Winters Family Psi Chronicles 2: Project Onyx (4 page)

Brian couldn’t stop drinking until he’d finished all of the water. He was so thirsty. He wished there was more. He grabbed a sandwich and took a bite. His stomach lurched when he swallowed it. He decided not to risk another bite and sank onto the couch. Brian tried to read the emotional energy of Samantha and her companion who observed him from behind the mirror but couldn’t get a fix on them due to the psionic shield imprisoning his mind. As long as that barrier remained in place, his empathic senses would remain muffled and it would be possible to only sense those individuals who stood very close to him. The more he thought about his current predicament, the more sickened and frantic he became. His DNA had been fundamentally altered and there was probably no way to reverse the process. He knew that Samantha intended on killing both him and Russell once she completely evaluated their condition. Escape was extremely unlikely.

Chapter 4

When Russell emerged from the bathroom, he grabbed another sandwich and took up a position on the opposite end of the couch from Brian. Even though there wasn’t a clock anywhere in the room, he knew that their allotted time was almost up and Samantha would be returning. She hadn’t said much but he was analyzing her dialogue to try to glean any useful information that may help in eventually escaping from this place. Brian suspected Russell was a level ten talent but he didn’t recognize him from school so he must have been abducted from another area.

“I’m a level ten empath, do you have a secondary ability?” Brian asked.

Russell regarded him guardedly as he silently debated whether or not he should respond. Brian was tempted to use his ability to encourage him to talk but he might notice as he was suspicious and may detect the subtle energy exchange.

“I’m a level ten psychometrist,” Russell finally said and then added with a note of suspicion, “I haven’t seen you in any psychic control and development classes.”

“We only have one in my school. I live in Lynnwood.”

“Oh.” Russell’s guard relaxed noticeably. “I’m from Everett. We have two of those classes at our high school.”

“I don’t know about you but it’s my least favorite class,” Brian said.

“Me, too. There really aren’t too many ways to develop psychometry. Too bad I’m not a level ten telepath.”

“Maybe you’ll become one,” Samantha said unexpectedly from several feet away.

She had slipped into the room engaged in Quiet or she’d made herself invisible. Either way, it was very disturbing as she’d approached them unnoticed. Brian had been too focused on Russell to pick up on her slight emotional radiation.

“When will we know?” Russell asked, pretending that she hadn’t startled him.

Samantha’s lips twitched fractionally with amusement as she regarded him.

“Very soon, I hope,” she said. “I need you both to close your eyes and relax. We’re going to attempt to see if you can sense any new abilities.”

Brian obediently closed his eyes and leaned back against the couch but Russell didn’t immediately follow suit.

“Close your eyes,” Samantha said coolly.

Russell reluctantly acquiesced and she guided them through a relaxation exercise involving calm and scenic imagery. She described a tranquil, grassy meadow with lavender bushes and lush fruit trees. It was difficult to completely immerse himself in the exercise as Brian’s throat was still dry and scratchy but he did his best. Next, she had them visualize themselves floating high in the sky among soft, wispy clouds.

“Now, I’m going to count backwards from ten to one. As I count down, you will become more and more relaxed until you are no longer aware of the feeling of your own body,” Samantha said smoothly.

Even though Brian had intended to only pretend to go along with the session, he had reached an altered state of mind and realized she’d used her telepathic ability to help push him into that receptive state. He didn’t fight it even as he became aware because he needed to fool her into thinking he was cooperating fully. Only then would she ever drop her guard at some point and hopefully provide an opportunity to escape. She finished counting down and allowed a short silence to ensue.

“Now, I want you to feel your natural ability and sense any new ones waiting to be utilized,” she said. “Be patient and just gently check for anything new.”

Neither Brian nor Russell detected any new abilities. When they both informed her of their findings, Brian sensed a twinge of impatience and frustration from Samantha that she quickly squelched. Whoever was working with Samantha was watching intently from behind the mirror on the wall. Brian could sense their interest. It must take a lot of concentration and effort to maintain the Quiet and keep both Russell’s and Brian’s minds blocked. The individual in the other room must not be a level ten telepath otherwise that person would be helping out with the psionic shielding. Brian was careful to keep his own thoughts subdued in order to prevent Samantha from detecting them.

