Eric Roberts had been working with
UNITY from the very beginning. When the Lassick Incident broke, no one knew how
to handle a mentally unstable, highly-manifested metahuman. He was a
psychologist specializing in anxiety disorders at the time He had an office and
estate in New York state, paid for with his empathic abilities, telling people
about how the world wasn’t the harsh and unforgiving entity they’d imagine it
was. He convinced people to trust in the innate kindness of others, to believe
that most people wanted to help others.
When he’d seen the Lassick
Incident, he’d been comfortable saying those words while hiding his own meta
abilities. He’d been comfortable telling himself that discretion was a
reasonable route when so much of mankind was still coming to grips with the
implications of metahumanity, all too aware of how easy it was for people to
focus exclusively on the dangers life’s changes presented at the loss of those
opportunities.
Stopping Lassick and saving his
victims cost Eric Roberts more than a comfortable practice and a nice house,
but now, after helping so many metas become bearers of that message, he didn’t
doubt it was the right thing for him to do.
None the less, there were less
rewarding days, like today, when an invisible metahuman walks into his office,
stands on his ceiling, and asks to sign up for UNITY training.
“I assume that your abilities
consist of enhanced strength and the ability to mimic the coloration of any
toaster pastry.”
“Um, no. I can turn invisible.” The
voice sounded nervous and serious; either too stupid to get the joke or too
serious, “I can also fly.”
Young
too. Anxious. He took a moment to chide himself for trying to turn everyone
into nails for his particular specialty of hammer.
“I think I, um, might have a
selective ability to channel fundamental forces around my Ehm-field.”
Roberts leaned back. Definitely serious. And anxious. Middle
class. Male. Not stupid.
“That’s certainly a thought. How
much do you know about Ehm theory?”
“Just a little bit. I, uh, read
about on net-uh, the internet.”
Definitely
middle class and smart, but he’s pretending not to be. He wants to be the type
of average citizen that doesn’t use net-plus.
Not everyone liked UNITY. Some
people didn’t like it because they didn’t like metas. They didn’t like the idea
of individual people randomly manifesting super human powers, they didn’t like
the culture of acceptance that had largely grown up around such different
people, and they didn’t like the thought that it was now slightly more likely
that the person next to them in line at the grocery store could incinerate them
with their eyes. There were also people who thought metas were all fine and
good up to being the saviors of humanity, but who didn’t think that UNITY
should be the default organization for training them. While not as vociferous
or violent as the others, they did tend to be tenacious about undermining
UNITY’s credibility at every turn.
Up to, and including, putting a
sympathetic meta undercover at a UNITY facility.
“Go ahead and tell me what you know
and I’ll fill in the rest. You might save yourself a few days of class time if
you know what you’re talking about now.”
Dr. Roberts spent the next five
minutes listening and nodding while filling out paperwork on his terminal. Yes,
Ehm Theory was named for Doctor James Ehm, an Australian researcher believed to
be the first person to manifest seven years ago. Yes, He created the first map
of trans-atomic biocircuit structures created by human consciousness and how
they could potentially store and release energies according to preexisting
neural pathways. Yes, almost every human had an Ehm Field, but it was only
manifested metas who could control and project theirs. His young visitor did a
remarkable job with the dates and technical names, forgetting about his
not-so-smart cover story in an effort to impress his audience.
“I am impressed,” Roberts told him
at the end, “I just need your name and I’ll have your file all set up.”
“My name?”
“Yes, if that’s not too much
trouble.”
There was a slight pause as Doctor
Roberts considered the possibility that his visitor spent weeks practicing his
approach, studying UNITY, Ehm Theory, and perhaps even Doctor Roberts and the
Denver facility itself, but had never thought about the pseudonym he would use.
“I…uh, it’s just that I’m…” he was
faltering badly. Roberts was worried that he’d bolt, not because he was eager
to take a malcontent into his charge, but because UNITY training was a massive
boon to every meta who received it and every human they interacted with
thereafter.
“Take your time,” he put on his
best professional voice of patience, “you can use an assumed name if you like.
Most metas do.”
“I just don’t like having my name
in computers. I don’t want to be shuffled around in some electronic system.” He
was rambling now, too busy stalling for time to come up with an answer or a
next step.
“Look, you can make something up.
No pressure.”
“I’m just…cyber-paranoid.”
“That’s fine.”
