by A. L. Knorr
Jody cocked her head as if to say, excuse me, peon?
"Sorry," he apologized. "It's been an intense day.”
"No doubt," she murmured.
"Yes, we did know that she was likely telepathic, what I'm interested in is how she does it. As you know, we never got the chance to test her father before—"
Jody interrupted Hiroki nervously. "You tested her? On telepathy?"
"Yes, with a volunteer from the research lab. Petra didn't want to do it. She says it makes her head hurt."
"But she did it."
"Yes. She did it. She can turn it off and on. She said that it took her a long time to learn how to do that and her childhood was a bit whacked out because of it. The funny thing is that her telepathy is linked to her ability to pick up frequency. I don’t think she would have one without the other."
"How so?"
"Thoughts have mass and energy. When you form an image in your mind, the energy from that thought sends out tiny transmissions. Petra," Hiroki paused, "I mean the asset, can receive those transmissions and whatever it is inside her that's receiving it, translates it into images and thoughts, not unlike the way a computer translates zeros and ones. Hence," he waved a hand, "her brand of telepathy."
"We'll have to be careful with that," murmured Jody.
"You think?" Hiroki said sarcastically. "You're not actually thinking of signing her, are you? After everything I’ve told you?"
Jody blinked in shock. "And allow a competitor to pick her up? Are you crazy?"
"You're crazy if you hire her. She's un-coachable! We have no one on staff who can train her properly. We don't even know the full extent of her abilities."
"We'll have to deal with her as best we can," said Jody, her hands disappearing into her lap.
"Jody!" Hiroki gaped at her. "Have you not heard anything I've said? She's a weapon of mass destruction!"
Jody didn't hesitate. "Good thing she'll be on our side, then."
Hiroki's jaw sagged. "This is a bad idea," he whispered. "She's a really good person in spite of what she is."
"What are you saying? That she won't want to work with us? Aren't we good?"
Hiroki's jaw worked but he didn't respond.
Her voice sharp, Jody asked, "What would you suggest then?"
Hiroki took a breath. "I would terminate her.”
Jody belted out an incredulous laugh and stared at her colleague, amazed. "You want me to call her by her name instead of the asset and in the same breath you're passing her a death sentence?" She looked at him and shook her head. "Maybe you understand how we operate better than you let on."
"I'm telling you. Signing her is a terrible idea, and letting her out into the world to be picked up by someone else is also a terrible idea." Hiroki hated himself for his own thoughts, but no one person should have the kind of power this girl had. The power she’d demonstrated in the desert was a walk in the park for her, if his findings were correct.
All laughter done with, Jody said, "We're not going to kill the most powerful supernatural we've ever come across, Hiroki. Every time we take one on there is risk involved, and this asset is no different. You know what we've set out to accomplish, or at least, some of it. I'm beginning to think we can't do it without her. She is just what we need. She could save us years."
"So what are you going to offer her?"
"That's not even an object." Jody shuffled through the papers on her desk, found a file folder and opened it. "She wants to go to Cambridge University and study archaeology." She tossed the folder back on her desk. "We'll pay for all of that, every expense she has, for as long as she needs it. We'll pay for her PhD. We could afford to pay for her to start her own archeological society if that's her dream."
Hiroki had seen Petra's eyes when she talked about this dream. Jody would be able to sell her a contract without even blinking. Petra would sign. Hiroki had no doubt about it. "You'll ask her for the requisite first-year commitment to start?"
"Of course."
"What would you even get her to do?"
"Nothing, initially. But I have spoken briefly to Devin about this and he feels that she would be the perfect choice to recruit for us. We have our eyes on a few others."
"She'd be brand new. She wouldn't even know what she's recruiting people for."
"She doesn't have to know. Not exactly. We give her just enough information to be compelling, it's our modus operandi, you know this." She shot Hiroki a superior look. "I hope you don't think you're any different. We only tell you what you need to know."
"I know," Hiroki murmured. It was one thing that could be counted on in this company. Secrets were essential to the ultimate success of the vision, and that was no secret.
Jody took a pair of specs from her desk and perched them on her nose before clicking her laptop to life. "We've been watching three other assets very closely. Well, four actually." She waved a hand dismissively. "But the fourth is not of interest to us, so she is inconsequential."
Hiroki blinked at this. "An inconsequential supernatural? I didn't know that was possible. What is she?"
Jody tilted her head back to look at the screen through her bifocals. "She's referred to as a Hanta, I believe. Some kind of…spirit elemental?" Her face was etched with disdain. "I don't even know what that is. Doesn't matter. Devin isn't interested in her."
"And the others?"
Jody brightened. "The others are remarkable. A trifecta we simply must have on board. Between the three of them, they can manipulate water, earth, and fire."
"Wow! Alphas?"
Jody nodded smugly. "Every one of them."
"How did you find three of them?"
Jody shot him a soppy grin. "They're friends. Isn't that sweet? That means if we get one, we get them all."
