“The Catalyst” Series
Chapter 34: Some Initial Tests,
and Some Preliminary Results
“Holy shit, you’ve got to be kidding me?”
“Nope. It’s true. Cate thinks she’s broken the key to how Alex activates people, and more than that, she thinks she knows how to detect who’s a Seer and who’s a Watcher.”
Dr. Ryan Moore got up, excited at the prospects this brought up. He started nervously pacing around the room.
“Man, this is a major break. We’ve been piecing things together for a long time, but…. So how does—”
“She thinks the key is that both the Seers’ and the Watchers’ main talent isn’t their ability to detect emotions, instead it’s their receptiveness to Alex’s energy,” Allison explained. “That’s changed too, by the way. Now they’re calling it BCM. It stands for Becky, Cate and Melinda, though think up a humorous mnemonic you can use to throw off anyone who may hear you use the term. Anyway, the idea is that Watchers, who they’re now calling ‘Seekers’, react to BCM, but Seers respond more strongly to it. She thinks that if Alex were to try healing Watchers, they’d heal a little faster, but that Seers would heal much faster.”
“Wow, they’ve been busy coming up with a lot of new stuff. Wait a minute,” Ryan said, coming to a halt to address Allison directly, “you mean the only reason you girls were successful the other day, was because you were treating Anh, who’s a Seer. And that if she wasn’t, that you may not have recovered as quickly?”
Allison blushed, embarrassed that she hadn’t considered the idea. Now that she did, she realized what it implied. That if they’d tried to save someone else it could have been disastrous. She didn’t know what would happen if they exhausted their own supplies of BCM. Would it mean they’d just collapse, or could they drain what they needed to survive? No, that thought was too scary. They’d consider it another time; she was here to discuss a specific topic.
“Yeah, I guess that’s true. But it’s a separate issue. The point is, a Seer’s main ability is their heightened response to BCM, and Alex’s isn’t activating people or using his BCM, instead they’re all tied together. What we think of as each one’s strongest abilities, are really complete accidents based on their actual abilities. I think we’ve explained how Cate believes that Alex’s real ability is to create these linkages between different dimensions, and that he created a path to somewhere with a much higher density of BCM. That’s why he has so much of it. That explains why Alex is sick, because he’s tapped into a source of BCM so strong that it’s fatal to humans.”
“That’s a lot to take in. Yeah, you’ve mentioned the bit about Alex creating portals to alternate dimensions previously, but it wasn’t all tied together like this is. But how does that apply to the Seers?”
“Well, if Seers respond to BCM to a higher degree, then the idea is that Alex uses that to activate them. As you know, he creates two mini-portals in them, linking his own brain to theirs. By doing so, they get just a small amount of his own energy, but when he first creates it they get a sudden rush which is strong enough to cause the massive growth of new tissue required to produce both the visions and the telepathic connections. Thus both Alex’s and the Seers’ activations are a byproduct of his exposure to this high level of BCM, and that by exposing the Seers to it, they use it to rapidly adapt.”
“OK, I get that, but you’re obviously leading up to something else. What’s this about a test?”
“Well, if everything I’ve laid out is true, then we should be able to test people’s response to BCM to determine who may be a Seer, or even a potential Watcher,” she said, using the older term since that’s what Ryan was most used to.
“But if all humans have the same basic level of BCM, then how would you…. Wait, you mean expose them to Alex’s BCM?”
“Exactly, but not quite. Alex’s BCM level is too high, it would throw everything off. Any Seer who came across him would get activated. Instead, we remove Alex, but we use something that’s been soaking up his BCM. We plan to use his underwear. It’s cotton, so it’s made from something that can absorb BCM, and it’s close to him, so it has plenty of time to absorb his energy.”
“I can see that. But how do you measure the response?”
“Cate’s newest idea is that the eye contact that seems to be so essential isn’t really a necessary component of the actual activation. Instead it’s a test. Alex needs to make eye contract to measure how people respond to his BCM. If he can detect a response, then they’re able to respond to his activation. If they don’t, then there’s simply no sense in even attempting the activation process.”
“Wait, so you’re saying they can simply expose someone to Alex’s used underwear, then measure their response to the BCM levels in their eyes?”
“Exactly. Just like you can measure whether someone’s been exposed to certain drugs by their eyes’ responses. If their pupils are dilated, they’ve been exposed to something.”
“Yeah, it makes perfect sense,” Ryan said, looking thoughtfully in the air. “It just might work.”
“But that’s the next step; we’re planning a test on some relatives of known Seers. We plan to expose them to some samples to see how they respond. But there’s a necessary preliminary step. We need to know what to look for. We figure we’ve only got a limited amount of people we can use to test, and we can’t afford to waste the opportunity.”
“That makes sense. If there are only so many relatives, and only so many are liable to have the necessary traits, then you couldn’t afford to miss their response completely.”
