From: "Kerry Blackwell" <kerry@needlecraft.co.nz>
Subject: TPFICT: Traces of Yesterday, Touches of Tomorrow [9/15]
Date: 01 Nov 1998 21:49:47 +1300

Earlier parts of this story, as well as its prequel _Tomorrow and Tomorrow
and Tomorrow..._ can be found at
http://www.forty-two.co.nz/kerry/fanfic.html


The Tomorrow Trilogy II:

Traces of Yesterday, Touches of Tomorrow
Kerry Blackwell

NINE

Blind or badly visualised teleports land you in the sea.  That was a fact
plain and simple.  Even Adam still did it now and again.  If you hadn't
been concentrating as you dematerialised; if you had something more
important on your mind; if you were running on blind instinct; then that
strange, determined pull of the hidden spaceship dragged you into the warm,
southern ocean.

Adam's subconscious was bracing him for the plunge, the sudden loss of air,
even as he began to materialise.  But this time there was something wrong,
something different.  His feet unexpectedly hit something solid and his
knees buckled so that he found himself collapsing, ungraciously and
unceremoniously, onto the floor.  There was a thud and a thump from beside
him as Megabyte made the same unexpected landing.

"Ouch," he said in a disgruntled voice.

Adam looked over at him and for the first time actually noticed where it
was they had landed.  They were at the spaceship.  But they were right
inside it, sitting on the floor in the main control room, on the raised
dais in the corner that they had never managed to determine the use of,
each nursing a sore backside and a vague sense of dislocation.  "Well, at
least we didn't get wet," he commented.

Megabyte looked up and Adam saw the same realisation dawning on his face.
"Yeah," he agreed.  "You'd think whoever built this thing would have
planned it better."

"Of course they did," said a smooth, cultured, vaguely female voice, coming
from all directions and no direction at the same time.  "The beacon was
designed to guide any new break-outs to the internal jaunting pad."

Megabyte gave Adam a cautious look.  "Did you say anything?"

"Not me."

"I did," said the same voice.  "I would have introduced myself long ago,
but I'm afraid my self-repair systems were damaged in the same earthquake
that set the beacon off-target."

Adam and Megabyte exchanged a further look.  "I think it's the spaceship,"
Adam said dubiously.

"Of course I'm the Ship."  The voice was starting to sound a little
exasperated.  "What did you think I was?  One of the hermit crabs that took
up residence in my secondary generator space last summer?"

Slowly, in unconscious unison, the two teenagers turned to face the room's
central column.  Usually it had a strange, fitful almost-glow about it,
while the stone circle around it stayed cold and dark.  Now, the column was
alive with light, colours shifting and changing, sweeping up and down the
cables within the pillar.  The console glowed gently and the stone seemed
alive, with a cool, translucent sheen to it.  The same glow, seeming to
come from deep within the stone, permeated the walls, lighting up the room
with a light that was bright but unexpectedly gentle.

Soft laughter filled the air.  "You do look surprised.  Thought I was just
a pile of junk, didn't you?"

"Ah..." said Megabyte uncertainly, not prepared to admit that was a pretty
accurate assessment.

Adam, who had always had a better connection to the spaceship, smiled.  "So
why haven't you talked to us before?" he asked curiously.

"Well, I would have done."  The answer actually sounded defensive.  "But my
communications circuits were damaged in the upheaval.  Now they've been
repaired, I'm introducing myself."

Now it was Megabyte's turn to be curious.  "Do you have a name?"

"'Ship' will do," the voice said calmly.  "It's short, simple and to the
point."

Adam stood up.  "Hello, Ship.  I'm Adam."

"I know," the Ship agreed.  "You might not know me, but I've known you ever
since you first found your way here.  Megabyte too."

"Yeah, well..." Megabyte commented absently, trying to work out what it was
he was missing.  There was something wrong with this scenario, and he just
couldn't quite put his finger on it.  Adam seemed entranced by this new
spaceship-with-personality and was busy talking to it instead of taking a
sensible moment to be cautious like he usually did.

Then it came to him.  "Hey, wait a moment," he interrupted.  "Who repaired
you?  Who's been here and fixed you?"

Adam turned to frown at him, but stopped in surprise, staring at something
over Megabyte's left shoulder.  Suddenly feeling his shoulderblades
itching, the redhead jerked around.

"That would be us," said the man standing in a corner of the room.  The
composed, elegant woman beside him smiled at the pair of them and nodded.
They were both old, something like Megabyte's dad's age, but somehow they
were kind of ageless at the same time.  The man was wearing jeans and an
open-necked red cotton shirt, the woman a long skirt that swirled around
her ankles and a lacy white blouse.  Getting a crick in his neck from
looking up, Megabyte pulled himself to his feet, never taking his eyes off
the strangers.  There was no way they could have come in through the portal
and got past Adam and Megabyte without being seen, which suggested...
Megabyte ran down at that point, not quite up to making the final
connection.

"And who are you?" Adam demanded.

The man shrugged. "We're Tomorrow People.  We're the next stage in human
evolution."

Megabyte grinned and nudged Adam in the ribs with one elbow.  "Hey, isn't
that your line?"

Adam was shaking his head.  "You can't be Tomorrow People.  You're too..."

"Old," Megabyte blurted.

The woman laughed.  "I guess to you, we are.  You could say that we're the
Tomorrow People Mark I.  You must be Mark II.  I don't know if we're
exactly the same or not, but we'll certainly be very similar."

"But who _are_ you?" Adam repeated.

The man stepped down from the low platform and held out a hand for Adam to
shake.  "I'm Mike Bell."  He smiled at his friend and offered her his other
hand to help her down.  "And this is Elizabeth M'Bondo."

She smiled pleasantly at them.  "Hello."

"Hi," Megabyte agreed.  He'd given up on trying to work everything out and
was just going with the flow.  Someone, most probably Adam, would explain
it all to him later.  "I'm Megabyte Damon."

"Ah," Elizabeth said knowledgeably.  "You're the general's son."

Adam stopped frowning thoughtfully for a moment.  "You've met General
Damon?"

"We've just left him," Mike said.  "He wasn't particularly impressed by
your stunt at the Institute.  Neither was I," he added in a stern voice.
"I don't suppose you stopped to think about how dangerous your exploring
might be.  You could very easily have been killed.  What if that forklift
had been just a little faster, or if it had taken you just a little longer
to jaunt away.  The whole thing could quite easily have been a disaster.
And now the people inside know there's someone who knows about them."

Elizabeth's mental voice, tinged with bright laughter, slipped into his
mind, interrupting him.  :You do realise, don't you Mike, that you sound
just like John?  Back when he used to bawl you out for acting
irresponsibly.:

The man, Mike, closed his mouth so abruptly Megabyte wondered if he'd been
suddenly struck dumb.

Adam's back stiffened automatically, so that he stood a little taller.  "We
were looking for Alice," he said with quiet, firm dignity.

"Alice?" Liz repeated.  "Is she the person inside that compound?  The one
we heard cry out?"

"We haven't heard anything," Adam answered.  "But Kay told us she was there
and Dr Stratton told us where she was.  We really have to find her now,
because I think that Colonel might kill her if she can't help him."

"And we have to make sure Dr Stratton and Teresa are safe too," Megabyte
added.

Adam nodded.  "And find out what this catalyst Dr Stratton's supposed to
have stolen is and what they want to do with it."

Mike threw up a hand.  "Hang on.  Slow down a moment.  You've left me
behind.  First, tell me who Alice is, then go on to the next thing.  Then
the next and the next so we know what's going on."

"If I might make a suggestion," the Ship's smooth voice interrupted.

Mike grinned across at the lighted column.  "Of course, old girl.  Now you
can, you make as many suggestions as you like."

"Clearly, no-one here has the full story.  I don't know who Dr Stratton is,
but it sounds like she has useful information to offer.  If General Damon
is involved, he should perhaps be included in any discussion, and Kay
certainly should be.  I suggest a pooling of ideas."

Adam nodded slowly.  "We should tell the general what we heard.  And we
should ask Dr Stratton about the catalyst."  He looked up at Liz and Mike.
"Are you really Tomorrow People?"

"We are," Elizabeth agreed seriously.

"You're telepathic and can teleport and stuff?"

She nodded.

"So why haven't we met you before?" Megabyte demanded.

"That's a long story," Mike answered with a grin.  "The short answer is
because we haven't been on Earth for the last 20 years or so."

Megabyte whistled.  "So where _have_ you been?  And can I go visit?"

Despite looking intensely curious, Adam refused to be shifted from the
situation at hand.  "Will you come with us and explain?" he asked.  "Will
you help us rescue Alice?"

Mike glanced at Elizabeth.  "We're going to help, aren't we?"

She laughed.  "We must be in so much trouble already, a little more isn't
going to hurt."

"I am sure, once the situation is explained, the Federation authorities
will understand," the Ship offered helpfully.

Liz laughed harder.  "Are you talking about the same Federation I am?"

But Mike's lips quirked and he chuckled, his laughter much more genuine
that Liz's had been.  "Translation:  You like these young people and think
we should help them."

"I know Kay's background and you don't," the Ship said.  "She should be
helped and the people who created her should be stopped."

"Created?" Elizabeth sounded aghast.

"Created," the Ship agreed.  "Will the Federation assist?" it asked
formally.

Liz didn't hesitate.  "The Federation will assist," she agreed firmly,
authoritatively.

Mike laughed again.  "Closed worlds?  Rules?  Phooey.  Who needs 'em?"

Megabyte looked at Adam.  "I don't have a clue what they just said, but I
think they're going to help us."

"We're going to help you," Mike agreed.  "Come on, let's go and have that
pooling of ideas the Ship suggested."

--end, part 9

Kerry

--
kerry@needlecraft.co.nz

Fanfic: http://www.forty-two.co.nz/kerry/fanfic.html

"We shall be remembered in spite of ourselves"



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jack Newman <Jack@effdee.demon.co.uk>
Subject: TPFICT: Fragile 2 of 4
Date: 01 Nov 1998 22:49:41 +0000

Fragile
By Jacqueline Newman
An Original Series Story
Part 2 of 4

15th August 1992

A few days later Jenny and Andrew found themselves alone in the house.
Jenny was enjoying the new experience of sitting at the link table in
the lab.

This new lab was the third of it's kind, hidden below the main house in
the old cellars. John had built it while overseeing the renovations to
the house some years earlier. It was accessible from a secret passage in
the study above, and provided a bolt hole in case of emergencies.

"Have the Tomorrow People always lived hear?" Jenny asked, sipping her
coffee and looking around her.

"No. We lived... in London before."

"You don't sound too sure about that?"

"It was a long time ago before Angie and Stephen set up Jameson
Industries." He wondered whether it would be best to come clean.
"Actually we have not always lived hear on Earth. For a while we were
evacuated to the Galactic Federation Trig."

"The what!"

Jenny's eyes widened as he recounted the brief history of the TP's why
they were evacuated and how they achieved permission to return.

"So you're telling me that Angie, Gabkhan, Kohlarn and Susan are all
shape changers who do not look human at all. And that they have a
private UFO!"

"Kalinar." He corrected.

"And this Kalinar is hidden at the bottom of the loch?"

"Yes, I can show you if you like." He jumped up and offered her his
hand. They walked over to a doorway which opened silently as they
approached revealing a long tunnel.

"Lights please TIM."

A string of lights fitted into the ceiling of the tunnel brightened to
reveal a moving walk-way stretching off into the distance.

She paused before stepping onto the moving tread. "My dad has spent his
entire life looking for UFOs and now you tell me that you have your own!
How on Earth will I explain this to him?"

Half a mile later the tunnel opened out into a large cavern cut into the
bed rock of the mountain. She looked in awe as the sleek metallic finish
of the cone shaped craft came into view. They climbed the entrance ramp
and found themselves inside a dimly lit room.

There was a central column which gently glowed bathing the room in
gentle light. The walls were formed of a grey metallic material and were
covered with strange symbols. At the far end of the room was a strange
chair shaped like a see-saw.

"Wow! Where did it come from?" Asked Jenny studying the markings on the
wall to her right.

"Manyarner, that's Angies home world. Those," he pointed at the odd
markings, "are Manyarnern hieroglyphs. They are so used to telepathic
communication that they hardly ever use a written language just a
character set with symbolic meaning. Andranovich could tell you what
they actually mean. The rest of us gave up trying to understand them
ages ago."

She walked up to the central column. "And this?"

"That's the biotronic unit." He touched the nearest panel and a view
screen appeared at the front of the room. This displayed an image of the
underground cavern. "The Kalinar is usually computer controlled but it
can be flown manually from here." He walked over and touched the wall
below the screen and a console appeared from nowhere. It was covered
with similar patterns and shapes as those displayed on the walls.

"Can you fly it?"

Andrew stood at the controls "Of course." In fact he had never been
allowed to fly the ship under manual control but had seen John and
Stephen do it on many occasions and was sure that he could do it as
well. He ran his hands over the patterns and shapes which illuminated as
the power systems came on line.

(TIM) He pathed.

(Yes Andrew. What can I do for you?)

(We want to go for a quick flight. Can you block local radar and open
the upper doors please.)

(It would not be advisable for you to take the Kalinar up today. Stephen
and Gabkhan have been upgrading some of the systems and have not yet
finished the work.)

(I can't see anything wrong. All the displays are reading optimal
levels. There is no sign of any work being done.) Added Jenny excitedly.

(Come on TIM. Don't be so cautious. We only want to lift to the upper
atmosphere then come straight back again. I'm sure they would have told
you if things were not right down here.)

(Yes. I believe that John would have informed me if the craft were
inoperable, just in case an emergency arose while they were away.)

(Well then, it must be okay. Scan the systems yourself if you like then
we'll be sure.)

It took the biotronic computer a few fractions of a second to scan the
Kalinar's drive and life support systems. (It does seem that everything
is in working order. I will begin radar jamming in a few minutes please
prepare for lift off under my control.)

They smiled at each other as the craft gently rose from the ground and
passed into an upper chamber. Water from the loch rushed in around them
then suddenly they were making their ascent towards the surface. The
Kalinar broke free and glided effortlessly upwards into the evening sky.

(Thanks TIM. I'll take over now.) Pathed Andrew confidently.

(As you wish.)

Through the forward view screen, they could clearly see the house
diminishing rapidly in size below them. "Where would you like to go
today?" He said with a chuckle.

"This is great can we go any faster?"

Andrew flicked his fingers over the controls and the ship sped up into
the sky.

After a while Jenny turned from the viewer and looked around her. "How
far can you travel in one of these? Would it take us all the way to the
Galactic Trig?"

"Oh yes easily. Angie can not jaunt like the rest of us and hates to use
a matter transporter so she usually takes the ship when she's off
world."

"But to travel such vast distances must take for ever, at least at this
speed."

"No not at all we've got Hyperlight drive."

"Hyper what?"

"Let me show you." Andrew moved across to an instrument panel at the
rear of the compartment. Jenny followed him to look at the strange
symbols displayed on a small screen. "This sort of dematerialises us and
we move through Hyperspace then we can go many times the speed of light.
You enter the co-ordinates here." He pointed at one of the symbols which
changed at his touch. "Then this is the execute icon."

"Can we try it now?"

"I'm not sure" He hesitated while he summed up the situation. How could
he let her down now that she was on the verge of seeing the wonders of
the universe. "I did promise TIM that we would only take a quick
flight."

"You're not scared of  TIM are you? What can he do about it now that
we're out here." She reached across him and touched the symbol.

"Don't do that we've not entered the co-ordinates."

But it was too late. In a blinding flash the Hyperlight drive kicked
into action. For a fleeting moment the void of hyperspace was visible
through the view screen then all hell broke out. The ship's internal
integrity field began to fluctuate, systems all over the ship overloaded
as the psionic energy dematerialised their atoms and phased them out of
space-time.

"What's happening?" Shouted Jenny above the wailing of the alarm.

"Without co-ordinates the ship has dematerialised us but does not know
where to send us so it is scattering our material into hyperspace."

"You mean we're being broken down bit by bit until there's nothing
left."

"That's exactly what I mean."

They were thrown across the room as the ship lurched out of control. The
walls slowly became opaque and the air thinned rapidly.

"Do something!" Screamed Jenny hysterically. "We're going to die."

(TIM, can you hear us TIM. Jaunt us back immediately please.)

"It's no good we're not in their universe anymore they cannot help us."
He said resignedly.

Jenny ignored him and rushed back to the flight controls. "There must be
some way to...." Without realising she had re-engaged the atmospheric
thrusters. The shearing forces wrenched at the craft and pulled it back
into reality. "I did it!" The view screen clearly displayed the Earth
below them growing rapidly as they plummeted towards the surface.

"What's that?" She said pointing at a large object nearing their
position."

"It looks like another ship." They looked at each other then back at the
screen. "It's on a collision course.."

The other ship came right at them and they sunk back away from the
screen. But instead of the impact they expected this vessel passed
through them and disappeared.

Andrew let out a sigh of relief. "I thought we had had it then..."

Without warning the flight console exploded in front of them. Andrew was
thrown back across the compartment and knocked unconscious instantly.
The blast loosened the panel which struck Jenny's upper torso breaking
her neck immediately. Silently the craft plunged back into the
atmosphere and began to burn up as it descended towards the British
Isles.


--
"May your senses be enlightened and your dreams be fulfilled."
     Traditional Manyarnern Greeting





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jack Newman <Jack@effdee.demon.co.uk>
Subject: TPFICT: Fragile 3 of 4
Date: 03 Nov 1998 07:02:59 +0000

Fragile
By Jacqueline Newman
An Original Series Story
Part 3 of 4

Meanwhile; back in London 1973

Stephen was the first to see it: a long, luminous streak, high in the
evening sky. On the ground it was already dark, but the rays of the sun
crept round the curve of the Earth's surface, giving a pink glow to the
object hurtling on the edge of space.

Stephen's mind went into overdrive, calculating from the height of the
sun's rays the altitude of the object and then working out its speed.

'A hundred thousand kilometres an hour, and decelerating 28g,' he told
himself, but not burning up. If it's a space-ship, it certainly isn't a
Sap one.'

The others had seen it too. Carol's thoughts came in from the top of a
bus three miles away. Then came Kenny, then John, all in an excited
rush:

'Did you see it Stephen?'

'It was a space-ship definitely...'



The Lab
16th august 1992

"TIM, are you quite sure that it is a Criton ship?" Asked John as the
view screen displayed the image of the space-ship flashing across the
evening sky.

"Yes John. It matches the exact configuration in the Galactic Federation
data banks. I have already dispatched a message requesting further
details regarding ship flight plans in this sector."

Elizabeth turned to Stephen. "Well whoever is inside that thing has
certainly got the Saps attention. This place will be crawling with
military by morning. We had better make sure we get our stories straight
in case they come round here asking questions."

"Yes and we better help them too or they'll be captured." Added Stephen.

"John I am receiving a message from the Criton Central Command."

"Put it on the viewer please TIM." They all turned to see the familiar
face of Arlon appear on the screen. Despite his fancy uniform and
increased years he was unmistakable as the little alien boy they had
rescued from the military twenty years ago.

"Squadron leader Arlon hear. Thank you for your request for information.
I have to inform you that we have no vessels in your sector of space at
present. This ship wherever it comes from is not one of ours."

The viewer faded again.
"Hm..." Said John. "So if it's not one of theirs who's is it?"


Back in 1973
The bottom of the Scotish Loch...

Andrew awoke to find himself nearly covered in cold water. Shivering he
scanned around him for signs of Jenny. He had a splitting headache and
instinctively knew that his special powers had been temporarily robbed
from him. Slowly the water level rose towards his chin.

"Jenny! Jenny! Where are you?" Pulling himself up he waded through the
murky water towards what was left of the flight console. He gasped as he
spotted her body. Mangled and lifeless beneath the wreckage. He pulled
her up and hugged her to him.

"This can't be happening. I can't lose the only person I've loved
since..." But the memories of his father's death were too painful to
bare. He slumped back down and rocked her in his arms as the water
lapped at his sides.




The lab
16th August 1992
Two hours later...

TIM manoeuvred the ship into the chamber then removed the water. As it
settled down on the floor of the underground cavern John felt intense
deja vous. He kept his feelings to himself as they opened the hatch and
went inside.

"I suggest we all put up a telepathic shield." He warned.

"Why on Earth should we need that?" Responded a puzzled Elizabeth.

His suspicions were confirmed as they all felt the intense wave of
emotion emanating from the small alien child standing just inside the
door of the ship.

"Arlon!" Exclaimed Stephen. "What the hell are you doing here?"


Back in 1973
Inside the Crashed Kalinar...

Andrew felt as if he couldn't move. How could he leave her to the cold
inhospitable depths of the loch. But his instinct to survive kept
pulling him towards the exit of the Kalinar. The water was almost above
his head now. He had to partially float across the compartment and gulp
down the last remaining lung fulls of air.

'I may as well die here with her. What's there to go on for.' He thought
as the water began to enter his lungs. But the voice in his head kept
telling him that he must survive that he was a Tomorrow Person and they
must go on. Eventually the conflict was ended as he lost consciousness.


****************

Part two:  Not Quite a Rift in time!
1973
Loch Derrig

Slowly, they descended towards the centre, their eyes straining for any
signs of movement. Surely, thought John, the place must be a flurry of
activity; everyone down there must know by now that they were about to
receive the army's first captive from another planet. Yet they could see
no indication that the place was inhabited at all.

As they reached the bottom of the slope, a barbed wire fence rose before
them. No sooner had they seen it, than there was a loud rustle at the
side. they froze, hands on belts, ready to jaunt.

The stun gun blast took them completely by surprise and they collapsed
on the ground.

"What did you do that for?" Demanded Liz bending down to examine them
more closely.

"Because in this time line it did happen when I tried to make telepathic
contact with Arlon. But now we know that it is Andrew and he will not
have the same effect on us, them," he pointed at the unconscious
Tomorrow People laying at their feet," as Arlon did. We cannot afford to
disrupt our own past or heaven knows what change of events we may put
into motion."

"Johns right." Said Angie. "He's our guide in this time line to what
actually happened. I warned you about the grave dangers of time rifts
before I brought you here. We have to be very careful."

"And any moment now the helicopter will arrive and we will be found
unconscious beside the barrier by the security patrol. I suggest that we
jaunt to a safe distance."





The Lab
Back in 1992

Arlon had responded much better to Angie's telepathic transmissions than
he had to the Tomorrow People's attempts the first time they had met.
She was a far stronger telepath than any of the Tomorrow People and
could withstand the intensity of his emotions without being overwhelmed
by them. She explained, in simple terms, where he was and that they
would need to contact a Time Guardian in order to get him home. She also
assured the frightened little boy that he did and would definitely make
it home.

Secretly she wondered whether this would in fact come to pass. It was
obvious that with the others in the past the time rift was significant
and a rescue mission was needed.

It was agreed that she had enough temporal control to take Liz, John and
herself back to rescue Andrew and Jenny. Although she would need
additional help to bring two extra people, as well as the Kalinar, back
from the past to the present.

Stephen was left behind with Mike, Hsui Tai and the children to contact
Peter, and with his help, bring Arlon back to the 1970's. It soon became
apparent that they would also be faced with the problem of how to bring
an object as big as the life-ship back through time. That this dilemma
had to be solved somehow was obvious. But their first priority was to
rescue Andrew and Jenny from Colonel M.




1973
The Military Base 20 hours later...

While Kenny covered the three of them, the others turned their attention
to the fourth occupant of the room. He had remained motionless at the
table, watching everything with silent interest.

As they looked at him their jaws dropped.

'Cor,' said Ginge. 'It's human.'

Andrew immediately recognised John and Stephen and, realising the
enormity of the situation he was in, took control. "Actually," he said,
"I'm Homo Superior. I'm a Tomorrow Person like you. And I've lost my
special powers so I can't jaunt out of here. Did you bring a matter
transporter with you?"

"A what!" Exclaimed John.

"Oh never mind." Replied Andrew quickly. "We'll just have to do it the
old fashioned way."

He motioned towards the door and they all filed out.

'Turn and face the wall, and don't try to come after us - at least not
until we're well away,' warned John. 'You may feel stupid being locked
up in here, but you'll feel even more stupid if we paralyse you.'

'You'll never get away...' Colonel M blustered as the three men obeyed
John's command.

They locked the door behind them and raced out into the concrete yard in
front of the main building.

"Would you mind telling me what's going on?" Said a very confused Carol.
"How can you be a Tomorrow Person when you arrived in a space-ship?"

"I'm sorry but I don't think we have time for lengthy discussions right
now. I'll tell you as soon as we get back to the safety of the lab."

John motioned for Ginge and Lefty to step away from the stranger. "Hold
it right there." He demanded pointing the stun gun at Andrew. "Just how
do you know about the lab?"

Andrew sighed. John has not changed much over the years, he thought. He
was and always will be very protective towards the Tomorrow People.

"I know about it because I'm one of you. How I came to be here I cannot
tell you but I do know everything about you. You cannot kill, you have a
computer called TIM. John, your father is a policeman."

But this conversation had gone on for far too long and the military
guards had recovered from the effects of the stun blast. They ran from
the building and fired a volley of shots in the direction of the group
of young people.

Ginge and Lefty took the brunt of the fire and immediately fell to the
ground.

"Jaunt!" Shouted Andrew, as he was also hit and fatally wounded. "Save
yourselves. The Tomorrow people must go on to the future."

In a sparkle of light the others disappeared leaving an eerie silence in
the yard.

Watching from around the corner of the building John saw himself and his
friends dematerialise. "We're too late." He whispered. "We better get
out of here before the time line is disrupted any further."

They too jaunted away to safety.


--
"May your senses be enlightened and your dreams be fulfilled."
     Traditional Manyarnern Greeting





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jack Newman <Jack@effdee.demon.co.uk>
Subject: TPFICT: Fragile 4 of 4
Date: 04 Nov 1998 06:51:31 +0000

Fragile
By Jacqueline Newman
An Original Series Story
Part 4 of 4

*********

Part three: The looking Glass Self.

1973
The Scottish highlands Few Minutes Later...

They sat on a hill two miles from the base and merged minds. Angie
stretched out their combined consciousness towards the activity in the
yard. It soon became apparent that all three were dead and that the
military intended to dissect their bodies in order to discover where
they came from.

It was Liz who broke the link and articulated her thoughts. "We cannot
let things happen this way. Ginge, Lefty and Andrew are an important
part of our future. If we return now it might be completely different
when we get there. Do you recall the problems caused by Cotus the
gladiator boy who remembered how to build a steam engine? And how the
Roman soldiers from the future faded out of existence before our very
eyes when his memory was wiped. For all we know we might disappear
ourselves soon."

"Don't worry." Said Angie reassuringly. "As long as you're with me I can
prevent that from happening. But you do have a point. When we go back
things might be considerably different. The Tomorrow People might no
longer exist on Earth. After all Ginge and Chris saved all of your lives
more than once in the future. We just have to get in there and put
things right."

"And just how do you propose we do that." Snapped John, then he gave an
apologetic smile. "Sorry I'm finding all this very difficult to
understand."

"You're not the only one." Added Liz.

Angie put her arms around their shoulders. "Don't forget I'm the One. I
may not like the title but the privileges of having that much psionic
energy are considerable."

"Just what do you mean?" Asked John.

It took them an hour to formulate a plan. Angie assured them that as
long as she got to their friends bodies before they were actually
dissected she could reanimate them. But the difficult thing was to put
the rest of the time line back the way it should be. There seemed only
one solution. They would have to seek help...


1973
The Lab an Hour Later...

Three figures started to appear on the Jaunting pad. John rushed across
the room to grab a stun gun but was suddenly held rigid by Angie's
psionic suggestion.

His mind flew into a turmoil as he came face to face with a perfect
likeness of himself. Older perhaps, but definitely him.

Stephen, Carol and Kenny were having similar thoughts as they also
recognised the figure as their friend.

(Promise you won't panic and jaunt away.) Pathed Liz. (We are like you
and have come to help you.) She saw the tension drain out of the younger
people's faces as Angie relaxed her psionic grip and lowered each of
them back into their seats.

"Who are you? Are you me?" Asked John at last.

"Yes I'm you and it is highly irregular for us to meet like this but it
is essential for us to rescue Ginge, Lefty and Andrew from Colonel M
before he damages their bodies. Will you help us?"

They nodded and the older Tomorrow People came further into the Lab.

John sat opposite himself at the link table. "This is like looking into
a mirror." He said.

"TIM, can you please scan each of us and confirm that we are who we say
we are."

TIM hesitated. "It's okay TIM," said John. "Do as he says."

A strange noise rose in pitch and a spotlight slowly descended from the
ceiling to move across each of their faces in turn.

Then TIM spoke again. "I can confirm that John is John and the black
lady is also a Tomorrow Person. The third creature is registered as a
life form from the Planet Manyarner."

"Okay, you've satisfied us. How can we help you?"

At Elizabeth's suggestion the whole group merged minds to transfer
information about the time rift to the younger TP's. After a short while
a plan to break back into the base was agreed upon.

"And we promise to let you wipe our memories of what we have learned
here today when all this is over." Agreed Carol.




1992
Corrour sta 6 hours later...

Stephen woke from his fitful sleep. He missed Angie's warm body to
cuddle up to and never slept well when they were separated like this. As
he came to his senses he recalled his dreams and sprang out of bed.

(Mike, Hsui, Peter. It's time.) He pathed as he made his way down to the
lab.

He was met by a very sleepy Peter standing next to an excited Arlon.

