Chương 27: The seeker

"I am incredibly glad that we were able to meet face to face. Lady Jaya, you look incredible, as always. And you, I suspect, are Gabriel. It is a pleasure to meet you face to face." Soldevan extended his hand to me, looking me straight in the eye. I smiled politely and returned his handshake. His palm was firm, and you could tell by the skin that he was no stranger to working with his hands. Furthermore, it was impossible not to notice that the Inquisitor was quite robust and strong for his age.

I would have put him at thirty-five or forty years old, but given current technology and his psychic abilities, that number could be multiplied by five or even ten. He did not hold back and squeezed my hand with all his might. However, I was perfectly capable of responding to this, and so my expression did not even flinch.

"Likewise, Mr. Soldevan. I have heard only good things about you." After the brief introduction, the Inquisitor quickly showed us to our rooms. Honestly, I wasn't the least bit tired, but I had to observe the bounds of decency and local etiquette. I don't know about the rest of the Imperium, but in the Calixis Sector, they loved to engage in these song-and-dance routines, and even the slightest deviation from tradition was taboo.

I had a suspicious thought that Jaya and the Inquisitor would be plotting more conspiracies during this time, but that was completely pointless paranoia. A couple of hours wouldn't affect anything, and if they truly wanted to speak privately, I couldn't stop them without open confrontation. Soldevan led us through the rooms, briefly talking about himself and his work on Pry in the process. He belonged to the Ordo Hereticus, meaning he was responsible for catching traitors to humanity of all sorts.

And a rotten place like this station was a veritable breeding ground for such contagion. He informed us that some revolutionary circle was flourishing here, plotting to overthrow the sector government. No Chaos interference, by the way; these were simple revolutionaries who had risen against the tyranny of the Imperium. He didn't go into details, but Soldevan spoke confidently. However, that doesn't mean there weren't two other reasons he might be in this part of the galaxy.

One of which could be connected to a certain elderly woman I know. I used the free time to check this building out of pure curiosity using my "special senses." Over the years, my ability to sense the Warp and all its manifestations had grown manifold, and now only specialized shielding can deceive me. Or dozens of powerful artifacts gathered too closely together. Ahem. As surprising as it was, there were more artifacts in this mansion than I had burned at Jaya's.

A little over a hundred, they shone like small stars hidden in various places. And although each of them was significantly weaker than even the shoddiest of my mentor's amulets, it was still a very impressive level. Psychic artifacts are quite rare, and possessing even one is an achievement. And considering the nature of his work, I can even guess that many heretics used to boast of such things—heretics who are now nothing more than ash.

I also checked the inhabitants of the mansion to see if any of them were tainted by the Ruinous Powers. Fortunately, there was no one like that inside the building. Furthermore, I tried to "read" our Inquisitor as well, but that went poorly. He maintained a shield around his soul similar to the one Jaya possesses, but it was obvious he had much less experience. It didn't fully obscure his aura, and because of this, I was able to sense a mix of belief in his own ideas, curiosity, and even regret?

Those were the strongest emotions he lived by. Of course, I could have shattered his entire defense and read his thoughts directly, but that, to put it mildly, was not the best idea. Life as a psyker of my level can be quite amusing: I am capable of destroying most of my problems with raw power, but the moment I do, the number of my enemies will only increase. Therefore, I have to hold back all my power and live in a world made of paper. Where the slightest mistake could cause me to break everything around me.

It was a good thing there were other, more peaceful ways to use my gift. When I found no Chaos worshipers within the walls of our house, I tried to expand the range of my search. Taking a deep breath, I opened my consciousness and began to project my mind far beyond the bounds of my material body. I began to feel hundreds and thousands of souls, like cockroaches scurrying across the different levels of the void station. In just a moment, I saw the souls of countless thieves, murderers, and sinners of all stripes.

The crimes ranged from stealing food to survive to trafficking infants from the local hospital. But I wasn't focusing on individual crimes right now; I was trying to piece the whole picture together to understand just how bad the general state of affairs on Pry was. My mind expanded outward, grasping an ever-increasing number of people. I was all of them simultaneously, yet I never ceased to be myself. My mind jumped from one soul to another, searching for the information I needed.

For a single second, I became the captain of a local gang of space pirates listening to the terms of their next job, but a moment later, the thoughts of an ordinary cook came to me, who had recently started having strange and frightening dreams. A second later, and now I'm in a bar over a mug of amasec, talking about rumors related to signal failures on some ships that had entered the system. Interesting, but still not what I need. My mind moved from one person to another as I gathered intel faster than any scout.

