Dolly's Curse

Disclaimer:

The Tomorrow People (new series) belong to Roger Damon Price, Nickelodeon, Thames Television, etc. and not to me, as do the characters Adam, Jade, Megabyte, Lisa, Kevin, Ami, their respective parents, siblings and enemies. The characters of Eve, Sarah, Jonathan, Rachal, and their respective relatives belong to me. No resemblance to anyone, living or dead, is intended.

Sarah's dream began with thunder and lightning, something she didn't find particularly appealing, and then she was standing on a beach. She sighed internally and thought, it would be a beach. She hated beaches, especially during storms. She stood there with the wind whipping her hair across her face and stared out to the sea. There were two lights blinking there, like a ship tossed, that suddenly blinked out, and then it had pulled up beside her without her noticing. Without hesitation she reached for the ladder and climbed up onto the boat, and rose to the deck. No one was in sight. She walked to the front of the ship and stared out at the darkened starlit water. The waves wanted to push her from the shore but there was a heavy anchor lodged at the bottom of those seas. She stared out and as she did the cold seemed to bite very lightly at her ears and nose, but not very hard at all. She wasn't cold at all. She rested her hands on the wood, and it almost seemed alive, it was so warm. There was nothing strange about this at all, she thought, nothing. She could feel her mind reaching out to embrace the sky-

Something pressed her body back down to the bed and she awoke disoriented, gasping for breath. The ceiling that had always been above her head was now confining. She needed to see the stars, to breathe the air of night.

She nearly tripped down the stairs as she ran, her bare feet nearly slipping on the smooth carpet. The back door was tugged by her impatient hand, and then the cool air slipped in around her like silent ghosts. The new air stung her eyes as she gazed up at the clear starry sky.

Almost thoughtlessly she pulled the door closed behind her and sat down on their back deck. The stars drew her eyes and seemed to swallow her mind up, like meditation effortlessly. There were fingers of thought running over her mind like the imagined touch of a boyfriend, and then she seemed to be floating in midair-

**

"Sarah! Phone call!"

Her mother listened distractedly on the line as she waited for her daughter to pick up. It was Saturday morning, and Sarah usually slept late.

"I think she's still asleep, Henna. I'll get her to call you back, all right?"

"Sure, I'll talk to her later. Bye."

She was about to head up the stairs when she remembered her unmade coffee. As she walked into the kitchen she noticed that the door to the back deck was open slightly. The doorknob turned easily at her touch.

"Oh my Lord," Sarah's mother breathed, then headed back upstairs as fast as she could. Sarah's sheets were rumpled, and there was no sign of her. Her bathroom was empty and she wasn't in the computer room.

"Jack! Sarah's gone!"

**

The stars she had been staring at were gone now. She opened her eyes. A cold wave lapped against her legs and tugged at her soggy nightgown. [I'm in the dream,] she thought dazedly. The sun bore down unmercifully, and she turned her face away from it, into the sand. She spat out the grains and sat up.

Her nightgown was drying in the sunlight, and it was then that she finally realized. It was no dream. No dream of hers had ever made sense for more than five minutes before it proved itself a malicious imagining.

"How long have I been here?" she tried to say, but apparently she'd swallowed some seawater. Her mouth felt dry and tasted nasty. She coughed for a few minutes and then sighed pitifully. Her mother was probably having fits. How had she arrived at this place?

Her hair was wet and plastered against her face, which already felt sunburnt. She brushed it away and grimaced at the pain the touch caused, then at the pain of wrinkling her face. Her feet refused to carry her the first few times she tried, then finally she struggled upwards. She looked down at her nightgown and realized that she really didn't need to run into a guy around then.

She shaded her eyes and scanned the area around her. Palm trees and some beach shrubs dotted the area sparsely, but up against a dune, almost nestled there, was a metal thing, like a tree trunk with no limbs on it, but stranger. About ten or fifteen feet from the metal manhole cover beside the tree trunk thing was a blue and red tent, looking sturdy enough to be protection from the sunlight.

She hurried across the burning white sand and ducked quickly inside the tent. It smelled of seawater, slightly, but she didn't mind as long as she was out of that heat. Her vision was covered with purple dots for a few minutes, and then she could see inside the tent. There were two sets of clothes and a pair of shoes lying on the floor of the tent near the entrance, and she looked at them suspiciously. They were clean, perhaps not new but not old. She pulled her nightgown over her head, glaring at the entrance, hurriedly put on the big white shirt. Its tails reached her knees, nearly, and the pair of jeans she put on next had to be rolled up at the ankles.

She tied the shoes to her feet and stared around the tent again. A bed was rolled in the corner, and she reached over and pulled it to her out of curiosity. She put her hand into the center of the bedroll and pulled out a knife. Its edge was evilly serrated, and it looked to have been used. She placed it back inside carefully. A cooler was in the corner too, but it was only filled with water, lukewarm water at that.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed the tent flap back and emerged into the sunlight. There was a particularly bad glare off the top of the metal thing, and she headed over toward that. She touched the tree trunk thing first- it was taller than she was, and sturdy. She stared at it for a long moment, then got tired of the pain in her eyes and dropped to her knees.

The manhole had sand scattered over its surface, and there were strange markings surrounding it. For a brief mind flash she was trapped inside a British scifi drama, but then the flicker disappeared. [This is ridiculous,] she thought. [There's no way my life could possibly be so interesting.]

Her hair pushed forward into her face and she brushed it back angrily. The metal was hot to her touch, but she brushed a little of the sand away. The signs looked Japanese, but not: something was even different from that language, though it seemed to have its basis in picture-words also.

A furious curiosity filled her; she brushed the sand away more quickly, eager to see the rest of the words, to see if they could possibly mean anything to her. There was a strange trembling in the ground beneath her, but it disappeared in a moment. She returned to dusting the sand with her trembling fingers.

Suddenly she was falling forward, into a hole newly appeared betwixt the symbols. She grabbed the edge of the metal hole but the heat burned her fingers, and reflexively she let go. She screamed as she fell, headfirst, down the pipe, or whatever it was. How had she missed the hole opening? She couldn't remember seeing anything different, and then here she was-

She was tumbling through the air, and now her back hit squarely on a pile of sand. A headache had apparently formed on the way down and was now plaguing her mind ruthlessly. She noticed that her eyes were closed and tried to open them, only to find that her body had other plans. [Enough shock for one day,] she thought silently. [I've had enough. This is the strangest dream I've ever had, and it doesn't make sense and I just want to wake up in my own bed-]

She opened her eyes and nothing had changed, except maybe that blinding sunlight. Again her eyes cleared away the purple dots and she stared in awe at whatever she had found herself inside.

She slid off the pile of sand and hit a metal floor. All around her was metal, and there were windows, but now they were surrounded by water. Diluted sunlight arced through the windows and hit the floor she was now sitting on. There were circular-shaped doorways with no doors. They were surrounded by the same strange writing that had surrounded the outside manhole. Panels glowed behind her, with a soft yellow light that wasn't as blinding as the sunlight outside. Through the round doorway she glimpsed something-

She climbed to her feet and ignored the pain that stretched through her calves as she crawled through the doorway and emerged in the next room. A large cylindrical light glowed through something that looked like dead vines surrounding it. Two seats were suspended from its middle by bars, but she couldn't tell why the seats would be there. The light tube was surrounded by another ring of metal, with the same characters covering it. She walked to a place beside it and reached down with a trembling hand, touched one. Her fingers caressed the metal for a second, then pressed against it, feeling a heat there that was out of place, somehow. The light pulsed a bit more brightly, and a tone emerged from deep within it.

**

Sarah's mother had searched every inch of their deck for a trace of blood, a splinter of wood out of place, a snatch of clothing, but could find nothing. Desperation was finally showing in her eyes. She had called every single person she could think of who was friends with Sarah, but none of them had known anything was wrong, except for Eve, one of Sarah's best friends. Eve had known something was wrong when she heard Mrs. Miller's voice on the telephone.

Jack, Sarah's father, had said confidently that his daughter would be somewhere in the house, that there was a logical reason for why she was missing, but the wear was even showing on him. He had come home early from the office and was roaming around town in their car, searching desperately for a hint of where their daughter might be.

Eve could feel fever on her face and some on her arms. When she thought of Sarah she could sense safety, and some fear, but not very much at all. She had tried telling Mrs. Miller this, but Sarah's mother wouldn't hear it for all the world. Eve was a somewhat strange person and Mrs. Miller wasn't sure she could be trusted. For all she knew, Eve had taken Sarah out and they had been separated, and now Eve was afraid to tell Mrs. Miller about their little mishap.

**

A finger slid down the surface of Adam's mind. His eyes opened while his mind moaned, [Oh, not again, not now!]

He and Lucy were standing on the front porch of Lucy's sister's apartment, it was dark, and Lucy was standing there waiting for him to kiss her. He'd been waiting for this forever, and now the moment was here, but there was a little nagging warning. He tried to lean forward again but an invisible wall seemed to hold him back.

[Fine, fine, fine!] he shouted inside, and jolted forward so hard that he nearly sent Lucy backward over the railing.

A giggle erupted from the bushes, and Adam turned from his expectant date to glare there. "All right, come out!" he demanded, his accent strong.

Ami Jackson and Jade Weston stood up and then erupted into full-fledged gales of laughter, while Adam's face colored quickly. Lucy opened her eyes and glared down at the two. "I've had enough of this foolishness!" she shouted, then flounced inside the apartment and slammed the door.

"Lucy! Lucy, please!" Adam said against the door. When it was painfully apparent that she was ignoring him, he turned his frosty gaze onto the two girls, still in the bushes. "All right, how long were we playing eavesdropping telepathy?"

"We weren't, it was enough to hear you on the telephone. Lucy, my love!'" Jade quoted, then bent over double with her peals of laughter.

Adam next turned his gaze on Ami, who was trying harder to hold her laughter in. "And you? You, who should know better?"

"I'm sorry- it seemed such a good idea at the time," Ami said, then looked from the helpless Jade to the stone-faced Adam. "Now it doesn't seem nearly so much fun. But that look on your face-" Ami nearly collapsed too.

Adam finally descended the stone steps and came up beside them. A streetlamp was all the illumination he needed to see that Ami was laughing so hard she was crying.

*Come on now, why do you do this to me? It's so embarrassing-*

*She's such a b-* Jade popped off without thinking, then covered her mouth with her hand, as if that could alleve the damage.

*Come now, she's not,* Adam thought almost pleadingly.

*Adam, you could do so much better,* Ami thought. Her face was streaked with tears, but it was drying quickly. *I mean, Lucy Allen? No. Not at all.*

*Who are you to tell me who I should date and who I shouldn't?* Adam asked.

*Your friend, nothing more and nothing less. You have the looks to catch any girl you should want, and here you are harping over a journalism student at college. You're settling for less than you should have!*

*What about Jade? Isn't she settling for less?*

Jade's face colored, while Ami thought, *I'm going to tell Megabyte about that crack. You deserve it. That was cold, Adam.*

*You know I was just playing with you. Let's go out for a soda or something. My mouth seems so dry now-*

Ami interrupted Adam's statement with a wry smile. *Where? Paris, Hong Kong, Belgium, Leningrad?*

*Their sodas are way too watered down. We could get one straight from the Coca-Cola plant in America-*

*Sounds good to me,* Jade interjected.

**

Megabyte slammed the cartridge into his Nintendo 64 and waited expectantly for the title screen to come up. "Home sweet home," he sighed, looking around at the mounds of dirty clothes and tacked-up posters that had marked his American house. Finally, his mother had allowed him to remodel his room!

"Megabyte! Laundry day!"

He groaned. Mario will have to wait, he thought as he stomped down the stairs. "Yeah, laundry day, and it's Millie's turn to get the clothes."

"Is not!" Megabyte's little sister poked her head out from behind the kitchen doorway, gave him a sullenly angry look.

Oh snap, Megabyte thought, then rallied. "Look, if you do it today, I'll do it next two times, okay? Isn't that a nice trade?"

"No." Millie crossed her arms and glared at him from beneath a mop of tangled brown curls. Megabyte emitted the sigh of a wounded martyr and knelt down.

"All right, and you can have an hour on the Nintendo 64."

"Yes!" Millie flew upstairs, faster than Megabyte could follow her with his eyes. "Mine until four o'clock!"

"No, not now!" He hurried back upstairs, having to pass through the living room to do so. His father was watching CNN off the satellite, though it was a tad fuzzy.

"Hey, there's a story on here you'd like to see," his father said, watching the red-headed blur pass in front of the TV.

"Not now, Millie's in my room with my new Nintendo 64!"

Feet were heard marching up the stairs, and then the angry shouting of children as the General turned the volume up.

"...and in further news, right here in the United States, yet another missing child case has been reported in a slew of new cases. This child was particularly special in that no clues whatsoever can be found with her kidnapping. She simply vanished from the house one night, apparently going outside for some fresh air. The girl, in her teens, has been reported by one of her apparently psychic' friends as in a safe place' and suffering no harm.'"

"What in the world?" The General smiled at hearing Megabyte's exclamation, and then his feet pounding down the stairs. "What was that?"

A girl with boisterous curls appeared in a clip on the screen. "My friend was not taken, by aliens or by humans," she said. The voice would've sounded hokey, had it been self-assured and silky, but here it was agitated and frustrated. "I would know! She can solve this all by herself if everyone will quit worrying about her!"

Now there's a girl I'd like to know better, Megabyte thought, staring at the image on the screen. He thought guiltily of Jade and then dismissed thoughts of her from his head. This girl was brushing back that mane of curls and appeared genuinely distressed. And it would be an added bonus if he mentioned to Adam that the girl might've been a TP breaking out-

Why do I even have to ask Adam's permission? a little rebellious voice in Megabyte's head asked. The sounds of Millie on his prized Nintendo machine were forgotten, and he teleported, or at least tried to. His image vanished out for a second, but flowed back into reality as Megabyte asked, "Where was that again?"

"Outside Charlotte, North Carolina, US," the General quoted from the screen, smiling. He had been in anticipation of this whole conversation, right down to Megabyte's disappearance.

**

"I know a trick to this," Lisa said, smiling evilly. They stood outside the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant in Charlotte, hidden only by a few bushes.

Ami started laughing, and it only took Lisa a second to feel what she was laughing about. "Who's Lucy Allen?" Lisa asked, temporarily forgetting their mission.

Instead of answering, Adam turned to Ami and glared at her hard. Jade was only looking around, her eyes wide and fearful. "What if we're caught?" she asked, meekly.

"We won't be, I've done this a hundred times," Lisa said.

"Yeah, with me," Megabyte said, the flash from the teleport vanishing.

"Oh, so we're all going to nick colas now?" Adam asked, giving them mock scowls.

"Actually, that's not why I'm here," Megabyte began.

"Save it, we need some cola!" Lisa said, pulling them closer together. "Now there's a tour going through about now. All we have to do is sneak into the end of the group. No one will notice we just came in. At the end they give everyone a free coke. It's like purity control. But anyway, once we have the coke we can leave, and no one will be the wiser. It's not like they can't afford it."

"I still don't like it," Adam said firmly.

"Come on, you were the one who suggested we get cokes in the first place," Ami said, her voice cajoling. "Come on!"

"All right."

"You caught Lucy and Adam on a date again?" Adam heard Megabyte ask Jade, just before he teleported, and considered throwing himself back into the sea to avoid the ribbing that would ensue as soon as they arrived.

**

Sarah thought that perhaps if she kept herself wide awake, soon she would need to fall asleep, and then she would wake up in her own bed, in her own house, away from this strange dream that was fast becoming a nightmare. The little glowing panels produced a strange fruit juice, and she had had two glasses of it. But the strange replication thing had frightened her, and now she cowered in the corner, trying hard to ignore the strange noises coming from the glowing light cylinder standing before her. It sounded pleading, if such a thing had the capacity to, but she couldn't help the fright running through her. She wanted to go home, even if it meant losing this place for good.

**

*Lisa, did you go nicking cokes again without me?*

*Sorry, yes.*

"Then you have to share," Kevin demanded, appearing beside her. He looked expectantly at the bottle in her hand.

Adam groaned. "How many of us are involved in petty larceny on a regular basis?" he asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

Lisa, Kevin, and Megabyte raised their hands freely, while Jade simply sipped her coke nervously and Ami commented, "Well, only one other time than this."

"I came here for a reason," Megabyte said, ignoring Adam's glare. "I think another girl disappeared from around here somewhere. They showed her friend on the TV and I think we should go speak to her."

Jade was staring at him. Finally she said, "You take that back."

Megabyte looked at her and said, "Take what back? Anyone here would think she was beautiful."

Kevin cut in to avoid one of the long arguments that had been forming over the past few weeks. "Like we saw Lisa on the TV?"

"Yeah, like that," Megabyte said, still just a little angry.

"Well, when we went to Virginia to find Lisa, she was at the ship- maybe this girl is there too."

"I'll go," Adam volunteered just a tad too quickly.

"What about your undying love for Lucy Allen?" Ami asked archly.

"Enough! Enough! Enough!" Adam exclaimed, holding his head. Finally he put his head back up and pushed his hair back. "Then I'll take Ami with me. We need to split up. All these people knocking on this girl's friend's door, and on her mother's door- I don't know. Who wants to go back to the ship?"

Megabyte raised his hand, then put it down under Jade's glare.

"I'll go if you're going," Ami said to Adam. Everyone else chorused, "Oooohhh!"

"Really, we're not children anymore," Adam said testily. "I'll go to her mother's house. Ami and Lisa can go to her friend's house. Kevin, you take Megabyte and Jade with you to the ship. And make sure they don't fight the whole time, if this girl is there that'll scare her out of her mind."

"All right," Megabyte said, his voice fading as he and Jade vanished.

"Something's really up between them," Adam said to Kevin. "Can you try to help?"

"I can try, but Megabyte has a habit of not listening to me. Be careful," Kevin said as he vanished.

"Have you any idea where we can find the house? You've been here more than I," Adam said, turning to Lisa.

"Yes, but not in Charlotte proper other than the plant- mmm. If we knew her name we could look her up in a phone book- wait a sec." Lisa closed her eyes and saw the house in the background, through Megabyte's memory of the news clip. "This is what the house looks like," Lisa said, sending both of them the image.

"That doesn't really tell me anything," Ami said.

"It wouldn't tell you anything if you were walking there. But since we're teleporting-"

"Is that a good idea?" Ami asked, turning to Adam.

"We won't get there any other way. Just go a little past it and then walk there, and nothing will be wrong."

"And we'll have to do that tomorrow. I can already smell the brownies in the oven," Lisa sighed. "I was supposed to be back at nightfall. Want to meet at the island?"

"Sure," Adam said glumly as Lisa vanished. He sat down on the stone steps next to Ami and said, "So what's wrong with you?"

"I want to go see this girl, her family, to reassure them, but I don't want to go without Lisa." Ami shrugged. "I just can't shake that feeling."

"I'm sure it's nothing," Adam said, reaching over to give her a hug.

"I don't know. Let's go to the ship," Ami said, her voice muffled by speaking into Adam's shoulder.

They flickered in two bright spots of light. All of them had been hidden in the darkening shadows of a parking garage, they weren't quite sure where, sipping their cokes and talking.

Eve blinked her eyes several times, as she had upon seeing each of the bright flashes, but no faces appeared in the darkness, no more flashes of light manifest themselves.

"Come on, Eve," said Beth from the wheel of her car. "We have to get going if we're gonna make it to the movie."

Eve reluctantly climbed into the car, still glancing over her shoulder as they pulled out of the garage and out onto the street.

**

"I can't believe you're blaming me for a stray thought! I mean, really!" Megabyte's famous temper was up at arms, just as Adam had suspected, though Megabyte and Jade had never experienced the jealousy angle of their relationship so vividly.

"That's not the point. I thought we-" Jade was usually slow to anger, but Megabyte got under her skin faster than anyone else she knew.

"Can you do this another time?" Kevin asked, annoyed. He hopped over the doorway and then motioned for them to be quiet. "Look at her," he whispered.

*You looked that way once* Adam thought, appearing beside them. *Shhh, we don't want to wake her. She looks like she needs her sleep.*

*And those are your clothes, Adam* Ami thought, an evil grin on her face. *I promise, first Lisa, now this girl-*

*Enough!* Kevin thought, echoing Adam's earlier words. *I need to go home. My mum worries when I spend over an hour away.*

He vanished, and that seemed to startle the girl in her sleep. She turned slightly, then slumped back down, her chin resting on her hand.

*Look, I think it would be better if she didn't see all these faces at once when she wakes up* Adam thought, concerned. *Maybe the three of you should go into the other room.*

*You just want to be alone with her* Megabyte sent back his final shot.

*Yes, but not that way* Adam thought, his attention too centered on the new girl for him to respond angrily.

**

Sarah awoke again but didn't want to open her eyes. She still smelled sand and the strange musty smell that clung to the inside of whatever she was in. She placed her palms flat on the metal shelf she had been lying on and wished with all her might, [When I open my eyes I will be gone from here. When I open my eyes I will be at home.]

Her mind seemed to expand, and a ticklish feeling spread over her from head to toe. But then something went wrong, and ocean water closed over her head, cutting off her air.

*Snap* Adam thought loudly as he teleported to the beach outside.

*Sarah!* Ami thought, and then she was out on the beach with Adam, running towards the water. She kicked her shoes off and let her dangle bracelets drop from her wrists, and then the cold water splashed on her jeans. "Sarah!" she cried verbally, scanning the water. Finally she saw a head bob above the waves, and a choked cry.

"We're coming!" Adam yelled, and Ami watched him with awe as he dove into the water as if he belonged there, swam deep under the waves and then emerged between Sarah and the shoreline. He dove again and now he was pulling her in a lifesaver's hold, swimming closer to the shore with every stroke. Sarah was coughing and crying as they emerged onto the beach. By then Jade and Megabyte had heard the screams and were at the shore.

"I want to go home I want to go home I want to go home-" Sarah finished coughing up seawater and had turned her face away from them, was sobbing into the sand.

Adam brushed back his wet hair and finished coughing too, shot a glance at Ami. *Maybe you can handle this better than I* he thought.

"Sarah?" Ami asked, kneeling down on the sand next to her. Sand clung to the wet fabric covering her legs.

"Take me home," Sarah said, gazing up at her, emotion cracking her voice. "This isn't a dream but it can't be real either- please take me back home."

"You don't understand. You're frightened and you're scared and you want to be where you feel you're safe. You're safe here with us. We would never hurt you." Ami's voice was soothing.

"Why did you kidnap me?" Sarah blinked, her eyes still stinging from the ocean water.

Ami's brow wrinkled in genuine confusion. "Kidnap you? What?"

Sarah sighed. "You must've. You must've taken me off the porch. You put some kind of weird drug in me and that was that tickly feeling- and then you dumped me on this beach and waited for me to wake up. Tell me where I am! Let me go home! I promise I won't tell them anything about this!"

"Sarah," Adam said, in that voice that made girls all over the entire world melt. She turned over, and her eyes became wider and wider.

"Oh my Lord, this is a dream. This has been a dream the entire time- pinch me so I can wake up- maybe not." She opened her eyes again. Adam still sat there beside her, drenched nearly as much as she was. "Adam. Thank you for pulling me out of the sea. Now take me home."

"Much as I would like to, I'm afraid you don't understand some things." Adam completely held Sarah's attention now.

"Like what?" Sarah was now staring into Adam's eyes, implicitly trustful of someone she'd barely met.

