Chapter 11

Hall quickly stood. "Perhaps we should go for a walk," he said. Dan followed him out the door of his office and out of the house. "Gentlemen," he spoke to the two bodyguards. "Follow about fifty meters behind us please." Since Dan gave none of the signs of danger, Tommy did as he was asked. The four men walked along a cliff where the Pacific Ocean, anything but calm, beat against Vancouver Island.

"My God this is magnificent," Dan said in awe.

"What do you want?" Hall was nervous.

"Marquell, do you remember that we signed secrecy letters so that nothing we discuss today can be made known to anyone else without both of our prior approvals?"

"Yes."

"And do you remember that the punitive clause is big enough to damage even your resource base?"

"Yes. It struck me as overkill and perhaps a scam but my attorneys felt I had enough wiggle room for any scam you might be running."

"It's no scam. You are not the only old person in the world who looks as if he is in his late twenties. You are eleven years older than I am but centuries younger than others. I would like to give you information about these people but I need to know several things. I need to know that you will keep it a secret; I need to know that you will not harm me or my friends, and I need to know that you aren't a bad fit for the organization. The first two I can find out just by having you swear it while we are touching. The last will take two or three hours of your time."

"How do we do the first two?"

"Simple. Take hold of my hand, I will swear that I will not lie to you today, that I will keep your secret, that I mean you no harm. You say the same thing back. It is not so much the words as the intent that will come across to you and me. If you can't say one of them, just say that. We'll take it from there to find common ground. I'll tell you a truth and a lie so you can see the difference in how they feel." Dan took Marquell's loose hand and said, "You have a firm handshake. This is a wonderful view."

"It's not my normal handshake."

"Of course not, I was just illustrating my point. Are you ready?" Dan asked.

"Yes."

"I swear to keep secret what we say today unless given permission by you, I swear to only tell you the truth today, I swear that I know of no reason to mean you or yours harm."

"Ditto," replied Marquell. "That's fucking weird. I mean that is really fucking weird. So what do you want?"

"I would like you to join a group of people like yourself. In the 'old' days you'd be in no matter what, but now we need to make sure that the people we offer admission are like us. So I need to run a test on you. The test consists of watching a video for a couple of hours while I monitor your reactions. After the test I'll either thank, you leave, and never bother you again, or explain what is going on, and ask if you would like to join us." Dan looked at Hall, waiting for a reaction.

"What is your test testing?"

"You'll watch scene that should elicit some emotional response from you and from me. The responses will tell us about each other. I'm opening you up as much the same as I'm opening myself up."

"Would my office be appropriate?"

"It would if we remove the bug. I assume that's why were walking instead of drinking coffee."

"Besides the bug, what else do you need to get ready?"

Dan turned and yelled back to Tommy, "Mr. Thompson, I need the equipment in Mr. Hall's office." As he turned back Hall handed him his now full clip.

"Nothing more useless than an empty pistol," said Hall as he turned to walk towards the house.

"It made Superman duck."

"What?"

"Surely you remember the Superman show on TV back in the 50s?"

"Of course, it was great."

"Did you notice how odd it was that Superman would stand with his legs apart, his hand on his hips, a smile on his face as bullets bounced off his chest, but he always ducked when the bad guy threw the pistol at him?"*

Hall began to laugh, "The fifties were great, weren't they? I loved the sound effect of Superman landing. I can still hear it. How old are you Dan?"

"A mere child, only eighty-two. And you?"

"One hundred-nine. What is the longest I could expect to live?"

"Sorry, I can't tell you yet."

"Then let's get this test over with, I've got lots of questions for you."

"You don't have any concerns about joining our group?" Dan asked.

"God no! Chasing skirts is fun for about fifty years. Now I'm bored out of my skull."

"You may have some concerns after I explain the problems and the dangers." Dan paused. "But we're getting ahead of ourselves. You can have Mr. Davidson present during the test but I'd rather not."

"Done."

About two and a half hours later, Dan turned off his equipment, looked at Hall and said, "Let me give you a short history lesson. Then you can ask questions. As you have already figured out, you aren't a normal human. At one time there were several types of sentient humanoids on earth or so it seems to me. Neanderthal, Heidelbergensis, Cro-Magnon, and another race anatomically like Cro-Magnon but nothing like them in life span. Think of the last two as the Young and the Old."

