Shadows of The Past

Disclaimer/Credits: The characters Adam Newman, Megabyte Damon, Kevin Wilson, Ami Jackson, Jade Weston, General Bill Damon, Ruth Tanner, John, Mike, etc. and the concept of the Tomorrow People are owned by Roger Damon Price, Thames/ITV, and Nickelodeon. They are used without permission and not for any profit. My history for Adam is a combination of Michele Mason Bumbarger's serial 'Tapestry-The Coming Storm' and Shaun Hately's story 'The Lesser of Two Evils', but is in neither of their universes. Martin Newman and Karyn Cummings (I added the last name) belong to Michele. Justin Meyers and Jericho House are from the story 'Another Place Beyond' by WorstWitch. Professor Garrett and Adam's grandfather and stepmother are my own creations. Thanks to Shaun Hately for beta-reading and coming up with the title.

Prologue - March, 1978

"No, Professor Garrett, that power level is too high, it could kill her." They had been experimenting on the girl, Gina Rogers, for several weeks now. It had started out with the usual tests for the paranormal, but this girl had such a potential that the Professor's tests had become more bizarre.

"You're just a grad student, Bill. How do you know what it will do? I've calculated this out very carefully."

"You're wrong!" Bill tried to get to the machine to turn it off, but he was too late.

The girl screamed, her body convulsed a few times, then she lay still. Suddenly two figures were next to her. They had just materialized there. The Professor started towards them menacingly, but they turned and shot him. Then they turned to Bill.

"No. Don't..." Bill shouted.

They didn't listen. The younger of the two pulled the trigger and Bill crumpled to the floor.

"John, is she..." Mike asked.

"She's dead..." John gathered the girl in his arms and silently grieved. "We should have found her sooner."

"What do we do?"

"Nothing," John answered. "Call the police. We have to leave her here. These people have to pay for what they did. The authorities have to know she was murdered."

Prologue - May, 1978

"Richard Garrett, you are hereby sentence to 30 years for the murder of Gina Rogers." The judge remanded the prisoner to the custody of the officers for transport to prison.

As he was led out of the courtroom, Garrett turned to the chief witness for the prosecution. "Bill Damon, I'll get you for this. If it's the last thing I do, I'll get you for this."

Bill Damon just sat, staring straight ahead. The ordeal of the trial had almost been too much after everything else that had happened. How had he let himself go along with Garrett? He knew what they were doing to that girl was wrong. The authorities had almost indicted him along with the doctor, but he had turned state's evidence and they had dropped the charges. They really hadn't considered him as an accessory. He just happened to be working in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"William Damon?" He was jerked out of his reverie by the authoritative voice calling his name. He looked up and saw that the courtroom had emptied. Two men he'd vaguely remembered seeing in the courtroom were standing in front of him.

"Yes?"

"I'm Simon Walters. I'm with the SIA, Scientific Intelligence Agency. We'd like to talk to you about Professor Garrett's work and the two people you mentioned that seemed to have appeared out of thin air."

October, 1995

"Ruth, those were great," seventeen year old Marmaduke "Megabyte" Damon said. It was amazing how Ruth's cooking abilities ranged from barely edible to these delicious scones. He was glad that Adam had spent the night at Ruth's, he spent far too much time at the ship. Then there was the added bonus of talking her into inviting Megabyte over for breakfast.

"Thank you," she answered, then turned to the dark-haired young man seated at the table. "Here, Adam, have some more." 'That boy never looks as if he has enough to eat', she thought.

"Oh, no really. Thanks though," the Australian replied.

The two boys, along with Ruth's nephew and several others, were a special group of young people. They were the Tomorrow People, the next stage in human evolution. They had special psychic abilities they all shared, the most prominent being telepathy and the ability to teleport. They also could not kill, not even to save their own lives. They had all been drawn to an alien spaceship on a deserted island in the Pacific when their abilities manifested themselves and that ship had become their special meeting place--and home to Adam.

Only a few people outside of some of their parents knew of their special abilities and Ruth was one of them. She didn't have any children of her own, preferring the company of animals rather than people which had led to her becoming a veterinarian. But these kids had found a special place in her heart and were always 'popping' in and out for visits.

"Well, what are your plans for the day?" Ruth asked.

"Rest, relaxation. No school for two days. Why do we have to do anything in particular?" Megabyte replied.

"I could use some help with Mr. Bramble's cows." Ruth told them.

"Ah... Hey, Adam. Didn't we have plans to... ah... to..."

"No, Megabyte, we didn't. Sure, we'll help you, Ruth." Adam laughed at Megabyte's pained look.

They spent the morning helping Ruth gather in Mr. Bramble's cows so she could get blood samples for testing. "You're pretty good at this, Adam," Ruth commented as they finished.

"My grandfather owned a cattle station. I spent a lot of time there before he died."

*Adam? Megabyte?* a telepathic call came from Jade, the newest and youngest member of the Tomorrow People.

*Yea, Jade. What?* Megabyte answered.

*Mum wants to know if you'll go into town with me. She can't get away and she won't let me go by myself. Ami's busy and I really want to go to this special sale at the mall.*

*Anything to get out of this,* Megabyte 'pathed, taking off the wellies Ruth had provided. "Yuk."

*Okay,* Adam agreed. *Meet us at Ruth's in half an hour.*

General Bill Damon was working at home. Although the rank was more honorary than official since leaving the SIA and taking over as head of Worldex Securities, the title had stuck and helped when dealing with governmental clients. His wife and daughter had gone to the country for the weekend. His son, Megabyte, had gone to meet Adam early that morning. Finally, peace and quiet, with none of the annoying interruptions he would have at the office, even on a Saturday.

He worked until he realized it was getting dark, then went to the kitchen to fix a sandwich. He was heading back to his office when he thought he heard someone in the front hall. "That you, Megabyte?" he called. He detoured to the front of the house. "Adam? I didn't expect you back this early."

At first he didn't recognize the older man standing in the middle of the hall. "Can I help you?" he asked. "How did you get in?" He didn't sense the two men standing on either side of the doorway. Realization came to late. A chloroform soaked rag was pressed over his mouth by one of the men, while the other grabbed his arms to hold him.

They left Damon laying on the floor while they searched his office. The two men rifled through the filing cabinets while the older man when through the papers on the General's desk. "Nothing!" he said.

"Nothing here either," one of the others said. The second nodded a negative.

"Okay, let's go. Get Damon out to the car."

Megabyte and Adam were heading up the driveway to the Damon's house. "Man, can that girl shop. I don't know which was worst--Ruth's cows or Jade's packages."

"Well, I'm sure they both appreciated your help. Come on, I'm hungry. Let's check with your dad and see if he wants to order some pizza. Oh, looks like he's got company," Adam said as he noticed the car in the drive.

"A least they're leaving." Three men came out of the house. Two of them were carrying a large bundle. "What's that they're carrying?" Megabyte asked.

"Not what, who--that's your dad!" Adam started running towards the car, Megabyte right behind.

They tackled the two men carrying Damon, causing them to drop the General. The two boys were no match for the men, however and were quickly thrown off. The older man was already at the wheel, the other two jumped into the car and it sped out the drive and disappeared.

Megabyte knelt next to his father. "Dad? Dad?"

Adam extricated himself from Mrs. Damon's rose bushes he'd been thrown into. Somewhat the worse for wear, he made it over to Megabyte's side. They carried the General back into the house. Adam sniffed the air in the hall as they carried him through to his office and laid him on the couch.

"I don't see any injuries," Adam said, checking the General over. "I think they chloroformed him"

Megabyte waited anxiously by his father's side for almost an hour for him to wake up. Adam spent the time cleaning up. He had received several nasty scratches on his hands and face.

"Wow, what happened to you?" Ami asked Adam the next day at the spaceship.

"We ran into some trouble last night at home," Megabyte answered. "A couple of goons were trying to kidnap my dad. Adam got thrown into the rose bushes."

"Is your dad alright?" Jade asked.

"Yea, they chloroformed him. He woke up about an hour later. Barely said thanks for saving him before he shooed us out and spent half of the rest of the night on the phone," Megabyte said sarcastically.

"So where is he now? Will they come after him again?"

"He's gone into the office. He had a couple of his men come out and watch the house last night, then they all went to Worldex this morning."

"Well, guys. I promised Ruth I'd help her again this morning. Megabyte, you coming?" Adam announced.

"Yuk, no. I think the two of you can handle it."

"Come on, Megabyte, don't you like stepping in cow manure?" Jade teased. She had heard all about Megabyte's reluctant help the previous day from Adam.

His only reply was a withering look in her direction.

"See you later, then," Adam said as he disappeared.

"Good," Ami said after he'd left. "Now we can talk about plans for his birthday. Do you realize Adam'll no longer be a teenager in a couple of weeks."

"Yea, lucky guy. I can't wait till I'm out of my teens and don't have to listen to my parents anymore." Megabyte said.

"Well, as far as we know, Adam hasn't had that problem for a couple of years." Jade replied.

"I wish he'd open up a little more with us about his family. All he's ever mentioned is his sister." Ami added.

"Hey, he actually mentioned a grandfather yesterday. "

"Really."

"Yea, said he use to own a cattle ranch, but he died."

"Well, as much as she gets to me sometimes, I'd hate to be without my mum." Ami said. "I'm sure it hasn't been easy for Adam with no family."

"Talking about family, my parents want to have a party for Adam." Megabyte rolled his eyes at the thought of what kind of party his mother would plan.

