The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“The subject has continued to elude our teams sir,” the speakerphone reported.

“Understood. How did he manage to escape in the first place?” the director asked.

“We aren’t entirely sure sir. But here are some of the factors. First, the power and strength of his vehicle, a V-12 engine puts out a LOT of power. He very simply powered his way through the obstacles. Second, his own mental abilities were punishing the minds and bodies of the assaulting agents, rendering them ineffective in groups of 2 to 5 at a time in a combined assault with his vehicle throwing ours around. Third, we are not yet sure if he knew what he was doing or if he was just lucky, but he rammed our vehicles in just the right places to either knock them out of commission or use their mass as either shields or weapons themselves. And when we found his abandoned truck, our experts weren’t entirely sure how it made it as far as it did considering the amount of damage it sustained. Finally, and probably most importantly, the ineffective tactical plan of the previous Agent in Charge couldn’t have helped,” the new AiC finished.

“Wonderful. Just fucking wonderful. What about the other subjects?” the director asked changing the topic.

“They are here in the field office sir. We have talents working on each of them, but so far no indication of where the primary subject and his companion may have gone.”

“I expected that you moron! What about them? What has he done to the women?”

“Oh, I apologize sir. One of the women, the one named ‘Miranda’ has only been programmed to be his mistress. There have been no significant alterations to her mind or body otherwise except that he has deactivated her reproductive system so that she can no longer have children.”

“Small comfort there. Any chance that it can be undone?”

“A slim one sir, but the talents here say that to try may be risky to her health since they aren’t entirely sure of all the steps he took to do it in the first place. He apparently has a method previously not encountered before.”

“Damn. So we’ll turn her loose with evidence if anyone should investigate.”

“Not necessarily sir. The doctor who examined all of the women prior to interrogation diagnosed her with ‘non-specific ovarian failure’.”

“Ok, so one tiny bright spot there. What about the others?”

There was a quick ruffling of papers on the other end of the line as the field agent looked through his notes. “Uh… Subject ‘Christina’ has had no significant mental or physical alterations. Interrogation has revealed that they have only had sexual intercourse once during her stay and that the primary subject was using her to experiment with his abilities.”

“Great, he’s been practicing. And the last subject? Was she a mistress or an experiment?”

“Apparently neither sir. She was his mother,” the agent reported. “Subject ‘Brenda’ has raised the boy since infancy. However telepathic interrogation reveals an interesting development sir,” he said flipping through more papers.

“Then spill it!” the director bellowed in exasperation after several seconds of silence.

“Yes sir, I was just trying to find the information for you to make sure I got it right... The third subject has raised the boy since he was an infant, but does not appear to be his biological mother. Preliminary blood tests also show that this does not appear to be the case. When our talents probed her mind, they found evidence of extensive mental capping of not only memories from around the time of his birth, but also from events well before then as well.”

“Terrific. Can I assume they aren’t caps from work done by the agency?”

“No sir. These are most definitely NOT done by any of our agents. I understand that removing the caps and placing the subject in custody until we can determine what has been done and the subject is our S.O.P., but given by who the caps appear to have been placed, I have instructed that the caps not be removed for now since we have been burned by what lay beneath them before.”

“A sensible move young man,” the director said pleased that SOMETHING may finally be going right in his day. “You are sure you know who installed the caps?”

“No sir, but I believe we do…,” the agent on the other end of the line said trailing off.

“Oh great. MORE good news…” the director collapsed back into his chair, his hands pressed to the sides of the head as he wondered if they would ever catch a break.

Mike was a little shaken by Billy’s impromptu display of his powers on his little sister, but couldn’t stop peppering him with questions while they got ready to leave. Since Billy and Nicole didn’t arrive with much, there wasn’t much for them to collect before leaving his friend’s house.

Billy and Nicole climbed into the back of Mike’s Bronco and covered themselves with a sheet. They knew even as they pulled out of the driveway that it wouldn’t fool anyone determined to find them or who knew where to look, but it would hide them from casual observation. Billy had Mike take a route that brought him near his house so he could scan the area. What he found, or rather what he did not find, disturbed him. There were no indications of alarm or disturbance. There seemed to be no indications from any of the neighborhood’s inhabitants that there had been anything amiss that afternoon. He was within a breath’s distance of asking Mike to drive down the street in front of his house so he could see it first hand, before reason reasserted itself in his mind.

Mike took them on a circuitous route downtown to his brother’s apartment. With his many direction changes and Billy actively scanning the surrounding area, they were sure that they had not been followed.

They climbed out of the truck, making the key exchange at the house before they left, and hurriedly scrambled through the front security doors. While Nicole called Anna and then Maureen, Billy scouted out their temporary habitat.

Mike’s brother was an international architectural consultant, specializing in historic buildings and landmarks, and frequently was called out of town. This time, he had been gone for a little over a week and wasn’t expecting to return for at least a month, probably longer. Since they only needed the apartment until they found a place of their own, they planned on being out of there long before he returned from overseas. The apartment was a very nice three bedroom affair with 2 full bathrooms and a nice view of the city from the edge of downtown. It was decorated in a tastefully modern style, minimalist and eclectic to be sure, but nice none the less. An ornate modern styled gas fed fireplace adorned one wall of the living room. One of the bedrooms had been converted into an office, where Mike’s brother usually worked from.

“Anna and Pete are headed to a hotel for a couple of nights. I promised her that you would check out their apartment in a day or two,” she said finally putting the phone down.

“No problem. What about Maureen?” he asked coming back into the front room.

“Well, surprise—surprise, she got impatient and decided to do what she wanted,” Nicole said dropping heavily into a chair.

“Oh boy. Where is she?”

“Well she’s safe at least. She decided to try and go home, but got scared when she saw a black sedan in her drive way and three men leading Christina away in handcuffs. She went to a hotel not far from here.”

