Survivor Reborn (Kieran Grey Psionic Hunter) Page 2

  Bolting up blushingly embarrassed, I closed the robe with a jerk and tightened the belt again. “Sorry. This is taking some getting used to.” Rummaging through the box, I found a white sports bra and thong panties under a mint green jogging suit.

  Thong underwear? Did this girl really wear thongs, or is this Tanaka setting me up? He is a guy after all.

  The fabrics felt like a cross between cotton and satin. There were no seams in the fabric, and no tags. Actually, there were no distinguishing marks that identified the clothes at all, brands or otherwise. I must have looked puzzled because Tanaka interrupted me.

  “Something wrong?”

  “Where did you get these clothes?” I asked holding up the bra and panties by the tips of my fingers like evidence of a crime yet to be committed.

  “They came from your closet. Your sister brought them for you.”

  “Sister? . . . oh you mean Dr. Grey. I forgot already. Sorry, I was just wondering about the clothes. There’s no tags showing sizes, or brand names.”

  “They were custom made for you. All of your clothes are custom made. One of the perks of your job. I can tell you your sizes if you want. You are now 5'6" tall. Your measurements are 34C-24-32. What else do you wish to know?”

  Well that explains why I feel shorter. I may have shrunk six-inches with this new body, but, I still gained a body that guys would kill to go out with. Not that I want to go out with them. Wait, how does he know my sizes? Tanaka is cute though, I wonder if he thinks I am attractive? Whoa, where’d that come from!?! I’m not into guys! Of course I am a girl now . . . but, I grew up as a heterosexual male.

  This is so confusing, I’m giving myself a headache just thinking about it!

  “Let me think about it while I get dressed,” I said finally as I gave in to the idea that things were just too weird to figure out.

  I gathered the contents of the box and went to the bathroom closing the door behind me. The bathroom door actually had a doorknob. Wonder why the other door doesn’t?

  After putting on the underwear, I stopped and admired myself in the mirror again. It was a new sensation having cloth pressing my breasts together. Of course having breasts was an entirely new sensation on its own. But that was not nearly as interesting as the thong. I’d never had string running up between my cheeks before. Honestly though, it was quite comfortable, once you got used to it.

  After completely dressing I stood in front of the mirror looking myself over. The clothes fit perfectly, but just didn’t feel right. I unzipped the top completely, letting the sports bra and my deliciously flat abs with the little bear at my bellybutton show. Suddenly I felt I had it right.

  A few strands of my hair had fallen across my face again. I wiped them away in disgust. The hair has to go, but it looks good on her–me–whatever. Placing my hands in the pockets of the jogging top, I found a small piece of crumpled fabric. I pulled out the small stretchy circle, and found that it was a covered elastic. Without thinking about it I placed the fabric in my mouth, pulled back my hair, then circled it with the small elastic. On someone else’s instinct that had never been mine before, I pulled my new hair back into a ponytail. The ponytail with the short bangs made the reflection in the mirror look that much cuter.

  Okay?!? So this body has its own way of doing things that I just haven’t got used to yet, and may never. Oh well, at least the hair’s outta my face.

  * * *

  The cafeteria looked like a converted airplane hangar. The ceiling was hovering well over twenty feet above in the cavernous maw. Open support beams held dangling banks of florescent lights, illuminating the room almost to the point of being so bright it was painful. A buffet in the center of the hanger split the room into two parts, with tables filling the room on each side. The place was absolutely crowded with people. I had no idea so many people worked here. Tanaka sat across from me at our small round table, smiling as he stared at me.

  “Whaaaatt?!” I asked through my teeth, suddenly blushing and looking down at my food like it held the answers to all the questions of the universe.

  “You keep looking around like a country kid visiting the big city for the first time. It’s cute,” he said leaning forward to rest his chin on his hands with a huge adorable, and utterly annoying grin on his face.

