She watched the girl again as she awoke in darkness, flailing in an unfamiliar room.

Now, she was watching the blonde woman struggle with another bag of dirt as the seas began to churn.

Next, was the bearded man sweating in the icelands as the machine towered over him.

Then, she was back to the ocean following the fuzzy headed young man stumbling from one task to the next.

Then, back to the cold, where tumbling thoughts erupted forth from the dark haired woman as she rode across the snow dunes in search of penguins.

One after another, flicking between them at will.

Yahuei was getting better at separating their minds. Within the dark twisted web of the Little Dreamer, she began building rooms. Creating doors so she wouldn’t accidentally tumble from one consciousness to the next as she wandered the dreamscape.

Next, she began analyzing the discovered abilities, compiling them into a mental library.

First and foremost was the Dreamer’s Dream Web ability. The biggest mystery of them all. There was a chance the web was not a creation of the girl, but a cooperative effort between all of the gifted. The girl was simply the first to gain access to it and navigate it, opening it up to the others. Either way, it was a key resource that would be vital to long distance communication now that other means were no longer available.

Next, was Kyle’s “Hand of God” ability. It had only been used once, but Yahuei suspected it was simply a large volume discharge of telekinetic power concentrated on a single target. During the “fork ball test” most people already utilized this ability, just not with the control and force that he had demonstrated in that moment of danger. Could telekinetic power be strengthened like a muscle? Could one learn to “grasp” and move different objects this way? This was definitely something to be researched.

Becca’s “Kinetisense” ability to sense objects moving through space was perhaps some sort of weak variation of this. Instead of actively pushing objects, it appeared she left her “grasp” or “reach” hanging like a thin mist around her, allowing her to sense objects that moved through it with enough force. Yahuei had experimented with this herself, but it seemed to take a lot of effort for her. While it seemed to be an entirely subconscious process for Becca, keeping a constant telekinetic field wore Yahuei out rapidly. She preferred the Dreamer’s variation of “pinging” at various intervals as it didn’t require as much concentration or energy.

On another note, Yahuei wasn’t quite certain how her own “Intent-sense” worked either. Becca’s ability to layer it onto her own ability to make it into an area detection effect was quite impressive. She detailed out how she felt using the ability, almost like an empathetic reaching out to “connect” with the person she was talking to.

It appeared each person had a different knack for using the powers in different ways which translated into drastically different abilities. Even so, by creating this “library” those with access could now learn and contribute their abilities. Even if one couldn’t use them immediately, they would still be aware of something they could try to work toward.

After finishing up the library, she left a mental note behind inviting others to contribute. She wasn’t totally sure if it would work, but hopefully they would be able to use these rooms to communicate with each other.

With that, Yahuei approached a door, half floating half walking as one does in a dream. The door was plain white, but not too bright as to stand out against the subdued corner of the dreamscape where it resided. She placed her hand on the stainless steel door handle and turned, stepping back into her room.

----------------------------------------

The faux-sky was shining with daylight, illuminating the floors as the light trickled through the many crooks and crevices of the walkways. Looking upward, one could feel as if they were merely standing in a tight alleyway between towering skyscrapers; as if they could turn just one more corner and they would be out in the open strolling down bustling streets.

“There’s been a bit of a complication.”

Inspector Chen was on her way to the southern tunnel when her wrist-piece had rang.

“Looks like someone blew up part of the labs while they were in the middle of transferring down to lower levels,” President Cai said.

“Damages?” The Inspector asked.

“You tell me.” came the response. “There’s an emergency response team on the fifth floor.”

“Alright,” she responded. She quickly sent off a message postponing the meeting with the Chief of the Southern Tunnel and switched her course back toward the elevators.

If the response team was on the fifth floor, then that means the damages had managed to reach the third floor as well. Beyond the first and second floor barrier, there wasn’t much of a structural separation between the floors beyond the basics you would see in a normal building . It wasn’t until the tenth floor which housed the “Sky Hologram” and major broadcasting section was there another solid metal barrier.

The level 6 checkpoint was full of confusion as many people were turned away from security, there were protests and arguments as well as people trying to make their way back down the elevators. She managed to squeeze through the crowd and make her way past the checkpoint where it was much more calm.

There, an unfamiliar scientist came to greet her.

“Hello Inspector, I’m Dr. Bo.” He seemed rather annoyed by her presence, but he attempted to reel it in. “We’re quite busy at the moment, unfortunately.”

