Dreamer (27 page)

“Baran,” she said, “where is Sejal Dasa?”

“Sejal Dasa is in his quarters.”

This was obviously not the case. Ara looked around. A scarlet glitter caught her eye. On Sejal’s desk in plain sight lay his ruby student’s ring. The ring carried a tracer which allowed the monastery computer system to track students and monks alike. Although it was common practice to remove the ring for privacy or other reasons, this didn’t seem to be the case. It felt wrong.

Ara did a cursory search of Sejal’s room. No clothes hung in the closet. Maybe Kendi hadn’t taken him shopping yet after all, or maybe that’s where Sejal was now. No, the shops wouldn’t open for another hour at least and the bed had clearly not been slept in last night. Something else occurred to Ara, and she searched the room again, this time more thoroughly. She came up empty.

Mother Adept Araceil Rymar sat heavily on Sejal’s bed. His flute was nowhere in the room. Ara’s hands went cold. No flute, no clothes, unmade bed, a door standing open. It all pointed to one thing.

Sejal Dasa was gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY

FROM SEJAL’S JOURNAL

DAY 18, MONTH 11, COMMON YEAR 987

I’m not on Bellerophon anymore. I’m on another ship now, a nicer one than the
Post Script.
I wasn’t even at the monastery two days before—

This is stupid. My thoughts are wandering all over the place. I don’t know what to think or do or anything. I’ll start at the beginning and maybe it’ll make more sense.

Anyway. Kendi took me shopping. I’ve never had new clothes before. Most of my clothes were hand-me-downs from the neighborhood. The rest came from a secondhand store. But here, Kendi took me into real stores with real salespeople, helpful ones who didn’t try to brush us off.

“There are a bunch of people who want to talk to you,” Kendi said as we finished up. “They want to run some tests on what you can do, and they want to do it this evening. Is that okay with you?”

I nodded, still enjoying the feel of new clothes on my body. They still smelled new, and they were mine.

We took a gondola back to the monastery. It’s like riding in a giant basket on a wire, except the basket is made of metal instead of wicker. Once we got there, we dropped off my stuff and Kendi took me to another building.

Inside was a big room that reminded me of the gymnasium back at my old school, but with a polished floor and new yellow paint. A long table was set up near the far wall. Four humans and four Ched-Balaar were there, along with four other aliens. One looked like a caterpillar, one looked like a stuffed bear, one looked like a small elephant that had been hosed with red candle wax, and one looked like some kind of lizard. The humans were dressed in brown robes with gold disks around their necks.

When Kendi and I reached the table, I remembered to put my fingertips against my forehead like I was supposed to, even though I was suddenly so nervous my teeth were almost chattering. What if they sent me back to the Unity?

The oldest human in the group stepped up to the table, which was between me and him.  He used a walking stick and had big purple ring on his hand. “Sejal Dasa? I’m Grandfather Adept Melthine. You can call me ‘Grandfather’ or ‘Grandfather Adept.’“

He introduced the others, including the Ched-Balaar and the other aliens, and they all sat down. The smaller aliens had chairs on the tabletop, and the Ched-Balaar sat on the floor like giant dogs. Kendi and I took chairs on the other side of the table. I still wanted to puke.

“Well, Sejal,” Grandfather Melthine began. “We want to know more about you. You have an unusual ability, and we’re fascinated.”

He sounded friendly enough and he had a nice face. I was still a little wary, though. The others didn’t say anything.

“We’d like to see what you can do,” Grandfather Melthine continued. “Why don’t you start by telling us?”

I hesitated.

“Go ahead, Sejal,” Kendi said. “It’s all right.”

“I can make people do things,” I said nervously.

“Like what?” Melthine asked. His voice was still gentle, not at all stern. I concentrated on him, blocking out the aliens in the room, and was able to relax a little bit.

“I can freeze people in place,” I told him, “and they don’t remember what happened when I let them go. I can also make people want to do something so bad, they do it.”

“Can you give an example?” Melthine said.

“Well, I froze six Unity guard in place so we could get back on the
Post Script.
And another time I made a guard want to punch his partner so bad that he couldn’t help doing it.”

“A powerful form of whispering,” murmured one of the other humans. “But without entering the Dream.”

“I don’t do it directly,” I added. “I have to sort of...
reach
through another place. It might be the Dream, but I’m not sure.”

Melthine’s hand was on his walking stick, even though he was sitting. “How does the freezing work, Sejal? What do you do?”