  As soon as he said “cute” my heart melted, and at the same time I blushed clear to my toes.

  Is it just him, or am I going to react like this to every guy I talk to? Christ this is weird. Why am I getting so worked up over a guy? It’s this damn body and its hormones. That’s gotta be it!

  After recovering from yet another embarrassment, I found I could finally talk again. “I’ve never actually been to the Archives before. I always worked out of a GCP branch office on 23rd Street. I was even blindfolded when I was brought here for my decommissioning. This is just all kind of new to me. I didn’t know the Archives had so many people, or was so big.”

  Tanaka spoke like a professor giving a lecture to his students while he was unfolding his napkin onto his lap. “In case you didn’t know, the Archives was actually built underneath the city. The entire facility is ten miles square and eight levels deep. Each level holds three floors. There are thirty-seven main exits to the surface. Five of those lead to aircraft hangers, and launch bays. There are also fourteen different motor pools, half of them are for staff parking, the rest hold assault vehicles and maintenance bays. Most of St. Carver above has no idea we exist down here at all.

  “Actually, this is only one of twenty archives around the world. The archives have existed in one fashion or another for millennia before the GCP was created. In fact, the first archive was actually the great library of Alexandria. Because of the advanced technology and facilities, the GCP incorporated the archives across the globe into their ranks. Now the GCP has the most advanced technology available to anyone on the planet. Technology even more advanced than the U.S. Military could hope to have.

  “The general public really has no idea about the existence of any of the archives. But everyone knows that the GCP uses technology that is so advanced it’s only been dreamed about in the normal world, and that the GCP has hidden bases all over the world.”

  This place is even bigger than I imagined it. Just something else for me to get used to.

  Breakfast was great. The eggs fluffy, bacon crisp, and the pancakes looked delicious. It hadn’t occurred to me before just how starved I really was. I covered the pancakes with maple syrup, took a bite, and felt my stomach flip. The taste was terrible. It was like I remembered it, but at the same time it tasted awful. The sour look on my face raised a chuckle from Tanaka.

  “I forgot to tell you, just like everyone, Kieran hated certain foods. It seems that you inherited her taste buds’.” He poured a blue syrup over his pancakes and switched plates with me. “Trust me, you’ll like this better.”

  I took a bite of the blue pancakes, finding the fruity blueberry taste delightful. Makes me wonder what other of my favorite foods I won’t like now.

  “Kieran and I dated for two years,” Tanaka blurted out without warning.

  I choked slightly and had to cough twice to clear my throat to breathe again. Well that kind’a explains the whole lusting-after-a-guy-I-never-met-thing. No wonder this body has feelings for him. Man this is all getting a little too strange.

  He never skipped a beat as he continued. “I know almost everything about her–I mean you. That’s one of the reasons why I was chosen to help you adapt. But don’t worry, my feelings for you are strictly on a coworker basis now. By the way, before you even try, don’t drink the coffee. You hate coffee.”

  “Thanks.” Stopping in mid-reach, I switched to pick up the juice instead.

  Dr. Grey showed up placing her tray on the table between Tanaka and myself. She looked like the classic hospital doctor, wearing blue scrubs and a white lab coat. Her golden blond hair held a tint of red, and was pulled up in a loose knot held together with a well chewed pencil. Her deep brown
eyes held a world of emotion, with a certain tiredness in them. She looked utterly exhausted.

  Her eyes are brown, so how come Kieran’s–uh–mine are this weird glowing purpley color? Is it because of my psionics? Must be.

  “Great, I was hoping to see you today! I’m sorry I couldn’t be there when you woke up. Everything is always so hectic around here.” She leaned down and hugged me lovingly while she spoke. The move was so sudden and unexpected that I didn’t know how to react, so I just sat there not moving until she took her seat beside me. After all, in my mind, she was still only the doctor that had helped me out of a tight spot earlier.

  God, this is all so awkward.

