Discovery (Science of Psionics Book #1) by Dave Renol (sad books to read .txt) 📗

“Smart ass,” she replied, taking a long swigfrom her bottle.

We sat and relaxed for a while and enjoyedthe cold beer in the warm sun. Once finished, I asked “So, do youthink you can figure out the telepathy bit from your morningadventure and show me how to do it?”

“I’m not sure. At the time, I didn’t evenrealize what I was doing,” she admitted.

“Give it a try. Read my mind, send me amessage, or maybe pretend you’re Snow White and summon up somebluebirds to flutter around your head,” I said smiling. “Whileyou’re working on that, I’ll try and duplicate your beer fetchingfeat and see if I can feel that mental ‘echo’ you mentioned.”

I’ll give it a try,” she said, throwing me adirty look for the ‘Snow White’ comment.

I waited a couple of minutes for some form ofmental communication, and when nothing seemed to be forthcoming,turned myself to my own task. I immediately encountered thedifficulties she mentioned, but soon learned to pick up that echoof the objects centered on my search. It took me a minute or twolonger, but I finally managed to bring us the bottles. Objectivecomplete, I turned to Linda and asked her how she was makingout.

“Apparently, not so well,” she said with somefrustration. “I’ve been trying all sorts of things, but withoutmuch luck so far.”

“Don’t sweat it,” I said. “We can figure itout later if need be. I just thought it would be something nice toknow.”

“Yeah,” she agreed glumly. “What else did youwant to do?”

“Let’s put the tests aside for a bit. Iwanted to talk to you about who you think we can trust with this. Iwas thinking that Carl Hagar could have some valuable insights, andI know him well enough to feel that he’s trustworthy. He was myphysics lab partner in grad school, and we’ve done a lot of worktogether since we both graduated. He’s got one of the bestscientific minds out there, next to me, of course. He also owes mea big favor right now since I just helped him set up his new testlab in Edmonton.”

“Carl might not be bad,” she agreed. “If Ihad to trust anyone else with this, I would probably pick my bestfriend Sara Jensen and her husband Sid. I’ve known them for ages,and they certainly proved their courage with tours in both Iraq andAfghanistan.”

I thought about what I knew of her friends.Sid was the epitome of what you thought of when someone said theword warrior. Six foot four and about two hundred and twentypounds, he seemed easier to picture as a medieval barbarianswinging a battle axe than as a soldier with a rifle. However, hewas a soldier in the truest sense of the word. Fiercelyloyal to his country and friends, he would never consider lettingany secrets entrusted to him slip out. I felt that Linda was rightand he would never be one to run to the press with a juicy storylike this, as long as he gave us his word.

If Sid was the textbook warrior, Sara wouldbe better described as a killer. Cold and calculated, I couldeasily picture her shooting down her enemies with a sniper rifle,then calmly talking about her slaughter over breakfast. Of the twoof them, she would scare me more to have as an enemy.

I didn’t know her as well as Sid, but as theyboth lived by the same creed, I could probably trust her as well.Decided, I said “Ok, let’s get hold of them and see who’s willingto come down here. We’ll tell them all that it’s just to gettogether though, and then feel them out before springing thenews.”

“That works for me,” she said with asatisfied nod. “I was trying to think of how to approach thesubject on the phone and was coming up blank.”

Laughing, I replied “That’s the kind of phonecall that would get them to send the friendly folks with thebutterfly nets to come and take us away to a nice comfy paddedroom. Let’s set it up like a casual little party and take it fromthere.” In agreement, we both went inside to get the ballrolling.

Chapter 7

Linda: Party Surprises

We had gotten lucky with our invites. Carlwas at loose ends until his next project began in a month, and waslooking for something to do. The Jensen’s were just finishing theirlectures for the latest class at the Ranger Training school in FortBenning, GA. They had all agreed that a little gathering at myplace would be a nice change of pace, and everyone would beavailable starting next Monday.

We spent the time until they arrived gettingthe house ready for guests. We cleaned all of the common areas, putfresh linens on the spare beds, and laid in an extra stock of foodand drink. Some work we did by hand, and some we did theother way. When the day finally arrived we were bothnervous, but willing to see things through. Carl arrived at theairport first, and we both drove out there to pick him up. Mark wasgoing to lend Carl his truck for the duration of his stay, but Sidwas planning to rent a vehicle, so they would simply come down tomy house when their flight arrived later tonight.

We had a big steak dinner planned fortonight, but stopped off for a quick snack on the way back sinceCarl had just spent the last eight hours in various airports andwas starving. With a couple of beers and a few dozen hot wingsunder our belts, we arrived back home in good spirits. Mark andCarl immediately claimed spots around the patio table and beganswapping stories and news. Men liked to claim that women spent allof their time gossiping, but here were these two chattering away asif had been years since they had talked, rather than weeks.

Knowing that Mark would return the favorlater when my friends arrived, I made myself busy preparing a smalltray of snacks for us and brought it out with some drinks. Deep ina conversation too technical for me to easily follow, I went andlaid out some wood in the fire