Part 0 of 21

Synopsis: When two strangers meet on a volcanic mountain in Hawaii little do they know that the adventure ahead will lead them to make dramatic changes to their lives.

Thanks to Beth and anyta for beta reading this story. Your helpful input was much appreciated. This fanfict is a birthday present to TPFICT to celebrate its 8th year entertaining us with new TP stories.

Disclaimer: The concept of 'The Tomorrow People' belongs to Roger Price, Thames TV & Freemantle Media.

All original story ideas and new characters are copyright to Elizabeth Stanway and Jackie Clark. ( Oct 2003. This is our first joint writing venture; we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did collaborating on it. Please mail us with your comments good or bad. E-mail Address(es):
tiylaya@yahoo.com
Jackie@the-tomorrow-people.co.uk

The extract on Hawaiian Volcanoes is taken from the Hawaiian centre of volcanic activity web site.
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/HCV/maunaloa.html

Abigail attacked the volcano as if by conquering it she could conquer all the irritations and frustrations in her life. Using her walking pole for balance, she concentrated on placing her feet carefully on the sometimes-loose scree on the mountainside. Each step seemed to take her just that little bit further from the talking, the politics and the endless arguments.

It was an illusion, of course. With a moment's concentration she could jaunt back to her local Lab in Canada or even, as she sometimes dreamed, to the prime Lab in London. She still found it difficult to believe that she'd spent many years of her childhood just a few miles from where John, Elizabeth and other near mythical figures had been struggling for their survival and for the survival of the Earth itself. She liked to imagine that if she jaunted there to the home of the senior Tomorrow People she might be able to make some difference. She thought that she might be able to find a path through the murk that threatened dark times ahead.

Abigail shook her head and gave a short, humourless laugh before continuing her climb. She might just as well say that by jaunting back to her parent's house she could solve all the problems with her home life. No, she had come here to clear her mind with the simple physical challenge of the climb. The last thing she needed was to bring the clouds of confusion with her to this barren land.

In the six hours since she had jaunted to the base of the volcano, Abby had walked for fifteen miles, climbed two thousand meters, acquired aching legs and a grimy layer of volcanic ash on her fair skin. She had seldom felt so good.

Now, as she paused for breath and a few sips from her flask of water, Abigail raised her face to the breeze and let the cool wind blow the hot air and verbiage from her thoughts. Even now, though, she couldn't entirely free her mind from the concerns that shackled it.

Abigail had started a degree in politics as much to defy the pressure from her father to study medicine as because she was interested in the subject. When she had broken out as a Tomorrow Person two years into the course she had seen it as a fantastic opportunity. As the Mass Breakout rapidly gained in speed and intensity, the politics and concerns of the Tomorrow People were more complex than ever before. With thousands of people worldwide breaking out every month, the rumours of their existence were growing in both volume and veracity amongst the Saps. Even before Abigail herself had broken out the press had gotten hold of the words 'Mass Breakout Event' from somewhere and even the concerted efforts of the authorities and the Tomorrow People themselves to play down the rumours were not enough to completely quell the rising hysteria. Even with the world's governments collaborating with the effort to conceal what was happening from their populations, families talked. Doctors who treated otherwise healthy young people collapsing in the streets talked. Sometimes even the new breakouts themselves talked.

The result was a confused mess of rumour and disagreement, exacerbated by the disagreements between the Tomorrow People themselves. Many favoured going public with their existence while others were fearful of the xenophobic backlash they might expect to encounter. Even the senior Tomorrow People - respected for the travails they had endured over many years - were divided on this, Abby had heard, and that division was mirrored in almost every local Lab.

And that wasn't the only issue, of course. When the telepaths in a Lab got tired of arguing that topic they could move on to any of the others; Should they be co-operating with national governments or with the United Nations? Should they be actively courting the Galactic Federation or wary of the increasing interest that body was showing towards them? Should they be telling family members about their breakouts or keeping the secrets even from their nearest or dearest? Should they be making arrangements for the increasing numbers of school age telepaths amongst them or just working around the ill suited mainstream education they were getting?

When she had broken out Abigail had seen the endless discussion as a fascinating challenge. With her training she felt she was in the perfect position to help out with the administration at her local Lab in Canada. After her widely travelled childhood, she also felt herself ideally suited to act as one of the Lab's representatives in the wider sphere of inter-Lab politics. Now though, two years later, she was disheartened and disillusioned. What she thought would be an exhilarating new opportunity to use her training had, in fact, become an endless talking-shop and an interminable bore. She had discovered that even a fresh graduate in politics could make little headway against the old, old arguments.

So now Abigail had set herself a challenge that she knew she could meet. The volcano of Mauna Loa wasn't interested in fancy words. She didn't have to tie herself in knots to avoid insulting its black lava slopes. She would climb the volcano and she would do it without jaunting, without using her telekinesis or any of the special abilities that she was beginning to feel were worse than useless.

Screwing the top back tightly on her water bottle, Abby sighed again. The cleansing but cool spring breeze was beginning to chill her and she ought to continue her climb before her muscles began to cramp in the cold air. Unable to resist, despite her determination to keep her head out of the clouds, Abby took a quick look at the sweeping majesty of the view. In the twenty-two years of her life, Abigail's father had dragged his family most of the way around the world as part of his work as an executive for one of the multinational IT companies. In all that time though Abby had never been to the island of Hawaii and she was startled to find how beautiful the black rock and lush tropical growth far below could be. For just a moment, Abby let herself marvel in the beauty but then she shook her head angrily. The gifts the Tomorrow People had been given were beautiful. Each Tomorrow Person held that reservoir of beauty within them. And, in the end, without basic practicality beauty meant nothing.

Abby turned her face towards the barren and ash-layered grey slope in front of her and gazed at the distant summit. Almost at random, she selected one of the steaming vents that rose from the sides of this still active volcano and made it her target. It was distant and small but she knew that even without her special abilities she would reach her destination. Adjusting the straps of her small backpack and taking a firm grasp of her walking staff, Abby set out once again.

The rough ground crunched beneath Kershia's heavy walking boots as she strode out across the landscape. For the first time in many months she had the chance to stretch her legs and fill her lungs with the clean fresh air of a foreign climate- instead of the choking fumes of the streets of London.

Pushing on she felt the tensions of the past year fade into the background of her mind. The isolation was both stimulating and refreshing after the demanding hassles of her daily life. I'm alone, she thought to herself. At last I'm all alone! The certainty of the solitude washed over her with a cleansing wave of relief. I can go where I want, do as I like, and there's no one to push me around. No insistent parents taking up my free time... 'Kershia look after your younger brother... Kershia, take your sister to school'... And definitely no friends demanding my attention... 'Kershia we want your advice... Kershia we need your experience...'

Looking up at the steep incline ahead she felt the powerful mass of dark stone pulling her onward. Leaning into the mountain her muscles tensed momentarily before she began the ascent. Today was for her and the mountain spirits and that was all she needed to think about.

After about two gruelling hours she felt her lungs complaining in the rarefied air and decided to take a breather. Pulling the heavy rucksack from her back she placed it at her feet and sat on the nearest boulder. Removing a small silver flask from the bag's protective side pocket she gently unscrewed the cap and lifted the flask up to her face. The sweet smell of hot chocolate immediately filled her nostrils and she breathed in the welcome reminder of home.

"Hmmm," she said aloud, pouring the steaming liquid into the upturned cap that served as an insulated beaker. "I'm sure glad I made this before I left."

Sipping at the hot drink she looked about her at the beauty of the volcanic landscape. It was a most spectacular location. From this high on the mountainside she could see smoking volcanic vents and, despite the gentle warmth of early spring, there were still distant snow caped peaks just visible on the horizon. Spread below her, the wide Pacific Ocean framed the black volcanic rock of Mauna Loa, Hawaii's main island.

Putting down the cup she rummaged in the bottom of her rucksack and, with a little squeal of delight, pulled out a faded guidebook. Turning to the pages she had marked so many years ago, in what felt like another life, she began to read.

"Mauna Loa, or "Long Mountain" in Hawaiian, is located on the island of Hawaii. It is pictured above rising 13,680 ft. (4,170 m) above sea level. Mauna Loa is the largest active volcano in the world. In fact, using this last measure of its height, it is one of the tallest mountains in the world. Since 1832, Mauna Loa has erupted 39 times; its last eruption was in 1984. Mauna Loa is a REALLY tall and big mountain. At 60 miles long and 30 miles wide, it makes up half of the entire island.

The island has many small extinct craters, which lie at the bases of the mountain ranges, and there are some very interesting legends of their origin. They are usually are ascribed to the fire-goddess Pele, who came to the Hawaiian group ages after the islands were built.

From the summits of all these mountains, fine cloud views can be enjoyed. Here in the Hawaiian Islands the march of cloud armies sweeping over an ocean and spreading in ceaseless motion for miles over the lowlands receives an added element of majesty and awe when tossing, whirling cloud formations roll into the extinct craters. They slowly fill the 'bowl of the gods' from rim to rim and look particularly spectacular as the morning sun delicately touches the crater edges with all the colours of the dawn."

Looking up from her reading Kershia was surprised to see such a cloud formation scrolling across the landscape below her. As she watched in amazement the fluffy cotton wool-like mass engulfed the craters of the lowlands giving her the sensation that her mountain was adrift in a sea of shimmering light. But despite the beauty of the situation, her climbing experience warned her of the inherent dangers in being caught unawares at these altitudes. Looking over her shoulder she gauged the length of the climb ahead, estimating that she still had six more hours before there was any real danger she stood up and packed away the book.

Retrieving the half drunk beverage from its perch on a nearby stone she was about to return the chocolate to the flask when she paused.

"A sacrifice. That's what I need," she said with great solemnity. "An offering to Pele the goddess of fire, to give thanks for the beauty and solitude of her mountain and to ask for a safe onward journey."

Holding out her arm she turned over the cup allowing the steaming liquid to splash noisily against the rock strewn ground; staining the lava with a sticky mess that dried quickly in the warmth of the morning sunshine. Without further ado Kershia packed away the flask, returned the rucksack to her back and strode out, determined to beat the clouds to the summit.

It was well into the afternoon when Kershia stopped to grab a bite to eat and look about her once more. Digging her boots into the loose covering of scree she supported her body weight on her walking poles and dared to look back down the mountain at the path over which she had just scrambled. This was the most arduous climb she'd done in a long time. 'I'm getting lazy and out of shape' she thought; reprimanding herself for taking the easy option in life instead of keeping up her fitness regime.

She had had so little time to herself lately that any means to save time and energy were too attractive to pass up. The more she thought about it the more resentful she became of the demands put on her since childhood. Not that she blamed her parents; they were working equally hard to make enough money to support her brothers through university and beyond. Her father had repeatedly pointed out that the size of dowry given to her eldest sister's fiancé assured them of a prosperous future. The whole family had to pull together to afford such a large amount and one day she would benefit in the same way. Little did they know that Kershia had plans for her own future well beyond their limited comprehension?

It began when she was 12 years old. At first she was happy to help out her mother in the family business after school. But these occasional evenings started to extend into three, then four, then six nights a week. Homework was relegated to the early hours of the morning before school. Try as she might to avoid assignments set by her teachers, her parents were always nagging about the importance of academic performance. At sixteen she had screamed at them to 'get off my back', rebelled and left school at the first opportunity. But it didn't stop there. Once she was free of school their demands for her time merely increased. By this time her mum had had two further babies and worked a thirty hour week herself, relying on Kershia to play surrogate mother. Kershia was expected to feed them, take them to the clinic, bath them and see to their needs during the night.

The rare occasions when the family holidayed in the Cumbrian Lake District were days that Kershia relished. Being able to ditch the family on the lakeshore or in an over-crowded theme park while she escaped to the peaks of the nearby hills was her salvation. As she marched up Striding Edge to view the craggy peaks of Helvellyn, or scrambled up the foreboding slopes of Skiddaw she was able to shake off the oppressive ties of family and enliven her spirit once more. But these holidays became more infrequent until all hopes of escape faded into the background of her mind.

At nineteen, the sudden opportunity to move to London and start a new life was more than she could have dreamed of three years earlier. She smiled to herself at the recollection of the New Year's Eve party in 2010. She was dating Ammar at the time, they joined hands to countdown the New Year with such high hopes for a happy future together, but fate was to kick them back down to earth with a bump. How could they know that society was about to go through the greatest upheaval for a century? The media called it 'A Mass Breakout Event' but to Kershia it was an excuse for mass hysteria. A terrified Ammar had run back to his own family in Coventry, never to darken her doorstep again and she... well she had spent the next two years trying to make it on her own and stay sane amongst the demands of her new room mates and so called friends. London never felt the same again...

With a shrug she pulled her attention back to the here and now. This was no time to dwell on what might have been. Any walking holiday she planned always took a back seat when there was a new crisis to attend to. But not this time. Today she had left the world behind her in order to restore her spirit, today she was dedicating to Pele.

Turning back to the imposing rock formations ahead, she jerked the walking poles from their hold on the loose surface and thrust one into a crevice between two stones. Once she was happy that she had the purchase necessary she hauled herself upwards once again. Her arms and knees were aching, complaining at being strained after too many years of inactivity but she still pushed onwards and upwards towards the heavens

Abigail gritted her teeth and kept a tight hold on her walking staff as the scree shifted beneath her feet. Gradually she regained her balance and, looping the cord of her staff around her wrist, ran a hand through her greasy and ash-streaked hair. The young woman was aching all over now and could no longer pretend, even to herself, that this climb was the simple challenge she had thought she was setting herself. Abby had been on a few walking holidays when she was young, particularly when her father's job had taken them around Europe. Mostly though, her executive father would plant his family in one large city or another until the exotic locations became an interchangeable blur in his daughter's mind. Abby had to admit to herself that; truthfully, she lacked the experience to be making this climb. If it hadn't been for her special abilities and the knowledge that she could jaunt from danger at any time Abigail would have been seriously tempted to turn around and head downhill right now.

The thought angered her. The whole idea of this trip was to avoid using those abilities rather than to rely upon them. Abby had long ago recognised the streak of stubbornness in her nature and now that trait came to the fore. She was not going to allow herself to give up now. She was going to climb this mountain and she was going to do it entirely with the resources of her body and the basic supplies she had brought with her at the insistence of the others at the Lab. Her special abilities were not going to be an issue.

Placing her feet carefully on the loose ground, Abby took another step forward to seal that resolution before glancing upslope once again to get her bearings. The volcanic vent that was her current target was still perhaps half a mile upslope. A large rock outcrop on her right hand side was silhouetted against the vibrant blue of the sky. It was blocking even the warmth of the sun from Abigail now and the young woman was surprised to realise that, with the sun so low in the sky, it must almost be twilight. Her body certainly felt as if she had been climbing for an age and yet she had no idea where the time had gone. She recalled a few sandwiches she had eaten en route and the sips she had taken from her thermos flask in the lea of some of the larger rock outcrops and realised that she really had been climbing all day.

For just a moment Abigail hesitated. She had set out with the naive expectation that she could reach the summit well before the end of the day. The basic first aid and emergency supply kit she had with her was not really designed to sustain a young woman through a cold night on the mountain. For the second time in ten minutes Abigail faced the realisation that the sensible course would be for her to turn around and descend the volcano. For the second time her stubbornness asserted itself. So soon after resolving to continue there was no way she was about to concede defeat. She glanced uncertainly at where she guessed the sun must be behind the rock, not sure how to gauge its progress in the sky at this unfamiliar latitude. Another hour or so, she decided. She could put off her decision about what to do for that long at least.

