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From: Stone-D <REMstoneOVE@link.net.id>
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Subject: {ASSM} STORY : Shock - Parts I-V Combined (M/F, MC, Mild NC, Rom)
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 04:10:04 -0500
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This is a convenience post, combining all of the preceeding story parts.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=XX=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Copyright Message
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
This story was written by Laga Mahesa (aka Stone-D), 2001.

The usual restrictions apply. No content changes allowed,  these headers
remain  intact and attached to  this story at  all times.  Permission to
archive ONLINE is granted, providing the site does not make any *DIRECT*
profit from this story (advertising is understood and allowed as long as
this is not the only story and I am not the only author on the page) and
that this story is not submitted to member-only restrictions.

If, for some strange and inexplicable reason, any publishers - or dare I
say producers - are interested, please contact me ASAP.

Content Warning
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
'Shock' is an adult story and contains a vast amount of 'erotic' imagery
involving  ideas  such  as  but  not  limited  to  'Mind  Control', 'Non
Consensual' and general 'Romance'.  Sex and violence scenes are graphic,
and will undoubtedly disturb some readers.

Reader Feedback
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Is greatly appreciated, and in the absence of any kind of cash flow from
this endeavour, it is an ego boost that compells me to write more.  Mail
me at :
                        stone AT link.net.id

Should that address become invalid,  contact information is available on
my site :
                http://l33t.mine.nu/stone-d/index.html

I hope. Be warned though, IE may not like my site much (I exorcised that
hellspawn from my PC so I can't check easily), as I use Opera for all my
designing and employ full CSS which IE still doesn't support completely.

If your  mail is merely abusive in nature,  don't bother as I won't read
past  the first sentence.  Only intelligent critics and firm young girls
need apply. Cheerleader status not required, though a definite plus.

I'm 25 by the way. 6'1", dark hair, tanned, well bui... err, never mind.

Please allow for some time for replies - I *will* reply (unless the mail
is abusive) but I am quite busy so they may be delayed.

WARNING
=-=-=-=
This  story  is ongoing - in other words, IT IS NOT FINISHED YET. I know
that annoys some readers, so at least you have been warned.

Each 'part' will end at a definite scene change, so confusion will be at
a minimum. This tactic will hopefully reduce any anguish and gnashing of
teeth should I for some reason decide to dump the story altogether.

This is my very first *real* story, at all, ever. So please bear that in
mind when reading it.

Oh, sorry for the huge header. I copied it from some source code I wrote
a while ago and couldn't be bothered changing or pruning much.

Now. Enough blithering - on with the story.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=XX=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=



Shock (M/F, MC, Mild NC, Rom)
Copyright (C) by Stone-D 2001



Part I : Internal Conduction

WHETHER OR NOT you are foolish depends entirely on perspective.

Look at me for instance. Twenty six year old lightly tanned male 
caucasian (I have some asian blood somewhere in the mists of my 
ancestry, so the tan isn't a big problem to maintain), 6'2", average 
build, fairly athletic with no flab. Single, for... let's just say too 
long.

I made the mistakes the majority of youths in my generation made at 
university :

Nightclubs, drink, marijuana.

Certainly not to the extent that the majority did, but sufficient to 
nearly cost my my degree. Oh, I enjoyed it all certainly. Thankfully 
that worked out well, leaving me sweating blood but thankful it didn't 
turn out worse.

So what did I do with it?

Well, I spent two year deluding myself by trying to create a 'genre 
busting' new game. That failed, of course. Those days are long gone - 
now you need a well financed team backed by a ruthless, money-blind 
publisher. When the cash started to run out, I panicked then crawled to 
my parents and begged for mercy. When I eventually gathered sufficient 
funds, I opened an Internet Cafe.

Which is where I stand today.

So, okay, you might think. Fairly poor, but not spectacularly 
'foolish'. At least not to the point where I ended up a complete 
failure.

Let me explain.

No, I'm not a failure - actually, the business is doing well. I now 
have two branches, owing to the fact that the original office was 
situated extremely well with respect to a nearby land development, 
which at that time was planned to be an apartment complex but actually 
ended up as a high price residential area.

No, the foolishness comes from the fact that I am completely 
dissatisfied with my life. I disrespected my parents, fouled up my 
education and made the worst choices I could conceive of whenever 
possible, never for a moment considering what the future might hold.

Kids, I swear to you. Your life expectancy is roughly sixty to eighty 
years old, depending on where you were born, where you live and how you 
live. You might be thinking, 'Aw, but my teenage years are the prime of 
my life!' Wrong. They generally suck, and to 'sacrifice' those 'golden' 
years of partying and drug abuse so that you can enjoy the next forty 
in comfort rather than backbreaking labor is a deal I would gladly take 
given the opportunity again.

Anyway, I picked the Internet Cafe idea because it promised a 
relatively easy life where I could pursue my own pleasures whilst 
running a business and making easy money. God, how wrong I was. I have 
no idea when the last time was when I played a game on one of my own 
machines - my life is filled with meetings, transcripts and all the 
other trappings of business and finance.

Well, to summarize, I'm feeling pretty bleak and morose just now as...



... Daniel lurched despondently down the street with a beercan in his 
hand, sometime after 2 AM.

The city sounds washed over his foggy brain like the well-used blanket 
they were - an occasional horn from the nearby harbor; fire trucks 
grunting in the distance; cop cars whining and whooping nearby.

He sighed, leaned against a post and stared randomly at passersby. 
Looking up he could see - barely - the full moon intersected by some 
overhead powerlines. A jet thundered past in the middle distance. I 
wonder where they were off to? he thought. Some tropical paradise no 
doubt.

Daniel downed the remainder of the beer, crumpled up the can and tried 
to throw it into a nearby trashcan. He missed. Looking at the piles of 
assorted rubbish in the vicinity, he decided against retrieving it and 
putting it...

Something wasn't right. He looked across the road, where a young couple 
were waiting to cross the road, hand in hand. The man pulled her closer 
and whispered something in her ear, causing her to visibly recoil with 
an expression of disgust her face.

Looking up and down the street, he could see that the evening rush 
traffic was over, down to the occasional car with large gaps of 
emptiness between them.

Those sirens are getting louder, he thought. Must be closer than I 
imagined.

He looked back across the street in time to see the woman attempt to 
retreat from the man's grip, a look of misery on her face as he started 
to pull her across the street in my direction. Marriage problems 
probably, he thought.

Suddenly there was an ear-piercing shriek to the left down the street, 
sounding like a family of pigs being disemboweled with a blunt 
pitchfork accompanied with a staccato hissing noise and a throaty roar. 
Whirling around, he saw a bottled water delivery truck come careening 
around the corner, its wheels spinning and leaving melted rubber on the 
street, and start heading in his general direction. Immediately behind 
it three police cars came charging out of three seperate side streets, 
evidently giving chase to the truck.

Looking back, Daniel saw the couple stood there in the middle of the 
road, frozen in the truck's lights like deer on the highway.

Jesus, they're gonna get hit!

It was a good thing he was inebriated, otherwise he probably would have 
come to his senses and wouldn't have done what he did next.

Daniel sprang - no, lurched - across the road, and dove at the couple, 
impacting heavily with the girl and wrenching her free from the man's 
grip who turned with a look of shocked anger at the jolt - a look that 
rapidly turned to horror when he looked back at the truck.

Then he vanished.

The truck crunched heavily into him, dragging him beneath as the driver 
swerved desperately to keep control. Wheels spinning, the truck span 
around leaving a red and black streak across the tarmac then flipped 
over onto its side and smashed into the post Daniel had been leaning 
against earlier. Bottles split open, water gushed all over the ground 
drenching both Daniel and the girl.

All was silent in the vicinity apart from the approaching police cars. 
Clinking noises came from the wrecked truck as hot metal came into 
contact with the gushing water.

A moment of lucidity stung Daniel out of the numb shock of recent 
events, allowing him to tear his eyes away from the carnage and look 
up. The post the truck had hit was leaning over dangerously, tottering 
on the brink of collapse - and visibly stretching the frail powerlines 
overhead. A dull cracking noise signaled a continuation of his 
nightmare - the post was collapsing.

Wincing at a sharp stab of agony from his left knee, he dragged himself 
onto his feet. Looking down, he saw the girl was half sprawled on the 
ground and soaked to her skin, with a vacant look of disbelief on her 
face as she stared at where a spreading pool of pink indicated where 
her partner now lay.

Daniel reached down and shook her. "Come on! Get up, there's no time! 
Get up!" As he pulled her to her feet, she shook her head and gazed 
blankly about her until she saw him.

"Ohhh... my head... Jesus! Oh my god! Th-thank you! You sa..."

"Yes, yes. Later!" he interrupted, pointing up urgently. "That pole's 
coming down and we're soaking! MOVE!"

A look of stunned realization crossed her face as she looked up at the 
powerlines. Then she did move.

A sharp grimace of pain flashed across her face - Daniel saw then that 
there was blood running freely down below her left ear. Oh god, she's 
concussed, he thought. Daniel wrapped one arm about her waist and 
dragged her arm across his shoulders then attempted to drag her across 
the street, away from the danger zone.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! DON'T MOVE!" came an amplified voice, sounding 
straight out of a B-rated 'hood' movie - sound and special effects 
included.

Daniel froze, span around and gaped at the trio of police officers, one 
holding a bullhorn and the other holding a torch and gun, pointing 
towards us.

Ohshitshitohshit! Daniel thought. This can't be happening!

"KNEEL DOWN AND PLACE YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEADS!"

Crap! Daniel tried to move again towards the pavement, a mere three 
metres away, a vision of safety in its perfect dryness.

"HALT! STOP THERE OR WE SHOOT!"

"Wha - " started the girl.

Suddenly a tremendous cracking noise sounded behind Daniel. A quick 
glance at the officers showed the shock and dismay spread over their 
faces. Looking over his shoulder, Daniel saw what he had feared.

The pole was falling. As it crashed through a department store window, 
a trio of whipcracks sounded overhead as the powerlines snapped.

"Fuck!" Daniel whimpered. Desperately, he grabbed the girl and threw 
her bodily towards the pavement, and tried to leap after her - but was 
spun round by a savage blow to his leg, collapsing him to the ground 
face-first in a splash of water and rolling his body helplessly until 
he came to rest at the verge.

Just in time to see the overhead cables snap.

Everything seemed to suddenly go into slow motion - sparks from the 
wrecked truck; the three officers mouthing obscenities; water splashing 
onto the ground.

Everything slowed down. Except for the cables.

Like gigantic rubber bands stretched over an open fire, the power lines 
recoiled and whipped through the air, hissing like demented 
rattlesnakes. The swish of their passage through the air was 
accompanied by distant screaming and swearing as panic set into the 
onlookers.

A cable dropped into the water, and a sensation of pure, unmitigated 
agony ripped through Daniel's brain. He could feel the raw energy 
coursing through his body, waves of white pain wrenching up his spine 
and slamming into his cortex. The shock overrode his nervous system and 
his mind acquired a strange distance, as if viewing events from the 
outside. Floating above his own body, he could see his own bedraggled 
form twitching and thrashing like a freshly landed fish.

Two police officers had made it to safety - the third, 
bullhorn-wielding officer wasn't so lucky. He stood there in the 
roiling water, his hand stretched out for balance against the 
overturned truck and his head thrust back with mouth agape in a 
soundless scream, jerking and twisting like a broken marionette. 
Seconds passed and steam rose from his clothes as his corpse started to 
slowly cook, still shaking and shuddering from the electricity coursing 
through his nerves and brainstem. Twin sharp pops signalled the end of 
his eyeballs and a series of ugly sounds similar to that made by wet 
tissue tearing marked the moment his skin seperated from his flesh.

And then, for Daniel at least, there was darkness.



Part II : Elementary Physical

"OH REALLY? THEN what? Ohshutupshutup! Getoffthephone!"

Pain. Darkness. Overpowering stench. His... him? Her? Its? Confusion. 
Jumbled memories, flashes of anguish, suffering and overpowering horror 
and fear. Ahhhh, the pain!

"Oh, come on Pat! You don't mean it do you? OhchristPat! 
Enoughisenough!"

Nerves aglow with fire, yet numb and distant at the same time. 
Disconcerting images flashing like a kaleidoscope - a woman's face 
white with shock; a man's mouth stretched open in a scream; a couple of 
black-clad youths with guns mouthing obscenities.

"Well you've only got yourself to blame. You did go back to him, it was 
YOU that chased after him. Bloodyhell! WhydotheykeepcomingtoME!?!?"

A bird's eye view of a man flopping and twitching on a wet... that 
was... him! That was HIMSELF! Sudden pain - a sense of agony tearing 
through his... Throat? Gut? Groin? No, throat. Sound. A godawful noise 
like the wailing of a banshee in heat.

"No I think - SHIT! Sorry Pat, gotta go. Patient just woke up! And 
Christ he's vocal! Shittalkabouttiming!"

A strange pulsing sensation. Familiar, almost welcoming if it weren't 
for the discomfort. Like liquid fir... like being electrocuted!

"DOCTOR!!! Quickly, he's woken up! Condition A critical, I think he's 
in shock - he's convulsing! Goddamngoddamngoddamn! Ohfuckohfuckohfuck!"

Now he remembered. The cold fury of the pure, cleansing fire of 
electricity washing through him, purging his flesh and thrashing his 
synapses with the cleansing rage of raw power. A baptism of pain; a 
pogrom through his brain, the cradle of his mind. A righteous charge of 
oblivion rampaging amongst his neurons.

"NnnnngggGAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!" What a strange, disjointed 
sensation. Sound, hearing... his ears! "HnnnnnneeeeaaaarrrrRRRGGHH!!" 
Almost as if... odd. Those... sounds seem to coincide with each bout of 
pain. Some connection? Ears? Throat?

"NURSE! Get the emergency team here STAT! Crapwhatafuckup!"

"Already done, I hit the call button after calling you. 
ShitohshitIforgot!"

"Grrraaarrgggglll!" Curious indeed. Could it be... Yes, that's me 
making that noise! And this pulsing and tensing...

"He's bloody drowning in his saliva! Nurse, grab hold of him! 
Daftbitch! Isawthat! Iwonttakethefallifhecroaks!"

Ahh. Yes, that seems to be it. A minor pulse here... done. Now the 
spasms... hmmm. Seems to be... yep, done. Woah! Its a riot in here, I'm 
sure its not meant to be that way... yah, that's better.

Relief. Bliss. Quietitude and calmness. A glorious peacefulness the 
likes of which...

Nooo... a bit too much... hah. Done. Simple relaxation.

"Well bugger me blind! Nurse, what did you do? Tell me! 
Godhelpyouifyoustuckhimwithaneedle!"

"N-nothing! Nothing! He just... stopped! Bloodyhell!"

This feels... odd. No, 'feel' is the wrong word... sense. Not perfect, 
but it'll do. Oho! I appear to be doing the birdy trick again. Best get 
back.

"What's his readings? Lyingbitch! Nobodysnapsoutlikethat!"

"Eh? Oh, um... heart rate normal, respitory rate slightly high, but 
within parameters, blood pressure high but falling fast..."

"Here, let me see that! Youwereyappingonthephoneagain! Werentyou?!"

Hmmm. Pleasant. Feels like coming home. Yes, now it feels right. His... 
muscles... felt stiff, awkward. Pained and stressed. Surreal. Sending 
his mind down through his nervous system he could see the minor damage 
caused by his epileptic fit, nothing time won't heal. He brought his 
attention back to his brain and cortex, then attempted to shut off the 
pain and agon... hey hang on. What's going on? What am I... I've never 
been able to do this before. Sod it. Ahh. Better, pain signals 
acknowledged and signal stopped. Hey nice! This... nah. Must be 
dreaming. But...

"I can't believe it. You didn't bang against it or something did you? 
Gormlessbitch. Iwouldntmindbangingyoumyselfthough."

Better. Pain in my throat's gone! Oh, this is niiice! Now, what are 
these two yelling about? Oh, me. Hmmmm.

Scan, sift through recent memory. Categorize, eliminate irrelevancies, 
analyze.

"N-no! No, I didn't, I wasn't anywhere near it until you asked me to 
look at it! Ohshitplease! Ineedthisjob! Patyoubitch! Ohshit!"

Odd. Curious dual pseudo-conversation going on here. Never mind. Time 
to test out my throat. "Eaarrrk. Hrrrr. Gark! Sorry. Doctor, its 
hrrrk... alright. Wasn't her fault. Shit that feels strange."

Daniel carefully opened his eyes. The glare made him quickly shut them 
again. Some squints, blinks and a minor adjustment to his eye muscles 
later he was looking around the room.

The doctor - a short, balding middle aged man with a neatly trimmed 
beard and gold rimmed spectacles. The nurse - a young, twenty-something 
brunette with cute, youthful features. Eye color... blue. Yes, blue. 
Nice. About 5'2" Daniel guessed. They were both staring at him with 
their mouths gaping wide in astonishment.

In the distance he could hear yelling and the rhythmic squeak of a 
heavy trolley being rolled down a tiled corridor.

"You can cancel the emergency call, they won't be needed." Oh, this is 
good! The certainty of it. He could sense every minute detail of his 
own body and he had no doubt he had control over every aspect of it 
too. But that can wait till later.

The doctor shook his head as if coming out of a trance. "Please, just 
lie back and relax. You seem to have had a mild seizure and we need to 
ensure you have suffered no damage as a result of it. 
AndifhehasyoullgetitrealgoodElaine. IntheassifIhaditmyway. Please, just 
l..."

"Not necessary. I'm quite fine, I assur..." But then again, I'm sure 
this level of control isn't exactly normal. No, best play along for 
now. "Actually, I do feel a bit dizzy." Daniel lay back down and tried 
to reorganize his thoughts.

"Now, nurse. Perhaps you can tell me why you weren't on station and 
monitoring the patient? Ivegotyounowyoucocktease! 
Waittillpersonnelhearsaboutthisone!"

Now that didn't sound very nice. I've never ever heard such a wierd 
two-part conv... hey hang on. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Please, relax. I was talking to the nurse. I said, 'Perhaps you can 
tell me why you weren't on station and monitoring the patient'. 
Andshedbetterhaveagoodstory! She was supposed to be keeping her 
attention on you."

Strange, that wasn't... nah, it couldn't be. But...

Daniel retreated back into his mind, and experimented momentarily. He 
reached out, focusing on the doctor standing before him and attempted 
to...

"Well? Nurse? I'm wai... GAH! SHITwhatthehellwasTHAT!?!?" The doctor 
jerked suddenly, dropping his clipboard to the floor. "Bloody hell, 
what was that? Felt like... never mind. 
FeltlikeIdswallowedafuckinbatterythatswhat!" He bent down and picked up 
his clipboard, his hands shaking slightly.

Ooops. Well, something worked at least! Gleefully, Daniel mentally 
rubbed his hands together before reaching out again, more carefully 
this time.

"Are you alright doctor? You look - "

"Never mind that. Tell me what you..."

"Doctor, I said it wasn't her fault. Leave her alone." A push, a tiny 
tendril of focused energy. [*Leave her alone. She did everything right. 
Go about your work.*]

"... what you... errr. What?" The doctor looked momentarily confused, 
then slightly irritated. "Yes. Well. Uh, well done nurse. Yes, carry 
on. You handled yourself well there I must say. Please take care of our 
patient Mr. Stone, I need to be on my rounds. Good day, sir, I'm glad 
to see you feeling better at last." With a grim smile, he turned and 
stalked off out of the room and away down the corridor.

It worked! Oh YES, YES! IT BLOODY WORKED! Later. Experiment later.

"Wha... WhatthehellsupwithdocFarrow?" The nurse looked bemused. "Well 
that isn't like hi... oh, sorry. That startled me for a moment, I 
thought I was going to lose my job! AndIthoughtIhadtoo! Thanks for 
backing me up though." She looked embarrassed.

"No problem. Why on earth would you lose your job? It really wasn't 
your fault was it?"

She blushed. "Well, thanks for saying so but I was on the phone when I 
should have been working. Godthatwasaclosecall!"

"Aha, but from what I could hear that was Pat's fault wasn't it?"

"Well, ye... YOU HEARD THAT!? Ohmygod, you were awake already then? 
Ohshit! Pleasedontlethimtellanyone!"

This double conversati... no, face it. You're reading - no, hearing - 
her mind! Jesus, its unreal! And its getting annoying, despite the 
potential. I have to find some way to block it, I'm having enough 
difficulty concentrating as it is. Some way to differentiate at least...

"Yeah, I wasn't paying much attention though. You may have noticed."

"Oh I'm so sorry! Its just that Pat always thinks that my time is hers 
and..."

"No, no. Really, its okay. You get that alot then?"

"Sorry? Thisisconfusingashell!"

"People telling you their problems. Confessing or whatever."

"Ahhh... n-not really. Well..." <How the hell does he know that?>

Ahhh! That's better. The second voice, what she was apparently 
thinking, sounded muffled now, distinctly seperate from what she was 
actually saying. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry. Its just that I had a 
friend once who had just that problem. Used to drive her nuts."

Her face flushed again and she stiffled a giggle, turning it into a 
smirk. "Oh, well I suppose. Yeah, I do get that. Nuts?" She laughed. 
"It drives me up the wall sometimes." <Well this is a novelty. A witty 
guy! Pretty damned observant too.>

Interesting. "Well, at least you're more cheerful now. You looked like 
you were due for the firing squad at dawn earlier."

She did giggle now. "God yes! I really thought I was going to be 
fired!" <Hey, I actually like this guy! He's nice.> "Anyway, how are 
you feeling Mr. Stone?"

"So-so. Um, I was in a coma wasn't I? How long?"

Her face fell slightly. <Oh, here we go. *Sigh.*>

That didn't sound good. I really REALLY need to find some way to block 
out those signals - I've been with two people, so far. I dread to think 
what outside will be like. "Long time was it? Couple of days?" Daniel 
hazarded a guess. "Weeks?"

She paused. "Uh. Look, perhaps I should get Doct..." <Oh no, he's not 
going to take this well.>

"No, I want you to tell me. Please, I'd rather you told me rather than 
that self-serving prick that was here earlier." He smiled brightly at 
her.

Another blush. <Best move over to the instruments, that kind of 
information doesn't generally go down well.> She edged slowly nearer to 
the display panels, then said, "Ah... alright. Three months."

A surge of panic raced through Daniel's mind. Three months! Three 
MONTHS!? He fought down his emotions, hoping those damned machines 
wouldn't register anything beyond a slight flicker. Hopefully she'll 
think it's simple surprise. Three bloody months!? Well well. Life's a 
bitch, and th... but he didn't exactly suffer... much. And he did 
benefit from it. He had benefited a great deal apparently.

"Oh. Right. Three months? Well, I suppose I overslept slightly then, 
hmmm?" Daniel sighed.

The nurse stopped and looked at him, wariness and doubt plainly visible 
on her face. "You're taking this awfully well. Are you alright Mr. 
Stone?" <Poor bastard.>

Daniel forced out a chuckle. "Hell yeah. By the way, just call me 
Daniel or Dan. Getting called mister sends chills up my spine." He 
smiled at her. "And while we're on the subject, what's your name? I 
can't make out your tag from here."

"OH! I'm so sorry. Its so easy to forget. Here," she rushed to his side 
and offered her hand, which he shook. "My name's Elaine. Elaine 
Jacobs." <Jeez how dumb am I?>

"Elaine. Pretty name..." He looked at her closely. Now that he was more 
or less wide awake and in control of his body, he looked at her in 
greater detail. Average height with wavy dark curls resting against her 
fresh cheeks. A trim figure in good condition - must work out or do 
aerobics or something like that. Couldn't see much of her breasts past 
her nurse's uniform beyond the fact that they were a nice and 
comfortable handful, but her legs certainly were nothing to complain 
about - quite visible in her uniform. Damn, three months! Erotic 
thoughts swept through his mind, wishing this, wishing that. "... for, 
uh, a pretty lady." He grinned.

She turned bright red. "Oh, um... thank you Mr... ah, Daniel. Dan," she 
spluttered. <Aie! What the hell? Acting like some dumb teenage 
cheerleader!> Her hand relaxed slightly in his grip. She seemed to be a 
classic swooner.

Oh yes. That blush just turned pretty into downright sexy, and as for 
her in a cheerleader outfit... Three months!! "So... Elaine. Just what 
exactly are your duties here? Surely its not just sitting there 
watching monitors all day long?"

"Oh no!" He let go of her hand and her arm swung lifelessly down to her 
side. "Well, most of the time yes, but I also have to feed you, change 
your sheets and... and..." she blushed again, more furiously this time. 
"... and, err, give you a bath. Once a day." <What the hell's the 
matter with me!? I've given him nearly a hundred baths already!>

Ahh. This could be fun. Heh, I might as well freshen up before leaving. 
"Well, I do feel a bit - tacky." Daniel grinned widely at Elaine, 
embarrassing her even further and causing her to shift her eyes away 
and down. Her breathing sped up slightly, causing her... chest, to 
visibly strain against the fabric. Nice handfuls if I'm any judge, he 
grinned inwardly to himself, somewhat lewdly.

"Um - yes, of course. Mr - ah, Dan. I'll be just a moment." <Oh god 
what is with me!? Oh shit I'm... I'm bloody WET!! God how embarrassing, 
I hope he hasn't noticed!>

Like hell I haven't noticed, he smirked. Watching Elaine walk away 
towards the privacy curtains, he couldn't help but notice the way her 
legs moved as she sashayed across the tiled floor, clearly outlining 
her rear - firm, and with an outline that smoothly matched with the 
rest of her figure. More evidence of a healthy lifestyle.

The erotic imagery became more and more vivid as he watched her from 
behind, as he recalled past experiences from his university days. The 
young librarian who had sucked him in the storage closet; the french 
foreign exchange teaching assistant who he'd screwed on the Vice 
Principal's desk late one night. And his favourite, the amateur 
cheerleader he had reamed during a football match at half-time. Her 
yells and lewd curses of encouragement he could remember clearly to 
this day.

After closing the privacy curtains, Elaine uncovered a trolley against 
the far wall on which was laid out a variety of soaps and cleansing 
ointments and oils. A large basin was prominent on the top surface. 
This she filled with water - quite hot, judging from the steam - from a 
nearby faucet. Wheeling the trolley beside his bed, she glanced at him 
with a look of outright embarrassment which she tried and failed to 
mask.

She coughed lightly. "Daniel, I'd, ah, like you to take off your gown 
now please." <Get a hold of yourself, girl!>

"Gown? Oh. Yes, this. Certainly." Flashing a grin at her again, Daniel 
promptly sat upright on the bed and peeled off the plain backless 
hospital shift beneath the sheets then laid back down again. "How does 
this usually work? I mean, I wasn't really able to... ah, appreciate my 
previous baths."

