Part 7
"Did none of you hear that?" You demand urgently of John and TIM.
Both seem startled and confused.
"Hear what, Jay?" TIM asks soothingly.
"Hear the boy. Frankie." Your words are tumbling over themselves and you make an effort to calm down and speak more clearly. "I heard a little boy telepathically. He's a Tomorrow Person, I'm sure of it. I even heard his name: Frankie."
"He could be a latent telepath of some kind." TIM notes.
"No." John disagrees. "Jay is experienced enough to tell the difference. Are you picking up any kind of telepathic activity on your scanners, TIM?"
"No, John. I am afraid not.
"He could be in the initial stages of breaking out, I suppose." John notes thoughtfully. "Then his broadcasts would just be fleeting and we might not pick them up."
"He could be considerably more advanced than that, John." TIM corrects. "We know that some individuals become telepathically sensitive some time before their ability to broadcast is fully developed."
John's thoughts become quiet and regretful.
"All those quiet breakouts we don't hear until it's too late to help, or just miss entirely." He agrees. "Jay, where was this?"
You visualise the street for him, not sure exactly where it was. John recognises it at once.
"Poole Street." He tells TIM, "London, W1."
"He was being taken to see one of the doctors there." You volunteer. John nods.
"TIM, can you access those medical records? We ought to try and track this boy down and assess his condition. From what you say, Jay, he seems rather young for a breakout but that doesn't mean it's impossible."
"Ought we to try calling him?" You suggest, "Ask the others for help?"
John shakes his head
"I'm not sure that's necessary, just yet. Paul and Elena are both busy with their work and I'd rather not disturb them until we know a bit more about what we're dealing with. Besides, calling the child like that might trigger a crisis he's not ready to deal with yet."
"I have some information, John." TIM interrupts. "There are six doctors surgeries on the street Jay saw. Of these one had an appointment this morning for a Sebastion Francis Peter Julien de Ferne-Abbott-Tayne."
You hesitate for a moment in surprise at the name and then frown.
"His parents definitely called him Frankie, TIM."
"Indeed. It is common practise in English families of a certain class to name a child after another family member and refer to the child themselves by a second name. `Frankie' is an accepted abreviation for the name Francis."
"So tell us about Sebastion Francis..."
"Sebastion Francis Peter Julien de Ferne-Abbott-Tayne." TIM repeats when John stumbles on the mouthful of name. "Francis is ten years and two months old. He is undergoing a series of tests for a possible brain tumour or abnormality. There is some note that close observation is required due to a family history of such problems."
"What does that mean, TIM?" You ask uncertainly.
"Well, it doesn't exclude the possibility that he is a Tomorrow Person." John answers for him. "Any symptoms they've noticed might be the initial signs of a breakout."
"There are no overt physical symptoms but his doctor does note that on this visit the child was showing signs of acute anxiety and complaining of a loud background noise that only he could hear. The doctor notes that the anxiety is no doubt exacerpated if not caused by his family circumstances."
"And those are, TIM?" John asks.
"Not laid out in the records I am afraid, John." TIM apologises.
"His parents are intensely protective of him." You remember.
John nods thougthfully.
"Still no sign of him on the telepathic sensors?"
"No unrecognised telepathic signatures within London, John."
"Then we'd better hope he's being taken home. Where does Frankie live, TIM?" John asks.
"On the de Tayne estate, John. In central Lancashire."
"It will be a few hours before they can get home then." John notes.
"Perhaps less than an hour, John." TIM corrects him apolgetically. "Air traffic control gave clearance to a helicopter flight from central London to Lancashire within the last ten minutes."
John looks at you and stands up from where he was sitting.
"It looks like you and I ought to be getting to the de Tayne Estate, Jay." He says quietly.
*
The estate is as big and impressive as Frankie's multi-barrelled name suggests it should be. A small but perfectly formed mansion house dominates the skyline amid a swath of green fields and patches of woodlands. A mile or so from the mansion house itself a small village sits like an icon of the peaceful and never changing English countryside. In the fields around the mansion cows graze placidly on short and very green grass, prevented from approaching the house itself by a concealed ditch or Ha-Ha. TIM has jaunted you and John onto a hill just overlooking the house itself and you take in the view with a gasp of astonishment.
"It explains how young Frankie can afford private medicine and a helicopter, doesn't it?" John asks wryly. "I suspect there's little point in investigating the house until he and his parents get back. We'd be a little conspicous. Perhaps we'd better look around that village and see if we can get some handle on what these family circumstances are. We're still not sure whether the boy is just a potential TP or actually breaking out so we ought to know as much as we can before disturbing his family."