Raising her eyes as she climbed Abby tried to gauge how much further beyond the vent, the summit might lie. Steam blocked her view of the mountain's highest point as the warm air of the vent cooled and condensed in the now distinctly chilly air. Higher still on the volcano's gently sloping sides, the steam began to merge with low cloud. Demoralised but determined, Abby struggled onwards.

Abigail noticed the thickening mist before she noticed the falling light levels. All around her moisture was evaporating from the sunbaked rock, only to condense in white tendrils around her ankles as the air temperature began to drop. At first, it was no more than a surprising curiosity but then, as Abby paused to look around at the phenomenon, she began to frown. The greenery of Hawaii's main island was no longer visible in the gloom that seemed to be enveloping the mountain's foot. Suddenly concerned, Abigail looked sharply upwards at where she expected to see the volcanic vent. Instead she found it lost now in the same thick mist that had just a short while before hidden the mountain's summit. And, Abby was alarmed to note, the mist was rolling down the hillside, making noticeable progress in the few seconds she stood and watched it.

Instinct as much as reason sent Abigail skittering sideways across the loose scree slope. Even as she concentrated on keeping her footing, Abby kept her eyes fixed on the large rock outcropping to her right. Earlier it had blocked the sun, now it would at least provide her with shelter from the now bitingly cold wind and perhaps save her from hypothermia when the chill wetness of the mist closed about her. The thought of jaunting crossed her mind but she forced it away. Even now she wasn't sure that returning to the bickering and back-biting was preferable to staying where she was. Even if she could live with her own contempt for her inability to conquer the mountain, explaining her arrival either at home or at the Lab and facing the inevitable confusion or amusement of her two very different families was not an option which appealed. There would be time enough to make the decision to jaunt home when she reached the shelter the outcropping promised. Abigail scrambled and slithered into the hollow in the lee of the large rock. Where soil had washed down the mountain to either side of the outcrop and raised the ground level, here a natural shelter had developed. Abigail was happy enough to slip into it as the light faded and the mists closed around, parted by the rock as they rolled downhill. She smiled a tight smile of victory that she had beaten this latest challenge that the mountain had thrown at her and looked around her refuge.

Her smile faded.

Her refuge had become a prison.

Quizzical brown eyes met hers and the expression of the other young woman mirrored the dismay that Abigail felt and had been trying to hide. It was almost as if neither had wanted or expected company and both were dismayed to find another woman sheltering behind the same rock. Quickly, Abigail looked out of the hollow, wondering if she could find another shelter but, with an abruptness that alarmed city-raised Abby, pitch-black night had fallen and even the mist-walled edges of the hollow were barely visible. All thoughts of jaunting banished from her mind, Abigail reinforced her mental shields before turning back to face the person with whom, for better or for worse, she would be spending the night. The Sap woman must not get even a hint of who or what she was.

A glint in the dark eyes was all the expression that Abby could now make out in the other woman's face as the stranger spoke in a wary but not unfriendly tone. "I wasn't expecting to find anyone else here." She said simply. "My name's Kershia."

"That's blown it!" hissed Kershia into the fog- laden gloom of early evening. Crawling back across the hollow, she quickly stuffed the jaunting belt back into her rucksack before looking up sheepishly at the approaching stranger. As the woman turned around, Kershia noticed her expression change from one of success to one of utter disappointment. 'What on earth is a Sap doing all the way up here?' thought Kershia, as she studied the woman's clothing. In despair she noticed that this intruder into her private sacrament was so poorly equipped that she could have been out for a stroll along the prom at Brighton, instead of tackling the arduous climb to the summit of the highest volcanic mountain in the world. 'I guess this is Pele's idea of a joke,' she thought, with a deep sigh. 'Lumbering me with babysitting a Sap for the night, when I came here specifically to get away from that sort of thing.'

For the briefest of moments Kershia wondered whether the woman could, in fact, be a TP, but she dismissed the thought almost as quickly as it had formed. No TP in their right mind would be walking around the top of a mountain in these conditions wearing nothing more than shorts and a summer-weight fleece.

Strengthening her personal shields, she was determined not to let this nuisance know about her special abilities. Even after three years the pain of that New Year's Day was still too fresh in her mind. As the early morning news broke, the headlines were announcing that a new wave of man - one more highly evolved than homo sapiens - had been discovered, and that these people were living undetected and unchecked amongst 'normal people'.

While they watched, Ammar dropped his mug of hot tea and without a second thought Kershia reached out with her mind to prevent the scalding liquid burning his arms and legs, at the same time unwittingly revealing her true nature to him. With the word 'Freak!' still ringing in her ears, Ammar had packed his bags and headed straight out of her life. Such rejection she was determined never to face again, not even from a complete stranger with whom she was forced to share her rocky shelter on this bitter night.

Since those first few months of media attention the lives of every TP had become increasingly dangerous. The British government in particular had made numerous attempts to gag the press over the exact nature and spread of this new species of man, but none of this had helped to quell the rising prejudice amongst the population. As the prejudice increased, so did the acts of discrimination and violence, forcing TPs everywhere to hide their natures behind a mask of normality. The tight knot of anxiety in the pit of Kershia's stomach was enough to tell her that remaining in hiding was the most prudent course of action - even here, trapped by the fog on the top of a mountain.

'Whatever happens, I mustn't let her know who I really am,' she thought, as she extended her hand and prepared to introduce herself. "I wasn't expecting to find anyone else here," she said simply. "My name's Kershia."

The woman came slightly closer, allowing Kershia to see her facial features a little more clearly. Her expression of bewilderment was fading now, replaced by an open and friendly smile that Kershia found quite disarming.

"May I?" asked the stranger, pointing at the patch of rough ground between them. Kershia nodded and the woman removed her backpack, then sat down rather awkwardly. "Thanks," she grinned. "My name's Abigail Rollinde... Abby. I'm sorry to disturb you, but this looked like the best place to wait out the fog. You don't mind me joining you, do you?"

All this came out in such a rush that Kershia didn't quite know what to make of Abby. Her apparel gave away the fact that she was ill-equipped to be walking in such inhospitable surroundings, but her tone was self-assured and confident. Recalling how the older Tomorrow People had frequently warned her that looks could be deceiving, Kershia decided that there was much more to this stranger than met the eye and strengthened her personal shields even further.

"Not at all," she replied, trying to disguise the apprehension in her voice. "I wouldn't send my worst enemy out there in this fog. It looks as if we're stuck here together until morning. I'm pleased to meet you, Abby."

A long pause hung in the air between them, while their warm breath condensed into swirling rivulets of vapour that gently became indistinguishable from the all-enveloping fog.

"What brings you all the way up here?" asked Kershia at last.

"The same as you, I suspect. The beautiful scenery of Hawaii, the chance to get away from it all... You're from London, aren't you?" Kershia nodded, but remained silent. "I knew it. I spent a lot of my childhood in London. I know that accent really well."

Deciding that she should take the initiative, Kershia picked her words carefully. "I'm originally from Slough. I've lived in London for the past few years." Suddenly noticing that Abby was shivering, Kershia softened her tone. "You must be freezing, dressed like that. I guess you didn't expect to be caught out like this."

"No, not really." Abby wrapped her arms around herself to conserve heat. "I've done some limited walking before, but this trip was a last minute thing. My work keeps me so busy at the moment. It's so demanding of my energies. I never seem to find time for a vacation. You know how it is..."

In silence Kershia nodded once again. She knew exactly what it was like to lead a hectic life, but she suspected that what this Sap called demanding was nothing compared to the endless pressures put on her by the elder Tomorrow People. When the mass breakout began she was in the first wave, one of twenty-five new TPs to join the London Lab. But since then the numbers of new breakouts had increased to such an extent that she was adding a new training schedule - for some newbie or other - to her diary almost daily. And that was not the only problem to contend with. General Damon had warned them six months ago that the government was establishing a special department with responsibility for tracking all TP movements and determining any potential threat. Sweeping her hand through her dust-clogged hair, she looked down her angular nose and tried to assess who or what this Sap actually was. Could she be one of the government's special agents? Was Abigail Rollinde her real name? Or was the inconvenience of being stuck at the top of a mountain with a Sap making her paranoid? The answer was probably, yes. She grinned to herself at her own stupidity and relaxed a little.

While she had been lost in her private thoughts Kershia had allowed Abby to chatter on without really paying attention to the conversation. Now she was aware that Abby had asked her a direct question and was awaiting her response.

"Huh? Sorry, I didn't quite catch that!

"I said, 'You don't happen to have a spare jacket in that rucksack of yours, do you?' The temperature must have dropped two degrees in the past few minutes."

Kershia shook her head apologetically. "Sorry, no... but I may have something better." Pulling the bag closer to her knees, she was very careful not to allow Abby to see inside as she retrieved the half-drunk flask of hot chocolate. "Here," she said, pouring out the sweet steamy brew. "It's still quite hot and will warm you up a treat."

"What about you?"

An excuse, thought Kershia, I've got to give the Sap a plausible excuse. "I'm just fine, thanks," she said a little too quickly. "The thermal lining on this Buffalo Jacket is nice and cosy. You need it more than me. You drink it."

In fact Kershia was neither cold nor uncomfortable. She had the foresight to put on an A.E. suit before leaving the lab, and had only just increased the heat settings when Abby arrived. With its spectra shift attachment and magnetic suspension grid she was able to hold herself a millimetre above the hard, jagged ground and still look like she was wearing ordinary walking garb.

Concerned that TIM might recall her unexpectedly during her climb, Kershia had also disengaged the suit's jaunting mechanism. This made her reliant on the normal belt that she had brought in case of emergencies. Now was just such an emergency and she knew that unless this stranger left her alone she could not risk retrieving the belt for use. 'As long as this Abigail Rollinde doesn't get too inquisitive, I'll be ok,' thought Kershia with relief.

Grateful for the distraction, Kershia watched Abby take the small cup and warm her hands around the bowl. 'That was close,' she thought. 'I must be more careful not to give even the slightest hint that I'm anything different from any other walker who gets trapped on a mountain in the fog.' Deciding to distract her companion from any more awkward questions, she suggested that they build some kind of shelter between them to ward off the almost certain onset of hypothermia.

Some minutes later the two women had erected a rough shelter around them. Kershia magically produced a silver survival blanket from her rucksack, which they then stretched taut between their respective walking poles. They leant this screen in front of their rocky hole and crawled into the narrow space behind it. Despite Kershia's lack of discomfort she had remembered to shiver now and again while they worked, to give the impression that she too was feeling the chill of the now pitch-black Hawaiian night.

Retrieving a small torch from the bag, Kershia used it to check on Abby's condition and saw, for the first time, the delicate features of her strikingly beautiful face. Somehow in the half-light of evening she had formed a very different impression of her companion. Deciding that there was sadness behind Abby's large blue eyes, she felt a wave of regret for the nasty things she had imagined this Sap capable of. "Feeling any warmer?" she inquired.

"Yes, thanks. You?"

Kershia nodded. "I'm fine, but you look exhausted. We're gonna be here for some time. Why don't you try to get some sleep? I'll snuggle close to try and conserve our body heat."

Abby gave a half smile. "Fine vacation this is turning out to be. What bad luck to get stuck at this altitude in the fog." Abby looked worried at what she had just said. "Not that I think it's bad luck meeting you... I mean, it was a stroke of good luck that you were here behind this rock with all your survival equipment and stuff."

Kershia chuckled. "Don't get yourself all flustered. I knew what you meant. Besides, I don't believe in luck. It's karma that we are here. We must both have some bad karma to work through."

More alert now, Abby raised herself up on her elbows and looked at Kershia earnestly. "You don't believe in all that rubbish, do you?" Seeing that she had hurt Kershia's feelings she continued quickly, "I mean, there's nothing wrong with personal religious belief, but I could never accept that someone, or something else, is in control of my fate."

"Well, I do believe it, and so do a great many other peoples of the world. Take the Hawaiians, for instance. They have hundreds of folk tales and legends about this very mountain. And if a lot of people believe in something for all those centuries then it gives it enough credence to be true. Take Pele, for example, the Goddess of Fire, who came to the Hawaiian islands long after they were formed and marked her progress across the land by causing the volcano to emit small eruptions just large enough to leave a scar in the landscape. Whether you believe that this is truly a spirit or not, you have to accept that knowledge of the mountain and its pattern of activity is invaluable to anyone living in close proximity. If the locals choose to call it a fire goddess, then that's fine by me."

Abby took a deep breath, rolled her eyes and stared up at Kershia. "And where did you learn all this old rubbish that it inspired you so much to want to climb up Mount Mauna Loa?"

"From here," replied Kershia excitedly, pulling the guide-book into view of the torchlight. "It's all in here. I can read some to you, if you like?"

Abby rolled onto her back, but still kept her bare legs close to Kershia's, which felt unnaturally warm despite the icy chill of the night. "Well, there's not much else for me to do, is there?" she said good-humouredly. "Go ahead and read me one of your little folk tales and let me make up my own mind whether Karma, fate or Pele, the Goddess of Fire has brought us here together tonight."

"Many years ago a quarrel arose between two of the highest chiefs of the island. They were named Koa and Kau. It did not become an open conflict immediately, but Koa was filled with such deep hatred that he was ready to employ any means to destroy his enemy.

"There was a mighty dragon at that time on Kauai. These dragons had the mana, or magic power of appearing either as men or as dragons according, to their desire. This dragon was named Pii. He was supposed to be semi-divine. His home was on the crest of an almost inaccessible precipice up which he would rush with incredible speed. Koa, the angry chief, came to this precipice and called Pii to come to him. There they plotted the death of Kau, the enemy."

Pausing, Kershia looked up and noticed the look of disbelief on her companion's face. "Shall I continue?" she asked.

Abigail nodded. "Carry on," she replied sarcastically. "I'll reserve judgement for now."

Lowering her eyes, Kershia sighed and continued to read.

"Assuming the appearance of a splendidly formed young man, Pii went down among the natives with Koa to watch for an opportunity to seize Kau. After a time Kau was lured to go at night to a house far from his own home. As he entered the door, Pii leapt out, now disguised as a great giant, and attacked him. Although Kau had a wooden dagger with him, he could not get near enough to the giant to use it.

"Just as he was becoming too weary to move, his wife, who had followed him, hurled rocks, striking the giant's face, then seizing her husband, fled with him homeward.

"There followed a great battle in which Pii attacked all the warriors belonging to the wounded chief. The chief's wife hurled an ikoi, a heavy piece of wood fastened to a long, stout cord, at Pii, which twisted around him and bound his arms to his sides. Stones and spears beat upon him, but he broke the coco-fibre cords of the ikoi and drove the warriors before him, trying to gain the house where the wounded chief Kau was lying.

"There was an old prophetess who had rushed to the side of her master when he was brought to his home. She was one of the worshippers of Pele, the fire-goddess of the island Hawaii. Powerful were her prayers and incantations. Soon she summoned Pele, who appeared out of the clear sky, hurling a fierce bolt of lightning at the giant. It struck the ground at his feet, almost overthrowing him. A second flash of lightning blinded and stunned him.

"Pii, smitten by this new danger, called for Pueo, his most mighty ghost-god. Pele's fire-darts were falling upon him and he was near death. Then came Pueo, flying down from the steep places of the mountain. In the form of a great owl, Pueo hovered over the head of Pii facing Pele. Whenever Pele hurled her fiery darts, the owl swiftly thrust his head from side to side, catching them in his beak, and with a shake of the head tossing them off to the ground.

