Part 18
"I'll try it," John repeats in a tone not to be gainsaid. Around the room the other Tomorrow People subside as they abandon their arguments and you do the same. John is the most powerful and best trained of you all. If he insists on testing this mind-probe you can't really argue.
Timon nods.
"The device really is safe." He reminds you. "Timus assures me that the simulations are comprehensive."
*****
Letting John go alone is difficult but Overmind, through Timus and his clone brother, insist upon it. Your presence and mental contact would be enough to distort John's responses and perceptions, they argue. And besides, you all appreciate that even between Tomorrow People there must be some kind of privacy. If this device is going to lay even your subconscious thoughts open to others nearby you'd rather none of the others were there to hear. John seems to feel the same way.
John's expression is sombre as he leaves the Earth Ambassador's quarters but if he is as anxious as, say, Carol or Stephen then he is better at hiding it. He manages a slight smile.
"Have the tea ready for me when I come back." He jokes.
Stephen nods simply.
"We will. John, if you need us ..."
"I'll call." John promises and jaunts from the room.
*****
The waiting before a battle begins is the worst part. Who said that? Someone did anyway and they were right. Action, even pain, can be better than being trapped in a room with your friends, watching the clock tick, trying and failing to read a book. You've been warned that, with the low level telepathic damping fields absorbing stray thoughts on the Trig, you'll only hear John if he calls one or all of you directly. Despite that, you can feel everyone straining to keep their mental ears open for the faintest of thoughts.
There's nothing faint about the thought you've all been half dreading, half expecting when it comes. John's thoughts flood into yours in a roaring and swirling kaleidoscope of confusion, disorientation and pain. None of you stop to discuss what you're feeling, you all jaunt in a moment.
John is on his knees in front of you, his face creased with strain. Around his body and head like a hooded cloak is a swirl of fabric that can only be the mind probe itself. The others are with you, clawing at the fabric, tearing it away from John.
"John!" Stephen calls anxiously as the older man draws a deep and ragged breath.
"I...I'm alright." John reassures you all. "Just give me a moment."
"The device overloaded." Timon is fussing around John too, now, helping him to stand despite hostile looks from you and the other Tomorrow People. "It couldn't handle so much raw power on the frequencies you think with."
John's presence fades from your mind as he regains his composure and, reassured, you look around you. It takes several seconds for your eyes to adjust to the dimness of the lighting. When they do, you almost wish they hadn't. Row after row of still forms stretched into the distance. Some are stretched out on beds, others are standing or sitting in place. As you look from face to face, you realise that some appear more alert than others. Some fix their eyes on your face, studying you, others are lost in the absorbing mental gestalt. Around and above you, you feel the pressing weight of a million minds. And of one, enormous mind that absorbs them all. With your shields still low and untrained you sense the presence with a clarity to which the other Tomorrow People seem oblivious. It seems attracted to your low shields too.
[Welcome, Jay.] There are no words in the thought and yet you know with startling clarity what the unspoken words would be. Overmind brushes your mind, as gently as a butterfly stroking a flower's petals with its wings. [You have come to speak to us of Earth. Speak, Jay, and we will hear you.]
The butterfly wings become whips as Overmind focuses on you and the raw power of the Overmind collides with your own. Your mental shields and then your knees buckle as for the first time you come completely mind to mind with another sentience. You're not ready for this and you know it. The contact feels like red hot pokers in your thoughts, burning your mind from the inside.
[My world. My home. So many friends, so many of them Saps. I want what's best for Earth and this is best but I am afraid. Life is dangerous for us on Earth and yet we cannot abandon it. It is ours, our duty.] The thoughts flood from you before you can censor them and Overmind absorbs them, drawing more out. [We have a duty to the Saps to help what is best in them endure. We have a duty to other Tomorrow People. So many are hurt because of so few. It is up to us to stand against those few. We can make a huge difference. We must make a huge difference because we can.]
The pain in your mind is becoming overwhelming and only now does Overmind seem to realise this. You feel the first fringes of its alarm even as the stream of consciousness continues to be drawn from you.
"Jay? Jay!"
Unsteady on your feet, you begin to fall but strong arms catch you and then Stephen is supporting you, peering anxiously into your face.
"Jay, are you alright?"
