I write to you in high spirits. It is the first time I've felt valued, a part of something, since you left for Babylon 5. I ran into my old Corps training buddy Curtis Cooper the other morning and we decided to have lunch together. Ha! You should've seen it, we had an entire conversation without opening our mouths; everyone was starring but it was so refreshing to meet an old friend. But the reason I am in such a jovial mood is what we talked about. We discussed what we'd been doing since we last met and in a round about sort of way we finally started discussing Cooper's current line of work. He's apparently head researcher at a Corps facility on Mars; something Planum, i forget. But the point is both he and his associates are currently looking for volunteers! And guess who jumped on the band wagon! As I record this I'm on a transport headed for Martian shores. I didn't think I'd get the okay to leave in the middle of a term, but Cooper said his program has important backers and before I'd even filed a transfer request with the Corps I'd already received the go ahead. Oh, we're about to enter martian atmosphere. I'll explain more when I write again.
Love,
Jason.
Janurary 9th 2257, Mars Colony:
Jason Ironheart was a proud member of Psi Corps. His dedication went beyond merely a job, it had been imbedded in him from a young age and the Corps had become part of his very identity. Wearing a smart-casual pair of dark jeans that complemented his skin tone with a plain white shirt and black jacket Jason strolled off the Earth-to-Mars transport. Because of the Psi Corps broach on his collar he had been given VIP treatment the whole journey and enjoyed being the first off the commercial flight. The security guard ran his identicard through the reader and nervously returned it. That was the part of being part of the Corps Jason wasn't fond of. Despite his pleasant, warm and outgoing demeanour, as soon as any non-telepath caught a glimpse of his Psi Corps emblem they would instantly freeze up and become tense as if a telepath would be scanning all the time. Jason thanked the guard and continued on his way, he gave a quick glance to the travel plans he'd been issued to make sure he knew who he was looking for. A Psi Cop named Jessica Kelsey, a former pupil of Jason's, had been assigned to greet him, give him a brief tour of the immediate Martian surroundings and get him straight to the Corps' top secret research facility.
Jason stopped, he had been touched by another mind... a powerful mind; a P12? 'Mister Ironheart,' the voice in his mind said. He threw the travel bag he'd been carrying over his shoulder and concentrated with his mind. 'This way Mister Ironheart,' the voice said, giving off a Psi-Beacon for the wayward traveller to follow. Jason strode off willingly into the sea of people, some embarking on their travels, some arriving at their final destination. Eventually he spotted a short brown haired woman dressed in the usual black Psi-Cop regalia. 'You must be Miss Kelsey,' Ironheart said telepathically.
"Correct," Kelsey said verbally, her tone was that of a strict school mistress Jason had known from his prepubesent days and it sent a shiver down his spine. Or was that the uniform? Or the power he knew the Psi Cops wielded?
"I believe you are my escort for the proceedings?" Jason asked smiling, he wanted to make a big as effort as possible to get along with everyone here, who knew what other exciting possibilities would open up for him with the right connections and contacts within the Corps hierarchy.
"I am the guide for all the candidates," Kelsey said firmly, "You are the first to arrive. I'm currently sending out a Psi call, the one you heard, across this port; hopefully Mister Loffler and Miss Santos will arrive shortly"
"Where are they coming from?" Jason asked merely making conversation to pass the time. He took the moment also to look around the enormous dome that held the precious atmosphere life needed to survive on this barren dust ball. It's construction was of very solid metals, the composition of which Jason didn't even want to guess at, but the majority of it was lined with thick reinforced glass that let what red hazy natural light Mars owned into the structure, eleviating the colony's reliance on power generated artifical light to some extent.
"Mister Loffler," Kelsey began, her tone had not changed. Jason had no doubt she was as devoted to the Corps' principles as he was, but she could add a little personality into it. There was nothing in the regulations of 2161 that said humour and pleasantries were disallowed for telepaths. "Is coming from Io, he was stationed there as the commercial telepath for the colony. His rating is P6"
"And Miss Santos?" Jason questioned further, the wonder of the dome having become a secondary interest at this point.
"Miss Michelle Santos is a P12 rated Psi-Cop coming in from an assignment especially for the experiment, and will be meeting us in due course"
Jason didn't need to be a telepath, not that he dared scan a Psi Cop anyway, to figure out Kelsey had purposely answered a different question in order to avoid telling him where exactly this Psi Cop, Santos, had been stationed before; perhaps deep undercover. Tales and whispers of Psi Cop investigations were almost legends back at the Corps' training facility on Earth, Jason had lapped up every last story from the older members of the faculty that had heard more stories down the Corps' grapewine that there were books in the bible.
