Rae lifted her head from her arms and grumbled to herself quietly.

  “Two hours! What the hell am I going to do for two hours! I haven't got a clue how to do any of what she was rambling on about.”

  Sam looked at her friend. She could sense her life force. If she looked with her “Inner eye” Rae glowed like a beacon of light.

  “I er, might be able to help?” Sam whispered to Rae. Who looked up in surprise and gazed around surreptitiously as if they were about to do something naughty.

  “I'm listening..” she whispered back.

  “OK” Sam started. “Just relax, breath in deeply, focus on your body, feel it, like your heart, the blood going round your system, every muscle in your body, how your clothes feel on your skin, the hair on your head, focus on it all, one at a time, really focus on it, then move on to the next part of your body.

  "When you're fully immersed in this, I will give your life force a little nudge. If you are properly focused you might feel it, sound good?”

  Rae looked unsure. “It sounds a lot like what the professor was saying.”

  Sam nodded. “Yeah but with me shining a light on where you should be looking.” Rae looked at Sam and nodded. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

  Sam waited for her friend to finally calm down. She could sense her pulse lower and her body slowly relax.

  Sam thought with Rae's heightened sense of her inner self she might feel what she was going to do, she bit her lip.

  “H.U.D?”

  MISS HOLDEN.

  “I want to pull a tiny, tiny fraction of life essence from Rae so she can feel where it came from and then put it back, I can do that right?”

  AFFIRMATIVE.

  “Phew! OK so how do I go about pulling such a small amount?”

  SEE THE LIFE ESSENCE, PINCH IT WITH YOUR INNER FINGER AND THUMB LIKE YOU WOULD A PINCH OF SALT AND PULL VERY LIGHTLY.

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  “Right! A pinch of salt! Thanks H.U.D!”

  Sam let her mind connect with her inner self and the outside world blurred as she focused on Rae's life essence.

  She reached out and took a teeny tiny pinch of the bright essence that was Rae's life force and pulled as delicately as she could. She heard a gasp as Rae suddenly sat bolt upright.

  Sam opened her eyes in terror as she feared the worst. Memories of the dozen members of the defense force lying there in the medic bay filled her with dread.

  Rae's hand grabbed Sam's wrist with a vice like grip as she whispered hoarsely.

  “I felt it! Sam I felt it!” Sam looked at Rae and relief flooded her body. she grinned.

  “Could you sense where it came from?”

  Rae looked a little less sure but replied. “Hmm.. maybe? It felt really weird but I definitely felt it. I'll try and do what I did earlier, at least I know it's there.”

  Rae let out a little giggle and got the fish eye from professor Sampson. Rae gave her an apologetic look and closed her eyes, trying once more to find her inner life force.

  Sam looked around and saw nobody had at least made any discernible change to the three items on each of their desks. She closed her eyes and spoke to H.U.D.

  “That worked great H.U.D. Perfect. So how do I put it back without blowing her or myself up in the process?”

  TAKE A PINCH FROM YOUR ESSENCE AND SPRINKLE IT ON RAE'S LIFE ESSENCE.

  “Wow. Right OK. Thanks again H.U.D. you're a real help.

  INDEED.

  “How is it you know all this stuff anyhow?”

  I HAVE LIMITED ACCESS TO EVERY MIND THAT WEARS A BRACELET. EVERY MAGI DEVICE NOT ONLY ON THIS SHIP. BUT TO EVERY MAGI DEVICE THAT HAS COMMUNICATION WITH DEVICES ON THIS SHIP.

  “So you're like the freaking oracle then? The holder of all knowledge?”

  NOT ALL KNOWLEDGE, BUT ENOUGH TO BE OF ASSISTANCE.

  “Well thanks. First for helping and second for being one of the good guys.”

  I AM GLAD TO BE OF SERVICE.

  Sam waited again for Rae to relax and start sensing her inner self.

  It took longer this time as she was more excited at the prospect of something actually happening, but she got there in the end and Sam pulled just a pinch out of her own pool of essence and sprinkled it onto Rae's.

  This time Rae almost broke Sam's hand her reaction was so powerful.

  Sam opened her inner eye immediately and could see Rae's life essence was almost too bright to look at.

  Rae was glowing with a vitality and power she had never seen before. Hmm... thought Sam. Maybe just a smidgen too much put back? She leaned into Rae and whispered.

  “Focus on the very tip of the candle! remember what the professor said? Agitate the air molecules around the tip of the candle.

  "When it heats up enough it will light the candle. As soon as it does that stop!”

  Rae, brimming with excess life essence grinned and focused with a laser like intensity.

  Sam saw the air around Rae's candle waver like heat off a hot road and the tip of candle burst into flames. Rae shrieked and clapped her hands together with delight.

  “I did it!, I did it! Oh thank you Sam. You were incredible Aha-ha! I did it!”

  Sam looked up as she saw in her peripheral vision that professor Sampson was approaching them and she tried to calm an ecstatic Rae.