"Well I have to give you a light massage first. To prevent your muscles 
from deteriorating you understand." <Shit! What's with the explanation? 
Why did I say that!?> "That's only for the coma ward though," she 
blurted out weakly.

"Oh, yes. Of course, what else?" He grinned at her. "Back first right?"

"Um, yes. If you would, please turn over."

Daniel turned over and propped his head on his crossed arms beneath the 
small pillow. Some seconds later, he felt the sheets being drawn back 
down to his waist - and stop there. Aha! Looking back behind him, he 
saw Elaine squirting something from a red plastic bottle into the palm 
of her hand, then she rubbed her hands together briskly. Body oil 
presumably.

Elaine noticed him looking at her. "Massage oil, good for the skin." 
She blushed again, then shook her head slightly as she fought an 
internal war.

Smiling to himself, Daniel turned his head back down and closed his 
eyes. Moments later, he felt Elaine's hands running down his spine, 
squeezing muscles along his back and his shoulders. He did feel quite 
tense, that felt good.

"Hmmm. That feels nice. You've got strong hands there Elaine."

"Thanks," she said as she kneaded between his shoulder blades. "I do 
this every day, so I suppose the exercise has done some good. I still 
tend to get cramped in my shoulders afterwards though, your... ah, 
muscles are quite hard." <There you go again! What was that about!?>

"That's a good technique you've got there, you're quite skilled. Did 
you get professional training as a masseuse?"

"What? Oh no!" Elaine blushed with embarrassment and paused. "I just... 
um, picked it up as I went along. Sort of. Practice." <Oh gawd! Next 
you'll be stuttering, you simpleton! Damn, I need to change my pa...>

"Could you do my legs now? My back and shoulders feel nice now, thanks."

<Oh shit!> Elaine looked down at the sheets covering Daniel's legs - 
and backside. <Get a grip! Is this behaviour even remotely 
professional!?>

"Oh, okay. Sure." Elaine gripped the sheet and pulled it down to the 
bottom of the bed, averting her eyes from Daniel's firm buttocks. For 
the past three months she had been bathing this man, and all that time 
she had thought of him as simply another coma patient - certainly not 
as a Man. A Man with a nice ass. <Oh dear god!>

Daniel felt her massaging the soles of his feet, moving upwards and 
teasing his calf muscles, spreading the warmth from her hands and the 
oil into his skin. "Hmmmm. Wow, that's good." Daniel sighed and 
relaxed, enjoying the warm buzz as his muscles loosened and lost their 
tightness. The warm spread up onto his thighs, a light tingling 
spreading all over his body.

A short pause, a nearly inaudible sigh, then he felt Elaine's fingers 
kneading his buttocks. Some time later, he felt her pause and hesitate.

"Why'd you stop?"

<Oh damn you Elaine!> "Ah, please could you turn over now?"

"What? Oh, yeah sure." Daniel casually turned over, his body 
complaining at the interruption to the relaxation. He looked at Elaine 
- her eyes were focused blankly on his legs, or it could be the bed. 
"Something wrong?"

She blushed again. "Hmmm? Uh, no. No. Sorry, I was thinking about 
something." Hesitantly, she started massaging the front of his legs. 
<Get past this and you'll be home free.>

Five minutes later, she moved away from his thighs - still staring 
blankly at nothing in particular - and started to work on Daniel's neck 
muscles, prodding and kneading the flesh around his cheeks and the back 
of his head.

Daniel closed his eyes again, enjoying the sensations as she progressed 
down to his shoulders, then as she took each arm individually and 
rubbed the soreness out of his biceps and dug her fingers between each 
finger on each hand. His arms were released, then he felt her firm grip 
on his chest - kneading and squeezing his wasted yet still firm 
pectoral muscles, running her fingers along his ribs, slowly moving 
down to his firm stomach then down to his hips. A longer pause this 
time.

"Wow, that feels good. Don't stop, please."

Hesitantly, he felt her start again, softly but firmly digging her 
fingers and knuckles about his groin and inner thighs. He felt her 
fingers entangling in his pubic hairs, occasionally brushing against 
his penis - each touch accompanied by a short pause.

Opening his eyes, he saw Elaine with a look of concentration as she 
went about her work - with her eyes tightly clenched shut.

"Elaine." Her eyes flew open, then opened wider as she saw what lay 
between her hands. Her mouth gaped open and she froze. "Elaine? Am I... 
uh, embarrassing you?"

She started then shook her head, still gazing with a look of 
fascination at his pelvis. "Uh, ah... no. NO! Absolutely, no. I've done 
this, um, plenty of times before." Her fingers started again, but with 
a feeling of hesitation, a light trembling as her hands shook. <Oh 
christ oh christ! He's so... so BIG!! Shit!>

Big? Daniel chortled to himself. Its been a long time since anyone said 
that to me. That train of thought brought another barrage of erotic 
images to his mind. Another light brush against his penis, and he could 
feel his blood starting to surge in his nether regions. Hah! 
Embarrassment? She ain't seen nothing yet!

"I... um." Elaine look on, aghast as she witnessed Daniel's member 
become turgid, filling with blood and slowly rising erect. <Go on, 
quick before its too late! Oh god I forgot the gloves!! Too late, too 
late!>

Looking at her, Daniel saw a flash of resolution cross her face. Then 
he felt a mild shock as her hands closed around his shaft and start to 
rub the oils into the skin there and around his scrotum. Looking down, 
he saw how one of her hands was rapidly stroking in a clinical fashion 
up and down on his member, the other vigorously rubbing at his sack. 
More blood flowed, became a torrent.

<Ohhh jesus look at that! It feels so... silky...> A slight whimper 
escaped from Elaine's parted lips. She flashed a look at Daniel, hoping 
he hadn't noticed, and saw him looking back at her. She blushed 
furiously.

His member was now fully erect, and was straining and jumping against 
Elaine's palm as she rubbed up and down on it. Moments later, her other 
hand joined in task, eliciting a grunt out of Daniel that made Elaine 
visibly jump.

"Wow. That... feels so good, Elaine. Wow." She stopped suddenly, then 
moved back towards the trolley. "Why'd you stop?"

He looked over as she washed her shaking hands, then she started 
fiddling with the soaps.

"I've... finished the massage. Time for your wash, Daniel." <And I've 
got to go through that again! Shit I need to go and change! Shit I need 
to go for a wank!>

Daniel ran his eyes up and down her figure again, barely suppressing 
his mirth at that last thought of hers. Her legs were pressed firmly 
together, as if fearful of letting something go. His cock twitched 
enthusiastically. My, my! The last time I went to a masseuse it was me 
that was embarrassed - now its the other way round!

Shortly, he went through the motions again as she directed him onto his 
front - slightly uncomfortable for him, a vast sigh of relief from her 
- and washed down his back with a hand towel soaked in warm, soapy 
water. Turning over again, she went through the same steps - feet, 
legs, neck, face, arms, chest... until she again reached that dread 
zone, making her cringe and unconsciously cross her legs, slowly 
rubbing her thighs together. His member had gone down, but sprang up 
again - much quicker this time - as she applied the suds and started to 
run her fingers up and down his shaft, forcing a small strangled squeak 
from her.

Daniel stretched out and let a mute whistle escape his teeth. Looking 
at Elaine, she had a look of concentration with her mouth slightly 
agape, her eyes fixated on his penis, her breathing rate increasing 
steadily and forcing her breasts to become clearly defined in her 
uniform. He could feel his balls tensing; her long and luxurious hand 
job was getting results, and he could feel his muscles tensing for the 
imminent release that was months overdue.

Evidently she could feel it too, for she suddenly snapped out her fugue 
and ceased her rubbing, a look of shock and acute embarrassment 
flushing her features. <Oh my god, I've gone too far! He's going to 
cum!>

"Please, don't stop now Elaine." She looked back at Daniel; her eyes 
were wide open and looking slightly glazed, her legs kept crossing and 
uncrossing, her knees moving up and down. "Please?"

<He's going to cum! Let him! No, stop! No, let him! No, stop! No...> 
Slowly, she seemed to reach a decision. "Um, don't tell anyone please?" 
<Oh god I want to do it! No, I want that... thing IN me, I need it so 
much! I'm so damned horny... its ridiculous! SHIT! What am I 
thinking!?!?>

"Of course not." Daniel smiled up at her, encouraging her to carry on, 
her secrecy assured. He tried to send out his new senses into the 
corridor outside - how easy that was! There was no one there. Yes, 
secrecy assured.

She nodded, then looked back down and wrapped her small hands around 
his member once again then continued rubbing. This time without the 
cloth and her hands were wrapped fully around him.

"Sssssssss!" A hiss escaped from Daniel's clenched teeth. "Ohhh, that 
feel so good Elaine!" He reached up his hand, and started to softly 
caress her hair. She froze momentarily, then continued her gentle 
stroking. He twined his fingers in her hair, then moved his hand down 
to her shoulders, squeezing gently as he moved down her uniformed back. 
He felt a slight bump where her bra strap was, then continued caressing 
down to her waistline. He paused, waiting for any reaction. Seeing 
none, he moved further down. Her body started to shake and tremble as 
he reached her ass cheeks, where he stayed and started to squeeze and 
caress the hidden flesh there.

Her motion increased in pace; pulling, pushing, squeezing, relaxing. 
His glans flared, he felt his balls tighten. "Elaine... uhhhh. I'm... 
cumming!"

She barely dodged aside in time as a stream of sperm erupted from his 
penis, landing on the crumpled sheets at the foot of the bed. Spasm 
after spasm; spurt after spurt. His orgasm swept through him, a thrill 
unlike any he had known before, the sensations undoubtedly augmented by 
his new abilities. "Ohhhh god... Ahhhh!" His hips thrust up out of the 
bed automatically, jerking and twisting with each spasm, his hands 
gripping her backside and the bedsheet respectively as he thrust into 
her hands.

Eventually he calmed down, orgasm over. He opened his eyes and looked 
at Elaine, who was still standing there trembling with his hand on her 
ass and staring at his spent member.

"Oh my god, what came over me?" she whispered, sounding like a 
frightened child. Her hand moved up to cover her mouth in shock, then 
the smell of semen hit her nostrils and her hand came back down again. 
She looked stunned, her mind a blank.

"Thank you Elaine, thank you. That was great. Elaine?"

She shook herself back into awareness, then looked back at him with 
shock written all over her face. <Oh my god, what have I done!?> She 
turn around, then sat - no, collapsed like a rag doll at the side of 
the bed, shaking her head, her own wetness forgotten in her fear.

"Shhhh. Its alright, thank you. I won't tell anyone. Please. Come, sit 
here Elaine." She moved over closer to the head of the bed, on 
automatic as her conscious mind roiled with thoughts he couldn't make 
out.

When she was much closer, Daniel reached up and gripped her shoulders, 
then started to massage the tenseness out of her muscles. By christ, 
she wasn't joking about cramp! Her muscles were taut, her body still 
trembling.

"Wh... what are you doing!?"

"Its alright. Relax, I'm getting the cramp out of your shoulders. 
Remember? You told me about them."

"Oh, yes. Thanks, that's... that feels nice." She sighed as the tense 
feelings in her muscles began to loosen. "Mmmmmm. Thats so nice." She 
giggled slightly as he moved his hands down to her lower back. "Quit 
that, I'm ticklish!"

"Oh, sorry!" He grinned. He pulled himself up to a sitting position, 
then started again on her shoulders. "This is slightly uncomfortable. 
Here, sit back here a bit." He gripped her about her waist, then pulled 
her back further onto the bed.

"What... hey!" <My god he's strong! He just lifted me like a rag doll!> 
She shivered, then relaxed as he started again on her shoulders and 
neck muscles. <Its alright, he was just getting comfortable. That's 
all.>

She really is quite beautiful, he thought. Her neck is lovely, her 
shoulders straight. Maybe I can... hmmm. Well, she did just give me a 
handjob, you can't get much more intimate than that. Talk about 
breaking the ice! Can't quite reach though yet... hang on. [Lean back, 
rest against my chest.]

"Oh wow. Its been so long since someone did that for me." She sighed, 
then leaned back against him, nestled between his arms.

Oh yes! I can't believe it, I can directly influence another's 
thoughts! I wonder if... no. He thought sharply. No, that wouldn't be 
right. Suggestions, hints... yes. Coercion, outright commands... no. 
Definitely not. At least, not for this purpose anyway. Its more fun 
like this. That doctor was okay but I won't allow myself to fall into 
that trap.

Grasping and kneading her arms, he leaned down and softly nuzzled 
against her neck, lightly brushing his lips against her throat, kissing 
her shoulders through her uniform.

"Wh-what are you doing?" <What? What's happening!? What's he doing?>

"Shush. Just relax, you're all tensed up."

"I... I... I'm... uhhhhnnggghh!" She shivered, a delightful sensation 
as she pressed back firmly against his chest. <Oh my! Oh no! I'm... I'm 
soaked! Ahhhh!>

Minutes passed, then he casually reached behind her, undid the top 
button and began to slowly unzip her uniform, revealing tantalizing 
glimpses of her smooth, creamy flesh. The bra strap - this he swiftly 
unsnapped. She failed to notice, still relaxing under his careful 
ministrations. The zip was fully down now, he could see the waistband 
of her white panties... later! Hopefully. He grinned to himself. God I 
feel like a timid teenager again! How refreshing!

