The Institute Stories Set 01

How To Tell Her: Michael's Story

"I got tested," I announced. My grip, on the velvet box in my pocket, tightened.

"Excuse me?" Sarah asked looking up from the menu with a smile. I loved her smile. It wasn't the perfect curve of her lips but the way her eyes glowed when she looked at me.

"I got tested," I repeated. "The results arrived this morning."

"Tested for what, darling?" she asked putting the menu down. I looked out the window to avoid her eyes. She reached out to put her hand on top of mine.

"I'm EMC-Positive, Sarah," I whispered. Her hand pulled away; my nails dug into the box.

"The Institute started testing everyone at puberty over ten years ago, Michael," she insisted.

"An exception is allowed if the biological parents and the child refuse the test," I informed her.

"Who would do that?" she asked horrified. I turned to stare at her.

"But even your parents have to be reasonable about some things, Michael!"

"No, Sarah, they don't," I sighed. "They thought that the Institute was just another government conspiracy. They still do."

"Everyone gets tested!" she spat.

I didn't have anything to say to that; I had been dealing with the repercussions of my parents' political beliefs since I moved out of their home.

"You had to say no for the exception to apply," she said furiously.

"I was fourteen, Sarah," I reminded her. "Every kid talked about refusing the test."

"But no one does!"

"Parents do not refuse the test," I said. "I thought it was cool that I could do what everybody else only talked about."

I warned the waitress off with a small shake. Sarah sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Are they sure?" Sarah asked. "There could have been a mistake."

"No mistake, Sarah," I said.

"There's drugs though," she said staring at me. "I've heard they suppress this."

"The drugs are rare since the Institute threatened to Quarantine anyone working for a company that manufactures them. It doesn't matter though, if I were Telepathic or Symbolic, the drugs would work," I said. "Hell, even an Empathic can be trained not to project. Not me."

"What are you?" she asked raising her voice.

"Pheromonic," I told her.

"That's impossible, Michael," she said. "They're the easiest to detect. We had a Fem-Pher in my high school; she was always flocked by boys."

"For all my parents' political beliefs, they wanted the best for their little boy," I said staring out the window again. "The best schools in my city were the single-sex grammar and high schools. Nobody thinks to ask why one boy is more popular than another in that environment."

"What about college?"

"I attended The Castle, Sarah," I stated.

Her nails scratched at the tablecloth. I picked up my napkin and wiped my brow.

"Do you need another couple of minutes?" the waitress asked approaching the table.

"Yes, please," I said.

She smiled and turned away too quickly, losing her balance. Her hand came down on top of my napkin when she tried to catch herself.

"I'm so sorry!" she said.

"It's okay," I told her.

Her face changed expressions as she looked down at the napkin. She picked it up and brought it to her face; a deep breath seemed to fuel something inside of her.

"Excuse me!" Sarah hissed.

"I'm sorry!" the waitress said blushing.

"It's okay," I said taking the napkin out of her hand gently. Sarah watched her flee.

"Is that how it's going to be?" Sarah growled at me.

"That's how it has been since my military discharge," I said. "I just didn't know why."

"Waitresses fawning over you?"

"And co-workers," I said. "Your friends. Your mother."

"I have to use the bathroom," she said getting up and walking away.

I pulled the box out of my pocket and stared at it.

"Would it be crass to ask for your number when you're getting ready to pop the question?" the waitress asked from behind me. I put the box back in my pocket before replying.

"A little."

"It doesn't seem to be going well," she pushed.

"It's not going at all," I admitted.

"You're one of them? A mind controller," she asked in a voice laced with an excitement she could have only felt around 'one of us'. "I've never felt like this before!"

I settled into the pattern of conversation I had unwittingly begun to use with women after meeting Sarah. The waitress spent the next couple of minutes being frustrated by my refusal to exchange with her.

"I'm not going to be able to leave you alone for a minute without some woman coming on to you from now on, am I?" Sarah asked sitting down. "And the Institute will insist that you do whatever comes naturally to your kind!"

There was no point in answering the question, if it even was one.

"I always knew there was something wrong with this," she said sitting back and staring at me.

"Wrong?" I asked with a thumb stroking the box in my pocket.

"I feel too much for you," she said angrily.

