Psion (novel series)
The Psion series is a series of young adult fiction books by Jacob Gowans. It currently consists of four novels, with Gowans releasing the fourth novel on December 11, 2013. One more novel is expected to finish the series.
Synopsis
The series begins in November of 2085 and goes into September of 2086, set in a futuristic world where two super-governments (the New World Government and the Continental American Government) compete for global power through the "Silent War" consisting of censored warfare between government agents. The New World Government (NWG) was initially established as a unified government after the devastating pandemic named the Scourge wiped out billions of people, but the Americas eventually seceded and became the Continental American Government (CAG) due to disagreements over gun control and genetic research bans. Genetic anomalies arise from the worldwide Scourge several years later. These anomalies, numbered in chronological order, provide abnormal characteristics that can physically and or mentally weaken or strengthen those affected by them. The genetic anomalies have led to the formation of a corps of highly trained operatives that are central to the struggle for both the NWG and the CAG. The series' central character, Samuel "Sammy" Harris Berhane Jr., grew up in South Africa and has Anomaly 11 and 14. Anomaly 11 gives him enhanced mental capabilities and Anomaly 14 gives him the abilities of a Psion (the ability to project energy from his hands and feet). The series follows the struggles he FACES as an unguided youth, as a trainee at Beta Headquarters, and subsequent missions.
Psion Beta focuses on Sammy's pre-Psion days, his discovery by the NWG, his training at Psion Beta headquarters, and his first mission into enemy territory. The story is told almost exclusively from his perspective. In the novel he meets other Psions, who become his close friends and rivals, and follows his struggles to conform to the rigorous, highly disciplined life as a government operative. Psion Gamma deals with the fallout of his first mission following the points of view of Sammy alongside four other characters. Psion Delta follows Sammy as he tries to adjust with life back at Beta headquarters, the changes that take place there, and an escalation in The Silent War. Psion Alpha focuses on the beginning of the war between The Two world governments.
Novels in the series
To date, there are four novels in the Psion series and the author has announced plans to release two more.
Order
- Psion Beta, released 2010
- Psion Gamma, released 2011
- Psion Delta, released Dec 12, 2012
- Psion Alpha, released Dec 11, 2013
- Psion Omega, expected release 2014/2015
Plot Summary
Beta
Psion Beta takes place in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world fifty years after the Scourge has wiped out half the world’s population. The treatment of the virus caused genetic mutations called “anomalies” which began cropping up in the years following the disease. The world is split into two super-governments: the New World Government (NWG) and the Continental American Government (CAG). Psion Beta tells the story of Samuel “Sammy” Berhane, Jr. a fourteen-year-old boy who lives in an abandoned grocery store with several friends, all fugitives who escaped a juvenile detention center called The Grinder. When the boys are caught with stolen food, they are chased down by the police one by one. Finally Sammy and his remaining friend are cornered in an alleyway when Sammy displays an extraordinary ability that allows him to escape. NWG agents track him down in a church and subdue him.
Sammy awakens in a white room where he is introduced to Commander Byron. Byron offers Sammy the choice to return to prison or join the Psion Beta corps, a group of teenagers training to become government operatives called Psion Alphas. Sammy accepts Byron’s invitation not out of interest or desire to join the government, but because he had promised himself he’d never go back to jail. Sammy attends an orientation with four other new recruits: Brickert Plack, Gefjon “Jeffie” Tvedt, Kawai Nujola, and Natalia Ivanovic, where Byron teaches them about their abilities and the history of the conflict between the NWG and the CAG. He also informs them that the CAG employs vicious, sociopathic killers called Anomaly Thirteens as their primary operatives, and that his job is to teach them how to survive in battle using their own, superior Anomaly Fourteen.
Despite an abrupt transition from a life of anarchy to rigid disciple, Sammy excels at his new training. He struggles, however, to make friends and open up to people about his life before Psion headquarters. Through a series of flashbacks, the reader sees that Sammy was raised in a loving home until his parents were brutally murdered in a random act of violence. This, combined with his jaunts in foster homes and juvenile detention, has led to a deep distrust of anyone but himself. Sammy’s proficiency at the high-tech holographic combat simulations and virtual reality games earns him several rivals, but also impresses many of the other Betas. Sammy’s performance leads to jealousy and eventually an altercation between himself and Kobe Reynolds, but Commander Byron interrupts them and sends them to solitary confinement. During this, Commander Byron informs Sammy that the reason for his excellence is because he possesses a rare double Anomaly: Fourteen and Eleven. While Anomaly Fourteen gives Sammy his Psion abilities, Eleven enhances Sammy’s mental abilities, helping him to absorb information faster and more completely than a normal person. Sammy uses this information to help him build bridges of friendship with his fellow Betas, which results in his being chosen to go on a training mission with one of the senior Betas, Albert.
