by Jon Davis
“The word is defined as a ‘short trip.’ I don’t know anything about a television show. We started using it because the word ‘teleportation’ takes too long to say. Besides, ‘jaunt’ sounds better.” Alan said.
That brought smiles to them, but not to me. I felt sad as I said, “Great, we get zapped and nearly die, while you two power up and go bouncing all over the place! Where’s the fairness in that?”
Dana looked at me and said, "Who do you know besides these two?”
I blinked. “Um, I meant me. Sorry, I’ve been thinking about Brand. Although he got sick, it stands to reason that he might have powered up eventually, doesn’t it?”
Dana squeezed my shoulder. I gave her a smile. Looking at the twins, I said, “So how did you go bouncing all over the Canadian countryside to end up here? Um, I mean to Riverlite, Iowa. And why bug me? Was it to recruit me or something?”
Alan and Angela didn’t answer. They glanced at each other uncomfortably. Dana took a bite of her cheesecake and mumbled, “Hurt you…”
Alan’s eyes widened. “Um, we weren’t really there to recruit. We were keeping an eye on Kular. She’s one of Yasmine’s friends from the conclave. And honestly, when you and Brand never showed any powers, we thought you were one of the ninety percenters.”
“Ninety percenters?” Dana asked.
Angela explained. “Since Paradoxis pulled us together, the conclave has been trying to understand things. But thanks to the Exodus, we've only managed to get a rough idea of how Shaw affected people. We don’t know everything by any means, but one thing kept turning up. Out of all the victims, only ten percent showed paranormal abilities, while the rest…”
She shrugged and Alan said, “The rest are the ‘ninety percenters.’ They have the physical cell change, but no heavy duty superpowers.”
I glanced at Dana when she reacted to what Alan said. I asked, “Dana, does that mean something to you?”
Speculatively, Dana said, “That’s roughly the same ratio for active to non-active psychic talents that we’ve found in a given population. At least, that’s what the coven has found over the years.”
I nodded and thought about it. It still left a lot to work out. But this was a start. I’d have to look up properties of magnesium when I got home. It finally felt like I was on the right path toward understanding the core of my talents. Ugh, Brand had been right; I was such a geeky doofus.
But Dana must have been thinking along the same lines because she said, “If the excess magnesium is somehow turning normal psychics into Empowered humans, then the ratio would fit.”
Alan started; looking troubled, and said, “It would? Wow. None of us knew about the ratio. Shield never said anything about it.”
I snorted and said, “Gosh, I guess ‘old school’ psychics do have something to teach you, after all. Who would have thought?”
He rolled his eyes. “Dude, we thought you were normal! Kular just checked you out because you were one of the first people Kirksten cured! You were a baseline control thing. Sorry, we had no interest in you until Paradoxis told us to keep an eye on you.”
I stopped eating and looked at him. “Why would she want to do that?”
Alan sighed. “Shield told us that you had developed your powers on the same night as your birthday. And Parry told us that you were able to do things with sound. We did plan to make contact with you to invite you into the conclave. But then that whole mess with that speed freak came up, and then you found out about us and Kular, um, the hard way.”
I started to ask more about that, given how great Rao Kular had been with Brand and me, but I had to hold off when Dana asked, “Who is Shield?”
Angela said, “He’s one of the main Empowered in the conclave. He and Paradoxis were the first to connect over the web. They came up with a way to use the phad transceiver to make sure we weren’t attacked by—”
Alan softly interjected, “—attacked by Yasmine.”
I glanced at Alan. His face looked flushed. And from the way he said Yasmine’s name, I had the suspicion that he had liked the woman until this craziness began. I shrugged that off as unimportant and picked up the transceiver. It felt perfectly normal. I guess I was expecting something weird after being around computers that looked at me.
I asked, “How does this manage to keep you safe from Yasmine?”
