Mindtease

Chapter 15

"Who is that?" asked the man in the black suit to the grey-suited man.

Both men were looking through a one-way mirror into another room spartanly furnished with a steel table, and some steel chairs. The mirror-finish reflected the bright fluorescent light. A figure in a disheveled set of clothes sat before the table, wearing a pair of scratched and broken glasses, repeatedly rubbing his chest.

"His name is not important," the grey-suited man explained. "He has some psionic ability...and we want to see what he can tell us."

The black suited man nodded, and puffed on his cigarette, glancing at the video cameras and microphones directed into the room.

The grey-suited man opened a binder, and flipped casually through some pages. The binder cover had a cryptic title of "Report XJF-35798 Subject 584 Winters TOP SECRET."

"The subject has some psychometric ability...the psionic gift to read objects, the thought and emotional impressions imprinted upon an object."

"A psychic compression?"

The grey-suited man looked up and stared at the black suited man with interest.

"Somewhat, although a psychic compression is usually in an area...often with haunted houses and the like."

The black suited man nodded in acknowledgement, and stubbed out his cigarette.

A white coated man, a mere laboratory technician entered, carrying a small silver box with a handle.

"The object is inside."

The grey-suited man gestured for dismissal, and the white coated man exited the room.

"What's in the box?"

"Let me show you..." the grey-suited man said casually, opening the box.

Opening the box carefully, the grey-suited man nodded in the direction of the open box, and the black suited man saw a silver bag, sealed, with a barcode.

"A electro-static bag," the grey-suited man explained, "and it contains a fine mesh of pure silver wire and copper flakes to avoid electromagnetic interference."

"I see...containment."

"And to avoid contamination."

The grey-suited man closed the silver box, and then smiled.

"Our subject is to read the object contained, and we will record what he says...not just the words, but the tone, his body language...which will then be reviewed."

"Where was the object found?"

"In a hotel room where the target left it. The targets have been careful about keeping their possessions to a minimum, and taking them with them. We'd hoped they dispose of something that we could recover. But so far, this is the only object of any potential use."

"What is it?" asked the black suited man.

"You'll see..." the grey-suited man answered with a wry grin. "We'll see very soon."

# # #

The other black suited man had joined the pair in the observation room, and the metallic box with the handle had been taken into the room.

"Who...where did you find this guy?"

The man in the room kept rubbing his chest, adjusting various parts of his clothing, and glancing around.

"Homeless, but was in mental hospitals. Unfortunately his psychic ability was...misdiagnosed and he was medicated most of his childhood and adolescence. Our talent scouts found him purely by accident. His psionic gift is genuine, although dampened from years of medication and atrophy in disuse. Still...he might prove useful."