“Well that’s something I guess,” he said moving across the darkening room to watch the last of the sunlight fade from the sky through the full windows on the west wall. “She’s spending the night there I take it?”

“Yes. She’s going to stay there tonight and she’ll come by here around 9 tomorrow morning. So what do we do now?”

“Now, we lay low for a couple of days. Monday we’ll start looking for a place to live and try to piece our lives back together as best we can.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said in her light Texas drawl. “What about food? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

“I’m getting a little hungry myself,” he admitted and turned from the darkened window. “I checked the fridge and there isn’t anything there except a few bottles of beer, a couple cans of pop and a box of pop-tarts.”

“Ooh, fine dining at its best!” she quipped. “So do we order a pizza or something?”

“Not to worry,” he said standing behind her and running his fingers through her silky soft flame tresses. “Dinner should be arriving shortly…”

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and Billy answered it. He had reached out to one of the neighbors to have them run down to the Chinese restaurant on the corner and get them some dinner. They dined on the floor that night, eating their ‘gourmet’ dinner next to the fire. They pushed their dishes to the side and curled up close against each other in the dim light cast by the gas powered fire.

They laid there for a long time before a thought occurred to Billy, making him chuckle softly. “What’s so funny?” Nicole asked through closed eyes, her head resting on his shoulder.

“I was just thinking about the last fire I sat in front of,” he said with a slight smile of remembrance.

“A funny memory?”

“No, not at all. A very good one actually,” he said still thinking about it and tracing circles on her back.

“Tell me about it,” she cooed. “I could use a good story right about now.”

“No need,” he said and kissed the top of her head, inhaling the sweet fruity scent of her hair. “Think about it.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked opening her eyes and staring into the fire. “Oh,” she finally said as understanding hit her. She turned to face him, her head still on his chest and his arm holding her close. “That night at Miranda’s. The night we first met,” she said with a smile.

“Exactly,” he said staring into her eyes. “The night I was going to force you to give yourself to me. The night that you agreed to come over because you wanted to ‘meet the bastard that took Anna’ from you.”

“I don’t think I put it quite like that…,” she said pressing her body against him with a wicked grin. “Although my thoughts were similar to that.”

“And do you regret anything that has happened since then?” he said pulling her up on top of himself and staring into her emerald green eyes.

“You mean besides today?”

“Yeah, besides today,” he said with a chuckle.

“Not… A… Bit…,” she whispered, her lips closing the last few inches before locking with his in a passionate kiss.

Nicole worked her robe open as their tongues fought in each other’s mouths, pressing her amazing body against his bare chest. His hands caressed her smooth, supple skin, feeling her warmth pressed against his body as their lips merged into one. Throwing her robe off of herself she pulled herself up his body, feeding her erect nipples, jutting from their nickel sized areola into his mouth. Hungrily Billy sucked at her proffered teat, rolling it with his tongue and lightly pinching the other with his fingers. She moaned in pleasure as he sucked on her E-cup breasts, grinding her hips against his belly.

She slid her lithe form up his body, wrapping her long toned legs around his head and shoulders, the neatly trimmed red V of her bush directly in his line of sight as she lowered herself onto his mouth. Billy happily extended his tongue and parted her labia with his fingers, sliding his tongue over and through her moist slit and into her hole, sucking on her engorged clit. She growled her satisfaction as he performed his cunni-linguistic talents on her pussy, smothering him with her tangy sweet nectar. She rode his face through a shuddering orgasm, biting her lip to stifle her screams as her body convulsed.

They retired to the bedroom for the night, where they passionately made love for more than an hour and through 2 more orgasms from Billy’s Amazon redhead before he finally exploded his own pleasure deep within her.

They were woken by a knocking at the door just before 5am. “Who could be knocking this early?” Nicole grumbled. “I know you’re always up by now, but come on! It’s insanely early for the rest of the planet!”

“Relax babe, I got it,” Billy said climbing out of bed and pulling on a pair of pajama bottoms.

He scanned out into the hallway to see who it was as he headed to the door. He was a little unnerved by the presence he felt on the other side of the door. On impulse, he reached into the back corner of the coat closet and pulled the owner’s shotgun from its hiding place.

“No need to fear Herr Caulfield,” the man called from the hall way. “You can put the shotgun away. I mean you no harm.”

Needles to say, Billy was even more concerned after hearing the man try and reassure him that he didn’t have to do something that there was no way he could have seen him do. Throwing the door open he leveled the shotgun square at the man’s chest, cocking the weapon as he aimed it.

The man before him had a salt and pepper beard that matched his full but closely trimmed head of hair. His features were strong, almost Slavic in their appearance and his eyes were a very cool and calculating ice blue. His posture was straight and unflinching even in the face of a large bore shotgun pointed square at his chest and ready to fire. His neat appearance, pressed and impeccably aligned clothing along with his posture and bravado made Billy think of a highly trained military officer.

“You are correct William,” he said pronouncing the W as a V with a rather thick German accent. “I was once a military officer, and a pretty good one at that. But my service ended with the fall of the Third Reich more than half a century ago.”

“That is impossible bub,” he said down the length of the cold steel barrel. “Even assuming you were 18 in 1945 that would mean that you would be what? 76 or 77 now? You don’t look a day past 50.”

“Ah, well yes. I can explain that, but I think that this would be a conversation best held inside rather than a public hallway. Wouldn’t you agree?”

He thought about it for a minute and decided that while he still had no reason to trust the man in the doorway, he did have a point. Billy took several steps back into the apartment, giving the gentleman a wide berth before letting him in.

“Danke schoen,” the he said closing the door behind him. “I assure you, I mean you no harm.”

The man crossed the front room and took a seat in the chair on the far end as Nicole emerged from the bedroom tying a robe around her delicate waist. “Who is it Billy? Oh!” she said rounding the corner.

