Nurse Jacobs watched the monitor for the subject. She'd been briefed about his sudden appearance, extraction, and transport to Elmendorf AFB. The team that had recovered the man had described something in the area, which was something she didn't need to worry about. Her job was to figure out who, or what this person was, and then prepare him to be questioned.

They'd flown in, parked, and then he'd been escorted here under heavy guard. Everyone who had come into contact with the man was in a decontamination site, while two security guards, an assistant, and she were locked in this small bunker with the subject.

They were sealed in a secondary Command bunker on the back side of the base, about 1,000 feet underground, just north of the 381st Intelligence squadron. Unless you knew which elevators and doors to use, you wouldn't even be able to get to the bunker, which was only accessible from the building half a mile south of her current location.

Nurse Jacobs was actually Major Emily Allison Jacobs. She was a fully qualified doctor, although only a few people in her chain of command were aware of this. She turned to the Technician who had been monitoring the subject from a side room that looked in through a one-way sheet of glass. The subject was in a medical observation room, lying on a metal table, "Henry, any change?"

"None, he hasn't moved since he was brought in and moved down here."

"Any luck taking that blood sample?"

"Nope. Needles won't break the subject's skin."

"How about saliva?" Nurse Jacobs asked.

"No joy there either," Henry said. "We were able to hook him to an EEG, and we can monitor his heart rate and skin temperature, but other than passive systems, we haven't been able to take any samples."

"Not even dead skin cells?"

"Not even dead skin cells. Besides the fact that we can't even damage his skin, there are no dead skin cells on his body. We set a magnifier on various areas of his body. The skin looks normal, even at the microscopic level, but it doesn't behave normally.

"Alright. Thanks for the update. I guess I'll see you in twelve hours or call if I need you."

"I'll be in my bunk, just down the hall. See you in twelve Major."

***

It had been seven days. The containment had been lifted as there was no evidence of a biological contagion. Entry into the Lab was still restricted but her commander did come to check in every once in a while. Emily had just woken up from her rest cycle, showered, and eaten. Now it was time for her shift arrival checks, so Henry could get his twelve hours of rest.

A quick check showed that nothing had changed in the last seven days. He had arrived naked, but they'd slipped a smock over him. Still, it was weird. They tried every form of probing that could be done. None of the natural openings in the man's body allowed anything to be inserted, nor had he used the bathroom in seven days. By now, he should have been dehydrated and at least pissed himself once. Neither condition applied. He just lay on the table looking like someone who was taking a nap.

For the next fifteen minutes, she performed her required inspections and completed the necessary paperwork upon coming on shift, then made herself a cup of coffee. The phone on the desk beeped, and she picked up.

"Ma'am, Colonel Herald is on his way."

"Thank you, Sergeant."

"No problem, Ma'am. E.T.A. about two minutes."

"Thank you," Emily said before the guard hung up his end of the line. She wondered what the Colonel wanted as he walked in.

"Morning, Major."

"Morning, Sir."

"Has there been any change?"

"No, Sir. The subject is still in a catatonic state. The tests we can perform all show no change."

"Blood Sample?"

"We've been unable to take one. His skin will not accept the needle…"

The Colonel cut her off, "Then you cut him open and take the sample that way."

"We tried that, Sir," Emily said while trying not to imply that he was being an idiot if he thought she didn't know her job. "We tried a scalpel, a cleaver, and then we even tried to cut off the tip of one of his fingers with a laser scalpel. The skin didn't even discolor.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, Sir. As you know, I have individuals I answer to besides you."

"Ah," the Colonel said as he seemed to remember that the Major in front of him had a higher clearance than he had, "What are your intentions now?"

"Now? The subject hasn't eaten or drunk anything in seven days. At this point, we're just waiting for his body to shut down, unless of course he isn't human. It that's the case, things will become interesting."

"Major, be aware, talks are in the works to have the subject moved to Area 51 for more invasive testing."

"If they want to try, I of course will not object, though I am thinking of doing a few more tests before that happens.

"So long as the subject is ready to move on a moment's notice, feel free." The Colonel looked thoughtful for a moment before he asked, "Both the primary and secondary failsafes are online and checked?"

"Yes, Sir. The room can be flooded with aerosolized gasoline and lit, burning everything within. The fuel tanks are full, and the safety is off.

