Hey guys heres the next part, will Trego escape with what he thinks is his new found power, or are there things at work beyond his power?  We get to see more of Proud as well!

 

Story:

Hahaha, man what a relief.  Though I felt my shoulder burning and I remembered the Dimaglass cutting it.  It was a decent cut, the blood staining my white shirt; but compared to the gunshot, it was much preferred.  I guess this precognition worked slightly metaphorically given my injured shoulder.

It was probably stupid to have gone there, but I had to know.  Now I do.  Jeez, I guess I should pay attention to my dreams from now on.  My shoulder injury was hinted at through the dream, even if its source came differently.  So I guess my Sense did not protect against just a single path as I had quite clearly took a different one, but rather protected me from a general outcome.  Perfect.

Precognition was badass.  My feelings were elated with how exceptionally cool this was.  About time something like this happened to me.

I laughed a bit more, feeling the euphoria within me as it gradually subsided.  The euphoria left, and my mood continued to go down beyond normal.  I actually felt depressed.  Something was not right here, I was missing something.

And I think it had to do with that girl.  We were linked maybe?  I had heard of stories of people that had Sense ‘links’ between themselves, telepathic links of sorts.  Maybe that might have been it.

Senses, or the official term ‘Psionics’, were studied pretty thoroughly for their military application among other things.  What sounded closest to what was happening to me was the ‘Chrono’ branch of Psionics.  I don’t think I had ever met one, but they were supposedly pretty weird people, and they could see ‘manifestations of potential futures’.  Maybe that is what was happening here, but why I would have this now left a lot of questions.  Further, those people did not need others to do it.  Damn…I really should have read more about those linked Senses instead of just skipping to some dumb cat video or whatever was next in the queue at the time.

I for sure do not remember that girl beyond just the dream, but she seemed believable enough that she knew me.  Maybe our link is she can see through me, and I in return get some sort of precognition?  Eh, that was kind of weird.  If she had been seeing what I was doing with my life that could be pretty awkward given some recent…actions.

My mind thought of some other options.  Maybe she is the one with the precognition and I was gaining a touch of her ability?  Maybe she just knew that guy was violent and relayed that to me subconsciously?  Man, I was just throwing stuff out there.  None of it felt right.

Hmm.  I walked a few streets over to the main road into ReCorp and pulled up on a bench on the street.  I think it was a bit of time after this the next event happened in the dream with the loud truck and the fight where I killed the man.  Recalling the dream, I got into the bar scuffle, talked to the fence-guy for a while, then ended up on this street a bit further down.

Time passed by slowly and I was about to give up on seeing if this part actually occurred when I heard a truck with loose gravplates.  Sure enough it was the ReCorp supply truck.  I could not be sure, but the time seemed nearly identical.  Maybe because nothing I did altered this specific event’s outcome so it progressed unhindered?  That made a lot of sense, me screwing around didn’t change the truck’s route at all.

Interesting.  This precognition could be pretty useful.  I wonder what triggers it?  Just such a close call with death based on actions I might have chosen?  That was usually what triggers Senses to be unlocked.  Close brushes with death would sometimes ‘unlock’ latent Senses in people.  So maybe my close call was my potential gunshot and somehow I unlocked it?  No.  That didn’t seem right either.

Regardless  I could get off the planet for sure now. I just need to see and remember something that happens and make some credits off it.  Though I wonder if I need the girl with me?  How far do linked Senses range?

She seemed playful enough.  Maybe she liked me, or at the very least liked me because we gave each other our locked power.  ‘Yeah, I’ll do some unlocking on you, baby…’

This could be really useful.  I used to gamble a lot, but got out of it when I was low on creds.  If I knew what the results were going to be, I’d make so much.  It’d be perfect, she’d wear this sexy little dress, laugh and flirt with everyone nearby while I’m raking the chips in.  Would she be interested in being my gambling accomplice?

Alright, first thing first.  I need to get out of here and make sure I don’t end up on some other time path of me dying anyway.  It was odd.  In a single planet cycle, I now felt that a scary chance existed that I might be killed and not have ‘seen’ it coming since I did not see anything else of this day since I had changed what I was going to do.

