“Your mother AND your family!?” screeched Saiph again.
“Yeah, but it will only be for a few months,” grinned Juice.
“A few months!!!!!” shrieked Saiph. “Mars have mercy and kill me now.”
“Then it’s settled. Hey, kids, are you ready to meet your grandma? I can’t wait to show you my old room!” beamed Juice.
✽✽✽
The group left the dragon family squabbling about Juice’s plan and headed toward the village. They stayed awake far later than anticipated as they shared stories of their adventures and planned their early departure.
The seven of them would leave at first light. The rest of the trainers would pack whatever they could carry and travel with General Jairmee to his village. He assured them that The King would greatly appreciate their assistance training the Lachian army.
Stavius and Janus pulled the four, older heroes aside as everyone was heading to bed. They explained that the rescued heroes’ Earth halves had been in comas for the past six years and that they would be awakening soon. They just needed to absorb sufficient magical energy into their Mearth bodies to make the trip.
The nineteen-year-olds were crushed. This meant they had missed their entire teenage years on Earth. They had suffered as slaves here on Mearth, but having no memory of growing up, hitting puberty, first loves, or anything from those years seemed much worse.
Lakelle moaned, “At least we lived those years here. We’re not going to remember anything from any of our teen years when we wake up on Earth.”
“That might be a good thing,” offered Janus.
“No, I may have suffered here, but I also learned a lot that I don’t want to forget,” said Kerrs.
Stavius saw Kerrs squeeze Ayrique’s hand and realized that something more than friendship had grown between them.
Siera added, “Besides, think about how awful it will be to go to sleep at age thirteen and wake up the next morning at age nineteen. Our friends will have left home for work or college, and we’re going to still feel like eighth-graders. We’ll never fit in.”
“You know, it is possible to remember this place if you want. We can teach you,” suggested Stavius. He wasn’t sure it was a good idea but had to make the offer when he saw the sadness on their faces.
The ex-heroes jumped at the chance to remember their lives on Mearth, and the boys explained how to concentrate on something important from Mearth before going to sleep. They also warned that they should be careful not to mention anything about Mearth to anyone back home. Doctors would think they had brain damage, and Mearth Agents might learn about their stories and pay them an unwanted visit.
The boys left the ex-heroes and headed to bed. They agreed that finding a way to warn Dr. Price that her patients were about to awaken was their top priority when they got home. They just had no idea how to do that without raising awkward questions.
“Man, it sure stinks to be them,” whispered Janus, when they were far enough away not to be overheard.
“Yeah, but it beats the alternative. Those guys are still alive, and they’re going back,” noted Stavius.
“True,” agreed Janus. “Can you imagine how happy their families are going to be? I mean, what an amazing holiday gift!”
Chapter 3
Dr. Price
December 16, Earth
We’ve been back on Earth for a couple of days and think we have a way to let Dr. Price know that the sleeping kids are going to wake up. Dr. Price is Tyler’s mom, and we invited her to our Science and Math Club, which we call Club S&M, to tell her about Mearth. I’m just not sure how she’s going to react to the news when she gets here. The rest of us are already at Ms. Datta’s house for the club meeting, but Tyler and his mom are late because they had to drop his brother somewhere first.
“So, why isn’t Mr. Narwani around?” Nancy asked Ms. Datta while we waited. We were all wondering the same thing.
“My husband is at his Friday poker game, of course,” answered Ms. Datta. Then she saw the surprised looks on our faces and added, “I didn’t tell Urtish how to remember Mearth when he wakes.”
“Why not?” asked Nancy.
Ms. Datta sighed and set down the bowl of chips she had brought in.
“I have despised Urtish for forty years, and I’m not sure I’m ready to be married to him over here,” she answered.
“But he explained what happened and it wasn’t his fault. I thought you guys had made up,” said Shontelle.
”It’s not that easy, Shontelle,” answered Ms. Datta. “I’m not entirely sure I believe his explanation. It sounds plausible, but Urtish has had forty years to practice that story. There is no way to confirm its veracity.”
“So, you really think he’s lying?” asked Shontelle.
“I don’t know,” admitted Ms. Datta. “But I need more than a good story, a quick hug, and a confession of unstated love. I have to erase forty years of blaming him for killing our friends. I require more time.”
“If all you need is time to forgive Mr. Urtish, then you’re making a huge mistake by not letting him remember Mearth,” said Veronica. Her voice was muffled because she was stuffing a handful of chips in her mouth.
“Excuse me, young lady. What gives you the right to counsel me on my married life?” asked Ms. Datta in surprise. Veronica was often a bit self-centered, but her remark did seem overly rude.
Veronica swallowed and casually replied, “It’s just that you will eventually have to explain why you haven’t told him how to remember Mearth. That will become more difficult the longer you wait. And it will damage his trust in you if he learns how to remember his dreams before you tell him.”
Veronica was happily munching her chips and wasn’t even looking at Ms. Datta.
“Well, Veronica, I have to admit that it is something to consider. Are you sure you’re only thirteen and not a middle-aged marriage counselor?” asked Ms. Datta with a chuckle.
