I pass through the EvGeni front gate into a lavish garden campus. The EvGeni medical building towers at center, standing at a proud fifteen stories high. As I walk through the garden, I reminisce of my childhood days in the Gifted foster care system, playing around the shrubs and bronze statues in my free time. Even today I still enjoy coming here on my free time to workout and jog around the campus.
I follow the main pathway leading up to the front steps of EvGeni. At the base of the steps is a monument dedicated to the Saviors of Arcathia. Known only as Shadow and Light, The Saviors were Gifted war heroes who fought alongside the Deep Space Spec Ops to defend the planet during the Hauteclaire Steel invasion. Shadow is a Kinetic like me. Story has it that she was the DSSO's most invaluable front liner. She was able to project powerful telekinetic barriers to protect her and her battalion. Her counterpart is classified as a Vigor, having the gift of incredible physical prowess. He would lead battalions in sieges, punching holes in the enemy's line of defense. Both were an inspiration to me growing up and to this day I still look up to the Saviors as my idols.
My cybernetic pings as I receive a message from Keith. "Okay, come in," it reads. I put on my game face then step into EvGeni with my head held high.
Sterile, cool air floods my nostrils as I enter the main lobby. I scan the area, taking notice of the custodial staff frantically cleaning every inch of surface with harsh smelling chemical solutions. Holding my breath, I walk up the front reception area where Trysha sat with her feet propped up on the desk with her nose buried deep into her personal tablet. I clear my throat to get her attention. She quickly retracts her feet then sits properly on the chair.
"I'm so sorry, sir—!"
She stops mid-sentence after realizing I'm not her supervisor.
"Hello, Mr. O'Hara. I'm glad to see you," she says with a breathy voice.
"Yeah, what am I here for?" I ask, shrugging off her flirty greeting.
"I'm not sure to be honest, but you're not in trouble or anything. I can assure you that," she replies while batting her eyes.
"Thanks, so do I just go to Doctor Everett's office or…?"
"Oh, right!" she giggles. "You're actually going up to the tenth floor to the Lake House meeting room. It's the first door on your right when you get off the elevator. Doctor Everett should already be waiting."
"Alright, thanks," I say, then start my way to the elevator.
"Feel free to call me if you get lost! It was nice speaking to you!" she calls out, her voice becoming faint and distant.
My heart races uncontrollably the ride up to the tenth floor. I know deep down I have nothing to worry about but I can't shake the unnerving feeling something is off. The doors of the elevator open into a short hallway with two round windows on either end. I follow the sound of muffled chatter coming from the Lake House meeting room. I enter cautiously.
The Lake House is a semi-circle shaped meeting room equipped with an elongated conference table centered at the middle. Fixed behind the conference table is a wide window which overlooks the gardens below. Seated at the table are the most powerful board members of EvGeni including the founder, Doctor Richard Carrington, at the center.
On the rightmost side of the table is the Chief of Finances, Damian Simmons. He's not a people person, but his expertise in money handling and spending earned him a seat at the board. Between him and Doctor Carrington is Ms. Sunshine herself, Doctor Melissa Summers, Head of Psychiatrics. She's a strong believer of alternative treatment, substituting prescription medication with holistic psychotherapy. She's lethargically preppy, and most suspect the reason why can be found in her morning cup of coffee.
Lastly, seated on the opposite end is Director of Microbiology and Genealogy, Doctor Jennifer Hsu; the only board member to have earned my utmost respect. A former field scientist for the DSSO during the Extinction War, this grizzled old lady is a living epitome of fearless. She single handedly created a cure for the deadly Riot virus that nearly wiped out all of humanity. Her stare alone strikes fear into the hearts of men twice her size.
"Ah, Mr. O'Hara. Glad to have you here on such short notice," greets Doctor Carrington, his voice aged and raspy. He gestures to an armchair in the front conference table. I quickly scan the room for Keith and find him sitting off to the side in an armchair of his own.
"So what am I here for?" I ask as I sit down. The board members turn to Doctor Carrington, eager to hear his response.
"Very good question, Mr. O'Hara," replies Doctor Hsu. She lurches forward towards Doctor Carrington with look of sheer annoyance. "Why are we here, Doctor Carrington? Evaluations of our physicians aren't until the end of the year, not mid August."
