BOOK 2: COMMUNITY / CH. 13: LEND ME YOUR EARS!

TUESDAY 18TH JULY 8:45 AM

[Hello, Sarah, is now a good time to talk to you guys?]

[Hello, Enoch! Not too bad. Three of us here so far, the working day hasn't quite started here. John will be here soon, and Kate usually turns up around now.]

[Sorry I couldn't talk this morning, that's last night for you, I woke up late and had to rush.]

[That's OK. So there's what, a twelve hour time difference?]

[Eleven actually. I looked it up.]

[I'm still amazed. A few weeks ago I couldn't get anything from John if he was more than a few hundred metres away.]

[Well, you try again and you'd get the same results, if you were aiming right at his deepest thoughts.]

[Oh, yes, you're right of course, just now I know not to.]

[Exactly. But those things I told you yesterday, they helped?]

[Yes. We were able to save a few people before anything happened to them at all, and several who were being chased, plus locate the other victims. It really helps that we have a contact in Security now.]

[Nasty place you're living in. Much more peaceful round here.]

[Not normally nasty, but it seems like he'd decided to try and stretch us.]

[Find out where you broke?]

[Exactly.] Sarah agreed.

[I tried looking up where you are on the net, but the maps I could find just showed a building with no name or any details. Are you at some kind of government facility?]

[Not really. Here's Kate, I'll get her to explain.]

“Kate! Enoch's able to chat, can you fill him in on this place? He can't get any details from maps.”

[Hi, Enoch! Try looking up “Institute for the Human Mind “, and then see if you can work out what God's doing. Two hundred years of failed hunting for any unusual mental powers, and now four staff members with the gift, plus George who we're letting live here for a while, so he can stay out of harm's way.]

[I'm looking you up now. Interesting work you do there. ‘UN resolution protected,’ what's that about?]

[Well, I'm not sure what the list you're reading includes, but among other things we do psych-counselling, evaluations, that sort of thing, for high status clients — people who can't risk using a computer psych service. The UN saw those risks too and passed a unanimous resolution that there'd be some places like us that government officials could go to, and that in the interests of everyone's safety the media had no business reporting on who was coming here or who worked here. So we were written into the original resolution, and you're in serious trouble if you say we work here to anyone.]

[So you're an officially neutral, well respected organisation with all sorts of links to high places?]

[Yes, sir, that's us. Oh, and our clients have known for almost a month now that we've got some mind-readers on staff researching this strange new thing, but that they've all signed a strict ethical code so all their secrets are safe, but they might want to wear gloves anyway.]

[And you've still got clients?]

[Amazingly enough, not one has run away screaming, though there were some ‘this is a joke, isn't it?’ type comments, to which we pointed out that we are a commercial organisation and we do want to keep our jobs.]

[So were those attacks yesterday linked to your disclosure, do you think?]

[No, not really. Karen's uncle used to have the power and set out to use it to get other forms of power too. He eventually got stripped of the power and was thrown in prison, but he's out now. He managed to find Karen, lure her into some abandoned tunnels, and we guess he was planning to use her against his sister. Karen broke her leg and pleaded with God that someone would hear her. I did, but not with my ears.]

Karen had joined them by then and briefly summarised how her uncle had heard about her rescue.

[And in response to Kate thwarting his plans, he decided to see what the limits of the gift are?]

[We think so. He also gave my friends a coded message for my mother — his big sister. Decoded, it says that he's going to commit some kind of bomb attack if we tell people about the power.]

[You're serious about letting the secret out then?]

[You tell us. Could you think of another reason that God's brought the five of us to the Institute?]

[Not right now, but give me a few days and I might. It's a bit scary, you know? There has been a lot of hatred aimed at mind readers in the past.]

[I know,] Sarah said. [Mama Ng passed on a few centuries' worth of memories. What's the situation like where you are? Or anywhere else you have contacts, for that mater? We don't want to cause any riots or anything, but it just seems such a terrible thing that there are evil mind-readers out there who have a free hand because no one even knows about wearing gloves.]

