Chapter 10
Eddie, Richard, Tonya, and Ringer emerged from the portal into the mech hangar of Psi-Mechs, Inc.’s Alaskan base. Richard’s head whipped about, trying to take in everything around him. Techs worked on maintaining Psi-mech suits, other suits sat in their housing areas ready for action, and pilots stood around talking and smoking. Hank wasn’t there to greet them, which made Ringer wonder where the tele-mechanic was. Ms. Grimm had grounded him, so he had to be at the base somewhere, and the mech hangar was usually where he could be found. Ringer hoped he was okay.
“This place is awesome!” Richard yelled, drawing looks from some the pilots and techs in the hangar. He started to race off toward the closest mech, but Eddie caught him.
“Time enough for that later, son,” the psycho-porter told him. “Right now, you’ve got a date with a vampire.”
Richard stared at Eddie trying to figure out if he was being serious or not.
“Uh…” Richard turned to look at Tonya. “Is he for real?”
“No,” Ringer answered before she could, “Ms. Grimm isn’t really a vampire. She’s only half vampire.”
Richard went pale as he knew Ringer was being serious.
“You’re going to need to meet with her,” Ringer went on. “Eddie wasn’t kidding about that. She’s going to want to talk you about that thing that was after you, and about joining up as well.”
“Follow me,” Tonya ordered Richard, “I’ll take you to her office.”
Tonya led Richard away.
Eddie was still puffing on a cigar. “That guy’s got issues,” he said with a laugh.
“Remember what I was like when Frank first brought me in?” Ringer asked, producing a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, shaking one out of it, and lighting up. “All this…” Ringer waved a hand at the mech hangar. “It’s pretty dang crazy to a newbie.”
“You’d know better than me,” Eddie admitted. “Feels like I’ve been here forever. The world out there…that’s what’s strange to me.”
Ringer frowned. “I hear ya on that one. I haven’t been here even half as long as you, and I can’t imagine my life without monsters, super powers, or mechs anymore.”
Eddie shrugged. “We’ve got everything we need right here, anyway.”
With a smile, Ringer nodded. “Can’t argue that.”
“You go on, man,” Eddie urged him. “I can tell you’re chomping at the bit to pay Mercy a visit. Don’t be hanging around here on my account. I got stuff to do, too.”
“Thanks!” Ringer grinned. “Catch you later, Eddie.”
Tonya led Richard through the corridors of the base. They passed Sharpton, who snorted contemptuously at them.
“Who’s that guy?” Richard asked.
“His name is Sharpton.” Tonya frowned. “He’s our lead telepath and one of the company’s senior members. He’s also a real prick.”
Richard glanced at her as if he couldn’t believe she had said that last part.
“He is.” She nodded. “Everyone here knows it, too, even him. Don’t let him get to you. The rest of us are like one big family. I doubt you’ll have any problems fitting in. Hank is as much of a geek as you.”
“How did you know I was a geek?” Richard asked, almost sounding as if he wanted her to answer that she’d read his mind.
“I saw your house, remember?” Tonya chuckled.
“Oh yeah,” Richard said. “Hey, if I end up getting to stay here, do you think we can go back for my collection?”
Tonya didn’t need to be a telepath to see how much his stuff meant to him.
“I’m sure we can work something out,” Tonya tried to reassure him.
“This is all pretty crazy,” Richard told her. “I mean, psychics, monsters, mecha! I just can’t stop thinking how awesome it is.”
“Trust me, it’s not all awesome, Richard,” Tonya said.
“I forgot to ask where we are. Is this place on the moon or something?” Richard’s excitement flared up all over again, not that it had died down much in the time since he’d arrived.
“Alaska.” Tonya led them around the bend of a corridor.
“Wow,” Richard muttered. “It makes me think of Steve Niles’ 30 Days of Night.”
“Our original base was in North Carolina. We only relocated here a few months back,” Tonya commented.
“Why?” Richard asked.
“Our original base was overrun and destroyed by vampires,” Tonya answered, her voice casual, as if such things were the everyday norm around Psi-Mechs, Inc. but then turned sad. “A lot of good people died that night.”
Richard didn’t know how to respond, so he kept his mouth shut.
“That’s what we’ve all been trying to tell you, Richard. As cool as you think all this is, if you join us, you’ll pretty much be enlisting as a soldier in a war. Not all of us have combat jobs or go out into the field, but none of us are ever truly safe,” Tonya explained. “Psi-Mechs, Inc. has made a great many enemies over the years, most of them anything but human, though there have been some exceptions. Your old life will be gone, and you’ll never be able to get it back again. Make sure this is really what you want to do before you just jump in because it all seems cool to you.”
