All That Glitters Ch. 27

"Once you discover what your gifts can produce, you will want to venture forth to greater and greater missions to bring the beauty of the cosmos to others. That, however, is the path to destruction. Being comfortable with your power is the best goal that you can achieve and will lead you to your own goals in life.

"Empaths are not all light and love, far from it. Many wallow in darkness and self pity. Much of this is formed from the manner in which they achieve their abilities. In that, we on Hollander's World have a greater advantage than the norm for empaths. Our natural empaths are accepted, even helped in the formation and use of their powers, where on other worlds true empaths are despised, feared, criminalized, and even executed.

"Remember when I said empaths are often reviled for their gifts? That can lead to the kind of dark depression that can destroy not only the empath but those around them.

"Empaths can bring love and lightness to others; they can also bring darkness and despair. That which is their inner being is what they will project. You must always guard against this. One way to do that is through a Congress, which is another reason we love the Congress so much.

"It takes five of us to form a Congress to work with, however, it only takes two empaths working together to bring light from darkness for each other. You have the natural advantage of your Trine, who love you as you do them. For you, that is a form of Congress, even if your Trine is not empathic.

"Your Trine, however, will become attuned to you, to your abilities. While they may never come to know any empathic abilities, they will live vicariously in the worlds of empaths through you. Your Trine will always be your base, because it is formed in love," Heyya said this with a smile that was shared by all the other empaths. They understood in a way that no others could.

"The intensity of emotions an empath can impart is based on their level of power, training, and experiences. If they are open and loving, they will project this, if they are closed in darkness and despair, that too they will project.

"An empath's emotions are not only their own, but they are also often taken from and given back to those around them.

"The emotional intensities that empath's experience can be a sure pathway to self-destruction. You must always guard against this. That you have managed to reach your level of power and stay so buoyant and loving without training is an amazing feat and buoys well for your future," Heyya told her, with a bright smile on her face.

"Because of the darkness and despair that empaths see," Heyya continued. "Many resort to activities that numb their perceptions, whether this is by suppressing their abilities, overeating, substance abuse, unhealthy relationships, or isolation, whatever they need in order not to confront the darker weight of their emphatic abilities.

"It's important that as empaths we learn to channel the intensity of our emotions into constructive outlets and avenues for healing. Art therapy, journaling, exercise, and counseling are all excellent examples of ways in which empaths can express themselves and lift their energy without feeling drained. Do you follow any of these pursuits?" Heyya asked.

"She can dance like a Khaliji Dancer. It is amazing to watch," Hanalei answered for her, mischief in her voice and smile.

"When you feel comfortable with us, I would like to watch you dance," Heyya replied, a huge grin on her face.

"Many empaths also succeed in healing professions when they are able to properly place boundaries with clients," Heyya returned to her mini lecture. "But the biggest help to an empath is the Congress with other empaths, the fellowship and love that is found there will be all important to you.

"Your Trine, is a kind of mini-congress. While it does not have natural empaths as part of it, you have two members of your family with you at all times who love, support, and respect you for who you are, not just as an empath but as an equal in the Trine.

"As empaths, our greatest responsibility lies in healing ourselves -- only then can we help in the healing of others. Your Trine will help to heal you no matter what you are going through. They will know when the darkness is taking hold in you and will actively seek to bring you to the light of their love.

"Fayad, Hanalei, your mate is going to go through dark times. Watch out for her. Keep her on the path to light. Whenever this becomes to much for you, then seek out the help of others, Dr. Galt would be a good person, but any skilled empath will gladly help," she told her Trine.

"Empaths are natural caretakers," Heyya continued. "So they gravitate towards doing what they feel will best help the person they are interacting with. However, anticipating the emotions and reactions of others can become a major problem if not employed in conjunction with self-care. Empaths have to learn to cater to their own needs, too. They have to learn how to be receptive to also being "served" and taken care of by others.

"How you can do this will be shown to you during your training. But for now, revel in the closeness of your Trine," Heyya finished.