Pulling out her transceiver, Angela showed it to me and said, “They’re linked to the wi-fi network through Paradoxis. That’s her talent—cybernetic telepathy. Shield has a powerful energy defense that can block telepathic and physical attacks. He came up with the idea. It has something to do with the q-d chipset in the transceiver. We didn’t ask specifics.”
Without thinking, I said, “Maybe it has to do with quantum entanglement. When the modem is in the phads, they utilize the phenomenon to communicate between the phad’s hard drive and the modem to work at near instantaneous speeds.”
Dana looked at me. “I thought you didn’t know anything about science.”
With a depreciative grin, I said, “What? I have an eidetic memory of what I hear. I repeated something Alex told me about quantum physics. And Brand couldn’t shut up about his phad and what it could do. Believe me; I’m not that heavy into science.”
With a grin, I said, “It’s all just a fad to me.”
Groans went around the table. “Okay, I can make with the bad jokes.”
Dana quipped, “Oh, but that’s just so out of vogue.”
Angela said, “It’s not even a fancy, nowadays!”
Alan dropped his head, moaning. “I can teleport to the moon if I want. But no, I had to hang with the bad jokes gang! Have mercy on me, please!”
Angela grinned. “No, no, horrible jokes are all the rage!”
Dana snorted at that one, but although she was smiling, she still pushed us on. “Fine, you have a cyber-path and a powerful psi-shield Empowered. And I’m taking a guess that Yasmine is a telepath.”
Alan said, “And a very powerful one, at that. When Yasmine started getting threatening, we got scared. You don’t know what she’s like. Her mind is so overpowering.”
He shuddered. Angela sighed. “We’ve met in person a couple times. Alan being such a strong jaunter helped that along. Alan isn’t kidding about her power. But if we keep the transceivers on us, we’re good. At least at a distance; we haven’t tested them in person.”
I said, “How’d you two get involved? How did you go from jaunting around Canada to joining some group of powered up…? Empowered?”
Angela smiled and said, “Confused are we? But it was easy. We have phads at home. Once we got used to our abilities, we started to look for others. Paradoxis was doing the same thing. She can bring people to her as virtual constructs on the Third Tier Internet.”
As she talked, I was reminded that Paradoxis had kept an eye on me. I shivered slightly. Suddenly, my paranoia had a basis in fact.
I said, “Could she do it through normal pre-phad computers, too? And maybe even cell phones?”
She nodded. I gulped down some coffee, thinking over what had happened so far. I took a deep breath. I said, “So, even though I was one of the ‘ninety-percenters,’ she was still interested in me. Why?”
Alan and Angela glanced at each other. Alan said, “Kular. She started acting differently with how she talked about you and Brand.”
I cocked my head to the side and said, “What do you mean? Up until Brand died, Kular had always been distant toward me.”
They shrugged. Alan said, “She never went into it. But after you got out of the hospital, Kular and Yasmine both started watching over the two of you more closely. Parry noticed and started keeping an eye on you when you were on the interview circuit. Angela even kept an eye on you for Parry, though I doubt you saw her.”
I started and looked at Angela. Her face turned red. So that was Angela at the dance clubs! But she hadn’t told Alan about that. Huh. I wondered why. Well, at least I knew I wasn’t going insane. She wasn'
t a figment of my imagination! Gods knew I didn’t want to be that obsessed with her! Except…that I sort of…am. I drank more coffee.
Putting the mug down, I said, “Uh, wow. That’s weird. So someone was watching me. And here I thought I was just being paranoid from all the attacks by the interviewers.”
Dana snorted and said, “It’s not paranoia if people really are out to get you.”
I said, “But if I didn’t show any power before my birthday, why keep an eye on me at all?”
Angela said, “We don’t know for sure. We just know that things changed around the time of the memorial.”
I asked, “Why?”
Dana eyes widened slightly. She looked at me for a moment, then at the siblings. “Yasmine is a telepath, right?”
Alan nodded. “Yeah, so?”
She looked at me. “Vaughn, I just remembered that you had some sort of fit last February. Was it your super-hearing? On the day of Alex’s memorial, did you start hearing at paranormal levels?”
