Mistworld (Deathstalker Prelude) Read Online Free PDF

whiplash scar that lay redly across her broken right cheekbone. The scar gave her face an odd, twisted look, and pulled up the right side of her mouth into a constant bitter half-smile.
    The Empire distrusted its espers, and so kept them under a harsh and brutal discipline. Which was why so many of them ended up on Mistworld.
    “Disrupters,” said Suzanne du Wolfe quietly, her hands resting lightly on the tabletop as she leaned forward. “No one doubts their worth as weapons, but we all know their limitations. Cannon have a faster recharge time than handguns, but it still takes their energy crystals a good minute and more to recharge between each shot. With all respect, Councillor Darkstrom, there’s nothing these disrupters can do that the esper shield can’t do just as well, and much more efficiently.”
    She stopped, and raised her left hand. She frowned slightly, and a pale blue flame sprang into being, licking lazily around her hand without harming it. Du Wolfe smiled slowly, and the flame blazed up into a stream of bright, burning fire, leaping and flaring like a glowing fountain. The other Councillors leant back in their chairs, flinching from the searing heat. And then the flame was gone, with nothing left to show it had ever been there, save for the unnatural warmth that still permeated the Council chamber. Suzanne du Wolfe was a Pyro.
    “The psionic shield has kept Mistworld safe from the Empire for almost two centuries. Working together, espers can hex a ship’s tech and mindwipe its crew in less time than it takes a computer to bring its guns to bear. And espers don’t have to stop to recharge. Disrupters are all very well in their way, but an esper will always be far more dangerous than any man-made weapon.”
    Suzanne du Wolfe sat down again, and looked around to see if anyone dared disagree.
    “You may well be right,” said Darkstrom, “but in the end espers are only human, and humans can make mistakes. Disrupter cannon just do as the fire computers tell them, and technology doesn’t grow tired or irritable or make mistakes under pressure. A computer simply carries out its orders. No one here doubts that the psionic shield has proved itself to be an invaluable defence; I merely suggest that the time has come to augment that shield with a high-tech system of high-class weaponry. You’ve never seen what disrupter cannon can do to a starship, Councillor du Wolfe. I have.”
    “We’re all familiar with your history as a starship Captain,” said Suzanne du Wolfe sweetly. “But that was a long time ago. No doubt the Empire has improved their force shields since then. If we try to match their technology with ours, we’re always going to be at a disadvantage. They have vast sources of high tech to draw on, while ours are already running out. Our only hope is the psionic shield; the Empire will never come up with a defence against espers.”
    “I’m not suggesting the psionic shield should be disbanded,” said Darkstrom with noticeably heavy patience. “The shield will still be there, but as a backup provision, in case the tech system should somehow fail. This would free your fellow espers from the need to spend long arduous hours on shield duty, and enable them to take on other tasks where their skills are more needed. At any given time, there are two hundred espers sitting in a trance at the command centre, waiting on the off chance that the Empire might decide to launch an attack. Meanwhile, Mistport is falling apart around us because we don’t have the technology or the espers to keep it running smoothly.”
    “Right,” growled Steel. “We can always use more espers. The psionic shield has always had one major drawback; it takes a minimum of two hundred espers working together to raise an effective shield. To fight off an attack by the entire Fleet, we’d need five times that number. What happens if for any reason we couldn’t raise that many?”
    “There are over two thousand espers in