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Damn him, he thought. Damn him to Hell!! Claudio Andolini allowed the debate raging around him to fall silent in his ears. He was sick to death of the whole subject. The fate of humankind rested on the outcome of this meeting, of that he had no doubts. Not that anyone here seemed to share his view of anything. None of this would have happened if it hadn't been for one man's paranoia. One man's paranoia over two and a half centuries ago. That man was Caerus Ardun, one time leader of the Anti-Pyschic League, a man who later rotted in prison for a crime which shook the world.
It all started in the summer of 2019, where an exceptionally gifted Japanese high school student by the name of Hiro Yakamura began a revolution which shaped human history and took the world by storm. Hiro was a psychic, a genuine, true-to-form psychic. He couldn't see the future, fly or fire death rays from his fingers or any such nonsense, but he could peer into minds, read thoughts, intentions, even memories. You could sit in a room with him, and he could tell you all about the childhood memories you yourself had forgotten, could identify in moments psychological discrepancies and traits that took professional psychologists hours or even days to puzzle.
He was genuine, but his gift was not to be a unique one. What made Hiro so special was that he could share his ability. He was not just the product of a gene gone awry here or there. He had a system. A mental exercise that brought forth his abilities. And he could teach others how to do the same. Not all others, but some. Some other gifted young talents could begin to show signs of the same power following Hiro's technique, though never to the same extent, and when there were some hundred or so of these, action was taken to harness this new force.
And so the Academy for Psychic Adepts (or APA) was formed. Headed by young Hiro and a number of wealthy Japanese financial backers, the APA hoped to gather as many psychics as possible and pool resources to investigate the new strength. Of course, the whole thing was essentially a lab experiment. Everything that happened was recorded and tested scientifically. While the APA peaked at around 2000 students in 2034, some 13 years after it's inception, the thousands of minds working behind the scenes put together a thesis on the development of psychic abilities.
The Identification and Development of Yakamura Syndrome was kept hidden from public eyes. Only those who had the gift to develop such abilities were ever taught from the book, and even then, the Adepts were never given a copy of the book for study, they were only ever read to from it. 15 years on from the discovery of Hiro Yakamura, the Japanese government had a blueprint for creating powerful Adepts almost at will. It was about this time that the debates started to rage. What was Japan to do with its professional Adepts. When would they share their information on Yakamura Syndrome. Among the paranoia over Japan's secrecy on the whole subject, the Anti-Psychic League first raised its head, led then by American political extremist Gordon Bracewell. Obviously, the APL wanted simply the destruction of the Yakamura blueprint, and the "cleansing" of the Adepts. Though in the early days it was never mentioned what "cleansing" was supposed to mean, it was generally assumed that it would be cleansing by being staked to some sacrificial cross and burned alive.
It wasn't until February 2036 that Japan finally agreed (for a considerable sum) to release the "Yakamura Bible" to western powers, and sign a non-aggression Act for the Adepts, meaning basically that their powers would never be developed for military or otherwise antagonistic purposes. This in itself silenced most critics, including Bracewell himself, who died later that year of acute liver failure. The APL lived on though, with Caerus Ardun, Bracewell's understudy, now taking the reins. However, Ardun was no political extremist, his extremism has nothing to do with politics, just power. Under his leadership, the APL became increasingly underground, increasingly aggressive.
Meanwhile, in 2038 in England, the British developed their first Adept using the Yakamura Bible, one Michael Kin. Michael Kin grabbed headlines because he was the first Adept to rival Yakamura's own abilities. A year later, he grabbed more as he plainly surpassed Yakamura's talent. Kin's talent went so far as to add a few chapters to the bible, which the British kept well to themselves. And it was at this point that people started to get upset. Kin's power began to dwarf that of any other Adept before him. He could read minds, he could read several at once. He could tell if anyone within a hundred metres was thinking about him, looking at him. He could close his eyes and still see everything around him. Such was his incredible - and still developing - talent.
