by P. S. Power
Kyle led him to the side of the path, on the inside, near some trees they were evergreens, and had been dripping pine cones in places. Instead of stopping there, they moved behind one of them and stood near its large trunk. Most of the others around them were much smaller, probably being younger by a good bit.
"You have something to say?" The voice was a bit harder now, and seemed a little annoyed. The face was almost blank too. So was the mind behind it, making what the man was thinking hard to tell.
"You have a man here. Kent? He does patrols. A spy for the feds? His real name is Richard something. I didn't get that part."
Rather than glare, or seem scared Kyle paused for a second and then nodded.
"We keep him from knowing most of what's going on here. You didn't tell him that you got all that, did you?"
"Nope. Not even a bit. He's just trying to groom me, to turn on all of you. Using sex, I think, which, I mean, desperate I may be, but I'm not into men. It's a failing, but it works out pretty well in this case. Anyway, he's about to be pulled in a few weeks. The thing there is that he really doesn't have anything on anyone here, and after five years that doesn't work for him. So the plan seems to be making something up and framing people. I don't know how. Probably for drugs, since he knows you make them here. Even he figures that as legal though." There was a shrug then, since he didn't know about all that.
Kyle nodded for a bit, and looked away.
"We have a federal license to make and test pharmaceuticals. So it won't be that one. Not exactly. That's... Actually a lot for you to pick up. What does he have planned for you?"
"I don't know exactly. I'm not certain he does. More than anything he felt kind of desperate to have something to show for his work here." Ben stopped, since that was really all he had. Anything else would be making stuff up to fill in the gaps. Which could be right, but could also be dead wrong.
Discipline seemed the order of the day there, if he had the right idea. It would, he presumed, be much better not to say things he didn't know for sure, than to speculate. That part could be left to others that knew more about things.
Looking up Ben shook his head.
"It's going to start pouring on us in a few minutes. We should get inside. That's all I have though. I think Kent wants to meet up. I don't know if I should, but I have the time. Not any kind of training to handle that sort of thing yet though."
The older man seemed to think that was about right, which slipped passed his internal block, rather clearly.
"It might be for the best if you let myself and Glenda take care this for the time being. You may be called on for that kind of work, but if so, we'll let you know what to do first, and try to get you some practice. In the mean time, you should keep busy. You have contractile training? Focus on that, and... I don't know what else. Extra meditation? You seem to be learning that well enough for everyone to be happy however."
"I'll make something up." Then, since the man literally reached out and pushed him a bit, toward the inside of the compound, and took off running, Ben figured they were done for the time being.
There was a paved section on the inside of the place, big enough for a small electric vehicle or perhaps two, to drive side by side. As far as he knew they didn't have anything like that there, but they got food and it made sense to be able to go into town for that, and not be at the mercy of other people doing deliveries all the time. He jogged, and waved at a few people, since he did recognize them.
Moving at close to his best speed, he passed Clyde, the jangly and sour medical man, and called out.
"Rain. Coming. Two... Minutes." That was all he said, but the fellow started to jog as well, taking his word for it. They ended up heading in different directions, the other fellow moving with a lot more speed than he was after a bit.
Just as he got to his porch it started to sprinkle. It didn't seem bad, at first, but moments later the world turned into a shower, spilling gallons of liquid all over the place. Tons of the stuff, probably. The dry Earth actually became a puddle after no more than a minute as he stood in the door watching it happen. It was distracting, so he yelped a bit when he walked in and saw that someone was sitting on his bed.
Waiting for him.
She smiled happily.
"There you are! I figured you'd be around sooner or later. I missed that it was about to do this though. The sky opening up like this. How have you been?" Micha smiled at him cheerfully, her slightly round face pleasant and a nice even brown. She'd seemed lighter than that before, so it was probably some kind of chemical treatment that did it, rather than a tan.
"Good. I was just thinking about you earlier. I... Took care of the problem though, for now. I'd ask you to go do something with me, but..." Glancing back through the open door, Ben shook his head. "You don't feel like going swimming, do you?"
The woman giggled a tiny bit, her face serene seeming.
"Not right now. They close the pool when there might be lightning. Close the door? It's getting a bit chilly out." There was meaning under the words and unlike Kyle, Micha was wide open to his ability to read her. Enough that it stung inside his head.
More to the point, they were doing that with each other, which, unlike what he'd figured would happen, which would be some weird kind of feedback between them, and a chain of him knowing that she knew that he knew and so on, there was a soft buzz that started.
It carried a lot of information, rather clearly, but it was a little painful. Ben could tell for instance that she was troubled about the idea that she might be losing her mind, and had come for reassurance that she was fine. Seeking out the only other person available that might, possibly understand. There was also something big that she wanted to hide from him.
