The campers were, as expected, reasonably mollified by the presence of another “famous Psychonaut”. Tanya signed some autographs, did some debriefings/emergency therapy sessions, and contacted parents for either their return or for permission to relocate them to a daycare facility if that couldn’t be arranged. Agent Jameson helped manage the children when she was busy, and handled any of the children who Tanya thought could use more therapy than the ten minutes she could spare per kid. With one exception.
“Breathe in… and out.” Tanya said slowly, calmly. Dogan Boole followed the instructions. The seven year old boy had removed his protective headgear, and they were on a boat in the middle of the lake. Ford’s Harbormaster persona was a bit of an annoyance, but she swiped a camper’s badge and used that to get him to let her out on the water.
“In… and out.” Dogen repeated telepathically. After a few repetitions, he asked: “How do you handle it?” he asked, referring to her own past as an accidental arsonist. He knew that part.
“The past is in the past.” Tanya explained. “No matter how bad your mistakes are, they cannot be changed.” Tanya lit a small ball of fire over her hand. “We both have great power, Dogen. But the core of a psychic’s loss of control is invariably one thing: fear.” Tanya gripped the ball of fire, snuffing it out. She opened her hand, showing the lack of burn. “If we master our fear, we master our powers. If we master our powers, we have no need to fear.” She brought out his headphones and placed them on his head, insulating his mind from his oversensitive telepathy. “But psychic technology doesn’t hurt either. Your mind is steady and calm, and without projection or hypnosis that’s all we can do today. Is there anything you’d like to say before we rejoin the other campers?” She had noticed him trying to work up courage during the session, maybe prompting him would get him over the hump.
“...Raz was really brave.” He eventually said, with more conviction than anything else she had ever heard him say. “He saved us all. Don’t be mad.”
Tanya sighed. “I know.” That was the problem, really.
---------------------------------
Fortunately, none of the children were overly traumatized by their experiences, considering the canceling of the rest of camp a greater disappointment than the fact that they could have all died or worse, enslaved to a power-mad camp counselor. Visha’s therapy-dog capabilities also got a good workout, although her friendliness was always assumed.
As such, They were able to keep them on site, using the cabins, instead of needing to relocate them. Dedicated childcare specialists, while not easy or cheap to secure on such short notice for such an involved task, were able to be brought in to cover things while Tanya and Agent Jameson returned to the Motherlobe in the morning.
“Calm down, Eric.” Tanya said softly as she sat in Hollis’ office. “Apologies, Agent Forscythe.” Tanya said, smiling as she adjusted the baby and diaper bag she had. “He’s just being fussy. Probably sensing all of the anxiety going around.” While they had yet to confirm that little Eric was telepathic, it was rather difficult to tell for sure until about three years old, they had assumed he was, and even non-telepathic babies tended to be quite empathetic. She discreetly sniffed the boy to double-check her assertion. Yes, just being fussy. Or maybe he was hungry? He ate a little bit recently, but not that recently… It was plausible.
“It’s alright, Agent Dosva.” Hollis replied, “I understand why you’d want your little brother close at hand given everything. Where’s your little sister?”
Tanya shrugged as she tested Eric with the last bottle that was stashed in the bag, this one with apple juice. Luckily she always packed one more than she thought she’d need. “Ah, I left her in the car with Visha and Dogen, I need to take them home once this meeting is over.” Eric started suckling on the bottle eagerly, calming down. Ah, he was just thirsty then.
“Right. So, once Nein and Vodello get back with Truman, we’ll need to figure out a plan of action.” Hollis said, pushing through the previous awkwardness. “This Razputin Aquato… do you think he was being truthful about his role?”
“Absolutely.” Tanya replied immediately. “While he’s still ten, with all of the emotional maturity that implies, he can’t fake the pride he has in his actions, nor the disappointment he had when I mentioned that Oleander’s plot was supposed to be fake.” She shrugged. “Expect the kinds of mistakes you’d ream an overenthusiastic rookie over, errors borne of recklessness and ignorance. With some tempering, I’m sure he’d make for a fine Psychonaut. Perhaps even one for the comics.”
“Recklessness and ignorance can still do a lot of damage, though.” Hollis grumbled, “Still, your vouching for him is noted. Maybe I’ll give him a taste of the summer intern program.”
“I can contact his family to notify them of the change in status and solicit their approval.” Tanya offered.