Reaching back to her shoulders, he continued his kissing, moving down 
the nap of her neck, down between her shoulder blades. She gasped, her 
breathing became erratic. Softly, carefully, he peeled aside the edges 
of her uniform, across her shoulders and down her arms. He saw for the 
first time the tops of her breasts - my, oh my. Gorgeous!

She gasped as his fingers brushed against her naked shoulders, his 
kisses once again up at her throat. "What... N - " <What? How? He's 
unzi...>

"Shhh. Relax. Sit back, enjoy."

Her uniform was now down to her sides, held up only by her breasts at 
the front. The first touch of his fingers on her chest above her 
breasts brought forth a tight moan from her lips, then a full gasp as 
he moved his hands down to the tops of her breasts. The uniform slipped 
off down to her waist; his hand moved down and he could see her small 
brown nipples encased in her bra, fully erect. Her skin was covered in 
goosebumps, she shivered spasmodically against him. He could see her 
legs flexing, her knees moving up and down.

He had already unsnapped her bra, so as he moved his hand down even 
further they slid off, revealing her firm globes in their glory. He 
brushed his fingers around but not touching her areolae - another moan, 
and she arched back against him, her eyes squeezed tightly shut, her 
mouth agape, her breasts jutting upwards with their nipples erect.

"I uhhmm... I'm not s-sure I aahhhnngghh..." <Oh god, what's going on? 
I've never felt like this before!>

He grasped her right breast with his right hand, an action that drew 
another sharp gasp from Elaine, and moved his left hand slowly down her 
stomach, palm flat against the muscle. Her legs twitched as he did 
this, she twisted slightly against his chest and cast her head from 
side to side on his shoulder.

His hand reached where her uniform still lay about her waist. Pressed 
inward against the smooth flesh of her stomach muscles, he slowly slid 
the edge of his hand beneath the material, then onwards and down until 
he felt the waistband of her panties. A sudden gasp, and Elaine jerked 
backward against him. "Uh, n-no. I don't think - " <Oh god that feels 
soo good!> she thought as he squeezed her breast and continued to kiss 
the nap of her neck.

Here goes! he thought. Pressing even more firmly, he simultaneously 
pushed his left hand down inside her panties until his fingers came 
into contact with hair, released her breast from his right hand, 
grasped her jaw and turned her face around to plant his lips firmly 
upon her gaping mouth.

Elaine froze, her consciousness assaulted by the contradictory feelings 
of shame, arousal, lust, embarrassment, fear and need. <!!!!!!!!!> she 
thought, somewhat incoherently. His tongue tasted sweet as it dove deep 
into her mouth, twisting around her own unresisting tongue. His hand... 
<Where's his h... my god! How did that get there!?> His hand was 
planted on her mound, deep in her damp panties, his fingers tracing the 
contours of her sex but not yet touching her lips.

<... patient in room 5b. Hmmm, same prescrip...>

"Mmmmm!" she cried into his mouth as his fingers continued to brush 
softly against her loins, raising goosebumps all over her skin and 
causing a tingling sensation to strike the nerves in her groin. He 
released her head - which remained in place, still receiving the 
attention of his tongue, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.

<... mess! How on earth am I expected to rea...>

Moving his hand back down to her abdomen, Daniel tightened his grip 
slightly then pulled her alongside and slightly atop him on the bed, in 
a rough approximation of the spoon position. The movement caused her 
uniform to slide down to wrap around her knees, revealing at last her 
creamy thighs and her white cotton panties, now dark with dampness at 
the crotch. While she was still frozen in astonishment at the sudden 
movement, he shifted to the side and laid her down on her back upon the 
bed, propped himself up on one arm then leaned over and continued his 
kissing - this time on the base of her throat above her breasts.

"Daaahhh! Daniel, please I do - " Elaine gasped and shuddered as Daniel 
moved down and planted his lips directly on her left nipple, lightly 
sucking it into his mouth as he pursed his lips. "Oh G-god!" <Oh god oh 
god oh sweeet jeeeesus! I can't believe I'm actuaaaahhhh!> She gaped 
her mouth wide open in a soundless scream and bucked upward against 
him, her arms lying loose against the bed, hands rhythmically clutching 
and releasing as she achieved a mild orgasm.

<... need a drink, this job's thirsty as hel...>

Daniel froze momentarily, then continued his caresses. Someone was 
coming! He quickly gathered himself together, then sent a tendril of 
thought out into the corridor, just like he did previously. There was 
an orderly approaching!

"Ohhh my gooo..." Elaine's legs twitched, rising and falling, her feet 
pushing against the sheets at the foot of the bed, her thighs spread as 
wide as the uniform wrapped about her knees would allow. "I! 
Nnnnnggghhhh!" <I'm cuuuming I'm cuming!>

<... just a couple more rooms then I can fin...>

A quick burst of panic nearly caused Daniel to forget his first attempt 
with the doctor earlier, but he remembered just in time and toned down 
the strength of his will as he reached out with his senses to implant 
his thought into the other's mind. [*Leave it. Get a drink now, finish 
the round later. You're also dying for a crap.*] He added the last as 
additional insurance, guaranteeing privacy for the immediate future. 
Moments later, he breathed a sigh of relief as he sensed the orderly 
turn around and head for the canteen - rushing somewhat. Daniel 
chuckled at himself.

<... this, I'm off for a drink. Shit I'm dyi...>

Reality came back to Daniel, as the close call with the orderly 
reminded him of how tenuous their privacy was, newfound abilities or 
no. Time was limited, so he decided to step up the pace. Leaning away 
momentarily, he used his foot to push Elaine's uniform down to her 
feet, then completely off and onto the floor. He made swift work of her 
panties; they rolled off easily and lay in a soggy heap at the foot of 
the bed. After that, he leaned over again and slowly rolled over atop 
Elaine with one leg between her thighs, his upper body propped up by 
his elbows on either side of her shoulders, his semi erect penis 
resting on her hips.

Elaine looked up into Daniel's eyes as he moved into position and felt 
her last barriers falling, resistance fading away under the ruthless 
onslaught of her own lust and desire. <He's going to fuck me now! Oh 
god yes fuck me please I need it!> "Please, Daniel..."

"Shh." He kissed her again on her lips, then trailed down to her throat 
and shoulders.

"I... no, I-I'm not a v-virgin but its been a long time, I - " <God I 
want this but he's so big!>

Daniel looked down at her sweat-slicked face, with her eyes stretched 
wide open and shining with desire. "Its okay, I understand. I'll be 
gentle."

She smiled, relaxed and surrendered completely. Her thighs parted to 
allow both his legs access, then closed back in to clasp his hips. 
Reaching down, she felt for and found his penis, now fully erect and 
straining with anticipation, thumping angrily against her hips. Pushing 
his body up slightly, she positioned him at her entrance, released it 
then moved both her hand up to clasp his shoulders. "Now. Go on, take 
me now!" <Now goddamnit, now! Oooh god!>

"As you wish, milady!" He grinned inanely at her, tensed his hips, then 
pushed down, driving the head of his penis inside her. They both moaned 
simultaneously. God, so tight! She might as well be a virgin! A moment 
passed in stillness, then he hunched forwards again, sinking deeper 
into her flesh.

"Uhhhhnnnggghh! Ooohhh shiiit so biiig!" She grimaced at the sensations 
of part pain and part ecstasy surging through her body as Daniel pushed 
forward yet again, sinking deeper and deeper until she felt their hips 
come into contact and his scrotum brush against her ass cheeks. 
"Hnnnnngghhh!"

Daniel sighed blissfully as he sank in to the hilt between her thighs, 
then drew her in tightly against him as he brought her head up for a 
deep, luxuriating kiss. He ground his hips against hers in a slow, 
circular motion. She bucked up suddenly, her hands gripped tightly onto 
his upper arms as a massive, pent up orgasm ripped through her. She 
moaned into the kiss, the sound muffled between them. Her body shook, 
spasmed and shivered in the throes of her extasy.

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" she gasped when they broke free from the kiss 
and her trembling subsided. "Ohhh shit that was good! Oh god!"

"I should hope so, you nearly yanked me out by the root with all that 
twisting and turning!" Daniel grinned comically at her.

Elaine looked up at him and saw the mirth in his eyes. "Oh you!" She 
thumped him on his chest and started to giggle, sending interesting 
sensations down to both their groins. All signs of trepidation were 
gone from her now; all resistance, fear and reluctance a thing of the 
past.

They rested for a while like that - kissing, cuddling, giggling 
occasionally; her adjusting to his size and enjoying the sensation of 
being filled; him gathering his wits as his mind screamed at the joy of 
his manhood being engulfed in the warmth and moistness of her tightly 
clenched channel.

Some minutes passed, then Daniel propped himself back up and suddenly 
tensed his member deep inside her, bringing a short, sharp, gasp from 
Elaine. "Ahhh!" He grinned at her response, then, as he gazed down at 
her face with her eyes half shut and lips parted, he slowly pulled out 
then pushed back in again. "Oohhhhhhmmm..." she cried. He did it again, 
slightly faster this time. "Ohhhyeeeesss..." she hissed. "Ahhhh!"

Daniel started up a regular rhythm, pushing in and out to a slow 
internal beat as their sweat combined and saturated the bed. 
Occasionally he bumped against her cervix, drawing out another gasp 
between moans from Elaine. Time passed and his thrusting sped up; both 
of them gasping and grunting in time as he pounded his flesh deep into 
her heated core.

"OhhhhaaaaaaahhhhhhhHHHHH - " she began to yell.

Quickly and without missing a beat, Daniel clamped his lips to hers to 
silence her. When he sensed that her moaning had ceased, he leaned back 
up and said, "Shhh! Don't want to wake the neighbours!" He grinned at 
her through his concentration and continued thrusting.

"Neig" - She gasped and gulped - "bours!? This is the coma ward you 
asssssssss!" That last escaped as a barely intelligible hiss as she 
gritted her teeth and clamped her lips shut to mute the sound. She knew 
he was right, it was best not to take the chance an orderly would 
surprise them. He knew for a fact that there wasn't one in the 
vicinity, but she didn't. In fact, in the back of her mind she was 
anticipating the arrival of the very one he had diverted.

Her moans - now stiffled between clenched teeth - and his grunts 
steadily increased now, together with the pace of his thrusting hips; 
faster and faster until he was grunting madly as he slammed against her 
hips in wild abandon like a piston, forcing grunts out of Elaine and 
shaking her breasts with each impact even as she thrust her own hips up 
against his in a bid to impale herself. The bed started to shake with 
their lust as the tempo increased; Elaine dragging her nails down his 
back as she approached her climax.

"Ohhh GOD!" she croaked. "Yeess uhn! Ugh! Hnphf! God Daniel I'm... 
Jesus I'm cuming! Oh fffuck meeeee! Hnnnngggghh!!"

"Almosssst there... Ahhhh! Yes!" Daniel kissed her deeply. "I'm cuming 
toooo oh god!" His thumping and pounding ramped up until the movement 
of their hips seemed like a blur.

"C-cum insiiide m-maaaah! Me. Its okay, I... Mmmmm! I had my period - " 
She gasped and whimpered again, denying her the use of her own tongue.

Her invitation was like fire in his mind; he felt his groin tensing, 
his penis expanding further still in readiness, his sperm boiling 
eagerly in his balls. Their sweat ran freely now, dripping off his 
forehead and pooling between her breasts, reducing friction to a 
negligible amount as their thrusting and grunting reached a peak.

Elaine suddenly shuddered, her head flung backwards, her hair spraying 
sweat into the air and against the wall, her mouth gaping wide open as 
a massive orgasm wrenched through her body. "Hnnngggghhhhh! 
Aaaaaaaaannnngggh!" Her body bucked and twisted, violently tossing and 
turning, her legs spasming and pressing hard against his lower back. 
She lunged forwards and clamped her mouth onto his shoulder to keep 
from crying out her lust.

The sudden clenching and pulling around his penis proved too much for 
Daniel. He shuddered, pulled back and shoved forward in one massive 
lunge as he sprayed a torrent of sperm deep inside her. Another, second 
orgasm more massive than the first tore through Elaine. Her eyes 
widened in shock and she gazed blankly up at the ceiling with her mouth 
stretch wide open as her body experienced yet another fit of extreme 
savagery. Spurt after spurt, they both jerked and shuddered with each 
burst then Elaine dropped and collapsed like a rag doll beneath him.

Eventually Daniel calmed down and collapsed on top of her on the sweaty 
sheets, his member still firmly entrenched deep inside her but rapidly 
deflating. He gasped as he tried to regain his breath, his chest rising 
and falling rapidly from the unaccustomed exertion.

"Ohh christ that was good. Whew!" He gazed down at Elaine, her eyes 
were closed and her lips slightly parted, her sweat-dewed chest rising 
and falling with steady breathing. He brushed the sweat-soaked hair 
away from her face and forehead and kissed her there, then lightly 
brushed his lips against hers. "Elaine?" he called softly. "Elaine?"

No reaction. Alarmed, he shook her shoulders, jiggling her breasts as 
he did so - which didn't escape his notice, but he had more urgent 
business to attend to. He prised her eyelids open one at a time... Oh 
hell! he cried out silently. She's passed out!

Daniel sighed and collapsed back on the bed beside her, thinking 
furiously to himself. Oh well, nothing to do but wait for her to come 
around. He sorted through his memories again, from the point when he 
woke up - or when he was aware of the fact - up until this moment. He 
smiled as he thought of the look on Elaine's face as she had that 
second orgasm; pure astonishment and surprise. He chuckled.

