Carversion -65-

Printer-friendly version

Author: 

Audience Rating: 

Taxonomy upgrade extras: 

Synopsis:

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-Five

The two groups met out in the far reaches of space. As the two Nexi formed a whole, part of that, which was Bob, asked part that was Tyrone, how he knew to change the coordinates of the dishes.

'It was strange, came the mental voice of Tyrone. "As I touched Kevin, I could see the frustration in his future, when he failed to locate the Nemesis. It was as if I was seeing the future alter as the dish moved. The final setting showed him meeting the Nemesis, although I didn't get a clear picture of the outcome."

The mental conversation had taken only seconds, but already it had attracted attention.

'Can it, guys, we have bigger problems," Sara interrupted, as she spotted the enemy.

Fifteen of the Nemesis's shipforms were heading directly at them. The question as to whether they could see or sense the Nexi, or were heading directly toward Earth by intent, was answered, when the Nexi drifted to one side of the route the Nemesis were taking. Half of them broke formation and headed towards the Nexi. The others continued on, obviously following some signal or clue. One of the shipforms reversed its direction and looked like it was going to report back. It had gone, before an effective attack could be mounted on it. Some of those heading towards the Nexi changed to their more physical form and were already sending a mental barrage to the gathered minds.

This time, the Nexi knew what to do. With Sara stopping the mental attack, Bob and Cindy both bolstered her strength and gave the others time to work. Julie scanned the region of space to find anything lethal that she could teleport the mass less shipforms into, while Kevin and William used their gifts on the physical forms heading directly at them.

Julie didn't find a sun, but noticed an anomaly nearby. During the years since she gained her gift, she had developed a sense that prevented her teleporting into anything dangerous. She had found that out, when she had tried to move herself to a favourite spot in the forest, where she could relax when things got to tense. As she had tried to teleport, she had felt a sense of danger. Later, she had found out that a fire had ravaged the part of the forest at the time she had tried to visit. That sense was now warning her of a dangerous black hole a million miles from their current position.

Kevin and William started exploding or freezing the Nemesis that were nearly upon them, while Julie starting sending the shipforms directly into the black hole. She could take two at a time, now her skills with her gift had been honed with practice, and soon all the Nemesis that were heading to Earth were gone.

The ones that Kevin was attacking exploded with spectacular effect as all the energy within was released all at once. The ones that William acted on remained intact, but being frozen to near absolute zero didn't save those inside.

To make sure that the ships were destroyed completely, Cindy used her telekinetic gift to give a psychic punch on the frozen ships. Although there was no sound in space, it wasn't hard to imagine the cracking sound they would have made in an atmosphere as they literally shattered into a zillion pieces. Julie said it looked like something she'd seen in an old movie, where the bad guy who was made of liquid metal, (go figure) had been doused in liquid air and then shattered by a bullet.

With the enemy defeated, the Nexus was about to return home, but Bob wanted to study something, before they did. He wanted to find out if they had left some sort of trail that the Nemesis had discovered. Being a mind with no physical limitations, he searched up and down the frequency bands, trying to see if there was anything left by the Nexi in their journey into space. He found nothing, but then something made him look in the radio frequencies, and there it was, a cacophony of noise bleeding out into space. Mankind had been advertising their presence to all and sundry. Now it had attracted the unwanted attention of their worst enemy.

Bob signalled that he was ready, and the nexus sped back to Earth and to their various corporeal forms.

Sara and Kevin woke and were soon downstairs talking to Kim. Kim had set up a conference call on the laptops, so that Bob and Cindy could tell Kim about the mission. Julie and William joined in on their laptop a few minutes later, joining in on the discussion, adding their own input on matters.

"It looks as if the Nemesis knows where we are, or will do as soon as that scout reports back," Kim suggested. "The only good thing is it wasn't witness to the others demise and the methods of their destruction," she added with a positive tone.

"Do you think we can fight them before they reach Earth?" Julie asked worriedly.

"Unlikely, remember, I've seen this happen before. When there was resistance by a race to the encroachment from the Nemesis's scouts, the main force came at the home world from all sides. Any resistance was crushed by overwhelming mental attack," Kim finished.

"Do you think they will try and destroy our sun?" William asked.

"No!" Kim was very adamant with her reply. They will know there are resources here that they will need. They won't destroy Earth until unless there's no other choice."

"We need to destroy them all!" Sara snarled. "Before they realise that," she finished.

Everyone turned and looked at Sara hearing the out of character venom in her words.

"You okay honey?" Kevin asked anxiously, seeing a look of determination on her face.

"Huh? Oh sure," Sara replied distractedly, her very demeanour belying that statement.

Obviously, she had her mind fixated on something, but no amount of coaxing would make her reveal her inner thoughts. Sara knew the others were worried about her, but the latest bout with the Nemesis had opened something in her mind, something she suspected had to do with her primary gift. She couldn't let on how scared this made her feel, not when they needed to be strong with the obvious threat that would soon be upon them.

Knowing Kim's premise, that this gift might end her life didn't make her feel any happier either. She tried shrugging off the odd feeling, which was lurking at the back of her mind, and concentrated on coming up with a positive plan to defeat the Nemesis once and for all.

The final plan seemed risky, but as Kim explained, the reason made sense.

"We have to let them come to Earth. We can't fight them piecemeal. Once they commit all their forces, we have a chance at destroying them all." Kim finished.

"What if we don't get them all? Will they retaliate by destroying our sun?" asked Julie, with a shudder.