Doctor Carrington nervously tugs on his shirt collar.
"W-Well you see we have a special visitor coming in today who is of great importance to this company and—"
"Who could be more important than the people sitting at this table?" she interjects. "… and has Mr. O'Hara signed a disclosure waiver?"
"Oh Jennifer, you are being extremely knit-picky this morning. You're going to give yourself high blood pressure!" interrupts the cheerful Doctor Summers.
Doctor Hsu, calmly adjusts herself back in her seat before staring down the two doctors. Doctor Summers smiles anxiously, revealing a row of crooked yellow teeth.
"Speaking of waivers…" Doctor Carrington comments. He activates the conference table's holographic interface. A colorful display of documents and files fill the glass surface. He takes his index finger and swipes a file in my direction. My cybernetic lights up, notifying me of the document just received via air-drop.
"If you can sign there, Ayden, I'd appreciate it. You'll notice at the bottom is also the amount EvGeni has put aside for your cooperation," he says with a fragile smile.
My eyes are automatically drawn to the bottom of the waiver, disregarding any and all terms and conditions above. With a simple wave of my index finger, all one hundred and twenty-six credits will become mine.
"Excellent," Doctor Carrington says. "The money is accessible to you a few hours after the meeting is over."
"Now there is the real catch," I comment in my head. I turn over to Keith. Our eyes meet and he acknowledges me with a half-smile before resuming focus on his tablet.
"So who exactly are we waiting for?" groans Mr. Simmons. "I have three other meetings today and a luncheon with Gifted toddlers of all things."
"Oh! The little Gifted munchkins?" Doctor Summers gasps, revealing more the inside of her mouth than I want to see. "I hear we've gotten twice as many Gifted births this year as compared to last year!"
"Yeah, these little rug rats are putting us in a serious financial bind. Now I have to budget east wing repairs and expansion for our pediatrics department," he scoffs.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck rise as a rush of cool air hits me from behind. The odorless room now becomes overwhelmed by the stench of cologne and aftershave. I twist my head around to see a large man standing at the entrance. He's well dressed in a black suit and his graying hair is slick back with an excessive amount of hair grease.
"I'd like to introduce everyone to Prime Minister Victor Cain," announces Doctor Carrington with a pathetic solo applause. "He will be joining us for the duration of the evaluation."
I double take. Keith and the board members except for Doctor Hsu, spring from their seats and politely bow to the Prime Minister of the planet.
"It is such an honor you're here. Please, take a seat beside my colleague," Doctor Carrington gestures an empty seat beside Doctor Hsu. Reading the glazed look in her eye, she's clearly displeased about having to sit next to him, let alone, being in the same room as him.
"Apologies for my tardiness. I had to travel from NorCap this morning," he replies with a deep voice. The floor creaks beneath his feet as he starts his walk to the conference table. Seeing the Prime Minister in the flesh has little effect on me. I find the world of politics depressing. I figure the less I know how fucked the world is, the better.
"It's such an honor, sir," says Keith. He humbly extends his hand out to the Prime Minister but he blatantly ignores him, walking past Keith as if he weren't there. Keith quickly retracts his hand with an awkward frown. I glare with valid disdain. I know he had to have seen him and heard him.
The Prime Minister takes his seat beside Doctor Hsu. He clears his throat obnoxiously while he adjusts his posture on the small desk chair. His massive gut leans against the glass surface of the conference table, which accidentally re-activates the holographic interface. Doctor Hsu sucks the air through her gritted teeth and slowly exhales. Bottling up what I assume to be a potent combination of anger and disgust.
"Now that everyone's here, we can begin," says Doctor Carrington. He eagerly rubs his hands together.
"I know none of you were expecting such an elite guest but the Prime Minister has been very eager to learn about what we do as a company first hand. Doctor Everett, you may begin when ready. Don't be nervous, treat it as you would any other evaluation."
Keith clears his throat.
"I was assigned to patient Ayden O'Hara nine months ago when I first started my residency," he began. "Ayden possesses the power of telekinesis and registered as a category two Kinetic, but shows signs of pushing beyond that into a category three with his most recent annual telekinetic strength score clocking in at four point ninety-six tons. There are only four other known category three Kinetics registered in EvGeni's medical archives. I predict within the next few months Ayden can easily push the five ton threshold and become our fifth documented category three. However, with such power there is always a bane. Ayden, is a survivor of the Red August bombing and unfortunately developed a severe case of post traumatic stress which directly affects his telekinesis. Without proper treatment, the slightest trigger can set off his telekinesis involuntarily and cause harm to anyone or anything in the vicinity."
