Synopsis:

Scott was on his way west to meet up with his friends to start a new life in L A. What he came across in the desert after his car broke down would change him forever. He wondered if his friends would recognise him once they finally met again. He didn’t think this was what his friend’s intended when they said, "start a new life."

Chapter Fifty-One

"Oh no, Kevin gasped, knowing that the earth wasn't ready to defend itself yet.

"We can't tell our parent's. Having them know about it, isn't going to help," Sara insisted.

"So what did Kim suggest?"

"Well Bob is bringing down some of the equipment needed to replicate the device, and Kim is going to get a satellite dish installed right here in our backyard."

"A dish? How big a dish, and why install it here? Won't that be dangerous if the Nemesis can trace it back to us?" Kevin questioned.

"I think it's a 5 meter dish, and Kim wants it here, because we have the greatest concentration of power, once Bob gets here with Cindy. If the Nemesis do find Earth, nowhere is safer than anywhere else," Sara answered Kevin.

"Damn," Kevin stated, realising the enormity of the problem.

Sara nodded, climbing into bed. Kevin went and did his business in the bathroom, before joining her. They held each other close, trying to give comfort to the other so they could get to sleep.

In the morning, the leave taking of their parent's was more than a little emotional, and the moisture shed, had nothing to do with the weather. Peter's parting words to Sara struck deep and she couldn't help the leaking that followed.

"Sara? I want to say one thing. Son or daughter, I'm very proud of you. Remember we love you, no matter what, and in a month when you get married to Kevin, I will try and be the best damn female I can, to make you equally proud of me."

"Oh daad!" cried Sara, hugging her dad tight. "I love you too."

Then they were gone, leaving Sara to fill Julie and William in on Kim's phone call, from the previous evening. Everyone was nervous, waiting for the next development, which occurred later that morning. A truck with no logo stopped by, unloading a matt grey satellite dish. Two men started assembling it, running the cable into the house, via the garage. They didn't speak much, so the others assumed they were Shelke friends of Kim. They left, leaving some data sheets for the dish, saying that Kim would arrive later.

Kim arrived, shortly before lunch. She was driving yet another vehicle, this time; it was a dual cab truck, on which was loaded several boxes of gear. Kim had two passengers with her. Cindy got out and introduced Bob Arnold, her soul mate, to everyone.

Bob looked somewhat younger than expected and admitted to tweaking up his original form, by using the Krin. Sara could see why Cindy was taken by the man. He was very polite and respectful, and he had a great sense of humour, once he let it out. He also knew his stuff, as he started to explain what he'd discovered over the hastily prepared lunch.

"Once we got to know each other intimately, we attempted to form a nexus, just like you had. Having an electrical background, I suspected the nexus was electrical in nature. I wanted to see if it could be measured and quantified. I had some linear amplifiers from my radio gear and hooked them up to a computer. I designed a wideband antenna to try and pick up the nexus's energy signal. Once we formed a nexus, the computer overloaded when we hovered next to the antenna." Here Bob paused to take a drink of beer he'd been offered.

"We knew that the Nemesis was out there somewhere in space, of course, stupid me wanted to see if it was possible to find them," Bob castigated himself. "I knew that travelling on Earth was relatively easy, if we could envision our destination in our minds, or were actively seeking out minds that we had been in mental contact with. Travelling in space is much harder without a point of reference, or having a mind to connect with, so I hooked up several amplifiers, and feed it into a satellite dish I had in the backyard." Bob looked at Cindy, hoping she'd take over the story from that point, while he finished the beer.

"We formed a nexus that night, but found that as we touched the antenna, it felt like we were sucked through a black hole and spat out the other side. We were several light years away, before we realised we were heading out into space. Bob had thought we might ride a carrier wave and travel somewhere around the speed of light, but it was much faster that that. Subjectively, what seemed like a few minutes were actually several hours in real time. We figured how to stop, by referencing on the major constellations."

"Weren't you afraid of getting stuck out there?" Asked Julie with a shudder.

