Dragon Moon Read Online Free Page B

mathematical problems.”
     
    “Yes, sir,” she answered, unsure where this conversation was going. At least it didn’t sound like he was planning to bed her or kill her. Not right away.
     
    He tipped his head to the side, studying her. “Did you learn in your school for psychics that there is more than one world, which runs along a similar but separate track?”
     
    “Yes. I learned that theory.”
     
    “It’s more than a theory. This is not the only universe, but going from this world to another is not so easy.”
     
    She waited for him to continue.
     
    “It takes a lot of energy to open a portal between the worlds. One person cannot do it by himself, but several of my adepts have pooled their resources and accomplished it. I’ve sent a few men through the portal, for brief periods. To a world that had developed much differently from this one.”
     
    Despite the circumstances, she listened, fascinated.
     
    “In the other universe, because the people lack psychic abilities, they have developed technology we don’t have here. We run equipment by mental energy. They have electricity and gasoline.”
     
    She nodded, wondering if he often called slaves into his private rooms to share his theories of the universe.
     
    “In many ways, our psychic talents limit us. This world did not develop the creature comforts that are available on the other side of the portal. Just to give you a few examples, they have music you can carry around in a small case. They have carriages that do not need horses to pull them. They have foods that come in rectangular packages. And clothing that any woman here would envy. You’ll like living there.”
     
    The last words made her head jerk up. “What?” she gasped.
     
    “I plan to expand my influence into that universe, and you will be my advance scout. You will go there to find out what it is like, then come back and report to me.”
     
    A mixture of fear and hope leaped inside her. Fear of the unknown. And hope that if he was sending her to that other world, perhaps she would be beyond his reach. Probably, the hope showed on her face, because his eyes narrowed. As they did, she felt a stab of pain inside her head.
     
    “No!” she cried out.
     
    “You are foolish if you think I cannot reach you there.”
     
    She tried to fend him off, and for a moment the pain stopped.
     
    “How dare you!”
     
    Long seconds passed before pain jolted her again.
     
    She screamed, slipping to the side, then off the chair so that she lay sprawled on the rug.
     
    Run, the part of her mind that was still free ordered. But she couldn’t push herself up. She could only lie on her side, rocking back and forth, clutching her head with her hands, trying to tear her way through her own flesh so that she could rip away the pain blasting at her.
     
    “Please, no,” she managed to croak.
     
    Ignoring her plea, he spoke again. “You will be my eyes and ears on the other side of the portal. You will do as you are ordered. You will observe that new world. You will find out what those people are like. Their strengths and their weaknesses. But you will tell no one about me, and when I summon you back, you will return here.”
     
    His voice droned on, giving her more orders. She hardly heard them, but she knew they were etching themselves into the fibers of her mind.
     
    To reinforce his words, the pain flared, dimming all of her senses, and the only escape was into a world of blackness.
     
    She wasn’t unconscious. She wasn’t asleep. But she wasn’t exactly awake either, and she could hear Vandar’s voice still whispering in her mind, reinforcing what he had already said.
     
    “You will obey my orders. You will have an advantage over the people who live on the other side of the portal. Because they lack psychic powers, they won’t expect you to have them. You can use your telekinetic abilities. Try not to let anyone catch you.” He laughed. “But even if they do, they won’t