by John O'Riley
“I lost it,” Kevin said. The absence of the connection left an aching maw inside his soul. He longed for its return. He had to have it. Kevin reached out with his mind but the power eluded him.
“Don’t worry. You’ll learn to keep the connection strong. The main thing you’ll need to do is suppress your emotions. You can only feel the tiniest sliver of emotion or you risk losing it for a time,” Rose said. “But there’s nothing to worry about because it will return.”
“I want it now,” Kevin whispered as the horrible, aching emptiness threatened to overwhelm him.
“I know how you feel. When you download memories with me tomorrow, you’ll gain the experience of an additional seventy years,” Rose said.
She reluctantly took the picture of Senator O’Malley from Kevin’s hand and put the folder of news clippings away. Unfortunately, Kevin wouldn’t gain control of the force long enough to perform any more long-distance attacks for quite some time. He might be ready this evening but it was more likely that they would have to wait for tomorrow. Rose didn’t mind as she’d mastered her patience and emotional control over centuries of practice. Downloading her future memories had already given her generations of experience and would provide generations more.
Chapter 22
Emily awakened abruptly from a precognitive nightmare in her chilly living quarters screaming with terror. She turned the lights on with a mere thought and shivered in the cold that she had generated with the use of her abilities. Panic clawed at her insides and she knew she was broadcasting an unspeakable horror through the psychic network to those who cared about her and perhaps those who were mere strangers. She stumbled out of bed and heard the door pound loudly as she sensed her brother’s presence.
“Come in!” Emily called as she reached out with her mind to unlock the door and open it.
“Are you all right?” Jeremy burst into the room and took a close look at her.
“It was my precognition. I had a nightmare,” Emily said.
“You scared the hell out of me,” Jeremy said.
“I’m sorry. It’s beyond my control.”
“I know. I don’t blame you. I’m just worried.”
“Don’t be. You’re the one in danger,” Emily said.
“What do you mean?” Jeremy regarded her warily.
“We need to discuss this with Julie. Actually, Sharon is going to be stopping by in a couple of hours as well,” Emily said.
“Sharon from Psi-Tech?”
“Yes.” Emily was resigned for a long, turbulent morning. “I’m going to take a quick shower. Can you let Julie know we’ll need to have a meeting?”
“She already knows. You woke her up with your nightmare,” Jeremy said. “She asked me what’s going on and I’ve just told her.”
“Great! I’m hitting the shower then I’m getting some coffee. We can talk downstairs,” Emily said.
Jeremy looked ready to argue as he was one to face problems head on but he also knew Emily was headstrong and once she decided on a course of action, it was best to just give in. Emily smiled faintly at his back as he left and closed the door behind him. She mulled over the precognitive visions that she’d dreamed about as she showered and put on a fresh pair of jeans and a blue polo shirt. When she made it downstairs, Julie, Ryan, and Jeremy were waiting for her with mugs of coffee sitting in front of them. Jeremy had prepared one for her with cream and sugar just the way he knew she liked it.
“Thanks,” Emily murmured appreciatively.
“Talk,” Jeremy said with a hint of reprisal.
“Sharon will be paying us a surprise visit soon. She has found out some information about Rose. Apparently she’s been pulling the strings at Psi-Tech in a pretty big way and they’ve just found out. Rose has been writing letters anonymously to the CEO of Psi-Tech, George Hendricks, just like she’s been doing with Psychic Parallels and about a dozen other companies. She’s developed a rapport and trust from those she’s contacted over the years. One of her biggest threats is Phoenix Enterprises and specifically Jeremy. She has an ability to predict the future by downloading her memories from her own mind that exists in the future. She is essentially able to absorb it all as if she had lived it. She has an unusual ability that has never been recorded in any future I’ve foreseen. It’s an ability to tap into one of the fields that is discovered around the planet. One of the fields has been theorized about in the scientific community but isn’t understood very well. It’s called a morphogenetic field. It is discovered how to actually measure this energy field in the future but as far as I know, Rose is the only one who’s ever been able to psychically tap into it.”