"Like how you got here, for example." Adam's voice was patient. He'd been over this argument before, with Lisa.

"That's easy. You brought me." Sarah finally tried to sit up.

Adam shook his head slowly, to make sure it would register with her. "No, I didn't."

"Then-" her brow furrowed, then cleared. "You must be lying. Or it was Ami. Or those two, Jade and Megabyte."

"You know none of us did this to you. Stop trying to deny it," Adam said, gently.

"I couldn't've come here by myself." Sarah shook her head.

"But you did," Adam said, still patiently.

She closed her eyes and shook her head, as if to clear it. "No. I would never have done this to my parents."

"You haven't been gone over two days." Ami knew from experience that they would've heard her telepathic screaming if she'd been gone much longer.

"But still-" Sarah looked around them, at the deepening twilight.

*Sarah, can you hear me?*

Sarah closed her eyes. [This dream is too good to be real.]

*It is real* Megabyte thought, gently.

*It can't be* she thought, opening her eyes to stare up at the four people around her. *No. This dream has been mine forever- and it is only a dream.*

*I thought that too* Jade thought. *And now I'm here- and it is no dream.*

**

[I'm hallucinating; that's the only explanation] Eve thought, staring at her ceiling. [People don't just disappear in columns of light. Not like that. Lord, Sarah's disappearance must be affecting me more than I'd thought!]

Just then Eve propped herself up on her elbows and stared at the clock. It was 11:56. [I have to call Sarah's house] Eve thought.

There's no way, her common sense said. Her parents are getting some sleep, finally, and you're not going to disrupt that.

Eve rolled over and was asleep in seconds.

**

*This isn't a dream* Adam thought as they appeared inside Sarah's house. It was dark there, as dark as it had been the night she had vanished so completely.

"I know," Sarah whispered. "And I can come back when I want?"

"You will want to," Adam said in answer to her unspoken hesitance. "Something will nag you about this for a long while. You can sneak away whenever you want, or call one of us and we'll help. And we'll make up for what your parents went through. They'll never be mad at you for this."

"Thank you," Sarah whispered, staring up at him. She drew her gaze away and began walking upstairs. She paused for a second.

"Hold on- these are your clothes, aren't they? When do you want them back?"

He smiled. "Just keep them until you come back. It will be soon."

**

"I can't believe-" Jade had instigated the argument again the moment they had appeared inside Megabyte's house.

*You know it meant nothing.* Megabyte felt somewhat calmer now, after being at the ship only that little time.

*I know that, but how do I know you don't feel the same way about me?*

Megabyte sighed. How was it that Jade was a mind reader, and yet she still didn't understand that he was telling the truth? *Look, it was just that she's beautiful. Adam turns your head a lot, and you don't see me all upset about it, do you? You have nothing to worry about. She's not even a tomorrow person.*

That seemed to mollify Jade, and after telling Megabyte that she loved him, she teleported out of the living room.

"I wish you wouldn't talk in your heads like that!" Millie poked her head around a corner, her arms folded.

"And I really wish you wouldn't eavesdrop!" Megabyte growled, chasing Millie through the house.

**

~her name is Eve~ the ship kythed to him.

Adam turned over to stare at the glowing column at the center of the ship. From there he seemed to feel the telepathic voice of the ship, but telepathy wasn't the proper word for it. Jade had read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle and thought the voice sounded very similar to how she imagined kything. The transference of thought was there, but not so clear-cut and put into words, and often it was carried more on emotion than any kind of language.

Adam hadn't felt like leaving, but now it was tempting- *First Lucy, then Ami, now Eve? Like the Bible story? I really can't handle this!*

~Megabyte saw her on the television- you must go find her~

*Why? It'll just be another reason for them to rib me later-*

~you must go find her~

There seemed to be no further discussion on this point, so Adam turned over and stared at the wall. Eve. It was too much, he wasn't just imagining. Lucy would never speak to him again- and it might have been Ami's influence, but he was beginning to see why his friends had thought her so wrong for him.

[I hope Sarah comes back soon] he couldn't stop himself from thinking.

**

Lisa couldn't stand it any longer. She arose from her bed and walked into the kitchen wearing only her nightshirt. On the stove was the pan of brownies her mother had made earlier in the day. Her eyes glowed as she saw the chocolate- her plans to stick to that diet all seemed to fade away. Mmmm-

*Sarah where are you*

The voice seemed to come from a little corner in the kitchen, and she turned there to find absolutely nothing. "Hello?" she asked uncertainly.

"Lisa? What are you doing up?"

[Oh snap] Lisa thought, carefully replacing the aluminum foil over the brownies, sneaking one out of the kitchen in her hand, gobbling it down and throwing herself into the bed. She hoped her mother wouldn't-

The light flooded into the room, and Lisa's eyelids crinkled, giving it away. "What were you doing up?"

Lisa stayed silent, hoping her mother just forgot about it.

"Come on, I know you're not asleep. Is there something wrong I should know about? I know it's four in the morning, but if you want we could make a pan of brownies- or maybe bar cookies-"

[Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!] Lisa thought, jamming the pillow over her head. Her mother's voice got more intense. "I knew you were awake. Come on, let's see if there's any brownie mix in the kitchen."

"No, Mom, that's all right, I was just at the ship for a little while today. Or I was going to be, but I came back. I just was preoccupied about going there tomorrow."

"That's not all, I'm sure," Lisa's mother said.

[Sometimes I just wish the world would go away] Lisa thought, trying to wake her mind up enough to win the argument with her mother.

**

Ami stood inside the ship. It was dark, because none of the sunlight was coming through the windows, but the lighted panels let her see the way to the glowing core of the ship.

Suddenly she ran for the exit, and shot up into the starlit sky like a butterfly. She landed on her feet as gracefully as a fairy and then set off running, not caring about anything, just running down the darkened beach.

*Ami! Ami, wait up!*

Ami laughed gleefully and didn't slow up a hair. "No! Not while I feel so free!" she screamed at the sky, and the beach seemed to last forever.

*Ami! I have to see you!*

"Not now! Can't you see how I feel?"

*Yes! But I have to see you now!*

That finally slowed Ami down. "No! Don't you understand?"

There was a flash of light before her, and he stood unafraid. "Yes I understand, but I can't condone it," he said. His eyes were dark, and so was his skin, almost as dark as the night they were standing in.

"Jonathan, please? I thought you understood."

"I did. But I've waited long enough. It's time."

He vanished in a flash of light.

As the threads of the dream unwound and dispersed Ami sat up in bed, gasping quietly. "What in the world?" she whispered aloud. "Jonathan? Is that his name?"

**

"...To say the least, that's the gist of the problem."

Megabyte rolled his eyes. First his father had summoned them to the WorldEx Securities building where he worked. He'd had his fill of it during the Culex business. His father had chewed him out about interrupting an important meeting about the Cornucopia machine (which, it later turned out, was moot anyway). Now he couldn't stay far enough away. Sometimes, though, after a random nightmare or when he needed some cash, he would reluctantly go inside that haven for teleporter-capturers. Now the man was involving them in yet another fiasco involving the company he worked for, even though he'd done his best to keep all of them out of the whole Culex affair, and tried to keep them away from those evil pod-aliens! Megabyte could study psychology for years and still not understand how his father's brain worked.

"Problem? That's no problem, that's a nightmare!" Adam shoved his hair back with his hand, fighting the urge to pace the room. "It's- complete and utter heresy!"

"Lisa, what do you think?" General Damon tried not to be upset by Adam's view of the predicament.

"How could anyone have even considered it?" Lisa exploded.

"Our job is to think of the future, of the consequences that will occur. This was one of them since you'd heard about it, I know you must've considered it." Damon had adopted the knowing-father voice all of them despised.

"We're not exactly untouchable anymore, are we," Jade commented wryly. She sent another worried glance at Megabyte, who was staring out the window.

"There could be armies of us all over the place, brainwashed and willing," Kevin said, and he appeared to be imagining one of the B science-fiction movies he loved to watch.

"Or even worse, choosing to be the way we were, immoral and inhuman," Megabyte commented, finally looking away from the window. He was another sci-fi buff. "The consequences are too heinous to imagine."

"Beyond heinous," Adam murmured.

"Like that psycho Culex with us as the bugs." Kevin shuddered.

"Ami? Do you have anything to add?"

Ami stared out the enormous window in General Damon's office. Her fingertips barely brushed the polished glass. Underneath her cabs and buses whirled away in a frenzy, barely stopping long enough to catch their passengers. And there, in the midst of an enormous crowd-

"Ami?" *Ami?* Megabyte's voice was worried.

"He's here," Ami whispered beneath her breath, staring down with wide dark eyes at the street below, all the bustle and confusion. "He's here, I know he is."

"Ami? Are you okay?" There was a note of panic creeping into Megabyte's voice as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

She shrugged his hand away. "No- I have to find him-"

"...and we can have a subsection at the cloning meeting a week from today, where only authorized people may enter, sweeping for bugs every five minutes, all the usual precautions. Do you think parents should be invited, especially if..."

General Damon's voice faded away from Ami's consciousness, and everything blurred except her view of the window. Desperate curiosity filled her mind. He was here. He had to be here.

*Adam, something's up with Ami. We need to get her out of here-* Even Megabyte sounded worried, and that alerted Adam faster than anything else.

*You take her. I can be at the ship in a few minutes.* Adam had to make sure Damon's dire predictions didn't come to pass.

"Ami, come on," Megabyte spoke aloud, putting his hand more firmly on her shoulder. "We have to leave."

"No!" she cried, whirling around to face him. "Don't you understand?"

"I can't understand if you don't tell me," Megabyte said in a level voice.

"He's here- Jonathan- down below us somewhere- we have to find him-"

"Why? What's wrong with him?" Megabyte was trying to understand, but was falling far short.

"Nothing's wrong I hope- we have to find him!" Ami tore away from Megabyte's hand again and returned to staring pensively out the window.

Adam nodded in final agreement with General Damon and turned to find that Lisa, Kevin, and Jade were staring at Ami and Megabyte, who were in turn staring out the window.

"What's wrong?" Adam asked. There was still a twinge of fear in his mind from discussing the prospect of cloning them, and then he knew.

*Ami? Your soul mate is here?* Adam's voice sounded calm and sure again.

*Yes- oh Lord yes- at least someone understands now-* Ami pathed.

*How can we find him?*

*I don't know- I can feel it burning on the surface of my mind- help me*

**

Upon clawing her way to shore, Sarah collapsed down to the sand and breathed deeply for a while. The current had seemed strong- and Adam's wet clothes were plastered to her body. Fortunately, she'd planned for that. She ripped open an enormous ziplock bag and pulled out a new set of clothes.

"Hello?" *Hello?* Sarah thought upon entering the ship. She patted sand from her slightly-damp clothes and looked around in consternation. Hadn't Adam said he'd be there whenever she came? "Hello?"

Like a moth to the flame she walked toward the glowing light column, barely recognizing her actions. The thing seemed too pure to touch, other than the metal characters surrounding it; she settled for sitting on one of the metal shelves in the room and staring at it hypnotically.

~Eve must find Eve must find~

The words finally came to focus inside Sarah's mind. Eve? What did Eve have to do with anything? The red-headed boy had seen Eve on television, Sarah remembered, but that had nothing to do with anything. But she trusted the ship; it had no reason to give off a false warning.

But I want to see Adam again-

She smiled wryly. Adam and Eve. They would make such a very good couple, Sarah thought, feeling a twinge of jealousy. [But he's mine!] she thought. [I was here first!]

**

"Get mobile on that problem we discussed," General Damon said into the phone, in his most authoritative voice. "Every single one. It is most definitely a problem now. Including a note- let me send you this clip. Take care of this too."

**

*There are too many cabs to search!* Lisa thought desperately.

*That doesn't really matter to Ami right now!* Adam thought back, checking yet another cab. They only had the dream-image to go by, and Lisa couldn't find anyone nearly so beautiful- [Wish I had dreams like that] she thought ruefully.

An ambulance plowed down the street, and they took the chance to run up to the slowed taxis and look at their passengers. Kevin watched anxiously from the street, having developed a slight fear of running out into the middle of the highway.

"Wait a second," Kevin spoke aloud, then shook his head. [No way.]

**

"Is there a cell phone in her car? And is she on it? Good. Yes, thank you. Try for another, just in case." The dark-haired man hung up the telephone, deep inside the WorldEx building. He reached up and switched the security camera back on, then logged onto the Internet on his PC. He clicked on the WorldEx AutoTape system and made sure there were no records of his phone call, nor any tape of them. He then double-encoded the hard drive and left the office.

**

"Don't believe I've met you before-" Penny Weston said.

"Samantha Davis," Lisa's mother said, shaking hands. "So your daughter can-"

Mrs. Weston cut her off with a shake of the head and a rueful smile.

"I've never heard so much whispering in my life," Frank Wilson said to his wife, Susan.

"...and you were involved in that thing, with the mosquitoes? Ami spoke so highly of you," Ruth Jackson said to General Damon.

"That's kind of hard to believe, considering-" Damon said, thinking back to the whole affair.

"Considering what?" Ruth said, curiously.

"Never mind," General Damon said, sighing. He turned to Jones and motioned for them to speak in the corner.

"Adam Newman's parents?"

"We can't find a single trace of them. We can't find a single trace of him, as far as that's concerned." Jones's eyes were hidden behind his usual tinted sunglasses. Even after Damon had transferred Jones to WorldEx and had tried to tell him that sunglasses weren't all the rage for spies these days, he had refused to change.

"You checked in Australia? And London?" Damon's brow furrowed. He'd never actually tried to hunt for the older, dark-haired boy before.

"We started there and then spread out. He doesn't seem to be listed anywhere, own a credit card, have an account anywhere, anything. No other Adam Newmans match his description." Jones's voice began to carry monotonally again.

"Strange," General Damon murmured. "And the girl on the news?"

"Sarah Miller's parents are on the way from US."

"Good- did you get anything on the girl that was in the clip I sent?" Damon hoped they'd come up with some kind of lead.

"Eve Blair? Um..." Jones seemed to get a bit distraught at that.

"Out with it."

"There's no trace of her at all. Her parents say that she must be out, and we have surveillance on the place for when she comes in. Everything'll be taken care of."

**

"Mr. and Mrs. Blair? May we come in?"

"Back so soon?" she asked, backing up so that the two people could enter the house. Mr. Blair sat on the couch, watching the television.

"We're from the local police force, ma'am," the taller one said, flashing a nondescript badge. "Your daughter- she was involved in something, ma'am, and she's gone upstate for therapy. We hate to tell you about this-"

"Where is she? What clinic, what place?" Eve's mother appeared frantic.

"We're sorry, we can't tell you, ma'am." The badge snapped from view and disappeared into a many-pocketed leather jacket.

"I'm her mother! Surely you can tell me something!"

"No, I'm sorry, ma'am. Just know that she's safe and we're hoping she can be returned to you within a month or two."

"A month? School starts in a month!" Mrs. Blair's tone bordered on hysteria.

"Not my problem, ma'am," the tall man said.

Citing another appointment, the pair left the house silently and climbed into a rental car. The driver calmly sped away while the passenger picked up the secured cell phone.

"Her parents have been notified. Everything's fine, as long as we are not proven wrong on the time element. WorldEx has been outsmarted yet again."

"Good, Gloria. I knew I could count on you for quality service. Much better than Galt ever was."

The phone clicked into the man's ear.

**

"It's no use," Ami said, coming over to find Adam. Her face was dejected, and she looked as though she was about to cry.

"There, there," Adam said, hugging her. "It's not too late. If you knew he was here this time maybe he'll break out soon, and everything will be okay."

"I don't know," Ami whispered into his shoulder. "I just want to go home and cry."

"Now, now," Adam said. He gestured to the WorldEx building looming above them. "They've set up a meeting just for us."

Jade and Megabyte wandered over, hand in hand, and Adam shot Megabyte a short look. Megabyte sneered back and was about to shoot back a remark about Lucy when Lisa and Kevin came over. Megabyte decided it wasn't worth it, but didn't release Jade's hand.

"Come on, let's go the conventional way," Adam said, rolling his eyes and walking toward the large glass building. Ami followed him, her arms wrapped around her sides, not really seeing what was in front of her. Jade dropped Megabyte's hand and strode forward to put an arm around Ami's shoulders. Megabyte turned to punch Kevin in the shoulder and smile at Lisa.

"Maybe this time my mother won't be kidnapped by some crazy goons that don't know any better," Lisa grumbled.

"Yeah, that was kind of bad." Kevin remembered the ordeal, but it was jumbled up with memories of almost being run over by a really big truck, and teleporting onto the moor with Megabyte, and drinking lots of hot cocoa.

"Kind of? It was awful." Lisa was surprised he couldn't remember that well, but then, it hadn't been his mother.

"I think something was up with that ambulance," Kevin remarked during a break in the conversation between Megabyte and Adam.

"That's only because you're rather familiar with them," Megabyte said.

"No, that's not it," Kevin insisted as they all climbed into an elevator. He looked crestfallen when he noticed that the walls of the elevator were glass, so they couldn't teleport out of it. "There was something else."

As the silence fell everyone could hear Ami crying, and they all turned around and surrounded her with their arms. "It's going to be fine," Adam whispered to her.

The elevator opened up, and there were five parental units waiting expectantly for their children.

In the midst of the din Adam suddenly said, "Oh no- Sarah's at the island by herself!" And he was gone.

"Ami, dear, why are you crying?" Mrs. Jackson asked, gently.

Ami and Lisa shared a glance before Ami wiped her eyes and began talking.

"Where's my daughter?" Jack Miller asked as he swept into the room.

"Enough, enough!" General Damon said, waving his hands in the air. "Let's move to the conference room and get this show underway."

**

"Sarah? Sarah?" Adam asked, wandering into the ship. He carried the drenched clothes she had apparently brought back with her, stowed inside his tent. His other fingers gripped the handle of his knife. "Are you here?"

~Eve is scared, alone, afraid~ The ship's "voice" was calm as always, and insidious as it entered his mind.

*I completely forgot about that- where is Sarah?* Adam hoped the ship could give him some sort of logical, understandable answer.

~she waits for those who are to help her, and you do not come~

*I am sorry, we were searching for the one who is Ami's soul mate. Have you any knowledge of-*

~Jonathan is among us and yet not~

*I wish she could come here so you could tell her that in person, but I was only supposed to come back and find Sarah. Is she sleeping?* Adam asked hesitantly.

~in her sleep she dreams of you~

Adam grinned ruefully. *I really didn't need that.*

He jumped the low doorway and saw Sarah, sleeping near the same place he had. He walked over and said softly, "Sarah? Are you awake?"

"Mmmmm-" she whispered, then opened her eyes. "I thought you said you'd be here for me-"

"I would have been, but we were looking for someone. You have to come with me." Adam held out his hand.

"Yes, let's go home. I want to tell my parents- about this beautiful dream I've had-" Sarah's voice was still scratchy from sleep.

"Yes, all soon, just not now. Come, take my hand."

They were gone in a flash of light, but as Adam's mind reformed at WorldEx, the ship whispered

~Eve is still in the cold without us~

**

"What's different about these chromosomes?"

"Nothing, really," the doctor said nervously, addressing the dark man standing before him. That man's eyes, and voice, were so hard, and black, and he couldn't imagine where the man could have obtained this sample of cells, outrageously weird genotyped cells. The doctor recovered his train of thought with some effort. "They just- their genes produce different proteins than ours, but it's not one base pair off. It's more toward the magnitude of five- that is a serious mutation. And here, in this other one, four pairs are off. I'd need to examine a brain cell to see what repercussions this would have in the neural pathways, on the myelin sheaths, to the synapses. This appears human- but it can't be- no human has cells like that."

"And you can clone it?" Somewhere, in the many-pocketed coat the man wore, there was the badge he had flashed at the Blair family earlier. Gloria was nowhere to be found. Leather-jacket Man hoped he remembered the simplified details well enough to report them accurately to his superior.

"I'm not sure- the one attempt we've made has failed-" the doctor trembled, interlocking his fingers nervously.

"But it came rather close to succeeding, doctor. I have someone who knows what you did wrong, the one number in all the calculations that made that perfect specimen of a human being so deformed. If you clone this cell, we will give you the information." Actually, Leather-jacket Man had no idea whether they would even keep this doctor or not for their project, but he was prepared to tell the man whatever he wanted to hear.

"The moratorium on no cloning of humans-" the interlocking of the doctor's fingers became more violent. His bald head grew slightly shiny with sweat, but his voice refused to completely betray his fear, even as his hands telegraphed it like a light.

"What you are cloning will not be human, and therefore that stupid moratorium doesn't apply." Leather-jacket Man sighed internally.

The doctor sighed nervously, wrung his hands. "The temptation is so great-"

"And we will triple the bonuses you now have in your practice." [And that's pretty darn good for a British doctor] the man thought.

The doctor sighed again. "Fine, you have a deal."

**

The teenagers drew lots for the rooms they would be sharing. General Damon said they could now add psychokinesis to their growing list of abilities, because Megabyte and Jade had drawn the same room. They had to promise not to do anything, swear upside down to Jade's mother that they had no plans to do anything, and sleep with the light on. Lisa and Ami roomed together by default, and then Kevin and Adam.

Around 11:00 PM Adam was growing tired of hearing giggling through the walls of the suite. He was about to pound on the wall when there was a whisper in his head.

*Adam*

*Sarah?*

*Adam I'm worried about Eve*

"Snap," Adam spoke aloud, turning over in bed to stare at the ceiling. Kevin cracked an eye open in the other twin bed and decided not to ask; Adam would tell him.

*What's wrong with her?*

*I haven't spoken to her in a while- I'm afraid-* Sarah's telepathic voice indeed sounded so, in his head.

*It's all right. We can go find her tomorrow.* Adam desperately wanted to go back to sleep.

~no it's late enough now~ the ship interjected.

*Adam!* came another voice.

"What, am I Grand Central Station now?" Adam complained aloud. *What is it?*

*I found him.* Ami's mental voice was breathless.

Now Adam sat up in bed, switched on the light beside him. *You found him? Where is he?*

*He's in hospital, Adam. He looks so far gone- the doctors don't seem to have much hope.* Adam could almost hear tears in Ami's voice.

*I'll be right down, as soon as I wake everyone up-*

*No, don't do that. Later, maybe, but not now. Just please come!*

*Ami-*

*please?*

Adam sighed. *Okay. I have to tell the guard I'm going somewhere first.*

He threw back the covers, pulled on a sweatshirt and shorts, and walked to the door of the suite. The armed guard at the side turned to regard him.

"May I help you?"

"I need to see General Damon right now, please."

After Adam gave his explanation of, "I just need to go somewhere," General Damon kept asking him questions. "Why do you need to leave? Are you going to the ship?"

"No, I just need to go somewhere. I'll be right back."

"Do you promise?" Damon was still rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Of course, on my word." Adam twitched impatiently.

"Then go ahead. Why are you waiting?" Damon squinted at him.

Adam gave him a lopsided grin and then turned back to the suite. *Kevin.*

*What?* Kevin's voice was sleepy, and Adam longingly thought of the warm twin bed he'd left behind. Oh well.

*I need you to do something for me. There's a girl-*

*Adam, please hurry up!* Ami's voice broke through the wave.

*All right, all right. We'll just get it done when I come back.*

**

Nurses on late shift who were only awake because of the caffeine in their drinks eyed the dark-haired, dark-eyed boy that strode down the corridors of the hospital as if he owned it, without asking a single person where he was going. He turned to a room in the Intensive Care Unit and opened the door.

