Stephen led a blindfolded Simon through the hatch entrance and down the stone steps while Serena and Bill brought up the rear. He sensed Serena’s mistrust of the man the Elite GS humans referred to as “Conditioned”. While Stephen had omitted to mention his envisioning skill had stopped working, his ability to see auras lit up the people around him.
The Conditioned produced auras in odd shades: rusty reds and green/blue combinations, different to the purer colours of the Indigenes. Simon’s aura was a hesitant yellow mixed with a moodier grey—nothing that concerned Stephen.
They stood outside the outer door to District Three. A scanner swept over the entire group and the door opened. Stephen guided Simon through the environmental force field. In the thinner air, Stephen popped out his air filtration device, while Bill donned a gel mask. He noticed Simon had no trouble in either type of air. It was possible his lungs had been genetically altered to adapt to any environment, similar to the biodome animals and the Indigenes who underwent genetic reversal.
Similar to Laura.
The strong yellow depicting Bill’s hesitation stood out. His friend didn’t want to be here and Stephen knew the reason for his reluctance. But Laura was part of this next phase and he’d need her help to refine his experiment.
Stephen brought Simon to one of Anton’s testing labs, cleared of work benches and equipment. They couldn’t risk Simon seeing their equipment.
He stopped at the door when he saw who was in the room with Anton.
‘Gabriel! Clement. What are you two doing here?’
‘Clement and I heard you were battling against more than a few rogue Indigenes and humans. Thought you might need a hand. I was less than a courteous host when you and Serena last visited me.’
‘You had a lot going on.’ Stephen waved his hand. ‘Where’s Margaux? Did she come with you?’
‘No. She’s looking after things while I’m away. In fact, it was she who encouraged me to come.’
Stephen smiled. With Gabriel here, it felt like he had Pierre, his former elder, back.
He led Simon inside the room and said, ‘You can remove your blindfold now.’
Simon pulled it off, blinking in the low light.
Anton moved closer, with the neurosensor in his hand.
When he reached for Simon, the Conditioned stepped back, his fear manifesting as a rusty red aura. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘Relax, Simon,’ said Bill. His mask muffled his words. ‘You won’t be harmed here. You have my word.’
Anton opened his hand to show Simon a silicone casing. Inside was the flat, round disc made of amorphous metal. ‘It’s my neurosensor. We’ve tested it out on a volunteer and she was able to enhance her own ability while wearing it. If this works on you, we should be able to break the Elite’s mind barrier and restore our abilities in their presence. If Stephen can improve his envisioning ability, we can deal with whatever comes next.’
Stephen felt Bill’s edginess increase, saw him glance towards the door.
‘We’d like to try it on you now, Simon,’ said Anton.
Simon shook his head. ‘If Tanya gets control of my mind, she’ll know exactly how this thing works. She’ll feel what I experience.’
‘No, you won’t be the one wearing it.’ Anton nodded to Stephen. ‘He will.’
Stephen kept his expression neutral when Simon glanced back at him. Both Gabriel and Clement watched him from one side of the room while Serena and Bill stood near the door. He couldn’t let on that the neurosensor might be his only chance to get his broken envisioning skill to work.
‘You’re the closest thing to an Elite we have to test on,’ said Anton. ‘I’d like to see if I can push past your mind blockade. If we are to read Tanya’s mind, we must practise first.’
Simon nodded, but his yellow aura said he wasn’t convinced. ‘Can’t you just look into the future, tell us how this is all going to play out?’
Stephen prepared to rattle out an excuse when Serena reached out with her mind.
What’s wrong? she said.
Nothing, I just...
He felt Anton muscle in on the telepathic conversation. Why not try it? We’ll probably still need others to use the neurosensor, but at least this way we’ll predict what’s coming.
Stephen huffed out a breath. Because I can’t. My ability hasn’t been working for months.
‘What?’ Gabriel said out loud
Bill had moved next to Anton. He poked him in the arm. ‘What did he say?’
‘He says his envisioning ability is gone,’ said Anton.
‘I didn’t say that.’ Stephen glanced at an alarmed looking Bill. ‘It hasn’t worked since they created that machine.’
