Chapter 10

Keller slowly paced up and down the middle of the observation room, hands on his hips, like a caged animal.

"How much longer are they gonna keep us in here?" he said. "I feel fine. I feel great, actually!"

Vaughn sat on one of the room's beds, chewing on his thumbnail. "They're probably just making sure we're okay," he said. "After… what happened."

On the other side of the room, Dehner sat on another bed, with Garrison standing in front of her. "Yeah," Garrison said, staring at Dehner. "What was that anyway?"

Dehner was looking down at her hands. "I… I don't know…" she said quietly. "I can't explain it… My head was hurting so much, I wanted to get the helmet off me, then… Then I felt it… in my mind…"

"This is crazy," said Keller.

"It's psychic powers," said Garrison.

"What the hell are you talking about?" said Keller, who ceased his pacing and scowled at Garrison.

"Psychic powers," Garrison repeated. "Moving stuff with your mind. I've read about it. I bet that's what Doctor Heidelburg was trying to do; give us all telekinesis, and maybe other abilities."

Keller shook his head. "Sorry, Lieutenant, but that sounds like a lotta comic book crap."

Garrison stepped closer to him, as if about to fight. "Listen, they say that the US military looked into giving their soldiers psychic abilities during World War Three. Maybe Heidelburg is part of something like that."

"It's impossible!" shouted Keller. "Humans can't be psychic!"

Garrison pointed at Dehner. "Then explain what she did!"

"Equipment malfunction, or something!" said Keller, glaring at Garrison. The two men seemed ready to come to blows.

"I knew it was going to happen," said Vaughn, puncturing the tension. He had remained quiet for a while, but now everyone looked to him.

"What?" said Garrison.

"What Ensign Dehner did in the med lab," said Vaughn. He seemed worried by his own revelation. "Just before it happened, I got a clear mental picture… At the time, I dismissed it, but then it actually happened."

Garrison looked back at Keller and pointed to Vaughn. "You see? Precognition! A vision of the future."

Keller was uneasy but less argumentative. "You seriously think that's what's been done to us?"

Garrison threw his arms wide. "It's the only explanation!"

Keller stroked his chin in thought. "It would give us an edge over the Vulcans…" he said to himself. Then, to Garrison, "How come you and I haven't gotten any powers then?"

Garrison shrugged. "Maybe it takes a while for some."

Vaughn got up from the bed and made his way over. Speculations were running a little wild and he felt the need to calm things down.

"Guys, I don't know what's going on," he said, stepping between Garrison and Keller, "but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Doctor T'Ling will figure things out. In the meantime-"

Keller scoffed loudly. "Like she's gonna help Humans get more powerful."

Vaughn held up his hands in what he hoped was a placating gesture. "We don't actually know what's happened to us yet…"

"There's one way to be sure," said Garrison, looking towards Dehner. He stood in front of her again. "You did it before, you can do it again."

Dehner remained facing downwards. "I… I don't know, Ed… M-Maybe we should just wait…"

Garrison grabbed her chin and pushed her head up to look him in the eye. "Look at me. That's not an option. Who knows how long they'll keep us in the dark; we need to find out for ourselves. Now, listen to me and do what I say…"

Vaughn stepped up and tried to intervene. "Um, Lieutenant, I don't think-"

Garrison, his eyes still on Dehner, held a finger up at Vaughn to silence him. He then pointed to the glass of water on the bedside cabinet.

"Try to move that glass," he said to Dehner.

Dehner shuffled nervously.

"Just do it!" Garrison shouted, making everyone jump.

"I don't know how," Dehner said, on the verge of tears.

Garrison sighed. "What did you do last time?"

"I… I don't know," said Dehner. From Garrison's annoyed look, she continued. "I was just scared, stressed, I just kept thinking about getting the helmet off."

"Okay," said Garrison. He forcibly pointed Dehner's head towards the glass. "Keep staring at it and thinking about moving it. Remember how scared you were when that helmet was trapped on you. Concentrate on that."

Dehner swallowed and stared intently at the glass. Other than Garrison occasionally hissing "Focus" at her, the room was silent for several seconds.

Vaughn was about to speak up again, when suddenly an image came into his mind, just like before in the medical lab.

He, and the three other test subjects, lay on the floor in this very room, all of them clutching their heads and screaming in agony.

Just as he returned to the present, still reeling from what he had seen, the glass on the cabinet started to shudder.

"Yes," Garrison said. "Concentrate!"

"Wait," said Vaughn, but he was too late.

The glass shattered, sending shards and water everywhere. Everyone in the room simultaneously cried out in pain as intense agony swelled in their heads, causing them all to double over.

An alarm sounded as, one by one, they each collapsed onto the floor. Vaughn realised, even as he felt like his head was about to explode from within, that someone must have been watching them through the two-way mirror on the wall.

Screaming from the pain, he saw the others start to convulse, only to realise that his own body was writhing uncontrollably as well.

Several medical staff quickly entered, carefully moving each of the subjects into the recovery position and clearing the broken glass away. Dr. T'Ling and Commodore North soon followed, and Vaughn, absurdly, wished he could update North as he usually did, instead of being wracked with pain on the floor. He tried to look up at the Commodore, but he found his vision starting to dim.

T'Ling knelt down to scan Vaughn and the others. "Get four neural shock kits," she said to a nurse, who hurried off. To another doctor, she said, "Five CCs of tricordrazine each."

North had kept his distance to let the medical staff work, but he now moved towards T'Ling. "Doctor, what's happening to them?" he asked.

Vaughn desperately wanted to explain what Dehner had been doing prior to their attacks, in case it was important, but his body betrayed him, continuing its convulsions and stabbing pains.

T'Ling looked up at North. "They are each experiencing intense seizures, and may go into neural shock."

Vaughn felt a hypospray in his neck and everything started to go dark.

Just before he passed out, he heard T'Ling say, "If their condition cannot be stabilised, they will suffer brain death."