He paused. “Where there’s no clue to the identity of the wild bee, a true telepath is needed. As your Tactical Commander, I’ll decide an area needs checking. You’ll go out with the Strike team, and identify the target wild bee among all the tame ones. Liaison get data on the area, evacuate bystanders if appropriate, and tell creative lies to cover up what’s happening. The muscle-bound heroes of the Strike team go in to collect the target.”
He paused again. “The Strike team will divide into two at that point. Chase team will go after the target. Bodyguard team will keep you safe from trouble. Wild bees may fight when cornered. You’re irreplaceable, and mustn’t be stung. When …”
He broke off, and turned his head to look towards the door. I realized that Megan had come back in and was watching us. She had an odd expression on her face.
“Is there a problem?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “It’s just that this has been taking a very long time. I came to see if you were all right.”
“I’m fine,” I said. “Lucas has been explaining how Telepath Units work.”
Megan gave me a bewildered look. “But he was just gabbling a list of random words. Divide. Target. Trouble. Irreplaceable.”
Lucas laughed. “Megan, you know that I sometimes miss out the obvious, trivial words in sentences to save time.”
“Yes,” she said bitterly, “but what’s an obvious word to you isn’t necessarily obvious to other people. As I keep telling you, it doesn’t save time if the rest of us don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“But Amber does understand,” said Lucas. “I tried abbreviating sentences further, and she still understood. I found I could go right down to using the occasional key word to anchor my mental logic train.”
He turned to give me a joyous grin. “I’ve never been able to talk to someone this way before. It’s incredible.”
I couldn’t help grinning back at him. “Surely you could talk to Keith in the same way?”
Lucas and Megan exchanged glances. “The situation with Keith was different,” said Lucas.
“So you’re happy with Lucas as your Tactical Commander, Amber?” asked Megan.
“Definitely,” I said.
“That’s good.” She gave Lucas an oddly doubtful look, and went back out of the room.
Lucas turned back to me. “You understand what a true telepath does now?”
“Yes, but there are a hundred million people in our Hive, and only five true telepaths. That’s twenty million people each.”
He nodded.
“What if we miss finding one of the wild bees?”
He looked down at the floor. “If the list of areas that need checking is too long, then we may not get to one before the wild bee injures or kills someone. That means an emergency response, to locate and apprehend the target before more people get hurt.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “I’ve never heard of a criminal hurting or killing anyone. The nosies don’t let …”
I broke off. The nosies were fake. There were only five true telepaths. One of those five was me.
Lucas lifted his head again. “Liaison invents unfortunate accidents to cover up such incidents. That’s better than having others tempted to copy the actions of a wild bee. Better than having a hundred million people living in fear.”
He paused for a moment. “The faster any suspect areas are checked, the fewer emergency runs happen. Once our unit is operational, we’ll be able to help ease the strain on the other Telepath Units.”
I glimpsed Morton’s name flashing by on level three of Lucas’s express thoughts. He was thinking about the other telepaths. Eager for more information about them, I chased after that thought train.
… hope I’m not imagining seeing Morton and Sapphire’s strength in her. We mustn’t lose Amber. Olivia collapsing under pressure was bad enough, but York …
There was more information in other linked thought levels, as well as emotional pain and far too much graphic imagery. I hastily pulled out of Lucas’s mind, but I couldn’t unsee the things I’d seen.
“Megan’s right though,” I said, trying to keep my voice under control. “This has taken a long time and I’m getting tired.”
Lucas stood up. “We’ll continue this conversation another time then. You mustn’t overstrain yourself reading new minds at this stage.”
I didn’t trust myself to answer that, so I kept silent as he walked out of the room, and then buried my face in my hands. I’d thought the Hive had four other true telepaths, but the truth was that there were five and should have been six.
Olivia had come out of Lottery eight years ago, collapsed under the strain of the work, and could barely use her telepathy at all now. York had come out of Lottery thirty years ago, and killed himself a few months later.
This was what Megan had been hiding from me. This was why I was smothered in luxuries, and why my every whim would be granted without argument. True telepaths had to be kept as happy as possible, because they could break under the strain of their work.
Chapter Seven
I handed a glass of deep red juice to Lucas. He accepted it without taking his eyes from his dataview display. I picked up my own glass of melon juice, went to lounge on Lucas’s couch, and watched the cascading thoughts in his head.
I’d spent a lot of time in Lucas’s apartment over the last week. I preferred it to my own for two reasons. One was that it wasn’t so intimidatingly large and luxurious. The other was that it had Lucas in it. I’d solemnly explained to Megan that studying Lucas’s mind was excellent training for me as a telepath, far better than the exercises I was doing with her. She’d politely accepted that verbally, while her mind was filled with protective concern and lurid speculation about what else was going on while the two of us were locked away together.
I frowned as the colour, nature, taste of Lucas’s mind abruptly darkened. Baffled, I tried to make sense of the words gabbling away in his mind as he read the rapidly scrolling information, but they were too technical for me.
“What are you reading, Lucas?” I asked.
