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MIMI DIDN’T KNOW WHAT to think. A whole room filled with other women, women with her same abilities. All sixteen were sitting in a semi-circle, in a lower level of an ancient library. Here, there were still semi-preserved books in paper. Mimi couldn’t fathom just how long some of these books had been around.
There was, however, a much more important question. How was it that she had gone so long living in the city without knowing about this strange little club?
Noatla said, “Actually, the more pertinent question is, how did our Order go so long without stumbling upon you? It’s a mystery to us.”
Mimi almost spoke up, almost said something about it feeling like a violation, having your mind invaded. Instead, she laughed. Being on the other side of it was strange. Daniel had made a similar comment once, that it felt invasive to have your mind probed all the time. Which was one of the reasons she had decided to stop doing it to those who knew of her ability.
Noatla said, “You’ll learn how to think without thinking on the surface of your mind soon enough. Every one of our sisters here has learned this skill.”
Mimi said, “Why, so you can keep secrets from each other?”
Noatla shook her head. “No, it’s more about allowing yourself time to think and reflect before you say something. Except, here we don’t have the barrier of thought to spoken language.” Mimi noticed that Noatla was no longer using her lips to speak and that all of the other women seemed to be nodding in agreement.
Mimi chose to speak out loud. “What makes you think I want to stick around? That I want to join your little club?”
The woman with red hair she had met on the street spoke in mind-to-mind contact with Mimi, “Because we have a chance to actually free your partner.”
“Mimi, this is Serah,” said Noatla. “Serah is a Runner.”
Mimi’s eyes widened. “Impossible.”
Noatla shook her head, “No, not impossible. Not if you allow us to teach you some of the other things you are capable of.”
“And just what is it that I am capable of? Mind control?”
“No, not control,” said Noatla. “Mind suggestion. We cannot control anyone’s mind, but we can give them suggestions. If they are things they are already inclined to do, then they are easy to motivate. If they are things they are resistant toward, it takes a little more skill to get them to comply. It really isn’t much different from conversation.”
“And if they don’t comply?”
“Then we seek another route.”
“Why not simply try to force them?”
Several of the sisters eyed each other. It was a long moment before Noatla responded.
“Because trying to force a mind can have terrible consequences.”
“What kind of consequences?”
For a moment, Mimi thought that Noatla was going to answer.
“No, Mimi, this is not the time for such a conversation. But let me say that it is dangerous to both the giver and receiver of the orders, and so it is one of the things we consider taboo in this order.”
“Fine. So, you said you could help me. What’s the catch?”
This time it was Serah who answered. “Membership.”
“Membership?”
Noatla nodded, “Yes, we want you to join the Order of the Eye, to complete our circle.”
“Creepy name for a women’s club.”
This solicited laughter from a few of the other women in the room, even Noatla chuckled a little.
Noatla said, “True, I suppose without context you might think it is a strange name. But the title clarifies what we are. Besides, I didn’t choose it.”
“And what are you?”
“Watchers, mostly. We try to interfere as little as possible in the affairs of the city. But we do watch and protect the city.”
“Protect it from what?”
Noatla considered, but this time only for a moment. “Again, in time.”
Mimi shrugged and ran her fingers through her black hair. “Have it your way. So you want me to join your little club and then Shannon goes free? What happens to me after that? What happens to her?”
“Well first, as a senator, I am hoping that I can use some of my connections to prevent her from ever even going to a trial. If I can manage to do that, then any further intervention will be unnecessary.”
“And then?”
“Well, we would like you to join the Order of the Eye. But we, of course, cannot force you to remain among us, nor would we want to. If you wish, you can disappear into that interesting little hovel you have down in the lower levels.”
Mimi eyed Noatla and then looked around the room and saw, with certainty, that all these women knew where she lived.
Mimi shrugged. “Alright, you know where I live, how long have you known and how the hell did you find out?”
“Actually, we only found out a few weeks ago. That afternoon when you encountered the sanitation workers. You tried to push on them, to force your way into their minds. That alerted Sister Kayla to your presence. Before that, we were ignorant of your existence. After that, we had you followed.”
“You could read that from here?”
“To try and control someone or to try and force open their mind so you can read their deeper thoughts requires a massive expenditure of energy. There are only two places you can draw that energy from: yourself, in which case you could make yourself very ill, or from something else alive around you. If there is a great deal of life around you, then the cost to those living beings is low, they may feel a sense of weakness temporarily and nothing more. But that impact would ripple outward. The stronger the push, the more energy it would expend and the further out it would spread. So, when you tried to push your way into those two individuals’ brains, it sent out a kind of shockwave through part of the lower levels of the city. Sister Kayla, here, happened to be residing in that area for a few days while she was working on a project for the Order. She recognized the feeling and then waited ‘til you came the surface. After we felt out your mind specifically, it was easy to find you, wherever you went.”
Mimi shifted uneasily. “How were you able to pick me out, out of so many people?”
“Training, mostly. This skill is like any other tool. It can be trained and developed for particular purposes. Of course, you will have to give up Likatol in the long run, but we can take our time weaning you off it.”
Mimi frowned; they seemed to know everything about her.
