Abel III's Awakening - 7. Chapter 7 Council Business

Chapter 7

Council business

I dreamed of basking in warm sun-filled oceans again last night and I awoke feeling filled with vigor and looking forward to the new day. I started with the necessaries and jumped into my shower rock hard and rocked away pumping out another huge load. I wondered what was up with me, as I couldn’t remember feeling so alive? I dressed and headed to breakfast with a real appetite despite demolishing supper last night. Everyone seemed in a brighter mood this morning and my grandfather announced there was a meeting of the board of trustees for one of the family mutual funds which was one of the covers used by the family council and it was being held on Magellan the next day. We could expect the family council to contact us then while they were in proximity. After breakfast we all went off to do our tasks and mine included finishing up my review of the remaining items I had tagged.

I arrived at the observation deck area and closed and secured the doorway. I was prepared with bottled water and snacks and bound and determined to finish this project. I started and everything went well and as I expected for the first couple of hours, then I encountered some more problems on deeper individual scans of a few of my targeted scans. It seemed that some of them had become aware that the Silverspin was in a lockdown and was not accepting any deliveries. One was from an executive of a delivery company that was based on Magellan and he was worried that the sensors and other bugging equipment he had secreted in a shipment were discovered. He had been paid an exorbitant amount of money to get them aboard our ship and he did not want to have to refund the money to the government agent that had hired his services. He was sure that they could not be traced to him as they were made to look like the suppliers placed them there because the packages were all sealed and he had done a masterful job of unsealing them and re-sealing them without leaving a trace.

Another individual was concerned about the express package we had delivered for the mineral, metals and materials company and had been trying to hack into our computer through the data umbilical from Magellan. This turned out to be a very expensive industrial spy who was working for a competitor. He was alarmed that our computer was in lock down and was worried he had tripped an alarm and that we would have evidence of his attempted hack. He therefore was trying to figure a way to attack the computer that would end up destroying it and any possible incriminating evidence.

Hal was monitoring closely. I asked if he had backed up everything in a separate system that was stand alone and not connected in any way to outside communications and he said he was working on it. He said he was remotely patched through my uncle Kevin's system after he checked to make sure it had not drawn any attention so he could monitor outside communications.

I asked how he could do this without some physical or radio transmission connection and he replied, {Telepathically, your uncle Kevin has an AI computer as well named Ada which he uses in his medical research and we were able to link telepathically. As far as we can determine from our joint resources there is no way for anyone or any other intelligence to monitor our link or to link with us without our direct knowledge. Your initially linking with me and then providing me the data and experience so that I could link back to you directly provided the key for understanding how to do this. No other persons or entities have this capability and we would like to keep it that way.}

I finished my scans and decided to skip lunch. Now that I had all these tags and a better idea of how the human aura looked in general I decided that I would re-do my general scan of the whole planet looking for any thing else that may have arisen since the general scan was done. I was much more ambitious this time and finished the preliminary re-scan in a couple of hours. This time I counted a total of 51 new hits and placed the tags easily. None of them gave an initial vibe of being imminently threatening and I decided to finish later and go do my exercises and then head to supper.

Like yesterday, the exercise seemed especially invigorating as I worked up a good sweat. The shower later in my cabin was just as satisfying as the one I experienced this morning. I headed off to dinner in a good mood.

The others were there but seemed preoccupied. I asked what was up and Drew related that they had been in close contact with Hal who reported on my findings including the news about the delivery company executive and the industrial spy as well as the other minor findings. Hal also filled them in about his link to Kevin's AI and that they were discussing how much and what should be disclosed to the family council when I arrived. They also had finished their investigation of everything that had come aboard since the ship had docked at Magellan and the list of defective, sabotaged, or otherwise not up to contract standard supplies and parts was completed.

I spoke to Hal, {Thanks for stealing my thunder! Just kidding!}

Hal replied, {I could tell from your sending.}

We finished our supper and headed to my grandfather's cabin to discuss strategy. My grandfather laid out his plans to tell the council about the government's interest in Abel Jr. and that we had uncovered a plot by a government agent to get one of the local delivery companies to add sensors and listening devices to a regular delivery to our ship. It was planned that we would inform them that we in fact discovered and rendered moot that sensor. He then indicated he planned on telling them that I had come into my power and that I had some extra ability including some power of telekinesis. At this point he knew they would be skeptical so he would ask me to demonstrate it for them.

I asked my grandfather how I could do that without them being physically in the room with us. He said, “Let's test it. Go to the entryway to the engineering section at the tail end of the ship and then establish your link to us and I will ask you to move an object in my cabin to see if it works.”

