THE INSTITUTE SERIES SET I

   The First Institute Flash [b]How To Tell Her: Michael's Story[/b] By
ElSol

   "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

   ====

   THE FIRST MOTHERLESS CHILD INSTITUTE STORY

   [B]Case File #36: The Smell of Vengeance[/B] by ElSol

   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.

   "Clean them up," I told the crowd.

   "Let's try again," I said when the two men were brought back.

   "You already know, don't you?" an assemblywoman asked.  "You did
something to their minds."

   "If I take what I need, I can't give you the opportunity to hang with
them," I said.

   "The Institute classified them as genetically anomalous," she offered.
"The Mayor's been in power for longer than the young officer you sent has
been alive."

   "He threw his support behind the Captain when the position became
available," someone else spoke up with.  "They've been messing with what's
taught about the Institute and Positives for years."

   "The Institute had no right to deny me a child!" the Mayor screamed at
me.

   "We know the Institute prevents research into other solutions," the
Captain said, made brave by the Mayor's foolish act.  "The Institute is
only interested in protecting their power."

   "I see," I said.

   The entire assembly set themselves.  No Positives, no sex -- no sex, no
children.  The men's actions should not have been tolerated; non-Positives
had lynched people for less.

   "Since Red Falls is obviously populated entirely by Geddonists, let me
provide your heart's desire," I said.  "The city is now under Institute
Quarantine."

   They roared accusations at each other.  They had reason to be scared;
the last Quarantine leveled at an entire community had been to destroy a
company caught manufacturing Positive inhibiting drugs over thirty years
before.  The city had imploded into violence with the city leaders and
company executives quartered.

   I silenced them by raising my hand a minute later.

   "But since your Captain has so much confidence in other solutions," I
said.  "I will allow the bio-techs to experiment with in-vitro
fertilizations here.  They'll be pleased to hear so many have volunteered;
women who want to try the method have been few and far between in recent
decades."

   "Please!" the woman who had spoken before said.  "Don't do this to us!"

   "We can do it if they give us the scientists, Marcia," the Captain said.
"This is what we wanted."

   "Shut up, Marcus!" she screamed in fury.  "They tried!  They tried and
failed so many times with so many women that WE voted to give the Director
everything he asked for.  He convinced women first that Positives were our
only hope, you fucking idiot!"

   "It worked once," the Mayor protested.

   She gave him a look so full of venom I was surprised he did not collapse
in immediate cardiac arrest.

   "One successful in-vitro pregnancy since the Event," she said sadly. 
"And in the twenty-two years since his birth, those records have been
sealed by a unanimous vote of the House and Senate with every President
since confirming it.  The Supreme Court has accepted every case challenging
the seal and unanimously voted against unsealing the records EVERY time."

   Everyone was looking at me.

   "I don't know what the records say," I told them.  "The Director hasn't
let me read them either."

   "You're lying," the Mayor accused.  "You are that baby; the Director
would tell you.  He's very fond of the truth, isn't he?"

   I sighed and shook my head.

   "What do we have to do to avoid a Quarantine?" Marcia asked.

   I put a bullet in the Mayor's head, and one in the Captain's.

   "A good place to start is everyone stop trying to annoy me," I said
after the bodies stopped twitching.

   "PUT THEM DOWN!" Marcia yelled at the cops pointing guns at me.  I
holstered my weapon and looked around to see how many more were going to
have to die over the men's stupidity.  The assembly members dispersed and
talked to the officers making sure the guns were put away before I took any
more action.

   I stood between the bodies to keep the results of challenging the
Institute's authority fresh in the gathered assembly members' minds.

   "Do you want to avoid a Quarantine?" I asked.

   They nodded in unison.

   "I have just finished mentoring a new Institute Operative," I told them.
"I will have her based out of Red Falls and task her with ensuring the
damage is undone."

   They nodded eagerly; I did not need to use my power to know what they
were thinking.

   "While normally getting a Positive to live in Red Falls would be a boon,
believe me, not if they're an Operative," I said.  "New Operatives are
prone to enthusiasm.  I'm sure the Director will have some strict
instructions for Sheila after he reads my report.  Considering the
Director's orders are zealously administered by the most experienced
Operative, I can't imagine the lengths Sheila will go to put a smile back
on his face when he hears the name Red Falls."

   They winced and with good reason; I was the least destructive of five
active Operatives.

