Majgen Ch. 015

----=(The Ulballa)=----

Majgen was awakened by the characteristic two tone clinging sound of the apartment's visitor alert. While swinging her legs off the bed she cleared her throat.

"Room-seven-four-two-clock-display," she said, to have the time displayed on the wall. She blinked her vision into focus.

'It's the middle of the night,' she thought, 'and whoever is at the door it's none of my business. I can't even answer the grieving door.'

Majgen let out a sigh and got on her feet to get dressed. Baglian still kept the apartment locked to her. Not because he felt it was needed, he didn't nowadays, but it had become habit.

'If he lets someone in he will want me to brew mocca, if he doesn't let whoever it is in he might want a smoothing beverage before going back to bed. Even if he doesn't want anything he will have my hide if I don't make myself available to serve him.'

By the time Majgen had pulled her outer cloak on, and started brushing her hair. The two tone clinging sound returned, and began repeating insistently.

"Well sure, that will help," she said to herself. 'Femaron Baglian doesn't like being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night. I wouldn't want to be whoever is out there. Abusing his door alert that way really won't help on his mood.'

After brushing her hair, Majgen briefly ran a wet cloth over her face, and checked her appearance in a mirror. She still looked sleepy.

She glanced at the clock.

'This will have to do for proper Mentarion Appearance. After all, it's the middle of the night, and I'd better stand ready before Femaron Baglian answers the door.'

The alert was still chiming, but Majgen knew her personal teacher would not rush to the door without grooming himself properly - no matter how annoying the sound was. Two minutes before Baglian showed himself, Majgen was in position in the living-room next to the hall leading to the apartment's front door. At that time the alert had been chiming for four minutes.

'A perfect image of mentarion dignity,' thought Majgen, while watching her mentor walk through the living-room. 'Too bad for whoever is out there that he is boiling with rage underneath. Femaron Baglian really doesn't like to be pulled out of bed.'

From where she stood Majgen couldn't see the front door. She was surprised when she heard Baglian open the door almost immediately upon reaching it. She had expected him to interrogate whoever was out there, over the intercom, prior to opening.

"Greetings Ottearon," said Baglian.

'Which Ottearon?' thought Majgen, she didn't recognise the empathic feel of the stranger entering the apartment.

In a very impolite manner the Ottearon ignored Femaron Baglian's greeting and brushed past him into the apartment.

'She is headed for me,' thought Majgen. 'Why?'

The Ottearon only took seconds to find Majgen, she could sense Majgen's presence same as Majgen could sense hers.

"So this is the infamous Majgen Rahan," said the Ottearon, while running her eyes over Majgen. "You don't look like much."

'She thinks she has been misinformed about me,' perceived Majgen. 'Misinformed regarding what?'

Other people had entered the apartment in the Ottearon's trail, brushing past Femaron Baglian. A GED general and his escort of two low ranked officers. All three non-empaths were wearing anti-empathic helmets.

"So that's the one?" asked General Dageb.

"Seems so," replied Ottearon Skent.

General Dageb raised his arm to look at his wrist-watch, he didn't seem pleased by what he saw.

"Find out if we have wasted our time stopping by here. We need to hurry," ordered Dageb.

Ottearon Skent nodded, her eyes never left the short young woman in front of her.

"Strengthen your mind shield, Student," she commanded.

Majgen obeyed instantly.

'She is going to test me by mind shocking me,' realised Majgen a second before the Ottearon commenced a series of mental attacks.

"Her defensive abilities are sufficiently strong for the task, General," informed Ottearon Skent, after all her shocks had failed to break down Majgen's shielding.

"And the other thing?" asked General Dageb.

"How would I know, I only just met her," replied Ottearon Skent. "Femaron Baglian, how is that special perceptivity working out for your student?"

"Constantly progressing, Ottearon," said Baglian.

"How useful is it at this time?" asked Ottearon Skent, not bothering with mentarion etiquette.

"I would consider it quite useful at this time, Ottearon."

"Be more specific, Femaron. I don't feel like playing word games with you."

"Certainly, Ottearon." Baglian turned to Majgen. "Student Majgen, tell me why the Ottearon has come to visit at this late hour."

"Somebody asked her to, Femaron Baglian, the Ottearon believes coming here was pointless and a waste of time."

