These are not my characters. All credit for The Tomorrow People's existence goes to Roger Price and his collaborators. No copyright infringement is intended.
This is not only my first fan-fic, but my first fiction. Please be merciful.
This story is for Wendy Kelley, for the tapes, and for my patient proofreading husband, Matt.
The storm was close, but Jade had always been curious, and now that she was a tomorrow person she had no worries about being caught out too far from home. She would just teleport back when it got too rough. So she stood atop the hill listening to the approaching thunder until the last possible second, and then just one beyond.
"Adam!" she yelled as the lightning she had not bothered to outrun hit her, and as she began to teleport at just the wrong moment.
Adam!" The cry jerked John out of a dream he knew was important, but could not remember. It was lost in the panic that echoed through his head with the shrill call.
"Elizabeth, Steven, did you hear that?" he silently called.
"Yes, John, I did," answered Elizabeth. "Do you have any idea who it was?"
"Whazzat? What happened?" was Steven's blurry response.
"I'm not sure," John answered, "but I'm sure it's a Tomorrow Person, and I'm equally sure she's in trouble."
Adam lay outside his tent pondering the appropriate gift for Lisa's seventeenth birthday when Jade's scream brought him bolt upright. He immediately tried to find her in his mind, only to realize that all contact had been severed. It was as though a mental line had been cleanly cut. There was no fading out of unconsciousness, and he was certain he hadn't felt her die -- somehow he was sure he would know if a Tomorrow Person died -- but she was gone.
Adam was trying to decide if he should go straight to Jade's home and begin trying to track her or ask for reinforcements when the calls started. Kevin and Ami were both calling Jade without success, while Megabyte was calling Adam. "Adam, what happened? Jade yelled, and now she's gone. Is she with you?"
"No, Megabyte. She's disappeared somehow. Meet me at her place and maybe we can find out what's happening. Ami, Kevin, we'll let you know as soon as we find out anything."
"Sure, pal, but you'd better bring a slicker because it's raining cats and dogs in England right now, and knowing Jade she's sure to be up to something that's going to drag us through every bit of mud available." Megabyte's memories of Jade's village included lots of nice trees, graveyards, dirt roads, and a cave. In other words, add rain, get mud.
Jade woke to a nasty headache and a perfectly clear sky. There was no telling what time it was, but the sun was climbing and she was cold. She wondered why nobody seemed to be out looking for her. She was sure Adam or the others must have known something was wrong. Usually they appeared almost immediately if one of their members were in trouble. But here she was not a mile from home with a lump on her head the size of a lemon and nobody to be seen. What was going on? Temporarily damping her pique at being so inconsiderately ignored in her trauma she set off towards home. At least there she could expect some sympathy, albeit after listening to the inevitable lecture about being out all night.
The road looked normal enough, but Jade had a feeling something was a bit off as she rounded the bend to her house. There was a strange old car in front and a boy's bicycle leaning against the gate where her own should have been. Then she saw the man walking out the front door, straight towards the strange car, and she knew something was very, very wrong.
"Adam!" She wasn't panicking this time but there was a definite urgency to her mental shout. "Megabyte! Ami! Can you hear me? Where are you?"
Instead of the assuring voice of her friends there came a telepathic voice she had never heard before. "Hello! Who are you? Where are you?"
"Who are you?" Jade returned, nonplused.
"My name is John," the other replied calmly. "Can you tell us where you are? We can be there in just a moment."
Jade stammered, "But where are Adam and the other tomorrow people? We're supposed to be the only telepaths."
John returned, "Adam? Other tomorrow people? How do you know about the tomorrow people? There isn't a tomorrow person named Adam. Please, tell me who you are and how to find you."
"I'm Jade, and I'm a tomorrow person and so are Adam and Megabyte and Ami, too! I don't know who you are but we are too tomorrow people!" Jade had taken as much as a tired and increasingly frightened young lady could, and although usually of pretty staunch stuff she was starting to sniffle.
John didn't know exactly what was going on but he could feel Jade's increasing distress. "Jade, it's going to be all right. I'm going to help you. Tell me where you are. Your exact location if you can. Is there an address?"
Out of reflex, and with no sense of certainty, Jade gave John her home address. She was just turning around, trying to spot other landmarks to confirm her location, when she saw the young man teleport in. He looked about as tall as Adam, with dark hair and a light pullover sweater, and as soon as she saw him she knew this stranger was another tomorrow person, like herself, and therefore a haven in a world that overnight had turned terribly wrong.