For the next few weeks, Sammy trains with eight other Betas to prepare for the mission to a vacant warehouse Rio de Janeiro, in enemy territory. Before the completion of the mission, enemies with Anomaly Thirteen ambush Sammy and Kobe, chasing them through the warehouse and trapping them. Sammy and Kobe hold them off until help arrives, but an explosion causes Sammy to fall through the floor into a hidden bunker. His team, mistaking him for dead, leaves and returns to headquarters while Sammy tries to cope with being isolated and left behind. The story ends with him discovering that the mission was sabotaged by a member of Psion Command, Victor Wrobel, and Sammy vowing to return home to alert his friends and Commander Byron.
Gamma
Psion Gamma begins one month after the events of Psion Beta. It follows four primary points of view: Sammy, Commander Byron, Jeffie, and the Queen. Sammy is still living in the hidden bunker below the warehouse in Rio de Janeiro, while his friends at Psion Beta headquarters struggle to cope with his disappearance. During his month in solitude, Sammy discovers that the bunker was used by members of a resistance group with several locations around North and South America. Because most of their activity seemed to be centered around Wichita, he decides to head there. Without money, he goes to downtown Rio, looks for employment, and finds help from a man named Floyd Hernandes, who offers him a seasonal job as a butcher's apprentice in exchange for a air rail ticket north. Sammy, known to Floyd as Albert, spends the Christmas season with Floyd's family and earns his ticket. However, before he is able to use it, he uses his Psion powers to prevent an accident in the butcher's shop. Floyd's son sees this and calls a special hotline the government has set up. Several Aegis arrive on scene and arrest Sammy, who hides his ticket in the shop before leaving.
Sammy is taken to an underground prison and tortured by an Aegis named Stripe for several weeks. During this process, he convinces himself his name is Albert Choochoo and begins to suffer the effects of Stockholm Syndrome. However, memories of his escape from juvenile detention and the presence of a Thirteen give Sammy the needed motivation to break free. Escaping with Sammy is a teenager named Toad. Together, they return to Floyd's shop, which is now deserted, get the ticket, and take an air rail up north to Texas. Meanwhile, Albert Hayman works with his father, Commander Byron, to piece together all the information from the disastrous Rio mission to find out when and how Sammy died. Through his investigation, Al discovers it is possible that Sammy is still alive. Commander Byron takes a team of Psion Alphas to Rio and searches the wreckage of the building for any signs of Sammy's survival. He and Dr. Maad Rosmir uncover the entrance to the underground bunker along with proof that Sammy escaped.
Suffering through fatigue, extreme hunger, and symptoms of PTSD, Sammy and Toad make their way north to Wichita only to find that it is a ghost city. They break into a visitor's center and search through brochures looking for clues of where the resistance might have stayed. Toad realizes the building Sammy is searching for is the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum. Once they arrive, they are captured and taken into the building. The man leading the resistance introduces himself as Thomas Byron, the estranged father of Commander Byron. Sammy begins working with his commander's parents on a plan to return home to Capitol Island. After four weeks, Thomas and Sammy design a plot to steal an air cruiser from the former Offutt Air Force Base. During the heist, a powerful Thirteen named the Queen attacks with a large group of Thirteens and Aegis. Sammy, who has lost his Anomaly Eleven, is unable to defeat the Queen in battle. Toad sacrifices his life for Sammy, who is rescued and flown back to Capitol Island. During the night, Sammy is kidnapped by Victor Wrobel, the rogue member of Psion Command and flown to Baikonur, the launch site of a spaceship containing the first moon colony. With the help of the Queen Wrobel also captures Al. Then he forces Commander Byron to choose which person will be shot. Byron chooses his son, Al, and during the commotion, Sammy frees himself and defeats Commander Wrobel and forces the Queen to flee. In the final scene in the book, Wrobel warns Commander Byron that his treachery is only the beginning of more terrible events to come.
Delta
Psion Delta begins days after the events of Psion Gamma. Sammy has been admitted at the New World Government Medical Center, receiving treatment for his wounds. Maad Rosmir, the Psion doctor, puts Sammy through rigorous psychological tests to determine if he is mentally fit to return to Beta headquarters. One of the tests is a virtual reality trick played on Sammy, during which Sammy chooses to abandon a group of children during a crisis in order to get revenge on Stripe and the Queen. As Commander Byron takes Sammy home, he reveals that he is being replaced as the head of Psion Beta. His replacement is Major Tawhiri. Sammy returns home and finds difficulty settling into the routine after a six month absence. He no longer has his Anomaly Eleven, which made him smarter than his peers, but is expected by friends to resume his normal activities. Furthermore, Jeffie is dating Kobe, and is torn between her affections for both young men.