"No, we knew that all we needed to do was concentrate on moving back to out bodies. The route didn't matter. Anyway, we felt out with our senses to see if we could detect anything or anybody. That's when we felt a disturbance in a direction from what felt like our left. At first we thought it was a ship, as it seemed to have a semi solid shape, but reaching out to it, we realised that it was a small group of minds that had grouped together in a crude form of a nexus."

"Ah!" commented Kim, sounding like she had suddenly had something confirmed.

"At our touch, the group split up and enclosed us. We could feel the evil in its touch as it tried to subdue us. I'm afraid we panicked and fled home, the last we felt of them was that they had changed direction towards us." Cindy concluded.

"I wonder how long we have before they get here," Sara wondered out loud.

"That doesn't matter," Kim stated grimly. "We have to go meet it before it gets here, or we'll have more than we can deal with if they communicate what they find on earth."

"You mean we have to go find them and fight them?" Sara asked, worriedly.

"More than just fight them, we have to kill them all, before they get anywhere near us," replied Kim, determinedly.

"How will we do that…oh! You mean use our powers?" Sara asked.

"Yes, you have been practicing, haven't you?" Kim looked at Sara with a questioning eye.

"Yes, but will it work in space?" Kevin answered with another question.

"Your powers are mental, the environment shouldn't matter. Now William, have you tried freezing things without actually touching them? Julie, did you try what I suggested?" Kim asked, looking at her.

"Yes we did, I can teleport an object to anywhere on earth, as long as it weighs less than10 pounds. Over that, and I find I can only do it over a few miles. William can freeze any object he can actually see, mass doesn't seem to matter." Julie replied, answering Kim's query.

"Well that should work okay, if what I suspect is true."

"If what is true?" William asked.

"Well, this is just conjecturing on my part, but I suspect that the Nemesis has two forms, a physical form for planetary use and a semi or non-physical form for space travel, which might account for the reasons why we haven't actually seen any of their spacecraft."

"But if they are non corporeal while in space, how do they fire the weapons that destroyed your parents spaceship?" asked Sara curiously.

"We don't actually know. There are many theories, but nothing is certain. My guess is that they form a group mind, like your nexus and open a portal in the centre of a supernova and somehow direct the energy in a beam to whatever threat they find. I think that's how they destroy the suns of populated worlds; they just beam super nova energy into it until it becomes unstable." Kim supplied.

I think they must have a limited range, if that's true," Sara spoke up.

"Why do you think that?" Kim asked, looking interested in Sara's idea.

"They make super novas as they go, so they will always have a handy weapon source nearby." Sara explained, feeling she was right.

"Excellent theory," Kim congratulated. Kim looked thoughtful, before making a call on her phone. Whoever she called, gave her an answer that made her smile. She hung up and turned to the waiting group.

"The supernova positions have been plotted and the distance between them, is all within a narrow tolerance. I think Sara nailed it on the head. The Nemesis isn’t just randomly destroying suns; they are making weapon dumps as they travel. The good news is that point where you roughly discovered those scouts is beyond their access range of the nearest supernova."

"Won't they have taken steps to fix that, now they know we are here?" asked Julie anxiously.

"No I don't think so. I'm hoping it takes more than a few scouts to generate a nova from scratch. They would have to go back to get in range of the last one before they could open a portal, and then they would need a sun to fire into. Remember this region of space is pretty empty of suns compared to the galactic centre," Kim tried to reassure them.

Bob, who had been quiet all this time, finally spoke up.

"We need to get the dish hooked up, now, to see if they are coming or going."

'I hope they are still coming," Kim agreed. "That might mean they don't think that your brief encounter, constitutes a threat to them. Also, it may be that they won't contact the rest of them, till they discover more."

"So if they are fleeing, they will have probably already contacted the rest of their species?" Asked William, clarifying a point.

"Yes, it's possible," was Kim's quick answer. "Bob, do you think you can repeat what you did, to get to the same co-ordinates where you arrived last time?"

