A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [127]
Together the experts had developed the curriculum for her by trial and error, and her own successes had guided the teachings as much as Ildiran expectations. Osira’h was attempting to learn things that had never been successfully taught before. Things even the lens kithmen didn’t know. She had mental skills, empathic abilities, and unlocked secrets that needed to be nurtured and strengthened.
No one knew precisely how to instruct the remarkable girl to use her inbred powers—a fusion of green priests’ telink and Ildiran thism. No matter how hard they tried, Osira’h tried even harder. She would find the key to unlock her destiny.
Now in the isolation room, she sat staring at the closed barrier, blinking her eyes. Osira’h opened her mind and let the impressions come. It was easy to detect when a test subject stood close to the door, waiting and letting the girl sense him or her from a distance.
“The first one is there,” Osira’h said aloud, knowing they were observing her. “He is strong…dedicated.” She drew a deep breath, letting the impressions flood into her, building the picture in her mind. “He acts on orders, but does not question. He knows his place and he has no aspirations to better himself…because he’s convinced he’s already the best at what he does.” She smiled. She had figured out the answer almost immediately. “He is a guard.”
The door slid open to reveal the burly soldier kithman who had been instructed to stand in place. The door closed again, and she knew the guard had been ordered to withdraw.
Osira’h looked up at the ceiling. “That wasn’t even a challenge. Soldier kithmen are so obvious, so clear-cut.”
No one responded, but she knew they were listening. Always listening. And she always tried to impress them.
Osira’h focused her attention on the door again and sensed another presence appearing, then backing away, then another, as if it were wavering…or more than one. The thoughts were scattered, frenetic.
She sensed a deep longing, a frantic need to help, to please whoever was in charge, to pamper and dote upon a master. “Of course.” She giggled. Attender kith were never alone but always functioned in groups, like hive workers, scurrying about to follow instructions. The very act of doing necessary deeds and getting figurative pats on their heads drove them to ecstasies of pleasure.
“Let me see. Attender kithmen, obviously, but how many? They are so indistinguishable. They all think the same shallow thoughts, but I can hear…three, four distinct echoes. It’s four attender kithmen.”
The door opened again and she saw a quartet of the small-statured gnomish Ildirans. They looked at her, blinking their eyes as if they longed to run forward and assist her in some way. But before they could enter the test chamber, the door slid shut again.
Osira’h leaned back. She wondered if the testers knew how simple this was for her now. Her goal was to sense the different needs of a person, to understand what drove a life force and grasp the best way to communicate and foster genuine understanding.
The hydrogues—incomprehensibly alien—would be far, far more difficult than any Ildiran kithmen, and would resist cooperating.
Sometimes the Dobro Designate tried to trick her by adding human breeder captives to the test routine, but they were simple to understand as well. Because they were not trained and rarely educated, human minds remained hungry, full of questions but no answers. The breeder captives did not fall into clear categories like Ildiran kiths. They were all individuals.
Now Osira’h felt a new test subject approaching the doorway. She quickly turned, eager to give another answer.
But this time she sensed a plethora of conflicting emotions and driving thoughts, as if this mind were powerful enough to confuse her, to deflect her obvious questions. “Ah, a challenge at last,” she said.
“There is strength and determination, and also…many secrets. This one is good at keeping his thoughts to himself, a master, but his motivations are without question. He knows truth. He knows what must be done, even if others