"This is the class of Psionic Science," Professor Seabend said.

The whole class sat in the Psionic Science room, in front of the middle-aged woman who was going to teach them. Professor Seabend spoke with a fanatic, fervent excitement that vibrated in her voice and quivered in her body language. Her intense enthusiasm was infectious, and only a few seconds into the lesson, Shane was eager to learn.

"In this class, you will find what makes us tick, what gives us our abilities," Professor Seabend explained, "you will learn how all of the powers that are called mystical, impossible... a product of the imagination, in the human world, that is... how they are made possible, through physics and biology."

Shane scooted his seat forward. He had always thought of the abilities Psionics had as crazy, magical powers. He had no idea how any of the supposedly impossible things that Psionic could do was actually, truly able to happen. And no-one had explained it to him. But finally, he would get some real answers... explanations, based in logic and fact and science. He couldn't wait to learn more.

"Now, as all of you must know by now, our brains control us through electrical signals. These nerve impulses are waves of electric activity that pass from one end of a neuron to the other, delivering important messages and signals."

Professor Seabend looked at each of the students in turn as she spoke.

"To put it simply, humans have standard brain waves. Their waves can only work inside the confines of their own bodies, unable to go beyond their own skulls. But Psionics... we're different. Our brain waves are far stronger, almost infinitely more powerful. We have been modified to have huge amounts of electricity going through our every nerve. It is what allows us to transcend the simply status of 'human'. Our brain waves can easily go beyond our own bodies, and manipulate our surroundings," she paused, putting an edge of warning into her voice, "during the first experiments to create Psionics, people died. Their nervous systems could not take the huge amounts of electricity flowing through them. For us, it's not much of a problem, as scientists later genetically modified the nerves of our ancestors to solve this. But there is still danger, and that is what psi-bands are for. Because we use our inner electricity to power our abilities, it is possible to put too much into them, to use a massive amount of energy." 

"In catastrophic scenarios, people have fought with such powerful Psionic attacks by using huge amounts of energy. But some of these people die. They use so much energy that it not just consumes all of their enhanced Psionic energy, but also delves into the 'standard' human energy, which we all need for our brains to function. When this happens, when they take so much energy that there is no electricity flowing through their nerves at all, their brain stops working. They die."

A grim silence settled on the class. A pulse of fear shot through Shane. He had created a huge lightning bolt in Psychokinesis, but it was by accident. What if he sent out an Electrokinetic burst, except far more powerful than the one in class, with no intention of doing it?

His heart lurched in his chest. He could die.