Persist (Discipline Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  In a lot of ways, Ben was used to that kind of thing now.

  There was leaning back in, which was warm and cuddly, though not too much for the room. They weren’t all over each other, just close. It was nice. Almost as if they were really in a relationship that wasn’t just about him being able to get her some quiet time, mentally speaking. Also, it meant that Lissa couldn’t get away with blaming him for fighting back as easily, when they’d all attacked him without mercy earlier. He had a handy female right there to take his side in things. Not that Ben knew that was her plan, but it felt like what she’d try.

  Misplacing the blame like that, so that he’d be forced to suffer the contempt of those around him.

  Ben nearly jumped then, at the thought. It wasn’t true, really. In fact, it rang out to him as incredibly false, even. Lis wasn’t exactly a great and loving person toward him all the time, but she probably didn’t want to rip him apart and make him into less than he was. Not really. It made more sense to guess that, while she might not think that highly of him, she was kind of invested in him doing well enough to keep going for as long as possible. More than anyone in the world, she was tied to him. If he went down, died or refused to let anyone touch him out of anger or whatever could happen, then she, literally, would die from it shortly thereafter. Hurting him hurt her, and Ben had to guess that she was smart enough to get that. The others didn’t imagine that he was contemptible either. Over the last days and weeks, he’d touched their thoughts a least a dozen times each.

  Thinking that kind of thing didn’t make any sense at all. It simply wasn’t true.

  Worse, he couldn’t tell where it had come from. No one sitting there with him, in their safe little cocoon of Ben generated warmth and peace. That was almost certain. At least he didn’t feel connected to any of them. Micha could hold secret thoughts like that toward him, but didn’t. He was sure on that one, having read her many times now, just to make sure she wasn’t planning to come for him in the night. While it wasn’t impossible that the highly trained agent might be fooling him in that regard, it didn’t seem too likely. What was true for the others was for her as well. Her position was even more delicate than theirs was, at the same time.

  The rest of them thinking that made no particular sense that way either. Ben held his peace on that portion of things, since it honestly could have just been him imagining stuff again. Just a shlub having a load of self-doubt crash in on his mind. Maybe even just some kind of scenario running through his subconscious that had linked to the surface for a moment. Like the voice earlier. When they were finished, a lot of the food still left on his plate, even though he needed to eat more, he stood, and started to clear the table.

  “I… Need to go into work for a few hours. At the job thing that Kyle and Glenda set up for me? Especially if I want free time tomorrow. Going off and playing in town with the cool kids. I ended up doing something else all day, so…”

  No one seemed very happy to hear that part, but they didn’t scream at him for leaving them to suffer the noise and pain of their fellow Cymeds. They just accepted that, on occasion, he might have something to do that didn’t involve what they needed at the moment.

  At least that was what he read from their faces. Mags actually seemed a bit put out by the idea, since she had presents waiting, and kind of wanted to pass them out, but she didn’t make him stay. Out of all of them, she was the one that worked the hardest to understand him, really. It didn’t shock him to find her being able to adapt to the fact that he really was doing his best in everything assigned to him.

  Ben hurried along then, to get to the main office, and break out of the null effect area. Because there was something, out there in the world, that wanted to destroy him. Socially.

  That didn’t even make sense, however.

  “Kill me. Sure. I could get that. Someone might want to do that. Or take me off the playing field as a psychic… Drive me insane, or mess with my head. But just to screw with my few human connections? That doesn’t make any sense.”

  So, muttering to himself like a madman, Ben got into Kyle’s office and started working. The thing there was that there was almost nothing left to find. Not in regard to him.

  Just an eerie blank spot that made him wonder if it really had simply been inside of him the entire time. If so…

  Then it was a relief. He really didn’t want to go up against anyone so diabolical that they’d figure out his real weakness was his fear of being alone.

  Chapter eight

  In the office, down below, Ben was a bit surprised to find that Kyle was in, still working, even if it was after the normal meal time. The silver haired, older man looked up, and brushed at his gray tunic a bit. It was a strange gesture, but was followed with a smile that seemed polite enough.

  “Mr. Epson. Do you need help with something?”

  The look that came along with the words was a bit tight around the eyes, though the mental shielding behind it was slapped up into place so hard and fast that it nearly stung the air itself. A wave of pure orange came from the man then, which seemed to be about his agitated state. That was what the words in the air claimed. The mood he was hiding rather artfully at the moment. Most wouldn’t have gotten that it was happening. Even the other psychics might not have.

  Just that Kyle was trying to hide things from them. Which, as it turned out, the guy had skills in doing. They were more meditative than the newer gamma set that people had started to learn, but very effective. So far he was the only person that Ben had ever seen pull it off like that.

  “I just came to work on these files. Clark ambushed me with a project earlier, to start training my TK.”

  “Oh? That sounds like a good use of time then! Here I’d figured that you were simply relaxing, after the events of the other day. Not that I can blame you. It’s most frustrating. No one has anything near a plan so far. From what we’re hearing, the government is simply planning to leave the people in place and deploying their new action team. That either speaks of great faith in them, or desperation.” The cool gray eyes twinkled a bit, as if the whole thing was secretly amusing.

