Radiance Chapter 12: Whispers in the Dark.
Seven whirled around looking all around himself, his heart was hammering in his chest as his eyes frantically scanned the area around them.
"What's wrong my human?" Visa asked going on alert as she saw him his stance was affecting all of them and they were all looking around themselves.
"I heard the voice again, someone is watching us and I don't know-how," Seven said and no sooner had the words left his lips than he heard the faint giggling of what sounded like a girl somewhere and he spun around again.
Suddenly Wisp went stiff as a board, "Oh shit! It's number two it has to be!" she exclaimed and they all looked at her questioningly.
"Number two?" Ven asked and Wisp nodded her metallic head.
"She was in the project they had Seven and me in, my number was three, I didn't really get too much chance to read the ins and outs of everyone's files when I was trying to choose who to help me escape, but I remember two things that I did see in her file, one was that she was compliant with them meaning she's happy to let them use her gift however they like, and the second thing was what her gift was, she's a telepath!" Wisp exclaimed.
Seven felt a cold shiver run down his spine, like a pair of icy fingers was stroking him, "Telepath? You mean she's in my head?" he exclaimed nervously and Wisp nodded.
"Now I don't know the ins and outs of her gift but I do remember something they left out of the ultra classified section, it's range specific, the closer she is to her target the better it works and the stronger, so I would take this to mean the closer she is to you the deeper into your mind she can go, but if she's far away from them maybe she can just see through your eyes or just speak to you? I'm not sure" she said.
"This could be really bad, if she can see through Seven's eyes she could know exactly where we are and where we're going," Ven said sounding worried.
Visa stepped forwards and protectively wrapped her long arms and her tail around her human from the rear, "No-one will hurt my male while I guard him, I will tear them apart if they so much as look at him" she growled menacingly.
"For all we know her power could work on you guys too, it'll definitely work on Gregory as he's human, it won't work on me because my mind isn't like any of yours as I'm non-corporeal, but while she's watching we are all in danger, because she'll be able to tell where we're going, we need to either get out of her range fast or find a way to shut her out," Wisp said.
"So far I don't think she's reading my mind, I mean I don't know how I know it's like I feel this weak presence then she speaks, so I get the feeling it's like you say, she's at maximum range whatever that is and she's struggling to get into my head, so there's at least that, but that won't stop her from zeroing in on where we are going by simply piggybacking on me and calling out what she see's to her handlers, they're probably already using what I've seen to narrow it down already," Seven said sounding worried.
Visa tightened her grip on him, Wisp looked thoughtful, scratching her metal chin with her hand, "Ahh fuck, I think I know a way that we may be able to shut her out, but I don't think you're going to like it" she said.
"At this point, I don't think we really have a choice Wisp, we gotta try something or before we know it we're going to have Enclave vertibirds landing on our heads," Seven said and Wisp nodded sighing.
"When they did experiments with me one of the ones they tried was trying to get me to possess a living creature, now it worked with some very low-level animals, but the higher the brain functions the harder it is, to the point where I simply can't take hold, for instance, I couldn't use it on humans or claws as they're too intelligent, but it did work on some insects and lower reptiles and mammals, its how I found out I could do it to any machine as well," she said.
"If you cannot possess a human or a claw then what use is it to us?" Visa asked in a huff.
"I was getting to that, now I might not be able to possess or control a higher life form, but I can ride shotgun, I can invade and sit in your brain like a passenger, I think and obviously this is just a long shot because obviously, I've never had cause or reason to even think of trying this, but I should be able to use my presence to shield Seven's mind, act as a kind of buffer that she'd have to get through in order to read his thoughts, it could be enough to keep her out and for us to get away before they know where we are," she said.
Now they all looked thoughtful, "What's to stop her from simply invading one of our minds?" Gregory asked.
"Nothing really but I think she'd have to either sense you or be able to feel you in order to locate you at this distance, she's got a head start with Seven as he was part of the program and was in close proximity to her, so she'd recognise his thought pattern and his inner voice and be able to zone in on it, without that she'd have to start her search from scratch, by that time we'll be miles away and hopefully out of her range," Wisp said.
Seven thought this over, as much as he really didn't like the thought of having someone else in his head if it had to happen he would rather a friend than an enemy in there, so with a heavy sigh he nodded.
"Alright Wisp let's try this, if it works it'll protect all of us for the time being," he said and Wisp nodded.
"Umm there will be one other problem, it will mean leaving my body behind, I already disabled all of the tracking sensors on it so they won't be able to track it, but carrying it along would put us at risk as it's unwieldy and surprisingly heavy, so it will have to stay here, which means you'll be umm kinda stuck with me until you can find me another host," Wisp said sounding a little nervous herself.
"It won't come back online and start attacking us will it?" Ven asked and Wisp shook her head.
"No I wiped its mind when I took over, not enough room for both of us in there and I didn't want it going ape shit if I had to leave, so basically it's a blank doll," she said.
Ven nodded approvingly, "Alright then Wisp let's do this I'm ready if you are," Seven said.
Wisp nodded them walked over to him and placed her hands on his metal shoulders, "Brace yourself this is going to feel weird as fuck" she said and with that the sparkly cloud that was Wisp's true being poured out of the Assaultron and into Seven's mask respirator, instantly his head felt like it was full of fog, like there was suddenly two of him, but that one was just an echo in his skull.
Then just like that it was over, "Umm I don't feel any different, are you there Wisp?" he asked out loud.
"Yeah I'm here, sorry this just takes some getting used to, wow this is kinda overloading a bit, I mean I can feel, hear, smell, taste and see everything you do, it's like I'm sharing every sense you have but while having utterly no control, it's kinda scary but kinda cool at the same time, it's like the utter reverse of the Robo body where I had no control but no senses, now I'm all senses and no control, in an odd kinda way I kinda like it," she said her voice whispering in his head.
