Eclipse - Book One: Darkness Falling
by M. Bumbarger
Chapter Two : Echo
He hated this part. After three weeks of excuses, of polite declinations due to lectures to prepare or exams and proofs to grade, of think tanks and brainstorming with the physics and math departments at the University and of simple hiding in his lab and pretending that he wasn't aware of the calls channeled into him, Adam had run out of excuses. Now it was time for the obligatory lunch with his father, where Dr. Neiman feigned interest in the life of his son and inevitable tried to convince Adam of how righteous and wonderful the world was and how fortunate Adam was to live in it.
It didn't help matters any that these lunches or dinners or unexpected meetings always took place at Psi Corporation and Centre for Development and Control, or The Centre as it referred to itself. Not that this was the only Centre; but this was the one in London, and when one spoke of The Centre everyone knew what you meant. The Centre was the polite way of naming it; Psi Control was the derogatory end of it and Adam used that particular designation as often as possible.
Placing his fingertips against the finger pad and looking into the scanner, he waited indifferently while the computer performed its routine security check. The Centre was a world and city within itself; no one got either in or out of The Centre without passing through the security checkpoints. This was how the Unified Alliance protected its "interest."
Adam bit back the bile of gore and disgust that rose in his throat at the last thought. They were people, for God's sake. Psi's were people just like the rest of them. Yes, they were given some extraordinary skills and abilities, but they were neither animals nor bizarre freaks of nature. They breathed the same air and their bodies functioned in the same fashion. The only differences were traced genetically, or sometimes found in brain scans, and even those could sometimes be unreliable.
"Neiman, Adam M. Normal. Security clearance provided. Enjoy your visit to The Centre."
Barely acknowledging the soft feminine computer voice, or the security guard that handed back his pass card, Adam shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his coat and headed into The Centre proper.
Normal. That was his designation in the computer files of the Alliance. Meaning that he lacked any psionic abilities and therefore was allowed all rights and freedoms as a full citizen of the Alliance. Normal. Even though he had never had a normal day or relationship with his father. Normal, even though nothing about him truly was. It didn't matter. That was where the line was drawn, you were a normal or you were a psi. And if you were a psi, your life was not your own from the moment the government found you.
But The Centre was meant to provide the illusion of normality and freedom to the psi's. A huge complex with shopping centers, restaurants, schools and living complexes, it was here the 'best of the best' of the psi's lived, worked and existed while they waited for the Alliance or Psi Control to find some work for them. They had everything that they could ever want . . . aside from the ownership of themselves.
Walking among them didn't bother Adam the way that it did so many "normals." He had been here often enough to know that psi's preferred to keep their distance from norms as much as norms tried to keep their distance from the psi's that were mainstreamed into the outside world. He also knew that psi's didn't need to go out of their way to read the minds of norms; it seemed that most norms were so loud that psi's had to concentrate to *not* hear their thoughts.
He took his time walking through the public garden on his way to the private elevator that led up to the Operational Offices. The top most level of The Centre where his father, and hundreds of other men and women who somehow believed themselves to be the closest thing to God, sat and watched and manipulated and controlled the world beneath them. Personally, he liked the public garden; he liked the serene tranquility and beauty that it provided, just as it was supposed to provide a buffer between the psi's and the outside world. Adam knew that it was more for the comfort of the norms that had to come to The Centre to work than to provide any comfort for the psi's themselves. Psi's had no lives and no rights.
Slumping against the elevator wall, he ignored those in the elevator with him as the carriage began its ascent. He didn't wish to make idle conversation about the war in the Russian front or the slow political breaking down and reshaping of the South American continent. It was only a matter of time before the entire world was part of the Unified Alliance, one government, one church . . .how long before they tried to make them all one mind?
Two psi's and two norms occupied the elevator with him. The metallic black bands they wore on their wrists could identify the psi's. Those bands tracked them, just as their DNA markers did. Everything about them was contained in those bands, and they could not be removed without alerting the military police and Psi Control at the highest levels. Those bands tagged and collared them like dogs, marking their difference from norms. Without them, they would have appeared just as normal as everyone else.
At least that was not his father's invention. That was not something else for him to be disgusted with the name Neiman for creating. Not that it was any consolation to him; his father was responsible for enough that disgusted him.
Adam checked his watch. Not that he needed to really. He had an internal awareness of time that was more precise than any watch ever had been. No, he checked his watch because it gave him something to do in the silent hum and rise of the elevator. He checked his watch because it would allow him to focus his thoughts and plan the remainder of his day . . .which he hoped would go better than his morning had.
