Chapter 256: Stalemate?

Yeah, I threw her under the bus. I did need to get back home. Dad texted to say we had a meeting with the school board in three days.

While everyone was distracted, I went to get my clothes from downstairs and quickly got everything out into the car. I gave everyone, even the girls that were visiting and still naked, a big hug before getting on the road without them delaying me leaving.

By not needing to stop for sleep and using a new navigation app, which marked every form of law enforcement for twenty miles in every direction, I made it home in under a day. I spent the next morning with Paula, the afternoon with Anne and Crystal, and then Molly and Dolly slept over.

In the morning, my mom went into my closet to get me out a suit to wear to the meeting with the school board, saying that for a college graduate, with a master’s degree in foreign languages from the first university I visited, I needed to dress appropriately.

I drove to the meeting in the Maserati.

We arrived early, and they directed us to where to wait. The officious pricks showed up over an hour after the scheduled meeting time. It was another half an hour before they asked us to come in.

“The board of education reviewed your appeal regarding our requirement that David returns to the county high school in this fall,” on old blue-haired, career waste of space, overpaid, under-educated, politician appointed, head of the school board started the meeting by saying. “Due to the extenuating circumstances, combined with the battery of examinations to determine his understanding of the materials taught at his high school, David will restart his sophomore year this fall as he failed to complete it as required.”

I looked at dad to see that he wasn’t going to interject his thoughts and gave me a nod. My mom told them that I had some new news for them to review.

I took a deep breath, centered myself, and then asked, “If I remember correctly, I successfully passed every single exam I took, including every AP class the high school offers. I then took additional tests covering a wide range of subjects that exceed the curriculum for every public school in the state. I also passed those successfully, so now I find myself confused with your decision. I have proven that I know all the knowledge you can provide in your schools. I also successfully passed the exams with questions from three-hundred and four-hundred level college courses. Can you please be so kind as to explain what I will gain by spending three additional years in high school?”

Almost getting in my face, one of the women at the table said, quite angrily, with spittle flying, “Because you are a fifteen-year-old child. Children are required to be in school. That is the law. I don’t care one single bit that you managed to somehow cheat on all the tests. You will complete four years of high school, or you will never get the diploma you need to go to college. No colleges of any merit will take a high school dropout with a GED.”

That started the others telling me why I had to go to high school too, how it was more than just learning from books, and a whole load of bullshit they pulled out of their pompous, career as a political appointee who did the will of whoever put them there.

When they calmed down, I told them, “As taught in the required high school history classes, the art of debate is a healthy part of any discussion. You have made your point, so now it is my turn. Now you have said that I must go to high school because I’m a child and must complete it successfully to obtain a piece of paper that becomes some sort of magic ticket to gain entrance into universities. I understand it is not polite to disagree with adults, but since you are also acting like spoiled children, throwing a tantrum to get your way, I find I have the right to say you are wrong.”

Oh, that got their panties in a bunch. Good!

“To not just be seen as a smart-assed kid being obstinate, allow me to circulate some of my recent accomplishments as a result of a unique program I have been attending recently,” I said.

I pulled out signed, embossed, sealed and notarized copies of the diplomas that dad said arrived yesterday for me to have for this meeting.

I then used their video conference system to connect to the web conference bridge that had been set up expressly for this meeting. Once connected, I saw many familiar faces around the tables in the large conference room. Present were the presidents and some deans from each college or university that provided me with a degree.

On top were diplomas for Bachelor’s degrees in Liberal Arts from each university. Below that, I found two that were a Bachelor of Science in Biology, even though I didn’t know why. Then I had a Master of Science in Liberal Arts in the area of foreign languages from the first and second schools I visited. I was shocked to find I had two Ph. D.s as well, one in Ancient Languages and one in Linguistic Studies.

Wait for it. Who will it be? The head of the school board, Mrs. Spittle?

A man near my parents, who got the diplomas last, said, “Well, if someone has a degree for masterful forgery, I would award it to you, David, with honors. These are obvious fakes. It is quite impossible to earn a master’s or a Ph.D. without attending many years of school. I find it an insult to the intelligence of the board members that you chose to pick major universities by which to perpetuate this fraud. At least diplomas from bogus online universities would have been something I would have expected you to present to bypass our requiring you to resume your high school education.”

