Chapter One

If Dr. Lee Rosen's suspicions are true, Gary Bell could be one of the most unique Alphas discovered yet. Most Alphas he knows about have abilities that are an advancement of normal physiology, as well as psychological and intellectual capabilities. However, for him to be able to see the Electro-Magnetic spectrum has amazing implications he can hardly imagine. It would prove that the Alpha abilities were nearly limitless.

On the other hand, his suspicions could be wrong while his peers are right. This young man is simply on the higher end of the autism spectrum with a comorbid diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder. A strange combination to be sure, and extremely difficult to treat, but he has most certainly seen stranger things. But his hopes are for his first thoughts.

He waits patiently as the young man in question shuffles across the room, his attention focused on something else. Gary's fingers are flicking in the air, an expression of concentration and slight confusion on his face as his eyes focused on something no one else could see.

"I like your office," Gary finally says, his eyes flickering everywhere but Rosen's face. "There's not a lot of signals here, it's quiet. But-but I can still get things, so it's not silent. It's nice."

"What do the signals look like?" he asks, and he can tell he caught Gary's attention even though he never looks quite at him. He watches the boy's blunted expressions mix through suspicion and wariness, and knows it's from other doctors. "I'm not judging you, Gary."

For a brief moment, Gary's eyes meet his before he quickly look away. "They're streams of lights," he answers after a movement. "They're colorful, like a prism, and- and their colors corresponds with what kind of signals they are. "

Rosen nods his head, while his strength was not in physics it did make plausible sense. "And they're always there?"

"Not all of them," Gary corrects, finally taking a seat on the couch near the window, his hands still nimbly moving in the air. "Cell phones and Radio waves can't travel through some buildings. Especially older buildings, because they're built with a lot of metal that blocks them. But the darker ones, they can, but there's nothing but static noise on them. Amy says…." Suddenly Gary pauses, his fingers finding the plastic band on his wrist and start pulling and twisting it. "I'm not supposed to mention her. Mom told me not too."

Rosen mentally flips through Gary's file, trying to remember who Amy was before deciding he meant his twin sister-Amelia Bell. "You mean your sister?"

Gary nods his head, still clearly agitated. "No one believes that I talk to her. They say that the Amy I talk to isn't real. But-But she is! I just talked to her today, when mom was visiting with her. I told her the lobby room smell bothered my nose, because it does. It always does. She says she doesn't bother to smell anymore because it used to bother her too."

He had meant to broach the subject later, but allows the conversation to flow, "What does she say-about the signals?"

For a moment Gary fidgets as he continues to pace the room. Just as he believes that maybe this was not a wise path to follow, the young man speaks. "She believes me about the signals. She says that I can see the signals that she can travel on. We're special, but not in a bad way."

Rosen quirks his lips, and wonders if the twins know exactly how special the pair of them are-considering of course, Amy truly is Amelia. "So Amelia has the same ability as you?" He can tell Gary is surprised by his honest question for a moment before he resumes his usual frown.

However, his anxious fingers leave his bracelet and goes to the thin air once more. "Hers is different. I see the waves in front of me, with my eyes. She says they're in her head. She says she unplugs herself from her body in order to surf the web and listen to the radio."

"How do you talk to her then?" he asks as he scratches the notes on to his piece of paper. Twin Alphas with roughly the same ability, but different manifestations. This could possibly be the biggest leap in understanding the Alpha Phenomenon.

Gary shrugs his shoulders, "Email most of the time. Sometimes-sometimes, she'll text me, or we'll talk in a chat room, but mom says I'm not allowed to go into chat rooms, that they're dangerous. That makes me upset sometimes, because Amy never has to do what she's told. No one tells her what she has to do, or- or what she can't do."

For a moment, Rosen lets the amazement wash over him at the possibilities of twin Alphas, and how much it could help the understanding of Alphas despite not being identical twins. Then he remembers Danielle and focuses on Gary, and hopes that this confusion will finally end for this family. That is his purpose now, to help the Alphas, and learning more about them is only a side benefit. Still, he cannot help but ask more about the young man's abilities. "Can you send emails without a device?"

