by Kal Spriggs
Shaden drew the energy from the air around the two men, from out of the building’s water pipes, and from out of the building itself. In an instant, the air temperature dropped ten degrees. He returned a significant portion of that energy into the two men in the form of heat.
Their screams began to echo in his mind and ears. Shaden closed them out of his mind and squeezed his hands over his ears. Even so, he knew he would hear them in his nightmares. Shaden felt Janis send out a probe. “That’s terrible.” Then she smiled viciously. “I hope the bastards live a long time. They deserve every second of agony. They’re both down, the talented one is… get down!”
She tackled him as alleyway behind them exploded in a hail of gunfire. The armor piercing rounds tore through the heavy steel garbage dumpster above them with ease and the roar of the gunfire deafened Shaden. He could hear screams as the bullets went on to rake passers-by in the street.
Shaden sent out his thoughts in a spike of rage, fueled by his anger at anyone who would fire such a weapon in a city. His mind impacted with the other’s mental shield and burst through the defenses in a tidal bore of fury. Shaden felt that mind rock backwards and desperately disengage. In his ears, he heard a shout of pain from down the alleyway. He heard the rifle clatter to the ground and sensed his enemy turn to escape.
Shaden wasn’t about to let that happen. He began to push Janis off him and go after the attacker, when he heard her cry out. He looked down at her. One bullet had entered just beneath her right breast, and passed out just to the left of her spine. The wound made sucking noises and as she breathed, he could hear the blood filling her lungs.
“No.” He cradled her in his arms, denying reality.
She smiled a sad smile up at him. Her frail voice spoke, “You warned me, John, that I would see you one last time. That if I helped you, it would mean my death, that if I spoke to you… I would die. You warned me, but it was worth it, I saw you one last time.”
Shaden held her strangely small body as she spoke, and he felt tears fall down his face, to drip on hers. He felt one memory --just a single realization-- boil up out of the hidden part of his mind, and finally he felt the word he’d tried and failed to say before, he found her name, and he spoke it softly to her.
“Mother.”
He stared into the hazel eyes that were so like his own, at the weathered face that had waited so long to see him. She had known that her death awaited this meeting. Shaden watched her struggle to breath, to speak. She closed her eyes.
“No,” Shaden cried. He would not lose her, not now that he had just found her. All of his memories, his very reality told him that he’d never seen her before this day, but all of his soul told him the truth.
He had found his mother, his real mother, and now she lay on the verge of death because of him… because people had come to kill him. It was his fault. Shaden felt so helpless, so lost and abandoned. Despite his powers, despite his abilities, he could not save, her, could only watch as she died in his arms. The harsh reality that had denied her existence now sought to end it.
So Shaden fought reality. He knew he had no healing abilities, but nevertheless, he drew energy in out of the air and out of the ground. He felt the tears on his face freeze to ice and felt his legs go numb as they grew cold from the street. Shaden wrenched every drop of power he could from the area around him. He pulled it out of the two burning men, pulled it out until both corpses froze solid. He drew energy until he could feel it tingle through his body and made the hair on his scalp stand on end.
And he poured all of that power into her. He sought out her damaged and failing body, found the darkness of her wounds and poured energy into them. He drew it out of himself and forced it to heal her.
He felt the wound begin to close, the bleeding stop. He felt the weaknesses in her body and channeled his energy into her. Shaden felt the power flow away from him as he used it without thought, without hesitation.
As the final dregs of energy passed from him and into her, he opened his eyes and met her own. She spoke to him, but a buzzing filled his ears and the world seemed to rush away….
***
Chapter 12
There are fragments of memories I’ve recovered. They don’t provide answers… sometimes they only provide context to the decisions that John Mira made. Sometimes they give me some clue to where I should go or what I should do next. Sometimes they just give me more questions…
--Memoirs of Shaden Mira
I worked from the beginning so that Archon, unlike its predecessor Project Kraken, would produce functional weapons. The key component to this is erasure of all prior loyalties. Some of the methods utilized to unlock the subject’s full potential are drastic, I understood from the early stages that most subjects would be unable to separate the pain they experienced from the end results. Therefore, wiping away those experiences (along with any prior loyalties and prejudices) was the best way to proceed.
--Dr. Jonathan Halving, Project Archon Notes.
Johnnie was twelve when he took the Test.
That was all he knew to call it then. The principle brought all the twelve year olds into the testing room one at a time. No one who took it ever said what it was about, only that they’d failed.
No one who passed it ever came back to Foruth Middle School.
Johnnie knew two people who had passed it. They went to special schools now. He’d seen Tomas once, a month or so afterward. Tomas had looked tired, and scared. An older boy had been with him, and after a few minutes, the boy had told Tomas it was time to go back to school.
Johnnie didn’t want to pass the test.
When Johnnie’s turn came, he entered the room slowly. He watched the fat principle who squinted at him through thick glasses from across the desk. “Alright, John, sit down right there, I’m going to ask you some questions and I want you to answer them, okay John?” His vacant and empty smile did not reassure him.
“My name’s Johnnie.”
