Sisterhood of the Iron Mind

The viewscreen of the cockpit was filled with a bright blue glow, almost the same color as the skintight psysuit encasing me. It was so intense that it even washed out the color of my loose crimson hair, leaving it looking black. I was in the co-pilot's seat, harness wrapped around my chest, with Matthias in the pilot's seat on my left. He glanced over at me, gave a small smile, then turned his head back forward.

He was a bit superstitious, and didn't like to speak during exits. I smiled in turn at his silliness, but was happy to humor him. I sat back and enjoyed the sensation of the jump drive in the heart of the ship thrumming with power as it decelerated us back to sub-light speeds. Even with my abilities, I could scarcely scratch the surface of the workings of the device, so complex no human could operate it. Opening my mind to the movements of the machinery was like watching a million ballerinas performing together.

Then the blue began to fade to streaks of light, and those streaks shortened to the pinpoints of stars. The construct orchestrating the intricate dance addressed us.

[Exit successful. Scans show no abnormalities in system. Estimated time of arrival is five minutes, plus two minutes for landing. You may exit your assigned seats.]

Matthias and I stayed where we were, though we both released our constricting harnesses. I was still packed into my psysuit, but every bit of pressure removed was a relief. Matthias was already leaning over the control panel in front of him, nodding at the readout from the scans. Then he looked up. "Lantern, are you seeing any activity on the surface of the planet?"

[Seddon II shows signs of previous inhabitance consistent with the established timeline. There is no indication of any activity more recent than twenty-three standard years ago, when the mine was shut down.]

"Do some penetrating scans, focusing on the structural integrity of the mine and the potential presence of alien artifacts." Matthias peered through the viewscreen as he delivered his instructions, eyes fixed on a pale red dot in the distance. He added, "And confirm our maps are accurate, if possible."

He had a quiet confidence whenever he spoke to the construct. As Lantern began executing the instructions, Matthias turned to me. His eyes were on my chest thanks to his hunched posture over the controls, but he quickly moved his gaze up to mine and straightened his back, wincing a bit in embarrassment.

I pursed my lips. Even emphasized by the psysuit, there wasn't much for him to look at. For an ordinary woman I would be a bit above average, but compared to other psions? I could scarcely believe some of my peers at the convent could zip up their suits. Telekinesis was probably involved.

"Excited for the mission?" Matthias asked, making conversation. "Been a while since we saw some Thri ruins. I might even get to expand my laser disc collection. Not to mention the payday." His face lit up as he speculated on the possibilities, both for archaeology and profit.

I smiled back, my heart warmed by his beaming. He had soft features accented by gentle blue eyes I could just lose myself in. He kept his blonde hair shoulder length, long enough to show off its waviness, always a little bit messy. He didn't have the most athletic build, but I was still taken by the rare glimpses I got of his slight pudginess and hint of tone. Holding out hope that he would finally get the hints, I replied, "I'm always excited to go on missions with you, Mattias."

His grin faltered a bit at that, and his eyes darted to the floor for a moment before returning to mine. "I appreciate you putting up with me, Elara." His smile took on chagrin as he continued, "You being a psion and all... well, guarding a guy who just knows a thing or two about aliens probably isn't what you were hoping for."

He was right about that. When I'd awakened my powers, I'd had all sorts of dreams about what I'd do with them. Then I'd discovered that Kinetics was the only discipline I wasn't completely hopeless in. Being able to move stuff with my mind useful, sure. But Kineticists were universally hired for combat applications. Still, I only told Matthias the end of that train of thought: "I'm just glad I found a company paying me to protect people instead of killing them. And don't sell yourself short--you've got more training in alien archaeology than I have in psionics."

"Right," he replied, the worry in his face softening at that. I felt a twinge of guilt at how much stock he put in my powers. My chest wasn't the only area I was deficient in as a psion; even for a Level 3, my powers were on the weaker end. I did my best to make up with it through fine control, but I wondered if Matthias would still think I was too good for him if he knew what a proper Level 3 Kineticist could do.

