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Scott was on his way west to meet up with his friends to start a new life in L A. What he came across in the desert after his car broke down would change him forever. He wondered if his friends would recognise him once they finally met again. He didn’t think this was what his friend’s intended when they said, "start a new life."

Chapter Sixty-Four

"Mother, I just got a call from aunt Tyrissa," gasped an out of breath Maggie, having run from inside the condo to where Sara was tending the garden.

"Oh! And what did she have to say?" Sara asked, eyeing her scantily clad teenage daughter with a mildly disapproving look.

Maggie, clad in only in a pair of pink panties and matching maiden form bra seemed more concerned about her message than she was at displaying her 34B assets to all and sundry, as she bounced with impatience.

"You need to get dad and do your thing with the satellite dish. Tyrissa said she saw the Nemesis coming using her gift." Maggie cried, starting to run back inside. "I'll go ring uncle Bob to do the same," were her last words, before she vanished indoors.

All thoughts of chiding her 18 year old daughter for her lack of decorum, vanished, as Sara stood frozen in fear as her mind flashed back 15 years, to her last encounter with the Nemesis.

'Kevin,' she called mentally, feeling her husband's thoughts of fishing, come to attention at her silent call. Faster than any verbal communication, she filled him in on what Tyrissa had sensed with her gift of precognition.

'I'll be there shortly,' was his hurried reply, as he reeled in his rods and made preparations to bring the runabout back to shore.

She went inside and sat on the couch, watching her daughter on the phone to Bob. While Sara waited anxiously, her mind drifted back over the intervening years from her last encounter, with the enemy from the stars.

She had hoped that Maggie, who had grown from a toddler to an elegant teenage girl, would never have to face the threat that was looming. Her other daughter Becky, who had been born a year after Maggie had her adult memories placed aside, would be 14 in a month.

Becky's gifts had yet to manifest as she had been given the same injection that the rest of the world's younger generation had been given. She did have the ability to read minds, which had meant lots of fun and games while growing up. Kim had told her that this ability to hear thoughts was one being exhibited world wide by the youth of today. Sara thought back to the hue and cry that issued when the first proven case of telepathy was discovered.

At first, the child that had demonstrated it was sequestered away by the government, despite the parent's outcries, as they tried to take advantage of the child and her abilities. Luckily, the Shelke had other plans, and had the child back home, before her bed sheets had cooled. Once some 'evidence' of her illegal abduction was leaked to the media, the government excuse of "it's a matter of national security," fell on deaf ears, as the child's age (11) was released. The public outrage made the government back down and the publicity prompted other children to come forward.

It was soon evident that something strange was happening, as more and more children became telepathic. The scientists were baffled, especially, as it was occurring worldwide. Some religious groups said it was a gift of god and that Christ was preparing for the second coming. There were as many groups saying the reverse, in that the children were cursed and should be killed. This prompted new laws for the protection of children from exploitation and abuse, in which the Shelke helped enforce. Knowing that children could read their minds, child molesters and criminals in general became fewer and fewer, as many were caught and charged from evidence produced by children.

"Maggie…was Tyrissa at home or on the road?" Sara asked, once her daughter finished talking on the phone. With her gifts having re-emerged the year before, Sara knew Maggie could locate anyone; anywhere that was wearing a Krin

"She is at the salon," Maggie replied, as she headed upstairs to get some more clothes on.

Sara nodded as she went to ring Tyrissa for more information, thinking how well Maggie's integration with her adult mind had gone.

Kevin found her deep in thought as he dropped his catch in the kitchen sink.

"Penny for your thoughts," he said lightly, not wanting to startle her, as he went to give her a hug.

"I was just thinking about Maggie," she replied standing up from where she was sitting. "Argh, you stink of fish," she said recoiling from his advance. "Go shower and change," she told him, after he used his Krin to do a quick change into Anita to get his kiss.

Kevin changed back, and did as directed, knowing he'd get no peace. Sara didn't like him putting a dirty body away, as she put it, by using the Krin to avoid the mundane chore of showering. Sara followed him into the bathroom, telling him what Tyrissa had told her on the phone, while he showered.

"I thought Tyrissa's ability to see future events was limited to seeing an individual's future by physical contact?" Came Kevin's shower muffled voice.

"That's just it, Jenna was getting her hair done, when Tyrissa sensed her involvement with the Nemesis in the near future," Sara explained, feeling a sense of danger looming.

Kevin shut off the shower, gratefully accepting the towel that Sara handed him. Sara helped dry him, feeling the need to be close to her husband.

"I just wish Maggie was older, I don't want her getting hurt, plus there's Becky to consider too," Sara's voice trailing off as she wondered if she would still be around to see them both grow up.

"Maggie will be okay, after all, she coped with her integration last year," Kevin reassured her, as he went to get fresh clothes on.

Sara nodded, remembering back to that time, while dumping Kevin's dirty clothes down the laundry chute.

Maggie had started recalling things that had happened in her adult life, and had come to her mother to ask about it. Sara had sat her down and explained things from the beginning, telling her that she had indeed been born a boy. Maggie had seemed incredulous at first, as her memories of that were still lost to her.

Maggie then told Sara that she had felt her guardian angel's voice that she occasional heard whispering to her, had been getting fainter as she had grown up. It wasn't so much that it was going away, but the voice seemed to be merging with her, until it became indistinguishable from her own mental voice.

Sara was alarmed at first, thinking that the adult Maggie was being subsumed by the younger Maggie till they'd be nothing left. When Maggie had mentioned the voice merging, Sara's emotions took over, and she cried tears of joy, knowing that the adult Maggie had truly merged, becoming one person. This was proved later when Maggie found she could recall happy memories of talking to friends she had made in the chat room, so many years earlier. No bad memories seemed to have survived; obviously, they had been carefully edited out by the adult mind, long before the merger.