For Ardun, it was too much. Kin's massive talent would reshape the Bible, and allow hundreds of thousands more people to develop powers which he did not possess. He had been tested by the Yakamura Bible, and been found wanting. He had no power to develop, which made any Adept automatically a better human than he. Kin was the last straw, and so he arranged to have him killed.
On the night of April 13th, 2040, an assassin by the ame of Hugo Bakir entered the home of Michael Kin, intending to kill him in his sleep. But Kin was no easy target. Even in his sleep, he sensed Bakir's intent before he had even entered the house. Though he was alone - as he often requested, for meditative purposes - he had the element of forewarning. And so, when Bakir entered the bedroom of Kin, Michael was not there. Bakir did not panic, however, he was a professional. Kin was in the house. His sheets were still warm, still carried the imprint of his shape. Bakir fell silent, and listened. Here, Michael's lack of experience in having to be silent for his life let him down, as halfway down the stairs to exit his house, the step craked slightly. Not much, but enough for a trained ear to pick it up. Before Kin could curse his clumsiness, Bakir dived down the stairs and hit Kin square in the chest with both fists. Together, the pair tumbled down to the bottom of the stairs and landed, Kin on his back with Bakir atop him pinning his arms down with his knees. Bakir didn't hesitate, he pulled a knife from his black trousers and went to plunge it straight into Kin's heart. Kin's reaction to the sight of the knife was to scream. He screamed like nothing on the earth before him. Into his scream he poured all of his strength, all his considerable Adept power and all of his determination to live.
A wave of energy pulsed at Bakir even as he swung his knife downward, but his knife never entered Kin's flesh, never even broke the skin. The knife dropped limply from Bakir's dead hand as his brain exploded inside his skull. Kin did not stop screaming. He kept on screaming adrenalin fueled hatred at Bakir's dead body as his power imploded Bakir's internal organs, crushed his bones and reft his body apart. It was almost 2 minutes before the security which always guarded closely arrived. What they found appalled them to the marrow of their bones.
Of course, after that, everything was as to be expected looking at human history. The British military put a veil of shadow over their revised Yakamura documents, Kin was placed under military protection after extensive plastic surgery, and the British underwent the development of a human weapon. The world threw out the non-aggression documentation and the race began to perfect the Pschic Killing machine.
The year is now 2294, and Adepts are the Jedi of the day. They belong to the military of whatever country they represent, but they partake in policing, counselling, peacekeeping and many other aspects of society. The Adepts of the day are almost unrecognisable to those of then. They are finely tuned machines, and have abilities that the original Adepts wouldn't have even imagined. They carry no weapons and wear no armour. Who could harm them? They can smell your intent from a mile away, and any bullet you aim will never leave your gun. In fact, it is often joked that the only way to shoot an Adept is by accident. There are those who can make you mad just by looking at you, others that can make you confess mortal sins by clicking their fingers. There are those who can bend light around themselves to make them invisible. The talents Adepts have discovered are almost without limit.
Of course, it has always been the issue that some people can develop such gifts while others cannot. And so once the Adept research itself was completed, the next great project for science was to identify what it was in certain people that allowed this talent. It took 70 years of research, but it was completed. A small discrepancy in the brain, almost nothing, that seems to make the difference. The final step, which was completed only last week, was to take someone without Adept powers, and give them the gift. Now anyone can have the gift.
And so this debate rages. The military intends to develop a one-stop drug that will give anyone who takes it psychic powers that were once the stuff of myth and children's novels. To some on this council - the Governing Council for The Americas and Europe, the GCAE - such as Cleatus Fane, and Pierre Floudant, this is a stunning prospect for mankind. But Claudio Andolini knows better. The military will develop a drug that gives the psychic gift to any who take it. But then the military gets to pick its armies. and if they can develop a drug that allows power, they can develop a drug that prevents it. In that way, they can choose their enemies.
