Christopher G Nuttall The Mind's Eye (v5.0) (epub) id

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.These unconstitutional measures are expected to pass through state legislatures within the week.They may not be in time to save hundreds of lives as a number of real or suspected telepaths have been shot dead over the last two days, while others have gone into protective custody.The ACLU has fractured over the last two days, with no coherent response to emergency pleas from civil liberties campaigners…-AP News Report, 2015“So,” the President said.“What do we do now?”He had always disliked the emergency bunker.Located twenty miles east of Washington, hidden under a farm that had been – covertly – federal property since the 1970s, it seemed cold and sterile to his gaze.It was a chilling reminder that he’d been forced to flee Washington and even though he knew that the President had a duty to remain alive and free, it was galling.At least he wouldn’t be running for re-election.His opponents would have made much of any flight from Washington, no matter how necessary.They’d have said that the President had abandoned the citizens of Washington to their fate and they would have been right.There was a long pause.Nine men and women had joined the President’s videoconference call, yet no one seemed willing to commit themselves to anything.The Vice President seemed to be the most unwilling of all, not least because he was hoping to make a run at the Presidency himself – if there was a next election.The President had never seriously considered that there might not be another election, or another President, but now he wondered.After what had happened in Washington, after Harvard, how long would it be before the fundamental glue holding America together melted?“Perhaps we should look at the results of the disaster,” the President snarled.“There are only thirteen rogue telepaths, just thirteen, and look how much damage they have done to us! Just thirteen men and women have brought us to our knees.What happens when they decide to do something even worse?”The FBI Director coughed.“There are only nine left now,” he said.The President looked up, hopefully.There had been so much to do that he hadn’t been able to follow the progress of the investigation.“One is dead, shot through the head by Captain Russell; two were captured and transported to the Telepath Corps holding centre.and one was apparently abandoned by her fellows after she turned on them.”“I see,” the President said.He scowled down at the table.“And what have you learned from the two captive telepaths?”“Very little of use,” the FBI Director admitted.“They were kind enough to give us the location that they’d been using for a base, but when we reached it they’d already abandoned it.”He paused.“I should show you the video instead,” he said, grimly.“Mere words cannot describe it.”The President watched grimly as the video sequence began to run.All SWAT and SF force carried tiny video cameras these days, used mainly to allow them to study and learn from their mistakes.A handful had been used in courtrooms as evidence that someone had genuinely been captured while engaged in terrorist operations, or that a person hadn’t been the victim of mistaken identity, shot down by his own rescuers.He’d authorised the deployment of the technology personally, believing that it could be used to counter black propaganda run by the enemies of the United States.The SWAT team had gone in first, followed by five telepaths from the Telepath Corps; their progress monitored by a UAV hanging high overhead.They had met no resistance; the staff in the building had just been sitting on the sofa, waiting for them.The moment the team burst in, the staff members had started to chant and nothing, not threats or pleas, had managed to quieten them.“WE ARE SUPERIOR,” they chanted in brainwashed unison.“WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE.”The President shivered.The Telepath Corps had authorised an emergency peek into their minds and had discovered, to their horror, that the staff members had been brainwashed.No, in many ways it was worse; their minds had been ruthlessly rewritten and then locked in place, beyond any help from mere humans.Even telepathic mental care, practiced by a handful of telepaths who had gone into the medical field, had been unable to help them.They might never recover.“Miss Tyler has been much more forthcoming,” the FBI Director confirmed, changing the subject.The President felt only relief.“However, she was actually knocked out and abandoned by them a few hours before they started their operation in Washington, so while we are convinced that she is telling the truth, there are certain limits to what she can tell us about them.Her telepathy – which appears to have reversed, broadcasting her thoughts and feelings to anyone within range – makes it impossible for her to lie to us.”“But they have moved their bases,” the President said, sourly.“Can she tell us anything useful?”“We’re still asking her questions,” the FBI Director admitted.“We know, now, that Leo – their leader – is definitely under the influence of the renegade anarchist.We did wonder if the bastard was really a telepath at all, but sadly Elizabeth Tyler was able to confirm that he was definitely telepathic.As to what they want.their goal, as far as we can tell, is to cause as much havoc as possible.There is no real political goal.”The President scowled angrily.“So all they’re really doing is lashing out,” he said.“What the hell does that gain them?”“Very little, apart from anarchy,” the FBI Director explained.“But then, that’s what the anarchists want.We know that the rogue telepaths were involved with checking for FBI operatives within the underground movements and located quite a few, leaving us blind when we need their services desperately.The anarchists want anarchy, Mr President, and they will do whatever it takes to create it.”The President nodded.On his desk was a draft law proposed by the Senate, one that would see the entire country brought under martial law.Everyone living in the United States would be forced to undergo telepathic screening.and, if they were found to be telepathic – or have telepathic potential – they would be forced to move up north to Alaska.The ones who refused would be transported to internment camps and kept permanently drugged, at least until they changed their minds.It was a violation of everything the United States stood for, yet somehow he knew that it would be passed without opposition through the Senate and Congress [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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