He nods his head, "Yeah, well, if there's an internet signal. It's easy."

Rosen smiles as he pulls a piece of paper from his notebook, ready to write down his own personal email address, "I would like you to prove it by sending me an email…" Busy writing, he doesn't notice the quirk of a frown as Gary flicked his wrist.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Well… Hello would suffice," He looks up as he rips the sheet of paper away from its binding, just as his laptop gives a quiet bing. A glance reveals a new email from gbell. Casting a curious look to Gary, who attention has wandered to his signals, Rosen clicks the untitled email.

Hello.

The hour pasts slowly for Sandra. She attempts to read one of the magazines provided, and when that doesn't work, she attempts to talk with one of Dr. Rosen's employees, Nina. The strained conversation tells her a few things, mostly that this doctor doesn't seem like the normal psychiatrists. That gives her hope, and causes her to worry as well.

Then after what feels like forever the hour is over, the door opens to reveal a smiling Dr. Rosen, and Gary with one of his half-quirk smiles. Hope wins over worry as she stands up, a smile breaking over her own lips for the first time in a long time. It lasts only for a moment before the older doctor asks to speak to her privately, and worry erupts once more. This is always how it starts, they tell her how disturbed her son is, and suggest a radical change in medication and other therapies. And that is the worst, because Gary does not take well to the slightest of changes. She wonders if the doctors even care about the trial she deals with whenever they try to change his treatments.

Except Rosen's smile doesn't change as the door closes behind her. "Please, Mrs. Bell, sit down," Rosen offers with a smile, and she warily accepts. Her suspicion is not lost on Rosen, who tries to smile reassuringly to the fretted mother. "Mrs. Bell… Sandra, I'm sure you're expecting me to repeat what you've probably have heard many, many times."

Her hands wring nervously in her lap, "Something like that, yes."

"Well then, let me relieve your worries. While there is no doubt that Gary has Autism, I don't believe he's hallucinating, or has delusions." Sandra's eyes widen in surprise, but she holds out for the bad news. Because this is impossible. What her son claims can't be true, even if that's what the mother in her has always believed. Part of her wants to believe her son, because he is so convinced himself, but part of her wants to be rational. People don't see signals and lights in the air. Not without something being very wrong with them.

"Then, what do you think it is?" she asks quietly.

He takes a breath, "I believe he is what I call an Alpha. I do believe he can see wireless signals in the air, and perhaps even more than that. And I have proof." He takes a moment to let that sink in, and as he explains to her what an Alpha exactly is, her heart let goes of disbelief and latches strongly on to the possibility. Finally, finally, an answer that does not make her doubt, that doesn't lead to further questions or problems. This has been the answer she had been searching for in all the other doctors and psychiatrists and psychologists.

"There is one more thing," he concludes with, and that worry stirs once more. Had she let hope rise to quickly? Was there a 'but' in his explanation that once more condemns her son? "While talking with Gary, his sister was brought into the conversation."

Sandra sits straighter in her chair, hands clenching as tight as the figurative one squeezing her heart. Of course Amy was brought into the conversation, she seemed the center point of most of Gary's problems according to the others. "And?" she whispers, trying to restrain the fear swelling as a tide.

"I believe that she is an Alpha as well." Those simple words allow the fear to ebb, but only for hope and guilt to take its place. "I realize that you are her legal guardian, and I wanted to ask your permission to contact her."

Silence stands thick in the office for one long moment before Sandra swallows, "You-you think that the person Gary is talking to is Amy?"

He offers a slight smile, "It is highly possible."

Inside her mind, Amy is dancing her way through passwords and firewalls as she searches the term Alpha. Her search led her through so many things until she found a radical group of conspiracy theorists called Red Flag. Alphas, ordinary people with extraordinary abilities. She plays with the word on her metaphorical tongue as she digs deeper, looks into the deepest part of the governments' hidden files she's played in before.