[Penetrating scans indicate presence of Thri ruins with 98% certainty. The recorded map is mostly accurate, with some changes resulting from cave-ins. I have uploaded an amended version to your pad, including two routes to the ruins. The first, highlighted in orange, is the shortest route. The second, highlighted in blue, is the route with the lowest risk of cave-in. The first route has a 21% chance of experiencing at least one collapse over the course of the round trip, while the second has a 10% chance and is about 34% longer. As a reminder: contact with the jumpship will not be possible from inside the mine.]

Matthias reached into his pack, which was strapped to the side of his seat, and pulled out the pad. He looked at the two routes with a nod. "Thank you, Lantern." Then he showed the pad to me and said, "How about the blue route? Not like we're in a rush."

"That sounds good," I replied. I didn't really know why he bothered asking me when he was the expert, but I appreciated the consideration. Psion or no, I was nothing more than a bodyguard on missions we went on together. If it weren't for the danger, the company would have sent him alone.

And speaking of the danger, Matthias said, "I know you'll have everything else under control, so I'll just keep an eye out for anything anti-psionic once we get to the ruins. I wouldn't put it past the Thri to have rigged some traps for Galvani intruders."

I didn't know much about the history of the two species, but I did know that Thri ruins were by far the most dangerous for psion scavengers. The Sisterhood had some devices which could interfere with psionics, said to be reverse-engineered from Thri artifacts. Most notable was the dreaded inhibitor, most commonly known by its nickname, "the collar". We'd all worn one as part of our training, and the mere memory of it made my stomach churn with unease.

The red dot had grown to a massive red sphere. It apparently had a breathable atmosphere despite the lack of foliage. Something to do with two predominant species of bacteria, each fulfilling a different part of the carbon cycle. As the planet grew so large that it filled the viewscreen, the ship began to violently rattle. Matthias and I clenched our teeth against the boneshaking vibrations. He breathed a sigh of relief as they stilled, and we gracefully glided down to the surface. The jumpship circled a few times over our destination, and with one last jerk, the landing gear settled down on the red soil.

Matthias took his pack from his seat, and after a brief trip through the narrow corridors of the jumpship, the two of us were descending a ladder onto the dry dust. The blue boots of my psysuit were soon caked with the stuff. I looked up at the butterscotch-colored sky, blinking against the yellow sun.

Matthias was decked out in baggy beige cargo pants and a black denim jacket with heavy brown combat boots. He had a ballistic vest under the jacket, and now that we'd touched down on the planet, he grabbed the combat helmet that had been tied to his pack and put it on. His pack and pockets were full of all manner of gadgets and gizmos.

Meanwhile, I had nothing but my bright blue psysuit. It covered my entire body from the neck down, squeezing my curves. It was all made from psychoactive material except the thick rubber soles of the boots and the metal zipper hidden under a flap going down the front. It was easy to move in despite the tightness, almost like I wasn't wearing anything.

The jumpship had landed next to a large metal frame rising out of the ground. The main part of it rose about two-hundred feet in the air, and was about twenty feet to a side. A supporting frame fell diagonally from the top, probably to help buttress it against the wind. At the top of the frame was the machinery for the shaft elevator.

Matthias approached it, explaining, "They kept everything except the top of the elevator below ground so they wouldn't have to protect it against the dust storms. Should be nice and clean inside." He reached the entrance of the elevator, peering down into the darkness. There was a metal railing, and four cables descending into the depths. "Odd," he said as he found the control panel. "It's unusual for them to leave the platform at the bottom of the shaft when a mine like this is closed."

He pulled a lever, and there was a loud clunk, followed by a series of lights descending into the depths. The view was nauseating; at least two miles straight down. At the very bottom was a metal platform. Matthias worked the panel, and the machinery above us hummed and the cables whirred as the platform rose from the depths.

"It's not like it would protect the platform from the dust, since plenty of it would fall down the shaft," Matthias said, looking down at the approach. He was cute when he was thinking, his thumb and forefinger rubbing his chin while his blue eyes glittered with thought. When he wasn't speaking through the problem, he kept his lips a bit pursed, almost in a pout. Then he shrugged. "Since the operation was shut down by the Corporate Authority, whose main business is agriculture, they must not have done all of the procedures right. Regardless, it still works, so there shouldn't be a problem."

