Chapter 29

A chime sounded in the dining room then Ann said, “Before we begin, we want to thank everyone for their help last night and today with the cleanup. The second item is, all of us are very happy to hear that many of you intend join us on the space ship. Let’s eat.” Everyone was quickly through the buffet and the room became very quiet as they ate.

The composition of guests at the tables was more mixed than at the previous two meals. Sarah, Rusty and Judy looked at one another. “It is nice to see the way they are mixing with one another,” said Judy. “It is not what I would have expected due to their backgrounds or experience with others.”

“We agree, but maybe this is a common bond, which is drawing them together.”

“I would agree with your observation,” said Aoife.

The rest of the spouses in Sarah’s clan expressed their agreement with Judy.

Aoife added, “But, that is not all there is to it. A part of it may also be that some are still seeking a group they feel really comfortable with. It’s not that they are uncomfortable, or feel unwanted with the group they are currently with, but they now wish to see if it is best for them.”

“Very good analysis,” said Jill and Janet. “Another aspect is that they may see a potential for them to live with all those they deeply love, where before they had to choose. Once a choice was made, it wasn’t easily undone. This adds to the feeling of being able to expand their friendships in ways that weren’t possible before.”

“The part of relationships that always frightened me,” said Judy, “was the sudden possessiveness one partner of a couple came to feel for the other after a commitment was made. While in medical school, I saw many lovely people change into less than nice people once they committed to the one they thought was their life partner. Many could not do anything unless they did it together, down to the tiniest thing. To me some of their choices in partners were not well based or thought out.”

“Yes, I’ve seen quite a few like that as well,” said Terry.

“It was almost as though once they became a couple all of their insecurities multiplied; perhaps they fed off each other.”

“We noticed that in Earth society,” said Betsy. “We don’t think it occurs very often in ours because of the bonding and mind-link. Our records show that both of these are much stronger in a ship’s crew than those residing on our home world or a planet. However none of us have lived on our home world, so all we know is what is in the records.”

“Wow,” said Aoife, “so you’ve never seen your home world or been there?”

“Not quite, we have all been there mentally and seen it via holograms, but never physically. It has not been possible to even consider it since the accident.”

“Why is that?” asked Joyce.

“Two reasons. Before the accident it was the distance. Since the accident, we are not sure where our home world is relative to here. To get there now, we would need something like a beacon to follow. There is a good possibility that our home world is in a different time line. This is based on the fact that the stars we see now don’t match anything in our library. Another possibility is that we could be from a galaxy so faraway that is essentially invisible from here. Our navigation is based on two things, stellar maps and a sense of where to go. I think you might call it a ‘sense of direction’.”

Several of the diners had followed their open telepathic conversation. They found it a bit shocking that you could converse without speaking vocally. At the same time, it was exciting as everyone in the link shared, saw and understood the thoughts without having to shout.

While they ate, several wondered about their declaration earlier. Each carefully examined their feelings then and now. When they made the declaration, it felt like the best thing they had ever done. The feeling was still with them, even now as they analyzed it. All soon decided that they had not been manipulated into making it. Their decision had clearly been theirs. Many realized that it was one they had made shortly after arriving. Their hesitation was in not wanting to be the first and to see if it continued to feel like the right choice. For a few, the analysis resolved any lingering concerns of overlooking some aspect. All of them felt more relaxed than they had in a long time.

Sarah’s Clan hurried through their meal. When they finished eating they took their dishes to the kitchen and cleaned off their table. As they went to stand at the front of the room it became very quiet. Once there, Sarah’s Clan said in unison, “Please continue to eat while we share with you what we’ve learned today, as well as touching on some related topics.

“This won’t be quite what we had in mind for tonight when we were at breakfast. First we would like to introduce a new member of the ship’s command staff. Aoife, would you stand up.” She stood, smiling with a slight glow around her.

“Even though she is a part of the ship’s command staff and will be on the bridge, that doesn’t mean she is a member of our clan. Our bond with her is similar to the bond between twins. We understand that she will not be the only one to fill this role.” While they were talking, both Maureen and Siobhan had been looking around as though they were looking for something.

“The primary reason we are starting before everyone has finished eating is that we have some bad news to share with you. It has some scary implications. As we noted this morning, our drones have been unable to find three of the groups that we invited to visit us. Two of the groups were to visit here next week and the other was to visit the last week. We have been unable to find any trace of them. It is as if they never existed, however we do have pictures of all of them so we know we are not imagining them. We do not believe any of you know them, but their pictures are available on the network if you wish to see them.

“Earlier today we discovered that six other groups are being watched. Based on the information we’ve acquired today, it indicates that several groups are planning to enslave these six groups this evening or tomorrow. To counter this, late this afternoon we asked all six if we could visit them this evening. All have accepted our request. Since the only contact with them has been Nancy and Julia, we’ve asked several of you to assist with these visits. They will be leaving for those visits in a few moments.