My jaw dropped open. “Um, yeah. That is why I freaked out that day. Why do you ask?”
Dana nodded, hearing something confirmed. She said, “The timing...if Yasmine is a telepath, then she could be sensitive to other psychic phenomena.”
Alan looked confused. “But…Vaughn’s abilities are physical. Why would she react to that?”
Dana blinked, looking slightly astonished at his words. She said, “Seriously? Do you honestly think that a human body is physically able to withstand the high stress of what he does without something to back it up?”
Alan started to say something to that, but I raised a hand to stop him. “Dude, I really don’t want to talk about the physics of being psychic right now. We’d probably be here until next year.”
To Angela I said, “Fine, that was all last February. Why are they still in Riverlite? What’s keeping Yasmine interested in us?”
She answered. “Something weird is going on at all the labs. No one seems to be able to keep samples or data sets about those affected by what Alex did. Worse, when Yasmine tried to hack the scientist’s minds, she bounced. She couldn’t read any of them. That’s when she panicked.”
Dana looked at them with skepticism. “Okay, why can’t Paradoxis just hack their computers and look for herself? Or is that outside her range of talents?”
Angela shook her head. “She tried, but every path is blocked by extremely complex firewalls and encryptions. In fact, she says that every lab she looked at has a form of encryption that she’s never seen anywhere else. And she’s been into some hefty computer systems, including high-security government and military types. But whenever it concerns the Empowered, nothing…she just can’t get in.”
That startled me. I said, “Wait, Ryan himself was complaining about information getting lost and samples being destroyed. Ryan said they would have to go to Kular to get more samples. This doesn't make sense. Paradoxis can't get in. Something is blocking Yasmine and Kular. And Ryan mentioned something about labs losing blood samples.”
I looked at Dana and said, “Everyone is having problems getting information about us. Dana, this is getting creepier by the second. What’s going on?”
She shook her head, confused. Then, looking at the siblings, she said, “Could Yasmine be doing a runaround on Kular? Could she be lying?”
Alan laughed. “No way, those two have been tight friends since they met.”
Dana sighed. “Then I don’t know what’s going on. If Yasmine is a telepath, she should be able to go in and read the minds of the scientists who did the tests.”
He shook his head. “She tried. Like I said, she was bounced.”
I let out a sigh. Dana glanced at me with a slight look of worry. “Vaughn?”
“Oh nuts…” I said, and took a drink of coffee.
Dana glanced at me. “What?”
I glanced at her. “Oh, nothing, it’s just that this sounds like a horrible plotline from a really bad movie. The shadowy creator of the Empowered conclave, the mysterious twins, and innocent bystanders caught in the middle, and, of course, Yasmine, the evil woman…or whatever she is.”
Alan laughed. He said, “Wow, you Americans and your obsession with movies. Don’t you people have any culture at all?”
I glared at him and said, “Watch it, you Twilight fan boy…”
He jerked his head back in surprise, mouthing the word, “Twilight?” silently.
I covered a laugh by taking a drink. I couldn’t hold it back, though. Pulling the mug away, I snorted and said, “You sparkle. Get over it…Twilight boy.”
Dana said, “Sparkling vampires…oooh. No, let’s never speak of that again!”
Alan looked pole-axed. Loudly, he said, “I do not sparkle!”
That earned him a few odd looks from the room. I glanced around and noticed the place filling up. I turned back and saw that the women were trying not to laugh at Alan. His face was turning pink with embarrassment. I grinned with malicious enjoyment. It was about time that this prissy prep got his just desserts.
I grinned and said, “Gotcha, twinkle boy.”
He grumbled, “I do not twinkle!”
I smiled and winked at Angela. I said, “You do. But at least you look the part.”
Alan stared at his sister as she giggled.
Shrugging, she gave him a lopsided grin. “You do. Sorry.”
He went back to eating his cheesecake, muttering, “Do not.”
