“Maybe it was a false alarm!”
“Someone should check!”
Wil leaned toward George, who was standing closest to him.
“I think we’d better leave while we can,” he whispered.
“You’re right,” George said.
He jerked his head slightly and the group followed him through the throng of people. A few were heading back to the building, curious to see what was going on.
Stop! You’ll be killed!
Marty, they can’t hear you! Julie cried in her mind.
We have to stop them! Work harder. Put all your mind power on the water inside! We must hurry!
The group huddled together, staring at the brick building. All other thoughts but its destruction flew away from their brains. The power that suddenly emanated from them was so strong that Wil and Barbara looked at each other. Somehow, they had felt it too.
“Stop!” yelled a man in the crowd.
“Look at the water! Look at the water!”
Like a tidal wave, a huge gusher came shooting out of the front doors of the building. People ran in all directions, crying out in fear. As others watched in wonder and horror, the entire structure collapsed, sinking into a deep, deep hole in the ground.
And just as suddenly, it stopped, leaving a large quiet pool of ocean water.
“Wow,” someone whispered.
It was suddenly so quiet that his word was heard by everyone.
“Let’s leave now,” Lorraine said.
“Yes, let’s,” Rachel said, taking Steven by the hand. “It’s over.”
They walked toward the town, leaving the crowd to wonder about what had just happened. Even the least scientific-minded of them knew that no natural thing had just happened. But even after years of study, there would be no answers. No one would ever really explain where enough pressure came from to drive the water of the ocean through a tunnel and into a building two miles away, completely destroying it in a matter of minutes.
Epilogue
One Month Later
STEVEN SWUNG THE baseball bat with all his might, but he still missed the ball that Olivia had pitched to him.
“Strike one!” Tatiana yelled.
“Be nice, Tati,” Olivia called. “Steven’s never played baseball before.”
“I am being nice,” Tatiana said. “That’s what you’re supposed to say.”
She put her hands on Steven’s elbows and pressed down.
“A little lower,” she said.
Behind the fence, Eric and Rachel sat holding hands at the top of the bleachers. Eric turned to look at his wife, for perhaps the thousandth time since they’d come back from Shoaling. He tried as hard as he could to imagine her to be the same creature as Marty, but his deep love prevented it.
“It’s hard to believe that’s the little girl who wouldn’t hug you at the airport,” Rachel commented.
Eric turned back to the game. Poor Steven had struck out three times, and now it was Tatiana’s turn. She whacked it with all her might and went racing around the bases, reaching home plate even before Olivia could retrieve the ball.
“Go, Tati!” Eric yelled.
“I couldn’t really blame her for that,” he answered Rachel. “After all, I did run out on her without a word of good-bye.”
“No, it’s more my fault,” Rachel said. “I was a terrible bitch that week Steven arrived. It must have been a nightmare, living with me.”
Eric put his arm around her and pulled her closer.
“It wasn’t your fault at all,” he insisted. “Something was planted in your brain to make you reject everyone else in favor of Steven.”
“Tatiana realized something was wrong,” Rachel said. “I wonder if she still thinks I’m ‘different.’ “
“You’ve changed again,” Eric said. “Back to the mother she had always known. Kids are very forgiving. Just look how she gets along with Steven now.”
Rachel was thoughtful for a few moments.
“I’ll have to tell her the truth someday,” she said. “And then what will she think?”
“She’ll still love you,” Eric said. “You’re her mother. In the end, I think that’s all she ever really wanted.”
“Well, I’m going to try to make up for what happened,” Rachel said. “I don’t know if I’m ever going back to my . . . to that planet. I still can’t think of it as ‘home.’ This is my home, with you.”
Steven was up to bat again. He struck out once, twice . . .
“Come on, Steven . . .” Rachel encouraged softly.
On the third swing, the bat hit the ball with a crack like a snapping branch. Eric and Rachel got to their feet, watching it sail clear across the park and out onto the road, hundreds of yards away. Steven raced around the bases, cheered on by Tatiana and Olivia.
“All right, Steven!” Eric shouted.
Steven’s sisters hugged him, jumping up and down. Eric plunked on the bench again and grinned at his wife.