"Then came the warriors in a great body around the giant and his ghost-god. Thickly flew their spears and darts. Great clouds of stones were hurled, and both Pii and his owl-god were grievously wounded. Pele's flashes of lightning were coming with great rapidity."

"The giant called to his Pueo to fly to the mountains and then, suddenly changing himself into his dragon form, he dashed up the precipice toward his home. Pele returned to her home in the volcano Kilauea and the villagers rejoiced."

Abigail listened to the ancient myth with a healthy dose of scepticism and a smattering of contempt. It seemed strange to her that this woman would choose to tell her such a thing when they were stuck, freezing and isolated, on the side of a volcano. After two years of trying to referee and guide discussions that too often descended into argument, Abby had little patience with hyperbole and exaggeration. The intellectual part of her recognised the importance of creation myths as the first signs of a culture curious about its surroundings. The more primitive part of her, the part that had dragged her out onto this mountain, was just irritated with Kershia for her dependence on the non-physical and the impractical. What relevance had giants and owls and dragons to their current plight? How could calling on what even Kershia herself admitted was probably no more than a primitive representation of nature bring them any closer to getting home and into the warmth?

Still, Kershia seemed to place a great deal of worth on her story and who was Abby to shatter her fantasies? So Abby just silently hiked her mental shields another degree to keep the secret and listened to the quiet words. "Pele returned to her home in the volcano Kilauea and the villagers rejoiced." Kershia concluded her story with a thrill of excitement and rejoicing in her own voice. In the pause that followed that statement, Abby was startled to realise that even she was feeling a certain amount of pleasure at the story's satisfying conclusion. She shook away a momentary irritation with herself and focused on her companion instead. Kershia was an enigma. The Sap woman had offered little explanation for why she was alone and, although admittedly much better equipped than Abigail, still relatively unprepared on the slopes of Mauna Loa. Unwilling to answer similar questions, Abigail had not inquired too closely. Nonetheless, she had to admit that the sound of Kershia's rich voice in the ink- black darkness was reassuring. Alone in the night, Abigail felt that she would have gone slowly mad.

Of course, Abby remembered with a flash of resentment, if Kershia hadn't appeared out of the mists and out of the blue, she would almost certainly have abandoned even her towering pride by now and returned home. In effect, it was Kershia's presence that was now trapping Abby on the mountain rather than the night. The young British-Asian woman might be full of hot air and cursed with an overactive imagination, but there was no way Abby could leave her. Even though Kershia could have had no more than a brief look at Abby in the twilight gloom, and even though they would almost certainly never meet again after this night, Abby could no more jaunt away than a Sap like Kershia could. It wasn't just about keeping the secret; for most people being a Tomorrow Person had more implications than just that. It was about not leaving another human being alone and in danger. "So," Kershia continued before Abigail could decide quite how to respond to the story, "karma, fate or Pele? Have you made your mind up yet?" For almost the first time in the evening, the smile that reached Abby's face came from within and not just from the confident and open persona she liked to project.

"Pele. Definitely Pele," she told her companion. Certainly, she thought to herself, I can think that I've acquired enough bad karma in the last few years to justify this mess!"

"But you still think I'm mad for putting my faith in such things," Kershia noted shrewdly. She shrugged and closed the book, tucking it into the front pocket of her rucksack rather than opening the bag fully. "That's up to you, of course. It's up to everyone to decide for themselves what he or she believes in."

"But stories about goddesses and tribal battles?" Abby couldn't stop the words bursting out of her. "Doesn't it disgust you that the ... that people like this derive even their religious myths from conflict and violence?"

Kershia's eyes turned thoughtful and distant in the torchlight and for a moment Abby was afraid that Kershia might have caught on to her near mention of Saps.

"I hadn't really thought about it like that," she admitted. "But not all of the Hawaiian stories are about violence, Abby. Do you want me to tell you a few more? Or tell you about the history of this place?"

Abby couldn't resist a snort of wry laughter.

"Are you joking? We're stranded on the side of a volcano and you want to help me improve my performance in trivia quizzes. I don't need to know all this stuff, Kershia. I don't believe it and I've had a lifetime's worth of discussions about trivia back at home. Look, I'm sorry, but I can't pretend to have faith in all this."

Abby felt sorry for the irritable tone almost at once. It wasn't like her. Perhaps she was protesting too hard, perhaps she really was looking for something to replace the belief she'd once invested in the future of the Tomorrow People. Still, Kershia seemed to be taking it with equanimity.

Brown eyes caught the torchlight as Kershia turned back to face her and Abby felt them studying her. "I know. I have to say though, you look as if you could use a little faith in your life just now."

Abby couldn't quite stop the shock reaching her eyes as she struggled to reinforce mental shields that had slipped as she relaxed. She noticed the other woman frown momentarily, her eyes distant. Did Kershia suspect that Abigail might have broadcast that last feeling? Did Kershia realise that Abby might even be a Tomorrow Person?

"Did you grow up with all this new age stuff?" Abigail asked the question abruptly, eager to head off any such dangerous ideas. She had not meant to embark on a discussion of their private lives. Anything beyond the basic information they had shared before Kershia's story could be risky and, after all, she had known this Sap for no more than an hour or two. A lifetime's worth of discussions about the relative morality of Homo sapiens and Homo superior flashed through Abby's mind in an instant as she waited for Kershia to reply, but fortunately Kershia too seemed disinclined to share personal information and shrugged the question off.

"Not really, but who wants to do what their parents do? All we can do is find our own path through life and do what we can to walk it without too many shortcuts or diversions."

"True," Abigail agreed with just a little more feeling than she had intended. Again she felt the slight hesitation from the other woman that made her wonder just what Kershia was thinking and if she was giving too much away. The only reaction from Kershia though was just a sigh and a movement that shifted her position slightly, so that more of her strangely warm back and leg were in contact with the slightly younger woman.

Abigail shivered in the cold air. The crude shelter was helping some, she admitted, but even so the night breeze at this altitude was finding its way through cracks and gaps in the silvery fabric and sucking the heat from both their bodies. Abigail felt Kershia shiver against her, despite her apparent warmth, and not for the first time Abby regretted her decision not to bring her A.E. suit. She had been so determined not to rely in any way on her special abilities or the perks they had brought with them. She'd even tucked her jaunting belt into the bottom of her small backpack when she'd started the morning climb. Admittedly, given how unexpectedly she had come across the Sap woman, that was probably a good thing, but Abby was starting to suspect that the concept underlying the action had been far from good. Still, no point in worrying about that just now. As long as Kershia was here in the hollow, any thought of jaunting or A.E. suits would just have to be put aside. Kershia shifted again, clearly finding it hard to get comfortable, and spoke tiredly.

"Abby, I know it's difficult in this cold and on the ground, but we ought to try and get some sleep. It's going to be a long night and we'll need our strength in the morning."

Abby felt momentarily disappointed, but then common sense reasserted itself. Although the company was pleasant, it seemed almost impossible to keep the conversation away from topics that couldn't help but hint at Abby's TP nature. If Kershia didn't want to talk, then Abigail should probably be grateful. Certainly she was grateful for Kershia's body heat mingling with her own and for the cocoa the other woman had shared when they met. Abby had to admit that after a day of unaccustomed physical stress and exhaustion she felt almost unbearably weary.

As the two of them shifted position and settled down to sleep, Abby thought that despite the tiredness, her still active mind would not allow her to rest. Nethertheless, underestimating the power of body over mind was almost as dangerous as the reverse could be. Even in her excited state, her aching body required rest. With the quiet murmur of Kershia whispering a goodnight to Pele in her ears, Abigail drifted into a deep and well earned sleep.

********

The roar of the rockfall split the night into two. Jerking from a deep and dreamless sleep, Abby sat upright with a startled cry. A hand closed around her arm in the dark and she cried out again before remembering where she was and why.

"Abby! Calm down! Keep quiet!"

Around them rocks were clattering, the first rattle of stones growing exponentially until the noise seemed to fill the air and the ground beneath them quaked.

"It's an avalanche. Kershia, we're going to be buried alive in an avalanche!"

"I've heard rockfalls like this on a mountain before. Keep quiet, Abby. We mustn't dislodge any more of these rocks with the sound of our voices." Kershia's voice was tight with fear and concentration. Even without light, Abby could imagine the intent expression on her companion's face.

"We have to get out of here!"

Kershia's voice was sharp and irritated.

"And how do you propose we do that? Outside this hollow we'll be even more exposed. I know you don't have much mountaineering experience, Abby, but I for one don't plan to scramble down a volcano in the dark! If you have another suggestion I'd be overjoyed to hear it!"

The annoyed tone did more than kind words could have done to bring Abigail back down to earth. The thunder of the rockfall still filled the air all around them. Gravel and occasional larger lumps of stone were bouncing off their flimsy shelter or slipping around its edge and into the sides of the hollow. Nonetheless, there seemed to be little they could do other than stay put. The bitterness in Kershia's tone when she asked for suggestions had shocked Abby, but now she found herself mirroring it. She had awakened with the straps of her backpack still looped around one wrist and now she plunged a hand inside to feel the comforting weight of the buckle on her jaunting belt. It was so tempting just to slip the belt on and jaunt out of here. Or even to call up the Lab and ask for a matter transporter belt for Kershia! However, Abby resisted the temptation and took a moment to assess her situation. It didn't take her long to reach the same conclusion that Kershia, the more experienced mountaineer, must have reached in moments.

The position of the Tomorrow People as a race was a precarious one at best. Already word of the Mass Breakout had begun to slip out. While the press had rumours of their existence though, the testimony of an intelligent and observant Sap woman like Kershia could make the rumours into fact. And the Tomorrow People were just not ready for that kind of exposure. Public opinion remained too hostile, the governments of the world remained too wary. If someone like Kershia came forward with a story of a Tomorrow Person who had let her risk hypothermia during the night on the volcano, the governments might be forced into a very public backlash. It wouldn't matter that Kershia had been here by her own choice; all that would matter was the spin that the already hostile press put on it. And Abby had given Kershia her name. Sooner or later Abby would be hunted down and she and everyone she cared for might be imprisoned or worse, just for being what they were.

There was no way of knowing how much danger Abby and Kershia were in as the rocks fell around them, but they did not appear to be imminently threatened. As long as that remained the case Abby couldn't justify the risk of exposing herself and her species to this unknown Sap.

Abigail pulled her hand from inside the backpack, just as Kershia activated the torch that she had evidently pulled out from her own pack.

"Abby... look, I just don't know how bad this rockfall is or how close. It sounded as if it was right on top of us, but it can't have been, or we wouldn't be here now." Despite her worrying words, Kershia spoke in a soothing tone as if to a much younger child. She hesitated. "I know you don't want to believe in anything you can't see and feel yourself, but I'm going to ask Pele for help. Even if she doesn't hear me herself, perhaps something in this mountain will."

"And that's really going to help!" Abby snapped sarcastically. Her earlier irritation with Kershia's hot air and, before that, all the hot air and idealistic beliefs she had to live with threatened to burst out from within her. But then she saw the hurt and frightened look on Kershia's dimly lit face. "Kershia, I'm sorry." Her apology was immediate and sincere. After all, if her beliefs gave Kershia a little comfort here and now, they couldn't be entirely useless.

Kershia met Abigail's eyes for a moment before she closed her own eyes and mouthed a silent prayer. Her eyes snapped open though, as a new and ominous sound replaced the dying roar of the rockfall. The hissing, popping sound seemed unnaturally loud in the silent night. The low grind of stone moving against stone provided a base counterpoint that grated across the nerves and half convinced even the cynical Abby that the volcano itself was in pain.

A stink of sulphur and other less identifiable vapours filled the air and in Kershia's eyes Abby could now see real terror. Nevertheless, the sounds and smells couldn't justify the only method of escape any more than the rockfall had.

"Perhaps your Pele has sent one of those god-people to help drive all this away?" Abby suggested with an attempt at a smile. "That story said they could change into dragons, didn't it?"

A strange expression of momentary hope and more practical doubt crossed Kershia's face at the suggestion. Even she wasn't expecting any such material help from the mountain goddess. In the end, she just shrugged and turned her face again to listen to the sounds.

Lying back side-by-side, the girls listened in silence for several minutes, Kershia switching off the torch to conserve its dying battery. In the darkness, Abby again fingered her jaunting belt longingly. Eventually, it was Abigail who spoke.

"Talk to me, Kershia. We have to keep talking to one another. Tell me about yourself, your family. Tell me another story even. I just don't want to think I'm alone out here."

Finishing her narration, Kershia looked at Abby in the half-light. 'How dismissive this woman is,' she thought. 'How closed-minded.' Still, she was sure that she felt a chink in Abigail's mental armour. This idea stopped her thought processes in their tracks. Had she been so preoccupied with her tales of Pele and the mountain gods, that she had loosened her shielding? Running through the meditation that she had practiced so many times in life since her breakout, she assured herself that everything was in place. Her shielding was so complete that even if TIM or John himself had tried to make telepathic contact they would have been unsuccessful. 'Good,' she reassured herself. 'I may have quit my job and jaunted out, shouting that I was never coming back, but that doesn't mean I can afford to get too comfortable. John, Mike and the others have been living with the Sap threat for much longer than I have.'

There had been stories floating about in many Labs for months now, that the Saps were using telepathic agents to infiltrate the secret world of the TP. Tricia was just one example. Before her semi-retirement to the Trig she had often spoken at their monthly meetings, warning them all of the dangers inherent in any attempt to go public with their presence and thus usurp the authorities' already fragile power over the population. The media may have bandied about the term 'Mass Breakout', but they could hardly conceive of what this meant to thousands of fragile, frightened children everywhere.

'What am I saying?' Kershia scolded herself. 'There's no evidence that Abby is anything more than a hapless tourist stuck here against her will, as much as I am.' Studying the dirty guide-book, she turned once again to the section on folklore and chose the first story she came to. She retrieved the torch again and held its feeble light up to the page. Reading would take her mind off such paranoid thoughts, as well as blocking out the realisation that their safety on this live volcanic mountain was more of an issue than she was quite prepared to admit.

************

"At the base of mount Mauna Loa there was a small fishing village. Living in this village were two sisters, Kia and Lu. The sisters were the best of friends and always worshiped the great goddess Pele together in the temple.

"From his mountain home on the edge of a large crater lived a dragon called Lin. He looked down at the two sisters, at their devotion to the goddess and to each other, and fell in love. Undecided which sister he loved the most, he took on human form and descended the mountain.

"When they met Lin both girls also fell in love, but they soon became rivals for Lin's attentions and began to neglect their village. Angered by their behaviour, Pele sent a great eruption to drown the village in fire and lava. Concerned for his two loves, Lin sent a mighty fog across the valley to obscure Pele's view of the village's destruction, then ran up the mountain to confront Pele and beg for the girls' lives."

"Speaking with Pele, Lin offered his own life in return for the girls promising to remain in the volcano, as her servant for all eternity. Pele, who was equally lonely, agreed to this offer.

"Realising that Lin had gone to speak with Pele, Kia also ascended the volcano and begged an audience with the mighty goddess. When Pele saw Kia's devotion to Lin, she asked that Kia also give her life to the mountain in return for the lives of her villagers. Kia readily agreed to this offer and turned herself back to her own dragon form. Upon seeing this transformation Pele laughed and was much pleased. Her mood lightened and she blew away the fog from the village. Now Lu became the leader of her people and they lived on the fertile earth laid down by the volcanic eruption and prospered for many years."

