by Nick Cook
With the recruits following me, I headed towards Chloe who was kneeling by some red flowers with George. He was our youngest recruit – having only just celebrated his eighth birthday. As the others in his training group watched on, George stared at one of Kelly’s honeybees that perched on a flower.
‘Do you mind if we watch what you’re doing for a moment, Chloe?’ I asked.
‘Not at all, Jake. It’s perfect timing – George has nearly got this cracked.’ Chloe smiled at George. ‘Show our visitors what you’ve just learnt to do.’
George nodded and screwed up his eyes as he stared at the bee. For a moment nothing happened, and then he let out a sigh. At once the bee took off and started to weave its way among the new recruits. A number of them flapped their hands at the bee, trying to ward it off, although I noticed Jess just shook her head and held her ground with a whatever look on her face.
Chloe raised her hands. ‘Everyone, keep relaxed and you won’t get stung.’
‘How do you know that?’ Yu Yan asked.
Chloe gently put her hands on either side of George’s shoulders. ‘Because George is in control of this particular bee.’
‘Yeah, right,’ Jess said.
‘No, really. I can understand your scepticism, but let George prove it to you,’ Chloe said.
Jess raised her shoulders. ‘Make my day, why don’t you?’
‘Then we will,’ Chloe replied. ‘George, can you make your bee hover directly in front of this lady?’
George gave Chloe the slightest nod as he concentrated. With a buzz, the bee swept around in a large circle and came to a perfect hovering stop a few centimetres from Jess’s nose. Then the bee dipped his head as if he were bowing to her. She stared back at it slack-jawed.
‘I wouldn’t open your mouth too wide or George might fly that bee right in there,’ Chloe said.
Jess snapped her jaw shut as the others laughed and shook their heads, but their eyes had widened with wonder too.
‘Well done, George, excellent work,’ I said, tussling his hair.
I’d never had a kid brother and, somewhere along the line, George had started to take on that role. He was always seeking me out for advice about stuff.
I herded the recruits, now whispering to each other, over to Daniel – a recently graduated Awoken. He’d arrived on the island six months earlier with his equally talented, non-identical twin sister, Melissa.
Daniel stood by a pond and smiled at the new recruits as we approached. ‘Welcome to the funhouse, everyone.’
‘Hey, I was wondering if you could give them a display of your ability, Daniel?’ I asked.
‘No problem, especially if you don’t mind me showing off a bit.’
I laughed. ‘I never do, so just let rip – we’re out to impress here.’ I nodded towards Jess, her expression suddenly a lot less certain than it had been a few minutes ago.
‘Got it.’ Daniel spread his hands wide and focused his attention on the surface of the pond. He stretched his fingers towards the surface and the water started to bubble. Then he raised his hands and a column of water a metre wide started to rise from the pond, goldfish included, into the air.
In another life, this guy would have made a great stage performer.
The recruits all gasped, including Jess. But I knew from experience Daniel wasn’t done yet. After all, he had a similar telekinetic gift to mine.
He spread his arms and the column began to morph into a human figure with wings…forming a beautiful angel who bore an uncanny resemblance to someone watching this performance from the other side of the lawn. She looked on with an amused expression. Gem.
She was wearing a crimson strappy top and blue jeans, but if I was honest, she could probably have been wearing a bin liner and would still be every definition of beauty that I could think of. Not in a glamorous made-up sort of way, but lit up from the inside. It fitted that she could transform herself into an angel.
Gem caught me looking at her, but her eyes skated away from mine and back to Daniel as his water angel slowly flapped her wings.
My bad. Always my bad the way I’d been keeping her at arm’s length.
Everyone in the garden was applauding and Jess loudest of all.
Kelly shouted across from beside a beehive, ‘You be careful with my goldfish there, Daniel.’
Daniel glanced across, breaking his concentration, and his angel collapsed in a storm of water back into the pond, leaving a few unlucky fish beached on the surrounding lawn.