[I'll ask around. Rose, did you hear any of that?]

[I surely did. Hello, distant friends!]

[Hello, Rose. I'm George. Enoch hadn't told us you were gifted too. In fact he's been asking all the questions and hasn't told us anything.] [Isn't that just like him? I'd better make the introductions. We're in our fifties, Enoch is a policeman — community liaison officer right now, and I'm his long-suffering loving wife slaving all day to make a meal that he doesn’t even notice, he's so tired. No, actually that was my great-great-grandmother. I work at the police station too. Making tea...]

[Solving crimes, single-handedly catching international jewel thieves...] interjected Enoch.

[That was just once and you know it, Enoch!]

[You're the only one in the department who's done it, so I'm allowed to be proud of you, Rose!]

[Oh all right. I'm an analyst. Mostly I read reports, correlate data and send my conclusions to the fit young people who can do the chasing.] [And my humble wife worked out that the most likely target was either going to be a daring attack on a major jewellery centre near the harbour or a nice polite distraction robbery at our neighbour's little shop. The department laughed at the second and diverted lots of officers to guard the harbour area. Rose was off duty so went and had a cup of tea and a chat with the neighbour. She arrested them for previous crimes as soon as they came into the shop.]

[They were so shocked that they didn't even struggle,] Rose added.

[Congratulations! So do you make use of the gift or power in your work, and if so, what do others know about it?]

[No, we don't use the gift, or rather we only use it rarely. We've used it to help find missing children, that sort of thing. The parents would talk to Rose anyway so that she can build a profile on the kid, and usually that's enough. There have been times when Rose has guided the computer a little.]

[So you're letting Rose's computer skills take the credit?]

[Yes, we felt that was best. Unfortunately Rose now has such a good track record that it's attracting attention. I hope no one notices, but her results get worse the less risk there is to the child.]

[Ah. You mean you throw in some wild goose chases?]

[Yes. Also I've made it clear that I'm going to pray before doing a missing person search. I normally pray for the kid's safety and wisdom in doing the computer search. They don't know that by that I mean that the Lord will help me hide the gift He's given me.]

[Hi, Rose, Enoch, John here. We're ninety-five percent certain that we should publish about the power, but not at all sure what, if anything, to say about the gift. Would you prefer to be able to be open, at least with other believers?]

[Oh wow, you do want to turn the world upside down, don't you?] Rose observed.

[I think we should talk to everyone else first, have an international prayer meeting and discussion about it.]

[We thought there would be others, but we have no idea how to find them,] Sarah thought.

[Ooh, lesson time! That's Enoch's department,] Rose thought. [I'll concentrate on making supper if it's OK with you. And try to think about that question from John.]

[Bye, Rose.]

[Oh, I'm not going anywhere, just I won't be listening much.]

Enoch proceeded to tell them how, once wakened by the Lord, he'd focussed on the people he knew or knew about, since he'd known about them from Mama Ng. But that he could equally have focussed on the skin of the country and found them.

Contrary to Sarah's expectation, looking at the skin of a larger area wouldn't fry their brain. [You'll see the sort of person you're looking for. If you think of gifted people and look at the skin of a country, then you'll know who's there. God normally gives the gift to a couple of people per region of the globe in each generation. So five of you there, well, you're unusual. Or, you can look for people who are trapped, and focus on the skin of a city or a county, which is good if there's been a bad earthquake or a flood, for instance.]

[So if there are only a couple per region, how is it that you and Rose are both gifted?] Karen wondered.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

[Ah well, I was young, gifted and lonely, and so was Rose, so we got chatting, and eventually decided that we'd go to the same place on holiday, and we'd then be able tell people about meeting a wonderful person. Then she did the whole immigration thing to marry me.]

['Only a thought apart’ not really being close enough. I understand.] John smiled at Sarah.

Kate was more practical. [When you say region, that's bigger than most European countries and smaller than a continent?]

