Carversion -66-

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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 Sixty-Six

Maggie, like many of the gifted, remained on earth. Her powers were of little use in the fight, unlike Cathleen's. Her role was to monitor her mother's aura in case it changed and relay that information to Kim.

Kim was busy keeping tabs on her people through a fancy communicator, which let her hear the reports flooding in from all over the world.

Kim had just heard reports of erratic behaviour in the populace; luckily, the children in those areas had managed to screen out the worst of it with their telepathic abilities. Despite that, a few deaths from road accidents had occurred.

"Kim-Kim!" shouted Maggie, finally getting Kim's attention, as she paused in her issuing of instructions.

"What is it Maggie? I'm kinda busy at the moment," Kim answered somewhat tersely.

"Mother's aura, it's changing," an agitated Maggie cried.

"What's it doing?" asked Kim, her attention now fully on Maggie's anxious face.

"It's growing and getting brighter. It looks like a small sun and the colours are bleaching out," answered Maggie, who was wringing her hands worriedly.

Kim knew that Sara's main gift had kicked in at last, and that Maggie might never see her mother alive again, if she couldn't handle the load and burned out instead.

"It's Sara's main gift kicking in," she explained, not letting her know how dangerous it was for Sara. "Let me know if there's any further change."

"It's still growing and there's tendrils spreading down everywhere to Earth," Maggie supplied, reporting what her gift was showing her.

"Hmmm," Kim answered.

For Sara, it was like her mind was expanding, as her gift linked her first to those Nexi still in space and then all those on Earth that had a glimmer of a gift. It was too much too fast and she nearly blacked out from the sensory overload, as her gift to channel psychic energy flooded through her.

To an outside observer, had they the ability to see the energies involved, they would have seen a golden ball envelop Earth, half a diameter out. It filled the gaps between the linked Nexi, making them look like bright jewels embedded in its surface.

Another similar golden orb covered the Earth linking first those with the gift and then like a firestorm, it flashed into everyone human on Earth, making them part of the whole. Even the animals and trees were involved, giving part of their very living essence to support and maintain the defence of Earth. Linking the two spheres was one lone odd shaped nexus, which connected the two spheres with a column of golden energy.

In trying to shield Kevin, Sara had pulled the normal globe shaped nexus into a dumbbell shaped one, with a mind in each end separated by a thin link. The column of energy speared the end where Sara was, and passed out to the Nexi to feed them unbound energy.

On Earth in the bedroom where Sara was lying next to Kevin, things were happening also. Becky, who had been in her bedroom studying, called downstairs.

"Hey you two! There's a funny sound coming from our parent's bedroom."

Kim and Maggie raced upstairs, meeting Becky outside the bedroom, where a strange metallic smell was coming out. Opening the door a bit, they could just see Sara and Kevin holding hands on the bed. Sara's body was glowing and there were electrical discharges radiating off her body like miniature lighting bolts. The room was full of ozone, and Kim feared for the two's safety in breathing it.

"We have to open a window, but it's too dangerous. I'll go get something we can throw at the window to break it and let fresh air in," shouted Kim over the noise of the discharges.

Kim started downstairs, stopping when she heard Maggie cry out, "Don't go in Becky, you'll get killed."

Kim raced back in time to see Becky fearlessly entering the room. Becky had her hands held out in front of her, palms towards the discharges. As she neared, the energy being radiated seemed attracted to her and sank into her hands with no visible effect. Becky approached her mother and laid her hands on her glowing body. Immediately, the glow dimmed and slowly faded away, as Becky absorbed it calmly, and without being harmed. The discharges stopped, and Kim ran in and opened the windows, while Maggie peeked in from the doorway, her mouth open wide in awe at what her little sister had done.

Maggie came in and stood behind her little sister, hugging her, as Becky held onto Sara. Maggie's look at Kim, prompted her to explain.

"I think one of Becky's gifts has just kicked in. She must be an absorber of some kind, or a nullifier, from the way she can stop your mother radiating energy like that."

"Is mommy going to be alright?" Maggie asked Kim, seeing Becky seemed too occupied in her self appointed task to give Maggie an answer.

"I truly don't know honey. Your mother is channelling a lot of power, it could kill her or leave her a mindless shell," Kim answered, knowing that as hard as it was, she couldn't lie to Maggie.

Maggie turned to her mother and whispered, "Don't die mommy, we need you. Everyone does," she choked out, willing Sara to survive. Maggie reached out for her mother's hand and held onto Becky's arm with her other. Becky shifted one hand to Sara's forehead and with the other, grasped Maggie's hand that was touching her.

The strange circle of contact made up of Sara, Becky, and Maggie, caused them all to glow. The discharges that Kim expected to reappear, now Becky was using only one hand, failed to return. Only the glow that enveloped Sara before was evident. Waiting for a few minutes, to check that the three seemed to be in no immediate danger, Kim raced downstairs to check in with her colleagues to assess the situation.

The Nexi were all energised beyond anything they had experienced before. Where before, one could handle three ships at once, now they were destroying ten times that many. The Nemesis had never come across a single planet with such a defence system. Countless years of success had ill prepared them for the onslaught they were facing now. Sensing defeat, if not total annihilation, a group broke away to initiate the destruction of the yellow dwarf that gave this system life.

This move was fortunately planned for by the Earth's defenders, and several groups having long-range capabilities, were ready waiting for them.

