With Yiti’s warning fresh in their minds, all the prisoners in on the plan agreed that the scheme would be carried out the next morning. The top layer of paste was harvested from their dinners, and Felix dutifully smuggled it back to his cell in his green jumpsuit.
At midnight, Bob rolled over onto his stomach so that the nightly shower of disinfecting spray wouldn’t sting his eyes. After it had dried, Felix reached out to him as he usually did. I’m sorry I never told you about the riots I caused on my homeworld. I’m not a violent person myself, and always asked for peaceful debate… but I can’t control the actions of others.
Bob took a deep breath, concentrating on sending his thoughts back to him without letting his mind wander too much. But, isn’t that result something you knew would happen?
It was a possibility. But, Bob. You’ve experienced the true telepathic language when I accidentally talked to you in my sleep. If the mouthed telepaths are allowed to continue to evolve, we will lose that.
You knew I overhead your dream? Bob was surprised.
Yes. Once my dream ended, I awoke just in time to realize I was in your mind. I felt your awe. His voice trembled a bit with embarrassment over the incident, but also passion for telepathy.
Bob wondered what the future might store for Felix. His mind turned solemn as he thought back his next reply; If you get out… what will you do? Will you go back to setting your kind against the mouthed breed?
Yes. Was his simple reply.
After all they’d been through together, Felix was still bigoted. Nevertheless, Bob’s mind wandered to a stray thought; And yet I still call you friend.
Felix was silent for a moment, and Bob wondered if he’d caught his stray thought. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had… The meek alien finally responded, And yet I still view you as a lesser being. His words were tinged with confusion and regret. I’m sorry for the way I am, Bob.
But I understand WHY. Bob replied emphatically, Like you said; I’ve experienced the language of a telepath. I can see why you’d want to protect it, and how not being able to communicate that way makes me seem like a low-brained moron.
Silence came between them again as they mused over all that was just said. Then finally, Felix’s voice came into his thoughts one more time, cloudy with tiredness; Tomorrow I’ll send the messages at first meal. Goodnight Bob.
First meal came quickly. All the people who’d given Felix a message to send gathered about his table. The guards hadn’t noticed the thin film of slime covering his eyes—it was especially easy to miss under the prison’s ugly florescent lighting.
Not being under the influence of drugs, Felix’s sluggish blinks had disappeared. He sat straighter, and his voice was extremely clear in their heads. Any last revisions to messages? He asked impatiently. Yiti hadn’t been seen that morning. If the cynical telepath was planning to interrupt, it could happen at any moment.
“No, we’re good.” Fjjar answered for all of them.
Felix nodded, and his eyes widened a little bit as he began to Reach. As he did so, he stayed in the thoughts of the inmates, and a small thrill ran up the spines of those present—a small perception of what it was like for a mind to travel across the vastness of space.
Bob didn’t expect for it to happen so quickly, but Felix began delivering the messages almost instantaneously. I’m there. He said in Bob’s head. Hold on, I’m waking her up…
A moment later, Felix began relaying his message to his fiancé a million light years away. As he promised, he also delivered the message in Bob’s head at the same time as a receipt. This is Felix the Telepath delivering a message via the Reach. If you haven’t heard of me, look me up later and you will know this message is not a trick. Bob wants you to know he’s incarcerated at cellblock twenty-three thousand, four-hundred sixty-five on planet Myxinder. He also wants you to know his time at the Desert was the finest of his life and that he loves you. Anything you’d like to say in return?
Bob hadn’t expected Felix to relay a message from her as well, and he stood there in the cafeteria, his eyes glued to the crowd behind Felix, their own faces filled with likewise emotions. A moment passed, and then Felix returned her message as if it was an echo—it was even her voice; I hadn’t stopped looking for you. I keep your Star of David with me as a reminder of every moment we spent together. We’re coming to get you.