The platform accelerated rapidly and reached its top speed--almost the speed of sound--after a few seconds. After about ten seconds, it decelerated just as rapidly. I prepared to blow away the resulting cloud of dust, but the platform was spotless. "Looks pretty clean to me," I commented.

"I can't imagine the construct core was kept active," Matthias replied, pushing open the railing. As we boarded the platform, he said, "Maybe the baseline life support module also cleans up the dust? A lot of mines go for higher-end stuff for shaft mining since life support is so critical at these depths."

He tapped the control panel on the platform itself, and then it began to descend. It wasn't as rapid as the unloaded ascent had been, but I was still surprised at how light I felt as the butterscotch sky above shrank into a pinpoint above us. And then once it reached the halfway point, I gritted my teeth at the sudden deceleration pressing me into the floor.

I could tolerate it well enough thanks to my conditioning, but Matthias had no such background. I placed a hand on his shoulder. Using the same principles as a spaceship's inertial dampeners, I eliminated the pressure of the deceleration on him. His eyes widened a bit at the contact, but he broke into a relieved smile as he felt the effects.

The trip took a bit under a minute, and I let out a sigh once we'd hit the bottom. I gave Matthias's shoulder a squeeze before releasing it, then said, "Guess they care more about efficiency than comfort." I rolled my shoulders and my neck, working out the tightness.

"Makes me glad I can always count on you to protect me," Matthias said with a smile. Then he turned to the door and began working on it.

Thanks to his diverted attention, he couldn't see my cheeks reddening. I liked it when someone relied on me, especially when that someone was Matthias. My heart fluttered at the potential behind the comment, but I knew that wasn't how he'd meant it. Even a psion of my caliber was still a psion. Every specialist I'd ever worked with preferred me to a squad of soldiers when it came to their guards.

Matthias's chuckled. "They didn't even lock the door; anyone with a jumpship could just waltz right in here." With a few button presses, the cold metal slid open to reveal an airlock. "Definitely a botch job closing this place down."

We both headed into the airlock. Once it closed behind us, we were blasted with warm air while arms holding nanofiber cloths brushed our clothes to catch all of the dust. For the most part it was a light cleaning. But one of the arms was struggling against the rigidity of my suit to get under my breasts, while another pressed into the crevasses where the inside of my legs met my groin. My back went rigid at the automated molestation, my eyes wide and staring ahead at Matthias.

He thankfully had no cause to turn around, going through his own troubles. There were a lot of creases in his gear, but the system seemed gentler with him. Maybe thanks to how much softer his outfit was than mine. I watched as it smoothed out every wrinkle to swab up every grain of dust, my heart pounding at the idea that he could look at any moment and see me getting felt up.

We were both spotless once it was finished, and the other side of the airlock opened to a reception. I was red-faced again, and I took a deep calming breath before stepping out in front of him. With what was hopefully the last technical challenge out of the way, it was my turn to lead.

The trip through the entrance of the mine was smooth enough. The lights were on, and the low hum of the ventilation system was audible throughout. The Corporate Authority had originally planned to revisit this place to do a proper excavation of the ruins the mine's original owners had tried to cover up. But with the outbreak of war twenty years ago, those plans had been lost in the shuffle. Now here we were, offered the information by an insider in exchange for a cut of the proceeds.

After passing through sterile metal hallways leading between all manner of facilities, we finally reached the mine proper. There was no sign of the red dust down here, only dark gray stone branching off into tunnels. Metal supports held up the ceiling at regular intervals, but even at the first crossroads we saw a collapsed path. Tons of rock filled one of the openings, a sign of what could await us if we weren't careful.

Seeing the evidence of the instability in person, I was all the more eager to follow Matthias's directions as he led me down the "blue route". Although he had a 3D map, I still found the splintering paths confusing, needing to completely trust his sense of direction. But Matthias had never led me wrong on one of these trips before. He was very good at his work.

Our trip led us to a T-junction, coming in from the top right of the T. I turned left at Matthias's direction, stopping in my tracks as I saw a pale figure lit by the soft yellowish glow of the lamps lamps strung from support to support. Matthias almost walked into me, looking over my shoulder. He gaped at what we saw.