The military forces of America and Europe will inherit the earth, and no-one will be able to stop them. But no-one listens to an old timer like Andolini. Too often he is called old-fashioned. Stuck in his ways. Instead, the debate sways toward the development of the drug. The only consideration of Andolini's please that a clause be written up that prevents military use of the drug without written authority and approval from the GCAE. Fools. The military will do what they please. Throughout human history, they always have.
Humankind is doomed to slavery.
It all started in the summer of 2019, where an exceptionally gifted Japanese high school student by the name of Hiro Yakamura began a revolution which shaped human history and took the world by storm. Hiro was a psychic, a genuine, true-to-form psychic. He couldn't see the future, fly or fire death rays from his fingers or any such nonsense, but he could peer into minds, read thoughts, intentions, even memories. You could sit in a room with him, and he could tell you all about the childhood memories you yourself had forgotten, could identify in moments psychological discrepancies and traits that took professional psychologists hours or even days to puzzle.
He was genuine, but his gift was not to be a unique one. What made Hiro so special was that he could share his ability. He was not just the product of a gene gone awry here or there. He had a system. A mental exercise that brought forth his abilities. And he could teach others how to do the same. Not all others, but some. Some other gifted young talents could begin to show signs of the same power following Hiro's technique, though never to the same extent, and when there were some hundred or so of these, action was taken to harness this new force.
And so the Academy for Psychic Adepts (or APA) was formed. Headed by young Hiro and a number of wealthy Japanese financial backers, the APA hoped to gather as many psychics as possible and pool resources to investigate the new strength. Of course, the whole thing was essentially a lab experiment. Everything that happened was recorded and tested scientifically. While the APA peaked at around 2000 students in 2034, some 13 years after it's inception, the thousands of minds working behind the scenes put together a thesis on the development of psychic abilities.
The Identification and Development of Yakamura Syndrome was kept hidden from public eyes. Only those who had the gift to develop such abilities were ever taught from the book, and even then, the Adepts were never given a copy of the book for study, they were only ever read to from it. 15 years on from the discovery of Hiro Yakamura, the Japanese government had a blueprint for creating powerful Adepts almost at will. It was about this time that the debates started to rage. What was Japan to do with its professional Adepts. When would they share their information on Yakamura Syndrome. Among the paranoia over Japan's secrecy on the whole subject, the Anti-Psychic League first raised its head, led then by American political extremist Gordon Bracewell. Obviously, the APL wanted simply the destruction of the Yakamura blueprint, and the "cleansing" of the Adepts. Though in the early days it was never mentioned what "cleansing" was supposed to mean, it was generally assumed that it would be cleansing by being staked to some sacrificial cross and burned alive.
It wasn't until February 2036 that Japan finally agreed (for a considerable sum) to release the "Yakamura Bible" to western powers, and sign a non-aggression Act for the Adepts, meaning basically that their powers would never be developed for military or otherwise antagonistic purposes. This in itself silenced most critics, including Bracewell himself, who died later that year of acute liver failure. The APL lived on though, with Caerus Ardun, Bracewell's understudy, now taking the reins. However, Ardun was no political extremist, his extremism has nothing to do with politics, just power. Under his leadership, the APL became increasingly underground, increasingly aggressive.
Meanwhile, in 2038 in England, the British developed their first Adept using the Yakamura Bible, one Michael Kin. Michael Kin grabbed headlines because he was the first Adept to rival Yakamura's own abilities. A year later, he grabbed more as he plainly surpassed Yakamura's talent. Kin's talent went so far as to add a few chapters to the bible, which the British kept well to themselves. And it was at this point that people started to get upset. Kin's power began to dwarf that of any other Adept before him. He could read minds, he could read several at once. He could tell if anyone within a hundred metres was thinking about him, looking at him. He could close his eyes and still see everything around him. Such was his incredible - and still developing - talent.
For Ardun, it was too much. Kin's massive talent would reshape the Bible, and allow hundreds of thousands more people to develop powers which he did not possess. He had been tested by the Yakamura Bible, and been found wanting. He had no power to develop, which made any Adept automatically a better human than he. Kin was the last straw, and so he arranged to have him killed.