"You're not suggesting that we're dragons?" blurted out an astonished Abigail. "That's just too stupid."

Kershia didn't even try to hide the hurt she felt as she replied. "Of course not! I'm not stupid. I wasn't implying anything. I chose this tale at random from the book, see?" She held the page up to Abby's face. "This is a legend about two sisters who worship the Goddess together, nothing more. I don't know why you jumped to the conclusion that I thought we were dragons." She paused and her tone changed from anger to suspicion. "Unless there's something you're not telling me...?"

Despite her defiance, Kershia realised that there was a touching coincidence about the content of this story. Something so familiar that it scared her almost as much as the weird unnatural sounds all around them. There was no doubt in her mind that the volcano had erupted during the night and that Abby was keeping something from her. She had to admit that she was very tempted to confess her own secret, thus ensuring their safe escape from the mountain.

At that moment she realised how close she had come to admitting who and what she really was. Admitting it to a stranger as much as to herself...

With a deep sigh she regained some of her composure, pulled herself together once again and turned her awareness inwards. Checking her fragile mental defences, she was relieved to find that everything was still firmly in place.

Then it happened - a shaft of fragile sunlight found its way through a gap in the safety blanket. Dawn was breaking over Mount Mauna Loa and it couldn't have come a moment too soon.

Kershia noticed that Abby had also seen the signs of early morning. The relief that they had made it through the night was evident on her face as she pulled back the screen, stretched and stood up. But almost immediately that look changed to one of utter horror as her brain registered the devastation before them. Hurriedly Kershia rose to stand at Abigail's side and looked around.

It seemed that Pele had done her worst; brought down the mountain and split the very rock upon which they stood for as far as the eye could see. The two women were standing on an island in what was now a sea of molten lava!

Abby had listened with open mouth and wide eyes to Kershia's second story, grateful for the darkness that still hid most of her expression. The story seemed to hit some resonance within her and that frightened her as much as it delighted her.

Even as Kershia had described the friendship between Kia and Lu and the peril they had shared, Abby had felt a similar kinship with the young woman with whom she was stranded on the volcano. With the hissing and grinding of some unseen eruption all around them, Abby had been eager to grasp any shred of comfort and had, unusually, allowed herself to become absorbed in the tale. It was only when the parallels between Kia's hidden nature and her own had suddenly become clear to her that Abby had become alarmed.

Did Kershia suspect the truth? Tired as she was, Abby couldn't quite keep her shields as rock solid as she would have liked, despite constant checks. Perhaps a more experienced Tomorrow Person would be able to maintain her concentration in this situation, but Abby was frighteningly aware that she'd been leaking thoughts that a Tomorrow Person with low shields, a Sap telepath or possibly even a particularly sensitive Sap might have picked up. If Kershia was one of those Sap spies that Abby had heard rumours of ... if she had selected that story because she was beginning to suspect....

Abby's instinctive ridicule of the folk story had been a purely defensive reaction, as much a part of her easy-going mask as the smiles and conversation had been the previous night. Even Kershia seemed able to see that deep down Abby was coming to accept the worth of her stories.

Dawn came as a relief and a release. The first gleam of light was feeble and dim, but reflected and re-reflected by the foil emergency blanket, it seemed as bright to Abby as noon sunlight. Abigail barely noticed Kershia as she all but dived from the makeshift tent. The dawn air was cold against her face and skin but, while last night the chill had been life-sapping and frightening, this morning it was refreshing and reinvigorating. Abby lifted her face to the sunlight, her eyes closed as she soaked in its feeble warmth. It was probably only a second, but it felt like an age before she opened her eyes to look around her.

And that was when the taste of freedom that the dawn had brought turned to ashes in her mouth. Kershia was at her side in a moment and, the suspicions of just minutes ago forgotten, the two women stared in shared horror at their new prison.

Two black rivers smoked and steamed in the dawn. Through cracks in their hardening dark grey surfaces, a fiery red light hinted at the fury of the fires within. As the two women watched in awed silence, the flow to their left shifted slightly, the grinding noise sounding like the angry grumbling of a thousand giants. With a sense of inevitability, Abby let her eyes follow the streams until they met, a hundred metres or so down-slope of the hollow in which she and Kershia had sheltered. She didn't have to look to know that the streams must have divided just a few metres away from and upslope of them, broken by the rock outcrop.

Struggling for words, Abby gave a shaky laugh.

"I think Pele is going to have to send one of those dragons to get us out of this one, Kersh."

Brown almond eyes met hers and Kershia managed an unhappy smile.

"She's a tricky one," Kershia admitted in a trembling voice, "but someone was watching over us last night, Abby." Kershia looked back at the rock outcrop that had shielded them. "We should have died in that rockfall. We should have burned to death in this lava flow." The young woman took a deep breath. "Something was caring for us last night. Karma, fate, Pele, I don't know. But somehow you and I are important, important enough that even nature itself couldn't sweep us away."

Abby laid a reassuring hand on Kershia's trembling shoulder, not sure what to say to the superstitious woman, not sure what she herself believed anymore.

Was she important? She had believed for months that her work with the Tomorrow People at her Lab had become trivial and unimportant. Was she being spared for some great task? Or was her humble role sufficient?

Perhaps it was Kershia? Too many of the Tomorrow People assumed that the Saps were no longer relevant, that they would never again do anything of importance. After a night spent with Kershia, after finding that, like Kia and Lu, they shared a bond, Abby was not so prepared to dismiss the idea.

What am I thinking? Abby shook her head sharply and smiled an amused smile despite their perilous situation. Just a few hours before she would have laughed in Kershia's face. Now she was not only listening to the other woman, but actually beginning to believe her.

For now, Abby put the intangible problems to one side and focused on the very real peril in which they found themselves. The black crust of the lava rivers seemed solid enough and, judging by the cracks she could see, reasonably thick. Perhaps they could climb across the lava flow? Cautiously, Abby took a step forward and extended a hand as if to touch the surface that formed a five-foot tall wall in front of her.

The heat radiating from the lava stopped Abigail a moment before Kershia's alarmed, "Abby! Don't!".

Kershia grasped her arm and pulled her back sharply. "Abby, that surface is going to be burning hot for hours! Days even!" The older woman seemed to be scrabbling through her bag as if searching for something that could help the situation. Acting on impulse, Abby turned away and used Kershia's distraction to check that her jaunting belt was still at the bottom of her own bag. She didn't even see the expression of relief that passed across Kershia's face as her hands closed on whatever she was looking for.

Both women turned back to face one another with almost identical looks of guilty wariness and then both expressions became confused as each recognised something of their own thoughts in the other's. Abby gave Kershia a sharp look as her concerns returned full force. Kershia was definitely hiding something.

The moment passed and Abby shook the thought aside, together with all thoughts of her jaunting belt. The arguments for not using her abilities in front of Kershia remained as valid now as they had been before and besides, now that the summit of Mauna Loa was once again becoming visible, Abby was beginning to remember her resolve not to use her special abilities to solve problems her physical body could handle.

Aware that Kershia was still shaken by their lucky escape of the night, and trembling again herself to think about it, Abigail turned her practical mind to the problem.

"Abby! Don't!"

Grasping Abigail's arm forcibly, Kershia pulled her away from the scorching mass of semi-congealed lava. 'Has she gone completely mad?' Thought Kershia, only just managing to hold her anger in check. 'I thought people like her were meant to be intelligent, not stupid enough to stick their hand into liquefied rock that's probably over a thousand degrees C. I've a mind to leave her stranded here.'

As the idea crossed her mind, Kershia turned away from her companion to search through the rucksack for her hidden jaunting belt. On finding her prize, she was instantly overtaken by pangs of guilt. What could she be thinking of? Leaving Abby here would be tantamount to killing her in cold blood. No TP could do that, not even one who had sunk as low as her... As a Tomorrow Person it was her duty to help out any human being in distress, and that included a Sap. Even a Sap spy!

A sudden wave of utter hopelessness beset Kershia's mind. This was a feeling that she had experienced too often in the past few months and didn't like one little bit. As the demands of the people around her had increased,she found herself feeling more out of control, more enslaved by the necessity to put their needs above her own. This had always been her problem. She'd spent all her life trying to please those around her, trying to be seen to do the right thing, instead of doing what she felt was right. Always trying to be what they wanted her to be, instead of being herself. But no matter how she tried, in her mind it was never good enough. She did everything she thought they wanted of her, but still they demanded more. Until yesterday - was it only yesterday? - When she had dropped everything, thrown TIM's carefully drawn up schedule in the bin and jaunted off for some time alone to think things through.

This time on the mountain was meant to help her refocus her attention, but Pele was cunning; she had manipulated Kershia into facing her own worst nightmare - being held accountable for someone else's safety.

These thoughts made Kershia shake more violently than the realisation that they were in mortal danger. Rooted to the spot by self-doubt and indecision, all that Kershia could do was watch Abby as she surveyed their rocky haven. Then the realisation hit her like a thunderbolt: it was not Abby who was reliant on her but the other way around...

********

All around them, the remnants of the night's rockfall littered the ground. Still shaken and unable to see a way out of this trap, Kershia watched as Abby's eyes scanned their haven thoughtfully. The rock shards came in almost every size and shape, from no more than gravel to head-sized boulders that could have flattened the tent and killed its occupants if the outcrop hadn't deflected them. On the right hand side of the tent a large boulder, six foot tall, stood out in the lava stream, no more than its upper surface showing above the flow. Where the originally much larger boulder had struck the rock outcrop, a litter of flat rock flakes each two-foot across were scattered inside their island sanctuary. Abby's expression changed to one of intense concentration and Kershia could see the germ of an idea beginning to form behind it. Abigail walked around the tent and squatted on her heels beside one of the large flakes. She managed to get her fingertips under one corner and, straining, raised the edge by a centimetre or so. While she did this, Kershia moved to squat by her side.

"Abby?" Kershia put all her curiosity into the question.

Abby looked speculatively at the rock flakes then towards the lava flow and back to Kershia. Both women were slender and not overly tall, but both seemed to be fit and strong. Perhaps they could actually carry this off.

"It'll take a lot of hard work, but what choice do we have?" Abigail muttered to herself just loud enough for Kershia to hear, before speaking more audibly, "Kershia, this is going to sound mad but ... I have an idea."

********

"So if we manoeuvre this larger piece into position at the edge of the lava flow we may be able to push it in. The wide flat surface could distribute our weight and insulate us from the heat at the same time. It'll take a while for it to sink and in that time we can pile some of this other loose stuff on top of it. That way we'll make a temporary platform like a stepping stone for us to use to get across. What do you think?" asked Abigail, looking at Kershia's bewildered expression.

There was no reply from Kershia, who was still filled with insecurities and remorse at her earlier thoughts of desertion.

"Well, what do you think?" repeated Abby insistently. "We can't stand around here all day."

"I...I don't know... Do you think it will work?"

Kershia could see Abby become angrier. "I don't know what's gotten into you, Kersh. Last night you were so full of your folk legends about Pele and fate. Don't you see that fate has given us this slim chance to get ourselves out of here? But we have to pull together to make it work. I very much doubt that either of us could shift this stone on our own."

Kershia knew full well that she was quite capable of moving the stone on her own. If she only had the guts to use TK, to say 'to hell with pretending... this is who I am... do your worst...' she could have the two of them back to the safety of the foothills in a matter of moments. At the same time she knew that such an act could spell utter disaster, not just for herself, but for the other Tomorrow People too... She just wasn't brave enough to do it!

Abby walked over to inspect the distance between the flat-topped stone and the lava's edge. Returning, she bent down once more, squeezed her fingers beneath the rock's jagged underside and started to lift.

Suddenly Kershia found her voice. "Wait, let me help." She rushed over and also started to pull at the heavy weight. "One, two three... lift!" With a mighty heave the two women managed to lift their burden a few feet from the ground and take one cumbersome step towards their goal. In the next instant they lost their grip on the slimy base of the stone and it dropped to the ground.

Kershia slumped down on her knees as hopelessness overcame her again. "It's useless, Abby. We're not strong enough. We'll never be able to do it. Let's face it, there's not a cat in hell's chance that this plan will work. The stone will sink as soon as we toss it into the lava flow. It'll never support our weight while we step across."

The ferocity of Abigail's response took Kershia completely by surprise. "Who the hell do you think you are?" she shouted. "Are you an expert in volcanoes all of a sudden? Tell me, are you? You have no idea whether this will or will not work and you're planning on giving up before we even try!" she sneered at her companion in disgust. "I don't know what it is you've got hidden in that bag of yours, but if it's a radio and you think you'll get a signal to your friends all the way up here, then you've got a lot to learn. Our only chance of escaping from this mess is through our own resolve to stay alive. I don't know about you, Kershia, if that is your real name, but I for one have a lot more living still to do. With or without you I'm getting myself off this mountain right now!"

Kershia couldn't believe her ears. 'A radio... she thinks I've got a radio?' With a gentle chuckle, all her fears that this Sap was a government agent disappeared. 'If she knew I was a TP she'd have suggested that I call for help telepathically. She never would dream that I've got a radio hidden in my bag.'

Somehow the realisation that she had totally misjudged Abby's motives broke the tension in her own thoughts. This Sap was an innocent, an unlucky tourist who was acting far more mature about their situation than Kershia would have ever imagined possible. She was the superior being here, yet she had been drowning in self-pity at their predicament, allowing her own fears of failure to stop her from even trying to make things better.

Without further comment Kershia stood up, walked over to where the stone had fallen and started to lift it once again. "Thanks, Abby," she said softly, as the younger woman joined her in her efforts.

"Thanks for what?"

"For making me grow up!"

Abby glanced away from the stone surface under her hands to steal a quick look at the woman on the other side of it. In the few minutes since Kershia's peculiar declaration the two of them had worked in near silence. Abby wasn't sure what she could say, wasn't sure whether she should apologise for her own earlier outburst. She hadn't meant to challenge Kershia. She hadn't meant to mention her suspicions about whatever it was Kershia had in her bag. If a Sap spy suspected her cover had been blown then she might decide to cut her losses and get rid of Abby before she could report back to the Lab. Nonetheless, despite the dangers, her frustration at the situation had overflowed before her trained political instincts could suppress it.

Kershia's reaction, however, had done more than a thousand assurances to convince Abby that Kershia wasn't any kind of spy at all. The older woman's collapse into despair and self-pity had been both irritating and painful to watch. Her recovery from it suggested a depth to her character that, even after the night on the volcano, Abby hadn't suspected. She had thought Kershia a little shallow, a little too absorbed in her own problems and the escape she found in superstitions. Now Abby was beginning to realise that Kershia did indeed see the big picture, and was prepared to get down to the hard work that getting out of here would entail. Now they were holding one of the stone slabs between them, edging steadily closer to the hot wall in front of them.

"Do you think this is actually going to work?" Kershia asked, curiously as they let the stone fall once again. Kershia had been perceptibly more cheerful since thanking Abby so strangely, and Abigail couldn't stop herself smiling back as they both massaged their aching wrists and caught their breath. For the moment they were working to bring as many of the stones as possible to the edge of the flow, so that when ready, they would be able to do the labour Abby had described. Once they started to pile the rocks into the lava they would have to work quickly, or the whole lot would be swept away by the red-hot flow.