   I turned to walk towards the hotel, only to be stopped by Marcia's hand
on my arm.

   "Lucinda, the Positive, has my daughter," she told me.

   "So?"

   "My daughter has given Lucinda reason to be angry with her," she said
carefully.

   "How much reason?" I asked.

   "A lot," the young officer answered when the assemblywoman would not.  I
turned to stare at him.

   "Jennifer has a reputation," the officer told me.  "Lucinda was her
favorite victim in high school."

   I turned back to the assemblywoman.

   "Jennifer is the daughter of a Positive," she said as if it explained
her failure as a parent.

   "Do you understand what 'stop trying to annoy me' means?" I asked.

   "We always thought that she would..."

   "I'm going to let you in on a little secret," I said.  "If the Director
believed the statistic the bio-techs throw around about the children of
Positives being more likely to be born Positive, he would have every single
one of us on a breeding schedule."

   "But the studies?"

   "The studies are interpreted by bio-techs too eager to please a man
they've canonized," I said.  "There are enough statistics to say that only
one out of five hundred thousand children are born Positive.  There are not
enough children of Positives to say with any surety that it improves those
odds.  We could have gotten lucky.  Even if the bio-techs are right, twice
as likely leaves two hundred forty-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine
chances that your daughter was not born Positive."

   I turned away and gave some thought to how the information altered the
dynamics of the situation.

   "How long have they been up there?" I asked.

   "A couple of hours, sir," the officer replied.

   "Okay," I said nodding.  "I'm hungry so I can give Lucinda another hour
with Jennifer before I pay her a visit."

   "But my daughter!" the woman protested.

   "My case loss ratio being half of everyone else's makes me the best
Institute Operative ever, as if being only 2 million children behind were
an achievement to be proud of," I told her.  "Lucinda has to enable five
hundred thousand babies that grow up to have babies of their own for us to
stay at population G-Zero."

   She took a step back as I put a hand on my holster.

   "We haven't achieved G-Zero since the Event," I said.  "I'm not here to
fix the problem you created; I'm here to fix the one your daughter might
have."

   "I want everyone off the street," I told the officer.  "Have a cop watch
every exit from a distance in case Lucinda gets bored before I get back. 
If any of you gets within fifty feet of her, you'll be burying another
body"

   I walked back to the gravcar.



   -----

   The door to Room 313 was unlocked so I let myself in.  A tall brunette
with body proportions falling on the thick side was standing at the head of
the bed with a blonde between her legs.  Both were intensely focused: the
blonde on her duty, and the brunette on the effects of the blonde's
diligent attention to that duty.

   I closed the door loudly to get their attention.  The blonde jumped, but
the brunette cut off any further movement by grabbing a fistful of a blonde
hair.

   "Lucinda?" I asked the brunette.

   "They sent another cop?" the brunette asked sneering.

   "You don't recognize the uniform?" I asked.  She looked me up and down,
but shook her head.

   "I'll have to give Sheila instructions of my own about Red Falls," I
said.

   "Who's Sheila?" Lucinda asked.  "You know what, never mind!  I want to
see Jennifer stuffed with cock.  Come here!"

   An Institute Positive would have known better than to try their talent
on an Operative, and the thought of using it on me terrified most of them.

   "That smells good," I told her.  Lucinda had a delicate touch with her
pheromones; they did not assault, instead tried to undermine.  I closed my
eyes and took a deep breath.  Every Pheromonic had a signature, regardless
of the effect they were trying to engineer.  Lucinda's signature was
written in tropical citrus.

   "Come here!" she ordered as the pleasant scent overcame any other smell
in the room.  I tilted my head and stared at her.

   "Come here" she said unsurely.  Lucinda was too new to her talent to
have real confidence in its ability.

   "You're not doing anything wrong," I said.  "In fact, you're very good;
a little less than average in strength but that could be a lack of
training. You have a naturally slow and subtle approach, which makes for
the best Pheromonics.  You're going to be the apple in quite a few of your
instructors' eyes, Lucinda.  You'd be amazed how many of your kind think
they need to use the sledgehammer approach like a Telepathic."

   "Who are you?" she asked pushing Jennifer away.  Lucinda was ready to
bolt and would have if I had not been standing between her and the door.  I
smiled and stretched a hand out to Jennifer.

