Professor Mechaniacal regarded the young man and woman sitting across from him, fairly well pleased with how things had gone. Having to extract them from Blacktime’s grasp would have been irksome, but had proved to be an unnecessary worry. He wasn’t certain exactly what they’d done to send the man off, but clearly it had been sufficient for the moment.Of course, that was only for the moment. Blacktime’s complete immunity to any personal consequences meant he was damnably persistent, and one of the reasons Mechaniacal tried to make himself annoying to deal with rather than a high-stakes threat. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be too long before it became public knowledge that the Hartson boy had decided to collaborate with him and Blacktime would be around again to try and acquire Hartson’s unique talents.“Well, no time like the present,” he decided, rising from the sinfully comfortable armchair with the aid of his cane. “Mister Hartson, Miss Miller, your mounts will be safe here if you wish to come with me. No offense to them, but some things are rather too delicate for me to trust large dinosaurs nearby.” Not entirely true, but as a psychological ploy to keep them from any mischief while not actively seeming to take hostages, it was a useful claim.“Alright,” Hartson said, clearly not particularly enthused, and stood with a glance toward the mounts while fiddling with the crystaltech band at his wrist. Clearly psionic technology; useful to other people, but Mechaniacal never touched the stuff. With a mind like his, such interactions were bound to end poorly.The boy rose from the couch with an interesting bit of motion, something characteristic of a person who wasn’t operating by the usual rules of mass and momentum. Of course, Mechaniacal had known that Hartson was using his power on a fairly consistent basis, but it was always fascinating to see the nuances in person. The Miller girl followed suit with a nearly (...)