"Hey, the Cericolas have got company."
A Psy Corps technician leans forward. He looks at the various images on the screens that are being transmitted from micro cameras hidden across from, around, and inside the Cericola home.
"Who is it?" the other technician asks. He turns from several other monitors and rolls his chair over. The monitors allow Psy Corps to surveil the home of telepaths who were visited by Dave Walker. Psy Corps believes that their most wanted renegade telepath will not be able to resist returning to visit. It may take years before he returns but the powers that be want to get their hands on Dave, possibly the most powerful telepath they know of.
"Don't know. They are in a rental carryall. Checking the rental company records."
Looking at the monitor they see two people sitting in the small, four-wheeled vehicle. The tinted windows make it difficult to identify the occupants.
"It was rented by some veteran's group, Military Order of Chitoxan War Veterans. Uh, damn, no names on the rental agreement. Apparently, it is a real organization that rents personal transports for their volunteers."
They watch as the driver's door opens. A relatively-thin but dark-skinned man steps out. He slowly and painfully limps around the vehicle to the other side and opens the door. A woman steps out and begins walking toward the front door.
"Jeez, look at her. Damn, she must have been caught in the middle of something."
The woman struggles to get up the steps. The technicians can see that the very obvious prosthetics that have replaced her arms and legs are not the most recent models.
"Earth Fleet must be scraping the bottom of the barrel to give her crap like that."
The woman stops at the front door and rings the doorbell.
A frustrated woman opens the door. Before she can give the person a piece of her mind she sees heavily breathing woman wearing the very obvious prosthetics.
"Oh, my. May I help you?"
"Are you Mrs. Cericola?
"Uh, yes."
"Gerard Cericola's mother?"
"Yes."
"Is Gerard here? My name is Maia O'hea. I'm a volunteer with the Military Order of Chitoxan War Veterans. May I come in?"
"Oh, sure," Onesta Cericola says. She steps back and to the side to allow Maia to enter the house.
"Thank you," Maia says. "I apologize for not calling ahead but things have been pretty hectic lately. You have been receiving the information we've been sending?"
"Oh yes, we have. Some of it has been very helpful."
"Good, I'm glad. It's amazing how difficult the war was for many of us yet the government doesn't always seem willing to provide the proper support."
She raises her right old and almost obsolete prosthetic arm as an example.
"Yes,"Onesta says. "You would think that with the taxes we pay they would have the money for that. But we are doing okay."
"Well, that's great. Here," she says as she struggles to open a small portfolio. After a short struggle she pulls out a couple of items. "This is our latest newsletter and these are additional resource materials."
She hands the papers to Mrs. Cericola. Onesta thanks the veteran representative.
"Would it be possible to visit with Gerard?" Maia asks. "I'd like to be sure he is doing okay and see if there is anything I might be able to do for him while I'm in the area."
YOU ARE READING
Escaping My Shadows
Science FictionThe novel started as a short story that was submitted to a writing contest (didn't win). It is very loosely based upon the Babylon 5 Universe (telepaths, shadows, plethora of different races, etc.). I still continued to think about the story and h...