‘Sorry, Kelly,’ Daniel said as he and his students began helping the stranded fish back into their watery home.
‘Interesting subject you chose there, Daniel,’ I said.
He raked his hand through his hair. ‘Well, you know, anything to get a woman’s attention.’ He glanced across at Gem, and she smiled back at him.
I felt a little twist inside. But what was I thinking? I hadn’t made any sort of move on Gem since bringing her back to Alderney, so I really had no right to complain if someone else was taking an interest in her.
I took a mental breath as we headed over to Gem next.
‘Hi there,’ I said, my hands firmly in my pockets. ‘I was wondering if one of your group could demonstrate their ability to our new recruits?’
‘No problem,’ Gem said with a small smile but she didn’t quite look at me. ‘Hey, Susie, can you show the recruits what you can do?’
‘I would love to,’ Susie, a young girl with hair in bunches, replied. I recognised her as the allotted healer from Chloe’s Tiger squad.
Susie gently touched a dead rose with her finger tips. At once a blush of colour spread through the wilted petals and they began to fill out. The next moment the rose was as full and red as if it had just bloomed.
I started to clap, the recruits quickly following my lead. Chloe gave Susie a big thumbs up from across the garden.
‘Fantastic work, Susie, you should feel very proud of yourself,’ I said.
She gave me a gap-toothed grin. I’d never been completely happy about having young members such as Susie and George, but the compromise we’d hit on was that they would never be put into the front line of any battle with the Shade. Instead, they would remain here at Eaglehurst until they were old enough to take on a full combat role.
I turned towards Jess, expecting to see her eyes filled with wonder at what she’d just seen. Instead she was scowling.
‘I don’t know how you’re doing this,’ she said. ‘It’s got to be a reality TV prank, right, with projectors and animatronics, that sort of thing?’ Jess started to look around her. ‘So where are all the hidden cameras? I bet you’ve been filming us since we stepped off the ferry.’
I shook my head. ‘Jess, there are no stunts, no illusions, no cameras, no footage for your YouTube channel. I can promise you that everything you’ve seen is real.’
I went to pick the rose, so she could see for herself that it was genuine, but a sharp jab of pain went through my forefinger. I let go of the rose and pulled out the thorn that had cut a deep slash into my finger. The wound instantly filled with blood.
Gem gently took my hand in hers. ‘Do you mind if I deal with that rather than let your own ability heal it, Jake? Maybe that will help to convince your sceptic?’ She raised her eyebrows at Jess.
‘Go ahead, Gem,’ I replied. ‘It will be good for all the recruits to see the full potential of your gift in action.’
As stupid as it was, I felt my heart accelerate as Gem took my hand in hers, her other hand hovering just over the wound. Yep, I had it bad for her.
Thankfully Gem didn’t look me in the eyes but instead concentrated on the gash in my finger. The tear in my skin began to shrink until the last hint of the cut faded completely.
Gem looked up into my eyes. ‘Jake, I…’
My gut twisted and I pulled my hand out of hers harder than I’d intended. ‘Thanks, Gem.’
She dropped her arms to her sides as the corners of her mouth turned down. ‘No pr
oblem.’
There was so much that was unsaid between us. But it was better to keep my distance from her and just be friends. For both our sakes…
I showed my healed finger to the group. ‘As you can see, one of Gem’s gifts is the ability to heal, and she is training the others here to do that.’
Jess leant in closely and prodded my finger. ‘No blood pack like actors use in movies when they get shot?’
‘No, nothing like that. This is the real deal. It might blow your minds to know that each and every one of you has an accelerated self-healing ability. It can cope with everything apart from the most serious injuries – and that’s where Gem and her trainee healers step in, to deal with the things that your abilities can’t.’
Murmurs of ‘No way’ and wide-eyed stares passed through the recruits.
Jess looked at me and then slowly nodded. ‘Well, Jake, you’ve definitely raised your sales pitch to your A game now.’
