Hello everyone (well, if there is anyone reading, which I hope),

So, this is it, the big Day for me! The day I officially start publishing this story!

Before beginning, one last explanation : the name of each chapter will be the name of a song which I love and think correspond in the chapter or the feel I wanted to give in the chapter.

MK Ultra is the name of one of my favourite Muse song (which is also my favourite band ever that I saw only yesterday again _ sorry, rambling) but also the name of a secret governmental experiment on brain capacities. So I think this was exactly what Kate was, isn't it?

Anyway, I hope you'll leave me a little comment to tell me how you liked the chapter. Your support will be crucial for me.

Oh and, as ever, it has been corrected by the lovely Photo100 ! Thanks so much !

And I'll also mention MerlinLover who convinced me to publish that today!

*takes a deep encouraging breathe to calm her nerves* Geronimo !


Chapter 1: MK Ultra

It was nearly midnight in the ATRD Institute and Kate was still awake. Not that it was unusual. She has been there for almost a year and a half and her sleep, despairingly, hadn't improved. That's why she spent most of her nights in the huge library the Institute kindly allowed her access to. In fact she spent most of her time there, at least, when she wasn't being used as a guinea pig by the researchers. She didn't even know what they were doing exactly but, in any case, she wouldn't be able to go elsewhere.

That night, she was reading a book about the ways and tools used to study the Universe. She'd always had been fascinated by everything touching Science and Astronomy and the book she was reading was mixing Physics, Chemistry and Astronomy. Admittedly, it was all very complicated but she had made it her mission to try and understand as much as she could. She didn't really think that much of it would be of any use to her but she had discovered that concentrating on a book was, these days, the only thing that allowed her to ignore the constant white noise that crowded her head all day and night.

At half past midnight, just like every other night, a guard passed, sent a glance through the glass walls of the room to check for intruders before waving at her and continuing on his way. He was fed up with his boring job but knew he had to keep it because he had a wife and an unborn-child to care for. Kate answered his smile with one of hers, trying to convey her support and understanding. She herself sometimes wanted to get out of here, even if she knew it was impossible. She suddenly wondered if the guard knew anything about what was going on here, about the experimentations or her so called "gift".

She followed his thoughts for some time but lost him when he entered the A-wing of the Institute. She decided to try to get some sleep as she knew no one would be about for at least four hours, which was a long enough time for her to manage to fall asleep… Before being waken by the numerous thoughts of the numerous people working at the Institute.


The next morning, at seven am, Sam discreetly knocked at Kate's door.

"Hi Sam. Yes I'm ready to go and play the lively guinea pig." Kate said without even turning towards the newcomer.

"I didn't even say anything Kate." Sam reprimanded her friend in good humor.

"Advantage to reading minds my dear." Kate retaliated making the red-headed girl stick her tongue out.

Kate got up and smiled at the young researcher before following her up the corridor that led them to the lab where the day's experiment would take place. Sam was one of the only people that Kate really appreciated in the Institute because she knew that she was the only one who didn't see her as a circus freak to train or study under a microscope. She knew that her friend was truly interested in her, that she was wondering what could have happened to Kate for her to accept to volunteer for the Institute experiments. A question that would probably never be answered as the Institute took the precaution of wiping her memories.

Sam had arrived a little more than a year before at the "Alien Technology Research & Development" Institute. She had been recruited there after brilliantly graduating from one of the best Medical School. She had been looking for a job and the Institute had offered her more than comfortable pay as well as the opportunity to work in such a renowned place. All she had to do was sign a very strict and unbreakable confidentiality clause in her contract. Of course it seemed nothing so she had done it and immediately after that had been brought deeper into the building where she had been face with a fraction of the best equipped research facility she had ever seen in her life. She had wanted to know who was financing it but the answer would always be the same: That is none of your business, Doctor. Later, once she had been there for a few days, she had learned that the Institute's vague aim was to salvage alien technologies to try and adapt them for everyday use. A bit pretentious in Sam's opinion, but it wasn't her place to judge that.

For the first few days, when she had been in formation, she had wondered what she would have to do as she hadn't any kind of knowledge in "aliens". She had then been explained that a "human" experiment had just begun. A volunteer had been selected and they had augmented her brain capacity via a device found on a space-ship that had crashed landed. And that's where her skills came in play. The Institute needed a doctor to watch over the health of their guinea pig, as she had been changed by the experiment performed on her. In fact, the young woman they had chosen had developed a particular "gift". She could read minds of the people around her. The Institute hoped to understand the workings of the '"gift", thus allowing the subject to master and use it. And that's how Sam met Kate and they became friends.

At first, Sam had had trouble getting used to the fact that Kate could hear all her thoughts but, in the end, she just decided to trust the other girl. She had learned that Kate wasn't one to judge people's thoughts and that she hated her ability more often than not. She always had the feeling she was violating people's intimacy. She had told Sam that it was very disturbing to constantly know everything everyone thought, especially when said thoughts concerned yourself. Nothing was a secret to Kate anymore. More than that, this "gift" could be quite painful for her when she had the bad luck to find herself with too many people at the same time. Indeed, the first time Sam met Kate she had been sealed for months in her rooms while trying to make all the voices inside her head go away. She hadn't let anyone near her but, finally, Sam had managed to get through to her, becoming her confidante and since then, both women spent much more time together.