It was a woman with hazel eyes and long black hair tied back in a braid, cooly surveying us about thirty feet down the corridor we'd turned down. Thanks to her complete nudity, her voluptuous curves were impossible to ignore, especially her huge breasts. The only explanation for a naked woman's presence down here was that she was a psion, and a rack like that indicated at least Level 4, if not a low 5.

I protectively stepped in front of Matthias, my stomach twisting in a jealous knot as I tried to use the positioning to block off his view of the curvy interloper. She seemed completely unfazed at being seen naked, her eyes locked on me as the threat. She spoke in a confident voice which echoed down the tunnels: "Well this is unexpected. Are you here for the ruins too?"

I looked over my shoulder at Matthias, who was looking over my shoulder at the other psion's tits. I snapped my fingers in front of his face, though the gesture produced more of a dull thud thanks to my gloves. It still had the desired effect, and he jumped a bit before moving his gaze up to make eye contact with her. After a few moments to process what she'd asked, he replied, "Uh... is there anything else worth coming down here for?"

She kept her eyes on me even as Matthias spoke, answering, "I suppose not. But you should make yourselves scarce; I'll be taking everything down there." She crossed her arms under her breasts, creating a shelf for them and propping them up. I clenched my teeth at the flaunting, resisting the urge to put my hand over Matthias's eyes. But, when I turned back to him, I was met with an inquisitive look directed at me.

While handling hostile psions was vanishingly rare, it was part of my duties. I wasn't confident in a direct confrontation, but I also wasn't just going to give up like that. I put up a barrier that would stop my voice from reaching her, then muttered to Matthias, "Psionic power correlates to the size of a psions... assets. So unless she's an outlier, she's probably stronger than me. I don't think I'd win in a fight."

His eyes darted back to her bare chest as I mentioned it, though with some noticeable difficulty he wrenched them back to me as I spoke. He glanced down at mine, his eyes widening in mortification as he realized how obvious the comparison he'd just made was. He quailed under my withering look, turning away to look at the tunnel wall. He cleared his throat and said, "She seems more ready to talk to you than to me. Maybe you can talk her down?"

I gave a deep sigh at that. The Sisterhood had turned me into a weapon, not a diplomat. And unless this psion was an Empath or a Metacog (unlikely given the circumstances), she'd likely received a similar education. Still, Matthias had a point. This whole time, the other psion had not looked away from me. She clearly didn't factor Matthias into this situation one bit.

I lowered the barrier. "You don't look equipped to haul every bit of salvage back, so there will be plenty for everyone. Maybe we can share?" I was optimistic about the pitch, but seeing her tilt her head in obvious disinterest, I added, "And the Sisterhood doesn't like it when psions fight for no reason."

She laughed scornfully at that. "Fuck the Sisterhood. And fuck you. Get out of my mine if you don't want me to bury you down here." Hearing a fellow psion say 'fuck the Sisterhood' was eyebrow-raising. We all had a rocky relationship with our organization thanks to how harsh the training was, but they literally made us who we were. Though accompanying the rest of her ultimatum, it seemed like she was just being crass for the sake of intimidation.

I gestured back with my arm in front of Matthias, signaling for him to give me space. I glanced at him as he retreated to the back wall, noting that his eyes had wandered back to the hostile psion's figure. I was already pissed off by how much 'better equipped' this bitch was than me, and now she was threatening to kill us over some scrap? We'd see who'd bury who.

If she was another Kineticist of a higher level I was probably screwed, but when different disciplines battled things got a lot more complicated. Despite my low output compared to other Level 3s, I was one of the most skilled in my group at interdisciplinary combat. It was time to dust off my old skills. I jabbed my hand toward her and started with a straightforward attack to probe her: a lance of pure invisible force.

To my dismay, she raised her own hand and blocked the attack with a shield of pure force. Another Kineticist. There was a sliver of hope in the fact that the shield she created wasn't particularly strong, but that could have just been efficiency. She waved her hand in front of her, answering with a volley of three attacks similar to mine, both in composition and power.