Hinn Ch. 36-38

Author's note -- Please read from chapter 1 to best comprehend all that's going on here. It's a complicated tale, and sexy-times happen as the story calls for them.

All characters described as taking part in sexual activities are 18 or older.

Chapter 36

"So. First steps to a new 'house,' for lack of a better word. We're onto the questions section. Who's going to start us off, folks?"

People were looking around at each other, clearly waiting for others to start asking questions.

"Since no one's gonna step up, mind if I start, Ray?"

"Go for it, Mac."

"Lil' background info for everyone. There's a new paper bein' presented for publication ta Nature. It drastically decreases the time it took an' increases the power levels required ta start Pangaea breakin' up. I hadda lil to do with getting' the numbers together after a chinwag with Ray here. First feedback tricklin' back is disbelievin' it, cuz it shows big problems with several models that researchers kinda knew about but never quite figgered out. In other words, researchers' wigs are flippin' where they're willin' to take a stab at validatin' the numbers. Those that are not validatin' the numbers are just denyin' 'em.

"So. My question, fer Tauriz -- How long DID it take for Pangaea to break up?"

"There were massive disruptions -- new mountain ranges, giant holes miles across and deep, huge eruptions of the fiery blood of Earth. The battles that caused these took less than a week to spread across the planet, something that had never happened before and happily has only once since. The main battles lasted for perhaps a month, but fighting trickled on in various areas for years after. After the month of the greatest conflict, the then-living Oracles warned the survivors that the world was changing and that the death they had generously shared so liberally would threaten even the greatest of them if it continued. Oracles willing to make such blanket statements are very, very rarely wrong about such things, and that dampened the fighting significantly as the news spread, which took months, perhaps years."

"So much less'n five years, yeah?"

"The bulk of the damage was accomplished within one, Mac."

"That alone's flippin' academic wigs, so ya know. Th' equivalent of a nuke war happenin' before there were humans? Yeah, they're surprised."

Ray laughed, "I almost wish I could see their faces as their models return results! But I think you're understating things here, Mac. Given the way some of these ancient mortals fought, there would be dead zones miles, maybe even hundreds of miles across where nothing was living, not even the microbes needed to rot all the bodies and dead plants."

"Huh. I'll havta dig in an' see if any of the models are givin' results like that. Betcha if they are they're bein' ignored right about now."

"Enough shadenfreude. Anyone else?"

"Tauriz, what can you tell us about the asteroid belt?" asked Antoine.

"There are factions amongst the angelics. Some attempt to be beneficial, others selfish. I was taught that a large selfish group had built up a tremendous force on the planet that rested where the asteroid belt rests now. The beneficial angelics worked a great effort and destroyed the planet, also destroying the force that had been intended to invade and overwhelm the Earth mortals. Unfortunately, the effects of destroying the planet rained destruction on the earth several years later, in the form of a huge explosion and many smaller ones. My understanding is that the scientists call this the K/T boundary?"

Ray made a mental note to see what his Oracle abilities could help to discover. He felt confident that there was something incorrect in Tauriz' statements but had no idea which part, nor even why he was so sure.

"I'm workin' on numbers fer this one, too, folks -- even tho' it's younger, th' numbers are fuzzier cuz no one has good numbers fer the planet before the asteroid belt."

"Let us know when you're close to publishing, please, Mac," Ray requested.

"Ya got it, Ray."

"Tauriz, do you think mortals could have done what the angelics did?" queried Jessica.

"The teaching I received claimed that mortals were involved, but at the direction of the angelics."

"Who rules the angelics, do we know?" was the query from Antoine.

"There are completely unproven rumors of a true immortal known only as the Creator who rules the benevolent angelics. The selfish angelics are much more confrontational, much less coherent, and, as such, seem to have had many different leaders of various factions and segments of their populace. The benevolent angelics have never answered these questions when asked, and the few selfish ones seem to pick out answers at random."

"If you and Tauriz were to fully cut loose, no limitations, no concerns, what level of disaster could we expect to see, Ray?" asked Annya.

"Using Hinn abilities, the samum? Like we just discussed with Mac, we could probably sterilize a radius in the hundreds of miles range fairly quickly. With time, we could likely do more."

