“The Catalyst” Series
Chapter 41: Some News is Better Than Others
“I’m glad you stopped by to help us,” Simon sincerely told Alex. “Though you may have your doubts, you’ve made a big difference here. At the worst, you’ve added years to these people’s lives, and at the best, you may have allowed them to turn the corner. I’m sure they’re all thankful, and I’m personally appreciative that you could help us out.”
“Yeah, I’m just sorry I couldn’t have helped more. Like I said, I’d originally planned to spend more time here, but….”
“That’s my fault,” Gini offered. “He was stuck for a couple of days trying to scale me off the side of a desert mountain.”
“It’s hard having such responsibilities,” Kuubba said. “You are forced to decide between equally impossible choices. Most people would be happy to save one person, instead you must choose between saving one or many. It’s not an easy choice to make when you’re staring someone in the face.”
“Well, I think you’ve done amazing things for all of us,” Winona cooed. “You’ve given us the gift of life itself, and there’s literally no way we could possibly repay you.”
Cate couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Normally Cate had no problem putting up with Alex’s many adoring fans, but Winona just seemed to be a bit much. She’d been clinging onto Alex all morning, acting like a love struck school girl. Normally, any new followers of Alex’s were well aware of how many others there were, so they didn’t obsess over him. However, Winona had no one else to call her on her behavior. Both Gail and Gini felt it necessary to remain in the background, and Cate certainly couldn’t say anything. But she felt herself ready to hurl over Winona’s obnoxious behavior. She did briefly consider whether her feelings might be flavored a little bit by the idea this woman might be the one woman everyone had been looking for, but she really didn’t want to consider that at the moment.
“Still, if I’d gotten here a day earlier….”
“You wouldn’t have been able to do any more than you did,” Jennifer told him. “As you said, you’ve done as much as you can at this stage. True, you had to work nonstop to do it, but you’ve tried to help everyone in the village, and that’s saying a lot.”
“Well, what’s going to happen in the future?” Alex asked. “How are they going to keep moving forwards?”
“You’ve already given them several years, at a minimum,” Simon said, “and if what you say is true, that you’ve slowed the rate of growth of the cancers, then you’ve given them even more time.”
“Actually, I think we may be prepared to leave,” Kuubba revealed. “If we abandon the source of the problem, then that should help us even more.”
“But I thought you couldn’t?” Alex asked. “That this was your cultural home, and that if you abandoned it, the evil spirits that caused it would follow you?”
“No, the prophecy say that if we sought refuge in the white man’s world, that we’d be lost and would soon die without anyone who cared about us, cut off from the spirits of our ancestors, and thus cut off from our own spiritual journey. But you’ve fulfilled that prophesy. You’ve helped us, and the rest is up to us now. We remained here for you to arrive, since you are a, ah…”
“A catalyst,” Cate suggested.
“Yes, a catalyst. You’ve triggered a change in us that’ll allow us to handle the problems on our own. Now that you’ve started the process, it is for us to finish. But we don’t plan on doing it by abandoning our heritage. Instead we’re going to seek refuge with other tribes, maybe even asking other nations to take us in.”
“And that would be OK, I mean, it wouldn’t cause conflicts or anything?” Alex asked.
“Oh, it would create a lot of conflicts, but we’ll be OK. Most tribes now are made up of people of very mixed heritages. Very few of us have pure blood anymore. Mixing the Utes with other tribes won’t be that odd. After all, this region was originally home to many different peoples, so many of us have a common heritage here.”
“Then why couldn’t you have simply done that before, and avoided all this sickness and death?” Alex asked before he caught himself. “Never mind, I get it. You felt you had to wait for me, even though I think that was a stupid decision, since I haven’t managed to ‘cure’ any of you, I’ve only managed to delay the inevitable.”
“No, you’ve triggered a change in us, though it will be a while until we understand just what that change has been. But you’ve also given us time to adjust to those changes, and to adapt on our own. Thus the prophesy has been fulfilled, and we aren’t abandoning our heritage by leaving here.”
“What about the spirits?” Cate asked. “Can they find you if you go somewhere else?” Despite her scientific training and her reluctance to believe all these tales of spirits left over from a pre-industrial culture, she was intrigued by the internal consistencies of such beliefs, and she wanted to understand just what it was that they believed.
“The spirits can travel. They are more at home here, but if we need them, or they need us, they can find us. They don’t like the soulless nature of the white world, and they refuse to venture to your cities, even though we frequently have to travel there to live. This is a good compromise. We’ll be farther from them, but we’ve managed to do what they’ve asked, so they’ll understand.”
“Well, I’m glad you’ll be getting away from the source of the contagion,” Alex told her. “It makes me feel better about your prospects. Hopefully, leaving the area will prevent new cancers from developing. Personally, I’d have liked it better if you’d done this years ago, but I guess I can see the conflicts you had to deal with.”
“Actually, I’m even more pleased,” Simon admitted. “We know the water supply here is incredibly dangerous, but I’ve had a hell of a time trying to get anyone to consider relocating. Most of my work has been in importing fresh water and keeping healthy people, like Stu and Winona, from coming back here, since it puts them at such increased risk.”
“Yeah, since you’re likely to get pregnant, Winona,” Cate told her, “you’d better move away as quickly as you can.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m going to do whatever I can to protect this baby,” she said as if it was already a proven fact that she was pregnant.
“Well, I’m glad you took the extra time to help the few extra people this morning,” Stu told him, walking up to shake his hand. “My cousin was one of those you helped, and I feel sure that you’ve given him many more years as a result. You’d already set his cancer on its ass, and the extra treatment means it’ll be that much longer before it can regain a foothold.”
“Well, I’m glad I could make a difference, even if it wasn’t an unqualified success.”
“And speaking of misses, I don’t know what you were trying to do, but you know that itch of mine that you tried to treat? You managed to make it even worse. It’s starting to drive me bonkers, I keep rubbing my side, but I just can’t ease it.”
“Yeah, well, sorry about that, but it turns out that my energy permeates all living things, so it feeds parasites and viruses as well as heals. I suspect I probably made your rash even worse than it was.”
“Actually, there’s no—”
“I think what Alex is trying to say, is that while you don’t have an actual rash, it’s probably a dermatological problem just under the skin,” Simon told him, trying to save Alex having to explain more about what he could and couldn’t do. “If you return to the city, you should probably see a dermatologist about it. After all, if Alex can grow kidneys and shrink cancers, I’d hate to see what he could do to a case of athlete’s foot.”
“So, Jennifer, if the tribe is going to break up, I’m guessing that Simon’s research project will end as well, if I haven’t already screwed it up. What are you planning on doing? After all, you originally came out here to set things up for me when I finally arrived.”
She looked a little taken aback. “Well, I guess I should think about what else I should do, but there’s still a lot to do here.”
“Nonsense,” Simon told her. “You’ve been a tremendous help, but I know you’re heart lies in helping Alex, and this is your chance to follow him for a while.”
“But how will you evaluate how everyone responds?” Jennifer asked. “You can’t determine how well the treatments worked if you can’t evaluate anyone. And we should discover as much before everyone disperses.”
“I’ve got an idea,” Alex told them. “Hold on a second. OK, I’ve got a solution. I’ve got another Indian friend, Robin Peters, a member of the Hualapai tribe in Northern Arizona. She said she’d come up and take over for you for a few weeks, and that she’d also find a place for some of you to stay, if you don’t mind traveling that far.”
“No, that is very kind,” Kuubba said. “We respect our Hualapai neighbors, and the climate is very similar, though I refuse to lead kids on tours of the Grand Canyon.”
“I think they may be able to make an exception in your case, but actually Robin is more of a traveling medicine woman.”
“I know Robin,” another grizzled older man said, walking up to them. “My name is Tate Shilah, or ‘he who always talks too much’. I’m the local medicine man for this tribe. I’d have introduced myself sooner, but I was waiting to see how you came across. Both Kuubba and Winona spoke to me about you, and they asked me what I thought. I encouraged them to undertake their own vision quests on the matter, but I had none of my own, thus I was cautious. I’ve worked with unseen spirits all my life, and I get nothing whatsoever from you. No, that’s not quite true, I can feel the spirits of my ancestors, and of the various animal and spiritual guides. They’re buzzing all around you, but I get nothing from you at all for some reason. But I’m convinced Kuubba’s vision is true, that you bring us good fortune, and that we’ll soon be turning a corner as a result.”
He proceeded to shake Alex’s hand, and despite his advanced age, he had the grip of a blacksmith.
“Well, I’m glad I’ve convinced you. You’ll have to tell Robin about these other spirits around me, as I’d be glad to learn more, but I’m afraid we don’t have much more time here.”
“That’s understood, we’re all aware of this tight timetable you have. That’s why I wanted to make sure I said my two cents worth before you finally left.”
“Two cents worth? It’s always interesting the way you all keep mixing Native American spirituality with American idioms.”
“Nothin’ strange about it. We’re all Americans here. I fought for Uncle Sam myself, as have many of the people here. But we have a dual cultural heritage. As much as we’re Americans, we’re Ute too. We’re also mostly Christians, which I’m sure you’ll find odd as well. We don’t deny your Western God, but we don’t refute our own beliefs either.”
“So, Jennifer, which is it?” Alex asked, turning to address her before they finally left. “Do you want to come along or stay here and help Robin adjust.”
Jennifer bit her lip, looking like she was tempted. “I really want to help people with cancer, like I had,” she admitted.
“You can always compromise,” Simon suggested. “After all, that’s what brought you here. Take off on your own, driving on ahead of Alex. You know his route. Visit the local hospitals along the way so that he’ll know who he can treat as he travels. That would do more for your sick friends than your spending time here doing paper work is likely to. Face it, you’re standing beside greatness here. I say go for it. This is the only chance like this you’ll ever have.”
With that, she threw her arms around Simon, kissed him, then turned to Alex. “All right, I’m yours. But I’ll have to get a car somewhere, and I’ll have to work out a schedule.”
“Hey, you can travel in the back with me,” Cate told her. “I’m the one in charge of the schedules. Alex never knows what’s going on.”
“Well, I’m really sorry to be leaving like this, but duty calls. I’ve got women to awaken, dreams to chase, and a devil to run from,” Alex said as they headed off. He blew Winona a kiss, knowing she’d appreciate it, then they climbed into the dirty beat up old car, ready for another several hours in the hot sun before they reached Las Vegas.
