New Markets - 02 (42 page)

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to daydream.  You, err, saw
everything
?

Not your fault.  I just focused on Professor Gently's mindview.  And yeah, I saw everything.
  I grinned at her. 
I got scolded a few days ago about reacting to what other people thought.  I'm trying to keep a tight leash on commenting on things, I think it'll embarrass people.

Megan was bright red as she realized she'd thought about the time with her boyfriend last night.  Unfortunately for her, thinking about it now just brought the memory back up.

I chuckled. 
You're picturing it again, you know.  Good thing you guys weren't having sex.  I've only come across a couple of mindviews of people thinking about that, and fortunately it was in the halls where I could move out of range.

Heh, I think I'd have watched.

Oh, it might be interesting, but I might feel what they did, remember?  That could be embarrassing for me.

Ah, right.  Or cool, you know.

Nah, I don't want to be a peeping Tom.

You need to let go sometimes.

I don't think you understand.  Sometimes I just do what other people are thinking.  That could be extremely embarrassing if I started acting like someone's girlfriend.  Or even stranger, if it's the girlfriend thinking about it and I'm feeling what she is.  Bleck, I don't want to get into that.

Megan laughed. 
Ohh, being a telepath is sooo rough.

Sometimes it is ... like in cafeterias.

Oh ... yeah, sorry.

It's okay.  Fortunately I have friends who are helping me get food.
  I grinned at her.

She leaned over and hugged me as we finished the food.

I said aloud, "Ready for your afternoon shower?"

"More like afternoon swim."

We checked our backpacks to make sure they were sealed, and took off through the rain for the dorms.  I had to slow down for her a few times, both due to her heels and my apparently greater running speed.

When we reached her dorm we were both soaked through.  I laughed and hugged her.

I said, "At least you get to go change right away, I'm about to go see Jim and Mike."

"Have fun."

She left for her dorm, and I ran over to dorm building C.  I hadn't ever been in the dorms before.

I entered the main entrance; it opened into a common room with couches, chairs, and a few televisions and pool tables.

A guy called out from a chair, "Hey, I've never seen you here before; want to check out my dorm room?"

I raised an eyebrow and said, "No thanks.  I'm here to see some friends."

"Well, I could be your friend."

"That would be a ... no."

I walked over to the stairs and took them two at a time to get to the third floor.  I reached their dorm room and knocked on the door.

Mike answered the door.  "Helloo … ho … whoa.  Nice!  Welcome to our secret lair!  Dang, you're soaked."  He gestured inside as he opened the door fully, although he couldn’t pull his eyes from my semi-clear t-shirt. 
Good thing I’ve got the costume on underneath….

I said, "Hi guys.  Sorry about the water."

The room wasn't large.  They had bunk beds, along with a long desk with computer monitors, keyboards, mice, CD-Roms, USB drives and SD Cards lay around on them, as did a variety of books on computer software, programming, the web, and similar topics.  The walls were plastered with posters of movies and girls.

The lumps under the bed covers told me they hid the stuff they didn't want in the open under them.  There were two fold-up chairs apart from the computer chairs.  Jim unfolded one and set it down between the computer chairs for me.  Then he grabbed a towel and laid it on the chair for me to drip onto.

I set my backpack down and squeezed in between them.  I looked back and forth between them.  "Thanks.  So?"

Jim said, "Mike and I decided to do some digging after we heard what you and that other chick were talking about.  We came across a website I think you'll be interested in."

Mike said, "Check.  This.  Out."  He flipped to a web browser and pointed at the screen.

It was a well designed website.  Some kind of auction site, the items up for display appeared to be supers.  The first was of a beautiful woman.  Her skin was chrome colored, with long black hair.  She appeared asleep.  They didn't even have a top on her.  That was crude.

She was listed as a brick, having uses in everything from experimentation, to bodyguard activities, combat, heavy lifting, digging, potential undersea capabilities and more.  Skin listed as metallic in nature, impenetrable to small and medium caliber weapons.  It gave her height, weight of 500 lbs., and other measurements.  Her current bid was up to $1,950,000 at the moment.

I was momentarily distracted by Jim surreptitiously staring at me from my left side.  I moved his mindview from the left side of my vision to the lower right, below Mike's, so I could focus on the left and center part of my visual space.

Next was Lance.  It listed similar information for him - I supposed that all bricks would have a similar listing.  I noticed that they had his weight listed at 655 lbs. 
Wow, Lance, if you weren't in trouble I'd joke at you about weight gain.
  His current bid was also at $1,950,000.

I pointed at Lance.  "That's my friend."

Jim said, "Seriously?  He's a mammoth."

"Yeah, he was even before the change.  Then got bigger."

