The Sensorians: Awakening

decided he had enough of our way of life and took a break from it.  Controversial in our community, but he did.  He hooked up with several women but seemed to stick with this one girl, several years younger than him.  That was Alice and fairly soon she fell pregnant with you.  The leaders of our community kept close tabs on him but never interfered.  He'd had a tough time before he left, when he had to deal with the death of a close friend, who had gone off grid and committed a crime.  The type that in our community carries the death penalty.”
Her eyes nearly jumped out of her face on hearing that, but I quickly continued.
“Our leaders felt he needed some time away from us and that in time he would choose to return, which is what happened when you were about two and a half years old.  They had expected him to bring you with him, but he didn't.  He pleaded for you not to be involved with us and he said he didn't think you had the Sensorian gift anyway.  That you were just a Dullard, like your mum.  The leaders took his word for that, rather foolishly in my opinion, but he'd been a very well respected member of our community so they left you with your mum.  Everything was going fine for years up until last week.  Your father disappeared without a trace and that's highly unusual.  We're extremely good at tracking people down and it is almost impossible to shake us off, hence we are expecting foul play.  We think Rick could have been abducted by a criminal organisation or is somehow involved.  All our best people are on the case because, if someone is using your father for criminal or terrorist activities, it could be disastrous.  Your people wouldn't stand a chance.  And this is where you come in, Eliza.”
She had been listening intently and I could see she was dying to ask some questions.
“You look confused."  I offered.
She closed her eyes slightly.
“Confused? You are kidding me, that's the understatement of the year!"
She let out a big sigh.
“I don't even know where to begin!? Zack.  You sound like someone out of a flipping spy film! I have no idea what to make of this.  What 'community'? What do you mean 'your people', Dullards!? What 'Sensorian gift' am I supposed to have or not have according to my father? It makes no sense what so ever! I..."  I interrupted her.
“Do you want me to answer any of these questions? If you do, you need to let me do so, so slow down a little.”
I could see she was really struggling to keep it together again, but she did stop and looked up at me.
“Yes, yes of course."  she sighed.
“It better not be some sick joke though"  she looked at me fiercely.
This was going to be tougher than I'd thought.
“Look Eliza, this is no fucking joke.  I promise.  It's as serious as it gets, so let's start again.  What question would you like me to answer first?”

CHAPTER 7
I looked at the guy in front of me with bewilderment.  He'd just thrown my world into turmoil.  What I'd expected to be a bit of a flirtatious chat about the upcoming music festival trip he said he was organising, turned out to be a life changing event.  I could not get my head around it at all.  I had wanted to leave, run away even, after Zack had told me he knew my father and that he needed my help.  Somehow he managed to make me stay, in fact, I was rather annoyed at myself that I let him talk to me like he was my superior or something.
Even though it all sounded so ridiculous, with all this talk about 'our community' and 'Sensorian gifts' and everything, part of me felt he was telling the truth.  But I had to be sure.  I wasn't going to be targeted by some weirdo from a commune or something, so I wanted to ask question after question, not hiding my scepticism.
“Okay, fair enough."  I said after his rebuke of me firing questions like a machine gun at him .
“Tell me about this community of yours to start with then.  Is it like a commune?”
He briefly smiled at that, looking at me quizzically, or was it a glimmer of admiration? I hoped the latter.  I was still quite keen to impress him somehow.  He took a deep breath and started to explain.
“The people in our Community, Sensorians, have a special gift.  One that we suspect you harbour as well, but is concealed by the medicines you are taking.
We have a heightened sense of everything around us.  We can feel and smell other people's emotions, their moods and feelings.  We can see things in minute detail, we pick up on every micro movement people make, their body language, facial expressions, things that people are not even aware of themselves.
Our sense of smell is almost as good as a dog, and our hearing rivals that of an elephant.  The best amongst us can predict near future events with quite some accuracy, based on interpreting all the information coming into our brain at an incredible pace.”
I had to stifle a little snigger.  It sounded all so ludicrous.  He looked at me a little annoyed but carried on.
“As you can imagine, all these skills make us quite unusual.  Dullards are often scared of us, as we fall outside the norm.  In the past people like us were at best social outcasts, but in extreme cases have been burnt as witches, put into asylums, even prisons.  Some of us were forced to work for corrupt kings, governments, criminals, even the mafia.  A group of us started our Community to protect our people, train people so they know how to disguise their gift and function in society without being persecuted or used.  We like to stay under the radar.  It