You split the village down the middle and watch as John disappears into the local pub to try and pick up on some of the village gossip. Rather at a loss for what to do you find yourself gravitating to the grey stone church at one end of what passes for a high street. You open its heavy oak doors to let yourself inside. The estate has almost certainly been in the family for some time with a family name like that and you might get some idea of what they're like from what is surely an old chapel in the gift of the manor.
At first you see very little, your eyes still adjusting to the gloom. The building is lit through only a few small windows supplementing the colourful patterns of light cast by the massive stained glass window above the alter. To either side of the nave rows of wooden pews show the wear of centuries of pious worshippers. The walls are rough, grey stone their uniform colour broken here and there by inset slabs bearing names and inscriptions. You begin to read these memorial, curiously noting the names of Ferne, Abbot, Tayne and combinations of the three. Clearly members of all three families held the manor before they became so intermingled that the distinction was lost completely.
A glare of white marble catches your eye and you hurry over to the wall plaque. It sits in a shaft of warm sunlight that makes the pure stone glow and the carvings seem almost alive. Cherubs playing under the trees decorate the two stones, one above the other and you know at once that they mark the death of children. As you read your emotions become sombre and it is with heavy thoughts that you contact John.
[I think I've found out why they're so protective of Francis.] You tell him. [And so worried.]
There in front of you is the inscription:
In Loving Memory of
Peter Sebastion Edward Julien de Ferne-Abbott-Tayne
Taken From Us Too Soon
Aged 10 years, 8 months
and below it:
Our Beloved Daughter
Caroline Angela de Ferne-Abbott-Tayne
A Flowerbud who Never Bloomed
Aged 9 years, 11 months
You look at the dates on the stones and compare them to the Frankie's age. The elder boy died just 10 months before the brother who would be named after him was born and his sister when little Frankie was less than a year old.
John's answering thoughts are equally sombre and concerned.
[Both children died unexpectedly of brain haemorraghes when they were less than eleven years old.] He confirms. [The rumours in here are that the new heir is ailing and that his parents are frantic with worry. If Frankie's had to live with that knowledge all his life it's no wonder the doctors were expecting anxiety. They never found out what had caused the earlier deaths.]
You feel sick and a little dizzy with the realisation.
[They were Tomorrow People, weren't they, John?]
[And we didn't hear them breaking out.] He agrees grimly. [They were quiet break outs. Their powers killed them. We have to get to Frankie, Jay. And we have to get to him fast.]
*
You both hear the thudding whirr of a helicopter overhead and John tells you to wait for him in the church as he escapes from the gossip in the pub. From the relative privacy of the churche's nave you jaunt to one of the upper rooms of the house. The faded cloth of the furniture around you and the dust sheets that hide much of it from view suggest to you that you've jaunted into an unused room rather than one of the family's quarters but looking out of the window from here you can see the helicopter landing on the helipad beside the house. Frankie's father climbs out of the helicopter first and someone inside hands him the child. Frankie looks dizzy and ill now, his complexion sallow. His mother climbs out after him and the family group runs, ducking from under the dying rotation of the helicopter blades.
Both of you can feel Frankie now. His thoughts are coming through hazy and unfocused but you can hear the roaring multitudes screaming in his head. John frowns.
"His breakout must have been well advanced already." He says gravely. "Either that or the contact with you has accelerated his collapse. He won't me able to deal with that for long. I'm not sure we ought to reach out for him without warning. He's still very quiet and if we don't hear his answers we might keep pushing too far. We ought to try and keep in contact with him if possible. Get him to the Lab if we can."
John hesitates for a moment before deciding what to do. Even you are startled when he jaunts down into the room where Frankie's parents are even now lying him on the bed.
"The helicopter noise is gone now, darling." His mother is telling him softly when you jaunt in beside John. "Your headache will be gone soon and you'll feel better."
"No, Mrs de Ferne-Abbott-Tayne." John says in a grave tone, "I'm afraid that he won't."
"Who are you?" Mr de Tayne demands, frightened by your sudden appearence but determined to protect his family.
"I'm someone who can help your son, Mr de Tayne." John tells him calmly. "But we need to act and we need to act soon."
"What are you talking about?" de Tayne demands angrily. "Do you know how many people have tried to get to me and my wife through our child?"
"Peter, please!" Mrs de Tayne says anxiously.
You listen to the conversation with only half an ear. Frankie is struggling to sit upright on his bed, his face hazed with perspiration. His eyes meet yours for a moment and then he's falling and you feel like you're falling with him into unconciousness. You have to do something and you have to do it fast.
Do you:
a) Jaunt Frankie to the Lab and hope TIM can help?
b) Try talking Frankie through it?
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