[Yes. Before you five turned up, there were about fifty people with the gift.]

[Next question. How many languages do you speak, or how are we going to ask everyone?]

[Ah well, that one's an interesting question. Somehow this gift cuts across Babel.]

[You mean language barriers don't matter, that it'll sound like everyone's speaking English?]

[No, I mean that although you'll hear what words they're saying, you'll understand them.]

[Fascinating,] George thought. [Is that true for the power too?]

[I don't know. Maybe.]

[Another experiment to do, Kate,] Sarah commented.

[Do you know how common the power is, Enoch? About all we know is that it seems to run in families, albeit sporadically.]

[Yes, seems so. Both Rose and I had a grandmother with it, and a couple of cousins. I guess if you really needed to know, you could check, but neither of us are keen on treating this gift lightly.]

[Yes. We've had similar thoughts,] agreed John. [That's one of the reasons we're wary of publishing anything about the gift.]

[I think you're wise in that, young man,] Rose chipped in. [How can someone do experiments on a spiritual gift?]

[Oh, I'm sure people have. In some ways we were willing parties to one yesterday,] Kate thought. [But we were willing parties to it only because not acting would have been a greater evil.]

[Which reminds me, Enoch,] Sarah thought. [We have this scary set of memories from Mama Ng, but it had nothing like what happened yesterday. Is that because yesterday was too normal, or should we be adding to the store? And if so, how?]

[Ah, now that's something I can't help with,] Enoch admitted. [I knew about Mama's legacy. She tried to convince us to pay her a visit so she could pass it on, but we just didn't have the cash for the travel. And I never did understand what she said about how those memories were tied together.] [That's an interesting phrase,] Sarah pondered. [Is that what Mama said about them?]

[Rose? Do you remember what Mama said exactly?]

[No, I was sick, remember? You tried to ask me but I just wanted to go back to sleep.]

[Maybe you should look at my memory later then. It would be good for these guys to add that memory.]

[And I do like the idea of meeting in person so this isn't just in our two heads. Maybe we can work out the funding issue. What do you think, Kate?]

[Have a conference, you mean?]

[Investigate and document the experiences of lots of gifted mind-readers, even if it stays in the Institute's vaults,] John suggested.

[Ooh, you sneaky man. You know I can't refuse to do that.]

[What's this?] Rose asked.

[The Institute's prime directive, if you like, laid down two centuries ago, is to investigate and document mental abilities. And a big pot of money has been accumulating since then to fund it. Of course fifty people's travel expenses would make a dent in it, but not a very big one if truth be told. Fancy an expenses-paid trip to this part of the world at a mutually convenient time?]

[Interesting question. When were you thinking of?]

[Oh it'll take a year or more to organise, I'm sure. That's assuming this is the right place to hold it. We've got security and privacy for meetings here, and I guess we'd all fit in the large meeting room if we move the tables out, but we don't have enough accommodation. Maybe we should meet somewhere else.]

[Maybe. It probably depends on who can make it. I expect some won't be able to, what with family issues, health and so on,] John thought. [If there are only thirty or so of us, we'd be comfortable enough.]

[There might be visa issues too, I expect,] chipped in George.

[I expect those could be solved, but yes, family and health issues are more likely. Plus plain simple fear. Reporting may not be officially permitted, but having a publicly acceptable cover story wouldn't be such a bad thing,] John thought.

[Unless we linked it to some major sporting event or something, like the Olympics,] suggested Rose.

[I doubt the Olympic games will be coming here any time soon. Oh, you mean have our meeting at the same place as them? I think the accountants would need some convincing about that. Not to mention the tax inspectors,] Kate thought.

[Oh well, more thought needed, no rush,] Sarah said. [But what about publishing? So far we've let theh clients know. What about the general public? Can you introduce us to anyone that's awake so we can ask everyone's opinion? How much real fear of discovery is there out there, and how much have the centuries of mind-readers in fiction made mind-reading something less scary?]

