Session Ten — To Heal, Not Harm¶
Played: 2026-05-25
The crew healed a woman's shattered mind from Mars to Earth. They received armor from the ocean. They went public with the discovery of the century. They said goodbye to people they love. And then they boarded the Spice Road and burned for the Belt.
This was the session where the crew stopped preparing and started moving.
Act One — Connections and Gifts¶
Prologue: The Relay Experiment (Day 16, continued)¶
The session opened with a brief addition to the moments after last session's group hug. Azure, with everyone still connected telepathically, asked them to make a note of how the connection felt — then tried something new.
He disconnected. Then reconnected to the group through Rin — using her relationships as a hub rather than reaching through his own proximity. The resulting contact felt different: to Rin, as the relay point, the topology was unfamiliar; to Azure, slightly more complex. But it worked. And Azure realized something critical: if the Talents he connects this way are sufficiently strong — trained Primes — he could briefly disconnect himself and the connection would remain active until he returned.
This was a test. Azure explained to the Book Club that he'd been checking whether each component of something much bigger was possible.
To Heal, Not Harm (Day 17)¶
Azure's proposal: use a Merge to heal Tanaka's comatose fiancée, Yanli, at Tokyo Hospital on Earth. A full Merge — the previous group plus Diallo and Tanaka — reaching across interplanetary distance to perform telepathic and kinetic microsurgery on a damaged mind.
His reasoning was strategic as much as compassionate. They would likely need the Merge for defense or attack in the future, and they wouldn't be able to hide that they'd used it. Azure wanted the precedent set: the first time they used this power, it was to heal. Not to harm.
Of course they all agreed.
4:30 AM — The Delivery (Day 18)¶
Rin and Kamaka were shaken awake by Sara triggering a Security Priority Alert. A vessel of unknown design was approaching Phobos at eight G deceleration burn. Its vector indicated it had left Earth a mere ten hours ago. At that acceleration, the only living contents possible were tardigrades.
Scans showed what appeared to be a cargo container with a fusion engine. The IFF tag was readable but not comprehensible. Rin decided it was time to wake Iyer.
Rin used her skills to decode the IFF tag: a sound file of whale song.
Splishy Splashy, a bit sassy at the abrupt early waking, translated it as "Friendly." Relieved, Rin asked Iyer if she was dismissed for more sleep. Amused at the lack of decorum Sleepy Rin demonstrated, Iyer told her to go to bed.
Splishy then playfully swam into the dreams of Azure, Victoria, Kai, and Kyle to wake them. Rin, protesting that she'd been up talking with family until 2 AM, told Splishy to let her sleep. In a cheerful mood and bored from inactivity, Splishy showed off his piloting skills by intercepting the delivery perfectly — catching the cargo container in the exact moment its engines cut off for parking orbit. With the Sagan. In the cargo hold. Perfectly centered in a cradle.
Ambassador Captain Splishy Splashy¶
The vessel was a long cylinder held within a rectangular framework, the fusion engine connected to the frame at the aft. A single-use container — easily made, easily scrapped for parts. The unfamiliar material was unadorned save for one Cetacean glyph etched near the large hatch. Translated:
"Cetacean Diplomatic Package, priority delivery. Attention: Ambassador Captain Splishy Splashy."
Azure teased Splishy about his new Ambassador status, asking if he could open Ambassadorial mail. The container opened easily, revealing a layer of shock foam. Kyle cleared the foam with something the others didn't spot, revealing a crowded interior: six round crates — five identical in size, one significantly larger — shining iridescent grey like mother of pearl.
Splishy, clearly reeling at how much the whales were giving away, explained: the material was bioengineered ceramic, stronger than any human-made material and entirely grown. Each crate was labeled:
"Hostile Environment Exosuit Prototype 002, fitted for [name]"
And the large one:
"Wavewalker Mobility Unit Prototype, fitted for Ambassador Captain Splishy Splashy."
Azure: "Splishy? Have you been practicing with your chain sword? Because someone just priority mailed you space marine armor like no one has ever priority mailed before!"
Victoria: "We don't get Marine armor. We get marine armor!"