The nearest to a bad memory, was the day that Sara and Kevin returned from Washington to find a cold and starving Maggie they had had to leave behind. Maggie could recall the joy of seeing her new friends, after thinking all was lost. It had been a very emotional moment and one Maggie would continue to cherish the rest of her life.

"I don't suppose Tyrissa saw us winning?" Asked Kevin, jolting Sara out of her reverie.

"No…only that there was great danger, she only gets general impressions and even those are variable." Sighed Sara, remembering that she still had a cloud over her own head, if her primary gift ever eventuated.

If Kim's guess was correct, this coming conflict with the Nemesis could very well see it manifest, which in turn could seal her fate. This scared Sara. This was something she had no control over, and there was no way she could plan around it. The uncertainty ate at her confidence and made her feel depressed.

Kevin came and held her, knowing what was on her mind. He couldn't let her know how scared he was of the possibilities of losing her, and he had to lock those thoughts away in a dark corner of his mind.

"Come on honey, it might never happen," he said cheerfully, trying to get her mind on something else.

"What's for lunch?" he asked, the sea air having sparked his appetite.

"Oh, I think Maggie wanted to try something," Sara replied, waving her hand distractively in the direction of the kitchen.

"Oh no, not sketti again?" Kevin laughed jokingly, knowing that Maggie was an accomplished cook, courtesy of Amelia's tuition.

Kevin's joke was just the thing to get a smile back on Sara's face, knowing that the memories of Maggie with a face full of spaghetti when she was a child would do the trick.

"You'll be eating spaghetti all week, if you say anything nasty about her cooking," warned Sara, as she turned to go downstairs.

Kevin gulped theatrically, earning him a poke in the ribs from Sara, as they went downstairs together.

Maggie greeted them, and asked if they minded if she used the fresh fish for lunch, instead of what she had originally planned.

"Sure honey, it's there to be used," Kevin told her.

Kim joined them for lunch, having found out about the crisis from Tyrissa and wanting to help plan their next move. The whole Snappers that Kevin had only caught that morning, had been stuffed by Maggie, using some sautéed vegetables and boiled rice, and looked delicious with the alternative slices of tomato and onion on the top sprinkled with parsley.

Everyone was impressed, and said so, which made Maggie beam with delight.

After lunch, the serious business began. First, Kim got Jenna, who had since returned home, to come over, along with Richard and Cathleen. Being a weekend, Alan, Jenna's 14-year-old son, was off playing with Cathy's son Scott, who was the same age.

Of course, Cathleen promptly raced upstairs with Maggie and Becky to discuss their favourite topic, boys.

Sara didn't mind them missing the meeting, as Cathleen with her now developing telepathy, would keep them both informed of the discussion below.

After getting both Jenna and Richard up to speed on Tyrissa's startling revelation, both of them paled.

"Did Kim get any indication of a time frame?" asked Richard worriedly, knowing his wife was going to be in danger.

"No, but she did notice that you still had your hair in the style she had just set for you, so it could be anytime from a week or more."

"Oh crap!" exclaimed Richard, voicing everyone's thoughts and fears.

"It could be just more scouts looking for the ones we destroyed," Kim offered with a shrug.

"Is our umbrella up and running?" Asked Sara, at last.

"The alert has been sent out to all of those with gifts like yours. Also, all the children we Krinned, have a post hypnotic trigger planted should they feel any mental tampering to anyone within their personal range," supplied Kim.

"What about the children themselves? Are they protected?" asked Jenna.

"As part of them being telepathic, they learn how to block out thoughts. They will have a natural defence against the Nemesis, should any get through to Earth." Kim reassured her.

"The first thing we need to do, before anything else, is get a group up in a Nexi to try and locate the Nemesis to see if it's the main force or just another scouting group," Kim suggested, looking at Sara.

"What about Jenna and Richard being part of it? They have worked with us before in a group," questioned Sara.

"I'd prefer not to use her at this time. Her gift might be the one thing to turn things in our favour. We don't want to show our hand if it's just a scouting party, and they manage to get a message back to their main force," explained Kim.

"I've asked Bob and Cindy to unite with William and Julie, while you and Kevin, pair up with Tyrone and Carolyn."

Kevin rang Bob, to find out how to set up the dish, so that the computer controlling it could work out the minute delay between the two dishes, that would give them their triangulation. In the mean time, Tyrone and Carolyn arrived after having been called by Sara on her mobile.

"That's the wrong direction," Tyrone in his Tyrissa form told Kevin, as the final adjustments were being made. Tyrissa had her hand on Kevin's arm, and was sensing via her gift, the most likely outcome.

You mean the Nemesis are coming from a different direction?" asked Kevin, looking at Tyrissa standing with her eyes closed, her face a mask of concentration.

"Move the dish a little," was her only comment.

Kevin waved for Kim to come over, as he adjusted the direction in which the dish was pointing. Kim promptly took the phone from Kevin, relaying the changing settings. Finally, with Tyrissa acting as a kind of dousing wand, Kevin had the dish set correctly. Bob confirmed the new heading, allowing for the geological differences, and made plans to initiate the sequence in 30 minutes.

Maggie came down to monitor the final phase, giving her parents a hug and a kiss as they passed each other on the stairs, while Cathleen and Becky stayed in the bedroom out of the way.

With the four sets of Nexi ready, the computers sent a pulse via the net to synchronise the start sequence. Then the familiar sucking sensation as the two sets of co joined Nexi, were squirted into space.

To be continued.

  

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