The Prime Minister raises an open hand to stop Keith. His eyes cut to me.
"I want to know what causes your triggers," he asks.
"Oh, Ayden's triggers are—" Keith starts to reply but is one again stopped by the raise of his open palm yet again.
"I want to hear it from Mr. O'Hara. He seems healthy and capable to reply," Prime Minister Cain rudely commands.
I temporarily push the stemming anger of his blatant disrespect to the back of my mind and unclench my jaw.
"Sounds of fireworks or loud explosions, people screaming, buzz saws and the faint memories I still have of Red August. It all makes me very anxious."
"You don't strike me as someone mentally unhinged," he criticizes. I claw at the fabric of my jeans with my nails, trying to maintain any shred of composure and I have left.
"Sorry to disappoint. I left my straight jacket at home," I reply.
Keith senses my growing irritation and places his hand on my shoulder in an attempt to calm me.
"What he means to say is you wouldn't judge a book by its cover," says Keith. "Moving along, I prescribed he take the highly experimental new drug, Serodyx, to help reduce the chances of his—"
Once more the Prime Minister raises his hand and I nearly spring from my seat.
"Have you ever used the full potential of your powers outside of these tests? If so, can you provide me an example?" he asks, leaning forward in his chair.
I furrow my brows then grin deviously.
"I can easily toss you across the room and into the Capitala Bay and make you one..."
"Ayden!" Keith whispers loudly through clenched teeth. The board members gasp in horror but the Prime Minister smirks proudly.
"I'm a heavy fella, but not that heavy." he chuckles. "C'mon, you're a young man. I know you've used your powers to their full capacity when no one was looking."
I sense a tone of ridicule in his voice. It sparks a fire in me and I am suddenly devoid of all reasoning and sense. I want nothing more than to shut him and his pretentious ego down. My mind drifts to when I was eighteen and living in an old abandoned car in the Eastern Fringe ghetto. I'd been on my own after filing for independency from the foster care system. It was rough, I turned to the streets just to get by but for years that abandoned car was my home.
"A few years ago I got really angry and managed to crush an old car beyond recognition. I flew the hunk of metal into the outskirts and watched as it disappeared into the marsh," I reply.
Keith turns his head so fast it almost gives me second-hand whiplash. His reaction is appropriate however. I've been very vague about my past with him. He knows nothing about my time as a common street thug particularly because I'm ashamed to speak of it. I've since buried that skeleton and pursued a life above petty crime.
"Oh-ho-ho," says the Prime Minister in a jolly tone. "You got moxie, kiddo. A familiar moxie. Reminds me of someone I used to know…"
He pauses momentarily. His dark eyes lock with mine and he surveys me up and down. His eyes then widen as he is swept by a sudden revelation unknown to me.
"I think that is all I need to know about him today," he says. "We should move on to the next set of people."
"Excuse me…?" Keith almost exclaims. "I-I still haven't even gotten into further detail about—"
"Thank you, Doctor Everett and Mr. O'Hara," interjects Doctor Carrington. "Do not fret, if the Prime Minister has any other concerns I will forward your contact details to him."
With a wave of his veiny old hand he dismisses the two of us. Keith swallows up his pride then storms out without a word. I rise from my seat to follow him but a soft spoken voice calls my name.
"Mr. O'Hara, if you may stay around here for a bit longer. I wish to speak to you privately," says Doctor Summers.
"Oh god…" I say under my breath. Luckily for me, her positive personality is an active barrier making her oblivious to all sarcasm and negative remarks.
"Just head straight to my office on the fourth floor and wait there. Help yourself to any treats on my shelf while you wait."
I roll my eyes and make my way out of the room. When I open the door, I see a large gathering of doctors along with their patients in the hallway. It seems Keith and are aren't the only ones invited for this surprise evaluation.
Their attention shifts to me, then I realize it's going to be a while until all evaluations are complete. I cock my head back at let out a dissatisfying grunt. At least one good thing came out of this.
I'm one hundred and twenty-six credits richer.