Chapter 7.21: Stinging

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From Alba's diary

Olivier: Uhm...

Everything seemed normal tonight, Olivier was working on the last invoices that he hadn't been able to complete in the office and soon we would all go to sleep.

However, someone silently approaching our house had completely different plans for us.

I didn't expect to see Kate, I didn't have news from her for so long. Yet, out of the blue, there she was knocking lightly at our door to get my attention, to then bring a finger close to her mouth to tell me to shut up and follow her.

I hesitated for a moment, but when I realised that both Olivier and Rowan didn't notice anything, I didn't think about it and just followed her. My headache was just too bad tonight, whatever she had in mind it couldn't be worse than that, I thought.

Alba: (confused) Kate, what's happening?

Kate: I don't want to play anymore, I now have enough elements to proceed. But I need your help.

Alba: What?

Kate: I found out that Drew belongs to the organization that erased Helios's memories, and that now you and Olivier are his test subjects for the experiments on telepathy and mind control he's conducting. Olivier seems completely fried at this point, but at least you seem to be mostly immune to his devices, so…

Alba: Wait, what are you talking about?

None of the things Kate had just said made any sense to me. Mind control experiments, what was it supposed to mean? We had participated in an experiment with the pollination machine, what did all those other things have to do with it? And why did that damned headache keep interrupting me every time I tried to think straight, even in a moment like that?

Kate: And here it is, your usual headache. It happens every time your mind touches a thought that Drew deems risky for their plan, it's caused by his remote telepathy devices that catch your mental signals, interpret them as dangerous, and try to convince you to think about something else. I really didn't expect that telepathic signals could be turned into radio waves and interfaced with electronic devices, but after having disassembled one of the devices that we found in your house some time ago I really haven't any doubt left. That's just crazy...

Alba: …

Kate: (perplexed) Uhm, you seem even more confused than I expected. What did Drew tell you, exactly? 

I was extremely confused at that moment, the only thing I was reasonably sure about was that Kate not only wanted to help us, but had also understood way more about Drew plans than we could have even managed on our own.

So I told her everything I knew, from when Drew spoke to us for the first time, Rowan's birth, up to his check-ups over all those years.

Kate: That's even worse than I had imagined...

Alba: Uhm…

Kate: Objectively, the pollination machine works even too well, there is absolutely no need to test it further. I guess that this was just an excuse to convince you to enter their experiment, and then it became an excuse for Drew to keep visiting you for his "check-ups". The fact that the pollination machine is still illegal in New Sixam was probably also enough to convince you that all this story had to remain a secret, as well. (Shaking her head) Basically, they used your desire to have a kid to blackmail you, that's so mean…

Alba: (confused) But… but if they weren't interested in the pollination machine, then what do they want to study?

Drew: From the information we managed to collect, Drew seems to be working on remote telepathy experiments. He is essentially building electronic devices that can read and erase memories, and also influence people's train of thought. It's not clear what they plan to use such devices for, but in any case we can only hypothesise it's for something very fishy.

Alba: ...

Kate: At your house, I managed to find one of those prototypes hidden below a chair. I fear there are many others around, however. Oh, and of course the watches on your wrist probably contain some similar device, too.

Alba: …

Kate: If I had to guess then, I would say that they deliberately put you in front of various choices, to then see if you would have made the decision imposed by the device, or if you had managed to think with your head instead. To assess and calibrate the power of their devices, you know.

Alba: I see. I think. However, if that's really the case, why aren't they erasing my memory right now? My watch is still working, after all.

Kate: Excellent question. I think it's because their devices don't work well on you yet, just as they don't work on "squid heads" like me. I think that's also why they chose you as a test subject, your ability to recognize lies on the fly puts you in an intermediate level of telepathic power between the sixamians with tendrils and those who don't have them, and therefore you were a perfect guinea pig to develop their devices. Difficult to bend, but not too much. The fact that you don't live in New Sixam must have been the icing on the cake for them.

Alba: ...

Kate: Anyway, I think that the reason why now I can talk to you without much worry is because, despite all their efforts, those devices still don't work much with you. In the worst cases your headache was bad enough to make it hard for you to focus and feel confused, that's all.

Alba: So is this why I always have a headache?