"The Old didn't just live long, they had some other powers. Powers like detecting lies when touching and reading the surface thoughts of humans. You and I are like the Old but a little different; same abilities but we act more like the humans than the Old. The Old don't seem to have as wide a range of emotions. Maybe that is the result of their age. I can give you the power to read the surface thoughts of humans but it isn't always a beneficial gift. I'm late because I saw someone's mind and spent some of this morning tossing my cookies. It was ugly. It's still ugly. I'm not some shrinking violet but I'll never be the same after and I have seen combat in more than one war. You'll notice I sometimes use human and Young interchangeably. I don't know if you and I are human or not. I am even more doubtful about the Old. Someday the Supreme Court will have to decide as far as the law is concerned."

"Oh yeah, to answer your earlier question; the oldest person I know of is somewhere around 3000 years old," Dan continued. You'd be joining three other New Ones, for lack of a better name, and one Old. The Old population is constant and has been so for at least the last 5,000 years. Our population is probably on the rise and humans are going to find out about us sooner or later. We are starting to prepare for that eventuality."

"A brother and sister are at tucked away at the house where I live. We need all the help we can get. I don't know if his sister will ever be ready. She got the ability to read thoughts but no help or training in how to tune out others thoughts. She's been in an institution for most of her life, listening to the thoughts of crazy people all day long. I don't know what her brother will do when he finally hears what is going on in her head. After they're changed, if we find more people we'll try to get them changed. Our overall goal is creating a world-wide philanthropic society, but concentrate on North America. We can do anything except fuck with politics or crime. Do you want in?"

"Hell yes."

"I can't start the change tonight, we have to resolve the issue with the brother and sister first. Her recovery isn't going well. When we start you won't begin to notice for about two weeks and then you will need to get at least 30 meters away from all the Young. It will take two to four months before you would be able to come back into your house. I can give you the training you need. It is mostly just about you practicing."

"So what now Mr. Wilkinson?"

"It's Dan Akins. Sorry."

"No problem. What's next Mr. Akins?"

Dan handed him a card. "This has all our contact information and our address. Security is tight right now, so call before you show up at the door. It may not be safe to come now. Negotiations are in progress. I'll keep you updated at least once a week. Have your attorneys set up a dummy corporation. I'll wire money into its account so we have a plausible story to cover our communications. Try to be vague when we talk on the phone. For good or bad your days of boredom are about to be over. You can still change you mind."

"No. I won't. But I will see you soon. Thank you for coming by."

The next morning, one of Jim's connection in the Vancouver Police admitted the capture of a serial killer matching Dan's description.

"Vague threats aren't going to be enough to bring anyone here," William spoke as if to a child.

"No of course not," April tried to keep her temper. "But there is a carrot to dangle in front of all you paranoid mules. Martin has sworn to me that under certain circumstances he will forgive all who may have offended him in the past. No matter how small or great the offence was." That got their attention, April thought to herself.

"And what are those circumstances," Mary asked.

"That William's house is a sanctuary, where disagreements can be settled without violence. That travel to and from William's house is also protected. If anyone breaks these rules, all of us come down on them. That I not be held responsible for Martin's acts."

"Is Martin requiring that his acts be forgiven?" asked William.

"No, but I'm sure he would appreciate it."

"No doubt." Mary had a slight smile.

"Perhaps of more importance to you," April said as she watched Mary out of the corner of her eyes. "I will also forgive those who hurt my family and those who tried to kill me if they still live. I'll even forgive you, Mary, for endangering me by awaking me at such an early age."

"Perhaps we can get some interest in this proposition," Mary said. "William and I will make some calls."

"Dan?" A familiar voice spoke as Dan answered his phone.

"Yeah, is that you April?"

"Yes. I'll be coming back to Vancouver tomorrow; Mary wants to meet you."

"Are you sure it's safe?"

"Dan, I'm as sure as I can be. We've got about 20 Old Ones here and they're all convinced of the inevitability of us and of our exposure. How's it going?"

"Good and bad. I'll explain when we're alone," he answered.

"Okay. See you tomorrow."

"Bye-bye," he said as he hung-up the phone. Bye-bye? What kind of man says bye-bye? Act your age Dan. Right. Act your age. I'm going to have trouble explaining how it's going. Ellen isn't getting any better. I was right.