Adam and Megabyte had talked to Jade's mother. She remembered Jade going out for a walk in the woods a bit before the storm started. She hadn't seen her since, but had been unworried until the boys showed up. Jade had a strong explorer streak and tended to test the limits. Her mother had actually approved of her falling in with the tomorrow people, especially Adam with his "older brother" attitude. Jade found it hard to dodge their attention; they could always find out what she was up to. If Adam couldn't find Jade, her mother thought, maybe this time she was in real trouble.
Adam and Megabyte spent the next several hours hunting for any sign of Jade, mental or physical, but she seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth. They finally checked in with Jade's mother to report their lack of success. She in turn told them she had called the police, an act which made the tomorrow people very nervous, but if there had been some type of injury or accident it was a sensible precaution. They then teleported to Megabyte's for a late dinner, some sleep, and to fill in Megabyte's father and the other tomorrow people on the situation.
Adam and the others were frightened. There had been no contact with Jade at all since the previous night and it was now again supper time in England. Adam, Megabyte, Ami, and Kevin had all been out searching the village and canvassing neighbors for clues to her whereabouts. The only information they'd come up with was from Mr. Tooms, who had seen her out walking late the previous afternoon. "I was out getting some wood in before the storm hit when she went past. I didn't think much about it, being Jade and all. Anybody else, any sensible person, would have been heading home in that weather, but not her. No, she was going for a walk." The old man shook his head ruefully. "Just can't understand teenagers these days," he intoned.
"Can you tell us which direction she was going?" Adam asked.
"Why, up the hill over there," the older man said, pointing in an easterly direction. "There's a clearing at the top that gives you a view of the whole countryside."
"Thank you, Mr. Tooms," Adam said. Turning to his friends, "Let's go check it out."
They didn't know what they were expecting to see when they reached the top of the hill, but it wasn't a charred swatch of grasses. Megabyte said worriedly "It doesn't look very good, guys." Ami felt a hole in the pit of her stomach. Kevin wanted to cry. Adam looked shocked.
"This is the place," Adam stated. "I'm sure of it. Whatever happened, it was here." He stared at the charring. "But she is not dead! I'm sure we'd know if she was dead. Besides, there's no body, so something else happened to her."
"But what could it have been?" asked Ami.
"Maybe the lightning hit her and she's walking around with amnesia. Maybe she doesn't remember her special powers and can't hear us," Megabyte suggested.
"If she was wandering around someone should have seen her. There have been too many people out looking for her since last night, including the police," Ami said.
"Maybe the lightning disintegrated her, like on television," from Kevin. "No, then she'd be dead, and she doesn't feel dead."
"What do you mean, she doesn't feel dead, Kevin?" asked Adam of their youngest, but in some ways most sensitive, member. "Do you feel her somehow?"
Kevin took on the reflective look that accompanied his interior investigations of his powers. "I don't know. I can't tell where she is, but somehow she's still here," he said, pointing not to the ground but to his own head. "It's like we're all here all the time, even when we aren't talking to each other or using our powers. Somehow, we're still here, and she's still here."
Adam nodded. "I think I understand what Kevin means. I've been feeling the same thing. We're all tomorrow people, somehow we're all linked together. That's how we always know when one of us is in trouble or hurt. And if one of us died we would all know it. So Jade's alive somewhere and we need to find her," he asserted in the most positive voice he could manage.
"Mind merge," said Megabyte.
"But we tried that already," said Ami. It was indeed the first thing they had tried upon meeting that morning.
"Yeah, but that was just us four. I think we should try it all out. That means we go to the ship and ask Lisa to help. All of us, every single bit of extra power we can get. I think we're going to need everything we've got on this one." Megabyte didn't like to admit it, but he felt a certain responsibility where Jade was concerned. He'd once belittled her wishes to be a tomorrow person, then found out he was wrong when she'd saved his life. He would not let her down now.
Well, these tomorrow people were nice enough, and the lab had some definite improvements over the spaceship. For one thing you could understand what Tim said without having to listen telepathically as well as aurally, but Jade still was not happy with her current situation. She had been here almost 24 hours with no contact with Adam or any of the others she was now thinking of as "her" tomorrow people. John had brought her straight to the lab that morning, so she hadn't seen much of wherever it was she had landed, but what she had seen was full of contradictions. Tim and the lab seemed very futuristic while at the same time the clothes and haircuts all looked positively ancient to Jade's eyes.