“I’ve heard of that,” Julie said musingly. “It was one of the theories used to explain the hundredth monkey effect.” When everyone looked at her as if she’d sprouted a second head, she hastened to explain the scientific principle. “Some monkeys on an island discovered by Lyall Watson learned to wash sweet potatoes and this behavior was observed and repeated by other monkeys on the island. When about a hundred monkeys had learned this behavior, it spread rapidly through the entire population and somehow the behavior was learned on other islands completely separated by the original one.”
“Interesting,” Jeremy remarked. “So then scientists tried to explain how this happened and came up with a theory of a morphogenetic field?”
“Yes and they tested the theory with other animals but could never measure or detect actual morphogenetic fields until far into the future,” Emily interjected. “Apparently, Rose can tap into this energy and it greatly enhances her psychic abilities. She has been downloading her memories from the future just about every single day so she has literally hundreds of years of memories and practice controlling her abilities. I’m not sure we can stop her if she decided to attack us directly which will probably happen at some point in the near future. Fortunately for us, she likes to pull the strings rather than to confront people directly.”
“So what is she going to do to attack us?” Julie asked.
“She’s already sent letters out to the companies she has helped to start, warning them that Phoenix Enterprises is corrupt and evil. She’s instructed them to attack this facility as soon as possible and cripple us before we can take over,” Emily said.
“So at any moment, we’re going to be attacked by a bunch of telepaths and multipaths from other companies?” Jeremy said sharply.
“No because Rose failed to predict that through her manipulations, she’s made us stronger than the original timeline. The companies all have psychometrists who can detect her true intent even if they can’t pick up where she lives or all the details of her abilities,” Emily said.
“So when you and Nathan were put into comas, did she see you as a personal threat?” Julie asked.
“Yes, because we’re able to tap into events in the future that she has manipulated. She wanted to buy herself some more time.” Emily paused and took a deep breath. “George Hendricks received one of the letters Rose sent that was warning them to take action against us. He had a couple of his psychometrists read the energy from the letter and confirmed what he’s suspected, that he was being manipulated even as he had benefited greatly from Rose’s financial predictions in the past.”
“So why is Sharon coming here?” Jeremy asked.
“George has sent Sharon here to get us to form a temporary alliance to share all information regarding Rose so that Psi-Tech can hunt her down and neutralize her as a threat.”
“Doesn’t Rose cause Psi-Tech to become extremely powerful in the future?” Jeremy asked.
“Yes, she does but at first they will be weakened as our government is destabilized via psychic assassinations. The government will retaliate against all telepaths and multipaths. It isn’t until the government steps down that Psi-Tech gains political power which is years in the future. At that time, all executives at Psi-Tech will be killed and Rose will take over,” Emily said.
“Why would anyone let her do that? Wouldn’t
they just arrest her?” Jeremy asked.
“At first, they’ll try but she’s too powerful. There will be an underground movement that will live in secret and strategize for many years on how to stop her. You will be that leader and will eventually capture her.”
“It sounds like she’s already too powerful,” Jeremy said dourly.
Kate and Skylar burst into the room with concerned expressions on their faces. Julie shot them disapproving looks.
“I thought I told you we needed the time to discuss details before Sharon arrived,” she said authoritatively.
“We gave you a lot of time but we need to know what’s going on,” Kate said nervously. “It was such a terrible feeling that I sensed from Emily. I couldn’t wait forever.”
“I would have briefed you after we’d spoken with Sharon,” Julie said. “However, if you want to sit in, you’re welcome to, as long as you refrain from asking questions.”
Emily tamped down on a surge of irritation at Julie’s scolding. She couldn’t blame her mother and her friend for their concern and didn’t appreciate the rebukes they’d received. She quickly informed them of what they’d missed in spite of Julie’s growing impatience.
“Do you remember the formula that was used to neutralize Rose’s psychic abilities?” Julie said crisply.
