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Subject: {ASSM} STORY : Shock - Part V (M/F, MC, Mild NC, Rom)
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 15:10:06 -0500
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Please refer to and read the header texts included in Part I, concerning
Copyright, Reproduction restrictions and Disclaimer.
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Shock (M/F, MC, Mild NC, Rom)
Copyright (C) by Stone-D 2001



Part V : A Rude Awakening

EARLIER THAT MORNING, a quick stroll through the park had sounded like
a superb idea to Daniel. Boy, was he in error.

Though not as nightmarish as his experience in the taxi, it was still
almost more than he could handle. Being the only piece of public
greenery for miles in any direction, it was packed with people from
every walk of life. Mothers pushing prams, fathers playing catch with
their sons. Successful businessmen taking an early morning jog, their
schedule so flexible as to allow it. Daniel realized his mistake the
previous day; his wildly gyrating mind had focused on the loud,
insistent thoughts; completely ignoring the quieter, calmer ones that
were in fact more numerous.

Though Daniel was relieved that the city was not the vile cesspool of
depravity he had initially made it out to be, it was still an unwelcome
ache he could not rid himself of.

The kids were the worst. Young and innocent, with no real experience
yet in the real world. Their thoughts, while certainly not depraved,
were on a level of confusion beyond a psychiatrist's wet dream. The
average adult has little or no imagination - their full potential
having been beaten into submission in the face of everyday reality -
evident from their viewing preferences on prime time television. The
spark of creativity that is at the core of every human personality is
rendered powerless in nearly all adults; only a rare few - writers,
lawyers, directors, tabloid journalists, spin doctors - maintain a
vivid imagination, but even they are no match for the average child.

A child can look at this normal, mundane world and superimpose his own
fantasies upon it. A boy sitting on the grass verge, subjected to far
too many godzilla clones and playing with toy robots, looks up smiling
and 'sees' that same robot towering over the city skyline, its dented
and scratched carapace glittering in the sunlight as its fists rise and
crash down on random appartment blocks, scattering cartoon-like toy
figures flying and tumbling out of windows to, for the child, an
unknown and unimportant fate.

A girl playing with her cheap plastic dolls as her parents cuddle each
other fondly nearby smiles in rapt adoration as a bright pink pony
prances about the field whinnying at her, the envy of any drug addict.

These impressions came at Daniel in a confused jumble as he stood
rooted to the pavement, none really distinct from any other. His own
wildly thrashing imagination lending a surreal element to an already
chaotic stream, reminding him disturbingly of a number of LSD trips he
had taken while at university.

Looking at a small boy, about three years old, it did not surprise him
that he had some difficulty walking. The grass about his feet were
covered with an enormous army of all-green soldiers, fighting each
other with some difficulty as their feet seemed to be glued onto a
piece of board, also green. Fighter jets taking impossible
gravity-defying turns, helicopters rushing about at mach five with
their deformed rotors unmoving. To Daniel, the effect as they marched
and struggled on the grass was like a violently churning sea of algae,
something that failed to impress his stomach.

Looking farther afield, he saw a boy chasing a young girl in circles,
occasionally reaching out and pulling her hair. To him, here was a fine
tassle similar to the one on his aunt's bedroom wall. He made no
distinction beyond the fact that one had a ribbon tied to it; one was
made for pulling, ergo the other was too; the girl inconveniently
attached to it must enjoy it, for why else would she have it? That
strangely logical train of thought confused Daniel momentarily as he
watched the girl yelling for her mummy and the boy laughing and
giggling behind...

"Excuse me," said a clipped, well mannered voice behind him.

Daniel turned around, momentarily dizzy with the sudden snap back to
reality. He saw a wizened old man there, holding an empty dog leash and
a rolled up newspaper in the other hand. "Um, sorry?"

"You're in my way?" said the old man, a wry expression on his face. "If
you don't mind?"

Daniel looked about with confusion for a moment at the wide expanse of
green surrounding him, then realized he was standing right in the
middle of the footpath. "Oh, uh, sorry. I didn't..." he trailed off, as
recognition dawned. "Have I seen you somewhere?" he asked.

"I don't know. Have you?"

