TF Chapter 93 Geni

               ***Nathaniel***

"Can you please reveal yourselves, our most distinguished guests. We can't have our guests scurrying around like rats, now can we?"

A voice so normal that it was almost human entered all our ears. For a moment, we exchanged puzzled gazes as to whether a human had joined the natives. It was coming right in front of us, where the buildings gave way to a large clearing.

We sped up, breaching into the clearing, where we were greeted with a sight that almost brought terror on our faces.

"Ah! Now we can finally speak face to face! Though, I don't really know how rats look like. All I know is that they like to skulk around in the shadows... Anyway, greetings!"

Their was a mad grin on the alien that was speaking. From the moment that I had first laid eyes on it, I knew right away that it was the genius! And my comrades too, shared the same opinion.

Just like a well oiled machine-a military, alien natives numbering in the hundreds were standing in neat rows within the clearing. My instincts were telling me that all of them were most definitely intent users!

This...was the sight that had caused us fear. If they had just been some normal riffraff, then we wouldn't have had such a reaction, but these were elites!

"I see that you are shocked by my comrades. Don't worry, they won't attack you. I just want to talk."

"Oh! What about that welcome party from before? That woman with the frozen intent?" Carol elaborated upon seeing the puzzlement on the alien's face.

"Well...as you know, there are those who always oppose a leader. She wanted all of you to be killed. But honestly, why would I do that? Hmmm? You are an advanced civilisation, I wouldn't want to face your wrath. From what I have gleaned, you have planet destroying weapons in your arsenal...a risk I am not willing to take."

"...so, what do you say to talking things out?" The alien asked.

After we nodded, the alien genius ordered some of the soldiers to bring a table and some chairs from the nearby houses.

"Do we trust his words? I believe he's being sincere but we can't really put all our eggs in a single basket." Carol whispered.

I kept an eye on the alien man, who appeared unfazed by the fact that we were huddled together, whispering things out of his earshot. Reading alien facial expressions wasn't easy, but I could still make out the fact that he was deep in thought.

"We will trust him, but under no circumstances should we drop our vigilance! All of you will have to keep your intent active at all times!" Bora warned, her gaze jumping between each of us.

"Why do you want to speak with us? It would be better if you just killed all of us off to save yourself some trouble." After we were seated, Carol broke the silence with a pointed question. Alistair grimaced at that as the woman was simply too straightforward.

"Kill you? Why would I do that? I am not a barbarian!" As the alien protested, specks of light gathered around him and illuminated all of us. Since we had been on high alert, we almost took action right then and there.

"I was just creating some light." The alien's explanation caused us to settle down.

"So, your intent takes control of light?" Bora asked in curiosity as we beheld the dancing specks of light which greatly resembled fireflies in the night.

"No...light is a small word. My intent allows me to control photons...to the point that I can change them into any wavelength I want, even radioactive ones." 

I raised an eyebrow at that. Was he threatening us, or simply stating the obvious?

"So, why do you want to speak with us? What do you want? And don't beat around the bush! Your little army there is intimidating, but I doubt their chances against us if we were to go all out." Alistair took charge. His voice was filled with a calm confidence that belied our current circumstances.

"Oh! It looks like you are one of those...nobles. All I want from you people is simple, an alliance."

"Why?" This time I was the one asking.

"I am a genius in your eyes...but to me, I think of myself as someone born in the wrong era. If you humans hadn't found our planet, I would have stayed a frog in the bottom of a well. What I want is simple, to jump out of the well. I want to explore the stars." The alien's gaze shifted to the skies, where the twinkling stars appeared to be vibrantly inviting.

"Sorry to burst your bubble pal, but I don't think we have any strong sway among the higher ups of our species." Carol said, earning a glare from Alistair. This honest answer wasn't how someone was supposed to negotiate.

"You have intents. When you two were sneaking around our village, you were blank sheets of paper, without any knowledge of this particular power. Don't underestimate my intelligence. There is a 90% chance that none of your higher ups have discovered this power, which means that currently, your words will hold immense weight among them the moment you leave this planet."

"I do believe they have already discovered intent." Alistair burst his bubble.

Though, his words did remind me of the scorching feeling I had once felt the last time we saw that half-dead guy. That had most definitely been intent. But how could he have awakened it so fast?

"But, you are the first of your kind here to discover intent. I doubt any of your peers on this planet have stumbled upon this great an opportunity, right? And please, stop degrading your value, wanting to prevent me from getting what I want. I want to step upon a space ship and journey into the depths of space...nothing is going to prevent me."

"Lead us to the statue and I will see what we can do." Alistair decided to go for the straightforward path.

"I knew that was your goal all along. There is no problem with showing you the statue. Besides, its origins are interesting. Its the entire reason I want to explore the stars."

"Oh!" I exclaimed in wonder. His implication meant that the statue might not have come from any civilisation on the planet...something that we had already deduced, but finally confirming it increased my eagerness to see it.

"By the way, do you have a name? We can't keep addressing you as alien. In exchange, we will reveal our names to you too." I decided that this was the ripe moment for such pleasantries to be dealt with. I already had the feeling that we were going to be dealing with this alien extensively for the foreseeable future.

"A name...you can simply call me Geni." 

"Did you come up with it on the spot?" Carol accused.

"Our native names aren't capable of being translated into your language without sounding weird. You will just have to address me by this name."