Kate had told her she was amnesiac. Her first memory was the moment she woke up at the Institute after a two months long coma. Strangely enough, she remembered everything she had been taught at school but couldn't remember her name, her friends, her family or even how she arrived at the Institute. Sam had tried to help her by going to her own chiefs to ask for information but they had strictly refused stating that it was Kate herself who had asked to never be told about her past. This had only added to the mystery that was the young woman. The young doctor had indeed noticed many scars on Kate that were proofs of surgery and serious injuries. The most impressive of them all being a long scar on the side of her neck that Kate always hid with a scarf carefully tied above it. Sam thought it could be the mark of a gunshot but she couldn't understand why anyone would shoot the other woman. She was kind and loving. She never got angry, not even when she had to start tests again and again. She always took time to listen to others and give them advice.

Sam was brought back in reality by Kate laughing.

"What is it?" She asked.

"David." She said, pointing at the young scientist waving at them from behind the glass wall separating his lab from the corridor. "You should hear what he's thinking about right now."

"Tell me then."

"Well… Let just say he'd like to invite us both… He's kind of fantasizing about us… It's rather disgusting in fact."

Sam laughed at her friend's disgusted expression, once more wondering how strange this all must be for her. She was a pretty girl with long dark brown hair and bright blue eyes and, therefore, was the subject of many Inappropriate thoughts from their male colleagues. Of course, for them it was unconscious, but still. Not that Kate was complaining. She was just trying to ignore those kinds of thoughts to the best of her ability. As for Sam, she was ginger with far too much curly hair and glasses to correct her myopia. She was taller than Kate by several inches which was a cause for endless teasing between the two of them.

After this small interlude the two continued on their way and it was several minutes later that they finally arrived in the experiment lab 4 where Professor Clearance, Project Chief, was waiting impatiently for them.

"Here you are. Finally." He exclaimed, his tone cold and cutting.

"Good morning to you too." Kate answered calmly, completely unimpressed by the older man.

"Yeah, right, good morning. Lots of work today so we better begin. We're going to monitor you with the brain scanner to see which zones are activating when you use your gift."

"I don't want to seem rude Sir, but you speak like I chose to use the gift but I don't control it. And we've already done this kind of test many times before…"

"I know that Miss. But this time we're trying to see how your brain reacts to stimulation."

"Stimulation, Sir?" Sam asked, suddenly worried as she saw Kate looking scared at the researcher's thoughts. "What kind of stimulation?"

"A room full of thinking people." The Professor answered lightly. "We'll make them go in little by little and monitor the changes in Kate's brain."

Kate tensed. They had already tried a similar experiment two months after she awoke and it hadn't ended very well for her. To say the least. She had had some kind of fit with the impression of drowning under the pressure of so many thoughts inside her mind. All those thoughts and emotions had been like needles pushed inside her mind and nerves. Unbearable.

"Isn't that dangerous for Kate's health?" Sam asked, the warning lights in her head turning to red.

"Of course not. We will control the situation." The Professor answered matter-of-factly even if his eyes clearly stated that he couldn't care less about her opinions or Kate's health.

Sam glared at the Professor but said nothing. She knew she had no power. She was only there to patch Kate up whenever one of their tests went wrong so that she could still be "operational". And that had happened many times already. She was about to give her superior a piece of her mind but Kate interrupted her.

"It's okay Sam, I'll do it." She said before leaving the room to prepare herself.

Once in the scanner room, two technicians came to her, attaching dozens of sensors to her before sitting her down on a leather chair. The scanner descended and Kate forced herself to breathe deeply. She hated the feeling of imprisonment these kinds of test always gave her. She was hearing the thoughts of the people around her. The Professor was reviewing the protocols he had planned, already analyzing the first results on his screen. The assistants were waiting for the older man's order, curiously waiting to see how she would react. And, finally, Sam was worrying for her but trying to keep her mind calm and collected with happy thoughts to help her. Kate could just picture the other woman wringing her hands nervously, eyes fixed anxiously on the control screens in front of her. The telepath smiled softly. She definitely loved that doctor. It was good to know that someone was worrying about her well-being and not just her capability to run through endless tests and experimentations.

After a few minutes, she heard a new set of thoughts coming nearby, then another, and another, and another. It was a steady progress and Kate soon thought that the little room must be at least half full. All those thoughts were beginning to take more and more room in her own mind and she began to have trouble separating hers from theirs. Her head began to spin and she felt her heart beat faster under the stress caused to her mind. She wanted to get out of the scanner and run but, of course, she had been attached to the seat.

"I… Hum… I'm not feeling so well." Kate began, her voice trembling slightly. "Could we stop, please?"

"No. Readings are just getting interesting." The voice of the Professor came through the speakers.

"Kate." Sam said. "Try to calm down, okay? Breathe deeply."

"Trying." Kate answered.

However she knew she wouldn't be able to keep that up for long. She was desperatly trying to keep herself calm and a hold onto the noise inside her head but everything was just mixing up. It felt like being in a really crowded room, only ten times worse. She couldn't distinguish the thoughts of the researchers trying to understand what was happening anymore, the ones that were worrying, the ones that thought of what they were missing and the ones that were wondering when they would finally be released. She couldn't think straight anymore and pain was now raging in her mind as if all her nerves were on fire. She was suffocating, her breaths coming in sharp pants. And before she could comprehend anything more, everything went blank and she lost consciousness, gratefully welcoming the soothing, silent darkness.


So... Was it any interesting?