CHAPTER INTERLUDE X
Chief of the Psi-Warriors, OverSeer and covert special Operations agents,
Moran Ackerman: My Stories of the Transition
MORAN: ESP Training Level 8-A: Re-set & TIMULT, is a class I take mostly to learn that these options exist for others; I am not allowed to use Re-set nor do I know how to do it myself. It is imperative, however, that I understand it because sometimes I have to stop an unauthorized user from attempting Re-set. I can only know that is happening if I recognize the signs when I'm timulting. Some Defiers rise to a high enough Level, mostly by accident and predispositions, to get dangerously close to effecting a Re-set.
Here is a recent training story I can share which flows into a family drama.
********
I am sitting in front of several holoscreens in the PW training HQ at The Campus. Sometimes I can "work from home," with set-ups similar to these, but I'm training other OSOps on surveillance today so I have to be here for about a month. Liora is home with the kids and I miss them a lot, but work is work, APC or not.
With me are a dozen trainees for Level 8-A monitoring lessons. Some of them can monitor without screens and that impresses the hell out of me since I always need a screen. Our younger Warriors are amazing. They learn much faster than I do and go further at younger ages. I am concerned about their judgment and maturity, though, since monitoring is only one facet of this work; discernment and quick decision-making are the other two.
I can't use their real names for identity protection since many of them work undercover when they graduate. To my right are five males and two females, all human. To my left are two orangutans (a mated pair) and a large saltwater tank for a dolphin, a small squid and a "baby" humpback whale. When we have full-grown or larger species to train, we use another facility.
We all use our fish; English words with a variety of other languages are posted on the holoscreens as I explain what we're doing. Trainees respond when I call on each one.
They're learning how to recognize another's psi signature and to determine what uses it's being put to in various simulations. Right now, they're supposed to identify telepathy, telekinesis, and emanating and distinguish these within waking vs. sleeping/dreaming activities. Each trainee has a controller matched to his/her appendage which allows them to respond quickly when I ask questions.
I call this part of the training "Psi Jeopardy," since I require them to pose their responses in the forms of questions, as the old game show does. The game is in full swing, below.
********
I point to a screen furthest to my right and say: "fMRI and PET scans of awake human engaged in activity leading to arrest."
DOLPHIN tags and responds: "What is 'illegally teleporting objects lacking proof of this human's ownership'?"
MORAN: "Right! Excellent! Next," I point to the screen nearest it, still to my right, "EEG, fMRI, PET and CT scans showing giant squid pod leader's activity leading to human intervention."
WOMAN #1 furthest to my right, sitting right in front of that screen, looks confused and over to the other WOMAN #2 on her left, who shrugs.
MALE #1 smirks and pokes MALE #2, his friend.
MORAN: I call on smirking man. "Do you know the answer? Please respond."
MALE #1 loses his smirk and also shrugs.
MORAN: I stare pointedly at him.
MALE #1: "Sorry" to his female classmates.
SQUID tags and responds: "What is 'attacking the southern right whales' pod without provocation or need for food'?"
MORAN: "Thank you. Is that easier or more difficult for humans to detect?" I ask the humans. Lots of shrugs.
MALE #1, smirking guy, looks even more ashamed, now.
MORAN: "What about you two?" I point to the ORANGUTANS. No response. "And you?" I gesture to the DOLPHIN, who clicks and squeaks. I check my fish to find that means, "I know the answer but I am giving others a turn."
MORAN: "All right. I see I'm going too fast. Work the rest of today with your study partners to master these configurations and we resume tomorrow, first thing after breakfast."
*****
This is a typical session because I always go "too fast" right about now. We have many dolphins from the former southern California area, along with blue whales, who are part of our continuing expansion of multi-species OSes in training.
Do you know, BPC, that southern California has the greatest density of dolphins in the world? They then have pods with up to 10,000 individuals stretched out for miles and are home to several subspecies, with over 400,000 common dolphin alone. They also have the largest concentration of blue whales on Earth. Most of ES/OS Cetacean trainees come from this region, still.