“I’ll be assigning him to you.” Hollis added, “Get right on that, then take an hour off to get the children you’re responsible for to all the right places.”
“Right away.” Tanya replied, creating a telekinetic hand to salute with. Now, to call the circus, then for some driving. She paused, sniffing the air. Okay, detour, then call the circus. “Come on Eric, we’re in a bit of a hurry, let’s get you cleaned up.” Tanya flushed as Eric beamed at her, broadcasting his simple but intense emotions right at her.
Taking care of babies was not easy, but to an empath, there were certainly perks. She still preferred dogs, though.
---------------------------------
As Tanya couldn’t just hop into a transit tunnel to get to work anymore, she had to use her car to get back and forth. Which meant she used the special parking garage which was right below the landing pad for the telekinetic planes.
“I love you, Tanya.” Visha said from her position in the back seat, cuddled by Dogen.
“I love you too, Visha.” Tanya replied as per rote as the car lifted from the ground. “Dogen, we’ll drop you off first.”
“Okay.” The boy said, kicking his legs back and forth in the back seat. They lightly impacted her own chair, but she didn’t care.
As they left and gained altitude, Mary pointed dramatically. “Hey! That’s the Pelican!”
Eh? Tanya paused and watched the telekinetic jet fly in and land on the landing pad. Razputin was the first one to jump out, but he was quickly followed by Mom, Dad, Truman, Agent Oleander, Lili, and… Dr. Loboto? That was strange, wasn’t he still at the camp when they left? Then again, she did kind of… forget about him. How did he get in there, though? Whatever it was, they seemed to feel the need to restrain the villainous actor/dentist…
Hollis was already out there, though. She made her displeasure unmistakable as she yelled at Razputin for endangering himself by accompanying an official Psychonauts mission, and she didn’t spare Lili’s’ feelings either.
Still, her presence was eventually noted by Dad, and he sent a telepathic message. “You should come down here, after the Psilirium, your mother definitely needs a few minutes with all of you.”
Setting down her car next to the Pelican, Mom immediately went for them as Tanya opened up the car. “You’re here! Fantastic!” She exclaimed, pulling Mary into a big hug as she was the first one to leave the car.
After she got the chance to hug and kiss all three of her children and Visha, she floated back into the Motherlobe, following Dad who was carrying Dr. Loboto, carrying the unconscious body of Truman with her.
Hollis sighed as she looked at them. “Just put them in the daycare, it’s going to be a long day.”
---------------------------------
Dogen went to the daycare without complaint, as while he visited that particular daycare rather infrequently, it was hardly unusual for a seven year old to be put in one regularly during the summer. Mary was much less willing, but was convinced when Tanya requested that she “watch Visha and Eric until the security holes are discovered and patched”. The subtle reminder that the alternative option was making her responsible for Eric at home, without any adults to foist the dirty parts on, allowed her to remember that the daycare had four televisions, and watching game shows and cartoons was what she was going to do if left at home anyway.
Now unencumbered from her dependents, it was time for her to do her actual job, which in this case included keeping Razputin out of trouble. Where did he get off to?
As it turned out, the other interns had done a little hazing, locking him in a closet while convincing him to give them his clothes… somehow. She wasn’t quite clear on that part. Then he exacerbated the issue by escaping from the closet, flying around the building and re-entering through the ventilation system and finding himself in a highly secure area (Dad’s lab), which was a security flaw that no one had noticed until right then. Fortunately, Tanya had his (and Lili’s) luggage in her car’s storage, so a quick trip outside before going in through that same vent was able to remedy the situation.
“Honestly Razputin, I can’t leave you alone for one minute without you getting into some kind of trouble.” Tanya said, huffing.
“I’m sorry.” He said as he got dressed in Sasha’s office. “I just wanted to fit in with them…”
“Children can be cruel to each other, Razputin.” Tanya said, nodding to herself. “But few can be crueler than a child given authority, even one as nebulous as seniority.” Even in Japan, where the senpai-kohai relationship was nigh sacred… The reality of things was rarely as it should be.
“They suck.” He said, frustrated.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Tanya shrugged. “Just don’t act too harshly from that spite.” She said, “Working with people you don’t like is a valuable life skill. Agent Forscythe will be quite displeased with them, leave the punishment to her.” Hazing wasn’t actually against any rules, and his accidental infiltration complicated directly punishing the other interns while not punishing him as well. However, stealing Razputin’s clothes was still theft, which could easily put their internships at risk, if they do not grovel properly.
