The Color of Rage

Chapter 2

Chapter 2Later that morning at the Medical Center

“Remember,” Dr. Kailyn DeKendran, Chair of the Acoustic Therapy and Research Department, lectured to her class, “we don’t know how far down below the anti-conscious the mind goes. When it was identified below the unconscious, we had to learn to recognize its characteristics and how to deal with them. But one thing is certain: as we learn to control the actual cells of the brain and each synapse, we have to be careful. We’re wielding a lot of power over another’s mind. We can change how she thinks, feels, and senses. We can change an entire personality. That’s a big responsibility. We have to be able to do it without harm.

“There was a time in our history when men, and some women, used their powers to harm others. There were times when doctors - healers - didn’t have computer simulations to cut down on risks so they didn’t know they were putting their patients in jeopardy. They actually experimented on other living beings. It was bad enough when they experimented on non-human creatures to test drugs and cosmetics, but some even tried those experiments on humans. There are reports of drugs being given to large segments of the population just to see what would happen.” She paced across the front of the classroom.

“They would use psi-manipulation—it was called ‘brain-washing’—to make people hate others and want to kill. Some even used drugs to keep whole segments of the population from experiencing any form of their own power. Not only did they try to control others’ thoughts but they tried to control their bodies. And there’s a very dark period in our history when doctors tried to combine and manipulate genetics to create hybrid species, even clone other human beings. And just to play god.”

She paused to let her words sink in.

“It’s a sad thing. I hope we’ve grown past it. We know so much now about how the mind works and what the body can do, that there’s even more room for abuse if we don’t watch out. We cannot use this knowledge as power to manipulate others. We must only serve their needs. We must think of ourselves as healers, not masters of other minds. Think about it. We are, in many ways, playing goddesses,” she glanced over at Danil and the two other young men who were sitting around him, “and gods. We have to be responsible to others, not just to ourselves.”

She hitched herself onto her desk.

“When we learned how much power that sound and color had, we also had to learn how to work with them. It seems that people knew more about these things several thousand years back in history than we did just a few centuries ago. Early humans knew about sound and color by instinct, and about the chakras of the body. The people indigenous to this continent and to Asia knew a great deal about these things. That is why most of our healing is taught in Native American communities or Asian schools. Humankind forgot a lot as it grew. Even medicine that could have saved lives was withheld because doctors didn’t know if it was safe. Civilization put knowledge that it couldn’t see or touch onto a back shelf. Some parts of the population started recognizing these traits in the late nineteen-hundreds, but we’re just relearning most of it and it’s taken us several centuries.”

The youngest of the girls raised her hand tentatively.

“Yes, Caryl?” Kailyn smiled.

“Did we have to rediscover everything?” Caryl asked innocently.

“No. There were cults of people who kept the knowledge alive, much like the Shaymana from your hometown. It was passed from generation to generation but sometimes very surreptitiously. It was seldom written, usually passed on orally so that the governments wouldn’t know.”

Caryl nodded as Kailyn continued.

“Governments were leery of knowledge that didn’t come from their programs. They had to control all experiments, so if anyone was working on a new cure and did not have government approval, they were banned from continuing. The main reason was that they were afraid that some non-government researcher would find something that would surpass their overpriced, highly funded government product, or even make it no longer necessary. Healing without pharmaceuticals was looked down on because the government could not control it, and because pharmaceutical companies controlled some of the lawmakers. Lobbying the legislatures was big business in the early two-thousands. There were many big companies who spent exorbitant amounts of money to control legislators. Even when discovered, new medications were not made available to the population. For months, sometimes years, new medicines were tested and retested in different ways and then, maybe, the government would approve and license the medication to a pharmaceutical company to advertise and sell, usually at a price far higher than what was needed to produce it.”

Kailyn paused to give her lecture greater effect.

“Knowledge such as we have now was frowned upon. There was even a time on this continent when women and a few men were tied to a log and burned to death, hanged, crushed under rocks, or drowned in a lake to rid them of the ‘evil spirits.’ People thought terrible things possessed their minds, because they knew of herbal remedies and had a form of psi-power. People are afraid of what they do not understand. The way they reacted was to get rid of what frightened them. It was easier to destroy what they didn’t know than to learn whatever new was there. It was not a very educated time.”

Kai looked at her students. Most were busy taking notes but Danil looked bored.

