The next day, Kinson received an email from the BPI requesting some of his personal information, like his ID and schedule. Driven by excitement, he replied almost instantly, and eagerly awaited a response. Hours dragged into days and nothing arrived until an entire week had passed. Finally though, an email came.
"It's finally here!" Kinson called excitedly upon meeting Celeste and Trevor for dinner.
"What's here? Your test scores for biology?" Trevor asked teasingly.
Kinson flinched. He was not looking forward to getting those results.
"No, it's from the BIP. Apparently, they're going to adjust this internship to conform to the schedule of the Advanced Study classes. They said they contacted the university, and approved this internship as an Advanced Study Course!" Kinson took a deep breath to calm himself.
"No way! I've never heard of that happening," Trevor exclaimed.
"That's even better than we hoped for. With that, you'll be able to continue attending school at the start of the next semester, so you don't need to worry," Celeste smiled brightly.
"When are you supposed to start? The year's end is only a few weeks away, so it's not like you'll have long before summer," Trevor wondered.
Kinson scanned the email, then said, "Hmm, it looks like they want me in tomorrow."
"I'd see you off, but I'm going to be at Perceptions this time," Celeste frowned.
"That's alright. By the way, I'm not sure you ever told us what exactly you were studying," Kinson said, curiously.
"Oh, it's nothing too big. Well, maybe it is a bit special. I'm not supposed to talk about it, so don't tell anyone, alright?" She asked them earnestly
They quickly agreed, so she continued: "My ability is temporal manipulation. Apparently I'm one of the first, so the BPI is still doing research on it. I help out a bit with that, but I mostly focus on my other ability, psionic prescience. That one's technically my Advanced Study.
Kinson gasped, and said, "Two abilities? You're even more amazing than I thought!"
Celeste blushed, embarrassed, and shook her head. Prescience was a fairly common ability among Psionics, so it wasn't that impressive. It was clarified as a perception ability, and included an "awareness" of things within a certain radius, which was dependent on the power of a psionic. Most prescient psionics at the university, including Celeste, were considered class 1-3, meaning their range would be approximately 100-1000 feet.
"Do you have any idea what your temporal ability does?" Trevor's lit up.
"Well, kind of. That's the real classified part. Here, throw this," Celeste handed him a crumpled piece of paper.
Trevor looked at the paper, then gently tossed it at a heavy trash can. Celeste raised her hand and closed her eyes. The paper abruptly slowed for a moment, moving as though stuck in jelly. The effect lasted for only a brief moment, before the paper continued its arc at normal speed. Kinson looked at Celeste in amazement, but his eyes quickly took on concern.
Celeste looked pale, and was panting heavily. Sweat rolled down her face as if she had been on a long run. Her body gently swayed, and looked as though she would fall over at any moment. Kinson gently grabbed her by the shoulder and steadied her.
"Are you all right?" he felt a spike of alarm.
"I think so. It's just really exhausting to do even something as small as that," she panted.
"I think I understand why researching these abilities is so difficult. Something as powerful as that couldn't come without a price," Trevor touched his chin thoughtfully.
"You would do me a lot of favors if you refrained from sharing this for me," Celeste said.
"Sure, no problem," Kinson nodded.
"Your secret's safe with us!" Trevor added.
The next day, Kinson took the autoways alone, headed for the BPI. Upon arriving, he met with Charlotte at the receptionist's desk again.
"Well hello again, Charlie, right?" Charlotte asked cheerfully.
Kinson blinked, looking around. His shock must have rung a bell in her mind, because Charlotte immediately began shifting through the stack of papers on her desk. An awkward silence settled in the otherwise empty lobby, broken only by the rustle of dry papers. Finally, Charlotte found her schedule and glanced over it.
"Oh, Kinson. My bad. How are you today?" she let out a pent up breath.
"Doing great, since I get to start with my Advanced Study program today. Would you please let me know where I should go for that?" he asked.
"Sure!" Charlotte glanced at the schedule again and took a deep breath, "You take the elevator at the end of the lobby till the fourth floor. Then take your first left, third right, and second left. After that, take the stairs up a flight, and the next two rights. The door is number 37."