"How about if we just have dinner at your house, then go out on the town. That way your parents can join in, but then we can get away from them."

"Hey, what about me? I'm not old enough yet." Jade asked.

"Don't worry. We'll find somewhere you can go too, and we won't stay out too late. We're still under drinking age too, remember. I'm sure we can talk your mum into letting you go."

"I'm sure I know that older man, but I just can't place him," General Damon told his aides. The three of them, Damon, Frank, and Jim, were in his office discussing the previous nights happenings. "Did the forensic team get any fingerprints from my office?"

"No. It was clean except for yours, your wife's, and the kids'."

"It looks like we're at square one until I can remember who he is. I've been wracking my brain all night."

"Did the kids give you a description of the car?"

"Yea, four-door sedan, dark blue. Didn't see the plates."

The phone rang, Damon reached to answer it.

"Dad, are you alone?" Megabyte's voice came over the line. "Adam remembered something."

"No." Damon was glad that Megabyte had finally got into the habit of calling before teleporting into his office unannounced. "Call back in five, okay."

Damon turned to Jim. "Jim, get me a list of what we're currently working on. I can't think of any case that would have something to do with this, but I may be forgetting something."

The phone rang again a few minutes after Jim had left. "Dad?"

"Just Frank is here. Come on."

Adam and Megabyte were in the room before he had even hung up the phone. "Adam remembered the license number."

"I'm sorry I didn't remember earlier. I really thought I hadn't seen anything, but I saw a car that looked like it this morning and realized I'd had a glimpse of it as it pulled out while I was climbing my way out of the bushes."

"Adam came back to the ship and we went over the events again and sure enough..."

Adam gave the General the number, then added, "I think it was the same car I saw this morning."

"Where was that?" the General asked.

"After I'd finished helping Ruth this morning, I went over to Shoreditch High Street, to this used bookstore. I was just coming out when this car came by. I got a strange feeling from it"

"Jim," Damon hit the intercom on his phone. "Get in here. We have a lead."

When Jim entered and saw the kids, he thought, 'One day I'm going to find that hidden entrance the General has to this office.' How the General and those kids get in and out of the office without anyone seeing them...

"We have the license of the car," Damon told him, handing him a slip of paper with the number. "See what you can find out."

"Right." Jim left to run a check. He returned only five minutes later. "It's a rental car. It was rented to a Richard Garrett."

General Damon paled at the name.

"Who is he?" Frank asked.

"Someone I knew a long time ago. He should be in prison. Jim, check with the Virginia State Prison Board."

"He was paroled six months ago." Jim said as he returned again 15 minutes later. "He disappeared immediately, never even made his first parole meeting."

"What does this Richard Garrett have against you, General?" Adam asked.

"I put him in prison." He turned to Jim. "Get Carol and a team together. Have them find out when he entered the country, where he's staying, you know, the usual. I want you to check out his last few months in prison. Who he talked to, who visited him, what he'd been doing while he was there, etc." Frank started to leave with Jim, but the General added. "Frank, stay here. You need to hear this too."

Damon then sank down into his chair and looked at Megabyte, then Adam. 'I don't want to have to tell them what I did. I'm not sure they'll understand. But, they deserve to know the whole story. They need to know they might be involved.' "You're not going to like what I have to tell you. Your mother doesn't even know the whole story. Just let me say that I'm not proud of some of the things I've done in the past."

"What is it, Dad?" Megabyte asked, even though he had a bad feeling about this, that he didn't want to hear it, didn't want to have to face whatever it was his father was hiding.

"My last year as a grad student, I worked for a professor named Garrett. He specialized in the paranormal. Well, for the first couple of months, everything was fine. He was doing some interesting work on brain waves and parapsychology. Then a young girl, about sixteen I think, was brought in for tests. She had been hearing voices in her head and was exhibiting extraordinary telekinetic abilities. Her name was Gina Roberts."

"A Tomorrow Person?" Adam asked excitedly.

"I don't know. We never found out. Professor Garrett started doing some not so ethical experiments on her. I know I should have done something about what was going on, but I didn't. I was afraid I wouldn't graduate if I didn't go along. I convinced myself we weren't really hurting her. Well, the Professor went to far..." Damon hesitated as the memory of Gina's death flashed through his mind. "I tried to stop him, but I was too late. She died."

Megabyte sat there, a stunned look on his face.

"Then something extraordinary happened. Two people teleported into the room. I'm sure they were there to help Gina, but they were too late. I can still see the look of sadness--and anger on their faces. They just turned around and shot the Professor and me. "

"But, if they were Tomorrow People, they couldn't have..." Adam started to say.

"No, it must have been some kind of stun gun. When we woke up, the police were there and we were arrested. Professor Garrett was sentenced to prison for killing Gina. I was the chief witness against him. He threatened he'd get even with me for turning against him. All the stuff about the girl's abilities and teleporters was never mentioned at the trial. It was hushed up pretty quick.

"After that the SIA recruited me, because of the work I had done with Professor Garrett and I had actually seen a teleporter. The SIA had a task force looking into these kids, but two years later all traces of them disappeared. After another year without any sightings, the task force was disbanded. Then, four years ago, there were new sightings of disappearing kids. That's when the task force was reactivated. I was put in charge of it because I had been on the original force fifteen years before."

"So that's why you were so sure there were teleporters." Adam mused. "What happened to them? Why haven't we heard from them if they're like us?"

"I don't know. They seemed to just vanish off the face of the earth. None of the suspected teleporters from then have been heard of or seen since."

'She died... She died...' Megabyte hadn't heard another word after those two. He had always believed his father would never have gone along with the kind of experiments Professor Galt and the SIA had been planning. But he already had. He had probably been doing them for years. "How-how could you?.." he blurted out savagely. The General blanched at the look of betrayal on Megabyte's face.

"Megabyte, I..." But Megabyte had already teleported. "Adam... I was wrong back then. Help me make him understand that I know that now."

Adam's eyes had narrowed during the recital, but he had kept an open mind. He had never had any delusions about what the General had been. "I'll talk to him. Just give him... all of us some time."

The General sat back down at his desk as Adam teleported. Frank was embarrassed by the look he saw cross his boss's face. It was the look of anxiety, of fear. A fear of all the other things in his past, some much worse than this, that could come back to haunt him and throw a rift between him and his son--and Adam. He hadn't realized how much Adam's friendship and trust had come to mean to him.

"How could he?" Megabyte asked angrily, pacing back and forth in front of the center column of the ship. "How could he have done those things?"

"I don't know, Megabyte." Adam answered. "But you've known your dad wasn't always the good guy." This was a switch, Adam defending Megabyte's dad. Usually it was Megabyte urging Adam to trust his dad. "I really think he's changed. I don't think he was ever bad, he just kinda ignored the gray areas. Now he recognizes a more solid line between what's wrong and what's right. I'd trust him now with my life. In fact, we do--we have no choice."

"Do you? Do you really trust him?" Megabyte asked accusingly. "It wasn't that long ago you questioned his motives for calling in Meyers to look into Jericho House."

Megabyte saw the look of pain that crossed Adam's face at the memory. "That was over a year ago, and he proved his motives then." Adam sighed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up." Megabyte returned apologetically. He slumped down on the bench around the central column. Causing his best friend pain had knocked out most of his anger. "I don't know. Maybe..."

Adam went to sit next to Megabyte, putting his hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "Could he have done all he's done for us over the past couple of years if he was the kind of man you're thinking of him as now... No... He loves you. That's what's changed him, what's given him the insight to see how wrong he's been in the past. That's why he left the SIA. Think about it, Megabyte. Do you really want to lose your relationship with your father over something he did a long time ago, that he now realizes was wrong?"

"Hi, guys," Ami said as she materialized in the spaceship. "Jade and I are going for a swim. Want to join us?" She looked at the Megabyte's surly face. "What's wrong?"

"It's between Megabyte and his dad." Adam answered to simplify things. "They'll work it out." *Not now, Ami.* Adam 'pathed before she could say anything else. "I'll join you for that swim."

Ami teleported to the beach to join Jade. Adam paused before heading back to his room in the ship to change. "Megabyte..."

"Yea, I know. I'll think about it. Go on."

"I want round the clock surveillance at my house. My wife and daughter will be home tonight. No telling if Garrett might go after my family." General Damon told Jim.

"There'll be two men at the house all the time and we'll have someone with your daughter at school too. How about Megabyte?"

"I don't think he'll be home tonight. I'm not sure when he'll be home. I'll talk to Adam in the morning and warn him to be careful and keep an eye on Megabyte. They can take care of themselves. They've proven that often enough."

"I'll drive you home tonight, sir, and pick you up in the morning," Jim said. He handed the General a watch. "We want you to wear this. There's a GPS device built into it. You can turn it on and off by this button. As long as it's on, we'll know where you are all the time."

"Andrews, get in here and help us. This equipment isn't going to move itself. I thought you two had this stuff set up already. It needs to be ready before the main console gets here tomorrow." Garrett had been in a black mood since the botched attempt to get Damon the night before. "We should have had a subject lined up by now. I'm sure Damon knows where to find one of those special kids."

"How are you going to find one now?" Johnston asked.

Garrett glared at his henchman. "We'll get Damon yet." He went to his briefcase and pulled out a large syringe. "He'll tell us everything we want to know, and then... Well, he'll be sorry he ever turned on me."

