason, we need tamper-proof doors, sensors in the rooms and heavier weapons,” said Andrea. “I am feeling insecure and vulnerable. I want to get our engineers to armor our rooms and our whole block. We need to ensure they can’t easily get in from above, below and through walls and doors. We need to buy ourselves time to react.”

“I agree with you Andrea. We need to go around in bigger groups, six at least and sleep as six to a room,” said Corvus. “Even if we put in a good door the walls are easy to get through. We need to get moving sooner rather than later. I would like to put up an anti-intruder system, like those on our ships. It will detect the shields. Jason, you need all that stuff and you need to have bodyguards on campus at all times. They must go over the room before you go in.”

Jason nodded. “Yes, I agree with both of you. The time has come to be more proactive. We all need more security.”

“Can I come with you when you see Pleb?” Linda asked.

“Yes, Linda, I will let her know,” said Jason. “It is now getting serious. I am not going to take no as an answer for us.”

“If the Gazronnaas keep escalating what they are doing we must consider other options. We can’t continue to expose the students to risk,” said Andrea. “You shouldn’t be on the frontlines, Jason.”

Jason nodded.

****

“Annjus, how did you go in your mathematics assessment?” Oksana asked her as they sat in Annjus’s room.

“Oksana, I can’t think about mathematics a half an hour after a major explosion. I am feeling queasy and jittery. Who was the target? Who set off the bomb? Are there going to be other bombs? Could it have been Jason?”

“It wasn’t Jason. I saw him standing next to Linda looking half-asleep, while she was pointing to the site of the explosion. We were all shattered after the assessment and most went to sleep.”

“We have had no indications the Destroyers are using terrorist techniques,” Annjus observed. “We know the Gazronnaas are active. If I was a Gazronnaas I would look for the Emperor and kill him. Could they have killed the Emperor?”

“I don’t even think he is on campus,” said Oksana, “I think he wants people to believe he is here.”

“I must speak to my mother and grandmother this evening. I hope they don’t try and get me to go home,” said Annjus, “I believe it is my duty to investigate what is happening here, but we need more protection!”

“What do you mean investigate?”

“Oksana, there are two lines of investigation. The first is to find the Gazronnaas and get rid of them. The second is to expose the Destroyer spy.”

Oksana looked at her rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue.

“I am as sure as our intelligence that Jason is no Destroyer plant,” said Oksana. “Annjus it is time for you to give up on that idea. I agree Jason is a puzzle, but it is a question of who he is in the Uzliumbax Royal Family, not whether he is a spy or not. I keep going back to the conversations I have heard. Ooryphyon accused him of not protecting her and a whole lot of other stuff which I can’t understand. She was talking about stuff a million or more years ago. Lisirra was outraged by his taking over a project that she had been working on for a long time and stealing the kudos,” said Oksana. “It is obvious the Empresses have known him for a long time.

“I tried to pump them for information but they won’t say anything about him. Have you managed to find out anything from Ooryphyon or Lisirra yourself, Annjus?”

“Ooryphyon is a wonderful person. She has a pleasant manner and is delightful company. My mother loves her. We have become close,” said Annjus.

“Annjus, don’t avoid the question. I didn’t ask you if you have fallen for Ooryphyon. I asked if you have found out anything about Jason?” asked Oksana.

“No, Ooryphyon only talks about Jason positively when she is with me. I admire that in her. It means she will not talk negatively about me to Jason. Lisirra is the same but is even more defensive of Jason. When she is with him, she fights with him, when she is away from him, she speaks of him with the wonders of the nebulae in her eyes.” Annjus replied.

“Annjus, I do remember something else. Jason thinks you are cheating. Isn’t that a joke? You think he is cheating because he does very well, better than he should be doing, and he thinks the same of you. Isn’t that ironic!” Oksana laughed.

“That bastard! I can’t believe he has the audacity to think any person from our family would cheat! I should have never considered visiting him after the attack by the bullies and his encounter with the Gazronnaas. He is not worth two minutes of my time. What else did he say, Oksana?” asked Annjus angrily.

“Most of the conversation was around how to protect our group against both the bullies and the Gazronnaas. Ooryphyon wasn’t there but I heard her at lunch asking Jason to look after you,” Oksana replied.

Annjus beamed.

“You are getting soppy in your old age, Annjus,” said Oksana grinning before she turned to look directly at Annjus. “I struggle to see Jason as the indiscriminate womanizer Lisirra describes him to be.”

“What does she say, Oksana?”

“Lisirra accuses him of betraying his wife and having children out of wedlock. I don’t know when that was. I also can’t work out when he and Lisirra did a very big project? What sort of project would they have had where Lisirra did most of the work and then Jason comes in at the end? It wasn’t here. She did 9000 years of work before she involved him in it and then he took over. I also have a report from our family intelligence people that notes he should not have known the Empresses well at all. Yet he knows them and they know a lot about him but won’t talk about him,” said Oksana shaking her head. “It is confusing; they treat him as a family member, but to whom is he related. Is he a brother to one of the Empresses? Could he have been a clone? The clones were women as far as I know. Philippa only has sisters. Ooryphyon never had a brother. He is not a brother of Lisirra; we checked. He is not a king of the Azloc. So who is he? He has Azayal modifications, but when did he do it? We can’t find any evidence of him going to the Azayal but Zerna Parengus knows him well and he has evidently done some work training with them at some time in the past.”