Now dressed, Razputin talked a bit with Dad about Dr. Loboto, which informed Tanya that whoever Dr. Loboto was suborned by, they had reinforced their hypnotic instructions with torture, a common Soviet tactic to keep their catspaws quiet. It was effective, albeit at the cost of compromising the mental integrity of the asset. That assessment required a little bit of reading between the lines of Dad's explanation to Raz, but it was informative.
"I assure you Raz, Maligula is not personally involved in this." Tanya insisted as they walked, "The Deluginists use her image, memories from those who have experienced her wrath, as mental knives to drive into their victims. They believe her to be a Goddess, all powerful and protective of her flock."
"But what if she survived?" Raz asked, just as willing to get into a versus debate in person as he was over letters. "Secretly plotting all this time for revenge!"
The only thing that Nona Aquato plots over are her grandchildren's relationships. "The idea of someone can be far more dangerous than anything they could actually do." One thing that she was thankful to Mary for was for telling her about Being X's impotence. It gave her so much peace of mind to know that he was no longer interfering with her life.
Rasputin frowned, disappointed with her answer. "Where are we going?" He asked, changing the subject.
"The mail room." Tanya replied. "No one's gotten any mail this morning. Due to the heightened state of security, only senior mail room employees were permitted to work today. Mr. Johnsmith was the only one normally scheduled, but he hasn't clocked in, nor called in. It's quite troubling."
Rasputin gasped. "Is he the mole?"
Tanya paused, considering the possibility. "While it is true that our top suspect would have required a collaborator, I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't be capable of providing that assistance." Nick wasn't even a psychic, his access level couldn't be that high. "I would consider it more likely that he was a victim of the mole rather than the perpetrator." That would be one hell of a long con if he was, though.
The mail room was completely empty of people, as expected. Gigantic sorting machines and pneumatic tube systems took up the bulk of the space, allowing the sending of documents and other work material to anywhere in the Motherlobe.
…huh. There was one route to the on base housing’s mail annex, which could theoretically be used… it was dangerous, but with a bubble shield… she'll have to ask the investigators if they found their entry method yet. Unfortunately, this was still 1982, data storage was at a premium, so things like pneumatic tube activity logs just weren’t tracked.
Anyway, the mail sorting machine notes a high capacity, and while she wasn't entirely conversant in the mail room's procedures, she did know that leaving the mail to pile up in the machine will make a problem that her department needed to deal with, so it was time for some preventative maintenance. "Everything is as I expected." Tanya announced for Razputin's benefit. "We'll need to deal with this clog." Phrasing it that way should make the importance of the task clear.
"Right!" The boy said, excited at being included.
“I’m going to turn on the machine. Hopefully, it’ll disgorge the mail correctly and all we need to do is to put it in storage until the actual mailroom workers can get things to their destination.” Tanya explained, before realizing something. “Ah, the storage would be over… here? No, not there…”
After a few minutes of searching, Razputin located a room with no apparent purpose. “Perfect. Move the mail here, just put them in stacks. Ideally, we’d sort them, but as long as we empty the hopper for the post office’s delivery in a few hours it should keep.” Tanya said, before turning on the machine.
Sorting the mail was quick, while the packages were all of unusual sizes and quite large, telekinesis made things an easy task. “As I explained before, Razputin, I’m not employed as a researcher. I am a maintenance engineer. I don’t go on missions, I deal with gadgets and machines. It’s not as exciting, certainly, but interns don’t get to do anything exciting anyway.”
“But I’ve already helped on a mission!” Raz whined, “They let both me and Lili help with Dr. Loboto’s mind dive! I was the one who found Maligula there!” The only reason that could possibly be true is if Mom and Dad let him do it on purpose. Were they too busy keeping an eye on Oleander or something? “I also saved them in the Rhombus!” Admittedly, having a high resistance to Psilirium made him quite the useful asset, but she was disappointed in her parents for putting that task on the boy’s shoulders.
Right when she was about to turn the machine off again, as it was empty, an additional package showed up. “Oh, there’s one more.” She pressed a button, disgorging the large crate.
Razputin lifted it. “Oh, this one’s for The Grand Head!” He said excitedly. “What do you think’s inside?”