"And the secondary system?"

"Should the primary fail, the secondary will detonate if any barrier is breached within 60 seconds of the activation of the primary. It can also be triggered manually if necessary."

"Very good. Please keep me informed. I will brief the General. Be prepared to make a presentation concerning what you've done so far. Please try to make the analysis of a blood sample part of that report. Do you have any idea what they'll want me to use next?"

"No idea, Colonel, though I am leaning toward an Industrial Laser. We need answers, and a high-powered laser might work. I expect our boss will want us to figure out precisely what makes this guy tick, especially since he appeared out of nowhere up north.

"The Whitehorse incident?"

"You've been read in?" The Colonel asked.

"Yes, Sir."

"Well, I know the General would much rather talk to the man, but if we can't do that, he wants to know what we're dealing with. That said, no test should have the possibility of leading to the death of the Subject, but…" The Colonel said leadingly.

"Understood, Sir."

With that, the Colonel turned and left.

Once he was gone, the Major sighed. Damn politicians in the military. He obviously didn't realize the problems with increasing the level of damage they were willing to do to someone to test them. At some point, they'd burst through that defense, and the energy level might destroy the subject instantly when it broke through. Still, she had to make plans to bring more powerful tools into the facility. Maybe an industrial laser or a water jet? She was going to have to make a few calls.

***

Anton came to, lying on a metal table. He reached up to wipe his eyes and heard a crunching sound as something that had been around his wrists gave a little bit of resistance before it snapped. He froze and reached out with his Aura Sense in a 1000-foot radius around himself.

Within a second, his mind had taken in and analyzed the room and the systems attached to the room he was in. Above were two gravity-fed liquid systems. One was hooked to a water supply, and the other was filled with another liquid that was not water. Since this felt like a military setup and the device directly below the room he was in looked a lot like a bomb, he was going to guess some fuel that burned hot.

He activated Electronic Bridge and linked it to the Bomb, scanned it, and realized he was sitting on top of a small one-kiloton nuclear device. That was powerful enough to destroy everything in this facility except for him. He didn't want to scare them too badly. Anton reached out with void energy. He let his Aura Sense guide him as plastique and fissionable material vanished. He left everything else alone. The bomb was now nothing more than a big toaster.

Once he was done, he focused on his surroundings. He was underground, though he could tell from the emergency exit that led to the surface that he must be just at the limit of his Aura Sense's range. He shifted the center point up 1,000 feet and found that for 1,000 feet in all directions, there was forest. He started spiraling his Scanned area out in a spiral while he looked for a building on the surface. While the focused area of his Aura Sense circled his location, he opened his eyes and looked through the one-way observation glass at the woman and man sitting at the terminal behind him, then glanced at the equipment ranged around him and down at his right hand, with its broken cuff on his wrist next to an active laser that was striking the table next to his hand.

Anton moved his hand until the red dot of the laser appeared on the back of his hand, and then he rotated his hand so that the dot appeared on his palm.

"Neat, though you might want to turn that off so nobody gets hurt," Anton said loud enough that any microphone in the room would pick up his voice.

The laser turned off, and the room dropped into silence as he looked at himself and laughed, "Am I in a smock, seriously?"

With Create Item, Anton created a black military flight suit. Then he released just enough void energy to break down the four shackles that were still on his arms and legs. Once free, he swung his legs to the side and hopped off the table. He quickly changed from the smock into the flight suit he'd created. This one had a durability of 10,000 points, at least it should. There was no way to check while the SYSTEM Link wasn't active.

The speaker clicked, and then a man's voice spoke, "Sir, you need to sit back down at the table." Anton ignored him as he found the Intelligence building with Aura Sense, hacked into a computer with Electronic Bridge, and found his current location: Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska, almost 500 miles from where he'd been when he passed out..

Speaking of passing out, why the hell did he pass out? Damn, he couldn't even check his logs right now. He redirected his attention to the man talking to him while maintaining the Electronic Bridge and bringing Aura Sense back to his current location. As he did so, he detected two security guards moving toward him from the tunnel that led to the intelligence squadron.

The woman beside the man who had keyed her mike spoke, "Sir, do not move. Security will enter the room shortly and secure you so that we may have a conversation. Do not resist."

