Chapter 9

Note: When the conversation is telepathic, it is indicated by italic font.

When Sarah and her friends arrived on the patio, they saw Amy’s group chatting with Jean and Andy. Sarah said, “It is good to see all of you joining us for lunch.” Sarah then began introducing everyone.

Once the introductions were completed, Amy said, “Let’s eat. We will be quite busy this afternoon.”

Although there was some talking, there wasn’t much, as everyone was focused on their own thoughts. Those with Jean were working through the change in their situation, what it meant and what their future was likely to be. While, those arriving with Nancy were trying to digest all they had seen and heard. When everyone finished eating, they all pitched in to clean up, then sat around the tables sipping lemonade.

Bob said, “Jim, Amy, when do you want to start the project?”

“Tomorrow or the next day would be fine,” replied Amy. “Erica is the lead on security issues, but this is something she’s learned since we’ve been stranded here. While it is important, we think taking a day or so to relax and become acquainted would be the best way to start. This will also give us time to get our house keeping better organized.”

“I like the idea of a day to relax,” said Nancy realizing that this was an opportunity for Bob to take it easy as she thought he worked too many hours.

Rusty added, “In addition to Bob, Stan, Erica and me, we should initially include Sarah, Terry and Sally. This will give us a seven member team which should be enough to quickly accomplish the basics. Although it may sound like it, I am not suggesting we limit who is on the team. This is an effort that benefits us from multiple viewpoints. Also, Zoe’s group has experiences and a perspectives that can help us. The area we want to monitor is much larger than any we have done in the past. While the seaward side makes access difficult, it is not impossible, so we shouldn’t let that color our thinking.”

Looking at the group with Jean, Sally said, “What are your backgrounds?”

Sally had hardly finished her question when Sarah gasped, placing her hands against her head as her face scrunched up in pain. Rusty and Erica quickly tried to mind link with her.

Before they could act, Amy shouted, “Shields up first, then help.” Jean’s group was startled by Amy’s command while many of the others looked puzzled.

Amy and Erica moved quickly to mentally assist Sarah in repelling a mental attack, then blocking the attacker. With the attack blocked, Sarah rested her head on her hands. While she appeared to be relaxing, she was feeling confused and disorientated.

After monitoring Sarah for a moment Amy said, “Rusty, would you help us look for damage?”

Amy’s comments caused Julia to gasp, prompting worried expressions on Zoe’s group.

“You know her much better than we do. The person who attacked her was rather reckless. We checked all her normal connections and links. They look okay to us, but we need you to verify them.” Rusty looked at her with a puzzled expression. “Your active link with her will provide you with some of the information. More importantly, is what you saw when the two of you were exploring each other’s minds and making comparisons.”

He nodded, and then carefully looked through Sarah’s mind while comparing it to his memories. In several places, what he found was quite different from before. “Amy or Erica, what is the function for these areas? They’ve changed significantly from my copy.”

“Those are gateways,” replied Erica. “Go ahead and return them to the way they were. You probably should start here. I’ll monitor you.”

Once they finished Sarah began to stir.

Sarah looked up. “What happened?”

“We think you were attacked by someone telepathically. Do you remember meeting your friends this morning?”

“Yes.”

“Who were they?”

“It was most of our friends from Nancy and Bob’s,” responded Sarah. “They are right here,” she then named them as she pointed them out.

“Do you remember lunch and what you had?”

“Yes, it was two ham and cheese sandwiches with a big bowl of soup.”

“Okay. How long were you asleep after you arrived here?”

“You told us we spent two months in the incubators and four months here.”

“Okay. Now stand up and stretch. Look for anything that feels different.”

“Everything seems fine but I feel, maybe a little sluggish.”

“Okay. Now we want Amy, and Rusty to join you to examine the links in your memory. You should look for links that are broken links or not connected to the right spot. Sally and Terry can join us. Rusty has a partial memory map from when the two of you were working together exploring your minds.”

“Okay.”

Everyone watched as Sarah, Rusty and Amy concentrated on what they were doing. None noticed the faraway look on Erica and Betsy’s faces.

After several minutes, Sarah, Rusty, Amy, Sally and Terry began backing out of their tight link. As they did they began to move and stretch. There was a definite sigh of relief around the tables when they saw Sarah smile. Rusty was the first to notice Betsy and Erica’s concentration. Sarah picked up on Rusty’s observation and they both started to investigate. Amy shook her head, no, as she mouthed, “shields up” to everyone. Rusty and Sarah immediately put their shields up then linked with Nancy and Julia to check on theirs. When they were done, Julia told them to check on Zoe’s group, so they shifted their attention to them.

