“I’m not one for games, so here’s your test results. They’re yours, after all,” says Kaltor. “Only your confirmed name and the conditions of concern got passed anywhere but here. I’m the only one who’s seen these - even Hazel’s copy is encrypted and I have the only key.”

  I’m struck again by how confident he is in everything he does, like there’s no other way you could possibly do it other than his way. He waves his hand and a floating screen appears between us from a depression in the floor I missed when I sat down. The readout is plain and unassuming, but what it says is anything but.

  Subject: Calrik Corvin

  Level: 13

  Class: Soul Spark Reclaimer (hidden)

  Powers: Regeneration (Tier 3 Epic), Physical Enhancement (Tier 2 Major), Reclamation

  Estimated Rank potential: S+

  Conditions of concern; medical: none

  Conditions of concern; mental: none

  Conditions of concern; alien: none

  Conditions of concern; parasite: none

  Conditions to clarify: unquanitified Power, unknown Class

  “I can see by the look on your face you’re confused by at least some of what it says.” Kaltor leans across the space between us until his face passes through the hologram-like screens. “So am I,” he says. My safety as a non-Powered person has often been reliant on my ability to detect when there’s a threat, but the fact Kaltor is always so threatening is scrambling my circuits. I don’t know what I should do. So… I stay silent as he watches me closely for any reaction.

  “There are a few things in that test result that might be difficult to explain,” I allow. “But there is an explanation.”

  “S+?” Kaltor asks, not needing to say any more.

  “If you’re looking for a mistake, that’s probably it,” I tell him, and I mean it. I’m not blind the the upside of my Power, but it wasn’t hard to do some simple math and it would take millions of Soul Sparks to even be in the ballpark of S Rank. And… S+?

  He raises his eyebrows and gives a few slow nods. My lizard brain is screaming at me to run and get away from him. I don’t move. Fuck that. I have a Power, and it’s different. I want to finally do what I always wanted to do and what my family trained me to do - be a Hero. We stare at each other for a few seconds and then he must come to a conclusion because he’s the one who breaks the silence with his deep voice.

  “Calrik, I’ve got a question and it’s really important that you tell me the truth. Are these test results right? The evidence from my own eyes and my experiences says yes, the results from this test are are correct. But… not long ago I know Vitalis was certain that you didn’t have a Power, and some very significant things have happened between then and now.”

  “Why didn’t General Voss attack you?” I ask. “Why am I still with you instead?” Kaltor dismisses the screen between us and laughs, then sits back.

  “You are definitely a Corvin,” he says. “An answer for an answer? Fair enough.” He taps some buttons on the side of his chair that I don’t have on mine and some small, squat robots emerge from compartments in the wall that hiss open. The robots stop near us and their bodies open up to reveal trays of food that lift up out of them on arms and stop in front of us. Kaltor picks an apple up from the tray nearest him and takes a bite, then motions me to take whatever I want.

  “I’m fine, thanks,” I say. This is not what I expected. Kaltor leans back while chewing and decides I get the first answer.

  “Let’s just say I have… special status in the ESF and General Voss doesn’t have any authority over me. But, even if we put that aside, if it comes to a contest of Powers or combat she has virtually no chance of beating me. Now… enough. Answer my question, Calrik. To the best of your knowledge are the test results correct?”

  I hesitate, but not for long.

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  “I think so… yeah,” I say, giving up the battle. It’s sure as shit Kaltor will probably be able to find out what he wants anyway, and so far he’s seemed to be on my side. “Not the S+ part, I don’t know about that. But my main Power is unusual and doesn’t really work like most Powers.”

  “Clearly, since it doesn’t show up on the tests. You need to give me more.” He isn’t really asking and everything about him expects me to keep going.

  “For years - a lot of years - I first expected and then hoped for a Power. Nothing, Kaltor. Up until a few days ago. I was at Saint Marianne’s before Auntie V arrived and someone died while I happened to be in the room. I didn’t expect it, but it Awakened my Power.”

  I can see Kaltor’s interest focuses a bit and he doesn’t try to hide it.

  “Her death was nothing to do with me, but when it happened I saw golden lights form into an orb and I somehow… absorbed them. Reclaimed them. They’re called Soul Sparks. And it didn’t take me long to realize my Power must have been latent. The way it works isn’t like other Powers and… it has a different classification.”

  Kaltor looks interested and thoughtful for a while as he finishes his apple and I let the conversation fall away.