“Yes, well, whatever. Now, listen closely. What color is this card?” The principle held up a card, with the back face towards Johnnie.
“Blue.” Johnnie answered.
“Yes, well, so it is, the Principle looked at Johnnie and smiled slightly. He set the card down on the table.
“No it wasn’t, it was red.” Johnnie answered angrily. The principle had just told a lie. Johnnie knew it was red.
The Principle turned the card over; it was red.
The Principle sat down, the smile gone from his face, he glared at Johnnie, “Yes, it was red. Now, I need you to answer these other questions and to tell me the truth.”
Johnnie very much didn’t want to, but he valued the truth. Johnnie answered each question with the right answer. At the end, the Principle stood slowly, his face red and splotchy. “John, I want you to stay here, I’ll be back in a moment.”
Johnnie sat still in the chair for a long moment. His mind raced. He knew if he stayed here, they would come and take him away. He knew that if he ran, he would be caught, and they would take him away. As he imagined different things he could do, he knew right away what would happen for each result. Finally, he found one that he was sure would work… but only if he followed his plan exactly.
He got down from the chair and walked to the door. Johnnie opened it and walked out, past the seated children. He looked straight ahead and walked slowly. He walked out of the hall and down the stairs and out the doors… and then, Johnnie started to run.
He saw the black van pull up before the school just as he reached the corner. Johnnie lifted the loose chain link there and crawled beneath. Most of the time he and his friends stayed away from this lot, ‘cause the dogs were loose. Johnnie knew the dogs wouldn’t be here, if he came this way.
Now Johnnie did the hardest part. He walked over and sat on a pile of bricks, and waited. He was scared, but he held it inside, though, determined to be brave. He had to wait, nothing else would work. He could see what would happen if he did anything but
wait. Johnnie would go to the special school, and people would come and talk with his mother. Mean people. Things would not be good, not ever again.
There was only one thing he could do to stop that.
***
It took fifteen minutes for the police car to stop outside the link fence. He saw the two policemen and he knew what he had to do. He could see everything he could think of doing, see it as if he were watching it happen. Johnnie knew exactly what would happen, as if he were remembering rather than thinking of the future, so Johnnie stood up and ran towards the police. “Sir, please, help me, I’m scared!”
The two men looked at Johnnie and then at each other. The younger one looked a little frightened, but the older one looked confident. Johnnie knew that the confidence was a lie, but it was a lie that protected, rather than hurt. If the bad men talked to Johnnie’s mother, they might find out about Officer Green too. Johnnie knew that, he saw that would happen if he didn’t do things exactly right.
“The principle was sooo mean and he told me he wanted me to tell him the colors, it’s not my fault!”
Officer Green nodded, “Your name is Johnnie, right kid? Well, come on we’ll give you a ride to the station. We can clear it up there.”
The younger one looked uncomfortable, “But, Sergeant Green, they said the kid could be dangerous…”
Officer Green shrugged, “You’ll behave, won’t you Johnnie?” Johnnie nodded.
“See, no problem. You know how some of these schools are, George. They’re scared witless over ESP. I don’t blame them, but they can overreact. Half of their tests aren’t even legitimate, you know that!”
The other policeman shrugged, “I guess.”
They put Johnnie in the back and drove him to the station. It was a crowded place, but Johnnie had foreseen that. He did as he was told, and made sure he made an impression as a nice, quiet boy. He was sure not to tell anyone that he could see what would happen, that would be a mistake, he knew.
After all, he could see exactly what would happen.
The Doctors called it precognition. It would take him years to really understand the importance of how unique they would consider him. Johnnie couldn’t understand it yet, but he could see how the Doctors would show amazement at the depth he could see into possible futures. They would find it truly a worthwhile, if dangerous, talent. The result was that Johnnie would never, ever, have a free moment for the rest of his life
Johnnie could see down the myriad possibilities of every choice he could make. The future faded off in some choices, as more and more decisions created more and more possible futures. Most of those futures went from what would happen if he played a perfect role today. He had already done the hardest part, when he waited for Officer Green to show up and bring him to the station.
If the bad men caught him and sent Johnnie to the school, all of his futures merged into one bland, painful, mindless existence. Johnnie didn't want that.
He waited until the policemen got their testing machine out and working. Johnnie knew what answers to say even before they asked the questions Johnnie knew they would ask. He knew how to say them, and just how much fright to put into his voice. That wasn’t a hard part, Johnnie felt terrified, because he knew exactly what he would face, what his mother would face, and what those her mother protected would face if he failed.
At the end, the Captain running the test shrugged his shoulders. He turned to one of the Bad Men who had shown up midway through, accompanied by the school principle.
“This kid’s got about as much Talent as a rock.”
The principle shook his head. “He knew every card I had in my hands—“
Officer Green spoke up, disgust in his voice. “You’re still using the card test? Come on, you know how inaccurate that one is.” He snorted, “Please tell me you took off your nice, reflective glasses, before you tested this kid.”
Johnnie spoke up now, on cue, “Wasn’t I supposed to tell him what the cards were? Wasn’t I supposed to see them in his glasses?” It was a silly thing to say, but the Bad Men expected children to say such silly things. They wouldn’t think of him as “ESP Subject, Number 5311XVA” if they thought of him as a silly little child.
