The Mind Manifests Chapter 8




  I looked around in a daze, I was in a holding device of some kind, I looked around and saw I was in a laboratory. I looked up at a noise to see someone leaning over me, examining me, before a voice spoke from behind them, "Well, how does it look?"

  "The lattice is intact, but the coding matrix is shot, the whole shipment has a nullified validation prefix."
  "You mind saying that again in lamens terms?"
  "It means the DNA patterns aren't there, these crystals are uncoded, if they get activated, they'll look for a code to download."
  "Still not quite getting you."
  "Ugh, this is why I hate doing business with you people, you're idiots, it means that your subconscious desires will manifest into reality. Instead of supersoldiers, whoever used these would get the inner desires of the people they use them on. At best you could sell these as a commodity item for slaveowners, but there's really no market value, you got stuck with a bad shipment."
  "So what do you recommend, doctor?"
  "Dump them. We're in an uninhabited sector, we'll just jettison them into space, let them be someone else's problem."
  "Are you insane? This system is protected, it's a wildlife preserve."
  "Duh, I know, the third planet has type 2 and 3 life on it, but the most recent scans say it's only primates, non-sentient, no one's gonna care."
  "You better be right about this, if anything comes back to bite us, don't think I won't make it your problem."

  the person approached me, and pulled a lever, opening the device holding me "It's a shame, really, these things cost a fortune to make, and now we're just gonna trash them…pity."

  they carried me over to a large bin, full of hundreds of other small creatures, all frozen, all motionless, all looking dead, and all dimly glowing, before I was tossed on top of the pile.

------

  I woke up to bright light shining in my eyes, so I quickly shut them, and heard Yevonna "I think he's Coming around."

  I groaned, and tried to sit up, but a furry hand pushed me back down "Don't try getting back up so quick, Daniel, you've been out for a while."

  "How long?"
  "Two days."
  "What!?"
  "Brenda refused to give us the crystal until you stopped breathing, we were worried for a while there."
  "Where's the crystal now?"

  I felt her put something in my hand, and I squeezed it as I opened my eyes again. I was feeling more energy by the second. As soon as my eyes came into focus, I could see the look of worry on her face. She leaned in closer, and held my head, whispering "Don't scare me like that, I was afraid I was gonna be all alone again."

  I managed a smile, and looked past her, Seeing Crysta and Teresa both behind her. I brought the object up, seeing the familiar green crystal in its metal reliquary. I held it close to my chest, and felt my strength returning "There's got to be a way around this dependence."

  She reached into her pocket, and pulled out her blue crystal "I know, it's amazing how close we are to death, isn't it?"

  I felt strong enough, so I sat up, rubbing my eyes "I feel stiff as a board." I suddenly smelt something fragrant, Bacon and eggs "What time is it?"

  Yevonna smiled, sitting down on the bed next to me "Seven AM, James is frying up breakfast, I don't care if you're going vegetarian, a dragon needs meat for his strength."

  I couldn't help but laugh a little, before trying to get out of bed. As soon as I pulled the blanket away I found myself naked. "Ugh, who undressed me?"

  Teresa tossed me my shirt and replied "James. It was hell getting your pants off, how do you put up with that tail?"

  I just shot her a look "I don't" and started putting the shirt on. That action was getting easier and easier every time I did it. I was eventually able to get it on and Crysta handed me my pants. "Thanks" was all I could say as I drifted off into thought again.

  The rest of that morning was rather mundane, really. I went out to the kitchen, ate breakfast, detailed to everyone everything I knew about the crystals, and by the time we were done talking about pointlessness, it was already noon.

  When I looked at the clock, I excused myself "I'm going to head outside for a bit, Jim, is there any yard work you needed done?"

  "Don't worry yourself with it, I'll be out in a bit, we can get some things done together."

  As I got up and headed for the door, so did Yevonna "I think I'll go with him, I need to talk about a couple things in private, and thanks again for the clothes, Teresa."