“Ah, Guten Morgen Fraulein,” the man said standing up again. “Truly you are a vision.”

“Umm, thanks?” Nicole said a little taken aback.

“Sincerely my pleasure. Herr Caulfield., I sense that you have a lot of questions you want to ask me,” the man said waiting for Nicole to either leave or sit before he did.

When she finally retreated to the bedroom again, he sat back down in the chair. “I have a few, yeah. Like for starters, who the fuck are you and what do you want?”

“Ah yes, that would be a good place to start wouldn’t it? Well for starters, my name is Klaus Schoenburger. I was born in Bavaria in March of 1918. I enlisted in the Wehrmacht at the age of 17 and was quickly promoted through the ranks to Standartenfuhrer – a Colonel in your military ranks – in the SS. I was captured and sentenced to death in the trials in Nuremberg at the end of the war.

“As to what I want, that is easy. I want to help you,” he said leaning back and steepling his fingers in front of himself. “I know about the attempt to capture you outside of your house yesterday. If you would permit me, I would like to try and help you assure that that will never happen again.”

“And why would you want to do that?” Billy asked, paranoia still rampant in his mind.

“Herr Caulfield, as I am sure you are rapidly becoming aware, powers of the mind are more common than the general public believes them to be. As a result, there are many organizations, groups and factions throughout the world that deal specifically in these matters.”

“I’m beginning to see that, yes. But what does that have to do with you?”

“I too belong to one of these groups. Unlike some other factions out there, like the Agency you encountered yesterday, we are not around to capture or eliminate others with these abilities. You see, we believe that these abilities are the next step in human evolution and we want to be sure that those who possess them do so with as firm an understanding as possible and use them for the betterment of mankind as a whole.”

“Kind of a departure from your previous line of work isn’t it?”

“Ja, I suppose you could say that,” Klaus said with a chuckle. “But I haven’t even started my story yet, much less finished it. You must understand William that things have changed. It was a different time, a different country and a different atmosphere. The depression that America endured during the 1930s was not even half of what Germany went through since the end of the First World War. People were looking for someone to blame and Hitler took advantage of that. An amazingly charismatic man, he engaged a nation and put food back on our tables. The people of Germany loved him for it and flocked to his call. As I was a young and impressionable man at the time, I too followed his banner.

“Many people know that the Fuhrer was ruthless, cunning and even insane. But few people know this William, Hitler was not only naturally very charismatic, but also an adept in the powers of the mind. His amazing charisma was due in no small part to this fact. He knew of me and few others like himself, hence his preoccupation with the paranormal. We were protected within the Reich and rose quickly in rank as members of his clique. Under the protection of the Fuhrer, we managed to turn the war to our favor. Although my companions and I held ranks in the SS, we were not in their system. Even without our abilities to dissuade them, our status put us beyond the reach of Himmler’s Gestapo. We answered only to the Fuhrer himself, but always at a distance.

“We were part of the power behind his throne and we took care of the minutiae of running the Reich. We were his watchdogs, his enforcers, and his pacifiers. If Hitler had a problem somewhere in the Reich, one of us would go and either ‘correct’ the problem or remove it,” Klaus said with a knowing glance. “We managed to acquire great wealth and personal power through our positions and set up an extensive network of spies, positioning ourselves within the Reich to reap the rewards of what we believed would be Germany’s inevitable victory. We enjoyed the best of everything. The best houses, the best cars and food, the best women, absolutely the best of everything! When the tides of war shifted, we attempted to take actions to protect ourselves, our power and our wealth.”

The old man paused for a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing. “You see, we could tell for a long time that Hitler was unbalanced. At first we didn’t think a lot about it as everyone with his amount of stress would be a little off. But as time went on, he got worse, becoming increasingly paranoid and violent. He kept me and the other adepts at arms length for a long time, but in the closing days of 1943, he started bringing us closer into the fold and that is when we started to see the extent of his aberration.

“As the Allies moved closer to Berlin, our predicament began to set in. We realized that when the Allies won, and we were becoming more and more convinced that it would be a ‘when’ rather than an ‘if’, they would make the Fuhrer’s officers pay a severe price for the orders that they had carried out in his name. Taking matters into our own hands, we thought we might be able to help buy our way out of trouble.”

“Why not just convince the Allied commanders to let you go?”

“Good question,” he said arching his eyebrows and leaning forward. “That would have been easy, but in order to succeed and truly disappear, we would have had to convince the whole world. And that is an entirely different matter.

“But anyhow, when the invasion of Berlin started, we seized on the first opportunity to react. I know that speculation has run rampant William, but I can assure you that Hitler died in that bunker. I know this, because I was the one that pulled the trigger and ended his life.”

“You assassinated him yourself?!” Billy asked incredulously.

“Assassination is an ugly and inaccurate word for the action, but in essence yes I did, and several of my comrades paid a heavy price for my actions. In our fight to escape his loyal guards, 11 of the 14 of us who entered the bunker that morning did not make it out again. And when the Field Marshals realized that he was dead, that is when organized resistance to the invaders ended leaving only scattered pockets of troops who fought on.”

“So, how come you ended up standing trial?”

“We sought out the commanders of the invading forces and surrendered. We did not reveal what we could do, but explained that we had killed the Fuhrer ourselves and begged for leniency. The politicians wanted someone to blame however, and since all of us were of a high rank we were forced to stand trial.

“In my years, all 24 of them at that point, I had only met a handful of others like me out of the thousands of people I had encountered. I assumed, quite incorrectly, that others with my abilities were quite rare, when in fact it was becoming more common just with less advanced abilities. When I was in prison awaiting trial, I met a young colonel in the British Army who possessed abilities similar to mine own, but on a much greater scale. I had used my mental influence on my guards to ‘look the other way’ as my comrades and I attempted an escape and it was he who stopped us. He made a deal with us William, our lives in exchange for our service. It was a deal that I needed little time in considering before accepting.

