Codename: Freedom - Book 4 - Chapter 28

Once inside the Psionic Recovery Chamber, I found myself in a sealed off walkway that led to the main chamber. Only when the door shut behind me did I feel the pressure in the room change. The door to the inner chamber opened and I slowly entered in. I immediately noticed the contrast between the inside and outside walls. Externally, it looked like a common off white industrial building with a seamless construction. Inside, the domed room’s steel skeleton was hidden behind smart panels. There were steel beams stretching from the ground to the ceiling in the middle of the room where they all met at one point. Between each beam was a sheet of steel. The welds looked to be airtight around all sides. Even the floor was made of some metal, but it too wasn’t polished.

The chamber made sense. If it was designed to hold psionic energy, then airtight steel would mostly guarantee it wouldn’t leak out. The only thing not made of some alloy were the lights. They were large square panels that hung from the ceiling and spread the light evenly throughout the room.

Victoria was seated while waiting for me. She patted the ground before her, requesting me to sit. I gave the room one last scan as I neared the room’s center and sat down. She was no longer wearing her dress uniform but had switched it out for skin tight ballistic gear similar to mine except for the pink trim. Just like Olivia, she looked good in anything.

“How are you feeling. Lucius?” She beat me to asking.

“Wishing there was a way to get stronger faster, but other than that… Everyone else seems to be okay, so I’ll survive. Good speech, by the way. Is there anything you felt inclined to leave out?”

She had decorum plastered on to her face like a mask and didn’t seem like she intended to take it off.

I leaned forward and tilted my head, giving her a keen look.

Deflating before my eyes, she reclined back to lean on her hands. “No, that was really the extent of it. I expected for there to be opposition, but I didn’t think we’ve run into people wanting to undermine us on the first day of Vanguard.” Her nostrils flared. “It’s infuriating.”

“Agreed. Will the upgrades to the base make facing a rank D elite more manageable?”

“Yes, and no. It’ll make defending against them possible, but killing… Not so much. What we need is money. The timely conquest of Hectate is essential. Part of me wants to throw you into training and not let you out, but we need the resources severely.”

Lowering my gaze, I took a moment to gather my thoughts and was very careful with how I worded what I said next. I wasn’t sure if anyone could be listening in. “Let’s say we get the resources we need, and we even win Vanguard. Then we get to do everything in our power to prepare before the war beings. Will it be enough? What if an even stronger Ekseliksi shows up? The more I think about it, any war against them isn’t a war against armies, but one against individuals. It doesn’t matter how strong we get if we can’t reach their same level.”

She turned ridged, and her gaze darkened.

Her reaction was not what I expected. I cut her off before she could berate me. “I’m not giving up, Victoria. I’m just trying to figure out how. The reality of the situation and our ability to respond to it doesn’t add up in my mind. If they have these ridiculously strong individuals, then how do I become strong enough to fight them? And if that’s not possible, then what?”

She seemed to ease up a little, but her sharp edge remained. “What do you expect me to say, Lucius? Hardly any of the founders have reached rank D with their psionics even after ten years. That doesn’t mean you won’t be able to. It might just take time.”

“And even then, if the Teleios shows up, we lose.”

Silence stretched as I tried to figure out why our conversation had taken this turn. Were my questions unfair? In my mind, there was no one better to ask. There had to be something else going on.

I softened my tone even though I didn’t feel like it at the time. “Are you okay?”

“I didn’t die yesterday. So yes, I’m fine.”

“Victoria, you don’t—”

“Stop.” Her jaw flexed, then with the exhale of a breath her countenance changed. As the smile stretched across her face, I knew she’d just put her mask back on. “Lucius, I’m fine. Really.” With an exaggerated shrug, she added. “I have a lot on my mind. You just caught me off guard.”

In the time I’d known her, she’d hidden a lot from me. I didn’t blame her for it, but for the first time I felt like I was being lied to. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“This place is incredible,” I made a point to look around the chamber as I said it. “It can really help someone recover their energy?”

She didn’t look convinced. After a few minutes, she continued anyways. “It can, and so much more. It’s also known as a mediation or absorption chamber. Only the most basic use is to come here when your psionic energy is getting low. Just standing here will help you recover energy. There are techniques you can learn to make the process go even faster. It’s rarely been used for that though. We’ll be the first to implement it to such a level for the main purpose of battle recovery. Normally, it would be considered too costly. Its most commonly used to help people who have overtaxed their psionics.” This time when her face lit up it looked genuine. “It can also help you advance faster, and during breakthroughs. It’s much gentler than the method that was used on you.”

My mind started working overtime at the mention of all the possibilities, but one thing didn’t escape my attention. When I asked earlier about getting stronger faster, she hadn’t mentioned this place. “Are there downsides to using it? Can it be harmful?”

“There are a few. It wouldn’t ever be harmful though unless excessive amounts of psionic energy were pumped into it. Even then, it wouldn’t be the energy but the pressure that might harm someone. The main drawback I mentioned before. It’s initial cost and ongoing maintenance is excessive. It’s only viable for us because we’ll be converting all of our energy into psionic. The other main drawback is that the more people that use it, the longer it will take to refill this room with energy. Right now it shouldn’t be a problem unless we’re in an extended battle. After the second reactor and remaining two converters are added that problem will be solved.”

“So you’re thinking of locking me in here until I can use my psionics at full power then?”

She giggled halfheartedly. “Yeah, but even if you restrict your psionics to rank G, I could use you with Hectate’s conquest. So this is what I’m thinking. I’ll spend today teaching you a few techniques to help your recovery, and so that later it can help speed your advancement. I probably won’t be able to set aside any more time in the immediately future, so are you ready for a crash course? And from now on, you can use either recovery chamber any time it’s not being used for another purpose, but during the allotted time for Vanguard, I need you out there with your men.”