A few moments passed where the two exchanged not even a smile before Kelsey announced that both Miss Santos and Mister Loffler had arrived on the same transport and had responded to her Psi Beacon. Santos was obviously of hispanic descent, although her skin was perhaps a little pailer than one might expect; but years outside of normal sunlight would do that to anyone's skin. She wore her Psi Cop black with pride, and her expression of pure smugness mimiced that of Kelsey; perhaps, Jason thought, they taught all the Psi Cops that?
Mister Loffler on the other hand was slightly... odd. He was quite short, had thick bushy black eye brows and walked with somewhat of a hunchback; his face however was friendly and he spoke with an adorable lisp.
"Someone will collect your bags and deposit them in your assigned quarters," Kelsey said after the other two had arrived, and all four of them had exchanged telepathic greetings and salutations. "This way if you please," she said leading the group towards a lift access marked in English, and several alien languages, 'Transport tube."
Boarding the transport tube had been an easy task. Unlike the mundane masses that would be facing massive ques to use Mars' primary form of transportation the Psi Corps had set aside an entire car to hurtle their candidates to the desire location on a private track. Kelsey and Santos sat the front of the car, wanting to limit conversation with the others. But Jason and Mister Loffler; who Ironheart had learned prefered to be called Rick, were fast becoming friends. The conversation had dodged around several safe subjects; work, old Corps training facility stories, the latest sports news from Proxima 3 et al, but soon Loffler wanted to progress onto more pressing matters. 'How did they volunteer you for this?' he asked telepathically, he was only a P6 but could easily mask his telepathic communique from more powerful telepaths unless they were purposely scanning. 'What do you mean? I DID volunteer,' Jason said back, 'Doctor Cooper is an old friend of mine from training.' Loffler seemed to go silent all of a sudden, Jason looked him in the eyes; he wasn't sure if Loffler had suddenly felt Kelsey probing him, or maybe he was just caught off guard by Jason's revelation. Either way he decided pushing the issue further was a flawed idea.
The tube came to an abrupt end at a seemingly unfinished part of Mars Colony. The dome they were in was much smaller than all of the others, and lacked the emenseness of the glass roof; instead replaced by dull grey panels. Kelsey escorted the other three off, neither her nor Santos had spoken a word since the journey began.
"You are about to enter a classified area," Kelsey spoke aloud, standing firm between the three telepathic "volunteers", and a large metal door marked with various seemingly arbitrary numbers. "You must understand that once you have seen the things you are about to see you will not be allowed to speak of them to others. Doing so will mean expulsion from the Corps and you receiving Rogue status." The Psi Cop smiled smuggly, enjoying the power her kind had over their peers, "Am I understood"
Santos, Loffler and Ironheart all agreed. The latter begrudgingly. Kelsey rolled back the doors and proceeded into the all consuming darkness beyond. Santos strode through the entrance confidently, but Loffler and Ironheart looked at each other for a moment before taking the plunge simaltaneously. Coming into the darkness was not was Ironheart had expected. Instead of a moment in darkness followed by Kelsey or someone switching on the lights that would perhaps reveal a musty old corridor that would lead them to their quarters, the three were faced with a gleaming white facility. They were stood on a steal ledge that ran the circumfrance of the enormous room, it's edges guarded by a small handrail just above waist height. The decking underneath their feet made a satisfying metal clinging noise as Kelsey gave them little time to take in their new surroundings and began to lead the way again.
"How did you...?" Ironheart asked.
"A stabilized changeling net program over the entire doorway. It's easier to just create a forboding darkness than anything else. It's a good last deterant for people who have reached further than they should have," she replied, it was the fullest answer she'd given Jason since he'd arrived on Mars.
"This is one part of our Syria Planum facility. It is home to some of the Corps' most advanced researchs. But you are just a very small part of that," she explained as she began to decide one of the many stairways that led off the ledge and down into the middle of the room.
Jason surveyed the room just before his descent would cause it to go out of view. Various men in white coats were working feverishly at computer terminals, some over what looked like deceased animals, each section of the room's basin was seperated by thick white walls with no ceiling.
"Impressive," Santos commented. The four continued without further comment until they reached a corner of the room, where a further stair case was found behind a second false black changeling net wall. Jason couldn't help but wonder the necessity of all this secrecy, surely the general public understood the Corps was merely acting in the best interests of every citizen of Earth Alliance?
"These are your quarters," Kelsey said, having descended two further flights of steps and turned a few dozen corners and interchanges. Each junction was marked with somesort of numeric glyph, that Jason presumed was an indication of where to go but he couldn't decifer it. The Psi-Cop pointed at the first three doors along this particular plain white corridor. "You should find your belongings awaiting you. Please make yourselves comfortable and dress in the uniform provided for the time being. Please do not wander the facility, it is VERY easy to get lost; and very... bad for your health," she said, a small evil looking smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
"When will I be able to speak with Doctor Cooper?" Jason asked, he wasn't sure if everyone knew he was an old friend of Curtis' so he didn't want to start calling the doctor by his familiar name just yet.