“We all knew that the trials were merely a formality before execution, but under his advice we went through with the trial and he arranged for our freedom while convincing everyone else that we had died as we were supposed to.”

“And how do you explain your unusually long life?”

“I can not adequately do so. I suspect however, that the same forces that grant us our abilities and reduce our need for sleep also delay, but can not stop, the passage of time on our physical bodies.”

“Ok, I’ll buy that for now,” Billy said, still more than a little skeptical of the man’s true intentions. “And what of the colonel you spoke of?”

“Right now, that is not important other than he still lives and I still work for him. What is important is you young man. You see, unlike you, my abilities are more focused on manipulations of the mind. You however, you are like that colonel. Your abilities are, shall we say more global. Not only can you influence and control the mind, but you can exert influence on the physical world as well. What do you call that in English?”

“Telekinesis.”

“Yes, that is it exactly. Telekinesis. Your mind can actually be focused to control the real world, move and possibly even alter real objects. It is possible too, that eventually you can control everything about you with but a mere passing thought. To become almost as a God among men.”

“What? You think I’m going to become some sort of ‘Kwisatz Haderach’ or something?”

“I am unfamiliar with that term, but if I understand your’ meaning then yes,” Klaus finished fixing Billy with a cold stare from his icy blue eyes.

Billy sat in silence, staring at the man for several minutes as he pondered the new information as logically as he could. “Ok,” he finally said breaking the silence and leaning forward on the couch slightly. “If your abilities are more towards influencing and controlling someone’s mind, and I already know how to do that but need some more practice with the telekinesis thing, how are you going to help me?”

“Fair question,” he said leaning back and steepling his fingers together in front of his chest again. “Let me assure you that it would be very difficult for you to know ALL that you can about influencing the mind at this point. Even I do not know everything, and I have been working on it for more than 3 times the amount of time that you’ve been alive.”

The two sat in silence for several more minutes before either finally spoke. When the silence was broken, it was Klaus who spoke first. “I have given you a lot to digest all at once but your life, as you discovered yesterday, may depend on it. I will give you some time to think about my offer. Here is my cellular phone number,” he said handing Billy a card. “Call me when you make a decision. But in the mean time, your pursuers are going to put you together with your friend sooner or later and that will probably lead them here. Don’t linger too long before you find a new place to stay.” He stood, and giving a slight bow from his chest let himself out.

“And one more thing,” the German said as he was half way through the door. “Do not take too long in your decision to accept my help or not, mein Fuhrer expects answers and results at haste.”

“Your ‘Fuhrer’? Umm, isn’t that something Hitler wanted to be called? A term most people abhor?”

“Quite right William, it is. But given the history my comrades and I have had, it has become something of a joke. A bad and tasteless one to be sure, but a joke none-the-less,” he said with a shrug and pulled the door closed behind himself.

“You might want to reconsider your jokes!” Billy called as the door clicked shut behind the former Wehrmacht officer.

Billy sat in silence for a long time, staring unseeing at the city skyline before him as the sun crept into the sky, shedding its light of a brand new day onto its denizens.

He sat there, lost in his own thoughts for well over an hour until Nicole reawakened and roused him. “Everything alright?” she asked shaking his shoulder.

“Yeah,” he said looking up at her with a weak smile. “Everything is fine.”

She put on a front of her own, but it was obvious to both of them that neither really believed the other. “Well I need a shower, and then maybe some breakfast?”

“Sounds good to me,” Billy said climbing off the couch and putting the shotgun away. “But unless you want pop-tarts for breakfast, we’ll have to think of something else.”

“Umm, Billy. We are IN the city now. There are plenty of places to eat I’m sure,” she said with mock indignation and closed herself in the bathroom.

When she emerged almost 40 minutes later, they grabbed the keys and headed off into the burgeoning day. They walked for several blocks arm in arm before finding a restaurant that was open at this time of the morning on a Sunday.

They settled into a booth, neither one eating to heavily despite the loaded plates in front of them. They talked in low tones – barely above whispers – about his conversation that morning with Klaus. It took them by surprise to find that they had spent almost 2 hours in the restaurant and neither had gotten much further than half way through their breakfasts.

Leaving arm in arm again, they took a long silent walk through the bright city streets, wandering through a park or two and across a couple of public squares. They finally wandered back to their borrowed apartment about 4 hours later, just as the afternoon was starting.

“So what are you going to do?” Nicole asked once they got ‘home’.

“I’ll probably take him up on his offer. Even if he can’t help me where I think I need it the most, at least having him show me what he knows can’t hurt. Plus, I’ll also know where he is!” he said with a chuckle.

“So you don’t trust him.”

It wasn’t a question; she knew his answer even before his lips started to move. “Not in the slightest. He is hiding something.”

“How do you know that? Did you probe him?”

“No, I didn’t need to. It’s just a gut feeling. He isn’t telling me something, I just hope it’s not too critical…”

The last three weeks of school passed mercifully uninterestingly. Billy found a new place for the diminished group to stay, a three bedroom apartment on the edge of downtown, and even managed to arrange for protection from the local civilian law enforcement precincts for all three’s places of work as well as their mutual domicile.

Billy graduated Suma Cum Laude the Saturday before he was to leave for “camp” with honors in Advanced English Lit and Advanced Chemistry. And while he still enjoyed the subjects, he did notice that since his change his interests had been shifting towards more of the social sciences.

He cornered Maureen Lafayette, the principal of his now former high school, lover/sex toy and future mother of his first child, in her office after the ceremony. Dragging her secretary into the office with him, he forced her to give them a sexy strip tease lap dance before laying her out on her own desk and fucking her hairy cunt furiously, all the while scream and beg for more of his cock and sperm inside of her. Just once more for “old time’s sake” as he put it with a wicked grin. He left the pair with his cum running down the inside of her thigh while her secretary hungrily lapping at her pussy.

