Discovery (Science of Psionics Book #1)
Read Discovery (Science of Psionics Book #1) Online
Authors: Dave Renol
Tags: #military, #fantasy, #telepathy, #esp, #telekinesis, #psionic, #mental power, #blood magic, #psi power, #psionic wedding, #psionic exploration, #psionic flight, #psionic journey
The Science of Psionics
Book 1:
Discovery
Smashwords Edition
© 2012 Dave Renol
All rights reserved.
I would like to thank my wife for her
patience and support, Leon for expanding my reading horizons, and
theChive.com for keeping me smiling when the writing was slow. Keep
Calm and Chive On!
This ebook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to
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The Science of Psionics
Book 1: Discovery
Contents
Chapter 1
Linda: The Storm
It was a dark and stormy night… ok, it wasn’t
really night time, it was only late afternoon, but the storm was
real enough. I paused in my typing as yet another flash of
lightning lit up the office where I was working on my latest novel.
The boom of the thunder rolled through my otherwise silent country
home.
“That one was close,” I thought to myself.
Resuming my work, my childhood habit of counting the seconds
between the flash and the boom kicked in, and I realized it was
heading this way fast.
This latest book had come together remarkably
fast, since most of the plot advancement ideas had come from my
boyfriend and fellow author Mark Ewing… I smiled as I usually did,
thinking of him. We had met almost two years ago, while awaiting
our turns at the local blood drive. We both happened to have the
same blood type, and as the conversation progressed, discovered
that we had much more in common as well.
Light flashed again in the office window, but
no thunder. Peering out, I saw the headlights of Mark’s truck as he
parked in his usual place near the side door. Uncurling myself from
my overstuffed lounge chair next to the window, I went to greet him
with my customary hug and kiss. As I approached the door, I heard
the rain start beating heavily on the fiberglass awning covering
the side entry. Peering out through the window, I saw Mark rushing
toward the house with his umbrella covering the knapsack that he
used for his laptop and notes.
“Typical,” I snorted. “How anyone that smart
could be so stupid is beyond me.” The umbrella was easily big
enough to protect both Mark and his precious knapsack.
Opening the door for him, I stood aside to
avoid his mad dash to get out of the pouring rain. Reaching inside,
he placed his knapsack on the floor before turning and shaking the
water off of his umbrella. Collapsing it down, he stepped inside
and leaned forward to give me a quick kiss.
“Let me change into something dry and I'll
give you a proper greeting,” he grinned. “I wasn't quite expecting
to have to ford a vertical river between my truck and your
house.”
A quick flash of lightning followed almost
immediately by a sharp crack of thunder made me jump and
interrupted my scathing criticism before I could get started.
Running his hand through his hair to comb it out of his eyes, he
grinned at me again as he headed past me toward the bedroom.
Sighing, I went back to the office so I could clear off the table
we used as a common workspace when we both worked on the same
project.
Three bolts of lightning in a row illuminated
the office like a photographer’s strobe as the power flickered off
and on, making the lamp flicker like someone was sending a Morse
code message. The hairs on the back of my neck felt like they were
standing on end as the loudest blast of thunder yet rattled the
house and the lights went out. Momentarily frozen, I jumped as Mark
wrapped his arms around me from behind.
“Well hon, I had planned to have a romantic
candle light dinner tonight, but I usually prefer to pick the time
myself,” he said as he spun me around and wrapped his arms around
me.
“Any time is a good time for thoughts like
those,” I replied, kissing him deeply. “Let me go dig up some
candles and we can get some work done first. It's a little early
for dinner and it'll be easier to cook when the power comes back
on.”
“Optimist!” he snorted. “I like the peace and
quiet of your place here, but the service sucks. I bet my place in
town still has power.”
“Yeah, the city has enough power to keep the
stereo next door blasting away all night as well. Thanks, but I'll
take the peace and quiet out here so we can get some work done, as
well as have some privacy for whatever else we do this
weekend.”
“Hmmm,” he purred. “I like the sound of
‘whatever else’ much better than the sound of that rap crap from
next door back in the city. You go find those candles and I'll
unload my gear so we can get that silly work stuff out of the way.
My laptop is charged up, so we should have several hours before we
have to abandon work and are forced to spend several hours doing
‘whatever else’.”
“Crap, my laptop!” I wailed. “I had it
plugged into the outlet next to my window seat and that doesn't
have a surge protector. I hope it didn't get fried from the blast
that killed our power.”
“I'll check it out for you. Go get the
candles.”
“Alright, be right back.”
Walking down the hall toward the storage
closet where I kept my candles, I thought that I hardly needed
them, as the almost continuous lightning strikes provided plenty of
illumination. Grabbing the BBQ lighter from the utility drawer as I
went past, I hurried nervously back to the office. The hairs on my
neck were still standing at attention, like the very air around me
was charged from all the awesome power blasting out of the sky.