He told an administrative assistant to escort us to a conference room while they discussed the repercussions of my fraudulent behavior. All of this time, the presidents and deans had remained quiet. As they escorted us out, I heard the president of the first university ask if he and those with him could introduce themselves. They needed to have a very frank discussion that was likely to affect the careers and pensions of those on the school board.

I didn’t feel that sick feeling when we came in, and it was still kind of weak, but it was coming from the conference room where the person took us. Right before we got to the door, I saw everyone that had been on the video conference link walking out of one of the other conference rooms.

They shook my hand in congratulations and said a few words to my parents as they headed toward where the school board was meeting.

The old language professor said, in a very obscure language, “They comprehend not which they believe to be true.”

When we entered the conference room, I saw the three seekers that a man in a dark suit had brought with him, except these were a different “breed” from those I had met before. They weren’t born this way and then activated by some event, as some others had, but no one surgically modified them to make them have their seeking abilities. What I did see is that they had similar skills to scan minds like the triplets, but it was much weaker, and it required them to concentrate very hard to use it. When I looked at each of them, I could see every place in their brains that made them seekers and able to read minds, well their unshielded minds. The man, and his associates, used their abilities in ways that didn’t leave scars, except in their memories. They were off in seats behind the man, so he didn’t see their reaction when I looked into the eyes of each girl. I felt they had been near the vile bitch seeker I found in the secured transport with the twins who were like me. I let them “see” what I needed to them to see to know that I would help them if I could. They each reached out to me to ask that I do anything I could to get them free of the torture this man and his people did to them.

The man pulled a big file out of his briefcase and began with, “We finally meet face to face David Jones, aka Mr. Smith, aka Darren Smith. Your medical record is an intriguing read, especially your latest event. Few survive from multiple lightning strikes. Those who do have their brains changed in unique ways that allow them to do many things those not like them can’t comprehend. According to the details, you showed many of the same characteristics during your coma, and they continued after awakening. Your light sensitivity being a key indicator of those who have survived a similar experience.”

Without any warning, he shined an extremely bright light into my eyes. It was at the level of the big ones in operating rooms.

I bet he expects me to use the place in my head to break it. Too bad moron, you don’t even have a clue, so I’m not giving you one.

“What the hell? Are you trying to blind me or burn away my retina?” I asked him angrily.

The man looked at the three girls before continuing. “What is quite interesting is how the town went to great lengths to keep this out of the news and redact it from your medical records. I do not believe it has anything to do with your appearing to have saved the lives of female students, as appears to be the agreed-upon story. As with others that have survived an event of this nature, there exist people who exist to make those that find people like you drop off the radar.”

He looked over at the girls, said something I couldn’t hear, and then the girls showed they were concentrating hard on something.

“Further proof of your unique abilities is how you managed to survive in the center of a tornado that partially destroyed the home containing some of your female associates. The lightning maps clearly show you interacting with the storm”, he said as he showed the details for that storm. “Here, you can see the lightning was striking the exact location where you took take shelter.”

Dad jumped in before I could, to say, “If you have reviewed his un-redacted medical record then you will see that he did not have any scars, burns or other marks on his body other than a knot on his head which they believed was the cause of his extended coma. You will see clearly in his record that David was quite uncoordinated, and it wasn’t uncommon for him to be unconscious for days following one of his accidents that should have killed him. You will also find a section containing the reports for three different government agencies that came out to survey the scene of the accident at his school. Each independently concluded that there was no way anyone could have taken a direct lightning strike to their body, and survived, by the shape and size of the melted ground where the lightning struck. Even indirect strikes would have caused severe burns to David. There are pictures of every inch of his body take immediately on his arrival to the emergency room. Other than pimples and the bump on his head, there weren’t any marks on him.”

