Chapter 28: 28. Demonstrations

Erika and I stand facing each other.

I'm holding out my hand to her.

I'm not quite sure what's going on in Erika's head, but whatever she's thinking, she seems to be having second thoughts about taking my hand.

"Are you certain this is what you want?"

I ask, my voice cold and emotionless.

Erika's golden eyes flash with determination.

"Yes. I've decided. No matter what happens, I want to make the world a better place.  And I want to repay you."

Without another word, Erika reaches forward, and takes my hand firmly.

So she's found resolve—a reason of her own.

Good.

I want her help as a researcher and scientist—but as the only person in the world that will know of my power, I need her to pledge herself to my cause as an ally—one who will fight alongside me.

That is all I desire from her—for now.

"Alright. I'll show you—the power that will change the world."

I begin forming my psychic barrier around us—and I take a few seconds to search the land, and sky around us to ensure there is nothing to potentially discover us.

Once satisfied—I concentrate my psychokinesis on both of us.

While I'm doing this, Erika silently watches me—without saying a single word. After hearing my words, she's remained quiet—observing me with her intelligent eyes. Her curiosity is easily distinguishable, but even as nothing happens—she remains silent.

Well, hopefully this goes well.

I know that I should be incredibly worried about revealing my power to another person—but in this moment, I'm honestly too focused on seeing what she makes of my abilities, and what she thinks of my power.

I want to see her reaction—I want to see how a scientist of her level rationalizes what she sees.

I'm sure it'll be very similar to the way I reacted when I first awakened my power.

It was a great shock to me.

Without waiting any longer—I begin lifting both of us.

I focus on Erika, and slowly raise her up several feet into the air.

"Huh?!"

Erika lets out a surprised yelp as she suddenly finds herself suspended in the air.

I can feel her tiny body trembling, and I can sense the fear radiating off of her.

As she flails about trying to gain some semblance of balance, or control, I watch her expression. She seems confused. She looks at me, her eyes are wide, and filled with disbelief.

"... What is this?"

Erika's voice is low, and soft. Before getting an answer, she takes off any pieces of metal she's wearing. Her phone, communication device, the metal wristband she wears—she quickly tosses them towards the ground.

Apparently, her first thought is that her floating is in some way tied to magnetism—interesting. But it's not—as her belongings fall, I grab all of them with my power, and they float upwards, reuniting with their owner.

Watching the way her expression changes is really fascinating. She stares blankly at her belongings as they hover their way back to her.

She looks like she's in shock, but her mind is still hard at work finding the best reason for her sudden suspension.

How long do I wait?

Will she believe I'm capable of this?

Or will she try to find a more logical explanation for the unbelievability of what's happening?

"You aren't floating due to the metal you're wearing—or anything similar."

"W-What is this? Is this a new type of magnetic field? Where's the source device? Or—is it—"

"No. This is something completely different."

It's funny, in a way. She sounds scared, yet her curiosity wins out over her fear.

"What is it then?" Erika demands.

The two of us remain suspended in the air for a while longer.

I don't turn away from her, and neither does she.

We're locked in a silent stare, watching each other intently.

Finally, I break the silence.

"You'll see."

My answer appears to be less than she'd been hoping for. Her cheeks are turning red—though whether it's out of embarrassment or anger is impossible to tell.

Whatever it is, she's not pleased.

"Tell me!"

"I'll explain everything soon enough. Just watch for now."

I promise her with a slight nod.

In the meantime, I continue our ascent.

"WAH! Wait! Put me DOWN!"

Erika's shouts echo across the open expanse around us, but I continue.

At least there's no one around us to hear her yelling.

She continues flailing around—seemingly trying to bring her hands down in order to touch the ground. Her movements become erratic.

I should maybe bring her down—but I've already come this far, I need her to understand.

As we continue gaining altitude, she apparently comes to terms with the situation. She winds up almost embracing me—holding on tightly, as if to prevent herself from falling.

I'm impressed by her strength.

Although I've lifted her high into the air, I can tell from the way she holds me that she's genuinely terrified.

What am I supposed to do?

If I'm going to show her my power—I can't do it within the city, and I can't exactly fly towards the ocean at a low altitude.

Alright, I know.

I bring us high enough for everything below us to seem distant to her. She's still clinging to me, with her face fully buried in my chest.

Maybe this will help her?

"Erika—look."

She doesn't respond.

After a few moments of silence, she finally turns her head, and stares at the scenery beneath us.

"Oh..." she whispers softly.

In front of us is the ever sprawling metropolis of New Eden.

And due to us being close the New Eden's outskirts—behind us is the natural green landscape of the island. The difference shows a sharp contrast, and Erika's gaze is drawn to it instantly. It seems to calm her down, and she relaxes her grip on me slightly.

"This is incredible," Erika says in awe. "But how are we here?"

"I'll let you discover that for yourself... There's still something I want to show you."

"Mm.. Okay..."

She doesn't sound enthusiastic, but she hums in agreement.