Ami sat beside the bed in the chair usually reserved for the anxious parent or relative. She was only wearing a long t-shirt and a pair of cotton shorts. Her face was streaked with tears as she looked up to regard Adam.

Adam stared at the form on the bed. Ami hadn't been lying when she'd said the doctors weren't hopeful. The boy was the same one from the dream, but now he appeared almost wrapped from head to toe in bandages. The skin that Adam could see was rended in healing scars or clotted wounds. The bandage on his head looked particularly menacing.

Adam walked over to the bank of monitors attached to the boy with a tube in nearly every limb. The heart rate monitor was ridiculously slow, and the brain wave reader was erratic. [If not for the brain waves I would think he had been bitten by a Culex mosquito- but we're not going to relive that again, are we?]

Slowly Adam walked over to check the chart, aware that Ami's eyes were staring hard at his every move. Her sobs and gasps were more subdued now.

He was on heavy painkillers, addictive ones, but that didn't quite explain that activity- Adam thought. Finally he gave up and put the chart down.

*Ami, I'm so, so sorry* Adam thought, kneeling down so that they were eye to eye. *He is so deep inside himself- almost like Kevin was in that coma.*

*No* Ami thought firmly, and Adam was distressed to find a spark of something that could've been insanity in her eyes. *He is not gone. He is not buried. I can feel him fighting.*

*We can do nothing for him here, and if we disconnect him from some of these machines, he might die. You know that. The ship cannot help him if he is that dead.*

*Lisa came back. Adam, you brought a man back from the dead.*

Adam's eyes screwed shut in pain. He bowed his head and then met her gaze again. *He was not dead.*

*And neither is Jonathan!* Ami seemed too ferociously passionate about this, Adam thought.

*Ami, you know if I still had the power, you know that even if I had the slightest belief I still had that power, that I would do this for you. But it's gone. Otherwise Kevin would never have been in that coma so long- and General Damon would never have given permission to that crazy man to lead the rescue operation.*

*But for Kevin there was an antidote!* Ami thought wildly. *And General Damon was not hanging on for dear life, not for nearly as long as Jonathan here! Adam, please, for me, just try, one more time.*

*I don't want to fail you on something this important. Please, don't make me.*

*Adam-* there were fresh tears flowing from eyes that should've been dry hours earlier- *please, even if you fail at least then you'll know that he didn't die without a little of your help- please-*

Adam looked into Ami's eyes. She knew that he was going to die, she knew that probably nothing could stop it, but if Adam could, if Adam could do a single thing, then he would have to. Ami wanted this thing so desperately, and he couldn't resist a heartfelt plea if he'd tried.

"All right," he sighed, finally speaking aloud. "All right. Close the door. No one in here but us."

Ami beamed at him, through her tears, and closed the door, pulled the curtain.

"Now," Adam said, rolling up his sleeves, "you do understand that everything I told you was true? I don't think I have this anymore, even to the smallest degree."

Ami nodded, glad that he had finally agreed to do it.

"Adam!" Lisa jerked upright in bed, turned to see if Ami was awake too. The other twin bed was empty.

"Where's Ami?" Lisa demanded of the guard, pulling open the door even though she only had on her nightgown. "Where's General Damon? Why doesn't anyone hear these things?"

Kevin poked his head out from his suite. "I think Adam went to hospital."

"Why would he do something crazy like that?" Lisa suddenly yawned.

"Something was up with Ami." Kevin was having a little trouble remembering, but he was a sensitive telepath, and he recalled hearing Ami's mental voice.

"Was she sick? Hurt? Mentally ill?" Lisa's curiosity grew with Kevin's intangible statements.

"That was cold," Megabyte remarked, stepping out of his suite with Jade in tow.

"Seriously though. I just got a flash that something's going wrong, something we can stop." Lisa actually did look worried.

"Where's Sarah?" Kevin asked, stifling a yawn.

Lisa closed her eyes, then said, "She's in such a deep sleep that none of us could wake her up. She's been through a lot in the past few days-" all of them understood how it was, the shock of discovering powers, a group of friends who would defend to their dying breath, the wonder of telepathy and teleportation- "so we shouldn't wake her up. Where's General Damon?"

**

"Another of the kids for you, sir." Jones yawned.

Bill Damon muttered something angrily under his breath and switched on the bedside lamp. Millie was cuddled up against her mother, who was on the opposite side of the bed. Why on Earth Millie had to be afraid in hotels-

"All right, I'll just get my robe on and be right outside." Damon sat up in bed and felt his contact lens shift. He mumbled something about saline.

Jones nodded and closed the door.

"Why on Earth does everything have to happen at night- can't even get a good night's sleep-" he mumbled as he pulled on a robe and tied it hastily. He ventured out into the hall, squinting in the more intense light. "What is it, Lisa?" he asked, hoping he wasn't mistaking Ami for her.

"Ami and Adam are gone." Now Lisa was fidgeting.

Damon yawned, not quite thinking very clearly. "Ami's almost of consenting age, how does-"

"There's something wrong. I don't know what it is. But there's something up with Adam, and Ami is probably there with him."

"Where did Adam say he was going?" Kevin asked.

"Did Ami even tell you she was going anywhere?" Jade put in.

"Does anyone have any hot cocoa?" Megabyte and Bill chorused.

Only Ami's mother was to be awakened, but then Frank Wilson poked his head out of his suite and asked what was going on, so eventually everyone was in the downstairs conference room in their nightclothes.

"All we have to do is teleport to the hospital, I don't see what's so wrong with this," Lisa said, fidgeting in her chair.

"No, we've got men going down there to secure the area before any of the rest of you leave. Until the cloning issue is settled, no one's going anywhere without a guard."

"But-" broke in ten voices at once, and General Damon had to shout to restore order. In the following buzz of voices, Sarah's sounded against the rest.

"Where's Eve?"

"Who?"

"My best friend. The ship was talking about her." Sarah twirled a lock of hair about one finger, nervously, her eyes still puffy from sleep.

Megabyte and Jade exchanged glances with each other, and with Lisa and Kevin. *This is bad,* Megabyte thought.

Before anyone could reply to Megabyte's observation, the phone on the conference table rang.

"It's Jones, sir, and we have a situation. It might be preferable for you to bring all the kids, sir."

**

The vans that WorldEx owned presently were eerily similar to the one Lisa had been shipped around in, that time that seemed a million years away, when Adam still had long hair and they hadn't known that they could teleport other people. She shivered for a second in the cool night air, and Kevin put his little arm around her.

There had been a little hint of dread in Megabyte's heart when he'd heard Jones say those dreaded words over the speakerphone, but now all the fear was gone, replaced by a need to be the leader that they didn't have right now. [Everything will be fine] he thought, squeezing Jade's arm a little more tightly. They exchanged a glance, a weak little smile, and then looked away from each other.

[I wish I was like that now] Sarah thought, seeing the ways all of them depended on each other. She felt close to Adam and Ami, but they weren't even here. Her worry about them swallowed up the enduring nagging feeling of dread over Eve.

They exited the van, and Megabyte's feeling was replaced by annoyance at the phalanx of guards surrounding them wherever they went. He thought about making a smart remark about it to his father, but the General's facial features looked as though they had been cast from stone. Adam had almost been a second son to the family, to everyone's family.

"Oh my Lord," Jade gasped upon entrance to the hospital. Megabyte couldn't spare the energy for asking her what was wrong, just kept his hand around hers as they took the stairs two by two toward the room.

Ami's legs were drawn up in the chair and her forehead was against her knees when they walked into the room. Methodically her head moved back and then fell forward, striking with the force of bone against bone. In the bed beside her lay the boy they had searched the cabs for, now breathing without a respirator, his pulse steady and firm, the brainscan apparently normal.

"I didn't think it could do any harm," came Ami's voice, muffled.

"It's not your fault," the four of them chorused at once, and all of them went over to hug her, give her a little pat on the shoulder, at least something. Sarah lingered in the doorway, unsure of what to do.

"What happened here?" Bill asked quietly from outside the doorway.

"We're not sure, but we have the surveillance tape."

**

[There's no record of Adam teleporting into the hospital, thank God] Bill thought, glad to have less track to cover.

"Now here," Jones said, placing another tape into the VCR, "we have Adam entering the room with Ami and the other boy inside."

For a long time neither of them said a word, their lips didn't even move. Then Adam knelt down in front of Ami, and then there were words.

"We can't tell what he said, but we can get that from Ami soon enough," Jones remarked.

[Then comes the kicker] Bill thought, his eyes glued to the screen. He had heard the reports but never seen it in action-

Adam, captured perfectly on the tape, rolled up his sleeves, glanced at Ami once, for luck, then turned back to the nearly-comatose body and closed his eyes. It seemed to take a ridiculous amount of time for his hands to begin to glow red, and then he placed his hands directly onto the boy's head. On the tape Bill could see Adam's eyes moving back and forth rapidly beneath his eyelids, almost as rapidly as REM sleep, but then it seemed to increase in intensity. Ami's eyes grew wider.

Bill couldn't explain what happened next, but it was as if there was almost a flash of light, not quite. Now Adam was slumped down on the floor, the heart monitor clearly showed a steady heart rate, and Ami was standing over the prone body, horror written on her face. At that moment two of the General's men entered the room.

"All copies of this tape are mine," Bill said, again in his giving-orders voice. "No one hears or sees anything about this. Arrange for immediate transfer of Adam from this hospital to one run by the Agency, preferably close to WorldEx. Same for that boy in the other bed. Those children are to be surrounded at all times by those I've personally selected, no substitutions. We're changing hotels, too. Transfer all the clothes and baggage and everything to the Park, down the street. I want..."

**

Gradually everyone but Sarah drifted away, to the hospital, to see either Ami or Adam. Ordinarily their parents would've been angry at the inconvenience of moving, would've been packing their clothes slowly in protest, but now they were only hurried and silent. Everyone had seen the still white face of the boy that had been so vocal at their meeting, so charming, and they had realized yet again that their children weren't really children anymore.

**

*Adam- Adam, can you hear me? I know you're rattling around in there somewhere- speak to me!*

Megabyte placed a trembling hand on Adam's pale forehead, closed his eyes.

He was surrounded by darkness. There was weakness there too.

[It must have nearly killed him when he brought Jones back to life] Megabyte thought, realizing it for the first time. [Maybe that's why- maybe that used up all his power for a long time, and he needed a recharge- but maybe he wasn't recharged enough, and he put too much of himself into this-]

The heart monitor gave off three staccato beeps in quick procession, and then returned to the steady, frail rhythm that it had been in before. The nurse that came in to check on it was held back by the guard standing outside the door. Megabyte didn't even seem to register their altercation.

[If I try, will I end up the same way?] he asked himself.

~you cannot do this- you can surround him with love until he is strong enough to be with you again~

Megabyte sighed angrily. *But he is my friend, and I have a responsibility-* he tried to make the ship understand.

"Two wrongs don't make a right," General Damon said from the doorway.

Megabyte's eyes flew open. "Why couldn't it have been me?" he asked.

**

Lisa was about to close her eyes and teleport back to the hotel when she remembered that evil briefing from General Damon: "No teleporting inside the hospital, unless you want one of our doctors to see you and take you in for study. They will do it, and some of them have authority over me. I've held them back this long, but maybe not for much longer. Don't give me another excuse to be angry."

"I feel so awful-" Ami was near tears again.

"Don't, Ami. It's not your fault." Lisa sighed inwardly. She didn't want to blame Ami for what had happened. Adam had chosen to try and heal the boy, after all.

"But it is! He never would've done this if it wasn't for me." Ami didn't want to be convinced that she wasn't responsible.

"If you keep blaming yourself, it doesn't help him any. He needs us to be concerned about him, not trying to take back what happened."

"Maybe if I try-"

Lisa stopped Ami's train of thought with a hand. "General Damon forbid it, after Megabyte was about to try. He appreciates what we're trying to do but he thinks it's too dangerous. After all, Jonathan still has to wake up."

Ami sighed, looked over at the bed. She was afraid to place a single hand on him, for fear that he would vanish like a soap bubble. But the day had been trying enough- "Lisa, could you-"

"Sure," Lisa said, moving around beside the figure on the bed. Kevin poked his head around the doorway as Lisa opened her eyes again. "He should wake up soon."

"It worked for me, Ami," Kevin said, moving into the room. "Cheer up!"

Ami smiled for the first time in quite a while as Kevin put his arms around her in a little hug.

**

"The procedure is finished?" Leather-jacket man asked. His voice was tight.

The doctor nodded, sighed wearily as he stripped off his gloves. The latex seemed garishly white in the bright light of his surgical stage.

"And it went as expected?"

The doctor wondered why the man sounded so ridiculously thug-like. But then, the doctor hadn't been exposed to much more than old gangster movies. "Yes, green lights all the way down the line."

"Good. And now you know that you are ours."

Another cliché. The doctor nodded dismally even as he accepted the briefcase of money.

Around midnight Jade awoke. The bed beside her was empty. "Oh no, not again," she groaned. She tugged off her nightgown and put on her street clothes from earlier that day.

"Megabyte, Megabyte," she hummed under her breath as she walked the corridors of the hospital. One doctor stared very intently at her and began following, but she ditched him with a side stairway, cut around another floor and began walking in the correct direction again.

Very gently she turned the doorknob of the room Jonathan had been placed in. Ami had finally left after Lisa assured her that there was no way she couldn't tell if he'd woken up, since the two of them had so much connection.

"Where are you?" Jade whispered softly under her breath, leaving that room and turning to the next one. Adam's dimly lit figure was stiff and silent underneath the immaculate sheets, and Megabyte stood beside the bed. His eyes were closed, and Jade didn't dare reach out and read his mind.

"Where are you going to take him?" Jade said softly, in a tone that slipped right into his imaginings.

"The ship will heal him." Megabyte opened his eyes and stared into hers.

"He is weak. Teleporting might do him more harm than good." Jade wasn't sure, but she didn't really want to take a risk where any of them were involved. After all, teleportation was nothing but becoming energy and then becoming matter again, but who knew that Adam's molecules would retain enough cohesion to-- oh Lord, she sounded like a Trekkie.

"What other choice do we have?" Megabyte asked angrily. "He cannot die in this hospital, without any of us around him. He will not die on the way."

"If you feel so strongly about this, what about Jonathan?" Jade asked, gesturing to the other room. "He is more stable than Adam is. Why don't you take him?"

"Ami would-"

Jade folded her arms. "Ami would think it was the right thing to do right now. We shouldn't be sneaking about to do these things. Your father-"

"My _father_ says no teleporting in sight of the cameras. We must do it here, now, and let him explain it. He'll think up reasons why we can't possibly do this."

"And have you forgotten about Eve, too?" Jade raised an eyebrow.

Megabyte stared at her. "I'm surprised you would bring that up."

"Sarah's worried about her, and it seems irrational."

"So you want to go to the US without any guards at all, find this girl and bring her back, and just let Adam fend for himself, wherever he is?" Megabyte folded his own arms.

"He is stronger than any of us. Let him fight for himself." Jade wasn't sure she felt that way, but she had no doubt he would recover.

"All this, because Sarah's worried about her best friend." Megabyte shook his head.

Jade nodded, held out her hand. "We can always take Adam to the ship later, if your father says it's all right."

"Why do you always listen to my father?" Megabyte grumbled, following Jade's lead regardless.

"Because you don't," she said, walking towards an exit. Suddenly with a gasp she slid behind a corner, pulling Megabyte with her.

"What's wrong now?" Megabyte tried to peer around the corner.

"Shhh," Jade hissed, shoving him back and peering out herself to see the same doctor who had been trailing her earlier. "Where are the guards for Adam's room?"

"I don't see them."

"That doctor's heading this way. I don't think he's one of the ones your father assigned."

Before Jade could say another word, Megabyte had vanished in a flash of light.

**

Mentally Lisa recalled the picture of Eve's house that Megabyte had seen. She crossed her fingers and mentally wished that General Damon wouldn't notice she was missing. It wasn't like she was planning on being gone that long. She removed Eve from the picture, made sure no one was watching, and concentrated on going to that house, to right in front of it.

Lisa materialized and shot another glance around. No one seemed to be watching. She walked up the front steps and rang the bell.

"Hello?" the woman said as she answered the door. She looked as if she'd been crying, but not for too long. "Yes?"

"I'm here to see Eve," Lisa said slowly, still trying to get a feel for the place.

"I'm sorry, she's not here." That seemed to distract the woman, who held the door without seeming to intend on Lisa coming in.

"When will she be back?"

"I don't know, a month? I can't believe she got mixed up in all this-" Eve's mother blew her nose, motioned for Lisa to come in.

"Got mixed up in all of what?" Lisa asked, allowing herself to be guided to the couch.

"I don't know- after the USSIA people, there were the police people-"

[USSIA? Scientific Intelligence Agency? General Damon's people] Lisa thought, reassured.

"-who said that Eve was at a center, that they were sorry to tell me, that it would be a month or so before I could see her again-" Eve's mother visibly held back tears. "That's all I know. That's all they'd tell me."

After asking a few general questions and refusing the perfunctory cookies and lemonade, Lisa walked out of the house in a quandary. [Why is it we had to do something about her?] Lisa wondered. [She doesn't seem out of the ordinary, just a little on the freaky side.]

Lisa began to walk back to the alley she had teleported to when two men emerged from a long black car and began walking toward her, rather leisurely. She recognized the two of them and nodded.

"So what are y'all doing here?"

"Staking out the Blair home. What did you find out?" asked the larger of the two partners.

"There's no reason for you to be here. She's been taken by the local police." Lisa picked at a stray thread on her shirt as she spoke. She remembered one of the agents from the testing General Damon had asked them to do, early on.

"There's no way- we would've heard of that. Someone's been lying." The smaller man reached beneath his jacket to where his gun was holstered. Lisa finally remembered his name, Agent East.

Their conversation was interrupted by the screech of brakes on the road. A police car came around the curve and stopped in front of the Blair home. An apparently drugged girl was taken from the backseat, given a glass of something, and propped up as the threesome approached the door.

"Looks like I can take that little quote back now," Lisa murmured wryly, watching the scene in utter amazement.

**

*What's going on?* Jade thought frantically at Megabyte.

Megabyte closed the door and searched frantically for a way to lock it. Finding none, he melted the bolt out of panic.

[And not a second too late] Megabyte thought, admiring his handiwork as the doctor tried to open the door. "Nurse!" he heard.

*Jade, distract them somehow!*

There was an enormous crash in the hallway, followed by the sound of splintering glass. Then there were Jade's footsteps, and the cries of the doctor to hasten the nurses. "Get her!" he demanded.

"And why didn't I think of this before?" Megabyte asked himself. In his mind he reached out to the surveillance cameras and inserted a simple command: [Loop your data from an hour ago, random pattern, making sure most pixels interlock, until new command function appears.] Obediently the machines clicked and whirred, and then he reached into the computer system and deleted record of Adam's room for the past half hour, and then inserted footage from the half-hour a few hours before, with systems responding to his command, though in five hours they would default back to original programming. Dusting his hands off and proud of his handiwork, he left.

**

*Ami*

Ami bolted straight upward in bed and had to restrain herself severely from teleporting on the spot. Though she couldn't reply, she still smiled so hard she thought her face might crack from the strain.

**

Kevin walked out of the bathroom in a daze, staring blankly at the bed, dreaming already. Accidentally he walked toward the left-hand bed and crawled on top of the bulges in the blanket. As soon as he realized someone was supposed to be in that bed, he also realized that the lumps were too soft to be a human.

"Oh no, not again!" he said audibly.

**

There was a knock on General Damon's door.

"It's only ten o'clock, why couldn't they have at least waited until I'd had a little bit of sleep?" General Damon asked rhetorically. "Come on in, Jones."

"That's what happens when their home base is ten time zones away," Jones said. "Teenagers," he sighed and shook his balding head. "Won't ever listen to reason."

"Well, these kids have a way of finding a loophole that suits them," Bill said. "So who's gone now?"

"Well, in short, your son, Jade, and Lisa." Jones had that look on his face that Damon identified with disapproval.

"What d'you mean? I'm not gone," Megabyte said, walking down the corridor.

"Nor am I," Jade said. "What's all the fuss?"

**

"Where have you been?" Lisa asked Eve.

"Now, don't put too much of a strain on her," the man who had escorted her cautioned. "She's been through a rough couple of days."

"I don't care, I want to know where she was!" Eve's mother exclaimed.

"I don't think you're understanding the terms we put down at the beginning of this meeting," the man said.

"And I don't think you understand who has the authority here," said Agent Yates, the other of Damon's men. "She is under our jurisdiction now."

"Prove that she has the right to be." Lisa shuddered when she realized that the silent partner was Gloria, that android-like agent who had pursued her friends when they had first all "broken out."

Through all this argument over her, Eve seemed utterly gone. Her eyelids drooped down over her eyes and her blank stare surrounded the room without any hint of recognition.

"What makes you think you can come around here and boss us around?" Mr. Blair was asking the man angrily.

"We're here for your protection." The man seemed to be getting angry.

*Eve?* Lisa tried hesitantly.

One of Eve's eyebrows twitched, as if she couldn't quite remember how to respond to the summons. Lisa tried again.

*Eve?*

"What is it?" Eve asked groggily, aloud. All the adults in the room turned to regard her. "What is it? What is it?" she repeated aloud.

*You can hear me?* Lisa pathed.

"Yes, of course, why couldn't I?"

Gloria's gaze was set on Lisa while the man said, "She's hearing voices. That's a bad sign. We need to take her back to rehabilitation right away."

"She doesn't belong in rehab, she belongs with us," Lisa said. Yates shot her a warning glance.

"And how do you know this?" Dark-suited Agent inquired archly.

"Once the drugs you've pumped into her work their way out of her system," Lisa said bitingly, "maybe then these voices' you claim she's hearing will go away."

"And if they don't?" Dark-suited Agent inquired just as acidly. "Then you will have wasted this girl's life based on your one assumption. She has less risk if she comes back with us."

Agent East said calmly, "Enough. She no longer is yours. We take full responsibility for her treatment as to whether it succeeds or fails. Leave the premises."

"I don't think we're communicating," Dark-suited Agent said. He didn't seem to like the least bit of lost control. He motioned to Gloria, and she took hold of Eve's arm, in a grip that seemed deceptively loose.

"No, we're not," Lisa said. *Eve, listen to me. Don't say anything out loud-*

Something wasn't quite connecting in Eve's brain, due to the drugs. Her mouth opened and there was a tiny rush of air, and then her eyes turned toward Lisa.

Dark-suited Agent turned to Lisa. Lisa sensed that both he and Gloria knew what Eve's parents would be loath to admit; Eve was a telepath, and the voices' were Lisa's own telepathic voice. Her suspicions were confirmed at his next words. "Stop your meddling," he snarled.

*Eve! Get away from that woman!* Lisa cried mentally.

"Don't you think I would if I could?" Eve enunciated slowly.

**

"Have you located Lisa yet?" General Damon asked.

"No. She's not in the hospital, though." Jones was developing a symbiotic relationship with his cellular phone.

"All right. Bring Jade and Megabyte in." Damon's voice had taken on the disciplining-parent tone again.

Megabyte had hung his head, and Jade didn't look much brighter.

"All right. What's this I hear about the surveillance cameras at the hospital?" General Damon began.

"I don't know, I'm not one for eavesdropping." Megabyte sounded sullen.