"You wouldn't need to be an empath to figure that one out," commented General Dageb. "Try to tell us something less obvious."

Majgen moved her eyes to Baglian. He nodded a confirmation to the General's command.

"You were told to come and fetch me, because somebody else believes I can be of assistance." Majgen moved her eyes to the Ottearon's face. "A high-ranking yijejo has been caught alive, but this far it has been impossible to penetrate its mind shield. The GED wishes to avoid torturing it; they fear its mind has been tuned to collapse upon torture."

"Evil grief!" exclaimed Ottearon Skent. "How did you know that, Student?"

"I perceived it from you a few moments ago, Ottearon." Majgen bowed to the high ranked mentarion.

"Is she lying?" asked General Dageb.

"No." Ottearon Skent was certain. Majgen's mind shield could not hide there was no discrepancy between her emotions and her words.

"So she might be useful to us," concluded General Dageb. "Let's wrap it up here, we don't have time for further tests."

"Student, go put one spare set of middle temperature clothing in a bag. You're coming with us," instructed Ottearon Skent. As if adding a side note she continued, "You too, Femaron."

One hour later, Majgen was staring at the visual of their 'connecting flight' on the monitor of the small fast fighter they were in. The closer they got, the bigger the ship they were approaching seemed to get.

'How big is that thing?' wondered Majgen.

Ottearon Skent noticed her reaction. "He is a beauty isn't he?"

Majgen forced her eyes off the viewer, to give her full attention to the Ottearon.

"He is the Ulballa, on his way back after repairs. He took quite a beating in his last battle, but not as bad as the other side," continued Skent, there was a grim smile on her face.

'Bloodlust,' thought Majgen, but she didn't blame the Ottearon, Majgen too liked the idea of scorched yijejo corpses floating around in space.

"Go ahead, Student Majgen, look at him. Later you will only see him from the inside."

Majgen turned her eyes back to the Ulballa, the battle cruiser was still growing on the 1:1 scaled viewer. They were still at a good distance, but she could discern the biggest weapons on the battle-cruiser by now.

'That thing could write it's name on a moon - with four-hundred meter deep craters - easier than a drunk could piss one letter on a wall,' thought Majgen.

Ottearon Skent became absorbed in her own thoughts. She had high hopes that the Ulballa would run into a few yijejo patrols once they reached the War Zone. Her eyes danced with glee at the prospect.

"Welcome to the war, Student," Skent said to the younger woman. "I hope you will enjoy your stay."

'Bloodlust,' thought Majgen again, the feeling she perceived from Ottearon Skent was infectious. It woke long forgotten thoughts. 'Yes, I think I will enjoy my stay.'

The growing image of the Ulballa filled Majgen's eyes. A smile as ugly as a scream, spread on her face.

'Bloodlust indeed,' thought the young woman, 'at long last.'

One emotion, one thought, took place in her.

'Revenge!'

----=(0)=----

The peculiar lighting in the interrogation room made it appear dark. The walls were coloured a neutral green; the absence of direct light made them appear a confusing grey. There was no furniture, no chairs for interrogators to rest on. When interrogating a yijejo a human empath had to be sure to never let his guard down. It was very important that an interrogator remembered to leave the room if in need of rest.

At one wall some panels glowed faintly, indicating where the displays for communication and information were placed. While inactive the displays were indistinguishable from the wall structure, they maintained the same colour as the wall when not in use.

A few very weak lamps were placed high on the walls, but the strongest light-source was a single projector build into a cavity in the ceiling. The projector's lamp was placed so deep in the cavity it would not be possible to see it unless standing almost straight below it looking up. It would have been ill advised to do that; the projector's lamp was so strong that looking directly at it would have been painful. A broad strong beam of light shone from the projector's cavity illuminating only a circular area in the middle of the room.

When nothing was in the beam the strong light had an inconspicuous impression, the floor was a rough deep grey-black colour that could inhale the beam, breathing out only the dimmest reflection of a light circle.

When Majgen entered the interrogation room with Femaron Baglian, the spot under the bright light was occupied. A prisoner of war, a yijejo, was at the centre of the light-beam. Chained in place, securely fastened to the floor in a crouching position.

Naked, helpless, and terrified.

The strong light from the projector hitting the yijejo's pale yellowish white skin, presented an illusion that the alien was glowing.