After ensuring my barrier is fully active, I increase our speed, taking us out into the open ocean.

By now, I'm able to easily move at hyper sonic speeds—such high speed travel has become somewhat normal to me. Erika's screams emphasize the irregularity of my situation.

I even make sure to travel below the speed of sound to avoid creating any sonic booms—but our speed is still enough to scare her again.

Luckily, she only yells for a few seconds, before she stares down at the ground below, her eyes seemingly glued to the world around us.

I'm glad she doesn't scream—I don't have an effective way of blocking sound.

After traveling into the open ocean—far enough away that we won't be noticed, I stop, and bring us just above sea level.

Everything is very dark, the moonlight reflects off the waters below, slightly illuminating us.

Erika looks up at me—her eyes are filled with curiosity.

"So what is all this? You created some sort of new personal levitation technology and you want to show off your creation? Is that how you took down the satellites?"

Minus the part of this being caused by a new technology—her theory is pretty close. I chuckle at her comment.

"Close, but there's one misconception. This is not the power of technology."

Erika's eyes widen in surprise, but she remains silent, probably waiting for me to continue.

Well, it's time to show off my training I suppose.

I strain my psychic muscle close to its maximum—I take control of hundreds of tons of water, and slowly, I create a massive wall of water that completely surrounds us.

This is probably the most power I've used at once so far. The force of the wave surrounding us is easily comparable to a tsunami.

Erika's eyes go wide as she stares at me in wonder. The light traveling through the water creates a stunning effect—the surface of the water glows blue and purple, and the moonlight reflects off of it.

This is quite beautiful—even though I created it.

I've probably made my point.

I release my hold over the water, and immediately it crashes down upon the ocean, sending waves surging up towards the sky.

It's impressive, just as I intended it to be...

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"I don't get it... Is this a new technology, or some type of magic?"

Her voice is soft, and somewhat shaky.

I'm sure she must be scared—but I'm equally sure that she's also shocked by my power.

"Both... neither... It doesn't matter. What does matter is what you'll do with—what we'll do with it. This is the secret I spoke of that must remain hidden. We'll work together towards our goal of fixing this world—and during that time, you can research, and experiment with my power as you wish—within reason."

"Research your power? Is that what you call it? 'Power?'"

I nod.

"Yes. It's not a technology, nor is it a device. It's both connected, and a part of me."

"Is that the truth? That's how you took down Mathers' satellites? Some sort of power?! I mean, what is it—are you saying you have magic or something?"

"I'd consider it to be more akin to psychokinesis, but I supposes there's multiple applicable terms."

Erika gazes up at me, her eyes are wide and full of curiosity. I can see her mind working overtime. I can almost see the thousands of ideas that are running through her head—all of them rushing in to compete for attention.

There's no denying that I'm giving her an opportunity to work with something powerful—but she has to remember why she's doing this.

She's not here for fun, she's here because she wants to help.

"You're really able to control whatever this is—there's no device—nothing?" She asks, gesturing towards her floating body.

"I can control this in the same manner you control your arms, or your legs. Think of it as an extension of my mind, or will."

"Okay... So what does that mean? How does it work? Can you explain it to me?!"

Her somber, quiet demeanor appears to slowly fade with each question. She's excited, eager for answers. I'm sure she's curious about what this power is. Gone is the screaming, terrified woman. She's practically feral for answers, her face is nearly touching my mask.

"I can't. Not right now. As much as I'd love to, I don't believe this to be the place to have that conversation."

"Wha—"

"It's the middle of the night, and we're floating above the the ocean in the middle of nowhere—don't you think your lab would be better for research?"

Her words cut off abruptly—she seems like she's been struck by lightning.

"That's not true! Why the hell do we need to go back? Don't be stingy! You can't just drop a bombshell like this and then expect me to go home!"

I smile wryly at her reaction—it's actually kind of cute. I guess that's what happens when someone gets too excited.

"Alright, how about this then? Let's go back to your lab. We'll talk there. If you're willing to do that—I'll let you run tests of your choosing in order for you to confirm I'm telling the truth."

As soon as I finish speaking, she looks like a child being told off. Her shoulders sag, and her eyes grow sad.

She wasn't expecting to be rejected, or given an ultimatum.

"Then let's start talking now! Explain how this works! And hurry up and bring me back to the lab!"

"Fine... But are you sure this is what you want—although you've already agreed—I don't want you having any misconceptions. My goal is to save the world—but there's not telling where that could lead. I'll undoubtedly create countless enemies—people who might try to stop me. Are you sure you want to be involved with me? Because if you don't... I won't force you to help me."

I've already told her about my power, so I can't allow her to just disappear with that info... But I don't want to force her onto my path either.

She looks up at me—a hint of anger mixed with sadness in her expression. "I already told you I'd help you... You saved my sister, and you saved me when you didn't have to... So don't give me an ultimatum, just tell me what I need to do."

I can see the look in her eye, she's ready for a fight. She's serious about helping me. I suppose it's a good thing she's passionate about this.