“Nah, but I’ve been in enough therapy sessions to know what a psychiatrist would say,” answered Veronica as she licked the salt and oil off her fingers.
She finally looked up and saw her friends’ startled expressions.
“What? Oh, my God. My parents made me spend months going to a therapist when they got divorced so I could get through the ‘emotional turmoil.’ Ugh, any emotional turmoil I had, occurred back when Mom and Dad were fighting. Everybody was happy once they were divorced, except for me. I was stuck going to therapy.”
The room was silent until Ms. Datta coughed and said, “I’m sorry, Veronica. I had no idea.”
Veronica glanced around the room and seemed surprised when she saw the expressions on everyone’s faces.
“Sheesh, this is why I don’t tell anyone my parents are divorced. Everyone thinks it must be a big deal, but it isn’t. They were miserable together, and they made me miserable, as well. I used to dread being home with them, where it always felt like an argument was waiting to erupt from one of their mouths. Now they’re happy, and I’m happy. As they say, happy parents make happy…”
Veronica paused, trying to think of something meaningful, which rhymed with parents. A laugh exploded out of Shontelle after nearly a minute of silence. Everyone else, including Veronica, released their breaths and chuckled as well.
Veronica finally said, “Anyway, my parents might not be together, but they’re each happier than they had been in years, and so am I. It sounds strange, but now my home life feels a lot like I remember it from when I was younger, before they started fighting.”
She turned to Ms. Datta and said, “I don’t know why Mom and Dad got divorced, but I don’t think it was because of any, one, major incident. I can only remember them talking or arguing about boring stuff. It seemed that they only discussed who would pick me up from school, what’s for dinner, or which relatives to visit for the holidays.
“They always talked about why something either was or wasn’t done. I never heard my parents discuss anything important, yet there had
to be things that mattered to them. That meant they were keeping secrets, and those secrets became impossible differences by the time they came out.
“You know that Mr. Narwani is Urtish, whether you tell him or not. You can’t keep something that big a secret from your husband, even though you don’t like Urtish. Heck, I don’t like either one of them.”
Veronica gasped in horror when she realized what she had just said. However, Ms. Datta stepped over to comfort the mortified girl, assuring her that she wasn’t insulted. Ms. Datta held her for a long time, saying how impressed she was with Veronica and all of us. We were all starting to feel somewhat uncomfortable and were saved by a knock on the door. It was Tyler and his mom.
The two newcomers came in and took off their winter coats and boots. Tyler pulled me aside to ask if everything was ready as he desperately attempted to wipe the steam off his glasses. I told him I thought we were as prepared as we could be and suggested that he give up cleaning his lenses until they had warmed up. He had just wiped the fog off them for the third time in two minutes.
Ms. Datta was introducing the group to Tyler’s mom. Dr. Price had known us, boys, for years and had met Shontelle at a couple of our fantasy game nights. This was the first time she was meeting Veronica and Nancy, though. Also, I learned that Ms. Datta’s first name was Sarra back on Mearth, but I never knew Dr. Price’s name was Elizabeth. I was lost in thinking about how I knew almost none of my friend’s parents’ first names when I was startled at the sound of my own name.
Dr. Price was saying, “Mark, I understand you wanted me to present something to your science club. What would you like to know?”
She was right that it was my idea to invite her to our meeting. We needed to warn her about the kids waking up and about the dangers of Mearth Agents who might show up. I’d been practicing how to do this all week long, but now nothing seemed like it was going to work, and I froze.
Ms. Datta saved me by saying, “The kids don’t want a presentation from you, Elizabeth. They have a couple of ideas they want to pitch to you. Mark, why don’t you start with your science fair idea?”
I was so grateful for Ms. Datta’s rescue that I could’ve hugged her, but there had been more than enough of that tonight. I explained that we wanted to enter into the county-wide science fair with a prosthetic arm made using the 3D printer Malik’s dad bought last summer. Ethan and Malik already downloaded a design. And Malik’s mom was happy that the printer would be used for something more than printing one, plastic castle.
Dr. Price wasn’t as impressed as I had hoped. She didn’t seem to think that printing a downloaded design qualified as a science project. She also said my one arm was just smaller than the other. It was fully functional, so I didn’t need a prosthetic.
Tyler interrupted to explain that it wasn’t for me. We were hoping she could arrange for a kid in therapy at her hospital to use it. Ethan said that he and Malik were learning how to stretch and size the design using some online design software. Shontelle added that they were going to make it functional using stepper motors and sensors. Dr. Price looked startled by her comment, so Shontelle elaborated.
“My dad’s an engineering professor at UC, and I’ve been auditing some courses over there. He’s been letting me use his lab to do a little biomechanical research project. I’ve been experimenting with sensors to read nerve impulses through the skin and think I can hook them up to a couple of stepper motors to make the prosthetic move.”
Shontelle reached in her backpack and pulled out a small circuit board with some cables attached to an armband.
“Slip this onto your forearm,” she instructed Dr. Price.
Dr. Price complied while Shontelle flipped a switch. A dozen or more lights flickered on the board and then went dark.
“Now try making a fist,” instructed Shontelle.
Dr. Price closed her hand, and several of the lights turned on.
