The Doctor led me to a small cafeteria on the ground floor. The hall itself consisted of brown and yellow floor tiles with two rows of tables and benches stretching across. To the right were windows overlooking the courtyard, with the serving counters on the left. The counters themselves were empty, the metal basins under the transparent plastic were scrubbed clean. Dr. Acharya walked over to a man in a dirty white apron and asked him for a "breakfast unit". I didn't like the sound of that.
The man then walked back into the kitchen and returned with a small tray. I looked at its contents after it was passed over to me. I knew hospital food was bad, but this looked more like some military ready meal than anything else. A bowl of brownish oatmeal-like substance with a metal spoon, two small cereal bars, a white mug of water and a brown paper napkin.
"It's not as bad as it looks." Said Dr. Acharya. "I'll be waiting by the window when you finish up."
I took the tray and walked over to a table while the doctor walked and leaned by the window. I gave a quick look around the cafeteria. It was empty except for a lone figure sitting on a table on the other end of the hall. It a bald, old man with a wrinkled face. He was eagerly digging into a bowl of similar food with a spoon in his left hand.
"Mustn't be so bad." I thought.
As I looked at him, I noticed his right arm dangling by the side of his body. It was then I saw that the skin on his arm as a sickly bluish tint, with the flesh appearing withered and thin. I don't think I could have been more put off my appetite than now, but I decided to just get on with it.
After eating through the bitter and bland assortment of oats and other bark-like substances that had only been made edible through a thorough washing down of water, I put away my tray and walked over to the window. Dr. Acharya was writing something down on his tablet with a stylus. He had a look of mild annoyance and discontent as he looked at the screen. He then turned to me with a small smile as he put away his device.
"Finished? Let's go then."
I was led to an examination room with a bed and cabinets. Similar to the room I was kept in but only slightly more spacious and with proper equipment. Dr. Acharya told me I was to be given a quick physical check-up before I was to be brought "up to speed" with why I was in my current predicament. I sat on the bed as the doctor sat on a chair beside with his tablet in hand.
"Just a few basic questions before we get started. First, your full name, please."
"George Stephen Woodcroft."
"Age?"
"Twenty one."
"Date of birth?"
"June sixth, nineteen ninety five."
The doctor for a second pursed his lips, he seemed to have been caught off guard by what I had said. He quickly composed himself and continued with the questions.
What followed as the usual stuff, I told him I was born in the U.K., that I lived in Morden, London, that I worked as a gardener, all that and some. Then came questions about medical history, of which I had nothing important to tell. Then came the actual examination itself. It had been I while since I had felt the cold touch of a stethoscope, or the squeeze of a blood pressure gauge. It made it all feel like this was just a regular day at the clinic, but I knew this was not so.
"Before we continue, can you tell me about this thing?" I pointed to the machine that was attached to my right wrist, the so-called psionic inhibitor. It was a small metal device that took up about a third of the space on the front of my forearm. The metal had a reflective finish, almost like silver. In the centre of the device was a small purple circle that gave off a faint glow. What shocked me was how light the machine felt, despite its size and apparent density of the metal material.
"Odd you ask me about that, I was just about to ask you about your psionic abilities."
"Psionic? Is that what you call them?"
The doctor adjusted his glasses.
"Well, what do you call them?"
"Siddhis." I felt slight regret at my response. I knew that this was not something you were just meant to speak freely about. But if they could procure a device that rendered my powers useless, there was little point for secrecy now.
The doctor had a look of surprise and slight amusement at my answer.
"Apologies, Mr. Woodcroft. It's just I haven't heard that word in a very long time."
"You know?"
"My uncle was big into things like Tantra and the occult. Scared the hell out my dad he told us about whatever new thing he was reading or found out, which I think he liked doing. But I was never one for that kinda thing, I prefer science. But I'm getting off topic. When did you start showing signs of your powers?"
I pulled myself back to a vivid memory of sitting down in the uncut grass in the backyard years ago.
"I was… sixteen. I had just finished meditating in the garden one morning, and had reached my arm out to grab my water bottle, when it suddenly moved into my hand. It took me a good five seconds for me process just what had happened. I placed it back and tried doing it again, but nothing happened, leading me to believe I had just imagined the whole thing."
"So this was the first time you displayed psionic powers? I hope you don't mind me using the term just for the sake of clarity in your profile."
"Call it whatever you like, and yes, this was the first time I used my powers, albeit unknowingly."
"When did you start becoming truly aware of your abilities?"
I paused for a moment, then sighed. It was not a day I liked to remember.
"About a few weeks later, I was returning home from school one afternoon to find myself taking a shortcut through the side road. It was sunset, I had my headphones on, hands in my pockets, just taking it easy. Next thing I know, I get a cricket bat to the gut."
"I fell to the ground, clutching my stomach in pain. I felt someone's fingers scratch through my head as they yanked the headphones, I think they hit me in the belly so they wouldn't break them."
"I look up, and there's these two yobs standing over me. One of them puts his foot to my belly and tells me to give up my phone. That stuff wasn't worth dying over, so I took it out of pocket. The guy yanked it from my hands and stood up, looking down at it as he held it. I managed to get a glimpse of his face from under his black hoodie. An ugly smug grin. That made me angry. Something woke up in me in that moment. I felt a surge go up my spine."
I stopped for a few seconds. This was the first time I had ever told anyone this.