Kyle and Azure dashed for space suits. Kai simply stepped into his without suiting up. The exosuits were less bulky than expected — easy to step into, no space suit required though they could accommodate one. Clearly armored, excellent seals, weapons on each arm appropriate to the wearer. Kai's had a deployable tail. Standard controls. They could repack into their cases and had an iridescent grey sheen.
Splishy's suit stood a full 2.5 meters tall, putting his weight on his belly and off his spine. He docked his mobile tank and swam in, where the suit maintained his skin moisture via an inner layer of bioengineered plant-like webbing.
"Azure, I have hands!"
Splishy gave Azure a high five and a hug. Hugs to Victoria. Then Azure called Captain Iyer down: "Do you want to come be the first Captain ever to shake hands with their primary pilot?" Iyer received a formal handshake from a dolphin in power armor.
Kyle reported he thought he might be able to fight at full speed in the suit. Victoria tested and confirmed: the suits did not interfere with Talent use. She filmed parts and sent Rin an edited video so she wouldn't miss the good parts — like the handshake.
Kai playfully placed Rin's crate just inside her room on the Sagan, with a bow on top.
Splishy's Disclosure¶
Splishy then spoke to all of them — except Rin, who was filled in later — explaining the significance of what had just happened.
The "Ambassador" designation was real. The gift of the suits — without any instructions, without any conditions — was significant. The whales had used their connection to the Deep Dream to see the patterns of conflict coming and predict the need for these people to have these suits at this time. Not true precognition — simply very, very good pattern recognition and prediction from an ancient network.
He explained that because many whales are microkinetics, able to manipulate at the genetic level, the suits were likely assembled quite quickly.
Then Splishy explained the complex, fraught, and ultimately flawed history between the cetaceans and humans. He acknowledged that since their discovery of human sapience — when first contacted by human telepaths — the cetacean policy of "shepherding" humanity had been debated by factions within the cetacean community, even as all followed the decision made by the whales.
This policy — leaving human autonomy intact while preventing self-destruction — led to a largely fins-off approach as they waited for humanity to "mature." And that precedent led to their lack of full disclosure with Mycroft Holmes. A lack which, when he discovered it, broke his trust in a good friend and in the cetaceans generally.
Splishy believed the gift and his Ambassadorship were attempts to repair that rift. He used his newfound station to send an official apology to Mycroft on behalf of the dolphins, transmitted via Azure's connection.
Mycroft's Message¶
With amusing timing, Azure shortly received a message from Mycroft disclosing two things:
- The vessel that ransacked Deimos had docked at Ceres, where it filed a flight plan for Saturn.
- The Lunar Council had been briefed on "anything pertinent to them" — Tiamat discoveries, but not Talent developments.
The trail pointed deeper into the outer system. And the political machinery was already turning.
Act Two — Preparations¶
Kai and Victoria: The Specter Conversation (Day 19)¶
The next morning, Kai and Victoria met for breakfast, then moved to a private conversation in Medical. Kai asked if she would be willing to help him continue his Specter modifications — shaping his genome and body to the edge of what was safely possible.
They discussed how his inherited genetic mutation had helped his cosmetic modifications meld with his body smoothly and naturally, and how he would likely heal faster from procedures thanks to it. Victoria recalled a particular paper she'd read once, from a researcher working on Talent genetic markers. With what she now knew of Kai and his medical history, she was quite certain "Subject 2847-K" was Kai — and that the conclusions drawn by the researcher at Venn Life Sciences had been premature.
The Venn study had predicted Kai's kinetic potential at over 85% probability. When he didn't visibly manifest, they classified him as a false positive. They were wrong.
Combat Training¶
Azure asked Rin to spar with him using katar — the weapons from the exosuit "Christmas presents." Having viewed the video Victoria sent, Rin understood and happily agreed. Kamaka joined in, as did Yaw — who even gave Azure some good pointers.
Victoria worked with Iyer again on administrative tasks, preparing for the "Belter invasion."