“Based on the size? Dead body.” Tanya said jokingly. Razputin squeaked, dropping it. Tanya caught the box. “More seriously, knowing Truman and the kinds of things he gets sent to his office, it’s probably some kind of decorative statue.” Inspecting the package, she noted that there wasn’t a return address. Strange.
“Let’s go deliver it!” Razputin proposed.
Tanya opened her mouth to reject his idea, but paused. She hasn’t had the chance to check on Truman’s status personally… and Lili’s likely with him, and she still needed to tell her about her luggage… “...Alright.” Tanya said, nodding. “We’re done here anyway. I’ll call HR to inform them of the situation, part of their job is getting coverage for Nick’s unfortunate absence. We’ve fixed the immediate issue.” Putting word to deed, Tanya put two fingers to her temple and averted eye contact to warn everyone around her that she was busy communicating telepathically with someone distant. “Walk with me.” Tanya added.
“Coming!” Razputin said, bouncing with energy.
---------------------------------
Most people would need to jump through hoops to get into Truman’s office. Tanya just walked in, the thinkerprint scanner acknowledging her clearance. As expected, Lili was by her father’s side, looking rather concerned. What was less expected was the total lack of medical professionals or equipment around the comatose leader. Most people would assume that the fact that Truman was dressed in a bathrobe was because he was kidnapped from his home. Tanya knew that the man frequently dressed like this in the office because he was the boss and no one could tell him not to if he didn’t have a meeting with any world leaders.
“Tanya?” Lili asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Nominally, delivering a package.” Tanya replied, before panning her gaze to Truman quite deliberately. “How is he?” She asked.
“He hasn’t woken up.” Lili said, tears coming to her eyes. Then she noticed Razputin. “Raz!” She said, turning around and wiping her eyes rapidly before turning back around with a much calmer, indifferent expression on her face. Was this her trying to be ‘cool’? “Hey Raz, what’s going on with you?”
Tanya snapped her fingers. “Lili, your father?”
“Oh, right.” Lili said. She gestured to the plants she had placed around him, all of which were wilting. “These are Dad’s favorite plants, I got them from his office. I thought he’d get better if he fed off the energy he left in them, but…” She spread her hands. “They’re wilting.”
“What did the doctors say when they were here?” Tanya asked.
Lili stared at Tanya uncomprehendingly.
“You know, Medical?” Tanya said, testy. “The ones trained to diagnose and treat conditions like these?”
“Hollis said that she’s the only one allowed to poke around in Dad’s head and that he needed rest.” Lili said. Hollis probably said ‘authorized’, but that sounded right. Tanya certainly wasn’t authorized to visit Truman’s mind.
Wait. “Hollis is a doctor, Lili.” Tanya reminded her.
“Really?” Lili asked, surprised.
“According to True Psychic Tales #46, Hollis used to work at a hospital.” Raz pointed out. “Before being personally recruited by Compton Boole.” Tanya wasn’t entirely sure that it was Compton who did it, he wasn’t really the recruiting type, but it didn’t matter.
“Did she say anything else about his prognosis?” Tanya asked. Lili stared at Tanya. “-about what is wrong with him?” She amended. Vocabulary was not Lili’s strong suit, academically. She was smart for her age, even a prodigy at horticulture, but she was more of a girl of action instead of thought.
Lili thought for a moment. “She said that Dad’s psychic presence was a lot smaller than normal, a lot a lot. It’s why I came up with the plant idea, to feed his brain.” She frowned. “It didn’t work, though!”
“Maybe we should get him to Medical, get his body hooked up to an IV and catheter.” Tanya proposed, “Did Hollis estimate how long he’s been out?”
“No.” Lili said. She looked at the package. “What’s in there?”
“Can we open it?” Razputin asked.
“We shouldn’t be opening Truman’s mail.” Tanya insisted. She let the package down on the floor. “Lili, did you know if he had anything ordered that he was waiting on?”
“Just some cuttings.” Lili replied, “He wanted some bamboo to make a shelf out of, he’s importing some Guadua, it’s a fancy South American cultivar. Strong stuff.” She grinned. “I’m gonna use some for my treehouse, replace the foundation so I can make it bigger.”
“You have a treehouse?” Razputin asked, interested. “Cool!” Lili’s grin grew, as she did a small pose that screamed ‘praise me more’.
