Insight Out

I've known I've been a "bit odd" for about two years, now, ever since I'd gone through puberty. Like anyone else I was worried, of course, over my score when I went to be tested for Confederacy service.

The CAP interview itself, given the AIs, wasn't something humans easily recall, I've heard, with some speculation that a lot of the testing process is done subliminally.

That's neither here nor there since my experience was not unusual. It seemed like I "missed" most of the interview.

Stepping up to the reception desk and being handed a card with a CAP score of 9.5 was unexpected... and shocking. I could feel the confusion in the man at the desk as I accepted my card. I felt a flush run through me with the feeling that my card seemed to "know" me...

Being that I was only fourteen seemed to have left this receptionist shocked as if there was something unusual about my CAP score. I shrugged on the way out, concentrating on the man at the desk, and, at the door, bounced off of someone who had to have been nine feet tall.

Once I was able to pay better attention to this walking wall I knew what she was. I looked up at the Marine as she looked down at me. I knew she was feeling some shock, just like the receptionist had. I didn't understand why they'd feel that, but, there it was.

"Amanda? Amanda Adamo?" she asked, her voice soft.

I nodded. "Yes."

She held out a hand and I passed her my brand new ID card without a pause, knowing, instantly, what she wanted, and it wasn't a hand-shake.

I watched her eyebrows rise and then descend as she read my card and felt the shock she'd felt dissipate with a feeling of wariness taking hold... directed outwards. I saw her eyes scan the area, worriedly.

Tami-- what a name for a huge amazon of a woman-- made up her mind, suddenly, and looked at a line on the ground that suddenly flashed green...

Marines are apparently chosen because they can act without too much thought. I had no warning that Tami was going to pick me up and step through a transport node.

Let me tell you what I really am, even though I didn't have a name for that, then. It may be hard to understand or even to accept, but, you see, I am a telepath. A teep.

I didn't recognize my talent as telepathy because all of the stories I'd read before assumed a lot more capability that I had... but, then, later on, when I had time to think about it, it is the only label that makes sense. The fictions were just that: fictions.

And, as it turns out, I didn't have a monopoly on this talent.

You have to accept that, at the time, I still did not understand what it really was that set me apart.

So, think about what I went through. I'm a teep. I'm very sensitive to emotions of those around me and can often "hear" subvocalized speech, so, the experience of materializing on a colonial transport full of volunteers-- and their concubines-- came as quite a shock to me.

An emotional shock, not a trauma. That would be over-stating this experience.

The shock was felt when the emotional "atmosphere" I'd been used to swimming through since I'd... well... entered puberty... suddenly, very suddenly, changed completely.

Now you might think that telepaths are dangerous, based upon stories about mind control or mind probers a la Babylon-5 and various mind-controller stories, but, in reality, I had come to the conclusion already that my talent was more of a weakness than a strength.

That being said, snapping into existence in a completely new environment where, suddenly, you can feel the turmoil of the enormously stressed crowd around you, is not a pleasant change. I was staggered by it as I strove to adjust and set filters to protect my own sanity. It took over a second to cut down on my sensitivity enough so I wasn't left shaking like a leaf. I was more like a fish flopped onto a beach.

"Are you all right, Amanda?" I heard, in Tami's voice.

I looked up and nodded. "I am, now."

She looked at me in an odd way, adding "No one else has ever had any kind of reaction to transport, miss. Perhaps we need to have you checked out in the med-bay."

Given how weak I felt after the shock of the emotional pain in my current surroundings I didn't have the energy to be paranoid, so I nodded.

I got stuck in a tube and faded into sleep...

Awakening was another shock as I didn't have my defenses up against the ebb and flow of the emotions aboard this ship even though they were still somewhat muted by distance. It took me several unguarded seconds before I clamped down on the wild input.

The problem with having to filter out the emotions from all of the people around me is simple: I only know how to do this by ignoring the inputs. Just as concentrating on the odd feelings the CAP testing receptionist had been feeling had blinded me to Tami's presence-- though, perhaps, she'd just popped in-- it brought a sense of being deaf and blind.

