Lyn had some reservations.

  Not huge crisis-of-confidence ones, but they were wondering what exactly they were supposed to be accomplishing here.

  Nat's Talent was more a Ber skill package than a Human Talent, except without the built-in knowledge of how to use it. It presented questions without ready answers. Why had AMA given it to him? Moira had specifically said that he had not been in contact with a Human assistant.

  So if it was assigned by AMA directly, what purpose did it serve? Humans got powerful talents sometimes, though perhaps less commonly than some of them hoped for. Most got practical ones — florist, tailor, machinist. But this… Nat's Talent wasn't a late-life reselection on his part after having proven to be responsible. He'd been a teenager when it was assigned, and not a particularly interesting one that Lyn could tell.

  The simplest explanation was that it was done to solve a problem. But one with Nat, or something larger? And why — benevolence, contrition, or mere convenience? It was impossible to know without further information — and that would not be forthcoming.

  Lyn had been directed to Nat — well, technically Bell House — in a breath of knowledge, given to them by AMA. But he'd been frozen since then, stuck in that loop of system activation and deactivation, made somehow worse by this Talent. Lyn could do nothing until he'd woken. Or, well, was that true? Moira had been able to contact him while he was in that strange broken stasis. It had simply never occurred to Lyn to try, before.

  Not that Lyn could have done anything, though. Lyn was not some sort of system expert — Ber'Duun had no equivalent in real terms, they simply knew how to use their abilities. Maybe that was the problem? Were they being taught incompletely? Or wrong? If so, was it intentional, unintentional, or… neither? Unwitting? Lyn had been wondering for a while now, and this was just another piece in a puzzle beyond her comprehension. It was frustrating.

  Lyn took a moment to massage their leg, pushing blood flow to the damaged tissue. It had closed and started to bud new bone, and it itched incessantly. And Moira — that was another open question. The ability to contact her wasn't given in a breath, but the string of coincidences necessary for Lyn to stumble upon the precise aetheric signature to make contact with an unknown Human assistant? That strained credulity to the breaking point. And yet it was Moira who had been able to stabilize Nat's system. Lyn had been needed, but would not have been sufficient alone.

  This whole thing reeked of manipulation. And Lyn hated that.

  Back to Nat, though. Some things happening to Nat were obviously part of his package, but Lyn was certain that their education on packages would have mentioned the ability to perform significant action while in an isolated relativistic frame. Unless someone had ensured those capabilities were either forgotten, or never known in the first place.

  It all seemed so… unlikely. How do you keep knowledge secret for millions of years, when at the very least tens of thousands of individuals had been granted those packages who had the opportunity to contribute to the body of knowledge. Other races, sure, Lyn could believe — how did you store information over those periods? But silverpaw had their own ways. And being able to access immense power, even uncontrolled, is exactly the sort of thing they would have recorded.

  Lyn was certain it wasn't some special version of the skill — nothing seemed out of the ordinary, or unusual. Maybe there just weren't occasions for the intricacies to be investigated and recorded? Or maybe anyone who investigated inevitably turned themselves and any witnesses to ash, and Lyn was just one bad practice session from becoming a cloud of rapidly cooling vapor.

  Even external influences didn't make much sense. The pulses were problematic, sure, but not because they were all that powerful — it was what they did. And none of their abilities had gotten supercharged, so it wasn't a localized aether flux. They'd tried summoning lightning bolts when the scrav attacked and had to settle for their normal abilities, which were powerful, but not stop a charging ten-ton beast powerful.

  They had figured out one interesting interaction during the scrav attack though, and one that Lyn intended to try out in a more controlled environment, rather than when they were desperately fighting for their life. It would first require Nat to have a moderate amount of control over his Talent, to use in situations other than emergencies.

  “Nat, if you don't mind, I'd like you to practice enabling and disabling your Talent in short bursts, instead of the full three seconds.”

  “Um. Is that safe? So far this hasn't seemed very safe.”

  “It will be fine, Moira can watch to make sure nothing goes terribly wrong. And enabling it for shorter time periods should mean that there are almost no thermal follow-on effects, as long as you don't move around too much.”

  “Hmm. Alright. I'm down to try. How would you like to do this?”

  “Let's start by having you activate the FrameSlip for the shortest duration you can manage. Pause between each activation cycle to confirm, and then we'll practice that till you can do it reliably. After that we'll see what else we might do with it.”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “Sure. Do you want to use the blanket or hold hands?”

  “Yeah let's stick to the corner and blanket technique for now, until you've demonstrated control. I'm low on limbs to spare at the moment.”

  Nat, Lyn, and Moira had spent the better part of the afternoon debating possible courses of action, for after Ellie returned with the Coach.

  Moira thought that staying away from possible encounters with aggressive Ber was best — but didn't have a suggestion on where to stay — anything near people presented a danger to them, which was not something she could accept.

  Lyn was convinced that some time out in the Ber lands was best. But with their leg injured for at least another week, it was too risky to attempt without some preparation. So they wanted Nat to practice using his Talent.

  Nat wasn't really sure what the best path was — he didn't want to hurt anyone with his Talent, but wasn't sure he'd enjoy living outdoors for weeks. He wanted to learn to use his Talent effectively, but going out to the wildlands seemed a bit extreme.