"I can't make you love me, Sarah," I told her.

"You're EMC-Pos," she said dismissing my protest with a wave of her hand.

"It's the little things," she said. "I don't even like the taste of semen, and when we had sex, lying in your bed felt like I was surrounded by warmth."

She always said 'made love' before.

"If there's nothing we can do about it, then we'll have to deal with it," she said raising her chin.

"No, Sarah," I said. "I'll deal with this; I'm sure the Institute will help. You've already decided not to."

"Let's just eat, Michael," she told me. "We'll discuss this at your apartment."

It was no longer our home.

I understood the height of our stupidity at that moment; we had been living an abnormal life and thinking we were somehow exempt from the new laws of nature. No one just had sex anymore, not in a world that needed the Institute and its growing army of Erotic Mind Control Positives.

I let the box in my pocket go.

END FLASH

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The First Motherless Child Institute Story

Case File #36: The Smell of Vengeance

Stares and silence confronted me as I stepped out of the gravcar. The Director said Operatives got used to it; I disliked raising my voice so the silence was useful.

"Sir," a young police officer said, coming to attention what he must have thought was a safe distance from me.

"I'm not in your chain of command," I told him. "Relax."

"Yes, sir," he replied, ignoring what I said. I shook my head and studied the expensive hotel behind him.

"Is she up there?" I asked quietly.

"Room 313, sir."

I nodded.

"Why not the penthouse, sir?" he blurted. "I thought Positives always took the best."

"She didn't know to ask," I said. Walking past him, I counted far too many of his fellow officers. One to keep an eye on a late blooming Positive (the testing exemption had been repealed too long before for it to be anything else) until the assigned Institute Operative arrived was the standard procedure handed down by the Director to local authorities.

"Sir!" the cop exclaimed. "The Captain ordered you to come see him."

I froze and turned back to him.

"That's what the Captain said!" he rushed out.

"In that case, the girl can wait," I said. "Where is the Captain?"

He nodded towards an ambulance. I gestured for him to walk ahead and wondered how many people would witness the heavy-handed treatment the Director expected when someone gave orders to an Operative. It was necessary, but I wished people who did not understand the limits of their power would make it unnecessary more often.

"Captain," the young officer said approaching a man wearing a uniform more appropriate to the Policeman's Ball than the street.

"Are you the EM-Cop?" the Captain asked, giving me an unfriendly glance. There was no point in answering the question; the gray uniform was intended to be a sign of danger. Most of us considered the uniform silly, and the others had to endure the jokes from non-Operative Positives. It did make us recognizable enough to avoid problems, though this particular person was ignoring the warning.

"Erotic Mind Control Operative," I said. "EMC-Op if you must shorten it. I prefer Institute Operative or just Operative, which is how the Director addresses us."

He shrugged my point aside.

"I understand you ordered me to attend you," I said.

Everyone near us took a couple of steps back. They made sure to stay close enough to hear how the exchange ended, while making it a point to look elsewhere. The Captain gave the young officer an angry look but refused to back down.

"That's one of mine in the ambulance," he spat.

"I'm not fond of emotional outbursts, especially angry ones," I said. "Moderate your tone, or you will scream in pain for the next year or so."

"You can't do that!"

"Institute Operatives are always Telepathics," I said; no one could be that ignorant, but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Even Telepathics have limits," he insisted bravely.

"It isn't one of mine," I said.

"Only the Director's Bas..." he stopped as his eyes flared in recognition.

"Finish the word," I said.

"Bastard!" he said. I had to give him credit-- his voice barely wavered.

"Were I any other Operative, you would be screaming at my feet for having thought of giving that order," I said. "Because I am the EMC-Op who people so lovingly refer to as the 'Director's Bastard', I have the luxury of letting it slide."

He looked ready to continue speaking, but fear held his tongue. It was better for him to be afraid; even a non-Operative Positive would have handled the situation more roughly than I chose to.

"She's one of mine," he said finally, looking at the ambulance.

"What's your point, Captain?"

"She's..." the young officer said stepping forward. He seemed lost for a second, "Horny, sir."

"Why didn't someone say that to begin with?" I asked. "I wasn't aware the girl had gotten to one of you."

