Chapter 26

Posted: October 14, 2006 - 10:43:02 am

Brenda called another meeting of Talent Inc. Once again everyone gathered at my house. It was about Nathan, of course. The guy was not being harmed, and would even realize that any time had passed. He was in the 'between', after all. Still, there were people in the world who actually cared about him.

"We can't leave this guy hanging in the 'between' forever. A decision must be reached. If we can't get a consensus, then a majority will have to do. I have done some serious thinking about this guy, and I am of the opinion he has to be stopped," Brenda said seriously.

"What did you have in mind? We talked about this last weekend till we were blue in the face, with no resolution," Ruth said, her knitting needles flying in her hands.

"True. However, I don't think everyone thought it through, all the way. Why did this group form in the first place? Everyone knows that, now, even the two newest members know the reasoning behind it.

"We have chosen to be responsible for the talented people with abilities such as we have. By not making a decision, we are making yet a different decision. I placed a man who has a life and loved ones in the 'between'. I did this to protect US from him. Does anyone question that he was abusing his abilities?

"No? Well, then that's a start. We all agree on that, at least. Now we have to carry this through. I see only two options. One, we kill the guy, outright. We dump his body where it will be found, and the local authorities chalk up another unsolved murder. Option two, is that I take him on a quick trip to the alternate world and have his ability burned out. Then I bring him back and set him free. As it stands now, there is just no way we can simply turn him loose," Tom summed up.

That kicked off the discussions again. Still, I had been seriously thinking about why this group had been formed, during this last week. The government had screwed with two of us a lot, and we got together, to protect people like us, from them.

At the same time, were we also protecting the government and the public from others with abilities like ours? Had we assumed the roll of the 'talent police'? Like it or not, we had. Now we had to act, or we were just a joke.

We had gone to a lot of trouble to take on the U.S. government, and establish ourselves as a force to be reckoned with. It was not like we could tell everyone we didn't mean it and go back to the way things were, before.

By god, it was time to step up and take the responsibility that comes with the power we had. If we did not, we would be no better than the US government.

We had a job to do, and this was a part of it, no matter how distasteful.

"Burn his talent. He has shown no remorse or redeeming qualities. He is a user and a manipulator. He is as dangerous to the general public, as he is to us," I spoke suddenly.

Everyone looked at me when I said that.

"Tom is right. Unless we step up and take responsibility for ourselves and for people like us, no one will take us seriously. Not our government, and not the world. We decided at one point we were above certain laws by virtue of our abilities. Well, we need to make a decision and right now. I say burn his talent and be done with it," I said loudly.

Silence was my answer as people looked at me.

"Think about it. We are the police agency for those of us who have special abilities. Like it or not, we TOOK that power, when we 'educated' the politicians. We are the police, the judge, the jury, and if need be, the executioners. We hold an enormous amount of power between all of us.

"I have been thinking a lot about this for the past week. During that time, I realized we were not living up to the reason we created our group. Brenda? You could destroy the crops, or help them if you wanted. You hold weather in your hands as I hold a book to read. You could, in effect, ruin a country... hell, you could ruin the world if you so desired. Ruth? You have a healing ability that is unparalleled.

"I can look into the future and see what might be. I can find people and can move objects. I could kill from afar, if I so desired. It would be so easy to stop someone's heart with my kinetic abilities.

"Tom can move into the past, and travel into an alternate world. He can teleport to just about anywhere on earth. If he wants, he can bring a great many things with him. He also has that 'between' of his.

"That's just we few. What do we represent? What do we stand for? We offered Nathan a place with us. We didn't and don't insist he join us, we just want him to abide by a few simple rules. But no, he decided to make us an enemy, simply because he couldn't 'read' or manipulate us. We just barely headed off a potentially disastrous confrontation with the government.

"No. The time has come, and that time is now! We need to make a decision! We have established ourselves as 'The Authority'. Now, by God, we need to get our act together and respond like an authority," I concluded.

Everyone was looking at me, and I began to get uncomfortable.

Finally, Tom started nodding.

"Hear, hear, Little Brother."