Adam responded to the General's page the next morning. The code they had worked out let him know that the General was at home and alone in his office. Only about half a dozen people, which included General Damon and Frank had his pager number. Somehow the ship seemed to be able to amplify the signal so he could receive pages on the island. Normally, he used the Damon residence as his home address and phone number.

"How's Megabyte? He didn't come home last night," Damon asked, when Adam had materialized in front of him. "I told his mother not to worry, I thought he might stay at the island."

"He did. He's at school. He's still working it out. He doesn't understand, but with a little more time, I think he'll accept it."

"How about you?"

"I'm not sure I understand, I guess I pretty much see things right or wrong. We all do, I think it's our nature. But I know there are gray areas out there and everyone has to step into them occasionally, even us. But you have to be careful not to if there's any way to avoid it--you just got used to living in the gray areas.

"I know who you are now," Adam continued. "You do realize that you have changed. I think you would have gone along with whatever Professor Galt was planning if one of us hadn't turned out to be your son."

"Adam, you are a remarkably observant young man. I wish I could say you are wrong, but I doubt it. I had to start taking a closer look at my values when it was Megabyte who would have been on the receiving end of those experiments. I have to admit, I didn't like what I saw."

"What do you think Garrett will do now?" Adam asked.

"I don't know. There are men guarding my wife and Millie, just in case Garrett goes after them. I'd like you to keep an eye on Megabyte if he decides not to come home again tonight."

"Sure. He'll be safe at the island, but I'm sure he'll be ready to come home."

"I hope so. We need to talk," the General sighed. "Anyway, let him know to be on the alert. I'd appreciate it if you met him at school and come home with him."

*Megabyte?*

*Yea.*

*I'm with your dad. He wants me to warn you to be careful. He's afraid Garrett may come after you or your sister.*

*Tell him not to worry. I'll keep an eye out.* Megabyte answered.

*Uh, he also wants to know if you're coming home tonight.*

*I'm not sure. I'll let you know.*

*Okay.* "He says he'll be careful. And he doesn't know yet whether he'll come back here tonight. He said he'll let me know. I'll call you." He looked at his watch. "I'd better get going now or I'll be late for class."

"You know you have to go home sometime," Adam told Megabyte later that night at the ship.

"I know. I guess I'll talk to Dad tomorrow after school. You're right. What happened was a long time ago, and I know he's changed. Let's just drop it for tonight. I've got homework."

"You, volunteering to do homework. That's a switch."

"Actually, it's last week's I need to catch up on. This paper was due today. How 'bout you. I see that stack of books in the corner."

"Tell me about it. I've got three papers due."

"Dad?" Megabyte called as he entered the house. He had called his father at lunch and they had arranged to meet at home after school to talk. The General had promised he would be there by four.

There was no answer to his greeting, and his nerves started to tingle. The silence seemed to fill the rooms with a near-tangible presence. He glanced around the unnaturally still rooms, his uneasiness escalating into a fear he wasn't able to clearly define. Something felt distinctly wrong, although he had no reason upon which to base his assessment. He didn't bother looking more closely than that; he knew something was wrong, he didn't need any more reason than his own certainty. If he'd learned one thing during the past three years of being a Tomorrow Person, it was to trust his instincts.

The two men his dad had said were guarding the house were not outside, but Megabyte figured they had followed his mom to pick up Millie. Maybe his dad was just late--that wasn't an unusual occurrence. As soon as he entered his dad's office, he knew he hadn't been late. Jim was lying on the floor, a nasty looking cut on his temple.

"Jim! Jim!" Megabyte shook the agent to see if he could waken him. A small moan came from the man's lips as he opened his eyes.

"What... Your dad..." Jim struggled to sit up. Megabyte helped him to the couch.

*Adam, something's happened to my dad. Jim's here so come in through the front.*

Adam entered the room a couple of minutes later. "What happened?" he asked.

Jim was just becoming coherent. "They must have been waiting for us. I never even knew what hit me."

"How long ago?" Adam asked.

Jim looked at his watch. "Thirty minutes. We need to call Worldex. Your father is wearing a GPS device. We'll locate him." He struggled to the phone and placed the call. A few minutes later he turned to the boys, worry clouding his eyes. "They're not picking it up. He must have it turned off."

"Why would he do that?" Megabyte asked.

"I don't know. Maybe they found it."

"Can they tell where he was the last time it was on?" Adam asked.

"I think so. Let's get to the office. They'll be monitoring for the signal."

They had scanned him for bugs or homing devices at the house. He had barely managed to get the GPS signal turned off before and he had not had the chance to activate it again yet. They'd herded him into a car, and had driven over an hour to a small warehouse. They hadn't bothered to blindfold him, which didn't bode well for his chances of being released. Damon recognized some of the equipment he saw as they led him into the warehouse. It was more sophisticated, but basically the same that Garrett had been using seventeen years ago. He stared at one piece of equipment he saw. 'How had he gotten that?' He thought all of Galt's equipment was safely tucked away at Worldex.

They herded him towards a chair and desk at the other side of the room and motioned for him to sit. "I understand you've been looking for teleporting kids again." Garrett said.

'So, he is after the kids.' "Not anymore. It turned out to be a hoax." he answered

"I don't believe you. I've managed to get a look at Professor Galt's papers. He was on to something. I'll find out what it was and I'll continue my research. My backers really want to learn about those kids."

"So, what are you planning to do with me?"

"You're going to tell me all you know about those kids, then we'll see." Garrett picked up a syringe and advanced towards Damon. "Tie him down," Garrett motioned to Johnston, who along with Andrews had been holding a gun trained on Damon since they'd captured him.

"No, I'm not. I don't know anything." Damon calculated his chances of escape. Johnston had put his gun down and made the mistake of stepping in front of Andrews. Garrett was unarmed--or so he thought. He lunged at Johnston, knocking him into the other man. Johnston hit the floor hard, stunned. Damon ran towards the door, activating the GPS device. Andrews recovered quickly though and tackled him as he ran past. Damon wrestled him for his gun. He was unaware of Garrett pulling out a gun until he felt the bullet go through his shoulder. He lost hold of the gun he was wrestling for, and the gunman turned it towards him and fired.

"Is he dead?" Andrews asked as Garrett knelt by Damon.

"No. Not yet." he said as he tore open Damon's shirt to examine the wounds. Then he looked up. "What's that?" he asked as he heard a beeping sound coming from the desk.

"The scanner just started picking up a homing signal." Johnston answered, picking up the device.

Garrett grabbed it and ran it over Damon's body. "Damn. His watch. How did he activate that? Come on. We'll have to abandon this warehouse. We'd better not risk taking the time to get everything out. Thank goodness the main console hasn't arrived yet. How long will it take you set up some explosives?"

"Fifteen minutes, maybe less. They're all ready, and it's a small building, won't take much."

"Make sure you destroy all this equipment. We don't want anyone recognizing it. Johnston!" he turned to a second man who was just picking himself up off the floor. "Watch out the front for the police. Hopefully we'll have enough time since Damon just now managed to activate that thing."

"How 'bout him?" The man pointed Damon.

"He'll be dead after the building goes up." Then Garrett started packing up papers and the smaller equipment they could carry.

"We have a signal." Carol said. This had to have been the longest hour in history. They had begun to think the General would never get a chance to turn the device on.

"How long to get a location?" Jim asked.

"Just a few moments, sir."

Megabyte and Adam waited anxiously for the answer.

"Here it is, sir," she read out the address. "It's just about here." She went to a map on the wall and drew a small circle.

Megabyte motioned to Adam and they quietly left the room. "It'll take them a half hour to get there. Let's go."

They teleported outside a small warehouse, one of many that littered the landscape of urban London. "Come on, Megabyte. We'll find him." They cautiously crept along the wall to the closest window. They could see someone inside, hastily packing up boxes.

"Oh uh! I guess they know we're coming."

"I don't see your father. Over there." Adam pointed through the window. "We can teleport behind that equipment. Get a closer look."

The first thing they saw when they looked out from behind the equipment was the General lying on the floor. Megabyte started forward, but Adam held him back. "But he's hurt."

"Shh. Wait. They'll see you. It looks like they're about to leave."

"All set," they heard someone say to the man they assumed was Garrett.

"How long?" Garret replied.

"Ten minutes."

"Okay, this is the last load. Let's go." The two men grabbed a couple of more boxes and left the warehouse.

"Dad?" Megabyte ran to his father. He was unconscious. His shirt was blood-stained and torn open. They could see the bad chest wound.

Adam quickly knelt and extended his hands over the General. A red glow formed around them and then surrounded the General's wound. Slowly the bleeding stopped, his breathing became less laboured. Adam kept up the flow of healing energy for as long as he could. Then he sank back, head in his hands, exhausted.

Neither of them had heard the footsteps as Professor Garrett returned for one last box. He stared in amazement as he watched Adam. 'So he did know something about those kids after all!' He quietly slipped back out just before Adam collapsed.

"Get your father outside. Frank should be here in a few minutes," Adam told Megabyte. "Get him to safety, then you can come back for me."

"Thanks," he told Adam gratefully, then with a flash he and the General disappeared.

Megabyte sat outside the warehouse with his father's head in his lap until the Worldex agents drove up. His father was just regaining consciousness.

"What happened?" he asked groggily. "I was..." He looked down at his practically healed chest. "Megabyte?" He struggled to sit up. "Did Adam...?"

"Yea."

"General?" Frank called, as he came up to them.