So, when a Marine, poised over my head at the entrance to this tube, gently asked how I was feeling, I was startled. It was suddenly obvious to me that I'd been over-using my "talent" as a way of navigating around people and that I'd gotten very dependant upon it.

I spoke up, answering him, "Now I am feeling all right. I was shocked to wake up... here. Wherever here is."

He chuckled. "Well, let me help you out of there."

The best thing about the huge bodies these Marines had comes from their ability to handle me with a gentle strength. I have to admit that it felt good to be picked up as if I was weightless.

The next meeting, however, didn't go as well. I was given my clothing back and I dressed myself in front of this giant Marine. He didn't seem all that interested in my body so I tuned him in as best I could.

Some men are weird, did you know that? This one, with the name of Miles, saw me as a little girl, and, so, he didn't find me all that attractive.

I worked to open up my "talent" again and worked to adapt to my new environment which progressed more quickly than I had expected. Soon I had my "full" faculties, such as they are, at my command.

I was led to a conference room where I was placed in a chair and surrounded by three Marine officers as well as four Navy officers. I had no idea of the rank insignia announced but it was easy for me to "hear" their sub-vocalizations... and could tell that they were talking to some one-- or, as I learned later, some thing-- else.

The next thing that surprised me was when Tami arrived and sat in the seat next to me. That seemed to be the cue to start the meeting.

"Sergeant Rogers... why did you grab Amanda, here, at the testing center?"

"Sir," she answered Colonel Foch, "I am one of the people detailed to jump to testing centers when a nine-plus is found. Our nominal assignment is to protect the volunteer. In this case I felt that the people who were watching the center were likely to hurt or kill her and decided that immediate transport was required to properly protect her."

Tami got a nod before he turned to me, "Amanda... you are a record-holder. We've never found another volunteer with as high a CAP score as young as you, which, in our experience, has usually been coupled with a lot more years of age. You were uncertain over the service you were willing to volunteer for so we're here to help you make that decision."

Yeah, and I could feel that he was eager to sell me on the Marines. Unfortunately, I could also tell that, inside, he was drooling over my small body. I've felt such... boys... before and had become very wary of such behavior.

We were interrupted as a woman in a gray uniform arrived. Emily, I read from others who recognized her, was part of the "Civil Service" and was concerned about my assignments. The military officers-- and Tami-- bristled with her sudden arrival but I found her refreshing as she asserted herself immediately, saying, "I don't care which service she joins unless we get her genes copied first" before turning to me and adding "Hello, Amanda. My job is to make sure you make a bunch of babies."

I looked down at my small, thin body, then back up at her, with a laugh in my heart, answering "That may be a little bit difficult, especially with this", waving at myself, "body. And I don't really want to become a behemoth, even if I can be as well-built as Tami, here."

Emily laughed, replying "Well, we can try to find some kind of compromise for you. Are you, by any chance, still a virgin?"

Well that question wasn't ambiguous. I shook my head, "No, and, as I learned, the boy was a complete... uhhh... waste of time, food and oxygen."

Even with my talent to help me I had still faced the emotional pressures of humanity and had lied to myself, doubting that my "read" of Mike had been accurate. It was a good thing that he hadn't gotten me pregnant, too.

Emily smiled at me, saying "Well, you'll get a chance to pick out a boy-- or boys, or men-- for your concubines. We will likely arrange for you to join an extraction team for a pick-up so you can take your pick."

"Yes," I answered, "that might be nice." Of course it would be nice since I'd witnessed a pick-up before my CAP test and had been able to see through the the boys in the cafeteria. I then turned to the Naval officers, all of them women, none of them as big as the Marines, and asked "What kind of work could I do for you?"

