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-Two

At the same time that the part of the nexus containing the mind of William started his attack, Julie portion was looking for a suitable target. She could see a binary system nearby, presumably where the Nemesis was heading to check it out, before continuing on.

Their current position placed them within range of the systems outer planets, one of which was a gas giant, similar to earth's Jupiter. Picking that as the target, Julie reached out with her power to grasp one of the enemies and send it deep into the centre of the gas giant. Kevin was a fraction quicker, attempting to explode his target, as soon as he locked on to it. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to happen and the target seemed unharmed. Nothing he did affected any of the individual entities that made up the Nemesis. Julie's target suddenly disappeared, which seemed to agitate the remaining enemy.

Williams's power was slow to take effect, but as the energy was drained from their foes, they began to change, becoming more corporeal. The Nemesis grew larger and more solid looking, as they reverted to a more physical form. It was then that Kevin's power started to have an effect. One exploded, in a pyrotechnic display, which would please the most ardent pyromaniac. Obviously Kevin needed a physical form to work with. Two more went the same way, as William forced them to become tangible. Julie couldn't use her power on the changed, as they became too heavy to translocate. She turned to the two remaining enemy that were trying to flee, from William's grasp, and sent them both into the nearest of the two suns. With Kevin dispatching the last of the Nemesis into its personal incandescent display, the Nexi then took stock of the surrounding space.

Maggie had sensed the wavering of the Nexi, as the first attack of the Nemesis, sought to destroy the unity of the nexus.

She cried out in fear, as she saw the weakening aura almost flicker out. Kim and the others feared the worst, as they waited helplessly.

Maggie prayed for her new mother and father, and as if being answered, she saw the faint aura of the nexus, brighten again. Maggie wasn't sure what was happening, but could feel bursts of energy being released in some form. She dutifully relayed this to the others, as the battle was waged.

"They are coming back!" she cried, hoping it meant that they had won.

Once certain that no other threats existed, the Nexi thought of home, and were soon back in their bodies. Sara, who had taken the brunt of the attack, remained unconscious, worrying Kevin no end. He called to the others as he caressed Sara's comatose body.

Everyone, including Maggie, crowded into the bedroom. Cindy put her hands on Sara, hoping whatever was wrong, could be helped by her healing power. The others watched with bated breath, as Cindy's hands glowed with the nimbus that indicated healing was taking place.

"What happened?" asked a dopy Sara, as she opened her eyes, trying to get her thoughts together. "Take the number of that bus that ran me over," she managed, as she struggled to sit up.

The laugh from the others, with her quip, was a little strained at the near call. Kevin shooed all out, bar Maggie, who had already claimed part of the bed next to Sara as hers. Kevin kissed Sara, feeling a load fall away from his heart, now his love was back with the living.

Maggie clung to Sara, knowing by the aura she saw that not everything was as right as Sara made out. Sara tried to lift Maggie into her arms to reassure her that she was okay, but found no strength in her arms, as a wave of dizziness tried to send her back into unconsciousness.

"Mommy's all pale," stated Maggie authoritatively.

Kevin looked at Sara alarmed, but couldn't see what Maggie saw.

"Mommy's, just tired honey," he told Maggie.

"No, her aura's pale. It doesn't look right," returned Maggie insistently.

"Kim! Kim come quick, Maggie says there's something wrong with Sara, yelled Kevin, moving towards the door.

"I'm coming," Kim yelled back, her voice indicating that she was already partway up the stairs.

Sara started trembling, and beginning to feel really strange. Kim rushed in with a glass in her hand, and told Sara to drink it all. Kim needed to hold the glass, as Sara's hands were too shaky to do so.

"Yuck, that's too sweet," Sara, complained after just a mouthful,

"Drink it all, your body needs the sugars," insisted Kim.

Sara chugged the glass of sugared water, grimacing at the taste. A minute later she conceded, that Kim was correct, as the trembles subsided and the dizziness withdrew. Within 5 minutes, Sara was ready to get up and decided to go downstairs against everyone's advice.

"I need to talk about tonight," Sara argued. "We were nearly defeated out there, and survived mostly by luck."

Kevin assisted Sara downstairs to the couch, where he insisted she lay down while the others gathered around.

Sara started talking, slowly at first, as she gathered her strength, before becoming more animated as she gained back her energy.

"Okay. We defeated the enemy, mostly by surprise, and their lack of knowledge about who and what we were," she started. Our mental defence was woefully lacking, I felt like none of you were helping." She waved off Kevin's and the others apologies, and continued on.

"I'm not blaming anyone-yet. This was our first time under fire and we haven't worked out the bugs yet, but." Here she paused to gather breath. Our mental union needs to be as tight as a drum, that's the first consideration. Without that, we can't even beginning to fight back."

"Sara, I'm afraid I let you down badly," Bob interrupted. I'm new to the group, and sort of kept my distance in the nexus. I didn't have any fighting abilities, and thought my main job was to guide you to the rendezvous. I was afraid and held Cindy back from doing anything as well," Bob finished, looking ashamed.