Anton ignored her as he walked around the room, as if inspecting it. Realistically, he was considering how he would respond. That little bit of information he received about picking on those of lower rank kind of sucked. The SYSTEM wouldn't like it if he started killing people indiscriminately. Besides, being an evil tyrant wasn't really his thing, and he still wanted to find out who had given the Selechi the technology to follow him. As far as he could tell, crossing dimensions seemed to be a known thing. Crossing Manifold barriers, not so much. Whoever was behind giving them that information was someone he wanted to find and beat the snot out of.

"Sir, I do not know where you picked up the flight suit, but I strongly suggest that you cease what you are doing and stand very still. The soldiers have orders to shoot to kill if you resist."

Anton glanced at the one-way glass and then released the void within his Core. The glass disintegrated, leaving only open space between the two at the control desk and himself. He locked his gaze on hers, "Why would I do that? No one on this planet could hold me." Anton said as the two security personnel burst into the exam room with guns pointed at Anton.

To Anton, they were incredibly slow. Even so, both security personnel had stepped through the door, saw him within close proximity to the Major and the technician, and fired. The security guards each fired a three-round burst into Anton's center mass. He didn't even budge. The bullets impacted his chest, lost all their energy, and fell to the ground. Honestly, he hadn't expected that reaction; he thought they would ricochet or something. Instead, his Physical Damage Resistance was acting as a kinetic energy sink, and they dropped to the ground without being deformed. Too cool.

While his mind was considering that, the Technician must have realized they were outclassed and bypassed the first safety measure, going straight for the second option. The Technician knew his duty. He called out, "BREACH!" as he hit a button on his keyboard. Anton felt the bomb under the exam room receive the command to detonate and smiled.

The technician froze for a moment before he reached for a weapon at the side of the desk. Anton ignored the technician and calmly looked at the Major, "The nuke under the floor has been permanently disarmed. The fuel mixture you all have in the ceiling to burn whatever is in this room is still there, but if you activate it, it will never leave the spray nozzles. You know what, you all aren't acting very intelligently, so…"

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The guards were aiming their weapons at him, wondering what was going on as their training said the man in front of them should be dead or flat on his back dying. While the security guards were frozen, Anton focused on the containers that held the fuel that would ignite everything in the room and annihilated them all, including the containers, with an expression of his will. He was becoming more of an Anti-Mage, maybe an Anti-Reality magician, as he could delicately remove various structures with just a little concentration.

"You do not get to dictate…"

The Major shut her mouth and stared as Anton raised his hand, and a ten-foot-diameter vertical shaft to the surface ground level appeared in the ceiling above his head.

The service weapon that the sergeant was aiming at Anton fired. The bullet didn't make it an inch out of the barrel before it, and the gun the technician was holding disintegrated.

Anton looked at the Technician, "And I thought we were going to get along.

The handgun the technician was holding and the two M-16s and their backup weapons dissolved. Anton continued to ignore everyone as he walked through the wall l, Disked forward through the hole in the wall until he stood over the technician.

"I need an example to show your leadership just how outclassed you are before I go off and do my own thing. You drew the short straw."

"What?" The technician and the Major both asked as Anton surrounded the technician and himself in a spherical Force Construct. He molded the inside to immobilize the technician so he wouldn't get whiplash and also braced himself a bit. With the technician was immobilized, the sphere lifted off the ground and then moved under the hole to the surface. Once they were lined up, they shot straight up at an acceleration of approximately 5 Gs until they reached 1,000 feet above the surface, and then altered direction as they shot off to the south.

"Where are you taking me?" The sergeant shouted

Anton responded in a calm voice, "Away from the base. Don't you worry, I'll let the Major know where you are."

The sergeant looked around frantically as their speed increased as they flew across the inlet and then slowed down as Soldotna came into view a few seconds later. As the Force Construct released him and his feet touched the ground, the technician had just enough time to ask, "What?" as Anton lifted up and away from him for him to look up and see a sign that read " Good Time Charles."

Anton waved as he reconfigured the and shot off to the east. Once he was out of sight of the city, he activated Stealth, slowed down, and landed on a mountain top. He refocused Aura Sense on the room where the Major was located and then connected to the terminal in that room with Electronic Bridge. Once he had control of the computer, Anton had decided that it was a good time to contact someone from this planet and gather some information.

