Out of Touch

by Leia Howard

  A woman’s voice came on the line, “This is Lieutenant Commander Bedard, how can I help you?”

  “Yes, thank you for so quickly taking my call. Were you briefed as to the nature of the call?”

  “Yes, urgent man overboard information. What do you have for me?”

  “I will be giving you date, time, and coordinates of the overboard incident. I assume you can take it from there as I have little nautical knowledge.”

  “I am ready for the information.”

  “Date October 12th. Time 0317. Coordinates, Latitude N 44 degrees, 55 minutes, and 38.87 seconds. Longitude W 125 degrees, 4 minutes, and 20.46 seconds. Man overboard, entangled in a deadhead at last sighting, no life vest, no mayday call. Squall line sited behind the boat, bearing nor’-nor’-west. Male, Gregory Sammons, fell overboard from an open water catamaran, Betty Rose. Astoria, Oregon, Cascadia RCMP has been in contact with the Coast Guard regarding small bits of boat wood and some clothes drifting ashore on Friday’s evening tide. Other coastal towns like Rockaway Beach and Cannon Beach confirmed debris drifting in. Coast Guard performed a search Saturday and Sunday, no sighting. The cat has a Garmin GPS chart navigator, though I don’t know the serial number. Gregory also had his mobile phone on board, but it was not on his person when he went overboard. I will provide the details to the RCMP,” I reported.

  “That’s fine. Did the deadhead breach the cat’s hull, do you know? It may be easier to find the cat and work from there.”

  “I cannot say for certain” I replied. “The port bow collided with the deadhead, the jolt of impact knocked Gregory overboard. He was aft, looking at the squall line, and was leaning over the side and his grip on the line was a bit lax. I think the impact caused both the cat and the deadhead to ricochet off each other. Gregory’s leg got caught in some large branches underwater and he was dragged away from the boat. He was pulled under several times trying to free himself from the deadhead. His leg got cut up and he decided to stop before he tore through his femoral. The squall hit, and he was flung about, still attached to the deadhead. There isn’t much more useful information after that, I believe he was knocked unconscious for a bit, the time is unknown. He is dehydrated and delirious, but my sense is that he is alive, barely, floating on some deadhead timber.”

  “These coordinates give us the point of origin, which is one more data-point to help our calculations. Given point of origin and when and where debris washed ashore, we can more accurately map out our search area. Hopefully, we can sight him in time. Thank you for the call.”

  “You’re welcome.” I quickly hung up so that LCDR Bedard could do whatever she needed to instigate the search and rescue mission. I then pulled up the report writing tool and detailed my readings. I included as much information as Gregory could remember about the GPS navigator and his phone, in case the RCMP could trace him that way. I figured the Canadian Coast Guard did not have the resources the RCMP did to deal with phone carriers or navigation systems, thus why I did not go into detail on the phone call. I added a separate section regarding my contact with LCDR Bedard, as Detective Tamez would need those details for follow-up casework. I saved and uploaded the report and video, after verifying my face was not on the recording. Then I called Detective Tamez on her office line.

  “Gray, thanks for the wonderful text dropping this mess on my lap soon after our task heavy meeting. Do you mind if I transfer this to one of our conference rooms and put it on speaker? Wakiza and Pallaton are still shadowing me and have seen me dig around trying to find information. They’d like to sit in on the call.”

  “Sure, that’s fine. I just uploaded my report as well as the video reading. How about I let you go so you can watch the video and read the report. Then, give me a call from the conference room when you’re ready.”

  “Sounds good. The video is just over 30 minutes, and I can print out the report for us to refer to in the conference room. I’ll call you in about 45 minutes.”

  “Okay, I’ll still be here. Thanks for looking into this so quickly. You might also want to contact the RCMP as they are the primary petitioner. I have some phone and GPS details that were not provided on the call to the Canadian Coast Guard. They just took the information needed to start the search ASAP. I also added his information, so someone can get in touch with family and girlfriend.”

  “Will do. Talk to you in a bit”

  I grab one of Wendy’s headache charms. I’m now down to only one left, good thing I put in my refill order Monday. Going from a routine secondary reading request to an urgent phone call was a slingshot. That, plus all the new sailing and nautical knowledge dumped in my brain caused a tension headache.

  The rope memory did not emanate cold, so I took a chance and chose about two weeks prior to the case creation. I had to fast forward through a week or so to get more relevant information. Then I had to slow his memories down throughout his sailing journey. I did not want to miss necessary details and had no idea when the incident would occur during the memory. I can only read a memory forward, no rewind available if I accidently skip over something, so there’s no room for error. Slowing the memory down also allowed me to link thoughts, ideas, and knowledge to images.

  Gregory knew about the boat, waves, drifting, sailing, navigating, all the stuff that I had no knowledge of. I had to freeze his memories several times to learn that a catamaran is a two-hull boat and unlike the light surf and sail catamarans, Betty Rose is built for open water sailing, which makes it weightier and less likely to capsize. I also learned how to sail, the etiquette of solo sailing and light sleeping, the merits of anchoring or not overnight, how to read a squall line, what it means to reduce sail or heave-to, how to read the coordinates on a GPS, the difference between coordinates and bearing, that a deadhead is large timber floating in the ocean at an almost vertical angle making it difficult to spot and how hazardous it can be. I doubt I will retain much of this information since I’m not going to use it regularly, but this is a lot to learn in a very short while.