At this Level, many of our Warriors wash out due to over-confidence, arrogance and other misguided, ego-inflating assumptions they make based on having so many successes so far. They need to be taken down a notch or two at regular intervals. This is one of those times. Aunt Clara is the one to realize this first (unfortunately, with some of my first classmates) and we refine the training process from then on.
I make a note to meet with smirking guy and his pals later that day to make sure they're back on track. We make progress, but sexism and conceited guys are still around.
Right then, Aunt Clara pings me telepathically and I respond, out loud, turning on my campus communicator. "What's up, CC?"
Aunt Clara tells me: "Your parents want to talk with you. It's important." She sounds very concerned.
I immediately switch channels and pick up their call. "Ab, Im? What's up?"
My ema comes on. "Moran? Oh, good. Clara says we can talk with you now and not disturb you. Yes?"
Sure, Ema, now is great. What's going on?"
"It's about Orna," my ema says, sounding concerned but not afraid. Good.
My abba comes on. "Moran. Don't get all worried. She's fine. Raisa, I tell you, never start out that way. You scare him!"
"Oh, sorry, Mor. Yes, Orna is fine, I suppose, by most standards," my ema reassures me and I relax.
I quickly tune in to Orna, who indeed seems fine.
Orna 'paths me, "Abba: Safta and Sabba [Grandma and Grandpa, Hebrew] are freakin' but it's NOTHING. Really. Later." She signs off because she senses them in comm with me.
"Okay, Ema, I check Orna and she's fine. What are you so concerned about that you call me at work?"
"I tell you, Raisa, but you do not listen. This does not warrant a call to Moran at work!"
"What doesn't warrant a call, Abba?"
"Moran, Orna is going out. Without telling Liora, without permission. Liora is beside herself," my ema explains.
"What do you mean, 'going out'?" I ask. I'm perplexed. Orna is six. Where can she go?
"'Out,' not out-out." my ema explains.
"Ooooh," I understand, now. Orna is taking timulting trips, leaving our timeline. "What is she timulting and why is Liora upset? And, why are you calling me instead of Li?" I ask. Meanwhile, I get back to 'pathing Orna.
"What are you doing, Boo?" I ask her telepathically. "You're scaring your ema and my 'rents!"
"Abba," Orna replies, sounding a bit whiny, "everything scares Ema!"
"Not so, Orna. Do not disrespect Ema. I'm home next week and we talk. Meanwhile, no more timults until I am home with you and we talk. Understand? You know I'll know!" I make my telepathic voice stern and strong. I feel her recoil, appropriately. Good.
I return my attention to the comm with my parents. "Ema, Abba: taken care of. I am 'pathing with Orna and setting her straight. When I go home next week, more to come. Thanks for calling. Next, I'll call Liora."
"Good, Moran, good." My ema sounds relieved. "I knew you'd handle it."
"Moran. The problem is, just so you know, Orna goes to other timelines or ahead on this one and finds out things. Then, she returns and tells Liora, but it's more like she uses her information to re-negotiate rules." My abba laughs. "This call came to you because Orna just told Liora that, since she knows from her timults that in less than one year, she'll be training at the ESP Campus with you and without you and not living at home, Orna demands that she be allowed to stay up as late as she wants now, 'for practice,' for when she's 'on her own.'"
"Understandably," my ema chimes in, "Liora freaks out."
I wonder what bothers my wife more? That Orna timults at will at age six, or that Orna is training here very soon? "I'll call her, Ema. Thanks, Abba. Love you."
"Love you, too, Boychik," my abba says. He signs off.
"Mor?" my ema asks, "it's all right that we called, yes?"
"Yes, Ema. Thanks. Love you. I have to go, though."
"Yes, of course. Love you, too, Boychik." My ema signs off.
I have to call Liora and then go talk with Aunt Clara. If anyone knows how to handle a young girl coming into her ES, it's my favorite doda.
*****
MORAN: So, this is my life now. Dealing with trainees, dealing with family, managing a precocious, timulting daughter. I love it!
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