I stepped around the Captain and opened the ambulance doors. A female officer was strapped to a gurney, struggling to get free.

"I've never seen anyone like that," the young officer said peeking around a door. The curiosity was common; few people had witnessed someone that horny. For the most part, Institute Positives kept the extreme forms of their fun behind closed doors.

"FUCK ME!" the female officer yelled.

"What's her name?" I asked.

"Shannon," the Captain answered. I nodded and stepped into the ambulance. I sat beside the gurney to study her; she was pretty with long brown hair and vibrant blue eyes.

"Hello, Shannon," I said.

"Help me!" she begged. Her eyes bored into me as she strained against the straps. "Please, fuck me!"

"I've got an appointment with the young lady who did this to you, so I can't take the time right now," I told her. "But I can be of some help."

She gritted her teeth. I jacked into her mind with enough force for her to be aware of the invasion.

"I'm going to function as a wall between you and most of the horniness, Shannon," I said, erecting the barrier in her mind. "It's going to allow you to make some decisions without interference."

She relaxed and closed her eyes as the mental wall took the brunt of what had been done to her body.

"The girl is a Pheromonic," I said.

"How can you tell?" the young officer asked from the ambulance door.

"The four Positive powers require different approaches to abate their effect," I told him. "With a Pheromonic, the signals being sent from the body need to be blocked or functionally siphoned off. Basically, I've increased her pleasure tolerance."

"I like the pleasure," Shannon said pushing her chest toward me.

"What?" the young officer gasped. The Captain stomped away.

"We had a Symbolic Positive in my freshman dorm," she said staring hungrily at me. "I was her favorite."

"So you know about the decisions you need to make in this circumstance, Shannon?" I asked. She answered with a firm nod. It made things easier; no one could deny or hide from what had happened to the human race like in the first twenty or so years after the Event, but it did not stop people from being willfully ignorant to the consequences.

"Why does she have to make any decisions?" the young officer asked. "You fixed her."

"Where did you go to school?" I asked him.

"Red Falls is a little strange, sir," Shannon told me. "They don't... have a lot of respect for Positives."

"I don't understand," I said.

"The Captain sent four of us after the girl, sir," she explained, refusing to meet my eyes. I sat quietly for a few minutes. A quick scan proved the veracity of her statement meaning the Captain had tied my hands. As lenient as I chose to be in some areas, I had been not been baptized the Director's Bastard for the open questions about my lineage.

"Officer," I said looking at the young man at the ambulance doors. He straightened into attention at the tone of my voice.

"Tell your Mayor and the Captain, I will be questioning them as soon as I've made arrangements for Shannon," I told him.

"I don't know where the Mayor is, sir."

"Find him," I said and turned to study Shannon again.

"If you have previous experience with a Positive, I don't have to explain much to you," I said to her. She gave me a big smile and another nod.

"The Pheromonic in the hotel is good," I told her. "Not powerful, but she's got a naturally subtle touch. It's going to take a week for what she's done to flush out of your system."

"I missed it," she said with her eyes beaming.

"What do you want to do?"

"I have a fiancée, James. Our Institute Application is pending," she whispered hopefully.

I activated my earcell.

"Yes, Jason," a warm female voice answered on the other side. I reached out to straighten Shannon's shirt so I could read her nameplate. She pushed up and rubbed her breast against my hand. I let her enjoy the contact for a few seconds.

"I need an Application pushed through processing," I said leaning away from Shannon, who pouted.

"Name?"

"Shannon Davidson."

"Shannon Davidson from Red Falls; Application Partner, James Hutchinson," the voice said. "The Application is pending the required blood re-test. I'll get a bio-tech on it, sir."

"How long will it take?"

"I've got the on-duty tech inline, and she's pulled the blood samples. A few minutes, sir."

"I'll wait then," I said.

"Yes!" Shannon hissed when I reached over to unbutton her shirt. I pulled the knife off her belt and cut her t-shirt and bra open so I could have access to her breasts. The position was not flattering, but I could tell Shannon's breasts were exceptional.

"No wonder you were that Symbolic's favorite," I said circling a hard nipple with a finger.

"The wall... please, the wall!"

"I'm glad to see your experiences with us have been positive," I said. I shortened the barrier so her body could send sexual signals over it.

