Chapter 28

Sarah, Aoife and Rusty went looking for a quiet open place to evaluate their psionic abilities. As they looked around considering different options Sarah said, “After thinking about this a bit more, doing this inside would probably be a good choice.”

Aoife responded with, “Then let’s try the gym. On a nice day like today I suspect everyone is out by the pool.”

On their way to the gym Aoife felt a breeze caress her skin startling her then someone whistled. She looked down and began to blush. She thought, “Good grief, I’m NAKED and outdoors.”

“I think someone besides us appreciates your beauty,” said Rusty with a smile, interrupting her thoughts. “If it bothers you, we can find a robe in the gym since we are almost there.”

“Thank you, and whoever the whistler was. At first, I felt embarrassed, however if I let it bother me then the bimbos I went to school with will have won in stealing my self-confidence.” She paused for a moment then smiled, “I know I’m going to like being around you all. Thanks for your understanding, and encouraging me to stay a little longer. I really appreciate it and it is likely the best choice I’ve made in a while.”

“We are pleased you came and decided to stay,” they replied.

Entering the gym, they weren’t surprised to find no one there. At first they tried lifting or moving objects, using what they thought was a new ability. After several attempts Rusty said, “Let’s relax for a few minutes. I’ll get us some refreshments then we can rethink what we have been trying.”

“Good idea,” responded Sarah.

After Rusty returned with refreshments, they were just chatting when a glass lifted and hovered over the table. Its initial movement caught Sarah’s eye. When she stopped talking and turned toward it, the redirection of her concentration drew the attention of both Aoife and Rusty. They gasped when they saw the glass hovering. They connected telepathically to see who was doing it. Much to Aoife’s surprise, she was the one who had managed to levitate it. Together they looked carefully at what was involved. Aoife then reversed the steps, to set it firmly back on the table. They looked at one another and grinned. They shared a kiss and hug before they each tried repeating it. Their first attempts at moving the glass were a little jerky but they were successful. Each of them repeated the process several times while the others monitored their technique. It took several attempts before they could levitate it smoothly. With a handle on the basics, they began adding more complicated movements until they had a good understanding of how to use the ability. Next they tried lifting and moving a basketball. They found it was much easier to handle than the glass. It wasn’t long before they discovered that by handling the ball as a team, they could do a lot more and took less effort. When the chime sounded announcing lunch, Sarah said, “I need to let my milk down before we eat.”

“I need to freshen up before we eat,” added Aoife.

“If you are comfortable doing so, you are welcome to join us.”

After a moment Aoife said, “Sure, but I don’t want to intrude.”

Smiling Rusty responded with, “That would be hard to do after sharing our thoughts.”

“True. But you knew what I meant,” she responded with a smile.

“Yes,” replied Rusty as he put an arm around her and Sarah.

When they reached their room, their spouses were already there. Most had finished their exercises but were still letting down their milk. Sally told Aoife she could use her exercise bench if she wanted too. Aoife sat down straddling the bench. Sally helped her adjust then start it. After Aoife seemed comfortable with its operation Sally said, “Try the handles, but move them slowly as the response may surprise you.”

When Aoife pulled down on the handles, the dildo pushed against her labia causing her to gasp, but she didn’t let go. Her leg movements resulted in the dildoes head rubbing her labia causing them to moisten. With its passage eased, the dildo gently spread them then halted at the entrance to her sheath. Without thinking it through, she pulled the handles further down and sighed as the dildo slid in then began moving back and forth. “Oh my, this is some surprise, what do I do now?”

“If you want to continue, squeezing the grip will make it thicker. Pushing forward on the handles will increase the thrusts, or you can use your legs, pressing down on the handles increases the depth, as you found out. Oh, and if you twist the grips it will vibrate.”