Leonidas Goes Public (Day 19, Evening)¶
That evening, Leonidas circulated drafts of his releases for feedback and approval. Two documents: an academic paper detailing the technical aspects of the archaeological discovery, and a press release in video form — a passionate professional vindicated by the discovery of a lifetime.
The academic paper listed Leonidas's name first, naturally, but also listed each member of the crew, with Kai's name in the noteworthy final position.
The next day, they were bombarded with interview requests.
The Blue Crystal¶
Ever mischievous, Rin distracted Kai right after asking him why her name was on the academic paper — and what she was "supposed to do" about that — by handing him the cube found by the Long Jeong when mining iron-nickel ore.
The cube was 6.38 centimeters on a side — 2π. Rin pointed out the button, visible only in the UV spectrum, along with two small dots on the opposite face. She suggested he push it.
Inside was a bright blue Tiamat crystal — not the usual pinkish hue — that immediately caused the room's temperature to drop and vapor to form. The crystal was clearly larger than the box. Its measured temperature wasn't physically possible.
Kai fell into deep focus. The object was transdimensional: a six-dimensional structure folded into three dimensions and placed within a crystal to act as some kind of heat sink. An essentially infinite one.
Mars Surface: Noor's Base (Day 20)¶
Rin went to the surface of Mars with Vance to tour Noor's base setup, as agreed when Noor obtained a rover from Vance. Though utterly and enthusiastically professional during the tour, Vance behaved more like a giddy twelve-year-old hyped on sugar once they were outside and away from the buildings. This had been a dream come true for him.
While there, Rin came across a very happy Dr. Yenni, who gifted her a small bag of coffee as a thank-you for getting her away from administrative duties and back to atmospheric science. Rin was touched by the gift, considering what she'd done to be inconsequential — after all, why would you waste a scientist whose work you needed?
Kai and Sion: The Engineering Tour¶
Kai gave Sion his promised tour of the Sagan's engineering areas. Sion asked if Kai had noticed the harmonics of the fusion reactor, then told him he'd tuned the Long Jeong's reactor to match his kinetics.
Kai told him about Gestalt and explained that the Sagan's reactor was tuned to match Dr. Tanaka, the Talented fusion specialist who worked on them.
Then Kai received the package Rin had brought up from Mars — from Dr. Leonidas. Inside: a page from what appeared to be a Tiamat version of Popular Mechanics, several more crystals, and a note. The magazine page had an engineering drawing of the type typically done for laypeople. The note explained that Leonidas had used a crude circuit — poorly drawn diagram included — to extract this one page of information from a single crystal. He knew Kai could do much better. Would he please get the data from these crystals and share it?
Crew Selection¶
Throughout this period, regular logistics meetings with Vance and Diallo had sorted and solidified the trip. That day, they reached consensus on the final team:
The four PCs, plus Captain Diallo, Vance, Kyle, Splishy Splashy, and Sion.
Victoria's Microkinesis Practice¶
Victoria followed the fractals on a used Tiamat crystal as a way to practice focusing her microkinesis smaller and smaller — tracing the structures at decreasing scales.
Azure's Broadcast (Day 21)¶
Azure consulted briefly with Rin, asking if there were any telepaths among the Belters. Her entire family had arrived by now, along with the lawyers and investors. She said that since Talent was considered private information in the Belt, she unfortunately had no idea.
So Azure chose to broadcast outward from Phobos:
"This is Pilot Azure Armstrong of the Carl Sagan on Phobos. Can anyone hear me?"
He was careful to keep Yaw and Splishy from his broadcast. The dice, as they occasionally do, simply declared the truth about Azure Armstrong: the roll was extraordinary.
His broadcast reached the third flotilla wave. He got three active responses and three received-but-no-reply — either receptive-only telepaths or people choosing not to answer. All three active respondents felt strong. Very strong. Later, Azure realized they were all Prime-level Talents.
Immediately, he received back: "Wait, the Azure Armstrong? I used your technique to save my sister-in-law. Man, I owe you hella Favor!"
Shortly after the enthusiastic greeting, two more connected. Azure explained the situation: Tiamat technology that needed telepaths to connect groups of Talents for data retrieval, and the need to maintain a connection with the crew's group as they left for the Belt. They agreed to meet him on the Sagan when they arrived in a couple of days, so Azure could teach them the techniques they'd need.
