Insight
Chapter Two
By: Rogue Knave
After dumping the remaining alcohol down the drain I had a long, hot shower, and got to work putting my life back together.
Over pancakes and orange juice, I asked my wife, Cindy, to forgive me for being such an ass, and then shared my idea with her. I could see the reservation in her downcast eyes as I talked to her about training my ability. But with her empathy she could sense my renewed passion for life, and I don’t think she wanted to douse this freshly re-kindled spirit. Of course, she was right, where was
I going to learn how to use this ability since gemstones made everyone immune? For years, logic had told me that it was a waste of time and energy to even try.
I was unsure where to begin, so I decided to visit our local PRICk office to ask for direction. The lady behind the front desk was obviously taken aback by my inquiry, but she checked the PRICk phone directory, and, after a moment or two, found a phone number that she wrote down on a small scrap paper, and handed to me. “I can’t guarantee that this number will work,” she cautioned me as I thanked her. I tried the number as soon as I was in the privacy of my car, but was disappointed to hear an automated voice inform me that it was no longer in service.
As I drove slowly homeward, I wondered where else to turn. While sitting at a red light, I remembered that telepathy was supposed to work on animals as well as people, if the telepath was strong enough. Did I have enough ability for that? The only animals we had at home were goldfish… and I wasn’t about to ask any friends if I could practice my telepathy on their dog. But the zoo wasn’t too far away. Maybe I could try out my ability on an animal there… at least then, if I failed, no one would know the difference.
If this works, these lessons could get expensive, I reflected wryly as I paid the $23 entrance fee. Snagging a free map off the countertop, I sauntered into the zoo. Glancing through the list of animals I wondered where to start. The monkeys or chimps are probably the most human-like, I thought, and casually headed off in their direction.
When I arrived at the chimp cage, I was faced with another obstacle. There was a waist-high chain link fence around the enclosure. Just inside it was a fifteen-foot wide moat, full of water. It was another fifteen feet from the edge of the moat to where the nearest chimp lay sprawled out basking in the sun. I hadn’t thought this far ahead. Leaning nonchalantly on the fence, I glanced around. There were only a few other people in the area, and none of them seemed to be paying any attention to me. I looked back over at the chimp… and had no idea what to do next.
Concentrating, I tried to “push” out towards the animal with my mind for several seconds. Nothing happened. I tried again… still nothing. How was I to know if this was working or not? I thought for a moment, and then tried “pulling” its mind towards me instead. Pulling somehow felt different than pushing, but I still wasn’t aware of anything happening. I wondered if maybe I wasn’t strong enough to use my ability without physical contact. I thought, then, about trying to find an animal that I could touch… there must be an area for petting rabbits, horses, and such. No, I didn’t want to give up on this so quickly. After eight or ten more minutes of trying various mental maneuvers and exercises, I bent over, resting my forearms on the fence, and watched, exasperated, as the animal idly picked grass, and chewed on the stems. After a few minutes, I kind of zoned out, and my mind drifted as I pondered what action to take next. The warm sun on my back felt wondrous, and seemed to ease the tension and frustration out of my muscles. I rolled a tiny leaf of grass between my fingers, holding it by its round base. Then I lifted the blade to my mouth, and gently nipped off the tender white part of the stem with my teeth, chewing it absent-mindedly. Glancing up, my brain seemed to twist inside my skull, as I saw myself leaning on the fence some 30 feet away! After a few seconds of queasiness I discovered that I was back in my own head, staring at the chimp.
I felt ecstatic… I had done it! And at quit a distance too! But how had I done it? I hadn’t pushed or pulled… I had just found myself inside the animal’s head. Tentatively I reached out with my mind. At first, I felt nothing… then, like a magnet suddenly coming into range of something metallic, there was a sudden pull, and I felt an instant connection with the chimp. This time was a little bit different. I was aware of and in control of my own body, while at the same time, a small part of my awareness seemed to be just resting tranquilly in the animal’s mind. Thoughts and emotions gently washed over me. I couldn’t make any sense of the thoughts, but the emotions were of contentment and laziness. I experimented a little bit, and realized that now, with the connection in place, I could “push” and “pull.” By pushing, I could distance myself further from the animal’s mind, making myself less aware of its thoughts and emotions. Pulling took me deeper into its mind, and I again found myself looking through its eyes.