To her, they aren't just files full of code, but she imagines them as books in a grand library. She imagines herself strolling down plush carpet aisles, fingers brushing the back of the books, the contact giving her a brief glimpse into the 'book.' To her, this is real, and the warm water of her weekly bath might as well be non-existent. She doesn't even feel a ghost of the washcloths or smell even the faintest whiff of the perfumed body wash her mother supplies the facility with.

However, just as she finds a file that has Alphas as more than a passing term, a quiet chime alerts her to new email. She pulls the file, making a copy of it to one of the many servers she uses to store things, and leaves. Because while she may not feel pain out in the real world, in here the security programs hurt when they catch up to her, and she doesn't like pain at all. She flees the library, not through a door or such, but merely withdraws and appears in less than a second the nursing home's server, her sanctuary for the last several years. She's made something she likens it to a mouse's home in the hard drive- small, unseen, and very messy. Or maybe a dragons den- full of shiny things that varied from the highly valuable to stuff only she would like. Either way, she's made sure to protect it, and hide it. And that means in turn the nursing home has perhaps the best security for a medical facility in the world.

With the file transferred to her little den, she destroys all traces she's ever played with the file and settles into an overstuffed chair before pulling the email up on a virtual screen. She frowns slightly when she recognizes the sender as the new doctor Gary was talking to, the server the same as the one her brother used sending his earlier emails.

Dear Miss Amelia Bell

I guess I should start with saying I have never not spoken with one of my clients face to face, but if everything I suspect is true, you are a very special case. Though I believe your brother Gary has probably told you about me, I want to start by introducing myself. I am Doctor Lee Rosen, a psychiatrist and leading expert of the Alpha Phenomenon.

I'm sure you know that many doctors have not believed your brother before, but I do believe he can see the wireless signals in the air. That he is an Alpha-a person who is the next step in human evolution. This isn't just a theory, I have seen Alpha abilities at work and I'm a coworker and even friend to a few Alphas.

Your mother has agreed to let me contact you obviously, but I want to assure you that you can cease communication at any time. Gary tells me you have grown up without any parental supervision to speak of, so I'm aware that you may feel like we are trying to force you into something. I assure you that we don't want to force you into anything, but I would like to be able to help you and your family.

Sincerely,

Dr. Lee Rosen

Amy frowns, flicking her fingers to pull up a new email. Her fingers then fly over the imagined keyboard, typing her reply

Well, Dr. Rosen, my opinion right now is that you sound rather stuffy. A lot like those peer-reviewed psychology journals I've read, actually. Is there a course not listed on the curriculum for doctors on how to be stuffy and boring? However, since you've given my brother a chance and so far have believed the truth, I'll give you a chance.

While I don't have what you professionals deem as a normal relationship with my brother, I do care about him. In fact, he's about the only person I do care for, mostly for the fact he is the only one I know. So I'll agree to talking with you, but I will warn you I won't hold back my opinion. You are right when you said I haven't had any parental figures in my life, and I prefer to stay as I am now. So, if you plan on trying to make us into a Nuclear American family-as much as a single-parent family can be, I'll tell you right now you will fail. It's not that I hold a grudge against our mother- her choice was logical and this situation is perhaps more my fault that hers, but I simply don't need a mother.

But on to the topic I do wish to discuss, Alphas. At first, I was very wary at your 'Alpha' explanation considering it is only mentioned by conspiracy theorist, which I've learned to be mostly full of, frankly, crap. However, deeper investigation has led into some very interesting places that give your story some truth. So I suppose we both must proceed with an open mind into this, huh?

Oh, I think that it's polite to say in return that it's a pleasure meet you, Dr. Rosen.

Half the city away, Rosen is honestly surprised as he looks at the email before breaking into a slight smile. He started this not knowing what to expect, and has a feeling he had better keep that expectation as he dealt with the Bell family.