by Enid Titan
“No, darling, the one on the moon.”
“Very funny.”
“I’m not joking. I’ve been meaning to tell you this but we received this in the mail after your high school exams.”
“What’s this?”
Poppy took the silver envelope with the holographic wax seal from her uncle, still disinterested.
“The U.S. government analyzed the biometric data of every high school student in the country and sent it to the Devorans.”
“Great,” Poppy snarked, “Are the little blue men going to give me an Olympic medal?”
Uncle Monty grimaced, “Don’t talk like that, Poppy. They’re our allies.”
“They’re watching our planet turn to dust when they have all the power and technology in the world to fix it. I don’t care.”
“Open the envelope,” Monty insisted.
“I don’t care.”
“Please, Poppy. Open it.”
“You already know what’s inside, don’t you?”
“I got a call.”
“Fine.”
Poppy ripped open the seal and read the letter.
Dear Penelope Darden,
The Royal Family of Devor invites you to visit the planet and to attend the prestigious academy for our telepathic youth, The Vortha Gifted Telepaths Academy, on our home world. Should you accept our invitation, we will be in touch with you. This envelope contains more information about the academy and what your acceptance would mean.
Gratefully Yours,
Achilles, Headmaster
“So what?”
“Poppy, don’t you recognize what this is?”
“Yeah, an opportunity for me to travel in space. Big whoop. We all did a trip to Venus as seniors. It sucked.”
“This wouldn’t just be a trip to Venus. It would be a trip across our quadrant of the galaxy.”
“I don’t care!”
“It doesn’t matter. I already accepted your spot.”
“You did what?” Poppy snapped.
“Sorry Poppy but I couldn’t let you pass this up.”
“Why not? What the hell is so great about these aliens? We’ve known about them for years but from what I’ve seen they’re all useless! The Devorans, the Taureans, the Polluxians, they all came here and left our planet in shambles. We’re all dying and they don’t give a shit!”
“They do," Monty answered, "And this is how they’re proving it.”
“By giving one person a chance to go to their stupid academy?”
Monty was used to his niece’s outbursts by now. Poppy could be strong-willed, like her father, and she had her mother’s temper.
“It’s more than that. They believe you have latent telepathic abilities that once untapped could heal the planet. You could save everyone.”
“What? Me?”
“Yes, Poppy. I spoke to the ambassador on the phone. There’s no other human being on the planet whose data registered on their charts. Everyone here has latent telepathy and we knew that already. Even the ones with developed skills don’t have the potential that you have.”
“So what, I’ll go and learn to read minds and then save the earth? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Hear what they have to say, Poppy. Give them a chance.”
“What if I say no?”
“What will you do next year, then?”
Ah, that question. Poppy had been hoping that after high school she could continue living with Uncle Monty. He was well off and New Manhattan was one of the biggest cities in Colorado. But it was tough finding work here and to make money, you had to be willing to hustle hard.
“I dunno. The Appalachian coast might have work.”
“I won’t send you to the East Coast just to have you become a beach bum or a surfer. You have to do something with your life, Poppy. When your father died, he left me in charge of you.”
“My mom’s still alive. Doesn’t she get a say?”
“Don’t you think your mom would want you to do your part to help the planet?”
Poppy diverted, “What about college?”
“College doesn’t give you an advantage anymore.”
“I suppose,” Poppy admitted.
Monty stroked his silver beard and followed up with, “Then give this a chance. We’ll leave for Devor on Friday.”
“Friday!?”
“We have to act fast. The Devoran delegates are already on the planet’s surface. Of course, they prefer visiting Canada to visiting here, especially after the last incident, but we’ll meet the delegates tomorrow.”
“I won’t have time to say goodbye to my friends.”
“You will if you head out tonight.”
“We were supposed to have dinner," Poppy argued.
“We’ll have plenty of time for dinner on the spaceship. Run along. You should get started packing tonight.”
“What do I even pack?”
“The warmest clothes you can find. The planet is freezing.”
Uncle Monty had gone to Devor for work last year. Poppy wanted to come along then, but he refused just so she could study for that stupid Ancient U.S. History test.
After that, Poppy didn’t think she’d chance leaving earth again. Space travel could be dangerous and unpredictable. At least aliens had better tech. Better everything.
The aliens might not have all been hostile, but they were certainly unfriendly. Poppy had never met a Devoran, but she’d seen the blue-skinned tourists from a distance once or twice.
When aliens visited earth, no matter what planet they were from, they always had such a strange look on their face — a mixture of pity and disgust. Poppy loathed that look.
Keep reading: www.books2read.com/wickedtelepaths
About the Author
Enid Titan is a Central New York based author of debut novel Devor of The Alpha Quadrant Series, Book #2, Tau, Book #3 Aries, First Contact Captives: Vidar, First Contact Captives: Kronos, a Reverse Harem series including Wicked Telepaths & Bonded Telepaths, as well as the short story Virgin Earthling. When not hiking around Ithaca’s gorges, binging on Star Trek: Voyager re-runs and doing yoga, Enid is plotting out more juicy science fiction romance stories. You can learn more about Enid on her website: www.enidtitan.com