  “Go on, Corvin. Finish what you need to say,” he tells me, and then to my surprise eats the core of the apple. People do that? “What’s so different about your Power and why can’t the tests quantify it. Are you absorbing people’s souls and so it confuses the interpretation?”

  “What? No!” I exclaim, raising my arms to tell him to stop going down that road. “As far as I know, at least. And the reason your test can’t quantify my Power is because it’s Evolved to a new category of Power - Mythic.”

  “Bullshit. You need to work on your poker face and deception game, Calrik,” Kaltor advises.

  “Believe what you want, I’ve told you the truth. What do you know about my parents’ disappearance? And how did you know them?” I counter. I’m not sure why I need to know, but I do.

  Kaltor grabs some kind of dried meat from the tray and stays sitting forward, with his elbows on his knees and his hair falling down around his face, intense attention on me. It’s pretty intimidating. Everything about him signals apex predator.

  “I’ve been on missions with your Mom and Dad. And Vitalis for that matter. For a while Vitalis and I were even more than friends. Your folks were good people, Calrik, but I’m sure you know that. They were real proud of you, even when… you know… you didn’t develop a Power. Your Dad told me you should have been a Superhero with your personality.”

  In a way I feel robbed that Kaltor might have spent more time with my family than I did, but I want him to continue and I know he can see that. He takes a deep breath and stands up to pace around the room a bit, but then he stops with his hands on his head and faces me.

  “We were on a mission, just outside this solar system, Calrik. Powerful creatures were coming through a wormhole that opened up, and it was common for us to deal with it. A select group of us. Make contact with whatever came through and then close the wormhole - that was always the mission. More often than not it would be a battle… there were only a few times we encountered something to negotiate with. Your dad was one of the only humans whose Power could close wormholes, and this particular one one we really needed to close.”

  Kaltor pauses, deep in remembering

  “Why? What was going on? I need to know what happened, Kaltor. Nobody will tell me.”

  “Classified,” he says, but waves the concern away. It’s clear he’s above the law, or at least thinks he is. “These things that came through the wormhole were powerful enough to do a lot of damage on Earth. Maybe wipe it out. Your Dad and others were called upon, like I said. Erik’s Power to shape reality meant he was always called. Even Starfire joined us to try to turn them back. We were only barely surviving and hanging on.”

  Kaltor takes his hands down and crosses his arms and looks in the distance as he remembers. This is the information I haven’t been able to find out. The information nobody will tell me. I thought maybe nobody knew and I’d never know. Now, to be with someone who was actually there, every ounce of me is pulling in his words like they’re thousands of Soul Sparks and envisioning the scene.

  “We didn’t think we’d make it. We didn’t think Earth would make it.”

  Kaltor’s eyes orient on mine again.

  “We had to close that wormhole and there was nobody else other than your Dad who could do it. But… the distances were so vast and the battle was so fierce that he had to get close. Close enough for his Power to be at full strength or the wormhole wouldn’t close, and the only way to get him there was your Mom’s Power. Our ships were all being destroyed, we were on the brink of losing, but your parents got close and your Dad managed to close the wormhole. It worked - but the effect expanded so rapidly. They got pulled through when it closed and… we don’t know what happened. That’s the truth of it, Calrik.”

  It’s a lot for me to take in. I”m not even sure I’m totally taking in what Kaltor is saying, but the words will be tattooed on me, I’ll never forget them.

  “Some thought your parents were killed in the process, but I don’t know. Your Dad’s Power was so strong, I can only assume he found a way to shape reality so that they could make it through alive. But… there was no way to locate them Calrik. They could be dead. They could be anywhere in the Universe. It’s a big place.”

  All I can hear in my mind is that they may still be out there, and what I need to do is get strong enough to find them.

  Kaltor sits back a bit and looks around while he shakes his head. “I can see what you’re thinking, kiddo. I’ve been around the block enough times to know that look.”

  “How old are you?” I ask him, and he laughs.

  “I was the same physical age you see now when Powers first manifested a hundred years ago. My body is adapting all the time, and I force it to with constant training. It’s one of the reasons why General Voss and all the others know I have the edge over them. For decades I’ve taken stored kinetic energy and ruptured my cells to injure myself so badly my body has to adapt to prevent it. I’ve trained both of my Powers at the same time. And that’s just the start.”

  Deep down I make a vow to myself that I’m not going to stop until I can hand Kaltor his ass in combat. I’m realistic enough to know it might take a while.