Kinson stared at her with a blank look. He had lost track around the second step, right after the elevator. Charlotte laughed at his confusion, a loud, almost obnoxious sound, then started to explain again. Fortunately, someone came to his rescue.
"Hold it up right there. Those instructions even confused me, and I work here every day!" a deep voice broke in.
A large man walked up behind Charlotte. He was perhaps 6 and a half feet tall, with very broad shoulders. His black hair made the gray in his neatly trimmed beard all the more apparent. Kinson almost gulped at the large gun on his hip. Firearms weren't common, or even allowed, among civilians on Titan.
"Hello there, young man. You must be Kinson. I'm Winston, chief of security for BPI HQ," the bearlike man introduced himself.
"Oh, hi. It's good to meet you," Kinson responded politely.
"Yes, anyways. I'll take it from here, Charlotte. Let's go," he turned and walked without waiting for Kinson's reply.
Kinson shrugged apologetically to Charlotte, electing to follow the large man.
"Bye now! I'll see you on the way out," Charlotte called after him.
He followed Winston onto the elevator, speeding up to keep up with Winston's large gait. Winston pushed a button, then settled back to wait. Kinson looked around, finding the interior very ornate. Was that gold leaf on the panels?
Kinson winced at the quiet orchestral music in the background. Sure enough, the legendary elevator music really exists, he thought ruefully.
"I didn't choose the music. That's the director," Winston said, as though reading his mind.
After a brief moment, their suffering came to an end with a ding, and the doors opened. Winston led the way out, taking the path Kinson could only assume was the one Charlotte had described. Finally, they reached their destination.
Winston stopped before an unassuming doorway, marked only by a sign labeled "deathdream." Kinson's head spun as he tried to remember each of the turns they had taken. He felt he did pretty well, at least until they got to a randomly placed staircase. Everything after that was a blur.
"Here we are! I've got some other matters to attend to, so I'll see you off here," Winston said, holding out his hand.
Kinson reached up took his hand. "Okay. Thanks for leading me here. I would have been lost for sure, otherwise."
Although their brief handshake was firm and steady, Kinson felt like a child again. His hand was completely enveloped in Winston's enormous grip. He watched Winston retreating back for a second and felt his anxiety begin to reform. It felt like his confidence left with the big man. Hopefully, someone offered to guide him back down, as well.
Cautious, Kinson placed his hand on the doorknob and twisted it open. Despite his best efforts, the door squealed open with a piecing shriek.
"What the heck! Don't they have any sense of maintenance around here? My dorm room isn't this bad," Kinson complained.
He stepped through the door and looked around. The room reminded him of a traditional office floor, with several cubicles cut out in the open space. A few men in janitorial clothing rummaged around the room, evidently cleaning. The pungent smell of chemicals confirmed his rather obvious theory. Most notable about the room, however, were the massive windows on one wall. The distant sun breached Titan's clouds and flooded the room with light. It was much softer than the artificial lighting found throughout the passages, despite the city's efforts to replicate it. The building was on a large plainlike flat. The tops of countless structures extended away from them until the city reached the base of a lane mountain range a few miles away.
"I'm glad you could make it, Kinson!" the cheerful voice of Lieutenant Andres snapped him back to the man who had appeared in front of him.
"Here, sir! Sorry it took me a second to get here. Charlotte, uh, stalled me a bit, I guess," Kinson scratched his head, embarrassed.
"Oh, no worries. Our time always runs a few minutes late around here, just for that reason," he responded with a knowing smile. "Anyway, it's good that you're here. I'm about to go over department briefings and introductions. Take a seat,"
Kinson followed his pointing finger and sat at one of the office chairs closest to him. He quickly rolled away as a janitor approached and raised a squirt bottle threateningly.
"This should be everyone here, then. Let's get started, so gather round. You guys, get out of here for now. Come back this afternoon," he ordered the janitors
Kinson looked about curiously as several people appeared from behind the cubicles, pulled their own chairs out, and gathering around Kinson. The janitors swiftly filed out, which left only a handful of people in the room.