Daniel stared for a moment, searching his memories frantically. The
taxi ride? No, that wasn't it. Work? No. The clinic? No... hang on.
Daniel recalled his swift perusal of his mail before he left the place.
"You were at the clinic!"

"Oh?"

"I sat next to you as I read my mail!" Daniel exclaimed.

The old man scrutinized him momentarily then nodded. "Glad we've got
that sorted. You're not a complete loss after all. Follow me."

"What?" Daniel asked, but the old man had already wandered off onto the
grass. Getting more and more confused by the minute, he gritted his
teeth in irritation then stumbled after him.

Eventually they came to a small copse of trees, strangely empty of
visitors, where the old man sat on a park bench and motioned for Daniel
to join him. Doing so after a moment of hesitation, Daniel sat and
waited for the man to speak.

"So, Mr. Stone. How are you coping?"

"I... wait a minute. You have me at a disadvantage. How do you know my
name? And what do you mean, 'coping'?" Daniel asked suspiciously.

"Oh, my appologies!" The old man's face broke into a friendly smile as
he laughed to himself. "Dear me. Oh my. Its just been such a long time.
Sorry," he offered his hand. "I'm Edward Masterton, old boy. Just call
me Edward. No need for formalities."

English! thought Daniel as he shook hands. A long way from home.

"Yes, that I am indeed. Though this place does have its charms, I do
miss home occasionally."

"Sorry?"

Edward waved his hands. "You surmised correctly where I was from. Pay
attention."

Daniel sat still for a moment, stunned. Anxious, he reached out and
found... nothing. There was nothing there, the old man's mind was
empty, absolutely nothing registered to Daniel.

"Please stop that, its not polite. You're new, so I'll let you off. But
don't do it again please," Edward said with a hint of ice in his voice,
all the time still smiling and gazing about at nothing in particular.

"Ah..." Daniel mumbled through his shock. "You're... like me?"

Edward nodded. "More that you're like me. Or us should I say. But me in
particular so far."

Daniel shook his head in a daze. "I'm not... I don't know what to say.
I thought I was alone."

"Don't be stupid. There's eleven billion people on this wonderful
planet of ours, don't be so arrogant as to assume you've been blessed."
He looked sharply at Daniel. "You don't think like that do you? Any
messianic thoughts lately? Dreams of sitting at the right hand of god
and the like?"

Daniel shook his head. "No, certainly not. Besides I'm not particularly
religious."

Edward nodded approvingly. "Good. That's an excellent start. Its a real
pain educating those who are like that. Pain in a real sense. To them."

Daniel sighed, ignoring that last vaguely worded threat. "I'm confused
as hell. What's going on? I assume you haven't approached me for the
hell of it."

"Again, correct. Its best if you remain quiet while I explain, then
we'll get on to the question and answer session afterwards." Edward
waited for a moment for a reply. Finding none, he began.

"You're familiar with the terms ESP, telepathy, telekinesis, mind over
matter, that sort of thing. Ah," he waved his finger in admonishment as
Daniel opened his mouth to speak. "Don't say anything until I've
finished. Anyway," he carried on. "Well, they're for real. Sort of. Not
to any great extent, but they're real. You won't find any real life
supermen out there, though some of us may look - and act - like it
sometimes.

"All men have the potential for such capabilities. ALL. Some animals
too. That covers women too, by the way, I'm just old fash... not the
animals, the... anyway. There is a kind of... oh, a safety switch, deep
inside your brain, that is a real pain in the arse to shift. It is a
rare few that can disable it on purpose as no one even knows where or
what it is. Most get access to the abilities by accident, like
yourself. No one, including those who try on purpose, ever completely
rid themselves of that block.

"You may be having control problems. Hardly anyone has such difficulty,
as their blocks are more are less intact, so there's not much to
control. But with a few, they have a hard time dealing with it. Now,
before we carry on with that, lets talk more about strengths.

"There are five, as far as we know, 'types' of 'power', for want of a
better term, which in every day language is referred to as telepathy,
remote viewing, mind control, telekinesis, and mind over matter. I say
types but they're very flexible, they can be used together or
individually. These abilities usually come paired; mind control with
remote viewing, telekinesis with mind over matter. Telepathy is the odd
one out, nearly everyone has that ability to some extent, even normals
- though they generally pass it off as a fluke, a daydream or they go
running to their therapists. Those who don't are generally laughed at.