"So you wouldn't know anything about the fact that the cameras have been looping data for the past twelve hours? Something's gone haywire, and there's no outer tampering." General Damon folded his arms.

"Um-" Megabyte said, meeting his father's gaze. "I might know something about it."

Damon tilted his head and looked over at the accomplice. "And you, Jade, do you know what equipment you knocked over? Do you want to know how much it costs?"

"Um, no sir, I'd rather not know. I sleep better not knowing how much money I owe," Jade said, twisting her hands. "But I promise we did it for a reason, Mr. Damon-"

"This had better be good," the General said, leaning back in his chair.

"I was visiting Adam," Megabyte began, after Jade glanced at him to begin. "And-"

"You wouldn't mean, perhaps, visiting Adam without telling a single guard where you were going? And not, perhaps, with the express intent of teleporting in full sight of the cameras?" Damon raised an eyebrow.

Megabyte's temper finally blew. "Look, Dad, he is my friend, and I'm entitled to do whatever I can for him. All those stupid rules you make up can't change what I feel, and you should know that."

Damon took that in silence, and then began again. "So you do admit that you tampered with the surveillance cameras? and Jade, you do admit that you pushed over one of the most expensive pieces of equipment in the entire hospital?"

Megabyte nodded dismally, while Jade blanched and said weakly, "Um, I'm not sure I want to admit to that until I have a lawyer present."

"Okay. If that's all you were there to do-" Damon began to rise from his chair.

"No, you didn't hear the rest of the story," Megabyte shot off, still angry. "We were leaving for the hallway when this doctor headed for Adam's room. I knew which ones you'd assigned, so I teleported in there and melted the door shut. And since those are two very bad things, things you don't want to have to get rid of,' I saw a way out and took it."

Damon settled back down again. "And we have no way of verifying that story, nor any way of seeing this evil doctor, because you've effectively erased the security tapes."

"That's not-" Megabyte began, then fell silent.

"Ah, yes, you see now, that it was very fully well your fault."

**

Kevin rubbed sleep from his eyes as Sarah sat down beside him. "You're Kevin, right?" she asked softly.

"Yep," Kevin said, putting his fists down. "And you're Sarah Miller. Nice to meet you."

After they had shaken hands, Sarah asked him softly, "Why are we here exactly?"

"Because Lisa's missing." Kevin stated that as simply as he would've told her the sky was blue.

"Well, can't we just teleport-" Sarah began hesitantly.

Kevin shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Normally yes we would. But now they're having fits over this cloning thing. Everything might be a trap, they think. So we're hemmed in like children here. Lisa's perfectly fine," Kevin went on to say, "but General Damon needs concrete proof.' As if a human being's not dependable enough." Kevin's chin sank down onto his hands.

**

"I've had enough of this," Mr. Blair snarled. "None of you have given me police ID, so I'm gonna call them now. And all four of you are _leaving_ with them. Got it? This young girl- can call a cab, whatever. Eve is going to the hospital."

"Sir," said Dark-suited Agent, while Gloria read his intentions and placed a hand on Mr. Blair's, effectively paralyzing his fingers.

*Eve!* Lisa cried out. *Hold on!*

Lisa reached out and took hold of Eve's arm. Eve's eyes opened a tad more, but otherwise she seemed unimpressed. Gloria's other hand reached for Eve's sleeve, trying to flick Lisa's fingers off.

Lisa took a deep breath and, digging her fingers into Eve's arm, teleported.

**

*So Jonathan _is_ better. So this wasn't for naught.* Adam finally got around to asking the question that had been bugging him.

~yes, he is returning more quickly~ the ship kythed back, reassuringly.

*Sleeping on the shelves is so much more easy, now, than sleeping on these soft hospital beds* Adam thought, racial memory telling him how Kevin's body had relaxed into the thin mattress for his brief stay in the hospital.

There was a silence, and then, *Why can I not come back?*

~there's barely enough of you living to be kything this way, much less running your body~ the ship chided.

*And if I could come inside you? And feel the healing?* Adam asked his questions with the wonder of a child.

~you would be running on borrowed energy for a while, just as Lisa was- and that borrowed energy might run out more quickly~

*But still- there is Eve-* Adam remembered.

~that is fine now- as well as can be said, now~

**

"Lisa, honey-" Mrs. Davis began.

"I'm _fine_," Lisa growled, willing herself to not become angry with her mother. Lord, she could use some blood sugar about now. All the adrenaline had sapped her clean. "But this girl needs some help-"

"Lisa!"

Lisa's brown eyes looked up in amazement to see a brown-haired boy come hurtling into the room to encase her in his arms. "And hi to you, Kev."

Sarah had responded almost as enthusiastically to her friend's arrival, Adam nonwithstanding. "Eve? Are you okay?"

"...caffeine," Sarah heard her mutter.

"It's fine. You need some sleep. We all do," Sarah remarked, seeing Kevin's sleep-rumpled hair, nearly standing on end.

General Damon, encased in the ubiquitous robe, came into the room, glanced around for a split second, and knew exactly what had happened. "Okay, Lisa. Some of my men were there. Who were they?"

"East and someone, I think, but Gloria and another henchman were there too. Hey Kev, I'm gonna stop breathing if you squeeze any harder," Lisa said.

"That's all right, we can just take you to the ship and get you all fixed up if that happens," Kevin remarked happily.

"The ship," Ami said from the doorway, her chocolate eyes wide. She spun on her heel and walked back to her room, probably to change.

"Oh, Lord. General Damon-" Lisa began, but he was on the cellphone, barking orders to the two agents left at the Blair home.

"What's all the ruckus in here? Kev, I could've read your mind from a mile away," Megabyte said, smiling from the doorway. His arm was wrapped around Jade's waist. "Hey, Lisa, I think you almost had my dad as worried as he gets about me."

*I think they've hooked back up,* Lisa thought. Kevin just smiled.

"...never wanna see another blond woman in my life... Lord, my stomach hurts..." Sarah listened to her friend's voice worriedly.

"Here, there are some Tums, and Pepto Bismol, and an aspirin," Sarah said, fetching them from the suitcase. She sat down beside Eve, who she had propped up against the other twin bed's headboard, her legs stretched out in front of her. "Oh wait, I'll get you some water."

"Don't think the Tums will do any good," Eve said. Her eyes were growing a bit less droopy, and she was nursing her stomach with wary hands. A little too much pressure made her suck in her breath as though the world was coming to an end.

"Drink this," Sarah demanded upon reentering the bedroom, handing her friend the glass of water and aspirin. Eve placed the pill on the back of her tongue and took a sip of the water. Something inside her resisted swallowing, though, until she finally pushed the pill back with such force that she nearly gagged. Tears came to her already irritated eyes, and she moaned softly.

"Are you all right?" Sarah asked, even in saying the words picturing herself as a mother hen.

"Fine, fine, just need a little sleep," Eve said, standing up slowly to pull the covers back.

**

[Have to get there soon- less time I waste, the better-] Ami thought, yanking the nightgown over her head to pull on a t-shirt, not knowing why she was bothering to put on her necklace. [Why not the earrings now] she thought. She gazed into the mirror, watching her hands shake as she tried to thread the fishhook through the hole in her ear.

"Ami Marie Jackson, I demand to know what the matter is with you."

The forgotten earring nearly dropped from her fingers as Ami's gaze turned toward the doorway. Her mother leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed.

"Nothing, mum," Ami said weakly, dread filling her stomach as her gaze dropped from her mother's.

"'Nothing?' That's what you told me last time, and look where it got you. Mixing with all these strange kids, nearly getting yourself killed. Is it Adam? Do you have _feelings_ for him?"

There was a silence that filled the room with a nameless dread as Ami looked everywhere but her mother's eyes. "No, nothing like that," Ami stammered, wishing she had enough guts to speak clearly whenever her mother had _that tone_ in her voice.

"But no, Ami. I heard you. I put Adam into this,' I heard you say. How? What has it to do with that boy, nearly swathed in those bandages? Or at least he was," her mother said, something near amazement in her voice.

"Mum, please," Ami said, feeling time slip away from her. She _needed_ to get to the hospital, no matter what kind of rules General Damon had made. Everything would be fine if she could only get there!

"No. There will be no buts,' no pleading. You are coming with me. We are going to have hot cocoa with the rest of these strange kids, and then you are going to sleep. Deal?" Mrs. Jackson said, trying to soften the words with a smile.

"Oh, mum," Ami sighed, making one last halfhearted attempt to string the earring through her ear. [Even that won't work right for me] she thought, taking one last glance at her already apprehensive eyes. Feeling guilty for doing so, she reached out.

*Adam, if you can hear me- if it's not too much to sense this thought- I'm sorry.*

**

[Warm milk does wonders] Megabyte thought, falling into his bed. He was stock still, though, as he thought [and Adam wasn't here for it.]

"Come now," Jade said. She emerged from the bathroom, where she had yet again been combing out her long hair. "No use dwelling on it. He'll be fine soon enough."

"Do you believe that?"

Jade's fingers were still on the light switch of the bathroom, and as she accidentally flipped it off there was no more light in the room. Only the streetlights to show her the dangerous glint in Megabyte's eyes as he asked that question.

"I don't know," Jade finally admitted, her hands outstretched before her to assure her that she wouldn't run into anything before she fell onto her bed. She crawled up until her head was near the pillow, then turned on her side and propped her head up with her elbow, fearing sleep was near. Her eyelids were trying desperately to give in to gravity.

"I know he'll recover; he's Adam," Megabyte said reluctantly, his eyes still lit by that streetlight. Here they were, propped up the same way, facing each other, alone in a darkened hotel room... Jade's lips were twisted in a wry grin.

"...but Ami's so hung up on Jonathan," Megabyte continued, and with little effort Jade forced her mind back to the conversation. "It really tore her up at first, you know, but then she was off about Jonathan again..." Megabyte's eyes met hers sharply. "Jade, are you listening?"

"Yeah, I'm here," Jade said, stifling a yawn. "But Ami's found her soul mate. She felt she _had_ to save him, no matter what the costs. And now she's shown us that she's still confident in that decision. I mean, five or six of us are crying over Adam, and here Ami is, the only one worried enough about Jonathan to care."

Megabyte was silent for a second. "You make us sound selfish."

"We _do_ have a little right to be, after all; we are without our leader." *And our most handsome guy,* Jade thought, knowing full well Megabyte would hear.

Megabyte shot her a wry smile, but in a fluid motion he had grabbed the pillow under his head and had sent it sailing at her. She ducked with utter incredulity, then grabbed her own and pulled herself up off the bed, rushing toward him.

"_This_ will teach you to hit a girl!" Jade shrieked madly.

"No, it'll teach _you_ to stop trying to bait me!" Megabyte shrank back a little, though. He was pretty sure his- girlfriend- had some Irish in her.

Kevin and Lisa had been trying to sleep in the next room, _trying_ being the operative word. They had come over with slight smirks, jokes about how _difficult_ being roomed with girlfriends and boyfriends could be.

"Look, guys," Kevin said, opening the door, only to be socked with an ill-tossed pillow.

Amazingly, all the parents slept through the banging on doors and muffled screams that floated down the hallway. General Damon came down the hall to the conference room in the morning, only to find crashed teenagers crammed into every corner. A throw pillow was curiously close to an overturned lamp, and Kevin's hair was more tossed than usual. One of the more caring of the hotel staff had tucked a blanket around each of them, including Jade and Megabyte, who were sleeping a tad closer than any other pair in the room. Even their newest addition, Eve, who had barely had two hours of sleep the night before, had apparently participated. She was lying on the couch, her feet propped up on the arm, her face propped up by a slowly sliding hand. Finally it dropped and she nearly fell off the couch.

"You'd barely believe they were the next stage of human evolution' now, would you?" asked a quiet voice.

Smiling, General Damon surveyed the room again with his wife. Kevin made a muffled sound in his sleep and turned slightly, a little closer to Lisa. Ami's head was directly where it would get the most damage if Eve fell off the couch. Sarah's hand was curled around the edge of the blanket that covered Jade and Megabyte.

"True," General Damon whispered. He could so easily imagine Adam in this picture, nestled in there between Sarah and Ami, but even now waking, making sure they were all okay. He was like that. He would've made sure that Kevin wasn't left out, that the throw pillows weren't hurled with too much force, that Ami didn't have such a desolate look on her face while she slept-

Bill's hand tightened its grip on the doorway. "We have to do something," he stated in a harsh whisper. "Anything."

**

*Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan-* Adam said over and over, like a little chant. He drummed mental fingers against mental air.

*Ami*

Almost so tiny he couldn't even hear it. Adam stopped the drumming and cocked a mental ear.

*Ami*

Persistent it was, and almost hopeless in its cries, as though it knew trying was futile, and reply too much to hope for.

*Jonathan!* Adam cried, trying to put a little more power into it. Accidentally, though, it went a tad farther than he'd aimed it for.

**

Ami groaned at feeling the hard floor beneath her back, and opened her eyes to find a peach hand floating not three inches away from her face, its nails like daggers. Stifling another groan, Ami slid away from it and sat up gingerly.

"That was a heck of a pillow fight," Megabyte commented in a stage whisper, sitting up and shaking his head vigorously. "Owwww, that hurt," he mumbled, slightly louder.

"I either need coffee or an actual _bed_," Jade commented, not even attempting to open her eyes.

"Are you sure you don't harbor some secret grudge toward me, Megabyte?" Ami asked, stretching her arms up over her head and stifling a tremendous yawn. "I swear I'm going to have bruises before this day is over."

Simultaneously, Eve fell off the couch and Sarah turned over, moaning softly.

"What was that?" Kevin asked, slightly loudly, shooting up in the bedcovers. His hair nearly stood on end.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep," Lisa said, groping around blindly, as she refused to open her eyes. She finally found the edge of Kevin's nightshirt and attempted to pull him back down to his pillow. She was nearly stymied when the resounding _thud_ of Megabyte's head hitting the floor alarmed Kevin again.

"He's going to get a concussion if he keeps doing that," Jade said, sitting up and finally opening her eyes. She rubbed sleep from them vigorously.

"I would give _anything_ for an aspirin right now," came Eve's voice, muffled by the fact that her face was pushed up against the arm of the couch. She turned over and moaned. "I thought hangovers were supposed to be bad."

"Don't believe we've met. Jade Weston," Jade said, proffering a hand to the girl. Eve eyed her outstretched palm warily, then shook it.

"Eve Blair. And the rest of these people- I know them, though I shouldn't." She shook her permed head and closed her eyes, too willing to fall asleep again.

"Yeah- I dreamt about chocolate brownies," Lisa commented to no one in particular, a blissful smile crossing her face.

"Did someone run over my head with a truck?" Megabyte asked from the floor.

A tickling danced across Ami's mind- and she pulled herself to her feet and raced from the room just as Sarah called out, "What time is it?"

"Time to go back to sleep..." Ami heard Eve reply.

**

Agents East and Yates of USSIA were leisurely waiting for the boarding call of their plane when Gloria and her partner, Dark-suited Agent, strode into the airport. East, short, stocky, blond, and rather belligerent, and Yates, taller, milder, and darker-haired, exchanged a glance, and East headed off.

"What are you doing here?" East began preemptorally.

"Going back home," Agent Kryder said. He was also known as Dark-suited Agent to those who hated him as much as East and Yates did. "I promise, you two are paranoid!"

"If I so much as see you anywhere around us when we arrive, we're taking both of you in." East had dealt with these people before.

"Let me introduce you to my partner. This is Gloria, Mr. ... East, is it?"

Agent East didn't allow a hint of fear to show in his eyes as they trailed upward- farther and farther- to meet the eyes of the extremely tall, extremely blond agent named Gloria.

"Charmed, I'm sure. You heard what I said," Agent East continued briskly, meeting Agent Kryder's eyes again.

"Can we go ahead and load the plane?" Mrs. Blair asked Agent Yates, worriedly.

"Sure, as soon as I make this call," Agent Yates said. He pulled open his cellphone. "General Damon- we have a slight situation..."

**

[If seven sleeping teenagers is a situation-] General Damon thought, then did a double take. [Oh wait-]

Megabyte was standing unsteadily and helping Jade up when he accidentally released her hand, sending her sprawling on the floor. "Ami, wait!" he said, then vanished.

"My Lord, not again," Jade sighed, then looked up at General Damon, her eyes pleading to be allowed to go.

**

"Ami-" Megabyte said as he rematerialized, his outburst cut off when he took in his surroundings. He was in a dark stairwell, a thin ribbon of light emerging from beneath the door to the hall. The door clanged against the metal doorway, and he reached out and pulled it open with little caution.

"Ami-" he said again, but all around him were orderlies and doctors and nurses, shouting orders and exclamations. He closed his eyes. *Ami!*

Again he was interrupted as a large doctor collided with him, pushing him up against the wall, the force making him hit the floor. He ignored the ringing in his head long enough for him to hear the doctor mutter, "Should've watched where he was going- teenagers..."

Megabyte pushed his anger away for the present and stood unsteadily again. [Man, I should've had some coffee like Jade said] he thought.

A man with a large and dangerous metal-cutting tool stood with a few of his fellow workmen in the middle of the hallway, staring at the door that Megabyte had welded shut and smoking a cigarette that a nurse was desperately begging him to stamp out. In the next doorway, barely noticeable behind one of the burly workmen, stood Ami.

"Ami," Megabyte said, reaching out for her arm, only to be swung around by a much larger hand on his shoulder. "I'm getting about sick of this-" Megabyte began, raising his eyes to meet those of the stranger.

"You think you are," said the same doctor he had been trying to guard Adam from. There wasn't any malicious intent in the doctor's eyes, but nor did he seem very benevolent. "Come with me, young man, or I'll report you to security, along with your young friend there." He nodded toward Ami.

"You're not gonna report either one of us," Megabyte said angrily, shrugging away from the man's heavy hand. "Ami, come on. We're going back to the hotel."

*he's awake oh my Lord* Ami's voice was breathless.

"_Ami_," Megabyte began again, even so not able to resist the urge to look at the boy Adam had so nearly given his life to save.

**

The girl's eyes tried to open, but as her eyelids pulled back from the tender surface of her eyes something burning and stinging flowed inside, something far different from the air. She closed her eyes again and tried to take a breath to hold. Ahh, now she could feel the warm liquid drench her lungs again. Warm and safe. She shifted in the near-zero liquid and settled back to sleep again.

[I must open my eyes! I must see what is happening!]

She tried struggling against that noisy, infuriating voice, but gave up finally. She steeled her teeth and jerked her eyes open, only to have them reflexively close again.

What was even more disconcerting than the fact that it had stung so, so badly-

all she had seen was blackness.

**

"You're coming with me," the doctor said again, roughly, pulling at Megabyte's arm.

The voice faded from Megabyte's consciousness. Now he knew what Jade had been talking about- Ami and Jonathan looked at each other like long-lost friends.

**begin 10/18**

It was so easy to just float, to just let his mind wander, and wander...

*Jonathan, Jonathan!*

There were two voices. Jonathan could hear the distinctness between them now. Both of them were important and cajoling, and he was drawn to them- but there was pain where they were, and he didn't want that again. Even though he felt that his entire body had been bathed in sour cream, he didn't think that the pain had decreased that much. It couldn't've, he could still remember screaming so vividly...

And then, almost like reflex, Jonathan's eyes snapped open. The light became brighter and brighter, and then relaxed as he blinked. In front of him was a girl he had never seen before, and though almost every angel he'd seen in his life had been white, he wondered if this girl was one.

Then the noise from the corridor caught his attention, and he could barely pull his gaze from her own to look at the doorway. A red-headed boy stood there, staring at him, and a doctor grasped the boy's arm as though he was a criminal. Why were they staring at him? Was something wrong with him-

He remembered again. He remembered the pain, the utter unbearable pain, and the voices, the screams, the coolness and then the shock of pain as he had felt hands on him, and then they had been gone, and then there had been no more pressure...

Jonathan opened his mouth and his deep, dark eyes stared back into Ami's, trying to reach out for something, anything, any hope or relief she could give him, but then the memory flooded back onto the surface of his mind-

*butterfly*

It was so weak, so tiny and frail, but when she heard it her face lit up so brightly, her smile seemed large enough to crack her face, and there was so much concern in her eyes-

He collapsed back down onto the pillow with a smile on his face.

**

One day the girl, the prototype, who had just recently learned to open her own eyes, was being fed the strung carrots and green beans; the next she was trying crackers; the next, the little chunks of hot dog and baked beans. Her eyes seemed to pierce everything and take it in, every day, now that she could see. And there were racial memories, too; some of them, the scientists, hadn't thought it possible, but now upon analysis of her mother's life, they could see where she was getting some of the mannerisms, some of the laughter. They hadn't thought it would be so like a child, though that was a prejudiced thought, held only by non-geneticists of any kind.

And then the clock began to slow down in its ticking, and the girl grew until she was so perfectly like the original, the girl from whom she had been cloned, that it could scare people. They weren't even really sure how they'd made the growth slow down, when it had been so slow in the first place...

All that was left, they had to make her hair curly somehow, and that was how she ended up in London that day.

**

*-where he is and where you are until the two meet*

the two of them met and Jade and Lisa appeared in the stairwell. Jade's face broke into a wide grin.

"What is it? Adam's not awake," Lisa said.

"No, but Ami's so happy right now-"

They turned the corridor and then Jade pulled them back. "Curse, same doctor as before, and he's got Megabyte."

"Maybe if we bring him back, General Damon won't be as mad at us," Lisa said, slightly sarcastically.

"That seems to be all we're good for around now, making General Damon mad, isn't it," Jade replied. She peeked around the corner again. "Let's just go and see what happens."

**

*he's awake enough now!* Ami thought.

"Ami, don't!" Megabyte cried out, but then she and Jonathan disappeared, leaving all the medical equipment and tubes and monitors to squeal in frustration. Megabyte shoved the doctor away with all the force he could muster and teleported, leaving the man startled behind him.

"Now's our time to disappear too, while it's good," Lisa said, tugging at Jade's sleeve.

"I want to go see Adam," Jade said stubbornly, a little put off that Megabyte would leave them both there, though he had no way of knowing they would come to rescue him at that moment.

There was a little color in Adam's face, though it was so pale, he could've blended in with the bedsheet underneath him. Lisa reached out and pushed a stray lock of hair from his forehead, then looked back at Jade, her gaze almost challenging the younger girl to say anything. Jade avoided the glance and stared down at him.

*Adam, Adam, speak to us, speak to me, tell us what you need to come out of this, we will give you anything, we need you-*

They didn't even feel it as Leather-jacketed Man came up behind them, and the sickly-sweet smell of chloroform began to seep into their noses. Adam's heart monitor went crazy, and no one was in the next room to hear, as Ami, Jonathan and Megabyte were currently at the ship.

And no one had even thought to look at Adam's waist, to see the large needle-puncture mark there.

**

~wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up~ the ship kythed urgently.

As Adam regained some semblance of consciousness he attempted to open his eyes, only to see the darkness again. He cursed silently, then sent out a silent query.

A paralyzing pain stretched around Adam's waist, and he wondered if somehow he had a stomach injury in conjunction with that ugly head pain he felt. Then something clicked. The blood in his veins turned to ice water, and an ugly feeling of helplessness and frustration spread over him.

And he knew it was only a matter of time before he was replaced, and he would never see any of them again.

**

General Damon cursed again, when he saw the look in Jones' eyes as he approached him. "Tell every single one of them that there is to be no teleportation, and that's final. Who's left, just Kevin and the two new girls?"

"Yes, just them."

