Chapter 185
Part 26
What they didn’t realize was that the blows of the trio were purely psionic. The motions of the punches
and the kick were merely for show, and though the recipients thought they felt the stunning impacts and
pain of the blows, none of it had really happened. Therefore none of them were injured, or even
bruised.
The forty-four were now weeping without exception, though some of them were still angry and defiant.
“Now we’re going to give you some Readings.” Val announced both verbally and psionicly, to be sure
she was heard over the beaten children’s crying.
“The first Reading you’re going to get is our father. Since we left the time-bubble we’ve started to keep
a bit more to ourselves, and everyone has a few things they keep secret, even from their families. But
before we left the time-bubble we shared our minds with our parents with almost no restrictions, and
they did the same for us. We’re all still pretty open about most things. For the first time, you’re going to
truly know our father. You’re going to know what he’s really like, and how much he loves you, and how
hard he’s tried to do right by you, and how much you’ve hurt him.
“Then each of you is going to get a Reading of your mother, and the other mothers and fathers among
the Volunteers who love you like you were their own. They didn’t give their permission, but we Read
them pretty deep, and we don’t think they’ll mind when they see what a difference it makes. Again,
you’ll know what they’re truly like deep down inside, and the depths of their love and their pain.
“Then, just to keep things fair, and hopefully to inspire you to be a bit more like us as concerns your
honor and your work ethic, we’re going to give you our Readings.
“You won’t get everything in any of these Readings; some things are private, and you’re not
responsible enough to know the spell techniques, not even the few you’re capable of using, and you
sure don’t have the capacity yet to absorb extra levels like all the information we’ve gotten from
Readings of others. But you’ll know all our personalities, and why we do what we do.”
“We’re pretty sure that knowing all that,” Six continued, “And feeling it with the full emotional transfer
thates with good quality Readings, will allow you all to see the errors of your ways, your attitudes,
and your thinking.”
“And you better hope it works, because if it doesn’t were going to improve your behavior directly by
performing surgery on your brains.” Fire added a nasty little smile.
With that, the three began forcing the Readings into the brains of the forty-four. They took their time
and made sure they didn’t overload anyone with the huge torrent of sense perceptions, thoughts, and
emotions, but the forty-four were the finest young psionicists on Keran with the exception of their
three siblings, who were in another league. The entire process only took a bit more than an hour.
When they were done the forty-four were still crying uncontrobly, only now it wasn’t from pain, it was
from an overage of remorse and regret and love. Some of them desperately wanted to hug the three,
who allowed them to do so and returned their embraces.
“Now that you’ve shared your parents’ minds, many of you will feel an urge to do the same for them; to
show them how much you truly love them and how sorry you are for being such a bunch of little shits.”
Fire told the crying children. “Take our advice; do yourselves a favor and resist the temptation for a year
or two. Show them how you’ve changed with your behavior instead. Let yourselves get some decent
living and loving and thinking under your belts before you show them what you’re really like. It’ll work
out better for everyone if you do.”
“And by the way, you should know this; we love you. Wee to the family, and to the outside world.”
In the next instant she removed the Reverse Stasis field, Translocated the tourists who had been in the
council chamber back to their ces in it, and Translocated all of her brothers and sisters and herself
back to the exact ces they’d been in when she’d Translocated them away.
They’d been gone far less than a second in real time, but their parents and the Volunteers knew for
sure that something had happened, since the forty-four were still crying uncontrobly, and each of
them rushed to whoever was the closest of their many parents and hugged them tight.
“We’re back!” Fire giggled. “Told you we’d be right back.”
“What’s wrong with them?!” Mark asked in confusion as he held the two crying children who had rushed
into his arms.
“Remorse.” Val stated with satisfaction. “They’ve seen the truth, and it has changed them.”
“We’ll give you all some time together.” Six smiled. “But you should find their behavior much improved,
and you shouldn’t need to be multiple people hardly at all anymore. They’ll still call on you when they
really need you or they miss you and want to just spend some time with you, but they won’t call on you
just to waste your time and to validate their own self-importance anymore, which was the majority of
the times they called for you.
“Tomorrow, we think you should give us responsibility for their supervision, their training, and their
N?velDrama.Org content rights.
behavior, at least for a while. Assign them to our militarymand. It should do them good, and you
can trust us to keep them corralled. You and the Volunteers here could use a vacation from them for a
while, for a few hours a day at least.”
“Oh! Well that’s considerate of you, thank you!” Balen said, speaking for the Volunteers, still off-bnce
by the sudden change in the children all around her.
“It’s our pleasure.” Six told her with a bow and a smile. “But for now we’re still pretty tired, and our work
here is done. We’re going to reintegrate back at Hilia and get some more sleep.”
“We’ll see you all tomorrow. Love you!” Val called with a smile and a wave to all around, and they were
gone with no further ado.
They awoke the next morning to the murmur of many voices quietly talking outside.
Mark woke first, sat up, and stretched luxuriously. He threw the curtains open with a bit of Force, letting
the brightness of a clear tropical morning light up the room.
This roused the other five in the huge bed with him.
“I’m the only one of me there is right now.” he rumbled with a grin of satisfaction. “It’s been so long, I
can’t tell you how good it feels.”
“Mmm, me too!” Alilia smiled.
“Me three!” Taliaughed.
They shared a round of good mornings, hugs, and kisses, then performed a fast grooming with the aid
of spells, and dressed in summer casual wear.
They walked through the cottage, and the three adults reveled in the familiar andfortable
surroundings that a big part of them had missed for so long.
They emerged into the sunlight on the patio to find it and the highest twowns upied by their three
dragons and the Volunteers, who were finishing brunch and chatting.
“We saved you a ce.” Povon said from the big table where she, Karz, and Kragorram were gathered,
the dragons being in roughly human-sized Simcrums.
Yazadril, Nemia, Dalia, Bezedil, and Sheramiv shared an adjoining table.
The forty-four were already finished eating, and were sitting quietly together on the lowestwn doing
their lessons.
Mark, Talia, and Alilia gaped at them with raised eyebrows for a moment.
“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” Balen quietly asked with a grin as she indicated her children with a slight
head motion. “I don’t know what these three did with them, but it’s like a miracle!”
“Damn!” Mark whooped with a huge grin. “I’m so happy I could just…” Suddenly there was one of him
standing beside everyone else there, including Stripe and Scout. “…hug everyone here!” all of him
finished, and proceeded to do so. He took his time with it, saying good morning and I love you to
everyone as he embraced and cherished each of them, glorying in having them all together for the first
time.
Then he became one again on the patio where he’d been before he multiplied, and shivered a little as
he grinned. “Wow. That’s a lot of love at once when you reintegrate from it.” he reported.
That drew a round of chuckles from the rest.
Six, Fire, and Val gave hugs and greetings to everyone at Yazadril’s table, then they sat down to eat.