   "Come...here," I said slowly.  The hand gesture and voice were a touch
of drama necessary to break through Lucinda's confusion.  Jennifer's head
and eyes rolled back as my jacking, gentled for this purpose, infused her
with pleasure.  She leaned towards me, and the pleasure increased. 
Jennifer got the idea right away and crawled toward me.  She struggled with
each movement: her body wanting to stay and enjoy the sensation while her
mind told her it would only get better.  She stopped at my feet and rubbed
her face against my pant leg.

   "Interesting," I said.  Sifting through Jennifer's mind, I discovered
why she managed to finish the crawl of pleasure.  "Well, aren't you popular
with your father's best friend!  'Uncle' Charles has been a very nice man
to you."

   I looked at Lucinda while I stroked Jennifer's hair.  The blonde put her
hand on my zipper and lowered it.

   "Well trained also," I said looking down at her.  "Let's not ruin
another Positive's hard work.  Proceed, dear."

   She smiled up at me, and worked my pants open.  The abundant
satisfaction in her sigh as she took me into her mouth surprised Lucinda. I
closed my eyes and enjoyed the time and effort that Uncle Charles put into
Jennifer's sexual education.

   "You're the Institute Cop!" Lucinda said finally.  Jennifer was busy
working my testicles with her tongue so it took me a few seconds to
respond.

   "The Cop thing is a misunderstanding of an Operative's enforcement
role," I told her.  "In reality, our enforcement duties make us the
Institute's executioners."

   Her eyes widened, and she looked around frantically.  There was no way
out except through me, but I had pushed too hard.  Lucinda jumped off the
bed.  I waited for her feet to touch the ground before jacking into her
harder than I had with the Captain and Mayor.  Like Jennifer, Lucinda's
head and eyes rolled back; her body went with them though.  There was
nothing her consciousness could do except flee the pain I caused her.

   Jennifer had not paused in her efforts.  I pulled her head back and
looked into her eyes.

   "I'm going to tie your pleasure to mine," I told her.  "Except I'm going
to multiply yours, and to make it better, the closer I get to orgasm the
higher the multiplier becomes.  But...  you can't come until I do."

   I built the switch in her mind, and she felt the immediate effects. 
Jennifer gasped and dug her nails into my thighs.  It was painful enough to
reduce my pleasure, thereby reducing hers.  She pulled her hands away from
my skin quickly and leaned forward to lick at the markings her nails left
behind.

   Jennifer was not the delayed satisfaction kind of girl so she took the
head of my dick in her mouth and worked the shaft with her hands.  She
whimpered as the pressure of my time with Shannon and her own efforts
bubbled to the surface.

   I was already close, which Jennifer felt as a sudden explosion of
sensation as I let myself into the moment.  She grabbed my hips and pushed
her face into my groin until she had my dick completely in her mouth.  Her
movement was too fast to get me to orgasm, but she was beyond coordinated
action.  Her actions became more and more desperate until I intervened to
guide her body with my mind.

   Jennifer relaxed as I also reduced the pleasure coursing through her. 
It made her more focused on the prize; her hands moved under my shirt.  Her
hands played along my skin trying to rush the sensation towards a quicker
exit into her mouth.

   I leaned my head back, took a deep breath as I hung at the very top of
mountain, and released into her mouth.  She screamed around my dick and
fainted.

   I looked down and sighed.  Somehow, I always got stuck with the cleanup.

   ---- ?

   I was sitting on the bed leaning towards her when Lucinda regained
consciousness.

   "Hello," I said.  She sat up slowly and backed away until her back
touched the wall.  Her eyes moved to the door.

   "We have things to discuss," I told her.  "I would appreciate if you
didn't try to run again."

   "What did you do to Jen?" she asked looking behind me.  I had placed
Jennifer on the bed thinking she might prove useful in convincing Lucinda
to do what was best for everyone involved.

   "Pretty much the same thing I did to you," I said.  "With pleasure
instead of pain."

   "So what did you do to me?" she asked putting her hands on either side
of her head.  She did not feel the pain anymore, but the memory of it was
strong.

   "My equivalent of a Telepathic Scream," I said.  "The Scream is one of
the reasons that only Telepathics can be Operatives-- Positives are still
human so the Scream affects them."

   She obviously wanted to ask more questions but was afraid to.

   "I guess we should cut to the chase," I said.  "You have two choices;
three in reality, but we'll get to that one later."

   "What are you talking about?"

   "You are Erotic Mind Control Positive, Lucinda," I said.  "It puts you
under the authority of the Institute."