“Gail, you’d better alert everyone, we’re getting close. We’re at the 20 mark.”
Alex, who’d been discussing what they’d experienced since he’d last seen Jennifer following his shooting, looked up. He and Jennifer were riding in the back seat. When he glanced forward at Cate, he noticed she was closely examining her iPad, and it looked like she was studying the map app.
“We’re still a ways out of Las Vegas, aren’t we?” Alex asked. “I mean, we haven’t been on the road long enough to reach the city yet.”
“Yeah, we’re still a ways from Vegas, but we’ve got a little surprise for you,” Cate told him with a grin.
“A surprise?” Alex asked dubiously. He wasn’t always crazy whenever someone pulled a surprise on him. Sure, the one for his birthday was nice, but the one for his graduation had certainly alerted everyone that he was more than he appeared, and Cate’s last ‘surprise’ had almost killed him. He wasn’t sure he needed any more. After all, he had surprises every damn day, whether it was women approaching him or walking in on an armed robbery. He’d really rather avoid any unnecessary surprises if he could.
“Let’s just call it an experiment,” Cate told him.
“Your last experim—” Just then Gini raced past. She’d been following behind them, but now she was gunning the engine and racing off.
“What the hell was that about?” Alex asked. “Where’s she off to?”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure she’d warn you if she suspected anything dangerous,” Gail advised him.
“Why do I get the impression you both know exactly what’s going on?” Alex asked.
“A surprise? Really? I just love your surprises,” Jennifer gushed. “I remember the ones back in Carbondale. I thought Alex was going to stop breathing when he walked into the loft for the first time to find all of us waiting for him. What do you have planned?”
“Yeah, why don’t you let us know what I’m going to be walking in on?” Alex stressed.
“Ah, don’t you like surprises?” Cate asked sweetly. “After all, you took to Leanna’s surprise pretty well.”
“Leanna didn’t try to set me up. She just didn’t want to announce to the world that her place was a gay bar. However, setting me up isn’t a way to make amends for doing it be—”
“Hold on a minute,” Cate said, waving Alex off momentarily. “That’s the 15 mile mark,” she announced to Gail who didn’t respond, showing she knew precisely what was going on.
“OK, this is more than just the four of us, could you at least give me an idea of what I’m supposed to be expecting?”
“You’d really better tell him,” Gail advised. “We’ve kept him out of the loop for long enough, but this is about him, so he really deserves to know. Besides, he’s likely to panic when he gets a vision of what everyone looks like.”
The reference to what everyone looked like did in fact panic Alex. He could imagine a bunch of injured people waiting for him to respond to them.
Cate seemed to consider that for a moment, then turned to Alex with a smile. “You remember when you told us to set up a test using the relatives of known Seers and Seekers?”
“Yeah, so what, you’ve arranged for me to meet someone out in the middle of the desert to activate them? That sounds a bit too unnecessary for it to be a very complete explanation.”
“Well, it is a little more complicated than that,” Gail admitted, growing nervous about how much they’d been keeping from Alex for so long. “There was quite a bit more to it than simply finding someone for you to activate. After all, we’ve been doing that for a long time now.”
“You left the details up to us, like you usually do, and we’ve done everything that’s necessary,” Cate reminded him. “The surprise part is just a little payback we get for having put so much work into it.”
Alex sighed, but he was smiling as he did it. “OK, you got me there. I sometimes give you guys fairly large tasks without asking for explanations. So what was involved with this?”
“If you remember, we decided that you picked who to activate by what you saw in their eyes. So we needed to figure out just what it was that you saw, and once we did that we had to measure it so that we can apply those same measurements to others, then we can determine who will and who won’t respond to you.”
“How did you manage to measure how people will respond to my ener… So that’s where all my clothes have been disappearing to, lately?” Alex asked, finally catching on to the obvious.
“Exactly, I’ve been stealing your used t-shirts every night for the last couple weeks and mailing them so others can use them to conduct the very tests I’ve been dying to undertake.”
“But why couldn’t you—?”
“Because I needed to be here, and we couldn’t conduct these tests with you present, since you’d blow the test out of the water. We used the shirts to measure the responses of a lot of people, documenting the differences between them. Now we think we can precisely pick not only who’s a Seer or a Seeker, but we think we can measure who’ll react negatively to you.”
“Geez, that’s major,” Alex replied, sitting up and leaning against the seat in his enthusiasm. “If I can spot who’s going to go off on me, I can either try to keep my distance, or we can try to intervene.”
“Exactly, that was the idea. Pardon me… That’s ten miles, Gail.” Gail, of course, didn’t bother responding. “So this is the final test. We need to confirm that our assumptions are correct, but beyond that, we need to do a final measurement of how they react to you, versus how they responded to a smaller dosage of your energy.”
“But that means—”
Here Cate smiled at him. “Yes, it does. It definitely proves the existence of your BCM, although it does it indirectly, which still means it would never be publishable, but it’s still pretty convincing. We’re thinking if we can establish a ratio of responses, we can guestimate how much BCM you’re giving off.”
“OK, I apologize. This really is a big deal, and it’s clear you’ve put a hell of a lot of work into this. This could be a game changer.”
“You’re damn right it is,” Cate assured him. “This takes it from ‘he seems like he does amazing things’ to ‘he’s got a measurable energy we can determine which he’s using to achieve what he does’.”
“Shit, have you told Ryan? Or Lists?”
“Don’t worry your little head about the details,” Cate said. “We’ve handled everything for you. Now it’s time to reap the rewards.”
“But why are you doing it in the middle of the desert?” Jennifer asked, it not being an unreasonable question.
“For a number of reasons; first, it’s out of the way, so no one is liable to wander across us, secondly, it allows us to maintain a steady approach, and thus we can measure when they can detect Alex approaching.”
“So that’s why you keep announcing the distance?” Alex asked.
“Exactly, and lastly, we wanted to control the environment, which we couldn’t do if the meeting took place in the middle of a park.”
“So where are you meeting?” Jennifer asked.
“It’s an old abandoned warehouse,” Gail told them. “One of the local girls knew about it. They used to manufacture the metal signs they used to use in Vegas. The one’s with all the lights? When they started switching to the electronic lights the company folded and the large industrial space has sat empty ever since. But because of worries about neighbors complaining about it, they built it well away from the city. Since the place closed, almost no one comes out this way anymore.”
“Seven point five,” Cate announced.
“You weren’t paying attention, but I turned off on this little side road a ways back. That’s why we have no traffic around us anymore.”
“I’d noticed that, but I hadn’t wanted to say anything,” Jennifer responded.
“This road takes us to it along a pretty straight path, so we can correlate the responses to how far you away you are at any given time. By maintaining a constant rate of speed, we can calculate the exact distance they each respond to you at.”
“Wow, there’s certainly a lot more you people are putting into this stuff than when I was in Carbondale,” Jennifer observed. “Back then it was, ‘we think he may be doing this, but we really have no way of knowing’.”
“It’s been like that all along,” Cate told her. “However we had a breakthrough a little while back, when we kind of stumbled across how Alex handles his activations. That gave us the lead in how to measure responses. It gave us something we could measure, rather than just conjecturing all the time.”
“It sounds like it’s a lucky thing I decided to come along,” Jennifer responded. “This is going to be a… well, a memorable occasion.”
“You’re right, this might be the day we change everything,” Cate said, a self satisfied grin covering her whole expression.
Gail parked the car near the front of the large gray building. Although it was desolate, Alex noted a number of cars parked off to the side. They got out quickly.
“We need to keep a constant pace so we’ll know your distance relative to the time,” Cate insisted as she and Gail led them towards the building. “Whatever you do, don’t stop. Also, we weren’t sure what to do about your activating the women. We briefly considered blindfolding you, but we decided that was a bit much. We’ll mark the distance they respond to you at, which we’ve always wondered, as well as measuring how they respond afterwards. In order to minimize it, though, the potential Seers will be facing the other direction, so I want you to walk right into the center of the crowd, say ‘Stop’ and then do so. Once we’ve gotten our measurements, just say ‘start’ and then walk to the Seers, stand beside them but don’t look at them, then walk about five feet in front of them, turn and do the activations.”
“Those are pretty specific instructions for a situation where I normally just glance at someone,” Alex complained.
“We weren’t trying to record measurements before,” Cate explained. “We need to compare distances with each individual’s reactions so we’ll know what distances are safe in the future.”
“OK, I got it,” Alex insisted, feeling more nervous about this than he really should. There was a lot riding on this.
As prearranged, Jennifer ran ahead and got the door, opening it so they wouldn’t have to slow down. Cate ran on ahead, though Alex couldn’t see what she was doing since the sun was still bright outside. “Remember to not slow down,” she called out.
Alex continued on through the door, and quickly realized why Cate had repeated that simple warning. The scene before his eyes was, to put it simply, shocking. There were a mass of people, several of whom were running around, checking on the people seated. The people sitting weren’t merely resting; they were strapped to their chairs, with their eyes propped open and staring as if horrified like the scene out of “Raiders of the Last Ark”. In front of each person was a little video camera, and there were people running back and forth applying eye drops, recording events, and checking on everyone. Alex saw several faces he recognized, but he didn’t have time to stop and identify people if he hoped to keep moving at a steady pace, though he did notice Cate recording his expression with her phone. He’d have to get her back for this.
He walked steadily forward, trying to ignore the few faces he recognized, but he did notice a few from Carbondale, New Orleans and Texas. He reached the middle of the group, making sure to establish eye contact with each girl sitting in the chairs facing him to test whether any were actually Seers that he could activate, but since they were each incapacitated, he couldn’t be sure whether they were or not. The entire room was silent, despite the large number of people, as everyone was either focused on him, on watching the strapped in women, or were unable to move. He also noticed that Ryan, of Meg and Ryan, was one of those strapped to a chair.
“Stop,” he called, and glanced around finally, taking in who was around him, but he didn’t comment, finally just announcing “Start”, as he walked to the waiting women facing away from him. He stopped when he was parallel to them, but unable to see their eyes, and said “Stop” again. As expected, he couldn’t recognize any of the faces from that angle.
“Start”, he said before walking forward. He didn’t bother calling this time, assuming it would be obvious. Instead he merely stopped for a moment before turning around and facing the three women. This time he could tell from their reactions that each was a Seer. But he was also watching their eyes. It was hard to see much, since their eyes already looked very large, but he noticed how their pupils shrank once they were activated and they got that famous ‘glassy’ eyed look.