"We decided a long time ago that we didn't like the standard
terminology. Oh, a long time indeed. Besides, they're real
attention-grabbers. Something we certainly don't need. We've been
mixing and matching terms for a long time now, but recently we've
stabilized the set by hijacking some of the terms used in Julian May's
books. Read them yet? Never mind, later. Anyway, 'officially' telepathy
is farspeech, remote viewing is farsensing or farsight, mind over
matter becomes creativity - though that one isn't the same as the one
in the books, it uses the imagination to a large extent so the
description applies. For the others we took and made up from other
sources. Those with mind control abilities became mentats - don't look
at me like that, they used to be called benders up until forty years
ago - while those with telekinesis we simply call levitators, lifters
or teekays. Remember these, they help protect your privacy. You don't
want some damned newshound hunting after a bona fide telepath. They
don't chase farspeakers though. Get my drift?

"Now, as for 'us', we have a fairly loose hierarchical system based on
strength. How strong you are in your primary skill, how many you have
access to, things like that. Intelligence is of course a must.
Something that world politics hasn't grasped yet I'm afraid. Anyway,
it's not very well organized unfortunately as so many are suspicious,
rightly so, and prefer to remain anonymous for safety's sake. There
have been... problems with the suits. Both government and corporate. We
also have spats with religious types who get wind of us, but they're
fairly quick to deal with and not a big problem as they tend to be
isolated.

"Daniel, I want to make sure you understand the importance of keeping a
low profile. If anyone, I mean ANYONE, gets into a serious level of
difficulty, its simpler for us to, as you people say, 'take them out'."
He saw the look on Daniel's face and added hastily, "That is always a
last course of action. We are not so many that we can afford to lose
anyone, particularly to normals. Oh, by the way, whenever you hear of
'them' or 'they', that's us they're talking about though they don't
know it."

"You're kidding!" Daniel exclaimed, forgetting to keep silent.

"Shush. Its a useful piece of misdirection, as we don't have anything
to do with the government. Now, we don't have quite as bad a time as
I'm making out. It was much worse in the seventies; the obsession the
black ops lot had with drugs and population control made things hard
for us and we lost quite a few of our number. Be assured Daniel, we are
not a soft lot. The cat's out of the bag, so to speak, and the world is
not a pretty place for the likes of us. We are determined to survive,
and we will do anything to assure that. We will not be openly
persecuted. Not again. I can see by the look on your face you're not
convinced. Very well, let me tell you a story.

"In the spring of nineteen seventy two, my wife disappeared. I was
devastated. I, with my wife, was and still am highly regarded in our
group. My work suffered and with that the group suffered. After a brief
investigation, it turned out that she had been... taken. By the bloody
government of course. Security was too tight, so... well, we arranged
for a mentat team to link up and take her out from a distance together
with everyone in the building." He sighed with remembrance, his eyes
glittering as he saw the look of shock on Daniel's face. "Yes, we
killed her, effectively. We burned her out. It was not an easy
decision, I assure you, but I knew she would understand. I was not an
easy man to live with for a long time, and my standing in the group
dropped to as it is now; greatly respected but not relied upon.

"Are you beginning to understand, Daniel? Answer me, I've said as much
as I can without feedback."

Daniel was overwhelmed. Here was a society that he had no idea existed,
it was way beyond the idealistic conspiracy theories of the time,
beyond X-Files, beyond anything he could have imagined. It was a hidden
war, similar to the cold war but using different weapons and on a
global scale. A war of which the massed millions of normal humanity had
no inkling of, and no defence against.

Edward's emotional tale of his wife's fate had done as it was intended;
the seriousness of his situation was burned into his brain, the
possible danger he was facing a palpable reality. His lack of control
was an issue he urgently needed to address, not for his peace of mind
but for simple survival. He reflected on his behaviour since leaving
the clinic - no! Since waking up! His casual antics towards Dr. Farrell
and the orderly, his quite frankly amazing seduction of Elaine,
stumbling like a zombie both before and after the taxi ride, his
trance-like state earlier as he stood in the park. Even now he was a
disheveled mess; hair unkempt, day-old beard unshaved, bags under his
eyes. Only his clothes were clean and ordinary, even then barely.