‘Glad to hear it, but I haven’t finished yet. There is someone who you need to meet. If it wasn’t for this individual, none of what you’ve seen would be possible.’
As I herded the recruits inside, I glanced back to see Chloe shaking her head and walking towards Gem. I didn’t need to be a mind reader to know who they were talking about.
Chapter Three
I guided my group through the labyrinth-like interior of Eaglehurst until we finally entered the library via the secret bookcase doorway. The stunning design of the library in the tower drew more than a few admiring gasps.
‘This is absolutely magnificent,’ Jeanne said as she stared at her surroundings.
‘Kelly, who you just met outside, designed all of this,’ I explained. ‘You probably already noticed some of her sculptures too.’
Jeanne gave me a sharp nod. ‘My papa would be very interested to see her work. He runs a gallery in Toulouse.’
‘Well, you could mention it to her, but I’m afraid that Kelly doesn’t seem interested in any sort of fame.’
Jeanne gave me a quizzical look as she shook her head. ‘What a shame. She has real talent.’
‘I know. But at least we get to appreciate it here.’ I returned my attention to the rest of the group. ‘As you can all see, Kelly is rather fond of her books. She’s thrown her library open to everyone, so feel free to help yourself to anything you’d like to read.’
Jess rolled her eyes at me. If she’d been chewing gum, it would have perfectly completed the unimpressed cheerleader look. ‘I’ll stick with my Kindle,’ she said.
Before I could answer her, Yu Yan jumped in. ‘An e-book is very practical, but it lacks the beauty of something printed. Additionally, you lose the fragrance of all those wonderful words between the pages.’
She slowly nodded. ‘Now that I can understand.’
Jess might have been a walking stereotype, but something told me there was hope for her yet.
I started up the spiral staircase towards the mezzanine level at the top of the tower. ‘Everyone, please follow me and I’ll introduce you to Sentinel. He’s currently running a Summoning session with Melissa.’
‘A Summoning?’ Adam asked.
‘It’s how we look for other people like yourselves – and how we reach out to you to implant the message about coming to Alderney.’
‘You did that?’ Adam said.
A lot of the recruits exchanged bewildered looks.
‘Yes, and you’ll see exactly how we did it in a moment.’
We reached the mezzanine level beneath Kelly’s impressive stained-glass canopy of a night sky.
Daniel’s sister, Melissa, was reclining in a white upholstered seat that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a spaceship. This was all part of our on-going system upgrades as we prepared to battle the Shade. Tweaks here, there and everywhere – anything we could do to make sure we defeated the Shade once and for all.
Melissa’s eyes remained closed as we approached. She was one of our star students with a heart of pure gold – a person everyone immediately liked, including me. Although she hadn’t graduated yet, we’d increasingly given her significant responsibilities, which was why she currently wore a wireless brain scanner headset. Nestled around her long blonde hair, its spider-leg-like tips glowed white where they pressed into her skull.
‘Is she having some sort of test or something?’ Evie asked.
‘Nothing like that. Right now, Melissa is following up a previous Summoning in which I tracked down a guy called Carl in New York. For some reason, he’s no longer responding to us, so Melissa has gone back to New York within a simulation called Ember to see if she can track him down.’
‘Ember?’ Evie replied.
I walked over to the large cube sitting in the room, the lights edging its top all currently lit blue. ‘This is Deep Thought Three, or DT3 for short. We use it to run the Ember simulation that enables us to project our consciousnesses to any point on the planet. We can even roll back time to observe events that have already happened.’
Mosi coughed. ‘This is sounding more and more like pure science fiction by the moment.’
‘I understand. I wouldn’t blame any of you for being sceptical about what you’ve seen and heard. But as you’ll soon discover, there is an explanation for all of this, including why the people you’ve met have developed psychic powers.’ I tapped the top of the slightly warm cube. ‘And that explanation includes why we happen to have the most powerful quantum computer on the planet right here.’
Adam crossed his muscly arms. ‘OK, hit us with it then. What’s the answer to all of this?’
