by Leia Howard
“That’s a great question, Liaison Lowell. The answer is I don’t believe so. When reading from a deceased body, I’m automatically pulled directly to the death memory. It’s difficult for me to go earlier and I’m only able to connect with the memories for a short time. When I read memories of a deceased linked through objects, they’re less substantial memories, but I can stay with them longer and am able to enhance sensations easier, thus gain more information.”
“Do you know why you can read the body, but other PsyMemori could not? Or why the PsyChometrists couldn’t either? Will sages be able to give us more information?” asked Detective Wakiza.
“I am not that familiar with other PsyMemori, there’re none on SWACon. But I think they’re more like PsyPaths and work on the living mind. They work with people with early memory loss to help retain memories. They also help people with amnesia and repressed memories, things that I can’t do. PsyChometrists read objects as if they’re a data record. They can view images or hear sounds that the object stores. Michaels was wearing new, synthetic material. Synthetic materials take longer to absorb psychic emanations and require frequent and long-term handling. PsyChometrists don’t read bodies, because bodies don’t store the emanations they read. Yes, I believe that either a Bone or Blood Sage can provide more information, I’d go with both. I think that the procedure that Sgt. Michaels underwent five days before his death lodged something in the blood vessels in his brain and was triggered when the bone ward started acting on him. So, a Blood Sage to speak to the blood and the Bone Sage interprets the bone ward effects.” I open my eyes wide and cover a yawn, trying to wake up more fully.
“I think we should conclude this. We’ve discussed the facts of the case, but this is PlateauCon’s case, and the representatives have people they need to report to. Detective Wakiza and Ranger Pallaton, we’ll continue to offer you the support of SWACon. We also realize that you have other Psycept divisions that you work with more closely and would prefer to travel home to continue further investigation. Chief Quanah, I and everyone here are certain that you have a wealth of border security tasks to handle and wish to get started promptly. I look forward to seeing you at the meeting next month, if not sooner. Chief Yanaba, as Psycepts fall under police protection, Lowell and I need to begin our threat assessment and recommendations and will work with you in short order. I’m glad Lowell is driving the two of you, as I don’t want to be involved with deciding who briefs Head Chief Tala. Tamez, can you please continue to assist our PlateauCon guests? I need to get Gray home. Good evening, everyone.”
Wow, a mere police sub-chief politely taking command and issuing marching orders. As the forty-minute nap was insufficient and Sheriff Helki just ended the interrogation and is taking me home now, I’m ecstatic. I see everyone around the station nodding their heads and we all began to make our way to our respective destinations. I cling to wakefulness in the passenger seat of Sheriff Helki’s truck. It’s fifteen minutes to my home, and all I can think of is my bed.
“Gray, who designated you as PsyMemori?”
“The DNA marker that exposed us indicates psychic abilities. The sequence after that gives a general category. I was marked as a touch clairvoyant and when I applied to the Greater Tribe, I indicated that I dealt with memories.”
“So, you identified yourself as a PsyMemore?”
“Nope, never heard of PsyMemori before I moved here. My asylum case worker said there were a couple of memory readers already on Auraria and they called themselves PsyMemori. So that’s what I became.”
“I think you were misclassified. While you and PsyMemori both work with memories, it’s completely different. Did you know that they had to rework you in the Psycept database initially? Lowell said that you kept getting cases dealing with memory loss and you were unable to help the petitioners regain their memories. But that you helped a police department in identifying an unknown person unconscious and in critical condition. So, they changed you to group you with PsyChometrists.”
“I remember the first few cases I couldn’t help with. I felt useless and feared I’d be dismissed from the Greater Tribe. I could read the memories, but I couldn’t help the person connect with their own memories. When I worked that unconscious person case, all they had was a torn pair of jeans and boxer briefs to send in. That was the first case that I felt useful on. I didn’t know that Lowell had to rejigger me, but I’m glad he did. If not PsyMemore, what would you call me? It doesn’t much matter to me, my parents just called me touch clairvoyant and I was fine with that. I left my family because of the fear of what the US government agencies would try to make me do, not because I was unhappy.”