  My first memories of casually touching objects or people were frightening. The touch sucked me into their mind and I was thrown into this vast, empty, black space. I could see lightning bursts which would blind me, and then I would try to grope my way toward that light. Another burst would appear, a different color or intensity, indicating a distinct burst. Or, I would head one way and another burst would appear in different direction from where I was heading, so either I was turned around or the lightning was all around me. I also felt this weight trying to grind me down to nothing. Touching people was a much more visceral experience, the space was colder, the lightning brighter and more blinding, the weight heavier. Touching an object was less severe, but I was still sucked in and felt trapped. I was too young to articulate the experience, I just shied away from touching people or things.

  This went on for several years until I could begin my training. I, like many Psycepts, had training at an early age from a relative. My mom was the one who helped me develop my world of lakes. She worked with me to convert the limitless space into the more contained environment of a lake. A lake was encompassed by land, therefore even if I could not see the shore, I knew it was there. Defining the space and creating limits helped me to feel that I would not get so lost. The weighty pressure was converted into waves, which were the mind’s natural defense, but could be ridden. The lightning bursts were changed into a memory thread that was seen and tangible. The most intense bursts became ropes, the least intense became ribbons, and the moderate lightning bursts became whips. I could impose a timeline on a memory thread, I could make it linear, grasp it at a certain point, and read it forward. I became more familiar with using objects to link me to and buffer me from a person’s memories. Older objects are more difficult to read, only because they can link me to several people, thus different memory lakes. Very old objects, though, provide less intense memories, glimpses really, only ribbons and whips, not ropes. My mother made me practice on a multitude of antiques over the
years, so I have plenty of experience. I don’t enjoy touching older objects and sorting through the lakes to find the specific lake I’m looking for, but I can handle it. That is why my consultation requests are for items that have sentimental value, but that are not multigenerational or hand-me-down, if possible.

  My mom also made me practice on very old museum pieces, like old pottery, stone or slate tools, or arrowheads. She was trying to ascertain how far back my limit was. That is where we discovered I did not have much of a time limit, just an intensity limit. We confirmed that the person’s connection to the object was the key for me to read the memories.

  We also worked on touching deceased bodies. Again, time since deceased is no limit to the person’s memory. However, I can only link to substantial memories from a body, nothing light or fluffy. And for those wanting to know what the world of dinosaurs were like, we also discovered the farther from Homo sapiens I went, the less I could read. Don’t picture me and my mom digging graves in a cemetery. My dad had degrees in anthropology and was a museum curator. Fresh bodies were a little harder to finagle contact with, so Mom took me to several funerals over the years; we would walk to the open casket and she would have me place a flower in their hand. I felt like a creeper doing this, but at least I did not provide memory details to anyone. It would’ve been too disrespectful to randomly select some poor person that just passed away and blurt out their deepest memories at their funeral, not even to my mother.

  From basic research about the mind, my awareness of my abilities, and from my years of experience, I’ve cultivated some theories about my psychic talent and how it interfaces with memories. During low levels of sleep, memories are consolidated in the limbic system by the hippocampus using memory spindles. Then, when we reach the REM stage, the hippocampus deposits the memory in our cerebral cortex creating a memory trace, or a pathway between the neurons, to the storage site of that memory. Most memories are negative memories, which does not mean they are bad memories. Negative memories are things we ignore, like wearing contacts or glasses, regular air currents flowing against our skin, blinking and breathing, background conversations we hear about people we don’t know so we don’t pay attention to, and all those things. They are regular occurrences and we do not remember them by inhibiting the neuronal pathway, which is called habituation. Positive memories are the opposite, they are thoughts or sensations, whether good or ill, that we imprint and remember. We store and can readily access these memories by sensitization, which periodically stimulates the memory trace.

  Memories fall into three categories, short-term, intermediate, and long-term. Short-term memories last from seconds to hours. Intermediate memories can be remembered for days to weeks, then fade. Long-term memories last for years and are usually linked to emotions. The period of remembrance is due to how often the memory trace is stimulated. As I am sure you guessed, ribbons represent short-term memories, whips are for intermediate, and ropes are long-term.

  Unless we train our minds with memory palaces or other techniques, our memories are not in our conscious for long. But when I access a person’s memories, I can sense not only positive memories, but also negative memories. And I can follow any memory trace regardless of how often it has been stimulated. The object or person I touch links me with that person’s essential frequency, for a better word. We have our own unique DNA or fingerprints, separate from others. We also have our unique psychic frequency. An object also connects me to the type of memory trace, from faint to well developed. My ability lines up those traces in a timely and linear fashion and I read it. I can’t hop from a ribbon to a rope. That would require me going from a faint trace to a substantial pathway, and that is a big leap, like jumping over Kaibab Canyon. I would crash and burn and there is no safety net in another person’s memories.

