Cindy Psi: Spy In Training
Chapter 33: Aftermath 3

Cindy shook herself gently as her form returned to normal. The golden light dimmed swiftly and steadily as her regular skin tone returned; she felt the power ebb. She let herself carefully and slowly lift out of mindspace. She was shaken and drained, but she seemed ok.

Cindy was still processing everything that had just taken place when, after a few seconds, Selma and Justin burst into the classroom.

The wall just disappeared … Selma began, then took in the scene around her. Oh … wrong quarry … She looked at Cindy then Cindy was aware of an exchange between her and Justin and possibly someone else. Justin spoke aloud.

“I’ll tidy up here. You go with Selma, Cindy. There’s someone you need to talk to. Cindy let herself be led from the room.

“Wait … Ms Primp …” She managed just as they reached the door.

“It’s under control Cindy. Go.”

Selma said nothing as she held Cindy by the arm and walked her out of the school building. Just as they left, Cindy saw her Father come walking up the main entranceway path. The look on his face was one of massive relief. He came running up to Cindy and threw his arms around her in a fierce bear hug.

Cindy didn’t hug him back.

He broke off after a moment, ignoring her lack of response, seeming to understand.

Well, monkey, I guess I have some explaining to do …

Cindy flinched at the mental contact from her Father – it was too much too soon.

“Please, Dad, don’t. Not yet. And yes, you do. You really, really do.”

“Ok. And I will. Let’s go home and we’ll talk.” And with that the two of them headed up the road towards Cindy’s house.

“The first thing I have to say is I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t open with you. I haven’t lied to you, but I’ve misled you, and deception is deception. So I’m sorry.” Mr Parker was sat on the armchair in their living room, leaning forward and occasionally twiddling his fingers as he spoke. His look and tone was very earnest, and he was clearly finding this difficult.

Cindy was sat opposite him on the couch. She was still washed out from her experience, but when her Father had checked if she wanted time to recover before they spoke she had said no – she needed answers. She had a steaming hot cup of tea in her hands. The smell of it was reviving her a little.

“So why weren’t you open with me? Why the deception?”

Mr Parker stood up and walked over to the fireplace. He was clearly thinking about his response.

“For a lot of reasons. I could have spoken to Dave and Louise and excluded you from training in the first instance, but that didn’t feel right. I knew – or certainly had strong suspicions – that you were going to be incredibly powerful, and I honestly believe the best way to manage that is with the training we do.”

“We. Right.” Cindy’s tone was flat.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you know the truth now and GCCSC is my outfit, and my real job. It is ‘we’ – I mean, after all, I put most of the course together. Anyway, I thought the training would be the best thing for you, but I wanted you to make the choice yourself. I didn’t want the fact that I’m involved to be an influence.

“Also, and I’m not sure how you’ll take this, because I know how you reacted when Dave told you my story, but I also thought we needed you at the agency.”

“Let me guess … ‘the galaxy first’, right?” Cindy’s tone was flat, her face impassive.

Mr Parker looked slightly hurt. “Yes. You’ve no idea how much soul-searching I do on this every single day, but that’s how it has to be. It doesn’t mean I would put my duties before you – you’ll always be my biggest priority – but it is something I will always consider whenever I make a choice. You’re going to be a massive asset to the agency Cindy. You’ve already saved the galaxy and you’re only half way through training. You have to admit that does kind of justify my view a little.”

Cindy said nothing.

“I also didn’t tell you yet because I didn’t want to give you half a story,” Mr Parker continued. “I knew when the time came for you to know you’d have to know it all.” He turned away a moment and looked towards the fireplace thoughtfully. “I wish it hadn’t happened so soon is all. But that can’t be helped now.” He turned back to look at her, staring intently into her eyes. “I know you’ve always understood that when the time came that you wanted to speak to me about your Mother you only had to ask, and that’s true.”

Cindy snapped. “What, so if I’d asked a year ago before all of this happened you’d have said ’Oh actually, Cindy, your Mum’s some kind of dangerous psychic monster because I broke her brain when I kicked her out of the secret psychic spy agency I really work for. Now finish your porridge.” Cindy couldn’t help the catch forming in her voice. “I mean, give me a b-break, Dad,” and with that, the dam broke, everything crashed on top of her, and Cindy started to sob uncontrollably.