“And you said he couldn’t play baseball. Did you see that? Did you see how far that went?”
Rachel laughed. “We’re multitalented, I guess.”
Eric caught his breath. “It makes me wonder what other amazing things you can do.”
With a flirtatious smile Rachel put her arms around him.
“Why don’t we go home and find out?”
They began to kiss.
“Ewww!” Tatiana yelled. “Cut that out, you two! There’s people here.”
Eric and Rachel ignored her.
Samantha watched Julie as she romped with the dogs, chasing them around Samantha’s backyard in Colorado. Wil and Barbara sat in lawn chairs with her, each one holding a frosty mug of beer. Samantha, Wil and Julie had just returned that morning from a week in Mexico. Barbara, who had had to return to work at the hospital, had come here to meet them. Her friends had spent the past two hours telling Barbara what had happened.
“I’m glad we found Marty’s parents,” Samantha said. “They were able to heal him, and now he has a real home.”
“But how will he get along?” Barbara asked. “He can’t very well go walking the streets looking like he does.”
“George and Judy promised to contact the man in India,” Samantha said. “He will see to it that Marty is properly ‘changed.’ I understand he’s that powerful.”
“Some of you seem more powerful than others,” Wil pointed out. “Marty was strong enough to call the children from all points of the country. But you told me you didn’t make contact with Julie until you were with her.”
Samantha nodded. “Yes, we do have different groups on Ixtaura. But it is not like a caste system. Those with great powers don’t frown on those with few. We all help each other, and as a group we are invincible.”
“Well, you sure proved that in Shoaling,” Barbara said in awe.
Samantha looked at her. There were dark circles under her eyes, proof she hadn’t really slept since learning the truth.
“Don’t praise us,” she said. “We made some terrible blunders. People died because of us.”
“That’s unfortunate,” Wil said, “but you can’t blame yourselves. You only wanted to meet a new race, and did it in the best way you knew how.”
“You’re still doing it,” Barbara said. “George and Judy said no one in Shoaling would remember what happened. Stage Ten of your work can continue now.”
Wil smiled at Samantha.
“Maybe by the time the Eleventh Wave comes,” he said, “we Earthlings will be ready for you.”
Samantha couldn’t help a laugh.
“Don’t say ‘Earthlings,’ “ she told him. “It sounds like a low-budget science-fiction movie. Call yourselves ‘Terrans.’ It’s more dignified.”
“I’m glad you think we’re dignified,” Wil said. “We have light-years to go before we reach the heights that you have.”
Samantha shook her head. She stared at Wil, her eyes filling with tears.
“Oh, no,” she said.
“You’re wonderful people. You, and Barbara, and Gordy, and everyone who helped us. I can’t wait until we do make contact.”
“And don’t forget that bag lady,” Barbara said. “Bettina, that was her name. If it wasn’t for her, Lorraine might not have found us.”
Neither Wil nor Samantha heard her. They were staring very intently into each other’s eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Wil asked softly.
“I love you so much,” Samantha said, a choke in her voice. “But how can I love you? We’re . . . we’re so different. And I don’t know what to do about it!”
She hung her head and began to sob. Wil got out of his chair and went to kneel in front of her, taking her hands in his.
“I know exactly what to do about it,” he said. “George said the whole purpose of Julie being sent to you was to acclimate yourselves to our society as a family unit. Well, all you need to complete this family unit is a father for Julie.”
Samantha stopped crying. Her head came up abruptly, and she stared at Wil through wide, disbelieving eyes.
“Wh-what?”
Barbara laughed out loud, enjoying the romance she was witnessing.
“He’s asking you to marry him.”
“Oh . . .”
The word came out like a squeak. Samantha tried to talk again, but Wil was pulling her down to him. As they kissed, Barbara got up from her chair. She walked across the field to Julie and the dogs.
Aliens and Terrans, she thought in amazement.
Sunday came running up to her. She picked up a stick and threw it.
Maybe well do okay in this universe, she said. Maybe we won’t. But I sure am glad to be a part of a new world!
Cries of the Children Page 33