"Jade. Jade! Are you there?" Adam's voice cut through Jade's musing on how, just maybe, that old fashioned haircut looked all right on Steven, although she would never admit it.
"Adam!" Jade yelled telepathically. "I'm here. Where are you? I can barely hear you." Jade turned to the local TPs, "Can you hear him? It's Adam."
"I am receiving a faint telepathic signal," Tim announced "but I am unable to place where it is coming from."
"We need to mind merge," Jade announced. "That must be what Adam and the others are doing."
"Right," John replied, moving into position around the central console and placing his hands palm down on its glowing surface. Steven and Elizabeth moved into position as well, leaving room at the table for Jade. Jade had seen them assume these positions several times that day while attempting to discover her origins, and had already become familiar with the procedure. She now slipped into her own place as quickly as she would have raised her hands palm outward for the more familiar mind merge position of her own world. "Jade," John continued "try to reach them and we'll support you. You know them and should have a better chance of getting through."
"Adam, Megabyte, Ami, I'm here. Can you hear me?" Jade could feel the support she was getting from everyone at the table, somehow lifting her mind and allowing it to reach past the barrier between her and her friends.
"We hear you, kid," came Megabyte's quick reply. "Where are you?"
"Yes, Jade, we're here. Are you all right?" from Adam while two female voices piped in with "Hi, Jade."
"I don't know where I am. Everything is strange here, and there are other tomorrow people here. I thought we were the only ones."
"Tomorrow people? There? Are they with you now?" Adam asked.
"Yes, we are here with Jade," John answered, "although we are just as confused as she is about what is going on."
"Who are you?" Adam's worry gave way to wonder and hope. More tomorrow people!
"My name is John. There are three of us here, myself, Steven, and Elizabeth."
Elizabeth cut in, "Jade is safe. We found her this morning. We can only assume she had just arrived from what she said, but we have no idea from where. Is there anything you can tell us that might help?"
Adam was tiring fast. This was the most effort he had ever put into a merge. "All we know is that there is a nasty scorch mark where lightning seems to have struck the hill she was last seen on."
"But I teleported before the lightning hit!" Jade exclaimed.
"I don't know about that, but the marks are here and you aren't," Adam replied. " I don't think we can keep this link up much longer. We'll try again in 12 hours, all right? We'll let your mum know we reached you and that you're alive. I don't know what we're going to tell the police though."
"Mum! I'll probably be grounded until the year 2000 after she gets done with me," Jade grumbled.
"Hey! You're OK, that's what matters. Anyway, that should just keep you out of trouble long enough to head off for college," quipped Megabyte.
"I'm sure everything will be fine." Ami's voice was soft but hopeful. "We'll talk to you tomorrow." Jade heard a chorus of "goodbyes" from everyone.
Jade felt her friends fading away and tried to hold on to the contact until the very last instant, but without the combined efforts of many minds at both ends the link quickly faded. She looked up to see her new friends looking at each other questioningly.
"More of us," John said, "but where?"
"Judging from the effort needed to maintain that link, I should think a very long way," said Elizabeth.
"Oh, well. At least your mother will know you're safe," Steven assured Jade "and once you get home she'll probably be too relieved to punish you. And anyway, she couldn't ground you until the year 2000. You'd be an old lady by then."
John turned to Steven abruptly, eyes widening. "The year 2000. Of course." He spun towards Jade, "What year is it where you come from?"
"Year?" Jade said, "Why, it's 1996. What do you mean, what year?"
John's reply was not to Jade, but toward the set of flashing lights set in the ceiling, "Tim, is there a way we can reach Peter or another of the Time Guardians? I think I know what's happening here."
Peter stepped down from the jaunting pad with a curious look. "I received your message through the Galactic Trig, but it wasn't entirely understandable. It said you thought there was some sort of time breach, but our records don't show anything unusual in this period."
John introduced Jade to their visitor "Jade, this is Peter. He is a Time Guardian, one of a group of telepaths who monitor the time lanes and protect their integrity." Turning toward the Guardian, "Peter, this is Jade. She appeared this morning, apparently out of nowhere, and says she is from the year 1996. We don't know how she got here, and we have no idea how to send her back. We were hoping you might be able to help."
"Ah," Peter replied, "maybe I was looking at the wrong period. Maybe I should have been checking the 1990s."
