Allie's War Episodes 1-4(89)

Beauty overcomes those feelings of smallness, however. Dark clouds hang heavy in the distance, shot through with even more subtle frequencies of light, making me long for a sunrise, for stronger beams of illumination in the churning aliveness of the night.
Then I am looking at him, and I forget all the rest.
Geometrical patterns flow around Revik’s hyper-detailed form, sparking out in small, colorful arcs of current and light. I reach out, touching one of the shapes, and from his reaction, it isn’t dissimilar to poking him in the eye.
Cut it out, he says. Look for the track, Allie.
At my blank reaction, he sighs, sending up more plumes of light and feeling.
You know the theory, he says, patient now, if barely. If you don’t know the thing you want to resonate with, find another way in...
When my confusion doesn’t lessen, he prods me again.
There are three ways seers track, Allie. The first is imprinting...it is what I am doing now, using an imprint given to me by Vash.
He flashes a multi-dimensional image, too quick for me to take in.
...I could also use a personal object, audio or visual recording, blood, fingerprints, urine, hair, even a smell...all of these are imprints. Imprinting is the most common track, as imprints are everywhere. Imprinting is the reason for the image ban, Allie...and the ban on trade in biological artifacts...
...The second way is location track, he continues evenly. This is based on the principles of spatial intersection. In simple terms, if you know the location of something in the physical realm, you can track it in the Barrier. To do so, however, your knowledge must be very precise. It also does not work so well for time jumps, or Barrier echoes...
I have no idea what these are.
The third way, he says, ignoring my implicit question. Is a line track. It denotes having a personal connection with, or “direct line” to the thing you are tracking. Or in this case, something that is resonating with the thing you are tracking...which is me.
He waits for me to follow this train of thought.
Use the opportunity to feel me under a track, Allie.
I am following his logic now. If I resonate with him, and he resonates with the target, I will resonate with the target, too. Simple.
I focus on a current of light I don’t recognize in one of his hands. The vibration immediately changes my own.
...Resonance does not have a spatial or interconnectivity limit, he adds as I play with his light. If you resonate with something that resonates with something that resonates with something...you can track any part of the chain. Distance can muddle the imprint, but it doesn’t have to. The military, of necessity, depends mainly on secondary or tertiary links...sometimes those of much greater distances from the target. Most of the work of infiltration is this. Uncovering lines or “taps,” which can be complex...even tedious. Infiltrating the target’s life, hunting them to get close to their light...
I am fascinated, picking up images from him.
You still do this? Professionally?
Yes, he sends.
For who?
His light sparks in irritation. Try to match my light...or go back and wait for me in the room, Allie.
Touchy, touchy, I send softly.
But I am trying to do what he says, so his thoughts grow slightly less grumpy.
When you track, it is better if the target does not feel you, he advises. He waits for me to adjust, based on his words. When I don’t, he sighs again. This is not subtle, Allie. If I were a target, I would know I was being tapped.
I heard you. Just let me get the hang of it, okay?
He gives in, letting me openly examine his light.
He is cranky today, though. I have no idea if it has anything to do with me, but I decide to do as he says...until I am distracted again by the mechanics of our lights’ interaction. My aleimi really wants to resonate with his. It is less a matter of trying, more a matter of letting it. So I relax, unfurling a fist that I hadn’t known I clenched. My vibration changes.
I feel Revik’s approval.
Good, he sends.
He is closer to me now, and suddenly I am fighting the other thing. The pulling-nausea-pain feeling I get around him is stronger without my body, carries more of an imperative. It occurs to me that pain is likely how my body translates that imperative, like converting electrical signals...then it occurs to me that I’m embarrassed, trying to make it scientific.
Revik politely withdraws his light.
Are you ready? he sends.
I consider, for the hundredth or so time, asking him about that pull, then decide to leave it for when he’s in a better mood.
I let him feel that I am. Ready, that is.
He releases whatever he uses to keep us in place and we shoot across the night sky. There are no vortices this time, and the movement from one place to the next happens fast, almost instantaneously, without a breath between states.