Enablers (Paperback) | Released: 10 Aug 2011

Some people bring out the best in others. Some bring out the worst. Some bring out far, far more. Five years ago, the impossible became commonplace. Super-human abilities, always the realm of fantasy burst into reality and shook the world in a way we'd never seen before. Initial reactions were disbelief, skeptics abound who rightly claimed that these abilities were simply impossible, that it was some kind of elaborate hoax. This passed quickly though as more and more examples came forward, people who were able to do the impossible for anyone to witness. Confusion reigned, and the first major source of confusion was the strange way in which these abilities manifest themselves. An Enabler has no ability of their own, other than the power to confer a special ability on another, "normal" person. This being the case, our attention was naturally misdirected, watching the people who were performing amazing feats rather than at the person behind them, the actual source of these abilities. The significance of this rapidly became obvious; any one of us could potentially wield these abilities, if only for a short time. We've come to see that abilities are initially granted through touch, and maintained through proximity. Think of an Enabler as a radio transmitter, sending energy to the person they've enabled for as long as they're within range. Once enabled, the two share a connection that they can feel, often described as an almost electrical sensation, and which so far science has had very little success in explaining. As for the abilities themselves, they seem limited only by the imagination and whatever undiscovered law of physics that allows for them to exist in the first place. An Enabler will always grant the same ability, regardless of who they share a connection with. Strength, telekinesis, pyrokenisis, healing, intelligence, even teleportation have been observed, although for each of these incredible powers far more Enablers grant only trivial abilities such as improved vision or hearing, or even abilities that are so subtle that aside from forming a connection the person enabled is unable to discover any noticeable difference. Then there are the groups that feel that Enablers must be separated from society, and that their abilities must be restrained to maintain the status quo. These groups go so far as to declare that Enablers are not in fact human, and that their existence is a threat to the human race in general. The culmination of this in the United States being the formation of the "Quarantine Authority", and construction of camps to house Enablers away from society. This attempt at separation failed spectacularly and at times tragically, and as we will see in accounts relayed in this collection carried a very human toll. It is not the purpose of this collection to offer definitive answers to any of these questions, but only to document some of the more noteworthy stories to emerge. Presented here are several first hand accounts of people who discovered that they were Enablers, or those who had their lives directly impacted by an Enabler. Also presented are transcripts of interviews of people who have been at the core of Enabler related events, with the intent of providing further context to the accounts. For future generations, Enablers will be a normal part of their experience, but for those of us who lived through the turbulent years after their appearance they will always be a source of strong emotion, hope, inspiration, fear. This collection will hopefully convey a sense of the sentiment of the times, allowing those future generations to understand our reactions, and perhaps avoid some of our mistakes.