Back in 1973, Anne McCaffrey created a universe of "Talented" individuals who had psychic gifts ranging from finding lost objects, healing others, predicting the future, communicating across great distances, and telekinetically moving objects with just the power of their mind.
The first book was called To Ride Pegasus and is available in the open library at the link.
The first few books in the series revolve around Henry Darrow and Peter Reidinger.
Henry had precognitive abilities and worked to create laws protecting the Talented, a safe place for them to develop their abilities and "get away". He saw Talent as a two edged sword with many hidden gotchas. On one hand talent can help human kind go to the stars (transporting star ships between solar systems with the power of people's minds). On the other it can be used destructively or for theft (transport all the money out of a bank safe and into your house). As cool as the ability to talk to each other with just your mind is, Darrow saw that in urban areas or large groups, some talents would be overwhelmed by hearing all the surface thoughts of others around them. New talents ran the risk of going insane before they had a chance to learn to shut out others thoughts. Talents needed a quiet place to learn, to make mistakes, to raise other talented offspring without persecution or prejudice. Henry made that for them. He reminds me of Professor Xavier in the X-Men.
Peter's story starts with his being tragically injured as a young boy. His spinal cord is severed and he becomes a quadriplegic. While convalescing in a hospital bed, the electrical systems in his room develop all kind of glitches. Even "the maytag repair man" can't figure out what is happening to the electrical systems. Several times, Peter thinks he is sleeping, but he is actually having telepathic conversations with other Talents using his mind and the power of the electrical systems in the room as a booster. He gets very good at interfacing with the electrical systems. One time, he "woke up" and discovered himself hovering several feet above his bed. Rhyssa Owen, (a member of the Parapsychic Center that Darrow created) is a person he psychically contacts. She tracked him down and invited him to come live at the Center. He agrees. His parents are afraid of hospital bills, overwhelmed with guilt at not being able to protect or care for their son and immediately sign their rights away to The Center. The Center pays its' way by selling the services of its members to business and governments. They have precogs (like Darrow) that alert insurance companies of accidents ahead of time and governments of disasters before they happen. "Finders" locate lost kids, wallets, jewelry and such. The Center is sure it can find a profitable niche for a unique talent like Peter.
To compensate for his disabilities and get around, Peter learns to both teleport himself over short distances and levitate his body with just his mind. In another accident, he instinctively links with a strong generator in Switzerland, and teleports a space ship he is in between Near Earth Orbit and the Moon. Fortunately, the Center finds other gifted talents that Peter can train to use the gestalt techniques he developed. Later, a "healing Talent" discovers her gift and reconnects his spinal cord. Peter is no longer a quadriplegic.
Ms McCaffrey's, next few books in the series are the Tower and The Hive branch. They revolve around the lives, meeting, marriage, and family of powerful Talents Angharad Gwyn (aka The Rowan) and Jeff Raven. Talents psychic abilities have matured and the Parapsychic Center has evolved into Federated Telepath and Transport (FT&T). Talents have learned to collectively merge their abilities, link with large generators and send ships and materials between solar systems. This is how the "light speed barrier" is broken.
In this story, Earth's first "First Contact" with aliens is not pretty.
Jeff Raven (a talent born and raised on Deneb) contacts Earth Prime (the head of FT&T) and asks for help battling an alien invasion. At first, Earth Prime rejects the plea. Jeff then teleports an alien battle ship full of hivers in full on battle mode from Deneb to Earth orbit. Point made. Talented humans (including The Rowan) join together to defeat the threat. That is how Jeff and The Rowan meet.
The humans victory is observed by the Mrdini - a second alien race that is also at war against the "hivers" - and losing. The MrDini's contact Jeff and Angharad by sending them dreams. Once a degree of trust is established, the Mrdini visit Jeff and a far better First Contact takes place. Jeff and the Rowan marry, have kids, and Jeff becomes Earth prime. The Mrdinis and humans develop a close working relationship, collaborate to address Mrdini biological issues, jointly send star ships to back track the ion trails of the hiver spheres to discover their hiver home world and develop strategies for limiting the locust like destruction of worlds by the Hivers.
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Talents
- To Ride Pegasus (1973)
- Pegasus in Flight (1990)
- Pegasus in Space (2000)
- "The Lady in the Tower", The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Apr 1959
- "A Meeting of Minds", The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Jan 1969
- The Rowan (1990)
- Damia (1991)
- Damia's Children (1993)
- Lyon's Pride (1994)
- The Tower and the Hive (1999)
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