"I'm all right." Damon said as he pulled his shirt closed to hide the evidence of Adam's gift. "Just a minor wound," he said to explain the bloody shirt. He tried to stand and then winced as he was reminded of the bullet hole through his shoulder. He sank back down. "Did you see anyone in there? Did Garrett get away?" he asked Megabyte.

"Yea, Dad. He was packing up and leaving when Adam and I got here."

Damon looked at his watch. "Frank, get your men in there and search the place. They couldn't have taken too much in the time they had."

They had just turned towards the building when the first explosion went off, followed a half a minute later by several more.

Adam sat back against a support beam to wait for Megabyte. His eyes closed, despite his attempts to fight off the sleep that threatened to envelop him. But his body, his psyche, were too drained of energy even for that small battle.

The first explosion shook the old building. Plaster and ceiling tiles showered down, waking him. He rose and took a staggering step forward... and never felt the second blast that knocked him off his feet.

The explosions shook the main floor of the warehouse, blew out the windows that lined the walls. Adam was thrown backwards. He hit the floor hard and lay still. The pain in his head dulled by a sharp ringing that filled his ears.

A metallic moan vibrated around him, shaking the floor. Steel and concrete battled for control... and lost. Ceiling and walls fell as supports gave way. An invisible fist slammed into his chest and left arm. Bones cracked loudly. Then everything became dark and still.

"Adam!" Megabyte started to concentrate, to teleport.

"Megabyte, NO!" Damon had already grabbed his son, anticipating Megabyte's move.

"Let me go..."

"NO! You can't do anything right now. You'll just get yourself killed."

"But, Adam..."

"...will have to wait. There may be more explosions. Can you tell if he's still alive?"

"Yes, but... he's hurt. We all felt it." *Wait,* he replied to Ami's, Jade's and Kevin's frantic calls. *There's too many people around.*

"A few minutes of caution might keep you from being hurt. You can't just go teleporting into the middle of that."

They waited until the fire department had arrived, Megabyte fretting like a caged animal. Damon went up to the Chief. "There was a young man inside when it exploded. How long before you can get in to look for him?"

The Chief looked at his assistant who had been assessing the fire. "Sorry, Chief. No way to get into that until we get the flames down some. It'll be at least twenty minutes, half hour."

Miraculously, except for the beam across his chest and debris covering his legs, Adam was in a pocket of relatively clear space. The flames had so far contained themselves to the outside walls and the equipment on the other side of the room. He tried to breathe but could not. A huge hand gripped his chest, pressing him towards the darkness. Against the fear and pressure, he gasped. A thousand needles jabbed his lungs and floated him away from his thoughts--he was suffocating. He gulped frantically. The maddening pain teased him with air--it dared him to punish himself. He lay on his back, grimacing with each breath.

Slowly he risked deeper breaths. He tensed and moved his right arm. Then he moved each leg. The right leg moved hard, making his thigh burn. His left arm was lying awkwardly under his back. He tried to pull it out. A pain knifed through from fist to shoulder.

Adam breathed into the middle of the pain, waiting for it to fade. Then he grimaced and tried again. Instant, hollow sharpness bit at his shoulder, through his chest. He managed a frantic call, *Megabyte...* just before a cloud of black, darker than any night, poured into his head.

"Dad," Megabyte pulled at his father's sleeve. "We need somewhere private."

"Over there, in the van." They went over and climbed in the van the Worldex agents had arrived in. *Ami, Jade, Kevin. I need you* The three materialized almost immediately next to Megabyte.

Megabyte pointed out the back of the van at the warehouse. "Adam's in there! We have to get him out!"

They stood and faced each other, their hands held out, palms almost touching. All four closed their eyes. A blue glow joined their hands together and filled the space between them.

*Adam?* No response. *Adam?*

A faint response, *Megabyte...*

They concentrated and found Adam's consciousness before he blacked out. The next moment, he was laying at their feet. The four slumped to the floor in exhaustion next to him.

General Damon was already kneeling next to Adam, examining him when Megabyte looked up again. "He's not breathing. Megabyte..."

Megabyte knew what to do. He tilted Adam's head back and started mouth to mouth resuscitation. Damon checked for a pulse and at first didn't find one. He started to place his hands for CPR when he felt the extent of Adam's chest injuries. He could feel the broken bones beneath his hands. He had better be damn sure CPR was needed before he took the chance of doing more injury than good. He spent a few more precious moments rechecking for a pulse, and was rewarded by a faint movement under his fingers this time.

"Frank," Damon called outside the van. "Tell the Chief not to worry about Adam. He's not in there." He turned back to the others, closing the van door behind him. "Come on, we need to get him to help." He motioned Megabyte to take Adam, then put his arms around Ami's shoulders. "St. Mary's I think." They all disappeared.

Megabyte continued mouth to mouth resuscitation after they materialized in front of St. Mary's. The General didn't want to move Adam any more than necessary, so he ran into the hospital calling for help. It would be better to let the professionals move him. He'd come up with some explanation of how they got there later.

Time had lost any actual meaning to the four people positioned throughout the waiting room at St. Mary's. Kevin had had to return home. General Damon sat with his arms around Jade. The younger girl's eyes were red. She had tried hard not to cry, but once she started she hadn't been able to stop. Since she had broken out, Adam had become the big brother she'd never had. Megabyte was staring into space. It was his fault. If he had gone back for Adam sooner... He had only been thinking of his father. If Adam dies...

*Megabyte,* Ami's call interrupted his self-incrimination. *Megabyte, it wasn't your fault.* He hadn't realized he'd let his shields down so much that Ami could pick up his thoughts.

*You're practically broadcasting,* she responded again to his thoughts. *It was Adam's choice to help your father. He knew he wouldn't be able to teleport afterwards. Neither of you could know what was going to happen...*

*But if I had gone back in immediately, instead of waiting until my dad woke up.*

*You were worried about him. He's your father, you had every right to wait and make sure he was all right. Adam understood.*

They all looked up as the doctor entered the waiting room. Their drawn, ashen features reflected shared worry, and Dr. Poole was acutely aware that he had no news which would alter those expressions into anything other than greater anguish. The surgery had been long and tiring--the end result was less than satisfying.

"General." He took the last few steps towards General Damon, who had stood at his entrance. He noticed almost absently that the other three gathered behind the General without his being conscious of their moving. "We've just moved him to I.C.U. Recovery. It will be several hours before anyone can see him."

"How is he?" Megabyte asked.

Dr. Poole looked at the young man's eyes, read all of the agony and fear the boy didn't know how to conceal, and his own heart suddenly felt weary.

"He's stable. He made it through surgery, but I'm not going to lie to you about his chances. A lot of damage was done by broken ribs. His right lung was perforated in several places and his heart was nicked by a bone. We've made repairs to the lung and heart and reinflated his lung, but he's not breathing on his own yet. He lost a lot of blood from a gash in his leg, his left arm was broken and shoulder dislocated. He's young. All we can do is hope that it'll be enough. I wish I could be more encouraging, but that's all I can honestly tell you."

Megabyte absorbed the shock of the doctor's words, his face draining of the flicker of hope that had briefly lit his features at the surgeon's approach. He felt the wash of dizziness that rose inside him and reached out to claim him. His father's hand was on his arm instantly, steadying him against the tide of loss that was already looming on the edge of his consciousness.

...he was at the edge of consciousness...pain and the heat of fever pulled at him on one side...darkness loomed on the other, offering a comforting coolness...

"Just two of you can go in now," Dr. Poole said when he returned to the waiting room well after midnight. Megabyte and General Damon got up to follow the doctor.

Megabyte went over and sat by Adam's bed. He took Adam's hand, concentrating, trying to heal Adam himself. "I can't..." he sobbed. "I don't have his gift. I can't help him. You can't die, Adam." He whispered the plea with just a touch of desperation. "We need you. Ami, Jade... We can't do it alone." His vision blurred as the mist of tears obscured the still face for several moments. "We love you, Adam. "

Damon had followed Megabyte into Adam's room. He could see the anguish his son was feeling as a physical thing in the way Megabyte slumped forward when he couldn't help his friend. He crossed the small space to the bedside and stood with his hand resting on Megabyte's shoulder in support. On the periphery of his awareness, he noted the complicated network of tubes and I.V.'s that seemed to be attached to every visible part of Adam's body. He made a conscious choice to dismiss the unwanted reminders from his mind, unwilling to acknowledge that mechanical devices might conceivably be the only thing standing between Adam's life or death.

They stayed that way for fifteen minutes, not saying a word. Megabyte sitting, holding Adam's hand, the General behind him, offering silent support. Then Damon spoke. "Go back out to Ami and Jade. Take Jade home. There's nothing they can do here." Damon told Megabyte. "I don't think it's a good idea for them to see Adam right now. "

"But I don't want to leave him."

"I'll stay with him," Damon told his son. "Jade and Ami need you right now. Jade shouldn't go home alone."

"Ami can go with her..."

"No, Megabyte. The three of you need to be together to deal with this--and not out there in that waiting room. Go on. Take Jade home and stay there for a while. I'll call if anything changes."

...the darkness was cool and comforting...there was too much pain and heat if he fought it...he'd just relax in the darkness for a while...

Dark hair clung to the damp forehead, and Damon reached out a hand to comb through the soft tangle of hair. His fingertips brushed over the angular cheekbone, and he was appalled by the milky pallor that made Adam's skin appear translucent in the dawn light seeping into the room. He could see the faint rise and fall of Adam's chest as the young man managed to breathe; with the help of machines, his mind added bitterly.

