Mirtis - How to take Parahuman powers

"That is a point," he admitted. "I like this world, and I'd like it to continue. That's why I'm here. I'd like to teach you a couple of things you might find useful."

"Oh? What?" I asked.

"How to see across the Veil and follow a trail," he said.

I stared at him.

"How to take parahuman powers, you mean?"

"You have to be careful, at least at first," he said. "The parasites are huge, and their powers are… inelegant and inefficient. It's like they wrote an entire encyclopedia set to convey the information that could be expressed in a single pamphlet if they were just better. It's like they didn't know what they were doing when they put the power together, and they just banged blocks together until some of them fit."

"What does that mean?"

"You'll get awful headaches at first," he said. "The kind that can knock you out. It'll get easier the more you do it, as you figure out how to translate their huge amount of bullshit down into something elegant and easy that takes a millionth the power to accomplish the same thing."

"Do I have to harvest the parasites?"

"If you want to do it right," he said. "You'll crack them like an egg."

"I'm not sure I have a power like that."

"I'll also teach you telekinesis," he said. "And how to reach across the Veil."

"That sounds useful for more than getting powers."

He smiled, and this time it wasn't particularly pleasant.

***

Cloak