Someone collected the empty cups of tea, and Heyya had everyone lay down close to one another with Junelliea in the center. The idea was to reach out and touch a person to 'see' what they were feeling.

Heyya had already primed her Congress to adopt different aspects of emotions, such as anger or happiness, confusion of understanding, and others. Heyya sat near Junelliea's head, touching her shoulders, and had her reach out to each person and try to determine the aspect they were presenting, this included the members of her Trine, Fayad and Hanalei.

Heyya coached Junelliea through the different aspects of searching for the truth behind each emotion she detected. Surprisingly, Junelliea went through the exercise quickly and without missing a single issue.

Next, Heyya had Junelliea seek out each separate member of the Congress, while being 'connected' to the Congress at only one end. Thus, she had to find the emotions that were being displayed while being in contact with that person through many others.

This time, it wasn't as easy a task for Junelliea to work through the list of the Congress. An hour after she started, she had to rest, as her head was beginning to hurt. But, she had managed to connect to each individual during that time.

Heyya was very surprised at this. It usually took many attempts for new empaths to be able to accomplish this feat, even if they had the raw power that Junelliea showed.

The Congress took a break to relax and have more tea, while Heyya conferred with Dr. Hitron.

"Look here, Heyya," Dr. Hitron said quietly. "This is Junelliea while you were explaining the life of an empath."

They were viewing a multi-wavelength image of Junelliea on a 3D monitor, which showed a rainbow of colours sweeping across her body. This was not new to Heyya, who had seen this before. What was new was the pace at which the colours changed in Junelliea.

In most empaths, the colours swirled around their bodies like a slow simmering pot. With Junelliea, it looked like the motions of a boiling pot.

"This is Junelliea when she was involved in the two exercise, the first one," said Dr. Linsey Stanet, a computer specialist. Here she showed the colour sweep on Junelliea, which was now fixed in a line between her head, down her spine, out to her heart, and, oddly enough, centered in her stomach.

No matter what colour spectrum they focused on, that colour spectrum did the same. Each of the colours showed an aspect of the person's body; the nervous system's synapses as they fired, their levels of body heat, the blood coursing through their body, the colour spectrums of different kinds of emotions. As such, using the multi-spectrum monitors inevitably showed when a person was lying. In Junelliea's case, there would be no means for the specialists to work out whether she was lying or not, as her separate emotional aspects all showed the same.

When Junelliea did the second exercise, the line was even more intensified, showing stronger use of her abilities.

"I will need a copy of this, please," Heyya asked. "This needs to be seen by people on Hollander's World for a more thorough interpretation."

"I think that we should wrap things up for now," Dr. Stanet suggested. "I'm looking at Junelliea's colours and she seems to be reaching exhaustion." She showed the two what she meant and Heyya could see immediately that Junelliea was indeed becoming tired.

"Alright everyone," Heyya called, gathering everyone into a circle. "I think that is enough for your first night, Junelliea. Now we need to do a bit of a relaxation exercise.

"I want everyone in a circle, holding hands, Junelliea in the middle of your Trine, please. You will lead this exercise, Junelliea. It is really very simple. I want you to think calming thoughts while connected to the members of your Trine. Find your lovers' hearts to help calm yourself and push that feeling of calm out to the others in the Congress, your Trine first. Take your time doing it. Don't push to the others until you are well centered and comfortable within your Trine." Heyya advised.

Everyone held hands and Heyya advised them all to take a deep breath in, hold it, then release it slowly. She advised Junelliea to seek out the hearts of her mates, pull that into herself to help center her, and then to slowly push the feelings of calm she took back to them and then out to the others.

Dr. Hitron and her crew watched, fascinated as the center of the Congress, Junelliea, began to bloom. The bloom reached her mates almost simultaneously, then spread slowly around the Congress, until it came to Heyya, who was opposite Junelliea in the circle.

Heyya centered the bloom and pushed it back through the congress in both directions to Junelliea.