“That’s where you come in, Dr. Moore,” Allison told him.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on, you didn’t think I asked you to offer me a drink in the privacy of your office just to shoot the breeze, did you? We need you to reserve some time tomorrow. Cate sent all the undershirts that Alex wore last week to us via overnight express. I can’t conduct the tests myself, since there’s a chance we might respond to the BCM ourselves and potentially miss the response we’re trying to record. So we need you to make the history making first recording. You need to measure the first recordable reaction to BCM. Even though it’s indirect, it would be the first measurement of BCM.”
“Me?” he asked.
“Well, you and Becky. She’s not about to miss this opportunity. And we’ll use us Seers as test subjects. In fact, Liv is driving up tonight just so she’ll be here tomorrow morning to be involved. This is a big event, and you’re going to be the star. You’re going to make history tomorrow morning. And what you determine is going to affect the future of a whole new race of humanity.”
“Yeah, you’re right, it will,” Ryan responded with a starry far-away look to his eyes. “It will.”
“It’s a wild concept, but it sounds like a solid idea. I can see it working,” Lists, Col. Lister Pendleton, M.D., said, also getting excited about the prospect of breaking new ground in this exciting new field.
“I thought it was worth mentioning to you,” Caity told him. “After all, you were talking about trying to find a way to generate an independent source of BCM in order to do your own independent tests. This is just up your alley. You couldn’t publish the results of any of your experiments, and you can’t detail how you gained access to the material, but if this works, you’ll have a measurable component to evaluate differences in the quantity of BCM.”
“Yeah, this could be major. As I said, I’m not as concerned with publishing. I’m coming at this from an applied process. I’m interested in demonstrating how it can impact people’s overall health and their recovery from specific health issues, thus I can do an end run around the traditional peer review process. As long as I can demonstrate a particular procedure has a higher success rate, there’s no reason to justify it scientifically.”
“Good, I thought you’d appreciate hearing about it. Hopefully you can use it to—”
“Oh, no, I won’t be using it myself. I’m concerned with new treatment protocols. I’m looking at what Alex’s approaches to medicine can teach us. I know we’ll never have a sufficient level of it to accomplish anything, and I have no desire to prove its existence. If I could get access to some of those dirty t-shirts it would be a tremendous help. But basically I’d be holding it next to a lab culture to see how it impacts tissue growth. I’m more interested in the end result rather than in the underlying principles. My job is to heal sick warriors. If I can increase their survival rates with a fairly easy process, I’ll be sitting pretty. But I’m not about to rock the boat by making wild unprovable claims. The military command wouldn’t be impressed, and they’d yank me if I provoked any controversy.”
“Well, the ultimate aim is to establish how it impacts people. They want to know why non-Watchers/Seers are attracted to him, and why many men get so angry at him. They figure if they have a method of measuring someone’s reactions, then they can quantify how much BCM it takes to provoke a response, then measure the people’s other physical responses to see how they correlate.”
“Ah, that makes sense. Again, an excellent study, and one that I’d love to hear about, but one without any ultimate benefit to use here,” Lists replied. “Frankly, we don’t much care who takes offense at Alex. If we have a sudden increase in Alex types signing up for the military, then we’ll analyze the syndrome, but until then….”
Caity laughed. “I see your point. Anyway, I’ll keep you apprised of what they discover. And if we can arrange it, I’ll see if I can get you some samples you can use in your own testing. But the point is, once they determine how to do the measurements, you could use me, or any other Seer, to determine just what concentrations of BCM you’re dealing with.”
“That would help. After all, it’s hard doing experiments with an invisible, immeasurable substance. But my main interest is figuring out how to vary naturally occurring levels of this BCM. So I’d like to see if I can boost it through natural means, so yes, a way to measure it would be invaluable.”
“You realize this is most uncomfortable, don’t you?” Allison asked.
“Hey, you volunteered for this,” Becky responded as she finished strapping her in. The setup was basic. They’d moved the furniture in the loft to the sides and sequestered the other Seers to another loft space to await their turns later. Right now Becky was restraining Allison, and fastening a special tape to keep her eyes open so they wouldn’t lose valuable information due to an unfortunately timed blink. Ryan was sitting behind a monitor which was showing a close up of Allison’s eyes.
“OK, she’s set. We can begin,” Becky announced, as she got up and moved over by Ryan to watch the proceedings with him.
Allison was very uncomfortable. Not only were her eyes taped open so she couldn’t blink, but she was also in enforced isolation, disconnected from everyone. Although there were three people in the room, Ryan and Becky were both focused on their tasks, and Allison wasn’t allowed to communicate with anyone telepathically other than to signal Shani, who was stationed outside of the door, to send Melinda in.
The windows had been covered with heavy drapes to reduce outside distractions, and there were bright lights shining in her face so they could clearly see any changes in her eyes. Perhaps the hardest thing was to resist the impulse to talk to her sisters, the other Seers, who were as anxious as she was to know how this played out.
