Superhuman Nature

by Brandon Overall

  “Sir, I can fix this.”

  “Don’t worry about it, son. Let the civilians worry about cleaning this up. That’s what they get paid for.”

  Neil didn’t respond. He felt the entire room for the objects he had manipulated during his dream. It was much easier to re-acquire something after he had already held it in his influence. He could feel the memories of each object he was able to touch with his mind, and he knew where everything sat before his dream had destroyed them.

  Each piece of debris in the department lifted off the ground and hovered towards the location it rested at before the dream. The room was filled with broken fragments swirling around as if a video of the scene were playing in reverse. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to watch the awesome display before them.

  Computer monitors lifted off the ground back onto a desk as the broken glass formed into its original shape. Papers uncrumpled and flew back into their drawers. Doors lifted off the ground and bolted back up against the walls. Within minutes, the entire room looked exactly the way Neil remembered it before he went to sleep.

  “God almighty.” Steele said.

  “Told you I could fix it.” He said, smiling.

  “When they told me in that observation deck that you were capable of psychokinesis, I thought they were bullshitting me. When the armed men came out, I thought you were going to get gunned down in front of me. When I saw the bullets hovering in the air around you, I almost shit myself. But now, after seeing the damage you have done and undone, there’s really only one thing I can do.” Steele bent down on one knee in front of Neil and bowed his head.

  He raised his head and looked Neil directly in the eye. “I have been Catholic my entire life, but I have never witnessed a true miracle until this very moment.”

  If Neil hadn’t seen the tears forming at the corner of Steele’s eyes, he would have thought it was some sort of bizarre joke. He was as serious as anyone could ever be.

  Before Neil could figure out how to respond, more people came over and formed a crowd behind Steele. One by one, they all got down on one knee in front of him and bowed their head. After a minute, Neil had a dozen people, most of which he had never even seen before, bowing before him.

  The sensation was surreal and extremely uncomfortable. He didn’t feel like he was performing miracles. He just felt like a college kid caught up in a crazy situation. Could he really have some kind of divine power? Was he put on this earth to fill some biblical prophecy?

  Neil realized that everyone was waiting for him to say something.

  “I…I don’t know what to say.”

  It was the truth. What could he say? He didn’t feel special, or worthy of worship. Just a week before, all he wanted to do was drink with his friends and meet a girl that would make him happy. Now, he had more power than any one person on the planet, and he was being forced into a position where he could change the course of history.

  It took twelve grown men kneeling before him for Neil to understand the significance of his existence. He really was unique. History books in the future would have entire chapters dedicated to his life. The outcome of wars could be swayed by his influence. People would remember him for thousands of years. He could be immortalized by his actions. All he had to do was go out into the world and make a difference.

  Slow clapping came from the second floor. He looked up to see Carl on the balcony, clapping his hands and smiling. He was wearing the black trench coat he wore the first time they met.

  “Bravo, Neil. Bravo. You seem to have gathered yourself a following. I seem to remember something like this happening to a famous historical figure from, oh, a couple thousand years ago, wasn’t it?” Carl said, “When you are finished basking in glory, we have work to do. Today we are going to find out how powerful you really are.”

  Neil was given an opportunity to shower and eat breakfast. Wherever he went, Steele was there waiting to talk to him. Neil took the opportunity to tell him the entire story, from the time he had the first dream, until the time Emma was kidnapped.

  Steele had many questions to ask. His attitude towards Neil had taken a comical shift. He no longer treated him like his Cadet, or even a subordinate. Instead, he revered Neil like a son reveres their father. His curiosity about Neil’s ability was endless. When Neil answered his questions, he listened intently, hanging on Neil’s every word.

  Before Neil began his training for the day, Carl explained their plan to understand his ability. They had constructed a series of scenarios designed to test four aspects of Neil’s power: strength, precision, scope, and functionality. Strength tested how much force he was able to apply to objects. Precision was to see how fine-tuned his influence over an object was, and how precisely he could control it. Scope was to push the limits of how far away he could influence an object, and what kinds of objects he could influence. Functionality was to train Neil on how he could use his ability offensively and defensively in a combat situation.

  The first test was a strength test. Neil walked into the testing room after unlocking the door. A gigantic metal cube was sitting on the floor directly in the middle of the room.

  “Neil, the object you see before you is a one cubic-meter block of solid steel. It is one of the densest metal alloys used on the planet. Any enemy we face on the battlefield will be lucky to have armor anywhere near this strong. This particular cube weighs nine tons. It was a pain in the ass to get in here, by the way.” The voice of Carl came over the loudspeaker.

  “What do you want me to do with it?”

  “For starters, let’s just see if you can lift it.”

  He had never lifted anything that weighed more than a few hundred pounds, but the weight of an object had never made it any more difficult to control. He didn’t expect lifting the cube to be a problem.

  Neil pushed out his influence and found the cube instantly. Either he was getting better at locating objects to control, or the mass of the cube somehow made it easier to find.