"I think it's the only chance we have," Abby shrugged. "We have to try something, Kershia." She suppressed a smile and continued in her serious tone, "I think Pele wants to see how we cope with all this."

Kershia gave her a startled look and Abigail couldn't suppress a giggle. The release of tension was infectious and it wasn't long before Kershia was chuckling too. The next stone seemed to go faster. Although they were still both tired, they moved it over a five-metre distance to leave it just a few tens of centimetres from the lava. Abby kept them talking as they did so.

With the unexplained and barely noticed hostility on Kershia's part now completely vanished and Abby's own doubts greatly reduced, the conversation flowed more smoothly than it had the night before. With the skill of her years of experience in keeping a discussion going or introducing a distraction when one was needed, Abby broke her personal rule and told Kershia a little about her family, in addition to a little about the walking trips she had been on as a child. The British woman in turn described the tall hills of England's northern regions, as well as the pleasure of coming across old friends sipping a cup of tea in the shelter of a few piled stones.

It helped to take their minds off the effort they were making but even so, Abby couldn't resist a grimace as she surveyed how much more they had to do. If only she could use telekinesis! She'd have these rocks shifted in a minute or two. But then, she thought wryly, if I was able to use my TK, I'd be able to just jaunt the pair of us out of here in seconds!

She glanced sideways at Kershia and was somehow unsurprised to see a similar look of frustration and weariness to the one that she imagined on her own face. She and Kershia might be very different sorts of people but in some ways they thought very much alike.

******

It took them over an hour to pile all the medium-sized rocks they could reach by the side of the lava flow, and then they took another ten minutes to rest and stretch before tackling what Abby had taken to calling 'The Great Escape,' in her own mind at least. The two of them had rapidly realised that even if they were able to shift some of the larger stones, they would never be able to get them into place on the lava without serious burns and an exhausting struggle. On the other hand, most of the rock shards in their island haven were so small that they might as well try throwing gravel into the mouth of the volcano as use them for support against the lava flow.

From time to time Kershia glanced up at the sky, as if afraid that they would be trapped by night or mist once again. There was little chance of that. The dawn light had roused them early and even now it was probably not past mid-morning. Despite their anxiety to get off the mountain, both girls had to recognise that giving the outer crust of the lava even a little longer to cool and harden had to be a good thing.

Eventually, Abby and Kershia stood before the lava wall with their ammunition piled beside them. Their hands were wrapped in strips torn from Kershia's emergency blanket for the meagre protection it might offer them against scrapes and burns. Nervously, Abby adjusted the straps of her rucksack. Against her better judgement, she had decided to leave her jaunting belt packed out of sight in the bag. It would make little difference to her. Even without their belts all the Tomorrow People were able to jaunt short distances and that would be enough to get her to solid ground if she should begin to fall. Kershia wouldn't have that safety net.

Grimly, Abigail promised herself that she wouldn't let the other woman die. If one or the other started to slip then Abby would lift them both to safety telekinetically. Before this Abby had always sought to avoid committing herself in the great debate that rolled through and over the ranks of the Tomorrow People like the waves of the incoming tide. Would saving the life of a thousand Saps be worth the risk to oneself and to the Tomorrow People as a whole? If one thousand Saps were enough then would a hundred be? Would the life of a single Sap be worth losing everything?

Now Abby finally knew. Perhaps other Tomorrow People would make a different decision, but she knew where her duty lay. When it came down to it she couldn't fail Kershia, even if the fate of the entire Homo superior species was in the balance.

Avoiding the eyes of the woman she had come to think so much of, unaware that Kershia was avoiding her eyes with equal vigour, Abby took a deep breath.

"Well," she said, "shall we get on with this?"

Kershia gave a slow and solemn nod before reaching down and bracing herself for the huge effort it would take to toss the foundation stone into the lava flow. In silence Abby followed suit, until they were both bent double in anticipation of the exertion ahead.

The seconds ticked by as they looked into each other's eyes, down at the heavy stone, then back again.

"Now!" shouted Abby and they both gave an almighty heave.

Rapidly the stone lifted from the ground until it was almost at waist height, then they paused to shift their position, preparing to throw their burden outward into the seething mass of molten rock before them. With muscles straining to control the heavy weight they began to wobble sideways, forcing Kershia to take a tentative step backwards in an attempt to regain her balance. "We're losing it!" she cried nervously. "Throw it... throw it now..."

Thrusting their arms outward they launched the stone at their target, the centre of the lava flow, and watched as it seemed almost to hover in mid-flight before crashing down onto the newly hardened crust. They held their breath as the heavy weight impacted and the surface seemed to give a little before bouncing back up again.

"We did it... we did it..." cried Abby excitedly.

"Woo, hooo..." shouted Kershia, almost simultaneously.

In the next instant they flew into action. Grabbing at their stockpile of mineral ammunition, they began to lob the boulders towards the floating anchor stone, rapidly covering its surface with a layer of rock that they hoped would protect them from the worst of the heat.

With all thoughts of hunger or exhaustion wiped from their minds by the sheer exhilaration of the adrenalin surge, they managed to construct a metre-wide platform about two metres from the lava's edge. As the stockpile of stones diminished, each woman was forced to contemplate the next phase of their plan.

Abby gave a huge sigh as she tossed the last stone onto the pile, then looked around. "Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked tersely.

Kershia knew exactly what she was waiting for. She was wearing an A.E. suit designed with special thermal qualities that could withstand both the intense cold of deep space and the extreme heat of solar flares. Her thick soles afforded her much more protection from the searing heat than Abigail's leather boots could ever do. She also knew that if anything went wrong during her crossing of the lava river, she could use TK to augment her passage. And, if Pele was kind, fate might just allow her to grab hold of Abby somehow and lift them both to safety.

While she was deciding upon a suitable verbal retort to Abby's question, one that would force Abby go first, her brain registered an infinitesimal drop in the height of their rock platform. This new data focussed her mind on the necessity for immediate action. "Go, go, go...It's sinking," she shouted, lunging at her companion and pushing her towards the edge.

Abigail, needing no more encouragement, launched herself at the obstacle ahead. Touching down momentarily with her right foot, she pushed herself off again in the direction of the far bank.

Grateful for the suddenness of Abigail's action, Kershia also ran at the river of lava and with a hop, skip, and jump found herself sailing across to the other side. As she landed awkwardly, her legs gave way and she fell to the ground beside Abby, tears of joy welling up inside her at the sheer relief that they were both still alive. Without further comment they hugged one another warmly. Friends in disguise, friends in adversity, friends for life....

Abby held Kershia tightly, so relieved that her new friend was safe that she didn't want to let go. Both women were crying, tears flowing openly down their faces as the awful pressure of anticipated danger was released.

"We did it!" Abby sobbed, dazed. "We got out!"

"And we did it together!" Kershia's voice was bursting with joy and an odd pride. "We did it entirely with our own hands and without ..." Her voice trailed off but Abby didn't notice, too wrapped up in her own thoughts to notice how closely Kershia had paralleled them.

They'd achieved everything with sheer hard work and with no more than simple ingenuity. Abby had thought that the Sap would be a burden and protecting her a chore. She couldn't believe now how wrong she had been.

"I couldn't have done it without you," she told Kershia simply.

A shudder ran through Kershia's slender frame at the thought of what might have happened to Abby, trapped alone on the volcano's side. Like a mirror image, Abby trembled to think of what might have happened if her new friend had been the one isolated and in danger. Abby could have teleported to safety at any time but Kershia...

Kershia took a deep, shaking breath and sat back on the rocky ground, her lips moving in a silent prayer of thanks to Pele or some other spirit. For the first time, Abby felt no inclination to laugh at Kershia's spirituality. Closing her eyes, she tried to work out how she felt. In the end she shrugged and let her own mental voice echo around the interior of her still tight mental shields.

"I don't know if you exist, Pele, but if you do, then thanks."

Opening her eyes once again, Abby began to look around at their surroundings, assessing their situation as she waited for Kershia to finish. From their island amid the lava, they had been unable to see the extent of the eruption. Now she could see just how lucky they had really been. The lava flow that had almost engulfed them was just one of several that had streamed from the volcanic vents a little higher up the slope. As the streams flowed downhill they had spread and merged, so that a whole swathe of the lower mountainside seemed to be a mass of new black rock, highlighted here and there by the still red hot lava visible through cracks in the thin and hardening shell. Well below them Abby could see the beaten ash track that was the closest thing to a road around here. Even at normal times it only climbed a third of the way up to the volcano's summit. Now the lava flows blocked the track just a few miles from its origin in the wooded foothills, nature or Pele showing her contempt for the works of humanity on this sacred volcano.

Abby smiled to find herself thinking so. That didn't sound like her, at all. She thought she had wanted this trip to bring her back down to earth after the complex moral and abstract debates that seemed to be the lot of a Tomorrow People politician, but perhaps she hadn't known what she had really wanted.

A sudden cracking sound and a roar behind them spun Abby around and brought Kershia to her feet, cutting through the silent thoughts of both women. Sparks fountained a metre into the air from the fiery and fuming red hole that marked where their temporary platform had been built. Clearly the crust of the lava flow had only been thick enough to hold for just so long. Now, as the wide flat slates slid into the red-hot flow beneath, the ash and gravel that coated their surfaces was cracking and exploding.

Exchanging wordless looks, Abby and Kershia moved in unison to start the dangerous scramble of the descent. The rocks beneath their feet were slick with ash, even where they didn't shift and slide on the scree slope. It was hard work to keep their balance on the unstable ground, even with their packs on their backs and their walking staves in their hands. It was several minutes before Abby stopped for a short breather and Kershia remembered that with her superior experience, she should have been setting a slower pace. After seeing the fury of the lava at their escape, her only thought had been to get far away as quickly as possible.

"Where are we going, Abby?" she asked the younger woman quietly.

"I was heading for the track," Abby told her a little breathlessly. Kershia nodded. She too had been making for the beaten-ash road. At least with its smoother surface and gentle gradient it would provide them with an easier path back to the mountain's foot than a random scramble would. "How far do you reckon it is?" Abby asked, trying to judge the distance with nothing familiar in view to give her a sense of scale.

"Ten miles?" Kershia suggested. "But look on the bright side. It's downhill all the way."

*****

It took them three hours to scramble down the volcano side, and the sun was high in the sky by the time they were half a mile above the trackway. They endured the hardship in silence. The volcanic ash caked their skin so thickly that Abigail felt that her skin would never be free of the ingrained grime. Her throat was dry, each breath feeling like sandpaper scraping against the raw membranes. She felt herself longing for the cool dampness of the mists to close around them once again and couldn't help laughing out loud at the ludicrous idea. Kershia gave her a strange look at the outburst but had to share her smile when Abigail explained in a dry and cracked voice. Both Abby and Kershia had run out of water at dawn and food sometime the night before. Her own lack of preparedness Abby understood but it was still a shame clearly neither of them had expected to spend the night on the volcano.

Abby had paused as she spoke, too tired to walk and talk at the same time. She looked around as she explained though, letting her eyes linger on the moist green forests below them that now almost blocked their view of the distant blue sea. As a result, it was Abby who saw their salvation first.

The 4x4 truck was scrambling up the ash track, perhaps a mile below them. As soon as her eyes fixed upon it, the expression on her face had Kershia spinning on the spot to follow her gaze.

"It's going too fast!" Abby exclaimed desperately. "By the time we can get down there it will have reached the lava flow and turned back!"

Kershia caught her hand. "Come on!" she screamed aloud, plunging as fast as her weary legs would carry her down the mountainside, dragging the other woman behind her.

As they scrambled, tumbled and sometimes fell downwards, both women became acutely aware of the progress of the off-road vehicle. With one eye on the uneven, ash-covered ground and another on the truck, they watched as it reached the point where the lava flow crossed the roughly hewn path. A tall, dark-haired figure emerged from the driver's seat, surveyed the extent of the eruption through a pair of binoculars, made a few quick notes in a small book, then climbed back into the vehicle and started to turn around.

In the end it was Kershia who thought of the idea that saved them. Above the thunder of his vehicle's engine, the driver had no idea that the two girls were shouting and yelling to attract his attention. It wasn't until Kershia threw a hand-sized boulder downhill, sending a shower of smaller gravel into the truck's path, that the driver glanced upwards. Within moments the truck had stopped, the driver's door swinging open and the man inside tumbling out. He looked them up and down in sheer disbelief as they scrambled to his side.

"Who...?" A brown-skinned hand ran through the man's black hair as he shook his head. "No, it doesn't matter." He leant back into the vehicle and pulled a large water flask from the driver's door pocket. Abigail knew that her eyes betrayed her longing but with an effort she forced the flask into Kershia's grateful hands. "Whoever you are, Pele has been kind to you! Drink this and get in. I'll take you back into town."

While Kershia drank her fill of the cooling water Abigail prepared to climb into the back seat of the 4x4. Patting her hands against her shorts, she attempted to shake off some of the thick film of volcanic ash. This gesture sent a cloud of debris into the warm afternoon sunshine, making all three of them step backwards, coughing wildly.

"Don't bother yourself," their rescuer told them with a smile, as his coughing fit subsided. "My truck's had all sorts in it before. I doubt that a little dirt will make much difference. Besides, you two looked like ghosts as you ran up just now. Don't spoil the effect. I thought for a moment that Pele herself was rushing down the mountain to greet me."

Kershia shot Abby a knowing look and replaced the stopper on the bottle. "Ghost or not," she laughed, "I can't wait to get back home for a hot steamy bath... and a good meal," she added.

With the two women tucked safely into the back seat, the driver started the engine and headed along the bumpy road towards the nearest town. It was almost thirty minutes before he took his eyes off the road to resume the conversation. "So you've been stuck on Mauna Loa all night then?" he said flatly. "You were very lucky not to get swept away by the lava flow. When my instruments registered the seismic activity I headed out early as I could to assess the extent of this latest eruption. Just after I left I heard on the radio that they closed all the main roads around the mountain. There was no mention of two missing women. I guess you didn't register your climb with the rangers' station before setting out yesterday."

Abby looked guiltily at the driver. "I... I never thought of it. I guess we were very lucky that you came along when you did."

"You can say that again!" replied the driver. "With no one out looking for you it would have been days before anyone else was allowed onto the mountain. The nearest village is five kilometres away. In your state, I doubt you could have made it back there in one piece."

"Can we change the subject, please?" asked Kershia, desperate to avoid any awkward questions about how she arrived on the mountain or where she was staying. "You've found us, and we're safe, and that's all that matters."

"Pele be praised," said the man.

Thankful for this opportunity, Kershia grabbed at the chance to veer the topic onto more acceptable ground. "I thought that the old gods were dead. That no one worshiped them any more."

The vehicle swerved sideways as it hit a pothole, causing the three passengers to bounce in their seats. "They most certainly do!" came the driver's confident reply. "The old gods hold a special significance for me since I came to work as a ranger in the office of the Geological Survey. I've seen all sorts of crazy things happening out there on Mauna Loa that could not be explained by conventional science. The only logical conclusion is that Pele is alive and well and looking down on us from her mountain home, laughing, no doubt, at how reliant we are on technology to tell us when she is about to erupt. Do you know that despite some of the most advanced technical gizmos the US government can provide, we still can't accurately predict when she's gonna loose her temper and blow...typical woman. " His voice trailed off as he glanced up into the mirror and noticed his two passengers in fits of giggles.

"Sorry," said Abby, at last. "We didn't mean to ridicule your beliefs; it's just that we've... well, you know...Lack of food and sleep can make anything seem amusing."

