Mader helped us to learn how to impart electric charge to partly depleted batteries, but it was exhausting going. We all got better at sensing electrical charges and vibration energy around us, in the wiring in walls, under streets and detecting drones in the skies, out to 3 miles, but not as good as Matt of course. After a while, I did need to share with the crew my ability to feel my way through circuitry and they all seem to have been able to troubleshoot electrical/electronic boards in ways that they couldn’t before. It was an interesting set of sensations going into buildings made of bricks designed to store power from solar arrays for use later. We all tingled all over!
All in all, we were becoming a team and is was happening very naturally. We took turns between linking up at Jessi’s place and at our farm much to the delight of Moog and my parents. They were so glad to meet these new weird friends of mine. Even Charlie and Ruston were invited over to meet and greet when they came the first time! Moog even got Juliana, his latest girlfriend to ride over on her horse! It was amazing that the horse seem to take a great liking to Matt! I think he had some dirty trick up his sleeve that he chose not to share. The horse followed him around like a puppy, nuzzling him like he was it’s Mommy. I felt sure that it was some vibration he was producing to lure the poor horse. All done in good fun, go Matt go, I thought.
Could you imagine how shocked all of my family and friends were, when we brought them out in the backyard and stood together, all six of us, then lifted up the Merkaur 5 feet up in the air while Mader commanded an engine start and stop wordlessly. We kept the transport suspended while we walked about doing other odd things-a testament to our ability to keep the focus. We brought in back to earth gently after 2 hours. During that time, of course Ruston and Charlie with Mom, Moog and Dad did their best to try to hang onto the transport and pull it down. They swiped brooms and other long handled implements under it, to try to see if there was anything physically supporting it. Then Dad’s car got the treatment too.
As revenge for their initial skepticism of our skills, after returning the transports to terrafirma, we proceeded to lift them all up 6 inches up for 2 minutes. It was totally hilarious to see them windmilling their legs and arms to get down. They were quite chastened by that.
We told them that we didn’t yet know the details, but we were going on a quest in one month and we were practicing our skills. Moog for one, looked at us as true freaks. He was good humored about it, but I felt that he was truly scared by that power. It was intimidating, I admit. This was a far cry from his little brother just being able to fix all kinds of equipment and read some people’s minds which he has known me to do for years. Mom and Dad were beaming, but a little worried about where this would take me.
So now when I told Mom, Dad and Moog that I was going training, they just nodded understandingly and asked what they could do to help. They could now see how my long expressed view of wanting to go interplanetary could be now a real possibility. They were possessed of a truly talented son, crazy talented. It wasn’t something that they were reading about happening to some Modern privileged family! This was their son, their progeny proving to be so capable. I’d like to think that they were relieved that I would be surrounded by such good partners. I believe that they no longer had any reservations over the fact that my colleagues were Moderns. Everyone of my colleagues were so totally friendly and ‘downtown to earth’ that my family was fully disarmed. That made me feel all the more comfortable overall.
6. The final preparation
As if we did not have enough excitement, we got word that as soon as classes were over in a week to report for a conference with the official who would give us final training for the quest. Believe me when I say that the week flew by for us all. There were several other candidates for the quest who we were each acquainted with. The other five knew many other fellow moderns of our age preparing, and in my case I had met a few of them at prior sessions including the immersion. I did not personally know any other fellow noncom though at our phase. They were puzzled therefore to learn that our group of six seemed to be the first and only, to be informed of the next phase so far.
Our instructions were given directly to each of us via our vidcoms. “This is Jongi calling. We met on the Escarpment Mount with my husband Choka. The Council on Security related training of which we are members has empowered me to call each of you to inform you that you need to report 5 days from hence to Fenway Control Center located in the village of Bahoe on Thursday at 0800am sharp. Have someone drop you off at the first gate. From there you will walk one mile on the pathway to the second gate and be on the alert as you do to all dangers. Hopefully you will all make it safely. No vehicles will be allowed past the gate. Plan on 10 days of training. All details on what to carry is being sent to you now.”
There was a lot of consternation among all of us, since we still hadn’t realized that the time really would be so short and immediately after our graduation! Plus no one else seemed to have been called yet for the quest. With a mixture of dread and excitement we started making arrangements. It seems like each of our parents had also been notified too.
The next six days, passed like a blur for us all. As for instructions, we prepared our hiking packs filled with appropriate equipment and clothing. Our farmhouse was filled by Wednesday night with all of the crew, since we lived quite close to Bahoe and we all must report there early on Thursday. Mom Elma did a lot of cooking that day. Not sure what we would face the next day, we did a bonfire in the backyard after dinner and listened to music for a couple of hours. Moog and Juliana even showed us some dancing moves. By now our group was known in the village and several close neighbors showed up uninvited to join the fun. Cherese absolutely was in her element, as was Matt. There wasn’t a girl there that he did not dance with. The sight of Mader and Jessi dancing made me quite hot around the collar, I must say. They both had switched partners and I had done a quick dance with Mehia, a 16 year old girl noncom from a few houses down about a mile away who seemed to have a crush on me. Jessi and I found ourselves bumping into each other on the edge of the little crowd in semi-darkness. Our hands reached out to each other as a unit and she melted into my arms.