The senior officer-- technically a Brigadier General but actually an "Admiral" in the Naval rank nomenclature-- spoke up, saying "The Navy is the research arm for the Human efforts to defeat the Sa'arm. We don't get as up close and personal as the Marines, so, if you're more of a Rambo-- or Princess Vespa, for that matter-- then you won't want to be in the Navy."

Colonel Foch spoke up, his accent showing, "We'd like you in the Marines, miss, though, if you want to keep your current body, that might be difficult to sustain in the field. We have found it easier to make soldiers fit the uniforms than the other way around."

I could hear, in my head, the chuckle he had, making a joke about the uniforms. The rest of the people around the table seemed to find it funny and I didn't quite understand, but I didn't feel like digging to find out why. "How does all this fit in with... Emily's... desire for me to breed?"

Emily spoke up, saying "We need you to have babies. In a research facility you can be pregnant and still work. As a Marine... no. And, really, we're feeling the crunch as the women who volunteer aren't able to have babies fast enough."

I sat back. "Well, my mom couldn't carry a baby, so she had me born using a surrogate mother. Couldn't you do something like that?"

Five of the officers around the table stared at me, shock evident in their minds... and faces. The others, including Emily, spoke up, saying "We... hadn't considered that kind of a solution... but, really, it makes sense."

The stares I was getting turned friendlier and friendlier. Foch's mind, I believed, was finally broken of fantasizing about having me ride his erection (all right, so I was guessing at what he was really thinking, but I had been able to feel his arousal when his eyes had previously run up and down my body) and he finally nodded.

"How long," I finally asked, "do I have before I have to make a service decision?"

Emily smiled. "You can wait until you pick out your set of concubines, all right? And that may be a day or two. You do know that you get to pick eight, right?"

I nodded. "Yes, I've read quite a bit about this... though my extraction via Tami seems to have been... unusual." I smiled at Tami to let her know I was teasing her.

Colonel Foch spoke up at this point "And you're lucky about that, too. We believe, given the counterfeits we're seeing and some of the political efforts against us, that there is an effort by organized criminals to get off-Earth as a package, which we're doing our best to counter. One of the side defects of this is that they can now read CAP scores remotely, just like we can, and have taken to kidnaping or killing those with high scores on leaving a testing center. We've had to shut down-- or use transport tech-- some of the testing centers in order to protect them. I've lost more of my soldiers than I am comfortable in pickups that have gone wrong and the decision has come down to send our men in with armor or other heavy weapons support."

During this quick lecture I could feel the emotions running through the officer. I didn't like always like the feelings I got from others but this was a mixed bag. Even Tami's feelings ran a bit.

"Sergeant," Foch continued, addressing Tami, "you are now assigned to follow Miss Adamo around and assist her in finding suitable... uhhh... companionship. Will you be comfortable doing this?"

Never be next to a Marine who is being given an order. Tami came close to deafening me as she jumped to attention, saluted, and said "Yes, sir!"

And, with that, the meeting broke up, Tami leading me to "my" pod, which was actually fairly cozy. We sat down and I got a briefing... which, I learned later, included a lot of unofficial information. Being able to feel what my guide was feeling added depth to what I was hearing.

I first went through the "extras" that were on-board this ship. This went fairly quickly for two reasons: there were only three, of which one was male, and I could feel them as they answered my questions. One, an older woman named Marcie, who'd been a college professor with a 6.4, was my first pick. I had no interest in either Eugene or Miranda. I did hope one of the subsequent pick-ups would bring a sponsor that would take one of them.

Marcie I had go straight to the med-bay and had her age regressed so she'd look closer to my age. I made sure her basic shape didn't change much, her Polish ancestry having given her an excellent body for bearing and birthing children.

There were two other women on the ship looking to fill out their quota of concubines... and the three of us transported down to a pick-up that had been a college basketball game.

Beyond the fact that the pickup advance team had only been needed to deliver two transport nexi by which the actual extraction team arrived. In combat armor.

By the time Caitlin, Gertrude and I transported down, all of the counterfeit holders-- and those armed in order to deny the Confederacy of volunteers-- had already been dealt with.

