Visible Wear

Chapter 1 can be found here.
Chapter 2 can be found here.

Something was bothering Weaver.

He couldn’t put a name to it but he felt almost, tainted.

He and Katerine had just emerged from the Overhand Hive after spreading knowledge of the New Earth Government’s deceit through the society. They had shared their minds with all other Overhand, everything had proceeded as it should have, but Weaver was left with disquiet.

If only he could pin it down, this uninvited stranger that occupied his thoughts.

William saw Weaver step through the cave entrance, Katerine close behind, and picked up on his friend’s discomfort. He asked to speak with Weaver privately and Katerine nodded. Her mind felt swollen with the knowledge just absorbed and she felt she could use a moment to sit and rest.

Katerine walked to a broad oak a few yards away and William led Weaver a few steps along the cave exterior, staying within sight of Katerine, before stopping and placing a hand on the old man’s shoulder.

“What troubles you, old friend?” William asked.

“I felt something odd just now while in the Hive,” Weaver replied. “It was as though someone else was listening in, probing the collective without being a part of it. It seemed like something touched my mind, brushed up against my thoughts, and then pulled away.”

“Someone outside the society accessed the Hive? But that shouldn’t even be possible, who could do something like that, and why?” William echoed Weaver’s own thoughts and Weaver found he had no ready answers for his friend.

“If it was a spy for the New Earth Government,” William continued.

“Then we may already be too late,” Weaver concluded.

—

Katerine closed her eyes as she leaned against the railing and listened to the waves lap against the side of the vessel. Weaver stood beside her and gazed into the distance, lost in his own thoughts.

The pair had boarded a ship destined for the shores of Iceland. Most of the Overhand were gathering at their old meeting place, from a time before the Hive and even the name Overhand. William had stayed behind to monitor the meeting remotely while scanning the Hive for intruders.

On landing they took a carriage to Pollack House and were met by Alice and Gerard Pollack, the heads of the House and regional senior Overhand. The Pollacks welcomed Weaver and Katerine to their home and led them to the underground sanctum where the other Overhand were gathering. There was a nervous tension in the air as the guests stumbled between apologies and thanks, and Katerine handled it all very graciously.

They were then shown to their rooms where they were encouraged to rest and freshen up while others arrived. Weaver decided that a little rest would do him much good and Katerine decided a bath was in order. She agreed that she would knock on his door after her bath and they would both go down to see who else had arrived.

Weaver fell quickly to unconsciousness, but it was a rough and unpleasant sleep. He dreamt of a presence so near to him as to be a part of him. He felt cold fingertips again brushing at his mind when he was awoken by a knock at his door.

Weaver called for Katerine to enter. Instead a broad built man with slick black hair and haunting eyes opened the door. Weaver rose to his feet, eyes locked onto the strangers, and spoke.

“Who are you?”

“We are the Corrupted,” the man answered, his mouth never moving.

“The Corrupted do not exist,” Weaver replied. “They are the subject of children’s stories and nothing more.”

“We exist. We are called into existence by those who have power, and we serve them as our masters,” the stranger said.

Weaver stepped forward and the man smiled. The cold, probing sensation in Weaver’s mind began again and he faltered in his step. He glared once again at the stranger, locking eyes with his, and began reading.

But all he received was a feeling of vast, cold nothingness. The man was an empty vessel, like a puppet, or a corpse, or both.

Weaver pressed harder and felt the threads of another controlling the stranger. He pushed his mind harder still to follow the threads to their origin and did not notice the stranger’s movement, the flash of stainless steel, or the swift movement that plunged the ten inch blade into his chest.

“Weaver?” He heard Katerine’s voice call.

“No, get away” he mouthed, unable to get the words out.

The stranger turned around and Katerine saw the bloody knife, and then Weaver’s crumpled, bleeding form on the floor behind him. She tried to access his mind with the intent of destroying it but could find nothing beyond those frightening eyes.

The stranger turned again and grabbed Weaver by his collar. He moved the knife as though to slash the old man’s throat and Katerine screamed. Movement was heard from below as the others heard the scream, but they would not arrive in time to be of any help.

The moment seemed to slow down and Katerine felt a coolness enter her. Her eyes began to glow faintly and the coolness within her grew. The stranger’s knife began to cut into Weaver’s neck and Katerine felt her mind issue forth a visible shock wave that swept through the whole room.

The man jerked back, the knife clattering to the floor, as the threads that controlled him sprang apart.

“Incredible,” Weaver whispered. He smiled at Katerine and quietly closed his eyes.

“No!” screamed Katerine. She ran to Weaver and lifted his head but he could not be roused. The others began arriving at the door and were stopped short by the scene. As Weaver sighed his final breath a silent wave of anguish swept through the Overhand collective and all knew of the old man’s passing.