"Careful, Student Majgen, he might start attacking our minds any..." Baglian would have proceeded to say 'moment' but he stopped talking to focus fully on keeping his mind shield up as the yijejo began his first series of attacks against Baglian's mind.

'Femaron Baglian won't be able to keep off that kind of attacks for hours,' Majgen thought to herself, 'he is only Femaron potential.'

The plan for this interrogation, the first for Majgen to ever attend, was that Baglian and other mentarions would take turns at distracting the yijejo; to make it possible for Majgen to do her thing without too many disturbances.

'Grief that thing is strong,' thought Baglian. 'I had expected it to be weaker -- it has been deprived of sleep for a long time now -- but at least I have its full attention.'

Baglian moved closer to the yijejo, and placed himself right in front of it.

'Fear.' Majgen cherished the feeling she perceived from the enemy's emanations. 'It is afraid of us, it is horrified.'

She smiled.

'I can't wait till I've dragged out every bit of information we need from you, Creature. You have good reason to be afraid. When I have done my part you will learn pain you wouldn't believe existed.'

For the first time in her life, Majgen was jubilant to feel terror emanating from another being.

'Revenge, Creature. Revenge! You will PAY.'

The yijejo noticed the strong emotions of hate coming from Majgen. Instinctively he began attacking her instead of Baglian. Majgen had no trouble withstanding the mind shocks of her drugged foe, but she was not meant to be distracted.

"Keep your emotions under control, Student Majgen," ordered Baglian, and mind-shocked the yijejo to regain its attention.

"Look at me you ugly thing. Yes, I hate you too, Yijejo. I'd like to take a knife and take my first sculpting lessons on your skin." Along with his mind shocks and words Baglian allowed his feelings of hate towards the chained enemy to grow freely; he estimated feelings of hate would increase the likelihood the yijejo would again consider him a more important target than his student.

Baglian's strategy worked. The yijejo turned its full attention away from Majgen and back to the Femaron, even though the Femaron's attacks were too weak to trouble it.

Majgen took some deep breaths and tried to get her hate under control. After some moments she managed to stop fantasising about torturing the prisoner, and moved to her planned position behind the yijejo.

'Focus on your task,' she reminded herself over and over, 'right now you have a job to do.'

She closed her eyes, and prepared herself for the surge of memories and emotions, which usually came to her once she opened herself empathically. Then she opened her senses fully.

Nothing happened.

'All I can feel is his fear.' For a second Majgen was astonished. 'Maybe yijejos don't emanate the same way humans do.'

She closed her senses and eyes again.

'No, that's not it. He is emanating, I just can't feel it. It's me. Not him.'

After some more long breaths, Majgen repeated her preparation and sense opening procedure.

'Nothing. Just the fear. Grief!' Majgen clenched her fists in frustration.

'I have to figure this out! My special perceptivity has failed me before, figure it out. Don't panic, don't give up. Just give yourself a little time to figure this out, Student,' she advised herself.

After fighting the yijejo intensely for a couple of minutes, Baglian took a moment to glance at, and sense, his student.

'She is inactive, she isn't doing anything.' The realisation was a surprise to Baglian. "Why aren't you sensing, Student Majgen?" he commanded to know.

"I cannot sense from him, my hatred blinds me, Femaron."

It was true. Majgen was filled with hatred and rage towards her enemy. One of the kind that had killed her parents and friends when she was so young.

"You are a mentarion, Student. Forget yourself and do your job!"

Baglian was perspiring from mental effort. He was only a Femaron. For him fighting off the mental attacks of a yijejo, even a severely drugged and sleep-deprived one, was a tremendous effort. And this particular prisoner was far stronger than the average yijejo.

Majgen tried to compose herself, tried to sense the way only she could. It was obvious to both her and Baglian she was making no progress.

"Express your block, Student."

Baglian hoped she would be swift, his own fight was draining his mental stamina quickly. If their first interrogation attempt gave absolutely no results, for reasons of him running out of energy before Majgen got control of herself, then he would be replaced by an Ottearon at the second and all later attempts.

'Get control of yourself fast, Student. I want to remain in charge of the first team to ever retrieve information from a Winin's mind,' thought Baglian.