“Is that everything?” he called out. Instead of answering, Cate looked inquiringly at Caity. She flashed them a thumbs up.
“That’s it, Alex. We’re all set.”
“Good, then let’s let these poor people loose. It looks like they’re being tortured.”
The silence in the large hall evaporated, as everyone hurried around, unstrapping everyone.
“Girls, I’ll talk to you in a minute, but I’m anxious to say hello to some old friends,” Alex explained before stepping into the chaos.
“Shanna, I honestly didn’t expect to be seeing you again. Why are you involved with this?”
“Like I could avoid it,” she answered. “Besides, helping here is just part of what I’m doing. I’ve got to establish a regional office to handle the travel business for all your new fans. I’m thinking California, which is only a short distance from here.”
“So I take it this crazy idea of handling everyone’s travel plans is working out?” Alex asked a little doubtfully.
“It sure as hell is. Everyone you’ve ever met wants to meet everyone else. I’ve been running people back and forth. Not only that, but their family and friends usually want to travel with them so they can understand what’s happening, and they end up using my services. Who do you think arranged the travel plans for everyone here?”
“Well, thanks for arranging everything. But I’ll tell you what, how about next time you let me know what’s happening somewhere along the line?”
“What, and cross Cate? Are you crazy? You may make the decisions, but one word from her and you’d drop me in a second. I’m not about to take that kind of chance.”
“Hey, Alex, it’s us, Car—”
“Of course I know who you are, Carolyn and Kristi. Like I could ever forget you. You were the first people I activated in New Orleans at that introductory concert Patricia arranged. I take it that Lekesia was indisposed?”
“Yeah, she and her mother don’t have a lot of extra money, and they’re trying to save to give Lekesia’s baby the best chance. Plus Noel didn’t want to leave because her fertile period is arriving soon, and she wanted to try to get pregnant via Dr. Hannah.”
“Ah, that makes sense. How are the two of you doing? Neither one of you is showing.”
“Nah, it’s only been a month. We won’t show until the third or fourth.”
“So what’s going on?”
“Well, I’ve gotten back with my family, like you suggested,” Carolyn said. “It went fairly well. I suspect my aunt might be a Watch… I mean a Seeker, but she wasn’t anxious to commit to the concept yet.”
“I’ve been talking to Amy Ray and Tina Shaw about getting a sorority started when I start school again in the fall,” Kristi told Alex. “I’m excited to be reaching out to others in school like me, and even trying to teach those not like us in the hopes we can somehow trigger a natural adaptive behavior. Maybe we can force them to adapt, to become more ‘Seeker like’.”
“Well, I suggest you talk to Cate about that. After all, she’s the best for determining just how realistic that might be. But it certainly sounds like a valid goal,” Alex said, proud that they were both still so motivated.
“Hey there, Alex. Man, I’m glad to be out of that contraption,” Ryan Shafer said, anxious to speak to Alex and hopefully make some amends.
“Uh, thanks Ryan,” Alex replied, nervously watching to see how he reacted. “I can understand that. It looked like some medieval torture when I first walked in.”
“Believe me, it felt like it. When they first started planning this, they were talking about doing this in a tent out in the middle of the desert. Can you imagine not being able to blink as sand gets blown into your eyes? As uncomfortable as this was, it was better than that alternative.”
“Hey, Alex, it’s good to see you again,” Megan Abrams, Ryan’s girlfriend said as she joined them, hoping to intervene on Ryan’s behalf. “And in case you’re wondering, we’ve talked it over with Becky. She’s of the opinion that Ryan is OK as long as we watch his exposure to you. If he’s exposed for too long, he’s liable to have problems, but for short periods he should be fine. He doesn’t seem to have the negative reactions that certain other men might have, but he does have some. You’ll have to talk it over with her, but she says that you need to watch their pupils, just like you do the Seers. If they dilate noticeably upon meeting you, it’s probably a warning, and how much they dilate probably indicates just how severe it is. That will be important to learn, and we’re hoping Ryan can play a big part in that process, since he represents a certain threshold between what’s safe and what’s problematic.”
“Well, that’s reassuring to know,” Alex replied, giving both a big hug, “and I’ll have to talk with her to iron out the details. I just want you to know, Ryan, that I never blamed you for what happened. Instead I blamed myself for putting myself into a bad situation. Hopefully, with what you can teach us, I can potentially avoid such situations in the future, though I suspect if I just listen to my own intuition I can simply avoid those situations altogether.”
“Oh, but that’s just the thing,” Ryan said, addressing Alex directly, looking him squarely in the eyes so he could evaluate him while they spoke, as they’d rehearsed beforehand, “I’d never ask you to redo what you did. Sure, it was uncomfortable, and I really embarrassed myself over it, but what you did for Megan has made had a big impact in her life, and apparently what they’ve learned from studying me will make a big difference as well. As such, it really helps to make me feel better about myself and the role I can play in your mission.”
“Well, that’s not really the reaction I would have expected. I was thinking you were probably still pissed at me.”
“No, not at all. Apparently this is a ‘manageable condition’. In my case I simply need to limit my exposure, like I would with alcohol. If I have too much exposure to you I’ll act like I’m drunk, in that I’ll act stupidly, saying and acting like I normally wouldn’t allow myself to. In the case of others, they need to react like alcoholics and simply avoid any contact with you at all. Hopefully, learning how to spot who fits into either camp should simplify your life tremendously.”
“You’re right, it’s a major advancement, and if it turns out we can reliably depend on it then it will change how we operate. I’m glad you stuck around and didn’t simply run off, like I’d have likely done.”
“Well, I’ve got to credit Megan for that. It seems she was bothered by how I was blaming myself, and refused to let me simply ignore what happened. She forced me to talk about it, and instead of blaming me she pressed me to explore what happened. As we hashed it out, she uncovered certain things that had never occurred to me. So much of what you’re seeing today is because of her efforts. Cate sent us some of your shirts, and several of us in Dallas did a test, much like this, where they established what reactions to look for. This effort today was to determine how I responded to your higher levels of energy. However it doesn’t seem to be so much the levels, as it is the exposure over time. But even now I can feel some negative emotions that I’d previously attributed to uncertainty about you. Knowing what it is, now, certainly helps me manage it.”
“Well, thank you both for going above and beyond the call of duty. You’ve really made a difference, and I’ll always value that. Now, if you don’t mind, maybe we should keep our exposure short, so let me mingle a little more and we can talk later for shorter durations, rather than spending too much time all at once.”
“Actually, we have plans for that, too,” Caity said, coming up from behind. “Sorry to interrupt, but I felt I needed to intervene to explain some of what we’d learned. I flew in from San Antonio, having taken a few days off of work just to be here for this. By the way, Lists couldn’t be here today but he really wanted to. He’s expecting me to tell him whatever we learn, since he’s so curious about it.
“We plan on having you spend time with Megan and Ryan later, just so we can watch you together. That way we can determine what the tipping point is, when the exposure gets to be too much for Ryan. If we can determine that, it would make a big difference in not only identifying potential problems, but it would also allow people like Ryan to still be a member of your organization while also minimizing the threat to you personally.”
“I’m also hoping that knowing about the problem in advance, I may be able to control myself better,” Ryan explained. “Before it appeared I would invent excuses to justify how I felt towards you. Now, I’m hoping my conscious mind can ride herd on my emotional responses, and I can simply tell myself to take a break. So this will be a test for me as much as it’s a test for you and the others.”
“We’re planning on doing this over dinner tonight,” Caity said. “There will be several of us there, so we can watch how the two of you interact, hopefully picking up any other clues to watch for.”
“OK, that’s good to know, but again, let’s not push our luck now, since there’s so much else we can do to diffuse the situation,” Alex laughed. Ryan, smiling himself, waved as Alex backed away, heading to where they were studying the results of the tests.
“So, how have you been doing Caity? By the way, I’ve got someone you should meet. You already know each other, but I think you have much more to talk about now than you did before.” Here Alex turned aside, preparing to yell, but before he could, Gini touched his shoulder announcing she was already behind him.
“Hello, Caity. It looks like we’re sisters of a sort, now,” Gini said, by way of a greeting.
“Wow, I can’t believe the difference in you,” Caity responded. “Before, whenever we’d talk you were flighty, unable to maintain eye contact for long, and you appeared to be tightly wound and defensive. Now you seem open, friendly and relaxed. I can see Alex’s treatments really made a difference.”
“Yeah, they sure did. It wasn’t an easy process, but it had fairly immediate results. But he went beyond that. We’ve been spending a lot of time together, and each time I have a negative reaction, he steps in and helps retrain my brain. The end result is that now I’m relaxed around people, and I no longer jump when I see hear something unusual. I no longer have bad dreams, and I feel I can be productive again.”
“Uh, excuse me for being indiscreet here, but does that mean that you and Alex are, uh, spending a lot of time alone together?”
Here Gini laughed gently. “Yes, we are, but not in the way you think. I decided I wasn’t ready to start fooling around yet. As beneficial as it would be to get boosted by him, I wanted to make sure I was recovered first. But we actually do sleep together, and by that I mean exactly that. We sleep near each other, much like he and Cate do. That way, if I wake up in the middle of the night having suffered a bad dream, he can step in immediately. And who knows, maybe if I feel comfortable enough, I might decide to take the extra step and get boosted as well.”
“Well, I’ll tell you, it will mean the world to those suffering from PTSD that knew you back at the clinic at the Brooke Army Medical Center. Knowing that there’s a treatment that not only works, but can effectively cure it, will help, even if they can’t get the treatment themselves. As Lists keeps saying, simply knowing what works and what doesn’t will shape our own treatment options.”
“We should really talk in depth, I’d love to describe what the experience was like, as well as catching up on everyone I left behind.”
“I’ll tell you what, you two take the time to discuss the details, and I’ll keep talking to everyone else. After all, I don’t need to be embarrassed by listening to you talk about all the mistakes I made along the way. I’ll see you later,” and with that Alex wandered off again.
“Molly, it’s a pleasure to seeing you, but first, let me say hello to someone else. Nikki, it’s wonderful to see you again, too. I’m sure this separation has been tough on you,” he said as he gave Nikki Gordon, his ‘lost sheep’, a big hug. She happily hugged him back.