On the night of April 13th, 2040, an assassin by the ame of Hugo Bakir entered the home of Michael Kin, intending to kill him in his sleep. But Kin was no easy target. Even in his sleep, he sensed Bakir's intent before he had even entered the house. Though he was alone - as he often requested, for meditative purposes - he had the element of forewarning. And so, when Bakir entered the bedroom of Kin, Michael was not there. Bakir did not panic, however, he was a professional. Kin was in the house. His sheets were still warm, still carried the imprint of his shape. Bakir fell silent, and listened. Here, Michael's lack of experience in having to be silent for his life let him down, as halfway down the stairs to exit his house, the step craked slightly. Not much, but enough for a trained ear to pick it up. Before Kin could curse his clumsiness, Bakir dived down the stairs and hit Kin square in the chest with both fists. Together, the pair tumbled down to the bottom of the stairs and landed, Kin on his back with Bakir atop him pinning his arms down with his knees. Bakir didn't hesitate, he pulled a knife from his black trousers and went to plunge it straight into Kin's heart. Kin's reaction to the sight of the knife was to scream. He screamed like nothing on the earth before him. Into his scream he poured all of his strength, all his considerable Adept power and all of his determination to live.
A wave of energy pulsed at Bakir even as he swung his knife downward, but his knife never entered Kin's flesh, never even broke the skin. The knife dropped limply from Bakir's dead hand as his brain exploded inside his skull. Kin did not stop screaming. He kept on screaming adrenalin fueled hatred at Bakir's dead body as his power imploded Bakir's internal organs, crushed his bones and reft his body apart. It was almost 2 minutes before the security which always guarded closely arrived. What they found appalled them to the marrow of their bones.
Of course, after that, everything was as to be expected looking at human history. The British military put a veil of shadow over their revised Yakamura documents, Kin was placed under military protection after extensive plastic surgery, and the British underwent the development of a human weapon. The world threw out the non-aggression documentation and the race began to perfect the Pschic Killing machine.
The year is now 2294, and Adepts are the Jedi of the day. They belong to the military of whatever country they represent, but they partake in policing, counselling, peacekeeping and many other aspects of society. The Adepts of the day are almost unrecognisable to those of then. They are finely tuned machines, and have abilities that the original Adepts wouldn't have even imagined. They carry no weapons and wear no armour. Who could harm them? They can smell your intent from a mile away, and any bullet you aim will never leave your gun. In fact, it is often joked that the only way to shoot an Adept is by accident. There are those who can make you mad just by looking at you, others that can make you confess mortal sins by clicking their fingers. There are those who can bend light around themselves to make them invisible. The talents Adepts have discovered are almost without limit.
Of course, it has always been the issue that some people can develop such gifts while others cannot. And so once the Adept research itself was completed, the next great project for science was to identify what it was in certain people that allowed this talent. It took 70 years of research, but it was completed. A small discrepancy in the brain, almost nothing, that seems to make the difference. The final step, which was completed only last week, was to take someone without Adept powers, and give them the gift. Now anyone can have the gift.
And so this debate rages. The military intends to develop a one-stop drug that will give anyone who takes it psychic powers that were once the stuff of myth and children's novels. To some on this council - the Governing Council for The Americas and Europe, the GCAE - such as Cleatus Fane, and Pierre Floudant, this is a stunning prospect for mankind. But Claudio Andolini knows better. The military will develop a drug that gives the psychic gift to any who take it. But then the military gets to pick its armies. and if they can develop a drug that allows power, they can develop a drug that prevents it. In that way, they can choose their enemies.
The military forces of America and Europe will inherit the earth, and no-one will be able to stop them. But no-one listens to an old timer like Andolini. Too often he is called old-fashioned. Stuck in his ways. Instead, the debate sways toward the development of the drug. The only consideration of Andolini's please that a clause be written up that prevents military use of the drug without written authority and approval from the GCAE. Fools. The military will do what they please. Throughout human history, they always have.
Humankind is doomed to slavery.
