Touchstone 1 - Stray

layered and complex than the spandex suits of superheroes, but with a cape and a big logo I bet they could pass.
    There’s something unspeakably tedious about standing about while people act worried and excited, and you don’t really understand why. Especially when they started communicating on channels I didn’t have access to instead of speaking, which really brought back the whole “you’re an experimental subject” feel again.
    Maze, Zee and Mara – all of First Squad – are relaxed and friendly, though, which helps. They talked me through some of the implications of the fact that I’m not just enhancing some of their powers, but changing them. It really increases the danger. The accident with Nenna was an example of that – it’s possible that I didn’t simply increase her strength, but changed the coordinates of her jump as well. They were thinking of it only in terms of an overshoot before, but now they think it was a distortion, and that means that anyone trying to teleport me anywhere would be at huge risk.
    I don’t seem to distort everything though. Or, at least, it’s not noticeable if I am. But Mara’s ‘Light whip’ has a more melting effect when I enhance her, and Alay’s Illusion casting goes totally weird. Ketzaren felt dizzy when she tried to make me levitate and Lohn – who gives a good imitation of a Star Wars blaster shooting beams of Light – made a burning wall instead. There was a big pause after that, where First Squad stood about looking disconcerted and listening to someone I couldn’t hear, who I guess was having conniptions.
    The one thing they did establish is that I consistently distort. So Lohn’s beams always became a wall, and Mara’s Light whip was always the same. They cheered up after that. They’re still going to have to go carefully working out just what effect I have, but consistently weird is a lot better than randomly weird.
    And now I’m back in my box waiting for the next test. I think it’s the fact that the door won’t open to me that bothers me most.
    Monday, January 21
    Still alive still
    I spent the beginning of the day translating song lyrics for Nenna. I am improving. My grammar is terrible, and I had to write a huge amount of explanatory notes to make half the concepts remotely understandable, but it showed me how far I’d come in being able to communicate. Talking to First Squad between testing sessions has been helping. I was feeling very proud of myself, even if I could tell it was a botched job, and had just mailed it off to her when I was brought down for another testing session.
    This was more of the same, just working on the limits of me enhancing people. So they had two, then three of the Setari touching me at the same time to see how many people I could enhance at once.
    And down I went. I never used to pass out on frequent occasions. I’m not epileptic, and I never had a fit till I came to this planet. Until now they weren’t sure if I was being physically stressed by whatever I’m doing to enhance people. And, well, now they know.
    They’re getting more anxious about killing me, I think. The greysuits, that is, and whoever it is giving orders over the interface. I don’t see these at all, just First Squad and greysuits.
    First Squad were very upset, and Zee and Maze came to the infirmary after I’d woken up again and we all apologised to each other for nothing which was our own fault. They don’t seem bothered by the tests, they just think they should have somehow predicted what was going to happen and prevented it.
    Change of pace
    Sa Lents came to see me for the first time since Nenna’s accident. He didn’t act like he blamed me or anything, but it was still uncomfortable. No experiments ‘today’, just talking with Sa Lents, trying to describe Earth’s history.
    My sleep schedule is totally messed up. The lack of proper day and night, and the way the people I’ve been working with all seem to be on different shifts, really messes with me. Their breakfast is my dinner and so forth.
    Tuesday, January 22
    Zan
    Today I was assigned to a girl called Zan. She’s from Twelfth Squad and is another telekinetic. She’s short and very serious and has blonde-brown hair which is very fine and cut into a soft and wispy bob. Quite pretty golden-brown eyes.
    They’ve decided to postpone further experiments with me because they think I’m too worn down. Being half-starved on Muina and then that bad cold and then the broken