"It's OK," replied the ranger, giving his full attention to avoiding the ruts in the road once again. "I know what it must look like to outsiders. You have to see Pele up close to really appreciate her power."

This time it was Kershia who sounded solemn as she answered, "We have... we certainly have."

The driver suddenly slowed the truck and turned around in his seat to face them. "That I can believe. I no longer think that you two are ghosts sent by Pele to trick me, but I am convinced that she must have had a hand in your fate for you to survive the night on her mountain during an eruption." Abby and Kershia watched with fascination as he unbuttoned the cuff of his denim shirt and carefully rolled up his sleeve to reveal a large and colourful tattoo in the shape of a dragon. "Do you see this?" he asked and they nodded in unison. "This is the symbol of the Dragon sect. One of the oldest religions on Hawaii. My father was one of the foremost members in our village and his father before him. It was their knowledge of the mountain that led me into a career in geology. I may use technology in my work but I never forget that the myths of this island existed long before I was born. Respect for nature in all its forms is what gives us an edge in our daily struggle to survive. We may look towards the future, but we can never forget the past..."

The driver kicked the vehicle up a gear and sped along the road in silence for some minutes. "Well, that's how I see it..." He said eventually, with a shrug. "We'll be coming into town in a few minutes. There's a good doctor at the medical centre. Shall I drop you off there for a quick check up? Just in case you've breathed in anything nasty, or done yourself any injury running down the mountain."

"There really is no need," said Kershia hurriedly, much to Abby's relief. "I feel fine."

"So do I," added Abigail. "We don't want to put you to any bother. The lift back to civilisation was fantastic. I'm sure I can get a doctor to look me over once I'm back at my..."

Realising that the conversation could quickly become difficult if they started to discuss hotels, Kershia jumped in quickly to avoid any further questions. "Yeah. You must have your hands full with the eruption to report. Just drop me off anywhere in the town centre and I'll call my friends to collect me. You've been wonderful already. I wouldn't want to put you to any more trouble."

"We'll be fine once we get back..." began Abigail.

"Yeah, just fine. Thank you for all that you've done." interrupted Kershia hurriedly.

Pulling up at a large brick fronted building, the driver turned around once again. "You two are strange, and that's a fact. You've been out all night with no water or food and have just descended an erupting volcano and you'd rather find your own way home, even though I'm offering to get you checked over by a doctor and make you comfortable until your friends arrive." He looked at each woman in turn and was met by identical looks of self-reliant determination. "Oh well," he shrugged, swinging open the door and climbing out. "This is my place. If you change your mind, the medical centre is in the next street along. It wouldn't have been any bother at all to take you there, but you look like you would rather trust one another than me, so there you are." He pointed up the street and his shirtsleeve fell open, exposing the dragon tattoo once again. "This is the closest I can take you to the centre. There's a phone box a hundred metres up there for you to use." With that he turned on his heel, bounded up the small step in front of the station building and disappeared inside.

"Well," said Kershia, as she followed Abby's lead and stepped out into the empty street. "What do we do now?"

Abby mumbled something about having to head back to her hotel. She muttered something about maybe seeing each other around the island. She knew, as Kershia knew, that it was a pitiful response to what they had shared on Mauna Loa. It wasn't just the driver who could see the bond of trust that had grown up between them in the night, but for people like Abby and Kershia trust could only be taken so far.

When Abigail looked up into Kershia's face, there was only an unreadable sorrow in the expression there. Kershia hadn't offered the name of her hotel. She hadn't offered any way for Abigail to get in touch and, aching inside but knowing she would be unable to reciprocate, Abby didn't asked.

"So I suppose we ought to be going then," Kershia said in a level tone that was at odds with the hurt and rejection in her eyes.

"I suppose so," Abby agreed, hearing the strain in her own voice. "Goodbye, Kershia." She embraced her new friend, despite the ash that still encased the skin of both. Kershia hugged her back and then, abruptly, the two parted.

"Goodbye, Abby," Kershia said as Abby turned to leave. "And may Pele remember our sacrifice and watch over you."

Walking away was hard, perhaps the hardest thing that Abigail had ever done. It was like breaking out all over again, she realised abruptly. She felt as if she was walking away from her old life and into a new one. Perhaps she was. Would she ever be able to look at life the way she had before the night on the volcano? Would she ever want to?

Abby felt Kershia's eyes on her back as she took the first steps away. She would not look around, she promised herself. Kershia was a friend but she was a friend that Abby could not risk keeping. On the mountain Abby had been prepared to risk herself and her species for Kershia's sake. Here, surrounded by bustling crowds and the trappings of civilization, she knew it was not a risk she could afford. Perhaps she could have justified saving a Sap's life. Justified it to herself, if not to the others. Nothing could justify putting everyone and everything in danger for the sake of a friendship that was based on little more than a chance meeting.

Perhaps she would meet Kershia again sometime, somewhere. Perhaps she wouldn't. Who could say?

As she tried to lose herself in the bustling crowds, Abigail lifted her eyes to the great dark slopes looming above her. Smoke and steam curled over Mauna Loa's smooth black shoulder, but the lava flows were hidden from view by the volcano's mass. She could almost imagine that the sacred mountain stood as still and tranquil as it had for centuries. She could almost imagine that none of this had happened.

Abigail walked around the street corner and into a narrow alleyway between the wooden buildings. Breathing for the first time since she had walked away from Kershia, Abby leant back against the nearest wall and closed her eyes, squeezing away the unshed tears. After a moment, she opened them once again and swung her backpack off her sunburned shoulders. There, coiled at the bottom of the pack where she had left it, was her jaunting belt. Abby stared at it.

She had been so desperate not to use her powers. She had been so desperate to work the hot air and meaningless noise out of her system. She had done all that and more. She had learnt that perhaps the closeness she shared with the other Tomorrow People in her Lab wasn't the only form of friendship. She had learnt that in their place and at their time, words and talk could be a tool for good as well as for confusion and inertia. She had learnt never again to take anything for granted.

Back in the Lab, the others were waiting. By now they would be curious about her, wondering where she was, but aware from experience that she would not appreciate constant mental queries when she was in search of solitude. Just now though, solitude was the last thing that Abigail wanted. When she had left, Abby had believed that she would never look forward to going back again. She had only heard the arguments, only seen the endless debates and petty disputes. Now Abigail was looking at a glowing afternoon sun that she might reasonably have never witnessed. Now Abigail had realised how precious her nature was and how much she was prepared to sacrifice for it. Kershia would never know how much she had taught Abby and how difficult it had been for Abby to leave her standing alone by the truck, but somehow, whatever she had been thinking in their last moments as friends, she had found the right words. Abigail would always remember.

Numb, torn between longing to see her old friends and leaving the new, Abigail slipped the belt around her waist, setting the coordinates with automatic motions of her fingers.

She wanted to run back around the corner, she wanted to find Kershia and to explain everything.

With tears in her eyes, Abigail jaunted.

Standing beside the 4x4 Kershia felt lost for words as Abigail made her excuses and prepared to say goodbye. Avoiding the other woman's eyes, she contemplated how much she could risk telling this new friend, then immediately dismissed the idea as too ridiculous. There was nothing she could tell without telling it all. She had no hotel, had no traceable phone number and no return flights to England. Without these usual trappings of a tourist there was little else to say.

Still, she couldn't help wondering why Abby was being equally coy about her own personal details. It had been many hours since she had dismissed the notion that Abigail Rollinde was a Sap spy. Even now she found it hard to contemplate anything so underhanded from her companion. There seemed to be only one reason for Abby's reluctance to make further contact with her. It must be something that she had said or done during their time together on the mountain that had caused Abigail's rejection of her.

As the silence lingered between them Kershia felt compelled to say something to break the increasing anxiety at their imminent parting. "So I suppose we ought to be going then," she said in a level tone that was at odds with the hurt and rejection in her eyes.

"I suppose so," Abby replied, her voice betraying the strain she felt at the parting. "Goodbye, Kershia."

Hugging Abby tightly in a futile attempt at prolonging their bond, Kershia felt certain that her feelings were being reciprocated. This isn't a rejection, she thought. This is someone who appreciates the reality of our separate lives. How often have people met in foreign climes and vowed to keep in touch, only to forget the other person as soon as they returned to their usual routine? Abby, in her own way, is trying to spare me the rejection that such an act would bring. She is being more practical about this than I am, and much more grown up.

Growing up was something Kershia had been forced to do a lot over the past twenty-four hours. The moment on the mountain when she had fallen into despair was typical of how she had always coped with demanding situations. Running away from a problem, either physically or mentally, had become so ingrained in her that she had actually believed that these acts were not of her choosing at all. In fact, she had spent her whole life blaming the people around her for putting unrealistic demands upon her and pushing her into retreat, when all along it was her own fear that drove her away. Abigail had forced her to stand on her own two feet at last. Instead of hiding in a fantasy world of myth and religion she had faced up to the challenge before her and conquered her fears.

But that was not the only revelation Kershia had faced on the summit of the volcano. All her life she had felt tied by other people's need for her help, as if she could measure her own strength by their inadequacies. Up there on the island of rock, surrounded by a thousand degree lava flow, Kershia had expected this Sap to fold under the pressure, forcing her to take the lead. In fact it was Kershia herself who had been compelled to admit that she couldn't cope and, by this admission, that she needed the people around her much more than she realised.

Pele had been very cunning, very cunning indeed. If she had left her alone with another TP, none of this would have risen to the surface. The words of the ranger kept ringing around Kershia's head. "We may look towards the future, but we can never forget the past..." Was there something in him that recognised the spiritual journey she had just taken? Kershia's beliefs were still sacred to her just as his were to him. She was even more certain now that Pele was alive on Mount Mauna Loa and had had a major part to play in the re-birth of her new and confident self.

Exhaling noisily, she returned to the here and now. By thinking beyond the immediate and sparing Kershia future heartache, Abby was being more of a friend to her than anyone had ever been. That was a gift greater than anything she could ever have given. This strong, self-assured woman didn't need their last exchange to be one of sadness and regret...

Up on the mountainside she had needed Abigail's strength to help her through, but now she was strong enough to let her go and face the future alone. Kershia took a deep breath and gave the bravest reply she could muster. "Goodbye, Abby. And may Pele remember our sacrifice and watch over you."

Watching Abigail turn and walk away, Kershia remained perfectly still. Even if she had been a Sap herself and able to share more personal information, she clearly understood the logic in Abigail's actions. As the seconds passed and Abigail retreated up the street towards the crowds, Kershia was determined not to let herself cry. Her old self would have fallen into despondency at this rejection, followed by anger as blame was apportioned squarely on the other person's shoulders. But not this time; this time Kershia was allowing her friend to walk away, admitting to herself that it was her choice to do so and feeling very grown up about it. Now all she had to do was to face John, TIM and the others in an equally adult manner when she explained her unexpected disappearance to them.

Abigail Rollinde finally vanished from sight around a street corner and Kershia felt free to move on.

Pulling her rucksack higher onto her ash covered shoulder, she had a spring in her step as she marched up the street looking for a suitable place from which to jaunt. At long last she felt that she was a real TP. A TP whom she could be proud of, a Tomorrow Person who had escaped imminent death without using her powers and one who had kept her secret safe throughout the ordeal.

Having found a suitable location, tucked behind some dustbins in a side street, Kershia pulled out her jaunting belt and placed it around her waist. Once I get back I'll go straight to John, she vowed. I'll explain everything to him and request a new assignment. But this time it will be one of importance to the cause... one of my choosing.

With fingers on belt she paused for thought - 'but maybe I'll take a bath first...' - then vanished into thin air!

Five Years Later...

As the swirling nothingness of hyperspace faded from her awareness, it was replaced by the bright artificial lights of the London Lab. Holding perfectly still, Kershia scanned the room and compared the image with her long term memory store. The two link tables were in the centre of the space, just as they should be, while on the right was the semi-circular couch where she had sat so many times discussing her plans over a cup of TIM's sub-molecular reconfigured coffee, and beside this stood the stun-gun rack with seven pistols inserted - barrel forward - in the recharge position. So far all seemed in order, but she was still unsure. She had been away for too long, living a lie and suppressing all knowledge of this place, which she had once called home.

To her left the metal door of the darkroom flashed a warning as some slight movement was caught in its reflective surface. Instinctively she threw up her mental guard and prepared to jaunt back out again.

"Wait... Kershia, wait!" came a distantly familiar voice. "It's me, John." From behind the concrete pillar to her left, a man of late middle-age stepped into full view, his once lush dark hair showing strong signs of grey at the edges and his face furrowed by years of fear and anxiety. "We didn't know what to expect after so many years... We obeyed the instructions in your message, but I decided to stay behind, just in case."

"In case of what?" she snapped in reply, her mind still wary of this unexpected change to her instructions.

John walked around to face her full on. "In case you needed to see a friendly face. Five years is a long time to be away." He smiled warmly and she noticed some of the tension fade from his body. "Why don't you come down from the jaunting pad and then we can talk properly?"

Now it was Kershia's turn to smile. "I will just as soon as you remove the force field."

John was astonished. "How did you kn..."

"When you've been working under cover for as long as I have you make sure you know about these things." She took a tentative step forward, eager to be welcomed into the friendly family atmosphere that she had always associated with the Lab. "Oh John," she sighed. "I've learned so many things. Honed my psi-awareness beyond anything we thought our species capable of..."

John looked up at the lifeless orbs that made up TIM. "Command override," he began, "John beta four five five." Suddenly the whole lab lit up with patterns of vibrant colours.

"Welcome home, Kershia," said TIM. "It is now safe for you to vacate the jaunting pad. I have removed the force field."

Hesitantly Kershia came across to stand eye to eye with John. "Well, what now?" he asked.

"Now I'd like to make absolutely sure that you are who you claim to be." She lifted up her hands and held them palm outwards.

"Is this absolutely necessary? I'm perfectly satisfied that you are our Kershia. I've let you into the Lab, haven't I?"

She nodded. "Yes, John. My conscious mind is also certain that you are genuine and that this is the real Lab with the real TIM. But you've not seen the things I've seen, you aren't yet aware of what the Saps are capable of. Once I show you, mind to mind, then you will understand why I must be absolutely sure... why we all have to be absolutely sure from now on!"

With a look of total understanding John joined his hands with hers and they began to merge minds.

For many minutes the two Tomorrow People stood in absolute silence, not moving a muscle, while their linked thoughts probed into the darkest recesses of each other's consciousness and revealed all the events that had transpired over the past five years.

Once John had acquired total knowledge of the dangerous situation that they faced, he fully understood why Kershia had risked breaking her cover to bring this information to him. Stepping back in alarm, he took a fraction of a second to regain his composure before looking up. "Thank you... Thank you for risking your life to bring this information to us."

Energised by the magnitude of this news, the years seemed to fall away as John conveyed his orders to TIM. "Get in touch with Elizabeth on the Trig... and you'd better recall Stephen and Mike too. Then put in a priority communication to all Labs worldwide. We need to hold an emergency summit right now!"

John turned back towards Kershia and she noticed a look of deep concern in his eyes. Such a look would have been totally out of character in the younger John she had known, but in the dark days that she had been away he too had experienced tragedies that had scarred him mentally. "Will you stay? Is it safe for you here?" She nodded. "Can you come to the meeting to tell the people everything you know?"

"That is precisely why I have returned..."