I thought about it. “It’s like I can...see what they’re feeling. Well, not really see. I just sort of know. And then I reach through the weird place and make one of those feelings really strong. The feeling already has to be there. I can’t make new ones.”

“Whispering,” the other human said again.

“How do you ‘freeze’ people, as you call it?” Melthine said.

“I shut their feelings down completely,” I said. “I looked it up once. It’s called apathy. You don’t have feelings, you don’t any reason to do anything. You don’t even care enough to remember what happened.”

Melthine nodded. “You don’t possess people then? Put your mind into someone else’s body and take it for you own?”

“No.”

Everyone in the room gave a little sigh, like they were relieved or something. I didn’t understand it. Several of them looked at Kendi like like he had done something wrong. I didn’t understand that, either. Was Kendi in trouble?

“Sejal,” Kendi said quietly. “Have you ever tried to possess someone completely?”

“No.”

“Can you, do you think?”

I thought about it. “Probably.”

The people at the table got all tense again.

“Try it with me,” Kendi said.

I looked at him. “Take over your body?”

“Sure. It’s nothing new, Sejal. Silent do it all the time. Do that freeze thing, but push harder. You can’t hurt me. It’ll be all right.”

So I did. Before any of the others said anything, I touched Kendi with my mind, like I did with that first jobber back with Jesse. Then I
pushed.

The world jumped to the right. I was sitting in a different place. I looked down at my hands. They were bigger and darker. I drew in a sharp breath. The noise sounded different in my head. I looked sideways and saw...myself. My eyes were shut and I was slumped sideways in my chair. I leaped up, knocking the chair over. My heart pounded, but the rhythm was wrong. I panicked.

A hand landed on my shoulder and I yelped. It was reflex—I took that mind, too. I was seeing the room from two different points of view. There were two of me, but only one, at the same time.

The other people—and aliens—in the room scrambled to their feet. The sudden movement scared me again, and then I had three, four, five, and six people. Then seven and eight and nine. My eyes looked in a dozen different directions all at once. I had two legs—no, four legs—no, a dozen. My hearts were thumping so hard they hurt. In panic, I saw my body, still slumped in the chair. I wanted to be back inside it. I wanted to be
me
again. I lunged for myself.

And then I was there. I opened my eyes and looked down at my hands.
My
hands.
My
arms.
My
body.

I looked up, shaking. The room was dead silent. Everyone was looking at me. Then a babble broke out as everyone started talking at the same time. One of the humans, a blond man, was shouting. The caterpillar waved its arms. Kendi looked stunned. I just huddled in my chair. They were angry. They were going to do something to me. I wanted to run.

Finally Grandfather Melthine quieted the room and got everyone to sit down again. He was the one who’d put a hand on my shoulder. His face was pale.

“That was...impressive, young Sejal,” he said. He wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his robe. “I think you made history today.”

I didn’t say anything.

“We’ll need to analyze this more closely later,” Melthine added. “We thought Brother Kendi was powerful because he can split his mind into two pieces in the Dream. But you, Sejal...well, your abilities go rather beyond that.”

I still didn’t say anything.

Grandfather Melthine took a deep breath. “Well. Mother Adept Araceil Rymar also reported that you can pull other people into the Dream. Is that correct?”

I nodded.

“Tell us about it in your own words.”

I did. It took some time. Kendi got me some water, and I was glad for it. I was still nervous. Everyone listened carefully, and they didn’t interrupt. I got the feeling they’d heard the story before and mentally kicked myself for not realizing that Kendi and probably Mother Ara had already told it to them.

When I was done, Melthine nodded. “Is there anything else you can do?”

I hadn’t told them about my empathy talent. I was going to, but then I changed my mind. I can’t say why. Eventually I’d have to tell someone, probably Kendi, but then I could say I forgot about it or that it was new. So I shook my head.

One of the Ched-Balaar chattered something from where he (she?) was squatting on the floor.

“Father Adept Ched-Farask wants to know more about this ability to bring people into the Dream,” Melthine told me. “Can you do it with anyone? Including non-Silent?”

“I don’t know,” I said truthfully.

“Have him try it with me,” said a new voice. Everyone’s head swung around and I twisted in my seat. Harenn was standing in the doorway. I wondered how she had known about the meeting and figured Kendi must have mentioned it to her.

“Harenn Mashib,” Grandfather Melthine said. “You weren’t invited here.”

Like that ever stopped Harenn. She walked straight up to the table as cool as an ice trader. “I volunteer to be a test subject,” she said, “to see if Sejal can take the non-Silent into the Dream.”

“Harenn—” Kendi said.

