Chapter 33

The evening of the third day, as we were all sitting in the bedroom, talking, the room was suddenly bathed in white light. The man in white stood at the end of the bed. He looked first at me as I stared at him, and smiled gently.

"I know. You want to kill me for almost letting Victoria die. It doesn't matter. After this conversation, I will effectively cease to exist anyway. First, though, I promised that shortly you would know everything I knew. I think it is time to tell you what this is all about." He walked over to stand in front of Victoria, took her hand, and kissed it.

"I cannot tell you how delighted I am that you survived, my dear. I have spent many a sleepless night regretting the decision I made. I am glad Megan forced me to reconsider." Victoria smiled sweetly at him, put her arms around his neck, and kissed him. His eyes opened wide in surprise as she looked at him, smiling. He nodded to her, smiling. "I see you are as smart as they say you are." He walked over to Megan next and he and Megan flowed into each other's arms and kissed as passionately as any two individuals I had ever seen. He softly caressed her hair and cheek, as they looked into each other's eyes lovingly.

"Megan, my dear, I will always be indebted to you for pushing me to make that decision. You are a wonderful little girl and will make the right man a wonderful wife. Wait for him, dear; he will be there for you." They smiled at each other, sharing a private thought between them. Then he walked over to the chair and sat down.

"First, let me congratulate all of you. We were successful this time. I will explain what we were doing in a minute." He looked at me. "And no, we were not trying to drive up the price of Cumquats!" He laughed as I looked embarrassed. "But first, let me give you some background on what has been going on. Most of this will be new to the girls also."

"The most obvious question is 'who are we'? Unfortunately, I cannot answer that, because I don't know. As each of you has experienced, I first knew I was different at a very early age, when I realized that I shared a mental connection with my sister. I grew up, married a very lovely young lady, and had wonderful, beautiful twin girls, not unlike some of the special girls in this room. As has happened with you, I found a few others that had the same ability, and even more abilities. Then, when I was thirty-five, I discovered that there was a group of beings that watched over us, not interfering in any way.

"At some point, a branch of the government became interested in us. These are the people you met at the 'camps'. They were not evil, per se. They just wanted to figure out a way to use our abilities for their own use. However, a splinter group led by Victoria's now ex-boss Richard attempted to take control over us. When that failed, he decided that if he couldn't control us, no one would. In a sweeping move over a period of two days, he had all of you killed. Some looked like accidents, others were obviously murders. It was more far reaching than you may have guessed. He killed Amy, Cindi, Katie, Becky, Julie, Rebecca, Danielle, Stephanie, Elizabeth, Emily, Laura and Victoria. He probably killed Julie, Rebecca, Danielle, Stephanie, Elizabeth, Laura and Emily because we suspected they might have been part of us also, but latent, not showing abilities yet. He was taking no chances. We still don't know if they are like us."

"For some reason, I was the only one left alive. We still don't know why. We speculated that they wanted to start a whole new breeding program. Or, possibly, they were not able to kill me, although I don't remember them trying. However, I was not aware what was going on until it was too late, so I may not have noticed. For whatever reason, I was left alive. Maybe to make me suffer."

"Amy, Katie, those of you who have lost your twins, you know what I went through at that point." Amy and Katie gave him a sad, loving smile of sympathy. "I was devastated. I had lost my wife, sister, children, and friends of my children. I had lost my mental connection with my sister. I did not want to live anymore. I lasted about the same two weeks that Amy and Katie lasted. Two weeks seems to be about the time when you just can't take it anymore. Incidentally, Katie, it was my voice that stopped you from killing yourself, so you could save Amy."

"The night I had determined to end my suffering, I received two visitors. I say visitors, because I do not know what they were. One was a white energy, the other one purple. I spent the entire night talking to them. I learned that the white energy was the current leader of the group we came from. The purple energy was the scribe, or historian. They explained what had happened to us, why all my girls had died. If they were trying to cheer me up, or convince me to not kill myself, they were miserable failures."

"Then, they told me it did not have to end this way. They asked me if I wanted to change what had happened. Of course, they already knew my answer. They explained about all of the powers that we had, the things we could do. The ones you have seen in the last year or so are not all of them. They explained how the powers were activated. They explained that intense emotions, like love, activated those powers. They told me that the actual activation occurred during actions associated with those feelings, such as sex with love. They also explained that the same things could occur with other powerful emotions, such as hate. These were dangerous, though. Victoria, your overwhelming desire to avenge Julie's death in this cycle was an example of that. You were able to control it. Many cannot. They explained that there were possibly others like us, and maybe others like the two energies that were talking to me, that lived and acted off these powerful negative emotions. They then gave me all the powers associated with the good emotions. They told me that many would be activated when needed. I asked them how all of this would get my family back."