"How much can he lift?"

"I don't know.  I saw him move a semi off to the side of the road, but don't know what was in it."

A third brick was listed.  Another man, he was a few inches shorter than Lance, but only weighed 570 lbs.  His current bid was at $1,900,000.

A man was listed as a blaster.  His listing claimed that he could blast lasers from his eyes.  They didn't list the heavy lifting or other extreme physical options for him.  His current bid was at $1,450,000. 
How the heck do they know what this guy could do?  A brick's easy enough to tell, but a psychic or blaster could be anything.

Another had a name listed – Sunspot.  He could blast fire.  He was listed as high power.  The bid was at $1,800,000.

The last had some kind of invisibility.  They showed a short video of his body reacting a few times and becoming invisible along with the clothing he wore.  His current value was $8,500,000.

All supers were listed as having unbelievable regenerative capabilities, with some variation by the individual.

I sat there looking at the entries.  My mouth just hung open in astonishment.

I asked, "Is this for real?"

Jim nodded.  "How's this last part for scary?"  He scrolled down and pointed to some text.

'Your meta will come with their memories wiped, and a basic desire to please you instilled.'

I said, "Holy crap.  They've got to have a telepath with them."

Mike said, "Or one on retainer.  Do you have any powers other than flight and shrinking?"

I looked at him and blinked. 
Firebane did her detection thing by them, but I've not mentioned my powers - although they may have figured some out from the article he pointed out on his tablet earlier.

He saw my expression and pulled up a website on his computer.   Various pictures from landing at the hospital when I'd returned to see Gina - the girl I'd brought there after she was in the accident with the semi.  There were more from the traffic accident, the fire, and even a picture of tiny me standing on Rael's shoulder after Monday's fight versus the mutants.

I looked up for a moment, shrugged and said, "I'm a telepath.  I can't shrink, that picture is from someone else doing it to me."

"Wait a second,
you're
a telepath?"  Both he and Jim immediately thought about me knowing about their hacking, downloaded music, videos, games and porn.

I slyly smiled at him.  "Well, I know
now
.  I hadn't really paid much attention to your thoughts prior to this.  But if you tell anyone I'm a telepath, I'll make sure others know about
your
illicit activities, got it?  You keep my secret, I keep yours."

They both nodded vigorously.  They both meant it as well, at least for now.

Mike asked, "Do all supers have movement powers?  None are listed for any of these supers."

I replied, "I doubt it'd have much effect on value unless movement would give extra usefulness."

Jim said, "Flight would.  Super fast digging, running, teleporting, swimming.  Oh, yeah, there are some possibilities."

Mike ran his finger along his collar.  "So, uhh, can a telepath really wipe out memories like they are claiming?"

I had a flashback of a few days prior, when I practically set off a mental firebomb on two different mutants.  One I was disgusted and angry with.  The other I was desperate to stop.

I replied, "I think so.  I haven't done it in such a way as to verify that memories stay gone ... but ... yeah, I think it can be done."

"Hmm, do you read only surface thoughts, or can you probe deep?"

"I don't know about other telepaths, but I can do both if I wish."

"Is it like reading a book or what?  I mean, I can't even remember everything extremely well, how could you pull it from my mind?"

I shrugged again.  "They look more like floating videos to me.  Lots of them.  I've never tried sorting them or anything; they generally seem to be chronological to me.  I’d try that on you, but it wipes me out."

"Can you make people do what you want?  Like they mention on there, somehow instill a desire to do something."

"I'm not sure.  I've never tried doing that in someone's head."  I thought of my pheromones, but decided against mentioning it.

"So it all seems legit that they could do that then?"

I nodded.  "Yeah, especially if their telepath is experienced, I'd bet.  I need to find them and get them out.  Can you print out those screens for me?"

Mike said, "I'm surprised you are doing the hero thing.  You could just nab bank account numbers and transfer tons of money to yourself."

"I have no desire to be a criminal.  It's wrong to steal or kill other people.  That's why I'm a hero.  Someone's got to help stop the bad guys."

"I suppose.  It certainly isn't the fast way to get rich though."

"True, but there rarely are, at least that I'm aware of."

"You'd be a great spy!"

"Ugh, no thanks.  Then I'd have to hang around with criminals and murderers.  Plus, I'd have to be gone from home a lot." 
Gone from home a lot....  Dad's gone a lot, could he be a spy?

He printed the screens out.  I put the papers in my backpack and thanked the two of them.  Then I left their dorm room.

I stepped out of the dorm building, being careful to stay under the overhang due to the heavy rainfall.  I sighed at the sight of the dark sky.  I glanced back into the common room, several people were there, studying, reading and watching TV.