As Aoife was testing the dildo’s responses, she didn’t notice the arms of the electro-stimulator press against her back and begin stimulating her muscles. When she had her second orgasm she screamed as it was much more intense than the first, and her body shuddered. Relaxing her hold on the grips, she lay on the bench breathing hard as Sarah and Rusty finished their exercises. Sarah smiled when she saw that Aoife was still holding onto the controls of the dildo as it continued slowly stroking her very wet pussy. Her odor filled the room, adding to the group’s arousal.

Sarah and Rusty said, “Aoife are you ready to shower? Or you can continue exercising, if you want to?”

“I don’t know if I can take much more exercising like this.” Her stomach growled causing several similes. “I think my body is saying it’s time for lunch.” Sally showed her how stop the machine and release the dildo. Sally and Sarah helped her off the bench and into the shower. She was limp and it took some time in the shower before she recovered enough to stand on her own. When they reached the dining room the buffet line was empty, so they went right through. Sarah, Rusty and Aoife had full plates when they sat down.

“I can’t believe how much I put on my plate,” said Aoife. “I never eat like this.”

“We used a lot of energy this morning,” responded Sarah. “The exercises we did earlier used energy just like everything we do. We don’t usually take this large a helping either.”

“You guys must have been really busy,” said Sally. “I haven’t seen either of you take that much food at one time in quite a while.”

“Well I think it was worth it,” said Rusty. “We went to help Aoife with her telepathy after breakfast. In doing so, we discovered several things about ourselves that we had overlooked.”

“This sounds interesting.” There was a long silence then she said, “Are you going to tell us?”

“Yes. You remember the incident on the bridge when the dart gun table melted.”

“Yes.”

“We found several objects in our minds that we had overlooked before. For one of them, we increased the energy supply a small amount and then went to the gym to exercise it. It took us a while to figure out how to use it, but by the time the lunch chime sounded, we were pretty good with some basic aspects. How useful it is, is yet to be seen. We need to explore the other objects and figure out how they work.”

“Ah, now I see and can understand the cautious comments. Do you think all of us have those abilities?”

“I would be surprised if any of us have all of them. However, we may be able to use them through our connection. Most writings suggest one person usually has one or two, with one being dominant. But bear in mind the source is fictional stories. As a concept it may have been conceived by logical conjecture based on observations of specific attributes some people display, such as an athlete.”

“A good point. Aoife, are you comfortable with this means of conversing?”

“Yes, much more so now than this morning.” She chuckled then added, “And definitely more than I was last night.”

“Aoife, since you are linked with us can you describe what you see in your mind when that link is active? Our mind-link was present when we woke up. We know what we see when we link with Amy and Nancy’s Clan and sort of wondered if it was the same.”

“Well let’s see. I see an ‘object’ representing each member of your clan. They vary in brilliance, which seems dependent on how near we are to each other. I noticed while going from the gym to your room that there are also two other entities, similar to you but different. Both have a status equal to each of you. Each object gives an indication of your personality attributes. It is clear to me which of you is speaking when we share a thought. The part I like is that the words are tempered with a feeling or an emotional sense that when spoken can get lost. Hmm, although I said ‘words’ I’m really referring to thoughts or concepts. Does that help?”

“How about if we tightly link like we do some times?” With that they pulled into each other mentally as they had done in the past. “How about now?”

“Oh. Wow. The objects for all of you just merged and the other two objects have moved to touch your combined object. Very interesting.” With that they returned to their normal link mode.

“You have discovered much today,” came the soft firm voice they remembered from the bridge. There was a very startled look on Aoife’s face, and to some extent they all were surprised. Sarah and Sally put an arm around her. “These tools you are developing are very powerful and for some they can be difficult to control. None of you seem to have that weakness. What you learn of them must be kept within your group. Aoife, the rest can show you how to protect what you have learned.”

“Aoife, I think we now know where you will work on the ship,” said Terry.

Aoife smiled, “So do I. It will be on the bridge with all of you.” Terry looked surprised.

“Okay, that makes sense,” said Rusty and Sarah. “We have four open positions on the bridge; Aoife obviously fills one of them.” Aoife started to speak but then stopped.

