Unforeseen Dives – 8 – Hives

<< 7 – Investigations

“We rescind control before the hive mind leader. May our perceptions and swiftness serve her wisdom well.”
The twenty-five telepaths’ voice recited the ritual opening of the channels and turned their mind over to me. They flowed through Daniel and into my head. My boss acted like my long distance antenna and helped filter a part of the chatter.
Twenty-five adrenaline pumped minds were a lot to take in and I felt dizzy for a few seconds. This wouldn’t be a walk in the park in my current state of mind. Most psychics failed the hive mind leading test. It was easier for telepaths because they daily processed several persons’ thoughts at once. I was one of the rare who aced the test and it was the first time I used my knowledge.
“I accept the role of leader. I shall unite us all and guide us through the dangers.”
At that moment, we weren’t twenty-seven individuals anymore. We were one and we would work as one. We could keep a part of our thoughts to ourselves but most of them were shared.
Each squad had a trained telepath with them to voice the hive mind. Since we were all connected during the operation, the acquisition of information, assessment of status and decision-making was fast and easy.
I was the tip of the pyramid. Every thought moved toward me and I allowed the useful one to trickle down to the telepath standing with the commanding officer on site. He picked the best strategy and the telepath relayed it to the hive which redistributed the orders to the teams.
We were basically sapient walkie-talkie. Working in hive cranked up the teamwork and won us precious seconds.
I multi-tasked to the extreme, filtering the chatter of the various squads and relaying the pertinent facts. I also scouted a few minutes ahead every time I could to confirm we were on the best possible track. Time Squares still explodes though. We weren’t doing enough and time was running out.
All bomb squads reached their respective bomb. They were dressed in street clothes to fly to their targets under the criminal’s radars. Over them, the buildings buzzed with workers. Evacuation took time and could trigger the explosion if the criminal was watching. They couldn’t have called everyone to tell them to stay home either because the FBI didn’t have proof at that time.
That was the law: psychics could point in the right direction but nothing major would be done until tangible proof was found. Basically, we could tell them a murder was going to take place but they had to wait to catch the guy a minute before the act, when his intent was clear. This way, human rights remained intact: innocent until proven otherwise. This way, nothing could be done before the FBI got their hands on the first bomb. 

I dived ahead. Time Squares blew up in my face, killing everyone in the process. I bend over in pain but didn’t dissolve. Why is it still smashed to smithereens? The bomb squads were in place. Weren’t they supposed to prevent this?
I grew desperate as I elbowed my way in the crowd of corpses. I kept the gory details as far away from the hive as I could, filtering their thoughts and relaying back the orders but diking the pains with my heart. It threatened to overflow but held.
I noticed the timetable had changed and adrenaline spiked.
“Stop” I yelled with all my synapses. The telepaths jumped at the force of my call and verbalized it to the bomb squads instantaneously. As soon as I found the new cause of the explosion, they knew it too: one bomb squad triggers its bomb while trying to defuse it. 

We were running short on time and options. I hunted for a solution with a barely controlled frenzy. Daniel and the team jittered in my mind while they waited.
The telepaths wouldn’t move. They were connected right to me. They knew the actual path of action was doomed. They flamed with impatience and stress but stayed put.
The humans would risk it. They only got the part of the message that could be expressed with words. Though they accepted psychic powers, they didn’t trust it.
I had to provide an alternative plan. I had to do it now. Pressure distracted my search and I pushed it in the back of my mind to deal with later. The nervous flow of everyone’s thoughts didn’t help either but I had to manage.
I hung on to the building blueprints. They were my doorway. I knew it.
“I know where the bombs are. Tell me what they are.” I thought as I scanned the past at the highest speed I could cope with. Facts blurred before my eyes and I processed anyhow. I felt half of the telepaths’ become motion sick from the high-speed spinning of my restless exploration.
Finally, I found how to defuse the bomb and the hive blossomed in my relief.
“The telepaths will neutralize the bombs.” I sent toward the commanding officer.
“No” was his answer. I cringed. They didn’t have the training so he wouldn’t let them near the bombs. That’s what his word meant.
“Screw that, we don’t have time. Touch him.” Daniel was surprised at my harshness. The telepath with the commanding officer was uneasy. An unwritten law was against letting a human inside a hive mind even more so when a psychic was wandering in the Ocean. It was our secret garden.
“Touch him.” I barked again and I let loose the reasoning that backed my request. The telepath moved and the agent’s brain merged with ours. He gasped and drew back but he had already gotten the message: I held the way to turn off the bombs from the person who built them. I owned the criminal’s skills and would inject it straight in the telepaths muscles. Explaining the process to a trained bomb squad couldn’t match that. I didn’t care how good they supposedly were.
“Do it” he amended.

II – A Spoonful of Hate >>