[That's a good question,] Enoch thought. [Yes, I'll introduce you of course, but we're all servants of the same Lord, no need to be too formal.]

It turned out that just over half the gifted were awake and free to talk. Rather than one by one, as Sarah had expected, Enoch called them all at once, and the introductions were made en-mass. Some were mid-conversation in the physical world, and dropped out quickly. Then it turned out that Enoch hadn't actually remembered everyone, and there was a second round of introductions.

And then John asked the first question — was there anyone familiar with the technique for tying the memories that Mama Ng had used for her legacy. Several were, and they agreed to chat with their nearest gifted ‘neighbour’ about it at a convenient time. Then Kate spoke about the Institute and how they'd felt compelled to disclose that they had at last found someone able to read minds. What did everyone think about telling the public about the power? Surprise was the initial response of course, and fear of witch-hunts. But, reassured by the news that none of the Institute's clients had been scared, they agreed to consider it. All agreed that there had been a lot of books with mind-readers in them, some as heroes, some villains. No one knew of any serious theological consideration of the issue, except the ones that either concluded that the witch-hunts of the past were a reaction against genuine evil or that they were all a case of vindictive lies being believed by the gullible. They'd think about it. It would certainly be convenient if people avoided touch. One of their number, a catholic monk who rejoiced in pointing out that it wasn't just protestants who could claim a living faith, promised he would talk to his abbot, who knew about his gift. Others said they'd discuss the issue with people they trusted. Karen issued a word of warning, based on her experience with Ivan. Disclosure brought the possibility of discovery if normal people thought surprising thoughts as they touched skin. It was more of a problem in hot climates, or where gloves would never be worn.

Thinking about hot climates, Sarah had a thought. [We know metal transfers thoughts. What about water? Has anyone been swimming in the sea? Did you find you picked up thoughts that way?]

‘Not that we've noticed,’ was the consensus. Maybe water was too conductive and earthed the signal? [Yet another experimental series, oh joy,] Sarah concluded.

Karen responded, partly in jest, [And then the question arises whether we can communicate with dolphins, apes, and so on. Has anyone tried that?]

There was a long silence followed by a lot of denials, and no few mental voices raised in concern that that might be using something holy for base motives.

[Sorry, that wasn't my intention. But I expect some ten year old will ask it if word gets out about bypassing the language barrier. Urm, I'm not clear on something, and it seems important. Is it the gift or the power that enables that?]

[It's the gift,] confirmed someone, Karen couldn't remember who. [The power lets you understand physical intentions, the emotional tone, that sort of thing, but real communication is only through the gift.]

[But with emotional contact, someone with the power might be better at training animals, more aware of their moods. I'm sorry for going on about this, but while I'm new to the gift and the power, I know that when I was young I often felt that I was more aware of the guard-dogs’ moods than even their trainers. I was wondering if it was just childhood fantasy or something real.]

[Were you touching them?] came the obvious question, to which Karen had to admit defeat: she couldn't remember.

The conversation moved on, and Kate suggested the conference idea. One motive would be to share Mama Ng's legacy. If it were useful to some, surely it was useful to all. Others had their own versions. But yes, it was agreed, pooling knowledge, memories and approaches would be a good thing. But was a conference needed? [Why not just one or two people travelling at a time, maybe each of us should meet a neighbour or two, pass on what we've received?]

[It would take longer, but yes, it'd work,] confirmed Sarah. [Several short trips instead of one long one.]

[Less jet lag.]

[But meeting together to worship is a good thing.]

[There would be risks if we all met. All of us fragile eggs in one basket.]

[Let's think on this too.]

[Agreed,] Kate said.

[May God bless all our thinking and grant us unity.]

[Amen! We'll talk again another day.] And by mutual agreement, the international conference ended.

[Thank you, Enoch, for arranging that. I have a question though,] John thought. [How is it that people were entering and leaving that discussion? Was that you doing something, or them?]

[Ah, you've not met that mode then?] Enoch asked.

[We can talk to people in an area, or to individuals. But how did what we were just part of work?]