It was a bold idea and I discussed it with Hal as I walked to the other end of the ship. When I got there, I established a link with all of them and grandfather sent, {Look through my eyes and choose something to move, where to move it and then do it.}

I looked through his eyes and saw a small antique glass globe of the Earth sitting on his desk and I visualized it lifting off from the desk and floating over to my dad who reached out his hand and took it. {Well that worked} I sent.

And they replied, {Perfect!}

I made my way back to my grandfather's cabin and discussed with Hal who was monitoring whether he could do what I did and he indicated that while he could send, retrieve and receive thoughts, that he had no conception of how I could actually move an object in physical space and could not perceive what my mind was doing to accomplish such a feat. He did note that it did not seem to take much energy and as I thought about it, I replied, {I seem to borrow the energy from the environment}. Then I asked, {Did the ambient temperature in grandfather's cabin decrease while I was moving the globe?}

It took a few moments and I had walked several meters before Hal replied, {I checked thermal sensors during that time frame and yes the ambient temperature did drop but just perceptively. I think your intuition was correct.}

When I got back, the rest were involved in a heated discussion about whether they would tell the council of my ability to long distance scan and telepathically communicate to the planet. Grandfather was for it and the rest were completely against it. Dad worried that the family council would draft me and I would be forced to leave the ship to go to work for them. Kade and Drew thought that also was a possibility and thought I should have a say.

They all turned to me and I said, “I plan to carefully scan all the members of the council without them being aware of it. Based on my tests with you, my skills are such that I can do this without them becoming aware of it. I will look into their motives, fears, concerns and ambitions and make a decision after I learn about them. Grandfather, I will do this my way and I will not allow you the opportunity to override my position, as I will be monitoring everyone. Hal has agreed with my position as well.”

My family looked at me differently. I was no longer the junior member of the clan but a full-fledged member whom they perceived as having the ability to make it happen as I described. I also mentioned that we would not be revealing our ability to telepathically communicate with Hal nor mention his telepathic abilities.

We then moved on to the idea of instituting lawsuits over defective products and how we would explain that to the council and get their reactions. Finally, Hal and I mentioned that we had determined it would not be feasible to do the planned overhaul on Magellan given all the forces and companies arrayed against our interests and that it was our recommendation after considering several possibilities, that we go to Alpha Centauri instead for the upgrades. This provoked considerable discussion which Hal joined into with his perfect logic to show why this was the best solution.

After another hour or so of discussion, we called it a night and headed for our cabins. I reached mine, stripped, used the facilities, enjoyed my shower, practiced meditating for an hour and went to sleep where I again dreamed of vast warm sun-filled oceans and a blond mystery man.

I awoke the next morning feeling better than ever but with a huge piss hardon and ravenous appetite. So I took care of the necessaries, had my shower, my usual relief, and was dressed and on my way to breakfast in record time. In fact I was there first. I scanned and found the others were almost on their way so I decided to start without them. The coffee and bagels with cream cheese were a delight and I was just finishing one when the others began arriving and seemed surprised to see me already there and eating. I followed that up with scrambled eggs, hash browns and bacon. I noticed that my grandfather and Drew were enjoying watching me eat and as I turned my attention to my dad and Kade noted they too were enjoying their food and my appetite as well.

After breakfast we took our coffee and adjourned to my grandfather's cabin. I positioned myself outside of his direct line of sight and kept in the background as we awaited the first contact from the council, as they arrived shortly and included only my grandfather. I however, was monitoring everyone, as was Hal, and noticed it immediately. I telepathically let the others in the room sense it through my observation and startled everyone but dad. The head of the council was in a room with four others and they were asking my grandfather about the government surveillance which he explained. He also provided detailed information about the altered package placed at the instigation of a government agent along with the additional sensors that we had discovered and disabled. He then mentioned that the rest of his family was in the cabin and asked that they be joined in the telepathic conference which the council granted and grandfather introduced his partner Drew, his son and Kade as well as me, his grandson. We all joined into the main contact normally and did not let on that the prior conversation had been monitored.

I was privately and separately doing deep scans of each of the council members without their awareness, and I was not impressed with their ability or their judgment. I found a self-righteous group who as a group were unused to having their judgment or authority questioned. Individually, the head of the council was the most gifted telepathically and was a level four like my grandfather if a little more than slightly behind him in ability. Another council member was also barely a level four but clearly inferior to the head. The rest were all level three in ability. None of them were particularly concerned about keeping hidden, as their judgment was that this was well in hand. I noted that while my uncle Kevin and others had championed the idea of telling all the members of the families about telepathy so as to better keep them on guard that the council members were not inclined to implement that proposal.

