Primary Inversion (Saga of the Skolian Empire) Paperback Read Online Free PDF

chose a chair with a worn covering that crackled when I
sat down. Rex settled into a green chair. When Tiller pulled up his seat, we
made a small circle. He pulled a slender rod out of his pocket and tapped it
against his knee. The rod hummed, then unrolled into a flexible screen that lay
in his lap. Dark letters appeared, suspended about a millimeter above the
screen. A holocam icon glowed in one corner, which I guessed meant he was also
making a visual recording.
    “Okay.” As Tiller spoke, his words formed above the screen. “Tell
me what happened.”
    “A Trader Aristo is visiting the Arcade,” I said.
    Tiller stiffened. “And?”
    I considered him for a moment. “Do you know why we call the
Eubians by the name Traders?”
    He nodded. “I know—knew—someone who was on a ship captured
by a Eubian Huntercraft. His family has been trying to find him for six years
now. The authorities say he’s probably been sold to an Aristo.”
    “I’m sorry.” I knew their chances of rescuing his friend
were nil. “We think that may be why the Aristo is here. To find providers.”
    As Tiller’s hand tightened on the arm of his chair, my own
knuckles started to ache. “You think he’s planning to kidnap someone?” Tiller
asked.
    Rex rubbed his hands together, massaging the knuckles. “It’s
possible.”
    “I don’t understand,” Tiller said. “Why would an Aristo come
to Delos for that?”
    “Providers have to be empaths,” Rex said. “And empaths are
rare, particularly among the Traders. He might have thought he had a better
chance of finding one here.”
    “Empaths?” Tiller spoke carefully. “The official Allied position
is that they don’t exist.”
    Rex shrugged. “That’s your problem.”
    Tiller held up his hands. “I didn’t say we all thought that.
Just that the experts aren’t yet officially convinced true empaths exist.”
    I wondered how an official conviction differed from an unofficial
one. “An entire range exists, from simple empaths all the way up to those who
can sometimes pick up the thoughts that go with the emotions.”
    A surge of excitement made my stomach feel like shimmerflies
danced in it. In the same instant Tiller said, “You mean telepathy, yes? Are
you—?” He stopped himself. “I don’t mean to pry. It’s just that I’ve never met
telepaths before. I mean, you have to be, right? If you’re Jagernauts?”
    I couldn’t help but smile. I liked Tiller. Most people
wanted to be as far from us as possible, fearing we would violate their privacy,
or worse. I had heard fabulous talents attributed to Jagernauts, everything
from moving mountains to adjusting the future. In truth the best we could do
was catch unusually intense thoughts, and even that was difficult unless the
sender was also a strong enough empath to send thoughts as well as emotions.
    “A Jagernaut has to rate five or above on the scale,” Rex
said.
    “Scale?” Tiller asked.
    “The Kyle Empathic Reception and Expression Scale,” I said. “Most
people just call it the psi scale. It measures an empath’s strength. The scale
is inverse exponential, so higher numbers are rare. Ninety-nine percent of all
humans are between zero and two. Only one in every hundred thousand is above
five. What most people call telepaths are six or above.”
    Tiller looked from Rex to me. “And you’re both sixes?”
    Neither Rex nor I answered. After a moment, Tiller said, “What’s
wrong?”
    “What would you do,” I asked, “if I asked you how many times
you made love last night?”
    He reddened, and suddenly I felt mortified, as if I had
peeked into his bedroom. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t realize it was so
private.”
    “I rate as a ten,” Rex said.
    I stared at him. What had possessed him to reveal that? I
knew the ratings for my squad: Taas was seven, Helda six. At ten, Rex was that
one-in-ten-billion telepath. But knowing their ratings was part of my job as squad
leader. I doubted Rex had told