The Intervention (Omnibus)

by Julian May

  In actuality, neither the American nor the Soviet authorities achieved a working psychic monitoring effort for nearly three months, until early 1992. There were endless niggling details to be resolved, the most critical of which was: Where do you look? As in the classic BEWARE OF THE DOG sign ploy, however, the mere proclamation of Psi-Eye was as good as its actuality. Neither of the superpowers was willing to risk being caught out trying to steal a march on the other — and although the Americans and Soviets might have had doubts about each other's Psi-Eye capability, they had none whatsoever about Scot­land's. At the close of the Edinburgh Demonstration, Jamie Mac­Gregor had remarked offhandedly that the University's independent psychic surveillance team of thirty-two EE adepts was already at work, and would be issuing regular press releases of selected U. S. and Soviet military secrets. The team's revelations were far from sensational; they were not intended to be. But they did provide a con­tinual reminder to the world that excorporeal excursion was a reality, and inspired the two superpowers to get on with the right stuff. Both the Soviet Union and the United States behaved with unblemished probity throughout the Summit talks, the SALT signing and ratification, and the initiation of nuclear disarma­ment. The threats to world peace came from entirely different directions.

  Here in the United States, a groundswell from burdened taxpayers called for an immediate halt to military spending. The few remaining Congressional hawks, the fundamentalist Red-haters, and the as yet insignificant numbers of meta-skeptics had their objections steamrol­lered into oblivion. The President, shrewd as ever in his response to consumer demand, hailed Tamara Sakhvadze's call for a World Con­gress on Metapsychology, and then proposed that the United States host a sister international conference on shared high technology. The Soviet General Secretary said that his nation would eagerly participate in both meetings. Then he suggested that Professor Jamie MacGregor be nom­inated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

  My nephew Denis was closeted with the President for nearly a week, briefing him on virtually every aspect of current metapsychic research. He also testified before the House Committee on Science and Technol­ogy, the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a full meeting of the Cabinet. He would accept only an advisory appointment to the Presi­dential Commission on Metapsychology, but promised to consult with the Meta Brain Trust on a regular basis.

  Figuratively crowned with laurel and trailed by belling newshounds, Denis returned to Dartmouth intending to get back to his researches. It was a vain hope. Post-Edinburgh and post-Washington, he and his little establishment became very big news indeed. Now prestigious founda­tions stampeded to Dartmouth's door, proffering endowments; and these, unlike the tainted Pentagon grants that Denis had helped to discredit during the Mind Wars scandal, were accepted "for the good of Dartmouth College and for the advancement of metapsychology as a whole. "

  There would be no more dodging of the media, either. Submitting to the inevitable, Denis put his associate Gerard Tremblay in charge of the lab's public affairs. At that time, the vivacious former granite-quarryman was thirty-one years old and had taken his M. D. just three years earlier. In spite of his Franco heritage, he was the member of the Coterie that I liked least. He was a fiery, good-looking fellow with intense presence; but I had always thought him a bit of a brown-nose, suspecting that his obsequious manner might be compensation for an unconscious envy of my nephew. My suspicions were to be eventually confirmed. But until he precipitated the disastrous Coercer Flap during President Baumgart­ner's second term, Tremblay did an outstanding job coping with the media, with curious politicians, and with the many national and inter­national organizations that suddenly focused their attention on the shoestring research establishment at 45 College Street, Hanover, New Hampshire.

  Tremblay's first PR triumph took place in November 1991, with the interview of Denis by the investigative news program 60 Minutes. CBS was prepared to devote the entire hour-long telecast to metapsychology's Wunderkind. The interview would be combined with a tour of the Dartmouth facility and would show the actual testing of operant sub­jects, who would remain anonymous. Denis's lab was a prime media target because it had always remained off-limits to journalists during the blizzard of publicity attending the publication of Metapsychology. Heaven only knows what kind of Frankenstein shenanigans the 60 Min­utes people hoped to uncover. As it happened, the program was destined to be nearly as memorable as MacGregor's Edinburgh shocker... only this time I was there, doing my thing in front of the network cameras, and daring the world to make something of it.