"So, more destructive than a nuclear device?"

"Potentially, but without the fallout and potentially without the explosive effects, if what I'm thinking of would work."

"It would, Ray. That is one way the Hinn fought back against those that stole life force. Rather than gifting them with a large battery they could tap as they desired, the Hinn would occasionally perform what Ray thinks of as a scorched-earth approach, precluding these particular beings from gaining some of their greatest ability usage."

"What's the furthest you've reached with your techniques thus far," Annya wanted to know.

"Geosynchronous orbit on the far side of the planet for me. Tauriz?"

"The same. Until recently, there were rare reasons to reach beyond the Earth."

"What can you create?" was Jimmy Boch's question.

In answer, Ray created a five-pound diamond in his hand. "Nearly anything. I can shape matter as well," he said, changing the diamond into a baton, then a disk, "and I can duplicate materials easily." He demonstrated this by making a second disk, then two more.

"Creating something like ammunition from scratch is more difficult due to the heterogeneous nature of the object and the precision required in many of its parts. Creating a pile of gunpowder or any monolithic material, however, is pretty easy. Your pardon if I don't demonstrate, however."

Jimmy's next question was, "How fast can you travel?"

"Supersonic, or in some circumstances, we're able to teleport nontrivial distances."

"With all these abilities, why do you need us?" was Jimmy's next question.

"Because I wish to remain human and modern in as many ways as I practically can. I don't want to wish each meal into existence -- I want to create them from scratch or at least out of a box. I want to keep the supply chains as they are or a bit better, and I don't want to throw around massive power that our enemies can detect and act upon."

"Speaking of enemies," Holger spoke up, "I take it the excitement last night at your place was, what, Jinn?"

"That's correct, a dozen of them."

"Who else do you see as enemies of a similar scale?"

"First off, the Jinn last night attacked foolishly, using their abilities inefficiently. Had they played to their strengths, they could potentially have caused greater casualties. I believe the end result would have been similar outside the injuries, however. Angelics are much more dangerous than Jinn. Jann are roughly equivalent to the Jinn in terms of danger although the specifics change significantly between the two. Genie are likely to become involved, and these might have been created from almost anything. Genie are not a danger in and of themselves, as the bulk of their power is constrained. Guided by mortal hands, they can become exceedingly dangerous.

"There are some fairly new types of being that we're slowly discovering. 'Fairly new' in this context means in the past hundred thousand years, which is how long Tauriz last slept. Thus far, we've already encountered what appears to be segments of Russian, Arabic, and Germanic mythologies. We've heard of some Nordic mythological beings' existence. We have no way of truly knowing what other myths may or may not be correct. For all we know, the Little Green Men of the alien believers may be something of a modern mythology based in fact -- or it may just be credulous people ingesting too many funny substances. If they exist, they appear to have nontrivial capabilities, and it'd be rank speculation to try and categorize them without more information."

Monica asked, "This brings up the question about how long you've been awake, Tauriz."

"I've been conscious with Ray for a few hours more than two days at this point."

"Yet we've got records going back years. How did you do that?"

"Ray wished for it. Genie can tap into a strange power we don't fully understand to satisfy their Master's wishes. As such, I was able to create records and memories of my existence before my consciousness as Tauriz Aoud. This is the first time I have had a second name, Aoud is a common surname in what is now called the Middle East, where I was first created."

"You can create memories?"

"Within some limitations and with a wish for my Master, I can. I cannot do so with samum or jawhar, or at least I do not know how to nor have I learned of any who were able to do so."

"What can't you do, Tauriz?"

"I cannot perceive genie beyond the reach of my eyes. Jann are extremely difficult for me to perceive if they do not wish to be perceived. Jinn are also severely challenging to detect. The further something is from me, the more difficult it is for me to affect. Without a wish, I cannot create or recover rwh. I cannot alter a being to become anything other than Hinn, although perhaps a carefully designed wish might allow me to. My wishes are, unlike sex genie, focused on combat, the preparation for combat, and recovery from combat. If the wish cannot fit within in those concepts, I am unable to grant it."

