by John Ricks
When the kids came home I was sitting at the kitchen table. To my great surprise—and to the surprise of everyone else—Becky wasn’t with them. We said our hellos, and hugs were given all around. An hour later, Becky came in the front door, arm in arm with a boy about her age but a little taller. Carroll was the first to see them, and Becky said, “Hi, Carroll, this is Jimmy. We’re going steady.” I reached out and touched her mind and learned that she liked Jimmy very much, and I was no longer in her thoughts.
Though I was crying deep inside, I hid it and got up from my seat to greet her. Everyone was watching me. I came around the corner with a smile on my face and said, “Hi, Becky! Hi, Jimmy!” I put my hand out to Jimmy and said, “Nice to meet you.” That was very hard to do, much harder than developing the faster-than-light (FTL) drive I’d finished last month. I kept my smile and tried very hard to be pleasant, when what I really wanted to do was crawl away and cry. Becky’s chin dropped to her neck, and I could see anxiety on her face. No one was saying anything, so I ended the silence. “Aunt Alice”—that was Mrs. Crain—“made cinnamon rolls. She makes the best rolls I’ve ever tasted. Come on in, Jimmy. I’m sure she has one for any friend of Becky’s.”
I led the way into the kitchen and motioned for him to sit down, and then I asked Aunt Alice if I could get a cinnamon roll for Jimmy before I left to prepare for that night’s meeting.
She said, “Of course you can, sweetheart.”
I went to the counter and got him the biggest roll and then got him a glass of milk. I gave Becky a quick hug and said, “It’s nice to see you again.”
“It’s nice to see you too.” I could see the tears starting in her eyes.
I waved good-bye to everyone as I cheerfully left the inn. Petty Officer Patricia Henderson was right behind me. I walked through the town, saying nothing, just smiling and waving to people. When we reached the other side of town, I turned into the woods and walked several hundred yards before levitating myself up to the top of a big fallen redwood tree and sat down to have a good cry. After scanning the area, Patricia climbed up and sat down next to me.
“Hurts, doesn’t it.” It wasn’t really a question, just an acknowledgment that she’d been there before.
I looked at her through tears and nodded. “Yes.”
She took me in her arms and held me for a while. It took some time, but I calmed down, and the crying stopped. After a while I said, “Becky was my first crush and my first heartbreak. I can’t blame her. I’m sure that it’s hard for someone her age to be surrounded by boys in school and remain steadfast in a long-distance relationship with a boy. I’m always hidden away and seldom answer her letters. It’s not her fault.”
“It’s not yours either. You have a job to do. Your life has been forced on you through circumstances over which you’ve had no control. It’s going to be very difficult to find someone who can love you for you, who understands your situation and is willing to wait for you. You don’t find that kind of love very often and very seldom at your tender age.”
I looked up at her and smiled. “It was fun while it lasted, and I have that. I never forget anything, so I will always remember my first crush. I won’t look for it again, but I won’t turn it down if it comes along. Love is very special.” I stood up and turned to her. “I won’t let this ruin our Christmas either. We’re going to have fun and that’s that!”
She stood up and hugged me. “I hope you know that what you did back there with Jimmy was very brave and very kind. I think the whole family is extremely glad that you did not make a scene.”
To Patricia’s surprise, I levitated us both back down and started back toward town. The big fallen tree was in the way, so I made a motion with my hand, and it flew through the air, landing over a hundred feet away. I didn’t even think about what I had done until I heard Patricia’s sudden intake of breath behind me. I turned toward her and said, “Whoops! Sorry about that. Guess I wasn’t thinking. I’d better be a little more careful.”
She knelt down on one knee and took my shoulders in her hands. “Freddy, how long have you been able to do that?”
“Months now. Why?”
She searched my eyes for a minute. I touched her mind, and she was thinking, “With that ability, he could crush someone if he got upset. What kept him from harming Jimmy?”
My eyes widened, and I looked at her with real concern and said, “You’re thinking out loud. With that kind of intense thought and worry, I can’t help but hear what you’re worried about. I promise you that I never even thought about harming Jimmy. I suppose I could have killed him easily, but I refuse to use any of my abilities to harm anyone. I refuse to even think of doing such a vile thing. Please don’t think such things about me.”
“Freddy, you’re the kindest and most gentle person I’ve ever met in my entire life. I love you with all my heart, and I think the world of you. You are one of a kind, and I hope you never change. I don’t know anyone else with your kind of power who would be so good at heart, so kind, so gentle, so loving of people that he always put others first.”
“It’s the biggest reason I need you, Patricia. It’s one reason I’m allowing the team to stay. People can easily take advantage of me. They could control me, using that knowledge. You girls don’t do that. You protect me from being manipulated. I love you too.”
We hugged and started crying again, but this time it was both of us. When we calmed down, we were way too serious. I needed to lighten up the situation, so I said, “Tag! You’re it!” and started running. She chased me for a while and finally caught me when I ran out of breath. She was really quick and would have caught me sooner, but I’m small and can turn faster. We collapsed on the ground, laughing and tickling each other. Soon, we just lay there.