  22

  EXCERPTS FROM THE CBS-TV

  PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAM 60 Minutes

  17 NOVEMBER 1991

  FADE IN

  BG STILL SHOT (MATTE) EXT DARTMOUTH RESEARCH FACILITY

  A picturesque, rather dilapidated three-storey New England saltbox building, dark gray; resembling a barn on side of wooded hill, it looms almost ominously above a stretch of rain-wet pavement and is framed by bare-branched trees. In FG of MATTE stands reporter CARLOS MORENO, whose hard-hitting questions, mobile woolly-bear eyebrows, and divergent squint have often provoked unexpectedly revealing re­sponses from even the most guarded interviewees.

  TITLE AND CREDIT ROLL

  SUPERMINDS AMONG US!

  Produced by Jeananne Lancaster

  CARLOS MORENO

  (addressing viewers)

  Tonight we conclude our special three-week investigation of the star­tling new developments in psychic research by meeting a scientist who is acknowledged throughout the world to be one of the most influential in the field. He heads this laboratory at Dartmouth Col­lege in New Hampshire... a place that has been, up until now, completely off-limits to reporters. 60 Minutes will be taking you in­side this deceptively modest building, the workplace of the man who was described by the President of the United States as "the most awesome person I have ever met, an authentic supermind"... But first, let's meet him in a more conventional setting...

  INT BOOKSHOP

  Begin with ECU of DENIS REMILLARD, with downcast eyes; then SLOW REVERSE ZOOM to a FULL SHOT of him sitting at table in ELOQUENT PAGE BOOKSHOP signing volumes for a crowd of CUS­TOMERS who include students in Dartmouth sweat shirts, professional types, working-class types, retirees. Remillard is slight of physique, blondish, with a pleasant, shy smile. He wears tweed jacket with shirt and tie, exchanges inaudible comments with his fans during MORENO VOICE OVER.

  MORENO (VOICE OVER)

  Denis Remillard looks more like a graduate student than an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at an Ivy League school. He is only twenty-four years old and he has always shunned publicity — even after his book, Metapsychology, leaped to Number One on national best-seller lists last year. Unlike the other psychic researchers we've interviewed during this series, Denis Remillard doesn't con­centrate on narrow areas of mind-study. Instead, he's a theoretician who has tried to fit the puzzling higher mental powers into a larger context.

  CU REMILLARD

  REMILLARD

  I think my book was a success because people are very open to new ideas now. Things that our grandparents would have called absurd — like traveling to Mars — are reality. But the New Physics shows us that even reality itself isn't what common sense says it ought to be!

  (quizzical boyish grin, eyes averted)

  The universe isn't just space and time, matter and energy. You have to fit life into a valid Universal Field Theory — and mind as well. That's basically what my book is all about. Theoretical physicists and life-scientists have known for quite a while that the old view of the universe as a kind of supermachine just doesn't work. It doesn't ex­plain the natural phenomena we experience, and it especially doesn't explain the higher mind-powers, which have never fitted into a con­ventional biophysical format.

  INT BOOKSHOP — CLOSE SHOT MORENO

  Remillard and his fans visible in BG as CAMERA MOVES BACK.

  MORENO

  (addressing viewers)

  As
he autographs copies of his book here in Hanover, New Hamp­shire, in a little shop owned by his Uncle Roger, Denis Remillard hardly seems to fulfill one's expectation of a world-renowned psychologist — much less a supermind. But he was the first person summoned to be a presidential consultant on psychic affairs follow­ing the sensational Edinburgh Demonstration. He declined the chair­manship of the President's recently organized blue-ribbon Advisory Commission on Metapsychology... But he has agreed to head the American delegation to Alma-Ata in the Soviet Union, where re­searchers from dozens of nations will meet next year to discuss the practical applications of mind-power... And last week, Remillard's lab was singled out for a ten-million-dollar grant from the Vangelder Foundation. The allocation has been earmarked for an investigation into ways whereby ordinary people — people like you and me —might someday be able to learn the amazing mental feats that Denis Remillard has studied and written about... feats that he himself performs.