The room was quiet for a bit with that. Eventually, Amber spoke up. "You've given us a vacation itinerary of ancient oddities, like the Jordan Rift Valley, the Nazca Lines, and Easter Island. These seem to be likely to you to be, what, locations you might find more mythologies?"

"They seem most likely to have remnants of non-human civilizations, perhaps misidentified as human or natural oddities. As such, we're curious to see what, if anything, we can find there. At the time we listed those locations, we'd had brief contact with only one mythology, and that was second-hand. We haven't properly considered mythological centers to investigate at this time, and given the way things are going, it seems likely we'll be introduced to more sooner rather than later. We also need to transition that list over to Boch's folks when you've got a moment."

"I'll get it to you after this meeting, Jennifer," Amber promised.

"On that threat scale, where does Baba Yaga fit?" Tomaz wanted to know.

"Near the top, probably somewhere well above the Jinn and near the angelics -- she pulled off a feat widely considered to be impossible."

"What does that feat -- making you an Oracle, I think? -- mean?"

"It means there's more mystical stuff in my life that I need to figure out," Ray chuckled. "And unfortunately for poor me, there's no lovely guide like with the Hinn."

"Oracles are famed for gaining massive power very quickly on their ascension to the title," Tauriz further explained. "How this happens has been a mystery, and is something I hope to learn more about -- it might answer many old riddles left behind by prior Oracles."

Tomaz asked, "It seemed like you and Tauriz were communicating on the fly about the threats from those Jinn last night. Were you?"

"We can communicate at an untested but long range quite quickly as long as it's something that 'made sense' to the ancient Hinn. Fights made sense to them. Something like Oracle powers or, I suspect, computer science, appear to be significantly harder to communicate, kind of like talking about sex around young kids -- you can't say "fuck," but you can hint and insinuate around what you wish to communicate."

This analogy caused Annya to blush and surprised chuckles out of Jonathon, Holger and probably others.

Tauriz explained further, "Historically, Hinn could communicate nearly instantly around the planet. How that has changed with so few Hinn alive, we have yet to determine. We frankly have been staying very close to each other."

Holger asked, "You mentioned this other Hinn held at NSA, and that you want them out. How are you going to do this?"

"We might be able to negotiate something with Shapiro, but I'm not holding my breath. Beyond that, we're taking it a step at a time. We won't be involving any of you in actions of questionable legality, however."

"Can't say I like the sound of it frankly, Ray. It'd be easy to get tarred with the same brush."

"There are good options and bad options, Holger, all I can say right now is that we intend to follow the best options we can find that solve this, but it needs to get solved and soon. They're weak and getting weaker, and I have no way to tell how much more they can take."

Chapter 37

Tauriz shared a technique -- Hinn can easily split their attention and do more than one thing at a time. Hinn itself enabled this and made it an almost trivial exercise. They also had a connection with that far voice. Perhaps they should reach out while talking to Shapiro and bring the voice someplace safe?

Using human magics, augmented with Hinn healing the fatigue they incurred, they could create illusions of anyone they wished to focus their attention at the far end. There'd be no physical evidence -- everything would be an illusion or projected force.

Looking at his watch, Ray realized he had ninety minutes to make this happen. Ray split himself.

Ray #1 asked if there were any other questions, or should they break and find lunch?

Ray #2 greeted a fraction of Tauriz and together they began stretching south, towards the far voice.

Ray #1 answered Jessica's question about how long they had. "By my watch, we've got ninety minutes before Shapiro and company are due back here. There are a nice little café and pizza joint at opposite corners of the stadium, which saves us from having to deal with the horrible traffic here in Upstate. I'll drop the cone of silence once we leave the room, so all conversation will be public until we regather."

Ray #2 felt the thought clouds getting thicker and thicker, but Tauriz' defensive techniques prevented them from causing any harmful effects. The defenses were harder to keep erected at a distance - something that was mildly worrying. What if they got there and were unable to affect whatever was keeping the far voice trapped?

Ray #1 voted for the café, where he'd first introduced Tauriz to his friends. The crowd split about evenly between the two venues. He idly wondered if the motley crew of his friends would be at a table, and if so, should he introduce them to everyone.

