The Intuitives(31)
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name, as Miss Williams has said, is Amr Mubarak. I am from Egypt, but I have had the pleasure of working with many Americans over the years. You may call me Amr, or Professor, or Professor Mubarak, as you see fit. It is my great honor to meet you all.” He smiled when he said this, his expression surprisingly humble.
“You have been invited here, as you all know, due to your excellent scores on the Intuition Assessment Battery. The test is new, designed to identify exceptional students, such as yourselves, whose minds operate in a very particular way.
“All human beings process information in both conscious and unconscious ways. When thought is conscious, we are aware of it. We know how we traveled from point A to point B in our thinking process. But we are also very strongly influenced, in the thousands of decisions we make every day, by unconscious thoughts of which we are not aware. And this kind of thinking is highly intelligent and adaptive in its own right.
“For example, if someone needs to cross a river, they might think, ‘I can swim across,’ or, ‘I can walk across in a shallow place.’ But then if a bird lands on a vine and makes it sway a little, most people will suddenly think, ‘I can use a vine to swing across.’ But they will not know why they thought this. If we ask what made them think of the idea, believe it or not, most people will say, ‘I just came up with it.’ They have no idea how the unconscious mind solved the problem!
“What we believe to be special about each of you, is that your conscious mind is in contact with and aware of your unconscious mind to a much greater degree than usual. You have the ability to use the power of your unconscious mind on purpose, thereby blurring the very definitions of conscious and unconscious thought. You might not see the importance of this right now, but rest assured that to me, the prospect is very exciting. Very exciting, indeed.”
Professor Mubarak looked around hopefully, but the expressions that greeted him ranged from confused to skeptical. He laughed and waved a hand in the air, dismissing their concerns.
“Over the course of the summer, we will investigate this phenomenon together—cooperatively—both what you can do and how you can do it. My expectation is that each of you has a certain prevalent pathway by which your unconscious mind sends messages, if you will, to your conscious awareness.
“This pathway will manifest itself in certain talents that you possess, talents which are far more profound than you might realize. We will spend our time exploring these talents together. If we are lucky, by the end of the summer they will be even more pronounced, and more conscious, than ever before, and I will have learned something about how to awaken these pathways in other students, even in those who have not previously enjoyed such wondrous abilities.”
He finished with an enthusiastic grin, his gentle eyes smiling at each and every one of them in turn, and then nodded at Miss Williams after waiting a few moments to see whether anyone wanted to ask any questions yet, which no one apparently did.
“Thank you, Professor,” she said, rising to stand by his side and addressing the students again. “I’ll give you some time to finish your breakfast, and then we’ll take a brief tour of the lodge, after which I will return you to Professor Mubarak’s capable hands for the remainder of the morning.
“In the meantime, there are a few rules I’d like to go over. The six of you are all exceptional young men and women. These rules are not being implemented out of any concern over your behavior, but only for your own safety.
“The lodge is located on several thousand acres, most of which is forested. That’s a lot of ground to get lost in, and there are bears and other potentially harmful creatures besides.” Roman couldn’t help but sneak a glance over at Mackenzie, suppressing a giggle as the big golden bear nodded sagely. “You are more than welcome to visit the landscaped area around the building itself, but please do not enter the woods—not even on marked hiking trails—without a guide.
“We also ask that you be inside the building by 8:00 p.m., but you do not need to be in your individual suites until 10:00 p.m. on ‘school’ nights, and until midnight on the weekends. I will be doing head counts, again for your safety. Think of yourselves as national resources. If you go missing, no expense will be spared to locate you, and I do mean no expense. So please be kind to the National Guard and respect the nightly curfew.”
She smiled when she said this, but Mackenzie had the feeling she wasn’t joking.
“There is an exercise space you may use at will. There is also an indoor pool, but this will be off limits except for specific hours on the weekends when a lifeguard will be on duty. The rest of the time, the door to the pool will remain locked. Please respect this precaution.”
She seemed to aim this comment particularly at Kaitlyn, who raised her hands slightly as though to say, ‘Who, me?’ managing to look both smug and casually offended at the same time.
“I think that’s about it,” she finished. “Enjoy your meal. If there is anything specific that any of you would like for breakfast in the future, please let me know. Anything that is even remotely within reason can be arranged.”
As the students finished eating, they did not speak amongst themselves, all of them intrigued by their new teacher but also profoundly aware that Miss Williams and Professor Mubarak were sitting well within hearing range. Privately, of course, they each had their own first impression of the man.