**

Adam fought the darkness, like a wet blanket around him, tried to shove it away only to be stymied. He couldn't sense anyone anymore, he couldn't feel the essence of their minds, and it frightened him. He had to have confidence to feel them, and for now he had none. He could only feel a wordless, nameless terror, creeping over him, waiting for him to let his guard down.

**

The cloned girl with the newly-permed hair walked into the hospital. She knew that they would find her in a few minutes, but she took her time. No use tripping and falling or any of that rubbish when she could go carefully.

She peeked into rooms, sometimes closing her eyes in pain as she saw the patients, sometimes smiling. She reached one room and made a decision; she walked up to the boy on the bed and put her hands against his head.

As Adam's monitors went haywire and he opened his eyes, blinking against the bright light, the men found the girl and began to pull her away. Wordless communication stretched between Adam and the girl as he followed her with his eyes, his expression asking her questions. Most of them she couldn't answer; then, as he struck a nerve, her eyes widened, and then she was out of sight.

Adam slumped back onto the pillow, feeling a brief flash of pain in his abdomen before sliding off again into unconsciousness.

**

*Megabyte, Ami!*

Megabyte's eyes cleared. Ami was kneeling down beside Jonathan's prone form, and Megabyte felt the upsurge of power reeling through the ship as though it was an extension of his own body. A faint blue glow surrounded Jonathan's body, and there was a humming that would've driven any non-TP mad.

"Ami," Megabyte whispered. Seeing that body so still and quiet made him lower his voice. "Ami we shouldn't've done this-" He could barely believe he was saying the words aloud.

*Megabyte!* Kevin cried into Megabyte's mind.

*Kevin, it's all right, don't get your underwear all in a wad!*

Ami stilled both his voices, mental and physical, with a glance, and then bored her eyes into his soul. "This is the only way," she said. "And after this is done Adam can come and then everything will be fine." Her tone dared him to contradict her simple logic.

"Why Jonathan first?" Megabyte asked, coming over and looking down at Jonathan. A wing of red hair fell over Megabyte's eyes and he pushed it back.

Ami shrugged. "Someone had to be first."

*Your father has me at gunpoint, Megabyte, please answer me.*

Megabyte gave Ami a disgusted look and then turned his attention back. *Kevin- oh no oh no-*

Even as Megabyte's body crashed to the floor Ami could feel Kevin's mind reaching out and snaring him, and Megabyte's body vanished in a flash of light.

*'Ami, come back _now_,'* Ami heard Kevin's mind sending her General Damon's directive as he spoke it.

Ami stood next to Jonathan's prone body and placed a palm against his face. "You will be healed," she told him, as though trying to convince herself. "Everything will be all right, in the end." Her voice trembled with the force in which she said it, another prophesy that absolutely had to come true. She vanished, only to leave a tear, which splashed down upon his forehead.

**

"She's gone," Megabyte gasped as Kevin shook him awake. Tears glistened in his eyes but he pushed his teeth against his tongue and they didn't emerge.

*Jade do you hear me Jade please oh Lord what am I going to do*

Megabyte's eyes focussed again and he saw Kevin's worried face. "And Lisa's gone as well."

"Adam- we have to take Adam to the ship- let him- he has to wake up- help me find her- I don't- it doesn't matter what we do as long as she gets back-" Megabyte sounded near breaking.

General Damon regarded his son with a cross between frustration and fear. He had tried to fathom this before. It had escaped him. "Jade isn't the end of the world," he murmured, just to see what would happen.

Megabyte turned to him, and in a fit of anger lashed out, "No, she's not the end of the world, she is the world." One tear shimmered on his lower lashes before sliding down to the flushed skin of his face, and then he was burying his head in his hands. Not a sound emerged. Kevin stood, his gaze slowly traveling back and forth between his friend and General Damon, and the latter didn't like what he was seeing. Ami, upon seeing Megabyte in tears, nearly fell into them herself. Eve's face looked slightly pinched, as though that stomach problem was still affecting her, but the shock in her own face was unmistakable. Sarah dragged a hand through her hair.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know she meant that much to you," Damon said, his voice a whisper again. Megabyte's head twitched slightly at the sound of his father's voice, but the words seemed to echo hollowly in the room. Damon stood and left.

His wife, Megabyte's mother, stood just outside the door. "Let me go in," she said, something in her voice pleading yet something in her eyes accusing. He nodded slowly and she shoved the door open, walked into the room.

**

The feeling nagged Adam. He had to get up. He had to leave this bed and go help someone or something but it felt so good to just lie there and let the machines breathe for him and feed him and he could just lie there in a sleep so deep- just like Jonathan had felt.

Adam's brain pushed outward, like an atrophied muscle, kept still too long.

*Megabyte? Ami? Jade? Lisa? Kevin? Sarah? Eve? Jonathan?*

Adam was pleased he could remember them all, whispering in his mental voice.

**begin 11/18**

Megabyte's head finally lifted, and his mother was relieved. Finally, she thought, he's responding to the sound of my voice.

Actually, Megabyte had been trying to reach out for Jade and hadn't even known his mother was in the room. But now the tickling inside his head became Adam's voice. His head cocked reflexively. *Adam?*

*the damage has been done, go ahead and let's teleport him*

No one knew who had actually pathed the thought, but then Adam stood there, his hospital gown not quite thick enough for the air conditioning in the room. He slumped down on the couch, with something like a low moan emerging from his lips.

"Aspirin," Adam murmured.

Both of the newest trainee TPs,' as Megabyte referred to them, had their eyes set upon Adam. Eve had never seen something like distance teleportation done. Sarah wanted desperately to reach out and see whether Eve was thinking about Adam at all. An atom of jealousy formed inside her stomach. She watched Adam's movements hungrily.

Adam's brown eyes searched the room as Kevin went off for some aspirin, and they settled on Megabyte's mother. She smiled and moved over to the couch beside Adam. Lord, she and Bill had been his surrogate parents for how long now? Years, it seemed.

Adam smiled for a split second into her eyes, and then his lids slid down, almost too quickly. He squelched the moan of pain before it crossed his lips, but he couldn't stop himself from slumping down on the couch and curling slightly into the fetal position. "It hurts," he said, very softly, with so much control in his voice it hurt them physically.

"He's like me," Eve whispered, standing and staring at him. She had never seen him before, but now everything seemed to fall into place. "The pain- is it from right here?" Eve clutched her abdomen, and Adam nodded, gritting his teeth.

"But I saw you- at hospital- why isn't your hair straight?" Adam managed, then reached out with his mind. She felt the slightest brush of his mind against hers, something so personal she jerked back from him reflexively, but he had found what he needed to know. "You're not her. She was exactly like you. The clone that General Damon was fearing."

"Adam, we're having problems," Megabyte finally said, and Adam focussed on him and noted the red streaks on his face.

*Jade?* Adam asked knowingly.

Megabyte's nod was nearly imperceptible, and he stanched the tears ruthlessly. *Jade and Lisa are gone.*

All of them pretended not to notice the fear in Adam's eyes when Lisa's name was mentioned. Not that it had been a secret. Some- well, most- things can't be kept secret around Tomorrow People.

*And you and Jade are-* Adam began hesitantly.

*Connected* Megabyte supplied readily. *Somehow.*

*I can't think* came Adam's mental voice, apologetically. *Let me sleep for a while, and then-*

Megabyte watched Adam down the aspirin and curl up on the couch, Mrs. Damon rubbing Adam's back for a few seconds before she tugged one of the blankets up on the couch.

*Who's doing this to us?* Megabyte called out to the room, agony in his voice. *There can be no more of this. They have to be stopped, right now.*

**

For the first time the clone decided to play innocent. "He was only a boy in hospital, what was the harm-"

"Hush, girl," came the voice of the driver harshly, clipping her own as thoroughly as he would've with a slap. "You _knew_ you could not do that."

Across the distance separating them somehow the moments of birth matched, and Eve, almost like an identical twin, could hear her clone. But only for a second.

"What do you hold me for any longer? What is this delay?" the girl asked the driver angrily.

Eve turned with wide eyes to Sarah. "I... have a clone..."

Mrs. Damon's face turned deathly pale. "No, this can't be true."

Eve turned to her, her own face nearly so white. "I could hear her for a second- sense the way she felt- her thoughts- oh Lord- and Adam thought- she was me- she _is_ me- she will be me once everything- happens-"

*Eve what are you talking about you don't make any sense at all-* someone pathed to her.

"I can't explain it. I don't want to. I want to go to the ship. I want to be there by myself. No more of this." Eve settled onto the floor and began to rock back and forth rhythmically.

Ami walked into the room at that second, and Adam stirred slightly. "Jonathan is there, and we will all benefit for even being in there a second, please, Mrs. Damon, let us, please-"

Sarah and Eve with expressions of slight anticipation (for Eve had never been at the much-famed ship), Megabyte with still a rebellious tear on his lashes, Ami with an expression darker than midnight, and even Adam in his uneasy sleep, seemed to plead with her. "All right," she whispered. "As long as I can come with you. And Bill can find out about this. I wouldn't feel right any other way," she said, shifting her weight away from Adam so she could gently wake him.

**

At the moment that Eve's clone's voice carried to her, the same happened to Eve's clone. The blood in her veins expanded, threatening to choke her heart.

clone'

So that's what I am, the clone Eve thought to herself. A copy. An unwanted twin made years after the fact. I was not delivered. I am all they have taught me to be.

"What are you going to do to me?" clone Eve finally asked the dark man who drove the van. At least he didn't have the fake-gangster air some of the other scientists and henchmen had held around her. He was only in it for the money, and she knew as such. "You must have some plan for me. Otherwise I would be allowed to see sunlight more often, to be normal. Not everyone has this accelerated growth rate, like you said. You lied to-"

Her vocal cords froze as one of his hands flew off the steering wheel, threateningly close to her face. "Shut up," he said softly. "You are as expendable as the rest. You are a tool, that is all."

"So you'll just make another of me, should I fail, is that it?" clone Eve crossed her arms, her face flushing in anger. And not a little bit of suicidal feelings.

"Yes," he finally snapped at her, his patience at an end. "I have half a mind to go ahead and get rid of you. You are rather annoying."

"I'll save you the task," clone Eve said, straining to keep her voice at a speaking tone without betraying her feelings. In a fluid movement she grabbed the steering wheel from his hand and jerked with a not-so-steady movement.

**

Mrs. Damon started from the room after waking Adam, who sat up blearily. The teenagers' eyes followed her hopefully, until a sharp cry came from Eve.

"She's gone," came Eve's voice, palely. Adam's hand stopped from its rubbing sleep from his eye, and he stared at her with the beginnings of alarm. "No-"

"Stop her," Adam cried out as Eve pulled herself to her feet and tried to run from the room. "Don't let her near anything sharp."

"I can't live alone this way-" Eve whispered.

*I'm here, Eve. You aren't alone. You can exist without her. You did for this many years.* Sarah was trying to understand.

Eve turned around and stared at Sarah with barely masked anger in her eyes. But that anger was tempered with deep pain, and Adam recognized this too late. "You have _no_ idea how this feels! You haven't a clue about what it is to know your half and then find she's gone!"

*I do, Eve* came Adam's words, softly. *So does everyone in this room. Through you the pain is our own.*

*It is _my_ pain!* came Eve's shout now, almost greedy in its desperation, its anger. *You cannot take it- it is not yours-*

*I have lost those I cared about* Adam thought, coming within Eve's view. *You know this. You can feel the pain, let loose the floodgates.*

*Not here* thought Kevin desperately, his eyes wide in fear. *All espers in this hotel would go crazy.*

*On the island, then* thought Adam, staring at Eve as though they had made a life-or-death wager. *You will see that you have no monopoly on pain.*

When Mrs. Damon returned to the room Eve was slumped on the floor, her face reddened with anger and pain. Ami and Megabyte looked as though they had been supporting her until the last. Sarah's face was ashen, her hand methodically clutching and unclutching the arm of the couch. Kevin was staring at his hands, and Adam was sitting on the couch, moodily staring off into space.

"He said we could go, if we take him," Mrs. Damon finally said in a hushed whisper.

Wordlessly, all in the immediate group and security detail disappeared, leaving Jones behind to handle all questions.

**

Kryder and Gloria watched the Leather-jacketed Man pace, and neither made any nervous movements. "We saw the crash, sir," came Kryder's steady voice. He brushed back his black hair. His blue eyes were steady and calm. "No evidence of teleportation. Her remains were found later."

"So it is true." Leather-jacket Man stopped pacing. He looked up at the two agents. "Good. We have that of the leader. And the two girls, here. That should serve more than enough. Good. Leave me."

**

"It was- before."

The firelight flickered from the seven faces. The beach gave a splendid view of a starry night, and the security men had respected the privacy General Damon had requested. Now the Tomorrow People and Megabyte's parents formed a loose ring around the fire, eyes flickering nervously from face to face, in apprehension. Adam had not fallen through on his promise.

He spoke aloud, in a clear, steady voice, so the two Homo sapiens could hear his words. None of them had to ask what he meant by before.'

"Someone- important to me- died." Adam's gaze abruptly shifted to the sand, then back up. The leader persona was back in place. He looked around the island, though, with eyes still steeped in grief. "I was trying to help her. I wanted to help so much- I teleported. Here. But- I couldn't get back." A sob barely escaped his lips, and his dark eyes swam with tears that never fell. Not again. "I tried and tried, I was her only help, but the beacon called me back, again and again. And when I could finally leave, she was gone."

Ami leaned toward him, put a hand on his arm. "Adam, you didn't have to hold it in."

"But it's all right now," Adam said, his voice breaking slightly, his smile wavering. His eyes dark with pain.

"No, it's never been all right," Ami said, leaning over. "Here," she said, putting her arms around him and holding him tight. In her mind was the picture of an open hand, ready and waiting, should he accept the offer. But the picture was gently pushed away.

"Thank you," he said, looking at her as he pulled away, and in her mind she saw his burden upon his back, so much heavier than anything she had ever felt.

But now it was Ami's own turn. Her hand grasped the sand beside her, and she forcefully expelled the breath she couldn't remember holding. "I- guess," she said softly, glancing around. "My pain. It comes from- not knowing-" Ami felt a lump form in her throat, tried to force it back down. "I never knew my father," she finished. Her gaze finally settled on the fire. "My mother and he were married, but he left before I was born. In the schools- everyone else had two parents coming to the open houses. I- asked about it once." Ami shivered. "That was enough. He sent me a card- a day late for my sixteenth birthday." She smiled with the memory. "My mother must still know of him, somehow. But she refuses to let me know anything about it." She glanced up at Adam and Megabyte. "And then you told me these things- about telepathy, teleportation- I thought, maybe I can find him this way. Convince him to come back, somehow." She shook her head, shrugged lightly, forced a laugh. "But with everything- and my mother-" she shook her head again, let the sand draw through her fingers. "But for Jonathan and me, it will not be this way. No."

She exchanged that same watery grin with Adam, who hugged her in return.

**begin 12/18**

As Kevin next took his own deep breath, Megabyte couldn't help but be reminded of the small, dark-haired, frightened boy who had helped him teleport his father onto that wild moor. It was a memory that now seemed larger than life, into the realm of dreams, now that all the terror was over.

"Megabyte knows of mine, too well," Kevin began. He let out a slightly frustrated sigh. "I- no, my _parents_ didn't want this for me. I was too afraid to think of the things I could do, too young then to see that my parents meant well but were going about it the wrong way." His hands were clasped around his folded legs, and he swayed slightly back and forth. "I think my pain- my fear- stems from being afraid all this will disappear when I need it the most. So I never depended on it again, until now."

Sarah stared at a stick she twirled between her hands. Not once did she look up to meet the eyes of anyone in the circle. Her blond hair shone in the firelight. "Pain," she said softly, let out a bitter little laugh. "By all rights I should have no pain compared to any of you," she said, looking up to stare into the fire. "But I have my own little, selfish pain. I made it up for my own self so I could have something to compare to everyone else. I feel the pain of rejection, of solitude, of- making up an image of perfection and finding nothing that lives up to it. I have become, molded, and created my own pain. I'm not masochistic, though. Oh, and I forgot, the pain of becoming over-obsessed with anything, and the pain of relentless fear of egotism. Everything creates its own twisted little cycle to bring me down a little more." She smiled grimly. "And I also know- that I deserve none of this, none of the attention and none of the love, and yet I am too base and weak to admit that I need it."

Eve stared at her a moment, then said softly, "You never told me these things."

"You never asked, and I never would've offered." Sarah looked down at her loosely-curled hands.

"We'll get over this together," Eve whispered, holding out her arms and embracing Sarah for a few minutes. When she pulled away she felt all the eyes of the circle on her, and they could feel her embarrassment.

"I have a new pain tonight," Eve said. Her smile was bittersweet. "Of knowing that I had an identical twin, born too late, who considered herself unworthy to live after finding out her origins. Of knowing that she was a copy, and one not created at the behest of her parents. And I grieve for the part of myself, or my extension, having only known her five minutes of her short life. She was taken of me, taken of my cells as though she was my child, and yet she was only a mirror of myself, with all the changes known to be therein. And still she does not live. The sister I never had becomes the sister I knew for five minutes alone." She smiled again. "All pain seems- trite might be the word, trite now. As though it had no comparison."

Megabyte's mother smiled at seeing Sarah hug her friend in return, but her expression changed to pleasant confusion as the eyes of the group turned toward her. "Oh, no," she said, shaking her head gently.

"You _are_ in the circle," Adam pointed out.

She sighed. "I'll tell you what my fear stems from but not what my fear is," she said, looking at Adam for approval. He nodded and she proceeded.

"Megabyte's maternal great-grandmother was said to have "the gift," and in Irish blood the superstition runs deep. The gifts are so varied, though; my mother was said to have second sight, and I've had precognitions before. Seeing the future, like Kevin," Mrs. Damon said, looking at the little boy and nodding. "Precognition, in its own way, can be the worst trait to have. There is a point where the visions drop off, and you have to wonder, is that the point at which I die? There it is," she said, her voice dropping off somewhat nervously. "That is my fear. That is my pain. That the point at where the visions drop is my death, and that I should leave all of this undone."

"I will be a better father to Megabyte and Millie than my own father was to me," was all General Damon would say, his darkened eyes set into the fire and his mouth barely moving.

"My pain is my sneering inferiority, my lack of respect, my reluctance to show love, everything. The want to be like those markedly better than me," Megabyte said, glancing at Adam. "All these things. Everything and more. My connection to Jade, whether it exist or not. The- unreality of the things that happen to us. I mean, who else starts at the sound of the word marharba?'" They smiled. He tossed his red hair for a second before continuing. "And then, when Byron Lucifer stopped making music, that was extremely painful," he grinned.

Adam shook his head. "Painful to hear that excuse for-" Somehow his voice was still trembly, but he could focus on the words of his friend. Megabyte always knew how to lighten a situation.

Jim began walking over as Sarah buried her face against her knees. She tossed her hair back and looked over at General Damon. "Can we go in the ship?"

Eve appeared to perk up at that, but just then Jim reached their group. "General," he began. "Someone just went by the Culex warehouse. There's something going on in there."

"I'm going back to check it out," General Damon said, climbing to his feet. He brushed sand from his pants. "Megabyte?"

"Okay, then we're gonna go in the ship and see if it can tell us anything," Megabyte said, walking toward them. "Good luck."

Ami watched the three flashes of light vanish, and in another second Megabyte flowed back into the shape he had left behind. Adam, Kevin, Sarah and Eve had already begun climbing the sand toward the ship.

As they appeared inside Adam found a t-shirt and pair of denim shorts and ducked behind an alcove to change out of the barely-there hospital gown. Megabyte stared up at the chairs hanging from the core at the center of the ship. Kevin took a glass of juice from the replicator and drank it quickly. Sarah touched some of the symbols on the walls and jumped as they chimed. Ami was gently urging Jonathan awake. Eve slid into a cylinder-shaped pathway and just stretched out there, staring up at the smooth metal ceiling over her head.

Megabyte was running a hand over one of the seats as Adam emerged from the alcove, brushing back his brown hair with a tanned hand. Megabyte's blue eyes met Adam's dark ones.

"She's sent us a signal before," Megabyte said. "She wasn't even broken out then. D'you think she'll be able to do it again?"

Adam smiled. "We can't do anything but try," he said, swinging his body upward into one of the chairs. Megabyte followed, and their weight just about balanced. Kevin came in to see, and to assist in case anything went wrong.

Jonathan looked about as Ami finally woke him. "Where am I?" he said, sitting up. "This place-"

"It's not a dream any longer," Ami said, observing Jonathan carefully. She didn't want this to turn out bad, after all Adam and Megabyte were going through with Lisa and Jade missing. His skin (what of it she had seen) had been glowing a dusky blue just before he had regained consciousness. Already he was pulling at the bandages. Beneath them, his skin was scarred, but nearly healed.

"What happened to you?" Ami asked in a whisper.

Jonathan played with the edge of a torn bandage. "There was a fire," he finally sighed. "Me mum and sis were still in the house, and I went back in to bring them out. The fire- it was everywhere, and I could hear their screamin' over all the cracklin'- it- I don't even know if they're okay."

"I had a dream about you, that was how I found you in hospital," Ami said. "D'you remember?"

He stopped for a second, looked up at her. "All I remember- I wanted to stay inside somewhere, safe- somethin' came and took me apart from it, and then I saw you- somethin'-" He stopped and shook his head again. "I don't remember all that well."

*Jonathan, why can't you remember?* Ami's voice was sad.

He inhaled sharply at her. "Me mum," he said. "Me mum and sis. I have to see that they're okay."

"I'll go with you."

"How do we-" he looked around for a second, and shivered. "I feel as though I want to stay longer here, but I'd never forgive myself should she be callin' for me."

Just then Kevin hopped through a passageway and startled Jonathan. "I'll go get some of the men out there to go with you. Maybe you can find his mum and sis all right. We really need you here, Ami," Kevin said. "Jade and Lisa might be havin' problems gettin' through. Adam and Megabyte are only just now startin' the link."

"We'll be back as soon as we can," Ami said. She pictured the beach outside the ship and reached out for Jonathan's arm. Kevin followed her as all three of them disappeared.

Eve was beginning to feel a sharp pain lance through her stomach. Could it be a stomach virus? That was the only explanation. It couldn't be anything else. She wished that whatever it was would soon abate so she could fully enjoy where she was.

Eve reached out, stretching her arms fully upward and meeting the metal above her head with her hands. The cool solidity of it was reassuring. She considered taking a nap; after all, the pillow fight hadn't left her with much energy at all. Plus she felt embarrassed for the confession Adam had made because of her outburst. She had been angry, and hurt, and she didn't remember where she had been taken or why. The only link she had had with these people, Lisa, had been taken now, and she didn't feel extremely comfortable around the others. Maybe Sarah could tell her something about that cute brown-haired guy with the British accent.

"I dreamt about this place," Sarah said, having exhausted her play with the musical symbols. "Before I teleported."

Eve turned over and looked at her friend. Sarah was leaning against another wall, and her face was beginning to slough off the dead, sunburned skin. Eve remembered how she had told Mrs. Miller about the sunburned feeling.

"What's teleporting?" Eve asked. "The tickly feeling?"

"Yeah. It's what Ami and her boyfriend and Kevin just did. I think that's his name." Sarah dropped down to a sitting position on the sand-covered floor.

"I've seen these people before somewhere," Eve muttered. "I know I have."

