The Post-Humans (Book 1): The League by Thurston Bassett Read Free Book Online Page A

them had been quite self-conscious about their abilities, like Kiranda and Cynthia while Athan had just preferred to brush it off because it was too hard to explain.
    Brad encouraged Athan to continue. “So how do you know one mind from another?”
    Athan took a sip, then a deep breath. “If I know the person, or have focused on them, I can recognize their presence. When I enter a mind it feels like I step over their consciousness to reach this other place. A combined subconscious landscape that we are all connected to… except me, I think. I feel like I’m in someone’s dreamland. Then when I find a mind to exit, I do the same. But I can’t access Post-Humans, as we have found in the past.”
    “Hmm. So, telling one mind from another?” Brad persisted.
    “I guess I see…doors? Doors that lead to specific people. I can feel their essence I guess. It’s like smelling them, only in there, there is no sense of smell.”
    Brad nodded slowly. “I see. But you were able to influence people, and you put one man in a psych ward once…”
    “Oh yeah,” Athan said tipping his head back and closing his eyes. “It’s really hard to explain. There are, like, pockets that I can access within that place where I can be within their current state of mind. It takes a bit of energy to make a mess in there. I can go deeper into the subconscious too, but it doesn’t feel safe.”
    “Not safe?” This was new to Brad. “I’m sure the physical plane is less safe.” Brad sat back into the lounge and sipped his drink as he pondered this new knowledge. “Then we just have to wait and see what fate brings us in regards to this PHC activity.”
    Athan took another sip of his drink, feeling relieved at being able to share with his friend. But now he felt as helpless as Brad did.
     
    Athan woke sometime in the morning.
    He couldn’t tell what time exactly, seeing as Brad’s hideaway was underground. He had fallen asleep on the lounge in front of the gas heater, still in the dressing gown he was given the night before.
    He rubbed his eyes and tried to wake himself up and he found the headache he had been cradling the night before was returning.
    There was no pleasant arousal for Athan, when he woke from sleep, no fond memories of fading dreams like normal people have. His sleep was a black nothing while his body repaired what it needed to.
    He squinted through the growing pain.
    Maybe it was the drinking. He had been sipping strong spirits most of the evening, not a lot, but it must be enough to make him feel sore, unless it was his headache from the night before being carried over.
    Climbing up from the lounge he looked at the many screens around him, all of which were still playing different images, news, films, documentaries and flowing text of various legal and illegal web pages. The volume had been set to mute for him to sleep.
    Apollo had always been surrounded by this sort of thing, and as technology advanced obviously more means for information access had been added. Athan had come to Apollo hoping that this infinite network of information had given him some clue about where the PHC were hunting or an insight into the unsettling feeling that had been growing inside his mind. It was disturbing that he had not let off any alarm bells when he started waking coma patients. The PHC were usually more vigilant.
    It was time to get working on the new list that Enstein had given him at the club. Only four new names.
    There was no telling how long each of these patients would take to be repaired. He looked about the spacious room to get his bearings and hopefully find his clothes, which he noticed were hanging from a hanger near the door. They were dry.
    He imagined that Belind had organized them before leaving for university.
    It had been many years since he had had any kind of a relationship with a woman, mostly because he just didn’t feel that he could trust a person that much after spending so much time stepping in and out of