Psycher Chronicles

Chapter 64

Hero Worship

(Misha Tulley)

“I think you and I should talk after school later today, probably before your practice later today.” Ms. Clayton stated.

It was clear from her tone and pacing that she was used to dominating many conversations. There was also the insinuation that by Ms. Clayton knew the fact of her school schedule that she knew more about her.

Hearing those words Misha could only nod, realizing that both the threat and implied extraneous knowledge was held by Ms. Clayton. Misha assumed that most of this was either taught via interrogation techniques, or learned from her craft, or a matter of both.

Tingle.

Misha also felt the gentle mental probing of Ms. Clayton trying to access her mind. It was subtle, and likely would have been something she might have missed before her recent run in with a Warrior Priest who assaulted her mind through an open connection. Since that point, Misha had trained daily to both keep her mental shields up, but to also notice any signs of external influence.

This wasn’t to say that she couldn’t also reach past her own defenses and use her own Psycher powers to interact with the world. Rather, she now knew the importance of prudence and of keeping a tight leash on her activities.

Misha just watched the operative for a moment, looking for any signs that she was trying to use her mental probes to access her mind. As would be expected from an expert, there were no tells at all. Nothing, not even the slightest twitch of the mouth, the dilation of the eyes.

“Impressive.” Ms. Clayton began, then nodding to herself, “yes, we definitely need to have a talk after class today. Don’t worry, I will inform Ms. Green about your needing to stay after today.”

And like that, Misha was dismissed.

For her part, Misha was not wasteful with the rest of her day. Mentally logging into the school’s Wi-Fi and then piggybacking off of the Wi-Fi signals to the internet and all the elusive databases thereof, Misha began hunting.

First, she found out who Ms. Clayton was. Or who she was this lifetime.

From everything that she had gathered, Misha assumed that Ms. Clayton had been here for close to four hundred years. This was largely due to the encryption schema used. This could be a red herring used to throw Misha off the trail of this Psycher, knowing that they could have more robust encryption schemes, but Misha didn’t think that was the case.

Though to be safe, she did keep that aspect in the back of her mind.

Instead, she focused on the developers of Surreal, the parent company and the parent company’s parent company. This might be deep but eventually, she found what she was looking for, a hidden CEO of one of the primary subsidiaries with controlling interest in one of the big four mega-conglomerates Johnstone Inc. Following that trail, Misha found dead ends and a chance of a lifetime encounter, where the current CEO just so happened to both found an important chipset processor that utilized lithium as a new medium for electrical currents.

From there, Misha found other people throughout history who did similar contributions, creating one key component that would then be purchased and added to Johnstone Inc over the generations, until finally it was a massive entity with so many moving parts that it seemed almost impossible to fully control.

Worst of all was the shameless way that the contributors to Johnstone Inc unapologetically stole components and processes from Psycher technology.

Honestly, Misha thought it was a little too easy for her to slip in and move around in such constructs, but knowing that Psycher technology had been intentionally leaked. Well not just leaked, but boiled down, riddled with vulnerabilities, and then freely given to an enemy planet, Misha could not help but be impressed.

For generations, someone has been purposefully building up one of the world’s four mega conglomerates to not only control the world, but allow access so that a Psycher fleet could easily arrive, take over the planet and harvest the resources needed to continue he war.

Looking at the schematics, Misha already felt she knew the next five or six designs that were going to be implemented over the next few lifetimes of this Ms. Clayton.

Honestly, the entire scheme was brilliant, and seemed to take advantage of the fact that Ms. Clayton both knew that technology had to appear to be developed slowly. While, also giving time for the world to slowly accept and rely on the technology being slowly trickle fed through anonymous contributions and corporate mergers.

All of this was to say that by the time classes ended and Misha was forced to go back to Ms. Clayton’s classroom, she was better prepared for what to expect.

The Psycher operative was cunning, resourceful, and most importantly capable. Their job was to go to a planet, integrate with its society, and then slowly corrupt the planet from the inside. And it seemed that Ms. Clayton had managed to do this perfectly.

Of course, the only problem was that now that the war was over, and all Psychers were effectively in exile, what did that mean for people like Ms. Clayton? Misha herself was still wondering what exactly it all meant, as she too was at a loss for what to make of her life.

For now, Misha was content to try to adapt and thrive in this new world with the role that she had been given. That said, perhaps it wasn’t too soon to start looking for ways to make her own mark upon the world. As there were a lot of designs that Misha could implement on her own that would spark interest and get her own name out there.

Perhaps with a second person, she could create a tandem operation. One where even upon deaths and resurrections, they were able to hand off control of the mega-corporation, or find a way to get both into the same company at key areas.

Though thinking about it, such an act would make it fairly obvious for anyone conducting an internal review of the massive world conglomerate entities. Meaning that when the Bakshee eventually came, they would just remove the one mega-conglomerate corporation and be done with all their efforts.

No, thinking about the entire thing logically, it would make more sense for her to work her way into one of the other mega-conglomerates and influence designs in those organizations as well.

These were the thoughts that Misha had expected to go over with Ms. Clayton.

Honestly, most of this could have been done over communications throughout the day on secured channels. Misha knew for a fact that if she could create such stable channels, then the Operative should be able to as well.

This was why, Misha was completely thrown off when she went to Ms. Clayton’s room.

“Glad you could come,” Ms. Clayton said, as if there was anything else that Misha could have done given that a report was already sent to Ms. Green. Then quickly going behind her, Ms. Clayton raised the blind over the single window looking into the room, then proceeded to lock the door.