[Where were you listening?] Enoch asked, in teaching mode once more.

[Urm, I don't know,] John admitted.

[Here, I think. Are you telling us we can listen elsewhere?] Sarah said.

[Exactly! In fact I'm sure you have already.] [Well, when we were first listening to Karen and George's thoughts, when we were rescuing them. But that's different.] [Yes, slightly. But look, when you're talking to me you're sending to my home, and I don't know if you've realised it but you're also letting your thoughts leak to others in the room. I can't avoid hearing, nor can any of you. But when we were talking to the whole crowd, well, you could say they lent us their ears. They sent their thoughts to your room, and they listened to the thoughts that were there too, including the ones sent from elsewhere.]

[Well, that explains it,] George acknowledged. [But how?]

[And since this isn't radio or sound, as far as I can work out, what is it that they are listening to?] Sarah asked. [I've no idea, Sarah. All I know is that it's a gift from our Lord, and it works. Maybe we've been given angel's tongues and ears,] Enoch replied.

[It's obviously related to the power but different,] George thought. [Maybe if we can find out what goes through metal doors and pipes but not through gloves, then we'll be on the way to finding out.]

[Why are you so hooked on finding out about this, Sarah?]

[I guess from my physics training,] Sarah admitted.

Karen added [And I want to be able to give my mother better protection than a pair of gloves — some sort of thought screen that would help her sleep at night.]

[Help her sleep? She has the power?]

[No, but her little brother did. She told us yesterday what he was like.]

[Sarah said you had a contact in Security now. Is that your mother?]

[Enoch,] Sarah interrupted. [I was wrong to let that thought escape, and it was incorrect anyway. The Institute has had contacts with several security agencies for a long time. Now, please don't dig.]

Kate added, [I expect that Sarah meant we didn't know who to call when we heard Karen's cry for help. Now we do, but you'd need clearance from our government before we could tell you who that was.]

[OK, I understand. Don't tell, don't ask. But your mother knows you've got the gift?]

[Yes. She's known about them both for a long time, from talking to Sarah's mother, who at least mentioned Mama Ng to her.]

[How did Sarah's mother get involved? I'm getting lost here.] Enoch said.

[They were cousins. My mother had the power, but my parents died before she could teach me much. My dad made me some kind of suppressor to protect me from my evil distant cousin.] [And then, because no one knew what was going on, when that suppressor was broken and Sarah started suffering from the pain, they decided it was some kind of anxiety attack, and eventually she came to the Institute and then God started doing strange things in our lives.]

Enoch summarised, [So Sarah and George were born with the power, Karen has the genetic link at least, but what about John and Kate? Anyone in your family trees?]

[Not that we know of. Pure divine intervention as far as we know.]

[Oh well. I'll let you start work.]

[Aren't you going to tell us how to send our ears somewhere else?] George asked.

[Oh. It's not hard. If you can't work it out by tomorrow I'll tell you then.]

[OK Enoch, the students will try and solve the exercise for hours, and then Clever Professor Enoch can rub our noses in how easy it all is,] Kate said, in a tone dripping with mock humility.

[You deserved that, Enoch!] Rose observed. [They've got work to do over there, you know.]

[If they don't have time, I'll tell them tomorrow, but I think they'll be able to work it out, and in their curious explorations they might find out other things we don't know.]

[Oh, all right. But you're going to suffer, you know,] Rose said.

[Oh?]

[Well, they're going to need somewhere they can eavesdrop on, aren't they?]

[So?]

[So you're going to invite them to listen in to us discussing your plans to redecorate the house and replant the garden. And no changing the subject to any more immediate plans you might have until they let us know they've got it.]

[No! Such cruelty!]

[Well, you could always just give us the answer, but I don't think I have much else to do,] George said. [So I'll start working on it soonish.]

[You can at least enjoy your meal in peace!] Kate said. [I think I'm going to keep them all busy for an hour, at least.]

[Thanks, Kate,] Enoch said.