Part 0
You all slept in the Lab overnight last night. You were easily too exhausted to shower or change your clothes before sleeping let alone go back to your parents' house. John managed to carry Andrew and Hsui Tai to their beds before collapsing into his own and Elizabeth shook you awake to help you to the bed set aside for you.
This morning TIM scolded you all for all the white sheets turned black with volcanic ash but you notice that he's using his automatic systems to clean around you rather than expecting you to do any work. You're all still exhausted from your efforts of the day before. It seems like a decade since you all teased John about his interview clothes rather than just a day. That interview, TIM tells you all, was cut anyway. According to TIM the producer had sounded very apologetic on the telephone and blamed a lack of time but it appealed to the sense of the ridiculous in all of you that John's interview was cut because he leads such a dull life.
You're all sitting around the Lab reading or playing simple, unchallenging games when TIM beaks the peace of the Lab with an apologetic cough. John raises an eyebrow and looks up from his newspaper.
"What's up, TIM?" He asks quietly.
TIM's answer is cut short by a ringing from the jaunting pad. You all turn to look at it but TIM's lack of alarm reassures you. The long range jaunting beam has quite a different appearence to a normal jaunt and the others exchange startled looks as they realise they're about to have a visitor.
John pulls himself tiredly to his feet, ready to greet the newcomer but falls back into his chair as the visitor materialises fully.
"Stephen! What on Earth are you doing here?"
The blond young man scans John's face a little anxiously before breaking into a wide grin. He's tall and perhaps four or five years older than you are.
"And it's good to see you, too, John." He says cheerfully.
"Ignore him, Stephen." Elizabeth advises tiredly. "We just thought it might be someone important."
"Well, thank you very much." Stephen says in good humoured indignation. He drops into one of the sofas. "TIM told me you'd been having a rough time so I thought I'd drop in and see how you were all doing." Indeed, the other Tomorrow Person is studying his friends' weary faces a little anxiously. His gaze settles on you with some interest. "Hello, I'm Stephen, and you must be Jay."
You nod, too tired to appreciate the other man's good humour.
*****
Stephen sticks around for the next few days until you're all recovered. Despite their teasing, it's clear that John and Liz are both pleased to see the other Tomorrow Person. You sense a deep bond between them and you begin to appreciate that that bond is now expanding to include you too. Despite that you feel a certain restlessness. The dangers you experienced in Russia have brought home to you just how dangerous life as a Tomorrow Person can be and inevitably a reaction is setting in. You feel nervous and jittery, uncomfortable around the others. It all seems to be coming at you too quickly and you need a little time to think.
You get out of the Lab more and more often and you're walking in the park on the fourth day Stephen falls into step beside you.
"How much of what John and Liz have told you do you believe?" He asks without prevarication. You shrug.
"Most of it, I suppose." You tell him. "I suppose I can't really deny the telepathy and the jaunting. But that the Prime Minister is in on all this? That we're defenders of the Earth like some comic book heroes? How am I meant to believe any of that? It just seems so huge and so frightening."
The man nods, and he's looking thoughtful.
"What are you thinking?" You ask.
"Can't you tell? Your mental shields are still shaky enough to pick up a mouse's thoughts at a hundred paces and you don't seem to want to let Elizabeth teach you how to improve them." Stephen's eyebrow is raised and you realise with a shock that he's teasing you. "Seriously, Jay, I was wondering if you're particularly suspicious or the rest of us were particularly naive."
"Which do you think?" You ask, genuinely curious.
"It's probably a little of both." He admits. "I'll admit it does all sound ridiculous but the rest of us swallowed it in a single lump together with our special powers."
"What is it, Stephen?" You ask, getting a little tired of beating around the bush.
"You seem to be having difficulty accepting your new life together with the old so we wondered if you'd like a break from the old while getting to grips with the new. How would you like to come up to the Trig with me and see for yourself what it means to be a defender of the Earth?" He pauses and looks you in the eyes. "At least this way you'll know for yourself whether John and Liz and the others are telling you the complete truth."
You hesitate for only a moment. After your restless feeling in the last few days and the dangers that have frightened you so here on Earth anything would be an improvement .
"My parents will never agree. they still don't know what I am. They think I've joined a youth group or something." You warn him and Stephen gets a mischievous gleam in his eye.
"Oh, I think they can be persuaded." He tells you.
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