Telepath

  Chapter Twelve

  Until I was thirteen, I lived on Level 27 of the Hive. My first clear memory of leaving that level was the school geography trip when I was seven years old. Our teachers escorted a wildly excited crowd of us down in a lift to Level 100, and then we rode the upway through all the accommodation levels to Level 1 itself. I was dazed to discover the world was so big. I’d only ever seen a small part of Level 27, and now I was passing through level after level.

  When we finally reached Level 1, we were allowed five minutes to look in awe at the people walking by. Our teachers told us there were fewer people living on the higher levels, and those who were Level 1 were very special indeed, vital to the success and prosperity of the Hive.

  After that, we were taken higher up still, riding in an express commuter lift to one of the fifty working levels above Level 1. We paraded in a wide-eyed line through a hydroponics bay, were allowed to pick strawberries to eat, and then rode up in a lift again to Industry 1, the top level of the Hive, the edge of the world. Some of the other children were brave enough to venture outside the lift, but I stayed at the back with the other cowards. We didn’t believe our teachers’ reassurances that the Truesun couldn’t blind us on Industry 1, and kept our eyes firmly closed until the lift headed down to take us home to Level 27.

  As a teen, the working levels were forbidden territory. Now I was back on Industry 1 for the first time since I was seven years old. I couldn’t cower at the back of the lift with my eyes closed this time. Not when I was supposed to be in charge of this unit.

  I forced myself to step out of the lift, and saw a large open area, with corridors running off to either side and directly ahead.

  “I’ll take you to your apartment, Amber,” said Megan. “You’ll want to rest and adjust to the background noise of the Hive.”

  “I’d like a tour of the unit first.” I turned to look behind me. The lift we’d arrived in was one of a row of six. A couple of them had unusually large doors.

  “Coming back to the Hive is a major step,” said Megan. “You need to rest.”

  I couldn’t rest until I’d made sure this place was safe from the Truesun. “I’d like a tour of the unit,” I repeated. “I’ll find it easier to relax when I know my surroundings.”

  Megan turned to look at Adika for support, but he’d already grabbed a bag from our luggage trolley and headed off down a corridor.

  Lucas laughed as he picked up a bag as well. “Never argue with the telepath, Megan. A brief tour will help Amber get oriented.”

  He vanished off as well, followed by Fran. Hannah furtively picked up the luggage trolley controller, and stole silently away with the trolley chasing her. Megan and I were left alone.

  Megan sighed. “A very brief tour then. This unit was shut down and put into maintenance mode after Claire died a few years ago.”

  Claire had obviously been another true telepath. I checked Megan’s mind, and was relieved to discover that Claire hadn’t broken under the strain of using her telepathy, but died of extreme old age.

  “Once you were discovered in Lottery, a complete refurbishment was carried out.” Megan gestured at the row of lifts. “We have our own dedicated set of ultra express speed lifts, which connect to major belt interchanges on each level of the Hive, enabling you to reach all areas as quickly as possible. Lift 2 is bigger than standard, designed to take the combined Alpha and Beta Strike teams in extreme emergency. Lift 6 is our freight lift.”

  She walked straight ahead across the open area. I followed her, gradually calming down as I saw the ceilings were reassuringly solid.

  “These corridors are our accommodation section,” said Megan. “Your family can spend time with you here and in the park, but mustn’t enter the operational section of the unit.”

  Park? We had our own park? Megan had to be joking. I checked her thoughts. No, she wasn’t joking.

  Megan led me on through security doors into a corridor, and paused at a crossway. “We’re now in the operational section. Tactical area on the left. Liaison area on the right.”

  We walked on past huge offices to the next crossway. “Administration offices are straight ahead,” said Megan, “and the right turn leads to the storage and maintenance areas. We’ll skip all that, and go left past the conference rooms.”