The night before his flight, Nicole and he lay and bed for a long time. Both of them were fully nude and lightly caressing each other while they just talked. They talked about everything from what they had experienced together over the last couple of months, to what had happened in their lives before they met, to what the future held in store. The evening culminated in a slow, passionate love making session before they fell into a sated sleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

The three lovers woke up early the morning of Billy’s departure. Maureen saw Nicole and Billy to the door, but didn’t want to join them on the trip to the airport. Despite the fact that she was going to be the mother of one of her former student’s child (and if that EVER got out she knew she would never be able to think of herself as an educator ever again!), and the fact that despite what he had done to her mind and body her feelings for the boy had changed, she couldn’t yet bring herself to acknowledge them to the light of day. To her, that was her reasoning for not joining them on the trip to the airport.

Billy and Nicole had a hearty breakfast at the local IHoP on their way out. She walked with him through the check-in line for his flight and gave him a lasting passionate kiss at the entrance to the security check point. They both knew that it would have to last for three months and tried to make it last as long as they could before their final good-byes.

He patiently waited for his flight to be called, took his first class seat and settled in to his book. Two overstuffed duffel bags in the cargo hold below held his clothes and most of what he thought he would need during his trip (they had even thought ahead to provide him with a recommended packing list) and brought only a small bag with him on the plane ride.

The flight was as uneventful as his last couple of weeks of school, but then he really didn’t expect a whole lot to happen either. The worst part of the trip was the almost 4 hour ride to Denver and then a little over another hour for a regional commuter fight to his final destination.

Dr. Williams had told him that he would be met at the airport, to look for someone with his name on a sign. After getting his bags from the carousel, he still hadn’t seen anyone with a sign bearing his name. Hefting one bag onto his back and the other over his shoulder, he wandered out to the curb and started walking down the short loading and unloading are in front of the regional airport.

Billy got about halfway across the terminal when he saw someone holding a sign with his name on it. Actually, the man was holding two signs with two different names, but he was only worried about his for the moment. The man holding the signs leaned against a large Ford pick-up truck, calmly rolling a wad of what Billy presumed was chewing tobacco. Easily on the up side of 6′5″, wearing faded dirty blue cover-alls and a John Deere ball cap over a shaggy mop of dark brown hair. “What you want boy?” the man asked and spit a wad of brown juice onto the sidewalk.

“You’re apparently waiting for me. I’m Billy Caulfield.”

The man paused for a few moments, continuing to roll his wad of chew around his mouth and looking Billy slowly up and down, almost as if appraising a new cow. Finally doling out another brown streamer onto the sidewalk and hooking a thumb over his shoulder towards the truck’s bed he spoke, “A’ight boy. Drop yo’ shit in the back. We gots one more ‘un ta picks up.”

Billy suppressed a snicker, threw his bags into the back of the truck and waited. They waited for only a few minutes before another boy walked out of the airport and stopped in front of the guy whose name turned out to be Scott. Scott gave the boy, Artie (his name was actually Artemis, but he preferred Artie) who was on his summer break between junior and senior high, the same routine he had just given Billy a couple of minutes earlier.

The boy looked really nervous. Nervous about being there, nervous about Scott, about Billy, about the camp. Nervous about pretty much everything. Billy tried to calm him down some, get him talking about familiar subjects if he could. It was a hard task since they could barely hear each other over Scott’s blaring country music, but with a gentle nudge to his mind Scott turned the radio down to a more reasonable level.

The ride out even further into the middle of nowhere – if that was even possible – took about another hour, putting them to their destination not long before suppertime. The diesel truck turned onto a dirt road and followed it for a couple of miles before turning onto yet another dirt road, the second one turning out to be just a long driveway, rolling to a stop in front of a classically bright red barn complete with white trim and cross tresses. A younger version of Scott, presumably his younger brother, walked out of the barn dropping a pitch fork into a rain barrel next to the door and helped Scott pull the boys bags from the truck.

Neither of them said a word, leading the boys into the barn and to a vacant stall at the back of the barn. Handing the boys their bags and closing the door to the stall, the younger of the two brothers leaned way over the now closed door and pressed on a panel of wood indistinguishable from the rest of the stained wood surrounding them before hopping back down. Their last image of the two was them making their way back to the barn door as the floor of the stall started to descend beneath them.

The concealed elevator stopped about 20 feet below the floor of the barn and this time the metal doors they faced opened automatically for them. A man in his mid-thirties, nearly indistinguishable from about a thousand other camp counselors in the country right down to his faded t-shirt, ragged cut-off shorts and sandals. Except this counselor was waiting for them in a very nicely furnished and wood paneled hallway 20 feet below the surface of the earth.

“Hey guys,” he said with a big smile. “I’m Jason Williams and I’m going to be your guide and sponsor while you’re here. You must be Artemis Thompson?” he said taking the younger boy’s hand.

“Artie please Mr. Williams,” the boy said cautiously taking his hand.

“Artie it is then,” he said with an even bigger grin. “But only as long as you don’t call me ‘Mr. Williams’ again. My name is Jason, my dad is ‘Mr. Williams’.” He next turned his attention to Billy, “That must mean that you are William Caulfield,” he said offering his hand. “And yes, I know you prefer Billy.”

“Yeah,” Billy said taking the offered hand. “Read my mind for that?”

“Nope,” he said with a big goofy looking grin, “your file!”

“Jason Williams, not related to…?”

“Yep, he’s my dad. Small world, eh?” he snorted and started leading the boys down the hallway.

“So whats going on here?” Billy asked falling in next to Jason. “I thought this was supposed to be a camp, not an underground government lab.”