Eventually he refocused his horrified mind back to the present, and
looked at Edward who was in turn looking at him with a cool,
calculating expression. "Yes," he nodded. "I understand. Believe me, I
understand."

Edward nodded slowly, his eyes fixated on Daniel's. "Good. I hope so,
for your own sake. Now," he said, rubbing his hands briskly. "Any
questions?"

Daniel sat and collected his jumbled thoughts. "I can't block my -
farspeech? Mentat powers? Which is it?"

"I don't know. What's the problem?"

"I can hear everyone! I mean everyone! I can't block it out!" he cried.

"Okay. We should assess your abilities, but lets get this out of the
way first. Earlier you had a go at reading me. What did you find?"

Daniel stared. "Nothing," he whispered. "There was nothing there."

"Yes there was. Look again, tell me what you see."

Daniel tried again. He fed a tendril of thought into Edward's mind,
only to find the same as before - a blank, featureless grey
nothingness. A frightening vacuum-like emptiness that he was afraid to
cross, a void that seemed to insistently suck at him, beckoning him
into a sweet, dreamless oblivi...

"By christ, you're strong. Okay, let me guess, not much, grey messy
shit floating around?" Daniel nodded carefully, still concentrating
inwardly. "Right, let me... hang on a sec."

Suddenly Daniel saw a tiny gap in the void; an impossible rift in the
grey nothingness, shining brilliantly like a newborn star. Then as that
bright chink of light widened, everything snapped into perspective as
he realized what he was really looking at. "Its a wall!" he whispered.

Edward nodded, his face strained. "Right. Now, please kindly get out,
its giving me a headache trying to maintain that against you."

Daniel quickly retreated and sat back, waiting for Edward to speak.

"It is, as you say, a wall. Or a shield to be precise. A
multifunctional one too, damned useful. Not only does it serve to keep
your thoughts private, it blocks out random noise as well. Your problem
as you describe it is fairly common, its the first stumbling block that
strong telepaths, sorry, farspeakers, have to face."

"How do I make one?" Daniel cried desperately, a shine of hope
glimmering in his eyes.

"Its easy. Now, focus inward. I want you to picture a large balloon
encircling you. All of you, even your feet. Got it?" Daniel nodded as
he slowly visualized a bubble with the same dull grey color as Edward's
wall. "Now... hell's teeth! Not so hard, man!"

Daniel felt something stab into his mind roughly, and suddenly his
bubble was gone. He opened his eyes and looked up at Edward in
surprise, his eyebrows raised questioningly.

"That took me by surprise. Sorry for the interruption there but, Danny
boy, it seems like you've got an overactive imagination. You're a
bloody creator too!" Edward shook his head wonderingly, then noticed
Daniel's look of puzzlement. "Your blasted bubble materialized!"

Daniel froze in disbelief. He didn't doubt Edward's words, but...
still. Materialized? Oh come on!

Edward glared at him briefly before continuing. "Lets start again.
We'll get back to that other... problem later. Now, revisualize that
same bubble but try to keep it intangible. Ghostly."

Daniel tried again. It felt no different from before, but now it was a
translucent bubble rather than the glassy opaque wall it had been
earlier. Like a large tinted car windshield, he pictured it surrounding
him.

Edward nodded to himself. "That's it. Better. Okay, now set it
spinning. Try to get it revolving both horizontally and vertically.
Uhuh. My, my. That's usually a difficult thing to do but you did it
easy. Right, now shrink it down slowly - maintain the spin! - down,
yes, down until it covers your head like a helmet. Right, now in one
go, shrink it down over your brain, like shrink wrap."

Daniel did it without thinking about the mechanics of it until it was
too late, but by then the task was done. He could feel the difference
straight away - peace was now his, there were no more unwanted voices
yelling at him. It was like a marijuana high; he felt elevated on a
pillow of bliss, the previously cloud-darkened vista of his mind swept
clean, allowing the naked sunshine through.

"You okay? Relax that shield a bit until I tell you more," said a voice
from the edge of his consciousness. With reluctance, Daniel did as he
was told and the real world refocused and he looked at Edward.

