CHAPTER 493: FRIENDLY CHAT

"Everyone ready?" I asked Jovially as the exit ramp opened. "More than ready!" Ronnie replied with enthusiasm, prompting a high five from myself. The other two were quiet while the ones in my head were keeping a low profile.

As I stepped off the ship, the first thing to hit me was. "Ooh! Dense gravity is always a welcome surprise." This gravity was perfect, I would only have to reduce my weight so I wouldn’t go through the ground, I wouldn’t have to worry about counterbalancing for now as I was far less likely to apply too much pressure in my steps, causing me to leap instead of walk."

"Gah!"

Suddenly, to our left an elderly gentleman fell down, no doubt due to the gravity. "Orchid, make sure these two are ok with this gravity, I am going to help out the elderly chap." I stated, before walking away.

"Hello sir, are you ok?" I asked as I approached. He looked up at me and smiled with his own face, his eyes smiling alongside his mouth, the type of smile where you immediately know the type of person the man was.

"Oh, I will be. Just need to get to one of the acclimation zones. I have not been out of my own planet’s gravity for nearly four decades, the sudden added weight is taking its toll." The man’s voice was deep and kind with a hint of weariness.

Kneeling down, I placed my hand on his back. "Here, let me give you a hand." I said as I activated my power over the man. I could tell by the look of surprise on his face that the gravity was no longer affecting him.

The man then stood up on his own and stretched slightly as I kept my hand upon him before he looked at me. "Ah Thank you, my good man. Very courteous of you. Is that your Psionic power? You can manipulate gravity?"

I nodded my head at the man’s question. "Gyrokinesis, yes. It is one of my powers." I stated, causing the man to frown. "Gyrokinesis? Sounds funny. Ah forgive me, I am pretty new to all this power stuff, I only, ah what’s the word that woman used... Awakened! That’s it. I only awakened a couple of months ago. I still don’t quite understand the lingo of all of this stuff. Though I suppose that’s why this place was built. hahaha *COUGH*"

’Oh?’ I thought, intrigue biting deep into me. "Not to sound rude sir, but awakening later in life becomes increasingly more unlikely the older you get, could I ask your age and how you came to awaken?"

The man smiled again. "Of course, I am one hundred and eighteen years old, but since I have awakened, I seem to have gained some youthly vigor as I don’t look a day over ninety! Look!

The man proceeded to reach into his pocket and pull out his wallet and from said wallet, a picture. "Here, take it. I don’t want you leaning down and hurting that back of yours" He said as he passed it to me.

In the picture was an image of him, definitely looking much older than he does now and a woman who was sitting in an armchair. "Your wife?" I asked, causing the man’s face to illuminate with warmth. "That she is, I am one lucky bastard let me tell you." There was a loving look on his face as I passed him back his picture as he looked at his wife before a melancholic aura wafted over him. "Audrey has recently become ill with a necrotic disease that is seemingly unique to our planet. I took her to the disease control building in the big city and whilst waiting for her tests to be done on one side of the building there was a radiation leak where I was waiting.

I think a couple dozen around me just dropped dead due to the horrible accident while I, well. My aches were disappearing and my breath wasn’t so ragged anymore. I actually felt invincible."

He paused as his eyes began darting back and forth in deep thought. "The boring tests aside, it turns out I can absorb radiation into my body that is harmful to others. Mostly Ionizing radiation according to my doctor. X-ray, gamma etcetera. While non ionising I am apparently just now immune to any negative side effects."

"That sounds like a valuable power to have awakened, especially considering how you got it. I could imagine the kind of settlement you could get if you sued that place." I said, causing the man to laugh.

"Haha! You are telling me. We got paid twenty million credits as long as we promised not to sue, not to mention the job bonus I have been offered."

"Job bonus?" I inquired, causing him to nod his head. "Oh aye, after finding out my, Is it power by the way? Ability, condition? Sorry, I digress. I have thousands of companies reaching out to me from across the empire. Apparently having the ability to completely absorb harmful radiation from an area is a highly coveted thing. All the offers have basically made me a freelance radiation hoover. One company is paying for me to attend here, to better learn to control my thingy and covering all my expenses while also paying for my darlings operations for her new metal, on top of rehabilitation as she is getting them quite late in life."

"As wonderful as all that sounds, are you not going to miss your wife while here? I know I miss my close ones already." I asked, causing the man to smile. "Well, with all this money we have stumbled upon, the family has scurried around like rats. We didn’t really mind though as none of our children are bad eggs and they would have gotten the money when we croak anyway. My Audrey is surrounded by nine children, dozens of grandchildren and even more great and great great grandchildren. Besides, if she ever wants to see this ugly mug, I am only a call away."

I smiled hearing that. "Sounds like you were pretty rich before the money huh? Well, thank you for sharing. I am Apollo by the way." I said and extended my hand. "Ambrose. It is a pleasure to meet such a kind young man here. You are young aren’t you? Considering what a little bit of radiation has done to me, I could imagine you could also be younger than you look."

" I am eighteen. And it was a delight meeting you as well, now let’s go find one of those acclimation zones you mentioned, I can’t be holding onto you like a puppet the entire time can I? My sister is already glaring at you, she doesn’t like it when my attention is shared with others."

Turning to where I just pointed, Ambrose spotted a purple haired woman glaring at him from the ship next to his and shuddered slightly. "Blimey. I have not seen a look that intense since my mother found my nude magazines when I was a boy."

I held back a laugh and replied. "Don’t take it personal, she does it to ev-" "-Whoa! What is that blue thing? Is that a Sepiida? I have never seen one before, such a beautiful creature. Can I go say hello?"

I nodded my head. "She is her own person, you can go talk to her if you want to." Without prompting, Ambrose began walking with a pep in his step, forcing me to pick up the pace or I would make the gent keel over due to the gravity increase.

For someone his age, the man moved hastily. ’Must be all the Psionic energy coursing through his body... I Would love to dissect him and figure out what the radiation has done to him... Woah! Where did that come from?’

As I contemplated that I might have spent a slight bit too much time listening to Keyla talk about all her murdering, we arrived in front of my ship. "Everyone, this is Ambrose, he is having a tough time adjusting to the gravity and he wanted to come say hello."

Before anyone could respond, Ambrose suddenly yelled in a broken accent to Janine. "Hello! My name is Ambrose! Are you, Sepiidan?" Janine was taken aback and would have sprouted question marks from her head if she was able.

"Sir? Are you ok? Why are you yelling?" Janine asked, causing the man to guffaw. "Blimey! Your Spartari is excellent! I was not expecting that." He then turned to me. "Wow, the rumors don’t do it justice do they? They are so pretty and those eyes! Look how big they are! She is like something from a work of art!"

"Uhhhhhh..." Janine began to be a little concerned by this elderly gentleman before I spoke up.

"Ambrose here has never met a Sepiidan before Janine. And judging from his gawking, any alien. This is probably the best reaction you could ever have gotten. Now, let’s stop standing around and make our way over where everyone else is going."