From the Deep Undercover – A Story Series
Prevously: The In’s and Out’s of Discipline
I did my fair share of playing with balls, climbing trees and getting dirty, but I also did a lot of other stuff most kids don’t even dream about.
Neema had stressed to me from the beginning that even though I could jump instantly to anywhere I wanted to, it was important to be physical, to move my body and work it. So physical exercise and martial arts training was a part of my schedule from the very beginning.
The discipline of the martial arts helped with my mental training and I also had to do meditation, usually whilst hovering in a lotus position literally in the middle of the meditation room, in the air. This allowed my mind to focus on completely different things at the same time. The mental discipline of achieving this was invaluable, although it took a while to master. Suffice it to say that I had a number of horrible bruises in awkward places until I could maintain my focus!
By this time it was obvious that I could teleport, was telepathic, that is to say I could read people’s minds and project my thoughts to theirs, and I could also teleport objects, as well as telekinetically move them with my mind. In all of these, I was the strongest Talent ever discovered. They didn’t tell me to my face, but I could pick up people talking about it.
The word was spreading.
Our community of Talents was one of numerous schools spread around the star systems of our universe. We were part of a vast network that identified, trained and used Talented people.
We were also a secret.
A myth.
No one knew about us, specifically, except in the communities and on the planets that were ours.
Our history and how we functioned was part of my education.
I knew Neema was an Elder.
The Elders were the most powerful of the Talents. But more than that, they were the leaders of the network. The top structure. I knew there were a couple of Elders on our planet. The whole planet was ours. It was one of the few that were totally dedicated to Talents.
But I never knew how special it was, until I discovered that Neema was The Elder.
Although it was sort of forbidden, I sometimes listened in on conversations of the senior teachers, it’s amazing how much you can learn just by listening. And most of them couldn’t pick me up, so I was pretty safe. I also became adept at hiding my presence from Neema, most of the time, especially my mental observations. As long as I didn’t try to read anyone’s mind, I was fine. So I could follow verbal conversations, no problem. Anywhere on the planet, or for that matter, anywhere above it in the orbital stations as well.
It had become a habit to track Neema down and ‘listen’ in, she was a pretty awesome lady and I picked up a lot of strategy, tricks, and general life lessons from observing how she dealt with politicians, beaurocrats, fleet commanders and personnel, instructors, students and normal people. I think she sometimes felt me, but as she never commented on it, I didn’t feel guilty doing it at all.
One day I had difficulty finding her, but finally tracked her to one of the orbital stations, one I hadn’t noticed or felt previously. Her signal was feint, which was weird, so I made a point of pinpointing it, discovered the station was Cloaked by a very Talented person on board, and promptly set out to find a way in, being me.
I had to make a study of the way he worked the cloak, but once I understood how it worked, it was easy to work a way around it, you just had to understand the energy of it. So I blended into the weave and found that Neema was in a meeting with a group of Elders. They had come from all around the universe to discuss matters of importance to the Balance. This was great! This was what it was about! I could find out the nitty gritty myself, no more listening to boring lectures or reading boring material in the archives. This was the Real Thing!
They were sitting in a Circle, all Thirteen of them. They were all wearing their Cloaks. Talking about important stuff. How to address imbalances all over the universe. Hotspot systems. Problem areas. Positive outcomes. It was awesome!
And they were addressing Neema as Elda Mina, My Lady Elder…The Elder.
I was stunned. Not only was my mentor the ultimate Leader of Talen Elda, our Talent Network, she had called them to gather from all over the universe earlier than usual to discuss me!
“I’m sure all of you are aware of the presence here at Talen Midro of our greatest Talent ever. He has been here for thirteen years now, and it is becoming imperative that all of you who haven’t given input in his training, do so now. Those of you who haven’t met him yet need to do so, so that you can ascertain the best way forward for his utilization in Talen Elda.”
Neema and some of the other Elders took turns to project visuals in the middle of the Circle that highlighted some of my training achievements and my abilities. I looked around the Circle and identified the five other Elders that had had a hand in my training throughout the years. That left seven Elders that I hadn’t met and didn’t know. Seven unknown Talents. One of them had Cloaked the Station. He was the one with the young face and deep indigo eyes.
As I didn’t dare scan their thoughts, I was looking for subtle clues that they were also Linking. I saw Neema look at the young Elder and knew something was being Said. She got that twinkle in her eye…
The next second I was dumped unceremoniously right in the middle of the Circle. Eye height, limbs tangled and held there in an iron grip, floating in front of them, slowly rotating.
“Hmmmm…I’d say definitely eavesdropping. Although it did take you a while to pick him up, hey Varno?” Neema had that look that said she was thinking up something nasty to test me with.
Varno was the young Elder that apparently seemed to have finally picked me up entangled through his Cloak Weave. He was shaking his head with a slight smile. “You’re right, Neema, he is quite adept at deciphering things. But he needs to learn finesse…”
“He’s certainly inquisitive.” This from an older lady with a dark skin. She seemed to look right through all my defenses into my very soul.
“Typical teenager!” A younger looking man with a leather skin and a steel edge to his voice and manner. His eyes were ice.
“So when do we get to dissect him?” A wizened old geezer piped up and cackled at his own joke. Not funny. I was still tied in a knot.
“Well, now that you’ve all had a good look at him in this very undignified manner, maybe we can get on with it?” Now here was someone I could agree with. She had a musical voice and when I could finally lay eyes on her, my hair stood on end, because her skin was on fire, as was her hair, or so it looked. No, it was. But her clothes weren’t burning. I couldn’t think about it for long though, because I was suddenly dropped in a very sore heap on the floor, no warning, no time to react.
I untangled myself telekinetically and tried my best to look dignified, but in the process of trying found myself floating in lotus position on a cushion a foot off the floor. Up until before this moment, I had thought myself pretty much in charge of myself, so needless to say, I was a bit off center.
“It’s okay, Kyle, we won’t bite, much.” Neema was taking charge and my respect of her increased tenfold right there as all the others immediately quieted down and waited for her to continue. These were the most powerful people in the universe and they all deferred to her…and she had been spending most of her time the last couple of years teaching me.
Well, needless to say, my mental shields were up, and I was ready for anything. Well, as ready as I could be, under the circumstances. As was just demonstrated, I obviously had a lot to learn still, raw talent notwithstanding.
I had the feeling I had just reached another milestone.
“Well, do you have anything to say for yourself, young man? Such as an apology, perhaps?”
Well, seeing as I’ve just felt their bite, I wasn’t going to argue, and seeing as I didn’t know who it was that could hold me without me being able to do anything, I thought I’d better get on their good side, so I could learn how to not land in a situation like THAT ever again.
I apologized.
And the next phase of my education began.
Next: Specialities
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