Rin agreed to vet them. Victoria, watching this unfold, wondered whether the Belt had some kind of residue — Talent or empathic — from the Tiamat, that might explain the unusual concentration of Prime-level Talents there.
Act Three — The Merge¶
Preparation (Day 22)¶
The next morning, they all shuttled over to the Spice Road and went to the secondary reactor room, where preparations were complete. Medical cots were arranged to keep them close together during the Merge, with Kai's positioned close enough to the fusion reactor to physically touch it. He had used the prototype tuner circuit to tune the reactor to himself.
Kyle was there as trusted overwatch — should anything go sideways or an extra pair of hands be needed. Dr. Lily Murray, the frizzy redheaded head doctor of the Spice Road, was in attendance and up to speed on Victoria's detailed charts of what to expect and what might go wrong. She hooked each of them to a glucose IV drip and placed neural scanners on them.
They had run through the procedure multiple times. They knew what each role was. They knew they could do this. They had made the preparations to survive it when the bill came due.
The Healing¶
With an Aristeia — an Epiphany — Kai White-shifted his Gestalt roll and landed twelve or more successes. Rin started the Merge with six successes on an obstacle of two, bringing Kai, Azure, and Splishy together with her mind. Victoria then brought Rin, Diallo, and Tanaka into the fold, managing both the sub-Merge and the primary Merge with the smooth hands of experience.
Together, the Merge had fifty dice to work with.
They felt omniscient. Powerful. Confident. This was easy.
Look — there's Earth. There's Tokyo Hospital. There's Yanli.
Tanaka curled into a fetal ball of trauma within the Merge. Victoria wrapped her in soft comfort.
As they approached Earth, something vast rose from the oceans — defensive at first, then speaking with recognition:
"Oh. It's you."
And settled back into the depths. Splishy eeped within the Merge.
The work was simple. Azure knew well what he was doing, separating out Yanli's core personality, Deep Mind, trauma, and memories. The damage was vast. Her Deep Mind needed to be rebuilt. Her core personality needed to be convinced it was safe to return. Her terrible memories were removed, except what had to remain to preserve her connection to Tanaka. She needed to know that she was facing her demons today, but would never again be haunted by them.
They got her consent for surgical repair.
Victoria effortlessly chased down and repaired the brain damage with kinetic microsurgery. From Mars to Earth. And it was easy.
When it was done, Diallo told Tanaka it was time. She guided her to Yanli and gave them moments to reconnect. The rest of the Merge turned away to give them privacy.
Upon completion, Victoria updated the medical chart, signed it as surgeon, and had Azure sign it as psych. They knew nobody would believe the truth openly admitted in that chart. They signed it anyway.
Throughout all of this, Rin had been her usual detail-oriented self. As Kai pondered nudging Lunar satellites into different orbits, Rin drew him back to focus. As little wisps fell to the side during the surgeries, Rin used her empathy to tidy them away where they wouldn't hurt anyone anymore.
The Return¶
As they pulled back toward the Spice Road, they saw Luna — and the bright lines of Mycroft Holmes's mind.
Azure saw that he could contact Mycroft. But the contact would be more alien to Mycroft's mind than the memories of the Tiamat had been. Mycroft's architecture ran at speeds and parallelism that no biological telepath had encountered. It would take work from both sides to make that bridge compatible enough for effective contact.
Azure's determination to one day contact Mycroft mind-to-mind simply hardened. He sent a message to Mycroft later, mentioning this sight and his resolve.
As they woke, in varying states of exhaustion, Dr. Murray checked them over, carefully holding her composure together. Kyle reassured them: everything had been sufficiently boring. They had been in Merge for fourteen hours — nearly twice the length of the Deimos Merge.
Cool as ever, Diallo excused herself to consider the experience: "Tanaka's visions have some clarity compared to mine. I'll have to meditate on them."
Rin hurried everyone home to the Sagan to sleep, knowing Tanaka was barely holding herself together.
