|
“The Catalyst” Series | ||||
| “Touring Under Pressure” | |||||
|
Crumbly Writer
All rights reserved © 2012 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
| Home | “An Unknown Attraction” | “Trying To Be Normal” | “Normalcy Is Harder” | “Racing the Clock” | “Touring Under Pressure” | Contact me | |||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
Epilogue:
“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 was waving from the the band’s room on the far side of Alex’s. He turned back and shouted to the others inside. “Hey, the big man is in the house.”
Before the threesome could reach the room, Patricia’s whole group swarmed into the hall and gathered around, as if waiting for something.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” Alex asked.
Patricia enveloped him in a hug. “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 said, 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 while hanging onto 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 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, just turned and held the keycard out to Alex. Grumbling, he dropped his bag and took it from her. He 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 stay 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’re 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 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 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 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 contributed so much 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 it amounted to so 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 we named it to spite the shooter, who thought he was trying to kill an angel. This was our revenge, since it was our guardian angel who kept us from being killed. 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 night it was very likely his mission would live on after him, and after the people he’d already activated died out. He couldn’t have expected any more. Anything he achieved from then was pure gravy, it helped, but it wasn’t essential. He accomplished what he sought to.
“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 fit it in the elevator.”
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 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 it’s what she really wants to do,” Alex added.
“It is,” Melinda said. “I figure determining what’s going on with you is a family affair, so I’m doing my part. I may not have the leg up that Becky and Cate do, but I plan to catch up.”
“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 which helped me isolate where to look. I figured the ‘S’ gene is in a 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 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 which 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 which one it is yet, but I’m pretty sure I know. That means 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 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. 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 tracking it down based on an association with either you or me.”
“All right, that makes me feel better. So you’ve managed to do scientifically through genetics 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. 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 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 which 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. We’ve had to mislabel your DNA tests so no one can tie them to you, and there’s only one of you, so since any single gene could be triggering these abilities 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 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 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 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 feels towards each other. Though, Gail, I can feel your annoyance.”
“That’s because I’m responsible for looking after Alex, which 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.
To be Continued in Book 6
“Building a Legacy”
“Building a Legacy” begins this Saturday, May 17th,
and will post every Wednesday and Saturday.
Check out smashwords.com or vincentberg.net for all of my eBooks
(or click any of the book images above).
Note:
Don't forget to review the book after you read it. Thanks!
e-mail Author
Requires an email address, for anonymous feedback
use the "Contact me" button at the top of the page.
| Copyright © 2012-2014, Crumbly Writer. All rights reserved. | ||||
| Reposting on other sites for commercial or non-commercial purposes without specific written consent from the author is strictly prohibited. | ||||