Jason laughed hard, losing step and nearly losing his balance as well. “Everyone seems to think that when they first get here,” he said once he got his breath back. “The original US Training Camp started not terribly far from here, but was brought out onto the plains about the end of WW1 and underground around the start of the Korean War.”

“That wasn’t officially a war you know…,” Artie interjected.

Jason took it in stride, looking reassuringly down at the lad before continuing. “Yeah I know, but it would confuse the hell out of most people if we called it the ‘Korean Peace Action’.

“Any ways, The Shop came out here and underground to avoid snooping eyes,” he said with a knowing side glance at Billy. “That and the farms up above provide perfect cover for the activities we do here. There isn’t a farm in the county that we don’t control in some way or another. The Smith farm that you guys came in through is more of an exception than a rule. They are TOTALLY under our control as are either 3 or 4 others. The rest just kind of ‘look the other way’ towards us.

“’The Shop’?” Billy asked quizzically.

“Yup, right from Stephen King’s Firestarter. And that probably won’t be the last reference to popular and not so popular culture around here.

“Anyways, a good chunk of the training is above ground, but no more than a quarter of our population is ever above ground at any time. I know we could make people forget or ignore us, but the rule just serves to solve a problem that doesn’t need to be there in the first place, ya know?”

“Ok, so where are we going to stay?” Billy asked.

“More important, when do we get to EAT?” Artie whined. “I’m STARVING!”

Billy groaned, apparently the boys thoughts weren’t exactly where his priorities should be, but Jason laughed and humored him. “Dinner is in about 40 minutes or so, so I thought I would get you guys settled in first.”

“How big is the complex?” Billy asked. “You said you control every farm in the county. Is it that big?”

Jason didn’t hesitate a second before responding. “Yes and no. The main complex extends from under the Smith farm for about a mile and a half to the north, just shy of three miles east to the edge of town and about a half mile to the south. There are however tunnels that lead all the way out to the other farms and to the next town to the south which is in the next county. But those are rarely used. They were supposed to be for emergency escape and bringing in large quantities of supplies, but after 50 years of no problems, most are covered in spider webs and rats. The ones that are still used are pretty much just to avoid bringing a lot of new people into the center at one time through one door.”

“Concealment and deception,” Artie said quietly.

Jason thought for a few seconds about that as he led them through a door and down another hallway. “Yeah, that’s probably the best description for it that I have heard in a long time.” Artie beamed at the compliment, happy to have contributed.

“Anyways, we’re pretty self sufficient down here and have enough back-up supplies that we can go quite a while if we have to without going above ground,” Jason finished as he led them through one final doorway. “And this is the Boy’s Dorm. Alex here well get you guys checked in and to your rooms. Just so you know, there isn’t a bell in your room so if you leave your door open you’ll hear the dinner bell ring in about a half hour. If you meet me here, I’ll show you guys where the dining room is.”

“Thanks Jason,” Artie and Billy said at the same time.

“No problem guys! Oh, and one more thing which you probably already know. Do NOT, under ANY circumstances, probe the mind of another adept. Aside from being extremely rude, it’s also grounds for a fight and censorship… not to scare you there but just so you know,” he finished with a smile.

“How can we tell the difference?” Billy asked.

“Kluges wear either collars around their necks or a bracelet on their left wrist. If the diamond shaped crest in the middles is blank and grey, that means they are just general workers and there for whatever. If it has anything else, it means that they belong to someone and while you can use them, you should at least try to get permission from their owner first. But the rest can wait until you get settled, we’ll go over everything you need to know about life here after dinner when you meet with the rest of the group, ok?” The boys nodded and let Jason go so Alex could get them to their rooms.

The room Billy was assigned to was a basic hotel room you would find at any number of mid-level hotels around the world. A Queen size bed, a table with two chairs and a hanging lamp, a small desk, TV and dresser and even a phone next to the bed although it specifically said that it would only work for calls inside the facility. The room had a bathroom and shower that it shared with the next room, the only sharing he would have to do since each room had just one occupant. Just as predicted, the dinner bell rang about a half hour later and if he had had his door closed, he wouldn’t have heard the soft bell chime.

Jason and Artie, along with two other boys about Artie’s age and a girl who was perhaps 16, were waiting for him in the dorm’s ‘lobby’. “Well that’s everyone,” Jason said as Billy joined them. “Everyone ready to eat?” Getting nods all around, he led the small troupe off in search of the dining hall.

The younger boys formed a knot of their own while Billy and Lelani walked alongside Jason. “Jason, earlier you made a reference to non-adepts by calling them ‘Kluges’. What is that?” Lelani asked just a few seconds before Billy asked.

“It’s a term from an old philosopher named Nietzsche.”

“You mean the guy who wrote the stuff about supermen?” Billy asked.

“Yeah, that guy, although ‘supermen’ isn’t really an accurate translation either but it’ll work. Supermen, according to Nietzsche, were people who had transcended what it meant to be just human. They were something better. Kluges on the other hand, well they are the ones who haven’t made that leap. They are the normal people… One of the adepts a long time ago was way too philosophical in my opinion and came up with it to describe the non-gifted. The rest, as they say, is history since the name stuck.”

“Umm, thanks for the philosophy lesson Jason,” Billy commented dryly, eliciting a laugh.

The dining hall actually wasn’t that hard to find, just a couple of corners and a short hallway and a person could hear the noise coming from within. The inside followed the decor of the hallways through the rest of the complex that they had seen so far. Rich stained wooden walls, green carpeting and recessed lights, but the ceiling was cavernous. On one end of the hall was a series of stations, like the kinds that could be found at a mall food court, offering a wide variety of foods. Across from that was a stage, large enough for a full orchestra, but empty save for a single rectangular table with three large, ornate wooden chairs behind it facing the dining room. The table was set as if for three VIPs, but no one sat at it. Jason explained that the table was always set but he couldn’t remember the last time anyone actually sat at it.