"I think so, I know the original satellite dish's setting, and have calculated the difference for the new dish's position." Bob replied, looking over some notes he'd made. "It's just a matter of time and distance, but if we go along with the others, I think we can make it."

"We will need to mesh our Nexi together before we enter your device," Sara mentioned, looking at Bob and Cindy for any objections.

"Fine with us," replied Cindy, taking Bob's hand with hers.

While Bob started bringing in the equipment, with the help of Kevin and William, the girl's cleared lunch away and tried to work out possible scenarios for the upcoming fight. Of the six that would form the united nexus, only three had powers useful in a fight. William's freeze power and Kevin's energy release one. Julie's teleporting power might be able to be used as a weapon, if there was something dangerous nearby, like a sun or black hole she could send them into.

Leaving the men folk to their tinkering, the women, with the exception of Kim, who was taking an avid interest in Bob's nexus launcher, decided to pass the time by going next door. Maggie promptly inducted Leanne into the art of swing pushing, while Julie and Sara showed Cindy around, they checked out the inside of the house, discussing possible decor changes. Amelia wandered in and out, before deciding to pick the remaining plums, which were too soft for eating. She went back to bake some plum pies for desert, and make a start on dinner.

Several hours later, a pooped Leanne, with Maggie in tow, came and told Sara that they were heading back. Sara, Cindy and Julie called it quits and followed them back. They found the device had been finished, and that Amelia had something wonderful cooking.

They decided to have an early dinner and then test the device before Maggie went to bed. It was hoped that Maggie could monitor their well being and relay it to Kim.

Amelia's gumbo went down a treat, and Maggie's sea air enhanced appetite, meant she didn't fuss with any of the vegetables, although she did check the green bits weren't her hated Brussels sprouts. The pies with home made custard seemed a fitting end of the meal, and those that were about to risk their lives in the next few hours, savoured every scrap, in case it could end up being their last.

After things were cleared away, and final checks were made, Sara offered a round of brandy to help relax those about to do battle. Bob powered up the devices, before heading upstairs with Cindy, so they could form a nexus. Kim had Maggie check on them, seeing she was the only one who could see the Nexi form.

Sara and Kevin quickly got on the bed and formed the nexus, like it was second nature. They drifted out and floated downstairs. Two more Nexi drifted down, as they were formed by the two remaining couples. They touched each other forming a large Nexi of 6 minds.

Maggie described this to Kim and the others, as the large glowing orb neared the receiving antenna. Maggie then relayed the sight of them disappearing into the device.

Maggie extended her senses, seeking for the Nexi that had her mom in it. There! She picked up the feeling of the Nexi heading out into space. She struggled to increase her mental grasp on the faint traces she could sense.

To Sara and the others, they felt like a lemon pip being squeezed between giant fingers, as they were 'squirted' out into space. The view was strange, and not what was expected, no trailing lines as stars streaked past them. It was as if the universe was blinking, with a new set of stars flashing into and out of existence. A Bob flavoured mental voice, said "stop," having recognised a certain order of stars. The Nexi stopped, drifting in the dark reaches of space.

Casting their senses around in a globe, they used the mental image Bob was projecting of the Nemesis, to locate their target. They had come too far out, as Bob first sensed the enemy behind them, still heading for earth. Using the current position of the Nemesis as a waypoint, the Nexi sped back to their assigned target.

The Nemesis detected them as they approached and broke apart to surround the Nexi. Sara could feel nausea, as they tried a mental attack on the Nexi. The Nexi wavered, threatening to break apart under the assault of their attackers. Sara, having always been the dominant of the group, fought back, knowing that they had to win here. She shouldered the brunt of the mental attack, keeping an image of Maggie foremost in her mind, her maternal instincts to protect her child, giving her the strength to fight back. The slight lessening of the attack on the rest of the minds in the Nexi, gave them time to muster an attack of their own.

William's power of energy absorption flowed out to the surrounding enemy.

To be continued.

  

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 © 2005 by Prudence Walker. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, and compilation design) may be printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without the express written consent of the copyright holder.