Amy and Jim spoke to those with Jean’s group telepathically, eliciting several surprised looks. Amy said, “Sorry, we usually do this a different way. For those of you who are telepathic, it is urgent that we show you how to shield yourself from telepathic attacks.” Most of those in Jean’s group nodded, indicating they had heard, although several had surprised expressions.

Erica and Betsy came out of their trance, looking a bit tired. Amy looked at them questioningly. Erica said, “Once we knew the attack on Sarah was blocked, we tried to find the source. We found several telepaths here that we didn’t know about. However, the source of the attack appears to have come from out in the valley.”

“Alison,” said Sarah.

“Most likely,” replied Amy, “but when we scanned those in the barn, we only saw Laura, Patricia and Sophia with those capabilities, but they weren’t active. However, we weren’t looking for a shielded mind, so it is possible that we missed it. Now, based on the responses by Jean’s group a few moments ago, it looks like we missed a few other latent telepaths.”

“Your comment did surprise me. What happened to Sarah?” asked Jean, clearly concerned.

“To put it verbally,” replied Sarah. “It was like someone ransacking a room looking for something. So, I am surprised nothing was broken. Why would someone pick on me for an attack?”

“I’m very happy nothing was broken,” replied Rusty as he hugged Sarah.

“May I say something?” asked Tara.

“Of course,” replied Erica with a smile.

“First, Alison was up and moving around about an hour after we all went to bed. I had to use the bathroom and saw her leave the barn as I came out of my room. Secondly, about, this telepathic stuff, does this mean you all know what we are thinking?”

“It is fairly easy to see the active thoughts of others, if we look,” replied Amy. “Most people will sense it when it happens. The sensation has been characterized as the creepy feeling you associate with an intruder, but it may just make you uneasy. Fully active telepaths have techniques for shielding their active thoughts and blocking attacks. We just discovered that nearly all of you are capable and several of you are actively aware of hearing telepathic communication. Until now I don’t think any of you have used the ability. As you heard, we showed those we knew were active how to enable their shields, which I think shocked a few. This is probably the first time you realized that you can hear telepathic thoughts. Especially for those who aren’t active, when we communicate telepathically, we can hear your response, if you direct it to us. When you have your physicals, you will get a primer in telepathic communication, how to enable and manage it. Whether you initiate communication that way is up to you.”

“So, the sci-fi writers got it correct,” said Andy with a smile.

“Pretty much,” replied Sarah, “depending on who you read. There are some differences.”

Sarah glanced over at Zoe’s group as Zoe said, “I don’t know about the others, but we were surprised, even though we’ve used it a bit since our arrival here. Although after being around Sarah and Rusty, we shouldn’t have been surprised. Sarah, we need to talk to you guys about this soon so we have a better understanding of it.”

“Sure. Will this evening, if not sooner, work for you all?”

“I think so.”

“It doesn’t take very long to sort out.”

“If you forget, we will camp out in your suite until we find the time.”

Smiling Sarah replied, “That suits us just fine.”

“Back to our issue,” said Amy, “if we presume it was Alison, then we can rationalize a reason. Sarah is probably one of the strongest telepaths here and she was our spokesperson when she arrived. She is fairly new to using these abilities, which also tends to make her more susceptible. This just means we need to take the time to teach you the tools you need to manage it. It wouldn’t surprise me, if someone else was probed today. Erica and Rusty you should spend as much time with Sarah as possible. Now would really be a good time to get this out-of-the-way, then we can focus on what to do about Alison.”

“Nancy and Julia, how strong are your telepathic capabilities?” enquired Erica.

“I don’t know,” they both responded, then Nancy added, “We know we have them but haven’t really used them. Sarah and Rusty’s assistance was a little confusing but we appreciate it.”

Then Julia added, “Earlier I chatted with Erica using it but not much beyond that. When Sarah and Rusty helped us with our shields a few minutes ago, I suggested they check on Zoe’s group.”

“We did,” responded Rusty.

“Okay let’s do this,” said Jim. “Erica and Amy show Sarah, Sally, Terry and Rusty more on shields and other defensive techniques, then they can assist Zoe’s group. Betsy and Connie can work with Nancy and Julia and help them in strengthening their telepathic attributes, including defenses. Once that is complete, then they can work with Jean’s group. This shouldn’t take very long, so once each person completes their tutorial let’s go down by the pool. Tell us if any of you start to get a headache or you feel strange, possibly as though someone is watching you. In the mean time, the rest of us can check out the pool.”