“Those lights indicate the nerve signals the sensors are reading,” explained Shontelle. “We can use these signals to drive stepper motors on the prosthetic.
“We need to find a test subject who lost their hand because his or her brain will already know how to make a fist. Teaching someone who was born without hands to move their fingers would be too difficult. Also, the kid won’t be able to play the piano, but he or she will at least be able to grasp things.”
Dr. Price had the same shocked expression on her face that we had when we first saw Shontelle’s project. Everyone is impressed that Shontelle is in the eighth grade at age eleven. The truth is that she could easily handle college. She chooses to go to high school so that she can have friends and a social life. However, Veronica and Nancy had pointed out she’s failing at the latter by hanging out with geeks like us.
Dr. Price removed Shontelle’s armband and said, “Wow, that sounds ambitious. I take it back. That is an impressive science project, and I’d be happy to see if I can find a patient willing to give it a try. Now, what is the second presentation you wanted to make?”
This was the moment I had been dreading, but the team elected me to talk about the unconscious kids. I forgot all the various ways I concocted to start the conversation and just went straight to the point.
I blurted out, “We think those comatose kids are going to wake up.”
I wasn’t supposed to have told anyone about them, so Dr. Price glared at me and asked, “What comatose children?”
I said, “You know, the ones who slipped into a coma in their sleep six years ago. Their names are Lakeshia Greene, Venique Haines, Laura Doyle, and Martin Taylor.”
Dr. Price directed her anger toward her son and yelled, “Tyler Nathaniel Price, how dare you hack into my professional accounts. I am changing all my passwords when we get home, and you are forbidden to go anywhere near a computer for the next six weeks!”
“But Mom, it’s important. They’re going to wake up soon, and if you aren’t careful, the Mearth Agents will find out and take you away. They’ll take all of us away for questioning and might even kill us! I don’t want to lose you, and you don’t know what you’re involved in!” cried Tyler.
He was terrified, and his whole body was shaking. Dr. Price looked around, afraid that her son was embarrassing himself in front of his friends, but saw that we all agreed with him.
Dr. Price reached over to calm her son. She said, “Tyler, there are no secret agents and no conspiracy. The sad truth is that those children are probably never going to wake up. I don’t know what goes on here at this so-called science club, but I am taking you home now.”
Ms. Datta said, “Perhaps that is a good idea, Elizabeth, but may I please talk with you in the kitchen first?”
Dr. Price looked like she would much rather leave with her son than chat with Ms. Datta, but she relented. I’m not sure why they needed to go into the kitchen, though. We heard every word from the living room.
Ms. Datta began, “Elizabeth, I know how strange Tyler and Mark’s statements sounded, but I would like you to take a minute to appreciate what they are saying. I understand why they think those children are about to awaken from their six-year comas, but explaining it to you wouldn’t help. In fact, it would probably confirm your belief that it is all nonsense.
“Mark’s short coma scared him more than you may realize, so he told his friends about the other kids. These young people are incredibly bright, creative, and curious. After all, they came to me to start a club to teach them advanced math and science. So, these inquisitive teenagers did what I’d expect them to do. They researched the story and postulated a solution.
“They are, of course, teenagers, so it is not too surprising that their conclusion involved a conspiracy. Still, I swear I’ve learned as much from them as they have learned from me over the past few months, and I am not willing to dismiss their theory out of hand.
“They expect these four children to awaken simultaneously sometime within the next two weeks. They are worried that you will be approached by people who h
ave an intense interest in your patients and any other children who might have had similar experiences. These people will likely not be relatives or members of the medical or academic establishment. They might, however, become very demanding about seeing your research or medical records. Tyler is concerned that you, Mark, and possibly the rest of us might be in danger if these people’s suspicions are aroused.
“The kids’ theory will likely never come to pass, and this will all be forgotten in a few weeks. However, I strive to encourage research and creative thinking and don’t want to dampen their excitement. I’m asking you to support their crazy ideas just for the next few weeks. Their requests are reasonable and won’t harm anyone.”
Dr. Price sighed and said, “I can’t say that I approve of this, but I also don’t want to stifle their enthusiasm. Besides, going along with this for a few weeks until it plays out will certainly be easier than fighting Tyler about it. He refuses to let go of ideas once they’re set in his head. What is it they want me to do?”
Ms. Datta chuckled, “Thank you, Elizabeth. They have five simple requests. First, try to bring the four children together under your supervision. Then, attempt to pull them out of their comas with some innocuous procedure. It doesn’t have to work and can even be something you’ve already tried. You’ll want a better reason than your son’s crazy prediction if they do awaken, though.”
Dr. Price answered, “Those poor children are already together and under my care. I have permission to continue to use my best efforts to awaken them and, I’m sad to say that they rarely have visitors anymore. Even their parents only stop by once a month or two. I can certainly reattempt one of my efforts to bring them out of their comas, but I have little hope of any results. What else do they want me to do?”
Ms. Datta answered, “They want someone from Club S&M to meet them as soon as they awaken. Then they want you to keep these children isolated from anyone except their families and their personal physicians for as long as you can. And, of course, they want you to be on the lookout for suspicious and pushy secret agents.”
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