"My phone suddenly exploded in a burst of purple energy. When I opened my eyes I saw the guy on his knees, holding his arm and screaming. His hand was burnt black and the tips of his fingers were missing. The other dude was just shocked and mumbling. He grabbed his friend and ran off. I told my mum that I had my stuff stolen. She got scared, called the cops, they never found anything."
I stopped again for a few seconds, looking down at the floor.
"Did you have any other similar incidents, aside from last night?"
"There were times when I lost my temper that things would happen, but I always stopped myself before they got too bad. Small cracks in glass, objects shifting a little, but never more than that. Not after that day. Well, or so I thought."
The doctor looked away from me for a second before replying.
"So when you feel anger, your powers manifest in a state you cannot control?"
"Anger, sadness, frustration. That will set it off."
"But you always stopped yourself before it got out of hand."
"Yeah, but that caused some problems. Even when I did stop it, I could always feel it bubbling inside me, getting worse each time. I had to go deep into the park one early morning and just scream it out, blasting the braches off some trees as ring of purple energy radiated off me. I was getting nervous, I thought someone would notice. So I started mediating more, learning to control my anger. It helped for the most part. I didn't have any incidents like last time, though I became a lot quieter."
"But aside from these emotional moments, you can control your abilities?"
"Yes."
"What are the extent of your abilities?"
"Well, I can move small objects, that much I'm confident in. There's this other thing where I… try to, um, project my energy outwards into a tangible form but I never got the hang of it. It was only in my outbursts that it fully manifested."
"I see. And just so we are perfectly clear, you had absolutely no formal training regarding these abilities?"
"No, I don't even know what that would look like."
"You didn't encounter any strange persons or beings around the time these powers started manifesting?"
"No, nothing like that."
"Alright then. Well, until we find someone to help you with managing your powers you'll have to wear that for the time being."
"You mean I'm going to have to wear this twenty-four seven? Can I even clean myself with this on?"
"No need to worry about that, it's waterproof and-" Dr. Acharya placed his hand on the device and moved it up my arm, causing it to slide smoothly up my arm. It felt like little plastic wheels were moving up my skin.
"- you can do that to get under it. If it becomes too cumbersome I have a much smaller implantable chip that can be installed."
"Um, that won't be necessary, Doctor. I'm fine with this for the time being."
"Alright then. Just to let you know it could be a while before we find the personnel suitable to train you, so you best get used to it."
I held my arm up and looked at the device.
"So, it's common enough for people to have these powers that these things exist? Are there more people like me, Doctor?"
"Yes, but it's still very rare, and those machines were designed for Sectoids originally, as they have innate psionic powers."
"Sect-what?"
Dr. Acharya closed his eyes for a second and steadied himself.
"Let's finish up here then we go to my office for a talk."
After a few more short tests I was declared healthy and the doctor lead me to his office on the second floor. It was a small but well maintained room with a metal desk and two black office chairs between them. There were several metal filing cabinets on either side of us. There was a tall, narrow window behind the Doctor's chair that showed the cloudy sky and the vague shapes of two skyscrapers in the distance. On the desk was a flat PC monitor, with some yellow sticky notes jutting out of the top corner, a black keyboard and mouse, and a framed picture of a group of young men in formal black uniforms sitting in rows behind and above one another.
"Please take a seat Mr. Woodcroft."
I sat down in the chair in front the desk as Dr. Acharya walked behind it and looked out the window.
"I understand how shocking this must all be for you. And with all things considered, you're managing quite well." He said, looking back at me.
"So… I need you to keep being strong for what I am about to tell you. Are you ready?"
I gripped the small armrests of my chair.
"I'm ready."
The Doctor slowly walked back and sat down in his chair, resting his forearms on the desk.
"George… The conditions we found you in… I cannot divulge the exact details yet without confusing you further but… It suggested that you had been in stasis, meaning unconscious, for an immensely long time."
I had anticipated something like this, but the lack of any recognizable surroundings made it hard to come to that conclusion. I had thought that I had been taken to some hidden civilisation in some remote pocket of the Earth, hidden from us, or perhaps taken to some parallel reality. But if I was simply in stasis, then how long and why?
The Doctor looked at me with a serious, but understanding expression.
"It was a miracle you survived at all…" Dr. Acharya trailed off, but quickly composed himself before looking at me again.
"George. The year is twenty thirty eight."
Twenty three years. Were my parents still alive? My friends? I felt a small panic rise inside me. I put my hands to my face. I noticed the dot on my psionic inhibitor began to glow brighter.
"Deep breaths, Mr. Woodcroft."
I did as instructed, I felt myself calming down, even though the core of my worry remained inside me. The light on my device died down.
"Feeling better?"
I lifted my head up and rested my back against the creaky chair. My eyes darted about before I responded.
"Where am I?"
Dr. Acharya swivelled half way in his chair and turned to look at the window.
"This is City 56. Former eastern United States."
Other side of the world, away from home, the future. I didn't feel panic as much as outright despair. I could hardly think of what to say next. Too many questions, too many answers.
The Doctor swivelled back behind his desk to face me.
"I assume you wish to know why we have people like Adam and Mary here, correct?"
That brought me back. If there was one thing I wish to know, it was why we had gigantic snakes and black-eyed humanoids walking about.
"Yeah, I do."
The Doctor leaned back in his seat.
"Get comfortable, this is going to take a while."