I'd hardened myself for the transition so that the jump into the arena didn't hit me with the shock my first transport had. I was looking around and recognized the presense of a line of dead bodies in the middle of the court in a puddle of their blood, and, with the emotions of the crowd, felt good about it. I had to help Caitlin, though, as she paused,upset, and vomited onto one of the corpses. It took a bit for her color to return to anything approaching "normal".

Me? It is strange how well my feeling were buffered by the feelings radiating from our Marine protectors, much less the crowd lining the arena.

Opening up my senses further I felt... I felt...

There were three women in the crowd who felt different. On the other side of the arena I could sense a man who felt somewhat the same as the three women had. I aimed myself at the women, first, wanting a closer look at them, Tami right behind me. I imagined that the difference between me-- as tiny as I was-- and the giant behind me in full combat armor with weapons showing kept anyone from considering a stupid move.

The three women I'd sensed were sixes. While not scoring high enough to be extracted on their own I somehow knew they were what I wanted. I'd never met a normal who I could sense-- and read-- with so little effort. Michelle, Kim and Suzie hadn't been in a cluster but seemed far more comfortable when I gathered them together. Leading them to the group of Marines at the transport nexus, I had them sent ahead. I then went for the man I'd felt...

Jack, when I found him, was another low six-- a 6.3, actually-- and I dragged him over for transport out. I had five of my eight, counting Marcie, up in orbit. I had three more people I could pick.

I figured one more man would be useful... and I found a boy, close to my own age, with his mom, who'd come to the game. His mom wasn't someone I wanted but I pulled Ken, a fifteen year old boy, over for my collection. Tami had to stun his domineering mother to protect me. Ken was a solid 5.9 despite the anxiety his mother had instilled and I felt like he was someone I could care for.

Two more.

The best thing about my talent was the ability to see into a person's soul-- well, emotional make-up, which is close enough-- to know what kind of person someone is. It's hard to explain to those who have no idea, but people's minds have "taste" to me, a flavor, in ways that I could recognize but not explain to anyone else. Later I would recognize these flavors as mapping to a person's sub-scores from their CAP test, since it reflected a person's individuality.

Given my talent I had spent some time wondering if anyone using the terms "good taste" or "bad taste" about people may have had some of my talent... except for the fact that those usually labelled as having "bad taste" seemed to be the ones who tasted "good" to my talent.

This may explain why I stuck my tits in for others who were making their own selections in this arena.

And, yes, I had played match-maker when I was in school. Even for kids who were only in the freshman year of high school, I could feel people would could come together emotionally and form stable couples. It was this annoying trait-- all right, annoying to some of the "cool kids" in school, at least-- that had me paying attention to other selectees in this "meet" market.

There are people who I knew were "bad choices" because their minds tasted awful to mine. Some of the more decorative women were the ones that "icked" me the most, but, then, as Tami had joked, my bread wasn't buttered that way.

Given my wish to improve match-ups, I did sidle up to one of the men who was looking over a specimen that I found exceptionally repugnant but who looked like a million bucks, just to warn him that she was likely to be an exceptionally high maintenance partner. I got a funny look from him and flashed him my CAP card and he paused, looked me up and down, and walked away from the cheerleader. Once I started to walk away she screeched at me and tried to pursue me, but, again, Tami protected me by dropping her in her tracks.

I was getting to like Tami's trigger finger. Having a huge Marine hovering over me as a protector was a lot more visible to others than the stories of "guardian angels" I'd heard from my folks and far more immediately-- and obviously-- protective.

This time I was ready for the second-hand sting when the whining and clawing woman got zapped and didn't even have to pause to recover my strength.

I ended up with some of the men asking me for advice as they tried to make their picks. I still think I helped even though I wasn't quite sure what was needed at the time. One man, after asking me, debated leaving his wife behind. I could feel his love and caring for his wife... but I could not sense any kind of reciprocal feelings in her. Hell, she might not "taste" bad but it was like she was a robot. I still wonder if the Confederacy had any need for actuaries, no matter how talented.