   "You're a bunch of power-hungry freaks!" she accused.

   "There is a failure in the educational system of Red Falls, which I'm
certain Sheila will correct," I said.  "Technically, we are freaks
considering how few of us there are, but unfortunately for the people that
think we're just freaks, EMC-Positives are a necessary part of the human
race's ultimate survival."

   "It's all your fault!" she said.  "You freaks caused the Event."

   "A stupid theory, no sane person could believe since Positives are a
direct result of the Event," I told her.  "You are smarter than that?  Or
do I have to use words with less syllables?"

   She bit her lip and looked at the door again.

   "I was tested in high school," she protested angrily.  "You would think
with over half a century of testing the Institute would get it right!"

   "The Director made a choice, Lucinda," I said.  "Better a few late
bloomers getting missed than a lot of young Positives being put in
untenable situations."

   "What do you want?" she asked suddenly.

   "I want you to come back to the Institute and make five hundred thousand
babies," I answered.  Her face blanched.

   "You're not going to have five hundred thousand babies yourself," I said
shaking my head.  "But you're going to enable others to have them with your
power."

   "I don't want to go to the Institute," she said.

   "You don't have to be affiliated with the Institute once your training
is complete," I told her.  "But you will be trained; the Institute has
enough problems without rogue, untrained Positives on the loose."

   "What if I don't want to go?"

   "It's option number three and would put me another five hundred thousand
children behind," I replied.

   She gave me a confused look but was distracted by movement behind me. 
She stared at Jennifer, her face twisting with something close to hatred.

   "Jennifer's very pretty," I said.

   "No, she's not!" Lucinda yelled at me.  I waited until she calmed before
speaking again.

   "Should I make arrangements for you to take her back to the Institute
with you?" I asked.

   "What?"

   "You wouldn't be the first Positive to show up for training with a
friend," I said.  "Most adult trainees do."

   Her suddenly curious eyes met mine.

   "I'm not here for Jennifer, Lucinda," I said.  "If the only thing in the
way of you becoming a productive Institute Positive is this childish
hatred, I will go buy the hooks for you to hang her intestines out the
window."

   She pushed against the wall trying to create distance between us.

   "Are you a lesbian?" I asked.

   "What?!?"

   "They sent four cops in here, but Shannon, the female, was the only one
to feel the effects of your power."

   "I didn't do anything.  I think she got hit with what I was doing to
Jen," Lucinda whispered.

   "So are you interested in males?" I asked.

   "Why do you want to know?"

   "A homosexual Pheromonic needs to be paired with their sexual opposite,"
I said.  "It needs to go in your profile so we can try to get you paired as
soon as possible."

   "I'm no lesbian Geddonist!"

   "Being homosexual does not make someone a Geddonist," I said.  "In fact,
I have respect for any lesbian who decides to become a biological mother.
The only way for them to get pregnant is the equivalent of licking shit, or
at least that's how they describe having sex with a man."

   "I'm not a lesbian," she insisted.  "I like...  liked..."

   I waited for her to finish.  She gave Jennifer a very angry look before
she spoke the name.

   "Brad."

   "Jennifer's boyfriend?" I asked.

   "He used to be mine until Jennifer stole him!"

   "Definitely cause persecutus," I said.  "Are you still interested in
Brad?"

   "NO!"

   "Not even for a little payback?" I asked.  "As long as you agree to come
to the Institute, I can afford to give you a few hours or days with the two
of them."

   "You really don't care, do you?" she asked in amazement.

   "I live for the Institute's Mission, Lucinda," I said.  "What a Positive
does to keep themselves entertained is irrelevant as long as they serve the
Mission."

   "I can keep Jennifer as my pet?"

   "I'll make her mother pack the bags, if you want to keep her clothed
that is," I said.  "Some Positives prefer their special friends to walk
around naked.  Weather permitting, of course."

   She smiled a vicious smile but shook her head.

   "I don't want her or that asshole, Brad," she announced.  The way she
kept staring at Jennifer told me differently.

   "How is Shannon?" she asked.  "I didn't mean to hurt her."

   "A Positive using their power on someone in a sexual fashion is a legal
right; you did no injury to Shannon," I said.

   "What?"

   Lucinda was asking too many questions; I changed my mind about talking
to Sheila.  When the Director read the case file, the town of Red Falls
would learn what it meant for an Operative to be the vessel of his wrath.
There was no way to fan the fire any hotter.

