章 50: Caravan, Pt 2
The township caravan is well on its way along the northward road, long before sun fully sets and night falls. Though you're all going at a rather slow pace, far slower than you're used to. But it's understandable. Most in the township are older folks. Or perhaps a different way to look at it is that you're the youngest person here.
Although the townsfolk are hardy and tough, the road is going to be a long one, and they all need a bit of time to acclimate to a much faster pace. Few can handle going too fast too soon. Or as Frank told you, 'we can't start out running, or we're gonna end up with a lotta strokes and dead folks.'
The air surrounding you gets filled with tiny complaints and grumbles and groans as you all walk, both psionically and audibly. Clearly, everyone has some pains to deal with. Frank is right to keep the pace slow for now.
Plus there's the wounded to tend to as well. Though they'll heal over time, it's best they don't strain themselves too much now. That is if they want to heal at all.
In time, everyone will all pick up the pace; you're sure of it.
Next to you is Frank, trudging forward somewhere close to the lead. Someone else is leading and on point, of course. Someone with better eyesight and hearing and plenty of stamina to stay alert. While Frank could do that, he just wouldn't last very long. Mostly because of his age.
You sense waves of pain wafting off from Frank, so much that you can practically feel your own joints swell and inflame. But unlike the others, he keeps stoically silent, and suffers it all without much of a peep.
You suppose he's trying to be a good example to everyone around him, and it seems to work. Those nearest him grumble less than those further out.
"So, uh, Frank," you begin. Your voice is low and calm, not like you're trying to hide your conversation, just not trying to be loud. "About where you're all going… I hope you know where you're headed exactly."
"The pathfinders'll suss it out," he replies. "I'm just here to help keep people safe. Smarter folk can actually make sense of the directions we've got."
"You think it's enough?"
"As long as what your dad gave you is right, then we oughta be fine."
"And what if they're not?"
A few hushed whispers rise up around you, from those who are close enough to hear you speak. If they weren't doubting the path they're on before, they might be now. Thanks to you, of course.
Frank clears his throat and replies, a bit louder than normal. Just enough for his voice to carry further around him. Just enough for many to hear his reply, and hopefully stamp out any fears or doubts lingering in their minds.
Maybe not completely, but enough to keep them in control.
"If they're not, then we gotta make sure to ask people all along the way," he replies. "Anyone we run into, we talk about it. Ask 'em what they know where that place is. The more we run into, the more people we ask, the better idea we'll get. So don't worry too much about that. We'll get there."
Frank pauses for a moment, happy with his reply. Or rather, happy that his reply satisfies most around you. You can just feel whatever tensions lift as a result.
"And I'm sure your dad and his people would've done the same," he adds a few moments later, perhaps on realizing where your deeper worries possibly lie. "When I see him, I'll let him know you're doing just fine."
You nod your head slowly, trusting that Frank is right. He's been through quite a great deal, and you don't doubt his instincts.
You can't quite place that much trust in your dad, though. He's more of a paranoid prepper as compared to Frank being salt-of-the-earth. There's a difference. Still, both of them have been able to get through everything thus far, so neither can be better than the other. Right?
You nod again, this time with a bit more acceptance of the unknown ahead of you.
"You oughta go check on Nance," Frank says as you absorb some new lessons. "Things are good up front anyway, prob'ly won't need you up here much."
"If you do, just holler," you tell him.
Then you walk over to the side and allow the rest of the caravan to pass by you. Being the only other heavily armed team, Nance and her men travel closer to the rear of the caravan. You nod and wave and greet the townsfolk as they pass, before finally joining up with Nance. You greet each other jovially, and you sense a great deal of tension lift away from her team.
It seems they're worried about what might be out there, and simply having you around makes them feel safer. It's an odd feeling to get that sentiment from strong, capable, heavily armed people. You suppose that's validation you're feeling, and it's warm and welcoming and somewhat uncomfortable for you.
You simply don't feel it very often, and don't know what to do with it. So you push it away to deal with later.
