Reality Heist - Geordi Riker (ready player one ebook TXT) 📗

to get me to talk about Hiyori .
“Well, it's just like you pass out and wham, just like that I can feel your Pressure. And I don't buy that story about how it must have been a slow manifestation. You slide because of your Pressure. So something must have deadened our senses, so that we couldn't find it. And since none of us have tried to kill you so far, it's not like one of us is responsible.
“So the only explanation left, even though it is seriously confusing, is the idea that your Pressure is so huge that we couldn't sense it. It would explain the sort of black hole effect that you have, where we can't sense anything within your area, can't link up with anyone in the immediate vicinity. Ever since you joined up, we've had to shout at each other in the Link, as if some unseen filter is trying to jam our signal.”
“Well, if you say so, then maybe. I don't know.”
“Cop out,” he grins, “Seriously, when you were out, did you do any sort of astral travelling?”
“Say what?”
“Astral travelling. The ability of the mind to leave the body for short amounts of time and travel through the realms we normally only partially see in dreams.”
“You are seriously whack, you know that, right? You don't actually believe in that crap, do you? I mean, it's one thing to have powers, but that's taking the joke too far. At least the powers can be explained.”
“Oh, really? When did you become an expert on the paranormal? Last time I checked, you didn't know about the whole super idea until it slipped out.”
“Nice,” I congratulate him sarcastically, “Excellent choice of words there, as if it was something else you guys were hiding form me. Nice going, Professor Loudmouth.”
“Don't you start too,” He threatens, “It's bad enough getting nicknames like Sticky Fingertips. I really don't need the others to come up with a whole new section of nicknames based on that new one.”
“'Sticky fingertips'?”
“Based on the uncanny knack objects have to stick to my fingers. As I brush past you on the street, I can snag your watch, your wallet, and your other jewelry. It's a talent that I've nurtured over the years.”
“Right, because your family is expected to develop criminal tendencies.”
He grimaces, “To be honest, I just told the others that so that they wouldn't be all on my case. Which they are anyways, so it's kind of pointless. The truth is, we're supposed to lead by example. Hei knew about my ways, and although he didn't say anything to me out right about is, I could tell by his face every time he caught me that he didn't approve. But it's not his position to punish me, and I guess he just dismissed it as a spoiled rich kid trying to get some attention from his dad who's too busy to even acknowledge that he has more than one son.”
I have no idea what to say, and just gape at him. He notices my expression and smirks, his eyes belying the hurt he's trying to hide, “Don't worry about it too much. If the others find out, oh well. I'm kind of sick of lying to them. And something about you just makes me want to tell the truth. Is that your power? Compelling others to do your bidding just by looking at them?”
“I have no idea.” I state truthfully. Hiyori and I never really talked about it. Even as she pops into my head again, the little verse she sang rises unbidden, as if the words were burned into my memory. I start humming the tune, remembering how it made me feel- sad, empty, hollow. I can't help it, the tune just cries out in sadness, and the world feels even more oppressive the more I hum.
Something inside of me sparks, and suddenly I can feel the flame. The flame that Hiyori said was my pressure. I glance up to see if Jesse has noticed, but he's staring out the window, watching blankly as we drive through the countryside. I turn my attention back to my Pressure. Hiyori said that there was a way to control it, make it grow larger or smaller, and that by making it smaller, I would make it stronger. That had been the whole point of what we had done for that year in Kan Kaku.
Right now, my Pressure is huge, volume speaking. But it's diluted, since it mingles with other things in the area, including other people's Pressures. Hiyori says that the smaller I can make the surface area, the more pure and concentrated it will become, until it is purely my Pressure surrounding me. That is something I can manipulate, twist into actual physical objects, or use to bend other things around me, like light. It's supposed to be used for stuff, but she never really elaborated on how it would actually help me, just that if I left it in it's standard state everybody else would suffocate.
“Jesse?” He looks up. “What's the deal with Pressure? Can we actually do anything with it?”
He thinks for a moment, “Not sure. Other than being able to focus it to cover our back packs so that they come with, I have no idea. I've never really thought about it before, to tell you the truth. I've just sort of accepted it as always going to be there, something that was a part of us. The fact that everybody has it kind of makes it sort of pointless, right? If everyone has it, then it's not like having more means that it can be used.”
“Do you hear yourself talking? You said that everyone has it. Everything everybody has is present for a purpose. We have arms and legs that we use, so why can't we use Pressure like an extra limb? The fact that we have more than most people should mean that we can use it more effectively. Just like a track star can use his legs more effectively than someone stuck in a wheelchair”
“That's just crazy talk, Dee. You can't do anything with it. The backpacks are programmed to respond solely to the person whose Pressure fits the lock around it.”
“Programmed? Lock? You're not making much sense her, Jess, you know that right?”
He sighs, “We've tried experiments where we take something out of one person's bag moments before a slide, and have somebody else try to take it along with their Pressure. It's never worked. So we've come to the conclusion that everybody has different Pressure, and each backpack and stuff included in them are made for specific people.”
“Seriously? That's the best you guys could come up with? Maybe you just couldn't control your Pressure enough to be able to extend it to objects you're not as familiar with.”
“Since when were you an expert on Pressure? As I recall, you only just showed signs of real Pressure last night.”
“What do you think Black Pressure is then, huh?”
“The absence of Pressure. It's just like the opposite of light is the absence of light.”
“Then how could I be leaking it out so much before?” I press.
“I don't know. It's just like these extremely thin but dense black ribbons radiating from you. Most people have a sort of light surrounding them, that's their Pressure. Your black Pressure was like a spider web swirling out from you, and it felt... heavy.”
“So do you think I can use my newly evolved pressure for stuff like telekinesis?”
“How the heck am I supposed to know? You can't just expect the impossible. I don't know why your Pressure was whack before, I don't have an explanation for why it's suddenly somewhat normal now, and I don't know if pressure can be used for anything important like telekinesis.”
“But wouldn't telekinesis simply be surrounding an object with the Motes and moving them?”
“Motes? What the heck are you talking about?”
My eyes widen with surprise as I realize what I've done. How do I dig myself out of this one? “Sorry, that came out wrong,” I apologize, my mind racing to come up with something, “I meant Pressure, I don't know why I said Motes.”
“What, pray tell, are Motes?”
You may as well tell him,