I don't have the time to argue—so I decide to simply accept her words. I turn back to the direction of New Eden, and begin flying back towards the city.

***

The trip back to her lab was...

Well, at least she didn't scream while flying this time. But apparently, following the disclosure of my greatest secret, I seemed to have gained her trust. Or at least something resembling trust. Either way, it seems to have changed Erika's attitude towards me entirely.

She seems to have become comfortable enough around me to show her real personality.

Before getting to the point of meeting her, I spent months researching her both with, and without my sixth sense.

And the image of her I was given was that of a very outgoing, energetic girl—who always seemed to be smiling. While I didn't know her personally, the reports I read painted a picture of an optimistic, unique person.

Although she's energetic, and optimistic, her genius-level intelligence leads to her being seen as eccentric.

So I was fairly confused with how quiet she's been during every one of our meetings. Now though, she acts almost exactly as I'd inferred.

Kind, outgoing, eccentric, talkative.

It's almost as if she's turned into an entirely different person—except that she's still somehow 'herself'.

Since the second we arrived at her lab, she's been moving nonstop, and talking all the while.

"Okay! I have the next test set up! Please use your psychokinesis to separate these nanobots, and move them throughout the defined area!"

She doesn't bother to wait for my response—instead she turns and walks to her endless computers, and holograms.

 

And she's become engrossed in learning about my power.

I spent almost two hours answering whatever questions she came up with. There were so many! She asked questions ranging from simple, such as:

"How did you gain your power?"

"How much weight can you lift?"

"How many objects can you move at once?"

But then some of her questions seemed quite useless. Some of them seemed damn near philosophical, such as:

"What is the meaning of power?"

"Can you read other people's minds?"

"Are you human?"

"Are you capable of controlling anything besides objects?"

"Can you grow a third arm?"

"Are you immortal?"

"Do you have a soul?"

Somehow, I managed to answer all of her questions.

There were more than a few times I wanted to quit—I even began questioning why I ever though this would be a good idea. However, she might be at least somewhat useful. I'd already had theories about using different devices such as microscopes to view things such as molecules, or maybe even atoms and use my power on them—but I didn't have sufficient expertise to fully achieve that.

Erika almost immediately came up with theories similar to mine, and she hypothesized ideas of how I could perceive things such as electromagnetic radiation, or how I could more easily separate elements such as oxygen using my power. And with her connections to the Anithrel Institute, she has the means to make that happen.

So for now, I'm going along with her ideas, and seeing where they could lead. As such—I'm using my power on whatever test she wants.

"Just stand within the test square. I know this looks like a hunk of metal, but please use your power to separate them into individual pieces, and scatter them around the square."

"Got it."

I walk over to her testing area, and activate my power.

With my sixth sense—I sense the pieces of metal Erika seems so focused on. Erika called these hunks of metal her nanobots, and although they visually look like hunks of metal—with my sixth sense it feels like tens of thousands of tiny, multi-legged pieces of metal.

Feeling them with my sixth sense, they appear different from anything I've ever seen.

I push my power to my limit, but I'm incapable of individually manipulating every single one of them.

I didn't think Erika would devise a test I'm incapable of passing.

I'm able to pick up around two thousand of her nanobots, and scatter them around me in a sphere-like shape.

"Perfect! Now try moving them!"

I do so, and try my best to move them in a coordinated manner.

"Hmm... Wait—no—not like that! Try pushing them outwards instead, and then pulling them back in."

What the hell does that even mean?

"Ok..."

"Ah! Move them that way! Wait—Wait! Bring them back the other way! Move them like—Whoosh! No move them more like a wave! That's good like that!"

I remain calm, but I can feel the irritation slowly building. At this point, she's just having fun.

I do my best to reform her nanobots into a singular shape, and place it on her table.

"Great job! You did great, and that test went perfectly! I've finally drawn my conclusion!"

Ah—she actually discovered something? Counting her questioning—I've spent the last six hours running tests, and gaining new measurements on my power.

I'm exhausted.

"So, what did you discover?"

"I've deduced that you are indeed capable of some type of psychokinesis—and you are most certainly not using some sort of external device. You're really capable of something amazing, ya' know! Congratulation!"

What?

She continues to ramble on about some of the test results, and how my power could be used to power her nanobots—but I barely hear any of it.

"Hold on—we've been running tests for six hours—and your conclusion is my power is real, and not from some sort of device? Wasn't this already established?!"

"Well, yes, you did say your power came from you... But scientifically there was no proof—I had to establish it for a fact."

This may be the first time a single person has annoyed me in such a manner.

I know science takes time, but I'm just irritated by her.

"You're telling me we spent six hours doing nothing but confirming the fact that I'm not lying?"

"Yes! And considering how powerful your power is, if you were using an external device, you would have needed a large power source—which you don't currently possess. It's really incredible—something like psychic powers existing—there's so many things to test!"

I don't know what to say to this girl... I just hope she's actually useful...

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