Eye -- I see my favorite word 'Prologue' , so I will be expecting more of the same.
Michelle -- I have to agree with WZB... now, that's a first line!
------ And now for my continuing flash series on The Institute ---
Institute 1 --
How To Tell HerInstitute 2 --
Why Not To Tell HerInstitute 3 --
When To Tell HerInstitute 4 (pending) --
What To Tell HerThe reason for the 'further details' is jumps in the Institute's world timeline.
----
When To Tell herBy ElSol"You can tell me about it," I said.
"No secrets, huh?" Elizabeth replied putting the menu down.
"Empathics have to guess what feelings mean," I reminded her.
"So what do you think my feelings mean?" she asked.
"You feel anxiety whenever you’re near me," I said. "It started a couple of weeks ago. I would guess it has something to do with me being EMC-POS."
"Not everything has to do with your Institute profile," she said dismissively. "This is a relationship thing."
"I don't understand," I replied.
"I don't need to be empathic to know when you aren't telling me something, Joseph," she said.
I tapped the table with two fingers. She cringed, along with everyone in the area. I closed my eyes and reined in my emotions. I opened them and saw that my watchers had stepped forward to stare down anyone taking too much interest in me.
"An interesting mix of feelings that you projected," she said shaking her head to clear it. "It's unfortunate that Healers are a combination of the most powerful projectives with the least control over their abilities."
"My Institute contract has been... bought," I said.
"Bought?" she asked raising her voice. "The Institute contract does not make you a commodity to be bought and sold!"
"Every Positive is a slave to the survival of our species," I recited.
"Institute propaganda," she said dismissing it with wave.
"Really?" I asked coldly.
"No," she replied. "But I'm a woman whose man is keeping secrets."
"Being allowed to buy a Healer contract is a large enough favor that the Euro-Institute had to accept David’s proposed merger," I told her.
"I had to get involved with the only EMC-POS that can, at will, heal a person's sex drive," she said studying me.
"I'm used more effectively in a hotel full of couples, but the hope of a cure IS useful propaganda,” I said. “Symbolics are still our best chance for a permanent solution though.”
"So when did you plan to tell me that you're leaving?" she asked.
"I've Healed you," I told her.
"Without asking me!" she said sitting up.
"I don't have to ask," I said in a hard voice. The Institute brooked no challenge to that.
"You violated the Lottery," she insisted. "The Institute only allows one Heal a week because of its affects on you! One couple every two weeks, Joseph; that’s the Lottery!"
"Read the fine print," I said. "I decide!"
She sat back and stared at me.
"Why did you decide I needed Healing then?" she asked.
"I'm being based out of the Euro headquarters," I said. "I wanted to leave you able to have everything you wanted."
"What's the use of Healing me when only Positives, someone a Symbolic has been in love with, and those you've Healed have normal sex drives?" she asked.
"The most recent test identified another Healer," I said. "The Institute has agreed to a Healing for the man of your choice."
I looked out the window when something hit me.
"You said Healers, why?" I asked. "The discovery of a new Healer hasn’t been announced yet."
She smiled and shook her head at me. The wave of her satisfaction struck me, putting me on alert. Next to David, Elizabeth was the most focused person I knew.
She reached out to turn my hand over. Her fingers lightly ran circles on the inside of my wrist and down to the palm of my hand.
Technically, a Healer is not a more powerful projector than a normal Empathic, but our gift of absorbing and healing physical damage means that we have a heightened ability to reflect physiological reactions, like arousal. Unfortunately, it makes us prone to the EM-Loop.
Elizabeth's Healing allowed her to reach out to me with her hands, emotions, and physical desire. Her feelings mixed with my lack of control caused a projection, which pushed Elizabeth higher but also set everyone in the area off.
Most Empathics use a shutdown to defend against an EM-Loop, but that works against the entire purpose of the Institute’s existence. I pressed my hands on the table and set for the backlash to my projection.
I absorbed the shockwave of sexual heat from the people in my range, magnified it with my own feelings, and blasted it back at them. This time I kept pushing, using my continued projection to deflect any response.
I needed to project until everyone burned out or fled.
"Enough, Joseph," Elizabeth said raising her head from the table much later. "Fuck! They're going to feel the residue of that for a week."
I relaxed into the chair and looked around. Most people had made it out and were probably searching for somewhere a little more private, but a few lay under their table in the warm embrace of satiation.
"Take care of the restaurant," Elizabeth said to one of my watchers.
"Yes, ma'am," he replied before walking away slowly.
"You initiated a Loop," I said trying to stay calm. “You know how dangerous that is!”
"A person who can do that, at will, to one of two Healing Empathics has a certain amount of bargaining power," she told me. "David, our boss, agrees."
"Our boss?" I asked.
"You're looking at the new head of the Euro-Institute," she said smiling widely.
"You have a corporate career," I said.
"What use is the corporate world if we don't ensure someone's going to be around to buy stuff?" she asked shrugging. "And you didn't really think my job meant more to me than you, did you?"
The last was asked with enough of a dangerous edge that I did not need my abilities to tell me answering it would be a mistake. I was still feeling some the effects of EM-Loop’s original trigger so I focused a thin projection at Elizabeth.
"Oh! That's a good place to start your apology," she said pushing the table towards me.
"Not again!" one of the watchers exclaimed.
The End
Sincerely,
ElSol
