All Tom could do was stare. Right there, right in front of him, was a man floating in the air.

This can't be real?! How is he just--

A wave of tingles passed through Tom's body. He gasped and fell back onto his pillow. His body started to shake a little, and he heard whispering in his mind. He couldn't hear it clearly, he had to focus to get anything at all. Then, very hushed, words started coming through. Tom's eyes
bulged as a voice spoke to him in his mind.

"...back to sleep, Tom."
What?! What is wrong with me?? Who is this talking?
"These questions will be answered for you very soon Tom, but right now I need you to calm down and rest. Now close your eyes."

Despite having this extremely unnerving event happen to him, Tom listened to the voice. He closed his eyes and tried to calm his shivering body down.

"Do you know...ongs.."
What? I can't hear you!
"...ocus!"
Right, focus... Ok, I'm focusing!
"Good Tom, do you know any songs?"
What? Well yeah, why? Who are you?
"Hum a song to yourself, Tom. It'll help you sleep. It always helped me sleep."

Then the voice was gone, no matter how much Tom thought about it. He opened his eyes and caught Jeff in his peripheral vision. He snapped his eyes closed, turned on his bed and curled up into a ball. Despite the growing suspicion that he was going crazy, a song did come to mind.
Something his mother had hummed to him. Or someone. He started to think about the song, and forgot about his surroundings. He was soon fast asleep again.

Jeff wasn't in the room when Tom woke up the next morning. The shocking
events that occurred the night before were still vivid in Tom's mind, but
at least he didn't feel tingly. He got up, and took a shower. Again,
clothes were waiting for him when he got out. The same white outfit, but
this time, white socks and sneakers waited for him. He got dressed, and
walked back to the bedroom. He heard a conversation going on in the
living room. He walked up to the door and Listened for a while. It was
Jeff and some woman talking.

"...didn't I get you for an advisor, Angela?"
"Oh, Jeff, I can be your advisor, here's some advice. Back off."

She's got a wit to her, thought Tom. I guess it's time to meet the
advisor.

Tom opened the door and saw Angela. She was standing next to Jeff, who
was looking smug. She looked at him, walked over and extended her hand. When Tom took it she said, "Hello Tom, my name is Angela Freed. Let's take a walk, yes?"

Tom nodded and got up. This would be his first opportunity out of his room with Jeff, and he could maybe figure out where he was. He followed Angela to the door, and looked at Jeff on his way out, who was making a weird face at him. All Tom could do was laugh as he caught up with
Angela.

She gave him a glance. "Something funny?"
"No, it's just, Jeff is just weird."
"Oh. Yes, Jeff certainly has a strange way about him. Now Tom, today may
be a little difficult for you, because we're going to start training."
"Training, what am I learning?"
"We will get to that later. For now, it would be better if we just got to know each other."
"We're going on a date? I like Chinese." He said smiling.

She stopped and looked him right in the eye, no humor in her face. "I'm
aware you overheard my conversation with Jeff earlier Tom, but do not be
mistaken. I am not your buddy to joke around with. I may have the title
of 'advisor', but for the next couple of weeks, we are not even friends.
Is that perfectly clear?"

All Tom could say was, "Oh. sorry."

"That's alright. Now, you are no doubt curious where you are." As she
spoke Tom looked around, not impressed. He was in a hallway just like
that in any office or hotel. Some pictures were on the walls and there
were other rooms, but beyond that there was nothing extraordinary. But
looking up ahead there was a door with sunlight pouring through a window.

He turned his attention back to Angela as she continued.

"This is the Center for Mental Acutement. Here, we take those who have had mental surgeries and teach them to use them to their fullest potential. This is a long process mind you. We do not expect your changes to manifest themselves instantaneously." She stopped at the door with the
window. "These are the training grounds." She opened the door and walked outside. Tom squinted against the brightness of the outdoors, and when his eyes adjusted, he saw the grounds.

There was a large field, about the size of two football fields placed next to each other. There were twenty or so people on the field, many of which were wearing the same white outfits. Some of them were with trainers, learning how to fight, with either their fists or very short
sticks. They were fairly impressive, but what really held Tom's attention were the others.

One girl, who couldn't have been older than ten was standing in front of a barbell, watching it as it floated up in down midair. Across from her, her advisor was talking to her, encouraging her to keep it up. When the barbell finally crashed to the ground with a thump, the girl fell to her
knees, gasping for breath, but laughing also. Her advisor walked to her side, writing something in a binder.

While Tom stared at the girl, a gunshot on the far side of the field roused him from his stupor making him jump. Angela stopped to watch Tom. Across the field, a man was standing with a firearm, unloading his magazine on another man who stood not twenty feet away. It was difficult for Tom to see, but what looked like black cords were spitting out of the man's body, deflecting the bullets. While this was happening, another man was sneaking up on the black cord man from behind. The black cord man looked behind him just as the man was jumping for him. The jumper was quickly ensnared with cords and tossed aside.

Angela put her hand on Tom's shoulder. "You'll get to meet everyone eventually, Tom. Let's continue on through the rest of the facility."

Tom was slow to leave these unbelievable people he was seeing, but decided answers to his questions were more important. He walked next to Angela to the other side of the field, where another building sat, much larger than the one he had come out of. As he passed those in white, they would stop and stare at him, until their advisors would berated them for lack of focus.

When Tom entered the building, he stopped and asked, "Will I be able to do that? Can I lift things with my mind?"

Angela pushed the hair out of her face before answering. "I'd like to tell you that we had an idea of how you will develop, Tom, but I can't. Your specific surgery was the first of its kind. Because of this, we have to be very careful and closely monitor how you change. We'll get to that
later today. This is the main headquarters and cafeteria of the CMA. The cafeteria is this way, and we can talk there.

While they ate, Angela asked Tom about his past, the training he had at his previous jobs, his likes and dislikes, and other topics. It really did feel like a date to Tom, except for Angela taking notes on what he was saying. They finished eating, and walked back out to the training
fields. There were only two people out there now, two young women jogging with each other around the field. They saw Tom and Angela come out of the headquarters and quickly left the field. The field looked a lot bigger with no one on it.

Angela walked in front of Tom, the sun bright overhead.

"Now Tom Gilroy, let's see what you can do."