  MEDIUM SHOT — REMILLARD, UNCLE ROGER, FEMALE FAN Remillard's CONVERSATION with his Uncle, who has brought over a fresh supply of books for autographing, and the young Female Fan is audible at LOW VOLUME under MORENO V. O.

  MORENO (V. O. )

  Yes... it's true. Vouched for by no less an authority than the Presi­dent of the United States. Not only is Professor Denis Remillard a distinguished psychic researcher, but he also possesses extraordinary mind-powers himself!

  REMILLARD

  (looks up from book to Fan)

  Well, it's not the kind of thing one brags about or shows off in bars. But... yes, I am what we call metapsychically operant.

  FEMALE FAN

  (hesitantly)

  Do you mean... you can read my mind?

  REMILLARD

  (laughs)

  Certainly not. Not unless you deliberately try to project a thought-sequence at me. However, I am aware of the general emotional tenor of your mind. That you're not hostile, for instance. That you're fas­cinated by the idea of higher mind-powers.

  FAN

  Oh, I am! It would be marvelous to do things like soul-traveling or telepathy or that mind-over-matter thing... whatchacallit?

  REMILLARD

  Psychokinesis.

  FAN

  That's it. Just imagine being able to go to Las Vegas and clean up!

  The rest of the CUSTOMERS laugh and murmur at this.

  REMILLARD

  (patiently)

  But I can't, you know. Even if I were dishonest enough to try to manipulate slot machines or dice or a roulette wheel with my mind — how long would it take the casino owners to catch on? I'd be tossed out on my ear... at the very least.

  More laughs and murmurs from CUSTOMERS.

  FAN

  But... then what good are the powers?

  REMILLARD

  You might ask Professor Jamie MacGregor that... Actually, I find my own metafaculties most useful in conducting experiments. I can compare my own reactions to those of the test subjects in psy­chokinesis training, for example.

  FAN

  (interrupts, gushing)

  Ooh, Professor, do you suppose — ? I mean, would it be an awful imposition if you showed us? I mean, I've seen it done on TV by those Russians, but to see you do it live...

  CUSTOMERS

  (ad lib exclamations)

  Hey!... Wow!... Would you?... Super!... Please!

  REMILLARD

  (indulgently)

  And Mr. Carlos Moreno told you to ask me — right?

  FAN

  Uh... I'd really appreciate it.

  CU REMILLARD looking sardonically into camera. For the first time we see that his eyes are effulgent blue, almost glowing within their deep orbits.

  REMILLARD

  Your camera crew is quite ready?... Well, PK is one of the least significant metafaculties, so I guess I don't mind doing a small dem­onstration. After all, we can't let the Scots and the Russians garner all the kudos... Why don't I use these copies of my book?

  MEDIUM SHOT. Remillard takes a volume, turns it so that front cover faces camera. He balances book precariously on one corner of its cover, takes hands away, and leaves book poised sur la pointe.

  Now it's impossible to balance a book like this, right? Defies the law of gravity.

  He balances another book on top of the first, also on its corner. The books do not tremble or totter; they are rock-solid.

  And if we balance another book on that... and then a third... and then a fourth...

  He does so.

  ... You know I must be either holding the books up with mind-power, or else I'm some kind of a [BLEEP]ing magician. And if I then extract the bottom book...

  He does so, leaving the three upper books hanging in thin air.

  ... and the top trio remains there, then you have to be positive that something rather out of the ordinary is going on.

  CUSTOMERS

  (ad lib exclamations, applause)

  How about that!... Sheesh!... Eat your heart out, Houdini!

  Remillard shrugs. The three books in the air tumble to the table with a clatter. His UNCLE ROGER, the bookshop owner, a beanpole with graying hair and a youthful face, steps forward looking humorously indignant. Camera CLOSES ON HIM.