The range of my power's influence grew, and I began sifting through tens of thousands of people, losing count when the number surpassed several hundred thousand. In just an hour, I had checked only a small fraction of the entire station, but I already strongly disliked what I had learned. Strange reflections in mirrors, food mysteriously rotting, and terrifying dreams. However, this was still not enough. I took a deep breath and plunged even deeper, expanding the scope of my influence.

I'm certain that if needed, I could connect to an entire planet, but my brain might not be able to withstand it. For now, however, some "light" reading—for an Alpha-Plus level, of course—was sufficient. I connected to the minds of millions of people as my consciousness sifted their thoughts like a sieve, casting aside everything unnecessary. I only paid attention to individuals who stood out from the general mass.

For example, a group of cultists one hundred and sixty kilometers below us, who had gathered in a circle, drawing cursed signs on the walls. Then I immediately switched to a local defense representative taking a bribe and allowing an unregistered shipment of explosives onto the station. And now I was a deformed mutant living deep in the tunnels of the void station, building weapons from scrap. This guy possessed a truly genius mind and could have achieved a lot if he worked for the good of the Imperium.

Except his successful career was hindered by the fact that his face looked like a rotten piece of meat and a third arm grew from his back. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. A flash, and now I'm the leader of a local criminal gang. Right now, I was torturing a debtor who had thought it was a good idea to steal food from people you absolutely do not cross. The smartass was currently hanging upside down in front of a table used for butchering grox meat.

He was begging, saying he wasn't guilty and it was a mistake, but not even an idiot like Mark believed his nonsense. I started to crack my knuckles, reaching for a knife. Well, that's fine, the debt can be repaid another way... After all, he has a lovely family with an absolutely adorable little daughter... I forced my eyes open. I felt drops of sweat running down my face, and my lungs burned, demanding oxygen. That was difficult.

Even though I was an incredibly powerful psyker, using Empyrean energy in this way was still hard. The main problem was that you weren't connecting to the minds of thousands of people, but rather opening your consciousness and "stretching" it across the entire territory. Because of this, the energy expenditure is relatively laughable, and noticing the impact on the Sea of Souls is almost impossible, but the toll on the body is significant.

In theory, I have enough power to cover an entire station or even a planet this way, but I'm not sure I could withstand the pressure of so many thoughts. I was practically built on a biological level to work with the Warp, but even I have limits. There are far more problems on Pry than I could have imagined. Even though I didn't check every person, I couldn't help but notice the overall atmosphere.

There were many merchants and simple visitors on the station, but that was still a drop in the ocean compared to the number of local residents born here. We are talking about tens of millions of people, almost every single one of whom was deeply dissatisfied with their standard of living and the general state of affairs. The endless crime radicalized this place, and the pervasive poverty gave birth to a grim determination to get what they want at any cost... A very dangerous combination.

If nothing is done, this whole place will go up in flames soon. And those weren't the only signs that something very bad is coming. Strange dreams, madmen screaming about the end of days, and a sharp spike in the number of suicides. Furthermore, a rather minor cultist cell clearly connected to Chaos in some way was operating here, along with a brewing mutant uprising. The latter is particularly dangerous, because these guys were definitely being supported by someone, and supported quite well.

I didn't possess all their memories and had only gleaned a fraction of them, but even that was enough to understand just how massive the future rioters' weapons stockpiles were. I pondered what to do during my subsequent meditations, trying to calm my mind and piece together all the noteworthy information. Mentalism was a huge help in this regard. And as much as I wanted to run out right now and fix everything, there was little I could achieve alone.

I would be quickly discovered, and the Templars would definitely start a confrontation. Although, if I tried to play my saint card here... After just three hours spent in meditation and light stretching, the local servants came to me. They were the ones who escorted me to where our dinner would take place. And I was genuinely starving, because the food on the Black Templars' ship, while nutritious, was horrifyingly meager and tasteless.

I was told that feasts were sometimes held, but it was a rare event and I hadn't been part of one. The Templars ate simply to live and considered any excess a sin. I held a different opinion, and right now I needed to replenish my strength more than ever. For there was another difficult conversation ahead.... Dinner was held in a rather interesting room. There were no lumen globes; ordinary candles burned in their place. Furthermore, the paintings adorning the walls caught the eye.

They depicted various saints and their heroic deeds. I think there was even an image somewhere of Drusus rising from the dead...

