future society?” Julie said.
Ryan folded his arms defensively as he perched on the sofa beside his wife. Emily quickly outlined the major events including the discovery by telepaths that would enable them to become extremely powerful. Julie also questioned her on her own imprisonment and work at Psi Tech as well as their plans for the future. The entire conversation took far longer than Emily had planned on. She had finished her entire mug of coffee and talked Julie’s arm off.
“This is really horrific. Psi-Tech is like the embodiment of evil,” Julie said.
“It sounds that way,” Ryan agreed.
“Tell me. Do the telepaths form one large psychic network among themselves and is it confined to merely telepaths or can psychics whose secondary ability is telepathy join the network as well?”
“Anyone who has level four telepathic ability whether it’s their primary or secondary talent can link with others in the network. Once a network is formed, multiple members of the network can bring a weaker telepath into their group. Before I realized how hopeless my plan was, I had thought I could form a link with Skylar who is an old friend. Unfortunately, he’s a level nine telepath whose ability is too strong to control. Only telepaths who are born with level nine strength can survive. Assuming I would succeed in creating a network connection with Skylar, I had hoped that we may pull my brother into the connection as well,” Emily explained.
Her throat tightened and her eyes misted with unshed tears. She wouldn’t live long enough to see her brother again. Julie’s expression softened and she patted Emily’s hand sympathetically.
“Please tell me about your brother. What’s his name? What’s his ability?” Julie asked.
“His name is Jeremy. He’s a multipath. His psychic power is off the scale. Level nine is the highest that can be measured. Multipaths have more than two abilities. They don’t start out that way. It seems to just happen and once the onset of the symptoms appear, they die within a couple of weeks. The power is too unstable and their brain can’t handle the pressure. In the future, the telepaths have the idea that perhaps multipaths could be saved if they were to become part of the psychic network. I can’t see that far ahead so I don’t know if it’s possible to save my brother,” Emily said shakily. She took a deep, steadying breath as she forced her painful thoughts aside. “It doesn’t matter anyway because I won’t even be able to see him again.”
Julie squeezed her eyes shut and Emily realized she’d become deeply moved by what she’d learned. Guilt stabbed at Emily for troubling her with this burden. She had merely come here to warn Julie of the danger she was in and to leave.
“This is just impossible. I hope you don’t expect us to go into hiding,” Ryan said in a biting tone.
Julie’s eyes remained tightly closed and she ignored her husband completely. He shifted uneasily and didn’t continue to argue with her. Emily suddenly sensed an intrusive presence.
“I’ve stayed too long. A remote-viewer is trying to lock onto me,” she said.
Emily closed her eyes so she could concentrate. She pushed out with her mind against the intruder. Her head immediately pounded with pressure and fatigue as she had been doing this constantly for the entire day. After a moment, she felt an added push coming from elsewhere, aiding in her efforts to prevent the remote-viewer from locking onto her position. Emily’s headache quickly eased since she was no longer expending much psychic energy. When the remote-viewer left, Emily opened her eyes and regarded Julie pensively.
“How did you learn to do that so quickly?” Emily asked.
“I was reading your thoughts and emulating your actions,” Julie explained. “It was a simple exercise. It didn’t take much effort on my part.”
“It isn’t difficult the first few times but when you have to do it repeatedly all day long, it