Simon nodded as if he understood the problem. ‘The machine produces radiation. And anyone who gets near it would carry some on their skin. A low enough level, but it might be enough to block your brain’s abilities.’
‘Radiation?’ Stephen smiled. ‘That’s what I’ve been stressing over for months? I thought I’d lost my ability.’
Why didn’t you tell me? Serena said.
I didn’t want to bother you over nothing.
Your health isn’t nothing, Stephen.
I’m sorry.
Bill and Simon both stared at him; he sensed their anxious energies.
‘Could we get on with this, maybe talk about disappearing abilities another time?’ said Bill. ‘Simon doesn’t have much time.’
Stephen nodded. ‘I’m sorry. Of course.’ He turned to Anton. ‘Will the neurosensor work to bolster my envisioning ability?’
‘It works to bolster any ability. We should try it,’ said Anton.
The omicron rock could be a limiting factor.
‘It should be able to penetrate it,’ replied Anton to his silent thought.
‘Okay,’ he said, and Anton pressed the outer silicone casing to the side of his head.
Stephen felt an instant jolt of power that started out slow, but increased steadily. All of a sudden he became aware of Simon, sensing his ability to switch from independent to shared thought in a flash. But he put him out of his mind so he could concentrate on the future.
He closed his eyes. Serena stood next to him and used her influence ability to bolster his, like she used to do in the beginning. It felt like a pulsating wave across his mind. With the neurosensor attached, everything in his mind opened up; conduits in his mind widened to make the transfer of information easier.
Serena grabbed his hands and her touch delivered to him a much needed calm. He concentrated on the flashes of events not yet to occur that had been out of reach for a while now. Several images flashed through his mind. He latched on to one, but the scene blurred too much for him to make out detail. The neurosensor had widened the conduits all right, but the fast rate of information delivery made it impossible for Stephen to control.
‘Take a deep breath and relax,’ said Serena. ‘Remember, you’re not in control; the device is. Slow your thoughts down and the images will adjust.’
Stephen took a deep breath and followed her instructions. As soon as he slowed everything down, the images followed suit. He plucked one from the carousel which showed Simon leaving the district—an event yet to happen. Relief flooded through him and he smiled. He plucked another one of Laura loitering close to this room, watching while Bill walked through a tunnel. But a third selection produced his greatest fear.
It was of Simon inside their district. But it wasn’t the Simon standing in this room. This one had a dark passenger.
Stephen released his frustration in one long breath and opened his eyes. ‘I couldn’t see far enough to see how this plays out, but I saw Simon inside this district. He wasn’t himself.’
A worried-looking Simon nodded. ‘Tanya plans to put a copy of her personality in my mind. And if you’ve seen it, that means I have no way to avoid that outcome.’
‘Do you know what she’s after?’ Gabriel asked him.
‘Probably the Nexus. She and the others want to transcend and they need power to do it.’
‘But the Nexus won’t help them,’ said Serena. ‘It resists foreign bodies—those not made from our DNA.’
‘It has already helped them,’ said Simon. ‘We used the machine to siphon off some of the Nexus’ power to heal Tanya.’
‘But that was with the aid of a machine,’ said Anton. ‘If you or Tanya connected directly with the Nexus, you would experience it differently.’
‘Were you able to access Simon’s mind?’ Bill asked Stephen.
Stephen nodded. ‘Partially. I wasn’t really trying, but it felt possible.’
‘Good because I have an idea.’
‘What?’
Everyone looked at Bill.
‘Serena’s an influencer. What if she accessed the Elite’s thoughts, convinced them not to come here?’
Simon appeared to perk up at the idea. ‘You would only need to access Tanya’s mind. The others listen to her.’
Stephen looked at Serena. ‘What do you think?’
She shrugged. ‘It’s possible. I’m willing to give it a go, but I would need to get closer to the caves.’
Simon nodded. ‘I might be able to give you some cover if I turn off the cameras.’
‘Okay, that’s settled,’ said Stephen. ‘Let’s agree a plan now because this can’t wait.’
‘What about Simon?’ said Bill. ‘Can we offer him immunity if this goes wrong?’
‘If this works,’ said Serena. ‘the Elite will die of natural causes before they have a chance to imprint on him.’