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Time for Ms. Fletcher to go get an excorsist, huh?
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Only for whatever demon is in her. The term "ghost" is a misnomer: they are not ghosts in the traditional sense. It is simply a poor analogy used to define a previously unkown phenomenon. They are what the human mind has subconsciously left behind, like snapshots from particular moments in their life. A new imprint is created for every especially traumatic moment, and one, of course, for their death. These imprints are not complete replicas of the minds they were created by, only shards, and are therefore on a somewhat lower level on consciousness... most of the time. But in large numbers, they can temporarily create a sort of hive mind and, with a suitable host, communicate with humans.
"Ghost" energy can potentially be tapped into, but only by an extremely strong mind. This is why only the subjects of these secret experiments, Lyra and Ian being among them, can use the energy: their minds have, in a sense, been expanded. With a living mind acting as a node for these energies, like a psychic lightning rod, ghost energy can be directed to manipulate matter, heighten the senses of the host, carry thoughts and messages from one host to another, or even manipulate other minds to some extent. The control chips implanted in Ian and Lyra's skulls are designed to detect the brainwaves specific to this kind of psychic activity, and deliver a small, painful jolt of electricity that disrupts the victim's thoughts and renders them incapable of using their powers through the pain. But this pain is not enough to kill or incapacitate the victim, which is why the chip failed in Ian's case-- the proper anger-inducing stimulus (i.e., Lyra's encroaching doom), coupled with an already tempestuous temper, will, and nature, was enough to allow Ian to break through the pain. In short, he overcame the pain by an act of sheer will. The pain-inducing component of the chip was forced to overcompensate, drawing more and more power from it's energy source until it's circuitry was no longer able to bear the strain, and it burned itself out.
Questions? Comments? Please feel free to post them. That concludes my very long but sorely needed explanation. Now go, run and find your dictionaries!
Oh yeah, BTW, Silversnow:
THANK YOU! I thought no one would ever reply again.