They were all sitting in Anna's large kitchen at the long table benches. She was preparing enough food to feed twenty people. Cooking was one of her hobbies and helped to relax her.
"Thank god I'm starving!" said Shelby as she dove into the food. The other people at the table couldn't help noticing she ate an enormous amount for a slim woman.
Wufei wasn't as diplomatic as the others. "How can you eat like a rhino and stay such a small woman?"
Shelby smiled and pointed to her head. Burns off more calories than you might think. She said mentally.
"That's so unfair." Complained Relena who was helping herself to a carefully sized portion. The size of her waistline had nothing to do her political capabilities, yet the entire world always felt it newsworthy if she went up half a dress size.
"Would you care to trade?"
"Shel you're being rude. They're here to learn about psionics not get their noses rubbed in it." Chastened Anna. "Well, I'm sure you all have questions. I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be to answer them." Her hands were itching to find something to do to dispel her nerves.
Again Wufei went for the direct approach. "What I'd like to know is what makes you think you should be allowed to parade around in peoples minds? Invade their private thoughts?"
His barely concealed hostility didn't surprise Anna. He'd been radiating impatience and discomfort almost from the moment she met him. As much as she didn't like feeling it from him she knew she had to get accustomed to hostility. She didn't know how yet, but this meeting would eventually have a domino effect that would expose them to the public. She greatly hoped the outcome would be one of grudging acceptance.
"First of all I'm always amazed at the arrogance of people to assume their private thoughts would be of interest to anyone but themselves. I have enough problems of my own. Why would I bother with yours? Secondly it is not as easy as you may think to 'parade around' in someone's mind. Shel, care to demonstrate?"
Shelby had a large glass of water on the table in front of her. Suddenly several jars from Anna's spice rack flew over and dumped some of their contents into the water before they flew back to their original homes. The water was now filled with debris of varying shapes and sizes. Shelby flexed her mind and pulled the speckled water out of the glass and shaped it into a sphere that floated above the centre of the table.
"Behold your mind. Or a crude representation of it. The stuff floating inside is every thought and feeling you've ever had. And I do mean every one. You may not remember what you ate for lunch on April 23rd when you were six, but your mind does. It just pulls the memory closer to the centre where you 'forget it'. The stuff on the surface is what occupies your mind right now. It is this surface matter that telepaths and empaths can perceive." She could feel the others regarding the crude model with a variety of emotions.
"If it's not on the surface, we can't see it. It would be too awkward and too dangerous to try and sort thorough that inner mess to find any one thought. Having said that I can tell you it's quite simple to hide a thought from a telepath. Don't think it. Think of anything else."
That very simple statement went a long way to reducing the apprehension around the table including Anna's. For the first time since Shelby awoke her in the middle of the night, Anna felt the tension between her shoulder blades ease.
Heero turned to Quatre. "Is that true Quatre?" Heero felt already convinced, so she didn't take offense to his need to confirm it.
"Yes I think it is. My empathic gift is nowhere near what they can do, but yes I can only sense what someone is feeling when they're feeling it. Besides, I'm not picking up any deception from either of them"
Anna almost laughed. That wasn't completely true. She was hiding something but it had nothing to do with psionics. How ironic she would be discussing how to hide feelings while she herself was clamping down hard enough on hers to crack her skull. Her girlhood crush on Quatre had grown into a fully adult woman's lust. He'd grown into such a man. Such a gorgeous-delicious-prime-specimen of a man. It was all she could do not to jump into his lap and start taking bites out of him. Catching site of Shelby's raised eyebrow, she reaffirmed control over such thoughts.
Clearing her throat, she continued. "To communicate telepathically is just as simple." She paused while Shelby separated the water sphere into two smaller ones. "We simply allow who is receiving access to a chosen thought."
A small tendril of water branched out from a bright red peppercorn and touched the other sphere. The non psionics were all staring at the model intently. Most were marveling at its simplicity and wondering why they could not perform such a seemingly simple task. This was the part Anna was most worried about. Explaining the difference between psi and non psi.
"I know it looks simple, but let me reassure you it takes quite a bit of energy to do. Which brings us to the 'why aren't we crazy yet?' part." She controlled her revulsion in their renewed curiosity in her.
"It is not known which part of the brain allows this to occur. What is known is that the part is stimulated by a certain neurotransmitter csordellarion. Eighty years ago scientists thought they had come up with a reasonable facsimile to the natural transmitter. Problem was, it impeded brain function in the higher reasoning areas and inspired aggression. Which is why the test subjects went not only insane, but violent as well."
"Twenty years ago, a second group of scientists came up with an improvement to the original theory using a catalyst and a modification to the treatment. They found a way to convince the body to change the false transmitter to a usable one." Anna tried not to be stung by their feelings of revulsion, but it hurt. Especially from Quatre.
Shelby interrupted at this point "Before we go any further let me tell you neither Anna or I have any of the artificial transmitter left in our systems."
"I get that hon." Duo said quietly "and I believe you," he said for the other's benefit "but how can you still do this?"
"Because when it was in our system at the lab complex, we were trained to use the abilities it gave us. In essence it woke up that mysterious section of the brain. Like a muscle that's almost never been used getting a shot of steroids. After we escaped, we continued to exercise that part to the brain. That exercise in turn, forced our bodies to produce more and more of the natural transmitter. And that is why we will not go insane. We are naturally psionic with an unnatural beginning." By now her own emotions and nerves were a complete riot inside her. She was having difficulties picking up anything from those at the table due to her own turmoil.
Quatre looked directly at Anna "If that's true, I should be able to increase my own empathy with practice." He seemed to believe and doubt that theory at the same time. Anna felt her control on her feelings for him slip again. Of all the people in the room she wanted to convince he was the most important to her.
"Yes that's true but you'd have to know how to practice. Up 'til now you've been just picking up feelings when they happen. Now you'd have to go looking for them. Do you know how?" She countered.
She was so intent on impressing that idea onto Quatre that she was taken by surprise by Trowa's question. As usual Trowa's mind latched on to a small seemingly unimportant detail and blasted it open with that uncanny instinct of his.
"What I'd like to know," he said quietly "is why you choose to keep exercising your psi powers in the first place. If the false transmitter was simply going to leave your bodies, why keep the powers? Why didn't you save yourself this worry of being discovered?"
Anna bit her lip and looked over at Shelby for aid. Both she and Duo looked uncomfortable by this question. So you told him did you? I doubt the others will take it so well. They are very proud.
Pulling in all her courage she answered Trowa, but looked at Quatre "We did it to aid you in your fight against OZ." She said "We wanted revenge, and so did you. We couldn't afford to attack them openly. Although you were unaware of it, we fought beside and aided you gundam pilots during the war."