Many years earlier, some of the most dangerous asteroids had been coaxed using TK into a safer orbit around the sun. They were now strung between Earth's and Venus's orbit, where their positions where carefully marked. The hardest thing was getting an equal amount of asteroids moving in the opposing direction. Moving them closer to the sun meant that they orbited at a higher speed. It was this speed that was augmented, when the Nemesis chose to move towards the sun.

The Nemesis never knew what hit them; as thousands of now TK guided rocks hit them from all directions. One vessel came between two rocks the size of houses moving diametrically in opposite directions. Needless to say, its destruction was a foregone conclusion. They tried to flee the now animated asteroid field, but their efforts were in vain.

The Nemesis died.

Back in near Earth orbit, the mopping up continued. The Nemesis was expunged to the last ship. The Nexi dropped out one by one, as they returned to their bodies. The rejoicing was great, as they celebrated their success. But things weren't quite as joyous in the condo of Sara and Kevin.

"What's wrong with her? Why isn't she waking?" Kevin asked worriedly, as he looked over at his still comatose wife.

Maggie tried seeing her mother's aura, but after the glowing incandescent display had ended, there was barely a flicker of colour in what was mostly now a black shadow.

"I think she's dying," wailed Maggie. "Her aura is nearly gone," she cried, flinging herself on her mother's motionless form.

Kim quickly took a blood sample, using a lancet, and dropped the bead of blood onto a test strip that was inserted into a diabetic's blood sugar level meter.

"Does she need glucose?" Kevin asked hopefully, remembering Sara's first encounter with the Nemesis.

Sadly, Kim shook her head, knowing it wasn't that simple. Although a little low, Sara's blood glucose was still in the normal range that could be expected.

"It's a little low, but not dangerously so," she told them, making their hearts sink even more. "I would like to transfer her to my ship, but knowing you as I do, I planned ahead."

With that, she called someone on her communicator. Within a minute, the house became dark as something large hovered overhead, blocking the sun. Even though none wanted to leave Sara's side, they were drawn to the window to peer upward at the Shelke ship.

To describe it, was hard, as the light grey surface shimmered in rippling iridescence, covering much of the surface details with an effect similar to that produced when a pebble is dropped into a calm body of water. The overwhelming feature was its size, as its circular bulk covered all of the property in shadow.

Kevin, Maggie and Becky hearing some odd beeping sounds, finally tore their attention from the amazing craft and turned to look back at Sara, thereby getting another surprise.

The bed around Sara was littered with strange machines that blinked and beeped incessantly. Strangers were connecting all sorts of probes to Sara, which made the machines emit more noises and flashy bits to light up.

It seemed that every bodily function was being monitored, and Kevin and the girls waited, as the strangers muttered in a technical language of their own. Kevin felt his heart sink, as the shaking of heads of these people spelt out the universal message that needed no explanation. It was bad.

Kevin hugged his daughters, as the machines were reluctantly disconnected and taken away. Maggie was in tears, knowing nothing had been done and her mother remained inert on the bed. Becky still had the disconnected look on her face that she'd had since she'd been released from her job as an absorber.

"Kim! What's happening?" asked Kevin frantically.

Kim looked at Kevin and motioned to tell him outside, but Kevin told her he wasn't moving, nor were his daughters.

Kim shrugged and started to speak, looking at the girl's reactions.

"As far as we can tell, there's nothing physically wrong with Sara. She has hardly any mental activity showing though, other than the autonomous functions that keep the body going."

"Is she brain dead?" Kevin asked fearfully.

"No I don't believe so; it's more like a deep coma, as if she is just waiting for a kick start." Kim answered him.

"How long before ?" Kevin trailed off, unable to complete the question, not sure whether he wanted an answer to it.

"She recovers? It could be days or weeks," Kim filled in, picking the positive of the two possible questions.

Kevin, deep in thought didn't reply. He sat on the bed and took one of Sara's limp hands and brought it to his lips, kissing it gently, as his mind spun uselessly in circles.

Maggie flung herself on her mother's body with an inarticulate cry of desolation; as she sensed the flicker of Sara's aura weaken even more. Maggie's heartfelt cry seemed to wake something in Becky's eyes, some glimmer of determination that wasn't there moments before.

In the shadowy room caused by the spaceship overhead, a light flickered, and grew. Kim saw Becky's hands glowing with a golden light. Becky moved past her and reached out for her mother's body. Maggie stopped crying, as she saw the light from Becky approaching. She slipped off the other side of Sara and moved into Kevin's loving embrace as they watched Becky place her glowing hands on Sara's forehead. On contact, Becky's whole body glowed with light, slowly pulsing in time with her heartbeat.

At first, nothing seemed to happen, and then a slight glow enveloped Sara's head. Becky's body seemed to pulse, with a sudden brilliant light, like a flashbulb going off, before falling away onto the floor. Kim was picking her up instantly, cradling her exhausted body, as they looked towards Sara's body.

It looked as if Sara was covered in Saint Elmo's fire, from head to toe as the electrical discharge crackled in the dim light. Like an omen, the Shelke ship must have moved off, allowing the room to brighten from the sun, coinciding with Maggie's cry of joy, as she sensed Sara's aura returning to normal. Sara stirred, causing everyone to yell in joy.

"Can't anyone get some sleep in here, what's with all the racket going on?" was Sara's first raspy words.

To be continued.

  

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