food. Reluctantly, the captain agreed, but only after Jeff reminded him that he had no more right to hold him than Jeff had had to hold Gilbert Stevens.
Alicia saw them together at one point, and then managed to get in to see Jeff alone. To his surprise, she brought Carol.
“So I was right,” Carol said through her tears as soon as she saw him. “I’m glad for you.”
There wasn’t anything Jeff could do to make her feel better, but she didn’t need anything.
“Just tell me you’ll invite me to your wedding.”
Jeff did, and she smiled, hugged him, and went out, still leaking tears. Alicia just smiled, a little sadly, and followed her.
It was the better part of a month before they were released. No one had been able to find any trace of a virus, nor any illness for either of them, although Rachel was pregnant. Rachel’s story–that she had gotten sick at the same time as Gilbert, and fled because she had woken up lying on top of a corpse–was not believed, but they could not disprove it, nor could they prove any crime had been committed.
The one tragic loss was to Jeff’s friendship with his captain. Jeff went on permanent suspension, and didn’t have the heart to fight the captain on it. Cap hadn’t believed his story, but could no longer legally hold him.
“It’s really me, Cap,” Jeff said when they were finally released. “I’m your friend, as I’ve always been.”
The captain sighed. “I may be doing you a great disservice. If so, I’m sorry. But my heart tells me you haven’t been truthful with me. As I taught you when you were a snot-nosed rookie, you’ve got to go with your gut.”
“I’ve never forgotten it, Cap. All I can tell you is that I understand, and I don’t hold it against you, even though I don’t agree with it. Good luck to you.”
He offered to shake the captain’s hand, but the offer was not taken.
With a heavy heart, Jeff walked out of the precinct for the last time, with Rachel. Jeff closed up his apartment, and put what few things he owned into storage. He called Carol, who was delighted to take over his lease.
Using their combined savings, Jeff and Rachel went to Reno and got married. Carol and her new boyfriend were there as witnesses. As promised, Carol cried all through the ceremony, but she looked happy. At their reception around a table at Atlantis Steakhouse, her boyfriend shocked her by proposing, and she happily accepted.
The next day, Jeff and Rachel flew to Hawaii, to get back on the boat. Three days after that, they were heading out into the open ocean again.
The two of them stood at the wheel, looking out ahead of them into the blue expanse of the South Pacific.
For now they just cuddled, although Rachel had one hand on her abdomen. Already, they could both feel the new spark of life, growing within her.
It had taken more than ten days for Jeff to assimilate himself fully. Instead of taking his body and joining his spirit, Rachel had set his spirit free inside his own body and then withdrawn, leaving a piece of herself behind.
The effort of what she had done for him had put her in a coma for two days, after which she had awakened to await and to care for her love.
The two of them now enjoyed a partnership and union that was truly more spiritual than physical, but existed in their physical bodies, as well. Jeff was still Jeff, but he also knew all that Rachel knew. He now held all the memories of sixty thousand years of living on Earth, and a thousand years of living in another form before that.
He remembered the beauty of Tarshen, now gone these many long years, and the lives that were blended over all those years, making a song that spoke to his heart.
Jeff also knew all that he needed to know to maintain his body nearly indefinitely. With two of them working together, they could theoretically stay in these same two bodies forever, never having to jump again.
In Rachel’s womb a child was growing. She was fully human, the child of both their human bodies, but she was also the child of their spirits. She would be the very first human born who was from birth no longer bound to her physical body. She would be born already knowing how much her parents loved her, and how bright her future was. The love child of two human bodies and two spirits of very different races, she would grow to lead all the world in becoming more than they were.
Through her, Jeff and Rachel knew, humanity would soon be ready to make a jump of its own.
finis
Afterword
Thank you for reading “The Jumper.” I very much hope you enjoyed it. If you did, I hope you write an online review for it at your favorite retailer.
There are two follow-up series I plan for this story, and one of them is now underway.
The lead book of the sequel series is called The Next Jumper. It is about Jeff and Rachel’s daughter. She has special knowledge and abilities because of who and what she is, but she is also a normal and vulnerable human. In addition to the pain she has to endure from seeing people be cruel to others and to her, she has frustration that adults will not take a child seriously. On top of that, both government and private agents might be watching her.
The lead book of the prequel series is The First Jumper. It is the story of the creature who became Rachel, how she arrived on Earth, and her desperate attempt to survive and adapt to a hostile alien world (Earth.) She does not merge with a human for the first time on purpose. Each time she does, her world is drastically changed, and she must adapt and change along with it.
These and many other stories will soon be available in paper and for Kindle and other eReaders.
Brian Groover
Frederick, Maryland, USA
February, 2015
[email protected]
Acknowledgments
This was the first story I published on Wattpad.com, in January, 2014. I have my cousin Mary Freeman Rosenblum to thank for the idea of putting it on there in the first place. I had never heard of Wattpad until Mary told me about it. Mary is herself an award-winning writer of Science Fiction (as Mary Rosenblum) and Mystery (as Mary Freeman.)
Gavin Wilson noticed and featured the story, after which it rose to #4 in Science Fiction and #4 in Mystery, when Wattpad had eighty million stories. Without his doing that, you would probably not be reading this.
Julie Chapman patiently worked with me to design a cover with which I was happy. I have no doubt that much of the popularity of the story is due to her efforts.
About the Author
Brian Groover wrote his first original story at the age of seven. In addition to novels, he writes short stories, poetry, and songs. He sails on the Chesapeake Bay, does contracting work as a web programmer, and teaches Computer Science at a local college.
An earlier version of this story was featured on Wattpad in 2014, reaching a rank of #4 in Science Fiction and #4 in Mystery, when Wattpad held almost eighty million stories. The First Jumper, a completed novel in the same series, is scheduled to be released in spring, 2015, as is I Will Protect You, the sequel to I Will Love You Forever.
Brian also plans to publish a series of fantasy stories that center on werecats, starting with a revised version of Unnatural Conflict.
Brian lives with his family in Frederick, Maryland. He has degrees in Divinity, Psychology, and Physics.
If you don’t find him sailing on the Chesapeake Bay or at Balticon, Brian may be contacted at [email protected]
Also by Brian H Groover:
I Will Love You Forever
The First Jumper
The Jumper Page 9