"I'm with you, Scott."

"Wow, you really let go, there. Didn't you?"

My sister came over. She hugged me, and said she was going for more coffee. Brenda came into the crook of my arm, and looked with huge eyes into mine. Roger and the others started talking quietly about what I had said. I felt drained and exhausted.

The decision was finally reached, and Tom disappeared for a few minutes. When he returned, he nodded.

"It is done. His ability has been eliminated, and his memories of the past months have been altered. He is no longer a threat to others, nor to us," he said with satisfaction.

I still felt bad about having been part of a process that made this kind of decision. Tom started talking again.

"We need to establish a better way to make the initial contact. We also need to have more than just a broad outline of what we stand for. We need a set of rules, or laws, to abide by. We can't just tell people we are the gods of thought, and they must perform as we say, or else. There needs to be guidelines established that we can show these people," Tom was saying.

"I can help there, I think. I am a lawyer, after all. While this type of law is not my specialty, I think I can cobble together a workable system. I can include some sort of checks and balances, also, to make sure we don't run amok," Debra piped up from her spot.

"Good. I want in on that process, Debra," Courtney said immediately.

For the next couple of months things went along smoothly for a change. My factory was up and running, and I already had a couple orders. I had hired a few more people and now had a total of ten people working for me.

One of the things I had discovered when starting my business, was that people expected a lot of perks as part of their pay. I added up everything, and decided that some of it was ridiculous. I finally decided on what I considered to be a fair health plan. The employees would become eligible for the plan, after they had worked for me for a specific period. Give them all full coverage, from the start? No way.

Every once in a while either Courtney or Debra would call on the secure cell phone, and ask my thoughts or opinions about some rule or law they wanted. There were several special meetings with the group over this subject. They were also fiddling with the terms of being a director, the length of the service, and the election method. One example was that you were only allowed to vote for a member of the board if you had joined the group, and were an active member. This rule created a place for possible future members, who did not wish to be part of the process of electing our leaders, yet did want the benefits of being a member of the group.

I thought it a good process. The people who were active had the greater voice, yet all would be protected. Unlike the U.S. Government who had to worry about votes, we didn't. If you did not vote, it wasn't because we forbade you. The more active you were, within the group, the greater was your voice. Only active people who were onboard with us could vote or hold office. While we encouraged all to be active, we didn't demand it.

We didn't want to force people to join. However, if you were found to have special psychic abilities, you were covered by our rules, like it or not. So it behooved you to pay attention to what those rules were.

Children were a quandary, but we were working that out too. As a child became older, they would become more responsible for their actions. There were a lot of details that our first efforts had glossed over, or had not been addressed at all. Many of these were now being covered.

Four months later we had the first draft of a set of bylaws and rules, tailor made for our group. Adjustments were made. Some rules had to be reworked, and a few were thrown out as being too draconian.

Debra's law background was showing when she came up with a particular gem of a law that had to be reworked. Now we are not the moral police of the world. Far from it, but she had tried to get a law passed that made everyone a regulation Charlie.

She had originally had a ridiculous provision in place for us to take action against any talent caught breaking the laws of the land they were living in. That was unworkable. We modified that to be more realistic. We were not the world police, and something a U.S. Citizen could do here, could very likely be illegal in say, China. We finally settled on creating a board to investigate any outrageous behavior by a talent. The board was to be drawn from voting members only.

That was just one of the bumps in the road to a document which would be signed by all talents, whether you joined actively, or not. There would be no 'ignorance of the law' defenses. If we discovered someone violating our rules and they had not been informed of our rules; they would be so informed, and given time to read the rules and bylaws.

If they refused to sign, two witnesses would sign a statement to that effect and the individual was informed of the rules and that violating them after that time, would result in possibly harsh action.

Things were progressing nicely. Courtney was pregnant and expected to deliver in another five months. Courtney and Tom married in England in a small ceremony with her Uncle giving her away.

Brenda agreed to marry me when she graduated from school. Seems the 'nesting bug' was hitting everywhere.