  At least if you were old enough to get the joke.

  “Right. I… Was kind of thinking the same thing earlier. If I can get close enough, I can sort of try to shove the bomb back through the rift as it comes in. Not that I know that for certain. If it’s too big, or the whole thing moves too fast for me… Even if the hole is one way, then I won’t be able to do it. I…” He shook his head, but managed a fake smile of his own that should have seemed pretty good, he thought. Not real, exactly, but like he wasn’t as desperate himself as it probably seemed.

  Kyle regarded him with an almost blank expression.

  “You are aware that people standing too close to very large explosions tend not to fare very well, aren’t you?”

  Snorting, not even trying to, his smiled grew warmer then.

  “I think I saw that in a virt once, yes. Something about being dismembered not really being healthy? I’m not saying it’s the best plan ever, but if it comes down to me standing on top of a building, and trying, or millions dying like that… Well, then I don’t really have a lot of choice. There are things to learn first though. For instance, I was thinking about trying to find out what Winston Mills did when he vanished? That’s a single specific point in time, and I know I can go back there and look at it. Maybe I can learn something?” It was close to what the voice of his dead father had suggested, though there was no way he was going to mention that part of things.

  Not yet, and not to Kyle.

  That didn’t feel right. Not because the man was bad, or anything like that. He was, in the main, fairly pleasant to be around, and more understanding than say, Glenda. Also, in charge of the whole thing. If he had to hear about that kind of stuff, it would be best for it to be well after Ben had clearly melted down and become useless.

  “That might be a good idea? I can’t tell at this point. It certainly can’t hurt, if you wa
nt to spend the time on it. Right now… Well, I am pleased to see you taking your duties here seriously, but you do know that you aren’t required to work, correct? I can pout at you, and look sad, or even try to order you around, but your contract says that you get paid the same as everyone else, just for living here.”

  The topic seemed a bit strange, and Ben wondered for a moment if the blocked off leader of their merry band of research subjects and would-be rebels was trying to get rid of him. After a moment, he knew it, since a display came up, over his desk, indicating that a call had come in. That got tension to spread over the man instantly, and so obviously that Ben knew it was a serious thing. One that, for whatever reason, he wasn’t invited to.

  It was also clear enough that the person on the line was from the government. Ben couldn’t really read Kyle in the moment, but it wasn’t that hard to go to where the well dressed, heavy-set, person on the other end of the line was, and find out things from him. It happened almost without trying.

  His name was Ricard Camas. At least that was the one that he’d used for the last twenty years of his career. There was no wife, lovers or friends, in his life. Not outside of a hooker that he frequented four times a month. Even that rotated, among a group of women, so that none of them saw him more than once every three months.

  He should have been dying of heart disease, but when it had come up, he’d gotten himself genetically modified to defeat it. It was cheating to his mind, but that was fine, since his entire world revolved around that kind of thing. Not playing fair. On the good side, it was really clear that he didn’t expect anyone else to either. It was, in his world, the only safe way to think.

  Ricard wasn’t the head of his organization, of course. Majestic was run by twelve of the most learned and powerful men and women in the world. He was directly under nine, himself. The person that got most of the real work done, in regards to aliens, and how they might impact society.

  Which made all kinds of sense, to Ben. After all, the people from other worlds were aliens, after a manner of speaking. Most of them had lacked bug eyes and tentacles so far… But then there was the Swarm, which had at least part of that down.

  Interestingly, Ricard had been in contact with Kyle regularly for over two decades. They were as close as the other man had to another person in the real world.

  Kyle didn’t know how to get rid of Ben without being rude, so fell back on old habits, and tried to act like it was all normal.

  Waving his hand at the small icon that had popped up, floating in the air in blue and silver, Kyle smiled.

  “Good evening. This is Hardgrove. We also have Mr. Ben Epson with us. How may I help you today?”

  There was a brief moment of silence as the man recalculated his plans for the conversation. A flash of interest, and an equal one of annoyance came off of him. Ben noticed that he was watching both places at the same time. They were both just as real as the other, to the way he was thinking, though it was livelier on the other end, since whatever his day job might require, Mr. Camas was not even attempting to protect his mind at the moment.

  “Ah! Well, that’s something then. I’m Ricard Camas, Mr. Epson. I work for…” The lies started to spin in his head, fast, and he was about to claim to be from a news agency, so Ben cut him off.

  “For Majestic. Under the current Nine. Um… Samantha Willet. You were calling about the problem we have with all the aliens lately? I hadn’t been thinking of them that way, but it makes sense, I guess. Someone has to deal with that part of things. So far I really just thought it was me, so… Pleased to meet you?”

  “Ahhh.” There was more mental scrambling, and then a laugh. “You’re the psychic kid? The one that Kyle mentioned. That, or he knows a lot more about my organization than I thought, and told you. Well, I can’t confirm any of that, but I think that won’t make a huge difference at this time. Let’s just say that… Yes, that’s close enough? I know a bit about you as well, Mr. Epson. We could, trade information some time?”