Thinking back to the near miss with the orderly, the remembered his new 
'talents' and started to sift through his mind, pushing and prodding in 
various recesses in order to learn more about it. It was obvious he 
would need to gain mastery over it - as it is, he felt like a child, 
once again forced to take his first steps. Obviously something had been 
triggered by the electrical surge that night. Something deep within his 
mind had uncovered, as if a hidden door in his brain - a door long 
sealed shut throughout his lifetime - had been blasted wide open.

He could 'feel' the newborn pathways in his mind now open to him. It 
seemed that he had acquired not only a sixth, but also a seventh, eight 
and god knows how many other senses. First he had experienced that 
bird's eye, third person perspective view of himself. That was the 
earliest occurance, way back three months ago at the moment of his 
electrocution.

Was it the electrical surge or the shock of having doors in his mind 
suddenly opened wide that sent him into a coma? As he woke up he seemed 
to instinctively be able to control his own body, so perhaps his 
subconscious had been toying with those new senses all this time.

He could read minds - or at least surface thoughts. That he definitely 
needed to subdue. He could intervene and insert his own thought 
patterns in another's mind - that was just too damn dangerous! Who 
knows what some wild reaction may result in? Imagine if when he was 
with... oh my god.

Frantically, he searched backwards through his memory, examining in 
detail each moment throughout their lovemaking. Oh Jesus, yes he'd done 
it alright, albeit unwittingly. So much for refusing to coerce another 
to do his will... though it seemed that in this case it was merely 
sensation only. Nonetheless. He had apparently projected his lust into 
her nervous system upon occasion. Her hands grasping his member with 
the massage oil; again with the soaps. The glazed look in her eyes as 
he ejaculated onto the bedsheets.

And last, but by far the most intense - the moment he had orgasmed and 
jetted his sperm deep inside her. Her secondary and more brutal orgasm 
was his doing; the intensity had been so great she had passed out from 
it. Oh crap!

An idea came to him - he daren't try to mess with her head, not at this 
stage. Leaning over Elaine's still body, he reached out to the 
wash-trolley, grabbed a clean hand towel and dipped it into the 
now-cold water in the basin. Leaning back again, he propped himself up 
on an elbow and began to wipe Elaine's face, forehead and neck.

A short time later, a moan and a vague mutter escaped from her lips, 
then her eyes fluttered open and stared weakly up at him.

"Hey. You okay?" He smiled comfortingly down at her.

"Ung. Wha hapna?" Her eyebrows crossed in puzzlement and concentration. 
"What. Happened."

"You passed out."

Her eyes widened as recent memories flooded back to her, then she 
collapsed back and stared at the ceiling. "Oh. God. Shit."

"You're still a bit spaced, so its probably best if you relax and try 
not to speak."

Daniel continued to wipe her with the damp cloth, trying to coax some 
life back into her with the cool water.

Several minutes later, she started and sat up suddenly. "Oh shit! How 
long have we been here? How long was I out?"

"You were out only a few minutes - five at the most. I wasn't counting. 
Why?"

"Oh shit!! I've got to go and report in, you've just come out from a 
coma for god's sake and I haven't reported in!!!!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't think - "

"No, not your fault. It was me that wasn't thinking. Hell! What was I 
thinking!?" She flushed furiously, then crawled out of the bed, shaking 
the dizziness out of her head. She moved over to her crumpled uniform 
then started to struggle into it. She stopped, frowning. <Panties! 
Where are my goddamn panties!?> Then a light seemed to turn on in her 
as she spun around groggily and reached for her panties which lay on 
the floor beside her. A mournful look crossed her face as she realized 
how unusable they were in their soggy state, then she shrugged then 
reached for her bra.

Eventually she had put her uniform back on, then she backed up towards 
Daniel and turned her head towards him. "Could you?" she indicated the 
zipper.

"Oh. Yeah, sure." He reached forwards, and ran the zipper up then 
buttoned the top closed.

"Thanks." She moved over to a mirror and tried to make herself 
presentable - she eventually settled for washing off her smudged 
lipstick in the water basin and wiping herself - including her stained 
thighs and crotch as a last minute thought - with a dry clean towel. 
"Look, I'm sorry but I have to rush." She looked at him for a moment, 
then leaned forward and kissed him. "Thank you. I have never, ever 
experienced anything like that before. I've certainly never passed out! 
My god!" She shook her head in wonderment.

"The feeling's mutual. Thank 'you'! That was great for me too you know, 
you were wonderful!" Daniel said, feeling that his words sounded 
slightly inane.

She blushed. "Well, I think I can safely say you're well recovered from 
the coma - somewhat dramatically, I must say." She grinned. "There'll 
be a doctor round shortly to check up on you, but I'll say in my report 
that you're... ah, healthy and fit to leave." She smiled again then 
turned to leave.

"Woah! Wait a second. Ah... can I get your number at least?"

She paused and looked stunned for a moment. <Shit I've screwed him and 
we haven't even gone on a date yet!> "Oh! Yeah, sure. Call me anytime. 
Please, do." She hunted around the room for a scrap of paper and a pen, 
found them, scribbled down her number and address then handed it over 
to him. "Gotta run, call me!" She blew a kiss at him, turned, sped out 
of the room, down the corridor and then she was gone.



Part III : External Influences

FOR DANIEL, THE next three hours were filled with a plethora of 
doctors, specialists and general busybodies, all equally astonished and 
baffled by his transformation from a vegetable to a prime example of a 
man in full health. Blood samples, pressure cuffs, miscellaneous 
scanning hardware - all insisted that he shouldn't even be there. Three 
solid hours of pushing and prodding - without the least bit of 
lubrication - left Daniel feeling somewhat reamed and slightly 
suspicious about the professional detachment of some of those around 
him. Throughout all of this, Daniel saw nothing more of Dr. Farrow - 
apparently he was feeling unwell and had left some time earlier.

Finally though, Daniel's patience was nearing breaking point. 
Thankfully, not one of the numerous tests had registered his growing 
anxiety and the pounding headache he was suffering. He had not 
anticipated the barrage of mental torment as he was meticulously 
examined by nearly everyone who wasn't a patient. Daniel simply could 
not find a way to shut them out - the querrulous voices yammering their 
dismay even as they voiced their congratulations upon his discharge; 
the silent commands demanding he confess to orchestrating a crude prank 
as they nodded to one another eagerly at this development. 
Contradictory emanations of praise, disbelief and even fear surrounded 
him as he was propelled from one laboratory to another - each and every 
one of them focused on Daniel.

One discovery Daniel made should have left him overjoyed. Instead, it 
compounded the situation and he started to think he was being driven 
insane on purpose. Daniel had found during one of numerous attempts to 
ignore the mental clamor that with a little effort he could also 'see' 
what they saw in their minds - the mass of wildly pulsating energy 
lines and precise geometric interconnections he could see inside 
himself was not as strong within others, but the chaotic jumble that 
found rapidly coalesced into something like a thirties silent movie, 
becoming clearer as he grew accustomed to it. Thankfully though, this 
was one aspect he was in full control of. He did not particularly enjoy 
the images that flashed through some of their minds as he lay face down 
on a ward bed in his backless hospital shift.

A few minutes shut away in a room whilst they argued amongst themselves 
was all the peace that he found during those painful hours, even then 
he could still hear the roaring murmur of their mental bickering beyond 
the walls.

Daniel's overall disorientation was beginning to wear off now, and his 
recollections of recent events were starting to impose unwanted 
feelings in his heart. He was changing; there was no denying that. The 
rapid and extremely erotic events that immediately followed his 
awakening would have left Daniel in utter disbelief if he had heard 
about them from someone else.

But no. Rather than the usual rote hospital routines, he had somehow 
reorganized his own chaotic biochemistry to a level that had panicked 
the locals. He had slep... no, he had screwed with a woman he knew not 
one whit about. My god! Daniel thought. What if it was my lust being 
projected that made her do... that's tantamount to rape! He shuddered 
in self revulsion momentarily as a thrill of perverse lust surged 
through him, then forced his mind past that on to other topics. Mild 
amusement followed by another wave of dismay washed over him as he 
recalled the close call with the orderly - what damage had he done to 
the poor man? Was he still in the john, torturing his guts trying to 
squeeze out a nonexistant shite?

Fending off various excuses and vaguely worded threats of dire medical 
repercussions should he leave now, he eventually fought his way clear 
and successfully discharged himself once his insurance details had been 
settled by telephone - yet another laborious process, no doubt hampered 
by local efforts to detain him by the torturer-priests of the great god 
science.

Finally, Dr. Roberts, one of the more prominent physicians there and 
the one with the largest concentration of humanity in his soul, 
intercepted him just as he signed his name for the ninth and last time 
on the small mountain of paperwork.

"I do appreciate your understanding Mr. Stone, but really you must 
realize that this just does not happen every day!" <Damn, that sounded 
trite.> "I sincerely appologize for our behaviour and... err, the 
little incident with doctor Emal." <Bloody cloth headed wierdo!>

Daniel scowled. He still suffered from the occasional twinge if he 
tried to walk normally.

"Anyway!" said Dr. Roberts hastily when he saw the look on Daniel's 
face. "I'm sure you're wanting to head off now. Please go to reception 
and book an appointment for three days from now, we'll need to do 
another checkup just in case something crops up."

"Three days? What checkup? I thought you said I was fine?"

"Oh yes! Remarkably fine, I should say. Nonetheless, the possibility 
exists that you may have some delayed reacti - "

"Hold it, hold it. Whatever. Alright, I'll show - but I don't want a 
circus waiting for me, just you okay?"

Dr. Roberts' face fell momentarily. "Ah, well I can't - " <Bugger.>

"Thought so." He had picked the crude image from the doctor's mind 
earlier in his interrogation depicting a large auditorium filled with 
rapt faces from the perspective of a man standing behind a podium. 
"Fine. Here's how it goes. I will phone the clinic, tomorrow maybe," 
Daniel gestured vaguely. "Then I'll set up an appointment on my own 
terms with yourself. Only you will know about it, so if half the 
medical profession does show up I know who to blame. That okay with 
you?" Daniel raised his eyebrows enquiringly.

Dr. Roberts paused, then sighed as resignation swept his features. 
"Alright, yes that will be fine. Here's my card. It's got my extension 
number so you can contact me direct." <That way at least I might keep 
some possible discov...>

"Haven't you got a mobile?" Daniel asked after a quick scan of the 
business card.

"Oh, no! Certainly not. Can't stand the bloody things." Daniel saw a 
vivid image in the doctor's mind depicting a nighmarish being, some 
kind of monstrosity with cracked skin and bat-like wings straight out 
of ancient greek mythology, descending on him as he ran fruitlessly. 
Strangely, the creature seemed to be called Denise.

Ah, Daniel thought. Must be his wife.



After Daniel had signed himself out of the clinic, the receptionist 
handed over a small bundle of four envelopes that had apparently been 
waiting for the day he woke up. The first was from his friend and the 
company's lawyer, Samuel Brooks, and was dated roughly two months 
previously. The second appeared to be from the police and the third was 
again from Sam, this time a mere two weeks. The last was a plain 
envelope with his name printed in block capitals on the front, with no 
label nor return address. Seating himself next to an elderly man 
reading a newspaper - a visitor most likely - he tore that one open 
first and read the handwritten note within.


    Mr. Stone,

    I really don't know what to say, other than I'm sorry about what
    happened. You saved my life in more ways than one and I am in your
    debt. The clinic refused to tell me when you woke up, so please
    contact me whenever you can.

    Erin.


Daniel noticed an address at the bottom of the paper, but didn't read 
it knowing he would probably forget it shortly. So he put the note back 
in the envelope and opened the first letter from Sam.


    Danny,

    I rather suspect this letter will be out of date once you finally
    read it, but anyway. In view of the events surrounding your shooting
    that resulted in you being in a coma, I've decided to try to make
    you a very rich man. I've consulted with Pete and he gave the go
    ahead - he says he knows how you would feel on the matter. The gist
    of it is, I've taken up proceedings to sue the police department for
    the gross misconduct of their officers in the line of duty. I don't
    want to talk figures yet, I'll let you know later.

    Sam Brooks.


He had been shot! Daniel suddenly recalled the sharp smack on his leg 
that had knocked him off his feet and on his back on the wet road. He 
surreptitiously rolled up his trouser leg and searched the area where 
the impact should have been... yes, there it was. A small, starred 
region of pink scar tissue was all that remained - the bullet must have 
gone clean through and he had suffered only minor tissue damage. The 
injury had been healed completely during his coma; yet another nail of 
reality being hammered into his skull. Three months!

"Excuse me, but could you tell me the time? My watch battery has gone 
dead," he asked of the nicest looking of the reception staff, a 
hispanic woman in her late twenties, with her hair cut short into a bob.

She smiled ingratiatingly at him momentarily then flicked her eyes to 
the small wall clock. "Its just about half past five, Mr.... ah, Stone."

"Oh." Daniel flushed with embarrassment. "Heh. Right, thanks."

Shoving the remaining unopened letters into his jacket pocket, he waved 
goodbye to the receptionists - who all ignored him - and made his way 
out of the building and into the waning light of the outdoor world.

Behind him, the old man stood up, carefully folded the newspaper under 
his arm, then walked off unnoticed down a brightly lit corridor, 
nodding only to the hispanic momentarily as he passed by. Looking at 
his retreating back, she then rolled her chair back to the desk, picked 
up the phone and dialed an outside line.



