During the early days of Sannaro's life with the Astrisi, Sannaro learns how to survive the teasing by the other children about how different he is from the Astrisi by learning to use his telepathy to outwit his classmates.

****

Edat had announced over the intercom the results of a mass testing to award advancements for self-defense.  He listed that Taki, Kuro, Alo, Arcas, Di'ok and Sannaro were to go to ships' stores to get their new colored sashes.

Sannaro met Di’ok at his quarters and they excitedly went to the elevator.
 The door opened to a hall that already had a line.
 It seemed they were the last to arrive.
 Kuro’s soft boots scuffed over the floor like scrambling mice.  "Come on, Taki!"
 "It’s too long!"  He raised the sash over his head as if they would be able to see his problem with the length of the cloth.
 "It’s too long!" Alo sniggered as he elbowed Kuro’s arm.
 He would get them out of there quick with a little nudge of their minds so they’d voice the thoughts they usually wouldn’t say aloud.  Sannaro

chuckled quietly then concentrated.
 "Oh, always so coordinated, are you, programmer?" Kuro sneered.
 "Well, a Worlder has better style sense than you, Kuro!"  Taki became astonished when he realized what he said.
 "Alo, get my sash for me!" Kuro shook his fist at Taki.  "This scrawny pretty boy’s going to learn not to mess with a metal smith!"
 "What kind of metal do you work, aluminum?" Taki taunted then became redder.
 "San, stop that," Di’ok whispered.
 Sannaro was concentrating with just a trace of a smile on his face.
 "I don’t like Taki or Kuro any more than you do, but Taki will get smashed by Kuro on that mat!"
 "The damage has been done."  He snickered and relaxed.  "I just encouraged them to say what was in their minds already.  Besides, Taki has a chance; he's smaller and faster than lumbering Kuro."  He watched Kuro pull protesting Taki to the elevator.
 By the time they had their sashes, an announcement was given for Sannaro to report to the Medical Center.
 "That was Ki’el and he was irritated," Di’ok said about the announcer.
 "He’s not the only one."  Sannaro winced and looked at his watch.  "Oh, fausa, it’s too early to say I have to get ready for flight school."
 "Don’t worry, neither Kuro nor Taki knew you were influencing their words.  They can’t tell your dad you were in it."
 They made their way toward the elevator and entered it.
 "Ha!  I sensed Taki’s confusion.  He must have told Zhad he didn’t understand why he said those things.  Zhad figured it out!  He’s really mad and I’m going to get it!  I hope Taki isn’t too bad off because if he’s badly beaten, Zhad will take me to the mats."
 "Not when you’ve got school."
 "He’d do it after school!"
 The door opened on the Medical Center.
 Zhad stood in the middle of the hall with his arms crossed on his chest.  "My office, Sannaro.  Later, Di’ok."
 Di’ok promptly commanded the elevator to take him to the general quarters' section.
 Sannaro heard him sigh with relief as the doors closed.
 Sannaro reluctantly followed his father to his office.
 The door to the office closed behind Zhad and Sannaro.
 Zhad was now staring down menacingly at him.
 For once Sannaro wished that Saili weren’t naturally a meter or more shorter than Humans as he forced his eyes away from the breast pocket

of his father’s lab coat and met Zhad’s solid rock-brown eyes.
 "What, in a supernova, were you trying to do?  What were you trying to achieve from messing with those two boy's thoughts?  You know Kuro loves an excuse to fight someone he knows he can beat."
 Sannaro felt that the force of Zhad’s verbal explosion was going to topple him to the floor.  "How bad is Taki?"
 Zhad’s eyebrows wrinkled and his voice softened.  "Now, that I don’t understand.  He held up well and even caused Kuro injury.  What did you tell Taki?"  The hardness had returned.
 Sannaro shook his head.  "I didn’t!  I just told Di’ok that Taki still had a chance to win over Kuro because he is smaller and faster.  I didn’t send it to Taki!"
 "Well, somehow he did win over Kuro, but, that aside, how dare you invade another person’s mind!  No one on this ship can defend themselves from that because we're not generally telepathic.  How many times do I have to tell you not to use your telepathy as an advantage over people?"
 Sannaro whimpered under the sheer fury that battered his finer senses.  "But sometimes I have to, Yaro."
 "When necessary, houk, but that was a malicious prank!  Don’t you dare do that again or you’ll see personally how Taki won over Kuro cause I’ll do it to you!"
 "Houk, Yaro."  Sannaro left Zhad’s office with a headache.  As he rubbed his temples, he felt a blast of animosity from behind him.
 He sensed that Kuro was walking down the hall, intent on cornering him.
 Sannaro quickened his pace to the elevator and pressed the call button.
 Kuro quickened his pace also so he could get to the elevator as it arrived.  He was a few dozen paces away when the elevator door swept open.
Sannaro slipped inside and pressed the button to close the door.
 Kuro rushed up and put his hand between the buffers and the door sprang back open.  Kuro slipped inside.  He stood impassively until the doors closed on them.  Kuro whirled on Sannaro.  “What the fausa did you do to me, Uta?”
 “Nothing, you were just being an ass like you always are.”
 Kuro rushed at Sannaro.
 Sannaro ducked under Kuro’s fist.
 “Ships stores, level 3!” Sannaro called out and the elevator began to move one level down, then it opened again.
 Kuro charged again with a lower punch.
 Sannaro dove to the floor and slid through Kuro’s legs out of the elevator.
 “Come back here, Uta!” Kuro roared as he rushed out the closing doors.
 Sannaro sprang back to his feet and walked quickly down the empty hallway.
 Kuro walked faster with his longer legs to catch up with Sannaro.
 Sannaro slipped around a turn.
 “Face me, you cheap nugget!”
 Sannaro wished he could mind-slap Kuro to stop the raging bully, but he knew if he did that, Kuro would report the headache to Zhad and he’d get in further trouble with his foster father.  He was sure he didn’t want to another lecture.  How was he going to get out of this unrelenting hunt without Kuro beating him up for influencing Taki’s thoughts?
 He stopped inside a recessed door and thought what if he could do more to influence Kuro like he’d done earlier, but to convince him to stop looking for him.  He glanced down the empty hallway.  At least Kuro hadn’t followed him.  He sure wished he could disappear into an empty hallway.  Wait, he knew he could influence people’s thoughts to make them say what was on their minds that they wouldn’t usually admit so why couldn’t he influence what a person saw?  It was all thought processes.
 Kuro was wandering the area and was coming near.
 Sannaro entered the bully’s mind and followed the neurological pathways until he found the visual processing center.
 As Kuro turned the corner, Sannaro sent a picture to Kuro’s mind of an empty hallway.
 Sannaro was curious to see how well it worked; he walked into the center of the hall just to the side of the big boy.
 Kuro rushed right past him as if he were invisible.
 Sannaro controlled a snicker as he casually retraced his steps back to the elevator and called it.
 The door swept open and Sannaro stepped in.
 Once the door was closed, he called for the elevator to take him to his home level.  He leaned against the wall and laughed heartily.  He now had a strategy to avoid getting cornered by the most annoying boy on the Kumani although he knew if anyone learned that he could plant false images in another person’s mind, Zhad was going to punish him terribly.  For now, no one had to know his newfound skill.  He stepped into his apartment and greeted his foster mother, Adara before he slipped into his bedroom and spent the rest of the afternoon studying the Vizha’i control board until Adara called that it was dinner time.

 

Published 05/22/2013