Nothing needed to be said. Our bodies spoke to each other. We knew that this was a first for us, a very special moment that we must cherish and we did. Locked together, not knowing what our tomorrows would bring, no-one else seemed to exist for a long moment. We knew what we needed to communicate and we did. She buried her head between my left shoulder and breast, hands grasping me tightly and my hands squeezed her slight but strong frame to me gently. My lips were buried into her ever so fragrant long hair, sucking her essence into my being. I half carried, half dragged her the few feet over to the wall of one of the small barns, and leaning on it with my left shoulder, held her like I have never done with anyone before. There was a passion there never felt before. When she lifted her head up, I found her lips. I had never really kissed another person in a truly passionate way before. Yes I’ve had the odd flirty brushed lips before, but not this. This was a melding of our souls. It had been long in the making. Surely life would never be the same again, for me for sure. The way her body responded seemed to say the same for her.
All I could gather myself to say was, “Jessi, you and I. We have a truly special relationship you know that yes.”
She said simply, “Yes Jonah yes, we do.”
A few more squeezes and we let go of each other reluctantly heading back into the throng. Amazingly, we did not think speak to each other. We had developed remarkable control over our thoughts over the past many weeks of practice. We literally could not open up ourselves and shut down to each other at will now.
As agreed, we cut short the celebration to get to bed early. A few of the neighbors stayed on to hang out yet, but the six of us retired to the house. If any of the others noticed the precious private times Jessi and I spent, no one said a word. They were bunked all over the house. Though neither large nor as elaborate as th
e Wentworths, we still did not lack space at our home.
7. The Quest
All were up by 0600am bathed and in Dad’s large electric van by 0730 am after breakfast. At 0755am, we were parked in front of the twenty foot tall metal gates that were locked tight with no one in sight. So we disembarked as per instructions and stood in single file in front of it. Dad turned the vehicle around prepared to drive off, but waited until there were loud clicks, more like ‘clacks’ as several latches were seemingly remotely opened and we filed in. Dad drove off as we turned around and waved at him. He waved back out the side window and disappeared down the hill.
We were on our own. Suddenly, we were attacked by what seemed like a pack of large dogs, more than forty it seemed. However they were not real dogs, our databases screamed ‘vishes’. In the milliseconds that it took to realize that we had learned about these vicious creatures that inhabited two of the planets called Vutu and Tsatvik in our solar system which was out of bounds to us humans. We reacted instinctively forming a defensive circle, backs to each other. We collectively picked up the attacking ‘vishes’ and slammed them from a height of over forty feet into the ground. Most ran howling away into the surrounding bushes yelping. What was amazing is that none were dead. One must have been speedier that the others and had broken through our defensive line since Dillion’s pants leg was definitely blood stained. He immediately squatted in the center of our circle and dropped his pack, whipped out a tourniquet tied off his thigh and pulled up his pant leg. This revealed a 3 inch scrape, likely from a paw swipe. This was still dangerous but would have been worse on several levels were it to have been from fangs.
Those creatures were highly venomous to us humans. With the wound cleaned and disinfected to remove any possible drool contamination while the rest of us remained paused in watchful waiting, he stood up but still with the tourniquet attached. It literally took us milliseconds to convene our joint knowledge bases and help formulate jointly his best treatment options. We had operated together as if we were one single organism, defending our team. Such was the mind meld between us as individuals, wow. ‘Wow’ we all collectively breathed. If there had been any doubts about the blending of ourselves over the last 6-7 weeks since our first meeting into one relatively seamless team, it was no longer there. Assess, decide, defend and attack was already being done seamlessly.
Our immersion sessions were paying off in leaps and bounds. Training that we had not been aware of had kicked in. The group understood the need to keep moving forward through the series of gates as our instructions had directed. Meanwhile we were on guard against all challenges and surprises. Our immersion conditioning waxed large within us and instinctively we knew to guard against attack from external sources, internal forces and divide and conquer type of attacks within our group. More yelping and roaring greeted us a bit further on.
Reaching out our senses ahead and around us we probed our environment and looking for any signs of unknown danger as we continued on the gravel path. We could sense multiple kinds of danger. What might hit us next we could not define though. We sure didn’t expect the reception we received. Lord Meneer help us, this was supposed to training before the Quest!
We had spaced ourselves out over the pathway in pairs two each at front, middle and rear groups. We were looking to detect energy sources from both live and inanimate objects or structures. I was in the front with Cherese. Suddenly I felt an underground magnetic anomaly and I thought spoke to all, “halt, step back”. Everyone immediately complied, just as the trail in front of us collapsed into the depths of a chasm with a loud groan like a lady in pain. We had felt a surge of energy too off to the right side of the trail almost immediately before. The scenery around us seemed to have moved in slow motion. We all as a group reacted instantly. We had jumped back at least 20 feet seemingly simultaneously. I am absolutely certain that we reacted as a single organism would with my sensing transmitted to everyone and then all of us reacting in unison. I am convinced that we translocated as a group. We had just demonstrated to ourselves that we could do that for the first time. We felt breathless from the sudden burst of energy as well as the new knowledge within us. “That was a amazing, we all thought spoke together and instantly.”