Starting with Sue Lee waking him in the lab, the day had gone downhill. And Adam honestly hadn't meant to sleep at the lab last night. Last night, he had intended to go home, get a shower, feed his cat and focus his mind on something else other than those equations. He knew that his mind was getting too cluttered, that he wasn't focusing properly and he knew the only way to combat that was to take a few steps back and approach it from another angle.
But that hadn't happened. Instead, he had woken up to Sue Lee's mothering and spent the last ten minutes before he dashed off to teach his sophomore level physics class listening to Red try and set him up with some grad student or another. While he appreciated their concern and their efforts, neither of his friends seemed to realize that the last thing Adam had any interest in at this moment was a romantic entanglement. Those always ended in upset and heartache and he wasn't going to travel that road again yet . . . if he ever did. Besides, even the most intelligent and brightest of The University students didn't hold Adam's interest. They didn't think the way he thought, they didn't see the things he saw no matter how hard he tried to explain them.
They didn't share his passion and in the end, that was the biggest disappointment of all.
His students today had been ill prepared for class and no amount of prodding could seem to make them think and perform properly. Then Professor Cage had actually gotten offended when Adam found the simple error in his theoretical equation and corrected it. Adam wouldn't have minded the man's offense or scathing remarks if the professor hadn't asked for his help to begin with.
"I don't know why you bother to help those dried up prunes," Red had remarked. "They're jealous of Neiman, and they don't appreciate your mind."
Maybe not, but he didn't have to be a stuck-up windbag simply because they were, did he?
By the time the elevator reached Central Operations, Adam disembarked alone. He nodded and smiled at the general receptionist and headed off towards his father's offices. The sooner he got this over with, the happier he would be. And with any luck, Red might have actually made some progress on those computer simulations.
"Adam."
He saw her too late to alter his course and pretend he hadn't seen her.
"Lucy."
She was precisely as he remembered her . . . no that wasn't the truth. She looked the same; the same shoulder length brown hair, the same inquisitive gray eyes, but other than that there was nothing there that Adam remembered. The Lucy he knew had been energetic and wanted to conquer the world. She wanted to be a journalist; she wanted to travel beyond the boundaries of the Alliance and show the world the truth of what lie beyond in Asia and Russian and Africa. She wanted . . . she wanted to make a difference.
Well, he supposed that she was doing precisely that. Only these days found her making a difference for Psi Control. Standing before him now in the standard white uniform of Psi Control, her identification badge on her right shoulder and a clip board and data computer in one arm, Lucy Adams was not the young idealistic college student that he had fallen in love with and almost married. These days, Lucy Adams was about as free and independent as the psi's in the lower levels; Psi Control owned her, but she had gone willingly when the price was right.
She made a difference. She made the world see Psi Control the way they wanted to be seen.
And in the end, she had made Adam not wish to see her at all anymore.
"How are you?" It was the standard question. It wasn't that she truly cared or wanted an answer anymore than he wanted to give an honest one.
"Fine. You?"
"Good," Lucy nodded. "Still working in your lab?"
"Always." Adam raked his eyes roughly over her, noting the rings on her sleeve. She had two red ones now, not just one. Apparently she was doing her job well enough to earn a promotion. "I see you're still doing well with Psi Corporation." Corporation, not Control. No one dared say the derogatory when under video surveillance or in the place where even the plants and floors had ears.
"I'm satisfied and happy." A pause, and then, "I'm seeing someone."
And that was supposed to mean what to him? She had already sold her soul to Psi Control, what did he care if she gave her heart to one of its vultures? "Let me guess. A doctor."
"A very talented doctor. You could be as good as him, Adam."
He heard the silent accusation in her words. It was the same accusation that he heard so often from his father. He could do something useful with his mind – biogenetic engineering, computer engineering, anything except for wasting his time and his talent teaching at The University and holed up in his lab. Never mind that what he did gave him satisfaction. Never mind that it made him happy. Of course in this materialistic world where the rich got richer and the poor wasted away until the day they mercifully died, happiness didn't seem to be of much importance.
"No thank you, I'm good where I am. I've got a lot of sharp students this semester."
"Well, good luck to you then. I have press conference." She brushed past him, the all too familiar scent of her perfume making his heart clench. God, how could he still love her after all this time, after all that had happened and the bitter words they had exchanged?
Adam couldn't resist getting in a last retort. "Good luck sleeping with yourself at night."
Lucy faltered, but barely. He wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been watching for it. Then she was gone, hurrying on to hail the wonders of Psi Control for the modern world.
Adam continued towards his father's office, hoping to get lunch over with as quickly as possible. He was suddenly very tired . . . and feeling slightly ill.
*** End of Chapter Two