Morton

*This article is about Morton the Telepath. For Unit Information, see Morton's Unit.*

## Levels & Zones

### Assigned Zone

1
Purple

## Biography

### Personality

Since the death of Claire, Morton is the oldest of the active telepaths in the Hive. He is dutiful and austere, and has converted the extra space in his unit into a series of mediation rooms, which help him get rid of echo personalities. He is also very superstitious, and completely unwilling to leave the Hive, even if it would save his life. He dislikes any mention of Outside, and hated having read suspects from the Sea Farm, with all those disturbing memories of Outside in their minds, until he handed that duty over to Amber.

### Early years

When he was first identified as a Telepath, he was taken to Hive Futura for his initial training. The flight back to the main Hive was so traumatic for him due to his strong horror of the Outside, that he was sedated.

During his first few years as a Telepath while he was "Distancing", Morton forced a young woman, Celandine, from the Sea Farm to stay with him for a year against her will, until she appeared to die.

### Family

He was never married and has no family that Amber knows of.

### Unit

* Assigned to Purple and Violet Zones
* Unit is located in Purple Zone, Industrial Level 1

His preference in Strike Team members are females, but since not many are that strong, he has a mixed team. Standards for his Strike Team are extremely high - that is where Adika was a Deputy Strike Team leader for seven years before he was promoted to Amber's new unit.

## Summary

### Hurricane

Morton's team hands over a case to Amber, when the physical demands to get near the target become too much for the ailing Morton. After Amber successfully deals with it, Morton contacts her and quizzes her about going Outside, and whether it has affected her loyalty to the Hive. He mentions the death of his wife, Celandine, but Adika who worked for him for seven years tells Amber that Morton never married.

Shortly afterwards, Morton's unit hands over the responsibility for the Sea Farm to Amber, precipitating the dangerous mission which takes up most of Hurricane.

Morton is suffering from a life-threatening disease that will require major surgery, of a kind that was not possible in the Hive beforehand. The technique was bought and imprinted on the best available surgeons, from which Norton chose Atticus to perform the procedure. Replacement organs are being grown for him at another hive.

The impending surgery and need for cooperation from the specialist Hive creates pressure on Hive England not to incur any sanctions in the meantime, or that vital cooperation would be cut off. Morton's prospective absence for at least three months also brings added pressure on the remaining units and telepaths, especially Sapphire and Amber.

When Amber returns to the Hive, she calls him with a message from Celandine, the woman he thought had died. Once he was convinced that the message is real, it has made him more optimistic about his own prospects.

Morton in turn explains why it is so dangerous for telepaths to meet face to face, something that had been puzzling Amber ever since she was told she could not meet the others.

### Borderline

Morton's surgery is now imminent, so that the other units have to prepare for the extra pressure within the next few weeks. Amber realizes that he did not gratuitously tell her about meeting other telepaths, but knew that Keith was her enemy and was in fact warning her.

### Adversary

Over the New Year festival, Morton has emergency surgery.

## Trivia

* Morton is extremely superstitious and tests Amber about her visits to the "Outside".

## See also

* Morton's Unit
* Telepathy

## References

### Citations

1. ↑ Edwards, Janet. Hurricane (Hive Mind Book 3) (p.320). Kindle Edition.
2. ↑ Edwards, Janet. Hurricane (Hive Mind Book 3) (p.371). Kindle Edition.

### Bibliography

* Edwards, Janet. *Hurricane (Hive Mind 3)* (2018). Wallam-Crane Press. Kindle Edition
* Edwards, Janet. *Borderline (Hive Mind 4)* (2019). Wallam-Crane Press. Kindle Edition
* Edwards, Janet. *Adversary (Hive Mind 5)* (2023). Wallam-Crane Press. Kindle Edition