  I obediently turned left, my head dazed by the sheer scale of this. By now I’d worked out the number of people on the Alpha Strike team, the Tactical team, and the Liaison team, and allowed for the fact there’d be a Beta Strike team in future. I hadn’t absorbed the fact that there’d be a lot of administration and other support staff too, and all these people would need offices and apartments in the unit.

  We reached yet another crossway, and Megan paused again. “This area all belongs to the Strike team. Gym, swimming pool, and equipment storage to the right. Ready room, shooting range, and medical area to the left. Ahead is the park.”

  Gym? Swimming pool? Medical area? All we needed was a shopping area, and this place would be a whole little level of its own. I shook my head in disbelief, and followed Megan through more security doors. The park looked a little unkempt, with faded patches on the blue ceiling, but the suns were on, there was birdsong among the trees, and a rabbit was watching us curiously.

  We followed the path alongside a stream, took a side turning through some trees, skirted a lake, and finally reached more doors. “And we’re now back in the accommodation section,” said Megan. “The community rooms are all on this corridor.”

  We walked on and arrived back in the open area by the lift. “You and the Strike team all have apartments close to the lifts to allow a fast response to emergency calls,” said Megan. “Adika’s apartment is directly opposite yours for security reasons.”

  She left me at the door of my new apartment, clearly assuming I’d want to explore it by myself. I went inside, and was stunned by the size of the palatial hall. I wandered round it, opening doors on a ridiculous number of rooms, a lot of them totally empty. I paused in one to investigate a stack of boxes, which turned out to contain all the clutter I’d left in my storage locker on Teen Level. Eventually, I found the living room, and frowned at the luxury comms system.

  I’d faced my worries about being on Industry 1, but now I had to deal with a bigger problem. I was scheduled to meet Forge tomorrow morning. I was nervous already, and I was bound to dream about him tonight.

  I called Adika, and a holo of his head appeared in front of me. “Yes, Amber?”

  “I know I’m scheduled to interview your Strike team tomorrow, but I’d like to do a few of them today.”

  Adika gave me a rueful smile. “Megan won’t approve, but I understand you being impatient to get on with your job. Do you want to see anyone in particular?”

  The only person I wanted to see was Forge, but I didn’t want to make that too obvious. “It’s sensible to begin by checking your five potential candidates for the deputy team leader positions.”

  Adika nodded. “I’ll get them here as soon as possible. Shall we use one of the conference rooms?”

  I closed my eyes for a second to search for Megan’s familiar thoughts.

  “Megan’s roaming the offices,” I said, “checking everything has been set up properly, so we’d better use a room in my apartment. I think I remember seeing a meeting room somewhere near my front door. With luck, I may manage to find it again. Why do I have lots of completely empty rooms in here?”

  Adika laughed. “The unit is in an isolated part of the Hive because it makes things quieter for you, and because it’s easier for us to set up security defences. Your apartment is huge for the same reasons. If we ever had intruders in the unit, then you’d take refuge in your apartment with your bodyguards. Take a look at the thickness of your walls some time.”

  He paused. “I’ll call you when my candidates are here.”

  His holo vanished. I stared thoughtfully at the empty air where it had been, and then went to examine the front door of my apart
ment. There was something odd about the wall and the door. They were thicker than standard, and … I rapped on the wall with my knuckles. It felt, and sounded, like I was knocking on a structural pillar.

  I stood still for a moment, thinking about the confusing layout of my apartment and all the empty rooms, then went back to nose around the central area that contained my living room, dining area, and bedroom. Yes, this was surrounded by even thicker walls. If any intruders managed to cut their way into my apartment, my Strike team and I could retreat into here.

  This seemed an unbelievable arrangement, but I was a rare and precious resource for my Hive, to be strictly guarded and pampered with endless luxuries. The abrupt change from my basic existence on Teen Level was unnerving.

