Jarod was sitting on the beach watching the clouds. It was midnight now, and he had sat there from dawn fascinated by his surroundings trying to absorb the calmness, serenity and vastness that he experienced for the first time in his life. He spread his toes deep into the sand feeling a refreshing tingle as the particles clung to his wet toes .he had erected ten castles during the afternoon and had gone surfing. Tired, he decided to lie on the sand looking at the stars he had missed for thirty years.
The Tower-
"Who has been assigned the case?"
"Ursula. You know, project no. 17623. You all will find the required information about her in the red file no.34. Any questions?"
"Yes. Isn't using her a rather drastic measure? She hasn't recuperated from her last case. It will take at least two weeks for her to maximise her energies."
"Sydney, Parker, and Broots after months of searching have returned empty handed again. We shall be using Jarod's sim no.67523 for the assassination of the presidential candidate next month. If you all remember the Tanaka case you all will realize the common sense in having him under custody long before them. I have already asked Mr Raines to meet her mentor and discuss it."
"You do know that it is still a gamble. We have at best only scratched the surface of Jarod's potential. His pretender abilities stem from his psychological ability to become another person. If he finds out who he really is may god help us! What I am concerned is that Ursula when exposed to him may not follow through our plan."
"I don't think that is possible. But if anything does go wrong we have our plan B."
"Jarod…. Jarod. Wake up!"
"Huh…who…oh! Camilla it's you."
"Of course silly. Now get up or you will get sunburn! You seem to have slept here all night. I thought you had a flight to catch to Disneyland."
"Oh my god! I completely forgot. Thanks for waking me I'll have to run now or I'll miss it."
"Never mind. After what you did to Emily, giving her land back and everything you should be thanked. Why don't you take my car to the airport? Here are the keys. Sandy will pick it up from there. Go on…hurry"
"Thanks again. Bye"
Mr Raines watched as a young girl sat in the lotus position meditating. Her mentor had told him that it may take two hours for her to come out of her trance but he had insisted on waiting here. Not for the first time his eyes roved over her calm, serene almond eyes, her wide blood red lips quivering as she said the hymns. She was wearing a sleeveless T-Shirt and tight jeans, which revealed her firm, rounded breasts and a tiny waist. Her throat, and hands were pale due to lack of sunlight compared to the fiery red colour of her hair, which was long and wavy flowing over her back and shoulders. She must not be more than twenty-five he concluded. He was seething inside that the tower had kept her a secret from him over so many years. If only he had known then…. he started fantasizing.
Slowly she drifted back. Then the routine even breathing –twenty …ten…and she finally opened her eyes. She checked her watch.' twenty minutes not bad' she thought.
"Ursula Mr Raines has come to meet you about your future case."
"But cay that's not due till two weeks. You promised!"
"I know. But this is an emergency. Mr Raines will give you the details. Come in Mr Raines."
When Raines came in with his oxygen tank, she thought she had never seen such an ugly sight in her life.
"I'm impressed Ursula. Not many projects of the centre turn out to be so successful. Here is the file you have to study. Tomorrow I shall return and discuss it with you."
He handed a red file marked project no.2341 to her and left.
"Cay who is that man? He gives me the creeps!"
"Me too. I've never seen him in this part of the centre before. I've heard he is from the Delaware branch. I know a man named Sydney there. He was the mentor of the pretender-Jarod who ran away from the centre. Your assignment is to locate and bring him back…unharmed."
"Who is a pretender?"
"There are geniuses among us. People with the ability to become anyone they want. We call them pretenders. These people are like chameleons blending in the psyche of the person they are impersonating. The centre exploited Jarod's pretender abilities by making him perform simulations and sell them to the highest bidder. He ran away a few months ago. Bringing him back is one of the top priorities on the centre's agenda."
"Does he have psychic abilities too?"
"I assume not. Or else the triumvirate wouldn't have handed you the case."
"Casey, why did he run away?"
"Ursula, the Delaware branch of the centre kidnapped him from his parents when he was a mere child. Unlike you he was forced for thirty years to remain within the centre walls to do some kind of simulations that were used by the government and the military. The centre want him back preferably alive than dead."
"I am not comfortable with this situation. All my patients were willing to undergo the procedure. First I shall have to find him then enter his psych without his knowing and gather information. Also I believe that he does have psychic abilities, though dormant that act as emotional antennae that tune in to another person's emotional make-up even from a picture, his genius is the result of it. This makes it even more dangerous cause the minute I tune into him he will know. I don't know how but he will.
I have never used my abilities against someone's will. I may terribly damage the Jarod if he resists."
"Then you make sure you don't do that. Unless this was an emergency they would never have taken such risks. I can feel something big is coming up and they don't want him to mess things. Besides, I don't think you have a choice in this case. I shall come back tomorrow in the morning. Be sure you are ready by then."
Ursula nodded in silent agreement. It paid to cooperate with the triumvirate. When Casey left the room she slumped back on her bed, deep in thought.
Jarod…. Jarod…. the name ringed a bell somewhere in her memory. She was sure she had never met him. But…She had been sent to the Delaware branch only once when she was twenty to meet project no.6712 called Angelo who had been mentally crippled as a side effect of turning him into an empath. This victim of the centre's failed experiments had become nothing more than a bumbling idiot. Her task was that of damage control. After she had worked on him he had regained at least part of his original emotional make-up but try as she might his speech pattern never returned to normal. Oh god! Of course. During their last two sessions he had been quite agitated about something. In order to follow what he wanted to convey, she had hypnotised him and scanned his mind for any images. She had expected the usual nightmarish scenes of bondage, and tortures that he had gone through but this was different. She saw a young man naked from the waist up rocking himself on the bed. He had cradled his head in between his knees and was sobbing uncontrollably. He was muttering something to himself. She concentrated harder to hear him." Someday…."he kept repeating.
"Hurt" Angelo had cried then and "angry" on and on experiencing the pain the other was suffering. She was amazed how there was a telepathic thing going between the two. As soon as the other calmed down Angelo started smiling.
During the last session she decided to find out more about this character. When they were alone she asked Angelo to think about his best friend. As he sat there she started meditating and in ten seconds was inside Angelo's mind. She saw the features of him clearly now. As usual Angelo's perception of him had distorted the man's true form in which his wide impish grin filled the entire face and his large arms were too big for his structure. Actually he looked more like a giant teddy bear. Then the image disappeared and changed into a boy about twelve years old. His brown chocolate eyes staring back, innocent as a lamb. She probed deeper into his mind. She was definitely sure that she had heard Jarod's name that day. She opened his file and started studying his profile.
"Hey, Jarod the new ride you engineered is really a crowd puller. Thanks a lot."
"It's no big deal. Hey there's Mickey-mouse! I saw all his cartoons last week. He is really funny."
"You know what, you are a real whacko. By your expression someone might think you never saw him before."
Jarod looked at his partner. If only he knew…a sudden anger surged inside him. The centre had stolen his life, and turned him into a lab-rat. And now he was hunted down like a wanted criminal. Jarod clamped down on his emotions. 'Not now' he repeated to himself, he had to concentrate on the case at hand.
"Jerry, can you meet me after lunch? I'd like to introduce you to someone"
"Only if she is blonde and beautiful," jerry replied with a wink.
"Of course" only she is ten Jarod thought chuckling quietly.
"All right .see you at the café"
"Bye"
After Jerry left Jarod sat down and started scribbling in a red book.
Sydney sat in his office wondering about the phone call that had come in this morning. Casey…she was the mentor of the famous Ursula who had brought some semblance of sanity to Angelo. Ursula taking over jarod's case was disturbing indeed