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Damn him, he thought. Damn him to Hell!! Claudio Andolini allowed the debate raging around him to fall silent in his ears. He was sick to death of the whole subject. The fate of humankind rested on the outcome of this meeting, of that he had no doubts. Not that anyone here seemed to share his view of anything. None of this would have happened if it hadn't been for one man's paranoia. One man's paranoia over two and a half centuries ago. That man was Caerus Ardun, one time leader of the Anti-Pyschic League, a man who later rotted in prison for a crime which shook the world.
It all started in the summer of 2019, where an exceptionally gifted Japanese high school student by the name of Hiro Yakamura began a revolution which shaped human history and took the world by storm. Hiro was a psychic, a genuine, true-to-form psychic. He couldn't see the future, fly or fire death rays from his fingers or any such nonsense, but he could peer into minds, read thoughts, intentions, even memories. You could sit in a room with him, and he could tell you all about the childhood memories you yourself had forgotten, could identify in moments psychological discrepancies and traits that took professional psychologists hours or even days to puzzle.
He was genuine, but his gift was not to be a unique one. What made Hiro so special was that he could share his ability. He was not just the product of a gene gone awry here or there. He had a system. A mental exercise that brought forth his abilities. And he could teach others how to do the same. Not all others, but some. Some other gifted young talents could begin to show signs of the same power following Hiro's technique, though never to the same extent, and when there were some hundred or so of these, action was taken to harness this new force.
And so the Academy for Psychic Adepts (or APA) was formed. Headed by young Hiro and a number of wealthy Japanese financial backers, the APA hoped to gather as many psychics as possible and pool resources to investigate the new strength. Of course, the whole thing was essentially a lab experiment. Everything that happened was recorded and tested scientifically. While the APA peaked at around 2000 students in 2034, some 13 years after it's inception, the thousands of minds working behind the scenes put together a thesis on the development of psychic abilities.
The Identification and Development of Yakamura Syndrome was kept hidden from public eyes. Only those who had the gift to develop such abilities were ever taught from the book, and even then, the Adepts were never given a copy of the book for study, they were only ever read to from it. 15 years on from the discovery of Hiro Yakamura, the Japanese government had a blueprint for creating powerful Adepts almost at will. It was about this time that the debates started to rage. What was Japan to do with its professional Adepts. When would they share their information on Yakamura Syndrome. Among the paranoia over Japan's secrecy on the whole subject, the Anti-Psychic League first raised its head, led then by American political extremist Gordon Bracewell. Obviously, the APL wanted simply the destruction of the Yakamura blueprint, and the "cleansing" of the Adepts. Though in the early days it was never mentioned what "cleansing" was supposed to mean, it was generally assumed that it would be cleansing by being staked to some sacrificial cross and burned alive.
It wasn't until February 2036 that Japan finally agreed (for a considerable sum) to release the "Yakamura Bible" to western powers, and sign a non-aggression Act for the Adepts, meaning basically that their powers would never be developed for military or otherwise antagonistic purposes. This in itself silenced most critics, including Bracewell himself, who died later that year of acute liver failure. The APL lived on though, with Caerus Ardun, Bracewell's understudy, now taking the reins. However, Ardun was no political extremist, his extremism has nothing to do with politics, just power. Under his leadership, the APL became increasingly underground, increasingly aggressive.
Meanwhile, in 2038 in England, the British developed their first Adept using the Yakamura Bible, one Michael Kin. Michael Kin grabbed headlines because he was the first Adept to rival Yakamura's own abilities. A year later, he grabbed more as he plainly surpassed Yakamura's talent. Kin's talent went so far as to add a few chapters to the bible, which the British kept well to themselves. And it was at this point that people started to get upset. Kin's power began to dwarf that of any other Adept before him. He could read minds, he could read several at once. He could tell if anyone within a hundred metres was thinking about him, looking at him. He could close his eyes and still see everything around him. Such was his incredible - and still developing - talent.