“We’ve used one person’s name in each candidate group as an identifier. So the groups we will be visiting tonight are Shannon’s, Leann’s, Muireann’s, Sabrina’s, Gillian’s, and Carmen’s. While those representing us are making these visits, we will be unavailable.

“We don’t want to take the time now to go into all the details of what we know and how we are responding. They are available on our network. If you want to watch the visits as they take place, there will be a video feed in the lounge.

“To ease your curiosity some,” they paused while many of those in the room chuckled, “our representatives are going offer them the opportunity to join us here immediately. Hopefully they will come tonight. This is going to make us a little more crowded than we intended but within the capabilities of the resort.

“In our planning this afternoon, we recognized a need to activate more androids, who we usually refer to as bots. The crew on the ship can use some assistance. Just tell Donna, or go to the area where the shuttles have been landing if you are willing to help.

“Again, we apologize for not anticipating these issues which are now affecting your vacation.”

Conan stood and Sarah’s Clan nodded to him. “Speaking for myself and a few of our group, we appreciate the apology. However, I don’t see how you could have anticipated this. By assisting you, it does provide us with an opportunity to really get to know you and learn more about what lies ahead. If I wasn’t going with Siobhan to Shannon’s, I would be heading to the ship to help where I can. So thank you for the opportunity to be here.”

“Here, here,” responded many.

“Any questions?”

“Who all is going?”

“Would those making the visits stand please?” said Sarah’s Clan. They then identified which group each was visiting. “To back them up, each of them will be accompanied by 4 security bots. We will be actively monitoring them while the visit is taking place. There will also be four security teams less than a minute away to assist them if necessary.”

“Any more?”

After pausing for a moment Sarah’s Clan said, “Before we leave to get this started, we wanted to note that after breakfast in the morning there will be a meeting. A prime topic will be arranging visits to all the other people we planned on extending an invitation to. Considering what has happened we believe we should make them aware of the fact that some of those we’ve invited have disappeared. We would also like to schedule them to join us here immediately, which may create complications for them. Some concerns were expressed about giving them this information, as it appears to be pushing them in our direction. However, we felt that to give them the best chance of remaining safe, we had to share the information prompting our visit. Even if they all come, we will still be at considerably less than the resorts capacity.” They paused then said, “If there aren’t any more questions, we need to get ready. Have a relaxing evening and see you at breakfast.”

After Sarah’s Clan and those taking part in the visits left the dining room, it was a few minutes before conversation resumed.

Jane said, “Donna, if we go to the ship, will we be able to monitor those going on the visits?”

“Yes.”

“I wonder if everyone realizes that?”

“Some of them probably heard us but you can tell them.”

“Okay...” After a moment Jane stood up then blushed as the room quieted down, taking a deep breath she said, “I asked Donna if we could monitor the activity tonight from the ship. She said yes.”

She smiled when she heard several say, “Good, deal.”

In the conference room Sarah said, “Are you all ready?”

Everyone nodded affirmatively.

Alice said, “Bob and Stan wanted to come with us. We reminded them that their talents were needed here.”

“They are,” responded Sarah. “We’re going to be stretched very thin. Does anyone have any questions before we head out?”

When no one responded Sally said, “Well then let’s do it.”

As they headed out Maureen and Siobhan said, “We don’t think Conan and Brandan have picked up on their telepathic ability yet.”

Sally placed a hand on Conan and Brandan’s shoulder, and said “They are not alone as there are quite a few here who haven’t come to terms with that possibility.

“Have you ever thought you heard voices, Conan? It is okay to say yes.” Conan had a puzzled look on his face.

“Yes, I think I hear voices sometimes. Just now I thought I heard Sally. It was very strange. Let see if I can verbalize this. I thought I heard her say that she felt some of us had not come to terms with the possibility that we were telepathic. But, I didn’t see her speak.”

“Conan, you heard the thought I sent to all of us. Yes, it was spoken in a sense but not expressed verbally.”

“So the times I thought I was hearing something, I was sensing the thoughts expressed by someone?”

“Yes, quite likely. Brandan, you heard them as well didn’t you?” He nodded a bit sheepishly. “Ah, you have been listening for quite a while. Were you afraid to say something?”

“Yes, I was apprehensive. I really looked at it as anticipating what was going to be said. In most of my classes, I knew what the conversation would cover before the words were spoken. Sometimes I even responded verbally to unasked questions. Now, that can be very embarrassing.”

Sarah said, “We don’t have time now to help you activate it or show you how to manage it. Be sure to see Betsy, Connie or us when you get back so they can help you. Actually, Maureen and Siobhan are doing quite well with their ability.”

“Why are you still talking if you can mind-link?” asked Conan.