The intent was clear, that should anyone look in, they could clearly see a teacher and student conversing after class, but no one would be able to get in and interrupt their conversation. Then with the door latched, Ms. Clayton proceeded to gesture for a desk at a giant table, where Ms. Clayton began walking to the opposite side of the table.

Misha for her part just nodded, and went to the indicated seat. Upon sitting down, Ms. Clayton went straight into her pitch.

“I’m sure you have questions, as do I. To help with this, I suggest we do a one for one swap. I ask a question, you answer truthfully, then you ask a question I answer truthfully. From there we will see where we stand.” Ms. Clayton began.

Hearing the words Misha could only nod.

“Though first, I am curious about your capabilities. Given that you have had the past three hours to investigate, what have you found out. What do you think you know. And most importantly what do you think the plans are for this conversation.” Ms. Clayton began.

Hearing that, Misha could only nod and realize this was likely an interview. Such things were not rare, in fact it was how Misha got a starting position on the Matriarch’s Flagship almost immediately upon entering the fleet.

Realizing this was the Psycher way, she went through everything.

“Your name isn’t Ms. Clayton, but Ms. Ursala Jarnic. You are primary shareholder of Jarnic Inc, a manufacturer of new lithium superchips and processers and therefore majority owner of Johnstone Inc voting interests. Before that you were, Eloise Fench wife to successful inventor Jacque French, inventor of Mechanical Laboratories and their energy regulators. Before that Reina Johnstone wife of Marcus Johnstone, founder of Johnstone Inc. Before that you were Abigail Patton, wife of Leonard Patton founder of Patton industries that later merged with Johnstone Inc to form the super pack that it is today. I could detail others, but I’m sure you understand where and how this is going.” Misha said.

Silence.

Before, there was no break or blemish to her otherwise perfect operative mask. Now however, now there were clear breaks in her as her lips slightly parted in wonder as she clearly seemed to be at a loss for what just happened.

Seeing her in such a state, Misha just paused. Before noting that “I judge this to be your tenth total reincarnation on this planet. The first few you were lost in random inventions during the Renaissance, and again in London during the 1700s, but only recently did you start having a plan on moving forward by corrupting the supply chain and information networks that the planet relies on.”

With that final note, Ms. Clayton finally began to nod in agreement.

“I should have expected nothing less from the Lead Mechanical Engineer for the Queen’s Flagship,” Ms. Clayton began, before nodding her head in acceptance of the details provided. “Now, I guess it is up to me to ask you my first question. When did you arrive here?”

“Here as in this planet?” Misha asked, the words sounding odd even from her mouth. For almost her entire lifetime here she had been under the impression that she was alone. Now she had to wonder a few things on her own.

“Yes, here on this planet.” Ms. Clayton, or the operative playing the part of Ms. Clayton confirmed.

“This is my first lifecycle on this planet.” Misha began.

Hearing that Ms. Clayton continued, her own curiosity taking control of her and making it so she broke her own rules of question sharing.

“This is your first time. Is there any chance that the Queen might also arrive?” Ms. Clayton asked.

Hearing that Misha could only shake her head.

“Doubtful, when I lost my resurrection resources with the fleet, we were at the edge of space trying to avoid an obvious containment breach. During which I passed away ensuring that the ship was able to leave and go back to charted space. This was at least sixteen years before we received the message relinquishing us from our oaths of fealty,” Misha stated.

Hearing that explanation, the light of hope that had filled Ms. Clayton seemed to die out.

“Oh, I see.” Ms. Clayton said, trying to put her emotional mask back in place but the damage had already been done.

With the slight pause, Misha did not dare to ask the officer a question now. Years of training in the fleet letting her know that while it had been suggested as a one for one exchange, Operatives were on an entirely different level and should be avoided at all caution. That said, when they asked you for anything you were obliged to help them. They were the boogeymen of the fleet for a reason.

“I realize that was two questions in a row for me. So I will give you the floor. Surely you have something you wish to know?” Ms. Clayton asked.

Realizing this was the chance she had been hoping for since she first agreed to this meeting, Misha asked the number one question on her mind. This was the question that she was not able to get an answer to, despite her relentless digging. While she had a theory, she wanted to find out more. As such, she asked the operative the only question that seemed relevant at the time.

“Why me?”

Hearing the question, Ms. Clayton could only smile in satisfaction. This was when Ms. Clayton inadvertently revealed not one, but two bombshells that Misha had never known.

“Oh, if only you had been able to integrate with the leveling system. You would have made a perfect operative. Smart, resourceful, and most importantly, you don’t waste time by getting to the point.” Ms. Clayton stated, inadvertently giving out her own opinions on Misha and revealing something that had never quite been discussed before.

Hearing the comment, Misha wondered if the lack of being able to integrate with the leveling system was why she was relegated to the maintenance section of the fleet. Had everyone else not relegated to maintenance operations been able to level? And if so what did that even mean? Then Before Misha’s mind could truly begin to process these words, Ms. Clayton made her second major declaration. One that seemed to spin her own perspective of the world on its head.

“Still regardless, we are strapped for resources. As such, I would like to take you under my wing and teach you to be an Operative.”

“Me?” Misha asked, confirming that the heretical words she thought she heard were in fact real.

“Yes, and to make it so you get full use out of that second question, I will do you one better. For if you agree to join me as my apprentice, I will try to see if we can awaken the leveling system within you, correctly this time.”

And like that, Misha felt a mental command coming through to her mind.

Operative Ursala Jarnic has requested your assistance in an ongoing subversion operation. Warning, accepting this task will place you under the strictest of confidences. By accepting to hear the mission details, you are agreeing to keep all information that you learn about the ongoing operation and its objectives secret from everyone, except for the Hive Queen. Do you wish to hear more?