Unforeseen Dives – VIIb – A Loony Out Of The Bin

<< VIIa – A Loony Out Of The Bin

Wayne walked to the fridge and brought back a selection of fruits which he set on the table beside me. He picked up a raisin and presented it to me. I reluctantly parted my lips and ate it. Wayne had been nice for almost an hour now. I didn’t like it; he tried to kill me several times before today. He allowed his men to torture me for weeks. The niceties couldn’t be remorse. I waited for the other shoe to drop.
“I was probably as surprised as you were when I learned what the Ocean and the telepaths could do.” Wayne peeled an orange. He ate a quarter than extended one to me. “I mean, if researchers decided to use it they could permanently rehabilitate serial killers. They could cure psychological conditions or even keep prompt divers from ever going insane.”
Wayne offered me another bite with a glance that meant: they spat on you but they could have saved you in a snap. I nodded in a non-committal way.
“But they know it’s wrong.” Wayne leaned back in his chair. His smugness puzzled me. I understood he thought he proved a point. It never occurred to him that his whole campaign justified why the researchers hadn’t shared their knowledge.
Ryan and the non-reader were still watching from their corner of the room. I tried to ignore them, to create a little bubble of intimacy around Wayne and me that would help me capitalize on his current mood. As the thought crossed my mind, Ryan rose from his chair and picked an apple out of the bowl, effectively using his body to cut my eye contact with Wayne and resetting the bubble-making process.
I muffled a groan. Thinking about working at a bank and avoiding any thought of the secret ops I was actually working for was one thing; I trained for it and it only applied to my time with Casey. How could I possibly figure out an escape plan without thinking about it?
Ryan brushed my arm as he spun to return to his chair. Barely long enough for me to understand his answer to my silent question: “You can’t. Might as well give up and save yourself the trouble.”
He didn’t broadcast it that clearly because his mind was in shambles but the images he showed me emoted all I needed to know. This was how they broke him; they put him in the middle of an unsolvable problem. A damned if you do, damned if you don’t kind of deal. He didn’t.
“What the researchers refuse to face,” Wayne continued, completely unaware –or unhindered– by my silent exchange with Ryan, “is the necessity to eradicate all connections to the Ocean.”
“I see. Because obviously, keeping the knowledge to themselves wasn’t enough.” I held my breath, hoping I aimed in the right direction.
“Exactly!” Wayne smiled and offered me another piece of orange. “I knew you could understand me. You’ve always been the smart one.”
I munched on my bite of fruit as slowly as I could without arousing suspicions. I chose the right path but how far would I have to follow it? I eyed Ryan. He seemed overly interested by whatever was going on in the show outside. The non-reader, however, stared at me intently. I swallowed and returned my attentions to Wayne.
“Knowledge always finds a way to slip out of containment.” I said. My interlocutor pushed my damp hair away from my face like a father proud of his progeny.
“Knowledge yearns to be known.” Wayne whispered in confidence. “But even if the whole world knew what we can do, it’s of no use if none of us are left.” He laid back into his chair, grabbing another fruit as he did. “Hell,” he laughed, “presented in the right context, this knowledge will cause non-readers to eradicate the threat we pose all by themselves.”
I shivered. That was the end game. All the terrorism and the torture, all the bombs and the menaces, everything was barely prep work. Once someone from Wayne’s team would send proof to the media that psychics could steal minds and telepaths could program people, all hell would break loose.
“What if some readers learn to control those skills?”
“That’s why I’m keeping a small army of readers on my side. The elements the humans won’t be able to catch, we will exterminate.” Wayne sounded so convinced his plan was foolproof and, in a mad way, it was.
“What about that small army? Won’t they need to be exterminated?”
“Yes, of course! No favoritism under my flag. As soon as the last reader is dead, we will commit suicide to complete our crusade.”
I wondered if smartness or cluelessness included that to his sales pitch; genocide like the one he planned took decades if not more. He’d probably die of old age.
“I’d like us to spend our last moments together.” Wayne laid a hand upon mine and offered me a strawberry with the other. I bit it reluctantly but only allowed eagerness to express itself on my face. Wayne caressed my cheek with the back of his hand then nibbled the remaining strawberry bits I left around the stem.
“You’re an incredible psychic. You’d make a great trainer for the troops. I really missed you, you know. All those years.” He dreamily massaged the side of my hand with his thumb. “I know you refused Casey…”
I fought back the gag reflex, the stream of insults and the rage. I refused Casey because I had the vague feeling he would hurt me more than anyone had ever done. The future proved me right but I had yet to figure out if the fact I denied Casey pushed him into Wayne’s clutches or if I had nothing to do with his faith. It was a sore, very sore spot and it certainly didn’t leave room for Wayne to wedge himself in.
But the only thing I actively thought was what I said.
“You’re right.”
And I truly believed he was. On a small part of his speech.

VIIIa – A Sword Overhead >>