"They need at least 50 to do that, so we have to make sure less than that survive. It will mean that they are confined to this region of space until they can breed more, which will give us time to round up the remnants," Kim reassured her.

So they waited, but they weren't idle. Bob and Cindy paired with Julie and William, did nightly forays into space using the dish. Others, gifted with being able to sense threats at long range, were on the alert with orders to contact Kim or others of the Shelke. A decision to contact all Earth's government leaders was made. The Shelke made easy work of getting to the ear of the President and those in charge of the various governments. This was in part to prevent anyone sending up nuclear weapons once the Nemesis was detected.

The last thing Earth needed was a cloud of radioactive debris falling back into Earth's atmosphere. The Shelke knew that while in the mass less state, the Nemesis was immune to the effects of nuclear missiles; in fact it only fed them energy, much like they got from the destruction of suns that they themselves caused.

Of course, at first there was panic among the heads of state and the higher echelon of the various governments not only at knowing they would face a threat they couldn't fight, but knowing they had already been invaded by an alien race, so to speak. Once the Shelke proved they only wanted to help, and that humanity itself was going to be the principal defender of earth, they calmed down somewhat. The Shelke refused to curry favour with any one country in particular, which led to many heated discussions among the various political powers.

The Shelke remained strictly impartial, reminding those in power that any threats or attempted coercion, would lead to the Shelke withdrawing from Earth and letting them face the Nemesis alone.

It was assumed, although the Shelke admitted nothing, that the recent changes in their children was the work of the Shelke. With the rise of telepathic abilities becoming public knowledge, and the advent of several teenagers showing what was coming to be called super powers, the first of several spontaneous sexchanges in the teenage population, caused only a minor stir.

"I was always a girl, I just wished my body was female, and it changed," commented one of the changees in an interview with a reporter.

"Is that from the injected Krin?" Sara asked Kim, when she saw the item in the paper.

"Yes, we made sure that it could only happen to those who truly believed they were transgendered. You don't need to worry that everyone is going to change to look their current idol, whoever that might be," Kim explained. "Those that do change don't get to pick how they look, but it will be extrapolated from the genes of the parents. In other words, they get the body that they should have, had they been born the opposite sex."

"I guess that will put some surgeons out of work," laughed Sara, feeling happier knowing the word transgendered would soon become a thing of the past.

Some time later.

"Alright people, listen up," called Kim, wrapping her pointer on the podium before the gathered crowd. "The time is now," her voiced echoed into the vastness of the hall, now the crowd had quietened.

Sara’s image on the prepared screen, spoke to the gathered group from her bedroom. She could hear and see the gathered crowd via the setup, Kim had supplied.

"The enemy has gathered, as have we here today. We go to fight an enemy that has no conscience, they intend for us to die. All over the Earth, groups of the gifted have gathered together to form huge Nexi's that will be launched into the space above Earth, using the new Shelke technology that Bob pioneered. To fail this battle is not an option. I'm sorry, but there will probably be no holiday marking this day if we survive, for as you know, most of the public will be unaware of our efforts and sacrifices." She finished, her last statement getting a few boos.

Someone in the rear, called out. "Do we get overtime for this?" Which brought a few chuckles that lightened the mood.

Sara looked over the crowd, via the two way link seeing a few familiar faces, among the majority of strangers that had gathered from the neighbouring states. Beds were not required now to reach a Nexi with a partner, just holding hands and seeking the other was enough.

Sara saw Kim start up the device that would launch them into space. She sought out Kevin's hand as the signal to begin was given, and their own setup was similarly activated.

As the Nexi were projected forth, the Nexi that was formed of Sara and William separated from the main cluster that rose from California. They could see other groups rising with golden threads linking each to another forming a spider's web of connectivity, that englobed the Earth.

Looking outward, they saw the enemy gathered in a similar fashion, one lunar orbit out.

The Nexi all being linked together, attacked simultaneously, before the Nemesis could get set. The enemy's fleet was halved in the next few minutes, as they were destroyed in so many different ways. The nexus that was Sara and Kevin watched in awe, as they held off joining the others.

Some of the most powerful users of TK either ripped the ships apart, or sent them hurtling into the moon's surface. Others, of which Jenna was included, froze groups of ships in time, later to be destroyed at leisure. Some ships exploded for no apparent reason, probably caused by those like Cathleen, who could project streams of chaos that caused fatal system failures.

Most of the ships exploded from the abundant use of PK that the majority of the gifted had developed. Kevin wanted to join in on the fight, but Sara held off, knowing their role was to be of a different nature.

Sara knew what her main gift was and had to wait till the time was right. Kevin felt frustrated, seeing ships being teleported into the sun, or deep into Jupiter's core. They continued watching, seeing some ships slowly shrink and disappear, as if being sucked out from the inside. The mini black holes that one nexus was creating was being teleported inside of the ships by another, was the cause.

The sheer numbers of ships meant that some were able to fight back, before they could be overwhelmed. The mental attack was like nothing felt before. Many nexus lost focus and dropped out, leaving holes in the network surrounding Earth. Sara sensed rather than saw the attacks getting through to Earth.

It was time to act. Knowing the likely outcome of her use of her primary gift, she pulled away her mind links with Kevin, maintaining just enough to form the nexus. Kevin cried out and tried to break down the barrier she was erecting. She sent a wave of love through to him, before resolutely readying herself for the ordeal ahead.

To be continued.

  

*********************************************
 © 2005 by Prudence Walker. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, and compilation design) may be printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without the express written consent of the copyright holder.