Dana sighed and said, “Aside from novels and movie series about vampires who sparkle in sunlight, could we get back to the topic at hand?”
Alan said, “Hey, blame screechy here—he started it!”
I began to say something, but Dana put a hand between us before I could.
She said, “Hey! Humor is fun, but people have died. Enough!”
Angela nodded and looked at me. She said, “While you were giving interviews things remained calm. All we really did was work at recovering our health and deal with becoming Empowered. Kular stayed in Iowa to learn what she could from your blood sample, as well as get information on Alex Shaw and his history. And, although Yasmine tried to help Kular whenever she could, she was mainly off helping the Orishai.”
I said, “The Orishai?”
They both nodded. Angela said, “They were involved with the creation of the Two Africas.”
I looked at Dana. I had heard something about it, but I couldn’t place the term right off. Dana said, “It’s been the big thing in international news. But you’ve been rather busy. Since late February, nations in Africa have been coming together, slowly talking about this great change in their politics. Two new political governments have started. The North African Alliance and the South African Confederacy now control the continent. They’re a little like the European Union, with individual countries working together.”
Dana stopped and took a sip of coffee. Putting the mug down, she said, “The experts say that the movement came from the psychological impact of the Day. But there’s been no real details given for what’s been going on. Some say it all happened too fast. And some countries are a little bit angry over what they did. Both the Confederacy and the Alliance threw contracts and alliances out the proverbial window. The United States has been busy trying to keep Russia and China from going to war.”
Dana stopped for a moment before she said, “The odd thing is that there’s been a major shift in the ecology. Rivers are filling up, lakes are recharging, and land is beginning to grow food. They’re saying it’s almost miraculous. Even the new leadership is working towards caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, and generally promoting peaceful ties between individual countries. Because it seems peaceful, no one has argued. Goddess knows that they needed something to end the genocide going on there. And you say that Yasmine was behind all this?”
Alan nodded. “She and the other Empowered—the Orishai. When Yasmine came in, she brought in Empowered from Kenya and the Sudan. Instead of fighting each other, they surprised all of us and
came together as this sub-group within the conclave. They went in, and, with Yasmine’s help, they became the new power behind the throne. If she’d stopped there, the rest of the conclave would have been fine. But she didn’t stop there. Since Africa, she’s been doing her best to convince the Empowered conclave to do the same thing with the rest of the world.”
I raised my hand before they went on. “Just a second. I keep hearing the word ‘Empowered.’ Who thought up the term?”
Alan answered that one. “Normally ‘empowered’ is a verb, meaning we were ‘given power.’ And we are. Shield was the one who brought it up as a name for our…”
Hesitating, he looked at Angela and asked, “Our culture?”
Angela nodded. “It’s getting to be that way. Or it was, until Yasmine started turning strange. She’s a powerful telepath who has been using mind-control to manipulate some in the conclave. It has definitely caused us some problems.”
Alan spoke up. “Me, I think she went nuts over the whole Africa thing. She’s certainly become megalomaniacal.”
We were silent for a bit after that. I ate the food, but I didn’t taste it. I said, “Ryan Tech still has that information. And Kular is still in Riverlite. Now, this guy who attacked us—”
Dana caught her breath. “Yasmine had him attack the town as a distraction. The government has been in Ryan Tech since Alex’s flight. They have an office there for themselves. If anyone is blocking your conclave, it’s probably them.”
I said, “So when the town was attacked, Yasmine…what? Attempted to go after the information while the authorities were reacting to the attack?”
Angela and Alan looked at each other. Then they nodded as Angela said, “Yasmine told Parry she was going to probe minds at that lab. On top of that, Yasmine also tried to get Parry to pull a fast computer hack job on Ryan Tech while the attack was happening. That’s when she told me to get to Riverlite. We uh…we got there too late.”
I looked at her. “No, you didn’t. I saw you on the roof of the bank prior to the attack. What did you do while it was going on?”