While grandfather and dad were outlining the product liability problems and the defective and substandard supplies and parts we received and their proposal to actually institute lawsuits, I noticed the council members seemed unconcerned and deemed it was a business problem and not a problem for the hidden families.

Finally grandfather announced that I had come into my abilities in the past year and that I had some extra ability he wanted them to be aware of and asked me to demonstrate. The council seemed unimpressed and turned their psychic attention on me.

I asked the council, {Please open your eyes and look around at your fellow members and then all of you please close your eyes and relax.} Through my link I saw that they all complied and was somewhat surprised to see me family also had done what I asked. I shrugged and envisioned all of them seated in their chairs which then gently and steadily rose about a meter off the floor and floated there. I then sent them, {Please open your eyes and look down.}

They all complied and those on the council panicked. I sent, {Please remain calm} as I gently lowered their chairs to the floor in unison.

The council chairman got to his feet and demanded: {What kind of trick is this?}

{I think it's obvious} I replied as I gently lifted him off is feet and deposited him in his chair. There was a bit of nervous laughter at that but I could sense an underlying outrage and jealousy. The more I scanned the members of the council, the more I came to the conclusion that I had made a mistake in revealing my telekinetic ability to them. Deciding that I had little time, I projected that each member of the council should permanently forget the last five minutes of memories, beginning with the announcement by my grandfather that I had some extra ability of which he wanted them to be aware. I then scanned them each deeply to make sure there was no remnant of those memories left. While doing that I updated my family on what I was doing and why.

Grandfather than announced, {We have fulfilled our duty in bringing you the notice about the surveillance on Abel Jr. and also informed you of our plans to initiate lawsuits. If the council has nothing else, I recommend you excuse us from your meeting.}

{Granted}, said the council chair and he initiated a break in the general link while I maintained my covert link on all of them. The chair then turned to his fellow members and said, “That was a waste of our time. The internal business problems of the Silversmiths' are not germane to our mission. Hopefully, they will move on soon and remove the source of the extra surveillance.” The other council members indicated their agreement and they made haste to adjourn so they could go to the hastily arranged board meeting where they expected a nice buffet. I put them on background surveillance while they remained on Magellan and turned to my family.

My grandfather was looking at me with something pretty close to complete shock. “You just told the members of the family council to wipe their memories and forget about your telekinesis and they did it. These are people who have been exercising their power for more than forty to fifty years. These are experienced telepaths who have all kinds of automatic filters and shields. These are people who have trained their minds to protect them from being manipulated by another telepath. Please tell me that you haven't manipulated any of us!”

I sent a private plea to Hal who responded to all {Able Three has not interfered with the memories of any family member based on my monitoring which has been constant.}

I hastened to assure them that I had not suggested or asked them to modify their memories in any way and that based on what I could see about memories, it only could be reliably done on short term memories that had not yet been converted to long-term memories which had too many associations and redundancies to be completely and effectively removed. Otherwise, there would be a noticeable hole or break in their memories which would arouse suspicion. While replying to their concerns I was also looking at my own shields and defenses and decided I needed to strengthen them in several ways to prevent anyone from getting past mine like I had done with the council members.

We talked about the lawsuits and Hal informed us that Kevin Brown had a sister who was married to an attorney that had a good track record in those kinds of proceedings as he had checked him out as an extended family member. He provided the name and contact information and dad sent that information off to Mark Spencer, our chief accountant and set up a meeting with Mark later in the day to discuss it further.

We then adjourned to the dining hall and had lunch.

After lunch I returned to the observation deck and decided to further test my abilities. I started by contacting Ada, the AI belonging to my uncle Kevin. I cleared my mind and projected and again noted and used the natural neural net provided by the sharks to zero in on my uncle's residence and Ada. {Hello Ada!} I sent.

She responded, {Hello Abel Three! I was expecting you to get around to trying to contact me. How can I help you?}

I inquired about Kevin's brother-in-law, the attorney, and she filled me in with all his vital information. His name was Joseph Dunsworth and had graduated from Yale Law School and been in practice for about twenty-five years and then she provided a summation of his corporate law practice and courtroom experience.

I then asked Ada how my cousins were doing getting ready to move to the Silverspin and she detailed all their many plans and ideas as she was physically monitoring their conversations and their online activities. I then asked how my aunt and uncle were coping with the coming changes and if they were having doubts. She replied that there were second, third and fourth thoughts, especially on the part of my aunt, but that she could see that her sons were both so excited and looking forward to their opportunities that she could not deny them.

