Part 4
Elizabeth and Stephen shared worried looks before nodding their agreement.
"Anything you can do to help, Timus," Liz says, "Would be wonderful."
"Even if we tried to teleport down there," Stephen agrees, "We'd be too overwhelmed to help."
It takes eight long, noisy hours before Timus declares that the first four psi-dampeners are available to deliver. In that time all the Tomorrow People who were away on missions of one kind or another have jaunted back to the Trig and the common room is crowded with anxious people. Twice more one or the other of you has felt the desperate teleportation of a nascent Tomorrow Person into hyperspace and have been able to track them down and bring them to the Trig. The three new comers seem confused and overwhelmed by the new experience as they sit with the rest of you. You all try to show them how joyful you are that they have joined you but that joy is tempered by anxiety. You know from news reports that the Trig is able to pick up from the Earth that hundreds of people around the globe are unconscious in hospital, their brains shutting down under the enormous and unrelieved strain. You don't need news reports to know that many more have jaunted to hyperspace and are beyond your help forever.
People on Earth are blaming the collapses on the release of toxic nerve agents from the Russian base and if it wasn't for the fact that the problem is more advanced in the Soviet Union than anywhere else the planet would be on the verge of war. Timus, who joins you from time to time before bustling off to see to arrangements, frowns over this. Yours is still a young planet and you know that the veteran galactic ambassador doubts its readiness for what it is experiencing.
Stephen, Carol and Tyso fuss over the psi-dampeners when they are delivered, checking their settings and power supply. The technology is far beyond anything you have ever seen but these three have been living on the Trig for years and know what they are doing.
"These things have a radius of about five hundred miles?" Stephen asks Timus, looking for confirmation.
Timus nods.
"I'm afraid that is all that can be managed on a mobile power supply such as those incorporated into the devices."
"Alright, then." He turns to Elizabeth who has been studying a world map with help from Andrew and Hsui Tai. "Where do we put them, Liz?"
She hesitates, knowing that this decision is crucial.
"One on the east coast of China." She says. "One in central Europe. One on the Indian Sub Continent. One on the Eastern Seaboard of the United states of America."
"There's an awful lot of places that doesn't cover, Elizabeth." Mike says doubtfully.
"I know! But those are the areas with the highest population density and they're all in the northern tradewinds." Elizabeth sighs, frustrated. "Timus, how soon can we get more? This barely scratches the surface."
"We are working on the problem." Timus assures her. "But we have almost exhausted the components stockpiled on the Trig and it will take time to manufacture more."
"This will do for a start, Liz." Stephen encourages although his eyes are doubtful. "Timus, can you arrange for these to be matter transported and triggered remotely? If we jaunt with them to the surface we'll be trapped when they are triggered."
"I will see what I can do, Stephen." Timus promises and stalks out of the common room.
The effects of the four psi-dampeners are immediately apparent as a drop of the noise emanating from the Earth. You're all still aware of a mental background but now it is easy to make out the louder voices of new Tomorrow People above the roar of the crowd. By the time those of you on the Trig have mentally talked thirty new Tomorrow People through breakout you are aware of perhaps twenty more who have managed it on their own. Between you, you manage to organise liaison points in parts of the globe far from populous areas and as yet unaffected by the toxic cloud. You wonder about those who would be breaking out but are trapped below the influence of the psi-dampeners. After all you have deliberately covered as much of the planet as you can with the steadily growing numbers of field generators. First the other Tomorrow People and then a new group from the distant planet Peerie who offer to help assure you that when the fields are deactivated those people destined to become Tomorrow People will regain the use of their powers. It is the poor Saps whose minds are unable to deal with the unnaturally triggered abilities who are saved by the dampening presence of the field.
It is less than twenty-four hours after you woke on the Trig that you are able to return to the Earth together with the other Tomorrow People and the human looking Vesh from Peerie. Inevitably several of the new breakouts and the affected Saps have been broadcast displaying their abilities on camera. The existence of Tomorrow People on the planet is no longer a secret. The sudden cessation of telepathic activity in large circularly defined regions has also been noted and neighboring regions are now rushing their unconscious patients across those invisible borders. Many of the Saps and nascent Tomorrow People who were comatose as a result of the chaos in their minds wake as the silence falls across them, others do not. For the moment, your efforts and those of the others are confined to those relative few breaking out in the less populous regions outside the fields. You ease Tomorrow People through the rebirth of breakout. You buffer the minds of Saps as they struggle with powers that most will only experience for a few hours.