A set of twins from the cheer-leading squad who had unimpressive CAP scores but still had a pleasant "taste" to their minds brought my count up to the eight bodies I was allowed. Hopefully Mandy and Mindy weren't going to be a problem for me though I thought their parents should be tortured for giving them such similar names.

Was there ever any doubt? I chose the Navy.

I had a pleasant time with Ken as he got coaching from Marcie, Jack and even Kim. I wasn't sore... but it was enjoyable for all of us.

The next morning everything changed. Jack and I...

WOW

Jack was just like me, after we had sex. Somehow he had the same talents I did. It was wonderful given how close we could feel with our thoughts and feelings mixing together.

I eventually -- well, with two days-- lost Jack as one of my concubines, once I suggested he be re-tested for a new CAP score. With this knowledge, I decided to butter my bread the other way, for a change, and had sex with each of the three women who'd felt like Jack had, and, with their sudden awakening of talent, Michelle, along with Kim and Susie were ready for re-testing, just as Jack had been.

Somehow, sharing my talent with my lovers had turned them into my peers... and each jumped from a low six to sevens and eights.

So I had to transport down for another four... and each of my lovers also had to go get their own stable of concubines.

I managed to find three women-- Martha, Tracie and Carla-- and another teen-age boy, Richard, to replace the four I had awakened and still worked closely with. Jack and I were teamed up as part of a fivesome, and, given my assignment to a Research center, I had Jack's baby on the way by the time we reached our colony world. All of my female concubines were in a family way, too, as were Jack's, Michelle's, Kim's and Suzie's women. This was going to be one heck of a baby boom.

Ken and Rich were kept pretty busy, sexually, as they had to serviced all seven of the women in my pod... which, if you do the math, did include me. After six months in my family their CAP scores had improved, albeit not to 6.5s, just from the additional experiences.

I made Ken primarily responsible for keeping Mindy and Mandy as pregnant as possible. The rest he shared with Richard.

We all knew that we couldn't explain what was "special" about us and remain free, much less trusted, so we chose to maintain a low profile even though we were doing our best to breed like rabbits.

Jack and Kim had joined the Marines and asked to be assigned to handle extractions. They used their position to find-- and activate-- people who had been, as we've come to call it, latent, like I had found them. We also learned that the talent fades without another teep partner to have sex with to re-charge the talent.

Except for me. I didn't seem to need "booster fucks", not that I would ever turn one down.

The good news is that telepaths-- and, by the time I gave birth, we'd decided that the label adequately described our talent-- are safe enough in the colonies and that our genes will likely not die out. Jack and Kim were surprisingly successful in finding more teeps in the extractions they staffed, and, like me, they could awaken any dormant talents before making sure they were ready for their new lives... and re-screened for new CAP scores which usually gave 'em one heck of a jump.

We still don't know what it is about our talent, but, even in those who are only latent telepaths, there is something that boosts CAP scores. We aren't about to discuss this with the AIs doing the testing because there's no reason to expose ourselves to segregation.

Jack finally went off on a deployment to deal with dickheads on one of the Confederacy worlds that had an incursion which gave him an opportunity to learn some new things about our telepathic talent...

No, human teeps cannot communicate with dickhead hive minds, and, no, we can't even tap their communication network, but Jack reported to us that he was able to sense something more about them than could be observed and able to feel their presence, but...

Jack learned, on one odd assignment, that he could access a dickhead courier and download quite a bit, and, to his surprise, able to upload new information. Something about a courier makes them open to any contact, perhaps to make them more easily integrated into a new hive. Individual units of the Sa'arm collective are not particularly bright-- Jack likened them to iPods-- and barely qualified as useful data storage.

So, with what Jack learned, we now have a new dilemma.

Do we tell the high command what we know-- and how we know it-- and improve our capability to shake up or even awaken the Sa'arm to the presence of another race? Or do we just allow this "war" to continue on as it has?