Travelers

Chapter 39 - The Dark Side

Jacob turned around once everyone was on board and the ramp had shut. Their primary meeting place had been dubbed their "Cortex", a term Mal had called it once in their multi-hour flight. Jacob was one hundred percent certain he knew what story this was in, though he still felt his blaster proficiency, and Richard had still been meditating when they had made their approach. This was another collision of worlds, and once again it was a similar setting, much like the trilogy by Sanderson had leaked into Gatlon city. It seemed the worlds that they explored were all part of some intricate web of tales and legends, and this time, they were in a series by Veronica Roth. It was only two books long, including "Carve the Mark", and "The Fates Divide".

The series was a mix of a political conflict, deadly combat, and a strong love story. He would be surprised if they ran into any of the main characters, as only one or two of them had come to this ship. He explained the basic story to his companions, focusing especially on the idea of the current. The current was something that powered a large amount of this star system. One could visually see the current in the sky, the blue streak, but it also flowed through most of the living things. In that way it was similar to the force, he noted. He explained that due to the energy of the current, every human in the ring had a special ability, some more impressive than others. He suspected his own currentgift had to do something with the fact that he had shocked the man when he shook his hand. He glanced at the hairs on his arm as he mentioned this, noting they were all raised to stand straight up, as if he had been struck by lightning, though he suspected that would actually burn all the hair on his arms straight off. He reached down to touch the ground, but the charge seemed to remain, never fading.

Cat had said she saw everything, which he suspected meant she had some form of advanced sight. Possibly X-ray, though he doubted it, or even true sight. She had said that she could make out the little details and take in the whole image at once. He was a little concerned on how much of a toll taking in that much information would have on her mind, but he needed to solve their present problem first.

Jacob noted that Calen now had a strap across his chest and noted the F-11D that now hung on his back. He felt the blaster at his hip and noted Richard's blaster. They couldn't fight there way out if they got into trouble, despite their more advanced weaponry. Mal and Cat didn't have weapons, and neither of their talents really allowed them to fight. Cat's currentgift might come in handy, though he wasn't certain what Mal's ability was, or Calen's for that matter. He asked if they felt anything different. Neither of them did, of course. He tried formulating a plan, but he didn't know enough about this world to actually be effective in his knowledge. It was a strange change of pace for him. He was going into a world that for once he didn't know everything about. The unique aspect of their first trip of memory loss had been quite interesting, when he thought about it, but at least he couldn't have been frustrated by the fact that he felt like he should know more. He had known he was in foreign land and didn't think he would know anything about it. How wrong he'd been.

He decided that for now it was best to go with the flow, let the current sweep him away, ironically. He led the way off the ship and down the ramp. He found himself following his feet down the halls behind the man, who had waited for them. He led them to a small meeting room. In it sat several figures in finer dress, and Jacob scanned each of them. When he got to the head of the table, he saw a figure he recognized. Not from their description in the book, but from the dark tendrils that flowed over her skin. He had been wrong about what main characters they might run into.

This was Cyra Noavek, and those shadows were what she called currentshadows. Whenever she touched someone, or even before then he noted, since the currentshadows were above her skin. The young man next to her reached over and touched her arm. The shadows vanished in an instant at his touch. That would be Akos Kereseth. He had the ability to stop the current, cutting off it's flow. They were sitting in front of two of the most powerful people in the system, and Jacob was at a loss for words.