"Oh My God!" she cried. "It's been so long!"

I leaned down and took her right nipple in my mouth. I sucked hard on it. Shannon had not complained about being strapped down so her Symbolic must have enjoyed her in that fashion.

"Sir," the voice in my ear said a few minutes later.

"NO!" Shannon screamed as I pulled away from her. I heard a snicker from the doors and looked. I would not have been surprised if everyone on the street was peeking into the ambulance to see what I was doing to Shannon.

"Shannon and James's Application has been approved," the voice said happily. "Please congratulate the happy couple for me, Jason."

"Thank you, I will," I replied. Shannon perked up at my words.

"Susan and the Institute would like to extend our congratulations," I told her. "Now, where can we find James Hutchinson?"

"Here!" an officer said from outside the ambulance. I turned to watch him step up to the doors.

"Well, I seem to have all the requirements for wedding," I said. "Are you two ready to get married?"

"We're New Christians," James replied.

"I thought it would help our Application," Shannon informed me.

"I'll call our priest," James said. "He could get here in fifteen minutes."

"Why bother?" I asked. "I can marry you."

They looked at each other in surprise. I undid Shannon's straps while they communicated silently. It took a minute for James to untangle himself from Shannon's enthusiasm when she was finally free. I helped him by raising the barrier in her mind to its original level.

"Is it true?" James asked holding Shannon at arm's length. The question made her focus on me.

"Is what true?" I asked.

"That we'll have a normal life if we're married by an Institute Operative," Shannon asked eagerly.

"No, Shannon," I replied. "You'll have a very abnormal life. The only limitation on children will be the Institute approved number for your combined physical, psychological, and social profile. You'll also receive a Conjugal Visitation Ration Card."

They hugged tightly for a long time. The people around us whispered loudly about the couple's good luck.

"Does that mean you don't wish to wait for the NC priest?" I asked after they stepped apart.

"No!" Shannon replied smiling. I activated the earcell.

"Yes, Jason."

"Please witness the Institute marriage of Shannon Davidson and James Hutchinson."

"Recording."

People crowded around, as Shannon and James stood hand-in-hand before me. I took their joined hands in mine and jacked into them with enough force to make them aware of my mental presence.

"Will you love this child?" I asked.

"I will," James said. His voice cracked the tiniest bit.

"I will," Shannon said with tears pouring out of her eyes.

Their overwhelming sincerity came through the link.

"Will you love every child the Institute gives you?" I asked.

"We will," they replied together.

I nodded with the solemnity the ceremony deserved. They hugged and kissed as people applauded loudly. I waited until the congratulations were over before approaching them again.

"You can still have a public New Christian ceremony if you wish," I told them.

"It's not necessary," Shannon replied. "A pregnancy announcement is the important ceremony; our parents will understand."

"Fine," I said. "Are you ready, James?"

"Yes, sir,"

I had not released the jack into either of them so it was only a matter of pushing against James's mind. He sighed and dropped to his knees; Shannon tried to hold him up but could not.

"He's a virgin," she explained unnecessarily. She helped him back to his feet when he managed a grip on the sensations coursing through him for the first time.

"Get them a room in the hotel," I told a couple of nearby officers. "Shannon, I'll hold the wall up until you get inside."

"Sir, the girl is still in there," one of the officers protested.

"It didn't stop anyone when your Captain ordered it," I said.

They decided retreat was the better part of valor and led the newlyweds towards the hotel. I waited until I could release the barrier before looking for the young officer I had sent on my errand. He was standing a few feet behind me.

"Sir," he said in a significantly more respectful voice. "I found the Mayor. The entire city assembly came with him."

I followed him to the small crowd of people surrounding the Captain and a man I assumed was the Mayor.

"Gentlemen," I said, coming to a halt in front of the two men. "I'm going to jack into this officer because he asked a very stupid question about Miss Shannon's encounter with the Pheromonic. Am I going to be disappointed by what I find?"

"I don't know what you expect to find," the Mayor said angrily.

One of the women gasped. I jacked both men: painfully... for them. They fell on their stomachs and screamed hard enough for everyone to jump. The Captain puked on my shoes, while the Mayor puked and pissed himself. I wiped my shoes off on the Captain's pants when he was done screaming.