"Did she use dream telepathy to send a message?" Asked Peter.

Stephen nodded and gulped down the steaming mug of coffee that TIM
materialised for him.

"Thanks. I needed that." He said looking up to see Mike and Hsui coming
down the stairs.

He spoke to the whole group. "In the dream she showed me the switching
of the Kalinar for the life-ship later today. Then our younger selves
will pick up the thread of the original events and contact Saav and
negotiate with Colonel M for Arlon's release."

"But Arlon is here with us." Commented a confused Mike, as he crossed
the lab to sit beside Stephen.

"Yes but Peter will take Arlon back in the life-ship. Angie will alter
the Colonel's memory to think that he was the alien they captured all
along. Ginge and Lefty will have their minds altered similarly. So no
one will know the difference. Andrew and..."

"What is it?" Asked Hsui sensing his disquiet.

"Jenny is dead." He said it in such a flat tone that the others could
hardly believe it.

"How, was she killed by the military?"

"No she was killed in the Kalinar crash. It's horrible." He opened up
his mind and the others shared the surge of grief as they felt the
realisation of the loss of one of their kind.

After a while Peter spoke. "I know this is difficult for you but it has
happened and we have to face it. Now we must make preparations to take
Arlon and the life-ship back to where they belong and restore the time
line."

"Yes, you're right." Said Stephen. "We have to look after those who are
left now."


***********


Part Four: Putting the Record Straight.

1973
The Lab Ten Minutes Later...

Peter appeared in the lab with Arlon at his side.

Angie gave a nod of recognition for another temporal being and ushered
the others forward. "Where is the life-ship?"

"In a parking orbit above the north pole. As soon as we get into the
base we can bring it down and send the Kalinar back to the future in
it's place."

"Good." Said John and John Simultaneously. "Let's get on with it then."




The Military Research Establishment Loch Derrig

They appeared in the mortuary of the military base. It was midnight and
the place was completely deserted.

(So far so good.) Pathed Stephen as he searched for the draw which
contained the bodies of his Hells Angel's friends.

It was Kenny who found them first. (Over here.) He pathed beckoning to
them in the darkness.

Angie approached and placed her hand on Lefty's head. Closing her eyes
she reached into his cellular tissues. A green light enveloped his body
and the bullet wounds began to heal. Once the damage was repaired she
moved into the brain tissues. A pulse of purple psionic energy fired
along the neuronal pathways.

She found herself in a dark place. 'Lefty, she called are you here?'

The feelings of the young man flooded into her mind. 'Where are we? How
did I get here?'

'That does not matter, just look towards that light up there.'

He was suddenly aware of a light which appeared to be at the end of a
long tunnel. 'Go towards the light.' She urged and he flew away from
her.

Similar experiences were shared by Ginge and Andrew and they were soon
sitting up on the medical benches stretching their tired limbs.

Seeing the familiar faces of John and Liz, Andrew began to cry. "Jenny
is dead and It's all my fault. I want to go home. Please take me home."

Liz hugged him and sent soothing messages into his mind.(It is going to
be all right. You have to be strong for just a little while longer.)




1973
The Lab 30 Minutes Later.

They arrived back in the lab shortly after. It had been a simple task to
bring the life-ship down to the base by remote control and lift the
Kalinar up into it's place.

"Now all we have to do is return to our own time in the Kalinar." Said
John to his younger self. "Thank you for you're help."

"You knew we would be pleased to give our help. I am very sorry that one
of us had to die in the terrible accident. Will this change things in
you're world too much?"

Peter looked around the group. "According to my knowledge of the future
time line, Jenny never was a true Tomorrow Person. I suspect that this
event was meant to happen all along. It is sad I know, but it was meant
to be."

They could all feel Andrew's discomfort  at the inevitability of the
days events. After a short silence Liz suggested that they begin with
the memory erasure process. The younger Tomorrow People sat at the link
table and drifted into a gentle trance. Standing behind them Angie, John
and Liz entered their memory and erased the appropriate cells.

"Let's get out of here before they wake up." Urged Peter stepping onto
the jaunting pad.

"But what about TIM?"

"You're right Liz. We will have to erase all memory that we were here,
including TIM."

"I am fully aware of the necessity to remove all knowledge of your visit
to us." Replied their biotronic friend. "As soon as you have left the
lab I will purge my memory banks."

"Very well then. We can rely on you TIM." Replied John. "See you in
twenty years time!"

They jaunted away to the Kalinar.



1973
In The Kalinar.
A Few Minutes Later...

"Well that's it." Said Peter placing the time dilator matrix onto the
remains of the hastily patched up flight console. "All we have to do is
press this button and we will be back in our own time."

John stepped over and looked at the small metallic box. "It's lucky that
we could get some of these systems working again. Although the biotronic
unit is completely shot. I don't think the Kalinar will be able to use
Hyperlight drive for quite some time."

"Stephen and Gabkhan will have a lot of work to do to fix up this mess."
Commented Andrew. "I'm terribly sorry to cause so much trouble."

John put on his parenting expression. "Well all's well that ends well."
He said and pressed the matrix control button.

They waited...

"Nothing's happened. What's gone wrong?" Elizabeth was quite worried.

Angie stared intently at the box. "That's funny it's set for the past
not the future. I think we should jaunt out of here straight away."

They dematerialised just in time as the Kalinar was de-structured and
pushed back into the Earth's distant past.

Stepping off the Jaunting pad once again they were greeted by TIM. "I
did not expect to see any of you so soon. Has something gone wrong.?"

"You bet it has." Snapped Angie angrily. "I may not be a hundred year
old *Time Guardian* but I can remember how to programme a reverse
temporal sweep matrix. You set the polarity in the wrong direction."

Peter looked very embarrassed by his obvious blunder. "I'm sorry but I'm
not used to working in this way. We usually use time discs which are
programmed to take you and bring you back. I forgot that you all arrived
here by other means."

Their argument was disturbed by the groans of the younger TP's as they
began to wake from their trance.

"We can't stay here and let them see us." Urged Elizabeth. "Is there any
way for you to get us back home without the matrix?"

Peter considered the situation for a moment then pulled a time disc from
his robe. "Wait right here everybody. I'll be straight back." He blinked
out of sight.

"Perhaps you should  all wait upstairs. Then the Tomorrow People will
not see you as they wake." Suggested TIM.

"Good Idea TIM." They all climbed the metallic staircase to the rooms
above.

Peter appeared in front of them. "Here take one of these." He said
opening his hand to reveal five time discs.

They did as he suggested and disappeared from sight.




The Lab
1992

"Welcome back."

"Thanks TIM," replied John, "but it hardly feels as if we've been away."

Elizabeth looked around the lab. "Are the others all right? Has the time
line restored itself okay?" She enquired.

"Yes Elizabeth. Everything here is exactly as you left it." Replied the
biotronic computer.

"Not everything." Said Stephen entering from the direction of the
underground tunnel.

"What do you mean Stephen?" Asked Elizabeth. "I can't see any changes."

He walked over to face his joining partner. (What did you do to me?)

(Nothing that you would not have wanted.)

Peter spoke up for the first time. "Angie did you alter the time line?"

She nodded.

"What exactly did you do?"

Stephen answered for her. "She left a psionic suggestion in my mind when
she was erasing my memory."

John drew close. "What sort of psionic suggestion? It doesn't seem to
have changed much. You're still as ugly as ever."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. She put the suggestion into my mind that I would
find her attractive when we met for the first time on the Trig."

Elizabeth smiled. "Oh is that all. For a moment there I thought it was
going to be something serious." She sat down at the table.

"It is serious. How would you like it if your decisions were made for
you. It's not fair." He also sat and sulked in silence.

"Are you unhappy with me as you're joining partner?" She asked.

"No of course not. You know that. But it's a bit tough having to realise
that my choice was interfered with."

"Angie. Why exactly did you do this to Stephen? I know there must have
been a good reason."

"Well John, I've seen many possible futures for this planet some with
and some without The Tomorrow People's presence. You are a genetically
inferior species. Incapable of defending yourselves against a much more
aggressive competitor. There are so few of you now and the development
of others has been seriously set back by the Federation's seeding
process that I felt it was important for you to have a little help
towards you're continued survival."

John looked very serious as he weighed his response. "Yes I agree that
our continued existence is a fragile balance. Jenny's death has reminded
us all of how close we come to extinction every time we go on a
dangerous mission. But that is our nature. The vulnerability actually
gives us strength." He looked around the lab." All that we have achieved
has been through hard work and a commitment to making this world a
better place. We are grateful for you're help and respect your powers
but I'd like to think that we could have made it through on our own."

(Do you want me to go back and change things? I can erase the suggestion
from Stephen's mind before we meet.)

Elizabeth spoke up for the first time. "I agree with John in part. It
would be good to do things for ourselves, but we have accepted
assistance from the Federation, other worlds and Peter on many
occasions. I don't see what difference you marrying Stephen has made. We
have a good family here so why spoil things."

"Elizabeth is right." Commented Andrew, who had kept quiet all this
time. "I have no family left but I think of each one of you as my
extended family. The community wouldn't be the same without Angie here.
And anyway Stephen, if  I'd met someone as lovely as her on the Trig I'd
have fallen for her psionic suggestion or no psionic suggestion."

They all laughed. (Well Angie it seems that my choice of mate has been
approved of around here. You can stay.) Pathed Stephen on their private
channel.

(And maybe if I'd stayed on Manyarner and joined with one of my own kind
I wouldn't have to keep using this infernal teleporter.) She replied
removing the bracelet from her wrist. "I'm starving. Who's turn is it to
cook dinner tonight?"

"Yours." They replied in unison.

"You're existence is more fragile than you think if you have to eat my
cooking."

They laughed as they climbed up the stairs to the house above.

THE END



--
"May your senses be enlightened and your dreams be fulfilled."
     Traditional Manyarnern Greeting





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jack Newman <Jack@effdee.demon.co.uk>
Subject: TPFICT: Happy Anniversary part 0 of 0
Date: 07 Nov 1998 17:50:18 +0000

Happy Anniversary
By Jacqueline Newman
An Original Series Story
Part 0 of 0


Disclaimer:
Most of the Characters contained in this story are not mine but are
borrowed from the 1970s series The Tomorrow People. They are the
property of the creators and copyright holders.

Any other characters, planets and cultures are the sole creation and
property of Jacqueline Newman. No one may post this story to any web
page without my permission other than the tpfict archives.


Possible Spoiler
This story should be read after my novel 'The Joining' as it follows the
lives of characters created in that story.

Personal comment:
I would like to thank Shawn Lazerus for betareading this fan fict.
The title is not particularly original but seemed most appropriate :)

Comments are very welcome. If you enjoy the story please let me know.

Jackie Newman
jack@effdee.demon.co.uk


--
"May your senses be enlightened and your dreams be fulfilled."
     Traditional Manyarnern Greeting





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Wendy Kelley <ladyslvr@xmission.com>
Subject: TPFICT: ADMIN: New year, new rules (rules update)
Date: 07 Nov 1998 20:38:50 -0700

Would you believe TPFICT is 3?  The list celebrated its 3rd birthday on
November 2nd.  Thank you to everyone who has contributed and helped kept
the list going.

In hopes of getting year 4 off to a good start, here's a repost of the
rules.  Note that rules #9 and #10 are formally new, but have been in
affect for a long time.



Welcome to the Tomorrow People Fiction List! 
 
This list is dedicated to the posting of creative works based on 
either generation of the television show "The Tomorrow People".   
This list is also for the discussion of those creative works and  
anything directly related to those works.  For discussion of the  
show, its actors, the characters or anything else non-creative,  
go to the discussion list, TPDIS@xmission.com. 
 
It is recommended that all members of either TP list read the 
document "Tips For Fanfic Authors".  Despite its name, it also 
contains tips for readers. This document is available at 
http://www.xmission.com/~ladyslvr/wlk/tips.txt 
 
By subscribing and/or posting to TPFICT and/or the TPFICT 
archives, you acknowledge that "The Tomorrow People" and all 
characters associated with either series are created and owned by 
Roger Damon Price, Nickelodeon, ITV and/or Thames/Tetra 
Television. All stories posted to this list are for entertainment 
purposes only, are not sold for profit of any kind, and are not 
intended to infringe on any copyrights. 
 
To ensure that this list is as efficient and enjoyable as possible, 
please follow these rules.  All rules apply to stories posted to 
TPFICT or directly to the archives. 

1) Do not repost a story or story part to TPFICT for any reason. If 
a post comes through mangled, or fails to come through within 
24 hours from being sent, contact the list owner to clear 
reposting.  There may be something wrong with the list software 
that resending a post will only aggravate. 
 
2) The posting of erotica (X-Rated material) to the mailing list is 
not permitted.  Stories rated NC-17 can be posted directly to the 
archives by mailing them to the listowner with a request.  Or you 
can post them on your own web page and send a note to the list 
informing others of the story's existence and location.  If you are 
unsure of a story's suitability, contact the listowners. 
 
3) All fiction posted to TPFICT will be automatically archived 
unless the author specifically states otherwise. The Tomorrow 
People Creative List Archive is located at 
http://www.xmission.com/~ladyslvr/TPFICT/ 
 
4) Do not use angled brackets <> in stories, as stories are put 
into html format for posting on the web page, and html coding 
wants to use the angled brackets for other purposes. 
 
The popular method for indicating telepathic thought is with the 
use of square brackets [ ], although parentheses ( ), asterisks *, 
and other notations have been used.  Emphasis is usually noted 
with *asterisks* and underlining with  _underscores_. 
 
5) If you read a story, take a few minutes to write the author and 
tell them what you thought.  The TP lists are quite small in 
comparison to many other media-related lists.  Every piece of 
mail counts here, and without encouragement, the writers may 
not continue writing. 
 
6) The TPFICT: header is automatically attached to all posts sent 
to the list.  Please  do not include this yourself. 
 
7) No off-topic posts.  This includes posts that may seem helpful 
but otherwise have nothing to do with "The Tomorrow People", 
including, but not excluded to: virus warnings, junk mail, and 
advertisements for non-TP products. 
 
8) No attached or encoded files of any kind.  The list software 
cannot handle attached files, and many people do not have the 
ability to handle encoding.  If your email program attaches or 
encodes files automatically, you need to find another way to get 
it to the list. 
 
9) No using real people in your stories or works without their
explicit permission.  This includes, but is not limited to, the actors, 
executives, and/or other list members.

10) No spamming.  Spamming is sending the same post to the
list over and over, and/or sending many different posts to the list
in a very short amount of time.  Authors are requested to limit
their postings to fewer than 5 parts per day, including any part 0
or author's notes.

11) No flaming.  Both the TP lists are privately owned and 
operated; Freedom of Expression does not apply here. What 
constitutes flaming is solely at the discretion of the listowner 
and/or assistant list owner.  So far, neither list has ever had a 
problem with flamers.  Let's try to keep it that way. 
 
FLAMING OR VIOLATION OF ANY OTHER LIST RULE IS 
GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL FROM THE LISTS. 
 
 
To post to the list, mail to: 
    tpfict@xmission.com 
 
For subscribing, unsubscribing, and so on: 
    majordomo@xmission.com 
 
The listowner is Wendy Kelley (ladyslvr@xmission.com) 
The assistant listowner is Kyrie Daniels (kyrie@dnai.com) 
 
If you have any questions, please feel free to email us.


...
Wendy

ladyslvr@xmission.com * http://www.xmission.com/~ladyslvr/
Listowner: Tomorrow People creative and discussion lists
Asst. Listowner: Sliders creative and discussion lists




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jack Newman <Jack@effdee.demon.co.uk>
Subject: TPFICT: Happy Anniversary part 1 of 2
Date: 08 Nov 1998 03:51:33 +0000

Happy Anniversary
By Jacqueline Newman
An Original Series Story
Part 1 of 2

Corrour Sta Scotland, Earth.
Saturday 22nd May 1999 1.20 am

"Ssssh Charlie. You'll wake them." Said Edward as he and Charlotte crept
down the stairs, through the study and into the lab below.

Edward, who preferred to be called Eddy, was John and Elizabeth's first
child. He was just nine years old, although he acted more mature than
most human children his age. Despite this he always seemed to be bossing
his sister about, and getting her into all sorts of trouble. This
evening was no exception.

"I am being quiet." Protested the little girl. "It's you who made the
door creek."

At last they stepped into the dimly lit room to be greeted by the soft
voice of TIM.

"I have Tyso waiting on a secure channel from Saiyonara." The view
screen lit up and the familiar form of Tyso appeared.

"This is quite a surprise. Does John know that you got TIM to set up a
long distance communication like this?"

"No, of course not. That's why we need your help." Said Charlotte
enthusiastically. "It's mum and dad's tenth anniversary soon and we want
you to get them a present from us."

"Oh I see." Tyso nodded. "It's a surprise then."

"Yes. Stephen and Angie said that you may be able to get hold of some
Grallarian pond crystals. I know they are rare..."

"Rare! They're almost illegal. I'm surprised at Stephen agreeing to
anything so underhanded. No, I take that back, It's exactly what I would
have expected from him."

The little boy looked worried. "Tyso. We know that you have met many
people on your travells. Do you think you can get hold of some for us?
Please."

"Oh I might be able to sort something out. There's nothing I like better
than  smuggling rare artefacts half way across the galaxy to a closed
world right under the noses of the beaurocrats at the federation.
Consider it done."

TIM's authoritative voice broke into their conversation. "Tyso. We do
not want you to do anything illegal or to get into any trouble. The
children's request is not compulsory. I'm sure that they can think of
something else to get for John and Elizabeth."

"Don't worry TIM, I can take care of myself. I have my own contacts
around here you know. I'll send a message when I have acquired the goods
and jaunt over with them. I'd love to see the look on John's face when
you give them to him. Bye for now."

The view screen dimmed and the lab returned to near darkness.

"If I had known that it was Grallarian pond crystals that you were going
to ask for I would not have agreed to set up that transmission." Chided
the biotronic computer. "They are rare and restricted artefacts from a
dying culture. Tyso will be taking great risks on your behalf. I think
that this surprise present idea should have been thought through more
carefully. I will have a talk with Stephen about it tomorrow."

"Please don't be angry with us." Charlotte put on her most pathetic
voice. This always worked with TIM. "We didn't mean any harm we just
want to give mum and dad the most wonderful gift they've ever had."

"Well. I suppose I can over look it on this occasion, but next time
please inform me of your intentions before I establish the link. Now
it's well past your bed time off you go."

The little girl smiled at her brother mischievously and brushed her long
brown locks from her eyes. "Thanks ever so. Good night." She bent
forward and kissed one of the glowing domes which made up part of TIM.

"Good night children." Replied the computer. "Pleasant dreams."

The children jaunted to their respective bedrooms and snuggled down once
more.
This is going to be the best surprise yet. Thought Eddy as he drifted
off to sleep.



25th July 1999 3.15p.m.

"How much did they cost you?" Asked Stephen as he peered at the
elaborately carved box.

"More credits than you have in your Federation account." Teased Tyso.
"No seriously. The Paldrinian freighter captain, that I got them from,
was happy to receive a blessing from the Manyarnern Premier for the
future prosperity of his family."

"You promised him that! Angie won't be very pleased when she finds out.
You know she doesn't hold much with all this religious rubbish about her
being some sort of saintly icon out of temporal synch with the rest of
the universe."

"She won't mind cause you won't tell her. Will you." Tyso said
emphatically.

"You don't really understand the meaning of the joining do you Tyso?
I'll have to remind you one day."

The conversation was cut short as Mike came into the lab. "Well, what've
we got here. Our two conspirators in the great anniversary present
swindle."

"How do you know about that!" Demanded a shocked Stephen.

"Those two kids have been so excited ever since you agreed to get these
things for them." He motioned at the case. "They've hardly been able to
control themselves."

"So who else knows?"

They all looked up as they sensed two figures materialising on the
jaunting pad.

Hsui Tai and Andrew came over and looked at the ornate box. "Can we see
the crystals? Please?" Asked Hsui Tai.

"Oh no, not you as well!" Stephen sighed as he sat down and opened up
the box. Peering inside they could all see two small rounded stones
surrounded by layers of a velvety type material.

Tyso picked up one of the unassuming little rocks. "I don't know what
all the fuss is about!" Was the last thing any of them heard before they
fell unconscious on the floor.


********

Meanwhile...

"Thank you Mrs. Phillips." Said Elizabeth as she took the tea cup from
John's mother.

"Why don't you call me Margery. You two have been married for so long
now that I think it's time we were a little less formal with each
other." She looked up at her husband who was busy telling John a story
about his work for the Metropolitan Police. "Don't you agree dear?"

"Then the custody sergeant...What? Do you have to disturb my train of
thought like that." He gave his wife a stern look. "Now where was I..."

(John!)

(Yes TIM.)

(Can you and Elizabeth come to the lab immediately please.)

John felt the tension in TIM's usually unruffled voice. (What's the
matter?)

(You will see when you get here. Please hurry.)

Elizabeth looked across at the children who were playing a game, on a
lap top computer, at the dining table in the far corner of the room.

(Telephone?) She pathed as she sent out the telekinetic signal for it to
ring.

John took the mobile phone from his pocket. "Yes, of course." He said to
the empty line. "I'll be right over." He put the phone back into his
pocket and rose from his seat. "Sorry Mother, Father, we have to go.
There is an emergency at work and I have to return immediately."

"On a Sunday! I am proud of you becoming managing director of Jameson
Industries my boy." Said John's father. "But being expected to drop
everything and come running every time there is a little trouble at the
plant. Haven't you got employees to do that sort of thing?"

"I'm sorry dad, but they really do need me there to sort things out." He
beckoned the children across towards him. "Come on kids we have to leave
now. Say good bye to your grandparents."

"Oh dear! And we have not had tea yet." Said Margery as she rose to
collect their coats." One day, you will have to stay for longer than ten
minutes."


"Yes." Replied Elizabeth. "We promise to come back with the kids very
soon."

They hurriedly put on their coats and headed out into the street.
Walking just out of sight around the corner they jaunted to the lab.



25th July 1999 5.25 p.m.

Two hours later the younger Tomorrow People were all recovered.

"I would have expected more from you, your not a kid any more." John was
barely containing his anger as he rebuked Stephen. "Did you think about
why these things are restricted items? Or what could have happened if we
had not been around to revive you all. The head wound that Hsui suffered
as she fell against the console was quite serious you know. I despair of
the lot of you!"

"Okay! Okay! John. We're sorry. We didn't think about what the crystals
could do to telepaths. There is no need to lecture us so much. I've got
a splitting headache I'm going upstairs for a nap." He stood up and
jaunted.

"Don't be so hard on them John." Said Liz, as she helped Hsui Tai to her
feet. "I think they have learned their lesson. After all, they were
trying to do something for us you know."

John sat down at the table opposite Andrew, Mike and Tyso who were also
nursing bad headaches. "Yes, and when I find out who was the ring leader
of this little enterprise I'll have words with the Federation
authorities." He said gruffly as he looked at each of the young men in
turn.

"It was all my idea." They said in unison.

Tyso stood quickly and walked across to the jaunting pad. "I'm going to
visit me mum while I'm here want to come with me Mike?"

"You bet."

They jaunted before John could say anything else.

John looked sternly at the glowing globes which hovered in the centre of
the room. "And, I am very disappointed with you TIM. Letting them bring
dangerous items into the lab. Just wait until I get to the bottom of
this."

"Well, there is no harm done." Interrupted Elizabeth trying to pacify
her husband. "Why don't we leave things for now and discuss it when we
have all calmed down. Andrew, please help Hsui to her room."

Relieved to escape John's bad mood, the two young people climbed the
stairs into the house above, then quickly crossed the study and went to
their own rooms.

Elizabeth sat at the table beside John in the now empty lab. The
ornately carved box was still in the centre of the table where it had
fallen when the Tomorrow People were knocked out. It's contents appeared
to be harmless pebbles once more.

Reaching out she lifted up the box to study it's contents more closely.
"Who would have thought that such innocuous stones could black out five
healthy people. I wonder what they actually do?"

John took the box from her and replaced the lid. "Well I'm going to find
out before any more of us are harmed." He said placing it down in the
centre of the table once more. "TIM please contact the Federation
central archives and find out as much as you can about Grallarian pond
crystals.

"I have already established the link and am downloading the information
now." Replied the computer.


********

26th July 1999 7.00 p.m.

Angie came into the dining room with a flurry. Compared to the other
Tomorrow People she, and her children, looked very alien. Their eyes
were shining with a bright scarlet light and their skin shimmered with
mauves and lilacs as they moved.  The long flowing gown which Angie wore
changed appearance as she walked until it took on the shape of jeans and
tea shirt. These changes were duplicated by Gabkhan, his identical twin
Kohlarn and their younger sister Sussialificalasa. Soon they all
appeared human again.

Bending down she kissed Stephen. "Sorry we're late, we stopped off at
Dralon Four to do some shopping."

They sat down around the table and helped themselves to some food.
Sensing the atmosphere in the room Angie looked up at John. "So tell me,
what has been happening around here while we were away?"

"I think that your joining partner should be the one to tell you the
details." John barked gruffly and returned to his meal.


--
"May your senses be enlightened and your dreams be fulfilled."
     Traditional Manyarnern Greeting





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jack Newman <Jack@effdee.demon.co.uk>
Subject: TPFICT: Happy anniversary part 2 of 2
Date: 09 Nov 1998 03:26:20 +0000

Happy Anniversary
By Jacqueline Newman
An Original Series Story
Part 2 of 2

26th July 1999 8.00 p.m.

After finishing their dinner in stony silence, Stephen and Angie went
into the lounge. Eddy and Charlotte were already there playing at the
piano.

"So I take it that things did not go according to plan?"

"No, not quite." Replied an embarrassed Stephen. "Did you know how
dangerous those crystals could be? John and Liz had to revive us all
from a coma."

"How on Earth could that have happened?" She paused deep in thought.
"Unless one of you touched them of course."

Tyso, who had heared their exchange as he approached, entered the room
and sat on the couch. "It was me. I only took it out of the box."

Angie burst out laughing and could barely contain herself for the next
half an hour.

"What a bunch of idiots. Can't I leave you alone for five minutes?" She
said through her giggling.


**********

14th August 1999 7.15 p.m.

It had been a beautiful summers day. The temperature was just subsiding,
to a more comfortable level, as John lit the barbecue. Heating the coals
with pyrokinesis they quickly reached cooking temperature. Mike, who
stood nearby, fiddled with the cassette player and loud rock music
suddenly broke the peace.

"Must we have that on?" Said John a he arranged the sausages on the
griddle. "It is such a lovely evening I was rather enjoying the bird
song."

(Oh dad, don't be such an old stick in the mud.) Pathed Edward as he
dribbled a football past Andrew and Kohlarn and kicked it into the make
shift goal at the edge of the lawn.

"You can't blame the children for their taste in music." Added Elizabeth
as she came out of the conservatory. Floating behind her was a tray of
mixed utensils and a large pitcher of Tralmark." Although it could be a
little quieter."

Mike, who had joined the others in their game, used telekinesis to turn
down the volume on the cassette player. (Is that better?) He pathed as
he took the ball from Eddy and began spinning it on his head.

"Much." Replied John smiling at the happy scene.

Stephen and Angie floated over, hand in hand, towards the others. Their
skin still glistened with water from the loch.

"The water's lovely." Said Stephen as he quickly dried himself off on a
nearby towel. "After we've eaten we should all go for a dip together."

Angie turned to Elizabeth who had now settled herself down on a sun bed.
"How are things coming?" She enquired. "Do you need any help with
dinner?"

"No. John has everything under control." The jug of Tralmark poured some
of it's contents into a nearby glass which floated into her hand.
"Here's to good food and good friends." She lifted the glass in a toast
and sipped at the thick liquid.

"Watch out! You're not used to it's properties." Warned Stephen.

As the Tralmark took effect Elizabeth's psychic senses were enhanced.
With little effort she could feel the happy feelings emanating from the
other Tomorrow People around her.

"Your people are very lucky." She said to Angie after a long silence.
"The group consciousness felt by millions of telepaths living in close
proximity must be wonderful."

"Yes it does have it's moments." Replied Angie, who was by now, also
feeling the psi-enhancing qualities of the Manyarnern beverage.

The evening wore on and the anniversary party got into full swing. Mike
supplied the dance music and even John joined in as they all swirled
around together on the patio.

Eventually it became too dark to remain outside so they went into the
lounge for coffee and cake.




"Happy anniversary." Said Charlotte handing John the small package.

John tore at the wrapping paper to reveal the carved box containing the
Grallarian pond crystals. He suddenly looked very disappointed and tried
not to show it. "Thank you children, I'm not sure what these things are
meant to do but thanks for getting them for us."

"I take it then, that TIM did not find anything out from the Federation
archives?" Asked Andrew his face cracking into a wide grin.

"No. All they would tell me is that there is a legend on Grallaria about
their magical qualities." He looked around the group. "Do you know
something that I don't?" He looked at Angie who sat beside Stephen on
the floor.

"I cannot explain it but I can show you." She took the box from him and
removed the lid. "The mistake made last time, by Tyso, was touching the
crystals. You and Liz need to reach inside and lift the stones with
telekinesis. I promise they are quite harmless when handled in this
way."

They looked at one another then followed her instructions. The stones
rose from their box and floated, at eye level, about a metre in front of
them. Everyone present stared as the stones began to glow. Gradually
their brightness increased and the room was bathed in a multitude of
colours. The crystals started to spin, faster and faster. A vortex
formed in the air between them then exploded to engulf John and
Elizabeth. The seats where they had been sitting were now empty....

