//------------------------------// // On A Stranger Sphere // Story: Command & Conquer: My Little Psychic // by unknown2 //------------------------------// I am getting sloppy. Unacceptable. Just because I found out about the time machine’s empty reserves, does not give me an excuse for why I just left to gawk like an idiot without mentally scanning the perimeter. What is worse was my reaction to when the threats made themselves known. My senses screamed at me that there were four hostile presences above me. Instead of getting cover, I just stood there, staring at whatever abominations decided to make me their lunch. In a stroke of good luck, instead of killing me outright, the monsters tried to lift me up. No doubt they were planning to eat me alive later on. I managed to compose myself, and unleash a psychic blast, crushing their feeble minds. Of course, by that time I was up in the air, and the fall knocked the wind out of me. Hmm, can’t feel any broken bones, that’s good. Now, are there any more of these creatures? Huh. Something has changed. Its as if I had been nearly blind my whole life, and now! My clairvoyance is better than ever! That tree over there has a family of squirrels. Over there, what am I talking about, its three kilometers away! And wow, ant colonies look so much stranger when you can peek inside. And what about that No, no, Yuri, focus. You can stop to sense the roses later. I wouldn’t be surprised if another one of those predators snuck up on me while gawking like an idiot at something so… inconsequential. Although I should look into what has changed. I do have several interesting hypotheses I would like to test out. But later. Scanning, scanning, found something. Some sort of consciousness, definitely sentient, currently incapacitated. Location is… that close? What’s it doing there? Ah well, it is similar enough to a human that I should be able to control it. Time to investigate. According to my senses, it should be right about here. … Ah. Another one of those insect monstrosities. Some sort of rear guard, perhaps. And it's starting to recover. Can’t have that. OBEY. Now then. One new bug monster under my control. Excellent. Senses show that there aren’t any other hostile presences. Good. If it is intelligent enough for me to control, it should be intelligent enough to have long term memories. Memories that I should be able to view to figure out just what is going on around here. Good thing the language of the mind does not care for the language of the tongue. What secrets do you have for me, my slave? Did my mind blast really do that? I don’t remember it having that great a range. Feed on… love? How does that work? Oxytocin does not have enough energy stored to support a complex organism. Although, perhaps they harvesting the psionic potential of their victims? I suppose that could work. After all, that is how my late levitation technology had functioned. Yes, I think that could most certainly work. Another thing to look into later, once I get the appropriate technological infrastructure set up. This new timeline is giving me so many new exciting ideas! Shapeshifters. I see. The problems of the conservation of mass can be sidestepped with clever applications of psionic powers, of course. But even I required complex computer programs to modify an organism's genetic code. Somehow, these critters have evolved to psionically self-mutate. I definitely need a first hand demonstration. How about a copy of myself? TRANSFORM. What the. Why green fire, it seems like it would be a waste of energy. Speaking of energy, whatever it gave off, it isn’t like any psychic field that I am familiar with. Another addition to my ever growing list of leads to investigate in the future. Although, I could just see if my minion knows anything on the subject. Magic. They call it magic. What a superstitious and backwards way to explain a divergent branch of psychic abilities, without even investigating further. Magic. Sure, why not, I’ll just accept the explanation for now. Certainly can't deny the effectiveness. Looks exactly like me. Even replicated the clothes. I have no idea how an organic creature can do that, but I suppose I should be thankful and move on. What’s the political structure. Some sort of monarchy. The behavior of their “hive” is remarkably similar to those of locust swarms. I don’t think locusts have a queen, but that is just semantics. And what an ego on that Queen. Claiming to be able to raise the sun and moon! I have seen more than my share of dictatorial regimes, even headed one, but I have yet to encounter one that claimed something so… unscientific. The closest equivalent I know of were the Aztecs, but they are long wiped out. I certainly needed that laugh though. And I now know that diplomacy with this “Chrysalis” is to be avoided. Now, back to learning about the hive. Apparently their recent conquest are… Equines. Equines with stamps. Why would evolution uplift the equine form to intelligence? How do they use tools? How do they build? These insects have psionic telekinesis, but small horses? It's clear that I am in some sort of far future, where humanity has died out. Unless there was a horse civilization that got erased from the fossil record, at least. Depressing, but without me, it is not exactly an unexpected development. Besides, I can make do long enough to recharge the time machine, and undo whatever caused the calamity. I won't be able to study the fascinating phenomenon I have discovered, but that's life. I can muse about this later, for now, back to work. On second glance, a third of the horses are also psychic. Still doesn’t explain why the other two subspecies have achieved sapience. And now they are but batteries for the invaders. No wait, a few remain. Some sort of “resistance.” One of their cells had recently been discovered, and my new minion here was sent out to hunt down survivors. How unfortunate that he ran into me instead. Unfortunate for him, that is. New goal: track down and contact the remainder of the resistance. More minions are always nice, even if I don't have the resources to establish complete control over them.