"Hello, Major," Anton said through the speakers in the room.

"Where did you take my Sergeant?" The Major asked in a barely controlled, angry tone.

"Oh, him, he's fine," Anton said with a hint of mirth in his voice, as if he found the whole thing funny, which he did.

"Where. Is. He?"

"I dropped him off outside Good Time Charlie's in Soldotna."

"When we find you…"

"YOU WILL DO NOTHING, BECAUSE YOU CAN DO NOTHING!" Anton said in his best Viggo Tarasov from the movie John Wick. Some quotes were just too good to pass up using. Also, they really couldn't do anything to him, so he might as well have a little fun.

The Major froze, took a breath, and then picked up the phone on her desk. She probably thought Anton couldn't hear her as she whispered, "Trace the signal controlling the computer attached to this phone."

Anton heard a woman on the other end of the line say "Yes, Ma'am," before the line went dead.

The Major hung up the phone as Anton watched her through the Camera on the Computer. A moment later, he felt another link tie into the computer as the I.T. personnel mirrored the terminal and tried to figure out where it was being controlled from. Boy, were they in for a surprise when they discovered the entry point was an empty USB port. Silly Common ranked mortals without magic. If it weren't so sad, it would be hilarious.

Since no one was talking, Anton continued, "Now, I'm going to head back over to Whitehorse and check on that dimensional breach I stopped. I also want to investigate the types of mutations that the mana that leaked through when I arrived caused. Let your Colonel know that I'll be in contact later. You're probably wondering how. Don't worry about that; if you're near a computer or electronic device, I can contact you. As you'll hear from your I.T. people in a minute or two, the how will be unexplainable. Neat, huh?"

The phone rang

"Look, that's your Sergeant calling you now," Anton said and broke the connection. He honestly didn't care what they talked about. They were going to do what they thought they could. It would most likely only inconvenience him, unless they did something stupid.

Instead of flying to Whitehorse, he was going to head south. He could check on Whitehorse with his Aura Sense. Since the diameter of Earth was just under 8,000 miles and he could focus Aura Sense on a 2,000-foot diameter sphere out to 18,000 miles, he could check on any place on or above the planet from anywhere else on the Earth. Besides, while he took his time checking in on various locations, he could get used to flying and scanning with Aura Sense at the same time.

Anton activated Stealth. Staying low to the ground, he headed east at roughly 60 miles per hour. Once he crossed Prince William's Sound, he would follow the south coast toward Washington State, Oregon, and then California. While he flew along at what he considered a leisurely pace, he made sure to steer clear of any flying birds and aircraft as he focused his Aura Sense's Area of Effect on Whitehorse.

While the name of the Power was Aura Sense, he could see everything within a 1,000-foot radius from any angle or direction he desired, all at once. Even the ground level, which turned into a kind of three-dimensional MRI scan in his mind. It was crazy how useful Aura Sense was.

He scanned the area with his senses. He still didn't have access to a SYSTEM Link, so he allowed his normal five senses to reach through his aura. The explosive afterimage that had permeated the area was gone, but there was a crater in the ground where he'd first appeared. It looked like they'd hit the spot with a missile or bomb. Above the center of the crater, about 14 feet in the air, was a pinpoint of neon blue light. If the ground had still been level, it would have been about four feet above it. Four feet would be just about at the center of his chest, or right about where he felt his cores rested. A coincidence? Probably not.

Just then, he felt another munition enter his sphere of perception just before another explosion went off in the crater. When the dust cleared, he could swear the pinpoint of neon blue was slightly brighter. He wasn't sure, but he thought so. Had a spatial tear formed between the astral plane and this world anyway? Where the idiots in charge of the military bombing the dimensional tear? Was the energy causing it to grow bigger?

Anton altered direction and began flying toward Whitehorse. He shouldn't need to get too close if he was correct. If mana was leaking into this realm, he should be able to detect it if he flew closer to the breach point. He would soon find out that he was correct on two fronts. The military was being idiotic, and mana was leaking into this realm.

When he was 100 miles out, he felt the change. He altered course and slowed down to hover over Ibex Mountain about 20 miles southwest of Whitehorse as his SYSTEM Link became active again.