  So, Mom and I created the memory lakes. It was like imposing a user-friendly operating system interface over the nuts and bolts of binary computer programming. Memory lakes made it much easier for me to cope with another person’s mind, and I am better able to harness and use my abilities in a safe and effective manner. The flashing of my desktop screen jolted me from my musings. ABQ Psycept police unit was trying to engage me in a video conference. Time to return to reality.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “Gray, this is Detective Tamez. I have Detective Wakiza and Ranger Pallaton from PlateauCon with me in the room. I also have Liaison Lowell and Sheriff Helki on the line.” I knew she was identifying everyone for recording purposes.

  “Goodness, how did little ol’ me warrant such a cavalcade? Is my resident status going to be revoked and I’m about to get kicked out? If so, can you please send me to either Canada or Mexico? I would rather apply for a Visa in those countries. I renounced my US citizenship fifteen years ago, so please don’t send me back there.”

  “Gray, very amusing, but at least you handled this matter seriously,” Sheriff Helki replied. “Now, walk us through the package process from the beginning.”

  If I didn’t know before, I now knew how significant this issue is as Sheriff Helki is taking point. I push record on my desk mic. I wish to have my own copy of this conversation.

  “Certainly, Sheriff Helki. I would first like to apologize to all parties, especially Gregory Sammons, for not recognizing the import of this package sooner. I can only speak about the case from receipt of the package on Monday as I have no knowledge of the case prior to it arriving at my office. Detective Randolph dropped off the delivery bag at 1315. Dani signed the delivery pad and the bag remained at her side until I came into the main office at 1345. I carried the bag into my office, opened it, and removed the three packages. I then logged all three packages into the Psycept system as Received by Psycept Consultant. None of the packages were flagged in the system as urgent, and I did not notice the small icon indicating that the case in question, case number 02-032-241-6975-01, was linked to another case. I then arranged the packages from oldest to newest, which is the order I would read them over the next three days, Monday through Wednesday.

  “The case in question was then read today, Wednesday, it being the most recent case number. I logged into the system at 1327 to read the case, which is earlier than I usually work on my consultations. I did this because Dani informed me that two representatives from Plateau Conservatorship were at my office, along with Detective Tamez and Liaison Lowell. I was not sure why the representatives were here, and I thought maybe it had to do with a prior or pending case that might be geographically close the conservatorship and they were asked to investigate it. I didn’t recall a recent case from Cascadia or British Columbian provinces, so I accessed the database to query any pending cases that originated in those regions. A case from the RCMP of Astoria, Oregon, Cascadia fit the geographic bill, so I accessed it and realized it was the case that I would be reading this afternoon. I quickly looked over the petition and saw that I was secondary on the case and could only give it a cursory read. I then attended the requested meeting with the aforementioned attendees; the meeting had nothing to do with the case in question.”

  I proceeded to detail my steps following the meeting. I delved into the case further, the linked case, when it was created, and it being flown here on a military transport made me realize that this could be a time sensitive case. I referred the callers to my video reading and my written report of the reading, including the call with LCDR Bedard.

  “While on hold with Canadian Coast Guard, I texted Detective Tamez to ask her to begin checking to see what went on with the case or package prior to my receipt. After I spoke with Lt. Cmdr. Bedard, I called Detective Tamez and we arranged to speak on this matter after she reviewed the video recording and my written report. And that brings me to the current time.”

  “Detective Tamez has logged her timeline into the case notes. All emails have been saved, printed to a .pdf file, and will be attached to the police case on an ongoing basis. Detective Tamez has also created a log for all her outgoing and incoming phone calls and is co
ntinuously updating it. It too will be uploaded to the police case. Detective Tamez, can you provide a summation of your findings?”

  “Yes, thank you Liaison Lowell. I received Gray’s text and immediately began my investigation. RCMP submitted the request through the portal on Sunday morning but did not mark it urgent. They called our call center to see the turnaround, and our customer service representative realized this might require two separate consultants due to the condition of the items. So, he flagged the first case as urgent and assigned it to a Great Basin PsyChometrist as it was the closest location. He then created the second case and assigned it to Gray but did not mark it as urgent. He provided both case numbers to RCMP and told them to get the packages to the GB checkpoint. An RCMP courier hand delivered the packages to the checkpoint within a few hours of the call, and a PsyPorter transported the urgent package to Auraria Psycept division.

  “Due to the hand delivery, the PsyPorter made the decision to send the second package bound for Gray at SWACon via a GB military transport plane that was taking off shortly. The secondary case arrived at SWACon on Sunday night. Our sorter was relatively new but did question the package arriving Sunday night via military transport. The supervisor looked up the case number and, like Gray, did not see any urgent flag on the case. Of note, sorting supervisors can only access tracking information, not case details. Three other packages for Gray were already set aside for Monday delivery. The sorter and supervisor decided to replace the newest package with the case in question, just in case the package in question had been mistakenly delayed. They apologize for not alerting anyone to the unusual mode of transport of the package, but there have been times that packages were incorrectly sent to the wrong checkpoint and that the military has been used to carry packages between conservatorships before. The PsyChometrist read the package on Monday morning and Gray read her package on Wednesday.”