Sasham Varan had a really big problem... (this chapter is crucial for understanding what happens to Varan over the next few chapters) ----- Chapter 23. Varan: "Evaluation you ready for are," Dr. Sooovickalassa said. That was, in a way, a relief. The past few days had been filled with hidden tension – tension mostly on my part, but I sensed there was some for the R'Thann exile as well. Given the conversation I'd partly overheard, I wasn't surprised. Failure to produce the desired results and an inclination to arguing was [ Continue reading... ]
Demons of the Past: Revelation, Chapter 21
March 19, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Sasham Varan had apparently survived a very dangerous encounter... ----- Chapter 21. Varan: I got away with it. That thought was just about the only one in my head for a long time after Shagrath left. I could still barely believe it. A combination of luck, my newly-awakened powers, and – I was sinking sure – the fact that Shagrath suspected nothing was what had saved me. If he'd even wondered about what I thought enough to bother, the mind I'd felt brush me with its uttermost edge would have torn my barrier apart like [ Continue reading... ]
Demons of the Past: Revelation, Chapter 20
March 16, 2018 By Leave a Comment
And let's see Varan from someone else's point of view... Chapter 20. Shagrath: He felt the new-built barriers around the human's mind quiver. The smile grew ever so slightly wider, though the man could hardly suspect the reason for the smile. No doubt he believed that his barrier remained a blank wall, and he himself in perfect control. Let him. At the moment, it was important to let him feel less threatened, to explain all the things around him with plausible half-truths, and discover how well the R'Thann's treatment had [ Continue reading... ]
Demons of the Past: Revelation, Chapter 19
March 14, 2018 By Leave a Comment
While being a lab animal, Varan had made a nasty discovery... ----- Chapter 19. Varan: Aching pain. Fear. Red-black light. Mumbling voices, whispers, shouts of half-understood words, thundering nausea in my gut, horror waiting, waiting to emerge when I could remember the reason. I heard a gabble of nonsense: …wait to get Off of that you will isn't the HEY THE READINGS JUMPED hope she doesn't catch TC Conversion Radius 10,119.5, that's a little Oh, sink it, I'll have to I'LL LET THE PRIME MONITOR KNOW Six and One… Only it was [ Continue reading... ]
Demons of the Past: Revelation, Chapter 18
March 12, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Varan had been asked to do something incredible... ----- Chapter 18. Varan: "Discomfort feeling now you should not." The R'Thann scientist said matter-of-factly. I felt there were considerable grounds for me to disagree, but I suspected he meant from the procedure itself. Strapped down by form-fitting metallic shackles to a pallet at the center of a nightmarish array of emitters, sensors, processors, field-generators, and other devices, injectors integrated into the armlocks, I was far from comfortable and, despite all [ Continue reading... ]
Demons of the Past: Revelation, Chapter 17
March 9, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Time to find out exactly what the Prime Monitor, and the Empire, want from Varan... ----- Chapter 17. Varan: For the third time I entered the huge, enclosed sub-laboratory which seemed to be solely the domain of Sooovickalassa. The second time had been a few days ago, to run some additional tests which hadn't taken nearly as long as the first set. I had been able to talk with the reptilian scientist for a while, these tests apparently being much more a matter of having me present to be scanned rather than having me actually DO [ Continue reading... ]
Demons of the Past: Revelation, Chapter 15
March 5, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Varan was waiting for results of his testing, but at least it was in a comfortable place... ----- Chapter 15. Varan: I emerged onto the sun balcony where one of the servants had told me breakfast was being served. Thank the Eternal that it sounds quiet. No mob this morning. Treyuusei was actually cooking, to my surprise – and gratification, as I got closer. "Sweet Sevens? Trey, you shouldn't have!" "You're going to be spoiled the whole time you're here, Sash, so get used to it." "I don't dare get used to it, Trey; [ Continue reading... ]
Demons of the Past: Chapter 14
March 2, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Well, Sasham had finished his first day with the Monitor and survived... Chapter 14. Taelin: Taelin watched as Sasham Varan exited from the great gates of Silan-Luria, turn with that characteristic precision and execute a perfect Six and One to the Monitor who'd led him out before turning and trotting down the wide white steps to the waiting Streetwing. "Taelin! Thanks for coming to get me!" "No thanks needed, Sash. Everyone's looking forward to seeing you, and most of them worried that they'll have to try to walk [ Continue reading... ]
Demons of the Past: Revelation, Chapter 13
February 28, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Varan is finally at the Capital, and time for him to meet the Prime Monitor! ----- PART TWO: Mind Dances Chapter 13. Varan: "Welcome, Commander Varan. It is a genuine pleasure to meet you at last." "Thank you, Monitor Shagrath." The Prime Monitor had a handclasp of E-steel; I did my best to match it. I'm not sure which of us got the better of it. I could see what made Shagrath unsettling to Taelin, or at least part of it. The Prime Monitor wore a reflective sensevisor, hiding his eyes behind blank silvery [ Continue reading... ]
Demons of the Past: REVELATION, Chapter 12
February 26, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Sasham and Taelin were heading for the capital... ----- Chapter 12. Varan: I heard the faint chiming hum of the DD drive kick in just as the blaze of emergence from the Nexus faded. I glanced at Taelin, who was already grinning in his usual sunny way. "Still trying to get yourself and your passengers killed?" "I have a bet on with Kyrell – you remember, Treyuusei's big brother? – that I can't get from this Nexus to Oro orbit in less than fifty minutes." Taelin was already working the dimensional balance controls, [ Continue reading... ]
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