The Psychitects

Humans did not know how to best interact with Psychitects after their first encounter. The interaction was brief, but these strangers eagerly shook their hands and greeted the human delegates warmly. The Psychitects explained that they had seen their intentions, and were willing to join the cause, apparently already familiar with it.  A little concerned about their intimate knowledge of the classified documents of a previously unencountered alien species, the human ambassadors understandably probed further. After that meeting, the Psychitects were deemed "extremely psychic." Humans had encountered other psychic species, but none with such extensive abilities. Each human in attendance that day said that they had this strange sense that they knew the Psychitects from somewhere, and while this was impossible, they assumed it was some lingering effect of the psychic bond that had been made. If pressed, the humans described these fantastic new allies as awe inspiring, yet also deeply friendly.

This was not always the first impression humans had though, when encountering a Psychitect. As they integrated they became critical advisors in negotiations of all kinds, and it became apparent that the impression others gained of them was a kind of mirror of the observer's own intentions. It was possible for a Psychitect to inspire a sense of dread in someone just as easily as they engendered trust, and all it took was eye contact. 

At one point a devious member of the Skywreths infiltrated a negotiation, posing as a human. It was known that the Skywreths could touch any species and gain a level of their abilities. Before even touching though, as soon as eye contact was made, the imposter fell to the floor, convulsing. The Psychitect looked both disgusted yet still concerned for the one who sought to steal his power. In questioning, the Skywreth begged to be released to his people, so he might warn them not to interact with these new aliens, it was of the utmost importance. The humans would not let him go so easily though, and so he begged for mercy and, quite unlike his species' reputation, offered some information: they do not just psychically observe, they actually live out entire lifetimes, seemingly countless, with the subject, examining all angles. He did not know how they managed this without going insane, but he was doing everything he could to keep from falling apart now, having suddenly done this himself. He said "I would not wish this fate on my worst enemy, I must warn them to stay away."

The humans were baffled, nothing like this had ever even been conceived of. They released the last Skywreth spy they ever encountered back to his people, and inquired further of their new allies.  Upon inquiring, the Psychitects reluctantly agreed to explain the full scope of their powers, valuing their relationship with the humans over their desire to keep such things private. They explained that what the Skywreth had said was true- as soon as they locked eyes, a kind of realistic simulation occurred. Once started, it is not easily stopped, and in it the Skywreth, assuming correctly that his power would still work in that place, had touched the Psychitect. The Psychitect cried out for him to stop, but it was too late, and just like that, two parallel simulations were being run, one by each of them. The Psychitect explained that something within their species' genetic code gave them the ability to ride out the waves of time, to slip along when desired, without becoming too aloof to any given moment. Truth be told they never fully discovered a gene for this, it was certainly some combination of nature and nurture though, as they had each been taught such methods from their youth by the generations preceding them, and whenever they had tried to teach the techniques to another species it would fail. What it gave them was a deep and true insight, as specific as they would like, based on the simulation that was largely generated by the other's mind, with numerous tries from countless possible angles, to get to the heart of things. What it gave the Skywreth was a sea of time of unknown breadth, as even the Psychitects had never been in a position to measure how many cycles the trip is closely, to consider what the Skywreth had experienced. When the time elapses, the other is left with a strong general sense of the relationship they had built, but little direct memory. While the Psychitect was concerned for the would be thief, something about the scenarios that the thief had set up filled him with disgust as well, a disgust he did not care to double back and examine.

The Psychitects and humans continued coexisting peacefully for the most part, and the Skywreths kept their distance. By and large the Psychitect assisted negotiations went better than one might expect with a traditional psychic species, and the humans just understood that they would be examined; it was likely that no secrets would be left obscured. In this new found environment, it was actually found that human intentions largely improved, knowing that at any given time their cards might be on the table. Fortunately the Psychitects, familiar with the hidden hearts of themselves and others, were excellent at keeping any discussed revelations restricted to the matter at hand. 

It was a shock though, to say the least, the first time a negotiation went awry. The female Psychitect took one look at the client across the table from her, and both their eyes dilated to full on the spot, and then narrowed in sync. She muttered something about needing to excuse herself from the negotiation, and the man's Psychitect stood and shouted a joyful cry. Then the Psychitect and client leapt at each other, making out furiously as the other Psychitect ushered everyone from the room. "You see" he explained still smiling with unmatched joy "one of the unique blessings of our race is that when you find your soulmate, you know it 'right away,' relative to this timeline of course, and they feel it too."