"Doctor Cooper is busy with the other," she paused for a moment, as if choosing her words carefully, "the other volunteers at the moment. If you could kindly dress in the provided uniforms and await my Psi-Intructions." Kelsey led Santos to the first room, unlocking it with the swipe of a red and yellow access card. Then Loffler to the second and Ironheart to the third. Ironheart entered his room without arguement or commotion and set about setting his small travel bag down on the small army-issue looking single bed and proceeded to check through his larger suitcase to make sure his belongings were still intact, it was an old stereotype of a Martian crook, but you could never be too careful. Satisfied his meager belongings, a few personal pictures, a collection of well worn neutral coloured shirts, a couple of ties, underwear, socks and a few spare Psi-Corps emblems, were all secure he decided to dress immediately into the all white coveralls that hung from a small hook on the back of his door. Despite it's rather figure hugging qualities it wasn't a bad fit, and easier to get on than Jason had first envisioned. Satisfied he had put it on the correct way round, despite the irritatingly high collar on the front of it, he sat down on the bed and drew out his data recorder to see about finalizing that letter to his beloved Talia and downloading it to a spare data crystal for sending the next time he saw a public access Stellar Com booth.
Not a few minutes had passed when a airport sounding "ding-dong" siren went off twice in succession. He paid heed to it and rose, presuming it was his calling. He reached forward to try the handle on his door, finding the only exit to his tiny windowless quarters locked. "Odd," he thought, he was on the understanding he was a volunteer here; not a prisoner. Perhaps it had been an oversight in regards to the Psi-Cop who'd let him in, maybe not using the right access codes to allow easy in and out ... maybe?
Jason didn't have time to ponder it as he soon picked up on the powerful telepathic signal from Kelsey, she was a P12 afterall and her psychic presence could be made to be felt almost anywhere. 'Doctor Cooper is ready now, Please await personal concoltation,' her message read. Ironheart wanted to communicate back, back even with his P10 abilities he could not locate her presence to reply. And before he could blink the message was gone: All Jason could do was sit and wait.
The intrepid former Corps instructor didn't have long to wait, seemingly the doctor had visited his old friend first. There was a few bleeping noises immited from the locking mechanism on the door preceeding imminant opening. The door swung open and Jason raised himself off the bed to greet his friend warmly. Cooper stood in the doorway wearing a similar white coverall to that of Jason's attire, but Cooper's hair was covered also by a plain white mask. "Curtis," Jason said smiling and extending his hand. His old friend did not meet Jason's hand with his. Instead he raised the clipboard to eye level and read coolly and calmly from it. "Name: Jason Gregory Ironheart, born December 15th 2223. Male, Psi Corps rating P10." Jason frowned, why was his friend stating facts as if his old training buddy was nothing more than a subject in an experiment; like a lab rat.
"Curtis. It's Jason, what's wrong?" Ironheart was almost pleading now. He starred into the man's eyes, looking for some sign of recognition.
"I am Doctor Cooper," he said, "You are not to use my familiar name within these walls"
"Look Curtis. My door was locked, when you decribed what you were doing here it wasn't anything like this... all this cloak and dagger. I mean, good god man I'm being treated like a criminal!" Jason's voice seemed almost desperate now, he longed for his boring life, that comfortable chair in the staff room he always tried to get to first, the taste of a cool glass of lemonade at the Corps' Kids Festival... anything that wasn't here.
"I am Doctor Cooper," Cooper stated again, completely ignoring everything Jason had just said. "You have been volunteered for experiment Tango-Delta Four-Seventeen... the use of bio-organic technology salvaged from Earth Alliance sources merged with human flesh to study the results; and hopefully increase an individual's Psi Rating. The side effects could be possible telekenetic abilities, astral projection and/or mental illness. Is this understood?" Cooper's voice was monotone, an intimidating monotone. His eyes looked straight at Jason without a mere flicker of friendship, or anything else Jason had seen, had sensed in his friend just a few days ago. "Is this understood?" Cooper said, his monotone's volume raised. Jason let his hands flop to his sides and just nodded. "Excellent, for the course of this experiment you will not be permitted to leave your room unescorted, or to converse outside of lab situations with your fellow candidates. The time is 11:30 Earth standard time. Tests will begin at 13:00 EST, please be ready."
With that the door was closed and a few bleeps later was locked. Jason sat back down on his bed slowly, sinking his head into his hands. What had he signed up for?