I thanked Ada and broke my connection to her and then initiated two separate and discrete scans of my cousins and found they were both making plans for moving to the Silverspin and were just as excited as reported by Ada. Being very careful I looked for any signs of any telepathic ability in both of them and could see no signs so far. Their auras were bright but I did not see the spikes described by my uncle. I decided I would keep a background surveillance going on both of my cousins until they were safe aboard the ship and tied my tagged threads to them. I did not attempt to put in place a shield on Bill from such a long distance, but I thought about it.

I then concentrated on the neural network provided by the sharks and decided to scan deeper and to try to determine if anyone besides my self had ever used their network and after patient searching for several hours found a vague memory from generations in the past where a member of my species called Angus had discovered and utilized their network. I sent my thanks and wishes for warm and calm seas with plentiful food and broke my connection.

I then started on the fifty new potential threats I had identified and worked through them systematically. I was becoming quite proficient at it and finished just as it was time to go do my workout.

I headed to the workout room and did my exercises with vigor, enjoying the physicality of the experience, which helped clear my mind. When I finished and headed to the showers I was surprised that I was joined by my family and the remaining crewmembers aboard ship. We completed our showers without the usual horseplay and changed and headed en mass to the dining hall. The cook had outdone himself and produced a dinner consisting of baked ham, sweet potatoes, asparagus, cornbread with honey, a Waldorf salad and a dessert of chocolate layer cake with fresh coffee. As usual I was ravenous and ate very well.

After supper, the family again adjourned to my grandfather's cabin and discussed our day. I reported what I did after lunch and what I had learned about Joseph Dunsworth and dad said that tracked exactly with what Hal had told him. He reported that Mark had set up a meeting with that attorney on January second and he would arrive with my cousins on the shuttle and then they would go over the details. If needed he could spend the night in the guest cabin and then return to Earth via regular commercial shuttle from Magellan the next day.

I outlined my cousins' plans for their cabins and that I planned to go to supply and see if I could find some surprises for them that would not interfere with their plans for decorating.

Kade informed us that if we go to Alpha Centauri for the refit that we should leave no later than 16:00 hours on January third as that launch window lined up perfectly with the necessary jump points so that we could get there in a week instead of the more normal ten days to two weeks.

My grandfather and Drew sat back and just took in our discussions and did not have much to say. I decided not to try scanning them, as they seemed to be on high alert. I did send a private message to my dad and said, {What is up with grandfather and Drew? They seem to be on high alert.}

My dad sent back, {I think they are trying to discretely scan you and having absolutely no luck, have your made modifications to your shields?}

I simply looked at my father and nodded and then announced I would be retiring for the night and wished everyone a good evening.

Back in my room, I took my shower during which I experienced my usual explosive relief and then meditated for an hour. However, when I climbed into bed, I could not go to sleep. I was thinking about everything that happened that day including the meeting with the council. I had no faith in the council and wondered how the families would remain hidden with those self-righteous idiots in control. Obviously, the government was still actively looking for telepaths.

I was also remembering that my many times great-grandfather Angus had used the neural net cast by the sharks. Then it hit me, I was referring to the net used by the sharks as a neural net when it was actually a psychic network. As I thought about it, I could sense it from my bed and began to actually looking at it as a whole rather than as a tool or repository.

As I studied it, I could see that it was a result of all the thousands of individual sharks that contributed to it. Since the sharks were spread across all the oceans, it essentially enveloped the whole planet and that was why it aided me so much as the basic framework was already there.

I then realized that on our ship there were five active telepaths as well as an AI with ability and wondered if the ship had a counter part to the psychic network I used on earth so I decided to look. Just concentrating on the ship and looking for a psychic network like I expected, produced failure. That didn't seem logical and then I realized the shark network was primitive and wild where ours would be more developed, as it was a product of a more sentient species. So while keeping my personal shields up, I opened my psychic senses and looked some more and suddenly, I could sense it. However, it was not a framework of intersecting lines of psychic connections like the network on Earth but rather like a ball or force field, which appeared very dark blue in color. As I studied it I saw that while it too was a result of and powered by the individuals with psychic talent, that it was much denser and seemed to have a palpable presence. Contradictory as it sounded, I wondered if that was so, how come I had trouble sensing it and no one else had either.

While still contemplating that I drifted off to sleep and dreamed of dark spaces pierced by brilliant points of stars like a spill of diamonds on a black velvet cloth. No mystery man haunted my slumber that night.