“All right,” she said brusquely. “We’ll proceed with the tests. One of the most common secondary abilities is remote-viewing so we’ll start with that.”

She pulled out a deck of cards from her pants pocket and gestured across the room to the three chairs in the corner. They all gathered in that spot and she held one card up at a time to test whether they could see what was on the side facing her. It turned out that the cards were all basic shapes with a white background. She kept track of their incorrect and correct responses. Unfortunately, it was boring as hell since she insisted on testing them with this particular exercise for what must have been hours.

“We’ve done enough of that for now,” she finally said.

Brian would have been relieved except that he suspected they would move onto something even more tedious.

“Neither of you has shown an aptitude for remote-viewing at this time. We’re going to move onto an exercise to test your telekinetic ability which is a rare talent but fairly common in multipaths,” Samantha said as she put away the cards and placed a single die on the table top. “You will each take three turns in a row and try to roll a one. First, I want Brian to get a glass of water.”

Brian blinked at her in surprise. “But there isn’t any more.”

“Fill up one of the cups with the water from the bathroom sink,” Samantha said crisply.

Brian’s face reddened in embarrassment as he realized how simple a solution that was. He was used to drinking filtered water so it hadn’t even occurred to him. He drank two cups of water before returning.

“You should be able to concentrate better now,” she said to him.

Brian nodded in silent acknowledgment. Samantha had them take turns rolling the die for hours. It must have been late when they finally stopped because Brian felt groggy. Samantha left the room and returned with a box of pizza.

“That’s all the testing we’re going to do for today. You can use the cots in the other room to sleep on,” she said before abruptly exiting.

Brian felt a shift in the psionic barrier ensnaring his mind. He realized that Samantha was retreating and that another individual was taking over with the telepathic block. It took several moments for them to switch. He wondered how many people worked at this facility and where it was located. There must not be too many level ten telepaths or Samantha would have had someone relieve her a long time ago. It must be exhausting work. Russell and Brian dug into the pizza.

“That was so boring. I’m exhausted,” Russell said.

“Me, too,” Brian said.

“Do you think we’re going to become multipaths?” Russell asked.

“I don’t know. Multipaths run in my family and I’m not sure if I want to be one,” Brian said.

“My uncle and my grandmother were multipaths,” Russell said hesitantly. “They’re both gone now. My uncle was a level ten psychometrist and became a multipath when he was in high school. He died a few weeks after he developed new abilities.”

“I’m sorry,” Brian said sympathetically.

“That’s okay.”

Brian suddenly realized he was tapped into Russell’s emotional energy and calming it. He had been unconsciously healing his mind. Brian carefully withdrew before he was discovered. Russell wordlessly finished his third slice of pizza and then went over to the couch to sit down. Brian took up a position beside him and wondered if the multipaths in Russell’s family had the same problem as his.

“Does your family ever have nightmares?” Brian asked tentatively.

“What do you mean?” Russell gazed at him with puzzlement.

“In my family, the multipaths and level tens all have recurring nightmares about a serial killer stalking them. They suffer through them off and on – usually it comes with psychic burnout. I have the worst problem with them. They got worse over the last week. It was so bad that my dad took me to a shielding specialist,” Brian said.

“That sucks,” Russell said. “I’d hate that. No, our family doesn’t have that problem. My uncle had psychic burnout that killed him but no nightmares.”

“I guess it’s just a genetic problem in my family then,” Brian said.

He sensed a keen interest flare up in the next room. Samantha and her team of researchers hadn’t known about his nightmares and psychic burnout apparently. Brian wondered how this would affect the testing. He and Russell didn’t have too much to say. They were both exhausted and went to bed on the cots that had formerly imprisoned them. It was disturbing but the fatigue dragged them both into deep sleep very quickly. The next morning, Samantha didn’t arrive until they’d both awakened and were ready. She instructed them to gather in the testing area where the three chairs were grouped around the small table in the corner of the room.

