Microstory 169: Valary Sela

This is an experimental Bellevue Profile microstory. The introduction can be found in Microstory 101. More to follow.

Many of Valary Sela’s anomaly abilities were easily explained. Yes, she did have superhuman vision, but once it’s accepted that she lives in a world where such a thing is possible, it’s easier to understand how most of her abilities work. It’s unclear what her limits and ranges are, but she is capable of seeing objects at a great distance, objects on the microscopic scale, and she can even see X-rays. She not only has night vision, but also this thing called bright vision, where her eyes adjust to light shining in her eyes so that her vision is not overwhelmed and impaired. Those were all believable, and within the realm of possibility for other humans, assuming a great deal of technological progress. But there were two other visual enhancements that no one could explain except of Adam Nicks, who refused to divulge that explanation. The first aspect was selective vision in that she could see an object even when it was blocked by another object. For instance, she could see what was happening on the other side of a door, as if the door were open. Following Reactivation, and as her power grew, Valary was able to see objects remotely anywhere on the planet, as long as there were other people around. Even though she wasn’t necessarily seeing remotely from the perspective of other people, they needed to be present for this part of her ability to work. This same rule applied to the second inexplicable ability. She could see into people’s pasts. Though she could not hear, she could witness past events, again from a third person perspective. This ability put a strain on her eyes and head, and so she used it sparingly, but it did prove useful on a number of occasions during Bellevue’s growing pains. There was only one event that she was unable to see. When she was young, her parents went missing with no evidence as to where they had gone. The authorities were unable to determine what had happened to them. Due to a clerical error, Valary spent almost a year taking care of herself before Spyridon Colonomos discovered her and adopted her as his own. Later on, they also adopted Hosanna Katz. She and Don helped Hosanna get a handle on his emotions, and he helped Valary break down her own psychological barriers so that she could finally look back in time and find out what had happened to her parents. After that problem was resolved, the three of them joined Bellevue, and Valary became second in command to its leader. However, an argument could be made that she was actually the leader since she was the organization’s true visionary.