 *********

19th July 3009

A young, oriental, man crossed the room to stand beside John.

"Welcome to the Museum of Tomorrow."

Elizabeth looked around her. "This is the lounge of our house, where has
the furniture gone?"

"I beg your pardon Madame. This cannot be your home. It has been
designated as an historical monument for the past three hundred years,
you must be mistaken."

(John, I'm scared. Where on Earth are we?)

(I'm not too sure, but I have an idea.)

(I apologise.) Pathed the curator. (I was not aware that you were
telepaths. >From your dress I assume that you have come here on one of
those mystery nostalgia tours? You seem a little confused let me
explain.) He lifted his hand to motion at their surroundings. (The
teleporter has brought you to the Tomorrow People museum. This house is
situated in Scotland on the planet Earth. It was the home of the first
telepaths to evolve on this planet. I am proud to say that I am the
ancestor of Michael Bell and Hsui Tai. I can see that you two are also
descended from the Originals the resemblance is uncanny.)

He led them into what was once the dining room and pointed to large
three dimensional holographic statues. (Yes... Quite uncanny.)

John's mouth opened as he came face to face with a perfect likeness of
himself. Thinking quickly he led Elizabeth out into the hall.

"Thank you very much. We would like to take a look around on our own if
we may?"

(Of course, just call if you need my assistance.) The young man
dematerialised.

"Where are we?" Asked Liz.

"Not where, when!" John led her into the conservatory and they looked
out towards the loch. "This is definitely our house. I suspect that we
have travelled into the distant future."

"That man said he was Mike's ancestor. I wonder what year this is?"

Together they searched the house looking for a clue to the date.
Eventually they went down the hidden staircase, in the study, to the lab
below. Looking around at the empty room it was obvious that TIM had been
removed many years previously.

"I suppose it was too much to expect him to still be here." Said a
disappointed John.

Liz crossed to look at a small computer terminal set in the wall. She
touched the screen and it lit up. John joined her and read aloud.

"Welcome to the Museum of Tomorrow. You are standing in the Lab which
once housed the Biotronic Unit known as TIM. This computer was provided
for the early Tomorrow People by a race of philosophers from the planet
Sophia in the galactic arm of Perseus."

They stood reading for many minutes fascinated to see the story of their
own lives. Eventually they came to the last entry.

"When their numbers rose above two million they could no longer keep
their presence hidden and with full entry into the Galactic Federation
they seized power of the world government in the year 2220. The last
member of the species Homo Sapian died in the year 2526."

Elizabeth stepped away from the screen tears running uncontrollably down
her cheeks.

"So now we know that the Tomorrow People will survive to make this a
better world. It's such a shame that the saps have to die out."

John put his arm around her shoulders reassuringly. "We always knew that
one day we would win through. They have had their chance and made a mess
of things, it looks as if we do eventually get the chance to bring peace
to this planet."

They walked in silence back up to the study.

The curator greeted them as they emerged into the bright sunshine.
(There is a shuttle leaving for London in three minutes. If you really
want to get the most out of your tour I can thoroughly recommend a visit
to their places of birth. It is very interesting to see how they lived
back then.)

John shook his head. (No thank you. We have seen enough for one day.)

(As you wish.) The man's shape slowly dissolved until he took on a more
familiar form.

"Angie!" Exclaimed Elizabeth. "How did you get here?"

"Actually I am not here at all. I'm just borrowing this body for a
while. Have you seen enough? Do you want to return to your own time?"

They both nodded. "Yes we've seen all we need to." Said John.


**********


14th August 1999 11.00 p.m.

"That was interesting." John opened his eyes. "How long were we away?"

Charlotte sat on her fathers lap and cuddled him gently. "Oh daddy, I
thought you were never going to come back."

"Actually you were gone for about a minute." Explained Stephen sensing
that John was rather confused at his daughters reaction. "The kids got a
bit worried that their present had harmed you, that's all."

Elizabeth lifted the little girl onto her own lap. "We are just fine. It
was a lovely gift thank you."

"Did you really like it?" Asked Eddy. "What did you see?"

John looked across at Angie. "Can I tell them?"

She nodded. "Yes, but just a rough outline. It will upset the time line
if we know too much about our own destiny. After all, the gift was meant
for the two of you. Happy anniversary."

The End



--
"May your senses be enlightened and your dreams be fulfilled."
     Traditional Manyarnern Greeting





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Kerry Blackwell" <kerry@needlecraft.co.nz>
Subject: TPFICT: Traces of Yesterday, Touches of Tomorrow [10/15]
Date: 15 Nov 1998 07:52:07 +1300

Sorry for the delay - the rest of itstall had to have all its corrections
done before I could post and I've only just found some time.

Earlier parts of this story, as well as its prequel _Tomorrow and Tomorrow
and Tomorrow..._ can be found at
http://www.forty-two.co.nz/kerry/fanfic.html


The Tomorrow Trilogy II:

Traces of Yesterday, Touches of Tomorrow
Kerry Blackwell

TEN

Pretty much everyone was gathered in General Damon's office.  Since it was
a fairly small office and there were quite a lot of them, it made for a
rather stuffy, crowded atmosphere.  There could have been still more, but
Damon had managed to convince Adam to talk most of the Tomorrow People out
of joining them.  Jade was sitting in one corner of the room, trying very
hard to look inconspicuous so that no-one would think to tell her to leave.
 Damon considered it, but he couldn't help feeling that that much effort
deserved some kind of reward and he said nothing.  That just left Adam,
Megabyte and Kay, and Damon thought they would prove to be more than
enough.

Then there was Emma Stratton and the baby - and a very charming and
appealing baby she was too.  Kay was holding her, looking as if she thought
she had a creation of spun sugar and blown glass in her arms, that might
shatter and break at any moment.  Teresa was totally unfazed by the whole
situation and currently was sleeping happily, her long lashes brushing
across her cheeks.  Laurel and Frank were present of course, and the
mysterious man and woman from the Institute.  And Damon himself.  Rather
more people that could comfortably fit in one little office.  If it had
been a lift, it would have been unsafe to use.

And now they were all there, no-one seemed quite to know where to start or
what to say.

It was Megabyte, the irrepressible, who broke the uncomfortable silence.

He looked at the man Damon had met at the Institute - Mike Bell he'd said
his name was - and fired off a series off rapid questions that left his
father flat-footed and opened mouthed, despite the fact he had thought he'd
reached the point where nothing his son said or did could surprise him any
more.  "So how can you be Tomorrow People, how come we've never met you
before and what did you mean you weren't on Earth?"

Mike looked at Elizabeth, suddenly unsure.  :Do we tell them?:

:We said we'd help them.  Yes, we tell them.:

:An awful lot of people are going to have fits about this.  Important
people who can get us into a whole lot of official trouble.  You do it.:

She smiled, a tiny, secretly amused smile.  :What's the matter, Mike?
Getting law-abiding in your old age?:

He refused to be baited.  :You tell them.:

:I tell them,: she agreed, still sounding amused.

"Oh, we're Tomorrow People, all right," she agreed to the room at large,
favouring Megabyte with a friendly look.  "We were supposed to be the next
stage in human evolution; telepaths who could teleport, with some other
useful skills like telekinesis and a little healing."  She glanced around
the young people in the room.  "Does it all sound rather familiar?"

Adam grinned.  "Yeah, it does.  Did you break out like we do?"

"I don't know," Mike answered with a shrug.  "How do you do it?"

"Under stressful or threatening circumstances," Megabyte said firmly.  "I
was hanging over a balcony at the time."

Damon almost closed his eyes involuntarily, trying not to remember the
image of his son he could never forgot, of him being dangled over thin air
as Gloria threatened to drop him.

Adam nodded.  "And then we teleport.  To the island.  We always landed in
the sea before.  Maybe we won't now."

"You shouldn't," Mike agreed.  "Between us, the Ship and I should have
properly realigned the beacon."

Elizabeth was shaking her head.  "I don't think any of us ever broke out
under those sorts of circumstances.  It tended to be a lot more gradual,
even if it didn't feel any more gentle at the time.  I developed telepathy
first."

"Telekinesis for me," Mike said.  "I could open locks without a key.  Got
me into all sorts of trouble," he added reflectively.

Emma Stratton had the most fascinated expression on her face.  But there
was a respect there, as if she was content to let these wonders explain
themselves.  She did not need to pull them apart herself to find out how
they worked, but was willing to take their word for it.  No wonder she
hadn't fitted in at the Institute.  "But Kay says she's the same as her
friends," she said slowly.  "Why should you be different?"

"I don't know," Elizabeth admitted.  "But when we left, we made sure no-one
else would break out - not for a while at least.  Maybe Nature altered her
blueprint in the meantime."

"Left for where?" Damon asked.  "Why?  How?  You haven't really answered
the question at all."

Mike and Elizabeth exchanged short, telling glances, that made Laurel,
sitting quietly and making copious mental notes, smile inwardly.  "If it's
any consolation," she commented from across the room, "the general isn't
exactly forthcoming with his information.  He's not going to be rushing off
and telling anyone else what you say."

"We had to pry it out of him with a crowbar," Frank agreed.

"We're a little suspicious of the military," Mike commented.  "We have
reason to be."

"I'm fairly freelance these days," Damon said.  "And I'm allowed and
expected to use my discretion."

"In other words, he hasn't told anyone else about us, and he won't about
you either, not without your permission," Megabyte added, then gave his
father a worried look.  "Will you, Dad?"

"No, I won't," Damon agreed.  "I'm keeping so many secrets about the
Tomorrow People already, adding some more won't make much difference."

After a moment that Damon guessed was full of silent conversation,
Elizabeth nodded decisively.  "All right.  We're breaking a lot of rules
ourselves, making contact with you.  We were just supposed to fix the
beacon and leave again without anyone knowing we were here.  But at the
Ship's request, we've offered you Federation assistance.  I guess we'd
better tell you what the Federation is."

She paused a moment to look around the room, as if trying to gauge what
their reactions to her explanation might be.  Emma still looked fascinated,
with Laurel's expression much the same.  Frank waited, quietly, as ever.
Jade looked like she was about to explode from curiosity, and finally, it
got the better of her.  "And?" she demanded.  "So what is the Federation?"

"The Galactic Federation is a Federation of telepathic civilisations from
across the Galaxy," Liz said simply, and smiled at the progression of jaws
that dropped around the room.

"You mean there are other civilisations in the galaxy?" Adam asked.
"Aliens?  Telepathic aliens?"

Megabyte grinned.  "I guess the truth really is out there."

"Oh yes," Elizabeth confirmed.  "Lots of them."

"So why haven't we ever seen any?"

"Earth is a closed world," Mike answered.  "That means no-one is allowed to
come here.  Earth is left alone to continue to develop.  When there are
more Tomorrow People, lots of Tomorrow People, that may change."

"You're here," Damon pointed out.

"We have dispensation to repair the beacon.  When we left, we left the Ship
and the beacon so that when there were new Tomorrow People, the Federation
would be notified," Liz explained.  "Unfortunately, we didn't allow for the
possibility of earthquakes.  The beacon got knocked out of alignment and
there was no signal."

"And," Mike added, "we don't have any sort of dispensation to go around
telling people about the Federation."

"But no-one could have predicted a situation like this one," Liz said.  "Of
course we have to help."

Mike held up his hands in a protesting kind of gesture.  "Hey, I'm not
arguing."

"We're getting off the subject," Damon interrupted.  "You say you left
Earth.  Why?  How?"

"How's easy," Mike answered.  "We jaunted."  Seeing the blank looks his
answer produced, he amended, "Teleported.  We teleported.  Why's a little
bit more complicated."

"We'd had to reveal ourselves to too many people," Liz went on.
"Especially in the military and the government, who wanted to study us or
use us."  She looked at Damon.  "You know about that, I think."

"Too well," he agreed.

Adam nodded.  "Been there, done that.  But the general's helped us.  And
we've done okay so far."

"It got to the point where we weren't doing okay.  So they decided to
evacuate us.  But if more Tomorrow People broke out and we weren't there,
things would have been even worse.  So a chemical was released into the
ecosystem that inhibited telepathic development.  The idea was to give
everyone some breathing room, and when the effects faded, there could be
new Tomorrow People."  Elizabeth smiled at the teenagers in the room.  "And
here you are."

Kay looked up from Teresa's face.  "And then there's me," she pointed out.
"They _made_ me."

To everyone's surprise, Emma shook her head.  "I don't think they did, you
know," she said thoughtfully.  She looked a little disconcerted by all the
intrigued faces that turned in her direction.  "Oh, before today, I would
have said they did, but now I'm not so sure.  You talk about 'breaking out'
- you mean spontaneously developing telepathic and other abilities, don't
you?"

She got a series of nods from the various Tomorrow People in the room, and
nodded in her turn.  "So I think what the Institute developed was a way to
enhance that natural tendency to 'break out'.

"We've always said that," Adam interrupted.  "That there could be hundreds
like us, just waiting to break out."

"Thousands," Emma corrected him.  "Maybe tens of thousands, or more.  The
future really does belong to the Tomorrow People."  She laughed shortly.
"The joke's on the Colonel.  All his catalyst would have done was hasten
the inevitable."

"Maybe," Kay said grimly, her eyes fixed on Teresa's face again and looking
very like a mother lioness deciding what she would have to kill first to
protect her cubs.  "But he'd still have had control of the ones _he_ made,
like me and the others.  Like Alice."

"And we still have to rescue Alice," Jade said firmly, getting agreeing
nods from Kay and Adam and Megabyte.

"Now, wait a minute," Damon said sternly, turning his gaze on Emma.
"What's this catalyst you're talking about."

She dipped her head instinctively, giving him an apologetic, upward glance.
 "I guess I didn't tell you about that."  She looked at him properly, her
expression more resolved.  "But I didn't know if I could trust you, you
see.  There's a compound, a catalyst, that's the end result of the
Institute's research.  They thought it made telepaths.  Now I think it just
makes it easier for them to 'break out'."  She shrugged, looking almost
embarrassed.  "I stole it, when we tried to escape."

"That Colonel has them making more," Adam said.

"But they said it wouldn't be as good - as pure, or as refined or
something," Megabyte added.

Emma looked horrified.  "If they do a rush job, I couldn't say what it
would do.  We have to stop them."

"I think that was decided long ago," Damon said dryly.  "The big question
is how.  Where's this catalyst?"

"I hid it," she told him.  "I know I've bungled all my rescue plans, but
I'm not stupid."

"It seems to me there are a number of things we have to do," Laurel
commented calmly.  "Collect this catalyst, rescue Alice and shut down the
Institute for starters."

_And after that I'll try leaping buildings in a single bound_, Damon
thought, but he just nodded.  "So where is the catalyst, Doctor Stratton?"

"Ah..." she said a little helplessly.  "In a luggage locker in a tube
station over by the docks.  Kind of clich=E9d, I know, but it was the best
I could do.  I don't remember where exactly.  But I could take someone back
there."

"I can go," Mike offered.  "Having a telepath with you is probably a good
idea."

"And the rest of us can rescue Alice," Jade said enthusiastically.

Damon opened his mouth to disagree, but Adam beat him to it.  "I'm sorry,
Jade.  Someone's going to have to look after Teresa.  You and Kay can do
that."

"I am going to the Institute," Kay said flatly, her voice allowing no
contradictions.

"I think she deserves that," Laurel agreed.  "Jade and I can take Teresa to
my mother's.  She'll be delighted to look after her and no-one's going to
be looking there.  It might even stop her harping on at me about giving her
some grandchildren."

"I've met your mother," Frank said with a chuckle.  "Maybe for a week."

"I want to go to the Institute too," Jade protested.

"You're going with Laurel," Damon said firmly.  "It's that or nothing."

Jade gave Adam a beseeching look, but he shrugged.  "Sorry, Jade."

"I'm not sure you should come either," Damon added.

"Oh, I don't know," Elizabeth said before Adam could argue.  "Having some
Tomorrow People around is generally a tactical advantage."  She looked over
at Mike and added with laughter in her voice, "Generally."

"I go with Emma, Laurel and Jade take Teresa, everyone else goes to the
Institute," Mike summed up neatly, and Damon got the feeling he'd just lost
control of the situation.  Tomorrow People might be an advantage, but they
certainly tended to turn everything on its head.

"All right," he agreed with a sigh.  "So now we need to work on the
details."  He gave his son and Adam a stern look.  "No rushing off and
making it up as you go along this time."

Adam nodded.

Megabyte tried not to look too smug, and failed miserably.

Elizabeth exchanged a glance with Mike and laughed.  "Sounds just like old
times."

--end, part 10

Kerry

--
kerry@needlecraft.co.nz

"We shall be remembered in spite of ourselves"



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Michael Matott" <greyfalconsaerie@hotmail.com>
Subject: TPFICT: When Old Friends Meet Part 0/1 "Disclaimer"
Date: 15 Nov 1998 21:44:19 PST


Hi all,
   This is a vignette that fits into my serial "The Sins of Yesterday, 
the Blood of Tomorrow" but you do not need to be familiar with the 
serial to understand this story.  It fits in immediately after "The 
Culex Experiment" in the New Series.  The only reason it's in my serial 
is that I may make reference to it in later stories.  Thanks to my 
reviewers (not really a big enough story to deserve the term beta) Beth 
Epstein and Michele Bumbarger for some input and comments.  Hope you all 
like this.  Part of my need to fill in gaps between serials.  

Disclaimer stuff:  The Tomorrow People, Ami Jackson, Kevin Wilson, and 
all related characters and concepts are the creations of Roger Damon 
Price and copyrighted by Thames/Tetra television and most likely 
Nickolodeon.  They are used without permission but without intent to 
profit.  Please don't repost this story without my express permission or 
without the disclaimer.  This story will be archived in the list archive 
located on Wendy's web-page, Galactic Communications Hub.  The story is 
not to be archived elsewhere without my permission.

Thanks.

mike matott
    

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Michael Matott" <greyfalconsaerie@hotmail.com>
Subject: TPFICT: When Old Friends Meet (1/1)
Date: 15 Nov 1998 21:45:22 PST

When Old Friends Meet

     “So, how are you feeling today?” Ami Jackson said from the chair 
beside the hospital
bed.
     “I’m fine.  I’ve been fine,” Kevin Wilson said from the bed.  
“Bloody doctors wanted
me here another day ‘for observation.’  They’ll let me go tomorrow 
morning.” 
     “They don’t know what really happened to you, do they?”
     “No, Doctor Connor, Doctor Poole and my Aunt Ruth are the only ones 
who really
know what happened.  General Damon is doing his best to keep it under 
wraps but he
thinks the doctors are using me as a lab rat to figure out what 
happened.”
     “Can they isolate the virus?” Ami asked.
     “No,” Kevin said.  “Dr. Connor said the virus broke down into 
components and was
flushed out of my system within a day after they gave me the serum.”
     It had been two days since injection of the serum had brought Kevin 
out of his coma.  
     “It’s weird,” Ami said, fidgeting her arms on the armrests.  “I 
feel like I know you
better than most anyone, but this is the first time we’ve ever really 
spoken alone.”
     “You’ll get used to that feeling,” Kevin said.  “For now, you’ll be 
flooded with random
things until you fine tune your telepathy with us.”
     “I think it’s so neat that I can hear you guys in my head.  When 
does the sense of awe
fade?  Or does it?”
     “Has Megabyte pestered you yet about a movie or comic book or video 
game or
anything?”
     “No,” Ami said confused.
     “When he does from twenty kilometers away and won’t shut up until 
you’ve ‘ported
over to see what he’s going on about.  *That’s* when the awe sort of 
fades.”
     Ami laughed, seeing how Megabyte could easily wear on one’s nerves.
     “Well, I’m just glad I still have a chance to wonder at this 
stuff,” Ami said, standing. 
“I’m heading to the island to talk with Adam.  You need anything before 
I go?”
     “No, thank you,” Kevin smiled.  “I’ll see you later.  Have fun.”
     “Thanks,” Ami said.  “Bye.”
     A nimbus of blue energy crackled around the girl, then shrank as 
she disappeared.  A
small blue afterglow danced in Kevin’s eyes and he felt pressure pushing 
out on his ears as
the pressure dropped briefly in the room.
     Kevin turned on the telly, impatiently flicking channels.  He 
wanted very much to be
out of hospital so he could rejoin his friends.  Patience is a virtue he 
thought as he rapidly
switched channels, barely registering what was on.

----
End

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Adams <wladams@comp.uark.edu>
Subject: TPFICT: Becomings Chapter 2
Date: 21 Nov 1998 17:33:05