“I’m afraid I don’t. It was the first thing that I tried to recall when I woke up but since I don’t have a medical background, that information was lost immediately as the terms are completely unfamiliar to me,” Emily said regretfully.
“I would like you to try and see this event in the future and to determine the exact formula used to create this drug,” Julie said.
“I’ll definitely try but I haven’t been able to foresee the details for that far into the future since the electrical storms occurred. There are too many precognitives that are changing the future – not to mention Rose herself,” Emily said.
“I understand that. Can you remember any other important details about your vision?”
“Unfortunately, Rose has an ally who has joined with her. He used to work at Psi-Tech but I think he was secretly working for Rose all along. His name is Kevin and he will at some point in time gain the same ability to tap into the morphogenic-like field as Rose,” Emily said gravely. She took a large gulp of her coffee and gathered her thoughts. “There are other details I can’t recall right now. Dreams are difficult for me to remember.”
“I’ve made good progress in my plan to offer psychic protection. There are fifty-three people who have agreed to join so far. This will be important to ward off any attacks by Rose or Kevin or even Psi-Tech,” Julie said.
“How soon do you think you’ll have that plan ready?” Skylar asked.
“By this afternoon,” Julie replied. She stilled with her mug of coffee poised close to her mouth. She grimaced and set the cup down. “Sharon has arrived. She’s waiting for us in the lobby. I’ve informed the receptionist to escort her into the main conference room.”
“I’m not looking forward to seeing her,” Emily said.
“You don’t have to attend the meeting,” Julie said, “but I’d appreciate it if you would join us there.”
“Of course, I’ll go. This is important,” Emily said.
Jeremy, Emily, Julie, and Ryan made their way to the conference room where Sharon was waiting.
“Hi, Sharon,” Julie said crisply. “What brings you here today?”
“Some disturbing information has come to light at Psi-Tech and I wish to relay recent events and discoveries in the hopes that you will cooperate by in turn telling me what you know,” Sharon said succinctly.
“I’m willing to listen,” Julie said.
“There is a former patient from Evergreen Terrace Center, named Rose, who suffered from a severe disassociative state. The condition made her barely aware of her surroundings. It has come to my attention recently that in the future, Rose will become part of a psychic network which will cure her condition and cause her to become self-aware. One of her abilities is to transfer memories from her future self and also to control her body in the past before she became cognizant. Her future self was power hungry and wanted to get an earlier start so she altered the past by taking temporary control of her body and writing letters to various individuals anonymously over a period of years. She has been helping some people to acquire wealth by accurately forecasting economic events. She has helped many individual businesses to start and gave these owners a list of those telepaths and multipaths who would die if they didn’t join a psychic network.
“By doing this, Rose saved many lives but she also gave people the knowledge to create a psychic network many years earlier. This has drastically altered our present and future. George Hendricks, the CEO of Psi-Tech, is one of the individuals that Rose has guided over the years. Rose knew that he wouldn’t be perceptive for her idea of creating a psychic network because Psi-Tech has always seen telepaths as a threat but recently, she convinced him of the ability to create a psychic network for empaths that could include multipaths and telepaths. This changed the mandate for Psi-Tech to seek out and enlist telepaths to join us as they are no longer a liability but instead, an asset,” Sharon said.
“It’s a shame that you guys couldn’t have figured that out before killing so many of them,” Emily said frostily.
“Let’s try to get past that. It’s a regrettable policy that Psi-Tech had adopted but that’s all water under the bridge now,” Sharon said emphatically. “One of the multipaths that Rose decided to save and enlist as an ally was Kevin. She had been secretly writing to him for years and realized his potential. We discovered Kevin’s duplicity shortly after his unauthorized attack on this facility but he escaped. No doubt, he’s joined with Rose who has recently been cured from her condition and escaped from the mental institution.”
Emily seethed at the casual way that Sharon wanted to ignore the atrocities that Psi-Tech had committed in the past including the deaths of innocents who would become telepaths as well as her own imprisonment. It took extreme effort for her to keep silent.