Chapter 1 can be found here.

“Get up Katerine.”

She awoke with a start.

“You read me, why am I not dead?” she asked.

“That is but one secret of the Overhand, Katerine,” the old man answered.

“Reading does not destroy the mind of the one being read. That is something done afterwards. How do I know that, Weaver?” Katerine asked

“Hmm, you know that and my name already. I’ve been curious how quickly a Cheater’s mind would absorb our knowledge. You see, the first step of reading is actually a joining of the minds. I know things from every mind that I’ve joined with, including the Overhand who first joined with me.

When we ‘read’ someone, we join minds — that means that the person being read knows what I know as well. We destroy the mind after the reading, before the target realizes what they know, in order to protect ourselves. This knowledge of what a reading truly involves is known only to the Overhand.

But now you know all that I know as it will come to you in time,” Weaver explained.

“What are you saying, exactly?” Katerine asked.

“It means you are one of us now, Katerine. You are Overhand.”

—

They moved quickly from the House of Thanos. Places such as those always housed spies including the one who had tipped off Weaver. These spies would soon discover Thanos’ corpse and be off to inform the heirs to the House.

Succession wars for houses involved deceit and treachery and would see much bloodshed before the new head of the House was established. Weaver and Katerine elected not to linger in the House much longer, lest they get caught in the battles to follow.

Weaver led the pair in silence as they moved towards the North Hills, far from the House of Thanos. He said nothing as Katerine’s mind worked to make sense of all the knowledge it had absorbed.

“I’m the first Cheater to become an Overhand,” Katerine said.

Weaver nodded.

“We are not born into our society as you are into yours, Katerine. The Overhand are created. New members are inducted into the society once every decade. We select humans of good potential but no particular special abilities. We join minds with them, bringing them into our ranks if what we find satisfies us, but destroying them if we see potential for corruption,” he told her.

“I’m the first Cheater to even be read,” Katerine said.

“Yes. We were told by the government not to read your kind. They told us that you would corrupt us, that to know your minds would be our undoing. I see now that it may instead be our salvation. Our blind faith in our government would instead have been our end,” Weaver answered.

Katerine looked for the first time at where she was being led.

“The Overhand Hive,” she said.

“Remarkable,” Weaver thought. “Her mind is unlocking information at an incredible pace.”

“Do you know what is done there?” he asked her.

“It is the place where Overhand go to share their minds with the rest of the society. It is a place where one Overhand can reach out to all other Overhand, wherever they be,” Katerine replied.

“Yes, and do you know what we will do there?” he continued.

“We will start a war,” she answered.

The old man nodded.

—

“Ho, Weaver,” the giant said.

“Good afternoon, William,” Weaver said as he waved.

“And who do you have with you?” William crouched to better look at Katerine. A strange feeling had fallen over her as she approached the Hive. She felt it strongly now as William studied her face. She turned her gaze up towards his and he drew in a sharp breath.

“Weaver, you did this?” William asked.

“Yes, I did, my brother. Read her and you’ll understand,” Weaver replied.

William turned to look again at Katerine and she looked back. A few minutes later William turned away and sat on the large stone before a narrow cave entrance.

“Is it true?” he asked.

“You saw it yourself, William, and you know a mind cannot lie when it is read.” Weaver said.

William pulled a blade of grass from the ground below and twisted it in his fingers.

“Then we’ve done your people a great injustice,” he said to Katerine.

“It was not your fault,” she replied. “My people did the same to those who came before us. We did not question what our masters told us. When the time came and they turned on us it was our own blind allegiance that was our undoing.”

“William, we need to enter the Hive,” Weaver said.

It had not occurred to William what Weaver had planned to do. Now it dawned upon him what the pair intended. He rose again to his feet and the sun obscured his head.

“You mean to turn the society against the government?” he asked, already knowing it to be true.

“You know what the government will do to us when we no longer suit them.” Weaver said.

William breathed a crushing sigh.

“I will allow you past, Weaver. I will trust you to do right,” he said.

“You’re a good man, William. I know you would do the same as me, given what we both now know,” Weaver replied.

The giant smiled uncertainly as he moved the stone blocking the cave entrance and allowed Weaver and Katerine past.

—

“Be calm. That’s the most important thing to remember,” Weaver told Katerine. “You’re going to join many minds at once, which will undoubtedly be disconcerting.”

Katerine nodded and she joined Weaver in the center of the room. Breathing deeply, a rush of images, voices, and memories entered her mind, causing flashing pinpricks of light to fill her vision. Her mind joined with all Overhand and they shared all knowledge.

As truth of the government’s deception and treachery spread through their consciousness and questions of this newcomer died down, one thought remained:

It was time to bring down the New Earth Government.

