CHAPTER INTERLUDE X
Chief of the Psi-Warriors, OverSeer and covert special Operations agents,
Moran Ackerman: My Stories of the Transition
MORAN: ESP Training Level 8-A: Re-set & TIMULT, is a class I take mostly to learn that these options exist for others; I am not allowed to use Re-set nor do I know how to do it myself. It is imperative, however, that I understand it because sometimes I have to stop an unauthorized user from attempting Re-set. I can only know that is happening if I recognize the signs when I'm timulting. Some Defiers rise to a high enough Level, mostly by accident and predispositions, to get dangerously close to effecting a Re-set.
Here is a recent training story I can share which flows into a family drama.
********
I am sitting in front of several holoscreens in the PW training HQ at The Campus. Sometimes I can "work from home," with set-ups similar to these, but I'm training other OSOps on surveillance today so I have to be here for about a month. Liora is home with the kids and I miss them a lot, but work is work, APC or not.
With me are a dozen trainees for Level 8-A monitoring lessons. Some of them can monitor without screens and that impresses the hell out of me since I always need a screen. Our younger Warriors are amazing. They learn much faster than I do and go further at younger ages. I am concerned about their judgment and maturity, though, since monitoring is only one facet of this work; discernment and quick decision-making are the other two.
I can't use their real names for identity protection since many of them work undercover when they graduate. To my right are five males and two females, all human. To my left are two orangutans (a mated pair) and a large saltwater tank for a dolphin, a small squid and a "baby" humpback whale. When we have full-grown or larger species to train, we use another facility.
We all use our fish; English words with a variety of other languages are posted on the holoscreens as I explain what we're doing. Trainees respond when I call on each one.
They're learning how to recognize another's psi signature and to determine what uses it's being put to in various simulations. Right now, they're supposed to identify telepathy, telekinesis, and emanating and distinguish these within waking vs. sleeping/dreaming activities. Each trainee has a controller matched to his/her appendage which allows them to respond quickly when I ask questions.
I call this part of the training "Psi Jeopardy," since I require them to pose their responses in the forms of questions, as the old game show does. The game is in full swing, below.
********
I point to a screen furthest to my right and say: "fMRI and PET scans of awake human engaged in activity leading to arrest."
DOLPHIN tags and responds: "What is 'illegally teleporting objects lacking proof of this human's ownership'?"
MORAN: "Right! Excellent! Next," I point to the screen nearest it, still to my right, "EEG, fMRI, PET and CT scans showing giant squid pod leader's activity leading to human intervention."
WOMAN #1 furthest to my right, sitting right in front of that screen, looks confused and over to the other WOMAN #2 on her left, who shrugs.
MALE #1 smirks and pokes MALE #2, his friend.
MORAN: I call on smirking man. "Do you know the answer? Please respond."
MALE #1 loses his smirk and also shrugs.
MORAN: I stare pointedly at him.
MALE #1: "Sorry" to his female classmates.
SQUID tags and responds: "What is 'attacking the southern right whales' pod without provocation or need for food'?"
MORAN: "Thank you. Is that easier or more difficult for humans to detect?" I ask the humans. Lots of shrugs.
MALE #1, smirking guy, looks even more ashamed, now.
MORAN: "What about you two?" I point to the ORANGUTANS. No response. "And you?" I gesture to the DOLPHIN, who clicks and squeaks. I check my fish to find that means, "I know the answer but I am giving others a turn."
MORAN: "All right. I see I'm going too fast. Work the rest of today with your study partners to master these configurations and we resume tomorrow, first thing after breakfast."
Click Follow to receive emails when this author adds content on Bublish
Comment on this Bubble
Your comment and a link to this bubble will also appear in your Facebook feed.