Hiyori sighs in my head, But no one else.

“That's what our Pressure's made of,” I explain, “Lots of tiny particles called Motes. While you and the others might see a light surrounding a person, I see those tiny particles zipping about, swinging around a person almost faster than my eyes can track them. They're the determining factor in the colour too, the more concentrated or diluted your pressure is changes the colour of your pressure.”
“And where did you get that from?”
Tell him everything. But leave out how huge your Pressure actually is.

“Well, there's this thing called an Inner World. Basically, everyone of us has one, and it's like our core. It's that calm, inner place that the Hindus and Buddhists tell you to find. As far as I know, it sticks with us, even when we slide.”
“A dimensional plane unaffected by the distorting waves we travel through,” he muses, but doesn't try to interrupt me and prompts me to continue.
“Apparently, we all have one. And in that Inner World, normally abandoned, I have this person hanging out in there, like some sort of guardian angel. She told me about the whole Mote idea, and showed me how to control my Pressure.”
“How come none of us have ever encountered a 'guardian angel' or even gone to our Inner Worlds?”
“Well, maybe you guys have, in your dreams. The place is different for everyone. I don't know. We were too busy trying to control my Pressure.”
“What's so bad ass about your Pressure?”
“Nothing,” I protest, almost too quickly, “ Maybe the control of it just isn't as innate for me as it is for the rest of your guys. I don't know. I barely understand this stuff myself. Do you really expect me to be able to explain it to someone else?”
“Well, that's certainly a way to test your knowledge, by teaching it to someone who has no clue what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, great. Guess we just proved that if there were going to be a test on this stuff, I’d fail.”
“So, what's your guardian's name?”
I hesitate, before replying, “Jinta.” For some reason, I don't want to tell him her actual name. It's not that I don't trust Jesse or anything, it's just that I don't want to share her. Like lying about her name will somehow keep her safe. It's weird, but that's how I feel.
“Jinta, hmm?” he muses, “That's an interesting name. Where I come from, that’s a boy's name, but sounds actually kind of cute for a girl. So, when did all of this Inner world stuff take place?”
“When I was unconscious,” I reply sheepishly.
He grins authoritatively, “Knew it. There was something off when you tried to explain why you were out of it for so long. Why the sudden change of heart of telling the rest of us?”
“Just you, actually. This can't go back to the others.”
“Serious? You do realize that that's like, a felony in the noble houses, keeping a secret like that from the boss.”
“Well, good thing nobody here's too big on rank then, isn't it?” I give him a pointed look, “You can't tell anyone about this, Jesse, not even Chase.”
“Wow, you aren't kidding.” He runs a hand through his hair, “Okay, I'll keep your secret. But you do realize that you'll have to come clean about this sometime with the others, right? Something like this you can't just keep bottled up inside.” He gives