Inching forward to get a look while simultaneously scanning for airborne or other surprises, we could see that a section of the trail had collapsed 40 feet into the ground with clean edges and it seemed to have been an elevator type mechanism. This was certainly not a natural sinkhole. Someone had set this up and either they were observing us and orchestrating these shenanigans or we had tripped the mechanism. That’s why I got a signal of a sudden electrical burst. That was really meant to be a have been a huge trap for us! Now we would be even more on edge. Dillion took the moment to inspect his leg and he removed the tourniquet. “No more bleeding, good.” He said.
We discussed ways to move forward the next quarter of a mile to get to the second gate as instructed. We estimated that we had covered more than 3/4 mile. On each side of the artificial sinkhole, there was about half a foot shelf worth of pathway surrounded by tall walls, so now we were potentially compromised in a narrow area. It was a great location to trap us and now that we escaped that trap we had tremendous concerns about how to move on. Inching along the edge did not appeal to us.
Now we conversed with each other. Cherese volunteered to take a quick peep and after our scans did not reveal any airborne dangers, she shot herself a hundred feet up to scan the way ahead. She reported nothing obviously dangerous to see or sense as she gently set herself back down in our midst. She then suggested we use our energies to teleport over the chasm. First, Matt went over to the rocky walls to assess the area for vibrations and energy sources. He could detect nothing useful but also nothing dangerous. On our training walks we had experimented levitating ourselves for short hops. There was a forty foot chasm here; a miscalculation would result in significant injury and we had to move across at least 40 feet of distance.
Necessity becomes the mother of invention. All choice was taken from us as the vishes seem to have regrouped and were drawing closer agin. We could feel them fast approaching from the rear; we wouldn’t have time to slowly inch our way along the edge of the chasm! As one, we gathered our energy, decision made and pressing down underneath us in our minds eye after a brief run, we launched ourselves across that forty foot space and kept going. Our feet touched ground but at least five hundred feet beyond where we started and smoothly. We landed alert and scanning. We were actually surprised that we could do that so effectively and efficiently. We were truly learning our capabilities on the fly as we were presented with various challenges.
8. Gooch of the Badjans
Standing directly ahead of us was a band of roughly dressed humans with long beards, probably thirty in all with backpacks and laser guns pointing at us. They did not look like our military forces and Dillion seemed distressed in our heads. He said,
“They smell like Badjans. Be careful, they’ll shoot first then scavenge our belongings.”
The rest of us got a whiff of them as they were upwind from us and we all agreed that they had a most disagreeable odor. It must be traumatizing to poor Dillion since he was so sensitive that way. Or all of us, he had the most personal experience working with law enforcement, so we believed his knowledge. These people were hard to track down and discipline, even with all the fancy surveillance technology possessed by Securinet. They had found ways to neutralize and confuse sensors and some were originally Moderns with special powers and capabilities who taught each other.
Anyway one of them emerged from their ranks with a shuffling gait. Mader whispered in our heads, “It looks like Gooch.” We had all read news reports about this famous outlaw Gooch and his exploits. He was a good hacker and a brilliant thief, having robbed the financial banking sector and even managed to usurp significant military technology plus kidnap important people. He was like the untouchable among the Outlaws. We had heard rumors that there w
ere a few bands of Badjans in the condemned old mines close to Bahoe. So here he was and before he even spoke, we understood that the plan would be, to kidnap us. Why else would he be here? We were not rich, but were among the latest set of humans to be minted by the system and possessing skills that could benefit his organization. We all unanimously planned to evade capture though, but a tiny movement of the trigger finger would vaporize each of us. I could see and feel the laser lights steady on each of our foreheads.
Mader said, “Be prepared to suck in the energy from their batteries and slam it all back into them, I feel we can do it. Follow my lead.” This wasn’t something we had even tried, but he was obviously transmitting his own power into us and hoping we would be good enough as a group to adapt and magnify his ability. I allowed my body to open up as a sponge and started to draw in the five laser beams directed at my body. I felt like I was pulling on a rope, absorbing it into myself as it unreeled from the instruments of death. By the time Gooch ambled forward to be five feet in front of his group and his surprisingly high pitched voice came to our ears, we felt like high energy capacitors.
He said, “We are Outlaws and I’m their leader Gooch, but I’m sure you’ve already guessed that anyway. We are going to take you with us and you are going to show us your skills. We heard on the grapevine that the Science Academy was going to bring a batch of you here to train. We have seen some of what you are capable of. You’ve even managed to escape our sinkhole. Amazing. However do not think that we will not disrupt your frail bodies if you resist. If we can’t have you, the Council will not either. Turn around and my men and women will come up behind you and gently put on restraints and blindfolds. We will then guide you to our shielded transports. No harm will come to you I promise.”
Outlaw Badjans (Six of Toigan) Page 5