“Yes, I think we know who will fill two of the three,” they continued. “One will be Siobhan and other Maureen.”

Aoife said, “That is what I saw too. Do any of you have visions or dreams of future events?”

“We didn’t see this in a dream. We think our response was based on intuition and being able to fit seemingly random pieces of information together. Although, we have taken dream walks a few times.”

“Dream walks?”

“It is like a dream, but includes the sense or feeling of being at the location, and seeing the surroundings or events during the visit. It is definitely different from a dream. A better way to characterize it may be as being there as a ghost or spirit. It doesn’t appear that anyone can see you and since you don’t really have any substance, you can pass through objects. We suspect that there are a some people who could sense the presence of a dream walker.”

“Interesting?”

“Yes, they definitely are.” Sarah’s Clan chuckled. “When we experienced the first one, we did not understand what was really happening. It was not until we talked about it the next day that we understood it. Our first dream walk was apparently triggered by a conversation we’d had earlier in the evening.

“Our second dream walk was intentional. We wanted to see how our friends were adapting to our disappearance. Although we had left a note for them, and Amy’s Clan had also arranged for a note to reach them, we had concerns. While there, we reassured Nancy that we were okay and that they would see us soon. We would probably never have considered it, if it hadn’t been for the first dream walk.”

“Since the second involved your friends at Nancy’s estate, the first must have had to do with the rescue of Alison, Tara, Erin, and Claudette,” said Aoife.

“I swear, you must be peeking.”

Aoife’s face became concerned then softly said, “No. I haven’t peeked. Sometimes answers just come to me when the circumstances are correct. You can look at my memories if you wish.”

“Aoife, we are teasing. We do appreciate your offer but will politely refuse because it is clear that you feel pressured to make the offer.”

“I thought it felt like teasing, but I wasn’t sure. It is not often that I have experienced friendly teasing. For the latter, I was and I am, very serious about my offer. My mind is open to all of your clan without any reservation; in fact I just opened a door to it for you.”

“We have reciprocated and opened ours to you. Do you know why you are so different today than how you were yesterday evening?”

“Simply put, today I feel accepted as me. I now feel like I belong and have come home. I am very comfortable and secure with all of you. Yesterday, when I arrived I suspected many things would happen and they did. I am very shy and have been for a long time. Yesterday everything seemed to be the realization of my dreams, but it looked too good so it fed my insecurities. This led to wondering whether I had misunderstood or overlooked something. During the night, I came to the realization that this was the opportunity that I had often dreamed about. With that recognition, I came to feel that this was my destiny, or home. When the situation arose this morning, I just reacted to it. As I spoke, I felt scared to death, but also confident in what I was doing.”

“We are glad you did speak up, as it clarified our approach to the situation.”

“Don’t be surprised at the direction thing’s take after dinner when everyone is back from the ship, no wait, you should be surprised. I prefer not to say more now, but all of you will be pleased by what we will probably decide tonight. I may have said too much already. I don’t want to affect the outcome this time, because what I believe we will do is the right thing for many reasons.”

“Talk about speaking in riddles,” said Sarah and Rusty as they all chuckled. Aoife lightly smacked them on their shoulders. They dramatically fell back in their chairs as if mortally wounded. The dramatics led to gales of laughter. As they straightened up in their chairs, they realized it was well after lunch and they were the only ones in the dining room.

Joyce, Jill and Janet had left earlier to be with the group who arrived with Aoife. During their discussions, the three had maintained a link with their clan and Aoife.

“Let’s go use the pool area and relax for a while,” said Sally. “I think the next couple of weeks will be busier than we thought they would be. Fortunately, we are not due for a while so that is one distraction we won’t have to consider.”

They quickly cleaned up the dining room then straightened up the kitchen before leaving for the pool area. The area around the pool was bustling as most everyone at the resort was there. A game of water volleyball was in progress and surprisingly some were playing competitive video games. Most were just relaxing and chatting.