  After getting used to the weight, Neil effortlessly lifted the cube into the air for a few seconds, then dropped it. The entire room shook when it hit the ground.

  “Piece of cake.”

  “Whoa, shit. Easy there, killer. We don’t want to cave in the building. The supports aren’t exactly designed for people to be tossing around blocks of steel.” Carl said.

  “Now what?” asked Neil.

  “Now we’re going to try something a little more interesting. I figured lifting the cube would be simple for you based on what I’ve seen. Now, I want you to try crushing it.”

  “You want me to crush it?”

  “Yes. Make it as small as you can. Keep in mind, even the heaviest machinery we have available isn’t able to reduce the size of steel by any more than 15%. It has already been tempered to the point of being completely solid.”

  Neil had never really tried crushing an object that was completely solid before. He lifted the cube into the air so that the people in the observation room could see. He focused on the outer edges of the block and pushed them in towards the middle. As he pushed, the cube made an uncomfortably loud, shrill shrieking sound, like twisting metal. The cube bent and crumpled to the force that was being applied to it. Neil pushed harder as the cube shrank in size.

  There was no limit to how much force Neil was able to apply. Whenever he reached for more strength, he found it. The cube was now noticeably smaller than when he started. It was well beyond the 15% reduction in size that Carl mentioned.

  He increased the force even further, and the cube became even smaller. He wasn’t going to run out of power anytime soon. After several minutes of steadily shrinking the cube, it was now less than half of its original size. The color of the metal started to change, and Neil realized it was heating up. The very center of the cube was under so much pressure that the metal was now molten.

  Neil kept pushing. The outside of the cube was now bright orange, and it was a quarter the original size. He felt the heat radia
ting off of the cube. He shielded his face and continued to push.

  The cube was now white hot, and no larger than six inches across. The heat was now unbearable. The room had turned into a sauna. He began to sweat, and the floor underneath the cube started to glow red from the radiant heat.

  Neil continued to push. It felt like hot air from a jet engine was being blown directly into his face. The entire room was illuminated by the glowing cube, like a camp fire casting a golden hue onto the faces of everyone sitting around it.

  “Neil, stop!” The loudspeaker commanded him.

  “I’m just getting warmed up!” Neil laughed at his own pun.

  The amount of force he was able to wield gave him a feeling of elation. His mind kept reaching for more and more power, and it always found it. He felt invincible.

  The cube continued to shrink. Neil manipulated the air in front of him so that the warm air was pushed to the side. The temperature around him became more comfortable immediately.

  The cube was now the size of a pencil eraser. The white light from the cube was beautiful. It reminded him of staring directly at the sun while floating above the clouds. The metal panels around the room were glowing red. The radiant heat from the cube was cooking everything inside the chamber. The front layer of the glass window began to melt. Neil remained perfectly safe by shielding himself from the hot air.

  “NEIL, FOR FUCK SAKE, STOP!”

  This time Neil listened. He released control of the cube. The instant expansion released such a force that it sent out a shockwave, blowing the door to the testing facility off of its hinges and completely shattering the glass to the observation room. Neil protected the occupants from the glass fragments. Everything was in his control. He was unstoppable.

  He was a god.

  CHAPTER 14

  Neil walked out of the testing room to find Carl and General Steele waiting for him.

  “Neil, what the fuck were you thinking? Do you have any idea what you just did? Do you know how much fucking force was required to do that? You just broke every law of physics imaginable. You just outperformed the power of the sun!” Carl was both terrified and ecstatic.

  “It was easy.” Neil said.

  He still hadn’t completely come down from his high.

  “It was easy? Are you even listening to yourself right now? Do you realize what would have happened if you kept going? You could have melted away the entire building. Hell, you could have destroyed the entire planet. That much energy would have caused a controlled fission reaction inside that cube. That’s the same thing that the sun does to heat us up way the fuck over here on Earth.”

  “Guess it could save on the heating bill, right?” Neil burst out laughing.

  He really was such a funny guy. He wished more people would notice.

  “Unbelievable.”

  Carl turned away and crossed his hands behind his head. It looked like he was experiencing mixed emotions and didn’t know whether to be excited or furious. Neil thought that perhaps being in the presence of a god was overwhelming him.

  Neil suddenly started to feel not so amazing anymore. He actually felt quite light headed and had a throbbing headache. In fact, funnily enough, he felt like he wanted to throw up. Neil found this especially hilarious, since gods didn’t throw up. While Neil started laughing, bile ejected itself out of his stomach and he fell over backwards as darkness closed in around his vision.

  ---

  Neil opened his eyes and found himself lying on the queen sized bed in his living quarters. The clock on his nightstand read 7:32 PM. He didn’t understand why he was in bed. Just a few minutes prior, he was standing just outside the test chamber.

  After the drowsiness settled, the details of what happened came back to him. He remembered the heat, and the brilliant glowing ball of white light. He remembered being yelled at for something, and then falling backwards as a fountain of vomit shot out of his mouth.

