Part 6
"Carol, I want to go to the medical centre."
The slim blond woman jumps, startled by your sudden announcement. She looks down at you with her face creasing with concern for you on top of her anxiety for Stephen. Her high, worried voice fills with compassion.
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea, Jay."
You cant force the dazed look out of your eyes or thoughts but your mind fills with a new resolve. You reach out and touch Carol's mind with your conviction.
[Carol, Stephen got hurt because I was too stubborn and proud to say I was too tired. This is all my fault, Carol. I have to do what I can to put it right! If I can do anything to help Stephen I have to do it.]
Carol's eyes fill with sudden understanding but her quicksilver laugh is sad.
[Oh, Jay! No wonder you're so upset. Jay, of course this isn't all your fault! Stephen is old enough and practiced enough that he should have known better than to push you so hard on your first day. Accidents happen when people get tired. Stephen knew that. He should have known better than to be fiddling with such dangerous equipment in the first place.] She takes your hand and rubs the clammy skin between her own hands to warm it. [Jay, you cant blame yourself entirely for this. You cant let it eat you up from inside.]
She appears to make a decision and stands, her long white Adonisian robes swirling around her.
"We'll go to the medical centre." She announces. "We'll see if there's anything we can do."
*****
Again you let Carol guide your teleportation, lacking the confidence in your abilities to do so yourself. The pair of you appear in a small room containing a table, a few chairs, and a restless Mike. The dark haired young man is prowling from one side of the room to the other and back again, nearly bursting with suppressed anxiety and energy. Along one wall of the room is a large window and through it you can see Stephen lying very pale and very still on a white-sheeted bed. Mike meets Carol's eyes for a moment as you arrive in a burst of electric light and then turns a startled look on you.
"Of course this isn't all your fault, Jay!" He says with such surprise and certainty that you actually begin to wonder if he's right.
"I didn't tell Stephen how tired I was getting." You say flatly.
"Jay, with the level you usually shield on Stephen should have felt your weariness long before it became a problem." Mike tells you with brutal frankness. He waves away your unvoiced objections with a shake of his head. "Without you Stephen wouldn't be alive now." His eyes have been drawn back to the window through which you can all see Stephen and there is fear in his voice as he goes on. "He'll pull through this coma, Jay. He's strong."
"Why aren't there any medics in there with him?" Carol asks, her voice choked with tears.
Mike shrugs.
"They say they've done everything they can. Physically the damage is all repaired even if he'll be very weak when he wakes up. Apart from monitoring him there's not a lot more they can do. They've had me call for him, Carol, but I'm just not strong enough on my own and he's not responded to the healers who have attempted to contact him telepathically either."
"Is there nothing we can do?" You ask desperately.
"We can try a link." A new voice speaks quietly from the door.
You can feel the relief in the room as the dark haired man standing in the doorway steps inside. Carol runs to him and buries her face in his shoulder, Mike sags and for the first time you see the true depth of the young man's anxiety. John, you realise, the name coming to you on a deep and instinctual level. You remember how the others have spoken of this man, you remember the affection and respect in their voices. Even in this first encounter you can feel the tightly restrained power in the man. You can feel his anxiety and his curiosity about you. John comes into the room so you no longer have to squint against the bright lights behind him. With John here to take charge Mike doesn't have to put on an act any more, Carol doesn't have to be strong. You too feel the relief of John's presence. Somehow you feel instinctively that with the eldest of the Tomorrow People here the situation will soon be under control. John reaches out to put a hand on Mike's shoulder reassuringly and then looks you up and down with silently worried brown eyes.
"Jay, are you alright?" He asks urgently.
You are too tired to wonder at how worried about you John sounds or how much he's heard about you from the others.
"I'm fine, John! But, Stephen ..."
