The forerunners

The forerunners by Norman Arkawy and Stanley Henig is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. It explores emergent telepathy, authoritarian control, and a cybernetic plan to liberate imprisoned psychics.

Neville Brandt, a rising cybernetics expert, discovers his sporadic telepathy is growing stronger. His boss, Blanding, and his secretary, Ellen, reveal themselves as telepaths—Blanding as a government “spotter” who traps telepaths in automated Asylums, Ellen appearing to aid him. After they deliver Neville to an Asylum, Ellen secretly makes telepathic contact and guides him to the facility’s cybernetic control hub, where Blanding confronts him. Neville subdues Blanding, and Ellen reveals she is part of an underground determined to free telepaths nationwide, using Neville’s unique expertise to set the central “Brain” that can unlock every cell. With her help—and his own meticulous notes on telepathic development—Neville activates the system, beginning a mass release and signaling the rise of a free telepathic community.