| abstract
| - During one of his classes, a young veterinarian intern named David Kellum discovers that he has mental abilities allowing him to read and control the minds of others. When he moves from his country home to the city to continue his studies, he discovers he has difficulty controlling this ability because of the congestion of so many minds as well as the ability to hear many voices which greatly overwhelms him at first. He stumbles across someone robbing a store and mentally kills the gunman. Police Commander John Forrester watches the store's security tape and plans to secretly enlist David to work for him. He tells David that he knows what he is, a Scanner, and that there are others like him around the world. He asks for David's help tracking down elusive criminals and David agrees. After capturing of a man who put strychnine in milk containers across the city, Forrester introduces David to another Scanner named Peter Drak, who also works for him. Drak proves to be more aggressive when using of his powers. Forrester teaches David some techniques using Drak as a test subject. Drak considers Kellum an enemy but is injected with the drug Eph2, a variant of Ephemerol, which calms him before he could harm David. The drug Ephemerol was what originally created the Scanners. It was given to ease the discomfort of expecting mothers in the 1950s. A side effect caused the babies to develop into Scanners. Forrester tells David that although Eph2 manages to calm a Scanner's mind, the drug is addictive and that he should never use it. Forrester encourages him to develop and control his mental abilities on his own, free from the drug. David feels he is accomplishing something helping law enforcement. This changes when Forrester wants him to control the mayor and have her announce Forrester as Chief of Police. Forrester reassures him that it is the best for everyone and that together they can stop the crime. David, feeling guilty, disagrees and questions Forrester's agenda. He explains to the mayor how he forced her to appoint Forrester and apologizes. They then plan a way to remove Forrester from office. David tells Forrester that he is quitting, so Forrester has Drak attack David and kill the mayor before she can react. The mayor is killed but David escapes and hides at his parents home. He asks his parents about his abilities, and they tell him he was adopted. They explain that his birth parents were Cameron Vale and Kim Obrist. Vale and Obrist told them about his abilities and that he was in danger. They took David in as their own. David needs to go for a walk but while he is gone, Drak and his accomplices kill David's mother and leave David's father for dead. When David returns, his father tells about his older sister, Julie Vale. He leaves his father with the paramedics to search for his sister. He finds Julie in a secluded cabin. She confirms who she is and explains that their parents were killed by Forrester for resisting him. She also states that her former boyfriend Walter agreed to test the earlier version 1 Ephemerol and was one of the first Scanners to use the drug, a more unstable version. Walter was kidnapped by Forrester and never seen again. Julie agrees to help David. Together they go to Forrester's secret compound and discover that Walter is alive and one of the test subjects addicted to Eph2. Julie and David disable the perimeter guards but inside the compound Julie is tranqilized by a dart. David leaves her behind so he can destroy the research and free the test subject Scanners. Drak attacks David in the test subject quarters and tries to kill him. Drak almost succeeds, but is stopped by a combined attack by all the test subjects, which psychically drains Drak's life force. The process reverses the physical damage the addicted Scanners were suffering from, as well as David's injuries from Drak's attack. Forrester arrives on the scene, in response to David and Julie's assault. At the same time television news reporters and camera crews also show up. He denies the existence of Scanners and any ties to the mayor's death. David mentally forces Forrester to admit his involvement and motivation in front of the cameras. Afterward, Forrester grabs a gun and tries to shoot David, but David and Julie physically deform Forrester using telekinesis, all while cameras continue to record. David announces that Scanners mean no harm and only want to live in peace.
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