  I stopped worrying about security defences, and started worrying about my meeting with Forge instead. I didn’t want to wear my old teen clothes for this interview – I’d need all the advantages I could get when I came face to face with Forge – so I headed to my bedroom. I’d passed my mother’s suggestions for new clothes to Megan, and a whole array of them were hanging inside the bedroom storage wall.

  There were a couple of packages on the shelf next to them. People were permitted to give occasional personal gifts to lower level family members, so I’d got a fashionable beaded necklace for my mother, and a top of the range dataview for my gadget-loving father.

  I hadn’t got anything for Gregas. He’d probably sulk about that, but the Teen Level equality rules barred teens from being given presents. Everyone, whether their family was high or low level, was supposed to start on Teen Level with the authorized set of basic clothes and possessions, and live on the standard teen allowance after that. I’d known a couple of cases where teens talked their parents into breaking the rules and giving them luxury items. Those teens had ended up deeply unpopular with everyone else, so I wasn’t encouraging Gregas to make the same mistake.

  I left checking the presents for later, picked out a very official looking onesuit, changed into it, and dropped my old clothes on the floor. I knew that Hannah would sneak into my apartment and tidy up later. I was probably getting a shameful reputation as the untidy telepath.

  I’d just arrived in the meeting room, when the comms system chimed and I heard Adika’s voice. “We’re outside, Amber.”

  I ordered the front door to open, and replied over the comms system. “Please wait in the hall until I call you in.”

  I sat down in a chair, took a deep breath, and cautiously lifted the mental curtain that blocked my telepathic view of the world. I guessed the mind of a borderline telepath would be like an even brighter version of Lucas’s glowing thoughts. I was ready to be dazzled, prepared to slam down the curtain and blot out a blinding sight, but there was nothing.

  I reached out nervously to Adika’s mind, and then to the five unfamiliar ones with him. This was ridiculous. I couldn’t even guess which of them was Forge. I dipped into one of their minds, touching the top level of thoughts.

  … is it. The telepath says yes or no. All or nothing, and no possible appeal.

  There was no mental picture of the telepath linked to the words. Adika, obsessed with security, hadn’t told them my name or even my sex, let alone shown them a holo of me. I moved on to the next stranger.

  … was supposed to be tomorrow. Is the change good or bad, and why …?

  I checked the other three minds as well, but still had no idea which of them was Forge. None of them was thinking of their own name, and the levels below pre-vocalization were just a mess of nervous anticipation. I’d learnt exactly nothing, except that Forge was about to have the shock of his life. I peered at the controls inlaid into the top of the meeting room table, and tapped one of them.

  “Please send Forge in.”

  I straightened up in my chair, and tried to look calm and in control as the door opened. Forge entered, looking less confident than on Teen Level, but a lot better dressed. His new clothes suited him, though Forge could wear a sack and still look handsome.

  He took one look at me and froze in shock. I was grateful for his moment of utter confusion, because the sight of his face had hit me just as strongly as in the days before Lottery. I instinctively closed my eyes, and the effect was like turning off a light. From the telepath’s viewpoint, Forge was nothing special at all. No joyous Carnival of a mind like Lucas. Forge was an indistinct shadow of Adika, without the hard strength of mind that came from years of experience.

  “Amber.” I heard him murmur the word, and saw his thoughts struggling to adjust to the situation.

  …really is her, but how can she be a telepath when …

  Her hair is actually tidy for once. Now that’s hard to …

  The old days on Teen Level. Shanna!

  I winced and surfaced. The low levels were a mess. I’d always seen Forge as the master of every situation, but now he was feeling bewildered and uncertain. There was pain too, because seeing me had triggered memories of the past, making him relive his parting with Shanna.

  “Hello, Forge.” I opened my eyes but kept them firmly fixed on the table. “Please sit down.”

  I heard the scrape of a chair as he sat down, and then he spoke in a husky, nervous voice. “I’m ready. Go ahead.”

  “If you mean go ahead and read your mind,” I said, “I already did that.”