“Some of our sisters have certain specialties, certain skills they can focus on and develop more keenly than others, just like with any skill set.”
“So, Sister Kayla,” Mimi noticed the woman with short gray hair sitting in the corner, “can detect people who have our particular kind of talents?”
“That is one of her specialties, yes. We can all do it if the person is close enough, but Sister Kayla can reach anywhere in the city. She has the greatest range of any of us.”
Mimi reached up and brushed the hair out of her eyes. She wondered what Shannon was doing at that exact moment. But her thought trailed off back into her present circumstance. Then it occurred to her, and a grin spread across Noatla’s face.
Noatla said, “Yes, my particular focus is to soothe people. I have always had the ability to help others feel less stressed and to disarm them when they put up emotional barriers. I can sometimes make them feel a bit more tired, so it acts as a tranquilizer.”
“Then stop. I don’t want to be soothed.”
Noatla nodded, but her face betrayed concern. “Very well, if that’s what you want. Please understand I only wanted to help you think a bit more clearly, rather than running off and trying to solve the situation yourself.”
“So if I join your little club, you’ll help me prevent Shannon from becoming a Runner?”
“That is the hope, yes.”
“What if you can’t? What if she becomes a Runner and you can’t stop it?”
Serah spoke up. “Then our task becomes much harder, but not impossible.” Serah was using her voice, not directly communicating with her mind. “See, every time someone becomes a Runner, they go through a series of procedures. But the very first one is an implant in the base of the skull.”
“What does that do?” asked Mimi.
“It is a behavior chip. If you do something that’s threatening or disobey your orders, they send a significant shock to your system. It’s not one that is strong enough to kill usually, unless they turn up the voltage, but it keeps you incapacitated for a decent amount of time.
Mimi shifted in her chair and looked again around the room at all the faces that were staring at her. All the eyes pierced her, but in a strange sense, this did not unsettle her, not even a little bit. It occurred to her that she likely had the same piercing eyes. Shannon and all those partners before her had often complained of the way she stared at people. Perhaps she would fit in here. And perhaps these women could offer her a way to become even more powerful and knowledgeable. Maybe she would have enough knowledge to protect anyone she loved.
“Alright, what do I have to do to sign up?”
Serah said, “Just like that?”
Mimi shrugged. “Seems like I have a lot to gain and not much to lose. You already know where I live, you’re clearly more powerful than I am, and if you want can make me do what you want me to do. And, you can read what I am thinking, so you know that the idea of having access to more power sounds good to me. I’ve lived on the streets long enough to know that you take what you can get.”
Noatla frowned. “I am not sure I would put it the way that you did, but I am glad you are interested.”
Mimi looked directly at Noatla and used her mouth to speak. “No offense lady, but you’re an Upper, those rich people up at the top of the skyscrapers, none of you have a clue what it’s like to live on the streets. Even those of you who are in the lowers don’t have a clue what it’s like. You know what it means when you’re from nowhere? When you are a person without a home in this city?”
She paused and looked around. No one answered.
“It means that you’re disposable, that you’re just another bag of skin waiting to waste away. Most nowhere women have been sexually assaulted by security guards. Shannon and I, we’re one of the lucky few. Why are so many women assaulted? Because those assholes can do whatever they want to us without consequence. And for the men? Well, some of the SOs prefer men and the others, they get to be punching bags, objects of ridicule and scorn. They blame us for being homeless, but they don’t know our stories. They assume we’re lazy, we’re trash, we’re just an unpleasant smell or an eyesore on the street. We’re deviants to be ignored. But I’ll tell you what, I’ve been around longer than most of you’ve been alive, and the one thing I know is that being from nowhere never changes.”
“And just how long have you been around,” asked a woman in the corner, “that you grace us with so much wisdom?” A squat blond woman sat in the corner. She didn’t use her mouth to speak, but Mimi was starting to get the hang of being able to figure out who was speaking. There was a kind of tugging in that direction whenever they did. Mimi specifically kept the number of her age out of her mind.
“A few centuries.”
A round of mental murmurs went around the room.
The woman spoke again, “That’s not possible.”
“But it is, Fatima,” said Noatla. “Don’t you see what her specialty is?”
The woman Noatla had called Fatima shook her head.
“It took me thinking about it these last few weeks Fatima, but I think I finally understand. Mimi, can you...skim...as you put it, me for a moment and tell me what you see?”
It was a strange request. One that Mimi had never been asked to do before. But, she thought it worth a shot. There was a lot of shit in this woman’s brain. All kinds of schematics and fancy words. The woman was a regular library. But, Mimi assumed that she wanted her to see something specific, so Mimi focused a bit until she had something.
“You want me to repeat it back to you, or?”
“Yes, please.”
“You were thinking about an archaeological dig. Particularly one where the city of Boston used to be. You were thinking about the layers of sites on top of sites and how the indigenous occupants left a great deal of archaeological data down below the surface of the colonial town, and that in turn was covered by concrete again and again between the 20th and 21st century.”
Noatla’s smile widened. “No Mimi, I wasn’t thinking of anything. I was blocking you. Do you see what she has, Sisters? Why she could survive so long in this city?”