Becomings Chapter Two
An Original Series Tomorrow People Story
Dianne Elliott
	
	Consciousness trickled back, through a buzzing headache, and a horrible
taste in his mouth.  Blankly staring at his bound feet, focusing
particularly on the intricatly patterned Persian rug, his vertigo slammed
back.
	Immediately John shut his eyes, and forced his spilting skull erect.
"TIM?" he despritely focused.  His powers had not abandoned him.  This was
worse, for whenever he tried to focus, even on a telepathic shout or light
telekinesis to weaken their bonds, a terrible dizzyness slammed into his
brain.
	"Ohhh," his companion began to move against their bonds.  "Would someone
please stop the big dipper!  I want off!"
	John grunted.  "Heather, don't open your eyes!"
	She choked and shivered.  "A two hundred year old Garden of Eden carpet!
Charming place to be sick in!"
	"Try to relax, Heather," John continued.  "Keep your head up, and don't
try your powers.  We haven't lost our powers, but even the slightest
attempt will cause extreme discomfort."
	"Don't worry about that.  Even if we weren't trussed up, I doubt we could
stand.  Ugh, from the bloody switchback to the hall of horrors!"
	"Huh?" John glanced slightly upwards, into the lifeless, glass orbs of a
great stag.  "I see what you mean."  He just managed to brush the back of
her right hand with his knuckles.
	"Do you know any escapology?" Her tone lightened hopefully.
	John sighed, "No."
	"Oh.  Pity, we weren't awake, when we were tussed up.  We could have taken
several deep breaths to inflate our lungs and stomachs..."
	"Once they were gone, breath out, loosening our bonds," John finished in
approval.  "It would have worked.  Where did you learn that?"
	"It's an old trick.  When a horse doesn't want to be saddled he does the
same thing, with the rider usually tumbling off.  Of course, when his owner
gets wise, the poor animal is either punched or kicked in the belly to get
him to empty his lungs and stomach."  Heather became thoughtful.
	"Animals mean a lot to you," John observed.  "Your feelings for them run
deep."
	"Perhaps, deeper than they should?" she poised.
	"Perhaps," John concured.  "And I wonder why.  According to TIM's reports,
you were able to communicate telepathically with them most of your life."
	"Being a Shire, meant that I was raised in isolation, John.  All of my
family had mental gifts to various degrees, but we had to keep them secret
from the world.  Since I was born with my communication ablities, so any
wildlife about the estate became my first friends.  Seeing that I had also
developed a gentling touch that worked even on song birds, Dad wanted me to
become a doctor, like he was, but I wanted to be a veternarian..."
	"A what a charming pair," a middle aged woman coldly observed, as she
breezed in, with a overloaded tea cart following.  "You must be Lord
Shire's daring granddaughter Heather.  What beautiful skin you have my
dear.  And such lovely hair!"
	"Thank you Lady Mulvaney," she smartly returned.
	Her cold smile became a sneer.  "And your driver?"
	"John, my lady."
	"A quiet obedient type, eh?  Heather, I must say you have excellent taste
in both employees and in motor-cars, but then your family is renowned for
their consummate judgement."
	"We do use different decorators," Heather stiffly baited.
	"Oh, that shaggy ol' thing," Mulvaney twittered.  "You don't like my
departed hubby's head collection.  Musty old things, such a bother to keep
the dust off!" pressing her gin and tonic breath uncomfortably close to
John's face, Mulvaney stated,  "I overheard your little conversation before
I came in.  I find it very interesting that you would share such deep
secrets about your esteemed family with the hired help."
	"Lady Mulvaney," John quarrelsomely interrupted.  "Lord Shire is being
held on these grounds.  Now, where is he?"
	Mulvaney laughed, then tapped her graying temple.  "Oh, your precious
grandfather is such an entertaining chap.  He shall be my guest a while
longer.  As for you my dear Heather --- are those teeth capped?"
	"No!" she snapped.
	Mulvaney giggled, as she cupped Heather's fine jaw.  "Just think, all of
this, with youth and beauty too!"
	"What do you mean?" John hotly demanded.
	"Horrox, free the Lady Shire.  Then truss up her 'employee' tighter, and
put a plaster across that smart mouth.  John, I'll allow you to watch my
transformation.  I think you'll like the improvement."
	John's telepathic shout died in a wave of nausea, as Heather was yanked to
her feet, and forced to stand slack kneed before the grinning Mulvaney.
"One moment more, my dear, and it will be all over."
	"What are you up to?" Heather hissed, as Mulvaney turned back around,
balancing a large jewerly case in her hands.  "My dear Rog gave me this
little gem before he died.  Bless him, because through it this morning, I
found out that I could get anything I want.  And I want you, your youth,
that body --- and those tantalizing powers."
	"No," Heather shied back, as John glared at Mulvaney.
	"Why, I think it should be mostly painless --- for me.  Hold the box,"
Heather locked her fingers behind her back.  "Very well, Horrox, hold the
box for her.  Look at it, Shire.  Don't make me tear off your eyelids.
Plastic surgery would only replace them.  Let the glow flow over your mind..."
	"No!!  I won't ---" Heather struggled, then fainted as the verdant glow
blurred her features.  Mulvaney collasped immediately afterwards.
	"My Lady Mulvaney!" Horrox cried, dropping the case.
	Heather recovered first, glaring venomously at the comatose Mulvaney.  At
least it was Heather's body, but her lips were twisted in an
uncharacteristic sneer.  "Good Lord.  Horrox, dump the old bag over in the
good chaise lounge.  If this reverses, at least I'll be alive, but --- skip
the chaise, put her downstairs!" she paused drawing her palms across the
smooth cheek, the drawing her slender fingers through her auburn mane.  "I
am more alive now, than I ever was before!  Oh --- " she doubled, as her
stomach cramped.  "I'm going to be sick!" grabbing the case, she fled from
the room.
	"Oh Heather," John groaned behind the plaster, as loss washed over his mind.
************************************************************************
	Lady 'Alice' Mulvaney preened before the free standing mirror, studying
her new body in her new clothes.  An impossible array of brightly colored
tank tops, bell bottoms, mini skirts, pajama pants and platform shoes were
scattered about the elegant Louis XIVth bedroom furnishings.  "Miss
Tupper," she called to her maid as she did her tiding up.  "Do I look
muscle bound when I do this?"
	Mulvaney curled her wrists and flexed her arms, demonstrating the ropy
muscles that ran from her shoulders to her slender hands.  "I look
positively --- German!"
	"Oh come now, my lady," Miss Tupper tottled under a forced smile.  "You
are very, very pretty, with your new ---" she choked, dubiously lifting a
lacy corset.  "Clothes."
	"I don't know," Mulvaney grumbled, as she swung around to study her
backside.  "Since that little mouse hid her body under that long skirt and
men's jacket, I didn't realize until now she was built like a blooming horse!"
	"Miss Shire must have been a dancer, and kept it up," Tupper sighed.
	"Maybe you're right," she snatched up a sheer peek-a-boo blouse.  "Then
again, if I tried to cover up my muscles, I'll hide some of my more obvious
charms.  Okay, these are it, for now Miss Tupper!"
	"In those, milady?" she squeaked, ogling her outfit of yellow short-shorts
and trim green halter top.  She kept only Heather's checkered jaunting
belt, slung low, as a mod accessory.  "Why, you'll catch your death!"
	"You are my maid," Mulvaney pouted, pouring herself another glass of wine
and gulped it down.  "Not my mother!  You'd do well to remember that!"
	"Yes mame," Tupper bowed her head.
	Casting a critical eye back to her reflection, Mulvaney grumbled, "The
skin tone a shade or so dark for a proper English lady."  She stuck her
tongue out.  "At least I don't have those dreadful freckles, I had before!"
	Wheeling, she wobbled, with each cluncking step.  The five inch tall,
rainbow platform sandles, soared Mulvaney's head six and a half feet from
the floor.  However, her ladyship insisted on these shoes, since they
detracted from the leg muscles.
	With each stomp, Tupper imagined that a Clydesdale had been set loose in
the house.  When Mulvaney reached the door, she threw it open and bellowed.
 "HORROX, I NEED YOU!"
	Tupper winced, and stiffly held in a whimper.  The lady's persistent bell
was bad enough, but this screaming was another matter.  "HORROX!!"
	That shout was launched directly in the butler's face.
	"Yes, --- mame?" he dared not react, to the ringing in his ears.
	"I need you to escort me downstairs," Mulvaney purred, taking up his arm.  	
	"Yes mame," he lightly groaned.
************************************************************************
	[John?] At first he believed that he imagined that his name was
telepathed.  [Can you hear us?]
	[TIM!  Stephen!  Liz, thank goodness!]
	[What happened?] their concerned thoughts chorused.  [We could tell that
you haven't lost your powers, but after three hours and no word.]
	[Mulvaney has a hypnotic gem, with which she can get whatever she wants!]
That was his theory, yet John was not certain if that was the operating
mechanism.
	[You mean like the genie in Aladdin's Lamp?] Tyso inquired.
 	[I'm afraid so,] John concluded.  [Our powers were not lost but
physically blocked.  That gem must an effect on our brains.  Heather nor I
could telepath or jaunt out!]  As his telekinesis dissolved his bonds, he
closed his eyes, and concentrated, [Worse, Lady Mulvaney used that diamond
against Heather, causing both to collapse.  Heather, can you hear us!
Please answer!]
	[John?] her return touch was thin and ghostly.
	[Where are you?]
	[I don't know, there was a flash of pain, then nothing!  It's as if my
head slammed into a brick wall, then my body's gone!  Oh, no!  John, I can
see me, but I'm not in me!]
	[What do you mean?]
	[Mulvaney's done it!  Shanghaied my body!  Look out, here I come!]  Her
presence dissolved away.
	[John, what's going on?]
	[Stephen, Heather believes, oh no!  Her body has been kidnapped by Lady
Mulvaney!  All of you, clear out, if Mulvaney's figured out her special
powers ---]
	"Hello there, handsome," Mulvaney rotated a bare shoulder.  "Horrox,
please stand outside of the door.  Things might be promising.  Very
promising indeed."
	Horrox rolled his eyes.  "Yes mame."
	John coldly glared, as Mulvaney paraded for him, all the while tottering
on platform shoes.  Fortunately, he had the presence of mind to illusion
the ropes back in place.  "I am beautiful, am I not?" she purred, plopping
into his lap, and then curling into his neck.
	John mumbled.
	"Oh that nasty little plaster is in the way."  Mulvaney immediately
removed it, drawing a little blood from his dry lips.  Her eager kiss
nearly smothered him.
	He roughly grabbed she, shoving her away.  "I said no!" John snapped.
Tightening his grip, he added, "Where's Heather?"
	"Here, well the important part, the part you should be interested in!"
	[What did you do to her, Mulvaney!] John bore straight into her evil
thoughts.  There were bits of schemes, plans and fantasies, most of them
involving in keeping Heather's body, tapping into her special powers, and
all of them vile.  [Mulvaney!]
	[Stop it, STOP IT NOW!] her ladyship cried, then collapsed against his
chest.  "Man, does that hurt!" she swooned, holding her head.  Suddenly she
switched into a childish beg, "But please teach me how to do the magic,
John, please!!"
	"Never," he coldly snapped, shoving her away again, and standing up, as
she dramatically fell to the floor.  "You're coming with me harlot!"
	Her roundhouse punch knocked two molars free, as well as blackening his
cheek.  "I am Lady Alice Mulvaney!" she pronounced from the floor.  "Sole
heir to the Shire fortunes --- and secrets!"
	"You are nothing!" John's slurred words, were framed by a bloody spit.
Then clutching the buckle on the jaunting belt, he vanished.
	"A teleporter?" Mulvaney whispered.  She had not expected that of him, but
if Heather Shire had marvelous powers, it made sense that her boy friend
should.  She had to use his stool to climb onto her feet, but she just had
to teleport, just once for luck.  Then use the power to hunt down this John.
	Cramming in the hidden latches, she eagerly bit into her lip, waiting.
The posh game room was still the same, when she opened her eyes.  "Damn it!
 What's wrong with this thing?  What's wrong with me??"
************************************************************************
	"Now, let me get this straight," Stephen said as he and the others
dissolved the healing ring about John.  "Heather hit you?"
	"It was Lady Mulvaney, using Heather's body," John explained.  "Trust me,
she has a left hook that would make Mohammed Ali envious," he grumbled,
testing his jaw.
	"I can't see Heather hitting anyone, or anything!" Elizabeth commented, as
Romeo twisted around her legs, demanding to be admired.
	"Apparently, Heather is unable to control what Lady Mulvaney's doing."
	"That doesn't sound good John," Stephen said.
	"I agree, TIM, anything from the Trig, about --- possessions?"
	"We get to be exorcists!" Tyso whispered to Stephen.
	"This isn't a game," John browbeated.
	"Of course, there are on records from the Trig on human to human
possessions, however in Earth religious texts ---"
	"Please not that TIM," Elizabeth snapped.  "Look most of those poor people
were tortured because they had mental and physical diseases ---"
	"Or a variance against the prevailing view," John somberly added.  "Look,
Heather and her grandfather have been through enough!  TIM, what does the
Trig suggest?"
	"The Mind Healers believe they can reverse the effects of the Jungle's
Heart, however, they need all parties involved, including their bodies,
within twenty four hours, of the first event."
	"Heather felt, her Grandfather, oh my - over ten hours ago!" Elizabeth
gasped.
	"Why must we be there in twenty four hours?" Stephen asked.
	"According to the Healers, they fear that a spiritless human body would
start to shut down after twenty four hours."
	"Yes of course TIM, but what if we can get them onto life support and if
necessary hold them for a couple of days?"
	"They believe life support could keep the bodies alive, however, there
would be critical brain damage.  They will not hazard as to the ultimate
extent.  Furthermore, they also believe that Lady Mulvaney's possession of
Heather's body would become permanent at that time.  I am sorry, John."
	"That settles it then, we've got to go back.  Stephen, Elizabeth ---"
	"What about me?" Tyso whined, as John opened the stun gun locker.
	"You stay here," Elizabeth said.  "This is going to be very dangerous!"
	"But ---" Before Tyso could finish his protest, the three had vanished
from the alcove.  "Left out of it, again!"
	"Those that have the patience to wait, often prosper," TIM's proverb
gathered a only frumpy sigh.
************************************************************************
	  A volley of rifle shots greeted their ears, as the Tomorrow People
materialized within the maze.  Immediately, they pulled into the sheltering
walls.  [It isn't hunting season!] Stephen glanced to John.
	[A lord or his gamekeeper may hunt whenever they wish, Stephen,'] Heather
grimly answered.
	[Heather, your telepathy is fainter than before,] Elizabeth worriedly
pointed out.
	[We were fading. So Grandfather and I linked.]
	[Our souls are in limbo, John,] his lordship finished sternly.  [However,
all that is important now is that you take the Jungle's Heart and leave for
the Burmese high rain forest at once!]
	[Lady Mulvaney is very angry,] Heather gravely warned.  [She discovered
that she couldn't jaunt right after you left.  Right now, she's taking it
out on cheap crockery, but she does have that big game rifle.]
	[Hence, Mulvaney's dangerous,] John concluded.  [What about her servants?]
	[Most of them are either cowed, or simply irritated at Mulvaney's
uncivilized manner.  She's been shouting and throwing stuff at them all
afternoon.]
	[Mutiny at the Mulvaney manor,] Stephen quipped.
	John's deep brown eyes slid to the younger Tomorrow Person, and narrowed.
[We may use that to our advantage.  Come on.]
	[Please be careful,] Heather's mental trace faded.  [I can no more control
Mulvaney than the rain.]
	Large, lazy drops began to plop on the leaves.
************************************************************************
	Mulvaney drained the shifter of the brandy, with greedy gulps.  "Pull
Horrox Pull!"
	"Yes milady," the silently suffering butler launched another plate.
Laughing shrilly and drunkenly, Mulvaney blasted sky.  The plate exploded
more out of wasted ammunition than out of skill.  "TALLY-OHH!" Mulvaney
roared in triumph.  "Again my good fellow!"
	"Yes mame."  Another plate flew.
	"Not the bloody china!" Mulvaney brandished her empty shifter.  "I want
more brandy, Horrox!  The good stuff!"
	"Milady, you drank all of the Napoleon brandy," the butler dryly reported.
	"Then I want wine, Horrox.  The '56 Chablis, Now!"
	"Yes mame," catching the eye of the cook, he jerked his head toward the
pantry.  Softly, Horrox whispered, "The cooking sherry would do.  Now hop
to it, her ladyship is impatient!"
	As the cook scurried off, Horrox turned back to his employer, "Milady? Oh
no, now she's wondered off!"
************************************************************************
	"A-hunting I'm agoin'!" with her rifle slung over her shoulder, Mulvaney
drunkenly marched through the maze, singing tunelessly.  "A-hunting I shall
go!  Hi oh the merry-o, a-hunting ---"
	The damp breeze shifted, smacking alertness into her sodden brain.  "What
the?" her face spilt into a predatory grin.  An ill-mannered trespasser was
poking about the pansies.  Mulvaney raised the rifle, took aim, and pulled
the trigger.
	The resultant explosion tore between the brain and two disparate minds.
	Her shriek shattered sense.  The smoldering remains of the rifle were
thrown into the pond, as the panic stricken hunter bolted into the maze.
[No!  NO!  NOOOO!]
************************************************************************
	Her horrified screams did not go unnoticed by her loyal employees.  "Would
you listen to her now?" the gardener mildly commented.  "Screaming about
there's a fire in her brain.  In the stomach, more like!"
	The cook discreetly twittered into her palm.  "It's the DT's, I'd say."
	"But we should do something," the young and last hired downstairs boy
protested.
	"Personally," Horrox spoke in infinite care.  "I'd prefer to pull her
across my knees, then give the 'Lady' what for, but for now, let's allow
her to run off her tantrum.  Perhaps once she dries out, she might be more
agreeable."
	"Horrox, had you ever known our Lady Mulvaney to be agreeable?"
************************************************************************
	[Elizabeth?] John and Stephen worriedly telepathed.  [ELIZ---]
	She materialized behind them.  [Are you okay?] John spun in relieved
surprise.
	[The gun just blew up,] she slowly shook her head no.  [I don't know how
--- it just exploded!  I don't think she was wounded.]  Her thoughts hung
open, as fiery jabs, terrorized shouts approached.
	[From the sound of it, poor Heath --- girl's primal barrier is burning her
brain,] Stephen shuddered, drawing up his barriers against her rampaging
brain.
	[Maybe we can still help her,] John encouraged them,  producing his stun gun.
	[John, not the stun gun, please,] Elizabeth pushed his weapon down and
aside.  [Right now we don't know who she is.  If Heather managed to regain
her body --- because of the shock from her primal barrier, a stun might
give Mulvaney another chance to take over her.  Then we'd lose her, forever.]
	[John, we got to do something, cause here, she comes!]
	[All right,] John rubbed his sweating palms against his trousers.
[Stephen, on go.  Ready, steady ---]
	Blinded by tears, hyperventilating almost into a faint, the harem dressed
girl rounded the sharp corner.  [GO!]
	Pacing her like hounds, John and Stephen sprinted to her side, grabbing
her instantly the arms.  "LET ME GO!!" she howled, lashing out with her
bejeweled slippers.  "PLEASE!"
	A hand clutched over her opened mouth, as the two pushed her through the
prickly hedge.  "OUCH!"
	"Stephen, ssss," John corrected harshly, relaxing his hold.  A side
swiping kick against his knees, landed him on his back.  Without a glance
to her attackers, she bolted away.
	"She bites too," Stephen had to comment, pulling John to his feet.
	"We still got to catch her, perhaps if we surprise ---"
	"ELIZABETH!" her coarse crow lacked Heather's normal grace, but it did
confirm that it was not Lady Mulvaney.  "Elizabeth, I thought --- she --- I
had actually killed you!"
	John and Stephen found Heather have collapsed against their friend,
sobbing.  "The important thing is that you didn't," Liz comforted over
Heather repeated mutterings of I'm so sorry.
	"Thank goodness," John breathed easily.  "Maybe the Espers have a chance
to recover her sanity."
	"Huh?" Heather bleerily blinked.
	"They are specialized healers of the mind," Stephen explained.
	"Oh," she wearily slumped down onto the damp grass.  Pulling at a
rhinstone fringe dangling from the rhinestoned bikini top, she whimpered
sadly, "What did Lady Mulvaney put on my body?"  She suddenly doubled, just
stilling the impulse to be sick in front of her friends.  "In my body?"
	"Lady Mulvaney has been drinking," John gently reported.
	"Half the---"
	"Stephen," John warned.  [She isn't up to teasing.]
	"Wine cellar," Heather muttered drunkenly.  "Charming, alcoholic
intoxication."
	"We're sending you back to the lab," John smiled, becoming more relieved.
[Elizabeth stand by.  TIM ---]
	"I can't hear TIM!" Elizabeth sympathetically patted Heather on the
shoulder, wondering if her powers could ever return.
	"Jaunt?" she suddenly blurted aloud.  "In my condition??"
	"Heather would you keep it down," Stephen bared in.  "John, how did she
know?  Between being drunk and the primal barrier ---"
	"I don't know," John knelt back, as Heather stubbornly folded her arms
before her bejeweled bikini top.  [According to TIM, we can't jaunt her
back.  Her drunkenness could cause her to panic and cause her to become
lost in hyperspace.]
	[But she doesn't have her powers!]
	[Liz, I'm so certain.  In her current state, she simply may lack the
control of her special powers.]
	[If that's so John, she's more of a danger to herself than to us!] Liz
returned.
	"I'm not leaving without Grandfather and the Jungle's hum Cardiac thingy,"
her hiccup slid into a resounding belch.  "Pardon me, please."
	"John, you can say that again," Stephen sighed.
	"Now you've hurt her feelings," Elizabeth defended, as Heather hung her
head.  [John, not now!] she warned, eyeing the injector.
	[We have no choice, Liz.  Besides, I doubt she'll feel this!]  John
quickly snatched up her arm.
	"YEEOUCH!" Heather roared at the momentary sting.  A trio of irritated
shushes erupted.  "Of course, a B complex injection," she glowered.  "But
next time please warn me!"
	"Look, we've got to get into the house," directed John.  "Elizabeth, you
stay with Heather.  When Stephen and I have found his lordship ---"
	"No," Heather suddenly countered.
	"What?" Elizabeth blinked in surprise.  John had been interrupted before,
but he seemed interested in what Heather had to say.
	"I know the house," she continued.  "Since this morning, Lady Mulvaney had
bullied her servants to the point of revolt."
	"So, someone might nobble you," Stephen seriously pointed out.
	"Perhaps, and I wouldn't deny that --- Lady Mulvaney deserve that as well
as to wake up in hospital, but may I point out that they also know me, but
not you.  In short, you'll be caught, then shot or maybe even worse."
	"Worse?" John asked.
	"There are traces of Alice's memories in my head, as well as a few of her
insane fantasies.  Among the lady's collections is a large selection of
torture devices, she likes --- playing with."
	John winced, as he glanced away.  "And that, I'm afraid, is where Lady
Mulvaney is holding your grandfather."
	Heather gravely nodded yes.
************************************************************************
	She briskly strolled up to the French windows.  With a brief glance back
to her anxious friends, she entered her office.  [Okay, she's in!] John
telepathically confirmed.
	[I hope Heather's all right!] Elizabeth pouted from behind the maze's
entrance.
	[What's taking so long?]
	A pale face, framed in flowing red hair appeared within a tiny window,
directly across from Elizabeth.  She rapped once, then ducked down.
	[That's the signal!] John confirmed, as he jaunted.
	Elizabeth and Stephen waited for a mental pulse, then followed.
	"The kitchens?" Stephen hissed suspiciously, eyeing the hanging pots and
cutlery.  "I thought we were going to met in the lady's office."
	"The kitchen is much closer to Grandfather," Heather answered, wondering
over a weathered door.  "Blast, the wine cellar's locked up."
	"Do you blame your servants?" it was Elizabeth's turn to taunt.
	"Not really, but the torture chamber is just off the ---" a skittering
mouse across the high door frame caught her attention.  "Oh dear, someone's
coming!  Jaunt, I'll try to catch up!  Go!"  Immediately her hand shot up,
as she tenderly clasp the mouse.
	Her three friends faded from the kitchen, just as her gentleman glided
stiffly in.  "Horrox," she superiorly tooted, holding her hands behind her
back.  "Would you kindly open this door?"
	"My lady, we both know what is down there."
	"Yes we do," she snubbed.  "Now please unlock the door!"
	"Now see here, Lady Mulvaney ---" Horrox flanched, as she produced the
mouse, dangling the creature just an inch from his nose.  "I CAN'T ABIDE
RODENTS!"
	"Oh," she batted her grey eyes prettily.  "Now would you please open the
door."
	"Yes mame!" he yanked a heavy key ring out of his trouser pocket.  "Just
don't let that filthy thing touch me!"
	His 'employer' coldly chuckled, as she cuddled the frightened mouse
between her palms.  With a flurish appropriate for the House of Windsor,
Horrox not only opened the door but deeply bowed.  With her nose in the
air, she breezed through.  The old wooden stairs were steep, as they curved
along with the natural cavern.  Once out of sight, she sagged against the
stone wall.  "Thank goodness," she tenderly whispered to her captive, as
she gently smoothed his fur.  "I'm really sorry I had to do that, my friend."
	The heavy creak of old hinges, followed by a harsh slam frightened them.
Then came the unwelcome sound of jingling keys, and the throwing of an iron
bolt.  "He's locked us in!" she groaned.  "At least my friends and you can
still escape, little chap."  Setting the mouse down on the ledge, she
whispered, "From the smell of it, this is one of your forging trails,
fellow.  Now hop along."  The mouse skittered away into the deeper shadows.
 "I do envy your senses," Heather whispered, rubbing her temples, unable to
establish the lightest sensory touch with the mouse.  "I wish I tap into
your mind, so I could make my way through the dark just as easily."
	end of Chapter Two






-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jack Newman <Jack@effdee.demon.co.uk>
Subject: TPFICT: TPfic Question
Date: 22 Nov 1998 20:42:13 +0000

I am writing a story set just after the original series mission to Pyri
(sp) ' Worlds Away'. Does anyone know which year this might have been
set in, as well as how to spell Pyri?

Thanks
Jackie
--
"May your senses be enlightened and your dreams be fulfilled."
     Traditional Manyarnern Greeting





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jack Newman <Jack@effdee.demon.co.uk>
Subject: TPFICT: The Head and The Heart part 0 of 0
Date: 24 Nov 1998 21:25:50 +0000

The Head And The Heart
Part 0 of 0
By Jacqueline Newman & Kristy Fahrenwald
An Original Series Story

Disclaimer:
Most of the Characters contained in this story are not ours but are
borrowed from the
1970s  series The Tomorrow People. They are the property of the creators
and
copyright holders. Thames/ Pearson TV etc.

Any other characters, planets and cultures are the sole creation and
property of
Jacqueline Newman.

This Story is a collaborative venture between, Jacqueline Newman and
Kristy
Fahrenwald,  with some input by Tim and Megan. No one may post this
story to any web page without obtaining permission from both of us,
other than the tpfict archives.



The events take place on the Galactic Trig, just after Shaun Hateley's
Exodus, and then
follow a different path from his chronology. Thanks to Shaun for
permission to use his
ideas.

We would also like to thank Ariana for beta reading this fan fic.

Comments are very welcome. If you enjoy the story please let us know. We
can be
found quite often in mIRC #TomorrowPeople Chat. or mail
jack@effdee.demon.co.uk




--
"May your senses be enlightened and your dreams be fulfilled."
     Traditional Manyarnern Greeting





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jack Newman <Jack@effdee.demon.co.uk>
Subject: TPFICT: The Head and The Heart Part 1 of 4
Date: 24 Nov 1998 21:27:02 +0000

The Head And The Heart
By Jacqueline Newman & Kristy Fahrenwald
An Original Series Story
Part 1 of 4 : Welcome to the World!
*********************************************************************

The Galactic Trig: Humanoid Sphere, off world traders market.
28th August 1980

John inspected the small component through his micro-scenic eye
piece. "Hmmmm..."

"You will not find a better set of biotronic neural connectors
in this part of the galaxy." Said Westler Topinkyn as he lent against
the display cabinet.

John looked up at the scruffily dressed trader. "How much do you want
for the whole
set?"

"Ah sir," Westler could smell a deal that was almost done. "I can see
that you are a
man of some learning although I sense that you are new to the Trig.
Before we
continue with the messy business of negotiating the transfer of credits
may I enquire as
to your species designation?"

"I don't see what that has to do with it but I suppose I may as well
tell you. I'm human,
originally from the planet Earth."

Westler  could hardly contain himself. This was one of those closed
world telepaths he
had heard about, naive to the unwritten rules of the Trig's lower
citizens. Taking
credits off this poor sucker would be all too easy. He calmed his inner
excitement and spoke in a flat even tone. "And may I enquire whether you
are a
telepath?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Oh it just makes the process of negotiation much simpler if I know that
my mind is to
be probed."

John gave this strange alien a long hard stare, his impatience was
growing. He had told
Elizabeth that he would only be a few minutes in the market and she must
be
wondering where he had got to by now. "Let me assure you that it is not
a habit of
mine to probe the mind of every creature that I meet. Your thoughts are
your own.
Now may we fix a price?"

"Very well, sir. I can see that you are a creature who values a direct
approach. I ask
2000 credits transferable immediately into my off world account on
Dralon six."

Westler Topinkyn was well aware that their real value was little over
700 credits, and
he was asking a ridiculous price. But he always enjoyed the thrill of
the negotiation, a
little hard bargaining was always expected. Acquiring such items had
become far too
easy lately since the Trig's overly bureaucratic finance committee had
relaxed the
import laws. The trader's life was in jeopardy of becoming much too
dull.

John had been deep in thought as well. Timus had warned him that the
traders could
not be trusted and that he should always offer much less than they
asked. "How about
1000?"

"Ha!" Exclaimed Westler. "Do you take me for a fool? That would hardly
cover the
import taxes. Shall we say 1800?"

This bartering went on for some time until Elizabeth's worried thoughts
cut into John's
concentration. (John. Where are you? I've been waiting for nearly an
hour. Are you all
right?)

(Yes Liz I'll be right with you. hold on.)

"Okay, 1500 it is then." John held his hand across the key pad that
Westler produced
from his vest pocket.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you sir." He bowed as John turned
to leave.
"Perhaps you will seek out Westler Topinkyn next time you are in need of
some high
quality electronic components?"

"Yes, maybe." Mumbled John as he placed the biotronic neural connectors
into his
waist bag and rapidly left to meet Elizabeth.


As John passed out of earshot into the throng of busy shoppers another
figure stepped
into the trader's tent. It was a small elf like creature with dark
rugged features and a
large scar down the left side of his face.

"So Westler did he go for it?" Asked Zelon.

"Oh yes. there's a sucker born every minute."

"What!"

"That's an old Earth expression. I stole it from the young telepath's
mind during the
negotiations. He was hardly shielded at all. How gullible these humans
are. We should
have quite a lot of fun with them!"

"Just you be careful not to do anything too obvious." Snarled Zelon.
"That Galactic
police agent that you killed last year could still be traced back to us,
and I don't want
to spend the rest of my life on Repos Four having my mind re-educated."

Westler Topinkyn patted his partner on the head. "Don't worry my old
friend. I have it
all worked out. Our newest venture is well underway and will make us
rich beyond our
wildest dreams."

"Well you better be right or you may find yourself becoming very
intimate with an air
lock." Snapped Zelon before he teleported away.

******************************

The Tomorrow People's lounge in the humanoid sphere. Two weeks
later.

Elizabeth jaunted into the room with a tidy assortment of paperwork.
She had finally
accepted a teaching position at the Trig school and was busy making
plans for her
classes.  It was a relief to feel useful again after the evacuation.
She crossed over to
the center  table and spread her things out in front of her before
sensing another figure
sitting on the sofa  across the room.

"Timus!  Oh, do excuse me, Your Excellency," she exclaimed.  "This is
an  unexpected
pleasure. What can I do for you?"

"Hello, Elizabeth. It is good to see you again.  However, I must correct
you.  I am not
Timus."

"My apologies, you must be Tikno then. Of course, its good to see you
as well. I was
certain you would be on a diplomatic mission to a closed world."

"Again, you are mistaken. I am not Tikno."

Elizabeth was very puzzled. "I cant remember meeting any of the other
sixty four
clone brothers?  But, you act as if weve met."

Liz turned as John materialized next to her. "I see you two are getting
reaquainted."

(What is going on John?  This *is* another of Timus' clone brothers,
isnt it?  How
does he know me?)

 John had entered with a slight, sly grin, but for John he was beaming.
He was still
obviously pleased with himself and her confusion as he answered.
"Elizabeth, you
know this person very well.  It's TIM."

She looked from one to the other. Instinctively she knew that John's
words were true.
"But how..."

"I built him an android body. You know how we all hated leaving him
behind.  So I brought along another version of the voice amplifier we
used when on the
Father Ship to incorporate  into this body.  Haven't you wondered what
has kept me so
busy these past few months?"

"Well, yes, but I never guessed..."

Elizabeth sat down next to TIM and took his hand in hers while kissing
his cheek.  "Welcome TIM."

TIM shifted a bit uncomfortably.  "Thank you, Elizabeth. This is all
very new to me,
but I am very happy to walk amongst you at last."

The introductions and explanations went on over the next several hours.
As John introduced TIM to all the Tomorrow People, all expressed their
delight at
having their friend with them again.

"What about the TIM that is back on Earth in the lab?" Asked Stephen.
"Does he
know about you?"

"We are one and the same, so everything I know he also knows. I simply
no longer
have to wait until you see fit to lend a hand when you get yourselves in
trouble.
There have been so many times  all I could do was to watch and hope for
the best.
Now, thanks to John, I have the ability to share your adventures; and,
of course, be
there for you when I am needed."

"I'm not too sure about adventures." Commented Tyso, as he stuffed a
piece of cake
into his mouth. "Since moving to the Trig life has been so boring. I
doubt that we will have any adventures for a long time."

And that comment just shows how wrong even a Tomorrow Person can
be...









-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Michele Bumbarger <chelesedai@mindspring.com>
Subject: TPFICT: Beta Anyone?
Date: 25 Nov 1998 16:41:31 -0500

Okay, before I get innundated with offers, let me tell you what's going on
here. I am in the process of writing a TP/Buffy crossover and could really
use a beta/idea-bouncer person to help me out. Now, the story will be a bit
odd (but so's the combo of Buffy/TP), and this story (a sequel is planned
but mum's the word on that) will only feature the following characters:
Angel, Whistler, Ami and cameos by Giles and Adam. I don't think it's one
of my run of the mill fics or what folks have come to expect from me, so if
you're not flexible or imaginative, then you probably won't wish to help me
out.

Anyways, please respond to me via private email
(chelesedai@mindspring.com), no need to overload the list with "yes"
responses.

Thanks a million in advance,
Michele
_________________________________________________________________
Reading graffiti on a locker, "Kiss rocks? Why would anybody want . . . oh,
I get it."
         --Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Band Candy"



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jennifer Welk <welkj@ucs.orst.edu>
Subject: TPFICT: Disarm [Part 2 of 3]
Date: 25 Nov 1998 16:39:33 -0800 (PST)




Chapter 2: Paradox in Motives



Main offices of Worldex Securities, London, England
1:15 pm local time/8:15 am EST

	
	
	The significance of what they were about to do was still sinking
in on most of the TP strike team when they gathered that morning in a
conference room.

	Josie and Ami looked around at the three other TPs who had
arrived--Jade, Skyler, and Jaycen, who were looking over the map of their
destination.  All five of them were dressed in black BDU jackets--with
bulletproof vests underneath--and pants with Doc Martens boots.

	"Nervous?" Josie asked.

	"More like scared out of our minds," Jaycen replied.  "And that's
really not the best state to be in right now."

	Skyler said, "Right now, I, for one, would like to know where
Adam, Megabyte and Gen. Damon are.  They're kind of the masterminds of
this whole objective."

	"We're coming down the hall, Skyler," Megabyte's voice echoed into
the room from some distance away.  Skyler and the others turned and faced
the open door.

	Megabyte and his father, who was carrying a blue plastic box,
entered wearing the same clothes as the rest of the group, followed by
Adam, who was not--instead, he was wearing what appeared to be an armored
sleeveless jacket  over a close-fitting black shirt and pants.

	Megabyte held up one hand.  "Before anyone asks what on Earth Adam
is wearing, I'll tell you.  It's a project of mine--a prototype of a TP
battlesuit that houses some defensive capabilities.  Adam offered to try
it out after I told him one thing it does is scramble the psionic defenses
of the TP who wears it, making them difficult to counter.  I let him
because Van Cade already knows how some of his work, so Adam needs the
protection on this little excursion."

	Gen. Damon set the box he was carrying down on a table.  "Gather
around, everyone."  After everyone did so, he opened the box and lifted
out an object roughly resembling a handgun, but obviously made of matte
black plastic.  "Since we're going to try and avoid as much bloodshed as
possible, you guys--the TPs--will be armed with these stun guns.  These
things fire high-voltage bursts, but only high enough to stun somebody."

	Megabyte helped his dad to pass them out.  Once all the TPs had
one, Josie then spoke.

	"Out of necessity, an FBI strike team has been put at our call.
After we get there, I'm going to contact them, which will be their signal
to get into position outside the building.  We'll teleport into here--this
hidden service hall next to Docking Port 6."  She pointed to a spot on the
map.  "Our main strategy is to stop Van Cade and his assistants from even
leaving."
 



Research and experimentation labs of the Malloran Corporation,
between Ridgefield Park and Fort Lee, New Jersey
8:40 am EST



	"....Sonic lockpicks, in case you should need them?"

	"Check."

	"MedStar database flowcharts?"

	"Check."

	"Crash programs?"

	"Check."

	"Headset walkie-talkies--for the non-telepaths?"

	"Check."

	"And Sindel...check.  That's everything,"  Van Cade confirmed.




Main offices of Worldex Securities, London, England
1:45 pm local time/8:45 am EST



	Josie picked up a phone and dialed a number.  She asked the
pick-up, "Head of strike team?"

	"Speaking."

	"You have 45 minutes to organize your team and get into position.
We will be departing shortly."

	"Understood."