For Ardun, it was too much. Kin's massive talent would reshape the Bible, and allow hundreds of thousands more people to develop powers which he did not possess. He had been tested by the Yakamura Bible, and been found wanting. He had no power to develop, which made any Adept automatically a better human than he. Kin was the last straw, and so he arranged to have him killed.
On the night of April 13th, 2040, an assassin by the ame of Hugo Bakir entered the home of Michael Kin, intending to kill him in his sleep. But Kin was no easy target. Even in his sleep, he sensed Bakir's intent before he had even entered the house. Though he was alone - as he often requested, for meditative purposes - he had the element of forewarning. And so, when Bakir entered the bedroom of Kin, Michael was not there. Bakir did not panic, however, he was a professional. Kin was in the house. His sheets were still warm, still carried the imprint of his shape. Bakir fell silent, and listened. Here, Michael's lack of experience in having to be silent for his life let him down, as halfway down the stairs to exit his house, the step craked slightly. Not much, but enough for a trained ear to pick it up. Before Kin could curse his clumsiness, Bakir dived down the stairs and hit Kin square in the chest with both fists. Together, the pair tumbled down to the bottom of the stairs and landed, Kin on his back with Bakir atop him pinning his arms down with his knees. Bakir didn't hesitate, he pulled a knife from his black trousers and went to plunge it straight into Kin's heart. Kin's reaction to the sight of the knife was to scream. He screamed like nothing on the earth before him. Into his scream he poured all of his strength, all his considerable Adept power and all of his determination to live.
A wave of energy pulsed at Bakir even as he swung his knife downward, but his knife never entered Kin's flesh, never even broke the skin. The knife dropped limply from Bakir's dead hand as his brain exploded inside his skull. Kin did not stop screaming. He kept on screaming adrenalin fueled hatred at Bakir's dead body as his power imploded Bakir's internal organs, crushed his bones and reft his body apart. It was almost 2 minutes before the security which always guarded closely arrived. What they found appalled them to the marrow of their bones.
Of course, after that, everything was as to be expected looking at human history. The British military put a veil of shadow over their revised Yakamura documents, Kin was placed under military protection after extensive plastic surgery, and the British underwent the development of a human weapon. The world threw out the non-aggression documentation and the race began to perfect the Pschic Killing machine.
The year is now 2294, and Adepts are the Jedi of the day. They belong to the military of whatever country they represent, but they partake in policing, counselling, peacekeeping and many other aspects of society. The Adepts of the day are almost unrecognisable to those of then. They are finely tuned machines, and have abilities that the original Adepts wouldn't have even imagined. They carry no weapons and wear no armour. Who could harm them? They can smell your intent from a mile away, and any bullet you aim will never leave your gun. In fact, it is often joked that the only way to shoot an Adept is by accident. There are those who can make you mad just by looking at you, others that can make you confess mortal sins by clicking their fingers. There are those who can bend light around themselves to make them invisible. The talents Adepts have discovered are almost without limit.
Of course, it has always been the issue that some people can develop such gifts while others cannot. And so once the Adept research itself was completed, the next great project for science was to identify what it was in certain people that allowed this talent. It took 70 years of research, but it was completed. A small discrepancy in the brain, almost nothing, that seems to make the difference. The final step, which was completed only last week, was to take someone without Adept powers, and give them the gift. Now anyone can have the gift.
And so this debate rages. The military intends to develop a one-stop drug that will give anyone who takes it psychic powers that were once the stuff of myth and children's novels. To some on this council - the Governing Council for The Americas and Europe, the GCAE - such as Cleatus Fane, and Pierre Floudant, this is a stunning prospect for mankind. But Claudio Andolini knows better. The military will develop a drug that gives the psychic gift to any who take it. But then the military gets to pick its armies. and if they can develop a drug that allows power, they can develop a drug that prevents it. In that way, they can choose their enemies.
