On the other side of the capital city, Nedran and Divab woke up
at the same time. They were tied to chairs in a dimly lit room. The
room stank with the cheapness of the furnishings. They were the only
things in the room that broke the monotony of the yellowed wall
covering and cheap wooden chairs. There were no visible doors or
window. In one corner stood a low pallet. It looked recently slept
in.
"Ahh, you have decided to rejoin the living," croaked a disembodied
voice.
"A wise choice, I suppose. But you will soon regret it."
"Who are you," Divab demanded. Nedran glared at him.
"Oh, no need for that, Nedran. And don't suppose you can do
anything to me telepathically. No, I have a purpose for you two. Naan
and Nadroj won't know what hit them."
"Who are they?"
"Ha! That is funny. You don't remember the 'high officials'
with whom you were so deeply enraptured! I bet you don't even remember
joining the UPA!"
"The what?"
"Perfect, perfect. I'll have to commend Caran on his brain
washing job before I execute him. Your food will be brought by in a
moment." A sele later, a hunched little man appeared in the room with
a tray. After giving them their food, he untied their hands so they
could feed themselves. Then he walked over to the pallet and fell
asleep.
Davib and Nedran looked at each other as they ate their food.
They barely knew each other, also. Caran was this evil person's brain
washer. They didn't remeber Naan and Nadroj, the people the voice spoke
of. Brain washer, UPA, what all had been removed?
About ten minutes before the guys woke up, Naan and Nadroj met their
doctors, and their translater.
"You suffered a bruised skull at the base of your cranial cavity," a
doctor said and turned to the translater.
"He said you suffered a minor concussion at the base of your
skulls." The doctors nodded. Naan stood up, but was pushed back down
by an unseen BUSAE. She was ticked off now and read the guy's mind.
The
clarity of it was something she'd never experienced before. His pity
made even madder. Forgetting Nadroj wasn't as telepathic as her, she
thought waht she'd read to Nadroj. Nadroj started, she'd never heard
Naan think anything to her without thinking real hard.
"You have also become exceedingly skilled in the 6th sense, Naan," the
doctor said. "You have gained a relatively strong 6th sense,
Nadroj." The translator refused to translate. Sighing, Naan read his
mind. She blasted throught the mental wall of the translater to get
there.
"So basically you mean that I'm one strong telepath, doing things
most can't, and Nadroj is telepathic now?," Naan asked the doctor. He
nodded at them. What a turn for the better. Something popped into
Nadroj's mind.
"Were there two guys with us when we come in?," she asked.
"Why, no, there weren't," the doctor said.
"Then where are Nedran and Divab?"
The person on the bed stirred.
"Go back to sleep, Seela. It is not time to be awake yet." The voice
controlled the little man, Seela, as well. Nedran, who had also woken
up, hoped that wasn't how he and Divab would end up. Seela told them
just over one year of their memories had been taken away and stored in
the memory conservatory near the voice's office. Seela was missing 12
years of his life. But the office would be hard to find. The voice
also had monitors around the rooms and halls.
Divab woke up. He looked around the room, squinting his eyes. Nedran
read his mind. Divab was looking for sound trans devices. `Did you
find any?' asked Nedran mentally.
`No,' Nedran skimmed from Divab's mind. There had to be a way for them
to get out. They'd just have to be patient enough to find it.
It took a full day for the story of Naan's and Nadroj's assault to
reach the entire populous of Aldrania. Within an hour of this, the
story of their enhanced telepathic power spread. Chaotic panic followed
in the wake of the news. The public seemed to have forgotten the state
of the planet before Naan and Nadroj came to power. They were afraid
Naan and Nadroj would abuse their power, both political and telepathic.
They were afraid Naan and Nadroj would become tyrants and throw the
country into complete economic inflation or depression.
Naan and Nadroj knew nothing of the fears of the public. They didn't
even know the public knew. Even the press kept away. That's when they
realized something was up.
Divab was still looking for a way our when he made a vague wish. The
pounding at the base of his skull returned. Nedran turned around.
"Did you say something?," he asked Divab. Divab looked at him blankly.
"No," Divab said. "Just thinking." Nedran shrugged and turned back to
what he was working on. There just had to be a way out of that room.
The protests started later that day. Naan looked out the window of her
office and sighed. Why did this have to happen now? It was almost
time for her yearly internship on Earth. Why, oh why, did they have to
enact the Internship Law? Well, she would just have to do something
about this before she left. At least Nadroj would have six more
months. Naan ducked as a rock flew through the window.
"Oh, great," she said. "Now we have to buy a new monitor set. Monitor
set! That's it!," she yelled, jumping to her feet.
Divab had overturned his chair. He was now laying underneath the chair behind Nedran's chair. Nedran was trying to untie the know which held Divab's hands behind the chair. They had discovered how Seela entered and exited the room--a door beneath the pallet. The small mattress also sheltered an entire interface unit. As soon as Divab was free, he was supposed to small the IU. This could take a while.
Nadroj was still in the hospital. She had been hit with the same force
as Naan, but Nadroj had tensed up at the time of impact.
Nadroj was pouring over telepathy books, checking to see if their
condition was really permanent, and also because she could think of
nothing better to do. When Nadroj found that this case was almost
unheard-of, but permanent, she continued with her studies. Nadroj was
trying to find the method of looking, rather searching, for a certain
person. By now, Nedran would've at least called. It would've been more
likely that he spend every waking hour, as well as every sleeping hour,
at her feet. Divab had never visited Naan. Something was wrong.
Something had to be done.
"Miss, er, High Official Mallom?,"asked a young nurse, entering the
room.
"Yes?," said Nadroj (Mallom), setting aside her books.
"We're going to run one last scan before releasing you."
"Fine. What kind of scan?"
"Cranial Bone Structure Scan, CBSS."
"How long will it take?"
"At most, six seles. At least, two seles."
"Fine." Nadroj walked slowly, because a nurse was watching. She knew
she was fine, but the doctors could have her arrested if she tried to
leave. On to the CBSS room.
"Done," Nedran said.
"Great!" Divab shook the ropes off his wrists. He rolled the chair
with him onto their side. Getting up, Divab walked around for a few
minutes. He untied Nedran. Together, they lifted the pallet. They
lifted their chairs above their heads, and swung.
Naan dashed to the elevator. A hail of rocks came through the window.
Naan did a weird dance thing to avoid being hit. All the while, she was
yelling at the elevator.
"Come on," she yelled, "Stupid thing, it goes fast when you need it to
go slow, and slow when it needs to go fast. "Ouch, scrib! Stupid
people, they'll believe anything. Ouch!" The people were throwing more
accurately now. The elevator arrived with a beep and the doors slid
open. Naan dashed inside and hid by the buttons. Rocks came through
the open door. The doors closed and Naan placed her fore and middle
fingers by the #13 button. A small door flipped open, revealing three
extra buttons.
"Good," Naan said, "They're still here." She hit the T-M button, "Here
we go!"