“Well it is like two types or levels of communication. We think you will see that, once you become more familiar with using it. The other is that not everyone has the same level of ability, so it would be rude to exclude them.”

“Okay, I can see that,” replied both Conan and Brandan.

“For a while, you will find the connection stronger if you are touching the person with whom you wish to telepathically share thoughts,” said Judy. “For your outing tonight, we suggest you listen to it when you can hear it, but be cautious in reacting to anything that comes through the link.”

When they reached the shuttles, Sarah gave her spouses a kiss before boarding the one carrying the group going to Shannon’s. Once on board Sarah said, “I’ll be on the flight deck. Please acknowledge hearing me. Siobhan.”

“Yes,” replied Siobhan.

“Conan.”

“Yes,” replied Conan.

“Hon,” said Siobhan, “Did you notice the question felt different?” He nodded. “When it feels that way just think the answer or say it to yourself.”

“This is going to take some getting used to.”

“It does.”

“Zoe.”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Bots each in turn say hello to Zoe, Siobhan and Conan.”

After each had telepathically spoken Sarah said, “Now, Conan, Zoe and Siobhan when you want to address one of them think of the object you just saw and direct your thought to it. Try it. We are about five minutes from arriving at Shannon’s.”

Sarah had the shuttle land in Shannon’s front yard. When the door opened, the four cloaked bots exited first. Siobhan and Conan followed them out on to the sidewalk. They looked around and then turned toward the house. Continuing to look around as they walked toward the house they didn’t see a soul. They could sense the two bots walking behind them.

Sarah said, “We’ve moved to hover just over the house. The backyard is clear. The watchers don’t appear to have noticed your arrival.”

They stepped up on the porch, then as Conan started to knock, the door opened, startling them. Standing there was a young man and woman who were slightly taller than either of them and exceptionally good looking. She had long hair and reminded Siobhan of Sally.

They stood and looked at each other for a moment, before the woman said, “Hurry, come inside, we have been expecting your arrival.”

“Thank you for agreeing to us coming on such short notice,” replied Siobhan as they entered the house. “I am Siobhan. This is Zoe and Conan.”

“Hi, I’m Shannon and this is Danny. The timing of your request worked out really well. We had already planned on getting together here this evening. Those people watching us really have us on edge.”

“How long have those people been monitoring you?” asked Zoe.

“It has been going on for a week now. Their presence has really made us uneasy. Today, at times there were four people out there. When several of us went shopping, they followed us. They were not very good at it.”

“Maybe they want you to know you’re being watched. Do you have any idea why they are watching you?”

“None. It’s just every time I see them I have a sense of foreboding.”

“Have you called the police about it?” asked Zoe.

“Yes, the police said unless the people bothered someone there wasn’t anything they could do. They did say that they would keep a closer eye on the area. We have seen patrol cars more frequently since then.”

“I hope our visit hasn’t upset what you had planned for this evening,” said Siobhan.

Shannon hesitated and then said, “Not really. As unbelievable as this sounds, we were planning on discussing Nancy’s offer this evening. We were considering asking if we could move up the visit. Deciding on our future has become more complex since Nancy and Julia were here. As a group, we don’t want to split up, although some of us have just graduated. The job offers they have received have not been very good.” As they talked, they moved into the living room.

Shannon turned to the group and said, “This is Siobhan and Conan. This is the couple Nancy asked us to meet with this evening.”

A loud woman’s voice came from the back of the group, “Shannon, who did you let in this time? Our group needs to talk about our future tonight.” Shannon blushed. Danny frowned. Conan tensed as he felt the voice getting closer. “We need to be especially cautious now with those creeps out there watching the house.” When the woman saw them she stopped talking, her mouth hung open as she stared at them and her face turned white. Two women in the group stepped up and hugged her. Her mouth opened and closed several times before any more words were heard. “You really are here. I am so sorry for raving like an idiot.”

“Note this date,” someone called out, “Lydia admitted she could be an idiot.” The comment brought chuckles from everyone. Lydia blush deepened.

A woman entered with a tray of refreshments. Shannon introduced Siobhan, Zoe and Conan to each person in the room. They chatted and sipped the drinks for a while as they became more comfortable with each other.

Siobhan sensing it was time, stood up, bringing the conversations to a stop. “We came this evening to review the opportunity that Nancy and Julia offered you several weeks ago. The opportunity is to join the crew of a space ship. As she indicated, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve finished college or not. We are here to offer you the chance to go for the introductory visit as soon as you are ready.

“Just this evening Conan and I formally joined the crew. I think we were certain we would when we first arrived for our visit. I suspect that like some of you we had a premonition of this opportunity.

“Oh, I should have asked this first, is everyone here?”

“Yes, surprisingly we are all here this evening,” replied Shannon. “I think, there are also a few who weren’t here when Nancy and Julia were here before.”