You try to nod but your head feels as if it's about to fall from your shoulders and even the slight motion makes you feel nauseous. Stephen and Carol and Mike cluster around you as well as John and you feel them healing and soothing your battered mind. As Stephen takes your weight, John turns angrily to face the assembled forms of Overmind. The older man still looks a little pale and shaky but strength seems to be returning to him.
[Is he injured, John? Are you?] The thoughts of Overmind explode in your head.
[I don't think there's permanent damage. No thanks to you and your equipment! I thought all your tests said that thing was safe! And you know far better than to approach mental contact with a novice when his shields are low!] You know that John's tirade is going on but at that moment Carol and Stephen step in to put a barrier around your delicate mind.
"Can you stand, Jay?" Stephen asks quietly. Despite the low volume his voice echoes in the otherwise silent chamber. "We'll get you back to the Earth quarters. John, you too." He adds.
John doesn't turn, just shakes his head.
"I have rather a lot to say to Overmind." He says aloud in an angry voice.
"I'm staying too." Carol adds sounding equally furious.
*****
The mood is sombre when the two of you get back to the Earth Ambassador's quarters. John and Carol wont be back from the Overmind chamber for some time but the others cluster around you, checking for themselves you're alright.
"Is life always like this?" You ask, the question only half joking.
"Oh, always!" Kenny tells you, and the answer too is only half spoken in jest.
"So what happens now?" You ask as you settle into the cushions on the sofa. "They're not going to try and use the mind-probe on any of the rest of us?"
"No!" Tricia tells you with a shudder.
"No." Stephen repeats. "Now they're going to have to face our conscious thoughts and actually listen to what we're saying. Right now they're listening to John and Carol, a little earlier than they anticipated."
"And getting more than they bargained for." Kenny adds. "They're both furious! I don't think you've ever seen John or Carol when they're really roused, Jay."
You think about the powerfully furious John you felt in the Overmind chamber and shudder slightly.
"I'm not sure if it's just because I'm hypersensitive at the moment," You say, "But if that's how strong John's telepathy really is I'm not surprised they're scared of us."
*****
John returns to the Earth Quarters after you've fallen asleep in the early hours of the following morning and Carol returns to her own family. They spoke to Overmind for 16 hours straight and you're not surprised that John's still asleep when Kenny and Tyso meet your two guests just after breakfast. The kalinar docks at the closest possible point to your quarters but even so you've decided between you that it would be safest for Professor Cawston and Ginge if they're teleported straight from the docking bay to your rooms. The next door suite has been assigned to extend your temporary embassy and Stephen and Mike fuss around in there, trying to get the extra rooms ready while you rest on the sofa.
"Is the ceiling in there opaque yet, Jay?" Stephen shouts through the connecting door. "Tyso's asking."
You glance upwards, surprised at how familiar the domed starscape has become. You weren't even aware of it and you're slightly surprised now to see that it's gone. Tricia and Mike set up the hologram generator first thing that morning but warned you all that it would take an hour or two to correctly map the contours of the room and set up a convincingly contoured hologram. Nonetheless, you all want to make sure your friends aren't too unsettled by their first few hours on the Trig.
"It's opaque." You shout back and a moment later the air ripples and clears to reveal Kenny, Tyso, Ginge and a man who must be the Professor.
"Watcha, Jay." Ginge says cheerfully, taking in the room with its sofas, link table and bookcases in a glance. He looks at you a little more carefully. "Hey, are you okay? You're looking a bit peaky."
"I had a busy day yesterday." You explain with a smile. There's something very alive about the leather clad biker. Having him here helps remind you just why you're fighting for these Saps.
"Sit down, Ginge, Professor." Tyso suggests. "The others next door, Jay?" He asks.
"We're just coming!" Mike yells through the connecting door and you nod your head towards the kitchen area.
"Stephen's just making our guests a snack."
"Stephen!" Kenny calls. "We've just had breakfast!"
"Does that mean you don't want any?" Stephen asks as he appears at the doorway with a tray full of cups and bowls full of nibbles.
"Of course not." Mike volunteers, coming in from the neighbouring room and grabbing a handful of snacks as he overtakes Stephen.
Professor Cawston is looking from face to face with a mixture of recognition and amazement. The man is younger than you expected, with his thinning hair combed back from a slightly mournful face. His lanky figure seems full of excitement and suppressed energy. Cawston's face lights up as he sees Tricia coming in behind Stephen.
