Part 31
Returning home is tempting and yet you know that to be so far away from the site of the decision would drive you mad. The others smile as you convince them of that.
[Jay, the whole point of being a telepath is that you don't need to be on the spot.] Carol laughs in your thoughts. [That's what 'tele' means!]
[I know,] You answer the same way. [But is anyone else going to go and wait on Earth?]
The other Tomorrow People exchange wry looks.
[I guess not.] Stephen agrees.
*****
With Professor Cawston and Ginge gone, the kalinar speeding them home, life in the Earth quarters on the Trig falls into a quiet pattern. Carol returns to spending most of her time with her family in the Adonisian quarters. Tricia, Tyso and Kenny all announce that they have reports to write up for Timus or one of his clone brothers. John starts tinkering with a piece of equipment he's designing and Mike and Stephen settle down to reading the journals and reports that are the business of the committees on which they represent Earth. For the moment, you are all struggling to maintain the illusion at least of normality.
You spend much of your time exploring the Trig with one or more of the others in tow. You learn your way around the entertainment centres and the administrative areas. You meet the races with whom the Tomorrow People have shared histories and the other races who they've met while on the Trig. You learn what it is that you and the other Tomorrow People have actually been arguing for.
Despite this activity you all become restless as days stretch into weeks. As the tedium goes on you try and settle down to reading books or studying some of the cultures who form the Federation. Mike begins to tutor you in more controlled use of your telepathic gifts and the others give you advice and help from time to time. You're not the only one who finds the enforced inactivity difficult though.
[This is ridiculous!] John snaps suddenly, looking up from the electronic circuit board he has been fiddling with. [We have better things to do with our time, even if they don't!]
The others look up from around the large room. Conversation between the seven of you has become increasingly telepathic of late so it seems natural to answer John's outburst in kind.
[Overmind keeps everyone waiting.] Stephen notes soothingly. [Everybody on the Trig does.]
[But they had all the evidence they wanted weeks ago.] You argue. [They should have made up their minds by now.]
[I honestly didn't expect them to take this long.] Kenny adds thoughtfully.
[I've had enough.] John declares. [I want to get back to Liz, Andrew and Hsui Tai and if that means going before we get a verdict then so be it.]
[I'll come too.] Kenny says positively. [I haven't seen much of my Mum or sister since they moved back to Earth.]
[Me, too] The thought comes from Tyso and Mike simultaneously.
[Perhaps we should all go.] Tricia's quiet thought is nervous at the prospect of returning to Earth but you can feel her irritation with Overmind too.
John looks from face to face and mind to mind but you're all agreed. You're going home.
*****
"Carol, are you sure you want to come?" John asks the blonde woman quietly as the eight of you wait in the long-range jaunting chamber for the technician to confirm a firm contact with TIM for transmission. Carol rocks the baby in her arms and looks around at where others of the Tomorrow People are keeping firm hold on her older children. They've already said goodbye to their father for a few days and all seem excited at the prospect of their first view of Earth. They don't realise yet that it might also be their last. Carol nods.
"I want them to see Earth." She says firmly. "I want to see it myself."
"Narcissa could have come, you know." John points out. "He would be welcome in the Lab."
"We know, John. But he'd be uncomfortable, much more so than the children are going to be. He'd rather keep an eye on things up here."
You listen, aware of the different levels of the conversation but as unwilling as the older Tomorrow People to voice them.
"How much longer?" You ask, impatient to be doing something rather than waiting as you have been for these weeks.
"Sometimes transmission conditions between here and Earth are just bad." Stephen shrugs. "I didn't think it was particularly bad today though other we'd never risk it. We should be able to go soon."
[I have a signal.] The technician's voice comes quietly into all your minds. [You may teleport when ready.
Kenny takes a deep shuddering breath as he looks around at the place that has been his home for almost a decade. Somehow you all know that if you leave here and now things will never be the same again. The entire group steps onto the jaunting pad, holding the excited children firmly. You gaze at the transparent wall that so disorientated you when you jaunted in and wonder at how much your mind has been opened in this short time. John looks around to see that you are all on the relatively cramped jaunting pad and then nods at the technician.
[Alright ...]