Sally said, “I feel like practicing Aikido and then swimming laps.”

“Sounds good to me,” they responded. “Come on, Aoife. We’ll show you the techniques.”

They gathered in an open flat area near the swimming pool. While they were going through their warm up routines, quite a few came over to watch. Sally said, “You are welcome to join in.” The members of Sarah’s Clan paired up with two guests to assist them with the routines. Many of the guests seemed to be familiar with the exercises. Soon most of those around the pool had joined them. Sally was surprised by the interest.

Even though they participated, Sarah, Aoife and Rusty watched their guests as they exercised. A number of them, who had worn a suit or robe by the pool, soon discarded it to gain more freedom of movement. Although each blushed initially after discarding their robe or suit, it quickly disappeared as soon as they began exercising.

Judy said to her spouses, “Looks like we should get some sports halters.”

“Good idea,” replied Aoife surprising Judy.

Sally said, “Donna, can you get sports halters for our women guests. Support is a major concern, as I suspect a few will wish they had some by morning. Is it possible to provide some shear ones as well as solid fabrics?”

“It will take a few minutes,” said Donna. “I will place them on the table when you take a break. There will be a list of names with a suggested size. These will correspond to bra sizes. If they don’t find one that fits well, they should let me know as I can adjust them.”

“Donna, you amaze me,” said Judy.

“How so?”

“It sometimes seems that you have an endless warehouse containing everything we need. All we need to do is ask for it.”

“Well that is sort of true, especially for simple things like this. We have several units that can make most anything we need if we know the design criteria. In this case it is simply duplicating what we have but in different fabrics.”

A few minutes later, Sally stopped moving and said, “Time for a break. Can someone get us some refreshments?”

Judy said, “I asked Donna for some sports bras. I think some of you will be more comfortable wearing one, especially tomorrow.” Several chuckled. “There are a variety of fabrics along with a list of names with suggested sizes. You may find the very transparent fabrics more embarrassing to wear than being nude.”

The women moved over to the table and selected a sports bra. It took only a few moments for those who wanted a bra to find theirs and return to the exercise area.

After a short rest and refreshments, Sally resumed the exercises until they had been at it for nearly an hour. Several participants picked up hoses to rinse the sweat off before going back into the pool. Use of the hoses quickly turned into a water fight that soon included everyone around the pool. It continued for some time before things began to calm down, and everybody was soaked.

Betsy, Erica, Connie and another group of guests arrived just as things were beginning to quiet down. Seeing dry people, the water fight resumed. With a quick flurry of activity, the new arrivals were as wet as everyone else.

Sarah and Aoife looked at each other, and smiled. Both were pleased to see everyone relaxed and enjoying themselves.

“Sarah, Rusty, Erica, Sally, and Terry we need to confer as we have a couple situations developing that don’t look good,” said Donna.

Rusty responded saying, “Let’s use the small conference room.” As they began moving toward the house, Aoife looked at them questioningly. Sarah noticed she wasn’t with them she said, “Aoife you are included in this.”

“I wasn’t sure.” Aoife caught up with them just as they entered the main building. Sally snagged some drinks on the way through the patio.

As the group sat down they tightened their mind-link with the other members of their clan. Star said, “Rusty, thank you for your suggestion earlier. Including both the Security-AI and Intelligence-AI has been very beneficial. Donna, why don’t you summarize our situation?”

“Okay. We believe four groups of candidates are in eminent danger. It appears kidnappers plan to take two groups tonight. The third and fourth groups have been invited to a remote resort for long weekend. They plan to leave early tomorrow. After we review what we’ve found, we have a suggested response for the four situations.

“Now, our current status is that we have at least one drone monitoring each of the candidates scheduled to visit. Six candidate groups are being watched. This includes the four already mentioned. For these six groups, we have deployed additional resources.