  “Sorry, I forgot who you were for a second,” she apologized, smiling halfheartedly at me.

  “That’s okay, besides you are my ‘sister’ now, right Dr. Grey? I mean, that is what we agreed on earlier isn’t it? That’s the cover story?” I tried to reassure her by speaking carefully, thinking about what I was saying before I opened my mouth.

  I hadn’t thought about how hard it must be for the others to sit here seeing Kieran, but knowing she’s really gone forever. Suddenly I wasn’t very hungry.

  “Well then, as my sister, please call me Emmy. So, how are things going thus far?” she asked with a genuine smile brightening her face. She seemed happier once I had acknowledged her as my “sister,” even if it was just by title.

  How are things thus far? Confusing, creepy, shocking, and pretty damn weird to be honest! Not that I’m gonna tell her that.

  “I guess everything is fine, I just need some time to adjust.”

  “Good, and how is your memory? Any lapses or confusion? Do you need me to explain anything again?” She sipped her juice waiting for my answer.

  “I think I remember everything just fine. . . . But could you go over the high points just in case?” I didn’t need reminding, but it kept us from sitting there in silence.

  “Okay, from the beginning then.” She leaned towards me as she whispered like she was sharing some sacred secret. “Humanity has evolved over time.”–Oh man! When she said “from the beginning”, she meant it!–“From humans came the creation of Vampires and Lycanthropes, also called shape-shifters, or werewolves, etc. Vamps and Shifters are treated like patients with AIDS or other viral infections, and are still not deemed dangerous enough for anything beyond local law enforcement to deal with. Of course we all know how dangerous they can really be, and local law enforcement doesn’t stand a chance against them in a full out confrontation. That’s beside the point though.”–She waved her had in the air as if to physically brush away the thought–“They’ve been around as long as humans have. Just another part of society. They have the same rights as any other citizen in our country. Then, thirty years ago, the United Nations officially recognized the existence of psionically enhanced humans as well.

  “Psionic humans have hidden paranormal gifts and abilities that could allow them to be a problem to global security, according to the UN. Psionics are especially considered dangerous since there is no real reliable way to tell who is a psionic and who is a normal human without a detector–a psionic ability that allows someone to sense other psionics like you used to sense heat–and there aren’t many detectors around, and even fewer that are willing to work with the GCP. So, psionics are considered a real threat.

  “Some are inherently evil, abusing their power for selfish gain, but most are just regular people living regular lives. Then something happens that forces them to lose control, like extreme anger, drunkenness, or even orgasm. Anything that would cloud their judgment or keep them from concentrating to keep their powers under control. Fearing the unknown, the United Nations Security Council created the Global Centurion Protectorate to monitor and police the psionic community of the world. They deal with the psionics that either lose control, or choose to become a ‘rogue.’ Homicidal rogue psionics automatically receive the death sentence, and are usually executed on site . . . by any means available.

  “Kieran was an active field agent, a Psionic Hunter, because of her psionic shield ability. As a Hunter Class Officer, she had an open warrant for any rogue psionic. The warrant gave her jurisdiction over any case anywhere in the world where a psionic could be involved.

  “Two months ago she went to investigate the rogue psionic known only as Jacob. Along with his telekinetic psionics, he is also a vampire. It makes for a volatile and extremely dangerous combination. He is wanted in connection to a number of rape-murders in St. Carver and other cities around the world. We don’t have an accurate body count for his crimes but the numbers are very high. Four days after she left to investigate him, Kieran’s body was found in a coma–her mind had been wiped completely clean–she was a vegetable. I was not ready to let her go yet, I just couldn’t lose her.” She paused and had that look of someone staring off into a memory before snapping back to reality a second later. So, I had her body placed in stasis.