Hiroki paled with shock. "We've determined that the ratio of supernatural to natural runs around fifty million to one. That means at any given time there are only around one-hundred-fifty supernaturals in the entire world population, and that's probably optimistic. Four of them are friends?" Hiroki shot Jody a doubtful look. "That's near impossible."
"Actually, there are five if you include the fire asset's brother," Jody said, reading from the screen.
"What?" Hiroki leaned forward as though belted in the gut. "Can't be!"
"Mm-hmm," Jody said. "He is of some interest to Devin, but he's low-grade and too young."
"I thought he liked them young. For training."
"Only orphans," explained Jody. "This asset has a stable family life. And because his sister is of interest to us, we would start with her, anyway."
Hiroki sat in his chair dazed while Jody continued to scan the classified files on her screen. "Petra is perfect for this job," she murmured.
"Don't you mean the asset," Hiroki said weakly, absently.
"Yes, right."
"Why is she perfect for this job?"
"Two reasons. One is classified. The other, I haven't told you yet. Aside from being close to their age, the three alphas we want are all from Saltford. The asset’s own hometown."
Hiroki held his hands wide. "Of course they are. Another improbability." He shook his head and covered his eyes with his hand. "I have a headache."
"Yes." Jody agreed with his mathematical assessment and ignored his bodily complaint. "We have research looking at Saltford. That little city has something strange going on. But I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Miss Kara can collect them in a butterfly net." She smiled, pleased.
Hiroki stared at Jody. She was so confident, so oblivious to the risks. Either that or she was aware of them but they just didn't bother her. Jody had referred to Petra by her name again, but he didn't point it out. "How are you going to suggest she does that?"
"When they're all together of course."
"Like, grabbing some fast-food or going to movie?"
"No, of course not," Jody said. "They'll have to be alone. We know they've all spent the summer away. Teenagers need their friends m
ore than they need their parents. When they arrange to have the inevitable get-together to catch up, something teenagers like to do, I'm told"—Jody gave Hiroki a wolfish smile—"that will be our moment."
<<<<>>>>
“Nearly all can stand adversity, but if you want to test a (hu)man's character, give [them] power.”
Abe Lincoln
“Even the most intelligent people tend to seek out evidence that confirms what they already think, rather than new information that would give them a more robust view of reality.”
Think Like a Freak
“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13
Petra
The Van Allen belt.
Radioactive electrons.
Impenetrable barrier.
Plasmapause.
My mind was spinning with the strange terms and vocabulary that had come from Hiroki's mouth over the past two days. He’d also been showing me drawings and animations of radiation belts, particle movement, and…
"You're doing it."
Hiroki's whispered words broke through my reverie and I opened my eyes.
“A complete field,” he went on, “and no emission of other radiation.”
Holding my palms down and out, the tingling sensation of frequencies ran up my arms. A hot energy spun in the center of my being, connecting my tailbone with the top of my head. Power flowed through me.
Hiroki was barely visible behind a protective barrier, a booth similar to the kind the technician hides in just before they zap you with radiation for a CAT scan. Only Hiroki’s head was visible behind the dark glass, and if I wasn't mistaken, his face was alight with surprise. His features were obscured not only by the dark glass, but by the waves of the force-field now encircling my form as I stood in the center of the lab.
The field was visible as a thick wall of shimmering air, the way heat bakes off desert sand at the height of a torrid midday. Hiroki had explained to me that the field was invisible to him, but visible to me due to the proteins in my body called cryptochromes which helped me detect magnetic fields. Whatever they were, learning to use them had been like trying to pin pudding to the wall. But as I got used to my powers, the control I had over them was increasing exponentially. They were getting easier and more natural to wield.
It had dawned on me slowly, like the first of the sun's rays on a crisp spring morning, that my powers increased as my understanding of them deepened. It had been like reaching into what I thought was a shallow pool for a sparkling gem, only to realize that the gem was far away, and it was not in a pool but a deep well. I was learning that my powers were unleashed and controlled not by my body, but by my thoughts and my will.
Still, old habits die hard and it was difficult not to use my hands and arms to make gestures while I executed the tasks Hiroki assigned. Hiroki had likened these hand-movements to a baby's pacifier, explaining that I needed them while I was learning but that I would cast them off as I gained confidence.
Hiroki moved and my eyes followed him. He came out from behind the protective barrier. My heart skittered up my throat and crouched in my mouth like a frightened bird. The old fear was diminishing but it was still there and at times reared its head with ferocity. What if I hurt him? What if it was the kind of hurt that didn't reveal itself right away, but years later showed up in the form of some horrible cancer?
"Hiroki, wait. Are you sure it’s safe?"
"You'll just have to make sure it is." Hiroki's voice was cavalier as he closed the booth's door behind him and faced me. He was mere feet from the borders of my force-field. "I trust you, Petra."
He took a few steps closer.
"I hate it when you say that," I grumped, not relaxing my hands. I narrowed my eyes at his approach.
Hiroki reached a hand out.
"Don't!" I closed my fists.
He'd never left the safety of his booth and I had no idea what would happen if he did. The bubble vanished. I felt the energy dissipate. The spinning vortex running through my core stopped immediately.