  But if they were going to be out in the wildlands, Nat wanted to be able to defend himself in case of another Ber attack. And since Lyn wanted Nat to be more confident in using his abilities, it was apparently time to practice.

  He was normally excited by something this interesting and unique, but to be honest, this power was intimidating, with serious consequences for mistakes.

  Without a book he could read, or a class he could attend to learn about his Talent, this was the only option.

  So, they got ready to practice — blanket and cliffside cubby, as before.

  “Okay, so, how do I activate this for less than the three seconds? Do I do that before it activates? Or after, and then just turn it off? I haven't been able to control it — it's taken less time after being activated, but that's not me. I think something about it gets weaker, and maybe needs time to recharge.”

  Lyn decided to field that one, “If this were a Ber'Duun skill, what matters is the intent. We have complex capabilities that no simple envisioning or imagination can encompass early on, but we're taught to use ‘less’ of it, like only applying part of the strength of a muscle. So try to think about only slipping for a short amount of time.”

  Moira added on though, “Well, you've had luck turning it off from within your cognitive space. If what Lyn suggests doesn't work, just do what you've done before. I'll be there to help you if you need it.”

  Okay. Fair enough then. Nat decided he'd try for the absolute shortest amount of time he could manage.

  “Alright. Here I go then.”

  [Slip]

  The blackness returned instantly, though Nat could clearly identify the sun in the sky. Oddly, it made it hard to make out any details around him except for it — whereas at night with all those little lights, he'd been able to see them. Perhaps there was a problem with how bright it was, relative to everything else? Hmm.

  [ Moira: I'll just put this here. Let me know when you see it. ]

  [ Nat: Hello, again, Moira. ]

  [ Moira: Ah, there you are. ]

  [ Nat: Why do you say that? Didn't I just activate the Talent? ]

  [ Moira: Well, yes, and no. It's very fast, I'll grant you, but between when you decide, and it activates, there's a lot of time for me. ]

  [ Nat: Hmm. Interesting. Okay, I'm going to turn this off then. ]

  [ Moira: Sounds good. See you again soon! ]

  [Slip]

  Suddenly the world was back where it had been. It was very bright, and it took Nat's eyes a moment to adjust again.

  “I'm back. How long was that?”

  Moira answered again — apparently she could track time in a detailed manner. “Less than a hundredth of a second. It's hard to tell, really, since your speech impulse probably takes longer than the actual Talent at that speed. I'd suggest maybe stretching it out.”

  “Hmm. Okay. So just sit in the dark for a little while before I turn it back off again?”

  “Well, you can always talk to me in there. It shouldn't take that long. Maybe try counting to one hundred?”

  “Hmm. That seemed boring, but sure. I can try that. Is there any other way?”

  “Well, you could try adjusting the relative time dilation for the frame, but honestly I don't think that's wise at this point. There's potential danger there. Wait until you've got a better handle on the basics before you try to adjust things in that manner. Let's aim for a tenth of a second this time — roughly ten times what you just did. That's enough to deflect a very fast blow or shot, though I'd suggest a third or a second or more for most things of that nature. Else you'll speed up, freeze, and then get hit after. Which is no good.”

  “Okay, will do. I'll try for a tenth of a second next. See you momentarily, Moira.”

  [Slip]

  [ Moira: Why hello again! Do you want to discuss anything while we count? I can keep track of time for you for now, but I do recommend you work on tracking time inside your Talent, so that if I'm not here, you can gauge how long you'll be in. ]

  [ Nat: Sure. I think it might be good for us both to keep track to start, that way I can gauge and correct duration while you're here. ]

  [ Moira: Roger Wilco. I'll let you know when we hit .1 seconds. Start counting to yourself now. ]

  [ Nat: Okay, while we're here — question, what's with the heat caused by the Talent? Is it intentional, or a side effect? ]

  [ Moira: Oh, good question. I think I can answer this one fairly easily. Think of what the talent does as putting pieces of paper together, and then rubbing them against each other at high speed — if they're out of alignment, they crash and fold up. Absolutely bad for the paper but nothing lights on fire. But if two pieces of paper are stacked within in a sheaf, moving in alignment is no problem — it can keep building up speed because nothing stops it. Until at some point the entire sheaf of paper goes up in flames. ]

  [ Nat: Ah. Got it. So this is friction heat. If I want to avoid heating things up, don't rub anything. ]

  [ Moira: Well, yes, but also I think the Talent itself generates heat even if you don't move, else they wouldn't have had to keep you in a stone room. ]

  [ Nat: Hmm. Okay that makes sense. ]

  [ Moira: We're halfway there. Anything else? ]

  [ Nat: Let me think, I'm sure I can come up with a few things. ]

  [ Moira: Oh, I've got one — Lyn told me you liked to read. Tell me about some stories you like! ]

  It was another half an hour, with 20 or so attempts before Nat could reliably time his skill exits without Moira counting for him. And so they passed the afternoon, with practice, breaks, small-talk, and snacks. Nat hoped everyone else was having a suitably relaxing and uneventful time.

  As it turned out, they were not.