“You wouldn’t believe it, Alex. Each day separated from you is a day too long, but the time apart has been good for me. I’ve learned to stand up for myself. I told my shrink off, as you know, and you were there when I first confronted my family, but I’ve been doing even more. I’ve reestablished contact with many of my older college friends and other family members who’d effectively written me off. Now I’m a capable independent woman, and I’m planning on going back to finish off my education. Except now I’ll be attending SIU with everyone else, and I’m planning on either studying medicine or science.”
“Well, if you do, you should discuss what areas we’re lacking. After all, the last thing we need is to have everyone in the organization studying the same things,” Alex laughed. “Molly here could probably help advise you, since she has so much experience advising students, though I’m sure that Cate knows what everyone is currently planning on studying. I think we have enough people going into medicine and genetics, so if you’re thinking of either field, you might look at taking up a specialty within the field instead.”
“Believe me, I’m well aware of the problems, and I’ve been talking to the other girls planning to attend SIU, including several of the girls from your high school, all of whom wanted me to tell you how much they miss you. By the way, they asked me to give you this, from them,” she said, as she proceeded to give him a serious lip lock.
Alex, blushing when they finished, continued. “Say, you didn’t say so, but two of those future SIU students include a couple that are especially close to me. Any idea why Kitty and Chalise didn’t volunteer to help out?”
“Actually, I’m sorry to tell you that they wanted to, but they already had some travel plans scheduled somewhere else so they couldn’t make it. But they both wanted me to tell you that they miss you, and they’re anxious to talk to you tonight to find out how it went. As much as they love you, they also feel close to each of your followers, and they are anxious to hear how we’re all doing. They talk about you all the time, but they’re in an enviable position. Since everyone knows the role they play in your life, they’re treated as queens. Anything they say people listen to, since it’s widely considered they know you better than anyone else, excepting Cate, of course.”
“Well, I’m sorry to have missed them,” Alex admitted. “I really miss them. Having to leave them behind was really hard, but I also knew how difficult it would have been on them to follow me around, since I couldn’t pay much attention to them on this trip. Make sure you tell them how much I miss them, and give them each a big hug from me as well.”
“Believe me, they know,” Molly, the law professor at Southern Illinois University, told him. “They understand just how conflicted you are, and they both stand behind you fully. They know what you’re doing is very important, and neither wants you to compromise what you’re doing on their account. They both think much more of you that you’d put your own desires aside in order to help all the people you are. Also, I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know, each of the girls from Eldorado High who are coming to SIU are really dedicated and seem to be applying themselves, so I’m sure they’ll do quite well. We get together to discuss their education, especially in relation to your mission, and yes, we discuss what each person should study to spread out our talents to ensure we spread the wealth of knowledge, if you will. They’re also planning to help each other, so that the others will know what they’re learning, in case something happens to one of them then others can help stand in for them.”
“Wow, it’s good to know my influence hasn’t waned while I’ve been gone. I’d have thought many of them would have moved on, having found new boyfriends by now.”
“Oh, don’t worry, they’ll never forget you, Alex,” Nikki assured him, “although a few have found new boyfriends, including the other Alex. He’s been visiting the Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Association on campus, and he’s met a nice boy that we all approve of. He wanted you to know that we’ve vetted him, so he feels sure he’s made a good decision.”
“Well, that’s certainly good to hear. It’s especially nice knowing that you’re all looking out for each other,” Alex responded, smiling widely at the memory of all those he’d left behind.
“Ai Satō has been getting along famously with Frank Hou. I’m sure you remember they started going together near the end of your school year. But the other girls are all waiting for school to start, figuring their chances of finding someone decent will be better when there are more people to pick from. And they each plan on having any future boyfriends vetted by your girls in Carbondale. Anyone who doesn’t fit in, or who can’t deal with the people in your life, are automatically out.”
“Just be sure they give everyone they meet a fair chance,” Alex replied, laughing at the comments. “After all, I’m not much to look at initially, but I have a tendency to grow on you. By the way, how’s Brian? I still worry about how he’ll fit in.”
“Oh, Brian’s having no troubles at all,” Molly informed him. “Everyone sees him as being a natural guy, even if he isn’t that big. Besides that, with a close friend like Darrel, and the support and acceptance of so many people, I don’t think he’ll have any problems. He attends meetings with Alex, so he’s prepared for college life and has already made several friends, although he hasn’t met his ‘significant other’ yet.”
“Wow, I’m impressed. It’s great being able to reconnect and learning what’s happening with everyone I left behind. By the way, what have each of you been doing here?”
“I’ve been doing what I do best, checking the documents and the record keeping of everyone else,” Molly answered, as Nikki seemed more than happy simply clutching Alex’s hand. “Nikki here has been in charge of water and snacks for everyone, which as you can imagine, being stuck in the desert as we are, is pretty important. Caity was in change of measuring the girls’ responses. Carolyn and Kristi, who you spoke to earlier, were responsible for strapping and releasing everyone. Shanna, as always, was working on the scheduling, including planning how to arrange things around your schedule, which I’m sure you’re aware you’ve changed on us several times.”
“Yeah, sorry about that, but as you know, things tend to come up unexpectedly. So what about Liv and Allison? Although I see them hunched over in the corner, I haven’t managed to speak to them yet.”
“Yeah, they’re in charge of the whole test. Liv in measuring the responses, and Allison was in charge of the multiple video cameras recording everyone. It looks like they’re finishing up, so you should try talking to them now.”
“By the way, there are a couple more surprises waiting for you back in Vegas,” Nikki teased, as he begged his excuse and started walking away. “I’m not allowed to tell you what it is, but I’m sure you’ll be pleased,” she informed him, taking great delight in piquing his curiosity.
“I can imagine. As much as I hate these surprises, they’re generally pretty nice,” Alex shouted back before he approached his two medical experts, who were busy studying the computer results on the laptops in front of them.
“So I see you two have been keeping yourselves pretty busy.”
“Alex, just the person we were hoping to talk to. Excuse us if we don’t kiss you hello right now, but we figure there will be plenty of time for that later, and we have our hands full at the moment,” Allison said, hardly taking her eyes of the screen as images of the various test subjects danced in front of her face.
“Yeah, Cate got us all busy, sending us messages via Gail,” Liv said from her own position examining data tables on her own monitor. “She told us not to talk to you about it, which would have upset us, but she also explained that you’d authorized her to take care of the task on her own, so we didn’t worry about betraying you too much.”
“Well, normally I’d be pretty upset by that omission,” Alex told them, “but it seems to have worked out in this case, and Cate and Gail are pretty good at figuring what I’m good at handling, and when I need to concentrate on other things. So, what have we learned so far?”
“Well, right off the bat, we’ve determined the ranges new Seers and Seekers can perceive you at,” Allison told him. “An unactivated Seer can detect you around the 8 to 12 mile mark, depending on their respective strengths. I’m guessing that those that use their abilities more, like those in the service fields, are better at it than those who haven’t used them much. However, they can’t pick out what direction you’re in until you get much closer.”
“They seem to pick up the general direction around 3 to 4 miles away, and they can pinpoint it only within a mile or two. The Seekers have the same responses, but at closer distances. The Seekers can generally feel you at about the five mile mark, but can’t seek you out until you get within a mile.”
“We’re also seeing variations in the people’s responses,” Allison informed him. “We don’t know if those are inborn, whether it’s their use of their abilities or what, but if we can identify what differentiate the variations it should help you picking people to put in charge, as well as helping us train people.”
“So it really makes sense to train people, even if I can’t get to them right away,” Alex observed. “Having them hone their abilities beforehand would likely make them better once I boost them.”
“Well, we can’t actually make a causal connection like that yet, since we don’t have any evidence to back it up, but we do know that using the ability heightens it. Whether that use takes place before or after activation is a separate question.”
“I should have known neither of you would give me a straight answer. I suspect you’ve both been hanging around my sisters too long. By the way, where’s Becky at? I heard she was responsible for organizing and conducting most of these tests.”
“Oh, sorry, but she’s busy trying to finish some important parts of her genetics research. She wanted to make sure you call her this evening, as she’s been anxious to talk to you about it.”
“Yeah, I never got a chance to thank her for putting some crazy ideas in Cate’s head earlier,” Alex snarled a little.
“Crazy ideas?” Liv asked, intrigued what she may have gotten up to.
“Never mind, I’m sure the other girls can describe what happened. Let’s just say she suggested something to Cate that got me into a lot of trouble. But let’s keep on topic for now. How accurate were your estimates on who were Seekers and who were Seers?”
“Oh, we were spot on. We were a hundred percent accurate in both cases,” Liv proudly stated.
“That was my impression when I did the activations. Even though I couldn’t see their reactions while they were strapped down, I had the clear impression that each one was successfully activated.”
“Have you spoken to them yet?” Allison asked out of curiosity, even as she made some notations in her notebook.
“Not yet, I wanted to be sure I had time to spend with them. I didn’t want to give them a cold shoulder by giving them only a casual introduction. I take it they’ve been given the whole introduction?”
“Yeah, one second,” Liv said, pausing for a moment. “Gail is currently working with them about what their visions mean. We try to give them an overview, but they really need a hands on introduction, since you really can’t describe what the colors mean when there are no words for what they’re seeing, and they couldn’t associate colors they couldn’t see even if we had them.”
“So how long did it take to plan all of this?” Alex asked, intrigued in how far this subterfuge extended.
“It’s been a bit over a week,” Liv told him. “I believe you first suggested the whole thing when you and Cate had that discussion when you were leaving Oklahoma City about eight days ago. Though we were all prepared to meet you here before you went to Utah, but Cate cancelled it when you got sidetracked with Gini.”
“Yeah, that would make sense. So you think you can determine who’s going to be a stronger Seer or Seeker? That should help in deciding who to boost?”
“Ah, yes we can, but I’m not sure we should use that to influence you,” Liv cautioned. “As we said, those in the service fields seen to be more experienced in using their intuitions, but that just might be experience that they could always gain after boosting, as well. We think your decisions so far have been spot on, since they incorporate a lot more information than we could calculate, like their life experiences, their relationships, and how useful they can be to the movement, not to mention how personable they are. Those are the types of things that only you could evaluate on the spot.”
“I should have known you’d be no help,” Alex playfully complained. “You’ve all been around my family too much.”
“By the way, make sure you thank Cate for all of this. Although she couldn’t take part since she’s been so… uh, intimately involved with you, she was really the one who set everything up, who gave everyone their marching orders, and who assigned them their individual tasks. She’s not only got an amazing mind and a wonderful connection to you, but she’s a scheduling demon,” Liv said.
