Free Psion Delta by Jacob Gowans Page B

off?”
    Dr.
Rosmir shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. It’s probably the same reason
you don’t shoot the skin off your bones with energy blasts.”
    “Why’s
that?”
    The
answer was a second shrug. “No idea. The Tensais sure love studying the
question, though.”
    “Any
guess on how long it will take my Anomaly Eleven to come back? Or for all the
‘light switches’ to come back on?”
    “Several
doctors, including me, had a big discussion about that two days ago. Everything
was theories and guesses. No one knows for sure. Most of them believe it will
all come back at once. A few us think it will be more gradual, like I already
explained. But either way, we’re reasonably confident it’ll come back
eventually. I hope that gives you some comfort, even if it means you don’t
shoot back up to the top of the rankings at headquarters.”
    They
sat together in silence for a few seconds before Dr. Rosmir spoke again. “I’ll
probably need to reevaluate you every month for a year or so. That’s standard
procedure for these things. In the meantime, you’re done and can go back home.
Good work.”
    He
waved Commander Byron into the room to tell him they were through. Byron led
Sammy to his cruiser waiting on top of one of the roofs. Neither he nor Sammy
said anything as they took off, but after glancing a few times at the
commander, Sammy could sense that something was different. Byron’s normally
stony face betrayed an emotion that Sammy hadn’t seen before: anger.
    The
closest thing he’d seen to this before was when Commander Byron had broken up a
fight Sammy had been involved in, but this seemed to go much, much deeper. Though
sorely tempted to break the silence, Sammy knew it was best to keep quiet.
Byron didn’t speak at all during the flight, and when they landed on the roof
of Beta headquarters, he took Sammy into the office of his apartment on the
sixth floor.
    Byron’s
office was filled with shelves stuffed with awards, keepsakes, and other
mementos. Pictures lined his walls, just like the other rooms Sammy had seen
the last time he’d visited. Byron took the seat behind his desk, still
bristling with a cold fury that Sammy found alarming and slightly dangerous.
    “I
am glad you are back,” he began, looking not at Sammy, but at an empty spot on
the top of his desk. “I know my demeanor at the moment may not reflect that.”
    “Thank
you, sir.”
    “While
you and Dr. Rosmir were speaking, I received a call from General Wu.
Unfortunately, I have not had time to process the news.”
    “I’m
sorry, but I don’t understand.”
    “Changes
are coming, Samuel,” Byron said, “from powers beyond my control.”
    “What
do you mean, sir?”
    “I
am being relieved of my station at Beta headquarters.”
    “What?
They can’t—”
    “He
can and he did. Next week will be my last as head of Psion Beta. I’ve been
promoted to Alpha Command. My new assignment will be a full-time Anomaly
recruiter and head of Alpha security. I am to devote my energies and attention
to investigating everything Commander Wrobel did to sabotage our systems and
leak information.”
    The
news hit Sammy like a blast to the chest. How can they make him do something
like that? “But—”
    “Wait,
please, for the rest. It also appears more and more likely that you will be
forced to graduate early to Alpha. I tried to convince Command and General Wu
that you are not ready, but they do not agree with me. Hence my—well, my
promotion.”
    “How—how—how
long do I have? Are they going to make me go if I don’t want to?”
    “I
doubt it, but who knows? Nothing is official yet so try not to let it worry
you. The man replacing me is Major Tawhiri. A good man, but he does things
differently. He has been asked to evaluate you and determine when you should
graduate.”
    “Then
I’ll suck so bad at everything that he can’t graduate me.”
    Byron
fixed Sammy with a hard stare.
    “Well?”
    “You
need to keep a