“The data feed from yesterday’s Joint Tactical Meeting. That’s when the Tactical teams from all the Telepath Units link up in a conference call to exchange ideas and data on problem areas. My ex boss, Keith’s Tactical Commander, wants my opinion on the latest events in Orange Zone.”
“Around 600/2600 again?” I knew Lucas was deeply worried about that area of the Hive. He spent a lot of time thinking about it, desperately trying to find a pattern to the oddities there.
“Yes.” The data feed ended. Lucas tapped his dataview to turn off the display, and slammed back into his chair. I didn’t need telepathy to sense his mood. I could almost physically feel his frustration.
“Gaius is right,” he said. “There’s still something wrong about that area. No big trouble in the last two weeks, but far too many minor things, and they’re spread virtually evenly across the levels which is highly unusual.”
“What’s Keith planning to do about it?”
“Nothing!” Lucas said savagely. “Keith says he’s checked there twice already. He’s found nothing because there’s nothing to find. We should quit bothering him with a statistical anomaly.”
Lucas thought there was a wild bee in 600/2600. Keith had tried to find him or her, failed, and given up. I believed in Lucas. “When we get back to our Hive, do you want me to go over there and take a look?”
“No, Amber!” Lucas swung his chair round to face me. “We’re not staffed yet. You must never go near any suspect area without a full Strike team guarding you, and especially not near this one. The pattern is entirely wrong. There’s no obvious motivation factor. It doesn’t match a single target or two targets working together. It doesn’t distribute like two independent targets. It doesn’t make any sense at all, which is why I’m so worried about it.”
I sipped from my glass, and put it down on the small table next to me. “When our unit’s operational then.
”
Lucas considered that. “Yes, once we’re operational, it would be helpful if our unit takes over responsibility for area 600/2600. Now Keith’s decided there’s no problem there, it’s impossible for Gaius to make any progress with it.”
I let the issue of area 600/2600 drop, and asked the question that had been bothering me for days. “Why can’t I meet the other true telepaths?”
“Inadvisable,” said Lucas.
“Why? Surely they’re the best people to teach me how to do my job.”
Both Megan and Adika had reacted in confusion to this question. I was curious to see how Lucas would respond. He didn’t disappoint me.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m imprinted with the fact, but not the reason. Very strange.”
“I can tell it’s an imprinted fact, because it has no memories or emotions attached to it. Imprinted facts usually seem to be very impersonal.”
“Imprinted facts should always be totally impersonal,” said Lucas. “The data can include objective reasons and ancillary data, but any private memories and feelings should be strictly excluded. It’s horribly easy to cause unwanted emotional side-effects when you use either imprinting techniques or hypnotics. That’s why the teens in Lottery are encouraged to avoid contact with each other.”
I was startled by this revelation of the reason behind the Lottery custom of silence. “It is? You mean some of the tests use hypnotics.”
He nodded. “Those interact with the subconscious, and could escalate a casual flirtation between two of the subjects into something they’d regret after the hypnotics wore off.”
That was interesting, but I didn’t want to be distracted from my original question. “Megan and Adika don’t know the reason why I shouldn’t meet other telepaths either. Why would all your imprints exclude it?”
I watched Lucas’s mind tackle the issue on multiple levels, the thoughts accelerating to a speed I couldn’t follow, before reaching a conclusion.
“To keep the information from telepaths. You can’t directly read the imprinted data in our minds, but you can see it in our heads when we think about it. You should try to forget about this issue, Amber.”
“You aren’t curious about what’s being kept secret from us? You aren’t going to try to find out what it is?”
“Yes, I’m curious,” said Lucas, “but my imprint includes some very nasty facts. Things that are kept secret from the general population of the Hive to avoid terrifying people. I recommend that you pull out of my mind if you see me thinking about them, because the details are horrific and you don’t need to know them. I often wish I didn’t know them myself, but I have to be informed about these things to do my job.”
He paused. “My point is that the reason you shouldn’t meet other telepaths could turn out to be something even worse. Something that both of us would regret learning. Something that could leave either or both of us traumatized. You’re a newly emergent telepath, Amber. The next few months will be hard for you. I’m not going to try to learn information that could make your life even more difficult.”
I deliberately pulled out of Lucas’s mind before I said the next sentence. “You’re worried it could increase the risk of me ending up like Olivia or York.”
There was a short silence before Lucas spoke. “I thought you must know about them by now. Your staff have to be fully informed about what happened to Olivia, York, and other telepaths in prior centuries, so we can help guard against you suffering similar problems. We can’t stop ourselves thinking about them, and you’re too good a telepath to miss seeing those thoughts in our minds. You weren’t saying anything about it though, and Megan agreed with me that it was best to let you raise the subject in your own time.”
“I think this is the time,” I said.
“What happened to Olivia and York won’t happen to you, Amber.”
“You think the Hive can stop me from breaking under the strain by giving me a luxurious apartment to live in and my favourite foods to eat?”