He stayed by the bedside, oblivious to everything except the soft, nearly inaudible sounds of Adam's breathing--sounds now equated with the boy's fight for his continued existence. He wasn't the one who should be sitting by this boy's bedside. Sure, Adam had almost been a permanent house guest for the past three years, and he had become like one of the family. But, at a time like this, he should have his own family here. Where was his family? He had never mentioned them to the General. He doubted he'd even mentioned them to Marmaduke. Maybe Frank could find them. Surely they would want to know that their son might be dying.

With that thought, he looked back down at the boy he had begun to think of as a second son. It wretched at his heart that he could do nothing to help. With all the resources and scientific knowledge at his hands...

He was startled out of his reverie by the flash of light and pop that heralded a Tomorrow Person's teleporting. Megabyte appeared at his side.

"Any change?" Megabyte asked.

"No. How are Jade and Ami?"

"They're doing okay, I guess. Ami's still with Jade."

"Has Adam ever mentioned his family to you?"

"Not much. He has a sister in the states somewhere, she married an American. Karyn. He goes and sees her a couple of times a year. He's never spoken about his parents. Why this interest in his family..." He gave his father a stricken look. "No-No, he's going to be all right." He looked pleading at Damon. "He is going to be all right, isn't he?"

Damon stood and put his arm around his son's shoulders. 'When had he grown so tall?' he wondered. 'Has he grown up enough to accept his best friend's death?' For over three years Adam had been the leader to the small band of unique children--young people--he could picture the withering looks they would give him if he called them children out loud. But they were. Jade and Kevin were only 15, Megabyte and Amy just 17, and Adam... Adam was just a few weeks from turning 20.

"He's a survivor. We have to believe he'll get through this." 'Yes, I need a little more faith myself, I guess,' he thought, 'Adam is an extraordinary young man.' But he remembered how weak Adam would be after using his healing gift. Megabyte had said Adam was practically comatose after healing him. It would have been him lying there, or in the morgue more likely, if Adam hadn't used his gift.

"Come on. Let's see what we can find out about Adam's family."

"No, I think I'll stay a while."

"There's nothing we can do here right now. Let's go to my office." Megabyte took a last look at his friend then teleported them to Worldex headquarters.

...the darkness was no longer comforting...it had become cold and frightening...but he was too weak now to fight it...

"Frank," Damon pressed the intercom to call his assistant into the office. "We need to locate Adam's family." he said when Frank entered. "He's from somewhere in Victoria, Australia. Be discreet."

"Right, sir." Frank said and headed out the door.

"And don't write anything down. We don't want information about Adam lying around."

Frank returned twenty minutes later. "Here it is, sir. This is the only place I've written it." he said as he handed the General a slip of paper. "I've already called ahead and there's a rental car waiting for you there. The address for the rental agency is there too."

"Good. Let's go, Megabyte." They disappeared in a flash of light. Frank left the General's office, locking the door behind him.

"How do you do that?" Damon asked when they materialized in an alley behind the rental agency.

"What do you mean?"

"End up where you want to. How did you know to end up in this alley?"

"I don't know. We think of where we want to go--either we have an address or we already know the place--and a picture of it kinda forms in our minds."

"Well, let's go get the car. I know you want to get back as soon as you can."

They went in to pick up the rental car. While they waited, Damon called the office number for Adam's father, but Mr. Newman was not in. They got directions to the address the General had for Adam's home. Twenty minutes later they pulled into a long circular driveway in front of a large, sprawling two story house. Damon pulled up to the front walk, leading through a wide front yard to the door.

"Wait here," he told Megabyte, then got out and walked to the front door. He rang the bell.

"Mrs. Newman. Mrs. Martin Newman?" General Damon queried of the woman who answered the door.

"Yes. May I help you?"

"Is your husband home. I called his office and they said he had already left."

"Yes. Who should I say is calling?"

"Actually, I'm here to see both of you. It's about your son, Adam."

"He's not my son, he's my stepson, but I've never met him. His mother died over three years ago," she answered.

"I don't have a son anymore," Martin Newman said, coming up to the door.

"Mr. Newman... My name is Bill Damon. My son is a friend of Adam's. Actually, he's become like a second son to me. I need to talk to you about him."

"I have nothing to say to or about Adam. He left here when he was sixteen after his mother died. I have only seen him once since then and that was when he came to claim his inheritance when he turned eighteen. He could be dead for all I care."

Damon answered quietly. "That's exactly what he might be. He's in the hospital. It... It doesn't look good." He heard Mrs. Newman gasp in the background. "I thought you would want to know."

"Well, now we know." The man literally slammed the door in Damon's face. He stood there stunned. How could the man be so callous? No wonder Adam never mentioned them.

Damon was halfway back to the car when he heard the door open behind him. Mrs. Newman came out of the house with a hurried glance behind her. "Here's his sister's number. Her name's Karyn Cummings. She'll want to know. Please don't think too harshly of him," she looked back at the house. "He lost his son long before he left home."

Damon returned to the car, his face set in a controlled mask, not wanting Megabyte to see his anger. How could the man disregard his son so. Especially someone like Adam.

"What happened?" Megabyte asked.

"Nothing. They don't want to know about Adam."

"But..."

"Not now, Marmaduke. Let it go. Just forget we came here."

Megabyte sat silently during the drive back to the rental agency. "How about his sister?" he asked as they pulled in to return the car.

"I did get her number. We'll call her if we have to. Let's get back and see how Adam's doing first."

...he was so cold...he was in a blackness so deep it seemed to be suffocating him...he no longer even attempted to breathe...

"How's he doing?" General Damon asked Dr. Poole when he and Megabyte returned to the hospital.

"I would have better hope if he were a little stronger. For some reason, he's a lot weaker than I would have expected. I'm afraid if he doesn't rally soon, it will be too late."

"What do you mean, if he were stronger?" Damon asked.

"I can't figure out why, but even when he was first brought in, he was already drained of all his strength. Whatever reserve energy he had, it's gone."

Megabyte had a thoughtful look on his face. "You mean if he somehow got a boost of energy, he would be all right?"

"A boost of energy--I wish it were that simple. If I had some way to do that, I'd be a rich man." the doctor replied ironically.

Megabyte drew his father aside. "We may not have Adam's healing gift, but if it's life energy he needs, maybe we can do something about that!" The vestige of an idea was being planted in his mind.

"What do you mean?" Damon asked.

"I'm not sure, but..." *Amy, Jade, Kevin, meet me in Adam's room.* "Come on, Dad." He pulled his father towards Adam's room. A look of hope springing in his eyes.

"Watch the door, Dad. We don't want anyone walking in on us."

General Damon did as his son asked, even thought clearly puzzled, not knowing what Megabyte had in mind. He watched in amazement as the four Tomorrow People arranged themselves around Adam. Megabyte took one of Adam's hands in his, Amy took the other. Jade and Kevin joining hands with them to complete the circle.

Damon watched the lines of concentration appear on his son's face. He looked at each of the others, then down at Adam. A yellow glow extended from their hands and enveloped Adam.

*We're doing it, Ami.*

Megabyte was right--she could feel the life energy flow from her, diffusing through her fingertips where they grasped Adam's hand. She could feel him warming as the transfer coursed through him. She could also feel herself weakening, prompting a moment of fear that they would not be able to keep it up for as long as needed.

...was is getting lighter, warmer...there, coming towards him, three...no four lights...they were pulling him towards them...now they were almost blinding him...

Jade, being the youngest, was the one that finally broke the circle as she fainted in exhaustion.

Megabyte caught her, gently lowering her to the floor. The others gathered around in concern. He sat with her, cradling her head in his lap, gently stroking her hair. "Jade?"

"Mmm..." she murmured. "Did we do it? Will he be alright?"

*Megabyte?* The telepathic call came weakly from the bed.

*Adam!* Megabyte turned quickly back to the bed, the others following. Adam's eyes were still closed. "Adam... buddy... you awake?"

Adam opened his eyes and managed a slight smile around the tube in his mouth. *Yea,* he 'pathed. Then a questioning look came into his eyes. *What did you do?...*

"Whatya mean?"

*It was so cold and dark, then all of you were there in the light. The light kept pulling me towards you...*

"What are you all doing in here? Only one visitor at a time." The nurse glared at the five people gathered around the bed. The General had left the door to join the others when Adam woke up. "And," with a withering look at the Jade and Kevin, "children are not allowed in I.C.U."

"He's awake," the General interrupted her. "You may want to get the doctor."

The nurse came over to see for herself that Adam was indeed awake. She went to the phone and paged Dr. Poole. Then she turned to the others again and with a little more compassion, she said, "Please, wait outside. The doctor will let you know what's going on when he through."

Jade, who had been clinging to Adam's hand since he had woken, reluctantly let go and followed Ami and Kevin out of the room. Megabyte rolled his eyes as he 'pathed, *Nurses... see you in a few minutes buddy.* Then he and the General left.

*Hey, guys,* Adam called after them with a heartfelt thanks. *I don't know what you did, but... Thank You.*

They were all there again in the waiting room, just as they had been last night. This time however, Dr. Poole knew his news would erase the looks of anxiety on their faces. He walked over to stand in front of the four kids, knowing they would be the most anxious for his report.

"I don't know what happened, but he's going to be fine. He's breathing on his own. We took him off the respirator and we'll monitor him closely for the next 24 hours, but I don't anticipate any problems. It's as if... I don't know how to explain it."

"Can we see him?" Ami asked.