Stepping into the office, I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw the
familiar logo on my laptop screen as it booted up.
“So far, so good … it was locked up, but
seems to be rebooting fine.” Mark commented as I set the box of
candles down on the table and sat down in front of my computer.
“There did appear to be some scorch marks on the power outlet
though. You use that outlet often enough that you really should put
a UPS or at least a surge protector there. It's cheap
insurance.”
“Fingers crossed,” I said as I watched it
finish booting. “It seems like I got lucky,” I said with a smile as
my desktop appeared.
“Luck is all well and good,” he commented as
he stepped over to the box of candles, “but relying on luck is a
losing proposition when a little common sense can ensure
safety.”
“Common sense,” I laughed. “This is from the
guy who stepped into the house soaking wet because he couldn't
figure out the complicated maneuver of covering both himself and
his knapsack with only one umbrella.”
“Hey, at least I protected my livelihood,
unlike you who risked losing all your hard work due to
carelessness.” he retorted, looking up from shoving the candles
into my silver candelabra.
“Ok, ok. Get those things lit so we can get
our work for the night out of the way. Why you take down so many
handwritten notes is beyond me when your laptop never leaves your
sight.”
“Well, what can I say? There's something I
find satisfying about writing out notes and ideas by hand. Plus, I
find it easier to integrate them into the story when I can
rearrange the notes to suit the best order. Remember, I don't
always write them out sequentially.”
“Perhaps it is easier for you, but not for
me. Your handwriting is atrocious, your grammar horrific,
punctuation random, and it appears that proper spelling is
optional.”
“All of that is to give me an excuse to stand
over your shoulder and wrap my arms around you,” he replied putting
action to his words.
“Nice, but also distracting,” I giggled,
slapping a roaming hand away from my right breast. “Later,
Casanova, you promised we would get our work in sync first so we
have most of the weekend free.”
“Spoilsport,” he replied as he flopped down
into his chair beside me. “Besides, how can I concentrate with this
storm over our heads?”
“Fine,” I acquiesced. “Grab us a couple beers
and we can snuggle on the couch until the storm passes.”
Grabbing my laptop, I made my way to the
living room and set it on the coffee table so we could have some
background music. Working my way through my playlists, the computer
felt a little sluggish and I wondered if it had suffered some
damage after all.
“Honey, I think I better get you to take a
look at this thing for me. It seems ... sluggish and
weird
,”
I said to him as he sat down next to me and handed me my drink.
“Sure, no problemo,” he nodded. “I'll run
through the works after dinner or tomorrow morning."
“Speaking of which, I have a couple of nice
juicy T-bone steaks thawed for dinner. The storm seems to be
slacking a bit, so it should pass over by the time we'll need to
grill 'em.”
“Sounds perfect,” he agreed.
We made small talk for a while, getting
caught up on the last ten days in which he was away on a consulting
trip, and then had a nice dinner of grill-baked potatoes and steak.
The power was still out, so we decided to put off our work and just
go to bed early. Of course, that didn't mean it wasn't still a late
night.
Mark: Discovery
I woke up before Linda, and lay there content
and relaxed for several minutes before quietly slipping out of bed.
I quickly grabbed a few things to wear and silently snuck out of
the bedroom. After seeing that we once again had power, I got the
coffee maker started, then grabbed a quick shower in the other
bathroom, so as to not awaken her.
I poured myself a cup of coffee and headed
over to the office so I could check my email. Remembering my
promise of last night, I moved Linda’s computer back into the
office and set it up next to mine so I could work on it. I also
wanted to back up her recent files in case the laptop was dying. I
glanced over to the other side of my machine at my steaming cup of
coffee, out of reach for the moment.
“Soon,” I murmured to myself. “Gotta get this
hard drive scan started first.”
As I waited for her computer to finish
booting, I glanced down at my arm and noticed the hairs were
standing up, like they were last night during the peak of the
storm. Getting up, I grabbed my coffee and went over to the
window.
Peering out at the sky, it looked like it was
shaping up to be a nice clear day, and I wondered why it felt like
a storm overhead. Shrugging, I went back to Linda’s laptop and
started a hard drive surface scan. With that running, I went and
topped off my coffee before setting down to go through my emails
and messages.
I was at the end of my last reply when I
heard Linda’s computer beep, indicating that the scan was complete.
Hitting send, I shifted over to her chair to take a look at the
results. The scan came up clean, but she was right that it did feel
a little sluggish and weird. I started an anti-virus scan and
opened up a shared folder on my computer to copy her recent files
over, just in case. Rubbing my arm, I noticed that the hairs on it
were still standing up, and it felt a little sore from wrist to
shoulder. Shrugging again, I went to get a refill before sitting
down to start entering my hardcopy notes.