Ray #2 pushed through the edge of the noise around New York City, finding calmer 'air' on the far side before it started building up to a lesser peak around Philadelphia.

Ray #1 ambled with Jessica, Emily, Paul, and Holger towards the café, Tauriz talking with the sisters and Annya while Johnny listened in a little distance behind. It almost looked accidental how small groups of two or three Skepsi troopers encircled them, seemingly engrossed in their conversations even as their eyes missed nothing going on around them.

Ray #2 rode the edge of Philadelphia's densest mind-clouds, heading further south and west to get ready to punch through the thickest portions of the clouds surrounding Baltimore.

Ray #1 saw his friends eating and waved, but kept the conversation going with the four leads. The topics were light, but each was feeling out the people newest to them.

Ray #2 drove hard, splitting the clouds to make a less challenging path. The degree of effort was noticeable this far away, but it was not impossible. Reaching the far side, he paused and felt for the far voice that had called him.

Ray #1 ordered a corned-beef ruben, his favorite meal in this café, and stood with everyone else waiting for the staff to put it together.

Ray #2 caught a mental whiff of the voice and followed it. The iconic black glass building rose before him. Both Ray and Tauriz pushed in through the walls without difficulty, finding themselves in a dark room with a pair of emergency exit signs the only lights.

Ray #1 picked up his order and told the leads he'd be right back and that he wanted to say hello to some colleagues briefly. Walking over to the three, Ray apologized for not joining them, saying he was having a working lunch with a bunch of visitors.

Ray #2 passed through the door without opening it, hunting for more traces of the far voice. They heard it, briefly, struggling to say "Here!" from somewhere underground.

Ray #1 rejoined the leads and took over a table set for four. Ray grabbed a fifth chair and claimed an end. The seating behind and to either side of him quickly got taken by Skepsi troopers, leaving another table for six unclaimed next to Ray's.

Ray #2 dove through the floors, following the new trace. He passed through concrete and earth, ending in a darkened basement. Sending jawhar around himself, he felt out the room and came into contact with the far voice.

Ray #1 took his first bite of his lunch, swallowing quickly to chuckle appreciatively at Holger's witticism. The big man had a very nimble brain when he chose to let it show. Tauriz and her conversational partners settled into the table for six nearby.

Ray #2 engulfed the metal box that held the captive Hinn genie. It was large, it was heavy, and it was frigid, with lots of electricity being used to keep it that way.

Ray #1 dipped a fry in the extra Thousand Islands dressing and savored the treat. Paul was surprised -- he'd never seen anyone dip their fries in anything other than ketchup.

Ray #2 found the Hinn. It lay frozen solid in the middle of the box, suspended on thick cords that extended from a framework surrounding it to anchor points surgically tied into its -- her -- skeleton. Someone had performed some gruesome experiments on this poor Hinn.

Ray #1 paused in eating his meal for a second, fighting down nausea from the discovery his other fraction had made. A few deep breaths and he was able to return to his meal. The pause, however, was noticed by all the professional observers at the table, even if they didn't ask him what happened.

Ray #2 prepared a wish in Hinn to recover the genie and its book. Its equivalent of Tauriz' sheathe was a book! Hinn never bothered with books -- they remembered what they needed to without needing external assistance, so the enslavement of making a genie must have imposed this.

At the same time, Ray #1 prepared a second wish in Hinn to replace the genie and its book with facsimiles that would prevent any alarms from being triggered after they rescued the genie. They layered the wish-generated illusions over the actual genie and its -- her -- book.

Ray #2 activated both illusion wish, followed by the healing and recovery wish. Working within the illusion, he wished the book to be transported to Ray's condo, into the bookcase in his bedroom. Ray and Tauriz' #2 segments followed the book, standing guard immaterially in the bedroom until Ray would be able to retrieve the book physically.

Ray #1 looked up and smiled. "You know, I'm looking forward to meeting Mr. Shapiro. I wonder how truthful he'll choose to be."

Holger and Paul looked at Ray, wondering for a second why he'd mention that aloud. Jessica, a somewhat more subtle operator, looked down and stirred her salad, looking for something particularly tasty to tuck into the last remaining corner her appetite had left empty. Emily didn't visibly react.