["Wait!"] At first you think it must be TIM's voice you hear but already you are starting to recognise subtle differences in the tone. Timus jaunts into the chamber with little regard for the courtesies and waves a hand desperately to stop the transmission.
[Wait.] John agrees shortly, talking to the technician. "Well, Timus?" He adds aloud.
"Tomorrow People." Timus says with only a hint of fluster showing beneath his usually calm exterior. "Overmind has asked to see you. Now."
John raises an eyebrow and glances from side to side. Carol and Stephen, on either side of him, nod. The rest of you signal your agreement telepathically. John sighs and steps from the jaunting pad.
"Alright, Timus. We'll see them now."
*****
It's strange to be back in the Overmind chamber after so long. Somewhere above you in the shadows a camera is floating, relaying the scene to the Lab on Earth. John had arranged for that even before the mental urging he got from Elizabeth and TIM. Professor Cawston and Ginge had a say in what happened here, they deserved to hear its outcome for themselves. You feel Elizabeth, TIM and the others come into mental contact with the rest of you as the individual Overmind has selected to voice their decision steps forward. Through their eyes you can see the Professor and Ginge as well as Lefty and Chris in the Lab.
[Well,] John says tiredly. [Now I guess we learn the truth.]
*****
Overmind's representative speaks suddenly, his words a pale shadow of the gestalt's thoughts that they vocalise.
["Tomorrow People of Earth, you were called before Overmind to speak for your world. Some have argued that despite your slow emergence Earth remains too primitive and dangerous to be considered a candidate Emergent World for Galactic Federation membership. Others have argues that no world which produces a viable group of telepathic individuals such as yourself can be excluded from Federation membership. The testimony of you, those you invited and others who have reason to know your minds has been taken and considered."]
Overmind pauses and you can feel the frustration you all share.
["Yes, but have you made a decision?"] John presses on behalf of you all.
["We have."] Again Overmind pauses but this time you wait for them to go on. ["We have heard testimony of how delicately the political situation on your planet is balanced. We have heard how the first instinct of your authority figures is to use you and your abilities as weapons. We have heard how your lives have been endangered."] You feel your heart sinking. ["We have observed the instinctive reactions of Homo sapiens to danger. We have studied the ethical and moral reactions of Homo superior."] Overmind lets that sink in. ["We have also interviewed individuals of both species. We have been impressed with the potential for adaptation and moral choice in the minds of those not constrained to make such choices genetically. We have also been impressed by the strong arguments put forward for continued membership of the Federation by the Tomorrow People despite significant private doubts about their own personal safety.
We are satisfied that no member of the emergent species Homo superior presents a significant threat either to Homo sapiens, or to other members of their own species, or to the Galactic Federation. We are also satisfied that Homo sapiens presents a significant threat to every Homo superior individual. Analysis of the emergence pattern suggests that Earth possesses the capacity for large scale telepathic population within an acceptable time period.
It is our conclusion that in this situation the parties most at risk are the individuals of the species Homo superior. It is also our conclusion that these individuals have repeatedly demonstrated their eligibility for acceptance into the community of telepathic races. As a result, we must respect their clear and unanimous wishes in this matter. Our decision is that Earth will remain an Emergent World under consideration for membership of the Galactic Federation."]
"Yes!" You barely hear the distant exclamations of delight from Ginge and Chris and the sigh from the professor. Your mental link has flooded with relief and joy. You feel even Overmind reel back from the combined power of your minds. Carol is sobbing with relief, her mind full of her children and their future, she sets her daughters, Elizabeth and Tricia off without trying and you can feel the rest of you becoming a little emotional too.
["Thank you."] John expresses the combined thought of you all. He turns to the rest of you. ["Let's go."]
"Is that it?" You blurt the words disbelievingly. "Is that all?"
"That's it, Jay." Stephen says with a sigh. "We're back where we were before any of this began. Except now we have you."
"And I think you understand a little better what it is we are and what it is we do." John adds.
"I do." You say and mean it. When all this began you were lost and frightened. Now you have a purpose and a family. Now you're a Tomorrow Person.
"Well, we're all packed." Kenny notes with a laugh that's not far from a cry. "And we'll be called back to work here on the Trig soon enough. Earth is waiting ladies and gentlemen. Shall we go?"
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