Chocky's Dawn
by Chaoseternus

Note that italics indicates telepathy.

“"I knew I should have taken him myself,"” Winters cursed, his head shaking, "“are you sure?”"

“"I'm sure,"” I replied, not glancing around the cluttered and untidy office, I was used to Winters unique take on filing by now, "“I did expect them to be slightly off, they are geniuses after all, but they were so off they were disconnected”"

“"So, we call the NSPCC in on them,"” Winters grimaced, “"and get Thomas out of there”"

“"A single report will not do much good, doubly so when they have had issues with rogues”" I reasonably pointed out.

“"Rogues?”"

“"I did a background check, mixed bag of Army and Business types tried to seize control of the children and the technologies they were working on”"

Winters growled, his hands turning white as he held onto the now creaking arms of his old, but solid wooden chair, “"I thought that ilk were cleaned out ages ago”"

“"These children, whether they know it or not, started that purge"” I had to sigh, annoyed, “"but the prior experience means they do not trust the military, and that there is a special notice in their files to take reports from the military with a pinch of salt. Indeed, any such report is to be reported to MI-5 straight away”"

Winters raised a questioning eyebrow at me, and I shrugged, "“I did my homework, but it does help to have contacts inside the NSPCC”"

“"Right,”" Winters didn't comment on that, “"so we need proof”"

“"Of course,”" I replied, "“and worse still, we need to be careful about getting it, they might be certifiable but they are geniuses, if they decide they are being watched, or worse, if any of the organisations watching over them spots us and decides to ask questions later..."

"“Point,” "Winters shook his head," “right, well I'll pass word along to an associate of mine, young up and comer, see what she thinks. You had best go sort your paperwork out, your behind”"

I shot Winters a wry grin as I headed off, paperwork, my favourite.

The first thing I noticed as I entered my house was that the security system was on and it really didn't look like anyone had gotten in. The reason I mention that is because the second thing I saw was a young lady, barely looked out of her teens, sitting cross-legged at the top of the stairs, yoghurt in one hand, pistol raised in the other.

As she saw me, she relaxed, slipping the pistol away, a spoon magically appearing in the hand, “"Commander Thompson, Admiral Winters asked me to say hi. Names Murielle, don't ask for a last name, I don't generally give it out”"

“"Winters," I cautiously commented, “"did mention something about a young up and comer…”"

“"That would be me,"” she shrugged, casually tossing the now empty pot into the bin, a shot which took it over the banister and five feet behind where she sat, and she didn't look. The empty tub scored a direct look and I vowed to treat this young lady very carefully indeed. She had to be a deadly shot, pun intended.

“"So, considering you're only the second officer Winters has pointed me at and the first hasn't been found yet, what's up?”"

I blinked, her commentary telling me exactly what this far too innocent looking woman did for the Navy and I edged her a few notches further up the dangerous rankings. I also vowed to ask Winters why the Navy had such an officer, that was more the Armies work or the Marines.

“"Observation and Intelligence gathering mission,"” I forced myself to say calmly, walking into the kitchen for something to eat and noting quite quickly that most of the yoghurts I had bought yesterday had vanished from the fridge.

I turned around from the fridge, some sliced ham in my hands, planning to make a quick sandwich only to find Murielle right behind me. Now, I have damn good hearing and I didn't hear her move, nor did I hear the fifth and sixth steps squeak and they always squeaked. It had taken me hours of careful fiddling to produce that sound, a nice warning signal and she had avoided it.

She was good.

"Sandwich?"” I asked, my tone a little higher then normal, as I reached across the antiseptically clean and practically unused cooker to the metal bread-bin.

“"No thank you”"

“"So,"” I continued, resisting the urge to glance curiously at Murielle, “"Winters son just started at a new school”"

“"I heard, what's the mission?”"

“"That,"” I grimaced," “is the mission. I delivered Thomas today and almost walked right back out with him”"

“"Dirty?”"

I shook my head, "“insane, unfortunately there's a D-12-15 notice on their file”"

Murielle frowned, puzzling this over for a second, then shook her head, annoyed, "“rogues?”"

“"Bingo”"

“"Okay,”" Murielle smiled, “"easy mission, watch some kids, observe and note down anything off”"

I chuckled, "“I am guessing you're the only officer Winters didn't brag to then”"

Murielle shook her head, “"been out of country for... oh, a while”"

“"It's a special school, for my IQ vanished off the top end of the scales types”"

Murielle blinked, “"so, I have to observe a bunch of genius grade children because what, they seemed off?”"

“"More then that," I grabbed my sandwich, gestured towards the living room and as we walked in, began to explain

“We're being watched here; even Chocky feels it and has been staying invisible”

“That,” Mathew commented seriously, “must suck. Who is it?”

“We don't know” Albertine replied, and Mathew was more then a little shocked.

“You don't know? How can Chocky not know?”

“Whoever it is, they really know what they are doing. We have found bugs but frankly, I think the ones we found, we were meant to find. Chocky has been peeping at the minds of anyone regularly in the area and a few random others, but she too has found nothing”

Mathew, to put it mildly, was a little surprised, “Chocky can't find them? And you're sure you're being watched?”

“Yes,” Albertine's grimace came through in her reply, “Chocky says she has a few theories, but hasn't been talkative, she seems… surprised”

He whistled mentally, verbally thanking a woman who was congratulating him on his latest exhibition without showing any signs that he was talking telepathically too, “is it even possible to hide from her?”

“She says yes, but it requires either training or worse, an inherent ability”

Mathew nodded, “Training can be broken, an inherent ability however only gets strengthened with use”

“Exactly,” Albertine mentally shook her head, “It's slowing things down here majorly, we are actually behind schedule”

“Ouch, that's a first”

“First in years, anyway”

“Is there any,” he hesitated, “do you feel threatened?”

“No,” there was a frown and a distinct note of puzzlement in Albertines mental tone, “watchfulness, but not threat”

“Careful,” he smiled, both mentally and physically, shaking hands with the strange Mr ‘Murray' who had just bought a piece he did of Colorado Springs, but mentally, still concentrating on his friend, “Anyone might think you were developing telempathy”

“That's it” Albertine sent a mental shrug, “None of us are”

Mathew blinked, “you girl have problems. But is it a coincidence that this started after the visit from Mr Navy”

A startled feeling came over the mental link, and Mathew resisted the urge to grimace, Albertine was a genius, she really was, but she did tend to miss the obvious and over think things.

“I… didn't think of that”

“Well, it's a start, try investigating from there. Sorry to leave you, but I have to concentrate now, give a speech, think to you later?”

“Always”