When it came back to Junelliea, the sensors of Dr. Hitron's group went wild. They began creeping upwards alarmingly fast. The imagery showed the same in every colour, each colour was maxed out on Junelliea and moving outwards to push the max on all of the other participants. The colours showed her Trine being further down the line of colour saturation, which was understandable, as they were not empaths.

As happened before, those watching the group without monitors swore that they practically glowed, the hair of those who were not from Hollander's World fluffed out, reacting to the power surging through the Congress. Even the hair of the members from Hollander's World reacted, but their heavier, feather-like hair did not show as much reaction as did the soft flowing hair of Fayad, Hanalei and, of course, Junelliea.

Suddenly, a soft sigh ran around the group, and they slowly opened their eyes, a tender smile on each of their lips, while many were actually blushing.

The members of Hitron's group looked at each other, knowing that they had just witnessed something significant, but not knowing what. They hoped that Heyya would let them know, but somehow, they believed they had just seen something very intimate, that would not, perhaps could not, be explained by the members of the Congress...

Construction Bay Ring, November Deck, Liramor-23, Piscium System

The participants of the first ever Congress held on Liramor-23 left construction bay twenty-one in a happy mood, the scientists turning away from the others.

"You are not going to the lifts?" Junelliea asked of those turning away.

"We have to return the equipment we borrowed from Construction Bay 23," one of the scientists told them. "It has to be ready for tomorrow's tests. We are still trying to look electronically into the small escape pod we found near the Alien Station. This one has the 'sleeper' on it."

"Oh! I've heard of that and seen it on the news but never in person," Hanalei stated. "Would it be possible to see it in person?"

"Considering what you and your Congress did for us tonight, I think that would be possible," Dr. Hitron assured them.

The group made its way to Bay 23. As they approached the door, Junelliea and the other empaths slowed down. Junelliea's Trine slowed with her, looking around nervously, not knowing why.

"You have nothing to fear," Dr. Hitron stated with a smile. "The Insectoid is asleep."

"No, it is not," Junelliea said, brining Hitron to a halt.

"What?" Hitron asked.

"It is not asleep, at least its mind is not asleep," Junelliea said.

The other members of the Congress reached out to touch her or her Trine in order to sense what Junelliea was sensing.

"She is right," Heyya pronounced. "The mind is active and it is afraid."

"There is something wrong," Junelliea said. "I'm not sure what it means, but I am seeing colours and a sequence."

The Congress all nodded their heads in unison, intriguing Dr. Hitron.

The little group moved to the pod. They could see the creature inside it. Junelliea pointed at a panel. "There, that colour sequence is wrong," she proclaimed.

"Are you sure?" one of the scientists asked.

"Yes," Heyya admitted. "We can see the sequence as it should be and it is wrong."

"How do we change it?" someone asked.

Junelliea walked slowly around the pod until she came to the rear hatch. There was a panel there with buttons on it. They were coloured but the colours were much faded.

"This is a control pad," Junelliea said, after a few moments. "But I cannot see the proper colours to sequence it."

One of the scientists came over with a scanner and quickly scanned the panel. She then manipulated the image until it showed the old colour sequence.

"There, these buttons in this sequence," she told them, pointing out each button and what sequence they had to be pushed in.

The scientists all looked at Dr. Hitron.

"What made you think of this, Junelliea?" she asked.

"It's not just Junelliea," Heyya told her. "All of us see the same thing. The Insectoid is afraid. Its mind is active but its body is not. That means the wakening sequence probably failed. It is projecting fear, real fear. I think it is the fear of death if it cannot integrate its mind and its body.

"I think all of us in the Congress are at heightened sensitivity due to the exercises we just conducted. As soon as we came into the bay, we could sense the fear," Heyya told her.

"Are you saying that this creature is alive and mentally active?" Hitron asked. "Does that mean it is empathic?"

"No, not empathic, but it is afraid, very afraid. We can feel that fear," Junelliea expressed.

"It is telling us how it wants to activate the panel but it cannot move to do it itself. I don't believe it is asking us to do that, just expressing its desire to do it. We can sense that and, because of the level of its fear, we can react to it," Junelliea finished.