Act Four — The World Moves¶
The Flood (Day 22, Evening)¶
It was on the shuttle ride back that Victoria first, then the others, discovered the piles of unread messages that had accumulated during fourteen hours of Merge. Not only work — copies of statements from the major polities regarding Leonidas's discovery. Each of them had numerous requests from reporters asking for interviews. Some overlapping, some not.
The statements held surprises.
The UEF Chief Executive was as bland and uninspiring as ever — clearly unprepared to deal with something this revelatory.
The Lunar Council, benefiting from their head start, had crafted a powerful and provocative statement. They applauded the foresight of UMS and its stationing of science research throughout the solar system, particularly on Mars and Phobos. They announced that the Lunar Council was in talks with Belter representatives regarding colonization of Mars — with shared support from the Belt and Luna, and a clear path to independence. They completed their announcement with a declaration that the time for UEF Military dominance of all colonies and space stations was in the past.
Mycroft Holmes also made an official statement, centering on how the solar system had clearly been the focus of life and intelligent life for billions of years. Whether they were alone in the galaxy or not, it was their duty to preserve and share this and other discoveries as the birthright of all members of the Sol system. He ended by stating he strongly supported the Mars settlement of Belters, Loonies, and "any with an eye towards building a new life upon Martian soil as a free nation."
At some point during the Merge, someone had leaked footage of the destroyed planet mural and some of the bodies. Speculation and conspiracy theories abounded.
Going Public (Days 23-24)¶
Azure responded to several reputable news outlets, waxing eloquent about the Tiamat — particularly their art. He released his image of the ceiling mural as an example.
Kai, as Leonidas's understudy, responded to several interview requests. He emphasized his verification of Leonidas's findings and praised the exploration team's work. In his words, it was a "miraculous find."
Victoria, released from her NDA by UEF Intelligence — the original restriction from the very beginning of the campaign — responded to queries from medical journals, answering questions and providing small research papers for publication.
Rin, inspired by Kai's observation that the interviews were about more than just themselves, realized she needed to respond to improve the perception of Belters and build media attention around Mars. She asked Vance to help her, which he did enthusiastically, coaching as he went. She picked smaller but reputable outlets, particularly those run by families. Vance coached her on phrasing — simple word choices that shifted default perceptions. He advised her to lean into her accent while representing the Sagan, showing that being a Belter was nothing to be ashamed of.
Then Vance shared his trick for keeping reporters at his beck and call: choose a question that every interviewer asks, and never answer it. That way, when you need to release information on your terms, you can promise to answer that question exclusively for a chosen outlet.
Rin chose to never answer what exactly her role on the Sagan involved. "Security" is what, exactly, for a bunch of archaeologists?
Act Five — Departure¶
Iyer's Farewell Dinner¶
When the time came, Iyer held a farewell dinner — specifically stating that it was NOT goodbye, since they would all see each other again — for the entire original Sagan crew. Everyone received a small token gift, though it was clearly an excuse to give the departing crew slightly nicer ones.
Kai got a lovely model of the Sagan, with a spinning section and LED lights. Azure got a replica pilot's pin, with "Backup Intercom" engraved on the reverse. Victoria and Rin both received some of Iyer's treasured teas. Kyle got a foam clown nose, which he put on immediately and wore for the remainder of the occasion.
Iyer wasn't the only one. From "Ghost" the Quartermaster, Rin got a package of knockoff Lunar candies and a small case of the chocolate bars she'd given to the scientists as evacuation drill prizes.
Azure received one point of Favor from Ujin Kuzai — the Belter telepath who'd used Azure's technique to save his sister-in-law. Ujin also taught Azure how telepaths use Gestalt, having figured it out independently. Azure gave all three Belter telepaths the full telepathic Talent read-in, ensuring the knowledge they'd discovered wouldn't be lost if the crew didn't come back. He gave Ujin specifically the full Tiamat read-in as well, plus what had happened to Leonidas, so they could all be on guard for repeats.
Azure and Ujin also did a practice Merge together — building the Resonance between them so that Azure would be able to reach him from distance during the Belt run. A telepathic anchor at Mars.