"You're sure?" Abby couldn't quite keep the incredulity out of her voice, "You're absolutely sure that's what the message said?"

Marc shrugged and sank into one of the deep chairs that were scattered around the Lab.

"Now, I'm hardly likely to make something like this up, am I, ma chère?" Marc's thick French accent and slow drawl almost masked the anxiety in his voice. Almost. To anyone who knew Marc as well as Abby knew him, the strain in his voice and eyes was obvious. "I tell you, Abby, TIM lit up his spheres for just long enough to summon us and then was gone again almost before I answered."

He gestured vaguely in the direction of the hemispherical devices which, when he chose to inhabit them, marked TIM's physical presence in every Lab worldwide. Just a glance was enough to show Abby that the array of spheres was dark and silent.

"But TIM hasn't looked in on us here for weeks. He's not spoken for months. And we've not had contact with a Lab outside the local circle for longer still." Abby was thinking aloud now. Marc just watched and listened, knowing that his companion needed to work this through in her mind. Since Marc and Abigail had become joint leaders to the Tomorrow People of Canada, they had spent enough time in one another's company to become familiar with each other's quirks and habits. On the rare occasions when the two of them were alone in the Lab, Abby could let down the collected, positive façade that she maintained in front of any of the others. Now, she could feel the worry lines creasing her forehead and didn't try to hide them. "And now from out of the blue a summons to London! Repeat it, Marc. I want to hear exactly what TIM said."

"'An emergency worldwide summit will be held in one day's time at noon GMT to discuss important intelligence just received. John has requested that your province send representatives.'" Marc shrugged again thoughtfully. "That's all TIM said, Abby. I wonder what 'intelligence' they could mean."

"Whatever it is, it's got to be important if John is blowing the cell structure wide open to deal with it. It's been the prime Lab in London that's pushed us towards limited inter-lab contact all along."

Marc didn't have to reply. He just met Abigail's eyes and shared her moment of remorse. Marc had been amongst the first of the mass breakouts, Abby just a couple of years further down the line. Neither had reached thirty yet, but both had been Tomorrow People long enough to remember how life had been even five years ago when things were first beginning to slide out of control. Before the riots. Before the witch hunts. Before the volcano of simmering fear amongst the Saps had erupted.

Back then a Lab was never empty. Even when not full of locals then one or more Tomorrow People from out of town would be visiting, either out of simple curiosity or as some test of freshly trained jaunting ability. Even then however a Lab had been so much more than a simple meeting place. It was a haven, a refuge in the face of prejudice and suspicion. Now that role had come to dominate all the world's Labs. Many thousands of Tomorrow People would never set foot in their local Lab out of fear of what would happen if one of their fellows were captured and tortured before the others could help them. Who knew what names and faces such a victim might reveal to their tormentors in some drug-induced haze? It had happened before. After the Barcelona Lab in Spain had been wiped out almost in its entirety, even the big city Labs like the one here in Toronto had fallen in with London's advice that contact between Labs should be kept to a local level, and to a minimum even then.

The world's governments had abhorred the massacre, of course, but very few of the Saps, let alone the Tomorrow People were convinced by the public stand. Too many ringleaders and preachers of hatred had escaped justice over the years for the Tomorrow People to count on the protection of authority and law. Many Tomorrow People had tried to turn their backs on what they were, to live 'normal' lives as if they were Saps. Many more had fled Earth to take refuge on Federation worlds increasingly intolerant of their presence. Nonetheless, millions remained on Earth and thousands more broke out each week to take the places of those departing. And all those people needed training, comforting, reminding that they were not alone.

Five years ago Abby had been little more than a spoilt child, resentful that her idyllic dreams of a new world had been shattered by the harsh reality of the world's present. Now she was co-administrator of the hundred thousand or so Tomorrow People in the Canadian region. Every day the pressures of serving their needs, of simply protecting their lives, weighed down on her more heavily. Her life seemed to be an endless whirl of committee meetings and administrative chores, intermingled with the painful necessity of just being there for her people. She had to be there to talk to the children disowned by their parents. She had to be there to talk to the families driven from burning homes by mobs that had only just begun to suspect what they were. And yet Abigail never let it drive her into to the ground. She had learnt long ago that talking had its place and that sometimes even a simple 'it's going to be okay' could mean as much to a person as food and warmth and safety.

She and Marc had grown accustomed to the daily routine of existence in a world that seemed determined to destroy them. And now, from nowhere, came a summons that sent shivers down Abby's spine.

They would attend, of course. They would step through the swirling colours of hyperspace and place their lives in the trust of others whom they had never met. Never for a moment was that in question. But if the senior Tomorrow People on whom they had counted for guidance for so long were breaking their own rules, then the news they had to share would do more than disrupt a simple routine. The news they had to share would shatter forever the world Abby had come to know.

The elder Tomorrow People walked onto the hastily erected stage to take their seats at the table facing the crowd. At first this disused aeroplane hangar had seemed cold and echoing, but it had rapidly filled up with the buzzing voices of many hundreds of people as they jaunted in.

With a single thought John called for order.

(We are here today to discuss the latest Sap threat to our people. This is not just a localised threat, but one that affects all our safety. We have been brought intelligence that suggests that the Sap governments have combined their resources on one single project. Code-named Operation Malthus, its pivotal concept is to break one of Darwin's fundamental rules of evolution - survival of the fittest. Whereas natural selection reflects a spontaneous genetic shift towards a new species, the Saps have developed a means of reversing the evolutionary process by halting the mass breakout - thus reasserting their own supremacy on the planet.)

A huge wave of concern swept across the throng, accompanied by sharp intakes of breath. In the next instant a dozen angry voices shouted out their own anxieties in a dozen different languages.

Stephen rose from his seat and waved for calm. (Please, ladies and gentleman, please. We'll all get along much better if we stick to telepathy. That way we can overcome our language problems.)

The shouts slowly died away to a murmur and John held up his hand. (Thank you. I think it would be best at this point for the person who brought us this news to address you in person. She is here among you in the crowd tonight and I'm sure that once she tells us all about her experiences with the Sap authorities you will understand the necessity for us to keep her identity secret from you all.)

A telepathic wave of agreement swept the room from the multitude of different minds present in the hangar. Kershia dropped her mental shields completely, allowing the others' thoughts to penetrate her awareness. For a moment it felt like she was drowning in a sea of other people's hopes, fears and desires but then, mouthing a silent prayer, she found her centre, drew in her breath and began to focus her thoughts into one coherent message.

**********

(It all began when I returned from a climbing holiday that, due to unforeseen circumstances, had gone somewhat wrong. I had found myself stranded atop a volcanic mountain in Hawaii with an unknown Sap who, as far as I knew, could have been a government agent. Throughout my ordeal I managed to maintain a mental distance by shielding my personal thoughts and upon my return I explained this to John.

He suggested that we use this talent to turn the tables on the Saps by sending one of our own, namely me, to spy on their government departments. To this end TIM managed to forge some documents for me and I took on a completely new identity, before joining the Ministry of Defence as a receptionist a month later.

Working my way up over the years, I managed to gain access to the special department set up to track the progress of the TP breakouts. It was to one of their senior personnel that I eventually let slip, one day, that I too had some telepathic ability. This landed me a job as one of their operatives and I was then sent out, under yet another assumed identity, to infiltrate various Labs worldwide in the hope of gaining inside information about the number and spread of TP's.

I'm apologise to the people here tonight who I was forced to spy upon. You don't know who I am, and I feel personally responsible for some of the run-ins you've had with the Sap authorities ever since, in particular the tragedy in Barcelona.)

Kershia radiated her deepest feelings of regret at the enforced inaction she had endured throughout the incident, and was immediately comforted by the telepathic reply that wrapped her mind in an empathic blanket of understanding. Pulling herself together, she continued, (This was all part of John's plan for me to remain under cover at all costs, in order that we may plan our emergence properly.

A few months ago, I became aware that this department had been affiliated to another deeper and more secret agency, and it was not until last week that I learned the full extent of Operation Malthus. The alarming news is that the Saps have been playing with human genetic engineering and gene therapy techniques. They have discovered a way to produce a telepath who has the same wedge-shaped brainwave pattern as the TP's, one who has quite strong telepathic abilities, strong enough for them to pass as a new breakout. What these agents are not capable of doing is jaunting.

Some of you may have wondered why the order was given for you to jaunt here tonight. Now you know. We cannot be sure that the people around us are real TP's at all. The people we meet in the street who 'path a hello to us may be government spies trying to gain our confidence. I for one realise that I don't always see other TP's jaunt right in front of me and could easily be hoodwinked by an expert telepath with just enough inside knowledge to be plausible.

My first recommendation is for Elizabeth: I suggest that we hold an immediate review of the breakout-training schedule. Jaunting should be top priority from now on, with no new TP being given access to any Lab until we are absolutely sure who and what they are!

But that is not all. The second phase of Operation Malthus is due for implementation in six to ten months time. The Sap scientists have engineered a retrovirus, which infects the brain of potential TP's prior to breakout and halts the process. The virus is to be disseminated by their genetically engineered carriers. If they are allowed to deploy this weapon, and I'm certain that they intend it to be used as an anti-TP weapon, they will halt the evolutionary process.

Then all they have to do is round up all known breakouts into Nazi-style concentration camps, equipped with enough Barlumin to prevent our escape, and eliminate us at their leisure. By the end of a year they will have won their secret little battle without the general population ever guessing that they were even at war!

I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, to put these things in such alarming terms. I appreciate that the TP ideal is one of non-interference and pacifism but in my opinion, and I think John's too, we cannot just sit back and let them do this to us. We have to fight back with the one weapon evolution has given us... our intelligence.

I think our second priority must be to find a way of recognising each other in public places and then to root out the agents within our ranks. I'm hoping that Stephen's team will then work with me to find a way of eliminating this retro-virus and its carriers, besides all the associated knowledge of the research, as soon as we can!)

There was stunned silence as Kershia finished her report and immediately bolstered her fragile mental defences. And she did this not a moment too soon, for in the next instant the whole hangar erupted into a huge telepathic cry of outrage and anger...

The first sense of contact with the mind of the Tomorrow Person who was risking her life for them all made Abigail frown. Somehow, impossibly, there was something familiar about the other mind, and yet Abby would swear that she had never heard this telepathic voice before. All the same, the woman's first words, left Abby stunned.

Kershia!

Abby shut down the thought almost as soon as it rang out in her mind, pulling her shields up so tightly that she barely heard Kershia's next few words. Whatever was going on, Kershia clearly did not want her identity broadcast to the entire assembly. How was it possible? How could Kershia be here? How could Kershia be a Tomorrow Person? Had she broken out since their encounter on Mauna Loa? No - if the other woman had reported back to John on her return from the volcano, she must have been a Tomorrow Person well before that happened. Slowly, a disbelieving grin began to spread across Abigail's face as she realised the irony of what had happened on the mountain.

Moments later, however, that grin was wiped from her face as she began to really listen to what her long lost friend was saying.

The silence that lingered as Kershia concluded her report seemed to mirror the hollow emptiness within that was all Abby seemed able to feel in that moment. The roar of anger that followed all but swept her away. A few of the stronger telepaths amongst them fainted as the pressure of their collective fury overwhelmed mental defences and, in the turmoil, Abby felt Marc supporting her with a hand on her elbow. The face of her co-administrator was pale, his brown eyes and hair appearing very dark against the white skin. His expression was filled with horror and rage but, as his eyes scanned Abby's dazed face, his concern for her was also clear.

"Abby? Are you okay?" he asked sharply. "I thought your shields were higher than that."

Taking a deep breath, Abby shook off the supportive hand and gave a short nod. She didn't speak. She couldn't explain even to Marc that she was almost as dazed by Kershia's presence and the path she had chosen as by the horror facing their race. Somehow the trials and dangers that had brought her friend to this place with her terrifying news seemed a microcosm of the difficult path that now faced them all.

Gradually, the noise in the hangar began to die away as the entire assembly became aware of John's incredibly powerful and well-trained thoughts demanding their attention.

(Now, I have some ideas about how we might proceed from here.) The telepathic voice of the eldest Tomorrow Person was sombre. (But I am only one man and Operation Malthus is a threat to millions worldwide. I have called you together here because you all have a right to know the threat that we are facing. The people you represent have that same right. And I have called you together because I hope and pray that someone in this assembly might see something that I have not seen. That someone in this assembly may see a road that will lead us all to safety.) John paused for a moment to let the gravity of that appeal sink in. (Now, we will take suggestions from the floor. In the interests of saving us all a headache, we'll try and be orderly about this. Would each of you who wishes to speak please contact the member of the London Lab with whom you have had most contact in the past? They will bring you to my attention so that everyone has an opportunity to make themselves heard.)

Almost immediately, John glanced at one of his Lab members with a slight nod and called Chen Yue of Eastern China to speak.

(You speak of a retrovirus.) The Chinese woman was lost from sight somewhere in the depths of the crowd, but she sounded mature, probably ten years older than Abigail, as indeed were most of the representatives gathered here. (Will conventional anti-viral agents kill it?)

(At present, yes,) John answered for the still concealed Kershia. (But the six to ten month delay that we have been told of is all that the Saps believe they will need to engineer a resistance to all known drugs.)

There was a surge of anxious and angry whispers.

(If that thing mutates it's as likely to wipe us out as just prevent breakout. It's got to be designed to act on Homo superior alone.) The urgent thought came from some unknown and uncalled person in the assembly and John frowned as he called once again for order.

(We have resources that the Saps are not aware of,) he reminded them before calling a man representing the southeast United States of America to address the assembly.

(Will the Galactic Federation help us develop a countermeasure drug?)

With a wave of his hand, John indicated that Elizabeth, Earth's veteran ambassador to the Federation, should answer the question. On the stage, Elizabeth stepped forward. Dressed in the exotic robes of a Federation ambassador, Elizabeth was an impressive figure, her dignity enhanced rather than quelled by her greying hair. She spoke in a clear and precisely trained mental voice, but even she could not suppress an undercurrent of anxiety in her thoughts.

(I think that our best option by far would be to eliminate the horror of this virus before it is released into the environment. Even the Saps should have learnt by now that once that happens nothing they can do will maintain control of the situation. In answer to your question, though, yes. I believe that the scientists on the Trig will help with our defence against this threat.) Elizabeth sighed. (I know as well as you all that the problem of refugees from Earth is trying the patience of the Federation, but I think that for that very reason they will do all they can to prevent a new influx.) She looked at John. (I strongly urge a pre-emptive strike to destroy this virus, as our agent has also suggested.)

There was a loud murmur of agreement and John nodded.

(We're also planning an expedition with that aim, unless I hear a better suggestion here. But such an action carries risks you all have to understand. It will turn our secret war from a cold war into one that is increasingly hot. And if something goes wrong, if the virus is released before our agents can apply an anti-measure, we may never be able to get far enough ahead of it to vaccinate all those who need vaccination. It's part of the insidious nature of the thing that it will attack the children whom we may never know. We would have to vaccinate every child on Earth.) John paused to let that information sink in. (But we will be calling on some of you or others from your Labs who have the skills we need for such a raid.) He glanced at another of his Lab members before announcing, (Marc of Canada.)

Abby looked at Marc in surprise. Lost in her own thoughts and confusion, trying to resist the urge to look for Kershia in the crowd, Abby hadn't even noticed Marc reaching out with the request to speak.