“I don’t have much of a life,” Richard confessed. “All of my family are dead. I don’t really have friends outside of the industry I work in, and my career was falling apart anyway. This whole thing is like a clean slate for me. The honest truth is, I need this change.”
“And we need you.” Tonya smiled. “People with powers are a rare thing, Richard. You’ve been given a gift, and here, you can really do some good with it if you want to.”
“I do,” Richard promised as they reached the door to Katherine Grimm’s office.
Tonya stepped up to the door and rapped her knuckles against it. The metal door slid open, and she gestured for Richard to go on in.
“I’ll see you around,” Tonya said, and Richard left her side, walking into the office.
Katherine Grimm was waiting for him, sitting behind her desk. She motioned for Richard to take one of the two chairs in front of it.
“I understand you have a psychic ability,” Katherine Grimm said, her tone neutral and flat.
Richard found himself staring at her pale skin. The woman in front of him was beautiful, but he’d been told she wasn’t really human. He was more focused on her “condition” than her looks. She wore dark sunglasses that covered her eyes entirely, but Richard thought he saw a faint red glow escaping from her eyes around their edges. Her brown hair spilled down to brush the tops of her shoulders. It was easy to believe she was, indeed, half vampire.
“That was a question,” Katherine Grimm said, sounding annoyed. “I wasn’t just talking to myself.”
“Oh…uh…I’m sorry,” Richard stammered. “I’ve never met a vampire before. What did you ask me?”
“I’m not a vampire,” Katherine snapped.
Richard flinched in his seat. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, like a frightened school boy.
“Are you going to make me ask you again, Mr. Ferguson?” Katherine leaned forward, the glow behind her dark glasses growing more intense.
“My power…right.” Richard nodded. “Well, I’ve had it since before I was in high school. I can wraith,” he said, as if that explained everything.
Katherine appeared to be staring at him as Richard began to sweat.
“You don’t know what that is, do you?” Richard swallowed. “I call my power wraithing. I can become immaterial. You know, like a ghost? I’m almost transparent when I do it, and no recording device I’ve ever come across can detect me. It happens a lot when I get scared, but otherwise, I try not to wraith at all. If people found out I could do it…” he let his words trail off, then suddenly added, “Well, I mean other than you guys!”
“So you can walk through walls.” Katherine didn’t seem impressed.
“Yes, but it’s a lot more than just that,” Richard said, offended that the half-vampire woman didn’t appear to think his power amounted to much. “I’m basically immune to harm while I’m wraithing. I can essentially walk on air. Heck, I don’t even need to breathe when I’m doing it.”
“There are plenty of ways to hurt you while you’re using your power,” Katherine told Richard. “I’m not saying that as a slight, but I can think of several ways just off the top of my head. You don’t know the things out there we go up against.”
“I don’t,” Richard agreed, “but my power is far from useless, and if you ask me, it’s pretty dang awesome.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t,” Katherine pointed out and then changed the subject. “Tonya tells me you want to join up.”
“I do.” Richard nodded.
Katherine took a preset tablet out of a desk drawer and slid it across to Richard. “Make sure you read all of that before you sign it. It’s our standard contract, but you need to fully understand what you’re getting into.”
Richard cocked an eyebrow as he read what his salary would be. It was more than he’d made in a year as writer, even during the fantastic years. He scanned over the rest of the contract, including the nondisclosure agreement attached to it. Nothing worried him overly much. He signed it and handed it back to Katherine.
“Welcome to Psi-Mechs, Inc.” Katherine smiled.
“Thank you, Ms. Grimm.” Richard returned her smile. “When do I start my training?”
“I want you to go by and see Hank, our tele-mechanic, so he can check out what you can do, then see Dr. Riddle in our med center. Afterward, you’ll be assigned to Ringer and Tonya. Your power is much better suited to our psi-staff than field combat,” Katherine said. “I think they’ll be able to come up with a good use for what you can do.”
Richard nodded and got up to leave her office.
“Oh, and Mr. Ferguson,” she called after him, “I heard about your request to retrieve your collection. I can’t let you go back there to get it yourself, but I will make sure it’s picked up and delivered to somewhere safe until we can find a proper home for it.”
“Thank you so much, Ms. Grimm!” he blurted out, his gratitude sincere and powerful.
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