“Since the other PsyMemori were called that first and seem to have similar abilities, they should keep the name. PsyMemori, like other healer groups, are now listed in the civilian database. PsyMemori are still considered touch clairvoyants, mainly because of your designation on the Psycept case database. But from my understanding, while proximity to the person is important, touch is not essential They’re sentientpathic in nature, so they should be regrouped with other PsyPaths like telepaths and empaths.” True, I’ve thought of other PsyMemori as PsyPaths for years.
“I’ve asked around and while you have some overlapping skills, you are unique,” Sheriff Helki continued. “Similar to sages, the person doesn’t have to be alive for your abilities to work. And like PsyChometrists, you can read objects. You clearly need to stay with the TouchVoyants. So, while you don’t consume a person to read them, I would call you a Mind Sage.” I wasn’t sure I liked that. Hopefully, no one would think that I ate bits of brain. I agree that PsyMemori and I need our affiliation sundered so we can each go forth on our own.
“And, Gray, we need you to step up. You’ve been floating along, safe here in SWACon, with your head half buried in the sand. You help with cases and your success rate is top notch. But you’ve been here for fifteen years and you’ve not tried to be on the Psycept Council or any other leadership role, and I think you should. It was only today that you met any chiefs. This honestly should have happened much sooner, and we police are at fault for that. But we’re now actively under threat and you proved yourself to be one of the biggest gems in our arsenal. Please stop isolating yourself so much, get involved. Learn from other TouchVoyants and share your knowledge and experience with them too. Help Lowell. Help Tamez and Randolph. Help me. But ultimately, help Psycepts, because we need you.”
I cannot believe that Sheriff Helki just gave me a come-to-Jesus talk, this is surreal. Also, I don’t think gems are in arsenals, but I’ll let that slide. It galls me, but he’s correct, I need to do more.
We pull up to my secluded adobe home. I turn to look at Sheriff Helki, who looks back with his usual serious expression.
“Alright. I’ll step up, as you say. But remember, you asked for it. Thanks for the ride and I’ll talk to you later.” Well, shit.
Gray will return in
-Invisible Touch-
coming Spring 2019
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leia Howard is a full-time doctor graduate student and lives in Texas. Touch of Gray is her first Urban Fantasy series.
She is available through her website: https://authorleia.blogspot.com/ Also feel free to reach her on Twitter @AuthorLeia.
WORLD OF TOUCH OF GRAY
CHARACTERS
Psycepts:
MT (Gray) Graham - TouchVoyant / PsyMemore
Wednesday (Wendy) Randolph - PsyWitch. Gray’s best friend and twin sister of Sully
Kyle Ngo - fauna PsySapient, husband of Soon Yee
Police:
Sulien (Sully) Randolph - Gray’s primary detective with Psycept unit
Detective Tamez - Gray’s secondary case handler
Liaison Lowell - supervisor of the civilian and police Psycept case divisions, father of Dani
Sheriff Helki - sub-chief of Bosque Police region. Liaison Lowell’s boss
Chief Yanaba - Chief of Police of SWACon. Sheri
ff Helki’s boss
Gray’s Agency: Gray’s virtual assistant business
Sheridan (Dani) Lowell - office manager, worked with Gray for one year
Soon Yee Ngo - virtual assistant, worked with Gray for five years
Rhea Morningsong - virtual assistant, worked with Gray for three years
Others:
Tommie - sister of Gray, PreCog
Kai - brother of Gray, Seeker
O’Ke - assistant of Sheriff Helki
Mark - assistant to Liaison Lowell
Chief Quanah - War Chief of SWACon
Head Chief Tala - senior leader of SWACon
Ranger Pallaton - military ranger from PlateauCon
Detective Wakiza - detective from PlateauCon
Araceli - interior and office designer, girlfriend of Dani
This story takes place in the mid-to-late 2010s. I am deliberately vague with the exact year as the calendars do not exactly mesh. Leap Year is not observed on the GT, they have a different way from the Gregorian calendar to observe lunar astronomy. Between the 150 years since the GT inception and the two hundred years when both the Augustine and the Gregorian calendars were used by various people, the dates have been muddled. Just know Gray was born in the mid-1980s and moved to SWACon in the early aughts.
