Whenever Robin Fixx was upset he had a tendency to disappear. It wasn’t really a cause for concern. After all, Jared always knew where to find him. In the center of the massive space station known as The Wall, there was an equally massive arboretum rivaled only by Central Park in New York City. Robin Fixx could often be found curled up against an evergreen in a section of the arboretum that Jared assumed reminded the boy of his northwestern home.
The boy was 11 years old now and after spending a year in a gestation tube while the Watchers modified his DNA, he’d begun to develop his special abilities. Super strength and speed came easy but more advanced skills like flight, telepathy and heat vision had to be developed over time. Robin Fixx’s aptitude for flight and heat vision was off the charts but despite the best efforts of the Watchers, he’d yet to show any ability with the gifts of the mind. Idrid Crow supervised mental development for all of the repatriates and not for the first time Robin Fixx had run away from his latest session with the training master.
After a brief hike through the arboretum Jared found the boy as expected, nestled against a pine tree with his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped tightly around them. Jared approached him and took a seat next to the little ball of sadness when he heard the boy sniffling.
“Why are you crying?” Jared asked sympathetically. He cared deeply for the children he was responsible for and never liked to see any of them upset.
“Why does Mr. Crow have to be so mean?” Robin sniffled.
“What’s he done now?” Jared rolled his eyes. Though he respected Idrid Crow’s abilities he thought his fellow Watcher was ill suited to working with children. He seemed to take particular pleasure in tormenting little Robin.
“He says I’m talentless and he forces me to remember all of these bad things and I can’t make him stop,” Robin rambled.
Jared knew Robin Fixx wasn’t responding well to Crow’s training and the training master was getting ready to pull the plug and focus on areas where the boy would excel. This was however the first time he’d heard of Crow making him remember “bad things.”
“Bad things, Robin Fixx?”
“Like when you took me away and when my parents would fight and when my dog died and stuff about Spencer…”
“Ok, ok,” said Jared, reaching over and rubbing the boy’s back soothingly. “I understand.”
In the training Crow subjected the repatriates to he would often invade their minds and those with telepathic skills could attempt to repel him. Those who didn’t have telepathic gifts could be trained to close their minds to the invasion but it sounded like Crow was using Robin’s strong negative memories to disrupt his concentration. This angered Jared who felt guilty enough about snatching the children from their families to undergo training. He didn’t think any of them would benefit from what he considered to be abuse.
“So why does he have to be so mean?” Robin repeated.
“I don’t know Robin Fixx but rest assured that I will bring this up at the next council meeting. The point, however, is moot. You’ve undergone your last training session with Idrid Crow.”
“Really?” said Robin excitedly.
“Idrid Crow is correct in his assertion you are ungifted telepathically. There is no point in subjecting you to further training in an area where you will continue to fail. Now is the time to concentrate on the gifts you do show an aptitude for,” Jared explained.
“But what about the mental stuff? What if some telepath tries to hurt me?”
“You will be trained to protect yourself from their assaults.”
YOU ARE READING
My Secret Identity
FantasyRobin Fixx was just like any other boy in his Tacoma Washington suburb, that is until the day he vanished without a trace. Four years later a strange boy is found in the woods with no memory of where he's been. When his best friend, Spencer, recog...