Her eyes were already burning from being kept open, and the experiment hadn’t even started yet. Her chair was uncomfortable, and the lights were already making her sweat. She hoped she’d be able to sit still for the whole procedure, since there were multiple stages to it.
When Becky and Ryan were set, they signaled her and Allison sent a message to Shani, and a moment later the door opened and Melinda entered, carrying a wrinkled t-shirt in front of her. They’d laid out the loft so there was nothing between Allison and the door, and as Melinda entered Allison could hear the click of her heels. Allison tried not to react, but she was anxious about how she was going to respond. She could feel her eyes tearing up, she hoped it wouldn’t impact the test.
They’d marked out the distances involved, and the floor was marked with measurements which Melinda called out as she walked at a measured pace towards Allison.
“Thirty feet, Twenty-five, Twenty…”
The footsteps sounded hollow in the sound deadened room, although there was still a mild echo from her heels on the hardwood floor as it reverberated against the distant walls. Allison could feel herself tensing up with each step that Melinda took towards her. Melinda’s steps, and her calling out the distances, were the only thing Allison could hear over the sound of her own heartbeat and her bated breath. She had to force herself to take measured breaths to maintain her calm.
Melinda drew closer and closer, and Allison couldn’t detect any difference. Finally Melinda reached her, and she held the t-shirt up against her face. She took a deep whiff of the shirt, just to see if there was an olfactory element to the BCM, but she couldn’t detect anything. Plus, even with her vision, she couldn’t see anything on the shirt itself, even though Melinda positively glowed in the darkened room, her emotions dancing across the outside of her aura. Since her vision was technically independent of the light entering her eyes, the lights shining in her eyes didn’t obscure her vision of her aura.
“OK, we got that one,” Ryan called out. “If you’re OK for another trial, we’ll send her back outside so we can do another.”
Allison tried to nod, but found she couldn’t move her head, so she answered verbally instead. “Yeah, I’m OK. Let’s get this over with. The sooner I can get out of this setup the better.”
She watched Melinda walk the same distance, this time heading back out of the room, but this time she wasn’t walking with the same measured steps. Allison could also see she was relieved to have finished that first step, so apparently Allison wasn’t the only one feeling the stress of this experiment.
“You know, I’m still not sure why Cate couldn’t have done this herself,” Ryan commented. “After all, this is the kind of thing she’s been dying to study.”
“It’s because she’s with Alex all the time,” Becky explained. “His presence would skew the results too much. If a Seer can detect him from miles away, then marking off the feet between the door and here wouldn’t make much difference. She needed someone isolated enough to do the study, and she wanted it carried out by those without the specific ‘S’ gene, since she was afraid the Seekers and Seers might not be able to make an independent observation.”
When Melinda entered again, carrying a different shirt this time, Allison felt her stress rise once again. But she immediately noticed that Melinda seemed more anxious than she had been before. She didn’t know if she knew something, or just surmised she held the right shirt. However, Allison couldn’t determine anything as Melinda walked towards her. It wasn’t until she was partway towards her that she could detect the faint glow of the shirt she was carrying, and a short distance later she could literally feel his presence on the shirt. Even at that distance, knowing and feeling Alex’s essence on the shirt made her feel safer and more secure. That was enough to alleviate much of the stress she was feeling. Melinda walked the rest of the distance, and Melinda still couldn’t tell whether she was reacting any differently, but she could definitely tell this was Alex’s shirt. She’d never concentrated on such a trivial item in such detail before, but it was hard to mask Alex’s presence on it.
When Alex’s sister stopped in front of her and held the shirt against her face, Allison tried to just close her eyes and soak in its energy, but of course her eyes were taped open. So instead she sniffed the shirt, but the act of smelling it didn’t seem to either increase or lessen the effect she felt from it. Finally Becky got up and approached them. Melinda stepped back as Becky carefully removed the tape from Allison’s eyes.
“I’m sorry we had to keep you strapped in for so long, but we needed the control sample so we can compare the two videos side by side. Melinda, you’d better get the shirt back. We can’t leave those things exposed for too long, since we have no idea how quickly the BCM degrades.”
Melinda hurried out, after placing the shirt in a plastic container. Allison knew she wouldn’t be returning, as Ryan and Becky didn’t want to be distracted by too many people watching them. Becky released the restraints and Allison blinked rapidly several times and stretched her hands and arms.
“I didn’t notice anything, so I’m anxious to see the videos playing side by side,” Ryan said as Becky returned to her seat beside him. They started the video as Allison was still getting herself together, but she was anxious to see this memorable event, so she hurried over to peer over their shoulders.
They watched the videos. It seemed strange to Allison, watching her eyes staring back at her as if she was a panicking prisoner in some slave-master’s dungeon. The video seemed to run much faster than the actual experiment had.
“No, I didn’t see any difference between them,” Ryan said. “Maybe it’s been too long. Maybe there’s no observable difference.”
