Chapter 9: Experiments

After that evening, the world changed. Well, I guess it would be more accurate to say that I changed. I was glowing when I went down for breakfast, and they all claimed they could see it. Even Phillipe. Roland had to pull his children aside before they left for school and warn them that they could not speak of this to anyone, for they would be endangering the whole family if the wrong people found out.

Then, after breakfast, the experiments began again. This time in earnest. Roland was determined to discover what powers I really had, and what their limits were. We discovered that I could contain my energy simply by willing it so. Then we discovered that I could direct my power, unleashing it at specific objects without harming those around it. We discovered that my range was greater than the length of the longest hallway in his house (about thirty meters). Then tabled that discovery until we could find a safe outdoor venue.

We discovered that my powers were very much akin to lightning, in its damage, but we had no way to really measure anything specific. We also discovered that the more I worked to control it, the stronger I became. Sort of like working out and causing your muscles to grow.

We also discovered some cons, or problems with my powers. There was no way to totally hide them. If someone was actively looking for me, they would be able to see me, or even sense me with the proper instruments. There was just no way I could turn them off.

However, I could dim them significantly, simply by spreading my power out among other people. So, Roland concluded that I might be safest in a crowd. When I tried spreading my powers on a few people at the chateau, it did not seem to have any adverse effect on anyone, although Roland reported to me a month or so later that there was going to be a population explosion among the staff at the chateau soon. I guess it was a good thing that Mischa and Carina were not there that day.

We finally ended up going to a soccer match to test that one out more completely. Roland, through some of Carina’s medical contacts, had secured a device that could locate significant amounts of human energy similarly to the way thermal imaging could locate signs of body heat within downed buildings. He would go to one side of the stadium and then try and locate me on the other side, using the device. I was fairly successful in staying hidden. I decided to keep an eye on the news to see if they reported a population explosion in the area nine months from now.

We even flew to Morocco to help search for victims of an earthquake amid the rubble. That was not a fun experiment but was mildly satisfying when we discovered a small child still alive in the rubble.

There were two areas that I kept wanting to explore more. One was healing. Ever since I helped Mischa feel better, I felt that there might be other things I could do. And both Carina and Mischa came to me for help the next time they stared their periods. But I just never seemed to find the opportunity to explore healing any further.

The other area of interest was the effect of my power on time. I kept wondering if I could use my EMF to touch or warp time. I finally gave that thought up for now. I would need much more education to tackle that one.

“Daniel, I have an idea for another experiment,” Roland told me after breakfast. “I’d like to see if you could actually transfer some of your powers to someone else.”

“What do you have in mind?” I asked.

“Well, we know that using your EMF you can sense other normal EMF’s and even identify some of them. And you can do that at an almost unlimited range.”

We had determined that one night as we lay in the back yard on a blanket and found I could detect the Space Station and all six people on board.

“So, what I was wondering was if you might be able to transfer some of that energy to the people you sense. We can start small. I’ll walk across the room, and you see if you can transfer some of your power to me.”

“No,” I told him. “It’s too dangerous. Maybe we can start with a small animal or such.”

Roland contemplated this for a moment and then agreed. “We will shelve this one until I can come up with an animal,” he said.

“While you’re thinking on it, you might better decide what kind of animal you’d like having this kind of power. Just in case it proves successful,” I told him. I was halfway kidding him but found out later that he had taken that warning to heart and never even looked for an animal.

And that was the way of a vast portion of our experiments. For every success, there were multiple setbacks or failures. Still, Roland’s creativity amazed me as he kept coming up with things we could try. And all the time, whether the experiments worked, or they didn’t, I kept getting stronger and better control.

One day, while Roland was seeing another client, I was lounging on the terrace by myself when I had a thought. I’d like to go home. One thing about my gift, when you put a lot of raw power behind an idea, you get thousands of ideas on how to make it happen.