"... Do not worry, this station has existed for many dozens of centuries and will continue to orbit Pry even after our passing. Despite all the scum scurrying like rats into the corners, there is no real threat here. Few people stay here for long, so there are hardly any cultists here either."

"I dealt with the Cult of the Weaver of Destinies and those pseudo 'freedom fighters,' so there is nothing else here worth our attention. Besides, despite the station's strategic importance, the sector will not grind to a halt without it. And no one would dare to do such a thing so close to the sector capital." Besides Jaya and me, the Inquisitor himself was here, along with servants bringing various dishes and ready to execute our orders at a moment's notice.

Soldevan ran them ragged without pause, but I was less demanding and ordered them nothing. Essentially, they are the man's personal slaves, incapable of saying a word to him. I felt sorry for them, but I couldn't imagine how they could be saved. The Imperium had a rather strange attitude toward slavery, tied, as usual, to its boundless diversity of planets. It is literally physically impossible to establish a single law on all worlds. Standardizing even one planet is quite a task, let alone the entire galaxy.

Therefore, the laws regarding slaves varied from place to place. On Advanced or Paradise Worlds? Unacceptable and severely punished. On Feral and Feudal Worlds? Often forms the basis of the economy. And because there are more of the former than the latter, the situation isn't catastrophic. Slavery and its forms are permitted on roughly twenty percent of Imperial worlds, but even so, it's still horrific.

Furthermore, there is a big difference between a king's serfs, the servants of the Machine God, and the slaves of some nobleman.

"Of course, Pry is not the biggest prize for the traitors of humanity, but it is not the smallest either. Should they orchestrate a sabotage that halts the ships heading here, many worlds will be cut off from vital resources. And after that, famine and rebellions will begin on dozens of planets," my mentor replied. Jaya sat once again with a glass of incredibly expensive Calixian wine, conversing with Soldevan about the heretics on the station. And this conversation was very amusing.

My mentor, whose opinion on the Imperium I knew, championed the idea that the station faced a threat that shouldn't be underestimated. The Inquisitor, however, seemed too lazy to deal with all of it and practically brushed off all her remarks. I remained tactfully silent and simply enjoyed the dinner. I don't think I'll ever be able to get used to the food in this universe. Emperor be praised, I wasn't fed corpse-starch pastries as a child, but even then my sustenance wasn't particularly interesting.

The orphanage could afford to feed the children enough so they would grow and not die, but no more. The most delicious thing from my childhood I can name is only Flop—a simple soy-dough patty filled with meat or vegetables. But on Lehida, we ate at a much higher standard, because we were supplied with only high-quality products from the nearest Agri-Worlds. Therefore, grox or ambull meat was always on our table, along with a heap of vegetables of the most varied colors and tastes.

But Soldevan had true haute cuisine, and the dishes here were prepared by true masters.

"I understand that. However, the level of local problems is still too low to require my intervention. One of my Acolytes sent me a message that remnants of the extinct Yu'vath have been discovered on Trench. And if they are right, it could become the key to sources of knowledge about the Immaterium on a scale simply unprecedented..." But I wasn't just indulging in the local cuisine. I was listening and analyzing the Inquisitor's behavior. And... I came to the conclusion that he was a very strange fellow.

Honestly, I couldn't guess how he was issued a rosette. Because if he isn't joking with us right now, he is simply ignoring an obvious threat. He was interested in the ruins of some dead xenos, but not in the lives of ordinary people. And I didn't believe that this was some game the former Inquisitor was playing, because over ten years I had learned to somewhat decipher Jaya's emotions from her face, and right now she was clearly in a foul mood, even though she was hiding it well.

"Forgive me, but even a blind man would notice how rotten this place is. And I have yet to see a world devoid of vices that would not require the Inquisition's attention," my mentor continued her attempts to defend her position, but Soldevan was unbending.

"I understand that this place is full of damned heretics, but if we kill everyone we meet for the slightest violation of dogma, how soon will the streets of our cities empty? I try to adhere to the principle that we should hunt those who threaten the foundations of our great state, and not waste time on common criminals. That is what the Arbitrators were created for, is it not?" the Inquisitor said in surprise. The funniest part was that, judging by his face, he genuinely didn't understand what the problem was.

Soldevan truly thought everything was fine. I think I understand why Jaya asked him for help specifically. He is only interested in the Warp and everything connected to it, so he is ready for anything just to get his hands on a new tome or artifact. Convincing him to lift even a finger will be quite a task.