"But if I'm in the past, why haven't I ever heard of any of you?" Jade replied, scanning the room. "Where I come from there are no tomorrow people until the 1990s. If you're from our past we should know about you. Unless something happened to all of you."
"That presents a problem." Peter said. "The tomorrow people don't appear publicly until the 21st century, so records regarding their earliest activities are not available. This makes it difficult to establish who their members were or when they appeared."
Elizabeth broke in, "But the Galactic Trig knows about us. There should be records about Earth's emergent status, especially after John's disagreement with the council over the Thargon attack on Earth. Maybe there is nothing on us as the tomorrow people, but what about us as individuals, or as ambassadors to the Trig? Maybe you could find out if we've left Earth during Jade's time."
"That is a possibility," Peter admitted, "but there is also the possibility that something else could have happened to you. You do have a habit of becoming involved in dangerous affairs."
No one in the group looked particularly happy at this, but it was Jade the ever-and-always-proponent-of-outrageous-ideas who suggested another line of thought. "What if I'm not from your future at all? What if I'm from an alternate future? I mean, we've never heard of the Galactic Trig. The space ship never told us about it."
"What space ship?" was Steven's response. "We don't know about any spaceship."
"Yes," John asked, "what is this about a spaceship?"
Jade said, "You mean you don't know about the spaceship? That's where everybody lands the first time they teleport. Actually, they usually land in the sea just offshore of the ship. Adam says it acts as a sort of beacon for new tomorrow people. Most of us have to learn how to control our teleporting in order to land anywhere else. I'm the only one who landed in the ship first time, instead of in the water. Except for Ami, but she doesn't count because she had somebody to teach her before she had to do it solo. Adam and Megabyte found her while she was still breaking out."
Peter looked at Jade speculatively, "You may have a point there. It sounds as though some external group has set up a protective system for future tomorrow people on your world, but it's not like anything I've ever heard of within the Federation." He looked at the other tomorrow people, "Do you have such a spaceship here?"
"No, we don't," John replied. "Actually, it even sounds like there might be different patterns for breaking out. For one thing, unless this spaceship is somewhere in London, it would be beyond our range without a jaunting belt. Where is this spaceship on your world?" he asked Jade.
"Somewhere in the South Pacific. I'm not sure exactly which island. I just know how to get there," Jade answered.
"The South Pacific!" yelped Steven. "I could never jaunt that far without a jaunting belt."
"No. I don't think any of us could," said Elizabeth. "Have you ever tried to measure your range, Jade?"
"Not really," said Jade, "we can reach anywhere on Earth. There's never been any reason to try and go farther than that."
John walked over to the central console to ask, "Tim, what do you make of this? Have you ever heard of anyone with that sort of range before?"
"John, only the most advanced of teleporting races have individuals capable of such ranges. I have never heard of it in such young examples as yourselves." Tim's tones were as usual matter-of-fact even as he continued, "This does suggest that Jade's suggestion may be the correct one. She may be not only from another time, but from another universe."
Peter once again entered the discussion to observe, "If you are from another universe, Jade, this could explain why there has been no apparent change in our time stream with your arrival. You would be an additional tomorrow person, but the addition of just one more tomorrow person to a time stream in which they are already present may have minimal effect; or on a more positive note, you may have been successfully returned to your own world without causing an historical incident. There would then be no mention of you in the records. However, if you are not returned the loss of such a person in your own time lane may be more unsettling. We really have no way of knowing what the addition or loss of any given person will be upon history until after the fact. I believe it could be of the utmost importance to your own universe that we find a way to return you as quickly as possible."
"Is it possible," John asked to the group at large, "especially with Jade's phenomenal range, that the proximity of the lightning could have caused some type of psionic interference, causing her to misjudge her exit from hyperspace and thereby land in the wrong time and universe?"
"That would be a plausible explanation," Tim answered. "The mechanics of jaunting are still not completely understood even by the senior races of the Federation. We do know that telepaths can affect the time lanes already. Why not the dimensions as well?"
"Well, as interesting as all this speculation is," Elizabeth said, "it still leaves us with the same problem. We have to find a way to get Jade home."
"And quickly," said Peter, "before her absence causes her world to drift so far from its present history that we can't find it to send her back." Peter spoke directly to Jade, "I think I need to know exactly what happened during your jaunt. Maybe there's a clue in the details."
