Things Psii might have wanted to mention: that in addition to his visions, tuning into this frequency in his pan would involve inviting in all the voices of the dead Psii tries to keep strictly partitioned off most of the time. And that their voices would be getting dumped into Schuldig's head, where he's having enough trouble dealing with the thoughts of the living. Schuldig had been expecting some disorientation; what he gets is twice the psychic weight to stand up beneath, with no warning.
The vision itself turns out to be the least of Schuldig's problems. In fact, he collapses against Psii, with a single gasped German curse, before Psii's even isolated that thread of the future for them to follow. All power in his mind - including even basic motor control - is desperately rerouted in the blink of an eye. Losing his footing in the physical world is harmless; losing his footing in his own mind is lethal, and he's staggering with the strain.
The vision, the narrowing of Psii's focus, is actually his salvation. Dealing with that sudden influx had caught him so off-guard, and required so much focus, that Schuldig hadn't even been able to maintain the presence of mind to untangle his mind from Psii's to save himself. (Of course, he's never entwined his mind on this level with someone else's when they posed an actual telepathic danger to him, either; swift withdrawal wouldn't be as simple as with someone whose mind he was simply passing through.) So when the voices of the dead go quiet, it lets Schuldig recover, a shudder of reaction and renewed awareness of his physical body going through his limbs as the vision plays out before them.
By the time it's over, he's come back to himself enough to push away from Psii with a wordless snarl. Psii will feel a retreat of Schuldig's mind as well, no less abrupt or angry. "Was that an attempt on my life, or are you really that incompetent?"
no subject
The vision itself turns out to be the least of Schuldig's problems. In fact, he collapses against Psii, with a single gasped German curse, before Psii's even isolated that thread of the future for them to follow. All power in his mind - including even basic motor control - is desperately rerouted in the blink of an eye. Losing his footing in the physical world is harmless; losing his footing in his own mind is lethal, and he's staggering with the strain.
The vision, the narrowing of Psii's focus, is actually his salvation. Dealing with that sudden influx had caught him so off-guard, and required so much focus, that Schuldig hadn't even been able to maintain the presence of mind to untangle his mind from Psii's to save himself. (Of course, he's never entwined his mind on this level with someone else's when they posed an actual telepathic danger to him, either; swift withdrawal wouldn't be as simple as with someone whose mind he was simply passing through.) So when the voices of the dead go quiet, it lets Schuldig recover, a shudder of reaction and renewed awareness of his physical body going through his limbs as the vision plays out before them.
By the time it's over, he's come back to himself enough to push away from Psii with a wordless snarl. Psii will feel a retreat of Schuldig's mind as well, no less abrupt or angry. "Was that an attempt on my life, or are you really that incompetent?"