“I’ll be sure to make good use of it.”

Leaning forward, she grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I know you will.”

As she began to explain, she didn’t just mention one method to help with my strained psionics. She was careful not to say too much. More than once gave me an apologetic gesture while explaining.

The most tested method required one to spend time resting in the PRC. This meant you were prohibited from using energy. Even internal movement and solidifying one’s internal walls were off limits. The idea was to relax the internal mechanism responsible for gathering energy and the channel through which is traveled. Even though there were no internal organs responsible for either, the fact that they could be strained prove that there was a connection to the physical world. She admitted that logically, doing the same outside a PRC should have the same results, but it didn’t. Inside the chamber, being surrounded by psionic energy while using this method could improve recovery by up to fifty percent.

The second method that had shown some promise. Was the opposite. While in the chamber, one would constantly make use of their energy using low rank abilities. The surrounding energy would help them recover their lost energy faster as their body absorbed it. The body would still try to replenish its own energy, but the external help would make the process easier. There would also be extra build up of energy inside the body if the method was used while close to full energy. Recover only improved by up to thirty five percent, but I still preferred it over the first method. Energy control could be practiced at the same time.

When she moved on to teaching me methods that might help me advance faster, I noticed similarities to my past workouts. Victoria was also quick to remind me that my abilities were like a delicate instrument and extreme methods should be avoided.

“Has it been tested much for speeding advancement?” I asked.

“No,” she replied, but her eyes said the opposite were true.

So humanity hadn’t tested it, but the Ekseliksi had. “Is there any known limitation to how much it can help?”

She shook her head, but again, her expression didn’t match. There were limitations…

“Good,” I said, purposely misinterpreting her intended meaning. “I hope you don’t mind if I redecorate since I’m being forced to move in. And sleeping on a steel floor can’t be comfortable. If you’re jealous you could stay here with me tonight. I could offer you…” Glanced from one side of the room to the other before setting my gaze on her, I grinned awkward. “Company?”

Inclining her brow, she still seemed distant, but the last hour had at least broken down her walls enough for her to play along. “And if I got thirsty?”

“I have an entire mule drone filled to the brim with nutrition shakes,” I smirked. “Didn’t expect that, did you? There’s enough that we could probably even make a bed out of them.”

“Tempting,” she laughed in earnest.

“If only I would’ve known this was all it would take sooner…”

Her smiled widened, but it only lasted a few moments. Seeing her expression darken as she quickly returned to her own thoughts, I couldn’t help but to remember how she’d been in the early days of Freedom. She’d eventually opened up to me in a way she hadn’t with anyone else. So why was she concealing things from me now?

“It looks like my time is up,” she said, putting back on a sunny expression.

“Get going. And thanks for all of this.”

“We need you, Lucius.”

Standing, I offered her my hand and helped her to her feet.

“One last thing,” she said before heading for the exit. “I’ll have Peter brief you tomorrow before we get started. I’ll tell him about your suggestion for your friend Huan and he’ll take care of it. Today, we’re only preparing to set off except for a little scouting we’ll do in the immediate area around Fort Prodos. Destiny should’ve already received access to yesterday’s footage from the event. I recommend you take some time to study the other battalions. Especially those that made the highlight reels.”

“Right. I’m on it.”

Her exit proved to be just as awkward as the rest of our meeting had been. She squeezed my wrist as she walked by, and I followed her to the exit to be polite. When the door had finally closed, I called out to Destiny. “You got all that?”

“I did,” she replied through my headset.

“Good. What’s the chance of them letting me remain in the cube tonight?”

“You were serious?”

“It’s the most efficient use of time. Do a full scan of the footage from yesterday’s event. Look for those that might provide the most challenge. I’ll split my time between watching them and bodyweight training. I’ll try to implement the second recovery method that utilizes minimal energy use. Inform me if my energy use moves beyond low-end rank G or it comes to a standstill. I’m only sleeping two hours tonight. Do you think you can calculate how much benefit I’m getting by using this place?”

“Scan started. It should only take a minute. Monitoring begun. As for measuring the benefit, theoretically I can, but I’ll need some time to collect enough data to give you a suitable reading.”

“Good. I’m going to get started.”

“Lucius.” The way Destiny said it cause me to stop what I was doing. An augmented blond soldier girl appeared before me, coming up to my nose. “I don’t think Victoria knew how to answer your question, and it just frustrated her. So don’t worry too much about what she said.”

“Or she has an answer and knows I won’t like what I hear.”

“That’s possible, but you could also just be assuming the worst.” She rose up on her tippytoes and stuck her nose in my face. “Stop it.”

“If you think not having a solution would discourage me, you’re wrong.”

“That’s not it. I recommend taking some time to use Achilles’s meditation method. If not, you’ll get all sulky and it’s annoying.”

“Does that really bother you now?”

She crossed her arms across her chest and shrugged her shoulders. “Who knows.”

“Fine. It’s a good idea regardless.”

“Yup.”

“Oh, and Destiny?”

“Yeah?”

“We can still buy things here without them having to be manufactured for the rest of the week, right?”

She gave a long slow nod.

“Then how about some food for the night? And a pillow and sleeping bag. Maybe even a mattress?”

“There’s a lot of options. Want to have a look?”

“No. Surprise me. Just nothing crazy.”

“Ahh. That’s no fun.”

“Don’t you remember what Achilles used to say? Training is fun.”

“Eh.”