"It would be better if you wait until tonight. He's asleep now. He probably won't wake until this evening."

Things settle into a routine over the next week. Megabyte, Ami, and Jade all had to return to school on Thursday, although none of them were able to concentrate much. General Damon had insisted that Ami and Jade not visit Adam openly, just in case Garrett had someone watching at the hospital. He thought about putting guards on them, but decided that would be the same as waving a red flag, saying 'look, here's one.' He just cautioned them to be careful and not go about alone. He was fairly confident no one outside his immediate staff knew who they were and no one except Frank knew what they were. For the most part they were all restricted to their homes when not at school.

No leads had been found to Garrett's whereabouts. The rental car had been found abandoned only a few blocks from the burned warehouse. They had managed to salvage a few pieces of the equipment after the fire and Damon had his people trying to trace them back to their origins, hoping that would give a clue as to who Garrett's backers were.

To the amazement of Dr. Poole, Adam was healing faster than he had anticipated. Though he had run a multitude of test, he could not find any reason for the boy's almost miraculous reversal. He kept the boy's strange recovery to himself, however. He had known these kids long enough to know that talking about Adam with his colleagues would cause unwanted attention focused on the young man and his friends.

It was after visiting hours Thursday night. Adam lay back against a stack of pillows, the cast on his left arm supported by another stack. His right hand rested lightly on his side as if to ease the constant gnawing of his mending ribs and lung, and the annoying sluggishness of his heart. Dr. Poole had warned him that the healing process would take time, and that he could expect fatigue and shortness of breath for several weeks. They would be in soon to give him something to make him sleep. He didn't want to sleep any more. That was all he'd been doing for over a week. They didn't even let him have many visitors--or so they thought. They allowed Megabyte and his dad short visits and Ruth had been by several times for a few minutes. But Megabyte, Ami and Jade had managed to sneak in a couple of times during his brief periods of wakefulness outside of visiting hours.

*Adam, you awake?*

*Yea, Megabyte. What?*

*Anybody with you?*

*No.*

Megabyte materialized at the foot of the bed. "How you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess. Tired of lying here. I want to go back to the ship."

"Well, at least wait till you're sprung from I.C.U. Anyway, I wanted to see how you were. I won't be by tomorrow night. I've got a date."

"With Angie? I thought she turned you down flat."

"No, this girl's in my history class. Her name's Kari. She has long blond hair..."

"Wait, wait. Wasn't it was just last week you were raving about Angie. What is this, the third, fourth girl you've gone on about since school started?"

"Who's counting. Honest, she's different. Really, Adam."

"Oh, you're right, she is different. She's going out with you," Adam laughed.

"Yea, well you had to play hero to get a girl to look at you."

"I did not. Lucy said she'd go out with me before the trouble with Colonel Cobb. But, I thought you were restricted to the house."

"Dad's relenting a little since it's been so quiet. He realizes he can't keep us locked up all the time. Besides, we're not going out, she's coming over. We'll rent some videos and have pizza."

"Well, let her pick out the video. She'll never come back if you make her sit through the killer cucumbers."

They talked and watch TV for another half hour. Neither of them heard the door open.

"You again. How many times have I caught you in here. I don't know for the life of me how you get past the desk," said Adam's evening nurse, as she came in with his medication. She knew Megabyte and his dad came by every night to check on Adam and had caught Megabyte a couple of times in the room when he shouldn't have been. But she could tell how close the friends were and never really scolded him, she just shooed him out of the room and told him to wait for regular visiting hours.

"This is the last time I'm going to let you in here." she said.

"What..." Megabyte started to protest, then saw the smile on her face.

"We'll be moving him to a regular ward tomorrow. Then you can visit whenever you want."

"Hey, that's great. I'll talk to you tomorrow, buddy," Megabyte said as he exited the room in the normal manner through the door.

If one had looked close at the two orderlies, they might have noticed they didn't appear to fit in quite as they should--a general untidiness, the wearing of street shoes. Unfortunately no one looked that close.

It was just after breakfast Friday morning, and Adam was ready to be moved to his new ward. The nurse came in for one last check, and to wish him a speedy recovery. She was followed by the two orderlies. She assisted getting Adam on a gurney and then left. They wheeled him out of the I.C.U. and went to wait for an empty elevator.

The third time the elevator door opened, it was empty. The two wheeled Adam into it, pulling his I.V. stand behind them. As soon as the doors closed, one of the orderlies pulled a syringe out of his pocket and inserted it into Adam's I.V., then opened the flow valve to quickly get the anesthetic into Adam's system. Adam didn't see him and had no premonition of danger. He was unconscious by the time the elevator came to a stop at the bottom floor. They boldly exited the hospital and loaded Adam into a waiting ambulance. They had forged papers showing the request to move him to another hospital, but no one even bothered to stop them.

*Adam?* Megabyte 'pathed. He thought he'd visit during lunch. No answer. *Adam, you awake?* Still no answer. 'He must be asleep. I guess I'll have to wait till tomorrow to see him. Besides, there's Kari over there. Maybe she'll join me for lunch.'

*Megabyte?* he heard Jade call Saturday morning.

*What,* he answered sleepily. *What time is it?*

*It's almost eleven. Are you going to sleep all day?*

*Well, I might have if someone hadn't woke me up.*

*Ah, come on Megabyte,* Ami interceded. *You should have been up hours ago.*

*Yea, well obviously you weren't on a date until one in the morning last night.*

*Megabyte! Listen, will you. Have you talked to Adam since yesterday?* Jade asked, ignoring Megabyte's reference to his date in her worry over Adam.

*No. I tried at lunch yesterday, but he must have been sleeping.*

*Well, I've been trying all morning and he hasn't answered. I'm worried.*

*All right. Give me fifteen minutes and meet me there.*

Ami and Jade were already waiting when Megabyte teleported to St. Mary's. They met outside the hospital in a small alcove they had discovered was normally deserted.

"They were going to move him to a different ward yesterday. Let's check at the desk."

"No, he's not in the general ward. He must still be up in I.C.U." the receptionist replied after Megabyte had told her they were looking for their friend who should have been moved from I.C.U.

They went up to I.C.U. and found the nurse at the desk. "How's Adam this morning?" Megabyte asked.

She looked up, a look of perplexity on her face. "I don't know. They moved him downstairs yesterday morning."

"We just checked there. They said he was still up here." Ami exclaimed.

"I saw them move him myself." She returned to her desk and called the nurses station in the ward Adam should have gone to. Her featured blanched as she listened, then she barked several orders into the phone and hung up. "He never showed up down there. They received word that he was staying here for a few more days.

"Come with me," She indicated to another nurse to take over the station and she led the three to the hospital Administrator's office. "Wait here," she said. She pointed to the chairs outside the office, then she went in.

"I'd better get my dad," Megabyte said. He glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then teleported home. A few minutes later he called back. *Ami, is it clear?* When she answered yes, he appeared with General Damon.

The administrator came out fifteen minutes later. General Damon went up to him and asked, "What have you found out?"

"Nothing. No one has seen Adam since he left I.C.U. yesterday morning. We've checked every ward, and he's not in the hospital."

Damon turned to Megabyte. "Have you checked to see if he went home?"

"No," he answered sheepishly. "He wouldn't have without telling us, but I'll go check." He headed towards the phone booths as if he was going to call, then teleported to the ship. He returned a few minutes later. "No, he wasn't there."

"We should call the police," the Administrator said.

"No," General Damon pulled out his ID. "We're better equipped than the police to handle this. We think we might know who has him. Why didn't Dr. Poole notice Adam was missing?"

"Dr. Poole has been away since Thursday. He won't be back until Monday"

"Was it a sudden trip?" Damon asked, fearful for the doctor's safety.

"Oh, no. He's been planning this trip for months."

"Why would they take Adam?" Frank asked later at Worldex. "If it was Garrett, wouldn't he have gone after Megabyte to get to you?"

"I don't know," Damon answered. "Jim, I know it sounds impossible, but I want you to check out every vehicle that left the hospital yesterday morning. Frank, anything new come in on Garrett's whereabouts?"

"We do have a lead on the type of medical equipment you told us to look out for. It was shipped last week. We don't know where it went, though."

"Good, keep checking." Then added after Jim had left. "If Garrett somehow found out about Adam's and Megabyte's powers, that would be reason enough for taking him. In his condition, Adam was the easiest to get at." He hoped he was wrong, he didn't want to think about what Garrett was planning for Adam if he knew he was a Teleporter--but what other reason would he have had for taking the young man.

"But Adam wouldn't be any use to him in his condition." Frank said.

"Just the opposite--he'd be easier to handle. Garrett wouldn't need Adam to be in good physical health, he just wants to experiment on his brain."

Garrett marveled at the console beneath his hands. Luckily it had not arrived before they had had to abandon the old warehouse. The equipment that had been destroyed had been relatively easy to replace. Seventeen years ago he had only dreamed of the tests he could do with such sophisticated equipment. He had attempted them with Gina, but the primitive equipment he had then caused the girl's death.

Adam lay on an examining table. His wrists were strapped down, and wide strap across his chest. His head was hidden, held motionless in a box-like chamber, complicated wires running to and from the console Professor Garrett sat behind. He was hooked up to an array of standard life support equipment so they could feed him intravenously and keep him alive while they kept him drugged to a level just below that of standard sleep.

"There, see." He pointed to a spot on the screen in front of him, the X-ray showing Adam's brain, with a map of coordinates overlaid. "That's the area we were testing on the girl. Where we thought her telekinetic powers originated from. We'll start stimulating his brain there."