Kate: Correct. What you're experiencing is the typical "mind-reading-gone-wrong" headache, in technical terms.

Alba: I see... 

It needed quite some time to metabolise all that Kate told me, and to put those pieces together with all the events of the last years. In the following weeks I had so many clarifications to ask her, but at that very moment there was still a question I really couldn't postpone any longer.

Alba: (worried) But is Olivier okay? And Rowan?

Kate: I haven't noticed anything strange with the kid. And I don't think that Olivier has suffered any permanent damage either, but recently his train of thought has started to seem very erratic. I think you've started to suspect something too, am I wrong?

Alba: …

I suddenly remembered all those strange answers and forgetfulness I noticed from Olivier in that last year. Of course I thought it was strange, but how could I suspect this was the reason behind it?

Kate: Of course, my next step will be to make a plan with the police to arrest Drew. We are aiming to catch him red-handed, in the midst of some of his illegal activities, to be able to demonstrate his involvement in court without a shadow of a doubt. And that's why I'm asking for your help, the last thing he expects is for you to turn against him. So I have to ask you, when is his next visit planned?

Alba: …

Kate: I know you have a terrible headache by now, but don't worry. It will all be over very soon.

She was right, my headache was really bad at that moment. The watch was probably trying very hard to alter my mind, without much success. Other than that, however, I was sicker than ever about that whole situation. Headache or not, I wanted to get out of that crazy situation as soon as possible, that's what.

Alba: Well, from what he told us...

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Thus, in the following days, I secretly remained in contact with Kate to elaborate on our plan of action. Pretending that nothing had changed with Olivier and Rowan wasn't easy at all, and probably the devices hidden in the house were detecting something off in my train of thought because my headache was worse than ever. 

I also started to have doubts about everything that I had given for granted up to that moment. 

Should I have tried to avoid those devices, to reduce my headache a bit? But were they just hidden in our house, or also in the garden, or much further away? Should I have been wary of the scarecrow, considering that it was a robot given to me by Helios back when he still worked in that lab? Could I at least trust Nacho, who almost seemed to appear out of thin air just after I moved here?

At that though, I was pretty sure that I was probably overthinking way too much. Nacho was just a cat, and the scarecrow had always just been a friendly gardener robot. They even helped me when Drew eventually showed up, how could I doubt them?

Scarecrow: (whispering) He has just arrived at Sulani, he is about to knock.

Alba: (whispering) Thanks, you're great at being a lookout!

Scarecrow: (whispering) Everyone always mistakes me for a piece of furniture, you know.

Drew: So, do you still have that headache?

Alba: Every now and then, but I'm getting used to it by now, you know?

Drew: Uhm... Would you please let me change some parameters of your interfering clock? There's some chance it could improve the situation a little...

I pretended to listen to him while he had my watch to open it and make some quick changes, but in the meanwhile I was keeping an eye on my little bees instead. Now I'm starting to understand them a bit more, and they finally seem to listen to me (when they're in the right mood, at least). Telling them to go after Drew wouldn't have been difficult at all, and that would also have been the perfect way to keep him busy for a while. He always ran away from bugs even as a kid, after all.

Drew: Ehy! Stupid bees, go away!

Okay, my dear diary, I admit that I could have made this very plan for revenge. At least a little bit. Whatever the reason was, however, I would say it was quite effective.

In the meanwhile, Olivier watched the scene with a face that seemed both worried and confused, sentiments that grew even more when Kate eventually jumped in, shouting:

Kate: Don't move, Drew, we know what you've done!

She was followed by enough cops to arrest a whole criminal gang, and Drew didn't even try to oppose any resistance.

Finally, it was over. 

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So Drew was taken away, and all his prototypes scattered around our house were removed. They filled a whole basket with that stuff, how did we not notice them before? He must have hidden them really well.

At first, however, they took the interfering watches from our wrists. It was a real liberation, I didn't even realize the weight that artificial signal had on my mind until it disappeared. Needless to say, the headache also disappeared instantly.

But if for me that evening was the welcomed beginning of a headache-free life, Olivier seemed to have just woken up from a bad dream instead.

Olivier: It's so... strange. I mean, there are times when I just can't remember what I did and said... I didn't do anything bad, right?