The Bad Men looked at each other. Johnnie knew that he had passed the danger. Nothing he could do would affect the outcome now.
“If he didn’t know I was calling ESP Security, then why did he run?!” the principle demanded shrilly.
Officer Green snorted derisively, “You probably scared him half to death. I can imagine now, you getting all pale and sweating and shouting at him, just like you’re doing now. You called in a false alarm, because of stupidity. What happens if you get a real dangerous one now, huh? No one will believe you after this!”
The two Bad Men nodded. They didn’t think much of the principle. Johnnie could not see their futures or read their minds. It was written on their faces, for anyone to read. They were ESPSec, they were above everyone, able to arrest anyone, and take them in for testing. And here they were, at the call of a middle school principle, who had a little scare. They turned around and left without a word.
Officer Green to the rescue again. “Johnnie, you’ve had a rough day, maybe I can take you home?”
“That would be great, Officer!” Johnnie didn’t have to fake enthusiasm. He finally could go home. That excitement faded as he thought about what would happen next. He felt sadness now, as he considered that nothing in his life would ever surprise him again. Johnnie would see everything before it came, every action's consequence, every problem, and every solution.
He would never experience surprise again. He would always know what happened next… every possibility that he could imagine.
***
Officer Green bought him some ice cream on the way to Johnnie’s home. Johnnie tried to act surprised, but he knew that Officer Green could read his mind and wasn’t fooled. With an ironic laugh, Officer Green said so a moment later.
Johnnie didn’t understand irony yet, but he knew that eventually he would, no matter what choices he made in his life.
They pulled up and Officer Green walked Johnnie into his house. His mother and Officer Green stared at each other for a while. Then they sighed, looked away. They had just made a decision to tell Johnnie the truth, which they did.
“Johnnie, you did very good today…” Officer Green started.
Johnnie knew what to say, “I did what had to be done, anything else I thought of would lead to them finding out about mom. Then the Bad Men would do bad things to her to make her tell about the others who are like us.”
Officer Green nodded. Johnnie’s mother smiled sadly, “I hoped so much that you wouldn’t be a part of our group. I wanted to spare you the fear of living in hiding, John. But now, I’m happy, you are like me, John, you won’t be limited to the merely human strengths of others. You’re a Precog.”
Johnnie nodded. “I can see what is going to happen. I won’t ever have a surprise, every choice I make will have clearly visible consequences. Everything I’ll know later, I know now.”
Officer Green smiled grimly, “It’s an exceedingly rare Talent. Trust me, kid, being a telepath is worse. Bad enough that everyone is so terrified that someone may read their minds, but most people are so guilty, they push the worst things about themselves into your head.”
Johnnie nodded. “I know. Instead, I’ve got the memories of me. Every me I can imagine doing and becoming.” He sighed. “It’s going to be a boring six years until I can graduate. Don’t bother with surprise birthday parties. Mom, please don’t ask me about girls for the next few years, please? Yuck.”
Johnnie’s mom smiled, slightly, “You won’t always feel that way, John.”
Johnnie sighed, “I know.”
***
Shaden awoke and sat up.
His ribs ached and reminded him of the beatings he’d taken. His head throbbed and his eyes felt like they were almost swollen shut.
His strange dreams bot
hered him more than his injuries, though. They seemed almost like memories, only of someone else, a child. The child’s experiences had seemed so real, far more real than the memories of his own childhood that seemed so flat and colorless now.
“Good morning, John.”
Shaden turned his head and stared. There she was, his mother. He blinked at the sight of her. Where before she had been old, bent and worn with worry and time, now she was young, younger than in Shaden’s dream. She looked no older than twenty-five at most.
His mother picked the thoughts from his head, and smiled. “I don’t know what it was that you did, either.” She closed her eyes, face calm, “I could feel death. Then I felt pain and heat as you healed me. When I came around, you had passed out and I was… well, I was like this.” She raised one youthful hand and stared at it for a moment.
She shook her head. “I got us out of there and brought you here. You were a little hard to move.” She chuckled. His mother cocked her head, “What’s your plan?”
“Um,” Shaden looked around. He really didn’t know what to do. He had left thinking that he could leave his abilities behind… yet reality had shown him otherwise. He didn’t think he could hide, especially not if they could sense his abilities.
What does that leave me? He couldn’t run, he couldn’t hide… that just left fighting. He felt a weird sense of calm come over him. He looked up and met his mother’s hazel eyes, “I’m going to have to fight them, aren’t I?”
She sat down next to him and gave him a hug, “Yes, probably.”
“They made me into a weapon,” Shaden said. “They took everything away from me… I’m not even really your son, not anymore.”
She sighed, “You are my son. Though you may sound different and you may not remember who you are, you are still my son.”
That warmed him, somewhat. He realized that he had a desperate desire to belong, to find his own value in how others perceived him. More than likely it came from whatever they had done to him. New memories, new priorities, Shaden thought. Yet he wondered at it…and at what other impulses they had programmed into him.