Free Telepath (Hive Mind Book 1) by Janet Edwards

“Now, if you
don’t mind, Megan said you were the best person to answer my questions.”
    Lucas instantly sat down,
leaning forward in his chair again, his eyes fixed on me. “Go!”
    “What does a Telepath Unit
do? What am I supposed to do?”
    “Good question. Needs a history
lesson. Let’s go back in time. People used to live, dotted all over the world,
in communities of various sizes. Bigger communities grew into pre-Hive cities.
Homes close together, mostly two or three levels. You’re following me?”
    “Vaguely.”
    “Imagine the transport
issues. Problems providing things like rapid specialist medical care are
obvious. People gravitated into larger cities where these things were available.
Cities got bigger, buildings taller, closer together. Natural progression into
first proto Hives.”
    He was speaking in partial
sentences, as if speech couldn’t match the speed of his thoughts. I dipped into
his mind to help me keep up, and suddenly what he was saying really was
obvious. I could actually watch the process in his head, as humanity clustered
together into cities.
    “Old lifestyle heavily
affected by threat of crime and risk to personal safety. Children watched every
second due to perceived threat of abduction and injury.”
    “What?” I was shocked by a
brief, graphic picture in his mind.
    “Also major pollution-related
health issues and danger from high speed transport vehicles. Anti-crime surveillance
measures everywhere. Cameras, facial recognition devices, tracking devices,
even automated drones and orbital satellite thermal imaging.”
    I shook my head in
disbelief. Children under ten wore tracking bracelets as a safety precaution,
but the thought of adults having their every move tracked and recorded was unbelievable.
“People really accepted living like that?”
    Lucas shrugged. “People traded
privacy for increased safety. Their acceptance of camera surveillance seems
strange to us. Current public acceptance of nosy patrols might seem as strange
to them.”
    For eighteen years, I’d
believed the nosies were genuine telepaths. I’d hated the idea of them reading
my mind, but accepted that nosy patrols were necessary to keep the Hive a safe
place. “You’re probably right.”
    “Now!” Lucas startled me
by shouting the single word, before babbling on in speed speech again. “First true
Hives relatively small, but major impact on society. New enclosed habitat available.
All amenities immediately accessible. No pollution. No danger from vehicles. No
criminals allowed entry. Hives perceived as superior, safer environment, huge demand
to become residents.”
    I was checking his pre-vocalized
thought level now, patching in the missing words that he wasn’t saying aloud,
to help me make sense of his shortened sentences. “Yes, but …”
    Lucas kept relentlessly jabbering
on. “Phase of extending prototype Hives to become mega Hives. Design variations.
All in geologically stable areas, mainly underground, 70 to 210 levels. Other communities
gradually abandoned.”
    I had another try at interrupting
him. “Yes, but I still don’t see where I …?”
    Lucas raised a hand to
stop me. “Approaching that. Hives now sole major environment. Existing undesirable
elements not allowed entry, but new ones appear within Hives. Vast numbers of
people packed close together, hugely vulnerable to predatory natures. Crime and
murder rate soared. Society panic defence response.”
    I didn’t understand the
last sentence at all, because he was talking too fast and leaving out too many
words. Then something happened. Lucas’s pre-vocalized thought level seemed to
blur, merge with the images in the level below, and come abruptly back into
focus again. Had my mind made an adjustment to read both levels at once, or was
it his that had changed? I didn’t know, but I could understand what he was
saying now without consciously filling in the missing words.
    “Hive society responded in
panic, instituting