Chapter 5

I spent the day in a daze. I had a lot to think about. How much right did I have to commit my family and friends to a dangerous undertaking? I needed to talk to them about the task before I asked them to commit. And I needed more information before I could do that. I decided to ask for a physical tour of the training facilities and more details on the task before I broached the subject to them. I'd ask tonight.

Amy could tell that I was distracted when I came to bed and I had to force myself to pay full attention to her during our lovemaking that night. She could tell that I was preoccupied, but she didn't nag me about it. I appreciated that, but I didn't dwell on it.

I lay back, closed my eyes, and waited for contact. Finally, it came.

VOICE: "John Akers, can you hear me? Please answer me."

ME: "Yes, I can hear you. Go ahead."

VOICE: Did you think about what I told you last night?"

ME: "Yes, I thought about it a lot, and I reached some conclusions. I cannot ask my family and friends to take on a dangerous task without knowing more about it. From what you said last night, I believe that it is possible for me to visit you and get some first hand information before I commit the others. Therefore, I want you to transfer me to your training location and let me see exactly what is involved. If you can't, or won't, do that, I must withdraw my agreement to help you."

VOICE: "Very well, it will take a few moments to set up the proper coordinates. Please wait... There! The transfer is complete."

ME: "What's going on? All I can see is a great big gray blur. What is this place?"

VOICE: "You are in a holding area where we can reconfigure your body to fit our environment. While you are there, we will also make the other changes I mentioned. It will take about 3 minutes to complete the change. Please be patient."

ME: "Exactly what are you doing to my body? Please tell me what is going on."

VOICE: "Your strength has been multiplied by a factor of 6, as has your stamina. Your reflexes have also been sped up by a factor of 6. You can now see from the far infra red through the X-ray region. As a result, you will see many "colors" that you never saw, before. Your hearing range is increased to 5 to 50,000 hertz and is more sensitive by a factor of 6. With all of these changes and others we'll get to later, you have complete control over the range so that you can restrict your hearing and vision to what you are accustomed to, if you desire. Oh, and your vision had been changed to incorporate microscopic and telescopic ranges. The training will teach you how to control all of this consciously.

"You are now immortal as long as your body is not actually destroyed, though this will be much more difficult to do. Your skin is very nearly impenetrable, so that bullets, knives, and such cannot hurt you. You are resistant to a wide range of heat and cold, and disease, poison, and radiation cannot harm you.

"In effect, you have very nearly all of the characteristics of the super heroes you read about in the comic books of your youth. About the only thing you cannot do is fly!"

ME: "WOW! I had no idea that you could do that. What is the catch?"

VOICE: "The catch is that your body will never change from its current apparent age. If that bothers you, I am sorry. I regret that I did not warn you before we made the changes."

ME: "How about the women. If they undergo this treatment, will they be able to bear children? I am not sure that they would be willing to give that up."

VOICE: "Yes, we can allow for that. They can become pregnant if they want to, but it has to be a conscious command before it will happen. Otherwise, the female's body will block that as it would any other invading organism."

ME: "OK, I guess that covers my current questions. Show me what else you have for me to see."

At this request, the gray fog began to fade away and I could see a vast panorama of marvelous buildings scattered amid a rolling plain of mostly orange vegetation. The voice in my head told me that this color for the grass and leaves was the result of a copper base in the local equivalent of chlorophyll.

I was told to run as fast as I could toward a blue building on the horizon. I began to run and I was amazed at how fast I moved. I couldn't help laughing at the way my genitals bounced up and down and side-to-side as I ran. This bouncing wasn't painful, which I found surprising.

The voice told me to stop running and to jump as high as I could. I must have jumped at least 10 feet high, and the voice told me that I could jump higher on Earth, but I was limited here by the higher gravity.

I was directed to run to a gray building about a mile away and stop when I got to the closed door. When I got there, I was told to go inside and look around. The first thing I saw were some giant spider-like structures spaced around me.

VOICE: "What do you see before you?"

ME: "I see five spider-like structures spaced around me. I don't know what they are and I can't see what they are made of."

There was a rumble of what I swear was laughter.

VOICE: "I am one of those "structures" that you see. I have 10 legs, four of which also serve as arms and hands. My body is the blob in the middle supported by the legs. I don't have a separate head, as you do. My sense organs are spaced uniformly around my body. My name is Venta, I am female, and I will wave an appendage so that you can identify me.

"Now I must send you home, we have reached the time limit we can spend with you, today. Your abilities will stay with you at home, so you may show the others what we have done to and for you.

"Goodbye for now."

With that, I suddenly found myself lying on the bed beside Amy as if nothing had happened. Had I dreamed it? I had to know. I got dressed and slipped out of the room. Outside, I tried to jump. I rose about 30 feet in the air and would have hurt myself on landing, but for the enhancements Venta's people had given me.

I found that I could see quite well when I commanded my eyes to become more sensitive to light. This reminded me that Venta had said that my skin was impenetrable, so I decided to test that. I went into the kitchen and took a butcher knife. I tried scratching my arm with it and couldn't make a mark, so I tried pressing harder. Still no mark, so I tried to push the knife into my arm. Nothing, so the ultimate test. I raised the knife and stabbed as hard as I could at my stomach. I heard a scream behind me just as the knife touched my abdomen. There was no penetration of my skin at all, though the cloth of my shirt was cut. The most glaring results of the experiment were a badly bent knife blade and Julia lying on the floor in a dead faint.

I was bending over her limp body, wiping her face with a damp cloth, when everybody rushed in to investigate the scream. I noted that Amy was the only one who was armed! When she came around, Julia's first words were a question for me, "Massa, why did you try ta kill yerself?"

At that, Amy interjected, "What's she talkin' 'bout, John?"

I could see that now was the time to tell all. "OK, everybody, have a seat at the table and I'll explain. I have just had a most amazing experience that I must tell you about. Let me show you this."

I picked up the bent knife from where I had dropped it when I rushed to help Julia and showed it to them. "Julia, do you recognize this knife?"

"Yes, Massa John, that there's my favorite butcher knife. How did it get bent?"

"I want everybody here to try to straighten out the knife. Be careful you don't cut yourselves."

Everybody picked up the knife in turn and tried to straighten the blade without success. I then took the knife and straightened out the blade by pinching the blade between my fingers and thumb and dragging my fingers over it. Without apparent effort, I straightened the blade. To make my point, I stabbed the knife into the table top and pulled it back out, pointing out the mark left by the knife point. Before anyone could react to stop me, I then tried to stab the palm of my hand. Of course, the blade bent! There were shouts of dismay and Amy asked, "How did you do that?"