My breath locks in my lungs.
“Isonian.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Your mother married one of us,” Onidus offers. “Your father was a mind bender. It’s adjacent to what I do. It’s why you can see me when I am masked.”
Viriden pulls up the vision report. “You are not susceptible to illusions, shielding, or façades. You are an Aural Discernist.”
“What about my hands?” I ask. “The tingling.”
He pulls up the program’s results. “Receptive, with additional markers for transferrence…”
Viriden eases past the woman who ran my tests and starts sorting through cabinets. He digs out a square of metal and walks back to me with it between his hands.
I instantly know what it is. “Neb hull plating.”
“Remember when you showed this to me?” Viriden extends it to me. “ABR security thought it was odd that this was in your armor and asked me about it.”
I take it in one hand. “So?”
He motions to it. “Both hands.”
I glance at Zorin who looks like hasn’t a clue what’s going on. After a nod from him, I reluctantly move my other hand toward the panel. Before I even make contact, the panel starts lightly smoking.
Marne swears and looks away. Viriden runs a hand over his mouth like he’s keeping his thoughts to himself. The woman gapes at me.
I try to hand it back, but Viriden shakes his head.
“Holdit, Tessi.”
I grit my teeth and grab the panel with two hands. The metal smokes like thruster exhaust that’s running far too richly. The smoke fades and oddly doesn’t accumulate in the room.
“What is this?” I ask.
“Transferrence.” Viriden takes the panel back and tucks it into the cabinet. “You see true auras, and you transfer them. Nebs are from a smoky galaxy. So it smokes because you are detecting and cycling the necessary current through the panel. If you touch two living beings at once, you can transfer their auras to the other, energies, too.”
“But I’m human.”
“You are only half. Half Isonian. And touched by a Circidian, the one who watches you when you dream.”
“Watchesme?”
“Youarea chosen one. I have no doubt now.” Viriden runs a hand through his hair. “Nebs are definitely going to want you if they find out. AuralTransferis not an Isonian trait. That is a Circidian. So just don’t go around grabbing two people at once. Otherwise, you should be fine.”
“I rarely touch anyone other than Radar or Zorin now. But that’s it.”
Viriden’s jaw muscles flex when addresses Zorin. “You understand what this means, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir.” Zorin won’t look at me anymore.
“I wish we had more time to sort through this information,” Viriden adds. “If you experience any newsymptoms,let us know. For now, stay with your guards. I am assigning Onidus to you. But we’re going to have to leave because the Mindor attacks are growing in frequency. We have Denarsoan ships to take out and Myndrous appearing in greater frequency.”
“But I have so many questions.”
“And we should return to help.” Marne motions to the others. “Mindor is our home. If it’s under attack, we should be there to defend it.”
Viriden nods. “But Tessi and Zorin must complete their race until the situation at Mindor is elevated to Active War as per the ABR-federation contract. Dismissed.”