"Maybe you dreamt about it, too." Sarah cupped her hand and a stream of sand fell from one cupped palm to the other.

"No, it wasn't a dream." Eve thought a minute, then shook her head. "It'll come to me later."

Sarah looked pensive for a second. "We've only got a month before school starts again. I- feel like I don't have enough time."

"For what?" Eve slid down out of the passageway and into a sitting position on the floor next to her friend.

"Everything. Figuring out whether this is a really good dream or not. Helping them find Lisa and Jade. Finding out about this place." Sarah gestured all around her, and shot her friend a sideways glance.

"I've heard that if they don't find a missing person within two weeks of their disappearance, they don't usually turn up," Eve said quietly. "But they've got plenty of time. And they're doing something in there to help."

"Yeah," Sarah said, somewhat hopefully, just as Adam and Megabyte slid through another passageway and stood before them. Adam looked severely disturbed and Megabyte looked as though he was about to cry.

"Where are Ami and Jonathan and Kevin?" Megabyte asked abruptly. He drew in a shaky breath.

"Ami's boyfriend was worried about his mother," Sarah spoke up. "They went to go look for her or something. They took some of the heavies with them."

Adam and Megabyte exchanged a glance. Both Eve and Sarah thought they heard whispering, but neither could be very sure. Megabyte nodded and closed his eyes for a few seconds, then vanished.

"Eve, what do you remember about when you were gone?" Adam asked. Sarah felt a pang of jealousy but squelched it hard. He was just desperately looking for his friend, maybe Eve could help somehow.

"Nothing, really," Eve said again, and Sarah felt a wave of desperation from Adam, almost instinctually. Then there was relief.

"I'm going to try something with you," Adam said. *It won't hurt. I promise.*

Eve looked around, then figured out where the voice was coming from. Earlier she'd been so distracted she hadn't noticed. "Oh my Lord," she breathed. "What-"

"We haven't much time," Adam said worriedly. He turned to Sarah. *Help me take her in the other room. You're gonna need a crash course in mind melding.*

**

"That was a freaking cold dead end," General Damon growled angrily.

"I wasn't sure, sir, and I didn't want for them to somehow escape with the children," Jim said, worriedly.

"Oh, it's not your fault, Jim," Damon said. "Get me Jones on the phone."

As Jones answered, Damon demanded, "Where is Masters being kept right now? Readily accessible?... All right, get him ready for an interrogation. Anyone else, too. You say Galt was captured too?... Yes. Right."

**

*You went somewhere.*

*Yes.* Eve's eyes were squinting into the bright blue sphere hovering between the three of them.

*Who took you?*

*Tall blond woman. Shorter dark-haired man. Said it was something about school.*

*What do you mean?*

**begin 13/18**

*Sarah and I are going to a residential high school for the last two years. I thought it was something about that. They mentioned school.* Eve wanted to twist her hands.

*Do you remember specifically what they said?* Adam's voice was nearly totally calm. Soothing. Sarah listened and the jealousy grew in the pit of her stomach.

Eve shook her head. *No. It's all fuzzy. I wanted to call my mom. They said she already knew. They got me in the car and then there was a needle and I fell asleep.*

*It's very important to remember where you went. Subconsciously, reach down there. Do you sense turns? Do you see through your eyelids somehow while they carry you into a building?*

[carry me]

Eve was high off the ground. Gloria's shoulder was grinding into her stomach. Duct tape across her mouth. Her hands were bound. Her hair was in her face, that was the most annoying thing because she couldn't reach up and brush it away.

The sky was brilliant blue in the square she could see. Tiny square. They had pulled into a parking garage and no-one could see what they were doing. Darkness. Dark brown. Shadows. There was lumber. The dark-haired moved the lumber and Gloria ducked down, but Eve's head still brushed the ceiling. The smell of the sea was heavy in the air. Gasoline oil. She was hungry. Where had they caught her? After Beth had left her, after the movie when she'd still been wandering around the mall? No, no, she'd gone home after that. She had wanted to call Sarah's mother. But now she wasn't at home. There was panic still knotting her stomach.

Now. Now. She had a bad taste in her mouth. She could still lightly feel the sunburn across her face, the sunburn that was Sarah's. She was worried about Sarah, but Sarah wasn't in trouble. No. Eve was in trouble.

Is she asleep?' A hushed, hurried voice. Eve couldn't tell the gender. Gloria nodded and Eve was in a chair.

I don't think she is,' the voice came again, and all the sudden there was a light in her face. Eve tried to keep her eyelids from compressing but the light was too bright. She heard a clucking sound and then a finger pried her eyelid up. Her pupil darted about, taking in the scene. Her iris was drenched in light and as her optical muscles readjusted she saw a face, blurry and indistinct, floating before her.

The finger released her eyelid and she closed her eyes quickly.

**

"Two of the kids have gone missing again." Damon's voice was tight with lack of sleep and anger.

"What business have I with any of it anymore?" Masters leaned back comfortably in his chair. He didn't have quite the arrogant air Damon had perceived as Masters had shoved a gun into his chest, on the loneliness of that moor, as Lady Mulvaney had threatened the life of his only son. Still, Damon knew he was grasping at straws.

"Where's Mulvaney?"

"I haven't been contacted by her. It's not useful to have an agent in prison." Masters set his mouth.

Damon steepled his fingers, took a breath. "Where did you keep Lisa and Adam after you abducted them?"

Masters sighed. "We've been over all this before," he said, irritably. "You've probably even had that troublesome leader' of theirs tell you this story a million times. It doesn't matter. We kept them in the van."

"What was Mulvaney going to do with them?" Damon's voice was growing tight again.

"You were there, you know," Masters said, tiredly. Just then there was a knock at the door. Damon gave Masters a glare and walked to the door.

"I came as soon as I got your message," the man at the door said. His accent was broad, and his cheeks were a tad more rosy than those of most mortals.

Damon sighed in relief. "You've read the transcripts, right?" The man nodded. "See if you can pull anything else out of this turncoat," Damon said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "He seems to hold a grudge against me."

Damon started walking down the hall after exchanging a nod with the prison guard and pulled out his cell phone. Jones told him the timeline for Galt's interview and what agents had been assigned.

"General-" Jones began.

"Jones, this had better be worth it." Damon checked his watch.

"Your son, sir. He's requesting that we send four agents down to the hospital. Something about the girl's friend's family or something." Jones sighed. Damon was under stress, but that was no excuse... though everyone knew that every agent assigned to a teleporter case got a hefty bonus after the fact. It was worth it, after all the mental anguish of keeping track of children who disappeared at the drop of a hat, or faster...

"Is he there with you?" Damon asked, knowing full well that Jones would never give him a straight explanation.

"Yes, sir..." Jones trailed off, and Megabyte picked up the phone. "Dad?"

"Whose family?" Damon was confused.

"The guy Ami was so upset about finally broke out and woke up. Jonathan. His family's in the hospital recovering from a house fire. He has a sister. We may already be too late." Megabyte's voice was rushed and worried.

"You don't mean, you think- our labs haven't fully discovered whether the mechanisms are genetic or partially environmental."

"I don't think you wanna take the chance that a clone of Jonathan's sister might be one of us." Megabyte was impatient.

After three seconds of thought, the General was at his car. He began barking orders at the agent in the passenger seat.

"Four agents to the hospital. Immediate transfer to the personal on-base hospital. I don't care about insurance or costs. Relieve whatever agents are guarding my son and his friends. None of those agents are to be outside the program. Make absolutely sure that my son and his friends are instructed not to teleport unless they take two briefed guards with them and it is directly to me. No other reason. And make sure Jones gets some coffee soon. He's sounding a little worn out."

**

*Megabyte, Ami, Kevin.* Adam's mental voice was worried.

*What's wrong?* they replied at once.

*We have a major, major problem. Something's really wrong with Eve's memories about her abduction.* The rushing and anguish had finally gotten to their leader.

*What do you mean?* Megabyte had never known any kind of meld within them to be untrustworthy.

*She remembers the face of someone who- could not be involved.*

*Who?*

Ami inhaled sharply as she saw the blurry face. *We'll be there right after we tell General Damon.*

*Hold on* Eve sent. *I remember something about triangulation using cell phones. Could they possibly do that?*

*Did you use a cell phone before they got you?* Adam began to see her idea.

*I think it was turned on.*

*I'm gonna tell Dad. Hold tight* Megabyte sent.

**

"The chick with the freaky friends? That guy in the red raincoat?" Megabyte asked, walking alongside Ami as they rushed to meet his father's agents.

"I never met that Red Rainwear person. I met Millicent, though." Ami sounded nearly panicked.

"Who?" Jonathan said. He had only agreed to escort them to the door of the WorldEx-branch hospital with their guards. His mother was only suffering from smoke inhalation, but his sister was worse off.

"It's far, far too much to explain," Ami said, looking about her for some place away from the video cameras. "Come on, all of you. Has General Damon given any specific place where we can meet him?"

"Yeah, his office. I think he might have some new information about cloning someone wanted to tell him about."

"Everyone hold hands," Megabyte commanded, and they all teleported. Jonathan backed away with the two agents left at the hospital and started back toward his sister's room.

**

"Millicent who?" Damon was sipping heavily from an insulated mug of coffee.

"Millicent F. Rutherford. She helped us with Rameses and everything that happened around then. She told us things. She helped us fight him. She and her friends, because she was gone for a time." Ami's accent was strong when she was upset.

"Gone where?" The General was pretty sure what synapses were left connected in his brain weren't quite functioning properly. He couldn't understand what Ami was saying to save his life.

"Adam knows but he doesn't talk about it that much." Megabyte sounded frightened.

"I take it it's a bad thing if even Adam doesn't talk about it." Damon finally put his mug down.

"It was really bad for him. Seems like every evil villain we encounter has it in for Adam." Megabyte tapped his foot impatiently.

"And exactly how did Eve see her face again?" Damon shifted back into interrogator mode.

"Gloria and that man in black took her," Megabyte said, and shuddered.

"I think she remembered the smell of the sea, and lumber," Ami continued.

"That doesn't make any sense, unless it was a shipping yard. Usually trees aren't kept near water, so they don't rot." General Damon paced around his office a few times. The agents standing at the door still looked around cautiously, sometimes whispering unobtrusively into a sleeve.

"What do you know about her?" he continued, not quite looking directly at them.

"She was one of us," Ami said.

"Could she have had any hidden agendas about meeting you? Could she want to clone you?" Damon met his son's eyes.

Megabyte looked down at his sneakers. "I honestly don't know," he replied. "I don't think so. Maybe if we merge Adam will know something more."

Damon nodded. "Then let's go back," he said.

Kevin looked around. "Just how many people do you think could fit into this mind merge? Or are we just going to get Eve and you two and Adam in it?"

Ami and Megabyte looked about blankly, and Damon was giving his agents verbal instructions. Two left, while the other two moved forward expectantly.

"Never mind," Kevin sighed. He felt a little neglected. No one seemed to listen to him anymore.

**

"Why is this upsetting you so much?" Eve looked at Adam curiously.

"Because what you saw doesn't make any sense, and I can't see a way you fabricated it," Adam replied. He tugged an earlobe. "Of course, maybe I was just interposing a pattern where there wasn't one. Do you remember anything else?"

Eve shook her head. "My stomach hurts, though."

"That's probably where they took the cells from." Adam looked up at the core of the ship again, where the seats see-sawed invitingly. "Wish Megabyte would hurry up," he muttered.

**

*Jonathan*

Jonathan looked up, startled. No-one was there. He looked back down at his sister's tiny hand, enclosed in his own. She certainly wasn't in any condition to be talking.

*Jonathan answer me* Ami pathed persistently.

*Ami?*

*All right, you can answer. Contact me this way if anything happens that we need to know about. Can you do that?* She knew she was condescending but she was in a hurry. She felt as bad as the rest about what had happened to Lisa and Jade, and wanted to help.

*Sure* he sighed back, felt the touch of her mind slip away, and was alone again.

**

Adam heard a noise. Kevin appeared in a flash of light.

"Where are Damon and Ami and Megabyte?" Adam demanded. His eyes instantly apologized to Kevin for snapping, and he raked a hand through his hair. They all needed a good night of sleep.

"Coming," Kevin said calmly. "He was just clearing up some stuff. Guards and the like."

"This is really upsetting," Adam said. He peered through another passageway. Eve's feet were visible on the end of one of the cylindrical passages, and Sarah had curled up on a corner of one of the shelves. Both had just started to breathe deeply.

"Like me," Kevin said softly.

"Only this time I hope no one gets nearly drowned in the sea and needs you to pull them out," Adam whispered back. "Not the most fitting end to a very trying day."

"It was me or no-one," Kevin said. "But then, if the ship had kept her out longer, I never would've been able to link with her and figure out where the two of you were."

"Kevin, have you been able to do that with anyone else?" Adam had a curious look on his face.

"Never tried, never needed to," Kevin replied.

**begin 14/18**

"How much time have you spent around Jade?" Adam asked, shooting Kevin a sideways glance.

"Adam-" Kevin said, irritated, until he realized what Adam was talking about. "Oh. I don't know, maybe enough."

"We tried to contact Lisa earlier. We thought that since she was one of the oldest, it would get through better. But you know about how Jade broke out," Adam said. Kevin nodded.

"What happened when you tried to contact her?" Kevin had never had actual trouble with contacting others, since he was so sensitive with it. Then again, he'd never been involved in something so important.

"Nothing," Adam said. He traced one of the symbols on the wall. "I think it's because they've already been cloned. But the clones have to be experiencing accelerated growth, or else Eve's clone wouldn't have looked so similar to her- and maybe our thoughtcasting didn't go through because there's a clone of me there."

"Why? What do you mean? How do you know?" Kevin asked. Adam pulled up the tail of his shirt to reveal a large bandage on his stomach, along with the ragged scarred shark bite.

"They're all over me," Adam sighed. "I think they were making sure they didn't use cancerous cells somehow. Doesn't make me feel especially good."

Kevin thought for a second. Adam was struck by how adult the boy had become, even if he was a little smaller than the rest of them. "If you had those samples taken from you then there has to be a spy in the hospital, Adam- but where else can we put Jonathan's sister and mother?"

Adam shook his head. "I don't know. There's too many things going on. I just want to get Megabyte and everyone here and start the merge. We don't have any time to waste."

"I'll contact Megabyte and tell him to tell his father about the spy," Kevin said, but just then he was aware of some presences outside the ship. Two were their own kind.

**

"Is there anything more about this Millicent character you can tell me, Adam?" General Damon asked.

Adam, Kevin, Ami, Megabyte, General Damon, and the agents all stood on the starlit beach. The driftwood used to make the earlier fire was all stamped out. Kevin let out a yawn, covered his mouth and glanced about to make sure no one had seen him.

"We think she was one of us," Adam said. "She and her friends helped us destroy Sam Rees, Rameses, whatever his name was. But we never discovered where they went after that little fiasco."

"Where do you think she could've gone?" Damon didn't know if their powers extended so far as to do that sort of thing.

Adam looked down at his feet. "There was a place where all the colors were wrong and there was a wind that kept going on forever and there were skeletons and lightning and pain and I couldn't get out of it by myself. Millicent was there. Ami and Megabyte brought us back."

"Is there any way that being there somehow warped her?" The General had had plenty of experience with agents gone bad after being in extremely stressful situations. But the last thing he needed was a warped adult Tomorrow Person.

Adam shook his head. "If it did, it wasn't immediately. She acted the same after she came back, if only a bit weak. It makes absolutely no sense for her to be involved in this."

"Does Millicent look anything like Lady Mulvaney?" Damon knew it was a long shot.

Adam closed his eyes and thought back to the blurry picture Eve had recalled. "Maybe if Lady Mulvaney gained some weight, looked nicer, hm. But still."

"If Eve learns how to teleport, can she take us back there? To where Gloria and that MIB took her?" Megabyte cut in.

"We'd need to start training her now," Adam said. "She's asleep."

"I'll go wake her," Ami volunteered, and vanished.

"Are you going to teach her right here?" General Damon asked.

"Yeah, sure. This is where we all learned," Adam said, looking about him at the familiar sand and tent.

"Our scientists really might like a look at this," General Damon said.

Adam closed his eyes, carefully shoving his anger into a deep well somewhere inside his brain. "Maybe later, but not this time," he said quietly. General Damon nodded and shoved his hands into his trenchcoat pockets, leaning slightly into the ocean breeze.

Ami appeared with Eve in her grasp. "I'm going to contact Jonathan for a little while," she said, meeting Adam's eyes. Everyone understood. They'd all been through it with Adam. Kevin made some excuse about going off to explore the island, and dragged an agent along with him. Megabyte said he'd monitor the core for any developments. Sarah was still asleep.

**

*Jonathan* Ami pathed, from her sitting position in a corner of the ship. If the ship could be said to have corners. At least the temperature was comfortable.

*Ami?* Even in a single word, Jonathan's accent was clear.

Ami smiled, made her voice hopeful. *How are they? Any better?*

*Mum's a smidge better. Rachal's respondin' slow to my touch. I'm worried bout her.* Ami saw through his eyes, saw a small girl whose skin was about the same color as her own, and Jonathan's hand grasping the tiny pale one. So this was Rachal. Ami hoped she could be friends with the girl. The last thing she wanted was the situation that seemed to crop up between Jade and Megabyte's sister Millie every time the whole group of them was over at his house.

*I really am sorry, Jonathan* Ami sent quietly. *I would help them if I could. Adam could but when he healed you it took so much out of him-*

*I understand. It's not my right to ask him to do it again.* Jonathan radiated frustration, though, in waves.

There was a short silence, then Ami sent, *We're tryin' to find Jade and Lisa again.*

*I would help if I could-- but I want to be here...*

Ami understood. Adam had told her about Megabyte's choice to voluntarily leave his father during the whole alien-smoke-creature thing. She'd almost regretted going to Australia and leaving them to handle the whole thing, but they'd pulled it off. She'd felt a little useless then, but then this had come up. Ami smiled.

*I understand. Don't stress about it. With so many minds here, I'm sure it's all right for you to be there with your family instead of surrounded by all these worried people.* Besides, leaping directly from just breaking out to mind merging was disconcerting, as Ami herself knew.

*Hope so,* Jonathan sent.

**

*Jade*

Megabyte was looking into a pool and the water was muddy and there was something beneath the surface that he wanted to reach out and grab but he had no arms. He bit his lip and tried to reach it somehow with his mind. But his mind wasn't enough.

*Lisa!*

A breeze slid across the water, upsetting it. Megabyte still had no arms. No voice. Nothing with which he could help them.

[At least I told her I loved her at least once] Megabyte thought, but that didn't seem to make him feel any better. And all that useless fighting over Eve didn't help any more.

Megabyte's mind slid upward until he could see out of his eyes again, out of his body. He was aware again of the calm and safety of the ship, enveloping him, trying to reassure him about it. He gently shrugged the touch away. He didn't want appeasement. He wanted action.

Sarah was still on a shelf, though now her body was draped over it and her hair nearly touched the floor. Ami was rocking back and forth in a corner. Megabyte had a theory about the rocking, that somehow it was related to either the rotation of the earth or the intensity of the thought of the rocker. Slowly Ami's movement drifted off to none, and she opened her eyes. Her gaze seemed almost locked on something in the distance, and then she was aware of where she was.

"Hey," Megabyte said quietly, willing Sarah not to wake up.

"Where's Kevin?" Ami asked, and stretched.

"Out exploring." Megabyte thought of something and smirked. "I haven't tried to contact either Eve or Adam. I'm sure they're up to their necks in it now."

"I can't believe your father didn't catch the hint to leave," Ami groaned. "It's such a mortifying experience, even if there's no one else there."

**

Eve surely would have agreed, had she heard Ami.

Both Eve and Adam stood on the beach, and the coolness of the breeze didn't help the fact that they were wearing sopping wet clothes. She'd just fallen into the sea for the fifth time and Adam had fished her out again for the fifth time.

This had happened to all of them, except maybe Lisa, who had an almost instinctive teleportational ability. Jade had spent a full Saturday morning at the beach, just trying to learn how to teleport on demand, and in the middle of it had tried to teleport home to get a swimsuit. It was ridiculous, to just stay in her sopping wet clothes. But she'd landed in the sea again. Adam laughed so hard he started crying at the expression on her face when she'd arrived at the shore again, and Jade glared at him until he took her back to her house. Megabyte had ribbed Jade about it for quite a while, but still... Megabyte's own experience with the wonder of self-teleportation had been a party of sorts. He didn't take it nearly so seriously.

*Okay. Okay. Breathe... Now stop controlling your breathing. Let it go. Be conscious of it but don't control it.* Adam sounded calmer than Eve felt.

This was a new tactic. Ami had to use it every time she tried to teleport. Her initiation' had been a little less grueling, though. Eve looked down and watched her chest rise and fall, but trying not to control it almost made the instinct worse.

*Okay* Eve sent back to him.

*It's like that. You know you want air to come in and go out. You know you want yourself to not be here anymore and to be in the ship again. You want to be in the ship. Stand perfectly still. Close your eyes.*

Adam's voice was incredibly patient for someone who'd rescued her five times from something he didn't even have the slightest problem with anymore. Eve closed her eyes. Standing perfectly still, she thought about the ship again, thought about being inside it and standing there and Sarah would be still asleep on the floor and Ami and Megabyte would be talking or just sitting there and then all the sudden her mind shifted and there she was

Adam followed her in a split second. *We have a winner* he sent.

Eve grinned as though her face would crack, but then frowned. She closed her eyes and stood perfectly still again, but Adam sensed her lack of confidence and sighed as she teleported back into the sea.

"This would almost be entertaining if I didn't feel so sleepy," Ami said, yawning.

Adam almost agreed until he remembered that he still had Sarah to take through it. Sarah, who was crushing on him, hard. Adam sighed. Maybe he could delegate that little responsibility...

"Hey, not me, man," Megabyte said, holding up his hands, palms toward Adam.

"But she's not crushing on you-- why does this have to be so embarrassing? I took Jade through it, please do this for me," Adam said, meeting Megabyte's eyes and giving him a rather evil grin.

"You still owe me for that vase," Megabyte reminded Adam. The red-headed boy launched himself into one of the core chairs and looked down at his friend. Even though they had glued the vase back together after their impromtu pillow fight, Damon had still been able to tell... *And all that ribbing about Jade, in front of my father, you traitor!*

*I didn't think it would cause any harm* Adam defended himself.

*Yeah, we all think that sometimes* Megabyte pathed. His mood grew decidedly dark.

Adam took a deep breath and teleported back to the beach.

**

Four a.m. The sun had just come up over the island and its rays greeted several sleeping teenagers and a few adults who wished they were asleep. Kevin and Ami had fallen asleep around midnight, and Eve at about one-thirty when they'd finally had three successful teleportations without landing in the sea. Sarah had slept through the night without any interruptions, and Adam had checked all of them before curling up on his shelf.

"I need some coffee or I'm gonna curl up right here on the beach," Jim said quietly to General Damon. Agent Tay leaned against a palm tree, while Agent Jacob was intently studying the stalk of the ship standing above the sand. At least, that was how it appeared until Damon noticed that Jacob's eyes were crossing.

"They're all inside the ship," Damon said aloud, reluctantly.

"Sir, that's okay with me as long as one of them wakes up long enough to take us to a 7-11."

"I remember Megabyte saying something about a manhole-"

**

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"

Adam jerked awake at the sound of a scream and something almost as hard as the sound of bone crunching against bone. He shoved his hair back as he raced toward the opening.

