Chapter 55
Lecture Hall, Daniels University Science Department: This was the first class of Principles and Theory, and most of the students were members of Earth force, but there were also several Narns, and a few civilians as well. Once everyone was seated, the instructor walked up to a small podium, and looked at the class. He pointed at a large Narn man, and a small Human woman. He had them come down to the front of the class, and asked them their names.
"I am G'Klos."
"Lisa Nakamura"
"Mr. G'Klos, how much do you weigh?"
"115 kilo's"
"And you Miss Nakamura?"
"44 and a half kilo's"
Now he asked them to step up onto two identical plates in the front of the class. He then handed each of them a bucket. He then placed a 10-kilo weight in each bucket. He looked at them, "Not to heavy I hope?"
Both just shook their heads. He then walked back to the podium, and was moving his hand over some controls. "Let me know when the buckets get to heavy."
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After a few minutes, both of them were sweating, and then Miss Nakamura looked at him, "This is really heavy sir."
"Would you agree Mr. G'Klos?"
Surprisingly he just nodded his head slowly. Now the instructor moved his hands over the podium again, and both of them had strange looks on their faces. He came over and took the buckets from them and let them go and sit back down. Now he looked over the group again, and he pointed at several large Narn and Human men. He had them come to the front of the class and he quietly asked each their weights. Then he had them sit in a section of chairs that a technician rolled in. He now looked at the class again, and he pointed at a human woman, he had her come down to the front of the class. "What's your name?"
"Lt Susan Ivanova."
"Well Lt, if I told you that I would give you an A plus for this course if you could move the section of chairs they are sitting in. What would you say?"
She looked him straight in the eye, "I would say that you're nuts."
"Why?"
She looked at him, "All together, they must weigh close to a thousand kilo's"
He smiled, "Closer to 1100 actually. But humor an old man. Would you please try."
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Susan shrugged her shoulders and walked over to the section.She looked at the instructor again and put her hands on the end of the section. She then started to push as hard as she could. The entire section moved more than halfway across the stage, and poor Susan, who wasn't expecting that, fell flat on her face. Now the instructor walked over and asked her if she was OK. She looked up at him, with both surprise and a hint of anger on her face. "How did that happen?"
"I'm glad you asked Lt." he said with a smile on his face.
He offered her his hand and helped her up. Once every one was seated again, he looked at them, "What all of you have just witnessed, is some of the ways that a localized gravity field can be manipulated."
He pointed at the two platforms, "These are standard Confed gravity plates, they are 1 meter by 1 meter square, and can control a gravity field up to 4 meters in height. Both Mr. G'Klos and Miss Nakamura were in varied gravities. His was at 5 G's, and hers was at 2 and a half G's. So in essence, he was holding a 50-kilo weight, but he weighed 575 kilos. Miss Nakamura was holding a 25-kilo weight, and she weighed a total of 111 and a quarter kilos. But gravity can be manipulated in both directions. While the men had a total weight of almost 1100 kilos on the sled, the gravity plate beneath the sled reduced their weight in regards to this planet. So the Lt was pushing the equivalent weight of just 11 kilo's."
He now walked over to the podium and smiled, "Now, who wants to learn about gravity?"
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Confed Corporation construction plant 2: The classes had been going on for almost a month, and this was a field trip to the manufacturing facility. When they arrived, Susan saw several signs warning all telepaths to report to the security office. She was a little worried now, would her secret come out, would the Earth force find out about her and contact Psi-corps? The group started their tour of the facility, and Susan noticed a slight ringing in her ears, after a short while, she began to feel queasy, and was lightly sweating. Now she was feeling very lightheaded, and her stomach felt like it was doing flip-flops. She saw a large trash bin, and quickly made her way over to it, and proceeded to throw up in it. The Instructor saw her, and came over to her, "Are you alright Lt?"
She was quite pale now, "I think so sir, it must have been something I ate. I usually don't have this problem."
He looked at her, and then gestured for one of the technicians to come over. "Please escort the Lt to the med center."
"Yes sir."
The two of them then headed for the med center.
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When they arrived, the med tech asked her what was wrong, and Susan told him the symptoms she was having. He ran a scan on her, and when he saw the results, he contacted the security office. Soon two men arrived, and asked the Lt to come with them. They escorted her to the main hospital, and took her to be examined by the ER doctor. Dr Jansen examined her, and also looked at the scans the med tech had made. She then asked Susan if it was possible that she might be a Telepath. Well to say she was surprised by the Lt's reaction would be a grand understatement. The Lt was adamantly denying the possibility. Now she was demanding to leave. But Susan saw the two security men still standing outside the door to the room she was in. Dr Jansen left the room and placed a call to the division M main office. 20 minutes later, an attractive pregnant woman was entering the room were Susan was still waiting. "Hello Lt."
