Scanning the weather map for a few moments, Zoe finally came to a decision. She had a day, maybe till midday tomorrow, before the coast was lashed with the storm from the north. As she watched, the hurricane made landfall further north of any of the teams, dumping torrential rain on the area.

“I’m going to look for Talented along the coast and nearby and offer them shelter,” she told everyone. “I’d like for Asquith to maintain a presence here while the three of us search.”

The group nodded, splitting in twos, one group taking the car back to town while the other group set about making a more habitable camp.

"If Newcastle exiles Talented, we can expect the Talented to be good at hiding and hopefully they can also give us info on the town."

Zoe agreed with Maddison's assessment. "I'm curious as to why Mini was able to sense a few Talents in the city."

"Likely their Talents haven't found what they need to interact with. Remember Mathias from Llandilo? Who would have known he was a translator if it weren't for your French." Tyson patted Zoe’s shoulder. “I’m sure those Talented are doing just fine, and if not, you seem to have a talent for finding them, just like a main character in the stories we were told as kids.”

Zoe chuckled at Tyson, knowing he still felt bad for what had happened to her in Asquith. She had mulled over it and suspected that, because she was still new to him, she still hadn’t been classed as an ally yet. Probably after the attack and her coma his mind had adjusted and included her.

Looking at her sideways, Tyson smiled faintly, part sad, part amused.

~

The first pair were easy to find as they were already towards the airport, alerted to the situation by the pair who had left not long before. A pair of young boys, barely pubescent, fur and kangaroo ears instantly making them recognisable as Talented shifters. Scanning their minds, Tyson silently confirmed to Zoe that they were friendly. Breathing a sigh of relief, she slowed down, introduced herself and the twins, confirming that they would be welcome at the airport and welcome to join the Community.

The relief that they showed confirmed again to Zoe that everything she stood for and everything she was a part of building up, was the right thing.

~

"Well, I can hear her, just can't see her." Tyson was staring down the road towards a pair of big gum trees.

Pulling her visor over her eyes, Zoe switched between infrared and heat vision, easily spotting the girl leaning casually against the cooler tree.

"Y'know, seeing her through your eyes, I still can't see her."

"She's a chameleon then," Zoe said, stopping the vehicle close to the trees. "Hi there!" she called out happily. "My name is Zoe, these two are Tyson and Maddison."

The trio waited for a moment before they heard the barely audible reply. "Tiahna. How can you see me?"

Zoe tapped her visor, which she pulled down to her neck. "I can see your heat. Your Talent is quite amazing. May I ask you some questions?"

Tiahna stepped out from the tree, a teen girl appearing to them. "What Talent? You mean the Taint?"

Glancing at Tyson, he sighed. Talented are not called as such by some. We are called Tainted by some. Newcastle and the Bloodless Pact are examples. I do not know if they are allied, but it wouldn’t be a stretch.

“Sorry, taint is not a term I’m familiar with. Where I come from, Talented are celebrated and our society aims to bring as many Talented together. We work together for the greater good.”

Snorting, Tiahna waved a hand dismissively. “That’s a load of crap.”

“If you will allow, my friend Tyson is a telepath, he can open up, let you in and see what he feels about what I’m saying.”

“Yeah, right, everyone lies. He’d just show me what you want me to see.”

Zoe paused and nodded. “Okay, I get that, I understand. I’d still like you to come with us. Head to the airport, stay hidden, watch and judge for yourself. The towns of Asquith and Llandilo from the Sydney area are going to help set up at the airport. They will be involved in a mass relocation to where I’m from, in Europe, to the Community that I’m from. Any time you think you might want to join, tell them Zoe sent you.”

Silently ordering Avi to drive on, Zoe pulled her visor back up. She didn't wave, didn't leave any parting words, just hoped that the girl would be curious enough to check out the airport.

"There's a severe storm coming, find shelter," Maddison called to Tiahna as they drove past and onwards.

~

Watching from her mindscape, Zoe was glad for the mix of tech and Talents she had with her for finding people. Her radar and Tyson's Talent made finding people relatively easy. A few refugees from Newcastle, a travelling merchant with family and a small fishing village all confirmed that they'd be interested in joining Zoe's Community.

The reason she was in her mindscape was that she was barely needed between the groups and she was trying to assess what was needed for the overall mission. She knew she would have to up security drastically at the airport, hopefully avoiding having word of it spread to the leaders of Newcastle and the Bloodless Pact. Having the cargo plane attacked would be less than ideal.