Mr Parker went over to console her, but when he tried to put his arm around her she smacked it away. Instead she sat on the couch sobbing with her head in her hands, as memories of the day, the training, the realisation of who her Father was, and all the confrontations, trials and issues of the past three months came crashing down upon her. She was dimly aware of Mr Parker sitting gently down next to her, but only just. It took a full five minutes for her to start to regain control.

Then, as she slowly got her tears reigned in, the voice from earlier that had helped her win the day came back – not in a mind message, but in a memory. “Your Father,” the voice had said, “is a good man.” The voice that she had earlier realised she could absolutely trust even though she didn’t know who it was.

For the first time since leaving the school, Cindy remembered she was psychic. She looked at her Father, sniffed, and said “Can I just check something?”

“Anything.”

Ok, she sent, hold still, and Cindy went into her Father’s mind as she had done with Natalie a few days previously.

Love, concern and guilt were at the fore. But, underpinning these, Cindy found a steely resolve – a passionate concern about humanity, and a sincere belief in the threat that faced it and that what they did was the only way to face that threat. And, even deeper still, she found …

… A broken heart. What he had done with her mother had broken his heart. And yet, here he was, still fighting to protect the galaxy, still striving to protect her, still doing his best to be a Father.

And no matter where she looked, she found no bad intentions at all.

Whoever it was was right. He was a good man. Cindy resurfaced.

Daddy, she sent, after a moment’s thought.

Yes monkey?

I’ll take that hug now, if that’s ok.

Oh sweetheart, of course! He said as he threw his arms around her. The hug went on even longer than the crying had.

Do you forgive me? He sent as she finally sat up from where she was cuddled in his arms.

“Yes, I do.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” he said. “I couldn’t have lived with it if this caused any kind of rift between us. I guess this whole psychic thing is handy sometimes after all, isn’t it?” He added, giving her a knowing look.

“Yes, I guess it is. Right, your tea is getting cold and I’ve got lots of questions.”

Mr Parker got the message. He moved back over to his armchair, leaned forward again, looked Cindy square in the eye and said, “Shoot.”

“Do you actually work for GCC?” Cindy thought about that. “As a JA I mean. Obviously you work for them as a … well … spy …” Cindy tapered off. Mr Parker smiled.

“I know, it will take a bit of getting used to. Anyway, to answer your question, yes, I do. I show up every day and do my thing. The whole spy business I manage around that.”

“So that Pembroke woman was really your boss?”

“Boss’s boss’s boss. Yes.”

“Didn’t you know she was crooked?”

“No. I had no idea until the wall came down at the school. I was convinced it was your teacher like the rest of them.”

Questions were clamouring for prevalence in Cindy’s mind. “Oh yes, Ms Primp – what will happen to her?”

“She’s fine. Justin and Selma used your breakdown technique with support from Dave and Louise and released her mind. It was easier because she doesn’t have the talent. She came out of it unaware that anything had taken place. Justin has already reported in. He’ll be staying here for a little while just to keep an eye.”

“Oh that’s good,” said Cindy, genuinely relieved. Then, remembering her earlier train of thought she added: “So how could you work with her for months and not notice anything?”

Mr Parker thought a moment. “It’s a good question. She’s – she was pretty powerful, but also pretty skilled with the finesse of it all. But even so, as you rightly say, over that long period you would think I’d spot something.” He thought a moment more. “Ok, I can think of two possible explanations for it. Firstly, she was extremely good at the finer aspects of the talent – I mean, she put that wall around the school and we haven’t been able to replicate that since … since …”

Cindy remembered what she had found when she looked in her Father’s heart and jumped in to save his feelings.

“Since the big event ages ago. Yes, Dave told me. So she was just clever at hiding you think?”

Her Father looked at her with relief. “Yes. She had an extremely competent teacher. And the other thing that may have stopped me sensing her was that she was at my work.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, people have a tendency to put things into contexts. Like, remember when you saw Tess in your dream and it seemed sort of … wrong?”

Cindy was startled. “Oh, you saw that?” He nodded. “Well, yes, I remember.”

“Well, that’s because it was a conflict of contexts in a way. What I’m trying to say is that when I’m at work I’m normal Bob Parker, it’s my cover, and to make sure I keep it I do my best to really live it. So as a result I don’t expect any psychic shenanigans. Do you see?”

“Yes,” said Cindy, thinking. “Clever.” She added.