“This package is a bit large to be a bamboo cutting.” Tanya observed. Ugh, now she was curious. The package didn’t have any classified or top secret markings, not that the Psychonauts were entirely diligent with applying them. “My best guess is that it’s a body.” It was about the right size and weight to be an adult male that was a bit on the heavy side.
“Really?” Lili asked, now even more interested in the package. “Let’s open it!”
“Yeah!” Razputin said in agreement.
Wait, she was the responsible adult here. What was she doing? “No.” Tanya said, moving the package into Truman’s secure office, instead of the reception area of it. She locked it down after doing so, which Lili didn’t know how to reverse. “Now, package delivered. Lili, you left your luggage back at the camp, it’s in my car, and I still need to move it back to the garage. Let’s go.”
“I don’t want to leave Dad alone!” Lili protested.
“I’ll watch him!” Razputin volunteered.
That seemed acceptable to Lili. “Okay… but I’ll be right back!” She opened up the port of the transport tube and jumped in.
“Don’t touch anything.” Tanya warned, “We’ll be back in five minutes.”
Razputin saluted as Tanya fell back into the transport tube herself.
---------------------------------
Lili was radiating embarrassment when Tanya dug her luggage out from the storage space. It had the luggage of four campers, so it was stuffed to capacity. “So… uh… How long is Raz staying?” She asked in a way that was probably supposed to be innocent.
“I explained the situation to his parents and he’ll be staying over at our house, in the guest room,” Wait, they turned that into Eric’s nursery. “-I mean on the couch, for the full duration of the normal camp. Until then? He’s an intern.”
Lili acted cool, but she was never really competent at hiding her emotions psychically, which radiated happiness. “Really? I mean… that’s cool.”
Tanya scoffed as she finally extracted the appropriate luggage, setting it aside to re-pack the ones she had to remove to gain access. “You know he told me that you kissed him.” She lied, Razputin specifically denied it in fact when she asked him how he thought of Lili. He was a terrible liar.
“He did?” Lili asked, mortified and distinctly not denying it. “That was out of context!” She settled on for her defense.
Tanya burst out laughing as they set a transit back to the Grand Head’s apartment. “No, the context is pretty clear here. Dashing hero saves the princess, gets a kiss as a reward. Isn’t that right, Princess?”
Lili screamed in frustration as she chased Tanya down the transit tunnel.
---------------------------------
On their return to Truman’s office, Razputin seemed more excited than he should be. It made Tanya immediately suspicious. “Hey, you know, we haven’t had breakfast today.” He said in a manner that immediately reminded Tanya of his background as a carny. “How about we get some lunch? Is there bacon at the canteen?”
“I’ll stay here.” Lili said, but her stomach growled loudly at the reminder.
Fortunately, Tanya had an immediate solution. “I’ll call Mom, she’s a qualified nurse, once she gets here she can take his vitals and whatever else she deems necessary.” Come to think of it, she was probably the one who took his vitals on the jet, which partially explains why the man isn’t set up for long term care: she must not have thought it needed at the time. She took out a tiny bottle of baby powder from one of her pockets and sniffed it.
Immediately, Mom’s psychic presence entered her mind. “Yes Tanya? What is it?”
“You and Hollis checked over Truman, right? He’s still out.” Tanya informed her.
“Oh dear, I was sure he’d be up by now, it’s been hours. Has he wet himself or anything?” Mom replied.
“Not yet.” Tanya sent back. “But Lili hasn’t eaten yet, and doesn’t want him to be alone. Could you come to his office and help? Or send someone from Medical?”
“Searching for Maligula in the collective unconscious hasn’t been going well. I’ll come myself.” Mom sent, “By the way, I appreciate that you’re keeping Razputin out of trouble. With all of this going on, I haven’t been interacting much with my own intern.” Did Hollis seriously assign an intern to her because the camp got canceled? Well, they do get reassigned every week…
“He’s a good kid.” Tanya said, “But yes, he can get into trouble very quickly. I love you.” Disconnecting the psychic link, she turned to the pair of ten year olds. “It’s a bit early for me to take my usual lunchtime, but the canteen serves both breakfast and lunch so they’re open, yes. It’s a rare day they don’t have some bacon, so don’t worry Razputin.”
Razputin pumped his fist in triumph, which was a bit extreme of a reaction to learning that they were getting bacon… but she supposed it wasn’t entirely out of line if he missed breakfast.
No, it probably didn’t mean anything.