	Josie hung up the phone and turned to Megabyte, who said,  "Any
last-minute preparations that need to be done we need to do now.  We're
teleporting out of here at 9:00 am."

	Adam glanced at the others.  "This is it."



[Will I wake up is it a dream I made up]
[No I guess it's reality]




Research and experimentation labs of the Malloran Corporation,
between Ridgefield Park and Fort Lee, New Jersey
9:00 am EST



	Van Cade, Sindel, and the other Malloran operatives were busy
loading their equipment into backpacks.

	"Mr. Van Cade?" asked one of the operatives.

	"Yes?"

	"There's one thing I noticed was missing from Miss Malloran's
orders.  She said to report to Docking Port 6, but we're not taking
vehicles, are we?"

	"No, we're not.  I'm teleporting all of us there.  I think she did
that because Docking Port 6 is actually one of the best places on these
premises to launch operations of any sort from, because it's partially
underground.  I'm assuming that's where we're getting last-minute
instructions before we take off."  Van Cade looked at his watch.  "Right
now, we need to head back to Miss Malloran's office for the final
briefing."

	Everyone picked up their packs and headed for the door.




The psionic plane



	[[Poor MedStar.  They don't know what's about to hit them,]]
Sindel proclaimed, not really trying to restrain herself.

	[[I don't see what you're so excited about,]] Tyrran growled from
the wall where she was chained up.  [[You are an intruder here, after all.
Consider yourself fortunate that I'm tethered to this panel right now
because you will not like how I will eventually deal with you.]]

	Sindel didn't answer.  



[You pretend you're high pretend you're bored] 
[You pretend you're anything just to be adored] 
[And what you need is what you get]

[Don't believe in fear don't believe in faith] 
[Don't believe in anything that you can't break]




Docking Port 6, Research and experimentation labs of the Malloran
Corporation
9:40 am EST



	After their arrival, the TP strike team had scattered to strategic
points around the area (all storage closets), the FBI team had taken up
their posts outside,  and all had stayed in those spots for the past 40
minutes.

	The TPs had waited in silence.

	Now some strain was beginning to come out.

	[[It looks like they're sticking to the minute on this,]] Megabyte
transmitted to the others from inside a closet near where they came in.  

	[[Yeah.  You'd think they would have been down here earlier, ]]
Jade replied from another near the door.  [[But all I was able to read off
the door and these vans was that none of them have been touched in two
days.]]

	[[Guys, be quiet,]] Adam said suddenly from his point.  [[...I
detect six people heading  this way...One seems a little familiar....]]

	[[Get ready.  This might be it,]] Ami warned, and tapped Josie on
the shoulder.

	She nodded and whispered into her headset, "Bill, we've got
something.  All outside stand by."



	The door swung open.

	Nina-Jane Malloran swept into the docking port, followed by Van
Cade, the other operatives...and Tyrran/Sindel.  Adam narrowly managed to
avoid shouting to her.

	"Well, this is it, people," Malloran said.  

	"You bet it is," a voice came from behind them.  "Now!"

	The TP strike team burst from their hiding places, stun guns at
the ready.  One operative was taken down by Skyler before he could even
make a break for the door.

	No one managed to hit any of the others, though.  Malloran bolted
for the door, switching on an alarm as she went out.  Van Cade started
after her, and Tyrran/Sindel after him.

	"Tyrran!  Wait!" Adam shouted.

	Tyrran/Sindel stopped and faced him.

	[[Listen to me.  Tyrran, I know you're in there.  You've got to
break away.]]

	She only stared at him.

	[[You've got to retake control of your body and become yourself
again...]]  Adam took a deep breath before he finished, [[...because I
love you.]]  




The psionic plane



	[[And I love you, too.]]

	Tyrran's manacles suddenly disappeared--and with them, the blocks
on her powers.  

	Sindel didn't seem to notice Tyrran silently advance behind her.

	Her mistake.

	A teleportive aperture closed like a vise on Sindel and flung her
out of existence without a sound.



[You stupid girl you stupid girl] 
[All you had you wasted all you had you wasted]




Docking Port 6



	Van Cade couldn't understand why she wouldn't move.  "Sindel,
we've got to get out of here!" he shouted.

	Tyrran spun and faced Van Cade.  Adam watched them with wide eyes.  

	Then both Adam and Van Cade noticed the green hair streak was
missing, and Van Cade heard three words that struck sheer terror into him.

	"Sindel isn't here."

	Those were the last words Tyrran managed to get out before
collapsing to the floor.




	








-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Kerry Blackwell" <kerry@needlecraft.co.nz>
Subject: TPFICT: Traces of Yesterday, Touches of Tomorrow [11/15]
Date: 26 Nov 1998 18:38:02 +1300

This is the chapter I didn't manage to do much research on the London
underground for (to the extent of asking a friend who'd been there for a
few days).  So I just made it up.  If I've totally mucked anything up,
please let me know and I'll try to fix it before this chapter goes into the
archives.  I've tried to be vague enough to get away with it, but I might
not have managed it.

Earlier parts of this story, as well as its prequel _Tomorrow and Tomorrow
and Tomorrow..._ can be found at
http://www.forty-two.co.nz/kerry/fanfic.html


The Tomorrow Trilogy II:

Traces of Yesterday, Touches of Tomorrow
Kerry Blackwell

ELEVEN

One thing that hadn't changed in twenty-odd years was London public
transport.  It was still stuffy, it was still overcrowded - something that
was even more oppressive than usual if you happened to be telepathic - and
there was a whole lot more graffiti that was about twenty times more
obscure that the simplistic slogans Mike remembered.  

The train racketed around a curve, barely seeming to slow.  Mike swayed and
braced his feet more firmly, settling his weight a little better before
looking down at Emma Stratton.  She was sitting on the edge of a bench
seat, squashed in between a large, vaguely West Indian looking man and an
elderly lady with way too many overflowing shopping bags.  She had a
pinched, nervous look on her face and Mike wished he could say something
reassuring, but secret experiments, superpowers and the future of the human
race weren't really ideal topics for discussion on a crowded tube train.
So he was forced to settle for a hopefully encouraging smile, that Emma
didn't seem to notice.

When they had walked out of the WorldEx building together, she had turned
left without hesitation and led them along the street with a confident
step.  But by the time they turned the fourth corner, she was beginning to
look less certain.  Mike had tried asking her to tell him where they were
going, but he'd been totally confused after about three sentences.  Like
she had said, she couldn't take him there, she just couldn't tell him where
'there' actually was.

Which was why he was standing in a crowded tube train and wishing he was
somewhere else.  There was a nice little planet out near Garsiss for
example, where the days were always sunny, it only ever rained at night and
the tourism was so carefully controlled that once you had your permit you
could head off for a holiday where you were unlikely to see another person
the entire time you were there - unless you wanted to of course.  Hsui Tai
had arranged it for him, saying with a laugh that she hadn't thought he was
the type for solitary holidays.  He'd laughed back, said he was glad to
discover he could still surprise her, and pocketed his permit.  It never
hurt to have friends in useful places.  And it had been a wonderful
holiday.

Someone accidentally jabbed him in the back with the handle of their
umbrella and he was dragged, unwillingly, back to the present.  The man
tucked the offending article back under his arm without an apology,
refolded his newspaper and went back to the sports pages.  Mike sighed and
amused himself by trying to read the headlines on the other side of the
paper.  The letters seemed strangely unfamiliar and the fact they were
upside down didn't help in any way.

He let his gaze slide off the page and found himself looking directly into
the eyes of a man across the carriage.  As soon as their gazes met the
stranger dropped his head and half turned away, the movement too smooth and
apparently casual to be anything other than deliberate.  Mike ran his mind
back, repeating their journey in his memory, and found the man there
already, always almost out of sight, almost not there.

So there was someone following them.  Well, it was better to know you were
being tailed - and by whom - than it was just to suspect it and waste a lot
of energy worrying about it.  And knowing who was keeping an eye on them
allowed Mike to keep an eye on _him_.  He didn't think he would mention it
to Emma though.

The train began to slow, approaching the next station, and passengers began
to gather their belongings together, to shuffle in the general direction of
the door or to slide into now vacated seats.  Still trying to keep their
'tail' in view without looking like he was doing it, it took Mike a moment
to realise Emma had risen too.

She touched him on the arm and he was forced to turn his back on the
nondescript man in the dark coat.  "We get off here," she said as the train
came to a halt beside the brightly lit platform.

They were spat out of the carriage along with everyone else, rather like
Jonah out of the belly of the whale Mike felt, although in this case there
must have been an entire Jonah-convention going on.  The platform was thick
with people and noise, but once half the people had headed for the
escalators and the other half had squeezed onto the train, it began to thin
out again.

"Back to the street?" Mike asked Emma quietly.

She nodded.  "Then it's only about two streets away."

They joined the end of the line of people on the 'up' escalator and rode up
it in silence.  Neither felt up to small talk and the serious stuff was no
more safe for discussion here than it had been on the crowded train.

They were on the platform above and heading towards the next set of stairs
- unmoving ones this time - when something made Mike glance backwards.
There, no more than 15 paces behind them was the man he had mentally termed
his shadow.  He was carrying a briefcase and a newspaper and looked like
any other businessman on his way home.  He paused to talk to another man
and Mike suddenly knew, with a certainty experience had taught him to
trust, that this new stranger was after them too.

He scanned the crowd, quickly spotting another pair of men at the foot of
the stairs.  He didn't bother to look back the way they had come, but he
was sure there would be someone there as well.  He used a hand on Emma's
waist to guide her away from the stairs, although he wasn't quite sure
where they could go.  There were too few exits here, and they were all
covered.

"We have a little problem," he said quietly.  "I think your Institute has
found us."

He felt Emma shudder under his arm and he didn't need to be telepathic to
feel her sudden fear.  "What do we do now?" she asked in a voice that was
tight and nervous.

"I don't know," he admitted.  "I think..."  His voice trailed off, as he
finally registered where they were.  A lot of the fittings had been changed
and upgraded in the past two decades, new paint and modern advertising had
stopped him from recognising it sooner, but this was it all right.  He
almost laughed.  What must the odds be of getting cut off in the one place
he knew had another, hidden exit?  Of course, it might have been found and
sealed up in the intervening years - in which case the joke would be on him
- but it was worth a try.

He didn't dare look at any of their pursuers again, for fear of tipping
them off that he'd spotted them, so he let him mind do the work for his
eyes.  He wasn't trying for anything detailed - he didn't have the time or
the inclination for the kind of effort that would take - just hoping he
could pick up on the general location of that sense of alertness and
readiness the men would hopefully be giving off.

He found the original man, still over where Mike had last seen him, and the
others didn't seem to have moved either.  Satisfied he still had a few
moments to do something unexpected, he pulled Emma suddenly behind a pillar
covered with posters for a band called 'Concrete Suicide' that made Mike
feel old, boring and very unrebellious. 

"This way," he told Emma.  "I know where there might be another way out."

She just nodded, her face still white, and followed through a few more
people towards a dark, dusty corner under the stairs.  To his delight, Mike
found that if you pushed just _there_ and twisted exactly like _that_, the
panel still swung open to reveal a dark and musty tunnel.

"In there?"  Emma didn't look particularly thrilled.

"Yeah," Mike agreed urgently.  "It'll be dark, but it'll get us out."  This
time he did look back.  Still nothing, but he could feel the Institute
heavies getting closer and they were running out of time.  "Hurry."

After one more uncertain glance Emma clambered through the opening.  Mike
followed her in a rush and dragged the entrance shut behind them.

The darkness was absolute, no light coming from anywhere at all.  In the
past, Mike had hardly ever come this way.  It was much quicker, simpler and
more practical just to jaunt and miss out the bit in the middle.  He hoped
he could find his way and they weren't going to be stuck down here
indefinitely, stumbling around in the dark. 

There was a thud and a clatter as something hit the ground, and he heard
Emma mutter a very unladylike, "Damn."  Then a moment later there was a
click, and a beam of yellow light took shape in the blackness.  Emma had
the sense to keep the torchlight directed at the floor, rather than shining
it in his face, and he saw her grin.

"My niece gave it to me last Christmas.  She said if I was going to keep
working to all hours, I needed a decent torch I could keep in my purse."
She laughed for a brief second.  "She also talked her parents into giving
me a cellphone, but I make a point of leaving that at home."  She swept the
light around the tunnel.  "So where are we, and how do we get out?"

"I used to live around here," Mike explained.

"You used to live around here?" she repeated in a startled voice.

Hearing his own words again, Mike realised how ridiculous they must have
sounded and began to laugh.  "Really, I did.  We'll have to go past it to
reach the other exit.  I'll show you."

*****

The tunnel was old and dusty, but fortunately it was dry and had a
relatively low spider population (judging on the quantity of cobwebs), even
if Emma's torch did have only a limited effect on the darkness.  A disused
underground tunnel was the last place she would ever have expected to find
herself, let alone in the company of a man who could apparently appear and
disappear at will and had spent the last 20 years or so living somewhere on
the other side of the galaxy. It was rather disappointing to discover it
was so boring.  And dark.

She rattled the torch a bit, just to check it wasn't suddenly going to go
out, and tried to think of something that would take her mind of
claustrophobia and darkness.  There were a lot of possibilities.

Mike Bell was walking along steadily beside her, humming quietly under his
breath.  She didn't recognise the tune, but that didn't mean anything.  She
had no kind of musical ear, much as she might wish it otherwise.  She
thought there might almost be a smile tugging at his lips, but the light
wasn't good enough to tell for sure.

Still keeping the light shining on the floor in front of them, she
surreptitiously gave him a thoughtful, cautious look.  "Am I doing the
right thing, giving the catalyst to this general?" she asked suddenly,
startled by the way her voice broke the silence.

Mike's steps faltered for a moment, before resuming their regular pace.
She felt him shrug more than she saw it, and something told her he was
giving her the most honest answer he could.  "I don't know," he said.  "I
think it's the best plan so far."

"I don't know that I trust the government any more than I trust the
Colonel," she said with a sigh.

"I don't think Damon is _exactly_ government.  More like freelance but
answerable for his actions."

She nodded slowly.  "I can't keep it for myself.  And I don't want to.  I
just want to be sure it isn't misused."

She stopped suddenly and turned the torch on him so that she could see his
face.  Mike blinked in surprise.  "If you come from this advanced
Federation, or whatever you called it, why don't you just take it?  _Then_
no-one can misuse it."

"We'll take it away if you give it to us," Mike answered.  "If you think
that's the best solution.  But I'm not just going to take it."  He shrugged
again.  "Maybe we should.  I don't know.  But I think we're all agreed we
don't want the Colonel to have it."

"No, we don't," Emma agreed fervently.

Mike laughed.  "So, do you want to see where I used to live?  It's just
around this corner."

Shining the torch in the direction he was pointing, Emma could see that the
tunnel did branch here, but about 2 feet into the side-tunnel a solid brick
wall blocked the way.

"How do we get through there?" she asked.

"_We_ don't," Mike answered.  "I do.  So long as everything still works,
I'll open the door for you."

Emma grinned, suddenly feeling uncharacteristically reckless.  "Sure."  And
she watched with almost reverent fascination as he faded out of existence
right in front of her eyes.

*****

It looked exactly the same.  Which was strange, because really, it didn't
look anything like it had once, long ago in another lifetime.

It was dark, of course.  They had left the auxiliary power running when
they had departed - backup lighting, the environmental controls - mostly
because they couldn't bear to shut everything down completely than from any
practical necessity.  All these years later, the air was musty but
breathable and it looked like two or three of the lights were still
working.  They provided a soft, yellow glow that would be enough to stop
him from walking into anything, although he wouldn't want to rely on them
to do any reading.

The panels around the jaunting pad had fallen down, leaning drunkenly
against each other like old friends tossed into the street after the pubs
had closed, forced to help each other or collapse, sprawling, to the
ground.  The chairs were dulled and dusty, one seriously moth-eaten and
somehow managing to look unhappy about it.  The walls disappeared into
darkness in the insufficient light, the only evidence there were further
rooms beyond this one a blacker space among the grey.

Of course, there was one thing that made this only a room, old, empty and
abandoned.  Or more accurately, the absence of one thing.  TIM was not
here, and it was hard to imagine he ever had been.  He was the last thing
they had taken with them, with difficulty but with determination.  And
without him, the Lab had lost its soul, taken with them, back to the stars
that had first conceived him.

Which meant Mike had to step down off the platform, walk across the room
and manually operate the controls that would open the external door and let
Emma in.  It opened, protestingly, with a harsh, grating sound that sounded
unnaturally loud in the underground silence.  Emma's surprised face was
revealed, white in the soft light.

"Did you think I wasn't coming back?" Mike asked with a laugh.

"I..." Emma began, and floundered to a halt.  "I just didn't expect the
wall to swing open like that," she admitted.  "It's too much like something
out of a movie.  Secret headquarters hidden under the streets and all that
sort of thing."

Mike smiled, but the expression was more sober this time, reminiscent
rather than amused.  "I guess that's what it was, really," he said quietly.
 He gestured for her to come in.  "This was where we were safe from people
who wanted to find us and do us harm.  Where we could be ourselves and not
pretend to be something less than we really were."

She came inside and stood in the centre of the room, looking around, and
Mike thought she was seeing beyond the dust and the decay, back into
yesterday.  "More than just a headquarters or a home then," she said
quietly.  "Truly a sanctuary."

He nodded, but he was still smiling when he answered again.  "I guess it
was, and we were our own family.  But we bickered and we fought and we did
stupid things too.  We weren't perfect and we made all the mistakes
families make."

"But that only makes the good times stronger," Emma pointed out.

Mike laughed.  "I thought you were a scientist, not a philosopher."

Now, she looked embarrassed.  "Look where just being a scientist got me.
Into a research project I never would have approached or approved of if I'd
taken a moment to look at everything, not just the formulae on the paper.
Alice and Jay and Teresa taught me better than that."

There were no words to answer that.  Nothing to say that would not be
uncaring or condescending.  And Mike had learned a few things with the
years, even a small dose of wisdom.  He kept his mouth shut.

She seemed to appreciate his silence, and after a moment, she made the
effort to produce a smile.  "And there were good times, weren't there?"

"There were lots of good times," he agreed.  He chuckled, and let one arm,
lightly touching the small of her back, guide her back towards the door.
"I'll tell you what, I tell you the story of the telekinetic parrot while
we finish our walk out of the tunnels."

She paused at the door, to look back for a final moment.  "Aren't you going
to shut it up again?" she asked as he was forced to stop himself to avoid
bumping into her.

Mike shook his head.  "I don't really see that there's any point.  It's
only history now."

Emma looked around again.  It might be dust and cobwebs now, but this had
been a home once.  A sanctuary and a refuge, a place of safety, among
friends.  "Seal it up," she insisted.  "Keep it safe for the future."

Mike looked at her, caught by the insistence and the empathy in her face,
and finally he nodded.  "All right.  I'll meet you back outside."  And he
turned his back on her and walked across the Lab to shut the door again, to
preserve this trace of yesterday for a little longer yet.

-end, part 11

Kerry

--
kerry@needlecraft.co.nz

"We shall be remembered in spite of ourselves"



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Ashley M" <ashleymerrill@hotmail.com>
Subject: TPFICT: Dolly's Curse 1/18
Date: 26 Nov 1998 19:07:14 PST

<beginning part 1 of 18>


Sarah’s dream began with thunder and lightning, something she didn’t 
find particularly appealing, and then she was standing on a beach. She 
sighed internally and thought, it would be a beach. She hated beaches, 
especially during storms. She stood there with the wind whipping her 
hair across her face and stared out to the sea. There were two lights 
blinking there, like a ship tossed, that suddenly blinked out, and then 
it had pulled up beside her without her noticing. Without hesitation she 
reached for the ladder and climbed up onto the boat, and rose to the 
deck. No one was in sight. She walked to the front of the ship and 
stared out at the darkened starlit water. The waves wanted to push her 
from the shore but there was a heavy anchor lodged at the bottom of 
those seas. She stared out and as she did the cold seemed to bite very 
lightly at her ears and nose, but not very hard at all. She wasn’t cold 
at all. She rested her hands on the wood, and it almost seemed alive, it 
was so warm. There was nothing strange about this at all, she thought, 
nothing. She could feel her mind reaching out to embrace the sky-

Something pressed her body back down to the bed and she awoke 
disoriented, gasping for breath. The ceiling that had always been above 
her head was now confining. She needed to see the stars, to breathe the 
air of night.

She nearly tripped down the stairs as she ran, her bare feet nearly 
slipping on the smooth carpet. The back door was tugged by her impatient 
hand, and then the cool air slipped in around her like silent ghosts. 
The new air stung her eyes as she gazed up at the clear starry sky.

Almost thoughtlessly she pulled the door closed behind her and sat down 
on their back deck. The stars drew her eyes and seemed to swallow her 
mind up, like meditation effortlessly. There were fingers of thought 
running over her mind like the imagined touch of a boyfriend, and then 
she seemed to be floating in midair-
**

“Sarah! Phone call!”

Her mother listened distractedly on the line as she waited for her 
daughter to pick up. It was Saturday morning, and Sarah usually slept 
late.

“I think she’s still asleep, Henna. I’ll get her to call you back, all 
right?”

“Sure, I’ll talk to her later. Bye.”

She was about to head up the stairs when she remembered her unmade 
coffee. As she walked into the kitchen she noticed that the door to the 
back deck was open slightly. The doorknob turned easily at her touch.

“Oh my Lord,” Sarah’s mother breathed, then headed back upstairs as fast 
as she could. Sarah’s sheets were rumpled, and there was no sign of her. 
Her bathroom was empty and she wasn’t in the computer room.

“Jack! Sarah’s gone!”
**

The stars she had been staring at were gone now. She opened her eyes. A 
cold wave lapped against her legs and tugged at her soggy nightgown. 
[I’m in the dream,] she thought dazedly. The sun bore down unmercifully, 
and she turned her face away from it, into the sand. She spat out the 
grains and sat up.

Her nightgown was drying in the sunlight, and it was then that she 
finally realized. It was no dream. No dream of hers had ever made sense 
for more than five minutes before it proved itself a malicious 
imagining.

“How long have I been here?” she tried to say, but apparently she’d 
swallowed some seawater. Her mouth felt dry and tasted nasty. She 
coughed for a few minutes and then sighed pitifully. Her mother was 
probably having fits. How had she arrived at this place?

Her hair was wet and plastered against her face, which already felt 
sunburnt. She brushed it away and grimaced at the pain the touch caused, 
then at the pain of wrinkling her face. Her feet refused to carry her 
the first few times she tried, then finally she struggled upwards. She 
looked down at her nightgown and realized that she really didn’t need to 
run into a guy around then.

She shaded her eyes and scanned the area around her. Palm trees and some 
beach shrubs dotted the area sparsely, but up against a dune, almost 
nestled there, was a metal thing, like a tree trunk with no limbs on it, 
but stranger. About ten or fifteen feet from the metal manhole cover 
beside the tree trunk thing was a blue and red tent, looking sturdy 
enough to be protection from the sunlight.

She hurried across the burning white sand and ducked quickly inside the 
tent. It smelled of seawater, slightly, but she didn’t mind as long as 
she was out of that heat. Her vision was covered with purple dots for a 
few minutes, and then she could see inside the tent. There were two sets 
of clothes and a pair of shoes lying on the floor of the tent near the 
entrance, and she looked at them suspiciously. They were clean, perhaps 
not new but not old. She pulled her nightgown over her head, glaring at 
the entrance, hurriedly put on the big white shirt. Its tails reached 
her knees, nearly, and the pair of jeans she put on next had to be 
rolled up at the ankles.

She tied the shoes to her feet and stared around the tent again. A bed 
was rolled in the corner, and she reached over and pulled it to her out 
of curiosity. She put her hand into the center of the bedroll and pulled 
out a knife. Its edge was evilly serrated, and it looked to have been 
used. She placed it back inside carefully. A cooler was in the corner 
too, but it was only filled with water, lukewarm water at that.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed the tent flap back and emerged into the 
sunlight. There was a particularly bad glare off the top of the metal 
thing, and she headed over toward that. She touched the tree trunk thing 
first- it was taller than she was, and sturdy. She stared at it for a 
long moment, then got tired of the pain in her eyes and dropped to her 
knees.

The manhole had sand scattered over its surface, and there were strange 
markings surrounding it. For a brief mind flash she was trapped inside a 
British scifi drama, but then the flicker disappeared. [This is 
ridiculous,] she thought. [There’s no way my life could possibly be so 
interesting.]

Her hair pushed forward into her face and she brushed it back angrily. 
The metal was hot to her touch, but she brushed a little of the sand 
away. The signs looked Japanese, but not: something was even different 
from that language, though it seemed to have its basis in picture-words 
also.

A furious curiosity filled her; she brushed the sand away more quickly, 
eager to see the rest of the words, to see if they could possibly mean 
anything to her. There was a strange trembling in the ground beneath 
her, but it disappeared in a moment. She returned to dusting the sand 
with her trembling fingers.

Suddenly she was falling forward, into a hole newly appeared betwixt the 
symbols. She grabbed the edge of the metal hole but the heat burned her 
fingers, and reflexively she let go. She screamed as she fell, 
headfirst, down the pipe, or whatever it was. How had she missed the 
hole opening? She couldn’t remember seeing anything different, and then 
here she was-

She was tumbling through the air, and now her back hit squarely on a 
pile of sand. A headache had apparently formed on the way down and was 
now plaguing her mind ruthlessly. She noticed that her eyes were closed 
and tried to open them, only to find that her body had other plans. 
[Enough shock for one day,] she thought silently. [I’ve had enough. This 
is the strangest dream I’ve ever had, and it doesn’t make sense and I 
just want to wake up in my own bed-]

She opened her eyes and nothing had changed, except maybe that blinding 
sunlight. Again her eyes cleared away the purple dots and she stared in 
awe at whatever she had found herself inside.

She slid off the pile of sand and hit a metal floor. All around her was 
metal, and there were windows, but now they were surrounded by water. 
Diluted sunlight arced through the windows and hit the floor she was now 
sitting on. There were circular-shaped doorways with no doors. They were 
surrounded by the same strange writing that had surrounded the outside 
manhole. Panels glowed behind her, with a soft yellow light that wasn’t 
as blinding as the sunlight outside. Through the round doorway she 
glimpsed something-

She climbed to her feet and ignored the pain that stretched through her 
calves as she crawled through the doorway and emerged in the next room. 
A large cylindrical light glowed through something that looked like dead 
vines surrounding it. Two seats were suspended from its middle by bars, 
but she couldn’t tell why the seats would be there. The light tube was 
surrounded by another ring of metal, with the same characters covering 
it. She walked to a place beside it and reached down with a trembling 
hand, touched one. Her fingers caressed the metal for a second, then 
pressed against it, feeling a heat there that was out of place, somehow. 
The light pulsed a bit more brightly, and a tone emerged from deep 
within it.
**

Sarah’s mother had searched every inch of their deck for a trace of 
blood, a splinter of wood out of place, a snatch of clothing, but could 
find nothing. Desperation was finally showing in her eyes. She had 
called every single person she could think of who was friends with 
Sarah, but none of them had known anything was wrong, except for Eve, 
one of Sarah’s best friends. Eve had known something was wrong when she 
heard Mrs. Miller’s voice on the telephone.

Jack, Sarah’s father, had said confidently that his daughter would be 
somewhere in the house, that there was a logical reason for why she was 
missing, but the wear was even showing on him. He had come home early 
from the office and was roaming around town in their car, searching 
desperately for a hint of where their daughter might be.

Eve could feel fever on her face and some on her arms. When she thought 
of Sarah she could sense safety, and some fear, but not very much at 
all. She had tried telling Mrs. Miller this, but Sarah’s mother wouldn’t 
hear it for all the world. Eve was a somewhat strange person and Mrs. 
Miller wasn’t sure she could be trusted. For all she knew, Eve had taken 
Sarah out and they had been separated, and now Eve was afraid to tell 
Mrs. Miller about their little mishap.
**

A finger slid down the surface of Adam’s mind. His eyes opened while his 
mind moaned, [Oh, not again, not now!]

He and Lucy were standing on the front porch of Lucy’s sister’s 
apartment, it was dark, and Lucy was standing there waiting for him to 
kiss her. He’d been waiting for this forever, and now the moment was 
here, but there was a little nagging warning. He tried to lean forward 
again but an invisible wall seemed to hold him back.

[Fine, fine, fine!] he shouted inside, and jolted forward so hard that 
he nearly sent Lucy backward over the railing.

A giggle erupted from the bushes, and Adam turned from his expectant 
date to glare there. “All right, come out!” he demanded, his accent 
strong.

Ami Jackson and Jade Weston stood up and then erupted into full-fledged 
gales of laughter, while Adam’s face colored quickly. Lucy opened her 
eyes and glared down at the two. “I’ve had enough of this foolishness!” 
she shouted, then flounced inside the apartment and slammed the door.

“Lucy! Lucy, please!” Adam said against the door. When it was painfully 
apparent that she was ignoring him, he turned his frosty gaze onto the 
two girls, still in the bushes. “All right, how long were we playing 
eavesdropping telepathy?”

“We weren’t, it was enough to hear you on the telephone. ‘Lucy, my 
love!’” Jade quoted, then bent over double with her peals of laughter.

Adam next turned his gaze on Ami, who was trying harder to hold her 
laughter in. “And you? You, who should know better?”