They worked for hours, Garrett too excited to stop. They would take readings, then spend time analyzing them. Go back and test again, then analyze again. In his drugged state, Adam's consciousness was unaware of the tests being performed, but somewhere deep in his psyche, he felt a distinct discomfort.

Finally, the technician watching Adam's vital signs signaled to the Professor it was time to stop. "He needs a rest. His heartbeat is getting irregular."

"Okay. How long will he need?" Garrett asked.

"At least eighteen hours I would think," the technician replied.

General Damon had called Megabyte and Ami to his office at Worldex Sunday afternoon to see if they could add anything to help in the search for Adam and Garrett.

Jim came in and reported that no one remembered seeing anything out of the ordinary Friday morning. Things had been hectic in the emergency room as there had been a bad accident on the motorway a few miles out of Brocksford. There had been several ambulances coming and going around the time Adam had disappeared. The ones he had managed to track down so far had all been legitimate.

"Well, keep on it." the General told him, then turned to the kids after Jim left. "You didn't get any impressions of trouble Friday, anything from Adam to indicate he was in danger?"

"Nothing." they both said.

"And you can't tell where he is? You've located each other before." Damon asked.

"We could if he was conscious, or on the brink of consciousness. Adam was already waking up when we found him at Culex's lab." Amy replied.

"They must be keeping him drugged. Sometimes I can just about get a feeling of where he is, then I lose it," Megabyte added.

"Yes, Garrett would do that. If he doesn't already know it, he would suspect Adam's ability to teleport and would drug him to prevent that."

They were back at the spaceship after leaving General Damon's office. They had just finished trying for the umpteenth time over the past two days to find Adam psychically.

"It's no use, they must still have him drugged," Ami said as the blue ball of energy faded from between their hands.

"Anybody have any other ideas?" Megabyte asked.

"No, I guess all we can do is just keep trying. Maybe they'll slip and let him wake up." Jade said.

"Yea, well, just keep listening for him. We'll try together again in the morning before school. My dad insists I have to go."

"So does my mum," Jade said. "She says it's no good just moping around the house, that school will take my mind off Adam. I won't be able to concentrate on a thing any of my teachers have to say."

They were into their third day of tests. Garrett had been pleased with the results up until that point, but now decided he needed to apply more power to the stimulator to see if he could cause Adam's brain to involuntarily produce a telekinetic response. The earlier tests had shown an area that appeared to excite unique wave patterns, the same he had seen with Gina. He turned up the power and after positioning the laser, applied the stimulation.

At first nothing seemed to happen. The recording equipment showed the unique pattern, but that was all. He slowly increased the power. Suddenly, a glass near Adam sailed through the air. He increased the power slightly again and several other loose items flew up and crashed against the walls. He reduced power and went to read the results. He had done it. He had discovered the area of the brain that controlled telekinesis. He'd run the tests one more time to make sure.

He set up the stimulator again, working feverishly. He aligned the machine again, then slowly applied power. More items started to whirl in the air. He was doing it. He looked up from the console just in time to see a bottle sailing towards him. In his attempt to duck, his hand accidentally hit the power control.

A white hot pain seared through Adam's brain. He screamed, both out loud and telepathically. His body arched against the restraints, then went into convulsions. Garrett turned off the stimulator. He pushed a button to apply a stronger anesthetic to Adam's I.V. In a few minutes the boy was quiet again, deeply anaesthetized.

Garrett looked at the technician. "It was close. His heartbeat is very irregular. I'll monitor him closely for the next couple of hours, but I think he'll be okay." the technician answered.

In school, Jade fainted. Her classmates and teacher surrounded her with concern... Megabyte nearly fell out of his chair, then hastily excused himself from class... Ami stumbled as she walked down the hall, catching herself against the wall as she fell...

Megabyte and Ami teleported to Worldex, Megabyte not even thinking to call first. Luckily the General was alone. He started, nearly dropping his coffee cup, then burst out angrily, "Megabyte, you know you're suppose to call first."

"Dad, listen. Something's happened to Adam."

Damon calmed down as fast as his anger had risen. "What? What did you feel?"

*Megabyte?* Jade called weakly.

*Jade. We're at my dad's. Are you okay?* "Just a minute, Dad."

*Yes. I'm in the nurse's office. They've called my mum. I can't get away.*

*It's okay. We'll tell my dad what happened. We'll meet you at your house when we're done.*

"We felt this burning pain," Ami was telling the General. "I almost passed out. It had to be from Adam."

"One minute we felt his pain and by the time we recovered from that, he was gone." Megabyte said, joining in the conversation. "He's not dead, I can tell that."

"Did you pick up on where he is?"

"No, and we can't now. They've must have him heavily sedated again," Ami said.

"Tell me what the pain was like." the General asked Ami.

"Like a knife through my brain. Why?"

"That's just what I was afraid of. Garrett's back at his old experiments."

"You still have no leads on where he is?" Megabyte asked.

"No, I'm sorry to say. Tracing that equipment shipment was our only lead here and it didn't pan out. Maybe Jim will find something out in Garrett's past that will lead us to his backers. Then we can work forward from there."

He saw the dejected looks in their faces. "I know. I don't want to leave Adam in Garrett's hands any more than you do. We're doing everything possible to find him. You just keep trying to contact him. I'm afraid at this point only a slip up from Garrett will let us find him."

"How is he," Garrett asked his technician the next morning.

"Okay, for now. He's recovered from yesterday."

"For now?" Garrett asked.

"Keeping him drugged, on these machines. He'll be okay for one, maybe two more weeks, but then..."

"With the progress we've made so far, that should be long enough. I'm going to stay away from the area we tested yesterday for a while. I want to try this area here," he pointed. "It showed unusual patterns too. Lets get him hooked up."

Once again, they arranged equipment around Adam and Garrett went to work. As he did yesterday, Garrett positioned the stimulator, then applied power. He slowly increased it, but nothing visual happened other than the recording needle vibrating more violently. He knew the stimulation was having some affect, but he couldn't tell what it was. He was reluctant to increase the power anymore, but decided to just a bit. He turned it up slightly--and stared at where Adam had been laying. 'That's it,' he thought. 'That's what all these tests have been about.' He had found the clue to teleporting. He had just caused Adam to disappear.

"Where'd he go?" the technician asked, not believing what he saw.

"I don't know, and I don't care. This is it. This is what we've been looking for. Come on. Let's get these results recorded and sent back to the states. Then we'll pack up and get out of here."

Megabyte and Ami were at the island. Jade's mother wouldn't let her out after her collapse the day before. They had tried again to find Adam earlier. They both knew they were already late for school, but were reluctant to leave.

"I don't know. I feel like we're running out of time." Ami cried. "First we almost lose Adam in that explosion, now this. Are we going to find him?"

Megabyte came and sat next to Ami. He put her arms around her and held her. "We'll find him. We have to." They didn't know how long they'd been sitting like that when they both suddenly stood up and teleported without conscious thought. They found themselves falling into the sea. They saw Adam floating in front of them, unconscious. They grabbed him and teleported back inside the ship.

They lay Adam on the platform by the center column of the ship. A deep yellow glow surrounded him. Ami put her hand out to touch Adam, then pulled it back quickly.

"Ouch, it shocked me."

Megabyte tried the same thing. "Me too. It must not want us to touch him."

"What's it doing?" Ami asked.

"Healing him maybe. Kevin said this is what happened when Lisa almost drowned."

They stood there watching Adam for a few moments, then went back to sit down. "This could take a while," Ami said. "We'd better let Jade and Kevin know he's here." *Jade, Kevin. Adam's at the ship.*

*I'll be right there,* Jade replied, materializing a few moments later.

*How?* Kevin asked.

*I don't know, Kev. He teleported into the sea, unconscious. The ship has him in some kind of force field, like what you told us happened to Lisa. We can't do anything for him right now. We'll let you know when he wakes up.*

They waited almost an hour before the glow disappeared. They crowded around Adam, waiting for him to wake. "Adam." Ami said, taking his hand in hers.

He opened his eyes and squinted up at them. He tried to sit up, but fell back. He tried again, and with Megabyte's help managed it this time. He cradled his head in his hands. "Oh, my head."

Jade ran to him and hugged him. "Oh, Adam," she sobbed.

He pulled her down next to him on the platform and put his arms around her. "I'm all right. I'll be fine." he said, forgetting his headache, concern more for Jade in his voice than for himself. Then he looked up at Megabyte and Ami. "Why am I at the ship?"

"You don't remember?" Ami asked.

"The last I remember is they were moving me from I.C.U."

"That was four days ago." Jade said.

"Four days!"

"Yea, Garrett kidnapped you from the hospital. At least Dad thinks it was Garrett," Megabyte added. "We need to let him know Adam's safe. Jade, go home and call him, make sure he's alone." Then to Adam, "he'll want to talk to you. Feel up to it, buddy?"

Adam tried to stand, but his legs gave way. "I guess my legs are still a little weak."

"Well, you haven't used them for two weeks," Megabyte said as he came over to help. With his and Ami's help, Adam made it to his feet. He motioned they could let go, but they both held on as he swayed slightly.

"Take it easy, buddy. Let us help. You're still not too steady on your feet."

*Megabyte, your dad says come on, he's alone.* Jade called.