“Don’t worry, I plan on giving her something for all of this. I just have to decide what it’s going to be, at this point.”
“Hey, do I sense someone using my name in vain?” Cate teased, coming up from behind them.
“Cate, in the future, if you start something this major, could you at least tell me what you’re working on, even if you don’t need to give me the details, just so I’ll know what’s on the horizon?”
“Alex, you’re always so focused, we’re afraid to spring too much on you,” Cate told him. “You need your full attention on what’s happening to you as it happens. Burdening you with what we’re doing on the side wouldn’t help. We’ll always tell you when you need to know something, and the final decision on what to do with it is always in your hands, but I’ll keep making sure your mind is where it needs to be. And lately, your mind needed to be on Gini, the Paiute village in Utah, and other things. We really didn’t need your help on this.”
“OK, when you explain it like that it makes sense, I guess. Still, you know how much I dislike surprises.”
“I know, but the expression on your face was just so funny. I already e-mailed the pictures I took when you entered the hall to everyone. Mom, Dad, Becky, and Kitty and Chalise, as well.”
“Hey, and here I thought you were supposed to be working on my side,” Alex complained.
“Hey, you’ve got no problems impressing anyone. If I can help demystify you so people can relate to you on a more human level, I figure I’m helping you out plenty,” Cate responded.
Alex simply sighed, knowing she’d won another battle before he’d even managed to pick a fight with her. “So how much do you still have to do?”
“Well, we’ve done about as much as we can here,” Liv answered, taking the time to smile at him. “The rest will take some more careful analysis. We might be able to glean some additional facts out if we can play with the numbers for a bit. But you should be fine to go if you want. In fact you should probably take everyone with you.”
“That’s OK, I’d like to meet with the new girls before I go anywhere. So what else is planned? I understand there’s another surprise when I reach Vegas, and no doubt you have plenty of things planned for me in the city?”
“I figured that news would leak out,” Cate said, “but you’ll find out what we have waiting for you when you get there. I’m not about to spoil that surprise, as I suspect you’ll like that one even more than you did this one. As for the rest of your time in Vegas, I want you to take it easy, although easy is the last word you’d use to describe it. I figure you’re going to be busy boosting new girls, reacquainting yourself with your fans, and spending time with everyone you haven’t seen for a while. Just assume you’re going to be spending the whole time in your hotel room. If anyone shows up looking for you, we have plenty of people to identify them and bring them up to meet you. But don’t forget, you also have concerts tonight and tomorrow, and then you’ll be heading on to California after that, so you’re going to be busy no matter how you cut it.”
“Yeah, that’s about the extent of my life, I spend all my time either in bed, sitting in the park or at a mall, and yet I get no rest whatsoever,” Alex teased.
“Oh, cry me a river,” Cate teased back. “If I got as much tail as you do, and quite loving fawning tail at that, I could hardly complain. As it is, my own love of my life barely has any time to romance me, and Kitty and Chalise’s boyfriends are so busy they hardly ever get to see them. So consider yourself lucky. Now go say hello to your new followers, I’m sure they’re ready to pee themselves in anticipation.”
Alex made sure he kissed her in response, just to show her he didn’t mean anything by the teasing. He also gave Liv and Allison kisses in thanks for all the work they put in. He had no idea what this little ‘experiment’ cost, or whether it was paid for by each individual or by some central fund by the Foundation. He’d have to find that information out later. Right now he had some other things to do.
“OK, someone told me this is where I could find all the beautiful intelligent women,” Alex teased as he approached the group of new Seers and Seekers. However, instead of waiting for him to approach, they’d been busy conversing with Gail, a few of the other Seers, and each other. But when Alex announced his approach all those conversations halted.
“Alex!” happily announced someone he’d never met before.
He quickly tried to take everyone in. From what he remembered, there were three Watchers… eh, Seekers and three Seers. There were also several ‘controls’, but he’d meet with them just before dinner.
“That’s me, and don’t you ever forget it. After all, after today it may be a long time before you see me again. But, if nothing else, you’ll always be likely to remember these eyebrows, even if you don’t remember anything else.”
“You have eyebrows?” one of the girls, a blonde, asked before breaking into giggles.
“Yeah, you wouldn’t believe them,” another girl responded, a young thing barely 80 pounds soaking wet, “he’s got the most obnoxious eyebrows you’ve ever seen, but on him they just make him look even sexier.”
“Hey, no one has ever called my eyebrows sexy before. Speaking of which, someone tell Jordan I need a new eyebrow trim,” Alex responded, speaking to the whole group rather than anyone in particular, even though he knew none of them would even know who the hell Jordan was.
“So, do your pubic hairs grow as wildly as those eyebrows?” asked another of the Seekers, this one a somewhat mousey brunette with dark glasses. She was grinning a bit too much to carry it off, though. Still, Alex laughed.
“There’s only one way to find out, ladies. Now, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, my name is Alex,” here they all groaned, just to show that it was an unnecessary introduction, “and who might each of you be?”
“I’m April Pruit,” said the blonde, who was pretty, even if she was a bit too pretty to take seriously. She had blonde hair that surrounded her face in long sweeping curls, very fine skin, blood red lipstick covering her thick lips, and deep blue eyes that contrasted with her choice of lipstick. Alex would have to be careful that he didn’t become lost in those eyes, but he knew he’d be saved by her inability to look at him for long. “I’m related to Valerie Albright. I’m her second cousin, and I’m an aspiring actress, although I’m trying to get into filmmaking.”
“Hey, small world. So how is Valerie?” Alex asked, recalling the tiny blonde girl who’d rented Allison’s apartment in New Orleans, and who, with her other two Seeker roommates, had voluntarily surrendered their apartment to him in exchange for meeting him.
“Oh, she’s doing well,” April answered, smiling even brighter. “She says she’s never felt as good as she has since she first met you in New Orleans when you first arrived there. She contacted everyone in the family. She only found one other, an Aunt who’s a Seeker, but she couldn’t get out of her job to get here this weekend.”
“Well, tell her I miss her, and I’m sorry I never got a chance to spend that much time with her,” Alex said before turning to the next girl.
“I’m Anna Knox,” replied a smiling brunette with tight curls and a fairly athletic build. “I’m Natalie’s cousin, her dad’s brother’s daughter,” she explained. “I live in Cleveland and we were afraid I’d never get the chance to meet you, so this worked out well for me.”
“Natalie, huh? Well tell her thanks for arranging this. She was a Seeker, so did you suspect you were a full Seer, or were you gambling on how this turned out?” Alex asked. Natalie was the first Seeker that Alex approached, the waitress in their hotel in New Orleans he met when he first introduced Shani to his family.
“Oh, from her descriptions we were pretty sure I was a Seer, but we couldn’t be sure until we got here. But after they ran their initial test on me, they said they were fairly certain.”
“Yeah, Patricia’s initial questionnaire was pretty good, but this newest test seems to be much more accurate,” Alex agreed. “So am I anything like she described me?”
“Well, yes and no,” she responded. “She sent me a picture initially, so I had an idea of what you looked like before, but when she described how she perceived you, I’d thought she’d lost it. But her description doesn’t even begin to do you justice.”
“Well, you’re intuition about my plans was spot on. I’m planning on heading north to Seattle, then west to Chicago, then back home before possibly trying to the east coast, so Cleveland would have been way down the list.
“And how about you?” Alex asked, pointing to the last of the Seers. “If I’m not mistaken, you don’t look American. Is your family from somewhere else, or did you travel here from farther away than the others?”
“I’m Camile Hurst, or Cami. Yes, I’m from England. I’m related to Grace Barlow. She called me from New Orleans, telling me about how she’d first met you, and about how the people in New Orleans told her how to spot others like her. I’m a relative from the old country. Some of the family settled in North Carolina, others went to Texas, but we’d originally come from England, and that’s where I still live.”
“Oh,” Alex said, suddenly frowning, “have you spoken to her lately? Do you know about…,” he asked, afraid to spell it out in case she hadn’t.
“Oh, yes, that was a frightful bit of news. I was afraid you might not want to see me when I first heard about it, but everyone assured me that you wouldn’t hold it against me. Though I’m a bit afraid to introduce you to anyone else in the family, for fear they might have whatever made her father so crazy.”
“Well, hopefully they’ve gathered enough information so you can judge how they’d react on your own. But, if I’m not mistaken, they’re likely to get crazy towards you before they’d ever figure out who I am.”
“There is that. Obviously I’ve been discussing this very topic. It seems each of your girls knows quite a bit about how you seen to piss people off.”
“And what do you do, Cami?”
“I’m a farm girl, but I’m into sports, reading and I bike a lot. I typically spend about a month every year biking across the continent. Now that I know about the community here, I plan on biking across the States as well. I’m thinking maybe I’ll start in New Orleans and bike to your home town, maybe ending up in Chicago before coming back again.”
“That sounds quite ambitious, though I’m not sure how good you’ll find the roads for bikes in that area of the country. No one has held Anthony’s actions against you, have they?”
“Oh no, sir. They’ve all treated me quite well. I’ve got to say I’m most impressed with everyone I’ve met here. Even that Ryan fellow that supposedly caused you so much trouble.”
“Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with Ryan. We’re just now learning what set him off, but it wasn’t that we didn’t get along. As far as I can tell, he’s a real stand-up sort of guy, and the fact he’d come back and stand up for himself after what happened between us says more about him than anything else.”
“I just wish the same was true of Grace’s pop, Anthony. Somehow I can’t see him responding in quite the same way.”
“No, I doubt it as well. Look, since we don’t have anyone else in Europe at the moment, how’d you like the job of my ambassador there? You could seek out anyone you suspect might have your abilities there and let them know what to expect, as well as telling them how to establish contacts here if they need to.”
“I’d be highly honored, sir. Anything I can do to help you out.”
“Thanks, and quit calling me ‘sir’. You’re in America, now, and we stand on our informality,” Alex smilingly replied. “Now, I believe that leaves my three Seekers,” he said, turning to the others.
“I’m Josey Villanueva, and these are Frankie Nolan and Faith Tabernacle,” the skinny young thing announced, taking the lead role amongst the three young girls who almost looked similar enough to be sisters.
“Well it’s nice to meet you al… wait, did you say ‘Faith Tabernacle’?”
