The Mark Six projectiles formed scores of welts, the size of blueberries, across Kol’s chest and extremities. He did not move, did not try to resist. And, in return, whoever aimed the testing device had the small mercy not to fire at his face, hands, or groin.

Kol did not work his Shaping. He did not form his shield. He felt no electricity, no fear, no power to fight or resist or survive. He had little left to fear.

The projectiles provided just enough pain to free him from guilt and sorrow. He couldn’t focus on his mistakes when a searing lump sprouted from a testing wound at his shoulder. Shame couldn’t drown him when the new bruise on his knee sent pain racing down to his toes.

Kol endured three rounds of testing. Outside that, he had no concept of time. Testing and resting – the former exhausted him enough, hurt him enough to almost enjoy the latter. He felt a contented relief during the time he didn’t spend in testing. His captors interrupted this cycle only to feed him and to take his blood.

The fourth cycle ended early. The testing machine ceased firing and the lab’s door opened. The usual techs were waiting outside, but they were not alone. A major and two techs Kol did not recognize stood with them. The major wore armor with rank bars of many colors, blue and red, purple and gold. The techs wore the same blue-gray coats as the others but theirs also bore rank insignia in gold and purple – purple for Liberty Corps executive leadership, gold for the Czar’s own office.

“Wait!” One of the usual techs stepped forward before the Czar’s force could enter the testing room. “It is important for us to maintain consistent protocols. He can provide you with another blood sample shortly.”

“We must co-opt this sample,” the major said. “He is an acceptable bloodline alternative. Our subject is experiencing extensive side effects and cannot offer a baseline sample, but the Czar’s work cannot be delayed.” The major entered the room with both teams of techs behind him.

The Czar’s office needed Kol’s blood? Our subject? He was a bloodline alternative?

Fear found Kol again and woke him from his stupor.

They wanted his blood for a test they were running on Max! They wanted to use him to torture his brother! Side-effects? What were they doing to him?

Max would have stayed safely home if it weren’t for Kol’s mission. Now, Max would die because Kol had ignored his warnings about the Liberty Corps, because Kol couldn’t get him to safety, because Kol had failed. He’d failed in almost every moment that mattered.

Shame and horror and fear sent feeling racing back through Kol. He could feel electricity up his arms and down his back.

As the trio of the Czar’s men approached him, Kol found the place of mind and spirit where miracles are possible. For the first time, Kol consciously seized that part of his spirit. His will made the impossible real. Rule the mind!

The blue shield formed between Kol and the Czar’s men. They almost walked into it. Even the officer stumbled away from it.

The usual lab team surged into the room, two carrying long prod-like devices. A third arrived with a Geiger counter. They joined the Czar’s men at the edge of the field and held their devices to the energy.

Kol shrank his wall, pulled the field away from the researchers, back toward himself. The electricity he felt over his body turned hot, like he was near the warmth of a sudden fire. His shoulders and scalp beaded in sweat.

His shield would not keep them away forever. He remembered the exhaustion that had overcome him after his first Shaping. This was different now, in a way he could not explain, but totally understood. Now, Shaping was a muscle he wielded, a muscle he was just starting to exercise, weak and already sore, but now under his control.

“I have no intention of waiting for your testing to end,” the officer, the Czar’s man, said. “Make him lower his shield.”

“He has never done this for us,” one of the usual techs said. “He has done nothing! We’ve already sent for Sir Geber, but we need readings. This is essential to understanding his Shaping.” Both the lab techs and Czar’s men approached the shield, following it with their devices.

Kol threw it at them.

He sent the force-field along the floor and bowled them down. The wall threw them all from their feet. Kol wanted to push the wall further, slide them all along the floor, slam them the whole length of the room until they met the far wall. But his strength left him.

The blue energy faded away.

Kol could still feel the new muscle in his mind. He could feel where he’d commanded the shield, but it had no strength left. It was young and new and would need exercise and focus to be as strong as Kol’s physical body.

Kol knew thought fatigue when it came over him. He recognized it and couldn’t fight it. He knew he would sleep, still hanging from the wall.

Kol was awake to see the Czar’s men and the lab techs rise to their feet, bruised and still shocked. They watched him warily. All of them kept their eyes on him. None advanced.

Kol knew it wouldn’t last. They would conduct their experiments, but he enjoyed their groans and nervousness. And he enjoyed the new handle he had on the Shaping – his Shaping. Own the body. Rule the mind.

He could not command iron. He’d failed. But, after years of study, he’d found something else.

Kol’s satisfaction stayed with him until the fatigue swept him away. He was unconscious long before Sir Geber arrived and long before the Czar’s men were bold enough to take his blood.