“A C&C drone is overseeing operations at each of the six candidate locations. Reporting to it are four reconnaissance drones and a spider control drone with two squads of spiders deployed. Ferrets were placed in each of the candidates’ residences and at the collectors operations base.

“I suspect some of this terminology is as new to you as it was for me earlier. The C&C is essentially a command and control drone for each location. Spiders are small specialized robots. The current ones have listening and video capabilities. The ferrets are primarily electronic snoops to collect data but can act against electronic equipment.

“Any questions?”

“How big are the spiders? Do they really look like spiders?” asked Aoife.

“This is the Intelligence-AI. They range from a centimeter across to the size of your hand and some are larger. The larger ones are more versatile but also easily detected. They look like Earth spiders in the sense that they have eight legs. Generally our spiders will have six or eight extremities.”

“This is the Security-AI. We’ve arranged for all the candidates you have on List A to receive a locator device. This is passive, as it is solely an aide in finding them if we need to search for them. The typical lifetime is about a year in species with whom we have experience.”

“My first reaction is that I’m not too keen on that,” said Sarah. “Many humans have a paranoia about privacy and may see this as compromising it.”

“We understand your concern, but thought that since it was passive there wouldn’t be privacy concerns,” responded the Security-AI.

“Some would argue that point,” said Sally. “We do agree that in this case the benefits outweigh the risks. So do it.”

“Understood.”

“So, what are you proposing?” asked Sarah.

“We need to activate more bots. Fortunately, the crew has activated some since the ship status rose to standby.”

“Can we do it like we did the drones today?” asked Sally.

“Yes,” replied Star, “although it does take more time for each one.”

“We will ask at dinner,” replied Sarah.

“The groups at risk tonight are Shannon’s, Leann’s, Muireann’s and Sabrina’s groups. The other two groups are Gillian’s and Carmen’s. We are using the group identifiers that Nancy and Julia set up.

“We propose that they be contacted with a request to meet with them this evening. We are not sure how to word the request.

“For Shannon’s group, we know the kidnappers will travel on a major highway. We propose they have an accident on the way there. There are several opportunities, such as steep drop offs and underpasses, along the route. The accident would be staged so no one else was involved. The people monitoring the residence will not see the candidates leave the residence if they choose to come here. We could screen the arrival of our people.

“Leann’s group is a little more complex. There are two additional women living there since Nancy and Julia visited. We are unable to determine how they fit in the group. The man leading the collectors is a perfectionist and treats those around him like mindless things.

“There are some similarities in the situations for Muireann’s and Sabrina’s groups. In both cases several in each group won a prize, which covers all expenses for an extended weekend at a secluded lodge. This is the result of filling out a survey and getting their group to participate. Both groups plan to leave for the lodge tomorrow morning. The trip will take several hours. We think they are going to the same location but haven’t been able to verify it. We expect to know the location in the next few hours. Once we do we plan to check it out.

“The collectors targeting Gillian’s group are intending to extract them tomorrow, when they know all of them are home. The collectors are operating from a rented house about ten miles away. We would like to set it up so this group is arrested by the police for child endangerment. One scenario is to have a neighbor call police to report briefly seeing children confined to cages in the garage. Police would find no children, but they would find child pornography, bloodied whips and fresh blood on the cages.

“The kidnappers targeting Carmen’s group intend to take them tomorrow evening, apparently after they go to sleep.

“For each of these groups, we think two or three people should meet with them as soon as it can be arranged. The time difference works in our favor. While there we would offer them the opportunity to come here earlier than originally scheduled. If we can manage all of them this evening, we should do it. Considering the risks, we recommend four security bots accompany each group we send out along with active monitoring of the locations. Bots will be cloaked. Two of the bots will go inside with our team to monitor the meeting. The other two bots will remain outside. The drones will be monitoring and in contact with them for additional security. A backup security team would be nearby in a shuttle. If they decide to come now, there is enough room at most places for them to board a shuttle in the backyard. As in the case of our current plans, we would leave at least one bot and a drone to monitor the residence.”