"Miss Conway! I haven't seen you since ..." His face clouds. "Well, for a very long time."
"Hello, Professor." Tricia says in her soft voice. She smiles a slight smile. "It's good to see you too. I haven't thought it ... wise to come back to England. I suspect a lot of people are looking for me and I'm not sure I want to answer the questions they'll be asking."
"No ... no, I suppose not." Cawston agrees sadly. He looks around again. "And Stephen, I can't believe you and Tyso are so grown up. You seem to mature so much every time I see you."
"Mature?" Mike teases.
"Be quiet, you." Stephen tells him good humouredly. "You've just met Kenny but I don't think you've met Mike, or Jay here, have you Professor?"
"No, no I haven't."
"How're you doing, Mike?" Ginge asks, mussing up the young man's hair. "Still making an awful racket with those drums of yours."
"When I get time, Ginge." Mike says a little ruefully.
"It makes you glad we don't have to spend so much time here, doesn't it, Tyso?" Kenny asks with a roll of the eyes.
"Where's John?" Professor Cawston asks a little nervously, clearly overawed by all the new names and faces. "I thought he's meant to be up here already.
"Still asleep." Stephen tells him, a little less cheerfully. "Jay wasn't the only one who had a tiring day yesterday."
"You think I could sleep through the kind of racket you lot make when you get together?" The quiet voice from the door to John's sleeping room startles you all. John is leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. He looks a little pale and his eyes are shadowed but otherwise he is his usual immaculate self. The piercing brown eyes pick you out of the crowd and scan you anxiously before, apparently reassured, he walks up to greet his old friends.
"Professor, Ginge, it's good to see you both."
"You too, kid." Ginge grins.
"Hello John." Cawston agrees. "I still find it hard to believe I'm actually here. When Tim and Elizabeth told me what you wanted I couldn't believe how lucky I was." He frowns. "And how much responsibility you're placing on me."
"It's a responsibility we all have, Professor." John tells him seriously. "I think you're up to the job." He sips the coffee that appears on the link table before him and yawns.
"Sorry, John." Mike apologises. "We didn't mean to wake you."
John dismisses the apology with a wave of his hand. He turns to Stephen.
"Has Timus or any of his clone brothers been in touch? Overmind was going to summon whoever they wanted to see next when they were ready."
Stephen shakes his head.
"I wouldn't be surprised if Timus is just a little nervous to call on us this morning. We were rather short with him yesterday."
"Yes." John frowns and glances again at you. "I still want to know what happened there. I wasn't planning on being in that frame of mind when I spoke to Overmind."
"Well what's done is done." Kenny points out. "And they'll send for us when they get over their audience with you and Carol."
"Where is Carol, anyway?" Ginge asks.
Stephen concentrates on elsewhere for a few moments before answering this time.
"Now she is still asleep." He tells you all. "Narcissa says she went out like a light when she got back." He grins. "He's asking if we'd mind if he brought the kids over. They've never met a real Homo sapiens before."
John hesitates for a few moments.
"We've never thought it wise to bring Carol's children back to Earth while they're still so small. If anything startles them into jaunting out of the Lab they could be in real trouble. If you don't mind, Ginge, Professor...?"
"Bring on the kids." Ginge invites.
"I have no objection." Cawston adds, leaning forward in fascination.
You're intrigued too. Narcissa you've met before and his tall and willowy form does not surprise you when he jaunts into the room. This time though he has four small children clustered around his legs, the eldest boy perhaps seven years old. In his arms Narcissa holds a fifth child of about a year. This small one looks around curiously even as two of her older sisters bury shy faces against their father's robes.
"Don't be silly now." Stephen tells them, scooping up a toddler into an airbourne hug. Tyso, Kenny and Mike draw the children out too and John exchanges a tired smile with Narcissa.
The eldest boy looks around curiously and you see him considering you before deciding that you're a telepath like him. Then his eyes light on Ginge and Professor Cawston sitting side by side on the sofa. They're almost certainly the first non-telepaths he's ever seen and you are curious to see his reaction. He walks up to them with a total lack of fear.
"Are you human?" He asks in a high pitched and curiously accented voice.
"Sure." Ginge says easily. "How 'bout you?"