On top of that it was also clear that she was actually willing to do things with him, as far as sex went, even if she wasn't really attracted to him. He was average looking at best, and she figured him as below that level. Enough that the idea kind of left her feeling blank that way. Still, she wanted things from him, so was willing to trade. For her it was just a thing she could do, to keep his attention. Her head also hurt, like his was. That Ben, the new guy, left her feeling that way made sense. After all, he was stronger than she was, or would be soon.
She didn't even blush when it clicked in her mind that he knew all of that about her. Then, he didn't either when it came to light that really, the only thing he wanted from her at the moment was sex. There was a bit of disappointment that she didn't think he was good looking, but that wasn't exactly news to him.
So he sat on the bed brushing her leg, and held her hand. It didn't make it any easier to pick things up from her. In fact, that part of things actually damped down, a lot. Almost as if the entire world was going silent suddenly. The pain in his head was totally gone, and so was the low murmur of the world around them. It was just... Nothing.
Micha looked at him, her eyes going wide.
"All right, that wasn't what I expected here! This is... Good. I can barely get anything! I haven't had that in... Well, not for about two years. Once the powers kicked in. Oh... This is... Sweet. I can just carry you around with me and use you as a shield from now on!"
"If the effect lasts. Though, you probably won't need that really. We seem to be cancelling each other out? On contact at least. It's a good trick. Which probably makes sense, doesn't it?" It did to him anyway.
Micha gave him a questioning look though.
"It does? How so?"
"Well, if people have psychic abilities, like reading minds, and maybe even moving things at a distance, then it makes sense that it would filter so that you don't get things from people that are too close. Or, probably have the ability to move or influence objects that you could just reach out and take with a hand. I'm guessing though. It seems to work. I'm... Not getting anything, I don't think." Her hand was small and warm in his, but had calluses on it, from actually doing stuff. His was soft, by comparison.
That part was kind of neat, real
ly. It wasn't just her though, that he wasn't picking up. Everything was silent that way inside of himself. The rain made noise, and so did they, moving around, but all of the new input was gone. Testing it out, he let go of her, to see if things would come back to him, or if it would take time.
At first things were pretty silent, but as he moved off, away from the girl, it all came back. Not fully, but it was so clearly due to proximity that he knew going outside would do the trick.
"Probably a range of about thirty feet? Maybe more than that, if we touch first for a while? We should check on that. Well, there you go Micha! You aren't going to go crazy from this, because you can shut it off now." He meant it, and the words got a large smile in return.
"See, I knew you'd find some way to get me to sleep with you. I've seen us doing some things that way, but didn't get why, really."
Ben nodded, not having known that at all, to be honest. A bit of that seemed to float to the girl, who realized that thinking he wasn't very good looking might be a problem that way. In fact she started to panic just a tiny bit, deep down. Ben had, in an instant or two, gone from being some average seeming person to someone useful to her. A lifeline that, if she wasn't careful, could be pulled from her without warning. That was what he read her face as saying at any rate. It could have been about something else. Her dark secret or whatever it was she'd been hiding from him.
Moving toward her, he held out his hand, which got things to go totally silent again, almost immediately. There was a time lag, but it was very, very small.
"Hey, don't worry, I have a fabulous personality, and you wanting to touch me all the time has to make up for that part of things, right? Unless you touching me naked changes things? In that case. Well, then I'm screwed, aren't I? We should try that out. I'm going to go take a shower. Want to come with me? It isn't large in there, but..." That way they could be close. Of course, that also meant she'd have to look at his flappy skin and sagging body.
Instead of seeming concerned about that, she nodded and moved with him, still holding his hand. After all, it didn't take a genius to see that she understood the situation. They might not be soulmates or meant to be together in some kind of destined fashion, but unless things were very different than they seemed, being cuddly with him might really pay off for her peace of mind. His too, eventually. It was nearly like suddenly finding the ability to blink, or even close their eyes, after having them open constantly for a long time.
Ben liked it, and he hadn't really been feeling things all that strongly for too long. Micha had to be several times stronger than he was that way, since he was playing catch up, and had been being hit for a long, long time. It was evident in how she didn't want to let go of him.
They did however, which still worked if he was close enough to her, physically. Slowly, a bit of that ability came back, as they stood there, him turning away a bit to disrobe. She didn't do that, just stripping down, to show a very nice body. She was tiny, and had small breasts, which were puckered a bit, thanks to the cold. Her nipples were a dark brown, but small. If she had much body hair, it didn't show until he looked down a bit, to see that she did have some.
He moved past her, his arm brushing against her back as he did. The skin was smooth, but even that contact shut off the noise, pretty much instantly. Which answered that part of things. The effect worked under the water too, once it was started and they moved in. They washed, and helped to do each other's backs. He felt shy about the whole thing, but that didn't stop her from touching him.
Including in places where no one ever had before. They didn't linger over that kind of thing, since his body responded quickly to what she was doing. Not instantly, which was nice. It felt good, but after a few minutes she helped him wash up, and didn't suggest that he do anything for her in return. She actually seemed a bit resistant to the idea, when he started to clumsily try.