   "You were in this room using your power in a legally permitted fashion.
Interfering was against the law," I said.  "It's besides the point though,
what you did to Shannon was your right even if she had not been following
an unlawful order."

   "You're joking!"

   "Human extinction is not a joke," I said.

   "Is everybody at the Institute as crazy as you?" she asked jokingly.

   "Mostly the Operatives," I said.  "We have to be; it makes it easier on
Positives if there's a boogeyman people are more afraid of.  What's a
little nookie-nookie compared to dealing with an annoyed Operative?"

   "Anyway," I continued.  "Shannon and her new husband, James, are happily
enjoying the honeymoon you made possible."

   "James is cute!" she said sitting up.

   "Would you like to say congratulations, and maybe join them for a bit?"
I asked.

   "You're a pervert!"

   "It would answer the lesbian question with finality," I pointed out. 
"I'm sure they would like to thank their benefactor."

   "I didn't do anything."

   "You gave them the opportunity to have a baby, Lucinda," I said.  "Most
people are grateful."

   She looked at Jennifer again, but her face was a lot calmer than any
other time she had done it.

   "Shannon does have very nice tits," she said softly.

   "And James is gravity-free young man," I said.  Lucinda had passed her
moment of crisis; I needed to get her out of the room.  I jacked into
Jennifer and made sure she stayed asleep.

   "Do you really think they wouldn't mind if I..."

   "They'll love it," I said.  I did not think it would be necessary to
make them love it either; Shannon and James understood the reality of a
world that needed the Institute.

   I pulled a blanket off the bed and handed it to Lucinda.  She stood up
and wrapped it around her body.  I gestured towards the door.

   "They really won't mind?" she asked.

   "No," I said opening the door.

   "You're not going to do anything to them, are you?" she asked narrowing
her eyes.

   "What a Positive thing to say," I replied.

   "You didn't answer the question," she retorted.

   "And you've already picked up that wonderful Positive attitude towards
us self-sacrificing Operatives," I said.  "You're a natural."

   Shannon and James were two floors down.  She was lying on top of him
with a sublime smile of satisfaction on her face.

   "Hi," Shannon said with as much brightness as she could muster.

   "Hello," Lucinda replied looking at her feet.

   "Did you come to make our honeymoon better than it already is, Lu?"
Shannon asked.

   "Now, that's the second best thing I've heard today," James said with
excitement.  I put my hand on Lucinda's shoulder to gently push her towards
the bed.

   She was in good hands so I made a quiet exit and headed back to
Jennifer. The girl was awake when I entered the room.  I had held the jack
during my walk downstairs and felt her arousal become conscious.

   "Hello, Jennifer," I said taking off my shirt.

   "What are you doing?" she asked holding the blanket up to her chest. 
Seconds later, she dropped it as Lucinda handiwork took its full effect
again.

   "You pissed off the wrong girl," I told her.  "She's going to be busy
for awhile, and there's no chance you would be approved for a child at this
stage in your immaturity, but there's no reason to let you go to waste."

   "Get out!" she said, but her voice was too weak for her to have meant
it.

   "Shannon and James are young and as much control as Lucinda has, she
might keep re-dosing them," I said.  "It's a vicious cycle so I could be
here for a couple of weeks or even a month.  Don't worry; I bore easily. 
If it comes to that, I'll find other ways to pass the time, like your
mother."

   She got out of the bed and tried to run.  I let her take a couple of
steps before using the jack to throw her back on the bed.  Her eyes
screamed as her body betrayed her.  In their depth, a different kind of
arousal rose.

   "I see you've played this game too," I said.  "Have you played the
mother-daughter game?"

   She shook her head; it was a lie.



   ----



   I sat staring out the window of the Institute lounge.  Most Positives
gave me wide berth so no one was sitting near me.

   "Good work with Lucinda," the Director said parking his gravchair next
to me.  His assistant Stephanie sat down a respectful distance away.

   "Thank you, sir," I replied with a nod.  He gave me a wide smile that
stretched his parchment skin.  He was old, and done enough in his life to
be considered ancient.

   "I read your report, son," he said staring out the window.  "I decided
it was time."

   He put a folder in front of me.

   "Paper?" I asked surprised.  "No one uses paper anymore."

   "I kept everything on paper because I knew that someday the record of
your birth might have to be completely destroyed," he said turning the
chair around.  "I won't outlive everyone who knows."

   I watched him glide away before I picked up the folder.