“No, there was definitely a difference,” Allison told them. “I could both feel and see the energy in the second shirt.”
Ryan grunted, showing he wasn’t convinced she could actually tell any difference, especially since he couldn’t detect any difference in her physical responses.
“Don’t be so sure,” Becky cautioned him. “Let’s review it again, just to be sure.”
So they viewed the recordings one more time, and now that Allison was watching as well, she could see Ryan’s point. She couldn’t see any difference between the two videos, so she started to question whether she’d merely wanted there to be a difference between the two shirts.
“No, I still don’t see a thing. Maybe it’s simply not visible in the eyes. It might just be that the eye thing between Alex and his Seers involves something else. Plus, we have no idea how long cotton will hold BCM. Maybe it’s already dissipated. Maybe by the time it gets here via overnight delivery it’s been too long.”
“I’m not ready to rule this experiment a failure yet, let’s review it again and see if we missed anything,” Becky insisted, even though Allison was having doubts about what she’d seen and felt herself. “Also, according to Cate’s explanations, there’s no other mechanism to transmit this information, so it would have to be something in the eyes, since Alex wouldn’t be able to see anything else.”
“You know, it might vary with the individual as well. Or it might even be a testing bias. Maybe if Allison knows she’s being tested, she behaves differently than she would normally.”
“I don’t think so,” Becky responded. “Otherwise Alex’s procedure wouldn’t be as dependable as it is, and he would activate people he’d already met. Since that’s never happened, we can assume it’s not subject to such variables, so let’s just watch it until we figure out what’s happening.”
So they watched the video again. They ran through the entire tape another two times.
“I’m telling you, there’s no response whatsoever. The entire experiment is a complete bust. There was no reaction.”
“Hold on,” Becky said. “I think I may be onto something. You’re looking for something obvious. Something that Alex could easily detect from a distance. Hold on a minute,” she said, as she pulled her purse up and started rifling through it. “Ah, here it is,” she said as she pulled a small clear plastic ruler from her bag. “I use this at work to measure stuff from the displays on the computers. I think…” she said as she rolled the recording forward and then stopped it at a specific point. She laid the ruler over the image of Allison’s eyes, though no one was sure just what she was measuring.
“OK, roll it forward now,” she instructed Ryan, who did as she requested, moving it forward in slow motion.
“There, I’m not sure, but I think I’ve got something.”
“I can’t see anything, and certainly nothing that would be visible across a room or across a street. I think you’re imagining things.”
“No, it’s the anticipated result, only it’s not as clear cut as we’d been expecting. Look at the pupil. If you review it slightly, the edges of the pupil expand a tiny amount. It’s only a fractional increment, but it’s actually occurring.”
“You may be seeing what you want, but even if it is true, how could that impact anything? How could Alex observe that from any distance?” Ryan objected, playing the skeptic.
“I think you’re the one who’s letting his feelings get in the way of his judgment,” Becky responded. “You’re disappointed that you’re not seeing the results that you expected, but there’s an observable difference here. The eyes are widening, not just as much as we think is required.”
“You know, there’s something else there as well,” Allison observed, leaning over to point at the screen. “Run through the entire thing again and watch the intensity of the pupil, instead of how much it does or doesn’t dilate.”
Ryan, intrigued, did as she requested, and they watched it again as he ran through it in slow motion again.
“There, you see, there’s a dulling of the color. I’m not sure exactly what’s happening, but there seems to be something happening to the eye that we can’t quite make out, but the dark of the eye is getting less intense.”
“That makes sense,” Becky said. “If you’ll remember, whenever someone meets Alex they have this wide-eyed glassy look. Maybe that’s a part of the whole process.”
“I’d always thought that was the result of observing his aura for the first time,” Allison commented. “But it seems to occur earlier than that, since there’s no overwhelming aura to account for here.”
“You know, I think you’ve got a point there, Allison,” Becky said, glancing at the other two. “We’ve been looking for something that Alex could have observed from across a room.”
“Or from across a city street, in the case of Mattie,” Ryan reminded her.
“Exactly, but we’re not taking into account the difference in scale here. In one case, Alex comes along and literally blows these girls’ senses, overwhelming them, in the other we have his shirt from the other day, which has probably degraded. It’s a matter of a couple grapes versus an orchard, or rather a few drops versus a powerful flood that sweeps everything else away.”
“I think I see where you’re going,” Allison said, growing even more excited. “What’s hard to note here would be much more pronounced if Alex was present. Even a tiny change would be apparent in that case.”
“Now wait a minute,” Ryan countered. “If that’s the case, then why has no one noticed it before? If every Seer’s eyes dilated like they were high on cocaine, then surely someone would have noticed it. I haven’t seen any visible reactions in any of your eyes when he’s around.”
“There may be more to it than that,” Becky surmised. “Assuming Cate’s proposal is correct, and Alex activates someone fractions of a second after he detects a response in their eyes, maybe it counters the very effect we’re looking for.”
