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

an eye on the webcam screen and make sure theydon’t sneak up on us.”

Making myself comfortable on Sara’s abandonedpile of blankets I sent to Linda, “I’ll be staying here. Saradelegated the laptop watch to me while she plays with hertoys.”

“Be nice, she can be a lot of helphere.”

Sara looked up from her scope, “All the lightaround here is messing me up. I’m going to try the garage.”

“Ok, but be careful,” I cautioned.

She just grinned at me, grabbed her gear, andheaded for the garage door. “Little Miss Lyudmila Pavlichenko isgoing to try setting up in the garage,” I sent. “See if sheneeds anything.”

“Ok.”

As I settled in for my watch, I tried againto see if I could detect anyone in the area. I cast my awarenessout, slowly spreading away from me and covering the house. Imentally felt everything in the area, just like I did on thevery first trial when I tried to locate the beer in the fridge. Ifound it a little harder, trying to ‘watch’ a larger area, but itseemed that once an area was recognized, I could keep it straightwith minimal effort.

People were a lot easier to see thanobjects. They almost glowed to my internal sight. I could easilysee Carl at his post scratching his ass, Linda at the garage sidedoor, and Sara by the overhead door. Hmm, there’s a nest of mice inthe crawlspace. I would have to let Linda know.

Like a bubble forming on the end of a child’swand, I stretched my awareness out and away. There’s a rabbit atthe side of the driveway having a late night snack, and a squirrelon the fencepost munching on a pine nut. I had the yard mostlycovered now, so I paused to let that settle in.

Pushing out was the difficult part andgetting harder as I went farther afield, but once I stopped, Icould watch anything inside my bubble with ease. I would glancedown at the computer screen once in a while, but with the crappylight outside, I felt that my new ‘mental cam’ would be farmore effective.

I concentrated and expanded my awarenessbubble again. There’s the road. That’s the fencepost on the farside of the lot. I managed to get the whole yard covered, and partof the forest where it was closest to the house before I had tostop again. I had gotten my bubble out to about a hundred yards,and had to really strain to hold it. After a moment or two when Ithought it would collapse, it began settling in to where I couldcontrol it without effort.

I mopped my brow and relaxed muscles that hadgone tense without my noticing. I had hoped that I could havepushed farther, but was still happy with how far I had gotten. Ahundred yard perimeter was nothing to sneeze at. I was pleased todiscover that not only did the bubble become easier to monitor, butthe details also became clearer as it settled in more.

I chuckled as I realized a more mundaneapplication for this new ability. I would never again have to worryabout stubbing my toe if I got up in the middle of the night.

I saw that Sara had lain down in the garageand Linda was making her way back toward me. “Everything all setin there?” I sent.

“She seems satisfied. I made some holes inthe overhead door for her, moved some junk next to it for cover,and built her a shield.”

“I’ve gotten a surveillance field set uparound the house. It took a bit of work, but I think it’ll be muchmore effective than the cameras. Carl can get some sleep if hewants. His watch is a bit redundant now.”

“Interesting,” she replied after Ifinished my explanation. “I never thought to use it passive likethat. Let me try it. If this siege goes on for long, then we’llhave to watch in shifts.”

While Linda experimented with a bubble of herown, I turned my attention back to mine and gave things a quickscan. I could sort of watch everything at once, but if Iconcentrated on a certain area, the details became far clearer.With surveillance like this, there was no longer a need to sit inthe office.

“Let’s all move to the hallway by thegarage door,” I sent. “It’ll be safer there and we can allbe close enough to talk without shouting.”

“Ok,” I heard with an odd echo.

We gathered up our nesting material andhauled it over to the side door. As we rounded the corner, I sawthat Carl was already gathering up his own pile.

“Convenient,” I told him. “We’re moving tothe hallway by the garage where it’ll be safer from randombullets.”

“I heard ya, gimme a minute. I can’t move asfast as normal right now.”

Linda and I exchanged a puzzled glance. “Whatdo you mean you heard me? I didn’t say it out loud.”

“Of course you did. You said that my watchwas redundant, I could sleep if I wanted to, and then you decidedthat we should gather closer to Sara near the garage.”

“You heard that?” I said incredulously.“What about this? Can you still hear me?”

“Of course I can still hear you, I’m not deafyou blithering …” He paused, startled. “Holy shit, you never saidthat out loud!”

“I’m not sure why you can suddenly hear menow, but I’m glad. Every little thing helps to even the odds forus. Welcome to the club, eh!”

Chapter 18

Linda: Gathering Intelligence

The boys were enthusiastic in theirdiscussion of Carl’s newfound ability as we set up our stuff in thehallway. Sara seemed very envious of Carl and looked like shewanted to join us, but was reluctant to leave her post. They keptthe conversation verbal since Carl hadn’t figured out how tosend yet and also to keep Sara from feeling left out.

It was easy to tell when Carl was attemptingto send, since that was the only time he would shut up. I couldunderstand his enthusiasm and excitement, but that didn’t mean thatI enjoyed his incessant babbling. I decided that I needed a littlebreak from him before it turned me cross, so I fixed up some hamsandwiches for everyone. I left the boys with their share and tookmine into