“Where is Director Zhao?” she asked.

“He’s been detained,” the man responded. “As Director, he’s taking responsibility for this debacle, whether it was his fault or not.”

It made sense, the Inspector thought. She doubted he had anything to do with the incident though. He had specifically been chosen for the job because he was loyal to the government: specifically to President Cai. But you could never dismiss the possibility that he had been turned somehow, especially given what had happened with Dr. Li.

The right side elevator to the surface floors had been blocked off.

“We’re using that one to move between the second and fifth floors, it's been locked to prevent contamination further downward.”

“How bad is it?” Inspector Chen asked as they entered the left set of sliding doors.

“There’s a sizable hole in the middle of the ceiling of the second floor,” the man explained. “Which is causing... y'know to leak from above. There are already quite a few people being quarantined.”

“Any idea what they used?”

“Not too sure yet, but it was big enough to cause the whole ceiling to collapse. Because of that, the third floor has been impacted as well.”

The elevator doors opened to a makeshift yellow inflatable wall on the left side of them causing the already narrow corridor to become even more claustrophobic.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

As they moved further in, the area opened up and the Inspector got a clearer view of the quarantine area through clear plastic dividers. The elevator doors opened and three people in hazard suits filed out carrying various boxes of machinery. The ground was piled with lab equipment in various states, from blackened to slightly singed. The group held up their recovered equipment to the clear plastic windows. A technician on their side approached and scanned the material with what looked like a mobile phone with a laser coming out of the top. The man inside turned the box around as she scanned, then she spoke into her earpiece and pointed to one direction or another as the contamination readings came through her device.

Dr. Bo paused and turned to her, “I’ll be honest, Inspector, I don’t think we’re going to be able to get anything more out of the lab. It’s pretty ruined, plus it’s not worth the risk.”

“What about the nano tech sample you guys recreated? Were you able to get that out?” the Inspector asked. “Being able to use this technology is the most important thing right now.”

“Well there were the prototypes we sent down for confirmation, but most of the tanks used for testing and development were left behind. It’s gonna set us back though, we’re not going to be able to make more until we get engineering to make more.” The man rubbed his chin. “But we should be able to use the ones we have at the very least.”

“So why not just seal everything off now?” the Inspector asked. “Wouldn’t that be smarter than to risk further contamination?”

“Well…” the man thought for a moment, “We’re missing the controllers.”

“The controllers? For the nanomachines you mean? The ones used to give them orders?”

“Yup, unfortunately due to the confidential nature of the project, we weren’t able to send off data on the newest set programmed to match the prototype.” He fiddled a bit, “So the blueprint is still stuck on –well hopefully– a hard disk somewhere above.”

“Didn’t you send any controllers down with the prototype samples?”

“Yes, but to reverse engineer them from scratch would take a while, especially since we no longer have the proper testing equipment. We’re hoping we can retrieve the data as that would save us weeks of development time.”

The elevator doors opened again, but this time there was a shout accompanied by a sudden flurry of activity. A limp figure was pulled from the elevator trailing a streak of blood.

The technician next to them yelled into her earpiece and the group jerked the figure over for her to scan. From here, they could see that the man’s leg appeared to have been crushed by something and been hastily tourniqueted above the thigh. His white hazard suit was streaked with blood.

The technician frowned then shook her head, muttering orders into the mic.

Contaminated.

“As you can see, the area is not very stable. Parts of the structure above are caving downward, we’ve had more than a few injuries already from people getting crushed or falling into the third floor from the second.” The man shook his head. “I’m not sure it's worth the risk anymore to keep sending people up.”

Yahuei watched as the group dragged the man to a separate location for quarantine processing. “So if there was a way to avoid the cave-ins… you think you’d be willing to send up another team?”

“Well… I mean sure…” the man looked at her, confused, “I mean, it's not like I’m opposed to sending up more teams, if you guys want us to send more, then we’ll comply, obviously…”

“Tell me how to suit up and get a team ready,” the Inspector said.

“M-ma’am?” the man stuttered.

The Inspector looked at him, eyebrows raised.

“Uh, right away ma’am.”

----------------------------------------

When the elevator doors opened, they were met with almost pitch darkness. Lab instruments and glass windows glinted with the dull elevator light. Somewhere, they could hear the trickling of water.