John nods solemnly. He steps up to the room's small table and for the first time you realise that, like every other surface you've seen up here, it will double as a biotronic link table. Taking a deep, shuddering breath Carol nods and steps up beside her old friend, laying her hands fingertip to fingertip with his. Mike joins them and finally it is up to you. Stepping forward, you touch your left hand to John's and your right to Mike's, your hands already glowing with the pale blue light you're becoming accustomed to.
The link snaps into place the moment the circle is complete. This is something you've only done a couple of times but here, with two of the most experienced Tomorrow People in the link, it seems to come naturally to you. For a moment your guilt about what happened threatens to overwhelm and shatter the link but then John takes control. He draws out your memories of what happened, he studies your guilt and discards it with a thought.
[Accidents happen, Jay.] He tells you simply. [They're always avoidable. They're rarely avoided. Will you learn from this? Will you be more careful in the future?]
Your sense of agreement eliminates the need for words.
[Then we need say no more about this.] He says with finality and your sense of guilt is left shattered and in tatters.
You feel the icy fear for Stephen in the minds of all three older Tomorrow People and to your surprise it's in John that that fear seems to run deepest although he's also the one who is most tightly controlled. It is John who leads the link outwards, searching for the mind that's so familiar to him.
[Stephen? Stephen, please answer us.]
Stephen has retreated into his own mind, escaping from a world of physical pain. He needs to be coaxed out again, persuaded that that pain is gone.
[Stephen.] The four of you are up against the hard protective shields that Stephen has instinctively thrown about himself but together you are strong. You could shatter the shields if you had to but that would just cause Stephen more pain. You have to find a crack in his armour, a way to communicate, an opportunity to persuade him to lower them himself. [Stephen, it's John and Carol and Mike and Jay. It's your friends, Stephen. We wont hurt you, Stephen. We wont let anything hurt you. You're safe now, Stephen, you can come back to us. You must come back to us.]
[Come back to us, Stephen.] Carol calls, her voice echoing John's, and you and Mike add your strength to that thought. You're tiring rapidly in this deep link and you know the others are too but John holds you all steady. If Stephen wont respond to your familiar voices he may never respond to any others again.
[Stephen!] John's mental shout is scolding - stern and slightly disappointed tones. You feel Mike flinch slightly at memories of hearing such tones when having left his things lying around, and then you all feel Stephen flinch too. Immediately John's tones soften and become very gentle. [Stephen, it's alright. You're safe. Follow my voice and you'll be alright.]
[John?] It's barely a whisper but it's Stephen's voice.
[Follow my voice, Stephen. You were hurt but you're alright now and we're here to guide you.]
You feel a flood of emotions pass through the link. You feel the depth of the love between all the Tomorrow People that few of them would ever attempt to communicate in any other way. You see the depths to which John in particular cares for each and every one of them despite his occasionally harsh exterior. You feel how concerned he is for your welfare despite your never having met. And then Stephen is with you and the link is weakening as all five of you begin to surface.
You open your eyes just in time to see Stephen's flicker open. He still looks pale and weak lying on the bed but the stillness has gone from his figure. John jaunts to his side in a moment and places a hand on his shoulder to stop him trying to sit up.
[Lie still, Stephen. You're going to be weak for a few days.] You hear him say.
Then Mike and Carol catch your arms just in time to stop you falling in your exhaustion. Stephen is awake for just a few seconds before he falls into a natural sleep and no one needs to discuss the fact that John will stay by his bedside.
[Come on, Jay.] Mike says to you, and for the first time since the accident you see a hint of his playful and teasing facade. [I'll get you back to your room and we'll let Carol get back to her poor neglected children.]
Carol smiles a very tired smile.
[Neglected, indeed! I'm not sure I ought to be letting either of you jaunt on your own given how tired you are. Make sure you eat something before you fall asleep!]
[Yes, Mommy.] Mike answers obediently.
[And don't set an alarm.] John adds from the neighbouring room. [I want you to both to sleep yourselves out naturally.]
[Yes, Pop.] Mike chimes cheerfully as he jaunts you back.
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