Ujin mentioned someone they'd known back on Ceres — named "Stewart" — months ago, who had similar symptoms to Leonidas's zerker episode. They'd eventually "had to put him down." He agreed to be Azure's point of contact, reaching out regularly.
He also said: "Ya, Jeong! You did good." Rin smiled and gave him a Belter handshake: my people are your people. We protect our people together.
She Called Me¶
As they packed up the shuttle with their belongings, they all felt a surge of elation — joy — relief — from the vicinity of the Sagan's engineering section. Merge residuals. Twenty minutes later, everyone received a message from Tanaka:
"She called me!"
Not long after, both Victoria and Azure received notifications from Tokyo Hospital informing them that, regrettably, their digital signatures had been hacked. They should change their signature codes to ensure security.
Victoria responded blandly. Azure, a touch more humorously for those in the know:
"Thank you for the notification. I am not interested in pressing charges at this time."
The Spice Road Burns for the Belt¶
They were all invited to the bridge to watch the departure. What had once been barren, empty space was busy with ships flitting to and fro, keeping Sara and her team busy. Sara herself hopped on to send them on their way, thanking Rin for helping her out.
Diallo planned to stop at turnover to give Splishy and Azure a chance to practice running the Spice Road through maneuvers. Until then, Chavez stayed on duty as pilot.
It would take them a minimum of slightly over five days at the burn speed Diallo had set. She stated they could take longer if they wished — to practice, plan, prepare.
"This is your trip," Diallo said. "The ship is merely the platform for you to stand on while doing what you need to do."
Transit: Research and Training¶
Victoria's Research¶
The Tiamat crystals appeared to be bidirectional — an active interface, not simply a storage medium. Victoria wondered whether the cetaceans might be able to use their bioengineering to grow a usable version of the crushed Tiamat crystal-ceramic layer in Kai's prototype capacitor.
Kai's Research¶
Using a better circuit than Leonidas's crude version, Kai pulled up a collection of simple technical diagrams — IKEA-style, as it were — similar to the Popular Mechanics page Leonidas had printed. While the Tiamat script remained untranslated, Kai recognized the type and function of several components. With more study, he thought he could decipher the diagrams.
He also found several entire magazines — Tiamat-era Popular Mechanics equivalents. He discovered a way to use his kinetics to project images from the crystals. At first he thought it was Talent-responsive, but then realized it had to do with the resonance frequencies involved.
During his time studying the magazines, Kai experienced a shift — a moment of nearly understanding the Tiamat glyphs. The article he found read:
"Researchers at the Center for High Energy Research Find a Way to Produce Localized Standing Gravity Waves."
Were the Tiamat on the cusp of discovering artificial gravity?
Daily Routine¶
Everyone worked out once a day in their suits and once a day sparring without. Rin practiced firearms. Victoria and Kai resumed their running. Azure and Kyle worked on Kyle's shields, with Rin joining to work on hers. Kai and Azure practiced Gestalt, with Rin observing to see if she could find a way to do it for empathy. Kyle and Rin practiced "sneaky shit." Victoria and Kai worked on research. Azure worked on improving his double-talk. And they all met daily to socialize and plan.
Civil War Sparks¶
Spark #12: The cetaceans have been "shepherding" humanity, keeping much of their knowledge and technology secret until humanity "matures."
Spark #13: Kinetic microsurgery over interplanetary distance. And it's easy.
Quotes¶
Splishy: [swims into Victoria's dream] "Victoria! Wakey!" Victoria: [dreaming] "Good morning, Splishy. Is there a medical emergency?" Splishy: [cheerfully] "No, but there might be one soon!" [Victoria wakes]
Azure: "Splishy? Have you been practicing with your chain sword? Because someone just priority mailed you space marine armor like no one has ever priority mailed before!"
Victoria: "We don't get Marine armor. We get marine armor!"
Rin: "Aw, stars! I knew that kid chewed on the Tiamat cylinder too much!"
Azure: "Thank you for the notification. I am not interested in pressing charges at this time."
Note¶
We need to briefly step back to Kago telling Rin and Victoria about his dreams of Mr. Batty. (To be addressed in Session Eleven.)