Chapter 15: Meet the Family, Two

"Sometime today, all of you will probably hear a voice in your heads," Caleb said cautiously, upon Al's advice.

They were driving to JJ's parent's house for their three-days-late Thanksgiving Dinner, and had decided to go in Caleb's rental car. It had more room than JJ's, and it was new. New cars were always a good draw for teens, and JJ just wanted to be with Caleb.

"My advice is, when you hear the voice, just act natural, and maybe let your mom know," Caleb continued. "If it bothers you too much, we can always say that you're not feeling well, and I can take you home."

"Do you mean that I should let my mom know that I'm hearing a voice in my head, too?" JJ asked, teasing Caleb.

"I want to watch that," Blake said with a strained grin. "I've never seen grandma freak."

Blake had agreed with his sister about being polite, and giving Caleb a chance. That didn't mean that he wasn't worried about his mom, and just a little worried about something living in his head besides him. He was a teenage boy, and he didn't think he wanted to share some of the thoughts that he had with anyone.

"I think our little secret has already spread too far," Caleb said drily. "Maybe you shouldn't tell your mom."

"She's going to find out, Mr. Connor," Kim said.

"Caleb," Caleb said automatically.

"Caleb," Kim repeated. "Grandma's real smart, Caleb. She's going to know that something's up, and won't let it go until she knows what it is."

"Humans do have an intrinsic mental ability," Al warned to Caleb. "Maybe mom's and grandmother's mental abilities are more developed, when it comes to their children."

"Do you really think so?" Caleb asked.

"Yes I do," Kim replied.

"No. Sorry, Kim. I was answering Al. He suggested that mom's and grandmother's mental abilities are more developed, when their children are involved, than between members of the normal population."

"That actually makes sense," JJ said, sounding a little worried. "When I was growing up, mom almost always knew when I did something wrong."

"Yeah, well, you're batting just about a thousand, too," Blake said, with only a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

"You know, little Bro, you're right," Kim said, worry in her voice.

JJ turned in her seat, locked eyes with her daughter, and put one finger to her own temple.

"Stop that, Mom," Kim said in nervous frustration.

JJ grinned at her daughter before turning back around in her seat, and saying, "In all seriousness, we're all going to lose a lot of privacy when ... What the hell am I supposed to call this thing in my head?"

Caleb sighed, and said, "Companion seems to be the easiest name to use. Consider it a very close companion with an opinion of its own. The thing is," Caleb continued after a hesitation, "that the companion is always on your side. It isn't your conscience, and it doesn't care what you've done in your life. It is always on your side, and looking out for you," he admitted reluctantly.

"What about not letting you get drunk?" Blake challenged.

"Technically, that was for my own good, too," Caleb replied, sounding like he would have preferred a trip to the dentist rather than admit it. "Al doesn't expect a rescue ship for a couple of hundred years. He needed to correct some inefficient functions, so I could last that long."

The only sound in the car, after Caleb's statement, was wind and road noise.

"So, you might live a couple of hundred years?" JJ finally asked quietly.

"Yes. When Al told me, all I could think of was figuring out a way to include you," Caleb said, reaching out and squeezing JJ's hand. "He said that he could adjust you to live that long, too, if you agreed." Caleb took a breath, and let it out before saying, "So, I would have had to tell you about Al, eventually. I just wanted to be sure you felt about me the same way that I felt about you."

"You knew how I felt about you because of Al," JJ pointed out, a slight accusation in her voice.

"Sort of, I did," Caleb admitted. "But not completely. I tried to limit the advantage Al gave me. I even yelled at him a few times, when I thought he was interfering. He wasn't, but he couldn't help but react to what I was feeling, and feeling what you were feeling. I think that is what got us in trouble last night."

"Do you mean that all of us might live a couple of hundred years?" Kim asked curiously. "How is that even possible?"

"Actually," Caleb said slowly, "He said there really wasn't a limit. Living a thousand years would be possible. He said the problem with humans, is that our bodies seem to have a built in program to gradually stop DNA from reproducing correctly. In other words, we were designed to die. The way he explained it to me, our cells replicate. There is a cellular timekeeper at the ends of chromosomes that shortens with each division. As it shortens, our bodies age. Apparently, our DNA is like a computer program. By adjusting the program to stop the chromosome countdown, aging stops. Your hair doesn't fall out, or turn white, and you don't get the middle age spread because your body clock is running down, and your body just keeps going. Of course, for me, he had to turn back that clock because I'm so old."

"So we wouldn't age, at all?" Blake asked, horrified at the thought.

"I think, in your case Blake, you'll probably age just like any other kid your age," Caleb explained, trying not to smile. "Once your body gets to an optimum level of maturity, it can stop aging. That's something that you will need to discuss with your own Companion."

Blake's sigh of relief was audible to everyone in the car. JJ had to stifle a smile, but Kim didn't. Her grin was from ear to ear.

"The point is," Caleb said, trying to get back on track, "You should be prepared for some pretty profound changes in your lives today. You will probably be experiencing, at least part of it, in a semi-public location. I don't think you need to worry though. All of you are more flexible in your thinking than I am, and I survived it. I was in a very public location. Just remember, if you begin to feel stressed, I'm here to help in any way that I can."

Caleb looked at JJ, beside him, before continuing with, "I'm not worried about you, JJ. I think you have enough life experience to handle it." He glanced in the rear view mirror and said, "I am concerned about you two. I know that you're both smart, but nothing in your life has prepared you for the sharp left turn your life is about to take. Just remember that you're not alone in dealing with any issues that come from this." He looked back at JJ and added, "You've got to remember that they're teenagers. Teenagers experiment with their new found maturity. You did. I did. All teenagers do. If you inadvertently find out something that they'd prefer you didn't, you need to roll with it."

