Commercial Telepaths
You have wandered into a Syndicate Room on Red 9. Babylon 5 offers the services of commercial telepaths during business negotiations. It is common to have a telepath present at cross-species negotiations, since all parties wish to be reassured that the other party is being sincere. All human telepaths (nicknamed "teeps") are licensed by the Psi Corps, a division of Earth Government that regulates the public exercise of psi talents, to protect the individual's rights of privacy.
Consulting Talia Winters
Hi, I'm Talia Winters, licensed commercial telepath, rating P5. How can I help you? Well, my job is to mediate in business transactions. Either party, or both can engage me, to determine if the intentions of the other side are strictly honest. I am obliged to tell both parties that I can scan surface thoughts and feelings. I can sense whether someone is hiding something, being economical with the truth, or telling an outright lie.
How does the gift work? Well, the first thing a telepath has to learn is how to block out extraneous thoughts and background noise. Most people broadcast surface thoughts, especially strong emotions, without realising it. This can be quite uncomfortable for a telepath, until he or she learns how to put blocks in place. Then, you can start focusing on individual thoughts. It's usually best to have a direct line of sight with your subject.
You can sense surface thoughts at a distance. For a deeper scan, we use our hands, moving them near or around the subject's head. For some reason, human fingertips are sensitive to psi fields. That's why we wear the gloves, as a kind of etiquette, to demonstrate that we're not intruding on other people's thoughts without their permission.
Hiring a Commercial Telepath
How do you go about hiring a Commercial Telepath? Well, we advertise ourselves through the Psi Corps office. Because we operate as a guild, we charge standard rates for a consultancy, so our fees are known in advance and everything is above board.
You would arrange to meet with your business client here, in one of the syndicate rooms, and you would let them know in advance that your transactions will be monitored by a telepath. I would explain what I am allowed to do by law, so that neither you nor your client need worry about invasion of privacy. As I said, we are only allowed to scan surface thoughts and feelings, to determine whether the business proposition being made is genuine.
The syndicate rooms have privacy fields, which dampen sound transmission. You may invoke privacy if you wish to prevent any neighbouring table from overhearing your negotiations.
Psi Corps
Oh, so you want to find out more about telepaths. Well, as you probably know, latent telepaths started appearing over a hundred years ago, but it wasn't until Psi Corps was founded that telepaths were properly trained and regulated. It's laid down by law, throughout the Earth Alliance, that all telepaths must be registered with Psi Corps and be trained to control their gift.
If you want to stay a while, I can tell you more about how I go about performing a deeper scan. If you would like to be assessed to see whether you are a latent telepath, I would suggest going to the Psi Corps office on Red 4.