“I’ll try it,” I said suddenly. Until that moment, I hadn’t really liked Harenn. But now here she was, facing down a council of powerful people. And I also knew what she was going through. I had felt her panic and her pain for a few seconds. Harenn had told me how she was hoping to use the Dream to find her husband, the guy who’d kidnapped their kid and run off. I wanted to help.

“Sejal is too early in his training to enter the Dream unaccompanied,” Melthine pointed out. “He has been forbidden to do so.”

Harenn snorted behind her veil. “Do you honestly think that has stopped this boy? As good to leave an open box of sweets on a child’s bed and tell him he can only have one. He has entered the Dream often, you may be certain.”

Kendi turned to me. I couldn’t read his eyes. “Have you entered the Dream since I told you not to go there?”

And suddenly I was pissed. Sure, the Children of Irfan had gotten me off Rust, and sure, they were giving me an education and a place to live and some great clothes. It didn’t mean they owned me.

“Damn right I have,” I said. “It’s easy. I can get in and out like that.” I snapped my fingers. “Why shouldn’t I go?”

“Dammit, Sejal,” Kendi sputtered, “it’s dangerous. There’s something in the Dream that attacks Silent. You barely know how to create a body there. What if that thing in there hurt or killed you because you didn’t know what to do? What if you—”

I folded my arms, feeling stubborn. “You sound like my Mom.”

That shut Kendi up.

Anyway. There was more arguing and more people yelling at me, but I just sat there. Harenn talked a lot, too, and you can guess whose side she was arguing. Finally, they all decided that I should try to take Harenn into the Dream. Kendi and Grandfather Melthine would go with me.

We moved to another room with couches and more comfortable chairs. Only the human Silent and the caterpillar came with us—the others wouldn’t fit. I sat on a couch with my feet up and shut my eyes, not even waiting to see what Kendi and Melthine did. If I wanted to go into the Dream, I’d go. For a minute I wasn’t sure I could trance with all those people in the room and with me being so angry, but after a short while I was fine. Voices whispered just faintly around me. I breathed deep and reached for them.

I opened my eyes in the Dream.

I was in the apartment back on Rust. The place was dull and dingy compared to the monastery, and suddenly I didn’t want Kendi and Melthine there. But Kendi said each Silent creates a Dream environment. I thought a moment, then formed a picture in my head. I wanted to see it in front of me. I
would
see it in front of me.

And so it was. I was standing on a wide beach. White sand ran left and right as far as I could see. Reddish waves washed gently at the shore and a thick forest lay beyond the beach. Sea birds coasted by on the warm wind, and the sun shone overhead.

But not far off shore was that cracked chaos. It bubbled and boiled above the water, and just like last time, it called to me. I felt an overwhelming urge to jump into the ocean and swim toward it and even took a few steps toward the water.

I felt a ripple in the Dream, as if someone had thrown a rock into a pool I was standing in. I spun around and saw Kendi and Melthine on the sand.

“Nice beach,” Kendi commented.

I nodded without speaking. If he hadn’t shown up, I would have jumped into the ocean.

“It’s getting bigger.” Grandfather Melthine pointed at the darkness. “And it makes me feel nauseated.”

I felt the pain in the darkness. It also sounded sweet and wonderful, but I didn’t say anything.

“Can you feel Harenn?” Kendi asked. “Can you feel her the way you felt me that one time?”

I shut my eyes and felt around with my mind. With a start I saw that there were millions, billions, even trillions of minds everywhere. Every grain of sand, each drop of water, every leaf on every tree was a mind. Kendi had told me that the Dream was...what was the word? A gestalt. A combination of all the minds in the universe. But I hadn’t really known what he meant until that moment. Each mind went about its business, some happy, some sad, most a jumble of emotions. I could feel them skitter around me, but at the same time they weren’t moving. It was really weird.

Some of them I recognized. Gretchen, Ben, Mother Ara, Trish. And Harenn. She was around, too. I remembered how I’d called for Kendi when I got scared the first time I came into the Dream. I called for Harenn and reached for her. I touched her, and I
pulled.

Something flickered in the air the beside me like a bad hologram. Harenn stood on the beach for a tiny moment. Then she vanished.

I was suddenly tired. All my energy left me, and my legs felt like rubber. I shut my eyes and let go of the Dream.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the couch room. Everyone was looking at me. Melthine was lying on a couch and Kendi was standing in the corner with a stick under his knee. That was really strange, but I was too tired to think much about it. Where had the stick come from, anyway? Harenn was blinking at me like she was dizzy. I still felt tired.