“Hear that? It must be raining above,” a large man next to Yahuei said with a rough gravelly voice.

Another man, younger with a higher melodic voice, to the left of her piped up. “Which isn’t good. It’s washing the infection downward.”

The four of them clicked on the lights on the front of their suits, bathing the lab in swathes of white.

“Which way?” Inspector Chen asked.

The large man pointed down the stark hallway in front, “We go down that way, then make a right as we get near the breakroom. The controller lab is further in, just past the explosion site where we had kept our samples.”

“Ok let me know when we get close.”

The Inspector would lead the way as agreed upon when she had proposed the idea. The acting director had protested the strongest. If anything happened to her, there would most likely be complications for them. The team members chosen had protested as well, they would most likely shoulder the majority of the blame should it come to that. The protests didn’t really last long however, as none of the others really wanted to lead either.

The hallway was flanked by glass windows just like what she remembered when she visited previously. She knew more or less where to go, but she wanted to make sure she knew when they got close to the explosion site so she could start using kinetisense without wasting any energy.

The lab took on a much more sinister atmosphere in the darkness. As they proceeded, signs of a hasty evacuation were present: an overturned tool cart, unsecured lab doors hung ajar, a puddle of unknown liquid spilling from a smashed beaker.

They turned right as they neared the doors to the break area. She peered in through the windows of the double doors out of curiosity: there were uneaten meals left on the tables along with a forgotten jacket draped over a chair. There didn’t seem to be any movement other than the shifting of shadows against their flashlights.

“Watch yourself,” the large man said, “we’re getting close.”

“Ok give me one sec,” the inspector breathed in for a moment then reached out. At first there was just a vague feeling of rocks, but as she concentrated harder, like extending multiple arms to feel above, she began to notice the trickle of water, the subtle shifting of rubble on uneven surfaces. The mental drain seemed manageable so far, but then she had never really felt much when using her telekinesis until it started to really wear her down. Theoretically, this would be a very intense drain as she wasn’t just detecting fast moving projectiles but reaching out for anything that might trigger a collapse.

The other team members waited for her, shifting uncomfortably. It looked like she was just standing there with her eyes closed.

“Alright, let’s go.”

The sounds of trickling grew louder, and the signs of discord grew more obvious. There were visible cracks in the wall. As they moved further in, there were blood streaks along the ground. The floor had begun slanting downward, almost sinking to the left.

And there it was, the explosion site. Wiring dangled down from above along with twisted rebar. Glass lined the floor completely departed from the windows of the testing site where the second generation nanomachines had been in development. The walls had been blackened from what had presumably been a fire.

They could now see the dripping water from above, glinting in the air. It was vaguely reddish.

There was an area for analysis which stored the hard drives of the computers just down the right way. They would have to step carefully around the edges to avoid the weakened floors beneath them.

The young man tapped her on the shoulder from behind and cautioned her, “Careful of the ground, the holes really blend into the shadows.”

She looked at the discolored white flooring. As they moved the shadows would shift, jagged, against the debris littered from above. But as she looked closely she noticed some of the shadows remained, a missing portion of the ground that could swallow up her leg with one wrong step.

The men began to look a little skittish. But she led the way, bracing her arm along the right side of the wall, feeling each pressure point along the ground with both her physical and telekinetic senses before stepping. They followed, carefully matching where she had stepped previously.

As she moved through a more precarious spot she leaned right to regain her balance. Suddenly, she felt a shift from above and quickly took her arm off the wall. She lost her balance teetering to the left before the large man behind her caught her by the shoulder.

“Thanks,” she said, “Don’t put your hand here, this wall is very unstable.”

She was beginning to sweat in the hazard suit. The combination of both mental and physical strain was beginning to show. But this was the most dangerous part, no one had been able to get past this point yet.

A large cave-in on the left side marked the previous attempt; as did the gaping hole in the ground. She took a deep breath and focused more, expanding her mental reach.

But then… she felt it.

Intent.

That shouldn’t be the case as she had extended her reach outward, she shouldn’t be feeling that of the men behind her. But there it was, a faint but clear intent coming from somewhere… below?

It was a pulsing, painful intent.

Escape.

“Shhh…!”

The men behind her stopped, confused.

There was silence, all but for the dripping and minor scuffles as they shifted in their suits.

Then… she heard it: a faint scream from below.