"That is when they offered me the greatest gift. The white and purple energies only existed until they were needed to readjust the balance of our family as opposed to the evil ones. The energies were set up by our ancestors, knowing full well that the current situation would happen. Once the energies would be needed, the purple energy would pass into the body of the one most suited for the position of scribe or historian. It would never again exist normally as energy. At the death of the scribe, outside of the deaths associated with the cycles that I will tell you about in a minute, the purple energy would enter into the next choice for scribe. We don't know how that works, since it has never happened. The white energy would exist as a guardian and guide until the stability of the family was restored. Then, it would pass into the body of the father of the family after victory, never to exist as energy again."

"The final gift they offered was the ability to reverse the actions that had happened, back to a common starting point. The white energy could then start the whole scene over again, making any changes that he thought might increase the possibilities of successfully navigating past the time when the family was killed. The power reversing the situation could also make changes itself. Whether these were random or due to some intelligence or algorithm I never understood. The people that started over would have no memory of the previous time. They would never know that they had gone through this before. This 'forgetfulness' circuit was not perfect, and as time went on, after so many cycles, most of the girls developed at least a simplistic idea that the cycles existed, what they were for, and some of the things that happened. The one exception to the forgetting was the scribe or historian, the one with the purple energy. That person always remembered everything, down to the smallest detail, that had happened in all the cycles. That person also had the gift of precognition under certain circumstances. This gift also sometimes existed in others. Amy has shown that ability at times. The cycling was set so it happened anytime there was only one member of the family left. That one, as far as they knew, would always be Patrick."

"Finally, I was given the power of the white energy, as he passed into my existence. I watched the purple energy descend into one of the bodies. I no longer had a body, and I watched my former body and mind continue to function as normal. That body would also have no recollection of the previous cycles. Certain protocols were set up in the event of the need to share certain knowledge from the past, or in certain cases when interference by the white energy was allowed. Those protocols were invoked by the scribe, or, in certain instances, by the special scribe that existed within each cycle. That special cycle scribe remembered everything of the current cycle, but her memory was lost in a new cycle just like everyone else's."

"Now, for specifics. As you have probably already guessed, Megan is the scribe. She remembers everything, from the original family before the catastrophe, to now, and will continue on as long as she lives. Once she dies, in a death not associated with the cycles, the purple energy with all its accumulated knowledge, moves on to the next choice. We don't know how that choice is made, since it has never happened. It may be to a child of the original scribe. Katie is the scribe within the cycle."

"Again, as you have all probably already guessed, my name is... Patrick John Phillips. I have chosen to appear to you each time as a body, rather than a white energy. When this conversation is over, I will merge back into the Patrick John Phillips you know, and we will become one and whole again. He will then know everything I know. That, I am afraid, is all we know. There are several important points we do not know."

"We do not know what happens now. It has never happened before, and the energies did not impart that knowledge to me. Now that we are successful, do we just continue on from here? In that case, Patrick, you will remember everything, as will all of you. However, it is possible that we will recycle back to where this all started, or possibly back to the beginning of this cycle. If that happens, Patrick, then I have set it so you will not retain the memory of this conversation and cycle, nor any other information given by me, just like everyone except Megan. However, I have programmed the failsafe that total memory may be regained by you if activated by Megan. There are no rules for her to follow as to when or if this should occur. She will determine when you are ready for this information, when you can handle it, and when it is needed. Once she activates this knowledge, however, it is all activated. It is all or nothing."

"I don't know how many cycles we have gone through. I lost count some time ago. I am sure Megan knows, but it is probably irrelevant. Each one failed, as we struggled to find the right combination. I was certain such a combination must exist; otherwise our ancestors would not have set this whole thing up. It was Megan that had the brilliant idea, towards the end of the last cycle, as it became obvious that it would fail, to set Patrick and Victoria, twin siblings, as husband and wife, parents of Amy and Cindi. We also set it that Katie and Becky would be their sisters, and Megan would be his child also. We made most of you adopted and unaware that you were related to prevent difficulties with societal norms."

"It was obvious almost from the start that this cycle was different. Julie was killed when she was 6 years old. That had never happened before. It was done in an attempt to influence Victoria to kill Patrick years later, if that became necessary for them. Since Julie was not clearly known as one of us, I could 'interfere' to keep her from dying. I felt we would need her later. Then, Becky was 'killed'. That was different also. In all the previous cycles, the family deaths had all occurred during a two day period towards the end of the cycle. The fact that Becky's death was faked was beside the point. Then, an attempt was made on Victoria and Amy's life at the Fair. This had not happened before either. I was seeing a pattern. Then the attempt on Amy's life, that Cindi thwarted. Finally, the telling point; Cindi's death. That was the fatal error on the opposition's part. All of these deaths and attempted murders were done by Richard's group." He looked at Victoria, noticing the sad, guilty look on her face. "There was no way you could have known, Victoria. He was a master at hiding these things. Please don't feel responsible." She gave him a weak little smile.