The entourage got their food and joined at a table near the edge of the room, one of the few left with enough seats for all of them. As they ate, Jason outlined some of the rules of the school and hinted at some of what they would be taught. When dinner was over, he gave each of them a packet that told them the rules and how to get to various places in the facility and then led them back to the dorm.

Since it was the end of the day, he told them that they could do pretty much what they wanted but they couldn’t leave areas the facility didn’t directly control just yet. He suggested taking some time to unpack and settle in, but after that was done there was an elevator in the dorm lobby that would take them up to the surface near a pond deep enough to go swimming in.

Billy went to his room, briefly glanced at the packet that Jason had given out, looked at his bags and decided to hell with unpacking he needed to stretch his legs. He quickly exchanged jeans for a pair of jean shorts, grabbed a towel from under his sink and headed for the lobby.

He pressed the button for the elevator and was waiting when he saw Lelani coming out of another door and heading for the elevator too. “Decided not to unpack?” she asked standing next to him.

“Yeah,” he grinned. “Always drove my mom nuts on vacation. That and laundry day.” She laughed softly, bashfully as one hand came up to cover her dainty mouth and sumptuous red lips.

The lights turned off in the elevator 2 seconds before the door opened on the surface about 2 to 3 meters from a well worn path through a small but dense thicket of trees. The surface had been well camouflaged, looking like a large dead tree trunk, perhaps struck by lightning. To complete the illusion, the larger part of a tree rested near the top of the stump and extending out over the path from directly over the now hidden doorway. One way up the path curled through the thicket and disappeared before they could see where the path ended while the other was almost a straight shot to the pond and a number of bodies playing in the water in the waning daylight about a hundred meters away. Walking down the path to the pond and found a spot on the grass near the water.

Lelani was as bashful about her body as she was about her smile and her laugh, refusing to take off the t-shirt or sarong she wore covering the swimsuit she was obviously wearing. He didn’t know why she should be bashful since she was obviously a very pretty girl, but without entering her mind and making her he wasn’t sure how to convince her of that just yet. At 5′3″ the top of her head barely came to his chest. Her long black hair fell braided to her waist in what she explained was traditional for most Hawaiian women, with faint streaks of brown at the edges and ends. Her body was slender, smooth, appeared to be silk soft and covered in a natural even light brown. Her petite frame had soft gentle curves that changed gradually from little difference in dimensions from bust – adorned with small pert breasts – to waist to hips. Her butt was small but rounded and obviously quite firm while her legs were thick and toned, belying many hours spent in the water kicking as she swam. Her eyes sparkled in the waxing moonlight and they lost track of time, deep into their conversations that wandered everywhere from what home was like to their views of current politics and even opinions on the opposite sex.

He made her laugh a lot with some subtle jabs at various topics and a lot of self-depreciating humor. By the time they realized that they were pretty well alone at the pond, they felt that they had gone a long way towards forming a special trust of friends between them.

The alarm clock in his room buzzed at 7 the next morning, but Billy was long since awake and trying to find something to watch. He had settled on CNN’s Headline News due to a lack of anything else that even remotely held his attention for more than 5 minutes.

Already showered when the alarm went off, Billy headed into the hallway to wander a bit before breakfast. He figured he probably shouldn’t be surprised by it, but he was taken aback at first by the business of the hallway at a time that most people his age had been in bed for barely 2 or 3 hours at most. He asked the guy watching the dorm’s front desk (which turned out to be the front desk for the women’s dorm too, just a different hallway from his) about everyone being up so early. His response that it was actually pretty unusual as far as standards go, but being the first day of a new group most of the kids couldn’t sleep very well on the first couple of nights. Most adepts don’t lose the need for as much sleep as Kluges, just the higher level telepaths usually.

The group that Billy had been ‘assigned’ to didn’t meet up for the trip to the Dining Hall for breakfast. Leaving the dorm, he rounded a corner and nearly ran into Artie and a couple more of the younger kids. He walked with them to the Dining Hall, trying to fit into their conversation as they talked to him and asked him questions. Perhaps it was an age difference between Billy and the youngsters, but he just couldn’t fully get into their conversation.

He separated from the gaggle as they entered the hall, each heading off to get something to eat. Billy grabbed a few items here and there, but leaving the line his tray was still mostly empty. He found a table by himself and sat to eat, all the while feeling something not quite right. His eyes darted back and forth around the room, trying to keep track of the other kids’ attentions. None appeared to be looking in his direction or paying undue attention to him, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of a set of unseen eyes upon him.

He wandered the complex for a while, learning some more of his surroundings in the 40 minutes he had remaining before the ‘opening meeting’ his orientation group had been told of the evening before. He found an indoor lapping pool – complete with Jacuzzi, sauna and work-out room – as well as a well stocked library, a computer lab with limited internet access and a large video arcade. Still with a little less than ten minutes to spare, he found himself back in the Dining Hall, the place where the meeting was to take place.

The breakfast crowd had cleared out and some of the students had started to arrive again. A table had been set up near the door and the girl behind it handed him an envelope with his name on it, asking him not to open it until after the meeting. He noticed that the people already gathered had similar envelopes with more still on the table, presumably directions or an outline for their training.

Lelani came in to the hall not far behind him, getting her envelope and joining him near the edge of the room. They talked amiably to kill the remaining time while watching the newcomers. They noticed a group come in together, all clustered around one young man. Easily about 6′4″ and very imposing physically, he looked like he could be a line backer on an NFL team. He carried himself with a confidence that presupposed he was not only physically powerful, but mentally as well given the inhabitants of the underground complex.

There were several other groups like his scattered around the large hall, just like in high school the students were breaking up into cliques centered on people who they thought would improve their lot and cement their position. Both Billy and Lelani noticed that a few of the students cast sidelong and/or repeated glances in their direction as they entered and mingled. Promptly at 8:15, an older gentleman, presumably in his mid to late 50s, took the stage and stood behind the podium. The room quieted almost immediately from its dull roar as he stood motionless center stage.