As they neared the next small group, Zoe felt a headache starting to build and the buggy lost power, slowly cruising to a halt.

“Avi, what’s wrong,” Zoe heard Maddison ask as the headache continued to slowly build. After a moment’s silence, Maddison touched Zoe’s shoulder. “What’s happening?”

As Zoe pulled out of the mindscape, her headache eased a little, but the part that was still in the system was still painful. “I don’t know, but it hurts and I can’t stop it.” Touching the console, she probed Avi’s systems. She could feel them shutting down, but a little slower than before. “Avi is being shut down and I don’t know why or where it’s coming from and I can’t stop it and it hurts,” she said in a panicked rush.

Maddison gave Tyson a significant look, to which he sighed in reply. “Zoe,” he said, placing a hand on her forehead. “Listen to my voice, focus on me. Feel the images I’m sending you, feel the calm and serenity, feel yourself falling asleep in a calm and safe environment, surrounded by friends who will keep you safe. Keep listening to me as you drift off, no pain keeping you from sleeping.”

Zoe’s breathing deepened as she listened and followed his instructions and fell asleep before he’d even finished his third sentence. Both of them sighed with relief. “I had no idea if that was likely to work with active pain in her head,” Tyson admitted. “Now, lets see if we can find the source of the pain and the tech blackout.” Shifting, he retrieved his rifle from the backseat, next to where Maddison stood before exiting the buggy.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Following the mind voices, he quickly found who they were heading towards, a small group of four. The older two had shifter characteristics of grey fur lining their faces, one of them carrying a small child, while the fourth stood a couple of steps behind them.

Tyson raised a hand in greeting, leaving his rifle hanging from his shoulder. He couldn’t feel any hostility, just warriness. “Hi there,” he called. “My name is Tyson, got a couple of questions, if you can answer.”

The older of the two shifters shrugged. “I’m Joey, this is Kiera and Ken. Back there is Ryan. What questions do you have stranger?”

Gently projecting relaxing thoughts, Tyson smiled easily and dropped his pose into as relaxed as possible. “Have you got shelter? There’s a big storm due to come tomorrow morning, afternoon latest.”

Joey nodded. “Yeah, but what makes you think a storm is coming?”

“My friend has information on the local weather using her tech. Which leads me to my next question, Ryan, do you affect tech at all?”

The younger man at the back looked startled, but nodded. “Yeah, back in Newcastle things stopped working around me, so they kicked me out.”

“That is an interesting problem to have, which makes the offer I’m going to give somewhat interesting and I don’t know how my friend is going to react, but let’s do it anyway. I’m representing a community over in Europe who are looking to make the world a better place for all, especially Talented people like us. They don’t believe that our skills are Taints, but Talents. Which leads me to my friend, she is a technomancer, someone who can manipulate and alter technology. It seems your Talent has affected her directly too.”

Ryan snorted. “Sounds like I’m causing more trouble by just being me. Again.”

“Can you turn off your Talent?”

“No,” he replied, shaking his head. “It’s always on, even when I sleep.”

Tyson paused at this. He didn’t know enough about tech to be able to make any judgement call, but he had an idea. “Look, there’s an airport a little ways inland from here, you know of it? Big strip of concrete?”

He received a trio of nods in reply. “Good, head there, as soon as the tech near us wakes up, we’ll send a notice ahead of you so they know what to expect. It shouldn’t be a problem, like you, most of us are very used to not having easy access to tech. There’ll be good food and company there and my friend Zoe will know of a solution. Please, the food and company is free and given in good will.”

The trio of adults exchanged glances and Joey nodded. “Okay, we’ll go there, thank you.”

He smiled warmly. “Let them know that I sent you.”

Walking with them, they passed the buggy where Zoe was sleeping, Maddison guarding her. The twins watched as the small group walked on, disappearing behind trees further down the road. It was still another few minutes before Avi booted up.

“Boot sequence finalized. Tyson, query, what happened? A forced shutdown occurred.”

“It seems you were affected by a Talented who shuts down tech nearby. They also affected Zoe, so I hypnotised her and made her sleep. Can you analyse what happened while I wake her?”

“Affirmative.”

~

Zoe woke slowly, her mind aware of Avi and the systems first. Her mind floated in the system, aware that Avi was trying to figure out what had happened.

~ Avi, tell me what you know, ~ she said, mind still sleepy.