SYSTEM Link Established

Ambient Mana has reached 25% in the local area.

With access to the SYSTEM again, he landed on the mountain and focused his Aura Sense on the rupture. This time, he was rewarded with Notifications.

Message to SYSTEM-linked users currently present in this area.

Dimensional Breech detected! Mana is leaking into this Mana-starved Realm

WARNING! As the Ambient Level increases in Mana-starved Realms, there may be violent reactions and random mana manifestations.

Local Area Ambient Mana: 25%

Realm Ambient Mana: 1%

SYSTEM Integration Threshold: 75%

Okay then, it looked like those explosions had broken something permanently because he had no idea how to seal a dimensional rip. He could probably tear it open if he tried a few things, but closing it, that was beyond him right now. Of course, he could stand in the breach and release his void, which should stop the flow, but then he'd be stuck, and well, he hadn't caused this. Plus, if he was being honest, these people needed magic if they were going to compete with the other races of this Multiverse.

Anton considered his options. He could do whatever he wanted and keep an eye on the tear from anywhere on the planet, or he could find a place to hole up within the higher ambient mana region and work on the various Psionic Powers and Spells he wanted to create and upgrade. With his regeneration rates increasing back to normal, he would be able to recover his mana and psychic energy at a faster rate, which would allow him to create those spells and powers at an accelerated rate.

Anton looked down at the mountain below him. He moved his perception field into the mountain and began searching for a spot where he could remain out of sight and shielded. He discovered a vein of iron within it, which created a natural cavity beneath. The Iron had solidified enough that it held a shape that was well over 100 feet across and should remain stable above him as long as he didn't remove too much dirt beneath him; it would act as a natural roof to hold the rock and dirt off of him from above.

Anton chose a spot near the center of the solid iron vein and cleared out a small 10-foot area with his void. He activated Adaption, because there would be no air within, and then teleported into it. Once he was inside the mountain, he sat down and focused his Aura Sense on the dimensional tear to check on it. Between each creation or upgrade, he'd check on it.

The first thing he worked on was creating a Psionic Power that would improve the Area of Effect of his Aura Sense. The required Attributes to take in all that information were huge. He was pretty sure if he had an eidetic memory, he could probably take in all the information and review it at his leisure, but he didn't, so he needed to come up with a workaround.

What he needed was a tool that could shield his mind from the flood of information, filter out non-essential details, and keep him updated. Finally, it also needed to update his Basic Map. That sparked an idea that maybe he should start utilizing his mind like a computer, compressing, filtering, and archiving the necessary information while deleting or ignoring superfluous information. He also needed it to be cost-effective in terms of his mental resources; 148 minutes later, he succeeded.

Congratulations, you have created the Psionic Power "Memory Compression"

Memory Compression

Prerequisite: Aura Sense

Rank: Mythic

Spell Slots: 64 (Base (8) + Seven Energy Reduction Augments (56)

Required Materials: None

Psychic Energy to initiate: 100 PE

Psychic Energy to Maintain: 100 PE Turn

Range: Self Only

Area of effect: N/A

Duration: While maintained. Once activated, this Power will remain active until deactivated.

When active, the caster dedicates 10% of their mind to storing and sorting information. This effectively increases the Area of Effect that Aura Sense can scan without causing the Psionicist to go into a catatonic fugue as they process the information.

While Active, Aura Senses Area of Effect is increased from a Rare Effective Rank to Advanced. The Psionicist can now scan a 10,000-foot radius (20,000-foot (3.78-mile) diameter) sphere with Aura Sense.

With the current ambient mana, his regeneration rates allowed him to regenerate his Psychic Energy a lot quicker than he had been able to. Even with the seven additional augmentations to reduce the cost, it only took 148 minutes to channel his Psychic Energy Regeneration into the new Psionic Power.

. With that success, he focused on upgrading and creating higher-ranked versions of the Psionic Powers he already had: Teleport, Create Item, Create Food, Create Drink, and a couple of others. He didn't bother with the spells yet, just those Psionic Powers that utilized Psychic Energy.

***

"Sergeant, from the top again. What did you see when you shot up the shaft out of the ground?" Colonel Herald asked again.