The military forces of America and Europe will inherit the earth, and no-one will be able to stop them. But no-one listens to an old timer like Andolini. Too often he is called old-fashioned. Stuck in his ways. Instead, the debate sways toward the development of the drug. The only consideration of Andolini's please that a clause be written up that prevents military use of the drug without written authority and approval from the GCAE. Fools. The military will do what they please. Throughout human history, they always have.
Humankind is doomed to slavery.
It all started in the summer of 2019, where an exceptionally gifted Japanese high school student by the name of Hiro Yakamura began a revolution which shaped human history and took the world by storm. Hiro was a psychic, a genuine, true-to-form psychic. He couldn't see the future, fly or fire death rays from his fingers or any such nonsense, but he could peer into minds, read thoughts, intentions, even memories. You could sit in a room with him, and he could tell you all about the childhood memories you yourself had forgotten, could identify in moments psychological discrepancies and traits that took professional psychologists hours or even days to puzzle.
He was genuine, but his gift was not to be a unique one. What made Hiro so special was that he could share his ability. He was not just the product of a gene gone awry here or there. He had a system. A mental exercise that brought forth his abilities. And he could teach others how to do the same. Not all others, but some. Some other gifted young talents could begin to show signs of the same power following Hiro's technique, though never to the same extent, and when there were some hundred or so of these, action was taken to harness this new force.
And so the Academy for Psychic Adepts (or APA) was formed. Headed by young Hiro and a number of wealthy Japanese financial backers, the APA hoped to gather as many psychics as possible and pool resources to investigate the new strength. Of course, the whole thing was essentially a lab experiment. Everything that happened was recorded and tested scientifically. While the APA peaked at around 2000 students in 2034, some 13 years after it's inception, the thousands of minds working behind the scenes put together a thesis on the development of psychic abilities.
The Identification and Development of Yakamura Syndrome was kept hidden from public eyes. Only those who had the gift to develop such abilities were ever taught from the book, and even then, the Adepts were never given a copy of the book for study, they were only ever read to from it. 15 years on from the discovery of Hiro Yakamura, the Japanese government had a blueprint for creating powerful Adepts almost at will. It was about this time that the debates started to rage. What was Japan to do with its professional Adepts. When would they share their information on Yakamura Syndrome. Among the paranoia over Japan's secrecy on the whole subject, the Anti-Psychic League first raised its head, led then by American political extremist Gordon Bracewell. Obviously, the APL wanted simply the destruction of the Yakamura blueprint, and the "cleansing" of the Adepts. Though in the early days it was never mentioned what "cleansing" was supposed to mean, it was generally assumed that it would be cleansing by being staked to some sacrificial cross and burned alive.
It wasn't until February 2036 that Japan finally agreed (for a considerable sum) to release the "Yakamura Bible" to western powers, and sign a non-aggression Act for the Adepts, meaning basically that their powers would never be developed for military or otherwise antagonistic purposes. This in itself silenced most critics, including Bracewell himself, who died later that year of acute liver failure. The APL lived on though, with Caerus Ardun, Bracewell's understudy, now taking the reins. However, Ardun was no political extremist, his extremism has nothing to do with politics, just power. Under his leadership, the APL became increasingly underground, increasingly aggressive.
Meanwhile, in 2038 in England, the British developed their first Adept using the Yakamura Bible, one Michael Kin. Michael Kin grabbed headlines because he was the first Adept to rival Yakamura's own abilities. A year later, he grabbed more as he plainly surpassed Yakamura's talent. Kin's talent went so far as to add a few chapters to the bible, which the British kept well to themselves. And it was at this point that people started to get upset. Kin's power began to dwarf that of any other Adept before him. He could read minds, he could read several at once. He could tell if anyone within a hundred metres was thinking about him, looking at him. He could close his eyes and still see everything around him. Such was his incredible - and still developing - talent.
For Ardun, it was too much. Kin's massive talent would reshape the Bible, and allow hundreds of thousands more people to develop powers which he did not possess. He had been tested by the Yakamura Bible, and been found wanting. He had no power to develop, which made any Adept automatically a better human than he. Kin was the last straw, and so he arranged to have him killed.