I gazed up at the large blank screen suspended from the ceiling. ‘Sentinel, would you like to introduce yourself?’
A shape started to form from the numbers scrolling across the screen until a 3D head looked down at us.
Everyone stared up at him with fresh confusion in their eyes.
‘So Sentinel is just some sort of computer graphic sim?’ a guy called Rahaf asked. He was wearing a long flowing robe with an embroidered hat, and I remembered from his file that he was Omani. Every race and culture really was represented among the Awoken here.
‘I’m a lot more than that, I can assure you,’ Sentinel replied.
‘So what then? You’re using a facial mask mapping system like they use in films?’ Jess asked. How did she know about those? Once again, I realised I might need to seriously revise my initial impression of her.
‘So you’re talking into a video camera somewhere in the next room, right?’ Jess continued.
‘I can see why you might think that,’ Sentinel replied. ‘However, I’m actually an artificial intelligence who is able to process billions of algorithms in parallel per second thanks to DT3.’
‘Does that mean you can give us next week’s lottery numbers?’ Adam asked.
Sentinel smiled. ‘If I ran a simulation that modelled the balls and the lottery machine down to their individual atoms, and also computed their trajectory by taking into account air resistance, projected barometric pressure and humidity, along with a thousand other parameters then…’ He gazed at the ceiling for a moment as DT3’s light flashed briefly red, then looked back at Adam. ‘Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem. Was it any particular lottery that you wanted the numbers to?’
Adam stared at him, wide-eyed. ‘You’re joking, right?’ he asked.
‘Maybe I am, or maybe I’m not,’ Sentinel replied with a smile.
‘Our resident supercomputer AI also has a sense of humour,’ I said.
‘But this is so far beyond what’s been managed with any supercomputer on Earth. It is just plain crazy,’ Evie said.
‘Sentinel, do you want to explain to them, or shall I?’ I asked.
‘Be my guest,’ he replied.
‘There’s a very good reason for that, Evie. You see…’ I took a deep breath. ‘Sentinel doesn’t actually originate from this planet.’
Everyone in the group gave me, and then Sentinel, a bewildered look.
&nbs
p; Jess raised her hand. ‘You’re not saying that Sentinel’s an alien or something?’
‘Pretty much, although maybe not in the way that you’re thinking. You see, Sentinel arrived on this planet as a data burst captured by Lovell, the Jodrell Bank radio telescope in Macclesfield.’
‘Holy crap, for real?’ Jess replied.
‘For real,’ Sentinel said. ‘And if that’s not enough to make your human minds spin, I originated in a parallel universe.’
Adam made a T-shape with his hands. ‘Whoa, time out, mate. So apart from all the other crazy shit, now you’re trying to tell us that parallel worlds really exist?’
I always feel sorry for the new recruits at this point of the tour. This was a lot for anyone to take on board.
‘Yes, the multiverse is very real. Your reality, the Earth that you know, is just one of the infinite number of other Earths all sitting within their own unique universes,’ Sentinel replied.
‘I think that maybe you are having fun with us,’ Yu Yan said.
‘I can see why you might think that,’ I said. ‘But all of this is one hundred per cent true. Sentinel was created to act as a guardian AI, looking out for a parasitic race known as the Shade, who live outside our normal space-time in somewhere known as the Void. And it’s the Shade who have managed to enter our world through a portal, which a machine invented by my dad accidentally created.’
‘No bloody way,’ Adam said.
‘Yes bloody way,’ I replied. I swept my hands around me. ‘And that’s what all this is for and why you have been brought here today.’
Jess held up her palm towards me. ‘Excuse me, Jake, but even if these Shade aliens have invaded our world, what’s that got to do with me and all the others here?’
‘Because each one of you has a unique Awoken gene that was triggered by the Zoom virus that has infected the population of the planet. It was engineered into the human genome, waiting to be activated for a moment like this.’
‘Engineered?’ Rahaf asked.
