You awaken to the sound of waves washing a tropical shore.
[He's awake!] A girl's voice cries in your mind and then memory begins to return. Your eyes open and you look around, anxiously. Your hands begin to feel for the waistcoat tight around your chest before you realise that you're on the island and the waistcoat is gone. You're on a beech you've never seen before but you can feel the buried spaceship beneath, whispering to you of home. The other Tomorrow People are clustered around you, peering down anxiously. Adam, Megabyte and Kevin are all present and correct, if a little smoke blackened.
"Hey." Adam says softly. "How are you feeling?"
You shift slightly but don't try to get up from your warm bed in the sand.
"Like a building fell on me." You tell them. Megabyte grins.
"It did. When that field went it took half the building with it. We managed to get all of Dad's people out, and all of the scientists too. Dad's keeping hold of them until he can find out why they were really doing what they were doing."
"You weren't hurt in the explosion?" You ask, surprised.
"We got bad headaches from the psychic backlash." Kevin shrugs. "But nothing we couldn't deal with. And now we've got you away from that energy field and out of the waistcoat, we can work on channeling your powers the way they should be channeled."
"I'd like that." You murmur as you drift back to sleep in the warm sun. "I'd like that very much indeed.
It takes over a month to train your powers to a degree to which you're comfortable being alone. For the whole of that time the other tomorrow people take turns to be on duty listening for you, helping you to rechannel your energies when they begin to build up into a headache. It's a strange experience but a fulfilling one. You've found a group of people you know will do anything for you, day or night. As your telepathy grows in strength you learn more about each of them and you realise that these people are becoming more than friends to you, they're becoming family.
Nonetheless, you sometimes find yourself craving a privacy you'll never quite have again. The more you see of your new friends the more you worry about losing the old. Sometimes Jade or Megabyte will tell you stories about their adventures and all the fun they've had. And sometimes you'll catch Adam's eye or Ami's and know that the adventures weren't quite so much fun at the time.
It's a day after you've been declared cured that Adam visits you and you walk side by side in the park where all this began.
"Have you decided what you're doing next?" He asks suddenly. You hesitate, not sure what he means.
"I'm not even sure what the options are." You admit.
"There are two really." Adam tells you and he speaks quietly as if the words are hard to say. "You can join us, tell your parents, spend as much time as you like with us, even move onto the ship is your parents agree. Or you can step away, visit only occasionally, try to live like a normal person again."
You look at him, surprised.
"Can that be done?"
Adam nods. "You've heard us mention Lisa. We seldom see her these days. She chooses not to be a Tomorrow Person even though she has all our gifts. It's not easy, but it might be easier than living the life we lead."
He looks at you with serious brown eyes.
"It's your decision, Jay, and whatever you decide we wont hold it against you. Just let us know."
You're out of sight of anyone else at the moment so Adam just nods a farewell before teleporting away. He's leaving you to think about it and you do, carefully.
You have a great opportunity stretching in front of you but also great dangers and responsibilities. Can you live up to the ideals that your instincts are forcing you to adopt? Or are you happy in the life you lead. You've never had many complaints before. Can you really give up everything that made you what you are now? Is that really the lesser sacrifice?
You know that what Adam told you is true. The Tomorrow People will respect whatever decision you make so now it just comes down to you.
Decide. Do you:
a) Fully embrace the life of a Tomorrow Person?
b) Choose to live as a telepath but not a Tomorrow Person?
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