"Thanks, honey," JJ said, reaching over and squeezing his leg. "Like they just said, though, I find out most of what they try to hide from me. I'm not worried about what else I might find out. I know they're good kids, and, more importantly, they're good people. We'll be fine, so quit worrying about us."

"I can't help it," Caleb said. "All of you have quickly become pretty important to me. I don't think I could stand it if something happened to one of you."

"Kim and Blake are both touched by what you said," Al reported. "They appreciate having another adult concerned about them."

Meeting JJ's dad was an experience that Caleb hadn't had for over twenty years. He would have been intimidated, if Al's presence hadn't allowed him to know how thrilled Bill Parker actually was that his daughter had found someone.

Bill Parker couldn't have been more different from his wife. Collette's hair was full and lustrous, even though it was cut in something like a pageboy style. Bill's hair was only a little darker, but his hair was thin with a very pronounced, very advanced, male patterned baldness. Bill called it a very high forehead. Collette called it bald. Where Collette was short and petite, Bill was tall and burly. He was six-foot three inches and easily weighed two hundred forty pounds. While Collette was all quick movements and darting thoughts, Bill was deliberate, and made Caleb think of the inexorable power of a glacier moving. And he was gentle. If Collette could be called fiery in her protection of JJ, Bill would be the bulwark of a mighty castle wall. Caleb liked him immediately.

Brandon Hawthorn, or Bran as they called him, was Collette's brother. Bran and Bill had been best friends growing up. They had a brief falling out when Bill committed the ultimate best friend sin, and began dating Bran's little sister. Collette set her brother straight, with a little violence and a little persuasion, and the men's friendship continued.

The resemblance between Bran and Collette made it easy to see that they were brother and sister. Bran was a little taller, and heavier, but he had the same facial structure, and the same fire in his eyes.

He also had cancer, Al reported to Caleb.

"Aw shit," Caleb thought. "Can you fix it?"

"Yes, but it will take time," Al replied. "It would be easier, if it were you. Working on someone else's body is much more difficult, and takes a lot more time. How are you going to handle that?"

"I don't know," Caleb thought, frustrated.

"Well, you had better figure it out," Al responded. "Besides his being JJ's uncle, we need him."

"Why do we need him?" Caleb asked, the frustration turning to confusion.

"Because of where he works and what he does," Al explained patiently. "He works at a place of learning. He studies or teaches a subject called nanotechnology. We can use that."

"Okay. I'll bite. How are we supposed to use nanotechnology?" Caleb asked warily.

"Remember that I explained about knowledge from other hosts, and that everything required other technologies as a foundation?" Al asked.

"Yes," Caleb said warily.

"Nanotechnology is a foundation technology," Al explained excitedly. "You already have your degree in electronic engineering. If we combine your meager knowledge of electronics with what he knows..."

"Hey!" Caleb complained. "I get the picture. I'll figure something out."

JJ and Kim had followed Collette into the kitchen to finish preparations for dinner. Caleb and Blake settled in the living room with Bill and Bran. Bill began his obligatory third-degree of his daughter's suitor. Caleb might have been offended, if he couldn't see that Bill was simply following the pattern he had set when JJ was a teenager. With that understanding, he found it more humorous than offensive.

"Caleb, could you explain how you met my daughter, please," Bill asked. "Collette said something about her meeting a man that a rocket fell on."

Caleb shrugged and said, "I was camping in the desert, and doing my rock-hound impersonation. I was on my way back to my camp, and something crashed at the end of the canyon I was in. The concussion knocked me down. Fortunately, I went down hard enough to make a depression in some sand. The blast that followed was enough to melt plastic, but I was sheltered from most of it. When I got to the end of the canyon, I found that my camp site was completely destroyed. The Army said a test missile misfired."

"You don't look any worse for wear," Bran observed.

"That is mostly due to JJ cleaning up some scrapes and bruises, plus I heal fast," Caleb replied.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't get more than a few scrapes," Bill said sincerely. "Bran and I lived through a couple of instances of rockets landing around us. We know that they're pretty serious business. What do you do for a living, Caleb?"

"I've worked at DES for the last ten years," Caleb said, rounding his numbers to keep them simple. "I'm an investigator in the fraud division."

"What's DES stand for?" Bran asked, since Texas had different acronyms.

"Department of Economic Security," Caleb replied. "I investigate welfare fraud. Welfare fraud isn't a small-time crime the way it used to be. The biggest welfare crime used to be a boyfriend living in a home that was receiving welfare benefits. Now, welfare fraud is a multi-million-dollar business. There is so much money, and the controls are so loose, that sometimes I think the government is trying to encourage fraud. Hell, the only time they get serious about prosecuting the crooks we catch is when the newspapers report it!"

"I know how that works," Bill replied with a rumbling growl. "I've been a cop in the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department for seventeen years. I'm all in favor of 'due process'," he said, using his fingers to make the quotes, "But we might as well put revolving doors on the jails, the way the lawyers game the system."

Caleb shook his head in commiseration before saying, "I'm getting a little fed up with it. I've been thinking finding another job. I referred to my job as a cesspit, when I met your wife yesterday. Then I changed it, and said a cesspit would be a nicer place to work. I think that it's time that I got serious about getting another job."