It took nearly two hours to make his way back to his apartment, two 
hours that nearly broke his mind. The honking, whining, screeching and 
hollow rumblings of the rush hour traffic was nothing compared to the 
pure hell of listening to the frightening thoughts of hundreds of 
frustrated commuters and potential psychopaths. A sharp, sensible 
looking woman in an expensive business suit sitting behind the wheel of 
her mercedes with a calm and bored expression thought cold and 
calculating thoughts of how she would carefully pare the bones from the 
man on the motorbike whose back she was staring at. A beggar holding an 
empty hand out to the rolled down window of a passing sedan in which 
sat an extremely overweight woman wearing too much makeup was thinking 
humorously how warm her skin would be if made into a nice jacket. A man 
wishing he had brought his shotgun; a teenager wishing aliens would 
bombard the intersection with x-rays and particle beams so the traffic 
would ease; a balding politician wondering how to ditch his wife so he 
could enjoy the fruits of his recent publicity tour of the local high 
school.

A rushing, seething mass of dark thoughts and depraved ambitions 
clearly spelt out the truth about the city and its occupants. A terror 
unlike any other Daniel had ever felt gripped him as he sat in the back 
of the taxi with cold sweat running down his forehead, his eyes darting 
back and forth. A small, disheveled woman cringed and gave wide berth 
to any black man she came across; images of a thick, black club and the 
hateful face of a laughing christ-like figure foremost in her mind. A 
bag lady with a wistful expression on her face tried to remember where 
she put the keys to her manor house.

Daniel's prior perceptions of the city - a place of freedom, 
opportunity, kindness and goodwill - were as dust in view of what he 
now experienced. Visions of depravity and destitution, sickness and 
vampiric health. Peddlers and hookers, pimps and pushers - samples of 
the dark heart of this particularly rotten apple lay beneath the thin 
crust of civility - and Daniel could hear every one of them.

He barely noticed when the taxi pulled up outside his apartment 
building. When the driver shouted and nudged his shoulder a third time, 
he grinned inanely at him, paid him, staggered up the steps through the 
door then leaned gasping against the wall as his eyes adjusted to the 
reduced lighting.

His landlord, Fred Newmeyer, was thankfully nowhere to be seen. Fred 
was a nice guy, a rarity amongst the landlords Daniel had met, but his 
nose was longer than most and always seemed to find itself where it 
didn't belong. The elevator and the hallway leading to his apartment 
were also thankfully absent of people - even the dull roaring that 
hinted at the maddening clamor awaiting him outside was becoming more 
subdued.

His apartment was as he expected - thick dust, a small forest of junk 
mail and several wretched things lying in a bowl on the coffee table. 
There was no way he could deal with all that right now, but he had to 
make some effort to assure minimal comfort.

After a quick flurry of activity to clear up whatever areas he felt 
necessary for basic living, sleeping and eating, he sat down at the 
kitchen table, pushed aside a bowl containing something that looked 
like a desiccated tongue, and sorted through the mail. Plenty of sales 
brochures of course. Some work related items that were little more than 
informative - Pete would have handled all that at the office. A snort 
of derision and a mental shrug of the shoulders later, he pushed it all 
in a large plastic bag to be thrown out then took the letters from Sam 
and the police from his jacket, which was flung over the tabletop.

Okay, he thought. Lets keep chronological. He scanned through Sam's 
first letter again, then opened the one with the government stamp.


    Dear Mr. Stone,

    First, I would like to extend my deepest regrets about the part
    my officers played in the events that led to your hospitalization.
    That unfortunate day has resulted in numerous difficulties for my
    department, so please forgive me for not communicating with you or
    those concerned on your behalf much sooner. I have been holding
    discussions with your company lawyer, Mr. Samuel Brooks, and we
    have come to an amiable understanding which I hope you will find
    satisfactory.

    John Reynolds,
    Deputy Commissioner of Police


Interesting. Let's see... He opened Sam's last letter next.


    Danny,

    I did it! Boy, you are going to be one happy guy! I had a little
    'chat' with our friends over at Police HQ, and I've won a nice
    little arrangement for you. You owe me big, boyo! I'll fill you
    in on the details when you and I have a chance to meet face to
    face again. All the guys at the office say hi. Get well soon!!

    Sam Brooks.


Daniel chuckled. That sounded interesting! Looks like Sam's landed a 
tidy settlement. Daniel considered the possibilities momentarily but 
his attention soon wandered - Sam was capable, and Daniel completely 
trusted him. There were more pressing matters to deal with, such as how 
to get a grip on his newfound sens... he noticed a small slip of paper 
lying amongst the mail.

Elaine.

Damn, he thought as repressed memories flooded back. What the hell is 
going on?



Part IV : Physical Evidence

ELAINE SAT IN Charlotte 'Chaz' Tremaine's living room, her feet up on a 
stool and her hands clasped protectively around a lukewarm cup of java 
coffee. Chaz was her best friend. That had not always been the case - 
being a raging lesbian, it wasn't until a tense argument had sparked 
when Chaz's continual sexual jokes had gone beyond merely personal that 
they had grown closer. Now she was her closest confidante and Elaine 
had just finished telling her about the events at the clinic earlier 
that day.

"I still can't believe it. You? I mean, sex... well, I've known you for 
over three years now, and as far as I know you've had one guy and that 
was two years ago. So no doubt you've been secretly gaggin' for it."

"Chaz!" Elaine exclaimed.

"Oh, come off it Elaine. You're human." She sipped at her drink. "But 
even so, okay. You had sex. Big deal - but you just had to go with a 
bang didn't you?" Chas held up her right hand and raised a finger. 
"First, you quite literally had just met the guy. No matter if you were 
washing or jacking him" - a muffled choking and spluttering sound came 
from Elaine's direction - "while he was a veggie." She raised another 
finger. "Second, and this one takes the cake and the grand prize in my 
book, you did it in PUBLIC!" Chaz grinned at Elaine's discomfort, 
evident by the bright red flush to her cheeks. "Imagine if you had been 
caught! I mean, god that must have taken serious guts!"

"I should have," Elaine mumbled. "The orderly didn't show for the 
rounds, talk about luck. As for guts... I honestly didn't even think 
about it. My mind was a blank." She stared at her feet in 
embarrassment. "I can't believe I actually wanked him! I can't believe 
I... I fucked him! I can't believe it!"

"Jeez, Elaine!" Chaz slowly shook her head. "I've never known a more 
level headed person in my life! God, you must have been wanting this 
guy for weeks! Oh my god, fantasizing over a stiff!" She clapped a hand 
over her mouth mockingly. "Goddamn necro!" She chuckled.

"Chaz, quit it! I know, ok? But I never thought about him like that - 
he was just another patient, nothing more. Just my charge. But..." she 
whispered. "But, Chaz, I've never felt anything like that before." She 
looked up at her friend again. "Honest to god Chaz, I passed out. No 
joke. I thought that was a myth!"

Charlotte's feelings on the subject were somewhat less than she 
projected - lesbians, at least in her experience, regularly achieved 
multiple orgasms. Over ten of them sometimes, though with no small 
amount of effort. Admittedly passing out was rare, she herself had not 
done so yet, but it was not unheard of. However, she did realize that 
with guys it was a different matter. On that score she lacked the 
experience, having only had straight sex the one time in high school 
simply to rid herself of her virginity - and she had not even come 
close to orgasm, thinking instead of how to meet up with Klara and not 
raise her parents' nor anyone else's suspicions. Even that had been 
partially out of spite - finally fed up of the continual advances by 
chauvinist members of the local football team, on the spurr of the 
moment she had grabbed one of the loner nerd types at a school dance 
and dragged him into an empty room. It had taken nearly half a year to 
get him to quit following her around.

Chaz waved her hand dismissively. "Nah, I reckon it was a reaction. 
You've been without for so long it was probably similar to what usually 
happens when you put too much air in a balloon. Bang. Kinda. Hah!" She 
chuckled to herself. "Bang!" Then she looked seriously at Elaine, her 
eyes narrowing slightly. "So, the question is, what now? You say you 
gave him your number. You think he'll call? Want him to?"

Elaine looked up, the smile sliding off her face as she began to frown. 
She fidgetted momentarily with the tassels hanging down from the seat 
covers before she replied. "I'm not sure, on either count. Well... I 
mean, I don't know the guy. I don't know what was going through his 
head. I wish I could have spoken to him again before I left, but that 
was impossible with the crowd."

"What was that? What happened?"

"Oh, sorry. I forgot to tell you. He came out of the coma spontaneously 
and went into some kind of seizure - then almost immediately recovered 
and it was as if there had been nothing wrong with him. Nothing showed 
anything wrong - he was in better shape than me! Everything registered 
green. All the docs were completely baffled." She shook her head 
slowly. "Every other coma patient we've ever handled were like 
vegetables when they first woke up - they have to go through weeks of 
readjustment to get their bodies back in shape. But Daniel? He pops out 
of the coma, fucks me, gets a serious prodding for a few hours then 
goes! Just like that!" she exclaimed as she snapped her fingers.

Chaz shook her head, her lips pursed. "That's just too wierd. Elaine, 
be careful. He might have flipped. Your boy sounds like he wasn't 
entirely there. He did just wake up after all fer christ's sake! 
Elaine," she added quietly, "you're a big girl but there's too many 
wierdos out there. I should know."

Elaine nodded, then sighed. "I know, I realize that. Still..."

There was a moment of silence then as they looked at each other, then 
Elaine downed the last of her coffee and stood up. "I'd best move. The 
clinic's chaotic at the moment according to Katy, so I'll go in early 
tomorrow."

Chaz nodded. "Yeah, get some sleep. And Elaine?"

"Hmmm?"

"Take care, huh? Seriously. I know you can handle yourself, but... just 
be careful."

Elaine nodded, smiling weakly, then left.



She took the long route home - driving through the exclusive 
residential areas, fantasizing about the fabulous lives that those rich 
and famous must be leading, ignoring her own best friend's lifestyle. 
Besides, Chaz was different. Elaine did this quite often; though it 
wasn't envy that drove her. There was a sense of peace and safety in 
the air, palpable enough to lend her some of its strength, relaxing and 
calming her thoughts. Though there was no visible sign of it, she knew 
that this area was one of the most tightly secured regions in the whole 
city. Basic street crime here was zero, though robberies and the like 
were possible they were extremely unlikely.

She needed that peace of mind today. Her lengthy talk with Chaz had 
helped to sooth her confused brain somewhat, but she still had plenty 
to sort through and think about.

That long route home took her two hours and nearly an entire tank of 
gas, so by the time she reached her house it was almost dark.

Then she had a minor heart attack - for there was a man sat on her 
steps. A very familiar looking man.

It was Daniel.

She pulled up in front of the house, turned off the ignition then sat 
there for a few moments trying to regain control of her wildly 
careening emotions and confused tangle of thoughts. She appraised him 
from the safety of the car for almost half a minute - he did not look 
threatening; dejected if anything. Nervous even. Steeling herself, she 
climbed out of the car, locked it, then slowly approached him.

"Hi."

He looked up. There were bags under his eyes and his hair looked 
disheveled and unkempt. What was wrong with him? A spasm of concern 
crossed her mind, the nurse in her coming to the forefront.

"Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"Um... hi." He grinned weakly. "I'm sorry to come unannounced, but I 
tried calling several times - you weren't in..." he said unnecessarily, 
his voice trailing off.

"I was at my friend's house. Look, you look awful. What's wrong?"

"I... well, I could be better. Its... well, nothing... usual. Sort of," 
he replied.

"Do you need to go back to the clinic? Is that why you came to me?" 
Elaine asked, a tremor in her voice betraying her botched attempt at a 
cool demeanor.

Daniel looked shocked, then embarrassed. "God, no. No, they wouldn't be 
able to help I'm sure. Damn! I was supposed to phone them," he 
muttered. "No, I... I came here to see you actually. God this is 
embarrassing." Daniel's face went slightly crimson.

"You've no idea," said Elaine, quietly relieved at this display of 
normality from him.

"Look, can we... uh, talk inside? I need to explain a few things... and 
hopefully you might be able to help me out a bit." Then he looked up at 
her hastily. "I, uh, I promise I won't try anything."

Elaine flushed. "Its a bit late for that I think!" she retorted, then 
she laughed as a look of consternation crossed his face. "God I still 
think it was a dream, and now you're here. Damn! Look, okay come on in. 
We can't be seen talking like this on the front steps anyway."

The inside of Elaine's house was an interesting mixture of styles, 
although she lived alone there was evidence that this was not always 
the case. There was an underlying neatness to the place - picture 
frames arranged symmetrically, a simple display cabinet with a 
selection of antique china dolls and assorted Toby jugs. Daniel vaguely 
noticed evidence of the fact that she rarely had time to herself, her 
work keeping her busy most of the time. A stack of unread newspapers, a 
thin, oily sheen of dust on some sideboards, a jumbled mess of shoes in 
front of the door and the occasional jacket or sweater drapped over the 
back of a chair.

Elaine saw his appraising looks. "Sorry about the mess, but I've not 
had much time to myself since my dad passed away and this place gets 
out of hand so easily."

"Oh, I'm sorry... uh, I don't know what to say."

She smiled. "Its alright. Its been a year and a half, I'm pretty much 
over it. Really though we weren't that close."

"Your mother?"

"She died when I was nine."

Daniel nodded, saying nothing. He followed her into the living room, 
where she switched on her television, turned to a random music channel 
with the volume low then motioned Daniel to sit wherever he wished. He 
did so, choosing the sofa which was a comfortably safe distance from 
Elaine who was on the big armchair.

"Oh! Sorry, do you want something to drink? Its not often I get 
visitors."