“Yes, it was my father’s idea of a practical joke, though I’ve kept it despite the teasing it’s generated over the years, since we share the same sense of humor,” Faith patiently explained. “The family thought it was humorous, since we’re all atheists.”
“You should get along well with Alex then,” Cate said, breaking in from where she’d been standing, listening in. “So is Alex, although he has no one else to relate to, since everyone else around him believes in one form of spirituality or another. So far we have Christians, Buddhists, a Vietnamese spiritualist, a couple of Native American believers in spirits, and a few others. We haven’t reached any conclusions on the nature of God, other than she has a funny sense of humor in sending Alex to do her work for her.”
“I’m sure I’ll enjoy discussing it with everyone, though we’ll have to talk fast as there’s a lot of people here, and I can’t talk to people long distance quite as easily as others here can,” she responded.
“So what is it you do, Faith?” Cate asked, trying to keep the conversation moving.
“Oh, I’m a Dental Hygienist. I live here in Vegas, and I’m related to Linny Gabberts. If you don’t remember, she’s—”
“Don’t worry, we manage to remember almost everyone we encounter,” Alex said, “and if I have any trouble remembering, Cate manages to keep excellent records of everyone. Linny is the little cowgirl we met between Dallas and San Antonio.”
“Yep, that’s her. I go out there occasionally to ride with her, since we share a love of horses, but it’s too hard to keep them out here.”
“Excuse me, but you look a little young to have a full time job,” Cate interrupted.
“No, I’m actually older than I look. I’m actually twenty years old.”
“That’s good to know. Although we don’t have many people here in Vegas yet, I’m sure we may be able to swing some business your direction, assuming the dentist you work with is any good,” Alex commented.
“Yes, si… Alex. He’s actually quite good.”
“We haven’t actually examined anyone’s teeth yet, but you should talk to Allison. She may have noticed something that I haven’t. She may know something that will help you.”
“I’m not sure it would help,” she responded. “Aside from being a Seeker, and being unable to see anyone’s energy, the teeth aren’t quite like skin or tissue, it’s largely like fingernails, bone or shells. I’d expect it to have little BCM in it to observe, and I’d also imagine it would make it hard to see any in the nerves below.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure, Alex has actually helped heal someone with bone cancer before. You see that girl over there, ask her about it. Gail and Allison had no problems seeing the cancer in her bones.”
“I’ll do that, but again, I’m not sure it would help since we have no Seers in our office, but it would help me learn what would be helpful and what wouldn’t,” she replied.
“And you realize what it would mean if it did, don’t you?” Cate grinned. “It would mean you’d be expected to give up your job, go back to school and become a dentist yourself, so you could do research on how the teeth form and what role BCM has in their development.”
“Oh, wow. I never considered getting into that level of detail before.”
“Well, consider it now. Alex expects the best from his people, and he supports them in their efforts, too,” Cate assured her.
“OK, we’re getting off track here,” Alex said, cutting the discussion short. “What about you, Josey?”
“As I said, my name is Josey Villanueva. My family isn’t Mexican, though, like the names sound. We’re American but of Spanish extraction. My family has been here for about five generations.”
“And what is it you do?”
“Well, I live in Boston, where I’m attending college at Brandeis University. I’m related to Sarah Hamm. She first contacted me about trying to establish a new sorority at my school, and while I haven’t had much luck yet, that got us talking. So when this opportunity came up she got me involved, knowing just how long it was likely to take you to reach there.”
“Yeah, it seems that no one wants to take the risk I may die before I reach the other end of the country,” Alex complained.
“What are you studying?” Cate asked, always trying to engineer what everyone should study to best help Alex’s mission.
“Probably nothing that would help you. I’m studying Jewish and women’s history. I plan on becoming a writer/historian, though I’m hoping to write a combination of history books, ongoing blogs, and whatever newspaper articles I can manage.”
“Well, it won’t help our knowledge base, but we can always use another writer,” Cate told her, looking thoughtful at the prospect.
“I never knew that Sarah was Jewish,” Alex commented. “All the time we spent together, and she never thought to mention it.”
“From what I heard, you never spent that much time together,” Josey commented.
“Although Alex never spends much time in any one place, people have a tendency to open up to him pretty quickly, thus they tend to tell him a lot more than they normally would,” Cate explained.
“Well, we don’t usually talk about our heritage much unless it comes up in the conversation, and that end of the family isn’t as religious as my end is.”
“None of you are orthodox, are you?” Alex asked.
“No, we belong to Reform Judaism, so we don’t follow the ancient tenets as much as the more orthodox do. There are a lot of fights in the community about it as a result, as you’d expect, given how much the various Protestant sects fight with each other, and they’ve only split up in the last several hundred years, while we’ve been fighting amongst ourselves for thousands of years.”
“Well, it’s a good thing we arranged this for today, then, as you might have had trouble participating if we’d done it tomorrow,” Alex observed.
“I knew you’d be here for at least two days, so even if I missed the experiment, I knew I’d at least catch you for one day. Besides, the dates been bouncing around, so I actually flew in early to make sure I’d be ready whenever you were available. And, just in case you were serious, this isn’t considered ‘work’.”
“I hope you didn’t have to spend a long time here?” Alex asked, bypassing how much he knew about the Jewish faith.
“Don’t worry, I’d gladly spend a lot more time and money for this honor, and the time I did spend here I used to talk to others like me. So it was more than worth it. Instead of the ancient history I study, this is all new history, unfolding before you even as you live your life. This gives me a unique perspective into my forefathers, and the women I emulate from the women’s emancipation movement.”
“Well, it looks like we’re running out of time. How about you, Frankie? Where’d you ever get the name ‘Frankie’ from, anyway?”
“It stands for Francine. I’ve always hated Francine, thinking it sounded like a girlie-girl from the eighteen hundreds. Frankie makes me stand out, and it keeps employers from discriminating against me before I get my foot in the door. I usually have to do a lot of explaining once I get there, but at least I get that far.”
“And you do?” Alex asked, hoping to move the conversation along.
“Oh, I’m an airline stewardess. I’m 21, I live in Chicago, and I’m a friend of Diane Tucker’s. While she turned out not to be a Seer, she learned enough about it to spot me for what I was. She had me fly out to New Orleans, which I’d been planning anyway, and they gave me the whole talk there. So when this turned up, they suggested I fly out.”
“Oh, how’s Diane doing? I was upset she’d feel like an outcast when she didn’t turn out to be a Seer like Patricia had thought, but I haven’t spoken to anyone about her lately.”
“She’s fine. She’s very involved in the community in New Orleans, and has already been to Carbondale to visit everyone there. She’s very much a part of the community, even if she doesn’t have the visions she’d anticipated having.”
“Good, I was hoping she wouldn’t get depressed, or that the others wouldn’t feel embarrassed by what they put her through.”
“No, I think they all know just what a crap shoot this all is. They manage to include everyone you select, regardless of where they fit into the structure.”
“Good, look, I hate to cut this short, but it looks like everyone else is getting antsy. How about we finish up, and we can continue after we get situated in Vegas. You’re all up for helping out at tonight’s concert, aren’t you?”
They agreed on both counts, so Alex got his act in gear, returned to his car, and proceeded to lead a virtual parade back to the city he’d only passed through once before. This was going to be interesting, as he had a lot of people to catch up with, a lot of new people to meet, and a lot of work to be done in the next two days.
“So what’s with the surprise,” Alex asked, as they neared their room. “I was expecting to see someone in the lobby, so unless it’s a pet snake to take care of your mice, I don’t know what to expect.”
“Don’t worry,” Cate assured him. “You’ll see in due time.”
“Hey, there you are. It’s about time,” Sammy called out, sticking his head out of the band’s room on the far side of Alex’s. He turned back and shouted to the others. “Hey, the big man is in the house.”
Before the threesome could reach the room, Patricia’s whole group swarmed out of their room and gathered around, as if waiting for something.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” Alex asked.
“Nope, we just missed you. After all, it’s been several days since we last saw you, and knowing you, a lot must have occurred.”
“Oh, it did,” Cate told them, happy to have someone to tell. “He cured a whole bunch of people, and several of the villagers had ‘spirit visions’ of him getting one of them pregnant with a ‘glowing spirit’ baby who’d finish the job of healing the whole village. Oh, by the way, could one of you take some of these cages for me. They’re getting hard to carry.”
“You’re shitting me,” the normally demur Patricia swore. “You mean we know who’s going to bear Alex’s heir?”
“Yep, her name is Winona. She’s gorgeous, if a bit obnoxious when hanging around Alex, but hopefully she’ll be better once she realizes she’s not his only girl.”
“Man, we’ve been waiting for this for ages,” Erica said, stating what everyone else was thinking.
“Do we have any proof of their claim?” Chelsea asked.
“Of course not,” Alex responded shortly. “It’s only been a day, and a pregnancy doesn’t show for several days even with our vision, and for all we know, we won’t know definitively for another five or ten years. Gail, are you opening the door or what?”
Gail didn’t say anything, she just turned and held the keycard out to Alex. Grumbling, he dropped his bag and took the key from her. He turned and opened the door, only to be confronted by two people he never expected to see.
“Surprise!” everyone behind him chorused.
Haley Hewitt enveloped him in her arms, even as Kayla Odell was trying to quickly limp up to join in the hug.
“What the hell are you two doing here?” Alex asked.
“We knew you were upset about not being able to help us, so when everyone was planning this experiment Gail suggested we join them. But Cate thought it would be a bigger surprise if we waited, and since Kayla is still having trouble walking we figured it would be better to say here.”
Alex gave them both a long hug, and when he finally broke long enough to usher them inside, he found his eyes were tearing.
“Before we do anything, lay down on the bed, one on each. I’ll see if I can do anything for you after all this time.”
They did as he asked, smiling at him as he approached them.
“We understand you’re not likely to be able to do anything, after all, the scarring of the wounds has already set in,” Kayla answered. “We’ve both been working in rehab, but that takes a long time.”
As Alex waited, Gail and Gini carried in the bags, while Cate happily filmed the three of them with her cellphone. Gail started to go back for the animal cages but the other girls brought them in for her, so she finally joined Alex and examined Haley first.
“It was an in-and-out without hitting anything major, but there’s minor scarring on either end and some along the path as well. But the tissue in between is still a bit dim, showing it’s still not at full strength.”
“OK, check out Kayla while I work on Haley,” Alex instructed her.
