Free Only Human by Chris Reher

understand. Terrible power...planets burning... Worlds
exploding..."
    "We're losing him," Comori
warned.
    "Worlds exploding!" Tharron
scoffed. "Keep talking, Delphi, and skip over that apocalyptic nonsense.
This is the last polite warning you'll get from me."
    "But the children died," the man
continued. "They died from the collective powers given to them by the
Shantirs. Some went mad. Then it was discovered that such powers could remain
hidden, lying dormant until the young mind reaches maturity and has been
trained. New experiments showed some promise..." The Delphian closed his
eyes tiredly.
    "Give him another shot," Tharron
ordered.
    Comori shook his head. "It would not
be effective. We can try again later. This drug was not designed for a
Delphian."
    Tharron stood up, looming over his captive.
"Did they complete the experiment?"
    "There were some successes." The
Delphian's voice seemed strained, far away. "But more out of curiosity
than any real need. Our leader, Phera, then ordered the Shantirate to stop
their experiments. The Union is no threat to Delphi. It protects us against
you..." the man's body convulsed and the muscles of his face clenched to
keep his lips from speaking.
    "But they didn’t stop, did they? Does
he live?" Tharron roared. "Does the Tughan exist?"
    "...the Tughan lives."
    "Does the Union have him? Do they plan
to use him? How can I find him?"
    "Sire," Comori warned.
    The Delphian farmer tensed his entire body,
his mind frantic in its efforts to overcome the drug and remain silent.
"No Tughan for Tharron!"
    Tharron lifted the youth to his feet,
shaking him roughly in his insane desire to know the name of the man chosen to
be the Tughan Wai. "Who is he?"
    The Delphian hung weakly in Tharron's
grasp. A whisper escaped him. In the tense silence, everyone heard the name he
revealed. The name of the Delphian who would bring the entire Union
Commonwealth to its knees before Tharron!
    Tharron dropped the limp body, satisfied.
"Bring him around. Feed him. I want him on his feet quickly." He
paced, grumbling. "I need to know where this Tughan is. Can he be bought?
I'll need one of those Shantirs to deal with him. I need..." He turned to
the doctor now kneeling beside the prisoner. "I need him on his feet! I
have a thousand questions!"
    Comori looked up from his examination of
the youth. "The Delphian is dead, sire."
    Tharron was speechless. His first urge was
to tear the physician to pieces. Had the man been anyone but Tamotsu Comori, he
would have done just that.
    "Dead?" he said finally, his
voice hoarse. "How could you have made such an error?"
    "This drug does not kill, Sire. This
Delphian killed himself."
    A startled murmur grew among the men
present. Those more cowardly and those more experienced with Tharron's ire
began to move toward the building, out of the immediate range of this wrath.
    None believed their ears when Tharron let
out a raucous bellow of laughter. "Excellent! If this peasant can simply
will himself to die, imagine, all of you, the power of the Shantir. And then
consider, all of you, the might of this man called Tughan Wai!"
    His entourage drifted back together, nearly
applauding in hysterical relief.
    Tharron sobered. "I want him found! Pe
Khoja and his crew will leave for Delphi at once to find out where he is. Is he
working as one of those Shantirs? Is he loyal and to whom? Can he be bought? If
not, find his family and use them as leverage. Go, all of you!" He waved
them away to their collective errands. "Find me a Shantir!"
    Comori remained hunched beside the dead
Delphian. How he wished to have been able to study the fine mind. A farmer! He
would never understand these people. He glanced up at his bellowing leader.
Find me a Shantir! Get me the Tughan! Comori knew that it would take more than
an army of Rhuwacs to bring the Delphian to Tharron. But didn't Tharron usually
achieve what he set out to do? Didn't he know when and how to use people? He
even knew exactly how much each of