“I’m sorry- it seemed such a good idea at the time,” Ami said, then 
looked from the helpless Jade to the stone-faced Adam. “Now it doesn’t 
seem nearly so much fun. But that look on your face-” Ami nearly 
collapsed too.

Adam finally descended the stone steps and came up beside them. A 
streetlamp was all the illumination he needed to see that Ami was 
laughing so hard she was crying.

*Come on now, why do you do this to me? It’s so embarrassing-*

*She’s such a b-* Jade popped off without thinking, then covered her 
mouth with her hand, as if that could alleve the damage.


<end part 1 of 18>

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Ashley M" <ashleymerrill@hotmail.com>
Subject: TPFICT: Dolly's Curse 0/18
Date: 26 Nov 1998 19:11:15 PST

Dolly's Curse
by Ashley Merrill
in 18 parts

Disclaimer:
The Tomorrow People (new series) belong to Roger Damon Price, 
Nickelodeon, Thames Television, etc. and not to me, as do the characters 
Adam, Jade, Megabyte, Lisa, Kevin, Ami, their respective parents, 
siblings and enemies. The characters of Eve, Sarah, Jonathan, Rachal, 
and their respective relatives belong to me. No resemblance to anyone, 
living or dead, is intended.

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Ashley M" <ashleymerrill@hotmail.com>
Subject: TPFICT: Dolly's Curse 2/18
Date: 26 Nov 1998 19:17:04 PST

<beginning part 2 of 18>


*Come now, she’s not,* Adam thought almost pleadingly.

*Adam, you could do so much better,* Ami thought. Her face was streaked 
with tears, but it was drying quickly. *I mean, Lucy Allen? No. Not at 
all.*

*Who are you to tell me who I should date and who I shouldn’t?* Adam 
asked.

*Your friend, nothing more and nothing less. You have the looks to catch 
any girl you should want, and here you are harping over a journalism 
student at college. You’re settling for less than you should have!*

*What about Jade? Isn’t she settling for less?*

Jade’s face colored, while Ami thought, *I’m going to tell Megabyte 
about that crack. You deserve it. That was cold, Adam.*

*You know I was just playing with you. Let’s go out for a soda or 
something. My mouth seems so dry now-*

Ami interrupted Adam’s statement with a wry smile. *Where? Paris, Hong 
Kong, Belgium, Leningrad?*

*Their sodas are way too watered down. We could get one straight from 
the Coca-Cola plant in America-*

*Sounds good to me,* Jade interjected.
**

Megabyte slammed the cartridge into his Nintendo 64 and waited 
expectantly for the title screen to come up. “Home sweet home,” he 
sighed, looking around at the mounds of dirty clothes and tacked-up 
posters that had marked his American house. Finally, his mother had 
allowed him to remodel his room!

“Megabyte! Laundry day!”

He groaned. Mario will have to wait, he thought as he stomped down the 
stairs. “Yeah, laundry day, and it’s Millie’s turn to get the clothes.”

“Is not!” Megabyte’s little sister poked her head out from behind the 
kitchen doorway, gave him a sullenly angry look.

Oh snap, Megabyte thought, then rallied. “Look, if you do it today, I’ll 
do it next two times, okay? Isn’t that a nice trade?”

“No.” Millie crossed her arms and glared at him from beneath a mop of 
tangled brown curls. Megabyte emitted the sigh of a wounded martyr and 
knelt down.

“All right, and you can have an hour on the Nintendo 64.”

“Yes!” Millie flew upstairs, faster than Megabyte could follow her with 
his eyes. “Mine until four o’clock!”

“No, not now!” He hurried back upstairs, having to pass through the 
living room to do so. His father was watching CNN off the satellite, 
though it was a tad fuzzy.

“Hey, there’s a story on here you’d like to see,” his father said, 
watching the red-headed blur pass in front of the TV.

“Not now, Millie’s in my room with my new Nintendo 64!”

Feet were heard marching up the stairs, and then the angry shouting of 
children as the General turned the volume up.

“...and in further news, right here in the United States, yet another 
missing child case has been reported in a slew of new cases. This child 
was particularly special in that no clues whatsoever can be found with 
her kidnapping. She simply vanished from the house one night, apparently 
going outside for some fresh air. The girl, in her teens, has been 
reported by one of her apparently ‘psychic’ friends as ‘in a safe place’ 
and ‘suffering no harm.’”

“What in the world?” The General smiled at hearing Megabyte’s 
exclamation, and then his feet pounding down the stairs. “What was 
that?”

A girl with boisterous curls appeared in a clip on the screen. “My 
friend was not taken, by aliens or by humans,” she said. The voice 
would’ve sounded hokey, had it been self-assured and silky, but here it 
was agitated and frustrated. “I would know! She can solve this all by 
herself if everyone will quit worrying about her!”

Now there’s a girl I’d like to know better, Megabyte thought, staring at 
the image on the screen. He thought guiltily of Jade and then dismissed 
thoughts of her from his head. This girl was brushing back that mane of 
curls and appeared genuinely distressed. And it would be an added bonus 
if he mentioned to Adam that the girl might’ve been a TP breaking out-

Why do I even have to ask Adam’s permission? a little rebellious voice 
in Megabyte’s head asked. The sounds of Millie on his prized Nintendo 
machine were forgotten, and he teleported, or at least tried to. His 
image vanished out for a second, but flowed back into reality as 
Megabyte asked, “Where was that again?”

“Outside Charlotte, North Carolina, US,” the General quoted from the 
screen, smiling. He had been in anticipation of this whole conversation, 
right down to Megabyte’s disappearance.
**

“I know a trick to this,” Lisa said, smiling evilly. They stood outside 
the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant in Charlotte, hidden only by a few bushes.

Ami started laughing, and it only took Lisa a second to feel what she 
was laughing about. “Who’s Lucy Allen?” Lisa asked, temporarily 
forgetting their mission.

Instead of answering, Adam turned to Ami and glared at her hard. Jade 
was only looking around, her eyes wide and fearful. “What if we’re 
caught?” she asked, meekly.

“We won’t be, I’ve done this a hundred times,” Lisa said.

“Yeah, with me,” Megabyte said, the flash from the teleport vanishing.

“Oh, so we’re all going to nick colas now?” Adam asked, giving them mock 
scowls.

“Actually, that’s not why I’m here,” Megabyte began.

“Save it, we need some cola!” Lisa said, pulling them closer together. 
“Now there’s a tour going through about now. All we have to do is sneak 
into the end of the group. No one will notice we just came in. At the 
end they give everyone a free coke. It’s like purity control. But 
anyway, once we have the coke we can leave, and no one will be the 
wiser. It’s not like they can’t afford it.”

“I still don’t like it,” Adam said firmly.

“Come on, you were the one who suggested we get cokes in the first 
place,” Ami said, her voice cajoling. “Come on!”

“All right.”

“You caught Lucy and Adam on a date again?” Adam heard Megabyte ask 
Jade, just before he teleported, and considered throwing himself back 
into the sea to avoid the ribbing that would ensue as soon as they 
arrived.
**

Sarah thought that perhaps if she kept herself wide awake, soon she 
would need to fall asleep, and then she would wake up in her own bed, in 
her own house, away from this strange dream that was fast becoming a 
nightmare. The little glowing panels produced a strange fruit juice, and 
she had had two glasses of it. But the strange replication thing had 
frightened her, and now she cowered in the corner, trying hard to ignore 
the strange noises coming from the glowing light cylinder standing 
before her. It sounded pleading, if such a thing had the capacity to, 
but she couldn’t help the fright running through her. She wanted to go 
home, even if it meant losing this place for good.
**

*Lisa, did you go nicking cokes again without me?*

*Sorry, yes.*

“Then you have to share,” Kevin demanded, appearing beside her. He 
looked expectantly at the bottle in her hand.

Adam groaned. “How many of us are involved in petty larceny on a regular 
basis?” he asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

Lisa, Kevin, and Megabyte raised their hands freely, while Jade simply 
sipped her coke nervously and Ami commented, “Well, only one other time 
than this.”

“I came here for a reason,” Megabyte said, ignoring Adam’s glare. “I 
think another girl disappeared from around here somewhere. They showed 
her friend on the TV and I think we should go speak to her.”

Jade was staring at him. Finally she said, “You take that back.”

Megabyte looked at her and said, “Take what back? Anyone here would 
think she was beautiful.”

Kevin cut in to avoid one of the long arguments that had been forming 
over the past few weeks. “Like we saw Lisa on the TV?”

“Yeah, like that,” Megabyte said, still just a little angry.

“Well, when we went to Virginia to find Lisa, she was at the ship- maybe 
this girl is there too.”

“I’ll go,” Adam volunteered just a tad too quickly.

“What about your undying love for Lucy Allen?” Ami asked archly.

“Enough! Enough! Enough!” Adam exclaimed, holding his head. Finally he 
put his head back up and pushed his hair back. “Then I’ll take Ami with 
me. We need to split up. All these people knocking on this girl’s 
friend’s door, and on her mother’s door- I don’t know. Who wants to go 
back to the ship?”

Megabyte raised his hand, then put it down under Jade’s glare.

“I’ll go if you’re going,” Ami said to Adam. Everyone else chorused, 
“Oooohhh!”

“Really, we’re not children anymore,” Adam said testily. “I’ll go to her 
mother’s house. Ami and Lisa can go to her friend’s house. Kevin, you 
take Megabyte and Jade with you to the ship. And make sure they don’t 
fight the whole time, if this girl is there that’ll scare her out of her 
mind.”

“All right,” Megabyte said, his voice fading as he and Jade vanished.

“Something’s really up between them,” Adam said to Kevin. “Can you try 
to help?”

“I can try, but Megabyte has a habit of not listening to me. Be 
careful,” Kevin said as he vanished.

“Have you any idea where we can find the house? You’ve been here more 
than I,” Adam said, turning to Lisa.

“Yes, but not in Charlotte proper other than the plant- mmm. If we knew 
her name we could look her up in a phone book- wait a sec.” Lisa closed 
her eyes and saw the house in the background, through Megabyte’s memory 
of the news clip. “This is what the house looks like,” Lisa said, 
sending both of them the image.

“That doesn’t really tell me anything,” Ami said.

“It wouldn’t tell you anything if you were walking there. But since 
we’re teleporting-”

“Is that a good idea?” Ami asked, turning to Adam.

“We won’t get there any other way. Just go a little past it and then 
walk there, and nothing will be wrong.”

“And we’ll have to do that tomorrow. I can already smell the brownies in 
the oven,” Lisa sighed. “I was supposed to be back at nightfall. Want to 
meet at the island?”

“Sure,” Adam said glumly as Lisa vanished. He sat down on the stone 
steps next to Ami and said, “So what’s wrong with you?”

“I want to go see this girl, her family, to reassure them, but I don’t 
want to go without Lisa.” Ami shrugged. “I just can’t shake that 
feeling.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Adam said, reaching over to give her a hug.

“I don’t know. Let’s go to the ship,” Ami said, her voice muffled by 
speaking into Adam’s shoulder.

They flickered in two bright spots of light. All of them had been hidden 
in the darkening shadows of a parking garage, they weren’t quite sure 
where, sipping their cokes and talking.

Eve blinked her eyes several times, as she had upon seeing each of the 
bright flashes, but no faces appeared in the darkness, no more flashes 
of light manifest themselves.

“Come on, Eve,” said Beth from the wheel of her car. “We have to get 
going if we’re gonna make it to the movie.”

Eve reluctantly climbed into the car, still glancing over her shoulder 
as they pulled out of the garage and out onto the street.
**


<end part 2 of 18>

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From: "Ashley M" <ashleymerrill@hotmail.com>
Subject: TPFICT: Dolly's Curse 3/18
Date: 26 Nov 1998 19:20:57 PST

<beginning part 3 of 18>


“I can’t believe you’re blaming me for a stray thought! I mean, really!” 
Megabyte’s famous temper was up at arms, just as Adam had suspected, 
though Megabyte and Jade had never experienced the jealousy angle of 
their relationship so vividly.

“That’s not the point. I thought we-” Jade was usually slow to anger, 
but Megabyte got under her skin faster than anyone else she knew.

“Can you do this another time?” Kevin asked, annoyed. He hopped over the 
doorway and then motioned for them to be quiet. “Look at her,” he 
whispered.

*You looked that way once* Adam thought, appearing beside them. *Shhh, 
we don’t want to wake her. She looks like she needs her sleep.*

*And those are your clothes, Adam* Ami thought, an evil grin on her 
face. *I promise, first Lisa, now this girl-*

*Enough!* Kevin thought, echoing Adam’s earlier words. *I need to go 
home. My mum worries when I spend over an hour away.*

He vanished, and that seemed to startle the girl in her sleep. She 
turned slightly, then slumped back down, her chin resting on her hand.

*Look, I think it would be better if she didn’t see all these faces at 
once when she wakes up* Adam thought, concerned. *Maybe the three of you 
should go into the other room.*

*You just want to be alone with her* Megabyte sent back his final shot.

*Yes, but not that way* Adam thought, his attention too centered on the 
new girl for him to respond angrily.
**

Sarah awoke again but didn’t want to open her eyes. She still smelled 
sand and the strange musty smell that clung to the inside of whatever 
she was in. She placed her palms flat on the metal shelf she had been 
lying on and wished with all her might, [When I open my eyes I will be 
gone from here. When I open my eyes I will be at home.]

Her mind seemed to expand, and a ticklish feeling spread over her from 
head to toe. But then something went wrong, and ocean water closed over 
her head, cutting off her air.

*Snap* Adam thought loudly as he teleported to the beach outside.

*Sarah!* Ami thought, and then she was out on the beach with Adam, 
running towards the water. She kicked her shoes off and let her dangle 
bracelets drop from her wrists, and then the cold water splashed on her 
jeans. “Sarah!” she cried verbally, scanning the water. Finally she saw 
a head bob above the waves, and a choked cry.

“We’re coming!” Adam yelled, and Ami watched him with awe as he dove 
into the water as if he belonged there, swam deep under the waves and 
then emerged between Sarah and the shoreline. He dove again and now he 
was pulling her in a lifesaver’s hold, swimming closer to the shore with 
every stroke. Sarah was coughing and crying as they emerged onto the 
beach. By then Jade and Megabyte had heard the screams and were at the 
shore.

“I want to go home I want to go home I want to go home-” Sarah finished 
coughing up seawater and had turned her face away from them, was sobbing 
into the sand.

Adam brushed back his wet hair and finished coughing too, shot a glance 
at Ami. *Maybe you can handle this better than I* he thought.

“Sarah?” Ami asked, kneeling down on the sand next to her. Sand clung to 
the wet fabric covering her legs.

“Take me home,” Sarah said, gazing up at her, emotion cracking her 
voice. “This isn’t a dream but it can’t be real either- please take me 
back home.”

“You don’t understand. You’re frightened and you’re scared and you want 
to be where you feel you’re safe. You’re safe here with us. We would 
never hurt you.” Ami’s voice was soothing.

“Why did you kidnap me?” Sarah blinked, her eyes still stinging from the 
ocean water.

Ami’s brow wrinkled in genuine confusion. “Kidnap you? What?”

Sarah sighed. “You must’ve. You must’ve taken me off the porch. You put 
some kind of weird drug in me and that was that tickly feeling- and then 
you dumped me on this beach and waited for me to wake up. Tell me where 
I am! Let me go home! I promise I won’t tell them anything about this!”

“Sarah,” Adam said, in that voice that made girls all over the entire 
world melt. She turned over, and her eyes became wider and wider.

“Oh my Lord, this is a dream. This has been a dream the entire time- 
pinch me so I can wake up- maybe not.” She opened her eyes again. Adam 
still sat there beside her, drenched nearly as much as she was. “Adam. 
Thank you for pulling me out of the sea. Now take me home.”

“Much as I would like to, I’m afraid you don’t understand some things.” 
Adam completely held Sarah’s attention now.

“Like what?” Sarah was now staring into Adam’s eyes, implicitly trustful 
of someone she’d barely met.

“Like how you got here, for example.” Adam’s voice was patient. He’d 
been over this argument before, with Lisa.

“That’s easy. You brought me.” Sarah finally tried to sit up.

Adam shook his head slowly, to make sure it would register with her. 
“No, I didn’t.”

“Then-” her brow furrowed, then cleared. “You must be lying. Or it was 
Ami. Or those two, Jade and Megabyte.”

“You know none of us did this to you. Stop trying to deny it,” Adam 
said, gently.

“I couldn’t’ve come here by myself.” Sarah shook her head.

“But you did,” Adam said, still patiently.

She closed her eyes and shook her head, as if to clear it. “No. I would 
never have done this to my parents.”

“You haven’t been gone over two days.” Ami knew from experience that 
they would’ve heard her telepathic screaming if she’d been gone much 
longer.

“But still-” Sarah looked around them, at the deepening twilight.

*Sarah, can you hear me?*

Sarah closed her eyes. [This dream is too good to be real.]

*It is real* Megabyte thought, gently.

*It can’t be* she thought, opening her eyes to stare up at the four 
people around her. *No. This dream has been mine forever- and it is only 
a dream.*

*I thought that too* Jade thought. *And now I’m here- and it is no 
dream.*
**

[I’m hallucinating; that’s the only explanation] Eve thought, staring at 
her ceiling. [People don’t just disappear in columns of light. Not like 
that. Lord, Sarah’s disappearance must be affecting me more than I’d 
thought!]

Just then Eve propped herself up on her elbows and stared at the clock. 
It was 11:56. [I have to call Sarah’s house] Eve thought.

There’s no way, her common sense said. Her parents are getting some 
sleep, finally, and you’re not going to disrupt that.

Eve rolled over and was asleep in seconds.
**

*This isn’t a dream* Adam thought as they appeared inside Sarah’s house. 
It was dark there, as dark as it had been the night she had vanished so 
completely.

“I know,” Sarah whispered. “And I can come back when I want?”

“You will want to,” Adam said in answer to her unspoken hesitance. 
“Something will nag you about this for a long while. You can sneak away 
whenever you want, or call one of us and we’ll help. And we’ll make up 
for what your parents went through. They’ll never be mad at you for 
this.”

“Thank you,” Sarah whispered, staring up at him. She drew her gaze away 
and began walking upstairs. She paused for a second.

“Hold on- these are your clothes, aren’t they? When do you want them 
back?”

He smiled. “Just keep them until you come back. It will be soon.”
**

“I can’t believe-” Jade had instigated the argument again the moment 
they had appeared inside Megabyte’s house.

*You know it meant nothing.* Megabyte felt somewhat calmer now, after 
being at the ship only that little time.

*I know that, but how do I know you don’t feel the same way about me?*

Megabyte sighed. How was it that Jade was a mind reader, and yet she 
still didn’t understand that he was telling the truth? *Look, it was 
just that she’s beautiful. Adam turns your head a lot, and you don’t see 
me all upset about it, do you? You have nothing to worry about. She’s 
not even a tomorrow person.*

That seemed to mollify Jade, and after telling Megabyte that she loved 
him, she teleported out of the living room.

“I wish you wouldn’t talk in your heads like that!” Millie poked her 
head around a corner, her arms folded.

“And I really wish you wouldn’t eavesdrop!” Megabyte growled, chasing 
Millie through the house.
**

~her name is Eve~ the ship kythed to him.

Adam turned over to stare at the glowing column at the center of the 
ship. From there he seemed to feel the telepathic voice of the ship, but 
telepathy wasn’t the proper word for it. Jade had read A Wrinkle in Time 
by Madeline L’Engle and thought the voice sounded very similar to how 
she imagined kything. The transference of thought was there, but not so 
clear-cut and put into words, and often it was carried more on emotion 
than any kind of language.

Adam hadn’t felt like leaving, but now it was tempting- *First Lucy, 
then Ami, now Eve? Like the Bible story? I really can’t handle this!*

~Megabyte saw her on the television- you must go find her~

*Why? It’ll just be another reason for them to rib me later-*

~you must go find her~

There seemed to be no further discussion on this point, so Adam turned 
over and stared at the wall. Eve. It was too much, he wasn’t just 
imagining. Lucy would never speak to him again- and it might have been 
Ami’s influence, but he was beginning to see why his friends had thought 
her so wrong for him.

[I hope Sarah comes back soon] he couldn’t stop himself from thinking.
**

Lisa couldn’t stand it any longer. She arose from her bed and walked 
into the kitchen wearing only her nightshirt. On the stove was the pan 
of brownies her mother had made earlier in the day. Her eyes glowed as 
she saw the chocolate- her plans to stick to that diet all seemed to 
fade away. Mmmm-

*Sarah where are you*

The voice seemed to come from a little corner in the kitchen, and she 
turned there to find absolutely nothing. “Hello?” she asked uncertainly.

“Lisa? What are you doing up?”

[Oh snap] Lisa thought, carefully replacing the aluminum foil over the 
brownies, sneaking one out of the kitchen in her hand, gobbling it down 
and throwing herself into the bed. She hoped her mother wouldn’t-

The light flooded into the room, and Lisa’s eyelids crinkled, giving it 
away. “What were you doing up?”

Lisa stayed silent, hoping her mother just forgot about it.

“Come on, I know you’re not asleep. Is there something wrong I should 
know about? I know it’s four in the morning, but if you want we could 
make a pan of brownies- or maybe bar cookies-”

[Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!] Lisa thought, jamming the pillow over her head. Her 
mother’s voice got more intense. “I knew you were awake. Come on, let’s 
see if there’s any brownie mix in the kitchen.”

“No, Mom, that’s all right, I was just at the ship for a little while 
today. Or I was going to be, but I came back. I just was preoccupied 
about going there tomorrow.”

“That’s not all, I’m sure,” Lisa’s mother said.

[Sometimes I just wish the world would go away] Lisa thought, trying to 
wake her mind up enough to win the argument with her mother.
**

Ami stood inside the ship. It was dark, because none of the sunlight was 
coming through the windows, but the lighted panels let her see the way 
to the glowing core of the ship.

Suddenly she ran for the exit, and shot up into the starlit sky like a 
butterfly. She landed on her feet as gracefully as a fairy and then set 
off running, not caring about anything, just running down the darkened 
beach.

*Ami! Ami, wait up!*

Ami laughed gleefully and didn’t slow up a hair. “No! Not while I feel 
so free!” she screamed at the sky, and the beach seemed to last forever.

*Ami! I have to see you!*

“Not now! Can’t you see how I feel?”


<end part 3 of 18>

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From: "Ashley M" <ashleymerrill@hotmail.com>
Subject: TPFICT: Dolly's Curse 4/18
Date: 26 Nov 1998 19:25:17 PST

<beginning part 4 of 18>


*Yes! But I have to see you now!*

That finally slowed Ami down. “No! Don’t you understand?”

There was a flash of light before her, and he stood unafraid. “Yes I 
understand, but I can’t condone it,” he said. His eyes were dark, and so 
was his skin, almost as dark as the night they were standing in.

“Jonathan, please? I thought you understood.”

“I did. But I’ve waited long enough. It’s time.”

He vanished in a flash of light.

As the threads of the dream unwound and dispersed Ami sat up in bed, 
gasping quietly. “What in the world?” she whispered aloud. “Jonathan? Is 
that his name?”
**

“...To say the least, that’s the gist of the problem.”

Megabyte rolled his eyes. First his father had summoned them to the 
WorldEx Securities building where he worked. He’d had his fill of it 
during the Culex business. His father had chewed him out about 
interrupting an important meeting about the Cornucopia machine (which, 
it later turned out, was moot anyway). Now he couldn’t stay far enough 
away. Sometimes, though, after a random nightmare or when he needed some 
cash, he would reluctantly go inside that haven for 
teleporter-capturers. Now the man was involving them in yet another 
fiasco involving the company he worked for, even though he’d done his 
best to keep all of them out of the whole Culex affair, and tried to 
keep them away from those evil pod-aliens! Megabyte could study 
psychology for years and still not understand how his father’s brain 
worked.

“Problem? That’s no problem, that’s a nightmare!” Adam shoved his hair 
back with his hand, fighting the urge to pace the room. “It’s- complete 
and utter heresy!”

“Lisa, what do you think?” General Damon tried not to be upset by Adam’s 
view of the predicament.

“How could anyone have even considered it?” Lisa exploded.

“Our job is to think of the future, of the consequences that will occur. 
This was one of them since you’d heard about it, I know you must’ve 
considered it.” Damon had adopted the knowing-father voice all of them 
despised.

“We’re not exactly untouchable anymore, are we,” Jade commented wryly. 
She sent another worried glance at Megabyte, who was staring out the 
window.

“There could be armies of us all over the place, brainwashed and 
willing,” Kevin said, and he appeared to be imagining one of the B 
science-fiction movies he loved to watch.

“Or even worse, choosing to be the way we were, immoral and inhuman,” 
Megabyte commented, finally looking away from the window. He was another 
sci-fi buff. “The consequences are too heinous to imagine.”

“Beyond heinous,” Adam murmured.

“Like that psycho Culex with us as the bugs.” Kevin shuddered.

“Ami? Do you have anything to add?”

Ami stared out the enormous window in General Damon’s office. Her 
fingertips barely brushed the polished glass. Underneath her cabs and 
buses whirled away in a frenzy, barely stopping long enough to catch 
their passengers. And there, in the midst of an enormous crowd-

“Ami?” *Ami?* Megabyte’s voice was worried.

“He’s here,” Ami whispered beneath her breath, staring down with wide 
dark eyes at the street below, all the bustle and confusion. “He’s here, 
I know he is.”

“Ami? Are you okay?” There was a note of panic creeping into Megabyte’s 
voice as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

She shrugged his hand away. “No- I have to find him-”

“...and we can have a subsection at the cloning meeting a week from 
today, where only authorized people may enter, sweeping for bugs every 
five minutes, all the usual precautions. Do you think parents should be 
invited, especially if...”

General Damon’s voice faded away from Ami’s consciousness, and 
everything blurred except her view of the window. Desperate curiosity 
filled her mind. He was here. He had to be here.

*Adam, something’s up with Ami. We need to get her out of here-* Even 
Megabyte sounded worried, and that alerted Adam faster than anything 
else.

*You take her. I can be at the ship in a few minutes.* Adam had to make 
sure Damon’s dire predictions didn’t come to pass.

“Ami, come on,” Megabyte spoke aloud, putting his hand more firmly on 
her shoulder. “We have to leave.”

“No!” she cried, whirling around to face him. “Don’t you understand?”

“I can’t understand if you don’t tell me,” Megabyte said in a level 
voice.

“He’s here- Jonathan- down below us somewhere- we have to find him-”

“Why? What’s wrong with him?” Megabyte was trying to understand, but was 
falling far short.

“Nothing’s wrong I hope- we have to find him!” Ami tore away from 
Megabyte’s hand again and returned to staring pensively out the window.

Adam nodded in final agreement with General Damon and turned to find 
that Lisa, Kevin, and Jade were staring at Ami and Megabyte, who were in 
turn staring out the window.

“What’s wrong?” Adam asked. There was still a twinge of fear in his mind 
from discussing the prospect of cloning them, and then he knew.

*Ami? Your soul mate is here?* Adam’s voice sounded calm and sure again.

*Yes- oh Lord yes- at least someone understands now-* Ami ‘pathed.

*How can we find him?*

*I don’t know- I can feel it burning on the surface of my mind- help me*
**

Upon clawing her way to shore, Sarah collapsed down to the sand and 
breathed deeply for a while. The current had seemed strong- and Adam’s 
wet clothes were plastered to her body. Fortunately, she’d planned for 
that. She ripped open an enormous ziplock bag and pulled out a new set 
of clothes.

“Hello?” *Hello?* Sarah thought upon entering the ship. She patted sand 
from her slightly-damp clothes and looked around in consternation. 
Hadn’t Adam said he’d be there whenever she came? “Hello?”

Like a moth to the flame she walked toward the glowing light column, 
barely recognizing her actions. The thing seemed too pure to touch, 
other than the metal characters surrounding it; she settled for sitting 
on one of the metal shelves in the room and staring at it hypnotically.

~Eve must find Eve must find~

The words finally came to focus inside Sarah’s mind. Eve? What did Eve 
have to do with anything? The red-headed boy had seen Eve on television, 
Sarah remembered, but that had nothing to do with anything. But she 
trusted the ship; it had no reason to give off a false warning.

But I want to see Adam again-

She smiled wryly. Adam and Eve. They would make such a very good couple, 
Sarah thought, feeling a twinge of jealousy. [But he’s mine!] she 
thought. [I was here first!]
**

“Get mobile on that problem we discussed,” General Damon said into the 
phone, in his most authoritative voice. “Every single one. It is most 
definitely a problem now. Including a note- let me send you this clip. 
Take care of this too.”
**

*There are too many cabs to search!* Lisa thought desperately.

*That doesn’t really matter to Ami right now!* Adam thought back, 
checking yet another cab. They only had the dream-image to go by, and 
Lisa couldn’t find anyone nearly so beautiful- [Wish I had dreams like 
that] she thought ruefully.

An ambulance plowed down the street, and they took the chance to run up 
to the slowed taxis and look at their passengers. Kevin watched 
anxiously from the street, having developed a slight fear of running out 
into the middle of the highway.

“Wait a second,” Kevin spoke aloud, then shook his head. [No way.]
**

“Is there a cell phone in her car? And is she on it? Good. Yes, thank 
you. Try for another, just in case.” The dark-haired man hung up the 
telephone, deep inside the WorldEx building. He reached up and switched 
the security camera back on, then logged onto the Internet on his PC. He 
clicked on the WorldEx AutoTape system and made sure there were no 
records of his phone call, nor any tape of them. He then double-encoded 
the hard drive and left the office.
**

“Don’t believe I’ve met you before-” Penny Weston said.

