“Yeah, psi-actives are a bit paranoid other psi-users will use such an access point against them. Not so much a problem with Nulls, ‘cause we gots no telepathy to be pulling that shit on one another. It’s just an alternate communication channel for us.”

“O-oh.” She stared at me. “So, we’ll be able to talk telepathically?”

“Through the Mark, yeah. Basically unlimited range and clarity, but it’s also totally private. Close the Markdoor, shuts the channel down. Can’t read someone, other than basic emotions, through the Door, they have to broadcast it, and generally can’t hear someone if you shut it, although I can knock pretty loudly if I have to.” I gave her a wink, and she laughed uncertainly.

“And I have to do this, why...?” she asked uncertainly.

“Because you’re going to be a baby psi. Do you know what happens to valuable babies in this kind of place?”

Her face flushed despite herself. “I, I...” she trailed off.

“So, you bought yourself an advisor and a friend,” I smiled reassuringly. “You wanted to be a Null Psion and control your weight. That’s cool, if shallow... but the shit that finds out about it doesn’t care about your weight, they care about the word ‘psion’. So, what’s gonna happen here is that you’re gonna become a Null Psion, and if you value your life and don’t want them searching for you, you’re not gonna tell anybody. Because if you do, they’ll blab to someone, who will blab to someone else, and suddenly your life isn’t going to be your own. Matter-of-fact, your mind might not, either. The rather merciless will turn you into a braincase battery for themselves. Free psi on the market fetches some nice credits.”

She swallowed. “They... will they be able to find me?” she squeaked.

“Not unless you pop your Claws. Null Psions don’t really show on their radar unless they get visible and dramatic. For instance, there’s not a psi in the place who could tell I’m a Null until I popped Chalice there, and there were six of them.” I paused. “Other than the dops, of course.”

“Oh.” She exhaled slightly, noting I was almost done. “But... what if I want to build on this? Become... something more than a waitress?” Her eyes glittered again.

“Well, the first thing for a Null Psion is... we can’t spend PP. You know about that stuff, right?”

She nodded quickly. “Yes, yes! Psions all have a Power Point Reserve, they expend this energy to leverage power from the Akasha and manifest it as various abilities and effects!” she recited promptly.

“And in doing so, they touch on the power of the Warp, which impinges on the Akasha, which is all because of the Warp Gods. Hence, there is a direct association between standard psionics and Warp Sorcery, and any high-level psion is very uncomfortably aware of the influence of the Warp on the Akasha,” I filled in. “Null Psions don’t draw on or use the Akasha at all. We just have power, and that power sits and percolates inside us. We can use the shadow of it to power some Nimbus effects, and even manifest a Soul Claw, but we can’t spend it at all. It’s just a Reserve, and it stays inside us.

“As a result, there’s no psensitivity to us in the Warp, the Akasha, or in real life, unless we start throwing around Nimbus effects.”

She gaped at me. “So... we’re like ghosts?” she asked.

“Nah, we’re like scenery. Furniture. Pebbles under your feet. The wall you lean on. That chair over there. Chairs ain’t psionic, they’re just null. Ghosts... that’s for Void Psions, and those are one in a million peoples, and Voids ain’t women. Nulls shock psions, as you don’t expect the rock to bounce up and hit you. Voids now... ghosts are terrifying motherfuckers, you know?”

Her head was getting blown; she didn’t know about all of this before, or hadn’t thought through the implications.

Then again, she was a student-waitress. Why would she ever have to?

“Here we go!” I finished up, the Ink all gone from my golden claw, and the Mark of Constitution there on her forearm. “Now, time to activate it.” And without giving her any time to say anything, I expended my Nimbus against it.

There was kind of a mental boom in her head, her eyes actually rolled back as Pspace opened in her skull, and she had energy running through her she never had before. No, that wasn’t it... what she had was energy running through her that she’d never psensed before, and now she could, it was Right There.

Psionic power!

-You haven’t barred your Door yet, so give it a push open,- I /told her, as the first light popped up in my Markspace. Hee, I had a Markspace again...

She got control over her eyeballs, sort of, but the adjustment to having a space in her head was keeping her from focusing on me. Practice and all. She kind of wandered over to the Door, and more stumbled through it than pushed it open.

She gasped as she looked at me.

-Yeah, that’s relevant mental ability now being visualized to you. On the mental level, you can see relevant mind muscle just like you can see physical muscle in reality.-

-Y-you!- she kind of /gasped, staring at me.

-Yeah, Me. Okay, first lesson, do This.-

And I flexed my arm and flicked out my Claw. Despite herself, she repeated the same overpowering thought and action, done so reflexively she obeyed without thinking.

Up snapped a soft golden Claw around her hand. Her lolling head snapped up as she winced, and then she focused, gasped, and stared at it there, humming around her hand.

“Trick two. Do This.” And I flexed my mind again. Her eyes kind of wobbled as she followed along mentally, clutching her hand tight, and her Nimbus formed around her, while power crackled on her Claw.