You can do nothing for the moment for the people within the damping fields. Until the concentration of the chemicals in the air begins to fall, Saps will continue to be affected and the shields cannot be lowered. While the shields are raised the few trained telepaths among you can do nothing to ease the burden of those inside.
With the existence of telepaths widely known and the presence of an alien race already speculated as an origin for the damping fields, panic begins to rise. In some parts of the world those hospitals whose beds are filled with comatose patients are attacked, in others the new Breakouts are chased or even stoned. Those few of you who know fully what is happening face a difficult choice when you send Stephen and Elizabeth to speak to the World's assembled media at the United Nations.
They explain about the volcanic eruption and the nerve agents that it combined in unpredictable ways. They explain that yes, other worlds were assisting in the rescue effort. They explain why the fields must be left in place for some time longer and that more fields were arriving all the time to protect more of the planet as the cloud spreads. They explain too that for the moment the Tomorrow People were acting as representatives equally for every race and every nation. They reassure the new breakouts you have been unable to reach, too, that there are others like them who will help them as soon as possible. They jaunt before the world's media can ask questions they're not prepared to answer. You all know that sometime soon you will have to send real representatives to the governments on the planet but for the moment you have more immediate concerns.
The fate of John is bothering you all. The Lab is well beneath the two damping fields that are now protecting Europe so even if John is conscious and well there seems no way for you to contact him. You're anxious to find him, as your friend. Timus too is anxious that the most senior of the Tomorrow People is present at any of the discussions that will soon have to take place. In the end the Federation sends a Kalinar to land in central London to see if they can find any news. A crowd gathers around the craft and you, Kenny and Stephen, piloting it and enduring the discomfort of being stripped of your abilities in your anxiety for John, find you cannot even open the doors for fear of the craft being swamped with people. Many of the crowd are new Tomorrow People, more are Saps who experienced telepathy before the damping fields fell. Some are more hostile, confused and aggressive.
You suggest radioing the police for assistance and that is what you do. It's almost an hour after you land that the police push the crowds back into a ring surrounding the disc shaped spacecraft. You are preparing to leave when a familiar figure breaks from the crowd and walks into the torus of empty space surrounding the Kalinar. John looks pale and shaken as he stands in front of the undistinguished spot on it's circumference at which the door opens. You help him inside, taking most of his weight as Stephen lifts the ship.
"Are you okay, John?" Stephen calls over his shoulder as you make it to the control cabin.
"I will be," John's voice is hoarse, "It's all been a little overwhelming. Just get me out of here, Stephen."
It takes two months to lower the psi-dampening fields around the Earth. As they come down in turn thousands more people collapse with the residual effects of the chemicals now integral to the Earth's atmosphere. This time, however, you have enough partially-trained Tomorrow People in each region to help the worst cases through the trauma of hearing the world in their heads.
Several thousand people around the world die.
Twenty thousand need to be helped from comas they would otherwise never leave.
Four million experience telepathy for anywhere from a few minutes to a month before it fades, leaving them either relieved or bereft.
Eighteen thousand Tomorrow People break out and join the network of small groups that are scattered around the planet.
In some regions they acknowledge their gifts publicly and are looked to as advisors and mediators, almost revered. Elsewhere they are reviled and remain underground, hidden. Governmental responses are almost as varied. Some respect you for the impartial way you handled this affair. Others see you as threats and want you gone. One thing everyone agrees on is that you are a global problem. The cold war is over. A global threat of this magnitude has put petty squabbles into perspective. Ideological differences remain, Earth is far from united, but the general concept of a worldwide system is suddenly very apparent to all.
A fleet of Kalinars arrive a year to the day after you first broke out. Their passengers insist on talking to every elected government on the planet but also insist that the Tomorrow People of each region appoint a representative to the meetings. They make it clear that while earth is now a probationary member of the Galactic Federation it is through the Tomorrow People that communications will take place.
You, and the others who broke out in London still use the Lab as your base but now you know of other groups with other Headquarters. There is talk of a Tomorrow People parliament, of a new assembly that will be truly global. John and the others resigned their roles as ambassadors to the Trig as soon as the first crisis was passed but they remain as Liaisons until a representative can be elected. John is traveling around the world encouraging people to stand for the role. You've done a fair bit of traveling yourself in the last year, visiting and advising other groups around the world. You know the way things are going. The Tomorrow People of Earth might be about to appoint their first elected officials to the Federation but there are only a couple of candidates for the posts.
If John and the others think they can get out of their responsibilities this easily they have a surprise coming!
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