She followed the exact same procedure as yesterday. When she got out the die and set it on the table, Russell went first. Brian decided now was the time to begin gathering information. He had already tuned into her emotional state but hadn’t exerted any influence yet. He pulsed a very low level of energy to smooth out some of the edges. He was so cautious about it that it took over an hour before she felt the compulsion to speak. She was too disciplined to start a conversation on her own. Brian was extremely talented at getting people to talk about themselves but he’d never had to be this careful to avoid detection before.

“You seem frustrated,” Brian said as he took his turn rolling the die. “I suppose you must have been doing this for a very long time.”

“Longer than you can imagine,” Samantha said stiffly.

Brian continued to gently pulse the appropriate emotional energy to her and waited awhile before attempting conversation again. He knew he was almost there. Russell stared at the die when it came to be his turn again. He didn’t move to take it.

“It’s your turn, Russell,” Samantha said crisply.

Impatience spiked and her energy sharpened as she waited for him to move.

“I’m sick and tired of this. You need to let me go,” Russell said.

“You will take your turn,” Samantha said succinctly.

Her blue eyes turned glacial and she regarded him for several long moments. Her energy became completely closed off and Brian almost cried out in dismay as all that effort he’d exerted was now wasted. There was no way she’d be in the mood to talk about herself or the project anytime soon. Her attention fixed firmly on Russell and he suddenly cried out in pain. His hands clamped over his ears as though struggling to block out a loud noise. He breathed heavily and leaned forward. After a lengthy pause he pulled his hands away and straightened again. His gaze conveyed caution and fear as he regarded the scientist seated across from him.

“It’s your turn,” she said coolly.

Without hesitation, Russell picked up the die and obediently continued the experiment. Brian didn’t attempt to work on her until after lunch. She was holding up the cards to see if they could determine what was on the side facing her. Brian began intermittently smoothing out the jagged spikes of her emotional energy. It was a painstaking process and he hoped Russell wouldn’t act out again.

“You seem like a very patient person. You’re very methodical and meticulous,” Brian said casually.

“Those are necessary traits in a scientist,” Samantha said.

“Have you had anyone become a multipath before?” Brian asked.

“There have been several occasions. It takes a special combination of key genomes and I’ve hopefully found the right one this time. We’re very close,” Samantha said.

Brian continued to exert his influence to encourage conversation. He was making significant progress and had finally reached a tipping point in her emotional state. As long as nothing happened to cause her to clamp down, she should start chatting up a storm pretty soon.

“How soon can we expect to gain new abilities?” Brian said calmly.

“I was expecting it to happen today at the latest but it may not take until tomorrow or the next day. There should have been one new ability between the two of you,” Samantha said thoughtfully. “I wasn’t always a level ten telepath. I used to be only a level four with level seven aggregate intuition which greatly aided in my research. A little over a year ago, I had thought that we had cracked the code as one of the test subjects became a level ten telepath and the other a multipath. I had my team take the retrovirus but it didn’t work as I’d anticipated. Instead of becoming a multipath, I lost my secondary ability even though my telepathy strengthened exponentially.

“The retrovirus doesn’t work the same way for everyone. For that one particular individual it worked but for me and Norman, we became level ten telepaths while losing our secondary abilities. Brandon and Ashley experienced no change whatsoever in their talents. Sometimes when you gamble, you can lose everything,” Samantha said. “Project Onyx was supposed to be a short term assignment. It was never anticipated to last more than a couple of years.”

She opened her mouth to continue when the door burst open and a muscular man in his early thirties poked his head in. He had intense, blue eyes and black, close-cropped hair. He wore a green polo and jeans.

“Samantha, we need your help in here immediately,” he said authoritatively.

Samantha bristled and she rose from her chair with a stormy expression on her face. Brian picked up that she was in charge of the group and didn’t approve of the interruption. Unfortunately, he suspected that the man was going to warn her that she was saying too much.