Alba: (thoughtfully) At certain moments it seemed like you turned your brain off and someone else spoke for you... A few evenings ago you even forgot about the song we always sing together, you know?

Olivier: What? That's absurd, I could never…

Alba: But even then you haven't really done anything bad, don't worry too much.

Olivier: ...

I see him really upset, and I understand why. In those moments when he was controlled by Drew he may have done anything. What if he exploited him to steal information from the company he works for? Or what if he obliged Olivier to commit any crime? Even if remote, it's a scary hypothesis to make.

Olivier: (upset) ... at least when we decided to use the pollination machine, when we decided to have Rowan, at least that time it was really us taking that choice, right? I mean, I remember it very well, that memory should be confused too if Drew was interfering in any way, right?

I remained speechless for a moment, I had spent the last whole week overthinking everything without ever approaching that very point. 

Alba: W-well... Honestly, now that you make me think about it, I think I was having quite a bad headache already that day, I guess it is possible he did at least try to, yes. But Kate also said that on me those devices never really worked... And then, even if some of those prototypes were really already around, it's unlikely that they were already working, right?

Olivier: ...

I knew what I was saying was probably just messy and not at all reassuring for Olivier, nor for me.

That was probably the most disturbing doubt of them all, Rowan was just too important to us to make such questions. Was that hypothesis really possible? And, also, did it really matter?

Alba: (whispering) But I also think that we wanted Rowan badly enough to accept any crazy plan to get to this point. Telepathic devices or not, we would have taken that decision anyway.

Olivier: (whispering) Yes, that's probably true. 

With that conviction in mind, we returned home, Rowan was about to return from the scouts' meeting and, up to that point, we had done a very good job at keeping him away from any worry about the weird circumstances we were living through. We just couldn't be late for dinner.

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The following days have been really chaotic, we didn't have time to fully realize the consequences of what had happened that we were asked to show up in a tribunal.

We all hoped that he would have just decided to confess everything he knew, he knew way too well that some collaboration on his side could have granted him a more lenient sentence, after all.

Actually, he did try to answer all the judge's questions. The problem was, however, that he didn't seem to have much to say.

Judge: Do you have any accomplices? Who is in charge of the plan you were executing?

Drew: It may seem like a lie to you, but I don't remember any of these details. Read my memory, I can show you that it is the pure truth.

Kate, sitting behind us, shook her head, more frustrated than ever. During the arrest Drew was apparently able to erase his own memories, with the clear intent to prevent anyone from obtaining any information about their organization from him during an interrogation (verbal or telepathic). So, although the investigations indicated the existence of a large and branched organization, arresting Drew wasn't really enough to gain any more detail than what we already knew.

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For everyone still working on solving the case this could only be extremely demoralizing, but among us members of the Miller family the atmosphere could not have been more different. We had come out of that nightmare, finally we didn't have to lie to everyone else any longer.

Helios: I didn't want to believe it when Kate explained to me what happened, thank goodness we managed to get you out!

Alba: Thanks a lot, really, we wouldn't have come out of it without you and Kate!

Lily: Seriously, how could you keep that horrible secret for so long? I thought you trusted us!

Alba: Well...

Helios: C'mon, Lily, you heard what he did to them, right? He deceived them, that's what!

Lily: yes, this time it seemed really complicated... But from now on, don't you dare keep secrets like that from us again, okay? I was freaking out when I found out!

Alba: I honestly hope I never find myself in a situation like this again, you know?

Lily: Well said!

Perhaps the thing I was most afraid of today was my siblings' reaction, I was afraid that they would have been mad at me after all the secrets I kept from them.

We will still have much to clarify in the coming weeks. The fine for having collaborated with Drew instead of informing the authorities, for example, or the telepathic tests that we will have to pass to check that the experiments didn't leave any permanent damage in our brains. But we are mostly hopeful, because we can, finally, return to our usual life.

Next Chapter -->

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§HermioneSims§ corner

I've really dragged on this section forever this time, and this chapter was really a wall of text of new information to elaborate... But at least now everyone in the Miller family is happy again, I can't really be mean to them for too long, you see?

And even Nacho is as happy as ever, look at how he dances!