"Sabs, that's ridiculous. It's not like you to fall for such a crazy conspiracy theory," I couldn't believe there could be any truth to what I was hearing.
Sabecce changed tactics, "Grayce, you know I'm a highly-skilled Counselor, right?" I nodded, of course I knew this. Sabeece had been one of the first in our generation to Bloom, with such a strong affinity for counseling that the only surprise would have been any other Calling.
"And you know my Practice is wide-ranging, including some of our wisest Elders, right?" I didn't, but it seemed believable and I didn't want to slow down the point Sabeece was trying to get to, so I nodded again.
How does Sabs think this relates to my situation anyway?
"As their Counselor, you know I'm privy to all their thoughts, every one," Sabeece continued in that patronizing tone as if speaking to a Youngling. "Their deepest memories, even secrets they've shared with no one else. Not just the conscious thoughts they deliberately send, but the undercurrent of their memories and private thoughts."
Of course. Our ability to exchange thoughts with those around us was a fundamental basis of Svatran society. It was what differentiates us from other lower organisms. Even as Younglings, we could sense the basic desires and feelings of others around us. I'd never been on the receiving end of a formal counseling session, but from my attempts at apprenticing, I knew their abilities went deeper than the rest of ours.
"I'm proud of you Sabs, I really am. It's great that you find counselling such a rewarding Calling, but I don't see how this has anything to do with my little problem," irritation tinged my voice.
What a time to be bragging about a successful Calling.
"Please allow me to finish, Grayce, I'm getting there." I sighed and waved Sabecce on, looking at the ceiling in exasperation.
"The first time I received thoughts about a 'Termination Protocol' from an Elder, I brushed it off as a misinterpretation," Sabecce went on. "Unconscious thoughts are much harder to read than conscious ones, even for me. They're subject to a lot of misinterpretation, so we try not to make conclusions based solely on them." Sabeece stared off into the near distance, apparently lost in thought.
"When it happened again, I considered referring the Elder to another Counselor. Sometimes there's just a fundamental neural incompatibility with a client. We've all had experiencs like that. But..." Sabeece paused to reflect.
"Something stopped me this time though. It might have been because the only issues seemed to be around this 'Termination Protocol' topic. Usually there's more generalized difficulty accessing various layers of thought and memory. Maybe it was simple curiosity or a budding sense that this might be more than a coincidence but, whatever it was, I continued seeing the client.
"Another time, I thought I might be accessing the memory of a dream. At worst, maybe something the Elders were contemplating a need for, which appalled me. Again, I didn't really take it seriously."
"Sabs, is it possible you've just been working too hard?" I said gently. I knew one of the hardest parts of being a Counselor was blocking out the constant stream of minutia, the conscious and unconscious thoughts and memories they received. It was a constant challenge to direct their focus on the concerns of their client at the moment. Counselors routinely took breaks on the remoter, less populated islands, which were set aside for them to escape the constant stream of thoughts they were bombarded with. Sabeece and I hadn't been in close contact lately, but it sounded like it was time for a hard-earned vacation.
"You don't understand, Grayce. This isn't just some wild and crazy theory! When I encountered what was clearly an actual memory in the mind of another Elder, I realized this was much more than a coincidence or some remnant of a shared dream." Sabeece paused to take a steadying breath before continuing.
"At first, I wasn't too worried, since the memory was clearly from long ago, when the Elder was no more than a Youngling, but it was enough to get me interested. I started researching."
"I couldn't find any information on 'Termination Protocol' at first. It wasn't until I stumbled upon the term 'Treatment Centers' that I was able to start really piecing it together."
~*~*~
Hello lovely! 👋🏾
'Treatment Center' - where have we heard that term before? Seems to mean something different you Sabeece than it does to Grayce, doesn't it?
In honour of the Wattys, I'll be posting a bit more frequently for a while. Have any requests when you want to see new chapters come out? Let me know 😉
Thanks for the votes ⭐️ and comments! Great to hear from you!
Cheers!
BINABASA MO ANG
Discovery - Bionts Series (Book 1)
Science FictionWhat if your death was scheduled in four days? What if your differences marked you for extermination by the very people you called friends? What would you give up, in order to live? These are the very questions Grayce faces when a routine medical...