"Doing alright?" you ask Nance and her team. They all respond with moderate enthusiasm. They tell about a few of their joints and the pain surrounding them, but they're otherwise doing their best to stay alert. Of course, they can't help but express their anxiety, too - it's the dead of night and none can see past the trees flanking both sides of the road.
Which is understandable. People have always feared the dark unknown, and of whatever might be lurking just beyond. It's perhaps one of the most fundamental fears that we've all ever shared.
You sense Nance straining slightly with her powers out of that anxiety. And you find that the way she's using them seems to fatigue her mind faster than normal.
She gathers up the energies of Cognition, then channels them as she activates her Foresight. Considering how much she's using and how well she's shaped it, you guess that the both of you are on relatively even footing. You probably have an edge on her, but you're otherwise Foresight besties.
And as far as you can sense, she has few other powers she can manifest. If you were to enumerate her abilities, you'd rate her a Novice. A High one at least, but still a Novice.
"You oughta try using your Scan more," you advise her. "It'll be a lot easier to figure out if something's coming with that. I mean, you can only see a few seconds ahead of you, right? And they aren't always accurate, so…"
"Oh! Like you were doing back at…" Nance says suddenly, then just as suddenly stops.
She's about to fling her thumb back behind you, to point at the township. You can sense the word 'home' about to leave her lips, but it's hung at the forefront of her mind and held in stasis. She pulls it back and away slowly until it vanishes altogether.
A bittersweet feeling comes in and replaces that word instead.
She then hooks her thumb awkwardly on one of her pack's shoulder straps, to give them something to do other than point. You feel her swallow her sadness before she speaks again, though the joyful note she began with is muted and shallow.
"Well, you know what I mean."
"Yeah, true, I was Scanning a whole lot during the fight," you reply. "Had to get a sense of where everyone was, where you were all fighting from, and who you were all fighting against. Doing that helps me figure out if anyone's running or pushing or flanking or sneaking, whatever. Well, most of the time anyway."
"Why not always?"
"I used to think always, but then Lisa came along and I realized that if someone's got a powerful enough Cloak, they can hide from your Scan outright. Maybe not more powerful… but at least more experienced at the power, if that makes sense."
"Experienced?"
"Yeah, getting to know the ins and outs of your powers more and more. Just getting better at using it, more efficient with your psionic reserves. They're skills and tools as well as powers, and have a depth that can be studied and refined. At least, as far as I can tell."
Nance nods as she soaks up everything you're telling her. Which makes sense considering she's a schoolteacher. Or used to be, anyway. Her mind's open to possibilities, which makes all this easier.
"So, uh, Frank says you're a middleschool teacher?" you ask.
She nods at you with a smile.
"Yeah, way back when," she replies wistfully. "Was a good life, a shame it went away. But hey, things change right? Guess I'm this now and that's fine."
"In a way you're still at the head of a class," you say.
"Yeah, in a way."
"Uh, in any case, I'm asking 'coz I've never taught anyone before, so I'm hoping you could give me some pointers while I try to teach you what I know about psionics. "
"Ooh, now that's an idea! Um. I suppose the first thing I suggest is some kind of an example, maybe? Or what about a demonstration?! That would be real helpful. I mean, I kind of know how your energy feels, but I don't exactly know how you shape it."
"I get it - you need to sense me doing a power up close so you can study it. I can definitely do that. In fact, I'll do you one better."
You inject a little extra power into your Network and extend an invite to Nance, who happily accepts. Waves of awe pour outwards as the sensations of the shared mind space fills her. It's as though she's a tourist in some strange land, and looking at all of the nooks and crannies with great interest. Her awe shifts to surprise when she senses Noir's presence among you.
"You have a cat!" she blurts aloud. The revelation causes some of the townsfolk around you to perk their heads up in surprise. None of them ever saw a cat around you…
You didn't notice me the first time we were in a Network? Noir transmits telepathically.
"And she talks! I-I mean she's a Telepath like us! That's… I didn't even think that was possible!"
