Chapter 6

Posted: August 28, 2006 - 11:36:54 am

Early Monday morning it was back to the grind. I was still in a good mood having gotten to know Tom and Courtney... or, as I should start calling him: Ben. He has changed his name to Ben Porter, now. I spent the night Saturday, and learned still more about him on Sunday. For example, he had technology from the future!

His car was amazing, as was his personal computer. He seemed to have a small arsenal to draw on, and I now had a way of communicating with him that was not only secure, but no government on earth yet had the technology to get to the frequency we now used. Even if they did, it was always coded and the codes were unbreakable by today's cryptographers. It involved an encryption process not yet discovered.

Tom was an exercise nut. He had a route he jogged when he was here. I asked to join him, then looked at Courtney. She rolled her eyes at us and went back to drinking her coffee, and watching the local news.

"Health nuts," I had heard her mutter, as we left the house.

I smiled at the memory, which got a response from Eric.

"Good weekend, Scott?" he asked interestedly.

I nodded. Eric was a good man, but he was a total HS goon. He believed in what the government was doing to fight terrorism. I saw problems with it, since I was an 'involuntary employee', so to speak. Tom had been one, too. History is loaded with countries that had 'temporarily' suspended citizen rights. Said citizens, never seemed to get them back; or if they did, only with catches attached to them. Still, over all, the US was still the best place to live as far as I was concerned.

I spent hours and hours trying to identify the location of one terrorist suspect who seemed to be in Israel. The problem was, he was in hiding, and seemed to be underground. When he did move, I got only brief glimpses of his surroundings. To complicate matters, he had several hostages with him, and several men. When they moved, it was always by van or car. They seemed to be trying to get out of the city.

I was also taking classes in language identification. I could draw decently, and was able to copy writing I saw fairly accurately. I already knew how to read a map. After hours of frustration, I finally caught a break. I could see a landmark through a closed and curtained window. I had to move the curtain a bit with my telekineses, but I was finally able to locate them to within a few blocks.

When the day was done, I felt I had accomplished something truly worthwhile. It would not be possible to get feedback on what happened for several hours yet, but a rescue and capture had been launched.

Tom said I needed to stretch and exercise my talent more than I had been. He had asked me what I had done to train it, and I had replied that I had done nothing, really. It was just there. He had been very blunt with his critique.

"If I had done as you, I never would have discovered the full depth and range of my talent. You have to stretch it, and study it. You push yourself, and your talent, to the point you have headaches! Damn, Scott! You have no work or study ethic at all, do you?"

So I was to practice my TK... 'telekineses' ability, for short... everyday after work by moving objects at his place. He had set up a table with items of varying weights and sizes, and told me he wanted to see me lift them. He also said I should try to hear what was being said in the places I visited mentally. If I could move objects, then damn it, I could hear as well as see! My mind just needed the urge to do it.

Thus began my training under Tom's tutelage. He was a stern taskmaster, and would not let me quit. Day blended into day, and week turned to month; but by God, my abilities did improve! I was now lifting over two pounds of dead weight easily, and I could manipulate controls with precision.

I was also starting to get garbled sound! This was the most exciting aspect for me, so far. What was not so exciting, were the killer headaches I was getting in conjunction with my newfound abilities. I was also starting to be able to do my TK at much closer range, such as line of sight! Things I had never done before were now starting to happen for me.

Months had gone by, and I was fast approaching my first complete year as an employee of HS. Tom Suggested I take a vacation. I could take a week off with no problem. I put in for a vacation, and surprise of surprises, it was granted.

Unfortunately, what Tom's idea of a vacation and my idea of a vacation were, did not jive. He had suggested the vacation as a subterfuge. What he actually did, was to take me to an alternate universe! There he enrolled me in a training program. He said I was woefully lacking in survival skills, and this was the perfect place to learn them.

What followed was six months 'subjective time' in that reality. It was the most nightmarish training that ever had been my misfortune to take. There was a heavy slant on hand-to-hand combat. At the end of my six months I had to say I was in better shape, and was more confident in my self and my abilities. I also had a set of reflexes that would make a cat proud.

Tom checked in on me from time to time. When I graduated the course, he brought me back to the start of my vacation days. That was why I had taken the vacation. He knew I would need to relax and get reoriented. This 'timing' stuff, and alternate reality switching, was a confusing thing to me. Part of my training had been intensive practice with my mental abilities. These people knew of mental talent, and they had trained me hard.

They also taught me to attack with the talent. If I wanted, I could now turn a brain to mush, stop a heart, touch nerves to cause excruciating pain, or to numb a person. The things I could now do, and was trained to do in an emergency, astounded me. I could now also hear clearly what was said when I did a remote viewing. That was a great improvement, really.

We were sitting in Tom, or Ben's, backyard having a BBQ. We were celebrating my graduation from this school of training where he had sent me.

"You know, I think I cursed you every single day, for a while," I said musing out loud.

Tom... Ben, damn it... Ben grinned at me.

"It was to be expected. How do you feel about the experience now?" he asked curiously.

"Actually quite good. I feel much more confident in my abilities and in myself," I said, sitting back and sipping a beer.

"I've been through it, you've been through it. All my men there have been through it, or live it training others," Tom responded.