Commander Byron interrogates Victor Wrobel, but Wrobel uses an unknown method to self-detonate. This detonation occurs at the same time as a prison break, in which several Thirteens and Aegis escape with the help of Elite guards and a double agent. With the aid of a letter delivered by Sammy from Thomas Byron, the commander takes his son, Albert, and daughter-in-law, Marie, to the new resistance headquarters in CAG territory. There he is reunited with his mother and father after nearly twenty years. During this visit, Byron learns that the resistance has been eavesdropping on Thirteen communications for several months. Thomas Byron asks the commander if he knows anything about "tunneling" going on in NWG territory, but Byron does not. He returns home and begins working with a Tensai (Anomaly Eleven) on rooting out all possible secure information and access Wrobel might have given to the CAG.
During this time, the Queen is summoned to Orlando by a person known only as the fox. The fox refuses to meet her face to face and forces her to drink a liquid called "the solution." The Queen is visibly upset at being forced to do so, saying it will make her common like the other Thirteens. The fox does not relent. After she drinks it, he sends her on a mission to Johannesburg. It is during this mission that the reader is shown the Queen's past in a series of flashbacks. The Queen was imprisoned in Wyoming after [...] her parents and several schoolmates. In prison, she discovered an underground fighting club organized by the guards and administration. Using blackmail, she arranges herself a fight and wins. Over a period of months and then years, the Queen rises to the top of the fighting club, but is never satisfied due to her lust for freedom. After one fight, she seizes an opportunity to escape, but fails in the attempt. The guards permanently lock her in confinement where she slowly goes insane. Then, the fox arrives and offers her freedom in exchange for her help in getting the prisoners to join his efforts. The Queen agrees and rallies the prisoners to help the fox.
At Psion Beta headquarters, Major Tawhiri is unpopular as Byron's replacement. In order to curb the dissatisfaction, he asks Sammy for help. He suggests that by helping each other, Sammy and Tawhiri can further each other's careers. He encourages Sammy to consider graduating early in order to move on to Psion Alpha, which will look impressive to their superiors. At first, Sammy rejects the idea, but his frustrations with Jeffie and other friends force him to reconsider. Finally Tawhiri gives Sammy an ultimatum: if Sammy wins a certain Game in the Arena despite difficult odds, Sammy will graduate early. If Sammy loses, the issue of graduation will not be brought up again. Sammy wins the Game and his graduation is set for two months away. Part of his final testing is to go on a mission with a Psion Alpha team: Charlie Squadron. Charlie Squadron is chosen to pursue the escaped prisoners to a city called Akureyri. The team, along with Sammy and Al, track the prisoners to a house in the suburbs, only to discover that the Thirteens have a hostage, a young girl. Sammy ignores the warnings of the Thirteens and opens fire on them. The girl dies, and Sammy subdues or kills all the Thirteens. Those who are captured self-detonate in the same manner as Victor Wrobel. Despite receiving awards for his bravery and being declared ready for graduation, Sammy is disturbed by what he has witnessed.
On the night of his graduation, Sammy receives a video call from an anonymous source, requesting that he come to Orlando. In the video, Sammy's sees his parents held hostage by the Queen and Stripe. Assuming his parents are fake, but wanting a chance to kill Stripe and the Queen, Sammy agrees to fly to Orlando. Although he is warned to come alone and tell no one of his activity, Sammy is followed by most of the Betas, who request to join him. Sammy agrees and they take a cruiser to Orlando. During this time, Commander Byron and the Tensai discover a cyber attack on NWG networks and security systems using a hacking method called "tunneling." They do all they can to stop it, but fail. Byron decides to activate a failsafe which will shut down and reset all systems on Capitol Island. Sammy goes alone to an N building in Orlando, similar to the building where he was held captive by the Aegis Stripe in Rio. Sammy meets the fox and is invited to play a game of chess. Meanwhile, his friends search the garage for Sammy's parents and are attacked by an army of Aegis and Thirteens. The Thirteens, however, look very similar to Sammy. As the chess match is played, the fox tries to convince Sammy to join him and work for the CAG. He reveals to Sammy that the NWG is not perfect, that they have hidden from Sammy the fact that he is a Thirteen. Sammy rejects this notion at first, but the fox gives Sammy evidence that he is telling the truth. He then reveals to Sammy that during the night, he has launched a massive attack on the NWG, including the destruction of Psion Beta and Alpha headquarters. Commander Byron witnesses the attack on the headquarters and races to save his family, but is caught by a missile detonation in the process. Sammy rejects the fox's offer and jumps out the window. He lands on the cruiser and escapes, discovering that the Betas have suffered three casualties, one of which was Kobe. With nowhere else to go, Sammy and the remaining Betas fly to the resistance headquarters.