Aberrant

Chapter 36

Hand clenching around her coffee, Jinx eyed Channing as the doctor stared moodily across the lab. Okay, she had to have misunderstood the woman. Neurotech could allow mind-to-mind coms, but there were no human psionics. A few alien species, like the Xykeree, had forms of extrasensory communication, but psychic abilities in humans were weak to non-existent. She'd come across plenty of papers stating exactly that in her research on delusions and mental health. It was ridiculous to think—

A hundred seemingly unimportant moments from her time with Kaplan streamed through her mind. His team reacting in eerie synchronicity in battle. Kaplan jolting to attention minutes ago, somehow alerted to the fact Channing had bad news. The long, intense looks. The weird buzz...

The blood drained from Jinx's face. Oh, no, no, no—no. She had not been hanging around a bunch of mind readers, her thoughts open to the goddamn public.

Every cell of her body locked up in rejection.

And perversely, that snapped her out of her head spin.

Knee-jerk fear. She'd seen the ugly results of it too often living in the backworlds. Aliens beaten or murdered. Alterants burned alive by religious fanatics because if you dared to mess with "the Creator's design", you were a contaminant—polluted flesh.

She fought down her instinctive horror. The universe was full of unnerving phenomenon and creatures. Hell, Throleans ate their children if they were born deformed. Vok collected the skins of their defeated enemies. A person didn't belong out in the void if she wasn't up for weird and disturbing.

But the idea that someone—frigging Kaplan?—could see into the sick mess of her mind? She shuddered and reconsidered every second she'd spent with him. He'd questioned her for hours on the Fire Witch. He'd known she'd left out details.

But he hadn't known what.

She looked back to Channing, found the doctor still lost in thought.

Maybe the woman was high on lab-brewed chems. Jinx felt her breath come back. Wouldn't be the first time a med-tech self-medicated. "Doc, there's probably another explanation for people avoiding you. Like, I dunno, the fact you scan and prod their personal bits?"

Channing sighed, dragging up a wan smile. "I'm sure you're right. I can see why you were accepted as a candidate. For someone so new to this, you seem very well adjusted. I suppose knowing you're a latent talent helps. Lord, so many people I know would just die for the chance you have."

"They would?" Jinx inhaled then ditched all subtlety. "They want to 'read minds' that badly?" She watched for the doc's reaction to those words. Not even an eyelash bat. Crap. She scrambled to regroup, wondering how to follow on from that line of crazy. "Ah ... do you?"

"Me?" Channing blinked. "Oh, I've never really considered... But imagine the possibilities." Her eyes widened—lit. "The ability to sense and interpret the brain's neurological activity. To be able to experience, first-hand, the extrasensory abilities I'm studying. That would be so illuminating—priceless really from a research standpoint. But of course, there are the drawbacks of enhancement to consider—the psychological, physical, and social complications." She frowned and shook her head. "Ms Koel, if I were a viable candidate like yourself, I wouldn't rush to make the decision to be genetically altered. Please take all the time you need to think things through. Don't get caught up in the excitement."

Alteration. Jinx felt reality shift a few sickening degrees. Humans weren't naturally psychic, but modify a few genes?

The doctor might not be tripping on lab-brewed chems.