There was silence as all fifteen of the other women were listening.
“Mimi, you have something that we’ve never encountered before. The innate ability to pull subconscious information from someone’s mind. I was thinking about that site a few days ago, but I had put it in the back of my mind to hold on for later after we are finished assisting you. But it seems that you, Mimi, are able to pluck scientific data right from me, without my directly thinking about it.”
“I am?”
“You found one of the private access alcoves in the underground, didn’t you?”
Mimi nodded. “Yeah, some guy came by one day, he was an engineer or something I think, and he was thinking about its location.”
“I actually doubt he was. It’s more likely that you were simply mining his subconscious for the information you wanted without realizing it.”
Mimi thought about that. It did make a certain kind of sense. Some of the workers she had encountered had always seemed to be thinking of very technical things, and for a little while she had thought it odd, but eventually she had gotten used to the idea that some people just thought that way. She realized her impression was that everyone was thinking that way. Now she knew why she could understand the systems surrounding the algae cultivation, or how she had learned how to hack a food dispenser with ease.
“Yes Mimi, all that and more.”
Mimi looked up at Noatla specifically and realized the woman was grinning ear to ear. She was like a kid in a candy store with the keys after hours. Mimi wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
“So, I’m accessing people’s deepest thoughts without them realizing it? Isn’t that what you said you couldn’t do? That you can only take stuff off the surface?”
Noatla’s eyes drifted up and to the left. Her face went blank for a moment. “Tell me, Mimi, when you have accessed this information, is it only ever information pertaining to technology or science? Or do gleam other kinds of information?”
Mimi thought about it hard for a moment. Sure, she could hear what people were directly thinking about, but most of the time that didn’t contain the kind of deep technical information that she had access to. She tried to remember an example of something that she had been given that would be considered a dark secret or gossip, but she couldn’t come up with anything off the top of her head.
“Honestly? I’m not sure. Maybe now that I am paying attention I could tell you, but right now I don’t think so.”
Noatla nodded. “I think you will find that you are only able to grasp certain kinds of information. I am unsure at the moment what the pattern of this information is. It may be that you can only grab onto scientific data. Or it maybe it has something to do with a particular part of the brain’s memory connections that you are accessing. But obviously, you have a specific skill set, one that we haven’t come across before now. It is one that could be powerful and useful.”
“What do you mean? It certainly helped me survive this long, but how could it be of use to you?”
“Can you think of no reason we might want technical information?”
Mimi considered. “I don’t know.”
“Mimi,” said Noatla, “I want you to take a read on Serah.”
Mimi couldn’t help but notice Serah’s face change. It almost darkened.
Serah said, “Why me? I don’t want her poking around in the depths of my mind.”
Noatla said, “I am reasonably certain that she isn’t going to be fishing around through anything personal, but I am curious what information she could glean from you. Of course, I would like your consent just in case, Serah.”
Serah grimaced a little and shook her head, but then said, “Fine. Go ahead.”
Noatla nodded in Mimi’s direction. “Go on, Mimi.”
Mimi did as she was instructed. She closed her eyes this time and pictured Serah. At first, there was nothing, just the blank of being blocked from the surface of her mind. Then tiny rivulets of memories began to stream forward, like a trickle of water penetrating into deeper crevices of the earth. Then, there was an explosion of information and Mimi opened her mouth and let some of it drift out.
“Runner protocol 3. The EnViro suit is your best friend out in the Barrens. It will keep you alive through the various sandstorms, methane pockets, and enemy attacks. There are two kinds of EnViro suits, Recon-grade and Battle-grade. The Recon-grade EnViro suit is lighter and more mobile and usually does not carry weapons. In place, it is primarily equipped for surveillance. The Battle-grade EnViro suit is equipped for city to city combat. This suit is equipped with a variety of weapons that are often measured for the aptitude of the user. Some may carry heavier artillery-style weapons, while others may carry short-range laser or projectile weapons. At the same time, some Runners, such as Runner 17, may carry multiple classes of weapons as he, in particular, is skilled in a variety of weapons, including blades and hand-to-hand combat.”
Mimi stopped for a moment and looked around. “Should I go on?”
She noticed Serah’s eyes, wide and shocked. “Holy shit. That sounded like the recording I heard when I was going through Runner orientation decades ago.”
Noatla nodded. “Exactly. It appears to be that Mimi can glean some important part of long-term memory associated with technical information. It will be interesting to find out what your limits are.”
“Find out what my limits are? You make it sound like I’m already on board.”
“Aren’t you, though?”
Mimi obviously couldn’t hide what she was thinking, at least not yet. She thought then that it was best to be candid.
She shrugged. “I’m a practical woman. I know that I’m at your mercy and I’m willing to go along with it so long as there is something in it for me. But that doesn’t mean I have to like you or even trust you.”
Noatla frowned. “I’d rather you not think of it like that. I hope in the future you will learn to love us and call us your sisters.”
“Maybe. But I’ve been around for a while. I’m keenly aware that this world is pretty damn merciless. Who knows, maybe tomorrow another city will kill us all and it won’t matter.”
A sea of frowns. Only one face with a smile.
“But yeah, I’m in.”