"It's all right, Petra," Hiroki said softly. "If it wasn't safe, this would have gone crazy." He held up the small Geiger-counter which he'd held so often this past week that it had practically become part of him.
I frowned.
He continued, "But the needle wasn't jumping like before. You did it! I'm proud of you. Now let's try making one that stays intact, the same way you can orbit material and walk away from it, leaving it to rotate indefinitely."
"Are you going to tell me what we’ll be using this force-field for at some point?" I tried to deliver my question casually, but it came across as sly. I'd been looking for chinks in Hiroki's armor ever since he'd started prepping me for a project mysteriously labeled Project Expansion.
He gave me a withering look which was not entirely devoid of humor. "You never give up, do you?"
I shrugged but didn’t answer, because it wasn't a question.
Shaking his head, he said, "You know I can't tell you anything yet. Jody says you'll just have to wait until we have the Elemental girls. You'll learn the parameters of the project at the same time as them and not a moment before."
I let out a long sigh. It was futile to ask why. I'd tried that already. No dice.
"Ah." Hiroki held up both his index fingers in a comical display of 'Eureka.' "Shall we throw some projectiles? How do you feel about that?"
"At my barrier?"
He nodded and rubbed his hands together with no small amount of glee. "Aren't you curious to see what happens? Besides, the primary missiles are basically foam balls. They're not going to hurt you if they do penetrate."
"Yeah, we start with foam and we graduate to live ammunition."
"I already told you about that, did I?"
I nodded slowly, eyebrows raised. "Sometimes, you do let things slip." In the short time I had been developing and measuring my skills and abilities with Hiroki, I had discovered that inside the consummate professional lived a young boy who loved video games, laser tag, and obstacle courses. This young boy version of Hiroki made his appearance during breakthroughs and just before trying some dangerous new drill.
One of his index fingers returned. "I won't use anything harder than foam until you give me the go-ahead, all right? How's that?"
"I can't ask for better." I waited for Hiroki to disappear inside the booth. Six panels in the gleaming black metal walls of the lab slid open, revealing the stacked barrels of cartoonish-looking guns.
The technology of this lab—Hiroki had explained—had been licensed for millions of dollars to a high-tech gaming and virtual reality park in Japan. It was another of the fringe-businesses that TNC operated under another company name. I wondered what other tech the company had invented and sold and to whom. Governments? Private intelligence agencies? Foreign military? How did they decide who to partner with? It was a world that had become nearly as fascinating to me as archaeology, but I had quickly learned that prying was not going to get me anywhere. It was when I kept my questions to myself that Hiroki would let slip some engrossing and revelatory piece of the TNC story. Just when I thought I was beginning to assemble some idea around the identity of the corporation I was contracted to for a year, I would learn some other startling fact which would change my perception entirely. It was like a multi-limbed creature with each limb operating independently of the others.
At the blinking of the amber light above Hiroki’s booth, the spinning vortex inside me hummed to life. With an unnecessary flick of my fingers, the bubble of wavy air fused into existence around me. My force-field naturally put me at the nexus of itself. Its walls passed through the floor of the lab equi-distant to its arch over my head. It had always moved with me, like a shadow. If I shifted side to side, the force-field always kept me at its middle. But was this essential to the force-fields existence? I instinctively felt it wasn't.
“I want to test something before we start.” I spok
e normally. Hiroki had had to remind me a few times that even though he was in a protective booth, he could hear me as well as if I were standing right next to him.
“Sure, let me know when you’re ready,” Hiroki's artificially amplified voice said through the sound-system.
Not without effort, I relaxed my hands. With nothing more than intention, giving a mental command that the force-field should stay put, I shifted side to side and saw with pleasure but no surprise that it did not follow me.
I approached the wall of the bubble and put my hand up to touch it. Nothing. No sensation. No, wait. There was a sensation, but it was mere warmth and a delicate tingle. I passed my hand through the wall and then stepped through to follow with the rest of my body. Once on the other side, I turned to observe my force-field from the outside. It looked the same as it did from the inside—just a faint circle, more mirage than anything else. If I hadn't known to look for it, it would be completely invisible, even to my eye.
I turned and caught Hiroki's eye. He looked faintly confused.
“It’s there.” I made a curving gesture with my hands to show him where the dome was. “I’m outside it!”
He shook his head slowly at me in wonderment.
Stepping back inside my force-field, I felt the tic inside me as it reconnected and once more moved as my shadow.
“Okay, fire when ready,” I said.
There was a popping sound as a yellow ball fired from one of the guns. It bounced off my bubble and ricocheted harmlessly against the wall. I cocked my head at the information the force-field sent to the vortex spinning through my center—the frequency of the foam ball. Interesting. Now I had data. The ball rolled a couple of feet before dropping into some unseen channel beneath the floor to get cued up for another discharge.
"Fire another."
A popping sound originated behind me and I spun to watch the next ball explode in a poof of green plastic dust. It shimmered and drifted slowly to the floor, making a pile of green dirt.