  UNCLE ROGER

  Is that any way to treat books? All you have to do is write them. I have to sell them!

  He extends his hands and beckons solicitously. All four books fly off the table to him. He grasps them and forms them into neat stack.

  CUSTOMERS

  (ad lib shouts, a feminine squeal)

  God!... Holy [BLEEP]!... You see that?... Sonuvagun!

  UNCLE ROGER

  You didn't know? Sorry. My nephew should have told you that it runs in the family.

  [SCRIPT PAGES OMITTED]

  TWO SHOT — STEADICAM FOLLOWING MORENO AND REMILLARD

  Emerging from TELEPATHY EVALUATION CHAMBER, they walk down HALLWAY toward Remillard's OFFICE, continuing conversation begun in chamber.

  REMILLARD

  Only persons who already possess strong latencies for metafunctions can reasonably expect to develop into operants after training. It's like any other kind of talent: singing, for example. One must first be born with a proper set of vocal cords. Then the person might become a talented amateur without training. Usually, however, the voice must be trained. The singer practices for years, and with luck a great singer might result. But nobody can make an opera singer out of a person who lacks the right vocal cords, or who is tone-deaf. And you can't make a really competent vocalist out of someone who hates to sing,

  or who suffers from terminal stage fright.... It's a similar thing when you work to raise a latent metafunction to operancy. Some will fail to make it, and some — we hope! — will sing at the Met.

  MORENO

  (frowning)

  Then all human beings don't have the potential for developing these higher mind-powers?

  REMILLARD

  Of course not — any more than all people can become great opera singers. This is why my proposal to test all Americans for latent mind-powers is so important. The powers are a national resource. We must discover who among our citizens have the potential for becom­ing operant — then give them proper training.

  MORENO

  Sort of like the Astronaut Program?

  REMILLARD

  Yes... but enrolling both children and adults. Let me try to clarify the concept of latency for you. Our studies have shown that everyone is metapsychically latent to a certain extent. The strength of the latency may vary from power to power. Dick may be strongly latent in telepathy and weak in the healing faculty, while Jane is just the opposite. With hard work, we may make an operant telepath of Dick and an operant healer of Jane. But their weaker latencies may never amount to anything.

  MORENO

  Suppose I was a latent telepath. Could you make me operant?

  REMILLARD

  Maybe. Keep in mind that there's no hard and fast line between la­tency and operancy,
though. Maybe you're a natural — what we call a suboperant. All you need is a bit of practice and you're able to broadcast telepathically to the Moon. But suppose your potential is weak. We might train you till your skull warps — but discover that your operant telepathic radius is only half a meter in diameter. Or you can only broadcast at night when the sun's ionization of the atmo­sphere is minimal, and even then only when you're completely re­laxed and rested. You'd be an operant, technically speaking, but your metafaculty wouldn't be very useful. Except possibly for pillow talk.

  MORENO

  (smiles briefly)

  You mention factors that can inhibit operancy, like ionization. Does this mean that there are ways to screen out telepaths — or stop them from using their powers?

  REMILLARD

  We're only beginning to discover ways to do this. It's very hard to foil

  the ultrasenses, such as excorporeal excursion and telepathy, that don't seem to require much expenditure of psychic energy. Things like psychokinesis, on the other hand, can be rather easily frustrated by external factors. And internal, subjective factors can be even more inhibitory.

  TRACK INTO REMILLARD'S OFFICE

  Angle favoring door as Remillard ushers Moreno inside. The office fur­niture is old, academic-shabby. Extensive wall bookcases overflowing with books and papers. Computer terminal. Wall hologram of human brain. Painting of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. And every­where — on desk, shelves, brackets, floor — PLANTS growing luxuri­antly.

  MORENO

  (looking around)

  Quite a conservatory you have here, Professor. You must have a green thumb.

  REMILLARD

  (examining droopy plant on desk)

  Actually, it's more like a green mind, I guess. Now this poor little Paphiopedilum really needs mental TLC, so I keep it close by and let it share my aura as well as the occasional healing thought.