“That’s logical,” Allison agreed, “remember, he’s hijacking the optic nerve and the visual cortex, even if what we’re responding to isn’t a form of light. Thus what we perceive as Alex’s bright aura causes our eyes to respond as if we’re exposed to a bright light. That would cause the pupil to contract. That would counteract the effects of our exposure to the BCM, masking its effects.”
“Now wait, that would …” Ryan started to object before stopping to think it through. “You know, as crazy as it sounds, it does make sense. What’s more, since BCM isn’t a light wave, the retina wouldn’t need to be fully functional in Mattie’s case. We saw how the sensory apparatus was added behind the eyes, along the optic nerve, so that would mean that it’s completely bypassing the eyes themselves.”
“Not only that, but we’ve bypassed any complex explanations of the phenomenon,” Becky observed. “It’s using already clearly established mechanisms. The pupils are likely dilating not based on their exposure to the BCM, but to the body’s reactions to it. It could very well be a general peripheral nervous system response. If the outlying nerves respond to it, then they’d trigger other responses to it, like increased heart rate, possibly increased blood pressure, but whatever physical symptoms they’d show, it would likely involve a simple dilation of the eye.”
“Well, this would be basic enough we could actually justify the results in a research pap—”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Becky warned Ryan before he could get any further. “We can’t afford to publish any papers on this, at least not while Alex is still alive.”
“Yeah, but I could do some private studies on my own. Since the underlying things we’re studying wouldn’t be apparent, it wouldn’t cause anyone to question what we’re doing. Measuring the eyes response to certain stimuli is pretty rudimentary, so no one is likely to ask questions about it.”
“No, but you doing studies on the eye would cause people to ask questions. We’ll continue to do the studies we have planned,” Becky reminded him. “Cate already has a whole string of things for us to examine on a step by step basis. We need to do this in a very organized structure, as each result impacts the following tests, so we won’t all go off on our own tangents. We’ve got plenty of things to study in the next several hours. Right now we need to determine at what distance the results are the most obvious, so we’ll know where to concentrate during the remaining tests.”
“And once we get that we can test the other girls and get how much variance there is,” Allison suggested.
“We’ll also have to measure how the responses degrade over time, to determine how quickly the BCM dissipates, though that measurement might be confused by the subjects becoming accustomed to it,” Becky said.
“I don’t think so,” Allison replied. “Otherwise Alex would never be able to measure our response. We can detect Alex from around a mile away, so if that were the case our eyes wouldn’t respond at all. I doubt our responsiveness adjusts with exposure.”
“Hot damn,” Ryan called out. “We’re making some serious progress now. Let’s see what we can figure out. Hey, can I be the one who tells Alex the news?”
“I don’t think so,” Allison told him. “We’re not going to tell Alex about this.”
“Why the heck not? He’s obviously interested, and this affects him more than anyone else. What’s more, it affects his people, and he likes to know what impacts them.”
“Well, the problem is that we’re setting up this experiment in California when he gets there. If he knows what to expect he may respond differently. But mostly we’re concerned he’ll get so excited he won’t focus on what he needs to at the moment. You know him, he focuses completely on one thing at a time. If we distract him, he may screw up and get everyone into trouble. No, he’ll find out in time, but for now it’s better that he not know.”
“It’s a shame,” Ryan replied. “He’d be really proud of us. I’d love to be able to pay him back for everything he’s allowed me to participate in.”
They spent the rest of the weekend trying to iron out all the details.
They finally made it to their hotel, and Patricia and her band mates ran in while Chelsea and Erica struggled to park the van. They were late for a media interview for a local news program. It would run on the 6:00 news, with a longer segment showing on the morning news program the following morning. The accident they’d been involved in had meant they’d almost had to cancel, so they were in a hurry to make the show.
Alex and the others stayed with Chelsea and Erica until they’d managed to park, then they all walked into the hotel. They were staying downtown, but it was an odd location, near several museums and stadiums but not near that many businesses. Thus Alex wasn’t sure how many people he’d have access to during the day, but missing crowds wasn’t the worst thing in the world. He was sure he’d make it up at the two concerts they had that and the next night.
The concerts were being held a ways from the hotel, out near the airport at the Cardinals Stadium in Glendale. They’d have to travel there either by car or in the van, and then they’d have to return to the hotel downtown afterwards, trailing a string of cars. Nothing too untoward about that.
Instead of interrupting the live interview, they found a TV in the hotel lobby. They took over the corner of the lobby facing the TV and turned the channel until they found the interview.
“So you’ve really made a name for yourself. You joined Ms. Kennedy’s tour late, yet you’re drawing more attention than she is now. Everyone is talking about your shows, saying that you really draw out your fans, making them feel like they’re a part of your show. They even say that you have standing ovations, even though your entire repertoire consists of mellow rock ballads. Not the usual stuff of a hard rock scene. Care to comment?”