"Thanks. I... wow, the silence was amazing. IS amazing. Thank you!"

Edward waved his hand dismissively. "Its nothing, easy. With time you
should be able to keep that shield up without concentration, it will
become second nature. Keep in mind though that it is NOT impermeable.
Other tele... farspeakers, particularly mentats, can and probably will
try to get through it. You will know when it happens, so when it does
be prepared to give it a little boost. As you no doubt noticed, the
'tighter' your shield the less input you have from the outside. You may
be able to finetune that later, only time will tell. But don't piss
about with that. Too tight and you'll cut yourself off from your own
body. NOT a good thing, let me tell you. Now lets move on."

He paused for a moment. "You displayed some ability with creativity
earlier... that has profound implications, as you can doubtlessly
imagine. Okay, lets test you for the rest." He shrugged. "You never
know. Oh, wait! What am I thinking? I haven't shown you your
communication skills yet."

Daniel nodded his willingness.

<[Is this coming through okay?]>

Daniel gurgled his astonishment. "Ah, yes?"

<[Don't say it out loud. Direct it straight to me, mentally.
Subvocalize if it helps, but don't make a habit of it. Go on, give it a
try.]>

<How's this?> Daniel replied silently.

<[You're broadcasting! Focus entirely on me, imagine a narrow beam,
like a laser, but only for me. Now try again.]>

<This?> Daniel tried again, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

Edward sighed. "Hmmm. Okay, lets sidestep for a bit. Look at my mind
again - see that fuzzy blob?"

"Yes."

"Now, look at that man over there. Now, look at the woman. See the
difference?"

Daniel nodded.

"That difference is like a mental signature. Concentrate on that when
you communicate, that way your thoughts will be heard only by that
person and no one else." <[Now, try again.]>

<[How about this?]>

"Bravo!" Edward shouted in exultation. "That did it. Okay, I'd prefer
to continue normally, as in with sound. Its a bit of a drain,
especially with distance. Line of sight doesn't apply for us, Daniel.
Anyway, let's move on. Lets try mind control next, or your mentat
skills if you have any. Hmmm." He looked around them searchingly. "This
is difficult, I'm not too good in that area... right. See that man over
there? No, not the one from before, the one lying down reading a book."
Daniel nodded, seeing who he was pointing at. "Watch."

Suddenly the man in question put his book down, stood up, stretched and
looked about with a confused look on his face before lying back down
again.

"Well?" asked Daniel.

"That was me!" said Edward with exasperation. "I gave him a command to
do as he did. I told him to put the book down, stand up and stretch."

"Oh. That's it?" said Daniel. "I can already do that, I've done it."

Edward froze. "What, exactly, did you do?"

"Oh, nothing fantastic," Daniel said hastily. "At the clinic I... I
told an orderly to go away and do something else he was already wanting
to do because I didn't want to be disturbed." He chose not to tell him
about the added urge to go to the toilet, nor the experience he had
with Elaine, something that would require explanations he didn't have.
He then hoped that Edward hadn't already picked those details out of
his mind before he had made his shield.

Edward nodded, visibly impressed. "Excellent! But," he cautioned, "be
very careful. We as a group don't like those of us who misuse their
abilities. Minor things like that are okay, in fact the more subtle the
usage the more 'applause' you'll get from any bystanders from our
ranks. We keep a very high moral standpoint, and those who stray from
that path are... dealt with."

"Yes, I see."

"I hope so. Remember, mind control is not a frivolous toy; none of the
abilities are. You can cause permanent harm in someone if you put your
mind to it. But then again," he paused and sat back, "you can do good
as well. Use your judgement and remember what I said about keeping a
low profile. Don't run around curing smokers and drug addicts for a
start."

"That's possible?"

"Of course. Its just a more direct form of hypnotism after all. Only
they don't have to be willing subjects, or even aware of it."

"Okay. Don't worry, there's nothing to worry about. I'm not like that
and I've already had plenty of opportunities to do mischief, none of
which I've taken. Not intentionally anyway."

Edward nodded. "Right. So we go back to the issue of control. You need
to get a handle on yourself real quick, my lad. You have no choice,
otherwise you'll be up shit creek faster than you can blink."

Daniel considered this, blinked then nodded in comprehension. "I'm
being watched aren't I?"