Now it was Mr Parker’s turn to look startled. “Of course! And that’s why she was there! The whole thing was planned. She took the job in my office for the very reason that she knew it would help her hide from us. From me.”

“It makes sense. She was that clever with me with the whole George thing.”

“Yes. We’ll have to sort things out there. I worry a bit about that lad.”

“Oh I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Cindy said, “what will be done about Ms Pembroke?”

“She’ll go into a counselling programme. Hopefully she’ll be rehabilitated. I’m afraid if that happens you can expect that both her and her demon offspring will be staying right here on Oliver County. The Mother is no threat anymore after all, thanks to you.”

Cindy thought of Jacinta for a moment – once the bane of her existence, she now seemed little more than a petty annoyance from a time gone by. Cindy returned to her questions. “So will you be showing up on Adriá now to help with the training?”

“No. I’m not just covert because of you. I stay covert. You’ll have to carry my secret as well. It’s for the best.”

“But they obviously know where you are …”

“Well, the Pembroke woman did, and we can assume from that that … she does as well, but it’s too thin an assumption for me to break cover just yet. We don’t know if the Turgs know anything about me, and there are … other factors. I’ll be staying right here for the foreseeable. Bob Parker. Junior Admin.”

“And secret head of a psychic spy agency that secretly protects the galaxy all the time.”

“And the secret head of that, yes.” Mr Parker grinned.

“Oh, Daddy,” Cindy exclaimed, and spontaneously jumped up and threw her arms around him in a big hug.

After a moment they broke away and Mr Parker said: “Well, I guess we better think about what we want to do next. I think you should go back to Adriá and finish your training. What do you think?”

Cindy was surprised to find how certain she was about this. “Yes. Definitely.”

That is, unless there’s anything else you want to ask me about?

Cindy knew exactly what he meant.

No. I’m not ready to talk about her yet. I will, and I know there’s things to know, but I want time to process first.

Mr Parker looked equal parts proud and relieved. “You’re a wise girl, beautiful.” And then, after a pause and a smile, “And where are you most beautiful?”

Cindy laughed, and cried a little at the same time. “On the inside, Daddy, on the inside.”

“Damn straight. And now you know it.”

And before Cindy had time to react – What did he know about the showdown with Ms Pembroke? The whole golden thing? Had the whole ‘beautiful on the inside’ bit she’d heard her whole life always been about that? – Mr Parker stood, swept her up in his arms and carried her out of the living room saying, “Come on then, let’s get you back to the facility. Who knows when we’ll need you to save the galaxy again?”

And with that the two of them left the house, her wrestling against her Father playfully as he carried her off toward the transporter station.

Cindy stepped into the common room in the training facility on Adriá. Her goodbye to her Father had somehow been both easier and harder than the last time around. They had agreed that a visit with Tess was not a good idea, all things considered, and Cindy had transported back that very afternoon.

“Cindy!” Jane cried as soon as Cindy appeared, running towards her and throwing her arms around her.

“Welcome back, Cind!” Milton beamed as he walked over and put his hand on her shoulder (having to manoeuvre around the still frantically hugging Jane in order to do so.

Natalie sent a thought: Well done Cindy. They’ve told us what happened.

They sure have! Sent Milton. Then, aloud, “You only went and saved the blooming galaxy is all! That’s just amazing!!! Were you scared?”

Jane had broken off by now and looked at Cindy expectantly. “Well, yes, yes I really was,” Cindy replied. “But, you know, you just have to deal I guess.” She looked around the common room. “Where’s George?”

“He’s still under observation in the infirmary,” Dave replied as he strode into the room behind her. “We’ve got some serious issues to work through with him, but I’m sure we’ll get there. Welcome back, Cindy. And, can I say on behalf of all of us, well done, and thank you.”

“It was nothing,” said Cindy, embarrassed.

Dave laughed. “I think we all know how much of a ‘nothing’ it was, but I know how humble you are so I’ll just leave it at that. But before we stop talking about it and start back on our training schedule, let me say one thing:

“Good work, agent Cindy Psi. A job well done.”

“Thanks Dave.”

At that point, Selma came into the room. “Right, who’s up for some psychic basketball?”

With a chorus of “Me!”s and a secret exchange of a conspiratorial wink and a smile between Selma and Cindy, the group headed next door to the training room.

THE END

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