“Man, I have this cool sci-fi setting with spaceships, laser swords, pirates, zappy ray guns, and a gal that can hurl fireballs.”
“What?”
“Yeah, fireballs. She controls fire and stuff….”
“But this is science fiction, not fantasy. She sounds like a wizard.”
“She is not.”
“Kinda is.”
“She is a pyromancer.”
“Still sounds like magic.”
“Not if she is a psychic.”
“Oh.”
So you want to put some magic in your sci-fi, eh? I mean you could, that is what science fantasy is all about it. But you want it to sound like it is something else, something sci-fi-ish maybe? Then say that Humans Are Psychic in the Future. You can throw in a few pseudo-scientific explanations such as:
- Humans are evolving into a new species and that leads to psionic potential.
- Some humans always had the ability, but we lacked the technology to detect it.
- Breakthroughs in genetic engineering or cybernetics have led to the creation of psionics.
- Exposure to strange materials, new environments, or even extra-dimensional spaces transformed humans into psychics.
Whatever explanation you come up with will lead to the introduction of ma-, I mean, psionics into your world. After that, it is entirely up to you.
Neither Here nor There.... 