  “Three weeks ago you were taken out on your first field assignment as an adviser. Things went wrong, you were injured, and it was determined that your actions directly caused the deaths of three operatives along with the destruction of an entire office building. The GCP Council decided you were not fit for field work. They decided to have you decommissioned and reassigned back to a branch office desk job. As part of the decommissioning process your memory of field operations and classified materials was to be selectively erased, so you were sent here.

  “Rather than lose any memories, or risk the possibility of total mind destruction, you chose to help me find out who basically killed my sister, by taking her place and reopening the investigation of Jacob. So, we transferred your mind to her body. You were in the right place at the right time, and everything worked out by the book.

  “As for the old you, the record states that you died during the decommissioning process. Something that is not that unheard of. Your old body was buried yesterday with a small funeral service. Since there were no next of kin to be notified, your belongings are still at your old apartment. And so here we are.” She leaned back in her chair as she finished.

  “Alright then, tell me about the psionic shield powers,” I said, absently stabbing at my half-forgotten eggs.

  “You’re psionic shield is like an aura that always surrounds your body. It protects you from temperature, liquids, gases, bullets and other things that could cause you injury. The aura is always active, controlled by your subconscious mind, just like breathing. It should make you feel like you’re dealing with the world through a surgical glove. In fact, you actually have to relax and concentrate to turn off the shield so that you can naturally feel the world around you. Also with concentration, you can use your shields like a telekinetic, controlling objects at a distance without having to touch them.” She started to eat her food. From time to time she glanced sideways at me, smiling like a giddy schoolgirl.

  “Let me demonstrate with a small test,” Tanaka offered, grabbing the pitcher of juice. “Before, you had the ability to detect heat sources by your will alone. Your shield powers work in somewhat the same way, just will it to happen in your mind, and it does. Your body already knows how to use your powers, you just have to learn how to tap into those abilities. I want you to imagine a glass, just a regular drinking glass. Picture the glass in your mind. Think of its form and function, think about this glass holding the juice. Now imagine a glass under the pitcher, so that when it pours the juice will go into the glass. Kieran did this all the time, so you should have no problem doing it now.”

  I did as he said, imagining the glass underneath the pitcher. Seeing it in my mind holding the juice as it was poured. I nodded that I was ready, and slowly he tipped the pitcher, pouring the juice into the nonexistent glass. The juice filled up, staying in form inside the invisible glass created by my mind. I kept concentrating on my pseudo-glass as Tanaka filled it a quarter of the way up. Both Emmy and Tanaka smiled wide-eyed at the seemingly magical thing I had just accomplished. I was
afraid to even breathe just in case that would break the spell.

  “Now comes the hard part, keep focusing on the glass and pick it up to take a drink.” Tanaka beamed with a crooked half-smile of pride he was trying to hide as he sat back down.

  I reached for the juice in the nonexistent glass in front of me and hesitated. Focusing as hard as I could on the shield-glass, I was willing it to stay in shape. Holding my breath, I reached out and grasped the glass. I was surprised to find the fake glass felt solid to my fingers. Letting my breath slowly escape my lungs, I began to lift my nonexistent glass. It was almost to my lips when someone across the cafeteria dropped their tray. The noise of breaking dishes broke my concentration. My nonexistent glass disappeared. The juice came crashing down and splashed all over the table, drenching me in the process.

  “Shit!” I cursed under my breath. The entire front of me was covered in orange juice. It had soaked through my clothes almost instantly, but it didn’t stay on my body. It felt like putting your hand in water while wearing gloves. You knew the liquid was there, but you were dry. My clothes were slowly getting sticky.

  “And that’s why you have to concentrate,” Tanaka stifled a laugh at me from across the table.

  I stood up dripping all over the floor. “Very funny Tanaka, now I need clean clothes.”

  “Actually, you don’t need to change. Kieran had a little trick she called the ‘psionic shower’,” Dr. Grey said smiling at me as she wiped off the juice that had fallen on her hand.

  She seems to always smile at me. She must’ve really loved her sister. Great, that thought makes me feel sooo much better now.