Major Jacobs watched as Henry repeated exactly what had happened for the third time. Given that their subject she'd seen couldn't be a man, she'd started referring to him as an "alien." She watched Henry recount their flight south. His position and speed had been verified against his phone's location data. At one point, they'd been traveling at Mach 10, which was insane.

"And he just set you down in front of the stripper club, without a fuss.

"Yes, Sir."

Colonel Herald sighed, "You're free to grab a meal. You may talk with Major Jacobs and me. Otherwise, stay in the building and mention nothing of what happened today to anyone else. In fact, let me know if anyone starts asking you questions."

"Yes, Sir," Henry said as the Colonel led him out of the room, followed by the Colonel, who walked into the room where the Major was sitting.

The Colonel waited for the door to close before he took a seat, looked at the Major, and asked, "Thoughts?"

"I think anyone who comes across that 'man' should be very careful not to piss him off.

"Why do you say that?"

Emily pointed to the picture of the industrial laser they'd brought and then to a picture of the hole in the roof of the observation room, "I watched him put his hand under the active laser that can easily pierce anyone's skin and chop off limbs like it was a cat toy. No discoloration, no hint of pain. To him, it was nothing. Then that hole in the observation room, that hole was created within a second, two at most, and all he did was think about it. It's also how he left the observation lab. As far as I can tell, he willed it and shit happened."

Are you sure both security guards fired their weapons before they vanished?

The Major reached into her pocket and pulled out seven pristine bullets and showed them to the Colonel, six were from the two M-16s, one from the 9mm Beretta Henry used, "These hit the subject and stopped. I retrieved them after he left.

The Colonel walked over to a terminal and pulled up a camera feed of Whitehorse and pointed at the blue dot in the center of the monitor they were looking at, "What do you make of that?"

The Major raised an eyebrow, "Nothing good, I would guess. Also, isn't it brighter now?"

"It is," The Colonel acknowledged.

"Didn't we recommend observation only, Sir?" The Major asked.

"We did. We are not in charge."

For the next four hours, the two of them reviewed all the reports and data they could concerning anything that was detected east of Soldotna on its way over the mountains. Food and coffee were brought to the two of them as they went over the reports and filed their findings. There was no evidence that anything had been sighted.

The Major sighed. "He has to be somewhere near Whitehorse."

The Colonel nodded, "We must have kept his speed down. If he'd created shock waves or broken the sound barrier, we would have detected him. We lost him," The Colonel said, looked at his watch, and then looked at the monitor, "It's time."

The view on the monitor shifted to a point well above Whitehorse from a drone flying at high altitude. Even at that distance, they could see the pinpoint of neon blue in the center of the screen. As they watched, something came in from above and detonated right above the crater. There was a flash, followed by a large cloud of ash and dust lifting from ground level into the sky.

"Did they just use a MOAB on Whitehorse?" The Major asked.

"Yes, they did," The Colonel said.

***

Anton had been concentrating on improving and adding to his Psionic Powers for the last six hours. He was considering what to do next when the world within his perception field on top of the breech exploded into a giant fireball. Anton watched for a moment as a new Notification appeared, and then another, and another. The Ambient Mana, where he was 20 miles away, began increasing rapidly. These idiots had opened much more than a pinhole to the Astral Plane. Anton sighed. They had gone and done something incredibly stupid.

Within his new area of effect, Anton moved the focal point of his Aura Sense back to Elmendorf and took in the base all at once. He quickly found the Colonel and Major and a group of flag officers in the Command Post watching a live feed of the strike on Whitehorse.

Anton activated Electronic Bridge and connected to both computers. Once he was in their computers, he monitored their feed. He switched his Perception Field back to Whitehorse, focusing his senses on a portion of the gas and flame that was now being sucked into the Astral Plane through a neon blue portal approximately five feet in diameter. Then he projected that image onto the monitor in front of the General and his staff, as well as the Monitor in front of the Colonel and Major.

The General noticed and asked, "Where the hell is that image coming from? We have nothing that close to the focal point."

One of his aids spoke up, "No idea, Sir, it's not coming from our drone, and as you said, we have no personnel on the ground that close yet.

Anton cleared his throat loudly, which sounded through the speakers in both locations, before he spoke, "Before I introduce myself, I wanted to know who decided that it would be a good idea to add energy to a rip in the dimensional fabric of your Universe?"

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