Awoken Read Online Free Page B

can do it again.” He tried not to remember the event his vague explanation referred to.
    “You might as well try. It’s a better idea than getting thrown off the ship by Bota over there,” Jad said, nodding toward the leery Lieutenant quietly watching from the side.
    Oa looked down at the wounded Awoken who appeared to be sedated somehow. “Can he see me?”
    “No, his consciousness has been temporarily suspended using that stasis ring. It’ll slow the flow of the primary and secondary bloods in his body,” Jad explained as he pointed to a tight metal coil fastened around the wounded Awoken’s soul ember, “It won’t last for long, so we need to be done before he wakes up and bleeds out. I am going to work on replacing these alloys along his side. I need you to reconnect the veins there.” Jad pointed to a spot deep in the wound.
    Oa shut of his visual receptors, not quite sure how to reclaim the sight he had achieved in Swift’s hut. Then he remembered the words he had heard from within. “Your will shall be.”
    I hope I work well under pressure , Oa thought as he attempted to imagine how to fix the wound. He pictured where the veins would flow, what they would connect to, and how the alloys would stitch over the wound. To Oa’s surprise, the image came naturally. He wondered if his mental creation was original, or if he was merely discovering something he already knew within. All at once his inner sight flashed open. Confusion surrounded him as the symbols battered his mind. There was no internal force aiding him this time. He had to struggle to maintain the gaze. The experience was too chaotic for Oa to discern the strings of information that tumbled past him. He could barely remember what he was supposed to do. The sphere began to glow and hover between his hands. A stream of light extended, winding around the orb randomly. The power was wild and unruly. Oa focused harder trying to direct his will, but his mind refused to stay in one place and time. He reached out his left hand, using his physical form to guide the stream toward the wound.
    Jad looked up from his work and watched as Oa held the light in one hand, straining to guide it with the other. In the midst of the blinding glow, veins began to reform. Jad looked over Oa’s shoulder to see Bota watching. A slight white glow of surprise leaked out from the faceplates hidden underneath the cloth mask the Lieutenant wore.
    Jad turned back to Oa’s work and watched as the light faded, leaving no sign of any damage. Jad quickly guided the microburs in patching up the remaining alloys before turning to Oa. Exhausted, the young Awoken was sitting back and staring in bewilderment at the silver sphere in his hands.
    “That’s no form of medicine I have ever seen,” Jad said, baffled and impressed at the same time.
    “I don’t know how it works either,” Oa said with a slightly frustrated tone. “And it’s not consistent. I meant to repair all the damage, but I only fixed the veins.”
    “That could be a sort of fusion device like these microburs, but there’s nothing feeding it materials to use. That’s quite possibly the strangest thing I have ever seen,” Jad said perplexed. He turned to Bota. “This fellow will do just fine. His talent with healing far surpasses mine.” Bota nodded silently and stared out at the landscape below.
    Oa helped Jad lift the unconscious Awoken into a sitting position against the side of the hold, then went to sit down near the front so he could see where they were going. Jad knelt down and began removing the stasis ring from around the wounded Awoken’s ember.
    Jad completed his task and sat next to Oa, striking up further conversation. “He will come out of stasis soon enough. You have done good work. What’s your name?”
    “My name is Oa,” he said evenly, wary of the strange friendliness of his captors. Before Jad could continue the idle conversation, Oa confronted him bluntly. “They killed all of those