(These telepathic agents that were mentioned. If they result from genetic engineering, are they adults or children?) Marc asked urgently. (Must we suspect everyone or only the youngest breakouts? In a Lab as large as ours it is often very difficult to watch every individual or know them by sight.) As a background to his thoughts, Abigail felt flashing images of the Lab, of crowds of nameless and faceless people, Marc's natural caution suppressing even his subconscious imagery.

(The strongest amongst them are children still.) Kershia herself answered the question. (Born and trained in military research establishments. The project is almost nine years old. It must have started when we had no more than the first hints of the Mass Breakout. The children are almost old enough to pass for early breakouts and they are utterly unaware of the evil of what they are doing. Some adults have also received telepathic abilities as a result of gene therapy treatments. They are already among you, infiltrating Labs worldwide.)

(So we need a way to recognise one another,) John noted. (A casual scan is no longer going to be sufficient to recognise another Tomorrow Person when it is necessary to do so. We need another way, one that doesn't depend on telepathic means.)

(A phrase?) Elizabeth asked, loud enough for everyone to hear. (Something passed on by word of mouth?)

John frowned.

(Something like that couldn't stay secret for long,) he pointed out, before indicating that one of the eastern European representatives should take the floor.

(What if it was only taught to new breakouts after they had teleported to some secluded place?) the man suggested. (Or even implanted in the minds of new breakouts by a more experienced Tomorrow Person? It would only rise to the surface when desperately needed, or when the breakout heard some key phrase. That way these telepathic spies won't pick it accidentally out of someone's thoughts before they show they can't teleport.)

(So we'd need a key phrase and an answer,) John mused. (And something we can slip into a conversation without hearing it every day.) He hesitated. (I'm open to suggestions. Emmanuelle of mid-western Europe, you have something to suggest?)

(Perhaps some comment about food? Perhaps our people could slip a comment about some exotic fruit into a conversation?) the French Tomorrow Person suggested tentatively.

(But what fruit is exotic all over the world? And what if the conversation has nothing to do with food?) John asked tiredly.

One by one the suggestions started coming forward, each meeting objections or cultural differences that even the shared heritage of Tomorrow People couldn't surmount. Abigail listened with the same helpless frustration that she had felt when she had first seen Kershia on that dangerous mountainside. Marc's question, and his evident concern for the Tomorrow People in their care, had shaken Abby out of her initial confusion and self-absorption upon hearing Kershia's story. More than anything she wanted to make some difference here. After five years of watching her friends and new family suffer, she wanted to make a suggestion that would see them through safely. It wasn't until the suggestions moved on to the universal topic of weather that the memories flooding Abigail's thoughts and the concerns of the present collided in an astonishing moment of clarity.

"Marc!" Her whisper was urgent enough to cut through her companion's concentration on the telepathic conversation.

"Not now, ma chère!"

"Marc, who did you contact in the London Lab? I've never been there. I don't know who to talk to."

Marc blinked and looked at her.

"What?"

"I need to speak, Marc, now! Suggest me. Please!"

Just moments later, John glanced vaguely in their direction before wearily calling her name.

(I don't think we're ever going to find a comment about the weather that someone, somewhere, isn't going to use spontaneously. Abigail of Canada, you have a suggestion?)

(I have a suggestion and a story, John). Abby closed her eyes and let her mind touch those of everyone in the vast hangar. For just a moment she thought she might have sensed a curious and shocked thought from Kershia, but she moved on before either her imagination or her indiscretion could condemn her friend. Slowly, Abby took a deep breath.

(On Hawaii, there is a sacred mountain.) She felt the startled reaction from the assembly, but forged on. (On that mountain lives a goddess named Pele who sends mists and fire to trap the unwary. But also on the mountains of Hawaii live spirit-dragons, who often hide their true nature to protect both themselves and others, yet are not afraid to step forward when the lives or freedom of others are threatened.) She hesitated. (Five years ago mists trapped me for a night on the volcano with a Sap woman who told me of Pele and of the dragons. She and I were kindred spirits, despite the vast differences between us. I think we both had things to prove to ourselves as well as others. Together we were able to escape the mountain with no more than physical skills and ingenuity. Pele was kind to us that night, and the following morning when we parted it was with my hidden nature as a dragon still concealed. Now I learn that there were two dragons on the mountain that night.)

Abigail looked up to see the startled expression on John's face. She caught his quick glance to one side and it took all the self-control Abby could muster not to follow that betraying look.

(I didn't believe in Pele and the dragons when I was told of them on the volcano side,) she said quietly. (I still don't know what I believe, but I do know that whether they are real or not, they can be a symbol for us now. I have a suggestion for a phrase that any of us can use, and any of us could justify if questioned.) She hesitated again, throwing John a questioning thought, wondering if her introduction had ruined her chance to be taken seriously.

(Go on,) John said quietly.

(Anyone the world over might say:

'Strange weather we're having?'

But the precise phrasing would be unusual. If a Tomorrow Person were to respond:

'Yes, Pele must have sent the mists' or 'rain' or 'sun, again',

the phrase could easily be dismissed as resulting from some old half-overheard legend. And to seal the exchange:

'But soon the dragons will blow it away.')

Abby took a deep breath

(We are all of us dragons, John, hiding our nature to protect ourselves, stepping forward to save others when we must.) And, with an effort of will, Abigail raised her telepathic shields once again to await the response to her words.

Thoughts of Mauna Loa swam in Kershia's mind, half formed memories of that cold, misty night on the mountainside, which she had buried so deeply in her subconscious they felt like a dream. That this speaker was her friend, Abigail Rollinde, was a startling revelation. For the past five years she had been bolstered in her work by the certain knowledge that she was capable of hiding her true self from a Sap spy. Now, with the news that Abby had been a TP all along, came the terrifying realisation of the tightrope that she had been walking between her true nature and her assumed identity as a Government agent.

The waves of fear crashing against her fragile mind from the anguished, angry people in the hangar were compounded by her own thoughts of discovery and despair. Kershia's knees felt as though they would give way at any moment, and had it not been for the crush of those around her she was certain that she would have collapsed onto the floor.

Then out of the din came one single mind. A mind so strong, so clear, so full of understanding, that she was immediately revived. (We are very proud of you, Kershia,) began John, on such a fine frequency that she knew instinctively the message was for her alone. (You have risked everything and brought us hope. If you think your situation has been compromised, and the mission too dangerous for you to continue, we will all understand. No Tomorrow Person could sacrifice any more for our cause, more willingly, than you have already done. Thank you.)

Kershia let his words sink in slowly. This gesture of thanks released her from the years of guilt she had suffered since the Barcelona incident, as well as convincing her that she must go on.

(We are all of us dragons, John,) She declared with renewed clarity in her thoughts. (Abby is right. We hide our true nature to protect ourselves, stepping forward to save others when we must. But the time has come for these dragons to breathe a little fire at their enemies.) She smiled inwardly and knew that he had picked up the irony in her thoughts.

John addressed the crowd once again. (Thank you, Abigail of Canada. This is a good suggestion and one that could be easily programmed into the unconscious mind of new breakouts.)

He stiffened as a private thought passed between him and Elizabeth, allowing the tail end of his response to be overheard by the audience. (This is not mind control - it is survival. We can't afford to be squeamish about these things.)

There was a murmur of agreement from the entire assembly.

John nodded towards someone right at the back of the hangar. (Alexander of Moscow, you wish to speak?)

(The people of my country have lived for many years under threat from government and military alike. If we take up this suggestion to converse in telepathic code with one another, will we need to open every conversation with such a phrase? Surely it will become compromised in no time?)

(I do not believe that you should be the ones to initiate it at all - at least, not until certain procedures have been put into place,) interrupted Stephen.

John stared at his old friend in confusion.

Stepping forward, Stephen looked at John, who nodded and drew back, allowing him to address the crowd directly. (Until we are certain that all Sap agents, young and old, have been eliminated, we cannot trust anyone. The phrase must not, under any circumstances, fall into our enemies' hands.)

(I would suggest that when each of you return to your own Labs, provided that we have reached agreement on the exact nature of our secret code phrase, you initiate a mind merge during which you implant the exact code, with the appropriate response, into the unconscious minds of those who prove they can jaunt. But remember not to trust anyone until you have witnessed this for yourself. Just because someone is well known to you is not good enough evidence that they can, in fact, be trusted.) He paused to allow this suggestion to be considered, and once satisfied of the general consensus in the group mind, he continued. (But we must be casual about how we go about this. Don't force people to prove they can jaunt or begin to use the phrase yet. We must not let the Saps know that we are onto them. I myself, with a carefully assembled team, will then begin the elimination process. Once this has been accomplished, the phrase can be used more openly to prevent future infiltration of our group.)

(What do you mean, elimination?) came a man's angry shout from somewhere in the middle of the crowd.

(Yeah,) added someone in a sharp Australian twang. (I don't like the sound of that at all. You're not gonna kill them, are you?)

At the mention of possible Sap deaths the hangar erupted into hundreds of individual arguments amongst the delegates, forcing John to come forward again and call for order in his most authoritative tone. Despite this it was many minutes before the room settled down once again.

(Stephen said nothing about killing,) began John, at last. (We all know that none of us can kill, be it an alien, a Sap or anyone else. Those who are found to be nothing more than Sap agents will have their minds erased before being dispatched back to where they came from. The others...) he paused, choosing his words carefully, (...the children carrying the virus, they will have to be dealt with in a different way. I'm hoping that we can come up with some kind of antidote long before they are deployed, but if this is not possible then these youngsters must be sent away, as far away from us as possible, before they do any damage to our species. But this is something Stephen's team will have to discuss alone and at length. Our priority here today is to decide upon a suitable code phrase. I believe that our source has something to add?)

(I understand that this news is upsetting to you all, but I more than anyone here know how ruthless the Saps can be. They would not hesitate to kill any of us in an instant. Once the virus has been dispersed, they will have set in motion an unstoppable chain of events. I am more than certain that to kill us all is the Saps' true intent. They have carried out this abomination by deliberately breeding children to use as weapons against other human beings. This is something that we cannot allow to happen. If we do manage to root out the adult agents, thus stabilising the situation in our favour a little, and the Saps find out about it, then they will become even more determined to put the full force of Operation Malthus into immediate action. The only way to check the spread of the virus would be to send these children away to another world until we can find an antidote. Sometime, somewhere along the way, people will inevitably die. That is the nature of war. All we can do is pray to the goddess Pele that the number of deaths are minimised by our actions here today. And I must add that there are no agents back at our respective Labs who have given away the location of this gathering.)

Spurred on by the dangerous implications in Kershia's comments, John's next message was more of a statement than a question, (So then, are we agreed upon this weather-dragon phrase?) he said.

The crowd 'pathed their agreement.

(Good. To sum up, then, we are agreed on the following points: that the training programme will be changed to make jaunting top priority; that each of you will return to your respective countries and begin to spread the phrase, subtly, into the minds of those who clearly demonstrate the ability to jaunt; that Stephen will call upon those amongst us who have talents useful to his team, who will then come amongst you as visitors and begin the process of searching out the agents in our midst; and lastly, I myself and the senior Tomorrow People will contact the Trig to begin the research for an antidote to this viral threat.) He paused and sighed deeply. (Does anyone else have anything to add?)

There was silence while everyone present weighed up the gravity of the situation ahead. This was a commendable plan, but also one which could easily stumble at any point in its implementation. The entire gathering had also felt John's need for speedy consensus on this matter. The talking could easily go on for many hours, and with each minute that passed their discovery and eradication would become more likely.

(The time for talking is over,) remarked Abigail, from the floor. (You, and the other senior Tomorrow People, have been our leaders for many years. As a kindred spirit to everyone here today, I don't think I speak only for myself when I say that we are happy to entrust our safety to you.)

Abigail felt a swell of pride as her words to John were unanimously echoed from around the chamber, but the pride was scant comfort compared to the turmoil in her thoughts. The meeting was ending and, although the fear and anxiety in the hangar were still palpable, there was a new sense of purpose amongst the crowd. The first Tomorrow People jaunted the moment John declared the meeting closed. Others lingered, despite the risks, taking the opportunity to speak to old friends and to talk through the burden that they would not be able to share with anyone else in their Labs, for the time being at least.

Abby closed her eyes and took a few deep meditative breaths to calm her trembling. She had never before spoken out in front of so many and under such pressure. And yet every word had felt right. She had known as soon as she had asked to speak that this was what she needed to do. That this was her place and that speaking was the right thing to do. She trembled now not from fear or anxiety, although she felt both when she considered their situation. She trembled from the release and exhilaration of knowing that she had made a difference and had not let her fear prevent her from doing so.

Marc was watching her when she opened her eyes and his expression was a peculiar mixture of awe, pride and irritation. She lifted a hand to touch his arm in apology, not knowing exactly what she was apologising for.

"You never told us about your night on the mountain, ma chère," he remarked. "Even when we asked how you came to return to the Lab in such a state."

"At first, I guess I was afraid you'd laugh, Marc. Or just tell me off for getting in such a mess in the first place. Since then ... I don't know. I changed a lot that night, Marc. It made me realise what I could do and what I was prepared to give up for it. It just would have seemed wrong to talk about it." She took a deep breath and went on in a rush. "But now ... we've seen too much suffering in the last few years, Marc. We've seen the homes of our friends firebombed. We've seen children abused and turned onto the streets by parents who are afraid of them. And now this. If we don't do something to hold our own against the Saps, none of us will live to see the future we used to dream of. I had something to say, Marc, and I had to say it. I had no other choice."

He met her eyes for a moment and then nodded gravely before smiling.

"You've done well today, Abby," he told her.

"Not as well as ... as my friend has." Abigail felt sudden tears cloud her vision. "It must have been so difficult for her, Marc. Out there, alone, doing what she had to do. I think the night on Mauna Loa changed us both. She was as lost as I was out there, looking for a purpose. Now she's found one and it's as right for her as this is for me."

Marc put a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"We should get back to our Lab, ma chère. We will have much to do in the next few days and weeks."

Reluctantly, glancing about her still uncertain if she wanted to catch sight of Kershia or not, Abby nodded.

**********

"Abigail! Marc! Wait." The voice was not loud, but the command held them both back as effectively as any shout.

John moved through the crowd easily, Stephen at his shoulder. As they neared, the younger of the two men smiled in greeting at Marc, renewing an old acquaintance. Abby kept her eyes on John as he approached. He smiled at her.

"I thought we should meet face to face. There are hard times ahead, but after this meeting I can believe that we're going to get through them. And a lot of that is thanks to you, Abigail."

Suddenly embarrassed by the praise, Abby looked away to one side and, just for a moment, another woman was visible through a gap in the swirling crowd. Quizzical brown eyes met Abby's as if a line had been drawn between them. The shock of discovery flashed through them, just as it had on that night so long ago when they first met. And then Kershia smiled the same regretful but accepting smile that she had given when the two had parted in front of the ranger's truck.

"Do you have time to talk now?" John's voice dragged Abigail's eyes to his face for the briefest of moments and, when she looked back, Kershia was gone.

Her heart aching, Abigail focused on the matter at hand. There was much to be put in place before the Tomorrow People began to fight back and turned the one-sided slaughter into a fight for their survival. There was much to do but now, for the first time, there was a plan and a fresh hope for the future.

Nodding at John, she let him lead her away. Perhaps she would meet Kershia again someday, perhaps she wouldn't. Either way they were working towards that same bright dawn when the Tomorrow People would step out of the shadows and into the light.

Kindred Spirits. Walking their separate paths, yet able at last to see their one destination.

The End