"Might I ask why? I mean, that was an actual base of some sort. It was big, and you seemed to be somebody important there. What's it all for?" I asked curiously.

"Let's just say I have a small highly trained and well equipped force at my disposal, should I ever need one, and leave it at that," Ben responded.

Uh oh. What did that mean? Was he getting ready to set himself up as a leader of a country somewhere?

"Uh, you don't have dreams of 'empire', by chance, do you?" I asked outright.

He laughed at me.

"No, I don't have dreams of empire, but I do believe in certain rights for people, rights which the government seems to find very inconvenient. I see no harm in working towards restoring peoples rights to what they were," Ben said complacently.

"This brings up my pet peeve, of late," Courtney said.

Ben rolled his eyes, and I looked at one then the other.

"Ok, what gives?" I asked.

"Courtney, the voice of my conscience, and her pet peeve," Ben said with a deep sigh.

"Look. I have lived in two different countries. I grew up in England, but have lived several years here in the US. I like both systems of government. Sure, they're not perfect, but what system ever is?

"The problem with being proactive and trying to change an established form of government, is that while you start off with good intentions, things start getting tacked on. Sometimes, I believe what Ben does is almost terrorism. Not quite, but almost. So I make sure he thinks things out carefully, before he acts," Courtney replied

Ben patted her leg.

"Courtney has elected herself chief overseer of my conscience, and a voice of reason. Usually, if I am going to overreact, she will pull me back down to the real world. Then I will think something through," Ben said with a smile.

"Well, here is a real situation for you Courtney. The government, in its infinite wisdom has seen fit to turn me into a slave for 'the state'. If I wanted to live in a society where I had to be a state worker, I would emigrate to China or Cuba, or some other third world dictatorship somewhere," I replied snippily.

"Like I said. No system is perfect, and striking a balance is hard. Just think about that, when you boys take a proactive stance. You might get a whole new government you can't control," Courtney said taking a drink from a glass of diet coke.

About then the food was finished, and we dug in. it had been ages since I last ate BBQ, and it was good. Good companionship, good conversation, playful teasing... It made me long for a family of my own.

A family would not happen soon though. I could not inflict my present life on someone else. At least, not until I had won free of government control. As light as it was, it was still a yoke, and I still resented the government dictating my life to me. As the old saying goes: 'A person with family, has a hostage to fortune', to paraphrase it.

After we ate, we sat around a picnic table that Ben had made, and started talking again.

"I think it's time to release some of the older information I have accumulated on some of our esteemed leaders. There is still the 'council' to contend with, and nothing has been heard about them in the news for over a year. Couple that with the excesses by the government, concerning fighting terrorism, and you have a recipe for disaster," Ben said.

"Careful," Courtney warned.

"What did you have in mind? And what's this 'council' you're talking about?" I asked

So Ben took a while to explain the 'council', what they stood for, what they had done, and when they had formed. I was astonished to say the least. I had never paid much attention to the local, national, or world news until recently.

"How come I never heard of this stuff?" I asked curiously.

"There seems to be an active part on both the government and the 'council', to limit any news or exposure in the news, about people associated with the 'council'. Considering who the members are, is it any wonder? Would your senator or congressman be re-elected if their constituents knew they were working as a fifth column movement behind the scenes, for greater control of the public? No." Ben said with contempt.

"Well, isn't that the battle cry of people everywhere? Career politicians have one thing on their minds: re-election, and gaining power. I like the House of Commons, in London, best. People are elected and have a say. The Lords are 'a different animal', entirely. Still, a career politician while gaining experience can be helpful," Courtney said.

"Yes, but therein lies the problem. Once they have the experience, they start thinking... well, it's for the peoples own good and welfare, therefore I am justified in giving a lot of them the shaft," Ben responded to Courtney.

"We are going round and round, here. What do you want to do about this older information?" I asked, interrupting a seemingly endless argument.

"Already done. I had the AI digging into the 'council' and it is much deeper than we had thought, more firmly entrenched. A new round of public embarrassment is going to break on this evening's news, most likely. Enough news sources have been informed that it will be impossible for either the government or the 'council' to block it," Ben said smugly.

"Ok, what did you do," Courtney asked exasperatedly.

"I will leave that as a surprise for this evening, ok? Ben said with a grin.

Later that evening, we were sitting in the living room watching the news, when Ben's computer announced a breaking news story on one of the independent news agencies. We changed channels, and watched.

"... A breaking news story. So far none of our colleagues at ABC, NBC, or CBS has reported any of this, but the print press is picking it up. The New York Times is running a special edition, which will be out later this evening. It is a detailed list of members of the 'council', which we first reported on six years ago.

"Again, our top story, new information has come to light on members of house and the senate who are active members of this 'council'. None of the members of either party or group, which were named as members of this organization, could be reached for comment. We will be back after these messages from our sponsor," it went to commercial.

"Ok, what's the point in that? What's the big deal?" I asked.

"The point is, to show the people where the true allegiance of these men and woman actually lie. They are supposed to represent their people, not the dictates of a board called the 'council'. When they release the memo from the 'Political Director of North America', telling each member how to vote on upcoming Bills, I am sure a lot of people are going to take notice," Ben said smugly.