Sang the Stray (Completed)

11. [un]Talented

I am back at the KOTIS Medical Facility. I was with the Lents family for a few weeks' time when it all fell apart. Where to start?

***
Jessica bounced into the sitting room one morning proclaiming, "Mother, Sang's next allowance payment should show up in her account later today. Can we go shopping tomorrow? My friends want to celebrate, since we finish exams this second-shift, and Sang still has barely anything at all to wear, pleeeeaase!?!" Jessica told me she wants to be a song star. I think she turns the drama on a little much though. I also know she isn't taking those exams very seriously. Instead of studying last night, she insisted we watch a marathon of her favorite television series about a girl who is a song star and a Setari.

"Well, neither your father or I can chaperone..."

"We can go ourselves. We will stay with each other at Kessine City Center and Sang is doing so good in Taren, she will be fine..."

"Is that what you want Sang?"

I know I will be nervous around all the people. Last time we went with Erica, it was a bit overwhelming, but I really do want to go. I nod and add, "Yes, I fine go....I mean... to go."

"Alright, just send a message if you need anything. It will be a good celebration for you passing level two and three modules," Erica adds encouragingly.

As I pass modules, I've gained access to more features of the Interface, some more practical than others. Jessica helped me to turn on a closed captioning that was almost more distracting to following conversations. However, once Erica showed me how to record visual and audio files, then things really starts coming together. I made more of an effort on reading Taren, because now I could go back and rewatch interactions. Of course, I was watching and listening to some movies that Jessica had shared, but reviewing my own conversations is helping to fix my mistakes.

Also, I can now turn on the identification tags. Everyone's name floats above their head, which showed me that I misspelled the honorific title. It starts with an 's' sound, but with just the faintest 'z' overtone. Sa is really more like Tsa. The Tarens even pronounce Sang, almost as Zang.

Movies, games and shows are quite another thing when you have so many virtual options. From 3D that can move behind you to 'in-skin' where a viewer is full-sensory immersed into the recording person's perspective. That doesn't appeal to me at all! It seems far too invasive, though Tsa Lents explained that it can be an important training tool for tapping into someone's psychic talents.

***

Jessica ended up doing really well on her exams, but clearly this outing was more about showing me off to her friends. We went to a place that was a cross between a cafe and one of those video game arcades where people have Dance, Dance Revolution competitions, but this was a psychic powers show-off arena. There was a table with a few girls waiting, and a couple guys, and I was the exotic curiosity. They all were very nice, thinking it great fun listening to me speaking in English, and not judgmental about my still pathetic Taren. However, being the center of that attention was far more intimidating than even navigating through the crowded city pathways. They were very interested in my survival stories from Muina. Hiking through the woods, finding my own food and sleeping under the stars is very foreign and scary to Tarens who essentially live their entire lives indoors. They also wanted to know everything about the Setari I had met. Jessica had not shared Ista Green's name with her friends. Tsa Lents had reminded us both that any classified information learned at KOTIS needed to stay classified. So we kept that to ourselves.

After a while, the two guys, Tom and Micah, had a match in the Psychic Showdown thing. That's where things went from mildly embarrassing to messed up. By this time, thanks to Jessica's patient and devoted explanations of all things Setari, I knew more about psychic powers. Everyone has some connection to the Ena, which is some kind of psychic dimension (or world of dreams or something). The connection manifests as telekinesis or pyrokinesis, etc.; there are couple dozen known psychic talents. The original Muinians were really strong in their connection to the Ena, more than most people on Tare now. Tairo players (Taren sport with balls and goals and flying!) are strong, but the most powerful psychics are in the Setari, where gifted children are pushed to extremes to increase their abilities. It wasn't clear how much of a choice the kids or parents have about participating in the program. However, with the Interface and special 'circuitry' rooms, even weak psychics can be boosted to use whatever talents they have. The two guys were 'projectors', and able to make illusions. They were not very clear, but still fun to watch. Strays are thought to have a strong Ena connection, which is how they get portalled unexpectedly, so Jessica had me try a few things. Image projection and trying to float looked like me standing in the center of the room thinking hard about doing those things and nothing happening. The room had a filter and so it wouldn't allow me to burn anyone or blow anything up. I was relieved when nothing happened, being psychic suddenly would have been weird. Jessica can teleport, though only a few feet at a time. It was neat watching her flicker across the special room. When boosted she can take a passenger and offered to 'jump' me. That was a bad idea. Instead of flickering a couple feet away, we emerged in the open atrium and fell two stories. I have a broken collarbone and Jessica is getting special advanced nanotechnology treatment to repair her back.

I am so glad she didn't die, because it was me. The KOTIS experts think that something about me caused her jump to go wrong. They don't know what it is, but I am back in the Medical Center with endless exams as nanocytes stitch my bones back together. I feel so bad that Jessica is hurt because of me. I am not going back to the Lents'. Ista Phillips said I will be a KOTIS resident for the foreseeable future.