NSFW Author

I was quickly ushered into a padded room with a metal table centered, with a single chair on either side, and the door closed behind me.

I sat on one of the chairs and waited. A lot.

I noticed two security cameras on opposite corners of the room, and a microphone under the table.

The floor was carpeted nicely, and the padding on the walls looks exquisite, with rich colors and golden stitching. We were far from the padding in a mental hospital even if I presumed they served a similar purpose.

Come to think of it, I think they were more for the intimidation factor: the corners of the metallic table were sharp enough to harm someone thrown against it, so it appears obvious that the padding wasn’t to prevent self-harm.

Intimidation. That was probably it. The waiting too… it was clear they were trying to make me nervous.

It was working…

When I began to seriously look aggravated, the door opened an a woman in her late thirties wearing a well cut suit entered to sit across me at the table.

I saluted her, but only got a silent state as a reply.

“What I am supposed to do?”, still no reply.

So, I looked deep into her eyes. They were nice attractive eyes. I wouldn’t say the woman was particularly cute, but her eyes were. Profound serious eyes that pierced your soul.

After perhaps 5 minutes of staring, she opened her mouth.

“What’s my name?”, she asked, monotonously.

I tried to focus in my mind at much as I could. Maybe it was subconscious. The only thing that popped into my memory was Mrs Finley, my senior year English teacher who had the same haircut as this woman. Maybe that’s the information?

“Mrs. Finley”, I replied, with hesitation.

She just nodded a no in reply and we returned to concentration.

After another 15 minutes or so, she asked again monotonously: “What’s my name?”

“Once I know, I will tell you, don’t worry…”

We returned to silence, and suddenly, about thirty seconds later, a series of images hit my mind. Her name was Jane French, she was a tester for the Enclave. She was married, but her husband, Steve French, was actually a slave supplied by the Enclave. She has a lot of problems relating to people because of her powers, which include deep tough penetration which normally allows her to read the surface toughs of some of the best occlusonists. Once again, I had a clear picture of her, standing naked in front of her mirror, wondering if her breasts were attractive.

I also knew what she had tried to do: read my surface thoughts. I even understood that her power were different from the other people that I had felt: she didn’t actually enter the mind of the person, but rather, scanned the meninges for escaping thoughts which somehow allowed to bypass many defenses centered on the brain.

“Yes, your breasts are attractive Mrs French. I don’t know if Steve likes them, but I do.”

She blushed. I continued…

“I know how your power works, Jane. You scan the meninges and not the brain, that’s why you are so good compared to the others, and probably why you can only catch surface thoughts.”

“It all came to you in a flash?”

“Yes. All at once. I was perhaps thiry seconds late…”

“No, I waited that long before trying a scan.”

Oh…

“Did you get something?”

“Actually, I did, and it was very, very odd…”

“Why is that?”

“I head back my own thoughts…”

“Maybe my defenses are a two way mirror. I return whatever attack I receive and safely perceive it”

“This concluded my own test. Someone else will come in a few minutes.”

She left in a hurry and I was left alone.

What would this mean about my testing?

A few minutes later, a young man entered, sat in front of me, and squint in eyes in concentration while looking at me.

a few seconds later, I knew his name was Scott Hailey, where he was from (a small town in Connecticut) and why moved to Baltimore (he is gay and wanted to flew his family). I also knew that Scott was one of the most efficient stunners at the enclave despite not being among the power powerful: telepaths whose powers are to bring people to a deep sleep, often for hours in a row. He is efficient because of his mental defenses: most stunners have average defenses while he has powerful ones. This really helped with capturing perceptive telepaths which were normally impossible to surprise as he could withstand his attacks.

In fact, I could understand that he was the only stunner whose defenses exceeded his stunning abilities. I also knew why they sent him: if his stun attach was reflected back to him, he wouldn’t be affected.

But he was. He feel straight into sleep, and I jumped from my seat in a panic, trying to prevent him from hidden his head on the table.

By the time I had secured him, Frank had run into the room.

“I am sorry Frank… ”

“Don’t be. You are more powerful than we thought. Not only do you reflect attacks, but it appears that the reply bypasses the attacker’s defenses. You will be a very valuable addition to our team.”

“Does this mean I passed?”

“You passed the abilities test. In the next few weeks, we will see if you fit with our values, but usually, that’s a formality. Welcome aboard, Phil”