Bob lurched forward and had to place his hands on the lunch table in front of him for balance. His eyes had turned red and his jaw ached from unspent tears. He could feel Felix’s mind detaching from hers, as if her very hand was slipping away from his own.
Suddenly, everyone’s consciousness seemed to return to the cafeteria at the same time. The room was completely silent except for the few prisoners who hadn’t wanted to be part of the Reach, their voices droning on quietly.
The inmates looked at each other, awed by what they had just experienced. Some of them wept freely, while other glowed with happiness. Even Fjjar, who stood behind Felix shook, his huge frame trembling uncontrollably.
Bob looked at Felix, who, now drugless had no problem looking him in the eyes.
This was the true power of the mutant mind of Felix. In a simple matter of moments, he had Reached across the crumbling galaxy, his mind racing like a leaf on a night wind, silently and precisely to the minds of a hundred people spread across the immensity of unending space.
Abruptly, the awe of the moment came to an end as a dozen guards entered the room. They pushed through the crowd, eventually making it to Felix, who stood up slowly. One of the guards shoved Bob out of the way, nearly knocking him from his feet. “Be careful,” he could hear the guard saying in his headset; “He’s dangerous—a few months ago he knocked everyone in the cafeteria unconscious with merely a thought. If he tries anything, kill him.”
Bob then looked about expecting to see—yes. There he was. Yiti stood behind the glass serving window where he was safe. Fjjar noticed at the same time and called out to the snitch; “You’re too late!”
Felix looked over to Yiti as well as he stood rigidly, his arms up in the air in surrender. It appeared as though the two were having a telepathic conversation, which resulted in Yiti quivering in anger.
He has a weapon! Yiti called out in the minds of every person present. The Guards’ guns flew up at the warning, aiming at Felix’s frail frame. Without thinking, Bob jumped in front of him. “He doesn’t have a weapon. Don’t listen to Yiti.” He said as calmly as possible, trying to defuse the situation.
He doesn’t have a PHYSICAL weapon, Yiti said angrily and excitedly. He’s planning on killing all the guards with his mind and escaping. You have to stop him before he kills us all! The guards looked at each other, confused. Some of them were visibly scared, having experienced Felix’s power the day he’d retaliated against his abusers with a mind-attack.
Without warning, Felix shoved Bob out of the way just as a shot was fired. The Telepath fell backward as the inmates hurriedly trampled over each other, getting away from the area as quickly as possible. Bob spun around and knelt over Felix, who was bleeding from the chest. I read his mind. I knew he was going to fire. His voice was strained—he was in a great deal of pain and very scared.
Bob placed a hand over the alien’s chest, attempting to keep pressure on the wound. “Help him!” He called to the guards. One of them was on the radio in moments, calling for the prison’s doctor.
I didn’t want to die here, Bob. Felix said weakly, his long fingers shaking as he placed a hand on top of his. Bob knew it was the end for his friend. He reached down with his free hand, lifting the Telepath’s head slightly from the cold floor.
“Then don’t die here, Felix.” Bob said quietly.
Felix nodded and looked up, his eyes becoming distant as his mind Reached out of the prison. A few minutes passed, and then life left his body.
Yiti entered the guards’ minds as well as Bob’s. Good he’s gone, but he most likely Reached out to his racist followers with his dying breath. Mark my words, there will be riots on our homeworld. You should have killed him sooner.
Bob gently lay Felix down and closed his lifeless eyes manually, ignoring Yiti.
Felix had been a man of contradictions. He was passive but bigoted, gifted with language but dogmatic in his backwards views. He was peaceful. He was dangerous. He was capable of starting riots with his words, but also spun poetry with the deftness of a spider spinning its web.
Yiti had said Felix used his last moments to Reach out to his followers—sow the seeds of dissent against the mouthed ones one last time. But Bob knew the truth; Felix had Reached out to his wife, and used the remarkable telepathic language to tell her he loved her in a million ways over the span of only a few minutes.
In his last moments, he’d listened to her heartbeat as his own grew cold and stopped.
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