You see Cawston peering in fascination at the child and only then do you realise how accustomed you have become to accepting the physical appearance of others. Carol and Narcissa's eldest child has his mother's blond hair and blue eyes but his figure is tall and his limbs and fingers too slender to be natural for a human being. The physical characteristics of the Adonisian race is generally very similar to that of humanity, which is after all what allowed these children to be produced, but despite that Carol's children are very clearly of neither one species nor the other. Cawston seems to remember himself and nods.
"I'm a Homo sapiens, yes."
The boy smiles suddenly, a brilliant smile, and turns to his father.
"Aloud." Narcissa reminds him gently. "We talked about this, remember?"
The boy blushes.
"Sorry." He apologises. He turns back to Ginge and Cawston. "It's nice to meet you."
A chime breaks the tableau before either man can answer. Stephen glances at John before both turn to face the door with wary looks. It slides open at a telepathic command and there, framed in the doorway, is his Excellency Timus Irnok Mosta. You flinch before you can suppress the reaction. Memories of the previous day are still sore. Timus nods at John and then his eyes seek you out. He doesn't try to contact you mentally but his eyes fill with apology.
"What is it, your Excellency?" John asks politely but coldly. Timus seems unsettled by John's still obvious anger with him and his clone brothers for promising that the mind probe technology was safe. The tall and dignified man hesitates before answering.
"Overmind has asked to see Kenny." The Ambassador informs you. "And then Stephen."
"Breakout order." Stephen notes neutrally.
"I wonder how they're going to fit us into that." Cawston asks nervously. No one answers him but Kenny stands up and brushes the long robes he's wearing down.
"Well, wish me luck." He says simply.
*****
It's a nervous few days. Kenny is six hours before Overmind and Stephen nearly nine. When Tyso is called up, Tricia begins to worry. It takes all of you to calm Tricia before her interview. She's terrified that her decisions in the past will come back to haunt her. Again, you wonder about the details of a past that everyone else in the room seems to know about but it just doesn't seem the right time to ask. After a couple of days, the careful mental barriers everyone's been using so as not to touch your injured mind begin to come down. You're startled by how relieved you are to once again pick up stray thoughts and hear the murmur of distant telepathic conversation. Being without your powers unnerved you more than you expected. Even as you become more comfortable though, Professor Cawston and Ginge in particular become jumpier. The biker paces around the two linked common rooms of the adjacent suites and several times one of you finds him looking at the door mechanisms. Professor Cawston too starts to feel the frustration of his confinement.
"Look here, John." He says when most of you are gathered for the midday meal on the third day of interviews. "How much longer will we have to stay in this one set of rooms? I was expecting ... well, I don't know exactly what I was expecting but all I've seen of the spaceship we were in and now of the Trig is a set of rooms that look like any on Earth. Well, alright, maybe not just any rooms but a room in your Lab, say. I mean, you tell us we're on this fantastic city in space but we've not seen any of it."
"Yeah." Ginge adds. "When do we get to see the exciting stuff?"
The Tomorrow People in the room exchange worried glances. You know that much of what the two men could see up here could drive them mad. Their brains would shut down, unable to cope with what they were seeing. Nonetheless, it does seem a little unfair to bring them here and show them nothing.
"I suppose you've had a little time to get your bearings." John observes after a few moments. "And you're sitting down. Kenny, could you fade down the hologram projector, please? Let our guests see what the ceiling really looks like."
Cawston and Ginge look up in surprise at the beige ceiling. Kenny manipulates the controls of the concealed equipment telekinetically and you all watch as the roof fades into transparency. The dome of the night sky fills your view once again with the stunning vista of a myriad of stars never seen from Earth. Up here the sky is too congested for the human eye to pick patterns out of the chaos as it does on the surface of Earth. The view is just too overwhelming. You're still new enough to the sight to watch for a few moments as the stars fade into a view. As a result you're startled by the thump beside you as Professor Cawston slumps unconscious into the sofa.
"Here, why's that happened?" Ginge asks alarmed. He looks a little dizzy as he tried to turn sharply in his seat but is otherwise unaffected by the view.
"Well the professor has rather more imagination than you do, Ginge," Stephen tells him with a smile to take the sting out of the words. "He's got too disorientated by the view so he's fainted just like someone might if they get too dizzy at a funfair."
"Fade it down to 50%, Kenny." John instructs. "That should be pretty close to the night sky on Earth."
Kenny does as John asks and the fainter myriad of stars fade into the background, leaving only the brightest stars, galaxies and nebulae to provide a less overwhelming but still spectacular view.