“Of course not. We’ll do everything we can to help you be happy and relaxed when you aren’t working, but that can only help a little. What will make the real difference is that you have deep reserves of inner strength.”
Lucas sounded as if he believed what he was saying. I didn’t dare to check his mind to see if that was really true. If Lucas had doubts about my ability to cope, then I didn’t want to see them. I had too many doubts of my own.
My dataview chimed with an incoming call. I pulled it from my pocket, tapped it to make it unfurl, and saw who was calling. I pulled a graphic face of despair at Lucas before hitting the accept call button.
“Yes, Megan, what is it?”
“It’s nearly time for your next training exercise.”
I forced a smile. “We’re not due to start the next training exercise for another twenty minutes. Lucas and I have been discussing the latest developments in 600/2600, and whether our unit should take over responsibility for that area once we’re operational. I’ll join you as soon as we’ve finished the conversation.”
I held the smile while I ended the call, then indulged myself with a faint scream.
Lucas laughed.
“It’s not funny,” I said. “I understand that Megan’s primary role is protecting my physical and mental wellbeing, in the same way that Adika’s primary role is protecting me from attack, but she takes it much too far. If I bump my elbow, or cut a finger, Megan acts as if I’m terminally wounded, and just look at the way she’s making excuses to get me out of your apartment. Anyone would think she wasn’t my Senior Administrator but my mother!”
I was drifting among the top levels of Lucas’s mind again now, and caught his amused reaction to my words. “What? Lottery selected Megan to act as her telepath’s mother? You may think that’s funny, Lucas, but I don’t. I’m not letting Megan replace my own mother!”
He cowered at the anger in my voice. “Respectfully point out that you have a strong relationship with both your parents. Many people aren’t that fortunate. I’ve no contact at all with either of my parents.”
“Oh.” My anger instantly faded, and I pulled out of his mind again while I thought for a moment. “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”
I wondered what had gone wrong between Lucas and his parents. The obvious answer was that Lottery had made Lucas Level 1, and he’d cold-bloodedly dumped his low-level parents. That idea worried me.
“Can I ask why you’ve no contact with them?”
He groaned. “It’s all in my head, Amber. You can just read it.”
“It’s my job to read minds, so I can’t help stumbling across information by accident sometimes, but I shouldn’t cold-bloodedly invade your privacy and nose through your secrets.”
“I’ve told you before that I don’t have any secrets,” said Lucas. “Not from anyone, but especially not from you. My parents felt I was an incomprehensible, emotional mess, and dumped me. Perfectly understandable action.”
I wanted to strangle Lucas’s parents. “You aren’t incomprehensible or an emotional mess.”
“Possibly less incomprehensible to a telepath. Getting back to Megan. Lottery selects Senior Administrators to have the ability to act as a substitute parent if needed.”
“I’m eighteen years old, Lucas. I’m supposed to be taking on an adult role and responsibilities. I don’t need or want someone mothering me in front of everyone in my Telepath Unit.”
“Remember that you’ll be able to discuss things with Megan that you can’t discuss with your own mother.”
“Because I have to keep lying to my parents.” I sighed.
“Amber, you told Megan that your parents have a strong dislike of nosies. You mustn’t risk telling them you’re a telepath, or try reading their minds. Doing either of those things could irretrievably damage your relationship with them.”
I was silent for a moment. I’d already thought through the fact my parents loathed nosies, and pictured the nightmare consequen
ces of them discovering I was a telepath. Now I imagined reading their thoughts, and being hit by the same disgust of nosies that I’d seen in Fran’s mind.
Lucas was anxiously watching my face. “I’d always had a difficult relationship with my parents, but it was still painful to be cut off from them. You’d find the situation even more agonizing. You’ve huge amounts to lose and little to gain by telling your parents that you’re a telepath. Even if your relationship with them miraculously survived the revelation, you’d still end up lying to them about your work to avoid frightening them.”
“You’ve made your point, Lucas. There’s no need to distress yourself by talking about this any longer. I admit that I could, in theory, discuss things with Megan that I can’t discuss with my own mother, but I can’t imagine me wanting to do that in reality.”
Lucas nodded. “Think of Megan as your safety net. You may never need her, but she’s there in an emergency.”
I knew we were on the brink of discussing Olivia and York again. I didn’t want to find out the details of exactly what had broken them and might break me, so I hastily stood up. “I’d better go or my substitute mother will come in here after me.”
Chapter Eight
Two days later, Megan, Adika, Lucas and I were having a meeting in Megan’s lounge to discuss my progress with my telepathic training.
“That means Amber has now completed both phase two and phase three of her training,” Megan summed up everything she’d said in the last ten minutes.
Adika smiled. “You’re progressing very quickly, Amber.”
Megan frowned, leaned back in her chair, and lifted her right hand to play with the glittering beads of her necklace. “Possibly too quickly. I’m wondering if we should spend a couple of days reviewing the earlier exercises before moving on to phase four.”
“What is phase four?” I asked.
“It covers sensory input,” said Megan. “You have to report what someone in another room is seeing, hearing, smelling, touching or tasting.”
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