"It's okay. I just need you to walk around holding my hand for a while. Or we can sit and do that?"
Ben didn't know what to think about it all, and felt very awkward, suddenly. The psychic portion of things might be shut down nicely, but it was kind of clear that he could still read her face and body language a lot better than before.
This was, according to that, a woman who needed him, but, troubling enough, didn't really like him too much, otherwise.
Really, he could have gone on without knowing that part at all.
Chapter seven
Ben felt a bit bad about the whole situation, about an hour later. Micha really did not want to let him go, and clung physically to his hand. If she'd liked him for anything else, including his personality or pretty eyes it wouldn't have been as bad, but it was almost like he was a drug that she was using. Nothing else.
That didn't leave him feeling great about himself, truth be told.
After sitting on his bed, feeling worse about himself than he really wanted to, the rain slowing and then stopping after a while, he didn't know what to do. On the good side it did occur to him that suddenly having a girlfriend, or at least someone that would fit that bill, since a girl walking around holding his hand constantly would probably do that for most people, would be an excuse as to why he wasn't hanging around with Kent. Micha really was better looking than the other man, so it was understandable, at least to him.
"I... Kind of need to go and practice that muscle contraction stuff. Ali wasn't impressed with me that way, earlier." Going on about his failings didn't seem to be a happy thing in his own mind, but the girl did stand up. She didn't let go of his hand, until they got to the door.
"I need to go and do some work. We can test out how distance works with this. Not that I really want to at the moment. This is nice. Anyway. Later? We can meet up, after dinner?"
Ben didn't really want to, but tilted his head, and nodded anyway. It seemed mean not to at least give her a chance at having a bit of peace occasionally. Besides, he really wasn't great looking or attractive, so having a problem with her thinking that wasn't exactly sane. His feelings would survive the process, he was willing to bet.
Especially if she were willing to do sex things with him, even if she didn't feel like he was that wonderful physically.
"Sure. We should also work out how much of this you need to stay normal, mentally. I mean, you won't need to have me around all the time, I bet. A few minutes a day might be all that's needed." That wasn't going to be true, but he wanted to set the bar low, so that she'd at least not try to follow him to the bathroom when he went. Really, it was probably enough not to be too far from each other. At least after they made contact the first time. That really did seem to be part of it.
He watched as she walked away, going ahead of him. His guess had been thirty feet or so, since that was the distance between their cabins, but she didn't really click back into feeling normal until she got almost a hundred feet away from him. The instant that happened, she turned, and came back, staying about as strong to his new senses the entire time, until she was about ten feet away, then it started to diminish, until she touched his hand with hers, causing the world to go mute that way.
"Okay. So that's kind of interesting. We should check tonight and see if you coming over and touching me before bed lets us both sleep in peace. Not that it's that bad for me yet." Ben didn't doubt that was coming, but his buddy, or whatever she was to him now, seemed to think it was a plan.
"That would be wonderful. If nothing else I can sleep on top of you, like a cat. You like cats, right?"
He did, but didn't think that having a girl sleeping on him sounded like much fun. Cozy, for a bit, but then oppressive pretty quickly. On the good side that wouldn't really be needed. She could just lay next to him and touch him occasionally. If worse came to worse. It seemed to him like his method would work though, which would be nice.
"I do. Dogs too. Anyway, I should get to work." If he was calling standing in a room and attempting not to be totally average as being that. Kyle had seemed to think that he'd get the idea though, even i
f Ali was a bit disgusted by him.
That hadn't been about his appearance though, just how poorly he'd done. He could fix that.
Micha finally walked off, not looking back this time when the world caved back in on her. Ben felt it too, but it wasn't that unpleasant, after being gone for a while. A bit like opening his eyes, but not like it had been seeing for the first time after being in the dark for weeks. It didn't hurt. He could simply see again.
If anything, he felt a little more sensitive than before. Things being gone meant that he noticed them more, now that they were back.
Brown seven was empty when he got there, but the interface for the machine that counted his muscle fibers was simple enough to use, so he had it all set up after about five minutes and tried his best to get the damn holographic bar to go up at all. It did, eventually. Not to the full amount that he needed, or even much past where he had been earlier, but he could, with a lot of trying and effort, get about three percent more of his muscles to contract at once. Sixty-three percent. It wasn't enough, but if he could get that much more each day, he'd eventually get where he needed to be.
The whole thing left him feeling sore again, especially at his major joints. His elbows and knees in particular. It caused him to move off to the dining hall a bit more slowly than he meant to. Inside he loaded a small plate with fruit, picking pears this time, since there was a bowl of nice ripe ones sitting out, and settle into a chair, well away from almost everyone. The sense of them, what they were thinking, and he realized, what was about to happen, hitting him. It was mainly sounds, like people moving suddenly, or at one point him jumping about three seconds before a chair tipped over backwards as a woman he didn't know stood up suddenly.
He didn't exactly see it happening, but kind of knew what would be taking place. It hit as a shock, startling him before it took place.