When they were near the pool Thomas said, “Mommy can we swim?”

Shirley looked at Jim, who nodded, then said, “Yes.”

Alice, Shirley and Susan joined Thomas in the water. They had been swimming for more than an hour before the rest joined them. Sarah thought, “Susan seems like a different person since the first time I saw her. Probably due to working with Alice and Judy.”

Amy asked, “Bob, Stan, Alice, Susan and Shirley, would you mind if Erica and I evaluate you for telepathic abilities?” All of them nodded their heads indicating that it was okay.

Amy and Erica each lay back on a chair near the pool and from their appearance were apparently asleep. Sarah and Rusty watched them with their mind-link as Amy and Erica evaluated the five.

“Amy, do you feel someone is watching us?” asked Sarah.

“Yes, and I think it is the person who probed you earlier. I think we will go inside to do this. Would you, Erica and Rusty remain out here swimming and relaxing? One of you should try to see if you can locate the observer. Don’t do anything, just locate and perhaps identify them.”

“Alice, Susan, Shirley, Bob, and Stan, would you come inside with Betsy and me? We think it would be better to continue this inside.”

“Sure.”

Terry and Sally moved into the water and began to swim laps; they were soon joined by several others. Terry and Sally found that their hair and larger stature slowed them down a bit but could tell that their improved stamina would allow them swim longer. Nancy and Patricia played in the water with Thomas and Janice.

After watching the swimmers for a bit Sarah said, “Rusty, Erica, will you keep an eye on me? I want to try something.”

“Okay.”

Sarah then lay back on the lounge chair closing her eyes. Slowing her breathing she relaxed as if doing yoga. Looking around with her mind she could see her friends relaxing. By shifting her point of view it expanded to encompass a larger area. She then moved her point of reference higher and could soon see nearly all the area immediately around the buildings. Each person showed in the picture as a bright object, even those in the house. Those with telepathic capabilities were brighter than the others. She could see animals moving through the brush as she looked away from the buildings down the valley. The coloring of the scenery was muted so that some of the underlying terrain could be seen.

She spent a long time slowly looking over the area. As she scanned, she saw a marker for someone with telepathic capabilities some distance from them, apparently moving toward the end of the valley. Presuming the marker was Alison, she continued to scan while she kept the marker in view. After her experience at lunch, she was very careful in what, or where, she focused her thoughts.

After watching the slow progress of the marker moving away from them, she found she could anticipate its direction and speed. She shifted her focus to other details in the valley. She found several natural paths and game paths that appeared to go up and over the forbidding cliffs that surrounded the valley. They were challenging enough that it would take a determined climber to make the journey. Sarah glanced back toward the area where the marker was. It had moved a bit more toward a path leading to the cliffs.

Sarah slipped back to her immediate surroundings and after taking a deep breath opened her eyes.

“Sarah do you know where Alison is?” asked Erica with a smirk.

“Been monitoring me?” Sarah responded with a smile to take the sting out.

“Not really. Instinct, I guess or perhaps a better analogy would be ‘as a bystander’.”

“To answer your question, yes, I think so. While I was lying down, I tried mentally shifting my point of view. After looking around close by, I then explored the island. I could see everyone here and instinctively knew who each one was.” Erica and Rusty looked at her with amazement. “At the far end of the valley, I saw a telepath, which is presumably Alison. She is slowly making her way toward the cliffs at the far end of the valley. If she continues in that direction, she should reach a trail that leads over them in a day or two, as it is much farther than it looks. There are several paths on the other side that look like they go down the cliff to the water. In all cases, they appear to be a very risky climb or descent without climbing gear. If she had chosen a different path earlier she would be headed toward the gap with the bay.”

“I don’t feel like we are being watched as we were before,” said Rusty.

“Agreed. We are aware of the remnants of game trails on the cliffs but didn’t think they would be useable. Sarah, if you saw a topographical map, could you point out the location?”

“Yes. Alison was nearing a junction of two trails. Beyond it the area was very open.”

Erica led them to the security office with Terry and Sally tagging along. It was adjacent to the room containing the consoles that Sarah had seen the first day. Erica said, “Donna, project a topographical map hologram on the table.”

Sarah looked at the map for a few moments then pointed to Alison’s location.”

Erica said, “That trail is probably the easiest climb to the ridge, although the other side is more of a challenge. Besides a steep descent, the trail has some missing segments. You could probably work around them, as there aren’t any great drops requiring a jump. You were right about her earlier choices. However, where the trail branches, the evidence of a trail leading to the bay is very obscure.”