“The town discussed his accident and decided that they didn’t want to start having the school and teachers questioned for not having the children safely inside when the storm arrived,” Mom told him. “Whether David’s actions save those girls is a matter of perspective. What everyone agreed upon was that they didn’t want a media circus descending onto the town. There was no scientific evidence to corroborate lightning hitting him. When he woke from his coma, the only after effects, aside from weakness, was his light sensitivity. It was temporary as the inpatient eye clinic, who one of his best friend’s father owns, documented.”

He looked at the girls again before waving his hand and saying, “Yes, yes. All very convincing. He isn’t the first to create a cover story of this nature. Which brings me to the other matters, your leave of absence for the better part of a year.”

After shuffling papers, he said, “According to physical exams before your advanced driver’s training, you still had a child’s body. Just exactly as your alias, Darren. On your return, you have gained an incredible amount of muscle, show unnaturally fast reflexes, have the agility that does not match the size of your body. You refuse to explain where you resided during that time. Then there is the small matter of how the driver of that car still lives. First responders noted her as being a broken meat sack that barely resembled something human. Only someone with the abilities you gained during the thunderstorm can explain something on the level of a miracle from a higher power.”

“One moment, please. I need to make a call. I signed an NDA as part of a research project where my friends were recovering,” I told him.

I called a number, which shouldn’t ever connect to anything, and I reached a phone tree where I went through the prompts. It told me that someone was already waiting outside the door with everything this man would need to get off this line of questioning. It would likewise show how I learned the material versus having it downloaded directly into my brain.

“It seems that the lawyers for the facility, where I stayed to support my friends, have also been monitoring me closely to ensure I don’t release any information covered in the NDA. One of their team is waiting outside the door to answer your questions,” I told him.

When the man refused to allow the girls to sign the NDA, he went out of the room with them for a few minutes. He escorted me, saying this was a matter for adults, not children, to the room with the girls. He locked the door behind me. The implant in my head linked me to that room so that I could hear the discussion. He was interrogating my parents as he tried to match the dates where I was away from home to those when I was doing what he is accusing. I got a message via the implant that the camera in here had the cable cut yesterday when there was some air conditioning maintenance.

I must give it to the girls. Each was scared of what would happen to them if they didn’t get where they were able to seek me before he called in the ones that had a lot stronger ability. All three looked like they were trying to push out a turd the size of a softball. I let them try while I watched how they were able to focus parts of their brains on reading my mind while also trying to get in my head to see if I was like Steve.

“I think that camera is dead. It has no lights at all, not even a power light,” I told them.

All three were instantly trying to get me to hold them as they shook in fear.

I learned from the triplets and their sister how to communicate with someone with the girl’s mind-probing ability. We had a four-way chat with each of them believing that the four of us had been talking verbally. Each wanted to get rid of the part that lets them seek people like me. It made them feel nasty when forced to use it. The telepathy was all that has kept them alive. The people who have been making them seek those like me have no idea they have it. It was easy for them to tell the people what they wanted to hear.

I knew before they did that man was leaving them in the room but coming to get me.

“So do you want to explain to me now about where you went,” he asked me again.

The lawyer guy said, “Sir, you need to watch the video. David’s developmental stage proved the perfect subject for testing multiple proprietary technologies that my client is developing to help accelerate the recovery of brain-damaged patients. The lawyer cast the video to the large TV screen in the room.

First, it went right to Paula. I wasn’t in any of the videos, and it replaced the robots with humans, where required. During the video, the lawyer rattled off some facts.

“The assessment made by the medical personnel at the scene was accurate regarding the lack of skeletal support within the young woman’s body. She had multiple crushed bones as the result of the impact, including multiple skull fractures. Fortunately, the patient’s heart was still circulating oxygenated blood from the partial breaths her body permitted her to take. Those respirations ceased during the flight to the facility. Her heart stopped shortly after that, and she showed no brain activity. The staff declared deceased in the medical transport. That is what saved her life. Using gyroscopically balanced remote-controlled surgical robots, the medical staff inserted experimental electrodes directly into her heart tissue to stimulate the muscles required to cause her heart to pump blood again. An oxygen respirator mechanically controlled her respirations. Within minutes she began showing brain activity again,” he explained.