Deep Underground


    Prakash:


    Flashback time for Prakash: First esp implantation attemp


    Everybody''s looking at me, just because I was the one to suggest this... Well, might as well.


    Soft orange glow all over, smooth surface, ah, what if I touch it?


    What?


    too much risk, I mean, whoever or whatever the aliens are, they are definitely extremely powerful. Just look at the fact that they built the cavity in the first place. And the antigravity effect of the artefact. Our science hasn''t a clue on how to do that. And, then, if they can actually implant some esp ability into the brain of a baby, then they must have extraordinary knowledge about humans in general and brains in particular. Lastly, why would they go to all of this trouble if they didn''t want to help us? If they wanted to kill us or something, I''m sure, with their technological expertise, they have a million options at their fingertips. Assuming they have fingertips, that is."


    Oh crap, what if something goes wrong?


    I can''t think of any reason to disagree with that... I suppose. Wait, what about...


    OK, OK,


    aliens would go to all of this trouble, and then allow something bad to happen." said Lucy.


    She''s nervous too, but isn''t prepared to admit it.


    Lucy, the first girl who ever took a notice of me. Me, the typical nerd, without much in the way of social skills. She might not have been a beauty, but she fell in love with me. My first, and only, girlfriend. The best thing that ever happened in my adult life. The first girl to laugh at my jokes - well, some of them. The first girl to taste my cooking - just as well I''m a good cook, as she certainly wasn''t. The first woman, and the only woman, to come to my bed.


    We were actually going to have a baby. I would have been a father! We would have watched our own child grow up...


    What do I do now?


    I was happy - well we did argue a lot - but I was still happy.


    And now it''s all been taken away from me.


    All because of some horrible alien artifact that was supposed to be of benefit to us.


    Why should I be the one suffer? Why me? Why Lucy?


    Why couldn''t it have been someone else that suffered.


    Should we even continue with this experimentation? Won''t it cause more suffering?


    I don''t care.


    Why should I care about anyone else?


    I don''t care anymore.


    Why should I be the only one to feel this pain?


    Jaydonen: Manning up and making a formal apology.


    Nonetheless, I''ll be glad when it''s all over.


    Well, here goes.


    So, I''m no longer Mr Two Percent. I''m now Mr Twenty Percent. That''s quite a jump, in fact it starts to make my ability actually useful.


    But I still don''t know how I managed to increase it.


    So, we have both increased our levels.


    But I still don''t want to do anything like that ever again.


    Sarsaparilla: Now it is her turn to propose a holiday idea.


    And, let''s make it for the whole two weeks!"


    We can go swimming. So I get to see Adalace in a bikini!


    incident that resulted in me joining the Neighbourhood Watch, I haven''t had a single holiday. So it will do me good!"