Edward looked at him for a moment, then nodded silently.

Daniel sighed then looked at him. "Everyone gets treated the same?"
Edward nodded again. "Then I've no problem with it. It's
understandable."

"Glad you see it that way. Now," Edward said, rubbing his hands. "Lets
get back. As I said, I'm not good in the mentat department. I rarely
use it as I'm so damned weak, but I know all the theory. Though I can't
see it myself, as I said I can see a fuzzy blob like you but that's it,
I've been told that mentats can... how is it? They can see a kind of
'energy grid' in people's minds. How about you? Seen anything like
that?"

Daniel nodded. "Oh yes. Its one of the first things I noticed, though
in myself at first. Um, what do you know about my circumstances at the
clinic?"

"Not much. When I was there you were surrounded most of the time by
doctors."

"You know why?" Edward shook his head. "Well, to put it briefly, I came
out the coma as healthy as a horse and raring to go after scaring them
with a mild fit. Apparently that's unheard of, so they went slightly
crazy."

Edward look at him. "Oh. So..."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, that was me. I... adjusted myself before coming
fully awake." Daniel gestured vaguely. "It was strange! It was almost
as if I wasn't in my own body at first, kind of floating above it. It
was the same immediately following my accident."

Edward frowned. "That's interesting. It sounds like a variation on
farsight, but more... oh, like an out of body experience. An OOBE. I've
only ever heard of the meditating types doing that, even then nothing
was proved, so we never put an alternate label on it. As for your
control regarding your mentat skills, they seem... phenomenal. You
fixed yourself?"

Daniel nodded. "Completely. As I said, I was in some kind of fit when I
first woke up but I sorted it out and made some improvements while I was
doing it."

"Improvements you say? Want to be specific?" Edward raised his eyebrows
questioningly.

"Well, nothing spectacular. Improvement isn't the right word really. I
just figured out how to refresh my body. Stuff like that. Relaxed
myself."

"Indeed. Well, as I said I'm not great as a mentat so I can't really
say. Be careful though, make a mistake in there and it could be your
last. Anyway, lets move on. Okay, see that twig?" Daniel nodded as he
saw it. "Try to move it."

Daniel focused and concentrated hard, but nothing happened. Finally, he
shook his head in disappointment.

"Hmmm. I could feel something, but... well it could be your natural
skeptism that's stopping you. Even so, what I felt wasn't great.
Similar to my own capabilities probably..." He chuckled, and pointed at
the twig which trembled slightly. "Something like that!"

Daniel stared. "That's it? It's incredible, but..."

Edward grinned. "Like I said, no one is good at all of them. Your
strengths seem to be as a mentat and with farspeech. With a modicum of
creativity too!" he said as he remembered. "Lets give that a go shall
we?" He searched about and focused on the twig again. "Okay, take a
good look at the twig. Recognize its texture, picture in your mind that
same twig as a whole; the outer bark, the inner... what's it called?"

Daniel shrugged. "Dunno. Biology was never my fort ."

Edward smirked. "Likewise. Anyway, picture it in your mind in its
entirety. Once done, look back at the ground and, using your
imagination, picture its identical twin lying next to... jesus!" Edward
stopped and stared as a new twig, identical to the first, suddenly
appeared next to the original in a small flurry of dust.

Daniel looked abashed. "Um, that's what you wanted wasn't it?"

Edward nodded, still staring at the twig. "I wasn't expecting you to do
it that... fast though. Usually its, oh, like the effect in Star Trek.
You know, vague shimmering, then it slowly solidifies. But this..." He
shook his head. "Okay, let's see." He reached down and picked up the
new twin. "That's pretty good."

"What?" Daniel asked, confusion furrowing his eyebrows.

"Here, feel it." Daniel accepted the piece of wood from Edward. "Feels
real doesn't it?"

"Yeah. Its unreal," Daniel whispered.

Edward nodded. "Exactly. That's exactly what it is. Unreal." He saw the
look of confusion on Daniel's face. "Its illusion. We call it
'creativity' but that's misleading. Its not possible to just 'make'
something. What you just did was to make the illusion of the twin. Oh,
not like a hologram or something like that. It has substance, but not
to any great detail. Here, look." He broke the twig in half. "See? Same
color all the way through. Its fake."