"Bob, don't blame yourself. We all made mistakes. Treat it as a handy lesson and learn from it." Sara replied, holding out her arms for a hug from Bob. "Something else we learned was the nature of our enemy and ways of destroying them. Our powers worked at cross purposes until we sorted ourselves out." Sara added.

"William and Kevin's powers, worked well together, but Julie's didn't, although she did destroy three of the enemy. Her gift would have been useless without somewhere inimical to send them to. As I said, we lucked out, but we'll need something better next time, if we encounter the main body in the future. Now I have a question," Sara finished off with, looking at Kim. "What happened to me, why did I need the sugar on my return? After all, I only used my mind, not my physical body?"

Kim looked at Sara, before answering. "That's not exactly true. The mind derives its energy from the brain, and that needs energy from the body. You can't just expect to expend energy as you did, without consequences, when you took on the brunt of the mental attack. Your body used up all of its immediate available resources, which of course are the sugars in the blood. You experienced what some diabetics do when they don't eat enough sugar after taking an insulin shot. It might a suggestion for next time that we monitor blood sugar levels and apply a glucose drip just in case."

"Yuck, I hate needles," grimaced Sara, thinking, that hopefully there wouldn't be a next time.

"Do you think the rest of the Nemesis, will be alerted?" asked William, adroitly changing the subject.

"It's difficult to say," Kim answered pensively. "The scouts were probably out of range. But I don't know if the main group monitor the scouts tightly. After all if they can’t expect them to report in regularly if they haven't found anything. I suspect the scout's just head off on their own, until they find something they want or require, and then send one back to report."

"At least if that's true, we might have a breathing space," Bob spoke up. At their questioning looks, Bob offered his take on things. "The number of the enemy we destroyed was the same as we first discovered. They hadn't sent one home."

The rest pondered his words. Drawing their own conclusions.

"We will start setting up duplicates of your system, Bob." Kim responded. We will need to keep a watch on that region of space, so we will need others to venture out, once they gain the power to form a nexus."

"Won't that be dangerous? What if they encounter them and have no defences against them?" asked Sara, seeing the possible dangers for uninitiated.

"We will only select those that gain special powers like yourselves," answered Kim by way of reassurance.

"I don't know about anyone else, but I'm starved," Sara mentioned, starting to get up off the couch.

"Stay," came a chorus of voices, as Julie, Amelia and Kevin, started towards the kitchen. Sara shrugged, thinking this was a bit much. She wasn't crippled, just tired, she could have made her own sandwich. Ten seemingly long minutes later, Sara finally got her food, a fat juicy hamburger with all the trimmings.

"Lucky, you had already made those patties for tomorrow's dinner," mumbled Kevin with his mouth full. "These really hit the spot."

Julie looked at Sara with a look that had, "don't blame me, he's your boyfriend." Written all over her face, as she handed Sara her burger.

"There's another cooking for you," Julie told William, who was looking at the fast disappearing burger in Kevin's hand in envy. William scuttled off to the kitchen, as Julie shrugged, and silently mouthed, "Men," to Sara.

Sara, who had just taken a huge bite herself, nearly blew it across the room, as she fought not to laugh. Snorting, trying to get the hot food down the right passages, she swallowed, and then laughed so hard her burger started to slip from her fingers. Juggling a bit so she didn't lose any of the fillings, Sara was once again struck by how lucky she was to have friends like this.

Everyone was glad to hear Sara laugh after the harrowing experience earlier. All knew that Sara was the leader, the strong one, and to see her struck low from the after effects of the battle, had given them a shock.

After William came back with his burger, Julie went and helped Amelia with the hot cups of chocolate for everyone. She had brought out some more pie, which she had warmed up. Julie and Maggie had a piece of pie and after Maggie had finished her drink, Julie took her upstairs to bed, with a promise of a story as enticement. Julie came downstairs ten minutes later and whispered in Sara's ear. Sara got up, waving off Kevin's help.

"I'm fine now, I'm just going to say goodnight to Maggie."

Sara entered Maggie's room and sat down on the bed.

"Mommy, I was scared yous wasn't coming back," Maggie said, all wide eyed.

"I'll never leave you honey, I promise." Sara hugged Maggie tight.

"I prayed for you, when yous was goned." explained Maggie, softly.

"I know you did, when I thought all was lost, I thought of you, and it was as if you were there helping me," Sara told Maggie in a whisper.

"I luvs you mommy,"

"I love you too sweetheart," Sara answered truthfully, pulling the blanket up to Maggie's chin.

Sara kissed Maggie on the forehead, as Maggie snuggled down in bed.

Sara turned to leave and saw Kevin watching her from the doorway. His eyes were shining as though tears were threatening. Sara could see in them, the love for herself and for Maggie. He slipped in quickly and gave Maggie a kiss on the cheek, before taking Sara's hand and drawing her out of the room. Sara resisted the pull just long enough to turn out the light, before allowing her soul mate to drag her away towards their own bedroom.

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.