Daniel shook his head, still remaining silent.

"So... what did you want to talk to me about?"

Daniel sat quietly for a moment to collect his thoughts. "I don't 
really know how to say this without sounding like I belong back in the 
hospital." She raised her eyebrows but remained silent. "About what 
happened at the clinic... just before I... look, before I continue, how 
do we stand here? How do you feel about what happened? I think we both 
need to get that out of the way first."

Elaine looked down and fiddled with the corners of her fingernails for 
a moment before replying. "I'm... not sure really, to tell the truth. I 
don't - oh, nothing bad," she said hastily at the crestfallen look on 
his face, which was washed by a flicker of relief as she spoke. "I'll 
stand by what I said, I... enjoyed it. Really. Chaz is still skeptical 
but... hell, that's up to her." She saw the questioning look. "She's my 
best friend. I tell her everything."

Daniel sighed. "That's a relief, I'm glad you're okay with it." He 
looked at her carefully. "I was worried that... oh, I dunno. You didn't 
feel at all... compelled did you?" He paused, then grimaced as anxiety 
gripped him. "Not... forced?"

Elaine looked stunned. "Compelled? Forced?" she spluttered. "You mean 
rape? Oh, god no! Absolutely not! Dan, it was nothing of the kind!" Oh 
my god, he was scared I thought he'd raped me and he still came here! 
she thought with quiet amazement.

Daniel sighed again, closed his eyes and leaned back. "You... it might 
have you know."

"What? I think I should know!" she said indignantly.

"No, not like that. I mean... okay, look. Remember before we... before 
you passed out?"

"Um, yes? Err, vaguely at least." She blushed slightly.

"That was me," he blurted out inanely.

"Sorry?" she replied, confusion written on her face.

"I wasn't entirely truthful about my condition back at the clinic. 
I've... changed, somehow."

Elaine grew slightly alarmed, remembering Chaz's words of warning. 
"What do you mean... changed? In what way?" she said cautiously, 
fighting against her instinct to shrink back into the chair.

Daniel paused again, then crouched over so that his elbows were on his 
knees and his face lay in his hands with his fingers rubbing his 
temples. "Oh hell. Elaine, do you believe in magic? No, not magic. ESP, 
telepathy, that sort of thing? Psychic powers? Well, whether you do or 
not, that's what changed in me. I can do that. And more apparently."

Elaine was stunned. This was totally unexpected; instead of the 'last 
night was a mistake', 'we can still be friends' and 'I hope you 
understand' sort of words she had been waiting for, he had dumped this 
preposterous bombshell in her lap. "Is this some sort of joke?" she 
finally asked indignantly.

"It's true."

"I don't believe it. No one has ever been able to prove that telep - "

"I can."

Elaine clammed up, her jaws half open in mid-sentence, her eyes 
registering disbelief. "How?" she asked quietly.

"We were almost... interrupted. By an orderly."

"What? Richard? True, he was late but - "

"I interfered. I sent him away."

Elaine paused, disbelief mixed with a tinge of anger plainly visible on 
her face. "That's not proof. Come on, you can't expect me to - "

"And then there was that doctor. Farrow."

"What about him?" Elaine asked after a brief moment of recollection.

"His behaviour didn't seem... odd, to you?"

Elaine frowned. "Yeeesss... but that could have been anything."

Daniel sighed in resignation. "Alright, alright fine. This is harder 
than I thought it would be."

"Wait a minute. What does this have to do with... what? Compulsion? 
Passing out you said?"

"Ah. Yes. That. Um, I caused that. I'm certain of it."

"What? The... no, surely - "

"Yes. The, ah, orgasm. The last one." Daniel flushed, silently pleased 
that there had indeed been a 'last one'.

"You mean to tell me - "

"Yeah."

"But..."

"Its true."

Elaine shook her head. "It's true that it was... err, different, but - "

"Like I said, I can prove it." Daniel looked carefully at her. She had 
her hands down at her side, half clenched into fists, but empty. Good, 
he thought. Nothing that would cause a mess. I have to do this.

"That's just" - Daniel reached into her mind, sorted through the 
tangled lines of energy and found the nexus he felt confidant was 
responsible for sexual arousal - "not possible! I mean, how" - He 
focused, then triggered a small jolt of energy - "could you effect me 
in suaaAARRRRNNNNGGGGGHH!!!"

Elaine yelped, her eyes bugged and mouth stretched wide open in shock 
as a powerful orgasm ripped through her. With her legs tensed and 
stretched out widely, heels dragging at the carpet and knees flexing, 
she held onto the chair arms with a vice-like deathgrip, her knuckles 
whitening. She threw her head back as her chest heaved and twisted, 
driving short, stuttered gasps from her throat. "GaaaaAAAAHHH MYYYY 
GGAAWWDDDAAAMMMNNIITT!" She grimaced, her face twisted in a rictus of 
sheer pleasure, as she bucked savagely in a fit of pleasure against the 
chair back, arching her body upwards repeatedly and forcing her breasts 
tight against her blouse, clearly outlining her suddenly erect nipples.

She came down fairly quickly, but it was several minutes during which 
Daniel grew slightly alarmed before she rejoined the ranks of the 
sentient and opened her bleary eyes.

"You okay?" Daniel enquired, leaning towards her. Elaine merely nodded 
her reply, then they sat and stared at each other for a few moments. 
"Are you satisfied?"

Elaine frowned, a puzzled expression fighting its way across her 
twitching face.

"I meant the proof! Are you satisfied with the proof?"

She nodded, grinning inanely. "Guh!" She waited a few moments, then 
tried again. "Yeah. Um, one hundred percent proof too, I'll say." She 
giggled abruptly then looked at him with her eyes flashing. "Hey, can 
I... ah, can I call Chaz over?"

"What? What for?" Daniel asked suspiciously.

"Look, I've already told her the rest and I need a different 
perspective on it all. She's my best friend and... well, she's still 
skeptical, so you'll have to... ah, give her some... proof."

"Oh my god, you've got to be kidding!" She shook her head slowly, still 
grinning. "You're serious! God Elaine, I don't even know her! Hell, I 
haven't even seen her!"

She spoke sharply at him. "Don't give me that, especially after our 
'session' at the clinic!" Her voice softened. "It'll be alright. I know 
her, she'll take it well. Very well, trust me."

"Oh, bloody hell." Daniel sighed and put his head back in his hands. 
"Yeah, sure. Go ahead and call her. How long will it take her to get 
here?"

"Not long. Ten minutes, max."

"Wait," Daniel waved her back as she made to stand up. "Before you 
call, there's more. Elaine, I can also... I can also hear people's 
thoughts."

"You can? You... I don't believe..." She trailed off. "I don't know 
what I believe anymore. Are you doing it now? Reading my mind?" The 
question was little more than a whisper, with traces of panic in her 
trembling voice.

"It's not... no, I'm not. I can block it now, please believe me I don't 
even want to do that."

"Why not? Why block it? It must - "

Daniel cut her off. "No, you don't understand. You can't imagine what 
it felt like, having to listen to the thoughts of everyone - I mean 
EVERYONE - who happened to walk past." His voice quietened, his 
memories of the taxi ride still vividly fresh. "I was almost suicidal. 
All those people, the nameless crowds you walk past every day without 
noticing. I couldn't believe how... If I hadn't been shown how to block 
it, I probably - "

"What do you mean, 'shown'?" Elaine asked abruptly. "What do you... 
Never mind. Leave that till later please, I'm... well, I don't want a 
downer right now if you know what I mean."

Daniel smiled faintly. "Yeah, I guess. You'd better go ahead and call 
Chaz. Lets get this over with."



Twenty minutes of tense anticipation and nervously neutral chatter 
later, there was a loud chiming and Elaine sprang up off the chair, 
racing to answer the door. The woman who shortly entered the room, 
regally sweeping through and arranging herself delicately onto the 
settee opposite Daniel, was almost beyond description. Tall, graceful 
in her bearing with a full head of waist length dirty blonde hair and a 
tanned, flawless complexion, she was absolutely stunning. Her tight, 
form fitting faded blue jeans outlined her long legs gloriously, a view 
of her behind as she passed forcing a sharp intake of breath from 
Daniel. She would have made millions on the catwalks of Milan if she 
were more skeletal; thankfully that was not the case. Her proportions 
were as perfect as any male could hope for, her breasts the right size 
for her build and sitting firmly high on her chest.

Suddenly Daniel lost all his reluctance and was actually looking 
forward to presenting his 'proof'.

"Daniel, meet Chaz - Charlotte. Charlotte Tremaine. Chaz, meet Daniel." 
They nodded respectively, appraising each other silently during the 
introductions.

"Please, just call me Chaz." She said, in a rich, husky voice that 
hinted at a life filled with glamourous parties that climaxed in... 
well, climaxes.

"Thanks. Ah, nice to meet you."

"Likewise," she said alluringly. "Elaine has told me so... much... 
about you," she said, an erotic sound filled with the promise of wild, 
fantasy filled nights and sensuous mornings.

"Chaz, quit it! This isn't the time!" Elaine said sharply.

Chaz look at her reproachfully. "Aw, man!" she said in a voice much 
more in tune with the world Daniel knew. "You're no fun, girl!" She 
stabbed out her tiny pink tongue in Elaine's general direction then 
grinned wickedly at Daniel, giggling lightly as she saw the flustered 
look on his face.

"She gets off doing that, Daniel," Elaine sighed wearily. "Don't take 
her seriously. Besides, I'm not sure if I mentioned it earlier but 
she's totally gay... aren't you honey?" she asked demurely.

"Damn!" Chaz muttered. "Oh, alright. So what's this all about? You and 
your mystery call, dragging me out here. I was going out! So where's 
the fire?" She pouted and inelegantly flung herself back onto the 
settee, stretching her legs out.

Something was poking insistently at Daniel from deep within his 
memories, something to do with... then it clicked. "Tremaine... any 
relation to Roderick Tremaine?" he asked.

Chaz mouthed an obscenity. "Trust you Elaine to get hooked up with 
someone who knows dad!" she said vehemently. "Yeah, he's my father. 
Unfortunately. That a problem?"

"Woah!" Daniel raised his hands defensively. "I know of him, I don't 
know him." He saw the hostile look on her face. "Hey! He's only one of 
the biggest wheelers in the stocks business, I'd be pretty damned 
incompetent to not know about him!"

Chaz opened her mouth for a retort, then sighed and shrugged 
apologetically. "Sorry. I get too emotional thinking about my family. 
Look, can we start again? Please?" She smiled winsomely, her blue eyes 
flashing.

"Chaz..." Elaine warned quietly.

Daniel interrupted her. "Hey, its okay. I'm onto her game now, and 
besides - I'm not too far from that kind of situation myself, so lets 
leave it. I've forgotten already." Both Elaine and Chaz smiled 
gratefully at him. "Elaine, I think... uh, how about that drink you 
mentioned earlier?"

"Good idea. I'll - "

"No, I'll get it. I think you should talk with Chaz while I'm gone. I'd 
prefer it that way if you don't mind."

Elaine looked between him and Chaz for a moment then nodded. "Sure. I 
keep my drinks in the kitchen. There's a cabinet over the oven space, 
the glasses are on a rack by the sink. I'll have water myself though."

"Me too," said Chaz.

"Oh. Err, alright. Back in a while."



Daniel took his time. He set off straight to the kitchen and arranged 
three glasses of water - taken from the fridge - on a tray, paused for 
a moment then added some ice. The prospect of presenting a tray of mere 
water to two gorgeous women, one of whom he had just met and looked 
straight off the cover of Mayfair and a wet dream come true, regardless 
of her sexual preference, seemed somewhat ludicrous.

He surveyed the kitchen to pass the time; neat, carefully organized. 
Not quite spotless due to her busy schedule, like the living room, but 
tidy nonetheless. A reflection of Elaine. He decided there and then 
that there was no way he could allow her anywhere near his place until 
he had cleaned it up dramatically. Nor Chaz. He thought of the mystery 
object on his own kitchen table and shuddered inwardly. Perhaps it 
would be simpler to just move elsewhere.

Suspecting that more time was needed, he hunted around for a while for 
the bathroom, and found the door hidden behind a an assortment of coats 
hanging off the door from hooks screwed into its surface. Again it was 
neat - much cleaner than the rest of the place so far, which was to be 
expected. He refrained from inspecting the cabinet over the sink - he 
felt slightly uncomfortable at the idea of rifling through someone's 
private belongings, no matter how close they were. Or had been. Daniel 
grimaced at himself momentarily in embarrassment.

Finally though Daniel ran out of things to do, and decided to make his 
way to the living room with the tray of drinks.

He found them staring mutely at the television, now showing some 
airhead chick waving her arms spastically as she presented a summary of 
the top twenty hits charts. Putting the tray on the table, he gave each 
of the girls a drink then took one himself as he sat back down on the 
chair he was on earlier. "Everything sorted then?" he asked.

"Shit, Elaine, this is bullshit!" Chaz burst out suddenly.

Elaine sighed and looked at Daniel imploringly, who raised his eyebrows 
questioningly.

"I mean, for god's sake! First you blither on about how great a fuck he 
was, then you go and tell me he's bloody superman as well! I hope he 
didn't damage you with his power thrust!" Chaz spat sarcastically, 
completely unfazed by the fact that Daniel was in the same room, his 
face slowly becoming an interesting shade of scarlet. "I can see it 
now, 'Mystery Crime of Passion! Woman speared mercilessly to a bloody 
pulp!'"

"Uh, Elaine, what have you been telling her?"

