So you're just here to talk?
That's right
I'm surprised you still do that.
Do what?
Talk? I mean, don't you just....you know?
Most clients in your circumstance prefer speech. They find more standard forms of communication uncomfortable.
And you're here to make me comfortable?
You're my client, it's my job.
I thought your job was to keep me in line.
I mean, that's why the check-ups, right?
Alina, it's my job to check on your progress. Your wellbeing.
You haven't been able to find work?
No.
Have you attended reclaimation training this month?
No.
Support services?
No.
Is that a problem?
No. Support services are voluntary and I know hard it can be for people in your circumstance to find work.
My circumstance?
We have such nice ways of talking about it, don't we?
My circumstance. My condition. My negative assessment.
We're so polite about it.
A glove.
A cup.
A book.
A window.
Do you think they knew?
Do you think they knew how hard it would be?
Reclaimation laws hadn't passed then. Things were a lot more fluid, uncertain.
We didn't care for your kind then as much as we do now.
When did your kind become so common?
When did you outnumber us?
There's no official date for it but it's believed to be about twenty-five years ago.
I would have been six.
Now non-telepathy are what? Like one-in-ten?
Actually, it's more like one-in-fifteen.
So, what started as a freak oddity is now more common than the average hair colour.
Does it upset you, to be a minority?
Does it upset me?!
[Telepathically] Get away from me, you filthy shade!
That was the umm.
That was the first time I ever heard someone else's thoughts in my head.
It was the first time that someone's emotions were strong enough to penetrate into my backward, non-telepath brain.
It was...it was absolute contempt.
It was hatred.
And it came from my mother.
It's difficult for telepathic parents to form bonds with their non-children.
We form bonds, emotional connections, so much differently.
It's way the Reclaimation Act was passed. To address changing social needs.
Ah, right.
Social needs.
But not ours.
What do honestly expect the government to do, just leave these kids on the streets?!
Child abandonment has reached record levels, but fostering has dropped to almost zero.
And what does that say about us as a society? That it has become acceptable to abandon our children because they are biologically different.
This isn't about biology, Alexis. It's about people's willingness to embrace change. To embrace reality.
Those Reclaimation Centres are not embracing reality, Weyland. They are one step away from internment camps. It is bigotry!
This is what I'm really sick and tired of! People like you comparing me to an Anti-Semite and yelling 'bigotry' just because you can't except the basic undeniable reality.
How long until non-telepaths are barred from having jobs?
Barred from owning property? Barred from raising their own children?!
They say it couldn't happen here, but how long until we are simply considered less?
The Reclaimation Centre is where you learnt to draw?
Hmm?
Your drawing, it was part of your reclaimation therapy, wasn't it?
Don't do that.
Do what?
That Stringy thing where you ask me question then you read my mind for every thought it brings up.
It's a fairly standard conversation technique.
Yes, I know that.
I have to say, I'm not impressed with your use of the word 'Stringy'.
I thought that we were beyond slurs like that. I don't refer to you as 'Shade' or 'Devo', I would hope for a similar courtesy.
You're right, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Animosity isn't uncommon it people like you.
But you can't let it fester into anger or hatred
You can't let it turn into something cruel.
Hey. Someone's far from home!
Haven't you heard? Slumming with the Shades is the new in thing.
We're oddities. Like a circus.
Stringies, I'll never understand 'em.
It's just not the same.
The same as what?
As real music!
Hey! Hey hey hey! Stop! Stop!
Come on! Come on! Stop. Stop.
What the hell is wrong with you!
Shhhhh
They made me see, Alina. They made me see.
Shhh, it's okay.
Do you what what they made him see?
Him!
What they thought about him. How they felt about him.
And it was nothing but contempt.
Reading a non-telepath is relatively easy, all you need to do is concentrate.
But to send thoughts takes very strong emotions.
Like disgust!
Or compassion. Or even love.