General Damon was sprawled on a pile of sand, invariably there for some kind of cushion to fall upon other than the floor. He looked very undignified and very confused.

"Did you need anything, or were you just exploring?" Adam asked quietly.

"My men- needed a lift back off the island," General Damon explained, hoisting himself upward to a standing posture. He looked about him in awe. The walls were muted green and covered with glyphs. He didn't remember much about ancient Egypt, but these symbols weren't walking people and birds, they were more incomprehensible than that. Rectangular windows let some dim light filter in. Teenagers were scattered through the area he could see, but so were circular tubes leading off in all directions. He remembered how Adam had come to him one day and reported that his son Megabyte was somewhere inside the ship.' Damon didn't know just how accurate that could be.

"Welcome," Adam said, again quietly as not to disturb anyone else. He raised his arms in invitation. The ship's greeting was toned down too, and Adam turned to stare at it along with General Damon. *I don't understand...* Adam directed toward the core.

"Is that the only way in?" General Damon interposed, still brushing the sand from his trousers. Next time he came here it would be in jeans, just like the first time he had come to the island, falling with Megabyte into the sea and laughing.

"Physically."

Damon met Adam's eyes for the first time in what seemed like years. Purple half-moons were dim under his eyes, and there was a kind of anger or pressure burning within.

"When was the last time you had a meal, Adam?" Damon shifted automatically into coddling-father mode.

Adam made an incoherent sound. "Don't remember." He brushed his hair back. When his eyes met those of Damon, he looked defensive.

Damon stared at Adam silently for a moment. "We'll get some for everyone. Eve especially needs breakfast after all that activity last night."

"I'll go leave a note," Adam said, turning around. His jaw was moving back and forth beneath his skin, and Damon couldn't figure out why.

**

In each case, it happened. Why?' The voice of the woman the others called Millicent was a little vague and blurred inside Eve's head, but rang there nonetheless.

We have no records. We have no way of knowing. All the research was destroyed.' A big-boned woman with blond curls and rather interesting eyeshadow softly informed Millicent of the situation.

Even so long ago. When it was still spontaneous. When we still were pure enough... all right.'

Eve, in her dream, saw the old woman's face crinkle slightly through her eyelids. But Rameses, oh, what he did... he knew he would set us back...' she continued. Through his selfishness. No matter now. Do a probe and release her. If they found out... I think they would be devastated. Maybe, in time, we can explain.'

**begin 15/18**

Millicent. Millicent's face. Millicent's voice. From before, when everything had been different.

Eve squeezed her eyes tight shut in her sleep and then drifted away from the half-surfaced memory into some dream inspired by her favorite TV show. Teleporting was so tiring...

**

"All of those children were cloned from the same organism."

"What are you saying?" The WorldEx agent, Stott, was alarmed, to say the least.

"Check the PCRs for yourself. Each is missing a fragment of chromosome 8, and in each case it is the paternal chromosome 8. Every child." Galt leaned back, nodding to himself.

Agent Stott's brow puckered, though. "Have you tested the population for the occurrence of that deletion? Missing a part of paternal chromosome 8?"

"No, but it's too much of a coincidence--"

"And how many of the kids did you have access to at one time? Lisa, Adam and Megabyte? More have been discovered since then. You tested less than half the current population."

Stott had been a member of the team, the only blond member, for quite a while, since Damon's son Megabyte had broken out' and displayed the qualities of the much-famed and much-sought Homo superiors. Damon hand-picked and personally trained the team of a hundred agents he used when dealing with anything related to his son and his son's friends.

At the beginning, when there had been four of the unusual children, there had been a week of testing undertaken by the agents and three scientists to determine the extent of the children's powers. Experimentation had been a complete failure. Adam had been a sullen authority-defying problem, and was reluctant to trust any adults after the whole mishap with Colonel Masters and Lady Mulvaney, despite his warm welcome to Megabyte's father on the island. Testing of Lisa had been sporadic, and all results had been sealed permanently when Mrs. Davis had applied for the Witness Protection Program. Though her application had failed, General Damon had no access at all to any of Lisa's medical or testing records. Kevin had been willing but was easily bored by the repetitive card-guessing, and scored perfectly on all such tests. Megabyte had taken a stand with Adam against the testing, much to the chagrin of his father. But that had been the beginning of a friendship between Megabyte and Adam that had proven unshakable and troublesome at the same time. Before, General Damon had been disapproving when Megabyte skipped school or was the victim of disciplinary action. Now he worried about whether the private tutor he had hired could be swayed to betray them both.

Initially blood had been drawn from the four of them. Lisa's was unavailable. Adam's had been contaminated and he refused to give any more. Kevin's had been unremarkable, at least on the most basic level, but he had developed new powers after the Culex antidote had been administered to him. Ruth's samples of his blood, though, had been destroyed when Dr. Poole had been kidnapped. Megabyte's blood had been taken and analyzed, but this was before they'd known what to look for, or even where to look.

Later, during Ami and Jade's testings, the scientists found that about half the genes determining body structure and function were changed at least slightly, and their brain cells contained a Taffel structure near the mitochondria. Taffel's only regret was that he could not receive a Nobel prize- all WorldEx research into the children was above top-secret confidential.

"Are you saying that there is no significant fact in that they are missing some of chromosome 8? Because if you--" Galt took on the injured-Brit tone. He crossed his arms.

"That's no basis for you to say that they were cloned at all, much less from the same organism. Unless you've cloned others. People without these abilities." Agent Stott glanced down at Galt's statement. "You don't site any suspicions in your previous statement."

"I'm not fool enough to tell you everything I know," Galt snarled. "Spy," he muttered under his breath.

"No?" Agent Stott murmured dangerously, leaning forward. He bored his blue eyes into Galt's brown ones. "Lady Mulvaney has finally been captured, my good man. No doubt you reported at least some of what you did to her. No doubt she kept some of it saved somewhere for future reference. All you're doing is making the punishment harder upon yourself. Right?"

"Who- what's Lady Mulvaney?" Galt's light chocolate face registered genuine confusion.

"Who did you report to?" Agent Stott said, regaining his stride admirably.

"You already know. Colonel Masters." Galt was still feeling around, trying to make sure he was on stable ground.

"Who reported to Lady Mulvaney. His boss. One of them, anyway. You know we already have Masters. And when you ain't got that much to hope for there isn't much keepin' your mouth shut. We can pry it out of you or him. Sure if you want to give your Colonel the chance to have early parole before you do, I'm not gonna stop you--"

Stott had been the agent tapped to interview Jeffries, aka Culex, after WorldEx tried to bring her in. He had witnessed and been impressed by Jones's ability to interrogate prisoners, but thought Damon's own skills in the area were lacking. That had been painfully evident as he had tried to interview Jade Weston, another of the kids, after she had discovered an alien pod. Stott knew how to get to criminals who had all day to think of ways to step around questions. He pushed his chair back and headed to the door. As he stepped outside he heard Galt say desperately, "Wait! Those kids aren't human! Do you hear? They aren't--"

"You know what to do," Agent Stott said quietly to the guard standing outside. He turned on his cell phone and punched in General Damon's number. The operator still informed him that the General was out of service. Stott wondered how long he'd be able to keep up this operation without any orders coming from anywhere. He could only interrogate and get no answers from these useless wastes of space for so long. And there was always the matter of the parents...

**

"All right," said General Damon. "We have plenty of bagels and donuts and everything else you could possibly want for breakfast- and your parents are all screaming to have you back. We're going to eat and then discuss game plan for the day." Damon was all too familiar with screaming parents, asking why their child needed to give blood to a group of faceless scientists, why the children had needed to spend five consecutive Saturdays inside a concrete-enclosed laboratory on the other side of London...

Megabyte was in awe of the massive red streak across his back. He had no memory of falling asleep in the core chair inside the ship, but there it was. Ami was still bleary-eyed but asking about whether Jonathan and his mother could come. Kevin was almost asleep again, curled up on the bright white sand. Eve looked a little better than she had, though her hair needed a good washing. Sarah was shooting glances at Adam, who was looking through General Damon's shoe.

"I'll grab something and head back here," Adam finally said.

*Come with us. We need you.* Ami's eyes were pleading.

*I just want to be here in case something happens*

Ami couldn't fault him for that but he was their leader, whether he admitted it or not. And she couldn't deny that even though both Jade and Lisa had been gone for a while, the more she thought about it the more confident she became that they were fine. There was no reason explaining it. Perhaps just the knowledge that Millicent was involved and would help them reassured her. Ami tried again.

*Adam if I have a bond with Jonathan then you certainly have a bond with all of us. Come with us. It isn't all that bad.*

Adam was about to reply when he suddenly understood some of what Ami was feeling. He nodded, and they all joined hands and teleported.

**

"All right, what was this about a chromosome 18 theory?"

Galt looked up as a younger agent settled himself into the chair so recently occupied by the government spy. "Pardon me? Where was the agent who was just here?"

"Just here? That was a day ago," the younger agent sneered. This one, Agent Burton, had dark hair and green eyes, and looked strikingly Italian. His accent was American, though. He was nowhere near the interrogator that Jones or Stott were, but he was on the way there. "And he had more important things to do than listen to screwball theories from a supposed teleporter-capturer' who can't even get his equipment to function correctly."

"Now you listen here--" Galt began, shaking his finger at the man sitting across the table.

"But that's not why we're here today," Burton interrupted roughly, startling Galt into silence. "The chromosome 18 thing."

"It's chromosome 8, the paternal portion," Galt said irritably.

"Whatever." Burton gestured freely with his hands. "So it had an eight in it somewhere. Get on with it."

Galt compressed his lips for a minute. "I want to speak to that other agent. You have _absolutely_ no respect for me, that's certainly clear. I demand--"

Burton's voice was soft, low. "Oh, so did you have respect for Lisa Davis's mother when you set out to kidnap her daughter? So you call respect making Lisa's life unbearably uncertain for the time when you conducted your bumbling experiments? You call respect when you threaten the _life_ of a man's only son by holding him over the railings of his own home, and leave the poor man defenseless to stop you? You call that respect? I'm sure you do. I'm sure you think that you deserve fair and soft treatment, that you should demand anything and receive it. Listen up. You chose to remove those children from their parents. They did not choose to live in fear for those days when their children were in your hands. They did not tell you that because of your personal hobby to capture teleporters in an excruciatingly painful way they would allow their children to be subjected to your experiments."

"What does it matter to me?" Galt asked after a pause.

"Whether we even choose to listen to the drivel you spout forth, in the hopes of giving us some coherent information and _perhaps_ allowing you out a bit early." Burton leaned back in his chair and glared steadily at the criminal sitting across from him.

"Oh, fine, I should've known this was what would happen if I ended up in a place like this," Galt said impatiently. "For starters, those children are genetically not human. So any cloning moratorium..."

**

"You caused this." Jack Miller sounded so sure of himself that General Damon cringed. "I thought you said something like this wouldn't happen if she went to this place.

"I can't believe you! I don't understand how you could've somehow forgotten' to tell us something this deep! And these kids," he continued, gesturing widely at them, "I don't care about what you say they can do. I'm sure it's some nice card trick that will please their little friends at parties. But whatever it is, it's completely downright despicable for you to pull them out and then allow them to be taken from you, cloned--"

Sarah's father looked like an overworked business executive. His suit was impeccable, and his tan came from years of visiting a country club. An expensive watch gleamed on his wrist, and his blond hair and green eyes were as dazzling as his unnaturally white smiles.

"Mr. Miller."

The nearly imperceptible buzz that had begun throughout the room after Sarah's father had begun his allegations stopped as Adam spoke quietly.

"What is it? From what I understand--" Even the sound of the man's voice set Adam's teeth on edge. He forced himself to keep going.

"Mr. Miller, do you allow your daughter to have a car? Bike? Anything with wheels?" Adam put on his most responsible expression. He feared that only a direct display of power would get through to the man, but Adam didn't want to resort to that.

"What on Earth does this have to do with--"

"Just answer the question."

"Sarah has her own car, yes." Miller sounded exasperated. His face was tinged red and Sarah had buried her own face in her hands. She looked embarrassed to be in the room.

"And I guess she has the keys to it?" Adam asked.

"Yes, she does, what are you getting at?"

Adam sighed. Mrs. Jackson had been this way. So had Frank Wilson, Kevin's father, and Mrs. Davis. Jade's mother had been used to her daughter's screwball theories about the paranormal and linked them to her daughter's sudden ability to do the things she had dreamt of. General Damon had been forced to confront it head-on and deal with it. Adam had no idea how his parents would react, should they ever find out... "If you give her car keys and a car and then tell her she can't use them you're contradicting yourself. Sarah has the ability to do things. We all do. You are the parents who gave us life and are now trying to deprive us of a part of it." Adam fully believed what he said to Miller, now. After years of trying to convince adults that their children weren't just academically gifted' or weird,' he'd finally been forced to come to terms with his view of what they were.

Miller sneered, barely noticing Adam at all. "Your ability' to guess cards doesn't--"

Adam closed his eyes. Ami sensed just how deeply his anger was reaching. The tendrils of his rage and fear were stretching out like ink in water, and would reach everything within him just as insidiously. But he hadn't been this way before. Was this really a sign of maturity? Was it just the strain he'd had to bear all these years, helping all of them and dealing with all the fights between them?

Suddenly Adam teleported. Ami felt something sigh inside her. Maybe now Miller would listen. Ami's own mother had been almost as bad, at the beginning before everything had been straightened out. To a point, really. A lot of Ami's after-school activities' were spent at the ship.

*Adam* all of them thought, worried. Megabyte seemed a little at the end of his rope, after their attempts the day before had brought them nil. Eve's voice was still a little weak compared to theirs, but was there. At least her parents hadn't started a rather embarrassing fight over something she herself hadn't worked out and understood yet.

Miller looked about. "Where did he go? Sneaking out of the room just like a punk?"

"Daddy," Sarah moaned, raising her head. "Don't you see you're making it worse?"

"I don't understand why--"

Adam appeared just then, right within Mr. Miller's line of vision. For a second the man blinked, then shook his head.

"Too much sunlight--" he began to rationalize.

"You can watch your daughter do it, then," Adam said. His voice was slightly tightened. Ami was worried. "The rest of us, too. We could even make you vanish into thin air, Mr. Miller, just to make you understand that we are _different_ than you and that your ignorance doesn't mean we need to change for you. We are who we are and you can either accept or refuse to believe that she will stay this way by her choice. Yes, she has a choice, but it's not yours to make for her."

Miller was silent a moment. "Sarah, we're leaving." His own voice was tight.

"I'm-" Sarah paused and took a breath. "I'm not leaving."

"Yes you are." His voice was unbearably hard. Sarah felt like cringing or perhaps just running to him and apologizing until he deemed her worthy to be his daughter again. "Sarah we are going home because this is pure insanity. None of this is real. All these people-" he gestured about him- "something's wrong, they're unstable. You don't need to be exposed to this."

"Daddy," Sarah said, and then teleported. Right before his eyes. She appeared a second later behind him.

"Daddy please understand," she said. She was on the verge of tears. "Daddy this is where I belong."

"Sarah your life is not yours until you are eighteen years old. Do you hear me, young lady? Do you understand?" Even though his words were somewhat disjoined and nonsensical, she could still hear the hardness beneath them. Her father's jaw was moving and there was that very dangerous low tone that let her know there was going to be a great price to pay for whatever she decided to do now. She was too deep for anything less.

"How can you say it's not her life?"

Mrs. Jackson, amazingly, was on her feet, with that angry-mother look on her face. "There are kids in America today who take their life in their hands and decide to kill people. Eleven-year-olds. They know what they're doing. They know that to take life is wrong, and yet they do it anyway. Even if they're not taught properly that's still someone's fault. Yet here you are saying that because she's tryin' to do something _right_ you want to jerk her away? These strange kids' have done wonders for my Ami, and for some of these other kids here, and you're dismissin' it like some kid's prank. She is _sixteen!_ All these horizons try to open for her and you're shovin' it away like a bad gift!"

Miller paused a second. "Sarah, you're coming with me right now."

"No I'm not Daddy." A tear had finally broken from her eye and was sliding down her face. Her lips were tight pressed together.

"I don't think you understand," he said, slowly. He came over and took her arm in a death grip. "We are leaving."

General Damon had absolutely no right to do anything. All the parents had volunteered to come to the conference, and Miller had every right to take his daughter away if he wanted to. She was, after all, only sixteen.

Just like Jade would be, if they ever found her again.

**begin 16/18**

Mrs. Miller stood and gave her husband a look. "Jack," she said. "At least give yourself some time to think it over."

Incredibly, he seemed to listen to her. He removed his hand and Sarah rubbed her arm, which was already beginning to redden. "All right," he said, softly.

**

Ami felt it first, not surprisingly. She had been the one so drawn to Millicent before, she had known when Millicent wanted to meet her before. Now she knew it again.

They were at a large conference table, swathed in two paper tablecloths. Megabyte and Kevin were fighting over a twisty pastry-looking thing, and Sarah and Eve were talking about the strange experience of teleporting. Ami noticed a little jealousy on Sarah's part, but chose to ignore it. They couldn't spend all their lives getting involved in each other's. Adam discussed game plan with General Damon. Finally he was starting to get a little color back, and that anger was beginning to recede. She had almost resolved to talk to him about it when something like a little stopwatch went off in her head. Just like last time. The obelisk-needle appeared inside her mind. The sun was just rising over the river and a few scattered people were nearby, and there was Millicent standing there, just as before, smiling.

You'll know when, Ami-' she could almost hear it again.

*Adam*

All the teenagers at the table stopped and looked over at Ami. "It's Millicent," she said aloud.

"What? What's happening?" Damon asked.

"Millicent. Her. She's calling again." Ami stood and looked around, and Adam nodded his head.

"I feel it too." He stood as well.

"Wait a minute," Damon said, standing. "Could this be a trap?"

"Not Millicent," Megabyte protested. "I mean, she was a freak, but not like that. I think she was one of us, and we can tell when we're lying to each other. I don't sense that."

"But doesn't it work kind of on the same theory that makes lie detectors useless? If she believes what she's telling you, doesn't that make it moot?" General Damon looked a bit tired.

"Won't know till we go there," Kevin said, full of energy.

"Does she want you all to go to her?" Damon sounded more and more wary by the second.

"Yes, and you too, and a few of the men if you like," Adam said, sounding a little entranced. He came out of it and looked straight at General Damon. "Well?"

**

East and Yates showed up just as the children about to begin the mass exodus, and had to be debriefed. They were also the agents most surprised when the world shifted from the conference table, piled with breakfast food and crumbs, to a concrete flat overlooking a river, just before Cleopatra's needle.

"Millicent," Ami said, and walked to her. They hugged for a second, and Millicent released Ami with a smile.

"Now we're not all in the flurry we had to be in for so long," Millicent beamed. "We've time to just be now."

"You do know why we're here," Adam stepped forward and said firmly, quietly.

"Yes, yes," Millicent said, looking from him to Damon. She stepped forward. "Millicent F. Rutherford," she said, extending a hand.

"Bill Damon," Megabyte's father replied. "Charmed, I'm sure. I'm also pretty sure you know what I want to ask you about all this."

"Yes," said Millicent, but she looked distracted. "Kevin," she said, looking at the little boy, who stepped forward. "You weren't here to help us fight the evil."

"On holiday, I'm afraid," Kevin said, bashfully. "But I'm all in for fighting evil whenever I can. Yes, oh yes."

"I'm sure Megabyte and Ami and Adam told you all about what happened, before I disappeared," Millicent said. She turned and looked Damon in the eye. "There are new dangers. There always are. And we shall fight them again."

"Let's sit down somewhere," Adam suggested. "And make a pot of coffee. Don't believe this is going to be a walk in the park."

**

"What is the evil you were talking about?" Adam sounded apprehensive. Rameses had been as scary, if not more than, the green cigar-smoke aliens who had taken over Megabyte's father not too long ago. If Millicent was back, did it mean her new quest was as serious?

"There is- something that I have not told you. About our natures."

Megabyte leaned back in his chair, satisfied. So it was as they had thought: she was a Tomorrow Person.

"General Damon, you know that we are not human," Millicent directed at him. "Your experiments on these children concluded that."

"Yes," Damon said reluctantly. "The magnitude of change in the DNA sequences was so radical, they are now classified as a new race. We still aren't clear on how the Homo sapien parents give rise to Homo superior children, though."

"We don't know that either," Millicent said. "But each of these children, around this table, is either an original or a clone."

Adam buried his face in his hands, and Eve turned white. Damon shifted forward in his chair. "But- they can sense lies-"

"At conception or soon afterward, the single organism becomes twins. There has been no exception that we have found, after we had the medical equipment to detect such a condition. In some cases the twin is not an esper of any sort; in most cases, the twin degenerates. We believe, based on this fact, that somehow one of the developing children must steal' base pairs and genes from the other. It's only in the freak cases that the normal' children actually come out okay. In most cases the second twin is an arrested-growth bundle of cells. You did not steal your powers from your twins," Millicent addressed the children.

"So we have more genes?" Megabyte looked a little confused.

"Yes. Some people people develop diseases or powers from extra genes. God, or nature for some, has blessed you with the better of the two."

"All right," Adam said. He looked less devastated. "Millicent, why does Eve remember your face as that of her kidnapper?"

Millicent sighed. "It's a very long story."

"We have the time." General Damon leaned back in his chair again.

The older woman sighed again. "Bad men came upon the knowledge that you were cloned. Some people are suspected to have a predisposition to cloning, as though their genes were more amenable to the concept. Twins are perfect examples of this, and all of you are twins. They knew of the powers you had. They wanted the money other evil ones have wanted. So they stole your cells and began the process."

"How many of us have been cloned? Why do they remember you? Answer the question, please!" Megabyte sounded as though he was on the end of his short rope.

"Cells were taken from Adam, a few from Jonathan, Eve, and of course Jade and Lisa."

"Do you know where they are?" Adam looked very disturbed again.

"Adam, they cannot be cloned. You cannot be cloned."

"But-" Eve exclaimed. Millicent held up her hand.

"Eve, your twin was delivered and taken by someone within the project, somehow. But this has been going on for centuries, you must understand. True witches were kept in a little room in the castle, constantly pregnant, in the hopes that she might give birth to a child able to predict battles and score victory for the king. Most of her other normal offspring were killed. But these children occurred once in every ten, you must understand, and since they were not truly Homo superior, often they did not survive. Claefa in County Kent up in Ireland had the genetic line and gave birth to at least three pure children. No one knows what happened after that, to her or her children."

"So clones of Jade and Lisa are not viable." That was all Adam could think about.

"And clones of Jonathan." Ami was twisting fabric between her clenched fists.

"We thought that."

"What do you mean, you thought that?" General Damon sounded nearly as angry. "They are viable?"

"In nature, there are never Homo superior twins," Millicent tried to explain. "What they did is not natural. There is another organism identical to Adam who is living right now. He has the powers. This is never supposed to happen. This is the evil. Their personalities are eerily similar. Adam only hears your mental voices at half the power you send them. The other half goes to his clone. Adam has headaches most of the time now, as does his clone, because of the presence of the other. Instinctually and functionally, the two of you cannot coexist on the same planet."

"Why?" Kevin was uneasily interested.

"Normal twins are a failed Homo superior. Triplets are a failed Homo superior. Multiple births higher than that almost never happen in nature. It's redundant to have a twin to a Homo superior. A whole facet of all of your identities is tied up in those extra genes. Each of you gives off a genetically-determined signal that identifies you to the others. Adam's signal was usurped, and so was Eve's for the short time her clone-twin lived. Only when the clone was kept under sedation were you able to ignore them."