  Whenever Neil had thrown up or passed out before, it was right after he had pushed the boundary of his ability further than ever before. Then, when he woke up afterwards, he was always more powerful and in better control of it. It was like his mind rebooted itself to apply a new software patch.

  This time was no different. Neil felt the presence of everything around him. He no longer had to consciously push his influence out to make something a part of him. Everything was his.

  Like a thousand screaming voices, every piece of matter flowed through Neil’s mind, under his control. The feeling was initially overwhelming, but he would adjust. He always adjusted. With each new breakthrough, he lost a sense of identity from his past life, and became more of the new Neil. The new Neil was his true potential. He could become the entire universe.

  He heard a knock on the door, and the voices of the universe were silenced as he pulled himself back into reality. Old Neil resumed command of the helm.

  “Yeah?!”

  “Neil, are you awake yet? It’s General Steele. Get out of bed, dinner is ready.”

  He hadn’t realized until then how hungry he was. Old Neil had too many weaknesses, but he would have to live with them.

  He walked over to the door and opened it. Steele was standing in front of him, still wearing his uniform.

  “Hello there sleeping beauty. Nice of you to join us. You know, we thought about taking you to the hospital. We debated about it for a good fifteen minutes. The only reason we didn’t is because we were worried you might start chucking scalpels at people in your sleep. Once you started snoring, we figured it would be alright to just throw you in bed.”

  “I appreciate the concern, Sir.”

  He pushed past the General and walked towards the conference room. Carl and Tanya sat on the opposite side from where he walked in. The table was completely filled with platters of sushi. His eyes widened. Sushi was another weakness of Old Neil.

  “Ah, there’s our star player.” Carl said, “We brought down a celebratory meal after your performance today. What you did was nothing short of miraculous.”

  “How did you know I love sushi?”

  “Was that a serious question? We’re the NSA. We know everything about you.”

  He had a point.

  They laughed and recalled the incident with the cube while they ate. Neil tried to explain what it felt like to wield more force than the sun, but it was impossible for him to put into words. The more power he used on the cube, the more he began to feel detached from his humanity. It was a cathartic experience. He felt like a being of pure energy rather than a human. For a brief moment in time, he had become ethereal.

  Steele jokingly told him about the reactions in the observation room during the test. They took bets on how far he would be able to go. Tanya didn’t even believe he would be able to lift the cube. Carl thought he might be able to compress it, but not by much. Steele was the only one that believed Neil could go all the way.

  He described the look of awe on everyone’s face as the cube began to glow. They felt the heat, but were too intoxicated by the beauty of the white glowing orb to realize the danger they were in. No one had ever seen a display of power like that before. Even through the tinted glass, the imprint of the glowing cube was burned into their eyes for hours.

  When Neil let go of the cube and the shockwave broke the glass, Carl said he thought he was going to die. He probably would have, too, if Neil hadn’t protected them from the shards. Tanya said they received emails apologizing for the broken air conditioning in the building, and maintenance insisted they were investigating the issue. The people working in the building felt the heat from several floors above.

  Though they made light of the situation, they all understood the significance of it. Neil’s power had no limits. If he had continued pushing the cube, it would have eventually turned into a singularity. If it didn’t kill him first, he could have destroyed the entire planet. None of them mentioned how close they all came to annihilation.

  They asked Neil how he thought his ability wo
rked.

  “I have no idea. Before, it was just a matter of searching for the object I wanted to manipulate, like I was finding a new limb for the first time. Then after that…” Neil moved his hand back and forth in front of his face, “Then it was just a matter of moving that body part like any other. The only difference is that it doesn’t get tired. I don’t run out of strength or stamina. I can just keep going.”

  “What do you mean, ‘before’?” Steele asked.

  “Well, now I don’t have to find the body part anymore. I can feel everything.”

  “When did this happen?” Tanya chimed in.

  “Oh, about an hour ago.” Neil smiled. The three looked back and forth at each other with surprised looks on their faces.

  “Do you mean to tell me that you’re getting better at it?” Carl asked.

  “Yeah, every time I pass out like that I wake up with a better handle on it. It’s like my brain is rebooting itself.”

  He went on to tell the story of passing out in the woods, and in his bedroom. They all listened intently.

  “I’ve got a confession to make.” Carl stated, after a period of silence. “Remember when I said in the library that we didn’t care how your ability worked? Well, I lied. We’ve been collecting data.”

  “What kind of data?” Neil asked.

  “You know those three metallic marbles that I showed you in the library, and the same ones that are in the lock that opens the testing room door? Well, they aren’t just marbles. Each one costs over $8 million. They have hundreds of micro-sensors inside of them designed to measure absolutely everything about the forces that interact with them. They measure magnetic waves, electromagnetic waves, gravitational waves, light waves, sound waves, and just about anything else that might be relevant.

  “We’ve already collected over five gigabytes of sensor information just in the short amount of time that you have interacted with them. We have experts in physics, statistics, mathematics, and just about everything else analyzing the data around the clock. They have come up with a hypothesis.”