“It took a little focus, at first.”

“You mean flying, Maxine?”

“Yes, Dr. Seamus.”

“And now?”

“Now, it’s like breathing.”

He didn’t believe me, of course. I wasn’t like the others.

—

It was five years ago when they arrived. The Fenti gifted people with extraordinary abilities. Mostly they chose celebrities, athletes, and children of politicians. They chose the tall, the strong, the wealthy, and the influential. They gave them superhuman strength, or speed, or x-ray vision, and in turn the gifted gave the Fenti acceptance to someday return.

I was thirteen then. The stereotypical black girl living in the projects. I had been the posterchild for a political campaign two years earlier when city controller Goodman was running for mayor and wanted a face to symbolize the effects of corruption from the previous administration. He said he would change things, I didn’t know changing things meant Photoshopping a big belly on me and adding trackmarks to my arms.

Maybe I wasn’t the stereotype in those posters. I’d never been pregnant. I’d never used drugs, either. I was raised by both of my parents, who were more the stereotype than I ever was, but who both worked hard and raised me together. Truth be told I was a 3.66 GPA student in my Junior High, which wasn’t bad considering the school didn’t always have enough textbooks for us and sometimes the teachers just walked out on us.

My mom and dad always told me to work for something better, to aim higher than anyone thought I had the right to reach. They didn’t want me working as many jobs and hours as they did, only to afford an apartment in the projects. So I worked hard, I dreamt of buying my parents a nice house in the city, and I asked God why he was giving the privileged the Fenti and their wonderful gifts.

I don’t know if God was listening to me then, but someone was.

One night, I started dreaming of a power no one else had been given.

I dreamt I could fly.

—

“Okay Maxine, if you can fly then why don’t you fly for me?”

“It doesn’t work like that. When I fly, it’s outside of myself. It’s like I told you before.”

“Right, ‘astral projection’ were the words you used before.”

“Exactly. I astrally project myself outside of my body. I can fly anywhere, see anything, but my body stays where it is, sort of in a trance.”

“That is convenient, isn’t it Maxine?”

“What do you mean, Dr. Seamus?”

“What do you think it means?”

“I think it means you’re calling me a liar.”

“Well are you, Maxine?”

—

I fly around the world and see the beautiful, the awesome, and the terrible. I listen in and I find evil in the powerful, and greatness among the weak. I see my fellow gifted squandering their abilities, doing good only when it suits their personal agendas. I see the media fawning over them and the population doing likewise.

I know so much about the world around me. There’s so much I could do if I wasn’t me. Why was I given this power, if I all could do was watch?

—

“You want to know if I’m lying, Dr. Seamus?”

“Yes, Maxine, I think it’s important that you admit that.”

“You’re so sure the Fenti would never gift me with any power, let alone one so special.”

“Your power doesn’t seem to do anything, Maxine. How is it so special?”

“There are cops on their way to a house at 1535 Haley Lane. They’re curious how a state-sponsored psychotherapist could afford summer homes in the Bahamas and in Thailand. Houses, I might add, your wife doesn’t seem to know about.”

“How do you…”

“The cops received an anonymous tip from a very concerned citizen who saw some very shady characters moving drugs and patient medical records. The sorts of things which a shrink might have access to. Oh, and here’s the kicker, the tipster visually confirmed the ID of one of those shady characters. Can you guess who that might be, Dr. Seamus?”

“You, you set me up, you little bitch!”

“Whoa now, Doc, I’d watch my temper. I just took a little look outside your office door and it looks like you have some visitors. Lucky for you it’s just the police and not your associates whose shipment of drugs and medical records are being confiscated.”

“You did this to me. You set this all up.”

“Sure, now why don’t you get out there and tell the nice officers all about how a poor black kid who dreams about flying filled a house that you’re paying for full of drugs and files which you have access to and used the money to buy all kinds of stuff for you while I pay for my own way through college. I’m sure they’d love to hear all about that.”

—

The cops came in shortly after that. Like the anonymous tipster told them, the house was full of prescription drugs and patient medical records all tying back to Dr. Seamus. There were records kept in a safe at the house which listed many of his clients with contact information and special bank account numbers.

Dr. Seamus did try telling them that I did it. That he was innocent and it was the black kid. That I probably belonged to some gang and we were setting him up. The cops didn’t buy it, and neither did the judge. Last I heard he was still in prison but had plea-bargained for an easier time in exchange for information about his customers.

I did what I did to Dr. Seamus because the guy was an asshole and he deserved it. But it made me realize something about my gift. Maybe I couldn’t change things directly, but I could still have a great effect on this world. My ability may not have had the flash, but I was about to start making a big difference.