Patty laughed. “Which question were you looking for me to answer?” she asked, before trying to answer them as best she could. “First of all, I’m not sure Diane Kennedy would appreciate your characterization. She’s been very good to me, and I’m hardly taking anyone from her concerts. We get along fine, and I’m honored to be supporting her. And yes, I’ve had good responses, but I think that’s because my fans appreciate the messages behind my songs.”
“Really? Your songs are all idle teenaged love songs?” the reporter asked, unintentionally revealing her view of the material. It was clear she wasn’t a regular music reviewer. “How can they produce such a strong reaction?”
“Well, the songs aren’t really about any one person. Instead it’s about people following their instincts, and the benefits which can come from trusting yourself. The key is that we can each find the happiness that I sing about, but we need to learn to find it.”
“So anyone can be happy then?” the reporter, Nancy Atkins, asked. She was a chipper little thing, a little heavier set than normal for a TV reporter, but she had a bright smile that made up for a lot. Plus, this was a music interview, hardly what would be considered hard hitting news reporting.
“Well, it’s not really about being happy, and it’s not just anyone. What I’m saying is that many of us are capable of finding our own happiness. It’s not only a matter of luck. We can figure out who to trust and who not to. Instead of chasing each rugged looking cheater, we need to focus on ourselves, and only pay attention to those we trust won’t hurt us. It’s that process that will produce success, and which will hopefully lead to our own happiness. But happiness isn’t the point, the point is to recognize our own power.”
“So you’re saying anyone can do this?” Nancy asked, still pushing her original question.
“Not quite. It’s a skill, and some people are better at it than others. But even then it takes a lot of practice. Some people are just good about sensing things in others. And what I’m trying to say is that those people can refine their abilities, and that, if they do, they’ll learn a lot about themselves.”
“Like how to find love?” Nancy asked, still trying to figure out how all this talk related to her songs.
Patty sighed before continuing. “It’s not about finding love. What it’s about is finding someone, or something, that will change your life. For many of us, it’s a single person. For others it may be something else. But if you learn to trust yourself, when you get close to it, you’ll know it, and you’ll find it, whatever it is.”
“So your songs aren’t about your boyfriend?” Nancy continued to push.
“No, it’s about a search. I’m talking to women, and to the men who love them. It’s about learning about yourself, and how that process can lead to important things in your life. Things that will change not only you, but everything around you.”
“So, have you found that one individual in your life?” she asked, still not quite getting it.
Patricia simply smiled. “If I answered that, the individual in question wouldn’t be happy. And if I don’t have someone in particular, then all those looking to me for romantic inspiration will be disappointed.”
“Which is a long way of saying you aren’t going to answer my question?”
“Exactly. If you trusted your own opinion, your own journalistic instincts, you wouldn’t need that teleprompter. You’d know that I’ve already answered your question, and you’d focus on issues that are more important than who I’m dating. I’m talking about a movement that will change people’s lives, and that could potentially change a whole aspect of humanity.”
But Nancy just didn’t grasp what she was saying, and she kept going back to the idea that Patty, Patricia’s stage name, was in love with some unknown teenybopper. Still, Patty came across quite well, sounding like she was talking over Nancy’s head the entire time. After talking briefly to the other band members, who said basically the same things, Nancy finally tried wrapping the interview up.
“Do you have any concluding words, Patty?”
“Just that anyone who’s ever felt they could feel things about people, anyone who can guess what’s going to happen around them, even if it’s just an odd feeling; they should come to the concert tonight, and I feel secure in telling you there’s a very good chance you’ll find something amazing, something that will literally change your life.”
“Well, folks, you heard it here. Go see Patty either tonight or tomorrow night, and you too can find the love of your lives,” Nancy happily concluded, while Patricia could be seen shaking her head in the background. Alex had a feeling Nancy wouldn’t be coming to her concert, especially after she watched the taped interview and saw how badly she came off. But hopefully others would be intrigued enough to attend, and those were who they were looking for.
Alex got up to turn the channel back to the previous one when another newswoman came on, reporting on another news segment. “And in other news, there are reports of a religious figure who saved several people by praying over them. Find out more when we return after the following messages.”
That got Alex’s attention. He glanced at the others and Cate motioned him to his seat. Shrugging, he sat down.
“This should be interesting, if nothing else,” Cate said.
The program resumed a little later. “We’ve been receiving reports all morning about someone who’s saved multiple people, simply by kneeling beside them and praying over them. We haven’t been able to independently confirm any of these stories, however. All we know was there was a horrendous crash with several people severely injured. One man was thrown from his car after having suffered a heart attack and wasn’t breathing. Apparently this young man walks up, kneels down and prays over him, and the man sits up and begins speaking as if nothing happened to him.
“The same man then walks to the other car, where a woman is having trouble breathing. Observers didn’t think she’d survive until the ambulance arrived, but this man again prays over her and suddenly she’s OK. She still had trouble breathing, but she could breathe on her own and was able to survive until the EMTs arrived several minutes later. Finally he helps the woman’s husband, who’d broken his arm. Apparently his arm remained broken, but he assured him his arm would heal in record time.”