Jade described, again, everything that had happened since her walk out to watch the lightning. When she reached the point at which Adam and the other tomorrow people of her world had managed to reach her, Peter stopped her. "You mean they managed to get a signal across both time and the dimensional barriers? That's amazing. Even the Time Guardians are able to communicate between time only through dreams. The tomorrow people of your world must have tremendous potential. You said it was a mind merge, can you tell me how many minds were involved? Is there any specific technique? Do you have a method for amplifying a telepath's abilities?"
"Well," Jade said, "I'm not sure about any of that. I know Adam, Megabyte, and Ami were there. I think Kevin and Lisa were as well. I know it felt like they were really straining to reach me. They're going to try again in the morning. Maybe they can tell us something then."
"Right, it's late. Why don't we continue with this in the morning." John spoke the thoughts of many in the group. Tim was able to supply food and drink, but the humans still needed sleep, and all were tired. "Jade, Peter, I'm sure Tim can supply you with a place to sleep and whatever else you may need. Tomorrow we'll try to talk to our other world TPs."
The next morning Jade, John, Elizabeth, Steven, and Peter gathered around Tim's central console preparing for the mind merge. They had decided that Jade would again be the initial focus of the merge since she was most familiar with her own friends, with the others buttressing her efforts. Tim was to record the session in case something was missed. They had already done one practice merge in order to get the feel of one another and how they fit together. A mind merge was always subtly different depending on the abilities, experience, and temperaments of the individuals involved. The group had soon realized that although Jade appeared to be a strong telepath, she was relatively inexperienced due to her only recently breaking out.
Steven wondered how long it would take John to "take over" the merge as he habitually did. He was privately betting it would be within five minutes but kept the thought in the back of his mind to avoid the others picking it up during the merge.
"Jade, can you hear me?" came Adam's distinctive call, even with telepathy the accent came through.
"Yes, Adam. We're here," Jade answered. "Is mum all right? Did you tell her I was safe? We think we know what's happened to me, but not how to get me back."
"Yeah, we told her," came Megabyte's response. "She wasn't too happy about it, but she's not climbing the walls anymore." Megabyte's accompanying image of her mother scratching at the walls of their kitchen flitted through the group's merged mind.
"Yes, Jade, she's fine," Adam spoke again. "Can you tell us what's happened and where you are now?"
"Adam, this is John." Steven broke a smile, he had won his internal bet. "We think that somehow the lightning so nearly hitting Jade caused a disruption in her psionic abilities, something like a power surge, and caused her to jaunt, teleport is the word I believe you use, beyond where she meant to, outside of her own world and time. We already knew of the ability of telepaths to travel through time, but not between worlds. We didn't even know there was any way of communicating between times except through dreams, yet you are managing to do so. Can you tell us how?"
"It's just a standard mind merge, guys." It was obviously Megabyte answering. "Except that all of us are here, even Lisa."
"Jade told us there is a spaceship that acts as a beacon. Is it augmenting you in any way?" Peter asked.
"Yes, I suppose it is. A merge is usually stronger here in the ship. Why?" asked Adam.
"I'm not sure yet. How advanced is the ship? Is it part of the link? Is it capable of communication?" Peter responded.
"Communication is possible," returned a resounding "voice" that caused everyone to start. "What is it you wish to know?"
"Is it possible for you to increase the strength of your beacon sufficiently for it to be sensed here, in this time and universe?" Peter had experience with various devices to facilitate time travel and although he had never encountered this situation before he knew the most difficult part of the process was accuracy.
"With assistance from competent minds it would be possible," was the ship's booming answer.
"Very well, in two hours time will you start sending out the strongest beacon you can?"
"Yes." It seemed the ship did not believe in excessive verbiage.
Adam and his companions, however, had many questions. "What are you planning? Are you sure it's safe for Jade?"
Peter explained "In this universe I am a Guardian of the Time Lanes. We have many centuries of experience with time travel and have developed telepathically activated devices for traveling in time. I believe we can modify one of these devices to allow Jade to home in on your beacon if it is sufficiently strong. I admit, I'm not sure if it's completely safe, but I think it's the best chance we have. Jade's absence could do irreparable harm to your time stream. She must be returned as quickly as possible."
"All right, then," Adam said "we'll be here in two hours." The link was dropped, and all present in both worlds sat back with a sigh before tackling the next phase of what was starting to look like a possible rescue mission.
Peter looked at the flashing lights that belonged to the most powerful fabricating system on the planet, "Tim, I'm going to need your and John's mechanical assistance for this."