“Samantha Davis,” Lisa’s mother said, shaking hands. “So your daughter 
can-”

Mrs. Weston cut her off with a shake of the head and a rueful smile.

“I’ve never heard so much whispering in my life,” Frank Wilson said to 
his wife, Susan.

“...and you were involved in that thing, with the mosquitoes? Ami spoke 
so highly of you,” Ruth Jackson said to General Damon.

“That’s kind of hard to believe, considering-” Damon said, thinking back 
to the whole affair.

“Considering what?” Ruth said, curiously.

“Never mind,” General Damon said, sighing. He turned to Jones and 
motioned for them to speak in the corner.

“Adam Newman’s parents?”

“We can’t find a single trace of them. We can’t find a single trace of 
him, as far as that’s concerned.” Jones’s eyes were hidden behind his 
usual tinted sunglasses. Even after Damon had transferred Jones to 
WorldEx and had tried to tell him that sunglasses weren’t all the rage 
for spies these days, he had refused to change.

“You checked in Australia? And London?” Damon’s brow furrowed. He’d 
never actually tried to hunt for the older, dark-haired boy before.

“We started there and then spread out. He doesn’t seem to be listed 
anywhere, own a credit card, have an account anywhere, anything. No 
other Adam Newmans match his description.” Jones’s voice began to carry 
monotonally again.

“Strange,” General Damon murmured. “And the girl on the news?”

“Sarah Miller’s parents are on the way from US.”

“Good- did you get anything on the girl that was in the clip I sent?” 
Damon hoped they’d come up with some kind of lead.

“Eve Blair? Um...” Jones seemed to get a bit distraught at that.

“Out with it.”

“There’s no trace of her at all. Her parents say that she must be out, 
and we have surveillance on the place for when she comes in. 
Everything’ll be taken care of.”
**

“Mr. and Mrs. Blair? May we come in?”

“Back so soon?” she asked, backing up so that the two people could enter 
the house. Mr. Blair sat on the couch, watching the television.

“We’re from the local police force, ma’am,” the taller one said, 
flashing a nondescript badge. “Your daughter- she was involved in 
something, ma’am, and she’s gone upstate for therapy. We hate to tell 
you about this-”

“Where is she? What clinic, what place?” Eve’s mother appeared frantic.

“We’re sorry, we can’t tell you, ma’am.” The badge snapped from view and 
disappeared into a many-pocketed leather jacket.

“I’m her mother! Surely you can tell me something!”

“No, I’m sorry, ma’am. Just know that she’s safe and we’re hoping she 
can be returned to you within a month or two.”

“A month? School starts in a month!” Mrs. Blair’s tone bordered on 
hysteria.

“Not my problem, ma’am,” the tall man said.

Citing another appointment, the pair left the house silently and climbed 
into a rental car. The driver calmly sped away while the passenger 
picked up the secured cell phone.

“Her parents have been notified. Everything’s fine, as long as we are 
not proven wrong on the time element. WorldEx has been outsmarted yet 
again.”

“Good, Gloria. I knew I could count on you for quality service. Much 
better than Galt ever was.”

The phone clicked into the man’s ear.
**

“It’s no use,” Ami said, coming over to find Adam. Her face was 
dejected, and she looked as though she was about to cry.

“There, there,” Adam said, hugging her. “It’s not too late. If you knew 
he was here this time maybe he’ll break out soon, and everything will be 
okay.”

“I don’t know,” Ami whispered into his shoulder. “I just want to go home 
and cry.”

“Now, now,” Adam said. He gestured to the WorldEx building looming above 
them. “They’ve set up a meeting just for us.”

Jade and Megabyte wandered over, hand in hand, and Adam shot Megabyte a 
short look. Megabyte sneered back and was about to shoot back a remark 
about Lucy when Lisa and Kevin came over. Megabyte decided it wasn’t 
worth it, but didn’t release Jade’s hand.

“Come on, let’s go the conventional way,” Adam said, rolling his eyes 
and walking toward the large glass building. Ami followed him, her arms 
wrapped around her sides, not really seeing what was in front of her. 
Jade dropped Megabyte’s hand and strode forward to put an arm around 
Ami’s shoulders. Megabyte turned to punch Kevin in the shoulder and 
smile at Lisa.


<end part 4 of 18>

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From: "Ashley M" <ashleymerrill@hotmail.com>
Subject: TPFICT: Dolly's Curse 5/18
Date: 26 Nov 1998 19:29:37 PST

<beginning part 5 of 18>


“Maybe this time my mother won’t be kidnapped by some crazy goons that 
don’t know any better,” Lisa grumbled.

“Yeah, that was kind of bad.” Kevin remembered the ordeal, but it was 
jumbled up with memories of almost being run over by a really big truck, 
and teleporting onto the moor with Megabyte, and drinking lots of hot 
cocoa.

“Kind of? It was awful.” Lisa was surprised he couldn’t remember that 
well, but then, it hadn’t been his mother.

“I think something was up with that ambulance,” Kevin remarked during a 
break in the conversation between Megabyte and Adam.

“That’s only because you’re rather familiar with them,” Megabyte said.

“No, that’s not it,” Kevin insisted as they all climbed into an 
elevator. He looked crestfallen when he noticed that the walls of the 
elevator were glass, so they couldn’t teleport out of it. “There was 
something else.”

As the silence fell everyone could hear Ami crying, and they all turned 
around and surrounded her with their arms. “It’s going to be fine,” Adam 
whispered to her.

The elevator opened up, and there were five parental units waiting 
expectantly for their children.

In the midst of the din Adam suddenly said, “Oh no- Sarah’s at the 
island by herself!” And he was gone.

“Ami, dear, why are you crying?” Mrs. Jackson asked, gently.

Ami and Lisa shared a glance before Ami wiped her eyes and began 
talking.

“Where’s my daughter?” Jack Miller asked as he swept into the room.

“Enough, enough!” General Damon said, waving his hands in the air. 
“Let’s move to the conference room and get this show underway.”
**

“Sarah? Sarah?” Adam asked, wandering into the ship. He carried the 
drenched clothes she had apparently brought back with her, stowed inside 
his tent. His other fingers gripped the handle of his knife. “Are you 
here?”

~Eve is scared, alone, afraid~ The ship’s “voice” was calm as always, 
and insidious as it entered his mind.

*I completely forgot about that- where is Sarah?* Adam hoped the ship 
could give him some sort of logical, understandable answer.

~she waits for those who are to help her, and you do not come~

*I am sorry, we were searching for the one who is Ami’s soul mate. Have 
you any knowledge of-*

~Jonathan is among us and yet not~

*I wish she could come here so you could tell her that in person, but I 
was only supposed to come back and find Sarah. Is she sleeping?* Adam 
asked hesitantly.

~in her sleep she dreams of you~

Adam grinned ruefully. *I really didn’t need that.*

He jumped the low doorway and saw Sarah, sleeping near the same place he 
had. He walked over and said softly, “Sarah? Are you awake?”

“Mmmmm-” she whispered, then opened her eyes. “I thought you said you’d 
be here for me-”

“I would have been, but we were looking for someone. You have to come 
with me.” Adam held out his hand.

“Yes, let’s go home. I want to tell my parents- about this beautiful 
dream I’ve had-” Sarah’s voice was still scratchy from sleep.

“Yes, all soon, just not now. Come, take my hand.”

They were gone in a flash of light, but as Adam’s mind reformed at 
WorldEx, the ship whispered

~Eve is still in the cold without us~
**

“What’s different about these chromosomes?”

“Nothing, really,” the doctor said nervously, addressing the dark man 
standing before him. That man’s eyes, and voice, were so hard, and 
black, and he couldn’t imagine where the man could have obtained this 
sample of cells, outrageously weird genotyped cells. The doctor 
recovered his train of thought with some effort. “They just- their genes 
produce different proteins than ours, but it’s not one base pair off. 
It’s more toward the magnitude of five- that is a serious mutation. And 
here, in this other one, four pairs are off. I’d need to examine a brain 
cell to see what repercussions this would have in the neural pathways, 
on the myelin sheaths, to the synapses. This appears human- but it can’t 
be- no human has cells like that.”

“And you can clone it?” Somewhere, in the many-pocketed coat the man 
wore, there was the badge he had flashed at the Blair family earlier. 
Gloria was nowhere to be found. Leather-jacket Man hoped he remembered 
the simplified details well enough to report them accurately to his 
superior.

“I’m not sure- the one attempt we’ve made has failed-” the doctor 
trembled, interlocking his fingers nervously.

“But it came rather close to succeeding, doctor. I have someone who 
knows what you did wrong, the one number in all the calculations that 
made that perfect specimen of a human being so deformed. If you clone 
this cell, we will give you the information.” Actually, Leather-jacket 
Man had no idea whether they would even keep this doctor or not for 
their project, but he was prepared to tell the man whatever he wanted to 
hear.

“The moratorium on no cloning of humans-” the interlocking of the 
doctor’s fingers became more violent. His bald head grew slightly shiny 
with sweat, but his voice refused to completely betray his fear, even as 
his hands telegraphed it like a light.

“What you are cloning will not be human, and therefore that stupid 
moratorium doesn’t apply.” Leather-jacket Man sighed internally. 

The doctor sighed nervously, wrung his hands. “The temptation is so 
great-”

“And we will triple the bonuses you now have in your practice.” [And 
that’s pretty darn good for a British doctor] the man thought.

The doctor sighed again. “Fine, you have a deal.”
**

The teenagers drew lots for the rooms they would be sharing. General 
Damon said they could now add psychokinesis to their growing list of 
abilities, because Megabyte and Jade had drawn the same room. They had 
to promise not to do anything, swear upside down to Jade’s mother that 
they had no plans to do anything, and sleep with the light on. Lisa and 
Ami roomed together by default, and then Kevin and Adam.

Around 11:00 PM Adam was growing tired of hearing giggling through the 
walls of the suite. He was about to pound on the wall when there was a 
whisper in his head.

*Adam*

*Sarah?*

*Adam I’m worried about Eve*

“Snap,” Adam spoke aloud, turning over in bed to stare at the ceiling. 
Kevin cracked an eye open in the other twin bed and decided not to ask; 
Adam would tell him.

*What’s wrong with her?*

*I haven’t spoken to her in a while- I’m afraid-* Sarah’s telepathic 
voice indeed sounded so, in his head.

*It’s all right. We can go find her tomorrow.* Adam desperately wanted 
to go back to sleep.

~no it’s late enough now~ the ship interjected.

*Adam!* came another voice.

“What, am I Grand Central Station now?” Adam complained aloud. *What is 
it?*

*I found him.* Ami’s mental voice was breathless.

Now Adam sat up in bed, switched on the light beside him. *You found 
him? Where is he?*

*He’s in hospital, Adam. He looks so far gone- the doctors don’t seem to 
have much hope.* Adam could almost hear tears in Ami’s voice.

*I’ll be right down, as soon as I wake everyone up-*

*No, don’t do that. Later, maybe, but not now. Just please come!*

*Ami-*

*please?*

Adam sighed. *Okay. I have to tell the guard I’m going somewhere first.*

He threw back the covers, pulled on a sweatshirt and shorts, and walked 
to the door of the suite. The armed guard at the side turned to regard 
him.

“May I help you?”

“I need to see General Damon right now, please.”

After Adam gave his explanation of, “I just need to go somewhere,” 
General Damon kept asking him questions. “Why do you need to leave? Are 
you going to the ship?”

“No, I just need to go somewhere. I’ll be right back.”

“Do you promise?” Damon was still rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“Of course, on my word.” Adam twitched impatiently.

“Then go ahead. Why are you waiting?” Damon squinted at him.

Adam gave him a lopsided grin and then turned back to the suite. 
*Kevin.*

*What?* Kevin’s voice was sleepy, and Adam longingly thought of the warm 
twin bed he’d left behind. Oh well.

*I need you to do something for me. There’s a girl-*

*Adam, please hurry up!* Ami’s voice broke through the wave.

*All right, all right. We’ll just get it done when I come back.*
**

Nurses on late shift who were only awake because of the caffeine in 
their drinks eyed the dark-haired, dark-eyed boy that strode down the 
corridors of the hospital as if he owned it, without asking a single 
person where he was going. He turned to a room in the Intensive Care 
Unit and opened the door.

Ami sat beside the bed in the chair usually reserved for the anxious 
parent or relative. She was only wearing a long t-shirt and a pair of 
cotton shorts. Her face was streaked with tears as she looked up to 
regard Adam.

Adam stared at the form on the bed. Ami hadn’t been lying when she’d 
said the doctors weren’t hopeful. The boy was the same one from the 
dream, but now he appeared almost wrapped from head to toe in bandages. 
The skin that Adam could see was rended in healing scars or clotted 
wounds. The bandage on his head looked particularly menacing.

Adam walked over to the bank of monitors attached to the boy with a tube 
in nearly every limb. The heart rate monitor was ridiculously slow, and 
the brain wave reader was erratic. [If not for the brain waves I would 
think he had been bitten by a Culex mosquito- but we’re not going to 
relive that again, are we?]

Slowly Adam walked over to check the chart, aware that Ami’s eyes were 
staring hard at his every move. Her sobs and gasps were more subdued 
now.

He was on heavy painkillers, addictive ones, but that didn’t quite 
explain that activity- Adam thought. Finally he gave up and put the 
chart down.

*Ami, I’m so, so sorry* Adam thought, kneeling down so that they were 
eye to eye. *He is so deep inside himself- almost like Kevin was in that 
coma.*

*No* Ami thought firmly, and Adam was distressed to find a spark of 
something that could’ve been insanity in her eyes. *He is not gone. He 
is not buried. I can feel him fighting.*

*We can do nothing for him here, and if we disconnect him from some of 
these machines, he might die. You know that. The ship cannot help him if 
he is that dead.*

*Lisa came back. Adam, you brought a man back from the dead.*

Adam’s eyes screwed shut in pain. He bowed his head and then met her 
gaze again. *He was not dead.*

*And neither is Jonathan!* Ami seemed too ferociously passionate about 
this, Adam thought.

*Ami, you know if I still had the power, you know that even if I had the 
slightest belief I still had that power, that I would do this for you. 
But it’s gone. Otherwise Kevin would never have been in that coma so 
long- and General Damon would never have given permission to that crazy 
man to lead the rescue operation.*

*But for Kevin there was an antidote!* Ami thought wildly. *And General 
Damon was not hanging on for dear life, not for nearly as long as 
Jonathan here! Adam, please, for me, just try, one more time.*

*I don’t want to fail you on something this important. Please, don’t 
make me.*

*Adam-* there were fresh tears flowing from eyes that should’ve been dry 
hours earlier- *please, even if you fail at least then you’ll know that 
he didn’t die without a little of your help- please-*

Adam looked into Ami’s eyes. She knew that he was going to die, she knew 
that probably nothing could stop it, but if Adam could, if Adam could do 
a single thing, then he would have to. Ami wanted this thing so 
desperately, and he couldn’t resist a heartfelt plea if he’d tried.

“All right,” he sighed, finally speaking aloud. “All right. Close the 
door. No one in here but us.”

Ami beamed at him, through her tears, and closed the door, pulled the 
curtain.

“Now,” Adam said, rolling up his sleeves, “you do understand that 
everything I told you was true? I don’t think I have this anymore, even 
to the smallest degree.”

Ami nodded, glad that he had finally agreed to do it.


<end part 5 of 18>

______________________________________________________
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Ashley M" <ashleymerrill@hotmail.com>
Subject: TPFICT: Dolly's Curse 6/18
Date: 26 Nov 1998 19:34:20 PST

<beginning part 6 of 18>


“Adam!” Lisa jerked upright in bed, turned to see if Ami was awake too. 
The other twin bed was empty.

“Where’s Ami?” Lisa demanded of the guard, pulling open the door even 
though she only had on her nightgown. “Where’s General Damon? Why 
doesn’t anyone hear these things?”

Kevin poked his head out from his suite. “I think Adam went to 
hospital.”

“Why would he do something crazy like that?” Lisa suddenly yawned.

“Something was up with Ami.” Kevin was having a little trouble 
remembering, but he was a sensitive telepath, and he recalled hearing 
Ami’s mental voice.

“Was she sick? Hurt? Mentally ill?” Lisa’s curiosity grew with Kevin’s 
intangible statements.

“That was cold,” Megabyte remarked, stepping out of his suite with Jade 
in tow.

“Seriously though. I just got a flash that something’s going wrong, 
something we can stop.” Lisa actually did look worried.

“Where’s Sarah?” Kevin asked, stifling a yawn.

Lisa closed her eyes, then said, “She’s in such a deep sleep that none 
of us could wake her up. She’s been through a lot in the past few days-” 
all of them understood how it was, the shock of discovering powers, a 
group of friends who would defend to their dying breath, the wonder of 
telepathy and teleportation- “so we shouldn’t wake her up. Where’s 
General Damon?”
**

“Another of the kids for you, sir.” Jones yawned.

Bill Damon muttered something angrily under his breath and switched on 
the bedside lamp. Millie was cuddled up against her mother, who was on 
the opposite side of the bed. Why on Earth Millie had to be afraid in 
hotels-

“All right, I’ll just get my robe on and be right outside.” Damon sat up 
in bed and felt his contact lens shift. He mumbled something about 
saline.

Jones nodded and closed the door.

“Why on Earth does everything have to happen at night- can’t even get a 
good night’s sleep-” he mumbled as he pulled on a robe and tied it 
hastily. He ventured out into the hall, squinting in the more intense 
light. “What is it, Lisa?” he asked, hoping he wasn’t mistaking Ami for 
her.

“Ami and Adam are gone.” Now Lisa was fidgeting.

Damon yawned, not quite thinking very clearly. “Ami’s almost of 
consenting age, how does-”

“There’s something wrong. I don’t know what it is. But there’s something 
up with Adam, and Ami is probably there with him.”

“Where did Adam say he was going?” Kevin asked.

“Did Ami even tell you she was going anywhere?” Jade put in.

“Does anyone have any hot cocoa?” Megabyte and Bill chorused.

Only Ami’s mother was to be awakened, but then Frank Wilson poked his 
head out of his suite and asked what was going on, so eventually 
everyone was in the downstairs conference room in their nightclothes.

“All we have to do is teleport to the hospital, I don’t see what’s so 
wrong with this,” Lisa said, fidgeting in her chair.

“No, we’ve got men going down there to secure the area before any of the 
rest of you leave. Until the cloning issue is settled, no one’s going 
anywhere without a guard.”

“But-” broke in ten voices at once, and General Damon had to shout to 
restore order. In the following buzz of voices, Sarah’s sounded against 
the rest.

“Where’s Eve?”

“Who?”

“My best friend. The ship was talking about her.” Sarah twirled a lock 
of hair about one finger, nervously, her eyes still puffy from sleep.

Megabyte and Jade exchanged glances with each other, and with Lisa and 
Kevin. *This is bad,* Megabyte thought.

Before anyone could reply to Megabyte’s observation, the phone on the 
conference table rang.

“It’s Jones, sir, and we have a situation. It might be preferable for 
you to bring all the kids, sir.”
**

The vans that WorldEx owned presently were eerily similar to the one 
Lisa had been shipped around in, that time that seemed a million years 
away, when Adam still had long hair and they hadn’t known that they 
could teleport other people. She shivered for a second in the cool night 
air, and Kevin put his little arm around her.

There had been a little hint of dread in Megabyte’s heart when he’d 
heard Jones say those dreaded words over the speakerphone, but now all 
the fear was gone, replaced by a need to be the leader that they didn’t 
have right now. [Everything will be fine] he thought, squeezing Jade’s 
arm a little more tightly. They exchanged a glance, a weak little smile, 
and then looked away from each other.

[I wish I was like that now] Sarah thought, seeing the ways all of them 
depended on each other. She felt close to Adam and Ami, but they weren’t 
even here. Her worry about them swallowed up the enduring nagging 
feeling of dread over Eve.

They exited the van, and Megabyte’s feeling was replaced by annoyance at 
the phalanx of guards surrounding them wherever they went. He thought 
about making a smart remark about it to his father, but the General’s 
facial features looked as though they had been cast from stone. Adam had 
almost been a second son to the family, to everyone’s family.

“Oh my Lord,” Jade gasped upon entrance to the hospital. Megabyte 
couldn’t spare the energy for asking her what was wrong, just kept his 
hand around hers as they took the stairs two by two toward the room.

Ami’s legs were drawn up in the chair and her forehead was against her 
knees when they walked into the room. Methodically her head moved back 
and then fell forward, striking with the force of bone against bone. In 
the bed beside her lay the boy they had searched the cabs for, now 
breathing without a respirator, his pulse steady and firm, the brainscan 
apparently normal.

“I didn’t think it could do any harm,” came Ami’s voice, muffled.

“It’s not your fault,” the four of them chorused at once, and all of 
them went over to hug her, give her a little pat on the shoulder, at 
least something. Sarah lingered in the doorway, unsure of what to do.

“What happened here?” Bill asked quietly from outside the doorway.

“We’re not sure, but we have the surveillance tape.”
**

[There’s no record of Adam teleporting into the hospital, thank God] 
Bill thought, glad to have less track to cover.

“Now here,” Jones said, placing another tape into the VCR, “we have Adam 
entering the room with Ami and the other boy inside.”

For a long time neither of them said a word, their lips didn’t even 
move. Then Adam knelt down in front of Ami, and then there were words.

“We can’t tell what he said, but we can get that from Ami soon enough,” 
Jones remarked.

[Then comes the kicker] Bill thought, his eyes glued to the screen. He 
had heard the reports but never seen it in action-

Adam, captured perfectly on the tape, rolled up his sleeves, glanced at 
Ami once, for luck, then turned back to the nearly-comatose body and 
closed his eyes. It seemed to take a ridiculous amount of time for his 
hands to begin to glow red, and then he placed his hands directly onto 
the boy’s head. On the tape Bill could see Adam’s eyes moving back and 
forth rapidly beneath his eyelids, almost as rapidly as REM sleep, but 
then it seemed to increase in intensity. Ami’s eyes grew wider.

Bill couldn’t explain what happened next, but it was as if there was 
almost a flash of light, not quite. Now Adam was slumped down on the 
floor, the heart monitor clearly showed a steady heart rate, and Ami was 
standing over the prone body, horror written on her face. At that moment 
two of the General’s men entered the room.

“All copies of this tape are mine,” Bill said, again in his 
giving-orders voice. “No one hears or sees anything about this. Arrange 
for immediate transfer of Adam from this hospital to one run by the 
Agency, preferably close to WorldEx. Same for that boy in the other bed. 
Those children are to be surrounded at all times by those I’ve 
personally selected, no substitutions. We’re changing hotels, too. 
Transfer all the clothes and baggage and everything to the Park, down 
the street. I want...”
**

Gradually everyone but Sarah drifted away, to the hospital, to see 
either Ami or Adam. Ordinarily their parents would’ve been angry at the 
inconvenience of moving, would’ve been packing their clothes slowly in 
protest, but now they were only hurried and silent. Everyone had seen 
the still white face of the boy that had been so vocal at their meeting, 
so charming, and they had realized yet again that their children weren’t 
really children anymore.
**

*Adam- Adam, can you hear me? I know you’re rattling around in there 
somewhere- speak to me!*

Megabyte placed a trembling hand on Adam’s pale forehead, closed his 
eyes.

He was surrounded by darkness. There was weakness there too.

[It must have nearly killed him when he brought Jones back to life] 
Megabyte thought, realizing it for the first time. [Maybe that’s why- 
maybe that used up all his power for a long time, and he needed a 
recharge- but maybe he wasn’t recharged enough, and he put too much of 
himself into this-]

The heart monitor gave off three staccato beeps in quick procession, and 
then returned to the steady, frail rhythm that it had been in before. 
The nurse that came in to check on it was held back by the guard 
standing outside the door. Megabyte didn’t even seem to register their 
altercation.

[If I try, will I end up the same way?] he asked himself.

~you cannot do this- you can surround him with love until he is strong 
enough to be with you again~

Megabyte sighed angrily. *But he is my friend, and I have a 
responsibility-* he tried to make the ship understand.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” General Damon said from the doorway.

Megabyte’s eyes flew open. “Why couldn’t it have been me?” he asked.
**

Lisa was about to close her eyes and teleport back to the hotel when she 
remembered that evil briefing from General Damon: “No teleporting inside 
the hospital, unless you want one of our doctors to see you and take you 
in for study. They will do it, and some of them have authority over me. 
I’ve held them back this long, but maybe not for much longer. Don’t give 
me another excuse to be angry.”

“I feel so awful-” Ami was near tears again.

“Don’t, Ami. It’s not your fault.” Lisa sighed inwardly. She didn’t want 
to blame Ami for what had happened. Adam had chosen to try and heal the 
boy, after all.

“But it is! He never would’ve done this if it wasn’t for me.” Ami didn’t 
want to be convinced that she wasn’t responsible.

“If you keep blaming yourself, it doesn’t help him any. He needs us to 
be concerned about him, not trying to take back what happened.”

“Maybe if I try-”

Lisa stopped Ami’s train of thought with a hand. “General Damon forbid 
it, after Megabyte was about to try. He appreciates what we’re trying to 
do but he thinks it’s too dangerous. After all, Jonathan still has to 
wake up.”

Ami sighed, looked over at the bed. She was afraid to place a single 
hand on him, for fear that he would vanish like a soap bubble. But the 
day had been trying enough- “Lisa, could you-”

“Sure,” Lisa said, moving around beside the figure on the bed. Kevin 
poked his head around the doorway as Lisa opened her eyes again. “He 
should wake up soon.”

“It worked for me, Ami,” Kevin said, moving into the room. “Cheer up!”

Ami smiled for the first time in quite a while as Kevin put his arms 
around her in a little hug.
**

“The procedure is finished?” Leather-jacket man asked. His voice was 
tight.

The doctor nodded, sighed wearily as he stripped off his gloves. The 
latex seemed garishly white in the bright light of his surgical stage.

“And it went as expected?”

The doctor wondered why the man sounded so ridiculously thug-like. But 
then, the doctor hadn’t been exposed to much more than old gangster 
movies. “Yes, green lights all the way down the line.”

“Good. And now you know that you are ours.”

Another cliché. The doctor nodded dismally even as he accepted the 
briefcase of money.


<end part 6 of 18>

______________________________________________________
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Ashley M" <ashleymerrill@hotmail.com>
Subject: TPFICT: Dolly's Curse 7/18
Date: 26 Nov 1998 19:38:16 PST

<begin part 7/18>


Around midnight Jade awoke. The bed beside her was empty. “Oh no, not 
again,” she groaned. She tugged off her nightgown and put on her street 
clothes from earlier that day.

“Megabyte, Megabyte,” she hummed under her breath as she walked the 
corridors of the hospital. One doctor stared very intently at her and 
began following, but she ditched him with a side stairway, cut around 
another floor and began walking in the correct direction again.

Very gently she turned the doorknob of the room Jonathan had been placed 
in. Ami had finally left after Lisa assured her that there was no way 
she couldn’t tell if he’d woken up, since the two of them had so much 
connection.

“Where are you?” Jade whispered softly under her breath, leaving that 
room and turning to the next one. Adam’s dimly lit figure was stiff and 
silent underneath the immaculate sheets, and Megabyte stood beside the 
bed. His eyes were closed, and Jade didn’t dare reach out and read his 
mind.

“Where are you going to take him?” Jade said softly, in a tone that 
slipped right into his imaginings.

“The ship will heal him.” Megabyte opened his eyes and stared into hers.

“He is weak. Teleporting might do him more harm than good.” Jade wasn’t 
sure, but she didn’t really want to take a risk where any of them were 
involved. After all, teleportation was nothing but becoming energy and 
then becoming matter again, but who knew that Adam’s molecules would 
retain enough cohesion to-- oh Lord, she sounded like a Trekkie.

“What other choice do we have?” Megabyte asked angrily. “He cannot die 
in this hospital, without any of us around him. He will not die on the 
way.”

“If you feel so strongly about this, what about Jonathan?” Jade asked, 
gesturing to the other room. “He is more stable than Adam is. Why don’t 
you take him?”

“Ami would-”

Jade folded her arms. “Ami would think it was the right thing to do 
right now. We shouldn’t be sneaking about to do these things. Your 
father-”

“My _father_ says no teleporting in sight of the cameras. We must do it 
here, now, and let him explain it. He’ll think up reasons why we can’t 
possibly do this.”

“And have you forgotten about Eve, too?” Jade raised an eyebrow.

Megabyte stared at her. “I’m surprised you would bring that up.”

“Sarah’s worried about her, and it seems irrational.”

“So you want to go to the US without any guards at all, find this girl 
and bring her back, and just let Adam fend for himself, wherever he is?” 
Megabyte folded his own arms.

“He is stronger than any of us. Let him fight for himself.” Jade wasn’t 
sure she felt that way, but she had no doubt he would recover.

“All this, because Sarah’s worried about her best friend.” Megabyte 
shook his head.

Jade nodded, held out her hand. “We can always take Adam to the ship 
later, if your father says it’s all right.”

“Why do you always listen to my father?” Megabyte grumbled, following 
Jade’s lead regardless.

“Because you don’t,” she said, walking towards an exit. Suddenly with a 
gasp she slid behind a corner, pulling Megabyte with her.

“What’s wrong now?” Megabyte tried to peer around the corner.

