Free Alien Invasion and Other Inconveniences by Brian Yansky

very small. An insignificant number. I admit they may have some latent ability that we have awakened, but it is far from awareness.
    I understand the pressures you are under and I appreciate your help. I will not disappoint you.
    To Senator & High Lord Vertenomous:
    We have a problem. I’ve had my science officer do experiments on the product because we’ve detected changes, an increase in the abilities of those that could hear from the start and many who have developed hearing since initial contact, roughly ten thousand, perhaps a few more if rumors of rebel camps are true.
    My science officer compared it to what happened on Rayden 2, where a similar change occurred. Apparently contact with us stimulated a part of the product’s mind that they couldn’t access before. What is most important is that the product on Rayden 2 advanced only to the level of a child. Many of them even lost hearing skill after that, but none, not one, advanced further. My science officer anticipates the same will happen here.
    Nevertheless, we both know there will be an outcry across the Republic from species rights and religious groups who will claim the product is aware and cannot, by law, be treated as product. The company would suffer significant losses, unacceptable losses.
    Here is my proposition: I will destroy all hearing product on this planet. The other heads of houses have already been contacted and all have agreed to my plan. We will claim that the product that could initially hear lost the ability. You will send me a small number of hearing product from our holdings to compensate for my loss. We’ll begin a campaign immediately to undermine the inevitable accusations. With quick, decisive action, we can still make this a profitable acquisition. The company will, no doubt, be very grateful.

We practice talking with our minds, and though we can’t hear each other perfectly — it’s a little like a cell phone with a faulty signal — we can all do it. I try to hear the Handlers talking to one another. Occasionally I hear bits of thoughts.
    That night in the library, we all talk to each other with our minds. I can hear everyone pretty clearly except for Lauren. Her voice is lost in static every few seconds. She has to ask what’s been said, too, and it frustrates her. She’s used to being the quickest at everything.
    We’re all freaks,
Michael thinks.
What is happening to us? We’re all turning into freaks. Nothing as freaky as dream boy here, but still
.
    Maybe we’ll turn back into ourselves when we get away from them,
Lindsey thinks.
    It won’t be like that,
I think.
We’re all hearing m
ore. I he
ar other people sometimes now. I bet you
do, too
.
    Lindsey thinks,
The other day I heard a girl thinking about her mother and aunt. It was like a memory
.
    So it’s maybe like an evolutionary change,
Lauren thinks.
    Both Michael and Lindsey groan.
    I’m just saying, maybe it’s permanent. Evolutionary changes have always caused discomfort
.
    I think,
Like when apes went one way and what would become humans went another, there were proba
bly hard feelings
.
There were probably some apes yelling at the ones becoming humans, “You guys are total freaks!”
    Shut up,
Michael thinks.
    We’re preoccupied, and that’s why we don’t hear Anchise.
    You’re reading each other
.
    “What?” I say. “No. Reading? No.”
    Everyone else denies it.
    You’re lying
.
    We start denying it again.
    Go to your rooms,
he thinks, though we still have time before we normally have to go to our rooms.
    A geeky guy named Ted uses my line about Anchise’s biological clock being off. I want to tell him to shut up, but I don’t get the chance. Anchise doesn’t even look at him. Ted falls to the floor. Ted is dead.
    Sorry for your loss,
Anchise thinks, not sounding sorry at all.
    Anchise tells everyone to go to their rooms, and they all do. They practically run for the stairs. I can feel how he likes this. But something is wrong. They’ve been