A few murmurs rise up around you. Clearly news of a psionic cat has gotten plenty of tongues wagging.
Seriously, I was there the whole time. I even added my own energy to bolster our collective defense! Jeez!
Take it easy, you transmit. Nance had a lot on her mind at the time. Anyway, welcome to the Network, Nance.
Sorry for teasing you, Nance. Glad to meet'cha. I'm Noir.
"It-it's alright. Just took me for a spin when I saw you, is all."
I can see why talking to a Telepathic cat would get you out of sorts.
"It's the sassiness, too. Quite a heaping of it… Plus the whole party line thing on top of it all."
"The hell's a party line?" you ask.
"Oh, it's an old landline phone thing. Like back when I was just a kid the houses on my block shared a single phone line. So if someone was using it, we couldn't. Or, we could join it. Sometimes me and the other kids picked it up and just talked for an afternoon."
"Yeah… I guess it's a bit like that."
Although the Network is modeled more on a computer network, or at least your idea of it, you suppose that a telephone network also fits. They're basically iterations of a similar communications theory, one that binds people together irrespective of distance.
"Say, where's Noir?" Nance asks. "I can sense you right here, I mean physically, but also through the Network, which is kinda weird. But I don't sense your cat. How come? Is that this Cloak thing you were talking about?"
"It is a bit, yeah," you reply. "She'd normally be totally 'visible' to us in the Network, but I asked her to Cloak up a bit. Just enough to hide herself from you. But if you do a big enough Scan, you should be able to find her. Here, follow after me."
You gather up your energies slowly and form them into those of a Scan. You pulse outward in a relatively small area, about two dozen feet in all directions. It sweeps across the traveling townsfolk, pinging each of them as it goes.
Then it goes beyond all of you down the road and out to the woods at your sides. Out there you sense the various minds and emotions of various nocturnal creatures - mice and opossums and whatnot. And of course you sense Noir, who is out ahead of you, just at the very edge of your Scan's range.
And since Nance is in the Network, she experiences everything you've done almost viscerally. Not just how you've channeled your Scan, but the direct results of it as well.
"That's wild," she mutters in awe, her eyes wide.
"Wanna give it a shot?" you ask.
"I doubt I'm gonna sense Noir. Obviously her Cloak's gonna be way better than whatever Scan I can do, since experience separates us."
"Oh you're definitely not gonna sense her, yeah. But you won't get better if you don't practice. Like, what did you tell your students to practice every day?"
"Penmanship, mostly."
"Think of it like that, but for Scan instead."
Nance nods, then focuses her mind as best she can. She calls up her energies easily enough, but when she attempts to shape them and focus them into Scan, it becomes clumsy and unwieldy. It takes her some time, but she's able to vaguely form a Scan and pulse outward with it.
With it comes the flashes of thoughts and emotions from the townsfolk surrounding the both of you, perhaps a dozen or so. They're faint, but at least they're distinct. Nance seems to be as good with Scan as you were when you first started, so you take that as a good sign.
You sense her parsing all the psionic information she's received from the Scan, and it seems to leave her mind in awe. Just having that level of heightened awareness causes her to be impressed, and not just with herself, but in the connectedness of it all.
She quickly goes into another Scan and pulses outward one more time. This time she does so with a slightly wider range, and it's a little faster to boot. It seems to you that she's studying the energies of it, along with her own process. Like she's double checking her own work and making small improvements.
It feels somewhat meticulous to you, as though she's sifting through the power itself, dissecting it.
Which makes sense, considering that she's a teacher. Being one clearly makes her an expert pupil. Well, at least it does for Nance, specifically. Not all teachers are made equal.
Still, what she does is causing her to improve significantly over time. You can't help but take a few notes from her, from how she's doing things. It'll only help make your own self-reflection and power refinement that much more potent.
Nance then pulses outward with a third Scan, this one also slightly more powerful than the last. She once again sifts through all the data she's presented with, in awe.
"That's wild," she says again. You get a feeling it won't be the last.
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