I opened the window in the living room and turned off all the lights. I sat on the floor, closed my eyes, and cleared my mind. This was the easy part.
I focused on the link 8th Wonder had put in my mind. I needed to open the connection to her. If I could communicate with her when she wasn't in my mind, I'd be able to talk to her when I needed her to come.
I know physical distance doesn't matter with telepathy, but for a moment I wondered where 8th Wonder was. What did she do when she wasn't with me? Where did she go? Maybe I would ask her later.
I shook my head and refocused, got rid of those tangential thoughts. Then I felt it: something switched over in my mind and I knew she was listening. I told 8th Wonder I was ready and then I waited for her to come. I kept my mind clear. I could feel her moving, coming closer.
I opened my eyes as a golden light entered through the window. It hovered over me, sank into my skin, and then my body rose off the floor. The light filled me, head to toes, and I could feel it reverberating through my entire being. Energy swirled around me. I straightened my legs and flew out the window and up above the windows.
I looked down at Prima City. This was the first time I had seen the city from above as 8th Wonder. I wondered where we would go tonight and 8th Wonder replied inside my mind. "Your choice tonight, Molly. You'll do the flying."
"Okay." I moved my body and started flying toward HQ.
I knew 8th Wonder gave me a lot of information last night, including how to use her abilities. All that knowledge was in my head and I could access it. The strange part was how naturally I could access that knowledge. I felt like I always knew how to fly, not that 8th Wonder had simply placed the instructions in my mind. I felt confident and I maneuvered through the air smoothly. I wished Ryan could see me.
"You may ask him to come." 8th Wonder's thoughts flitted in my mind. I was having a conversation with myself but not with myself. I have to remember that she knows everything I'm thinking when we're together.
"No," I replied. "We can save that for another time." I just wanted to talk to Dr. Atom.
The buildings blurred beneath me as I flew faster. Skyscrapers and city lights became dots and streaks as I sped towards HQ.
I paused outside the gate. Or rather, above the gate. Jim works regular office hours, so no one was at the entrance. I could fly over, no problem, but I didn't know how to get into the building except through the main door. I flew up and circled around the building. A light shined in one of the top rooms: Dr. Atom's lab.
I hovered outside the window and looked inside. I couldn't see him, but someone must be in there. I floated back from the building a few feet.
"Dr. Atom?" I sent out a telepathic message. "It's Molly, with 8th Wonder. I'm outside your window I think..."
I waited. No response.
"Dr. Atom, are you at headquarters right now?"
I had never communicated with Dr. Atom telepathically, and the first contact is always the most difficult. Link says it's a matter of trust. You can't communicate with a mind that doesn't trust you, so the better you know the person, the better the telepathy goes. Dr. Atom has been keeping me at a distance. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't trust me.
Images flashed through my mind of my body going through the window, passing through the glass as light would. 8th Wonder was showing me alternatives. Could I really pass through glass like that? I wondered what it would feel like for my body to transform to light waves. How would I become solid again?
But then Dr. Atom was at the window, undoing the lock.
"Oh, it really is you!" He smiled at me, and I nodded.
His eyes moved over me and he shook his head in awe. It was the most emotion I have seen him show.
He backed away from the window and motioned to the room. "Um, come in. Please come in."
I floated into the room and hovered a few feet above the floor. "Hi, Dr. Atom." I was trying telepathy again. "8th Wonder and I worked out the psychic link, so now we can communicate."
"Good, that's great." He replied aloud. One-way telepathy. He didn't mind if I was open with him but he wouldn't be open with me. Dr. Atom motioned for me to move farther into the room. "If you don't mind, I'd like to run a few scans."
I nodded and moved onto the examination pad. The examination pad is a large, square gray mat in the middle of Dr. Atom's lab. There are all kinds of sensors in the mat and scanners all around it. I was careful not to touch down on the mat. I wasn't sure what material it was made of, but I would probably set it on fire.
Dr. Atom went to the control panel and flipped a few switches. Monitors behind him flickered on and he turned around to study them. The scanners were feeding the displays my temperature readings, X-rays, anatomy. One monitor was trying to classify me. It was blinking "Human hybrid" at the top of the screen but the computer couldn't figure out what the non-human part of me was.
Dr. Atom looked over at me. "This is excellent. No one else has had such close contact with 8th Wonder. Molly, can you separate from it at will?"
I floated to the far corner of the room and moved behind a curtain that closed around a bed and some medical supplies. I know that Dr. Atom is very focused on gathering facts. He was treating me like his specimen to study. I thought something like this might happen, but I wasn't getting any response from 8th Wonder.
The energy moved away from my body and I stopped glowing. My bare feet touched the cold tile floor. I pulled on a hospital gown. 8th Wonder was hovering to my side and above my head. I walked back out to the main room and the floating energy followed me.
Dr. Atom smiled. "It's good to see you, Molly. I'm happy that you've figured out how to work with 8th Wonder."
I nodded. "Thanks." I spoke aloud now that I could. "Why did you want me to separate from 8th Wonder?"
Dr. Atom waved for me to look at the monitors. "The computer couldn't classify what 8th Wonder is when you were joined. I thought maybe it could when you were separated." He looked up at the energy floating near me. "I guess it understood that I wanted it to stay."
"I understood, so she understood." I walked back onto the examination pad and 8th Wonder followed me.
The computer scanned us again and the monitors showed two beings now. Me, the human, and 8th Wonder. The computer settled on 8th Wonder being some type of energy but the monitors didn't show anything specific.
"Hmm." Dr. Atom rubbed a hand through his hair. "Well, thank you for coming tonight. I have a lot of new data to work with, but it seems we still won't know exactly what 8th Wonder is."
Maybe it's better that way, I thought. Then I shrugged. "I'm glad I could be of some help. I'm tired, so I think that's enough for tonight." All I was supposed to do is tell Dr. Atom when I worked out the connection with 8th Wonder. Task completed.
"Yes, okay."
I walked back behind the curtain and took off the gown. 8th Wonder's light filled my body again and I floated above the floor. Out in the main room I waved goodbye to Dr. Atom and then I flew back home.