"Professor?" John touches the man's forehead with one finger and Cawston begins to stir. He puts a hand to his head. "Now do you see why we've been keeping you in here, Professor?"
"John?" Cawston sits up, unsteadily. "Yes, I suppose I do see. I don't think I appreciated how delicate the human psyche truly is until that moment. It was all just too big."
"Yeah." Ginge agrees, and even he looks pleased that the full splendor of the view has gone. "I guess it was."
"Professor, Ginge." John's voice is earnest. "We will try to show you a bit of the Trig. We truly do appreciate you sparing the time to come here and we will try to make it up to you but we have to be careful."
"Tell you what, Ginge." Kenny suggests. "Why don't I jaunt you to what passes for a gym around here? You can work off some of that excess energy with a game of some kind."
Ginge looks down at the still short and slightly built young man. Kenny looks delicate beside the well muscled biker.
"It wouldn't be fair, me playing you at any kind of sport." He says.
"Oh that's okay," Kenny teases. "I promise not to use my powers. I wont have too much of an advantage."
"And Professor," John goes on, "Carol and I could introduce you to some of the Adonisian delegation here. They're pretty close to human physically but I think you'll find there are some fascinating cultural differences that reflect on their psychology."
Mike looks at Kenny and Ginge.
"Can I come?" He asks.
"You, young man, are next in front of the inquisitors." John tells him. "You ought to be thinking about what you're going to say."
"And then it will be our turn, I suppose." Cawston says anxiously.
"Unless they want to see me." The very thought fills you with horror after what happened last time. John's expression softens as he looks at you and he puts a hand on your arm.
"They don't, Jay. I asked. Apparently the contact you made with them showed them all of your mind that they wanted to see. They probably got more from you in those few moments than the rest of us in several hours."
*****
Tricia comes out of her interview shaken and very pale. John and Stephen bring her back to the common room and put her to bed before anyone can ask her how it went. Mike is summoned before she wakes and then it's just a case of keeping the two Saps company as they wait for their call.
"How is this going to work, Stephen?" Ginge asks suddenly. He's been disguising his nervousness as bluster all day but none of you are fooled. "I mean we can't just go and plug our heads into this Overmind thing as you lot have."
"That's not quite what we've been doing, Ginge." Stephen corrects him. "With the mind probe thing they tried on Jay out of the question, Overmind's been making do with a light telepathic contact. We can't get too deep otherwise we'd become part of Overmind itself and that would skew both our own thoughts and theirs in opposite ways."
"It is a telepathic contact though." Professor Cawston presses. "And Ginge is right when he says we can't do that."
"No, that's true." John agrees, looking up from the book he's been reading to try to ease the tension. "But you remember how Tricia was able to read your mind even before she broke out?"
"Yes." Professor Cawston agrees hesitantly. "But she could only receive surface thoughts and even then very hazily."
"Well, any of us can pick up on a thought from you if it's projected clearly enough. The problem is that Sap thoughts rarely ever are. Your mind is too full of random thoughts. About the colour of the socks you're wearing, about the temperature, the smell, what you forgot to put on your shopping list this week. Of course, our minds are busy too but we're able to project a single thought beyond that noise."
"Trying to pick a single thought out of a Sap mind is like trying to find a four leaf clover in a field of grass and clover." Kenny adds in agreement. "While for one of us, it's like there was a sunflower growing out of the middle of the field."
"So how can you solve that problem?" Cawston asks.
"I've been thinking about that." John tells you all. "What I think we're going to have to do is put you in a very light trance. It wont even be as strong as hypnotising you really but it will suppress all that stray thought and it will focus your thoughts on the topic you're talking about. It might make you see a little more than you might otherwise but at least you'll be audible to Overmind if they focus on you.
"Well, I'm game." Ginge shrugs.
"Yes. Yes, I see." Cawston says thoughtfully. "Well that sounds reasonable."
"Of course it means a couple of us will have to be with each of you just to make sure you don't slip too deep into the trance." Stephen points out thoughtfully.
You look around the room. You're all tired now and you've actually had longer to rest than anyone else. The thought of returning to the presence of Overmind terrifies you but you have the strength of mind to know that your fear is irrational.
Do you:
a) volunteer to accompany Ginge or Cawston?
b) keep quiet?
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