Alex buried his head in his hands, but he continued listening to what they reported.
“We’ve tried to track the report down, and have identified where the accident occurred, but have been unable to speak to any of the people involved, so we have no idea who this man was, and he doesn’t seem to be interested in coming forward. We’ll bring you any information as we learn it, and we thank you for bringing it to our attention. We’d also like to ask any other listeners who may have seen these events to call in, especially if you managed to record any video of these amazing events.”
That was as much as Alex could stand. He got up and stormed off, heading up to their room. Gail hurried after him, as did Cate, after she silently questioned Erica and Chelsea, getting a nod in response that they’d listen for any further information. She then ran after her brother.
“You can’t let it get to you, man,” Gail told him after they’d reached the room. “I mean, it’s not like you can run off or anything. We’re stuck here for another whole day.”
“No, I’m not going to run off. I was just frustrated and unsure how to handle this. I just need to think about it. I’ve learned a lot. This isn’t about me, this is about the movement, and the movement has gotten bigger than just the Seekers and Seers.”
“Good for you, Alex,” Cate said, trying to encourage him to get beyond his fear of exposure. “You’ve waded through this kind of thing before.”
“Yeah, I learned in Oklahoma City that we’ve got to deal with the general public. When this first started, I only focused on the Seers. Then I learned about the Seekers, and then I came up with the numbering system to take the type 3s into account, the people that chose to follow me more because of the force of my personality than anything else. But we’ve grown even beyond that. Since we’ve started this trip I’ve been paying more attention to the Seekers, and now we’re dealing with a new type. The type 4s: the people who decide to follow me because of what I represent. Those include Kevin, Nick and Tommy in New Orleans, and all the women at ‘Maiden Nights’ in Oklahoma. There was also that group in Flagstaff that followed me out of the concert to ask why everyone was surrounding me. They’ve decided to follow me because they like what it is that I’m doing and what I represent. So I can’t just turn them away. If regular people want to know about me, I’ve got to address it.”
“You know, you’ve really matured a lot in the last couple of weeks,” Cate said admiringly, “but especially a lot in just this past week. I mean, that episode in Albuquerque was really telling. You really handled that masterfully.”
“She’s got a point,” Gail echoed her. “I was ready to just grab you and make a run for it. But instead you stood your ground, and you ended up winning those people over.”
“Well, these people have to be handled. They may very well prove to be a problem, but I can’t afford to assume they are before we know it. After all, I’ve found that some of my worst enemies end up being faithful friends. Just look at Darrell and Ryan. In both cases we almost came to blows, yet I feel sure they’d stand up for me whatever happens.”
“I’m sure they would,” Cate agreed, “though you’ve got to remember when to back down as well. There’s no sense trying to continue when you know you’re fighting a losing battle. When I think what almost happened with Ryan….”
“But it didn’t,” Gail reminded her. “Once we called Alex on it, he reconsidered it and he came right around. Not only that, but Ryan did, too. I’ve never seen such a dramatic turn around. Let me tell you, working the streets as a cop we saw all kinds of situations, but you never see two people turn around like that, except maybe two drunken buddies who realize they really love each other after trying to kill one another.”
“Yeah, but with the people in Albuquerque—” Cate began.
‘Alex, am I interrupting? I know you’re supposed to be busy today, but….’
Alex held his hand up, signaling Cate that he was distracted, which she’d already figured out.
‘Don’t worry about it, Lekesia. You don’t bother me much, so when you do I know it must be important. So what’s up?’
‘Well, I’ve got a lot of updates for you. First of all, I wanted to report on Stacie and Mike. They’ve both been doing wonderfully. Right now she’s taken a part time job with Becky Roe. She figured she’d test just how committed she was by making her sweep up hair at her shop, but she’s serious about it, so Becky has promised her if she keeps with it that she’ll promote her to shampoo girl soon. It’s not much of a promotion, but she’s taken to having someone watching out for her. Right now we’re looking at preparing her to start taking classes in the fall.’
‘What about Mike, though. How is he doing? He was always the wild card in all of this,’ Alex pointed out.
‘Oh, he’s doing great. Once he realized who you really were, how close he came to losing everything, and how you managed to drag him back from the precipice, he can’t say enough good things about you. He’s been spending time with Peter, David, Tommy, Nick and Kevin. They’ve become your male team here, and they’re always quick to take in any male boyfriends or family members.’
‘Well, that’s good they’ve found a role for themselves, but what’s Mike been doing since he got there? Is he staying out of trouble?’
‘He’s been doing great,’ she answered. ‘Actually Stacy’s gotten him a job at Patricia’s old club, and he’s been working his butt off. That’s the other Stacy, the one who was serving you at the show the first night you arrived down here. Right now, Shanna’s thinking of putting him to work, as part of a family outreach program she’s starting for her travel agency business, so I think he’ll do OK. In fact, Brandy Stevens has even talked to him about getting a government job in child services. She’s nervous about getting him to apply for it due to the fingerprinting and DNA samples he’d have to submit for it, but if she can swing it….’