Susan looked at her, and something in her screamed Psi-corps. "I don't know why they called you, I'm not a telepath."
The woman smiled a disarming smile, "Alright, do you mind if I sit down, I've been on my feet all day."
The woman sat in a chair by the bed, and then proceeded to take off her shoes and rub her feet. Susan looked at her, and was surprised that the woman wasn't trying to scan her.
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The woman looked at her now, "I think I should explain something to you Lt, I'm not Psi-corps, in fact, I'm what the corps would call a blip."
Susan was a little surprised by that remark, but she kept her defenses up. The woman just smiled, "Lt, I can tell by the way you're standing there, that you probably don't like the corps. Why is that?"
Susan just looked away; she wasn't going to fall for simple psychology tricks. The woman nodded her head, "Alright then, let me tell you about me then. My name is Melissa Mason, up until about a year ago I was a Psi-cop. I was part of a black ops team, and the corps sent us to try and get information from the Confed people by any means necessary. Well things didn't go as planned, and I was captured and tortured. After the torture I was in a bad way. But with the help of someone special, and the treatments I received from the Confed people, I've made quite a recovery."
She looked at Susan, who was starting to relax a little. "The someone special was the man I later married, Anthony Mason. He was a doctor in the corps, and had been assigned to our team. I had met Tony while I was in training, and had developed a little crush on him. But the corps had other ideas. They wanted me to marry someone I had never met before, and I probably would have, if our mission hadn't gone to hell."
Now she was smiling and slowly rubbing her stomach, "All in all, I think things worked out for the best."
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"So you can see, that like you I have no great love for the corps. They abandoned us, and couldn't have cared less about us. So why do you hate the corps?"
Susan looked at her, and could see the smile on her face as she rubbed her stomach. This woman had her reasons to hate the corps, but Susan was still leery. "Are you saying that you're a known telepath, and the people here haven't turned you over to the Psi-corps?"
"That's right Lt."
Susan was shaking her head, "No way, that's impossible. The Earth Alliance laws state that once a person is known to be a telepath, then they have to join the corps."
"Actually Lt, the law states that once a person is known to be a telepath, they have to be registered with a duly recognized entity. The only thing is, is that up until about a year ago, the Psi-corps was the only one. But now there is another one."
Susan just looked at her, "Then why isn't that public knowledge, I'm sure there are telepaths who don't want to be in the corps, but it's either join them, jail, or " Susan hesitated for a moment, "take sleepers."
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Missy couldn't have missed her reaction, "I take it that someone close to you took sleepers."
Susan just nodded, and Missy saw the glistening in her eyes. "Was it your dad?"
Susan just shook her head. Missy then knew, "It was your mom right?"
Susan nodded, and Missy saw that she was about to cry. "And your mom did something to herself?"
Susan again only nodded. Missy stood up and came up beside Susan, "I'm so sorry. Now you're worried that the corps will come after you. Or that your career in Earth force is over."
Susan only nodded as the tears silently came down her face. Missy slowly took Susan's hand, "I think I need to call my husband, I'm sure we can fix this."
Missy left the room and placed a call to Anthony and asked him to come to the hospital, and she would explain everything to him when he arrived. As soon as he arrived, she told him about Susan, and what the tests had shown. At the most, with training, Susan might reach M-1 level. But her career in Earth force would be over. She also told him of what she knew of Susan's history with the corps.
"Let me talk to Dr Jansen, I think I can get her to see reason."
She kissed his cheek, "Thanks Tony."
----
Susan was a little surprised to see Missy and a man walk in the room. She had been waiting for almost an hour. "Now they know, goodbye career."
The man smiled at her, "Hello Lt, I'm sorry you're not feeling well. But a stomach flu can do that to you."
Susan just looked at him, "What?"
Missy was smiling now, "Tony explained things to Dr Jansen, and helped her to realize that your career would be finished if it became known that you are telepathic. So they have arranged for all official records to show that you are suffering from a stomach flu."
Susan looked at Missy now, "Why would you do that?"
Missy smiled at her, "I had a really good friend while I was in the corps, his lifes dream was to be in Earth force, but that can't happen if you're a telepath."
Now Susan saw the man preparing a hypo. "Would you take off your jacket Lt."
"What for?"
"Lt, for security reasons, I can't tell you why you got sick. But this injection will help to keep you from getting sick again. It will only last for about a year, and it will make you ill for about a day. So we're going to admit you for 24 hours. And if any one asks, it was for treatment of stomach flu. Now your jacket please, unless you prefer this injection somewhere else."
Susan looked at him, and then the hypo. She was quickly taking off her jacket.