“For Monday, I want you to listen to chapter five of the Gardner work that deals with the use of sound and color in melody. I know it’s an old piece of writing and the discs need to be re-recorded but the knowledge is still very relevant, even after several hundred years. Ms. Gardner was ahead of her time and was not recognized as the genius she was until long after her death. She was a conductor and musician. She wrote music and music books that started the movement that brought sound and color back into the mainstream. Review it in light of the historic relevance. Consider what we’ve learned since then. Also, think about the heavy metal and electronic sounds that were banned in the last century. Make sure you know what they do and why they were banned. Decide if you think the ban was reasonable. I know that seems like a lot, but I want you to think about the ramifications of the use of sounds, and about how they impact your everyday life.”

Kai smiled and nodded to the group.

“Now, go and get some lunch. I expect you all to be working in the lab this afternoon. I haven’t gotten your reports on ‘white noise’ and the due date is approaching quickly.”

Kai closed her books and sat back watching her class. Danil immediately closed his computer pad and left the room but the others got up more slowly. As they reached the door, Caryl turned and walked back.

“Shaymana…” she began.

“Such formality, Caryl. You’ve been here over six moon tides now. You should call me Kai or Kailyn as the others do.”

Caryl was having trouble adjusting to life here. She was from outside the city and had grown up in the northern farm country where the Shaymana were still called Medicine Women and were feared as well as revered. Caryl was a very special student. At sixteen, she had already mastered the skills that the others, who were older and had been here for over a year longer, were still struggling with. Caryl had latent psi-powers and would become a gifted Shaymana herself someday soon.

“Kailyn,” Caryl stumbled over the name, “do most healers really misuse what they’ve learned? Often, I mean.”

“No Caryl. Most do not. But every once in a while, someone will try.”

Caryl gave it a long thought.

“I never knew,” she said quietly. “Where I come from, there are only Shaymana, like you. I can’t imagine any one of you doing anything to hurt anyone. Isn’t there much more power in healing than in destroying?”

“Yes, there is. But there were also times when the Shaymana were thought to be crazy women.” Kai smiled. “And extra-sensory perception, as they called psi-power back then, was thought to be a fantasy or myth. Now we know better. Those who called themselves healers and did not have psi-powers had no idea they were causing harm and damage. They just didn’t know what they were doing.”

“Wow,” Caryl exclaimed. “I had no idea. I guess I’ve had my psi-power all my life so I didn’t know anyone else was any different. I thought everyone was like me.”

“Caryl, when you were tested to get into this school, what did you feel most confident doing?”

“I’m not sure. I love the work we’re doing here but I feel best when I can read someone’s mind and see what makes them do the things they do. I’m not very good at it but I do enjoy getting to know people.”

“Well, keep working on these things, as long as you’re sure the people you read allow it.”

“I know. But sometimes, I can read them without even thinking about it. It just happens. I don’t have time to ask their permission.” Caryl sighed.

“In those instances, you must be careful not to misuse that knowledge.” Kai nodded knowingly, and then smiled at Caryl.

“Oh, no, I would never do that.”

“Are you going to work in the lab this afternoon?”

“Nissa and I are working on the white noise project together. It’s almost completed, I think.” Caryl bobbed her head.

“I won’t be here today, but I’ll either be in my office or in the new studio tomorrow afternoon if you have any questions. Don’t be afraid to ask.”

Caryl nodded and turned to leave.

“Thank you, Shay…” she stopped herself from finishing the word, smiled apologetically, then simply walked away.

Kai pondered her students. Some were good technicians, like Danil, but without the heart and soul to really reach the potential of the field. Others, like Nissa, had the heart but had to work extra diligently to get the technical aspects correct. And then there was Caryl, who had all the power in her hands and heart but not the confidence to take hold of it. Would she someday gain the strength and self-assurance to take this gift forward? Would she lose her self-doubt soon enough to capture what was right inside of her?

Caryl was indeed special. She had gone to live with her aunt at the Hogan when her mother had died. She was nine years old, then. The Hogan leader, Shaymana Lynne had seen the possibility that resided in her. She thought Caryl was extremely gifted with many of the same talents that others had but with more intensity and power than Lynne had ever encountered. Shaymana Lynne had nurtured and encouraged her until she was old enough to apply to the school at the Medi-Center.

“Was I like that at sixteen?” Kai mused. She sat back, and then she shook her head. “No, at sixteen, I was taking care of my little sister Jayanta and Mommi with no thought at all to what the world around me could be. I never even became serious about being a Shaymana until after Mommi passed.”

She was seventeen then. Now, at almost forty-two, she realized all the world’s possibilities. She gathered her discs and computer into a neat pile in the desk drawer, and rose to go back home. This early in the afternoon, she could get some meditation time before Rhya got home. After this long day, this long week, that was exactly what she needed.