"In every cycle so far, there had been a cataclysmic battle towards the end that our powers could not stop or win. One way I knew that it could be won was if one of us, besides me, since I could not interfere, could devote all of their energy to it. That could only be done, as far as I could tell, if they did not have a body to devote energy to maintaining. When Cindi was killed, I realized that exact scenario was now possible. Although I grieved at your sadness at her loss, I knew this was the turning point we were waiting for."

"As the attempts to kill all of you mounted, the certainty grew in my mind that this was truly different; that this could be the right cycle. I still could not see success in the final battle, however. Once again, Megan solved that problem by invoking Protocol 14. Although there is still danger from having done that, and a high price to be paid in the near future, it was exactly what needed to happen. I had lost sight of the fact that that situation was exactly why Protocol 14 was developed. Fortunately, Megan did not."

"That is about all I have to tell you. Each cycle has a definite time limit, if it does not activate from only one family member left alive. That time is in ten days. At that time, you will find out if you remain here, or if one final cycle will occur. I want to thank all of you for your help in saving our family. Since I am Patrick, I will partake in the joy of being with you to a very old age, however that occurs."

"If you don't mind my asking, who was the young man that was so instrumental in saving us all? I would just like to know who I am indebted to for my life," Victoria asked. I saw the man in white wince.

"I was hoping no one would remember that and ask that question," he said sadly. "That man was my 'son', I guess would be the closest term in your language. I am embarrassed to say that he was part of the reason for the deaths originally, as he defected to the splinter government side in the original cycle. He is the one that informed the government of our existence, and provided them the information for the moves they made later. I am glad that he finally saw the error of his ways and provided the final actions that he did. Due to the changes made during this cycle, he will not survive the final cycle, as he did not have another permanent body to move into. The body he occupied was a temporary construct by the other side that will not survive the cycle deadline in ten days."

"There is one final side effect of all the power that was used in Protocol 14. You are all now connected mentally with Patrick, and he is connected with all of you. It is unknown whether that connection will survive a final cycle, if it happens."

The man in white then proceeded to go around the room, hugging and kissing each of the girls. There were some he spent more time with than others that had obvious significance to him, like Megan, Victoria and Julie. Finally, he came to me last. After giving me some last minute advice and instructions for my ears only, he shook my hand. As he touched me, the entire room was bathed in white light. The girls told me later that they could see tendrils of white energy flow into me as he slowly disappeared. I remembered nothing of this. Finally, I was 'conscious' again. I looked around, to see all of my girls looking at me, watching what happened.

The next ten days were spent basking in the love we had for each other. We spent as much time with each other as we could, not knowing what the future held for each other and our relationships with each other. I spent as much time as I could with Victoria. It was a bittersweet time for us. We both considered it likely that if we cycled one last time that we would not be married to each other when we awoke again. It seemed obvious that our being married was an adaptation for the last cycle only. We were both sad about that. We were happy that it saved our family, but we would miss each other as man and wife. Actually, we wouldn't, as we wouldn't remember it, but you know what I mean.

Victoria and I spent the whole first night holding each other, talking and crying and making love. Not the frantic love you might think from two people about to be separated, but gentle love, similar to the spring showers I had enjoyed with Cindi. It was a wonderful time. We knew that we would still have each other; just maybe not as husband and wife.

Sandi turned out to be kind of a pain in the butt for the first few days. She could sometimes be nice but often was rude and obnoxious. There seemed to be a tug of war going on frequently between Cindi and her. When Sandi was dominant, things were never boring, but they were often not nice either. I knew she was going to run afoul of the girls eventually, but they were trying to be nice to her, and ignoring her when they couldn't be nice. It came to a head sooner than I thought, and from a most unexpected source.

We were in the kitchen one day, and Sandi was being her usual obnoxious self. I guess Cindi was off resting somewhere. The girls talked like normal around her, ignoring her for the most part. We were all being maudlin and saying how much we cared about each other. Sandi seemed to have it in for Amy especially most of the time, for some reason. Amy had stated how much they all loved me and would really miss that if we were not together in the new cycle. That was the time that Sandi picked to be a jerk, in a most unfortunate manner.

"Yeah, yeah, you must really love him, that you would go fuck some other guy at school on a whim. Patrick must really be good. What a little slut! I bet Patrick really thinks you're special now, doesn't he?" She gave an evil little laugh.

Shit! Sandi! Are you stupid? I started to get up out of my chair, knowing she had gone way too far this time. I saw the hurt, shocked look on Amy's face. She looked at me, despair in her eyes, her eyes begging me to tell her Sandi was wrong. I looked at Megan, saw the fire in her eyes, and knew I would never get to Sandi in time.

Megan stood up, slipped over to Sandi, quiet, smooth, fast as usual, as deadly looking as I'd ever seen her, and nonchalantly grabbed Sandi by the front of her blouse. Before she could even react, Megan gently lifted her up, and held her up against the wall. You could have heard a pin drop as Megan talked softly to her.