Winin, a yijejoan rank. Two hundred years into the war no human really understood the political build of the yijejo nations. However, they knew that Winin was a very high rank. This prisoner was a Winin. That was the reason he was considered exceptionally important. He was the highest ranked yijejo, ever to have been caught alive.

Majgen only needed a few moments to put her feelings into words. "It does not deserve to be seen without hatred."

Baglian was quick to find a solution to that emotional blockade. "I will hate him for both of us, Student. Trust me to hate for both of us and forget yourself."

Majgen looked at Baglian, and studied his emanations. 'Yes. Femaron Baglian can hate for both of us.' She closed her eyes, shut down her senses, and focused on her memory of Baglian hating the caught yijejo.

'Femaron Baglian will hate for me, I am not essential.'

Majgen meditated on that meaning until she no longer felt her own hate.

'I am not essential.'

She began to open her senses.

'HE KILLED MY PARENTS!'

The primary emotion, her true block, finally revealed itself; the true reason for her blinding hate. Majgen opened her eyes and looked at the helpless yijejo. She studied his alien features.

'No, this is not the one who killed my parents. The shape of the head is wrong. And its lower reaching limbs are too long compared to the uppermost ones.' Majgen felt the emotion shy away at logic as she compared the yijejo in front of her to the one she had seen come around a corner when she was five.

'This is still an enemy, but he is not my parents' murderer, he is not even a soldier.' She looked at Baglian again. 'This one Femaron Baglian can hate for me, this one is unlikely to have any connection to my parents' death. I am not essential.'

Once again she closed her eyes and her senses. Taking a deep breath, she found no need to meditate further. She opened her senses. This time she felt the blur of information in the yijejo's emanations.

'Now I can feel you, whoever you are. I will not judge, it is not my part.' That was Majgen Rahan's thought, when for the first time she let a yijejo's emanations reach her heart.

'I/we/he am/are/is young. Male. I am a young man, and I am. What am I doing?' Majgen was pulled further into the yijejo's memory.

(o)

'Why are the overviews of musical shows always so hard to browse through? It is ridiculous,' he thought to himself, while tapping away at the monitor in front of him, 'Should it really be necessary to take an education as information-specialist to buy a seat for a live show?'

"Aejoa!"

He turned his head at the sound of his name being yelled. And saw his best friend running towards him.

"Eiiae!" Aejoa yelled back. 'Sweet Eiiae, I've missed him.'

Feelings of friendship and warmth bubbled inside Aejoa upon seeing his approaching friend. Eiiae didn't slow down until a few steps From Aejoa, and even then he only slowed down to the degree needed for Aejoa not to fall over when they collided.

"My friend! I've missed you," said Aejoa, hugging Eiiae tight.

"Let me get some limbs free so I can hug you back, you silly fool," complained Eiiae, feeling as happy as Aejoa.

"Noo, no limbs for you, this is my hug!" claimed Aejoa, holding his friend even tighter. Preventing the slightly smaller yijejo from getting any of his reaching limbs free.

Each of them could feel the happy humour in the other.

Eiiae struggled in Aejoa's grip till he managed to sneak two of his upper reaching limbs out between the limbs Aejoa kept him intwined in. With those two he hugged his friend back.

"I have missed you too, Aejoa."

Their minds reached towards each other, to share their feelings fully.

(o)

'Love, friendship.' Majgen tried to shake the memory off. 'This was years back, this is not what I seek.' She blocked out the stream this memory was in. 'Information, it's there somewhere. Keep searching, Majgen,' she ordered herself.

(o)

"Math is boring," stated Aejoa, and threw his homework pad across the room.

"It doesn't have to be," said Eiiae. "I think it's fun, just give it a chance."

(o)

'Eiiae again,' thought Majgen. 'They are even younger in this memory. Not useful information.'

She moved on.

(o)

"Have you heard all I said?" The old and dignified yijejo asked, his eyes locked on Aejoa's.

"Yes!"

"It is the full truth you speak to me!" The elderly yijejo stated with ceremonious dignity.

"Have you listened to every word?" Was his next question.

"Yes!" Aejoa looked up into the eyes of the speaker from his kneeling position.

"It is the full truth you speak to me!" The elder yijejo waited a short moment before asking the last question. "And do you so swear, to adhere to all this?"

"Yes!"

"It is the full truth you speak to me!"