The Intuitives(43)

“Oh, hey, Daniel,” Rush said. “You taking a break?”

“Uh… yeah,” Daniel said.

“Sweet. You wanna come play HRT Alpha with us?”

“Um… sure,” Daniel said, smiling at Kaitlyn, who had turned and grinned brightly at him when Rush had announced his presence.

“Cool. Hey, Sketch, come slide over here so there’s room on the end for Daniel.”

Sketch dutifully slid over, and Kaitlyn followed him to make room for Daniel next to her.

“Kaitlyn,” Rush said, “you think you can show Daniel how to play?”

“Oh! Sure!” Kaitlyn said cheerfully.

Rush nudged Sketch, who handed his controller over to Daniel, happy enough just to sit next to Rush and watch while Daniel did his best to follow Kaitlyn’s directions.

The four of them played several games in a row, switching the controllers around between matches so everyone could play. It took two more games before Kaitlyn finally got her first kill—on Daniel, as it happened. Sketch crowed in his seat and turned to give her a high five.

“You got a kill! Hey Rush, she got a kill! Give her a gamer tag!”

“Oh, hey—” Rush almost admitted that giving someone a gamer tag on their first kill wasn’t really a thing before he looked down and saw Sketch’s expression, realizing all at once just how much that rite of passage had meant to him. “You’re absolutely right!” he continued smoothly.

“What’s her tag, Rush?” Sketch asked, his eyes bright with excitement.

“Well, let’s see…” Rush said, making a show of it. “She’s good at fixing things…” He rubbed his thumb and forefinger along his chin, looking at her thoughtfully.

“What was the name of that place you said you worked?” he finally asked.

“The G&G?” she asked.

“Yeah, but the whole thing. Gadgets or something?”

“The Gears and Gadgets Repair Shop.”

“Gears!” Rush said. “There we go. That’s totally it. In honor of your first HRT Alpha player kill, I hereby dub thee, ‘Gears.’”

“Awesome!” Kaitlyn said, doing a little dance where she sat. Sketch laughed and grinned from ear to ear.

It was three games after that before Daniel finally got a kill of his own, this time on Sketch. Sketch crowed again in delight and looked over at Rush expectantly, who was ready for it this time, having had more than thirty minutes to think of the perfect gamer tag for Daniel.

“Disco,” he pronounced immediately.

Sketch laughed while Daniel scrunched up his face and raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“You want me to come up with something else, maybe, Mr. Stayin’ Alive?” Rush asked, grinning wickedly. It took Daniel only a moment to consider his options.

“Disco, it is,” Daniel agreed.

Rush nodded, smirking, and started up another game.





20


Instructor Report



“How are they doing?”

“The initial indications are even stronger than I could have hoped. Roman Jackson—who calls himself ‘Sketch’ now, by the way—is incredibly advanced. I believe he can already do what we need him to do, without any further training.”

“Well, that’s one at least. And the other?”

“Daniel shows definite signs of higher order processing as well. I would like to work with him on accessing his unconscious knowledge more directly, but he clearly has the potential to move in that direction. He will also need to practice singing in front of others. We can not afford for him to suffer from shyness when it comes time to bring the group together.”

“Good. You’ve reviewed the workshop?”

“Yes, it should be more than sufficient for the morning, but I will need the martial arts expert in the afternoon.”

“He’s already in transit.”

“Excellent! Then I believe we are fully prepared for tomorrow. I have been exceedingly pleased with our initial results. Hopefully, the test has been equally successful in identifying the others.”

“If it hasn’t, our careers are going straight into the toilet.”

“If it has not, Colonel, our careers will be the least of our problems.”





21


Workshop



In the morning, after breakfast, Miss Williams escorted Kaitlyn out of the building, explaining that her session with Ammu would be held in the maintenance shop, where Kaitlyn would have access to tools and parts and the like.

“How have you been enjoying your stay so far?” Miss Williams asked as they walked. The weather being clear, she had chosen to take the long way around, leading Kaitlyn out through the front doors of the lodge and following a pathway that ran through a well-manicured garden.

“Oh, it’s been great!” Kaitlyn exclaimed. “I called Grandma Maggie yesterday right before dinner. Thank you for the telephone, by the way. She said everyone at the new place has been wonderful.”

Miss Williams smiled. “I’m so glad. You were taking very good care of her, you know. You should be proud of the job you were doing, but I understand why you were concerned about her.”

“I didn’t like that she was forgetting to eat when I wasn’t there,” Kaitlyn admitted. “But she’s eating now! When I called, she said she was having pot roast! And garlic mashed potatoes! She loves garlic mashed potatoes.”