“Shhh,” Jade hissed, shoving him back and peering out herself to see the 
same doctor who had been trailing her earlier. “Where are the guards for 
Adam’s room?”

“I don’t see them.”

“That doctor’s heading this way. I don’t think he’s one of the ones your 
father assigned.”

Before Jade could say another word, Megabyte had vanished in a flash of 
light.
**

Mentally Lisa recalled the picture of Eve’s house that Megabyte had 
seen. She crossed her fingers and mentally wished that General Damon 
wouldn’t notice she was missing. It wasn’t like she was planning on 
being gone that long. She removed Eve from the picture, made sure no one 
was watching, and concentrated on going to that house, to right in front 
of it.

Lisa materialized and shot another glance around. No one seemed to be 
watching. She walked up the front steps and rang the bell.

“Hello?” the woman said as she answered the door. She looked as if she’d 
been crying, but not for too long. “Yes?”

“I’m here to see Eve,” Lisa said slowly, still trying to get a feel for 
the place.

“I’m sorry, she’s not here.” That seemed to distract the woman, who held 
the door without seeming to intend on Lisa coming in.

“When will she be back?”

“I don’t know, a month? I can’t believe she got mixed up in all this-” 
Eve’s mother blew her nose, motioned for Lisa to come in.

“Got mixed up in all of what?” Lisa asked, allowing herself to be guided 
to the couch.

“I don’t know- after the USSIA people, there were the police people-”

[USSIA? Scientific Intelligence Agency? General Damon’s people] Lisa 
thought, reassured.

“-who said that Eve was at a center, that they were sorry to tell me, 
that it would be a month or so before I could see her again-” Eve’s 
mother visibly held back tears. “That’s all I know. That’s all they’d 
tell me.”

After asking a few general questions and refusing the perfunctory 
cookies and lemonade, Lisa walked out of the house in a quandary. [Why 
is it we had to do something about her?] Lisa wondered. [She doesn’t 
seem out of the ordinary, just a little on the freaky side.]

Lisa began to walk back to the alley she had teleported to when two men 
emerged from a long black car and began walking toward her, rather 
leisurely. She recognized the two of them and nodded.

“So what are y’all doing here?”

“Staking out the Blair home. What did you find out?” asked the larger of 
the two partners.

“There’s no reason for you to be here. She’s been taken by the local 
police.” Lisa picked at a stray thread on her shirt as she spoke. She 
remembered one of the agents from the testing General Damon had asked 
them to do, early on.

“There’s no way- we would’ve heard of that. Someone’s been lying.” The 
smaller man reached beneath his jacket to where his gun was holstered. 
Lisa finally remembered his name, Agent East.

Their conversation was interrupted by the screech of brakes on the road. 
A police car came around the curve and stopped in front of the Blair 
home. An apparently drugged girl was taken from the backseat, given a 
glass of something, and propped up as the threesome approached the door.

“Looks like I can take that little quote back now,” Lisa murmured wryly, 
watching the scene in utter amazement.
**

*What’s going on?* Jade thought frantically at Megabyte.

Megabyte closed the door and searched frantically for a way to lock it. 
Finding none, he melted the bolt out of panic.

[And not a second too late] Megabyte thought, admiring his handiwork as 
the doctor tried to open the door. “Nurse!” he heard.

*Jade, distract them somehow!*

There was an enormous crash in the hallway, followed by the sound of 
splintering glass. Then there were Jade’s footsteps, and the cries of 
the doctor to hasten the nurses. “Get her!” he demanded.

“And why didn’t I think of this before?” Megabyte asked himself. In his 
mind he reached out to the surveillance cameras and inserted a simple 
command: [Loop your data from an hour ago, random pattern, making sure 
most pixels interlock, until new command function appears.] Obediently 
the machines clicked and whirred, and then he reached into the computer 
system and deleted record of Adam’s room for the past half hour, and 
then inserted footage from the half-hour a few hours before, with 
systems responding to his command, though in five hours they would 
default back to original programming. Dusting his hands off and proud of 
his handiwork, he left.
**

*Ami*

Ami bolted straight upward in bed and had to restrain herself severely 
from teleporting on the spot. Though she couldn’t reply, she still 
smiled so hard she thought her face might crack from the strain.
**

Kevin walked out of the bathroom in a daze, staring blankly at the bed, 
dreaming already. Accidentally he walked toward the left-hand bed and 
crawled on top of the bulges in the blanket. As soon as he realized 
someone was supposed to be in that bed, he also realized that the lumps 
were too soft to be a human.

“Oh no, not again!” he said audibly.
**

There was a knock on General Damon’s door.

“It’s only ten o’clock, why couldn’t they have at least waited until I’d 
had a little bit of sleep?” General Damon asked rhetorically. “Come on 
in, Jones.”

“That’s what happens when their home base is ten time zones away,” Jones 
said. “Teenagers,” he sighed and shook his balding head. “Won’t ever 
listen to reason.”

“Well, these kids have a way of finding a loophole that suits them,” 
Bill said. “So who’s gone now?”

“Well, in short, your son, Jade, and Lisa.” Jones had that look on his 
face that Damon identified with disapproval.

“What d’you mean? I’m not gone,” Megabyte said, walking down the 
corridor.

“Nor am I,” Jade said. “What’s all the fuss?”
**

“Where have you been?” Lisa asked Eve.

“Now, don’t put too much of a strain on her,” the man who had escorted 
her cautioned. “She’s been through a rough couple of days.”

“I don’t care, I want to know where she was!” Eve’s mother exclaimed.

“I don’t think you’re understanding the terms we put down at the 
beginning of this meeting,” the man said.

“And I don’t think you understand who has the authority here,” said 
Agent Yates, the other of Damon’s men. “She is under our jurisdiction 
now.”

“Prove that she has the right to be.” Lisa shuddered when she realized 
that the silent partner was Gloria, that android-like agent who had 
pursued her friends when they had first all “broken out.”

Through all this argument over her, Eve seemed utterly gone. Her eyelids 
drooped down over her eyes and her blank stare surrounded the room 
without any hint of recognition.

“What makes you think you can come around here and boss us around?” Mr. 
Blair was asking the man angrily.

“We’re here for your protection.” The man seemed to be getting angry.

*Eve?* Lisa tried hesitantly.

One of Eve’s eyebrows twitched, as if she couldn’t quite remember how to 
respond to the summons. Lisa tried again.

*Eve?*

“What is it?” Eve asked groggily, aloud. All the adults in the room 
turned to regard her. “What is it? What is it?” she repeated aloud.

*You can hear me?* Lisa ‘pathed.

“Yes, of course, why couldn’t I?”

Gloria’s gaze was set on Lisa while the man said, “She’s hearing voices. 
That’s a bad sign. We need to take her back to rehabilitation right 
away.”

“She doesn’t belong in rehab, she belongs with us,” Lisa said. Yates 
shot her a warning glance.

“And how do you know this?” Dark-suited Agent inquired archly.

“Once the drugs you’ve pumped into her work their way out of her 
system,” Lisa said bitingly, “maybe then these ‘voices’ you claim she’s 
hearing will go away.”

“And if they don’t?” Dark-suited Agent inquired just as acidly. “Then 
you will have wasted this girl’s life based on your one assumption. She 
has less risk if she comes back with us.”

Agent East said calmly, “Enough. She no longer is yours. We take full 
responsibility for her treatment as to whether it succeeds or fails. 
Leave the premises.”

“I don’t think we’re communicating,” Dark-suited Agent said. He didn’t 
seem to like the least bit of lost control. He motioned to Gloria, and 
she took hold of Eve’s arm, in a grip that seemed deceptively loose.

“No, we’re not,” Lisa said. *Eve, listen to me. Don’t say anything out 
loud-*

Something wasn’t quite connecting in Eve’s brain, due to the drugs. Her 
mouth opened and there was a tiny rush of air, and then her eyes turned 
toward Lisa.

Dark-suited Agent turned to Lisa. Lisa sensed that both he and Gloria 
knew what Eve’s parents would be loath to admit; Eve was a telepath, and 
the ‘voices’ were Lisa’s own telepathic voice. Her suspicions were 
confirmed at his next words. “Stop your meddling,” he snarled.


<end part 7/18>

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Ashley M" <ashleymerrill@hotmail.com>
Subject: TPFICT: Dolly's Curse 8/18
Date: 26 Nov 1998 19:41:52 PST

<begin part 8/18>


*Eve! Get away from that woman!* Lisa cried mentally.

“Don’t you think I would if I could?” Eve enunciated slowly.
**

“Have you located Lisa yet?” General Damon asked.

“No. She’s not in the hospital, though.” Jones was developing a 
symbiotic relationship with his cellular phone.

“All right. Bring Jade and Megabyte in.” Damon’s voice had taken on the 
disciplining-parent tone again.

Megabyte had hung his head, and Jade didn’t look much brighter.

“All right. What’s this I hear about the surveillance cameras at the 
hospital?” General Damon began.

“I don’t know, I’m not one for eavesdropping.” Megabyte sounded sullen.

“So you wouldn’t know anything about the fact that the cameras have been 
looping data for the past twelve hours? Something’s gone haywire, and 
there’s no outer tampering.” General Damon folded his arms.

“Um-” Megabyte said, meeting his father’s gaze. “I might know something 
about it.”

Damon tilted his head and looked over at the accomplice. “And you, Jade, 
do you know what equipment you knocked over? Do you want to know how 
much it costs?”

“Um, no sir, I’d rather not know. I sleep better not knowing how much 
money I owe,” Jade said, twisting her hands. “But I promise we did it 
for a reason, Mr. Damon-”

“This had better be good,” the General said, leaning back in his chair.

“I was visiting Adam,” Megabyte began, after Jade glanced at him to 
begin. “And-”

“You wouldn’t mean, perhaps, visiting Adam without telling a single 
guard where you were going? And not, perhaps, with the express intent of 
teleporting in full sight of the cameras?” Damon raised an eyebrow.

Megabyte’s temper finally blew. “Look, Dad, he is my friend, and I’m 
entitled to do whatever I can for him. All those stupid rules you make 
up can’t change what I feel, and you should know that.”

Damon took that in silence, and then began again. “So you do admit that 
you tampered with the surveillance cameras? and Jade, you do admit that 
you pushed over one of the most expensive pieces of equipment in the 
entire hospital?”

Megabyte nodded dismally, while Jade blanched and said weakly, “Um, I’m 
not sure I want to admit to that until I have a lawyer present.”

“Okay. If that’s all you were there to do-” Damon began to rise from his 
chair.

“No, you didn’t hear the rest of the story,” Megabyte shot off, still 
angry. “We were leaving for the hallway when this doctor headed for 
Adam’s room. I knew which ones you’d assigned, so I teleported in there 
and melted the door shut. And since those are two very bad things, 
things you don’t want to ‘have to get rid of,’ I saw a way out and took 
it.”

Damon settled back down again. “And we have no way of verifying that 
story, nor any way of seeing this evil doctor, because you’ve 
effectively erased the security tapes.”

“That’s not-” Megabyte began, then fell silent.

“Ah, yes, you see now, that it was very fully well your fault.”
**

Kevin rubbed sleep from his eyes as Sarah sat down beside him. “You’re 
Kevin, right?” she asked softly.

“Yep,” Kevin said, putting his fists down. “And you’re Sarah Miller. 
Nice to meet you.”

After they had shaken hands, Sarah asked him softly, “Why are we here 
exactly?”

“Because Lisa’s missing.” Kevin stated that as simply as he would’ve 
told her the sky was blue.

“Well, can’t we just teleport-” Sarah began hesitantly.

Kevin shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Normally yes we would. But 
now they’re having fits over this cloning thing. Everything might be a 
trap, they think. So we’re hemmed in like children here. Lisa’s 
perfectly fine,” Kevin went on to say, “but General Damon needs 
‘concrete proof.’ As if a human being’s not dependable enough.” Kevin’s 
chin sank down onto his hands.
**

“I’ve had enough of this,” Mr. Blair snarled. “None of you have given me 
police ID, so I’m gonna call them now. And all four of you are _leaving_ 
with them. Got it? This young girl- can call a cab, whatever. Eve is 
going to the hospital.”

“Sir,” said Dark-suited Agent, while Gloria read his intentions and 
placed a hand on Mr. Blair’s, effectively paralyzing his fingers.

*Eve!* Lisa cried out. *Hold on!*

Lisa reached out and took hold of Eve’s arm. Eve’s eyes opened a tad 
more, but otherwise she seemed unimpressed. Gloria’s other hand reached 
for Eve’s sleeve, trying to flick Lisa’s fingers off.

Lisa took a deep breath and, digging her fingers into Eve’s arm, 
teleported.
**

*So Jonathan _is_ better. So this wasn’t for naught.* Adam finally got 
around to asking the question that had been bugging him.

~yes, he is returning more quickly~ the ship kythed back, reassuringly.

*Sleeping on the shelves is so much more easy, now, than sleeping on 
these soft hospital beds* Adam thought, racial memory telling him how 
Kevin’s body had relaxed into the thin mattress for his brief stay in 
the hospital.

There was a silence, and then, *Why can I not come back?*

~there’s barely enough of you living to be kything this way, much less 
running your body~ the ship chided.

*And if I could come inside you? And feel the healing?* Adam asked his 
questions with the wonder of a child.

~you would be running on borrowed energy for a while, just as Lisa was- 
and that borrowed energy might run out more quickly~

*But still- there is Eve-* Adam remembered.

~that is fine now- as well as can be said, now~
**

“Lisa, honey-” Mrs. Davis began.

“I’m _fine_,” Lisa growled, willing herself to not become angry with her 
mother. Lord, she could use some blood sugar about now. All the 
adrenaline had sapped her clean. “But this girl needs some help-”

“Lisa!”

Lisa’s brown eyes looked up in amazement to see a brown-haired boy come 
hurtling into the room to encase her in his arms. “And hi to you, Kev.”

Sarah had responded almost as enthusiastically to her friend’s arrival, 
Adam nonwithstanding. “Eve? Are you okay?”

“...caffeine,” Sarah heard her mutter.

“It’s fine. You need some sleep. We all do,” Sarah remarked, seeing 
Kevin’s sleep-rumpled hair, nearly standing on end.

General Damon, encased in the ubiquitous robe, came into the room, 
glanced around for a split second, and knew exactly what had happened. 
“Okay, Lisa. Some of my men were there. Who were they?”

“East and someone, I think, but Gloria and another henchman were there 
too. Hey Kev, I’m gonna stop breathing if you squeeze any harder,” Lisa 
said.

“That’s all right, we can just take you to the ship and get you all 
fixed up if that happens,” Kevin remarked happily.

“The ship,” Ami said from the doorway, her chocolate eyes wide. She spun 
on her heel and walked back to her room, probably to change.

“Oh, Lord. General Damon-” Lisa began, but he was on the cellphone, 
barking orders to the two agents left at the Blair home.

“What’s all the ruckus in here? Kev, I could’ve read your mind from a 
mile away,” Megabyte said, smiling from the doorway. His arm was wrapped 
around Jade’s waist. “Hey, Lisa, I think you almost had my dad as 
worried as he gets about me.”

*I think they’ve hooked back up,* Lisa thought. Kevin just smiled.

“...never wanna see another blond woman in my life... Lord, my stomach 
hurts...” Sarah listened to her friend’s voice worriedly.

“Here, there are some Tums, and Pepto Bismol, and an aspirin,” Sarah 
said, fetching them from the suitcase. She sat down beside Eve, who she 
had propped up against the other twin bed’s headboard, her legs 
stretched out in front of her. “Oh wait, I’ll get you some water.”

“Don’t think the Tums will do any good,” Eve said. Her eyes were growing 
a bit less droopy, and she was nursing her stomach with wary hands. A 
little too much pressure made her suck in her breath as though the world 
was coming to an end.

“Drink this,” Sarah demanded upon reentering the bedroom, handing her 
friend the glass of water and aspirin. Eve placed the pill on the back 
of her tongue and took a sip of the water. Something inside her resisted 
swallowing, though, until she finally pushed the pill back with such 
force that she nearly gagged. Tears came to her already irritated eyes, 
and she moaned softly.

“Are you all right?” Sarah asked, even in saying the words picturing 
herself as a mother hen.

“Fine, fine, just need a little sleep,” Eve said, standing up slowly to 
pull the covers back.
**

[Have to get there soon- less time I waste, the better-] Ami thought, 
yanking the nightgown over her head to pull on a t-shirt, not knowing 
why she was bothering to put on her necklace. [Why not the earrings now] 
she thought. She gazed into the mirror, watching her hands shake as she 
tried to thread the fishhook through the hole in her ear.

“Ami Marie Jackson, I demand to know what the matter is with you.”

The forgotten earring nearly dropped from her fingers as Ami’s gaze 
turned toward the doorway. Her mother leaned against the doorframe, arms 
crossed.

“Nothing, mum,” Ami said weakly, dread filling her stomach as her gaze 
dropped from her mother’s.

“’Nothing?’ That’s what you told me last time, and look where it got 
you. Mixing with all these strange kids, nearly getting yourself killed. 
Is it Adam? Do you have _feelings_ for him?”

There was a silence that filled the room with a nameless dread as Ami 
looked everywhere but her mother’s eyes. “No, nothing like that,” Ami 
stammered, wishing she had enough guts to speak clearly whenever her 
mother had _that tone_ in her voice.

“But no, Ami. I heard you. ‘I put Adam into this,’ I heard you say. How? 
What has it to do with that boy, nearly swathed in those bandages? Or at 
least he was,” her mother said, something near amazement in her voice.

“Mum, please,” Ami said, feeling time slip away from her. She _needed_ 
to get to the hospital, no matter what kind of rules General Damon had 
made. Everything would be fine if she could only get there!

“No. There will be no ‘buts,’ no pleading. You are coming with me. We 
are going to have hot cocoa with the rest of these strange kids, and 
then you are going to sleep. Deal?” Mrs. Jackson said, trying to soften 
the words with a smile.

“Oh, mum,” Ami sighed, making one last halfhearted attempt to string the 
earring through her ear. [Even that won’t work right for me] she 
thought, taking one last glance at her already apprehensive eyes. 
Feeling guilty for doing so, she reached out.

*Adam, if you can hear me- if it’s not too much to sense this thought- 
I’m sorry.*
**

[Warm milk does wonders] Megabyte thought, falling into his bed. He was 
stock still, though, as he thought [and Adam wasn’t here for it.]

“Come now,” Jade said. She emerged from the bathroom, where she had yet 
again been combing out her long hair. “No use dwelling on it. He’ll be 
fine soon enough.”

“Do you believe that?”

Jade’s fingers were still on the light switch of the bathroom, and as 
she accidentally flipped it off there was no more light in the room. 
Only the streetlights to show her the dangerous glint in Megabyte’s eyes 
as he asked that question.


<end part 8/18>

______________________________________________________
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Ashley M" <ashleymerrill@hotmail.com>
Subject: TPFICT: Dolly's Curse 9/18
Date: 26 Nov 1998 19:46:07 PST

<begin part 9/18>


“I don’t know,” Jade finally admitted, her hands outstretched before her 
to assure her that she wouldn’t run into anything before she fell onto 
her bed. She crawled up until her head was near the pillow, then turned 
on her side and propped her head up with her elbow, fearing sleep was 
near. Her eyelids were trying desperately to give in to gravity.

“I know he’ll recover; he’s Adam,” Megabyte said reluctantly, his eyes 
still lit by that streetlight. Here they were, propped up the same way, 
facing each other, alone in a darkened hotel room... Jade’s lips were 
twisted in a wry grin.

“...but Ami’s so hung up on Jonathan,” Megabyte continued, and with 
little effort Jade forced her mind back to the conversation. “It really 
tore her up at first, you know, but then she was off about Jonathan 
again...” Megabyte’s eyes met hers sharply. “Jade, are you listening?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” Jade said, stifling a yawn. “But Ami’s found her soul 
mate. She felt she _had_ to save him, no matter what the costs. And now 
she’s shown us that she’s still confident in that decision. I mean, five 
or six of us are crying over Adam, and here Ami is, the only one worried 
enough about Jonathan to care.”

Megabyte was silent for a second. “You make us sound selfish.”

“We _do_ have a little right to be, after all; we are without our 
leader.” *And our most handsome guy,* Jade thought, knowing full well 
Megabyte would hear.

Megabyte shot her a wry smile, but in a fluid motion he had grabbed the 
pillow under his head and had sent it sailing at her. She ducked with 
utter incredulity, then grabbed her own and pulled herself up off the 
bed, rushing toward him.

“_This_ will teach you to hit a girl!” Jade shrieked madly.

“No, it’ll teach _you_ to stop trying to bait me!” Megabyte shrank back 
a little, though. He was pretty sure his- girlfriend- had some Irish in 
her.

Kevin and Lisa had been trying to sleep in the next room, _trying_ being 
the operative word. They had come over with slight smirks, jokes about 
how _difficult_ being roomed with girlfriends and boyfriends could be.

“Look, guys,” Kevin said, opening the door, only to be socked with an 
ill-tossed pillow.

Amazingly, all the parents slept through the banging on doors and 
muffled screams that floated down the hallway. General Damon came down 
the hall to the conference room in the morning, only to find crashed 
teenagers crammed into every corner. A throw pillow was curiously close 
to an overturned lamp, and Kevin’s hair was more tossed than usual. One 
of the more caring of the hotel staff had tucked a blanket around each 
of them, including Jade and Megabyte, who were sleeping a tad closer 
than any other pair in the room. Even their newest addition, Eve, who 
had barely had two hours of sleep the night before, had apparently 
participated. She was lying on the couch, her feet propped up on the 
arm, her face propped up by a slowly sliding hand. Finally it dropped 
and she nearly fell off the couch.

“You’d barely believe they were the ‘next stage of human evolution’ now, 
would you?” asked a quiet voice.

Smiling, General Damon surveyed the room again with his wife. Kevin made 
a muffled sound in his sleep and turned slightly, a little closer to 
Lisa. Ami’s head was directly where it would get the most damage if Eve 
fell off the couch. Sarah’s hand was curled around the edge of the 
blanket that covered Jade and Megabyte.

“True,” General Damon whispered. He could so easily imagine Adam in this 
picture, nestled in there between Sarah and Ami, but even now waking, 
making sure they were all okay. He was like that. He would’ve made sure 
that Kevin wasn’t left out, that the throw pillows weren’t hurled with 
too much force, that Ami didn’t have such a desolate look on her face 
while she slept-

Bill’s hand tightened its grip on the doorway. “We have to do 
something,” he stated in a harsh whisper. “Anything.”
**

*Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan-* Adam said over and over, like a little 
chant. He drummed mental fingers against mental air.

*Ami*

Almost so tiny he couldn’t even hear it. Adam stopped the drumming and 
cocked a mental ear.

*Ami*

Persistent it was, and almost hopeless in its cries, as though it knew 
trying was futile, and reply too much to hope for.

*Jonathan!* Adam cried, trying to put a little more power into it. 
Accidentally, though, it went a tad farther than he’d aimed it for.
**

Ami groaned at feeling the hard floor beneath her back, and opened her 
eyes to find a peach hand floating not three inches away from her face, 
its nails like daggers. Stifling another groan, Ami slid away from it 
and sat up gingerly.

“That was a heck of a pillow fight,” Megabyte commented in a stage 
whisper, sitting up and shaking his head vigorously. “Owwww, that hurt,” 
he mumbled, slightly louder.

“I either need coffee or an actual _bed_,” Jade commented, not even 
attempting to open her eyes.

“Are you sure you don’t harbor some secret grudge toward me, Megabyte?” 
Ami asked, stretching her arms up over her head and stifling a 
tremendous yawn. “I swear I’m going to have bruises before this day is 
over.”

Simultaneously, Eve fell off the couch and Sarah turned over, moaning 
softly.

“What was that?” Kevin asked, slightly loudly, shooting up in the 
bedcovers. His hair nearly stood on end.

“Nothing. Go back to sleep,” Lisa said, groping around blindly, as she 
refused to open her eyes. She finally found the edge of Kevin’s 
nightshirt and attempted to pull him back down to his pillow. She was 
nearly stymied when the resounding _thud_ of Megabyte’s head hitting the 
floor alarmed Kevin again.

“He’s going to get a concussion if he keeps doing that,” Jade said, 
sitting up and finally opening her eyes. She rubbed sleep from them 
vigorously.

“I would give _anything_ for an aspirin right now,” came Eve’s voice, 
muffled by the fact that her face was pushed up against the arm of the 
couch. She turned over and moaned. “I thought hangovers were supposed to 
be bad.”

“Don’t believe we’ve met. Jade Weston,” Jade said, proffering a hand to 
the girl. Eve eyed her outstretched palm warily, then shook it.

“Eve Blair. And the rest of these people- I know them, though I 
shouldn’t.” She shook her permed head and closed her eyes, too willing 
to fall asleep again.

“Yeah- I dreamt about chocolate brownies,” Lisa commented to no one in 
particular, a blissful smile crossing her face.

“Did someone run over my head with a truck?” Megabyte asked from the 
floor.

A tickling danced across Ami’s mind- and she pulled herself to her feet 
and raced from the room just as Sarah called out, “What time is it?”

“Time to go back to sleep...” Ami heard Eve reply.
**

Agents East and Yates of USSIA were leisurely waiting for the boarding 
call of their plane when Gloria and her partner, Dark-suited Agent, 
strode into the airport. East, short, stocky, blond, and rather 
belligerent, and Yates, taller, milder, and darker-haired, exchanged a 
glance, and East headed off.

“What are you doing here?” East began preemptorally.

“Going back home,” Agent Kryder said. He was also known as Dark-suited 
Agent to those who hated him as much as East and Yates did. “I promise, 
you two are paranoid!”

“If I so much as see you anywhere around us when we arrive, we’re taking 
both of you in.” East had dealt with these people before.

“Let me introduce you to my partner. This is Gloria, Mr. ... East, is 
it?”

Agent East didn’t allow a hint of fear to show in his eyes as they 
trailed upward- farther and farther- to meet the eyes of the extremely 
tall, extremely blond agent named Gloria.

“Charmed, I’m sure. You heard what I said,” Agent East continued 
briskly, meeting Agent Kryder’s eyes again.

“Can we go ahead and load the plane?” Mrs. Blair asked Agent Yates, 
worriedly.

“Sure, as soon as I make this call,” Agent Yates said. He pulled open 
his cellphone. “General Damon- we have a slight situation...”
**

[If seven sleeping teenagers is a situation-] General Damon thought, 
then did a double take. [Oh wait-]

Megabyte was standing unsteadily and helping Jade up when he 
accidentally released her hand, sending her sprawling on the floor. 
“Ami, wait!” he said, then vanished.

“My Lord, not again,” Jade sighed, then looked up at General Damon, her 
eyes pleading to be allowed to go.
**

“Ami-” Megabyte said as he rematerialized, his outburst cut off when he 
took in his surroundings. He was in a dark stairwell, a thin ribbon of 
light emerging from beneath the door to the hall. The door clanged 
against the metal doorway, and he reached out and pulled it open with 
little caution.

“Ami-” he said again, but all around him were orderlies and doctors and 
nurses, shouting orders and exclamations. He closed his eyes. *Ami!*

Again he was interrupted as a large doctor collided with him, pushing 
him up against the wall, the force making him hit the floor. He ignored 
the ringing in his head long enough for him to hear the doctor mutter, 
“Should’ve watched where he was going- teenagers...”

Megabyte pushed his anger away for the present and stood unsteadily 
again. [Man, I should’ve had some coffee like Jade said] he thought.

A man with a large and dangerous metal-cutting tool stood with a few of 
his fellow workmen in the middle of the hallway, staring at the door 
that Megabyte had welded shut and smoking a cigarette that a nurse was 
desperately begging him to stamp out. In the next doorway, barely 
noticeable behind one of the burly workmen, stood Ami.

“Ami,” Megabyte said, reaching out for her arm, only to be swung around 
by a much larger hand on his shoulder. “I’m getting about sick of this-” 
Megabyte began, raising his eyes to meet those of the stranger.

“You think you are,” said the same doctor he had been trying to guard 
Adam from. There wasn’t any malicious intent in the doctor’s eyes, but 
nor did he seem very benevolent. “Come with me, young man, or I’ll 
report you to security, along with your young friend there.” He nodded 
toward Ami.

“You’re not gonna report either one of us,” Megabyte said angrily, 
shrugging away from the man’s heavy hand. “Ami, come on. We’re going 
back to the hotel.”

*he’s awake oh my Lord* Ami’s voice was breathless.

“_Ami_,” Megabyte began again, even so not able to resist the urge to 
look at the boy Adam had so nearly given his life to save.
**

The girl’s eyes tried to open, but as her eyelids pulled back from the 
tender surface of her eyes something burning and stinging flowed inside, 
something far different from the air. She closed her eyes again and 
tried to take a breath to hold. Ahh, now she could feel the warm liquid 
drench her lungs again. Warm and safe. She shifted in the near-zero 
liquid and settled back to sleep again.

[I must open my eyes! I must see what is happening!]

She tried struggling against that noisy, infuriating voice, but gave up 
finally. She steeled her teeth and jerked her eyes open, only to have 
them reflexively close again.

What was even more disconcerting than the fact that it had stung so, so 
badly-

all she had seen was blackness.
**

“You’re coming with me,” the doctor said again, roughly, pulling at 
Megabyte’s arm.

The voice faded from Megabyte’s consciousness. Now he knew what Jade had 
been talking about- Ami and Jonathan looked at each other like long-lost 
friends.


<end part 9/18>
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