PSYCEPT CATEGORIES
PsyMovers = able to manipulate objects
PsyKinetics = telekinetics
PsyPorters = transport objects
Weather Guides = move weather
PsySentients = mind perception
PsyPath = telepath or empath
PsyWitch = body influencer
PreCog = precognition, prophecy
Variegated = miscellaneous; Seekers, Asomatous, etc
PsySapients = natural interpreter
Flora = plant, tree, flower
Fauna = animal
Terra = land and mineral
Touch Clairvoyant = tactile sensor
PsyChometrist = object reader
Bone Sage = read bones
Blood Sage = read blood
PsyMemori (pl.), PsyMemore (sing.) = memory path
GEOGRAPHY
The Greater Tribal Council of the Americas (the GT) is divided into eleven conservatorships. Each conservatorship houses multiple tribes, the names of the conservatorship attempt to be as broad as possible. Encompasses much of central and western North America. 37 million
Southwestern Alliance Conservatorship (SWACon) – formed around four corners
Bosque region – from Rio Grande east, 750,00 inhabitants
Albuquerque is largest settlement, population 400,000
Approved region for Psycept residents, most live in PsyTown-ABQ
Puebloan and Apache tribes predominate
Chaco region – central area of SWACon, 650,000 inhabitants
Conservatorship central headquarters
Wir-Kiva SWACon municipal seat
Great Kiva sacred meeting place
Tsé Bit’a’í sacred landmark (Shiprock)
Navajo, Puebloans, and Zuni are major tribes
Mesa Verde region – northern border, 475,000 inhabitants
Mesa Verde area is regional seat
Ute and Puebloans are major tribes
Hohokam region – western area, 600,000 inhabitants
Kaibab Canyon (Grand Canyon) and Kaibab Forest here
SWACon military base seat
Hopi, Apache, Navajo, and Puebloan tribes predominate
Llano Estacado – panhandle and west Texas territory
Between SWACon and US/Texas
Oneida (Amarillo), Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, etc
Smallest conservatorship, 575,000 inhabitants
Cochise Conservatorship (CoCon) – Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Mexico
South of SWACon, borders Mexico
El Paso is a major settlement
Great Basin Conservatorship – Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming
Auraria (Denver) first Psycept settlement of the GT
Plateau Conservatorship (PlateauCon) – parts of Idaho, Montana, and BC
Southern Plains Conservatorship (SoPlains)
Central Plains Conservatorship (Central)
Northern Plains Conservatorship (NoPlains)
Subarctic East Conservatorship (SubA East)
Subarctic West Conservatorship (SubA West)
Arctic (includes Kalaallit Nunaat-Greenland)
Countries – Canada, Mexico, and the US redrew national lines to carve out GT nation lands
US = eastern North America, population 291 million
from Texas/Arkansas east to Atlantic at a diagonal slant
added Quebec, NewFoundland, and part of Ontario
gave up Pacific central and Pacific coast territories
Canada = Pacific Coast North America, population 68 million
Some of the BC and Yukon portion of Canada
added Washington/Oregon (Cascadia province)
added Nevada / part of Idaho (Sierra province
added California and Baja California peninsula (California province)
Hawaii added after new territory formed
Mexico = Mexico and much of Central America, population 163 million
Gave up northern Mexico and Baja California territories
much of Central America and Puerto Rico are also with Mexico