Having this power conversely made me really cautious.  I found something really valuable and didn’t want to lose it.  I had to cash this in big while it still lasted.  Damn.  I used to feel tough, but now I felt really vulnerable of getting a smiting from the random heavens: a piece of building falling off, a bad driver, a murder, all of these chances seemed destined now to end me.  I had this crazy power, and it’d sure be poetic if I died by getting ran over.  That’s how this stuff always goes, I’ve seen the holos.  This was going to be different.  I was going to go all the way to the top with this power, and just be careful so it doesn’t end prematurely.

I walked back to my room quickly, nervous of anyone that came close to me.  I decided any details I knew now, but might forget later, could be the key to what happened here, so I sat down to record them.  I went through everything I could remember, from the fact that the dream seemed completely real, to the fact that I seemed to know where a building was and the people within, both of which I was pretty sure I did not actually know.

I first gave reasonable and simple explanations: it might be subconscious memories, or that I indeed might have met that girl before, or I simply knew of the bar and people because I have gone inside there.

Next were the cooler ideas I believed were true.  I went through explaining everything: that people behaved predictably until I gave a different line, the physical pain of the ‘gunshot’ and that I ended up hurting my shoulder which could have been symbolic of each other.  Other things like seeing the old man, or the rumbling of the vehicle.

As the day wore on and it started getting darker, I remembered to add the final part of the black sphere that signaled the end of the dream.  I was not sure what that part represented.  Maybe some symbolism of corruption taking over and to not use my power for evil?  Nah, I was a force for justice.

As I contemplated that, I realized something very grim.  My hands did not look the right color.  I lifted my head rapidly and looked around and indeed, all the colors were of that drained appearance.  “Oh no…” That black thing was not symbolic of my ‘evil intent’ at all…it was a tiding of what would actually occur!

I ran to the window, saying ‘no’ over and over, hoping I wouldn’t see what was going to destroy us all.  But there it was, the small black sphere that was ever so slowly expanding before it would start accelerating faster and faster.

“No…” I staggered back.  I dreamt I was going to die, and now here it was.  It felt like a colossal waste that I discovered this precognition and it was for nothing.

I shook my head, knocking the fear out and trying to think critically here.  There was only one thing that might work.  “Proud!  Hey, Proud, can you hear me!?”  I shouted desperately, hoping somehow she could talk back to me.  Maybe this link was the last thing that might work to do…something.

“Yes?”  Well that is odd, she sounds close.  Was this was telepathic communication is like?  I turned around and noticed she was right in my room.

“How…?”  I started, but she shook her head no.  “You’re right.  Look, can we stop this?”

“Not now.”  She walked up to me, grasping my hand and we turned towards the sphere that was now visibly picking up speed.

Her hand was warm, real.  She felt like the only real thing in this nightmare.

She jerked my hand and pulled me into her.  Her other hand went to my butt, and rubbed down my leg. “Ahh, bodies feel so enjoyable.”  She pressed into me somewhat roughly.  “At the least, this end is often fun.  Still, Physicals are so, so, foolish that they never understand what they have.”  My eyebrows shot up in surprise, what the hell was she doing?  I…we were about to die and she is feeling me up?

“Proud?” I asked her.

She lifted her face to mine.

“We are going to die, aren’t we?” I asked her.

“In a way, yes.”  Her words were simple, but they left me hopeless.  “This path is over, so I can do this without compromising the goal.”  Her hands moved sensually over me even though my body felt weak.

My body dropped, her hands went to my shoulders, holding me with surprising strength, as if I was weightless.  My limp body was looking upwards at her.  Her straight arms held me without flinching as I looked at her face.

Her light blue eyes had this otherworldly knowledge to them.  “Do not fear.  I will protect you.  I have to and I always will, Trego.  But you must learn.  You are the only chance.”

She held me tight, pulling me back into her.  I looked over at the well of blackness coming for us.  I turned back to Proud and lay my head on her body.  It felt comforting.

In the next few moments I was unraveled, amid the short time of pain and confusion I felt that Proud might have escaped the fate.  The pain was gone, there was nothing.  Then I ceased to exist.  Or maybe I ceased before nothing else did as well.