  I suddenly relaxed. Forge definitely wasn’t either a borderline or true telepath. I still had no idea why his face had such an effect on me, but all I needed to do was close my eyes and read his mind to break the spell. I still didn’t understand what was going on here, but I could control it.

  Forge had recovered from the initial shock now, and was panicking about how knowing the telepath would affect his chances. He’d lost Shanna, and desperately wanted this job to give him a new focus in life. Had he only got this far because the telepath was his friend?

  “You got this on pure merit,” I said. “I knew nothing about it until I discovered you were on Adika’s list of preferred candidates for his Alpha team.”

  Forge blinked, startled to have his unspoken question answered. “The others are still bound to think …”

  “They don’t know we met on Teen Level,” I cut into his words. “No one knows, not even Adika, and we don’t have to tell them.”

  “That would be wonderful,” he said. “I don’t want …”

  “I can see it all in your head,” I interrupted him again. “No need to spell it out to me. Any hint of favouritism, or special treatment, could mess up your chances of getting selected as a deputy team leader. Adika won’t want a deputy who can’t cope without having his hand held by the telepath.”

  Forge gave a gasp of laughter.

  “You’d better get out of here now,” I said. “If we spend too long on this, Adika will get nosy about the reason.”

  There was the sound of a chair moving again. “Thanks, Amber. You’re being great about this.”

  I followed his thoughts as he went out of the room, and saw his sudden shock as he remembered something.

  … selection criteria include appearance. Does Amber …? Am I supposed to …?

  There was a wordless blank for a second, and then he was reassuring himself.

  Amber never showed the slightest interest in me except as a friend who likes the same sports as her. She dated Atticus for a while, and he’s dark-haired and …

  I’d known that Forge had only been interested in Shanna on Teen Level. I hadn’t expected him to be attracted to me now, I didn’t want him to be attracted to me now, but it was still a slap in the face to see his distaste at the idea of sleeping with me. I gave myself a moment to pull myself together, and then tapped the table controls. “Please send Eli in.”

  Another dark-haired young man hurried into the room, his eyes widening as he saw me. I took one look at his thoughts and smiled.

  “Yes, I look just like an ordinary girl, Eli. No strangely coloured eyes.”

  He choked and looked at me in horror.


  I laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hold that thought against you. I’m finding it hard to shake off my own ideas about nosies.”

  Eli gave me an engaging smile. “This is all so strange. I can’t believe Lottery hit me with this.”

  I smiled back at him. “How do you think I feel?”

  Kaden came next. His parents worked in Law Enforcement too, and would be thrilled if he got a post in a Telepath Unit. He was already daydreaming about impressing Adika, and winning one of the two deputy Strike team leader positions.

  Rothan was much calmer than the others. He had ambitions, but was conscious that the wellbeing of the Hive was more important than his personal wishes.

  Matias came last. He had the same problem as Forge, his mind shadowed by thoughts of the girl he’d cared for on Teen Level. He’d always known that Sofia’s incredible painting talent would make her Level 1. He’d dreaded Lottery, expecting it to assign him to his home zone weightlifting team. That would give him a profession he’d love but end his relationship with Sofia by creating a barrier of 9 levels between them.

  Their Lottery results turned out to be even more cruel than that. Sofia was a Level 1 Mural Painter as expected. Matias was Level 1 as well, but assigned to Law Enforcement. The barrier between them now wasn’t about levels but about secrecy. Law Enforcement staff knew things that must be kept secret from the rest of the Hive, so they weren’t allowed to enter into relationships with ordinary citizens.

  I saw Matias’s last memory of Sofia. Her straight black hair was nearly waist length. There was a smudge of green paint on her cheek. She’d thrown her arms round his neck, and …

  I pulled sharply away from that intimate memory, disentangled myself from Matias’s personal pain, sent him out of the room, and tapped the table. “Adika, please come in.”