"We'll still go on the assumption it was Garrett who had you." General Damon said after hearing the kids' story. "And now that he's lost you, I think he might try to get out of London." He pressed his intercom. "Jim, activate everyone. Adam just got away from Garrett. I think he'll be trying to get out of the country. I want all airports covered within a hundred mile radius. Further if you have the manpower."

"There's something there, deep down in my mind." Adam said, "but I can't remember. Maybe when I'm stronger, the ship can help, but..." he shook his head. "that's not going to help us now."

"We know he was doing something to you," Megabyte said. "We all felt a sharp pain from you yesterday."

"He had me four days. No telling what he learned in that time. We can't let him get away."

"He won't be able to get out of the country," General Damon assured them. "But, while my men are searching, Adam needs to get back to the hospital."

"I'm not staying there," Adam insisted.

"All right, but at least have Dr. Poole check you over." He turned to his assistant. "Frank, I'll be back in a little while." Megabyte took his arm, while Ami and Jade took Adam's and they all disappeared.

"Well, he's none the worse for his little adventure. His injuries are still healing fine." Dr. Poole told the General when he escorted Adam back out to his friends after examining him. Then added to Adam, "I'll get a bed ready for you."

"No," Adam replied. "I'm going home."

"Adam, you should stay here..." the General started to say.

"Don't worry. I'll be in good hands." 'or whatever it was the ship had.'

"I disagree, but I can't force you to stay. Just come in for a check up in a week, or immediately if you experience any severe pain," Dr. Poole advised.

Later that afternoon, Frank entered General Damon's office. "We've located Garrett. A small airport outside of London."

"How soon can you have all your men there?" General Damon asked.

"Hour at the soonest. Our agent there said Garrett's flight plan said he wasn't leaving until six tonight. It seems he's still waiting on his equipment to be delivered."

"Good, that means we have time," the General said. "Get your men there and have them standby." He looked at Megabyte and Ami. He had tried to get them to go on to school after they had settled Adam in back at the ship, but they had insisted on staying at Worldex, waiting for word on Garrett.

As usual, he jumped slightly at the unexpected flash of a teleporting Tomorrow Person. Two in fact. Adam appeared in front of him, supported by Jade, who helped him to a chair.

"Megabyte said you found Garrett?" Adam asked.

The General glared at his son. "Yes, he's getting ready to leave the country."

"We can't let him get away with whatever information he got from his experiments. I'm going with you." Adam stated.

"Are you sure your well enough to come?" Damon asked.

"No," Adam answered truthfully, "but I'm going anyway."

"We all are," Megabyte said, Ami and Jade nodding their agreement.

"I expected as much. Just please, stay out of trouble. Let my men go in first--and no teleporting. There'll be too many people around."

They pulled up in the General's car to the gate surrounding the airport. Jim came up and said, "That's Garrett's plane over there," pointing to a small jet being serviced. "His equipment just arrived and is being cleared through customs. The men are in place. They're still out of sight, but we have him surrounded."

"Wait here," Damon told Megabyte and the others. Then he got out and followed Jim into the airport.

Megabyte started to follow, but Adam called him back. "No, this time we'll do as he says. We can see what's going on from here."

It was a few minutes before they saw anything happening. Then a truck started out from the hanger towards the plane. Several other vehicles appeared from different areas of the airport and started converging on Garrett's plane.

The truck stopped a short distant from the plane and Garrett started over to it. Instead of his equipment being unloaded as he expected, though, a dozen men swarmed out of the back. Other vehicles rolled to a halt around his plane and more agents emerged.

Garrett turned and ran for the plane, but realized it could never take off now. He grabbed his briefcase and jumped in an airport utility truck sitting by the loading ramp. He headed towards a parking lot on the far side of the airfield. Damon was running back to one of the other vehicles when his car crashed through the gate and rolled to stop next to him.

"Get in," Megabyte called, then pulled away before his father was fully through the door. Damon noticed the other three in the back seat.

"I thought I told you to stay out of it," he said, then added. "Go that way," he pointed, "you can cut him off."

Megabyte drove across the tarmac, overtaking Garrett and pulling ahead of him. He pulled sharply to the right in front of the utility truck. Garrett swerved to avoid the car, and the truck overturned. Garrett was thrown from the driver's seat, but caught under the overturned truck.

General Damon, Megabyte, and Ami rushed over to the overturned truck. Jade stayed and helped Adam out of the car. Damon had grabbed hold of Garrett and tried to pull him out, but his legs were pinned beneath the truck bed.

"Push on the truck," he told Megabyte. "See if we can lift it enough to get him out. Ami, try to pull him out when I tell you." They pushed against the top side of the truck and felt it move slightly. "Try now Ami." the General cried.

At that moment several of the Worldex agents ran up. They helped push on the truck and Ami was able to pull Garrett out. One of the agents knelt down to check Garrett. "His legs are crushed. I can't get enough pressure on the arteries to stop the bleeding," he said.

"Let me. I can help him." Adam told the General, then knelt down by Garrett as the General nodded for his agent to move out of the way.

"Adam, you can't. You're not strong enough." Megabyte replied, squatting behind him.

"I can't let him bleed to death. I'll just stop the bleeding. That's all."

"No, Adam," Ami pleaded. "It could kill you."

"I have to. I can't let him die." Ami and Jade stood around Adam to block his actions from view. He extended his hands over Garrett's legs and concentrated. It only took a few moments to stop the flow of blood and close the arteries, but it was enough to drain him. He sighed, then fell back into Megabyte's arms, unconscious.

Meanwhile, Frank searched the truck cab and found Garrett's briefcase. He opened it and scanned through the papers. 'The General's not going to like these, but at least we got them.' he thought. He headed over to where the General was hovering over Adam. He managed to catch Damon's attention and lifted up the briefcase. "There all here," he called.

The General nodded, then turned back to his son. "We'll have an ambulance here in a few minutes," he said. "We'll get Adam back to the hospital."

"No, we'll take him back to the ship. I think it's the best help for him now. I'll be back after we have him settled." Megabyte replied.

"Frank," Damon summoned his aide. "Help them get Adam somewhere secluded. They'll take him to get help. I'll take that," he indicated the briefcase.

"Okay, Chief." Frank and Megabyte carried Adam around to the far side of the General's car, Ami and Jade following. When they were sure they were not observed, Megabyte and Ami took Adam in their arms and teleported to the ship. Jade followed.

Once again they lay him on the platform by the column. This time there was only a soft glow around Adam as he slept. They felt this was a good sign, that he would be fine and all he needed was rest.

In a small post office in London, a clerk sorted through packages. "Hey, Ralph," he called. "this one's marked air mail, but doesn't have enough postage. What should I do with it."

"Where's it going?"

The clerk read the address. "Langley, Virginia, USA."

"Throw it in overseas surface mail." his supervisor called.

Even with the ship's help, it still took Adam several weeks to recuperate. His attempt to heal Garrett had slowed his recovery significantly. He spent most of his time lying on the beach, studying. Megabyte or Ami would stop by his professors' offices to pick up his class work. They had explained he had been in an accident and it would be several weeks before he could return to classes.

The original plans to have a dinner at the Damon's house, then take Adam nightclubbing for his birthday changed to having a family picnic on the island the second weekend after Garrett had been captured. Megabyte brought his whole family, having to make three trips back home to get each of them. Ami and Jade both brought their moms, then Jade went back and got Jesse. Kevin even brought his Aunt Ruth.

"Whoa, don't ask me to do that too often," Ruth said as they materialized on the beach. She turned to Adam. "You're looking good. Happy Birthday." Indeed, Adam did look fully recovered. He had regained his normal tan after days on the beach, but Ami could still see a certain caution in his movements.

Adam wandered over to where General Damon was standing, staring out over the sea. "How's Garrett," he asked. He hadn't talked to the General since the night they captured the professor.

"He's still in the hospital, but he'll recover. He'll never walk again, though. The American authorities have agreed to let him complete his prison term over here, where we can keep an eye on him."

"And his research?"

"Safely tucked away at Worldex."

"You didn't destroy it?" Adam asked angrily.

"Do you really want us to? Someday it might help you."

"I don't know. I'll come take a look at it and see. Would you destroy it if I asked?"

Damon looked at the solemn young man next to him, and at that moment knew that Megabyte was no longer the only one he would give his life for. "Yes. I would." he replied. "Enough of this though, let's get on with this party. I think I've been designated chief cook."

The kids enjoyed a game of Frisbee while the adults gathered around the grill talking while Bill cooked hamburgers and hotdogs American style.

Adam tired out quickly after a few minutes of Frisbee and went to sit and watch.

*Happy birthday, Adam.* he heard in his mind.

*Lisa?* he called, but she didn't answer.

"What?" Ami asked as she saw the look on his face.

"Lisa just wished me a happy birthday. But she won't answer back." he sighed.

"Maybe someday," Ami said, then offered a hand to help him up when Bill called that the burgers were ready.

Epilogue

"Whacha thinking about?" Megabyte asked as he joined Adam later, after everyone had left. They sat on a dune overlooking the beach, watching the waves in the moonlight.

"The two Tomorrow people your dad saw. I wonder where they are. Are we ever going to meet them?"

"Maybe they're dead." Megabyte didn't like that answer, but it was the only one he could think of.

"No. I don't think so. All trace of them disappeared too suddenly and thoroughly for that. I just have a feeling."

They were interrupted by a splash. "Well, it doesn't look like we have time to worry about old TP's. It seems like we have a new one to meet," Megabyte said as they ran into the surf to help the new arrival.

The End.