Since Gail hadn’t laid out where to do the work, Alex examined both her entrance and exit wounds, calculating the path the bullet had taken. He figured out the trajectory from there, and began applying his energy evenly across the whole pathway. He doubted it would make any difference this long after the fact, but Haley’s smile grew bigger the longer he worked. Since he felt guilty, he kept the treatment up longer than he really needed.
“So, make any difference?” Alex asked doubtfully.
“You’d better believe it. This is the only time it hasn’t hurt since it first happened.”
“Well, I don’t think I actually did anything, so it probably just relaxed the muscles. After all, I can’t imagine how it could serve as a pain killer. I suggest you do the exercises they gave you to stretch the muscles, and it may be more effective than it would be otherwise.”
Haley practically jumped up and moved to the far side, doing just that, her smile never fading the whole time. Alex felt bad, since she seemed convinced that he’d cured her, while Alex didn’t have any such confidence. Instead, he turned to Kayla.
“She had a through-and-through right here in her outer thigh. Again it’s mostly minor scar tissue that is restricting the movements of the leg. It will probably ease on its own with the exercises they have her doing, but….”
Alex stepped up and did essentially the same thing he’d done with Haley, only this time he ran his hand along her thigh as well as treating it from either end. She started to purr halfway through.
“Now, you can’t be feeling anything from what I’m doing,” Alex complained.
“Hey, when someone cures you, you can complain to them, but if you’re not the one who’s been shot, and who’s been struggling with her recovery, then you don’t get a vote,” she shot back.
“Still…,” he complained.
“Actually, if the scarring isn’t that extreme, it may have a healing effect,” Cate offered.
“Well, I’d suggest you do like Haley is. If nothing else, it should make the exercises you normally do more effective,” Alex suggested.
She sat up and kissed Alex in thanks before getting up and moving to the end of the bed to start her exercises.
“I’m really sorry I couldn’t stay to help after you were shot,” Alex said again.
“Alex, I was the one who told you to leave us alone,” Kayla reminded him. “Besides, your community all contributed so much in order to help us, that we started a small non-profit to help other injured people in the city.
“Really? You got that much?” Alex asked, stunned that it would have amounted to that much.
“Well, it wasn’t all from them. They covered the basic costs of treatment and planned therapies as soon as Gail announced the fund, but once they did, the other contributions started, and when everyone noticed how large the collection was getting it kind of snowballed. We talked about what to do with the funds, and after discussing it with some of your people, we called a lawyer and had them set up the “Guardian Angel Foundation”, which is assigned to help accident and victims of crime in the Dallas region. There was enough money that, as long as we don’t spend it too fast, should last for some time. Especially if we use it to cover whatever insurance, Medicaid and Medicare doesn’t.”
“And no one asked about the name?” Alex asked skeptically.
“We just explained that we named it that to spite the shooter, who thought he was trying to kill an angel. This was our revenge, since it was our guardian angel that kept us from being killed by him. The public loved it, especially when we smiled as we said it, wearing our low cut tops,” she answered with a cheeky grin.
They proceeded to talk for quite a while, detailing what had happened to each one, but mostly Alex. Cate explained about what happened after the shooting, covering the events in Oklahoma City and the other cities, Gini explained about what happened after he left Phoenix, and Cate resumed describing their adventures in the Paiute village.
“So let me get this straight,” Kayla said. “Not only have you expanded your mission to include whoever wants to join, and you’ve quit trying to hide from the public, but you’ve effectively solved the whole heir problem, and you’ve figured out how to boost more people than you can through simply having sex with everyone, and you’ve included a whole ‘nother nation of people to your mission. Is that about it?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say I’m telling the public at large about me, but essentially, yeah,” Alex admitted.
“Then it sounds like you have reason to celebrate. You’ve apparently assured the survival of your people after you’re gone, which hopefully won’t be for some time. You’ve not only healed a bunch of people, but your treatments are likely to change what treatments people get. Cate and Becky have officially documented your energy, and your followers are more organized and enthused than they’ve ever been. So just what the hell do you have to complain about now?”
Alex couldn’t say much to deny it, but he considered what she said as he sat there with a crooked smile. She was right. While it had been a complicated and busy month, he’d managed to accomplish a lot. And even if he died that very night it was very possible his whole mission would live on after him, and would even live on after the people he’d already activated died out. He couldn’t have expected any more. Anything he achieved from now on out was pure gravy, it helped, but it was no longer essential. He’d managed to accomplish what he was looking to do.
“How about we go get some food?” Alex asked. “If I stay here and everyone keeps congratulating me, my head will expand so much I won’t be able to carry it downstairs in a little while.”
The others laughed and they headed downstairs, looking forward to meeting everyone else.
“Becky? This is Alex, I understand you wanted to talk to me.”
“What, you don’t want to talk to me unless I’ve got an agenda?” she asked.
“No, of course not,” he replied, blushing from his oversight.
“Turn on the speakerphone,” Cate suggested.
Alex did so before speaking again. “You know that I miss you, but everyone has been surprising me with one thing after another today, so I’m a bit anxious about what you want to discuss with me.”
“Yeah, and we love you too,” Becky reassured him. “Actually, we knew you were going to call, so Melinda is here with me. She’s been involved with a lot of what I do, as well as supporting your other activities. Not only that, but she’s been studying up on both general genetics and physics, so hopefully she can make some sense of all the mysteries you bring up. She’s going to start her science sub-major when school starts in the fall, but right now, she can understand most of what I’m going to cover.”
“Well, I’m proud of her, that is if that’s what she really wants to do,” Alex added.
“It is,” Melinda told him. “I figure determining what’s going on with you is a family affair, so I’m going to do my part. I may not have the leg up that Becky and Cate do, but I want to do my part.”
“OK, that’s fine, but the point you wanted to discuss was?” Alex asked, trying to get them back on target. He always felt he was being set up in these prearranged encounters.
“Don’t worry,” Becky reassured him, “it’s nothing bad. Instead I wanted to reveal what I’ve managed to uncover in my research. You do remember I took over the entire genetic lab here for the summer to try to isolate which genes are affected, don’t you?”
“Yeah, of course I remember. In fact, if I remember correctly, I’m the one paying for this little ‘experiment’ of yours.”
“Yes, you are, and as such you need to be kept apprised of what we’ve discovered. I was ready to give you some updates a little while ago, but Cate suggested it would be better if I saved the updates until I had something specific to tell you. Well, that time is now.”
“Wait, you’ve already got results? I thought the whole idea was to run full scans on all the women, and then analyze the results after we had to give the lab back?”
“That was the initial idea, but I started to make some assumptions that helped me to isolate where to look. I figured the ‘S’ gene is in small region of the X chromosome inhibited by the male SRY gene, thus it’s turned off in males. It’s a region of the X-chromosome that is excluded by the presence of the SRY gene on the male Y-chromosome. That’s why most of your followers are female. What’s more, if it were placed anywhere else there would be more things that would cause its nonexpression. But, by focusing on that region, I was able to cut out a lot of unnecessary research and analysis. I still did the full workup on your women here, but I’m focusing the analysis on these specific regions, and I think I’ve got it identified, at least to three or four specific locations. I’m not positive on which one it is yet, but I’m pretty sure I know which one it is. That means that we can run tests to identify who has the gene, and we could even run the test on either the baby’s blood or the mother’s placenta blood to identify whether anyone’s child will be either a Seer or a Seeker.”
“Wait a minute. This is major. But I thought that there were actually two different ‘S’ genes?”
“You’re close, but not quite. What we said was that it takes a double presentation. A gene ‘presents’ itself if it’s active, although a ‘double presentation’ is fairly unique. If someone has a single ‘S’ gene, theoretically on either X chromosome, then they’d be a Seeker, though it would really need to be on the active X-chromosome to be expressed. As you can guess, with two competing X-chromosomes, one from each parent, one has to be active while the other would be inactive to prevent destructive over-expression, or different genes on different chromosomes competing with each other. So the ‘S’ gene needs to be on the active X-chromosome. But the idea is that if a person has the ‘S’ gene on both the X-chromosomes, then that would boost the effect, making them a full Seer. Thus it’s like getting a double dose, one from each parent.”
“OK, I think I can follow all of that. But now the big question is, do we want the ‘S’ gene identified? If that information got out, the Seers and Seekers could be tracked down, tested and imprisoned based upon a simple DNA test.”
“That’s why I’ve been riding such close herd over the research here. I didn’t want any of this information getting out. I think it’s secure, and the DNA scans of each woman are being stored in a climate controlled vault in a bank under someone else’s name, to prevent anyone from tracking it down based on an association with either you or I.”
“All right, that makes me feel better about it. So you’ve managed to do scientifically through genetics on what Cate’s managed to do via observational techniques?”
“Hey, don’t go giving Cate all the credit here. It was her idea, and she orchestrated it, but I was heavily involved in the initial testing, and I managed to determine the specifics we’ve been using to do the analysis with. Cate may be your favorite sister, but she’s hardly the only one doing the heavy lifting around here.”
“Sorry, I didn’t want to diminish your involvement, but I’m just trying to confirm that you’ve basically duplicated the results of her eye dilation technique using genetics, correct?”
“Yes, that’s correct. Which also goes a long way in both proving and demonstrating the abilities if we ever need to establish our claims.”
“Good, now what about the ‘A’ gene, the one that determines my abilities. If you could do the same with those, then we could potentially test each of my male children to—”
“Don’t assume it would only be the boys,” Becky cautioned him. “For all we know, you’re the only case we have, so the gene in question could be on either the X or the Y gene, meaning your heir could be either a boy or a girl. Everyone has been hoping it will be a girl, since combining the ‘S’ gene with the ‘A’ gene would be like a one-two punch. It would really boost the ability to perform miracles up a notch.”
“Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it, but in either case, if we can potentially test my children before they begin showing their abilities, it would be a major gain as well.”
“Well, I’m trying to do that. As you know, we’re being very careful with that, as we’ve had to mislabel your DNA tests so that no one can tie them to you, and there’s only one of you, so any single gene could be triggering these abilities, so it’ll take a minor miracle to correctly identify which one it is. But again, I think I’ve got the region it will be found on identified, and I’m zeroing in on some likely targets.”
“OK, that’s a start. And if you can’t identify it, it’ll get easier when we turn up some more cases of the ‘A’ gene.”
“Oh, most assuredly. That would help tremendously.”