"Just what you told me! Almost. But I never - "

"Hah! You'd better not suck him, or your walls will end up redecorated 
with a fresh coat of 'Hint of Brain'!"

"Chaz!" Elaine spoke sharply. "Get a grip, you're being dramatic again!"

This is just great. Superb, Daniel thought. Just what I needed. Nice 
one.

"But Elaine, you can't seriously expect me to even begin to believe 
that do you!?" Chaz asked sullenly, her voice quieter.

"No, Chaz. Of course not. Certainly not on my testimony alone, nor even 
Daniel's." Elaine replied kindly.

"But - "

"Just wait, everything will be clearer. I promise." She looked at 
Daniel. "Go on then."

"What? You haven't told her? But - "

"No, this is the best. Just do it, please."

Daniel sighed. He looked over at Chaz - she had already emptied her 
drink, replaced it on the tray and was perched on the edge of the 
settee. "Oh, alright. Chaz, just sit back and relax would you? Better 
still, lie down."

"What? What do you mean, 'lie down'? Hey! Hang on, I want you to prove 
you're goddamned superman, not thAAARRRRRGGGHH!!!" She wheezed, gasping 
deep in her throat as her arms flailed wildly, trying to find something 
to grab a hold of. "HNNNGGGHH!" She grunted a moment later as she 
doubled over, clasping her jeans-clad thighs tightly together as her 
upper body trembled in a fight to maintain control and draw breath. 
"Ohmyfuckingodohshitoh..." she gasped tightly through her clenched 
teeth.

Her mewling was cut off abruptly as she spasmed, throwing her body 
backwards to stretched out on the cushions, her head tipped back and 
mouth agape in a soundless scream. She bucked and trembled furiously, 
her feet pushing and shoving against the far end of the settee and her 
thighs opening and closing randomly as her hands tore wildly at her 
blouse, grasping at her breasts beneath the cloth. 
"OHHHHHFFFUUUUUUCCCKKKKK!" she screamed. With one hand holding tightly 
to a tit and squeezing it roughly, the other stabbed down between her 
legs and clamped hard on her mound, the index finger trying to drill a 
hole through the tough material.

Suddenly she rolled over onto her stomach, thrashing her legs with 
abandon as the hand at her crotch, seemingly with a life of its own, 
gave up the futile attempt at penetration and dove beneath the 
waistband of her tight jeans, rapidly disappearing inch by inch until 
only the wrist showed. "ShitshitshitshitFUUUCK!!" she whimpered, her 
voice rising an octave or two. Her ass suddenly shot up and her knees 
drew in, her head and shoulders pressing hard against the cushioned 
armrest as both her hands moved in a blur of motion that no normal 
camera could possibly have captured, or so Daniel thought as he and his 
extremities sat rapt to attention.

Chaz's eyes suddenly snapped open, a look of rabid animal hunger 
glittering where intelligence should have been, as she searched the 
room frantically. Alighting upon Elaine, she leapt up growling with a 
cry of jubilation and jumped at her as she tore madly at her twisted 
shirt, wrenching the buttons free in her bid to free her flesh.

"NO! Chaz, no!" Elaine shouted in alarm, pressing herself back into the 
seat.

Snarling with despair, Chaz span around - seeing Daniel, she dove 
towards him and before he could react, had landed on his lap, wrapped 
her legs about his waist and was busy tearing at his shirt, her mouth 
kissing furiously at his face and nibbling his neck and shoulders as 
she gibbered insanely.

Daniel was stunned. Her unexpected display had already given him a 
raging erection and the fact that she was now wantonly grinding her 
jeans-covered clit against his inflated prick was no help at all. He 
responded in kind; he pushed his tongue into her mouth when it was 
available, he grasped at her bra-covered breasts as she writhed in her 
impromptu lapdance, his hips pushing up as she humped hers down on his 
imprisoned member.

It wasn't until it was almost too late, Chaz's firm breasts finally 
free from the bra with the rosy nipples pushing insistently against his 
roughly kneading hands and her jeans magically transported to a twisted 
jumble about her ankles, her sopping panties making a disturbingly 
aromatic stain on his trouser front, that Daniel had a moment to think 
and reason won the war of defiance with his angry prick. Reaching a 
desperate tendril of mental energy into her mind, he held her wriggling 
flesh tightly against himself - nearly giving his enraged manhood 
enough ammo to break down his defences - as he prodded her cortex with 
his thought.

Suddenly she grunted once fell slack in his arms, fast asleep and 
breathing deeply, her eyes grooving to the beat of REM as beads of 
sweat trickled down her face and neck.

"Fucking hell!" Daniel gibbered, his lovestick still throbbing hard and 
insistent against her mound.

"Holy shit!" came Elaine's equally unintelligible response.

Taking a firm grip on his emotions, Daniel carefully - both for Chaz's 
benefit and his own distressed nether regions - stood up and carried 
her back to the settee, then gently laid her down, resting her head on 
a cushion and arranging her limbs more comfortably. He stood, paused to 
stare at her semi nude form with his gaze lingering momentarily on her 
soaked panties, then walked back and slumped heavily into the chair - 
wincing slightly at the impact. "Bloody hell!" he muttered, for a 
number of reasons.

They both sat there for a moment, stunned in quiet shock. Chaz's 
reaction had been... interesting.

"Thank you." Elaine said eventually, her voice quiet and distant.

Daniel merely sat still with his eyes closed, inwardly meditating in an 
attempt to calm down his mental storms and raging hormones.

"You could have... thank you." Elaine continued.

"I've never had a woman try to rape me before." Daniel announced 
jokingly, a lame attempt to lighten the atmosphere. He was calm now, 
his emotions in check and disappointed member subdued. He still had to 
avoid looking at Chaz, but that was easy. Almost. It was the still-warm 
stain on his lap and the pungent aroma wafting up from it that was 
difficult to ignore.

"Daniel, what on earth did you do to her?" Elaine asked softly.

He shook his head. "Nothing I didn't do to you. Less even! Honest! I 
didn't want to do anything besides give her the, uh, proof you said she 
needed."

Elaine blinked. "Nothing? But... my god. Uh, is she alright?"

Daniel nodded. "I sent her into a deep sleep. She's okay now, I can 
wake her up any time."

"Do it. I... we need to talk to her. Wait, let me cover her up a bit 
first."

"Sure." Daniel waited until Elaine was finished, then concentrated for 
a moment, after a quick pause while he eyeballed her sleeping form. 
Shortly, Chaz's slumbering body shifted and her eyes fluttered open 
weakly, looking distinctly glazed. She looked around fearfully for a 
moment, then closed again as she recognized where she was and who she 
was with. Suddenly they shot back open again as she remembered.

"That... was a dream, wasn't it?" She looked at Elaine and Daniel 
desperately. "Tell me it was!"

Elaine shook her head, Daniel remained still.

Chaz sighed and curled up under the blanket Elaine had draped over her. 
"That was... jesus wept, Daniel." Chaz's voice was soft, filled with 
wonder.

"Are you alright?" Daniel asked. He refused to look into her mind for 
the answer, now that she was now coherent and fully in control of 
herself.

Chaz began to nod, then firmly shook her head. "No I'm bloody not! 
Fuck, that was wild! What did you do to me? My god, I'm a complete 
wreck, I can barely move!"

"I didn't do anything that I had not done to Elaine. As I've already 
said to her. Actually it was less. Your reaction took me... took us 
entirely by surprise."

"That's an understatement!" Elaine responded in mild reproach. "Chaz, 
you were like a crazy animal. You actually tried to rape me, then when 
that failed you had a go at Daniel and almost succeeded." She looked at 
Daniel. "Almost, thank god. Almost."

Chaz nodded weakly. "Yeah, sorry about that. I... I dunno, I totally 
lost it. I just went fucking nuts. Um, I suppose you noticed. I 
couldn't stop cumming! Oh jesus, sorry guys." Her eyes were shining, 
tears beginning to flow.

"Hey, its okay, it wasn't your fault," Daniel chanted the rote 
consolation words, then chuckled lightly. "Its nothing to be 
embarrassed about, you were taken by surprise and had no chance to 
prepare. Besides, I... ah, we both enjoyed it." He looked at Elaine, 
still grinning. "So there's nothing to be guilty about. If anyone's to 
blame its me, or both of us... but I've no idea what happened there! 
Honest."

"Thanks. I feel better now."

"Glad to hear it," Elaine said finally.

"Why did I zonk out like that though? That kinda worries me, you know? 
It was too..." Chaz suddenly sat up in alarm as she recalled Elaine's 
words. "Elaine?! When you said you pass - "

"Don't worry about it. If it wasn't for Daniel's quick thinking, no 
doubt the both of us would even now be on our backs getting boned 
silly. I'm not sure I would regret that," she added after a pause, "but 
you..."

Chaz chuckled drily, panic gone from her features, as she settled back 
down onto the settee. "I'm damned surprised to admit it, but... shit, 
after that I don't know what I think. Hell, I was aching for it - what, 
a few minutes ago? - and now... um, now the thought doesn't repel me 
quite as much as it usually would. No, it doesn't repel me at all." Her 
voice lowered slightly and a rosy flush tainted her smooth white face. 
"Quite the opposite." She looked up at Daniel. "You've got quite a 
weapon there Daniel."

"Uh, p-pardon?" Daniel stammered. He remembered with perfect detail how 
Chaz had vigorously ground her slit against his raging shaft; that 
thought alone was enough to start his blood churning its merry way to 
his groin. Elaine just sat still, her lips frozen to the glass she had 
been drinking from, and occasionally blinking.

"You could have great fun with that trick of yours!" Chaz clarified, 
failing to recognize her inadvertent innuendo.

"What?" Daniel flushed, momentarily taken aback as his train of thought 
backpedaled. "Oh, uh, yeah. I suppose. Hadn't thought of it."

"I assume its not just women right? I mean, we've all got similar 
brains... right?" Chaz asked, her tone rising slightly.

"Of course. Well, I haven't tried, of course, but there's no reason why 
it... uh, wouldn't work."

"Cool!" Chaz grinned.

"Woah, hang on there!" Daniel began as he realized what she was saying. 
"I don't think that would be a wise thing to mess about with. No, I 
KNOW it wouldn't."

Elaine nodded. "Definitely. That's not something you want to take 
lightly."

"Oh, come on!" Chaz whined. "Its not as if its a bad thing, is it? I 
mean, you just did me and I'm not complaining. Quite the opposite! 
Hell, I want more!" she hinted brazenly.

"You're not thinking," said Elaine, ignoring her last comment. "For a 
start, what if they reacted like you? What if they ran around hunting 
for the nearest warm body to, uh, fuck? I'm not convinced they'd thank 
you after that!"

Chaz's face fell. "True. Shit."

"And when would you do it? While they're driving?"

"Oh, shit Elaine! Of course not, I'm not stupid!" Chaz replied 
vehemently.

"But you see my point."

"Yeah. Oh, alright I was wrong. Sorry. But," she looked up hopefully, 
"just for the record, I want that to happen again. I insist! Okay?" She 
saw Daniel start to frown, Elaine expressionless as she peered at her 
fingers. Then she became slightly desperate. "Please!? I've never had 
anything like that before! What will it take? You want me as a slave? 
Okay! Fine! Whatever!"

"Chaz!" Elaine burst out, shocked.

"Errr..." mumbled Daniel, speechless but definitely not averse to the 
idea. My apartment needs a good clean for a start, he thought somewhat 
naively.

"You know what I mean, Elaine. He said he gave it worse to you! Don't 
tell me you don't want that again."

Elaine was silent for a moment before she spoke. "I... okay, I admit 
it. I want it again. But I'm not so desp - "

"Bull. Give it a week, and you'll be on your knees begging for it. 
Hell, a few days! Mark my words."

All three of them sat there for a while, silently ruminating Chaz's 
erotic words. Elaine stared and fiddled with her fingernails again, 
trying to keep her mind on neutral thoughts and not the idea of getting 
literally turned on by Daniel again, while Daniel himself and Chaz 
watched the television without paying attention until they were forced 
to change the channel when one of the millions of Macarena variations 
started playing.

"Well," Daniel said eventually, "its certainly a novel way to break the 
ice."

Chaz stared at him, then both she and Elaine burst out laughing.

"Break the ice? You've already screwed me, you... you prat!" Elaine 
managed to mumble past her giggling fit.

"Errr..." Daniel fell back into speechless mode.

"Oh shit!" wheezed Chaz as her laughter settled down. "I'd forgotten 
about that!"

Elaine, remembering their initial conversation, spoke up after they had 
calmed down. "You mentioned something earlier about... mind reading? 
ESP?" She was still fidgeting with her fingernails.

"Right! Another of Daniel's super powers!" Chaz cackled. "I bet that's 
fun!"

Daniel shook his head vigorously. "Useful sometimes, yes, certainly. 
But fun?" He glanced at Elaine. "Definitely not." Then he told them of 
his problems dealing with his newfound 'gift', his ordeal at the clinic 
and the nightmare taxi ride.

"But you said you could block it earlier!" Elaine asked with a look of 
concern, Chaz with faint chagrin furrowing her thin eyebrows.

"That's... true. I can, now. But I was shown how to do it, I couldn't 
figure out how to do it myself."

"Shown? What do you..." Elaine sat up, comprehension striking her 
between the eyes. "You met someone... else! Someone like you!"

Daniel paused for a moment, conflicting emotions crisscrossing his 
face. Then he sighed and nodded as he reached a decision. "Yeah. This 
morning, I..."



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

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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