"Junelliea is correct," Gillaya said with certainty. "The level of fear is palpable to us, especially after the exercises we just completed."

"What should we do?" Hitron asked.

"I don't know," Junelliea admitted. "But I do know that we do not have much time. It cannot stay in a half awake state much longer."

"This sequence?" Hitron asked. Junelliea and the other empaths nodded in unison.

Dr. Hitron took a deep breath and pressed the sequence indicated on the scanner into the panel. Lights near the panel suddenly flared. They immediately moved around to the front of the pod to look into the interior. The light panel that Junelliea had pointed out earlier had changed, the lights moving one at a time to reflect the sequence that Hitron had encoded.

The sequence ended, and other lights began to flicker within the pod. More and more panels activated.

"It's getting stronger," Heyya said. "The presence in the pod. It is awakening. They all watched quietly as the panels lit up within the pod. Suddenly, the head of the Insectoid moved, startling the watchers, who jumped back, then laughed.

Slowly, the large Insectoid became more and more active, first its head, then the hands and arms moved followed not long after by the thorax. They watched enthralled as the creatures legs moved one by one. Then, the whole creature shifted. It began to touch panels within the pod, looking for all the world like it was a scientist conducting experiments.

One large, many-fingered hand reached out and touched a ball. The group heard clicking/whistling noises coming from the pod and realised that the creature had activated a speaker.

"I am sorry, we do not understand you," Junelliea said, pushing the thoughts to the creature at the same time.

The ball was adjusted and different sounds came forth, but again the group shook their heads and indicated no. Three more times sounds came from the pod, and each time the group indicated they did not understand, Junelliea pushing this as hard as she could.

Junelliea was not only pushing her thought of not understanding but she was also pushing calm and peace to the creature.

The creature seemed to make up its mind and pushed at a panel. They heard a noise from the rear of the pod.

Junelliea squeaked and jumped around to the rear, where the hatch was slowly raising.

The Insectoid within the pod stepped slowly out into the floor of the bay and raised it's thorax up, bringing its head to almost two meters in height, taller than all the women in the bay.

Some of the scientists stepped back, but Junelliea stepped forward, once again radiating calm and peace. The creature looked at her, then bowed its thorax, bringing its head down to Junelliea's height. It nodded its head to her, then collapsed.

Construction Bay 23, Scientist Study Bay, Liramor-23, Piscium System

The creature lay resting, Junelliea assured them, after having awakened from its long sleep.

Fiona marvelled at having a living Insectoid on her platform.

"So you're telling me you came out of your Congress, as you call it, and your heightened senses told you it was mentally awake," she asked the group.

"Close enough," Heyya agreed. "Had we not have been going through the exercises, we would not have had the heightened senses necessary to feel the Insectoid's fear. Junelliea felt it first, then shifted that knowledge to the rest of the Congress. Once we were attuned to it, we too could sense it."

"Why was it afraid?" Fiona asked.

"Probably because it was mentally awake, or at least mentally aware of its surroundings but not physically awake," Dr. Galt told her. "The empaths said they could feel its fear of being in such a state. Junelliea said that it was weakening. We have no idea how long it has been in this transitory state but she believed it would not survive much longer. So Dr. Hitron activated the panel in the sequence that she provided."

"Then the sounds?" Fiona asked.

"Languages," one of the scientists explained. "At least five different languages. I suspect the first, the one with the whistles and clicks was it's own language, then the others were languages it knew and was attempting to see if it could communicate with us. They are not of any language base that we are familiar with," the scientist, who was a linguist, said.

"What's the significance of that?" Fiona asked, already sure of the answer.

"The first, with the clicks and whistles, is probably its own language," the linguist explained. "The mouth parts it has lends us to believe that. The other languages were similar in the sound structure to our own, so they probably had vocal cords not unlike our own. Different mouth and throat parts."

"So at least two different species, maybe more?" Fiona conjectured.

"If they were a polyglot society like our own, then two different species," the linguist replied. "If they are like the Piscium A Society, with a single language, then we may have six different species out there."