“So what are you saying Oksana?” Annjus asked frowning.

“None of this computes, Annjus. Corvus the Gromelix, treats Jason as a close friend as if they have known each other for some time. He also knows Alfred, a prince of Cassius’ Empire, who treats him with great respect.”

Annjus looked intently at Oksana with her chin on the palm of her left arm and her eyebrows raised.

“So, what are you saying and thinking Oksana in your own obscure and devious way?” Annjus asked smiling.

“My mother and grandmother believe I am a fool. I spent hours with them talking about the different people in our squads and even more time talking about the puzzle that is Jason,” said Oksana, pensively.

“Oksana, you are ducking and diving and trying to move off the topic. Why do they think you are a fool? What is the point you are trying to avoid making?”

“I should never have said anything!” Oksana retorted.

“Oksana, you can’t leave me dangling!”

“They say it is blindingly obvious he is the Emperor.”

“Balderdash! I don’t believe it for one-second. My martial master said the same. Nah, it is far too simple. Do you think Lisirra or Ooryphyon would talk to the Emperor in the way you have described? Do you think the Emperor would have his intelligence service do such a poor job creating his background? I think not. They are leading us into field of illusions.”

“So, Annjus you think the Destroyers would do a poor job, but the Uzliumbax would do a good job. That then proves Jason is a Destroyer. How does that make any sense?” Oksana asked.

“I have been asking myself the same question and I am going to bring it up with my mother and grandmother. I will also tell them about our discussion today,” said Annjus.

“Could it be a syndicate operation? We know the syndicates try to infiltrate us regularly. The problem is they are also sophisticated and would never have done such a botched job of Jason’s background,” said Oksana.

“I am inclined to think whoever set up Jason is a lot cleverer than we think. Perhaps they intended to create an impression of a poor job. It was a terrible botched job. It must be deliberate. The Destroyers have sophisticated resources, so do we and even our criminals would do a much better job,” said Annjus.

“Maybe the job was delegated to a low level intelligence person?” Oksana speculated.

“Why would the Emperor who has previously openly attended University decide to attend incognito? The media are not allowed on campus. The campus is full of princes, princesses and the best of the top families, why would he do it this way? It doesn’t make any sense to me. Could the Emperor be using Jason to keep us busy and preoccupied trying to find out who he is?” Annjus asked.

“That is a very interesting hypothesis, Annjus. It is complex and laborious, but it does explain his apparent reasonable relationship with most of the Empresses. Perhaps he is an old friend or even a family member we don’t know about?” Oksana asked.

“That is as much as I can say about Jason let’s change the subject Oksana. I was very impressed with Professor Omulix and how she handled the Gazronnaas,” said Annjus.

“I hear she wants to talk to you and also to Jason, Annjus?”

“How did you hear about Jason being invited to talk to her?”

“One of the Empresses let it slip. It might’ve been Linda. She said something about him missing an appointment with her when the bullies attacked. No, it wasn’t Linda it was Corvus. I heard him say he had set up another appointment with his aunt. He told Jason you had also been asked.”

“That bastard seems to sneak into everything! Oksana he is driving me batty. Wherever I am or whatever I do he seems to be there. He and I were put together for projects, last term and I see we are to work together on projects this term. I thought they were allocating us to people who would be good contacts for us for the rest of our lives. We don’t know who the hell this guy is!”

Annjus shook her head.

“Damn it we are back to Jason again.” Annjus grinned.

“I am pleased Professor Omulix has accelerated the program for all of us. Runes and casting is becoming my favorite class. Before I went to sleep this afternoon, I meditated and I was able to see clear channels of power. I can’t wait to learn how to apply the power to the casting. My power storage is also growing quickly. During the holiday I practiced for hours every day,” said Oksana.

“You and me, both practiced daily for hours Oksana! Ooryphyon also made a lot of progress. At lunch she told me she can also see the sources of power. I think the professor is going to be surprised how many of us will be able to use the powers.

“I wonder how the professor knew Jaspon had a Gazronnaas?” Annjus asked.

“Annjus, you know I can eavesdrop into tight telepathic conversations?”

“Oksana, I know your family are telepathic eavesdroppers; you told me that when we were children. So, what about it?”

“We could all see something was odd about Jaspon. He looked intoxicated or uncoordinated from some other cause. None of us knew what it was. I heard Jason tell the professor he had spoken to ‘The One’ that morning and he had told Jason, Jaspon had been kidnapped by the Gazronnaas. The professor thanked him and then did her thing.

“Did you notice she was moving her hands almost as if she was mixing some things together? It looked different from her usual casting using the runes. If she uses the runes she simply points or indicates with her hand or makes her hand into a cup. She did chant a bit at the start but then seemed to change her mind. Or maybe she combined two different techniques?”

“That is interesting information, Oksana. ‘The One’ is the head of the Una. This makes Jason an agent for the Una. That is an interesting piece of the puzzle. Nah, I give up. I admit, he can’t be a Destroyer, Oksana, but the mystery of Jason deepens.”