But you're right the negative emotions illicit stronger reactions
And the reaction is the fun.
That's why the street markets were closed. Why places like this community were set up.
So non-telepaths can live as they choose.
You know, I don't know what's worse.
Those who hate us.
Or the people who don't think about us at all.
Please have your ID and T-Rating Card ready. Just a reminder, do not hold up the line, have your ID and T-Rating Card ready.
Okay, if you do not have a T-Rating Card, sorry there is no work for you today. No T-Rating, no work.
Excuse me. Excuse me, sir.
I'm a skilled worker. I've done draft work before so I can do factory or construction work.
Nobody does written plan anymore. Because nobody has time to explain things to you.
Now do you have any T-Rating at all?
No.
Then there's no work for you today.
There are times for eloquence, and there are times when words fail us.
Today I'm searching for eloquence, but finding only failing words.
For today give way to thoughts.
Music and poetry and discourse, give way to carrier waves.
Feelings transmitted through technology for mass consumption.
When I was young, I dedicated myself to journalism.
To the integrity and truth of the fourth estate.
Today is the final verbal broadcast of this network, or any network.
The gift of telepathy has left eloquence behind.
No estates remain.
Where once there was violence, now it is silence, that adds deeper darkness
To a night already devoid of stars.
She may not have been telepathic but she could foretell the future.
She lives here, you know.
Well, down there.
After they, umm. After they released her from transitional reclaimation they put her is a share room down the street.
I'd see her sometimes and all that fire and all that intellect was just gone.
I'd look into her eyes and I'd wonder how someone could be so broken.
And then I'd go to work.
Ms. Evers, by agreeing to participate in this study, you understand and acknowledge that these substances haven't be fully cleared for human use.
And you must report any side-effects or reactions you experience.
Due to your negative T-Rating, we require your verbal consent for our official records.
I understand.
Medical research is honest, sanctioned work. I never understood why you left the field.
People like me, we can't be doctors
We can't be public servants or builders. We can't even be waiters.
But we can be lab rats.
What kind of a government, what kind of a world sanctions that?
A safe world. A caring world.
Medical research allows you to contribute in a real, practical way.
It gives you value.
I already had value.
Hey!
Hey.
How was school today?
Good. We learnt about family trees today.
Yeah, that sounds like fun. Here you go.
How come we never see grandma and grandpa?
Ummm, because they live in the city and we don't go the city, do we?
They can come here.
No, I don't think they'd like it here sweetie.
What's that for?
Because you're sad.
I'm not sad, okay?
But you always get sad talking about grandma and grandpa.
No I don't. Shhh.
Mum, where's my dad?
No no no, Sophie no! You can never do that!
What?
Okay Sophie, you can never try and read me, right?! Never!
But I was just...
Did they teach you that at school? Did they?! Did they?! Have they been testing you?
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry sweetie. I'm sorry.
But listen, you can't read people. Not at home and not at school, alright?!
If they want you to do it at school, I just want you to pretend that you can't.
You have to pretend that you can't, okay?
But why?
Mum!
No, that's my daughter, you can't!
Stop, you're just upsetting her. She's reading how upset you are and you're scaring her.
You can't take my daughter, please!
Let me go!
Let her remember you calm mind. Calm. Be calm. Let her remember your calm mind.
Please help me!
You can't take her. You can't take her.
It's my daughter, please!
Did you feel anything?
When you took my daughter?
When you took the one thing that was good about my life?
Did you feel anything?!
It was for the best.
For who?!
For your daughter. For Sophie.
She's with a family in the city that loves her. And can express it in a way that she understands.
She's at a school that embraces her talents and gives her a future.
There is no future here.
Who gives you the right?!
It's not about right, Alina.
It's reality.
I need to inform you that this will be your last verbal progress session.
The reality is that ongoing support services are no longer a priority.
Why?!
Where it was once violence, it is now silence, that adds deep darkness
To a night already devoid of stars.