"That sedative is a way to control us," Adam commented rhetorically, obviously. "But Ami and Megabyte sensed me when I was under sedation."

"It was the only way," Millicent said. "But with General Damon's help, we can go in there and stop them."

"What were they going to do with the clones?" Megabyte was remembering the B-movies that marked his American childhood.

"Convince them to do things that you had refused to do."

"That doesn't sound very definite." Adam was moody again.

"As an alternative, they had decided that if they could not have telepaths in their possession, nor would their enemies." Millicent's face seemed set in stone.

"Did they ever plan to replace us with our clones?" Adam met Millicent's eyes directly. The older woman's eyes shifted away.

"I'm not sure, but nothing was beyond their plans at one time."

Adam shoved his chair back and stood. "I'm going out for some air."

**

Millicent and the whole group, parents and children, had convened at another nearby hotel. Adam actually left the hotel and was sitting on the curb in the parking lot. Jack Miller and Damon had followed the young man outside and Miller was the first to speak.

"She's lying."

Adam's face had been buried in his steepled fingers. Now he looked up at the sound of Jack Miller's voice. Adam's dark eyes met Jack's green ones.

"What do you mean." Adam sounded tired. General Damon wondered if he had eaten any breakfast at all.

"She said- that woman, whatever her name was- she said that Eve had a twin delivered, and that there was no instance of two of your kind being twins. Nothing like that happens!"

Adam looked up again and into Miller's eyes. Miller felt a brushing at the edge of his consciousness, and Adam blinked and the feeling was gone. Adam sensed in that brief touch that Miller would probably be able to deal rationally with his daughter, after he had somehow reconciled himself to reality.

"I don't know what to tell you anymore," Adam finally said. "General Damon, I would have trusted Millicent with my life before this began. Sarah's father has had more experience in whether people are telling the truth."

"I thought you could tell," Damon said, confused.

"I thought I could too." Adam rubbed his face wearily. "She was blocking me. We've nowhere near the experience she has, and I could only break through if I wanted her to think I didn't trust her. I don't know what to believe anymore."

"Did any of what she said ring as instinctually true?" the General asked.

Adam was silent for a moment. "I couldn't tell you," he said. "I don't suppose anyone remembers any ultrasounds done on any of us before we were born... we don't even know if ultrasounds affect us in any way. Perhaps even doing an ultrasound would result in a normal child."

"Could she be an impostor?" Miller finally asked the important question.

Adam didn't hear the answer. Suddenly he was sucked into the teleportation feeling, the tickling, and when he was solid matter again he was surrounded by darkness.

**begin 17/18**

General Damon ran back into the hotel to the conference room, and, to his horror, was greeted with the confused faces of the parents. Millicent was gone, and so were the children. All of them.

Under his breath, Damon directed Agent Nguyen to go back to WorldEx and put the emergency plan into action. Since the beginning, General Damon had known something like this would happen one day, and was always one to be prepared.

**

Dark. Everything was dark.

Voices swam in Kevin's head. He had always been the sensitive one. Sometimes he could only discern the gender of the telepath, but there were so many voices, so many...

*Was she a clone?*

*How did she know what they were doing so well? Was she a part?*

*Does she really know where Lisa and Jade are?*

*Are they okay?*

*Why couldn't I sense her? Why didn't she answer me telepathically?*

*STOP* Kevin put his hands over his ears and pathed loudly. *too many voices here*

The whole exchange had taken a few nanoseconds, and Kevin suddenly felt the presence of a teleportation. One less mind was participating in the cacophony of voices, and he felt a little relief seep in.

*I can't sense the ship*

That was Adam's voice. Kevin was relieved at the sound of it until he heard the content. Adam couldn't sense the ship? What?

Megabyte's mind went inside-in and he blinked and was aware that his eyes were open. He, too, had heard Adam's panicked and ill-advised mental-voice. But he could not see. His eyes were open but there was no light around him. [scratch that] he thought. A grey haze stretched around his vision. He reached out with his mind. [There was Kevin, and Adam, and Eve. There's Ami. And-]

"Jade?" Megabyte cried out. He tried to step forward and stumbled against something. The grey had not solidified into either white or black; Megabyte couldn't see half an inch before his face.

Megabyte's voice had been the only audible one in the darkness, and the next thing that broke the silence was the unmistakable sound of a gun preparing to fire.

**

Delayed-execution teleportation, Adam had called it.

Of course, Adam had always been big on technical terms.

Lisa had been the unlucky Patient Zero' when USSIA had formed a team to capture a teleporter. After her initial teleportation had been caught on tape, Galt, Masters, and Damon had all worked to get her back, albeit in different ways. One of these ways was the stakeout of the Davis apartment. Masters had ordered his agents to storm the apartment when Lisa had come there. Lisa had been stunned with tranquilizer darts, right after Adam had yelled at her to teleport. The darts had indeed hit Lisa, and after she had been knocked unconscious she had teleported. Thus the delayed-execution.'

Some weird offshoots of delayed-execution came when the Tomorrow Person had not gone through the grueling beachfront teleportation training. Kevin had been the first victim. After the first teleport, the return trip always takes the person back to the first place from which he or she had teleported. But Kevin's first teleports had always been fear-related, and he had ended up on a bus once, for no reason at all. >From the bus Kevin had teleported to the sea (hence "There's a psycho drivin' this bus!") and had been rescued by his fellow Tomorrow People. Adam's name for this, quite unoriginally, had been beacon teleportation.' But then, Adam had also come up with the mother ship' reference. Enough said.

Sarah hadn't teleported by herself all that much. She had never been distance-teleported' (another Adam technical term), and upon being suddenly displaced from her comfortable seat at a conference table to a dark place, she'd fallen prone to Kevin's beacon teleportation' and tried to get as far away from the dark place as possible. So she was in the sea. Even sedatives couldn't stop that reflex.

Sarah climbed onto the sand, coughing and spluttering, to see the ship glowing rather urgently at her. She launched herself across the sand and toward the metal structure, but heard the sound of a helicopter approaching. USSIA, it read. The sight only deterred her for a second. She darted into Adam's tent, shivering, wondering what to do.

**

*I can't teleport* came Adam's mental-voice in the darkness.

"Shut up," an unidentified voice snapped. Megabyte imagined the gun moving in Adam's direction, and his fists clenched. Megabyte reached out with his mind, and felt the instinctual it's-okay-to-teleport' within himself. But whoever had a gun on them could at least sense if they were telepathically communicating.

But all of them could kythe. Kything was deeper, and more instinctual, and maybe the gunman couldn't sense that.

~I can teleport~ Megabyte kythed in Adam's direction.

Gradually, as the silence stretched on audibly, Megabyte reached out to everyone but Eve and Kevin. Eve had no idea what was going on, and Kevin was afraid to answer back. Kything was emotions where Kevin was accustomed to projecting words.

~But what are we going to do?~ Ami kythed.

~Adam is your clone here?~ Megabyte prayed he wasn't sensing what he thought he was.

Adam sent a mental nod in Megabyte's direction. ~It takes so much effort to even do this~

"I know you're working around it," came the voice. "I can hear you at the corners of my mind." The voice was still hard and cold, no sense at all of panic.

*Go to hell* Megabyte thought directly at the voice.

"No," the voice replied. Almost gleefully.

**

"I'm here to help you!" screamed a voice over the sound of the helicopter.

Sarah hunched into a ball behind the cooler. Whoever was out there probably knew that she was in here. She looked about her for something to defend herself with. Nothing jumped out at her- the sleeping bag was still occupying a corner of the tent. She reached inside and almost sliced her finger off. Adam's knife had ended up back inside the sleeping bag. Sarah was pretty sure the benevolent ship objected to having a weapon within it. He'd probably put it back when they'd come to have their campfire shrink session. Sarah tugged the knife out carefully and then sensed something. There was another metal manhole beneath the cooler, nearly like the other entrance port to the ship.

Hurriedly she moved the cooler and worked at the plastic flooring of the tent with her fingers. Adam had mended the hole pretty well, but left a gap where she could slide her fingers in and rip up the cover. [Right, then] Sarah thought, and yanked up the metal lid. She slid inside and pulled it shut behind her just as the agent poked his head inside the tent.

Sarah bit her lip hard to keep from screaming as she slid down a pipe into the ship. Its urgency surrounded her and insinuated itself into her own thoughts. Sarah couldn't care. She had to help them somehow.

~take the knife~

~I know~ Sarah kythed back, impatiently.

~go back and cut the cords, cut all the pipes~

~how will I know~ Sarah asked the ship.

~will be help there- let yourself go back~

Sarah teleported.

**

Leather-jacket Man watched the ship with a sharp eye. Though there were no records, he could infer some things. Like, if the large sentient metal ship didn't want him in there, he wouldn't be able to go in.

Suddenly the glowing cables running about the oddly-shaped stalk went back to their dull metal color.

Leather-jacket Man began howling curses into the wind as he ran back to the helicopter.

**

~Megabyte, all of you, if you can get out of here~ Adam kythed urgently.

"Shut up!" the voice with the gun screamed.

~We're not leaving you~ came the group sentiment.

"Can't you understand anything?" the voice complained. A shot rang out, and a feminine gasp came to both their minds and ears.

~Ami~ they all kythed, woodenly.

"Don't do that again," the voice warned, rhetorically. A laugh came to their ears and every teenager in the room became angry.

"So, do we ever get to see your face, coward?" Megabyte asked, suddenly. He had full control over his body, tight and fierce. The little instinct chiming in his head, over and over, don't kill don't kill don't kill,' was fading quickly. Megabyte couldn't even hear it now.

"Megabyte," Ami said, and he heard her crumple to the floor. Megabyte turned toward the voice. He wondered if the energy building inside his head would be enough to finish off that man and his gun.

"Are you sure you want to see my face?"

Megabyte clenched his teeth. He couldn't trust himself to speak without releasing the energy, and he wanted to save it.

The laugh came again.

**

"Ami!" Jonathan shouted suddenly.

Jonathan had been by his sister's bedside for two straight days. After the initial breaking-the-ice phase, he and Agent Wright had been getting along splendidly. Jonathan now knew that Wright was engaged to be married, was about six feet tall with brown hair and brown eyes, had some German blood running through him, and was completely devoted to General Damon's pet project.

"What's wrong?" asked Agent Wright, unholstering his gun and putting himself in shoot-to-kill mode.

"My-" Jonathan hesitated. She wasn't exactly his girlfriend. Not yet.

"They're in trouble," he completed, simply.

Wright pulled out his cell phone and dialled with his left hand, keeping the gun safe in his right. "I'm calling General Damon. Is there anything more specific you can tell me?"

"No," Jonathan said. He frowned deeply and tried to look inside himself. He thought maybe he could teleport but racial memories from his new friends told him that he'd land in the sea, and no-one would be there to fish him out.

"General Damon," Wright began, holding the phone to his ear.

"Just tell him not to teleport!" Damon's voice issued from the phone. "Whatever you do don't let him teleport! I'm sending down another team! Stay there!"

The phone went dead to Wright's ear.

**

"Where's my child!" every parent screamed at once.

"Look, I don't know, we have all our forces mobilized," Damon began, then grabbed Jones and dragged him in front of the screaming parents. "He'll handle all your questions."

Damon grabbed a trenchcoat and ran out the door, flashing a grin at Jones, who fought the urge to flip his superior off for leaving him in this situation. Damon disappeared and Jones grimaced for a second before turning back to the crowd.

A car waited for Damon out front, but he didn't get in it. Right now all but twenty of his best agents were suspect and he didn't recognize the two in the car as part of his select group. Damon walked quickly around the hotel to a patio in front of the pool. He glanced around and pulled out a cell phone.

A flash of light and small whoosh of air startled him, and he turned around. "Megabyte?"

"No, but I know where they are," Sarah said, gripping the knife savagely in one hand. If Damon hadn't had firsthand experience with the they can't kill' rule, he would have truly believed she was there to kill him.

**

Eve flinched involuntarily as light flooded her optical nerve. [It's happening again] she thought, and blinked. She was looking directly at the gunman, as were the rest of her friends, when their vision cleared.

"You're not her," Ami managed weakly from the floor. She was on her hands and knees, and her blood was pooling beneath her. Kevin moved to help but the gunman gave him a severe warning look.

"You're all gonna be dead in a few minutes, it doesn't matter," said the voice, now owned by a being who looked suspiciously like Millicent F. Rutherford.

**begin 18/18**

"What do you want to do with us?" Kevin asked angrily.

"I thought it was pretty obvious, myself," said the Millicent doppelganger.

"What afterward?" Adam asked, nowhere near calm. Megabyte sensed that the combined pressure of a gun and the presence of his clone wasn't helping Adam's health triangle at all.

"I don't know," the doppelganger said, bored. She sent her sharp glance about the room and almost seemed satisfied until she noticed something. "Where's the other one?" she asked. "I know I brought her here."

"No wonder I couldn't sense you," Adam said, staring at the woman. "You're not telepathic."

"I'll shoot her in something more important than the leg if you don't shut up," the doppelganger snapped at him. "Now where's the other girl?"

"What other girl? There was no one else," Megabyte said. Everyone looked at him. Something was seriously wrong. Megabyte's face was nearly bloodless, and his red fists kept clenching and unclenching at his sides. Red fists. His powers. Probably something they hadn't even expected themselves capable of.

The Millicent clone narrowed her eyes as she stared at the red-headed boy. "Don't even think on it," she threatened. "I've still got the gun."

Megabyte's jaw worked and he was about to snap off a reply when Adam sent quietly *don't antagonize her we don't know if there's even a cavalry coming*

*we aren't gonna need one* Megabyte sent abruptly.

**

"Are you getting through all right?" Damon asked anxiously.

Sarah's eyes were still closed. She was concentrating hard. [Probably in the next room] she thought, and reached out to snag Damon's sleeve. She didn't bother to answer his question.

They vanished just as the occupants of General Damon's car came around the side of the building.

**

Suddenly Adam understood what was going on. Then Eve and Kevin caught on. Ami was in too much pain to try and understand much of anything.

"You've killed one of us," Adam said, making his voice hard and sharp though he felt like he was speaking through tons of water. "We're going to make you pay."

Adam and Megabyte still reached out every few minutes to make sure the woman standing before them wasn't the benevolent woman they both remembered so vividly. Millicent would never be holding a gun in front of them. Millicent would never have shot Ami.

"No you're not," the Millicent clone said confidently. "_You_can't_kill_."

"Ah, but you're an engineered clone," Megabyte said. "I think we can make an exception."

**

Sarah and Damon appeared inside a room. Lined along the walls were about ten tanks full of some weird green liquid. Humans in various stages of development floated within. The walls of the room were a neutral cream color and the flooring was plain concrete.

"Come on!" Sarah said, leading the way to the first tank. She didn't allow herself to think about the potential human who floated inside. A green liquid-filled plastic tube caught her eye.

~that's the one~ the ship kythed.

Sarah placed the knife edge to the tube.

If she cut the tube she would kill the being within the tank.

Sarah gritted her teeth and tried to bring the knife down through the tube.

Nothing happened. Her bone was frozen within her arm. She could not kill another living being.

"Here, I'll do it," said General Damon. He took the knife from her hand and began sawing at the tube. After he'd made a sufficient crack in the plastic he took it between his hands and pulled it cleanly in half. Green liquid began pouring from the back of the tank, through the tube. Damon went on to the next tank.

Three alert minds caught Sarah's attention. She recognized Jade and Lisa, lying in a deep sleep on two Army cots shoved hurriedly behind the last tank. Within that last tank floated Adam's clone. His eyes blinked and intelligence gleamed from within his eyes.

"Get this one first," Sarah called out to Damon before she could change her mind. "I'm taking Jade and Lisa back to the ship."

The three of them disappeared, and Damon began hacking at the tubing between the Adam-clone and the wall. Even as the green liquid drained away, the boy stood and tried to scale the walls of the tank.

Damon drew his gun. He took a deep breath, aimed, closed his eyes, and fired. He knew the crunching sound of his bullet meeting the skull would live within his mind for years to come.

Megabyte's father brushed away a tear as he started hacking away at the tubing of the next tank.

**

Adam's knees suddenly buckled, and he fell to the ground. Ami was floating in and out of consciousness, and the blood streaming from her wound soaked into the sleeve of Adam's shirt. Adam's hand glowed red as he touched the blood.

"Stop trying to trick me," commanded Millicent's clone.

The pool of blood slowly started glowing. Adam's eyes grew wide.

"All of you. Into the next room." Millicent's clone waved the gun in that direction.

"What about Ami?" Kevin and Adam asked at the same time.

"Just leave her. We'll be able to take some cells from her, it doesn't matter whether she's alive or not."

Suddenly the interference Adam had been feeling fully dissipated. He knew what it meant, and Adam's mind changed in a fraction of a second. He wanted desperately to believe the being who looked so like Millicent, wanted to know that somehow the boy who had survived in that tank could not possibly be a real twin... but it was useless, and Adam knew that as he climbed to his feet. Ami's blood was drying brown on his shirt.

~I can teleport now~ Adam kythed quietly.

Eve began to walk into the other room, followed by Kevin and then Adam. Ami still lay on the floor. Megabyte decided it was time.

Megabyte released the anger-energy that had been building inside his skull in a torrent, a shockwave that nearly knocked Millicent's clone over. Because Megabyte could not kill, though, the ship took the energy and attenuated it, and then launched it forcefully through the remaining tanks. As the first one exploded General Damon ran to the other side of the room and curled himself up in a ball to protect himself from the flying shards.

"Now," Adam said.

Adam and Kevin went over and grabbed Ami, and were gone in a second. Megabyte hooked his arm through Eve's and teleported into the next room, grabbed his father by the coat and let himself think of the sea.

As he vanished, though, he heard the sound of a gunshot. Then there was a moan.

Both Eve and Megabyte tried hard not to think about it as their energies rushed toward the ship.

**

The WorldEx agents sent by General Damon to the hospital were making a general nuisance of themselves. Wright's directions over the phone didn't make much sense to them and they were stalking through corridors.

"In here!"

The whisper came from Agent Wright, who was poking his head outside the room. "You were certainly slow enough!"

Agents Bowman and Snow smiled, but had their hands on their guns, should anything happen. As they entered the room, the last tank exploded.

Jonathan's sister Rachal, comatose for quite a few days, opened her eyes.

**

"And that's all you remember," Adam said.

Adam, Megabyte, Kevin, Lisa, Jade, Jonathan, Rachal, Sarah, and Eve all sat in the waiting area of the hospital. General Damon, Mrs. Jackson, and a few other assorted parents sat in the other side. Several parents had needed to go back to work after this whole ordeal.

"That's all," Lisa said, interlocking her fingers. "We were looking at you in the hospital bed, and then someone came up behind us and grabbed us."

Jonathan suddenly flinched. "There's another stitch," he explained.

Ami was in surgery getting her leg done up. She would have a cast for a while but nothing else seriously wrong. Damon had his two personal doctors, members of the TP group since the beginning, working on Ami. Still, there was no way for those doctors to explain the advanced reknitting of the bone still occurring. Adam had only given General Damon a look when he'd asked about it.

"And I still haven't met Millicent, right?" asked General Damon.

"That definitely wasn't her," Megabyte said. "They cloned her somehow. There was a Star Trek episode where they took a strand of hair-"

"-but the residence she had isn't there anymore," Adam interrupted smoothly, remembering Megabyte's particular relish over the scientific inaccuracies of that episode. "So we don't know where she is. Perhaps she really did just vanish."

"I have two leads on people who may have been involved," Damon said. "Neither of which sound very credible. There are rumors about one of Lady Mulvaney's friends."

Kevin opened his mouth to speak but Jonathan suddenly stood and walked toward the surgery door. Ami emerged, on crutches, smiling.

"You're the first in this generation of Tomorrow People to break a bone. How does it feel, Ms. Jackson?" Megabyte held an imaginary microphone up to Ami's mouth and held the other hand to his ear, as though he were a newscaster.

"Horrible," Ami said, and smiled as Adam laughed. He had been the one most worried about whether Ami would be okay afterward. "Really, it's fine. It'll all be off in a month or sooner."

"We've something waiting for you at the island," Jade said. "Just try to make sure the cast comes with us."

Ami met the eyes of all of her friends, Jonathan's last of all. The parents all felt as though they'd missed out on something during their children's childhoods.

"Right, then," Ami said. "To the island we go."

**

Two hours later, all the ice cream remaining after the initial attack had melted, and the cake was nothing but crumbs. Sarah wasn't full of cake, nor was Adam. The entertainment for the group was watching Sarah and Adam fall into the sea repeatedly. About every other time, someone felt sympathetic and would help Sarah teleport, but that wasn't helping her learn at all. She took it well, though. And everyone knew not to eat before learning to teleport.

Adam had found another mesh tent somewhere and everyone was crowded inside who could sunburn easily, and Ami so she wouldn't get sand inside her cast. Kevin and Lisa were tossing a frisbee around and Jade was itching to join them. She slathered herself with SPF 50 while Megabyte and Ami talked.

"I really thought it was her," Ami commented.

"I did too. Everyone did, and that scares Adam," Megabyte said. He looked over to where Jonathan and Rachal were building a sand castle near the waves, and Rachal clapped when the water swallowed their creation. "You know, one day I'm probably going to have to bring Millie here. The thought scares me."

"You might actually like it," Ami said, punching his shoulder.

Megabyte shook his head. Then he brightened. "Millie does have a slight crush on Adam, though. I can tease him for that until the day he dies."

"Poor Adam. He's all the qualities girls look for," Ami sighed.

"What about me?" Megabyte asked sullenly.

"You're a little lacking in the humor department, Megabyte, hate to tell you," Ami said. In the distance Kevin accused Jade of cheating because she used her psychokinetic abilities. TP frisbee rules were that only common powers could be used.

"What about Cleopatra-the-glove-puppet'?" Megabyte asked, groaning. "Seriously, looks are about all the boy has going for him."

"What're you worried about? You've Jade, aven't you?" Ami asked.

"I've got' her, all right," Megabyte said. "But eventually there will be commitment. That means we're growing up. I feel like it's happening too fast."

"It always is, Megabyte, and you sound like my mum." Ami crossed her arms. "Don't talk like that at my party."

*finally!* all heard at once, in Sarah's mental voice.

"Yeah, we do all have to grow up," Adam said. "And get that much closer to saving the galaxy from mad cereal magnates and demented scientists. Sarah finally got in the ship."

Without a word audibly spoken, all teleported. The waves washed at Jonathan and Rachal's sand castle, and the frisbee floated through the air with no one to catch it.

General Damon watched the disc float down to earth and smiled. The GPS hookup in his office was still top-notch.

"We've found him, sir." Jim was quiet as he interrupted the General's musings.

"What have you to say for yourself?" General Damon asked the turncoat, after stalling long enough with the satellite link.

"I want my lawyer," said the entity formerly known as Dark-suited Man.

"You know we deal with our own," General Damon said jovially. He gestured to the door. The agent who looked suspiciously like Red Rainwear stood there, but General Damon didn't know that. He told the agent, "The highest security we have, please."

As Red Rainwear handcuffed the man, he turned and looked General Damon straight in the face. "Those kids will destroy us all."

General Damon pretended to ignore the man as he was led away by five agents. [No] Damon thought. [Those kids will be the thing that saves us all.]

*finis*