“Time to get up and reenter the rat race,” she said.
“Rat race?”
“It’s just a phrase people use for the human race, Freddy.”
“It fits.”
“He threw a tree that was wider than him a good distance away?”
Everything went black. At least, that was what I let them think.
Green said, “Yes, sire. I received the impression that it had to be at least one-quarter of a click long and twice the height of the creature wide.”
“Are trees lightweight?”
“No, sire. The tree had to weigh eighty to one hundred cubes.”
Blue looked down and started thinking. There was a frown on that face, with eyebrows pulled in like a puppy dog whose master just fell, and it screamed he was very worried. “Green, take a break for a few seconds.” Blue left, and in minutes he returned. Walking along with him were two Yellows, which were smaller than the Green, with heads oversized as compared to the others. Gray and Green backed up in fear.
Both Yellows said in a single, high-pinched, telepathic voice that was blended and hypnotic, “This is the creature you tell us about? The one that mentally battles the Green and picks up and throws with his mind these things called trees that weigh eighty or more cubes?”
The Blue bowed and answered, “Yes, Truth Taker.”
“We will watch and protect. And we will report your willingness to have us present.” They turned to Gray. “Why do you back up? What are you hiding?” They turned in unison to Green, “Do not wait on us.”
Chapter 5
Breakthrough
Patricia smiled, and we headed back in a very good mood. When we came out of the forest, people were looking for us. The commander was headed our way, using a scanner to find us. Her head was down as she looked at the readings.
“What’s up, Commander?” I asked as we emerged.
She jumped back only a few inches, but it was the first time I had ever seen her startled. I could not help thinking, She really needs to learn how to use the scanner better. She should have realized we were right in front of her.
“Freddy! Pe
tty Officer Henderson! Where have you been? Carroll came to us saying that you might need help.”
I said, “It was very nice of her to be concerned. I’ll have to remember to thank her. Commander, I did need someone to talk to, and Patricia was there to help. We worked things out, so there’s no real problem.”
The commander smiled at Patricia. “Very well. You had us worried because you two were gone a long time. Where do you want to eat dinner?”
Patricia said, “Let’s eat at the diner tonight. Does that sound good, Freddy?”
“I think that would be great. I’ll go on ahead with the rest of the team. You hang back with the Commander, Patricia. Judging by the look on her face, she wants you to give her a report about this. You know how she hates to be left in the dark.”
Patricia nearly broke out laughing, as we had talked about that very thing while walking out of the forest. “I think you’re right,” she said.
I headed off toward the diner, holding Colleen’s hand on the way. I still needed a little comfort, and Colleen was the closest person to a mommy that I had, besides the commander. About halfway there I heard the commander exclaim, “He what? I want to see it before it gets too dark.” They took off at a run, back toward the forest.
I looked up at Colleen and slowly shook my head. “Sometimes the commander has no patience. Nope, none at all.”
“Freddy, I have the feeling that you’re going to teach her patience or give her a heart attack. After taking care of you, I think she’ll do real well with kids of her own.”
“I’ll try my best.” I said with a sly smile that screamed “Just wait and see!”
Dinner was great. I was starting to see the difference between great food and supposedly great food. The new chef at home was a five-star, and she made things like I do—way too fancy sometimes. She had strange taste, and she never used the right spices. Last week we had an Italian dinner, and I don’t think the garlic bread even had garlic on it. So Colleen went back to doing the cooking while the commander looked for a replacement, someone a little more down-to-earth. Everyone was happy about that.
During dinner I asked, “Does anyone on the team like to play video games?”
Leaning forward with interest, Katie answered, “Most of us like to play video games of all kinds. Why?”
“I may have a challenging one for you, and I just wondered if you’d be interested. It’s very important that you become proficient with it.”
Everyone was looking at me. Katie tried to touch my mind, so I mentally pathed to her, “Where are your manners?” She stopped right away. “Freddy, if you made a game for us to play, I’m sure we will all be very interested. I don’t believe it’s fair that you would bring this up and then not tell us a little something about it.”
“When we get back to the base, I’ll show you and answer your questions.” I looked around and saw media people talking quickly into recorders. One was taking pictures but trying to be discreet. “I don’t think this is a very good place to talk about it. I just needed to know for some planning that I’m doing, and I had forgotten to ask that question. I’m glad you like playing them. Who’s the best?”
That started some discussions, and they continued with it, even after Patricia and the commander returned. The commander had a strange look on her face.
“I stepped over the line, didn’t I?” I asked.
“Yes, Freddy, you did. I have to report it, but I can also report your attitude about the use of it. That should make it all right. I doubt that they will worry if they know that you use it only to help build things.”
“If I gave you something more, a tiny breakthrough to report, would that make any difference?”
“It might.”
