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I turned to Kir, thinking the automatic rebuke for him listening to my thoughts, but not really
blaming him. Do you trust everyone here?
Yeah. But some of them don t trust me. Some of them don t like me much at all.
Why?
No one likes the garbage man sitting at their dinner table.
What?
But he bent down to finish his lunch and wouldn t answer.
Neither would Dede when I asked her what the hell was up with Kir, after she d finished her
checks and assured herself I was fine.
It s his story to tell, Jodi. She paused for a few seconds. Okay, he says I can tell you a
little. Quiz him about this and I ll make your life a misery just warning you.
Looks like the only person around here not allowed to have secrets is me.
Yes, I suppose that s fair comment. But I ve known Kir for nine years and I ve known you
less than nine days. You re my patient. He s my dear friend. Forgive me for caring more about
him than you.
For such a kind, smiling person, her eyes could look incredibly cold.
At least that s honest, I said. I don t want to hear anything he doesn t want me to know.
But I feel like I m walking through a minefield without a map.
The fierceness in her expression died, and she smiled more genuinely. You are, and that s
the truth. But it would have been so much worse nine years ago. Kir s the youngest of us, except
for you. There are three of us here who were imprisoned as children all of them were very
badly damaged, but Kir probably suffered the worst. When we were freed, he wasn t sane, to the
point where serious consideration was given to wiping him.
Wiping?
It s a technique that was used sometimes on overloaded empaths, and more rarely, on
paranormals who had developed such severe personality disorders that there was no helping
them, and the choice was between erasing their personalities and memories back to infancy, or
killing them. Kir was very close to being erased, just out of mercy. The Weadenisis suggested
they try some of their advanced therapy techniques. None of us had that kind of knowledge, so it
was that or erasure.
She clenched her hands tightly on her knees, the memory apparently still haunting her after
all this time. He was in so much pain, it was excruciating for me to be around him, for Hermi,
and our other mental talents. Anyway, he spent over a year in the Weadenal, and they performed
an absolute miracle on him, made him functional, preserved the strength in him, while helping
him to let go so much of what was hurting him. When he returned to us, Jeyle and Hermi more or
less adopted him understand, he s thirty-two, but was nothing like that in his emotional
development back then. Jeyle and Hermi educated him, helped him socialise, and he s strong
he s done so much to heal himself. If you d seen him when he first got out of prison, you d have
thought he was a wild animal.
I thought of Kir s dark, emotionally open eyes and his generous soul, and cringed at the pain
he d endured. He s amazing. I don t understand why people don t like him.
Because they re fools, she said, almost spitting. Jodi, he s improved remarkably, but he s
still a fragile personality.
Is he listening to this?
No. I ve extended my personal shield around our thoughts.
What?
She gave me a forebearing look. It s an advanced technique. Just take it that he can t hear
us, okay? Anyway, you need to be careful, don t push, and respect his boundaries. Think about
all the triggers prison has left you with in a few months, and imagine what it was like for him, in
prison for sixteen years. I d trust him with my life. You need to prove to me I could trust his with
you.
I don t want to hurt him. He s done so much for me. I m just...confused.
She patted my arm. I know. But I also know you ve got a good heart and good instincts.
Just don t treat him like a freak. Too many people have done that, she added darkly.
Some of those people are here?
Some. Now, he s waiting for you. I ll put a mineral supplement out for you in the living
area. You re anaemic as I thought, but not desperately. Just don t skip meals, and make sure you
use the daylight lounge. Kir will show you. Other than that, enjoy feeling well.
Oh, I do.
And keep an eye out for your powers returning. Jeyle will be most put out if you set fire to
anything.
I agreed to be careful, though it worried me somewhat that I could do exactly as she jokingly
warned, and then she sent me on my way. I found Kir hanging around the door when I came out.
I came up to him and wrapped my arms around him, so I could kiss him.
She told you what a mess I am? he asked, sliding his hands around my waist.
I won t ask about it. I don t need to. I kissed him again, savouring the taste and feel of his
lips. Okay, show me your playground.
I d said it lightly, but it was truer than I realised. It really was like some giant s folly, with
secret nooks and treasure caverns, and so many unexpected things. The pride and joy, and
essential to the health and wellbeing of the residents, was the huge daylight lounge. It slightly
resembled the hydroponics area in the prison with the large daylight-simulating lamps and high
ceilings, but this was a haven. Huge exotic ferns grew in massive tubs, cosseted by gentle water
sprays that kept the air humid and pleasant without becoming foetid. Several long leather sofas
and low tables invited the visitor to rest, read, sleep if they wished. To one side, a fountain played
water over a figure of a duga, its fins outstretched as if to splash through the ocean spray. Glass
sculptures nestled in cunning nooks on the wall, and flat growing plants trickled down it. I
wanted to sit and rest for a while, and Kir happily allowed it, taking the time to tell me what other
things this ancient and apparently endless facility concealed.
We d only seen part of it, Kir explained. Naturally occurring lava tubes and fissures had
been patiently excavated and expanded over centuries, the refuge inhabited, abandoned, but
always remembered, the knowledge passed down by telepaths and never written down.
S what s so dangerous about them locking all the paras up, he said. We got no continuity
going. We were lucky the Weadenisis preserved this for us, but if they hadn t, we d have lost it.
Paranormals got to have a sanctuary, cos governments turn on us all the time. But they ain t ever
got rid of us completely, he add with a flash of white teeth.
Not for want of trying, I murmured.
Wind supplied the energy in this enclave, though some others drew on geothermal
generation. Energy and water were plentiful, but everything else had to be brought in. They had
learned lessons from the prisons, at least. A thriving hydroponics garden operated on one of the
lower levels. It made me shiver as we passed it after our little break in the daylight lounge. Kir
didn t suggest we go in there, but he showed me everything else workshops, a distillery, huge
stores of food and non-perishable, and freezers full of meat and dairy products.
Where does it all come from?
We get supplies every couple of months. Comes up through the mountains, and the TKs
move it up here. All happens at night so we don t ping no surveillance. We have to be careful.
Can t let our heat signature get distinctive. We cool everything before it gets vented. We don t
throw anything away. All the water s recycled, all the organic waste is composted, and the
inorganic stuff gets reused or burned.
And you have communications?
Oh yeah. That s what the Weadenisis set this place up for. We got connections all over the
planet. But we ain t got into some of the key systems, like the prison records. They tightened all
that stuff up after we was sprung. Come on, I want to show you something. This is my place.
We travelled along more narrow corridors and took three sets of metal stairs before we
reached his place. It turned out to be a fully equipped carpentry workshop, complete with lathe
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