On the night of April 13th, 2040, an assassin by the ame of Hugo Bakir entered the home of Michael Kin, intending to kill him in his sleep. But Kin was no easy target. Even in his sleep, he sensed Bakir's intent before he had even entered the house. Though he was alone - as he often requested, for meditative purposes - he had the element of forewarning. And so, when Bakir entered the bedroom of Kin, Michael was not there. Bakir did not panic, however, he was a professional. Kin was in the house. His sheets were still warm, still carried the imprint of his shape. Bakir fell silent, and listened. Here, Michael's lack of experience in having to be silent for his life let him down, as halfway down the stairs to exit his house, the step craked slightly. Not much, but enough for a trained ear to pick it up. Before Kin could curse his clumsiness, Bakir dived down the stairs and hit Kin square in the chest with both fists. Together, the pair tumbled down to the bottom of the stairs and landed, Kin on his back with Bakir atop him pinning his arms down with his knees. Bakir didn't hesitate, he pulled a knife from his black trousers and went to plunge it straight into Kin's heart. Kin's reaction to the sight of the knife was to scream. He screamed like nothing on the earth before him. Into his scream he poured all of his strength, all his considerable Adept power and all of his determination to live.
A wave of energy pulsed at Bakir even as he swung his knife downward, but his knife never entered Kin's flesh, never even broke the skin. The knife dropped limply from Bakir's dead hand as his brain exploded inside his skull. Kin did not stop screaming. He kept on screaming adrenalin fueled hatred at Bakir's dead body as his power imploded Bakir's internal organs, crushed his bones and reft his body apart. It was almost 2 minutes before the security which always guarded closely arrived. What they found appalled them to the marrow of their bones.
Of course, after that, everything was as to be expected looking at human history. The British military put a veil of shadow over their revised Yakamura documents, Kin was placed under military protection after extensive plastic surgery, and the British underwent the development of a human weapon. The world threw out the non-aggression documentation and the race began to perfect the Pschic Killing machine.
The year is now 2294, and Adepts are the Jedi of the day. They belong to the military of whatever country they represent, but they partake in policing, counselling, peacekeeping and many other aspects of society. The Adepts of the day are almost unrecognisable to those of then. They are finely tuned machines, and have abilities that the original Adepts wouldn't have even imagined. They carry no weapons and wear no armour. Who could harm them? They can smell your intent from a mile away, and any bullet you aim will never leave your gun. In fact, it is often joked that the only way to shoot an Adept is by accident. There are those who can make you mad just by looking at you, others that can make you confess mortal sins by clicking their fingers. There are those who can bend light around themselves to make them invisible. The talents Adepts have discovered are almost without limit.
Of course, it has always been the issue that some people can develop such gifts while others cannot. And so once the Adept research itself was completed, the next great project for science was to identify what it was in certain people that allowed this talent. It took 70 years of research, but it was completed. A small discrepancy in the brain, almost nothing, that seems to make the difference. The final step, which was completed only last week, was to take someone without Adept powers, and give them the gift. Now anyone can have the gift.
And so this debate rages. The military intends to develop a one-stop drug that will give anyone who takes it psychic powers that were once the stuff of myth and children's novels. To some on this council - the Governing Council for The Americas and Europe, the GCAE - such as Cleatus Fane, and Pierre Floudant, this is a stunning prospect for mankind. But Claudio Andolini knows better. The military will develop a drug that gives the psychic gift to any who take it. But then the military gets to pick its armies. and if they can develop a drug that allows power, they can develop a drug that prevents it. In that way, they can choose their enemies.
The military forces of America and Europe will inherit the earth, and no-one will be able to stop them. But no-one listens to an old timer like Andolini. Too often he is called old-fashioned. Stuck in his ways. Instead, the debate sways toward the development of the drug. The only consideration of Andolini's please that a clause be written up that prevents military use of the drug without written authority and approval from the GCAE. Fools. The military will do what they please. Throughout human history, they always have.
Humankind is doomed to slavery.