"Of course," John answered, "but what are we going to do?"
"I brought a spare time disk with me. As you know, they are telepathically activated and navigated. We are going to modify this one to home in on the beacon of Jade's spaceship," was Peter's response.
"How are we going to do that? We don't know anything about how that ship works," Steven asked.
"I think I know," John said. "Tim was recording the conversation, therefore he recorded a mental impression of the ship when it spoke to us. Jade has interacted with the ship and used its beacon for navigation on her own world. Peter will mind merge with Jade to experience the telepathic signal the ship uses, then fine tune the setting using Tim's recording for verification." He looked at Peter for confirmation.
"Yes, you have it." Peter turned to Jade, "It will need to be a very intense merge. I will need to actually relive your awareness and response to the beacon. I will try to be as careful as I can but it will be difficult."
"As long as it will get me home," Jade sighed in resignation.
Peter, Jade, and John sat at the console, palms down, hands almost touching. In the center of the console lay a small disk. Peter was going through Jade's memories of teleporting to the ship over and over again, especially that first terrifying time when she has teleported Megabyte and herself out of a boiler room just before the exploded. Peter was distilling the beacon's signal from Jade's memories, passing on the necessary modifications to John, who then programmed them into the disk. Tim would then match each new setting against the impressions he had recorded during their brief contact with the ship. By the time Peter broke the merge all three telepaths felt drained.
"Well, I think we've got it. Tim, does it match?" John asked.
"It is as close a match as my sensors are able to detect," answered Tim, "but that does not necessarily mean it is close enough to actually work."
"Well, our two hours are almost up and I don't think we can get it any closer," Peter said. "Are you still willing to risk this, Jade? Remember, if your will isn't completely focused, you could be lost in hyperspace forever."
"And if I don't try it I could be stuck here forever. I can do it." Somehow she was sure, as sure as she had once been that she would someday be a tomorrow person. She was tired, she missed her friends, but she'd found new friends here and she was no longer terrified. "We can do it."
Adam, Megabyte, Ami, Kevin, and Lisa stood in an open circle with their hands upraised, palms almost touching. The ship had been silent and almost dark for most of the last two hours, preparing the massive outpouring of energy the beacon would require to boost its signal enough to reach between two universes. Adam reached out with his left palm as Lisa reached out with her right towards the ship's central column; the column pulsed with light as their united thoughts went out toward Jade in her unknown universe, somewhere.
Jade stood on the jaunting pad, the time disk clutched in her right hand. They had considered giving her a jaunting belt as well, but decided the unfamiliar device might throw her powers off more than it helped. She had hugged everyone present and even cried a bit. She had only been here two days but she would miss her new friends.
John, Elizabeth, Steven, and Peter sat around Tim's console, waiting to add whatever mental boost they could to aid Jade in her jaunt. This was a new situation and every bit of power could make a difference.
"Jade, are you ready?" Adam's voice came through strongly this time.
"Yes, Adam, I'm ready." she replied calmly. The moment froze as she looked at her new friends and felt their energy flowing into her. She closed her eyes, listening for the beacon she had gone much of her life hearing but only recently recognizing. The beacon's voice filled out, becoming a chorus as Adam and "her" tomorrow people called her home.
Jade gasped, spluttered, and kicked her way to the surface. She had just time enough to realize where she'd landed before Adam appeared beside her, grabbed her in a wet hug and teleported both of them inside the ship. She was home.
On another Earth, in another universe, another group of tomorrow people sat back and released a long held breath. "She made it," said Steven.
"Yes, she did," agreed John. They had all felt her reach her destination, there was no doubt about her safety.
"You know," mused Elizabeth, "it's nice to know we aren't the only tomorrow people on Earth, even if it isn't the same Earth."
"True, Elizabeth. Maybe now that we know about them we can find a way to stay in contact with them. Although it might be another 20 years or so before we find out. It would probably be best to be attempting contact in the same time if not the same dimension," John replied thoughtfully.
Peter also looked thoughtful, anticipating the report he was going to have to make to the Guardians. They had managed to return Jade to her own time and place, but if such an accident could happen once it could happen again. On the other hand, they had learned communication through time was possible. Maybe with experience they could learn to control travel between universes as they did between time lanes, maybe they could learn if there were Time Guardians in Jade's world, maybe they could work together to guard the inter-dimensional lanes as carefully as the time lanes. Then again, maybe he should take some precious time and visit with his friends before he went back to make his report.
--end