“Greetings and welcome to all of you, the fresh young minds who will lead us into the new century,” his voice boomed and carried clearly without the need for microphone or speakers. “All of you know why you are here, but doubtless many more are still wondering about what they will learn here.

“Shortly, we will separate you into smaller groups, designed around your particular areas of abilities. Your guides are very knowledgeable and are eager to help you learn and develop towards your full potential,” he said gesturing to a row of about a dozen people standing on the floor in front of the stage. “Your orientation group leaders have already told you about the rules you need to follow during your stay here. Please follow them as they are very important to the safety of The Shop, this facility and even to your own safety.

“You all know a brief history about the organization and The Shop, but allow me to explain briefly about the various types of abilities. Firstly, there are two basic types of ability groups: ‘Teeps’ and ‘Teeks’. Teeps is short for Telepaths, those skilled in the manipulation of the mind, while Teeks is short for Telekinetics, those skilled in the manipulation of the physical world. The two abilities will sometimes overlap but rarely will they coincide.

“There are several sub-groups within each branch as well. Teeps are made up of empaths, truth-makers and seers. Teeks, on the other hand, are made up of telekinetics, healers and elementals. Elementals are those whose primary power focus is on the manipulation of the four basic elements of nature – earth, air, fire and water.

“Now, before I bore everyone here to death, everyone should open their envelopes and find their guide holding up the matching number,” he finished gesturing to the guides who had spread out along the edges of the room. “Once again, welcome to everyone and may your time here be both memorable and beneficial!” he concluded to the sound of a lot of paper tearing.

Lelani and Billy drew different numbers, so giving each other a friendly ‘see you later’, they headed off to find their guides. There were several different colors of cards as well, except for his. He found his guide very easily and waited with him for the rest of his group to show up. When all was said and done, only two others joined his group before they left the great hall.

Their guide, Gary, led them to the library where they found a secluded corner for the four to talk privately.

“You’re probably wondering why there are only three of you here when the other groups had a dozen or more,” he said after introductions were over. “That is because I have been given the challenge, or privilege depending on how you look at it, of teaching the truly gifted. All three of you tested in the low teens on the psych scale. There is a scale of 1 to 20, called a ‘psych’ or ‘P’ rating, where 1 is the basic person on the street with no knowledge of their ability or training, or just a lot of good luck. And 20 is the high end, those with a LOT of power.”

“Are there many 20s?” one of the group asked, Eric was his name.

“No,” Gary said looking at the whole group. “They are EXTREAMLY rare. In fact, there has only been three P-20s in all recorded history.

“But moving on, while the other groups will be split up a little further, you three are going to be ‘it’ so to speak. We’ll cover some basic stuff together each morning with most of the afternoons to being devoted to self study and practice.”

“Self study?” Billy asked. “How are we going to learn quickly if we teach ourselves?”

“That’s exactly how,” Gary said with a big grin. “I know, I know. It sounds confusing, but due to your current abilities, the best way for you to learn is going to be practicing with each other. You see, the higher an individual’s P-Factor, the more the distinctions between power groups – Teeks and Teeps that is – tends to blur and disappear.

“The things we will cover each morning will be more subtle in nature or involving things like biology lessons such as human anatomy and the brain. Now, if there are no further questions, shall we get started?”

The rest of the morning they barely left the library much less the table they first started at. Gary brought out some books on anatomy and described some basic relaxation and focusing techniques while they got acquainted with each other.

Gary, their guide or instructor, was extremely smart and well educated, his dark brown skin highlighted his disarming smile and twinkling brown eyes enough to make him seem harmless but hiding a very calculating and cunning man.

Eric, one of the other boys in the group, was the not so subtle type. Rather than looking for all the solutions and deciding on the best course, he was the kind to see the direct rout to the heart of an issue and dive headlong for it, using brute force as a matter of solving problems.

Jordan, the youngest of the group, was a very cold and calculating boy, showing very little emotion and a remarkable clarity of thought and process. Billy likened him to a cross between a poker player, a chess master and an old west gunslinger. He could identify a problem, search through all the solutions for the best tactical approach and coldly and methodically carry it out.

Emily was the third member of the group. A slight of frame Latin cutie, she had a wide warm smile and full red lips were enhanced by her deep brown eyes and framed by long brown hair with faint reddish highlights. She was hot and dressed to accentuate it with her tight blue jeans and mid-riff, spaghetti strapped tube top practically painted onto her olive skin. Her mind was as sharp as any of the others, save maybe Eric’s, but she never showed it, preferring instead to try and hide it and therefore seem less intimidating incase any of those around her – particularly men – would be threatened by her.

After the morning’s ‘lessons’ were finished, the three still remained in the library pouring through the books Gary gave or pointed out to them and practicing their talents on and with each other.

“He’s been here for 4 weeks now,” the voice said out of the shadows. “It’s time for a report.”

“Yes sir,” Gary and Jason responded into the murky darkness. They stood in the center of a pillar of light coming from the ceiling. It was a scene straight from some cheesy B-movie. A black room with the figures being questioned standing in a circle of light and voices from out of nothingness.

“The training is progressing according to schedule. There is evidence that all three’s power and control is increasing as each day goes by.”

“That’s nice,” said another voice from the darkness, sarcastically.

“Quite,” said yet a third. “But we don’t care about the others. You know of the one we want information about.”

“Yes,” the second voice chimed in. “He poses a threat to us, our order and even our very way of life.”

“I concur,” the first voice said. “Give us the information we seek now… Or shall we pursue other means of getting it from you?”

The two men in the light couldn’t, and didn’t try to hide their frightened expressions. Though they were both powerful in their own right, they had every reason to fear the voices from the darkness and their wielders.