Daniel nodded in understanding. "But, you said it isn't real. I can
feel it! It's right there!"

"Sort of. What you're holding isn't natural - for a start, though it
looks like wood, its not. Its probably composed of some of that dust on
the ground. Oh, you could concentrate more of course, make the inside
the same and all that, but the end result is just the same."

"Oh. So, can I just, I dunno," Daniel waved his hands vaguely. "Make
anything? I mean, make any illusion?"

"Within limits. Only you can know your own strength. Everyone's
different. Try it, practice, experiment. You may have difficulty doing
objects more complex than that twig, but even that's pretty good.
Damned useful," he sighed tragically.

"So, what now?" Daniel asked, still examining the twig and marvelling
how it looked so real from the outside but was an immediately apparent
fake when he saw brown where it should have been white and greenish on
the inside.

"Oh, it'll disappear, break down eventually."

"Break down?"

"Yes. Once you're not around, you're subconsciously maintaining it you
know, it will gradually lose cohesion and fall apart back into its
component parts. In this case, dust."

"Ah. Still, pretty fantastic!"

"Yes, it is." Edward looked at him speculatively. "Haven't you wondered
how those so-called magicians pull flowers and rabbits out of thin air?"

"You're joking!" Daniel asked, shocked.

"No. That's what they're doing alright. The good ones that is. That's
why doves and the like - they only look like doves by the way - are
always sent flying away immediately. Animate objects like small animals
or even mechanical toys last the least length of time. It's a matter of
complexity. The more complex, the more difficult. A working Rolex, for
example, would be much harder than a believable dove. Unless, of
course, you decide you need the dove's internal organs to be in full
working order also. Sod knows why you would though. Anyway, the more
mediocre parlour magicians use mundane tricks, which is how the 'real'
ones get away with it when they're confronted with demands for
explanation. That's also why you don't see anything trully 'magical',
and why they always cover what they're doing with some natty piece of
cloth."

"I see. Isn't there any way to make these... illusions, more
permanent?" Daniel asked hopefully, seeing the possibilities.

Edward shook his head. "I don't think so. I won't say no, we don't know
enough as it is. But no one that I've heard of has succeeded. I doubt
it, anyway. Besides, if it were possible, the global economy would be
shafted by now, don't you think? But then again, someone who could do
that wouldn't want to draw attention to themselves, so they probably
wouldn't blurt it out for all and sundry by glutting the market with
untraceable diamonds or duplicated bearer bonds."

Edward sat and frowned to himself, concentrating on something only he
could see.

"Anyway, never mind that." He waved his hands. "So, where are we.
You've got farspeech, you're a mentat, you're a creator. You seem to be
too weak to lift anything, pardon, no lifting power. That leaves
farsense. Let's give that a go."

"Alright. What do I do?"

"Wait a minute. This is the one area I am good at, together with tele -
ah, farspeech. Sorry, I still get mixed up. I AM an old man you know.
Lets see, somewhere close first." A moment later he nodded, looking
pleased with himself. "Right. Something in your line. Three blocks from
here, there's a computer store. Diamond Multimedia. You know it?"
Daniel nodded. "Good. Farsensing is much easier when you know the
target location personally. Okay, there's a woman queuing at the fourth
cash register from the door, third from the front. What's she buying?"

"What? How - "

"Just try!" Edward snapped, then he shook his head and looked up
apologetically. "Sorry. Ah, okay. Close your eyes and picture that
store in your head. Use whatever angle. Now, imagine yourself walking,
swooping, or flying inside. Whatever, just get inside. Now look around,
find that woman. Tell me what she's buying."

Daniel concentrated. Beads of sweat started to form on his forehead,
his eyebrows knit together as he focused. He could see the store in his
mind's eye, an isometric perspective like the one in Sim City, a game
he used to thoroughly enjoy before it started to challenge the software
superpowers for sheer obesity. Amorphous figures flitted to and fro in
front of the store, walking and running along the sidewalk. He wafted
his mind inside, remembering the details with clarity even though he
had not been near the place for nearly four months. He tried to look at
the customers; all were ghostly, not quite possible to look at
directly. Some remained constant but not in the same place, others
appeared and disappeared randomly. Moving to the sales queues, he tried
to find the woman Edward had mentioned - but every time he looked at a
face, it kept changing and shifting like some nightmarishly surreal
version of a police identity parade.

