Cindy Psi: Spy In Training
Chapter 6: Cindy's Choice

Cindy felt slightly dazed, very amazed, and more than a little sceptical. However, the more she thought about what she had just read the more it felt right, at least as it applied to her. It explained so much – not just the replaceing of the planet or the fixing of the connection in this ‘room’ with her mind, but also being aware of Jacinta’s feelings this afternoon (unpleasant as they were), sensing her presence on the bus this morning … the more she thought back, the more things she could remember where she seemed to just know things. The trick of clearing her mind to make room for an answer to a question to come to her, which it invariably did, was one Cindy had worked out for herself, and she was beginning to understand why.

More thoughts clamoured for attention in her mind. Aliens! It all seemed so unlikely. And yet, again for reasons Cindy was beginning to understand, it felt right. So the conspiracy theorists weren’t all just crackpots after all! She knew it was true and, she realised, she’d seen one. Kind of.

Cindy thought on that vision. She had a strong instinct not to mention it, so she didn’t. Then she started thinking “Is that an instinct? Or part of my powers?” The next thought was just “Powers!” with a dismissive, scoffing tone. Who did she think she was? Some kind of superhero?

But, well, was she? There was so much to know.

CP: Can I ask you some questions?

Yes. But bear in mind you only have a little time before your father gets home.

CP: What sort of things can I do?

A good question, and the answer is we don’t yet know. The training program will reveal a lot, but for now all we know is you have a lot of potential based on what you’ve already achieved, and you have telepathic skills.

CP: Yes, I get that; right now it seems I get ‘impressions’ of things. Is that what you mean?

Yes, it is now, but this can be honed. Someone who can do what we’ve already seen you can do can invariably be trained to have clear thought exchange telepathy.

CP: What, like talking?

Yes. Like talking. Currently it is just vague impressions, but as you become more accustomed to your abilities this will sharpen. Even now, you will be able to sense more as of today simply because you now know you’re doing it. Let me show you. I will start thinking of a four digit number. As you say it out loud – which of course there’s no way I can hear – I will type it on the screen. Go.

Cindy cleared her mind. And sure enough, there it was.

“Four”

4

“One”

1

“Three”

3

“Seven”/7 they finished together. It was incredible, and yet, and this is what Cindy kept coming back to, so, sort of, explanatory. It made sense of so much, including her outsider status at school …

CP: Do you get many like me?

No. Maybe one per Sector per year get to this point.

CP: What other things can I do?

Well, as I said, we don’t know yet.

CP: But broadly what sort of things can people you’ve worked with do?

Quite a wide set of talents. You – and we – will learn more about your particular skills if you undertake the training. Remote viewing is quite common – that’s what you’re doing now. Psi-location is another aspect of this that you can almost certainly do.. For example, where is your Father now?

Cindy cleared her mind – realising as she did so that she’d unconsciously been doing exactly this particular thing for years; indeed as long as she’d been old enough to go home from school by herself while her Dad was at work and she was wondering when he’d be home. Yes, there he was, just leaving the office.

Oh no! Just leaving the office. That gave her about ten minutes.

CP: He’s on his way, and that leads me to another question. Clearly I can’t tell anyone, so what do I tell my Dad? If I decide to go away for this training, how do I explain it?

We manage that. Are you aware of the Planetary Educational Exchange Program?

Of course. They sure had everything covered.

CP: Yes; so I’d be offered a place. Tell me the PEEP isn’t another one of your initiatives solely for the purpose of explaining away this training.

Are you kidding me? Millions of children across the galaxy do that program every year. We are pretty far reaching, but not that far. No, it’s just a useful cover, and takes the right amount of time. Six months away from home visiting another planet is a good way to explain your absence while you undertake the training.

Cindy thought some more. She tried to organise her thoughts into the important ones, selecting the things she needed to know in order to decide what to do … well, with the rest of her life really. (Honestly, did she really need to be faced with that kind of decision process twice in one day? Oh well, it was what it was.) Another thought came to her.

CP: So the face of the enemy is human?

Yes. Very astute. You are unlikely to ever meet a Turg – it’s the humans that they work through that we fight against.

CP: What happens to those people after we catch them?

There was a pause.

We deal with them. You’re straying back into the realm of things I can’t tell you until I hear your choice.

CP: Ok, ok. Give me one minute.

Cindy thought. So many things. What to do?

As always when faced with a tough dilemma, she cleared her mind and let the thoughts come …

… And come they did. Cindy felt like she was standing in the middle of a long, ‘Y’ shaped corridor, with a fork ahead of her. The fork was clearly a representation of the choice she now faced. There was a lot more to know, but clearly no more time to ask. She let the impression of the corridors come to her …

There it was. As she let her mind drift down the left hand one she ‘saw’ a series of snapshots of a future Cindy, back at school, moments chatting to Tess, getting work back from Ms Primp (ok grades it seemed, not as high as she would have thought), being subjected to Jacinta – although this faded as a problem it seemed. As her mind drifted down the corridor more distant images came: bigger, fuzzier. Was that a boy? Was that a hoverbike? Was that a wedding?!?

She pulled back and let her thoughts drift down the other corridor. She saw several people she didn’t know: some her age or thereabouts, others older. The younger ones doing things with PCDs and static screens as the older ones watched and made marks on their screens with styluses. Other scenes – eating and chatting in a common room of some sort, firing guns in a rifle range was that? And that was definitely some kind of martial arts class … And was that block floating in front of that boy?

She let her mind drift further down the right hand corridor …

There she was crouched behind a row of seats in a chamber of very important looking people, trying to remain undetected as they all focussed on someone talking in the centre. There she was in another image sitting in the cockpit of something that looked not entirely unlike the spaceships from what she now knew was the GCCSC crest. There was another image … in this one she could see herself more clearly … she seemed to be in what looked a bit like a bird cage; it was older her (like in the vision), there was one of those things (well, it must be a Turg, a lone voice in her mind contributed) behind a console doing something that Cindy knew would not bode well for the Cindy in the cage who, as the next image appeared, Cindy could swear was just turning to look at her …

She let her mind whizz back down the spy future corridor and out of the vision before anything unpleasant could happen. As she did so, surprising herself, she knew she’d made her choice. She surfaced, and refocused on her PCD.

CP: I’m in.

Excellent. Welcome to GCCSC Cindy, I look forward to meeting you in person. And to answer your earlier question, you can call me Dave.

CP: Dave?!?

Yes. Your father is home.

[End transmission]