I wrote on a piece of paper. “Susan, let the president know that I have developed a way to travel faster than the speed of light without any danger of crushing the pilot. I plan on testing it soon. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to be training some of your team to help fly the prototype, if that’s okay with you.”
“Freddy,” she said with a smile, “you call this a tiny breakthrough?”
“Do you want to discuss some bigger breakthroughs here?” I asked, using my eyes and a tilt of my head to point out the media.
“No!” She took the piece of paper, went outside, and burned it. Then she used her foot to rub the ashes into the dirt. No one seemed to be watching her, and everyone was acting like nothing was happening, but you couldn’t cut the emotions and curiosity with one of those knives the master chief was carrying, hidden somewhere.
Dinner went well, and the discussion turned back to who was the champion at video games. It seemed that some were good at driving, some at flying, some at shooting, and some at handling multitasking situations, but all were very good. This was going to work out better than I’d thought.
The two Yellows said, “So he is the one that invented their FTL drive. Amazing.”
Everything went blank, except what I was concentrating on. The Yellows walked over to the tank and placed a tentacle into my head. In their dual voice, they said, “He is getting free, child of Green. He is trying to use telekinesis to turn the power off to this tank. You were correct, Blue; you need us. Green could never see this.”
Everything went completely black. I could not even think.
“We will keep him under control while Green abstracts the information. Green is far more delicate in these matters than we. Back to the FTL drive—we are assuming this is their first faster-than-light drive.”
Green looked astounded that Yellows were being helpful. “Yes, Truth Taker, this is their first.”
Yellows said, “We would like any information you gain on those drives. They are faster than ours.”
Gray looked shocked. “I do not think that their insignificant drives are faster than ours.”
Yellows turned and said in an accusatory tone, “Then please explain why, when you ordered retreat, they gave chase and have already caught and destroyed seven of our ships!”
Gray would have turned pale gray if he wasn’t already. He exclaimed as he ran out, “No one tells me anything!”
Yellows said, “There will be a new Gray in his place shortly.”
Blue looked sad. “Just when we had him trained to keep quiet.”
Yellows said, “That Gray retreated and lost four ships in the maneuver and now seven more ships. He is leading their fleet to our home world. He has gained Black’s attention.”
Chapter 6
Surprise Christmas Request
After dinner we went to the courthouse for the town meeting. Devin Miles, mayor and owner of the hardware store, was calling the meeting to order when we arrived. Media was set up in the back. I sat up on the platform where the judge normally sits, except they removed the big podium and replaced it with several chairs. Mayor Miles motioned for silence. “Dr. Anderson has a request that I think would be beneficial to us all. Dr. Anderson?” He motioned for me to take the stand.
“Hi, everyone, it’s nice to see you again. Where I live, I have a dock for a boat. I would love for some of you to visit me. Just give me a heads-up so you don’t spook SEAL team!”
Someone in the back yelled out, “And get our butts kicked.”
I smiled. “That too. My friends have used the helicopter to bring in food and supplies, and that can be expensive and loud. If we had a dock in town, then we could use boats to travel back and forth. The problem is that the only place to put a dock without having to do any dredging is right in front of the schoolhouse, where that old broken-down dock is. I was talking with the mayor recently and learned that the town has size and comfort issues with the present old schoolhouse and would like to replace it. I don’t wish to interfere with the existing school while construction is going on, so I would like to propose that we build a new school up the shore just a little ways, and then I could have a new dock
built for the team to use after the new school is finished. I would be more than happy to help with the design of a larger, better school and would pay for all of the materials. Mr. Miles said that you might be willing to supply the labor. This would give us a new dock for our use and give the town a new school with all of the most modern amenities. If we started ordering construction supplies now, we could have everything ready by spring.”
Several people stood up and started talking.
The mayor quieted them down and gave the floor to a woman I’d never seen before. She was young and had a kind look about her.
“Dr. Anderson, I am Mrs. April Medvinsky. I teach at the ‘old’ school, and you’re so right. This town’s schoolhouse is in deplorable condition. It’s much too chilly in the winter for the children to concentrate on their studies, and it’s long past time we separated the lower classes from the upper classes. I would like to be included in the planning of a new school. Can we have multiple classrooms and more teachers? Can we have computers and new textbooks? What does your generous gesture of kindness encompass?”
I looked at Devin and then back at her. “Mrs. Medvinsky, I’m not the person you should be asking. The planning of this school, if the town approves it, is up to the townspeople. I am willing to put up ten million dollars for construction materials. If that amount is to include computers and new textbooks, the townspeople can vote on that. Right now, we haven’t even determined if my request is a possibility.”
The entire room was talking again, and Mayor Miles had to quiet them down. The talk was about the amount. They seemed to think the amount was more than generous. Devin pointed to Mrs. Medvinsky and said, “April, if we agree on this resolution for Dr. Anderson’s proposed project, then I am sure no one will complain about your being on the school-planning committee. Mr. Marks, you have a question?”
