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Otto had always been rather gifted. Before his psychic powers manifested, he’d finished the mathematics coursework for his entire school district. Although he couldn’t be sure how much of that was over-exaggeration from his mother and father.
They were less enthused about the psychic element of his engineering expertise, but that was hardly personal. Most people without the talent were skeptical of it—and for good reason. It could be dangerous to tinker with things they didn’t understand! Now, if a psychic child were to test out some of his developmental designs, well. He didn’t see the harm in that. Children learned by doing! Gisu was selective in the tasks she wanted to undertake, and Raz was almost entirely the opposite. The fact remained.
Hollis was not of the same mind, which was hardly the first time that Otto encountered someone who disagreed with his perspective. Not everyone could be as clever as Agent Sasha Nein. Otto’d managed to dodge the lightest of her “safety” rules thus far. A few dismissive anecdotes that suggested compliance seemed to do the trick.
Ford gave him less difficulty. His standards for security had some sense to them. Of course, Lucrecia didn’t listen after her mental barriers were softened by the awakening powers of the Astralathe. He’d been so proud of it broadening the human consciousness. Then the Psychic Six fractured. Ford’s mind too. Compton and Cassie wouldn’t talk to him anymore. Bob—Bob wouldn’t talk to anyone that wasn’t at the end of a bottle.
Helmut.
…It was the scale of the Astralathe. Too broad. Something smaller, more condensed. It wouldn’t happen again. His pendant reinforced the stability of his own barriers. At the very least, he wouldn’t put his friends through the same debacle twice.
Perhaps another one. But not that one.
Otto had always been rather gifted. If that talent could be directed to helping future generations of Psychonauts, who was he to let it wither otherwise? He could realize his dreams through technology in the form of inventions. These experiments would protect little Psychonauts from the worst the world had to offer. With the right tools and instruments, they would be fine.
Safe like Hollis wanted? Unlikely. But protected enough. They’d make it to his Hall of Brains in the natural course of things. Thinking of it that way, what reason was there to not be excited?