Devour

Chapter 15 - Cora

The weeks leading up to Pasch's thirteenth birthday are disturbingly calm. He and the others serve out their grounding nobly with remarkably little whining. And despite his various 'you wouldn't dare's' he's on his best behavior, with CDs at regular volumes and very few cats smuggled into his room.

I expected Dax to be a bit depressed as his birthday is only in few months and shall be a much more melancholy occasion. However, he's all sweetness and is excited for his brother. The others are too, as Pasch is the oldest and going through it first they're all eager for him to and tell them what it's like.

What it's like is complicated, not only because of Pasch himself but also the whole process in general. There's a good deal of paperwork that needs to be done, passes to London for him, a pass for his GPS tracker to allow him to go to London. Then there's problem of his escort. For a level 1 -3 threat, just a regular handler will do. A level 4-6 a specially trained handler, that would be me. A level 6 and above, as an example Errol who I did check he's a 12, can have a certified handler, like me, within a certain small unpopulated area. A level 12 can roam around and be escorted places like London with two special handlers. Pasch is a level 30, based off of his DNA alone. His tests he's a level .5 but the Council doesn't care about tests they care about his DNA. So since he's a child, a trained psychic level 8 or above has to be with him at all times as well should we need to subdue him.

Nel is similar, since she's currently a level 7 and just going on up. Therefore, Errol has to monitor her at all times now. So that creates a real problem because Errol can't both be with Nel and with Pasch. Therefore, we need another trained psychic to watch one of them. Errol and I both argued that this was stupid given that Pasch has never tested even to a level 1, let alone shown any hints of telekinesis when enraged or anything. No one cared about Errol's and my opinion.

Also there's the little issue that Errol, by Parliamentary orders, can't be in an area with a population greater than 250, without ten armed guards escorting him. That's not because he's a level 12, that's just him because he's special like that. No really, that's the whole 'war crimes' thing everyone freaks out about like he's liable to do something again in the middle of England.

So anyway, Pasch has to go to London, we need another two handlers, because two need to escort, one needs to stay with everyone here in Bucknell, and we need another psychic above a level 8.

Issue is, England only has one of those and that one isn't allowed to go into London without ten armed guards. Yes, Errol and Nel are pretty ordinary to me, but so far as psychics go they are diamonds in the rouge. That's why he's training her, because he's the only one available. Well, he's supposed to train Pasch as well but Pasch isn't really psychic.

Anyway, we have solved that problem by requisitioning a psychic from France. We have a program where we help each other as needed and apparently this is a need. At least for this visit. Future visits will require less security for Pasch and his mum might come out of London, but for this one we do need the support.

France has exactly one psychic who, by their rating system, is about the same as Errol. They've met a couple of times, but the Council was very close to not letting them meet again. At first I thought it was because they were both powerful they didn't want them fighting or something. The real reason, I discovered when I supervised one of the meetings, was because they got on like a house on fire.

Do they speak the same language? No, no they do not.

Does this stop them from jabbering happily to one another? No, it doesn't.

Do they appear to have any interest in helping researchers understand telepathy more? No, they do not. They like jabbering to each other and seeing what sort of innuendos they can convey through rapid hand gestures and mind reading.