“OK, you’ve done great, Becky. It sounds like we’re making huge leaps and bounds on several different fronts. When do you think you’ll confirm which gene is the ‘S’ gene?”
“Well, as I said, I pretty much know which one it is. But we just need to rule out a couple of alternatives, which means we need more samples so we can find instances of Seers without the other alternatives. That’s a longer process, but I’m pretty sure we know which one it is right now. It’s just not provable yet.”
“OK, another big advancement, which I’d never have known if I hadn’t wheedled it out of you.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be able to grill me in detail as much as you want in a little while,” Becky told him.
“Huh? Why? What happens in a little while?”
“Oh, nothing. I just mean that I’ll be done with the study soon, and I won’t be so preoccupied,” she answered, although it sounded to Alex like she wasn’t being completely forthcoming, but he was too excited by all the good news to worry about his suspicions at the moment.
“Man, I’m exhausted,” Alex commented after he lay back, having finished with Cate’s after sex snack. He’d managed to boost both April and Cami, and he’d done Anna earlier, but he knew he had to try to get to the other girls before the next day. He knew there would be others showing up throughout the day. In fact he’d been alerted that there was another girl waiting for him who’d joined the others downstairs earlier. Although it would be tough, he figured if he woke up in another five hours he could do Josey, then possibly manage Frankie and Faith with a twofer in the morning in the shower. After that he’d probably have to sleep all day to recover, and apply some energy and lotion to his poor frazzled dick, but at least he’d get everyone taken care of. Since they’d all flown in from so far off, he felt obligated to try to boost them all, especially since he didn’t want to show favoritism to the Seers.
But that wasn’t everyone he needed to be concerned with either. There were still the women from the concerts. He’d managed to put off all the women they’d encountered that night until later, but he’d have to boost some of the local women as well. Man, this being in charge of a new race of people took a hell of a lot of work, he reminded himself wearily.
They all curled up, settling in to sleep, lining up with Alex cuddling Cami, and Cate spooning him. They were about to drift off when they heard a loud banging on the door. Alex sat up, wondering what was happening.
“Stay there,” Gail insisted from the other bed where she was crowded beside the other girls. “I’ll take care of this, the rest of you, uh, take it easy.”
She got up and put her pants on and tossed a hotel robe over herself, slipping her handgun into the pocket on the off chance she may need it. Every so many minutes the rapid repeated knock would sound again, as if the person was either desperate to get in, or they weren’t sure anyone was home. Finally Gail headed to the door and checked out the peep hole.
“It’s Erica,” she announced as she unlocked the door. “I have no idea what she wants at this time of night. After all, she knows what your nights are like.”
When she opened the door, Erica shoved past her and ran to Alex, though it took her a minute to identify Alex amongst all the naked bodies lying together on the two beds in the darkened room.
“Alex, I don’t know what the hell you did, but you did it. You friggin’ boosted me!”
Both Alex and Cate sat up, surprised by this news.
“I’d been hoping I could convince you to sleep with me sometime before our tour ended, and I was thinking I wouldn’t get the chance, but you figured out how to do it. Not only do you manually boost six friggin’ women in one damn night, but you manage to do me too.”
“Where the hell were you?” Cate asked, intrigued by this unexpected news.
“Me, I was sitting in the bar downstairs. I was restless all evening, and it wasn’t until I went downstairs for a drink that I realized I could feel the emotional excitement of everyone up here. As you continued, I kept feeling more and more excitement myself. I tried to deaden it by drinking with Sam, but then, just a little while ago, it all exploded. I felt this wave of relief wash over me, and then my vision blurred. I thought I was going to pass out, but when I didn’t, I looked around, and after a minute I noticed I could tell what people were feeling; like who was getting belligerent, who was calm and who was feeling horny. That was when I realized what happened. You mastered the spontaneous boost, and you chose me as a reward for all our time together.”
“Uh, I didn’t do—”
“Alex means it was the least he could do,” Cate finished for him. “After all, you’ve been so much help, and you’ve been there for him. But he still doesn’t have it worked out yet, so we’re not sure we can do it again.”
“OK, I’ll be sure not to mention it to the new girls. They were all sitting downstairs in the bar talking about what we’d told them, and gossiping about what meeting you would be like.”
“Uh…,” Alex eloquently responded.
“If you don’t mind, Alex is going to have his hands full tomorrow,” Gail told her. “He’s got someone else to do later tonight, and another two in the morning, not to mention how many others there are.”
“Oh, I understand,” Erica replied. “He’s going to have to put in even more effort if he hopes to spontaneously boost the others downstairs, and he might have to try several times if he’s not sure how to trigger it. OK, I got it. Do you need any more food? I can run and get it. Did I mention how amazing it is to feel your emotions from across the room? Is that what love feels like to an outsider, Gail?”
“Uh, Erica, just how much did you have to drink downstairs?” Cate asked.
“I don’t know, I was trying to drown out my increasing horniness. It was a few. Man, I can feel how each of you feel towards each other. Though, Gail, I can feel your annoyance.”
“That’s because I’m responsible for looking after Alex, and that means I have to play the bad guy. Would you please head back to your room? NOT downstairs to the bar, and get some sleep,” Gail told her sternly.
Erica giggled the entire time Gail led her out. Alex wondered what she’d think when she awoke in the morning with a hangover and these strange feelings about people, and possibly no memory of what happened. But then he didn’t really know whether she was really boosted, or whether she was having alcoholic hallucinations. He figured they’d work it out in the morning.
“Thanks, Gail,” he said as she grumbled, taking off her clothes again and snuggling in beside the other girls.
“That was really nice of you,” April told him.
“Yeah, boosting someone from that distance couldn’t have been easy, and for as much as you’ve been doing today, you’re really amazing,” Anna offered.
“Literally, it was nothing,” Alex responded in exasperation.
“Zip it, Alex,” Cate whispered to him.
So Alex lay there, feeling exhausted but too disturbed to actually fall asleep.
There was still so much to be done. Beside the women to get through before the women in the hotel, and a few select women from Vegas, they were going to hit California in a couple of days. Once they did, Patricia’s tour would end, so right after the biggest concert of the tour so far Alex would be faced with touring the West coast on his own, without the benefit of Patricia’s concerts to draw people to him. What’s more, he had to figure out how this spontaneous boosting worked, he had to build communities in a variety of cities across the country, and he had thousands of miles to travel before he’d eventually reach home, where he could finally see his girlfriends and his family again. There was still a lot more for him to do, and it would take a lot of time, and a lot of effort on everyone’s part. It was looking like things were going to get more difficult, but at least he had the support of a lot of people. There was yet a lot to look forward to, but there was still so much to do.
So ends this, the third volume of my account of Alex’s story. This recollection has been a long and tedious process, and the results have been uneven. But then again, I’m not a writer, and was only tasked with this topic because of my familiarity and association with Alex.
The next volume, though much shorter, features many changes once Alex reached California. Having changed his focus and being relieved of much of his sense of obligation to save the future of his people, he felt less obliged about his future actions. Though he knew he had to reach as many people as he could, since there was no one else who could do it, yet he felt confident that one of his potential children would possess his ability, even if he wasn’t sure of that. But a lot of things were scheduled to change.
For one, Patricia and her band reached the end of their tour in LA, taking away Alex’s major source of recruitment of new followers. But while that changed his approach, it also removed a major source of stress in his life; for a time at least. But many other things changed as well, including some major changes in his abilities, or at least how he managed to apply them.
The End
(of Book 3)
As our biographer states, this book was a bit of an uneven ride. As I stated on the Blog/Discussion Group, I knew going in that this would be an unsteady ride. I'd imposed a LOT of limitations on the story, some because of necessity, and others simply to challenge me. As such, it ended up proving to be fairly unsteady and inconsistent, as well as having several specific problems.
I (Crumbly) hadn't originally planned this book to end at this stage, but everything reached a natural crescendo, and there's a lot remaining for another book. As a result, I thought it would prove a satisfying conclusion to the current book, while providing a significant change in both attitude and substance in the new one.
However, the limitations of the story; a limited cast of main characters, no follow-up on the majority of new characters, a limited amount of time to handle any given situation that Alex faced, and a desire to work out every little detail that Alex faced, will remain in the next book as well. As such, while much will change in the new book, most of the limitations will remain. Just so you're warned. But then again, I warned you that this one would be difficult when I first posted it, but hopefully I've learned enough to keep it interesting.
But the Biggest change is in the schedule. As most of you know, I jump directly from Book 2 into Book 3, then found myself unable to escape 'Editing mode', where I couldn't just write a rough draft and go back later to 'clean it up' once I knew how the whole thing would play out. Instead I found myself covering each and every detail, unable to work out the plot or pacing ahead of time.
As a result, I've decided to take a break before continuing. I wanted to finish off both current books ("Catalyst" and "Love and Family"), then I wanted to take off enough time to ensure I wouldn't be plagued by 'editing mode' any more. Then I plan to write a complete first draft of the rest of the story. Finally, I won't start posting until I have a good seven to ten chapters revised, edited and (somewhat) polished. As a result, it'll likely be a little while before you'll see the next installment of the story. However, hopefully it will read better, be more consistent, and won't drag on quite as long.
The good news/bad news, though, is that I've decided to make Book 4, "Building a Legacy", much shorter than I'd planned. Originally, I'd envisioned Alex circling the west coast, ending up in Chicago before returning home for a break. I'd given up on the idea of taking him farther, as he traveled east heading to New York City, but I now see that's liable to cause more problems than it'll solve. So I'm planning on keeping the story concise and limited in scope, which will hopefully prevent 'chapter creep', where the story grows longer and longer as more and more details get added. (The first two books were originally 43 chapters combined, which grew into 16 and 47 for each book).
What's more, Book 4 will be the End of Alex's story. There won't be any continuations, although if anyone wants, there's plenty of room to write associated stories, either covering the other people Alex met, or what happens in the future, but I myself am ready to move on to other areas. Areas where I can put many of the issues I attempted to wrestle with here to bed.
As you can tell, I decided to tackle a lot of disparate topics. Even "Love and Family" attempted to cover a lot of diverse topics, which all work to prevent me from crafting a 'polished' product. I doubt I'll ever be able to write a concise best seller, simply because that's not the kind of writing that motivates me, but as I gain more experience, I suspect my work will become more focused.
Anyway, I hope you'll join me when I begin reposting it. But for now, it's been a wild ride, and I'd like to thank you all for your support and your many suggestions and critiques.
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