Ask anybody, my body has taken a beating. Not just a pipe to the knees type of beating, I am 40 years old now. I have just realized it. My whole life has been work, work, children, and more work. I have an estate on Earth, a place to stay in in every time zone, and a stake in the telephone transfer booths just released. When I die, someone is going to get a great deal of money.
Its not my age I am worried about, its falling in the shower in 70 years and not being able to get up. This bad luck has run in my family.
I live and work here in Los Angeles. In fact, I'm driving home as I speak to you. What I fear most is dying in bed. No, not that kind of bed, nor in my sleep. I dread dying sick as an invalid. This is what I fear mo...
Eyes flicker. Where am I...What is happ...
Discontinuity...
Uhhhnnn...My arm feels like its pumped full of drugs. I look down to find why its so dead. Slowly now, don't want to injure my neck even more. Hmmm, where is it? My arm...the bastards took my left arm...the freaking bastards too.k my ar..m...
M...y A..r.m . What did they do to it? I say out loud, "Where's my left arm?" The nurse enters hurredly. She has her finger to her lips.
"Quiet, you'll injure yourself, do some more damage."
More damage? What more damage could I do? I have no arm! I just wanted to reach out and strangle that nurse with both hands. I lifted one arm and felt a tingle at my left elbow.
I snapped my head over. Bad Idea. I recovered as the nurse pumped more drugs into me. Severed at the shoulder, I faintly remember the tingle at the non-existant elbow. I passed out trying to pull the IVs out of my right arm. Fight sleep. Fight Dreams. Fight Al.tered Real..ity...
I woke up with the nurse bringing in a cart of hospital food. I sat up with her help. As I reached for my fork and knife.. O wait, can't do that can I. I looked for the nurse, she wasn't in the room. I focused and concentrated on the knife. Nothing. Nothing. Jump. The nurse appeared in my field of vision. It woke me from my dream. The knife tumbled to the ground.
I walked toward the newstand, balanced the paper in both hands and read the front page. Luigi, the owner and a good friend, spoke, "Eh, this ain't a library, Arm, buy it and take it home will ya?" I obliged and walked off reading the spread front section.
What you have just read is an example of Trauma-Psi. Injury induced Psychic power. This is a new field in the area of healing and trauma. What if a man with no arm forgot he had no arm. This "new" arm would do anything the old one would and better. He could scare little children, frighten anyone in the dark, and do strange things through solid matter. "Arm" had this ability. The crushed arm was replaced, not with a plastic prosthetic, but with a mental replacement.
The character needs to have been in a severe accident involving only one limb. It needs to be severed without their knowing (preferably). This adds the element of discovery to the process.
The new arm has all the functions of the old arm but acute touch. The fingertips are the only place where anything can be felt. Further mastery produces a more sensitive arm as more of the characters aura is rebuilt. A See Aura will detect a fully glowing image with the hand area glowing twice that of the body.
The new appendage has 3 differences from the old:
Useful for many things, your Traumatic Psionics become an integral part of your life.
I sat down at home with the paper under my left arm. Pulled out a cigarette and lighted it, spread out the paper, and began to read about yesterday...