Finally he gave up, opened his eyes and, sighing with exasperation,
shrugged helplessly. "I can see the store, but no one will sit still.
They just come and go, like in a dream."

Edward nodded with a look of disappointment. "I was afraid of that.
Your imagination got the better of you. Its too strong, its imposing
itself on your attempt to visualize the store. Lots of people who are
creative get that problem, so... oh well. Maybe with time. You should
practice when you're alone, it will be easier."

"You think?" Daniel asked hopefully, not wanting to believe his
wonderful newly found powers were already being limited.

Edward shrugged. "Its been known to happen. Don't keep your hopes up
though, you're pretty exceptional as things go."

Daniel sighed. "Yeah, you're right. Take what I've got."

"Hey!" Edward said sharply. "Bloody right, 'take what you've got'!
You've got three, yes THREE powers when most people are satisfied with
two, some with only one!"

Daniel grimaced. "Yeah, sorry. I feel like a kid that's been given a
new toy but isn't allowed the full set."

"Well, just remember," Edward said understandingly. "That's exactly
what it isn't. Start thinking of it as a toy and you'll get in deep
trouble fast."

"Understood."

Edward sighed, then looked up at the sky. "This has taken much longer
than I thought. I was only going to sound you out, find out what kind
of person you are." He looked back at Daniel. "Understand one thing.
Though we are tied as a group, that does not mean we like each other.
On the contrary, there's lots of jealousy and paranoia that goes with
these gifts. Be careful who you talk to, who you share your abilities
with. And don't let any old normal get wind of it."

He held up a hand to stop Daniel from speaking. "I don't expect you to
clam up totally however. Just be careful who you talk to. Make damn sure
you trust them, or..." He narrowed his eyes slightly, steel glittering
where kindness had been. "... or that you've got some kind of hold on
them. Just be careful. You're on your own, Daniel. I'll hang around for
a while, I feel some level of responsibility. And remember you're being
watched. To tell the truth, we don't really give a damn what you do as
long as it doesn't threaten the rest of us, though as I said the
majority of us are decent people and don't like it when others abuse
their powers."

Edward stood up. "I'd better go. Daniel, like a kid, you're in danger
of going in over your head with this. Don't. Remember - practice,
practice, practice. When you're done, practice some more. Get used to
what you can do, know your limits. I've shown you how to start, the
rest is up to you. Here," Edward handed him a small card with his name
and a single number on it. The rest was blank. "You can contact me
there if you need me for any reason." He grimaced. "Just ask for the
old man. I'll try to get back to you when I can as I'm usually out on
the road. Keep that safe. At this point, until you know more of your
situation you should consider me as the only person you can fully trust
with this."

"Thanks. I'll keep that all in mind. I really appreciate what you've...
where's your dog by the way?" Daniel asked, pointing to the leash
Edward had picked up.

"Oh, this?" Edward held up the leash and frowned at it. "I don't have
one. People tend to not bother harmless old men when they think there's
a fully grown pitbull sniffing around the bushes."

"Ah. Clever."

"I thought so. Anyway, nice meeting you Daniel. Really nice, I like
you." They shook hands. "Take care. Bye."

"Bye."

Daniel watched him walk away, swinging the empty dog leash and lurching
unsteadily - a ruse, Daniel suspected - until Edward was out of sight.
He sat back against the bench and collected his thoughts. Edward's
revelations had sent his mind into turmoil, like a mental blender.
Daniel was amazed, flabbergasted. It was almost too much; never in his
wildest dreams would he have imagined his current situation. Power
undreamt of! Wealth for the taking! Untold... no! Daniel thought
sharply to himself, recalling Edward's repeated warnings. No, sit tight
and hide. Until he could feel more comfortable with his abilities, he
couldn't risk anything that would trigger suspicion.

Looking up at the sky and noticing it beginning to get dark - he had
been here all day! - he tried to decide what to do next, and realized
he didn't have much choice.



'Shock' continues in Part VI : Choices

-- 
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reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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