She gasped and inhaled again, the sensation of acting in concert with me so strong. She stared down at her Claw, the gentle yellow, kinda like ambient sunlight, now shot through with humming power.

“This is what you practice, bringing up a Sun. Your Claw is basically nothing more than a gauntlet you can put on at this point... a vibroknife is more dangerous. However, with a Sun on it... it will hit like a big hammer. If you hit.” She gasped again, staring at me, and I made a gesture accompanied with a /thought. She snapped it off and looked around, making sure no one saw her. I’d already verified no cameras.

“Mind Over Body. Follow this.” I sent my hands out, and despite herself, she followed along with me, centering herself, calming down. This time, she brought up her Nimbus, but instead of gathering energy on her hand, she was with me as she placed them on her gut, and sent the energy pulsing in through her.

The way her body opened up to her was definitely new, and got another gasp of surprise to her, but that was something she could work on in her own time.

“One point of Meditation.” I /flicked a mental lever, and she /reached out to do the same, visibly flinching as a section of her mind seemed to open up and supply her with the how-tos of navel contemplation, organizing her Reserve, and centering her mind, body, and spirit.

“Oh, oh, Emperor...” she whispered, at the sublime power of it all. “Where have you been all my life?”

I just smiled. “While your Nimbus is up, your physical need for energy, food, and water will be cut in half. You can go without eating or drinking a number of days equal to your Constitution bonus, at which time you have to pay it back. As your level of Mastery improves, your requirements will go down, and your fasting/binging period will increase.

“Your body will start optimizing itself to your ideal weight, and will slow the process of atrophy down by the same pace as your Mastery. In other words, if you start working out, you will get in shape much faster, and stay that way with less effort.”

“Really?!” She couldn’t hide her delight. “Is-is there a point where we won’t have to eat at all?”

“There is. It is called being Sustained. But it’s not so easy to get there, as it requires having a Diamond Vajra Soul, and you’ve just turned on your Null Psion. You have quite a ways to go to get there.”

“Right, I’m a total newbie.” She watched as I closed my case of Inks and got ready to go. “I-I can talk to you anytime I need advice?”

“Yes, if I’m not busy. Your first assignment is to be able to bring up your Nimbus ten times in a row. Note that only while your Nimbus is up does your Mind over Body effect happen, so keep it on while you work, and practice at night in private while you meditate.” I flicked up an advance schema, and posted it Right There in my head, on her Markdoor. “Your assignments. You also need to set your Renewal.”

“My Renewal,” she breathed, as if all the wonders of the universe were opening for her. Only Psions ever sensed much about Renewals, which were basically a myth to most people.

“Center. No telling anyone until you can protect yourself... and you are a long way from being able to do that.”

“Y-yes, Sensei,” she said, the title coming out automatically.

I nodded in satisfaction, patted her head, and walked away. “You can move the Mark. I’d put it on your hip out of sight. Nobody needs to see it for any reason.”

She watched me go, then put two fingers on the Mark as I’d /visualized to her, and watched as she drew it up her arm. She had to do a few bits of self-groping around her clothes to move it down to her hip, hidden by her pants, but when she was done, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

I gently /closed the Markdoor, but I was Right There if she needed help, and she knew it. She concentrated Just Like That, fizzled once, and tried again, bringing up her Nimbus and allocating power to keep it going, as we Nulls had to.

The process of idealizing herself and her body was on the way!

==========

First follower, even if she was currently a non-com. There’s no way she was going to be satisfied with staying a One or Two with me around, of course. But she needed to put in some effort to get to the next step, and if she wanted Karma, well, it was pretty slow just practicing reps if she wanted Levels.

Then again, maybe that’s all she wanted. We’d have to see. The bonus from the Mark was only +1 now, and her Inherent bonus as a Forsaken Null had also kicked in, so +2 Con would make her instantly healthier and more vibrant and energetic... ambitious, let’s say.

I looked up at the Dome far above, sifting out the alkaline dusts of the planet from the atmosphere, feathery plumes of them slowly sliding down the force field there in multi-colored swirls that actually weren’t that unpleasant to look at, although the puke-green of the sky itself through the barrier was totally forgettable.

I reviewed what I needed to do.

Okay, I wanted to tap into my mana reserves and get my Nog Golden Armor. It was a theme, go with the theme. The nature of the weapons in this reality meant that I simply couldn’t have too much protection, what with mega-damage and armor-ignoring stuff running around.

I also needed to have as much non-armor protection as possible. Deflection bonuses was the main one, but my Dodge bonuses had to get as high as possible.

I should be able to invest directly in a Deflection bonus through the Grace effect of a nymph or lilitu. It wouldn’t be any less expensive than doing it off a magic item, and I’d probably need to enchant my bones to make it happen... but that’s what bones were for, right? To be dotted with Runes and turned into biomagic.

Sure, what else were they good for?