“We know about Rose and Kevin,” Julie said smoothly. She quickly briefed Sharon on what they knew. “So how did you learn about Rose’s manipulations?”
“George began to sense something wrong and when he received the latest anonymous letter from her telling him that Phoenix Enterprises had to be destroyed and that Jeremy Winters must be killed, he became suspicious. George had two of his strongest psychometrists work on the letter. They were able to pick up all this information that I have just told you. Apparently, Rose didn’t realize that she would leave enough psychic residue to expose herself,” Sharon said.
“But you have no idea where Rose is living now?”
“I’m afraid not but we do know that it is somewhere nearby. She and Kevin are definitely hiding out here in Washington – possibly near the Seattle area. I was hoping you might have some information that would help us track them down.”
Julie slowly shook her head. “At the moment, we don’t have any further information but that could change and when we do know more, we’ll contact you immediately.”
“Excellent.” Sharon opened the manila folder in front of her which no one had noticed until this precise moment. “I brought the latest letter that Rose sent. Maybe you could have a psychometrist read this.”
“I’ll have them work on this as soon as possible,” Julie said. “I’ll call you with any additional information. We can keep this letter?”
“Yes, you may,” Sharon said slowly as she rose from her chair. Obviously, she was reluctant to give up the letter. “One thing Rose seems to be obsessed about is Jeremy Winters. Whenever Rose tries to alter the future, he always manages to survive and goes into hiding as she comes into power. She’ll become a powerful political figure but eventually, Jeremy will lead a group of people who will neutralize her abilities and prove her illegal activities to authorities. This leads me to believe that Jeremy may be at risk so you s
hould be extremely careful. I’ll expect to hear from you soon with more information.”
“Of course. And thank you for sharing your discoveries with us,” Julie said smoothly.
A security guard appeared at the door because Julie had telepathically sent for one. He escorted Sharon out of the room.
“I don’t trust her,” Emily said heatedly.
“I don’t either but she was telling us the truth,” Julie said. “She intentionally left her thoughts unshielded so that we would be able to realize she was being completely honest with us. It definitely helps us that Psi-Tech is trying to hunt down Rose and Kevin because we don’t have the resources to do so. For this particular venture, we will cooperate fully with Sharon.”
“I agree,” Jeremy said. “They have more experience as well as the resources to stop those two and we can’t risk psychics with those types of abilities running loose.”
“The only concern I have is that Psi-Tech may keep Rose and Kevin prisoners in their own facility and keep it hidden from authorities. They may experiment and try to figure out how to duplicate their talents,” Emily said.
“I don’t think Psi-Tech will risk keeping them prisoner now that they’re in the public spotlight; however, we can address that issue if it arises,” Julie said.
“We may not be able to do anything once they have Rose and Kevin,” Emily argued.
“Those two are so powerful, Psi-Tech will most likely be forced to kill them rather than imprison them. I don’t think that will be a problem. And now that Psi-Tech is the one tracking them down, Jeremy won’t be as much of a target anymore,” Julie said.
Emily decided to let the issue drop even though she completely disagreed. Unfortunately, she couldn’t think of any alternatives. Phoenix Enterprises didn’t really have the resources to stop Rose and Kevin so it was best to let someone else handle the problem even if it was Psi-Tech.
Chapter 23
Emily concentrated on the images that flashed through her mind as she tried to hone in on major events that would involve Rose. Unfortunately, the future was changing too rapidly and she only saw swift, fading scenes with most of the details blocked out by gray. She currently sat alone in her office that she shared with her brother but she wasn’t sure when he would return. A pressure built in her forehead as she focused harder on seeing what she needed to. She’d already worked on this for quite some time. Loose objects throughout the room shifted as she unintentionally radiated telekinetic waves. She’d already knocked a stack of Jeremy’s papers onto the floor along with some of her own, some pens, and the wall clock.