This was amazing! Could I control its body? I dove deeper, and attempted to take command. For a brief second, I think that I succeeded, but then for the first time, the animal seemed to become aware that something wasn’t right, and panicked, pushing back my attempt to control it. I found myself, as before, just resting in its mind as it began to scream and run around the enclosure.
Its emotions were now of fear and confusion. After a couple of minutes the chimp began to settle down… but the lazy contentment was now replaced with a nervous, jittery restlessness. I pushed away from the animal until my mind disconnected completely. I felt triumphant. I had done it!
As I turned to walk back to my car, a wave of dizziness washed over me, and a dull headache started to throb in the back of my head. By the time I got to the car, the pain was much worse. The drive home seemed interminable as the headache grew from bad to worse. I stopped in the driveway, not taking the time to open the garage, and slowly pulled myself up and out of the vehicle, taking great care not to make any sudden or jarring movements. As usual, Cindy sensed my presence from inside the house… she met me at the door, concern creasing her beautiful face.
She said something to me, but it sounded as though she was at the bottom of a well… or maybe I was. That night was another rough one, but a couple of painkillers took the edge off, and I was eventually able to slip into a dreamless sleep.
In the morning I awoke around 9:30, feeling like I was recovering from another encounter with Jason. Every muscle in my body was sore, and there was still a dull throbbing in the back of my head. I sat up gingerly, massaging my neck and stretching my back, then cautiously made my way downstairs to the kitchen. Before my wife had left for her shift as an emergency room nurse, she had made me breakfast and left a short note expressing her love. Empaths were always doing that kind of thing for the people they cared about.
That week I worked the night shift as an air traffic controller at our local airport. Every morning, when my shift ended, I would visit the zoo. I noticed immediate changes. After the second day my headaches were much milder, and by the end of the week they were gone altogether. On day three, I was able to take control of the chimp’s body for nearly twenty seconds before he pushed me back, reasserting his control. That approach seemed to be more difficult than it was worth.
The following day I tried a new tactic. I had noticed that the animal’s mind had thought processes that were built upon each other, and interconnected like a vast tapestry. Certain areas seemed to correspond to certain thoughts and emotions. I wanted to see if I could influence the chimp’s behavior by interacting with, stimulating, or even changing its thought processes. I was going to try to make it fall asleep. With much more confidence than I’d had on the first day, I reached out and entered Samson’s mind (I had decided to give him a name). Diving deep, I began searching through his lower consciousness. Soon I found the area of his mind that corresponded with tiredness and sleep, and gently placed pressure on it. There was a bit of resistance at first but then the node suddenly gave away, and Samson flopped to the ground like a rag doll. I was concerned, at first, that I may have hurt him, but a quick survey of his mind revealed that he was just in a very deep sleep. I continued to play with Samson’s mind, learning how to wake him up, make him feel hunger, anger, passion, fear and many other emotions. This seemed like a much better way to influence the animal’s behavior than that of directly controlling or dominating him.
Over the next few weeks my skill grew. What took minutes during those first few days I could now do nearly instantly. Then one day, I made a new discovery. While drifting through Samson’s memories, witnessing the events as though I had experienced them myself, I grabbed hold of an old memory and squeezed it. I was surprised when the memory seemed to burst and then fade away like a mist in the sun. I searched for it for another few minutes, but it was completely gone, as if it had never existed. This opened new doors of possibility! If I could destroy memories could I also alter them, or even create new ones? I immediately set to work to find out.
It was much easier than I had even dreamed possible. I began by making ever-increasing changes to his memories. If the changes were too large, the animal seemed to get confused by inconsistencies; however, I was able to overcome this by planting a command to adjust all other memories so as to be consistent with the changes. I learned how to create a false memory in my own mind, and then transfer it into Samson’s. Finally, I was able to change his basic thought processes, feelings and desires. To test this final stage, I temporarily caused him to dislike the fruit he was given to eat each day, and to love the taste of the grass growing in the enclosure instead. It worked like a charm.
Following these advances, I entered a bit of an emotional slump. I had accomplished more than I could have imagined possible in these personal training sessions. But I didn’t know where to go from here. And my ability was still useless in real life. I needed to find a new challenge for my skills. I thought about taming some wild beast… a chimp of my own, or a perhaps a lion or grizzly.
But that was unrealistic. Aside from trying to feed and care for such an animal in our small bungalow, my friends and family would begin to pry into this, as yet private, part of my life. Not even my wife fully knew how far my abilities had progressed.