Ruth came. She looked over the little town where I had set up my factory. She decided to move there, and set up a health clinic. She was also the primary health care provider for my factory workers, in case we needed one. It had been several years since the town had a doctor in residence. The previous one had died a few years back. She loved the small town atmosphere, and the people warmed to her quickly.

Roger found a woman and settled down. He seemed determined do his best, but he was still reluctant to commit himself, unless pushed. I was still working on that with him.

Shortly after adopting and signing the bylaws, we had our first test with a recalcitrant child of thirteen. That's a rough age for anyone. This was a kid with a talent similar to my TK ability.

His mother was convinced he was possessed by demons or by the devil. A priest had been called. It was his frantic calls to his bishop, that got kicked up to the cardinal level. When all three of them showed up at the kid's house, it naturally drew our attention.

It was while the boy was sedated and the clergy had left that Tom and I made our move. We sort of kidnapped the boy, and took him to the alternate world, where he slept off the sedative.

He was not happy to be in a strange place when he woke, but considering what the clergy ultimately planned for him, he should have been ecstatic. We explained who we were to him, telling him that we were a special group that monitored talents such as his.

As gently as we could, we informed him that his behavior left a lot to be desired. As a member of the paranormal community, he had a responsibility that his youth would not negate.

He scowled and pitched a bitch at being kidnapped, and wanted his mom and dad. He lashed out (or tried to) with his power, but we had a guy there who clamped down on his ability quickly and easily.

I really needed to learn how to do that.

We finally calmed the boy down, and told him that almost no time would go by for his mother and friends. We were careful to explain that to him, so he wouldn't worry. Still, the kid was in a strange place, so he was panicky.

Remembering an old saying of my grandmothers, 'You catch more flies with honey', I 'sweetened' the deal.

"Look, young man. You can do this. It isn't hard. Good behavior by the young paranormal is very much rewarded by our group. There are prizes to be won. Trips, cash, bicycles, and there could be other things as well.

"However, you need to be aware of what you are doing. If what you are doing is wrong, you're disqualified. So let me give you a few examples. Public displays of your abilities are frowned upon by the board. It is impolite and smacks of being a bragger. No one likes a bragger.

"Using your abilities on a person, is considered bad manners, unless it's an emergency. If you are preventing someone from being harmed, then no punitive action is taken. However, if you can possibly avoid it you should not use them on a person, or someone's pet, at all. How would you like me to use my power to force you to do something? I could, you know. You are not strong enough to stop me," I said to him and watched him consider my words.

I could see he didn't like a lot of what I had to say. I was being as gentle as possible, considering his age, but he was already about as half as powerful as I was now, and he was only thirteen!

So we talked to him. We showed him around Tom's camp. To say he was amazed was putting it mildly. He observed classes that were being taught to paranormals. He got very excited over these, when he realized that he could be trained here, just as these other people were being trained.

"You will need to make a decision in a few years. If you decide to join us, you will be brought here for training. But we only train those who are active members in good standing. Lashing out with your power at others, is not the way to get a trip to this place at all," Tom said firmly.

Altogether we spent a total of two days with the young man, there. Tom took us all back to the boy's house. This too amazed the boy. He thought traveling the way Tom did, was the best thing he had ever seen. We left the boy in good spirits. He was excited at possibilities.

Thusly went our first handling of a case with a child. We had to convince the parents that the boy was not possessed by demons. They were going to let the church take custody of the boy, and take him to a monastery.

All in all, things were starting to click. We all signed the final version of the bylaws, at a meeting four months later. As 'founding fathers' of the organization, we all got a copy of the documents. Things were definitely looking up.

The government still poked at prodded at me, but as long as it was nothing serious, we generally took a forgiving stance. We did keep an eye on the government though, and I am glad to say they appeared to be taking our message to heart.

My marriage date was approaching fast, and I was getting a little nervous. Tom was teasing me, and Courtney was bubbling. Her delight was mostly due to the impending delivery of her child, and the marriage between Brenda and myself.

Ruth was always at my place, with her ever-present knitting. She had been making Brenda a sweater.

Yesterday, for some reason, she switched to baby booties.

Hmm.