‘Tell her he should stick with Shanna. It’s safer for everyone involved. We want to give him a chance, not to try to bury everyone.’
‘I’ll tell them that,’ she responded. ‘Also, on the good news front, Brandy Stevens, Caitlin Johansen, and Becky Roe all turned up pregnant. Unfortunately, as I’m sure you remember, my mother, Noel, never did, but it’s only been a couple of weeks, so she’s waiting for her next cycle and then she’s going to get your sperm implanted. But we spend all our time watching your baby develop. Mom says she knows the baby’s aura so well that she could pick him out of a lineup in the dark, even without ever having seen him.’
‘Well, I’m glad everyone is doing so well—’
‘Wait, that’s not everything,’ she responded. ‘Brian, Rose’s boyfriend, the guy who’s been doing all the computer stuff, anyway, he’s taken to scanning the media for any reports about you. It seems he’s turned up some new stuff,’ she reported, causing Alex to stiffen.
‘He turned up something related to what Fox reported on you. You’re going to love this one. Let me make sure I’ve got it straight, since I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Anyway, Brian found a follow-up report they did on you, where they update open stories previously reported to see what’s changed. They recapped how you’d caused a scene in New Orleans, and how they’d been tracking you since you “reported that God was finished with Christians since they’ve screwed up religion”.’
‘I never said any such thing,’ Alex objected.
‘Yeah, I know. I’m just telling you how they summarized it. They went on to report on what’s happened since. That someone shot up a crowd of strangers looking to kill you, and that you were reportedly seen in Oklahoma City, but that there have been no confirmed sightings and no direct news of you.’
Here Lekesia took a breath and steadied herself before beginning. ‘My notes are a mess here, so I’m not sure exactly who said this next bit, but he said the following:
‘I’ve got to say, the fact that he’s stayed out of the limelight and hasn’t tried to excite or challenge people says a lot about him. He actually seems to be trying to aid people on a personal basis. Personally, I’m sure I speak for a lot of Christians when I say we’d prefer if he did it officially; say by repenting, joining a church and taking Jesus Christ as his lord and savior, but we’ve gotten no bad news about him. There are plenty of people who talk about how wonderful he is, but we haven’t found anyone who claims he’s cheated them, or that he’s tried to get them to do anything they didn’t want to. Instead he actually seems to be helping people.
‘Now part of what Fox and related stations do is to try to expose the scoundrels; those that say one thing and then do the other. Who preach helping the poor then funnel money into huge government programs to prop up the unsuccessful. Or those that talk a big game, but end up doing more damage than if they’d left things alone in the first place. But this so called Angel hasn’t tried to do any such thing. Instead he stays behind the scenes, working quietly and taking no credit. That’s the kind of help that the churches should understand, as it’s been the backbone of their ministry for centuries. I’ll continue to watch, but I’d like to commend him for his restraint and good common sense. For this much attention to be focused on someone, and for nothing to come out about him, he’s got to be doing something right. And while I still question his motivations, I’d like to tip my hat to him.’
‘Wow, that’s not what I was expecting to hear,’ Alex replied.
‘I know, right? I was thinking that Fox would continue to attack you for your supposed attacks against Christians and your liberal secularism, but they’ve been silent about you lately, and instead this station says this. They and the other stations set out to warn people about what they feared you might be trying to do, but when they found you weren’t doing that, they backed off. Frankly, I’d still avoid the press, but it’s nice to see when they give you your due. Now, I doubt anyone else will come to your defense, and this one only did it because they were trying to embarrass the other stations, but still.’
‘That’s a lot to take in Lekesia, I’ll have to think about it before I can really respond, but you’re right; Wow!’
‘I just wanted you to know about it. Everyone here still talks about you all the time, so I’ll tell them I spoke with you. That should buy me a lot of attention around town,’ she laughed before signing off.
“So, what was that about?” Cate asked when she noticed his eyes refocus.
“Oh, Lekesia had a lot of news to tell me, on a whole variety of topics. But you’re right, it’s amazing just how much things have been going our way, even when we have no reason to think they will. It really is as if someone is watching over us. He sets us up, giving me every opportunity to screw up, and then, when I don’t, he rewards us with either another new ability or a significant turnaround.”
“Just don’t let it go to your head,” Gail advised him. “You’re still walking a tightrope. You’re delicately balanced at the moment, but all it’ll take is a nudge one direction or the other and you’ll topple over. We’re here to steady you and help you, but if you fall you’re the one who’ll suffer. The rest of us will be affected as well, but you’re the one with the most to lose. Just keep that in mind.”
“I will, Gail, I will. I remind myself of that every day,” he replied.
To Be Continued