  "No problem, it's not like I can squeeze into them anymore with my fat ass."

  I couldn't help but giggle a little at Teresa insulting her own weight, but before it got awkward, I went outside, Yevonna following close behind.

  When the streaming sunlight hit me, I fanned my wings, just sucking up the heat like solar panels "Ohh, that feels so good"

  "What, getting to stretch?"
  "That, too. No, I'm talking about that warmth."
  "It seems like just heat to me, I've been having trouble staying cool since the change, which is actually what I wanted to talk to you about."
  I folded my wings and stretched my arms before turning around "Oh, what's that?"
  "Well, a few things have been happening, I wanted to know if you were having them, too."
  "Any examples?"
  "Well first off, the dreams."
  "Oh yes, I've been having some crazy dreams, too."
  "But it's recurring, it's always almost exactly the same, I'm paralyzed and floating in space-"
  If I had ears, they'd have perked up "And there are other animals around you, all glowing?"
  "Yes, and there were spaceships, and pirates."
  "I've been having the exact same dreams."
  "What do you think they are?"

  I grabbed the crystal around my neck, and examined it "I don't quite know, but I know it's directly related to these things, did you overhear any conversations in your dreams?"

  "Sorry, no."
  "I have. One conversation in particular, I think these things were manufactured, and they're broken somehow, they dumped them on Earth because they were trash."

  She looked at me like I was insane "Broken? But...but look at what I've become, how could something that was broken do this?"
  "Yevonna, how long can you be away from your crystal before you feel sick?"

  She pulled hers out of her pocket, glinting in the sunlight "About a half hour, if that."

  "Exactly, if aliens had the technology to make something that could change us into what we are now, what makes you think they'd leave something like that in?"
  "I don't know, maybe it's a failsafe."
  "What do you mean?"
  "Well, what if one of us wanted to become Godzilla? You have to have a way to kill something like that, just hide it's crystal and wait a couple hours, it'll black out then you can kill it in it's sleep."

  I shuddered at the prospect, someone only had to hide my crystal, like Brenda had, and I'd have an hour before I blacked out. It was a scary prospect, and made me clutch my own crystal tighter.

  "Please, can we talk about something else?"
  "Oh, sorry, I've just been having some dark thoughts over the past couple days, what with what they've been saying on the news."
  "What have they been saying on the news!?"
  "Well, they've been warning people that these crystals are toxic and saying not to touch them and to avoid contact, blah, blah, blah. It's an obvious cover-up, they've already caught others like us…I hope they're being treated well."
  "It's the government, Yev, I'm sure there's a dragon being dissected at this very moment."
  "What makes you so sure it's a dragon? I'm not a dragon, you know."
  "Yeah, good point…you know, I just got a random thought, I'm going to try something. Stay right there."
  "Drac, what are you doing?"

  I was wondering myself what I was doing, the thought had just jumped into my head, almost on it's own. I walked to the middle of the field and took my necklace off. I was able to sense my crystal before when I needed it, so if I could just concentrate on that sensation, there's a chance that I could actually sense it or others, even when I didn't. Hey, it was worth a shot.

  I sat down, and put my crystal on the ground, concentrating, eyes shut, just "feeling" and I felt two tugs, one towards my own crystal, and one towards where Yevonna was, it was working! I could sense them! I kept concentrating, and I could not only tell the direction, but as I focused, I was actually able to tell distance.

  After meditating for several minutes, I was satisfied that I could use this new sense, but just as I was about to get up, I felt a sudden tug. I focused in on the direction it came from, and there was a second tug, stronger than before, then there was a yank, a jerk, something demanding I look at it, and I actually felt compelled to go to it.

  I opened my eyes and got to my feet quickly "Yevonna, I just felt something, off this way, I think it's a crystal."
  "Then what are you waiting for, let's go see, should I tell James and Teresa?"
  "I don't see why, we can stick to the woods, we won't even be seen, I really want to know what that was I just felt"
  "Then by all means, lead the way."