~ A Talented nearby has an EMP like field. We were affected by his presence. I am processing data on the event now. ~

~ Is that what caused the pain? ~

~ Affirmative. There are difficulties analyzing the event. A controlled encounter is advised for further study. ~

Zoe groaned internally. She was sure that she didn’t want to go through that pain again. ~ I take it there is insufficient data on the event to find a way to protect against further shut downs. ~

~ Affirmative. ~

Ah, you’re awake.

“Can I go back to sleep?” Zoe grumbled out loud. “Why is it that everything hurts my head now?”

“Ryan has moved out of range of his Talent, so you and Avi have woken up. I’m sorry, I had to hypnotise you to knock you out. Was the only way I could think of to stop the pain.”

Opening her eyes slowly, she looked straight into Tyson’s worried eyes. “No, don’t beat yourself up, that was quick thinking and saved me from further pain. Yes, that’s something you likely should have told me you could have done before, but it's fine.” She sighed. “I did not think someone like that existed.”

"The world is a strange place," Maddison added sagely. "Funny thing is, while I can see some things coming, I can't see others."

"Guess we all have blind spots," Zoe said, looking at the road ahead of them. "For now, let's see what we can do to help others."

~

The storm made its presence known as evening fell on the land. Looking through all of the available weather data, Zoe still held to her time frame of mid morning for this area to get lashed by the storm. She did not envy the northern teams who were bunkered down against the full force of the hurricane.

The rest of the day had passed relatively uneventfully, the trio making contact with only a few more small groups. The most significant group they found was a military patrol from Newcastle. The exchange was handled by Tyson, who advised Zoe to let him deal with it. The bored military personnel let them pass with barely a thought, likely due to Tyson's Talent. Zoe had exhaled once the patrol had moved on. She knew how to talk to the friendly military at home, as she grew up with them, but a foreign, likely hostile one was a new experience.

They camped in an abandoned road house, not wanting to force Zoe to deal with Ryan's Talent after a long day.

~

Zoe woke with a plan as the light rain pattered down outside. Instructing Avi to deploy its canopy, she got to work on what her subconscious had come up with.

~

"They're still not responding," Zoe said to the twins as they neared the airport. "I also can't feel the effects of his Talent yet."

"Won't be long," Tyson replied. "I can hear him and the others. Everything seems fine ahead."

Zoe nodded and slowed down as the first inklings of the headache came on.

~ We have entered the edge of the field, ~ Avi informed her. ~ Beginning analysis. ~

"I don't know how long this will take," Zoe said to her protectors.

"We gotcha," Tyson replied with a lazy grin.

~

The problem was one that Zoe found several potential solutions to, but was unwilling to settle on them. The most drastic were things like outright removing Ryan from the equation or never going near him, both of which were problematic to Zoe. The solution she latched onto was actually a relatively simple one, an inhibitor. Working quickly, she fashioned a simple device and shielded it against the effect Ryan had on tech, treating his Talent as an EMP.

The simple flat tech was added to a strip of fabric and taken by Tyson. Zoe watched as the simple device stayed on, it's one light blinking slowly and steadily.

~

It wasn't too long before Zoe felt the headache vanish completely, which she was thankful for because it was starting to make her miserable and grumpy.

Gently accelerating, she drove into the airport where Tyson and Ryan stood, waiting for them at the edge of the shelter, the rain getting heavier around them.

Avi drove up and past them, into the building and shelter before letting Zoe and Maddison out. Zoe felt a slight buzzing in the background of her mind, the part linked with Avi. She could feel Avi's processing slowing down with proximity to Ryan, but she was happy that it wasn't stopping entirely, like before.

"Hi," she chirped happily, gently taking Ryan's arm and moving it so she could see the tech. "Does anything feel strange to you?" She asked, worrying about it.

He shook his head. "No, I felt no change, but I'm glad it's working. When Tyson explained that the Taint shut you down too, I got a little worried, especially as everyone here seems to love you. Didn't want them against me."

"Fair enough. Have the others treated you okay?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah. They are all quite optimistic and its rubbing off on people who are just arriving, like myself."

"Asquith did a couple of runs with their car to bring supplies and people up," Tyson said as he waved to Joe, who waved back. "This area is as secure as they can make it while dealing with their own situation. I suggested Llandilo could help, so they're talking to them."

"Excellent! Once the storm dies down, hopefully tomorrow, we will continue on." Zoe smiled warmly at everyone, bringing warmth to the otherwise miserable weather.