  Ben picked up what he was thinking easily, since it was about David, and the line back to the predictive computer that had placed him not only in jail, to derail his activities, but also with the specific prisoners that attacked and killed him.

  The line ran, not that surprisingly to the intelligence that had been coming up as organizing things. The blind and deaf being that Ben had touched several times now.

  “Fuck. I… Kind of suspected that. I… Was told that the computer wasn’t an AI? It is. It… Can you find it? The physical location? It’s behind the rest of this. On our side at least.”

  There was a hissing intake of breath, and the man mopped at his brow, wondering if anything could be safe from a psychic that could do what this boy just clearly had. For a moment he considered calling in a strike against the whole compound, just to take him out, but then realized that it wouldn’t work, since Epson was going to know about it, if he tried.

  “Beforehand. I’d know about a strike like that at least a day before it took place. Snipers, too. We don’t really need to do all of that kind of thing though, if it’s all the same? I’m not going around telling everyone everything, and I kind of could use some help, locating that computer. It has to be huge, but when I touch it… It’s too hard to get a reading on.” That was just the honest truth.

  His boss, or more likely the boss of his boss, was staring at him, hard, but that wasn’t Ben’s fault. He hadn’t hidden anything from the man. The secrets were all running the other way on this one. There were even hours of video, showing him doing very little, trying to figure out what that intelligence even was, from before. That it might not be human had been obvious, but he hadn’t really gotten that it was the same thing that had set up his father to die.

  Camas took a few deep breaths, then relaxed, his face going almost blank.

  “Understood. I know that a few of your people are rather… Anti-government. It would be a shame if that were exposed, don’t you think?”

  The words were meant to be a threat. A way to keep him silent, and ensure that he worked for the right people. Ben Epson was a problem that way however. There was almost no point of leverage that could really be used against him. Not without risking backlash from the boy that would be several times more dangerous than leaving him alone would be. Ricard understood that, but also knew that holding something, no matter how small, over him might be enough to swing things.

  It wasn’t playing fair, but, as Ben had picked up not long before, cheating was how the man lived. Two could play at that game however.

  “A great point. So, how about you think which would be worse to expose? My secrets, which everyone that cares to in the government, including the President, already knows and has a handle on, or yours? Like I mentioned, I’m not going to go around spreading things like that. It isn’t my way. I just actually think that it seems like a good idea to have some resources on this one, but I won’t be threatened, understood? For one thing, that would take far too much time and energy right now.” Ben would do it, if he had to.

  Tell the world all about the secret alien agency. Including the things that would be needed to make people believe it.

  It wouldn’t last long, if he got on the Free Web and spread that kind of thing around, but he had an ability that no one had probably considered yet. He could, probably within an hour, have the President called up, and inform the man all about the secret organization that was illegally running inside his government. It wasn’t the only one of them either.

  Ben gasped, as six, or possibly seven, streams of data hit him all at once. Different groups that thought of themselves as above the law. They answered to people, but none of them answered to the ones that had been elected. To them that was all for show.

  Including a group that only listened to their Oracle. Which was so clearly the computer system they were looking for that Ben nearly forgot to speak to the men he was with. He didn’t though, finding a fairly high ranking member of the group, which only had a few hundr
ed people, and working out the particulars of what they did. The man, who was kind of self-centered, thought they were just planning to take over and bring back the good old days of free speech and the right to privacy. It wasn’t a horrible goal even.

  From there, finally having a line, he was able to go through the rest of the people. Some of whom worked at the base in Virginia that Ben had located. It was still filling with Swarm and attack robots that hadn’t been put into play yet. There was also, in the facility, a person that Ben couldn’t see at all.

  His mind kept sliding off of the fellow. At least the one reflection that he’d seen had looked male. It was too hard to know for certain, which he said out loud. He thought.

  Kyle had started to ask him some rather insightful questions about the whole thing, as Ricard recorded it all, wondering if it was real, or smoke and mirrors. He had to assume both, given the source. The idea that psychics existed and could be produced using genetic manipulation was, and had been, a known thing to him. It was even in the old files. The aliens had them, which meant that Majestic had tried to do the same thing. The problem was that the good ones were all insane. It lowered the use you could get out of them.

  Ben was hit with some of the ways that they’d tried to do that. Most of them involved torture. The idea was that even a crazy person might try to avoid pain. It didn’t work that well, since like everyone else, when things hurt enough, they’d start lying to make it stop, rather than doing the job at hand.

  Breaking out of all of that, with a bit of a start, Ben came back to the office, and realized that he’d just been standing there the entire time, about three feet from the large wooden desk that the other man used.

  “I… That’s about what I have for now. I could try to find more… Um… Tomorrow evening? Maybe the next day?”

  Kyle nodded at that, his face closed off, but Ricard spoke, seeming impressed, if the tone was right.